Ice Skating

Joel and I went ice skating with some friends of ours, Sarah and Troy.

Here is a picture of me skating. I was really cautious at first. I was bundled up in six layers with my ballet tights to keep me warm. It was so nice to be warm.

Here is Joel skating. He is only wearing a light jacket and a t-shirt.



Joel got really good. He was even able to skate backwards...he has some skills on ice.



Joel got really confident on the ice...he even raced Sarah.

That was the outcome of the race.... Then he stood up really fast and I was making sure he was okay. He started to black out cuz he got up too fast. So I had to hurry and get him to the seat. I definitely could not have caught him. He was all of a sudden going really pale.

Joel after he has sat for a little while. Starting to get some color back...

It was a pretty fun night. Plus it was free =)

Stockings

We looked all over for stockings that we liked....we didn't find anything. So Joel had this great idea that I could make us some. So I attempted it. The first one I made I actually sewed the top shut. The second one I made looked ok but was smaller then I had pictured it. I hate when I forget to count the seams when I am cutting the material. Then I had figured out how I wanted to make them.
Joel said he wanted a yeti-which I had no clue what that was.
So here is the yeti!



I love snowmen so I made mine a snowman. I just need to find something orange to make the carrot nose. Here is mine.

Bows and Arrows

The last time we went home our nephew Kaleb wanted to shoot bows and arrows. So Joel and I joined him. He shot with the blue arrow because it was sharp and I definitely could not because I would shoot someone with it....or so that is what he said. Here is a picture of him shooting.

Joel was next to shoot and he couldn't shoot with the blue arrow either. Here is a picture of him having just let fly.

Here is the result of those shots. They made it pretty close to the apples.

Next is my turn:) They all ran like ten feet behind me afraid that I was going to shoot them. Silly boys! It did take me a while to get the arrow to actually go somewhere but I definitely had good results.

Here is the picture of my second arrow shot...the yellow one is mine (cuz its not sharp of course.)
But if you notice it is a lot closer to the apple:)

We had a great time shooting arrows...except they did freak out everytime I went to shoot. I did shoot it once over the straw stack...good thing nothing is behind it but the barn. I am thinking maybe I should get a bow and arrow set...hahahaha

Pumpkins and Costumes

My favorite thing about October is the carving of pumpkins. Joel and I carved pumpkins this weekend. Joel does not touch the insides with his hands. I love to clean out all the seeds and guts with my hands. So when we are done my fingers are all stained orange and Joel's hands are perfectly clean. Here are our pumpkins lit up.



Joel and his pumpkin :)



My pumpkin and me :)

Afterward we cleaned the seeds and roasted them...also my favorite!

We had a Halloween party on Saturday.
Joel was the lumber jack and I was little red riding hood.

So we looked all over at the stores for an ax that Joel liked...no luck.
Ten minutes before we left for the party Joel decided that he wanted an ax. I told him I could make him one...he had little faith. So I got out some scrapbook paper and drew the top of the ax and made him one. He was amazed!! It actually looked like one.

We all had a good time at the party. It was the first time Joel and I had been to a dance party together. I never knew Joel was such a party animal. He was dancing the whole time....so much that in the middle of the night his ankle hurt. He sure does have some pretty sweet moves. ;)

Here is a picture of us with Lance.

This was the last picture for the night.....

Fall

It has been a while since our last post. We have had a few things change.
Joel grew a beard and I dyed my hair brown.

Here is an up close picture of Joel;) I took it when he was least expecting it.
Joel had to grow the beard for his Halloween costume. He is going to be a lumber jack. I was surprised but he grows a nice beard. It looks really good when he trims it.

We took this picture when we were waiting in the car....this was like the six one we took.
I think it looks good.

We have been painting the trim and doors in our house. A couple of weeks ago we painted all the doors in our house brown...there were 22. I never realized how many doors a house had. It was a lot of work. I took almost all of them down. It was my first time using the electric drill. I learned I could take them down fine but putting them back up is a real challenge. Here is a picture of our front door with some nice pumpkins from our parents. Which we are going to carve tonight...I am so excited!!




So for my birthday, I wanted a center piece for the kitchen table. Joel took me to the store Tai Pan Trading...it is awesome! It is so huge and we found some great deals. The picture is hard to see but there are 3 glass holders and 3 pumpkin spice candles in them with the leaves surrounding. I can change the candles and surroundings for each holiday :)

We also found these cute ghosts and a big black pumpkin.

Joel's Bridge

Joel has free time in the mornings at work and this past week he has been very productive. He is learning so much in his classes about composites and thinks about them all the time. He is always coming up with things he can build. He is very creative! So he decided he was going to build a bridge. Here is the final bridge. I think the bridge looks amazing!!!



It looks so good! Joel keeps telling me that he wants to put it in the kitchen or the living room. LOL I don't really know if it will look that good in either room but we might work something out. This isn't a fragile bridge...which I thought it would be but here is a picture of it holding a bucket that is almost 50 lbs.



Now that is impressive! It weighs like 0.8 lbs and can hold up to 50 lbs. I bet it can hold more that is just the most that Joel has tested on it.

The Cake

Joel goes to school at six pm which is when I get off work. So we just barely miss each other...it gets really boring at our house without Joel. If I am not at the gym then I am at home trying to make something new. This Thursday I made a cake. Here it is!

I was trying to make star decorations on it but it turned out more like a sun but I still like how it turned out.
It tasted delicious!!

It was my first time making frosting. It was so good! I couldn't stop eating it. I think I might have beat it a little to long it started to get thick. It was white chocolate...and did I mention it was sooooo good!!!

Here is Joel eating the cake...he seemed to like it. Not as much as me but then again it had white chocolate frosting and Joel isn't too much of a chocolate fan. He loved it with milk and a bowl just like his Papa.

I also made tapioca. It was not very good. LOL I must have cooked it too long. Joel still ate a lot of it though...probably so he wouldn't hurt my feelings. He is a great husband! He is very thoughtful and loving. I am one lucky woman!!

Hiking

Joel and I went hiking up by Payson Lakes this weekend. We had a good time...It was so nice up in the mountains. We hiked up by a waterfall- the Grotto. This is the view from the top of the waterfall.

We then drove like twenty more miles up the mountain to a site called Devil's Kitchen. They call it the little Bryce Canyon. It was a pretty cool outlook. The only problem we couldn't go down and actually hike around the rock formations. It was fenced off.




We had a picnic then were on our way back down the mountain....here is a picture of Joel right before. It is the famous Joel look. =) I have like a million pictures of him making this face...I just love it!




On our drive down the mountain, we saw cows everywhere...even on the road. It felt like we were back in Idaho.

Joel finished his bookshelf this week when Mom and Dad Ricks and Melanie came to visit us. I think it turned out great!! It really looks good. It is a darker wood that matches the table in our kitchen that Joel refinished. So Joel finished it and we got it half way down the stairs and it got stuck....so we had to flip it. But we did get it down the stairs as for when we have to bring it back up that will be a challenge. I finished filling it with stuff last night...so here it is finished!

Joel's Friend Loren got married...and Joel was a groomsman. He looks amazing in a tux!! These were the few pictures we actually took with our camera. Joel took a ton of pictures with the cameras off the table...most of which are of people eating and not watching =) We had a good time though. We got to catch up with Joel's friends from high school. It is hilarious to listen to them all reminisce about the good 'ol days.

So this is my first post...I really have no clue what i am doing. So here it goes. This is a picture of Joel and me on the ferry ride to Seattle at the Ricks Family Reunion. It was so pretty and green in Washington.