Simple Autumn Joys

In order to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather, Dexter an I decided to go on a hike and see the leaves changing. We found a wonderfully gorgeous trail up in what my grandma calls "The Maughan's-ville Mountains" out in Mendon.



The hunting season had started, so Dex took extra precautions. I stuck close to him since I refused to look that unfashionable on our hike.

The trail was absolutely stunning:





We saw a buck, an eagle, a red-tailed hawk, butterflies, a fox, and (my personal favorite) a squirrel. Happy Autumn!


P.S. On a completely unrelated note, every scrapbooker in my family failed horribly on this last Thanksgiving. I forgot my camera. My mom, who was really stressed with preparing dinner, completely spaced taking pictures. My cousin forgot her camera too, and my aunt didn't come this year. So tragically, no Thanksgiving pictures :-( Sorry, folks!

Halloween!

Halloween is one of my very favorite holidays. I look forward to it every year, and plan costumes out months in advance. Here's Dexter and I as Prof. Plum with the wrench and Mrs. Peacock with the revolver:

Our neighborhood has a big Halloween carnival every year. Our primary class was especially excited to see that Dex and I dressed up. Dexter and I have a very unique primary class. We teach a "Clifford Witch" who is "way better than a regular Clifford because a Clifford witch is a girl dog and has magic powers," and we also teach a very scary pirate who diligently tried to avoid my camera, but his scrapbooker teacher was just too sneaky.

Here's some more fun faces from the neighborhood:

As you can see, it's a very fun neighborhood. There are cowboys, witches, princesses, fairies, dalmatians, and even Harry Potter.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Things that make me laugh

I'm a pretty easy laugher. And generally a loud laugher at inappropriate times (that's due to a husband who finds it amusing to make me laugh at inappropriate times). Here's the top 4 random things I laugh at:

4. Blog updates
It really doesn't matter whose blog or what they wrote, I'm always laughing at them. Whenever I find a funny blog, I have to subscribe to it. (My two favorites are The Meanest Mom and Hyperbole And A Half) I also laugh whenever I update this blog. Today, I'm laughing at what Dex will do when he finds out that I "Christmasfied" our blog a month early.

3. Chemistry Tests
For some reason chemistry only makes sense 2 hours before the test during last minute cramming. It doesn't make sense while we're learning it or while studying during the week. But it always clicks right before the test. Then all the learning suddenly vanishes the second I sit down in the testing center and look at the first problem. Seriously! Even the simplest stuff is gone. "C? What does C mean? 100 mL? How do I convert that to L? What's an L anyway?" And then, for some unknown reason, I find the entire situation rather hilarious. So I bust up laughing in the middle of the testing center. And make the test proctor very mad.

2. Dexter's and My Sense of Direction
So Dex and I have been looking at houses. We went to a few showings last week. Our agent set them up. Then she called to let us know that we'll meet her at the 1st house in Roy and then follow her to the others. The time to leave comes. Dex and I stare at the address. We have no idea where this house is. We spent 15 minutes trying to figure it out. Finally we decide to ask Google Maps for directions. Guess what? The house was literally right around the corner from our apartment! In our same ward! Within walking distance! We drive past it all the time. Boy, did we feel dumb.

And the #1 thing that makes me laugh:

1. The Song "If I Die Young" by The Band Perry
I know it's stupid and highly inappropriate, but this song cracks me up. One day, Dex and I were listening to the radio when "If I Die Young" came on. That's when I noticed the guy driving the car next to us. He looked like the stereotypical nerd-complete with glasses and a pocket protector. He was swaying and singing to the music on his radio with so much emotion. He was obviously profoundly touched by the song. Then I realized that his motions matched our radio. We were listening to the same song! He was in tears, dancing and singing while driving. And it was seriously the funniest thing I have ever seen. So now I am cursed by this stupid song. When ever it comes on the radio; in the car, at the store, at a funeral; I crack up. It doesn't matter if I'm alone or in public. Dex and I have been in the middle of serious discussions when I've heard it. I've been grocery shopping before. I've heard it in class on someone's too loud Ipod. And as soon as I hear it, I start laughing hysterically. Completely out of control, can't breathe, stomach is going to explode, wet-your-pants laughter. And I can't stop until the song is over. It is seriously scary how much power that song has over me.

P.S. In case you are wondering: Yes, these stories are 100% true. Dexter and I really couldn't recognize our neighbor's address, I have gotten in trouble multiple times for laughing in the testing center, and I am literally incapacitated by "If I Die Young." Hope this post at least made you chuckle.

Under the Sea

As I mentioned in a past post, I have a new hobby-fish keeping! It's an odd hobby for sure, but I really enjoy it.

When Dex and I got engaged, we got a betta fish named Pete. Pete lived for just under a year which is quite a long time considering how clueless we were to keeping fish. After Pete died, I wanted to get a slightly larger tank so I could keep a betta and some frogs. I started looking into aquatic fish and frog care and got hooked. Next thing you know, Dexter came home to this:


A 3 foot long, 20 gallon fish tank. I found it on KSL.com for 50 bucks. Lucky for me, Dex is pretty forgiving and understanding. Which is good because I've spent a small fortune on fish. Here's a few of my beauties:This is one of my otocinclus catfish (I have 2). They are my favorite fish in the tank. They stick to things with their mouth. It reminds me of a suction cup. They eat algae and veggies.
This is one of my two African Dwarf Frogs. The one in the picture is male (the other one is female) They are really funny to watch. They like to burrow in the gravel or climb the plants. They are rather hard to care for though. African Dwarf Frogs are nearly blind, so I have to hand feed these guys or they would starve.




This is a horrible picture of some of my tetra. I have 2 shoals (that means a group of freshwater fish, saltwater groups are called schools) of tetra: 5 Black Phantom Tetra (which is the brown and black fish at the top of the picture) and 5 Glowlight Tetra (which are the orange and silver streaks in the picture). My tetra are too fast to get a good picture of. Sorry.This is my Dwarf Flame Gourami. He's probably the prettiest guy in the tank.

The title of prettiest fish, however, has to go to my doubletail betta named Patriot. Patriot is in a tank by himself since he doesn't play nice with others.

Little Adventures

Wednesday is my favorite day of the week. It's Dexter's and my date night. Yes, you read that right-a married couple actually has a regular weekly date night. When we got engaged, we studied a marriage prep manual together. The book quoted Pres. Monson who encouraged husbands and wives to have a weekly date which, he promised, would be a great strength to their marriage. And it's true. Date night has been a great strength to our marriage.

The problem is keeping date night fresh so we don't just end up sitting in a dark movie theater every week. So Dex and I have started going to random places that we see along the road. You know those little places that you've never gone in but have seemed to be there forever? Or a little really odd place that seems to have just popped up over night? Those little hole-in-the-wall, route 66 places? Dexter and I go there.

I tried to find pictures of these places to put in this post, but there aren't any on the web. So sorry, You are stuck with my descriptions of a few sweet little oddities we have discovered:

Gallery Stroll
Who knew that Ogden City's art galleries stay open late and have free admission once a month? The first Friday of every month from 6-9 pm is the Ogden Gallery Stroll. Most of the art galleries open new exhibits and stay open late for art enthusiasts (like me). They even invite the artists to attend so you have a chance to meet them. You can find a map of the participating galleries in the Go section of the Standard Examiner.

The Hi Hat Diner
There is a horrid eyesore on 1900 W. in Sunset called the Hi Hat Diner. It is sandwiched between a pawn shop and a credit loan. It either looks abandoned or like a run down bar. In the window display there are two hideous stuffed bunnies that have troll masks on. Out front, there is a creepy dummy with a sign that says open. One morning, I begged Dexter to take me there. When we went in, we were astounded. The interior is the perfect little 50s diner straight out of the movie Grease. Soda machine at the bar, black and white checked linoleum, jukebox in the corner. . . The owner and cook (same person) is one of the friendliest people you'll ever meet. He's super nice and always happy. And the food is AMAZING! The breakfasts are some of the best ever, made just the way you want it, fresh right in front of you. It's so odd that such a horrid exterior holds such an amazing little secret inside.


Some other great little odd restaraunts: Beez Cafe in Roy, A Taste of India in Layton, The Firehouse in Centerville (it's worth the drive, just for their amazing cookies!), The Mongolian Grill in Ogden, Greek Islands Broiler in Roy, and Burger Bar in Roy (of course! Can't leave them out)


Little oddities you should check out: The Union Station Museum, Bird World/Pet Village in Bountiful, 25th Street in Ogden, Smith and Edwards, Endzone in Layton, and Bingham Cyclery in Roy.

Coming soon. . .

I have recently taken up fish keeping. It's currently an extreme obsession. I've got a 1.5 gal tank with the most gorgeous betta ever and a 20 gal tank that will soon have fish. Pics are coming. . .

In the meantime, if anyone wants to get info on fish keeping, check out tropicalfishkeeping.com. It's a forum with awesome info. There's a link on the right side of this page!

Also coming soon, updates on me and Dex! Sorry I haven't posted in a long time. Been busy, busy, busy.

Cali girl

Our little family isn't quite complete without Cali, our extremely spoiled calico cat. She pretty much rules the household. We adopted her from the SLC animal shelter back in January, where she quickly learned that her cute face and big green eyes could force us to give into her every whim. But Dex and I love her so much.

Interesting facts about Cali:
Her favorite food is salmon flavored anything. Her favorite song is California Girls by The Beach Boys. (She is a Cali Girl after all) She actually will come to you if you are singing the song. After we adopted her, we learned that she had previously been declawed and de-toothed (seriously!). So it's pretty funny to watch her when she's mad at you because all she really can do is gum your hand. She prefers dogs over cats and large dogs over small dogs. And finally, when she wants you to know that she loves you, she'll lick your hand. Dexter and I get licked a lot.

Summer Loving

Here's some pics of Dexter's and my fun summer!

Camping with the Isaacson family:




Having a blast at the July 24 Rodeo with Dex's mom and sis:



The Maughan family vacation to Park City and This Is The Place Heritage Park:




Weber State duckpond picnics:



And a lot of other fun activities including trips to the zoo, Lagoon, my birthday, multiple movies, family visits, etc. It has been a blast of a summer.

What I enjoy most about summertime is seeing all my friends and family that we haven't seen in a while. It's so great to catch up and laugh together.

Sorry that I haven't posted in a while. As you can see, Dexter and I have been really busy. But I'm going to make it a goal to post more often and show off more of our fun pictures. Love you all!

Missing my Pearls

I am pathetically addicted to Pearls Before Swine. Like way addicted. It's genius! I get the Standard Examiner and the first thing I do every morning is find the comics page and read Pearls. So the Standard's editor decided that they are going to re-vamp the comics page to make it "hipper" (yes, that's what he said). And how does one make the comics page hipper? Apparently by taking the lamest strips known to man and plugging them into the paper for a test run. So he replaced the greatest comic ever with a beyond lame one about boot camp for a month. I feel like I'm in boot camp.

So I wrote a letter to the editor. Never done that before. Not when I was misquoted, not when they deleted my account without warning, not ever. But I wrote him for this. And nothing happened. So now I'll vent about it here. And get my daily Pearls Before Swine dosage at comics.com

Hitting the gym

So I have a little confession to make. . . I have never ever been to the gym before. Like really. I've done sports and the wii fit, but never the actual gym. So Dex decided to get fit for a job he's applying for and I decided to be supportive by getting fit with him. So now I have been to the gym twice and yesterday, I lifted weights for the first time. Um, maybe that wasn't such a good idea. Dexter can bench press like 130 pounds and do about 30 reps. Then I get on and painfully struggle through 10 reps at 15 lbs. The girls on the stepping machines were trying not to laugh. So I decided to show them up on the steps. Why do stepping machines move at like 30 mph? I got thrown off. Seriously! So after about 45 mins of me embarrassing myself and beating myself up, I collapsed by the lockers and prayed no one would notice. Which means, of course, someone from my ward comes up and asks if I need help. No thanks, I just need to be invisible.

The gym is not really my thing. But it is Dexter's. And I love him. And, truth is, I've felt really good since I've started going. So I am going back-oh dear.

Blogging

So I've never really been into this whole blogging thing. I mean I've tried before, but never got into it. Each past attempt has melted into cyberspace oblivion since I didn't keep it up. But I routinely look at other people's blogs. I've been following them through Facebook. And I realized that it might be easier to follow them through blogger. So here I am. And maybe, just maybe, Dex and I will blog about us. Who knows?