My honey had a birthday!

Ben had a Birthday on Friday and it was a great day to be born! I love birthdays and especially surprises. For the surprise this year I decorated Ben's cubical. I was sneaky. Well not really, I told him I was leaving on important business but getting his wallet was sneaky. I was asking him about where he puts different cards in his wallet and when he was blinking I just put it in my coat pocket. Mwahaha. (Wallet was needed to get into his office)

Here are some highlights of Ben's birthday.

1. Breakfast in bed, yummy.

2. Opening the biggest Birthday card in Orem, maybe even the world.

3. Ben being surprised to see his cubical decorated when he arrived at work.

4. Getting to leave work early at 3:00 p.m.

5. Gummy bear cupcakes

6. Rainbow chip cake batter ice cream

7. Going to a Jazz game. Ben likes to clarify that he doesn't like the Jazz (true Laker fan) but it was a Christmas present from my parents and it just happened to be on his birthday. He is ok with that though because he still loves to watch b-ball. I brought the party blower to the game to announce Ben's birthday to everyone around and as a noise maker during free throws.

Chet and parents cheering

7. Tucanos with birthday song and dance included. (That's Ben in the white, yes dancing on a chair)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN! I wish every day was filled with party hats and dancing on chairs at Tucanos.

Polar Express

It's real! Amanda, Ben and I went to the North Pole on the one and only Polar Express (of course).

What's a ride on the Polar Express without pajamas?

When we went to California for Thanksgiving my sister-in-law Mary gave me the onsies, and they've come in handy. Shout out to Mary, thanks! :) Ben wasn't as lucky at Thanksgiving and doesn't have any pj's, so he wore my ugly party sweater, Rudolph. He got more compliments in that sweater, than I ever have.

Our ride was filled with cookies, hot chocolate, Christmas carols, Santa Clause, and the highlight of our night, Mrs. Clause. She was much more friendly than Santa!

When we drove by the North Pole their were 5 trees decorated, they need to kick it up in the lights department. If they had a comments box I had a few more ideas on how to spice up the Polar Express. The ticket taker could use a hole punch and punch words into our tickets (like on the movie), the narrator of our train could yell "Look everyone Santa!" we would look out the window and see Santa's sleigh flying in the air. Also, I think little elves should pop their heads up by the window randomly as we travel to the North Pole. Maybe the owner of the train will read this and love my ideas! Overall, it was a fun trip.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas! We'll be enjoying a white one.

I have been chosen

I have finally entered district 12.

I requested this book (or audio CD) way back in June, when I started my internship. I was number 31 on the list and finally my name has been chosen. Thank you Suzanne Collins for making my drive to Salt Lake pleasant, I didn't even mind that it took an extra 40 minutes to get to work due to the snow.

And the White Elephants Begin

Ben had a Christmas work party on Thursday. We all know a Christmas party isn't complete without a white elephant gift exchange. Ben's party was no different, except instead of the usual pass the present to the left 6 times and then to the right 9 times or everyone pick a present and you can steal it 20 times, this version we played incorporated BINGO! All of the presents were assigned a number and if you got BINGO you chose a number between 1 -2o and opened that present.

Not meaning to brag or anything, but I have a BINGO card picking intuition. It happened again and I got BINGO first two times in row. I selected lucky #4 and it just happened to be the biggest present there (everyone knows the biggest presents are the best) and unwrapped this beauty!

We think it's the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria, but it's up for interpretation.

Ben got BINGO second and unwrapped this ivory antique!

Literally a WHITE ELEPHANT.

In the game a present can only be stolen twice. Ben's got stolen right off, but he got BINGO again and stole it back. People were eyeing my red, velvet picture, but must have sensed my BINGO card picking intuition and knew I would just steal it back (or they really didn't like it, that's up for interpretation as well).

It was a fun night and I think we went home with some of the funniest white elephants I've seen in all my white elephant gift exchange days. Plus, I think they are going to fit right in with the other Christmas decorations.

Red is the New Green

(This is my last blog on tomatoes) My very-so-green tomatoes are finally RED!!!

I was conducting a ripening experiment and here are the results.

1. The banana in the jar with tomatoes was no good.

2. Leaving them in a bowl on the window seal to soak up the sun wasn't as efficient, it took longer for the tomatoes to turn red, but a few on top did turn red.

3. Brown bag with bananas worked well.

4. The BEST results came from putting them in a plastic grocery sack in the pantry.

I was surprised because the internet raved about putting bananas with the tomatoes, but it didn't make a difference.

I've been eating tomatoes daily. Toast with cream cheese, a little garlic salt, and tomato slices has been a common snack.

Since I have sooooooooooooooo many I've been trying to use them in whatever dish I can think of. Of course, tomato soup was the perfect recipe for all of my tomatoes. I cut up the tomatoes and got to work. I simmering everything in the pot and finished the last step of blending it all together to make it smoooooth, and right when I was going to pour the soup in our bowls, this happened........

Even got a little on Ben's chin.

Oops..

Carvtists

I forgot to post our 2nd place winning pumpkin!!

Halloween Dinner

I had a lot of fun with Amanda, preparing this dinner. On the menu was, Mashed Boo-tatoes, Mummy Dogs, Zombie Intestines, and Witch Fingers. Mmm it was SPOOKY GOOD!

Hope you had a Happy Halloween!