Congratulations to Cory

Well, I'm a couple days late, but I had to post a big CONGRATULATIONS to my best friend and amazing husband. He passed Part 2 of National Boards (tests you have to pass in order to become a licensed chiroprator). There are 4 parts total, so this means 2 parts done, and only 2 to go! Way to go honey; I'm so very proud of you!! You're going to make an amazing doctor - people are already fighting over where they want us to move so they can be treated by you :) I love you!

And yes, my less rational side has won out ... (we all knew it would) ... so we are headed down to the Hudson Valley this weekend to go to 'The Great Jack O'Latern Blaze'. It's going to be awesome; I'm so excited! Pictures will definitely be posted when we get back. Happy Halloween everyone!

Pumpkin Massacre

That's right; Cory and I massacred some pumpkins. 2 to be exact. We carved pumpkins with some other students in Cory's class and we had a great time. Of course, showcasing my (lack of) carving skills next to Cory's (amazing) carving skills was a little damaging for my self-esteem ... but don't worry, I expect I'll make a full recovery.

Cory, Sarah & Krista - carvers extraordinaire!

Some of the gang's pumpkins

Don't judge my pumpkin next to Cory's ... I managed to carve 2 eyes, 1 nose, 1 mouth ... while Cory carved an elaborate castle. Show off :)

Our past 2 Halloweens spent here in New York have been pretty tame. Most people our age think that this holiday is a good time to get hammered ... and we live in the boondocks, so no trick-or-treaters for us. So we've stayed home and watched movies or played games, just the 2 of us. This year we are hoping to do something far more fun ... go spend Halloween down in Sleepy Hollow (woo woo!) and go here. We're poor, so my more rational side is telling me to stay home and be fiscally responsible, but I really want to go. We'll see which side of me wins out ...

A Beautiful Weekend & Awesome Company

Our dear friends Emily & Brett (and adorable daughter Abby) drove the 7 hours from D.C. to come and visit us for the weekend. It was so good to see them and finally meet Abby in person. Em & I go way back to high school, and I count her as a sister. Brett and I had many adventures together at Utah State, and I was the one who introduced him to Em ... and as they say, the rest is history. We had one awesome weekend together!!

We went to Niagara Falls on Friday and it was gorgeous! The fall colors in contrast with the aqua-blue water and the mist from the falls was just beautiful. We took tons of pictures (of course) so here are just a few:

We went on the Maid of the Mist - to be that close to the falls is one cool feeling.

We also did the Cave of the Winds, which is where you walk right next to and under part of the American Falls. Yeah, we got soaked. I looked like I had stepped into a swimming pool that came to mid-thigh. Nevertheless, we had a blast. It was so loud down there, Em & I were yelling at each other and I still couldn't hear her.

Cory & I are so blessed to live here in the Cradle of the Restoration ... so of course, we had to go and see all the church sites in this area.

Em & Brett did sealings while I watched Abby ... it was tough, given that she slept practically the entire time :)

We went to the Grandin Building, where the Book of Mormon was published and sold.

We went to the Smith family home(s) and the Sacred Grove. It's so pretty there in the fall! No matter how many times I walk through the Grove (and it's been a few) I am always struck by the feeling that's there. It's a very reverent and peaceful place.

And we went to the Hill Cumorah - again, very pretty.

We finished off the day by going to a pumpkin walk in a somewhat nearby town (if you call 45 minutes away "nearby").

Notice that Cory is only in the pumpkin walk picture - he had nutrition this weekend, so he had to spend all day Friday studying for the tests he had in class on Saturday and Sunday. Consequently, he didn't get to do much fun stuff with us, which was sad for me.

We went to church on Sunday and since our ward is held next to the Peter Whitmer Farm, we did the tour there after church. The Peter Whitmer Farm is where the church was officially re-organized on April 6, 1830.

And ... I know she's not mine ... but she's just so cute that I had to put this video of Abby up:

We had such a great time with Em & Brett, and I was so sad when they left. We're so blessed to have such good friends!! Thanks guys, for a great time! And if anyone wants to see more pictures, Em has some on her blog here.

When it rains, it pours

The sayings "when it rains, it pours" and "trouble comes in threes" seem both to be true - at least for us. First, our heater is on the fritz. Our landlords are working to get this fixed, and luckily, we've been having a week of Indian Summer, with temps in the 70's. It's been gorgeous - so no need for heat!

Second, our oven broke. We are fortunate to have awesome landlords, so they ordered us a new one and the installation guys took care of everything. It's a flattop one, so no more cleaning those yucky burner pans!
Third, our fridge/freezer decided to die. So we spent our Saturday night cleaning out all our food ...


Then moving the old one down the stairs, and the new one up the stairs ... yep, we have a spiral staircase, so this was no small feat ...


(This picture is for you, Mom)

You can't see it very well, but I have a deep cut right across the bridge of my nose. The perpetrator of this wound?


That's right, it's our cooler. As I was unloading the frozen goods out of the cooler and into our new freezer, the lid fell down and the edge of the lid caught me on the bridge of my nose. Yeah, I bled all down my face for a while (ewww!) It looks a lot better today (when the picture was taken) than it did Saturday night. I'm starting to get a little black and blue under my eyes, so I think I'm going to tell everyone that I was in a fist fight ...

Sigh ... I lost to a plastic cooler. Plastic! That's totally my luck ...

At least my Gators won! Go Gators!!

Fall in the Adirondacks

We had a spectacular weekend. It's nice to have a weekend when Cory & I can spend time together and break out of our normal routine (which consists of school, work, homework, sleep ... boring ...) This was such a weekend. We made a day trip up to the Adirondacks - a 6.1 million acre forest preserve in the upstate part of New York. It was peak season for viewing fall leaves and boy, was it pretty. The pictures pretty much speak for themselves.

We did about 10 miles of hiking and it was very pretty. We hiked a couple of "mountains" (only a few thousand feet) and around a lake. The weather was more or less cooperative, with occasional showers (though we did get to use our awesome new rain jackets - thanks Mom!) All in all, a very relaxing weekend and a chance to appreciate this beautiful state we live in.