Twilight

When I was first given the book Twilight I read the inside cover and was completely weirded out by the whole thing. The book sat in a drawer for a couple of months until one day I was looking for a book to read on my way to Las Vegas to visit Tommy's family. I started reading it and fell in love with it. I read the rest of the books in a matter of weeks.

When I found out they were making a movie I was so excited to see it. Melanie Brower kept me on top of the whole thing. Casting of characters and such. Thanks Melanie. Later she invited me the premire of Twilight on Nov. 20th at 7:00 pm. I felt so priviledged because I knew we would get to see it before it's official release. I was so excited. I asked Tommy if he wanted to go and he said no but he said he would. What a great SUPPORTIVE husband I have!

So the night of the premire arrived and I was really excited. As we walked into the theater we were given a VIP pass that would later be used for prize giveaways. Tommy and I don't ever win anything, so we didn't think much of it. My pass had a squiggly line on it and I got a bookmark. Yeah for me. Tommy's pass had Jacob's name written on it. As the prizes were given away we realized that he was going to win a good prize. And we did!



This is a picture of the prize. Inside was a blanket that is so soft and looks like the skin of a wolf. A bottle of Fabreeze because Jacob always smells so bad, and a box of tissues because Jacob is a cry baby. Creative Melanie again!


The cutest part of the whole thing was the next day at school Camryn (Melanie's daughter) walked in and said, "Mrs. Deaver did you use that blanket that you won last night?" I said, "Why of course I did. It is the softest blanket ever!" Camryn again, "I am so glad that you won!"

I am glad we won too. We had a great night. I loved the movie and can't wait until the next one. Thanks Melanie for inviting us we really enjoyed it.

Halloween Festivites!

I'M A WIND UP DOLL!

It started at 5:30 AM. My wonderful neighbor agreed to curl my hair for me. It took a lot longer than I thought, but it turned out perfect! I think it made the costume. Thanks Alisha!

I came home, got dressed, and was putting the finishing touches on my costume when Manny Rameriz (aka Tommy's sister Laura) walked in. She works at Xango with Tommy. They ride together to work everyday so she was at our house to pick him up. She looked really good.



I got to school right before the bell rang. The kids were so excited and happy to show off their costumes. I decided to take a quick picture before their costumes got messed up. Don't they look so cute!



Last year during recess we got all the first and second grade teachers together for a picture. We had so much fun with it last year we decided to do it again. Look at all of their cute costumes. You can't help but love these people when you spend so much time with them!




Shortly after in walked my Halloween lifesaver. Melanie helped me with my costume last year and I loved it, so I decided to enlist her help again this year. She told me she was going to be a wind up doll this year. I saw her daughter's costume last year and knew it would be a cute one so we ended up both being wind up dolls. Melanie thanks for all your help with the costume. I got so many compliments on how "cute" I looked. Thanks again!




This was the coolest part of the my costume. The key that was in my back had an on and off switch and when you turned it on the key actually turned. This was the best part of the whole costume. Check out the video.




After school Tommy and I went to my Mom and Dad's for homemake chili, cider, and donuts and pictures! YUMMY! This has a been a tradition in my family since I was a little girl so we had to go.


Here is a picture of me, my mom, and my sister. She dressed up as Mary Poppins.


My sister's were there with their kids so we had to take some pictures. Heather's family were Nintendo characters (Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, and Princess Peach) What a cute idea and super easy costumes!




Tiffany's kids were dressed up as a dog and a cat. If you know their family you know that these costumes fit them well!



Overall we had a really great Halloween. Thanks to everyone that made this Halloween a great one for us!

Cake Decorating 101

Tommy and I had our ward Halloween Party this weekend and we had a blast. Tommy signed us up for a cake for the cake walk. Usually I just go and pick up a nice decorated cake from the grocery store. This year I decided to try and put a little more creativity into it.

I searched online for some different unique ideas. I found this idea and put my own little twist on it. It really was extremely easy and so cute.

I think it was a hit at the party. It was the second cake to go.

So if any of you have a Halloween party this weekend and are in need an easy and cute cake idea try this one.

THE MASTERPIECE

It's Time to BUY PUMPKINS!

We have some really good friends in our ward who are selling pumpkins for a GREAT cause. They have a daughter who wants to be a mother, but can't get pregnant. (I know how she feels)! They are selling pumpkins and giving all of the money to their daughter to adopt a baby.

Now I know all of you are in need of pumpkins for Halloween and this is the best place to get them. They are selling them for 20 cents a pound which is cheaper than most other places. Not only are they cheaper they are a lot better too.

Tommy and I went down on Saturday and bought a couple of them. They have the largest pumpkins, and they are also the prettiest. They are a very bright orange color. Not like anything I have ever seen!

JUST A FEW SAMPLE PICTURES TO GET YOU EXCITED!
SEE HOW ORANGE THEY ARE!

If you want to help you can just get off on the University Parkway exit and turn to the right. Go down the hill to Geneva Road and turn left. Drive down Geneva Road and you will see this set up on the side of they road.

So if you are in need of pumpkins and want to help someone in need at the same time. This is the place to go!

Favorite Things Enrichment

About a month ago I got called to be the Enrichment leader in my ward. When the bishop told me I would be in charge for four big activities a year I didn't think much of it. Little did I know how much work it is.

I got the idea of Favorite Things from Tommy's sister Jen. She told me all about how they did it in their ward and we changed it a little bit. The basic idea is from "Oprah's Favorite Things." Each sister was supposed to bring their "favorite thing" to share so we could get to know them better. The idea was for people to bring something to give to others that was their favorite thing. I met with my committee and shared the idea. They loved it and so we started planning.

I knew that we needed a cute invitation to get people excited about the activity. I also knew we needed to give them some incentive to want to come. Can we say gifts! That always gets people to come out. The planning began...

I enlisted the help of my most creative friend Melanie for some help on the invite. They turned out so cute. Here is what they looked like. Thanks again Melanie I couldn't have done it without you! These were a hit!


My good neighbor Kristin came up with the idea of giving the gable boxes to hold all of the stuff they would get that night. As we were talking we decided it wouldn't be "Oprah's Favorite Things" without gifts. Kristin and I talked to many local business who willingly donated items for our boxes.

Now we had the ideas in place it was time to do the work. I had my committee and the Relief Society Presidency over to my house to help put everything together. Here are some pictures of my most amazing helpers!



Since I work during the day I couldn't help with the decorating so I got some ladies to do it. They decorated using fall leaves, pumpkins, gourds, and best of all "brown paper packages!" So cute!This is what it looked like



Here is what the gift looked like that each person got.


Each person got a one year subscription to LDS Living Magazine, Mary Kay make-up and lotion, scrapbook stuff, a Kara Chocolate truffle, a little girls headband, a sample of perfume, and a coupon for FroYo. Thank You to everyone that donated!
The whole evening was a huge success. We don't usually get a lot of people to come out for Enrichment so we were pleased to have about 50 people there. This was a super fun Enrichment and it was a great way to get to know other sisters in my ward. Our next Enrichment is the beginning of December. I hope that it will be as successful as this one!
I have to give a big thank you to Tommy. He was a support thoughout the whole thing and was there to help anyway he could. I am so lucky to have a husband that is so supportive!

REAL Soccer- THE NEW STADIUM

A couple of months ago Tommy came home from work and was talking about the new REAL soccer stadium in Sandy. I have to be honest- I had heard of the REAL soccer team but that was about all. He told me that Xango sponsors the team and he could get us some tickets. We decided to get 2 tickets for the first game at their new stadium. The day of the game it was extremely cold! If you know me you know I don't like to be cold so I planned accordingly. I was wearing about 5 layers of clothes on the top, a beanie, a hoodie, a fleece, and my winter coat. I also had a blanket to keep my legs warm.
The game was a blast. I had never been to a professional soccer game before so when the players all walked out holding the hands of cute little kids I asked Tommy what the little kids were doing. He told me that all pro soccer teams do that. That is so cute.

The highlight of the evening was when one of the REAL players got kicked in head. The player on the other team was yellow carded by the ref. He didn't like that call and started pushing the ref around. This went on for a little bit and soon he was red carded and was ejected from the game.
Tommy and I don't do things like this much and we really enjoyed it. Unfortunately the game ended in a tie (1 to 1). The stadium is beautiful. There isn't a bad seat in the house. There is only game left this season. If you are looking for a good date night this is one you need try out but you'll have to wait until the new season starts next year.

Safety Week

At my school we celebrated safety week. We celebrate it every year and use this opportunity to teach the children about how to be safe walking or riding their bikes to and from school. This year was an exception! Our wonderful PTA got together and wrote a grant and got a large sum of money to help pull off this event. Most of the money is going to a much needed sidewalk to make the route to school safer for students. The rest of the money was used to pay for the fun activities that happened at our school this week.

Each day of school there was a celebrity crossing guard. The celebrities were Cosmo, Chief (Utah Blaze), and Willy the Wolverine (UVU). The kids absoultly loved it. They all went home with an autograph from the mascots.

Each student was given a new helmet, pedometer, and water bottle to help them to remember to be safe.

All of those things were really fun but the best thing was they had enough money to give away two bikes to every classroom. It was a total of 72 bikes. The students had to turn in a paper signed by them and their parents and then they were entered into the drawing for our class. On Friday we had an assembly to give away the bikes. They called the students' names and had them stand up. I really got emotional as I watched all of these students getting their new bikes. The PTA went above and beyond and bought 12 MORE bikes to give away to those families that really needed it.


Here is a pic of all the bikes. What an amazing sight!

To finish off this event they invited a group of BMX bike riders to come and do a show for the students. They absolutely LOVED this! I took a few pics of some of their cool tricks.


This guy is jumping over the principal!



This is the trick they liked the most... a back flip

Way to go Manila PTA you really made Safety Week a blast!

SAN FRANCISCO TRIP FINALLY!!

Tommy and I went with our neighbors the Palmers on vacation at the beginning of August. You may ask why it is that it has taken so long to post this trip. 1- Vacations take forever to post because there are so many pics and stuff to write about and let's be honest it is kind of overwhelming. 2- I started school the day after we got back and have been dealing with the hustle and bustle of that too. So here is my attempt to getting this vacation posted.

FELLOW BLOGGERS PLEASE FORGIVE I PROMISE TO BE BACK ON TRACK!

This was a much needed vacation for us since we haven't been on vacation since our honeymoon which was almost 4 years ago. We picked Tommy up from work on Friday, Aug. 1st and drove to Lake Tahoe that night. It was about 2 AM when we got there. Tommy and I had never been to Lake Tahoe and woke up to this beautiful sight! We hung around there until lunch and then we were off to San Francisco!


Our Next Stop...

This is not "The Redwood Forest" but it was still completely incredible! These trees have been around for so long. It is extremely hard on camera to really capture how tall and huge these trees are. As we walked through the forest we felt like we were surrounded by giants!

Our Next Stop...

From the mid 1930's until the mid 1960's, Alcatraz was America 's premier maximum-security prison, the final stop for the nation's most incorrigible inmates. Today, Alcatraz is a place of contradictions, with a grim past and an enduring future as one of San Francisco 's most prominent landmarks and tourist attractions. This is a MUST see! As you can see from the photos it was EXTREMELY cold and windy. We took the night tour because the views of the city from Alcatraz were amazing. As we walked down the halls where the inmates walked and spent much of their lives it was a very humbling experience. We learned a lot about many of the high profile inmates and their attempts to escape Alcatraz. We toured the entire facility from the cells, solitary confinement, the library, the mess hall, the gardens, and the workers quarters. One point of great interest to Tommy and I is that even with the hardest of criminals on the island, because of the difficulty and time required to travel back and forth from the city to the island the majority of the employees and their families lived just outside of the compound where the criminals were detained. What a way to grow up, knowing that Al Capone and his buddies are just next door. Alcatraz was eventually closed because the cost of maintaining the facility was too great. How ironic that it is now a major source of revenue for the city of San Francisco with millions of people visiting each year.

Our Next Stop...

As soon as we starting planning the trip Tommy insisted that we go to at least one San Francisco Giants game. He started researching and scored us some amazing seats on the 8th row. It was so cool to be so close. Before the trip we each purchased a SF Giants hat to show our spirit to the team. Although it was a bit chilly (I had to go to the gift store and buy a long sleeve shirt to stay warm) it was a lot of fun. You can see from the photos what a beautiful place AT&T Park is.

GO GIANTS!

The city of San Francisco is a very interesting and fun city. This page just highlights some of the many icons of San Francisco. The first is the trolley cars. I had never been on one of these or seen one except in the TV show Full House. We used these to get just about everywhere. I was a little nervous of the big hills at first and mostly sat on the inside with the other millions of people who wanted to sit and stay warm. I know I am a whimp! Tommy insisted on standing on the edge every time we rode it. I got braver by the end of the trip and so we had to take a picture.

The other pictures that you see are pictures taken from the free glass elevator in a local hotel. Did I say FREE? I swear we rode this almost everyday because the view was breathtaking. At the beginning of the ride it took awhile to get up because of the other people using the elevator. One of our favorite views was of Union Square. This is the "hang out" of SF. There is food, shops, concerts, and a lot of socializing going on there. Once we got to the 32nd floor, we pushed the lobby button and when down very quickly. It was a bit scary. I thought we were going to fall to the ground.

So those of you that think it is a little odd that we took a picture eating ice cream let me explain. Tommy grew up in Las Vegas and grew up eating this dirt cheap ice cream called Thrifty. It was located in the local grocery store. He would pay about 25 cents for a single scoop. WHAT A DEAL! So our wonderful neighbor Kristin grew up in California and spent her childhood eating this ice cream as well. One day before the trip they were talking and somehow got on the topic of ice cream and Thrifty came up. They both were oohing and aahing about how great this ice cream was. Kristin mentioned that there was a Thrifty in SF and that we would have to make the stop. So one afternoon Kristin said that she thought we were close to Thrifty. Tommy said then let's go. Sure enough we found it in a Rite-Aid. I don't think I have every seen Tommy get so excited. He and Kristin were scoping out all their favorite flavors, the cylinder shaped scooper, and best of all the price. $1.50 for a double scoop! We all got ice cream and I have to admit it was pretty good. I think for them it is was about the memories of their childhood.

I know this page is labeled Fisherman's Wharf but not everything was on the wharf. A lot of them were just things that we saw close by Fisherman's Wharf. This was one of our favorite places to be. We went down everyday and saw something new. Of course we had to go and see all of the lazy sea lions. I could watch these crazy animals for hours. They are so entertaining.

As we walked along there were beautiful boats in the harbor. I couldn't resist a picture. Tommy and Boyd were going to go shark fishing, but they couldn't find anyone to take them for a reasonable price. The other pictures on this page are just all of us being calm, cool, and collected. The sunglasses were just too crazy to pass up a picture. The picture of Tommy and I by the face is some sort of art. Pretty interesting but we couldn't pass it up. As we walked through the shops on the wharf Tommy found a furry little friend and started dancing. It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. These two can dance!

The Conservatory of the Flowers was a little ways out of the city but well worth the ride...especially because it was FREE day! This place is just a greenhouse type building that people can walk through. They have thousands of flowers and plants that are unusual and something I have never see before. You need to click on the page and get a closer look at some of these pictures. You will be amazed! Those of you that know Tommy know that he loves this kind of stuff. Needless to say we took a ton of pictures at this place. Check out that leaf that Tommy is getting some shade under...it is HUGE.

At the Conservatory of the Flowers they had an incredible butterfly exhibit. They had real butterflies flying all of the place. They would land on your finger, or on flowers. We spent quite a bit of time completely mesmerized by these little creatures. Upon exiting the exhibit there were many information boards that patrons could read to learn more about the butterflies. I saw this one and just couldn't resist, I knew this would be the highlight of the trip for Tommy! Finally...Tommy's life has been validated.

On the trip from Lake Tahoe to SF our friends had to stop off at a family reunion so we went to see Tommy's Uncle Jessie in Rocklin. One of the things that they told us we must do was to bike the Golden Gate Bridge. We asked repeatedly if it was an easy ride. They assured us they had taken all of the children and it would be something we wouldn't forget.

So we talked to the Palmer's and we all decided it would be a fun thing to do. Now many of you know that exercise it not my thing. All of the walking that we had done in SF previous to this I thought for sure I was ready. We went and picked up our bikes down on Fisherman's Wharf. They gave us our instructions and we were off. We were all excited and ready for a relaxing ride. After uphill, after uphill, after uphill we were ready to be done, but their was one big problem we hadn't made it to the bridge yet. So we forged on. Once we got to the bridge it was really awesome. The walkways were crowded and made it even harder to manuever our bikes but we did it and the view from the bridge was great. Needless to say the way back was a lot better because it was all downhill.

Every big city has their own version of Chinatown. I have to admit this was the real deal. If I wouldn't have known that we were in California I probably would have mistaken it for China. We saw so many Chinese people running these little shops as we walked down the streets listening to Tommy sing "My little China girl" (take a listen in the play list, it's great). We had a lot of fun outside of this one little shop. I swear they were just asking people to stop and dress up with a few minor props and take some wonderful souvenier pictures. Tommy was of course the one who instigated this dress up party. He grabbed the hat first then Boyd joined in with the sword for a wonderful pic. Kristin and I went for something a little more feminine. Don't we look cute?

This was one of my favorite places to see because it was so unbelievable. As you can see from the sign this is a fortune cookie factory. I am not joking these two ladies work in this little alley in Chinatown all day making fortune cookies. So over the years this has become a huge tourist attraction so these ladies got smart. If you wanted to take pictures of them working you had to pay them money. We agreed because this process was so amazing. You need to click on the picture to get a closer look. This is the way the process works. Obviously I am sure they make the batter (we didn't see this part) but they have a little thing that squirts some batter on to each of these little skillets. The batter then hardens as it cooks. The ladies then take the round cookie off the skillet when it is still pliable and adds the fortune and bends the cookie into the normal shape. That is it. We watched it from start to finish. Tommy tried to talk to them throughout the process, but they weren't the most friendly people. What can you expect they are making cookies! When the lady was taking off the round cookie he mentioned that it must be hot. The little Chinese lady said, "VERY HOT! VERY HOT!" After we watched and got the pictures we wanted we decided to buy a few cookies. Tommy handed the lady some money. When the lady took the money we saw the box that she was keeping the money in. It was a mess. There were bills going everywhere. It wasn't a cash register, and get this- She didn't stop working while she took the money. So when she handed Tommy his money it was going all directions and a complete mess. She politely said, "Here yo money." I guess you just had to be there but we laughed about this for hours!

As we walked down the streets of SF we saw some very interesting sights. I took pictures of the best ones.

We saw the person with the rolled down blue socks. How weird you don't see that anymore. This was Tommy's favorite because he loves to do this to little babies and kids socks when he around them. Never thought we would see a grown person do it on purpose.

We saw the afro guy enjoying his lunch while we were walking along the street. I just couldn't resist this. I made Tommy stand by the building so it looked like I was taking his picture. Tricky huh?

We saw the Chinese lady in the yellow coat at the zoo. Wait is she wearing anything but that yellow coat? Check out how bow legged she is.

The rest of these pictures are all of citizens of SF trying to make a little extra cash. They knew the high traffic areas and I think they were pulling in more money than most of us working people. Is is a little extra cash or a career?

We saw this Chinese lady several times around the city. She walks around with a big bag and big long tongs that you use to cook with. She goes around to the different trash cans and fishes out items of trash that can be recycled. She turns in the trash for cash. A little different take on dumpster diving right?

The guy in the red sweatshirt is a painter. He and his buddies are on the wharf all day and night. They have the most amazing talent. They use spray paint and create the most unusual pictures of the city. If you click on the picture you can get a little better idea of what I am talking about.

The two silver guys were some of our favorite. They had their boomboxes and were dancing like robots. I have to admit they had some pretty good moves. Also check out their killer outfits. I was taking some pictures of the guy on the bottom right and he saw me and motioned for me to come to him. I went and he was kind enough to pose for a picture. Too bad it didn't turn out.

The last guy was by far the funniest. As you can see from his picture he looks like a glorified bum. I think we are mistaken because I watched so many people give him money. He was incredible on the banjo. He was singing and playing and all of a sudden his string broke. He took a short break to fix it and he was singing again in no time. Get this the name of his "band" was Spare Change!"

This National Park was amazing. When we got there we went to see the "Giant Sequoias" first. We hiked to the Grizzly Giant. It was a BIG tree. We hiked a little further and we found a tree that you could drive a stagecoach through. It was amazing. The pictures that we took don't do it justice...THEY ARE HUGE and very incredible.

The views in Yosemite were amazing. The most famous landmarks there are these mountains. They are called El Capitan and Half Dome. Kristin has climbed Half Dome before. She said it was an amazing experience. It wasn't an easy trip, but really cool to be able to tell people that you have hiked all the way to the top! Way to go Kristin.

As you can tell we had an incredible vacation. We want to thank Boyd and Kristin for taking us under their wing on this beautiful adventure. They have a timeshare and hooked us up big time. We would never have been able to afford it without them. Not only did they help us out by hooking us up with a place to stay they showed us some amazing sights. We couldn't have naviagated this beautiful place without them. Thanks again Boyd and Kristin. YOU ARE THE BEST!