October.

Beck got mini pumpkins.

He loved them.

College Game Day came to Provo. We went, but we did not sleep in a tent in the rain.

Mal & Jadi had their baby boy, Sawyer. He's so cute.

I made some cupcakes for Casey's work. Click here to see more things like it.

We took Beck to Omniture's famous Halloween Party...Each department has a different theme. Casey's was the Simpson's - he was Snake (don't ask me...I don't really know much about that show...my Mom would never let me watch it tee hee!) I was a pixie - my dept was Peter Pan and I was from Neverland.

Beck was Max...yes, I made the costume...with a little help from some friends....but entirely my own design. If you were wondering Where the Wild Things were on Halloween, you could have called me.

Halloween morning, we went to our nephew Jake's playoff football game. We won, and we cheered so loud that Beck cried a few times, our throats were hoarse, and our feet were sore from stomping. Great game.

I made more cupcakes...they're mummies. I made a cake, too, but you'll have to click here to find it on my Food Blog.

Beck was exhausted after his "wild rumpus".

A Dog is a Little Man's Best Friend

Friday the 13th

I have a history of having NO LUCK. I've never so much as won a game of bingo in elementary school. I did win a mug on my brother in law's blog drawing once, but I think there were less names in that hat than there were in my class when we played bingo.

Occasionally, the wind will blow in a certain direction, drawing black cats in my direction. I'll wake up to find that it's Friday the 13th, knock over the salt when making my oatmeal, step out my door on a crack, only to look up and find that I'm standing under a ladder because the HOA just happened to decide to clean the gutters over my house at that moment. Okay, so those things didn't quite happen to me, but mainly because I've yet to go outside. But that doesn't mean that things are going my way.

Already this morning, the dog threw up on the floor and I found a hole in the bottom of my slipper. I took a bite of my "fresh" muffin I bought from Costco last night (the giant, delicious ones) and it tasted like expired foods smell....they're brand new! The baby smeared his oatmeal covered face on my sleeve and decided to make TWO stinky diapers before 9am. I have errands to run today, but I am so very tempted to just stay inside, where I can keep my "accidents" to a minimum, and hope that nothing major happens, like the roof caving in on my head.

I have my mother to thank for my minimal luck - she is just as clumsy as I am. Oh, and she named me Mallory, which happens to be Old French for "unlucky". I first learned this when I was a teenager, and it then explained why, no matter how many times I called the radio station, I was never caller 7. Now, I just don't even try.

So, as I venture out this "freaky Friday", please cross your fingers and hold onto your rabbit's foot, and hope that something "unfortunate" doesn't happen to the woman who can't win.

Today

HE woke up half past seven this morning. I think I'd forgotten what his face looked like. That's what happens when you're in love with someone, you know. I opened the door to his room to see large brown eyes staring in my direction. He raised his arms towards me and indistinctly cried out maaaam... If it is possible, he was even more beautiful than I remembered him to be.

This afternoon, standing in line at the grocery store, I bounced my tired boy in my arms. They were beginng to feel weak from carrying him throughout the market. Then, he discovered my eyelashes.

I smiled at the thought...of his innocence, his naivety, his curiosity.

He smiles when he sees me. He likes to play with my rice spoons...we had a pretty good day.

Food Blog

I LOVE food. Even more so, I love to make food. I have always had a passion for creating culinary masterpieces and have, many times, called my family to tell them what I was eating. We have also, on even more occasions, taken photos of the food we are eating, were eating on vacation, or even at really good restaurants. On a number of these occurrences, I have thought to myself (and maybe said aloud) "I can make this!" or "I can make this better than they can!" While I don't mean to sound holier than thou, I do think that to myself. I just know that at some point, no matter what it is I've eaten, or where it is, someone was cooking in their kitchen at home one day and created it. I have started doing this so much, that I decided to create a separate blog for them. To access this blog, you can click on my profile, or use the link below:

I love food.

Blue Balloon

Ooooh, how I love this weather! I turned on my heater. Beck is now wearing jackets, and as long as he has a balloon tied to his wrist (and in a death grip between his tiny fingers), he will keep is socks on. There is no guarantee about the pants....I have yet to get that magic trick on video, but somehow, he's already figure that out.

I did, however, record his head shaking, oh, and him eating some toast. So, here is my son, munching on some toast. Don't expect a point, there isn't one.

It is very strange having a child...I really could (and often do) just watch him all day. I am fascinated by him, his thought process, his advancements- he loves to be kissed. He won't kiss back, but he will slam his forehead into my face to receive them. This has resulted in numerous fat lips (for me) and goose eggs (for him) when he misses my face and hits his head on a table, for example. He gives the BEST hugs. He wraps his little arms as tight on my shoulders as he can, squeezes with all his might, even letting out a little grunt, and kicks his legs with effort. The BEST.

Yesterday was Jennie's actual birthday, so Beck and I went to visit her at work with some lovely pink balloons and a little tiara that said "Happy Birthday" and sparkled in the most birthday-like way that could come from party store quality. Beck was adorned with his very own festive birthday cone hat, covered in little monkeys. He was also very excited about Jennie's balloons, so naturally, I decided to get him a little blue one of his own. He loved it.

Jennie and I took a little walk through Downtown Provo during her lunch break (which was actually around 2:30pm) and then Casey joined us for blackberry lemonade and glazed pumpkin bagel bites in front of Einstein Bagel (which he described, in texture, as eating a band-aid, but then proceeded to devour). It was the perfect weather for a stroll down Center Street.

Later in the eve, Jennie and I had dinner with Ashlyn to celebrate Jennie's 23rd. On the way home, Jennie and I enjoyed Starbucks, and then watched a hilarious web video about a boy whose mother cancelled his World of Warcraft account...followed by an episode of 'My Fair Wedding', in which totally trashy weddings get re-vamped by a pro. It's awesome.

Myself and Beck, during dinner- still gripping that balloon.

Us girls, and Beck!

Cheese!!!!

Happy Birthday, Jennie!

I have also been realizing just how much my son is looking more and more like his Uncle Trent (my little brother) who is on a mission. Trent and I were in high school together for one year, my senior year/his freshman, and people used to ask us if we were twins (apparently because we were the same height, that means we're the same age and either I'm a genius, or he's really stupid to be 4 grades apart), so I guess Trent and I look a lot a like. I miss him. Seeing Beck look so much like him makes me miss him even more. He's a great brother.

Beck, waving for the camera.

Myself and my little bro waaay back in the day, at an EFY dance, I think. Perhaps Summer of '03?

There have been a lot of firsts in the last nine months, as everything we do is basically Beck's first time to do it. On Monday, we're going to pick out pumpkins. Last night, we let Beck taste a little lemon.

I still miss Oklahoma.

There's Snow on the Mountains....

It's not supposed to do that till Winter, but here we are snowing in Autumn anyway. Did I mention that this is my favorite season? I don't think I could ever get tired of Fall - it's the perfect time of year, and sadly, the shortest here in Utah.

So, I have lost my camera battery charger. Sadly, it is a special square Canon battery and of course, all the stores where it's less than $50, they're all out of stock, probably forever. I am in search of the battery charger. In the mean time, I have no pictures. I will keep you posted.

As usual, we've been doing a lot of things with Jennie, so she can take pics for us! We definitely love Jennie. So much, I'm going to make Trent marry her when he comes home from his mission. Arranged marriages are related to our culture, aren't they?

A couple of things we did with Jennie recently - we went to the State Fair. Jennie and I really like fried Oreos. I think the only thing that could have made them any better for her would be if the cream filling in the Oreos was orange for Halloween. Otherwise, they were delicious. We also saw a bear show while we were there, even though we missed the alligator show. That is two fairs in a row that we missed the alligator. Next year, I guess! I'm also going to be skinnier next year, so I can eat two orders of Oreos, and perhaps a deep fried cheesecake slice. I love food.

Beck and me at the fair - this bird cracks me up - I didn't know he was there when we took the picture.

I am sure he's thinking "I wont that" in his mid-western Oklahoma accent.

A few weeks after that, which just happens to be this past Saturday night, we celebrated Jennie's 23rd birthday. Her actual birthday is this coming Friday, the 2nd...but Jennie likes to celebrate for a whole week. Who wouldn't? I made the cake...it looks something like this....this is actually it.

My cake.

Me and my cake! I'm very proud of the way it turned out. It wasn't an easy project.

Jennie and her birthday cake! Poor Beck, it was waaaaay past his bedtime. He was a trooper to be up so late!

Us girls (and of course, Beck)

(from left, Jennie, Jessica & Me)

Jennie, the birthday girl! She looked super hot in her pink dress (everyone else wore black and white).

The party was complete with 'Mocktails' - the non-alcoholic version of cocktails...and even my dear husband as bartender. He's a good sport, too. Sadly, Jennie's camera ran out of space, so we didn't get a pic of him mixing drinks - next time...because I think we'll have to do it a next time! For the party, I did provide my chocolate fountain and we had a delicious arrangement of pink (strawberry) marshmallows, some fruit, pretzels and some candy to boot. It was a pretty stinkin' great time.

Jennie and I also took a cake class, of which, you saw my first cake in my last post. I took pictures on my phone of my other cakes, but I haven't uploaded them to the computer yet. They all turned out pretty cute - we learned how to make a number of different flowers, including roses, and borders. I did take some liberties with Jennie's birthday cake, though - I made fondant, which is not in our class, and I piped the bottom tier of my own accord. It turned out a little more swanky than I would have liked-which was more my personality coming out of the end of the piping bag. I wanted it to be a little more dainty and girly - because that is a little more Jennie...and it was her birthday party, after all. So, I'm working on that...my next big cake will be for Uncle Jeff's chili party on Halloween. I'm open for ideas...I have a few already - what are yours?

I have also decided that I am going to paint my entire downstairs in the next few months. We bought a desk that won't fit up our stairs, so we had to put it downstairs and it throws off my whole color scheme. Besides, I am enjoying my creative experiments. Now I just need some swatches.