Murder Mystery Party

 We are huge fans of Murder Mystery Parties.  We found this one at the local Flea Market here in Ashton for a whoppin' FIFTY CENTS!

The Watersdown Mansion

Set in England

We had a great time attempting British accents.

We invited three other couples and the night was a success!

Prosper Alvin Bates, Esquire -- Luke 

Dame Allison Bigh -- Rachel 

Her an Authoress getting more ideas for her next book, "The Knife" and he a friend who golfs with him, also we found out his illegitimate son!

 Andrew - Dr. Malcolm K.T. Praktiss

 The deceased's doctor 

Margie - Eiaguielle R. Aminmund

 The deceased's secretary

Donald J. Brooks—Andrew S.

A City Banker and the deceased's nephew.
Florence Wing Brooks – Morgan
The wife of Donald J. Brooks and the heiress to the fortune of The Earl and Lady Wing.

 Keith and April Morse-  Roger S.B. Astird & Miranda T. Shetes

He also an illigitimate son and her an "actress".

Figuring things out throughout the night!

Reading our information for Round 2!

For the food we ate some good stuff.

Appetizer - Spinach dip and bread made by Morgan

Salad - Ceaser Salad made by April

Main Course - Meatloaf and Roasted Potatoes made by Margie

Dessert - Chocolate pie with Milky Way inside - made by the Erickson's

 So who do you think the murderer was? Yeah it was this guy!

The whole group!!!!  

What a fun night! 

Sunday Drivers

 

Sometimes Andrew and I like to just drive around on Sundays!!

I suppose you could call us, Sunday Drivers!

But when you're surrounded with the beauty we have around us.....

 

I'm pretty sure you would be.....

a Sunday Driver too!

Dinner for My Love

 While Andrew was at Priesthood Session I was at home making dinner for him when he got home!  I put a bed of lettuce down with fajita seasoned chicken on top.   Then I put some diced tomatoes mixed with rotell on top of that.  It was all finished off with sautéed onions, sour cream, and some chutney that Andrew's mom gave us!  It was delicious.

I was way excited for the drinks.  I took some strawberries, sliced them up and put them in Sprite.  I let it sit there for a while.  This made the strawberry flavor seep into the soda!  Also quite delicious!!!

I must say, I love my Andrew!

Yummy Zucchini Soup

A little taste of Fall right in a bowl!
This is what I call YUMMY!
Zucchini Soup with potatoes, carrots, onions and deliciousness!
9 grain bread from Bountiful Basket!
Talk about GOOD!

Basket 411

Are you getting your Bountiful Basket?  If not, you totally should!  Hopefully it is available to you where you live.  If you are getting your Bountiful Basket, you definitely need to got check out THIS blog.  I love it.  It shows you recipes you can do with the basket of that week.  Basket 411 is definitely MY friend!!!

Here's to eating more fruits and veggies!

 

Check out that shirt! 

It is one of my favorites.

I picked it up at Goodwill

when I was in college.

That means I have had it for

ELEVEN YEARS!

At first it was in my dress up box,

and then I realized,

"Uh, hello it is a pretty good lookin' shirt!"

I started to wear it!

It became one of my favorites!

Well, with time all clothes start to wear DOWN.

As was the case with this beauty.

I didn't have the heart to throw it away.

So, I made it into this.....

A PILLOW!

Now I can keep it with me always.

 I laid out the shirt and decided where I wanted to cut. 

To make it easy, I just cut across the middle.

That meant I had two less seams to make.

(Or so I thought)

 I ended up having to cut off one of the ends because

it was laying right.

That is all good.  

Everything turned out just right.

I sewed it all up and stuffed it with some stuffing.

And now I have a NEW throw pillow that looks

extremely nice in our BEDROOM!

See....

Doesn't it just fit in so wonderfully?

I love it!

So glad I thought to do it.

Maybe you should make a pillow out of one of your shirts!

Conference Weekend Traditions

 

What about this plate of goodness?

How about some sweet potato pancakes and apple cider syrup?

A Conference weekend tradition I started up about 4 years ago.

Thanks Ariana for the recipe!

We eat this Saturday morning before the first session.

We have friends over.

Once we have our own kids, they will look forward to Conference Saturday morning

Wouldn't you???

PS:  What do you think of my picture taking skills.
I posed the pictures and everything!
I am trying to take really creative pics!
How did I do?

I also started a new tradition with my note taking a year ago.  The first time I wrote it on paper and this time, I took notes in my Microsoft Word and then went back and took out something from each talk that would summarize the whole talk.  Some talks I picked out a few!  Then I went and put them all together in a fun way.  This way I can just look at it and see the main things that I got out of conference.  Did you get any of this out of conference?  What else did you get out of it?  What are some of your conference weekend traditions?  Please share!  I would love to know!  

Here's to the next 6 months!

A Fall Craft

A little bit of Ashton inside of our home.

We like it!
We love it!
We  have it!

All we did was went out to fields that were already harvested and grabbed the wheat that the combine didn't pick up.  Brought it home, put it in a vase and tied a bow around it.

So Easy.

So Beautiful.

So FALL!

The Garage is Clean

I suppose you could say that Andrew and I have slacked off a bit when it came to keeping our garage clean.  This may be something that you do not know about me, but I can't stand an unorganized garage.  Even though mine always ends up that way.  But, as soon as I can, I get out and clean it right up!  I have two weeks off as of right now, so that we can harvest potatoes up here in Ashton, Idaho.  I had a To-do list.  Of things that I needed to get done...the Garage was most definitely on that list!  And I am sure you can see why after looking at these pictures.

  Before

 After

 Before

 After

 Before

After

What do ya think? 

Wanna come stay in our garage?

It is pretty nice!

 

Weekend in Provo

This is my youngest brother Richie!  Any ladies out there SINGLE? 
Cuz, so is he!  

He is gradumicating from BYU this year in Theater Arts.
This semester is a pretty big one for him.
He directed a play..Boeing Boeing
He is a STAR in another play...you might have heard of it...
ROMEO AND JULIET!
That's right, my bro...is totally ROMEO!
Two weeks ago, I headed down to Provo all by my lonesome.
Andrew had to stay home to go to school.
I left Wednesday night and did not come back until Saturday afternoon.
It was a great weekend with my parents, Harvey and of course RIcHIE!

I picked up my parents from the airport Wednesday night.
Headed to Provo. We stayed in the Residence Inn! 
Mom calls it her, "HOME AWAY FROM HOME!"
They have been staying in that hotel ever since my
older brother and sister went to BYU 12 years ago.
They were so kind to let me stay with them.
All I had to be was their Chauffer. 

I figure they did it for me all those years. 

I might want to return the favor.

Thursday was spent in the theater practically the WHOLE day!
We went to Richie's Improv class.
Unfortunately, it was not Whose Line is It Anyway improv.
We survived it though.
Then it was set up the set for the play.
Three shows of Boeing Boeing.
Which was totally fine by me, because that show was HILARIOUS!!!!!

I was so proud of my bro!

He is such a great director.
Out to dinner at Zuppa's!
If you have one of those close to you GO THERE!!!!!!  It is delicious!
Then back to the theater for Taming of the Shrew.  Great show as well.

Playing games at Richie's!

I won Mystery at the Abbey!

Friday was spent shopping in the BYU Bookstore.
My parents bought me a Nativity for the year. Love it!
Lunch at JDawgs.  Gosh those are some good DAWGS!
Romeo and Juliet Rehearsals

They did the death scene.

It was pretty SAD!  We cried!

Hanging out at the Hotel.
HAIRSPRAY at the Scera Theater.
AMAZING SHOW!

Watching the Spelling Bee show Richie was in last semester.

That show MAKES me laugh!

Saturday morning hanging and packing
Saturday afternoon, drop off Mom and Dad at the airport.

Head home to my love--ANDREW!

 Improv Class

One of the parents of one of my students
from when I taught in Provo was in this class.

It was great to see her.

 Did I mention that Richie's face is plastered on the wall
in the HFAC on the BYU campus. 
Yep, he is advertising Babe, the Sheep Pig. 
He is not in the show, just advertising it.

 That'll do Pig!

 My Dad!  I LOVE HIM!

 I am picking his nose!

 Richie being Director-ish! 
After each show he would discuss things with the audience.

 YEA for the Allen family! 
I taught Caleb 5th grade. 
He is now a Freshman!

 Yea for seeing JEN!!!!!

 My brother has a giraffe named, Lil' G. 
He takes him everywhere he goes and takes pictures of him
and then makes a blog out of it. 
You can follow it HERE. 
Here he is taking pics of Lil' G with his friend Michelle.

 Harvey got a HUGE car for his rental. 
We all thought it was pretty hilarious. 
Check out how happy my Dad is!! 
I just LOVE my family.  LOVE THEM!

 Mom and Rich eating at JDawgs.

 Love this place!

 Rehearsing the death scene in Romeo and Juliet.  
They did such an amazing job. 
They had me in tears and this was just a rehearsal.

 The Rich-man in his HOME!  The HFAC!

 Yea!  We are going to see Hairspray.
I told Richie to go pose in front of that sign. 
This is what he came up with. 
Which is exactly what I would have done had I been
asked to pose in front of the sign. 
We thought it was in the Uminski blood to pose like this. 

 We asked Dad to come and pose in front of the sign.....

 This is what he did. 
I guess it isn't in the blood. 
Unless it came from my Mom's side!

 Yea!  I got to take pics with all of the actors and actresses.
They were just so good.
Richie is friends with the girl who played
Tracy and the guy who played Link. 
I felt so important walking around with my brother. 
I did know two people in the play. 
My friend (second pic down on right) and my other friend, bottom pic on right.

 

Dropping off the parentals at the Airport. 

Sad.  It was such a great weekend.

See you in November Mom and Dad.