Enter October

My favorite time of year – fall is here!  October – December are my absolute favorite.  We started off the new season with a crazy week.  Here is the breakdown:

Monday night I met up with some girls in our neighborhood to say goodbye to a neighbor and friend.  We met at Orange Leaf for some frozen yogurt.  I am going to miss Ashley so much!

Tuesday we met up with Zach’s family at the Salt Lake Temple to be a part of the sealing of my newest nephew, Will.  It was so special, and I’m so glad that he is stuck with us forever!  In true Henderson form, we met for dinner afterwards.  We grubbed at PF Changs with near 30 people.  Which means 8 orders of lettuce wraps.  Congrats to Lori and Trav, you have such a beautiful family!

Yes, this little guy is only 6 months old…[notice his kicks!]

His sisters were so darling in their white outfits!

Wednesday Zach and I decided to have a night out.  We went out to dinner and then rushed to catch a late movie – turns out nobody goes to movies on Wednesday nights…there were four people in the entire theater.

Thursday, HAZMAT was sent to our office to clean up the fortress on top of our fire escape.  Apparently a homeless man had made a cardboard structure up there and had made the place his home.  The crew was sent to clean up his….waste.  Pretty gnarly up there, that structure.  I kind of feel bad for the poor guy – he builds this killer home out of cardboard, probably wasn’t bothered one bit on our fire escape, had the shade of a giant tree…and then the po-lice came and ruined everything.

Speaking of work, we are pretty short handed in the design department around here.  I have been working like a mad woman to get all of our upcoming and perspective projects going.  My computers weren’t rendering as fast as I needed them to, so my boss upgraded me a machine so I could have four screens and render more efficiently.  We have named my office Quatro – I feel like Bruce Wayne in my high tech lair.  I’ve got a 42″ TV, a 24″ monitor, my 15″ lappy, and my original 32″ monitor.  One of those screens was used to watch Downton Abbey Season 3 while at work [thank you Melinda!!!] but my boss doesn’t care what I do or watch during work as long as I get my shizzle done.

Thursday night was the Utah vs. USC football game.  We had a great time with our friends and family, and even though the Utes didn’t win…I would say we still gave a them a pretty good show!

Friday after work, because we didn’t have a big enough dose of football already, we attended the USU vs. BYU game down in Provo.  I love to think that Zach really wanted to support the Aggies with me, but truth be told…I think he would go to any game opposing BYU and enjoy it.  He did, however, wear Aggie gear with me.

We made the journey down to Provo and couldn’t believe the traffic!

It was my first time in Cougar Stadium.  At half time Zach and I made our way to the concessions.  He got a Cougar Dog and I ordered a Diet Coke.  In all seriousness, I had no idea they only sold caffeine free beverages.  That did not bode well with me.  I asked if they had any regular Diet Coke and was pretty dramatic.  They all laughed in unison.  I thought I was being punk’d.

Needless to say, we both left the stadium dissapointed.  The Aggies lost by 3 points and I went without a DC for nearly 3 hours.

Saturday was much needed – we spent the day watching the sessions of Conference and getting a lot done at home.

I had my first experience with fresh, homemade peanut butter.  Why is everything homemade 10x better than store bought?

I finally put up our Halloween Decor.

This year we have a few new additions.  Pretty sure this thingy used to be a fondue server, but I spray painted it black and made it a “cauldron”…kind of.

I also completed a little Halloween DIY project I have wanted to do – a monogram pumpkin.  Probably the easiest Halloween craft on earth.

Later that evening, Zach set off for the Preisthood Session of Conference and I drove down to Taylorsville for a long time friend and USU roommate’s surprise birthday party.  Her sweet husband put everything together for her!  It was great to see some old friends and celebrate Kelli’s [belated] Birthday!

After the party I met up with some ladies in my family to do a Girls’ Night since all the men were still at Conference.

We dined at Applebee’s and then went to our “activity”.  My cousin Cassidy and I planned it and kept it a secret from my mother.  I knew that if she found out we were going to a Haunted House she would refuse to go.  As we pulled up, she had a mini spaz attack, but agreed to go in with us.  We went to the Castle of Chaos in Taylorsville.  After waiting in line amongst some pre-teens and high school sweethearts, we finally entered into the attraction.  My mother…screamed the entire time!  As we would make our way into each new segment of the house, she would duck/hide/burrow behind me.  The four of us held hands the entire time and I actually kicked one of the spooky empolyees.  The highlight was in the “insane asylum” portion, where we had to take a break in the corner because we were laughing so hard we though my mom would pee her pants.

After we exited, we made our way to Leatherby’s for some dessert.

 My mom always orders extra hot fudge, consumes the entire thing…and then gets on a crazy sugar high.

For example – we decided to stop at Harmon’s for some last minute purchases before returning home.  She started to get fussy.  She usually goes to be around 10, so it was way past her bed time.  She said she was “exhausted” and “didn’t want to walk anymore”.  So Cassidy, my Aunt, and I set off to get our items.  Two seconds later, she comes zooming down the aisle, laughing so hard she had tears streaming down her face…in this:

And Zach wonders where I get my “personality”….

 The remainder of the weekend was spent watching more sessions of conference, eating a delicous Sunday dinner at my Aunt’s house, and visiting with family and friends.

Conference was amazing.  It is by far the best way to offically kick-off the fall season!

The Aviator vs. The Fancy Dancer

As told in my previous post, Zach and I have three trees in our house this year.  I find it ironic that we didn’t have a single tree last year, and now we have triple the amount.  When Zach asked if I wanted him to put up Christmas lights this year, I told him not worry about it.  So maybe that means that next year we will look like the house from Chevy Chase’s Christmas Vacation?  We’ll see.

Basically it came down to this:  there are so many beautiful Christmas trees out there and I couldn’t decide which one I wanted.  So I did a formal tree in the front living room of our home, which my boss has nicknamed “Fancy Dancer”.  Zach was worried when I pulled out giant gold sticks and hung ornaments from gold chain…but he has acclimated to the tree now.  I feel as though I was pressured by society to do a fancy tree.  Which led to my DIY decorating of trees.

Naturally, Zach and I are more modern, so hence came our third “tree”.  Zach’s mom used to decorate a San Francisco 49er themed tree for him when he was young, and this year I made him a tree of his very own.  It has been nicknamed “The Aviatior”.  I guess it’s not really a “tree”, but Zach loves it.

It’s got his planes, helicopters, and skateboards (because you technically can fly on a skateboard).  Not only are we all tree’d out this year, but we also have stockings!  Yes, last year I just laid stuff near the fireplace that was meant to go in our stockings.

They are kinda weird, but so are we…so it fits pretty perfectly.  AND…we are actually sending out Christmas cards this year (for the very first time in the three years we have been married).  So for us, this Christmas is pretty legit already.

Back To Life – Back To Reality

It’s official:  New York in the fall is heavenly. We’ve only been at Christmas time and once in the summer, and I must say this is by far the best trip to the city we’ve ever had!  Now it’s back home, back to work, and back to real life.  Our flight didn’t get in from JFK until 2:00 am this morning (typical – the only thing I don’t love about this city is their horrible municipal airport!)  But when we did arrive home, it did seem a little more cheery to see our Christmas decor all set up.  Only a few more ornaments on the other trees and a bit of spray paint and I’m all set for the Christmas season!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!!

The Creepy Neighbors

Zach really wasn’t bugged with any of my strange Halloween Decor until he came home and saw the bottles of “Freshly Extracted Nails” and “Maiden’s Hair” on the dining room table.  Now I have a strange decorating blog.

“Is that REAL HAIR KATIE!?” Even after I told him it was fake hair from my Snookie costume last year, he didn’t feel right about it.  So last night I turned off the flickering candles in the window and decided to play it cool until it is a little later on in the Holiday Season.  I think Zach finally understands my obsession with Halloween and he wants to protect me from looking like the Wicked Witch of the west.

Too late, I guess? The flickering candles in the window were a little much, I do admit…

Justifying

Well…

I made it until Sep. 24th.  Does that count?  I realize it is not even October yet, but I don’t care.  Zach came home from hockey and said, “Wow, our house looks SPOOKY!”  Translation:  “Honestly Katie, crow feathers?”

Yes.  Crow feathers.

It’s officially the Henderson Haunted House.

V-Day Decor

Why does all this amazing V-Day stuff come out of the woodwork…when Valentines’ is on MONDAY! ?

Regardless…I am going to be prepared for next V-Day for sure.

The last picture, the stamp with the lips….$55 and it’s not even YOUR lips?  Wouldn’t it be cool to scan  your ACTUAL lip prints and take them to the rubber stamp store and make one for yourself for $12?  I’m doing it.  You want one?  Scan your smooch…haha!