Thanksgiving

Assuming everyone is able to make it home to Florida for thanksgiving, we thought it would be a good idea to do a family pictures since the Woods have not been all together for over five years and the one family picture I do have is really cute but old!!

I wanted to prepare everyone for this event, because it will be an event I will make sure of that! I thought it would be fun to coordinate at least a little since the very well could be the only family picture for another 5 years!!

Mom suggested a park near the house as a good setting, and she is going to talk to some friends that might be able to take the pictures for us.

My thoughts were to get input into the coordination part so that people can bring the proper attire, if necessary.

I scrounged up some examples from the internet to get your feed back on colors or if you think it would be best to not coordinate that much... of course we could just go with the Hawaiian shirt theme and make it a tradition...

Mandy's blog

Sorry to anyone that tried to go to Mandy's blog yesterday and got really confused like I did! She gave me the wrong address! IT has now been updated and you can check it out at your leisure. Now you just need to post on it Mandy!

Our Newest Addition to the Family

Scott and I decided to take the plunge and bring my 3 year old dog Sydney to come and live with us. We've been watching a lot of the "Dog Whisperer" lately so we already feel like we're professional dog trainers. She's learned how to walk on a leash and sits before and after going out for a walk or to potty. Scott also likes to take her roller blading and we think she likes it too....well...you can watch the video and judge for yourself:




And we play all kinds of games with her...fetch, tug of war, and - our personal favorite - The Wheelbarrow Dog:




Sorry that it's sideways....oops...

We love her. Lots.

My Temple trips

I got to go to the Washington D.C. Temple one morning before work. Traffic was worse than I expected so I was late in arriving and in leaving but I got to do initiatories and it was a great experience. I was reminded of the importance of serving. This is a picture I took right as I was leaving.

Kevin Valverde, one of my best friends, described seeing the Temple from the highway to me. He told me that as you come around a bend in the interstate you look straight ahead and see the Temple almost floating on the trees. Kevin said that it is as if you see your fantasy in the sky right before your eyes.

On the Sunday before I went to the Temple I accidentally got lost as I was coming home from church when the tank of gas was almost empty. I wasn't sure if I was going to make it home and was driving on that road. At one particular point I felt desperate and frustrated I came around that bend in the road and saw the Temple towering before my view. A peace settled in and I felt that I was on the right path and that the tank would get me back home. I did. It was amazing for me.
Later that same week, on Saturday actually, my roommates and I went to the Temple together and we got to do endowments. As I got to the Celestial room I thought of Mom and Dad and how, almost exactly 29 years ago, they were walking through that same room together. My thoughts and feelings dwelt and returned to our family several times while I was there. I thought of my mission as well and the people there. We got out rather late, so this is a picture of the Temple at night.
This is a picture of me at the Temple at night. My camera has no flash, but I still felt like I was beaming.Well hey, I hope all of you are doing great. I love you!

Pictures of Clarke...

All right...this is Clarke. Have fun...

Life in Rexburg...

This is Janelle Gutierrez one of my roommates from the beginning of the semester at the summer formal dance. Together we make a Christmas tree...

This is me, Meagan, and Liz Foster getting ready to go for a run.

That's right! This is me getting to the top of the rock!!! It was so hard but such a rush! And I did it!!! Woot woot!

This is me, Meagan, and Bonny O'Connor going rock climbing with some local Rexburg boys. We were all hard core that day! It was such fun!
This is Corey Brassard, one of my FHE brothers and my tender Katie Buckley. Both people are great and way fun!
This is Meagan Sly, one of my closest buddies out here. She is just wonderful in every way!!!

First I feel like I need to say sorry to Emily for not keeping on top of this whole blogging thing...life has been busy lately so I haven't felt like I've had the time to really update with everything going on. And for the record I think it's a great idea...but I have a little bit of time right now, so I thought I'd give a really quick update with what's going on with me.

This past semester I've had the chance to be a part of Savior of the World which is a presentation of the Savior's birth and His resurrection. It's been one of the longest rehearsal schedules I've participated in and it's been stressful and really difficult at times, but it has also been one of those things that is worth it all! This week are the performances and it's so great to be able to share this with an actual audience. It's been a really incredible experience to be part of...I've learned a lot about not only acting and performing but also about the Savior. The way certain scenes are depicted it brings a really interesting new light to how I feel about the church and the Savior. Pretty much...the church is true!

Um...also...just so ya'll know...as a result of being part of this production, I met a really great guy and we started dating...which is pretty fun! I also owe a lot of my dating growth or comfort level to Emily, so thanks for all those hours talking about it with me! :) But...um...his name is Clarke. He's from Texas. He's a business major and he's really sweet. I don't know what all you want to or need to know about him...if you want pictures I think I can come up with some, but I wasn't sure...so yeah!

The semester is almost over (YAY!!!) and I can't wait. It's been a semester filled with lots of new experiences and chances to grow and learn more about everything. I've been blessed in so many ways because of where I'm at and who I've been able to surround myself with. Right now my plans are to move back home for the fall and work...I don't know where yet, but I'll figure all that out when I get there. I'm so excited about the future right now. Things have certainly been hard this semester, but I also have learned to appreciate the struggle even if I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel right away. Okay...I think that's about it for me. I hope you are all doing well! Here's just a few pictures of what I've been up to lately...hope you are all well!

Yummy Cakes!

I've had the opportunity to make a couple cakes in the past few months and thought I would share. The first cake that I made was for a friend's wedding. It was a nightmare because I had not made a cake in almost a year, plus it was the week after Scott and I got back from our Honeymoon so we were still unpacking. Needless to say, I got it finished and the end result was great. This is the biggest cake that I've made thus far, so I was pleased that it stood straight and flat.

The design was a four tiered cake, white fondant, with scrolling around the top. The inside was chocolate cake with buttercream icing. mmmmm.......Yummy!

I may look happy making the cake. But this is really how I felt:

Close up of the design detail: Final Product!

Yup, that's one good looking cake.

I also made a belated birthday cake for Tavy. Probably a bit over the top for an 8 year-old, but honestly, I was looking for an excuse to get creative. I hope that Tavy liked it, I made it just for him.

Well, look at that! A thumbs up!

And a close up:

Originally I was going to put up instructions complete with pictures showing how I made Tavy's cake. I even uploaded all of the pictures off of the camera last night and put them onto my jump drive....well, I thought I did. I got into work today and saw that all of them were not on there even though I'm almost positive I made sure they were. Oh well, I figure that if anybody really wants to see how the cake was made they would speak up and then I would find some personal time at home to do this sort of thing.