Life has been busy for the Alston's this month! At the beginning of November, Jon joined a co-ed indoor soccer league with our friends from the ward.
I am really terrible at sports I really didn't want to put everyone to shame with my mad skills, so I decided to sit out this season and support Jon from the sidelines :) One Saturday morning we went without our hot chocolate and cartoons to practice at a nearby park.
The day was amazing! Margo took advantage of the sunny grass and napped.
So much action! The whole group is super in shape and played for hours...... ha.
The team name is "Overrated" - if that gives you any indication of how long it's actually been since they all played.
Really they have been doing well so far. They won their first two games! Although this week they are up against The Ligers, who are actually supposed to be pretty good. I'm just glad to see Jon out there again :) And it's nice to have something to do on a Tuesday night.
This month I also got together with some past work friends to do some crafting in preparation for the Christmas season! Paper mache reindeer were calling our names.
Meet Mele, Teresa Collins (half finished), and Sophie...
Thanksgiving was also fantastic. We had two turkeys between my family and Jon's family. We ate WAY too much! We also forgot to take any pictures.
To top it all off we went with Jon's family up to the Little Bear Creek tree farm for our annual Christmas tree hunt yesterday!
Meet this year's tree - Tumnus:
It was really fun to have family in town visiting. My favorite part is eating chili and animal cookies after the trees have been chopped down!
December is only a few days away... what fun adventures will come next???
Friday (November 18) was mine and Jon's 6 year wedding anniversary!
Our plans for our anniversary changed many times over the past year. At first we wanted to go on a road trip down California's Coastal Hwy 1 starting up in Oregon and coming all the way down to below San Francisco. Then when I changed jobs and we realized we didn't have time or money to do that we thought about going to Tahoe for a day or two. Realizing that this would also cause us to want to buy a lot of things, we decided to stay home and go to a really fancy dinner instead :)
Enter: The Melting Pot. I had only been to this restaurant once before when we had desserts for my bachelorette party. So this was the first time that Jon and I had a REAL fondue dinner. It was basically 4 courses of awesome.
Spinach Artichoke cheese fondue with chips, breads, veggies and granny smith apples:
Jon had never tried apples and cheese before! So this was a great adventure for him. He loved it :) How did I survive a cheese fondue appetizer course, you ask? Lots and lots of lactaid pills. I risked it, and luckily everything turned out just fine :)
The second course was a salad. And let me just tell you... one thing some of you may or may not know about me: I. LOVE. wedge. salads. Like, I really really love them. I think they may be one of my most favorite foods in the world. I know it sounds silly, because it's really just a salad that you put together yourself. But for some reason I drool over them every time. I have never ever had a bad wedge salad, and if there is ever the option for one on the menu, I always go with the wedge!
The Main Event:
Contrary to my previous, uneducated belief... all fondue is NOT cheese or chocolate. In fact, the main course is all raw meats that you cook via fondue at your table. The base is usually a broth of some sort and then spices and seasonings are added, creating a boiling tub of fantasticness to cook your meal in. Our course included sirloin steak, teriyaki steak, shrimp, sushi grade tuna, and chicken along with sides of veggies and potatoes. The amazing dipping sauces that you see above included a gorgonzola sauce, chive sauce, plum sauce, teriyaki sauce, spicy cocktail sauce (which was an interesting experience of simulated fire inhalation for me...) and some other sauce that I don't remember because it wasn't my favorite so I mostly avoided it haha.
This dinner ended up being in my top 5 of most favorite dinners of all time. It was so much fun and absolutely delicious! Every part of it was amazing, and it was even more fun to spend a real date night with Jon having good conversation and talking about the past year.
We ended with a dark chocolate flaming turtle dessert fondue (complete with pound cake, rice crispy treats, strawberries, bananas, brownies, cheesecake, oreo covered marshmallows, etc to dip with) and then went to a comedy show in Sac at Comedy Sportz! We've been a couple times since one of Jon's friends plays at the venue. It's pretty fun and it's all ages, so the improv is clean and family friendly.
Of course, Jon let Johnny (the ref for the night) know that it was our anniversary and told him that anything he could do to embarass me would be appreciated. Of course I was called on stage for one of the skits (having NO previous idea that this would be happening) and performed a gibberish opera with one of the teams. Jon wasn't able to find my camera fast enough to record it, but the venue did take a picture of me in costume with the players, so that should be posted on their FB page soon for any of you who would like to check it out.
Thank you, Jon, for making this anniversary an awesome one! I can't believe it's been 6 years already. Only infinity to go :)
I know it's already November, but I would be remiss if I didn't post about our awesome Halloween! Jon and I have thrown a party the last few years, but this year was the best yet because we were able to combine forces with the Taylor's! (Another young childless couple in our ward) We had so much fun planning and decorating. Brandon and Tiani really went all out, and there was so much more we could do since they had a house!
For one thing, we got a HUGE pumpkin at the patch to put drinks in. (An idea I found on Pinterest). We also had glow bracelets "radioactive snake venom" bracelets waiting for people as they walked in the front door:
Everyone was asked to bring a Halloween food or dessert to share. We ended up with a LOT of cupcakes...
We also had some spooky candies around. Thanks to Jen Holtry for letting us borrow all your apothecary jars!
Crusted Newt Eyes (aka Reese's Pieces)
Fried Bat Tongues (aka Heath Bars)
Flattened Frog Pies (aka Reese's PB Cups)
Abominable Snow Monster Paws (aka York Peppermint Patties)
Dried Pirate Fingers (aka Kit Kats)
Candied Bullets (aka Whoppers)
Poisonous Worms (aka Gummy Worms)
Rotted Witches Teeth (aka Candy Corn)
Between all of us we came up with some super fun decorations. The Frankenstein paper lantern was from a display at my work :) Tiani cut out TONS of paper bats to put all over the walls, and she even made a seance table by burning the edges of old books and some of our blood drip candles from last year got some good use.
Tiani also had the idea of getting cream colored homespun yarn to hang from the ceiling. It made a cool effect around their house!
Outside we had the walkway lined with 8 carved pumpkins and the porch was turned into a haunted house with black lights and a fog machine!
Of course it was mandatory that everyone come in costume. I felt like everyone did really well this year! Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of everyone once we got caught up in the party festivities and games (sorry to our Mario, Princess Peach, CIA Agent and Terrorist, amongst others!) But I think this gives you a pretty good idea of everyone :)
Bay & Shawn as Wayne & Garth / Michelle and Dan went with a Medieval theme
Ron & Hermione / The Smarty Pants - haha
Brandon & Tiani aka Danny & Sandra Dee!
Jon and I were a Ballerina and Soldier. (To see the story our costumes were inspired from, check this out.) Michelle was Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Kevin was The Mad Hatter from Alice and Wonderland. I love that they were both from Tim Burton movies!
Waldo & Wenda / Indian Princess and Jack Sparrow
We of course had some super fun games, but since Jon and I were in charge of them, I didn't get many pictures. Everyone had a lot of fun playing Dance Step 2 and Ping Pong though!
Thanks to everyone who came and made our party a success! It was super fun staying up until 2am watching Hocus Pocus too :) Can't wait until next year!
This weekend Jon and I were able to take family pictures for my parents, sister and I. Jon did all the work behind the camera, and I was so happy with how they turned out!
My mom looked totally amazing!
and my dad looked pretty shnazzy himself.
I was so glad to get pictures of everyone together. Of course my sister and I can't do anything without goofing off a little...
ok, maybe a lot...
My dad had to get in on it too. I started making faces while we were trying to get a normal picture together, and he joined in. As most of you know about me (that is, if you have ever heard me REALLY laugh...) I have a snorting problem condition... After I snorted a couple times in a row, my dad was laughing so hard that he decided to imitate me. The bottom right picture shows Jon capturing his face mid-snort.
Overall it was a really awesome experience getting to work with my family. These are the first all together official family pictures we've had taken since I was about 10. (14 years ago!) We won't talk about it.
As most of you know, Jon and I have a little photography hobby. Usually I don't post about it specifically on here because we have a dedicated photography blog and a website already. But this experience was so much fun, I just had to share!
Last weekend we were invited to second shoot a wedding with a friend from the ward who owns her own photography business. The wedding was in the Bay Area and our friend, being 4 months pregnant, could not easily photograph the entire thing by herself. We went along to assist her and get in some back up photos and angles while she got the main pictures. It was such an awesome experience doing what we love and it was probably the easiest, most stress free wedding we have ever photographed!
The bride and groom are chinese, and I had never been to an asian wedding before. It was absolutely gorgeous and the tea ceremony was really neat. Although the bride wore a white "western" dress for the ceremony, she had a second more traditional chinese dress and hairstyle for the reception after dinner and it was fantastic!
Here are just a few of my favorites from the day. I love that Jon and I have a creative hobby to share with each other and with others around us. What a great way to further our year and create!
Every 6 months The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter Day Saints holds a worldwide conference where we hear from our general leaders. Our living prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, speaks as well as his counselors, the Quorum of the 12 Apostles and other members of the general authorities including the Presiding Bishopric, the Relief Society presidency and other auxiliaries. It is a time that I look forward to twice every year because it can give spiritual guidance and answers to questions I may have been struggling with. It is also a good reminder of covenants and commitments made to follow Jesus Christ's example in our lives. And I also really like watching a church meeting at home where I can be in my pajamas and eat breakfast at the same time :)
I have thought a lot recently about posting on General Conference and the things I learned a few weeks ago. I could of course post a list of all my favorite talks and quotes on each one that I wrote down in my journal, but you could always go to lds.org and read the talks for yourself. I thought about posting my testimony and sharing how much it means to me to live a God-centered life, but somehow it didn't seem enough. I always have a lot of thoughts about the church and how I feel like I relate to the rest of the world, having been raised a "mormon".
When it comes down to it, what really spurred my decision to post today, was this video. It's a little long, but I think it's worth watching. It didn't make me upset when I watched it, only curious. And I think it's good to pay attention to.
So what do I think? Well, as a born and raised Mormon with her own free will and choice, let me tell you:
I do not live in a compound and follow a charismatic leader who tells me what to think and when to think it. My husband and I live in an apartment with our dog, and the President of our church is a witness of Jesus Christ and teaches us to follow him. We do not worship Thomas S. Monson or Joseph Smith in any way. I do not have extreme beliefs and lifestyle practices (unless you count the fact that I've never tried a cigarette, tasted alcohol, and we don't buy things on Sunday.)
I testify of Him as our one and only way back into the presence of our Heavenly Father. By writing this today, I am giving another testament of our Savior to stand forever. In the same way, the Book of Mormon is a collection of testaments, written in a timeline very similar to that of the Bible, and supports the truth that God is the creator, that His son, Jesus Christ, atoned for our sins, and that reverence for life and things that are sacred are key to our Heavenly Father's eternal plan for His children. In the end, aren't there thousands and even millions and billions of testaments of Jesus Christ in the world from the beginning of time?
Revelation didn't just stop with the Bible. Heavenly Father did not just stop speaking to His children. He wants us to have guidance and direction, and he wants us to know that he is there. It's part of why I pray everyday, for personal revelation and guidance.
I know that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Say Saints are true followers of Jesus Christ and are in fact Christians who stand with the rest of the Christian world in declaring that He is the Son of God, and our redeemer. We believe that it is only through his merciful atonement that we can be brought back into the presence of our Father, and I know that he suffered and gave his life for every single one of us on Earth. Even if there had only been one person, He would have done it, because he loves us that much. We have a picture of Christ on our mantle at home, and I am reminded of that fact every day. He loves each of us. Every single one.
Christmas 2010
To quote Dallin H. Oaks, "Jesus Christ is the Only Begotten and Beloved Son of God. … He is our Savior from sin and death. This is the most important knowledge on earth."
I hope that if any of you have questions about what it is we believe in, you will just ask. I am always willing to share. And if you want to search for answers on your own, check out mormon.org. It is centered around Jesus Christ, and the people of the church around the world who live their lives as "Mormons" (which, by the way, is a nickname we're ok with - you can check out M. Russell Ballard's talk for more on that!)
Although today seemed to officially mark the beginning of
Fall (now being October and having overcast skies with a bit of sprinkling)
last week we were still having super warm, sunny weather. My sister Michelle, sister-in-law
Amanda, neice AnnMarie, and I celebrated the end of September with a trip to
Folsom Lake. Sadly, Jon had too much homework so he couldn't come :(
See what I mean? Sunny and gorgeous!
My neice was very excited for this trip. All she talked about was wanting to make sand castles.
Sis-in-law Amanda with her dog, Copper:
Michelle was a good sport and let me take some fun pics of her:
Margo was a champ and practiced her swimming skills:
AnnMarie gave her treats as a prize:
Margo, looking scraggly and pathetic, wanted all the goldfish she could get:
Don't worry, I really was there too:
And to end the afternoon, Margo got to share a peach with us. She especially wanted to wear the sticker. She takes after me, I suppose.
