It's tradition again....

I didn't think to bring my camera today.... I know right, what was I thinking? But I guess it's best not to take pics in a theatre. That's right, it's that time of year when a new "Twilight Saga" movie has come out. New Moon
Seven of us young ladies all went to see the movie together, just like last year. Although we switched out a few of the girls it was just as much fun.

The movie was..... I'll keep my opinoin to myself and let you decide when you see it, cause you know you will. But it's fun to get out and get together with the girls regardless. Thanks mom for picking up the tickets almost a month ago and to Taunya for coming all the way over to watch it with us!
There were definitely memories we'll never forget.
On a side note, I'd like to mention customer service and quote from my mother-in-law, Taunya. When something goes wrong, "Don't say you have good customer service, show me."
I think she's completely right. You deserve good service, that's what you're paying for. So when a situation occurs when you should stand up and get what you're asking for, DO IT and get others around to help you. It's what we're for, and it works. You eventually get what you're asking for, and what you deserved to get in the first place.

Accidents happen.....

Two weeks ago I got a phone call from Alex on his way home from school. The words, "I need you to come get me, I've been in an accident" were unlike any I want to hear ever again. I had to remember that if he was calling, he was ok but that also meant his car wasn't. I've been the passenger in accidents before but have never been in the driver seat (knock on wood) and I can't imagine what he was going through. So I drove to Lehi to find my husband and his car :(

I felt so bad as I'm sure he did. He'd tagged someone from behind. Thank goodness the other driver was in a bigger jeep and did nothing to his car. Poor little Scion.Alex had to take my car during the day because he still needed to go down to school. So 2 weeks later after Alex having to get up "too early" to take me to work, rides home from co-workers, and borrowing my parents van in desperation, we got our baby back!!!
Alex couldn't have been more excited that his car looked "just as perfect as when I bought it." Although I don't recomend this as a way to get your car back to perfection ;)

We had the car taken to a shop in Midvale because a co-worker of mine has a brother-in-law that works there and swore by his work.

Everything turned out ok and thanks to insurance we didn't have to pay the $5,800 bill!! Who would have known there were so many things packed in the front of that tiny little car to cost that much? Thanks to Mac at Unique autobody you guys are the best.

Halloween, NUF said

Halloween pumpkin carving is taken so seriously in our family that it actually begins the day before Halloween.

Alex worked so hard to scrape out our pumpkins. Kind enough to clean mine out as well.

Like I said, pumpkin carving is taken seriously. The tools are representitve of how intense it is.

Halloween morning was our girls breakfast, so of course we dressed up. Elaina and I both made our witch hats. It was so much fun. Rachel was sick... we'll see you next time.

TRADITION! Anyone who knows the Hoffmann hosuehold, knows that donuts are always made for Halloween for as long as we can remember. We wouldn't have it any other way.

This is not actually my dad's costume. He reffed football games all day and we asked him to keep it on for a little longer and pretend he'd dressed up. Later on his t-shirt read "I am the Treat" ha ha that was even better.

Again, traditional Halloween dinner. Chili and cornbread. Just warm enough to keep us going during trick-or-treating.

Ben's girlfriend dressed her little boy up like a vampire. His binki just happened to go along with his costume ;)

PorSha was a seniorita and Lexus was Tinkerbell. Her skirt lit up and everything!

I was a witch brewing, but left my couldron on the table, my mom was a .... t-shirt and my sister was a witch of sorts.

BOO!

The pumpkin carving skills were definitely enhanced with dad Jim's dremel. We had so much fun. Jacob's always been a fan of Pluto and he did a really good job with this one.

I OF COURSE I would choose a peanut m&m..... they melt in your mouth not in your hand. I actually really liked carving this one.

Jacob again, pulled off a fantastic Mater from "Cars." It looked better in person as did many of them. It's hard to take a picture of such a delight in the dark.

This one was even darker, but Elaina put so much effort into her Boo from "Monster's Inc." It turned out fantastic.... guess you had to be there.

And again, the dremel proved useful for Jacob when creating..... well you can see. Spaghetti anyone? Jacob also did a Tinkerbell, he's so ambitious and talented.

Alex was posing for GQ.... do they do "skater version?" He wanted to dress as "himself" at work FINALLY hahahah

My BFFAE was Champ carebear, her neice made the costume (she's ten) I made mine, including the apron, but I'm a bit older than ten.

Yes we have a self portrait with donuts. It's what we do.

My family are movie buffs. So what other way to end the day than with a Halloween movie. This year it was....

Alex and I and our pumpkins. His 31 stood for Halloween, 31st. But his didn't show so well on the camer so we had to get an aftershot.

We had a good time this Halloween. Even better, sister Rayne came into town and brought her usual positive attitude and smiling face. We love being able to spend time with her and miss her, Tom, Aderienne and J & Bee so much! I just wish I hadn't forgotten my camera.

Innovations

Alex and I decided during FHE a few weeks ago that we were going to try one new meal a month. We had gotten several cookbooks for our wedding and we are going to put them to good use.
The first one we decided to try was from a Campbell's book which is really simple because a lot of their recipes involve a can of soup. They had some interesting ideas, but one of them called "Maccaroni Bake" sounded worth a try. The first time we made it though it seemed kind of bland. Here's where the innovation comes in. The second time I made it I thought to myself, what would make cheesey noodles taste better.... hmmm what if I added some oregano? and what's even better than campbell's cheesey soup but REAL cheese! So I dumped three different kinds of shredded cheese into the mix. Then when it came to the topping - bread crumbs - I thought plain ol' bread crumbs. I wish they were Italian, so I added Italian seasonings and it was surprisingly scrumptious!!
For our second choice this one wasn't really a new recipe, but a new idea. I LOVE soup and bread, why not put them together. A coworker told me about Bear Creek's creamy potato soup. It sounded yummy so when I made it, instead of all water and soup, I did half water and half milk. (that heats up extremely fast, keep an eye on it) The milk makes the soup so much creamier. I also took inspiration from our previous innovation and added CHEESE. Yes we LOVE cheese in our house. So with a few different types of cheese just melted right in it was, again DELISH!!! It has become a favorite and we have it often. It's a good comfort when it's cold outside.

Life is full of time to experiment... wait did I hear that from Alex ;) But wherever you do it, the kitchen, the garage, with electronics or your wardrobe it's always fun to mix it up a bit. It may not work out the first or last time you try it but at least you tried. Of course I left out the times it hasn't worked :)

What new things have you guys tried?

Journal Entry

So last week we decided to finally do something about our mattress that definitely was not holding up to its end of the deal. Sagging in the middle, whether it was actually happening or subconsciously, we just couldn't stay away and always rolled towards each other. Some would say this is a positive thing when you're newly weds. However, imagine always sleeping scrunched with the person next to you. Not cuddled or relaxing, SCRUNCHED. So our solution - take the mattress back and say good bye to the strangely popular SUPER PILLOWTOP!

This is how our plan got a little muddled. We had to take our mattress back and get our refund before we could buy a new mattress. Well we looked and looked and looked. After a tough week at work and a night learning how to swing a golf club, my back could definitely tell when it was getting relief. We found a mattress Monday night that was SUPREME!! It actually made me feel relaxed. The only problem was that, of course, it was the last night of the sale. SO the challenge was, take the mattress back, get the refund and return to the original store to purchase the second mattress before they closed... Clever people will see the potential problem with this. Well it was raining and we needed a truck. So we hurried home, stripped the mattress, loaded it in Jacob's truck and returned it. THEN we called the gentleman who said he'd wait at the store after clossing for us to come pick up our new mattress.


Wouldn't you know, the lady accidentally switched the phone system off when they closed at 8. Meaning we couldn't get ahold of the salesman. So, yes we were without a mattress for the evening and thus we improvised.....

Alex made us a bed out of every blanket we could find and then some. It was like a nice little sleepover camp-out in the living room. I don't know if I'd call it fun at the time, but for sure a fun journal entry to always remember that AWESOME experience.
So what I've learned from Alex during all of this is, "if you can't do anything about it, there really isn't a reason to complain. So enjoy the ride, cause it'll all work out."

LOVE YOU HUNNIE

PS We did get our new mattress the next day, thanks again to Jacob and his AWESOME truck. And so far our mattress has definitely been all we could ask for, without all the fluff, it's just a plain old mattress! Now we sleep next to each other by choice :) We are sleeping fantastically. So I say to you all, sometimes fancy is not always better ;)

I've got some blogging to do.....

So pretty much the whole month of October needs to be blogged about. Here we go.
The very beginning of the month we invited Jacob and Elaina over to try our chicken salad in a pita and they brought corn on the cob.
The corn on the cob was a tradition from Elaina's family. Grilled and then with the right seasonings.... DELISH

We'd braved the "dangers" of a pressure cooker and it was well worth it

I have never had such tender shredded chicken from frozen to cooked in 20 min. I LOVE the pressure cooker! Thanks Rachel

LAKE POWELL
The next day we took a trip to Lake Powell with the Martins and Thorums.

We stayed in a trailer, which I've never done before. We loved being in Lake Powell with everyone. Playing games and taking trips on the lake were all in a good days' play!

We all learned to wake surf and although it looks easy, Carter and I will tell you it's work to learn how to get up.

Hang Loose

Surfin' USA - I left out the pic. of Ryan with the rope in his outh on purpose ;)

Dur, Liv and Carter made the most divine chocolate brownies

Everybody worked hard, but these girls are tuff!

The last day there was pretty crazy wind and we got a little wet....

WITCHES
October means withces!!!! and Gardner Village.

This witch and mom think alike... ;)

Watch out PorSha!!

We had such a fun day. Jus the girls

Saturday Night Live.... at the batting cages

Nice helmet

And then we took our turn at the driving range. It was a first for Elaina and I, and kind of Carter. I think we all did pretty well. It's a lot harder than they make it look on tv. I give them props.

Good Job Al!

He was a great teacher

Everyone could use a little help....
One, two, three, fore.........

Carter probably improved the best. It was a lot of fun!

We were wtching out for stray balls

This is where Happy Gilmore got his move

All in all it's been a very successful October so far and it's not even Halloween yet!!
I LOVE OCTOBER!

Family Night, with some friends

My parents know how to bring us together..... ROCKBAND with the Beatles!!! That's right, my parents bought The Beatles Rockband for us to play, when we bring our rock band to their house. ;) And it was AWESOME!!! So finally my parents know the songs we were playing and singing which meant we were all singing along, even if it wasn't our turn.

Do they know The Beatles or what? ROCK ON mom and dad

It was only fitting to use my English guitar

We decided to share our family night with our neighbors, the Grays, who just happened to be sitting on their porch when I took my fresh air break and invited them over. They did pretty well considering they'd never played rockband before, and didn't know any of the Beatles music... that's just blaspheme.

And this of course was dessert. So maybe dad just happened to hear us mention that we should have caramel popcorn because he pulled out Grandma Randall's famous recipe and we DEVOURED IT!!!

Thanks Dad and Mom, for the popcorn and rockin' with us to the BEATLES!