Dessert Obsession

SO, as you may or may not know, I have an obsession with Baking. I could bake something new every day and be completely happy about it. Well recently Ben and I both signed up for our Ward's "Spooky Dessert" contest. WE got a little excited about this one and I insisted that it not only look spooky, but taste delicious. So I settled on a cake because I love baking and decorating cakes. Red velvet was the only obvious option because of the bloody insides.

Then I found a gorgeous design on Pinterest that showed a cake with a spider web that looked incredibly elegant. to make it creepy we added a glow in the dark spider army.

Then we decided it wasn't quite creepy enough. So we took a trip to DI

Found these gems- Barbie and Ken. Sanitized, washed, soaked.

Barbie attacked by spiders, wrapped in a web (Ben's idea), and dismembered by the little killers(with help from some family dog I'm sure because she only came with one leg...).

Not only did our "creepy" cake win 2nd prize, but it was all eaten up (minus the parts with the barbie :/)

Win.

Alan's Birthday

The best thing about having a million brothers is the birthdays. There is literally one every couple months. It's fantastic! There is always a reason to celebrate!

So off we went to Park City to play with Alan and Catherine. It was a night sure to be full of pumpkins, family, and divine Asian Foods.

 Oh Cheese Fondu- How you vex us.

 so many fun foods for the hot pot!

 Happy Birthday Alan!

 There was a very intense competition with the punkins.

 Eric was even there as a treat!

 Laura finished her traditional pumpkin first!

Buuutttttt, mine was pretttttty awesome.

They love me.

I think my students love me.
In the appropriate way (per Ben's request).
Today I assigned a Journal write where my 9th graders had to critique ME!
EEK!
I was scared to say the least- kids can be cruel! But there was nothing mean to say at all! They were kind and loving and proclaiming that my class was their favorite!

I'm tired- all this love is wearing me out.

Pumpkin Weekend ( ' )

Pumpkins! Fall! Cool weather!
Oh how I love thee.
I could really carve, eat, and find pumpkins all day every day. I love the cool weather they thrive in and the pulling them fresh from the vine and the way you can gut them and no one even gets hurt! It's a little violent but I just love gutting that pumpkin! It's a fix for a rough day let me tell ya! Anyway we really had a fantastically fallish weekend and I thought it appropriate to document it here!

It started out with shortbread, caramel, chocolate salted cookies...

Then we went on a little trip to the pumpkin patch! Of course we had to travel through the sketchy corn maze first.

We went with Spencer & Abbey! love them!

We found lots of great pumpkins amongst the dead, yet devastatingly gorgeous, sunflower field.

 We tried to take a cute pic....

 Really we did!

Finally- a normal one. Eh- we look better goofy :)

 Then we started the carving of said pumpkins- Abbey and I couldn't stop taking pictures.

 Ah, the driveway- classic. Oh yeah and my hott hubs. Gosh he's cute.

 I made a mummy.

nananananananana BATMAN!

 Best punkins EVER!

 THE WHOLE GROUP'S!

 We ended the pumpkin weekend with a delicious pumpkin/bread pudding dessert made by my beautiful sister in law! Looooved it!

Wednesdays

I should be grading papers right now- but really, who wants to come home and read 7th grade papers? Honestly not me.....why did I choose this profession? Someone remind me please?

eh hem-You picked this career because every day when the silent girl comes up to you and points at the bookshelf you stare at her until she finally says "books" yes, "I need another one"
Halleluja yes you may have another one!
And when you read that 7th grader who's boy crazy and silly and talks about all the "smokin' hot boys wakeboarding" in the world she's created for herself.
And when your students say "Thank's Mrs. Otto- that was a really fun class!" and you believe them, because it was fun! Even if your throat hurts so bad from speaking and the desks are in disarray from being moved here and there for who knows why.
And when your'e leading a guided imagery and all your 9th graders start swinging their legs to the beat of 'outside sounds of the forest' playing over the speaker.
And mostly because being with 7th and 9th graders makes you feel like you too are a 7th or 9th grader- and that feels great, fun, hilarious, devastating and dramatic all at the same time.

So then you go home and after doing the dishes for you, your husband decides you need to go on a date to the halloween store.

 It turns out, the two of us really do still act like 7th and 9th graders in real life.......

This is why I married this guy.

Witchy Weather

I'm obsessed with the weather right now.
If I died right now I would be so happy.
There is a gorgeous storm floating around outside just hovering over the valley with big dark clouds and a chilly breeze. The wind is howling like the tornado weather at home and the air feels soft and cool as it sifts itself through my windows. The smell of heavenly hamburger soup is swirling around my tiny kitchen mixing with the cool air and drowning out the sounds of cars and horns and life. Except for the sound of tires sloshing through shallow puddles of cold, clear rain water. Even the power lines that hang unceremoniously right outside my window are dancing in the witchy wind along with the swirling gold and red leaves marking wind patterns as they fall. It smells, clean- but old- like the leaves are weary from hanging onto branches, but still full of color which they wear boldly.
I'm obsessed with it. I wish a black cat would walk right in front of me, right here in my tiny kitchen. Brush along my leg and meow. I would die happy.

someday I'll live in a real place.

Horrible Blogger

Well It's Official-

I'm a terrible blogger.

These past three months have been the wildest, craziest, maddest, most terrifying months of my life.

In July we went to Alaskaaaaa

 There was lots of nature.

 Some fantastic hiking

 A moose!

 Furry undies....

 Funny outfits....

Plus we saw HUGE whales whilst Kayaking! WHO DOES THAT?@?!?



Then in July/August we went to San Diego for Alan and Catherine's wedding celebration.

 The wedding was great, and the luncheon fantabulous!

 But then we went to the ZOO! Just Me and Ben!

 And this Tiger!

 I was in heaven obviously.

Plus I had a renewed desire to own a large cat....or a zoo.

In September I started my new job as an English Teacher- I don't have anything positive at this moment in time to say about it so I'm not going to say anything at all other than, I've never been so tired and distressed in my life.


So we went on a giant hike in Zion's national park!
We hiked the treacherous Narrows and almost lost some of the party- but thankfully we all made it out alive!

 After a massive sleepover in a marvelous 5 star motel (oxymoron) with lots of candy and ice cream- the day started out as a beautiful freezing day and everyone (mostly) was happy!

 Even the cows were happy!

 We had to take a few breaks- but thankfully there were conveniently fallen logs to accomodate us.

 I did some Yoga to stay centered.

 And this sexy hiker stayed close!

 Abbey and I found some neat hiding places.

 And there were lots of fun obstacles!

 Ben and I found a hole.....

 and then realized we had to sacrifice our dryness for that picture...

 But it turned out that we were soaking by the end anyway.

 The rock formations were amazing and gorgeous.

 The scenery breathtaking....

mmm, see what I mean?




And now here we are in October- my very favorite month. I've decided to have a better attitude and to be happier. And to write more, so hopefully that transfers to this bloggy blog.