The Amazing Race

On Saturday night we were invited to participate in The Amazing Race, put on by the Carruth's, some friends in our ward.

There were about 25-30 people that were divided into five teams. We were lucky enough to be put with Stacey and Drew, and Brad and Julianne.
Our first clue led us to the Nugget grocery store parking lot where we had to search the entire lot for a car with a specific license plate number. Once found, we were given our first task.
I got to dance on the corner of Pleasant Grove and Fairway Dr (a major intersection) dressed in a Mr. Pickles costume for 2 whole songs on a portable radio. If you don't believe me, watch this video. This can go on my list of most embarassing moments. It wasn't really that bad but I wouldn't have volunteered if I hadn't lost rock, paper, scissors.


Drew, Stacey, me aka Mr Pickles, Julianne, and Brad
After the first task, we had a mandatory 15 minute minimum eating break at U-Food grill.

Once we finished we got our next clue which led us to Big Spoon Yogurt. We had to get 20 oz of yogurt and 4 oz of toppings and together, eat it all as fast as we could before getting the next clue.
We then went back to where we started at the Carruth's house and had to successfully play through one song on Rock Band. Our team rocked it!

Our next clue led us to another home where we had to complete a 200 piece puzzle of a map of the world. We only took 12 minutes!
After finishing the puzzle, our final clue led us to the last task at another home. One member of the team had to jump in the deep end of the pool and locate the canadian penny among 19 other american pennies.
Brad took one for the team with no hesitation. He found the penny quickly and we were in and out within 5 minutes.

When we finished the last leg of the race we returned to the Carruth's house.

We got there first and we were so excited!!!! However, we soon found out that there was a bonus challenge. We were given a soundtrack at the beginning of the race and our last challenge was to write down as many songs as we could remember within 90 seconds. Unfortunately we could only think of 5. Each song was worth a one minute time bonus, taken off our total time. The next team got there about 15 minutes later but they were able to write down 16 songs. They came in ahead of us by 2 minutes with the time bonus.
We still took pride in the fact that we finished first and look forward to the next Amazing Race.

Brad's Mission Call

Well, I guess no one really wanted to guess at where Brad is going so I'll just tell you.
Brad has been called to serve in the AUSTRALIA ADELAIDE MISSION! He reports to the MTC on March 4th, 2009.
We are so incredibly excited for him and think it's awesome that he's going to Australia. He will be English speaking.
Adelaide is the capital of Southern Australia and is on the south coast.

It looks like a beautiful place!


And there is even a temple in Adelaide!

We are so excited for the opportunity Brad has to serve the Lord in Australia. We love you Brad!

Guess where?

Brad's mission call came today but he hasn't opened it yet. He will be opening it at 6:30 tonight, CA time. Where do you think he will be going?
I'm feeling Europe, maybe a Scandinavian country, or stateside.

Don's Home!

Don got home last Wednesday night and we were able to go to Alamo Thursday night and spend the weekend with him. Unfortunately we didn't get to go to the airport but here are some pictures my mom took.


Sister and Brother

My family used to play Settlers of Catan all the time before Don left on the mission. The whole 2 years he was gone we didn't play at all so of course we had to play when he got home.




We are so glad Don is home. It was so good to hang out with him for a few days. He is now in Utah, starting school tomorrow, so we won't see him again til Thanksgiving. It was a short and sweet weekend.
Here are two cute videos I took this weekend. The first is Lyndsey chasing Caitlin. Listen for her laugh. It is adorable.
The second is Tommy roaring. It's one of his favorite games to roar and "startle" us. He would laugh so hard every time Don acted scared.

Home Makeover

Ever since we've been married we have rented and have not been allowed to paint in our apartment. We're still not allowed to paint but since I'm the manager, I'm doing what I want.
Before our apartment was all white

We painted one accent wall and our dining room. I know it's not a huge change but to us it is.

What do you think?

26

Last weekend I celebrated my 26th birthday. We were down in Alamo since Anna and Kayden were in town so we were able to celebrate with my family.
My mom made the most delicious, decadent chocolate cake which we had with gelato.


Tommy is telling us the letters. He's so smart!

Tommy helped blow out the candles and blew out all but one when he thought the song was over, even though it wasn't. I wish we caught it on video.
Here is a video of Tommy singing Happy Birthday

Opening presents-this one is a tote bag I wanted from Vera Bradley that Aaron got for me

Isn't it cute!?


Tommy hanging out with Aunt Emily and Uncle Aaron
It was a great, relaxing day. Here's to another year!

Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch

After the soccer game and McDonald's we went out to Livermore to a corn maze and pumpkin patch. We had such a fun time winding our way through the maze.

The Family entering the maze

Aaron and I

On top of the bridge

When we were at McDonald's Tommy got this car and carried it with him through the maze. He loved driving it on the corn stalks.

Here Tommy is telling Aunt Emily not to take a picture. I think he got annoyed with me after I kept begging him to look at me and smile. I just think he is so cute I can't get enough pictures of him!

Tommy's favorite game was to have someone hide behind the corn at a turn and scare him when he came around the corner. Here's his reaction to Grandpa surprising him.

Tommy pulling the wagon full of pumpkins

Us

Tommy choses his pumpkin

Caitlin and Kayden were so cute riding in the wagon

We couldn't pass up this opportunity!