Good night, October

I'm kind of a Halloween hater.

Strong disliker, at least. But I have to admit, this year was pretty good.

Maybe it's because I didn't go to a Haunted House...

Mostly I think it's because there are cute kids in my life.

Look how brutal pumpkin carving is:

The inside of a pumpkin is about the nastiest thing I've ever touched.

I could never take anatomy.

But look, he turned out pretty cute!

Halloween is a big big deal at my work. People went all out.

Or so I heard. I didn't see any of it because I was a blind mouse. Three of them, to be exact.

And that's my boss, the farmer's wife. With a real knife. 

My eyes are closed in this picture? It just seemed like the right thing to do.

Here's my whole department, looking pretty dang good.

Everyone's cute families came at the end of the day to go trick-or-treating.

It was so fun to have Jenny and Jaren there!

Jaren had a refreshing way of labeling everyone.

"Hi, batman costume!"

Then we did a little more trick-or-treating in Lehi to top it all off.

Sugar highs are real, people.

And now, November! 

I love the holidays way too much. Christmas music will be played tomorrow.

Then and Now

I wish I knew how many hours it took to get this piece of paper!

Mmm, no I don't. It's probably better not to know.

It was a lot of hours. And dollars. And late nights. And projects. And tests.
And late nights.

But more than that, it was a lot of great classes, memorable professors, (43!) wonderful roommates...

and many much-needed naps in Memorial Hall of the Wilkinson Student Center.

That paper came from four great years.

Now I'm happily working at THIS place:

I'm an event planner there, which I love.

It's a great company, and I'm so grateful to work there!

I work with seriously talented (and happy) people.

Everyone sincerely enjoys what they do and believes in what we're working toward.

Bonus: the job is close to these cute kids,

so I'm still loving living with family!

Every morning after breakfast Jaren questions me.

J: "Where are you going?"

M: "To work!"

J: "Again??"

Moral of the story: no more asking me if I want to go to grad school, deal?

I just don't. Not now. Maybe later. Maybe not.

And I need you to be ok with that. I'm definitely ok with that :)

Auntie M

I want to be a cool aunt.

There is no shame in pursuing that status. 

It involves letting movies go past bedtime,

driving through those way fun car washes,

and letting my bed serve as an in-house trampoline.

So what happens when the cool aunt is in charge of making dinner?

Yep, cookies and milk.

Lydia can't contain her joy.

I assured Jenny that she could ignore nutritional norms when it involves my future kids.

Cookies are a great way to earn brownie points.