Caramel Apple-ing!...?

Caramel Apple-ing? Am I even allowed to say that?! The sad thing about this post is that I spent forever writing all about our fun 'Caramel Apple Night' only for my post to vanish! So, weeks later here I am starting all over again.

Mandy and I had been dying for caramel apples ever since we saw a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in Huntington Beach. A few weeks later at Downtown Disney we saw even more delicious caramel apples and decided to make some of our own! 

It was a great adventure. We had crushed oreos, nuts, chocolate, brown sugar, caramel corn, sprinkles and probably a few other things I've forgotten. Some apples were fancy and perfect, others were made sloppily and eaten sloppily ( I won't mention names) but it was good fun. The true hero of the night was the apple slicer, which we discovered part way through eating them, which made it so much easier!

The Millers came over and posed with this Oh-So-Perfect apple, although I think the apple actually belonged to Mike. :)

Afterward, Blair suggested we play "Human Clue." Basically, team one goes in another room while team two picks the who, what and where. They act it out to one person on team one. Then that person has to pass on what they can remember to the next person on their team and so on (kind of like telephone). The funny part is that so much gets lost that by the end you're nowhere close. Let's just say we ended up doing the moonwalk, shooting guns (which came out of nowhere!) and acting like the headless horseman. By the way, I have video footage of each of the girls doing the moonwalk available upon request. ;) Here's my attempt. No mocking!!

Overall, a great night and an excellent celebration of the season!

D-school so far

So I haven't really contributed to this blog very much, so I thought I'd waste some time while I was studying for my mid-terms to take some pictures of teeth I've been carving. These have pretty much taken up most of my school time so far. I do study, but not as much as I carve teeth.

These are some Maxillary Central Incisors, Max Lat Inc, Canines, etc. I get to know the teeth really well this way. Youcan't see them in a lot of detail, but it's good enough, you get the idea.

D-school's been tough, but not as bad as I thought it would be. I prepared myself to work harder than I ever had at BYU, but I've been pleasantly surprised. I guess I even have time to learn how to surf :) It's great because studying is so much easier when you're actually interested in the subject. It's a lot of fun learning about all this stuff and I know I went into the right profession. I'm not as exciting as Melissa on the blog, so that's all I've got. I'm going to be 27 this month. Crazy.

Fall Decor and Getting Halloweeny

Well, seeing as how it's David's birthday and all, Halloween festivities are an absolute expectation. In true Melissa and David style, we wrapped our door in orange and cobwebs.

David insisted on getting some skeleton bones at the store. But, upon realizing he didn't really know where to put them, he gave up and put one inside of my decorative vase. :) Tacky, yeah kind of. But am I leaving it there? You bet.

Found this cornucopia at a thrift store. Oh yeah! Added some festive fall colors and viola! Sure, this doesn't hold a candle to my mom's classic annual fresh cornucopia, but I'm doing the best I can to live up to your greatness, Mom!

Today was a great sunday. We has an awesome stake conference. Two seventies came and called a new stake president. The spirit was there and it was wonderful. We sang in the Stake Choir, which sounded great thanks to a fantastic director, Lisa. After church we had Veronica over for roast I'd made in the Crock Pot. So many friends had tried to convert us to the greatness of the Crock Pot, but now I think it's a done deal. So easy! Then, they had us over for dessert. David, as per his classic tradition when he finds a good book, is reading away the afternoon.

All in all, it's a wonderful day to think about how blessed we are. We're so grateful for all that we have!

Dinner With Phil

This week our friend Phil came into town. He emailed us the day before letting us know he'd be around and we decided to get together for dinner. Because of the craziness of traffic, we decided to meet in Hollywood, which was sort of a half way point for both of us. We met at a small pizza place just a few blocks away from all the Hollywood action. Phil said he was craving either pizza or Greek food--so we ordered a Greek Pizza. We really liked it and would definitely go back! We ordered old fashioned root beer to top it all off! It was great talking to Phil. It reminded me of the good old "duplex" days when he was was engaged to my roommate and I was engaged to David. All four of us were around so much we joked that we lived in a duplex.  Here's a picture that we took at the pizza place.  It's great to keep in touch with good friends!

They're Filming A Movie Outside My Door!

Ok, ok. It was just a cell phone company commercial! But I still thought it was cool. Living in South Pasadena, so close to LA, we know they sometimes film movies and commercials in our city, but this was the first time we got so close to the action (although they did film a new ABC family show at the high school a few blocks away). I took this picture just outside our apartment complex. We knew they'd be there because  our apartment complex got a notice that they would be posting "No Parking" signs on street to make room for their entourage. It's crazy how long it takes to film a 30 second commercial...and how many cars/trucks it takes!  The last truck was full of a huge rack of brand new clothing for the actors, too.

By The Way...

By the way, my blog is supposed to have a decorative boarder with sort of a shabby look. When I use David's computer I can see it, but when I look at it on mine it looks plain. Can someone let me know if they can see it when they log on?? I hope so!

Fun Things!

And once again, the blog slacking commenced. It's usually due to my lack of pictures to post. So much has happened since my last post! We're having a great time in Southern California!  There is so much to do here and we're taking it all in. One of the recent adventures has been Disneyland Passes. Quite a few people in our ward have them and have loved them--so we jumped on board!  We've been a few times and had a blast. Here's a picture of us watching the Bug's Life movie. It was great, and parts of it really startled us--like when the hornet "stings" you in the back! :)

We went with a few friends to California Adventure the other night and saw World Of Color--the new Disney lights and water show. It was awesome!!!  At first, we found ourselves sprinting from place to place to find the best view. When we realized that there were color projections that you really couldn't see from the back we gave in and waited in line for a good seat. It was totally worth it!  The music was blaring and the lights and water were complex. It was great. We were sad we didn't get to ride any of the good rides, but the great part is--we can go back any time we want!!!

Naturally, we've also learned to love the beach. It's warm, it's free, it's fabulous. When we first moved here we went all the time (as we had nothing whatsoever to do during the day). Now, we don't go as much but we still make it happen as often as we can. A few weeks ago we went down to Huntington Beach with a few friends and bought wet suits during a sidewalk sale. Let me just say---Worth. The. Money. I've only used mine once but it totally takes the sting off the cold California water. David bought a soft top surf board and has been learning to surf along with a few other dental school friends. They're getting good!

David riding a wave in

But, of course, the guys took some spills too...

Notice the surfboard flying in the air.  All in all it was a great day.  The highlight was when the lifeguard drove up in an SUV and stopped to talk to us girls. He looked around and said, "Are you girls visiting from out of town?" Then, I said the four words I'd been waiting to say all my life while bumming around at the beach, "No, we live here." It was awesome!!! He then explained that he just wanted to make sure we knew what we were doing and weren't going to get hit by all the surfers while boogie boarding. A little while later we did decide to go out and we had a blast. It was the first time boogie boarding for a few of our friends and they did great! Then, we capped off the day with a trip to Cafe Rio, conveniently located near the beach. Oh yeah!

Well, there isn't much time for me to write more about all our adventures. All I can say is I am so grateful for the wonderful friends we've made here. The awesome neighbors who constantly  feed us cake, pie or treats every time we walk by!!! The great friends who laugh with us and plan fun get togethers. The welcoming friends who invited us to dinner when we first moved in, or taught David to surf, or helped me decorate my apartment. Wonderful people make life wonderful--and wonderful people are everywhere you go. I hope I can be as good a friend to others and they've been to me.

I promise to write more often!!!!