Thanksgiving

This year, we stayed in Vegas and Jared's family came to us.  His parents stayed with us and his sister and her family stayed down the street in a condo.

The family arrived on Wednesday (after I did some shopping) and we went to the pool.

Thursday we celebrated Thanksgiving by getting catering by Smith's Grocery Store.  They provided a turkey, mashed potatoes, broccoli and cheese casserole, cranberry sauce, gravy, and stuffing.  Amanda made rolls, I made fruit salad and raspberry jello salad, and Jared's dad made pies.

After dinner, we went to the Cactus Botanical Garden and Chocolate Factory.  They decorated the cactus garden with lights and it was surprisingly very beautiful.  The chocolate factory has a free self-guided tour where they give you free chocolate.  The chocolate is delightful.

On Friday, I had to work.  Jared took the niece and nephew to the park.

Friday was a relaxing day for the most part.  Playing the Wii, watching movies, and socializing.

Saturday, Jared and I both had to work.  After we got home, we had homemade pizza and played games.

Sunday, we all attended Sacrament Meeting together for church and then split up.  Jared's family went back to Utah and we went home and to work.

***Raspberry Jello Pudding Recipe***

1 small package raspberry jello

1 small package instant vanilla pudding 

1 small package tapioca pudding

3 cups water

Bring to a coil stirring constantly

Cool and fold in.

1 small container Cool Whip

1 1/2 cups thawed raspberries

Refrigerate until served

Jared's 28th Birthday

Jared turned 28 on Monday.

We started off with going to Chili's for dinner.  Jared got ribs and I got a caribbean salad.

Jared had no idea where we were staying the night (all he knew was that a hotel was involved) so we drove around while Jared was trying to guess where we were going.  We ended up staying at the Golden Nugget.

I got us cheesecake from the cheesecake factory and the same sparkling apple cider we had when we stayed at the Anniversary Inn, when we got married.  It was great to spend time just the two of us.  

For Jared's present, I got him the Nashville Band's Tribute for missionaries.

I wrapped his gift in a cereal box to make it look like the gift was larger than a cd.  Look at how happy he is.

Halloween

Jared and I were supposed to have our first similar day off.  It seems like I have had Monday/Tuesday off and Jared has had Wednesday/Thursday so we were excited to have the same day off.  However, I got called into work with another key holder being sick and I was the only one not working at that time with no kids.

Thankfully, my boss decided I was going to close early so I was out of there around 5:30 pm.  That meant I was able to make it to our trunk or treat with Jared.  We made homemade fudge and funfetti cookies and it seemed like it was a hit.  We had a number of moms taking fudge for their kids and eating it themselves.

Next year I am planning on actually dressing up and being a little bit more festive in decorations.

Here is the recipe for the Funfetti Cookies. (sorry, the fudge recipe is a special gift from an old roommate.  It is her secret family recipe, but she made an exception for my wedding present)

Ingredients
1 pkg. Funfetti cake mix
1/3 cup oil
2 eggs
1/2 can vanilla frosting
Sprinkles

Step 1
Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit   In large bowl, combine cake mix, oil and eggs; stir with spoon until thoroughly moistened.  Shape dough into 1-inch balls; place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.  With bottom of glass dipped in flour, flatten to 1/4-inch thickness.

Step 2
Bake at 375 degrees for 6-8 minutes or until edges are light golden brown.  Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets.

Step 3
Spread frosting over warm cookies.  Immediately sprinkle each with candy bits from frosting.  Let frosting set before storing.  Store in tightly covered container.