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I feel like life lately has been totally crazy these past couple weeks! Eric and I got back from West Virginia for Thanksgiving and we came home to a viewing and funeral for Grandpa Neal. It was a very tough thing and is especially hard around the Holidays. We are grateful though for family and spending time together. It was a very nice funeral.

After the all of the funeral stuff was over, Eric and I worked, finished the rest of the Christmas shopping, and got all of the Christmas cards mailed and sent out. It was so fun to do them and everyday I love getting cards in the mail from other people. 

I finished finals on Wednesday and have another semester down. Yay! It is such a good feeling to be done for a couple weeks. Eric and I have been wrapping presents and just hanging out. McCall is in town and so we have been doing fun things as a family. My parents have tickets to a bunch of stuff this weekend so we are excited to be with family. 

Unfortunately, Eric and I got the dreaded phone call on Thursday morning that Eric's grandpa had passed away. He went into the hospital about a week ago and then he passed away at home. It was pretty fast which is a blessing. Eric and I will be going to West Virginia the day after Christmas for a funeral. We are so done with deaths. Eric and I have both lost our grandfathers in less than a month. We are hoping that we don't have to go through another one for a long time. Have a Merry Christmas with your families! 

Thanksgiving in West Virginia

This was the first holiday that I spent away from my family. I thought that I was going to be a total mess and way sad but it ended up being fine. It is probably because I love my in-laws and Eric's sister and I are the same age so we get along great. We had lots of fun getting ready for Thanksgiving, going to the mall Black Friday shopping, and going to the movie. 
This year, we spent Thanksgiving with Eric's family and we are going to be having Christmas with my family. We exchanged gifts with Eric's parents, grandpa, and sister while we were there so we didn't have to mail all of their gifts. It was a lot of fun!

On Thanksgiving, I was thinking about everything that I am so thankful for. I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for my family, friends, a house to live in, food to eat, and an incredible husband. There is so much more to add to this list but this Thanksgiving, I am so grateful for my Grandpa Savage who taught me the importance of always keeping the commandments, staying close to my family, and most importantly staying strong in the gospel. I was dead asleep and it was 1:20 am on Thursday morning West Virginia time. My phone rang and it was my dad. It totally startled me but I knew exactly what he was going to tell me when I saw he was calling. My Grandpa Savage passed away on Wednesday night at 11:15 Utah time to a loving Heavenly Father. I am so very grateful for the time I was able to spend with him before I came to West Virginia. I know that he was ready to go and am so grateful he is out of pain. I will miss him everyday but know that he is in a better place. The last words he said to me was that he loved me and was proud of me. I know that will bring me so much comfort as I go through this hard time with losing grandpa. How grateful I am that we had such an awesome relationship. I will love you forever and always Grandpa! 

Lately in the Cecil House...

I love that the holidays are right around the corner. Eric and I are leaving tomorrow to go to West Virginia to spend Thanksgiving with his family. This is my first holiday without my family but I think it will be okay. We will be here for Christmas which will be great. I have almost finished all of the Christmas shopping and even came up with something to get all of our friends. 

Lately, I have also been starting to collect Christmas books and movies so we can start our own collection and traditions. It has been fun to go over to my parents house and start to get out all of the Christmas stuff and I thought I better start doing it for myself. When we get back from Thanksgiving we are going to go buy a tree and put out a few decorations for Christmas. Also, I have a serious addiction to these pink sugar cookies. These are such yummy cookies! Fabulous Freddy's car wash sells them in their store. They have them brought up from St. George from Swig. There is a new Swig in Provo too. They are so yummy! 

With Thanksgiving this week, there are so many things that I am so grateful for. Today, I am especially grateful for my Grandpa Savage. He is not doing well and I am super sad to have to deal with such a hard time through the holidays. I don't know how much longer I will have him but consider each moment that I have with him a blessing. I am so grateful he was with me when I graduated seminary, high school, and my CNA program, when I went through the temple for the first time, and that he was able to be in the temple with me when I was sealed. He is such an awesome example of having humility, always helping others, and being strong in the gospel. I love you forever Grandpa Neal! 

Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone and enjoy spending time with your families!! 

Jazz Game and Fall Time Treats

This weekend Eric and I had tons of fun together before the busy week ahead of us both. On Saturday we went to the Zoo with some friends. I hadn't been to the Zoo since my 9th grade Field Trip so it was fun. That night we went to dinner at the Nordstrom Cafe at City Creek and then went to the Utah Jazz game. We had so much fun! We took my parents tickets and took Macie and Savannah with us. They were third row seats and the little girls even got on the jumbo tron. We had a blast. 

Tonight I also made a fun treat. It was super easy and they turned out cute. I just used normal Rice Krispie treats ingredients and then got some cute Fall Harvest pearl sprinkles from Target and put them on top. Easy and Yummy! 

Carving Pumpkins!

Tonight was the night for carving pumpkins and hot chocolate night. We missed McCall so much but sent her a picture of her little puppy in the pumpkin. Eric and I carved one together and had to do the "Y" for our BYU Cougars. We miss Provo but were able to go to the football game this weekend and had a nice win over Boise State so that was fun. Eric served his mission in Boise and was happy to see the Cougars beat them. 

Also, today marks our 6 month anniversary. I can't believe that we have been married for 6 months already. It feels like we got married yesterday! I love Eric so much and am so happy that we are married. Heres to an eternity more with my incredible hubby!

Fall Time!

I have always loved Fall! Even though I am not a fan of the cold, it has always been one of my favorite seasons. The leaves are so pretty that I decided that Eric and I needed to have our pictures taken up the canyon. I know we got married 6 months ago so recently we have done engagement, bridal, and wedding pictures but now it is time for Christmas card pictures. My cute little sister Morgan is super into photography so she took our pictures for us. They turned out super cute. I know people don't really do Christmas cards after they get married but I wanted to start early keeping in touch with family, friends, and the people that Eric served with in the mission field. 

Now the time comes to pick out the one for the Christmas card. I don't know why us as women get so worked up over the picture and the card. Especially this year I shouldn't worry so much. They are only going out to 100 people and a good portion of that is family but I guess it's a girl thing. 

The other reason I love Fall is all of the yummy soups. Eric loves soup when it is cold at night but I usually buy the packets that take like 20 minutes and then it is all made. I decided last week that I was going to make taco soup. I called my mother-in-law for her recipe and it was so yummy. It took forever to make but Eric and I ate it for 2 nights so it was worth it. It was a super easy recipe. You just dump cans of stuff in but letting it cook is what took forever. I bought some corn bread from Great Harvest. They have corn bread on Tuesdays. Eric would rather have homemade but Great Harvest was fast so that cut it this time. Oh and of course, styrofoam cups for our cherry sprite or diet coke so they stay cold longer and don't leak everywhere. It was a yummy dinner! 

Ann Romney's new cookbook is great! My mom bought it and my mom usually doesn't cook. She made awesome meat loaf though last Sunday and Eric and I were blown away by it. It was so good that Eric was asking if I could make it all week. Finally on Saturday, I made him meat loaf. He ate 3 loaves of it in 24 hours. I couldn't believe it! I ate one loaf in 2 days. I don't love it as much as he does but meat loaf is his favorite thing so I guess we will be having it quite often. It is super easy to make! Ann was on Jay Leno and made the meat loaf. Check it out.. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H965lduF518

I told Eric's mom that I wanted this cookbook for Christmas. I like the way that Ann thinks. Easy, fast, and yummy! That is my way of cooking. 

The last thing that was so great this week is that I found my pumpkin marshmallows and pumpkin spice hot chocolate for Fall time. Every year I look forward to this stuff coming out. Eric thinks it is disgusting and he likes the normal milk chocolate stuff but this stuff is yummy for a change. On cold nights or mornings this is the stuff to drink! 

Heaven is Here

Everyone needs to buy this book and read it. Eric and I were at BYU on Tuesday and I came across this book. I didn't realize who had wrote it and decided I probably shouldn't buy it right now. If I did, I would put off reading my textbooks and those are way more important. Later that evening, we went back down to Provo to attend a dinner. The other wives that were there with us were talking about this book that was amazing and everyone needed to read it. I realized it was the one I had seen earlier that morning and was so mad at myself for not getting it. Good news though! I found it at Deseret Book and read it in 2 days. This book is incredible. It is about the lady that was involved in the airplane crash and burned 80 percent of her body. She tells her story and is such an inspiration. It was so good that I bought another copy and sent it to McCall in Hawaii to read. I was amazed by her hope and courage to that she wanted to be an inspiration to those around her after all that had happened. This book was such a great way to start my weekend as we watch General Conference. It was totally worth it to put the homework on hold and read of her story. Have a happy weekend everyone and read this book during sessions of Conference. It is incredible! 

The Weekend

I always love the weekend! Eric and I always just hang out on the weekends and do fun things together. I hate that I am in school still so sometimes Eric just gets to do whatever he wants while I study. I guess it will pay off though. This weekend was so much fun. It was so fun that I didn't even get many pictures but I still had to share.

On Friday, Eric was busy with meeting with people so my mom, aunt Kim, and I went to the Waffle Love truck. It was so fun but wow they are sure rich. My mom and I shared the Red Wonder one and it was so yummy. We ate the whole thing and felt sick afterwards. I had never been to the waffle truck before so that was something fun that we did. After, I needed a drink so I went to Sonic and got a cherry limeade. I go through these phases with these and I am in one right now. I will go everyday for like the next month or so and get one. They are so yummy and I love happy hour. The lines are sometimes way long but it is so worth it. 

Friday night I really needed help with some Math homework. I had been working on this homework for like 3 weeks and finally told Eric I had to go to the Math lab down at UVU. We went down to Provo and I got help on my homework. It was a friday night so there was no one in there so that meant lots of help for me. After I got done at the school, Eric and I went out to dinner with some friends. We went to Bombay house in Provo. Eric and I went on one of our first dates there. It is Indian food but is way good. I didn't think I would like it but we love that place. After dinner, we went back to one of our friends apartments and I made Halloween cupcakes for dessert and then I gave the wives a little Halloween/Fall gift. Bath 'n Body always has good deals on their mini lotions. I just bought a bunch to give to friends, my mom and sisters, Eric's mom and sister, and anyone else. I have been putting these together and they are so cute. Eric asked me how much all of it was and he said that he just better get over the price of it all because I am going to be doing things like this all my life. They turn out so cute and I decided that I love Zurchers and Hobby Lobby. I found the cellophane bags and the stuff at the bottom of the bags at Zurchers and the ribbon at Hobby Lobby. I am loving this lotion so I think everybody needs some. 

Saturday night, Eric and I went with my family to the BYU/UTAH game. I forgot to take any pictures but it was way fun. Despite the loss, we had a great time. Before the game we went to Blue Lemon which I love. Eric and I always enjoy going back down to Provo. I loved the 2 years that I spent down there and Eric loves BYU so we love to go back. My parents say there is such an awesome feeling down in Cougar County which is so true. It was a late night but totally worth it. I think these next 2 years not playing Utah will be a good thing. 

I need to share something exciting that happened this week! My hair was getting to be not so healthy and my great friend Buggy who does hair did a cut and color on my hair on Monday. I cut 5 inches off and am loving it. It is so much easier to do. I have always had to blow dry my hair and then straighten it. I just dry it will a round brush now and am all good to go. I am loving the short dark hair for fall. My little sisters wanted to be in the picture and are crazy..Haha

Now it is back to homework before school starts back up tomorrow. Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Sugar Cookies!

My grandparents are still on their mission in Arkansas, and Grandma is always the one that makes the sugar cookies for Halloween. Eric and I had my family to dinner tonight and I was trying to think of a dessert to make. I came across some halloween cookie cutters at Target that I had to have. I then got the idea to make pumpkin sugar cookies for my family and my moms sisters family. I got all of the ingredients, got some cute pumpkin napkins and plates, and even found some darling fall/halloween sprinkles at Target. 

I made the cookie dough on friday night and it was a total bust. It turned out so crumbly and I was so annoyed. I had followed the recipe exactly how it was written out and they still didn't look right. I put it in the fridge to see if it would harden up but never did so that batch went into the garbage can. I tried it again on Saturday night and that batch did the same thing. I decided to add some more milk and it finally worked and I was able to get that one to hold together better. 

I colored the frosting orange and got everything ready to go this morning. When I went to roll the cookies this afternoon, it was making a total mess and they didn't even look like my grandmas. I told my mom that I now understand why she doesn't make sugar cookies. They are a pain and make a huge mess. My grandma reminded me on the phone tonight that it has taken her years of practice. They tasted great so I guess the look didn't really matter. I only baked 14 cookies and then everyone just at the rest of the dough plain. My family likes the dough better than the cookies anyway. 

It was fun to be able to make sugar cookies and have my little sisters and cousins over to decorate some. I am going to keep practicing so they look as good as my grandmas one day. 

Quick Post..

This is a quick post but I have to share what I came across today! Fall is coming and my Mom and I were out shopping this morning. We went to Bath 'n Body because we were both out of shower gel. They were having a sell so we thought that we better stock up. We came across this scent that is so yummy for the upcoming season! We bought lotion, shower gel, scrub, and plug-in's for wallflowers. It is called Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin. In fact, we loved it so much we bought some to mail over to McCall in Hawaii. If you get a chance, go pick up some of this for the upcoming months! 

BYU vs. Texas Football Game

Last night, Eric and I went to the BYU football game. It started at 5:00 but was delayed until like 7:00. We went down to Provo yesterday around noon so I could take a test at the UVU testing center before the game. We then hung out with some friends. We went to Sub Zero for ice cream and while we were in there, a huge storm came in. At this point, it was 4:30 and we were needing to get over to the stadium. It was a total downpour. My hair was all cute and curled and then it was totally flat! Eric and I were not prepared at all. I had on a maxi skirt and my BYU shirt and Eric had on shorts and his BYU shirt. Our friends drove us to the stadium and it was raining so hard. We saw a car thats wheels were all under water and the water was up to the doors also. There was probably water in the car most definitely. We got into the stadium and stayed under cover for a while. We tried to buy ponchos but they were all sold out. We went with our friends Chad and Katie Carr. Katie (she is formally a Bowen) and I grew up together and went to Ghana, Africa last year together. She is a great friend and we had tons of fun with them. They got married last week and are the funnest couple. We were glad that they were able to come with us. We stayed under cover and talked until the game started. We ate hot dogs, popcorn, and nachos and just tried to stay warm. 

The game finally started and it was such a good game. BYU beat Texas 21-40. We were surprised because everyone thought that they would get killed. Texas killed BYU last year but that got changed this year. Eric bought a shirt and wiped down the seats where we were sitting. That was nice to not get too wet. It started to rain off and on throughout the game so Katie and Chad went to their apartment during half time to get us some blankets and sweatshirts to stay warm. 

After the game, I fell asleep in the car and slept the whole way home. I was dead tired. Eric woke me up when we got back to Draper and was starving so we ended up going to Applebee's and getting some dinner before we went home. It was a fun game and super fun to go back down to Provo and cheer on the Cougars. I guess you could say that Eric and I are die hard BYU fans. We love still going to the games even though we don't live down there anymore. Yay for the BYU Cougars!