Sunday, November 27, 2011

Bills


It is nearing the start of the next month so it means that I spent the weekend paying bills. Why is it that when I was a teenager all I wanted to do is become an adult and work and "play" on the weekend. Now don't get me wrong its nice being an adult but I would love to have the carefree attitude that I did even 10 years ago. So another month down with my money going out to being an adult. Oh the joys but at least I can do what I want... (?!?!?)

Christmas

The Christmas decorations have hit the Hortin household. I decided I needed to drown my sorrows of Utah playing like crap in Football on Friday by getting all of the interior decorated. You can see below the tree, our bookshelf, and "mantle" areas.



Scott was great and started working on the outside lights on Saturday and I was able to get home and help him out to finish some things. We ended up going with all white lights  and had "accents" by using Mickey, a bear, and some path candy cane lights. You can see everything that has been done outside.  You can't really see the candy cane lights in the photo below but they are there along the pots and by the blowups. 

I have been able to get about half of my shopping done so that is an even better plus! I hope your Holiday decor is going up and you are enjoying the start of the season!

Engagement & Trip


About 2 weeks ago I got the following text: "Jeff and I are getting married!" I was SO excited when I got it because it means that one of my best friends from Lawrence University is getting married! I knew when I heard that she was going to Hawaii with Jeff that a ring was coming (no, I was not in on it either!).

Caitlin and I met at the very first LUST (Lawrence University Swim Team) meeting in 2000 and I hung out with her on a regular basis Freshman and Sophomore year and almost daily Junior and Senior years. She joined Kappa Kappa Gamma one semester after Meg and I joined and that started the "influx" of swimmers to the chapter. :) We were lifeguards together and just loved laughing the entire time (you would never know by the photo above).

I am so excited for her to start planning the rest of her life with Jeff and seeing what amazing adventures will come to both of them. The best thing about her engagement is I get to celebrate with her in about a week and a half!! I planned a trip to go out for her big 3-0 Birthday Celebration next week a couple months ago. So I get to go out and see her, some other crazy friends from LU, my sis & Bill. Can next week get here sooner??

Congratulations Caitlin and I can't wait to celebrate all of your big milestones with you shortly!!

Hunting

This fall I have gone out duck, geese, and swan hunting with Dad and Scott (a couple times). It has been a decent fall for ducks but it seems that I always go the next morning when they all decide to not come back in the morning... Anyway, here are some photos that I took during the mornings/evenings that I have gone out this fall:

 Drake getting ready for opening day. 

A look of the sunrise on opening day. 

 I surprised Scott with a photo one morning (he is going to kill me for putting this up). 

 Watching the storm roll in one afternoon. 

The night skyline of the Salt Lake Valley.

Thanksgiving 2011


This year Thanksgiving was another good year.  A couple days before Scott smoked two turkey breasts. He took one to work and let us have one for the holiday (see photo above). The actual day of Thanksgiving I slept in and then we lounged around the house in the morning. After lounging we went over to Scott's parents where we had a nice "lunch" with his parents, brother, cousins, and neighbors.  After a few hours at the Hortin's we went to my parents home. Mom & I started working on our Christmas cards, Will & Scott watched some football and Dad cooked dinner. It was a wonderful day and I hope yours was just as great as ours!

Utah Football

Another season of Utah Football has come and gone (well, minus the bowl game) and it was a better year than I had anticipated at the start. However, they really need to get their offense in a better situation than it was this year. The following are photos of the various events around the games this season.


Homecoming: Kappa won Songfest and I got to watch them at the first UNight.


Birthday: Scott has his 30th Birthday during one home game in October. We unfortunately got to cook that day but it was a good day anyway.



The 2nd to last game brought snow to the tailgate lot. Mom was supposed to do a "cold" face but she looks more of a "gross' face...


The same snow game was a game that the University honored the veterans. The band did some cool formations during 1/2 time. Below you can see some of them (I missed the submarine with moving water, sorry!)



Lets hope the Utes pull of a "W" during their bowl game or this year really wasn't a spectacular year, in my opinion.

Fall Crafts

This fall has been busy with various craft projects. After a successful Halloween wreath night the Hortin women decided to continue with craft nights. A couple weekends ago we made holiday bags. It was a good time using the Cricket and practicing our glueing skills.



This past week we decorated letters for the holidays. We decorated "Joy", "Noel", "Ho Ho Ho", "Peace", and "Merry". I forgot to get a photo of everyone's words but mine turned out pretty good. (If you are looking for an easy craft this is it!)



I am now in the process of making some holiday cards.


I had grand intentions on making all of mine but I think I'll do some and then send an electronic card to others like I did last year. I'll apologize to everyone who gets an electronic one--I just don't have the time needed to make all of them!

Monday, November 14, 2011

Car Incident (Updated from Origional 11/27/11)


Well two Friday's back I was driving home from my parents and I hit some debris on the freeway. Luckily I wasn't injured but my poor baby lost a tire and rim. A crappy photo of it is above. I was wondering what I hit and after talking to the officer who came buy it was a solid piece of metal that fell off a semi. The good thing is I walked away and my car is able to be repaired.
I actually lucked out in only having one tire where other cars involved needed to replace 2+ tires to getting body work done and tires.  The only crappy thing for me is now trying to get the officer associated with the case to call me back.

Update (11/27/11): Well I have an update. The car wasn't fully fixed with the tire.... I thought that it needed an alignment but it I ended up needing the knuckle of the steering wheel replaced. So after another 2 days of the car in the shop (for a total of 8 days) it is fully functioning again. The good news about the whole situation is that I was able to get in touch with the trucking's insurance and they will pay me back for all of the repairs. So now it is the waiting time to get the money from them...