Pumpkin Carving!

This last monday for Family Home Evening Marc and I decided to carve pumpkins. We went to Brolium's, an Idaho grocery chain, because they were selling them by the pound, and not a flat price. All the smaller ones were gone, I guess it was a popular night to carve! We ended up getting two that in total weighed about 50 pounds, but we spent less than $10! We covered the table in newspaper and started. Marc does not like pulling the "guts" out so he did his best! The pumpkins were huge! It took forever to hallow them out and carve them, not to mention the fact that our good knives are in Arizona, so we were using some pretty dull ones! We had fun though, Marc made a pretty big mess, I am thinking when we have kids, the pumpkin carving will take place outside!

Here we are preparing our creative thoughts, or to cut up the pumpkins...


Here are our pumpkins when we were through!



Happy Halloween!!!

Rexburg Temple at Sunset, and Yummy "Bat Cave" Cake!

Marc is taking a digital photography class this semester. Since we both really love to take pictures it has been a fun thing to find places around town and take pictures. Thursday night there was an amazing sunset, and we were hoping that Friday night would bring the same. So, we packed up the camera and tripod and headed for the Temple. We got some pretty good shots, but unfortunately they turned out pretty grainy. Marc wants to play with them in Photoshop, but I was looking at some of them today and decided I would post a few. We might go again, but when we left the Temple a little after 7 it was in the 30's, so we will see if we get back up there soon or not. This is one we took right after we got there, the sun was just starting to set, but the silhouette of the Temple it so pretty!

This is us standing in the field, Marc had to run out to me, the field was so dusty! We both left with messy shoes, and quite the rock collection, there were a ton in my shoes!

We are so blessed to have such a beautiful place so close to us!

We also had our ward Halloween party Saturday night. We made a yummy chocolate bundt cake, that Marc calls "The Chase Family Secret Recipe" We decided that since there was a dessert contest we would get a little creative with the cake. We called it the bat cave. We put a bat stencil on it and powder sugar to add a few bats on it, then we put dry ice in the middle, unfortunately we put too much in the cup so that when we added water it froze into one solid block! The cake looked so lonely on the plate so we added a few candy corn around it! Unfortunately we didn't win, but I promise, this is more than just a chocolate cake! It is so yummy! Marc was so glad we had some left, he isn't very good at sharing yummy treats with others!

No Office = 2 Hour Video Game Session

We were very excited to watch the new episode of The Office last night, but for some reason there was an Idaho debate on. We were both very bummed and needed to take out some of our frustration. We finally found Mario Kart for our Wii about two months ago, and shortly after realized that we could set it on a setting to play every single course, there are 32. We figured it would take us about 2 hours, but we were ready. The time flew by pretty fast, and we basically dominated! Marc came in 1st with over 400 points, and I came in 2nd with about 300 points. It was kind of fun just to play, and it brought back many childhood memories for both of us. I don't know when, if ever, we will do it again, but we were both so sad that there was no office on, we had to take our frustration out on Mario, Luigi and the gang. It did help, although I was pretty upset, I am pretty sure that everyone was ganging up on me the whole time, I mean really I got hit every time anything was thrown! Marc and I decided to team up and help each other out, it actually worked pretty well! We are always up for a little competition though, so if anyone wants to play let us know!

Flowers, Sushi and Pumpkin Cookies!

On Monday Marc surprised me when he came home from class. He got done a little early and decided to stop by the store. He bought some really pretty mums and sushi from da Pineapple Grill, which they so conveniently sell at Broulim's! It was a pretty great surprise! The flowers even matched the color of the shirt I was wearing! I sometimes give him a hard time for not being "romantic" and doing cute stuff like that. But that day he decided to be different! He was so cute when he brought them in too! He can be a romantic sapp when he puts his mind to it!



Last night I really wanted to make pumpkin cookies! I had a Stake Relief Society meeting last week and we had some for dessert. Also when I was working at CFR we used to have them for snacks and they were so good! Before I left I made a copy of the recipe, but had not made them. Well last night was it! They turned out so perfect! I had one today and they were still super soft like they are supposed to be! They taste like fall too! I know that sounds funny, but I know you all know what I am talking about, the warm cinnamon flavors, delicious! Here is the recipe if you want to try them, they are really easy, but they do cook to be softer cookies, and the dough is more like a thick batter, but I promise if you make them you will love them!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

1/2 Cup Shortening
1 1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Egg
1 Cup Pumpkin pie filling or puree
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Cinnamon
2 1/2 Cups Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 Cup Chocolate Chips

Combine Shorting, sugar, egg and pumpkin. Mix well. Add remaining ingredients. Drop onto cookies sheet by spoon or cookie scoop. Bake at 350 for 12 to 15 minutes. If you double the recipe don't double the egg, it doesn't come out right!

If you don't have the silicon baking sheet that you put on the cookie sheet, you should get one! They are amazing! You have to give the cookies a little longer to bake, but they don't burn and you really get a perfect cookie every time! You can get them just about anywhere that sells baking supplies. Wilton has a really good one that can go in the dishwasher, or the Professional Bake Mat is also really good, we have and use both! I don't think I will ever go back to making cookies straight on the cookie sheet again, it just isn't the same!



These aren't our cookies, I didn't take a picture, but they look pretty similar. I will add a picture of the flowers later though. I came up to campus with Marc, he is in class and I don't have a picture of them!

The Case of the Mysterious Sock!

We decided that we were going to buy a couch cover. We found someone selling one in the color we wanted on the school bulletin board, so we bought it. When we got it home and put it on the couch and it just didn't work. So we are going to try and sell it to someone else. As we were pushing the couch back to the wall, we found a sock underneath the couch. The strange thing is it is a sock that doesn't belong to either of us! We aren't sure how it got there, or who it belongs too! Marc was holding it to try and figure it out, and being my sometimes OCD self, I made him throw it away and wash his hands. We think that maybe it was in the couch cover and the people we bought it from didn't see it before they gave it to us. Or maybe there is some mysterious portal from one person's dryer to the bottom of someone else's couch. Who knows, either way we are still trying to figure out how the sock got there and who it belongs too!


It has also been getting really cold here. It snowed a couple times this week, but is supposed to be back in the 60's by the end of the week. We aren't really excited about the cold weather kicking in, but we keep reminding ourselves that this is the last winter we have to be here and next year we can be back home with all our family, I think that is the only thing that will get me through the negative temperatures!

Cinnamon Rolls, a General Conference Tradition!

I am not really sure when this tradition started, I was pretty young though because it seems like it was always how we did stuff. My mom started a tradition during General Conference, I am sure as a way to get us awake to watch the Sunday sessions. Every Saturday night of Conference weekend my mom starts making our delicious conference breakfast! She makes a breakfast egg casserole that sits in the fridge overnight. Then in the morning before the first session she starts to work on her amazing homemade cinnamon rolls! Everything is usually ready to eat after the end of the first session. It is a favorite meal of all the family, because it only happens twice a year! The General Conference times that I spent up at school were not quite the same without the yummy food to top off the spiritual weekend. I am big on traditions and want to have a lot for our family. So, our first conference after we were married, I attempted my hand at the fun Sunday breakfast. I don't have a bread machine to make the dough in, so I was stuck doing it the old fashioned way, I didn't realize how long it would take to make the cinnamon rolls by hand, and they were done way later than they should have been. I also put an air tight lid on the egg casserole so it didn't rise like it should have. Well, I learned my mistakes and this time around we had a FABULOUS breakfast to complement the spirit. The casserole turned out perfect and was ready just as the first session started. The cinnamon rolls took a lot of work again, but we were prepared. We even got a little creative and made one pan with dried cranberries and almonds in them. We were so proud of how much better they turned out this time, we took pictures!
Here is a close up before it went into the oven. Marc was so proud of his rolling skill when we started cutting them, I have to admit, he did a great job! Oh, and if you are wondering, there is whipping cream on the bottom of the pan, it helps the rolls to taste extra delicious!

Here is the finished product! We only got one picture before the camera died, but they were delicious and ready to eat at the beginning of the last session! Too bad they were so good and warm, because of that we had a hard time keeping our eyes opened, but it was a great treat to have after the rain we had all weekend!

Candy Corn, Yellow Leaves, and Colder Temps!

I think that my favorite part of October and Halloween is Candy Corn! I actually bought some a week ago, I know I was ahead of schedule, but I couldn't resist! I am pretty sure that there will be more bags to come! Who doesn't like them?! But it is very obvious that it is fall, and that Halloween is just around the corner! I wanted to start buying halloween candy a month ago but Marc wouldn't let me. I guess it comes from my mom slowly building the stash so that she has good candy before it is all gone! Marc doesn't think we are going to have very many kids coming, and if we have it, he...we will eat it! I guess it is still a few weeks away!

All the leaves here are starting to change, it is kind of fun, we don't really have "Fall" in Arizona, so we are having fun watching the trees change, and the weather too! It is 80 during the day and drops to the 40's or lower at night. Let's just hope this weather continues, we aren't too excited for the snow! But thinking positively, this is our last winter here, so we are going to try and get through it! We can't decide if we are going to get costumes, but we don't really have ideas either!