pumpkin carving

This year for Halloween we carved pumpkins with my cousin Mandy and her husband Wes. We had so much fun visiting and enjoying their new baby girl, Cambria. Mandy also made a delicious apple crisp for us to enjoy afterwards.

Tom and I decided to go with a Phantom of the Opera themed pumpkin. . .

I had to take a picture with the flash so you could get the full effect of Mandy and Wes's pumpkin - the nose is the best part!

Unfortunately we still have almost a week until Halloween and our pumpkins are already shriveling up, and the eye of the mask is now WAY too big. It looks more like an alien.

More Halloween pictures to come; bet you can't wait to see what we've come up with this year for costumes! We set a high standard last year, but I think this year's will be pretty good also.

Our apartment pics

Finally I am posting the long-awaited pictures of our apartment! I thought we would start off with the piece de resistance. . . our dining room table which we refinished all by ourselves. It turned out very nice, no?? We reupholstered the chairs, and even grew those centerpiece pumpkins in our very own garden. Be impressed.

Don't the backs of the chairs look like music stands? We thought so too. Quite fitting for our apartment I think.

The living room . . . yes, that is Breaking Dawn on the coffee table/cedar chest. I read it again in preparation for the new movie. And no, I'm not obsessed with Twilight, I just needed a fun book to read while Tom stays up late doing homework.

In the background is the card table we were using before we finished our beautiful masterpiece of a dining table.

The rest of the living room, with a few close-ups for your enjoyment. :)

And now on to our music room! Can I just tell you that I love the fact that we have a music room?? It is perhaps my favorite room in the house. On Sunday afternoons Tom gets out his violin and we play music together. It is absolutely wonderful.

Trusty old Chopin still sits atop my piano.
Also in the music room is what is perhaps my favorite part of our apartment - the bookcase. We also refinished this along with the dining room table and chairs. I love the way it looks, oh so much.

This room says things to me like: sophisticated, classy, refined, well-versed.

Sneak-peak of the bathroom. I just love our shower curtain.


And last but not least, the bedroom. My grandma made this quilt for me as a high school graduation gift. I got to pick out the colors, the pattern, and most of the fabrics. After six years I still love it. And now that I am married I finally get to use it!


Well, that's it! I hope that you enjoyed the tour. It's even better in person so if you're in the area come over and visit some time. Tom and I would love to show off our place to you. We're quite proud of our own little place.

Thoughts for today . . .

Thought #1: One of the greatest things ever is still getting wedding presents 2 1/2 months after the fact. Ever feel bad about giving belated presents? Don't. They are awesome.

Thought #2: I have been reading lots of blogs lately and I have come to the conclusion that there are two different kinds of blogs: good blogs and ok blogs. What is the differential factor? The pictures. Those with good blogs actually know how to take pictures. Photographers make excellent blogs. Ok blogs come from people like me who aim the camera and push the button. I wish I had an excellent blog that people would be jealous of, but I really don't have enough interest in photography to take the time and effort to learn how. Hence, my readers are stuck with an average, ok blog with amatuer pictures. Sorry.

Thought #3: I need to play the piano more often. Too many things to do and so little time! I just need to make the time and do it! I am somewhat self-concious every time I sit down and play because I know that my neighbors can hear me, but that's just something I'm going to have to get over.
I went to a piano concert up on campus Thursday night. To sum up . . .
Del Parkinson + Franz Liszt = pure, talented amazingness
P.S. If I was born circa 1820 I would have had a major crush on Liszt (like pretty much every other woman in Europe).

Thought #4: I need to blog more often too - as mediocre as the posts may be.

Thought #5: I really wish we had money so we could travel. Top destinations on our list:

• Washington, D.C. - oh how I miss you!


• California - visit the fam, go to the beach and Boardwalk, enough said


• South Africa - Tom could show me around his mission areas, I could finally use my passport, and we could go to Kruger National Park - South Africa's equivalent to Yellowstone (elephants, lions and leopards = way cooler than bears, elk and coyotes!!)

Meadow Lake

After coming highly recommended by one of my bosses, Tom and I decided to check out Meadow Lake and take a little camping trip there over the weekend. We had such a good time! The lake was beautiful, as was the weather. I dutifully packed my camera prepared to take lots of pictures, but when we pulled it out - much to our dismay - we realized that the camera battery was dead. Great. I should have listened to that little voice inside my head telling me to check the camera battery as we were packing. I guess you will all have to use your imaginations and picture a gorgeous little lake surrounded by lots of rocks and trees, nestled against a mountain side in the middle-of-nowhere Idaho. Are you all imagining? Good.

Now imagine Tom and I rowing out on the lake in little pontoons which our camping neighbors were kind enough to let us borrow. That was by far the best thing ever! So fun. It definitely made our weekend. We took some snacks, drinks, and our fishing gear out on the pontoons. On my first cast, my very first cast of the day, I caught a pretty nice fish. Being the compassionate person that I am, I like to let the fish go after I catch them, unless of course they are super big and I have to keep them to show off later. This one I was prepared to set free, but when they go and swallow the hook what can you do? Picture me holding up my fish with pride. (Ok, not really. I usually let Tom do all the fish/worm handling.) I must say though that my little fishy made quite a nice meal for us that night.

Moral of the story?? Charge your camera batteries before you go on a camping trip.
Oh, and go to Meadow Lake. You'll love it.

Love you out loud

I've always been one of those people who rolls their eyes when reading mushy gushy blogs about how amazing women's husbands are. But I fear that I might become one of them . . . Ok, probably not. But now that I am married, I can actually relate to these women and why they write these posts, where before marriage I just didn't understand. So, out of appreciation and maybe a little pride, allow me to indulge and tell you what a wonderful husband I have without all the mushy gushy stuff. (And I honestly won't blame you if you stop reading at this point. I might too.)

After a long month of searching, we finally found an apartment to rent and moved in last week! It has been a lot of hard work, but also tons of fun to put together a little home of our own. We are quite proud of it if I do say so myself. (Pictures of our new place soon to come!) The greatest thing is that I haven't had to put the place together and decorate it all by myself. Tom has enjoyed it just as much as I have. We make a great team.

Here are a few other little reasons why I love and appreciate my husband:

He thinks all my ideas are good ideas.

He makes me laugh every.day.

He packs my lunch almost every day. (and it usually includes trail mix!!! the other love of my life)

Since we have been married, he has done most of the laundry and grocery shopping. No joke.

When I asked him this morning what he was going to do since he didn't have to be to work until later he said, "I was thinking I could do some cleaning, vacuum and sweep the floors." What a guy!

I love you Tom Muench!! The End.

Not-too-extreme makeovers

Last Thursday Tom and I decided to go in and get hair makovers! I made him bring the camera so we could get before and after pictures just for fun. . . I know that at least around here it's totally common and cliche for girls to get married with long hair and then chop it all off after the wedding. The hairdresser even kind of laughed at me because it's what everyone does. But I couldn't help myself. I had wanted a change for some time now, but knew that I wanted long hair for the wedding, so I just decided to wait a little while longer 'til I did anything to it.
I was a little nervous about it (and so was Tom), but I think it turned out great! I love my new look and couldn't be happier. Tom tells me at least once a day how much he loves my haircut. I must say that we're pretty pleased with Tom's darker hair as well. It even has a little bit of a reddish tint to it which we also like. :) Enjoy the pics!

Honeymooning

Ok, we didn't take a ton of pictures on our honeymoon but I thought I would share what we have. Tom and I spent the majority of our honeymoon in Island Park at Tom's uncle's cabin (not to be confused with Uncle Tom's Cabin) ha ha. It was so nice to get away and not have to worry about work or school, or most of all . . . . wedding plans. We took day trips into both West Yellowstone and Yellowstone National Park where the pictures below were taken.

We also went fishing in Island Park where I almost caught a fish this big. Seriously. I would have proof, but he broke my line. Just ask Tom though, he'll attest to my story.

While in West Yellowstone we also went to the Playmill and saw a hilarious performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I love that place so much we are going back again on August 10th to celebrate my birthday. This time we are going to see Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which happens to be one of my favorite movies. I expect to laugh that night. A lot. Can't wait!

Mammoth Hot Springs

Castle Geyser

the Upper Falls

The falls (both Upper and Lower) were by far our favorite part of the park. These are a must-see if you ever go to the park. You get to hike down right to the heads of the falls. The amount of water, its speed, and its force is astounding.

They are absolutely amazing!

the wildlife

Unfortunately, we didn't see any bears or moose from the car, but I was glad not to run into any while we hiked down to the falls.

petrified redwood tree

Old Faithful by sunset