christmas surprise

after some serious trigonometry and mad woodcutting,

tannon surprised me with this on Christmas morning:

i love it! he even bought the cute decorations for it. what a guy.

treasures

don't you love the hidden treasures in your stocking on Christmas morning?

• what were/are your favorite stocking findings?

it doesn't cost a thing to smile

on sunday, i was finally able to attend relief society since moving to pittsburgh. tannon & i got called into the nursery the week we moved here, and that's where we've been every sunday...ever since.

although i absolutely love the children in our ward, i have deeply missed relief society. there is something so powerful about a group of women getting together on a regular basis to share experiences and opportunities life brings.

i was hit with several emotions as the incredible teacher shared her insight on Christmas. it really opened my eyes and helped me learn that Christmas isn't always easy for everyone.

Christmas is about HOPE

although i hurt inside that i won't be able to share this Christmas season with our families, i am truly overwhelmed by the blessings that i have received throughout my life, and especially these past few months. i am grateful that i actually have a family to miss throughout this season. and especially that they are just a phone call away.

i thank Him for his birth, life, & sacrifice. He is my Savior.

just because

i have the best sister ever.
yesterday, she surprised me with these:

from clear across the country.

she found a cupcake shop in pittsburgh

called and had them ordered

had my husby pick them up

just because

i.love.you.sis.

an erie thanksgiving

we had a fantastic pennsylvania thanksgiving this year. our friends, smitty & ashlee, invited us to their house in erie PA. it was so much fun to see them, along with maren & ryan. we ate a very tasty Thanksgiving meal. it was ashlee's first time cooking a turkey and she did amazing.

after the feast, we decided to go check out lake erie, which actually looks more like an ocean. it's huge! there are waves and everything.

that night, we watched the Disney*Pixar Up and then played a long game of Phase 10.

the next day, we hit up some bowling. tannon was a little bummed that he didn't have his ball & shoes on hand, but he made it through okay.



although we missed our families tremendously, we had a really great thanksgiving!
now it's time to whip out the taylor swift, kenny chesney, & alabama Christmas albums!

a girl can dream

forget about all of your student loans & monthly mortgage.

***if you could be anywhere right now, where would you be?***

tough love

a special thanks to miss shay for giving me the "Worst Blog Updater Award".
she gives me tough love. and this is why i love my shay.

i had a wonderful weekend. visiting maren is always a delight. i have to say that the highlight of my trip to D.C. was stumbling across this beautiful building.

do ya see it? there in the background? okay, so most of you won't give a crap about this. but hopefully my fellow nerdy IP friends will think it's half as cool as i did. i really REALLY miss working in Intellectual Property.

* * * * * * *

i love november. i love seeing the updates on facebook. you know the ones where everyone posts something they are truly grateful for? it is really refreshing to be surrounded by all of the gratitude.

this is my first thanksgiving away from family. boy, is it gonna be a tough one! my family always takes a trip to St. George to go visit family. it is one of my favorite traditions. we eat our thanksgiving dinner at Golden Corral (used to be Chuck-A-Rama... we are moving up in the buffet-style restaurants, so back off). lots of people think we miss out on a good home-cooked meal, but i don't care. no preparation, no clean-up. i wouldn't have had it any other way.

also, november is the month when both of my mom's were born. i look up to them both so much and i am so glad to be such a big part in their lives! they are both amazing examples to me of how i want to be a mother.

HaPpY nOvEmBeR!

whoopsie!

i used the word "shiz" at work. really, mccall? really?

i will NEVER hear the end of that. ever. sometimes i forget i'm not in utah anymore, where made up swear words are socially acceptable.

what's your secret?

something must be seriously wrong with you if this isn't your favorite time of year. i love the vibrant trees, the fall festivities, the carving of pumpkins, the crisp air, soup, i love it all.

the trees back east are incredible! i can't wipe the smile off my face as i walk and drive through this place this time of year. the foliage is full of life and color.

i don't know about you, but it is so easy for me to fall into bad habits around this time. the air turns cool, the home-baked goods surface, and the walks & bike rides come to a screeching halt. so, i need your secrets. how do YOU stay motivated throughout the holidays to be healthy?

i ate my weight in chocolate

since there aren't too many back here, us child-less folk

decided to take a quick trip to Hershey, PA.

cold weather - check

lots & lots of chocolate - check

pregnancy announcement - check (no, no, not from me)

fantastic company - check

free admission to Hershey Park - check

since it was raining, most of the rides at the Park weren't running.

we all had our heart set on riding roller coasters, so this wasn't going to stop us.

the park was still charging full-price admission and we were not okay with that.

we opted for a "shoppers pass" which allows

you to enter the park for 45 minutes to "shop". we were all over this! we ran from

coaster to coaster trying to fit in as many rides as we could in 45 minutes.

hershey park is even better when it's fa-ree.

i think i should end every get-a-way with a massage from now on.
it was the best thing ever!

excuse me?

today while at work, a co-worker asks, "if you were to kill your significant other, how would you do it?"

"excuse me?"

"oh come on... if you haven't thought about how you'd kill your spouse, you haven't been with them long enough. i know how i'd do it. my wife can't swim."

should i be scared?

because i deserve it

i can not wait for this weekend. hershey park, here i come!

and then a VERY much needed......

dear blog

i'm not really dead. just been having lots of fun. or not. work has been keeping me super busy. i'm not working more than i used to, but my schedule is really throwing me off. when i get off, it's dark. it makes the day go by WAY too fast. at my old job, i had time in the afternoon/evening to get things done, but not anymore. getting home around 8:00pm just really cramps my style.

mom, missy & morgie left me today. i miss them SOOO much already! they were awesome company and helped me around the house a lot. we painted almost every room in the house and it looks awesome. we also fit in some shopping, fall festivals, good eating & conference.

good times. i seriously can't want until i can see them again, whenever that'll be.

rAnDoM qUeStIoN

• why does public speaking literally make me ill at just the thought of it? i can hang myself over a cliff with a teensy weensy rope and not even flinch, but the thought of getting up in front of a crowd makes me physically ill. where is the logic? can anyone please tell me?

those of you who attend my church, why don't ya do both of us a favor and take a day off this Sunday. :)

apple festival

yesterday we visited the apple festival in amish country with some friends of ours, james & shelly. it was awesome! pennsylvania is so beautiful! i loved driving through the country. the leaves are barely starting to change color and the temperature was mostly in the 60's. oh-so-perfect. not a lot of things make me happier than this time of year. it was a great kick-off to a wonderful fall season.

driving through the country of this beautiful state!

making apple butter over a fire.

hailey wanted me to take a picture of her on SIX rocking horses.

i love how specific she is.

she's my little buddy.

i've always had a weird obsession over cash registers.

i just had to snap a shot of this thing. i love it!

here they are, making apple cider. it was SO good.

i sure could go for some right now.

there were tons of these adorable cars in the parking lot.

love them.

apparently you aren't supposed to take their picture.

but who can resist, really?

don't you just LoVe this face?

thanks shelly & james for the invitation.

this is definitely going to be a fall tradition of ours.

midget

i get to see this little midget in tWeLvE dAyS! i am beside myself with excitement!

the old man

my dad came to visit... he already misses me THAT much :)

he had some continuing education

classes in Philidelphia, so he decided to make a trip out of it and stay with us!

and we are so glad he did.

i mostly drug him around to do all of my boring errands. poor guy.

*note to self... i will NEVER register a car

in Pennsylvania again. ever. it took us THREE days

to complete the dang process. bleh!

we were able to fit in a few fun things, however.

we went to an old church that they have

turned into a brewery. it was SO cool.

if you ever go here, make sure you sit

on the LEFT side of the place. we sat on the right,

and although the food was pretty good,

it was PRICEY. on the left side they serve

pizza & sandwiches, and on the right side is their fine dining.

oops.

here are some pictures of the place.

the pictures are horrible because i didn't have my camera,

so these babies are from my phone.

tannon & da papa

we miss you already, dad! come back s.o.o.n!

i did it

i am officially employed.

i will be working as an assistant manager

for IST in this building:

the people there are very friendly, professional and

"know how to have fun".

the break rooms are chic and beautiful.

the view is spectacular.

the doors have fingerprint recognition.

i have a hunch that our christmas

parties won't consist of an opening prayer

and a speech from a General Authority

(as opposed to my last employer).

wish me luck!

*side note... i am panicking

take me out to the ball game

tannon's ideas of sports are:
snowboarding, rock climbing, and mountain biking.
don't get me wrong, i absolutely love
and adore those sports as well,
but let's be honest... i miss ball games.

my growing up years consisted of playing and watching sports.
i miss those days like nobodies business.
pittsburgh treats their teams as a religion. no really.
i don't know how you can live here without getting sucked in.

we went to our first Pirates game and PNC Park
is beautiful.

matty & krista... the newly engaged couple

blurry firework pictures

*in case you're wondering,the Pirates played the Philidelphia Phillies (2008 World Series Champs) and beat them 3-2. i think we brought them good luck.

my mare bear

our trip to d.c. was fabulous. seeing my maren was such a delight.

she is like a sister to me and it's SO nice to have "family"within driving distance. her & ry-guy are the best.

have i mentioned that the

thunderstorms out here are incredible?

seriously, i can't get enough of them.

i wish pictures could capture the actual

beauty, but sometimes they just can't.

our drive home from D.C. was beautiful.

we are really starting to love it here. it's becoming a little more like home each day.

dear Pittsburgh

here we are. in pittsburgh. i love my dishwasher.

i love my central air. i love my ward.

i am adjusting to this city day by day.

we have met some really great people out here

and i can't wait to get to know them better.

there are buildings everywhere here and the houses are all built SO close together.

i kind of feel like i have lost a large amount of privacy.

today tannon and i went to a park called Frick Park and it was heavenly.

this park actually felt like we were in the mountains and it was SO nice to escape all of the craziness and enjoy nature.

sorry i don't have more pictures. i will take some of our house soon. stay tuned...

now we're off to Washington D.C. to visit ryan & maren!

i love that we're now in the same time zone...

what's worse?

*image from google search

the only thing worse than moving is moving across the country. how do two people and one dog have so much STUFF?

wedding

this might be the coolest thing i've ever seen. ever.

crafty

i respect crafty people. i really, really do.
i don't have a crafty, creative bone in my entire body. but sometimes i like to pretend.
like that one time when i decided i wanted to make my friend who was pregnant a baby blanket.
i ran to the fabric store, really excited about my upcoming project. hah.
i spent WAY more on that stupid fabric than i would have even bought the darn blanket for. not to mention the many tears that were shed over my sewing machine. i got SO frustrated because it a) looked like crap. b) i am embarrassed to even admit how much just the materials cost.
it was one ginormous waste of time AND money. this was over a year ago and i still get heated just thinking about it.
i promised myself i would never sew again. and i haven't.

the other day, i was riding my bike down 7th south and spotted this baby with a sign on it that said $7.50.



i told tannon about it and made him drive by it with me. he didn't think it was that great of an idea, probably because he knows how ornery & frustrated i get when i try to be "crafty". i slept on it.

the next morning we drove by to see if it was still there and the sign had changed to $5.
since the coffee table in our front room just isn't cutting it for a computer desk (the computer gets in my way of my TV watching),
i figured... it's only 5 bucks. even if i make it look worse than ever, it was only 5 bucks.

and there you have it. sorry the pictures aren't that great. and, the antique look usually isn't my thing, but i wanted to give it a shot.