Pioneer Woman cookbook signing

I met the Pioneer Woman (aka Ree Drummond) on Wednesday night at her cookbook signing in Salt Lake! For those of you who don't know who she is, she has an awesome cooking blog that I read all the time. She's dang funny and every recipe of hers that I've tried has been delicious. In fact, I am making her chicken scallopine tomorrow for Sunday dinner.

The book signing was at the King's English bookshop in Sugarhouse. I'd never been, but it's quite the charming little place. Ree (calling her by her first name since now we're bff's--lol) did a Q&A at the beginning and she was just as beautiful and funny as I'd hoped. She actually walked right past me on her way out of the room. She saw I was taking a picture (the first one I posted) and paused for me and said, "Photoshop me!" which I thought was hilarious.

It took quite awhile to get my cookbook signed, but I'm so glad I went. When it was actually my turn I was almost tongue tied. I can't even remember what we talked about, but she was extremely friendly and classy. It was a lot of fun to meet her and judging from what I've been able to read so far, the cookbook looks like it is going to be one of my favorites. I'm very grateful Sean was a good sport and kept me company in SLC while waiting for my group to be called to get the book signed.

If anyone is interested, I have a link to her blog under "favorite sites" on the right. Isn't she pretty? She and Paula Deen are my make-believe real friends.

Congrats to Sean!

Sean passed the patent bar!!! He actually took the exam two weeks ago. The testing center gave him a sheet that said initial results showed he passed and the official letter came a few days ago confirming he did! He's studied so hard for this and I am so proud of him. He put in countless hours of study-- many times in the early morning or late night so he could spend more time with Jackson and I. As soon as his papers are processed, Sean will officially be a registered patent agent. This means he can process patents (even though he hasn't graduated from law school yet). So if any of you out there have something you need patented, give Sean a call ;)

Congratulations Sean!

Halloween

This was the most excited I'd been for Halloween in as long as I can remember-- I guess having a kid will do that to you! We headed up to Idaho Falls for the weekend.

We took Jackson to a few houses of family and friends to trick or treat and had a great time. Our first stop was at my grandma's house-- Jackson loved playing in the leaves in her front yard. I always used to be really excited to go to my grandma's house on Halloween and show her my costume. I am very lucky she lives so close to my family.

We also met up with Sean's sister's family to knock a few doors together and it was so cute to see the kids in their costumes. My friend Andrea happened to be at her parents' house in the same neighborhood we were in and so we stopped by and had a lot of fun hanging out. We (I mean Jackson) scored some yummy candy! ;)

We ended the night at Sean's parents' house with both of his sisters' families. The cast of characters included a cat, Tinker Bell, Peter Pan, two chickens and a tiger :)

We hope everyone had an awesome Halloween this year. I've had a lot of fun looking at everyone's blogs to see how you all celebrated!

Happy Halloween!

Carving pumpkins

We carved pumpkins this year with our friends Brian, Sam and their son Simon. Lots of pumpkin guts and lots of fun:

Drumroll please...Carved by (from left): Brian, Sam, Brian (for Simon), Jenny, Sean

I loved them all! How awesome is the Elmo?! The little boys loved that one. I got the idea for the stacked skeleton pumpkin from a magazine. I used Jackson's pumpkin for the head but I'm sure he didn't mind :) Sam's witch was awesome-- lots of little details you can't see in the photos. And I love Sean's classic jack 'o lantern with his huge smile.

Group shot:

Our row of Jacks--we're ready for Halloween!

Just in time for Halloween...

Count "Jack"-u-la

This photo was taken a few weeks ago when his two top side teeth made their debut.

And now we have our very own "Jack" 'o lantern!

His two top middle teeth are coming in, along with another tooth on the bottom. Five new teeth make for a pretty spooky smile! :)

Pumpkin patch

We went with my sister and her family to an awesome pumpkin patch near their home. There were tractors, wheelbarrows, a free mini corn maze and it was a great spot for some cute fall pictures. We each picked out our perfect pumpkin and will be carving them next week.

Jackson's pumpkin

This wheelbarrow was obviously made for him...

Max and JacksonMy sister's cute family

I just think this picture is adorable.

In the corn maze.

This last picture is one Sean randomly took while messing with the settings on the camera. I happen to love it because I think Jackson's eyes look cool.
I think pumpkin patches are so much more fun than picking a pumpkin out of the heap at Wal-Mart!