"You're fun to go shopping with. I LOVE hazelnuts!"

This quote is by me, while Christian and I were driving to the store. Yes, these two sentences did come immediately following each other. Sometimes I say things that seem relevant to the conversation according to me, and then later from the confused looks on people's faces, realize that they seemed completely irrelevant to everyone else. This was one of those times. I promise it seemed relevant at the time.

The weather was SOOO nice this week (up until the weekend). It averaged about 65 degrees, and we had a slight breeze. There were very entertaining crisp autumn leaves all over the sidewalks all over town. I decided autumn is my second-favorite season (spring is my favorite). Simply because I have a thing about leaves. It's so incredibly satisfying to see an especially big, crisp, crunchy one ahead of you on the sidewalk, then step on it and hear it crack and crumble underneath your foot. It makes me happy. Or, even better, a huge PILE of the crisp crackly leaves that you can trudge through and kick.

This weekend, though, we got our first real snow of the season! We didn't get much more than icicles on the car and a little bit of snow on the ground in Provo, but in American Fork where I was working that afternoon, they got about an inch! It was really exciting! We were going to drive up to where there was snow and take pictures, but we didn't get around to it... so if it snows later this week we'll try our hardest to take pictures. :) Late on Sunday night temperature dropped to I think the lowest it's been all year (at least that we've been out in): 25 degrees. It was crazy!

On Saturday I went to take my second midterm exam for Statistics for Psychology- deemed to be the hardest exam of the year. I was pretty confident, but I came out and saw a 96 next to my number on the Testing Center screen! 96!!!!! I hadn't been THAT confident! I was super proud of myself.

Sunday we had stake conference in the Provo Tabernacle: a welcome opportunity, because it started at 10 and we usually have church at 8. Christian and I are in the stake choir, and we performed two beautiful pieces at stake conference. It was really cool to sing in the Provo Tabernacle because we got to sit up on the second story choir seats and look down on the congregation. We were also the only ones in the congregation who got padded chairs; hooray for being in choir!

This week we received our 4 tickets that we'd ordered for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert on December 11! We're super excited and looking for another couple who'd like to go with us on a double date to it. It should be really fun!

A Christmasy song to amuse you this week: "You Will Behave Like Gentlemen", to the tune of "God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen". It's about a mom and dad and their two little sons who are going to Grandma's house for the holidays, and the dad is lecturing them about how they should behave at Grandma's house. Christian and I heard this song on the radio last year around Christmastime and thought it was hilarious, but haven't been able to find it until now! Go to this link http://kxoj.com/morningblog/?p=1946&cpage=3 and click on "You Will Behave Like Gentlemen".

Recipe for this week: Herbed Potato Soup. We tried this because it had so many great raving reviews, and we decided we're definitely adding it to our family cookbook. It's delicious!

Herbed Potato Soup

Ingredients

2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced

2 cups water

1 large onion, chopped

1/4 cup butter, cubed

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/4 tsp dried rosemary, crushed

1/4 tsp pepper

1 1/2 cups milk

Directions

1. Place potatoes and water in a large saucepan; cook over medium heat until tender.

2. Meanwhile, in another saucepan, saute onion in butter until tender.

3. Stir in the flour, salt, thyme, rosemary, and pepper.

4. Gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes.

5. Add potatoes with cooking liquid; heat through.

Serves 2 very hungry adults (recipe originally said it served 6... I guess that's how much we can eat).

Notes

We put in 1/2 tsp oregano instead of thyme, and it turned out delicious! Christian also sprinkled his soup with cheddar cheese and said it tasted great, like a baked potato. I liked mine just the way it was. It's super easy and relatively quick, and delicious!

We hope everyone is doing well! Love you all!