our trip to the pumpkin patch.

I'm not sure what it is about Halloween, but it's one of my very favorite holidays. Maybe it's the weather, the decorations, the colors, the candy, the parties, the dressing up, the scary movies, the haunted houses, or the pumpkins. Or maybe it's the fact that my birthday is 4 days before Halloween. Either way, this is one of my favorite times of the year!

One of our favorite Halloween traditions is visiting the pumpkin patch at Rosewood Gardens every year. It's such a fun place! Every year it's filled to the brim with Halloween decorations, hay bales, gourds, and pumpkins of all shapes and sizes. There's even a cat that wanders up and down the paths!

We had a fantastic time picking out our pumpkins together at the pumpkin patch. We found some great ones and we're excited to carve them with friends tonight!

What are your favorite Halloween traditions? Do you carve pumpkins? Where do you get them?

really loving my husband today.

Today, I'm feeling extra grateful for D and what a wonderful husband he is.

I had a pretty rough day yesterday, but he knew how to make it all better.

I'm so glad I married someone that I could stay up all night talking to and laughing with.

Thanks for being the greatest husband, D! I love being your wife.

P.S. I read the most inspiring blog post today about not placing blame in your marriage. It was a great reminder to me to only do things that will bring peace into our home. If you're married (and even if you're not) I think it's a great read!

Weekend Updates.

This weekend...

D and I had great success on our little Saturday shopping escapade. We found the COOLEST hats at World Market that we just couldn't pass up. (p.s....I love that the trees behind us make it look like we're in the forest!)

M's raccoon hat.

D's owl hat.

We also found a place in SLC that sells Milka bars! D was so excited. Milka bars are the most popular chocolate bars in Europe, and they are made in Germany where D served his mission. It was some of the best chocolate I've ever had. We'll have to go back for more!

We also went to Red Robin with D's family on Saturday night. I think I ate half an onion ring tower by myself, and it was wonderful. I wish I had gotten a picture of my nephew Jace flashing the U of U sign to the table of girls next to us. You can see a picture of him here. (He's the one with the mohawk, of course!)

To get into the Halloween spirit, D and I also cuddled up and watched Shutter Island this weekend. D isn't much for scary movies, but he indulged me on this one. It turned out to be a really great movie! We both recommend it.

Last weekend...

We headed up to D's cabin last weekend to watch conference and see the gorgeous fall leaves. It was absolutely perfect up there! It felt like we really got away from the world, and we were able to really focus on the messages from our leaders.

and a few weekends before...

D decided to be a super awesome and thoughtful husband, and placed a little blue box on my lap for no reason at all! He's the sweetest ever.

The card read:

What better color to find your keys with?

Love,

D

I opened the box to find the most adorable key chain ever from T & Co. He said he noticed the key chain I had was getting pretty worn out so he decided to buy me a new one. [Insert mushy ooohs and awwws here]. He sure knows how to pick 'em! Thanks, D!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!
And if you're a U of U student, enjoy your Fall Break!

The Elk Hunt

Warning: Some animals may have been harmed in the making of this post.

A few weeks ago, D went on the annual elk hunt with his Dad and his brother Sam. The Sorensens are big hunters, so I've learned a lot about it since I joined the family. They've been hunting up at Chalk Creek since D was about 8 years old! From what I heard, they had a fantastic time camping and hunting and whatever else you do on an elk hunt. This is a picture of the elk Daniel got!

Woah! Giant creature! Don't forget that Daniel is 6'5, and that elk makes him look like a 5-year-old.

Imagine my shock when I received the above photo via picture message.

And now for some elk trivia, in M's terms:

1.  His elk was a 6-point (that means it has 6 pokey things on each side of the antlers).
2. A 6-point elk is a very big elk.
3. The antlers were very symmetrical, which is unusual.
4. The antlers scored 320 by the Boone & Crockett scoring method.
5. 320 is a very good score.
6. The antlers measured 46 inches across.
7. The four "quarters" (legs) alone weighed 350 lbs!!
8. They did not name him (my mother asked).
9. Elk tastes great in spaghetti (the only thing I've made with it so far).
10. The antlers, once they are mounted, are probably going to live above the T.V. in our apartment.

Congrats on your elk, D! I'm proud of you!

Salsa Days

Every Fall since I can remember, my mom has spent a day making and canning her own homemade salsa.   I remember my Grandma J. being there too until she passed away a few years ago. The year after she died was the year my mom taught me how to make salsa, too. We still use her recipe. Grandma J. got it from her friend Ila. I love that it lists some of the ingredients in bushels.

Making salsa is an experience. It takes an entire day. There's a lot of peeling and chopping and chatting and simmering and tasting. I can hardly describe the wonderful smell that fills up the house as soon as the salsa starts to simmer. It's a warm, spicy smell that I find oddly comforting and extremely nostalgic. You open the door and you know immediately - It's a salsa day. 

My mom and I had such a wonderful time making salsa this year. It's probably just me being nostalgic, but canning salsa really makes it feel like Fall. It's such a fun Jacobsen tradition!

Confessions of a Teacher-in-Training: I'm a bad blogger.

I probably should apologize for being a terrible blogger these days, but I'm pretty much lucky if I get more than 4 hours of sleep in with the 14 hours of homework I did yesterday. My poor blog has had to go on the back burner, but it's time for an update!

My University classes and tutoring have been pretty rough lately, but student teaching is going wonderfully! My kids are the best. I've taught some really fun lessons lately that I've felt really good about. I've also loved getting closer with the other student teachers in my cohort. There are some seriously awesome people that are going to be teachers, guys. There is still hope for education!

Also, I have to share the most hilarious conversation I had with one of my students. Some background: this happened on the very first day I taught by myself without my teacher being at the school. We were just coming inside from recess.

Tristan: Mrs. Sorensen! Mrs. Sorensen! Nay lost a tooth at recess!
Me: Hmm, that's weird that Nay is still losing teeth. I would think he'd be done by 6th grade.
Tristan: Yeah, that is weird..........unless you think about how I hit him with a basketball in the face at recess....
Me: What?!?
Tristan: But don't worry! He's in the office, and he's going to be fine!

Yep. I have some awesome students.