Starting to look a lot like Christmas!

Christmas is on it's way!

          I know it has been a while since I have posted so this one will have plenty of pictures :)

          Below is a picture of my second pie ever...a recipe from Ameri, Caramel Apple Pie! So good! Carter even ate the leftovers. . .which he rarely does with pie.

         And below are the Christmas decorations that we have set up. The Tree is courtesy of Ameri, the tree skirt was a bridal present from Muriel, and the cute elf is from my Mom :) 

       And this is the very first gift under our Christmas tree. The "Whimsy" is wrapped on the inside because I am worried Carter will guess it! I couldn't come up with one that wouldn't give it away, so now he'll just have to be surprised. 

      And this my friends, is the Winslow that we saw in Sandy! Tori, Jesse, Carter and I went to the Festival of Trees, a fundraiser for the Children's Hospital. People donate decorated trees and wreaths to be purchased for insane amounts of money, all proceeds go to the Children's Hospital. 

     I hope everyone is enjoying this winter! We love you and miss you all!

Thanksgiving

    What a wonderful couple of days! Filled with food, friends, and fun. We followed the Molter tradition and had our Thanksgiving feast on Wednesday. I made an apple pie (definitely not as good as my Mom's!) I wasn't happy with how the crust turned out. Carter and I are going to the Atkinson's on Sunday for dinner so I'm going to take another stab at the pie. I also made the turkey, salad, rolls (not from scratch). Carter made mashed potatoes, gravy, and corn. It was all wonderful!

    Then Thursday we sat, and sat, and sat, in a line for black Friday. This is what the line looked like when we arrived at 1:45 . . . 

   Completely empty . . . Originally we planned to get there at 4 but one of Carter's coworkers told him to get there earlier. We sat in our car for two hours enjoying the sunshine. Then at four a few more people showed up so we set up our camping chairs and began our adventure for black Friday. The good thing was we sat next some really fun people. It made the time move faster, but still not super fast. By 8 o'clock the line was almost full, and at 9 the line went all the way through the parking lot and almost to the main street.

  The doors opened right at 9 and we were out by 9:15 with the PS3. Carter was excited to get home and set it up! There was no way he was waiting until Christmas to open his big present.

   Isn't he cute?!

  All in all it has been a great couple of days and now it is time to enjoy some left over turkey :) and homework. Hope all is well for you! Enjoy this holiday season!

Winter Wonderland

  This weekend has most certainly been a winter wonderland! By some miracle I didn't have any homework due today so Carter and I spent the weekend happily in the snow.

   This picture was taken from our kitchen window when the snow started. Over all we had approximately 6" on Friday night alone. It was GORGEOUS! I love how the snow brightens everything around it. I'm a sucker for a clean kitchen with the sun shining through the window. And man does the snow magnify sunlight coming through your kitchen window :) and even better, our kitchen was clean this weekend!

   The second most exciting event this weekend was . . . for the first time in my life a cute boy threw a "rock" at my window :) When Carter got home from work on Saturday he threw a few snowballs at my window. Now, he didn't start singing to get my attention or climb up a tree to see me, nor did he throw the snowballs for any other reason than just for fun . . . but it was exciting none the less.

  And the most exciting event of the weekend was . . . Nova turned four! 

  This cutie is growing up too fast! I remember the first time I met her she wouldn't even say hi. And when Carter got home from his mission she was terrified of him. But yesterday we had a somewhat successful phone conversation with Nova, and got to see her open all her birthday presents via facetime. It was wonderful to see the whole gang together at my in-law's! I just wish Carter and I could have been there. Also, if you see Jeff around tell him he has to support Heidi and come to Utah for Christmas :) . . . otherwise we won't see them for months and months :(

  Well, it's off to another busy week. I hope you all get to enjoy some clean kitchens with the sun shining through your window!

Date Night

    This past weekend was wonderful, short, but wonderful. Friday night we went to dinner and a movie. Classic Red Robin for us; for Carter the Burnin' Love Burger and for me the A1 Peppercorn Burger. Saturday (after completing homework of course) Carter and I attended a preseason BYU men's basketball game. It was lots of fun! We had free tickets from my work in the second row, 50-yard line . . . I mean center court? I'm not used to basketball lingo - much more of a football gal!

   We ran into some old friends of ours... Elder Aiken, Some guys from Cart's mission (I forgot to get pictures) 

and... The Presidential Candidates

Romney in a BYU T-shirt and Obama in a U of U T-shirt....only at BYU. Needless to say, the crowd was extremely entertaining. 

Then on Sunday we had a special Stake Conference. President Callister (Presidency of the Seventy) spoke along with the Provo Temple President and his wife. President Callister gave a wonderful talk all about celestial marriage. Then we had our friends over for dinner, Carter made an awesome potato casserole. And after dinner we played a game of hearts.It was a blast! We had set the limit at 50 due to time and on the last round Carter was at 43. We were joking around while dealing that Carter needed to get exactly 7 and then he'd win the game. Well. . . he did! No idea if it was luck or if he actually tried to . . . be he got exactly 7! Although the game was tons of fun, we still really miss game night with Heidi, Jeff, Grandma, and Grandpa. I could use a game of Screwball Rummi right now... :) 

Now it's off to another busy week. Hope all is well with you!

Hello Halloween

Happy Halloween

   When it comes to celebrating Halloween Carter and I are . . . shy. Our celebration was a few weeks ago when my parents were in town. My family has a tradition to make haunted gingerbread houses! It's pretty much the greatest tradition :) 

   Sadly, this gingerbread house and a few un-carved pumpkins outside our door are my only Halloween decorations this year. We've been so busy that I haven't even put fake cobwebs out. .  . something to improve on for next year. Speaking of decorations...I'm trying to convince Carter to let me buy a small fake Christmas tree since our apartment complex does not allow real trees. I think we need a tree and he can't imagine having a fake tree. We'll see who wins! Maybe I'll buy a fake tree and hang up air fresheners that smell like noble firs. Someday Carter and I will live in a real house and get a real tree and have lots of fun decorations!

   Last year I went trick or treating with my nieces. It was a blast! I wish we could go with them again this year but the rest of our Halloween festivities include a meeting at the University of Utah for prospective nursing majors and maybe a scary movie or two depending on when I get home. I remember when I was little my Mom would always paint our faces and we would go trick-or-treating at my great-grandma's neighborhood. Great-grandma Bean had this fun gumball machine and a old Altoid tin filled with pennies that we used to "buy" gumballs. I want to be like her! (For more reasons than just her gumball machine)

  

  I hope you have plans that are more fun than Carter and I, and you enjoy your holiday! 

We Are Changing

Changes Are Inevitable

While we were in Maine the Blogger App on my phone went "klapooo-e". . . . and I am now just getting around to writing another post. I could blame this long absence on all the changes in our lives recently, or on our hectic schedule. But it's not you, it's me.

For starters, Carter has joined the United States Army Reserves. He leaves for basic training in January and will be gone for six months. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to survive... My plan so far is to study and work like crazy, only leave the apartment when absolutely necessary, and visit Carley as often as possible. Not to mention try to convince my parents to fly me home for a long weekend, or come visit me :) In the meantime Carter is working full-time at Target and keeping up with all his physical training (PT training). I can tell that he is getting anxious to start in on this new chapter. He has already purchased his special military garments and ordered military scriptures. His plan is to contract with the Army ROTC so that when he graduates from college he will be an Officer. Only time will tell what University he will end up attending...our plans are up in the air because....

... I have decided to change my major to nursing. You may be just as surprised as I was! I was sitting in the General Relief Society broadcast when I had a picture placed in my mind of me as a nurse, and learned that I need to think about changing my major. After lots of pondering, researching, and talking with Carter we came to the conclusion that I need to pursue nursing as a career. At the end of this semester I will say goodbye to the Elementary Education program and start on all the prerequisites for the nursing program. The reason why we are unsure about which University Carter and I will attend is because it will depend on what nursing program I am accepted to. It will be a while until I can even apply to these programs so .... time will tell.

May God be with you 'til we meet again!

New Hampshire

Saturday night Carter and I drove to New Hampshire to visit one of his  areas. And of course I forgot to take pictures of the families we visited! But I did get photos of a robin's nest in the Kinney's front yard.

The weekend was great! We stayed at the Kinney's house and had a blast. For Sunday dinner we had one of our favorites...tacos! And homemade taquitos, which were amazing! I made sure to get the recipe.

Yesterday I sold out of strawberries a little early so I went down to the docks and bought some lobster. ... Carter couldn't really remember what they tasted like, and I wanted to try some so I bought three. I never realized that the phrase "red as a lobster" refers to their color after they've been cooked....just like how the sun cooked you! Anyways, neither one of us really  liked the lobster so we took the leftovers next door and made pasta for dinner. For dessert Carter made strawberry shakes with peanut butter cups on the top!

And last but not least we have purchased our plane tickets and will be flying back to Seattle on July 31st! Carter and I have decided that going back to Utah for school is what we want to do for now...until we get another crazy idea :)

Albion

Well, I apologize for not posting the last few days. It's been a little bit crazy. I always think that I will have time to post things via the computer at night, but I never do! So I'm posting via my phone while at the market. And when I say market I really mean our fruit stand in the parking lot of a strip mall...Brother G goes to a few actual farmer's markets on Fridays and Saturdays, but the one I'm at is just me.

On Saturday Carter and I went out to lunch to a place called Big G's. As you can see from the photos the sandwiches are HUGE! I only bought a half sandwich but Carter got a whole one. We both only ate a quarter of Big G's "sandwich". Carter says that on his mission he could eat an entire one in one sitting... We also bought a whoopee pie....a huge whoopee pie! That's me eating it in our kitchen (my phone won't let me load pictures within the text so they are all at the bottom still).

After lunch we went back to the farm and took a walk around all the fields. That's where the landscape photo is from-the back of the farm.

And as for this week, Carter works on the farm and in the greenhouse from 7 to 5:30. I leave for the market around 7:30 and get back around 6:30. Saturdays I get off early so we are making Saturday night our date night and travel time. We are going to visit other areas of Carter's mission on the weekends. We're thinking we'll go to New Hampshire this week and to Bob's next week. Hopefully traveling will make our posts much more entertaining!

Sadly the farm was not what we were expecting. We thought Carter would be doing more of the farming but instead Brother G just has him picking. It is still fun, and so far we like farming but just wish Carter was running more tractors :)

As for the quarks of Maine..there are plenty! What gets me the most are the roads. I haven't been on a road yet that had more than three lanes. All the roads I drive on to get to Boothbay are two lanes, don't have shoulders, are windy, have driveways right off of them and the speed limits are 45 or 50. Completely backwards from Washington! Their road  signs are also really short, they're nice and petite. I'm still getting used to the accents. Yesterday a customer and I were talking and I could hardly understand him! From the bits and pieces that I did understand I learned that he grew up in Norway and lived there till he was about 30...or maybe 20, I couldn't really get that through his accent. Then he moved to Maine,  where he has lived ever since...adding a completely new accent to his Norwegian one! It was a great conversation :)

We love and miss you!

First full day

Today, Carter and I went to a farmers market in Stonington. The market was on a small, very private island. We got there early to secure our spot, so once we were done setting up we took a walk around town and down to the water. I should have taken pictures of the awesome old New England homes/stores . . . But, alas I did not think about it until now. Next time I definitely will! These are the pictures we took on our walk out to the public dock and Carter by our strawberries.

One last fun thing about today, we drove over a quaint river called . . . Drum roll .  . . "Passagassawakeag River"! Pronounced just as it is spelled, pass-a-gas-a-walk-eag.

We are here

After a five hour flight, a two hour bus ride, and an hour car ride we have arrived at the farm! Not the most direct way to get here but we are here none the less and have already picked our first bunch of strawberries.

Carter and I sat next to a native Bostonian...I had quite a hard time understanding his accent. Hopefully I will be able to understand all the customers at the farmers market!

On the way to the farm we stopped at Freeport to buy Carter a pair of L.L.Bean boots. What a beautiful area! It is right on the coast with all these fun shops and old buildings. It looks like the cover of a magazine.

Here are two pictures of the farm. Sunny and warm!

On our way!

Maine, here we come!

The Begining

   This all started with a text from Carter. . .

      C: "Is teaching your dream job?" 

      M: "Yes, why?"

      C: "Because all the jobs I have explored are just stepping stones to what I really want to do."

      M: "What is it that you really want to do?"

      C: "Farming."

      M: "Well then, let's try to get you to a farm."

      C: "Okay."

   The next day Carter called Brother Guigere. He owns his own farm in Albion, Maine - right next to Waterville, Maine.

   Brother Guigere was Carter's first ward mission leader, so he got to know him pretty well. It turns out that Brother Guigere usually hires Hungarian seasonal help every summer, but this summer their work visas have expired. So, Carter and I have the pleasure of taking their places.

   Brother Guigere grows corn, tomatoes, and strawberries; which he then sells at local farmer's markets. Carter will be working with Brother Guigere on the farm and I will be selling the produce at Farmer's markets. We'll be living on the farm rent free in a trailer. 
   So far....that's all we really know. We have purchased our plane tickets and will be leaving June 13. Other than that, it's just an adventure waiting to happen.