Halloween 2013

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I love the whimsicalness of it all. Dressing up, acting like a kid. Making cool food/treats.

My work goes all out, and for the last 3 years Brittney and her kids have come to my office to trick or treat. I love it!! I love having them come. And this is all her kids know trick or treating to be – at my office. They’ve never gone in the real world.

Trevor came this year, which was so fun! It was so nice for him to see where I work, my cubicle and meet some of the people I work with.

So, here is the start of our Halloween - Trevor starting the creation of his Wolverine claws! (technically preparation started much prior, with him growing out his hair and beard. And working on his "Wolverine scowl".)

 

 

Here is my cubicle. This is what it looks like every day of the year.

 

 

Except Halloween. Today the cubicles look like this:

 

 

Crazy, huh? The teams worked all day long for 2 days to get this all pulled off. It's awesome. This picture was taken before everything was done, so it was way cooler.

 

Here is the group! Trick or Treating around the ROB. I wish I had pictures from the last 3 years. I love this tradition with such a good friend and her gorgeous babies!

 

 

Trev shaved his beard on Friday morning (the 25th - since my work celebrates Halloween this day - so he had a full week of chops).

 

He sent me this Snapchat at work - working, again, on his Wolverine face.

 

 

Here is his hair after I was done doing it for our ward party on Saturday the 26th:

 

 

And my complete Storm look:

 

 

And us as a couple! Storm and Wolverine!

 

 

Probably the best part of this whole costume was my mom's comment. I put this picture up on FaceBook, and my mom commented that Trevor made an awesome Edward Scissor hands.

 

HAHAHAA!!!

 

Yeah, not even close. But hilarious!

 

On Halloween, we went to Alison and Steven's and had an awesome Halloween meal. I made the salad:

 

And dessert (it is supposed to be a spider web):

 

 

Alison made an awesome soup in a pumpkin bread bowl, and we watched Rosemary's Baby.

 

I had wanted to watch it for a while, as it has been portrayed as a classic. Quoted often in other movies. It was quite interesting. Very creepy - perfect for Halloween.

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

 

Love,

Brittney

 

 

Thoughts on a Halloween Friday

It’s not really Friday. It feels like Friday. It felt like Friday yesterday. I don’t want to go to work tomorrow, the real Friday.

It doesn’t feel like Halloween. Last Friday was my works annual Halloween trick or treating day. It’s a huge deal here. We have over 1,000 family members show up. Brittney Henderson and her darling kids came again, for the 3^rd time. It’s tradition now. They have never actually taken their kids trick or treating outside my work. This is all they know. This year Trevor was able to come. At our trick or treating day last year, I texted him the whole time. We were almost official at that point. This year he was with me.

We got all dressed up and it was awesome (wolverine and Storm. Pictures to come in my Halloween post).

Then last Saturday was our wards’ Halloween party, so we got all dressed up again and made/ate chili. Our chili won first place. We may have been the only judges, but I trust our verdict. Trevor won a prize for his costume. “MOST ORIGINAL COSTUME.” He looked awesome, his chops were perfect and we worked hard on those tinfoil claws! He deserved a prize. But “most original costume” for Wolverine?? I’d say maybe he should have won a different category. But he’s proud of his certificate (yes- they gave him an actual certificate) so I guess we’ll take it.

Since we’ve already trick or treated, dressed up twice, today does not feel like Halloween (I am wearing a skull shirt, green shoes and orange pumpkin socks though, in honor of the holiday spirit).

We’re going to celebrate Halloween with some amazing friends tonight – Alison and Steven – and I’m so excited. I’m making dessert – I made a pumpkin cheesecake from scratch. Scratch as in – I bought, cut, cleaned and cooked an actual pumpkin. I can’t wait to try it. It better knock the socks off of the canned stuff. It was a lot of work.

Speaking of dessert – I’ve gained 30lbs on birth control, in 4 months. I’ve dieted like CRAZY and didn’t cheat for an entire month and GAINED 2lbs (Trevor lost 14, in case you were wondering). I HATE MY LIFE.

We wanted to go to Saudi for Christmas, but with Trevor’s vacation days being utterly ambiguous and getting our visas – it is looking like it will not happen. I’m so, so sad. I haven’t been home in 2 years as of this Christmas. I miss it terribly. I miss the familiarity of being “home”. And I want Trevor to see what my home looks like. Where I grew up. he can’t begin to understand me, my background, the way I think, until he has seen where I come from.

I don’t know what our future holds for the next years, and my dad is retiring in about 3 years, so this was honestly the best opportunity we had to go visit Saudi. I’m so sad to my core that I can’t go this year.

Work is weird.

I need a change. I’m struggling with staying put for so long. I need an adventure. I need to move, try new places, new things. I’m feeling so boxed in, so antsy for something new. Restless.

I’ve had cramps 75% of this last month. Not so bad I need meds and am out to lunch, but enough that it is uncomfortable. Again, thank you birth control.

I miss some of my best friends who live too far away. Samar is in Texas, Brittany is in Calgary and Sachi is all the way in Provo. I want to have them next door.

I don’t know any of my neighbors. The ones I do know, I wish I didn’t (aka – the nosy, rude neighbor downstairs, and the alcoholic, to name just a few....) I want friendly neighbors I know. Who I can borrow 5 FREAKING EGGS FROM IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY (not that that happened last night while making my pumpkin cheesecake and I couldn’t finish it because I have no eggs and no one I could ask for eggs in my vicinity).

Trev got me wireless earphones for work (he got him some too) and I love not being connected to my phone or computer. I can move around, go to the printer, turn in circles in my chair – whatever I want to do – without painfully yanking the ear buds out.

I love fall.

I should get my wedding pictures back this week. It’s been 4 months.

Did I mention I really, really want to go home?

I’ve been sick this week and am beyond exhausted. I just want to sleep for a year.

That’s it.

Love,

Brittney

1 Year Dating Anniversary

Today is our 1 year anniversary of being an official couple.

1 year that I’ve thought about Trevor every single day.

1 year that I haven’t kissed (nor wanted to!) anyone else.

1 year that I haven’t gone on a first date, or any date that wasn’t with Trevor.

It’s been really hard at times.

I’ve cried a lot.

I’ve learned a lot.

 

I've laughed SO MUCH.

I’ve loved more than I knew I could.

And I’ve been happier I knew I could be.

Living with my best friend is so much better than I could have imagined it would be.

It’s so crazy to think, that over a year ago I was single, no real prospects. I was really enjoying life (I had this feeling I was going to meet someone in my new ward, so I actually didn't go to my new ward for like a month because I was so scared of meeting someone and "ruining" my life, haha).

And then one day I happened to meet Trevor and the rest of my life changed so drastically so quickly.

In honor of this day, here is what I wrote in my journal about October 28, 2012: 

(This was a Sunday. We had spent the afternoon looking for a missing man ((a 90 year old man in the area had gone missing and the police were organizing a search party)) and then gone to his house to watch the Walking Dead with his family. First time I met them. First time I watched ((heard of)) the Walking Dead ((if only I had known then this show would become such a part of my Sunday! The Schauerhamer’s watch it as a family every Sunday)).

"On the way to drop me off, Trevor asked me what I thought about us and our relationship and dating, etc. And we both thought we weren’t ready to be serious, but that we were ready to be in a relationship. He said ok, and went to get out of the car. So I said, “are you going to ask me something?” and he was confused, so I said “is there something you want to ask me?” and he finally caught on and asked me if I wanted to be his girlfriend, and I said yes and then we made out."

And there you have it, the most romantic “will you be my girlfriend” in the history of the world.

HAPPY 1 YEAR, BAAAAAAAAAABBY!
 

Love,
Brittney

Thai Spice date

Date night!

 

Thai Spice used to be mine and Daren's FAVORITE place to eat.

 

 

So I took Trev there. Not as good as I remember (or as good as my new favorite place, My Thai!)

 

(Trev is still sporting his chops for Halloween)

 

Proceeded home to watch a movie and snuggle (I'd been sick all week and Trev was coming down with it).

 

 

Love,

Brittney

Hair

Trevor came to bed last night like this:

 

 

He's growing out his hair for his Halloween costume, Wolverine.

 

He's having too much fun playing with it long.

 

(Prior to this picture, he had a pick stuck in it on the side, like a gangster.)

Thunder Birds

This weekend was homecoming at SUU and Trevor and Brock wanted to go, so we did – and luckily Sachi came as well, which was my saving grace.

 We left after work on Friday, drove to SUU, heard HelloGoodbye in concert – and then Trevor gave us a tour of campus. It was kind of chilly but a really fun night. After we drove to St. George and stayed the night there.

 

Saturday morning, Trevor went to the store and bought groceries and made us breakfast. He is amazing. Seriously.

We drove to SUU again for the football game. We first stopped at the bookstore, and I got my first SUU paraphernalia. I got a hoodie and sweats – both of which are sooo comfortable. Trevor also got quite a few shirts – which he was excited about because apparently after 5 years of football there he didn’t have enough SUU clothing already.

He was so excited to see me in an SUU hoodie it was totally worth it.

 

We wondered over to the ticket pick up area, and they talked to coaches they knew and their “SUU Grandparents” Joe and Betty.

It was a sunny and beautiful day.

The game was good – they won!

 

They had 2 helicopters fly over, really low, and then the mascot threw stuff out. It would have been cooler if he'd jumped out, but I guess we will take this.

 

 

It was so weird/cool to be there with Trevor and Brock and to hear them talk. They talked the entire way to Cedar City about their football memories. This is a huge part of Trevor I never got to experience.

He had his picture on the entire stadium. Like – big enough to fit on the STADIUM. At games, the crowd would chant, “SHAUER!! HAMER!!!!” Someone made him a FaceBook page, “the perfect offensive linesman”. And he had TONS of members and they’d comment on how good he did at the games.

He used to have such bad pain from all the lifting/games that he had to get special shots before games just to make it through. He could bench over 400lbs.

Every day he worked out for hours with the team, played in games, traveled to games – did his homework, got his BS and his Masters.

And this is such a huge part of his life I can’t even comprehend. I wish I could have seen him play in games, seen his banner on the stadium.

So it was so fun to get a glimpse into this world of his.

After the game, we went to dinner and then met up with another teammate (Russ) and his wife and baby, and then we all met with Cody and his girlfriend for ice cream at DQ.

It was fun to hear all the guys talk about memories, and just see the way they interact.

We drove back to St. George, spent the night, then went to Texas Roadhouse for lunch and drove back to SLC. It was a quick trip, but really fun for me to meet all his old coaches and teammates, and Trevor and Brock had an absolute blast.

I’m so grateful Sachi came with me, because I had someone to talk to while the guys tracked down all the people they wanted to talk to and went on and on about football in the freezing cold (it got really cold the last part of the game).

 

Here are some pictures from his days playing football. As I was watching the game, I just kept trying to picture Trevor on the field.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I sure love my husband. I’m so grateful for this opportunity to get to somewhat experience sort of what it was like when he played football.

Love,

Brittney

Alpine Loop