I wish I could be in the States this year for Black Friday & American Thanksgiving! I love the timing of American Thanksgiving, that it's also kind of a kick off to Christmas! & Black Friday sales are always SO much better than our Boxing Day sales!! But I'll just have to live through online shopping, until I live in the States again!

Some of the shirts me & Jules ordered from Shade Clothing, everything was only $5-13, w/ their 30% off Black Friday Sale!

    

  

   

 

I went to V.V. to try & find a pair of silver heels I had to buy for my bridesmaids outfit for my friends wedding, & I came home w/ a pair of mustard yellow, vintage heels- patent leather, super good condition, made in Italy, comfy, the strap keeps my foot from slipping around, & the heel is sturdy and a good height (can you tell I work in a shoe store?), I can dress them up or down, they are one of my favorite colors, & they were cheap! How could I resist?

 

 

 

And I finally got around to printing off some pictures to stick in my photo frame I got 2 yrs ago for Christmas, and hanging it up! I love it!

Life is just hello's & goodbye's

 

 

This weekend was SO incredibly bittersweet! Bitter in that we (my Hawaii girls) have NO idea when we will all be reunited again! We have all seen each other since Hawaii, but we hadn't ALL been together since April 2011, until this past weekend! And with Jen busy with married life, Sayd going on a mission, Rachel living in Hawaii, and my gong show life, who knows how long it could be! But this weekend was the best I could have asked for! These girls really are the best of friends I could have ever asked for, and always will be!! They make me want to be a better person, and I am just my true, best self when I am around them!! You could not find 4 more different girls, yet when we are together we feel like one (okay, that sounds really cheesy, but its true!). It was SO hard to say goodbye, but I know hello won't be too far away!

 

 

 

4 of the 5 bridesmaids

Hawaii girls reunited- love them so much!!

Rach, me & Sayd waiting for Jen to come out of the temple in Cardston

 

Happy Halloween!

With my parents gone to Philly, I had the joy of handing out halloween candy for the first time! It was FREEZING, & I figured this was kind of a costume, so I threw on my onsie (SO comfy!) & I was ready to go!

Dinner in a Pumpkin

Who doesn't love eating their dinner out of a pumpkin?

First step, wash the pumpkin

Then, de-gut it, & draw on a face

Next, make you're stirfry! (I didn't plan ahead, so we had a very limited selection of veggies, but it still tasted good!)

After mixing everything together, pour the stirfry into the hollowed out pumpkin

I had a rather small pumpkin for how much I made, so I had to pack it down so it would all fit!

Stick the pumpkin in the oven & cook at 350C for 1 hour

Once you can poke a fork easily through the pumpkin, it's ready to eat!



The end result- delicious! Scraping out the soft pumpkin w/ the stirfry adds yummy flavor & texture! Definitley a new Halloween tradition! But I think next time I do this, it would be fun to buy a bunch of mini pumpkins, so that each person got to eat out of their own!

I love Sundays!

Today we had the wonderful opportunity to be able to watch the Calgary Temple Dedication, and I love it so much. I loved the spirit I felt and I love President Monson! It also took me back 2 years when I was living in Hawaii, to the Laie temple rededication, almost this exact same time. I was able to go through the open house numerous times (since it was only a 5 min. walk away!) ,and then be able to clean inside the temple with my ward before it was dedicated, and that was an experience that I will never forget. I love temples so much! Everywhere I go, Hawaii, Mexico, Alberta, they truly are all the House of the Lord, and I am so thankful for them!

Anyhow, going with my last post about my love for pumpkin, yesterday morning I made pumpkin pancakes w/ cinnamon syrup for breakfast (well more like brunch, since I woke up at noon!)

The cinnamon syrup- so easy & fast & SO delicious!

I accidently added 1/4 C. milk to the dry ingredients before I sifted it all together, resulting in lots of lumps of flour, meaning I had to beat them out, and the recipe says to "fold" the ingredients together, but since I had to really over-stir them, they weren't quite as light and fluffy as I'd hoped :(

But w/ a little homemade whipped cream, the end result was still delicious!!

Next Up- Dinner in a Pumpkin, Cream Cheese Pumpkin Rolls, & Pumpkin Butter!

I LOVE pumpkin!!

For me, Fall smells like pumpkin & cinnamon spice-mmm, & for some reason it just doesn't seem right to make anything pumpkin after thanksgiving & halloween are over! And there are a LOT of pumpkin recipes I want to try, such as:


- pumpkin spice fudge
- pumpkin cinnamon rolls
- pumpkin poke cake
- pumpkin pie almonds
- greek yogurt pumpkin cake
- pumpkin butter
- pumpkin spice white hot chocolate
- 2 min. pumpkin pie
- pumpkin fluff dip
- pumpkin cheesecake bread
- pumpkin white macadamia nut cookies
- 2 ingredient pumpkin spice cookies
- pumpkin pancakes w/ cinnamon syrup
- pumpkin cheesecake
- pumpkin buttermilk donuts
- pumpkin white chocolate chunk & candied ginger brownies
- pumpkin cookies w/ caramel frosting
- pumpkin cream cheese truffles
- pumpkin pecan cheesecake
- pumpkin rolls
- pumpkin pie cupcakes
- pumpkin cream cheese

Well Halloween is in 4 days, so I guess I'd better get started!!

Saturday pancakes topper!

Soooo delicious!

And so easy to make!

& super guilt-free to eat, when you put it on pancakes made with flax seed, hemp, chia, whole wheat flour, & honey instead of sugar!

The treat I made for my friends bridal shower- peanutbutter chocolate popcorn, what better combo?

I love Fall!

The key to making delicious pumpkin chocolate chip cookies is to add 1 can of pumpkin, instead of just a cup, & 2 tsp, baking soda instead of powder, and forget to dissolve it with the milk, and only add 1 tsp baking powder! (okay, I did all that on accident, but they still tasted declicious!

Soaking the pumpkin seeds in salt water before toasting them, mmm!!!



And nothing makes Fall better then a new hot tub to soak in every night!

Okay, so maybe I went a little overboard shopping in Utah...



Mine & Jules purchases...did I  mention there was more in the car?

Jen was in Edmonton, so she stayed over Saturday night w/ her fiance Tom, and they came to church too, words cannot describe how much I love this girl!!! Best roommate ever!!

All my Philly purchases, & my suitcases already both weighed 50 lbs! It resulted in one of my bags being 60lbs when I checked in, and having to stuff my carry-on & take 2 personal items!

Oh the joys of unpacking! I just finished today.

The only bad thing about having 3 bedrooms is that my stuff is everywhere!

Flowers Jules ordered for me! for headbands, belts, ect, I love them!

mmmm waffles at the downtown farmers market! It was the first time I had ever gone & I loved it!!

I've been trying to ride my beach cruiser every day since I've gotten home, I love bike rides, & I want to go as much as I can before it snows!!

Amy's mission email, Sept 17, 2012

I have been meaning to make a mission blog for Amos ever since I got back from Mexico, but I just haven't had time yet, and so I'm just going to post them on my blog until I can make one for her! She loves getting mail, and I thought it would be easier for people to write her if they know what is happening with her on her mission!!

Family!!

oooh i'm excited to get a dear elder! mary should tell people to do that i know they're always on their laptops and it doesn't take long at all!! ahhhh easton and preschool that's exciting! i keep seeing little 4 yr old boys and i miss him! on sunday we got recruited to be the judges for primary idol in one of ours wards! they were practising songs for the primary presentation and there was a judge with a big heart neckalce to feel the spirit, i had to wear MASSIVE pink glasses to see if they were looking to the front, and this other guy wore these elephant ears to listen if they were loud enough! it was super fun!! we had a baptism on tuesday, tamara! it was super good but the ward mission leader in that ward is not the greatest, he texted us at 2pm and was like yeahhh i can't fill up the baptismal font can you ask your elders to do it? so of course we had to do it because the elders have to proseylte in their own area and we had to stay by the font because apperantly they couldn't find anyone else and it took forever!! i think that is the thing that stresses me out the most, feeling like i'm wasting time...and it was kind of hard this week because sis abarca was sick for a day and he was to stay in for the first half and i was like ahhhh i'm wasting the lord's time but i know it's better for her to not over exert herself and get better quick instead of push and be sick for like a week! but yeah i guess i just need to get over that internal battle in my head! we really do try to work effectively and use the most of our time!

we have been working with alot of less actives, they are focusing more on that in the mission which is cool, it's amazing to see people feeling the spirit that they haven't for so long and have the desire to change and come back to church!! we had a super cool experience on thursday, we'd been trying to contact a media referral for ages adn we weren't going to try again but we decided to knock on her door one more time and she answered! it was super dark because her power had just gotten shut off and she was super sick...we had a realyl good lesson(adn the rs pres was there too!) and then we asked her if she wanted a blessing becaus sis abarca wanted one from the elders too...and p.s this lady looks like a thug as the elders put it, she's mexican and had tattoos all up and dwn her arms and all these piercings but is so sweet and loves to talk! anyways so elder birch, he's just finishing up his first 6 weeks gave her the modsty amazing blessing i've ever heard of complete healing and all this stuff and his voice CHANGED you could tell it wasn't him speaking, he was just being a mouthpiece! talk about seeing the priesthood in action! and we saw her yesterday and her finger that she sliced open that was super infected and she had to go to the hospital every 8 hrs for iv was healed!!! it was crazy and she totally recognized that it was because of God! she is on date for oct 3!

we have a baptism on saturday and then 3 the next sat but i don't know if i'll be here because trasfers is tuesday!!! ahhh so scary!!! i am nervous if i train? but i guess the Lord knows what i am capable of and whatever He asks i will do! so you guys tototally have to do the bom challenge they are sedning you! i did it my first 2 transfers and it was so amazing to read it so quickly! and when i did it i cirlced any reference to christ! this one is the underlingin the doctrine of christ which i didn't realize how central it was until i came out here, it really is the meat of the church and you will be amazed at how many times it comes up!!

 

love you tons!!!

amy/sister burtenshaw

 

Like she said, write dearelders are soooo easy, and for those of you who have served missions, or even lived abroad, you know how fun it is to get mail!!

 

Sister Amy Burtenshaw
Utah SLC South Mission
8060 S 615 E
Sandy, UT
84070-0522

 

 

 

And she's super good at writing back, so you know if you send her one, you will get one in return!

Philly/Jersey Shore/NYC

So my mom was wonderful enough to re-book my flight home from Mexico so that I had a 12 daylayover in Philadelphia to see my sister, her husband and their 2 adorable children, Easton and Lucy! I hadn't seen them since December, when I stopped on my way home from Jerusalem, so it had been a while! I leave tomrrow, and I am so sad, it has been such a fun time!

Easton in the little Mexico jersey I brought him!

We made peanut butter cookies, he was such a good helper!

Downtown Philly before our bus tour, he was convinced it was a giant baseball, so we were trying to push it over!



M y gorgeous sister and adorable Lucy!

Easton on the bus tour, he loved it!

Lu-lu at the local pool, I just cannot get enough of her, she is too cute!

So excited about his "Sonic the Hedgehog" popsicle, that it melted while he was playing w/ it!

We love the pool!

Saturday we headed to the Jersey Shore, soooo much fun! We saw dolphins jumping from shore, and went boogie boarding, and it was the perfect temperature

Sunday after church, Lu had on the cutest outfit!



Tueday Sarah and I headed "kidless" to NYC! This was us trying to keep entertained on the 1.5 hr train ride there!



mmm pretzels!

I had already been to NYC and done the statue of liberty, empire state building, time square at night, 9/11 site,  Central Park, Wicked at the Gershwin, and all the other typical touristy NY things, so we tried to get off the beaten path, so to say, and we did the High Line trail (SO pretty!), the Chelsea Market, and then just walked a lot until Newsies started!

We found a delish Mexican taco place at the Chelsea market

Such delish popsicles! Too bad immediately after this picture, Sarah dropped hers on the ground- at least I was brave enough to eat it after I had thouroughly rinsed it w/ my water bottle! I figure nothing in the States can make me as sick as some of the stuff in Mexico did!

It started raining on us, so we had to pull out our umbrellas

At "Newsies"- the movie has been one of my favorites for ages, I got the soundtrack and I have all the songs memorized, so I was insistent we go see it, it was the main reason we came to NY! It was SO amazing, I still cannot even get over how amazing the choreography and singing was, I had goosebumps the whole time! LOVED it, if you ever get the chance to go, take it, it's tied w/ Wicked for me!

We did the "curbside order" at the Cheesecake Factory for my last night here, and got white bean hummus, Vietnamese tacos, red veltvet and white macadamia nut caramel cheesecake, sooo yummy!