I consider it a late birthday gift.

Halftime Score
Miami Heat: 51
Utah Jazz: 32

Final Score
Heat: 114
Jazz: 116

What could account for such a miracle, you ask? Oh, just my boy Paul Millsap scoring 46 freaking points. Nine of which came from back-to-back-to-back three pointers. Holy shiz. My head is still spinning from the magic of it all.

So Paul, you are officially forgiven for ruining my birthday party by playing like crap against the Lakers. Let's be friends again:

And Jazz? Please have more games like the one last night. They make me a happy girl.

3

November 7, 1874: The Republican Party was first symbolized as an elephant in a cartoon drawn by Thomas Nast in Harper's Weekly magazine.

November 7, 1917: Lenin's forces overthrow Alexander's Kerensky's government in Russia's Bolshevik Revolution.

November 7, 1929: Museum of Modern Art opens (NYC).

November 7, 1931: Chinese People's Republic proclaimed by Mao Tse Tung (Looks like it's a good day for the Communists).

November 7, 1944: President Franklin D. Roosevelt wins a fourth term in office.

November 7, 2007: This date may never be remembered for anything in history books, but it was on this gorgeous fall day that I made the best decision of my life:

Three years later I still can't believe I'm married to the cute boy whose smile made me weak at the knees. Even though we spend 90% of our time goofing off and teasing each other, I am fully aware of how lucky I am to be married to someone who I not only love, but admire so much. In my dad's speech at our wedding dinner, he said that Mike impressed him with both his strength and humility. Couldn't have put it better myself.

Mike is one of those amazing people for whom no challenge is too great, yet he is the least egotistical person I have ever met. He is currently juggling full-time work and school, plus a demanding church calling (this means he usually leaves the house sometime around 6 a.m. and comes home around 9 p.m. on weekdays), yet the phrase I hear from him most often is "Is there anything I can do for you?"

I could go on and on about the things I love about my husband--his optimism, his sense of humor, his kindness--but in the interest of keeping this post from being completely cheesed-out I'll restrain myself. It does need to be mentioned, however, that Mike might just have ESP. When I suggested splurging on tickets to the blackout game for our anniversary (thinking he'd jump at the chance), Butch said that he didn't think it was a good idea to stick all our proverbial eggs in the Utes' basket. So instead of watching that train wreck in person we got to view it from the comfort of a couch. For free.

So thanks, husband, for making these three years of marriage amazing, keeping us from Rice-Eccles stadium on one of its darkest days, and maintaining your excellent dental hygiene habits. I'm still a sucker for those pearly whites:

Love you, Butch. Happy 'versary.

A very Half-y Halloween

Did the awfulness of that pun make you cringe or what? Or maybe if you took Mr. Felt’s class at Olympus High it just made you feel nostalgic. Anywho, the point of this awkward title is that I ran my first half marathon on the day before Halloween. I have always been hesitant about doing this because I prefer to view running as a simple form of exercise rather than a sport in itself, so I didn’t really know if I’d like the experience of running competitively.

I’m happy to report that I ended up really enjoying the race. It was a beautiful course with perfect weather, and because people were all festive in their costumes and whatnot, the atmosphere was decidedly laid back. Here are some photos:

My friend and running partner Marianne. We spent many a Saturday trucking around the Salt Lake valley together:

My costume. I put white duct tape on my running clothes to transform myself into a skeleton. Sadly, only one lone femur survived the 13.1 miles. It’s a shame that you can’t see the beautiful kneecaps or shinbones that Smash created. They were lovely.
Butch was a supportive husband and cheered me on at the finish line. This face means that he’s proud of me:

The rest of our Halloween weekend was filled with festive activities like making caramel apples, watching scary X-Files episodes (thank you, Netflix Instant Streaming), seeing the Utes beat Air Force, and just hanging out with friends and family. Thanks to my little sister’s facebook page, I even have photos to prove it:

Is baby Anna not the cutest gnome you've ever seen?

Since we’re talking about Halloween, I have to post some pictures of the Cassity’s annual pumpkin carving night last weekend. My in-laws are pretty much master pumpkin carvers and every year we all get together to show off our skills. My pumpkin usually ends up being the “special” one of the bunch, since I don’t use stencils anymore after this mishap, but that’s OK cause everyone is nice to me about it anyway. Here are this year’s pumpkins:

And my special little owl:
Hope everyone had a happy Halloween!