You are protected, in short, by your ability to love...

Well, I've had a birthday since I last wrote. I am now closer to 30 than I am to 20. Sad. Oh well, I guess life goes on. I am grateful for all the nice presents and well-wishes. The fact that Holly also made Better-Than-Sex Cake made my birthday that much sweeter!

So apparently, people are clamoring for additional posts. Well, I will try to oblige you all with more posts and less time in between them. Our Thanksgiving week was a great one because we seemed to escape the worst of some bad weather in St. Louis and Utah. We were slightly delayed getting out of St. Louis due to a sudden downpour of rain, but we were able to get in the air fairly quickly. The day after we arrived in Utah, a severe weather warning instructed everyone to go home early from work. Businesses closed. Radio stations and schools were telling people to go home and await the "biggest storm in several years." We woke up the next day to barely an inch on snow. I was hoping for five-foot drifts sealing us inside the house for a day. But no... oh well.

One of the highlights of our trip was seeing the Scarlet Pimpernell musical at the Hale Center Theater (where the picture was taken). It really was well, right down to the quite realistic-looking guillotine.

Our Thanksgiving feast was wonderful, again complete with some of my aunt's famous homemade rolls. Couldn't eat to many for fear of gaining a few rolls myself! Holly and I's job to help prepare for the meal was to fold the napkins and place them at each place setting. Taking our assignment very seriously, we googled how to fold napkins. We tried to fold a shell, but it actually looked like a small turkey. People were impressed.

We also were able to have a few friends over for a small party/get-together. We got to see James and Ashley for the first time since they were married! Being married five months now, we were able to give them some valuable advice. Several other friends from school made the night great fun.

We were both really happy that my grandma could come spent Thanksgiving with us in Utah. We all love her a lot. Happy Thanksgiving from the West Family!

Lions and Tigers and Bears Oh My!...

Yes the title this time was somewhat a cop-out, but I'm sure you'll hear less creative sometime in the future. First of all, our new lawn is finished! It looks really great compared to what it used to look like. We are having to water a lot, but hopefully out efforts will yield strong, healthy grass next year. We really want it to drop deep roots before winter comes. Also, we have really enjoyed the wonderful colors now that it's actually starting to get cold.

We had fun last weekend with a little trip to the St. Louis Zoo with our neighbors. We only went for a couple hours because that's how long Boo at the Zoo Tick-or-Treating for the kids lasted. We saw a few animals (obviously bears and penguins were included). We will most definitely return to scope out the rest. As a raw percentage, we probably only saw 5%. This zoo is the 3rd largest in the country. Also this was the first time I have been to a zoo and have not heard of one of the animals. The bear pictured here is a sloth bear. It has long shaggy fur and long claws like a tree sloth, but is nonetheless a bear. Quite interesting.

We also are very happy with a new piece of furniture: a great multi-use bookshelf and early Christmas present. Took a little while to put together but really looks nice.

And last but not least, I was (unfortunately) the only one who wanted to dress up this Halloween, so I catered to my already well-developed physique and became the Man of Steel. Fortunately, Holly always dresses well and passed off as a great Lois Lane without trying. Cheers to Holls!