Can you wish someone a Happy Halloween in the Temple?

I feel something stirring in my tummy-town, it could be anticipation for the wonderful toasted raviolis Em is making right now, it may be the instant noodles and pickled cabbage I had for breakfast, but it just as easily could be determination to participate in our new initiative to write on our blog more often.

St. Louis family need not worry we don't plan on enjoying these raviolis at ALL! But we will eat them in the spirit of preparation for our December visit home.
I was going to write a whole lot more but this picture took to long and Emily fell asleep half-watching Sleepless In Seattle.

We played Racket Ball today. Yeah Emily tried to hit me in the face three times. Also she cheats. And Cheaters never prosper, as can be seen from Emily's eye tonight at 11:20. She was so tuckered out she went to be before me.

Halloween tomorrow. We made plans to have our friends the Stinochers over to play Beatles Rock Band, interspersed by bouts of terrorizing neighborhood children and candy eating.


(ps who does Paul think he is? No shirt, no shoes=Tetanus)

We're Americans.

Today we went to the Mesa Temple and reveled in the chance to get away from the stresses of this week and take solace in the peace and stillness of that place. As we were leaving Emily said goodbye to a woman she met today and after wishing her a good weekend she said, "Happy Halloween." We then turned to each with this face:


and wondered if wishing someone a Happy Celebration of Death, Ghouls, Spirits, Monsters (and for some reason a slutty version of every single costume idea you can think of) Day was appropriate as we left the Lord's House...

But then we remembered that Halloween is ALL about candy and we felt pretty good about ourselves.



R

Tis the Season

I've recently received a request to update this blog every day. While I can't promise that our lives will be exciting enough to constantly update, I can promise to try to do better.

First order of business:
IT'S HALLOWEEN! Well, almost. We have/are celebrating the upcoming holiday in several ways:

(1) Ryan celebrated his 28th birthday with a costume party! Ryan and I went as Jack and Sally Skellington, and we went all out. Ryan made a paper mâché Jack Mask, I made a yarn wig and my Sally dress, and we bought a suit from Goodwill the afternoon of the party and were literally sewing it together as people got to our house. Rushed, but worth it.
EXCEPT for the fact that the only other people who dressed up were our new good friends, the Stinochers. God bless 'em.
We ate strawberry cupcakes, we played Rockband, we played Scatergories, we watched Community and Parks & Rec. A good night all-in-all.

(2) We bought candy to give to Trick-or-Treaters, but we just ended up eating all of the Kit Kats. So, I bought some more Snickers today. Bring it on.


(3) We carved pumpkins in our likeness. Well, Ryan successfully carved a pumpkin in his likeness, I forgot to give myself a face. So. yeah.


In other news, I officially have a job, but a different job than originally anticipated. Read on:
Pt. 1: Job I thought I had = Full-time, one-on-one para at Elementary School.
-arrived to school after an entire morning of orientation only to be informed that the student moved to California over the weekend ("I'd rather be dead in California than alive in Arizona!"--Lucille Bluthe)
Pt. 2: Job I now have = 3.25 hours a day, working with different students throughout the week.

Good enough.

Ryan has been sick this week, the details of which I will not elaborate upon. He is seemingly on the mend, and I anticipate a full recovery, and no H1N1 business. Phew.

I joined a gym that came with 2 free sessions with a personal trainer, and I couldn't use my arms for the next three days.

In closing:




Elementary School Fail.

New House! New Everything!

Arizona is hot. Dry hot. Like someone is throwing a hot, wool blanket on top of you as soon as you walk out the door. But, the heat aside, it's really quite beautiful. There are far more leafy trees here than I anticipated, and the cacti are very brightly colored. It's definitely different, but we love it.

The new house is almost completely put together. Two weeks isn't so bad, right? We got the kitchen, living room and bedroom painted, and all of our furniture moved in. Ryan put together our final pieces today: our coffee table and desk/bookshelf.




The only thing we need to do now is finish unpacking all of the boxes in our office/second room!
When it's all assembled I'll take you all through the house, pictures and all :)

Work-wise, Ryan has started back at ASU, and I'm writing an Arts & Craft column for Phoenix, Arizona's Examiner.com. I'm not making much ($0.01 per page view, ha ha) but it's nice to be writing.

Tonight I made lentil & brown rice tacos, which we ate with spinach, salsa, sour creme and cheese. Oh man. It was so good.


Yum.

Until next time!

Emily & Ryan

The Rest of Our Lives Will the Moments Accrue

Yeah, it's been a while. So, what's been happening in our lives? What do we, the Robbins, do with our time?

Well, ever since we moved to Utah I've been working vigorously on my degree, and I'm pleased to announce that I will be graduating August 13th with a BA in Print Journalism!

Ryan has been a busy bee working on reformatting, editing, and illustrating a Chinese textbook for ASU, where he will soon reign as supreme commander of all Awesome. Yes, I meant to capitalize that.

Yes, we're all work and no play. But THAT'S not true! We spend a lot of time at the lake skipping rocks, we go for a lot of bike rides, we play croquet, we play frisbee and we play Word Challenge on Facebook! Oh, and by "bike rides" I mean, Ryan pumps up my front bike tire, we ride around until it goes flat again, Ryan pumps it back up, and we ride home, and upon returning it's flat again. I NEED A NEW TUBE!

In other news: I'm not pregnant. And we're moving to Arizona in TWO WEEKS! Oh the joys of a new house! I'm going to turn it into a project. In between searching for a job/internship I'll be painting rooms, shopping for cheap kitchen/living room furniture at Savers, reupholstering chairs, sanding and re-finishing all of the ugly furniture I've purchased, and making lamps. Charming.

Here are some pictures of our past 2.5 months of marriage:

One-Month-Anniversary:












































Nikki and Brendan's Wedding in Wyoming:
Being married is great.

Us

Wedding Suit Alterations























Emily's Wedding Dress

Gift & Registry

Yes, the rumors are true. Ryan and I have registered for gifts and things. If you feel so inclined to bestow your love on us in the form of material goods you can find things that we want/mostly need at the following places:

Bed Bath & Beyond
The registry is saved under "Emily Hudson and Ryan Robbins

Wedding UT 05/15/09

Registration Number: 8270156


Target
Search for "Ryan Robbins"
Our Registry ID: 013175400000905

ACTUAL ST. LOUIS RECEPTION LOCATION

In the immortal words of Gob Bluth,

"I've made a huge mistake."

The address for the St. Louis reception is INCORRECT on the wedding announcements.

Please forgive me this gargantuan gaffe and drive yourselves to this address on May 15th at 6:30 p.m. :

Lake St. Louis Community Association 

100 Cognac Ct.
Lake St. Louis, Mo 63367

the Web site is: lslca.com

Directions from the Ring Ceremony at Boulevard Park:

Driving directions to 100 Cognac Ct, Lake St Louis, MO 63367

3.3 mi – about 8 mins

Boulevard Park 2550 Lake St Louis Boulevard, Lake St Louis, Missouri

1.	Head northeast toward Lake Saint Louis Blvd		135 ft
2.	Turn left at Lake Saint Louis Blvd		0.9 mi
3.	Turn left to merge onto US-40/US-61		1.0 mi
4.	Turn right at Dauphine Dr		1.1 mi
5.	Turn left at Cognac Ct/Cognac Dr Continue to follow Cognac Ct		0.3 mi
6.	Slight right to stay on Cognac Ct Destination will be on the right		92 ft

100 Cognac Ct Lake St Louis, MO 63367

Map!:

LINK TO BIGGER MAP

Driving directions from St. Louis (or any location east of Lake Saint Louis, Missouri:

5.	Merge onto I-70 W via the ramp on the left to Kansas City		36.4 mi
6.	Take exit 214 toward Lake Saint Louis Blvd		0.2 mi
7.	Turn left at Lake Saint Louis Blvd (signs for Lake Saint Louis)		0.1 mi
8.	Turn right at S Service Rd W/Veterans Memorial Pkwy		1.2 mi
9.	Turn left at Deloire Dr		0.3 mi
10.	Turn left at W Savoy Dr		0.2 mi
11.	Turn right at Guyenne Dr		0.3 mi
12.	Turn right at Rue Grand Dr		0.1 mi
13.	Turn right at Cognac Ct		315 ft
14.	Slight right to stay on Cognac Ct Destination will be on the right		92 ft

Driving Directions from the west (any place west of Lake Saint Louis, Missouri)

5.	Merge onto I-70 E		208 mi
6.	Take exit 212 for MO-A		0.3 mi
7.	Turn right at E County Rd A/MO-A/MO-Y/US-61		171 ft
8.	Continue on Freymuth Rd		0.6 mi
9.	Turn left at Picardy Dr		0.2 mi
10.	Turn right at Rue Grand Dr		0.7 mi
11.	Turn left at Cognac Ct		315 ft
12.	Slight right to stay on Cognac Ct Destination will be on the right		92 ft

This is where the party will be both figuratively and literally.

Please love me.

--Emily