Utah Day 4 and 5

Melissa's Shower

I'm home from Utah now, but I thought I'd still post a few pics from our trip. Saturday was a lot of fun! I was able to go to my friend Melissa's baby shower. I was so excited that it happened to be the same weekend I was in town. Melissa and I have been friends since junior high. We were roommates at BYU and now we are related:) Melissa's husband is Tom's cousin and so we get to see each other at Winder family parties. It's really fun because we had one on Saturday night so I got to hang out with Melissa twice that day. Melissa is having a baby girl, Hannah, in December and I am totally excited that Hannah and Ainsley will not only be best friends but cousins too:)

Friends I've known since high school
Jessica, Shae, Melissa, Rachel, Natalie with Addison, and Jessica with Kasen

Shae, Emmi, Ainsley and I
Shae is my oldest friend. We met when we were four years old. Our families have lived in the same neighborhood for 21 years. Shae and I have done everything together-we were even baptized on the same day.
Ainsley loved playing in Addi's bouncer. We're too poor to buy any cool toys like this for Ainsley so she enjoyed playing with them this weekend.
Ainsley and my dad
Ainsley loved being spoiled this week-everything Ainsley has on was a present while we were visiting...in fact I think she came home with more toys and clothes than I originally brought


"Wind-O-Ween."
Tom's family (the Winders) have an annual Halloween party and I think it is the favorite party of the year. It is tradition to have chili and french bread, play candy corn bingo, and play the favorite candy/dice game. Everyone in the Winder family gets really into it. I think this year was the first time I didn't dress up. There are are always some great costumes. Ainsley went as a bumblebee.
Baby Bumblebee
Melissa, James, Greg, and Beav-love the mustaches boys

Melissa and I-she is always so creative. Her pregnant belly went as a gumball machine. So cute!
Susie and Ainsley picking a candy bar during the dice game. We roll dice, if you get doubles, 7, or 11 you get to pick a candybar. When they are all gone, we set the timer for 7 minutes and if you roll correctly, you can steal a candybar from someone else. It gets kinda intense. The Nerds and Symphony bar were the hot ticket items this year. I think the Nerds were stolen about 20 times before the game was over.
80's Prom Queen Tiffany with Ainsley

Sunday Dinner

On Sunday I spent the day with my family. I got to go to my home ward with my parents and Cami. My parents have been in the same ward for the past 21 years, but I haven't been to it in a couple of years and so it was a shock for me to see how grown up most of the kids were and how many people had moved away. After church, all of my siblings came up for dinner, as well as my grandparents. It was so good to see everyone. I didn't realize how homesick I had been until I got there. I have missed everyone so much. I feel really lucky I got to see so many people this week. I was only in town for 5 days but I saw both families, all three sets of grandparents, the Winder extended family, my old ward, and most of my friends from highschool. It was a very successful trip. Now only 7 more weeks until Christmas...but hey, who's counting?

Ainsley with her Grandma and Grandpa "G"

Utah Day 2 and 3

Day 2: I went down to Freedom Elementary in Highland to see all of my old students. I walked into the cafeteria so I could give them hugs and say hello while they were at lunch. Afterwards I visited with all of the teachers I used to work with. I miss teaching, but I love being home with Ainsley. After we went to the school, my mom and I went to my sister Andrea's house. She just built a home in Saratoga Springs and she has moved in since I've been in Indiana. We spent the afternoon visiting and letting my nephews Will and Caden play with Ainsley. Ainsley enjoyed playing in Caden's bouncy toy. It kept her entertained for almost an hour. After visiting Andrea, I went back to the Reese's where we went to Tom's grandpa's house. It was fun visiting with the Reese family. We've sure missed them!

Day 3: Today we went to the Cheesecake Factory with my family. It was my mom, my older sister Andrea and her two boys Will (2) and Caden (5 months), my younger sister Cami, and my younger brother Jon. We had a delicious lunch and then split four cheesecakes so we could try them all! They were delicious!!! Afterwards, the girls all went shopping at Fashion Place. Why is it that it is so much more fun to shop for kids' clothes? We found some great deals. As my dad says, "I'm going broke saving all this money.":)

This is the view from my parents condo. They are renting it as they are building their fourth house in this neighborhood where we moved 21 years ago. The tiny speck on the back mountain is called Elephant Rock and we would hike up there almost every summer when I was younger. I sure miss the mountains!!! I'm glad I got to see the fall colors while I was here.

Utah: Day 1

Today was our first day in Salt Lake. Ainsley and I hung out with the Reese family. Anne and Susan were able to get work off to spend the day with us. Ainsley was totally spoiled! Grandma Reese and Aunt Annie had lots of presents for Ainsley. They gave her new teething toys, a dress, two cute outfits, and pajamas. Here are pictures from our day:

First we tried on the new dress from Aunt Annie

Then we went to Down East Outfitters where I bought a white tee. Ainsley hung out on the tiny furniture from Pottery Barn...wish I could afford them. Aren't they cute?


Next we went to lunch...my one request was to eat at Cafe Rio. I had been craving the Sweet Pork Salad...Yum, it had been way too long:)


Then we got to eat Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting at "So Cupcake"




Then we ate dinner as a family at Red Robin. Afterwards, we went to Build a Bear where Aunt Annie bought her a cute cheerleader bear. Susie named it Cuddles.

We had a great first day, we're so excited to see our family again, but we're missing Daddy who spent the day in Michigan where he toured Whirpool and Kellogg's with his Marketing Academy. Hope you're having a great trip too Tom, we miss you!

Yummy Rice Cereal

On Saturday night we gave Ainsley her first try of rice cereal. It was pretty funny to watch her reaction and unfortunately she didn't like it much. By the end, she was gagging and we were worried she would throw up. But we practiced again on Sunday night and Monday afternoon and she is kinda getting the hang of it. There has been less gagging, but she still makes a puzzled look when it is stuck in her mouth-like she is trying to figure out what this stuff is. I plan on bringing some cereal with us so when we are in Utah this week, aunts and grandparents can enjoy the entertainment of Ainsley eating as well.

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Tom is going to Michigan and Chicago with his Consumer Marketing Academy to tour different companies such as Kraft, Kellogg, etc. So Ainsley and I are taking the opportunity to come visit family rather than staying home by ourselves. We're excited and can't wait to see everyone!!!


Tom had a Consumer Marketing dinner tonight that was completely hosted by Kraft. Every food item was something produced by Kraft. After dinner, they got to see the famous Oscar Meyer Wienermobile. He even brought home wiener whistles for me and Ainsley.

P.S. Happy Birthday Uncle Jon!!! We love you!

Farmer's Market

Tom and I went to the Farmer's Market today. We've heard a lot about it from our friends and we finally made it before the season is over. It was fun-there were stalls selling flowers, bread, coffee, pumpkins, apples, and tons of different vegetables. We bought corn, chilies, peppers, onions, and tomatoes. When we got home, Tom made delicious homemade salsa using the fresh produce. Then tonight for dinner he made homemade chili rellenos. They were a little spicy for me, but they were delicious. Here are some pics we took today:

The colorful stand where we bought the chilis, peppers, and onions


Homemade chili relleno made with a poblano chili, stuffed with pepperjack cheese baked in a coating of panco and served with a cheese sauce and homemade salsa on top. YUM!


I made myself a sandwich with the fresh tomatoes we bought. Ainsley hung out in the Baby Bjorn while we cooked. I put the paper plate over her head in case I spilled any crumbs while I ate. I don't think she like it.

Ainsley and Daddy

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This is a video of Tom playing with Ainsley. He is so busy these days that he rarely gets to see Ainsley. We wake her up in the morning just so she can see him before he leaves for school because many nights he will come home and it's time for her to go to bed. When Tom started MBA school, all of the second year students kept telling us, "Oh, you'll never see your husband," "The Core (first semester) keeps you so busy, you'll never get to see your family." I thought it was all an exaggeration...but now I know it is true. During orientation, the wife of the Dean told the partners club a that we could get to know our spouses again over Thanksgiving. I'll look forward to that-only a few more weeks:) But as much as we miss having daddy around more, I am so happy that Tom has had this opportunity to be in school. We're so proud of him! We are loving Bloomington and have met so many wonderful people. We joke that we are so much more social here than we ever were back in Utah. I guess it's because everyone is away from family and so we have become each other's family. Thank you to all of our new friends who have been so welcoming!!!

Fruit Snacks

Guess what I saw at the grocery store yesterday....Now I know I'm living in the midwest:) How lucky can you be to eat bulldozers and tractors for lunch? Maybe I should buy them for Tom to take in his home lunch. I wonder if it will make him more popular with the other students.

Experimenting instead of Studying

This video was created by experimenting with movie software and taking inspiration from one of our favorite shows-enjoy!

Another short video...not quite as creative though, sorry:)

Tour of Campus

Tom has been in school for almost two months now. I drive through campus almost everyday to either drop off/pick up Tom or to get to the other side of town, but I've never walked around and really toured campus. So Saturday, Tom took me around so I could see how beautiful the campus was. We only hit a small portion of campus but it was gorgeous! Here are a few snapshots!

This is the MBA building called the Godfrey Center where Tom has all of his classes.


This is the Memorial Garden, a beautiful landscaped lawn that is across from Tom's building. Tom walks through this garden to get to the Student Union. In the background is the library where Tom studies


The Student Union and Memorial Hotel


The campus chapel-apparently it is used for weddings. And the tiny cemetary next to the chapel. I thought this was a little weird to have in the middle of campus, but it was quaint. There were headstones from the early 1900s.


Beautiful parts of campus


Beautiful limestone buildings on campus


IU auditorium where performances, plays, concerts, etc. are held

These next few pictures are from the Lily Library which holds some of the rare collections on campus:

This is the New Testament portion of the Gutenberg Bible. It is probably the first major work printed on moveable types in Western Europe was printed in Mainz, Germany by Johann Gutenberg in the mid-1450's.


These are two hand printed pages of a bible from the early 1400's


This Oscar was won by director John Ford in 1941 for his movie "How Green Was My Valley"


And lastly, this is Ainsley's new babysitter and friend-former IU President Herman B. Wells