Have you ever...?

Have you ever had a moment that you knew was absolutely life-changing? I get that sometimes with people, where I realize, "Oh, this is the point where I realize I will not be friends with that person." Before that moment, I thought we might be Besties, but now I know it was never to be.*

I had a moment like that this past week during internship interviews. Going into the interview, there was a chance I would have ended up there, but during the interview there was a point where I realized it just wasn't going to happen. I considered just calling it a day, picking myself up, and ending the horror show (okay, it was more like an uncomfortable dinner with acquaintances), but I just kept going. Because everyone hates a quitter. And, also, I couldn't think of anything more clever to say than "Alder, OUT!" And there were no tables to flip over. You know, mature stuff.

I can't say more about it since I haven't matched yet, though you can look forward to all sorts of Tales of Awkwardness in the future if I do (though if I don't, then forget about it because I'm going to be way too depressed). No matter what, though, you can expect upcoming pictures from my Internship Adventures. My interview schedule has taken me literally across the country, so we turned it into a thing that includes temple #45.




*It happens the other way, too, where I have a moment where I realize that I have just found a friend soulmate. But those are, sadly, less frequent.

Piecakes 2: Return of the Piecakes

Happy Thanksgiving to all! We celebrated at our house the way I usually celebrate things: by making cupcakes. I finally re-attempted the cupcakes that look like pies. They turned out better this time.

Red velvet. Mostly food coloring. True story.

Josh forbade the usage of orange M&Ms because he said it too closely resembled OSU colors. So I ate them.

 In the cupcake caddy.

Like always, Josh made his ribbon jell-o and it was a big hit.

Josh is suspicious about the quality of this turkey.

 Bonus Picture:

This has nothing to do with Thanksgiving, but it's cute. The cats just can't get enough of Josh.

Disneyland in October

We have a family tradition (started in the last 3 years) of going to Disneyland every October with my parents and whichever of my siblings decide to show up. Last year it was almost everyone. This year it was practically no one. But that's okay. The important people were there.

The ShepAlders

And Pumpkin Donald

We've noticed that we take significantly fewer pictures each time we go to Disneyland. We tried to remedy that, but still only took a few.

While driving through LA, we stopped off at the LA temple. We've been there before, but weren't able to take pictures of ourselves out in front. During my August break, I was trying to put together a picture album from all of the temples we've visited, but we didn't have any good pictures from LA!

So we took these:

Our primary reason for going to CA was to attend the wedding of Josh's high school friend Audrey: 

She married the guy on the left:

You may remember them from when we went to the Hearst Castle together.

So that was the excitement of our October. Right now we don't have any more plans to travel for awhile. Hopefully in January I'll be all over the map for internship interviews! 

Football Season Kicks Off

In September, we were lucky enough to go back to Texas (again) for the UO vs. LSU game. We stayed at Great Wolf Lodge because we were with two families' worth of kids, and I ended up with an ear infection. But everyone else had fun, which is important, and here is the proof:

Josh and my niece Jordan, with the Dallas Cowboys jumbotron in the background

Jordan and my dad

Josh and my brother Austin

Josh and Austin outside of the stadium

Then for the first home game, Josh joined the pickup band (made of marching band alumni, current members, and future members) for the first time. It was actually the first time I've ever seen him perform, since he had already graduated by the time we started dating.

Because Josh was sitting with the band, I asked my friend Carissa to sit with me in our seats.

We showed up really early so I could be sure I didn't miss Josh

I made him wear a white hat so he'd be easy to see

Josh loved it so much, he's thinking of doing it again next year!

BNAT 13Wolf and Enjoli

If you have ever met me and Josh more than once then you have probably heard of the 24-hour film festival we have attended for the past 4 years. (Remember this, this, and this?) Well, it's that time of year again and our applications are done and submitted.

Each year the applications include some crazy questions and a required picture related to the theme. And this year's theme is "ThirTeen Wolf" (because it's the 13th annual BNAT, get it? No, seriously, do you get it?) So the pictures were Teen Wolf-related. We were told to either re-enact or re-imagine a scene from the movie.

This is what we ended up with:

How can a Teen Wolf get dressed without getting hair everywhere?

Being a teen wolf makes showering an awkward situation

Last year was the first that an optional video component was included. Remember this? Last year it was a video including the jingle for some Japanese cologne. This year it was one including a perfume jingle from the '70s. Josh did a lot of work for it. He even storyboarded the entire thing.



The puppets were my idea.

In Other News:
I'm in the middle of applying for internship, which explains why I haven't updated the blog in awhile. You can expect more of that. Sorry.

Hambelton Hijinx

Our good friends John and Carissa Hambelton came up from Eugene to visit us for the weekend. You may remember them from adventures such as this*. It was John's birthday, so we went to John's Incredible Pizza (fitting, right?) for food (the pizza is better than Izzy's but still, ugh, served buffet form) and games. Carissa was smart and got coupons so we could go on the rides and play certain games for free (for a limited time).

I have been to Chuck E. Cheese for many a nephew's birthday, so I can in all confidence say that John's Incredible Pizza is a better experience. It's cleaner, less chaotic, and there are themed dining rooms so not all of the kids are on top of each other and in my way (except for in the buffet line). We even witnessed an IncrediBear dance party. Serious cuteness.

This is a bit of what we did:

Carissa and I rode on the twirly ride and tried not to get motion sick

I made a new friend with a hot ride

The next day, Josh was dying to go to Buffalo Wild Wings. It's his favorite spot because it combines most of his favorite things: food, trivia, and college football. I think if there was a movie theater and a classic arcade he would have to move in. 

While we were there, I was holding baby Cooper and this happened:

He just sucked on my hand for five minutes. It was the weirdest sensation! And, of course, completely hilarious.

We've been terrible about blogging lately because school has started again and I've been about as busy as I've ever been. I'll be done applying for internship in about a month, which I've always known was coming up but seems especially sad/hard now that I'm going through it. I'm so lucky that I have such loving friends who take the time to visit!

*If you followed the link then you saw that we have previously been to Evergreen Air and Space Museum with the Hambeltons. On a sidenote: I now drive past there four times a week and sometimes I worry that I'll get into an accident because I am transfixed by the Spruce Goose every time. Even after seeing it up close, I am still amazed by its size.

Back in college...

A friend of mine from my days at the Eugene Institute of Religion finally got around to digitizing a video of a sketch we performed for a road show back in 2004. My group wanted to do something lame like a dating game sketch... and I was having none of that. So, I wrote a parody version to the song "Superhero" by Stephen Lynch using characters from The Book of Mormon. Needless to say, we blew away the competition and won the road show.

Emily and I didn't really know each other back then, but she was in the room and distinctly remembers thinking that this sketch was pretty, pretty good. I like to think that it was the first of many things that would eventually make her fall in love with me and marry me... three years later. :)

And, with that... I give you "(If I Could Be) A Book of Mormon Hero."