November

It's over!! As of November 17, I have set these bricks aside, along with a few of their friends. Approximately 90 days from November 17 we will know if I passed. It was a really hard test. Ridiculous. To all of my friends and family that I ignored the last month...I'm sorry. I still love you!

I did take a (rare) break from studying to celebrate Patrick's 32nd birthday! He loves carrot cake with cream cheese icing...I made it for him the first year we were married to impress him. It worked, unfortunately now I have to grate lots of carrots every November ... But he's worth it. I almost backed out this year, and went to the store to look at the carrot cake mixes. (Who has time for grating carrots when boards are looming?!?!) The front of the box said "With Carrot Flavored Bits" -- What are carrot flavored bits?!?! I couldn't do that to him...not on his birthday! So I bought carrots instead.

Being a law clerk is sort of like 2nd grade in that you get to bring cake on your birthday .. I made a big sheet cake for him to take to work, and he brought home a few pieces for his birthday dinner. Sounds like it was a hit!

After the birthday dinner and cake, we thought we'd try to take a family picture. Duke was in his usual spot, curled up in his bed, so we had to go to him. What follows are our multiple attempts:

Success!

We also successfully roasted our 5th turkey all by ourselves!! FOF Denver went off without a hitch -- Our tiny house was full to the brim, but nobody complained. Good food and wine for all!

Duke and his new friend Scarlett were the center of attention...of course.