Ever Gain 100 lbs on Halloween?

Exhibit A

Me with a chocolate covered macaroon. Caught red handed!


Exhibit B

Kathleen Smith's, my sister-in-law Jamie's Mom's, house all decked out for Halloween. (Like the pillow in my back?)

Exhibit C

I spot a plate of brownies across the room. (No worries, we're drinking IBC Rootbeer, not booz!)

So how did this disastrous Halloween costume come about, you ask? We were invited to a super festive Halloween party for the second year in a row. Last year we were the LAMEST couple there. Shaye went as a mustache vampire ('nuff said). So this year I was determined to dress up cute. I asked my Mom if she had any costumes. She has all the Wizard of Oz costumes which she bought for Dixie's education department...but she only had a plus size Dorothy costume.

At first I thought, perfect, Shaye can go as Dorothy and I'll go as the scarecrow. However, Shaye gave me an ultimatum--I could go as "Full Figured Dorothy" to the party and he could go as the scarecrow, or we wouldn't go at all. (Who do you think wears the pants in this family?)

So I stuffed myself with two pillows and we ate tons of yummy food and had fun. I felt kind of bad dressing up as a full-figured Dorothy because I think plus-sized women are beautiful and not to be ridiculed. Even so, I couldn't help but feel self-conscious going back for seconds. Everyone kept saying "you look so cute!" but I'm pretty sure they really meant "it's so good of you to make a fool of yourself for our enjoyment." But I guess this is what Halloween is all about.

I'm More Than Halfway Through the Semester!

Life has been great lately, and I love checking in on all your blogs! My semester is going well. Since I'm well into my 2nd semester of my Ph.D., I'm really beginning to feel more at home on UNLV's campus and more accustomed to the drive. It's such a great opportunity that I have and I'm really trying to make the best of it.
Here's a picture of me with my primary reading for this semester. I'm having so much fun! Most of this stuff is so fun to read!

A Personal Victory

For the past year I've been working on my Ph.D. and I've been loving it! However, I've been waiting to formally apply to the program formally because some of my entry exams were not as high as they needed to be. This is fairly common at UNLV because several of the GRE (Graduate Record Exams) are pretty difficult to pass. UNLV allows students to take 12 credits before official admittance, which is what I've been doing.

UNLV has 2 test requirements: that their applicants score in the 75th percentile of higher in the GRE General Test and in the 50th percentile or higher for the GRE Literature subject test. I passed the GRE Literature test finally in March (Wahoo!); however, I barely missed the General test by scoring in the 74th percentile, basically 1 question too low.


I was bummed about this, but when I began applying a few months ago, UNLV told me that my General score was great. They said that the test company reported that I scored in the 95th percentile, not the 74th percentile I thought I had scored. I was super relieved at first, but then I got to thinking there must be something wrong with what UNLV was telling me.

So I had UNLV send me the scores, and low and behold, they were Amanda Scott from Loveland, Ohio's scores. Oh no! So then I was faced with a decision of whether or not to raise this to the UNLV's attention. I knew they would never be the wiser if I kept my mouth shut, but of course, I couldn't live with being dishonest about this score. So I told them this high score on the test (in the 95th percentile) was a different Amanda Scott's scores and they told me to hurry and retake the test.

The past two weeks I've been studying to retake this test. It is something that I would usually take a few months to study for, but because the deadline for my application is November 1, I had to act fast! I studied really hard and learned about 1200 new words. And I prayed that Heavenly Father would bless me for being honest. And boy did he ever, I took the test today and scored in the 97th percentile! Not only is this high enough to reach UNLV's requirement, but it is even higher than that other Amanda Scott's scores. I'm so relieved that my hard work has paid off and feel so blessed for Heavenly Father's help. Now I have my fingers crossed that I'm officially admitted in the next few months. Wish me luck! :)

Our New Puppy!

In mid-July we did a crazy, spontaneous thing. I was in the Utah Valley area visiting some of Shaye's family and we decided, totally spur of the moment, that we wanted a second dog! I called a breeder in Spanish Fork and we got little Max!

Isn't he adorable? He's been so fun because he's quite a bit sweeter than Mimi--though we really love Mimi, believe me. But Max is more silly and sweet, while Mimi is smarter and sassier. :) We love our sweet little guy! Now Mimi has a buddy to play with!

Welcome Baby Landon!

Congratulations to Skyler and Jamie on a beautiful new addition!! Little Landon Michael was born yesterday at 5:54 pm, weighing 7 lbs 11 ounces. Jamie and Landon are doing great!


Skyler called us just a few minutes after the baby was born and so we got to come and see the new arrival get his first bath and everything. I got to hold him about an hour after he was born. So special! I've never been in the delivery room so soon after a baby is born and was amazed at the peaceful feeling there. I'm so proud of Jamie. She is such a strong woman! I hope I can be as good as a mom as she is someday. In the meantime, it's so fun to be an aunt to all the little Scott cuties!

This Summer So Far

Stephanie Belle graduated from Dixie High. She is now going to hair school at Taylor Andrews. I'm so proud of her!

Shaye turned 26!

We've had plenty of long car rides with the windows down with this cheeky dog, our Mimi.

I went to girl's camp (just for one evening) with the darling Young Women in our ward. They're all so darling!

The AWESOME Maui Movie Shaye Made!

Maui Revealed from Shaye Scott on Vimeo.

Shaye made the coolest video of our trip to Maui. I think I'm licensed to brag on him a little bit here. He's been filming weddings as a side job and making short films just for the past few months and he's seriously so good at it! I love watching his movies over and over, especially this one. I hope you enjoy it!

P.S. You can click on the link below the movie to watch it in HD, which looks awesome!