Graduation Photos

I graduated back on the 13th of this month but since I forgot my camera I didn't have my pictures right away. So after a long wait here are some photos from the great event. Brads grandmother took photos in the spectrum and maybe someday I'll get those from her. It was a great day and yes, I did wear my pink shoes from my wedding even though it was snowing very heavily that morning. I have just one quick little story from graduation that needs to be shared because it was one of the worst/best moments of my day.

I actually had a graduation day miracle happen. As I've said, it snowed several inches that day and I was more concerned with looking good than being practical. I didn't have any pockets in my pants and the pockets in my coat lead straight into the lining. Brad held my phone for me during the ceremony and right before he handed it to me he decided to turn on the volume on the ringer. He doesn't usually have the sound on his own phone but he turned mine on. As I was walking to the car I kept thinking I should hand my phone to Brad so I can focus on not falling down while walking in these ridiculous shoes. But I didn't listen to the prompting like Brad did. I realized my phone was gone once we got to the restaurant for lunch. I had to get something out of the trunk so I was really hoping it was in the trunk. It wasn't. After lunch we went back to the parking lot and retraced my steps. Luckily they had not come in to plow the lot yet, but there had been a lot of traffic so we weren't sure it would be safe even if we did find it. Brad called it once we were to the area he had been parked in. Amazingly enough it began ringing from under a pile of snow. I'm so glad he decided to turn the ringer on because we wouldn't have seen it otherwise. It has a little scratch on one corner, but otherwise survived it's fall and the subsequent hour or so in the snow. I'm so glad because even though it is just a thing, and it can be replaced, I felt very lost without it.

Flashback Friday: Christmas traditions

My mom has a wonderful Christmas countdown calendar that I love. I don't have a picture of it but you probably all know the kind of calendar I'm talking about. It has a tree in the middle and every day as Christmas gets closer you get to take a little ornament off of the pocket for the day and pin it on the tree. In each pocket there was always something written on a little slip of paper to do that day. Things as simple as "go look at Christmas lights" or "attend the High School Christmas Choir concert" or maybe as big as "make Christmas bread for neighbors" which takes all day. When people talk about having Christmas traditions I sometimes have a hard time thinking of what my family does as a tradition. But really every day during the month had a small tradition of it's own. We could always use the same slips of paper because we would do the same things every year.

My favorites include the ones I listed above.
I love driving around looking at Christmas lights. With the economy the way it is I don't think people will be able to really do this as much anymore and that makes me sad. Perhaps when I have kids I will start the tradition of going to the light shows like they have in Willard Bay and Spanish Fork so they will still get to see Christmas lights.

Another thing that we would do every year is make graham cracker houses. I was lucky enough to have family close by while I went to school in Logan that have the same traditions so I could continue this fun activity even though I didn't live at home for the whole month of December. I missed the parties this month and that makes me sad :( But just knowing graham cracker houses are being made makes me feel happy.
Here is one I made with a friend 2 years ago. (really I made it, he just ate graham crackers and frosting) It is a Church with stained glass windows and a gingerbread preacher. It also has a duck pond with a cute little duck in front. (ok the friend made the duck... but that's all the help I had) Last years graham cracker house was a southern plantation but because we used those yummy piroette (sp?) cookies for posts it got eaten before we could take a picture......

I've also made 8 loaves of my moms Christmas bread this year. (I failed at the first 4 but succeeded at the next 8!) I hope to keep these traditions alive and well with my family as it forms.

If you have any great Christmas traditions you think I should add to my calendar leave a message and let me know. There is always room for more fun!

Graduation Video

Feel badly that you couldn't come to the graduation? Want to feel like you were there? Well you can watch the video here. Or for those of you who don't like clicking on links..... the address is http://www.usu.edu/provost/commencement/archives.cfm . Just click on Undergraduate ceremony video.

Don't want to watch the whole thing and just want to hear them say my name and watch me walk down the plank shaking hands? Well then click on link and download the video then zoom ahead to 53:38 in the video and you will hear them say my name! Woot Woot!

Pictures will come shortly. I forgot my camera so I used my mother-in-laws and since she had finals this week she's been a bit busy so I don't have them yet.

Graduation

I graduate from college tomorrow. Whoa. I kind of don't know how I got this far, but I'm glad I did. I have been having some thoughts and they wont seem related at first but stay with me, they do relate to me graduating I promise.

Those of you who really know me know that I worry about EVERYTHING. Ridiculous things. Have you seen the movie "Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events"? There is a woman on that movie that is just like me. She at one point warns the children not to stand in front of the refrigerator because it could tip over and squish them. What are the odds that would happen? Slim, but she worries about it. I would too. This worrying is really what causes my hypochondria as well.

Now I know that driving in crummy weather is a worry for most people, but I worry a lot. In fact today I had thoughts that I would just not walk at graduation so that my family wouldn't drive to Logan in the snow tomorrow morning. They would not like that, so we're going. So to ease my over active mind will you all pray that my family will be able to drive safely in the snow and that I will not give myself an ulcer over things beyond my control. Thank you.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mom's 22nd anniversary of her 30th Birthday. (I wrote a post about how great she is back on mothers day. You can read it here.) Now some of you may ask, "If you are going to celebrate the anniversary of a birthday why pick 30?" You may think, "30 is close to 29, why not just go one year lower and be in your 20's again?!" There are a number of reasons for why she does this. The first reason is because she tells people if you are going to stay one age forever make it believable. She figures everyone says they are 29 so who is going to question the fact that she says she is 30. But as I got to thinking I figured out the real reason she says this. You see the year she turned 30 must have been a great year for her. I can think of the obvious reason why that would have been her favorite birthday.

She had just given birth to an angel child and her life was complete. I made her 30th birthday so happy and memorable that she decided to celebrate that year over and over again.

Sorry little sister, she didn't pick 34 so we know who her favorite child is.

Subbing

I'm officially signed up to be a sub now. Anyone in Granite school district want a day off?

My week off

I know you are dying to know what I'm going to do this week since I have no school but I don't graduate until Saturday. Well so far I've spent last night and this morning reading Dave Barry columns over at davebarry.com. I love Dave Barry and I just wanted you all to know that it is possible to find all sorts of his columns online. Really I do have plans to actually do things this week but for now this is what I'm doing.

Flashback Friday: My day after Thanksgiving tradition

For Thanksgiving Brad and I went to his sisters house in Price. It was a wonderful day and the food was great. It was weird not being surrounded by hundreds of people eating in a church gym (I have a large extended family.....) but it was nice to just sit back and watch a Dirty Jobs marathon with Brad and his dad while other people worked all day on food :)

Since I spent Thanksgiving day with Brads family and since Brad had to work today I stayed the night last night at my mom's house and we decided to start a new tradition of our own. Last year the day after Thanksgiving was the day that I went through the Logan temple in preparation to be married. So today my mom and I went to the Provo temple to celebrate that anniversary. We've decided that we will try to go every year after Thanksgiving to celebrate the spiritual things that we are grateful for. It's just may be one of my favorite holiday traditions.

Flashback Friday: Belt Buckles

One thing I've learned while teaching is that you just have to be yourself because the students see through your lies. Also, if you have little things that the kids can relate to they really enjoy that. I have a couple of little hobbies that the kids have really enjoyed. If you recall back on the 19th of September I taught my classes a lesson on pirates. Since then I've had a student bring me copies of pirate books she has collected and I even got a pirate themed thank you note from another student. The other thing that kids have really enjoyed is my belt collection. My brother started wearing belt buckles when I was a senior in high school and I wanted to be cool like him so he bought me my first belt buckle for Christmas. I continued to collect them whenever I went on trips or for important holidays (I have a lovely skull and crossbones buckle from TLAPD). When I worked at JC Penney my freshman year of college I amassed a large number of belts, mostly belts that had been separated from pants that were then either sold or stolen. Since I began wearing belt buckles several of the kids have come to school early to show me their belt buckles or to check if I have a buckle that day.

Today was my last Friday of student teaching. I wear jeans on Fridays so I decided that today was the day for me to wear my ultimate belt buckle. It is actually the buckle my brother gave me back in 2003. The kids loved it. So here is a picture of me wearing that ultimate buckle to a Keith Urban concert back in 2005.

Self Check out

I hate it when people use the self-check out lane to fulfill their deep childhood desires of using the beeping scanners. If you have an entire basket full of junk, it's not going to be faster to use the self check out. It's just not.

Streeeeeeeeeechin it out.

I know I already posted today but I've been feeling sick today and I've watched the news about a million times and I gotta say...... I'm already sick of rivalry week. I'm sorry, I know most of my friends have strong feelings one way or the other but I really just don't care. Remember when everyone was complaining about how the candidates for president began campaigning way too early? Well I feel like that, only I don't care about the football game so it's even worse. I can give all sorts of statistics on the two teams now, even though I haven't watched a single game. Even the weather has found ways to talk about the game........ One more reason I'll be glad this week is over.

My hubby

It's been awhile since I've posted, and a bunch of fun things have happened. Once I have all my pictures from the fun events I'll be sure to post about everything. Probably the most significant thing that has happened since I last posted was Brads birthday. We come from families where birthdays aren't extravagant and so we kept things pretty simple but we still had a good time with family. I sure do love my husband and I can't wait until I'm done with school so he can get back to school during the day so we can see each other in the evenings. We may even start eating dinner again. It's been a rough semester with not a lot of time to ourselves but it's almost over! So here are five facts about Brad for all of you.1- I call him Muffin. I wrote a whole blog about it in fact. You can read it here.

2- He peels his bananas from the wrong end. Ok fine, there is no wrong way, but still I'd never seen anyone peel their bananas like he does until I met him.

3- He is very patient and loving.

4- He is so good with children. I love watching him with his niece and nephew. Someday he will make a wonderful father.

5- He picks up on what I need and just does it. From helping with laundry to fixing the drain, he just gets it done.

Also, he is such a goofball as can be witnessed in this engagement photo in which he is biting my arm....... The photographer definitely didn't ask him to do that.

my flaw (one of them)

I get so frustrated by the simplest things. And it turns out I hold grudges sometimes. I don't like that I do it. I know that good people are patient and forgiving but I guess I'm not a good person. Sometimes getting my frustrations out makes me feel better about myself..... so if you don't mind, I'm going to tell you the completely insignificant things that have bothered me lately. If you agree with me that these things are annoying let me know and I"ll feel better, if you think I'm ridiculous, don't let me know because then I'll just be bugged again...........

Stupid thing #1: (Brad would kill me if he knew I was still thinking about this.......)
So a couple weekends ago we went to Vegas to go to my cousins wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and the reception was very well decorated. It almost made me want to do it all over again so I could use the same decorations. So we went to the Temple ceremony and were able to congratulate them after it was over. Then we went to a church where they did a ring ceremony for those family members who weren't able to be at the temple. Afterwords they let everyone who was there for that get in line to congratulate them. I happened to be second to last in that line. I was standing in front of the first groomsman in line when the photographer came to the people in front of me and told them when they had finished that there was going to be pictures. She then told me and my uncles family that we would have to get out of line so they could take family pictures. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? There were 2 more people and she's going to kick us out of line? I shouldn't care. I got to give them hugs after the actual wedding. But I had just stood in line to congratulate them and she is going to tell me I can't? Even after we got out of line she didn't start taking pictures for awhile. So if you read this new cousin-in-law, congratulations and I'll give you a hug the next time I see you, and I hated your photographer. Thank you Ashley for working with me so well for my wedding photos.

Stupid thing #2:
I received a scholarship back in April from the University. It was a really rushed process to get the scholarship and I ended up writing multiple letters in one week and talking to the vice provost several times about all of the requirements for the thank you letter that is sent to the donor of the scholarship money. We were supposed to send a picture but when I emailed to find out the specifications on the photo I was told that someone had already taken care of my picture for me. She gave me the name of the person and I just figured it was someone from the college since they had a photo of me from a scholarship I'd received a couple years before. Well today I got an email from the same woman who told me my photo was taken care of asking me if I ever sent in a photo. If she seriously has been sitting around waiting for me to do something she told me not to do........She told me I can come to her office and she'll take one. I wrote back a really informal response basically saying that she told me I didn't need one and I don't live in Logan but I told her that I can email a photo if she will tell me what size and format she wants. I also said that if that wouldn't work that I have a sister who lives in Logan and people say we look alike so if needed I would send her to have her picture taken.

Stupid thing #3:
I was just told that I have to buy my own honors cords for graduation? Is that true? LAME.
(clarification: It's not just that I have to pay for them but I have to find them on my own and buy them through a whole different site because the book store doesn't sell them)

Ok, I feel better. Thank you.

Flashback Friday: Halloween

I am visiting my mom tonight since I had no school to teach. I voted and then we went to lunch. When we got home we were talking about how I sometimes like my own writing and she told me she missed my flashback friday posts. I guess I just get so busy that I haven't put a lot of effort into blogging regularly. So we went to the basement and dug out the old photo albums and had my brothers girlfriend judge all the pictures of my past halloween costumes and pick the cutest.

So here you go. Now I'm off to watch Sweeney Todd for Halloween! Happy Halloween everybody!

random collection of thoughts

I have a lot on my mind right now. I really should be entering scores but I am feeling sort of A.D.D. right now so I'd rather post about all the things on my mind.

First off...... I totally won the drawing on that meal blog. I get a quick stir pitcher from pampered chef! I'm really excited because I really have been wanting one for awhile now.

Next, I've officially received word that one of my students has found my blog. She's a T.A. in one of my 7th grade classes....... I should have never taught her about google images. She googled my name and found the blog. I really don't care though. I wonder if any of my other students read this........... I can't ask otherwise they'd all look for it. Meh.

Third, I'm kind of bugged today because one of my teachers told me that I needed to stick to my friends at home and not care if the kids are my friends. She said "I know it's important to you that the kids are your friends......." I'M NOT FRIENDS WITH MY STUDENTS. She has not been in my classes while I teach, except for today while we played a game of jeopardy. I am a friendly person but that does not mean that I seek friendship from my friends. I am feeling more and more like the teachers I work with think less of me and I can't figure out what I've done to change that. If you didn't read my post titled "My Michael Scott Moment" you should. Notice in that post that I never once said I wanted to be friends with my students. I just don't see why they can't like my class and me and still respect me. I don't want to hang out with my students after class and I honestly don't care what they tell their friends about the class, but why can't they be happy to come to my class?

Fourth, our housing situation is currently on hold. I saw a bunch of family and friends at a wedding this last weekend and everyone was so excited for me so I thought I'd let people know that we may still be moving but it is currently on hold while our grandfather takes care of some medical issues. He is in our prayers and while we are looking forward to moving and being able to save money on housing, we are more concerned for our grandparents well-being so we hope that things are taken care of and all cleared up.

Also, I am sick of coughing. I don't really like sleeping with the humidifier on and I hate how fuzzy my teeth get when I suck on cough drops all day.

meal blog

So I know that I have already posted this (I'm sure you noticed, cause you are all faithful readers......) But I really wanna win the quick stir pitcher from this site so I'm posting it again.

If you have ever had a hard time deciding what to make for dinner, there is a new blog for you: http://mealtimehelp.blogspot.com You'll find simple meal ideas, a place to share your favorite dinner time meals and maybe learn a trick or two for old time favorites. There will also be monthly giveaways. You'll always have an answer to the question "What's for dinner?"

So check out the blog, but don't enter cause I wanna win........ ohok fine go ahead and enter.

It comes ALIVE at night!!!

No this post is not about a scary Halloween experience. The title was however my attempt at making it seem that way. No, this post is about the joys of living in an apartment complex, and by joys I mean the stupid things that people do that make it so that no one in their right mind wants to stay in an apartment complex for their whole lives.

Brad and I love our apartment. It's a cute one bedroom place with it's own washer dryer and a dishwasher! That's 3 steps above the last place we lived. It's new, and it's close to work and school. On paper it's also a smoke free environment. I say on paper because as far as I can count there are 2 other apartments in my building where people don't smoke. Those 2 happen to belong to people in my ward. Even though these people face eviction for smoking they do it openly. I finally had enough when it went from cigarette smoke to marijuana smoke and I told the managers and I even had my first experience calling the cops. Don't think I'm little miss tattle tale either...... I just don't want to pay for air conditioning when I could open my door and let in the nice late summer breeze at night, but I'm not going to open the door to marijuana smoke, it gives me headaches. As far as I can tell neither going to the managers nor calling the cops did any good because every day there are people sitting out on their balconies or in the stairwell smoking.

The first day we lived here our neighbor from downstairs came up to introduce himself to us. We thought that was really nice, except he continued to inform us that he has a party every weekend and we should let him know if they are too loud. The noise from his parties has never been TOO bad, but now that I've called the cops on them for the marijuana I'm afraid to ever go down there. And judging from the quantities of alcohol that he carries in every Friday afternoon I'd rather avoid the party anyways......... Even our non-smoking church going neighbors upstairs sometimes vacuum at one in the morning. I got all dressed to go ask them to please wait till morning when it finally stopped. This past weekend we can't tell where the noise comes from, I think it's the apartment that shares a back wall with ours. People come outside every night around midnight and start yelling to each other. Even with all windows and doors shut I can still make out the words they are saying. It is starting to get old which is why I'm so glad to share this news with all my friends out there................... WE'RE MOVING AGAIN!

Grandma and Grandpa D have been asked to go on a mission ASAP and they asked us if we would watch their house for them. SURE! It's a beautiful house and we are feeling so blessed to have the opportunity to stop paying rent and to stop having noisy neighbors so we can save up our money for our own house someday! Because the mission call hasn't worked like most normal mission calls they aren't exactly sure when they leave. As soon as they find out we will be putting in our notice here and praying that our contract sells so we can move there with no further obligations here. Once we move anyone can come visit us because we'll have more spare guest rooms than we'll know what to do with!

I'm excited if you can't tell from the number of exclamation points I've used........

My Michael Scott moment.......

Once a week all the student teachers in the Salt Lake area get together to provide support to one another while we struggle through our student teaching. There are some student teachers in the group who admit to struggling while building relationships with the students and it got me thinking.....

On an episode of 'The Office,' Michael Scott is quoted as saying "Would I rather be feared or be loved? Both, I want people to be afraid of how much they love me." Sometimes I feel like this. How come I have to make the students fear me to respect me? When I tell people that the students really like my class, and seem to enjoy me as a teacher, they act as though I must have no control over my class, and my students must not be learning. Why can't the students enjoy me as a teacher and still respect me?

I honestly feel like they do.

I've had this internal struggle before. While growing up I had some really good Young Women's leaders. The girls in my ward built relationships with these women and trusted them with our deepest teenage secrets and in return they shared their love and advice with us. Because we had a FRIENDSHIP (that's really what it was, it was more than a teacher/student relationship) we called these women by their first name. It was suggested that the girls in the ward were not showing respect to these women because we didn't call them by "Sister.........." I honestly do not feel like this showed any lack of respect towards these women. The women that I knew who were lovely women but did not share this relationship were refered to as "Sister .......... " Sure I respected those other women but I didn't care for them the way I cared for my first name basis leaders. So is it impossible to like someone and still respect them? I don't think so.

So why does everyone freak out when I suggest that my students like me AND respect me?

Tagged

GOOGLE GAME

This is how the game works: Use Google image search to answer each question. Then, out of ONLY the first page of results, choose your favorite or most random image. Then tag some people to do it!! :)

MY AGE:

PLACE I'VE BEEN TO:

PLACE I WANT TO VISIT:

FAVORITE PLACE

FAVORITE OBJECT

FAVORITE FOOD

FAVORITE ANIMAL

FAVORITE COLOR

BIRTH PLACE

CURRENT PLACE OF RESIDENCE

PETS

PAST LOVE

BEST FRIEND

NICKNAME

FIRST NAME

MIDDLE NAME

LAST NAME

BAD HABIT

FIRST JOB

GRANDMOTHER'S NAME

COLLEGE DEGREE

WHAT I'M DOING RIGHT NOW

I don't tag anyone because this took me forever to finish. But it was fun, so I think if you are bored you should try a few of these things on your own.

Something I learned...... when you google image my husbands name the first picture that comes up is my cousin.....

The condo

I wont title this flashback Friday because it is Monday and that would be a lie. Plus all I've done lately is flashbacks because I don't have time to write except on the weekends. But I thought today I would tell you all about my weekend. My grandmother has a timeshare at the Island Park Resort in Idaho and so we go up there for a weekend at the beginning of every October. So on Friday we were able to leave as soon as Brad got off work and drive up, stopping at my cousins reception in Idaho Falls, and arrive at the condo around 11. We spent most of Saturday in Yellowstone playing and hiking and then Sunday we were able to kick back and relax, listen to a little conference and feed some ginormous fish. I love going up and I love the feeling in Island Park. There are so many memories that I have up there, and I look forward to it every year. I could probably write almost 20 flashback posts about it since we go every year, but I wont. Some of you that read this have come with my family to the condo before and you know that it is one of my most favorite places in the whole world. So now you can enjoy a nice picture of Brad, Erin (my sister) and I at Old Faithful. This picture was snapped online from the webcam that is located in a tree near the geyser. I know we're small but that really is us.

Flashback Friday: 4th ward girls

I grew up in a great neighborhood. I always had a lot of friends to play with growing up. Yesterday I had the opportunity to get together for dinner with 4 other girls that I grew up with. Some of these girls hadn't seen each other since we graduated over 4 years ago. When we were younger we had the tradition of eating at Brick Oven every year for Jessica's birthday. Since her birthday happens to be coming up this next week we decided we should all meet at Brick Oven to celebrate and just enjoy each others company.

Since this is a flashback post I figured I ought to have a picture of us when we were youngsters, so here are a few that include 4 of the 5 of us at my 6th birthday party.

This is Jessica P, me, Becca K and Tabitha B.
(Becca is busy being preggers in Rexburg so she couldn't come to dinner.)

This is Tabitha B, Becca J, Jessica P, Kayla B, me, Nate (playing my jumpstick like a flute), Beth T, Katie T, and Becca K all posing with the gifts I received for my 6th birthday.

Now here are the 5 of us all growed up!

Here's Tabitha B, Katie T (now C), Jessica P, Caroline W, and me.

Man they all grew up lookin' good..... I should have done my hair so I could look like I fit in. They are great girls and it was so good to see them all again. I can't wait to get together and have another girls night soon! Oh and Caroline if you feel bad I'll find an embarrassing photo of you to add cause you know I have them!

Chinese food

Last night before Brad fell asleep he said the most random thing. Right before we drifted off to sleep he said, "I hope that when you are pregnant you crave Chinese food." No, I'm not pregnant, this isn't how I'd announce that I was, that is what makes this statement so random. I told him if he wants Chinese we can get Chinese. He said he wanted it every day so he hoped I craved it.

I'm going out to eat with a bunch of friends tonight (it will be the subject of my flashback friday when I write it...) so Brad is going to get himself some chinese.

Parent/Teacher conferences

I just finished my first day of Parent/Teacher conferences from the other side of the table. It's so interesting to me to see the parents who are upset about an A- and then have the next parent be ecstatic about a B. The kids are all so different and of course the same goes for parents. Even though I didn't get home till almost 8 tonight, I still loved it. I loved that the kids were so excited to introduce me to their parents, and I loved that the parents seemed comfortable with me even though I have the dreaded title of........... STUDENT TEACHER! The title really does frighten some, and brings up painful memories for many others, but I hope that I will be able to reverse that stereotype and I will be able to reach these kids!

Did I mention that I'm loving it?

I honestly thought the middle schoolers would eat me alive. I was so worried. But tonight I feel like I would take a job in a middle school in a heart-beat. So if you have a job in a middle school to offer me........

meal blog

So my sister-in-law has started a new blog where she has recipes for food that is easy to make and doesn't include ridiculous ingredients. So you all should check it out if you are ever looking for a quick and easy meal. Here is her little shpeal and if you want to link to it and post this little blurb yourself, feel free.


If you have ever had a hard time deciding what to make for dinner, there is a new blog for you: http://mealtimehelp.blogspot.com You'll find simple meal ideas, a place to share your favorite dinner time meals and maybe learn a trick or two for old time favorites. There will also be monthly giveaways. You'll always have an answer to the question "What's for dinner?" Please post this on your own blog to share this great help with others.

Flashback Friday: AAAAARRRRRRRRRR!

As many of you know, today is my favorite holiday. Today is International Talk like a Pirate day. I wont type this entire blog in pirate however, because many of you wont read it until tomorrow and then you'd have to translate it back into Landlubber English to tell your friends how funny my blog is. I began celebrating TLAPD back in high school when I first read the Dave Barry article explaining this new holiday. I don't remember when my love of all things pirate began. I'm proud to announce however that it was before Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom began their pirating careers. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of the movies, but I'm not just a fairweather fan that only likes pirates because of 2 highly attractive men. So what I'd like to do now is share with you my very first TLAPD celebration which needs to be remembered for many reasons: First it was the first time I actively celebrated the holiday, though it always had a little spot in my heart even before it became an actual holiday and secondly it was my first date and third of all it was one of the best dates in the history of dating.

The plan started mid-september my junior year of high school when my friend Kate and I decided in our freshman biology class that we needed to get more people involved in the celebration of pirates. Even though I had been 16 for several months and therefore able to ask on dates, or to be asked on dates, I had still not gone on my first date. We decided the best solution for this would be to plan a large gathering of pirate appreciators in the form of a big group date. We asked our victims....... err um, dates and we met at Kates house that Friday night. We proceeded to draw full mustache and goatee pirate facial hair on our dates. Even a few of the wenches had some curly whiskers (drawn on of course!). We then took our dates for a fine meal at ARRRRby's. We dined with a few members of the ARRmy as well, unplanned but convieniant. As we drove to Arby's my ships crew, (consisting of my date and Kate and her date) came upon a red light. The ship next to us contained a single lass. Kates date leaned out of the vehicle and tapped on the window of said ship. The female occupant was slightly terrified and rolled the window down just to be told to walk the plank. After dinner we went back to Kates home to roast SmAAARRRR's and watch Hook.

It doesn't sound like much but since it was in celebration of my favorite holiday it was a blast, like unto the blast of a cannon. So next year when you are wishing that there was a holiday to decorate for between labor day and halloween don't forget my favorite holiday; International Talk Like a Pirate day.

Tagged

Four random things I love about my husband:
1. We have the same sense of humor.
2. He tells me how he feels instead of suffering through things he doesn't enjoy.
3. He loves plays and musicals.
4. He doesn't pretend that he has a full head of hair. He's going bald and he knows it and doesn't care.

Four jobs I've had:
1. Unpaid teacher- Salt Lake
2. IT Computer Lab Consultant- Utah State
3. JC Penney- Logan
4. Glorified babysitter- Provo (that's right I haven't had very many paying jobs... so what?!)


Four movies I have watched more than once:
1. Princess Bride
2. The Emperors New Groove
3. Pirates of the Caribbean
4. Better off Dead

Four TV shows I watch:
1. Heroes
2. The Office
3. Lost
4. Project Runway (I could name like a million more...... I'm a tv addict)

Four places I have been:
1. Rothenburg ob de Tauber, Germany
2. Champerey, Switzerland
3. New York, New York
4. Banff, Canada

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Candy
2. Candy Corns
3. Candy Canes
4. Syrup

Four places I would like to visit:
1. Switzerland (I can never get enough of that place)
2. Mt. Rushmore (I know it's lame, you don't need to tell me, but I've never been ok!)
3. Greece
4. Boston

Four things I am looking forward to in the coming year:
1. Graduating
2. Getting a job (hopefully)
3. Being that much closer to having Brad done with school and getting settled.
4. Making new friends in Salt Lake.

Four people I tag: (Because you all said you read my blog)
1. Ann Porter
2. Kirsten Krason
3. Celeste Porter (soon to be Hathaway)
4. Lauren Burtenshaw (you didn't say you do but I thought I'd give you something to blog)

My muffin

I'm sick of writing about what I do, because lets be honest I haven't done much lately. So here is a story about the love of my life, Muffin.

My husband has the exact same name as his father, with a junior tacked on the end. His whole family calls him Brad which is his middle name. But when I met him that wasn't the name he gave me. You see, when he moved in the fifth grade his new teacher called him by the name that was printed on the roll. He is a shy guy and so he didn't tell the teacher that he went by his middle name and so his classmates began calling him by his first name, not knowing that this wasn't normal. Thus begun his double life; having one name at home and one at school and with his friends. I had known Brad for quite some time by his first name, (I'd post what it is but I've gotten a couple weird comments from people I don't know so really there's no need, most of you know it already) I'd even fallen in love with him by that name, when I found out that if things were to progress for the two of us that I would be calling him Brad. It was hard for me at first. I practiced calling him Brad with my mom but it was hard to put the name with his face. That was when I came up with a solution. A third name that had nothing to do with the other two.

I started out by suggesting actual names, ones that would make him seem real manly and sexy. Names like Arnold, Gaston, and Enrique. I wasn't serious; I wouldn't be able to call him Gaston without singing "No one spits like Gaston....... And every last inch of him's covered in hair!" I also would be tempted to call him Ah-nold and to bite a sausage every time I said his name. The only problem with suggesting these names was that Brad just agreed to them. He didn't mind. Whatever I wanted to call him was fine with him. I thought I'd push the envelope by suggesting names that made ME want to barf just saying them. "Sugar Plum" "Sweetie Pie" "Honey Bear" any cliche lovey name. But again, whatever I suggested was just fine with him. I finally suggested that I call him muffin with an implied "stud". Of course he was fine with that. I began telling people how content he is with whatever I wanted and that is how the name really began to take off. I have several family members and some former co-workers who have refered to him as Muffin for so long that I'm sure some of them have forgotten what his real name even is.

So the point of this story is, if you got a wedding announcement and labeled our gift with one name, and then began reading my blog and I said I was married to someone else, don't worry. It is still the same person and you aren't alone in being confused as to what his name is. So if you aren't sure what to call him, you can always fall back on Muffin.


On a side note: I also love a good jiffy muffin........ or costco muffin...... or pretty much any kind of muffin.

Relief Society Retreat

I know that everyone was so sad to not get a Flashback Friday this week so I thought I would explain my absence from writing. My excuse for every day this semester will be the same. I should be working on lesson plans. And this week I've been pretty busy but I'm not entirely sure what I've been doing. I started my seminar class that is on the east side of the valley so that eats up my Thursdays, I'm gone from 7 in the morning till 7 at night on those days. And this week my excuse for Friday was that I got home and packed my suitcase and headed up the canyon to my wards relief society retreat. I had a blast. I've only been in this ward for the last 3 weeks and so I don't know hardly anyone but the ladies were so nice and they accepted me really fast. I am the youngest sister in the ward and except for the few older unmarried sisters I'm the only one who has no kids. There were times when the conversation turned to pediatricians and O.B.'s and I would zone out but most of the time the ladies had hilarious stories to share and I really felt accepted. We went to Heber Valley girls camp. It is a beautiful facility. I was expecting more of a lodge the way people were explaining the site and so I just brought my sleeping bag and sweatshirt. I was wearing capris and my crocs (yes I wear crocs and no I don't garden in them and no I'm not ashamed because I love them and they are comfortable). This wasn't the best attire but it was 80 degrees when I was packing and I wasn't thinking about how cold it would be. Luckily the party moved into the cabin right after dinner and so I didn't freeze and I'm still young enough that the night on a sheet of wood didn't kill me. Next time I will be more prepared and I'm definitely bringing an air mattress.

Flashback Friday: Crazy Hair day

So many people have been asking how my student teaching is going. Really I don't start taking over the classroom for a little while so I've been just observing and helping the teachers with things here and there. I've already had some funny students that have made me excited to take over. I had one child tell me I looked too young to get married, and while some of you may agree with that statement she then guessed that I could probably be like 28...... So I'm not sure what age is old enough to get married. They tell us that most 7th graders think that 18 is WAY old so somehow this girl didn't get that memo. I've also had a kid that tricked me into answering a question on his worksheet, just like the time in 3rd grade when we got Mrs. Dayton to spell one of the spelling words just by asking her "and how do you spell that?" during a test. But anyways, that isn't my flashback story, mostly cause I don't have a picture to go with it and I like pictures.

Next week is a spirit week at the Jr high. Many of you know that in high school I was pretty involved and had lots of school spirit. So much in fact that I was voted "Most likely to paint her house orange and blue" in our senior yearbook. (Not because I am a Broncos fan but because those were our high schools colors.) As student teachers we are encouraged, but not required, to get involved at the school. I'm going to participate in the dress-up days but try not to look way better than all the middle schoolers. One of the days that we never really planned while I was in student government was Crazy Hair Day. I don't remember why we never had those, probably something to do with dress codes and such. But this Wednesday I will be trying to come up with a crazy hair-do that will get me a piece of candy at lunch. In honor of this upcoming event I am including a picture of my crazy hair. This photo was not taken on a dress up day..... This is really what my hair looked like until I was 12 years old. No, it didn't look this nasty all the time, but it really went to the back of my knees. This picture was taken right after a trip to the swimming pool so my hair was full of chlorine making it look a little shorter and all kinds of clumpy. So in honor of crazy hair day, I will allow you all to see this deep dark secret from my past.

Crazy I know!

Flashback Friday: The Sunday Edition

So I know what most of you are thinking... It's Sunday so why am I doing a flashback Friday post? Well there are 2 reasons. Reason 1: I didn't post on Friday. Reason 2: Today is a special day so it made sense to wait till today to post this story.

Exactly one year ago from today, August 31st, Brad and I got engaged. When we got engaged people encouraged me to write the story down so that people could read it and I wouldn't have to tell the story every time people asked how it happened. I wrote it down, but not somewhere that people could read it so now I will retell the story so you can all smile at how cute my husband is and shake your heads at how dim I am.

Brad and I had decided to get married and had picked out a ring that I loved. Brad decided to check around for prices to make sure that we were getting a good deal. At that time Brad was still living in South Jordan at his parents house and I was up in Logan. School started and Brad told me the very first day that he had purchased the ring. I was kind of confused that he told me he had purchased it and I figured that maybe he wasn't planning a surprise since we had already discussed getting married. He told me that the jeweler was going to take 3 weeks to get the ring sized and ready. I was a little bummed that there would be no romantic surprise but was excited to know that he had purchased the ring. I knew that even if he was planning a surprise that now that I knew it was going to be 3 weeks that I would be so suspicious of everything he wanted to do just in case he was going to give me the ring.

Fast forward to that following Friday. Brad had a job that required him to work on the weekends. We were going home that weekend so he worked late Friday night to finish the job so we could leave Saturday morning. I sat at home Friday while Brad worked and watched TV and ate bonbons. Brad got home and called me at about 10:30 and told me that he had an assignment that he'd forgotten about that he needed to complete before we left town the next morning. He needed to go up to campus and he asked if I wanted to go with him. Even though I was feeling blah from just sitting around I thought it would be nice to get out of the house and be with him so I agreed to go up to campus while he did his homework. He was taking a study skills class and he told me the assignment was for that class. The assignment was to go to a USU landmark and write down all of the things that made that landmark important. It was to be like he was listening to a lecture and taking notes on the important parts. Brad had chosen the Amphitheater on campus as his landmark. I thought this was a silly choice and thought he should write about something like Old Main or the 'A' because those are more well known landmarks but it was his assignment so whatever. We went to the amphitheater and found a plaque that had the date it was built and who donated the money. Brad said he was going to write that down but he wanted to wander around first and "glean" as much important information as he could. The fresh air was finally waking me up and so we went to the stage and we searched in the dark for "important" things for Brad to write in his paper. As we walked around I began to notice how beautiful the amphitheater is. It overlooks the whole valley and it has a great view of the stars. I began to think, "in 2 weeks when my ring is done, Brad should bring me here to propose."

After we sat and talked and looked at the stars we finally went back to the plaque so Brad could write down what it said. He got out a piece of paper and pencil from his backpack. As he was writing he asked me to get a paper with the instructions for the assignment out of his backpack. I unzipped the pocket he told me, and there was no paper inside. There was however, a large wooden box. I was opening the box and saying "What the heck is this?" Before it finally hit me. It was my ring box. I looked at Brad and he just looked at me and laughed. He had made up the whole assignment. He squatted on one knee and asked me to marry him. I pushed him over and began to cry and laugh while I said yes.

In hindsight I realize that of course rings don't take 3 weeks to size and why else would he choose to take me to such a beautiful location. But I'm glad I didn't figure it out because it made the night so much more fun without me stressing out about what was going to happen.

Couples Tag

Traci tagged me and I'm bored so even though it's the second post of the day I'm going to do it.


What is his name: Muffin
What is her name: Amy
How long have you been together: 1 year 5 months
How long did you date: 9 months
How old is he: 23
Who eats more: Depends on what we're eating. I eat more snacks that's for sure.
Who said I love you first: I asked him if I was to say that I loved him if that would be ok.
Who is taller: This is not even a contest when I'm in the mix.
Who sings better: Brad would say me, but I think he sings just fine.
Who is smarter: In what subject?
Who does the laundry: Brad does if I sort it and put it away.
Who pays the bills: He makes the money these days but I am the only one with checks.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed: Depends on the bed.
Who mows the lawn: The staff of the apartment complex.
Who cooks the dinner: Cook? What's that? We both stand in the kitchen while we heat up frozen food.
Who drives: Usually Brad
Who is more stubborn: About what? Neither of us really.... I don't know.
Who kissed who first: He kissed me on April fools day, but it wasn't a joke.
Who proposed: He did.
Who has more friends: Brad has millions of friends that he can access online at any time of the day or night......... I probably know more people face to face....
Who is more sensitive: Amy
Who has more siblings: We both have 3 siblings but he has one brother-in-law already so we'll say he does.

I'm not going to tag anyone because I'm not actually sure if anyone reads my blog...

Catching up (end of summer parties part 2)

Wow almost a whole week without a blog from me!? I must have actually been doing stuff. First off I would like to share some pictures from the activity I attended last Saturday.
That's right we attended Oktoberfest. Brad loves Bratwursts so the drive up to Snowbird was worth it for him and his dad. I had a good time eating my potato pancakes (read: hashbrowns) while we listened to some German music. Afterwards, we looked around at the booths selling handmade jewelry and clothing and watched a yo-yo champion.


When we were done wandering Brads family decided they wanted to go down the zipline. If any of my blog readers happened to be at 5th grade camp with me back in the day they might remember me sitting in a tree for a half an hour crying before someone finally pushed me out of the tree down the zipline. Another experience that my family member blog buddies may remember is a family reunion at Brighton Girls Camp where again I cried for a good amount of time before I finally went down the zipline. Well I decided I would go with the zipliners and face my fear. I clung to the handrail all the way up the tower but once I got to the top the ride workers told me they would give me 3 seconds to cry or wet myself. As they pushed me out the door the operator told me to aim for the grass if I fell. I didn't fall and I didn't cry or wet myself so all in all I'd say it was a good day.


So that was Saturday's activities. Sunday we went to our ward for the first time. It was strangely difficult to figure out where we were supposed to go to church, but we finally got it figured out. After that I drove to Logan and stayed with my aunt and uncle for a couple nights while I had orientation for student teaching. It was so weird seeing people that I wont be seeing all semester. I felt like everyone should be WAY super excited to see me because I don't even live there. The problem was that nobody knew I didn't live there. Since it was the first day of school many people were back from the summer and they weren't surprised to see another friend so I made sure to tell everyone how lucky they were to see me in Logan.

The orientation was pretty boring and I didn't feel I learned anything more than I'd already been told. The only thing that was any different was that they changed the teacher I'd be working with for student teaching. I was a little upset at first but now that I've met the new teacher I think I'll be just fine. When I got back from the orientation I went to the school and got things kind of figured out there. I don't just take the class over right away so I probably wont have any teaching stories real soon but I'm sure I'll post them as they come.

End of summer parties part 1

Since school is fast approaching Brad and I have been looking for things to do. We had seen a very large school bus in the parking lot of one of the stores at Jordan Landing for the past couple weeks so we were really excited to find out that our nephew J.R. would be in town on Thursday. Secretly I think Brad wanted to go but felt like he needed the 3 year old to justify riding on a monster school bus. So on Thursday right after work we took J.R. to ride the monster bus and then to play on the playground. I worried the whole time that J.R. wasn't having fun because he wasn't smiling but he kept saying he was having fun so I guess he just hasn't figured out how to show joy on his face. He also doesn't like pictures, I think it has something to do with how often his mom gets out her camera. Am I right Shauntel?
J.R. in the tire of the monster bus.

This is the face J.R. had the entire time, he just stared straight ahead. This was right before his seatbelt broke and right before I got flung into the wall of the bus. It was a wild ride on the monster bus.






























After the monster truck we went back to our apartment to play on the playground. J.R. had a blast playing with Brad on the shaky bridge.


While playing on the playground Brad told J.R. that he was a troll that ate kids that tried to go through the tunnel to the slide. J.R. laughed and giggled as he tried to get past the troll. Once he succeeded, he hurried down the slide and came running into my arms. Once he got there he cried, "Don't eat me Brad! You don't eat kids you eat food!" Oh man, it was so great. We had some great times on Saturday but I have to wait for pictures so part 2 will come as soon as they come.

Flashback Friday: The First day of school

This is a picture from the first day of Kindergarten. I don't remember being scared or anxious about this day, but I'm sure I was just a little uncertain of what laid ahead for me. I feel the same way right now. I'm not sure if I'm scared or anxious, but I do know that I'm uncertain of what the next school year holds for me. The good news is that Kindergarten worked out well and I graduated with flying colors so I'm hoping that I still have some of those smarts and I will be able to figure out how to share my knowledge with the kids in my classes!