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Tuesday, December 23, 2008

updates and such

i never seem to have enough time. don't get me wrong...i have good intentions. but like you (and the rest of the universe, it seems) i have been ridiculously busy for the past month or so. so without further ado (and instead of grading papers), i'll catch you up in as short of an update as is possible.

brad and i flew out to california for thanksgiving. it was fun to be with his family, and it went all too fast. i ate thanksgiving dinner in a way that i never have before; there were 70+ family members from brad's dad's side of the family (his entire extended family is in his hometown area), and there was so much food i couldn't even think afterward! we did LOTS of shopping, and we even got to see twilight amidst everything else we got to see and do. here are a few pictures from the trip:

i didn't take as many pictures as i normally do, but believe me when i say there was a lot going on!

after thanksgiving, december was a whirlwind. we had tons of activities with school, and brad was really busy with finals. i survived my first day-before-christmas break at school, and i got some cute little things from my kids (including a figurine of a blonde princess with a card that said "I picked this out because it looks like you"). brad and i exchanged presents this year, and he TOTALLY trumped me with the gift giving! I got him some shoes, a shirt, and a remote controller (that he asked for), and he got me 4 (yes, 4) seasons of gilmore girls (so i now have the complete series) and a wii fit! i'm pretty stinking lucky. I also got another present from him...he bought a plane ticket to meet 2 of my sisters and their families after christmas!! i really wish amy and jon and the kids were still in texas (even if it was for only a few more days) so they could meet him too, but 2 out of 3 aint bad. i'm really excited to see him and to have him meet more of my family. :)

since ive been in georgia, we've already done plenty of shopping, went to fantasy in lights at callaway gardens, and then went up to the high museum in atlanta to see the terracotta warriors on display. it was really cool to get to see it all, since i may not ever get to see them in china. it's been a good break so far.

well...i'm off to make some desserts. and read my book. and i suppose i can do some grading....ugh. we'll see. i hope everyone has a fabulous holiday season! stay safe! i love you all!

Saturday, November 15, 2008

clockwork

you know, there are some things i really appreciate that i can expect to happen, such as:

-calling mom at the same time every morning
-getting sleepy at exactly 10:15 every night, no matter who im with or where i am
-eating so much i get sick whenever i make cinnamon rolls
-staying in my pjs for general conference
-feeling a tingly sensation whenever i put on burt's bees

there are, however, things that i DONT appreciate happening, and being woken up against my will has always been at the top of the list.

when i first moved into this apartment, i could immediately tell that the walls were thin. my obnoxiously loud roommates cant function without me hearing it through the walls, and i can hear whenever anyone next to, above, or kitty-corner to our apt turns on their shower. but this isnt the first time ive had to deal with that, so i got numb to it pretty fast.

now let me just preface this by saying that i am an eight hours of sleep kinda girl. if i dont get enough sleep, im irritable and i cant think straight. and my entire life, i have LOATHED being woken up earlier than i need to. since i have to get up by 6:30 at the latest every morning for school (i have to be out of here by 7:10 or we're late), i relish saturday mornings and the fact that i can sleep in (i cant even do that on sunday bc i have early church). i always plan on waking up around 10 so i can get some lesson planning done while brad's at work, so i have plenty of time to relax in bed before i actually have to get up. well, not anymore.

every SINGLE saturday, at exactly 10:00am, i hear obnoxious, wall-shaking R&B. and not even songs i like...this girl next door listens to techno, britney spears, and other horrible, vulgar songs that i prefer to not get stuck in my head at maximum volume. i dont know what she's doing over there, and the problem is that i dont know exactly where its coming from. i actually cant tell if it is coming from above me or beside me, and it drives me INSANE. every saturday morning, i wake up flustered and ready to ring the neck of every R&B enthusiast in this complex. so here i am, with 7 hours asleep, awake and annoyed.

and to think, brad always comes over here whenever we have work to do because its comparably quiet to his apartment.

it is getting more and more tempting to buy a house of my own.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

retail therapy

almost every weekend, brad and i have good intentions of getting lots of work done. inevitably, we get so tired of doing homework that we decide to go to the mall to just peruse the merchandise. today was unlike any other day, and we made lists of things we wanted to look for (some new music, a few wintery shirts, etc) while on our expedition. we both have been looking for some comfy shoes that we could wear that are in between nice dressy shoes and bulky tennis shoes...we want comfort for all that shopping we do nowadays! so we set out for the provo towne center mall. i found these shoes, and i L-O-V-E them: i dont have any shoes like them, and they are very comfortable. perfect for running errands and just chilling out (besides, i really dislike wearing tennis shoes unless im doing something really active). yes, i was skeptical at first, but i really liked how they felt. but here's the problem...i need a size 9. i tried it on in black, and it fit perfectly. they only had it in brown up to an 8.5 at either store in the mall that carried them. brad and i thought the easy solution was to order them online. after an hour of looking, we still couldn't find them ANYWHERE on the internet. no one has this shoe in this color in a 9! im very sad. is this shoe really that popular? i'm set on these now, and i will not budge until i get them! i think ive decided to see if they have them anywhere in a 10. better than nothing.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

stinky, stinky trash

okay...im curious to know what popped into your head as to the topic of this post. dirty roommates? subpar trash collecting system in provo? the boyfriend's apartment? no, actually, the answer is d. none of the above. i would like to quickly vent about the quality of the movie rental world.

brad and i have been ridiculously busy lately. it is a rare occasion that we both have an evening to be able to do something without working on homework, and tonight happened to be one of those rare nights. unfortunately, i managed to pop my shoulder right after work (it is randomly and for no reason extremely sensitive) and it was really hurting. on top of that, we were both pretty tired. so after an hour of us sitting on his couch, trying to think of something new to do, we opted for the classic order-in food and rent a movie date. we were both very okay with this, so we headed out to (insert movie rental store here) to rent a movie with the free coupon brad had.

of course, every potentially scary movie was taken, since we live in a college town and it's the weekend before halloween. brad's coupon was for a non-new release, so we set out for the middle aisles and began perusing our supposedly wide selection. beef #1: movie stores nowadays keep all movies that have been out for the past 5 years in the 'new release' section. boo! that narrowed down any newer movies (or any that have come out since we came to college, for that matter).

something you will now learn about brad and me: we HATE making decisions. im not even kidding...even if it was a very simple decision to be made, we would both try to make the other person do it, so we have many times spent over an hour just choosing a movie. by the time we actually pick one out, i fall asleep within the first 20 minutes. this isnt just with renting movies though, this is with everything. where to eat, what to do, what to watch, where to sit, etc etc.

so we spent the next hour at the movie store trying to find some kind of decent movie. and let me tell you....i am DISGUSTED by what is called 'entertainment' now. on every single shelf, there was at least one movie case with a semi-nude woman on the cover. what...did they think they were being original with that idea? and since when should i be forced to see semi-porn every time i want to find a movie to watch that i don't own? since when does slapping an airbrushed picture of a girl in a bikini with the word 'unrated' mean that it is fit for anyone? personally, i don't think they should be allowed to have a movie publicly released unless it has been reviewed and has a rating on it. on top of this, the movie store we went to (it is one of the biggest chains in america) is especially liberal, so there were tons of movies that were homosexual in nature. and no wonder people think poorly about homosexuality....the media views homosexuality as a choice people make and those people are just sex-driven crazies. i was really grossed out. and they were all over the place! again, not original in any way.

finally, we found countless idiotic looking horror films. sure. go ahead and spend tens of thousands of dollars to make a movie that is JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER ONE AROUND IT. sheesh. what happened to creativity in the entertainment industry?

by the end of the experience, brad and i were both frustrated and starving. at every shelf i was gasping, covering brad's eyes, or he was doing the same to me. and so i just started turning all of the movies around so i didnt have to look at them. take that, movie industry! i finally gave brad an ultimatum: he had to chose between employee of the month (a stupid, stupid movie) or encino man (equally as stupid, but a classic nonetheless). as he looked at me in despair, i noticed behind him the movie unbreakable by m. night shyamalan. i mentioned it, and brad said he had never seen it. thank goodness it wasn't rated r. we were out of there a fast as we could go. man...the world has really gone to pot.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

i am in love with fall break.

holy cow. i think i had the most productive day that ive ever had in my entire life, and i owe it all to the lovely vacation that is fall break. thanks to all of the hunters in utah, the second week in october has become a state holiday (or least that is what i was told fall break originated from). i was up late last night making a to-do list, since i have now excepted my ocd behavior and my incessant need to make check marks to feel accomplished, and i got to check LOTS of things today! here is my list as of 6:45 tonight:

-balanced checkbook
-got smog and emissions check on my car
-took driver's license written test and got a UT license
-changed title and registration of car over to my name
-got UT car tags
-registered to vote in ut
-set up utilities for the apt
-signed up and paid for car insurance for the next 6 months!
-opened a new checking acct for fun money (so i don't overdraft or take imp money on accident)
-made an excel spreadsheet to budget my different accts
-set up auto bill pay for my student loans and savings accts
-transfered money for loans
-cleaned out car
-surface cleaned bedroom

yeah. maybe you arent impressed, but i was very proud of myself. i was so efficient, in fact, that i had time to eat lunch and watch a few episodes of the office with brad during his break! anyway....now i only have about 67 more things on my to do list. if the nest few days are as productive as today has been, it's totally possible to get it all done. gold star for me!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

what happened to fall?

so let me first assure you all that i am not too good for blogging. i just dont have much time for it. so when i found out that i had a meeting with the bishopric at 8:45 this morning and my church doesn't start until 10:20, i knew i should take the opportunity to catch everyone up a bit (and when i say everyone, i really mean the 3 people who still read this).

so first and most importantly, brad and i had our 1 year anniversary on the 3rd of october! it was a super busy weekend with general conference (not to mention brad had 5 tests that week/weekend!), but we managed to squeeze in dinner at red lobster and some time to just sit and be able to be together on account of the rain that poured all weekend long. i cannot imagine my life without him, and i am happy to claim him as my own! and for all of you who are wondering (i know you are!) there is no bling on my finger. as of yet. we're slowly working towards it, but it wont be any time soon. one day, one day...

so now we get to this weekend. you have to understand that i have been so ridiculously busy that i havent talked to most of my friends in a LONG time. you know how it happens when youre in a relationship...that plus being so busy with teaching means that i just dont have enough hours in the day to do fun things. as many of you may remember, my roommate from freshman year and one of my all-time best friends, sarah christiansen, went on a mission to toulouse (i dont know how to spell that), france. well, she got back in july and we have been trying really hard to do things together. much to brad's chagrin, we usually end up getting together (the three of us) and we talk while brad falls asleep. poor guy. sadly, we havent really had the chance to do anything really exciting, but sarah was nice enough to call me earlier this week to invite me to do something friday night. long story short, we went on a big group date. the plan was to take a picnic, eat, and then drive the alpine loop together. our plans kind of changed when it started snowing and got dark really early. we ended up driving close to the loop, stopping, finding a random bench behind the lodge where we parked, and eating in the dark. sounds horrible, but it was actually really fun.

yesterday morning i woke up and did some chores, fully intending to be as lazy as possible. brad came over and we both fell asleep, but i woke up to a call from sarah. she had 2 extra tickets to the homecoming game from her friend's uncle, and wanted to know if we wanted to go. i havent been to a game since the beginning of last year and ive never been with brad. he seemed pretty excited, so we layered up (it was threatening to snow again and was about 40 degrees outside) and headed to the game. it was actually pretty intense, but we won 21-3 in the end with several close calls. i'm kind of glad it wasn't another shut-out...it made it more exciting. here are a few pictures of us from the game:
this is a new favorite of brad and me! :)
sarah and i couldn't take pictures without being silly. it's just what we do.


anyway, after the game we walked back to sarah's house and ended up going on a double date with her and a guy from her mission. and the fun ensued...sarah and matt speak french and brad and i speak spanish, so we made up silly games during dinner and just had a fun time. we went to gandolfo's and found out they had no lettuce, hero rolls, or avocados left, but we ate there anyway. it was still yummy in my opinion. then we went over to a haunted house just north of the provo mall called the scream asylum. there were some pretty scary parts and it just creeps me out when people just follow you (like the dead people in the house), so we had a fun time. about halfway through the house something sprayed me with water. then sarah got sprayed. then we all just started to get soaked! apparently there was a guy up in the rafters just spraying people with water...they sprayed sarah and me right in the face and my hair was pretty wet when we got out, which was kind of annoying. the worst part of all was the very end when we came out. there was no marked exit and these 2 chainsaw guys started chasing us around all of these corners and turns...we ended up running into this tiny little corner (all 4 of us) screaming as the guys came at us with the chainsaws. finally we got out, wet hair and all. at least we got to keep the 3d glasses as a souvenir!


by the time we got out it was FREEZING outside so we headed over to sarah's house again and watched secret window (and when i say 'watched', i mean 'slept through' because i was so exhausted). it was a really fun night and it was good to be able to be with sarah. i missed her a lot. brad and i decided that we should go on many more double dates with her and her boy(s).

now i just have to stay alive long enough to make it to fall break. i get thursday-friday off this week and i am SO EXCITED to finally get some things done! next thing i know it will be halloween, and then the thanksgiving/christmas countdowns will begin! yay! :)

Sunday, September 21, 2008

my own place

it's been a very long weekend. while i relish the time i have to veg and stare blankly at the 200th+ episode of scrubs in a row (one of my all time favorite shows, and im finally on the 6th season and almost caught up to the new episodes!), brad and i were both pretty sick. he has a major sinus infection and has managed to cover my coffee table in snotty tissues and cranberry juice. i, on the other hand, have had major stomach issues lately and can eat barely anything before i get terrible stomach cramps and cannot move for long periods of time. needless to say, he came over after work and we both passed out. being with him calms me down and makes me feel better, but boy did i look frumpy today. anyway...the point is that we havent felt good.

so we camped out in the living room. i attempted to do lesson plans while intermittently running to the bathroom, while he sniffled his way through one math textbook chapter after another. we watched byu thrash wyoming (yay for shut outs!), and we even got to just relax for a bit. i started to feel better around 5:30 and brad went home to do homework while i ran some very necessary errands. as soon as i was done, he came back over. as we continued to work, we both started to not feel well again, so he fell asleep on the couch while i passed out on the floor.

and here is my problem. over the years, i have managed to have my share of roommates. not just any roommates, but BAD roommates. psycho ones, ones that got kicked out of school, dirty ones, awkward ones, you name it, i had it as a roommate. so as i looked for a new place to live this year, i was very determined to find a place where i might have normal roommates whom i could (heaven forbid) be friends with. and so far, so good. mostly. both of my roommates are very nice, but im just with brad and doing work so often that ive never really talked to them. my only complaint here is the fact that one of my roommates is CONSTANTLY rearranging everything in my kitchen. doesnt seem too odd, except that when i run into the kitchen to pack my lunch (and i usually have aout 20 seconds to do so), 90% of the time i cannot find my stupid lunchbox or tupperware because she moves them EVERY SINGLE DAY. i also have noticed that i will run out to my car and come back, and the food i had been eating was put away, dishes stacked and the table cleared off. a bit OCD, im learning.

so tonight i was extra irritable. i just wanted to cuddle with brad, but the stinking couch isnt even wide enough for one person, let alone 2. plus, when i get sick, im always freezing cold. when brad gets sick, he's always burning up, so cuddling isnt his first choice. i was admittedly sad about that. brad finally fell asleep and i was getting sleepy and turned off the tv when my one roommate came into the kitchen. if you dont know, my kitchen and living room are open into each other, so this means that she turned on all the kitchen lights. this woke both brad and me up. mind you, it was after 11PM. i figured she would put away some dishes and be done, but no. she continued to start cooking something very stinky (she isnt American, and she really makes stinky food and it bothers me) for the next hour! she just kept chopping and chopping....i was so mad!

i think what it comes down to is that im tired of having roommates that i dont want. nothing against them, but i want my own place where i can sleep on the couch if i darn well want to, and i dont want to have to worry about if they need to cook late at night. URGH! brad thought i was being ridiculous. really, i just want to choose my own roommate and not have to worry about anyone else reorganizing my kitchen in the middle of the night.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

ketchup...or catch up

oops.

you know how you have all of these fun and awesome things you want to do during the summer and then one day.....summer is over? yeah. kinda happened to me this time, and it was a pretty big surprise. i spent the month of july (and the beginning of august) playing all over the country--utah, idaho, wyoming, montana, california, georgia, alabama, and texas to be exact--and then school started. and let me tell you, it's been trial by fire. two days after i got back from my last vacation, i started teaching in my very own classroom. my question is....why didnt i learn any of the stuff i've had to figure out in the past 3 weeks when i was in college for 4 years??

i suddenly have a much more enormous amount of appreciation for mom and dad (who have been teachers for as long as i can remember), because TEACHING IS HARD. all that stuff about teaching being the easy out in college.....yeah right! but, i love it. truly, this is the job for me. well, at least im still okay with it, and no children have been ruined or injured in the process. so far.

just so everyone knows, i am the teacher to the (arguably) best fourth graders in Utah. They are polite, they follow directions, and they are starting to pick up on some cool stuff. not to toot my own horn or anything, but they think im pretty hilarious, too, so we all work pretty well together. i only have 16 kids in my class, and we're all learning to make it work together. i havent taken pictures of my room yet, but i will try to post some soon.

highlight of the year:
i had a girl in my class who (long story short) was struggling and was feeling left out. in response, we did a character building activity--you know, read a story about a tiny dog who became a superhero, shared unique things about ourselves, same ol same ol. at the end of the activity, we taped a paper on everyone's back and the assignment was to write a compliment on everyone's paper without admitting who said what. the kids talked me into having one. after walking around, signing students' papers and having my paper signed, we started talking about how being complimented made them feel. i then told them that they could have one minute to read their papers and i began to read mine. there were a few 'you are my favorite teacher' and 'you teach well' comments, and then i saw it. right in the middle, bold and black, one student wrote:

'i like your shit'

i read it, stopped, and read it again. really? did some 8 year old just write that on my paper? and then i realized.....i had on a new, bright yellow shirt on. they meant i like your shirt! of course! i almost burst into laughter, but i controlled myself. of course, no one pointed it out or made any comments about my paper, so i just turned it over and placed it on my desk. i promptly showed all the other teachers during lunch. i will DEFINITELY be laminating that one and saving it for years to come.

anyway, i have lots to do. no matter how much i get done, i still find things i need to work on. blah. such is the life of an adult. i still say im not ready for it. i dont mind the paychecks, though...

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

on the road again...

alright...i figured that i better take a few minutes to update everyone on the vacations so far. if any of you don't happen to know, i've been on two vacations, I'm in the middle of a third, and i will be going on a fourth the day after i return from this one. i guess i thought that i better live it up, because once school starts, i wont have much time for anything else. anyway, i thought i would give some brief summaries of some of the exciting things i've been able to do.

Vacation #1: Alabama/Georgia (July 2-9)
this vacation consisted mostly of cleaning out my grandfather's house. he lived with my parents for four years before he passed away in march, but he still had his house and a great deal of things in alabama, so i flew down and met my parents in huntsville to help clean. we ate some really yummy food and found some very cool stuff, but it was a very tiring job. the day before we left for utah, we drove the stuff mom and dad are keeping back to georgia and packed for vacation number two.

Vacation #2: Utah/Idaho/Wyoming/Montana (July 13-21)
we did TONS of stuff on this vacation. mom, dad, me, adam and his family and belinda's sister and her family all left sunday morning for Bear Lake just at the border of Utah and Idaho. We stayed in an amazing cabin and ate reeeeeally good food (tiffany owns a catering business and for good reason!) and soaked in the wonderful sunshine. here's a rundown of what we did this week:
-monday: We went to the Minnetonka Caves. At the very end of the tunnel (where we had to turn around), they let some of us walk back with the lights off. you couldnt see your hand in front of your face...and adam and belinda kept freaking us out by making references to scary movies. brad also got to bear lake in the evening.
-tuesday: This was the beach day. we rented a wave runner and spent the day out on the lake, and it was literally the entire day. apparently the water main in the town broke the night before and no one told us, so we scrambled to the nearest convenience store and bought 37 jugs of water. luckily, we weren't going to need to be at the cabin much anyway. the water was beautiful and the temperature was perfect. consequently, brad and i got REALLY bad burns. thank goodness for advil and aloe vera! that evening, they fixed the water main. we suddenly had a LOT of drinking water.
-wednesday: We packed up our stuff and said goodbye to the Jones' family on this day. we left the wonderful cabin we were in and drove through idaho, ate in jackson hole, took pictures in front of the Tetons, drove through Yellowstone, made a quick pitstop to old faithful, and finally got to Big Sky, Montana where we checked in to our posh condo for the rest of the week. Sadly, we didn't see much wildlife in Yellowstone except for a buffalo wandering on the street. still, i had my eyes peeled for a moose, and brad really wanted to see a bear.
-thursday: We drove out to west yellowstone and saw 2 imax movies, as well as ate at the restaurant where adam worked a few years ago. we also went to a bear and wolf discovery center. we finished the day by walking through the endless shops and i bought hacky sacks for my classroom. you know youve become a teacher when your only souvenir on vacation can be used in the classroom somehow.
-friday: This was the day we wanted to go to Boseman, Montana. we got up early and got there just in time to see the dark knight (which was AMAZING), and then we walked around Boseman. everything was wonderful until the torrential downpour. literally...it was hailing and the streets started flooding. the best part was that i found a snowboarding jacket and gloves for awesome prices!
-saturday: This was our final day and really the freebie for everyone. we ended up driving to a resort further up in the mountains looking for a gondola ride up the mountain. luckily for mom, it cost way too much and so we just walked around instead. we also stopped at another resort and found even more amazing deals on snow clothes, so i got some cool rossignol pants (apparently that's a good brand). we also saw a bear on the side of the mountain as we were driving! it was little, but brad finally got to see one. no moose, unfortunately.
-sunday: we packed up and drove back to adam and belinda's house. when brad left, noah hugged him and said "we REALLY love you, brad!" (say it to yourself by replacing all r's with w's. so cute!). they love him a lot. i stayed and we played that night.
-monday: when it was time for me to leave, i hugged noah and kennedy. thinking i would get a similar comment to what noah told brad the previous day, i said that i love them. noah's immediate response was, "where's brad?" one day they'll love me that much.....mom, dad and i then drove down to provo and moved some things into my classroom. we also ran some errands and got more school supplies and ate at my favorite sandwich place, gandolfo's. they then left with me fighting back tears. im such a sap, but i love my family!! i hate seeing them go.

okay, for your sake, i'm going to stop there. i'll write about the last two vacations as soon as i can. and i promise to add pictures as soon as possible. yay for vacations!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

birthdays, lazy days, and vacation days...

so ive been meaning to write for a few weeks now, but with public school being out for the summer and brad without any classes, im constantly tempted to be away from the computer. however, i thought it would be good to do a quick catch up on the happenings of this past month. happy july second, by the way! the time sure flies...

well, it's official. im old. well, if 22 is old, anyway. my students seemed to think so. i had a great birthday that began with brad waking me up with some beautiful flowers. i then proceeded to pamper myself by getting a mani/pedi, trim my hair, and even color it just for fun. you could barely tell a difference by the end of the day, but i felt pretty dang good. i then got dressed in my new really nice shirt brad bought me and we went out to red lobster. brad...what a great boyfriend! you may not know this, but brad really doesnt like seafood. of course, i didnt know this until i had fed him shrimp about 10 times. but still being a trooper (and knowing red lobster is a favorite of mine), he took me there and made me promise to eat not only an appetizer but whatever i wanted...i wasnt allowed to look at prices. i was SO full that i was about to burst when we left that place! but boy, it was worth it :). we finished up the evening by renting lars and the real girl (recommended to us by scott, one of our very close friends). it was definitely an interesting movie. not a kids comedy by any means, but there is certainly a mix of emotions that you cant help but feel for lars (who falls in love with an inflatable doll)...yeah. if you havent seen it and you like deeper meaning movies, you might want to check it out.

besides that, i just finished up subbing for some different classes (as well as the third grade class in which i student taught that i love so much). i "subbed" for peggy for a few days while she got all of their end of the year presentation night stuff ready, and i actually got to go to the show (it was a mock trial, an adaptation of the true story of the three little pigs). it was so cute. the best part though (besides the girls shamelessly asking if brad was my boyfriend in the middle of the play--we stood off to the side) was when i walked in. we were 5 minutes late and the entire class started smiling, pointing, and waving at me. needless to say peggy almost had a coronary because the kids lost focus for a second. it was a proud moment for me.

we've tried to do lots of fun things lately, but we are so poor it is pathetic. any ideas? here we are up at the Mayan in Sandy (we had prime seating for the diving show, which is behind us):


ive also spent a disgusting amount of time playing the Wii at brad's apartment. his roommate owns one, and while i really wasnt good at first, im starting to give brad some competition (either that, or he fakes it well. what a good boyfriend!). we REALLY love mariokart, and if any of you have not had the chance to play it before, then get your hands on this game as soon as possible. if you played the N64 version....it's 100x better. SO FUN. my new obsession (as of tonight, actually) with the wii is the Wii Fit. holy moly....it is so addicting. and yes, some of you may be anti-Wii, arguing that you can cheat and just flick your wrist through the games, but let me tell you...this one is intense. it comes with a balance board that tests your weight, BMI, and your level of balance, and you set goals and do different activities to achieve those goals. for instance, i made a goal of losing 5 lbs in the next month. you personalize your profile, so they literally have a 'trainer' for you. and it has EVERYTHING. you can do strength exercises, yoga, and even running. there are also tons of games that are geared towards aerobic activities (like hulahooping as fast as possible for three minutes) or balance strengthening games (like snowboarding, tightrope walking, and heading a soccer ball). it's EXTREMELY addicting for me since im so competitive, and im proud to say that after logging 20 minutes of work out time, i was all sweaty and i had lost half a pound! not a lot, i know, but i was pretty impressed, since it's a "video game" and all. maybe i should be embarrassed that i was so gross after this, but i still loved it. once i get my first paycheck, there is a good chance i'll be buying the Wii just for this game. no way will i ever consider running in the snow again. and when i have children, this will be a requirement before they can play other games. i guarantee it.


okay okay, this is getting really long. but here is an overview of what i will be doing for the rest of the summer:
-July 2-9: trip to GA/AL to help the rents clean out Pappy's house
-July 11: attend new teacher training and receive my classroom key!!
-July 13-21ish: family vacation (sort of) to Idaho/Wyoming
-July 26-Aug 3: Ivey family vacation to Lake Tahoe (this is still not set in stone though)
-Aug 4-10: trip to TX to see sisters and their respective families! (also not in stone...)
-Aug 11: report to CSLA for the first teacher prep day
-Aug 20: first day teaching my own class!
-Aug 26: move into my ginormous new apartment!

so yeah....i'll update again as soon as possible!

wait, one more thing. just FYI, i finished the city of ember last night (on my shelfari, if youre wondering) and it was SO GOOD. it's a fifth grade reading level, so if you would like an easy but surprisingly captivating book with adventure and suspense, i recommend checking it out. it is very clean, and very easy to get into. i literally had to force myself to go to bed every night because i wanted to keep reading, and that hasnt happened since harry potter. and i've read a LOT of books since then. im excited to go read the sequel to it right now!

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

i'm moving to texas!

okay, not really...but some days i have the incredible urge to pack up everything and disappear in the middle of the night. i wonder if anyone here would miss me...

and then i would get to play with the babies in texas! sounds like a good idea to me. you have a spare couch i could crash on, right bethanne?

road trips and such

well, i managed to survive another week. it has been pretty crazy, but i got through everything and im happy to say im still alive. i finished up with the permanent sub job and took the next day off to relax (thursday), and then brad, hayley (a family friend from his hometown), and i made our way across the boring plains of nevada on a 9 hour drive to nevada city, california for the weekend. we went because brad's little sister, kristin, graduated from the eighth grade, and his little brother, mike, graduated from high school. it was a very short trip, but it was definitely worth the travel time. not to mention the fact that alli was there along with one of our best friends, laurel (who is actually the sister of our good friend, scott), so it became a weekend of girl talk, shopping, and taking silly pictures. the only downfall (besides the fact that we were barely there for 48 hours) was that the majority of the people there got really sick, so not everyone had the greatest of time. brad had some kind of horrible sinus infection, which about 5 others got by sunday, and kristin was up with some kind of stomach bug (which i consequently got yesterday). thank goodness for jello and pepto bismol though...it was the only stuff that kept me alive yesterday! it was really good to see everyone, too. brad's entire family was there except for ryan (my mortal board game nemesis and shannon's husband) and it felt a little off without the bickering and trash talking that ensues when we are under the same roof, but it was fun otherwise. he was definitely missed, and everyone agreed. all of the babies were ADORABLE, and i managed to even get kalijane to play with me some! it was a definite improvement from previous trips.


maci really liked these mints...either that or she was desperate for something fun to do during the VERY long graduation...
the whole family minus ryan (ted, laurel, and i all took pictures)
the beginning of brad's photoshoot with us...he kept counting to 3 and taking picture after picture. the first one with actually very cute and im impressed about how well it came out...
then we started to get creative (all making the same face was totally an accident!)
i had to post this one because i literally collapsed to the ground when i saw alli's face...this will most definitely be printed out and framed as soon as possible.



anyway, im glad to be done with the driving, and i am VERY glad i wasnt hit with that bug until after we got home (even though i rather would have just not been hit with it at all), and im still trying to take it easy from my horrible day yesterday. if im feeling up to it im going to lay out in a bit and then brad and i are going to the mall after his class...yay for birthday shopping! and just in case you are wondering, you have a little less than 1 day and 13 hours of shopping time left until my 22nd birthday! :)

Sunday, June 1, 2008

i dont have a catchy title for this post.

so it's been a pretty good week. i managed to survive the past 7 days subbing, and im excited to say that i only have 3 more to go!! halle-freakin-lujah. the kids actually have been pretty good, but i really feel like 10 days isnt enough to change their lives (or their bad habits). i can only hope that our conversations about the benefits of living in America and why drinks labeled "not recommended for children" are not a good idea for them to have right now will make some kind of impact in their lives. basically they have played the entire time, though. everything from dance practices to trips to the bowling alley to assemblies and field day on wednesday, they havent learned much. but by golly, they have had fun! hopefully...

this weekend i had super crazy dreams. i dreamed that i had to get braces again, that i found the most amazing singles apartment EVER (and they gave me a discount on rent!), and that i had to substitute for a class of 60 students all having behavioral disorders all by myself. wowy zowy....i was freaking out a bit. moral of the story, however, is that i have dreams that strongly reflect my deep-down wishes and fears. i think it's interesting to reflect on and realize those things that affect me so much. and in case you think me having to get braces again is weird, i think it came from my constant struggles with my TMJ...I am regularly in so much pain from my jaw that i have to have some kind of medicine on hand because just saying a word wrong or yawning can make my jaw KILL all of the sudden. i cant even open my mouth more than two finger widths, which makes life difficult when i want to eat pizza, or even an ice cream sandwich. i'm excited for the day when i have dental insurance and i can go see a specialist about it.

one more story! i got busted today in my relationships class at church. brad and i are the only un-engaged couple in their, and we really go because i force him to. we've had our share of awkward experiences, like the time our teacher asked if we had set a date yet, but today i was caught by one of our good friends danny (he and jamie are getting married in august and they are quite possibly the cutest couple ive ever seen). in the middle of class, i noticed that the girl sitting two chairs down from me had on quite the engagement ring. it was actually very similar to the one that i want for myself, but still a little too big for my taste (in case youre curious, i want either a princess or radiant cut diamond in the middle with baguettes on each side, but i want it low-set so it wont poke out and scratch things easily--see picture below), but it was beautiful. well, every time she made a comment she would move her hands around a lot, and i was trying to get a good look at it. before i even realized what was happening, i noticed danny was laughing in my peripheral vision. he totally caught me checking out her ring, and he teased me about it afterwards. i should try to be sneakier next time....
(this is an example of the sort of ring i want. BEAUTIFUL!) anyway....that's all. oh wait, one more thing--11 days and counting until my 22nd birthday! woot woot! i accept cash, checks, and money orders, as well as gifts. lots and lots of gifts. yay for birthdays!

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

hello, my name is ms. lenhard. i am your substitute, and i am a nazi.

i remember the good old days when i was in school and my teacher was going to be gone. total freedom! a day wasted! i could do whatever i wanted, and no substitute could stop me! well, im here to tell you that I am now the substitute that i prayed didnt exist.

im not sure if it was the fact that i was subbing for two days at a middle school in general, or that the majority of the boys were significantly bigger than me, or that i was afraid i might show up wearing the same shirt as some girl at the school that terrified me last week. it may have been the age, or the fact that the teacher next door in a school with only dividers for walls kept yelling and screaming at the kids could hear if we got too loud (which would inevitably make him come and yell at me). no, im really not sure. all i know is that i almost started to cry as i made my way through the long hallways that brought back quite a number of unpleasant middle school memories.

but somehow, i survived. of course, i was mean. very mean. one of the kids sincerely asked if i have ever been in the military before. i didnt take ANYTHING from them. i was kicking kids out of the classroom left and right! and all the while, i was thinking, 'man....i would HATE myself right now if i was one of the students.' it is really hard to draw the line between friend and teacher, and that is something that i never learned how to do with 14 year olds during my studies. i mean, i can bond with 9 year olds without a problem. but you get past the 5th grade and i just dont know what to do with them. i never thought it would happen, but i finally realized how it must feel to have a teenage child who assumes you dont understand when really you were only there a few years ago. and yes, those gross slang terms and sneaky ways still exist. i know all the tricks.

so now, a week later and well versed as a sub, i am the permanent sub for the class in which i student taught (the fifth graders). if you didnt hear any of the stories, this was a class that taught me more than any other class has. it made me hate teaching some days, but ultimately proved that if i could handle this class, i could handle any. and man, i am a meany. i have set up all sorts of ways to try to reward the kids, but they are so out of control that they cannot have even 10 seconds of free time...it really is sad.

so i had quite the talk with them. i let them know today that for the next 10 days of school (their last 10 days, when all they do is play) will not be pleasant if they so much as look like they are off task. i made sure they understood that as far as i was concerned, i am now the teacher and i can ban them from whatever fun activity i want. and boy, they were SO well behaved for me! if there is anything that i was taught at byu, it is that you have to stick to your guns and be "as mean as you possibly can in the beginning. let nothing go." then, after they are used to following rules, ease up. unfortunately for these kids, we only have 10 more days together. i like to think of this as the testing grounds for next year. you know, practice to see if i can stick to my guns like i say i will. i want them to have fun, but these kids just HAVE to learn respect and self control before they can be allowed to do anything else. they have to learn it somewhere, and it obviously hasnt happened yet. let's keep our fingers crossed that i do some good while cracking the proverbial whip over the next 2 1/2 weeks.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

power to the big sis!

just thought i would publicly thank bethanne for helping talk me through the world of htmls and other computer stuff that i dont completely understand. now my blog isnt so stinking skinny and helter-skelter (yes, i did just say that)! and with that little tidbit, it is time for bed. thanks, sister! i love you!

Thursday, May 15, 2008

that hurt, charlie!!

okay, so i just thought i would share this video from youtube, seeing as how it is one of my favorites of all time. i'll go ahead and post my other all time favorite, just because i can (and also because i kind of want to watch it again...) anyway, please watch them both....they will definitely be worth your time. but don't take my word for it...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM

http://youtube.com/watch?v=THfiHQZVSw0

(sorry, i cant figure out how to put the video directly on my site, so go to the links!)

the birthday countdown...

the gilmores

so i got home from subbing today, totally exhausted from the classes of 30+ 9th graders in each class, and i came across a later episode of the gilmore girls, my favorite show of all time. now, i will be the first to claim that i know far too much about this show as it is, but when brad started asking me questions about the series (im sure just to make me think he is actually interested, when really it just means he gets to cuddle and take a quick nap), and i realized that i was mixing lots of things up. i used to be able to see any given episode of the show, and i could tell you the story line, season, and main characters and love interests at the time. now, i cant do that. SAD STORY. i even came across an episode a while ago and i had never even seen it before! the moral of the story is this: i need to buy the rest of the series. i have seasons 1 and 2 (which i have already watched), but i REALLY want the rest of the series so that i can become overly familiar with the end of the show much like i am with the beginning. plus, i havent seen seasons 4-7 since they came on on tv, so it's time. the problem is, though, that i want to buy a bathing suit, and it would cost almost the same as the 5 seasons of gilmore girls on amazon.com. so which should i buy right now and which can i wait on until the end of june when i get paid for subbing? i dont know what to do!! i guess the perfect solution would be for me to encourage all of you adept readers to buy the seasons for me for my birthday (only 28 more shopping days, people!) so i can buy the bathing suit and all will be well, but i cant force you to get me anything. but i sure would be happy if you got them for me! :)

Sunday, May 11, 2008

back to school, back to school...


wait a minute....just kidding! i dont go to school anymore! actually, even though im not going back to school, i am back in provo after a VERY short road trip to california. i know everyone (and when i say everyone, i really mean the only person who reads this regularly, namely bethanne. i love you! :)) has been waiting on pins and needles to hear how i have survived for the past week or so, still jobless, and also if i made it through a short road trip to visit brad's family. of course, this is not the first time ive been to cali, and i know his family very well (in fact, brad was the last member of the family that i met), but it was still really good to be there (ps...the picture above exudes exactly how i feel and use my time while unemployed, in case you were wondering).

first of all, i need to back it up a few days and update everyone on the job status. i was finally able to get everything figured out for substituting, and i officially was put on the sub list on thursday afternoon. within 2 hours, i had already received 5 job offers. two of them were for friday (when i was going out of town) but the other three are for this week coming up. since then, i have also gotten called for another 2 jobs in a week and then i am permanently subbing for the lady i student taught with in january the 2 weeks after that. hopefully the jobs will keep coming in, because i REALLY need the money. i am going to be one happy girl when august 5th rolls around and i get my first real paycheck! :)

anyway, so brad and i went to california for the weekend. we went for 2 reasons:
1. brad's best friend from growing up, kyle, got married on the 3rd and he and ashley had their reception on saturday. he obviously wanted to be there.
2. brad's car had to be in california to pass emissions so that they could officially register the car. everyone was so excited for him to get the car in march that they overlooked the emissions testing stuff, so we drove back for the weekend to get that taken care of. it was also cheaper for me to drive with him than for brad to fly or drive alone, so i tagged along just for fun :).

we left at about 5am on friday morning and drove....a lot. thankfully everything was fine except for the freak snowstorm in the middle of nevada, but it was a loooong 9 hours to his hometown (about an hour north of sacramento) up in this adorable little town called nevada city. the views are beautiful and thankfully, unlike utah, everything is green, so i enjoyed it a lot. i did manage to get a really sore throat throughout the wknd, and i wonder if i have developed an allergy to pollen since i left good ol georgia (there was pollen EVERYWHERE at his house). alli was also able to come up and stay saturday night so we caught up as much as possible. we went to kyle and ashley's reception and had a really nice time, and we were actually able to just relax for the weekend. well, for the most part. we did have quite the ordeal with brad's car...as we were driving to california, the check engine light came on. this happened when they originally brought the car to utah, and they found out that it was due to an oxygen sensor malfunctioning in the car (probably because of the drastic change of elevation). anyway, we knew that if that light was on, his car automatically would fail. so, being the sneaky boy that he is, he manually turned it off. after all, he already knew why it was on, nothing major. well....big mistake. when we got it tested, it failed because the act of turning off the light triggered a computer response that blocked 4 things from being tested, so they failed. a car can only fail 2 things max, so we were out of luck. so we desperately drove around for 40 miles to restart the system (as was suggested by the emissions guy) but when we got back at 5 on the dot, he was already closed and long gone. luckily, he agreed to come back and check again on saturday (he is one of brad's father's clients, so he was very nice to do this). yadda yadda yadda 2 hours later and a mean practical joke played on the girls, brad found a fuse that was not working, fixed it, and the car passed without a problem. i called brad while they were there and he told me it would cost $4000 to fix and we would have to buy plane tickets home, and we (the girls all at the store) FREAKED out. especially since he only paid $3000 for it. thank goodness it was all a joke (one that we found out later after lots of worrying all about it) and all was well. so that is that. whew.

we also had a mother's day bar-b-q for his family and watched i am legend. i cried again. so sad!! unfortunately the weekend ended as fast as it began. we left at 8:30 this morning after a quick mother's day breakfast, and drove until we couldnt stand it any longer. now im sitting in my bedroom with a swollen lymph node in my throat and poor brad has tons of homework to finish tonight. im pretty much terrified about my first day subbing tomorrow, but hopefully they wont totally tear me apart. theyre only 4-6th graders....what harm could they do? ha.....oh boy....

unfortunately for me (and you, of course), i took very few pictures this weekend. what with not feeling too well and running from place to place the whole time, the only photo op was at kyle and ashley's wedding. here is one of the four of us (im the one in the yellow dress, if you can't tell), and then an apparently "GQ" shot of kyle and brad. anyway, enjoy, and keep your fingers crossed that i dont cry while subbing tomorrow!

Thursday, May 1, 2008

unemployment opportunities

while i was growing up, my parents always felt that i should be able to stay a kid for as long as possible, so i was able to survive high school and all of my many extra curricular activities without the stress of an after-school job. however, once i graduated from high school, it was time to grow up and start supporting myself. i spent my first summer on my own looking relentlessly for a job, but to no avail. finally, 3 months and 15+ interviews later, i was offered a position on campus that worked well with my schedule. this job trained me to do many things, and i felt as though i was set for life. of course, life for me went up to graduation from college, and then.....nothing. i had no other plans. i wanted to go to texas, but that probably wont be happening soon now that i am weighing my options.

so i graduate from college with a degree and i feel like i have nothing to show for it. of course, as an alumnus i am no longer allowed to work on campus (yes, i checked. print services will not allow it), so i immediately fell into a predicament: although i have enough savings to get me through the summer, i have no job. yeah, yeah, my life may sound great to you. but you have to understand something....i have lived my entire life running from one extracurricular activity to another. in college, i went from school to work and back, with some playing and sleeping thrown in on the good days. i relished those christmas breaks when i could sit and do nothing, but even then i was getting the new semester figured out, trying to make ends meet with tuition, and applying for scholarships. and i cant forget to mention that i was woken up every morning by 7:30am because my time was valuable and i was needed for various errands and bonding moments with the rents. of course, i loved these times, but this has been all i have known for at least the past 8 years since i began high school.

so i started my first week as an almost-graduate with a long list of to-dos and i was ready to make a difference in the world. however, by the third day or so, i was B-O-R-E-D. yes ma'am (or sir, depending on who is reading this), i was bored. of course, family coming into town made things a lot more fun, but when i wasnt with them, i had nothing to do. i think it would be much more exciting if i had someone with which to waste time, but brad has school and work so i am officially out of friends. i have managed to try several new recipes, master (as much as i can at least) the art of mariokart for the wii, almost finish a book (of my choice, no less!), clean out all of my boxes, work out, lay out, catch up on any show that i have missed in the past semester, and wash my car.

but i still feel like an unemployed bum.

so what now? find more recipes? go shopping? both of those include things like bathing suits or ingredients, which cost money. no job=no income. therefore, i cant waste any on impulse buys (which makes me sad....i love those!). i have tried several times to sign up to substitute, but either no one will answer when i make an appointment or they wont let me until at least next tuesday. i feel like a jerky jerk because i just want to play as soon as brad is done, but i need to be sensitive to the fact that he has things to do. still, it's kinda fun to play house and dote on him and everything. i commend him for being so stinking smart (all A's again this semester!), but he sure does live the good life. im an amazing cook, so he really lucked out.

so my to-do list for tomorrow is as follows:
-drop things off at DI
-pay tab at cougar creations
-print off brad's slides for class while he is at work
-call about recharging my air conditioner in my car
-harass kelly services until they answer their stinking phone and let me sign up to sub!
-think of some fabulous dinner with which to prove my domesticity
-go to the gym (if i can get the key from brad)
-change the utilities over before they get shut off tomorrow (cross your fingers that they wont!)
-put away clean laundry
-watch as much gilmore girls as possible

please note that all of these things (except for the last) will probably take all of 2 hours to complete. now i know why people sign up for cake decorating classes. what else is there to do nowadays? any ideas?

Sunday, April 20, 2008

what's a girl to do?

so for the past 18 months, i have spent every sunday night frantically trying to think of new, fun, and innovative ways to teach the kids in my classes as i plan out my week. however, this is the first sunday that i can remember when i really have nothing to do. obviously this is because i am finished with student teaching and will be graduating from college this week, but it is a very surreal feeling. now i know that come the beginning of august my life will be full of hectic days and nights, but right now i feel like i have to have things to do when i really should be taking the opportunity to do what i have seldom been able to--nothing.

so what do i do now? read lots of books that arent on a fourth grade reading level. sleep. sign up for substitute teaching. try new recipes. and of course, write exceptionally entertaining entries on my blog. hopefully someone out there will be bored enough to read along! whatever the case is, i hope i dont waste this summer, because in just a few months i'll be a real full-grown adult! sheesh, i'm graduating from college. even that is an amazing thing for me. i have always been the kind to need a plan, and that plan for the entirety of my life so far has been to survive through college. but unlike the sudden and unfortunate finale of gilmore girls, my life does not end at the time of graduation from higher education. no sir, it is only the beginning. wow....how did i get so old? and did i mention i'm almost 22? i better start that birthday wish list soon!

im not making any complaints at least. well, except for this insane weather. it is the end of april and there are chances of snow this week. SNOW. it is currently 31 degrees and it is supposed to drop down into the 20s tonight. i certainly don't enjoy utah weather, but i think it's worth the sacrifice to stay here....i always said i would stay only if it was for a boy, but i never honestly thought that would happen. i guess thats what i get for being flexible. just kidding! im happier than i ever have been now that i get to be with brad every day. im pretty stinking lucky. i dont know if i could say the same about him though...

so this week is one of those milestones for me. not only am i graduating, but im applying to substitute, mom and dad are coming into town, brad's family is coming into town, my parents finally get to meet brad, and my childhood best friend is getting married. that's quite a list. let's just hope i can do everything that i would like to without hurting anyone's feelings. if only there was three of me so i could be in multiple places at once....that's alright. i'd prefer to not be michael keaton. but im still really excited about this week! and the best part? NO FINALS! heck yeah!

the only other news is that i uploaded pictures from my camera tonight. this one is from easter. if you thought noah (adam and belinda's boy) was a quiet reserved child, then think again. he is so funny, and he is learning more from his sister every day. after kennedy began performing for the camera during our visit, noah decided to do some tricks of his own. and boy does he look fearless! no doubt he is his father's son.















well....im off to bed. i need to be up early so i can make a yummy breakfast for bradley!

Saturday, April 19, 2008

jumping on


so i was calmly wasting time this afternoon, looking at everyone's blogs, and i managed to come across a TON of people that i know from years ago. this really made me jealous that i couldnt comment (or even worse, they couldn't comment on my old blog), so i decided to jump on the bandwagon. and seeing as how i just finished my last day of student teaching, im fresh out of things to do. not that im complaining.....

anyway. yay for blogs! hopefully this will help me keep in touch better since ive apparently fallen off the face of the planet and dont see anyone except for bradley boo boo every day. once again, not complaining, but i know youve all missed my beautiful face!