Don't be jealous that this is what I do all day.

 

Minute to Win It

My sister gave me a lovely Minute to Win It game.  My parents and younger sister came to visit after we moved.  Enjoy, and please don't mind my apron.

They had to drop a cup upside-down and make it bounce over and land 

right-side up. 

 That red one by my dad was my second attempt.  Not that I'm bragging or anything.

Also I don't know how to make video that isn't sideways as you can see.

Sneak Peak

Coming Soon To A Sister Wives Summer Near You...

You Won't Want To Miss It.

Danny's Birthday

So Dan had himself a rock awesome birthday.  We went to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point because I'm apparently married to an 8 year-old.  But we had fun and then we went to see the new X-Men movie, which by the way, I loved.  Then the next day I took him to Les Mis because he had never seen it.  

I should probably say some cute stuff about how I kind of like my husband but Dan mocks gushy blogs.  (And I do too a little bit.)  So I'll just say I wouldn't go to the Dinosaur Museum for anyone else.

 I made him some lemon cupcakes.  Dan doesn't like cake too much so I think he ate about two cupcakes and then Nicole and I ate the rest later.

 

 

I also need to mention that not a week after Dan turned 25 I found a gray hair growing out of his head.  Yep he's an old man and I will mock him.

You can't see it, but it's there.

 I cut it out and there it is in all it's gray glory.

Highlight of Dan's Birthday: 

The cute birthday message his grandparents left on his voicemail.

New School

So just to brag a little bit.  We are being put in a brand new school next year.  And it rocks.  Yes, I used the term "rocks".  It's not supposed to be finished until August but we got to go on a little tour the last (technical) day of school.  I say that it was technically the last day of school because really our school had gotten out a week earlier than the rest of the district.  We (Garland) are moving to the new school and then Fielding Elementary had to get knocked down and rebuilt by August of next year.  So we had to hurry and pack out of our old school so Fielding could use it for the one year while their school is being rebuilt.  So both our schools got out a week earlier so we could pack everything by the real last day of school.  Make sense?  Now all of my school stuff is in nice little boxes in my new classroom waiting for August when I can come unpack and set-up.

This is my new classroom.

 

 

 They haven't hung my smart board yet.  And who knows why they gave us a pull-down screen.

 There's a stag on my door.  Mostly because Harry Potter loves me.

Repelling

So at some point when it was still super cold, say early May some time, we went camping and then repelling off some random large rock.  Here are some lovely pictures of said day.  And I swear it was a lot steeper and scarier than it looks.  Plus, Dan and I don't do heights very well.

 Dan had graduated like two days before so we decided to burn all 

his schoolwork and for some reason had to be shirtless for it

 

 Some scouts kept walking right through our camp so we got out the weapons.

Two guns, spatula, golf club, machete.

 Then we shot some stuff.

 This is how high we were.

 There were two places we repelled off.  This is the less scary one.  That actually 

isn't the bottom you can see.  It went around a curve and kept going down.

 

 

 This is the other place they repelled.  I did not.

 

 They went down face first.

 Dan and Jake.

 

Moving

So because Dan and I did not move off to California and decided to stay here a while we figured we better do something to cushion the blow of still being in Logan.  Enter: awesome new apartment.  Now I don't have pictures or anything yet but the new apartment has certainly lessened the blow of Logan.  I'm in love with my new house and the fact that it's been three weeks and none of our neighbors have moved in makes it all the better.  We only have about two friends and they came and helped us move and despite Dan's effort to get the ward all excited to come help us, only one person showed up because frankly, no one in our ward likes us.  I will share some good pictures from when we were still moving in.  You see, the first night we had the tv and couches over at our new house so we were hanging out and Nicole really had to use the restroom.  Our toilet paper had not been moved.  After like an hour though, it became desperate.  Too desperate to leave back to our other house or even the hotel across the street.  So we found what we could for her in any and all boxes...

 This was the dance she did with the the tissue paper to punctuate her excitement.

We have since gotten toilet paper.

Graduate Daniel

So Dan worked his attractive little bum off this last year in school.  Pretty much I haven't seen him since September.  On top of a crazy school load, he has also been working at the Energy Dynamics Lab here in Logan.  His main project all year has been working on developing better ways to conduct electric power wirelessly with the ultimate goal of being able to power cars as they drive.  He finally graduated last week with a degree in electrical engineering with minors in Spanish and math.

I basically forced him to walk at graduation and I think he got bored about eight minutes into the ceremony.  But I don't care because he looked good and I was so proud of him.  I'm still proud of him for all the late nights and early mornings of projects and studying, labs and work.  It's nice to have him back though.  Especially after the last few weeks where we didn't see each other.  He's much more pleasant when he has time to be with me. 

Anyway, as far as his grown-up job now... He had a few interviews/offers in different states and it ultimately came down to an offer in California and an offer at his current job here.  Reluctantly we decided to stay here after much thought for at least another year.  The offers were both amazing but they were basically the same and if you factor in the cost of living and the fact that I'll get to stay at a school I love for another year (In a brand new building.  Woot!)  And some other good stuff, that was the conclusion we came to.  But still, it's Logan.  Boring, yucky, forever-winter Logan.  So to alleviate our pain, we are moving to a brand new fancy apartment.  And by brand new I mean they're still finishing up the final touches on it this week.  We're moving this weekend and pictures will come.

This is him making fun of my high school graduation picture.

This is weird.

 Not entirely sure if he had really graduated yet.

Tales of First Grade

So first grade was never my ideal grade to teach but oh my, I love them.  Two reasons why that I found today...

They sometimes write whatever they want in their writing journals and I tell them if it's something they don't want me to read then they can fold the page in half.  One student folded hers in half but let me know that it was so that only I would read it and not other students.  So I read it.

 

While going through the others I found this at the bottom of a random page in one of my boy's notebooks.

"Now we need to fight.  We need reinforcements.  Oh yeah you can't bust me."

Whatever that's supposed to mean.  This is a very sweet and smart kid.  Who is a bit obsessed with Star Wars.  His notebook is affectionately titles "Star Wars The Clone Wars" so maybe that's where this is from...?  Maybe all the numbers are his form of binary.  But nice spelling eh?

Anyway, they're kind of cute.

Hurry Back....

Okay, so I don't like to write lately.  But it's about time I wrote about The Happiest Place on Earth.

This was a trip a year in the making.  When I first mentioned to my parents last April that they should probably take Dan and I to Disneyland as my younger siblings were on missions, they got mad that I hadn't suggested it before.  So we quickly planned a trip.  It was going into wedding season so we had to wait until November, but then postponed later until this February.

So off we went.  My parents go to Disneyland about 20 times a year.  And yes, they are frequently season pass holders.  I hadn't been in four years.  Dan hadn't been since he was about eight.  He was not exactly thrilled to be going.  Children just don't understand how wondrous Disneyland can be.  So we went with the intention of converting Dan and finding all the Hidden Mickeys.  

Despite the fact that our regular routine was thrown off by The Haunted House being closed the first half of the first day, convert Dan we did.  With things like Billy Hill, Blue Bayou, The Haunted Mansion (after it opened back up), World of Color, Pineapple Ice Cream, Soarin', and pretty much everything else.

California is always a good idea.  Add Disney to it, and I highly recommend it.  Also, the first day was spent around LA and Hollywood.  We were feeling very touristy and neither Dan nor I had ever been there.  Plus then we got to go to Lowry's.  Best prime rib ever.

Anyway, enjoy some pictures.

Dan was in love with the trees.

 He had some really ugly facial hair happening when we went.

 Apparently this is the only picture I have of my parents.  They look cool huh?

 

 New Year's Eve hasn't been the same since Guy Lombardo died.

 I'm holding George Clooney's hand!  Dream of mine since age ten. Seriously.

Yay.

 Dan took this one for his mom as she loves Tom Hanks.  And see?  Dan made himself a part of the picture.

My husband's a nerd.

 And like I said, he had some seriously awful facial hair on our trip.

The Hollywood sign is back there somewhere.

Picture spot! Adorable.

 Billy Hill and the Hillbillies.  A must.  We saw the show twice.

 Hidden Mickey.

 This is for Dan's dad.  According to Dan's memory, Mr. Toad was all Disneyland consists of.

 First, this kid was adorable.  Second, Dan was jealous that he didn't get to be a part of the show.

 Free Falling.

Another good reason to go.

 It really is tough.

Okay, one of the best parts of the trip. When we were on Soarin', about the last ten seconds of the video went black.  You'd hardly notice if you'd never been on the ride before.  But to make up for our "inconvenience" they let us ride it again.  We had to go to the other room though as the ride in our room was broken.  We were taken down a back hallway that was the exit for the other room.  They had everyone line the halls so the people currently on the ride could exit.  Dan decided we need to cheer for the people coming out so he had all of us that had been on the broken wall, stick out our hands for high fives and cheer the group coming out.  It was hilarious.  And my mother high-fived several strangers.  This is us after we rode again, reenacting the high-fiving for those who had participated with us.

 We love this ride.

World of Color.  An amazing new show.

Anyway, it's been a month and though I haven't heard from my dad officially, we are all ready to go back.  

And for those wondering, yes I did let go this time on Tower of Terror, for what may have been a whole half second.