What A Wonderful Life

Lately

2011-11-14T09:36:00.000-08:00

Lately we have been:

-Trying to set a new trend called "Urban Camouflage." Here is Ryan's attempt in the Costco parking lot.

-Getting SO EXCITED for the arrival of someone pretty awesome! Here I am at 20 weeks. Please love me through my awkward leg pose.

-Me at 36.5 weeks


Blueberry girl from Willy Wonka

-Hopefully me at 40 Weeks (Nov 27th) exactly!

Via Here

Its amazing how similar my fingers look like those stubby carrot ones right at this moment! :)

We can't wait to meet our Sweet Baby T!

hooray, Hooray, HOORAY!

2011-05-27T13:55:00.000-07:00

In approximately 25 minutes, Ryan will breeze out of his classroom, reverently close the door, lock it, waltz down the (silent) hall, turn to the left, and walk out into the delightful summer sunshine. He will pause for a moment. And then another moment. And then he will then let out a whoop the likes of which has never been heard before, yelling "I did it! I DID IT!" These exclamations will probably be interspersed with a few "hee yaws" and "yeahs!" and one "I didn't go crazy!!"

The yelling will most likely carry on for several minutes. He will then turn around and look at the school and a montage of delightful moments from the past year will pass through his head. He will then discover a tear in his eye, and then another one, and then perhaps one more as he thinks of each of his dear little students.

He will then he will get in his car and drive home to me. Who will also whoop and yell and dance about because that means we don't have to wake up at 6 am in the morning for 3 whole months! The delight!

I am SO PROUD of Ryan for having such a great school year! So proud of him that I had to pen a poem in honor of his amazingness. In open lyric form.

My Pride Overfloweth

It was your first year
teaching fifth grade.
You were nervous but excited
and looked so cute in your new sweater
and tie.

I knew inevitably that some girl
students would quickly fall in love with you.

You quickly became a favorite with
your new students
teaching them about limericks and cinquains
and how to use electricity
without boring them to tears.

You wowed them with your version of the preamble
singing it with total ease
and managed to keep those darling kids under control
when you had fun activities.

You never once ate school lunch and always brought your cute little lunch box
drinking your green smoothies without embarrassment.
And of course, due to your extreme good looks,
you became the poster boy of health and home cooked meals
at the school.

You handled my complaints with good humor in the early hours when it
was time to wake up and
you rolled out of bed with unusual
vigor and vim even though you knew you faced
a 12 work hour day.

You taught your little students the importance of respect
and being kind to everyone.
You had a lot of "movie teacher" moments
helping them become better people
and realizing the important things
in life.

You were told by numerous students
that this was their "best year ever!"
and made some girls cry because they
were going to miss you so much

And through it all, you were able to be a great husband
and friend to me
and do your share of house work.

You were a fabulous teacher
and quick to tell your students you loved them
and most importantly you helped them
become amazing.

YOU DID IT! YOU'RE DONE!
AND YOU DIDN'T GO CRAZY!!!!

Now when does the party start!?

Note: Permission to reproduce poem granted due to the fact that something as awesome and lyrical as said poem is meant to be read in many circles and by many people.

Happy Friday! We are off to play with family in gorgeous southern Utah! Woot!

Keeping it klassy

2011-03-23T14:42:00.000-07:00

So, a few months ago, the hubadubs had to have a mini surgery on his poor little neck. It wasn't anything serious, but I still wanted to go and hold his hand. Instead I mostly just took pictures of the surgery with my sad little cell phone, bothered the surgeon, and did very little actual "moral supporting."

Of course Ryan was a brave little patient, flirting with all the nurses, and posing in his little hospital gown, like so:

It was right after the documentation of this moment that the nurse breezed in a said she was going to make Ryan "sterile." Ryan and I looked at each other in mock panic and of course a barrage of vasectomy jokes followed.

The surgery lasted maybe twenty minutes, which seems fast. I haven't witnessed many (any) surgeries, but it seemed the doctor stitched Ryan up quite quickly. Perhaps it was my constant breeching of the "sterile zone" with my hand, perhaps it was the continuous flow of old man jokes Ryan and I swapped during the entire thing, but I'm thinking the actual straw that broke the camel's back is when I actually pushed his gloved hand away with mine, told him to "hang on for just a second, this will make a great picture!" and then took my sweet time photographing that specific moment in the surgery with my camera phone. I'm sure he and the nurse were contemplating how quickly they could get security up to the office, but then decided I wasn't worth that much effort...hence the rapid stitching up of Ryan.

Afterwards they taped a ginormous ~~baby diaper~~ bandage to his neck and pushed him out the door with a mango dum dum in his hand, asking him to please leave his "lunatic wife" home next time.

At school the next day, his fifth graders of course inquired as to why the large ~~baby diaper~~ bandage was on his neck. Ryan gave a lot of reasons, but my favorite is when he said he was bitten by a vampire and some of the girls started screaming. Real, scared screams. Hilarious. :)

Update: Ryan is healthy and just as cute as ever.

A true master

2011-03-18T13:23:00.000-07:00

Sadly, our sweet nephew Jack has been in the hospital. :( (Frownie face times a million!) He is such a brave little baby and of course is the favorite of all the nurses at Primary Childrens. He is sooooo chubby and cute and has the most awesome hair of any six month old in the history of the world. I love him!!!

Not only has he mastered the difficulty of maintaining amazing hair (even in the hospital), but has also fine-tuned a skill that few can accomplish even during an entire lifetime: the kid can ignore ANYBODY. He is so good in fact that he can be surrounded by doting Aunties who want to pinch his little legs and run their hands through his buoyant mo-hawk unceasingly and he doesn't cry, or laugh, or push our hands away...he simply ignores. He ignores the heck out of us.

Following is a video of Jack at his finest. I have watched it no less than 476 times. I'm the one filming, and the victim of the ignoring is Lauren, another auntie fighting desperately for his attention.

Oh man!! Dying!!! Favorite part is when Lauren touches her forehead on his and whispers "Jack" and he just sits there really still hoping that if he doesn't move, she'll disappear and he can move on with his life.

However, lest you think that Jack is cold and aloof here is some vid of him with his perfect smile and laugh.

He is so Smiley and Giggly and when he sees someone new he gets a huge Delighted look on his face. He has a grin that makes you feel like a million bucks.

Don't you feel so amazing now?! :)

Or there is this one:

Notice the other "adults" in the room are talking boring "adult" topics like gardening. Lauren and I have no time for such things. We have to make the best of our time with Jack so as to foil other evil auntie's plans of becoming Jack's favorite.

I am one proud Aunt. I think I love being an aunt more than anything in the world! You can kiss their cheeks and squeeze them tight, you carry some semblance of "authority" by being directly related to their parent so they Have to listen to you. You can give them ridiculous presents at anytime, and you can feed them whatever you want, cause heck? you can just leave when they start crying or need to be changed. Living the life of an auntie is delightful. It's especially easy when you are not only the aunt of this:

Jack

But also this

Tyson

And this:

Aurora

I'm not sure how Ryan and I can compete with this PERFECTION!!!!!

That mystery will have to remain unsolved until further notice.

Five minutes of my life

2011-03-17T15:47:00.000-07:00

*Minute 1: Pull into the driveway
*Minute 2: Sit and chat with Ryan for a little bit before skipping jovially to the house
*Minute 3: Walk into the house while Ryan stays outside assessing our front flower bed.
*Minute 4: Go to Ladies Room to utilize facilities
*Minute 4.5: Breeze back outside to go visit Ryan while standing with my back to the street.
*Minute 4.75: Emphatically wave to neighbor situated on our right.
*Minute 4.9: Just as emphatically wave to neighbor on our left as they are pulling into their drive way.
*Minute 4.98: Neighbor yells from car window, "Hey Sara! Your skirt is...."
*Minute 4.99: Me, in my mind, fills in the rest of that sentence with "is so adorable!"
*Minute 5: Neighbor finishes actual sentence with "is tucked into the top of your nylons!" And everyone can see your underwear.......
*Minute 5.5: I let out a ridiculous shrilly, high pitched laugh, while looking for a place to hide for eternity.
*Minute 6-Present time: I still cannot look that neighbor in the eye.
*Present time until I die: Check skirt a MILLION times after I leave restroom so as to avoid reliving this Ever. Again.

Would it help if I looked like a Chicken Burrito?

2011-03-16T13:33:00.000-07:00

Before we beging our daily commute home from the gym there is a space of time where we just sit in our car, doing nothing. 2 things generally happen.

1) The following conversation occurs: Ryan says: "can we please just get home immediately?!? I've been wrangling 11 year olds all day and I need me some nourishment!" I say: "Yes of course. You can start the car and commence driving at anytime."

2) While driving out of the parking garage, we simultaneously lower our windows to get some fresh air and as a result are bombarded with the smell of piping hot pizza and delicious Sweet Pork Burritoes.

Number 2 generally results in Ryan accelerating and driving with a new found energy so as to get home before he collaspses from hunger.

You see, our gym is built in the same builing as The Pizza Factory and a Costa Vida. Now, I'm not sure if it's a marketing ploy or if the builder's were just being plain mean, but, is there anything more rude than to pipe in waffs of delicious homemade breadsticks and "yes, of course I'll have that burrito smothered" smells to a group of people that are working hard to sweat off all physical evidence that they have actually eaten at those restaurants?!?!?

One time I was running (sauntering) on a treadmill one Saturday at 11 am with an empty stomach. I'm just starting to feel good and accelerating the speed to 1.5 mph when the smell of pepperoni pizza smacks me in the face like a love potion. I'm hooked. I needed some pizza NOW! I stepped off the treadmill, told Ryan I was headed downstairs for the all you can eat buffet and could he please pick me up in about an hour? Ryan, who of course has perfected the "Sara's off to eat herself silly, I will step in and remind her she won't be happy when she finally immerges and I'll hear about it for the next month" routine, grabbed me by the collar, dragged me back to the treadmill, placed me on it, acclerated it to 7.0 mph, gave me a good game and a wink, and went off on his Merry Way.

He's very well trained.

Where was I? Oh yes.....so we are driving home from the gym and I start emphatically telling him a realization I had made earlier that day, accompanied with extreme hand gesturing, and "you knows?" and "Doesn't this make sense's??" etc, etc, etc.....for the next ten minutes.

I finish sharing what I feel to be a monumental breakthrough in something in my life and end with a triumphant, "well, what do you think???"

A few seconds pass.

Ryan: "Mmmmm....Chicken Burritoes for only $1.99"

*crickets*

*more crickets*

He suddenly looks over at me with panic in his eyes.....just realizing that I had finished speaking and was waiting for a response.

"See look" he says, pointing "they are $1.99."

And then looks at me again with wide innocent eyes.

Me: "Umm.....is that really what you were just thinking about??"

Ryan: "Well" pauses, "they ARE only $1.99 and I was trying to alleviate the situation.....You were sounding a little tense."

Oh, of course.... alleviating the situation. That's what they call it these days.

Same thing occured at the end of dinner when he was eating. Now, wisely, I waited until he was almost finished and full to tell him something else important. Which I did. To which he replied, ". . . . ." nothing. "Did you hear what I said?" Blank stare. "Would you be able to listen to me better if I looked like a Chicken Burrito??" Blank stare again. Then we both laughed. Which probably means that yes, yes it would.

We should've used this as our engagement picture

2011-02-08T13:49:00.000-08:00

Viewer discretion advised: The following photographs feature a girl who hasn't combed her hair for 5 days.

This one was taken on Christmas Morning. I applaud my MIL for catching such a horrific moment on camera. Oh wait.....that's how I looked the entire Christmas Break. Like I threw every personal hygiene practice out the window. Kicked it to the curb.

Oh you don't believe me???

The unfortunate proof. While the enormous hair sticking up in the back of my head has sadly made it's farewell, I have suddenly morphed into a stern teenage Bieber look alike.

Wait, there's more.

Here I am in all my Amish-Aproned glory sans makeup and probably deodorant. Please stop staring at my uni-bang and feast your eyes upon the awesome Lederhosen apron. It's much more fun to look at. :)

In this photo I have finally been convinced to remove my oversized red hoodie for a normal sweater. It was torturous. You will notice I stubbornly put my foot down on any orders to wear makeup and/or comb my hair however. For that I am deeply apologetic.

I also think we should've used this photo as our engagement picture. It's so perfect. And the only photo documentation where I'm showing my stomach......

Fine... It's not mine!!!!! Maybe in the next life. :) Aren't we so cute and formidable looking????

I discovered this picture of Ryan on Facebook today, because even though we are married, I still Facebook stalk him.

He looks like such a forlorn little cowboy!

I love it. :)

I had to put this one on because he looks so cute in that tight under armor surf type shirt thing he is wearing. Delish! :)

Happy Tuesday!

Christmas!

2010-12-28T08:41:00.000-08:00

2010 Christmas Card. We are trying to be artsy.

We had such a delightful Christmas.

Lots of family, friends, singing, giving, laughing, joking, games, and love...it was amazing.

Hope you had a lovely one!

the star valley half marathon

2010-11-17T11:30:00.000-08:00

I have an extremely on/off relationship with long distance running. We have frequent DTR's where I end up saying, "it's not you, it's me. Don't worry!" To then come running (walking) back and exclaim, "you're right! I need you in my life! You complete me!" But then I end up being late for or standing up entirely my latest date with running and the vicious cycle begins again.

Goodness.

But, don't fret too much. Running and I are going steady once again, and it's great! And luckily for me, during the summer of 2011 in Star Valley, WY, the delightful, magical, arctic, land I call my home, there is going to be a half marathon! And Half marathons are just my type of running.

I completed (barely survived) the Provo Half in 2008 that I ran with Lauren. She, of course, breezed across the finish line rosy cheeked and smiling, while I, staggered across the finish line with a little less finesse, cursing half marathons and the thirty or so people that told me the finish line was "just around the corner!" I discovered later, that "just around the corner" in runner speak means, in two miles.

It didn't help that I never saw ONE MILE MARKER until the 12th mile, therefore, never HAD ANY IDEA what mile I was on. Was I on mile five? Mile 8? Only mile 2? Gahh!!!

Despite the mile confusion and my little packet of "energy honey" that was supposed to provide me with instantaneous energy but mostly just gave me instantaneous thirst....the half marathon was pretty cool.

And even though I told myself at miles 8-12 that I would NEVER DO THIS AGAIN, and had a brief nap at mile 8 (I think...it could've been mile 4, who knows), and I had extreme running outfit shame because I wasn't vested in a cute running skirt, as soon as that finish line came into view, and complete strangers and my wonderful family were cheering me on to finish, it was pretty dang amazing.

So, July 9th, 2011 is the next half marathon I will be completing. It's a memorial half marathon for a young man from SV that was killed during Ragnar (an awesome race that's on my distant to-do list), so it will be pretty touching.

My training officially began yesterday. It felt great. Of course.

July 9th will be an awesome half marathon. I already have my outfit planned. And yes, it may involve a cute running skirt. And a sweat band. :)

I may occasionally bore you with running update posts, but mostly so I can keep on track. You can skip over those if you want. I'll understand.

Happy Wednesday!

the one about Ryan

2010-11-11T11:44:00.000-08:00

Have I mentioned on here how much I love Ryan? He is such a good husband and so nice to me.

Plus he is cute.

See look:

This picture was taken in June 2009 and it always brings a huge smile to my face. And I like to smile.
He makes me want to live better everyday and I can't imagine my life without him.

Aren't I lucky?

Happy Thursday!

the one about the pumpkins

2010-11-10T11:58:00.000-08:00

Ryan is like a little garden/plant whisperer. He helped a little pumpkin seed that I may have inadvertently killed, TWICE, grow into TWO pumpkins. It was amazing. Even though I'm still convinced the pumpkin wanted to kill me when it started growing through the window into our bedroom, I still love it. Here it is. Spoiler alert: you will be impressed. :)


The vine in all it's pumpkiny glory.


Officially picked!


The pumpkin that secretly grew in our bush!


The Brave One that tackled the vines.

We measured the vine and caused a raucous (or at least I did) with repeated exclamations of "Oh my goodness?!?" "Are you serious?!" "How is this possible?!"

The neighbors just LOVE me and my quiet ways.

The vine was 130 feet long! It was quite amazing! A mini pumpkin miracle. :) The pumpkins are sitting on our porch. We are kind of like proud little pumpkin parents.

Happy Wednesday!

Dedicated to Ryan because he is so cute.

Too Legit to Quit

2010-11-01T09:09:00.000-07:00

The other morning Ryan wandered into the kitchen and started singing, "Pump up the jam, pump it up..." For those of you blessed to have seen the cool side of the eighties, 1989 was the year to Pump it up. I was five. And not super cool. So, no, I didn't know about this song then.

I'm still not super cool, but have rediscovered my love of old school hip hop.

Ryan and I started a little push up challenge that usually ends with me in a quivering, weak heap on the floor.

The challenge? 100 push ups before Christmas. Christmas of 2010. Not 2011, or 2012. The Christmas that will be happening in T minus 54 days. Yes, I'm counting.

Let's just say, it's not looking too good.

For me.

Ryan, of course, as he is a demi-god, is already doing 150, maxing out at 46.

I'm only on 61 with 21 being my max. The same 21 I have been on for the last week and a half. Could we say 21 is the new 100 and call it a day?

To get pumped up, we usually put on some crazy, high energy song....because 100 push ups is quite a few. This go around, you guessed it, a little Technotronic-Pump Up the Jam action was necessary.

Followed by, "Too Legit to Quit" and a little Vanilla Ice, Ice, Baby... :)

When, and IF, I ever get to 100, we may post a little vid, for posterity's sake. And for the skeptics.

the three a.m. laugh attack

2010-10-26T09:57:00.000-07:00

really messed up my good night's rest.

It all started when I came out of the bathroom and saw this,

One of us (Ryan) freezes at night, while the other (me) practically melts. And since the weather decided to skip the fifties and sixties entirely and plummet into the thirties at night, The Freezer needed some extra warmth. There he is, snuggled under his mountain of blankets, the top being a delicious goose down comforter. He just looked so cozy and my side looked just like an inhospitable prison bed or something, that a picture, albeit a fuzzy one, was needed. Just like I do every night I tried to distract him with one of my more subtle fooling techniques by exclaiming, "oh, look over there at our blank wall! Isn't it so interesting?!" while, stealthily sliding my window open to let in the delicious sub zero air. Ryan, however, has never been fooled, responding with a stern, "don't even think about it."

Sometimes the blankets will pull taut in between us at night creating what Ryan calls a "wind tunnel" that, and I quote, "blasts cold air on me all night long!" The problem was easily solved, with, you guessed it, another blanket. Those with younger eyes will be able to spot the red dot at the head of our bed. I'm convinced that I will be inadvertently suffocated one night by this red blanket.

And so we went to sleep. The night before neither of us slept well, so I snuggled down under my prison blanket, ready for an awesome night's sleep.

Unfortunately I woke up around 3 a.m, you guessed it, dying of heat. How does this happen? I knew that Ryan generally has cold feet even though he could survive Arctic winds with the amount of blankets covering him and moved my leg to touch his. He always looks so cozy. ♥ As soon as I touched him however, the very second that my leg touched his, he JUMPED 800 feet in the air! Of course I moved my leg instantly and wondered if, in my dire need to touch something cooler than me, had accidentally kicked him.

Ten minutes later, he bravely ventures out from under his blankets, stands up on the bed, and looks out of the window...."what are you doing?" I groggily ask him. He lays back down, and 19 minutes later after he has his blankets carefully situated on him, covering every possible "wind tunnel" asks, "do you really want to know?" "actually yes I do." "Well," The Freezer began, (please note that this conversation is being held veerrryyy early in the morning and the words were coming out a little slurred) "remember when you touched my leg?" "Yes....I actually do remember that quite clearly." "Well, I was dreaming that I was fighting off rats in our yard with a pitchfork, and when you touched me I thought my leg was getting gnawed by a rat." "Oh." Commence laugh attack.

I blame the early morning hours, my overheated body, and Ryan's reaction to the leg touching incident for my laughing. It wasn't a regular, wide awake laugh attack either, it was a slow, still half asleep type of laugh attack, which just made me laugh more.

And I couldn't stop either. Unfortunately, my excessive laughter made me more alert, which created a problem. I couldn't go back to sleep. For an hour and a half. And when I did finally at 5:00 a.m. I had my own dream about rats that quickly morphed into a nightmare (which is pretty much inevitable when you are dreaming about gross little rats) and then suddenly it was 6:15 and time to wake up, and my laugh attack was soooooo over and all I wanted to do was cuddle up to Ryan and sleep forever.

But, the laugh attack came back when Ryan told me his dream in it's entirety and every time I look at the picture, I get a nice chuckle.

Happy Tuesday!

Dedicated to Ryan and NOT to the mean rats that live under our front porch!!!!!!!

yes, i may have been the only one wearing jeans in a crowd of 21,000

2010-10-04T10:23:00.000-07:00

but that's how it goes when you show up unprepared.

On Sunday Ryan, Lauren, and I found ourselves jammed on a trax train in SLC, happily making our way to Temple Square for the last session of General Conference. Lauren, one of the coolest kids I know, ran into an old friend on the same train. The friend then proceeded to ask where our tickets were in the Conference Center. "We don't have tickets" Lauren replied forlornly. "Well," said Friend, "I think that lady right there has some extra tickets....." Cue Lauren to ask the stranger with a perfect blend of shyness and hopefulness shining from her eyes, and cue the stranger, with the utmost generosity and kindness, to produce THREE extra tickets! Which, for the viewers at home, that is exactly how many were in our little group! We looked at each other in delight, and then simultaneously looked at my pair of casual, albeit cute, jeans.

I declared I couldn't go. I was horribly under-dressed and someone else deserved the ticket. The twenty + people looking on then chimed in assured me that it wouldn't be a problem. So, I held my head high and breezed through the doors of the Conference Center in my "gentile clothes" as Ryan labeled them.

And it was amazing. So much wonderful counsel. Such a wonderful spirit. And such a blessing to hear President Monson's words in person. And to see him wave to all 21,000 of us. And to witness all 21,000 people waving back. And wishing I could've been that little boy that evaded security to get a high five from him.

And feeling thankful for the confirmation once again that the Gospel is True.

Happy Monday!

ps: pretty sure I was the most comfortable person in the room though.

pps: here is a picture of all of the group heading for a delish birthday meal at Cafe Rio for my dear Mother, when an old colleague of my Dad's was spotted in the nearby Burger King. Small world, eh?

ppps: I love Ryan.

lately

2010-10-01T10:02:00.000-07:00

we have been:

-grossing people out with our excessive green smoothie consumption
-playing racquetball, which generally ends in tears and another win for me the husband
-watching and slightly obsessing over Psych

-cuddling with this bundle of awesomeness

-escaping the vine-like clutches of our forty foot pumpkin plant
(when it started growing through the screen into our bedroom, all suspicions were confirmed that it wanted to end my life)

-spending time with these dearies

-contemplating a new hair cut
-convincing the husband about said hair cut
-loving our new neighborhood
-getting ready to be fed by the word! at general conference
-knowing the previous owners of our home drive by and shake their heads in disgust at the jungle that is now our front yard flower bed

-wishing we could spend Christmas in sunny AZ with these dear people

-but mostly so we can kiss this cute face

happy friday!

photo credits: jess, lindi b

wishing

2010-09-23T14:05:00.000-07:00

just spent my very short lunch hour wishing i owned these dresses

aren't they so pretty?

anyone want to guess what the husband will say when i break the news to him (while giving him a neck massage) that i ordered both?

just kidding. :)

there is more loveliness at shabbyapple.com

i ♥ muse

2010-09-23T10:20:00.000-07:00

after watching these three dearhearts rock out to Muse

i decided to join them.

check out this vid of their latest. in a word: incredible.

sweet song, huh?

oh goodness

2010-09-13T09:39:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I got to hold a little piece of absolute perfection. Jack Henry was born 9/6 and is one of the coolest cats in the Primary Children's NICU. He had to have a surgery connecting his intestines together, but has handled it like a soldier. While holding him, we mutually agreed that we were pal's for the long run. (And then he whispered that I was his favorite auntie...)

Seriously, who could resist that darling face?

Check out more pictures of him here.

2010-07-13T11:54:00.001-07:00

Is anyone reading this? If so have a wonderful day!

299 Days

2010-05-06T07:45:00.000-07:00

299 days means that it's almost been 10 whole months since our perfect wedding day. 10 Fabulous Months of kisses. smiles. love. laughter. forgiving. patience. learning. growing. progressing. ladies in the ward gushing over our newlywed cuteness. poorly timed laugh attacks. my sticky finger problem that seems to escalate with each day. snuggles. butterfly kisses. life cereal. a new found addiction to rook. It doesn't get much better than this. 10 more months? I'll take 'em. All of eternity? Yes, please.

Don't you love his hip pop. :)

The Puzzle Fiasco

2010-01-05T15:34:00.000-08:00

Generally, I'm not a puzzle fan...ever.... Maybe the first five pieces or 10 minutes of puzzling, (whichever comes first,) but other than that, not a fan. Chuck, er, Ryan on the other hand, LOVES puzzles. His little brain gets going and next thing you know, his puzzle is finished while I'm still sorting out the border pieces. He is, simply put, a puzzle genius. So is my Mom. She had a ginormous puzzle to put together over Christmas break that was 1,000 pieces. Ryan was in puzzle heaven. Sadly, we had to jet before he could finish, leaving the puzzler part of his brain unsatisfied, while I secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Adios impossible puzzle!!!

But my adios didn't last long. Ryan had ten puzzles he had been storing in his classroom. Fantastical ones with dragons and fairies....the kind that Megan my cousin would love. (You know it's true Meg...) We decided to each do one ( I think Ryan put me under some kind of puzzle hypnosis) and started on New Year's Eve at 12:45 am....and kept puzzling until 2 am.

The next day, New Years, as soon as we woke up, we headed straight for our puzzles, like little puzzle zombies, (I believe I was still under a hypnotic influence) and got to work. We picked out a movie and Ryan raised our glass topped coffee table with those over sized cans of food storage. A perfect puzzling environment. I had finished the border of my cute woodland fairy puzzle and he was half way done with a lion/Africa puzzle. All seemed well. Then tragedy struck. With a wisely offered "careful with the table that is precariously balanced on our future meals" warning from Ryan to me not yet five minutes old, I bent down to put a puzzle piece in a pile on the floor when my shoulder unwittingly brushed the corner of the off balance table.............and I think you all know what happened next. My first reaction? Shame and fear of Ryan's puzzle wrath... :) Ryan's reaction? A laugh attack and hug. What a nice husband. Following is a video of the aftermath.

Dedicated to all puzzle weirdies out there.

2009-11-21T14:56:00.001-08:00

I am currently in the theater in Cedar City waiting for New Moon to start. Personally I, Chuck, am team Jacob. A good round house kick would stop Edward.

2009-11-18T20:05:00.001-08:00

i mean business

2009-11-18T19:55:00.000-08:00

Mr. Tippetts is quite amazing. I teach fear of round house kicks and I mold faces with my fists. Mr. Tippetts on the other hand teaches life changing principals and molds the young minds of tomorrow.

Meet the 3rd Grade Teacher of the Year!

2009-11-05T16:09:00.000-08:00

I surprised Ryan at work today. I came in right as lunch was ending and as I walked in to his class he kind of looked up and said, "hey," in a monotone voice, which wasn't the reaction I had planned on and immediately started pouting because he wasn't more excited to see me. That is until he did a double take and exclaimed "hey!" and started smiling. That's more like it. :) I went to help volunteer and be his slave for a couple of hours. His kids are so funny and I had many internal laugh attacks. I'm proud of Ryan for being so stone faced. No messing around in his classroom. :)

Ryan made me teach the kiddies the letter "f" and"p" in cursive. They were laughing at me as I wasn't getting each letter just like Ryan wanted and he kept saying, "now make sure it crosses here," etc. One kid was like, "maybe you should go back to third grade!" Another said, "hey, he's your teacher too!" And yet another said, "you get an F is cursive!" (Pun intended I'm sure. :)) Who knew that third graders could be so good at heckling? Alright, so my cursive is a little rusty. I love, love, love going to his class and helping but I have a feeling that I prove to be more of a discipline problem than anything else. :)

Here are a few pics of Ryan doing his 3rd grade thing.

No question about who's in charge.

His typical teaching pose. :)

Molding young minds.....

I felt like paparazzi as I took this one.

Playing a game.

Part of his room. I love the subtle and out of place tribute to Mexico.

His desk and domain are in the far corner.

He keeps those little kiddies under control that's for sure. I sure love my little 3rd grade teacher. And his students love him. Now would his female coworkers please stop trying to set him up on dates! Thanks. :)

Dedicated to Ryan for being such such a dear little teacher.

2009-10-26T17:11:00.001-07:00

I'm Chuck Norris and I approve this message.

What a Discovery!

2009-10-26T12:20:00.000-07:00

We like our little nook in West Haven. We are close to the temple and Ryan's school. We have a dear little apartment that keeps us warm and cozy too. However, we felt, (okay, I felt) that the scenery around our home was a little, too, well...commercial. At least that is how I felt until our most recent adventure! We found a bike path 1/4 of a mile from our home that goes around a river. The bike path is certainly secluded, but quiet. There is a giant overpass over the path that perfectly conceals it, hence, the three months until the discovery. With the fall colors, I can't believe how pretty it is. Who knew we lived so close to such a wonderful place! This bike path is certainly the best kept secret in West Haven.

Enjoying the scenery... :)

The Entrance to a park near our home

Off the beaten path

My cute little husband

Some cute stranger I encountered along the trail. Can you blame me?

Please vote in our poll at the bottom of the blog. Your input will influence our social well being and happiness. Thanks!

Goodness, What Savings!

2009-10-10T13:06:00.000-07:00

Hello-Super Saver here. :) I am delighted to inform you that under the careful tutelage of the Boomer family of Kaysville, UT, and with the help of pinchingyourpennies.com we have been able to save mucho money at the grocery store with excellent sales and fatty piles of coupons. Last week, I breezed out of Albertsons feeling like a superstar. I even checked my receipt, and went back in to claim my extra $7 in savings! And, it gets better! Our pantry is practically overflowing! What a delightful feeling! I almost don't want to cook any of it because it looks so nice bursting at the seams.

Another Super Saver moment: On Saturday morning the Weber County School District was having a surplus sale. As we were walking around dodging the masses of people Ryan saw "it." Something that would be perfect for his classroom. Something that would really show the kiddies just who was boss: a podium. We got it on the spot and it is now settled comfortably in Ryan's classroom. Ryan also spotted a book shelf with no price tag. I wandered over to the lady in charge and asked how much they wanted for the shelf. The man next to her said, "name your price." Hmmm........ "$2," I said, feeling only slightly cheap. "It's yours." Yes! What an excellent deal. We were also able to score a nice desk for only "five American dolla" that I am now sitting at, blogging like a crazie. :)

Conclusion of all this: I'm addicted to coupons and food storage! Food storage is a commandment, so no wonder we are able to get some excellent storage with little money spent. What a wonderful blessing!

Dedicated to Megan: For her hard work at Alberto's risking carpel tunnel and the wrath of coupon moms.

Legumer

2009-10-07T17:45:00.000-07:00

Ryan recently started referring to moi, his adoring wife, as a legumer. It is a combination of the word legume and gomer. The name originated on a recent trek home from Star Valley to dear ol' West Haven in torrential rains, with both of us experiencing incessant hunger. I blame these two factors and my car sickness on our digression into a discussion about legumes, gomers, and their superior, the legumer.

Dedicated to Lauren, resident expert on legumes....and gomers.