Christmas '11

This Christmas season, minus the time Dave was gone, was unbelievably so so great! We had a lot of fun and got spoiled along with it. We got to see many friends, along with those that live elsewhere around the country. My friend Alli and her cute baby and hubby, Justin, came up to visit one night. We enjoyed their company and had fun playing with Haddy's tough face.

Christmas Eve was at the Price's. We began the festivities by marking and measuring each individuals height on their wall that dates back to 1991. We were pretty precise in the measurements and I got super excited after mine and yelled out, "I didn't shrink!" See the picture below. We ate a delicious dinner and then had our nativity and readings of the nativity, etc. Papa Claus showed up a bit after that and we got nice under armor socks! Then came presents, and yes, we are owners of a new blanket! It's not Christmas if I don't receive a blanket:) Not that I don't enjoy new, fuzzy, warm blankets. I swear someone thinks I freeze or something. The blanket is a Lotoja blanket, so it's pretty cool!

Christmas day came quick and we had to rise early to open our stockings and then rush down to my parents to start the homemade cinnamon rolls and then get to church by 9:30. The cinnamon rolls hit the spot that morning, for everyone. We all probably had at least 3 each. We opened presents with my family and when we do this we have to each take turns and so we always make Kaitlin open at least two at a time and at by the end she still has a pile of gifts to open. It happens every year. It's quite comical. Dave and I got S.P.OI.L.ED! Later, we got to have the Christensen family join us for dinner at my parents. Then, we got to go see some friends. Alli, Justin and baby Haddy, Kara, Nic and baby Kaylee, and Brittney and John. A little reunion.

Late Christmas night, we picked up my cousin, Kristen, from the airport. She flew in from San Diego for the week. We had a lot of fun while she was here! We took her boarding Monday; to Temple Square Tuesday night; tours around Salt Lake, Hill Air Force Base, and Ogden; Friday, we found what little snow was left up by Snow Basin and went sledding for about 20 minutes, just enough time to experience sledding. I felt bad, she came for the snow and it was quite scarce! We had a really good time while she was hear though! I'm so glad she came out to stay with us!

Wednesday, I was able to meet up with friends from elementary for lunch at Canellas downtown. It was so fun to see them! We also got to have Dave's buddies over Thursday evening for dinner. It's always fun to see them! They all have babies or ones on the way.

I'm so excited!

Michael's tissue shirt

My trophy for "Being the Greatest Sister"

Kaitlin sewed a patch on my mom's old shirt and gave it to me:)

We gave my mom a book about my grandma that two of my cousins, lovingly put together. It's amazing! So my mom got pretty emotional!

The new restaurant at Fashion Place, Brio. The food portions were quite large.

Elementary friends!

December Catch-up!

Wow! This month has flown by! Which is partly a good thing. Dave left for some work training December 4th and returned late Friday the 16th. It was the longest we have ever been apart, that is for sure! I kept really busy luckily but at night it got pretty lonely and I had a hard time sleeping. When I picked him up from the airport, I hid behind the car in front of me and then jumped out and ran into his arms as he came walking up to the car. I was so excited to see him and wrap my arms around him! I don't know how military wives do it! I've got a friend that is one and I don't envy her one bit!

Dave was a bit sad that he missed half of the holiday season and he got a bit frustrated when he had to go out in the crowds and shop. But I'm happy to have him home and t

hat behind us. I had dreaded that two weeks since I found out about it in the summer.

He left right after the Windageddon and our roof was in shambles so he patched it together the best he could with the time he had before he left. He put tarp over the big patches and nailed down as much he could. We'll be replacing the whole front side of our roof come spring. We were going to purchase new blinds for the whole house for our Christmas present to ourselves but that money and then some will be going to the new roof. Here's to home ownership.

Other good news: for those that know my troubles in the last year with my cycle, I STARTED ALL ON MY OWN! I have not had a normal period on my own for just over a year. When this first happened last year, yes, I had a big worry that I was prego, but I didn't think I was, but still so I took my first ever pregnancy test. I've taken quite a few threw the year due to my messed up cycle. I have always had a normal period so throughout the year it was pretty frustrating. I tool Provera at least 5 times throughout the year to jump start my period but finally this month I felt a normal, on-my-own period and it was great! Ha, you don't normally hear that from a girl but I couldn't tell you how ecstatic I was when it showed up! Now, I cross my fingers and pray it will come back next month. Pray for me:)

One of the many ways I kept busy while Dave was gone was spending time with his family. We went to Temple Square and also had a little hors d'oeuvres party at Brittany's (his sister). Thanks for the company and parties!

Dave's Gammy

Hot, Chunky and Orange

Today was going well. My classroom was functioning great and the kids were quiet; it might have helped that five kids were missing but it was still nice. Lunch came, my tummy was rumbling and I was ready for my leftover butternut squash soup from last night. I went to the faculty room and warmed up my soup. Thought about sitting in there to eat for once but changed my mind...darn me. I went back to my classroom. Started setting up to eat and work at my computer like usual. Went to grab the tupperware by the side. The lid must have been not on all the way. As I picked it up, the other side of the lid tipped up while the bowl tipped down and out poured hot, chunky and orange soup. It oozed down my white sweater-vest, shirt, in my apron, desk, dress pants, fabric shoes and covering the floor around me. I spent the rest of the lunch cleaning up and the rest of the day colored orange. My kids were pretty nice even though it stunk and I looked funny.

Thanksgiving

This year we went with my family down to St. George. My aunt, Patrice, and most of her family came down as well. We left Wednesday early afternoon and stayed until Sunday. The weather was 60s all weekend. No complaint there, as always. Wednesday evening was spent grocery shopping for our Thanksgiving feast!

Thursday, we started the day's festivities off with a Co-ed Turkey Bowl. It was the Winn's vs. Nasella's. We had the disadvantage with less bodies but it was still fun and we even got my mom on the field. We didn't eat until about 5:30 because of the turkey. It seems we're always waiting on that turkey. So, I was pretty much full by the time we ate from all the snacking on crackers and herb and garlic cheese while I was cooking! Yum! I was regretting how much I ate for the next day or so. My tummy wasn't happy with me. I don't think I was hungry until two days later.

This year, I participated more than I ever have in Black Friday. I decided to check out the midnight openings of stores that night. I took my mom and Kaitlin with me. We started at Kohl's....that store was ridiculous! There were people every square foot I went. The line was wrapped around the store and through the middle and more. Later, i found out my friend waited in line for an hour and a half. The next day was just as bad there though. My mom wouldn't even go in the store. We hit the outlets on our way home and made a few purchases. The next morning, I dragged my brother out with my friend Allie and I for some more shopping. I ended up finding a few things. Dave and I got an early Christmas present from my parents, a new camera. It's super nice! We have always liked the idea of getting a really nice one but not quite yet but this one is right in the middle of a simple digital and super fancy, photographer camera. So hopefully we'll get back to taking more pictures again.

The rest of the weekend was nice. We played tennis and swam and such. I didn't take one school thing with me! I got read and finally finished my book that I've been working on for awhile. It was a nice break from life.

November 5, 2011

Two weeks ago, we were able to attend one of my old student's baptism. She is sure a cutie and a great girl. I've become really close with the family, her mom, Katie, is my friend too. It was fun to be there. I got to see a few of my other students from last year at the baptism as well! We headed over to her house for lunch and play after. Dave was a popular one with all the kids (not a surprise, I know). Dave did start it by initiating a mini snowball fight as soon as the kids came out the door to greet us. After that, he was the kids jungle gym/entertainment for the majority of the time we were there. See pictures below.

Me, Kayli and Dave

The girls are flirting...Katie's mom even said "at least the girls were going after the good looking one." Should I be jealous?

Think he's enjoying the attention a little too much?

The boys loved him too. Kimball wouldn't let go of his leg for quite awhile.

Stress

This last week was a bit stressful. As I told some, Dave's job and my sanity were both up in the air. Luckily, we are both still here and breathing regularly again. With the budget cuts, rumors had it that they were going to move Dave's department to a different base. There were other things involved but that is the main jist of it. They finally came out and said they weren't shutting the department down at Hill, just switching some things up and weeding out job positions in the next year or so. So for now, we are staying put, but that can always change. Cross our fingers that they won't.

As for me, this year school year has been quite draining overall. I feel as if I am drowning. By this time last year, things had started to ease up and I was able to get a rhythm down but I strongly believe it won't ease up on me at all this year. All of the teachers at my school are feeling a lot of the same ways I am. I've been taking stacks of things to do home each night, especially on the weekends. It's as if my job is around the clock. I even lay awake most nights with it on my mind and then I dream it, too. It's quite exhausting! I love what I do, there is no doubt about that. I am just suffocating. I try so hard not to let it all get to me but it's tough. I about had a melt down Tuesday or Wednesday evening, because my brain was so overloaded by everything that day and with what I was working on, so I kept making little mistakes here and there, and with every mistake I make it just means more time that I need to spend on whatever I am doing. I really really hope that it will ease up sometime soon. But as for now, I was able to get a few breaths in this weekend. Just know why, if you come to my house and it's not clean there are many good explanations. I'm not happy to have a messy house, but I am picking and choosing my battles to help my sanity at the moment. :)

Happy Halloween!

The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf

My munchkins

Most of the clan at Willard

Our Halloween Tree

Pumpkin Carving and More

Last Friday, we had most of Dave's fam over for pumpkin carving and s'mores. Everyones pumpkins turned out great! I was on pumpkin seed finding duty. I end up doing this every year and my pumpkin never gets carved but I enjoy it because then we get to eat roasted pumpkin seeds! Which turned out to be a great snack after roasting mallows. Once everyone was done carving, we started a fire on the back deck and roasted mallows and told scary stories at Cora's request. We ended the night with some you tube videos.

Saturday, I had a tennis match at Ogden Athletic Club. I had a little cheering crowd (Dave, Cora and Cris). Cora made a sign for me and held it up a lot of the match. It was super cute! Thanks for the support!

Hard at work

Dave has vocalized his interest in working in a haunted house.

Roasting mallows

Dave's final product. He was going for the scariest at work but ended up winning the funniest...he was a bit offended:)

Cora's cheering sign