A Much Needed St. George Trip

This last weekend, Dave and I left Thursday for St. George. We had all day Friday to ourselves down there. We slept in, went shopping, took an intense ride up Snow Canyon on the bikes, and enjoyed eating at our number #1, favorite place, Parrothead Island Broiler! Oh man, it's heavenly!

Late Friday night, Brittney, Michael and his friend John joined us. Saturday we slept in, and then took advantage of the mid-60 degree sunshine. Britt and I went for a nice exploration run in the red rocked hills, we all played some tennis, and then went for a late afternoon hike in Snow Canyon State Park. That night we ate at a Mexican restaurant and enjoyed some thick, creamy Iceberg shakes. When Sunday afternoon came, it was hard to say good-bye. I really have never felt so much awe when thinking about a place to be. I love St. George and I'm not just saying that. AWE....

Hike in Snow Canyon

It's entertaining to watch Michael do these kinds of things like hikes and outdoor-sie things. We didn't really ever experience much of it growing up :)

President's Weekend

Well, the St. George plans changed as the weekend forecast continued to be the bearer of bad news as the weekend approached. We ended up staying northward, but it turned out to be full of activities and fun.

Friday was a date night. Dinner was famous Big Bens at the Burger Bar. Saturday, we went down to Sandy. We ate lunch, went to a movie, watched the NBA All-Star competitions, and played games with my family. I have never been one for video games and I even have a hard time liking the Wii but I found that I really like the game Just Dance 2. I could play it forever. Catch Phase was a lot of fun with my family too. We were with Dave's family on Sunday celebrating Bridget's birthday. We stayed late talking with them and debating whether or not to go snowboarding Monday. Well, with our cheap ways we decided to still enjoy the fresh new snow but instead of trying to beat the crowds and all we went snow-shoeing. It was a lot of fun! We got good exercise and had fun trudging out new trails up at Snowbasin.

Dave had to try this out. I tried to take more pictures of us actually snow-shoeing but the camera was being touchy.

I love my adventurous husband! Thanks for a terrific weekend!

Kitchen and Bedroom Before and Afters

A couple weeks ago we finally fixed two things in our kitchen that have been nipping at us since we moved in. We got a new light for over the sink. Dave busted the light cover with his head when we first painted the kitchen, I hated the light anyway. We also replaced the faucet. If you were one of those that thought you busted our sink faucet while trying to turn it off, you're welcome, no more worrying now. They are two simple things that have made my kitchen even more to love...now if I could talk Dave into redoing the cabinets.

Befores

Afters

I really love how it just brings the whole window scene together!

Bedroom

We purchased and built our new bedroom set at the end of last year but we have had to send back two mattresses because of defects so I have not been able to take pictures. The third mattress has been fine so far so we shouldn't have to send this one back and we can finally enjoy it! I love it! I can't believe that we spent almost 4 years without this amazing thing. I love the new look of our bedroom too!

Before

Afters

The Clark Planetarium

We celebrated Mike Price's (my father-in-law) Birthday visiting the Clark Planetarium Saturday. We saw the Hubble 3D movie and explored the planetarium. If you know Dave, seeing him in that place is like watching a kid in a candy shop. He loves it! So it kind of felt like Dave's Birthday...

Happy Birthday Mike!

On the moon....well, sort of.

Look like a diagram you've seen before???

I couldn't help but making a connection between the stages of evolution and this picture...and yes, Dave and I are the early stages.

The New Year

I haven't had a chance to sit down and write any goals or resolutions down for the new year but I have thought a lot about it. Among many other goals like doing all of Lotoja and such, I've decided that my ultimate goal this year is to live and teach by example. I want my actions to show who I am and what I believe and stand for. This goal stretches from being Mrs. Price to being Rachel, and even a stranger getting cut off on the way home from a long day at school. I have been blessed with so much and even though life is tough and busy, someone out there is worse off.

Dave and I are so grateful for all that we have. Life just seems to pass by quicker each year but we love the memories we get to hold close to our hearts. Here are a few of our New Years' celebrations so far:

Friends

Family

Christmas 2010

Christmas Eve

Started out with some arm wrestling...

next came some grub...

then came the Christmas story re-enactment (minus our real baby-baby Everett had a rough night so he was replaced by a rolled up towel which Cora took great care of),

next came presents,

then off to bed and awaiting Santa's visit.

Christmas Day

Christmas morning brunch,

settling down for a long winter's nap (while cheering on Miami, only for the sake of the Lakers losing... and Michael),

then on to our 4th annual Christmas dinner at the Little America,

and last but certainly not least, some Christmas lights on Temple Square.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Kid's Quotes of the Week-Religious Edition

It's the Christmas season and my kids (students, I like to refer to them as my kids) have become new people. What I mean is that they are acting out and being so naughty! It doesn't help when i am sometimes the culprit in the sillyness, but I decided if you can't beat them, join them. Its made me not as grumpy but it's taken all my energy!

Anyway, on to the funny things...I wish I started this at the beginning of the year, because the things I hear from those children each day are epic! I know when that day comes that I have my own children it will be great, but until then I have 22 children Monday- Fridays that I absolutely am head over heels for. Ok, so the last couple weeks we've been talking about Christmas with books and art projects. I wanted my kids to know that Christmas wasn't just about getting gifts from Santa. I tried to explain to them what Santa symbolized; giving, nothing more, nothing less. Next thing I know, the kids are all raising their hands and yelling out that Christmas is about Jesus' birth and more things about him that I can't quite remember. I just bit my tongue and worked my way around the topic to get their minds off it, which is pretty hard when they all get chatting. In no way am I trying to teach religion to my kids, but I was glad to hear that each one of my kids knew that.

Next quote, "Only boys can be the priesthood." That came from a boy in my class when we were talking about the presidents that were on the coins. He then fixed himself quietly and said, "president." Another boy in my class that was sitting right in front of him, turned around suddenly and said, "What's the priesthood?!?" I quickly changed the subject.

Last one, "When we are resurrected, we won't have any blood." One of my girls said this yesterday when we were discussing a story we just had read about how we are alike kids around the world. The book talked about everyone has blood and hearts and another one of my kids had just commented that we all have bodies...so then came this quote. Luckily no one had anything to say back to her so my toosh was saved there.

Another student brought a paper-made manger with a paper Jesus inside for show-and-tell. That was interesting, too.

I just hope my kids don't go home telling mom and dad that Mrs. Price told them this or that because when these comments come I duck and cover and do my best to revert to another topic. It does give me a chuckle inside.

Our Christmas Came Early This Year

We decided to splurge a little on ourselves this Christmas... We have been sleeping in a hand-me-down mattress since we've been married and for the last 6 months the mattress has been on an angle, docs orders, but we've been planning for an upgrade and decided that Christmas would be a good time. We ordered a new bedroom set online and bought the most comfortable mattress from Knights. The set wasn't suppose to be here until Tuesday but arrived Friday afternoon. We also splurged on a media center. Thanks to our friends, Kara and Nic, who got Dave wanting one. We ordered most of the parts on Black Friday so we had all of the parts to build it in the last week.

With Dave's eagerness to do anything but study for his final coming up on Monday, Saturday turned into a building day. Dave is so good at building, fixing, and figuring things out and he LOVES it! He was having a blast putting together the computer for the media center. It was so funny to watch him and hear him say how much fun he was having. We took a quick break to go get our mattress and then we were back to building. We spent about 4 hours last night taking apart our old bed, moving furniture out, putting furniture together, cleaning and then setting up our new bedroom. By the time we were done we were so ready to lay on that new bed. Before calling it a night, we had to take advantage of our new media center and watch our favorite, Chuck. I don't think I've ever been so happy in my sleep as I was last night. Dave's complaint this morning was that I took all the blanket... my reply was, "I couldn't help myself. I was surrounded by puffiness and it made me so happy." I'll try to share tonight.

It looks like Dave knew I was taking this picture by his smiling but he actually had no idea, he was just that happy with what he was doing. Silly boy.

Our house was and still is a disaster!

I couldn't get up!

For some reason, a lot of our bills come in December like insurance, my car's safety and emissions, and this year my back tires were getting scary bald so we had to drop some money on those. There goes the rest of our Christmas money... I am happy we have two incomes at this point in time. If it was last year, I think I'd faint over the money we've spent.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!