I know, I know, I know....

So, I've been getting thoroughly chastised about my lack of bloggage recently. Did I, or did I not get the title of World's Worst Blogger? I'm just trying to uphold my title.

Actually... I'm just ridiculously busy at the moment. We're moving in 6 days... yes, 6 days, and the freaking out has commenced. I just finished my last day of teaching yesterday, and that was a bit of a crazy time, trying to get everything moved out, sub plans, saying goodbye to the kids, etc. Not to mention we can barely even sit on our couch at home because we have so many dang boxes that are trying to take over our house. WOW. I'm going to be pretty stoked to get the U-haul, just so we can get our apartment back.

So I PROMISE that once we get settled in AZ, Brett's started school, we've moved in to our cute new apartment, and I don't feel like a chicken with it's head cut off anymore, I will give you the update of your life. Pictures, major events, anything to keep me out of the hot AZ sun :) Promise. So, in about a week and a half, prepare to be amazed! Until then.... I shall be wearing my crown as World's Worst Blogger!


PS-- Lil' Baby is doing well, we find out if it's a boy/girl in about 3 weeks!! I'm sooooooooo excited to see if we're having a little Michael or a Brooklyn!

The Beating Heart...

So, today was a pretty nifty day for Brett and I. We got to hear the beating heart of our little baby!! It was pretty fun to know that there's something actually alive in there.... and that I'm not this tired for no reason at all! I'm excited to get out of this first trimester business and feel a little bit more like myself again. Luckily, the whole sickness thing passed over me, so life has been pretty good the past 2 1/2 months. Only 2 weeks to go until the trimester is OVER!!

Keep going, little baby heart, keep going :)

We're not homeless!!

This week has been filled with craziness for us! We were thrilled on Monday when we were finally able to pay off my car and become debt free (for the next two months.... before starting Grad. School in Arizona) It was a big relief because we didn't think we were going to be able to get it paid off before we moved. Thankfully, a miracle occurred, and we were able to make it all work and now the car is officially ours!! Wahoo!

We also put our Provo apartment up for sale and had about 15 million people look at it. It sold after about 24 hours, and so we're set to go when we move. We were getting a little nervous, however, because we had applied for housing on campus in Arizona about 3 months ago, and still hadn't heard back. Luckily, we heard back yesterday and WE HAVE A HOUSE!! We got an apartment on campus, so Brett will just have to walk across the street to go to school. This is a huge blessing in itself, since we'll only have 1 car when we get out there, and I'll be working for a while.

I tried to get some pictures of what the apartment looks like, but they won't let me copy them.... so let's just say, it's a bit of a step above where we are right now. It has a REAL fridge and a REAL stove. Not a mini-fridge and an easy-bake oven!! I'm so excited about that, I can barely stand it! We also got an apartment that has 1 bedroom and a den. So, a little more space than we have right now. I'm so ridiculously excited about the move-- now that we have a place to go. It's making it seem a lot more real. I think it's incredible that it's only 2 months away. Ok, well that does it for the rambling today :) Yay for having somewhere to live!

In Memory...

Unfortunately, about 2 weeks ago, my mom had to put our precious puppy down. She spent a wonderful 14 years with our family and we will miss her immensely. Here are some of my favorite things about my Jetta.

* Running and flying off the porch to go catch those birdies or cats in the back yard.

* The pitter-patter of little paws running to get her food. (We so should have put her on a dog food commercial.)

* Trying to get Jetta to disobey rules and come upstairs or to come sleep on my bed. :)

* Blowing on her ears and making her rub her head all over the floor.




* Watching her run around the house going crazy after a bath.

* Seeing her after she gets shaved like a lab puppy.

* Chasing after all of the candy after we broke the pinata at Christmas time. (After cowering under the piano bench while we were hitting the pinata.)



*Being my best furry friend for the last 14 years. Puppy Heaven just got a great addition. We love you!!!

ALOHA!

Welcome to the Islands! Brett and I were super tired of the freezing cold that we've been experiencing recently, so we decided to bring some warmth to our lives by having a Hawaii party with a couple of our friends. We had Hawaiian Haystacks, made "sand castles" out of brown sugar, and watched Surf's Up to wrap it all up. I also made Pineapple Upside Down Cake for the very first time in my life, and was very pleased with the results. :) Here are a couple of pictures of our fun night...


Toni and Sage had an AWESOME castle. They made a super cool arch/doorway to the entrance of their castle. Toni loved it and kept abusing Sage after he had knocked it down. AWESOME.

Derek and Kori with their "Golden Bullet" castle. They wanted to have little Lego men and start a war with our different castles.... if only we had thought of that detail...

Our lovely creation. We were the first ones to run out of brown sugar.... we were just living by our family motto-- GO BIG OR GO HOME. Since we were already home, we had to go big :)

Derek and Kori next built a sugar man and decided that using the measuring cup for a nose was a good idea. Silly, silly.

Well, that's about it. We're counting down the days until Melissa (Brett's sister) gets home from her mission-- that would be 12 days, getting ready to celebrate Sar's birthday, and looking forward to a three day weekend soon :)

Venting of an Irritated Commuter

So, I just really need to get my feelings out about the last week. The weather has been so terrible and I am SICK of it! Last week was pretty stressful at school because we had such a crazy week. It was full of assemblies, and special programs that made my kids absolutely CRAZY. Then, to top everything off, the icky weather moved in. I love Utah. I love the mountains, and the changing of the leaves, and the joy of living in a bubble, but I HATE SNOW! I don't know if I am cursed and that's why Utah has had the worst winters in the world the past 6 years that I've lived here, but I am so tired of seeing white stuff falling out of the sky. You know, it IS pretty, and really fun to look at from the warm indoors. However, driving in it is a totally different story.

I know that most of you have heard this story, but I will put it into print for everyone to see. So last Friday, I was driving to school (it was raining on this particular day) and as I was driving on the freeway, my windshield wipers decided that it was a great time to have a huge fight. They attacked each other and the right wiper (unfortunately) won. Therefore, I am driving on the freeway without a working left windshield wiper. This was unfortunate because a) I couldn't see anything b) cars kept driving by me and splashing my already soaking wet car c) I thought I was going to die. Luckily, that didn't happen and my wipers are now fixed, but I am still SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO tired of commuting. It is so stressful, especially when the weather is bad. I am so looking forward to Arizona where there will be no evil snow....

Ok, the end of my rantings and ravings about the evil weather.

Welp, Here's an Update for YOU!

Ok, seriously, I know that I am World's Worst Blogger, and I take that title very seriously. Sorry for the long lapse of silence, and I would make a promise that it will never happen again.... but I would just break that, so I'll put it on my New Year's Resolutions list to be better about updating the blog. (Although, that will probably go out the window as fast as my efforts to become skinny again.... we'll see.)

Well, I guess I better just start with the most exciting news. THE PRAXIS HAS BEEN PASSED! I got a lovely surprise last month when I was able to look at my scores online and realize that I had passed. Both Tara (my co-worker who took it with me) and I passed a good deal above the "passing line" so we were feeling pretty good about ourselves. I am just so relieved that I never have to think about the stupid Praxis EVER again. Not to mention, it will look super great on my applications to Arizona. Whew, glad that stage in life is over.

We got to go to Colorado to have Christmas with my family, and what a glorious vacation it was! We got to use our new video camera a great deal, and had a blast hanging out with my mom and dad, watching Chuck in a serious marathon, and eating a TON of ridiculously amazing food. No wonder I look like a balloon. Mom, Sar, and I even got to have a girls sob fest while we watched Marley and Me. Ps- if you are putting your dog down anytime soon, DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE! We were sobbing like little school girls for the better part of a hour. And I'm not talking little tears, I'm talking SOBBING hysterically, and having a mother who won't share Kleenex with you. Our amazingly cute (but slobbery at the moment) puppy is going to be put down soon because of the ginormous tumor she has in her mouth. It was very unfortunate timing for our family to see the movie. Needless to say, we went straight to Jetta when we got home and petted her until we couldn't stand the stench anymore.

We also got to hang out with our amazing friends, the Seegmillers and have "Happy Duke Year" where we spend New Year's Eve shoving fondue in our faces, and laughing so hard we almost wet our pants numerous times. It's almost "baa-thetic", you know? Seriously, there's nothing like Dr. Laura and the Nerds of a Feather to really get you going. ( and that would be an Indian (dot, not feather) princess-- thank you Dan.) If you didn't understand a single word of the past several sentences-- don't feel too bad, just be sad that you missed Happy Duke Year. We had no plans whatsoever to stay up until midnight, and indeed, planned to celebrate the New Year with New York, but had so much fun playing Balderdash that we didn't even start our dessert fondue until 11:30 and had to hussle to get our cups filled with "bubbly" to bring in the New Year. This was all happening, however, as Dan was peacefully slumbering on the floor-- he is such the party pooper :) I believe it was the best Happy Duke Year yet, and I was so glad to be a part of it.

Well, now we're back to reality. Brett started working full time today, and I headed back to the classroom. I was very excited to find a new whiteboard in my room instead of the evil, poo-brown, chalkboard that resided there earlier. Can we say, Welcome to the 21st century?? It's nice to be out of the Dark Ages. So, that about sums it up. Maybe someday I'll actually get some pictures up here so you can ogle at the amazingness of our trip.... but then again, I have to hold up my "World's Worst Blogger" title, and that just might blow my chances....

OH! PS-- Brett graduated from BYU too. That's pretty dang exciting. Minus the fact that he doesn't get to walk until April. Seriously, why is BYU so lame with the whole graduating thing? Let him have the cap and gown and diploma, for goodness sakes!