thugs giving out hugs!

What a grand long week we've had and what a bright future week we...I mean I have ahead of me. Ryan has to look forward towards finals, while I'm on Spring Break.

Last week was somewhat busy and crazy and grand and wonderful.

Monday I went to school. Ryan went to school. After school I came home. After school Ryan came home. Then we both went to Sizzlers with Mama and Papa Woodbury. They took us out to a late birfday treat for Ryan. I had never been to Sizzlers before. Its always fun to go to a new restaurant. Since it was both Papa Bear's and Ryan's birfdays the waitress gave them free root beer floats. It was fun to go out to dinner with the parentals. I love spending time with my newly acquired parents. I still have a lot to learn about them.

Tuesday we went to school. We came home from school. Then we packed up some blankets and headed across the street to the UVU Baseball Field to watch Pete play ball. It was so much fun to be out and about. I love watching sport events in person. It makes me really want to play sports again. It was fun to watch Pete pitch for the 7th inning.

Wednesday we went to school. Then we went to a park and flew kites with Dalton and his girly-friend. I loved absolutely LOVED watching Ryan fly a kite. We got there a bit early and so while we waited for Dalton we threw around some lacrosse balls with our sticks since we always keep them handy in the truck. I could tell it was killing Ryan to have the kite so close yet he had to wait. After about 10 minutes he couldn't take it anymore he had to "set up" the kite. Which really meant he opened the package, and then attached the string. With the kite set up Ryan then knew he had to test out the kite. So Ryan ran around the park jumping and screaming for joy with his kite following him. I'm pretty sure as soon as the kite string touched his hand my good husband was transformed into a 6 year old boy. We took plenty of pictures and even a movie. Look for those on Facebook or in later posts since our camera is currently MIA.

Thursday we both went to Elementary. At BYU it was a reading day so Ryan came to my classroom with me. The kids love him. They were so excited to see him and play 4-square with him. Ryan had fun and at the end of the day he was exhausted. I love giving him a chance to empathize with me. Lots of people believe that teaching is a easy job, that anyone can do it. Those thoughts really get to me. Teaching is an emotionally draining and physically draining job. If you don't believe me you are more then welcome to come to school with me for a full day. ;)

Friday Ryan went to his Psychology Conference in Salt Lake and I went to school. We got home around the same time which was nice. (Home being my Dad's place to save us time and gas since we were both up in Salt Lake Area). We went to Cafe Rio and took our food and our kite to the park. I had gotten a headache earlier Friday so I wasn't too much fun, but that didn't stop Ryan. He downed his food just like a kid who can't wait to enter the Play Place, and he was off flying his kite. After a good couple of flys Ryan noticed that I wasn't feeling any better, in fact I was feeling worse. The bright sunlight was not helping my head. So we went back over to my Dad's and I promptly feel asleep. (6pm) Ryan woke me up at 9pm to get ready for bed and then we both went back to bed.

Saturday Ryan was off to his conference again and I stuck around my Dad's casa. At noon my Dad, his girlfriend and her mother and me (of course) piled into my Dad's jeep and we headed up to Marie's Lacrosse game. Ryan's parents went and got Ryan and then met us at the game. It was fun being outside again watching sports. After the game (Marie's team lost sad day) we went with the Woodbury's out to Linner (lunch + dinner) and then we packed up our stuff and headed back down to Orem.

See I told you we had a crazy week.

Now I'm on lovely spring break while Ryan is cramming for finals. This Thursday night we'll head down to Moab for the Easter Jeep Safari. I am so excited to get out and get some warm sun on my poor white skin. ;)

Bitter Herbs

I feel like our weeks are always pretty boring and dull. We, wait..., I wake up get ready head for school. Ryan rolls out of bed, makes the bed ;) and then gets ready and heads for school. I teach all day. I have some pretty silly adventures with my students but they all seem to blur into one another now. Then I come home, make dinner, and get ready for bed. Ryan's days are pretty routine. Go to school, learn, do homework, eat, do homework, eat, study, eat, sleep.

But we try to make up for the dull on the weekends. ;)

This weekend, Ryan and I got to attend a Passover Sador at BYU. It was eye opening! I am shocked that I knew so little about Passover. Being LDS I understand the fact that we don't celebrate Passover every year, but it has so many symbols and traditions that are mentioned in the scriptures. The professor who directed the Passover was Brother Ludlow (the dad) and it was so worth it. He talked about the Savior and how He fulfilled Passover. He talked about Elijah and how He fulfilled Passover. Etc Etc Etc.

I have a better understanding of the scriptures that mention Passover. The Passover was the Pre-sacrament service for the Israelites. I loved going and I hope we can start our first family tradition. I don't want to celebrate Passover every year but I feel like its an important thing to teach our family. We'll see how it goes.

Saturday we were busy bees! Running around to stores, cleaning house, doing homework etc so come 6pm we could attend Cousin Day. For Cousin Day we all met up at Cousin Brennon's new house and had fondue and we played Disney Trivia. Ryan and I killed at Disney trivia!

Sunday we had Stake Conference. So we were home at noon and had the rest of the day to lay around, take a nap together, and bake a cheesecake (from scratch)! I love baking and cooking but I never have time to really feel relaxed while I cook. I always start dinner soon after coming home from 40 minutes of construction traffic. Thus I'm still dealing with that stress and sense of urgency. Sundays I love cooking and creating.

Next week I'm going to make Ryan dye some eggs with me! We might even use one of his silk ties :)

Happy Birfday Husband!!!!!!

Today is my dear husband's Birfday! He is amazing! First I'll give you the good details on his gifts and excitement.

Yesterday I went to Target to get my dear man

a gift. Not knowing beforehand what I should do I went in with an open heart. I picked out a couple movies and then continued to wander the aisles in case something more exciting and a little more customized popped out! Lucky for him it did!

I was so excited to give it to him I made him open it last night. Earlier as you read you were all judging me as a poor planned wife buying his gift the night before but little did you know my absolute awfulness of keeping things secret. ;) So he opened them as follows

First I made him close his eyes and wait. He was so excited ;)

This was my first gift. He was really confused! ;) PERFECT

Next I gave him this lantern. I do believe his first thought was...."my wife is not so bright with the lantern thing"

Third I gave him batteries. Now he's thinking "my wife isn't so silly with the lantern thing"

Fourth I gave him extension cords. This wasn't a birthday gift it was just on the shopping list. It was to throw him off right before the grand finale.

I got him a lovely camping stove for all the many adventures we have this summer.

I love my husband. I love him so much I'm going to stop blogging now and give him some good lovin' attention. Adios!

Party in the USA!

What a killer week!?! I have a new respect for wives with traveling husbands. Its no fun at all!

Ryan went up to Canada this past weekend to hit up a Child Development Conference. He's a genius and was invited to go up with the professor that he works for, present a poster, get published, talk to some big wigs etc etc. If you want more on that story ask Ryan himself since all I envision when he tells me about it is a science fair for adults.

Anywho Tuesday night we drove up to SoJo to spend the night with the parentals since Ryan would get picked up for the airport around 4am. We slept on the hida-bed. (That was an adventure in and of its self). Wednesday morning Ryan got up while I totally enjoyed sleeping in and having him stumble around in the dark. Then he left. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday went pretty routinely since I had work all day then I'd spend the evenings with my Dad or his Mom. Sleeping was hard. I never did get a good nights rest.

Saturday was the absolute worst. I woke up around 7am and got up knowing I had nothing to do all day. I basically went through the day figuring our how many hours off the wait time each activity would give me. Eyebrow wax = 30 minutes off my wait time. Library = 2 hours off my wait time. Conference = 4 hours off my wait time. Etc all day long counting down the time until Ryan's flight would get in at 10pm. When Ryan entered the country he called me and informed me that his flight got delayed. NO GOOD! I spent the evening with Melanie doing Priesthood Crafts, having dinner, watching Tangled. It was actually quite fun although I couldn't help myself I checked the clock every couple minutes.

FINALLY Ryan texted that they had landed at around 11pm. Around midnight Clayne (Ryan's Dad) saw a car's lights in the circle. He jumped up to the window and confirmed that my husband was home. He then proceeded to open the door and yell out in excitement. When I saw the lights I got up to go greet my husband but Clayne's excitement was just too funny so I let him have all the glory. I just sat on the couch and waited for Ryan to come give me a proper hello!

My husband is home! I am happy! Conference was a blast today with the Woodbury's. I love my family. I love my husband. I love the gospel!

7 YEARS!?!?!?!

Yesterday Ryan and I had a lot of fun being productive. We ran to Bed, Bath, & Beyond to grab some items. Then we came home. Ryan did homework and I ran to the library, Walmart and Bed, Bath & Beyond. Then we both were home. Ryan needed a break from homework so we watched a wee bit of Newsies. (One of our favorites) Later we headed up to SoJo for Betty and Brett's wedding. It was a great wedding for us to attend. Ryan played lacrosse with Brett and I played lacrosse for Betty. I do believe we've found a good pair of married friends to chill with. Then we stopped by the Woodbury Parentals for some good conversations and food. ;)

Today, Sunday, was a roller coaster of emotions for me. I woke up happy but during the morning routine I was hit by a strong wave of grief for my mom. I just started crying and wanted to crawl back in bed. Ryan was so good. He held me and really laid on the comfort. Then he left me alone when I needed to just cry and calm down. It was nice to be able to be allowed to feel that grief and emotions. Ryan is a gift. He knows just what to do for me. While in the bed by myself crying I calmed down with the help of the Spirit and started focusing on all the good times with my Mom. All the crazy things that she would do.

xample:

- she was a prankster in young womens and she never lived down some of the things she did there. Once she tied fishing line to the dinner bell and then would secretly ring the thing from her cabin-bed late at night.

- another thing that I remember was once at Youth Conference up in Jackson Hole we were playing volleyball against the leaders. My very dignified Mother made a wonderful spike and then leaped up in the air with a jolly good scream of excitement. I was shocked to see my Mom acting like a teenager; especially when she won and let us all know we had lost.

- I thought of all the notes she would send me, the emails, the letters, the cards to let me know she loved me whenever I was far from home.

-I thought of her sitting at the Stats table at the lacrosse field and then later running up and down the field in her striped shirt with a no-nonsense whistle. Which she proudly claimed to 16 years of recess duty.

- I thought of her ability to handle the Cancer. She was always calm and courageous. There was always a smile close at hand.

- I thought of her when she was close to the end and the drugs had taken most of her brain away. She never got bitter or mean which is a common side-effect of the drugs. She would say the silliest things and when we'd laugh at her she'd smirk. It brought her joy to make us laugh at her crazy.

HOMEWORK: Please leave a comment about some of the memories you have of my Mom.

After a little bit of crying thanks to the Spirit I was able to laugh and find the joy in the journey. Just like my Mom would have wanted. I'm pleased to say that Ryan got a shock when he walked in to check on me only to find a pillow coming straight at his face! We have several decorative pillows and they usually end up as the ammo in our usual pillow fights. This pillow fight ended on a very sad note.

I threw our lovely EuroPillow at Ryan who successfully ducked out of harms way. The mirror was not gifted with the ability to move, took the full blunt force and came away shattered. We have been cursed with 7 years bad luck.

OOPS :-S

What a crazy week!?!?!

This week I have been utterly exhausted. I had the joy NO the privilege of conducting SEP’s or in other words Parent-Teacher Conferences. They start off right with nightmares days in advance and little sleep during. The actual conferences were only on Wednesday and Thursday nights but the nightmares were all week long.

I had a conference scheduled on Monday but they called and cancelled so I totally lied to Ryan and surprised him at home with some good desserts as well as dinner. Unfortunately I forgot I had a ward-y coming over to explain my calling so we had our dinner interrupted but it was fine in the end we just reheated and started again.

Tuesday was uneventful. I did a lot of prep at school for conferences and then got home, made dinner and went to bed. Ryan was up all night doing homework. He put me to bed then worked until about midnight before coming back in. I was so out I don’t recall him coming back to bed. Around one my nightmares started and so I tossed and turned all night. Poor Ryan.

Wednesday I had a full day. Left apartment around 6:50am and returned about 8:30pm. FUN stuff. I got home and immediately crashed out in bed. Ryan was up till midnight again doing homework and the Tuesday night repeated itself including the nightmares.

Thursday was a half day of school(thank goodness) and so was conferences. I left the apartment around 6:50am and returned around 5:30pm. Once again I got home and I was out. I slept all afternoon and evening. No more nightmares!!!! Ryan finished his work and is all ready to go to Canada this week.

Friday I had the day off of school. I was really looking forward to our reverse roles. I stay in bed; Ryan gets up in the dark and heads out to school. Only to realize that my good husband doesn’t have class until noon so we both got up. We got up wonderfully late, got ready and then walked upstairs to the surprise of a lifetime….SNOW!!!! In beautiful big white flakes coming down silently. Ryan and I both stood there with our mouths wide open before we really registered that we needed more layers. I went and dropped Ryan off at school for his favorite Gender class. Around 1 I picked him up again and we headed to the Provo Temple to do a session.

I love the temple there is such a peace there. No matter how frustrated I am going in it all melts away whether I want it to or not as soon as I change out of my street clothes. Friday was a hard day. Friday was my Mom’s birthday. If she was alive she’d be turning 51. Birthdays are always so hard. It was wonderful to have my dear husband around willing to take on my crazy moods with so much patience.

After the temple we picked up Marie and met my Dad in American Fork for a birthday dinner. It was fun to get together and have some good conversations.

I am so grateful for all my wonderful family members; new and old. Ryan’s Mom was amazing. I don’t know how she knew about my Mom’s birthday but she called and left a sweet message letting me know she was aware of my needs that day. I am truly blessed.

Its a secret

My good husband won't let me post anything annoying in my facebook status like "my husband is the greatest" or "my hubby is amazing" but he hasn't banned me from doing in on the blog yet so shhhhh.

I HAVE to brag about my husband real quick.

He is amazingly aware of my needs even before I am. This week will be stressful to say the least. I have 2 days of SEP's (parent teacher conferences) which are always fun. I basically sit there while 30% of the parents will tell me how to do my job better in very rude language. 30% doesn't seem like a high number but if you factor in the rudeness factor it ups the annie. I come home from SEP's completely spent and down on myself. So thats gonna add to my stress factor.

The other thing coming up this week is my Mom's birthday. Her birthday is March 25 and birthdays are always hard. This will only be our second birthday without her.

I haven't honestly had time to look ahead and figure these things out. I'm kinda living day by day during the school year. Anyways last night Ryan turned to me as we were sitting on the couch each in our own world of homework and told me he wanted to really do something special for me. He wanted to just make my home life a safe-haven from my stressful week. I was touched but didn't know what to really say. He went on to explain that it wouldn't be big or expensive he just wanted to make sure he did all the small little things to help me with my stress. I was touched to say the least. I didn't really know exactly how much his loving service could do for me.

Today he gave me the best hair-play I have ever gotten. I have been addicted to having my hair played with since I was a little girl. My dad used to come in and play with my hair whenever I had a bad dream. (I soon discovered this and took complete advantage of it) Ryan didn't ask, or have to be told. He just did it. I could literally feel his love for me and how much he wanted to help. I melted! It brought tears to my eyes (cheesy I know but very true). I felt so relaxed and ready to go afterward. I felt like I could conquer the world with a smile no less!

Thank you Husband!

I love you more then Garfield loves Lasagna.