Thursday, December 24, 2015

The "I don't want to do anything" phase of winter.

First let me explain why it's been so long. I spent a really long time typing this whole thing up and then it deleted it all. I then had to wait for my anger to subside before I attempted again, which turned out to be about a week. But alas, here I am. (saving every 2 seconds of course)
I'm pretty sure that I have seasonal depression or something. Dallin even makes fun of how ornery I get once it starts getting cold. Anyway, you know the feeling when you don't want to move or be social? lol that's been the last month or so for me. 
Because it's been so long I can't promise total accuracy, and I won't be able to remember every detail. But I'm going to try. And next time I'm going to do it sooner so I don't have to do so much at once. 

"I don't care who ya'are, that's funny"

As Larry the Cable guy would say. Oh, and this has nothing to do with anything I just think it's funny. 

It's that time again!

I can't believe it's christmas in 2 days. This whole year flew by, and Dallin and I always said that's how you know you're getting old. When you're young it seems like things go by slower, but every time we realize the date we're also realizing that we're freakin' old now. lol Guess time flies when you're having fun! It feels like yesterday, but this was last year's online Christmas card. 
I made one for this year too. I make the "online" variety because I'm too cheap to actually buy them, plus most the people I would send them to are on facebook anyway lol. The old fashioned side of me likes the idea of having one for every year so here it is. I try to put in the biggest events of the year so that we can remember them. Ironically the "family picture" most people use specifically for christmas cards didn't make the cut. :) Mostly because I don't like the way my hair looks. 

Dallin's a Gamer

That's pretty obvious. But he's broadened his gamer horizons to "Call of Duty" instead of the old game. (I wish I would have put a picture of it on here, but he used to be the #1 Blitzcrank in the world on League of Legends.) Long story short, he's a sweetheart and he wanted to switch games.

A Visit from "Mama Cook"

Warning: Please don't misconstrue the following as offensive. 
When Callie came to visit we went to Olive Garden and talked and then she came over to our house and we talked some more. She's basically the most down-to-earth person on the entire planet, and now that I've gotten to know her more I see why Dallin loves her so much. She talked about both the good and the bad of her life, and I've never really had such an honest conversation with someone. That's the difference between Alabama folks and Utahns. We spent a long time making sure we looked okay and cleaning the house worrying about what she'd think- and she didn't care at all! I just think Utah peeps are too showy and judgey. Alabama has it figured out (if everyone's like she is lol). She's the salt of the earth and I'm so glad she was there for Dallin in a time in his life when he needed her. Just that one conversation with her made me realize that I shouldn't care as much about what people think. I hope to be like her one day. 

My Cute Kids

I thought I'd put all (or most) of the dog pictures together so that people who think dogs aren't real kids can skim down quickly. lol 

Try to spot the Jakey! He likes to hide in my closet when he's feeling anti-social.
That's the look of the purest love there is. I don't know what I'd do without them.
Jakey's favorite spot.
Look at those butt dimples! lol She's just like me- got some weight to lose in the next year.

Wittle Wudy

Michelle and Brian came over one night and we thought it was so funny/cute that he could go put stuff in the garbage for us. (I hope this video works. I can never figure out what makes them work because I always upload them the same.) Brian's hoping he can teach him to do more things for him now! haha he was so proud of himself because we all cheered for him so he kept opening and closing the lid.

The pic version of the moment.

Gettin' our Religious On

We tried out a new church for a couple weeks. It was really fun! It didn't stick, but it was cool and the people were super nice.

Sunday Stroll

This was like a month ago now hahaha Anyway we went on the murdock trail here in PG and it was beautiful. Dallin had a cold so we didn't go far but the kids loved it.

Date #1

Our date was the cliche date that's all over pinterest. The "bookstore" date. At first I had the attitude that matched something that seems overplayed and cheesey. I went for it anyway because it was a cheap idea. I kept it a secret because I thought dallin would definitely think it was stupid, but once we got there we got a coffee at the starbucks and started on our scavenger hunt. It was actually really fun. Dallin said it ended up being one of his favorites! We had to find magazine quizes for eachother to take, books from our childhood, dream vacation, self-help book, poem, best joke, a good recipe, etc. Of course I loved finding an official copy of the "Bro Code" from HIMYM, and we each found recipes that we wanted to make for the other. My book from childhood was "Love you forever" and the "Berenstien Bears" and Dallin's was "Where the Wild things are." We joked, read, and fantasized about going to Bora Bora. 
The only part that we didn't necessarily love was the "find a poem that summarizes your feelings for your spouse" part. It was meant to be all romantic, but we flipped through the poetry section thinking it was dumbest, long-winded stuff we'd ever seen. After about 15 seconds we found this one and we decided it works. lol :)

The Prime Club

I think that's what it's called. (It might be different in Telco) The high performers got to go to Ruth's Chris for their incentive! They had fun and Dallin came home really happy. I'm glad he likes the people he works with. He brought home food for me and the kids and we were in heaven! (You know they're spoiled because this is the 3rd time the dogs have had Ruths Chris steak. Thats more than a lot of people get!)

School Lately

My evaluation went great! I had major anxiety over it for like a week and a half for nothing because it was fine. We had an amazing rep from the Red Cross come and he taught a section of the class on CPR (and brought dummies and everything!). It was really cool to see the students get excited about what we were learning. 

I got 2 more notes from students. Although it's just a few words from 12 year olds, it really does mean a lot to me. I think people are naturally very sweet and it's kindof trained out of you as you age, so I feel lucky that I get to work with people who still have that in them. It's small so you can't see names, but it just basically thanks me for everything I do. They're why I do what I do.
We are now in the "Human Development" unit in Health class, and it's pretty funny how they're all expecting everything to be so crazy. Basically I'm teaching them that they should wait till they're ready for reproduction. lol This is a great sentiment for them.....

Go Warriors!

We followed the Warriors games and watched as they beat the wins-in-a-row record. It was cool! I wouldn't call myself a Golden State fan or anything, I just think it's cool when any record is beat. I know it's over now, but this was an old pic that I wanted to put in from like 3 weeks ago. Anyway, good for them for working hard and beating all odds.

My Second Job

I've been babysitting a lot lately! I have 3 families: 1 in PG, 1 Alpine, 1 Lehi, & 1 in Orem. It's tiring but much more fun than writing articles. I used to hate that but do it anyway for the extra money. Anyway babysitting is fun because they're so cute and the extra money was helpful for the holidays. I haven't taken really any photos besides one, but they're all so cute in their different ways. Counting all the families, I babysit 10 different kids!
OMG soooo cute!

Dallin's New Gig

Dallin has been put in charge of the training department for Phint at work because they're in a contest with their competitor over all the business of Centry Link. He has really liked being in Training. I think he was nervous at first (as is to be expected) but now that it's not so new he LOVES it. I'm so happy for him that he gets to do what's fun for him. His team is doing really well and he likes the people he works with too.


Update on the Shoulder

I wrote in here last time that Dallin was going to the doctor soon about his shoulder and I'd let ya know. Well, the news is he needs surgery. The bones in the AC joint are rubbing together and surgery is the only thing that will fix it. Right now he's fine except he can't raise his arm above his shoulder (so it can't go up). So he's putting it off until next year. But eventually it will need to happen. I'm just glad that teachers get such great time off and Clearlink has good insurance. We'll probly do it at a time when I'm off (spring break or summer) so I'm here to take care of him. I hope it works, because he's worried about it and I want him to be able to be as active as he wants. ( He said he had a nightmare where it was 10 years in the future and he couldn't play catch with his son because of it lol so apparently he's worried!) That's still so far off by the way. 

Our Thanksgiving Adventure

We decided Thanksgiving was a great time to make the recipe we found from our Bookstore date! (We both think that Thanksgiving food is overrated.) So, I braved the grocery store the day before Thanksgiving and spent a disgusting amount of money on lobster. Turns out the day before Thanksgiving is the Black Friday of the grocery world and I wanted to kill someone by the time I was done buying "gruyere" cheese and a bunch of other fancy stuff I never deal with. Then on Thanksgiving we (and by "we" I mean mostly Dallin) made Lobster Mac and Cheese! It was like the best thing we've ever eaten. It took a long time and it was not cheap, but it lasted like 2 weeks because the recipe was for a lot. It was so fun and I'm so glad I found a guy who cooks with me and is fun to hang out with. 
After dinner we went to the latest Mocking Jay movie, and IT WAS SOOOO GOOD!
We sat in those luxury seating seats that recline and heat and everything. They cut just the right things from the book. I remember thinking in February when I read it, "I don't know how I'm going to wait until November for this to come out!" It was worth the wait and they did an excellent job. While we watched there was a guy loudly snoring and it was hilarious. 

Black Friday

My mom and Tom did their Thanksgiving festivities on Black Friday and of course I forgot to take pictures! It was really fun seeing people I hadn't seen in a long time and we enjoyed ourselves. It was a full house! We weren't planning on going out into the craziness, so we didn't. But then in the late evening we just randomly decided to hit the outlets at Traverse mountain and I'm glad we did because we got so many sales on stuff we needed anyway.
This is one of the things I got. I'm going to wear it on Sunday at the game!
It's funny how we have the same way of shopping now. We're in and out of there quick and if anything is too overwhelming we leave lol we ended up find the right stores with not too many people and picked things fast. 

Black Saturday

Is that a thing? Anyway we just went to Outback and the Creed movie for our date that week. Not that original but we had a giftcard and wanted to see that one. It was really good! (I'm getting lazy with the dates obviously lol)

Spreading the cheer

I was so excited when we got to put up all the Christmas decorations. I waited dutifully until after Thanksgiving of course! lol
This was the first time we've had our own house put up lights on the outside and that was really fun. They look great! I even have mistletoe up! The only change from this picture is that all the snowballs fell down and we replaced the angel with a star. 

The good, the bad, & the ugly

The truth is, I've had some rough days at school lately. I think since it's my first year, it's hard to accept that there are just some students that you won't be able to reach. Just like the students that make it amazing, there have been students that are a challenge too. Some days I have really liked getting Dallin's perspective on things, as well as other teachers because there are some situations you simply can't deal with on your own. 

The good side of it though is that I get to do such fun stuff as part of my job! We got to play floor hockey! I borrowed the equipment from another school. They were worried about the floor so I covered each stick with Tom's old socks lol
It was really fun!

Me N' My Sporty Love

We went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the packers cowboys game on Sunday and it was so fun. Dallin's just fun in general. Anyway I spied these guys from across the restaurant and one was in all Cowboys apparel and one in Packers. Dallin said, "Aww, that's true friendship." lol it was pretty funny. 
Dallin was trying my ring on and I wanted him to pose in that classic pose from the 90's, when the waiter came over and made fun of us. lol we must seem so weird in public. It was pretty funny.

The Storm of the Century

We've had several storms come through Utah where we're all bunkered down in bomb-shelters in preparation and then it's nothing. It's because of those experiences that we all underestimated the events that were to take place on December 14th. I heard there was going to be a storm and headed off to work at the usual time, only to find this on the freeway. It was a complete standstill. We had like 8 inches of snow, and what usually takes me 15 minutes took me 2 and a half hours to travel. I passed a couple wrecks and people getting stuck, and by the time I got into my parking spot I was a mess. I get really nervous about driving in the snow, so I was half tempted to sleep at the school so I didn't have to do it again on Tuesday. Luckily, they got the roads under control quickly and everything went back to normal. 
We actually had 2 partial snow days! That never happens. I can't remember that happening in my entire time of going to school in Utah. Although this has grammatical errors it's very accurate for what Utah is like in snow. I've thought they should cancel school before and it's never happened. This time, though school was delayed until 10:30 because no one could get there in the crazy snow. 
This is what the school looked like. I was thanking my lucky stars that I got there.
We actually got even more after this storm too. It's been crazy but it's added to the Christmas spirit I think. It's been a long time since we've had a white christmas.

Our Faculty's Cool

We played the volleyball team in an ultimate showdown, and the faculty ended up winning! (Only by one point, but a win nonetheless) I felt like a total idiot because Volleyball has never been my strong suit. Oh well, it was fun!
 We had ugly sweater day the last day before Christmas break and it was the same day that our beloved History teacher Jill Smith was leaving. She and her family are moving back to Georgia (where they're from) and we were all so sad that she had to go. She's the best. Again, it just backs up my theory about the south because she was always so honest and there for me whenever I needed anything. I will definitely miss her, and I hope I end up half the teacher she is. The people who are joining us now are awesome too, so life will move on. I'm a strong believer that everything happens for a reason, so I know I met her so that I could be better. I'm just grateful I get to work with such a tight-knit faculty who all rely on each other so much. They're all such great people.
 This was our VP Deanna's ugly sweater. She is so funny and relatable, and makes me feel like I fit because it's not stuffy at all. Anyway, I'll stop my rant here, but I just think everyone I work with is amazing.

 Today!

We figured out that you can rent movies on teh apple tv! We watched the next harry potter movie and I'm not going to lie, it freaked me out. It gets pretty intense towards the end! I had no idea what was going to happen because I never got that far with the books. I'm still in the first one, but I'm almost done. I carry it with me in my purse all the time, and it seems weird that I do that, but it was very handy when the line at the post office was 45 minutes long lol

Graff Girls Go Out

Sara was in town and she went out with all the girls one night and then all the boys the next night. That night was the first night of the terrible cold/flu that I got so the whole time I felt awful and wasn't feeling very social. I probably made it uncomfortable because I wasn't as loquacious, but they're all understanding and it ended up going well. We went to a chinese restaurant and then back to my house and watched Hitch!

Kensley's Moment of Fame

We went to Kensley's very first ever dance recital! Of course, it wouldn't be complete without me putting my foot in mouth. We get there, watch a dance, and then I turn to Shanna's sister Kayla and ask, "When's Kensley going on?" 
"That was her." 
After her perplexed response I was immediately flooded with embarrassment and could not stop laughing. So I win Aunt of the year award. 
Dallin took advantage of the moment and kidded about not being able to take me anywhere and I proceeded to apologize to everyone in the family for being a retard. 
Lol Anyway she was cute, and I watched the video Shanna took afterwards at their house. I promise, it's not my fault! I was just distracted! (look how freakin' cute Gavin is in that pic. He sat with me for like 20 full minutes during the show and didn't cry! haha I was convinced he was going to betray me in the dark silence and start hysterically crying. But it was worth it to hold him because he's just a darn cutie.)

What a doll

He scrapes my windows in the morning and writes me messages in the ice :) haha twue wuv

If I had a million dollars....

I'd buy the whole Hobby Lobby. Confession: Sometimes I go to stores even when I don't have money to be buying things and instead take pictures of what I want. Then after I've saved the money I go back for what I have in my pictures. I remember spending hours in a target the first year of college narrowing down my purse choices on the floor lol #sharetherealmovement
Anyway, I decided a picture would suffice for my trip to Hobby Lobby because their prices are outrageous. Even if it takes me months- I shall return!! lol 

Short Hair's So Yesterday

I'm over it, even though it was short-lived. (no pun intended)
I took this picture to see how long it was from the side. I can just barely now get it to go behind my shoulders. I can't wait for it to grow out!

Lame Date Again

Since I couldn't muster up the courage to want to do anything at all, we got Costa Vida and a redbox for our date. It was fun, just not a creative idea. But I didn't feel bad because for the most part I felt like I accomplished my new years resolution of making this a fun year. 
(by the way this movie was not nearly as funny as I thought it was going to be.)

How 'bout that Game!

The U vs. BYU was enough to divide the whole state in half. lol I'm sorry to those BYU fans out there. I know I'm "supposed" to be one according to my dad, but the truth is I'm a UVU fan. And they don't have a football team so it's fine. If anything I should be  Utah fan because I at least went a semester there. Anyway, feel free to get offended if you want, I thought this was funny lol 

You know what I'd choose :)

If there was something I could buy to make it so that my dogs could live as long as me, I'd pay it no matter the price. 

Twenen's Visit

The Flanigans were here for about 36 hours and we definitely made the most of it. We played games, went to mechanics for his car, went christmas shopping, went to the roof, and said goodbye. We'll end up seeing them again on Saturday, but it was good to see them as a pre-curser to the fun that will happen at the game! Ah I'm so excited. Kaden's growing up so fast. He likes me. I think I'm his favorite. (Don't tell the others)
I felt bad that they had car trouble. We know how that goes because of the Colorado fiasco. Luckily they got it all squared away and headed back to AZ.
We played this game and it was a riot. Lots of different personalities and a mystery game is a great idea! It's cool because it's used with an app on the phone. 
This was our official family pic from the roof. Dallin made the mistake of getting into a crab eating contest with Ray. It was tremendous though...
This was for tradition. We have a picture from each year (5 now I believe) of going to the roof. This was after gaining about 10 pounds lol
I got this dress new for the roof, and it was cute, but it doesn't look like it photographs well. 
My mom works hard on putting together something so that we talk during dinner. It used to be a trivia challenge, and now it's turned into each person having a different challenge that you do in secret. One of them is get Aunt Kim to cry somehow lol Trenden asked her about her favorite memory with our Grampa who passed away.... low blow but it worked! haha mine was get childhood stories from 6 people. Once you've done it you can pick one of the prizes she brings. We both got candy and these mugs too. They do cool traditions I think. 

Jeez we have big family!

Look how many gifts there are! Holy cow people slow down with the kids and the marriages! I'm just kidding, I find it fun to get people gifts for christmas. Even if they're lame because they're what I can afford. I just think it's the thought that counts and the anticipation of opening it and just being excited that it's christmas. I especially like getting the stuff for the niece and nephews because their excitement is contagious! There's even more that you can't really see under the tree! And of course there are gifts in there for Jake and Josie and Bentley :) 
Jake & Jo got a present early and it was a stuffed animal from DI that I got lol They loved it! Easy to please. I think if all people were like dogs the whole social scene would be a lot easier for me. 

Skiing Time

You can't see it very well, but I thought it was cool that you see people waiting by a bus stop here in their snow gear to go up and hit the slopes. I didn't know that UTA takes you to sundance in Orem. Anyway everybody's pics of skiing on fb are making me jealous!

Christmas cards

We love getting christmas cards & hanging them on the fridge

Gifts from Students

A bunch of my students gave me gifts for Christmas! It was so sweet and I loved it! I don't have pics of all of them but it was so cool!

The most recent date night

Last Saturday we went to Twigs in Farmington with Bethany, Niki, Sophie, Jon, Kevin, and Celine. Good food, good people, good times. I wish I would have remembered to get a picture! We had a blast. I love that Bethany just got dogs lol I'm giving her Josie's hand-me-downs :)
After dinner we went back to our house with Kevin and Celine, and she loved Jake and Josie. She especially bonded with Jake, so we showed her his puppy pictures. 
She's so spunky and fun! Plus digging these pictures out was a nice trip down memory lane.
That made me think about what Jo-jo looked like as a puppy and I found this gem :)
Sent this to my mom because she gets a little too much flack from people bein' hard on Bentley. She loved it.

Da Nailz

I did nails with my mom on Thanksgiving and she converted to my method. They look great and they're cheap. Plus they can be a done deal or you can get creative with them. I painted the snow flakes myself :)
Right now they're just the classic red. I was messing around with my photo booth thing on the computer  lol 

To the readers

I always kid that this is to "all 5 of you" reading this, but I just looked and each post can be anywhere between 75 and 130 readers. I can't believe we've had 5, 500 views total! I'm just touched that we have that many people who care about our boring life. Thank you for caring and being there for us whether you're close or oceans away. I know there are people who look through the pictures and actually don't know us or care very much, but still, it's a much higher number than I thought it was going to be. 


I hope that the next few days are filled with joy, relaxation, and gratitude for you and your family. Everybody deserves to feel completely loved and at peace for christmas. Know you're in our thoughts- and have a very Merry Christmas! (And since I won't be writing until after, a Happy New Year as well!)

-Sydney, Dallin, Jakey, & Josie