Recent Happenings

Hey there. Here we are again.

2 weeks ago we went to Tanner park again. My happy place. And the dogs too. They had so much fun playing with other dogs, hiking, and swimming. 

Graff Fam Squared

 We hosted dinner last week, and Rudy was being cute with the puppies so I filmed it. They're besties now. All a boy needs is a dog :) pure happiness.

You only turn 27.5 once! 

It was Dallin's half birthday on the 14th, so now he's officially 27 and a half! I got him this handle for his games, and it better be made of panda because it was 100$. I still got a good deal because Trenden sold it to me, but I still got some major brownie points for that purchase because Dallin knows how hard it was for me to justify. lol He loves it so much he cried.

 It's finally spring!

Look how many steps I had the other day! Having this fancy watch is actually really motivating. It tells me when I've been sedentary for too long, and this day it told me that my active minutes was higher than ever before! Cool right?

We went on a walk yesterday and today! It was so nice to have it be warm finally!

 Granny's Turnin' 80!

My Granny Flanigan is turning 80, and I wish I could go out to Illinois to celebrate with them, but it falls on the last day of school. I am going to make a surprise for her instead and help get/make some decorations for the party and send them. I really wish I had a card that got me sky miles or something so I don't have to pay a ton to get back there! 

 My Spring Break

I was sick literally the whole 6 days we had off. :( 

Not ideal, but at least it wasn't strep. (Taken at the doctor's office.)

 So instead of going on wild adventures like everyone else, my break was really relaxing. I even put my tv in the bathroom so I could watch netflix while in the bubble bath.

 I read a lot of harry potter and took a lot of naps.

 I went to lunch with Tom on Saturday.

 I got a new pair of shoes, pants, and a jacket.

 I went and stayed with my mom and tom for the last couple of nights and we went to see allegiant!

Even though it was really different from the book, I still liked it a lot.

The last Saturday of the break I was the "building supervisor" while there were club teams using the basketball courts. It was nice because I got paid for 7 hours to just be there and work on lessons and stuff. I got a lot done.

This was Dallin's little work get-away to St. George. I wasn't that happy about it because I was sick and by myself with nothing to do because of spring break. But he had fun, and truthfully it wasn't that bad.

They went golfing a lot and swam and stuff.

They stayed in a really cool house with this courtyard thing. 

LOL. No words. 

 DA HOUSE

We've been knee deep in this house business for at least a month now. We've almost gone ahead with a few different options, but we've been very thorough with thinking it through. I've been really thankful for my dad recently because he's give me advice and drawn our attention to things we wouldn't have thought of. Anyway, it's the same price basically to build as it is to buy, so we decided to do that. Then we researched every builder in Utah to see who would give us the best deal. 

We ended up going with this one! Here's a video. We negotiated and ended up getting a really good deal on it. (Disclaimer: it won't look exactly like this because we won't have that many upgrades.)

We went to the design center once already, but we will be going back two more times. They just have every possible option set up and it's like stimuli overload in there. "The adult candy store" as they say. 

They gave us some fancy cookies and a binder to keep all the paperwork in. 

We are really excited about it, and it's hard to stop obsessing. We have to try though because it's kindof far out when we'll actually see it and move in. 

But seriously.... WOOHOO!!! :)  okay I'm done now. 

Skool.

Time is passing, and we are moving so close to summer! 

 On Monday we got a free Cupbop dinner! This is because one of the students parents owns that company so they give it to the teachers as a gift. So good.

Yes, I actually did my hair. Everyone was asking me if I got a haircut because they haven't seen it down in so long they forgot what it looks like. lol 

Anyway, this is what it looks like straight now that it's at the "LOB" stage. I thought I would document it just in case it never happens again. 

 Here's a pinterest inspired doo. I was still trying lots of cool hairdoos before I just wasn't ever straightening it because it takes so long. It was always up. For winter hibernation if you will.

 Here comes the doggie part

LOOOOOOONG doggie section this time. I can't help myself.

Josie has taken up smoking lol (and no that is not a tampon. it is the inside of a toy)

 She's a little trouble maker. Ate like a half a pan of lasagna by herself!!

They've gotten a bunch of new toys lately because I'm a weakling in the pet isle. Josie's not good at sharing. Jo has to have a pony tail to be able to see because they're getting a haircut next week. Jake's such a picky eater he won't even eat the new dog treats. 

Their fave

He likes to look out between the fence :)

This is Jakey leaned up against Dallin's knee. He was tired lol 

This article is basically the story of my life. 

 http://www.top13.net/differences-dog-lovers-dog-parents/

 I need to be re-invigorated!

I haven't been to the gym in like 3 weeks, and a lot of it is because i was so sick for 2 of them. The other week was just laziness. It's hard to start the habit up again. 

 Real Movies

We got both of these movies from redbox and it blew our minds. People are more controlled than they know by huge companies. 

 This one was so good by the way.

Date-ster

We got to meet Jame's girlfriend Charity, and hung out with them a couple weeks ago. We went to dinner and then played the board. It was really fun!

 James got down on the floor with the dogs and Dallin was throwing them all cheese for treats :) lol

Whitey & Shady

We saw the real slim shady on Saturday and tried a new bbq place! We went to 5 star and there was a live band! It was great food, a great time, and I learned to spin the ball when we went bowling!

 Kobe's last game

Dallin was a mess. He did great though and it was a perfect end to his epic career. He'll be missed. (By Dallin.)

You learn something new every day.

Dallin was riding in my car somewhere the other day (to one of our endless house-related outings) and he found the barf bag in the center console. He laughed so hard and said he wanted to put it on the blog, so I am now. Basically, the story is, I projectile vomited so violently and so regularly as a kid that Shelly and my dad had their cars stocked with barf bags. You see, regular grocery bags didn't work because I'd literally blow right through them. Since this happened pretty much any time we drove anywhere, Shelly stocked my car up as soon as I could drive. :) Thoughtful and practical. Now that's a story to woo a lover with. Dallin thought it was so romantic. 

So that's it I think. 

Short & sweet. 

See ya next time!

-Sydney

Made it to April

Hello there. The last couple of weeks have been one surprise after another.

2 Weekends Ago

Our date last Saturday was going out to eat with Alan. He is an old family friend and he's just such an awesome guy. He used to date my mom when I was in 2nd grade I think (crazy right?!?) and we've kept in touch. He lives in central Utah with his family now so Dallin and I haven't seen him in a long time. It was so good to try a new restaurant together and catch up. We had a lot of fun! 

After that we took the kids to the field. 

It was so sunny out that we were literally sweating. That was the day that it was 72 degrees outside. It felt so good that we wanted to continue it and we decided to go tanning.

MAJOR MISTAKE

I fell asleep in the tanning bed, and had to go to school on Monday looking like this. If you're a health teacher looking for a way to show the students what NOT to do, just scorch your skin. I was so embarrassed that I had become a walking advertisement for anti-skin cancer campaigns in a junior high. So, instead of fess up to the whole tanning bed thing, I decided to make a game of it. I was trying to spread a thousand different rumors around the school about what happened. So each time a student asked me how I got sun burned, I came up with a different, extravagant story. For example, "I was gardening my 40 acres of land over the weekend." "I went to the Bahamas for a day and came back." "I went up into the mountains to see if I could live off the land." "I biked all the way to California and back." "I went out for a walk and got lost." Etc. It was pretty fun, but it didn't work unfortunately. 

There were several stages. 1. Magenta and immovable

2. Red and stiff

3. Pink and Okay

4. Tan and Beachy looking

5. Flakey, multicolored, & as itchy as a dog with fleas.

This pic was on day 5 of course. The tan was peeling off, leaving me with sections of tan, white falling off skin, and other white parts where it had already peeled. HOT. 

It was especially embarassing after the sun was no longer out. There were 2 other teachers who came back from the weekend with sun burns for actual legit reasons, so it felt okay at first. But once this happened, I just felt like a red girl that was trying too hard. lol I hate "spring."

Cutie Kids.

I couldn't find Jake, and finally he poked his head out. He had smashed himself into the tiniest space ever! He's done it once again since this, and it is the funniest thing to see him try and get out. He has to jerk and drag his body out. lol You do what you have to do to get privacy I guess! (In that picture, Josie's asking him how on earth he got in there.)

Jake and Dallin have a really special bond, and we always end up separating in the evening. The boys cuddle and the girls cuddle. 

I don't really know why, but for some reason Josie loves me more and Jakey loves Dallin more. That's an exaggeration of course because we love both, but I think that's the best part about having 2 dogs. We both get cuddles, but there's not one getting left out. I wouldn't want more than 2. 

(Josie does this thing where she likes to just stare lovingly into my eyes lol and don't worry. That brown thing is just the arm of a teddy bear that they ripped off. It looks like poop, but it's not.)

Clearlink Perks

Dallin and Brian are trying to make it so that more of the incentives have a plus one because it gets annoying to be the one always getting left behind. Anyway, we got to go to a free dinner at Carvers! I freaking love that place. I ate so much because it was so good. I decided I like scallops!

Us with the human Jake! :)

We got to go see the superman vs. batman movie on clearlink too! They rented out the theater so we took Whitney and Shad with us. It was fun even though I thought the movie was lame and I laughed at all the wrong parts. lol I just think super heroes should have to wear pants is all. 

Saturday

Last Saturday we didn't really have a date since we knew we were going out Monday. So we stayed in and watched a movie and ordered chinese. It was great to relax since life has been so busy lately. 

Nails.

Gave up on the gel. This way just works better for me. That pink one is a lot prettier it just doesn't photograph well I guess. It's one of my favorites. 

Workin' Hard

Holy crap it's done. March is done. Ugh I hated March. It is definitely "incessant." We finally FINISHED THE YEARBOOK!!!! It's done. The only thing I have left to do is submit it. Now I've replaced that section of the board with "37 school days left." lol I can see the light. 

Plus, we're on spring break now!! Woo hoo!

Our teacher supply receipts were due today so I bought PE equippment. Although it's not a lot, it will definitely help if I can keep buying a little more each year to build up the supply we have. 

TRAGEDY STRUCK. I opened an email on my school account that had a virus that wiped every file from my computer. EVERYTHING. I was so depressed over losing a full year's worth of work that I went through all the stages of grief. My students even felt bad for me. I guess that will be my project for spring break. Re-making all of the disclosures, worksheets, signs, handouts, lesson plans, and downloading all of the music and videos again. It could've been worse. I'm so glad the yearbook is made online, because we would've been screwed.

Look! That yellow bar was only half way like a month ago and we finished it all up!

We've had our first couple soccer games and the team did pretty good. 

It's the end of the quarter so we had to submit grades. No one really did this, I just thought it was funny. 

We got to go on a feild trip to see the new building that they built for us next year. It looks really good! I'm really excited for it. 

Draft Day for Doctors

So match day happened for Trenden. It was really cool that they streamed it on the internet so that we could watch it live. I was trying so hard to be happy for him, but literally while I was watching it, the tech guy was telling me I had lost all my files and there's nothing he could do. So I was pretty stressed while I watched this. 

Each student walked up and said where they're going in the microphone and then went and put their sticker on the state.

There he is putting on his sticker. He's going to OHIO! Whew! I think they're happy with it and he seemed excited so I'm excited for them too. It's really pretty in the midwest. So now they have a couple of weeks to pack up and move out! My mom is down there now helping them because Kaylynn's gonna pop any day and Trenden has to go to New Mexico for his last rotation. So I'm sure life will be very busy for them the next few months with everything going on. 

The presidential stuff going on seems to be a bigger deal right now than it usually is. The students are even talking about it, and I don't think I was that aware when I was their age. I swear every other commercial is about a candidate.

House Stuff

We've been going over several different options with our next move for another house. There are pros and cons with everything, and it's hard to know exactly how much risk to take. So we've looked at existing homes, and been to builders to see about building. We've thought about condos, student housing, flipping a house, and on and on. We're just weighing the options but at least getting close with deciding. This was Dallin in a model home. 

We wanted to build this one but ended up deciding against it.

Big Momma's House

We had the family dinner at my mom's last week. She was looking over some floorplans with us and telling us her experience with building. It was good to see them all again. It's been a long time since everyone's been so busy.

Easter

Easter was kinda lame this year. We just mostly laid around watching tv and not really doing anything to celebrate. This was our first year not doing anything for Easter too. (Seriously- St. Patrick's day, my half birthday, and Easter? Are we becoming old? I always celebrate every holiday!) We did go to Matthew and Shanna's for easter dinner with the graffs, and the littles had an egg hunt. 

Witnessing a Legend

Best. Night. Ever. We got to see Kobe Bryant up close! It was the most amazing experience and I'm so glad we went. It was so cool to watch a game that close- I think I'm ruined. Watching games any other way will no longer suffice. Anyway, he's Dallin's idol, and it was his last game in Utah. So when he walked off after his last play, he got a standing ovation. I know he didn't play very well, and the lakers got their trash beat, but it was the coolest thing in the world regardless of the outcome. That's a memory we'll always have. 

Look how close our seats were! Okay, not to be weird or anything, but he gave us both eye contact at different points in the game. Amazing. 

Dallin had better pics on Fbook. Plus I like it when he gloats about me :)

It is the coolest thing to be that close to the action!

This was his farewell video that they played. It was cool seeing his reaction to it. 

Dallin chanting "Kobe, Kobe, Kobe" along with the crowd when he was introduced.

Serious. If anyone finds my doppelgänger please send me a picture. It has always been my goal to find them. 

Sidenote: I saw Ciera on the news tonight! Cool!

Cya lata Playa.

-Syd