Noel's Surprise!

Evan's sister, Noel, lives in Colorado. This, unfortunately, means that we don't get to see her very often: Sometimes for Christmas (if she isn't working) or when her sister, Holly, has another baby (which is often!). We were pleasantly surprised to hear that Noel was coming for a visit to Washington just because she could! Her parents found out she had some time off work and they cooked up a scheme to buy her a plane ticket up for a visit. It was really great to see her while she was here.

Evan's Birthday!

This week was Evan's 28th birthday. I am 4 months older, so I'm glad we are the same age again so he can't call me his "old" lady anymore. :)

We started out the festivities a day early with a family dinner at his parent's house to celebrate with his family. (He and I were supposed to celebrate BEFORE his birthday, but ended up going to the Pioneer Woman signing instead. I guess I still owe him.) Below, you'll see him relighting the candles for his birthday cake because the little kids started to blow it out before we even started singing! :)

On his actual birthday, I made a candlelit dinner when we got back from his 8pm class. I've wanted to use my cake tray I got in Poland last summer (my FAVORITE piece of pottery I purchased last year!), so I made a double layer decadent chocolate cake with buttercream frosting. YUM!

I kept telling Evan how glad I am that he was born! He really is my best friend and I am so glad to be married to him.

Close up of the cake and tray:

Hanging Jewelry Holder

So, I've wanted to make my own hanging jewelry holder for a while. I am a visual person. If I don't see my earrings, I forget to wear them (or worse, I lose them!). I saw this idea on a craft blog a year ago and have wanted to try it ever since.

Here are the cast of characters: a FRAME (found at Goodwill for $2 without the glass or anything, perfect!), WIRE MESH ($2.44), and SPRAY PAINT($4).

I lightly sanded the frame and then spray painted the frame and the wire mesh to match. ***NOTE: We have no garage, so I painted it in the field next to our apartment. I hope no one notices the paint on the grass!***

After painting, I sanded the edges to ruff up the frame a little bit. It gave it an antique feel.

I then glued the wire mesh to the frame and...

Voila! Hanging Jewelry holder!

P.S. Evan made me the silver earrings in the top left corner.

P.P.S. I'm thinking of putting a fabric background behind the mesh. What do you think?

Fame by Blogging

A few years ago, I was introduced via Google Reader to Pioneer Woman by my friend, Jane. And I've been hooked ever since. If someone is a good enough writer to make cow manure interesting, they deserve the fame they get. And Pioneer Woman definitely has found F-A-M-E through her blogging.

Isn't internet fame kind of a funny thing? If you think about it, it happens all through word of mouth. I know that some bloggers try to get more followers via social networking sites by having giveaways and offering extra "comment points" if someone uses Facebook or Twitter to talk about the giveaway. But, for Pioneer Woman, this simply is not true. She attained fame through the internet because she is an excellent writer. She makes you feel like you are her best friend and that you do, indeed, want to hear all about birthing calves, her dogs, and her general life living on a ranch.

Because of her writing, I chose to go to her book signing in Seattle yesterday. And I had a lovely time. I drug Evan along with me, because I thought the thing would take an hour or so and then Evan and I would have a fun date night for his upcoming birthday.

That, however, was NOT in the cards. Instead, my sister and niece came up to meet us and we sat there in the bookstore waiting for 5 1/2 hours for our turn to come around to meet the infamous PW. I'd have to say that the best part of the experience was meeting her daughter! As an English teacher, I love book stores. I'm often looking for books my students would love so I can have recommendations ready. As I was sitting there sorting through a handful of books, I looked up and, sure enough, there was Pioneer Woman's daughter looking for books too! I introduced myself and we had a nice chat about books and life on the ranch and what she thinks of Seattle. Later, when my sister came met up with me, we ended up seeing her daughter again and chatting for a while. She is a pleasant 12-year-old. I should know. I teach 12-year-olds.


Anyway,after 5 1/2 hours of waiting, I FINALLY got the chance to talk with her for a second. At that point, Evan was sleeping in the car, my niece was about 2 minutes away from rioting, but we made it. She is a very kind person with VERY white teeth. She commented on how my sister and I have precisely the same voice and that she and Betsy ALMOST have the same voice, but not quite. We had some nice pleasantries and I could not believe she was STILL SMILING after signing books and chatting for 6 hours! (It's like smiling for wedding pictures, but on steroids.)

And then we drove home and I thought about how I waited for 5 1/2 hours for PW to sign my book. How ridiculous was that?! I don't think I'll be repeating the experience, but I'm glad I did it. Evan used one of my favorite quote against me to tip the scales to get me to go (I think later he regretted having said this):

P.S. Reuben, in lieu of your recent post on mega bloggers, don't laugh too hard.

Hilarious Bacon Commercial

For all the vegetarians out there who miss smoked bacon (real bacon, not some fake soy substitute)... there is this video. For everyone else: Enjoy a good laugh!

School House Rock

On Tuesday, seeing as it was 80's day in school, I played 2 short grammar clips from School House Rock. While I had a few students actually KNOW what it was, I had a few who thought I was talking about "School of Rock."

Am I THAT old that my students don't even know what School House Rock is anymore? I guess so!

Enjoy this hilarious little video and hope that it doesn't get stuck in your head like it did in mine this week. (NOTE: My favorite part is, "He was a hairy bear, he was a scary bear, we made a hasty retreat from his lair!")

Private Blogs

I use Google Reader in order to read the feeds of most blogs. This, however, presents a problem for those of my friends/family that have made their blogs private. While I understand WHY people privatize their blog, without a feed I still have a hard time with remembering to read their blogs. Keeping up with blogs can be difficult as it is when I use a feed reader!

Any tips on how to keep up with family/friends who have private blogs?

***NOTE: While searching for a picture to accompany this post, I found the product below used for privacy when using a computer. Hilarious.

Finding More Enjoyment in Life

I run my life by the school calendar. My year starts in September and ends in June. I look forward to the snow days and late arrivals. I dread the day before a break ends. I am a teacher.

In all reality, I love teaching. I realized recently, however, that I am burning myself out. I have worked such long hours the 3 weeks leading up to Spring Break that it was causing me so much undue stress. Do you ever stress yourself out with school, life, work, kids?

Life is made to be enjoyed, even through the hardships.

I am hereby dedicating myself to continue working hard, but to play hard too! I need to remember all of those things that I have passions for and leave the teacher's desk (and papers to grade!) behind as I pursue my own hobbies, passions, and service opportunities.

I hope that in your stressful times you, too, can remember that life was made to be simple. Take a moment to enjoy the all of the blessings that surround you and the opportunities that are waiting for you to really see them lurking there.

Life in a Small Town

Evan and I live in a relatively small town southeast of Seattle, where there are rows and rows of BEAUTIFUL daffodils and tulips during the springtime! This morning at our missionary correlation meeting, the ward mission leader mentioned to the missionaries about the Daffodil Festival that starts today, kicked off with a parade. (I'm not sure if he told the elders this to warn them not to go tracting during this time as no one would be home, or to give them a tip on where to meet people.)

Either way, Evan and I had NO CLUE that the Daffodil parade was today. We've probably ridden our bikes underneath the banner downtown on our bike rides to the library or post office, but never really paid attention to it.
Since Evan needed a break from studying human bone terms (for his A&P class), we decided that this would be a good time to go on a bike ride and watch the festivities. You know you live in a small town when the whole town comes out (and gets excited about!) a parade. The people in the parade are mini celebrities, especially to the children. We had a fun time and saw many crazy floats. Not counting the clown floats that scared small children (they really chased after them!), I think our favorites were the pirate ships complete with fake cannons they'd set off every couple minutes or so. Not sure what pirates have to do with daffodils, but it was still awesome.

Meanwhile, on our bike ride home, I got a flat tire. Sad story. We had to walk our bikes 1/2 mile home. Evan made me I learned how to take off my tire, find the (snake eye) holes on my inner tube, patch up said holes, replace tube, tires, and reinflate. It was a learning experience. I'm going to be more careful when I go over bumps on my road bike.

Filing Taxes

Although Evan and I have worked together to file our taxes since 2008, this was the first year that we were married and could file a joint return! It was nice to actually get MY money back rather than owing them the token $10-15 that I've paid the past few years. Teachers make so little money as it is and are forced to give hundreds a year to the unions (I pay for 3 without my choice or consent) that support them, let alone the tax dollars and medicare I pay for as well.

Anyway, this year I'm getting money back, baby! That's what counts! I'm so excited. Evan and I thought we would owe money this year, but with him being a student, it saved us a little bit more money. We're excited to finally get the two hand-held HAM RADIOS we've been eyeing and then put the rest of the money into our savings to replenish some of what we took out to pay off my student loans. Hooray for a tax return!

Hopefully, next year we won't get quite as much money back. I'd rather have money in my savings account all year and be earning interest on it NOW rather than pay thousands of dollars extra and get it back next year.

P.S. Sometimes I cannot believe the tax CREDITS people get back. My sisters and brothers-in-law have children and get all of their tax money back and then some. Doesn't sound like a RETURN to me, when you get money back that you didn't put in. I wonder why the government includes that in a tax REturn. Any ideas? Anyone benefit from a super sweet tax credit?

I Love to Hike

This week has been an enjoyable week off of school. I FINALLY took some time for me. (I'm learning to do more of this DURING the school year rather than on breaks.) I had the opportunity to get together with some of my really good friends to catch up and spend time. It was nice.

I also got the chance to hike. I really love to hike and be in nature. Evan and I haven't hiked as much the past couple of weeks, but we usually try to rock climb or hike at least every Saturday, if not more often.

Here are a few pictures from some recent hikes since December:
(Last month... at the top of the world! Really, this was at the top of Tiger Mountain. Paragliders jump off here. You can see for miles in both directions. A few months ago, Evan took me here for the first time and he brought hot chocolate and his super deluxe stove. We sipped hot chocolate at sunset on a clear day. It was BEAUTIFUL!)


At the beginning of January, Evan and I were asked to go on a snow campout with the youth in our ward. It was a fun 2-day trip! We ended up hiking up and creating our own trail because it was INCREDIBLY snowy (seen in the second picture below). One of the newly-baptized youth came along with us. He had so much fun hiking since he'd never done it before!



In December, our good friends, Evan and Lindsay, came home to visit. We got the chance to hang out with them a few times. On this day, we went up to some falls near Mt. Rainier. Cold, but fun.(Side Notes: They took better pictures than we did, but these are a few we got. Their daughter, Nina, is so precious. She forgot her gloves, so I gave her mine.)

Five Minute University

Hilarious video. College should only have been about five minutes, because that's all I remember after it. :)

I've Got that Wanderlust...

SIDE NOTE: I love when German words become words we regularly use in English, such as "Wanderlust" or "Angst."


I love traveling and exploring, even if it's a town in my own back yard. In my life, I've been able to travel to 33 states and 11 countries. I have enjoyed every minute of it.

But, right now - this minute, I feel the urge to get out of my element and explore. There are so many places I haven't been. Do you ever get that itch to travel and explore? It all begins with the smells of an airport full of opportunity, where the next flight takes you to a new land with new friends. The flight where you watch as the miles, clouds, and topography drifts by beneath you. The landing and walking into a new city with new eyes.

I love the feeling of seeing a place for the first time, inhaling all of the sights and sounds around me. Trying to remember what it felt to be there in this place for the first time: Remembering the look of the roads, the dress of the people, the foods that they eat, the wares they sell in the shops on the corner, everything. Doesn't a city look different when you view it through the lenses of a traveler?

I long to travel and experience God's green earth and the people he has created, from my home town to the North Pole.

Here are a few of my favorite places I have traveled in the past few years:

Spring Break Means More Time

This week is my Spring Break. I told Evan that if I didn't have Spring Break this week, I would have taken the whole week off of school anyway! I was getting incredibly burnt out at school. (In fact, the stress of school caused me to have digestive problems, which thankfully have subsided now that I have a break away from the classroom.)

My students have been in the process of writing a persuasive essay for their first time. I have spent MANY HOURS creating lessons that match the desired writing curriculum of our district. My students have spent many hours learning and practing what they learned. And then I had to grade their 10-page persuasive essay packet. And then I had to grade their final essays. Years ago I decided that being an English teacher the most time-consuming teacher to be. The past few weeks putting in 13 hour or more days at school reconfirmed that in my mind!

But, alas, I am free this week from grading and (mostly) free from planning. I have MANY great ideas of what I will do this week, most of which involves being in a relaxed state, enjoying my free time! Here are a few things on my to-do list this week:

Happy (Belated) Resurrection Day!

More than ever this year, I've realized how the commercialism of Easter really has caused many to forget the true reason we celebrate this time of year. I thought about getting my first "Easter" decorations replete with bunnies and baby chicks, eggs, and other spring-like decorations. I considered buying candy to put in baskets for Evan and I from the Easter bunny. And then I realized how much we associated chocolate, rabbits, and eggs with this time of year, instead forgetting the "true reason for the season."

At Christmas, even with the decorations, present-giving, and such, there are many who devote time to give service to others. Many still remember the CHRISTmas story that is the reason we celebrate December 25th.

I decided to boycott Easter goodies and baskets this year, opting to instead focus my time and energy on celebrating that atonement and resurrection, which allows all of us to be resurrected and with our loved ones again.


Many of you know that my parents died when I was young. The atonement and subsequent resurrection is the reason I am who I am today. When the death of my mother happened, I asked God in sincerity if I would see my parents again. The teachings of my youth came to my mind. I felt a strong peace at that moment, knowing that Christ had atoned for our sins and had provided a way that we all can repent and return to live with our Heavenly Father and families again. I still know this to be true.

This weekend, while I did spend a considerable chunk of time with family and friends to celebrate Christ's sacrifice, I did spend 8 hours watching General Conference, enjoying the messages from living prophets and apostles teaching us about how we can continue to remember Christ's living messages in our lives today. I am grateful for those men who spoke and for their testimonies of a LIVING Savior, who has provided a way that I may see and spend time with my beloved parents again.