Skype

David's new laptop has a webcam, so we can chat with skype now!!! That's what I like best about him getting the new laptop! We talked to Mom, Dad, Abby, and Luke and worked at getting our sound to work out. We had some issues with it, but we figured it out!

our skype name is the same as our blog:
lorryanddavid

If you can't tell, I am way excited about this webcam, and can't wait to talk to friends and family!

Give us a call!

Turkey Break

This was a great week off of school. I am actually excited to get back to school tomorrow! I only have 3 weeks left until graduation!! Yahoo!! I am sure I won't be so excited during finals/packing week. But for now. . . I am definitely excited!

We celebrated Nick's birthday and Christine threw him a little party! It was fun, but as you can see in this picture, Will wasn't quite into the whole party idea.

He was asleep the entire party, except when a balloon popped and he woke up and laughed a little bit and went back to sleep! He's quite the partyer!!!

Emelia gave Nick his birthday kisses. . .she got up to 16 or so and was too tired to finish! She loves her Uncle Nick!I missed Chad's bowling birthday party as we showed up too early and then drove around to find the party and probably just missed everyone :( I am sure Will would have beat me anyways so I saved myself from the embarrassment I guess.

David and I took a day trip to Boise to look for an apartment, and we were successful! We found a cute little one bedroom apartment for a really good price. We will move out of Rexburg on the 21st and into our apartment in Boise later that day. We are so lucky, and we got a great Christmas present from them . . . we don't have to pay rent until February 1st!! Sweet deal! It is such a relief to have that taken care of and to have found such a good one!

My friend Kelly and I cooked Thanksgiving dinner this year. She did the turkey with her husband Derek and was a little grossed out by the prep work, but it turned out really good! I made some food for the meal, and I made a banana cream pie that was a hit! All the food was perfect, and we had plenty for leftovers the next day. We stuffed ourselves and the lounged around. We played games and looked through the ads for the Black Friday sales. We all saw some stuff that looked worth waking up early for, so 4 a.m the next morning we were out the door! As we drove by Wal-mart, the parking lot was packed and David got really nervous. Who would have thought it would be packed already! I dropped him off at Best Buy where he stood in line til the doors opened. He was wanting a laptop that was on a really good sale, but didn't get it. He sent me to Wal-mart to see if I could get a different one, but they were all gone. David was browsing around, and found a voucher for a different laptop that was also a way good deal. . . so he stood in line for three hours and finally got it! He had a blast chattin' it up with the other determined computer buyers and they all talked about how crazy they were for getting up early or spending the night outside in line.


I had fun weaving through the crowds at Wal-mart, but I didn't get anything this year. Kelly wasn't sure if she wanted to wait in line at Target to get in. There was a line about a block or so around the store, and it was pretty cold out. As I drove up, she saw someone passing out some free bag, and that convinced her! She jumped out of the car for that free bag and probably ran to get in line before the other crazy shoppers! She got all of her stuff in like 30 minutes and was out of there! She saw people frantically grabbing things, and started grabbing what she could but only ended up buying one thing she didn't plan on getting.


It is so funny to me that all day I felt the need to buy something. It was just part of the energy of the day that gives shoppers the impulsive buying power. Luckily I talked myself out of it every time, but I definitely was tempted to by too many things that I had no reason to need to buy them.


It was a great break, and I didn't get nearly as far ahead in my classes as I had hoped, but I enjoyed it. I missed some good times with my family, but luckily I have some family that is close by! I find out what school and what grade I do my student teaching in. . . .I hope it is close by, and in Kindergarten, but I just have to wait and see!!!!

Sleep Over!!!

We got to have a ton of fun playing and relaxing watching movies with Chad's kids last weekend. We started off the Thanksgiving break with my dad coming to town to go hunting with Nick and Chad. Amber was out of town and so David and I got to watch Will, Eddie, and Emelia over night. It was a success too. David wasn't feeling too good, so I just took over and made dinner. The kids wanted Mac 'n Cheese which was great. Simple enough! Then as I drained the noodles, I realized there was no milk! So I just put a little extra butter and left some water in there, and the kids had no idea. David noticed, but oh well :)

Then I had Will go take a shower while Eddie and Emmie finished dinner. Then the girls went and took a bath. While they were taking a bath, they asked when I had to go home. I told them that I was going to stay with them, and then Will said, "Let's sleep at your house!"

It wasn't a half bad idea. . . mostly because they could sleep on the "big balloon" as Edison called our air mattress. We gathered up clothes for the next day, and Emmie brought Don't Break the Ice to play and we took off back to Rexburg.

They loved watching the air mattress blow up when we plugged it in, and then it was perfect for all of them to run and do somersaults onto!

We played games for a while, Edison drew pictures, and they did a few more somersaults and it was time for some ice cream and then bed. I thought that by putting on a movie, they would all fall asleep. Not quite :) Edison and Emilia had to make their beds first. This was going fine as there was plenty of room for all of them, but them Edison was standing up and backed up too far and fell off. She was stuck too. I wish I had pictures. She fell and was folded in half with her nose pretty much touching her knees. . . I helped her out and asked her if anything hurt. "My bum." Little kids are pretty flexible, but they don't have the advantage like some of us have with a little extra cush' on the tush :) A good hug helped of course, and I asked if she needed me to kiss it better. . . and she looked at me really cute and confused. . . .good thing she said no. I know she just took a bath, but it still is what it is :)

Lesson of the night: It's really really hard to frown when you got a smile on your face!

So the were watching Space Jam and I was thinking that they would probably be asleep by the end of it. . . not even close. . . I was almost there though! So I put in Little Rascals and I thought that they would definitely fall asleep to that one because they probably wouldn't get the jokes. Edison, Emilia and I were out, but Will was going strong and woke me up to watch another one. I made sure he was really comfortable and tucked in, and then put in one last movie which finally did the trick. They were all asleep!!!

I went to bed, but found myself waking up every time some one coughed or talked in their sleep. I think I was just worried, but they were all just fine.

The next day we had breakfast and they wanted to go to the park. It was pretty cold out, so we bundled up and went for it. I gave each of them a water balloon that I just filled with air. It was windy out so every time they accidentally let go of their little balloon, they would chase it for a few minutes. I was laughing so hard. They would reach down to grab it and the wind would just blow it out of reach. . . then they started to pounce on it, and the wind would just blow it out of reach again, and again, and again.... It was so funny to watch! After about 20 minutes of this, their hands were really cold and they wanted to go.

We went to pick up Amber at the air port and they were so excited to see their mom! Will wrote here a love note on the way there. We got there 15 minutes before her flight came, so we went for a walk around the airport. We all held hands so no one got lost and Edison taught us all how to "ice skate" (galloping). . . we were all "ice skating" as we walked around the airport holding hands! We all started laughing as Edison thought David and I looked funny doing it. Her laugh is so all over the place that it made all of us laugh.

Here's Will with his love note :)

The people started coming down the escalator form Amber's flight but we couldn't see Amber yet. Then I saw someone who I was pretty sure I knew. This is how it went:

Lorry: David is that one of the 12 coming down the escalator towards us?

David: The one in the suit?

Lorry: Ya. . .I think he is one of the 12. . . the one that is a heart surgeon. . . which one is he?

David: I know it's not Bednar, not Eyring, not Holland, not Oakes, not the new ones...

Lorry: I think it's Nelson! . . .no is it? Maybe it's Scott. . . no I don't remember but it's one of those two for sure.

So all of this happened so fast and then he met with his escort/ride and was out of there. I was talking to Nick later and he assured me that it was M. Russell Nelson. It was really exciting to see him. From the general authorities that I have seen, they always seem to look older in person as I can see the wrinkles up close and I always imagine them as some big, tall person, but they are mostly little old men. I feel so privileged to get to see them.

Then Amber came down the escalator and the kids were SOOOOO excited to see her. They wanted to run to her to give her a hug, but they couldn't go past the security doors so they just waited and were jumping with excitement until they were able to grab her. Too cute!

I loved watching the kids and playing with them. They love to laugh and play and they are way cute while they do it! I guess David and I better get our own to have so much fun with all the time :)

Yay for Late Class

Today I don't have class until noon!!! It has been such a nice morning! Some of you may wonder how we are, and I hope we haven't been forgotten about.

David has been busy washing windows, actually he is out cleaning right now. He really likes running his own business, but the last couple of days have been REALLY cold. . . like 45 degrees at the warmest! So his window washing season is probably coming to a close within the next couple of weeks and he is ok with that. He misses having me he

lp him wash with him and realizes that I do actually make the jobs get done faster. . . :)

David is also playing on 5 different sports teams. . . Tennis, soccer, softball, and two frisbee

teams. So he washes windows during the morning and early afternoon, and then goes and plays the rest of the day. He is hoping that by the end of the semester he will be back to his high school athlete shape. He's doing really good and his pants are loosening up! He probably doesn't want me to share this, but David likes flexing now to see his improvement! He doesn't want to get a scale, so checking himself out and flexing for me is the only way to tell, right?! Let me just say, that he is doing very well!

As for me, I am finishing up my last semester here in Rexburg!! I get to teach quite a bit this semester in order to prepare me for student teaching in the winter. I get to teach 5th grade the

most and my cooperating teacher is coaching me along and s

he said that she is even learning some things about teaching from me! I pretty much teach all day in my 5th grade class and I like it a lot. But what I like even more is the little kindergarten kids that I get to teach two days a week. They are so much fun and I only get to be with them for a few hours a week. There is one little kindergarten boy who has some speech or mental disability, and he just smiles SO BIG every time I walk into the classroom! It is the best! One day he was having a rough day, and his aide asked me to just sit with him with the rest of the class. I sat down next to him, and he looked up at me and smiled really big, and then held onto my arm and rested his head on my arm. . . and kept smiling! He is so adorable and the are all so excited to learn and show me all that they know! I hope I get to student teach in the younger grades, but we will just have to wait and see!

So I will be student teaching in Boise in the winter, and David is waiting to hear from some of the accounting firms he has been applying to. We don't really know yet what we will be doing or where we will be past April, so for now it is just a waiting game sort of.

I am playing on a soccer team here and coaching a little bit. The soccer coodinator is trying to put me on a new team, but I am being stubborn and I just want to stay on this team with some old soccer buddies of mine. We will see who wins this battle and what team I am on in a week or so.

Other than washing windows, school, and sports, we went to a barbecue lunch for our stake and they had some water balloons so David and I wanted to see how far we could pass them without them popping. This picture shows how David had hard time catc

hing them. He said that I threw them too crazy, but it looks like they all went right to him!

Our neighbors, Brett and Emily, got a free grill so we tried it out the last two nights with hot dogs and hamburgers.

We took a trip home to Washington this last weekend to see Matt before he took off on his mission to Brazil. We got quite a few of us kids home for the weekend! Enough to sing in sacrament meeting! Well sort of! We were singing "I Stand All Amazed" and the first verse went great! Then Ben and Brooks started looking around only to find Mom and Dad tearing up as they watched us sing. So Ben and Brooks got choked up just in time for the quartet with Chad, me, Ben and Brooks. So Chad and I sang a little duet and Abby wasn't sure if she should sing for Brooks, and Luke was looking at Ben confused at why he wasn't singing when he should. David, Matt, John, and Luke came in to help out on the 3rd verse and none the less, Mom and Dad were still proud of us and our efforts! We'll see if we can get any better by the time Matt gets back in a couple years. . . or maybe Mom and Dad need to sit farther back so we can't see them tearing up! Oh well, we tried!

On Saturday, we had a nice busy day. Dad, David and I went out and played tennis in the morning, then Mom got us all working, cooking, and cleaning for Matt's good-bye party that night, and then all the aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends came over and ate and chatted. We were all sitting with someone. . .

and then I got to Chad and he was pretty sad and lonely sitting by himself.

Amber couldn't come because she was busy with work for the weekend, so Chad rode home with David and me. . . . well actually he drove half of the way, so I guess I rode with Chad and David.

Ben performed his interpretive dance for the hearing impaired, I licked my elbow and read my "Cats and Dad (and Abby)" poem, and who knows what else happened at that party!

The boys and Jason and I went and played basketball while the rest of th party played card games. David pulled out his rhino moves on the court, Chad and Ben scored plenty of points with their fade away shots, Luke had some baskets and some wild "shots" that were really good passes, John had a few nice outside shots, and I hung out and shot from the outside irritating John because I made too many and his team kept losing :)

Brooks and John brought their great dane puppy, Gus, and so Dad's puppy, Maggie even had someone to play with all weekend.

They teased, wrestled and chased each other all weekend and probably loved it!

So once again, we had a busy, and wild weekend at the Bare home! I always love going home even though Dad thinks that anytime I am hungry, that I might be pregnant. Not yet Dad, but I do have the longest hair :)

Cats and Dad (and Abby)

I finally let David buy his printer/scanner/fax/copy machine that he has been begging for since we got married. I am excited about it now only because I can scan in all of my pictures from forever ago before I had a digital camera! Chad found my tub of memories that I keep hauling around and there are so many funny pictures, old report cards, ACT & SAT scores (I have NO idea how I got into college!), and certificates for everything I ever did (lunch duty, crossing guard, honor roll, fitness awards, "Skipper" of the day, and some from piano lessons. . . I am sure that they had to think really hard of something they could compliment since I rarely practiced, maybe that's why I got the "good sight reader" award :)
I also came across the beloved poem that Ben and I composed! It was written in honor of Dad, but I think that both Abby and Dad now share the honor of having this poem dedicated, and titled, for them. Here it is!

Cats and Dad (and Abby)
By: Ben and Lorry
Published in February 2004

When my dad
drives down the road,
his mind is stuck
in just one mode.

He'll find a cat
and hit it hard,
either skin and bone
or a tub of lard.

When he targets
on the head,
his foot transforms
into a block of lead.

He pushes down
on the accelerator,
he says, "Ta-ta for now,
I'll see you later!"

The way he forgets
to use the brake,
you can tell that
he'll make no mistake.

He thinks to himself,
"Man must be best,"
'cause this cat's only
got ten seconds left.

You see the cat
shift left to right,
you can tell in its eyes
that it's full of fright.

He lined the cat
up with his wheels,
and listened for
it's pathetic squeal.

When he his the cat
most people would quiver,
that was because
we smashed it's liver.

After so many
it's not so bad,
that's one more down
thanks to my dad.


Who knows how we became such good writers :) and I sure am glad that this little gem didn't get lost! Needless to say, I am having a blast going through old pictures and all the things that I wrote about and all the memories that I get to remember! I just hope that I get through this tub of stuff before school starts next week. . . I can't stay up until 2 am goofing around like this if I want to get perfect grades again! But it sure is fun!

Flower Power Update

We were gone for a couple weeks and we left my neighbors flowers with another friend of ours.
The purple ones are struggling and I think it got too hot for them last week. This week has been cooler and we have been nursing them back to full strength. They are doing better each day I think!Here is what they looked like when we left. The purple ones were doing really well!
The sweet pea flowers bloomed a little bit which was exciting! They are the pink and white ones in the middle.
These ones on the end were just starting to bloom! I was sad to leave and miss the action! I could see the pink in the middle, and about four or five other buds that were close behind this one!
When we got back, the purple ones looked like they had a rough time
There was one giant sweet pea this morning, but when I went to take pictures this afternoon, it was missing. I hope we don't have flower snatching neighbors!!! There are three more pea pod looking buds that are about ready to bloom and they better not disappear!
These ones on the end are beautiful!! They are so tall and bright and were such a pleasant surprise to see!! I think that since they were planted so close together they feel like they need to reach out to show how strong and beautiful they are! I love them! I am sure Brett and Emily are so proud of these big guys!
I will see what I can do to doctor the purple guys back to full strength. . . unless their season of blooming is done now and their show is over now. I hope not, but we will just have to wait and see!

It's wedding time again!!!

We have been cleaning windows quite a bit lately and we took a little break from it to go home for my brother, Nick's, wedding!! We stole Nick away to get a good shot of him with his best looking siblings!!!
Christine was gorgeous of course!! Here they are cutting their cake. . . well I guess this was Christine's cake, because Nick was lucky enough to get a German Chocolate cake specially made by Christine! Sheesh! I got some good lookin' parents!!!
I'm pretty sure that we have some work to do to look as good as Mom and Dad!!
Everything went really well . . . except for the weather giving us a little bit of a heart attack the morning of as it was raining and getting everything wet! Luckily the clouds went away and it was a bright sunny afternoon! My mom is just a little bit relieved that there won't be any more weddings for at least 2 years with Matt going on a mission and Abby not even out of high school yet! My mom is Super Woman. . . 5 weddings in the last 3 years! We love you Mom!! And thanks for working so hard Dad so you can pay for all of them!!

Such a fun Summer!!

We went with a bunch of friends from church to our very first DEMOLITION DERBY!
We loved it and thought it was so fun! It was so goofy to me to think that all these "men" got these junk cars and put whatever in them so that they would function, and then they would see how many times they could drive and slide through a mud pit and crash into other cars like these until their car would start smoking and spewing some sort of fluids!! It was so crazy, but we really enjoyed it!!We got some yummy snow cones that changed our mouth's colors!
What a wild date night!!! On the drive home we all had the love of a good crash in us. As people were pulling out of the parking lot, we almost wanted to cheer them on to go crash into another car!! Don't worry, we took good care of our good 'ol grandma car and she made it home very safe!
We went with some friends to an International Dance Festival that comes to Rexburg every year.
This is the German dance group. Sorry I was going to post a video but it doesn't work. There were 10 different groups from Mexico, China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, Lithuania, Romania, USA, and one other one I think I am forgetting. It was fun to watch the different teams and the variety that they brought. They all dressed in some traditional clothes. . . and those dresses from Germany, I am sure Julia is hiding one somewhere and a little bonnet too!! I am sure you love to dance around in it all the time!

David Graduated!!

OK. . . so I started writing about these adventures a few weeks ago. . . and now it is all off to me. So sorry for the delay!

Now that school is out, we have been able to relax and play however we like and we have been loving it! So much has happened in the last week!

Last Tuesday, David's dad came to stay with us for a few days to see David graduate. We were pretty busy until Thursday to really do anything with him, but he was just worn out watching us wake up early, come and go to and from classes, and then study. Who knows when or what we ate during that time, but we survived. So Thursday night we went to David's graduation. David was so excited to have people cheering for him as he walked down the aisles and he would stop and hold up the line behind him so he could give us a big happy grin for the cameras.

It wasn't too long of a ceremony since they split it all up into the different departments. I wish I could be done now too, but my turn will come soon!

I only have one semester left here on campus and then one semester of student teaching somewhere. We are still hoping to go to Boise, but the school is giving me a rough time about not wanting to stay in Rexburg. Long story, and annoying process, but we are hoping that we will still get to move to Boise in January. We will have to see!

As a graduation gift, David's dad gave us Settlers of Catan, and I think we have played it at least twice every day that we have had it! We are so glad we got it! He gave David a few other things, but this was my favorite of the things he got! Now we are wanting so many other games to add to our game collection!

David's dad, Ken, likes to feed the ducks with us, and so we popped up a few bags of popcorn and went out to the nature park here in Rexburg. I was nervous since last time we went there, the ducks were full or something, and ignored all the bread we threw at them. . . and the rocks I threw at them when I got mad at them. :)

Our popcorn hit the spot though and we had all the ducks swarming us!
When we ran out of food, I decided to try to catch one that was fat and happy and taking a nap by us. . . but I wasn't very successful :( We all loved it though and were sure glad they were all hungry!

We also spent some time at Chad and Amber's house playing with the new puppies and the girls. Will was gone on a camping trip, so there were a lot of fingernails painted and princess movies watched!
Here is Edison holding Maggie, my parent's new golden retriever puppy! She is such a cute fluffy puppy!
Chad also got a puppy named Chloe. She is a mix of a gillion different types of dogs, but she sure is cute! Her and Maggie love to wrestle all the time and it is so funny to watch. Maggie is a lot bigger, but Chloe is a lot faster and has the energy to run circles around Maggie until she can plow into her and take her down! We can't wait until we get to get a puppy of our own!
Chad and Amber also got three little kittens. Ken was talking on the phone with his daughter Rachel, and this kitten was just climbing all over him! They are just barely cute enough to not care what they do!
So we had a lot of fun with Ken here for the graduation and the start of our summer vacation! I am just worried that this 7 week break will fly by too fast!!!

Flowers

Our neighbors,Brett and Emily went home in between the semesters and left us with all of their babies. We have been so privileged and trusted to "plant-sit"! We have been watering and watching over their flowers and watching the new flowers that bloom. We don't want them to miss out on the action, so we are going to update them as their flowers grow up!!

Here are the cute little ones. There are about 15 or so of them and more keep coming every day! The ones in the middle seem to be struggling and the flowers on the end are trying so hard. It looks like they might be ready to show their colors in the next couple of days! We are pretty excited for all the flowers and we are so proud of the wonderful flowers they grown up to be. We will keep everyone updated on our adopted little babies.

Summer Festivities!

Wow it has been a long time since I have updated this thing. Right after my last little entry was midterms and it seems crazy, but we are coming up on finals in a couple weeks! The time flies by so fast, and I never thought it would since they are summer classes and I thought I would want to get out and play more. . . no worries, I squeeze in all the playing time I can get!
Since I last wrote, we had our 1st anniversary, my 21st birthday, we were "dam volunteers" for the Teton Dam Marathon, we got called to teach Gospel doctrine in our ward . . . but have yet to be asked to teach the lesson. . . and went out to the Oregon Coast to spend the 4th of July with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, siblings, in-laws, and who knows who else!

Chad and Amber made me a cake and brought the kids to come play for my birthday. Nick and Christine came to play for a bit as well. I still give Nick a hard time because he came and played and ate cake not even realizing that it was my birthday until the next day! He felt really bad, and like a dope! It just made me laugh. . . he is definitely a Bare! Mom wasn't much better though. I talked to her the next Sunday and she told me that she had just flipped he calendar to June and noticed my birthday had passed. . . it was almost halfway through the month! Good thing I was busy all day and didn't have time to sit around waiting for all the birthday wishes! I think I learned from all the birthday pool parties that wouldn't happen until July or even August! But I can only imagine how 10 birthday parties a year might get a little crazy! Here is a video of Will and Eddie and their balloon fight! I am sure that the people who live below us appreciated the festivities!
Nothing else too wild and crazy has happened except for the time out on the coast. . . we really do know how to stay up late and bust a gut. . . or as Dad says it, "gust a butt." sorry Dad, Love you!
It was a quick vacation and a long drive, but it was much needed and appreciated for my own sanity! Ben, Elizabeth, David and I all carpooled out to Tillamook. We went to the sand dunes and got nearly everyone to climb the dune! Grandpa Bob even beat Mom and Dad up. . . he said he couldn't wait any longer for them to catch up, so he had to go up with out them!

We played a good game of beach volleyball, and lots of big group games with the cousins. Of course we ate lots of Tillamook Ice cream! I was able to eat a scoop of bubble gum, cookie dough, and a new favorite, Wild Mountain Blackberry! OOOOOHHHH I can never get enough! We celebrated Matt's 19th birthday with the crowd, but I think we forgot about the birthday kisses/spankings! Most of all we couldn't forget to play the Farming Game!

Rockaway beach was a little different this year because we are all grown up and we don't get to dig for the money in the sand pit, or do the crab walk race. We are all getting too grown up for those races! Sad day! I guess we better get going on the little kiddos so we have someone to watch and coach for the races!
The fireworks seemed to get a little lost in the clouds, so those weren't as fantastic as they usually are, but we were digging into the s'mores for sure! I think Matt ate at least 5 in one sitting! David was proud of the one I made for him. He even said he could taste the love. . . can't forget that ingredient!
So we loved the vacation, and can't wait until Nick's wedding when we get to go home for a while and maybe go on a camping trip with the family.
So school is about over for the semester which means. . . only 2 1/2 weeks until David will be a COLLEGE GRADUATE!! He is way excited to be done! Not too excited to take his CPA exams, but we think that he will be able to finish those in the next 5 months before I graduate in December. He really can't make up his mind about what he wants to do yet. He is debating plenty of options and of course they all have their pros and cons. He is going to do at least on of the following: work as an accountant at a firm, go to grad school, start his own business (there are about four ideas for those), or work wherever he can if nothing else works. so who knows what he will decide. It changes about every other day!
We do know that we will be moving to Boise, ID in January. We figure any of his options can happen there, and that is where I have designated my first option for student teaching. So we are excited to see what happens there in Boise for David!

Camping with the 3 little Bares!

This weekend we had a good time with Chad and Amber's family.  The weather was nice with a few little drizzles, but we played lots of games and just relaxed the whole time.  It was fun to be with the little kids!  

Will had fun with his cousin Justin and we tried to teach him how to throw a Frisbee.  He was running around all over the place and was really good at getting really dirty!

Emelia is at a really cute and fun age.  She is really talkative and doesn't mind being cute and showing us all her tricks!
Chad and Amber brought their three little kittens, and Will, Eddie, and Emilia loved to play with them and those kittens are pretty tough now!  

We played a couple innings of baseball, and kick ball.  Emelia had a hard time holding the big heavy bat, so Chad was able to help swing!  They hit the ball and I led her to the bases!  She loved running and everyone cheering for her!

Emelia and Edison loved going on rides with anyone that would take them on the 4 wheeler.  They would just laugh and smile so big on each ride.

David and I learned how to drive the 4 wheeler and we took a couple of rides ourselves!  It was so pretty out there next to the river and in and out of the trees!  

On Saturday we couldn't forget the birthdays!  It was Amber and Tiffany's birthday!  Tiffany's parents brought up a princess ice cream cake and Amber got her favorite cherry chip cake.  There was lots of cake and it was all so good!  I think I had a couple of pieces of each! . . . and I can't forget that Amber and Tiffany had their very own princess tiaras that they got to wear.  I think Edison ended up wearing Amber's most of the time. . . surprise surprise!

All in all it was a great weekend of relaxing and games!  Can't wait to get back to school. . . . well I think we could, but we have no choice!

Super Long Weekend. . . coming right up!

For Memorial Weekend, David and I get Monday off of course, and the school let us have Tuesday off as well. . . and it happened to work our that David and I both have our classes today cancelled for today!  I think the teachers just wanted another day off, but they tried to convince me that they didn't even think about it being a holiday weekend when they had these meetings and conferences scheduled.  Oh well. . .I will take the day off, no worries!  

We are taking off this afternoon to go camping with Chad and Amber and who knows how much of Amber's family will be there!  It will be fun to just relax and enjoy the beautiful weather!  

Just to update everyone. . . We still do enjoy school!  Homework is getting repetitive so that isn't as much fun, but so far I am doing well in all of my classes.  Tests are turning out well!  

All of our sports are doing alright.  Our two Frisbee teams are winning, the ward soccer team is struggling pretty bad, and my competitive girls soccer team is doing really well.  We scrimmaged against the boys team and only lost 2-1 which they were probably a little embarrassed about.  It was fun and we were able to work on positioning a little more.  

Our sports classes are still fun.  David is learning all about volleyball and his teacher coached some for the Olympic girls and so she is pretty tough on his class.  It sounds like she has a hard time a little with David's beginning class since she isn't entirely sure how to work with the beginners, but David is learning a lot still and only has two more weeks of it before it is over and he starts up a soccer class in the morning.

I love having my basketball class.  It is a much needed break from the lectures of my other classes.  It is just a girls class so we have fun playing with each other.  My shooting has been on fire lately and it makes me look pretty good!!  It has been pretty surprising to me since I haven't really ever been a strong shooter from the far shots, but I got it now!  I have also been known for my rebounding and I love to just run in there when someone shoots and fight for the ball.  It catches people off guard because it is usually just the big tall girls standing under the basket waiting for it to fall into their arms. . .but then I come flying in and snatch it away and smile as I run away with it!

So needless to say, we have been just playing every night.  There is always a game for one team or another.  It is nice to play with our ward and get to know some people that way.  We will also get to know our ward a little better because David and I just got called to be Gospel Doctrine teachers.  We hope that it all goes well and that we can teach them something about church history that they can learn something new each week.  I have only taught first graders, so this could be fun!

We have been hanging out with our neighbors a lot.  They have only been married for a month, so they think that David and I have been married for forever already and have all the married stuff worked out!!!  It is funny that here in Rexburg, being married for nearly a year is like eternity, but anywhere else, people still congratulate us on getting married since we are still newlyweds!  We just laugh at it as people ask us, "How do you like being married for so long?"  Some people here are so ignorant . . . and it is too much fun!

Our neighbors are related to all the Blodgetts in the tri-cities and we have game nights with them all the time.  They play on our Frisbee team with us and we invite each other over all the time too.  David has fun helping with beginning accounting homework and teaching the basic concepts to them.

So all in all, we are just plugging along and enjoying all that we can!

Thanks for the Tag

I was tagged by my sister, Tracie who is living in Germany right now. (. . . We are hoping to be able to come next summer, so you can't leave!) But anyways, I am supposed to list these eight things about me so here we go!!
Here's how to do this 8 THINGS thing: Mention the person who tagged you. Complete the lists of 8's. Tag 8 of your wonderful friends.
8 THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO:
David coming home from Boise on Friday night
Graduating in December
Student teaching
Having kids
Moving out of Rexburg before winter comes
Playing soccer this semester and winning the championship again
Getting groceries today so I can make something yummy for dinner tonight
Getting a couch . . . finally!

8 THINGS I DID YESTERDAY:
Scrambled to get David ready and on his trip to Boise on time
Went to a morning full of great classes
Got a really painful papercut. . . it still hurts!
Got frustrated doing busy work again for one of my classes
Went to soccer practice and it was insanely windy. . . I was either tripping over the ball because the wind would blow it back at me, or I was chasing it since the wind would just carry it away!
Had pancakes, a carrot, and jell-o for dinner
Did homework with friends
Found out I got a scholarship this semester from the teaching department!

8 THINGS I WISH I COULD DO:
Travel everywhere. . . Australia, Germany, China, Hawaii, Home, anywhere with David
Not have to do the boring homework and only the assignments I liked and thought were important
Be in shape like I was when I was in high school
Enjoy running, just for fun
Be with kids more often
Take a Ceramics class
Be with my family more
Be able to cook like mom and not have to measure anything


8 SHOWS I WATCH:
The Biggest Loser
American Idol
24. . . but not by myself
Dancing with the Stars
So You Think You Can Dance
The Office
Full House
Monk

8 PEOPLE I TAG:
Anyone who reads this. . . I don't know who does
Mom
Dad
Rosie
Kelsie
Grandpa Bob
Crissa
. . .
. .

WE LOVE SCHOOL!!!

We are on our third week of the semester, and we are loving it! I love all my classes and my schedule even gives me time to play! I was able to take a basketball class, and I also get to play soccer again with the school. I joined my ward's soccer team for intramural and David, Nick and I put together an ultimate Frisbee team as well! So every night we should be playing something! . . . oh ya. . . David is on the ward softball team as well!
So back to classes. . . I am learning how to teach everything this semester. . . math, science, PE, reading, and then I have a couple classes on teaching students with disabilities and students from diverse cultures. So I have a good load of classes but I love them!
David's classes are challenging but interesting for him . . . including his basketball and volleyball classes. He is finishing up and graduating at the end of the semester and is enjoying being in the class and out of the office for now.

Adventures in Driving

David has really loved being out of Oregon for only one reason. . . he does not like that he has to have someone pump the gas into the car. . . so as we got to Idaho, he was pretty excited to get to a gas station.

Just as we crossed the border from Oregon to Idaho, we got to a gas station and were 100% sure we were back as we saw a glimpse of what we missed! It may be tough to see. . . or hard to believe, but this really is an honest picture of a lady with her cow in the back seat of her car. Not only that, but she does also have a window sticker that reads, "DON'T SQUAT WITH YOUR SPURS ON" I don't know if there could be any better "welcome back" signs than that!

So while we were in Texas staying with Rosie and Peter, we were able to really relax and enjoy our free time together since January since David was working 12 hour days at his accounting internship. So we were able to be lazy and do whatever we wanted, wake up when we felt like it, and anything we pleased. Rosie and Peter were at work and school during the days, but we would play with them at night.

We went out and played for his birthday and had fun bowling eating pizza and then delicious Coldstone ice cream! Peter won the first game, but David pulled it off the second game for the win and showed me how good he really is!
We pulled DDR out one night, and we got quite the workout. Then the rest of the time we were there, David and I would play for an hour or so as our daily workout each morning. We had fun with it and David would never give up and would try to dance his little heart away all the way to the end of the song!
We also went to a Rangers game. David used to go all the time when he was younger, so we had to relive that fun memory for him. We even got a lemon chill (it is like a mix between a Popsicle and ice cream) and they tasted just like he remembered!
David showed me around his home town where he mostly grew up and he showed me the places he lived and the schools he went to and the parks and fun places he played. I think I mostly just liked to hear how excited he would get to show me something that had memories to it and to tell me all about the little adventures of his childhood.
We also went to Braum's. . . David's favorite place for burgers, fries and an ice cream cone. He loves the waffle fries they have and of course a good scoop or two of cookies 'n cream on a waffle cone!
Rosie and Peter let us o some laundry while we were there and I managed to not only wash our clothes, but I include my cell phone in one of the loads as well! It was such a "great" feeling as I was transferring the wet clothes into the dryer and get to the end and see my phone just nestled in the bottom with the last bit of clothes! I don't think they will replace that one for me, so I am just using an old one for now. I heard that rice will suck the moisture out of it, so it is sitting in there still. . . It has been about a week . . . maybe two, and I check it every day, but it hasn't kicked into gear yet . . . maybe someday :)
We spent our last day there at Six Flags on the roller coasters! I absolutely love roller coasters and I was pretty sad when it almost didn't work out to go. But we made adjustments and we laughed and screamed our little brains out! We loved it and had a nice scratchy throat half-way through the day and all night!
Then we took off on our drive back across the country to Idaho. We took off after playing at Six Flags and got a good head start on the drive before we pulled out the pajamas, blankets and pillows and found a safe spot to park the car and sleep for the night. We had an empty car, and no idea how far we would be able to drive before we had to sleep, so we skipped the hotel and actually enjoyed sleeping in the car. We woke up the next morning and continued on our way through Oklahoma, Kansas, and then as we were getting into Colorado we blew out one of our back tires. I wasn't too big of a problem and just put the spare on there and headed on our way.
We drove about another 6-8 hours on the spare tire until it decided it was finished and it blew and quit on us. We had no idea what to do and we looked at each other thinking and David decides, "Let's call the cops." That kind of scared me at first, but then I realized we didn't do anything wrong and we just needed some help.
The cops were great. It was a Sunday afternoon in the middle of Wyoming and we had one come out and make sure everything was okay and just sat with us for a while, and another called the wrecking place. The wrecking place found out what size of tires we had, and then went and found a new tire and came out and put the new tire in place of the first blown tire. We just sat there and this all happened within an hour or so and we were back on the road. It wasn't too pricey for the convenience. We were just glad that we could keep on driving and make it back to Idaho!
So we made the trip and got back home at 2 am just in time to sleep for a few hours before getting up and ready for the First Day of School! Yes we are crazy, but Six Flags just had to be done, and we made it back in time for school and we didn't have to be coherent in class. . . well just enough to say, "Here!" when our names were called in class the first day!