Finally!!!

So we finally heard on our house that we have been waiting on since May, and WE GOT IT!!!! I am so excited, I can hardly stand it. It has been a really long wait and very trying at times, but I am so thankful that we got it. Now we have about 3 weeks to pack our house and move. I can do that right?! I am not even about to complain about all of the other things I need to do at the same time, because I am just so excited that we are going to be buying our first home, and it is perfect!

Hannah loves the backyard. Every time we go to the house, she just runs around and around singing and dancing. Who needs a swingset right?

So I got these pictures from the listing site and this is obviously not our stuff, but you can at least see the house.

I say the yellow walls could stay for a while, but Chad says no way!

The red walls are going to have to go! It's a little too intense for me, but Chad thinks they are kind of nice! I think we'll just repaint the whole downstairs!

Thankful Thursday

I know that it is Friday and I haven't been Thankful for a couple of weeks, but I have been really busy lately. Which brings me to what I am thankful for. Last night Chad turned on a couple of his CD's and we just sat on the couch listening to music. Hannah started showing off his skills as a dancer. It was so funny and entertaining. This morning I am thankful for a happy, energetic 3 year old. And I am also thankful for taking a few minutes to slow down and enjoy dancing with my daughter.

Thankful Thursday

So a lot of my friends that blog do something once a week where they share some kind of insight or memory or something cute on a specific day. I really like Thankful Thursday as a way to reflect on things you are thankful for at least once a week. I have wanted to do it for some time now, but every time I think about it it's like Friday or Saturday and Thankful Saturday doesn't really sound that great. I don't know how good I will be at this, but I will do my best and if I forget, feel free to let me know and keep me in line.

Today while I was on my run I was thinking about what I am thankful for and I really kept thinking that I am thankful for outside recess. I know you were expecting something more meaningful for my first post, but really there are some of you out there that would agree that outside recess is really meaningful.

Yesterday was our first inside day and can I just say it was less than desirable. By the end of the day I just wanted to lay down and cry. Actually I think I did. So today when I went to school and I didn't see that red flag out in front of the school that is a symbol of my fate, I couldn't help but be excited. So today I am thankful for outside recess and a short 10 minute break to regroup.

Her Part 3

So it's been a while since I have posted anything about Her. (If you have missed previous posts regarding Her, you might want to look back a few months) Mostly because she was gone for quite some time. I thought she was probably going to be gone forever. No Way!! She is back with a vengience . Hannah talks about her all the time, and we have learned a few more things about her. (If I am confusing you and you are wondering if I am talking about Her as a pronoun, or a proper noun, I don't know what to tell you. It confuses me too, and I am a school teacher.)

Anyway, here are the new things we have learned.

1. Her is naughty and a brat (Hannah's exact words)

2. She likes to cut peoples hair (what I mean by this is she likes to cut Hannah's hair)

3. She has wings on her back that allow her to fly over houses. (She was nice enough to give Hannah a pair as well.

4. Today is her (pronoun) birthday.

5. She isn't allowed to go to preschool anymore because she doesn't let Hannah play with the other kids.

If anybody out there has any advice for me on imaginary friends, please share. I am having a difficult time dealing with Hannah blaming all her naughty choices on Her. I don't want to squash her imagination, but at the same time she needs to be accountable for things that she does. HELP!!

Halloween Pics

I know it is a little bit early for Halloween pics, but I just wanted to get it done before my life got too crazy. Also, Chad's folks are coming for a visit in a couple of weeks and I wanted to be able to give them their pics and not have to send them. Anyway, I don't have to make excuses about why I am excited about Halloween do I? So here is the cutest Cinderella you will ever see. Well at least I think so, but I am a little biased

Finally a New Post

So you are probably thinking there should be some great story to go along with this post and the fact that I haven't posted in over a month, well the truth is there isn't. Life has just sort of kicked me in the butt lately. I don't have or should I say make the time to do things I really enjoy doing like updating and checking all of your blogs. There you have it that is my big excuse.
Anyway, school started at the end of August and it has been a lot of fun. My class is great, very smart and cute kids. I have been having a lot of fun exploring with them and feeling like I know what is going on this year. It is always hard, however to remember from year to year that they really are babies and need reinforcement for everything. We have all been adjusting fine and I am looking forward to a great year.
This weekend Chad and I are celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary. I can't believe how time flies. We have had a great time and thanks to our friends Nisha and Adam for letting us stay in their timeshare! We have spend the last 3 days in St. George and driving into Zion's National Park. It has been a lot of fun and a much needed trip of reconnecting. Thanks mom and Jaci for looking out for our sweet Hannah so that Chad and I can spend time together.
Coming Soon!! The top 10 of the last 10! I have to really think about this one! Narrowing it down to 10 will be difficult.

My Sweet Husband!

My sweet husband is always thinking of me and trying to make my hectic life a little bit easier.  Last Christmas he gave me a gift certificate to the spa and I finally decided to use it.  For my birthday I decided to go and get some Botox injections.

What do you think?

Just Kidding!! 

 My husband did get me a great gift, but no I haven't used it yet.  I actually got stung by 2 wasps at the same time on my lip.  Instantly my lip looked like this.  So if any of you out there want cheap (temporary) Botox, come to my house.  I know where there is a wasp nest.

What Chad really did for me for my birthday was he and Hannah made me a birthday cake.  It is the first time in 10 years that he has done that and it was really cute to listen to the two of them working in the kitchen together.  The cake tasted really good too.  

Thanks Babe!

I think she must take after her mother!!

So when I was little, I used to get lost everywhere; the mall, Sea World, you name it and I got lost there.  I even got lost at the Rose Parade in Pasadena when I was two years old.  I think when you are just as brilliant as I WAS (key word) you just have to explore your surroundings.  Well Hannah being brilliant herself started exploring her surroundings at the hospital today.  Chad and Hannah were visiting my dad at who just had back surgery and as they were getting ready to leave, Hannah took off and got lost.  Actually what she did was run down the hallway, push the elevator button, get on the elevator and down to the lobby all before Chad even got to the elevator.  In Chad's defense, he was trying to look after her and his grandma (who walks a little bit slower since breaking her femur); so he probably wasn't running as fast as he normally would to catch up with her.  

I don't know how long it was before they realized that she actually took the elevator and then made their way down to get her, but by the time they found her she was in the Security office and the hospital had called a code over the loudspeaker that is supposed to tell all hospital personnel to lock down the doors and not have anyone get out.  I guess it was pretty scary and I was glad that I wasn't there.

The best part was that later tonight I was trying to talk to her a little bit about what happened, and tell her that it was good that she found the security guard and told him her name, but I was also thinking I should teach her a little about strangers.  So I asked her what would she do if she was with the security guard and somebody she didn't know came up to them and told the security that they were her daddy.  She didn't quite get what I was saying, so I repeated the question wording it a little bit different; to which she responded, you mean like if a wolf tried to get me?  UHHH yea, cause there are wolves in the hospital!!  I guess maybe she's not so brilliant after all.  

Technology Wiz

Ok, so I'm totally not a technology wiz, but I can move my way around a computer pretty well.  I took a bunch of technology classes in college and learned a bunch of stuff that I can't even begin to remember.  So the other day  I was out shopping for my classroom, and I decided to buy a couple of portable CD players (yes they still make these) and do a listening center for the kids.  I have been wanting to do this for a couple of years, but haven't done it.  Then I got kind of depressed because books on CD are really expensive (about $10 a piece).  

Summary of Cost of Books on CD

$10 per book (32 books- 1 per week)= Total of $320.o0

Then somewhere from the back of my brain I remembered a class I took called music for elementary ed, which is nothing like what it sounds like it should be.  Anyway, I remembered in that class that we used a program called garageband and I was pretty sure you could use it to record your own voice.  I bet you can guess what I am getting at right.  So I went to WalMart and bought a microphone for about $10 (the cost of one book on CD).  I then searched on apple.com to see if there was some kind of tutorial on using garageband.  I know, I know I took a class, but do you really pay attention to a class like that, that you don't think you'll ever use.  So sure enough there was and I watched it about 3 times.  

Turns out you can create a podcast (whatever that is) and record your own voice.  You can even add little musical jingles (the kids have to know when to turn the page, right) and whala (sp) you get a recording of any book you want.  Finally you share the file to your itunes and then burn it onto any audio CD-R.  

It was like this program was made for this exact purpose in mind (I don't know what else you would use it for).  Lucky, Lucky me!!  Now my kids will be able to listen to any book that I have in our library in our listening center.  So for any of you  teachers reading this, there are great, cheap resources out there.  (And for those of you who already knew this, don't tell me, I want to brag for just a little bit)

Summary of cost of Make your own CD's

$10- Microphone

$20- 100 blank CD's 

Total = $30

The Harsh Reality of Money

Yesterday, Hannah was begging me for an ice cream cone at Old McDonalds.  I told her that we could go and get one but that she would have to use her own money.  (She has 4 dollars that my mom gave her clear back in March for her birthday.)  She was totally ok with this and we went on our way to go get ice cream.  Well later when we were all going to grandmas house, Hannah started totally pouting and complaining that she didn't have any bucks.  When Chad questioned her about it she told him that the guy took her buck and didn't give it back.  She was totally sad about it and didn't understand at all.  Chad tried to explain to her that thats what happens when you buy things, you give someone your money and you get something else in return.  She still kept saying, "He took my buck dad!  That wasn't nice, he just took it and didn't give it back."  She didn't want to listen to the fact that she got an ice cream.  There was no consoling her.  She was totally upset.  Maybe she'll end up being just like her dad with money, a total miser!

Lesson Learned:  When you spend money, you don't have money!!  

Tiny Dancer

Hannah started her dance class this morning, and she has been so excited for weeks.  The class is a combo class which includes ballet, tap and tumbling.  It was fun to watch her and her little friends attempt to follow directions while staring at themselves in the giant mirror.  They are girls after all, how can they resist giant mirrors right.  

We were there for about 5 minutes and I learned several things about my sweet little Hannah.

1.  She does not follow directions very well (I was hopeful)

2.  She does not have any sort of rhythm 

3.  She loves to twirl

4.  She can't point her toes

5.  She doesn't like to take turns

6.  She loves to stomp on her tap shoes even when it is time to listen

7.  She is a little princess

8.  She is pretty outgoing and loves to please her teacher

9.  She can walk on her tippy toes really well

10.  She is not afraid to try new things

Good job Hannah.  We love you and are really proud of you.

Lagoon

Yesterday we took Hannah to Lagoon for the first time.  She was so excited.  The night before she could hardly sleep.  As I was putting her to bed, I told her that she just needed to calm down and go to sleep.  Her response to me was "Mom, I am wound up, and that is just the reality of me!"  How can I argue with that.  

Anyway, we had a great time and Hannah loved everything.  Well just about everything.  She was not too fond of the giant swinging ship or the Rattlesnake Rapids that drenched us all.  Other than that she was super brave and loving every minute of our time there.  It was a really nice day and we had such a wonderful time as a family.  Chad and I even got a chance to leave Hannah with Jaci and go on some roller coasters.  We haven't done that in ages and we both felt like we were 20 again.  So fun!!! And Thanks Jaime for the tickets.

Her Part 2

So I thought Hannah's imaginary friend would come and go pretty quickly, but to my surprise, she is very much alive in the heart of my dear little one.  Every day it is something new with Her.  The other day I was cleaning in the kitchen with my music on, and Hannah was dancing around me (like usual).  Pretty soon I hear her say, "Come on Her dance with me."  I look over and she is holding the air like she's holding two hands.  A few seconds later she says, "You are a great dancer, I am so proud of you."  Then just yesterday I had to pull over in the car because I forgot to put Her's seat belt on.  It has been fun to watch the development of Hannah's love for Her.  Here are a few new things we have learned about Her.

• Her loves going to Seven Peaks and want to go every day.
  
• Her doesn't like vegetables of any kind.
• Her sometimes fights with Hannah's other friends in the neighborhood, but she tries to be nice.
• Her doesn't like daddy's new tarantula (a different story)
• Her loves to play dress ups.
• Her's favorite food is Lucky Charms!

More about Her later.

Seven Peaks

We went to Seven Peaks today, and it was so much fun!  Hannah loved it and didn't want to come home.  We did a lot of riding on slides and being lazy in the kiddy pool.  Hannah of course loved it, and the highlight for me was watching her dance around the pool and sing songs to herself.  She is such a sweet girl, and I think she can keep herself entertained for hours.  Here are some pictures of our fun day!

Hannah was so tired at the end of the day, I looked back at her in her car seat and this is what she looked like.  What a fun day!

I think Sebastian is a Liar

Yesterday Hannah and I were driving in the car listening to "Kid Songs."  Kid Songs are any song from any Disney Movie, and Hannah insists on listening to them every time we are in the car.  After a few minutes she says to me, "Mom, I think Sebastian is a liar!" (We have been talking a lot about telling the truth lately).  The rest of our conversation went something like this.

Me:  Who is Sebastian.

Hannah:  Sebastian, you know the crab on Little Mermaid.

Me:  Oh, well why do you think he is a liar?

Hannah:  Because in the song he says "She's got a lot to say."  But mom he already knows that she can't say anything, she doesn't have a voice.  Ursula took it away from her.  

Me:  Oh

Hannah:  I don't know why he would lie like that, when he knows Arial can't say anything without a voice.

Me:  (A thought in my head)  Oh my goodness, is this girl 3 or what?  I think I might be in for it!!

Pony Express Days

We have had so much fun this week at Pony Express Days.  Last year we didn't participate much, but this year we went all out.  On Monday we went to Family Night games and fun at the park.  It was a lot of fun (and then it started raining on us).  Hannah got to get her picture taken with Mickey and Minnie, and she absolutely loved it.  
On Friday and Saturday we went to the Carnival at the park, and it was a lot of fun.  Hannah was so brave and went on a ton of rides that I didn't expect her to go on.  She loved, loved, loved the Ferris Wheel.  It was so windy that day that I was actually really scared when we were stuck on top, but she just grinned from ear to ear and kept saying "This is wonderful Mom!"  It was a lot of fun to see her excitement and watch her enjoy every bit of it.

We Love Pony Express Days!!!

Her

When I was a little girl I had an imaginary friend named Alice.  Apparently I was totally into her and would even make my parents set a place at the table for her.  For the last year or so, my mom has been telling me that she thinks Hannah will develop an imaginary friend too.  Well last week she did.  One day when Chad and Hannah came to pick me up from school they were a little bit late.  Chad said they couldn't get out the door because Hannah was throwing a fit that he wouldn't pack an extra pair of clothes for Her.  I was totally clueless, Who was Her?  Should I even ask?  Apparently Her is Hannah's imaginary friend.  She has since gone back and forth with calling her Her and my Friend.  We have tried over and over to get Hannah to give Her a name, but she insists that her name is Her.  This makes it really hard for the school teacher in me to hear sentences like "Her's not ready to go now."  or "Her's got some money so Her's going to buy it for me."

Here are some things we know about Her

*She has black skin (under her white skin)

*She is 3 years old, but she is really big almost a grown up

*She has golden hair

*She has blue eyes

*She likes to go swimming everyday

*She doesn't like to go to bed

*She wears green pants and a pink tank top

*She is Hannah's best playmate and spends more time at our house than at her own

*She lives in Lehi

I think it is all so very cute, and I love to hear stories about Her.  If any of you have stories of your own children having imaginary friends, please share.  I would love to hear them.

It has been a long time since I have been able to spend time sewing.  I love doing it, but it seems like there is always a ton that needs to be done before sewing.  Last weekend, my friend Nisha and I decided to make some cute things for our girls.  Nisha found a couple of super cute and easy patterns which the girls love.  In the end I made her 3 skirts and 2 dresses.  Hannah loves twirling in her new skirts and as you can tell from the pictures, she loves posing in them too.  Thanks for the fun weekend Nish, we should do it again real soon!!

Still a Slacker

Like I said before, I have been a total slacker lately.  Have you ever felt like you are spread so thin that you can't give a single thing 100% of your time and attention. and it drives you crazy?  I seem to feel like that all the time lately.  So Friday night Chad asks me if I am going to make his birthday cake this weekend.  Ok so his birthday was over a week ago and I thought I was off the hook.  I guess not.  So I decided to make him a cake.  Hannah informed me that since I didn't make her a batman cake, I had to make daddy one.  Since I don't have a batman cake pan I decided to wing it.  And I was pretty pleased with the outcome.  Actually I was very pleased and impressed with myself.  (As you can tell it doesn't take much to impress me)  Anyway, Chad loved it and Hannah too, and we all enjoyed eating it.  YUM!!  Happy Birthday Chad, (again)!

Total Slacker

So I think it has officially been too long since I have posted.  There have been several things that I wanted to post about over the last week or so, but I just get so busy and don't get a chance to do it.  

Last week we started our May Theme Days at school.  It is my absolute favorite time of the school year.  By this time of the year, we have taught about everything there is to teach in the first grade, so for the month of May we do a lot of review.  For these four weeks we have a different theme for each day.  My personal favorites are Dinosaur Day, Experiment Day, and Origami Day.  For me it really gives me an opportunity to sit back and  really enjoy my kids before they go.  I love it.  

Last week was also Chad's birthday!  He is the bit 34!  It is hard to believe (and I am just a little bit behind him).  We were able to celebrate a couple of different days last week.  On Thursday (the day of his birthday) we went to see Wolverine.  Before we went I was kind of complaining to my friend Nisha because it wouldn't have been my pick.  She reassured me that at least Hugh Jackman would probably be shirtless, so there would be some consolation.  Turns out Hugh Jackman is both shirtless and bottomless there for a couple of minutes of the movie.  So it ended up being more of a consolation than I thought.  Seriously though it was a good movie and I was sufficiently entertained.  Then on Saturday night I was able to surprise Chad with a dinner out with some friends.  I hardly ever get to surprise him because he is such a planner, but it worked out perfect and we all had a great time.  

I am sure there has been more to talk about, but I have a pretty short attention span right now!!

Whenever I hear the song of a bird

Tonight we had a family home evening lesson on the things that Heavenly Father created for us.  It was a great lesson and Hannah was so cute about it, she is just so smart.  I decided that this would be a great lesson for tonight since Daddy took Hannah on her first hike this afternoon.  I thought we could talk about all of the things that she saw on her hike that Heavenly Father has created for us.  The lesson was great, and then afterward for our activity, we went outside and painted a picture of the world around us.  Once we were finished with our activity we brought Hannah in the house for a bath.  As she got undressed for bath, I noticed something black on her leg.  Sure enough, she had a tick in her leg.  GROSS!!!  I immediately called Chad upstairs to take a look at it, and Hannah started freaking out about having a bug in her leg.  After we got it out, she said, "Mom, I know that Heavenly Father created that bug that was in my leg, but I think her knows that he made a bad choice when he decided to go into my leg."  I had a hard time not laughing at that one.  She was being so pathetic, I had to get some of it on video.  This is definitely after she calmed down quite a bit!

Women's Conference

This last weekend I had the opportunity to go to Women's Conference at BYU.  It was fabulous.  I's always amazing to me that I never realize how out of shape I am spiritually until I go to something like that.  It totally fires me up.  I was grateful to be able to spend a couple of days with my mother-in-law Vicki.  We always have a wonderful time together.  She is such an example to me.  Just being around her makes me want to be a better person.  I am also grateful that Chad stayed home with Hannah for two days.  He is such a wonderful father, and she loves being with him.  And I couldn't have gone without my very favorite sub Chris for taking my class for two days.  She is wonderful with them and I appreciate all she does.  

The classes seemed to be just what I needed (like always) and I am determined to stand a little taller and do a little more to uplift myself, and those around me through my testimony.  I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and is mindful of my needs as well as the needs of my family.  I know that I can find strength and refuge through the atonement of Christ.  And I know that I although I have not been the most diligent disciple, I can improve and make choices that allow myself to become perfected in Him.

Crayon Drawings

Tonight I was getting Hannah ready for bed and she started asking me about her mole on her ankle.  She asked me where it came from and why she has it?  I told her that it was just something that Heavenly Father gave to her, and it was a beauty mark.  Her next question made me crack up.  She said, "So mom, was he just doing some crayon drawings or something?"What a thinker.  How does she come up with these things?

Hogle Zoo

Friday we went to the Hogle Zoo on a field trip with my class.  Chad, Vicki and Hannah met us down there and we had a great time.  Hannah loved all the animals, and Chad loved sharing with her his vast knowledge of all the animals that he loves.

Visit with Coombs

The last couple of weeks have been a lot of fun. On Tuesday of Spring Break, Grammy, Papa, Kelly and Andrew came to visit us from California. After a week of visiting, Papa, Kelly and Andrew left to go home and Grammy stayed for another couple of weeks. We have had nothing but fun the entire time. We have gone out to dinner (too much), gone skating, had a campfire up in the canyon for Family Night, visited Thanksgiving Point, and just had fun visiting and letting Grammy spoil Hannah.
Hannah loves Uncle Andrew.  She didn't want anything to do with any of us when he was around.  It was fun to watch them together.   He was so patient with her and even played princess barbie's and poly-pockets with her.

 

A little visit with Papa.  Hannah loves her papa, and all the fun stories he tells her!

Hannah at Classic Skating.  Her face says it all.  She was so excited to skate and the better she got at it, the more daring she got.  It was fun to watch.

Mom, Andrew and Hannah skating on the "blue".  For the longest time Hannah would only skate on the carpet.  After a while she decided that she wanted to go on the "blue"

We really wore ourselves out at the skating rink!

We were surprised to see snow up in the canyon when we went for our Family Home Evening, since it was like 80 degrees that day.  I guess you never get used to Utah weather.  We decided that it wasn't as good as Family Night at the beach, but it was a close second.  

Uncle Andrew found a piece of vinyl fencing and decided that would be a great sled.  I was a little nervous about it, but it proved to be a really fun game with Andrew and Hannah.  Some of the time, I had to just close my eyes and pray that she didn't get hurt.

We went to see the Draper Temple.  It was a beautiful day when we left our house, but by the time we got to Draper it was cloudy and windy.  Again that Utah weather.  We didn't stay long, but it was a lot of fun!

Hannah looking at the beautiful tulips at Thanksgiving Point.  We went at the start of the tulip festival, but there were very few tulips that had actually bloomed.  

Hannah just being a poser.