A fun date night.

So Brandon and I struggle with planning fun different dates. It's hard! I mean when you can't do anything outside without being completely miserable and when your apartment isn't exactly party central, it's a struggle. I volunteered to plan last Saturday nights date. I had been thinking about it forever. I had been googling, I had been researching, and I was stressing. My idea consisted of going to the Museum of Idaho (which has a dinosaur exhibit now) then eat dinosaur chicken nuggets and watch Jurassic Park. First, I don't like dinosaur chicken nuggets and Jurassic Park is considered a scary movie in my book. Are you seeing my predicament?

So. I called Brandon Saturday around one and said, maybe we should go to Chiptole today? Now, for those of you who don't know Chiptole is one of my favorite places ever. I love it. It's like burrito heaven. But Idaho does not have one. The closest one is a little north of Salt Lake.

Well, Brandon came home. We packed our bags. Then we made the three hour journey to Salt Lake.

Now, we did more than just eat at glorious Chiptole. We spent some quality time with my brother, his wife and their little girl. We also walked around temple square. And we saw Meagan, Brandon's sister.

And all in all, it was a lovely date night.

Yay for family.

Do you remember my really neat picture wall that made its debut around Christmas? (So maybe it's not that neat..but I sure like it!) Well, it's growing. And it's changing. A few pictures had to be swapped, considering the whole theme was winter and Christmas and really fun things like that. I mean, it just would not have worked if I kept my most favorite Grinch quote on the wall all year. And since I did get a super sweet camera and took some not as sweet pictures with it, it needed a change. And maybe you are starting to realize that I kind of have a slight obsession with crafts that center around decorating and pictures. Now you are probably thinking, "This girl is so silly. She could have saved herself the trouble and left all of the winter pictures up because it is still winter and will be winter in Idaho for at least 5 more months." But, don't worry confused reader, you will receive an almost sound explanation a little later.

But, the point is, my wall got a makeover. One of my favorite additions to the wall (besides pictures of our two nephews and our niece and all of the other members of our family) is The Family: A Proclamation to the World. 

See, up until this point we haven't had one in our home. I mean we do have one. It's just in a drawer somewhere. And that somewhere is awfully intimidating because usually when it's just somewhere in a drawer it is an adventure in itself to find it. And Brandon doesn't necessarily like when I embark on those adventures because I tend to empty out all thirteen drawers in a state of panic (kind of like I did tonight to all of our cupboards to find the apple cider vinegar...) and sometimes forget to put everything away. And since Photoshop and I have become such good friends I decided to make one that could fit into our 18 X 20 picture frame. It worked out quite well and I am pleased we now have one visible in our home.

If you can read that writing I applaud you. But if not just visit here and read it, it's quite wonderful!

We added some lovely family pictures and kept a few from before. Don't worry, that dashing one of Brandon still remains.

And here is the whole wall in all its glory. Just ignore my shadow there...

And here is the original print, feel free to snag it!

So, as you might have guessed our new wall theme is family. Yay for family! Brandon and I will always be pleased to announce that we love our families very much. They are simply wonderful! And since families are the most important thing of all they deserve to be recognized and remembered. Hopefully I can continue to grow our little wall with more cherished memories of family and fun times. Until then I will spend countless hours staring at the crooked picture and large gaps in our never perfect but always wonderful family collage.

Have a happy late Tuesday night!

A little recap.

Remember when I said I was going to do another post that included all the rest of our super cute Christmas decorations? Well, as you can tell that never happened. Instead just the other day I took a picture of me putting them away. Sad day. But, our Christmas holiday was quite fantastic. From the very beginning when we celebrated my birthday all the way up until yesterday. For a week of that Brandon and I traveled to the valley of the sun to spend some quality time with my side of the family. See, I would tell you about all of these splendid adventures but Brandon got me a lovely Nikon DSLR camera for Christmas and a fancy iPhone for my birthday, that also takes some pretty great photos so I figured some pictures would better communicate the fun times we've had!
Enjoy!

A little before we left Idaho Brandon spent some time holding his nephew Logan.

Our arrival, what a strange place compared to Idaho!

My parents tree Christmas morning.

Our cute little niece Fallon opening some presents..the day after Christmas.

Cousin love.

Tenille and her perfect little Kash. Seriously the cutest mom and son you've ever seen.

Waiting for the Polar Express to arrive. Yes, we traveled to the North Pole.

All aboard!

Almost all the family there! Except Seth...that little punk.

A happy little family excited to ride the train.

That little girl likes to explore.

Precious, yes?

Brandon playing with Kashden Christmas morning.

My padres super excited to board the train.

Ho Ho Ho!

So obviously these aren't quite in the right order. I blame this blasted blogger system. But, you get the picture. We had a grand time! Now I need to torture the Smith side with my camera so they can make an appearance in the next post.

Hopefully your holidays were as splendid as ours were!

Happy December.

Seriously, HAPPY DECEMBER! I just love December. It's hands down my favorite month. So many lovely things happen in December. Christmas and my birthday to name a few..

And, in December I get to redecorate and almost have an excuse to buy new pretty things. Are you starting to see the beauty of the month December? I hope so.

If you haven't put your decorations up, shame on you. But don't you worry, it's only the 6th so you have approximately 18 days left to bring some Christmas spirit in your home. Really I am just doing this for you, I don't want you to feel like little Cindy Lou Who when she sang "Where Are You Christmas?".

You can start with a nice festive wreath. 

I got the idea for this one from this website. It was like super easy and super cheap and super quick. Three great supers.

Another thing I did to add to the feeling of Christmas in our little apartment was change some pictures around. This was the final product.

I love that picture of Brandon right there. Can you say winter apparel model?

 Well most of it, I suppose you can't see the outside of it. I got that large print from here, the scripture reference print from here, and the Grinch one I made myself.

And finally a few gifts under the tree don't hurt either. 

Don't be fooled. We simply wrapped empty boxes to make it appear as if we are getting presents.

But, you don't need big things to bring in that extra Christmas spirit. Even a little Clay Aiken Christmas music in the background should do the trick :)

The rest of our festive decorations will make an appearance in another post. 
Until then, have a happy Tuesday!

A list of recents.

So, it's been a while. I know you're not too distraught. But let's just be honest. My life has about as much excitement as my pet tortoise's, Gus Gus. And all he does everyday is sleep and eat grass.

But, a couple of fun and exciting things have happened:

1. A new little nephew was added to our family this past week. His name is Logan and he looks absolutely precious. Since Stacie and Rob (this said cuties parents) are going to school in Michigan we haven't had a chance to meet him. But, we will get the opportunity to cuddle and hold him during Christmas time and Brandon and I are very excited for that. 

2. We have officially started the application process for Brandon's MBA program. This makes me super giddy, but does not quite have the same affect on Brandon. Maybe that's because he's going to be writing all the essays and doing all of the dirty work, which when I start to think about it, it does sound awful. I choose schools purely on location, which I realize is not the right way to go about this, but it sure has been fun. I am anxious to find out were we will be!

3. We got our first legitimate snow the other day. It was hideous. (I'd totally show a picture but I am afraid that you would think that it is a very illegitimate amount of snow)

4. Let's see, I start my student teaching at Hillcrest High School in Idaho Falls this January. It's quite laughable what I am going to be teaching. Senior English and AP English, only less AP considering I am not even a college graduate yet, and they don't really trust me to be teaching a college type class. I don't trust myself either, so it works out quite nicely.

5. I went to my first Super Saturday activity for our church Relief Society and created these little beauties. Good thing I can keep them up for like two more weeks...

Don't you love how the T is crooked? I think it almost adds character..almost.

6. I am listening to all the Harry Potter books on tape and have realized how much better they are than the Twilight series. Like, seriously no comparison. I look back and can't even believe I spent so much of my time reading those. I am glad my reading tastes are starting to mature. That doesn't mean I am not going to see the Breaking Dawn movie coming out next week though..

Ha, you can tell that our lives are super exciting. I can't even get past 6 major events, and one of them was listening to the Harry Potter series as I drive to school everyday. This is getting rather pathetic. Good thing I don't mind being a little pathetic.

Let's finish today up with a little inspiring quote from one of my students, because they know how it is:

Teacher: "Have you ever tried to rescue someone from the gallows?"
Student: "Yah, it sucks."

I must say, the teacher set herself up for that one. Have a super lovely weekend!

Funnies..again.

Much like last Tuesday, I had some great laughs today. Seriously, these kids are so funny. Hopefully I don't bore you with these but I just had to share!

First quote:
Teacher: "Don't you think it's important to be honest?"
Student: "Sometimes.."

Well, I know honesty is important but this kid might be on to something..But really, if you were his teacher how would you have responded? Maybe something like this, "You know, you're right, honesty is only important most of the times, sometimes it's okay to be a little shady." I guess it might be days like this that I start to fear for the future of our country. Thankfully his teacher just kind of looked at him and walked away..

Second quote:
"Snow White was greedy. She did take the apple."

I can say that I have never thought about that before. I mean maybe she should have been thinking about all the kids in Africa who really could have used that apple, or the nice little forest creatures who wanted a treat, what in the world was Snow White thinking?!

Ah, great aren't they? These moments make teaching all worth it.

On a more positive note check out my oober cute nephew.

I like how he's giving me the stare down. If only he were smiling, he has like the cutest smile.

I went to the land of sun and warmth a couple weekends ago and got to see him. Oh and I got to see my family as well :) But, let's be honest he is just a little bit more exciting than them, sorry guys..

Anyhow, have a lovely week!

A funny thing.

Did you know that I am almost teaching an 8th grade class? I say almost because most days I just observe and watch the BYU-Idaho students teach it. But, I am their official teacher and do official things like enter grades and take attendance. I don't like sitting back and watching. See, I got to teach these kids for the first week or so and we had a blast. We made adobe houses out of clay, homemade salsa and tortillas, musical instruments, and much more. Now, they are being taught legitimate lessons, they don't like it, I don't like it, really it just stinks. Observing does have a few perks though. For example, these kids are hilarious and say some of the funniest things ever. I find myself laughing all of the time, even though I probably shouldn't encourage their behavior. This was my favorite quote of today:
"My little brother tries to kill me with his mind."

I wonder what he was trying to get at, because most of the time they just can't seem to find the right words to describe their feelings. But, I am sure once he would have explained it, it would have made perfect sense. 

Things like this make me miss my 8th grade year very much. Those days were quite carefree and very easy it seems, plus no one expected you to actually know what you were talking about. Like now, when they ask me questions that I don't know I just fudge my way through it. But, I am sure they think I know everything, because at that age your teachers did know everything, at least it seemed. It's somewhat eye opening and a little discouraging to realize that they probably didn't.

So, this doesn't have a direct point. Maybe you can take out of it to look for the funny things in your life, or treasure the memories you have, or to realize that your teachers were all phonies. You choose. But, if anything, have a nice week!