In 12 weeks...

Sadly in only 12 weeks my days of this will be over...

  

and this...

and thankfully this...

(well at least on campus)

But we sure are looking forward to this...

and hopefully soon after this...

Lots to look forward to in the next 12 weeks or so!!!

Valentine's Day

Overall, we had a very lovely Valentine's Day!

We knew it'd be crazy so we took advantage of the time we had together!

This wasn't actually today, but it's my favorite part of the day, Getting to hold Mr. Curt's hand. He hates the scars on his hands from work, but I love them them & now I can be pick his hand out of any body else's!

We didn't do much in the way of gifts, but Curt had flower petals all over the floor & got me my all time favorite 'apple pie apple' He was so cute and put a ring pop in my engagement ring box!(:

Little did he know that I got him an 'apple pie apple' too! That was a funny moment(: And I put together date cards for the whole year, 1 for each month that he'll be able to open each month and have at least one week planned for! I found a cute idea online to write on the back of each of the 52 cards in a deck reasons why I love him too! 

So nothing major this year, but still fun to put together! 

The only picture taken of the gifts...

We had an hour or so to grab a bite to eat @ our favorite 

Italian restaurant called 'Callaways'

It has such a fun feel to it & the building itself is very rustic!

It's a nice get away.

We love how they put the breadsticks in mason jars! 

They even had a rose and a lit candle @ each table

Our yummy plate!

On a more heart breaking note , I was at school today and looked down @ my ring & saw this...

notice anything missing???

Yep, one of the diamonds from my band is GONE!

My heart sank when I saw it and spent much of the rest of my spare time I had at school searching the gym, halls, classroom, etc. No luck, but who knows...maybe it'll show up!

If not I'm so glad it wasn't the bigger one!

Glad to have the perspective of how little material things really matter, but still it kills me to see it sort of 'incomplete' now!

The principal teased me as I was leaving and said that it's just a great excuse to get a new one!!!!

He laughed and said he's on his 4th & his wife has put the hammer down by saying it's the last one too(:


Guess that ring pop will be coming in handy!!

PUMPKIN.....!!!

HAS GONE & FOUND HIMSELF A LOVELY LADY!!!

We are thrilled for him and his beautiful fiance.

We've only had the chance to meet her over FaceTime, but can't wait 'til their wedding in April

to give her a big squeeze!

SO happy to have Jessica join the family

& even more happy about how happy she makes Jordan!

I know, lots of happy's :)

Date Nights & the Return of the "Deer Whisperer"

With the semesters new hectic schedule we have 

made it a priority to go on a date, just the 2 of us, once a week!

It has been such a blast! We have gone through quite the adjustment only seeing each other @ our workout and then maybe 30 min later that night! We have made up some silly dates that have turned out to be a ball! On 2 of these dates my powers of 

being a deer whisperer returned! 

This top picture we chased these 8 or 9 deer for a few minutes, I could not stop laughing!

Then we cornered more later @ a different spot!

I'm sure none of you give a hoot, but I guess this post is more for us to look back on and have a good laugh!(:

Student Teaching!

This semester is my last one here @ 

Utah State & I have made it to student teaching! 

It has been a long process getting here, but all I can say is 

I LOVE TEACHING!!!

Yes, there are hard days & kids that test every fiber of me,

BUT I just love it. 

I guess I'm relieved that I've made it to this point & didn't say to myself, "What in the world was I thinking going into teaching"

I always have some story to tell Curt at the end of the day & I'm so grateful for his listening ear!

I cannot believe I am a 1/3 of the way through!

My sweet parents sent me these BEAUTIFUL flowers that arrived the night before my first day @ the school!

Couldn't have been more perfect! 

Thanks for the love & support! 

"Christmas Eve Extravaganza" Games

So a few of you lovely people have been interested in knowing more details about the Christmas Extravaganza we put on so here it goes...

The 1st game we played was

“Christmas Song Pictionary” 

Teams of 2; Each team will be given the opportunity to earn points by choosing one member to draw and one member to guess. The drawer will pull one card at a time  with a Christmas song on it and w/out using words will draw the Christmas song until his/her partner guesses correctly. Teams will be able to continue playing if they answer correctly until the sand timer. Once all teams have gone through the timer, partners switch places and play another round.

Supplies: White board, marker, Christmas Song cards

2nd

“Reindeer Antler Game” -

Teams of 2; each team will get a pair of pantyhose and balloons. The object is for the teams to make reindeer antlers out of pantyhose and balloons and the first team to put on the antlers and sing ‘Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer’ wins. If there is a tie the one with the tallest antlers wins.

Supplies: 4 pantyhose, 4 balloons/team

3rd 

“Christmas Catwalk”  (way funnier than we expected!)

Teams of 2; each team will be given a roll of wrapping paper, tape, and scissors. In 15 minutes teams will have to make an outfit of their choice with the supplies. After time is up each team will take turns having one member walk the catwalk & the other member describing the outfit. Teams may choose music to go along with their walk if they choose. Winner can be voted on or rated by applause.

Supplies: 4 rolls wrapping paper, 4 scissors, 4 tape

Stephanie-Xena Warrior Princess

Chris-Hawaiian Dancer

Cody-Marilyn Monroe

Dad- Maori Haka Dancer

4th 

“Back to Back” 

Teams of 2; Have teams sit back to back w/ one member holding an object (strainer, ornament, etc.) & the other member holding pencil & paper. The person that has object describes object w/out revealing to their teammate what it is, therein the teammate will attempt to draw what’s being explained. Team with drawing that matches the object best wins.

Supplies: 4 Pencil & Paper, 8 objects

5th

“Cotton Beard Game” 

Teams of 2; Each team will be set up in relay lines vs. other teams.  Set up large bowls of cotton balls on the opposite side of the yard from the teams. Have one teammate from each team apply the same amount of vaseline to their fingers. When the timer starts that team mate runs across the lawn to their partner and applies the vaseline to their face in the best way they feel would help the cotton balls stick to form a beard. Then partners run back across the lawn and  the partnerships try to get the most cotton balls on their face without using their hands. Partners may help in holding the bowl up to teammates faces. The partner with the beard must run back to their starting position to finish.  The team who has the best looking cotton ball beard wins.

Supplies: Vaseline, 4 bowls, Cotton Balls

6th

“Clothes & Gift Wrap Relay” 

Teams of 2; Each team will line up in relay lines vs. the other teams. The starting teammate will be set-up at the end opposite of the gift wrap while the other teammate will be set-up by the gift wrap. Clothes will be strewn throughout the path to the gift wrap table and the starting contestant must put on all the clothes in their line before proceeding to the table. Once they get to the table they must wrap the box provided. They then must take off the clothes at the gift wrap station. Then the second teammate will put on all of the clothes and run with the gift to the starting line & there unwrap the gift. The first team to unwrap the gift at the starting line wins.

Supplies: 4 rolls Wrapping Paper, 4 tape, 4 objects to wrap 

We modified this game to fit our family! We have a famous Christmas puzzle so we utilized that. Teams started at one end of the lawn and one partner was blindfolded and spun around a bat 5 times  and then the  partner that was not blindfolded had to guide their partner to the puzzle table. The blindfold had to remain on and this person could not build the puzzle without following the instructions from their teammate! The team with the fastest time won! It was fun to use these puzzles but we had to make the rules the way they were because Cody can build the puzzle siting backwards in no time! It worked out great!

We found all of these game ideas online and modified them to fit our family! We decided to mix up the teams for each game and simply had everyone's name in a hat. We didn't mind if 2 people had already been teammates, we just left it up to the draw. Also, the winners from the games would get to draw for their teammates first for the following game! It turned out SOOOOOOO fun and we made some great memories that will last a good long while!(: 

(Sorry if some of the pictures were repeats from the previous post!)