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Graduation Celebration:)

Sorry that my graduation was private. It's because it is in the middle of the year, I will technically be walking in May, but I am officially finished with my studies and will receive my license to teach before Christmas... If I pay a ridiculous amount of money to print it out. Yep, I print it myself. Better buy some nice paper I guess:)

These are the people I graduated with. And the best part is, I still like most of them:) I guess spending six hours a day three days a week with the same people for 2 years can wear on a person, but it can also help you make best friends. Mine are the two closest to me, Moe and Jessica!
And this is Dr. Sandy Petersen. I want to be her when I grow up:) Seriously, she is AMAZING! And I may sometimes still find myself on the couch in her office "therapizing"... Hope she's prepared for that!
Me and Moe. Again I say that Moe and Jessica have saved my life on way more than one occasion! They have got me through the past two years and I KNOW that they will be my friends for life! I love them SO MUCH!
And finally me and Rory, Moe's precious baby girl! Poor baby, I have been naming her since I found out she existed. Some of the very clever names include: Moe-be, Moe-b-won-kanobe, Moe-zilla, Geroni-moe, Moe-seph, and really countless others. I was sure that she should be named after her momma (she wasn't). But anyway, I digress, I think she is a wonderful accessory though, don't you?

Anyway, I graduated and it was fun!

Joren's Song

Goes to the Tune of Poker Face by Lady GAGA

Mom mom mom ma
Mom mom mom ma
I wanna eat em’ like we do at Siney’s Place
Microwave em’ and I’ll cut em’ on my plastic plate (I love it)
Fun and some nutrition then play time begins to start
And after we have eaten we’ll play meat ball in the dark.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhh, oh-oh-e-oh-oh-oh
I’ll eat a lot ,if it’s not to hot
Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhh, oh-oh-e-oh-oh-oh
I’ll eat a lot ,if it’s not to hot

[Chorus:]
I put my,
I put my,
I put my ketchup on Joker’s face
(so I can eat my hot dog)
I put my,
I put my,
I put my ketchup on Joker’s face
(so I can eat my hot dog)

J-j-j-joker’s face, j-j-joker’s face
(Mom mom mom ma)
J-j-j-joker’s face, j-j-joker’s face
(Mom mom mom ma)

some day I'll figure out a way to put these to music but for now you'll have to use your imagination.

It all comes down to this

4 1/2 years, 9 semesters, 2 colleges, countless hours and tears (just ask Logan) and it all comes down to this.

1 binder, 59 pages, and 1 chance achieve the goal.

Tomorrow I officially end my bittersweet relationship with Dixie State College.

Tomorrow I officially complete my Bachelor's of Elementary Education.

Tomorrow I become a "grown-up".

YAY ME! I am finally going to GRADUATE!!!

It's Been a Long Time!

Since about 2001 to be exact. Yep, that's right. I haven't had all naturally colored hair since I was in 7th grade. A couple years ago, Brittney did a great job matching my natural hair color and I was able to grow it out. Then a few weeks ago she cut off the remaining dyed ends. It was an exciting day! Now I'll probably start going grey and have to dye it again:)

A Child at Heart

Logan calls it childish, I prefer childlike. Apparently it's a condition many elementary school teachers suffer from, and I guess I'm no exception...

Look at my new toy!

The Fisher Price Little People Nativity! I think it's AWESOME! Now we have a big people and a little people nativity to enjoy! Merry Christmas!

Fall Leaves

Sort of... Our leaves didn't turn colors, but they sure did fall down:) Early on Thanksgiving morning the boys came over to help us rake and to play in the leaves. It was really fun! One thing I love most about Logan is that everything I do with him is fun, even things like raking leaves. Here are some pictures I stole from Anisa. I didn't take any pictures of my own, as usual:)

Terek kept saying, "Wo-wo's turn!" (That's what he calls Logan).

It was so chilly that me and the T snuggled most of the time!

And since I never posted about this, and since I've been stealing pictures from Anisa's blog, I thought I'd post some pictures of us carving pumpkins with them as well. It's been awesome to be able to "borrow" the children and pretend they're ours!

Terek is my little buddy, once I even got him to admit that he wants to come and be my baby!!!

Turkey Shoot

Winner!!!

Logan is on a roll this weekend! First, he passed his test to inspect Reinforced Concrete for work, and now he won us a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner! Way to go Logan!

Boys Night In

Parent's night out means boys night in with "Ninny and Wo-Wo"! We dined on gourmet mac and cheese with hotdogs dipped in ketchup. All topped off with a grape gatorade:) They are currently enjoying cutting up and gluing colored paper. This house just feels happy to have children in it again, even if it's only for an evening.

PS notice my table which has been thoroughly salted. That was the work of the little one:)

Happy Halloween from the Blake Family

Some of you may remember this from elementary school:)

"Witches sailing through the sky, on their broomsticks way up high,

Black cats howl as they go by for this is Halloween.

Jack O' Lanterns, big and round, on each step they can be found,

Ghosts and Goblins all around, for this is Halloween.

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ohh! This is Halloween!

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ohh! This is Halloween!"

Update

I just thought I should write an update since some of you who read our blog don't talk to me everyday:) Things have been crazy for the last couple of months and I will try to sum things up briefly...

• We moved! (Everyone knows that).
• I started student teaching (Very fun, very stressful).
• Logan has been out of town working almost continually since we moved!!!! (Horrible).
• I wrecked my car. (OOPS).
• We bought a 2010 Toyota Corolla. (Nice!).
• I have finally convinced Terek that he wants to be my baby:)
• Our washer broke. (We're fixing it cuz it's that good!).
• I write lesson plans non-stop.
• Logan and I never see each other!
• Our air satellite doesn't work very well on this side of town so we have to watch Grey's online a day late:(

Sorry, I have so many things to blog about, like the before and after of my cars and Logan's new addiction to reading on his phone. I also had Halloween with my class today and it was AWESOME! Too bad it would be illegal for me to post pictures of their adorable-ness. I really do enjoy it most of the time.

Well, that's it for now. My life should slow down about mid-December when I GRADUATE!!! And then maybe I'll blog more:)

A Red Robin Birthday:)

Today was Logan's birthday. Since his favorite place to eat is at Red Robin I signed him up for their birthday club a few months ago, and apparently Red Robin is the place to eat on your birthday because you not only get a free gourmet burger of your choice (Logan picked the most expensive), but you also get your free sundae:)

And just because I'm mean, I will include this video;)

Happy Birthday! I love you:)

Fun Gift:)

So a really long time ago, like a year at least, I found this fun bridal shower gift on one of my favorite craft blogs. I'm sorry that I don't remember which one. Anyway, all I've been waiting for now is for a friend to get married. Well, a girl from I know from Malibu Cleaners is getting married and her shower is on Saturday. I decided that the time had come for me to make this fun gift:)

I embroidered these pillow cases with some sweet skills I picked up in my youth from my mother, along with a quick refresher course from YouTube. All I did was print the stuff out on the computer and trace it on with pencil. Embroider, wash, complete!!! I am really pleased that I can still do it and I hope that this gift will be a hit at the bridal shower. I think it's the perfect balance of useful and silly for a shower!

New House

So, I haven't had internet for over a week and that is because WE MOVED! Yes, we moved into a real house which is really exciting. We are really happy to be living in a home and that it is in Santa Clara. It is the house Logan grew up in and we are having a really fun time making it our own:)

We moved in on the 4th and painted the kitchen this last weekend. Logan picked the color and did a fabulous job! It's not all finished yet, but if anyone wants to come visit, you're sure welcome!

You decide...

I found these awesome videos on my phone, and I want all of your comments to see which one is better.

Happy Anniversary to US!

The day we were married, I was so deliriously happy I just giggled all the way to the temple. Being sealed for time and all eternity was the best gift Heavenly Father could ever give me. At that time, I could have never believed it, but I love Logan even more now than I did three years ago. And the funny thing is, I am confident that it will only get better with time. I love you Logan! Happy 3rd Anniversary baby!

Mi goreng Renunion

An Asian food store recently opened in St. George and Logan and I went and checked it out today. Logan was very pleased to find his long lost Mi goreng that he ate in Australia. Basically it's glorified Ramen.

The main difference is that there are four little packets: seasoned oil, sweet soy sauce, flavored powder and chili powder. He only likes a bit of chili powder. He was so happy, it was easy to get a smiling picture:)

Yellowstone and the Stairs

Here is a collage of some of the pictures we took whilst on out trip to Yellowstone. We had a good time up there other than having to deal with tourists taking pictures of wildlife and causing major traffic delays. The park is beautiful and we never got attacked by bears, much to Sydney's relief. We had fun driving all of these back roads to get around, like through the High Uintas and back around passed the snake river near alpine and around bear lake over Logan Canyon which never ended it seemed. We had a little scare with my check engine light coming on but the guys at Tunex told me it was "intermittent" so I had them change my fuel filter and it's been running fine ever since.

On a side note, I drug Sydney down a trail to get a cool view of the water fall in Yellowstone. She had an aversion for these stairs, she said they kicked her butt. In her defense there were 328 of them.

On the other hand these stairs at Lucas and Shellie's Almost killed me as I ran up them in the middle of the night to pee. They caused me to pass out and fall into the bath tub.

I made a floofy thing:)

Today I was eating at 25 Main with some friends and the restaurant had these cute floofy things in the window. I looked at them and concluded that I could make some out of a Styrofoam ball and cup cake liners. I went to the dollar store to look for supplies. I was unable to find cup cake liners, but I did find coffee filters which I thought would work. It would also be cheaper since I could get about a million coffee filters for a dollar versus about 35 cup cake liners at Wal-mart. I headed next door and I bought a 3.5 inch Styrofoam ball at Michael's. Then I went home and went to work.

My supplies:

• Styrofoam ball ($3)
• Million coffee filters ($1)
• Million pins (on hand)

Then I began assembly.

Please excuse the Xbox controller. I enjoy streaming Netflix while crafting:) {Currently playing is a documentary about Ancient Egypt:)}

Directions: Take coffee filter and fold into quarters. Pin in place. Repeat as close together as desired until entire ball is covered. One ball took exactly half of my enormous package of coffee filters.

And eventually, I ended up with this:

The ones at the restaurant had been spray painted, but I kind of like it just white. What do you think?

Of course my door will not be it's permanent location. It just doesn't have a real home yet:) I'm thinking of making more to decorate a certain baby shower I will be throwing in the coming weeks...

Also, I entered this to the Link Love on this awesome blog:)

Coyote Gulch Over-nighter

Sydney and I completed our first over night backpacking trip together. We went to Coyote Gulch which is 50 miles southeast of Escalante.
As you can see, we brought along our two hoodlum children Cash and Adam who made the trip much more entertaining.



We basically did the same hike we did a few years ago (before Sydney) only we hiked the distance between the two trailheads. It was nice weather, except we had to drink hot water some of the time. We did eventually find some nice cool springs to filter water from.


This is Sydney and I climbing out of the canyon up the slick rock near Jacob Hamblin Arch (please note that this is the only portion of the journey that Sydney didn't carry her pack).

We do not recommend taking water shoes on this trip even though the majority of the hike is in a river canyon, there is an excessive amount of sand that will get in you shoes and rub your toes into ginormous blisters as evidenced below. We recommend a good pair of shoes that will keep the sand out. Bare foot doesn't work either just ask Adam.

The Worst Idea I have had in a Long Time

(Bad pictures again)

I had this idea a long long time ago to ease myself into quilting by creating holiday pillow covers that are pieced quilt blocks. The first quilt block took me two hours. The second only took 30 min. But they ended up different sizes (of course) and I had to "customize" the surrounding fabric to fit the pillow. They are all done now. Was it harder than I had imagined? YES! Do they look like I dreamed they would? Almost. Was it worth it? Probably not. Will I ever make the other holidays? I think I may switch my idea from holiday to seasonal. There are a lot of holidays, but only 4 seasons ;)

Day Off Adventures

I decided that since the fall semester will likely be the busiest I've ever been up to this point, I would get a couple months ahead on birthday gifts.

So I went to JoAnn's to pick out fabric for a project I've had my eye on for a while.

I was so proud of myself for picking out coordinating fabrics that it didn't occur to me until much much later that the fabrics were decidedly hippy-ish. Oh well I guess.

Then on to another gift. I made myself a black button headband a while ago and I like it. So I made more for a birthday gift.
I apologize for the TERRIBLE pictures. I couldn't find our good camera so I took them with my 2006 $90 Wal-Mart special. Can't expect too much out of it:)

A Couple of Surprises/Projects

The first surprise project is for the Hubster.

He purchased this little beauty at Bed Bath and Beyond a little while ago to go with the stove he got for Christmas. The first chance we got to use it was on our Moab trip. It works great, but is a little inconvenient to carry. So....

I made it a carrying case! I really hope Logan doesn't look this up on his phone, because I want it to be a surprise when he gets home! I used left over materials from this project, including red canvas, black strap stuff (I can't remember it's proper name) and a long plastic zipper. I am so proud of myself because it fits!

My next special surprise is for an extra special lady. It'll be her birthday soon and she LOVES grandma-ish house slippers. (She doesn't read my blog, but if you know her, don't tell her, okay???)

I remember seeing a post on Ruffles and Stuff about embellishing this type of slipper, and I have been saving it for this birthday. Mine aren't quite as fancy as the example, but I made them myself and that is sure to make this lady very proud.

I also made the embellishments removable for washing, because this lady likes to traipse outside to feed the cat in these on occasion and frequently washes her slippers. I think she will especially like this little convenience.

Yay for me! I have had a great crafty day! Now does anyone want to come over and clean up my messes??? ;)

Moab / Westwater Trip

Last weekend we went to Moab to raft the canyon outside town. It was fun. It was my first rafting trip since the "Incident" and I was a little nervous and freaked out about little rapids, but I was okay. Logan was really sweet and kept reassuring me.

I love this picture of Logan!

Then, the next day the boys had a permit to raft Westwater Canyon, which the Blake's do not have the greatest track record with. The summer before we were married they went and 2 out of three boats flipped......AND.....do you think they could learn their lesson? NOPE! They flipped again. I knew it was probable and that's why I didn't go. Debbie and I shuttled and it was boring to wait 4 hours in the middle of no where for them. The trip was good overall, but these short rafting trips just seem to be more work than they're worth :)

One of My Favorite Things...

(this is an older picture, but the only one I had of him sleeping)

One of my favorite things is when Logan says funny stuff in his dreams. The funny thing is that it always has something to do with his job. The latest was him gasping and sitting up in bed and saying, "Where is everyone?" I asked him who everyone was. He said, "All the kids." (this was right after a big sleep over with nieces and nephews). I didn't say anything, so he filled me in by saying that they had taken the asphalt. HUH??? I love it. He's so adorable. This doesn't happen all the time though :( He claims that I talk in my sleep too, but it's not understandable. Oh Logan! You fill my life with joy even when you're sleeping!

PS. Don't get mad at me for this, Logan :)

And a follow-up...

I know, I know, my life must be pretty lame if I am "following up" on my previous story, but I was up there again and you have to admit, it's not something you see everyday...

LOL

Richfield's Golden Arches fell down today in a terrible wind storm. I can always count on my sister Katie to keep me updated on all the funny goings on up there in Sevier County!