Shanna, they bought their tickets, they knew what they were getting into. I say, let 'em crash.

I've decided to break up the vacation into two blog entries; one about our hellish day flying Continental Airlines and one about the rest of it in the beautiful Riviera Maya.
There's no reason to become alarmed, and we hope you'll enjoy the rest of your flight. By the way, is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane?
Ryan and I woke up on Saturday morning around 3:30 so we could make it to the airport by 5:00, to catch our flight for Houston that left at 7:00. My parents had graciously accepted my invitation for them to come visit their grandchildren for the 7 days we'd be gone. I felt that, since our kids only get to see them once or twice a year, this would be a great opportunity for everyone involved. We so often impose on Ryan's mom, I wanted to give her a break from child/cat watching duties. Everything went smoothly at the airport and we got to our gate, then waited to board. I couldn't tell you how excited I was. It was snowing in SLC and we were leaving this horrible weather for a week in paradise. We took this picture before we boarded our flight.


We board a very full flight and wait to take off. Half an hour later I'm starting to wonder what the hold up is. They then tell us that there are some technical difficulties but it will only be a few minutes until we taxi. Half an hour after that, they inform us they are still working on things and will keep us updated. A half an hour after that, they tell us we can go back into the airport and get something to eat if we'd like. Now, an experienced traveler might realize that now is the time to start thinking about other options but since Ryan and I fly about once every 2 years, we decided to stay on the plane because, "surely it will take off soon?". We've now been sitting on the plane for 2 hours and I ask the flight attendant what are chances are of every taking off.

He assures us that it will take off. A couple of minutes later they tell us they have to "power down" the aircraft and that we all need to get off the plane. Once again, this is when Ryan and I should have been standing in line for a new flight but we still think this plane is going to take off. We still have a chance of making our connecting flight in Houston. A lot of the other passengers are waiting in line trying to get a new flight since they've already missed their connection in Houston. A few minutes later I watch as our plane is towed out of the gate. This plane is going nowhere, so Ryan and I join a pretty substantial line to the 3 Continental workers who are now trying to find new flights for all 250+ passengers. I start calling/emailing our travel agent in a panic. I'm thinking about the thousands of dollars we are spending on this vacation and how even missing one day of it would not be good. Now, you'd think it wouldn't be that long of a wait. They find everyone the next flight available and put them on it. We'll you'd be wrong.

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.
We proceed to wait in this line for 3 hours. Fortunately I had already taken half a xanax because I'm nervous about flying. Still, I wasn't in a good place. Everyone in line was in the same boat. We all wanted to get to where we were going. Most of us were headed for tropical destinations. Now, when you have 200 people who have just been told they aren't going to make their destinations that day and you only have 3 people working on remedying the situation, you can imagine people get a little cranky. Yet, you'd think the common rules of society would hold. When you get to the front of the line, you branch off to the next available customer service representative. That is what most people do. There are those certain people, who don't care that there is a single mother with twins who has been waiting in front of them for 2+ hours. We start to see people breaking off from behind us and making a new line for the 3rd representative. Every man for himself I guess. People around us start to grumble but no one says anything. I find this fascinating, like an anthropological study. We are all furious, but yet don't say anything. Maybe deep down we admire their chutzpuh? A 20 something kid behind us walks over and joins this new line and I finally break, so does Ryan. He walks over and confronts him, asking him why he thinks he feels okay about doing this? His answer, "I'm not the first one. Other people have been doing it." Ah, the "Everyone else is doing it so why can't I" approach. Classic. I then ask him how he feels about butting in front of a woman with twins, or a young family with a baby? Again, "he can only say that he was following what others were wrongly doing." I wanted to yell, just for fun, "If they jumped off a cliff, would you?" Finally an older gentleman who was in front of us walks up to help Ryan and says, "SHAME ON YOU!" while shaking his finger. It was awesome. Ryan said he could tell the kid was about to cry, which is the reaction you should have when you get caught butting in a line that some people have been waiting in for 3 hours. This kid was a douche but honestly, I blame the Continental staff because they didn't control the lines more effectively. We finally get our moment with the booking agent and find out that we can get to Phoenix and Houston today but we have missed the last flight to Cancun. (insert rage emoticon) They'll put us up for the night in Houston and we will have an early morning flight to Cancun. What else can we do? Nothing. I guess at least we will get to Cancun. We make a hurried decision to keep our luggage on it's way to Cancun. I have Ryan call our resort to ask them if we can extend our stay a day and the inform us that nothing is available. Despair.

We head to our gate that will be leaving soon for Phoenix and grab something to eat. Our flight to Phoenix is late because we are waiting for the flight crew but we do actually take off and make it to Phoenix. We have to hurry to catch our connection. By this time we've passed through numerous security check-points and I'm beginning to hate the 9/11 terrorists even more, if that is possible. What? Our connecting flight is late because they are waiting for the pilots. Guess you can't fly the plane with an inflatable pilot anymore.

Total tangent, I once saw the Ted Striker (Robert Hays) in an airport. Is that blowing your mind?
We are starting to be slightly familiar with people from our previous flights. The bald man with his group of 11 that always seem to be in front of us in line, Tony Caputo (it really is), the annoying young couple with toddler who keep asking their daughter, in a super loud voice, if she "wants to hear a story about a monster?" We finally board our flight to Houston and start to wait. We are still waiting for the pilot, 20 minutes later, someone forgot to do something and now plane cannot fly. Are you freakin' kidding me!?! I tell Ryan, "GET OFF!" and as quickly as you can in a packed flight, we exit and immediately get in line. I'm not an amateur now, I know that you get in the first line you can and get yourself a new flight. Ryan is in line behind "bald man" and I see another couple of ticket agents over in a different part of the seating area. I decide I'm going to break from the lemmings and see if someone can help me there. The woman next to me is informed that this is not the line for connections to Houston but only San Antonio. I don't know if the kind black woman helping me felt sorry for me or what, I'll forever be grateful to her because she ignores what her coworker says and gives us tickets for a flight leaving for Houston in a couple of hours. We'll now be arriving in Houston around 11:50 p.m. I'll forever be grateful to her because I don't think I could have waited another 2 hours in a line. I motion to Ryan that we are good to leave. I'm feeling pretty good that I've finally done something to help. I'm feeling buoyed up, like all the crappiness of the day was just erased because I found a ninja line. We grab some Pizza Hut (tasted like heaven) and sat to wait for our next flight. I finally get in touch with our travel agent and almost start crying over the phone. I might have cried and don't think you wouldn't have. She tells me she'll start working on things right away and before we leave she calls to let me know that everything has been worked out. We'll be staying an extra day and our flights home are taken care of. This is why I book trips like this with a travel agent. I don't know how to do those things and she does. 9 times out of 10, you won't have any problems but for the one time you do, it's so worth it.

Boy trapped in airport eats own foot
Things are looking up, if this flight actually takes off, I'll be amazed. It does and we are headed to Houston. When we arrive, the airport is dead. I didn't realize airports could be so spooky. By now, Ryan and I are exhausted. Ryan thinks if we were ever on Amazing Race together we'd kill each other but I think we handled this crisis pretty well. So now we are trying to find someone to help us with our hotel room. Houston is a pretty big airport and we have to take a tram to get to the Continental hub. Guess what? No trams are coming. We call the courtesy phone and they inform us one will be by soon. Sure enough, we take the tram to Continental. The only thing that is open is the lost baggage room. I tell Ryan there is no way this woman can help us with our room. I'm pretty cynical by now and I hate all Continental workers. I make Ryan walk around trying to find someone who could help and he finally finds another office.

Ryan to worker: Can you help me?
Worker: Is this about bags?
Ryan: Launches into entire story of our craptastic day.
Worker: I told you, I only take care of bags.

Right-o. He decides to try the woman in the other lost baggage room and thankfully she was able to help us get a room. Plus, she gives us a each hygiene kit because our luggage is where we are supposed to be, Cancun. We take a shuttle to our hotel room which is decent, take half an ambien each and settle in for a few hours of sleep. After what seemed like only a few minutes we are startled awake by the fire alarm going off. Now, this is the funny part, neither Ryan nor I recognize that this is the fire alarm in our ambien induced/sleep deprived state. Ryan starts stumbling around the room, answering the phone, hitting the radio, unplugging the radio. I finally inform him that I think it's the fire alarm going off. Instead of being alarmed or starting to evacuate, we just kind of lay there. Suddenly it stops and we just fall back to sleep. A few minutes later it starts up again. I yell for Ryan to call the front desk.

Front desk: Hello?
Ryan: Our fire alarm is going off.
Front desk: I know sir, we're working on it.
Ryan: Okay.

Now that we know that there is not actual fire we fall back asleep. The alarm went off a few more times that night but we pretty much ignored it. Oh and our wake-up call never came. Fortunately Ryan had his cell phone alarm on. We get up, take the shuttle to the airport and wait for our flight to Cancun, where Ryan snaps this photo. He is still looking quite chipper. I'm making my sad face.

Our flight actually takes off and lands without incident. Customs goes quickly, our bags are in Cancun and we are free to take our shuttle to the hotel. Finally, paradise.

Someone is about to get herself voted off this island

I've been trying to look at the positive in my life but you'd be crazy if you never have down days. I've met people who perpetuate the idea that they are always completely happy and believe me, they turned out to be crazy. I was reading a book called "Grumpy Cat" to my students yesterday (one of my new favorite books) and at the end it says, "Grumpy Cat was never grumpy again...well, almost never." I like that. Even Grumpy Cat who had life changing events happen that made him happy, still has an off day. I hear you Grumpy Cat.

The rip heard around the gymnasium
Hanna was in a program at school called NOVA. It's a drug prevention class that all 6th grade participates in and if you complete all the requirements, you "graduate". Hanna was very sick with bronchitis and double ear infections but claimed that NOVA grad was super important so I picked her up from home so that she could come to school for it. Our fabulous aide Nellie watched my class for me so I could do all this. As I was walking into the gymnasium, I had to step over a woman's purse and as I was doing that, my skirt split up the back. I bought this skirt at The Gap outlet for about $7. Actually I bought two. The first one ripped when I was getting on my bed. So I'd been trying to be extra careful with my remaining skirt. Fortunately, I had brought my phone with me and texted another teacher who sent someone down with a coat I could wrap around me. I was able to change when I took Hanna home. I guess it wasn't that dramatic but the ripping sounded really loud in a quiet gymnasium.
The secret ingredient is resentment
Lately I've been noticing couples arguing a lot in public. It's not like Ryan and I never disagree but I try to keep it in the privacy of home and car so no one can hear me yelling. I'm kidding. Is Costco really the place you want to be-little your husband by telling him, in a very demeaning manner, that he must "Never buy these juice boxes. They are pure sugar! Pure sugar!" BTW, those are the juice boxes we buy. We like sugar. This weekend I heard a conversation at The Rack that made me cringe. They were shoe shopping for their little kids and this is kind of how it went.

Wife: No, he can't have those shoes. He doesn't know how to tie his shoes.
Husband: Maybe if he has a pair he has to tie, he'll learn.
Wife: I KNOW MY SON! He will not wear those!
Husband: Why not? He likes them.
Wife: I KNOW MY SON! He will never wear those shoes.

This went on for awhile until I moved to another rack and wasn't able to eavesdrop anymore. My son? Um, what a strange thing to say, since I'm pretty sure he is "their son". When I hear couples talking to each other like this it makes me wonder what their marriage is like. Are they super unhappy and just keep on hanging on because that's what they think they should do. Then I get all down thinking about all these unhappy marriages. Not like my marriage is awesome fun balls all the time but I like Ryan as a person and when I hear these conversations it's hard for me to imagine these people like each other.
Who are you calling an old bag?
To end on a positive note, in less than 2 weeks, Ryan and I will be in Mexico. I can't express the joy this knowledge brings me. Yesterday we had inside recess because of a "winter storm" which is funny because it's SPRING! Oh and Ryan turns 40 on Friday. Kind of a big deal I guess. He's hoping it suddenly makes him look old and distinguished so if you see him, tell him as much. I'm glad he's the one turning 40 and not me. Because isn't being 40 like having one foot in the grave?

the secret ingredient is resentment

I was pulled over by the police today and ticketed. As you can imagine, I was driving on the wrong side of the road while waving a loaded pistol outside my window. Oh wait, I did a rolling stop instead of a complete stop on a deserted road early in the morning. Good thing American Fork police was there to protect their citizens. I know a ticket is not a big deal but I've had the good fortune of talking myself out of any ticket I've ever faced. I was stopped once for speeding in Magrath at 2 a.m. and the RCMP was nice enough to take pity on my since I worked at McDonald's and couldn't afford the $180 ticket. I was stopped once for speeding in Montana (like who DOESN'T Speed in Montana?!) and was given a warning. I was stopped once in Santaquin for speeding and given a warning and once in Payson where I was also given a warning. With both the Santaquin and Payson stops I shamelessly told the officers that my husband was Highway Patrol and I know that's why I didn't get a ticket. It's the code man! We take low pay and no respect in exchange for not getting ticketed for minor offenses. Yeah they may ask you when hiring if you'd give your mom a ticket and you say "yes" (Oh yes Sir! I'd cuff her and drag her off to jail for going 10 over! You betcha.) but we all know we wouldn't. The officer who stopped me asked me if Ryan, whose name was on the registration, was my husband. I pulled my, "Yes and he's a trooper so he's going to be mad." He gave me the ticket anyway. Oh and I also told him I was on my way to teach school. So maybe he hates troopers and teachers? This is why people hate cops buddy. I told him as he handed me the ticket, "Nice to know the police are looking out for each other." There's some passive aggressive behaviour for you douche! Have a nice day.
Realizations
I was going to erase the above rant but I decided it was how I felt and I like to keep this blog somewhat real. The day this happened I wrote about it on Facebook and some of the responses were unexpected. Where I was expecting people to sympathize with me (like they do for non-police families that get stupid tickets) I got some "hey if I get tickets, you should too." responses. I'm cool with that. People are just being real right? This ticket taught me some valuable lessons that Ryan has been telling me for a long time. A)People don't like cops. B)I need to be more careful about my driving. C)Only law enforcement families really understand what it's like to be a part of this profession. I don't talk about it much on here but it's a tough job/life. Ryan deals with things that sometimes I ask him not to tell me about. Horrible things that affect him and therefore our family. So if you are bothered by the idea that I should get a free pass on a simple traffic violation, I say "suck it!" Thank you very much.

Those are some nice eyebrows
I'd like to thank my Eastern European ancestors for my course, hairy legs and my fine, full monobrow. I have what we call "The Toly" eyebrows. I've had them waxed, threaded and tweezed over the years but last week I finally, for the first time in my life, loved my eyebrows. I had them waxed at Nordstrom where they use the Anastasia method. I don't really know what that means but I loved the end result. I now know how to use an eyebrow pencil. The "Brow Wizard" pencil is amazing! I use it every day. It's so easy and makes my brows look great. I also use something that is basically a gel for your eyebrows. Keeps em in place. If only my ancestors had this. I also kind of geeked out at Sephora (inside "Penneys") this week. I bought a couple of lip glosses that were a little more than what you buy at Target. Normally I get my makeup free during Clinique Bonus Time but I thought it was time to actually pick out what I wanted instead of just taking whatever is free. I'm loving them. I bought NARS Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil in Baroque and BUXOM Lips in Dolly. The BUXOM is cool because it has a lip plumper and makes my lips all tingly.

My natural eyebrows in all their bushy glory. Worst. School. Picture. Ever.

Let the over-tweezing begin! A few years where things got out of control. Chola!

Recently they've grown back in but were a weird shape.

I'll never win an award on my blog for great photography. My new brows! Those are all mine. I was sitting on the floor of my bathroom after a workout getting warm by the heater.

the fear

I bought Lily Allen's "The Fear" on iTunes after having a good time singing it on SingStar in Canada. It inspired this blog post while running one day. I'm deep, deep as the ocean.

I'm a weapon of massive consumption. It's not my fault, it's how I'm programmed to function
The materialism of Utahan's is never more evident than when I come back from an extended vacation in Canada. The materialism is worse since we moved to Beaumont. Santaquin was pretty small town and down to earth for the most part but Beaumont is right on the border of a very wealthy town. Where children in first grade wear $250 jeans and have cell phones. I'm already prone to wanting to have the "finer" things in life so how do I resist this pressure and teach my children that things do not equate happiness? I guess by example? One thing I'm really happy about is we carry no debt except for our mortgage. I will fully admit that this is primarily Ryan's doing but I like no debt. I like it almost more than I like "things" so while I might go out and buy a $12 shirt at Target I don't really need, I'm not buying $1200 flat screen TVs. I have plans for our retirement and I don't want to be broke when that time comes. Ryan and I are both lucky to have steady jobs and while they don't pay as much as something in the private sector might, we need to learn to be happy with what we've got. A nice home, a car that runs and enough extra money to take a nice vacation now and then. I mean, isn't that the American Dream? When I start feeling sorry for myself because I'm at work and not on a fancy vacation, I'll remind myself of the very sad documentary I watched about blood diamonds in Sierra Leone. Just be glad you weren't born in Sierra Leone because you probably wouldn't have hands and you sure as hell wouldn't be going to Disneyland.

Now I'm not a saint but I'm not a sinner. Now everything is cool as long as I'm getting thinner.
I've talked on here before about exercise being my Prozac and it only seems to become more true as I get older. I'm not saying I'll never have to be on real Prozac but I'm a firm believer in regular exercise for both your mental and physical health. I have having some serious body image issues and while I'm not a therapist, I'm pretty sure they aren't normal. I've been reading a blog written by a woman who spends a lot more time and energy on fitness and nutrition than I ever could. She has got me thinking about what and how much I put into my body. I don't think anymore that 1200 calories of Cheetos is equivalent to 1200 calories of nutritious foods. I'm also becoming more in tune with what my body seems to need on a daily basis. I'm tired of the term "starvation mode". If I eat 1000 calories one day and I feel full at the end of the day, I'm not going to stuff an extra 200 calories in, just so I meet what some Internet program has determined to be my caloric needs. Also, if I create a "calorie debt" on some days, I can eat a few gummi bears on the weekend and not feel bad. I don't really like the term "intuitive eating" either because I think a lot of people use that as an excuse to eat chocolate, instead of an apple, when they are hungry. I'm not saying chocolate is bad, but not if that's your go to food when you're hungry. I'm also trying to be happier with how I look. I'm 36! Yes I've gained 15lbs since I was 18 but hello, that was 18 years (and 7 pregnancies) ago and I was underweight! I realize that I'm probably never going to be 100% satisfied with how I look but less crazy would be good.

I was feeling like this post was a bit grim so I'm including a picture of Lucy in the girl's bathroom sink. This is what she does when they are getting ready for bed.

I wish you didn't have the devil's curly hair

When Ryan graduated from University of Wyoming in 1996, we decided to move back to Utah so I could finish my education. He sent out resumes to a few companies in Utah and got a couple of interviews. He wanted a haircut before he went and since we were so poor we were eating bread and peas regularly for supper, he asked me to cut his hair. He had been doing it himself so I don't know what led up to me being asked to do it. Why we didn't take some of the extra money we had and get him a haircut at Supercuts, I'll never know. The whole situation seems doomed from the beginning now that I think about it. Maybe Ryan has a different slant on the story? I started to cut his hair with the clippers and almost immediately lost control, making a fine bald spot on the side of his head. I started to cry and ask, "Why did you make me do this?" So yeah, Ryan finished cutting the rest of his hair and I felt horrible about him going to interviews with a bald spot. I told him I would never cut his hair again and I never have. He did a pretty good job of cutting it himself for years, mainly because he hates getting his hair cut. Like how some people hate getting bit by monkeys, Ryan hates getting his hair cut. He's almost never happy with it and I have to admit, he's had some bad haircuts. This seems strange to me since he's always had pretty short hair. How hard is it? I finally convinced him to go to my stylist last year. I told him, "Wouldn't you rather pay twice as much as a stupid chain place and actually be happy with your cut?" What? I was right? Imagine that. Chad cuts his hair now and Ryan is always happy. This Saturday Ryan and the girls all had haircuts at Chad's salon. The girls go to a junior stylist whom I really like and is really good with kids. She talks to Hanna and Grace like they are teenagers and they eat that up. Hanna is going into grade six and because she thinks she is all that/queen of the school, she wanted to get a "style" with "layers". I have a thing about kids who get adult haircuts but can't style them, or can't get help styling them because their mom is a bad, bad working mom, so they just end up looking like crap. I convinced her to just get bangs and keep the rest pretty much the same. Amanda curled it for her after and Hanna was in LOVE with the end result. She kept looking in the mirror and doing little poses. I'm glad that it's helping her feel good about going back to school. I think she's a little anxious about it. Grace got a cute bob, that will be easy to take care of. I'm hoping that someday Grace will have the desire to grow her hair out again and take care of it. She has the most lovely head of hair that would make angels weep and double rainbows pale in comparison (for you Becky) but since she seems to be allergic to the brush, it tends to look like a rat's nest.

Brace yourself, this will be long. Wyoming 2010.

The girls and I just got back from a few days visiting Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Mike in Wyoming. I think this vacation trumps Canada only because horses are included. If I told Hanna we were going to vacation in a pile of puke, but there were horses included, she'd put on her pink boots and do a happy dance. She really has a knack for animals and is especially good at riding. If we were fancy we'd sign her up for lessons at the local equestrian center but we's po folk, so she has to wait until she visits Mike and Char each summer. Ryan left for training in Denver before we got home (which is why he didn't come) so we haven't really been able to talk for almost a week. When I called him from Wyoming, the family was usually around and the girls wanted to talk. When I called him in Denver he was either partying it up (Rockies baseball game) or in his hotel room that he shared. Now, we are no Mike and Carol Brady, we've spent many days apart but I'm missing someone to talk to. I'm getting pretty desperate actually. I called him last night and talked at him, even though I knew it was late and he was tired. I realized that something Ryan is good at is listening and I really missed it. Plus, I can tell him anything and he won't admit to thinking I'm crazy. I have friends that I tell a lot to but there are things that only Ryan is privy to. It will be nice to have him home tonight. Plus, single parenthood is the sucks and I'm almost at the point where I'm going to black out all the windows and tell the girls it's bedtime at 3 p.m.
Photo essay
Very early every morning, Uncle Mike and the girls would drive to Dirty Annie's for breakfast. The girls are so excited about this that I think the first day we were there, they actually beat Mike to waking up. Which means they were up around 5:30. I'm never invited to Dirty Annie's so I have no idea what goes on there. I only know they either eat waffles, french toast or pancakes and that you can buy dream catchers there because Mike bought Grace a pink one. That's about it. I envision there are some characters involved since we are in rural Wyoming. Grace did spill the beans about them both riding in the front seat of Mike's Audi to get there but since it is rural Wyoming and I trust Mike implicitly, I turn a blind eye to this. They also get anthropology lessons while at Dirty Annie's. Hanna observed that people swear a lot more in Wyoming but that they are very nice. To me this says, "We need to swear more."

It was hard deciding which photos to use but I liked this one of Grace on the day of her first ride. She looks so happy.

The girls needed boots because what would a trip to Wyoming be without some sort of western wear purchase. A friend pointed out that Grace's were just like Ariels in Footloose. *Note: Not a real horse.

This is the view from Char's house. Now you know why we love to come here. Well, Char and Mike are the reason we love it but this helps.

Getting ready to ride with Cindy who is a "cowgirl". She's amazing and really teaches the girls how to ride.

I rode Turk, who I think was 20 feet high. We won't talk about how I had to trade saddles with Cindy mid-ride because the stirrups wouldn't adjust short enough for my freaky legs.


I want you to note Cindy's arms. If that's what ranching/riding does for you, sign me up! Cindy is actually an occupational therapist which could be good for arms also.

The view from the top. I let go of some of my mother angst and let the girls go straight up the steep hill on their horses. When Cindy first brought it up I totally made a Marge sound as heard at the end of this clip:

No! Well... 10 beers. sound bite  Homer Simpson sound bites

"For you see, marriage is a lot like an orange. First, you have the skin...then the sweet, sweet innards..."

Ryan and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary this week and it got me thinking that 16 years is a really long time. I met Ryan when I was 19, so in two more years and I'll have spent half my life hanging out with Ryan. When you think of things that way, it can kind of make your head spin. When I saw Ryan in the BYU bowling alley the first day of my sophomore year, I have to admit I didn't think we'd be spending the rest of our lives together. I just thought, "He's cute and doesn't look like your typical BYU return missionary. I wonder if he'll make out with me?" In one way especially, meeting Ryan really saved me. I was flunking out of school and it was Ryan, with his 1985 Mac Plus and exceptional study skills, that kept me in school. I still tried to break up with him once but, luckily, he didn't take it that seriously.

The evidence:

When I started to fall back into old habits of sleeping instead of going to class, Ryan was there to remind me not to be a complete loser. Because of his support, my academic advisor gave me a high five when I came in at the end of my first semester back. I had gone from a .73 to a 3.45. Maybe my next blog entry will be about why I did so badly my first semester.

He also put up with me through this. This is the first and last time this photo will ever be made public.

I don't get mushy a lot on my blog but I do really love Ryan. I'm tend to be a tad crazy/neurotic and he still likes me. Oh and when he was at Ross one day, he bought me a new sports bra. Does your husband know you need a new sports bra and actually remember to look for one when out shopping? Okay mushiness done.

I got Ryan sunglasses for our 1st and he got me a pair for our 16th.



A great dinner at Bambara. I was searching through photos for this post and found that, throughout the years, I've done a lot of thumbs-up in photos.

"You got a banana, you don't need no snack pack."

We're packing our snack packs and heading back to school tomorrow after a nice long Spring Break. We took our much anticipated Disneyland trip. The "Ryan and I have worked very hard and deserve something nice blow-out" trip. It was pretty fantastic and a great time was had by all. Bring on the pictures!

View from our room. I used to walk by these rooms and want to be those people. This time I was! We could see the fireworks, Space Mountain and the Matterhorn from our room. It was fun to see all the people and going ons of Downtown Disney. Since we were connected to the park we took more breaks. The pool was fabulous and the girls had a great time swimming while I slept on the lounge chairs.

One of the perks of staying at the Grand Californian, the girls could have a private hair styling at Studio 365. The cornrows were nice and easy for the rest of the trip. The fake hair, while not something I'd normally do, seemed perfect for Disney. They got a lot of compliments from strangers.

Happy kids who finally got to "drive" the Thunder Mountain train. On Tuesday we were riding this during the fireworks. Pretty cool.

I remember as a kid, loving anything that let me pretend I was driving. Our kids love Autopia for this reason. Although I get whiplash from Graces "driving".

I was tempted to crop my head out of this picture. Hanna and Grace look so cute. I look, well, not cute. This is on the balcony of our fantastic room.

Oh Gracie. I can't remember the specific event that brought out this look. The kids were pretty good. Hanna had a surprising episode involving Tower of Terror but Ryan and I used guilt to get her on "It's mommy's favorite ride!" and after one ride she was fine. Grace had a few and usually they were because she was tired or hungry. The first night she fell asleep on Ryan while we waited for our food. He carried her back to our room which wasn't far away but I'm guessing that was the hardest part of the trip for him. Oh, I let Grace wear her souvenir shirt every day. So eat that haters!

Next to Tower of Terror, Splash Mountain is my favorite ride. See how happy I am. If only I could ride a log everywhere!


I liked this picture. Shows how relaxed Ryan is at Disneyland. I'm also digging this hat he bought there after his head was burned. We aren't used to sun in these parts.

This was me after Grace suggested we stand in line for Space Mountain at 9:00 on our last day. We didn't have a fast pass and the wait ended up being 70 minutes. This was really our only long wait. My feet felt like they were on fire and my legs were a painin'! Ryan was kind enough to capture the moment without my knowledge.

I thought this was a pretty good "Happy family at Disneyland" picture that some nice people in our raft took for us. No one is sad because their feet hurt (me) or they didn't get what they wanted to eat (me also. no fried PB&J kid's meals!?!).
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Write damnit!

Working is definitely cutting into my blogging time and I really think I don't feel as good when I don't write. So I'm writing on my laptop while I watch the season finale of Mad Men. Look at me, multitasking! Work is work. I feel a lot like I did when I first became a mom to a colicky baby girl, overwhelmed. I don't think I'll ever love teaching as much as I love Hanna but I'm hoping that I learn to love it in a different way. I taught a lesson today on the sense of sight and I had one of those teaching moments where I felt like they might actually be learning something and having fun doing it. The cool thing is, almost like your own children, first graders love their teachers even when you maybe aren't exactly loving them. We had a good Halloween but I have to admit I'd rather have my eyes poked out than parade in and out of all 30+ classrooms, parent packed hallways and gym in my Jack Sparrow costume. I'm sure as the years go on I'll get more used to it or I'll just keep going to my happy place.

Happy Halloween!

Grace brought a fun surprise home from school this week, a goldfish! No warning, nothing, just came into my room after school with a goldfish in a bag. Apparently all the kids got one. I won't go into how many ways I think this is wrong but we have the damn goldfish so we are going to take care of it. I secretly hoped it would die in the night. Yep I'm that kind of heartless person, but it lived. I went to Walmart the next morning, got it an aquarium and some food and Kelly seems to be adjusting well to life in our home. I'm kind of digging it now because the kids get a pet they can take care of and I'm not emotionally attached to it. Unfortunately, Ryan and the kids are attached to Kelly so I hope she plans to live for a while.

Saturday night Ryan and I went to a party for the opening of our stylist's salon. That's right, Ryan goes to the same stylist Karen and I got to. I've been going to Chad for about 3 years now. It was after Evie was born and I was feeling the urge to cut all my hair off. Karen took me with her to Chad and he cut my hair all off without an appointment. Plus, it looked great. I tried to break away from Chad when gas was up to $4/gallon and I was driving from Santaquin to Sugarhouse but no one could compare. I heart the Chad. Chad is the only person who has ever cut Ryan's hair where Ryan didn't feel mad after. I think if Ryan were gay, which he isn't, he and Chad would make a nice couple. So if you're looking for a great stylist, check out Chad at bspace salon.

Bread and peas

When Ryan and I were first married and going to school in Laramie, we were really poor. I couldn't work because I was in the country illegally and Ryan was taking a lot of credits so he could finish quickly. We lived on a very meager student loan and a small grant. Ryan's parents had bought a very small, one bedroom (without at door) home for us, which was great because we had no rent. We had utilities, food, car insurance, gas for car, tuition/books and that was about it. We used rabbit ears on an old TV we were given and that got us two channels. All our furniture was handed down and our couch was as old as Ryan's dad. We didn't go out to eat except for birthdays or anniversaries and our food budget was $25/week. I remember one day we had nothing to eat in the house and I begged Ryan to take me to MacDonald's to get the two cheeseburger meal ($2.99 and we shared it). He wouldn't do it and so that night we had homemade bread and frozen peas. Now, whenever there isn't anything in the house to eat we always joke that, "It's time for bread and peas." or "Can't be worse than bread and peas." As you might guess, Ryan is the financially responsible one in our home. It's great because of him, we've pretty much remained debt free our entire marriage. We've had a car payments but we are always able to pay them off before the time period is up. Small student loans and once, when Ryan couldn't find work after he graduated, we had a couple of months where we had to rollover the Discover card. Things would have remained this way if it hadn't been for the evil GapVisa. I like to shop. It makes me feel good and I should probably get help for it but we never got that far in therapy. Anyway, when I found out I was going to have a big girl income this fall, I kind of went on a big girl shopping binge. I thought I had it under control but kind of like my weight, I chose to follow the "ignorance is the best policy" about the actual balance. Long story short, we had to use a couple months of my salary to pay this off. It sucks when you are basically working to pay off a bill. But it is paid off and once again we are debt free which is a good feeling. It got me thinking back to when we spent $25/week on food and thinking if we lived that frugally now, we'd have a lot of money to do some really fun things. I know it's not feasible to spend on $25/week on food but I would like to cut down on some of the habits we've started since I began working full-time. I've got big plans for Europe 2011, which will probably be a lot more fulfilling than a new pair of jeans.

Our first anniversary. We are sitting on our 50 year old couch. I don't know why Ryan is wearing sunglasses but I guess they were his anniversary present. I don't know why you're smiling Simon, once the bread and peas are gone, you're next.

Random I know, but here are the girl's school pictures. Hanna is grade five.

Grace, grade three

If you don't work, you don't get paid no money. And I like money. And I like Indian food.

I got the title for this post, except for the Indian food part which I decided to add in because it's true, from the movie "Quadrophenia". Ryan owns it and watches iton VHS now and then. It's about Mods and Rockers and has a lot of really cool scooters and a young Sting in it. I came home from work Friday (I was sooo glad it was Friday this week) and Ryan told me he'd been up to the Scooter Lounge in Orem that day and was considering trading in his 2003 Stella for a 2008. This was my response, "Go for it." I like that Ryan has a hobby and I like to see him happy because that's the kind of super wife I am. Plus I told him if he got the scooter, I got a new pair of jeans. Because jeans make me happy. Just writing that made me kind of depressed but it's true. The girls went with our neighbors to the ward camp-out, so Ryan and I met up at the Scooter Lounge to check out our new baby.
I suggested the name "Blue Lightening" but I don't think it's going to stick.

On Saturday I met Ryan's mom and we went to the Women's Expo at UVU. I have to say I wasn't too stoked on the idea when she suggested it to me because I thought of booth upon booth of scrapbooking supplies and that is just not my cup of tea. The first booth I saw when we walked in was one selling flower clips and wacky hats that I see many people wearing in the fancy neighborhood I teach in. Can you say, "Fashion Victim?" It did get better though and I was able to do some Christmas shopping for my mom and I made myself a bracelet at The reason I stopped there is because they had charms made out of Scrabble tiles and we loves some scrabble in this family.The H and G are obvious. The horseshoe is for Hanna, the crown for Grace and the heart for Evie.

Saturday evening Ryan was riding with the scooter club to the India Fest at the Hari Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork. We've been to a few festivals there and always had a good time so the girls and I decided to meet him there.

We watched dancers and I bought good vegetarian Indian food for everyone but only I ate it. Ryan wasn't there yet.

Grace is terrified of llamas. Who knew?! So that is why she looks wary in this photo. It could also be because I pushed her closer to the llama so I could get a picture. She was under the impression that the llama was going to spit on her. I hear llamas are kind of sneaky like that.

This is the statue of Ravana that was lit on fire at the end of the night. When the fire bomb went off, Ryan said, "Now that's religion!" Tru dat.

Hanna and Grace both waited in line for a long time and spent their own money to get henna tattoos. I had my eyebrows threaded (google it if you don't know) and think I was the only person all evening who did it. My friend Christine from Chicago had told me before that she loves it and has been doing it for 15 years. I guess it hasn't caught on in Utah County yet. I think my eyebrows look pretty great. Kind of a new sensation though.

So yeah, we had a good weekend but it's gone by too fast. This whole working 5 days a week is really cramping my leisure time. I'm slowly getting my workouts scheduled in again because I know I'm going to need it with winter coming up. I hope it might help me from getting sick also. I've already had one kid throw-up at school. Luckily he was at computers at the time. I don't deal well with puke but I know I'm going to see my share of it. I think I'm forming an addiction to hand sanitizer and clorox wipes. My hands look horrible because of it. I might just have to get a manicure sometime soon.