Our week of adventures!

This last week we had the chance to drive down to Kentucky to meet Nikki's new cousin Jason and attend Kelsey's ballet recital. It was great to be with family! We love visiting them. Our visit was short but fun. We left Kentucky, drove to Ohio to drop off our car, and rode with grandma in her "gangster" car (a Chevy HHR) up to Michigan.
While we were in Michigan, we were able to attend the graduation of Dylan. It was outside and extremely hot but we were glad we could support Dylan in his great accomplishment! That was also a short visit but we enjoyed the company.
We left Michigan on Thursday morning and headed back to Ohio with Grandma. While driving home, we had an encounter with a trash bag on the freeway. It ended up puncturing the radiator in the car. Luckily it was a rental car and we were able to get another car to finish our journey home.
Grandma spent Thursday and part of Friday with us. We enjoyed a pedicure while Darrin worked and drove her around town to show her places. We also introduced her to Dorothy Lane Market "Killer Brownies!" Friday was our 2 year anniversary! We were able to celebrate our anniversary at Murphin Ridge Inn . It was in the quiet Amish Country of Ohio. It was so relaxing and enjoyable. The Inn keepers were so friendly and their breakfast was delicious! We enjoyed some hikes around the area (we got to see Stone Hedge!), we also enjoyed sitting around the fire pit and a game of shuffle board. It was a great relaxing vacation!


Our Swing on the front porch of the cabin









                                                            Our quiet, relaxing cabin

Stone Hedge!                                                                The name of our cabin

One Little...Two Little...

One Little ...















                                                    
                                                                                  Two Little...             

 

                                                                        THREE LITTLE INDIANS!
                                                       (Or maybe Ohio-ians)                                                                    

We are thrilled to announce the arrival of our little one in November!  Mom and baby are growing and doing great so far!

Spring has Sprung!!

We have had rainstorm after rainstorm and tornado watch/warning after tornado watch. It has made for some long days of being stuck inside a school building and home. We were able to have a break of this weather and enjoy the sun and blue skies the last few days. We enjoyed walking around the gorgeous parks across the street from us and seeing the signs of spring.

Enjoy the pictures!

Piano

When Darrin and I decided that we were moving to Ohio, I had a hard time with the fact that I wouldn't be able to drive to my mom's house and play her piano. My sweet grandma called me up one evening as I was walking into a relief society activity with my mom. I remember her telling me that she was going to let me take her piano with me to Ohio if I could find some people to get it out of her basement and to the shop to be fixed. I just remember trying so hard not to cry and of course I found people to move it (my dad and Darrin!)
This piano was the piano that my grandma learned on when she was a little girl.
The piano was the only thing I cared about making it to Ohio in one piece. It was the first thing on the truck and had several cushions around it. It made it out here and it barely made it through our door. (Thanks to the Elders, my husband, and my dad!)

I have loved having a piano out here where I can sit down any time and just play until my heart is content. Because I work 12 hour days and I get home and am exhausted, I have not really had the chance to play it often (and because our second bedroom, where the piano is, has become a storage room. Lets be honest, it was scary going in there...I couldn't get to the piano).
This week is my spring break so I told myself before I can do anything fun, I had to clean the second bedroom. Well, the bedroom is clean and I have been able to enjoy my piano every single night. I have sat down and played for hours. I am sure our neighbors are getting pretty tired of it.
Thanks Grandma for letting me bring your piano out here! It means a lot to me! :) I think about you every time I sit down to play! Love you!

St. Patrick's Day in Second Grade

With St. Patrick's Day last week I thought it would be fun to do something in my second grade class. I student taught with a great teacher who does something fun in her class. I called her up and she told me how to do it. I wanted to test the water and make sure my students would believe that there was a leprechaun in our classroom or else it wouldn't work.
On Tuesday morning we showed up to school and found that a Leprechaun had danced in our room the night before and messed up our schedule and lost his shoe somewhere in our room. We found his shoe and while we were at lunch, he came back and left us some gold chocolate. (The shoe was made by my amazing husband)

On Wednesday we got to school and the Leprechaun left a note on the board saying that he didn't think we could catch him so instead of leaving us gold, he left us some cookies.
Thursday (St. Patrick's Day) was the day that I was waiting for all week! We got to school to find that the Leprechaun had left us some "magic potion" (some green kool-aid with sugar hiding it so they couldn't see the green) He told us to just add 4 quarts of water. During our group time we added 4 quarts and it magically changed green! We all had a drink of this magic potion (the kids all insisted that I drink it first!) He also left us a book to read. So, I picked up the book and put the note on the back of the book. It had something else written on the back that said "P.S. if a teacher drinks this, their feet turn green...." Well, I had a drink of the magic potion so the kids all wanted to see if my feet were green. Sure enough, I pulled off my socks and they were green!

The kids screamed (yes I am sure the whole school heard them)! That was all they talked about for the rest of the day. We had such a great time trying to find the Leprechaun (we never caught him though).
I love teaching but I especially love when we do things like this. It is something that those kids will remember for a long time to come!

Birthday!

I celebrated my 24th birthday on the 26th of February. It was a great day (and week). My dad and sister came to visit and then we had a snow day the day before so I had an extra long weekend. We went to the Temple with some good friends the night before and then I woke up Saturday to my favorite breakfast in bed...french toast! I was able to spend all day with my husband. We test drove some cars, and walked through a very nice house (someday we would love to build a house like it!) We went to dinner at Olive Garden where they told us the wait would be 60-75 minutes but we ended up only having to wait about 30 minutes!

I was blessed to get a sewing machine, a way cute bag that my mom made, a 2 year subscription to family fun magazine (this is very exciting when you are a teacher...helps with creative ideas!), an adorable lunch box, some bead watch bands that my mom also made, and lots and lots of love from my family and friends!

Dad and Becca Visit!

We were able to see my dad and little sister Becca for a few days. My dad had to meet with a client in Columbus so they stayed in Dayton to be closer to us. We were able to go to dinner with them every night. They enjoyed visiting the Cincinnati Aquarium, the air force museum in Dayton, and seeing Gnomeo and Juliet during the days. Becca was able to come to my school for a few hours on Thursday. She got to meet my second grade class and watch them in a performance that night. She also got to meet my after school kids. Darrin and Becca were able to spend an hour swimming in the hotel swimming pool! Becca sure enjoyed that! :)
We were so excited to have them come out for a few days. It was nice to be able to start celebrating my birthday with some family here. Thanks, Dad and Becca, for your visit!!