April showers bring snow sculptures and b-day bashes!

April is a good month. Yes I seem to have a billion assignments, interviews, and tests as the semester is drawing to an end, but it is ok because there are so many wonderful things going on!

First of all, it's finally getting warmer! At least one half of every week feels like Spring! The other half feels like winter with snowstorms galore, but hey I'll take what little warmth I can get! Besides, March and April snow storms have proven to be excellent snow sculpturing occasions. This year we decided to try a stegosaurus. Yes we know it looks like an iguana.

Second of all, we celebrated Casey's birthday last weekend! He will be gone on a geology fieldtrip the day of his birthday so we celebrated a week early. We had a bbq at my house and the cupcakes I made actually turned out quite delicious!Our friends little boys had a great time "tricking" Casey into coming outside so they could silly string him. They were in heaven!

I have been wanting to get Casey some basketball shoes and my wish came true when I found a pair of Converse shoes on sale for a really good deal. I couldn't wait to give them to him, so I was kind of glad we got to celebrate early. I probably would have spilled the beans and ruined the surprise if I had needed to wait any longer!

My mom and dad got him a new basketball to go with the shoes. He has been having a great time enjoying our gifts!

(In this picture he was actually spinning the ball...just so you know. I thought it was funny that it looks like he just has it perfectly balanced!)

Spring Break Part II

When I was a little girl one of my favorite things to do was watch ice skating with my grandma. If I had the free time, it still would be! I've always loved how graceful the ice skaters look as they glide across the ice. I loved dancing so I think ice skating was an extension of that love. So of course, I've always wanted to try it! Finally, during Spring Break, I got my chance! Casey took me on an ice skating date!

We had it all planned out to go one afternoon. We went to the Olympic Oval and I felt butterflies as we drove up because I was so excited! Seriously, I've always dreamed of going. We took pictures outside of course because it was a momentous occasion for me. Unfortunately when we got inside we found out it wasn't open for public skating until later in the evening.

We were already out, so we decided to drive to Copperton. For those of you who may not know, Copperton is a small town just outside the Kennecott Copper mine. It made me laugh when we got there because we had been discussing cottages and it was street after street of cottage heaven! Maybe not heaven because they looked kind of old....but there were lots of small houses! It is a really random little town. It kind of reminded me of someplace that would be in a creepy movie. There is a park there that Casey went to one time when he was in high school so we went there and played frisbee. Random!

My frisbee skills may need a little work. They may even need a lottle work. But it was fun!
Finally the next evening my dreams of skating came true. I was not the least bit disappointed! I very thoroughly enjoyed myself. I didn't even fall one time! I also didn't figure out how to turn fast, glide with one leg out, or go backwards but hey it's a start. We took some videos but I don't have them here so I'll have to upload them later (they aren't very impressive trust me). I can't wait to go again!

Spring Break Part I

Spring break started out wonderfully with Aubree coming home!! I was so happy she surprised us by coming home a day earlier than planned. She brought Jay and we had a blast getting to know him and spending time with both of them. We were thoroughly impressed by his mad dunking skills. Hopefully Aubs will post videos on her blog because I know she's got them! I wish I would have taken pictures, but alas I have none.

Monday I drove north with Casey to visit his family. Oh how I loved staying up late watching movies and sleeping in! They have an amazing movie set up at their house so we made sure to take advantage of it and the sleep was so satisfying. Speaking of which, I should definitely be sleeping right now but I have been up late doing homework every night and sick so my body just doesn't want to let me. But that is beside the point.

While we were there one of the many fun things we were able to do is climbing! I haven't been able to go very much this semester so it was nice to be outside savoring the warm goodness. I had a blast! Here are some pictures I had fun taking and editing. There are a few more on our climbing blog if you want to check them out. I could keep myself entertained for hours on end with photoshop. I get kind of distracted and carried away when I go to the computer lab at school that has it...

I promise I had really good intentions of updating this week! Sadly enough the laptop I had with me decided to stop working on the first day of our Spring Break trip so I was unable to update or do homework! I have been scrambling this afternoon and evening to complete lots of assignments due tomorrow and I decided I will do a quick post. I don't have time for everything so it will have to come in short spurts!

I'll start todoay with some pre-spring break news.

First of all, we went to Michelle's baby shower! It was so fun and so pink!! The decorations were great, the food was great, and the company was great! I loved seeing all the cute little girl stuff she received. There were lots of oohs and aahs as we watched Michelle open the gifts. So many cute things! I loved shopping with Mom and Miralva for our gift. We found the cutest little swimsuit! I was so excited about it. It was also fun riding up with the girls and basking in all of Cherene's teaching wisdom. I love having so many family resources to get ideas from!

So cute right?!!! I love it and can't wait to see the baby in it!

The other good news is that Casey got some new climbing shoes. I have to share this because it was so fun enjoying his anticipation and excitement! Apparantly these shoes are the top climbing shoes on the market and a lot of the pros use them. Casey tried ordering them through the school but after about a month of waiting he found out the order didn't go through. He was still able to get a good deal online but there was more waiting! He got another good deal on a pair of shoes so he ordered those also and every day we checked for packages. The time came for me to leave for the shower, and the shoes had still not arrived. We decided to check outside and just see if the UPS truck was in sight. Lo and behold, it was!!! It kept turning down side streets and taking forever, but Casey patiently waited on the lawn. Finally it stopped at our house and the mailman got out with a box in tow! It was the cheaper pair of shoes. That of course was exciting, but the top of the line shoes hadn't made it. More waiting....

The next Monday we drove to my house after school and there on the porch lay a package.

A beautiful brown package. It was like Christmas had arrived on our porch in March.

Happiness.

All I have to say is thank you Mr./Mrs. creator of Spring Break!!
Hopefully I will catch up on posting next week....when I am free!!! :)

Another Cute Book

This post is especially for Sharla, due to her request for book recommendations, but it could also benefit the rest of you if you're into children's books. The book of the hour today is called "Not a Box" and the author is Antoinette Portis. I really, really like this book! It's simple but very cute! It's about what the bunny is imagining the box to be. I like it because I always thought boxes were great toys to play and imagine with! It kind of reminds me of Harold and the Purple Crayon.The Fancy Nancy books are also a hit. I'm sure Cherene knows more than me, she's the book expert! :) These are just some cute one's I've seen lately in my classes.
Today I started my practicum in St. George for this week. We are commuting every day and I am in a 4th grade class. I taught basically the whole day! I was surprised since it was my first day and I hadn't observed the teacher at all, but I enjoyed it. Time passes much more quickly when I'm teaching than when I'm observing. It was fun!

Recent Happenings

I'm sorry for the lack of posting. I have been keeping very busy with school and chose to spend my precious moments of freetime doing activities other than blogging for a little while, but I'm finally here to catch up! I haven't been taking quite as many pictures either but I do have a few!
First of all, the block has been going great (that is what my group of classes are called...in case I forgot to mention that earlier). I have lots of projects and lessons to work on but I really enjoy it! The hardest part is the monotony of sitting in one chair day after day. If all I had was class once a week and the homework it would be perfect! :) The positive note is that I have gained a whole new perspective of why students are wiggly and antsy in class. My practicum with the kindergarten is going great. I love teaching. I can only imagine how much fun it will be once I have my very own class to run!
And now for a few fun freetime things! (try saying that 5 times fast!)
A couple of weeks ago Aubree came home to visit (yay! if only it were longer...) and we made our way over to Bryce Canyon for some cross country skiing. It was beautiful, fun, a good workout, and it gave us a whole new appreciation for the Olympic cross country skiiers! Our technique wasn't quite as commendable as theirs but it got us from point A to point B. At least I only fell one or two times this year!

A few days ago Casey and I had a nice relaxing day off that began with a pancake lunch prepared by myself! I had to take a picture of my masterpiece pancake creation. When I was little my mom made us Mickey Mouse pancakes for our birthdays or just for fun every once in a while. When Casey and I first started hanging out as friends we were making lunch one time and he told me he loves pancakes. I tried to make him a mickey mouse pancake but it was a complete disaster thanks to the temperamental stove and sticky college-house pans my roommates and I had. It turned out to be a pile of wierd pancake...stuff. I don't think he was sold on the whole decorative pancake idea then, but I'm pretty sure I finally convinced him. This was more of a teddy bear than a mouse, but it was cute nonetheless! We topped our pancakes off with my mom's delicious caramelly syrup and it was a feast to remember!

After that we got out the date jar (pictured below) and used our change for a fun date in St. George. We did a little climbing, had a picnic inside the car because it was actually colder in St. George than Cedar City, enjoyed a nice peacful walk around the temple, and had dessert at Coldstone. It was a much needed break!

In other news, this week was stake conference and I played the violin in every session including leadership training this morning. I hadn't played in church for almost a year but apparantly it was time to share my talents again! I played a solo a few weeks ago in our ward so hopefully now everyone has had their fill and won't want to hear from me in a while. :) Actually I kind of enjoy the practice performing and hopefully can touch some people with the Spirit through music. It's a powerful tool.

The visiting General Authority we had was Elder Gong and I really enjoyed his talks. On Saturday evening he showed us these youtube videos and they made me smile. When you have time, check them out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jds1QZrJq1Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tzetq32VO_g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPmSyOlv5D4