May Madness

First of all, I have the best husband in the world, hands down. Today he gave me my graduation present (I know, it's a month early). He wrote it in a card and videotaped my reaction. He planned a trip to DC/Virginia to go visit Brady, Leah, Leo, and May!! My excitement resulted in some tears. Apparently he planned this a couple months ago and they knew about it, my parents knew about it, and his family knew about it. We are going June 14th-19th!! We skyped with them today for an hour and it made me that much more excited. I have had friends move away from me, and I have moved away from others, but this has been the hardest one for me. They moved away in November and I think about them all the time still! So I am ecstatic! Plus it is going to be so awesome touring that area! It was all good timing for him to tell me because it's my extra push to finish school.

Speaking of school, my student teaching is going so well! I just love my students so much. I wish I could keep them all forever! I could go on and on about each of them. We just got our caterpillars for our butterfly unit. I never studied them so I'm excited to be learning with the kids!

May = madness for us (another reason my grad present was great timing). Here's a rundown of our May Madness each year:

• May 10th - My dad's 50th birthday
• May 13th - Mother's Day
• May 19th - Leo's 2nd birthday
• May 20th - Lane's birthday & Devin's birthday
• May 23rd - Trevor's birthday
• May 24th - Tim's 60th birthday & Beth's birthday
• May 27th - Blake's birthday
• May 28th - Memorial Day
• May 31st - Our 4th anniversary 

...and this isn't including every event. We also have softball games each week, Lane has soccer games, I have seminars, mutual and girl's camp planning, and work each weekend. Why does May have to be so popular? We'll probably end up having a couple kids with May birthdays too, sheesh! June is quickly filling up...graduation ceremony June 2nd (parents coming), main graduation ceremony June 9th (more family coming), Mariners game June 13th, DC/Virginia June 14th-19th, girl's camp June 20th-23rd, Faith's 8th birthday and Mimi's birthday June 20th, my birthday June 27th, and Faith's baptism June 30th (Erin and Janet coming)! It's so surreal that I'm graduating soon. I usually know what the next few months have in store for me (with school) but with no school after June, the future is in a fog. I can't wait to find out what happens!

My baby brother, Devin, has his mission papers in so we will be finding out where he will be going any day/week now! This is also just so surreal for me! I can't believe he is old enough and that he will be leaving for 2 years. I am so proud of the young man he is turning out to be. He is a great example to me and our family. So here's my guess to where he will be going : Costa Rica! (My dad served there on his mission). Lane's guess is Taiwan. Any other guesses?

Got Milk?

If you know me at all you know that I'm shy and awkward and I would be just about the last person on Earth that would be asked to act in anything where I have to speak. Well, I guess just about everyone on Earth disappeared for a moment because Lane and I were asked to be in a Got Milk commercial. It was pretty random and last minute. This gentleman in our ward at church does commercials/ads with a buddy of his. They have done well with some they have created; either placed or won. Well he called Lane up one night and asked if he could come by and present the idea to us. He explained the concept to us, telling us that we would be mom and dad cows, and the concept would be based off of the question kids ask, "where do babies come from?" It sounded pretty funny, but the whole time I was thinking, "Do you know who you're asking (referring to myself)? I am so awkward!" Well, we said yes. Last Saturday we went over to someones house and they had everything set up--a breakfast table, all the lighting and camera, the milk of course, and our costumes. I did not know what to expect. It took a few hours and a lot of repeating of lines and facial expressions, and from different angles, and I was hungry and tired of hearing my voice, and I was almost positive they would regret picking me....BUT luckily they are pretty talented with what they do and pulled from parts they liked and edited it to be pretty hilarious. So after a long explanation that has already been cut short, here it is!

**Notice all the cow stuff (newspaper articles, cereal, mug, toy...)

http://www.zooppa.com/ads/its-just-not-breakfast-without-milk/videos/too-many-questions-2

Is is in a contest so after you watch it go vote for it, post it on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc...

College = Over

I'm not one to brag, but I'm bragging. When I started attending college, I guess I didn't consider the amount of money I was paying for my lousy grades-- basically threw thousands of dollars down the drain and turned on the garbage disposal. Well, marriage has forced me to grow up apparently because ever since I got married I have worked my butt off to get my GPA up. I finished up my last quarter for my Bachelor's with a cumulative of 3.837! I pulled off straight A's the past few quarters, and I have made the Dean's list every quarter of my Elementary Education program. BOOYAH!

It's a weird feeling having no more college classes (except for my Master's later in life). I've hit many bumps on the road to my degree but I have learned so much and gained so many new experiences that have strengthened me immensely. I went through my program with a cohort of about 20 others-- we had every class together, and sat in basically the same spots each quarter. I wasn't too thrilled about the idea of being in a cohort when I got started. They told us that the cohort would be our second family. We would grow to have a love-hate relationship with everyone, and we would see engagements, marriages, births, and deaths, and we would basically know everything about everyone. My first thought, "Yeah right, that's so tacky." WELL Negative Nancy-Jannica, you were wrong. I have made some wonderful life-long friends, I have felt that dysfunctional family-feeling, and we had a few engagements, a marriage, 4 babies (and many others wanting babies *cough*Sunnie and me*cough*, and I'm sure there were deaths among family/friends. Because of this, it is a bitter-sweet feeling being done with school, but of course this is mostly sweet because we are starting student teaching and then we graduate! I get to student teach with my pre-autumn 2nd grade class too so I am SO excited! I love Miss Schmidt and those little kiddos! Also, I will no longer have to pay thousands of dollars, spend endless hours, and argue with professors to get my straight A's.

Here's the cohort celebrating our last day of classes!

Graduation is June 9, 2012! I can't wait! We also have a ceremony in Wenatchee on June 2nd, since we were a close cohort, where we will be celebrated more personally. And why not celebrate more with a party at my house?! So anyone who wants to come, there's 3 events right there! I'll be sending out announcements soon! (Can you tell I'm excited about graduating college?!)

Seattle Weekend

My parents came up for the weekend to celebrate Valentine's Day with us. We picked them up Saturday morning and started our weekend of fun. We bought the Seattle city passes (which I highly recommend) and had such a great time! I have never done anything in Seattle besides Mariners and Pike's Market, my parents briefly did the EMP and Space Needle, and it had been years for Lane. The city pass includes: Seattle Aquarium, a boat tour, 2 rides up the Space Needle (1 day, 1 night), EMP-Experience Music Project, Pacific Science Center, and either the Wildlife Zoo OR the Museum of Flight...all for $60! So as you could imagine, we were go-go-go for a couple days.

We started off with the aquarium.

Then we walked around Pike's Market, grabbed some lunch at Ivar's, and then went on our boat tour.

After our boat tour we headed over to our hotel in Bellevue and relaxed. For dinner we ate at this Chinese place called Toy's Cafe. I also highly recommend this because it was DELICIOUS! Very impressed! After our long day we were all exhausted and feeling fat so we went to bed at about 9:30pm!

Sunday we started and ended our day with our trips up the Space Needle, which was beautiful!

After our first trip up we went to the EMP which was a lot of fun. I could have spent more time in there playing with all the instruments.

After the EMP we ate lunch at the food court in the Seattle Center and then went to the Pacific Science Center. I think we all would have enjoyed it a little more if we had little kids with us; either that or just plain hated it. ;) It is pretty cool, but just aimed more towards children. My favorite part was the butterfly exhibit and the over sized chairs/table. Part of our visit there included an Imax movie. We chose to watch Sea Rex. I highly discourage that! It was ridiculous. We just made fun of it, so I guess it was worth a few laughs.

The weather was perfect for us all of Saturday and Sunday and we ended our night eating at the Cheesecake Factory...yum! Monday morning we hit up the Museum of Flight because it was too rainy for the zoo, and even for being all museum-ed out, I think we all enjoyed that one. It was pretty cool! I would have enjoyed it more if we hadn't been go-go-go the past two days. We drove back to Wenatchee and went and saw The Vow and ate at EZ's. Tuesday (Valentine's Day) we lounged around and ate at Country Boys. We lounged around some more and then sent my parents off. It was such a great weekend--so much fun and many awesome memories built! Thanks Dad and Mom!

After dropping my parents off Lane and I grabbed some food, bought some candy, foot scrub, and face masks and had a relaxing evening. Perfect weekend!

PS. 4 years ago on Valentine's Day, Lane proposed.

Hello 2012

I haven't written down any goals yet simply because most of them are always the same and are continual goals I will always have to work at. There are some new ones though, and just so that I have them documented for this year, here they are:

• Read the Book of Mormon- Make it a daily routine.
• Be a nicer/more loving wife.
• Get AND stay in shape!
• Limit soda drinking- along with eat healthier.
• Challenge my taste buds- keep trying seafood/mushrooms.
• Be more of an optimist.
• Visit the East Coast- Leah is my excuse!
• Make a friend- find ways to serve more freely.
• Stop being so OCD about little things- I have a long list.
• Finish school off strong- be assertive in student teaching/applying/interviewing!
• Make a baby!

SO, we shall see how well I do on these come December 2012! 2011 surprised me with a new home, a nephew, and many other blessings. I am excited for the adventures this year will bring. I hope to be a strong-willed college graduate, possibly a teacher, a sister-in-law (to my side), a missionary's sister, an awesome wife, and a mommy-to-be/a mom! Here's to the new year!

Santa Hats

My mom and I made these CUTE Santa hats when I was home. They're pretty simple, but if you do a lot of them it gets a little tedious. They turned out adorable though, I think!

This is all you need: Bugles, red chocolate melts, mini marshmallows, and white sprinkles.

Dip the Bugles in the chocolate and lay them out on wax paper. Let them dry for about 10min and then dip the ends for the marshmallows and sprinkles.

...and Voila!

Christmas in Cali 2011

I got to go home for Christmas to visit my family this year...and it was amazing. I had so much fun and built so many memories! Lane was able to meet me down in So.Cal after a week.

I planned my trip so that I could attend Allie's baptism. Allie is my brother's girlfriend and I think she is amazing for her courage, spirit, strength, and great example. She's a sweet girl! It was so neat to be a part of her special day.

My trip was relaxing being at home. My mom took me to get these nice pedicures where they soak your feet in red wine, oranges, and rose pedals in warm water (great for all the antioxidants?). We went and saw a couple movies. We spent time with some good friends, and ate good food, and did some shopping. Devin came home from BYU-Hawaii almost a week after I got there so we made a big deal of it with all his friends at the airport. It was pretty exciting. Then we made our drive down to So.Cal to be with the rest of our family. It was so fun to see Britt, the Fosters, MacBeths, Warrs, and Mitchells. Down there we enjoyed our 80 degree weather with a day at the beach, ate some good food, went to a movie, decorated cookies, looked at beautiful lights, played games, and spent time with family!

*Why I love my parent's house all year round:

*Why I love my parent's house during Christmas time:

Christmas day we woke up and went to Britt's apartment. She made us some yummy breakfast, and we opened presents. Not only was I spoiled at home with my family, but for Christmas too! We spent the rest of the day at Mimi & Poppi's house with all my dad's brothers' families and his cousin. We ate some yummy food and enjoyed the musical talents of that side of the family. It was so relaxing and fun to be with my family for Christmas!