Dodger!!

I had the chance last week to drive up to Centerville to celebrate my friend Rachel's 27th birthday! An added bonus was I finally got to meet little Dodger. I felt I should make a tribute to the little guy seeing as though I don't have my own dog to post about :( I'm tellin ya, while Chase is in Ukraine this summer I may be finding a canine companion to keep me company despite Chase's objections. Well enjoy!

Black Light Stomp

So I don't know what you do with your Friday nights, but as for me and Chase, we find ourselves just getting home from Mountain View's "Black Light Stomp"! Yep, Chase and I were "chauffeuring", as multiple students put it, the high school dance tonight. Chaperoning wasn't too bad. I got out on the dance floor a few times and got to play bouncer and push some kids around :) I was almost entered into the dance off as the administration representative, but the competition got a little too thick so I just watched. It was fun to see students shocked that I would or could dance. Well, some would argue that I can't dance. I mean I did lose the dance off between Chase and I last year.

We walked away tonight with sore feet, sweet shirts, and two new dance moves. My students taught me "The Jerky" and "The Snaky Leg".

"The Snaky Leg"

"The Jerky" (please ignore my double chin...yucky, yuck)

A Santa Appearance!

This past week has been a whirlwind of Christmas parties. We've celebrated with the Gunnell extended family, the Stratford extended family, our ward, and as of last night, my faculty. At our faculty FHE Christmas party Santa showed up!

(Look at the skepticism of Dallin (wearing the yellow striped shirt in the back; his arms are crossed)!! Cracks me up!)

He told great stories...like did you know his newest reindeer, who is a notorious "know-it-all", is named Google? Yep, I heard it straight from the big guy himself. It was fun to watch the little kiddos get excited. Santa brought gifts for the kids...even some of the "big" kids like Chase.

I surprised Chase by slipping a gift in Santa's bag for him. He is now the proud owner of P90x! Chase has been eyeing my brother's set of DVD's for awhile now and is excited for me to try this new exercise program out with him. I don't know if I can hack it but I'll try. After witnessing Chase's pictures of what I was doing while Santa was around may be motivation enough to try to stick with it!

Caught red handed at the chocolate fountain!

Christmas Time is Here!

So with Christmas fast approaching we decided to get our Christmas tree and decorate our home. We decided to continue the tradition we started last year of finding a "Charlie Brown" worthy tree (remember last year's)...I still need to invest in "A Charlie Brown Christmas". I keep eyeing the Peanuts holiday collection DVDs at Costco. Anyway, we found our lowly tree and brought it home.

We also have the tradition of picking out an ornament each year to symbolize that year.

2008-An ornament of the Salt Lake Temple where we were married

2009-A BYU ornament to symbolize Chase's graduation from BYU and his entrance into BYU's law school

This year we also added ornaments Chase stumbled upon at Michael's one day. He was so proud of himself! He found ornaments with our names on them. This is a rarity since Chase isn't a super common name and my name has so many spellings. As usual we busted out the fruit loops and thread to create color chains as we watched one of my favorite childhood Christmas movies, "Mickey's Christmas Carol".

Here's a glimpse of some other decorations that are bringing Christmas cheer to our home.

A cool product of a super Saturday my mom's ward had a month or two ago. Thanks Mom for the beautiful decoration!! (I think this picture turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. Eat your heart out Jeff!)
I bought this cute little guy back in October when we went to St. George and I've been so anxious to put him up!
Back before Thanksgiving Chase surprised me one morning with a beautiful poinsettia. I was thrilled to make a table centerpiece using it!

My Latest School Project

In my teaching right now we're studying the Book of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon. I don't know about you, but the story lines are so confusing in this book due to the 2 flashbacks and the multiple crossed paths. So, here's my depiction of the Book of Mosiah all on one map!

I made it glue-in size for my students to stick at the beginning of Mosiah.

Ignore the poor quality of the following pictures. I had to take a picture of my computer of the copy I scanned.

Take note of the great drawings of Abinadi and then King Noah burning!

Overall I think the students were able to follow the story lines pretty well. I learned some new things too from my colleague Bro. Moore...like, did you know the number 8 is symbolic of rebirth? No wonder we get baptized at 8 and no wonder Alma and the newly baptized members of the church fled for 8 days until they reached Helam. And did you know that both Abinadi and Ammon are Christ-types? The similarities are amazing. I know I'm a nerd.

Thanksgiving 2009

This Thanksgiving Chase and I flew to Texas to spend it with my family. Sadly on our way to the airport I realized we forgot to grab our camera. So the only pictures I have are the ones my brother Jeff posted already on his blog, which I stole some from.

The trip on a whole was great. Almost all my siblings were there (we missed you Chip!) and all my nieces and nephews on my side were there. I love being an aunt! Some of the things I loved this trip were:

*Having light saber wars with Milo*Holding sweet baby Ollie*Being amazed at Sean and Trevor's love for animals*Listening to Myla say "I do it myself"*Spending enough time with Leah that she stopped being shy*Joking with Jonathan*Answering Hannah's many questions*Making Rachel smile (she has the sweetest smile) and taking her on a horse ride*Watching Jacob's innocence and kind heart (I hope Jeff's theory is wrong!)*

That was more for me to remember from this trip. I can't wait for our family reunion in Galveston this summer because the kiddos are growing up way to fast! Although being an aunt was pretty great, the highlight of this trip was watching the priesthood in action. I have never been more grateful for the priesthood than this Thanksgiving. During the break I witnessed my brother Brad bless his boy Ollie and my brother Jeff baptise and confirm my nephew Jacob. The Spirit was so strong at each of these ordinances. It was amazing to watch my brothers and their wives bear testimony at the baptism and to look into the eyes of my nieces and nephews as I bore my testimony in song. By the end I was in tears--you try to sing when you have little kids like Milo, Jacob and Myla just staring at you with big eyes. I know the priesthood is real and I have a stronger testimony of how important it is as families to come together for these sacred events because I feel that it strengthened our family. This Thanksgiving will never be forgotten.

Ukraine 2010!

So I have to take a moment and announce Chase's exciting news! He got accepted to do an externship in Kiev, Ukraine next Spring/Summer for Baker & McKenzie, a huge international law firm. He's so stoked to return to his mission and to speak Russian once again. He'll be gone for approximately 5-6 weeks and then hopefully will return to complete another externship possibly in DC. What will I be doing while he's away? Working :(, but at least it will keep me busy!

More exciting news...for one of his law classes Chase had to go through two mock interviews Wednesday night with two different companies to prepare him for future interviews after law school. He was super nervous, but walked away with high marks! Both interviewers were very impressed; one was especially impressed with his resume and the experience he has already had!! He said it was perfect for his future career goals. It makes us both excited for the opportunities he will hopefully have available to him after law school.

Here's a little flashback to Chase's mission--a peak at what Chase has to look forward to this summer!