Literally

This is LITERALLY all we have been doing lately. For some strange reason we decided to take summer classes to try and get our degree quicker. But most of the summer classes are the same amount of work crammed into 7 weeks, or about 1/2 a semester. So we have been going IN-SANE trying to fit in all the reading, paper writing, and test taking. It's nuts.

See that little letter right above my books? ^^^^ In the right upper corner of the table? Yeah - that's my letter from the university president saying I got on the honor roll for last semester. I'm proud...I won't lie. Steve would have gotten one as well if his teacher hadn't lost his final project and marked him down for "turning it in late"...

Steve being very studious. And silently going nuuuuts...

Absolute delight

I had the MOST DELIGHTFUL surprise yesterday!!! You will never believe it. I found a place, just a few minutes from our house, that sells the Vanilla Bun! The most delicious candy bar EVERRR!!!

If you haven't had this, go to that old-fashioned Farr's ice cream place across from the grocery store on Washington. Then buy one. Then enjoy! If you end up hating it, bring it to me to finish! What a fantastic surprise. I never thought I would find one in Utah.

Steve and I were taking a break from our hectic homework schedule by growing mustaches. ;)

A couple weeks ago we went to The Pizzeria..Pizzaria... I'm not sure which way is correct. But we decided to try their chicken alfredo pizza. It. Was. Delicious. So I decided to make my own a few nights ago. And... it. was. delicious. I was very proud that I made something really good that is a play off of 2 of my favorite foods - chicken alfredo and pizza. YUM!

Steve even asked for seconds! That means he liked it too!

Despite the insanity that is our life right now, we still find a little bit of time to enjoy the little things. Especially now that it is warm outside! Hooray!

It's the cheesiest

The One & Only: Macaroni

It's interesting to think at 23
I am still crazy about thee.
I'll think about you all day long
Until I just burst out in song!
A childhood love so good and pure,
This will last, I'm very sure.
You help me through my picky eating,
This love will not be fleeting.
I'll cook you up and put you in a bowl
Because your cheesy goodness feeds my soul.
Oh the cheese! So warm and yummy!
You fully fill my empty tummy!
I cannot wait until next time we meet.
I can only imagine it will be SO sweet!
A yummy dish for all to enjoy.
I almost love you as much as my boy.
At 23, such a simple treat.
You warm me from my head to my feet.
I love you Mac N Cheese -- you are the best.
You are simply better than all the rest.

Some special ladies

Mother, I love you.

Mother, I do.

Father in Heaven has sent me to you.

When I am near you,

I like to hear you

Singing so softly that you love me too.

Mother, I love you, I love you, I do.

Of course I need to express our love and appreciation to our mothers today. And I chose my favorite mother's day primary song to do it.

I'm so grateful for all the things we learned from our mothers' examples. They taught us how to be courageous, loving, and cheerful.

I'm grateful for Vicki and how she raised such a wonderful son, so I could marry him! She is an ever-enduring woman of faith, and she continues to amaze me.

I'm grateful for Melody and her best-friendness growing up, even if I was a snot. I'm especially proud of my mom right now for being a seminary teacher, because I know I inherited her lack of of being a morning person. ;)

And I'm grateful for all mothers that we are related to and that we aren't related to. You all do such an important job, and I'm so glad I have amazing examples to learn from everyday.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

[I was going to crop me and Grant out of that picture with Steve's mom, but I figured I'd leave Grant in since his birthday is the same day. So happy birthday to Grant!]

Spring has finally sprung!

And I'm hoping it's here to stay!!!

We've been dying of constant cold all throughout April. [As seems to be the case with alot of people throughout the country...]

This week has been the first week of true warmth. It's been so exciting to not have to bring a jacket to school!!! Yes, we are going to school this summer. We are trying to plow through to the end! It's in sight.

Since the warmth of the new season is so delightful, I thought I would share some other things with you that I find absolutely delightful right now.

My favorite sandals.

Bright, painted toenails.

Dandelions.

I remember when I was younger and I thought that dandelions were the most beautiful flower. My friends and I would pick bouquets at recess and give them to each other. Then we'd pick out all the petals and write on each other's hands and arms with the yellow from it. It was some good times.

Now I just enjoy picking them and singing, "mama had a baby and her HEAD popped off!" and pop its top off! That's fun too.

I also enjoy these "popcorn" trees that seem to be all over Utah. I never truly noticed them until this year. They are so fun to see because it actually looks like popcorn when you drive by.

I love our beautiful WSU campus as well. I'm sure there are prettier campuses, but I sure think ours is pretty! I love the fountain and our bell tower. Despite the constant construction that seems to plague our campus lately, it's awesome.

I feel like you all ought to know that I ate some of an apple all by myself today. I was proud because it didn't take any coaxing from anyone else. Yay! I had to document it for all to see.
And now you can all see my beautiful pre-ready face & hair. :)

I hope you are all able to find the little things to enjoy about life right now. It can be hard sometimes, but there are always good things around us.

I am thinking about and praying for Steve's brother who is in the hospital right now. I hope he continues to improve. We love you guys!

OKLAHOMA!

As you all may have heard, I just finished a community production of Oklahoma at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse. I was trying to satisfy my hankering to perform, and the auditions were at the perfect time, and it all just worked out! :) I was so excited to be back on stage!!!

I was a little bit nervous because all the practices and all the shows would stretch through an entire semester of school. I was just worried I would not have time or energy to do all my homework. But I learned alot about time management and got everything done on time. And I actually did a lot less procrastinating! Awww, I'm growing up!

Anyway, I wanted to show a few pictures from backstage with my friends. I obviously couldn't post all the pictures I wanted to, so I tried to just get a few group pictures up.

This is Erik, my show husband.

Here are a bunch of the girls, and Erik [who is doing the SPLITS right there, you just can't see it!]. The girl right next to me is one of our Laurie's in the show [the lead girl]. They were double cast.

Here are actually, alot of the same girls, and a few boys.

And again!

I had such a blast and made so many new friends!!! I am so glad I made the decision to do this show! Steve and I sacrificed quite a few date nights for me to do this, but we just improvised with date days. :) This was truly the lift I needed to satisfy my fix. I may have to get into another show at some point. Maybe in a year ish when they do Joseph!

This cast was OK!!!

In the meantime...

While you have all been diligently working your blogs and documenting your fun times, we have been going INSAAAANE!!!!

But since we are on a week break from school, I thought I would catch you up on our lives -- even though I won't have any pictures up yet.

School started in January and we didn't waste any time getting busy with everything else in our lives. I auditioned for the musical Oklahoma right before Christmas break. I made the cast and I was suuuuper excited since I had not been in a show for a few years! And rehearsals started the same day as school started. However, that same day, my body decided it would get strep throat for the first time ever! I cannot convey how much I HATE missing school/rehearsals -- especially when it's the first week of them! But I had to miss any entire week of both. I guess it was pretty important so I didn't get everyone else sick around me.

But we immediately got a TON of homework and alot of stuff to get started on for school. Both of us were taking a Research Methods class, and we knew it was going to be a tough semester. Luckily I got to do my research project/paper with a group, but Steve had to do it all by his lonesome...with a teacher that did not explain anything to him. But we ended up being pretty successful in our projects and finishing up well.

Oklahoma rehearsals were Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays for almost 2 months. It was a little stressful with homework, tests, and papers. Not to mention our only having one car. Somehow we made it work and I always got to rehearsal and Steve always got home from work. Then when the shows started, it was from February 25th through April 9th, every Monday, Friday, and Saturday. A VERY long run for a community show, but it was enjoyable!!! I made so many new friends and loved dancing and singing all the time. I had almost forgotten how much I really enjoyed being on stage. We also got a TON of great reviews from people saying it was a really great show -- even though it was Oklahoma. So I'd say we did a great job.

Sadly, we did not play the Wii much -- even though we were so excited we had it! At most we'd play for an hour a month. But that's not to say it wasn't tempting. We used alot of self control in making ourselves do our homework instead of playing games.

As the semester wore on, our schedules and projects became more and more insane. We definitely learned alot about time management in the last few months. We had so many papers and projects to finish just within a few weeks. SOMEHOW we did it all. And I was lucky that my show ended the week before finals week. We're waiting for our final grades from a couple other classes, but so far we've seen that we pulled out some A-'s where we were expecting a little lower of a grade. We're satisfied so far! :)

We have been enjoying our week-long break before the summer semester starts. May 2nd -- here we come! Full force again! And we've been lucky in getting financial aid to pay for almost all of our semester's expenses.

Steve also celebrated his birthday this past March. We just had a couple friends over to play our Wii and break it in. I got him (us) a down pillow and an apple corer! The second one is an inside joke about our unhealthy eating. :) So hopefully now we'll eat more apples, right???

I hope you've had a good beginning of 2011!