This is life Eternal

I believe in Christ.

2012-09-10T20:01:00.001-06:00

"I believe in Christ; he is my King!

With all my heart to him I'll sing;

I'll raise my voice in praise and joy,

in grand amens my tongue employ.

I believe in Christ; he is God's Son.

On earth to dwell his soul did come.

He healed the sick;

the dead he raised.

Good works were his;

his name be praised."

-Hymn written by: Bruce R. McConkie

Listen to the whole song here.

Jim (my wonderful husband) and I have been thinking a lot lately about how we can be better examples and better at sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone we know. So, today for family home evening Jim challenged us to make a goal of helping to spread the gospel to all the world. Our goal, as you might guess, was to use social networking to share our testimonies of the Savior. This hymn that I shared above has been a huge part of my testimony of Christ since I was a small girl. A little back history on me then-- I started to play the violin when I was 6 years old and so music has been a monumental part of my life. When I started playing the violin one of the most exciting things for me was that I was able to play hymns and I thought maybe one day I might even get to play in church!
As I grew and was able to progress in my musical talents I was able to start playing hymns and "I believe in Christ" is one of the first songs I was able to 'pick out' on my own. I know that the spirit of the Lord can help us to feel the truth and I also know that music can be one of those ways that the spirit can 'speak' to us or help us to feel closer to our Savior. As I learned and mastered this song the music spoke to my heart and the words spoke to my mind telling me that I have a father in heaven and a brother - my Savior, who love me and who can help me along this journey of life. I came to gain a greater understanding of what our Savior did for us. I came to know Him on a personal level. Music brought me the beginning of my testimony and continues to help me build that testimony.

I know that each of us can have a personal relationship with our Father in Heaven as well as our Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that the way to begin this relationship can be something as small as a piece of music or a small and simple prayer. Our Father and Savior love us and they are willing to answer our prayers if we will but ask.

"If any of ye lack wisdom, let his ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." James 1:5

Image used with permission from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

BVHS 2007 Class Reunion

2012-06-07T14:26:00.002-06:00

I don't know how many of my classmates look at my blog but I am trying really hard to make sure everyone knows about our up-coming class reunion.

http://paperless.ly/NkOf2j

2012-03-02T15:10:00.002-07:00

http://www.integratechs.com /

This is a very exciting time in our lives and gives us (Jim and I) confidence that we can survive outside of the college world that we have been living in for the last two years.

Jim just got a job offer for this company called integraTECHS. (I borrowed the picture from their site, thank you to them) He will be working in their southern Utah office in St. George. For now he will work part time from home until he graduates, then he will be put on their salary. YAY, we are actually going to have jobs!

Now for the story...at the same time Jim got offered this job I also got offered an internship (as an alternate in a position, they were waiting for the first choice applicant to decide) in the Alpine school district at Manila Elementary. This was a very difficult decision to make because both were really great opportunities for us.

An internship for teachers means that I would have been the full-time teacher for that year and I would be paid 1/2 salary and 1/2 benefits, so this was a really good offer and not everyone gets these kinds of opportunities. I really wasn't even planning on hearing back from them at all. I really don't mean to boast but the story is really neat and it gave me confidence that I am marketable in my chosen profession. A teacher and the principal came to our college class and asked each of us, who were interested, to fill out a one page information sheet and then come in and interview. I did this mainly because it would be great experience for me seeing that I have never interviewed for a teaching job before. They asked me to send references, and I did later that day Then a couple days later I got the email from them stating that I was an alternate for the position. I was so surprised; I thought they must have called my references... but no, they didn't. I was even more surprised when I found this out. I felt very honored to be given that opportunity with only a bit of information on one page and a 5 minute interview.

As we weighted our options and counseled with the lord, we felt like the job in St. George was the one for us. I am so thankful for a father in heaven who loves and cares about our lives here on earth. These decisions are not easy ones to make, and having his guiding hand makes these decisions much more simple. I know the lord helps us in our lives and often that help comes in revelations through the spirit.

DIY book page wreath

2012-01-22T14:34:00.000-07:00

I have been dying to do one of these wreaths ever since I saw one at my cute friends house about a year ago. She told me how simple it was and I was so excited to try it and now, finally, a year later I have accomplished this task. Just a precursory note: this project was so time consuming, I couldn't believe that something that looked and sounded so easy could be so... so... yup, time consuming. Although, I am super ecstatic about my results.

Also, for those of you who visit my blog pretty regularly (family, that's you)... this is my very first try at doing a tutorial, tell me how I do, ok? (leave out the spelling and grammatical errors, I know they occur quite frequently)

Here is a super quick tutorial about how to consume your time with wreath making....

Supplies:

Foam wreath between 7-10$ at Jo-Anns
An old book that you will never read again or buy a cheap one from D.I. or a thrift store, they are usually about .50 -$1
An un-sharpened pencil (or two, just in case)
Hot glue gun ( and if your like me and have a super old hand-me down one that 'leaks' while its plugged in you will need lots and lots of the glue stick thingers...whatever they are called)

Caution: Librarians please cover you eyes and ears .... okay basically don't read the first instruction it may be a bit graphic for you. In fact, you may want to choose an alternative wreath making activity. ;)

Instructions:

*Think about popping in a movie or plugging in those ear buds while you are doing this, maybe you will be faster than me but this took me about 4, 2 hour sittings to get done. Its probably that I am just slower than all get out though.

1. Take that old book and just rip the covers right off (HA remember the movie Up..."I ripped this right out of a library book" *gasp*-- Gotta love Disney movies).

2. Proceed to tear out the pages, I found it easiest to tear out 3 at a time and keep them together. Tear into pieces of about 2"X2". This is up to you how 'out there' or 'puffy' you want your wreath to look.

3. Use your pencil to make a hole in the foam wreath.

4. Put a little dab of hot glue into the hole.

5. Put the 2x2 piece of paper around the pencil

6. Stick it into the hole where the hot glue is waiting to do its job.

*Just a suggestion... I found I was a little aggressive with poking the paper into the foam wreath and when I used the un-sharpened edge of the pencil I usually tore the paper so it wouldn't stick as well. So to remedy this I used the eraser end when poking the paper into the hot glued hole.

7. Repeat steps 2 -6

8. Enjoy the great looking book page wreath that you just spent SO MUCH TIME making. :) Good Luck and Have FUN. Would love to see some others end results...

Pin It

ahhh Sigh of Relief

2011-11-12T13:30:00.001-07:00

For the last month I have been studying my little tail off to take the Praxis: elementary content test, so I haven't had much time for anything else. The test was at 7:30 this morning and I feel like I did really well and now it's over. I can find out my scores in about 3 to 4 weeks, but all I care about is that it is done. I don't have to spend that extra 2 to 3 hours studying everyday(minus the weekends of course).

As you can tell life has been pretty busy around here and besides studying for the praxis I also have regular class work, a part time job with kindergartners who wear me out and of course a husband who has homework + work of his own. Our lives are going great... busy, but great. Jim graduates in May and he is starting to look for and apply for jobs. We are both really excited to be done with school and Jim has senior-itis SO BAD! :) What symptoms have I seen you ask? Well, it goes back to the deer hunt in the end of September to October. First was the muzzle loader hunt, which wasn't so bad, he left me for a few days (because I didn't have work off) and then the rifle hunt. This is where the senior-itis comes in, he hunted from the weekend till Wednesday of the next week. He originally wouldn't have been able to do this because he had a test scheduled for Monday (or Tuesday, can't remember) but after talking with his teacher she put it off till Friday! WHAT!? None of my teachers would have ever let me do that. So finally when he got home on Wednesday night at 11:00 he told me that he didn't even want to come home and especially not to go to school. He then hunted till Saturday with his brother here in Cedar. After it was all over he had lots and lots of catching up to do. So as you can tell from my story he is contracting a little bit of that senior-itis. :) BTW, he didn't even get a buck! Can you believe that? All that time, and not even a little 2 point to show? Oh well, at least he enjoyed himself. It isn't often that he gets to spend time like that with his family doing one of the things he loves the most. And that's why I don't mind so much that he leaves me all alone... I know he loves it and if he is happy so am I. :)

Besides the deer hunt, what else have we been doing? Well, lets see.... there was Halloween! We dressed up as the Harlem Globetrotters(It was pretty sweet) and we went to a Halloween Party with awesome food, music, movies and friends. You can't celebrate Halloween with out the Sanderson sisters right?

Oh yes, I remember what else happened since I blogged last. Jim is now serving as a second counselor in a singles ward bishopric. He was released from the Elders Corum in August and 1 week later he was sustained as the second counselor in the Cedar City Young Single Adult 23rd Ward. He is gaining some great experiences and having such a great time with the people in the ward as well as those in his Bishopric. It has been an adjust for me. I'm a little sad that I can't sit by him through sacrament anymore and I miss hearing him singing right next to me, but I always sit right where I can see him and it has been a fun experience to be back in the singles wards and not having to worry about what singles worry about...Marriage. Yep, got that one checked off already. :)

Our lives are busy and sometimes a little overwhelming but through the last couple of months I have learned some awesome things (other than who the president was in 1981 and what osmosis is), I have learned that we are not alone in this life. Not even if we are single or our husbands leave us to hunt or what not. We are not alone, our Savior Jesus Christ is always there for us, he has always been there and he will forever be there. He LOVES us. I have learned that often times in our lives we have to struggle and work ourselves hard before we receive answers to our prayers, but guess what? They will come. Faith is a huge part of my life now, before this time it was still a part of my life but now the part it plays is much greater than before. To all who read this blog I want you to know that I know our Savior lives and that he loves me and he loves YOU! and as I have come to know him I know that he wants us to learn to love him the way he has loved and continues to love us. I challenge everyone (even myself) to strive to do this, love the Savior as he loves you.

Here are a few pictures Jim and I took back in the first of September. I loved the sunset that night and I think we did a good job of capturing it. :)

Projects + Jims Birthday.

2011-09-03T20:15:00.000-06:00

In August, between ending summer school and beginning the regular school year I was able to do a few DIY projects. First I made a wreath with yarn, I found the idea on Pinterest (which is my new favorite thing, Thanks Erin!)

I also spray painted a work bench that was in our garage and am now using it in my kitchen. I love it so very much and I now have a new love for spray paint as well.

I love, love, love the blue color. Sorry the picture is so dark.

I also tried to make a Hula Hoop rug, I found the idea on the Disney family fun site. I was so excited to make it and then when I had finally finished and took it off of the hula hoop.... it turned into a floppy basket. :( I wove it WAY too tight in the center and so it made the sides turn up. I am not going to post a picture... it is too embarrassing to show you.

+Jim's Birthday+
On August 18th my amazing husband celebrated his 23rd birthday! Wow, I know that's not really old in the whole scheme of things but I really cannot believe how old we are getting. The reason it probably gets me is because I remember when we were 16 just starting to date. I remember day dreaming about him and like many young teen-age girls wondering if he could be *THE ONE* and guess what?? HE WAS!! ohhh cute, right? ;) I absolutely LOVE Jim. He is such an awesome husband and he truly is my very best friend in the world.
This year for his birthday, he had to work... blahh BUT he did get some pretty awesome presents. Although, I don't take much credit for them because he picked them out. I am really terrible at keeping secrets and surprises from him. He ALWAYS guesses right.

See here, this smile is right after he guessed what his present was and... he was right. It was clay pigeons and shot gun shells. The really exciting gift for his birthday this year was a new 42 in. Samsung TV. Yes, he is spoiled. Unfortunately I don't have a picture but I am sure most of you know what a TV looks like. ;)

Kodachrome and surrounding areas... Pictures for Geology 1050

2011-07-22T16:37:00.000-06:00

These are a few pictures from Kodachrome that I am putting up for my geology class.
The first pictures are from the national geographic magazine that was printed in 1949. It goes through their visit and talks about the history of the naming of Kodachrome. Originally Kodachrome was known as Chimney Rock State Reserve but then national geographic wanted to name it after the new color film from Kodak. It was quite the ordeal and the name was switched two or three times before it stuck at Kodachrome Basin State Park

These next 5 pictures are of the cottonwood canyon trail

All the next pictures are of Kodachrome State Park.

chimney rock ^

kodachrome ^ v

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. :)

June

2011-07-08T20:40:00.001-06:00

June is gone.... where did it go?? I feel like yesterday we were heading off to Disneyland! I have been slacking so much this month so this post is going to be about the great fun that we had June. Where to start....

At the first of the month we were just finishing planting our garden and now we have corn that is almost 2 feet high, peas that are outrageously yummy, a fuzzy watermelon plant and tomato plants (vines only at this point).

We have been working hard this summer, Jim at his IT job switching out computers and me at the library. Although, I think I have been doing the opposite... hardly working that is. The library was only able to give me 10 hours a week this summer so I have only been working 2 hours a day. I have kept myself busy though. I am taking a geology class and an assessment class. the latter is quite boring and basically a repeat of other classes I have taken. I guess that could be the up side of it though, it doesn't take much to get good grades because I know most of the information already. The geology is a different story. I have learned SO much in that class. I love being in an area where I can actually see many of the things that I am studying about. Jim is also taking classes this summer. Neither of us needed to take classes but we thought, why not? it will just lighten the load for us this coming year. Especially for Jim. He will be graduating this coming may and really didn't want to be taking more than 18 credits a semester. I don't blame him one bit.

Lets see... the second week of June.

I almost forgot the best thing that happened this week! How could I forget this! It was my very first cattle drive and I was pretty much a pro... haha... okay so maybe not. The horse that I rode first wouldn't follow any of my commands and then, after I switched Jim horses, that horse just wanted to eat every single piece of grass we passed by. Oh boy, it was quite the experience! BUT I got some pretty good pictures on this fun outing. I sure do love the Shakespears. They have given me some great new experiences that you can't get anywhere else. :)

My handsome husband.

Jim and Zoe. I love this picture!

What a cute couple... oh, that's us! :)

Ryan and Erin's cute family. We sure do love them!

I got some really great pictures of Emmett riding, but this one was one of my very favorites! This boy has a way with those horses too, I need to take some lessons from him or something. He could jump right on and the horse would follow his commands and everything; I was so jealous! :)

During the middle of the month I took a week off to spend some time with my family in Cannonville. I had such a great time with them. Mom helped me make a very CUTE skirt, (thanks for your help mommy!) we ate pie from the Pines and yummy pizza from the Pizza Place, we fed the chickens, went on walks with boomer (Shan's dog), fished at Barker Reservoir, took jeep rides, watched Say yes to the dress, sang songs with all the wrong lyrics, chased sniffles (Shan's bunny), visited Kodachrome State Park, cleaned Howard's (our next door neighbor) Car, and so many other things.
Here are a few pictures from that week...

Kodachrome State Park

More Kodachrome

Wild Cat

Me and my cute sis.

Mom and Chels at Kodachrome

My cute new skirt! Thank heavens for my wonderful mother, she took the time to help me put this skirt together and after some long hours and me sewing the front to the back we finally finished!

The last weekend of June was the BEST of the best, it was the Nielson Reunion in Tropic. Jim and I had so much fun getting to know more family. We had a blast hiking in some narrows on Cottonwood road, competing for the medals in our family Olympics, eating yummy food, dancing the Virginia Reel (and other great dances), doing the hokey pokey, and chatting with everyone.

So, I have to take a moment to bask in my own lime-light... during our Olympics I got 2nd place in the three point shoot! Yeah me! ;) I don't think Margaret knew I had that in me. Oh and I guess I should also tell you that Jim got second in horse-shoes, but he is amazing at everything so... that's all I have to say about that.

Zoe climbing high. She was saying "mom! take my picture. MOM!! take my picture" but above the noise of everyone taking and trying to get in place for more pictures she could not be heard. So I stepped in and took her picture. :) I love this little monkey who shares a birthday with me...

.... OH YA, I had a birthday this month. So quickly to interrupt the blurb on the reunion. Holy cow, time flies by so fast. I don't know what happened to the last year, where did it go? So, since I am a grown up (blah...) I even had to work on my birthday. I turned 22 on June 16th. It was also the opening of the Utah Summer Games so yes I got fireworks... on my birthday. pretty sweet. My mom, Chelsea and Shan came over and cooked us a steak dinner along with German chocolate cake (my fav). It was wonderful!

So back to the reunion...

Dancing the Virginia Reel.

Gettin' ready for the Hokey Pokey! Oh yeah!

Tyce wanted to be in our Family picture, it makes the picture so much cuter when there is a little one in it. Don't you think? ;)

WOW this was LONG... Maybe this month I will be better at blogging so it won't be so long next time.

Until then, enjoy life to its fullest, don't miss out on the small things and enjoy the journey.

Wordle

2011-06-16T11:23:00.000-06:00

Found an awesome site called wordle... you need to check it out!

Disneyland!

2011-05-22T17:12:00.000-06:00

We had such an amazing week in California this past week!
On monday we traveled to Anaheim; we arrived around 2:00 (their time) and got our room all settled and headed to Newport Beach. It was windy and quite cold but it was still great to see the ocean. After we had explored the beach, picked up a few seashells and ate an amazing italian dinner we headed back to our room. We walked up to Disneyland to see how long it would take us to get there and I am pretty sure Jim just wanted to go in right then. He was way excited. :)

The next day, Tuesday, we woke up to wind and rain... we looked at the weather and found that it was going to be rainy that day and the next. So we decided to go to Knott's Berry Farm that day and Disneyland the next two days.

We absolutely loved Knott's Berry Farm!! The rides were incredible and the lines were super short, the longest wait we had for a ride was probably 15 minutes. Most of the other rides we just walked right on to. The rain scared all the other tourists away but we were stuck with high school kids (they must have been on an end of the year trip or something like that). Jim loved, I mean really loved one roller-coaster in particular it is called the Xcellerator. It goes from 0 to 82 mph in 2.3 seconds! That evening after we were done with all of our roller-coaster riding we had an amazing dinner at Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant. Jim had BBQ ribs that basically fell off the bones on their own and I had the famous fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy that was to die for! Jim tried rhubarb and it was disgusting and then on top of it all we had apple pie!

Wednesday we spent in Disneyland and California Adventure. We were so happy because it didn't rain on us, although it was windy and quite chilly. The first ride we went on was Its a Small World... my favorite ride... NOT! we were told that we had to go on that ride even though I don't like it. We have been waking up every morning since then singing that song... its like the plague! hehe. Okay maybe not that bad. ;) We had a very very LONG day, we waited in lines for much longer than the day before at Knott's Berry but it was all worth it. We loved the Matterhorn and Space Mountain. Although those were the longest waits we had for rides that day. Of course my favorite was Pirates of the Caribbean... it would have been splash mountain but it is closed until June 3rd. We went over to California adventure this day as well and rode California Screamin' which is such a great ride. Jim was not that impressed because it was 'so much slower than the Xcellerator'... you would think he was a pro right? lol. That night we ate at a Mexican Restaurant inside California Adventure and we watched a little of the World of Color water and light show. It was amazing to watch so we decided that the next day we would get fast-passes so we could have a good view.

Thursday we started out in California Adventure and first thing was first we got fast-passes for the World of Color. Those passes went out really quickly, we got to the park about 15 minutes after it opened and there was a huge line waiting to get the fast passes. After that we immediately got on to a water ride that was so dang fun! We were in a tube with about 6 other people and the best part of the ride was hearing these two cute girls probably about 6 or 7 and possibly twins squeal and scream every time they got a drop of water on them. :) It was so funny! Then after a while we ventured back over to Disneyland to hit a few rides that had been closed the day before, Indiana Jones and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The lines were SO SO LONG but they were worth the wait, those are two of my favorite rides and I was so excited to take Jim on them.

Then we wandered around Disneyland and at one point we stopped on some benches over by toon town and Jim fell asleep (imagine that) and I got a pretty good recording of his head bobbing. We had people passing us just snickering and telling their friends to watch him because it was so dang funny. After he woke up from his jammin' nap we rode around the park on the train and came back to Pirates to ride it just one more time. Then we left Disneyland for the last time and headed over to California Adventure to eat and get ready for the World of Color show. The World of Color show is so amazing as it started to play I started to cry (good tears of course).

Friday we woke up, packed, and headed towards the LA temple. I was so ticked because we forgot to bring our temple bags and my recommend is in my bag so we weren't able to go in but we got a few good pictures so that will have to suffice for now. Then we ate a quick lunch at McDonalds punched in our address to Jim's cool phone GPS navigation system (whom we call Ann... just ask Chelsea) and headed on our 8 hour trip home. Jim was so great to drive the majority of the way there and back which I am so thankful for... I can't do that city driving. :) So I drove for a little way over the desert and he took the rest. When we got to Las Vegas we stopped at my Aunt Ann's new house, which is pretty awesome with a pool in the back yard and everything, and she took us eat. We were able to go with her, my Aunt Pat, Ginger (who is my Aunt Ann's Daughter) and her family. We had a wonderful time talking and laughing with them. Then we continued on our trek home and arrived in Cedar at 1:00 on Saturday morning.

This vacation was so awesome for us... I had such a great time showing Jim all the awesome things in Disneyland and I loved seeing the few new things they have added here and there. As aways we were sad to come back to reality but we made memories that will never be forgotten.

If you want to see more pictures you can go to Jim's website at www.jmshake.com

Outstanding Information Systems student of the year award!

2011-04-18T17:10:00.000-06:00

Jim is amazing and received the outstanding IS student of the year award! The college of CIET (college of computing, integrated engineering, and technology) which includes engineering, IS, CS (computer systems), and math did an awards night last Thursday and we were able to attend. They fed us a grilled chicken dinner that was wonderful and some grawesome (as Ian would say) strawberry shortcake! After we had finished eating they presented the awards to the students and professors they had selected for the year. The professor that presented Jim's award is one of his very favorite teachers and apparently the teacher thinks just as much about Jim. He announced Jim's award and then proceeded to say how Jim was a great student and that he was a real asset to the whole University because of his working for the IT department. I am very proud of Jim and his achievement!

Here are a few pictures from that night.

Receiving his award.

Close up... there always has to be someones head in the way right?

Close up of his fancy award.

Photoshop experiment

2011-04-10T15:19:00.000-06:00

I was looking at our rings yesterday and decided to take a few pictures, some turned out not so great. I really liked this one so I experimented on it with photoshop today and this is what I came up with... not too shabby for someone who doesn't know much about photoshop.

original picture

Photoshop edited picture

Polar Bear Pride

2011-04-08T15:39:00.000-06:00

I now officially a Polar Bear....

that is a North Elementary Polar Bear.

I Interviewed for the Take home library specialist on Monday and I got a call on Wednesday to inform me that I got the job! I have been training for the last two days and I am so excited to be working in a job that actually has something to do with my (eventual) career.
Basically my job is to switch out the kids books after they have read them at home and I also will be doing what they call homework club. This is done during their lunch recess. If the students didn't do their homework at home then they come to homework club to finish it. Here my job is to make sure they get their homework done, not a hard job but I am going to have to brush up on some of my times tables and division skills because in the last two days I have had to help kids quite a bit with that content. ugg... not a huge fan math.

And just because I am now a polar bear doesn't at all mean that I am enjoying all of this snow.. ;-)

Spring Break

2011-03-22T22:33:00.000-06:00

Spring break was too short and was far less 'springy' than I would have like it to be. We spent the first of the week in good 'ol Bryce Valley. Visiting family, playing the Wii, looking for lost cows, sleeping in all morning long, watching movies and all sorts of lazy things like that.
On Monday we spent the day with Franz 'chasing cows' as Jim would say but that puts a funny image in my head so I am going to say looking for lost (or misplaced...runaway... I don't know exactly what to call them other than they were not where they were suppose to be) cows. We were looking for 4 of Franz's and we found some of Carl's (Franz's brother) and one dead cow. Very exciting. No really, it was because Jim and I spent most of the time singing the wrong lyrics to most all of the songs we know.

Here are a few pictures from our grand adventure on our hunt for dads missing cows.

I am pretty sure there are some cows out there.... somewhere.... I think

As you can see we were had a great time on our little adventure.

I really liked the look of the rocks in the creek-bed, they were all put together in these artsy little clumps with all sorts of colors and shapes surrounded by very smooth looking mud. (PS the mud was very smooth, I made Jim stop the 4-wheeler one time just so I could feel it. smile.) Its great the small things that catch my eye that make me realize that our father in heaven is a real artist. Even rocks in mud look beautiful!

Another very funny part of our weekend was Shan's Dog Boomer. She loves to chase this laser and it was cracking me up. The video is pretty dark but a couple times you can really see here go after it. Its great!

The start of Spring Break

2011-03-13T17:10:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was such an amazing day. It was a wonderful way to start out our week long Spring Break! We slept in, well Jim did while I watched a BBC film called Daniel Daronda (I am suck a sucker for BBC films). When Jim finally woke up we went on a run (which was mostly walking because I am so out of shape), we cleaned the house, went out to the shooting range, and just relaxed and enjoyed the amazing weather.

Here are a few pictures from our outing to the shooting range.

I am sure that I will have some more pictures and fun times to share when spring break is over.

Valentines Day

2011-02-15T16:23:00.000-07:00

For Valentines day this year Jim and I went to Love Letters a play done by the Guild of the Utah Shakespeare Festival. It was such a fun little play, there was not a ton of physical acting though. The two people in the play were a husband and wife (in real life, but not in the play) and they both sat a desk on opposite sides of the stage and read the letters that they 'wrote' to one another. here is a basic synopsis from the program...
"Throughout this tribute to lasting friendship, Andy and Melissa revisit their journey from childhood playmates, to teenage sweethearts, to secret lovers. Despite their deep feelings for one another, fate is against them. Love Letters is a story about the endurance of a true romantic connection in spit of life's trials and tribulations, even if it is only expressed through letters.

I really enjoyed it Jim was great to sit through it with me. (even though I think he truly did enjoy it too)

opps, I always cut off the top of his head when I am taking pictures. :)

Oh and for those of you who are interested in seeing some plays this spring they are doing a Shakespeare play every Thursday starting on February 24th and going till March 31. You can call the box office or if you live in cedar just go to the box office the day of the play and they will more than likely have tickets.

February 24 - Richard III

March 3 - A Midsummer Night's Dream.

March 10 - Romeo and Juliet

March 17 - Hamlet

March 24 - Macbeth

March 31 - King Lear

Christmas and Anniversary

2011-01-22T19:50:00.001-07:00

This year was our turn to spend Christmas with the Shakespear's. We had such a great time; we played dominoes, watched a John Wayne movie on Christmas eve, opened presents Christmas eve... all of these things were new to me and I enjoyed them so much. I do admit at first I was a little bummed that I was not going to be able to be with my family on Christmas eve, but I had such a wonderful time. I am so thankful for Jim, Margaret and Franz and for the memories that we made (and are continuing to make) together. We always have such a great time when we are with them.

Here are a few pictures from opening presents on Christmas eve.

This is our parrot... Margaret and Franz gave him to us.

Playing Dominoes

Jim got a NAS server for Christmas. He was the one that ordered it and all that jazz because I would have had no clue if he had put me in charge of buying it. So it came on the 8th of December and I let him open it on the 15th because he needed something to fiddle with over the Christmas break. I gave into his begging is pretty much what happened.

December 11 was our 1 year anniversary!! It is hard to believe that we have been married for a whole year! It blows my mind! We started out the day with Jim making heart shaped french toast for me and then we spent the rest of the day in St. George at the temple and the Texas Roadhouse for dinner! We had an excellent day. I am so thankful for Jim and everything he does for me, he is amazing!!

Christmas Tree Hunting

2010-12-04T15:56:00.001-07:00

We had such a great time this morning with Ryan, Erin and their awesome family hunting for the perfect Christmas tree. I love this time of year and the great traditions that happen, my family has always gone Christmas tree hunting and we have had some pretty great memories come out of that very simple tradition. I remember very clearly on one of our Christmas tree hunts about 4 years ago, we were past Henrieville but not quite to the blues on one of the big bends. The kids and mom decided that we really liked one tree BUT dad liked another tree. So just as we were deciding what tree to chop down dad said hurry every one get down, there is a car coming and we are not suppose to cut a tree down this close to the road. Everyone dived on the ground thinking that we might get caught and dad (laughing at us for believing him) just happened to duck down right where 'his' favorite tree was, so while he was close to the ground he just chopped it right down. We were all so ticked but laughing quite hard. That is just my dad to a T; you just can't help but to love him. Thanks mom and dad for always taking us out to find a real Christmas tree!
Here are some of our pictures from our Christmas tree hunt this year.

Searching for the perfect tree.

Emmet's huge snowballs!

Snow ball fight.

Jim's floating snowball! ooOOooo!

Cutting down our tree.

You can see who did all the work... me of course I was taking all the pictures! That is hard work you know. ;)

Molly and Erin's nose scrunching. hehe.

I love family and I am so thankful that Ryan and Erin live close enough that we can do so many fun activities with them!

Family Fun

2010-11-24T12:09:00.000-07:00

We have had such a great time with family this November and since tomorrow is Turkey Day we will be having even more family fun. I want to share some of our pictures from this month.
We were able to have Ian come to our house one weekend this month and boy did we have fun! We even built a fort on the bed he slept in!

The next weekend we went up for Ian's Baptism. It was such a neat experience!

We stayed with John, Alysha and Mckaylee, we had a blast with them. We even went to the nicklecade. Jim and I loved it so so much!

Thirty point buck.

2010-10-25T16:38:00.000-06:00

Okay so it wasn't a thirty point, but good enough for us!

Any one who knows the Shakespear's knows that they are die hard deer hunters and me... I come from a family where our deer hunting proceeds from the window of the F350 (which probably scares all the deer away from us). So this was my first 'shot' at Shakespear style hunting, I didn't have a tag but I went along any way. And I would tell you details but I am pretty sure that is forbidden...can't give away the location of the Shakespear's holy hunting ground to any outsiders! hehe.

Saturday was the first day of the hunt and Jim, Mom, David and I headed out to the boonies at 5:30 in the morning! Not such a great start for me because I am so lousy at getting up early and being perky and happy about it. I did get a little sleep on the way but not much because the roads were so terrible due to the immense amount of rain that southern Utah is getting these days. We arrived at our destination to find that they boys that were there already were... still asleep :) so we awoke them with a nice loud horn honk because there was no way we were getting out in that cold fall air. Once they woke up we had a nice pancake, hot chocolate,sausage and egg breakfast (we had a slight mis-communication about who was to bring the bacon... so Jim and I left ours home...oppps). Then we headed out on the hunt. I have to say it was quite exciting to get on a trail and start tracking. For the most part we stayed warm and it only sprinkled on us, so I was very happy about that! I tagged along with Jim since I didn't have a radio of my own and I'm not particularly fond of being by myself in the wild outdoors or getting lost. I am sure that I was too loud and too chatty and too this and too that, but Jim was very nice and only had to reminded me a few times to be quiet.

As they day went on we finally met up with Mom and she decided that she was done hunting for the day. I decided Jim would probably have more success with out me scaring all the deer away so I was right there with her; we headed back to our nice running water and heated house. On our way we could hear on the radio that they boys were getting pretty close to catching their prey so we stopped and listened as Jim revealed that he had shot his first buck in three years. There was some extreme excitement as we heard Jim, Ryan, Franz and David exchange coordinates and details about the kill. Of course when they all got to Jim... they stopped using their radios, so we were out of the loop and couldn't hear the rest of the exciting story that proceeded as we chugged back to tropic.

We got back to tropic and later that evening I got a call from Jim, he told me that he had shot a 4 point and that they couldn't get it out of the gully it was in, so they were going to have to wait till morning to get it out and they would have to do that piece by piece. Now I was feeling very thankful that Mom had decided to come home when she did. So I decided to stay at my families house on Saturday night and spend Sunday with them.

Jim didn't call me till 5 o'clock on Sunday... I was starting to get worried that it was raining there and they couldn't get out ( like during the muzzle loader hunt). They had gotten home and 3 o'clock and taken care of his deer and then called me. I was thankful again that I didn't have to be involved in that part of the deer hunting.

It was a great weekend and I sure do enjoy being in the wild outdoors with a wonderful family. I am truly blessed to be apart of the Shakespear Clan.

Continue in Patience

2010-10-10T17:04:00.000-06:00

I love President Uchtdorf and his great insight about having patience. Its something I know that I need to work on cause I would for sure give in and eat the marshmallow before 15 minutes were up. :) I hope you all enjoy this clip as much as I did.

Puppets

2010-10-10T16:41:00.000-06:00

I have decided that I have definitely chosen the right career. Not only do I love to work/Volunteer at North Elementary with English as a Second Language students but I also get to make fun things like these for my classes!

These are mine and Jim's newest additions to our family. :)

This one didn't work quite like I wanted it too. Her head wouldn't stay up so I had to hold it.

This is my favorite one! He is a marionette and he is so great!

Adventures

2010-09-26T22:21:00.000-06:00

"Adventure is out there!" ~ from the greatest movie of all time UP ~
And boy have we found it in the last month Jim and I have seen hole-in-the-rock, peek-a-boo and spooky gulch and some amazing hot air balloons!

My mother and father in law have both read the book the Undaunted and they were kind enough to let me borrow their book and read it. I have to tell you, it was an amazing book, besides the fact that I love Gerald Lund's writing, I was truly inspired by the feat that these pioneers conquered.

Our next adventure was to peek-a-boo and spooky gulch. These are about a hour out of Escalante.

As well as Devils Rock Garden.

I thought this looked like a turtle!

AND last but not least our Balloon festival experience.

As you can see we enjoy the extraordinary things in life and are always up for an adventure! :)

I can SEW!!

2010-08-29T18:45:00.000-06:00

I should correct my title... I can *kind of* SEW! I have been wanting a white skirt for some time now and I decided that since I can never find what I want I will just make it. So Erin helped me (thank heavens for that wonderful women) she taught me how to put it all together while Jim, Ryan and the kids watched Indiana Jones on Friday night. Then I spent pretty much all of Saturday working on it, then finally finished it this afternoon. I was a little vain and thought I was skinner than I really am, so its a little tight around my wonderful hips that I inherited from my mommy.Other than that I would have to say it turned out pretty dang good for my first time sewing a skirt. :)

I am quite proud of myself, of course its not perfect but I still love it.

Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps

2010-08-06T14:19:00.001-06:00

"What do you get when you blend Alfred Hitchcock with Monty Python? A hilarious mystery spoof that will keep you guessing! Murder, betrayal, and espionage intertwine with sly and hysterical nods to many of Hitchcock’s films, resulting in one of the funniest plays to ever hit Broadway. See if you can figure out whodunit as this cast of four transforms into over 150 farcical characters!" - http://bard.org/plays/39steps.html

On Wednesday Jim, Margaret, Franz and I went and saw this gut busting play put on by the Utah Shakespearean Festival. They did such a wonderful job at it too, with only 4 cast members it was amazing to see what they could do. They are very talented people. For anyone that is thinking about seeing a play before this summer is over, I would highly recommend this one to everyone! I laughed so hard I almost fell off my seat, not to mention the man in front of us had a hilarious laugh! I sure do love spending time with my in-laws and to see them laugh and have such a good time was so fun for me and Jim.