Good Times

It's Friday night and Trevor is on a flight to China. For two weeks. Without me. So instead of moping, I thought I'd blog. (And don't worry, I've got some fun plans for myself...look out, Kristy and Alicia!)

We spent last weekend with Trevor's family because his brother Rialey got home from his mission on Friday. The family's all together again!

Oh, the anticipation...

Still has the missionary glowSiblings

Rialey was greeted by an army of munchkins at the airport-
4 new nieces in the last 2 years!

Had to post this one- the two newest nieces showing the results of two very different diets. :)

Highlights of the trip:

Staying up WAY too late talking
Cassie's first taste of popsicle (BIG hit)
Rialey wearing a fanny pack
Family pictures (with 4 kids under the age of 2...yeah)
The boys going shooting
Holding my own in a game of lightning with the boys
Taja's senior piano recital

Did you know...

• Trevor was valedictorian of his graduating class...of 24 people.
• Emily was 5'9" in 9th grade and Trevor was 5'8" at the beginning of his senior year. Good thing we didn't know each other back then.
• In the last two months, Emily broke her pinky toe and Trevor sprained both of his ankles.
• Emily played competition soccer until she was 15.
• Trevor played basketball in high school and still loves to play.
• All of Trevor's brother's were Homecoming King. Trevor was the Quiz Bowl Captain.
• Emily took private violin, piano, and voice lessons growing up, and was the Music Sterling Scholar at her high school. (It's a Utah thing.)
• Both Trevor and Emily graduated Magna Cum Laude from BYU.
• Emily threw up in Susan Easton Black's Church history class at BYU. Sister Black's response was, "Whoa! Projectile!"
• While opening a package of ground beef from Trevor's parents, Emily asked, "Did your dad hunt this?"
• Trevor has glasses, allergies to most farm animals and many plants, and had braces growing up- twice. Emily has perfect eyesight, no allergies, and never had braces. I guess someone got all the good genes.
• Trevor was an officer in his student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers at BYU.
• Trevor served an LDS mission in Recife, Brazil.
• Emily loves musicals. Her top favorites are Wicked, Ragtime, and Aida.
• Emily sang in Women's Chorus and Concert Choir at BYU.
• After hanging out at Emily's apartment one night, months before we started dating, Trevor commented to his roommate, "How is someone like Emily not married?"

Lil' Cass

Here are some tidbits about the wee one that brings so much excitement to our lives:

Name: CassidyOccupation: ExplorerTalents: Pulling all the DVDs and books off the shelf, composing original music on the piano, recognizing words my parents say (ear, pictures, outside, Daddy, etc.), putting foreign objects in my mouth before anyone can stop me, standing up all by myself, taking a few steps to my parents' arms, saying "Dada" (and knowing what it means!), waving bye-bye, and turning the pages in my books.
Favorites:

• Book: Animal Sounds (when Daddy reads it)
• Place: Outside. No matter the weather.
• Food: Banana
• Person: Mommy
• Friend: Carson
• Toy: Dad's watch
• Activity: Dancing to groovy tunes

P.S. I found this nifty wind-up toy at Grandma's.

Hey! What's up?

I spent last Thursday in my old bedroom at my parents house cleaning out the closet. I found some gems (pictures, stuffed animals, books I wrote in 3rd grade, etc.) that I'm pretty glad I kept. Most notably, I found a shoe box stuffed full of notes written to me in junior high school. I just finished reading them and discovered a lot in the process:

"Hey! What's up?" is the right way to greet people.

I'm still friends with some of those people! We're all a lot more mature now, but some of the good qualities that were obvious in those notes are still obvious today. Andrea and Camille, most of the notes were from you. Okay, most of the notes were from Steve.... My favorite notes were from Kristy (must have been written sophomore year of high school, since we didn't attend the same junior high). She was so mature and level-headed.

We liked a different boy every other week, and usually liked more than one at a time. How confusing. Who, by the way, is "Adam?" Can't remember him for the life of me.

None of us were quite sure what we wanted. It was exciting to have the boy you liked like you back...but was it wrong to "go out?" And holding hands seemed like a good thing to do if you were "going out," except when you felt embarrassed because a teacher saw you or ashamed because you weren't sure what you were doing was right. From what I can tell in the notes, we all waffled back and forth a lot.

Note folding is an art.

I want my children to understand what truly brings us happiness: living righteously and selflessly.

Even after teaching middle school for two years, I don't know if texting has replaced note-writing. My students left their backpacks on the side of the room during choir, so there was no opportunity for writing notes. Plenty of opportunity for texting, though...

I wish I had kept a better journal back then. I want to remember what my thoughts and feelings were. Ten years from now, I'll probably feel the same way, so I need to be a more consistent journal writer. Any advice from you journal-keeping experts? (Kristy?)

And the winner is...

posted on the sidebar. Look right!

Crafts

Oh boy. I'm not incredibly crafty, but when I saw this on Leslee's blog, I really wanted to try it. I saw something cute and crafty that I'm going to try to make for each person who's brave enough to get involved.

Making handcrafted items is a dying art, but they are so fun to make and get! So here's a little game to encourage the handcrafting to live and thrive! The first {5} people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a super-duper handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well- before you leave your comment here, write up (or copy & paste as I did!) a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going. Then come back, let me know you're going to play, and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift! Remember that only the first FIVE comments will receive a gift from me, so be quick!
This offer does have some restrictions and limitations: 1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make! 2. It will be done this year (hopefully sooner than later.) 3. You will have no clue what it is going to be.

splish splash

Yes, this is a typical bath for Cassie. And yes, my right side is usually soaked by the end.

P.S. We've had some good laughs with the caption contest (see previous post). We're choosing a winner on Friday (March 13).