Mike and Katie

Family Photos

2012-01-29T14:35:00.000-08:00

I posted these photos a few days ago on facebook, but I know not all my family is on facebook. These were taken by Laura Ware, Mike's sister. She is such a great photographer. You can't tell because I am wearing a short sleeve shirt, but it was about 20 degrees outside. This first photo, you can see some snow on the bench and bushes. Needless to say, we were only outside for 20 minutes.

Its called a Haboob

2012-01-22T16:14:00.000-08:00

First, this is Mike speaking.

So, if you're not aware, Lubbock is sort of out in the middle of nowhere. Like hours away from any sort of life, including plants, animals (excluding armadillos), etc. This has some pluses and minuses, I guess. Some pluses, for example, are that 6 hour car trips really don't seem like that big of a deal anymore. 2 hours away seems so close. One of the many problems is that there is not really any trees or vegetation for hours, which makes it so nothing holds all the dirt together when the wind comes. This causes huge dust storms to hit Lubbock, and when it happens the dust gets into EVERYTHING and the sky turns orange. We woke up to one this morning. From just walking to our car after church I was tasting sand for a long time.

So we had a really big dust storm back in October, and I was talking to some fellow students who were from Lubbock the day afterward. When I spoke about how crazy the dust storm was the day before, they kind of gave me a look, scoffed and criticized my word choice. "Its called a Haboob," they corrected, "not a dust storm." I seriously thought they were making it up, so I looked it up in Wikipedia, and sure enough, it is called a Haboob. They are a certain kind of dust storm that only happen in the deserts of Africa...and west Texas. I feel I can safely post these pictures now because I know that my friends who are heading to medical school this year won't be considering Texas Tech, so it won't do anything to dissuade them from coming.

Christmas Break

2012-01-16T17:59:00.001-08:00

Here are some photos from Our trip to Dallas. I didn't have our camera for our trip to Utah, so this will represent all of our Christmas break.

McKay was so thrilled to see the pond with the gold fish because he was determined to catch one. Though there were close calls, no one fell into the pond, so I call it a pretty successful activity.

Mike was such a great uncle to the boys. He loved being surrounded by three boys and all their craziness. I think he gets nervous that we are only going to have girls (as prophesied by his brother Tommy).
It was so nice to get outside and see "nature". We didn't care if it was the middle of winter and the plants were not in bloom, seeing actually plants was nice for a change.

Kelli let me tag along to a birthday party were we learned how to paint "Midnight in Paris". It was a lot of fun, a great girl's night out.

The final product. I may just have to switch my career to becoming an artist.

We were able to go to the Armed Forces Bowl Game and watch BYU play Tulsa. Definitely a highlight of the trip.
We sat in the front row. It was awesome. I was able to sit done, put my feet on the railing, and still see the game. I don't know if I could ever go back to student section seating.

We were so excited to watch BYU pull of that win. I was such a great BYU fan that I made it onto the big screen two times. Check that off my life's dreams list.

While at the bowl game, we met up with Mike's aunt and uncle and cousins. We had breakfast with them before the game, and their tickets were actually right behind ours. It was nice to see them again.

Steven and Shara were able to come to New Years. It was really fun to catch up with them and hear about all their adventures from the last 8 months.

My mom told me after seeing this photo that I don't look pregnant, just fat. Thanks mom for always being honest. (To be her credit, I do agree with her and saying that this angle is awkward).

Josh and Kelli on New Years Eve. We had a great time hearing Josh's commentary on Free Willie 3, eating tasty buffalo wings, and participating in the one-time annual Price family first kiss experience. Thanks Josh for coordinating that.

We found several great photos taken by our nephew McKay. This one was our favorite, though we did like the one of Matthew crying because McKay had the camera and not him.

Baby Update

2011-12-18T15:32:00.000-08:00

Here is a photo, mainly of my mom, to update on how the baby is growing. Just these last few weeks, I have gotten big fast.

Week 26

Week 27

Christmas Time

2011-12-18T14:40:00.001-08:00

I can't believe that Christmas will be here in a week. This month has gone by so fast. It started out with our Stake's Nativity. They had over 500 nativity scenes set up so beautifully around the church with different choirs singing. Mike was in the Stake choir and which sounded beautiful.

We also have enjoyed the advent day calendar my mom sent us, the mint truffle Hershey kisses from Dusty and Janecce's candy dishes, searching out for the best egg nog, decorated the house, seeing the lights at Ransom Canyon, and putting together our ward's Christmas party. It has been such a great month, but now it is even better with Mike being done with his finals (we didn't really see each other all week).

Here is a picture of our apartment. I love having a fireplace, especially this time of the year. Mike's parents wooden rocking chair fits right in with the Christmas atmosphere.

My Life as a Substitute

2011-12-13T15:12:00.000-08:00

I would first like to say that I dedicate this blog to my friend Nicole Barber, who has felt these same exact feelings during her student teaching as I did today.

My life as a substitute has taken me to all sides of the education spectrum. Here is a few of the assignments that I have had: kindergarten, fourth grade, second grade, music teacher, art teacher, boys PE coach, jr high social studies and math, high school special ed, auto shop, AP history, senior English, alternative school, social behavior adjustment classroom, reading specialist, and cafeteria supervisor. Today was the cherry on top.

I knew that I might not get a lot of jobs this week, being the last week before Christmas. What teacher can afford to miss their final or class Christmas party? So when I saw a job open last night, I took it. I didn't recognize the school: Project Intercept. I looked it up on the website and it talked about a place where they discipline with dignity. I figured it was an alternative school on the wrong side...I mean east side of town. I had a great experience with the alternative school in Frenship district, mainly because they have drill sergeants roaming the halls. I told myself that if nothing popped up in the morning, I would go.

The first red flag that this might not be the best experience should have been the metal detector that I walked through as I entered the school. It turned out that Project Intercept was the school for the Juvenile Delinquents. I'm not talking about the place they go before they get thrown in jail or a last-chance sort of place. These kids were real law-breaking criminals, many having been in and out of jail for a while for drugs, guns, or thief. The class size may have been small in numbers, but oh, I have never had such a disrespectful group of students. It felt like a movie with nonstop talking, projectile of objects, middle fingers and curse words, and jiggling of inappropriate body parts. I stayed level-headed for most of the day, being patient but firm with the students. . .well I did snap once. I was sick and tired of the up and down and blaming of others that after I told a student for the fifth time to sit on his bum and his reply that he wasn't comfortable in his desk, I gave it to him. "Uncomfortable, you want to know about uncomfortable. I have a human being growing in my uterus, which dislodges all my intestines into improper places. My stomach is up in my chest and my hips are expanding, all the while I am on my feet all day to teach you math. Don't talk to me about being uncomfortable." I might have exaggerated my situation a bit (I've had a easy pregnancy), but the point is still the same. Sadly, that was not the worst of the day and at one point, I almost cried in front of a bunch of 8th grade boys. Instead, I pulled up my big-girl panties and asked the muscular man outside to give a pep talk on respect to the whole class. Needless to say, I didn't leave my phone number on the sub notes.

So the lesson that I learn today was that I have a new priority as a parent: teaching my children to always respect adults, especially substitutes.

Thanksgiving

2011-12-04T13:07:00.000-08:00

This Thanksgiving, we stayed in Lubbock and had dinner with a few couples from the ward. Mike was able to go golfing in the morning while I got our part of the dinner together. One couple was from Korea and this was their first Thanksgiving with an American family. I don't think that they quite understood the concept of Thanksgiving. We asked her to bring a pie, and she was confused to see that we had also made pies. There was a several times throughout the evening that the husband asked us if we just keep eating for the rest of the day. Yes, yes we do.

Allison and I showing off our wondering Martha Stewart dinner.

I took a picture of all the goodness that I made. Here is the cranberry, sausage and apples stuffing.

Deviled Eggs: a must for left overs.

Cheese Celery: I am pretty sure that I am the only one that truly enjoyed these.

Turkey, and oh was there plenty.

Mashed Potatoes: made with a 1/2 cup of butter and a pint of cream-not the most figure friendly, but man were they delicious.

Apple Pie: not too bad for being a baked good (I wish I had my friend Elizabeth's baking instinct, but instead I struggle).

I Finished a Project!!!

2011-11-07T12:04:00.000-08:00

As my family knows, I have not been known to finish my projects. I love thinking up ideas and planning new projects, but then I get distracted or lose interest. Not this time. It all started with Rachel and Jared giving us this table. It had a light oak finish on top and white painted legs. We spent all of Spring Break last March refinishing the table. I have to give Mike a lot of credit because he put in a lot of work to finish it. I didn't like the chairs that came with the table, and they were too big to move. I found a picture in Better Homes and Garden that suggested colored mismatched chairs and a runner. It took a while to get the chairs done, but I did them all by myself. To finish it off, we used Annie's idea about the empty frames. Overall, I think it turned out great. Next on the project list is getting my fireplace mantle in order.

Arggh, Halloween

2011-10-31T18:30:00.000-07:00

This year, we had only a few hours to put together our Halloween costumes and car for our ward trunk or treat. So three minutes before going to bed, we decided to be pirates. I guess we had such a great time last year at our Murder Mystery Dinner, that we wanted to do it again.

This is the med student group that we love hanging out with. It just ended up that our cars were next to each other.

Jayden and Emma

Steve and Brooke

Brian and Ariel

It's a Girl!

2011-10-31T18:26:00.000-07:00

This is what we handed my mom when she got off the plane to tell her we were having a girl.

Field Trip to the ER

2011-10-18T13:22:00.000-07:00

Well, most of you know that Mike and I had quite an eventful weekend. It started on Friday night when I thought I had ate something bad for dinner. It left me with a stomach ache and a dreadful relationship with the bathroom. I tried to go to work the next day, but I only lasted two hours. After a long nap, I complained to Mike about some pain I was having. I normally have aches and pains because of pregnancy, but this one was different. When I pointed to where it was, Mike immediately told me it had to be the appendix and that they had just learned about it in class. Yeah right Mike. I thought he was being dramatic and just fitting my symptoms to the latest disease he has learned in class. We called his dad and sure enough he told us to head to the ER.

The ER was such a long wait. Mike brought his school work with him because he had his big anatomy final on Monday (one reason why I didn't want to go to the ER, I knew he had a lot to study). Since I had the time, I went onto WebMD to look up the effects of appendicitis on pregnancy. Bad idea. It dropped all these fetus death statistics that just made me cry. After 2 hours, we finally got to see the doctor. The problem was that in most cases, the doctor will run a CAT scan to confirm an appendicitis, but being pregnant, I couldn't do that. They had to bring in the ER doctor, the surgery department, the OB department, the radiology department, and the family medicine team to decide what they were going to do. They tried an ultrasound, but the appendix is too far in there to see.

So, the decision of whether to operate came down to my story. It was so hard because I am trying to be as truthful as possible but when they ask me questions like rank your pain from 1-10, I don't know what to say. It was such a hard decision because the live of our baby depended on it, and Mike and I didn't feel inspire on which decision would be best. We were given a blessing, but nothing was said about the baby, so in my mind, I thought for sure the baby wasn't going to make it.

After a lot of tears and prayers, we decided to go for the surgery. Mike couldn't be in the operating room (though I tried to pull the med student card). When they rolled me into the room, it totally felt like a movie with the huge light overhead, people strapping wires all over my body, and finally ending with the mask that was shoved over my mouth. Just like that, I was out.

The surgery went well, and the baby was fine. The nurses monitored the heart rate throughout the night, meaning I didn't get much sleep. We were able to leave Sunday afternoon, and I have been resting since. Mike and I feel so blessed during this whole experience. We really felt loved by our family and friends, and especially by the Lord. Though it might have felt like he was not there when we needed to make that decision, this experience has really increased our faith that the Lord is watching over us. It was also a humbling experience. Before, all I cared about was finding the perfect girl crafts on pinterest because all I wanted was a girl. Now, I am so blessed that we are still having a baby. I just pray that it stays healthy. Boy or girl, this child is loved.

**Sorry there are no pictures for this post. Mike keep asking me if I wanted him to take pictures at the hospital. That would be embarrassing. I asked to see my pussy appendix, but they said they couldn't. Josh wanted to to take pictures of my scars, but I will save everyone of the nightmares.

Baby Update

2011-09-25T10:32:00.001-07:00

This post is for my mom. I don't want to be "one of those" girls who constantly takes photos of themselves and only talk about pregnancy. However, one of my friends shared with me that she took a picture each week and wrote a little note to her baby about her experiences. Right now, it may seem that I won't ever forget this sweet moments, but three years from now, I hate to have lost them. I know my mom wishes she could be here with me, so I thought I would share a few with her.

Weekly Update: Week 16

I am officially poking out. As much as I try to suck in, I no longer have a flat belly anymore. I bought a tummy sleeve for some of my tighter pants, and I love it. Sometimes I think I can feel creature, but in reality, it is probably just my stomach churning or my pulse beating.I have gain only 1 pound, so I am thoroughly enjoying lots of chocolate milk and trail mix to boast me up. I feel great all the time and am having the time of me life.

Tail Gating

2011-09-25T10:07:00.000-07:00

This Saturday for our date, we adventured out to the Texas Tech tail gating scene. This was a whole new experience for us because BYU has nothing close to this.

Most of the spots were fraternities and sororities hosting parties, though there were plenty of people from the community. They come either Friday night or Monday morning and are there all day long. We determined that this would not work in the LDS culture because of our commitments on Saturday mornings to our family, calling, and service. This rig below was incredible. It was not a grill, but a furnace. They invited us to come back and eat with them, but when we came back, there were tons of people drinking, and I felt like a party crasher.

Texas Tech's mascot is a red raider, which is pretty much a Mask of Zorro type figure. When we got closer to the stadium, they had a live band, concession stands, dancers, and a lot of people. Photos just don't do it justice to show how big this event was.

The school has a tradition to wrap the statue before each game. We talked to some girls who told us that the legend is if the trail begins to unwrap before the game starts, the team will lose. It looked good, and the team won.

While I went back to watch the General Relief Society Broadcast, Mike stayed on campus to watch the game with some buddies. He told me that is was nice to simply enjoy the game and not stress out if they are going to win.

Apple Festival

2011-09-18T16:48:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, the medical school spouse club was having a play date at the Apple Festival in Idalou. I remember reading about this in the "Welcome to Lubbock" brochure that city hall gives out, so I was excited to go. I went with my friend Brooke since neither of us had kids. This was truly a West Texas experience. (*note how flat the land is in the background. It goes on like that for miles)

The actually festival was really small, about half the size of Fir Point Farms, however, we still had a lot of fun. Brooke and I painted our faces with the BYU logo in preparation for the game that night. We wanted to make our husbands proud.

You could get a "Texas BBQ with all the Fixin's". Sadly to say, it was not worth bragging about.

We ate with the other wives while being entertained by a blue grass band. I am not a big fan of blue grass, but it went with the atmosphere.

We also went on a hay ray through the apple orchid, picked and ate apples from the tress, pet the three goats that were in the petting zoo, had delicious apple turnover with Blue Bell ice cream, and came home with a big bag of yummy apples. It was so fun to get out of town and spend the day with the girls.

We're Expecting!!

2011-09-04T13:23:00.000-07:00

By now, we have told most people that we are expecting. One common question I got from family members was, "Are you showing?" I feel like I am showing, but Mike thinks otherwise. I will let you the judge of it.

Week 7 1/2: When we found out we were expecting.

Week 13: There is a small bump, but not much.

House Sitting

2011-08-18T15:13:00.000-07:00

For the last week and a half, we were house sitting for our bishop. They have two dogs and some fish, but overall, it was so easy and relaxing staying at their home.

The other day, Mike made a comment about how he was craving meat loaf. So one night, I went all out making this gourmet meat loaf. I went to the garden, picked vine-rip tomatoes, and roasted them in the oven along with garlic to make my own tomato sauce. I found some great seasonings and actually measured out the bread crumbs so it would be perfect. Last, I found this Pamper Chief stoneware bread loaf. This would definitely make it the best. I stuck it in the top oven and set the timer for 45 minutes. When the timer went off and I walked up to the oven, it smelt a little brunt. Oh great. When I open the oven door, all the smoke billowed into the kitchen. I had cremated the meat loaf. I carried the pan out to the garage. Just in that short distance, the pan had burned the hot pads. We tried cleaning the pan a few days later, but I guess the pan got so hot it cracked. It wasn't until afterwards that Mike reminded me that the top oven was broken (doesn't stop heating), and they told us not to use it. Here are pictures of before and after. The bishop's wife had two other bread pans, so she wasn't worried. Thank goodness.

Before

After

Life as a Medical Student

2011-08-17T21:39:00.000-07:00

So, I'm writing this post at 11:39 PM. I'm finally getting done with all the studying that I needed to do today. As I sit here and eat my Blue Bell Ice Cream before I go to bed, I decided that I had enough energy in me to do a little write up explaining how medical school is going.

I can't believe we've been in Lubbock for over a month now. The first 1 1/2 weeks, before we started school, went by ridiculously slow. Now, my days fly by and I can't find enough time to study.

Med school is busy, but great. You really get thrown into it from day 1. The first day of class we had to go down to the cadaver lab, meet our cadaver group, dissect the whole back and memorize all the muscles, nerves, arteries and veins that had to do with the back. Then it happened the next day with the neck, then the next day with the shoulder and so forth, and there is no sign of a stop or slowdown of the information coming my way.

Today a I was talking with a friend who used a good analogy to describe what med school is like. Med school is like eating 500 pancakes. After the first 3 or 4, you're like, "I got this, no problem. I like pancakes." But then they just keep coming and coming. Soon you're so full that you don't feel like you can eat any more, but you have to, there's no other way around it. The worst thing about it is that I know that I have to know this. This is not just something that I can memorize to get by, spit it up on the test, then forget about it. Anyways, needless to say, my cadavers has been seeing way more of me lately than Katie.

Overall, I really like it. We're starting to discover the ins and outs of Lubbock. Great people, great food, and enough fun things to keep us entertained with the small amount of time we have.

(The pictures above were taken from my white coat ceremony)

New Calling

2011-08-07T14:06:00.000-07:00

The second week here, the bishop called me to be the ward chorister. He stressed the importance of smiling. I guess there was one chorister in the past who didn't smile, and it affected the quality of the singing. This Sunday was my big debut. When I got there, the songs had already been picked out (I had emailed some songs earlier to the program maker but hadn't heard back) and the old chorister was sitting in the front row to the side (the unwritten but well known of designated spot for the chorister). We talked for a bit and ended with the conversation with, "Okay, I'll start next week." When the first song started, neither of us went up. I guess she thought that I would start leading the music and she liked sitting in that spot. In my mind, who would want to sit right there if they didn't have to. Strike one. Well, I learned my lesson and went up to lead the sacrament hymn. Josh told me that I needed to be like Brother Annas but the whole time I was up there, I was trying to figure out where to look. There were people who were actually looking at me, which made me feel awkward. I was too caught up on not staring back that I messed up during the second verse. Strike two. During the last song, I focused my energy on smiling. I finished the song beautifully with no mistakes. When I hurried back to my seat, Mike gave me a funny look. He asked me if I didn't like the fourth verse. I didn't know what he was talking about. I guess I was so focused on smiling that we skipped the fourth verse. Strike three. Who knew that such a simple calling could be so dramatic?

New Job

2011-07-31T20:03:00.000-07:00

FYI-For those who aren't on facebook or talk to my mom (thanks for spilling the beans. . .but then again I never said it was a secret), I got a job teaching preschool for Head Start. It will be different from a normal Head Start because it is through the YWCA and actually has a curriculum that the teachers follow. I am excited to teach. It will be a completely different experience than 5th grade, but it is better than working at Dick's Sporting Goods (the job Josh wanted me to get so I could get him good Christmas gifts). Training starts tomorrow, so we will see how it goes. Dusty is warning me about all the poopy bums I will probably have to wipe. Oh joy.

Our Lovely Apartment

2011-07-30T20:29:00.000-07:00

I have recorded this video a while ago but was having trouble getting it to upload. Anyways, this is long over due, but I still wanted to show what our new apartment is like.

Cow Appreciation Day

2011-07-11T18:27:00.000-07:00

Since we are moving to Lubbock, I have joined the "South Plain Sisters" google group to get the insider of West Texas. One of the ladies emailed us informing that last Friday was "Cow Appreciation Day". This group has been helpful, but they went above and beyond the call of duty with this email. Rumors have told me about this day, but I didn't know how it worked or when it was. All we had to do was dress like a cow "head to hoof", and we would get a free Chic Filet-A meal. I immediately told Mike when he got home, and he loved the idea. I was so excited to dress like a cow that I was prancing around our apartment in my costume. My favorite part was the long johns that I wore. I just couldn't believe they gave us a $16 meal for free. Life is good.

To: Garret Barber and Dave Meyer

2011-07-11T18:19:00.000-07:00

I let my wife go shopping on her own, and she comes back with this. Good thing I'm moving away from my Talahassee friends. I don't know if I could show my face in front of them again. Supposedly it was about the colors or something.

The Bachelor Life

2011-06-27T21:32:00.000-07:00

So Katie has been out of town since Wednesday and will be until Friday, and I've reverted back to my bachelor ways. I figure that its my duty to remind all you married guys what it takes to live the single life again. Here is my very important list of things needed and things not needed for living without a woman.

NEEDED THINGS:

1. A Man Place. This is a place where you can sit down all day long and do nothing. It's a place where your body melts in its sheer laziness into an inanimate object. It serves as your table, chair, study, clothes bin, and even your bed sometimes. Mine is my couch.

Now you may be asking yourself, "Is that all Sunday's dishes sitting by his Man Place?" The answer is yes. I never said that a dishwasher was needed, did I?

2. Basketball shorts. I believe this is self explanatory. It didn't take me long to remember that no other form of leg ware is needed for enjoying life.

Nobody is stopping me from going outside in basketball shorts and a polo.

3. 2% Milk. Because its so much better than 1%.

4. Pepsi. This is always a need--woman or not.

5. Food. This mostly consists of cereal.

Notice the bag on the left. That bad of Golden Puffs was full 3 days before this picture was taken.

6. Unlimited supply of popsicles. Because nothing screams, "I'm a man living alone," like dried popsicle sticks stuck on the counter.

THINGS NOT NEEDED:

1. Razor.

2. Toothbrush. No, no, no, I'm just joking...but seriously.

3. A made bed. Why make it when its just going to be messed up again?

Anyways, there you have it. How to be a bachelor. Its not easy work my friends.

PS. I'd like to thank all those who have kept me company during this last week. Robert and Megan Potter have done more than enough to make sure I've kept myself busy. Mark for being kinda cool. My mom for inviting me to my sister's house for dinner.

Summer Greatness Part 3

2011-06-19T17:57:00.001-07:00

So here are so more pictures of our trip, specifically the Road to Hana. There were so many waterfalls and pools to swim in. We drove the through the jungle in an open top Jeep (I called it my Barbie Jeep). We couldn't bring our camera to a lot of the really cool places. For example, there was there hike where we hiked up to the first two waterfalls, swim through a pool to get to the third, and scale up the third waterfall to get to the fourth. It was so incredible.

If any of you have seen Lost, they boys were reinacting the scene where Michael has to hide from the smoke monster and was calling for Walt. We were pretty disappointed when the smoke monster didn't show up.

Typical Garrett to have a bag of something in his hands. He was pretty attach to those Chex Mix.

This is one of the many black sand beaches on the island. We actually camped at one of them overnight because there was too much to do on the Road to Hana to make it back to our hotel.

This is a bayan tree. They are crazy. Their branches grow out and drop shoots down to add more roots to the tree. They can get enormous. I will show you another picture of a bayan tree in another post that took up a whole city block.

I just thought that our family and friends should see the reason why I married Mike. I know your jealous because not everyone can have a husband with such a nice behind.

This was the entrance to the bamboo forrest at the Seven Scared Pools. I never have seen the tops of bamboo before. This picture doesn't get the whole effect, but these trees look like they could have come straight from a Dr. Suess book.

The bamboo reminded me of a prision cell with all the bars on the door. This is my "I can't believe I'm in jail" face. Good thing I didn't go into modeling.

Hiking through the jungle. Sorry I couldn't get the picture to stand up straight.

Summer of Greatness Part 2

2011-06-15T21:19:00.001-07:00

As much fun as Arches was, we weren't going to stop there. We have always wanted to do a big vacation before medical school because once we start school we won't have the money, time, and freedom. We through out a lot of ideas but ended up deciding on Hawaii with our friends, Garrett and Nicole Barber. To prepare for this trip, we watched the first season of Lost (we kept making Lost references throughout the whole experience. We decided that Mike was Jake, I was Kate, Garrett was Locke, and we never could get a good character for Nicole). Here are some of the photos from the trip. I can't post them all, so I will continue this post another day.

Here we are waiting at the airport. We had to wake up at 3 am UT time and didn't go to bed until 1:30 am UT time that night. We were so tired.

That first evening, we ate at "Da Kitchen" that served Hawaiian dishes. I had the salted pulled pork. Mike had the famous Loco Moco (we will make it for anyone will is very hungry and has a tough stomach). Garrett and Nicole ate the pork that was cooked in the leaves. It was all so cool.

We went on a guided boat tour to go snorkeling at the Molokini Crater. It had such colorful corral, however Nicole and Mike got a bit green in the face from the boat ride.

We spent a lot of our time on "our beach". It called it our beach because we went there almost everyday and there weren't many people there. We have so much fun on it.

These are the pictures of our epic sand castles. We spent 1 1/2 hours making them. I don't know if the picture does it justice, but they were huge!

Summer of Greatness

2011-06-12T20:15:00.000-07:00

Since this is our last summer in Provo, we decided to finally do all the lists on our Provo "bucket list" before we leave. Out of the five years that I have lived here, I have never visited any of the National Parks. So we kicked the summer off with a trip to Arches with our friends, Sam and Heather Shannon. We are gone camping with them over Memorial Day Weekend that last three years now and have enjoyed every trip.

We camped on top of a butte which made the whole experience. We didn't see or hear many vehicles and our view of the area was grand (well, for being red rock at least).

Mike and Sam scaled up Balanced Rock, almost making it to the part where the giant rock is jointed. We saw other people up that high previous, but when we came back to the car, a park ranger chastised us for damaging National property and would have ticketed us if we had gone just a bit higher. We wanted to replied, "Well, put up a sign that says 'No Climbing'", but instead we sheepishly apologized.
I don't know why I posted this picture when I look so gross without my hat on.

Right after this picture was taken, my hat flew off. Thank goodness this guy our age caught it. As I was yelling back thanks, he chucked the hat off the ledge. . .well that is what it looked like. It was one of Mark's roommates who saw us, but I didn't recognize him from a distance. It was really fun at meet up with Mark and his roommates for the last hike of the day. I'm was just so grateful he didn't turn out to be a punk.

I feel sort of like a snob saying this, but I honestly thought that Delicate Arch would be larger than it was. I mean the Utah license plate makes it look so massive that I was slightly disappointed. Though it was still pretty amazing to see it.

Our summer continues with our vacation to Hawaii and a family reunion in St. George. But I will get to those tomorrow.

Anatomy Unit

2011-05-22T15:37:00.000-07:00

Since State testing is over and we have covered all the State's curriculum, I let my students vote on the next science unit. I really wanted to teach anatomy, so I have been planting that seed in their mind all year all. Good thing it won, because the second place was the ocean and I don't know a lot about it (I probably would just fly Karl out to teach it). We started learning all the muscles and then how the heart and lungs work. We video taped our process drama production of an oxygen molcule's travel through the heart. To end the unit, I went to the slaughter house and bought sheep heart and lungs for the kids to dissect. Mike came in to help with the dissection and talk about career options if you like anatomy. Here are the pictures of the dissection.

I consider it a success when no one vomits, though by the end half the class was in the hall from queesiness. We had to quickly disinfect the whole room afterwards because we were having a pizza party from the janitor (yes, on the same desk that we dissected a bloody heart).

Graduation

2011-04-25T20:18:00.000-07:00

I finally took pictures of something in our life, so Mike gave me the thumbs up that we should blog. I remember when we first got married and Josh insisted that we get a blog. I felt so uncomfortable about the idea because I didn't have a baby to show off (good thing because then we wouldn't have been married in the temple). Now, it feels natural to blog. Thanks everyone for putting up with our nonsense and not making me feel too much a fool for it.

Here is our graduation pictures. Both our families came for the event, which made it so special. We walked with the McKay School of Education, which I loved because I got to see all my friends.

Our on way to commencement. Although it was cold outside, I am so glad it didn't rain.

Beautiful picture of Mike on the cattle run (aka the bridge from the ASB to the Marriot)

We meet our good friend Sarah on our way to the Marriott so we walked with her since her husband had to leave with the other master students.

I always feel like a six year old wanting to take my picture with Cosmos, but sometimes you just have to suck up your pride for the things you want.

Traditional Price family pose. I remember both Joey and Josh taking their pictures here because it is right next to Wymount.

This is one of my really good friends from the El Ed program. We were organized by last name, so we were sat by each other during the program. We talked the whole time, figures-that what we did all during class.

**The rest of the photos, like the one with family, is on our parents blog. Hopefully they will post them shortly.

Ode to E

2011-04-06T20:43:00.001-07:00

Life as a fifth grade teacher have their up and downs. However bad the day can be, these students also keep me laughing. This post is devoted to one of my more "unique" students. She was one of the two students that I actually meeting back in May during "Meet Your Teacher" Day. It seems that when anyone walks into my classroom, E is the only one they happen to remember. She is the only one that can make concert choir into an interpretive dance festival and make an ordinary birthday song into a dramatic performance. Her good writing skills mixed with an imagination that makes my mom seem normal sure makes a heck of a story to read (usually involving night-fighting ninjas and booger-engulfing balls in the same paragraph).

Today, E came up to me during the middle of our writing lessons. Usually if a student comes ups to me in the middle of something, it is because they are bleeding, barfing, or broken. Knowing her, I am expecting the worse. I embrace myself to grab the trash bin to catch whatever bodily fluid may be coming up. So in her high-pitch most sincere voice, "Mrs. Matthews, I am in a play and I need to get a giant, green monster costume together. You know, like a huge head and long finger nails. Do you have anything that would work?" This type of situation occurs fifty times a day. I had two choices, neither get upset and have her pull her card for not being responsible, or laugh it off and send her back to her desk. Trust me, I have chosen the first plenty of time and it doesn't seem to change E. So I choose the second and keep my day going well.

So thank you E for keeping me laughing, along with the whole staff after today's choir performance.

Chocolate Milk

2011-02-27T12:14:00.000-08:00

We just ran out of all the free Valentine's Day chocolate from my students earlier this week. We have had a constant stash of chocolate since Christmas, so this weekend Mike and I were going through withdrawal. This Saturday when we went to the store, we kept seeing all these yummy chocolate treats (bad idea to go to the store hungry) so we decided we could pick one item that wasn't on our list to get. We planned to get chocolate milk, our favorite. When we were about to grab the cartoon, we realized that we picked out this HUGE jar of pickles that were such a good deal. We went the practical route and got the pickles instead. That evening, we were still craving chocolate milk. I remember watching this episode on "Good Eats" about how to make your own chocolate milk syrup. Although I couldn't find that particular recipe, I came across this beauty. It made a quart size jar of chocolate syrup. It's not exactly like the ones at the store (it is more chocolatey and less sweet) but it sure filled the craving. In the course of 5 minutes, we drank half of gallon. Since it uses ingredients that we always have on hand, all I can say is we're addicts.

Here's the recipe
Homemade Chocolate Milk

First you make chocolate syrup:

In a saucepan, combine 1 cup cocoa, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1/2 tsp salt and 1 1/2 cups water. (I added a small splash of vanilla as well.) Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

To make chocolate milk, add 1 or 2 tbsp to a glass of cold milk. Or, however much you want. A large glass of milk will definitely need 3-4 tbsp. Stir and serve. Enjoy!

Aging

2011-01-30T15:48:00.001-08:00

Since I finally figured out how to change the background such that you can actually see the designed that I picked out, it would probably show that we updated our blog when in fact we haven't. So I decided to actually write something. Mike hates it when I blog without a picture and we rarely take pictures, I found one from a couple of weeks ago that I thought was worthy of blogging.

It was a Saturday night, and I was getting ready for a date night. As I was brushing through my hair, I noticed something unusual. Before I share, let me give you some background information. this last spring, I permed my hair to prep for teaching in the fall. Over the course of the summer though, the chemical that permed my hair caused my hair to be lightened by the sun. I have had 20 people ask me if I have dyed my hair. Since then, I have been very aware of my hair color and occasionally check for "the line". Back to the date night. As I was brushing through my hair, I found a gray hair. Yes, that's right. . . A GRAY HAIR. Now, I have never thought I would be the one to battle age, but when it came knocking on my door, I freaked out. The first thought that came in my head was "blasted fifth graders. Turning my hair gray". I had Mike come in and do a head check for more. Gratefully that was the only culprit.

If this is how I react with a single strand of gray hair, what am I going to do when I get saggy boobs or flabby arms.

Surprise Trip to Oregon

2011-01-20T19:16:00.000-08:00

This last weekend, my siblings and I surprised my parents by flying out to Oregon. My dad just got called as bishop and we thought that we would support him on the big day that he was called. Joey and I flew together from Salt Lake. When we were going through security, the guard asked me for my age. I had to think about for a bit then replied that I was 23. He was shocked and thought I was Joey's daughter of something. I don't know who was more insulted: me for looking so young or Joey for looking so old. It must had been the skinny jeans. Joey didn't realize that when he picked out our seats, they were actually across the isle from each other. We waited to see if anyone would take the seats around them. No one did. I thought about moving over to sit next to him, but to have the whole row to yourself is a rarity. So I stayed put. I felt a little bad for not wanting to sit next to my brother, but then again, he didn't come and join me, so I take it we both needed time to get work done and enjoy our books.
We arrived two hours before Josh, so we went out to eat with Dusty and Annie. In the car ride home, we were scheming didn't ways to sneak up. Annie and Joey were lame and walked straight up to the door to knock. You feel pretty lame trying some funny trick, so I sheepishly stood next to them. I thought for sure that my mom would do her high-pitch squeal, but instead she was quiet and humbled.
The weekend was so fun. We weren't there for long, it was nice to visit a lot. After all, that is what my family does best, talk. I saw Rita for the first time. If I was guaranteed to have a replica of her, I would baby today. She was so calm and adorable. I also so Annie's new house. I was thoroughly jealous of her. Overall, the trip made me miss living in Oregon a lot. I don't know where our lives will take us, but I hope the road will end in Oregon. (By the way, Mike didn't read this post until after I posted it, otherwise I don't know if that last sentence would have made it on.) At least I have my trip in June to look forward to.

Me as a Doctor: FAIL

2010-12-12T17:53:00.000-08:00

First, this is me, Mike, for all of you out there. I was told by a friend I need to specify this because people are getting confused about when I post vs. when Katie posts. I think that's a bad sign for me; no guy wants his writing to be confused with his wife's. I will try to be more manly in my writing style.

Anyways, so, its safe to say that I am not the most immunocompetent person in the world. In fact, I feel like I'm always on the verge of getting sick. However, Katie is quite the opposite. In the 2 1/2 years we've been married, she has only been sick once, and that was on our honeymoon. No sore throat, no cough, not even a little runny nose...until about 3 weeks ago. I guess even Katie's robust immune system isn't enough for spending every day with a classroom full of ten-year old piles of bacteria. Right before Thanksgiving, she came down with a sore throat and cough.

Now, again, I haven't really seen a sick Katie my whole life, so this was new to me. I think it was new to her also, because she complained a lot. I tried to be sweet to her, but after 2 weeks my patience was running thin for complaining. Last Sunday we were sitting on the couch, and Katie turned to me, her future doctor, seeking medical advice. Here is a brief synopsis of our conversation:

Katie: Mike, I've been sick for a long time.
Mike: I'm so sorry, you should be getting better soon. Can I do anything for you?
Katie: I think I have pneumonia. What do you think?
Mike: You don't have pneumonia. You'll be okay in a few days.
Katie: What about bronchitis? What does bronchitis feel like?
Mike: I'm pretty sure you just have a cold.
Katie: No, I'm pretty sure I have bronchitis.
Mike: You just said you don't even know what bronchitis feels like.
Katie: I have bronchitis Mike. I need some medicine. I'm calling your dad.
Mike: Its 10:30 at night! My dad is in bed. Just relax. You probably just have a cold anyways.
Katie: No, I have bronchitis, I'm calling.

Call to Dr. Matthews

Katie: Ha! Your dad says I have bronchitis.
My thoughts: I stink at this.

Anyways, I expect nobody to be coming to me for medical advice any time soon.

Evolution

2010-11-22T12:30:00.000-08:00

So, today we had a professor from BYU come to our class to talk about molecular biology. She asked my class was does "evolve" means. One boy shot his hand up into the air shouting, "Oh I know, I know!" So she called on him and confidently he said, "puberty". The professor didn't know how to respond. I wanted to laugh out loud really bad.

And the Winner is. . .

2010-10-31T16:08:00.000-07:00

This is suppose to be a joke. We don't think of ourselves as that important. But we have had our choice after a lot of prayer and thinking, and we feel like the Lord wants us to be in there.

A Little White Lie

2010-10-21T11:48:00.000-07:00

Is it bad to lie to your students. The class just earned goldfish as a class pet on Monday. Today, one of them died. The students were pretty good about the fact that it died (many of them had pet death stories of their own). So I decided that during lunch I would throw the fish away. I didn't want the kids to know that I am insensitive, so I wrapped the sucker up in lots of paper towels and throw it in the trash can. Of course the first student to notice the fish gone, asked what happened. I simply told him I buried it (buried in paper towels right). He looks outside and asked if I buried it in that rock garden, since the rest of the area outside is cement. Sure why not, so I told them that was the place. The kid raced outside and started upturning the rocks to find the dead fish. They are so gullible, even when they didn't find him, they still believed me. Hopefully that isn't a too big of a sin.

No joking, ten minutes after I threw away the first fish, the second fish died. I tried to explain to the class that it died of a broken heart. The student feel fed them this week felt like he killed them and started crying for the next 15 minutes. I am just grateful that I am not in first grade. We would have a lot more tears.

Mark's Birthday

2010-10-16T17:09:00.000-07:00

Last week was Mike's younger brother's birthday. His parents were going to be out-of-town, so we were in charge of throwing him a party. I wanted to make Mark a cake, but Mike said I should have Nicole Barber's supervision if I wanted to attempt any thing in the oven. I was pretty impress with the outcome. It is a devil's food cake with peanut butter cups inside. Instead of frosting, we made Gnosh (I have no idea how to spell that), but it is more of a chocolate fudge. Very, very good and rich.

I didn't want to ruin the top with all the peanut butter cups, so Mike and I thought it would be fun to put the candles around the candle like spokes on a tire. We didn't think about putting wax paper underneath it, so we had a colorful master piece of wax on the table after wards. Oops!

Journal

2010-10-01T13:33:00.000-07:00

I know that this won't be as funny as it is when you know the student, but today is Friday, meaning that I get to read one journal entry that the students mark for me to read. There is a girl in my class is constantly doodles on all her papers. I wouldn't mind, but it is distracting her and she is falling behind. Well, I told her on Thursday that if she went the whole day without drawing, I would give her five class dollars (I big deal). Well this is what she wrote in her journal that day. . .

"I've been thinking about why I want to be a mega artist. It's good to be a strong writer, but the arts are important too. To get to be a stronger artist, I practice a lot on all my papers, but I'm getting paid to not draw. I want the money, but I really want to make my dreams come true. Well. . . I'm going to read now."

Isn't a teacher suppose to be a dream builder and not a dream crusher? Oh well, she didn't draw once that day so she got her five dollars and I got her attention. Maybe she will become a writer someday and look back how grateful she was for her fifth grade teacher to crush her artist dreams and secretly paying her to be a writer. Time can only tell.

Maturation

2010-09-28T17:22:00.000-07:00

Mike doesn't like it when I do a post without pictures, and I would agree. However, if I waited until I had pictures to post to blog, then I would never blog. I love it when friends post even the simplest thing because it gives me something to do during my lunch break.
Well, one reason why I was so excited about teaching the fifth grade is because if it maturation year. Now, don't think I am some creepo. I just get a kick out of how nervous and grossed out the students are about this. So, it is that time a year again when we get to talk about the birds and the bees (I was thoroughly disappointed to find out a nurse teaches it, but I think that is for the better. I would be giggling during the whole thing). Yesterday, I passed out the permission slips to each of the students. I just told them that they needed their parents signature for a special event that we are having next week. "Special event" opens a can of worms of "what is it?", "are you going to tell us", "when next week?" and so on. Well, in my most mature voice. . .okay I was so excited that I sang my response to the students. . . I told them that maturation was next week. Most of the students didn't know what that was. I told them it was the time of year that when we talk about how they are maturing into beautiful young men and women and the changes that occur during this time of life. Oh, their responses were a choir of "gross", "sick", "yuck", "I don't want to go."
All I can say is that I can't wait for next week and see all their faces as they walk out of the gym.

Can it be football season yet? Pretty Please?!?

2010-09-03T09:21:00.000-07:00

I found these gems on the internet and have been watching them 2-3 times a day. I love football. Enjoy!

http://vimeo.com/12768214

http://vimeo.com/10419372

Medical Schools and more Medical Schools. Where should I go?

2010-08-29T12:49:00.001-07:00

Okay, so after spending about a bajillion hours and dollars getting in my medical school applications this summer, I finished up this week and am ready to start thinking about where I should go. Here's a list of my view of each school with some pluses and negatives to each one. Let me know what you think.

UTMB. Galveston, TX.

This school, located on a small island off the gulf coast, is very hot and very humid. I interviewed there last week and the school is great. It has a very laid back student body and curriculum (no classes past noon the first two years!) and tuition is remarkably inexpensive.

But, being an island off the gulf coast, you always run some risks during hurricane season.

Texas Tech. Lubbock, TX.

I have an interview scheduled with these guys in September. Good things: football team. And that might be it. All I hear about is how terrible of a place Lubbock is, and I haven't heard great things about the medical school either.

The Ohio State University. Columbus, OH.

I thought I was special when the dean of admissions at OSU personally called me up, but then I learned that he does that with everybody who gets interviews. I have an interview set up in October with OSU. Pluses: I hear great things about the school there, and there is a large young LDS population in Columbus. They love Mormon kids. Also, I'm sure that cheering in a stadium with 100,000 + people for football wouldn't be that bad. Negatives: Its cold, and far away. From what I hear its not too close to any outdoors anything.

University of Utah. Salt Lake City, UT.

What can I say? Its close to home, in state tuition, I get to keep living in awesome Utah.

However, I would also be forced to be a Ute.
Oregon Health and Sciences. Portland, OR.

I put this picture of Katie up so that if we end up here, you all would know why.

University of North Carolina. Chapel Hill, NC.

UNC actually is really appealing to me. I have had a few friends from NC, and they all say amazing things about how awesome it is. Chapel Hill is the perfect sized city for me, Its quick to get away into the beautiful Appalacians, the beach is close, and their basketball team is great. I haven't heard much about the medical school, but I'm really hoping to get an interview there to see what its like. Negatives: out of state tuition and distance from family.

Loma Linda University. Loma Linda, CA.

This is a Seventh Day Adventist School, and being such, the library is closed Saturdays, but open Sundays. They are a lot like BYU in that they promote spirituality in their curriculum. Katie's extended family lives in the area, which is always good (Sunday dinners!!). However, I really grew to dislike southern California on our trip there last year.

Washington University. St. Louis, Missouri.

Washington University was my long shot, my Harvard if you will. Their average GPA entering is at least a 3.9, and their average MCAT is a 38, which is above the 99th percentile (I got a 34). About 2 years ago, I listened to a presentation given by somebody in the admissions office at Washington University, and I was sold. It just seems like a place I want to be.

Medical College of Wisconsin. Milwaukee, WI.

If Katie thinks that Utah is unbearably cold, she has another thing coming to her with the winter average high of 28 degrees. Medical College of Wisconsin I can honestly say is one of my "safety" schools. They seem to like BYU students a lot, which is why I applied. Good things: Green Bay Packers games are close, and um....well, I'll have to get back to you one more.

UT Houston. Houston, TX.

One thing I learned by going to Texas last weekend is that the Houston area has to be the food capital of the word. You can't drive a block without seeing some unique restaurant, which for me is great. Other great things: the school is located in the middle of one the biggest and most advanced medical centers of the world, and its known for being a great school; also, some family such as Katie's brother Josh and my aunt live within driving distance. Negatives: have to live in Houston, which is way too big of a city for me.

Texas A&M. College Station, TX.

Here you get the Texas experience without the Houston experience. College Station is a smaller, very conservative city where I think I'd fit right in. Also, it has the famous low tuition prices of all Texas schools.

Alright, this post has gone way too long. It won't let me put more pictures. My thought is that if I'm only going to post once a year, I might as well make it a good one.

Talk about eing ESL

2010-08-28T21:42:00.000-07:00

I was really nervous over the summer that I was not going to have a couple of ESL students in my class to complete my practicum for my ESL endorsement. I saw the name Luis on my roll, but her was new this year, so there was no information on him. I met him and his mom during back-to-school night. They brought a neighbor kid to translate, which I didn't think much of because they is pretty common for events that the information is crucial. I learned that they had moved from Mexico this summer and has been picking up vocabulary really fast. That first day, I was shocked to see how little his English really was. When the class walked down to the cafeteria, I had this feeling to walk in with him to make sure that he could go through fine. When the lunch lady asked him what his name was, he looked up to me with his eyes begging for help. At the end of the day, I sent him home with a paper that read "What is your name? My name is Luis. What is your first name? Luis. What is your last name?" The next morning, when I greeted him at the door, I asked him what his name was. He had practiced that night and was able to answer. I more I work with him, the more he surprises me. He has excellent decoding skills, meaning he can read words but he can't comprehend them. On Friday, I met with him mom for a conference. Mike was so kind enough to come and translate. I learned so much from that. His mom was an optometrist in Mexico and is working on getting her license to transfer. Luis has an older sister who speaks English and the family's goal is to learn English by the end of the year. Wow, that is not the typically ESL family that you meet. The funniest thing that his mom shared with me was that he actually understands a lot of what I am saying, except my jokes. One moment, everyone is laughing and he doesn't know why. He told his mom that he is afraid that once he learns English, I will stop telling jokes. What a cute, innocent fear. Anyways, I am trying my best to help him through. If anyone has any suggestions, send this this way.

First Day of School

2010-08-24T15:41:00.000-07:00

Kelli told me that I needed to record my wonderful encounters as a first year teacher. You can already infer that since I am writing this post, that I at least survived my first day. The day did go well for the most part. Last night was back to school night and there were a few parents that approached me with information that I would need to know right away (peanut allergy, language ability, etc.) Well today, I started with an activity that would introduce the rules. I had the students pop balloons with situations in there that they had to determine if it was a good situation or bad and what rule would encourage that behavior. As soon I as I pulled out the balloons, a girl came up to me and told me she was allergic to them. By them, the students had already touched them. I just sent her out to the hall while we did the activity. Afterward, I had every student wash their hands while I wiped down all the desk. When she came back in, I just told her to tell me if she feels the reaction at all. She seemed to be good until a half hour later. "Mrs. Matthews, my lip is swelling". Oh my word, I had to send her to the office, where her mom brought benadryl. Her lip was better, but she was dozing off for the rest of the day. Since no one died, I guess I can call it a success.

Wasatch Elementary

2010-08-13T18:10:00.000-07:00

This week has been bitter sweet. I finished my last day ever at the Wilk. I was there for three years and I figured it out one time that I spent more time with the girls there than I do with Mike in a weekday. I really didn't like the actually work that I did but I love the people there, especially my boss.
On a lighter note, I started working full time at Wasatch Elementary. I still can't believe that they trust me with 27 students (I know Josh is shaking his head disagreeing). I almost have my classroom set up and I have my lessons planned for the first week. Here are a few picture of what it looks like. I am given money by both the State and the PTA to help me start. However, since this is my first year, I rather spend my money on field trips and science experiments than on decoration. I have been so blessed to receive a lot of decoration and supplies from friends (even though they are not matching) that I feel bad to spend money on things that I already have just because it would look better. Hopefully the parents see that instead of a boring classroom.

Life Update

2010-08-04T21:14:00.000-07:00

I am really bad at blogging because I feel like I need to have pictures to post each time, however, my brother assured me that one or two times without pictures is acceptable, as long as we wrote something. Anyways, I thought I would update everyone on our lives (as interesting as it may be). I am getting ready for fifth grade to start. My classroom is almost set up (pictures of it will come soon) and I meet with my mentor teacher today about scheduling and planning. It is so strange to think that I will be holding a back to school night with parents that are old enough to be my parents. Mike is busy with med school applications. He is constantly asking me questions like "If you had to introduce to someone, what would you tell them about me" or "What are some of my good qualities" only to find out that he is sick of writing the essays and needs fresh ideas. His sister Katherine has been such a help with giving him suggestions. She is more tactful at giving him suggestions. Mike has heard back from two schools already and has an interview with TUMB in Galvenston, TX and Ohio State. I am really excited for him, but jealous at the same time because he will be traveling to all these new places.

Summer Camping Trips

2010-06-13T17:19:00.000-07:00

With two camping trips already under our belt, this summer is looking like it is going in the right direction. This year, we went on our "Second Anual Memorial Camping Trip" with our friends Sam and Heather Shannon. We went up to Diamond Fork Canyon and camped near the trailhead to the hot pots. Last year, we shared the place with a group of hippies on their way to the Rainbow convention (completely serious). Luckily this year we shared with a nice, normal family.

These are the Shannon's, as Josh like to say "Sammy Shannon".

It was so cold at night and our fire was not up to par. We did everything we could to keep warm.

The trail up to the pots was pretty, at least for Utah. Our ward also had a campout that next weekend up at Payson Lake. It was a lot of fun. There were several highlights about the trip. We discovered "Jumbo" marshmellows. They were so huge. You only needed one of them. We (I mean the boys)cooked one jumbo marshmellow and smashed it between two whole graham crackers and a whole chocolate bar. We called it "the sub" s'more. The second highlight was catching fish. Both Mike and I cuaght fish the traditional way with a pole and power bait. However, we also caught the fish with our hands. I felt like Mulan.

Mike casted the line at and asked me to hole the pole just for a second while he was reorganizing his tactile box. I had to promise to return the pole to him once he was done because I had the tendiency to steal the pole from him. But once I got it, I felt a fish bit. Needless to say, I did not give the pole back and I claim the catch as mine.

Mike was really excited to catch such a big fish. I was excited that the hook just got the fish on the side of the mouth so we could release him.

in the morning, the ranger came by and told us that the stream is going to dry up in a week and so all the fish in it will also dry up. So, our job was to catch all the fish and run them back to the lake. This video is Ryan Flake doing the job with mad skills.

This is me trying to do the same thing.

I am just not as talented. In this catch, the fish was running away. He finally swam until there was no water for him to swim in and he got stuck.

Overall, it was a really fun camping trip. Hail to the Hales for putting it together.

HELP!!!

2010-03-10T17:49:00.000-08:00

So I was trying to be up with the times and make my blog look all cool, but now it is out of control. I tried everything to get this picture to fit, but it just won't. I pushed the shrink to fit, but it wouldn't work. I tried not pushing shrink to fit (better) but still nothing. Any suggestions?

Teaching 6th Grade

2010-03-10T17:22:00.001-08:00

For those who don't know, last week I started my second practicum at Sprucewood Elementary in a 6th grade class. The practicum is pre-student teaching. I wish I had some funny comments that the students made, but their pretty good this time. It does feel good knowing that I don't have to deal with students crawling underneath desks, tying 10 pairs of shoes a day, or hear tattling reports that so and so called Jennifer a girl (I know, how devastating). Today, may teacher was out for the day, which means that I got to play teacher for the whole day. I came early and sat down at the desk, worked on the computer, and wrote a morning message on the board. Several people came into my class to talk with me before hand and I even got the main office calling me on the overcome. It felt like the real deal. My lesson today was on WWI Trench warfare (which I have become an expert on). It was really rewarding to see the students make connections that these were real people and not just actors. Oh how I love teaching. To bad I have to go back to observing tomorrow.

Our texas Pride

2010-02-25T14:22:00.001-08:00

I want to dedicate this post to my brother Josh. Good luck with your interview and I thought this song might replace Route 66 for McKay if you choose to go out there.

Valentine's Day

2010-02-15T14:13:00.000-08:00

Mike took me to Gloria's Little Italy for Valentine's Day. It was so good. The food was really authentic. They had a violinist and an opera singer performing. When we walked in, they gave me a flower. It was such a great date.Mike got the hazelnut gelato for dessert. It was so delicious. It was so funny hearing all the compliments we were coming up with for it. I think our favorite was, "this is the hazelnut's measure of creation."
I got the chocolate cake with strawberry. It did not stand a chance to survive for a picture. I ate it so fast.

Soccer

2010-02-15T13:57:00.000-08:00

After a successful season of soccer as girls, we convinced our husbands that we needed to be on a co-ed team. It has been so fun for Mike and I. We started off with only Gary knowing how to play (which still didn't help because no one knew how to go along with the plays). We then recruited Craig and McKay because McKay has played before. We are still lacking in our offense, but I feel like our defense is getting better. Our first game was 2-8 (I scored the only goal, but it was sort of an accident). Our last game was 0-3. Definitely an improvement.

This is our team (all except Craig). Top row: Mike, Dave, Erinn, AriAnn, Chris, Nicole, and Garrett. Bottom row: Me, McKay, Gary, Carly

This is me. My goal this season is just to run fast. I can't sprint for the life of me so I am really trying to get the cross country out of me for just these few months.

I don't know what we are doing here, must be a berak or something. Mike has been playing offense more. It is pretty funny watching him try to bump the ball in for a goal with his head.

2010-01-26T21:11:00.001-08:00

Alright Guys! This is a big day for me; its the day that I make my first blog post ever. I think I would've done it sooner had Katie given me the password. I think she was nervous for what I was going to write. I guess you could say thats kind of how our marriage runs. jk guys, jk. Anyways, I expect this post to be followed by a plethora of responses. I just got the word that there is money in the blogging buisness if you're good enough; so I'm hoping that with your help I can get sponsered and make some sweet mulah. So, I guess I'm getting to the part that I tell you about my life and show you cool pictures. Well, this semester is going to be a busy one for me. With work, being on 3 intramural teams + another stake bball team, disecting chicken embryos in the lab, volunteering on the Choose to Give executive commitee, answering constant phone calls from Michael Bond (my mentally handicapped friend from high school that just found out my phone number and calls me several times a day), planning cool weekend activities, and following BYU football recruiting, I'm one busy man. I've got more to say, but I know that people's attention spans aren't that long, so for your sakes I'll stop. Heck, I got bored just proof reading this puppy. Well, until next time. Here come the cool/funny pictures:

Halloween

2009-11-06T21:02:00.000-08:00

This is my first grade class for own Halloween Party. They are such great kids.

For our ward party, Mike and I were Popeye and Olive. To make Mike's arm, we cut up some old nylons and stuffed it with our tan pillow cases.

I was glad that Mike was next to me because otherwise I would just look like a poorly dressed girl.

On Halloween night, we hosted a Murder Mystery at our place with the help of the Shannons. It took all day to prepare for, but it was well worth it.

The whole murder gain. I still can't believe that 14 people fit into our apartment.

My Birthday

2009-11-06T20:57:00.001-08:00

For my birthday, since I don't really like cake, Mike bought my some chocolate peanutbutter fudge from the bookstore. It look pretty funky with all the candles.

Yikes!

It was really a great birthday!

Matthews Gone Gangster

2009-11-06T20:48:00.000-08:00

Our friends the Potters pulled a prank on us. We had to get even. I got dressed in all black and Mike was seriously concerned that someone would see me and think that we were punks up to no good. It made me laugh.
To set the mood of our adventure, we listened to "Living in a Gangster Paradise" on the way to the job.

I thought we did well with the situation that we were given. Mission Accomplish.

Lake Powell

2009-11-06T20:33:00.000-08:00

Over Labor Day weekend, we went to Lake Powell with our friends Garrett and Nicole. It was really fun. I love any water activities, so this was prefect for me. We camped out on the beach. At night, the moon was so bright that we didn't end a flash light.
Our friends Garrett and Nicole

In the morning while we were waiting for the water to settle, we explored the island that we were staying on.

The boys wanted to be true explorers.

Garrett's brother Zach brought his boat down. He taught us how to surf off the waves from the boat.

This is me right before I dropped the rope and free surfed behind the boat. It was sort of strange how close you have to be to the boat, but it was also helpful to have someone right there to give you pointers.

Milestone in Mike's Life

2009-11-06T20:28:00.000-08:00

Mike told me one time that the first diaper he was going to change was his own child's. I thought that was ridicious so with some help from Megan Potter, we tricked him into finally changing a diaper. He doesn't done it since, but it was so funny watching him try to figure it out.

California

2009-11-06T19:52:00.000-08:00

After Vegas, we made our way down to LA where we enjoyed the California Summer. We stayed with my Grandma because Mike hadn't met any of my extended family. Our first day there, we went to Newport Beach where we met up with one of Mike's buddies from work. We were am to go boogie boarding, build this awesome sand castle, and lay out in the sun.

My Uncle suggested to go to this Mexican street that had great food and booths.

We spent a day in Hollywood. You can't really see in this picture, but the Hollywood sign is behind us on the hill.

We agreed that we both won "Best Spouse" of the year!

Mike in front of the Beatles. Don't worry, he didn't bring a flower for them.

I not have much of a favorite actor except Tom Hanks. I walked on the sidewalks with my head down the whole time until I saw it. I was so surprised for actually finding it, I gave a small scream. The people around me gave me a weird look.

We went to watch the Dodgers play the Cardinals. It was Mike's first pro baseball game. He really enjoyed it.

Pre game

Went to Disneyland with Josh, Kelli, the boys, my cousin Megan and her boyfriend. We both had been there a couple of times so it was nice not feeling like we had to do everything.

We thought that these would make awesome Halloween costumes.

We ate at the Blue Bayou (the cajun resturant by the Pirates of the Car.). It was amazing food and the atmosphere of the place was really unique. It was the highlight of our Disney experience.

This was Mike's first time at California Adventure. I was doing pretty good about not getting sick on any of the rides until I rode the Tower of Terror. Let's just say I am not going on that ride again.

Vegas!!!

2009-11-06T19:25:00.000-08:00

We wanted to celebrate completing the MCAT and sort of our first year aniversity by spending a night in Vegas. Neither of us had been to the stripe, so we were really excited. We stayed at the MGM in the "celebrity suit". It really made the experience.

Since neither of us had been there, we sort of did things backwards. We arrived around 3 pm and were so excited that we imediately hit the stripe. It was over 110* and we walked all the way down to the other end, looking around each casino. By the time it got dark, so we so tired. We decided to go back and take a quick nap. We ended up falling asleep for the night at 10pm. How lame are we?

One of my favorite things were the Bellagio lights.

We had the lunch buffet at the Mirage (it was highly recommended). Oh man, it was so good. I was in hog heaven with all the chocolate dessert.

Oh boy!!! It was so good!!!

Inside the Bellagio (I think that was the one) but this was one of the cooler exhibits we saw.

At the M&M Factory. "I Love Chocolate"

The bit that we did see of the night life.

Matthews Family Reunion

2009-11-06T19:07:00.000-08:00

This July, we spent a weekend up at Mike's family's cabin for the great Matthews Reunion. We really enjoyed ourselves. Since more of the family is having kids, the place can great pretty crazy, but we weren't change it. This is Mike's nephew Luke. Mike is so good with all the kids, by the end of the week, he is so tired from all the wrestling.

One of the mornings, we were all thinking about going out to Mirror lake to go canoeing, but everyone was in that mood where they will go if everyone is going, so no one got up. Well, I wanted to get out so Mike, Lorena and I straped the canoe to the jeep and headed out. It was quite the adventure just to get that thing secured down.

It was such a beautiful lake. I was in the middle so I mainly looked around and took pictures. I was almost turning into my mom, but I was able to gain control again.

One of the afternoon, we all took a trip out to Ruth Lake with all the grandkids.

There were so many bugs, I wanted to drink the bug juice to get the mosquitos to stop biting.

This was my attempt of a timer shot. I am usually a lot better but it must have slipped the last minute.

Our Summer Fun

2009-07-26T14:40:00.001-07:00

This summer has been filled with three things: Mike studying for the MCAT, me training for my marathon, and SEVEN PEAKS!!!! After the cold month of June, our friends convinced us to get season passes to Seven Peaks (the water park in Provo). We usually go a couple of times a week right after work. It has been a great way to escape the heat.

See that really steep, orange slide behind me? Our first trip here, Mike and his friends were going to go down it and I decided that I had to go down also, otherwise I would be to scared for the rest of the summer. After some hesitation, I was able to go down. However, our next trip to Seven Peaks, I tried going down again. I was so afraid, it took me four times of getting on the slide and then getting off the slide. Finally Mike just went down, standing there by myself gave me the courage to go again. I went three more times in a row to completely overcome my fear. I can do it with ease now.

This is Mike going down the scariest slide at Seven Peaks, "The Sky Breaker". I don't think you can tell that much with this shot, but when you go down this slide, you get some air coming out of the tube. I haven't tried this slide yet (too afraid) but my goal is to have it mastered by the end of summer. Sorry for the bad film job. I don't know want I was thinking about when I filmed it vertically.

One Year Anniversary

2009-07-19T22:16:00.000-07:00

For our one year anniversary, we borrowed Josh's scooter and rode down to Mona. It was a long trip, taking all the back roads through Provo, Springville, Spanish Fork, Payson, Santiquin, Mona, and finally arriving at Burston pond. We were really looking forward to swing off this well-known rope swing, but I guess it got cut down earlier that week.
I tried taking a picture of us driving the scooter, but this is as far as my arm would reach.

As tradition goes in the Matthews family, when there is water, we must skip rocks. I think that Mike looks like a Greek statue or something like that in this picture.

Following the Prophet

2009-04-27T19:20:00.000-07:00

After being inspired by the words of the prophet (so it may not have been the most recent prophet), Mike and I adventured off to Home Depot so start our first own garden. The lady was nice and pointed us to the things that we needed-soil and plant food.

It is too cold to plant our tomato or pepper (don't freak out family, the tomato is for Mike, I have not yet converted), so we are starting our lettuce and cilantro in the mean time.

This is day one of our plant experience. It is times like these that I hope I wasn't adopted and inherited Mom's green thumb.

Day seven-the lettuce is looking like alfafa sprouts and no hope yet for the cilantro. We'll keep you updated

The Luau

2009-03-30T20:54:00.000-07:00

This year, I decided to get connected with my Heritage. Sorry Josh, my birth mom wasn't Hawaiian, but Tahitian!!! The multicultural center at BYU put together this luau and opened it up for anyone to join. We thought we would have a lot of fun doing it. I practiced every Saturday for two months to perform for a total of five minutes with both days.

These are the girls that I did the dance with (Left to right: me, Bri, Andrea, Karen, and Mandie)

Here is Mike coming down to congrats his new Tahitian wife.

This is the full costume. We had to make the hip band, but the huge shell was actually bought and shipped from Tahiti.

We have just finished the dance and are headed off the stage.

You can see my backside on the right for a bit before a turn around the circle.

Farewell to Spring

2009-01-19T10:33:00.000-08:00

For those of you who didn't get the privilege to visit our little get away, we wanted to share with you what you were missing out on.

This is our kitchen/dinning room. We had a card table to the left where we host many important people, such as Kelli, Mom and Dad, and that's about it.
This was the living room/family room/bedroom. We had our bed by the window, our dresser in the closet, another card table in a corner you can't really see in this photo for our computer and stidying, and a bookcase and TV stand next to the bed. For furniture, we loved our one black banana chair. We actually really liked the place.

2009-01-19T10:16:00.000-08:00

During Thanksgiving break, we went bowling with Mike's family. There was a sign that said if you bowl a turkey (three strikes in a row) you win a turkey. And you doesn't like turkey? There was also a competition going on between each couple. Go thing that Mike is good at bowling to carry my slack on the team. In the end, Mike won a turkey. That means Thanksgiving in February!

Honeymoon

2008-11-09T18:55:00.000-08:00

There have been many people asking us how our amazing life has been (I wouldn't blame them, we are pretty cool). So, we decided to share a bit of our honeymoon. Don't worry, you won't have to kick the kids out of the room. Here are some pictures that we took at the beautiful Oregon Coast.

On one of the days, we went to look at the aquatic life. It's pretty amazing what those gray skies hide.
When we went on our nature hike out to the cape, we saw some interesting looking animals. Nothing out of the ordinary.

On our way home, we took a detour. You would never think that some of these areas are in Oregon.

Overall, we have a pretty fun honeymoon.

Our Target Trip

2008-04-29T19:49:00.001-07:00

After many phone calls, we decided that Target was going to be our place to go for the big event-registering. Everyone has warned us that when they register, they almost called off the engagement or broke an arm or two. I don't know about Mike, but I was sort of excited to see our "true selves" to come out this night. What great stories are we going to be able to tell our kids about our registering adventure. We had a rough beginning with the bedding. I think that every girl will side with me in saying that the bedding color and texture is very important in establishing the mood for your apartment (especially with an apartment like ours which that is pretty much all there is room for, a bed). However, after we chose that, it was pretty much smooth sailing from there. Until the end. . . Mike wanted to register for a HD TV and a Xbox 360. I am telling people that he was joking about it, but I don't think he really was. But, all in all, we are still together so hopefully that accounts for something.

Festival of Colors

2008-04-29T19:33:00.001-07:00

Earlier this month, we went to the Festival of Colors at a Hindu temple in Spanish Fork. Getting there was an adventure in itself with witnessing an accident, stuck in traffic, and finding a parking spot. There were hundreds of people at this temple. We could walk around inside (bare foot of course) and watch and belly dancer preform these traditional Indian dances. Part of the festival was to burn the demon on the stake. Once they lit it, everyone threw their colors in the air. For two whole mintues, we were consumed in a cloud of pink, green, orange, and purple dust. I wanted to throw up. It was awesome. I think the gross part was that the red paint would get up your noses and make your snot look like blood. After the paint throwing was done, we dared to eat the food. We could recongize rice and some sort of spinach, but that was it. The rest was a mystery and sure tasted like one. Before we took off, we had to visit the llama. I don't think I can describe the excitement that was running through my viens as I was watching the llama. Overall, it was a successful trip. Maybe we will try this again next year, but only if there is going to be a llama.

Life at BYU

2008-04-10T10:37:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys, we are so excited now that we are blogging. Here are our biggest news.
-This week, Mike recieved an email how Snoop Dog got baptized and is loving the Book of Mormon. We'll keep you updated on when he will give his first talk in sacrament.
-After studying today, we became famous. . . well almost. We went to KBYU and were the audience for the first live filming of Loud Out Loud (for those of you how don't know, Loud Out Laugh is like SNL). We were sitting next to the camera so I am sure that the mircophone picked up on our laughing. They also used Mike's idea of an elephant.
-We became official stalkers. So, one of Mike's friend from high school came and visited us and I found out that he served with Chris Little. We went on line to the "Stalker Net" (don't lie, I know that everyone has been on that at least once in their live) and got his phone number. With our luck, the number was disconnected. I remembered then that we lives right across the street from us, so we just went over. He wasn't home though.
-Last weekend, we took our engagement photos. We have been looking at photos and videos of Karl to practice our smiles (thanks bud for the pointers)

That's all that is happening, we will keep you updated on all the adventures that we are having.