"Sunday is a speshl day"

Today was our ward's Primary Program. One of my favorite Sundays of the year! It's not as relaxing and entertaining when you're involved in it, but I loved it. We're so grateful to be in the Primary, teaching together. Our kids were SO funny during class though... Laura was visiting again and started to write down some of the best lines:

Tyler: "Is it a good idea to steal?"

All kids: "No!"

Greg: "BORROW!!"

Tyler: "I wouldn't guess 'C'" (trying to give a hint as we're playing hangman)

Greg: "Well what letter would you guess?"

Laura: "Are you going to teach me a lesson?" (Kids are pretending to be teachers)

Catherine: "Aww, man! We already had a lesson!"

Mila, taking role of teacher: "Who said you could talk?!?"

We love our kiddos. In other news, we can't believe how quickly this semester is flying by! I have 5 (literally) midterms this coming week. But I had my anatomy lab midterm on Saturday, so the worst is over. Tyler has a test on Monday as well, so neither of us are terribly exciting right now. But we did have a fun date last night-- Tyler's so sweet to set aside time for me, even when he's so busy. I have been crocheting in every spare minute the last couple of weeks, and I love it! I'll post pictures of some of the stuff I've made soon. My little obsession is about to turn into Christmas presents for everyone I know! :) Speaking of which, I may or may not be watching White Christmas right now... early or not, that's a great movie! Before I can get too excited about Christmas though, I need to figure out Halloween. Or at least these midterms.

Not much is happening out of the ordinary around here. School, work, and homework seem to consume our lives! But we did get out for a fun date on Friday night-- we did some mini-golf, batting cages, and an XD theater movie at Trafalga. We also took a drive up Hobble Creek Canyon on Sunday afternoon and it was absolutely gorgeous! Last year fall was so short and it really just was an early winter, so we're soakin' it up this year. Oh and did I mention PUMPKIN SHAKES?? I love them with all my heart. Don't worry, Linds, I'll go back and eat another one in your honor. And then I'll probably have another one for me. :) We get them at Arctic Circle (where the good stuff is, of course) because they're the best! I also put Oreos in mine for a little crunch. I didn't like pumpkin pie until I had pumpkin oreo shakes.

I have my anatomy lab midterm on Saturday... gulp. I'm pretty nervous! Tyler has a test this weekend too, so I'm not sure how much fun we will be. But we're hoping to head up to Hee Haws on Saturday night, and that will be a nice break. I've been trying lots of new recipes lately, from the blog Let Me Plan Dinner. Tonight is Viva La Chicken! I'm also making some chocolate chocolate chip cookies from a new recipe... they're really good, but kinda flat. Hopefully after refrigerating the dough they'll be a little better. Wow am I hungry or what??

I feel as though I need to apologize. After spending some time with Giselle and the Wright ladies on Saturday night, I realize I am getting a little bit out of control, and that there's a little something wrong with me! I have this uncontrollable desire to tell people what I know. This is normally not a huge problem, because my intelligence is limited. However, since starting school, I feel like all I can talk about is anatomy and language impairment and the phonetic alphabet! I just get SO excited about this stuff, and I want everyone to know and be excited about it too. But I realize I am letting this excitement invade my thoughts and conversation to an extreme! So I'm sorry to anyone who has had a conversation with me lately. You probably didn't want to know which bones could cause you to bleed to death by breaking them, nor did you want to know when to start worrying that your kid doesn't talk.

*But before I tell you that I'm going to stop telling you what I've learned., I learned TONS about autism (mostly in relation to communication) today. I'm completely fascinated! The knowledge has made me analyze everything about myself and people around me though... not so good.*

Okay, now I'm really done. Unless it's something uber-important and exciting.

-My gym membership has expired, so now I watch Biggest Loser instead.

-I just finished taking out my long day on the kitchen. It hasn't looked this good since before conference!

-Started reading "The Hiding Place" by Corrie Ten Boom yesterday. It is so humbling to read about people so genuinely sweet and thankful and kind. I want that to be me.

-The sickness is finally going away-- we're down to just a cough and a constant headache. I can handle that! Good health is such a blessing that I usually have, and that I usually take for granted.

-I'm anti- blog post titles right now.

-We don't usually have much ironing to do... but there is one shirt of Tyler's and a skirt of mine that have been draped over a chair in our room for a while. I think I will iron them tonight. Probably while I watch Parenthood!

-Tried a new recipe tonight-- Chicken Nachos! They were really tasty, but we weren't totally in love with the fact that some of the chips got a little soggy. I'll do a little tweeking and hopefully try it again soon. Next new recipe: taco soup. YUM.

-I wasn't feeling super fall-festive while the weather was still so summer-like, but it finally hit me yesterday! It was raining and I needed a jacket outside. I came home from school and curled up on the couch with a blanket and listened to the rumbling thunder and took a nap. We had soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner, and it completed the day perfectly. I even got out my fall decoration! Emphasize the singularity of that sentence-- I need to do some serious crafting and decorating.

We enjoyed this weekend so much! Besides my always needing to sneeze and having a Rudolph nose from blowing my nose so much, anyway. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I think almost every sickness I've had in the last three years has turned into a sinus infection! Despite not feeling well, I got my best score EVER on an anatomy quiz! Ask me about any of the muscles, their origins, and their insertions in the legs/abs/back. :) We also took a drive up Provo Canyon to see the beautiful leaves and take some pictures.






I have one good-lookin' husband!

Laura and I spent Saturday night with Aunt Dana and her girls. We ate at JCW Burgers (have you ever been there? You should go) and then roamed around at Roberts and Simply Splendid boutique. We had such a great night, talking and laughing and pigging out. One of my favorite things about conference weekend is all the food! We had lots of fun traditions growing up, and I wanted to start some of our own. I made monkey bread muffins, scones and chili, and ugly chicken. The only downside to all this is that I can't taste anything! So disappointing. But I hear that it was yummy. :) Here comes another week! Maybe I'll get my taste buds back for some leftover ugly chicken tomorrow....

Big dreams and other stuff

I had a dream the other night that I was meeting Tyler for lunch, just like every day. He ran in, and was so excited to tell me that he had purchased a house in Hawaii! And then he added, "And I didn't even have to use any money!!" Ha. Maybe someday. :)

Tyler is feeling much better, but unfortunately, he passed it on to me. I thought I had slid under the sickie radar, but it hit me pretty hard yesterday. My voice sounds so funny-- I sound more like Tyler than like me! I decided that being sick as an adult is way worse than being sick as a kid. Adults can't really take days off and lie around all day watching tv and movies and having meals magically brought to you! If you do take days off, it takes weeks to catch up, and sometimes the catch-up process can bring on yet another sickness. Bah for being grown up sometimes.

The good news is, I knocked out my Anatomy midterm today, and did better than I expected. Plus, Gen Con is this weekend, and cooler weather is on the way! I've been waiting to bust out the cold-weather clothes and boots!

Over it

I have a cute little bowl, perfect for ice cream. It is a Hersey's bowl and even has fake chocolate dripping down the side. It was a gift from a friend in jr. high, and I loved it so much I even kept jewelry in it, combining two of my favorite things-- chocolate and jewelry. But today, something unfortunate happened. I used the bowl to mix pancake batter in the morning, then was washing the bowl in the afternoon. I had it in my hand, then suddenly it slipped out! I dropped it in the sink and it cracked. It didn't shatter, but the crack runs all the way through! You'd think that I would be heartbroken because of the sentimental value of the bowl, but my first thought was, "Sweet-- one less dish to wash!" Apparently I have a subconscious wish to just throw all my dishes away after using them. :)

Anyway, it's been a good week. Can't believe it's already over. It was a busy one full of tests and quizzes. Tyler has been pretty sick this weekend, poor guy. The lack of sleep and working so hard has finally caught up to him! Thank goodness Laura is in town this weekend-- I needed someone to keep those crazy kids under control in Primary! We had a visitor in our class, and she added a whole new level of excitement. Our lesson was on talents, and when I asked the kids what talents are, and one of them answered, "It's when you're popular." These kids are awesome. After Church, I came home, made Tyler wake up to drink some water and take some medicine, and spent some time with Laura. We watched "Emma Smith" and I made us chocolate chip pancakes. Did some dishes, started dinner, and relaxed a bit with Tyler. Poor honey is so stuffed up. I made some peanut butter bars (mega YUM) and then we ate dinner-- BBQ chicken and mashed potatoes. I spent an hour or two searching for new recipes on my new favorite blog-- letmeplandinner.blogspot-- and I'm so excited to try them! I'll let you know how they go.

This week will be great! I'm SO excited for General Conference. I have so many memories and traditions (a lot of them centered around food haha) associated with this weekend. Kim and I are praying that there will be a freeze sometime this week so we can pick grapes and can grape juice this next weekend... but we're supposed to be in the 90's this week, so I kinda doubt it! Oh well. It will be a great weekend anyway. I'm so excited to see baby Sam again-- the kid has grown so much! Plus, Laura, Kim, and I get to have a little GNO when the boys go to Priesthood session. I'm also hoping to finally go on that drive with this guy up the canyon to see the leaves.

Not quite ready

for this week to start. My weekends are precious. Except for the fact that Saturdays feel like part of the week. So I guess it's more appropriate to say that my Sundays are precious. My dad-in-law is in town, so we spent some of the weekend with him. Friday night I made ugly chicken for 4 big-eater guys... quite an accomplishment. I'm just glad our rice cooker held up! :) Saturday Tyler and I helped clean the church and then I went to my anatomy lab for 3 hours while Ty went golfing with his dad and brothers. I turned green with envy when they kept telling me how pretty Hobble Creek Canyon is right now! Sounds like I need to take a scenic drive. I got some more homework done in the afternoon and then we went to Pizza Pie Cafe for dinner with the fam. I love that place! If you've ever been to Craigo's in Rexburg, then this is the place for you. It's delish. Sunday was my favorite day. Church was a little tiring (those kids have upped their doses of crazy, I swear) and we went to my cousin Dan's mission homecoming. It's so cool that all my friends from high school and cousins my age are coming home! It's fun to see how people have changed. We had the best afternoon, in part because it included a nap. :) I love being with Tyler and not having homework or other things to do getting in the way. We talked for a good few hours about everything and nothing, and it was just what I needed. I made chocolate chip pancakes for dinner (Yes, don't I deserve a gold star for making healthy meals) and relaxed while Tyler caught up on some reading. Sundays are perfect.

But then, whether or not you're ready, Monday comes! I think it'll be a good week though. Fall officially hits us on Wednesday, which is pretty exciting. We haven't been great about taking pictures lately, in part because studying and doing homework is not picture-worthy. But for all the complaining I do about school and studying, I want to say that I seriously love being back in school! I am so fascinated by everything I'm learning. This morning I have a lab for my acoustics class and we get to go into the anechoic chamber here on campus. How cool is that?!? Also, Saturday was my first time working with cadavers, and it was such a cool experience. I gain a stronger testimony every week that we were created by a Heavenly Father who loves us so much! I recently finished reading "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin (which I recommend to everyone, by the way) and it really made me want to work on being more grateful and happy and content with my life. It's hard to balance that with having ambition and setting and achieving goals, but a balance that I need to get to. Anyway, random thoughts.

*This is what I hope to do again in the fall leaves. SO much better than in snow :)

Learning something new every day

Did you know that you can rent bones at BYU?!? I went down to the stockroom to purchase gloves (we are starting to work on real live, or should I say dead, cadavers), and a girl was walking away with a bone model to study with! So, here I am, sitting in the library with a scapula, getting ready for my test on Saturday. I feel pretty awesome.

Here's your sign

Finally it's Friday! This week has felt pretty long, but overall it has been a good one. One highlight of the week: I was allowed to drop my grammar class and still get credit for it!! A part of me felt sad, but just the part that loves grammar... not the part that hates busywork. That I won't miss. Other highlight of the week: I got a bus pass! Now I won't have to ride my bike to school and arrive out-of-breath and "glistening." Now if I can just figure out the bus system, I'll be golden.

You know you have too many books when you put your backpack on the passenger seat and the "fasten seatbelt" light comes on. Seriously, this happened to me yesterday!! That must be why my shoulders ache at night. I also knew I had too many books when I put on my backpack to leave, then remembered I hadn't brushed my teeth. Left the backpack on as I went into the bathroom, turned sideways, and sprayed toothpaste everywhere laughing when I saw that my backpack is thicker than me. If I ran around campus, I'm sure I would look like one of those little high school freshman who runs to class and has a huge backpack. I should seriously consider an on-campus locker.

All this U.S. Open has inspired me, and I just want to play tennis all the time! Tyler and I went for a bit on Monday just to hit around for an hour, and we were both hitting so much better after watching! I really think watching the pros helps me. Too bad cold weather is comin' fast, and there's not much time to play anymore.

Weekend plans: Date night with the hubby (dinner and a temple session), 3 hours of Anatomy lab tomorrow, which will include a quiz... ugh, and hopefully some tennis. Maybe I'll squeeze a haircut? Stake Conference on Saturday night and Sunday, which will be a nice break from exhausting Primary. Happy weekend to you!