We decided we wanted to be a festive family for Halloween this year. However, most of the month has been filled with school and work, so most of our free time is spent eating, sleeping, and watching an occasional episode of Criminal Minds on Netflix. BUT! We decided to throw a Halloween party with some friends from school and our ward. Take that, monotony! On Halloween, our ward had a small party and chili cook-off that we were supposed to help out with, so we went to that dressed as Real Salt Lake fans, cause that's legit.
After the party, we came home and finished prepping everything for our party That included getting dressed in our real costumes.
Trisha and I made some creative appetizers that she found on Pinterest: banana ghosts, with chocolate chips for the eyes and mouth and little pumpkins made of oranges and sliced celery for the stem. Trish also made a green slush drink that looked pretty spooky. And to top off the food, we bought a jack-o-lantern pizza from Papa Murphy's, it was pretty cool! We ate, talked, and played group games for most of the night. We had a lot of fun celebrating with good friends (and pretty tasty food!) And now, we can officially celebrate CHRISTMAS!!!!!!! I've included some pictures from the party, we also had a Russian babushka, a lumberjack, and Medusa that we forgot to take pictures of. Cripes!
This weekend was quite busy and fun! During the Winter months in Cedar City, the cold is quite bitter. This bitter cold deters us from doing much outdoors. Since our friendships have been slowly atrophying, we have made it a goal to become more socially active now that Spring is here. If this weekend is an indicator for the remainder of the season, I think we will absolutely demolish our goal. On Friday night after Trisha's game ended, we drove up the canyon to have a dutch oven dinner with three of our couple friends. We cooked dutch oven potatoes, chicken, and peach/raspberry cobbler.
It was such a great time- and quite delicious! The crisp mountain air and opportunity to spend time with friends was so refreshing. On Saturday, Trisha had a Softball clinic from 10-2, so I cleaned up the house and did homework while she was gone. While she attended the Women's Conference, I played FIFA with a friend until the Real Salt Lake game started at 7:30. We had 8 people over to watch the game with us, so we really enjoyed having the company! I got to talk with one of them who I had never met before. His name is Pedro, he is an exchange student from Brazil. We got to talk about a wide range of subjects, including what his thoughts were on Brazil hosting the World Cup. He said that he protested on the streets because the money being spent on stadiums could be used on the failing health and education systems. I was aware of this unrest, but it was interesting to hear about it from a native who actually participated. After church today we helped our neighbors clean up and take care of some finishing touches before they move tomorrow to North Dakota! Before we left, Addison, their son that we teach in primary, said "When you move, will you move close to us?" It was so sweet! We're excited for the weather to be getting better-even though it has snowed the past two days- and to be more outgoing again.
As primary teachers, we have had many emotions: happiness, love, stress, concern, adoration, and amazement. Laughter also abounds quite regularly. While we are usually able to suppress the giggles until after church, sometimes we are not able to "hold it in". Neither could one of the little girls in our class. This girl is particularly fond of sitting on our laps during class. She had been sitting on Trisha's lap and then came to sit on mine for the remainder of class. We were asking the kids if they needed to use the restroom before sharing time when this sweet little girl (who was still sitting on my lap) said that she didn't, she had used it before class. That answer would have sufficed, yet she added another detail. She said "I peed in my pants a little because I couldn't get to the bathroom in time." Great. My legs felt a little muggy, but I thought I was just imagining it until she removed all doubt.
Another funny moment in class came from a sweet little boy that we love so much. Trisha was showing a picture of an Angel speaking with Mary and asked "Who is Mary?" One kid answered that Mary was Jesus' mother and we were about to move on, but this boy still had his hand raised. Trisha asked him if he was going to say that Mary was Jesus' mother. He replied in a somewhat confused voice: "No...I was going to say that Mary was Jesus'.....husband." We could not hold in our chuckles at this unexpected comment. Luckily he didn't feel bad about our reaction to his answer. These kids are so cute and we are very glad to have the opportunity to be a part of their lives and development. Teaching on Sundays isn't all roses and rainbows, in fact, we are usually quite relieved when primary ends and we no longer need to keep all the kids reverent. However, moments like these keep us smiling and happy that we can spend time with these sweet, innocent children of our Heavenly Father.
Recently, I read through a General Conference talk from last October, Be Ye Converted. In reading the words of Sister Bonnie L. Oscarson, I was suddenly reminded of one week several years ago that I spent near Manteca, California. I was a young teenager, excited for a trip away from home. Not too far from home, though, as I was going to stay with my Aunt Kathy. I flew by myself for the first time, and cried a little bit as I said goodbye to my mom. I really had no idea what to expect that week, but the things I learned changed my entire life.
My activity in the church started when I was barely 13, as a New Years' resolution. I could see that my friends were happier than me and church attendance was really the only difference between my life and theirs. I know, not exactly typical. I'm not entirely sure if my trip was the immediate Summer or the one following, but I was still getting a feel for the spiritual life.
I always loved seeing my Aunt Kathy, and this year she offered for me to come visit for a week and attend girls' camp with her ward. She helped plan the camp and was going to be up there all week with the other 12-18 year old girls in her area. I was really excited for the opportunity, but also very nervous to be somewhere so new with people I didn't know.
While I don't remember a lot of details about that week, I remember being so touched and inspired. The theme was based on a song by Jenny Phillips - Live Like You Believe. I was in awe at the strength and happiness of my new friends. I grew up surrounded by the LDS faith. I basically lived the standards by default. These California natives talked all week about the trials they went through in picking good friends and sometimes being teased for the decisions they made based on faith. As a 14-year-old, I was incredibly impressed. I felt so fortunate. Besides the moral strength, the spiritual maturity in this group touched my heart.
On one afternoon, we had a special guest come up to camp. Lucky me, it happened to be my cousin, Matt Daley and his new wife, Kimber. In true youth activity fashion, they changed into their wedding outfits and visited with us about their story together. They put emphasis on a temple marriage. From the short time hearing from them, I saw honesty, love, and happiness in their relationship. From that time forward, a temple marriage became one of my biggest goals. I wanted so badly to have a relationship like Matt and Kimber...now they have two kids and live in Texas, and I'm hoping my family life will be just like theirs.
By the end of the week, I was so excited about life. I learned about camping, tying knots, hiking, and a lot of spirituality. All of these memories flood back to me each time I listen to "Live Like You Believe." Even without an emotional connection, the song is just beautiful. It has such a special place in my heart. I hope you enjoy:
We've done quite a lot this weekend! The indoor soccer tournament I had registered for with a few buddies started on Thursday night. The tournament lasted from Thursday to Saturday night. We had a record of 3-2 during the group stage and were knocked out in the first round of the tournament. I scored three goals during our games! It was great, our team was full of upbeat and fun people. A lot of the teams in the tournament were really intense and would get mad at their own teammates for making mistakes. Watching them reminded me of a huge reason why I didn't stick with soccer. After the tournament was over, I was really hungry. Craving some calorie-dense food, my mind was stuck on eating a Big Mac meal. True to form, I had not used some McDonald's gift certificates that I had been given as part of a birthday gift about 8 years ago, so we drove home to get them. After 8 years, McDonald's accounts payable account finally balanced. And their accountants rejoiced exceedingly. Trisha and my teammates' wives/significant others were our team supporters, they provided us with halftime snacks and a solid cheering section, it was really great! I'm glad that Trish is such a good sport, coming to each of my games to support me.
After our games on Friday night, we hosted some of our team for a FIFA party. We had ice cream and played FIFA for a few hours. It was fun to relax at the start of the weekend and having played two games that night.
On Saturday morning, we went to a marriage symposium that had some great speakers. First, we heard from John Bytheway! I remember all of us loving his tapes with funny songs. He gave a great talk that gave 10 principles for a happy marriage. Along with the great lesson, he did a perfect impression of Barney Fife from The Andy Griffith Show. It was amazing! Following his remarks, we heard from Brother Goodman, a professor from BYU. He gave a great talk about intimacy within marriage. He focused on the Godly nature of this gift and how we can increase our love for each other through it. We were able to sit next to some good friends during this symposium and had lunch with them afterwards.
That's it for this week. Stay tuned for more regular updates :) Until next time!
Dave
Soo... Sorry that we haven't posted anything in ages, I wish we had a good excuse, but it's mostly that we just forget we have a blog and then remember when we're going to bed and resolve to do it the next day, but never do. Then we repeat this cycle. However, today we are breaking out of our Groundhog Day-ish routine to bring you an update of our lives.
The beginning of the year has brought a lot of change in our house. For starters, we lost our roommate! Tyler moved up north for a good job opportunity. We miss him, but he really loves the job and sounds like he will do well with it. To compensate for not playing racquetball anymore, I have started doing "Insanity" with some goods friends up here in Cedar. If you have not heard of insanity, here is a link with a sample of a workout: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLK28BHJDd8. These workouts last for 45 minutes and they are the most intense workouts I have ever done. The first few days were unpleasant, but now following each workout I feel so good! It's weird, but nice:)
Another change is that Trisha has taken the semester off from school because she will start coaching softball for the Canyon View freshman team! She will be altering her work schedule so she can attend the practices and games. She'll start work at 7am, work during lunch, and leave at 3 so she can make it to the field for practice, which is held from 3-6. Needless to say, she will be very busy this semester! She is really excited, and I know she'll do great!
We have more to report, but for the sake of retaining reader interest, I will separate that into another post so those with glazed-over eyes can take a break. Again, we are very sorry for shirking our blogging, we'll put our shoulder to the wheel and blog along :)
We spent Thanksgiving up in Elk Ridge with Trisha's family this year. It was filled with good food and good company! We had a great meal and I was introduced to a few secret family cuisines such as Giggle Juice. The recipe is a close-kept family secret; don't ask me for it or I'll force it down your throat and have you giggling until Easter! The feast was great and we visited for a few hours afterwards over pie. After we had recovered enough, we prepared ourselves for.....BLACK FRIDAY(it was Thursday night, but it counts)! I wasn't sure what to expect as we began our descent off of the mountain to our first target, er, destination: Wal-mart. We went straight for the super-cheap movies that were lined up against the meat aisle spanning the entire length of the store. The deal officially began at 6 pm, so there were scores of people lined up waiting to break through the tape that separated them from their prizes. At 6 o'clock, the barrier was removed and people flooded the area and picked up as many movies as they could hold. Luckily, we had our handy-dandy 11-year old that could dodge and weave between people as she bravely plucked movies from the shelves and returned them to us so we could take inventory. I got into the heat of it and snatched a copy of Despicable Me from some unsuspecting child. He already had three, save some for the fishies, kid. I know it's harsh, but the kid needed to learn a lesson about life, and what better time to learn than on Black Friday? I'm just kidding, that was a work of fiction; I'm not that heartless :)
Following Wal-mart, we went to Kohl's and Shopko. There were some serious deals! We saved $102 at Kohl's and only spent $34! In fact, we were basically done with our Christmas shopping before December even began! And we got 3 Harry Potter movies for less than $5 at Wal-mart. I had a great time with family as we awed at the spectacles that accompany this event. The moral of the story is that although Black Friday is portrayed as this crazy event, there are great deals, and great fun to be had.
On Actual Black Friday, Tyler, Kamri, and I went to Lowe's Air Sports in Provo while Trisha worked on a research paper. It is an open gymnastic gym for anyone to play around in. They have a lot of foam pits and Olympic quality trampolines to play on. We had a great time on the 20 foot rock wall that hung above a foam pit so you could jump off once you reached the top. Kamri said it was fun to just fall backwards once you had reached the top, it was so fun! It is a surprisingly long freefall! Tyler convinced me to try backflips on a mat. He would spot me and help me improve my form. I got pretty close to landing a few, but couldn't quite hold my tuck for long enough. There was also a trapeze that we swung from into a foam pit. Tyler dared me to try a backflip from the trapeze to the pit, he was hesitant to do it after he had landed weirdly the last time he tried. I went a few times but chickened out when I let go. Finally I decided I would regret it if I didn't do it, so I got up there and did it! It was so cool! On a side note, I've decided to give up school and pursue trapeze-artistry. It's real.
So that about sums up our Thanksgiving weekend, sorry it was such a lengthy account! Also, if you pay for Trisha and I to come visit you, I will teach you the art of the trapeze. Or, to save some money, look for my act coming to a circus near you.
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