Thanksgiving

So I thought maybe I should write a little about Thanksgiving before Christmas comes around in 6 days!!! Especially because I'm not a fan of Thanksgiving getting neglected. I think that has to do with the fact that I love my family history and part of that includes the First Thanksgiving!

This was our first Thanksgiving as a married couple! We spent it with my family down in Mapleton. It was the first time that everybody had their significant other with them. YAY! We had so much fun playing, eating, and laughing together. Here are some of the highlights.

First, the boys and me and Munch went out to the park to play a little frisbee golf. Mom, Leesy, and Janice were inside cooking and supposedly watching the kids. Long story short, I got hit with a frisbee and so I went inside after a little while. As I was walking in the front door, I see Connor (4), Millie (3), and Carter (2) putting their shoes on. They told me that they were going to the ladybug park (a park on the other side of my parents neighborhood). I didn't think much of it until I realized they were heading out the door and my mom wasn't anywhere to be seen. I then had the following conversation with Connor:
Me: "Is Grandma taking you?"
Connor: "No, she's cooking."
Me: "Is mommy taking you?"
Connor: "No."
Me: "Does anybody know you're going?"
Connor: "No."
Me: "Maybe we should tell mommy where we're going."
I thought it was so funny that these cute little kids were going to go to the ladybug park all by themselves, even Carter, as Connor puts it. Glad I decided to go in when I did or else we would have had 3 lost little children. Little cuties!

Second, we played Rollick. This is like charades, but only one person guesses and everybody else on the team acts it out. It's so much fun! And so funny! I would have to say that the funniest moment was when Steve (my sister's fiancé) and I had to act out spaghetti. We were twirling our forks and Munch wasn't getting it. Then we both had the same idea at the same time: Lady and the Tramp! But of course we didn't want to act that out... We tried our best without getting very close to each other. Everybody except Munch knew what we were doing so everybody was laughing really hard.

Third, Carter went around eating everybody's left over pie. Which might not be too funny by itself, but just the way he was doing it was super funny. Here's some pictures to show just how cute he was eating the pie! I love that kid!

Well that was our Thanksgiving! I loved spending time with my family! They are the absolute best! Can't wait for Christmas so we can party all over again!

Jackson Hole Honeymoon

So basically our honeymoon was awesome!! We had so much fun! First of all we stayed in the Anniversary Inn in Salt Lake for 2 nights. We had the Romeo and Juliet room which was AMAZING!! It had a big balcony in the room that was where the bed was. It was just gorgeous! We didn't want to leave!

On Sunday we decided that we would drive until we found a church that was having 1:00 church. So we get in the car and start driving. How hard could it be to find a church in Utah, right? Well let me tell you, it was hard!!! We drove and drove and drove until we finally found one. But it was a singles ward and they didn't start until 1:45. So we get in our car and drive some more. Again we drove and drove and drove until we finally found a church. We walk in and it is once again a singles ward... Oh great... But it was already 1 so we decided just to go with it. So I'm sitting in Relief Society and I look over and guess who's sitting there! Our old Stake President! That's right, on our honeymoon we went to a singles ward in our old stake. At least it wasn't our old ward... But still! It was so funny!

Then we were off to Jackson, Wyoming! On the way up there we stopped in Rexburg so that Brendan could show me where he spent 4 years of his life. He showed me the art classrooms, where he used to live, and where he taught seminary. He really loves Rexburg and was so excited to show me everything.

Everywhere we drove, Brendan wanted to take pictures so that he could paint them later. It was so gorgeous so I don't blame him! It took us about 3 times as long to get anywhere but I really didn't mind at all! It was so much fun to look at the beautiful scenery, drive around, and especially to see Brendan get so excited! Every 5 minutes he would say "Oh Man," stop the car and start taking pictures. I'm not exaggerating either. Every 5 minutes, if that!! It was so cute! And so much fun!

Mostly we went to a lot of art galleries up there. Luckily, Brendan is studying with an incredible artist who is very well known up there so the owners were happy to talk to us and give us some advice. It was so nice of them to take time out of their day and talk to us! We know they wouldn't have if it weren't for Brother Whitaker. We are so grateful for the opportunities he is giving Brendan.

Probably my favorite thing was seeing the wildlife! We decided to go up to Teton village and take the tram. On the drive up there, Brendan of course had to stop and take pictures. I usually just sat in the car and looked around, but one time Brendan came running up and told me there was a deer and I had to come see it! So I ran across the road and down where the deer was. There was another guy down there who told us there were actually 2 deer. What??? Awesome!! So we tried to get as close as we could to them. Turns out there were actually 4 deer! 2 bucks, a doe, and a baby. I was a little nervous about the big one attacking us, so we were really careful. We eventually got within about 20 yards of them. That was as close as we dared to go. It was so cool!! Anyway, we then continued our drive. We were on this little dirt road and I was determined to find another animal. I wanted to see an elk or a moose or something like that, but what we found was even better!!! We're driving and we see a whole bunch of people stopped along the road. They were all looking at something. It was a black bear! I tried my best to take a picture as we drove by. It was so close to the road, I could have stuck my hand out and touched it! Well at that point I thought my life was complete. So I was happy and we kept on driving. Not 2 minutes down the road, we see more people stopped and looking at something. Another bear!! What are the chances of that?? So we stopped and tried to get a picture, but it was kind of hidden in the trees. So we keep on driving. About 5 minutes down the road we see some people stopped and looking something. This couldn't be another bear! That just doesn't happen! Oh but it does! The honeymoon gods wanted to bless us or something. 3 bears!!!!!!! That was so cool!!!! We didn't get any good pictures of them though because we were hurried along by the park rangers. Oh man, my life is pretty much complete now. :)

One sad thing that happened was that we were supposed to go on a hot air balloon ride, but they had to cancel it because of the weather. Sad! I was nervous about it, but it still would have been cool to do. Oh well, maybe another time.

On the way home we took the back country and it was just gorgeous! God must really love us to create such a beautiful world for us to live on. We went by Bear Lake and stopped to get raspberry milkshakes at La Beaus. MMMMM!!!!!! and then drove through Logan. I really didn't want to come home, but it was pretty much the perfect honeymoon! We had a blast!!

Wedding Day

It's been over a month since we got married, so I thought it might be time to blog about it a little bit. The day before I was so stressed out! I hadn't picked out any music for the reception and couldn't decide on our first dance song. I spent the night down in Mapleton with my parents and spent the night trying to find just the right music. Well I finally found it and then I couldn't get my Ipod to connect to my computer. Luckily I have an amazing brother who was still awake and helped me figure it out. By this time it's midnight and I have to get up in 3 1/2 hours so I decided it would be smart to go to bed. But could I sleep??? Of course not!! I got about 1 1/2 hours of sleep that night. Luckily there was enough adrenaline to keep me going all day!!

So that morning my hair appointment is at 6 am and we have to stop at my apartment first because I forgot my dress. I just barely started down the road when I see a spider in my car!!!!!! I slam on the brakes, and start running down the street yelling for my mom. Luckily we are in Mapleton and it's like 4:30 in the morning so I'm not afraid of getting hit by any cars... just that I would wake up the neighbors. But I didn't really care because it is my wedding day and I need to get to my hair appointment but how am I supposed to drive when there's a spider in my car???? Oh good heavens... Eventually my mom convinced me to get in the car and drive. I couldn't see the spider again until I was getting off the freeway, but I tried really hard not to freak out and made it to my apartment without crashing.

Anyway, despite running a little bit late, and the spider fiasco, the ceremony was absolutely beautiful. It was so great being sealed to the love of my life for all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple. And it was nice that the most important part of the day was absolutely perfect and knowing that nothing else really matters. We were running kind of early by then so I took my sweet time getting ready and pampered. I was a little bit worried about my dress because the night before I tried it on and it wouldn't zip up!!! But that morning I sucked in like my life depended on it and it zipped up right away! Taking pictures was fun and I can't wait to see them. It started to rain on us a little bit so we went inside to wait it out a little, but it just got worse but we had some pictures that we still had to get. So we got an umbrella and went for a little run in the rain. I was laughing so hard the entire time. It was great!

The luncheon was absolutely perfect and so much fun to just relax. We had it at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and I don't think I would change a thing. Except maybe when my dad announced to ALL the guests that Brendan was helping me change... That was extremely embarrassing!! But it was so great to feel so much love from our friends and family.

Then we were off to the state capitol!! No time to waste! The reception was gorgeous!! I am so grateful for everyone who helped us make it perfect! I didn't have to worry about a thing! It was fun taking pictures and talking to everyone who came to support us. Then came time to cut the cake... I knew Brendan was going to shove it in my face and I told him not to get it in my hair, on my dress, or ruin my makeup. So we cut the cake and as I bite down to eat the cake a few thoughts are running through my mind: "Why isn't he shoving it in my face?" and "Hmmm... this cake is kind of hard... I should bite down harder." Next thing I know, Brendan has this horrible look of pain on his face and is dropping the cake down my dress. I then realized that the hard thing that I just bit was not cake... it was Brendan's finger!!! Hahahahaha Oh man! I just bit him hard!! It was so funny for me... not so funny for him. It still makes me laugh just thinking about it. During the bouquet toss I attempted to secretly throw it to my little sister since she just needs to marry Steve already, but did she even try to catch it?? Of course not, she ran away from it. Oh Munchie... she's so funny. Brendan's favorite part of the night was the dancing. After the daddy/daughter dance and our first dance, we danced with all the nieces and nephews. It was a lot of fun!! My niece's favorite thing was when I sat down and she spun me around. It was really cute. I seriously could not have asked for a better wedding day. Brendan and I were so happy with how it turned out. All I wanted was to feel like a princess. Mission accomplished.

Right before the biting of the finger

YAY!!! We're married!!!!

The bouquet toss

I love this man!!!

Planning, Planning, and More Planning!

I knew that planning a wedding was a lot of work, but I didn't realize just how much work it really was! I am constantly working on wedding stuff. Somethings are more fun than others, but this only happens once so I'm trying to enjoy it.

The most stressful things for me so far have been the registry and the invitations. Deciding what I want was so hard!! I hope I made some good decisions. And I will be able to relax a little bit once the invitations have been sent out... Hopefully that will be sooner rather than later!!

The fun things for me have been picking out my gorgeous wedding dress! Seriously, it's absolutely perfect!! I've also had so much fun finding an apartment for us to live in. It was really stressful at first because we couldn't find anything, but we found the cutest little apartment and I am so excited about it!! I told Brendan last night that I am so excited to make it our cute little home. He moves in this weekend and I cannot wait! I am also in love with our engagement pictures! Cutest couple ever award! I was really stressed about them but they are everything I have ever dreamed of and more. Another fun thing for me has been where we're going to have our reception. It is going to be at the State Capitol in the rotunda. Can you say perfection??? I am going to have my dream wedding. No doubt about that. Of course the thing I'm most excited about is being sealed together in the temple. If that was the only thing we had, I would be the happiest girl in the world. I am so excited to be with my best friend forever and to see where this journey will take us.

So that's what I've been doing all summer. It has been an incredible experience so far. Only 38 more days to go!! I'm going to try to make the most of them.

Engaged!!!!!

This little life of mine is going to become this little life of ours!! On June 22, 2013 Brendan Clary proposed to me! I am the happiest girl in the world! He is the love of my life and I can't think of anyone who would be better for me to marry.

Let me start at the beginning. One day in December of 2011 I get a text from one of my students saying that another one of my students had found my future husband. I'm, of course, thinking well that's great, saves me a lot of work (little did I know it would actually take a lot of work!). Anyway I find out that my student, Savannah, had had a very handsome, funny, and amazing substitute in seminary that day who she felt would be perfect for me. I kept joking with her and asking her when I was going to meet my future husband. In February she finally got my number to the secretary of her seminary and the secretary called Brendan and told him about what was going on. That night I got a message from him on Facebook asking if I would want to go to lunch sometime. We agreed to meet on Saturday and go to Subway. I am a little bit skeptical about getting set up, especially when the person setting us up doesn't even know the guy, but I figured you can't really go wrong with a seminary teacher. So we met and talked for a couple of hours and agreed to go on another date the next weekend. After that date, I was on cloud 9. I could not stop smiling and I was already falling in love. Well we just started going on a lot of dates and talking to each other on the phone for hours. I realized that Brendan wasn't perfect, but he was about as close as it gets. I was just dying to be his girlfriend, but sadly it didn't happen...

In June, I was getting a little restless with the whole situation so I finally just asked him what was going on. He said that he just wanted to be friends. Stab in the heart. But I was still crazy about him so I would rather have him just be my friend than have him out of my life completely so we still hung out all the time and talked all the time. I got the privilege of hearing about the great dates he was going on and I was really just hating my life at that point. I was going on dates with other guys but no one compared to Brendan. But I was determined to get over him because I knew nothing would ever happen.

So this continued on until October 23. We were just friends and it was miserable for me. Then I get a text this morning from Brendan asking if I wanted to go on a breakfast date. I was ecstatic! I was thinking that he wanted to keep going on dates again!! YAY!!!!! So we go to breakfast and then he suggests we take a walk in the park. I knew something was up because you don't just go for walks in the park... It was there that he asked me to be his girlfriend! The day I had been waiting 7 1/2 months for was finally here! So we started dating.

Our dating life was definitely not easy. We enjoyed each other and we laughed and we played, but I also cried, a lot... I am the biggest bawl baby in the world! You see, Brendan had major issues with the whole marriage thing. I honestly thought that we wouldn't get engaged for another year or so. Then came June 22...

On June 22, 2013, Brendan and I drove up to Park City and went to some art galleries. While we were up there we passed a jewelry store and I made some joke about wanting to go look at rings. He acted the way he always did when I brought up marriage, he just brushed it off and told me that I was going on a mission. On the way home, we started talking about marriage in general, but not about us getting married. We never ever talked about us getting married. Then he took me to Red Robin, one of my favorites!!, and then we went on a hike. I thought to myself that it would be so cute if he proposed on our hike, but I immediately pushed that thought out of my mind because I knew it wouldn't happen. We got to the trailhead at sunset and then started our hike. We were starting down and saw some big rocks and I suggested that we sit on them because I kind of wanted to have a romantic moment and talk about feelings. As we were sitting on these boulders, Brendan said "This might be a little bit cheesy, but I brought some candles for us." I thought it was so cute!! Unfortunately, the wind was blowing out the candles. So we had to look for somewhere else. We found a few rocks that were a little more sheltered just off the trail. We set up our blanket and started lighting the candles. There were so many candles! It was just beautiful and absolutely perfect. But then our perfect night got really scary really fast. All of a sudden we hear something running towards us, crashing through the brush. Please note that it is pitch black and nobody else is really up there. Brendan shines our flashlight towards the noise and he saw two glowing eyes looking at him. I just about lost it. I was shaking and on the verge of tears. Brendan was trying to be manly and brave, but I later learned that he was terrified as well. We had no idea what kind of animal it was so of course our mind goes to the worst possibility, a mountain lion. Basically we're thinking that we are going to die. It was terrifying. Brendan started yelling to scare it away, but we never heard it leave so we were still really nervous. Brendan said a prayer that we would be safe and calm. He then asked if I wanted to leave. I kind of did, but I wanted to enjoy our candles so I decided that we would be ok and we should stay (probably the best decision of my life). We start talking about some of our favorite moments that we shared together and Brendan shared some things that he had never told me before (I don't know if he wants me to publish them to the whole world). It was really sweet. Then he pulled out a card that he had written. This needs a little back story... I am scared of everything. So we would go on Fear Factor dates and I would have to do things that scared me. I always teased Brendan that his Fear Factor date would be to proposed to me because that was the only thing he was scared of. Anyway, he pulls out this card that says Fear Factor on it and on the inside it listed all of the scary things I had done. At the bottom it said something about how I had helped him not be scared of marriage and it was time for him to do a Fear Factor date. I was kind of in a state of shock and I couldn't exactly figure out what was going on. So he told me that I might want to stand up. I did and he proposed!!! I started bawling like a baby and I was trying to figure out if it was real or not. Then I finished reading the card. He had listed about 70 reasons he wasn't scared of marrying me. It was the sweetest thing in the world!

So that's our Fear Factor proposal. It was absolutely perfect! Well I might get rid of the part where we thought we were going to die, but it really is one of my favorite parts now. It totally fit in with our Fear Factor theme. I am so happy to be getting married to my best friend and the greatest man I know. I love you Brendan Clary!!!

Recital Time!

It's that time of year again!! Recital day is so extremely stressful! I feel like my dances are never quite where I want them to be, but there's not much I can do about it once recital day is here. Today is the last one for the year and I've already been through 2 others. They both went really well! I'm always so proud of my students and what they have accomplished.

I feel like the recital today is the big kahuna. Probably because it's the most professional and because it is for the studio that I grew up at. I kind of feel like I need to prove myself; that I need to show that I'm not a student anymore, but a teacher. Also, it's very nerve wrecking having all of these other teachers that I respect and admire watching my work. I feel very inadequate at times. However, they are always so complimentary and only have kind things to say about my dances. I'm a nervous wreck for about a week leading up to recital so it's nice to hear those encouraging words every now and then.

Despite all of my stressing about how I look, I care even more about how my students are feeling. If they love their dance and feel good doing it, that's what really matters at the end of the day. I had one mom come up to me during dress rehearsal and thank me for being her daughter's teacher. I just kind of brushed it off, but she was very persistent. She told me that her daughter's self-esteem and confidence had sky rocketed because of my class. She said that her daughter felt like I was more than just her teacher, I was her friend and that meant the world to her. It brings me to tears just thinking about it. This  is why I teach. It's so easy to get caught up in my student's technique and if they are growing as dancers, but what I really want is to influence my student's to become better people. I am so grateful that I was in a position this year to help this sweet young girl feel better about herself. I hope she remembers how special she is to me when tough times come. I truly love all of my students and I want to help them become amazing dancers and incredible people.

So here it comes, the big kahuna! After tonight, I can relax a little bit and gear up for next year's recital season. I know my students are going to perform wonderfully tonight! I am so proud of all of them for the dancers they are becoming and for learning to love themselves and to see themselves as I see them, beautiful children of our Father in Heaven. I love my job and I love my students!