Tobin, Whitney and Maylee

Random Phone Photos

2011-12-02T15:02:00.000-08:00

Everyone has those random phone pictures right? I just wanted to share some of Maylee.

(Some are old, Sorry no particular order)

Wickedly cute

Riding in the truck

Picnic time

The famous "pouty lip" (It's even more cute when she is sad/mad)

Maylee loves giving kisses

Had a blow out at grandma's house. This is how we brought her home.

Just a little exhaust pipe

Thanks Dad...

What was I going to say?

2011-11-17T12:35:00.000-08:00

Tobin and I were up with Maylee for 2 hours last night trying to get her to stop crying and back to sleep. This is pretty typical these days. Anyway, as I was rocking her I thought to myself, its been a while since I updated the blog, I should do that. And I even thought of a blog title and lots of things to say Well, seeing how that was about 4:00 am, I can not remember what it was I wanted to say. Oh well. I guess I can just say I do not like to blog so I don't usually write much, maybe just upload a few pictures and call it good. Maybe I should try writing more about our lives but then again who even reads this blog? Chelsie? I tell her everything when we talk on the phone or skype so what ever I say on here is old news to here anyway. Plus she gets her "daily dose" pictures of Maylee. So...I feel that there is nothing to say! Oh besides the fact that my father-in-law asked "What happened to Tasteful Tuesday?" So, I guess he gets on and checks this once in a while. I have been trying to find new recipes still and that has been pretty fun. One of the EASIEST I have found is for BBQ Mango Chicken. (recipe called for fish, I used chicken) Get a load of this- 1/2 cup bbq sauce, one 4oz jar of mango baby food and a little garlic powder. Mix it, dump it on your chicken and if you want, sprinkle with bread crumbs. Bake it at 375 for 20 minutes. I served it with a green salad and wild rice. Yeah, it is going into the "favorites" rotation. Ok so, I guess if I ramble enough then this post may actually turn into something!

Hmmm, what else is going on in our lives....So, Tobin was set to graduate in May. Next semester was going to be his student teaching. The end was SO close! He was going to graduate, and we were hoping to move to Wyoming over the summer for Tobin to find a teaching job. Leave it up to ISU to mess up any plans you have. There is ONE math class left he has to take. They offer it every OTHER fall. He planned on taking it this semester. 2 years ago for an education class he took they had to make this big chart with every class they had left to take and when they would take it etc. So he had everything pretty well planned out. ISU was supposed to be offering it this current semester. Well, because of "staffing shortages" they were unable to offer it. Tobin met with the math department chair, he says "We will offer it next semester" Well, while student teaching, you are not allowed to take any classes. So he wrote an appeal to take it while student teaching and it got approved! (On the condition that it did not conflict with his teaching schedule) Well Mr. Dept Chair pretty much tells Tobin "OK great! It won't conflict, we will work it out" 2 weeks ago, they post the schedule for next semester..... MA 343 MWF 12-12:50. awesome. Tobin meets with the department chair again and he feeds him this crap: "For the past seven years its been offered at this time, I am NOT going to change it for you." OK REALLY?! Why did you not say that in the first place 2 months ago when we talked! So, I looked and looked and looked for an online class that would work. The only modern geometry class online I could find was offered at University of Phoenix. Same class, just SUPER expensive. ($1800 for ONE class) Well, it was worth it to us. So Tobin contacts the department chair AGAIN and gives him the class info. He will not accept it because they do not have proctored tests or prerequisites. OH MY GOSH!!! So, after exhausting all of our options we have come to grips with the fact that we will be here one more semester. frustrating. I know things will work out and one more semester really is not bad. I think the real reason we were so mad is because ISU is pretty ridiculous. Anyway, we also recently decided that Grad school is going to be next for Tobin. We have talked about it several times and for teachers its actually better in the long run to start teaching with only your bachelors. That was the plan, even after being urged several times from family members to look into getting a masters degree. We knew it just wasn't what we wanted to do or what we were supposed to do. Maybe because we were only considering ISU physics masters program. When we found that University of Wyoming has a Masters of Science in Teaching Physics (MST Physics) we were pretty excited. I think there are only 4 or 5 MST Physics programs in the country. After several days of researching it and contacting advisors and professors we decided that is what we are doing! We wanted to go to Wyoming (much better pay for teachers) just not eastern Wyoming. That is exactly where UW is. We can handle it. It is close to Cheyenne and not to far from Denver as well! So, we still might move this summer and just have Tobin do student teaching in Wyoming. That way, when he starts grad school we will only have to pay out of state tuition for one semester (if we move early enough) So thats our story for now... long and rambling but I guess thats what I was going to say. Oh one more thing. I just want to say I am very grateful for Tobin and his hard work. Last week he took the Praxis II which is the big test for student teaching, this week he took the CLEP French test (since he has to take one more class next semester, he is going to take some french too) He passed that with FLYING colors even after 3 1/2 years of being home from his mission. To get 16 credits worth he needed to get 59/80.......He got 72/80 :) He is pretty awesome! Next week is the GRE and then he gets a break from tests for a few weeks!

PS Maylee is pretty darn awesome too! I guess I will devote a post to her here in the next few days!

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-20T20:46:00.000-07:00

We were able to go to our first pumpkin patch as a family last week! I was so excited all week, and just hoped the weather was nice. It turned out to be a sunny, but very windy day. We went to Swore Farms and picked out "our perfect pumpkin". The guy at the patch said "Well, pumpkins down at this end start at 30 lbs and as you move further west they get up to 80 lbs!" Um...ok, we will stick with the 30 pounder. We found one! It was a nice sized pumpkin and ended up being 29lbs. Maylee was so patient while we picked our pumpkin, and had a great time riding in the wagon. For now, its just a cute fall decoration on the front porch, but soon it will be a jack-o-lantern!!

At Swore Farms, they also have a corn maze. So for mutual (combined activity) Tobin was in charge and decided to go to the corn maze. Maylee and I tagged along as well. It ended up being a lot bigger and a lot more fun than we expected and the kids all had a great time.

So excited to go!

So excited to be here!

Maylee helping check out all of our options!

Tobin checking out the pumpkins too

"THIS ONE DADDY!!"

Backpacking Trip

2011-10-14T09:22:00.000-07:00

Back in August, Tobin and his brothers got to go backpacking! They had a great time together. Here are a few pictures.

I love black beans and rice

2011-07-28T21:08:00.000-07:00

Another new yummy recipe I tried! It was pretty easy too, Vegetarian black bean cakes with orange-basil salsa! I served this over brown rice and with a green salad.

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=644

I hope that link works. Thats all.

New Recipe

2011-06-28T14:49:00.000-07:00

Week 1 of my Tasteful Tuesday challenge turned out to be pretty good! I will share the recipe, it was really easy! Week 2 was fajitas, which I LOVE and have made before BUT I have never made fajita seasoning from scratch so that was counted as my new recipe. I found a few recipes for the seasoning so I did a little combining to make my own and it turned out delicious, but now I can not remember exactly what it was because I forgot to write it down as I went. Anyway, Creamy ranch pork chops....

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

4 boneless pork chops, 3/4-inch thick (about 1 pound)

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free)

3/4 cup milk

1 package (1 ounce) ranch salad dressing mix

Paprika
Ranch-Style Rice

1. Heat the oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork and cook until well browned on both sides.

2. Stir the soup, milk and 1/2 package salad dressing mix in the skillet and heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 10 minutes or until the pork is cooked through. Sprinkle with the paprika.

3. Serve with the Ranch-Style Rice.

Ranch-Style Rice: Heat 2 1/4 cups water and the remaining salad dressing mix in a 3-quart saucepan over medium-high heat to a boil. Stir in 1 cups uncooked regular long-grain white rice and cook according to the package directions.

Serving Suggestion: Serve with a vegetable blend. For dessert, serve chunky applesauce topped with cinnamon.

Makes: 4 servings.

Tasteful Tuesday

2011-06-14T16:20:00.000-07:00

Do you ever feel like you cook the same rotation of meals? I sure do! The other night, I was apologizing to Tobin for that and decided I need to be bold and try new recipes. Between us both working 2 jobs and mutual life gets a little crazy and our "relaxing " evenings at home together exist only on Tuesday! So, I will be trying a NEW recipe EVERY Tuesday! If it is a good one, I may share it. Tonight, creamy ranch pork chops with ranch style rice... sounds good and easy. Wish me luck because I NEED IT! (Cooking is not really my thing)

At 12 weeks

2011-04-07T11:08:00.000-07:00

At 12 weeks old, Maylee is learning and growing SO much! Here are some stats from her Dr. appointment yesterday:

12lbs 14oz (60th percentile)

24 1/4 inches (90th percentile)

*Maylee is cooing and smiling (pretty much all the time)

*She holds her head very well and turns her head when she hears something

*Now focuses her eyes and follows objects

*Is starting to grasp objects

*Maylee IS the spit-up queen!

*She is not so much a fan of tummy time. She can only handle it for a few minutes at a time.

*Loving to suck on her hands therefore... LOTS of drool

*Loves bath time. She loves to splash and kick!

*She was doing great at sleeping in her bassinet, then we moved her to her crib. She has had a few rough nights... but sometimes she sleeps 8 hours. She is getting the hang of it though.

We sure love Maylee and honestly cant even imagine life without her. She brightens my day and reminds me what really matters. Yesterday Maylee got her shots.... So last night was rough to say the least. She was fussy all night and would wake up every 2 hours! She would just cry and cry and cry. I was NOT happy about it this morning because I am the one who wakes up with her. (Tobin has conveniently learned to sleep through her crying...) Well, I left for work in a bad mood and had a bad day at work as well. I was just being grumpy. But as soon as I got home I saw Maylee and she immediately began to talk to me and smile.

That changed everything.

NOW I KNOW

2011-04-02T20:54:00.000-07:00

I thought I knew what LOVE was....

But NOW I KNOW WHAT LOVE IS

Life with a baby

2011-03-12T12:36:00.000-08:00

Life with a baby is different, thats for sure! We would not change it for anything. Maylee is such a blessing and so darn sweet, we just love her so much! We are adjusting and getting the hang of things now... I think. We have not really gone and done much in the past 2 months but we have absolutely loved being at home with Maylee. A few of my thoughts about parenthood.....

*The first month was way harder than the second month

*Until she is a little older we get to have date night at home, with all 3 of us! AWESOME!

*If you want to go anywhere plan for an extra hour or so just to get ready and get out the door.

* Also, if you want to go anywhere plan on taking a million extra things. Who would have thought a baby needs so much "stuff"

*So much time and effort is put into something so small!

*She seriously gets more beautiful every single day!

*I have a lot more thoughts, but I will save those for another time. Now the past 8 weeks in pictures. ENJOY!

Our little family

Maylee after her bath (she looks like an alien baby)

Sporting her ISU colors

1 month old already!

A ladybug dress for our Maylee bug

Starting to really interact with her toys

LOVES her swing

Maylee still sleeps in our room in her bassinet but she naps in her crib!

Blessing day with cousin Morgann

Beautiful girl

2 months old!!!

Stylish :)

Starting to give BIG smiles!

Little Miss Maylee

2011-01-25T10:54:00.000-08:00

Friday, January 7th came and went.... No baby.

Saturday, January 8th came and went.... No baby.

Same story Sunday and Monday.

Monday the 10th I had a Dr. appointment and at that time, He gave us the option of inducing. We were anxious for her to arrive and I felt like my body was ready. So Tuesday, January 11th at 4:00 am, we called the hospital like were were supposed to. They said, Sorry! We are not ready for you, we will call you back. So FINALLY at 10:15 they called back and said come on up! We were so nervous but excited. By the time we got to the hospital, got checked in, and they started my IV it was 11:45 am. So, that was it... labor was started and we didn't know what to expect really. Yeah we took a birthing class, but those mothers shown in the videos are SO dramatic and intense! This was totally different. The nurse told us since I was a first time mom, and I was being induced, we would be AT LEAST 12 hours, but could be a lot more. Well, I guess I did pretty good to have her at 8:45 pm! 9 hours....Take that nurse! Anyway, the point of this is to introduce our sweet little girl!!

MAYLEE ERIS GIRAUD

1-11-11~8.0 lbs~20 inches~8:45pm

We kinda like her! Being a mom is hard but so amazing! I LOVE it so much and couldn't do it without a great husband like Tobin!

Are we there yet?

2010-12-12T13:39:00.000-08:00

Are we there yet?! I feel like a little kid... I am ready for January to be here, but then again I don't want to miss out on all of the excitement along the way. I really am excited for the next few weeks. Tobin has finals the next few days, then all of our siblings will be here for Christmas! There are always so many good times had during the few weeks of "Christmas Break" that I don't want to miss out on this year, but like I said... I am ready for January.

Whenever I ask a pregnant friend "How are you doing?" It seems I always get a 30 minute answer of how miserable and uncomfortable they are, and how much pain they are in and yada yada yada.... Then, I regret ever asking. Not that I don't care but.... seriously. So, I have really tried to not complain TOO much to anyone, even my loving husband. Well, I am going to take just a minute and complain....

Tobin told me a few weeks ago (in a loving way of course) that it seems like I had doubled in size over night! And let me tell ya, I sure feel like it! People have said to me several times "Oh that last month is not fun." And I really am seeing what they mean. Its hard to sit, its hard to stand, its especially hard to sleep. I can handle it though, about 3 1/2 weeks to go... It will be worth it I am sure! Ok, thats my 30 minute answer of complaining. SORRY!

A few more pictures....

32 weeks

35.5 weeks

Oh I almost forgot, a few pictures from my baby shower! Thank you to everyone who came and helped, we had so much fun and we got very spoiled!

What would we do without moms?

2010-10-21T10:22:00.000-07:00

This is always such a busy time of year for my Mom. She grows a wonderful garden, then does TONS of home canning! I remember always helping mom when we were younger during canning season. Since we have been married, Tobin and I have also done a garden. We have loved having fresh food and being able to do some canning too! I just want to say THANK YOU to my Mom who has helped me to learn so many valuable things. Our pantry and freezer are stocked full of yummy stuff. Here is what we have done this year....

Pepper Jelly

Jalapeños

Salsa

Spaghetti sauce

Pears

Peaches

Apple pie filling

Applesauce

Applebutter

We have also dried some pears (one of my favorite) and froze beans, carrots, corn, strawberry jam, raspberry jam and strawberries!! After all the hard work, I realize it is SO worth the time and effort. I know what we are eating is from your own garden and not all the processed crap! We will be so glad to have all of this food, especially when we have a little one to feed too.

THANKS MOM!! YOU ARE THE BEST!

Gettin bigger!

2010-10-12T15:02:00.000-07:00

This is not that exciting of a post, but just a few belly pictures. None of them are very good ones, but its all I have. I will update more about the "baby stuff" when I have time..... someday. I feel like I am getting pretty darn big. Some people tell me I don't even look pregnant (I think that has to do with what I am wearing at the time) And some people who are pregnant and due around the same time seem WAY smaller.... Just goes to show how different everyone is!

18 weeks

21 weeks

24.5 weeks

26.5 weeks

Well, thats all for now...

I am just over 27 weeks and will get more belly pictures as the weeks go on.

Baby Girl

2010-08-27T07:08:00.000-07:00

We are having a girl!! What an amazing thing to see our baby girl at the ultrasound appointment last week! We had such a good experience and are so excited to welcome her into this world sometime around January 7th! I am half way there!! (Just about 21 weeks)

We have started getting really excited about buying cute pink things and have a good start already. I have got several things from family and yard sales although its still early, we are getting it while its available! I dont think many people do yard sales in the snow! I have told Tobin several times that there are some things I WILL buy new, although it may cost lots of $$, its our first and she WILL be spoiled, a little! I am a little bit obsessive compulsive when it comes to looking at cribs, car seats, strollers etc... and comparing, and reading reviews and such. But I have some I LOVE! We will wait a little while to get them though!

Summer Adventures of 2010

2010-08-11T09:25:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened since my last post in April! I will sum it all up with a crap load of pictures!

It all seems like such old news but I will still post it all.

APRIL:

I graduated from Institute

After months of debating, I decided to finally CHOP my hair to donate.

Before

About 14 inches later.....

Women's Conference at BYU with

Aunt Juanita, Mom, Chelsie, Grandma, and Aunt Crystal

We bought a 2nd car! After 1 1/2 years with just one car,

it has been AMAZING! 2002 Nissan Altima

Tobin found a full time job for the summer at Carquest.

He will be able to work part time when school starts too.

Not the dream job, but we are very grateful!

MAY:

Welp, we found out we are having one of these... a BABY!!

JUNE:

We were able to go to NYC for a week and visit Brandon and Becky!

We did SO many awesome things, like go to Mary Poppins...

Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge...

See the beautiful skyline of Manhattan...

Go to Ellis Island...

And Liberty Island...

We got to enjoy the East River...

Even see the Rockefeller Plaza!

We got to "see"/"get stuck in" Central Park, in the rain... for SEVERAL hours

But hey, we all needed a shower...

A few weeks after we went to NYC Brandon, Becky and Caden

all came to Idaho! We had a great time visiting with them.

JULY: Well, Tobin and I both had older digital cameras. They both broke and it was seriously within a few days of each other. So we don't have ANY pictures from July. SO SAD! We had a great 4th of July in Inkom. We also had a wonderful bbq with TONS of friends. And we got to go camping with some of our friends. What a fun month, too bad about the camera situation...

Luckily I thought "Oh! Chelsie and Keith have an old camera." DUH! Why did I not think of that sooner? Oh well, they were kind enough to lend it to us, so now we have a few more pictures!

AUGUST:

WELCOME HOME ELDER MENNEAR!

Home from El Salvador and lookin sharp!

We thought it would be awesome to welcome Wesley home

to the real world, so Tobin grew out his hair and beard.

He looks like a mountain man, but it all came off the next day!

And last.... I am starting to get big! I don't just feel

fat anymore. I am starting to look pregnant and not chubby.

18 weeks! We find out next week if its a boy or girl~ SO EXCITED!

Table make over

2010-04-25T14:28:00.001-07:00

Attention Sarah Mennear~ this one is for you :)

"i LOOOOVE to publicize pics of my BARGAINS right next to stuff that cost a TON!!!!

For example, IT IS SO CUTE OF ME I FOUND
THIS GORGEOUS DESK/TABLE/CHAIR IN INCREDIBLE CONDITION AT THE DI/ON THE SIDE OF THE STREET/IN A DUMPSTER and then DECORATED THE CRAP OUT OF IT! I had to buy a ton of sanding stuff then some oober pricey paint and then added a bunch of Anthro knobs that cost a small fortune each plus I needed a cute new work apron and sassy hairclip, soooo my bargain project cost a grand but SOMEHOW IT'S STILL A BARGAIN SO IT'S CUTE OF ME!!! "

(Text from "Seiously, so blessed!" )

Pictures from me, because I indeed am one of those kind of girls. Well, not really. But I did re-do my kitchen table and chairs, which was actually free thanks to Brandon and Becky. So, a little time and about $2 worth of paint.....

Who ever reads it anway?!

2010-04-25T13:43:00.000-07:00

I often think... "Oh I should update my blog... mmm, no. Who ever reads it anyway?" So I usually just forget about doing it. Well, I suppose I should post something about our trip and give an update of whats going on with the Giraud Family.

Our trip for spring break was SO awesome. We had so much fun seeing Sterling and Sarah, and the were great hosts. We got to go to museums, galleries, the zoo, the aquarium, the rodeo, Black Eyed Peas concert, NASA, Seaworld, The Alamo, The Riverwalk, Galveston and the beach. There were so many fun things to do! Here are pictures in no particular order because I hate trying to move them around....

Tobin at the Weiss Energy Hall in the Museum of Natural Science

Outside the Museum of Natural Science

A BIG chair in Galveston

The beach in Galveston

NASA

At Hermann Park, Samuel Houston statue

The Alamo

At Sea World!

Again, Sea World

Black Eyed Peas concert! Rockin! 73,000 people

Reliant Stadium for the rodeo and concert

Houston Rodeo... its huge.

Checkin out some fish at the Downtown Aquarium

Ready to head out!

2010-03-16T16:00:00.000-07:00

SPRING BREAK!!!! Yes, it's that time again! This year we get to go to see Sterling and Sarah in Houston! We are so super excited, and leave in an hour to Salt Lake. We fly out in the morning, but are staying with Tobin's awesome aunt. We can hardly wait!

Happy Birthday Tobin

2010-03-11T09:54:00.000-08:00

Tobin's birthday was last week.... I meant to post this earlier. But honestly, I SUCK at blogging. So, here is his birthday celebration in a few pictures!

To celebrate with my family, We did a birthday breakfast on Saturday morning. Mom and Dad made a DELICIOUS breakfast and even gave Tobin birthday candles on the cinnamon rolls to blow out!
Before he got home from school on his birthday, I decorated with streamers and banners. It doesn't show the awesomeness in the picture.... it really was awesome. Tobin wanted steak, hash browns and creamed spinach for dinner. So, I made it for him and it actually turned out really good.
What a great day! Happy birthday Tob! I LOVE YOU!

Young Women at Heart

2010-02-16T15:01:00.000-08:00

I am probably the world's worst blogger. I never keep this thing updated. Anyway, for the past 9 months I have been in the Young Womens presidency as the counselor over the beehives. At first... I was ready to strangle a few girls. But when that call from the Bishop came saying we were all getting released, I CRIED! I didn't want to be released. I am just getting to REALLY know my girls and they are so amazing. I really came to love each of them. At first, there was only 1 beehive, now there are 8 with 7 MORE coming in this year! What a fun group of girls and I will miss them. I keep hoping that I can be put back in as the beehive advisor! I like to be with the young women because I am one at heart.

OUR FIRST CHRISTMAS!

2009-12-08T14:34:00.000-08:00

ell since we got married just a week after Christmas last year, this is officially our first Christmas together! We hit up the Christmas clearance last year and got hooked up with a really good tree and ornaments for 90% off! At regular price it would have been close to $260 but we are bargain shoppers.... We are SO excited for this time of year and so grateful for all we have been blessed with. Here are a few pictures that show how we enjoy this time of year!

Our first Christmas tree from start to finish!

We also love to visit Temple Square to see the lights and enjoy the Christmas spirit there.

Happy Holidays everyone!!!

Fall Time

2009-10-26T08:07:00.000-07:00

We love the fall, and all the fun things associated with it, like...

.....Pumpkin carving

.......Beautiful fall leaves

......Watching the BYU homecoming parade

...... And FOOTBALL!

Long time.... No write....

2009-10-02T14:37:00.001-07:00

Well, once again...it has been a long time since we updated this thing.

So here are a few updates from the summer, since its now officially over.

The first weekend of July, we headed to Bear Lake to go camping,

swimming and hiking! It was a beautiful weekend and we had a blast.

We camped pretty close to the beach and were able to play and relax a bit!

Oh yeah... and we had sweet tin foil dinnners!

We then hiked to Bloomington Lake, which is not far from Bear Lake.

That weekend was also the 4th of July which turned out to be a little chilly....

In July we also got to go backpacking and invited Gavin and Tiffany along.

We went to Palisades, it was very beautiful and great weather.

The week after that we went to St. George with the Girauds.

We stayed at Kellen and Marie's condo which was SO nice.

We really appreciated them letting all of us stay with them!

Some of the things we got to do were go swimming, site seeing, hiking,

going to see the musical Annie and we went to the St. George Temple!

The last big thing this summer was Gavin and Tiffany's wedding

which turned out beautiful and the reception was great!

Moving on to bigger and better things

2009-06-03T20:20:00.000-07:00

The past few months we have been on the hunt... for a house! We really thought that it was a great time to buy with low prices, low interest rates, and $8,000 free tax credit. We worked with a realtor, who was really nice and helped find a bunch of houses for us. We were all set with our home loan even. We found some interesting ones which are major fixer-uppers (to say the least) and some that were really small with no yards, some really cute nice ones with huge yards... such a variety! Well, we found the house we thought was for us. We felt good about it, it was nice, had a beautiful yard, but it was just a little small. We were not going to be able to stay there for long if we were planning on starting a family anytime soon. We went with our parents to look at the house again and get their opinions. This was SUCH a good idea because they gave us insights and things to think about. Well, after looking again and thinking about it and talking about it and lots of prayers we felt completely different. So, we finally decided to hold off. So we are not moving on to bigger and better things with a house... BUT we were called into the Bishops office.... We had only been in as the sunbeam teachers for 2 months! We were not ready to be done! But our bigger and better callings are working with the youth in our ward. I am now the 2nd counselor in the young womens and Tobin is the 1st counselor in the young mens. We are both excited and hope to be able to help the youth. Our sunbeams were fun, usually there were 5 kids, but the last week was only 4 boys! Here are the highlights of our last class together....

Some REALLY big muscles!

Thumbs up!!

Boys will be boys!

Carter, Kayden, Other Kaden, Jamal (blondest kid in the class with that name... how cool?!)

I love the untucked shirts and sloppy ties, typical

3 & 4 year old boys!

These kids are a handful, but SO cute and SO fun! We will miss them in class for sure!

Past, Present and Future

2009-05-27T13:09:00.001-07:00

Summer is finally here, I think. It is nice to have some sunshine with a little rain every once in a while. The school year finished pretty good and now we are just working and playing!

We have been able to enjoy a few bbqs...

Temple Square and the beautiful spring flowers...

Cornwall girl cousins party...

Talking to Elder Mennear on Mother's Day...

And even planting our first garden! (We tried corn, carrots, peas, beans,

potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and zucchini)

Right now, Tobin is working as a tutor for the ISU physics department. He is really enjoying that, and it is good experience for him to actually teach other people since he wants to be a physics teacher! I am just working as a dental assistant at Dr. Suttons still, and looking for more work, but NO WHERE is hiring right now.

We have really enjoyed our bikes so far and try to go out and ride every Saturday. As for future summer plans, we are planning on taking the bikes on the trails soon so we hope it isn't too muddy when we go. We have several trails we want to try out on the bikes, and on foot. Some that look fun are Bluebird Mtn bike loops, Valve House, Inman Creek and Elk Meadow loop. All of these ones are within 30 minutes of Pocatello. We are also hoping to get some good backpacking and camping in this summer but will have to plan those out a little more!

Spring Break... or should we call it Winter Break

2009-03-26T09:34:00.000-07:00

Well, spring break is finally here. But it is Idaho, so what else would we expect but rain, snow, wind and COLD! Tob and I had a hard time trying to decide what to do for the break because we both had work off for the whole week, or so we thought. I didnt have to work at all, but Tobin ended up working monday, wednesday, today (thursday) and he has to work saturday too. TOTAL BUMMER! We originally planned to go to Vegas with some friends until they couldn't get work off, and then the price of the hotel we were going to stay at went way up before we ever booked it. Anyway, after considering a few other options and thought we had a different plan is when Tobin found out he had to work. So we ended up just going to Jackson Hole monday afternoon. We woke up to about 3 inches of new snow so we were a little worried for the drive, but had already booked a hotel so we thought we better go anyway! We took off after Tob got off work around noon, and the drive was great! No snow from Blackfoot until we got to the Teton pass. Even though we were about THE ONLY car without 4 wheel drive, we made it up the snowy pass without too many problems, even if we only could go about 30 mph the whole way up. We were able to check into our hotel a little early, then we went and walked around town, and did some shopping.

Then we decided instead of going out to dinner, we would just get something from the grocery store and cook it in our hotel... yes, thats right. We had a full kitchen in our room! It was really like a condo, and we had anything and everything we would need to make dinner. So, we went to the store and ended up just getting some frozen pizza, pop and went back and just chilled. We also had a pretty nice fireplace in our room so we had a fire, ate dinner and watched a movie! It was so nice to relax and then we got to go swimming and play some ping pong at the club house. On tuesday we wanted to go up to Jenny Lake, but the gate was closed inside Teton National Park so, we just went for a drive and loved the beautiful snowy mountains and trees.We then headed back towards Idaho Falls and braved the Teton Pass again. It was not as bad as the day before, and it was a beautiful drive. We were able to drive a lot faster than we did on monday, but we kept slowing way down to take some pictures. Good thing there wasn't anybody close behind!

We made it to IF and hit up the great clearance deals at all the stores. We were able to go to dinner, then meet Sterling and Sarah at the Temple to do a session. Since we had already had dinner, we went with them when they went to dinner, and we got some dessert! We had a great time and although it was a quick 2 day trip we enjoyed it.

We also went to some friends for dinner yesterday, had some fabulous food, and got to play rock band, which was my first time and VERY entertaining! The rest of the week should be pretty good, and chill but then its back to school next week... But good news, I did finish my radiographic physics class! We had our final last friday, and my other physics class, medical electronics, will be done the week after spring break!

Our Bizarre 24 hour sickness

2009-03-05T18:16:00.000-08:00

So the title of this really tells it all! Whitney and I both got pretty sick at the same time and then it went away in like 12 hours. We both woke up around 5:30am wednesday and could not sleep AT ALL because our heads were pounding like crazy! Whitney was crying because she felt so horrible, and I was feeling pretty bad too. As soon as we would stand up we would be totally lightheaded, then when we sat down it was like our heart was beating really hard in our heads. It was wierd...our faces turned green. Ok our faces did not turn green because of the sickness. We really did get sick, but we also did some avacado/oatmeal masks! It was pretty fun and although Whitney has sensitive skin she went ahead and did it anyway. Her face was burning for a day or two, but she is a good sport.

FINALLY getting around to this thing...

2009-01-22T06:12:00.000-08:00

So, we are finally getting around to learning how to post. Yeah it has been a while, but here we go... The past 2 months have been totally crazy, but totally worth it! With finals mid-December, then Christmas (which was so awesome!) then our wedding and reception!! Yes it was a very busy time, but we are now settled into our new home and a month into spring semester! It is weird that time is going by so fast now!

Although the sun was about down when we finally got out of the temple things were absolutely perfect....

This is one our favorite pictures just because the expressions, and excitement!

The reception was BEAUTIFUL and we cannot thank everyone enough for all of their help in setting up, taking down and their love, support and patients

Our honeymoon trip to Disneyland (The happiest place on earth) was fantastic! We had beautiful weather all week. Instead of the cold, snowy weather in Idaho we were LOVING the high 60's all week. The lines at the park were also awesome, our longest wait was only 30 minutes. So, we got to ride all our favorites 3 or more times.

Your beginning!

2008-12-14T15:10:00.001-08:00

Dear Whitty-Woo

In honor of the upcoming events in your life and as a bridal shower gift, I have created a blog for you! I have chosen to ignore your recent comment "Chelsie, that's why you shouldn't blog. It's a waste of time!" and I've gone ahead a taken my chances in creating one for you! I know you don't have a lot of time, but blogging is a fun way to share things in your life with everyone else. (And to keep your loving sister updated as she lives across the world!) You'll have a ton of stuff to record and share with people over the next few years and I hope that you use and enjoy your blog!!

Congrats on everything Whit! We love you!

With Love,

Your favorite sister!