MEXICO!

Well folks, I'm back. Did you miss me?!? Mexico, as you might be able to guess, was FABULOUS!!!! Mostly it was just really great to be together as a family. First and foremost, this stud got his mission call:

He is going to Jacksonville, Florida and leaving on October 6th. Don't even get me started about how crazy that is!!! It was so nice to all be together as a family when he opened it! The week was super chill... you could be as active or as lazy as you wanted. I usually opted for the latter. ;) A typical day was as follows: up by 7 at the latest (unless you're going fishing with Dad, then it's 5:30), breakfast, slather with sunscreen and hit the beach. We kayaked, snorkeled and played in the sand all week! By about 11 it was too hot to enjoy it, even the water was warm, so we went inside and ate lunch, read, and visited. We were back out by 3 or 4 and we played in the water until dark. Then we had a delicious dinner (each couple was in charge of one night) and hung out until bedtime. We really didn't even watch movies or anything, we just enjoyed each other's company, and it was SO NICE!!!!! Words cannot express how much I love my family, or how grateful I am for them. I want to talk about each of my family members and why I love them, so bear with me. Or just skip this part. ;)

Mom and Dad: Mom is so cheerful and helpful! She was a master organizer for this trip, and did a great job. Dad is adorable with his grandchildren, and the King of the Fisherman! He was out every day at 5:30 fishing with someone, and was giddy every time someone caught a fish.

Kaitie and Logan: Kaitie is a darling little pregnant girl (albeit not really showing) and energetic and fun to be around. Logan is hilarious and thoughtful. It was really fun to be around them so much, since it's so rare!

Cali and Josh: LOVE them! Cali is happy and level headed. Josh is hysterical and a great dad. Piper is my favorite of course, but that's a given. ;)

Taylor and Shawn: Taylor is such a great mom! It's so fun to see her interact with her kids. She is very witty and easy to talk to. Shawn is an adorable dad and plays hard. I'm so glad I'm going to Seattle to visit them in a couple of weeks!
Matthias and Cale: Matthias is the most adorable teenager on the face of the earth. He is funny, witty, and VERY MUSICALLY TALENTED!!!! Caleb is loving, helpful and very creative--he was the mastermind behind the Sandcastle competition.

Neal... what can I say? He is cheerful, helpful and easy going. He impressed my family on this trip, as this was the first big get together with Neal. I LOVE HIM! Now just a few more pictures to make you even more jealous:











"Twas an AMAZING VACATION!!!!!

The haps

Well, I am officially on summer break, and life is AMAZING!

This is my teacher friend, Rachel, and I as we were driving away from school on the last day... woot!
My first full day off, I went running, cleaned the house, made banana muffins, and watched 5 episodes of Buffy. Cringe if you will, but I love it and especially love him... okay maybe "love" is the wrong word.. I just think he's hot.

I was totally infatuated with him when I was 14, and I feel it returning..... but I digress... *as a side note, Neal just saw my post and said "I forbid you to post that picture".. oops....
Neal and I went to a Nats game.... and if you were wondering if it was really, really, really, REALLY hot, it was, as you can see:

Very sweaty. But Neal loved it, and so it was worth it. (Note: I do not dislike baseball. I just dislike the hot, sweatiness of it all, plus it takes over an hour to get there on the hot, sweaty metro. The actual games are quite enjoyable!)
Josh had a birthday, so we went over there and ate a delicious dinner made by Cali (chicken dijon) and SKOOKIES! Josh and Neal each ate a WHOLE one! Sheesh!
We love cali and Josh, annnnnd PIPER! (don't ask me why this is creating a link.... it's doing it of it's own volition)

Can't get enough of this girl!
Today we made crêpes and invited over Cali and Josh and Chase and Cait (sorry no pictures of them, but I love them!) The crêpes were delicious, and fun times were had by all, even if it wasn't my best game of Balderdash. Neal helped me cook the crêpes..... kind of.

His were a little....smaller than mine, but he was very proud of how thin they were:

Life is good for us! And, as I keep reminding you, we're going to MEXICO on Saturday.... HOOOOOOORAY! :)

That's what I like about me......

My lovely friend Rachel just posted a blog about things she likes about herself, and it got me thinking about what I like about ME, which I think is the point of her post (or to just tell everyone how great she is!). I want to do the same here, so others can see how wonderful I am, and also think about what they like about themselves! ;)

In no particular order, the things I like about myself are:

-my eyes, specifically my eyelashes. People are always asking me if they're fake.
-my teeth/smile
-my birthmark (okay that's a blatant lie and everyone who knows me will know that!!!)
-my singing voice--as long as it's a low song... my high voice is not solid!
-my outgoing, cheerful, bubbly nature. I hide it under a bushel sometimes, but hopefully it usually shows!
-my SHOES! I am in love with nearly all my shoes (even though they're not sexy high heels... something about me hovering over Neal prevents me)
-my sense of humor and quick wit-- I am probably the second or third funniest person in the world (right up there with Neal)
-my jewelry (see picture above!)
-I am adventurous and independent. I packed up and moved to France for a year, even though it terrified me. I also got scholarships and supported myself through undergrad and grad school. I am proud of this! I even worked cleaning toilets at 6 AM for three weeks to make ends meet!
-I am constantly trying to improve myself (even if it doesn't seem like it, I promise I am!!!)
-I am a good teacher. I feel like this is one of my strengths, and I love feeling calm and collected teaching or speaking in public.
- I am a thoughtful and loving person
-I am frugal (although some call it cheap!). I like this about me because I know I can function on much less income than we have. I shop sales, and am not a name brand snob (with most things). I feel this is a good life skill, no matter how much money you have!
-that I'm not fake-- what you see, is what you get. I don't act differently around different people. (although I hold back the swears at church, or around church people, I must admit)
-I am very photogenic... it's nice, not gonna lie! ;)

That will do for now. It's interesting and encouraging to talk about what you LIKE about yourself, not necessarily what you're good it, or what others like about you. What do you like about YOU?

School's out for the summer!

That face about sums up how I feel about now-- HOOOOOOORAY! I work tomorrow and a half day on Tuesday cleaning and packing away my classroom for the summer, but hey-- no kids = no school!
My Aunt Jeanni and Uncle Brian were in town last weekend, and they wanted to see the temple at night, and I"m so glad they did! The temple is GORGEOUS, especially at night, and it's been a while since I've seen it at night since we usually go on Saturday morning.


Check out this cereal box:

I couldn't even believe it! Mormons are way ahead of the times with this "hobby" baby! We're getting ready to go to Mexico in 2 weeks, and life is grand! I am definitely taking advantage of my 10 weeks off-- Mexico with Neal (and my whole family) and then Utah and Seattle solo to spend more time with my family and friends. Neal and I also planned a little beach getaway at Virginia beach for 4 days. And the best part is, we are staying in the Marriott for free, thanks to Neal's Marriott points!

By the way, Neal has started blogging and his blog can be found here so check it out!

True love is....

cheerfully and willingly getting out of bed at 11:15 PM, putting on clothes, and driving to a gas station to fill up your wife's car before the Sabbath so she's not worried about running out of gas while driving Young Women home after choir practice.
I LOVE THIS MAN! I am forever grateful that he is mine!

Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend has been WONDERFUL! I feel like there's a dearth of pictures to show it, but I guess I'm out of practice taking pictures now, since my camera was getting repaired. My cousin Thomas called me Thursday night and wanted to come stay with us with 2 friends. I had an exhausting week, and wasn't really looking forward to it (no offense if you're reading this, Thomas) but it ended up being really fun. Thomas is really great and a very courteous house guest! He did the dishes and even bought us dinner! We had a family BBQ hosted by Chase and Cait to celebrate Traci's birthday and saw a lot of family. It was really fun and YUMMY FOOD! Here's birthday girl, taken from Cait's blog:

And here's Thomas. He is very tall.

In other news, it's been really hot this weekend... so hot that if you left a birthday candle in Neal's car for an hour, it would look like this:

Oops! We were going to do something big and exciting on Monday, but instead ending up organizing and cleaning. It was actually really nice! Neal made this pancake and was offended I couldn't tell what it was:

Any guesses as to what this is supposed to be?

Anniversary Weekend

Neal and I went on a little weekend getaway for our Anniversary. We went to Luray, Virginia to see this:

And also this:

The first picture is Luray Caverns. It was INCREDIBLE!!!!


Neal had already been, but it was my first time and I loved it! We stayed in a little Bed and Breakfast that night so we could fully enjoy Shenandoah National Park. We did two hikes and it was absolutely gorgeous scenery! One hike was to a viewpoint and the other to a 70 foot waterfall. SO GORGEOUS! It was an amazing weekend. We decided to buy a year pass to the Shenandoahs, so if you want to go with us, let me know!





Neal got a little sweaty carrying the backpack, as you can see! In other news, I got my camera back! It was being repaired, and I sorely missed it! Here's a happy Hannah to have her camera back:

And here's our excited faces on the way to see "The Last Five Years"

It was AMAZING! I love, love, LOVED it, and so did Neal. The Jamie was AMAZING and the Cathy was pretty good. I care more about the male lead sounding good, so I was happy! Life is very good for us! We hope you are all doing well. Our next big trip is here:

That's right, a beach house in Puerto Penasco, Mexico, baby! CAN'T WAIT!!!! I'm excited for the beach, of course, and also exciting to be with my entire family! Last time we were together was here:

But that doesn't count because I was distracted! Oh, and I'm off for the summer on June 15th... coming right up! :) :) :)