An Early Christmas!

Richie and I have been planning on having a VERY low key Christmas this year. But the other day, to our surprise, we found a lovely check from my Grandma Crosby in the mail. Hallelujah! So, we decided it was a perfect excuse to go buy some necessities. Richie has really been needing some new work boots and we needed a space heater for when the baby comes. Thank you Grandma!!!

Other than that, life is goin good. I'm loving just being able to chill and get things done around the house, and today is Richie's official last day of school this semester! WAHOO!! He's more than ready for this semester to be over, so I'm glad that he'll get a nice break before one last semester. I'm so proud of him for getting school done. What a stud.
We are so excited to see our family for Christmas! Congrats to my sister-in-law and her husband who are moving to NYC on the 27th! And congrats to my bro-in-law who just got his mission call to Armenia! Go Ross!
Love you all!

The End

Yesterday was my official last day student teaching!! Wahoo!! I called Richie when I was driving home and he asked how I felt. I'll tell ya, it was kind of anti-climatic. I was expecting to be.... I don't know crying, yelling, grinning ear to ear. But instead it just felt good. :) It was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done, but one of the most worth-while. That's usually how it seems to go right? I may go back every once in a while to help with centers or to show off our baby though. We'll see. On Monday night after dinner, I wanted to eat something sweet (as usual) so I decided to make a cake, but not just any cake. A "Congratulations to me!" cake. I figured since that was the first time in ages I actually had time to do something like that, it was kind of a celebration. :) A really yummy celebration!

I thought I would post a picture of my unit that I did for student teaching. We were required to teach a unit and document it like crazy. I chose to do mine on the seasons since it went along so well with the reading program that theme. After analyzing the pre and post tests, I found that 50% of my students scored a 90% or higher on the test. The rest were not too far behind! So that's good. Each lesson was on a different season and I usually incorporated some type of writing project and some type of art project. Each art project went outside in the hallway on a gigantic tree I made with 4 branches, each dedicated to a season. So for spring we made flowers out of tissue paper, summer we learned different ways to color and made green leaves, fall we did leaf rubbings, and winter we made snowflakes. It was a lot of work and a lot of fun. The kids sure seemed to enjoy it.
I'm really going to miss those kids and that age and their conversations.
"Do you know what it means to french kiss?",
"Let's pretend like I'm the teacher."
"Ok, and lets pretend like I'm the smartest kid in class"
"I love you 200 times"

Ultimate!

I know, I know...two posts in one day? Is she crazy??? It just so happens, I have the day off school today and am loving it. So, I get to blog a bit. For the past 3 or 4 years, Richie has played on an Ulimate frisbee team here at school every fall semester and loved it! He is really very good at it. I'm always impressed that I'm married to such a stud. Anyway, this semester was his last since he graduates in April! He's been on the Bruins every year and this year they made it to the playoffs! It was actually his cousin's team that they played. We lost, but it was a VERY close and intense game. And props to all the wives and I who stayed the entire game in 30 degree weather! Anyway, here's a picture to commemorate Ultimate frisbee. Richie's the one on the right doing the sexy bay-watch run. :)

Pregnant? Who me?

Richie and I took some pictures the other day to send to his family so they could photoshop us in for their Christmas card. I was looking through them and was hit with the reality that my belly is expanding at, what for me, is an unnatural rate! Go figure. So, here's some pics to update ya'll. Just in case you were wondering, we had to buy some tums and coconut cream stuff so help with some symptoms that are now accompanying my growing mid-section. :) Now, if we could only find something that cured swollen feet and ankles.....

Rolling Chair Ballet

Richie and some of his favorite roommates did this for ward talent show back before Richie's mission. He just talked to one of them, and found out the video was on youtube. Unfortunately I don't know how to post the video on our blog, so if you take this link, or go to youtube.com and type in rolling chair ballet, it's the first video that pops up. You will not be disappointed.

Brief Synopsis: A young girl on BYU-Idaho campus, goes to the DI to buy a new dress for an upcoming dance. All they seem to have is denim. Unfortunately President Bednar has spoken out against denim skirts, calling them "Jeans without a seam". They are definitely not formal enough. She is met by three young DI workers who struggle with her to find the perfect dress. In her moment of grief, they pull back the shroud of denim and uncover.......

Halloween vs Diabetes

I've been meaning to post so many things for so long now. I apologize. Time is just....short these days.
Well, I've been telling some people about the bats we made in my first grade class, so here are some pictures of how they turned out. The kids LOVED making them and they are so easy! A friend of mine gave me the link to find the instructions, but we did them a bit differently.

1. find an old, clean, black sock. Cut it off to make your bat however long you want.
2. Stuff the sock with batting and safety pin it closed at the end.
3. We used googley eyes for the eyes, and black and white felt for the mouth and wings in class. When Richie and I made them we used foam for the wings, which I liked better. I just made a pattern for the wings and mouth and had the kids cut them out. All these things are then hot glued on.
4. You only need 1 black pipe cleaner for one bat. Cut it in half, then cut the halves in thirds. Hot glue them on to the bottom and then curl them once they have dried.
Richie and I made them for FHE this week for Halloween and they turned out awesome. Even though it was a craft, I think Richie really liked doing it :) We watched Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and the old Headless Horseman with Bing Crosby as the narrator while we made them. fun fun fun.


So on Halloween, we had some really good friends of ours, Mike and Megan, invite us over to have a little Halloween shin-dig. There was another couple there and we all brought food, so between the 6 of us, there was a lot of food to be consumed. I did my fair share of helping 'dispose' of the plentiful food, especially the sweets. :) The next morning I woke up and realized I was going to the doctor's that day to be tested for gestational diabetes. Hmmm..."Not smart" I thought to myself, "to pig out on sugar the night before a diabetes test." But no worries. All is well, Halloween won and I don't have diabetes! Wahoo! He actually said my level was very low and that everything was progressing perfectly. Exactly what I wanted to hear. :) We're SO excited that it's almost painful!!
Hope everyone's Halloween was awesome!

I am weird

Six weird and random things about me:
The rules are:
* Link to the person who tagged you (Becca and Michelle)
* Post the rules on your blog
* Write six random things/unspectacular quirks about yourself
* Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them
* Let each person you have tagged know by leaving a comment on their blog
* Let the tagger know when your entry is posted

I think I've been tagged twice with this... I finally have a spare minute, so let's think.....

1. When I drink water, usually from a water bottle, I swish the water in my mouth once or twice before swallowing. (didn't realize I did this until I got married)

2. When I talk with my hands (which is often) or drink from a cup, or play piano or most other things my pinky is usually straight. Very refined I know. (Also didn't realize I did this till I got married)

3. I get a surge of energy right about 10-1030 every night. All of a sudden, I get very motivated to clean and do all sorts of other wonder woman things. This usually inconveniences Richie, who would have liked to be in bed about an hour ago. :) But let me just say what a sweetheart he is. The past 2 nights he's stayed up with my till after 12 to help me prepare materials for school the next day.

4. I hate people who mozy across crosswalks. It's even worse if you're a mozy-ing jaywalker. Sometimes I see how close I can get my car to the person just to freak them out a little cause I get so irritated. :) Bless their hearts.

5. If I like movie or certain episode of a show, I can watch it over and over and over again and still love it.

6. I talk to myself! Yup, I'm crazy. If I'm irritated and need to vent ,or want to replay a scenario in my head I usually find myself talking out loud and don't realize it until someone else walks in the room or I see myself in a mirror. And then I say, "Woah, I was just talking to myself." Funny, but I still don't stop after that usually.

I hereby tag:
Natalie
Jenn
Amanda
and...Anyone else that wants to!

Need a Laugh?

While maybe not totally appropriate, this comment made my day the other day, so if you need a laugh, hope this helps! Remember these are 6 and 7 year olds.
So in my class the other day, we had a science lesson on classifying different kinds of animals. We read through a big book that talked about mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, fish and insects. As we read new information, I recorded it on the board. After we got through the whole book, we reviewed what we had learned and I asked the children to share anything else they knew about that type of animal so we could add it to our list. When we got to mammals we reviewed the facts that mammals are covered with hair or fur and that they feed their babies milk. One little boy, who is very smart, raised his hand and said,
"Well, I know something else about mammals."
To which I replied, "Ok, tell us what you know."
Student: "Well about mammals feeding their babies milk... it comes from the boobies!"
.........
He said it so matter of factly that it was SO hard not to burst out laughing!! He kept a serious face until two little girls started giggling about it, then I quickly moved on so as not to have to give a sex-ed lesson the next day. :)

By the way..

HAPPY FALL! I think I can finally pin down Fall as my favorite season. And this year especially because our school gets a Fall break for these next 3 days. Hallelujah. So, i'll be doing some intense lesson planning since when we come back from Fall break, I'm in charge of the whole class. Anyone have any cheap, cute Halloween ideas to do with first graders??

I actually finished a book!

I started a fabulous book before school started and was almost finished. But since school, I have read about 50 pages in 1 month. A slow process to say the least. But I finally finished "Gods and Generals" by Jeff Shaara. It's a book that focuses on a few generals from the Civil War. It's very much a non-fiction book in the sense that it gives you the facts and the 'nitty-gritty' (as Nacho would say) details about the war, but it's also very fictional because Shaara uses those true details and weaves them into a personal story about the people leading the war so you know what they would supposedly have felt like or what their personal life was like. Here is my favorite review of the book.
"Shaara's beautifully sensitive novel delves deeply in the empathetic realm of psycho-history, where enemies do not exist- just mortal men forced to make crucial decisions and survive on the same battlefield...(He) succeeds with his historical novel through fully realized characters who were forced to decide their loyalties amid the horrors of their dividing nation"- San Fransisco Chronicle.
I wanted to read this book to somewhat increase my knowledge of the history of our country and it worked! I understand better now the process leading up to the civil war and understand that the leaders of the South or North were not strictly 'good' or 'bad'. They were decent, God-fearing men who were doing what they thought was best for our country. I hear it's a movie, so if you want to forgo the somewhat intense 500 pages, that may be an option! It also leaves you hanging at the end of the book right at the brink of the Battle of Gettysburg. Luckily Shaara's father wrote the sequel to the book called "Killer Angels" which I've heard is just amazing. FYI.

Alright, easiest, yummiest recipe in the world.
HOMEMADE OREOS
1 Devils Food Cake Mix
3/4 C shortening
2 Eggs
Roll into small balls, place on un-greased cookie sheet. Bake @ 350 for 8 minutes. Let cool on pan. Buy a container of vanilla frosting, spread between 2 small cookies!!
Lately, my favorite way to make cookies has just been to use any cake mix, leave out the water but put everything else in that is says and bake them as cookies. It makes so many, they are tasty, and it's SO easy!! Enjoy!!

Drumroll Please!

Alright, the results are in!! After a rushed and stressful doctor's visit, we finally come to a conclusion. We're having a BOY!!! Wahoo!!!! People had been telling me lately that they thought it would be a girl because apparently I'm "carrying high". So I'd almost convinced myself it would be a girl and was getting excited, but as soon as she pointed out to me that it was a boy, I was absolutely THRILLED!!! Good thing she could tell cause I had no idea what I was looking at. He was moving around so much, it took almost 30 minutes to get him to settle down enough to make a verdict! I would post the ultrasound picture like last time, but it's not nearly as cool and it looks kind of weird :) It was really cool to be able to see him move on the screen and feel it at the same time. WOW! So, for those of you who have any advice on how to raise boys, let me know!! :) I'd better start preparing! She said he's right on track, and actually growing quickly, so we may want to plan on having him early at this point.
Oh, and for those of you who are far away and don't have the 'opportunity' of watching my belly magically expand, here's an update. :) I'm wearing a tighter shirt so that you can't actually see the bump instead of the looser shirts that kind of hide it. And there you have it!

Doesn't he look excited?

His first day of school was actually this last Monday, but I haven't got around to posting it until now. Every semester I make him stand by the door with his backpack and everything so I can take his "first day of school" picture. :) I can't help it if I get such a kick out of it. I thought since all my brother's and sisters are posting pictures about their kids going to school, why should I be left out of that fun even if we don't have kids yet!? On Mon, Wed, and Fri Richie goes to work before school, so that's why he's got his grungy work clothes on. But then he changes out of them for school. He's got a big load on his plate this semester with 18 credits and trying to work. He also just got called to be our ward clerk! Yikes!
Student teaching is heating up for me as well. Starting this week, I'm taking over the entire mornings. I'm a little nervous since I'm not very familiar with the reading program. I also was just called to be the 1st counselor in the Relief Society.
Some more good news is neither Richie nor I are working at Western Wats anymore! Hooray!!! That was a terrible job and quite frankly we just couldn't handle it anymore. So I'm trying to get a job as a tutor and also I'll be grading papers for a high school teacher later in the Fall.
Sorry....this is sounding like a Christmas newsletter....The End. Have a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Spouse Tag

I wasn't popular enough to actually get "tagged" (whatever that means) with this thing, but I saw it on someone else's blog and thought it would be fun. Here you have it!

What is your husband's name? Richard Thomas Garner
How long have you been together? 1 year and 3 months!!
Who said I love you first? He did. To which my response was, "Are you sure?" (We had only been dating about 3 weeks!)
Who is taller? him, by 2 inches :) I always thought I'd want someone taller, but his height is very much perfect for me
Who sings better? Anyone who knows Richie should know this answer by now. :) Him by a long shot
Who is smarter? wear bothe preddy smrt. (Loved that answer Mary)
Who does the laundry? Me. But I usually prefer it that way.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If you're looking at it straight on, I do. What kind of a question is that anyway? Phycological?
Who kissed who first? He definitely made the first kiss move. He was very smooth. He had to be to get a kiss on only the 2nd date!

Who pays the bills? I do. I like to know what money goes to, and where and when.
Who is more sensitive? I am sensitive to get my feelings hurt, but Richie is sensitive to those feelings of mine so.....how is sensitive being defined?
Who mows the lawn? Oh, you mean that little strip of greeness that separates our complex? Cambridge Court Management
Who does the dishes? Usually me, but he's really good about doing them frequently. Such a sweetheart!
Who drives when you are together? Who drives these days? Not us! Go bikes!
Who is more stubborn? Depends on the subject. If it's saying sorry first, then, yes, it's me. Hate to admit it, but true.
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? See the above question

Who has more friends? We're both so popular so that's a hard question ;) he's better at making new friends, I'm better at keeping the old.
Who wears the pants? What do you mean by "the" pants? We actually happen to own and wear several different pairs of pants. :) He actually got a pair of hand-me-down jeans the other day, but we couldn't tell if they were for men or women!! They were man's pants, but looked like womens. I wouldn't let him discard them though because they're REALLY expensive jeans. So maybe we'll both wear those pants!

Around the Town

Richie's cousin Kara and her husband Kelly stayed with us this past weekend and it was a lot of fun to get to know them better. While they were here we took them to Mesa Falls which is about 30 minutes north of Rexburg, but it's a beautiful drive all the way there! You wouldn't think that there would be gigantic waterfalls in Southeast Idaho, but you'd be wrong! These waterfalls are huge and just surrounded by green everywhere. You can get pretty close to them to. There's also a bridge on the way there, over a river where there are always big fish to feed.

A picture of the amazing falls!


I look like a greaser, but Richie looks cute, even when he's wearing my pea-coat!

Then on Labor day, we were just glad to have a day off to rest for a minute, so we didn't make any huge plans, but we had a great day nonetheless! We rode our bikes all around our town despite the chilliness. We went to the tabernacle, played a little frisbee golf at Porter Park, tried to go to some Museums but left when we realized it cost money to get in (go figure), but our favorite was the upstairs of some businesses on Main street.
One of our friends is renovating some apartments there so we went to check them out and ended up finding the coolest place! It's these totally run-down buildings with old signs on them, and there just happened to be a door wide open, so we walked inside to find an abandoned dance studio! So we took some pictures. Our film cameras may have cooler ones on them, but I don't know how to post those. :)

Back to School!

Richie still has another week or so until he starts, but I have officially started my student teaching!! I am in the first grade with an amazing teacher! I have a lot to learn from her and we get along fantastically so far.
These little first graders are so dang cute and take so much patience! "Bless their hearts!" It's interesting being in a classroom where the day's activities are dictated by the bladders and mouths of 22 6 year olds (and one pregnant student teacher:). I can't believe how many times we take bathroom breaks and there are still kids that need to go!!!
So far I have learned all of the student's names and learned things about them, been volun-told to teach music to all first graders in the month of November because I pay the piano, learned 2 different songs to teach the days of the week and made one child cry for making him go to the back of the line. I wanted to laugh, but didn't...
Some of my favorite comments so far have been,
* "If I wear pink, I won't get breast cancer"
*"If you breathe in smoke from a fire, you loose 12 months of your life"
*"You have to make sure you tie your shoes when the fire alarm goes off or else the fire could catch your shoe-lace and go all the way up!"
I apologize for the lack of pictures, but I will post the cover of my favorite book I have read so far in class. The other "Fancy Nancy" books I've read are fabulous, and I think this one is fairly new and it's called "Fancy Nancy, Bonjour Butterfly". If you haven't read them or heard of them, I highly suggest checking them out.

September 19th

Well, Richie and I have been looking forward to today (August 15) for some time now thinking we would be able to tell if the baby was a boy or girl. Unfortunately they told me at my appointment today that we'll have to wait till September 19th. 5 whole weeks!!! Torture!!! Anyway, other than that the baby is healthy and the heartbeat is strong, and I can still sleep on my stomach, (wahoo!) so it's all good.

Our Protest on Gas Prices

RIchie had the fabulous idea to grab his two bikes next time we were in SLC so that we could ride them around in Rexburg instead of using our cars. I was excited to do anything that will save us some money, especially gas money. Gas money has taken it's toll with us traveling and such. It's always depressing to go through our budget at the end of the month and see how much gas robbed us!! Anyone else!?? So, Richie, being the handyman he is, fixed the tires on our bikes and we were good to go! Now, I just need a comfy seat! I'll have you know that we were both on empty on August 1st and have still not filled up yet! That's the beauty of living in a small town and being able to bike almost anywhere you need to go.

Since money is so tight these days, here are some ways we've been trying to save money. Don't knock em till you try em! And keep giving us ideas on how to save even more money!
*I cut Richie's hair and go to a friend for me.
*We wash and save our ziplock bags and reuse them
*I make bread instead of buying it.
*The only dates we do are under $5 usually. (Frisbee, walk, sometimes ice cream, dancing, and 50 cent movies at Horkley's)
*We don't have AC. We just use 2 fans which work really well and cut down on the cost.
*Certain loads of laundry can be air dried, so we don't use our drier.
* We turned the water heater way down since cold showers feel better these days anyway :)
*I usually only make 3-4 big meals a week, and we eat the left-overs on the other nights. That way I don't have to cook every night and we don't buy so many groceries!
*Something I'm working on is only buying the things we really need at the grocery store, only the things that are on the list. That's a tough one for me.
*Ride bikes!
Anyway, those are some ideas. Have any other ideas?

San Jorge!

Richie was able to get a little time off work and we got to visit my family in St. George!! It was so nice to be able to see them for a while even if it was a quick trip. Mom is always worried about not planning enough 'activities' for us to do while we're there, but we just want to sit around and talk to everyone and play with the kids!! We even got to visit one of my good friends Amanda and her husband while we were there for a bit at "In and Out" which was so crazy busy!!!! We went down to Logandale and had a fabulous dinner with Russ and Nat and their kids. And Mom and Adrienne even took me maternity shopping while Richie and Chris took the kids to a water park. THANK YOU!!!!! I forgot how hot it gets down there!! Holy smokes! But it was such a great weekend and we got to stop, like always, and see Richie's family for a few minutes on our way to and from which is always good. Now it's back to work I guess!!


When we got home Sunday night around 11, we came home to find out that one of our cupboards had completely fallen off the wall!!! I guess we had too many cans in there or something. But we were lucky nothing was broken or damaged....besides the cupboard on the floor of course.

Book Review and Recipe 2!

So I just got done reading "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was such a fun book to read! Not very long and easy to get through. It's full of fabulously cliche detective stories. It's nice because the book isn't one continuous story, every chapter is a new story! That also made it kind of hard for me to get in to, but all of the stories were great! It is narrated by Holmes' 'trusty sidekick' Watson who is an old doctor friend of his. Sherlock always insists on having Watson around to help him solve his cases, although Watson can rarely add any insight to the genius of Sir Sherlock. Since I can't give you a synopsis of the story line, here's just a taste of the book.

"You appear to read a good deal upon her which was quite invisible to me" I remarked.
"Not invisible, but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring you to realize the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a bootlace..."
"Well, Watson," said Holmes, when our visitor had left us, "what do you make of it all?"
"I make nothing of it," I answered, frankly. "It is a most mysterious business."
"As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this matter."
"What are you going to do, then?" I asked.
"To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three-pipe problem, and I beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes."



Now, for the recipe. I tried to think of something new that I've tried lately, but I kept coming back to taco salad! This has got to be one of my all-time, favorite recipes. It's easy, tastes really good, and goes especially well with some County-time lemonade!

TACO SALAD
1 lb ground beef
1/4 c chopped onion
1 16oz drained kidney beans
1/2 c Catalina dressing
1/2 C Water
1 T chili powder
*Brown meat. Drain. Add onion, cook until tender. Stir in beans, dressing, water and chili powder. Let simmer for 15 minutes. (I usually double the recipe. FYI. I just brown the meat and onion, drain it, then throw everything in a crock pot together and put it on warm while we're at church. SO easy!)

The rest of the ingredients are up to you! Or whatever you happen to have in your kitchen.... :)
lettuce
tomato
tortilla chips
green onions
sour cream
olives
guacamole
cheese
catalina dressing
*But may I stress the correct way of layering the ingredients, since the Crosby household has it down to a science. :) Place the tortilla chips on your plate and smash them. Then add the meat and beans, then the lettuce. Everything else is then up to you, but make sure you mix it all around good before eating. ENJOY!!

First Ultrasound

I got to go to my first doctor's visit the other day and it was so fun! They did an ultrasound so I got to see how the baby is progressing. It was nice to know that there really is a baby inside of me and I'm not just getting chubby and that this is really happening! She said the heartbeat is strong at 174 beats per minute on average. It's to early to tell the sex, but she said if she had to guess, she would say boy at this point. Who knows!? It was moving around a lot, which is so crazy to me since I can't feel it yet. She burned the entire ultrasound onto DVD which is really cool, and if I can figure out how to get it on here. Anyway, this is the picture she gave us from the ultrasound. Is it just me, or is there an uncanny resemblance to a skull and cross bones? :) So I guess our baby's gonna be a pirate! The crossing section are it's legs, the big round area is it's abdomen, and the little black dot inside the abdomen is, I think she said, the bladder. There you have it! Our baby's first picture!!!

Back in the Burg

We moved back from Nampa last week, and while we loved our time there, are SO glad to be back home! Although gas prices seem to kill a little bit of my soul every time we had to fill up.

We moved into the same apartment complex, just a different apartment. We now live in a spacious 2 bedroom! We lovingly call the 'spare oom' the baby's room but are currently using it for storage! The best part is that the hall closets are bigger in the 2 bedroom, so our washer and dryer actually fit in the closet and can be hooked up! WAHOO! No more walking from the 3rd floor, across the complex, in the snow...uphill both ways to do our laundry. And although we don't have AC, it's suprisingly not bad. We bought 2 fans and they do a good job.

The first week back has been a whirlwind! We first were able to get a day off for the Garner reunion in Bear Lake. What we thought was just going to be a short drive turned into 4 hours, but it was definitely worth it to see everyone. I'm still trying to learn everyone's names, but it is a great family! I feel very at home with them.

Then, the day after we got back was our ward campout, so we packed up some stuff and headed about 30 minutes away to some of our bishop's property. It was so much fun. We absolutely love our ward. We had great food, played horseshoes, caught up with everyone, but the highlight definitely was the human rubber band. For those of you who were there, you know what I'm talking about! :) I'll try and post that video if I can figure it out.

Book Review and Recipe!

I've decided, it's not enough I just tell you the good books I'm reading, but also give you a little review so that you can decide if you want to read them too! (ps I'm ALWAYS up for good book suggestions! It seems I can't get enough of them these days! That will probably change once school starts! :)
I just got done reading "Freedom Factor" by Gerald Lund, inspired to do so after a patriotic lesson in Relief Society the week after the 4th. I once again realized how uneducated I am when it comes to our country's history and procedures. So as a start to learning more about our country and our inspired constitution, I read this book. It was fabulous! Quick synopsis: Bryce Sherwood is the aid to a powerful senator in Washington. They are about to pass a bill that will basically restructure the constitution. Blind to this bill's obvious and serious downfalls, Bryce will not yield his efforts. He has been promised much power among other things if he pushes this change. At the same time, he meets a young woman who is very passionate about saving the constitution. Despite their differences, they can't help falling for each other (swoon!) Not even his new gal pal Leslie can convince him of his wrongs, so a visitor from the past, Nathanial Gorham, a signer of the constitution, comes to try and convince Bryce to change his ways and places him in, for the lack of a better phrase, an alternate universe; a United States where the constitution never existed. He sees first hand what this great land would be like without the freedoms we enjoy.
So, if you're feeling a little less patriotic than usual, this book is a quick read, educational, enjoyable and inspire you to be a better citizen...maybe! Two thumbs up!

Now, as for this recipe.... If you're sick of making banana bread with your old bananas, here's such a yummy alternative!!! I learned it from Jolene staying in Nampa this summer.

FROSTED BANANA BARS
1/2 C butter of margarine softened
2 Cups sugar
3 Eggs
1-1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium)
1 t vanilla extract
2 C flour
1 t baking soda
pinch salt
*You can also add 1 Cup Sour cream. It's not necessary, but makes them very moist!

Pour into a greased 15x10x1 inch baking pan. Bake @ 350 for 25 minutes.

FROSTING
1/2 C butter or margarine softened
1 pkg, 8 oz cream cheese
4 C powdered sugar
2 t vanilla extract

Spread over cooled bars and enjoy! Yields 3 dozen!

They are SO yummy!!

One Year Older and Wiser too!

Happy Birthday to Richie!! Okay, Okay, I know it's been a while since the last post, but internet access has been limited over the past few weeks, so I'm just barely getting around to putting Richie's bday stuff on here from July 2nd! His celebrations were scattered, but it was a good time anyway. First his family got to come up to Nampa for a Wheeler reunion and it was so much fun to see them, even just for a little bit. Richie's mom made him a delicious blackberry pie and they spoiled him with a new tent and a big backpack among other things. Then, on Richie's actual birthday, we were sent up to Cascade so Richie could work in the Donnely store. So, my resources were limited at the cabin, but I tried my hardest to make a nice dinner and cake. Not my best work however! :) Later that week we got to go out to Dinner on Richie's company to Texas Roadhouse. Oh my goodness, I think it may be our new favorite restaurant! Nothin like some good ol' meat and potatoes! If you have never been there, I highly recommend splurging and going, even if it's just for the hot rolls with honey/cinnamon butter.

One year down...eternity to go!!

Bring it on! Right before we got married I remember quite a few people telling us this first year was going to be a bumpy ride and that it would be really hard. I'll admit, it takes some getting used to living with a guy! But, Richie and I both agree this has been the best year of our lives! It's been such an awesome year filled with growth neither of us ever expected. I'm so glad I married my best friend, it sure makes life a lot funner. And it's even better when your best friend is a good looking, sweet, smart, talented guy who will watch Anne of Green Gables with me if I really want him to, even though it's not his 'favorite'! :) I sure lucked out! Love you babe!


To celebrate we went to a fantastic Thai restaurant called "Mai Thai" in the Eagle/Boise area. (We didn't get any pictures! What were we thinking! So, if you want to check out the actual area, here's the website: (http://www.maithaigroup.com/) Wow! It was so good and the whole ambiance of the place made the meals even better. Richie had a curry dish (called the "Evil Jungle Prince". I got a kick out of that), cause he can handle the spicy stuff. Myself on the other hand played it safe with some Chow Mien. Our waiter also got us some free Summer Rolls (Sushi) which were very tasty. We splurged and even ordered Dessert. There was a particular dessert item called "Captain Jack" for $7.95, that was served on fire, so we thought we'd get that. LAME! We learned our lesson. The ice cream reminded us of Brian Regans bit on 1/2 cup ice cream servings, and the fire was pretty weak sauce. We passed Coldstone on the way home where we could have gotten double for the same price, and kicked ourselves the rest of the way! :) Moral of the Story, don't ever order an ice cream dessert that is served on fire! Especially for over $7! It was a really fun experience though and a great way to celebrate our first, fantastic year of marriage!

Sorry about no pictures! I'll try and post some later!

What a Crazy Summer!

Ok, here's the quick update. We were supposed to be here until the end of July, but plans have changed and Richie's uncle/boss needs us back in Rexburg by the 14th! So, we scrambled around calling the apartment we wanted and were able to still get one! Whew! Then, Richie's grandma wanted us to come live with her. So, after we heard that, we packed up all of our stuff from Jo and Jolene's and headed over the river and through the woods to Grandma's house. We're so lucky that we have so much family here that is willing to take us in! It is a huge blessing. Although life is great and everything is going well, I'm ready to not be living in and out of a suitcase and have our own apartment again! And that's all she wrote.

The BUN is in the OVEN and the CAT is out of the BAG!

You see, when two people really love each other....just kidding.  Yep! Mark your calendars for February 2nd! Richie and I are completely excited to be getting a new addition to our family and feel SO blessed!

Fun weekend!

Although we couldn't make it to our reunion, I was able to get a day off of work and go visit Richie at the cabin for the weekend! We went on a four wheeler ride, discovered we are not meant to be fishers (we didn't catch anything but the attention of some squirrels) and tried to go camping, but after almost 3 hours of driving trying to find places people told us about, got frustrated and went back to the cabin to sleep in a comfy bed! Among those grand adventures we also got locked out, tied a quilt, watched some movies and had a cook-out in the back yard.  Man, Richie's pretty dang good at roastin dogs and mallows! It was a great weekend and the best part was that Richie got to come home on Sunday and doesn't have to be at the cabin alone this week, so we are happy!!

Bummer Deal

For this next week or maybe longer, Richie is working up at a branch of the store about 2 hours away staying at his Grandma's cabin while I am here in Nampa. Kind of lame, but that's life sometimes I guess! I got to go up last weekend to be with him and his Grandma Linda and Great Grandpa Ewing. It is absolutely gorgeous up there!  Because of the harsh winter, all the new spring wild flowers are just coming out!  Our big project while we were there was to get Grandpa Ewing some more firewood.  Let me tell you, this man is 89 years old and still works like a champ! It was lots of fun to be up there with them and play some mean rounds of Canasta! I also get to go up this weekend to keep Richie company, and we're both looking forward to that.  But we're both missing the Crosby side of the family very much right now!! We wish we could be there for the reunion everyone!!! Too bad work and money are always getting in the way:( We love you!!!

Beautiful Country

We live in such a beautiful country! There are these fields, of mustard seed plants I think,  close to where we are living.  The fields are so big and brilliant in color that when you come over the hill it's breathtaking every single time! And in the middle of one of the fields is an old, white, farm house surrounded by old farm equipment and weeds.  I think it's absolutely gorgeous so I went to take some pictures there the other day.  Fun stuff! The last picture is of Richie fixing the brakes on our car! Isn't he great? They work fabulously now!