Friends and Good Games

It has been years since I have sat down to a good game of Balderdash, but Sunday was the perfect excuse. Celeste Maloy, one of my friends from high school, was in town this weekend and we were able to have quite the jolly 'ole time lying our butts off! Celeste brought a couple of friends, combine Adam and I and my sister Tasha and her husband, and you have a great recipe for gut rumbling laughter. It was a great Sunday dinner and was wonderful to reminisce about the "good 'ole days".
I don't think I realized until Sunday that we graduated 10 years ago!! Since Adam and I are the same age, we are both hitting that magical 10 year mark and I wonder to myself "Where has all the time gone?" In so many ways I feel like it was just yesterday that we all stepped into that great, big, crazy world. But then again I don't even feel like the same person that received that diploma. I truly feel like my Heavenly Father has been guiding me through so many life events that I have started to change and develop into a completely different Shari.
I am truly grateful for my Father in Heaven/God and the love I feel from him during all trials and high spots in my life. I will forever be grateful for the pure knowledge I have in Him and His son Jesus Christ. I love this time of year and the time we can take to reflect on the Life of Christ. What a special time it can be.

Good 'ole Thanksgiving

We started our Thanksgiving break off with a great basketball game in Salt Lake. The Utes were playing Lousiville who was ranked #8 in the nation. Being the ultimate Ute/Kalee Whipple fans, we had to go! The game was good and it was great to hang out with all millions of Whipples that showed up. The girls played a dang good game and we had a blast (For anyone who doesn't know, we LOVE watching Ms. Whipple play and we generally go to several of her games throughout the season ;)

We decided to stay that night with my parents in a hotel room, instead of traveling 7 hours after the game got over at 10:00pm ;) So we ended up in wonderful Nevada on Wednesday and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves over the Thanksgiving weekend. I was super excited to go home for Thanksgiving this year, because it had been 7 years since I had been able to go home or even relax for more than 12 hours on "Turkey Day". It was so relaxing and I was able to eat WAY too much great food!

The day after Thanksgiving is the honorary "Christmas Tree Hunting Day" in my family, so we packed up the cars and the coolers full of lunch fixin's and headed on out. Basically it's just an excuse to run around the mountains and play on the four wheelers, but isn't that why all good traditions are made? ;)

We spent a wonderful time this past weekend playing with family and catching up with those we haven't seen in WAY too long. I love my family dearly and I am so grateful for the time I had growing up with them (Isn't it funny how we never realize the good times when we are younger?). I love that we can still have good times together..... I am truly blessed.

My sweet hubby

I seriously love my husband. I'm sure most people love their spouses, but I have truly appreciated his love and support lately. I had a doosy of a time last week (report cards, monthly testing, blah, blah, blah) and felt like everything was coming down on me at once. Well, in walks my sweet husband with a bunch of red roses. (I know. I'm a romantic, but those are my favorite flowers!) He is incredible! I don't know what I've done in life to have him with me, but I am a lucky, lucky girl.

He also found a soccer league up here. He has loved the playing time, but I have hated the times of the games!!! His last one was at 9:30pm, but tomorrow his game will be at 10:30pm! Geesh.... that puts us at home and in bed at 1:00am!!! Oh well. He has loved getting back into playing and it has been a huge stress relief for him. His Master's Program has been really tough lately, so I'm glad he is having fun. He deserves it.

Twilight

In honor of the movie coming out, I decided to take this little quiz! I am excited to see how the movies turn out. I hope they do the books justice! I do like me some twilight...

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

You are thoughtful and care very deeply for your family. A loving home is of great importance to you and you always try to make people feel welcome. Although you have a great capacity to love, you also have a great capacity to hurt, so at times you can be sensitive. You're firm when you need to be, but people trust your judgment and appreciate the kind way you always handle things.

Happy Halloween!!!!

Another wonderful holiday has passed with fun moments and a lot of laughter. Adam and I finally got our pumpkins carved on Wednesday (thanks to the help of Tasha and Justin!). We thought they turned out pretty well! Adam was really excited about his Frankenstein pumpkin, which I thought was really cute (Especially when I went to school the next day and one of my students was really excited to have carved his pumpkin as Frankenstein also. Well, my student was over the moon excited that he and Adam had done the same style of pumpkin! I'm not sure Adam was as excited. At least my husband is still young at heart! ;)


On Friday, there were several of us that went over to my sister Tasha's house and had a Halloween party. It was a ton of fun! I really enjoyed going around with Tasha and Mylah trick-or-treating (Adam and Justin stayed at home and handed out candy;), eating a ton of junk food, and having a good 'ole time laughing. What more can you ask for than good food and good people to share it with? (Plus I didn't feel too guilty with eating all that junk food, because our school is starting a Biggest Loser competition on Monday. So I can still have fun this weekend! ;) I love the holidays and the fun traditions that come with them. On to Thanskgiving!!! ;)

Fall Break

So I have been trying to post about this last weekend for awhile, but my turkey of a husband has been on the computer every night! ;) (For some reason, he has to do his homework;) (I'll probably get whacked for that comment!;)

But anyway, the state of Utah has a Fall Break about the middle of October every year (Nevada never had this one..... we did always get Halloween off though! Gotta love that Nevada was formed on October 31st!) I really wanted to do something during those couple of days, so we decided to hit up the good 'ole town of Salt Lake City. We recruited my sister Tasha and her little girl Mylah to come with us, called up one of my really good friends from my mission (Cally Ashton.... well her last name is now Johnson, but she will forever be known as Ashton!), and headed on down. We decided on IKEA and headed towards the wonderland of shopping. I'm not sure how many of you guys have been to this Mecca of all wonderfulness, but I ADORE this store! I had been to it before when I lived in Spain, but to have that here in the U.S. is a piece of heaven on earth! (There are a couple of stores, for those that know about the area.... Barrio 2,5,Alcobendas, etc) I seriously could just wander for hours (which we have done before ;) and not worry about anything but the hundreds of displays in front of me. Ahh.... heaven..... We even made it out of there with spending only $10! Yeah for staying on a budget! (Well, Cally had even more fun than us and bought a new bedroom set ;)

So after this adventure, we had a great lunch while Cally headed to her doctor's appointment (Congrats on having another little one on the way!). Another round of shopping and we were headed home to a dinner with Tasha, Justin and friends. The next morning we were even able to sleep in! (I NEVER get to sleep in! It has been ages!) THAT was definatly a highlight of our long weekend!

This past week has been crazy, but one of the fun events was a 3rd grade program we had on Wednesday. It was a musical program about the history of Cache Valley. So cute! The students did a great job and we all had a fun time with the program (OF COURSE I forgot my camera and didn't get any pictures.) Adam surprised me by showing up to watch the whole crazy production! (He was suppose to have classes until after the program, so I was really surprised to see him.) I am so grateful for his help in so many areas...... I sometimes feel so overwhelmed, but my wonderful husband supports me so much. I just stinking love that kid!

Football and Seasons

This weekend included a rousing BYU and USU game with my parents and sister making the long jaunt up from their homes. It was really great to hang out with all of them! We had a lot of fun enjoying the game and conference all in one weekend. It was wonderful to see the fam and doubling the fun were the great talks we were able to hear from our church leaders.


In our down time, we were able to escape up the canyon and enjoy the colors of the season. I love this time of year! It always makes me so excited and I feel like a little kid again! I think I have really started to enjoy every season again, because of my job. Being around kids all day that can't stop talking about their excitement is hard to ignore! It just seeps into everything (their stories they write, their spelling sentences, etc) I have also loved the intense colors that come with this season. Growing up in southern Nevada, we didn't always get the deep reds and oranges that appear up here.
What a wonderful time of the year! ;)





(What's so random is that I absolutely adore the Fall Plain M&M's. I know there is absolutely no difference between these M&M's and normal plain M&M's, but there is no reasoning with a girl that loves chocolate!!)

Being a teacher

So I stumble into work this morning thinking, "Wow! I'm so glad it's Friday!" I was trying to balance my breakfast, two textbooks, my keys, and papers I had graded the night before, when I looked down and saw a paper that had been pushed under the door. I bent down to pick it up and promptly dropped the granola bar, orange juice, and triscuits that had been balancing precariously. I flipped the paper over and read the words that made my morning and tears come to my eyes - "Dear Mrs. Crawford, you are the best teacher!" That is why I am a teacher. I absolutely love the students. They make everything worthwhile.

This year has been quite the adjustment, but I have loved my new school. I was afraid to leave my wonderful school down in Provo, but this school has been just as great! I was able to continue teaching 3rd grade and now I have an aide that does the work of 15 people! She is wonderful and I wonder "How did I do this last year without an aide?!"

Adam is doing really well in his Master's program (He is such a smart turkey! I wish I could get through school as easily as he does) A lot of doors are opening up and I can see how much he is loving all of it. He is really in his element when he can help the adults and children that are around him. I really do love seeing him so excited.

My Grandma

So I had a wonderful and witty blog planned, with all sorts of details about the first couple weeks of school (from a teacher's point of view ;), our Labor Day weekend down in Alamo, NV, and even a wonderful barbeque we had with a high school friend, Sadie (Perkins) Lyman....... but then I got a phone call last night.

My Grandma Whipple died yesterday afternoon.... she was and is a truly amazing woman. She married my grandfather on the faith and belief that he was a strong man and would support her in this life and through the eternities. It was her strong example of getting up every Sunday and taking the kids to church that sparked his interest in the Church. If it wasn't for her, their family of 3 living children and 17 living grand children, wouldn't all be active members of the Church. I have always admired her poise and ability to stay calm (whenever an accident happened on the ranch, and there were A LOT, we all ran to her) These past few years have been harder on her, because of the effects a stroke had left on her. She was such a strong example of patience, even when she was frustrated with her slower speech and a walker to help her get around. I will miss her smile.....

I selfishly would like to see her one more time, but I know she is having a wonderful time with the several family members that have made it up there before her. I love her dearly and can't wait for the time when I will see her again.


The picture was at our Wedding. Her and my Grandpa Whipple are on the right side of the Photo.

The Beach

After we were done touring the great Province of British Columbia, we then headed south to Seattle. We were able to spend a wonderful time with some friends of ours, Raj and Summer. We hadn't seen them for over a year (they had moved up there from Provo) and it was really great to catch up with them.

After exploring around Seattle and it's market place, we then journeyed down to Portland, Oregon. On our way there we decided to stop in at Mt. St. Helen's and we were fogged in the whole day!!! So we don't have any great pictures of that really cool Volcano..... Someday......







Next was Portland, where we met up with Adam's family and spent some time touring around the town.





The Rose Garden









Pittock Mansion.... My future house? Anyone agree? :)















A submarine in the Willamit River. The coolest guided tour ever!!!

Then it was off to the beach..... It was so nice.....

This is the lighthouse at Yaquina Head. It was alot of fun to tour and check it out.





Adam, Bev (my mother-in-law) and I were able to find a deep connection to sand castle construction while we were in Lincoln City!!! These are just a couple of the great sand castles that were created. (Adam even expressed a desire to leave our normal cushy lives behind and head into the competive life of sand castle competitions.... hmmmmm...)

Next

After our canoeing trip we then made it to the top of Whistler Mountain. Seriously, this area was one of the prettiest places I have EVER been. In the past couple of years we have been to 3 continents and 7 different countries, so I was actually very surprised that it affected me so much..... I wanted to stay right there on top of that mountain and live out the rest of my days! So peaceful.....




This is the Inukshuk image that will be used in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics






I truly loved our time in Whistler and would jump at the chance to head back!!

Wow, what a month......

So this past month was a doosy but boy was it a fun one! We had such a fun time being nomads and living out of our car! ;) (Have I mentioned lately how much I love my husband? We are always out and about touring the world. How can you not love that?!) So anywho, we were all over the place and took over a hundred pictures, so I figured I would break up the chaos and post the pictures over a couple of blogs.

The week in Canada


We started the vacation up in Whistler, Canada. The 2010 Winter Olympics will be in Vancouver, Canada, but the downhill events will be held in Whistler, which is about 2 hours north. Seriously, this place is one of the most beautiful places on earth! I truly loved visiting this place!


It was so cold!!

We were attacked by mosquitoes! I haven't seen that many since Alaska!










A couple of days later.....


We then decided to take a canoe trip down a couple of lakes and rivers that were several miles long.

So beautiful!!!


A nice calm moment!


My cutie!!!












We had a lot of fun and truly enjoyed our time together. I always come home from these trips and cry because I know I won't be able to have my best friend with me 24 hours a day any longer....

Moving

Well we are officially moved!!! Life is definitely better with that behind us! When we moved into our house in Provo, we had just gotten married and only had a couple of bags of clothing..... surprisingly we accumulated a ton of stuff in the past 3 years!!! Fortunately, we had our cousins, Kelly and Amie Miller, and my parents there to help us poor kids out. It was an extremely long day getting everything packed, driving the couple of hours up to Logan, and then unloading the whole she-bang, but the troops were wonderful and everything went fairly smoothly.

We will now turn around and head to Canada for a week, Seattle for a week, and finally the Oregon coast for a week! This is the Crawford family tour of the Northwest, so life will definitely be fun. I will post pics when we get back.

The 4th of July!!!

Well, I finished up my training in Logan and we immediately headed down to Alamo, NV for the 4th of July. What a weekend! This weekend was one of the best 4th of July's I have had in a long, long time! So many people to visit with and so many fields to set on fire! (Yes, there were a couple of fires on our ranch due to the pyrotechnics of a few people! What 4th of July is complete with out a good scrambling for a garden hose?!) So many wonderful moments this weekend

The 4th of July always makes me realize how lucky we all are to live in this wonderful country. I've lived and visited a lot of different countries and I still love the good 'ole US of A. There is a wonder in traveling and seeing the sites of the world (Who doesn't love Spain and Italy? ;), but the calm assurance of peace, freedom, and our beautiful country always wins by a mile. I am so grateful for our freedoms and those people who protect those freedoms for us. God Bless America!

We have a home

We are up in Logan, Utah right now for a training I have. I am completing a two week course for the school I will be teaching for this next year and loving the time here because we get to stay with my sister Tasha and her husband! I am so grateful for their help!

We were also able to find a townhouse for us to rent!!!! That has been one of my serious stress points these past couple of weeks. I was so worried we weren't going to be able to find something we were happy with! But we have found a wonderful townhouse with hard wood floors, new paint, and it even has 3 bedrooms (it has an extra one for when the kids decide to come!!!;)So, that is a huge relief.

We also found out that our cousins Kelly and Amie, and my Mom and Dad are going to be able to help us this next month as we move (they will even be able to bring up a trailer so we don't have to rent one!). Another stress point removed! We have been helped so much this week.... it's almost like the Lord is confirming we are suppose to be here....hmm.....

The Dog Days of Summer

School "officially" was out for me last Tuesday and I have been having way too much fun! I've been able to catch up on my house work and even catch up on all the books I have been meaning to dive into. The most recent book was the new book by Stephenie Meyer, The Host. I bought it forever ago, but i never had time to start this 619 page monster. But when I did, I couldn't put it down! Literally! Adam was shocked the other night when he came out into the living room and I was still up reading at 6:30 in the morning! I have never done that before! Needless to say, I REALLY enjoyed the book.

Well, I also have been packing up our house...... I have honestly been sad, thinking about leaving our first house together. Sounds cheesy, but we have had such a good 2 1/2 years here in Provo. On the flip side, I can't wait to get up to Logan and start our lives up there. It feels like we have been in limbo for 2 months as we have finished up the school year and semester. It's going to be so nice to be up there finishing up the schooling aspect and seeing my sister Tasha and her family (we will miss having my other sister Tonya in Provo with us though!) This will be one crazy summer, but I can't wait!

Adam's First Blog

For fear that the "Crawford blog" will become "Shari's Blog," I have taken it upon myself to publish a post. It should come as no surprise to those of you that know me that I am horrible at checking e-mails, worse at replying to them, and technologically clinging to my hypothetical dentures while sitting in a creaky rocking chair yelling at "young whippersnappers" such as yourselves. Regardless, I refuse to let much more of the information age pass me by, let alone my wife--she already has a 2GB flash drive while I use my measly 256 MB one.
How grateful I am to have a wife who drags me (kicking and screaming) into uncharted territories and new adventures. Consider this a "welcome" to those friends of mine whom I have endured many a hoola-hoop jumping contest with (you know... high school, college, etc.), and to those friends of Shari's who have no idea what she got herself into. I look forward to receiving laughs and quips from each of you, and will attempt to make my presence known occasionally ... so long as the dentures remain in my mouth anyway.
-Adam

So many blessings....

Life continues to be crazy, but how can you not find those wonderful little moments that creep up on you? Last weekend we had the opportunity to go to my little brother's graduation. It was so weird to be there and see him graduating from High School.... he was in 3rd grade when I took my own walk to receive that diploma! Wow, has time flown.....


(I'm shrugging in this picture, but it looks like I am scared! Gotta love the siblings!;)


It was good though to think back on time and see what has transpired in the past 9 years. I have been so grateful for the careful and patient guidance from my Heavenly Father. He has led me on the craziest journeys, but I have been guided through and around the greatest places: Being born into my amazing and one of a kind family, my mission to Madrid, Spain (anybody remember the crazy stuffed teddy bear with glowing red eyes?; or the most wonderful people and their culture?), receiving my college diploma (even when it felt like the world didn't support that... thanks mom and dad for all your help!), being lucky enough to find and marry the greatest guy and my best friend in all the world.... I could honestly go on and on, but it was really good to reflect back on the life I have had so far. So many blessings....

Crazy time....

Wow!! This past week has been insane! It is the end of the year and you would think it would get easier for a teacher! Nope.

This past year I have been able to work occasionally at the temple, after all the patrons have left. We go in at about 9pm and get done around 1am. I worked a lot during the summer, but i haven't been able to work there as much as I would like since the school year started. This past Saturday I worked my last day, due to us moving and a crazy summer ahead..... I was so sad I cried! It has been so wonderful to be there late at night and to feel the calming spirit that is there. It was always so cool to think "Well, I'm headed to the temple now!" It was the greatest job ever and I will truly miss the time I spent there daily. Inspiration seemed to come to your mind so easily..... What a blessing to have a Father in Heaven that cares for us and helps us each day.

Hogle Zoo

There is something about going to a zoo and it transporting you back to when you were a little kid. The sounds and excitement are so much fun! Mylah (my niece) turned 1 on Friday, so my sister Tasha planned a fun excursion to the Hogle Zoo. We all had a blast and I truly felt like I was an 8 year old again! You can't beat that feeling of youth and excitement. The whole day was made even better by being with so much family and so many friends! (We even got to see the long, lost Kalee Whipple! We hadn't seen her since before the NCAA tournament!)




Needless to say, the day was wonderful and I had a ton of fun. We wrapped up all the excitement by heading home and taking a nice long nap! But I then paid for it later, when I couldn't go to sleep until 5 o'clock in the morning! (Part of the blame for that can be put on the head of the Fablehaven book #3. That is one fantastic series!) I haven't stayed up that late in a very long time, and when our 8 o'clock church started; I was a little bleary eyed. I made it through and felt the spirit a ton, so I think today has been a success as well!

End of year testing is finally over!!!!

The whole end of year testing craziness is finally over!!!! There is way too much pressure on teachers for these lovely State tests, but they are over and the dye is cast. I can only hope that the students remembered at least a fraction of my endless ramblings! ;) (I did tell Adam the other day that I think I became a teacher because I always have students that laugh at my jokes and I get to hear myself talk for 8 hours every day! I think it is actually too close to the truth!;)

Tonight we were able to go play Volleyball with some friends of ours in the ward. It was so much fun! I am beat right now, but I think we held our own for the 2 1/2 hours we played! It was great, and it took me back ten years when I really was young enough to not be so tired ;)

Disney Princess

So I loved this on Sadie's blog so I decided to try it! I really like this!

Strong and spirited. You're no one's girly girl; actually you are very determined person with a strong sense of self. Never let go of that! The only thing that equals your sense of self is your family, but the traditions of society can always be bent to protect something or someone you love.

Which'>http://www.greatestjournal.com/quiz.bml?Q=16354">Which Disney Princess Are You?

Hope of America

To say this week has been busy would be an understatement! We have been running around like crazy, and I know it won't slow down until the end of year testing is over next week for my students. However, one of the cool things we had this week was a huge Hope of America program that took place this Tuesday. It's this huge Patriotic program that took place in the BYU Marriot Center and involved 7,000 students! Yes it was nuts! We had so much fun and my students did so well. I was really proud with how prepared they were and how well they did in front of a crowd of over 22,000. There were several different songs the whole group of students sang, but the last 3 songs our school's 3rd and 4th grades were on the floor performing. During the closing song, the lights went out and there was a flashlight show with all 7,000 students. It was so much fun and the whole performance was definitely a once in a lifetime event! (However, the late night and few hours of sleep on Tuesday were not fun!)


Adam also finished up his finals this past week, so his Bachelor's degree is only 2 summer classes away! YES!! Then it's off to grad. school in the wintery wonderland of Logan. We also found out today that Adam was also accepted to UNLV..... it took them 3 months to let us know and the information came in WAY to late, but I couldn't be more proud of my smarty pants husband! He was able to get into almost all of the Universities he applied to! (Thanks Bev. for handing on those brains!) So in a nut shell, this week has been chaos, but entertaining!






These goofballs are so funny! ;)













The light show with all 7,000 students

The Sisters Grimm, Book 6 "Tales from the Hood"

These books are the best! The 6th book just came out and I absolutely adore this series. The series is the "Sisters Grimm" and it follows these two girls that have just discovered they are some of the last descendents of the actual Grimm Brothers. The compilation of the Grimm's fairytales ends up being an actual history of Fairy Tale characters. So the sisters find themselves living with their grandmother, while their parents are missing (stolen by some renegade Fairy Tale characters!) The girls start running into these crazy, funny characters like Snow White and the Little Mermaid, but the characters are set in the 20th century. The author is hilarious and paints the greatest images in each book (Snow white is a martial arts expert and the name of her class is "The Bad Apples". So stinking cute!)

One of the greatest parts about this series (and maybe this is my geeky teacher side coming out) the younger sister is constantly questioning the bigger words the adults use, and the older sister explains the definitions to her. Several of my students have checked these books out and they have been able to learn so much vocabulary from the older sister's explanations. You can't help but love the learning aspect!

I could honestly go on for pages about this series, but you have to read them! You'll get addicted too!

The Planetarium

This past week we had a field trip to the Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake and I had such a blast! We have been studying Astronomy in Science, so we decided to take the students on a field trip. The Clark Planetarium is connected to the Gateway mall (so it's super easy to get in and out of) and they showed a film that took you through the different planets in our solar system. It was great! You got to see each planet and "land" to see what each one is made of (One teacher was so excited, because she didn't know that Jupiter-through-Neptune were all gas planets! See we all get to learn!)

I have had so much fun this year with the different curriculum that we get to cover in third grade. I love this grade! The students are so respectful and we get to do more complicated projects, because their level of understanding is so high. I truly enjoy my job.

Spring Break!!!

So I honestly never knew how excited our teachers were for the same breaks we were all sooooo ready for! (Spring, Summer, etc) It has been so nice not having to worry about the alarm going off, or the lesson plans for the next day, or even showering! I didn't even shower until 8 o'clock yesterday, and I didn't even feel guilty!

Thursday and Friday we got caught up with all the millions of things that creep up on everyone, and then we decided to head up to Logan for a few days to take care of some college stuff and to spend some time with Tasha, her husband Justin, and their little girl Mylah. It has been so great! We have had fun just GEO Cashing and hanging out! (If anyone else is new to this whole GEO Cashing thing, so was I! It involves a GPS and finding little things people have hidden all over tarnation. It is pretty fun!)

Tomorrow, Adam will go into the College and register for his first semester of his Master's program. Man am I excited! It'll be nice to move onto this next phase. We are excited to get through this college stuff!

Here is the cutest picture of Tasha's little girl Mylah. Needless to say her dad had to give her a bath after this picture! (can anybody explain how to post a lable to a picture?)