Vegas, Anyone?

Southwest Airlines is having a sale right now on flights to vegas. Go here to get the deal. From Salt Lake to Vegas it's $30 one way! I was so close to buying tickets this morning . . . then Brian talked some sense into me. We need a kitchen table before we start taking vacations! 

Anyway, just wanted to share the good news.

Have you ever . . .

looked in the mirror at the end of a long day and noticed you're wearing 2 different earrings?

i did. this week. so humiliating.

Happy Christmas Eve

Paintings by Liz Lemon Swindle and Greg Olsen

Let it Snow!

SO happy we're getting a white Christmas! but i HATE driving in this stuff-- serves me right for not having my shopping done before dec 23.

Christmas Decorations

I've spent the last hour looking at blogs of people's cute Christmas decorations. Now I have the sudden urge to blog about my own decorations-- I think I'm too impressionable!But anyway---- These reindeer are in the running to be my favorite thing that we have up this year. There are 2- one on each side of the mantle. It's actually a 'copycat' decoration, though. Brian's mom has a set of these. But apparently it was always Brian's favorite decoration so she called us last year when she saw them on clearance at Kohl's. I can't wait to shop the clearance sections again this year!

Only 4 more days to Christmas!!!

2nd Grade Gingerbread Houses, 2008

typing, copying & passing out donation lists . . . . . . 25 minutes

going to the store to get items that weren't donated . . . . . . 30 minutes

cutting graham crackers into house-shapes . . . . . . 1 hour

hot-gluing the houses together . . . . . . 1.5 hours

making icing and filling it into 24 individual sandwich bags . . . . . . 1 hour

time spent complaining about stupid gingerbread houses . . . . . . 30 minutes

trying to get rid of my "stress headache" from the houses . . . . . . 40 minutes

seeing how happy my kids were to decorate the houses on the last day of school . . . . . . worth every minute!

can't wait to do it again next year! =)

Our First Christmas Tree

My tree decorating skills (thus far):

Brian's special touches:Our tree is actually quite funny. It came pre-lit with twinkling Christmas lights. However, about a week after setting it up, the whole bottom section of lights on the tree started blinking off and on-- I think it has a short or something. I like to think it just has extra "twinkle!" (At least that's what I tell myself so I don't really have to deal with the problem!)

Topless Models

At the mall on Saturday, I was trying on some clothes as Brian roamed around the neighboring stores. He returned as I was ready to check out and informed me that just across from my store, Pac Sun was displaying topless models! I assumed he was talking about the nearly-nude, Abercrombie-type models. But he assured me it wasn't anything so proper-- they were actually topless; nothing covering them up! I was appalled! There is no way a store would show nudity like that in public . . . right??? As we left my store, we passed by Pac Sun and Brian pointed out the topless models displayed proudly in the front windows:


Ha, Ha, Ha. Funny Brian.
(I hate that I believe EVERYTHING he says!)

Oh there's no place like home . . .

I snuck away from work early today (with permission; and the kids had a half-day-- I didn't just leave them!) just so I could get a few precious moments at home. We have had something scheduled EVERY SINGLE NIGHT this week and I haven't done a single thing at my house that needs to be done. So . . . my extra hour will be spent returning emails, cleaning, folding laundry, decorating, paying bills, cleaning out the car, and all this while listening to Christmas music! I love being home while it's still light outside!!!

Favorite Things

Things I love coming home to at night:

#1: My husband

#2: This . . .

Disney on Ice

We went with our friends to Disney on Ice last night. I actually enjoyed it even more than I thought I would!

The best part, by far, was watching all these 'happily ever after' stories, while sitting next to my own Prince Charming. =)

Thank you Nathan & Shar for the tickets!!

A Blond at the Polls

Tonight I went to vote. When I got there, however, and told them my name was "Nye," they couldn't find my name on their list. Brian's name was there-- mine wasn't. I was a little upset. After all, I was roped into being a state delegate and caucus co-chair. I've attended meetings preparing for this election, and they somehow left my name off of the register?! How dare they!

I ended up filling out a provisional ballot (at least I think that's what they called it). It was a paper ballot that was put into a ballot box.

I came home and started cleaning and doing laundry, wondering if they would even count my vote since I wasn't on their list of registered voters. Suddenly, I realized that I wasn't Dana "Nye" when I registered to vote! How could I forget that a little marriage had happened between the time I registered to vote and now?! I felt so stupid. By this time, I was in my pj's in my nice warm house. I really didn't want to go back. But a little lecture was going through my head about how I need to do "my part" as an American and all that. So I headed back to the voting place to fix the situation.

The 15 or so workers got a good laugh at my "forgetting I had gotten married" excuse. A blond joke or 2 were thrown around, then I was informed I didn't need to do anything. It somehow, magically, will be sorted out on its own. I walked out, feeling very stupid. It didn't help my self-esteem any that I was wearing a giant poofy marshmallow coat and high-water sweatpants, showing off my colorful socks!

Halloween Traditions

One of my favorite traditions that Brian's family has is their Halloween Dinner. Brian's mom always makes delicious soups that we eat in bread bowls (this year Brian contributed his amazing chili). Also, we get to see all the nieces and nephews in their cute Halloween costumes. We just got home from this year's Halloween Dinner. We missed a few family members who were sick or at home with new babies. But otherwise, we had a wonderful time!

Check out these cuties:

Brian and I did not dress up. But here's a picture of the handsome man fixing his delicious chili!

Color Me Mine

About 2 weeks ago, Brian and I went down to Provo for BYU Homecoming football game. After the game, we went to one of my favorite places there in Provo: "Color Me Mine." It's a shop where you get to buy and paint any ceramic item they have. We chose to do mugs. They fired them the week after we painted, then sent them to us in the mail. It was so exciting to get the package the next week with our creations!!

Brian wrote "Schrute Farms" on his (if you watch 'The Office' you'll probably know what that is).
I decorated mine with stripes-- much more difficult than I thought it would be.

Fabulous Fall Date

My husband has been putting up with my extreme giddiness and happiness over the arrival of fall. I love the decorating and the pretty leaves changing colors and the wonderful, slightly cooler temperatures. But along with being giddy, I also get strange urges whenever fall arrives. Suddenly, I have a strong craving for donuts and apple juice (not really sure why). I also have been pestering Brian to take me to pumpkin patches and corn mazes. Also, I start needing to watch my autumn time movies.

On Saturday Brian surprised me with a surprise "Autumn" date, incorporating all of the things I've been wanting to do. He took me to a haunted corn maze. That farm also sold pumpkins, so we chose out the best ones we could find. Then we went home and watched 'Clue' as we carved our pumpkins and ate donuts and apple juice. Our friends, Brandon and Marci, joined us for the last bit. It was so much fun!

We put a tarp out on our white rug since we don't really have a kitchen table! And, yes, that is Barack Obama's head above our tv. Brian bought the mask as part of his halloween costume- and what better place to keep it, right?!

Brian's Pumpkin:
My Pumpkin:
The last part of our night was spent standing outside in the parking lot as we tried to get a perfect picture of our jack-o-lanterns up on our balcony without using the flash. =)

Missing This Place

I have an unhealthy obsession with libraries (passed on from my mother I'm sure). I go to the library about once a week, sometimes to browse books, sometimes to check out old movies, sometimes to scope out the magazines I'm too cheap to buy, and sometimes just to read in a quiet corner.

I've discovered the Clearfield and (the much-nicer) Syracuse libraries. But every time I go to them, I come home missing the Provo City Library. That was one of the things I was sad to leave behind when I moved. The Children's Section was my absolute favorite. The whole place was wonderful, though. And I miss it.

I lived close enough to see it from my apartment:
(yeah, just a little obsessed!)

Cute Husband

Yesterday, the 2nd grade went on a field trip to Heritage Park (the This Is the Place Monument). They have a whole pioneer village and took the kids and rotations to the different buildings and taught them about life in the pioneer times. It was very fun (and I highly recommend it to any Utah teachers who might read this).

Brian accompanied us on the field trip as a chaperon. It was so fun! He instantly won over all of my kids. On the bus, he would raise his arms as we went up or down any hills, pretending he was on a roller-coaster. He had the whole bus doing it with him! Then he named his group 'The Chipmunks' and they made up their own little dance. All the other kids were asking to be chipmunks too. All day, he was entertaining the kids and making them laugh. It was so fun!

Merry Christmas! What?!

This is what we woke up to this morning:

Pretty sure I won't be riding my bike tomorrow . . .

To bike, or not to bike . . .

Today, I rode my bike to/from work. My school is just under 2 miles away from our house, so I thought it was no big deal. But I'm still undecided as to whether I'll continue this bike-riding thing. And since I lived for years with a roommate who thrived on pro/con lists, I've decided to make this one and hopefully figure it out:

RIDING A BIKE PROS ...
1. Saves gas $ (which actually totals about $2 per day)
2. I might possibly get back in shape; fingers crossed.
3. Tree-huggers will like me (with my <$2 of gas saved roundtrip)
4. The ride home is easy, practically no pedaling!
5. It's nice to be outside in the perfect autumn weather.

RIDING A BIKE CONS ...
1. I'm not in really great shape. I got winded on an incline that I actually never noticed was there while driving a car.
2. My route is on a stupid busy main street and I am certain that every single car I pass is full of people pointing and laughing.
3. My teacher wardrobe doesn't exactly match my bike. I think I look out of place (thus encouraging the pointing and laughing).
4. The absolute WORST "con" is that my school only has students who walk or ride bikes (no buses). This morning, I ended up riding the last 4-5 blocks to school with a little girl who was in my class last year and her brother. Yeah, that looks professional! (but they did show me a nice shortcut!)

I still have no idea if I'll ride my bike again tomorrow. What would YOU do? Honestly.

Movie Recommendation

Last night we rented the movie, "Leatherheads." We loved it! I loved the old black-and-white-movie feeling-- the music, the clothes, the whole style really. Brian loved that it was an all-star cast and it was quicker-paced than an "old" movie- also that it wasn't black and white! We both loved the wit! It had a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor. We'll definitely be buying this one!

How Cool!

Yesterday I was playing with my camera-- mainly my telephoto lens. Check out the difference in these shots! They're taken from the same place; the only thing that changed was my manual focus. I'm pretty sure this is very basic stuff. But hey, I'm easily amused!

Joe's Valley

Last weekend, Brian and I packed everything up and headed on a camping/climbing trip to Joe's Valley (south of Manti) with our friends, Nathan and Shar. Here are some pics from our trip . . .




Nathan is a butcher, so we always eat really well when we hang out with them!

This is my one and only climb from the trip-- the rest of the time I was the photographer.
Here's another picture of my handsome husband doing what he loves:

Is It Just Me?

Does anyone else get really embarrassed passing all your neighbors as you're returning home from Sam's Club, carrying an extremely large supply of toilet paper? I passed 2 neighbors as I packed it from my car to our condo tonight. Plus there are all those other neighbors who I'm sure were watching me out their windows, pointing and laughing!

Oh well- I guess I shouldn't complain. It was so much worse when I lived in Provo. Each time I bought a gigantic pack of toilet paper, I would inevitably run into a dozen or so cute boys who lived at my complex as I scrambled to the apartment! Wow. That was embarrassing.

Our New Toy

And by "ours," I really mean "Brian's"

We went out on Saturday morning to try it out around our condo. I liked it- but it's more an "I'll-ride-it-2-or-3-times-a-year" kind of like. Whereas Brian has a much more sincere interest. He even rode it to the grocery store last night to pick up some extra things for dinner!

Isn't he a stud?

My Funny Husband

Brian has a new hobby . . .
Every night, as I'm brushing my teeth or washing my face or otherwise engaged, he hides my blanket. (He hides 2, actually, so I won't have a back-up!) So as soon as I'm climbing into bed, I realize that he's done it again. It's a different place every night (the balcony, above the tv, in the laundry hamper, etc). Sometimes he gives me clues; sometimes he doesn't. The other night I found this clue written on a post-it note: "Tonight your blanket will keep you nice and cool." I searched for about 2-3 minutes before I finally realized where it was...

What a crazy man!

How to Become the Teacher's Favorite . . .

On Tuesday morning (the 2nd day of school), I was walking around the classroom as my students were doing their work. I stopped at Braxton's desk when he said, "Mrs. Nye, look!" I looked-- and there was my last-year's school picture taped to his desk right next to his nametag! My first response was to ask him where he got it. He informed me that he had ripped it out of his yearbook the night before. Today was the 4th day of school, and it's still there. I can't help but laugh inside (and a little out loud sometimes) when I see it each time I pass his desk!

Dana the Master Photographer

Recently we signed Dana up for a photography class because she is always taking the most amazing pictures. She has been enjoying it very much and I am very proud of her. I would like to share with you several of the pictures she has taken. She is super duper talented.
Dana With Her new camera
Ethan Drinking Starbucks
Me climbing
Dana's Favorite childhood toy
A wide angle shot on Mount Eirie
Steve and Ethan in Washington
Anthony Chertudi Climbing Super Tweaked 5.14 in Logan
Me in the wind tunnel
Cassidy at the parkCarter smiling big

Tre's first birthday party eating his very own cake
Some lake somewhereMy favorite to date picture, totally gay, but funny.

Rock climbing in Ogden

Dana is amazing she seems to develop new talents and gifts by the minute. I love her very much, I hope she is not embarrassed by this post. If so it will just be added to the many times a day I try to embarrass her.