tyler and i had an interesting weekend a week ago. we headed down to lake powell (my favorite place on the planet earth btw, even in november, but esp. in the summer) for a fishing trip with tyler's parents and sister on a family friend's fishing boat. tyler and i left from provo and were to meet his family/friend near lake powell. there were a few miscommunications and tyler and i thought we were supposed to head toward kanab. well, after five hours of driving, nearly three hours of no cell service, and a couple hours of confusion, we realized we were FOUR hours away from where we were supposed to be. so we decided to spend a lovely evening in page, arizona in a sweet motel and head out the next morning for another 4.5 hour drive that basically took us on a round trip around lake powell.















the route we should have taken
















the route we took

so there were some positives from this accident. 1: we saw a cow right after it got hit by a car. i'm no vegan animal lover but this was seriously sad! it was moo-ing out of control and it's leg was basically behind its head. 2: we got pulled over for the second time together and for the second time got out of a ticket. i think the putrid skunk smell in southern utah was mostly responsible for getting the cop away from our car and back into his, dodging another ticket. 3: we got to see way more of lake powell than we bargained for. now you might think all three of these are negatives, but no, we are choosing to see them as positives.

motel 6 (notice the beautiful bed cover)

anyway, the trip was fun. it was surprisingly warm (except for the 70 mph driving in a fishing boat) and lake powell still looked as stunning as ever.

this past weekend was a little more relaxing. we spent friday with friends at happy sumo and a relaxing saturday at home. i finally went to the eye doctor yesterday after five years. i've been having problems with my contacts and basically feel like i put anyone in my car in danger of their lives when i'm driving.



well i'm glad for a break this week. only two days of teaching and then off to denver. hooray for family, fun, food, and thanksgiving of course.

tyler said, "it's been awhile since you've blogged." yes, he checks our blog. i said, "why don't you write something?" silence. yeah...

sometimes i just feel like i don't have anything to say or my thoughts are worthless anyway. i don't know. my day is the same every day and who really cares? i don't have a baby that i can show adorable pictures of daily. i don't have a crazy job that sends me to fantastical destinations. i don't have drama in my life. i feel pretty good about the constancy but as far as blogging goes, it doesn't go over very well.

but, maybe some of you are like me. maybe some of you check blogs every single day and delight in even the smallest update. so here i go...

everyday i do the same thing:

yes, i wake up at 5:40. it's a beautiful thing - not!

every morning i have to brush out my wild hair. believe it or not i think my hair's getting even longer and perhaps thicker. my mom has a wild lion's mane and perhaps my hair is heading in that direction. anyway, i have this weird habit: i rock and roll in my sleep like a crazy monkey. basically when i was a baby i broke my leg, had a cast, couldn't move, and so i developed this endearing rocking habit. tyler loves it! so now i wake up with knots in my hair. it's awesome.

i teach junior high. the first two periods i teach modern dance to eighth and ninth graders. this has been quite an experience. right now we are rehearsing for our dance concert in january. the way i set it up the girls volunteer to be choreographers and i put them in groups. some of the girls are great leaders and natural choreographers. other girls are so timid with the whole process. i have to really coax them to lead and be the boss. it's interesting to see how much girls that age care what others think about them. don't worry, those classes can be very entertaining too. let's just say "non-coordinated." oh and on monday two of my students got drunk in the girls locker room before class, btw.

the last four periods i teach english to seventh graders. and that's all i'm gonna say about that.

last year my job was about survival. it was so hard! the hardest things i've done in my life are: 1.mission 2.an unnamed event when i got home from my mission and 3.first year teaching. this year i'm over that. i feel like i can actually teach now and not just survive. i love being around the kids because they're so ridiculous and entertaining. i also feel so bad for some of them because of their home lives. why are some people allowed to have kids?

tyler and i are super lucky that we get to spend every afternoon together. we're fans of fox news (bill), dancing with the stars (tyler's favorite), glee, criminal minds, and the office. tyler's also still very in love with his amazing new ipod.

life is a routine. for me anyway. the daily grind, now i know what that means. anyway, i'm happy 98% of the time (especially now that udot has left me alone), because i know i'm blessed and mostly due to my amazing husband who by the way is happy 100% of the time (i don't understand it) and always gives me something to look forward to every day.