Marisa Pics

Halloween, Wizards, and OH! What a week!

Halloween, Wizards, and OH! What a week!

Halloween was very different for us this year. I will admit it’s kinda nice when the kids grow up and you don’t have to do the whole big Halloween thing. Is that bad? Kayla drew a mouse face on her face and went to a Sunday School party with friends. Alayna went to school as a gangster- she was very determined. She came home, raced to the storage room, and started rustling through the dress-up box and came up a wizard. When I asked why she suddenly changed her mind, she said that being a gangster wasn’t as cool as she thought it would be. So, I made a “Harry scar” on her forehead and she said, “Mom! I can’t be a boy!!” So, we took it off and said she could be Hermoine. She didn’t like that either. She went as “Generic Wizard #1”. Im pretty sure our stake is the only one on the nation that didn’t have a trunk or treat. Tyler, being the sweet older brother that he is, took Alayna around the neighborhood to get candy. Bob and I got to hunker in the basement watching our shows. Works for me!

Alayna spread her spoils around, organized them by type, and then put them into labeled baggies for what she calls her “Candy year supply”.

Jazz a thon

Tyler had a HUGE Jazz-a-thon on Friday night. All the jazz bands join together for a huge fundraiser where the played music, sold concessions, etc. Thanks again to Patty for saving the day with pictures!!

Down by the New Red Oak Tree

After finishing their tree unit in science class, all 5^th graders were sent home with a red oak tree to plant. Alayna was so excited. We planted it in the backyard by the 3 evergreen trees. We hope we don’t kill it!

Good Day/Bad day

I am always amazed at how we need experiences with the bad to appreciate the good.

Good day

I wasn’t feeling well, but not hideously bad, but mentally and emotionally? I needed a break! I took a sick day. I kicked butt! I had like 5 million things I am never able to get done because I am always so busy or my energy meter runs out too fast. I flourish when I get time alone, actually don’t ache physically, and no one is bugging me. It was such a great day and I felt rejuvenated and ready to conquer the rest of the week like a warrior! Then, I had Friday…

Bad day

I woke up around 4:00AM with a massive migraine. Never a good way to start out the day. We have been dog-sitting all week. I went in to feed the dogs and I found a complete nightmare (if you know me and animals….). They had ripped open their stuffed monkey, ripped out the squeaker (can’t blame them on that), eaten some of the stuffing and barfed and peed over LITERALLY the whole floor! I wanted to scream. So, I had to clean it all up, feed them, and let them outside.

Then, I woke up Tyler for seminary, like the awesome mom I am, only to find out seminary had been cancelled. If looks could kill, I am sure I would have been dead on the spot. My stomach starting hurting badly and that mixed with the headache was NOT a good combo.

Got to school early and found all windows were open and fan was on high. It was like a freaking ice box in there. During the day, I had an “altercation” with my boss which almost made me quit on the spot. How much more do I have to take before a job will open for me? Im not sure how much more I can take.

Came home exhausted, stomach and head still hurting, ready to cry. I pulled into the garage, and then the garage door broke and SLAMMED down to the ground with a huge crash! Trapping my car inside. It was like a giant ! to my crappy day. It was truly a bad day.

 

Odds and Ends

Tyler earned his Deacon Duty to God

Alayna has been sick yesterday and today with fever, sore throat, etc.  Bob took her to walk-in clinic this morning and they said it isnt strep.  Poor thing…

Marisa Oct 28

October 28, 2012

Hey everybody, sorry I’m bad about doing a weekly update but Sundays are super crazy at BYU. We always have something going on between visiting teaching, home teaching, skyping our families, ward prayer, floor meeting, etc. It’s supposed to be a day of rest, but it ends up being one of the crazier days during the week. So I have a little time now to write a few things so here we go. Last week (I guess like 2 weeks ago) I went on 2 dates!! The bad part is that for one I asked and paid…and the other was a ward one where I was forced to go with this really weird guy…so basically I’m scoring big time. But I guess I got some dates so I can’t complain.

The date where I asked we went to this “Haunted Boat Ride”, which actually wasn’t scary in the slightest, but was still kind of fun. It was a group date with a bunch of my roommates and we all asked pretty funny guys so it was actually a pretty entertaining night. We had hot chocolate afterwards, which was awesome. I love that we’re getting back into hot chocolate weather, but I hate the cold. It has snowed a couple times this week, which is ridiculous because we haven’t even had Halloween yet, but oh well. At least it’s really pretty, especially on the mountains. Anyway, the other date was our ward pumpkin carving date, and to match us up all the girls put a shoe in a big bucket and whichever boy chose your shoe was your date. The actual date was pretty fun, but my date was really, really weird. When he picked me up, he said “Oh dang it! I forgot my chastity unicorn!” Apparently he has this toy unicorn (like the horse heads on a stick) that he takes on all his dates…like I said, weird. But then when we got there, we had to decide what to carve on our pumpkin. First he wanted to do the first vision…and then he suggested doing a cute kitty (and proceeded to show me about 50 kitty pictures on his phone), and we eventually just carved a weird looking missionary. But at the end we got free chocolate milk and cinnamon rolls, so it was worth it. And the dates can only go up from here!

I still am working on my mission papers and I’m getting really excited about the whole mission thing. I also am getting really excited about seeing some of my grandparents and some of dad’s side of the family for Thanksgiving in Arizona, which will be really fun. I’ve never actually met Jeff and Grace’s little Charlotte so I can’t wait! I also can’t wait to go home for Christmas and see the fam. You guys are pretty awesome :)

My classes are going pretty well, but it’s crazy to think I have less that 2 months left of my first semester of college. This Wednesday I get to sign up for classes for next semester. Hopefully I’ll get into some good one’s, but I have the last possible registration day, so I basically will only get the leftover classes. We shall see. I got to send in my election ballot this week. It’s pretty cool that I’m old enough to vote now, not that it will make a huge difference. It’s still cool.

This week I went to my first BYU basketball game. It was really fun and it was cool to see Brandon Davies and Tyler Haws up close and stuff! We had a stake Halloween dance, which was semi-fun, like any other stake activity haha. Tonight all of us roommates put together a little Halloween dinner and I made cute little mummies (pigs in a blanket), and we had other “spooky” foods I guess ha. I think that’s just about everything exciting that’s been going on recently, but I still love it here. I’m having lots of fun!

Happy 14th Birthday to Tyler!

Happy 14^th Birthday to Tyler!

Tyler turned 14 this week and FINALLY gets to attend stake dances! His actual birthday was solidly busy, so we spread the celebration out all week.

Alayna and Kayla decorated his cookie. Alayna apparently chose her own method which involves looking like a white-pasted weirdo afterwards and running out of frosting so it only said, “Happ”. It’s the thought that counts though right?

Viola

Alayna had her very 1^st viola concert in the big high school auditorium. She was nervous but so excited. She did a wonderful job!

Odds and Ends

*We finally got Bob his reading glasses this week and I think he looks awesome!

*I finally finished what Bob calls my “Hall of Fame”. It reminds me of Monk’s house and I love it!!

* Yesterday we voted early. It’s nice to get it over with and avoid the crowds on the actual election day.

*Alayna made me a beautiful gift this week. She made a “Mom Put Up” jar (instead of put downs). She spent so much time decorating it and then she put sweet things in it about me. She said if I ever feel sad, I can pull one out and it will make me feel better. How sweet is that???

“you are very interested in super heros which I like about you”

Photoblog of our week

Tylers Early Birthday Present

 

YM/YW Etiquette Dinner

Alayna’s Special Spaghetti Bagel…

Tyler’s Band Concert

(We thought we were on time, but clearly had no idea how crowded it would be.  We watched from the hall.  Thanks to Patty for the pics!!)

(Tyler in the middleish)

Facetiming with marisa…awwww!

Part of 1st Humanitarian Box sent to Ghana

Recommended Book for the week: She Said Yes: The Unlikely Martyrdom of Cassie Bernall

Such a beautiful and touching true story about one of the victims of Columbine written by her mother. It's about the question she was asked minutes before she was killed, her answer, and why it should matter. I cried. I was touched. It's a quick read and I think it's well worth your time!

Marisa- Oct 14

 

October 14, 2012

So yeah, I have so much to say...where to even begin...I guess I'll just start with the biggest thing. I'M GOING ON A MISSION! This is all just so crazy. Before conference I tried to think of some questions I had or whatever, like I always do, and for whatever reason I kept thinking about a mission. I just kept trying to tell myself "Marisa, stop worrying about this. You have several years to decide if you need to go." But for whatever reason, I couldn't stop thinking about it. And then, lo and behold, Monson dropped the bomb. I was so not expecting an answer to a question that I've always kept in the back of my mind. And it was my first time every going to conference at the conference center, so I was freaking out anyway. Inside the conference center there was like the biggest gasp/ freak out ever haha. My roommates and I were seriously like hyperventilating the rest of that session and we couldn't focus at all on the rest of the talks. The poor people around us had to listen to us freak out for 2 hours haha. This whole thing is just so UNREAL. The thing is, I always felt like I maybe should serve a mission, but I always thought "well I'll see what happens, but I'll probably get married first", but now I can leave before I get married, and get back before I end up being and old maid...at 23 haha.

So yeah this week I filled out some of my mission papers! I'm still kind of in shock that this is actually happening. I'm planning on turning in my papers in like April-ish to be able to leave around August. This is just all happening so suddenly and my life has just been so changed around. Like I could be sent to China or something, and then that will totally change my major and everything. I’m really hoping to go Spanish-speaking *fingers crossed*. I'm so, so, so excited though. Every time I think about going I like almost start crying!

Anyway, enough of that. General Conference was super amazing, as usual. Hopefully you all got to watch it! Well everything else I have to say is like nothing compared to that news…haha. It’s been getting kind of cold around here and I'm kind of dreading winter because now I have to walk everywhere. I miss my car so much :'( Never thought I would say that, but I totally do. Sad. I went to see divine comedy this week (one of the comedy clubs at BYU) and it was so funny :) Our football team isn’t doing so great right now, but it’s still really fun to go to the games and be a part of the crowd.

Well, we’re having my cousin, Jared, and his roommates over soon for dinner, but I’m having lots of fun out here and I feel so, so lucky to be here! Love you all!

Dancing, Singing, and Art

Daddy Daughter Dance

Bob and Alayna had a very fun date night on Friday night for Activity Days. They learned the foxtrot, got to do the limbo, and danced. She said it was so fun she didn’t want the dance to end! I would like to point out that we went and bought her a beautiful outfit and then last minute she chose not to go with it. How’d I get such a tomboy?

Photography Class

Kayla has been loving her graphics communications class. The last few weeks she has been doing photography and she brought home her final pictures this weekend. I was super impressed! I see some amazing talent!

Opus: Warning Brag Moment

Alayna made the OPUS choir!!! Not only that, but she was the ONLY one to make it from her school!

Tyler made the OPUS choir!!! Not only that, but he was the ONLY one to make it from his school!

Projects

Alayna worked hard on her Indian Pueblo, did it all by herself, and got it turned in 3 weeks early! She did a great job!

I stumbled upon a new project too. Not sure how I get myself into these things. Ever since Bob and I were married, we have made sure to do a family picture every year. Some are crappy quality and they are all housed in hideous crappy frames. I saw a frame I loved at Michael’s, but it was over 5x the cost of the cheap Wal-Mart frames they are currently in. So, I decided I would go back once a week with my stupid 40% off coupon to buy 1 frame a week. The 2^nd week I went (this week), there was a special sale on them “Buy 1, get 1 for a penny”!!! That’s 50% off people! So, I went crazy and got all 20 frames. Don’t tell Bob. Then, I went back and tracked down as many original photos as I could and ordered new modern ones. I’ll show you the finished product when I’m done.

(Can you tell the before and after?)

Tis the Season

Its about that time, when all the illnesses start coming around. Alayna and Tyler came home sick Thursday afternoon. When I say Alayna was sick, I mean it took me 30 minutes to clean up the bathroom. I keep cleaning and lysoling the house like nobody’s business but it seems those germs can be persistent!

(How adorable is this pic???)

Movie Recommendation

Our family watched a sweet movie this past week called “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”. It was a beautiful movie about a boy who lost his father in 9/11. I highly recommend it.