Get Well

I wanted to thank you all for your "get well" wishes, but there's one in particular that stands out. . . One of Dar's 7th grade students made me a "get well" card. It's so cute I have to share it:

Get Well

Dear Mrs. Deming,

Mr. Deming told me you were sick so I put this card together for you. Please get better :)

Roses are Red

Violets are Blue

Mr. Deming is lucky to have you.

(Please don't take that in the wrong way!)

-Hailey

we HEART this movie!

Saw the movie on Saturday. Confirmed why we're
Tim Burton & Johnny Depp fans.
Loved it!!
You should see it too. We're going to buy it. End of story.

Sick

I guess my body decided I needed a few extra days of Spring Break because I've been at home the last two days dealing with a nasty cold consisting of not being able to breathe, body aches, upset stomach, slight sore throat, and alternating stuffy/runny nose. Grr. I've only been up for an hour and a half and I've already used about 100 tissues. Thank goodness for NyQuil and being able to get pretty good sleep last night. Not to mention an incredible husband who came home from work yesterday and took wonderful care of me, and convinced me to stay home again today so I don't get other people sick. If it were up to me, I'd be at school right now, not missing classes so I don't have to make anything up when I get back. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to get my nose back to the grindstone instead of the tissue box. Until then, bring on the tissues!

Catching Up

Dar & I went to an incredible Single's Ward. When we were there, it was the place to be if you wanted to get married. The year we got engaged and married there were over 60 engagements in our ward alone. These are all friends that went to the Single's Ward with us, and most of them we still hang out with pretty frequently considering our busy schedules. So, on Saturday we had the chance to meet up with a bunch of friends we haven't seen in a while (most we haven't seen since around Christmas, some we haven't seen for a couple years). Our friend Robin (on the right in the red sweater) was up from Arizona--and it's been two years since we last saw her, so it was a great excuse to get everyone together! We met at Goodwood BBQ (great food by the way! I LoVe it!) and we all had a great time chatting and catching up!

It was soo great to see all of you!!

Back Row: Matt, Danny, Darwin, Gene, Jason (Gene & Jason did not go to the single's ward)
Front Row: Jaime-Lyn, Sandy, Liz (Danny's cute wife who didn't go to the ward) & David, the baby, Me, Anna, Robin

Another testament to our Single's Ward: All of the couples you see in this picture got engaged in our Single's Ward, except 1, and there's only about 6 single people in the picture. Way to go, Mapleton 10th! ;)

Luck O' the Irish

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!
We hope your GREEN food was just as YUMMY as ours was!!

Breakfast:
GREEN waffles, GREEN scrambled eggs, and bacon :)

Dinner:
GREEN noodles, GREEN Olive Garden Alfredo sauce, GREEN garlic butter on our french bread and GREEN peas :)

One of these days I'll muster up enough courage to cook some corned beef, cabbage and potatoes.

Need more cowbell? And maybe a little washboard?

Here's a funny clip from Saturday Night Live. Watch this first and then watch our video. Hope you enjoy!



This was taken in May 2007 when we went to Disneyland and CA Adventure with McS's. It makes me laugh every time! Watch Dar, but keep an eye on the lady in the white sweater behind him. She gets a kick out of him too. I love watching her laugh at him. I have the coolest husband ever!! J's not so bad either ;)

Service for Haiti

Last Saturday Dar & I were able to participate in a 5k run sponsored by the Red Cross as a fundraiser for Haiti. We ran it with our friends, Jimmy & Becca, and we had a blast!! But, we forgot to bring our camera so we didn't get any pictures. Dar and I hadn't gone running in about 6 weeks, and Saturday morning was so cold I could hardly stretch! Thus, extremely sore leg muscles on Sunday!! It was worth it though. Dar had tons of fun trying to make me walk faster or go up and down our stairs faster, telling me I needed to get the "lactic acid flowing." Thanks for your support, Babe!

Then we had a big shibang Saturday evening. The 4 young men we had in our ward (we're now down to 3 young men as of Sunday) wanted to do a service project--a fundraiser to send money to our brothers and sisters in Haiti. The young men and their leaders (including Dar, he's the 2nd counselor in the Presidency) put in TONS of hard work to put together an amazing auction to raise the money they wanted. It was a HUGE success!!! Not to mention people got lots of really cool stuff and had a blast spending money for a good cause in the process. People in our Ward and in the community in general were really generous with their donations to the auction and with their purchasing of the items. We really had a great time, and what made it even better was that it's going to help a country that is in such desperate need right now.

Some of the live auction items.

Some more items for the live auction.
Darling quilts that were donated, and Hal Wing donated one of his "Little Giant Ladders"
I wanted this canvas but I got out-bid.
Dar's parents bought this amazing sculptured Elk.

Hand-made shelves that had matching magnet boards on another table.
One of the sweet ladies I visit teach made these cute Tinker Bell blankets for dolls. They were a big hit with the little girls!

Owlz jackpot!
One of the young men excited to participate :)
At the beginning they had a silent auction at the back of the room--people browsing before the live auction started.

The set up :)

Signing up for their auction numbers.

A couple of the young women in our ward manning the bake sale table.

Mark, the Young Men's president and our amazing home teacher!!

Our awesome auctioneer, Brother Tingy, who volunteered last minute to come help out when the first auctioneer fell through the day before.

We bought this beautiful table, hand-made by Mark, our home teacher.

And the cute "Family" canvas I got too.

Also, many thanks to Nicole for donating one of her adorable hats--you can check out her Etsy shop by clicking here, and many many thanks to those of you who asked to give us monetary donations as well. We were so happy to see the generosity of so many people come together to raise more than $4400 dollars that will go to help with Haitian relief. It's amazing to see the good that can be done when individuals and communities join together for a good cause!!

Just put one foot in front of the other.

That's how I feel emotionally right now. Dar and I experienced the biggest trial of our marriage back in October. We found out that we were expecting back in September but then we miscarried at 10.5 weeks. The event unfortunately took us to the emergency room. It was tough then, and it still surprises me how hard it continues to be.

But, I'm glad that our trials make us stronger. I'm glad to know that I have a loving Heavenly Father who carries me when I cannot walk on my own. I'm glad to know that I have a supportive, loving husband who means the world to me and takes the best care of me. I'm grateful for his patience and unfaltering kindness as I continue to struggle with gaining control of my emotions sometimes. I'm grateful that the trial we've experienced has made our marriage stronger, has brought us closer together, and made us stronger as individuals. I'm grateful to have wonderful family and friends who support us when we need them most.

I try to put on a happy face, and I'm really quite happy most days. But have you ever experienced a trial or a loss that triggers your tears without warning? We'll be driving in the car and the most random song that has nothing to do with anything will make me cry. I see anyone walking down the hall on campus that brings the initial pain and memories back, and I cry. I've decided I need to stop reading blogs and facebook so the pain doesn't come back at unexpected moments. I appreciate that Dar understands that I'm an emotional female and always will be. :) My crying doesn't even phase him anymore because he knows I can turn into an emotional wreck without warning, but he holds me and lets me know that everything will be okay. He tells me that what matters most is that we have each other and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And I know he's right. He always makes me feel better, but it still doesn't take the pain away completely. Sometimes I feel like this trial will never end, but I try to have faith and put my trust in my Father in Heaven. I'm trying to submit my will to His, because I know that He knows me better than I know myself. He knows what's best for me, even if I think I know what's best for me in the moment. I'm grateful for His patience and for all that He continues to bless me with.

I'm grateful for trials that make us stronger. I just have to remind myself to keep putting one foot in front of the other in the meantime.

Bucket List? Check.

So we still haven't seen the movie, although we really want to and we've heard it's good. But Dar & I have our own "bucket list," as I'm sure many of you do too. Yes, I know we're young, but what better time to start crossing those items off than now?

We were able to cross an awesome item off our bucket list this weekend. Friday night we went up to Salt Lake with a couple of friends to spend the night on the sidewalk. Yep. You read that right. I said spend the night on the sidewalk!! It was a blast! (Although I wouldn't want to do it frequently.) And I'm actually really surprised with how well I slept. Dar didn't sleep quite as well, but he was able to sleep a little bit too.

Us at 5:30am waiting for the doors to open at 7:00am

Last Wednesday I heard on the radio that the Broadway show "Lion King" is coming to Salt Lake, and I didn't want to pass up the opportunity to get tickets. I knew how crazy things were when "Wicked" came to Salt Lake, so we were better with our planning and arrived in Salt Lake shortly before midnight. They wouldn't let us line up outside Capitol Theatre until midnight, so we stood in the "preline" for a bit before we made ourselves cozy with our other sidewalk-sleeping-neighbors. We made ourselves comfy in our camping chairs and sleeping bags and tried our best to snooze the hours away. The people on both sides of us stayed up all night, so we got the best sleep we could with the excited chatter around us and the cold breeze on our faces.

Look how close we were to the doors! We were probably the 10th group in line. It was awesome!

The line behind us

When Dar woke up this is what he saw . . .

Around 5:30am people started arriving wanting to give us free food and hot chocolate. I think they felt bad for us and wanted to offer some sympathy, and we gladly accepted!! Rhodes and Chick-fil-A rock!! The Rhodes truck was literally right in front of us . . . Dar took this picture from his cozy camping spot.

We didn't get to sit with our friends we went up with because 1 arrived earlier than we did, and when we got to actually set our stuff down at midnight the people behind where were were didn't want to back up and let us all sit together so we ended up being behind them a little ways. Funny how people are so fickle sometimes, but we didn't want to cause any drama so we quietly pouted and moved to the back of the line.

But, we seriously had a blast! We weren't the biggest party animals out there, but we enjoyed the experience for sure! We got to watch drunk people walk past us early on in our evening adventure, enjoy the jammin' music coming from the club across the street, had a cop watching over us all night long, we got to watch people think they're the best thing out there and expect to get star treatment, and we got the best seats you could get for the cheapest price available. What more could you ask for?

Bring on the Lion King!!!