New blog

I am no longer hunting frogs. I've found my prince so this will be my last post on this blog and it is only to inform you that Mark and I have created a new blog which you can find here. (We even posted a few wedding pictures! :)) Thanks for reading all my random blogs in the past. Add our new blog address to your favorites and keep in touch!

I am still enjoying last years present!

I absolutely love my Christmas present from last year. Thanks mom!! Some of you may remember my Christmas wishlist post from last year. All I wanted for Christmas was, well in short, Mark. Last Christmas moms Christmas present from me didn't make it on time so I apologized to her saying, "I'm sorry what I really wanted to get you didn't get here in time", to which she replied "same for you. I'm really working on what you really want for Christmas, but I'm just going to need a bit more time."

Mom took that Christmas wish seriously (maybe I should have asked for that a few years ago :)) and I think she really prayed and thought about me finding someone to share my life with. I even think my dad, sisters and nieces and nephews sent a few prayers my way-poor Mark, he didn't have much of a chance once everyone started praying him into my life :)

This year my Christmas present from last year got to spend Christmas with me and my family. I loved it! Can't wait for the Christmas' and years ahead when I get to continue making memories with Mark.

Hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas and I'm wishing you a Happy New Year too!

Initial reactions to our news

This still isn't the proposal story yet, but I thought some of these stories were worth writing down so I had to jot them down and since I did, I thought I would share a couple. I will get to the proposal story soon, I promise :)

I had to tell my students the news that I was going to get married. Some of their reactions and remarks made me laugh. The announcement made one little little innocent brown eyed boy stop what he was doing as he looked at me and asked "why?" .

"No. no. no." said another little boy. "I don't want to wear a tux. I don't want to have to wear a tux" (Finally I realized that little boy thought he was going to be a part of my wedding so after I assured him that he wouldn't need to wear a tux if he came to my wedding just take a bath and wear clean clothes he was super excited. "okay, I'll ask my mom if I can go.")

I also drew a picture for the kids to illustrate Mark and I getting married and, of coarse, drew Mark bald. As I did I whispered to the kids "he doesn't have any hair". Most of the kids thought that was disgusting "eeugh". The next morning one of my little heartbroken little boys (truly-this little boy has been in love with me for a couple of years and when he found out that I had a boyfriend a few months ago he was crushed. I was actually a little worried about telling the class I was engaged because I didn't want to hurt him any more than he already was). Anyways that little boy came into my colleagues room and said "Mrs. L, Mrs. L. I have something funny to tell you. Miss Michel is going to marry a bald man!" To which he seemed to laugh inside thinking 'you've got to be kidding me. She is totally missing out on marrying me and I even have a full head of hair! Oh well, her loss.' Someday he may realize it just wouldn't have worked out for us to be together. :)

When I told my dad that we were engaged the first words out of his mouth were "well it's about time". He again said the same thing to Mark when he saw him next. No "welcome to the family" or "congratulations". No. Just 'it's about time'. But I guess to my dad's defense Mark did ask for my hand in marriage well over a month before we got engaged so my dad had to wait a long time for this announcement. Then he hugged me, which is a big deal in my family, we are not the hugging type. (Mark had been going to ask me awhile ago. We'd been ring shopping and I knew he had bought the ring. I even knew he was planning on proposing that Thursday the 2nd week of October, but then I got scared. It is a big decision. I needed more time to get used to the idea. But then my friend was going through the temple for the first time and I didn't want to take away from that, then Halloween came and he couldn't ask me on Halloween. So finally he was going to ask me the first week of November but ended up having to work, and yes I knew he was going to propose to me that day even though he didn't know I knew so when he had to work instead I was a bit bratty. Finally I trying to explain my awful behavior to him I said "it's just that I thought today would be a perfect day for you to propose." To which he hemmed and hawed around and said, "its just that. . .well, it's just that that was the plan. I was going to ask you to marry me today." "I know" I said. He seemed a little surprised that I knew, but that's what happens when you can read the other person really well. Not many surprises. That's also why he had to be extra creative when he finally did ask me to marry him the following week.)

My 5 year old nephew, Braden, left me the cutest voicemail message when he heard the news. "hi this is Braden. I am so glad you finally got a ring on your finger! Okay call me back. I love you bye-bye."

My school secretary (who also happens to be the Stake RS President) gave me the biggest hug and got all teary eyed. She made me cry too because I could tell she was genuinely happy for me. She told me yesterday that she's been telling people my news for days now!

My granny said I made her day. Too bad I called so late at night so that she didn't have enjoyed the new s for longer that day.

Lois Bird said she doesn't remember a wedding she is looking forward more than she is this one and that it would take an act of congress to keep her away from it. (I love Sister Bird and always have. She told Mark he had to be one smart guy to know what he had with me.)

Mark said my mom's reaction was his favorite. We had to go to the temple to tell her and dad because they work there on Saturday. Mom was actually the first one we saw when we went in and I guess her eyes got really big and her mouth dropped open.

I have already decided that when there stop being people that don't know the news I think I am going to have to stop random strangers on the street and tell them "we're getting married!" (Is it bad that I have already done this a few times, or is it something you would just naturally expect from me). It's all I can think about so naturally I think that everyone should be thinking about it too :).

P.S. The date we've chosen is Saturday March 6th, 2010 at the Columbia River Temple 10 AM. We will have a reception that night in Mattawa. Put it on your calendars. I would love to celebrate the day with you!

**Update** We are actually getting married Friday March 5th, 2010 same time, same place. We moved it up a day (but actually wish we could have moved it up a month :))

My new ring

Most of you already know by now, but for those of you who don't. . . Mark gave me a shiny new ring the other day :). I know most of you are hoping this is the proposal story and more information on Mark, but I hate to tell you it is not that blog. That is coming soon, I promise, but I am trying to find the right way to condense the story so in the meantime. . . my ring.

(This is actually a picture of the ring with the band too. Mark still has the band and

I've only been allowed to try on once or twice-mostly just long enough to briefly admire it and snap a picture)

It is kind of funny how quickly one becomes used to something. I feel naked without my ring now and I've only had it for just over a week. It is way too big for me and has this tape/paper blob on the back to keep it from falling off and I take it off to get ready in the morning but then I keep finding myself frantically thinking "ugh where's my ring? Oh there it is." Then literally 10 seconds later the exact same thing again "{gasp} where's my ring? Oh there it is" right where I left it, imagine that :). It feels so safe and comforting to put it back on again.

I find myself waking up in the middle of the night making sure it was still there and smiling when it still is. I then find myself flashing my hand out as if to look at my ring, then realizing that it is too dark to see it I then roll over and go back to sleep. This happens continuously throughout the night. Silly, I know-somehow it all feels like a dream and I get so excited when I realize it is not a dream and I really am engaged to be married to Mark.

I also find it funny how I used to be slightly annoyed with a girl, who was newly engaged, who kept showing her ring. It also bothered me how the first thing that someone did when they found out that a person was engaged was to grab for the girls hand and look at the ring. Unfortunately I find myself being that girl-too quickly showing my ring when I excitedly pronounce "I'm engaged!" and loving when people grab my hand to look at my beautiful ring. (I even showed a member of our stake presidency when we had a YW meeting this week before embarrassingly realizing that he didn't care to see my ring, but by then it was too late. He told me congratulations anyways and then told me what I already knew: that men didn't care about those things-seeing the ring-as much as women did-ahh . . .). I'd much rather be showing off Mark but he often is not with me so the next best thing, I guess, is the ring he gave me.

It is kind of a strange idea to have chosen someone I want to spend the rest of my life with. I have waited my whole life for this and now that it is here is just seems so normal. Does that make any sense? I don't know how to explain it. Being engaged to Mark makes me feel like I'm wearing my favorite pair of socks, curled up with my favorite quilt in my red leather chair. It makes me feel all cozy, safe, happy and at home. I think I'm in love with that boy! :)

Thank you kind man!

Last night my friend and I were out to dinner at Casa Mia having a fun time catching up. We talked and laughed and neither of us were in a hurry to leave so when our bills came we got our money out and just sat there still chatting away. We thought the waitress came to our tables to get our money but after quite a long while we realized the register was in the front. We continued talking until a different waitress came to our table and said "I'll take that" and proceedes to take away our bill, not our money. "The man who was sitting at that table over there payed for your dinner on his way out the door. Enjoy!"

I can't wait to do that for someone else. That was so much fun. It totally made our night. Some kind man dining alone, with a book as his companion, paid for our dinner. Thank you whoever you are!!

All in a day

I need to blog about last Friday because there were just too many things that happened that day that must be accounted for. There are no pictures and it is long and is not creatively written, it is just my day at a glance. But if you want to read it, no one is stopping you-just be assured, I warned you before you started.

Its Raining Its Pouring

Friday was scheduled for our annual Pumpkin Patch field trip with 100+ Kindergartners. This is something they (okay we) have been looking forward to all month long, but when I woke up I realized we just might have a problem. It was raining-of all days!! Not much you can do but pray I thought so I did. I was fine with the rain I told Heavenly Father, but wondered if He might let it stop for a brief time in the afternoon so we could enjoy the pumpkin patch. And with that I was off to school.

I had already decided we would go no matter what and figured it would work out. Some of my co-workers and a few parents had second thoughts. It drizzled all day but I stood by the idea that we were going until about 30 minutes before it was time to go. It was still raining with no sign of letting up and the bus garage called giving us an out. They said the people at the pumpkin patch were willing to reschedule until Monday and that they would have 2 drivers available that day too if we wanted to. Oh rats. To make a long story just a little shorter after talking to a few parents and my co-workers and checking the weather we decided to just chance it and give it a go for today. Monday was going to be cloudy so who knew what that would entail.

The Lord was good to us! As we were walking out to the bus it stopped raining. We spent 45 minutes at the pumpkin patch without a drop of rain and successfully made it back to class-dry and happy. (On a side note Monday was just the opposite: it was dry all day long except for the time we would have been at the pumpkin patch and it was windy, cold and pouring down rain-good thing we didn't wait!)

Red and Itchy

Because it was raining we had indoor recess and I decided to test kids on math concepts instead of having a lunch break. Usually Cedelia and I go for walks at lunchtime but she had to supervise a class so I decided to be productive. I called little Stevie* (name changed to protect the innocent) back to test. As we were working on number recognition he said "Teacher look at my leg" and proceeded to pull up his pant leg. It was red and splotchy with patches of red raised skin and patches of white skin running up the entire leg. Humm-it didn't look right so I sent him down to the nurse to have him checked out.

Shortly after that she sent him back. When a child is sent back from the nurses office I naturally assume that if it was bad she would have kept him and or called home but when that doesn't happen I naturally assume the child is fine. So not giving it much thought we proceeded to get ready for our field trip (see above).

We cut into a few pumpkins when we got back from the pumpkin patch and then it was about time to go home. All of the sudden I looked over at little Stevie and noticed he had 3 small red blotches on his face. Ut oh. This isn't good. After my EA and I looked at his chest we realized this rash or whatever it was was spreading. His body was beginning to be red and raised with white parts in between. I quickly sent him back to the nurses office and proceeded to get the other students cleaned up, packed up and out the door so I could go check on this little guy.

By the time I got down to the office they had already put him on the bus and were calling a few numbers for his parents with no success. I was upset. They didn't know what was wrong with him and hadn't communicated with anyone to keep their eye on this child in case he got worst (which he already was). The nurse thought I was just worried about what he had being contagious and said "well he's been around kids all day so the bus ride shouldn't hurt anyone". I hadn't thought about the other students, I was concerned about him! It was moving upwards and at a fairly quick pace and they hadn't let anyone know.

I left the office unable to think of anything else. I called the bus garage asking them to radio his bus driver to let him know what was going on with this boy and to ask the driver to keep an eye on little Stevie. The transportation director said the boy would be home in 20 minutes so I got off the phone and tried calling several more numbers. We were finally able to track down his dad via his cell phone at work. He didn't seem to understand the potiential severity of the situation or seem overly concerned but said he would call his wife and let her know (who was also at work). We then found out that Stevie would be going home with just his 2 older brothers, the oldest of which is 12.

I tried to focus on finishing out my day but couldn't think about anything else. Finally writing down a couple of addresses and a few phone numbers Cedelia and I went off to see if we could track down this kid. Long story shorter we finally found the unnumbered house and no one answered. The neighbor told us the bus wasn't there yet and wouldn't be for several more minutes making what we thought was a 20 minute bus ride into over an hour bus ride for that little guy. When he got off the bus his condition was much much worst. His breathing wasn't labored but he was breathing with his mouth open and his body was now completely covered with red splotches.

His brother was concerned that he was going to get in trouble for being home with the kids alone and kept saying "but I'm 12. I can watch them." I assured him that I didn't doubt that on normal days but also that I wasn't going anywhere until an adult came over so that someone could drive him to the doctor if need be. (His parents weren't scheduled to be home until somewhere between 5:30 and 7:30.) Realizing that I was serious the brother called his dad, again, who told him to call his mom, again, and then finally after several more minutes his mom arrived home from work. We showed her his red and blistered bottom and told her we thought he needed medical assistance to which she agreed. Phew. We had done our job, covered the nurses job, and placed the child in the care of his mother. We were off.

I am very thankful for that nagging unsettled feeling that something wasn't right. I am also glad for the rainy day that had me pulling kids to test. I'm not sure Stevie would have shown me his legs in the midst of all that chaios if I hadn't been working with him one on one. (The update: mom took him to the doctor that afternoon and was given some cream. It still didn't go away all weekend and on Sunday they took him to the emergency room where they gave him a shot. They still don't know what caused it and he has been out of school for a few days. I will be glad when he is back healthy and happy.)

Crash!!

I was then off to our primary program practice then off to Wal-Mart before I went home. When I was leaving my old home teachers wife was in the entry way telling the worker that she had locked her sons keys in the truck and needed to get them out. Was there a locksmith in town? The man said there was but that he only accepted payment in cash and that it was $200. For that she said she would break the window to which I said "Mona, I can take you home. I can't do anything for your keys that are locked in the car but I can take you wherever you need to go." So we loaded up her stuff and were on our way to see if her husband could help-well almost.

I was backing my car out of the row and looked up just in time to see a big red van starting to back up also. I stopped but was not able to back up more or pull forward and was hoping that he would see me and stop. That was not the case and he crashed right into my passenger side of the car. Ohh. Not my newish little car. He pulled forward and we got out to survey the damage. To our surprise his bumper had hit my tire rim only and although paint was rubbed off his bumper and my tire rim was scraped up we called it good and were both back on our way in no time. Phew. That was a close call.

Mona said it was because I was doing a good deed that's why it wasn't worst than it was. Whatever the case I was very thankful no real damage was done and when I got home that night I was very happy to be there. It was time to relax after a day like that.

Happiness is a choice

Yeah, I finally got my magnets that I have been working on for over 6 months! I've actually wanted them for over 10 years and they have arrived. I wanted to use them for a thought for when we visit the YW in our stake. (I had to order a million of them-I don't think I will ever run out :). I got a new camera and don't like it, but this picture will have to do for now. My experience below is one I'm going to share as part of my message to the young women and the reason I went through all the work getting them.


While I was attending college at BYU my roommate had a magnet similar to this on the front door of our apartment. Every morning before I left for the day I would take a couple of seconds to determine how I felt. Since I usually left for class fairly early in the morning most of what determined how I felt was how I had slept, what had happened the day or night before, or what lay ahead of me that day.

My mood would range from exhausted because I stayed up too late studying (or playing), sad or confused because the boy I currently had a crush on did not call or had not noticed me the day before, frustrated or disgusted because my roommates had once again left dirty dishes in the sink when it was their day to do them, or hopeful that I would do well on the paper or exam I had been working on.

I carried on this routine for weeks. One day I realized that whatever I picked for my mood in the morning would generally be my mood for the entire day. If I picked overwhelmed, all day I would think of the things I had to do and wonder how I could possibly get them all done. If I picked lonely or shy I would often choose to sit by myself and was quiet or reserved that day. If I picked happy I would smile and laugh at the events of the day, even if it included falling on the ice in front of a cute guy!

After that realization I decided that no matter how I actually felt in the morning I was only allowed to pick the positive emotions happy and hopeful (occasionally I would also allow myself to feel content or lovestruck:) ).

Your mind is more powerful than you may think. Choose your mood wisely.

My Lists of Eights

8 Things I Did Yesterday

8. Woke up on my friends couch. (I have slept on so many couches this summer that when I finally came home this week to sleep in my own bed I couldn't sleep and ended up, yep you guessed it, on my own couch!)

7. Went to the Temple

6. Ate a yummy Banzai burger at Red Robin

5. Read a chapter or two in my new swimming to Antarctica book

4. Played Skip Bo (I usually am unbeatable, but lets not talk about how it went)

3. Helped fix food for 300 youth (the food was so yummy! I had some of the leftovers for lunch today)

2. Chaperoned a YM/YW dance

1. Got gas (should have gotten it the day before. I barely, and I mean barely made it to the gas station. Phew-a little too close for comfort!)

8 Favorite Shows

You have to understand I haven't had t.v. in over 5 years. I sometimes check out past episodes of shows from the library and watch them. I was just realizing thatin the month of July I have watched less than 5 hours of TV/movies total.

8. Medical Mysteries (actually I only watched that once but if I had TV I would watch it)

7. The Biggest Loser (kind of a Tuesday night tradition with my friend Cedelia)

6. Trading Spaces type home decorating shows

5. Gilmore Girls (yeah its over, but I liked it)

4. The Chopping Block

3. Prison Break

2. House

1. 24

8 Favorite Restaurants

8. Macaroni Grill

7. Training Table (cheese fries anyone?)

6.5 That one made me remember how much I liked eating at The Train in Heber. The food is pretty good but it really just brings back a lot of good memories.

6. Really my favorite places to eat are not restaurants. They are moms house and Justina's houses. Yum. Nothing beats a good home cooked meal (especially when you don't have to prepare it! I've been very spoiled this last few weeks with the best food in the world with some of my favorite people to eat it with!)

5. Any Mexican food restaurant with good beans. That's what makes or breaks a Mexican food restaurant is the beans.

4. P.F. Changs (but not the one in Tri-Cities. That one made me sick!)

3. There's this little spot in Pike's Market that has these really yummy halibut sandwiches-I love them!

2. Red Robin (a family favorite)

1. The Crab Pot (My very very favorite)

8 Thing I Look Forward to

8. Going crabbing (actually mostly just eating it-yum!)

7. Losing weight (ahh-I've got to stop eating at all those favorite restaurants of mine and stop constantly thinking about food. This is ridiculous!)

6. Finishing my quilt (thanks Dawn for helping me get back going on it. I'm even planning on working on it with mom in the morning.)

5. Spending time with Mark (Even though I just saw him yesterday. The plan is to see him tomorrow too :)).

4. Going to the Ocean again (no plans for it currently, but I love going to the beach)

3. Retiring (well not really retiring, but becoming a momma and being able to stop working and stay at home with my kids. Yeah I know quite a few things have to take place for that one to happen :)).

2. Hanging out with my nieces and nephews (and the rest of the family. This is very much a weekly activity bu it is still one in which I always look forward to.)

1. Going grocery shopping (usually grocery shopping isn't something I particularly look forward to but, if you can believe it, July ends in just a few days and I haven't been grocery shopping all month!)

8 People I Tag

8. Erryn (do you know how much I just love you? I miss you!)

7. Susi (so fun talking to you yesterday. That should have went on my list of things I did yesterday)

6. Jana (did I hear correctly that you are coming back for a visit? Is it an extended visit?)

5. Trina and Sally (mom says you are in town right now. How long are you guys around?)

4. Kristin (I haven't checked your private blog lately, but the last time i did it hadn't been updated in quite awhile. Fix that would ya!)

3. Crystal (while the baby is sleeping of course)

2. Justina (I know, I know, not the kind of stuff you blog about. You have plenty of more exciting things to blog about, but just in case you needed something else. . .)

1. Dawn (or Kate. She'd probably be more likely to do it than you would :))

Thanks for the tag Marci. It gave me something to do this evening!