Update

With all the recent events, it's been hard to domuch of anything but catch up at work. So, here goes:
Oct. 6: Chad's B-Day! We had dinner with family on the 5th and I took him to The Olive Garden for dinner. It was a nice relaxed evening.
Oct. 7: Ian passed away. It was an emotional day. I don't remember much other than the phone calls from my mom and sister.
Oct. 8-9: Again, not much there. It was hard to focus on teaching...
Oct. 10-14: I decided to give up on trying to be at school since I wasn't productive and I wanted so badly to be with Mandi, so I went up to SLC to be with family. The funeral was on the 14th. Ian was a perfect little tiny baby and I am grateful to have the belief that he will be a part of my family for eternity. My sister and brother-in-law spoke at the service and my nephews and niece sang the song that Pam (a most wonderful gift from our Heavenly Father) was singing to Ian when he died. Throughout it all, I feel that Mandi and Ryan held up very well.
Oct. 15: We came back to Hurricane to teach the last day of the quarter and to enter our grades before our trip to Disneyland. This had been planned since August and i was a bit unsure about going, but we decided to stick with the plans and go. We left at 5 p.m... Originally it was to me Chad, me, Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Grandpa. Unfortunately my grandpa had a gallbladder attack and they were unable to go. My parents invited Mandi to come with us and she and Ryan decided it was a good plan for her to take Alex and Darek too!
Oct. 16-19: Disneyland. It was so fun and really relaxing to be there. It was so fun going with tiny little Darek. Chad held him most of the time with the exception of after water rides. It is very sweet for me to see that interaction him and our nieces and nephews. Alex was great, he is such a crack up! And it's always nice to be with family in a place like Disneyland! We took everyone on a tour of Disneyland, wich was a cool expereince, even for people like us who go ALL THE TIME! My favorite thing about the trip was that we had to buy mickey ears at Build-A-Bear for Darek! We also found his Halloween costume there- a Stitch (from Lilo and Stitch) outift! Needless to say- he is adorable in it! I'll post pics of all the nieces and nephews after Halloween.
Oct. 20-25: Back to real life and responsibility! This was a difficult week. I had lots of behavior problems and felt like I was an underpaid babysitter (which sometimes I believe that's what teachers are.... thats a different story for another time). But at the end of yesterday, I felt much better about my situation as a teacher. We had a lot of catch up to do at school and finally took the time today to unpack from our away time! The best news though is that its a Saturday night at 10:00 and my husband is at home! NO MORE LES MIS!! Its really nice that he can be home in the evenings again!
That brings me to current again! WOO HOO! We've got Halloween plans and a wedding for Chad's friend in Vegas next weekend, so it'll be a good one!

Yep, I'm a princess...

You Are Ariel!

Headstrong and fiesty. You have a mind of your own that's full of romantic dreams about the world around you. Exploring exotic places is your ultimate dream, and although you can be a little naive you'll realize that there is something to be gained from your family's wisdom.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

A Heavy Heart

Life is precious. I realize tonight (as I have in the past on such occasions as this) that life is not to be wasted on such trivial things as broken TVs and the "hardships" of work. But to be spent on forgiveness and love, gratitude and service, prioritizing. Unfortunately, it is true hardship, trial, and sorrow that brings this realization.

Ian Jacob Wood was born on July 3, 2008, 15 weeks early. He suffered some trauma during birth which caused him to be in the NICU. He fought to stay alive and was a miracle just because he was alive. Ian lost the fight this afternoon. Ian was a sweet baby and brought so much excitement and joy into his family's life. Few of us ever met him, but we all had an unconditional love for Ian and his brother the moment we were told that they would join our family. My heart is heavy as I try to imagine the pains my sister and her family are experiencing right now- Ian Jacob has left a hole in all our hearts. We will miss him very much.

Please keep Mandi, Ryan, Alex, and Darek in your thoughts and prayers during this heartbreaking time.

TV

We finally got cable set up at our house after 3 years of being without TV. Its been a little overwhelming- we're not used to the noise and all the stuff associated with TV. We were pretty excited because for the first time in 3 years, we'd be able to watch conference. Well on Wednesday, our TV started looking like we need 3-D glasses to watch TV. We have had to watch movies on our 19" TV for the past little while...bummer... So hopefully dad will be able to fix the TV when he comes, or else we'll have to get a new one. And after having a 51" TV, it will be EXPENSIVE...

1st Quarter

The end of the 1st quarter of school is only 8 school days away (thats 10 total days)!!! After the end of each quarter, Washington County School District (WCSD) is kind enough to give us a vacation. At the end of this quarter we get two days off. Well, back in March, Chad's department won teacher team of the year for WCSD and each member got a free 3-day, 2-night trip to Disneyland for 2 people. SO, my parents called us and asked if we were able to go to Disneyland in October and we said yes! On October 15th, we will be heading to Disneyland! My parents and grandparents (how cool is that?!) will be going with us. Anyway, I am very excited. Yea for a vacation! Oh and only 4 showings of Les Miserables until we go- Chad (and I) is (am) very excited that the show will be done!!

Nieces and Nephews

This is an "I'm proud to be an auntie" blog. The reason I do this is because by the end of this year, between my family and Chad's family, we will have added 6 babies to the family. The babies are not the most important thing, it's that we love that our family is getting bigger and that we can be a part of our neices and nephews lives. Chad and I are so happy to be the(favorite) aunt and uncle of all these kids! It is so much fun for us to watch our nieces and nephews grow!

My brother, Aaron, and his wife, Jen, added a baby boy, Kevin, to their family in February. My sister, Hayley, and her husband, Mike, added a baby boy, Brayden, to their family in June. My sister, Mandi, and her husband, Ryan, were called three weeks ago to adpot twin boys. Mandi brought the first one, Darek, home on Sept. 4 and we went up to meet him on Sept. 5th! The second twin, Ian, is still in the hospital in Virginia (they were born at 25 weeks and are still very smal., but ever so adorable). Chad's brother, Colby, and his wife, Stephanie, are due to have a baby boy, Jax, in late November/early December. My brother, Aaron, and his wife, Jen are due to have another baby in late December. The gender of this baby is yet to be determined. I have my money on it being a boy, which probably means it will be a girl. We'll see. Here are pics of the new additions and then some...

Uncle Chad entertaining Kevin. He is a sweetheart- we don't get to see him ever he lives in Maryland...sadness. That's Mike in the background with Brayden.

The second nephew this year, Brayden. He is a chubby little low key baby. He weighs 16 lbs 8 oz @ 3 months old.

Twin #1, Darek, with a very excited Aunt Bethany and sharing nap time with Uncle Chad while we were visiting. My husband is so cute!

Twin #2, Ian, still in the hospital- we can't wait to finally hold him (and spoil him too)!

I don't have pics of the unborn babies yet.. but here's the rest of the (Titus side) kiddos with Grandma and Grandpa Titus.

Left to right: Alex (5), Emma (2), Grandma holding Kevin, Tyson (almost 6), Anna (above Tyson-almost 4), Christopher (3), Papa holding Brayden. Ian and Darek were added to our family about two weeks after this picture was taken.

I also have pictures of (some of) the Baker side kiddos. We love being involved in their lives and participating in their activities, it's such an honor that they want us around too- we love them so much!

Baylee (almost 3) with Colby watching Thomas and Lottie!

Lottie (15) cheering! She is one of the captains of the cheerleaders this year (as a sophomore). She's such a cutie- it was fun to finally see her perform, we are proud!!

Thomas #11 (17) on the sidelines- he played almost the enitre game last night and it was his birthday! Thomas is also one of the captains of the varsity team. P.S. he is awesome, we are way proud of him!

Judd and Britney (both 20) at their wedding in June. They are a great couple and we are so happy and excited for them!

All in all thats pretty much them. We don't have up to date pics of Kevin (18) or Haven (1 1/2), so we'll have to work on that. So the take home message- we love our nieces and nephews!

Pictures- FINALLY!

These pictures have taken me forever to post! Life has been busy with all the new changes and posting pics hasn't been priority. We are surprisingly at home in Hurricane. In fact we really love it. The environment at work is so amazing for both of us and we are both doing what we love to do. We have a FANTASTIC neighborhood and ward and just love the people here. We live about 15-20 minutes away from Zion National Park (if you ever want to come out, let us know- you can stay with us)! Life is so good for us right now, we are very happy. Chad is still working Tuacahn, but only has 10 shows after tonight! We are excited to be on a regular sleep schedule! Enjoy the pics- (a disclaimer to the pics- I am not a professional.... and we LIVE in our house, it's not a museum, so there are things out...crazy, I know)

This is the front of our wonderful home. We LOVE not having to share walls with our neighbors and that we have a garage! I didn't realize how picturesque the sky is- beautiful!
No, our house is not on a slant, apparently I was having some trouble. This is the first room you see when you walk into the house. We got to buy a cute little red loveseat! I was excited!This is the living room. Chad was taking a nap...To the left is our awesome TV (which now has cable- by the way, bad choice...). You can see the kitechen/dining area in the background.
The kitchen/dining area. We love having the space to keep our table out to its full size all the time.

Here's our kitchen. We had to give up kitchen space from our last apartment (our kitchen was huge in our last place), but we have more storage here. Also, the fridge is ours, we had to buy one for this house, our landlords "don't do fridges." We found this one used for $200- we were pretty happy about it!

These are the storage areas in the kitchen. The one on the left is big enough to walk into! Yea for storage!

Keeping with tradition, we had to set aside a room for the neices and nephews! This is our playroom. There is a TV to the right that you can't see that has a Playstation2 and Xbox hooked up to it. We have to be the favorite aunt and uncle. This room is to the left of the sitting room. We have a lot of windows in this house which is nice, unless you're taking pictures...

This is the guest room/office. Again- awesome big window, not so good for the pics. This is where Chad spends a lot of time- hence the messiness...

I promised Chad that if we got a 4-bedroom house that one could be an instrument room- so here it is. Our (I say our...but really, do I play on them?...not really) drumsets and any other instrument we have goes in here.

The spare bathroom. The floorplan of the bedrooms and bathroom are almost identical to our last apartment- so if you never got to see it, this is pretty much what it looked like, minus one bedroom.

This is the master bedroom. No, we don't have a blanket on our bed right now- Chad is picky and can't sleep hot, so I get to put a blanket on my side until the weather cools off a bit. The bathroom is off to the left, it's nothing special- we had to give up a LOT of master bathroom space...I was sad. Oh, and dad, notice whose clothes are NOT on the floor...yeah, that would be mine. And no I didn't just clean them up for the picture.

This is the back of our house. We have a cute little backyard filled with lots of plants. It's pretty awesome. We have two pomegranate trees (can't WAIT for those to be ripe!! They're my fav.), a peach tree, and a pear tree, which means we get LOTS of awesome bugs...not my fav...but we also get hummingbirds like crazy. One favorite of the hummingbirds is right outside the dining room window, so every night at dinner we get to watch hummingbirds!!

This is the little patio in the back. The window above the chairs is the window in our living room. The door on the left goes into the dining room and the door on the right goes into our bedroom!
Last, but certainly not least, out garage. The top picture is of my cute little scooter which has gotten me the nickname "Morotcycle Mama" with my co-workers. I love it! The second picture is Chad's bike. He loves it when we ride together- its cute and fun! The bottom two are our new car (its a 2006 Chevy Cobalt 5-speed). We were very sad to lose our cars, but really love this one. My dad calls the color "ticket red" but we have not gotten any tickets yet- we'll see what happens on our drive to CA in October!