Some catch up

It's been a couple weeks so I thought I'd get on and catch up with life.

Adventure #3:
My Birthday! I turned 25 on the 23rd of February. I wanted to share some pics from the day. Chad spent the night before making a surprise in the kitchen and wouldn't allow me in (which was KILLING me). He made my cake (pics below) and took me to dinner at Mongolian BBQ in St. George. We watched a movie and just chilled. It was the perfect b-day!

Adventure #4:
SUPAF!
For those that know Hayley, you've heard of SUPAF- it's been her life for the past month! Chad's bands were able to perform and sounded great! It was a huge relief for Chad to have it done with, and as such, a big relief for me as well! The kids were great and loved having the opportunity to perform.

Both of my sisters did a "Pay it Forward" post and I entertained the idea for a minute (or less). The idea is making something for someone else- from scratch and sending it to them. Well, the only thing I make from scratch is dinner and I'm not sending it in the mail folks, so sorry, you don't get one of those posts from me...:(

Upcoming Adventures:
Anniversary, Volume 3- March 11, 2009
East Coast, take 2- March 13-20
Salt Lake, number ?- March 20-22 and March 27-29


My Wall-E cake. We've become big fans of Wall-E since we saw it last summer. Handmade by Chad!


The fruit and flower basket Mandi sent to me! Tasty fruit and beautiful flowers! And there were balloons! The balloons are still goin' by the way! AWESOME!


This is a pearl and diamond ring Chad gave me for my birthday! It's beautiful and I am VERY spoiled! It was a great birthday! My husband is the best!


This is the Electric Bass and Electric Guitar we got in January for my birthday. I've wanted to learn to play for a while, so when one of the local music stores was closing, we took advantage!


One of Chad's band's performing! So proud!


Rallying the troops before leaving!

Long weekend

Last weekend was a great, relaxing weekend. We enjoyed a day off of school. We were able to see Inkheart (infinitely better than the book) and Taken (highly reccommend) and got a ton of reading i, caught up on house cleaning, and some digital updates. We always love spending time together, so it was wonderful.
Thus begins adventure #2:
It has nothing to do with the weekend, it actually has to do with going back to work. We woke to numerous power outages on Tuesday morning as we were getting ready for work. The lights went on and off for a while before Chad left. I grabbed a flashlight to be sure I'd have light to finish getting ready and not a moment too soon because the lights went out for good not 5 minutes after I was done. So we started the day off at Hurricane Middle School with the lights out- always fun at a school. During the first period of the day, there was a big commotion in the hall. I stepped outside to find that the classroom next to me was flooding into the hallway. AWESOME! We evacuated the class into mine while teachers and students worked in the dark to get the water under control. Never a dull moment when you teach! Woo Hoo!

A Tag, and other stuff

Seven things I can do:
1. Teach. I think I'm pretty darn good at my job, but there is always room for growth.
2. Cook. I am a really good cook. I like to do it for other people though and I am always scared that whatever I make will turn out horribly, so I'm never the first to taste it.
3. Organize. I was the kid in High School that everyone gave their binders to at the end of the quarter when we had to turn them in. Yeah, same goes for now. I have to have my life organized or else I go insane. You can ask Chad.
4. Dress well. This may be a silly one, but it is not a skill everyone has. I like to look good and I know how to put things together.
5. Give gifts. I am a great gift-giver. I like giving people gifts and I spend time finding something that they will like. I don't like getting gifts though. I would rather give.
6. Cleaning. I haven't been so great lately, but I like to clean. My house usually smells good and is clutter free. I like my space to be clean so that I can function. This is probably a shocker to my parents because this was NOT the case as I was growing up.
7. Spelling and Grammar. I'm kind of a jerk about this one. It bugs me when educated people don't know the rules of grammar and spelling. I think it is so important. Therefore, I have really great gramar and spelling. Last time I wrote something like that I made three or four spelling mistakes. I'll be reading through this once, just to make sure.

Seven things I can't do:
1. Relax. The only time I relax is... yeah, you get the point. I am generally worried about something. Even on vacations, I'm worried about timing, what to do, make sure things run smoothly. I need to learn to relax.
2. Socialize. Its not that I don't like to, its that I would rather not deal with the drama that goes along with socializing. I tend to be the kind that sticks at home. Lately I've been much better and I actually like it!
3. Exercise. I am healthy, but I don't exercise often. I am very lucky to be thin by nature, but I know that won't be the case forever.
4. Little kids. I can if I have to, but the only little kids I really like are my nieces and nephews.
5. Juggle. Chad really wants me to learn (since he can), but he was mean about it the first time he tried to teach me, so I've backed off from it. I may try again.
6. Play guitar, or bass. Chad got us those for my birthday (early) and I'm learning to play now.
7. Fix cars. This is a skill that I will eventually build- when I restore a '64 Ford Mustang Convertible.

Seven things I say most:
1. I love you.
2. Shoog.
3. Where's my purse?
4. Where are my keys?
5. Where are my sunglasses?
6. I'm not going to compete with you (when my students are trying to talk over me).
7. Meanie Face!

Seven Goals for the New Year:
1. Relax
2. Travel any chance I get.
3. Remember Birthdays
4. Spend quality time with Chad
5. Read more
6. Exercise more
7. See the National Parks around me

Seven reasons I fell in Love with Chad:
1. I have real conversations with him.
2. He's so damn charming.
3. He makes me laugh.
4. He was different than anyone else I had dated before.
5. He's freakin gorgeous.
6. He supported (and still supports) my decisions.
7. We have so much fun together.

Seven things I love to eat:
1. NY Cheesecake
2. Grilled Cheese
3. Olives
4. Pineapple
5. Veggie Chili
6. Anything that didn't moo, oink, or flap it's gills
7. Smoothies

P.S. I posted the NYC pics on my Facebook for those of you that would like to see them. If you don't have a faceook and would still like to see them, just leave me a message and I'll send you the link. Also, Chekc out Neil Gaiman. I'm infatuated with his work. He wrote Stardust and Coraline (books made into movies) and others as well. I started his newest: The Graveyard Book- which won a Newberry award- last night and was completely captivated within the first two pages. His writing is a little dark, but very enjoyable. Happy President's Day!

Its FINALLY February!

January was long. That's really all I have to say about that. We took a couple of weekend trips to Vegas (I got to go to The Gap! YAY!) and we spent lots of time with extended family. We had lots of fun. We welcomed Max back home from China and went to Jax's blessing. What a sweet little baby he is! We always love spending time with family!

I realize that the title of our blog is The Many ADVENTURES of Bethany and Chad- so I'm going to be more diligent in recording our adventures (like our NYC adventure in Nov... yeah, where is that? you ask. My bad...). And I'm going to remember to take may camera EVERYWHERE I go so that I can have pics.

So, February Adventure #1: Hinder concert.
We don't get many concerts here in Southern Utah (I wonder why...), so when the opportunity present itself, we go. Usually it's the King's Singers and such, but we had the good fortune to go to the Hinder Concert with a friend of mine from college. I don't know many Hinder songe, but I was totally game. It turned out to be pretty awesome! The openers (The Veer Union and Theory of a Dead Man) were fantastic- Chad and I enjoyed Theory of a Dead Man the most- which was refreshing. Concerts where people come totally wasted or stoned (or high) are really amusing to watch. There were numerous bras thrown on stage and the phrase of the night was probably "F*** yeah, St. George, Utah!!!" All-in-all it was fun to go listen to some good tunes, scream our guts out, and share some time with friends. Oh, and small venues are the best, every seat is good! Here are some pics!


Here's a fuzzy picture of Jax- he's cooing and smiling at people now- it's adorable!


This is a picture of Hinder performing- they were totally wasted.... In case you don't know who they are- they're well known for "Lips of an Angel."


Here's our Fav of the night- Theory of a Dead Man.

Back to School: January 2009 edition

The Christmas break was fantastic! We started off our trip with an adventure- we hit a huge storm outside Scipio and I woke up to our car sideways and sliding on the freeway. We ended up in the median, down a hill, with no phone service in the car. We were both unharmed and our car was perfectly fine, we did have to stand outside in 18-degree weather for 2 hours getting a tow truck. What can you do? We were very blessed to be unharmed and many people stopped to make sure we were okay.

We finally made it to Salt Lake and were able to enjoy a few days before Christmas. Santa was very good to us this year! We really enjoyed our time in with my parents, sister Mandi, brother-in-law Ryan, and newphews Alex and Darek. We had a great time relaxing, shopping, and playing games together (especially the Nerf War!). The weather was horrendous until the day after Christmas, so we missed taking a trip up to see my grandparents in Idaho (sometime soon grandma and grandpa!!)

We came back on Saturday the 3rd and welcomed our new little Sunbeams on Sunday to our class. It's going to be an interesting year of teaching our cute little 3-year-olds!

We were both a nervous about going back to school today, since we had such a fantastic break. However we both had great days back at school! My classes went really well and the students were quite pleasant. Chad had a similar experience. We both really enjoy our jobs and love the schools where we teach this year! We are very happy and very blessed to be in the place where we are! We hope that 2009 will bring us as much fortune and as many blessings as we were given in 2008.

Digital Scrapbook Fun!

I have created an album of our wedding using my new digital scrapbooking program! It's the first one and is kinda lame since I'm just discovering the software, but people have requested on facebook that I post wedding pics, so I'm doing it here. And P.S. Digital Scrapbooking is the way to go...I'm just getting into it, but holy crap, I should have asked Santa for one of these a long time ago! I HIGHLY recommend it!

The Christmas Update

I decided to do an update online this year instead of killing even more trees...so here goes:

Jan. 2008: We began the 2nd half of our first year teaching. We were living in St. George in an adorable 3 bedroom apartment. Life was good!
Feb. 2008: Teaching got a bit stressful for Beth with a crazy parent and with the changes happening at her school. Beth also turned 24. We welcomed a nephew, Kevin, on the 20th.
Mar. 2008: We celebrated our 2 year Anniversary with a Trip to Park City for a few days during spring break. It was beautiful! Beth finds out she will NOT be asked back to PVMS, so we start searching for jobs throughout the state of Utah.
Apr. 2008: Um...Easter? We headed to Las Vegas for Haven's 1st Birthday party! We did lots of job interviewing all over the state, but are both offered jobs in Hurricane, UT. YEA! We still have jobs!
May 2008: Our first year of teaching FINALLY ends. Actually it seemed much faster than we thought it would! Chad finishes up with a piano recital and Beth with End of Level testing. Beth is relieved to begin at a new school next year and Chad is excited to start teaching Band!
June 2008: Chad begins playing percussion for Les Miserables at Tuacahn. He is excited to get into the music scene in St. George (its a small world that you must work your way into). Beth is enjoying the time off of school and is busy finding a place for us to move. We traveled to Las Vegas for our nephew Judd's wedding! It was beautiful! We welcomed a nephew, Brayden, on the 3rd.
July 2008: Hell on earth. Really that's all I want to say...just kidding. Beth has a scare with a job transfer, but gets to keep her SpEd job at Hurricane Middle School. We visit Zion National Park and both get scooters! We find a cute 4 bedroom house to rent (only .7 miles from Beth's school). We are scheduled to move on July 31st. 4 days before we move, Beth's trusty Escort passes away on the side of the freeway (just in time for her before contract-days meetings begin) and we are a few days behind schedule in the "packing to move" department. Chad is assigned the overwhelming job to finish packing, find a fridge, reserve a U-Haul, and research new cars while Beth is at meetings. He did a fantastic job and Beth chilled a little! The move was smooth and were lucky enough to have help from Beths family and some friends! We traded in our two dead cars for a living one the day we moved into the house!
Aug. 2008: We go back to work on the 4th and school begins the 12th. We both already love the environments of our new schools and really enjoy teaching in Hurricane. Beth's whole family came to town the 15th-ish; we had family pictures taken, a birthday party, and the first of many NERF wars to come. We welcom twin nephews, Ian and Darek, on the 22nd (born July 3rd). We are back to "normalcy" in our lives! Oh, and Chad is still working Les Miserables...
Sept. 2008: More normalcy...school is going great for both of us. We travel to Salt Lake to meet one of our two new nephews.
Oct. 2008: We celebrated Chad's 29th birthday! Unfortunately, tragedy hit the next day when our little nephew, Ian, passed away. We spent 5 days in Salt Lake with family and for the funeral of little Ian. We took a planned trip to Disneyland with Beth's sister Mandi, nephews, and parents over fall break. Chad's time with Les Miserables is FINALLY over just as we leave for the funeral. We enjoyed dressing as a pirate and Darth Maul for Halloween!
Nov. 2008: Lots of time working this month. Beth went to a New Kids on the Block concert with her cousin and sister Mandi. We also took a VERY impromptu trip to New York over the Thanksgiving Holiday. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable month. We welcomed a new nephew, Jax, to the family on the 24th!
Dec. 2008: We hotsed a Christmas party for Chad's family on the 12th and we really enjoyed having everyone at our home. We also enjoyed having family at Chad's first ever band concert as a conductor! Beth was VERY proud! We headed up to Salt Lake for Christmas Break on the 19th (and had an adventure getting there!) and have really enjoyed our time with family! We are still awaiting the arrival of the last nephew of the year...we'll see when he comes! Santa was very good to us this year and are grateful for all that we have!

We love our little home in Hurricane, our ward (we teach the 3 year olds), our schools, the people we work with, and the relationships we are building! Life is fantastic!

I have been working on getting NYC pics into a slideshow to post here, but have been a bit busy. I got a digital scrapbook program for Christmas and am currently working on getting ALL my pictures from the past three years on to my new computer. I'm really excited to get going on it!