Night on Broadway

Last night our ward had a "Night on Broadway" social for all of the adults. Jake and I were asked to be a part of the performance, along with 3 other newly wed couples. We did a little dance to "Why Do I Love You?" from the musical Showboat. The lady in charge of everything is kind of funny and has made this social her life for the past month. She would hold practices at her house and helped us make up our dance and found these crazy costumes for us. It was all kind of silly, but we actually ended up having a really good time. The whole dance was pretty much just all of us couples swooning over each other and showing a little too much PDA in front of the whole ward. I think we made the audience blush more than we did ourselves! But we made some new friends out of the experience. They had lots of fun performances complete with 7 Brides for 7 Brothers "Bless Her Beautiful Hide" and Oklahoma's "I'm Just a Girl Who Can't Say No".

After the social we had a "cast party" at one of the couple's house with just the couples from our dance. We played games and got to know each other a little better. We discovered that one of the husbands (who lives just two doors down from us) is pretty much an experienced spy. He keeps a (mental) log of all of the cars coming in and out of our complex and what "loot" they've got in the back of their trucks. I can't blame him- we've had some pretty strange things happen around here. Like washers and dryers being stolen out of carports in broad day light (they even stole laundry detergent- they must have been desperate to get some laundry done!) and cops arresting a guy right in front of our mailbox. Don't worry Mom- we're safe. We've only had our laundry detergent stolen. Other than that we love it here!

Baby Brooklyn Rae

I am an aunt again (sort of)! Raylene and Brad finally had their baby on Wednesday, February 13, 2008. She is such a beautiful baby with lots of blonde hair. If you know me, you probably know Raylene, and have probably already seen and heard about their sweet little thing, but I just had to put in my two cents. Raylene is such a trooper and has been so positive about her entire pregnancy experience. I only hope I can be as positive as her someday when it's my turn.
I had to throw in these pictures in honor of Jake. He is such an awesome guy. If any of you know Jake, you know he is way into football- especially college football. Well, he's also into sweet little babies. I got the funniest picture of him watching the Orange Bowl, while helping to crochet a blanket for baby Brooklyn. I have to say I think he was a little more interested in the crocheting than he was in the game! I thought it was so cute! You can't see the t.v., but there was definitely a football game on. Is he looking at the t.v.? Nope!

Slacker

Ok, ok, I know it's been awhile. What can I say- I'm a teacher and a wife and, well, that's about it. Ok, you're right- I have no excuse. Well, not a whole lot has happened these last couple of months, but I'll give a quick update. Christmas was a blast. I just love Christmas time. I started asking Jake what he wanted for Christmas back in August
(he had no idea I was such a Christmas maniac). I've surprised him by already asking him what he wants for Christmas this year. He just gave me an "Are you crazy?" look as I'm sure you are right now. But what can I say- I think Christmas should be celebrated all year long! For Christmas I got Jake a nice softball bat and a new glove. He's excited to put them to use on the co-ed softball team we've joined that will be starting in March. Jake got me a pedicure kit that he so sweetly volunteers to use on my feet. He also got me TheFirm workout that I had been asking for. I've enjoyed that a lot but have a hard time motivating myself to get up at 5:45 to actually do the workouts. We had fun re-enacting the nativity with the Merrell family and hangin' with both of our families.
Valentine's Day was also a lot of fun. I just love holidays. My class of 2nd graders had a fun little Valentine's party. Several of my students even brought Valentine's for our pet frog, Max. I thought that was funny. My students were so sweet and brought stuffed animals and chocolates and all kinds of goodies for me (many of which went straight to the trash- used stuffed animals just don't appeal to me. Neither do questionable chocolates labeled in Spanish). Jake and I spent Valentine's chaperoning a bunch of 5th grade students from my school to the Coyotes hockey game. It was my first hockey experience and I actually enjoyed it quite a lot! Jake treated me to a dinner at Macaroni Grill and a date to As You Wish (pottery painting). He's such a sweetheart!