Long Beach

Last Saturday, my oldest sister, Danielle, got married in Long Beach. That makes our second trip to California this year! We love going to Southern California because we get to visit my mamita and papito, and other relatives who live out there whom we don't see very often. They were so wonderful to open their doors and let us stay with them last weekend.

The weather was quite warm, and it was so beautiful to be on the coast during sunset, but my favorite part were the seals! I have never seen them before (in their natural habitat), so when one would surface and dive again, I would get so excited and try to take a picture. Unfortunately, they were too quick for me. But I did snap this picture, which is just as cute...

It's Autumn Time!

It's now September, which means we're saying goodbye to summer and hello to fall! My favorite season! This means kids are back to school, and I'm back to teaching. Travis likes to take a picture of me on the first day of school every year. I feel like I'm a kid again and my mom's taking that "first day of school" picture. Here's this year's picture (sorry the lighting isn't the best):

This will be my fourth year teaching! I feel so blessed to be a teacher and to get to know and love so many students! This year I'm also teaching Utah History, which I am so excited about! My students are so wonderful and so bright, I know this will be an awesome year!

Aside from school, autumn also brings a harvest! Remember how last fall Travis and I were so excited about our basil plant? Well, we are SUPER excited for this fall's harvest! We have basil, oregano, cilantro, asparagus (though we can't harvest them until the third year), carrots, peppers and tomatoes! We've already helped ourselves to the tomatoes over the summer, putting them in sandwiches and spaghetti sauce (along with our basil and oregano), and the plant is still growing more and more! This week I made home-made chicken noodle soup with our carrots, and we still have so many left in the tubs outside! Looks like we'll be having lots of carrots with our dinners for the next little while!

Big Fans

One day last spring, I was walking around my classroom when I spotted a book left on the back table by one of my students. It had been there for a while, so I figured he/she had forgotten it and thought it'd be nice to return it to the school library for him/her. I read the back of the book, then the inside cover, then the first page...and I couldn't stop! The book: The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. I took that book everywhere with me for the next week- and asked the school librarian to give me the fine instead of whoever had checked it out. She just laughed and said she'd erase the fine for the poor student. Since then, I've been a big Hunger Games fan!

Our city library hosted a Hunger Games party in anticipation for the third book which comes out shortly. Since my friend Danielle is also a fan, we went together. They gave us a card with different stations listed that we had to pass off (taken from the book) such as archery, knot tying, plant identification, cupcake decorating, camouflage, and more! We had so much fun!

I got the first book in May (thanks to a gift card), Travis surprised me on his birthday with the second book, and he pre-ordered the final one for me, which comes out next week! I'm so excited!

The Silent Graduate

Travis has now officially graduated with his Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering. But if you're wondering where his graduation pictures are, check back in another three years! He decided not to walk with the other graduates this past weekend because he's already in the middle of his research for his Masters. On Monday, we celebrated with a delicious graduation dinner at Los Hermanos with his family, and on his actual graduation day, he celebrated by playing Starcraft with Rob. Not surprising! :)

Speaking of bachelors, on Thursday our good friend Brent married his eternal sweetheart, Sarah, in the Provo Temple. A couple days before that, the boys planned a Starcraft bachelor's party for him. Brent was unable to come at the last minute, but the boys decided to get together and play anyway, while we girls watched a chick-flick. It was so much fun!

Anyway, I'm so proud of the new graduate in our family. On Friday, I asked him at the last minute if he was sure he didn't want to walk. He declined and said he didn't have a robe anyway. I offered to lend him mine, and he joked, "From all those years ago?" Very funny. I doubt the style of graduation robes has changed that much in the last three years.

Elder Jay Jensen

For the first year or so that my parents were serving as mission president and wife in Paraguay, Elder Jay Jensen, now in the Presidency of the Seventy, was the president of our South America South Area. On several occasions, Elder Jensen and his wife would come from Buenos Aires for a "mission tour" and stay with my family for a week. The Paraguay Asuncion temple was being constructed at the time and was later dedicated, which also brought Elder Jensen to Paraguay. Elder and Sister Jensen and my parents became really close friends. I always looked forward to seeing them again, and really looked up to Elder Jensen a lot. Since Paraguay, he's kept in touch as much as possible. He'd see my dad at the MTC from time to time, and he even came to our wedding reception.

This last Sunday, apparently Elder Jensen didn't have an assignment to be anywhere, which is pretty unusual. So he called up my stake president, President Owen, and asked if there were two wards in our stake that met during the middle of the day that Elder Jensen could come visit. My ward was one of the lucky two! It was Fast and Testimony meeting, which was actually a VERY good meeting, but Elder Jensen still took 10 minutes at the end to speak to us.

After Sacrament, I was trying to get a chance to talk with Elder Jensen, but he whisked out of the chapel rather quickly. Lacee and I followed the throngs into our gym for our combined Sunday School lesson Elder Jensen was going to give us. By the time we got in there, the room was full, so we sat on the front row. Elder Jensen came over and sat down up front with our stake president. When he looked up and saw me, he got a big smile on his face and came and gave me a great big hug. We talked for a few minutes and then gave me another hug. It was a lot of fun to see him again! During his Sunday School lesson, he asked if I'd stand up with my Doctrine and Covenants ready. I stood, and he explained how he knew me and my parents, that he had stayed with us and eaten my food and slept in my bed (and that it was a good bed... he'd recommend it!). He then asked me to read some scriptures as he talked about them. He talked about us doing the preaching and letting the Spirit do the teaching. It was an incredible lesson!

Two-Year Anniversary

Yesterday marked our two-year anniversary, and we decided to celebrate by going to the Anniversary Inn in Salt Lake. We've never been there before, but had always wanted to go, so this was the perfect opportunity.

We stayed in two different rooms during our two night get away and both were fantastic! Last night, we dressed up and went to a nice Italian restaurant. It was so wonderful spending this time together as we reflected on the past two years, and talked about our hopes, goals, and dreams for the future.

I'm so grateful for a wonderful husband like Travis, and that we've been sealed in the temple for time and all eternity! I really can't imagine my life without him, and frankly, I don't want to. Our love for each other has grown so much since that day we were sealed together as a family, and we know it's only growing stronger everyday!

Snake River

This past weekend, Travis and I accompanied our friends, the Philbricks and Greens, on a camping trip to the Snake River. We had way too much fun! This was my first time river rafting, and it was a blast. I didn't get to raft as much as Travis because of a recent surgery I had on my leg, but it was still worth the trip. When Travis was little, it was a tradition for his family to raft the Snake River with the Philbricks. Now that Travis and Rob are older, I guess the tradition is starting over again with a new generation!

Besides rafting, we were able to drive up to Jackson and stroll through the very touristy town. It was fun to see everything, especially all the antlers! While there, Travis thought it would be funny to cool me off by pouring cold water down my back. So I got him back good! Right in the face! It was great! I wish I would've taken a picture of that one. Anyway, it was a wonderful trip with wonderful friends, and can't wait to do it again next summer!