Merry Christmas from Ojai, CA!

We are definetly not having a white Christmas, but are enjoying the beautiful 70 degree weather in Ojai as we visit the Strongs! Merry Christmas to all!

Blast from the Past

Us at Temple Square in 2003



Do we look any different?

Whitney in the House

On Saturday we pulled Whitney away from her beloved freezing Rexburg home and brought her to our house. SInce her semester ends a week before BYU Provo and Pony Express Elementary, she's hanging at our house, waiting for the big ride down to Ojai. She's been living an exciting life at our house, catching up on her TV and Internet surfing. And we are growing accustomed to the "beep, beep" of her text messages. I've never met a girl who texts so much!

Temple Square Lights

Friday night we braved the below freezing weather to see the beautiful lights at Temple Square. We made a double date of it, going with Andrew and Charlotte. After a tasty dinner at Chili's, we headed up to SLC. It was quite busy as many people had the same idea as we did. But we were able to keep each other warm and have a wonderful evening. You've got to love the temple with gorgeous lights surrounding it!

Busy, Busy, Busy

It seems like the holidays bring such busy times along with them. For one thing, Dallin has had more Christmas parties than we know what to do with. First there was the Morris Center Christmas party. Then Monday night was the cemetery Christmas party. Tomorrow night is the Facilities Management Christmas party. I guess when you work two jobs and go to school, you deserve lots of parties!
Also last night was the big Pony Express Second Grade Christmas Program. The kids performed holiday songs from around the world, including Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Christmas songs from Hawaii, Germany, Mexico, and the US. It was so much work to get ready for it. We spent so many hours practicing with the kids and I spent a ton of time practicing the piano. Dallin is really tired of hearing me play Feliz Navidad and Mele Kalikimaka. But it came off as a smashing success. The kids were happy, the parents were happy, and the teachers were just happy to have it over with.
This weekend we are getting a house guest for the next week. We'll be driving up to Idaho on Saturday to pick up Whitney from school, and she'll stay with us until we head to Ojai for Christmas. It'll be like we have a kid!

Our First Christmas Tree

Before...


This is my first year ever having a fake tree, so it's a little different for me. I do miss the wonderful pine scent. But I do have a spruce scented candle, so maybe that will make up for it.

After...


Plus we got our stockings up. I hope Santa brings us something nice!

Winter Wonderland

This weekend we got about 4 inches of snow! It was the first big snow of the season and really put me in the Christmas mood. While poor Dallin had to go plow snow and dig graves while it was snowing, I got to stay inside and listen to Christmas music and put up Christmas decorations. Oh the injustice!




Also, Saturday night we were able to go out caroling for part of Dallin's work party. It just seemed like caroling weather with all the snow in the ground. We were walking in a winter wonderland...

Philly

While in Pennsylvania, we were able to go into Philadelphia and see some of the historic sights. It was awesome!

We saw the Liberty Bell...





Independence Hall

(Sorry, I can't figure out how to turn it the right way)

And here is the place where our forefathers sat...


Plus a session of the Coffman Congress was held. Look at how focused everyone is...


It was so cool to see the historic sites and walk where George Washington, Ben Franklin, and all their gang walked!

Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania

We were able to visit Dallin's parents in Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving. We had a great time! All of the brothers were there (we missed you, Mandy). We ate tons of food, watched lots of football, played bunches of ping pong, and the boys were able to play football out back!



Thanks, Brian and Lily, for showing us such a great time!!

Thinking of Popper...

The Great Butterfly Incident

Second grade has been studying life cycles and we were quite lucky to get caterpillars and watch them grow into butterflies. Until today. This morning I took my kids out to set the butterflies free. They were sad to see them go, calling their farewells to Rocket and Emily and Cameron (aren't those the perfect names for butterflies?). This afternoon I had a team meeting, so I was out of the classroom. When I came back, my substitute told of me of the excitement in my classroom. The kids had recaptured their butterflies and snuck them into the room. Suddently my classroom was full of butterflies! Lucky for me I wasn't there and the sub was able to get the caught and send back outdoors!

Happy Birthday, Elder Strong!

The Speakers

(This is a post for Dustin)

Dallin has been very anxious to pimp my ride and has a list of things that he wants to do to my sweet Toyota Corolla. Today he convinced me to get one things crossed off the list - new speakers.

Kicker Speakers (yes, that's the brand name)


And they are definetly kickin' speakers! You'll be able to hear us coming!

3 Months Ago...

Living in a Sewer

Last Sunday morning, we noticed some wetness on our bedroom floor. Thinking it was our bathtub leaking into our bedroom, we called the landlord, thinking it was easily fixable. It turned out to be far from that!! Instead it seems our beloved upstairs neighbors (you know, the screamer and co.) shower drain was no longer connected. Everything from the shower and tub were draining into our apartment, our bedroom. The plummer cut holes in our bedroom wall and bathroom roof. We were awakened on Tuesday night at 1am to a beautiful waterfall as our always kind neighbors showered and drained into our apartment. Wednesday the plummer thought he had fixed the leak, yet Thursday morning, Dallin noticed it was STILL leaking! The plummer was nowhere to be found. Yet the restoration guy came to assess the damage. Lucky us - we have lots of mold growing in our bedroom and bathroom now! Our plan was to move everything out of the bedroom and the bed into the living room. Whie shuffling the furniture in the living room, we discovered it was also wet in there! I now believe that we are living in the sewer for our neighbors. Bright side of the matter - we move out in less than a week!

Such An Attractive Couple!

For those who were wondering, I am Miss Viola Swamp, the evil substitute from the book Miss Nelson is Missing and Dallin is some freakish goblin. Unfortunately, we were not in costume at the same time. I dressed up for school and Dallin went off to scare people at the Kepo'o's haunted house.

Happy Halloween!

Never a Dull Moment

When you are with Savannah and Camden, life is never boring! Mandy and John have such an exciting life spending every day with them!




My personal favorite - gotta love Camden's hair!

Mine Pumpkin at Mine House

Camden and I were able to take a walk and she really makes it interesting. Whenever we passed a house that had a pumpkin (and there were many since Halloween is just days away), Camden had to tell me, "Mine pumpkin at mine house." After about the hundredth time, I had no doubt about where her pumpkin was.

Cake Fun

Everyone enjoyed Mandy's spider cake! Yum, yum!











Especially Camden...

Happy Birthday, Mandy!

Fun With Photo Booth

We're in Boise this weekend. Savannah has discovered the joys of photo booth on my computer. Here are some awesome pics we took together!

Scary, Scary

(don't worry, it's just Dallin!)

Bear World!

While driving to Rexburg, we passed the sign for Yellowstone Bear World. Since it is only 10 minutes from Rexburg, we talked Whitney into coming with us for our bear adventure.

Bear World is home to bears and other animals. First, you drive your car through the bear country. You have to keep your windows rolled up and your car moving as you pass by. There were about 20 bears, including grizzlies and black bears. We couldn't believe how close we actually were to real life bears!

Once you finished with the bear drive, you can head in to the gift shop and to visit the petting zoo. This petting zoo was unlike any I had ever seen. It had turkeys, goats, pigs, and deer. Dallin made friends with the pig, while Whitney and I got up close with the deer!


As you can see, Bear World got two thumbs up from Whitney. Bear World rocks!

A Whitney Weekend

Last weekend we made the scenic drive up to scenic Rexburg, Idaho to visit the coolest freshman at BYU-Idaho, Whitney A. Strong. And what a great time we had! Whits showed us around her school, from the football fields to the Manwaring Center (we just really thought the name Manwaring was hilarious).



We frolicked around by the temple and got strange stares as we skipped towards the temple. Hey it was a great photo-op!


We also went out to eat at Craigo's Pizza. Since it was buffet style, Whitney stocked up. It's amazing what college life has done to her. The girl who never ate at home now has to stock up when she actually gets out. I bet she appreciates home cooking now!

We also were able to hang out at Barnes Hall, where there is amazing stadium seating. While we had to dodge psycho roommates, we hid out in the lounge. But Dallin still managed to get his service hours in by fixing their broken shower. And thank goodness - who knows how stinky it could have gotten if he hadn't come when he did.