My own personal wailing wall

I am not trying to be disrepectful of other religions, but I honestly do wail everytime I walk out into my front room and am confronted with this:When my wall should look much more like this, with paint, no holes, and nice things hung on it.

In the fall, there was a leak upstairs in our house. We didn't catch the leak until water had been dripping down inside of our walls for a couple days...or longer. Our landlord came over and told us it wasn't a big deal and that we should just let it dry out before we hung anything on the wall. Well, a couple of months later I started noticing all these cracks in the wall behind where we had a big mirror hung. Being the idiot that I am, I didn't think too much of it besides that I was glad the mirror was hiding the cracks. A couple of weeks go by, and we come home from church one Sunday to find that our mirror has fallen off the wall, and that the top layer of wall (really like ten layers of paint) has separated itself from the wall and is npw peeling off. My favorite moment of this experience was when Chris called our landlord to explain the problem and our landlord asked if we could just nail the wall back together. Is there some sort of IQ test you have to take to become a landlord, or is it just a free-for-all for everyone involved? I wonder.

So now we have peeled away most of the top layer of wall and are still waiting for our landlord to come re-drywall. All I can say is, I have really bad luck with leaks and landlords. At least this time I don't have to sleep in the living room for two months though.

Also, my car wouldn't start this morning. Boo hoo.

Chris' new love

Chris has recently become obsessed with chess. I guess he has started playing it recently with the kids at work and it is something he can beat them at, so he has kind of latched onto that. I refuse to play with him, because the idea of playing chess and strategizing during my free time makes my head hurt. So instead, he has conned my family into playing with him. Much to his chagrin, however, he has been beaten in every encounter with an Abbott. Mwahh haha! So now I tell him that I won't play with him because I am merciful.


Chris y mi madre.

"Bobby Fisher, where is he...I don't know, I don't know."

What time is it? BBQ TIME!

At least, that was we thought on Saturday morning. Leandra had the wonderful idea of getting all of us buds together for a barbecue on Saturday because the weather had been so nice all week. Of course, Mother Nature ultimately failed us. Big time. I was wearing three layers and still wrapped myself up in a blanket all night. But it was still way fun to get together. Thanks Leandra! Here are some pictures I stole from Chelsea's blog. (My mom went to Taiwan and still hasn't returned my camera...excuses, excuses).

It was windier than your mother's backside so Burke and Adam went to Wal-Mart for kites. It was good, because Burke was sad about leaving his boccie ball set at home, luckily he was able to redeem himself with these babies.

Chris looks like a kid in a candy store. Love it. It was all fun and games until someone (Carter..cough...cough) broke Superman's sails. Just kidding, it was fun and games the whole time!

On an unrelated note, Chris and I spent about an hour on Saturday morning washing the cars. You could have eaten off of those things, they were so clean. On Monday morning I walk outside and my car looked just as bad as it had all winter. Thanks again, Mother Nature!

Kids say the darndest things

I subbed preschool today, and I just thought I might share some of the truly magnificent things I heard today.

1.) The kids had a day off yesterday because it was a Teacher Development Day for Provo School District. Today, during circle time while we were going over the days of the week, one of the aides asked the students what they did for fun over their long weekend. To which a little girl replied, "Ate beef stew." Totally serious, that was what she did for fun. She gave me a confused look when I started to chuckle.

2.) The kids were reading a book about mangoes. The whole book was about describing mangoes and comparing them to other fruit. One of the things the book said was that mangoes are bigger than guavas. The aide kept having the students repeat the things the book said about mangoes over and over again. Finally, on like the third time of asking the kids "What are mangoes bigger than?" The kid sitting on my lap yells, really exasperated because she keeps asking the same question, "CHIHUAHUAS!" It was so awesome, because he said it in this like "come on already, lady" sort of way.

3.) We were having a discussion about the seasons and how it is now officially Spring (even though it feels like Winter). The teacher was going through all the seasons and telling the kids that Summer comes after Spring. Then all the students raised their hands and started sharing about their summer plans. One girl was like "This Summer, me and my Dad are going to the Fire Station." We were all confused, so we kept asking her "oh, like on a tour?" "does your Dad work there?", things like that. She kept trying to explain that no, she was just going with her Dad because he bought tickets. We sort of just figured she was living some childhood fantasy, until she was like "you know, to see the Jonas Brothers at the Fire Station." Ha ha, Stadium of Fire. Easy to confuse with your local fire station if you are four. By the way, who are these kids, knowing who the Jonas Brothers are in preschool. Pretty sure the only famous person I knew about in preschool was Big Bird.

All in all, a pretty entertaining day!

Kara's Tag

Well, you are right Kara, I do need something to blog about. My day to day life is pretty uneventful as of late, so my blogging has been uneventful as well. So, the 6th picture from the 6th file:
Well, I had to cheat because when I opened up the sixth folder, it only had five pictures in it. All of Chris' bus. That thing is banned from the blog or my daily conversation. I am bitter that he loves that thing more than me. What can I say? Anyways, this picture is from Christmas 2005. Probably the last time I have seen these high school buds. Where they are today, who knows. Except Ty, who is gallivanting around Austria without Ashlee and I. Lame.
These are some of "the soccer guys" as we used to call them to distinguish between our other group composed of "the football guys." I really didn't hang out with many girls. Looking at this picture makes me laugh because I always wondered why Chris thought I was like the only white person from Temecula. Now I see. The only guy who looks white in this picture is named Danny Martinez. I love color, you know.

For some reason, my picture files are not in the right order. They must be alphabetic because this is an old picture. No one who reads my blog probably even knows these fools besides Ty. Ha.

I tag whoever wants to be tagged.

New Shoes

This weekend I bought five new pairs of shoes for forty dollars! Now you men might think five new pairs of shoes is excessive, but when is the last time you were able to buy even two pairs of shoes for forty bucks (excluding Chris' favorite KMART easy-striders). I was very impressed with my superior shopping abilities. Plus, it was really time for new kicks. You know it's bad when your husband complains about your foot odor and not the other way around. :)

The Weekend Update

This was a great weekend, sans the fact that I was sick the entire time. Here's what we did:

Friday-
Friday afternoon my mom called me and said that they were having a catered ward dinner with a really well-known marriage therapist speaker. So well known that I have subsequently totally forgotten his name. Anyways, even though I thought it was weird to go to my parent's ward activity I figured free dinner and a show was worth it. And it totally was! The speaker was awesome (as was the food) and he had some really good insights into making the gospel apply yo your marriage. After dinner we headed back to Provo for a bonfire/birthday party for our good friend Sanford. On the way up the canyon we slid off the road...not so good. We were really lucky not to hit any other cars. Scott, our friend who was right behind us, was not so lucky. He hit a car that had already spun out of control and had decided that parking in the middle of the street was the most sure fire way not to get hit. Seriously. Anyways, in the hour and a half we were there waiting for the cops and everything to get cleared we witnessed at least eight more accidents, most of which were caused by the cops who also decided to park in the street instead of on the shoulder. Idiots. So Friday was a bit of a downer, but things went up from there.

On Saturday I woke up to this.



Chris had gotten up at three in the morning and gone to the store without me knowing (I sleep like a rock, Chris could be leading a secret night life and I would be totally in the dark) He also surprised me with dinner reservations at Ottavio's and tickets to the Twelfth Night at the Orem Scera Theater. It was really fun. I don't think I have been to a play since London. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend too!

P.S. My card played " Let's Get It On." How much more romantic could you get?

And yes, those flowers are in a pitcher, I have no vases. I choose to think of it as artsy.

What's my age again?

I haven't updated in a while since I don't really feel like I have much of interest to write about. Mostly, I just go to different random schools every day to sub, then come home and go to the gym with Chels. I have had a couple of sort of funny experiences while substitute teaching though. Pretty much every day I have a student ask me if I am in high school (this is usually when I am in the elementary schools). This always makes me feel really good about myself, but I love to see the looks on their faces when I tell them that I am actually a college graduate. Ha, I really showed them! The other day I had a student (fourth grader) ask me if I was in high school, when I said no that I was a college graduate he said "then what are you, like forty-five!?" I am really interested to know how I went from looking sixteen to forty-five in the space of ten seconds. Nice, kid. Also, a sixth grader asked me for my number a couple of weeks ago. I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt and guess that it was a dare.

Basically though, my job is pretty boring, and I cannot wait for the day when I actually get to have my own classroom. Maybe by then I will have matured enough not to look pre-pubescent.

Just call me Mrs. Schneebly

Nebo and Provo School Districts have hired me as a substitute teacher, meaning now I can fulfill my life long dream of starting a rock band made up of fourth graders. Booyah!

Actually, I think the funniest thing about this picture is unfortunately how much my hair looks like Jack Black's. Creepy...

Since I'm unemployed and all...

...I guess I can update the blog. The real difficulty with updating lies in me having enough patience for my pictures to load on my archaic computer(I may leave them out altogether), not to mention that we swindle our neighbors out of their internet (which they very unwisely left unsecured...those suckers) and this wireless thieving means I have to stand in a very specific corner of our office and in no way block the wireless card in order to get any signal. Seriously, my body is is facing like forty-five degrees in the opposite direction of the computer, and I have to stand because the computer must be placed on top of our behemoth bookcase. Ha, the joys of being young, in love, and penniless. When I try to complain to Chris about any of this, he just says really optimistically "I know, isn't this such an exciting time in our lives." Gotta love him.

Anyways, I guess I do have a bit to update in since I last wrote at the end of my student teaching. We spent a wonderful week in Washington for Christmas, where incredibly there was even more snow than in Provo. Chris and I also celebrated our first anniversary, which I was worried about because we had not planned anything yet and I didn't really relish the idea of spending our first anniversary with the in-laws. Luckily, I have an awesome mother-in-law who came to the rescue with hotel reservations for downtown Seattle. A beautiful room, with a balcony view of the Space Needle. It was awesome!

After Christmas and our anniversary, we headed out for a little family vacation in the charming town of Forks, Washington. Ever heard of it? Chris' dad booked a small cabin for two nights just outside the town on the banks of a river. It was beautiful, and we had a blast torturing the boys by talking about Edward and Jacob and making them drive to all the corny places that would be of any relevance to the books. The men were troopers for the most part; they even let us drag them to the movie on New Years Eve. We repaid their kindness by taking them to Valkyrie the next day.

Then it was time to return to Provo, oh the joy. Now I am seriously on the job hunt! Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year!