Christmas

I always put off blogging because transferring pictures to my computer holds me up. So this time I thought I would post and put the pictures up later.

Fall semester finally ended and with a little bit of drama that got worked out, Chase graduated :) No break for him though, as he started grad school at BYU on Jan 4th. He's getting his masters in civil engineering and so far (4 days) he is enjoying it. The weirdest news is that he has decided to grow a "Grad-stache" over the break that is pretty full now and getting lots of attention. He said that his teachers notice him a lot more and he would shave it when he couldn't take the ridicule any longer. He said one guy told him if HE grew a mustache his wife would divorce him! I said that seemed a little extreme and Chase admitted to me that this guy was kind of weird anyway... But other then that I'm am not aware of any ridicule and he always passes it off as jealousy, so I think the 'stache might be here for awhile.

We headed to Lodi for the first week of break and had a really fun Christmas with my family. I had not celebrated Christmas with my family ON Christmas day for 3 years, so it was fun. Aubrey is at the cutest age where she was excited for Christmas to come and finally understood what was going on. I made her a tutu which ended up being a big hit and she would put on her leotard (from Mom), tutu, and ballet slippers (from Noelle) at least twice a day and leap and twirl around the house for anyone that would watch her. She also got a tiara and matching wand and I taught her how to tuck her wand into her tutu like it was holstered. Her favorite thing was to stuff her wand down the front of her leotard and ask me where it went. Obviously her leotard is skin tight so that was no mystery... Besides her tutu she was obsessed with our "pet" (we brought our pet gecko out to California with us) and would ask to hold her at least 5 times a day, and she was obsessed with my iPhone. Once I was leaving and she asked if she could play it and I said no because it was my phone and I needed it. A few minutes later my mom came running out to the car saying that Aubrey had burst into tears because I wouldn't let her play with my ipod, so I handed it over...
This is a picture Aubrey drew on my phone, which she called "Chase."This is a picture Aubrey took of Zaya. She was pretty handy with the camera!

Chase and Colin had a really fun week and had a great time playing with the RC airplanes my dad gave to all the boys. They also went shopping together at one point and after we left Chase told me it was the most fun he's had at my house. (The whole week... not just the shopping with Colin.) We also got to meet Tamie and Ryan's baby for the first time. She is adorable and it makes me glad to see Ryan so happy with his new family. Seeing my friends and family getting married isn't as surprising to me as seeing them start having kids. I was really excited to give baby Lyra the hair barrettes I made for her but then I met her and her hair is like 1/2" long! Oh well, she'll wear them down the road.

MY favorite present was a cast iron grill pan and panini press which I did not expect at all! I was excited to use it and one night we had two kinds of soup and panini sandwiches that turned out delicious! I have a few bugs to work out, but I'll get the hang of it! Noelle and I also gave my dad the Christmas present we had been working on for 5 years... a toupee made out of our own hair. We had been saving our brush hair for a long time to come up with this masterpiece! We also made an infomercial with Chase's and the Shield's help. It turned out hilarious and got just the reaction we wanted. I'll post the video on here when I get it from Noelle. Chase gave me a new fossil watch and some adorable pearl earrings which I love! I think he cheated though and spent more then $50 which is what we agreed on this Christmas... I got him a small drill and some drill bits, but I think he likes those too. I loved being in Lodi and spending time with my family. I am excited for school to be over and for Chase and I to maybe move there :)

After that first week we headed down to Bakersfield to spend time with Chase's family. We had so much fun and it was way relaxing. I had a lot of fun playing with Tori and the result was that she liked to follow me around. Her favorite activity was coming in the bathroom while I was getting ready and going through my things. She liked to do the things I did which included putting baby powder in my hair (Sorry Nicole, if she does this at home...), putting on makeup, and applying chapstick. Another day we also painted her finger and toenails and I put tiny hearts on her nails and they we so cute! Little did I know that she likes to chew on her nails and by the end of the night she only had polish left on about 3 fingernails... haha. Good thing I used the scented polish so she could chew strawberry and kiwi off her fingers! Tori is so much fun to play with but I can already tell Chase and I are a bad influence on her. Chase taught her this weird throaty noise that she makes and sounds like a dinosaur and Chase and I laughed and laughed at her, but Tori gets in trouble for making it from her mom and dad. Oops!

I got lots of good Christmas presents from everyone including a cute homemade necklace from Nicole, a headband from Ashlee, and nail polish from Alex that I wanted so bad but didn't tell anyone about! How did he know!? I also got an immersion blender from Chase's mom, a new watch from his dad, and a very nice Williams-Sonoma gift card which I feel is the best present of all :)

We also went bowling one day which was so fun except I got the lowest score out of everybody on BOTH games! I guess being good at Wii bowling means NOTHING in the real world. Chase's dad also gave him an RC airplane and they went and flew it a few times. It crashed the second to last day and Chase spent the WHOLE day gluing it back together with this special epoxy stuff... then they went to fly it the last morning and Chase's mom went to watch. I stayed home to pack the car when I got a text saying "Plane crash" and when they came home, his airplane was no more... Chase salvaged the electronics but the airplane itself was beyond repair. So once when he had 3 airplanes he now was down to 1 (after another fatal crash of his home-made one that happened in Lodi) Poor Chase!

New years day we also had a super fun Bunko party with 20 people. It was so fun we decided to make it an annual thing. I had a lucky streak and although I didn't get the prize for most wins, I got the prize for most Bunko's rolled (4!) and I was told it was the biggest prize. I got a gift certificate for a pound of See's chocolate which I am really excited to use. Chase won the prize for the 50-50 record (a Rudy Giuliani bobble-head) and Ashlee won for most wins (2 big chocolate bars). Chase's mom was worried that all her prizes were going to her own family members and that the guests would think the whole thing was rigged, but how can you rig Bunko??

We were sad to leave California but ready to get back to our normal lives. Although out of everyone I asked NO ONE was ready for school to start on the 4th, haha. But that was our fun Christmas and I'll get some pictures up here soon.

Fall Semester

Summer has ended and Chase and I are into our Fall semester. During the two weeks between semesters I went to California to "play mom" while my mom and Noelle went to Europe for about 10 days. I took care of Aubrey, Colin and Zaya and helped things run normal while my mom was gone. I was excited to spend time with Aubrey and I had many craft projects planned weeks in advance :) Here are some picks from making rainbow cupcakes with Aubrey. She loved to decorate them and I taught her how to put the right amount of sprinkles on them.


Lets just say if Aubrey doesn't want to take a picture with you, it's hard to force her. This was the best smile I could get, and it seems a little sarcastic on her part!

While I was in Lodi, Chase went on a pack horse camping trip with our Bishop. Chase's brother, Alex, flew in to go with him. They had fun and I heard a lot of funny stories when we met up in Bakersfield for the second week of our break. We had fun down there and got to see Nicole, Phil and Tori and celebrate Janelle and Phil's birthdays. Chase's mom also gave us tickets to go see Brian Regan in concert as a belated birthday present to Chase. It was awesome.

After 2 weeks of vacation school has started up again. I'm taking lots of classes for my major, including a sewing swimsuits class, advanced cooking, and floral design... so you know, pretty tough classes. Haha. Chase is in his last semester of undergrad and taking a few last GEs and holding strong! He complains sometimes, but he still studies hard and gets good grades.

I still work at the Bean Museum giving live animal shows. It's a fun job and I LOVE it! The coolest part is that all my co-workers are my age, I've never worked anywhere like that before! Chase is still doing research for a professor on campus which will turn into his graduate research, so that's a win-win!

The bottom line is that we don't have much free time, but we want to say congrats to all our friends who have had their babies! Cameron and Mitzi, we need to see Noah immediately! Ryan and Tamie, I'm excited to be an Aunt that spoils her neice! Beth and Mark, I love visiting Spencer and I wish I could come over every day!

Winter 2009 Semester

I just wanted to post for a bit and talk about some of the classes I (Becky) am in this semester, cause some of them are pretty cool! People always ask us "what is new" and there is never anything, just school. So here it is, school!

One class I'm in has already ended cause it was on the first block, Snowboarding! It was the best class I've ever taken. I guess I don't know if it could really be called a "class," but there was a test, so I think it counts. (The test was just "How have you improved," "What have you learned" type questions) I learned a lot and now I can ride switch, powder, and do some nose-rolls, if that means anything to anyone, haha. Well I'm sad it's over, but my season pass still works and it snowed last night (finally!) so Shannon and I are going today once I'm done with work.

I'm taking two religion classes this semester as well. One is Doctrine and Covenants and the other is Eternal Marriage. I actually like both of them pretty well, which I'm happy about because I didn't think I would like D&C at all. My teacher is really great and she said they asked her to speak at devotional! I think that proves how good she is, haha.

I'm in Family Finance, which isn't too exciting, but I feel like the knowledge I am gaining is very valuable. I have a test this week on Taxes and Insurance. It isn't hard at all and I find myself thinking "good to know!" quite a lot. It's scary and reassuring at the same time. Scary because i don't know how I have gotten by without knowing this stuff! And reassuring because I know it now and I can stop stressing. I think financials are always scary to think about anyway... am I right?

Another Class I'm in is called "Family Meal Management" and it's really great. I only took it because it's a cooking class, but I'm learning some good stuff in the meantime, haha. The cooking portions are always really fun and our teacher comes up with some great recipes. Each week we focus on something different, like cooking for food allergies, breakfast, children's snacks, etc. I'm always completely stuffed when I leave that class and I'll usually bring something home for Chase. As for things I'm learning, basically family mealtimes are extremely important. That's pretty much the whole course in a nutshell. We focus a lot on cooking nutriciously too, which is new to me!

Ummm, my History of Creativity class... I want to flush it down the toilet. :) It's just really boring and there are a lot of assignments and reading.

Perhaps my most time-consuming and rewarding class this semester is pattern-making. Who would be excited about making clothing patterns, right? Well.. me! I love learning about it , but mostly I love knowing it at the end of the day. I told my mom that I would never want to take the class again, but I'm so glad i took it! It's extremely tedious and hard to remember everything you learn because there are a lot of measurements and techniques. Up until now, we have been tracing BASIC pattern peices and changing them to completely different styles. For example I have a cardboard bodice peice that i trace onto tissue paper and then I can change it to basically any style possible for a bodice top. I also have to remember all these changes and multiply that by a skirts, sleeves, collars, cuffs and waistbands. Right now we are taking our week-long midterm which consists of our teacher giving us a picture of a dress and we have to make every pattern piece for that dress without any notes at all! Once this is over we are starting drafting, which is using blank paper and measurements only to make our patterns. After that we focus on draping, which is just using fabric and a dressform. I know what you're thinking... It's all very exciting!

Lastly, I TA for the Food Prep class. It's fun, and it works out that on Fridays, I get to eat food from the morning class and the evening class! Noelle and Shannon are in the Evening class, so sometimes I chat with them, but usually I'm running around getting things ready for the next week. I also really like the teacher I TA for, and we chat a lot about cooking and sewing and I even leant her a pattern for an apron, which she ended up loving.

Well that's my semester in a nutshell, besides my work on campus, which is where I am right now (I guess that proves how important I am... not very!). I would update you about Chase's classes, but I don't know much about them. Also... snooze! They're things like Concrete mixing and materials and all I know is he comes home and tries to tell me about flex strengths and emulsifiers, and I patiently listen, but the SECOND I open my mouth about stylelines on a skirt... he doesn't even pretend to listen! How rude.

PS: I don't know when I'm graduating, so stop asking my mom. Either Dec or April next year. Chase is in Dec 2009.

September at school

Well the semester is in full swing here in Utah. Chase and I are both in school full-time and working part-time. We had to come back a little early for a job interview for Chase, which of course he nailed. About an hour after we left the interview they called and offered him the job. It's for a company called Sebo Marketing which *basically* designs websites for clients that sign up. He likes his job and gets to work with his good friend AJ Wilcox. I was fortunate enough to find a good job on campus! It's in the CITES Office in the Mckay (Education) building and so far, I go in at 8am everyday and do my homework :) They told me when they hired me that the biggest challenge with the job is the work load fluctuation, sometimes they're swamped and sometimes they're totally dead. Well I guess right now is the latter, so I do an assignment here and there, but mostly I read my textbooks and write papers for my classes. It's actually been really great and I am always caught up on my homework!

As far as I can tell, Chase likes his classes this semester, but I LOVE mine! This is my first semester as an HFL (Home and Family Living) Major and I must say my classes are awesome. Besides my GE's, I'm taking intermediate sewing, a family routines and rituals class, and a food prep in the home course. I'm getting a huge dose of sewing and every Friday I have a 3 hour foods lab. Yesterday my kitchen made doughnuts and fudge and I brought some home for Chase and he said the doughnuts were very tasty :)

Well Chase and I got some new couches. It's a long story, but here's a picture of me lounging on it. We got this couch and a matching love seat for only $375! Basically it was the deal of the century.

Nicole and Phil came out to Utah for Phil's sister's wedding and they came over Sunday afternoon to visit. Tori gets bigger everytime we see her!