Splendid Summer

This summer was absolutely delightful.

I about died on the walking sticks of death and nearly took my mother out on my way down too.  We couldn't stop giggling and laughing the entire time.

My ever so talented husband rocked at them though.

Apparently, stilts are not meant for those who have had "Madsen" as their last name before.

I went to Lake Powell for my very first time.  Ever.  We spent a few days on a houseboat and T went out wakeboarding and wakesurfing.  I enjoyed the more of the sightseeing aspect of the boating trip.

T endured the many baptisms we went to over the summer.  The greatest thing about teaching 2nd grade is that you get an invite to almost every single baptism of every LDS student in your class.  It was so much fun to go to all of them and be a part of all of those special days!  Of course, we had to bring cute little gifts to each baptism!

Tyler rocked the summer with his soccer skills.  He scored a couple of goals and got bumps and scrapes from his many encounters with the other team.  

My hottie husband started an unpaid internship at the beginning of the summer.  Towards the end of the  summer, he was given a paid internship at the same place!  He did so well that they wanted to keep him around!  Hooray for finally being able to quit Home Depot and work somewhere that will further his career in finance along!

Picnics in the park up Provo Canyon are a must during the summer.

Speaking of musts, camping at Lodgepole which is our favorite campground is a definite must.  This year, the camp host had a cat that roamed the campsites.  She was a sweetie and I may have let my parents dog chase her a time or two.  

T indulged my sweet tooth often (he still does).  He's so good to me and any time I have a chocolate craving, he's the first to jump up and satisfy it.

We discovered the CocoaBean this summer and I'm in love.  T likes the Sweet Tooth Fairy more, but I'm a CocoaBean cupcake lover.  Along with loving this darling husband of man.  Is he not just the cutest?!

We were released from our cub scout calling and playing with teaching these cuties.  In this picture, we built marshmallow shooters and they had a huge marshmallow fight on the church lawn.  It was pure awesomeness.

One of my favorite cousins came home from his mission.  Peter has always been my best bud during family get-togethers.  He still is.  We're in the midst of a Star Wars marathon on sundays at the moment.  It's fun living by so many family members!

One of my best friends growing up got hitched to a girl who we grew up with.  It's fun seeing friends happily married to the love of their life.  

My best friend, Katie, is having a baby girl in December!  It's sad having her up in Idaho so far away, but we picked out the perfect baby gift for her and sent it up!  She loves yellow and has always been a fan of giraffes.  I fell in love with this baby blanket at first look.  Thank goodness for etsy where I can buy things that are still homemade and cute.

Seriously though?!  Everytime I look at this blanket it makes me want a baby so I can get one for myself.  I die every time I look at it.

Not pictured are all of the lawns mowed, the garden we grew (how did I NOT take a picture of it at all?!), other camping trips, movies, dinner dates, and so many other fun times!

We had a splendid summer and we're looking forward to a fantastic fall! 

The April Scoop

These days are filled with cub scouts, talent shows, Great Brain Presentations, and the mad rush to making sure all of my 2nd graders are capable of passing their end of level tests.

The entire school held an evening of talents for all K-6 students. They had to do TWO different show times just to fit all of the talents in. One of our favorites was this glow stick dance done by some upper grade students.

Freaking Awesome.

T and I have been super busy with cub scouts as of late.

Last week was spent attempting to make 3-D structures out of toothpicks and marshmallows. After teaching them how to make a cube, we let them have at it and try to build the tallest and most sturdy building.

We had a loooong discussion at the end talking about why their structures were falling over. They did great relating it to temples and how important it is for architects to design a firm foundation at the bottom.

Seeing how we're over the Wolf Den, one of the achievements is to make bird feeders.

We made the classic pine cone and cheerio bird feeders. It's funny to me that this project NEVER gets old for kids. We could do this for every activity and I think they would love it.

The fact that they got to eat their own cheerios and peanut butter was probably the highlight of that activity.

Teaching is going so well!

Our caterpillars have gone into their chrysalis (cocoon) and should be coming out in the next couple of weeks!

We've also been talking about Spring. I had two little monsters bring in this itty bitty bouquet of freshly picked flowers for me one morning.

Adorable.

They melt my heart.

Other fun things that have/will be happening is that T starts a new internship tomorrow! We're excited that he gets some hands-on experience in financing and we're so excited.

Did I mention that we're excited?

We're also working toward losing a few pounds and toning up for the summer. I'll admit, T is doing a lot better than I am. Between grading presentations and planning lessons, it's hard to exercise during the week. Who has time or energy for that?

I've gotten super soft and gross.

Ick.

I've been strengthening my back so I can get back to running without grimacing in pain with every step. T is a great help and we're trying to eat better. That's hard to do when you stay at school 'til 7 at night sometimes.

I can't wait until I can exercise daily again.

5 weeks until summer vacation!

What?!

Primary

We are officially the coolest primary teachers. We've built forts in our primary class, had class outside, brought rolls and goldfish to explain the story of Jesus blessing the bread and fish for the thousands, and we show up at primary activities having the time of our lives.

All of the kids wanted a chance to do the stick pull with Brother Kussee and towards the end Tyler did it with the only other male leader there. This picture was taken about 3 seconds before his shirt ripped by his bicep as they were doing the stick pull. We've been doing the Jillian Michaels "30-Day Burn" for the past few weeks; apparently it's been working if he's busting out of his shirts!

Tyler with one of our CTR 7's. They're both the studdliest studs. On a side note, do you see T's cowboy hat? It's my Dad's untouchable hat that he lends out to no one, until he lent it to Tyler. Yeah, you could say my Dad loves Tyler...

The Lord knew what He was doing when He put us in primary. He has blessed us in many ways these past 5 months.

Yes, we've been married for 5 months and 2 days. We're still loving married life.

School starts a week from Monday and so does my new job. Bye bye Mail Services, hello JFSB computer lab. Kinda sad, but change is good, right?

Hooray for new adventures that we get to experience together!