apples, fall, and a lot of johnny appleseed.

Johnny Appleseed's birthday is tomorrow.  His real name is John Chapman.  He'll be 238 years old.

Holy Moly.  That's old.

His birthday is also one of my favorite days out of the entire year.  I look forward to it almost as much as I do Dr. Seuss' birthday.  Almost.

I love how Johnny appleseed's birthday is in the fall.  It makes me completely embrace the fall season and happily wave goodbye to summer.  

It makes me renew my love for fall weather and warm applesauce.  I love the red, orange, and yellow leaves that crunch when you step on them.  I love the weather (it's raining right now!).  I love milk chocolate hot cocoa with whipped cream and candles that smell like pumpkin rolls.  I love jacket weather busting out my collection of scarves.  I love boots and cute long socks that poke out the top of your boots.

But.  I love fall the most because my Grandma gets to come make a presentation in my classroom.  If you didn't already know, my grandma is a master cook.  And she knows everything there is about apples.  She knows every. single. kind. of. apple.  She knows when during the season which apple is best picked and bought at.  And most of all?  She can makes anything that you can put apples in.  But her dried apples are the best.  Hands down.  

She owns a massive dehydrator and an apple peeler that cores and slices the apples like that! (insert snapping fingers here).  After the apples are sliced, she quickly puts them through a sugar and cinnamon mixture, lays them out on the dehydrator trays, and lets the apples dehydrate to their hearts content.  I remember many days as a child stuffing myself to my hearts content with dried apples.  In fact, my dad and I had a day just like that last week.  We may have eaten half of a tray together.

Once you start, you just can't stop.

But back to the main reason of this post.  My grandma comes in and does a fantastic presentation on apples on Johnny Appleseed's birthday.  This year, due to some of my grandfather's health issues, she came a couple of days early (which, let's be honest, a classroom full of 25 7-year-olds really don't mind a party a little early).  She brought in apples, her apple poster, a song/poem about Johnny Appleseed, and her apple peeler gadget.

My mom also heads up making all of the other apple goodies besides the dried apples.  She make apple muffins, apple cookies, apple crisp, applesauce, and apple juice.  Have I told you that my mom is amazing?  Because she is.  While my grandma does her presentation, I get to sit in the back of my classroom with my mom and tell her the hilarious things that 2nd graders come up with.  But that's a topic for a whole 'nuther day.

My grandma is a natural with kids.  I could sit and listen to her stories all day long and be a happy camper.

She provides all of the apples for my students.

And all of them get to see their apple cored and peeled right in front of their eyes.  

Apples have always tasted better in the form of an apple spiral.  My students agreed.

These women are quite remarkable.  They have taught me much of what I know about hard work, dedication, service, and love.  They shine as women of faith and women of character.  I honestly could tell you good things about them all day long.  The too of them have gone through a lot and done a lot in their lives and they still go throughout the days happy and smiling.

I'm truly grateful for them in my life.  I'm so glad that my students get to meet them and see them regularly in my classroom (why yes, they do grade certain assignments for me and cut out lamination and bag up goodies I use for math lessons.  I'm such a spoiled teacher.)  My students hear me talk about these women weekly if not daily.  They hear my grandma do her Tarzan yell, sing the ABC's backwards, and speak like Donald Duck.  

Because some of them don't have a grandma like I do.  And I want them to know that Grandma's are special and amazing and are meant to love and cherish children. 

So here's to two women who I admire and respect.

The women I'm proud to call my mom and my grandma.

The women who my students call Carol and "Grandma."

I love you.

mint pants and a new car.

After months (literally, months) of searching for the right pair of mint colored pants, I finally own some.

I'd pretty much given up finding a pair that weren't too tight, too loose, too long, too short, too dark, too light, and blah blah blah.  Jean shopping is hard enough for shorties like me anyways.  Trying to find the right shade along with everything else is a nightmare.

So good thing my dear Danie friend was watching out for me and took a chance and bought me a pair when she was at the Women's Expo. 

And you know what?  They're perfect.  

Size?  Check.

Color?  Check.

Length?  Check.

Backside looks good?  Check.

I may just hire Danie to always do my clothes shopping from now on.  My own little fashion stylist.  I think my next goal is to find a pair of patterned pants.  With flowers on them.  Yep.  This could get good.

Once upon a time I thought Tyler was only taking a picture of my pants and NOT my entire body.  

Hence the face...

We always go to my grandma's house on Sunday afternoons after eating dinner with the Madsen side of the fam.  My grandma has THE prettiest backyard in the world.  No, really.  She does.  She has a thumb that's greener than green and she can make anything grow.  

Even the tomato plant that I all but killed last year in my kitchen.  She sings to her plants and it's like they know.  They know that she's going to make them into the best tomato or squash plant in the world.  

When they come to me, I'm sure they're terrified and already accepting their fate of an early death.

I digress.

Last sunday was a perfect day for random pictures in her backyard.  T and I took advantage of a spur of the moment picture together.  Because the point of this blog is to show our children that we did in fact do things together before kids came along.  

So here you go, future little Kussee's.  Your parents once upon a time young and in love.  However, I plan on being very old and very in love in the future.  So watch out, kiddos.  We're going to gross you out standing in the kitchen and kissing while the water for the mac and cheese boils over.

You can plan on it.

My grandma even has a clubhouse in her backyard.  I can't even tell you how many HOURS a day were spent in this clubhouse playing house, pirate ship, the Robinson Family, and any other odd game using our imagination that we could think of.

Sigh.  Those were the days.

And the grand finale for today?  We bought a new car last week.  After selling our little Mazda truck (lovingly known as "Maverik") on the first day of school (holy cow-that was a hectic day!), we started looking for an SUV.  After searching for a few weeks, we found the perfect one.  

We welcomed this 2009 Saturn VUE to our family last week after buying it from the cutest middle-aged couple.  They took dang good care of it and we got a great deal on it.  It was a great car-buying experience and we couldn't have been happier to find it.

The last thing we need to do?

Is name this beautiful vehicle of ours.  

i made a pie. no big deal.

Grandma Kussee made a smashingly delicious blueberry pie last week when we were over for game night.  

Seriously.  It was so good.  

And this is coming from a girl who doesn't like pie unless it's pumpkin.

It was so good that I decided to make the same recipe for T's ward missionary meeting tomorrow being held at our house.  So with a little help from Grandma's recipe and a whole hecka of lot of blueberries, I made a pie.

We started with a buncha blueberries.

Then I turned up the heat and let them mingle together in a yummy bubble bath while they made my kitchen smell like cooking blueberries goodness.

Grandma's secret to a good pie crust is her good friend Marie Callender.  

Her secret just became my secret.  Shh...

After a little bit of sugar, lemon, and cinnamon I dumped the thick blueberry mess onto the crust and Voila!  Blueberry pie.

See that picture?  Yeah.  I made that.  I took that picture of MY pie.  

First pie down.  

Many to follow...

a concert of a lifetime.

Today we headed up to temple square and went to a very special concert.  A concert that only a dozen of us were invited to.

The person who put on the concert?

Why none other than our very own Grandma Kussee!

Grandma's birthday is in the month of June and Papa Kris (T's dad) planned a very special event for her.  He made the arrangements necessary for Grandma to play the organ at the tabernacle on Temple Square!  If there's one thing you should know about Papa Kris it's that he loves the women in his life a lot.  Especially Grandma Kussee.  It was a pretty special birthday gift for a mother from her son.  

T and I ended up getting to temple square about a half an hour early so we decided to roam the temple grounds and enjoy the beautiful flower beds and scenery around the House of the Lord.

We also finally figured out that this building is the Assembly Hall building!  We had both forgotten and T was excited to figure out what it was!  Obviously we need to spend a little more time on Temple Square and relearn the history of the church again.

Of course we had to take a picture of the SLC temple.  It's a tradition!

And the flowers!  The flowers were beautiful.  If I had a larger flower bed area at our duplex I would go crazy planting more flowers.  Or I would just hire the temple ground workers to come plant flowers. Then they might live longer.

T insisted that his "Pretty Girl" get a picture with the pretty flowers.  I think it was just an excuse to get the camera out of my hands so I would stop taking pictures of him.

This fountain always makes me smile when we walk past it.  When we were first dating, T and I came here with a group of singles from his singles ward to see the Christmas lights during the winter.  We both threw a penny over our shoulder and made wishes at this fountain.  T doesn't remember his wish. Mine was that I would marry him in the distant future.

Wishes really do come true.

And now for the real reason we went to temple square!  We met up with the Kuseee members of the family that could make it for the special event and waited outside door #1 of the tabernacle.  It was like we had backstage passes to a major concert and were waiting to be let in by security.

Brother Clay Christiansen (the organist for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir) met us at the door at approximately 11:30 and let us in through the backstage area of the organ.  We came into the tabernacle  by the enormous pipes and into the choir seating where we could look out into the auditorium.

Grandma with Clay Christiansen!  The two of them talked about the organ for a little bit while the rest of us took our seats in the choir seating.

Those pipes are massive!  The intricate detailing around them is breathtaking.

Our famous organ-playing grandmother!  Among her selections she played were I Believe in Christ, America the Beautiful, and Each Life That Touches Ours For Good.

Brother Christiansen pulled out the stops for her while she played and the spirit in the room was phenomenal!  There's always a special feeling you get from the spirit when grandmas are around.  Today was absolutely no exception.  She made us cry with the beauty of her musical talent today.

At the end of her mini concert for us, she shared a tender moment with Papa Kris that teared us all up again.  We caught it all on video, but alas, it won't upload.

We all clamored over the chance to get a picture with grandma once she was done playing.  I think we're going need to get her to sign all of them!

{Grandma, Mama Becky, Papa Kris}

We had to get our own photo with grandma too!  Grandma even shared a few stories from the past with us about playing the organ.

When she was raising her kids, Grandma played the organ in their ward.  The kids usually sat by themselves since Grandpa was out and about doing his callings also.  When they would get disruptive or act up all Grandma would have to do was snap her fingers and they'd instantly sit up straight and be reverent again!  

Every so often while she would be playing when he was little, little Kris would go up to the organ while she was playing and accidentally step on one of the low notes and it would play during the song she was playing!  She'd look at him and tell him to "Knock that off!" and he'd get in trouble.  

I love stories that grandparents tell.  I love our heritage and the lives that Grandma and Grandpa Kussee  have lived.  There's nothing like a pair of good grandparents! 

We were literally close enough to the organ pipes that we could have reached up and almost touched them!  

Grandma and Grandpa used to live in Rochester, NY and some of their friends got to come watch Grandma with us.  That's dedicated friendship.

  

These two are pretty remarkable.  They're still completely mobile and as in love as they were when they were first married.  They don't have two separate recliners to sit in, they sit on the same sofa during movies and hold hands.  They still love to kiss (Grandpa said that will never die!) and flirt with each other.  Grandma still dresses fancy for Grandpa and she always has the most hip hairstyle every month.

They're the perfect example of where Tyler and I want to be in 50 years.  Still young and in love!

It was a beautiful morning spent with a beautiful, talented grandmother and family!

a wedding and memorial weekend.

Memorial weekend was spent at Talya and Stuart's wedding.  Talya is T's little sister.  She's beautiful and sweet found the perfect guy for her.  Stuart is a gem and we're so excited he became part of the Kussee family!

They were so happy coming out of the SLC temple, I don't think either one of them stopped smiling the entire day!

Talya made a beautiful bride.  Simple elegance and brilliant beauty!

We got to spend the day with a lot of family and friends.  Grandma Gutierrez flew in for the wedding and we got to spend the whole weekend with her!  I love it when we take pictures of T and his brothers.  Even though T is six feet tall, he's the shortest of the Kussee brothers.  With any luck, our kids will get the height genes from the Kussee side of the family.  Along with their great hair.

We finally got around to buying some new suits for T the week before the wedding.  We picked out a summer gray suit along with a dark brown/gray suit.  T was in desperate need of some new suits that weren't fit to him pre-mission.  If you ask me, my favorite is his new gray one.  He's one attractive husband in it!  

After a day full of photos, good food at both the luncheon and reception, and the hot sun we all dropped into bed and slept late until Sunday morning.  For the first time in a long time, I actually napped during sacrament meeting!  

Monday morning brought another day of boating for the Kussee family.  We left early to fill up with gas and head to Willard Bay.  We started up wrapped up in sweatpants, hoodies, and towels to protect ourselves from the frigid air.  It eventually warmed up and we baked our skin to our hearts content.

Papa Kris usually mans the boat along with T's brother, Kole.

It was the boys men that got out on the lake this time around.  All of them wore wetsuits, except my crazy husband who dived in to the cold water in just his swimming trunks.  

After his last surf on the wake, T ended up slicing up his knee.  Good thing the water was cold enough to keep it numb.  We cleaned it up (good thing little brother was there with his first aid experience!) and Tanner bandaged him up.

Little brother and the little sister vegged out the boat and ate half of the snacks.  Though T and I had our share!  There's something about boating and being out in the sun that makes you starving.

I think this is one of the few pictures we have of Tyler and Morgan.  It's rare to get pictures of T and his siblings lately.  

We need to work on that.

And just to prove that yes, I was on the boat, we took a picture to prove it!  Nasty hair and all.  

Although the sky does look pretty spectacular in this picture of I do say so myself.  

Pretty awesome weekend if I do say so myself.  Great family, good food, eventful weekend.  

Along with a painful sunburn that even got to my eyelids.  Now my eyelids are flaking off in big ol' chunks and I look like I have dandruff in my hair.  That should make for some interesting last day of school pictures tomorrow...

miss kaley and pink towels.

I have had the world's greatest high school intern for the past 5 months in my classroom!  She's done (and was willing!) everything from correct math facts tests, spellings tests, read with my kiddos, compile homework and homework folders, and even take over the class for a couple of hours when I had to leave for a training meeting (the sub was there, of course, but Kaley took the reins while the sub sat back and relaxed).

Meet Kaley.  She's also the secretary's daughter.  She also works as a custodian at Rock Canyon.  She's also graduating from high school next week.

She's also going to be the world's greatest teacher in the future.  Seriously.  This girl has got a catching personality and the kids love her!

Why yes, I did say she has an incredible personality...

Exhibit A.

 I'm kind of jealous that the Kindergarten teachers get her as a classroom aide next year and I don't.  I've told her time after time that I want her to be my student teacher when she gets into her practicum experiences.  She's THAT good.

So good that she gets everything done super fast and she loves to laminate and cut out materials.  She even alphabetizes and color codes everything I give her to do.  I love it.  She's as OCD as I am, which is awesome.  That's the sign of a good teacher in the making!

Today was also our class Field Day.  T helped me fill up 100+ water balloons last night and get everything ready for other water games and relays.  He's truly the best husband for a teacher.  He's always by my side when it comes to preparing activities and materials for my class!

 {163 water balloons.  I counted.}

We also found a purpose for the ugly towels we got for our wedding that we couldn't return.  Enter water balloon volleyball for a bunch of 2nd graders!

{These towels are an ugly pink in real life.  And those turquoise ones underneath are blindingly bright!}

And who seriously gives pink towels as a wedding gift?  I remember opening them up 3 years ago and turning to T and laughing out loud.  We seriously contemplated putting them in the bathroom for when people came over.

Though pink towels do hold a special place in my heart due to the fact that my grandma has a completely pink bathroom with pink towels.  Pink towels remind me of grandma's house, which is always a good thing.

Tomorrow T's sister is getting married.  We're excited to spend time in the temple with her and her soon to be hubby!  Her endowment on Wednesday was already a fantastic spiritual experience for the whole family.  

I love to see the temple!

ice cream, husbands, and grandmas

T and I both have different desserts that are our favorites.

I mean, we both like pretty much all desserts, but if you were to give us a dessert menu and say pick one and only one item, we'd say different things.

T always goes for the fruity cobbler desserts.  Me?  I'm all for chocolate.

It doesn't really matter what form it's in.  I just love me some choc-o-late.

So when T walked in the door declaring that he wanted ice cream and it'd better be chocolate, I was all on board!  I was jumping up and down like a crazy woman!  I had my jacket and shoes on and met him at the door in a blink of an eye.  Times like my husband demanding chocolate don't happen every day.

In fact, this was a first that my husband wanted chocolate so badly that we had to go to the store to grab what he wanted.  It was a night to be remembered.

What did he pick?  Just the Denali EXTREME Moose Tracks ice cream!  It doesn't get much more chocolately than that...

And if you give a husband some chocolate ice cream, he's going to want something salty to go with it.

Hence the fact that he poured cashews into the carton of ice cream.

And if you're wondering, yes, we did eat the ice cream straight from the carton.   And I reveled in the fact that we are adults and my mother could not stop us.

One seriously handsome and happy man right here.

Oh how I will never go back to the world of dating.  Marriage is so much better on so many different levels.

Bytheway, I totally locked myself out of our house today.  Which also meant my car keys were locked in the house.  I called the mama to see if she could drop me off at my endorsement class (which I was already cutting it close to making to on time).  She didn't answer (just so happens she was gone on her weekly temple date with my Dad).  

Luckily my grandma lives a few blocks away and happily drove me up to Grandview.  She also missed one of the DIP road signs on the way and we got some serious air.  Coolest grandma ever.  You'll never see her going under the speed limit. 

I also needed a ride home, which my mama graciously did for me.  I spent the rest of the evening at my parents house until T came and picked me up (due to the fact that I didn't have my key to get in our house).  The mama even fed us.

Maybe I should lock myself out more often.  I got chauffeured around, didn't have to cook dinner, and spent the evening in good company.  Doesn't get much better than that!

on snow white and the 7 dwarves.

As I was getting ready for a lesson and getting together some objects around the house, I came upon a treasure tucked away in the cedar chest my parents gave me for my 18th birthday.

It even smells like the cedar from being in the chest so long.

 It takes me back to the year or so before I met T.  The year that my Grandma Currie passed away.

I think it was the first time I really experienced a death that impacted my life in a big way.  You see, my Grandma Currie wasn't my grandma by blood.  She was my grandma by our choosing.  She gave us old-fashioned lollipops, made us the best homemade chicken tenders possible, and shared my family's love of old country and cowboy movies.

She also survived cancer treatment after cancer treatment.  She was a woman loved by everyone.  She served those around her constantly was given special honors by the Native American community for her service as a nurse and her unfailing friendship.

As she got older and cancer started re-occuring more often, we tried to visit more often.  We would sit and chat around the dinner table and listen to her stories and joke around with each other. 

We visited for the last time in the UVRMC hospital in Provo.  I remember just crying and crying in the hospital lounge after running out of her room after seeing her.  

After she died, my sisters and I were allowed into her house to pick out one thing we wanted to keep of hers.  Myst picked the dishes.  Toad picked a giant dreamcatcher.

I picked the Snow White and the 7 Dwarves blanket I'd always snatch when we watched movies.

This blanket has a lot of fantastic memories for me that I'll hold onto until I can give her a hug when I see her again in heaven.

I love how it's pieced together.  I love that it's flannel that has been washed over and over which makes it even softer.   It's a blanket that holds old-fashioned warmth and comfort.

It will be something that I want to hand down to future generations and I can't wait to wrap my own babies up in it!