Fun Times in Utah

Ben and I just got home from our vacation in Utah. It's always so fun to visit with Ben's family. The weather was so beautiful. It made me kind of depressed to come back to our cloudy/rainy Vermont weather. I swear the sun doesn't shine here....ever!
Highlights from our trip are as follows....

Working on our Tans

Visiting with Family

Playing with Cute Kids

Going to Church

Road Trip to Bear Lake

Eating at Quick 'N' Tasty

Boating

Wake Boarding

(I'm afraid I look a little awkward!)

Tubing

Family Temple Trip to the Ogden Temple

Mini Putting

(In case you're wondering, they're adding up the score...and I won)

Visiting with Good Friends




Band Practice



And quite possibly the highlight....Four Wheeling in Mantua

We had such a fun trip. It's so nice that Ben has two weeks off from school. We haven't seen each other this much in a long time! We're looking forward to another fun week this week. We'll be spending it in Cape Cod with my family. Pictures to follow for sure!

Where does the time go?

I feel like time is just flying these days. I can't believe I completed my first year of teaching on Friday. I can remember my first day in August so vividly...I felt like I didn't have a CLUE what I was doing. It's amazing how steep the learning curve is when you take on a new job. I can honestly say I loved every day of teaching this year! There were some definite challenges, but I love my students so much, they are just so cute, and each one is so unique. I'm happy to say that all but one of my students are coming back in the fall....plus some new siblings of my current students. I think that puts me at 45 students for fall. I'm not sure how I will find time for them all, but I'm very fortunate to have so many! We had our last recital on Saturday. My students performed so well. I felt like a proud mom, bobbing my head along to the beat of each kid's song!


This past weekend (and in the case of the NBA finals, the last month or two) was devoted mostly to watching Tiger win the US Open (which was kind of disappointing, I wanted the underdog to win), watching the Celtics get beat by the Lakers (I almost cried) and watching "Hotel Rwanda", probably the most heart breaking, but inspirational and moving movies I have ever seen. If you haven't seen it, I would highly recommend watching it. The story is incredible, I feel like in some ways it has literally changed my life.






The summer will no doubt fly by as well. I'm teaching in total only 60 or 70 lessons, which compared to 45 a week, isn't too many. I'm still working at BR, but asked for a pretty light schedule for summer, since I will be pretty busy with YW, and we will be away quite a bit. Let me rephrase...I will be away quite a bit! Between Ben's time off which will be spent in Ogden and Cape Cod, and then Youth Conference in NH, Girls Camp in Sharon, and my sister's graduation in AZ, I can't imagine I will be in town much. Between all of the busy schedules of the summer, I'm also hoping to spend plenty of time by our pool relaxing, and enjoying the brief Vermont summer weather!

In the last two weeks....

I dyed my hair purple...


Ben decided to attempt dying his hair blond, for some unknown reason...



Then he went to get it fixed, but didn't give Erica enough time to actally fix it...

He then went back the next day, to have her finish fixing it...

And he now has brown hair...


I had a proud moment as my piano students rocked the house at our end of year recitals...

(These are the two women I work with)

And even though I don't have a picture to prove it, we attended the YW dessert auction and purchased/ate enough dessert to feed a small country.

Fun times in New Hampshire

Ben and I met my brother and his family in New Hampshire this past weekend and had a great time away from home. There is something so nice about leaving everything behind for the weekend and spending some good quality time with family. I hadn't seen my nephew since January....which is just way too long! He is growing and changing so much right now....I wish we could see him more often. We spent the weekend in Madison NH at a little lake house in the woods. We had great weather, but the bugs were so unbearable that we hardly took advantage of the sun. Ben and I bought a bike rack for our bikes so that we could take them on our trip. I'm so glad we did....it worked great, and now we can take our bikes anywhere we want. The weekend we full of eating, sleeping, playing with Elliot, and seeing some of the more beautiful parts of NH. We also managed to fit in a great work out in preparation for our triathlon!
It was a wonderfully relaxing weekend, and I'm kind of sad it's over already.
Sometimes I wish we didn't have to work so much, there are just so many fun places to visit in New England and so many trips we want to take! NYC is next on the list...we're hoping to make it there soon.

A Picture is worth a Thousand Words!

All I can say is Happy Cinco De Mayo!

Can you say Brilliant!

Whoever thought this up was a sheer genius. For all you edge lovers out there...I've got the perfect solution. For my birthday Ben tracked down the ultimate gift....I think it will be basically impossible to top. He bought me the Baker's Edge "Edge Brownie Pan." Listen to these descriptions and testimonials:

"A baker’s dream: deliciously chewy edges for every piece!"

"If you love the crunchy, caramelized, toasty edges of a brownie, this pan is for you. No more gooey centers—every serving has two edges, thanks to the patented interior sidewalls on this pan."

"This pan’s unique design improves baking performance by allowing heat to circulate evenly—no more undercooked middles and burned edges. You’ll bake exceptional brownies, bar cookies and breads—even lasagna will be perfectly cooked. Made of heavy gauge cast aluminum with a nonstick finish. Includes a custom spatula for serving. Use with boxed mixes or recipes that call for a 9"x13" or 9"x9" pan."

I'm telling you...if you don't own one, go buy one from Amazon immediately!

Even though the brownie pan definitely won the award for best birthday present ever...the pink blue tooth definitely came in close second place. It matches my phone PERFECTLY!

Rock Stars at Heart

For the ward talent show last week, Ben decided we should form a band! Luckily I was fortunate enough to be invited to be in the band. I'm glad I made the cut too, cause we rocked the house! I have to say that this whole experience unleashed the inner rock star in me, and it turned out to be really fun. Our band consisted of Ben on guitar and vocals for one number, our friend and EQP Greg on drums, one of the YM (Daniel) on bass, Rick, a fellow med student on vocals....and me on piano. We played two numbers; "How to Save a Life" by the Fray, and "Eight Days a Week" by the Beatles. I recognize that neither of these tunes are particularly "rock" in nature, but my only concern was what the band was going to wear, and how we were going to look the part of rock stars. I'm pretty sure I win the award for "best dressed band member", no one else seemed nearly as concerned about dressing up!

We had a great time, and rumor has it there's talk of having us play again sometime in the future...!!