50. fifty. 50.

Its Papa Schaef's 50th birthday!

And guess what?

He is alive.

If any of you know Papa Schaef for years he has said that he is going to die by 50.

Guess he was wrong and hopefully he stays wrong for a very long time.

Like at least 50 more years of wrongness.

(...and yes I'm fairly certain wrongness is not a word but I'm using it anyway)

He also is pretty good at getting out of parties, because he is at a convention and is almost every single year for his birthday. Lame right?

Here is some fun moments of him from the last 50 or so years...

And if I must say...he's aged very well!
Still no gray hair on his head!

I couldn't ask for a better dad! He is the greatest!!!

Sundance Film Festival

Saturday night we ventured up to Park City for the Sundance Film Festival. We didn't plan on getting tickets for any of the shows, we just wanted to enjoy the fun atmosphere. For years Chelsey and I said we were going to go and never did. So we decided it was long overdue. It was sooo snowy and well, being "Park" City and all, it was of course nearly impossible to find a parking spot, but after lots of trying we finally found one. The snow was gorgeous and there was LOTS of it! The atmosphere was great and so was our dinner at Main Street Pizza and Noodle. It was Tyler's first time eating there and he liked it so guess we will be going back. The only negative part of the night was how wet it was. Both Chelsey and I wore our Uggs, because well, why wouldn't we? I hadn't worn them earlier in the day because it was soo rainy in Utah County and the care instructions specifically say not to wear them when its really wet, but snow is okay. I figured since it was Park City, it would be fine. Little did I know that everything would be covered in snow...including the sidewalks and with all the people there for the festival that snow would turn into really really wet messy slush...and massive puddles. The cool thing about it was, the first few puddles I stepped in...and well, slipped into I didn't get wet at all. The water instantly wicked away, unfortunately it didn't stay that way. A few times my feet and boots got soaked, but they dried out really fast which I thought was cool. What I didn't find cool is the salt lines all over them after the fact :( I have been trying and trying to get it off...so much for that protectant I sprayed on them right? I'm going to buy the official cleaning kit for them and will cross my fingers they aren't ruined for good! Next year I will be sporting actual snow boots...its about time I use them anyway...its probably been 4+ years since I put them on!

Cafe Rio.

It seems like my last post caused everyone to crave Cafe Rio and I don't blame them. If someone even says Cafe Rio I start craving it. I recently decided that I was going to start counting my calories and be more conscious of the decisions I was making. I don't really believe in dieting, because I think diets wear off and I'm not really looking to lose weight although I wouldn't be sad if a few pounds came off. I just wanted to be more aware of the decisions I was making. Ironically I'm taking a nutrition class this semester and have to do it for an assigment too. I knew that Cafe Rio's food had a lot of calories but I didn't realize how much until Chels texted me on Saturday (she has been calorie counting too) and told me how many calories were in a pork salad. I was shocked, but didn't hestitate to still go to dinner there that night. Her just bringing it up made me want it and then when Tyler suggested it, I was all for it. I did go a little healthier and did chicken, but it still had tons of calories. I ate it and enjoyed every single calorie, but because of my awareness when I go there next I will still be aware and probably make really good food choices the rest of the day so I don't have to feel so guilty! I also think that calories aren't always bad...as long you aren't overduing it and that you use them on stuff that has nutritional value. I definitely won't be cutting Cafe Rio completely out of my diet, because I love it and it does have nutrients in it. So its not all bad for me and it definitely beats processed fast food (even if its lower calories).

Want to know what you're eating? Probably not, but I'm going to tell you.

Pork Salad w/Dressing... 1210 Calories
Grilled Steak Salad w/Dressing...1130 Calories
Chicken Salad w/Dressing...960 Calories

...if you take off the dressing (but who would ever want to do that) it saves you a 130 calories for every 1.5oz. Taking

Burritos are a little lower in calories by a land slide but not by much!

LONG WEEKEND

This weekend was pretty fun and enjoyable...here are some iphone pics to show what I did.

1. A "Just Because" picture

2. Cafe Rio Salad

3. Nathan and McKay at the bowling alley

4. Me & Nattie at the bowling alley

5. Me & Nattie's bowling ball "babies"

6. Natalie enjoying her cookie zookie

7. Me & Mama Schaef at Wingers.

Not pictured: fun dinner at Goodwood with the Ballantyne's, Bullocks, and Bodily's, school (but that wouldn't have been worth posting anyway) Primary PJ party, Tyler working on his car, and a Sunday cuddled up on the couch.

Thank you Martin Luther King for the long weekend...much appreciated.

Ambitious

I wouldn't consider myself a very ambitious person at all. That word, just doesn't describe me...except for on the first week of school. Something about the first week always makes me feel super motivated and ambitious about not only school, but everything else in life. Like if you asked me this week if I could conquer the world, I'd tell you yes and I'd probably even believe it. By week 2 I always ask myself why on earth I felt that way, but it continues to happen over and over again. This year I've made a goal with myself to be a bigger picture taker and better blogger than I was last year. I'm hoping my new iphone that showed up in the mail for me yesterday will help me in fulfilling my goals! And as if those 2 weren't enough, I randomly today decided that I am going to take on a second blog. Yep, thats right. Except number 2 isn't so much about me, its more about my fam. I set the blog up ohhhh 3 years ago for my mom and she's never ever used it. Soooo today I was thinking that I should just take it on myself, since I know what happens in there life anyway right? We'll see how it goes. If you'd like to follow or check it out you may go here to do so. We'll see if my ambitiousness stays with me long enough to post there for more than a week...

Double the Pleasure. Double the Fun.

January 8th is a busy day in my family, but always a good one. It is both my Grandma's birthday as well as my little brother's. We celebrated the double birthday at my parents house.

Nathan is the baby of the family so its crazy and hard to believe he's 14! This year Tyler & I got him an LSU Jersey...he loves LSU but the Jersey is an adult size and they don't make them smaller, so we were a little worried about giving it to him since its not one he can actually wear, but we had no reason to be worried. I figured it could go one of two ways. He'd be excited about it or he'd like it but show no enthusiasm. I didn't know there was a third option. He opened it and at first there was no reaction....and then he pulled it out and went nuts. It was really funny and I'm glad he loved it! Nana seemed to love her presents too. Just not enough to jump up and down screaming. Maybe next year?

This picture turned out super yellow. I keep telling my mom she needs to paint because the lighting and paint color make for awful lighting! This is it AFTER I attempted to edit.

Sooo this is Nathan's reaction to his jersey.

It was a lot funnier initially but I wasn't videotaping so this was actually round 2 of his excitement. Really its not worth watching after the first 20 seconds. 

 

                                                  

Winner. Winner.

Yesterday wasn't all bad news.
I won a free photo shoot from Josie Fox Photography!
You can see the proof here.
I am pretty excited about it.
Now I just have to decide how I want to use it.
Yay for winning!
Thanks everyone who helped me win! Your help was much appreciated!

My Awesome Car Luck.

I thought we were maybe going to luck out and kiss all our car problems goodbye with 2011, but that is not going to be the case. Our "great" car wasn't as great as I thought. Yesterday when I was leaving work I turned on my car and instantly heard a very loud noise coming from the car. It was so loud it made me jump, as I backed out of the parking lot it kind of quieted so I thought it was just a fluke, but once back in drive I could totally here it again and as I accelerated it got even louder. If I hadn't known that something was wrong I probably would have laughed because the noise it was making was kind of funny. It kind of sounded like a toy race car maybe winding up? That's the best way I know how to describe it. The more I accelerated the more I could here it. I had errands to run but decided against it, because I didn't know how safe it was being in my race car and all. Plus, just in the short drive home I caught the attention of plenty and I didn't care to draw anymore attention to myself.

That night I told Tyler about it and since we had to go to the store, he decided to drive it. As soon as he started it he said "What did you do to it?!" ....yes, typical male. Blame the woman.

Today it was still making the sound but it wasn't nearly as loud. We'd decided I better take it in to the mechanic ASAP but I found myself questioning if I should do so, because it wasn't nearly as bad as it was and I almost convinced myself it wasn't doing it anymore and I was just hearing things. I took it in anyway...of course hoping that they'd look at me funny and tell me it was in my head. Unfortunately not the case, it's in the shop getting a new alternator. Guess the good news is I'm not just a looney that's hearing noises? I just hope that the first week of 2012 will be the one and only week in 2012 that we have to pay for car repairs.

New Years!

Our new year is already off to a great start...

We partied it up with some family on New Years Eve and had lots of fun. We ate food...unfortunately it wasn't very good food...thanks to my nacho cheese disaster. Note to Self: Try out the recipe before deciding to make it for company.  We enjoyed some way overdue sparklers! (We bought them with Misty & Russ on the 4th of July, because we were dying to do them and then ended up waiting 5 months to actually use them.) And yes, as you can see, we struggle. Our logic was that we could just do normal 2's and then flip the picture...didn't think about the fact that when they flip, they say 2102. We enjoyed playing/watching the kids play Just Dance on the Wii. By eleven our place was quiet and empty but I insisted that Tyler had to stay up and wasn't allowed to go to bed before midnight. We watched the ball drop and drank us some bubbly! No pictures (besides the firework ones taken by Misty) because I thought I had lost my SD card for my camera :( turns out it was where I had it all along.

On new years day we went to church and it was our first week as Sunbeam teachers. We got to move up with some of our nursery kids to primary. It was a fun new experience for us and they're super cute. In sharing time we had learned about choices and consequences...one of the examples of a good choice was cleaning their room...so when we got to class that was definitely engraved in their minds, because when we asked them what they liked to do for fun they said things like clean their room and pick up their toys...haha. Guess their parents will be pleased? Hopefully they will learn something from us...at the end of class Tyler asked them if they remembered what they had just learned and they all shook their heads no. Looks like we're going to have to step up our game. For dinner we had fondue, which is a Schaefer family New Years tradition...one of my favorites!!! Only now at our house, we do it better without any gross shrimp!

On Monday Tyler had to go back to work, but I had the day off so I went to a movie with my family. We went and saw War Horse because my dad has been dying to see it. I loved it! I expected that I would, but didn't expect it to be quite as good as it was. I know a bunch of people who thought it looked so boring (including my husband) but its far from that. Its a pretty long movie and I hate long movies...even if I'm enjoying them I usually get super anxious for them to be over  but I didn't feel that way at all in War Horse. I didn't cry, but it definitely gets to your emotions. After the movie I was thinking about it and decided that it was the best movie I'd seen all year. And then I realized the year had just started so that wasn't saying much, haha. So I guess we'll see if any movies can beat it this year. After that we went to dinner with the family and then called it a night! Spending time with family is always great!

As you can see...Nate really loves pictures.

Next week we will start school up again, which I dread but am also really excited for. Last year at this time we weren't in school because life was just too crazy, so I'm excited we will be going this semester because it means we're one step closer to being done...unfortunately we still have lots of steps to go but progress is always good! Tyler finally has a major and is all done with his generals so that has made things a little more exciting!

I told Chelsey a few weeks ago that I feel like 2012 is going to be a year of change. I honestly have no clue what is going to change, I'm not even sure why I think it, but for some reason I just do, so I guess we will see!!! It is 2012 so who knows, maybe the world will end ;)

Christmas 2011

I'm a little slow at posting this, but better late than never.

We had a great Christmas this year and were so lucky to spend it with our families. We were also happy and grateful that we were able to attend church on Christmas Day and remember the real meaning of Christmas. We went to church with my parents and opened gifts and had breakfast with them. Some of the highlights of the morning were the look of surprise on Natalie's face when she opened her ticket to Wicked. She was shocked. Kevin also was also very excited to get a PS3. Not too many surprises for me this year. That's what I get for picking out my own Christmas! I did get a ticket to Wicked though too. We were all spoiled!

And yes, my dad INTENTIONALLY made that face.

We then headed to Santaquin to spend time with the Hunsaker's. We ate lots of good food, opened presents, and had lots of fun messing around with Tyler's mom's new toy! She got a Xbox Kinect for Christmas and it kept the whole family entertained. ...and if I must say so myself, my hubby has got moves...and so does the rest of the fam!

                                           

We were so busy with our families that it wasn't until 9 or 10 at night that we finally opened our presents from each other. Tyler really spoiled me. I got a new Nixon watch, Ugg boots (I was sooo shocked. Biggest surprise I think I've had ever!), perfume and some clothes. He got some BYU & Oregon apparel, movies, and a few other small gifts.

He was really stoked about that hat so he HAD to cheese it.

We really had an amazing Christmas and felt so blessed! 

The best part of all was just being with those that we love.