Bryce's Baby Blessing

Yesterday Misty & Russ blessed their baby Bryce. We were so glad we got to be there for it.

 Isn't he a cutie?

Bryce with all the Hunsaker men.

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 ;)

Sometimes we leave church for this...

Tyler is the most unflexible person I know. He can't even sit up straight, because his hamstrings are so tight they won't let his back straighten fully while sitting. The only thing he can really do for himself is try to stretch them but they seriously hardly move. Sunday in the middle of sacrament meeting Tyler started complaining that he was dying and couldn't sit--his back was in so much pain. We couldn't leave because I had to be there to say the closing prayer so I told him go walk around for a bit and see if it helped. He came back after about 10 minutes in just as much pain...you should have seen him get up to leave. He looked like he was a 90 year old man and took about 10 steps before he could stand up completely straight. Basically, he looked like a limping hunchback. Anyway, there was no way he was going to be able to sit through 2 more hours of church so we drove home. I planned on going back for Relief Society but ended up doing this instead....

I know this doesn't even look like somebody stretching but this is HARD work for Tyler, it took a little while before he could even get his legs to go up this far. And he couldn't do this by himself, I had to lift them up while he complained about how much it hurt. The chair is not even an inch higher than the step ladder but it was a big achievement for Tyler...poor guy.

The Best Thing About Tyler.

    
So, yesterday I went to Tyler's ward with him & after singing one of the hymns in sacrament meeting, he leaned over to me & said, "You're tone deaf, but you try anyway. I love that about you." In my defense, nothing against the organist...she obviously hadn't had much experience playing the organ, but was doing her best, (gold star for her.) the only problem was she was struggling and therefore playing the song very slowly. The entire congregation was struggling, and it was a song I was completely unfamiliar with and based on how quietly everyone else was singing, I'd say they were in the same boat. Needless to say, it was NOT my best singing, but I won't deny it, I am definitely NO SINGER. There is a reason I've never joined any choir and as a child did anything & everything to get out of singing in Primary, at my Grandparents' funerals, in Sacrament meeting with the Young Women...etc. I was forced to join Youth Choir when I lived in a ward in Orem for a short time and confession: I used to pretend I was singing but really wouldn't. haha. I wouldn't sing in with the congregation in Sacrament meeting til I was 18 years old. Anyhow, I was a little shocked by this comment, haha, it was so unexpected, I wasn't sure if I should start laughing or be offended. But at the same time...this is one of my favorite things about Tyler. All his unexpected, non sugar coated comments. You get nothing but honesty from him. He'll tell you exactly what he thinks!

...and for the record I decided to laugh about it, we had a missionary homecoming to go to following...we sat next to my sister at that meeting so before the meeting started I told her what he said & we laughed about it together, so thanks for the laugh T. coughjerkcough. HAHA.

Memorial Weekend

Long weekends are wonderful but never long enough.

Friday: consisted of family bowling. sadly, we took no pictures :( nobody brought a camera.

Nathan and his friend were with us and made it a requirement to dance after each bowl. My moves were lame. Tyler had some great ones when he wasn't too shy to bust them out. Nate and Brady's moves were very funny. They even busted out some Michael.

Saturday: Tyler and I went to a bbq at Chels & Mitch's cute new house. It was lots of fun. We enjoyed their company and appreciated the invite. We watched this movie:

I thought it was pretty good...Tyler on the other hand, slept thru it. So it looks like he is going to have to watch it with me again...haha.

Sunday: Church. Movies. Relaxin. Great dinner. Nice walk. Nice drive. Nice Day.

Monday: Family BBQ with the Bullock's. Visited the Pleasant Grove Cemetary. Dollar Movie to see Bounty Hunter for time #2 & Betos, seemed a good idea at the time but I have one word for it, gross.

 My dad cleaning Grandma and Grandpa Schaefer's headstone.

 The finished product.

 

Me & My Siblings.

And I'm extra special and had one more day work free...since Tuesday's are my day off anyway.

Tuesday: Tyler's mom, Kim, had her dance recital and I went and helped out. Recital turned out fantastic. Here is a little clip of her awesome dancer's at her Lindon & Santaquin studio's gettin ready for the big event.

Kids Say the Darnest Things

So I am lucky enough to get to be in Primary every week. I recently started going back to my home ward where my mom teaches the 4 year olds in Primary. Lucky for me, her team teacher is not able to make it a lot of the time and since there has to be 2 adults in there I get to be adult #2 on a regular basis. Primary beats going to Sunday School and Relief Society, that if for sure!

I love singing all the songs and listening to the cute kids in Jr. Primary give the talks. But best of all, I love the funny things little kids say. Every week there is at least 4 or 5 funny new one-liners that make my day. So I figured it would be selfish of me not to share a few of them.

One week we were talking about baptism...and a little boy in our class very bluntly said, "I do NOT want to be baptized. I'm not doing it, my mom didn't do it so I don't think I will. I'm not going under that water!"
(His mom is in the Primary Presidency & obviously has been baptized!)

One week we were talking about Joseph Smith and the kids were supposed to answer some questions about Joseph. One question was When was Joseph Smith born? It was a pretty tricky question for all of them, so several had been guessing. One little girl got all excited cuz she knew the answer and she yelled it out, "He was born on his birthday!!!"

The week we talked about baptism was definitely a winner, we were asking the kids how they can be prepared to be baptized since they aren't old enough yet. The answers we kept bringing up were praying, loving our family like Jesus Loves us, reading scriptures, go to church, keep the commandments, etc. These were our "steps" to baptism. Later we got to walk on our "steps." Each one had a picture representing what we were supposed to do to prepare. When they walked on them, they were supposed to say what the picture represented. Their was a heart for love others. This cute little girl got to it and said, "Fall and Love and Get Married!" The rest of the lesson she kept using that as her answer, guess its no joke that girls in Utah in are in a rush to get married. Sounds like it starts at Age 4!

One lesson required a first aid kit as part of the object lesson, explaining the purpose of each item in the first-aid kit. Not thinking my mom pulled out RUBBING alcohol wipes. And said they were alcohol and told the kids what they were used for. Most the class had no problem with what had been said, but one little boys eyes got REALLY big & he looked at me and goes.."THIS IS ALCOHOL?" He was pretty concerned, so we had to explain the difference.

There is a really shy girl in the class and she hardly says a word. The lesson was about the Savior and if the Savior was on the earth, wouldn't they like to be with him if he said, "Come Follow Me?" This cute little girl, louder than ever before, says, "I WOULDN'T GO. I'D STAY HOME." and if you knew her, there was a lot of honesty in her answer. She's pretty attached to her mom and doesn't like to do anything out of her comfort zone.

We were supposed to make clay pots for a lesson, so we brought salt dough. Bad idea...the dough was great the night before but had sat in the car during sacrament meeting and condensation had built up. The clay ended up being a sticky gooey mess...all over the kids hands. We didn't even attempt to make pots with it. As we were cleaning up their hands...one little boy just kept shaking his head over and over and saying, "My mom is NOT going to be happy about this."

One little girl is always telling us funny little things about her family that don't pertain to the lesson at all, this last Sunday she told us that her family used to live in Tennessee BEFORE she was born. Then went on to inform us how much she loved living in Tennessee. I got a kick out of that one.

They keep me so entertained and love how innocent they are. If you ever need a little cheap entertainment, just spend 5 minutes in Primary!

Time to Show Some Gratitude

Earlier in the week I started off by sharing how thankful I am for my little sister and I thought it would be nice to finish off the list.

More than anything I'm so grateful for my family. They say you can chose your friends but not your family. I don't really like this saying, because if I were to hand pick my family, I would chose the family I have now all over again. And when I say family, I mean ALL of my family...parents, siblings...including my cute new sister-in-law, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I'm so lucky to be close to the majority of my family. My best friends are truly my family members and I'm so grateful for the relationships I have built with them. Just to get an idea of how close I am with my family I have to share a funny little story from a week or two ago...

I was down in Santaquin at Tyler's parents house and his mom was asking me what I was doing for Thanksgiving, I told her what side of my family I would be with this year and she proceeded to ask me if I switched off each holiday, or year, or what??? I started to say yes, and as I did Tyler muttered under his breath, "it's not really switching off if you have a party with them EVERY month." I couldn't help but laugh, because this is SO true. The Clyde side (my Mom's side) has lots of get-togethers. But for the record Tyler...we don't get together EVERY month...just most of them...haha. and some months WAY more than once! So yes...we do see a lot of each other. I wouldn't have it any other way. I love the Schaefer side every bit as much and wished I saw them more than I do!

I'm also very grateful for my health. I've been very lucky to have been given a healthy working body...I've had a few minor injuries, etc. but I am grateful that I haven't had anything that has held me back. I love dancing so much and know that there are many people who would kill to have my health and the abilities to do what I do. In my Jazz class I'm taking at school right now, the very first dance we learned was done as a tribute to a long time dancer and instructor at UVU. She was diagnosed with cancer and died this fall. Her niece just so happens to be my instructor and wanted to do this dance in honor of her. The inspiration behind her choreography and music selection all had to do with the words of her aunt, who last Spring talked about how health is everything and without it we are so confined and she was sad to lose her abilities due to illness. This really made me realize how lucky I am and I don't want to take my body for granted.

I'm grateful for Tyler. He's so much fun to be around and is always there for me when I need him around. This semester has been a tough one for me and some nights I get so tense and stressed and he shows up to help however he can. I think I'm pretty lucky. Sometimes I'm pretty sure I drive him nuts but he never admits it. He's always so thoughtful when I least expect it. Tyler's mom, sister, and sister-in-law all had tickets to the So You Think You Can Dance performance when it came to Utah this last month. His sister-in-law backed out (Thank you Sarah!)  and Tyler surprised me by buying her ticket for me! Such a nice thing to do for me for no reason other than to be nice. I was shocked when I called me...in fact, it was kinda funny. He called me during the day of and a BYU game was on so I knew his call MUST be important. I answered and he was more chatty than he ever is on the phone, he asked me if I had plans. I told him no and he said Good! Don't make any. I was then asked why, and he told me I was going to the performance with them. He didn't even tell me why, just left it at that and hung up. I had to text him to get the story. I probably told him thank you over a dozen times, but don't know if he had a clue how much this meant to me. The performance was amazing and it was fun to spend time with his mom and sis, Love you Ty!

I'm grateful to have a job! A year ago today I was my layed off from my previous job wondering what would come next. I wasn't really worried, because I have wonderful parents who are always willing to help me out when I need it and since I was living at home, money really wasn't an issue, but I obviously wasn't planning to sit at home and mooch off them. Luckily Century 21 wanted me back! I didn't even apply, I just have an AWESOME Aunt, who was willing to work me in. I love my Century 21 family, I work with so many fun, great people...this job might not pay the greatest but there are so many aspects of it, that make it great. Me being layed off was really an opportunity for me. I was having a hard time justifying quitting that job to go to school because I was being paid so well and HELLO...I've never been a fan of school, but once I was no longer needed there it allowed me to start going to school full time. Century 21 works really great around my school schedule and gives me just enough money to get by and in today's economy so many people are out of work that I'm just grateful to have something, because that is more than a lot of people can say right now.

I'm grateful to be in school...I can't believe I'm admitting this, especially with finals right around the corner, but it is true. School is hard, stressful, and a money eater, but it gives me purpose. I like knowing that I'm working towards something greater and love some of the things I am learning and new people I have met at school. It can be my worst nightmare at moments, but other times I feel that it is one of my greatest blessings!

I'm grateful for all of my friends! They're so much fun and supportive of me, I honestly don't see a lot of them very much anymore, because we're all doing our own things in life, but I'm still so glad for the relationships I have with all of them. One of my best friend's is getting married in just a few weeks and then eventually will be moving away from Utah. Jaynee's been such an awesome friend and support to me and I know I'm going to miss her tons!

Love you Jaynee!

I'm grateful for the gospel and the happiness it has brought me in my life, I would be in a whole other world I think without it. I'm grateful that my parents taught me well and the testimonies they have, which in turn strengthened mine. So many don't have what I have and I know I'm truly luckily to be a part of it!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Gobble. Gobble.

Happy Birthday to Me!

So Sunday was my birthday and usually hate having my birthday on a Sunday, because it limits what I can do, but this year I was stoked. am SO busy with school and work that it was nice having it on a day where I didn't have anywhere to be other than church.

It was a great day. I went with Tyler to hear his mom speak in their family ward and then off to his single adult ward to hear his little sister, Kristin speak. Immediately following that Ty came back with me to my house for dinner. We of course, had one of my favorites, Steak. It was yummy. We just hung out for the rest of the day and relaxed. I got some great gifts from Ty and also from my family and friends. My friends who were all single and out playing on Valentines evening dedicated a photo album to me on FACEBOOK and also dropped some very STRANGE gifts off to me at 1 am on my birthday. A Mary (as in Jesus' mother) doll that talks. She tells the entire Christmas story I think and its pretty funny, the also got me a Hannah Montana t-shirt which is probably the best gift I've ever received haha... and some other very random presents. Tyler owns about 35+ watches (as of lately I think he's bought a new one almost everyday) and so surprise surprise....he finally bought me one. Its Pink! My favorite and it is super cute and along with it, a Volcom shirt...in his words...I need more boyish clothes.

I appreciated spending it with my family and Ty. I also loved that Monday was a holiday and my amazing manager aka my aunt gave me the day off to continue to celebrate my birthday. I went shopping with my mom in the morning, then to lunch with my parents at Jason's Deli, one of my favs, and then we went and bought me a new bed and tv! I'm pretty spoiled I think!!! And to top the day off we ended it with dinner at Los Hermanos with myparents, grandparents, and Ty! I am one lucky girl. Thanks everyone for making turning 20 so great!