Last week, I got to spend two days substituting as an assistant in the same kindergarten class. Kids at this age are my favorite. They are so funny without even meaning to be. Most of them say exactly what they are thinking and aren't embarrassed to say it. They also have a hard time paying attention or staying quiet for long periods of time. The first day I was there, one little boy named Jack, who had the sweetest little smile, kept talking and talking and was not getting his work done. There were two Jacks in the classroom so this one went by Jack S. When I heard the teacher say loudly, "Jack S. Jack S! You need to stop talking," I had to try really hard not to laugh and didn't know if the teacher realized what she was calling him. The next morning, all the kids sat in a circle and did their morning introductions where one person is chosen to go in the middle and choose a person to greet. One little girl chose Jack S. The greeting went like this. "Good morning Jack S. Let's have a high-5 day!" I had a hard time not laughing again! I'm so bad! But it really was hilarious.
Later that day, the kids were busy making Thanksgiving projects like paper turkeys, feathered Indian headbands, and homemade beaded necklaces.
I was helping Jack get caught up on his turkey when he told me in a whisper voice,"I accidentally cut the toes off my turkey. Cause I'm a bad bad maker." Oh I just love those kids! They make me smile even when they drive me crazy.
Sometimes, I wonder if I'm any better than the kids though. A couple of Sundays ago, we were running out the door to get to church. I ran back in the kitchen to get a little bag full of skittles that were leftover from our Halloween party. Mitch looked at me like what are those for? I said they're for a little Sacrament treat ok! During one of the talks, Mitch looked over at me and there I was eating my little bag of skittles doing the "funstuf" where you have to try and find all of the hidden objects on the back of our ward program that they put there for the little kids during Sacrament.
He just laughed at me and asked me if I had heard anything that the speaker was saying. Of course I had! Mitch doesn't know how to multi-task. I do.So maybe I have a hard time paying attention or staying quiet for long periods of time too.
This past Friday night, Mitch asked me on a date. I said, sure I'll go! What are we going to do? He paused for a second and then said the classic line... it's a surprise!... which really means I haven't planned anything yet. Instead of going out and spending thirty dollars on a nice dinner and dessert or movie, we decided to spend 38 dollars on homemade bread and jam. After not finding pectin, one of the main ingredients in jam, in a couple of stores, we almost gave up. Mitch hadn't had homemade jam in like a month and he was raised by an amazing mom who always had plenty of homemade jam so I could tell he was starting to wonder about the caliber of woman he had married. Finally, we decided to gamble and drive out to Whole Foods to see if we could find it there. We were in luck! We found the pectin and even more exciting, their raspberries were on sale and looked amazing.
We have made homemade bread only one other time together and it didn't turn out as yummy as we hoped because we kind of messed up. This time, we really tried not to mess it up, but we didn't let it raise as long as we should have so it is pretty dense, but still good.
While the bread was baking, we started in on the jam. There's nothing like two big projects going at once. We almost ruined the jam but we pulled through. Our kitchen was a disaster, but ultimately, the bread and jam date night was way fun and worth every dollar spent!
It made a lot of jam and I guessed it would last us a year but Mitch said no way- maybe three months. If Mitch could live off of homemade jam and milk, he would be a happy boy. I'm so glad I have such a wonderful husband who spends as much time as he can with me, even though he's busy in medical school. I love him!
Believe it or not, this is Mitch! I wanted to take the chance to record some of the things that are the most important to me. I'll try to make it a semi-regular occurrence. First things first. . . .
This is my beautiful, amazing, incredible, did I mention beautiful? wife. Kelsie. You know her well, but you don't know how amazing it is to be married to her! She is so thoughtful and funny and kind. I go to bed every night and wake up each morning amazed at how lucky I am.
Kelsie dominates life. She is always thinking of me and she does so much. She is a star Guess-Who? player, connoisseur of all chick-flicks, championship KanJam partner, elegant dancer (she has literally brought me to tears before as she performed, as wimpy as that may sound), physical trainer, professional teacher, concert pianist, kind nursery leader, tireless cleaner (it's sad that she has to be, but I am getting better!), master event planner, huge Cougar fan, dynamite chef, and so much more.
I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, but more than once she has demonstrated that she actually knows more about sports than I do. I remember one of the seal-the-deal moments for me when we were dating was when we were watching a BYU football game together and there was a simple lead play up the middle. She turned to me and said, "isn't Vakapuna such a good fullback?" Stunned. Speechless. I just nodded my head and said, "Yes." I had just been thinking the same thing, but never expected her to know that! Just the other day she was mad at me for watching the Heat/Celtics season opener. It wasn't because she wanted to watch "So You Think You Can Dance" (although she probably would have liked that), it was because Boise State was playing and she was mad we weren't watching that. Last example: the other day someone randomly mentioned something about football and Kels turned to me and asked, "Didnt' Daunte Culpepper play for the Vikings?" I honestly didn't know the answer. I had to look it up on Wikipedia. Yes. He did in fact play for the Minnesota Vikings. Basically, she is AWESOME!!!
I think this video sums up Kelsie pretty well. Listen to the random lady narrating her climb. Turn up the volume and watch her shine!
Ha Ha! I can't watch that enough! Every word of it is true! Just impressive. She makes life look effortless and just amazes us all.
We love her even when (especially when!!!) she is being a little speddy : ). She just knows how to make life a constant joy. I can't tell you how many times I have found myself laughing until my stomach hurt at the dinner table or in the car. She just brightens up every day. You can't help but be your best self around her. She just makes me ridiculously happy.
To the love of my life: Thank you for being so incredibly perfect.
Fort Worth was worth the five hour drive! Mitch and I had been counting down the days till his parents and BJ got in town for the BYU vs. TCU game. Right after work, I picked Mitch up from Baylor and we got on the road. We thought at 3:30 we could beat the traffic but nope, those first couple of hours were stop and go misery. We finally got out of traffic and the drive turned out to be really pretty. We drove past ranches and fields that seemed to go on forever.We made it to the hotel and met Mitch's parents and BJ there. We had fun just catching up on everything that we had missed out on. It was so good to be with family!
The game was the next day in good old Fort Worth. We were excited to see BJ play in person instead of on TV where you can't see him sometimes. The game didn't turn out like we hoped but it was still a good game to be at. I know you're thinking, Oh a fall afternoon football game- perfect weather, perfect scenery, couldn't get any better. Not in Texas. More like 90 degree weather, sun beating down, wiping the sweat off your face kind of an afternoon football game. Still, it was a good game and we were cheering loud and proud for the Y.
After the game, we went to see the famous stockyards and street where they do daily cattle drives and rodeos on the weekend, just for fun. I loved it because it reminded me of our ranch in Wyoming and I love rodeos and horses and all that kind of stuff. We ate at the best steakhouse with Gary and Lisa, and Mitch drank his usual of about 10 rounds of lemonade. The waiter was struggling to keep up. We passed on the Rocky Mountain oysters, even though the waiter said they were selling 'em like hotcakes. Not for us!
After dinner, we were on our way to go to a Haunted House for Lisa's birthday, but had to stop at Walgreen's to get Mitch and I some real shoes (we only had flip flops). It took us thirty minutes to find the store, find the right shoes, and find the right size (it's tough to find shoes big enough to fit Mitch's size 13 foot in Walgreen's). After all that work and tons of laughs, we pulled up to the Haunted House to find a mile long line full of teenagers. We took one look and turned right back around, running after Gary in the car in our new sneaks. We ended up going to a movie with Mitch and I sportin' our stylin new kicks or our 'house shoes' as one Texan called them. My shoes are really nice cause you can't really tell which is the left and which is the right foot so if you accidentally put them on the wrong feet, nobody will know.
We had so much fun with Mitch's parents and we were sad to see them go. Some of our favorite memories were lounging at the pool, playing horseshoes, staying up late chatting, cheering at the game, getting lost on the crazy Fort Worth roads, and laughing till it hurt. Thanks so much for the fun trip!
