A Real Disney Princess!

Sadly for you all, I did not take a video camera to church today, and even if I had, it would not have done justice at all to Heather. She sang a beautiful solo for Sacrament meeting today. The song is called "Greater Love" (thanks, Sarena, for providing the music). And for those who have not heard Heather sing before, she has an incredible voice. In fact, everyone that we saw in church afterward commented on how well she sang. She was such a big hit that in Sunday School, people said that she sounded like Belle from Beauty and the Beast (we weren't in Sunday School since our calling is in the Primary, but other people told us afterward). Now I think this is a very fitting comment in many respects--Heather is not only gorgeous and very intelligent, but she also has a voice that even the best songbirds envy. I've always thought I make a decent Beast, too. Just ask Mom about my stubborn streak or Alyson about my hairy chest--all very beast-esque. Anyway, I'm just thrilled about being married to a real-life Disney Princess!
As for the pictures, some of you might know how Heather has been searching for a cute belt like this for quite some time. Last spring while we were taking a short vacation in Chicago with Heather's parents, she finally found one. Since then, she's been on a very diligent hunt to find appropriate outfits and shirts that would go well with the belt. Finally, a few weekends ago, we found a few. So we just wanted to show you at least one of the matching outfits and say thanks for all your help and prayers; it obviously payed off!

The 100th Day of School

Yes- the day that every kindergartener dreams of finally arrived--- the 100th Day of School! This is such a monumental occasion that some of the children were convinced that after the 100th day of school, they would need to go to 1st grade. The concept of 100 is quite difficult for 5 and 6 year olds to grasp- so I dressed up as a "100" year old woman to help the kids envision what 100 years might do to a person. The kids were actually kind of scared of me at first, in fact my Emi started crying and told me she didn't like the voice I was using (I was doing an old woman voice). I explained to her that I was doing a different voice like I do for our puppets and she seemed a little less nervous.

By the end of the day, all the kids loved how I was old and they wanted to be old too; although, it took me a while to convince them that everybody grows up, and someday they will be old too (hopefully). To illustrate this, the kids drew pictures of what they look like now and what they will look like at 100. Then, I let several of them, who wanted to, put on makeup with white powder in their hair so they could look old. We also got to spend time sorting and counting groups of 100 things and then we made fruit loop necklaces with 100 fruit loops on each one. The kids had a blast, even Emi asked me if I could do the voice more. Actually, everybody in the whole school got a kick out of my costume.

Disney World

In the beginning of February, I joined Laura and Josh on their family vacation to Disney World and we had a blast. Sadly, Todd wasn't able to come because of work obligations, but my mom, dad and little sis Jenny all did get to come too. We had so much fun going on rides, running around with three strollers, and even eating breakfast with Cinderella- the highlight of that breakfast of course was meeting the best princess Sleeping Beauty. All the kids held up surprisingly well considering we were going going going each day, and Disney World was made all the more fun by seeing their fun reactions to the sights and rides. It was a short trip for me, but I have missed my family a lot lately and it was so nice to be near a lot of them, especially in such a fun atmostphere.

Decorations and Fondue

Today was a big day ... we finally put up all the decorations that we've been collecting over the past 5 months! A few weeks back, Sarena, Adam, and the kids came into town for Meagan's wedding, and while they were here, Sarena and Makenzie helped Heather get some final touches for our family room and dining room walls. Sarena even showed Heather how to make a wreath. She was in girly heaven. Well, a few busy weeks passed, and then we both had some more time. So Heather created a beautiful wreath, we played around with a few different ways of putting things up, and then today we hung everything. Heather did an incredible job. Actually, she had so much fun doing this, that she's thinking about talking to Tyson about setting up an interior decorating company. I know you're tempted, Tys! Here are some pics of the finished product, although it's best to see it in person.



This weekend was big for another reason, too. We decided to have a two-course fondue dinner to celebrate Valentine's Day this year. We bought an authentic cheese fondue packet from Switzerland and a chocolate fondue mix, and they were delicious. The cheese fondue was flavored with gorgonzola and it was amazing! We highly recommend it, especially with a cut-up baguette, potatoes, and sliced apples. For those who don't know, here's a little tip about the chocolate fondue. You might think that adding heavy cream to melted chocolate would make it creamier, but you'd be wrong. Instead, it turns out that adding heavy cream to a chocolate fondue just turns the fondue into a light mousse that hardens when microwaved. It was not ideal for strawberry-dipping, but it tasted good, and that's important.

Todd's Birthday

So not only did the federal government decide to take my birthday off, but I also had Sarena and Adam and kids all come down to celebrate my big day. People just seem to go crazy over my birthday; I don't know what it is! All I can say is that I love you, too, guys.
Seriously, I had a great birthday, so thanks to everyone for their calls, gifts, thoughts, and everything else. You guys are awesome. Thanks especially to Zack and Ashley for singing so beautifully for me, to Hallie and Jack for their amazing drawings, and to Makenzie, Trevor, Jared, and Karinn for breakfast.
The day started out perfect; Adam and I went to the Stake Center for a couple of hours of bball. Then I arrived home to some delicious breakfast. But it didn't end there; Sarena and Heather went out for a few hours to get some decorations for our house. (It looks awesome, by the way. We'll put up pictures when we can). Adam, the boys, Karinn, and I spent the same time at the Space and Flight museum out here in Dulles. We saw the first space shuttle ever built (aptly named the Enterprise, of course) and the old CIA spy plane, the Blackbird, which is the world's fastest plane. Very cool. And then for dinner, Heather and I ordered some Chinese food. So all in all, great day! Can't wait for next year.

A Cricket in Time Square...or our Home?

The other night we had an unusual experience in our little home. It all started around 3 or 4 in the morning. As with all smoke detectors, ours picked the whee hours of the morning to run out of batteries and start making a "chirp, chirp" sound. I slept through it, but it woke Heather up. She couldn't sleep with all that chirping. Around 6am, she'd had enough and decided to go investigate. This is where I woke up. My first sight was of Heather cautiously tip-toeing into our bathroom.
"What are you doing, honey?" I asked.
"I'm looking for the cricket!" she whispered back.
I couldn't help but chuckle as I responded that it was not a cricket making that noise but the smoke detector. Well, she didn't believe me and so continued searching the apartment looking for that darn cricket, which included spending a few minutes in the frigid air on the deck listening for its chirping. I went back to sleep. After about 45 minutes later, she did too.
In the end, it was a learning experience for her. In her defense, she was still shrugging off her sleepiness. But for all you others out there, the moral is that unless you live in Texas, if a persistant chirping noise wakes you up in the middle of the night, it's more likely than not just from low batteries in your smoke detector.