Fun Fall Activities!

So I have come to the conclusion that I love fall. A lot! It is truly a great time of year! Here are some things that I love about Fall:

-The crisp air
-The colorful leaves everywhere, especially in the canyons!
- Fall/Winter Clothes. I love love love layers and sweaters and boots!
-Extra blankets on the bed
- Hot chocolate and red box movies are a must in our house
- Fall scented candles (pumkin spice!)
- Pumpkin cookies
-Utah's love for Halloween. There is so much to do! (Haunted Forest, Haunted Houses, Corn Mazes)
- The lights on the SLC temple go up
-Coming home and putting on PJ's and snuggly socks!
- Refreshing walks in the afternoon
-All the feelings that come with fall!
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY....
My birthday (Thanksgiving) and Christmas are JUST around the CORNER!

Fall Days....

After the Saturday sessions of General Conference, we decided to grab some hot chocolate from the gas station (Abuelitas!) and drive up to Bridal Veil Falls to enjoy the lovely views. It was chilly, and fabulous!

Somebody call 911...!

Oh goodness. Let me tell you a little story about illness. It is NO fun. Devin and I recently had a visit from Mr. Flu. Or Mr. H1N1. We haven't heard back from the Dr. yet to confirm. Okay...here is what happened....

On Monday while Devin and I were at work, I looked at him and said, "In the whole time that you have worked here, you never have called in sick, huh?" He agreed. Our jobs are not ones we can just 'call in sick' to. We deal with lives, not french fries. If we are not at work the whole world gets tipped upside down. YES PEOPLE, we ARE that important! :) Devin's boss, Annabelle, commented that his attendance is why she loves him so. 

Tuesday rolls around. Alarm goes off. Devin whines. Not like him. He says, "My throat hurts soooo bad! I can't go to work, I just can't!" I sit up to talk to him, and am smacked in the stomach with nausea. I quickly lay back down and think crap. Now that you mention it, my throat hurts too! And I think I'm gonna......you know the rest.

One trip to the toilet and some mouth wash later, I decide its time to call for some substitutes. We need to rest a little bit!

I go out to lay on the couch, my favorite location when ill. I watch the Today show, which reminds me of Christmas time, since that is the only time I can ever watch it. I fall asleep but am awakened by a banging on the wall. I go into the bedroom and Devin is convulsing. Like really shaking. I take his temperature and its 103 DEGREES! He is burning up! I end up taking him to insta-care. He doesn't look so hot...well, he's hot, but he's shaking, so he looks cold. Ya know?

We arrive to insta-care and some large lady at the desk is taking her sweet time talking about Hawaii with another patient. ?(Ok- we have a contagious person here who is going to infect you if you don't hustle...! ) After Devin sits down and I put a mask on him, things get moving. He gets called back and while we are visiting with the Dr, things get worse. He ends up vomiting while I tell his symptoms. Yuck. Add that one to the list! 

The Dr. looks worried. Then tells us what I thought all along. "Well, I want to tell you it doesn't appear to be seasonal flu. He has no cough, or congestion, nor a stuffy nose. I'm sure you have heard of H1N1. It appears that this may be that." 

 

Whoa Whoa Whoa! Hold the train up. We can't have SWINE FLU! It's not possible!

"Well, he continues, it may also be mono...."

"Oh good, I hope its that!" Says Devin.

"Umm...mono is worse, Devin!" I say. "You could be sick for months!"

"oh..."

"Well," says the Dr, "do you have good insurance?"

"yesss..."

"Okay, I am giving you both a prescription for tamiflu, and Devin will get a naproxin shot in his butt. That will make him feel better! Also, don't go to work or school for a few days. Both of you."

"Oh....okay...." I reply, and he leaves to get the goods.

Well, after we leave the hospital, I head over to Smiths to fill the prescriptions. I wander around to get sick people food. You know, popsicles, jello, soup,powerade.

I decide to call my family to let them know what has happened. They make some pig kissing jokes, and then my dad proceeds to tell me that he just got back from the hospital with my dear mother, who was taken there via ambulance due to what they suspected was a stroke. (Wait-WHAT!?!?) He goes on to tell me that for the last 2 months my dear mother has not been taking her blood pressure medicine- something she has needed almost her whole life. He said she is back on it and hopefully learned her lesson. Umm. Ok?

I return to the pharmacy to pick up the goods. The cashier swipes the meds and I watch with big eyes the numbers that pop up on the register. After she hits enter, the total comes up. I don't believe it. Then I hear her say, "$152.78" 

WHAT!?!?!?!

"Did you get my insurance, I have insurance!"

"Yes ma'am, but these kind of pills are in such demand the drug companies can hike the prices up." Crap. That is a lot of money. 

I'm sure it was all Obama's fault. And a democrat would blame it on my pal, George Double-ya Bush.

Anyways. I think- Dang. What a crappy day.  

Ohhh it gets better. 

The next day of our sickness. I get on Facebook to see all of these status updates about how Vandenberg Air Force Base is on fire. Ummm. My parents house is on the edge of that field. Like 3 miles away. We have been evacuated before because of fires. My sisters have terrible life threatening Asthma. Time to call home again. Find out that they can see it coming and its smoky. Sisters all left to go into town so they can breathe. Kristen just ran out of her inhaler. Will keep me posted. Lovely. 

Get updates throughout the night. Feeling panicky. Nauseous. Get sick again. Remember that I scheduled a meeting for the next day after school and did none of the paperwork. Email everyone to cancel. Try and breathe. Devin needs a quesadilla. How convenient, Dev!

Fall asleep at 8pm, up at 5. No work for me. Call for another sub.

OH YEA! And I got a call from Geico saying we had to bring our car to Sandy at 10:40, about 30 min away, to pick up a rental and get it repaired, after another teacher I work with bashed our back end in. Genius. Thank goodness we had surveillance, and the decided to pay.

To make the sicky days worse, they give us a Dodge Callibur to drive for the next week. I think feel sick again. Had lunch with the in-laws. Feeling good. Relaxed the rest of the day. Devin is feeling good, too.

Wake up today, feeling good. Come to work. Walk in to a banner saying how much they missed me, balloons, and a pile of cards. Its good to be back!

I just wanted to say...that people who just gush and talk about how amazing and wonderful life is EVERY day....are usually full of crap! :)

Okay, so I guess I NEED to update this thing. Lets see, what is new...

1. We are working two jobs a piece. Why? I'm still not sure. I am teaching and working at a group home in Spanish Fork, and Devin is still an aide, and working at the group home, AND going to school full time. What a stud!

2. My sister, Kristen, is coming to stay with us for a while starting on the 6th. If you have ever seen the size of my apt, this should be interesting to say the least. 

3. The school year is in full affect. Things are going well, and I am having NO behavior issues. Woohoo!

4. I love Devin, and he loves me. But that is not really new....

Jon minus Kate Plus 8??

                                     Tabloid Covers

Okay, so say what you want, but I am obsessed with Jon and Kate Plus 8. It's really quite sad. I fell in love with the show about 2 years ago, and I catch an episode almost daily. I don't know why. It's sick, I know.

So, amidst my adorning of "America's favorite family" the tabloids began coming out with some crazy things. Headlines accusing infidelity such as "Jon caught out with mystery woman!" "Kate and the bodyguard!" and now attacks such as "Kate Gosselin: Mom to Monster"

When all of this started coming into the light, I was beside myself! [Ask anyone who is close to me :) ] I was in denial! That is the best way to put it- I thought there is no possible way! They are a good christian family, with lots of love! I guess I was wrong. 

After falling victim to reading some of the tabloid rants and raves, I thought, "well...this makes a little bit of sense." After watching last nights season premiere, I listed to how Kate talked about her "job" and putting her kids first. If that were true, wouldn't she quit the show? Wouldn't she take a step back and say, "ok, we have sufficient for our needs? My kids are set? Lets be a family?" You would think so. You would hope so. I prayed so! But no. That is not the case. 

If the Gosselin's can not take a step back and re-prioritize their life and step out of the spot light, much to Jon's request, they can save their family.

Kate however, seems unwilling to do so. WHY!?

I looked at Devin last night and said, "there will never be anything that I won't sacrifice if our marriage was about to come to an end." I hope that we never get to that point, and I hope I will never be so greedily involved in something to prevent that. 

If you want my opinion, they need to stop the show. As much as I love those cute little kids, its time to call it quits folks, and focus on what really matters. 

We really..really... like iphoto...

So, a couple of weeks ago, Amy and Andrew were over as usual...and it was late...and this is the result...We only hang out with the most attractive people...you know me!
                                                           Amy has such Gorgeous eyes!
Devin says my smile can light up a room...
Amy gets prettier by the minute. Jealous!
People do say I have a dominant personality...

Aren't they so cute!?
We managed to take a trip to the moon!
And under the sea!
             BFF'S!

Thanks for looking! :)

Alohaaaaa

So, next Monday, June 1, we are off to Hawaii! We are so excited! Our friends, Blake and Becky, told us about this AWESOME deal on orbitz.com. We were able to get tickets and hotel for a week, for about $800.00! Yes...800.00. We are so exctied! What a wonderful way to spend our 1 year anniversary. I LOVE YOU, DEVIN! THANK YOU!

Easter time...

SO, this year Easter was kind of sad! We celebrated Easter on Saturday, with Devin's family. Everyone was there and it was nice to spend time with my nieces and nephews. We had a yummy ham dinner and the kids received some baskets from Grandma and Grandpa Hardman and Great Grandma and Grandpa Vineyard. It is so celebrating holidays with little ones. It makes it so much more exciting! We left before the official egg hunt started, because we were heading up north to Farmington to play some games with our good friends, Amy and Andrew. They were at Andrew's parents new house for Easter. Chad and Cindy, Blake and Becky were also there. (Chindy and Blecky) :) The girls played some fun card games and chatted while the guys golfed on the Wii. When the boys were done, we played "murder in the dark." The objective was to catch a murderer, obviously! We turned off all the lights in the basement and one person drew a paper that gave them the job of murderer. We all crawled on our hands and knees, in the pitch black dark, trying to avoid being "choked" by the assassin! I never got to be the murderer, but I did manage to get my arm banged up pretty bad. First, Blake rolled over me as I lay on the floor dying, and shortly after, Chad stepped on my arm. Both guys were attempting to oust the murderer by racing to the light switch and exclaiming that they know who the murderer is. Even though I was injured, it was a lot of fun! It's great having good friends who are at the same stage of life as you are. 

On Sunday, we went to church and got some nice reminders about the true meaning of Easter. I am so grateful for Christ's atonement and for the resurrection of our savior!!! The sad part came when we came home and napped for HOURS and ate pasta for dinner, followed by watching Twilight. Not very Easter-y! Amy and Andrew came by for games and brownies but it was sad not being with my family doing all those fun Easter things. Maybe next year we wil be in California, and perhaps with a little one to enjoy all the fun with! :)

We will however, be in California TOMORROW! I am so excited to see my family! 

GOSH that was a long post...hope you all care! :) 

Our internet has been down at home so I will post pictures soon!

We're rich!

Okay, not really. But, good news is, in about 1 hour, we will have sold Devin's 2007 Toyota Corolla to some friends of ours! This is great news for us! We have 2 cars, both 07's, and work less than a block from our home, and Devin rides the bus to school. We are happy to have some extra money to stash in savings. Hooray for provident living!

Picture Time!

April Fools Day

So, last year I tried to trick my class, and it went....not so good? This year was a different story!

First, we write in journals every morning. I give them some topics, and they scribble away! Yesterday I chose some interesting topics. They read:

1. Why do you love me? Why am I so great? Why do you cry when I'm not here?

2. Write a letter to Mary (she's my fabulous aide) and tell her how much you love her and what a fabulous person she is.

Fix: happie aprul foolz day! the furst to figure this out getz a treet!

We read through the prompts, and tell them to read the fixer on their own.

lots of writing and 45 min later I get responses like this:

"I love Mrs. Hardman becuase she is beutful and she is nice to me all the time and she love me and i love her she is my favrite teacher in the hole wurld she is nice and she takes us to honks if wur good. i think mrs. hardman rocks!" -Tommy

"Dear Hardman is pertty teacher mom and dad love you mrs hardman you are funun i sad mrs hardman not come to work or scool niec hardman wedding husbun devin fun and hims nice and cute. i love hardman. best friend hardman!" -Maria

So, maybe you didn't understand the words but all I know is I have wonderful kids who brighten my day and mean the world to me!!

On a funnier note, they did trick themselves! We decided to trick a student who went to the restroom. The kids hid and told me to change the clock so she would think she missed the bus. That prank flopped. Upon exiting their hiding spaces, one girl cried out, "oh no! look at the time! We are late!" This caused a FRENZY! They went absolutely nuts trying to get out to the bus. Once the got outside they were furious that the bus was gone. I calmly asked the kids if they remembered that I switched the clock per their request. The smiled, and turned around to go back to the room.... :)

My bad...

So I am an awful blogger. I don't know how to invite people to my blog, so like two people know it exists....I guess I should figure that out...

So Devin and I had a wonderful last 8 months....here is a quick recap

-Married June 6

- Spent many days in the hospital and at the doctor with mystery illness.

-I taught summer school while Dev worked in Park City

-I started working at Provo High School in August, and love it

- Halloween came and went, no big deal

-Diagnosed with Fibromyalgia

-Undiagnosed, diagnosed with two herniated discs in my back

- I had a fun birthday full of Twilight, Shopping, and SUSHI!

-Devin had a Pizza and video game filled birthday

-Christmas was in California

-New Years was quiet

-Devin left those idiots at the Park City, Marriott and now works at Provo High in the classroom I used to work at!

-Health is back on track

- I am now preparing to take the GRE and apply to Grad School.

Not too exciting but thats all I got! :)