Nauvoo, the City Beautiful

Last weekend, Dan and I went to Nauvoo with some friends from church. We had a great time... we got to see the pageant, visit some of the restored houses, eat at the smorgasbord, and somehow we found time to relax in the AIR CONDITIONING!

The most wonderful thing... we got to see and go inside the temple we were married at.
Happy 3 1/2 year Anniversary to us! (Well, on August 11th)

My Hero(es)

Ever since I was a little girl, my dad has been my hero. He was/is the best... painted our nails, fixed our bikes, built us the coolest pioneer house and swing set, took piano lessons so he could help us girls play piano, took us for car rides, cut down a HUGE Christmas Tree every year and decorated it with all of our ornaments ... He taught us things... like how to check our oil, vacuum our bedroom (taking a wood brush to the edges to get all of the dirt/dust), how to paint with his cool car paint tools at work, even how to drive a car at age 12- even if it was in the middle of a field. The list could go on and on...

This weekend Dan and I took a road trip with some friends to Nauvoo Illinois. We were on our way there and I really wanted some cheese and crackers, which was not cut yet. I told Dan how my dad ALWAYS had his big pocket knife with him, and we would cut cheese, tomatoes, fruit, everything in the car as we traveled. Anything we needed. At that moment, Dan dug in his pocket and found his knife just like it (that my dad gave him for Christmas). IT WAS SO GREAT!!! I knew I had married THE MAN!!! (Of course I knew this long ago... but at this moment I just knew he is the ONLY ONE FOR ME!!!)

Now, no one will ever replace my dad. But, Dan sure does a good job of filling in the holes when my dad is not around. He fixes things, carries the heavy things wherever I need them, helps with the dishes and the laundry, puts up with my insanities, the noise in the morning, everything. He is the best. :)

Note Dan's cool Hawiian Shirt from Michelle & Scott, he just happened to wear it this day... It made me smile. :)

Bowling

We went bowling last week with 4 and 5 year olds. Kids are hilarious!!! Of course I don't catch these on video, but these are my favorites...

The little boy that forgets what lane we bowl on... we are on 19, he wanders down to 22!!! I run after him. This is the same boy who bowls my first ball in the 10th frame, thank goodness for bumpers!

The little girl who walked up to the lane, holding the ball in a bear hug at her chest. She drops the ball and it slowly, slowly, slowly makes it down to the pins.

And then we have the shot-putter... One of the stronger boys takes the ball and literally throws the ball OVERHAND down the lane. Quite a THUD.

The best part... no smashed toes, no broken fingers, and the kids really loved it. If you have a 4 year old (or even a 3 year old) I highly recommend planning a bowling night- it is a blast.

I am a teacher and any pictures I take can be used only for school use, but this video is pretty cute. (Shhhhhh, don't tell)


Yes, it would have been much better if he had gotten a spare... but still pretty entertaining.

I had to write subtitles because I don't know how to edit the sound- I say the child's name a couple too many times. I will know for next time.

Happy 4th of July (a little late...)

Our day off together... What to do, what to do...Dan started his day nice and early (he left our house by 5:30 AM) to meet up with my dad and his friend Dan to go fishing. Me... I slept in until 9 AM, which is VERY good for me. I woke up, caught up on a little TV, ate a little breakfast, and went to lie down back in bed, until I got a great idea!
Dan was going to be fishing alone at about 10 AM when the other guys went home to be with their family, so I called Dan and asked him if he wanted me for a fishing buddy. Expecting an "I'm ok, I'll just be out a little longer," he said "That would be great, when can you be here?" I was SO excited! I made it out to the little lake house and climbed on the boat and enjoyed 2 hours of relaxing in the sun, fishing my little heart out-all without touching a worm or a fish. I caught at least 7-8 fish, all of them were too little to keep though. As you can see, Dan caught the big fish of the day- 26 inch Northern (the other Dan caught a 25 inch, but apparently they have to be 26 inches to keep.) They also caught some little perch and blue gill. We enjoyed our fish for a memorable 4th of July feast!
I guess we were anti festive and did not attend a parade, but we did watch the fireworks at a friends house. It was a wonderful, relaxing day. I love holidays.

We Wii???

2008 brought about one goal, that I did just because "everyone else was doing it" at work- weight loss. I just wanted to be healthier, make better eating choices rather than my usual chocolate chip cookie, mini candybar in the afternoon, and ice cream at night. To set a goal, I said "I want to lose 10 lbs" by whenever... no end date.

January 2008- We started Weigh-in Wednesdays at work, along with a detailed food journal to write down every little bite of food we eat... Not as easy as it sounds. February/March 2008- Decided to add working out to the schedule: 2 morning bike rides (as I watched episodes of the Biggest Loser from our DVR) April- I joined an ultimate frisbee league with Dan! It was only 6 weeks long, but I loved it! For about 3 weeks I thought I was in shape and decided to go on a run once a week- 1.8 miles took me over 20 minutes (I blame the hill, but still pretty pathetic)
May 21st, Release day of Wii Fit- I find myself at the local Walmart at 6 AM looking for the Wii Fit. Luckily they had one! I was so excited! So excited, that I hid it in my car (so no one would try to steal it from my back seat) as I worked all day, taught piano all night. 8 PM, Dan & I finally got it going. :) I LOVE, I LOVE!
To date: I have lost 20 lbs- CRAZY- and I attribute it all to my Wii Fit. The morning bike rides and even once a week jogs have been replaced with a good old body test, light aerobic workout, and some strength training or Yoga.

Friends that have dared to try (from left to right) Dan Hatch, Manda, Dan, Me (in the red), Marcia, Diane (Dan's mom), and Tara HatchThis is my FAVORITE work out- the Advanced Aerobics. It's a 5 minute routine that shows me and all of my mii friends on stage for an audience to watch! It's great!

If you ever want to try it out, let me know. We will Wii!

Summer Begins...

Happy Summer! I'm sure everyone is excited about the warmer weather, the sun staying out late, summer vacations, and all of the other wonderful things summer brings.

In Wisconsin, it rains.

Marcia's graduation party was rained out. The party moved inside.
Some found something to do outside.

Dan & my cousin Jeff diving for a frisbee... nobody got it.

The youth at the party...

Even with all the rain, the party was a BLAST! Luckily, our basement was dry when we got home.
I hope the rest of you Wisconsinites are dry too! Hang in there for just a couple more days.

What to do with empty space...

As summer neared, I was thinking of all of these great things we could do with our little back porch. I finally decided we should invest in a nice storage bench so we could store all of our lawn mowing shoes, odds & ends, sporting equipment, and have a place to sit if we needed. That was the day I came home and Dan had bought me something thoughtful.

He went to Lowe's a couple days before for some work stuff and saw this swinging chair. He took the measurements, came home and measured between our two doors, decided it would fit with both doors open, and then went back and bought it. He even set it up on his Sunday afternoon while I was at a presidency meeting (I think I even told the ladies at the meeting he was probably home playing video games... way to give him credit.)

Well, this is my favorite way to spend just a couple minutes of down time. Last night we read the newspaper together and just talked. It was just cooling down from a warm day and it was SO relaxing.

Sometimes Dan's ideas turn out to be my favorite things. And the tennis shoes and other crap that gets left out- oh well!