Wednesday

I don't have much to write- but I need a break before I write my lesson plans for the sub that i'm having tomorrow. I can't tell you how much I hate writing lesson plans for a sub. Really... I just hate having a sub! We are having a department meeting during the first half of the day and so I have to get someone else to teach my classes. Lame. 10 times out of 10 I would prefer to meet after school than have to get a sub for my classes. Bah. Oh well. (Besides, they aren't even feeding us lunch. Double Lame.)

Have I ever mentioned how much I love Wednesdays? I don't know why - but I do. A lot. Hence the ever-so-often blog posts dedicated to them. Today has been a good day, but crazy. My foods class cooked today - and instead of having them all make one thing, I had them all make different things and then potluck it up at the front for a little Halloween party. Can you say insane? Yes, it was. And yes, I am. I had on the agenda for me to wake up extra early so that I could get to school extra early so I could be organized and prepared for my extra intense foods class today. But after being at the school last night until 7, shopping for Foods lab supplies until 9:30, and doing wedding announcements until midnight - I was plum tuckered out! I didn't get out of bed until 6:50. I was planning to be at the school at 6:45. It takes me 15 minutes to drive to my school. I rolled in around 7:20 (I am supposed to be there at 7:15 on an average day.) Moral of the story, I was late. Things were a little unorganized (which I hate) - but we survived... even if our chocolate frosting did not. (I had a student put the entire can of evaporated milk into the frosting mixture instead of the 5 tablespoons like the recipe called for. Oh well.)

I think that I need to drink more water. I've been feeling really dehydrated. I keep a water bottle on my desk and refill it a couple of times a day... but I don't think it's cutting it. I've been trying to be more healthy lately - and that includes staying hydrated. In fact for lunch today I ate carrots, red peppers, and celery that were leftover from the "Ghouls Veggie Delight Tray" this morning. However, I dipped smothered them in a buttermilk ranch dip and paired them with six oreo cookies. I'm such a rock star example for my nutrition students.

I love my prep period. I only have a free period every other day and it is glorious! I can clean my room, grade papers, and organize lessons (and blog and blogstalk and eat oreo cookies) all without having any student distractions and with the sun shining through my window. I am on my prep period now, and honestly - I don't know if I could have made it through another class today. It's so nice to be able to sit and rest. Its amazing how teaching an 85 minute class seems like it will take forever. But a measly 85 minute prep period seems to fly by! Much like this one is doing. I really must get back to writing my lesson plans.

Wednesday must mean random thoughts of Shantel. But it's nice to be able to organize some of the things that I have been thinking about today and get them written down.

Hope you have a wonderful Wednesday!

{Engagement/Bridal Pictures}

Remember, THIS post a while ago? Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about {the wedding series}, I've just been busy. However, I am excited to post about this today. I just happened to be looking through all of my bridal pictures yesterday and was feeling all sorts of nostalgic.  And so, without further ado: here are some of my most favorite pictures of David and I.

Our engagements were taken on 25th street in Ogden by the amazing Mindy Black. We were so pleased with them. I picked out a few of them that I'm not sure if I've posted on here before. I love to look at them because they represent such a fun time of our relationship. I can't help but smile as I look through them.  

Our Bridals were also taken by Mindy Black. I absolutely couldn't love them any more. They capture how much fun we have with each other and how in love we are. In addition - I absolutely love my dress (Which is another post in this wedding series - all on it's own.) and I love looking at how handsome David is. It all just makes me so happy. (Thanks for humoring me. I know this is a post of just a bunch of pictures, but I love them and they bring such joy to my life.)

And that, my friends, is it! I love looking through these pictures and I am so glad that David came with me for the bridals. It was so nice to be able to spend so much time getting so many pictures taken of us without all of the stress of the wedding day. I loved it!

Some things...

Here are some things that have been going on in the Peaden Household lately...

• David and I were in charge of a booth at our wards "Fall Festival" last night. We haven't had the greatest time getting to know people in our ward - and although neither of us were SUPER excited for it, it was really fun and good to be able to get to know people in a more casual setting.
  
• David got the new Wii game, Donkey Kong, for his birthday. (Thanks to the recommendation of my little sister Jenna.) We love it! Although we don't play on our Wii very often, we do enjoy it and are really excited to have this new game to play.
  
• I got the flu shot on Thursday and it didn't make me any sicker than I already was, which I am very pleased about. However, my arm is still a little sore.
  
• David has been doing a lot of traveling with his job lately. This entails leaving me for several days at a time to fly to remote places like "Kemmerer" and "Beaver" and "Las Vegas" to work with clients there. The end result is a not-very-happy Shantel. However... he is home now and won't be leaving me again for several weeks.
  
• When David was on a work trip in Phoenix he was able to attend an Arizona Diamondbacks game. The client has a really nice suite so he was able to sit in luxury, eat lots of food, pick out a Diamondbacks hat and really enjoy the game. (And miss his wife immensely... i'm sure.)
   
• I've had a terrible head cold for the past several weeks. I have this terrible dislike of all-things doctor but finally went in to make sure it wasn't a sinus infection or bronchitis or something. Happily, it's just what I thought it was... a head cold. However, I count the trip as a success considering that I didn't leave the doctors office in tears. (This happens on a regular basis. When I called my mom to tell her about my success story, she said quote: "My little girl is growing up!" I suppose it's true. It's not as acceptable for a grown woman to start crying everytime she has to go to the doctor..)
   
•   David completely rocked his first two CPA exams. We are so excited. With only two more to go, the two hours a night he spends studying is starting to feel like it may end... someday.
  
• McDonalds is doing it's Monopoly game lately. Subway is doing it's ANYtober promotion. I don't know why - but these types of things totally suck us in. What can I say? Marketing really works!
  
• This week is my fall break - which means that I get Thursday and Friday off from school. I plan to clean my bedroom, do the dishes, clean the bathroom, clean the second bedroom, and vacuum. All in that order. Hooray for cleaning vacations!
  
• Our car started making a really weird noise on Monday, and by Tuesday afternoon I decided we really needed to get it into a shop.  Of course, when they drove it on Wednesday and Thursday they couldn't hear any noise. I picked it up Thursday afternoon and less than five minutes after I started driving it - the noise started again. I was pretty upset. However, it seems to have died down a little bit and I am just hoping that it was something to do with the change in weather and won't end up with me stranded on the side of the road somewhere.
  
• In other car news: Last weekend, David and my dad replaced the serpentine belt in our blue Accent. The people at Jiffy Lube had mentioned needing to get it replaced, so I had my dad look at it - and he said it's the worst worn serpentine belt he's ever seen. Thank goodness for small blessings and being able to get it replaced before it snapped!

Birthday Boy

Tuesday was David's birthday - and it was awesome! I am so lucky to have such a genuine and happy person as my husband. I'm pretty sure that I could have given David a package socks and he would have been happy - but I really do think that he enjoyed the things that I selected to celebrate his big day.

Usually these birthday posts get pretty long and sappy (like here and here.) They are usually detailed descriptions of how we celebrated complete with pictures of each step. However, this year I wasn't feeling very well and neglected to take even a single picture! I've been fighting a serious head cold - and just developed a pretty nasty cough - so picture taking hasn't been at the forefront of my mind.

Regardless of my lack of photo skills, I still wanted to do a little shout-out to my sweet husband David, I really couldn't ask for anyone better suited to me. So, here are some of the little-known random little things that I love about David.

-- I love eating hamburgers from McDonalds together. It always makes my day when you give me your pickles before we start eating... Mmmmm.

--I love that our dates consist of thing like: going to bridal fairs to scope out what is going on in the wedding industry, attending open houses for big home builders like ivory homes and dreaming about owning a house, and wandering aimlessly around the grocery store trying to balance our grocery budget with our intense desire to buy lots of Pizza Snacks and Dr. Pepper.

--I love that the first thing you whisper to me in the morning is "I love you" - even before you have completely woken up.

--I love that the only thing I have to do to hint that I want popcorn is to pull out our popcorn maker and leave it on the counter. After that it isn't a matter of "if" we will make popcorn but "when."

--I love that you always take my side when I am upset about something. (Even if it is something silly.)

--I love that whenever I am sick you suggest taking some Powerade to drink during the day. I always think that it won't make a difference, but it ALWAYS makes me feel better.

--I love that it is just understood that before we go to bed, I will lay down on your lap and you will catch up on your sports scores of the day.

--I love that you laugh at my nerdy jokes, and that you continually make your own nerdy jokes. Other people would just stare at us like we are idiots, but I love how often you make me laugh.


I actually had a really hard time finding ways to word the things that I love most about David, everything is so small - it seems silly to try to talk about them. However, my life is made so much better because of the small things that David brings into it.

Happy Birthday my darling boy!

Lies

I am terrible at keeping secrets. I don't know that i've always been terrible at it- but I do know that I definitely am now. When I try to keep a secret, it starts welling up inside me until I feel like I'm going to burst and that anyone looking at me MUST know that I'm lying because they can see the secret trying to get out. And so, to try to cover my tracks I start making up more and more lies until I am rambling about things that don't even relate to the topic - trying to crowd out any thought that I might not be telling the truth. It is a sight-to-see, I can promise you that.

I tell you this now, because David's birthday is coming up next week! This weekend marks the start of his "Birthday Week." I love celebrating birthdays and I especially love celebrating David's birthday. However, the problems start as I start to buy him presents. I used to try to keep it a secret that I was going shopping from him and would make up all sorts of "I can't let you have the car today because I need to give my friend a ride somewhere. -- Oh, what friend? Just my friend that you don't know - that I know from school, but you shouldn't worry about it because you don't know her. And also I will probably have to fill up with gas so it might take me a while. And maybe I will go grocery shopping? Wait, you want to come with me? No, I think that I should go by myself - just like a little trip. Just for some makeup or something. Yeah some makeup. You don't want to come with me I promise." Whew. Doesn't that just make you feel out of breath reading it? Yeah - try making it up on the spot.

I've started to realize that I need to just not try to keep secrets from David. Hence the "Attention David: You are hereby officially OUTLAWED from this room. Sincerely, The Management" sign hanging on the door of our second bedroom. Instead of trying to hide the fact that I went shopping - I threatened to change the Mint password unless he promised not to check where i've been spending money and banished him from the room where I am storing his gifts until I can get them wrapped.

Even with those adjustments - I am so excited for the things that I am putting together for his birthday that I can barely stand it. Just don't ask me about them - because I can't tell you until after his birthday.

It's a secret.

(p.s. Does anyone feel me on this? Do you have some magic cure to stop turning into a pathological liar everytime a birthday rolls around? Maybe I should practice my "lying" face in the mirror.)