UT Trip Pt 2

After saying goodbye to missionary boy, we headed over to my family's house for some quality time. My brother came down from SLC and my sister and her family came into town from Pocatello. All said we had 7 adults, 3 kids, 2 dogs, and a grumpy old cat:
Note Iggy Wiggy's puffed tail and aggressive stance. He was letting the dogs outside know who is the alpha cat.
My nephew Richie, who was also practicing his mean and scary tyrannosaurus rex pose.
Mariah, on the other hand was all girl. Look how beautiful we are after she made us up with the 'make-up' Hannah and Tyler gave her for Christmas.
And then there is Ariel... yep, just like the mermaid, except instead of a crab for a friend she has found a frog. Maybe in a few years he will turn into a prince :)
Tyler is always a big hit with the kidlings. Probably because he is a human jungle gym who can carry all of them at the same time. First game was to have Ty-eh drag all three of them around the kitchen while they clung to his legs. Second time he just threw them on like sacks of potatoes.
So, all of my life I have been told I look nothing like my family. After closely examining these pictures, I am inclined to agree. I keep waiting for my parents to tell me I'm adopted. Sure you don't have something to fess up guys?

And what is Christmas without the traditional cookie making and frosting. Good thing we had such fantastic help!

Throw in a little Spiderman....

And another pose of his royal highness trying to ignore the chaos around him....

and its CHRISTMAS AT THE RAUNS! Love you and miss you all!!!

Trip to UT: Part 1

Here is Tyler at the airport waiting for our flight. As many of you already know, Tyler HATES to fly, and was not thrilled with me for taking a picture of him at this given moment. Notice the multiple layers of clothing he has on. Good thing because when we got there we had to drive in this:


yep. total blizzard. guess i don't really miss UT so much after all.







So why brave the cold and snow? So we could see Rhett, youngest of the brotherhood off on his mission to St. Louis, Missouri:














I have known Rhett since he was 10!! The boy was 11 when we got married. Eeek! Starting to get inkling of what getting older feels like (kicking and screaming commences).

We'll miss you, Rhett!

Final Marathon

Behavior                          17 pages

Practice                              9 pages

Research                          15 pages

Substance Abuse           12.5 pages

GRAND TOTAL             53.5 pages    

TOTAL TIME:  2 Weeks

In addition:

Group Paper                    12 pages

Powerpoint                      10 minutes 

Mid-Year Evaluation

i'm getting tired just typing this...  so glad to be done!

25 ways to avoid writing papers:

1. sleep in
2. do the dishes
3. make the bed
4. make pumpkin pies from leftover thanksgiving ingredients.
5. watch online tv shows
6. play spider solitare
7. reorganize school books and papers
8. IM your husband
9. make curry for lunch
10. go to the gym
11. take a long bath
12. pay bills
13. call your friend to talk about how she is writing her paper
14. stare hopelessly at your blank screen for 5 minutes before deciding to go get a snack
15. check for "DING" travel specials
16. play mine sweeper
17. check friend's blogs (usually multiple times)
18. make chocolate chip cookies
19. call another friend
20. engage your husband in a long conversation on a topic of his choice
21. create personal blog entries.
22. do laundry
23. take a really long time to decide what to wear to church
24. plan your vacation
25. sob hysterically

signs that i am stressed:

i pay for parking this morning and walk away with the dashboard ticket in my hand. didn't even notice until my friend said, "isn't that supposed to be in your car?" we are in the classroom at this point, so i drop off my stuff, tell the teacher and am walking out the door to get to my car. as i am exiting, i hear my name, and another friend asks, "aren't you going to need your keys to get into your car?" yep... left them on the desk with all my stuff.

later that same day... i go into a different class and the teacher begins explaining the final assignment. she has the paper divided into "chapters." goes on for some length about chapter 5. not 10 minutes later, she is into her lecture, and says how we really should go home and do chapter 5 using what we are talking about, and i, being thoroughly confused, raise my hand and ask what book the chapter is in.

even later that same day... i got to my car which is parked in what ty calls "launch position." i think, oh good, i don't have to back my car out of the space, and immediately put my car in reverse and almost hit the person behind me.

YAY! It is now officially the Christmas season. We decorated our apartment yesterday, and it is so nice to have all our decorations out around us.


Tyler and I started a tradition our first year of marriage that we would choose one Christmas ornament together to represent something from our year together. This is quickly becoming my favorite tradition. I love that we have a little something to represent each year of our lives together and that eventually we will have enough ornaments to decorate an entire tree full our family memories. Here they are displayed on a wreath on our wall:

1. Beauty and the Beast. Tyler had surprised me with tickets to go see the play at the Capitol Theater in Utah for my birthday. He planned a great date with dinner and the performance. Because we were poor college students in our first year of marriage, it was a very big deal to do something this 'expensive.' I love being reminded how far we have come and all the firsts that happened that year.
2. Moose. He represents our trip to Yellowstone. It is the first (and I think last time) I have gotten Tyler to camp with me. Hmmm... he definitely owes me another trip!
3. Our house (sniff, sniff). Yep, we bought a house in 2002 and sold it a few years later so we could come here to sunny Cali and live in a lovely 2-bedroom apartment.
4. Trolley car. We took a road trip to San Francisco. This may not sound that huge, but it was a very big deal for us because it was the first time we took a "big" vacation by ourselves. We stopped for a few days in Sacramento and saw Les Miserables, and then spend four more days in S.F. wandering around the piers, Alcatraz, and the natural history museum when it got rainy!
5. The Utah Shakespeare Festival. We spend three days seeing plays and going to lectures. How cultured is that. :)
6. Spiderman. How much this little character represents. It was because of Spidey that our lives got turned upside down. Spiderman was Tyler's dream job, and I am so proud of how well he did (look for his name in the credits AND he is mentioned in the director's commentary). We spent 8 months living in two different states, ultimately moving to LA. We are so glad we did!
7. USC. Graduate school. Need I say more?
8. We haven't decided on this year's ornament, but I will post a picture as soon as we get it.

MERRY CHRISTMAS SEASON!

so last night i dreamed that germs (viruses, bacteria, etc.) figured out a way to take human form and were living next door to me. i was the only one to know what they really were, and their evil plot to take over the world, so, of course, they were trying to kill me.

analysis, anyone?