Christmas Break 2011

Daniel and I definitely ended the 2011 year with a bang! On Friday the 23rd Dan and I drove down to my parents house. As a family we watched the ever-so-classic "The Year Without a Santa Claus" which is my Dad's favorite Christmas show. The following day was Christmas Eve and we spent the day mostly lounging about and unsuccessfully trying to break into unfinished homes. For my family's Christmas Eve gift we got "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" so we watched that.
Christmas Day was on a Sunday this year and I am so grateful I was able to see some of my old friends from my home ward! Before going to church though, we opened gifts. Some of the gifts we received include the following: Muppets Monopoly, Sherlock Holmes, a Guitar Stand, a Piano Bench, a Lady Bug Pillow Pet, Moses Prince of Egypt, and Joseph King of Dreams. I think the best gift we gave was to my brother, it was a Batman Snuggie! Around 2pm we called Hermana Wiese. It was great to talk to her again! She is doing well and is training in a Spanish area in Fresno. After the call, Dan and I drove to Taylorsville to visit his Gingell Grandparents. Before bed we watched the amazing Sherlock Holmes movie.
Monday afternoon Dan, Jake, and I took trax to downtown Salt Lake. We went to the Gateway, Temple Square, and we were able to take a tour of the Conference Center Roof! I have always wanted to do that!
Tuesday morning we packed up and went to Daniel's parent's house. One of Daniel's old roommates invited us to his wedding and we attended the sealing and festivities for their wedding day. It was great to see him again and he picked quite the beautiful, fun-loving bride!
Wednesday Mitch and Sarah came and picked us up early and we drove to Zion's National Park. It was definitely worth the $25 entrance fee! We hiked Canyon Overview Trail, the overlook to the Three Patriarchs, and Angel's Landing...well 2 of the 4 made it all the way. Mitch and Dan went to the top as I watched in a panic from the location where I felt I could go no farther without spazzing out and falling off the mountain! Thanks to Mitch and Sarah for a great time! After Zion's we we to St. George where the Daniel's family was staying in a condo.
Thursday morning those who could go went to the St. George Temple. It was SO Beautiful!!! All of the family then went golfing at a local golf course. We split into 3 teams and played a scramble. It was pretty fun! Our team consisted of : Hannah, Jake, Willis, Dan, and Myself. Sadly we did not win... :<
Friday we attempted to swim at an indoor pool...but alas it was not meant to be and the pool was closed. We sat in the hot tub instead. I have decided that it is more enjoyable to sit in a hot tub when it is 20 degrees outside and snowing than 50 degrees and sunny. Friday night we played the Newlywed Game with everyone in the family who is married (4 couples). Sadly Daniel and I did not win at this either...
Saturday we left St. George around 11:30am and had an epic car ride with John, Rachel, Dan, and myself. We ended up playing leap frog with Jake and Hannah and every time we passed them we would do different things in the window...great times were had by all. Dan and I stayed at Dan's parent's to do some laundry and we pulled into our parking stall at home at 9:30pm. Needless to say we aren't staying up till midnight for New Years this year!

Highlights of the trip:
*Jacob getting a Batman Snuggie

*An Elderly Missionary telling my brother that he is a menace to society for not being married even though he is only 18 years old

*Daniel running up 20 tiny switchbacks

*Daniel and Mitch referring to Angel's Landing as Man Mountain

*Jake accidentally turning off the light in the room we were in while Todd was talking to everyone...trust me this one was priceless

*Willis being brought back to life

*Mitch asking me in a dead serious tone if I have ever heard of Princess Cereal

And great times were had by all :D

*Passing Jake and Hannah while pretending to row boat our car

*Passing Jake and Hannah with drawn on talking hands talking at them

LAS VEGAS RAGNAR 2011

Well Daniel finally did it...he got his Saint & Sinner Medal for running Wasatch Back and Las Vegas RAGNAR in the same year!

For this race the team was #340: Scrambled Legs & Aichin.
Van 1: Stacey (Dan's cousin-in-law)
Dan
Alex (Dan's Cousin)
Matt (Dan's Best Friend from H.S.)
Kari (Dan's Mom)
Michael (Dan's Cousin)
Van 2: Mitch (Dan's Bro-in Law)
Sarah (Dan's Sister)
And the other 4 were relatives of Dan's Aunt Myndee

We started out journey at 12:30 pm on Thursday Oct 20th. I had the car all packed and I picked up Dan from the University. We drove down to Kaysville and picked up Matt on our way to Kaysville. In Kaysville we got in Dan's parents van and Todd drove us to Henderson, Nevada. The trip down was pretty fun talking with Dan and Matt. On the down side, we were stuck in Nephi for about an hour and a half due to traffic. Dan and Matt are now convinced that Nephi goes from Provo until St. George :)

In Henderson we stayed in a Marriott Courtyard because Myndee has a niece who works for that company and could get discounts on the room. Dan & I shared a room with Sarah and Mitch who didn't show up in Las Vegas until 5am. Luckily for them they were in Van 2 and Van 2 didn't have to leave Henderson until 10:30 am. Van 1 left Henderson at 6:30am.

The starting line was by the shore of Lake Mead. Our team started at 8:00 am. We had two vans with us, the RAGNAR van and Todd & Kari's van so Todd drove the RAGNAR van for the first 2 sets of legs and I drove the other van. After Dan ran his first leg I went and chilled with Van 2 at the exchange where the vans switch.

I should add that Dan has been recovering from a leg injury and even though he was injured he still ran all his legs and even had some kills (passed people during the race) !

After talking with Van 2 for a while I went to what I thought was the next Van exchange...it wasn't but I had a nice hour long nap in the van in a shaded casino garage terrace. I then drove around and found the exchange. This exchange was at a really nice casino/resort. Once Van 1 showed up we ate and sat around playing Uno and Phase 10.

Sarah was the last runner for Van 2 and we got to watch her run in. After Stacey took off running I drove to the next van exchange. I called my brother while I was on I-15 because it was so late and dark and there was nothing to look at...I was worried I would fall asleep. I ended up misreading the directions and getting lost in the desert. Luckily I found my way to the exchange. After Van 1 showed up we all went to sleep. Everyone but Dan and me slept on a tarp on the gravel, Dan and I slept in the back of the van.

For our last set of legs Todd and I switched vans so I drove the RAGNAR van. It was so fun!!! The best part is pulling over to support the runner by giving them water or just cheering for them. The bad part was that we were out in the middle of the desert with NO SHADE at all and the runners were running on a dirt/gravel road. I am now a firm believer that people can die in the desert.

After Van 1 finished their runs we went to the finish line in Las Vegas. It was at a really nice park. We waited there for 7 hours!!! It wouldn't have been so bad if there had been more shade around. Once the sun went down though it felt really good. Sarah lead the team into the finish line and everyone got their medals. Somehow Dan & Matt ended up with Florida Keys RAGNAR medals, so I had to go switch those out. Dan also earned the Saints & Sinners medal that has a bottle opener for Rootbeer and Real Beer.

On the drive home Todd drove to St. George and then I drove from St. George to Kaysville. We pulled into Kaysville at 5am.

It was a long drive down and back, but it was totally worth it!

Highlights of the trip:

* The Lord of the Rings Van with the following quotes written on it: Not the Beard! You need people of intelligence on this journey, quest, thing. We dwarfs are natural sprinters. We may have made a mistake leaving the shire. The team's name was: One does not simply walk into RAGNAR.

*The Area 51 Van claiming that all their kills would be probed.

*The disco man runner who ran the first leg in bell bottoms, a leopard print shirt, and a giant wig. The next time I saw him he was dancing disco on top of his van.

*Team 420 having a Bob Marley Theme...think about it...

*Matt, Alex, Dan, and Michael following each other doing a spin off of inception theme music "Tch ch ch ch ch Tch ch ch ch ch ch ch"

*Fast runner chick spanking a walking "Bumblebee" (a man in a black and yellow tutu) and then him trying to catch her for revenge...he never did.

*Mega phone van telling Matt that his flag waiving skills had earned him a "10.0, 9.7, 10.0"

*Dan and me only being able to find a oldies station in the middle of Utah and dancing to Disco music at 3am.

*Dan, Matt, and me making up an epic movie that includes Robert Downing Jr, Hugh Jackman, Samuel L. Jackson, and Morgan Freeman.

*Me not understanding that some of the vans names were inappropriate

*John came into our room in Kaysville and said "It's 12:30 and church starts at 1" Me being asleep yelled "Then we're not going!" I then politely said, "Thank You." Ya i apologized after I was fully awake.

Layton 5K

I ran in the Layton 5k on October 8th. I have been training for a 5k for about 2 months. My goal time was under 35 minutes and I finished this 5k in 33:08! I got a medal for 3rd place in the Women's 20-24 age division.

My brother-in-law and sister in-law also ran in this race. My brother-in-law took first with a time around 18 minutes and my sister-in-law took 1st place in our division with a time around 28 minutes.

My mother-in-law ran the 10k and took first in her division with a time under one hour.

Florida 2011

Well our trip in Florida is winding down. Right now we are sitting around the beach house waiting to go to the airport, our flight leaves at 5am so we will be leaving around 2am.

Our trip to Florida started at 4am Saturday morning when Dan's dad drove us to the Salt Lake Airport. We got there at a great time! The lines were pretty short when we got there. Our flight left Salt Lake at 7am and we flew to Houston, Texas. Dan and I were the rebels in the back seat of the plane! We sat by a family who was on their way to Cancun and also on the flight we saw a family from Bluffdale who were on their way to Spain. While waiting to unload off of the plane we watched a man abuse several pieces of luggage as he unloaded and reloaded them.

We had about an hour lay over in Houston and ate at Ruby's Diner. I asked for Mayo...then when I asked for it again the lady said she had put extra on my sandwich. I explained to her fry sauce and she kindly brought me a cup of mayo :)

From Florida we flew to Ft Lauderdale, Florida. I sat by a high school aged boy who had attended a week-long ROTC Drill Camp at Texas A & M. I should mention that we were also traveling with three of Dan's co-workers and one of their wives.

Our beach house was really nice with plenty of space for 6 people.

Sunday some of us drove to Miami North Beach. The water was nice and warm! Later we went to Hallendale Beach at high tide. Dan and the guys liked swimming with all the waves and trying to ride them, but I preferred the calm water. Also, at Hallendale Beach I got stung by a jelly fish! The life guard just sprayed some cleaner on it...it was pretty anti-climatic.

Monday Dan presented at the American Nuclear Society Conference (the reason we were in Florida in the first place). The other wife, Kariann, and I went to downtown Hollywood to look around the stores. Most of the stores were closed, and the few clothing stores that were open were Latina stores...pretty much we stood out. In the evening we went to the Greek Joint. So Good! We had Saganaki, fried cheese and I had Pork Slouvaki with seasoned fries. We then went to an ice-cream shop and I got cheesecake turtle ice-cream Yum!

Tuesday the guys went to the conference in the morning and returned in the afternoon. Then the married couples went to Flamingo Gardens. We were able to walk through an aviary and watch an animal show. The best animal was the opossum that walked around the stage. We also saw crazy spiders, alligators, and panthers. In the evening we went to Hollywood Beach.

Wednesday the other 3 guys presented at the conference so the guys were gone all day. Kariann and I went to the Sawgrass Mill. There were 400 stores/eateries/ vendors there! It was so big they had some stores twice! In the evening we went to the Hollywood Beach Boardwalk. We walked up and down and after the sun went down we got ice-cream and watched a storm out on the ocean from the beach. It was amazing!

Thursday we drove to Key Largo! Highway 1 is just on the ocean! The married couples went snorkeling. It was amazing! At first I was scared to jump out of the boat because there is no touching bottom in the ocean. We were able to swim over the coral and swim in the middle of schools of fish. We were also able to see a lobster.

Tonight we will leave Ft Lauderdale at 5am and fly to Charlotte, NC. From there we will fly to Denver, CO and then land in Salt Lake City around 1pm. Hopefully, we will be able to sleep all day Friday!

RAGNAR Take 2

It looks like the RAGNAR Wasatch Back Relay Race is becoming an annual event for our family. Daniel participated again this year with his Aunt Myndee, Uncle Randy, Cousin Alex & Wife Stacey, and Brother-in-Law Mitch. Sarah, Kari, and I volunteered this year checking the teams' safety gear at the start line.

Dan was runner 9 out of 12 his legs were:

3.2 miles through Ogden Valley Thursday morning

9.3 miles around Echo Reservoir Friday around 1am

3.2 miles straight uphill through Wasatch Mountain State Park Friday morning

Idaho Falls

This week Daniel had the opportunity to go to Idaho National Labs for a conference. I love the fact that his professor let's his student's wives tag along! Last year we were able to go to San Jose together and later in the month we will be going to Florida.

So what do I think about Idaho Falls after spending 5 whole days there?....let's just say Idaho Falls and I aren't the closest of friends. One night I spent an hour trying to find the Jamba Juice due to one way roads and a lack of a good numbering system for the city streets. I understand that Utah is unique in it's numbering of roads in a way that makes sense and is organized...but the fact that I swear I saw two 25th streets and that 17th street actually has two other names is a little ridiculous. Also no grid pattern at all was used in planning this city...one minute I was headed north and the next thing I know I'm headed back south again.

I did appreciate the always beautiful Idaho sunsets and the amazing river with it's falls. This town also has a lot of parks! I spent two of the days bumming around the Freemont Park.

I was able to go to the Idaho Falls Temple with my grandparents and it is a lovely temple. I had never been inside before, it is the temple my grandparents and parents were married in.

I think Dan had a good time, he was able to learn some 'stuff' about 'stuff' that he works with...and he got free food :D

Dates

If you read Hannah Leigh Abbott's blog (sis-in-law) you will have seen that we did family history stuff together. It was really fun watching someone else discover their ancestors and what needs work needs to be done. After she left I continued to do family history, naturally... Which led me to filling in more on my life history. That's right, I'm 22 years old and I have a 13 page life history written that I add to occasionally. :D I read through what I had written about my past 22 years and I started thinking about dates, like dates on a calendar. I find it extremely amusing that even 5 years ago I had no idea that July 29th would be so important to me! Or that I would have to buy a gift for November 20th every year (Dan's birthday). This got me excited and thinking about the future and how I have no idea what dates will be important and/or special! Who knows on this day in 30 years my youngest child could be getting married!

Anyway that was my rant about how cool family history and life history is :D

Ogden Marathon 5/21/2011

Daniel ran his 2nd marathon last week! He, our brother-in-law Mitch, and Mitch's sister Katie all ran the full marathon.

Daniel's 1st marathon time was 4 hours and 19 minutes. He improved his time this race and crossed the line at 3 hours and 56 minutes! For his age group, 25-29 males, he was 32nd out of 107. For the full marathon he was 608 out of 2,368, not bad at all!

Mitch came in at 3 hours and 29 minutes. He was 10th out of 49 for males aged 19-24 and 192nd overall.

Graduation!!!

Well, we did it!!!

Daniel walked and graduated in the Graduate Ceremony at 1:30pm on Friday, May 6th.
I walked in the Undergraduate Ceremony at 9am on Saturday, May 7th. I graduated during the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Resources Ceremony at 2pm.

Friday night we had a BBQ to clebrate! Thank you for everyone who attended the festivities and supported us!

Master Garrett

In case you didn't know...Daniel passed his Thesis Defense! After a 40 minute presentation and gruling questions from his professors, it was decided that he has earned his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering with an emphasis in Thermal Fluids.

Daniel and I will Graduate the first weekend in May.

I will graduate with my B.S. in Elementary Education with an Emphasis in Language Arts.

Daniel will graduate with his B.S. & M.S. in Mechanical Engineering with an emphasis in Thermal Fluids and two minors: Math and German

Almost! and then...

To celebrate finishing student teaching and to relax, I did some Family History this evening. I had two close encounters with linking Daniel's maternal family to my maternal family and his paternal family.
First, Daniel has a 4th Great Grandmother named Elizabeth Jackson Hyde. Elizabeth Jackson was born in Union, South Carolina! A lot of my maternal line comes from that area of South Carolina. I didn't look into it too deeply, mostly because she was born in the 1780s before any census that is online was taken. I'm hoping by writing this down here I will remember and look into it more one day. This lady and her husband's posterity continued onto Tennesee and then to Tooele, Utah. This line goes from Hyde to Ayers to Green to Daniel's Grandmother Gerrie Green.
Second, I found some married in Jensen's from Preston, Idaho on Daniel's Grandpa Gingell's line. Daniel's paternal line is full of Jensen's and they also lived in Preston, Idaho. I was so excited to find a connection between the two families!...But alas, as it goes with family history, the Jensen line quickly disappeared into Christiansen back to Jensen back to... because that is what Scandanavian names do. No link was found.
If you found this post boring or confusing I hope one day it won't :D. Even though no connections were made, I still love family history!

Ink

Currently I am student teaching in a 6th grade Language Arts class. I love it! Today while I was reading aloud to the students a serious novel, The Devil's Arithmetic, a student came up to me. He had blue ink all over his hands and asked if he could go to the bathroom to wash it off. He said that his pen had exploded. I couldn't help but laugh! Since the serious tone was ruined...I shared with the class a story from when I was in 6th grade. I told them how I had gel pens and would suck the ink up to make them look more full. One time I accidently sucked ink into my mouth and had to ask the teacher if I could go to the bathroom to get the ink out of my mouth. I don't think the students took the rest of the chapter in the book seriously, but we had a good laugh!

Maybe I'm Not a Blogger

A few hours ago I sat down to do some blogging...nothing came. I read through a couple of people's blogs and decided that I don't have the same things to talk about as other people do. I don't have kids, I don't do crafts, I don't spend long periods of time pondering life...

Well, after spending half the day doing family history and taking a shower (I think the best in the shower) it came to me...I can blog about family history! Don't worry I'll still include major events and trips in our lives.

It has been about 3 years since my Grandma Juanita Worthy Peeler died. I didn't know my grandmother very well because she lived in South Carolina. I have felt closer to her than I ever have before since she has died.

I have had the privelage of obtaining her geneological records and notes that she made over the years.

Currently I am looking up names that she wrote down in a notebook as she visited cemeteries in South Carolina. As I read the names I picture her patiently walking trough cemeteries looking for surnames along her family lines.

Today I came across two major frustrations mixed with joy while working on family history (that's why some people hate doing family history...that's why I enjoy family history)

1. Simpson 'Sip' Millwood b. 1818 wife is either Sarah Sprouse or Millie Fowler, or both. I really wanted to be able to find his parents or a hint of where the Millwoods came from. I had a glimpse of hope when I typed his name into Google and found that someone had written about his grave site on Find a Grave. There was a little bio about him and his family! I also able to find out more information about his children that I previously did not have. I would have thought that he died in Union, South Carolina...I was wrong, he died in Rutherford, North Carolina. That changes things.

2. I really wish that this unkown Mr. Haney who had some form of relationship with my 3rd great grandmother would come to life...also her father, I don't know who either of the men are.

I really enjoy family history and I have to give myself time limits or I find myself neglecting Daniel and living my life. I just find inner peace and energy while working on it.

Thank you to my Wiese grandparents for their example of working on family history and a special thank you to Grandma Peeler for leaving this legacy for me and guiding me through.

What Have We Been Doing

Well mostly we have just been really busy!

We visited both families during the week of Christmas. Daniel spent all Christmas Break studying for some tests for school while I worked on Family History. Daniel did pass the tests he was studying for!

We are now back in school and have 4 months till graduation!

I am student teaching in a 1st Grade classroom and will student teaching in a 6th Grade language arts classroom starting in March.

We got a printer for Christmas so we no longer have to rely on the Univeristy for printed materials!