Food. Farm animals. Four Wheeling. Family. What else could you want on Thanksgiving? Of course, I would have loved to be with my family in California (or have them come out here!) but Lendrum and I enjoyed ourselves at the ranch this year. I love being together with so many great people and getting away from the crazy hustle of everyday life. It was also fun to see Lendrum's cousins Kacey and David and their kids, since we don't get to see them very often! Here are a few photos from our adventures.

Cuddles

Watching her mom and dad skeet shoot!

These two.

Horse kisses!

Right before we were attacked by the horses

Preston Festival of Lights. Best 10 floats you've ever seen.

We found some pigs, so we played.

Thanksgiving day. The four of us, plus our awesome photobomber.

Love him more than anything.

A man's gotta eat!

I'm usually strict on the "no Christmas music until after Thanksgiving" rule. However, I have to admit that I've been listening to it this year for the past two weeks! In order to redeem myself and the spirit of Thanksgiving, I have listed just a few things I am so very grateful for this year. It's a pretty stressful time of year for Lendrum and I right now, so it is always nice to take a step back and think of all the blessings we have. We really are so incredibly blessed and have been given so much. In spite of my rush to get to Christmas, I do love Thanksgiving so much. I am thankful for all of these and so much more:

1. The opportunity to teach 28 of the sweetest fifth graders you've ever known
2. My incredible, hard-working, and hot husband!
3. My loving and compassionate Savior
4. Supportive family
5. Changing seasons. This is something I've loved living here in Utah.
6. My slippers that keep my frozen toes warm
7. Music
8. My good health and modern medicine
9. BYU and higher education
10. Compassion and empathy
11. FRIENDS
12. My very own set of scriptures
13. Smart phones, as mine was recently lost.
14. Siblings
15. Financial stability
16. Date nights with my husband
17. Working for the BYU Arts Partnership and the wonderful opportunities it gave me
18. Sweat pants
19. Temples, especially many that are so close!
20. Nature and the chances Lendrum and I have had to enjoy it
21. Our car
22. A living prophet
23. Summertime
24. Chocolate
25. Trials that make us reflect on the good things in life
26. Missionaries
27. Apartment in a great ward and close to BYU
28. My two new sweaters that I got for $12. Total.
29. My parents-two of the greatest people on earth
30. LOVE.

Nothing like a weekend at the ranch! The weather was surprisingly nice for the end of October in Idaho. Because it is pheasant hunting season, Lendrum and McKay were eager to get their hunt on. Holly, Kori, and I did the important stuff, like making sure nobody died! I seriously felt as though my life was in danger at all times during the hunt haha. Lendrum shot his three birds for the day. What a man. I'm happy just to tag along. I'm not much of a hunter. Now we have to figure out what we are going to do with this pheasant meat in our freezer! It was great to be together with the family, including our long lost cousins Kori and Rhen!

Holly doing her job like a boss.

So redneck.

Okay, maybe not the spookiest place on Earth. But what a wonderful time we had at Disneyland! I had Thursday and Friday off work for fall break and we were very fortunate to land free park hopper tickets to Disneyland and California Adventure. Lendrum had never been to Disneyland, the poor thing! I was determined to convert him. I think I was pretty successful too. We picked a good day- not too crowded, perfect weather, and the park was all decorated for Halloween! It really was just the perfect day! We packed a lunch and ate dinner at Pizza Port, my favorite. Disneyland was just as magical as I remembered. I just want to go back!

Julia came down with us to California as well, so it was a blast to have the whole family back together. We continued on the tradition of going to Oak Glen, a little mountain town that is famous for their apple orchards. We had a nice picnic up in the foothills and ate delicious caramel apples! It also happened to be the weekend of my high school homecoming football game, so we all went to that as well. It was kind of fun to be back. I can't believe that was more than four years ago.

It was a fun, quick trip. Good thing I had a fall break so I could make everyone else in my family skip a day of school and work! Lendrum is paying the price this week though-he's been studying nonstop and had three tests today! Worth it? Definitely.

The happiest place :)

Lendrum was such a good sport!

Fail.

Radiator Springs in California Adventure! Plus the stroller brigade...

First Timer!

Spooky!

You know, everyone says there's noting quite like your very first own class. Now that I have been a fifth grade teacher for five weeks now, I can tell you that is absolutely true. Here's the thing: I love my job. I don't even care that I make half a teacher's salary. I truly love my job with all my heart. 

After church on our one-year anniversary!

Camping on the beach: there's nothing like falling asleep to the sound of ocean waves.

We really tried to hit up everything "California" that we could in a week. I wish we could have gone to Disneyland, but I am still working on the husband on that one. Plus tickets are so expensive! We went to a taping of Jimmy Kimmel Live in Hollywood, which was a fun experience. It was just so crowded. I don't think I could ever live in LA. It took us forever to get home. Before the showing, we went to Korea Town and ate at an all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ with my parents. Lendrum was in heaven!

Camping is something that we wish we did more of this summer, but we were able to do a night on the beach in Dana Point. The next day, the family met us down there and we rented kayaks and paddle boards. The water was a beautiful bright turquoise color. I loved being in the ocean.




I loved our days in San Diego! We walked around one of my favorite places: Seaport Village. It's been a favorite of mine since I was in middle school. We ate some yummy lunch and I got to see Alyssa. We headed over to Coronado Island and had some awesome views of the San Diego skyline. There was a wedding all set up, but nobody was there yet so we had fun taking some pictures. My parents met us at Petco Park for a Padres game! Unfortunately, the Yankees won, but it was a sold-out game and it was fun just being at the ballpark.

I'll be back at Christmas time :)

Last weekend we visited one of my favorite places in the whole world. We so much fun reuniting with family and friends and doing all the fun things there is to do at the ranch. There is just something beautiful about being there, away from everything else. And I went to my first rodeo! Definitely a good weekend.





We did some fun water activities too. Don't worry, that is NOT me jumping off that cliff. It's the brave Sammy Vandermerwe! She was dying to jump, unlike me who was perfectly content taking photographs. What I DID do was ride down "the flume." It this half pipe canal of water that sits up above the Bear River over the canyon. The water flows down pretty fast, so it's a ton of fun riding across the canyon! But the only way back across the canyon is to walk along these old wood boards that are set up across the top of the flume. It is a little scary at first, but after you get your balance, it's nothing.

We loved spending time with these girls! And I was glad they were there so I could have some company while playing with the bunnies. Speaking of bunnies, Lendrum and I are now the proud owners of Lasso and Spur, two adorable little babes! We tried to name them after their Idaho ranch roots.




We really had the best weekend up at the ranch. Four wheeling, shooting, fishing, swimming, animal loving, and just being with good friends and family: there's nothing better.

It all started watching the baby ducklings at the duck pond. They were just too cute! We could go to the duck pond often just to watch the ducklings play. Well, one thing led to another, and soon we decided that it would be fun get our own baby chicks. We found a lady who was selling them cheap, so we bought five little babies, all just two-days old! They were seriously the most adorable little chicks ever. We put them in a cardboard box, bought some chick feed and a water container, and watched the little guys grow. 

Little fuzz balls the day they came home with us

Father's Day with the kids

Just exploring outside

Ross is probably our favorite. Look how much they grow!

We've been through a lot, Brandi and I. Sunday school, newspaper, beach trips, carpools, mutual, sleepovers, girls camp, band practices, theme parks, high school crisises, boy problems, late night phone calls, classes, laughing so hard we can't breath, inside jokes, and now two weddings...one for each of us :) I love this girl to death and cannot even imagine high school or life without her!

If you know Brandi, you know that she has been taking "wedding notes" since she was a little girl. I remember one of the first times that I went over to her house, she pulled out a wedding binder. Inside were photos and notes of things she wanted for her future wedding. So needless to say, I wanted everything to be perfect for her real wedding! And this, of course, started with marrying the perfect guy. Cameron is wonderful and I couldn't ask for someone better for my bestie. It's been three long years (at least), but I am so glad that they are so happily married now.

There were so many times I almost cried during this wonderful day. No, I'm not pregnant, just sappy and sentimental. There's just something about weddings! It brought me back to my own wedding, almost nine months ago. But I just loved how happy Brandi and Cameron looked. The reception was beautiful, and I was surrounded by my very best friends. Brandi looked absolutely stunning. The whole day was just the best.

I am so grateful for my best friends. I just love that when we get together, not a single thing changes. Sure, two of us have rings on our fingers now, but other than that, we are the same immature, ridiculous, silly girls that we were back then. We have all grown up so much, but we haven't outgrown our friendship. #cheesyalert

Bachelorette Party Kickoff

A lot has happened in the last month, as shown by my lack of posts. Tonight, I've convinced myself that I finally have time to blog, but I really should be getting ahead on my homework assignments. But it's more time than I've had this past month, that is for sure. A bit has changed for me recently. Since my last post, I've survived and LOVED teaching 5th grade, landed an internship at East Meadows Elementary, spent a weekend in California, bought a tent and changed my blog.

Fifth grade was fantastic. There were days when my lessons were freaking awesome. There were days when my lessons tanked. But there were always days when I smiled. And never a day when I questioned being a teacher. Challenging as it is to make 10 and 11 year-olds interested in converting metric units, or heredity, or writing a rough draft, there really is a sense of accomplishment you get from spending some time working with children. And I am happy to say that starting in August, I will be spending an entire year in my own classroom! I still don't know what grade, but I am very excited and grateful to have this experience. And Lendrum and I will be rich! Half a teacher's salary baby!

We took a little trip down to California for Easter weekend to visit my family and enjoy the sunshine. We missed Julia, but we had a great time with the rest of the fam. Saturday was the perfect day for a day at the beach. The water was crystal blue and it was warm and sunny all along the coast. We rode bikes along the Mission Beach Boardwalk after we had a tasty lunch by the coast. It was fun to see my cousins from Idaho that night. On Sunday we had Grandma and Grandpa over for Easter dinner, which was worth the trip all by itself!

Lately, all I want to do is travel. I looked up hotels in different parts of the world all during my science methods class today. But...we ain't got no moneys. Maybe one day...But for now, we will just have fun with our new tent, trips to California, and each other. We will be married 8 months tomorrow. Just a fun fact :) It's the greatest.