Swag, Simple Joys, and Family Night

I have mentioned that Chandler is in a really intense program right now for school. It's true. The homework and project load is pretty hefty. One of the upsides, and also scary sides, is the recruiting events Chandler gets to go to. Why is this an upside? Well, some of the events take pity on the spouses at home (or the lack of social life their students would otherwise have) and sometimes we get invited! One activity that we got to go to a couple of weeks ago was hosted by Adobe. They had a showing of "The Avengers" at BYU and ISYS and other computer-like majors were invited to attend and bring a date. I got to be my husband's date of course. :) It was a lot of fun - and the free popcorn was yummy. (I also loved that line in the movie when Captain America says something like 'there's only one God, and he doesn't dress like that' - we were with a bunch of BYU students and everyone cheered of course haha).

      Also, as part of his major, Chandler joined the AIS club (Association for Information Systems) that hosts a bunch of activities for recruiters. About a week and a half ago we got to go to a ropes course hosted by Ernst and Young to enjoy some free dinner, raffles, and adventurous activities with ropes. Free dinner = awesome. Free swag (aka nice brand new backpack to all of the club members) = awesome. Ropes course = awesome, and frightening. Those of you who know me well know that I am really afraid of heights. Well, I was trying to be brave and do the zip line after Chandler. I felt really cool in the harness I had to wear, and Chandler made it look easy, so I tried it. The climb to the top of the pole before being attached to the zip line was so scary. Chandler went before me, and as sweet as he is told the lady helping us at the top that I am short and asked if I would have trouble climbing the pole. She assured him I would be safe. (And before you think this climaxes into some crazy story where I fell, don't worry!) I didn't fall, but I climbed the pole - with shaky and sweaty hands - before jumping. At the top I just hugged the pole as hard as I could with my arms and legs as I looked all at how high I was and how far Chandler was from me. I didn't want to jump, but I didn't want to stay there either... After some coaxing, I jumped and it was exhilarating! (but not worth doing the climb again). When Chandler caught me at the end, I cried. I was so relieved I didn't die! Chandler did another activity - jumping in mid air to catch a ring - I stayed at the bottom and watched. :) So, here's to adventures! (and great swag and free meals).

Another "adventure" we had recently occurred on Sunday afternoon. After the Brigham City Temple dedication that we attended that morning (which was really amazing), I thought it would be fun to fly a kite. Chandler and I won a Disney princess kite about 6 months ago at a dating activity hosted by my ward. We were engaged, so it was "our" kite :). We hadn't used it until Sunday... We went to the field right by our apartment to fly the kite. The packaging promised that the kite would 'assemble in seconds', but we lost track of how many seconds it took us to assemble! We weren't complaining though, because that ended up being the most adventurous part of our excursion. The packaging said it needed a minimum of  5mph winds. We didn't even have that.. We ended up running most of the time to keep it in the air and only got pictures of it on the ground. :) We will have to try that on another day. But it was nice to get outside!

All of our pictures show the kite on the ground :) Chandler wanted me to carry the princess kite until it was in the air haha.

One more story :). Chandler and I have been trying to be good about family nights on Mondays. It's hard though with his crazy schedule, so we usually keep it to a hymn and maybe a thought. But before I headed to teach dance yesterday, I thought of a short lesson/activity that I wanted to do for family night. I found some scriptures focusing on different things we need to do in this life to become who our Heavenly Father wants us to be and some blessings that we receive. Each scripture had a clue of where to find the next scripture. It was a scavenger hunt and Chandler was so great to play along and find each clue. It was a simple and fun lesson, and I am grateful Chandler enjoys those things too. It just made me think of how excited I am to someday have kids and be creative and inventive in teaching them - like my mom has been, and like my sister is with her kids. I want to be that kind of mom who finds joy in the simple and fun games that can teach our children correct principles. So, here's my tribute to veteran moms, soon-to-be moms, and moms in training (like myself). Thanks for teaching me by your example.