Disney Puzzle Obsession

I have never been too fond of puzzles. I used to hate them, actually. I found them rather hard and boring and never enjoyed doing them. I used to think they were a huge waste of time. But one day at work (back when I was working at Child Time Inc.) one of my students asked me to do a 50 piece cup cake puzzle with her. I really didn't want to work on a stupid puzzle, but I had promised her that I would do what ever she wanted, so I ended up having to do the puzzle. Now you would think that a little cup cake puzzle would be easy, but this one was hard! So here I am sitting with Violet, when another little girl, Ella, runs up and asks if she can help with the puzzle. Violet tells her she can help us and I kid you not, Ella had completed the whole darn thing in under two minutes!!!! 

My other co teacher then decided to break out a one thousand piece puzzle that the whole class could work on through out the week. I told my self that there was so way in the world I would be working on that puzzle! But over the course of that week, I ended up helping out in the other class rooms. When I came back to class on Monday morning, all 20+ kids had helped to complete that puzzle a little bit each day over seven days!!! 

At that point, I was determined to go home and work on a puzzle. If 4-5 year old kids can finish a 1,000 piece puzzle in a week, then I should be able to also! Lucky for me, I already had a box full of puzzles that I had sent to Jayson while he was on his mission because he was sick (and obviously they were Disney puzzles). So I went home that night and broke out the puzzle box. 

Jayson and I decided to work on our Little Mermaid and Pinocchio puzzles

Shortly after completing those two puzzles, we moved back home to California. 

Two weeks after moving home, 

Jayson and I went to Disneyland and bought me a 1,000 piece puzzle-map of Disneyland

Let me tell you, this puzzle was a pain in my butt!!!!! After we came home from Disneyland, we started on this puzzle right away. We originally started working on it down stairs in the dining room, but then we had some friends come over for dinner so we moved the puzzle onto the Ottoman in the living room. Then, my mother-in-law, Kerry, started babysitting a little girl in our ward who I found 'playing' with the puzzle and ripping the completed pieces apart, so I moved the puzzle up stairs and into our bedroom. About a week or so later, Kerry told us that Jayson and I were going to be moving over into Cody's (my brother-in-law) old room because we had another foreign exchange student coming to live with us, so we had to move the puzzle yet again. 

Finally, after a little over two months, the puzzle is complete! Unfortunately we lost two of the pieces after having moved the darn thing so many times.... I'm hoping that some how we will find the lost pieces....

After completing the three puzzles, Jayson and I realized how cool looking they are! Especially the ones from the movies because they look just like their front DVD/VHS case covers. We decided that after every puzzle we complete, we are going to glue the pieces together so that we can frame them once they are done and start collecting Disney puzzles and putting them together as a family. Once we move into our own home (whenever that is... ) we will start to display our finished puzzles :) 

So here is my next puzzle-project

 Panorama Puzzles 

The one on the left has clips from the movies, and the one on the right has all (well, almost all) of the characters on map, where they are standing on the areas that their movie is from (like Simba from Lion king is standing on Africa, etc.).

But...

...can't you tell? 

Thousand Oaks California Stake and Indexing

Stake Conference was this weekend 

:)

Our stake is #1 in Ventura County and #8 in North America for indexing! 

and it is very, very possible that our stake will make it to 1 million names by the end of the year!

ONE MILLION NAMES!!

that's insane!!

:D

That fills my heart with so much joy and excitement

I love my home stake

I truly am so blessed to be back home

<3

We have so many dedicated members in this stake

People who consistently make it to the Temple every week

I look up to those people so much...

It's so hard to get lost in worldly activities

and to feel like 'we don't have time'

But I know that the Lord is blessing all of those members

who make the Temple their number one priority

and plan their schedule around visiting the temple, 

not plan their temple visit around their schedule

and now there are so many other members beyond the veil

that have the blessing of this gospel

because of those faithful, obedient, and worthy members

:')

I also am grateful

for who ever this person is...

who in May of 2012

did temple work for my 7th Great Grandfather.......

IN MAY OF 2012!!!!

as in..... 5 MONTHS AGO!!!!!!!

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!?!?!?!

If you haven't done family history work...

GO. DO. IT. NOW. 

You never know who you will find who doesn't have this gospel that needs it..

I am so grateful for who ever completed that work

I am so blessed for my beautiful home stake

Happy 25th Anniversary Thousand Oaks Stake

:)

Bridesmaid of a 'MANN'

Today

I became a Bridesmaid

:D

My cute friend Marcia got engaged!!

To her handsome marine, Jason Mann

(funny how we both found Ja[y]son's)
:)

It's about time you two!
<3

What do I do?

     Being a nanny for four beautiful girls has been the greatest blessing for me. I've grown and learned so much about 'parenting' even though I'm not their parent. But I have also come to realize how much of an impact 'worldly things' and media has on them, particularly Haily (7) and Samantha (9). For example, I took Haily and Samantha with me to the grocery store a few days ago while the twins were at preschool. After picking up snacks to take to the pool, we walked over to the check out stand. As I'm sure you're aware, the stores display magazines that don't always have the best information on the front pages for young eyes to see. One magazine had a picture of a girl in a bikini and the headline was about getting a 'sexy body for your man,' and the other magazine had the word "CHEATING" on the front page. Now as an adult, I can choose to look away and not think anything of it and allow the messages to completely erase from my mind. Then I heard Samantha reading the front cover and I just had this sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach... so I turned all the magazines around so all that was visible was the back cover (which thankfully had an ad for perfume).

     Haily I think came to the realization that if I had turned it over, that meant that I didn't like what was on there so she didn't question my actions. Samantha, how ever, was upset that I had turned it over because she was trying to read the front page. I asked her why it was so important to her that she needed to read it and her response was that she felt like she needed to read the tips on how to get a 'sexy' body. I was absolutely shocked and part of me hurt inside that this nine year old girl felt like she needed to have what society deems as a 'sexy body.' I told her she had no reason to read that because she was absolutely beautiful and I began to tell her what about her makes her beautiful because looks aren't everything. Thankfully, she dropped the subject after that. I didn't know what was the right thing to say to her about the magazine ads, nor did I know what was appropriate to say to her.

     There have been a few times where Samantha has made a few sexual comments after that trip to the store. I won't go into details as to what she has said, but I have been so shocked by her answers that all I can think of telling her is that what she said is not appropriate and then she of course asks me 'why,' and again, I don't know what to tell her, other than "we will discuss it later when your sister isn't here." So here is where I need your help. What do you think I could have done differently about the situation? Do you think that this is something I needed to talk to her mom about and let her be the one to handle the situation? What do you think I should have said to her? What do you think is the right thing to say? Am I crossing a line by discussing this with her since she is not my child?

     I honestly don't even know if I am asking the right questions, but the point that I am trying to explain is that I just don't know what to do when these situations come up and I don't know if discussing this matter is my place to do so or not, but I also feel like brushing it under the rug and not discussing it with her is the wrong thing to do.

HELP!

Yogurtland

Have you ever been to Yogurtland?

It's amazing

You need to go

For serious. 

I tried to convince Jayson to go with me while we were in Utah, 

but the I got addicted to Nitro Freeze...

so that was our place

And then we moved home

and I remembered that there was one in OXNARD!

But that's thirty minutes away...

AND THEN 

I found out there is one on Westlake & TO Blvd!!!

THAT'S 5 MINUTES AWAY!! 

So we went twice last week

And last night at around midnight, 

Jayson told me he wanted more....

..and I think it is now safe to say...

that I have officially gotten him a d d i c t e d.

We may need to go again today when he gets home....

FLAVOR TO TRYStrawberry Lemonaide mixed with French Vanilla
to. die. for.

TOHS Dance

Many of you know that I danced my Junior and Senior year. I had never danced before in my life and was excited for the opportunity to be in the class in high school. Since graduation, I hadn't had the opportunity to dance again. When I started school at Moorpark College, I couldn't take morning dance classes because I needed to sign up for other classes of more 'importance' first and those classes weren't available in the afternoon, and I was also working in the late afternoon/evening. I also wanted to make sure that all of my classes would be before 12:00 noon so I could have three hours of Institute classes before going to work. 

After a few semesters, Jayson and I got married and moved to Utah so now dance was really out of the question! I was supper bummed about that... But a few weeks ago, a friend texted me and asked if I was going to the alumni class that night. "AKLDSJFHDKSJ WHAAAAT?!!!!" I told her I had no clue what she was talking about and it turns out that one of my dance teachers was now teaching an alumni class on Thursday nights! I was so stoked!!! I have gone to two classes already and was so excited to see three of my closest girl friends from my Junior and Senior year:

The first year that I met these girls was my Junior year when we were in Period 2, which was a mixture of beginning and intermediate students. That was the year that our class danced to "Nicest Kids in Town" from the 2007 Hairspray film. I also tried out for small hip hop (which basically was a group chosen from our class) and danced to "Circus" by Brittney Spears. 

In my Senior year, the four of us made in into Period 3, which was an intermediate class. That was the year that we danced to a song that was composed for a fight scene in Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At Worlds End. Which by the way, if you search 'May Concert TOHS,' it's the third video ;) I also chose to be in the small lyrical group. I don't even know what the song was that we danced to, but we called our piece "Gladiator." 

This is our 'Pirates' dance, you should watch it ;) 

 I have now gone to two alumni classes, and we just found out that were are in the winter concert at the high school :) I am so excited because winter concert is usually only for periods 4 and 5 and Team members, so I never had the chance to perform in that concert. I also love the maturity of the dancers in this class. I feel like back in high school, people were super clicky and quietly judgmental about the way certain people danced and their levels of performance. I know I was one of them, but in this class it seems like every one just gets a long and no one cares if you can still do a double or triple pirouette, or how flexible you are any more, etc. Everyone just focuses on them selves, but is still there to help you when you don't understand whats going on. It's nice to go back after two and a half years and dance in that room where I literally shed blood, sweat, and tears in class and late night practices. 2009 was the year that started my passion for dance and I am sad that I haven't had the chance to embrace it up until two weeks ago. But I am happy and excited for this opportunity and cannot wait to see the end result of our dance!

~ ~ ~

I'm not in this dance, but this was one of my favorite pieces that year.

 Mostly because its from Disney's Tarzan ;) 

 2009-2010 Thousand Oaks High School Dance Team
Video Rights User: seannthompson