Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

So a few days ago I finally understood just how much poor Alexander had to endure:

Initially, I didn't realize it was going to be a “BAD DAY.” When I woke up I was so proud of myself for getting up early to work-out with my good friend Denise

AND I had even left early for school to ensure I wouldn’t miss my quiz!

It seemed like life was on the up & up...

As I was trolling for a parking spot, I made an ILLEGAL LEFT TURN. Right as I was pulling into my lane, a cop came around the corner and spotted my blatant disregard for the law. Sorry Papa Teichert… I’m sure this confession is making you see me in a whole new light:

Well, he let me off the hook as far as a ticket goes, but after I told him I HAD to make that left turn so I wouldn’t be late, he made it his duty to ensure my tardiness just to make sure I learned my lesson. He inquired of my California license while driving an Idaho registered car in Utah, and asked me all about school. I was about to ask him if he just wanted to have a seat in my passenger side so we could really get into things (i.e. his family, hopes, dreams, etc) when he finally handed me my documents and told me to have a "good day"…. I'm sure he actually cursed me with that wish of good fortune!

I thought my luck had changed as I drove up to the parking lot and saw a GOLDEN parking spot right next to the business building. I was quite pleased with myself because I was sure I could still make it to class in time. That officer wouldn't get his way after-all. As I was pulling into the spot, a stupid boy STOLE my spot! Just came around the corner and zoomed right in. I was speechless... WHO DOES THAT?! After I finally found a new spot (10 mins later) and finished keying his car, I knew I was late.

I got to class just as the quiz was being collected and secured myself a 3 out of 10 by shear luck on the multiple choice. Thanks officer. :(

In my next class, the teacher berated me for my lack of intrigue in the subject and called me out on the fact I had neglected to do the reading. Listen here professor: “No one else did the reading, either!” After my public humiliation I proceeded to my next class where someone stomped on my foot and I had this conversation with Mike via G-chat, which made me recall some early morning disappointments I had overlooked:

Michelle

I think i'm going to go home and read that book about Alexander's "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day"

Michael

hahahahahhhahhahah

did you not get a prize in ur cereal?

Michelle

NO! In fact, i ate raisen bran and I only had TWO raisens in my whole bowl

Michael

what!?!?!?!

wow

u r having a bad day

Michelle

and when denise and I were working out this morning she wasn't as encouraging as usual

she just kept telling me this was "boot camp" and to get into it and use my legs

Michael

lololololol

This really sealed the deal… this was THE WORST DAY EVER! It had started the moment I woke up.

To put the icing on the cake, I had practically drank my weight in caffeinated beverages in an attempt to stay alert during my classes & many disappointments. Needless to say, I had to make a trip to the restroom about every 20 minutes. Now, usually sneaking out of class for a walk through the school hallways is a highly anticipated high-point in my day where I can finally relax. This semester though, it is a whole ‘nother ball game. See, unfortunately 3 of my 4 classes are held on either the “old-side” of the business building, or the “new-side” on the 1^st floor. If you’re unfamiliar with the Marriott school, here’s the problem:

1. Bathrooms on the old-side were purchased & installed approximately 100 B.C. before the average person had attained a height of 5 feet. As such, the toilets are about a foot off the ground. This makes "the hover" increasingly more difficult as you have to recruit ALL your legs muscles to keep afloat. Alternatively, if you do choose to sit, you feel like a giant and/or obese person trying to use a pre-schooler’s facilities.

2. New-side bathrooms are nice and ergonomically designed for normal sized humans. The problem lies in that the 1^st floor facilities are used by about a million people every hour so they tend to NOT be the MOST cleanly as the day progresses.

Ultimately, the decision comes down to-

Do I want to be Buddy the Elf…. Or Typhoid Mary?

Btw, officer, I have continued to turn left illegally. I have just been so looking forward to our little chats, I keep a special eye out for you every time I do so. ;)

My Babe's Birthday

Every January 6th we have a true reason to celebrate. In fact this year it took us two straight days to show Michelle how much she means to us and how happy we are that she was born. For her birthday we went to a steak house and ate all the meat we could and then went to a funny play called "The Importance of Being Ernest."
The party started once we got to Jen and Jeff's house. We all got to feel a little like Michelle does everyday as we decorated and wore our little princess crowns. You can see all the fun we had by visiting their blog, Jen made an amazing video that really captured the moments:

http://jeffandjenlee.blogspot.com/2010/01/princess-birthday.html

Thanks Jen for making such a fun party.

Past 4 Months

I have been having a hard time deciding if I should make one REALLY long post or like 15 medium sized posts to recap the past 4 months. Ultimately I decided on one big post. This way my followers (all 3 of you) can just print it out and read it as a novel in your spare time.

You're welcome.

To start the school year off right, Emma, Eric, and I went to the Timpanogos Caves.
I remember Eric was in a hurry to get to the BYU Football game that night, so we basically RAN the whole way to the top. Let me illustrate that it is like 1.5 miles straight uphill. This picture illustrates how far up we had to go, and we were already like halfway down when we took this:Emma and I thought we were going to die. Nonetheless, it was AMAZING inside!

Our next big event was Eric's 25th birthday! Eric was especially excited for the festivities to begin that afternoon.
He had been out hunting the night before so he hadn't slept much... but once he saw all we had in store for him, he really livened up!
These are the FABULOUS cakes I baked him. In case you can't make out exactly what they are due to a blurry photo or poor resolution on your screen (because I know they looked perfect so it could not be any fault of my own), one was a football and the other was the football field. The sad part was I had intended to make it the Boise State field, but I had already, absentmindedly, made the "grass" before I recalled it should have been blue. No worries though, BYU is cool too. :)

While I'm sure he was really disappointed, he quickly recovered when he started opening all his loot!

new jacket

new tieAnd yes I'm aware I should never wear that hat. I'll go ahead and put that in my 72 hour kit. Only upon severe circumstances will that ghastly scene see the light of day. Oh, and let the record state that I'm sure I probably won "Pin-the-Tale-on-Whatever-Animal-Pinup-Jen-had-Chosen-From-the-Dollar-Store" that night, as I usually do.
There will be NO further investigation.

I guess October held no significance because we have no documentation of events, so it's on to THANKSGIVING! We went to the Teichert's for the weekend and ate dinner at Grandma & Grandpa Ball's.
Luckily, we did NOT have to eat the pheasant Eric so graciously shot for us. We left that as a "donation" to Eric's parent's food supply. :)
We did have a Thanksgiving miracle all our own this year... both Addi & Ruger (our niece and nephew) decided to acknowledge our existence, and a BEAUTIFUL friendship sprouted. In fact, Addi even pretended to be Eric's baby... in utero.
When we got back, Eric and I went to the Jazz vs. Magic game. The tickets were $3.25 each, so you can imagine how close to the action they were. When we had finally traveled all the way UP to our seats, got our nose bleeds under control, and got our oxygen tanks flowing... it was a GREAT game.
I can't remember the details, but I vaguely recall being down and then coming back to win. Although that could be a pure figment of my imagination. We could have lost. In fact, I'm not even sure who "we" is. I may have been rooting for the Magic... is there a way I can just block Eric from being able to read this?

Anyway, on to CHRISTMAS! It's the most wonderful time of the year! I love Christmas!!
We purchased this classy tree from Target... right off the shelf. It was the last one, had no box, and had been the display tree throughout the holiday season. We got it 30% off and it was in IMMACULATE shape when it left the store. Upon its arrival to our home though, it took a turn for the worst. In a joint mistake in which neither of us is to blame no matter who may, or may not, have been in control of the tree at the time, one of the legs of the stand may have snapped off. We couldn't return it because we had purchased it "as is," so we just had to improvise. We tried super-gluing the leg back on to the tree, but unfortunately we just ended up gluing the leg to the carpet, and the tree continued to crash to the floor. Ultimately we decided to strategically root it to the ground by positioning presents and other devices around the base to keep it steady. It was really white-trash, I mean... thrifty. "Yes Eric, I am gifting you that case of Costco brand toilet paper this year... just don't use too many rolls from one side of the package until it's time to take the tree down... I just don't want you to use it all at once... :/"
Here's some shots from our little Christmas before we went on the road to see family. Eric got me this picture of Christ. I'd been wanting one for awhile, and it is really beautiful so I was ecstatic!

This is Eric with his new tool set:
and his new sunglasses that he needed for obvious reasons...
His old ones had been struggling for some time:

Sorry the filming is so bad... I was trying to drive during the taping. Probably not the brightest thing I've ever done.

We only got to spend a few hours with the Teichert's for Christmas. :( We wish we would have gone to Boise for awhile, but you know how that hindsight is always 20/20. This is us in our stunning, matching pajama pants from Eric's mom paired with our flossy Miller's Honey shirts from dad.
We went to Blackfoot to stay with my grandparents and then the rest of my family met up here. Here's some pictures from Christmas day:
Jen in her new coat she can wear this winter while prego & loving life. My new hat! I better get to wearing that before the cold subsides... but it's kinda pointless to get dressed up when you haven't left the house in 4 days due to self-inflicted food poisoning (excellent weight loss technique btw).

Eric got his tent he wanted from my parents:
Eric's mom got us a camping stove so we got it out and pretended to be camping in the living room for about 5 minutes... then the wood floor started to make it not so fun. I'm excited to get some use out of our new goods... as long as there is a bathroom in the vicinity.

We got to spend some time with Oliver. Eric and him really bonded. This is Eric being such a good uncle:
and this is me being SUCH a good aunt and Ollie reciprocating the love:

Right before we had to leave, Grandpa turned 84! We got together with all the family and had a PARTY (it was really wild) for the little guy. Here he is with some of his new accessories.
On the way home, A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!!! We had the luxury of spotting the Bronco's trailer! I had to persuade Eric to not actually follow the trailer because we had responsibilities back home, but it sure got him excited for that Fiesta Bowl!! Btw, what a game right? Incredible.
Anyway, now we're back in Utah, with my LAST semester of school EVER underway, and with this food poisoning I've been to about 2 classes in the past week (but I'm still not sure it was worth it... I really wanted to die for awhile there).

Anyway, it's been a great few months and we know that we're so lucky and blessed to live such wonderful lives with great opportunities. We've especially noticed that this past week while I have been nursing an upset stomach while so many people in Haiti are suffering so much more. Our problems in life are so insignificant, and we thank God for that. We love our family and friends, and we're grateful for the Gospel and this great country we are so lucky to live in.

First Week of School

Ya know when you see that someone has updated their blog, and you get so excited to see all their new anecdotes tied in with some cute pictures? Well, this is not one of those posts... this will remain completely pictureless for both of our sakes...

I know you're secretly relieved, and yes, I'm aware I've gained a few pounds.

Eric and I are back in the Home Land (i.e. Utah) and school is in full swing. I have officially placed myself into my typical student-mode and have effectively fallen behind at least 1 class period for each of my 5 classes... isn't it nice to know some things just never change? This year I had initially resolved to really kick it up a notch and stay on top of all my studies, but it just didn't quite sit right with me. That feeling during lecture, when the class and the professor are just on it... jiving together and really "engaging" in an enlightened discussion while you sit in utter bewilderment at what class you're even in right now and really contemplating if anyone can tell you pulled today's shirt out of the dirty clothes & if the teacher sees that you're really texting under the desk, just feels like home to me.

To add to my college bliss, I now qualify for GRADUATE PARKING! I honestly get to park just outside my building. This may very well be the best thing to ever happen to me (although my feet may have a different opinion. That relationship we all have to endure between a cute shoe and pain may get the better of me this year because I have no distance walking (or brain activity) to deter me from wearing them).

I went to the gym for about the 1st time in a month and I'm pretty sure I have lost all use of my legs and/or buttocks. The most dreaded part of the day is when I need to change classrooms. Getting out of, and back into, a chair is probably the most pain i've ever endured. I'm not even afraid of future childbirth, nothing can be worse than this. I have started to strategically plan my movements for the day to involve as little ascending/decending from chairs as possible (maybe I'll start going directly to my next classroom... even if I do have to sit through some unrelated class for a couple hours and wonder if they're scrutinizing my rancid shirt choice too).

I am considering actually taking my bridals this fall, and there is no way this new post-marriage blimp is going to fit back into that dress. I'm not sure though, with this current pain level, maybe I'll just forgo to whole thing. :\ Btw, any ideas of good places in Utah to take some bridals when the fall colors start appearing?

Hello, Goodbye, Etc

I've gotten a little behind on my blog exposes, so this post will be a my take on a conglomerate of events (I know, you're SO excited).

First, let it be known that Kregg (Eric's brother) got his mission call to Sao Paulo, Brazil. He'll be speaking Portuguese, so none of the Teichert boys will be able to tell secrets about anyone in their second languages. :)

Eric - Russian (Ukraine)
Jeff - Chinese (Taiwan)
Phil - English (Austrailia)

This is right after Kregg read his call, the look of pride in Eric's eyes is classic. I should send this into the Ensign to use in building up future missionaries (I was going to use the word "propaganda" but I'm pretty sure Germany ruined that word for everyone).
Kregg leaves November 11th and no one is quite sure how we'll get along without him (he just yelled at me at the pool and told me to go to work) :( But we really will miss him... he's a funny kid and completely irreplaceable in the family.


A week or so later, Eric and I went on a little road trip to see the rest of Texas' finest. We did a circle and hit Austin, San Antonio, and Houston (all in 48 hours... 12 of which were driving... through the desert... with no sign of life...).

This is yours truly in front of the massive Texas state capitol... it's second in size only to our nation's capitol in DC... typical, right?

Oh look here, it's me at Mellow Johnny's (Armstrong's bike shop in Austin)! We bought Jason a shirt for his birthday because he is a huge cycling enthusiast. Oliver maybe not so much though cuz he promptly destroyed Jason's souvenir with a little chlorine from the pool. Jason said he almost cried. :*( I would have understood if he did... gifts from me are priceless (probably only cuz they're so rare. with this level of self absorption, you can only focus on someone else for moments at a time)

Oh look, it's me, again, but this time at the Alamo! We remembered it for about 10 seconds before we decided it was too bloody hot to do anymore tourism and headed down to the Riverwalk to get some grub... Eric put his hand on my back to lead me into the restaurant and was completely appalled that I had sweated through all my layers and left his hand moist... he hasn't touched me since.

Anyway, the trip was a success. Oh, do you think I went alone? Does it appear as though I made up Eric's entire existence? The only proof I have of Eric's company is from when we found his best friend, Delilah, on the road with us:

The next week Eric and I headed back to California to help mom watch Oliver while Jason & Gin were vacationing in Alaska. Oliver was so happy to see us he was just beside himself with joy.

Eric tried especially hard to get Oliver to like him:

Eventually, Oliver did warm up and one day while I was playing with him he actually, out of his own free will & choice, got up, came over to me, and gave me a hug... complete with an open mouth gooing across my cheek, which I guess was a kiss. :/

Unfortunately, his change of heart came just before we returned him to the parents:
From then on, he just looked at me like this:
Jason works at Apple and he took us on "campus" for lunch where we actually saw Steve Jobs! Jason has the best/coolest job in the world. I easily convinced Eric I HAD to work there so now I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get hired on (change majors, register as a liberal, go green, start wearing Costco tapered jeans, etc.).

Our last adventure in Texas consisted of the Mesquite Rodeo! We went with some of Eric's friends, including Ammon, who I LOVE.

It was seriously such a good show, except I had anxiety the whole time from fear the cowboys were going to get killed right before my very eyes. I decided most of a rodeo (aside from the actual bull riding) is just for grown men to show how they can outsmart and out muscle small animals...

Well, I'm not here to judge.

Birth Control

These past couple weeks Eric and I have gained a little insight to life after children:

First, I discovered a new website: morphthing.com. I decided to morph Eric and myself into a cute little baby... AND THIS WAS THE RESULT:

Definitely NOT the best-looking creature I've ever seen... it better at least have a "great personality" or "sweet spirit."

I convinced myself that maybe this was just an ugly baby? I mean, neither of us were the eseence of cuteness when first born (baby acne and obesity) & we turned out to be STONE COLD FOXES!


So... I morphed us into... like... a teenager?

... and the result can be described in one word: CREEPY. I can't even look at it. It's like one second I see Eric, then I see myself, and then Eric again...

Second, I did some babysitting. The kids were cute, smart, and well behaved but OMG they're a lot of WORK! Now, if you're familiar with my current lifestyle/"occupation" you would understand how any notion of "work" would sound like fingernails on a chalk board to me! Anyway, it was a good time overall, although, FYI, I'm NOT any good at it....Basically, I egg them on and only intervene when the situation becomes life threatening.
EXHIBIT A:
This picture was taken after her first bite and I just let her keep going til it was done... everything was sticky. I will never look at the McDonald's play area the same after I know what goes on in there with the ketchup and the ice cream and the nuggets (all mixed together). :\

Lastly, I basically already live with a two-year-old. He takes naps, makes messes, says the cutest things, and GETS SICK! This week, he got an Ear Infection.
And he was SUCH a little kid about it (I'll admit: I secretly think it's adorable)! I had to make the Dr appts, drive him there and then go in with him, get the medicine, HIDE the medicine so he doesn't take it all when it doesn't instantly make him feel 100% better, and do lots of CUDDLE time when he starts getting cranky in the evening.

Needless to say, we have a new resolve to keep all contraceptives in place, we're currently considering absintance.

Miller Honey & 4th of July

First off, I'll just go ahead and apologize for the blog silence since June 12th... Honestly, I still don't know what to say. I mean, the competition has been fierce. Lincoln came on the scene, and then Oliver took his first solo steps! How could anyone compete with a chubby newborn (with a fuller head of hair than my GRANDPA), and a crazy tipsy toddler?

Oh well, here goes...

My dad sent us some honey in the mail (Eric has become a honey fiend... it goes on basically everything now) and I decided to show our gratitude with a few snap shots of Eric in pure honey bliss...

He's gotten so excited about honey he actually asked me what I thought about him going into the family business... :\
Later that night he asked me if Miller Honey was going to pay him for his modeling... I didn't even know what to say.

The 4th of July started with a display of my cake baking SKILLS
Oh, you weren't aware we actually changed America's colors from red to pink? And I already know, the Statue of Liberty & Liberty Bell at top are absolutely stunning. It almost looks like a photograph of them. I have decided to start taking orders for weddings, birthdays, etc.

We went to a classic car show
(wearing red, white, and blue)

and fulfilled our patriot duty & attended a fireworks show
(I guess the recession really has hit all industries cuz this show was meager at best... in fact, I think we took this during the finale)

Although, not all was lost! I feel America really secured another victory that day...
Eric got a mean sunburn that weekend (this picture really doesn't do it justice). We have a never ending battle that always ends with me spraying Eric down with the sunscreen against his will cuz he thinks he doesn't burn... ever. That day, he snuck out without his daily dose and finally learned it's all for his own good.
He has willingly subjected himself to a hearty dose of SPF 30 every morning since. :)
VICTORY