Meat Blob

So...Bryce is basically the best man in the whole world. The other day while I was doing the dishes (which is rare...sorry babe) I was just remembering the days of awful college dating, and how happy I am to be married to Bryce. He just makes me happy! Sounds silly, but its true. Who knew he was so funny? I mean, I knew he was the nicest guy I had ever met, but I didn't know that he was also the most hilarious. I am just thrilled to be married to him. This next story is a good representation of why I love him so dearly:

Well, the other day I was really grumpy (shocker) and I had just had a loooooong day with my students and so I came home and Bryce offered to cook. I was in the mood for some comfort food, meatloaf, and so he said he would make it. When I went to take it out of the oven, I was shocked to find this little treasure:

What is it you may ask? Well, I asked the same question! It looks more like meat casserole or meat patty or something, but Bryce argues that it was meatloaf. He just forgot to "loaf it" :). It was hilarious. Just wanted to share a little Winkel joy with everyone! GO BRYCIE!

You know you're a teacher when...

So, best news of the day is that I just got hired at my current Elementary School (Art City in Springville) to teach 6th grade next year! Teaching 6th grade has always been a dream of mine, but now I can't believe it's real. I am terrified, excited, happy, thrilled, nervous, stressed, overwhelmed, just about everything. I can't wait to begin though! I keep looking at my fourth graders and hoping I get them in a few years also. It will be tough to say goodbye, but I'm ready for a new challenge. 6th grade here I come! :) I thought I would add a little teacher joke to go along with the great news:

HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE A TEACHER?

1. You can hear 25 voices behind you and know exactly which onebelongs to the child out of line.

2. You get a secret thrill out of laminating something.

3. You walk into a store and hear the words "It's Mrs./Mr._________" and know you have been spotted.

4. You have 25 people that accidentally call you Mom/Dad at onetime or another.

5. You can eat a multi-course meal in under twenty-five minutes.

6. You've trained yourself to go to the bathroom at two distincttimes of the day: lunch and prep period.

7. You start saving other people's trash, because most likely, you can use that toilet paper tube or plastic butter tub forsomething in the classroom.

8. You want to slap the next person who says, "Must be nice towork 7 to 3 and have summers off."
9. You believe chocolate is a food group.

10. You can tell if it's a full moon without ever looking outside.

11. You believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if anyonesays "Boy, the kids sure are mellow today."

12. You feel the urge to talk to strange children and correcttheir behavior when you are out in public.

13. You think caffeine should be available in intravenous form.

14. You can't pass the school supply aisle without getting atleast five items!

15. You ask your friends if the left hand turn he just made was a"good choice or a bad choice."

16. You find beauty in a can full of perfectly sharpened pencils.

17. You are secretly addicted to hand sanitizer.and finally...

18. You understand instantaneously why a child behaves a certainway after meeting his or her parents.

Youth of Zions :)

Well, I am embarrassed to admit it, but I finally went to Zions for my first time (at least that I can remember). It was glorious, I am ashamed it took me so long. We only went for a short visit, but that is better than nothing right? This weekend was the PERFECTO getaway for Bryce and I. I have been sick the past two weeks with a nasty flu/cold/whatever that just didn't want to let me be happy. So, I decided to take Friday off and take a little time for rest. It was just what I needed apparently because I feel good as new. You know, it takes being sick to really appreciate feeling well doesn't it? I feel very very very good. Anyway, about SG, it was fabulous. On Friday we just chilled around the beautiful condo, I even got to read outside and felt WARM, it was wonderful. I watched the Aves change her baby's diaper a few times :), and loved to just hang out with her, Eliza Mae, Annie, and Brynne while the boys did some manly bonding. That night we went swimming for a little bit (it reminded me of the good old days at Nana's pool) and then we headed back home for Bryce's fav, Cafe Rio. The next day we went to Zions and went on a little river walk with the kids. I got to push Eliza for the first half and then cute baby Kole the second half, it was delightful. I just love my nieces and nephews. I had a little relapse to my own childhood when Elle started to cry because she was scared of a rock Iuri had her sit on for a photo op, sorry Dad, I probably did WAY worse than that and way more often. It was fun to feel sympathy, I know just how the poor girl felt. It was even more fun to watch Bryce save the day and go up to try to help Iuri out. Love those Melos, it was fun to spend the day with them, singing High School Musical and just talking about cool things like that :). We missed Brynnie though. That night we played a little hearts, I lost terribly, but I am going to practice Beeks. Next time, I will win and I will do it shooting for the moon. It was a great trip...I am sad to be back to real life and dealing with parent teacher conferences, tests, no child left behind, and things like that :), but oh well...that's what makes vacations great right?

Here's Bryce and I, loving every minute of Zions. We can't wait to go back and do a little hiking, although, I may pull an Elle Xs 100 if we have to hike Angel's Landing.

Just me and my buddies. Thanks to Ansie and Kates for letting me steal their children constantly. They were most excellent company.

I was trying to make it look like we were rugged hikers. Did I achieve that? I don't think so...looks more like Zoolander.

Poor little Elle Boo--aka Mandi jr. It was a really high rock though, so I give her props for climbing up in the first place. I especially loved that Jona (2) climbed up and almost jumped off with no hesitation :).

Weight and See

I just wanted to share some good news...after a few rough weeks, I have finally lost 12 pounds! It has been a long 9 weeks trying to lose it, but finally it is beginning to pay off. My goal is 20...so I've got 8 more to go and I'm very hopeful that I can do it in 6 more weeks. I love weight watchers, but it has been frustrating at times to follow it perfectly and to get no results. All I want is to get back to pre-marriage Mandi...is that too much to ask? :)

Another bit of great news: Bryce and I will be heading to Europe on May 30 and will be there until June 16. We are so excited! This is something that both of us have been dying to do together and we decided to take the plunge (no kidding, Bryce about had a heart attack when we bought the tickets). But, we cannot wait to see his mission and to visit old friends. We will be visiting London, Barcelona, Cannes, Florence, Pisa, Rome, Paris, Marseilles, Manchester, Preston, Bath, and hopefully Amsterdam. If anyone has any great advice for cheap travel--please let us know, we are definitely an open book. We were hoping to get over to Romania to see my dear friend Elisa and my sweet orphans and street boys, but the price was not right and it takes so much time to get to Iasi that we had to decide against it. It was hard, but I know that someday we will get back there! Well, that's all! Peace out!