The Fletcher Fishbowl

Touchdown!

2012-01-02T23:34:00.000-08:00

Lets just start by saying I am not a football fan. The only thing football is good for is providing me good food and decent commercials once a year. However Devin thinks football is entertaining and is determined to indoctrinate the boy at a a young age.

So the boy and his dad watched the Rose Bowl game on Monday. Oregon won so life is good.

I at least got a good picture out of it. See top of post.

The handsome lad SMILES!!!

New Year's Eve

2012-01-01T11:58:00.000-08:00

It is a time honored tradition that for New Year's Eve we go to the Tostitos Bowl Parade. My mom's side of the family has been going for years and it only gets better with time. Sure you may think parades are lame, but it only happens once a year, there is tasty food and here are some of the things you might just catch a glimpse of.

1. Clubs of all varieties. The highest bike riding club, the comic book association of AZ, the Star Wars lovers group, the list goes on and one. This year our favorite was seeing a Star Wars rebel fighter in a jazzy. There is no picture. Sorry. But here is Darth Vader in his white convertible.

2. Camels. When is the last time you saw camels?

3. A cute baby and your sister asleep. Okay so maybe this parade wasn't as exciting as I am making it out to be. But it's once a year and it gets you out of your house and we heart it.

Side note. Here is a picture of Devin having his first drink of soda for a year. He went from December 28th, 2010 to January 1st, 2012 without drinking soda or having any sweets (cookies, candy, cake, ice cream and the like). We were supposed to do it together. I lasted until March.

Fail.

The Glass Castle

2011-12-30T19:03:00.001-08:00

So I never reported back on The Glass Castle and I didn't end up reading all of the other books I said except for Royal Panoloply which I will report on. Instead I read the rest of the Maze Runner series and loved them. I will also write more about them.

But anyways, The Glass Castle is cray cray. Like you need to read it. Now. Its about this girl who has the most insane parents on the face of the planet and about how she grew up. It is almost unbelievable and seems like it has to be fiction at times. But its not. Its her life. And she turns out pretty normal. The most frustrating part of the book is that her parents are really really smart but suck at being parents slash normal humans. As I read this I pretty much told Devin about the whole thing so now he says he doesn't need to read it. But he still should. Because it is that good.

In conclusion, I give the book an O for Outstanding.

Side note. I found this ladies blog who reviews books for those of you looking for something new and good to read. Its called blogginboutbooks.com. She reads and reviews close to 200 books per year and I have to say I agree with most of her reviews. She rates her books A-F and tags her book reviews by rating so that can find just all the books she rates A and get new suggestion on what to read. Check it out. You'll thank me later.

Bebe Gabe!

2011-12-29T19:32:00.000-08:00

So Gabe and I hang out at Amanda's house frequently. Its pretty awesome because it gives me something to do and gives Gabe a pretend brother and sisters to hang out with. Today Delia said their morning family prayer and said thanks that Annie and I were there. She forgot about "Bebe Gabe" as Gwen calls him. So for the rest of the prayer Gwen whispered to Delia getting increasingly louder, "Bless bebe Gabe! BLESS bebe Gabe!"

"BLESS BEBE GABE!!"

It was hilarious. I love their loveship.

2 Months Old

2011-12-12T11:30:00.000-08:00

Gabe is 2 months old and we are finally out of the "feel like we are playing house" mode and it feels like he is actually ours. For the first month I kept wondering when his mom was going to come get him because I felt like I was just babysitting someone else's kid. Here is what he is up to.

Smiling!!!
Sitting up(ish) with a hand supporting his back.
Cooing like crazy. Especially when he hears music, someone is singing to him or he is taking a bath.

1 Month Old

2011-11-12T11:13:00.000-08:00

Gabe is 1 month old and loving life. We can't get enough of him. Here are some things he has been up to.

He laughs during his sleep. (cutest thing ever)
He is learning to hold his head up and love to lay on my chest.
He hates to be swaddled.
He loves bath time and his swing.

Devin claims that he loves to watch football. I'm not so sure on that one. But Devin loves to make him do adult things i.e. watch youtube videos, listen to music with him, and read 18th century poetry. You know so he becomes an intellectual. By 2 months Devin will probably have him smoking a pipe while wearing his reading robe.

Book Reviews

2011-08-09T18:06:00.000-07:00

Here is a list of books I have read recently and my thoughts on them.

The first set of books is my crush on Young Adult Fiction. Specifically the fantasy/sci-fi genre.

City of Bones
Author: Cassandra Clare

This book was suggested by a student who I tutored who loved them and said it was the best series he had read in a while. When I first started reading this book my thought was "Eh. Do I really want to have to immerse myself in a new author's world of all things mystical?" My answer after reading the book. "Meh". I would give it an S for satisfactory rating. The romance story within the book is compelling enough but there is a twist at the end that I guess doesn't resolve itself until like the 3rd or 4th book? And that my friend is a lot of reading. I looked up the spoiler and haven't decided if it was worth it to read 1,500 more pages to get there. Although I have heard the second book is better. If you are going to read this series just be prepared for a new world of vampires, werewolves, spells etc. And to kind of feel like a nerd.

Matched
Author: Ally Condie

This book was suggested by my friend Erica on her blog. I feel like the author did a good job of keeping to the point and keeping me interested without being too wordy and descriptive. It was a pretty quick read but was very reminiscent of "The Giver" by Lois Lowery. I think it is difficult to come up with a new concept of a dystopic society without repeating some similar ideas from other books. For example this book has certain responsibilities coming at certain ages, jobs being assigned by ability, and a predetermined death date for those aging so they can die with dignity. It was very similar to "The Giver" but with a romance story intertwined. Hence the name matched. This story focuses on how the main character is matched with her perfect mate and the ceremony and rituals surrounding that. I think the second book is slated for November 1st and I will definitely pick it up. It will be interesting to see what happens. She did a good job of leaving it open for the next book and I am assuming there are many more layers to the society they live in.

The Maze Runner

Author: James Dashner

Our school nurse suggested this book to me. It is about a group of boys who lose all of their memories and wake up traveling in an elevator that opens to a giant maze. There is a group of 50 or so boys ages 12-18 stuck in the maze trying each day to find a way out. The walls move every night and so it is a harder task then it would seem. Shortly after the main character arrives in the maze a girl arrives in the elevator, the first to enter the maze. This was another adventure story with a romantic story line. It was pretty good. I enjoyed the author's creative setting. He did a good job a setting the scene without being annoyingly descriptive. I give it an S+.

Not trying to be Debbie Downer about the last three books but I have to say that once you have read "The Hunger Game" series, "Twilight" series and/or "Harry Potter" series then the this genre is kind of destroyed for you. A book has to really have good character development and a compelling story to compete. Thus my satisfactory ratings. They are all series books and I like them enough to give the second book a try but beyond that...well we'll just have to see.

The next few I have read in the last week or so. Apparently I switch from the above books to memoirs? I didn't do it on purpose but it's kind of how it worked out.

I'm Down Author Mishna Wolff

I LOVED this book. I will warn you there is a fair amount of swearing so those faint of heart, you were warned. The story is about Mishna, a girl born to a white, hippie mom and dad until the dad resorts to his roots and the parents divorce. She then grows up living with her dad who has turned back into what he was in high school, a white home-boy. It goes through her life trying to fit in with the "sistas" even though she has no rhythm or natural swagger. She does a really good job of telling the story from an appropriate perspective for the age she is at the time in the story and its awesome to see her perception of her dad grow over time. It is hilarious and awkward and I loved it. I give it an O for outstanding.

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
Author Amy Chua

This book was very entertaining. The mom is intense but I didn't judge her for it. She works really hard to help her girls become something amazing. And yeah, she kind of yells at them to get them there but overall the end results are pretty impressive. I give this book another O for outstanding. Great book and I got tired just by reading all the mom did. I really don't know how she had hours in the day to do it.

Books in cue- "The Glass Castle" to finish out my memoir list, "A Reliable Wife", "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", and "Royal Panoply". I will report back.

Domestic Bliss

2011-05-15T18:27:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I get into domestic moods (read: Emily says she is taking a break from making dinner and that if we want to eat we'd better get in the kitchen). So tonight we made some homemade pizza with fresh basil from Annie's garden thank you very much.

Just call me a gourmet super chef. Okay I am like light years away from that. However I am really looking forward to having the time to be more home-ish.

I recently resigned from my teaching position amid mixed emotions but the strongest feeling that I needed to stay home. As I continued to think about it, different parts from The Family Proclamation ran through my mind, cementing that I needed to be home. I never thought it would be so hard to quit and move forward with life. Don't get me wrong, part of me is SO excited to have a break from writing lesson plans, dealing with attitudes and not working 60 hours a week. But I really do love my job. I love the chance I have to influence a group of 12-14 year olds are still trying to figure out who they are and what they stand for. And I love when my students start to enjoy learning.

Like when they have to be told to shut the book because they are so hooked they can't stop reading or when they finish a writing project and talk about how it is the best they have ever written and are proud of their work.

In fact, a few days before I told my principal I was going to be leaving, she came to tell me about the perfect schedule I was going to have the next year (4 hours of teaching and 3 hours of time to do testing, department head work and my prep). I had to call Amanda to have her re-convince me that I wanted to leave. To strengthen my resolve, I frequently hold this bundle of joy and remind myself that the biggest influence a child can have on their life is their parents.

I'm so grateful for a supportive husband who let me choose whether I continued to work or stopped and for his ability to have faith in our decision that we will be okay (even if our bank account doesn't agree with that). While I won't have the opportunity to work with the kids at school I care about so much, I know that this new adventure will be even more amazing and fulfilling. And we get to find out what we are having on WEDNESDAY! Happy one day before our five year anniversary to us! Best present we could get! Updates to follow.

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-04T21:13:00.000-07:00

So this post may be a tad early but most of mine are a tad late so let's call it even. I've been thinking a lot about the upcoming Mother's Day and had to give a few shout outs to all the amazing women who have influenced my life.

Of course, I have to start with my mom. I was at mutual tonight and was talking to a few of the ladies in my ward and they were commenting on how well Annie did at mutual and how easily she had assimilated into the ward. They were saying how she seemed to do so well socially and I explained to them that she had always interacted with her typical peers. When she was younger, my mom kept her out of special programs as much as she could in order to allow her to learn the appropriate way to act socially. If this meant she had to coach softball and basketball and go to orchestra classes with Annie so that she could participate she did it.

The women both commmented on what an amanzing woman my mom must have been and they were right. I could write novels on how amazing my mom is but to spare you the reading, I will just talk about the things I am most recently realizing about her. Even with her being gone, I feel like I know just what she would have me do in regards to Annie because she was so clear on what her goals were for her and on what she saw in her future. So even though I may stumble along the way, I am so grateful for a mom that had the foresight to share with me those plans so that I have a clear roadmap to follow. Annie is kind of amazing and she got it all from my mom. I work with parents everyday that either don't advocate for their student with special needs or that are too overbearing and speak up in such a way that the teachers become unwilling to help their student because they are so demanding.

I remember coming home from school and being able to tell it was an IEP meeting day because of the cupcake tins and cookie sheets dirty in the sink. My mom would bake all day long to bring each person involved in an IEP meeting a plate of treats recognizing that if these teachers were going to spend time helping her daughter, the least she could do was bring them some goodies. She always tried to balance the services she was receiving from the school with time spent volunteering at school functions and donations given to the classroom. I remember even in Annie's seventh grade year when she wasn't feeling well, her volunteering to be the class pen pal and writing to the student's in Annie's class every other week. Like I said amazing.

Oh sisters. How I love them. I seriously don't know what I would do without them! I think after our mom died we just molded together and just took on the roles of what we were good at to make things work. Emily took care of the girls at the El Moro house and helped them survive emotionally, physically and mentally when things were crazy. She is also the cooking wife of the Jetcher house and is always coming up with new tasty things to eat. Amanda helps so much in supporting the girls bringing all her kids to swim meets with sonic slushes in tow for Annie and Julia to slurp on after swimming. She also teaches us all the homemaking skills she has aquired and is my pregnancy bible. She has all the answers I want. I am so grateful to have theses older sisters to look to and to learn from! Then Julia has always selflessly helped with all things Annie. The girl has shared a room with Annie since she was 4 and is an amazing example of being stalwartly obedient even when she could have made so many excuses to not choose good things. And Annie is the glue that holds us all together. Constantly teaching us how to act better, cracking us up with her hilarity and reminding us to read scriptures, say prayers etc.

Whenever I think of this house, I always think of all the ladies in the Lyn Rae ward that I learned from. You can't live on this street without gleaning from their wisdom. And not only that but all the ladies in the Kimball stake who I got to spend time with at girls camp, talking to at Vista Cleaners and learning from at church meetings. They are such amazing women who are devoted to serving others, raising their children the best they can and lifting up those around them. My family was so blessed to be supported by the people who lived in that ward and stake.

Maybe I am just feeling nostalgic, or hormonal or eh who knows...bloated? But this Mother's day I just want to say thanks to all those lovely ladies who have helped shape and mold my character, who have been shining examples of what it is like to balance busy schedules and still come out with their sanity in tact, and who have taught me to rely on the Savior for my support.

Happy Mother's day to all ya'll! And just know that I am striving to be a bit like you.

Stumblies

2011-03-18T11:38:00.000-07:00

So if you come to our house, you are most likely to find all of us on computers ignoring each other. You will hear occasional chortling and then continued ignoring of all others present. This is because we have found our new true love, Stumblies.

Essentially, you register, check off a list of things you like, and it provides you with endless hours of internet entertainment. The best thing I checked on my list was cats. Because it gives me lots of cat videos and the ability to hack Butt's facebook page with cat videos and pictures so everyone at BYU-Idaho know that she is a crazy, obsessed cat lady. (Remember how I named Julia, Butts, and how all of her roommates at school call her that now? Oh ya me too. )

So here is a gem I found on Stumblies that I will share with you. It is 25 rules on how to be a cat. Enjoy.

For the faint of the reading heart, there is also a video at the bottom.

Anyone can be a cat. All you have to do is follow the rules.

Rules For Being A Cat.

1. Anytime you go in or out a door you must pause at the threshold and contemplate whether you deign go through that door. You must do this until a much larger being is ready to give you a boot in the ass. You may then go through the door.

2. Anytime any flat object is laid upon the floor, you must go to the exact center of that object, lie down, and go to sleep.
3. If you see any space anywhere that is just about your size, you must get into it and look around.

4. Kill.

5. Want a good place to be a cat? Try anyplace it would be inconvenient to have a cat.

6. Anything that was OK the last time is not OK anymore. If you wanted to be picked up the last time, you no longer want that. If you liked Swiss cheese the last time, you no longer like it. If you wanted your head scratched the last time, you now regard anyone who wants to scratch your head as a mortal enemy of cats.

7. If two doors lead into the house off a porch and someone opens one of them, you want to go in the other one. You will not enter the first door, but will wait until someone opens the second door. Then you will enter the house.

8. Unless you decide you don’t want to go through that door either.

9. If you do go through that door, see Rule No. 1.

10. Kill.

11. Center of the room? Bad idea. Better stick close to the edges, and pour yourself sideways around the furniture.

12. If you share a house with a larger being who is stronger than you, who provides you with meat and drink and so on, you must disregard that being. You must treat that being with utter indifference.

13. Unless you did that the last time.

14. Kill.

15. Occasionally, you must act as though you are absolutely insane. You must chase shadows, spring upon ghosts, do battle with invisible beings, arch your back and somehow become larger than you are.

16. If anyone sees you doing this, you must stop at once and pretend you were not doing it, and treat the being that saw you with utter contempt.

17. Occasionally, you must disappear for three days to a week, then return home and sleep for 36 hours without moving a muscle except those necessary to breathe. When you get up, you will stretch and then kill something.

18. Want to try something fun? After sitting in one place for several hours and watching an empty room, go someplace else in the room and watch things from there.

19. Kill something and leave the parts you don’t want in the kitchen. Or under the dining room table.

20. Stick one leg out in the air at an impossible angle and lick it for several minutes. When you get tired of licking it, just leave that leg sticking out in the air and stare off into space.

21. Any human caught lying down is your property, to inspect, walk over and jump onto or from as you see fit. The face is a good jumping-off place.

22. Just because you are more handsome, more self-possessed, more relaxed, wiser, and a better athlete than humans does not mean you are superior to them. You are also superior to them for other reasons.

23. You need not obey the law of gravity.

24. If you follow all these rules, you may be a cat.

25. Unless the cats change the rules.

Here is a video we also love.

Thanks Stumblies for making our lives complete!

Suri.

2010-11-20T09:50:00.000-08:00

So I finally found the charger to my camera but now can't find my camera. (That statement pretty much sums up my life. I am a master at losing things.) So you get cell phone pictures. Suri.

We went to the Gilbert Temple ground breaking last weekend and I felt like a pioneer. That may be because growing up we were only allowed to watch church movies on Sunday and so I pretty much have Mountain of the Lord memorized and when the choir sang "The Spirit of God" it brought back movie memories.

Anyway here are the important people digging in the earth.

The guy bent down low is Newell Barney. Former stake president of the original Gilbert stake (Newell Barney is orignial gangsta) and the most humble man you can meet. I met him. I am famous. And I work at his school. You must be cool if you have a school named after you.

We were super close to the whole thing because Lee went early to save us seats. It was pretty awesome.

They had golden shovels and I won a golden ticket. (Ok that second part isn't true. My last name is not Bucket. )

Annie loved life in the hot sun and felt sick but was a trooper and hung out with us the whole time.

Also we went to Harry Potter 7. I'm not gonna lie I was more entertained by this event. But that is because I am a bad person. It was awesome and I loved it. Emily sat next to me and apparently remembered none of the book because she was shocked at each new event in the movie.

In conclusion, our life is kinda boring but we like each other. The end.

Scapegoat

2010-10-09T15:41:00.000-07:00

So slowly but surely, our new house is becoming a house instead of looking like a giant storage unit. If you need filled in see Emily's Blog. We are all adjusting to living together and LOVING it. We keep referring to each other as sister wives. Emily is the cooking wife, I am the smooching wife...Julia is the whiny wife? We haven't quite figured out her title yet. (If you aren't watching Sisterwives on TLC you should be. Crazy!!!) But anyway, we are getting ready to leave for Disneyland in T minus 24 hours and we are all ecstatic.

The true saint in this whole situation is Devin. He is living with 4 girls. YES FOUR. Poor kid. And Jones girls at that. We are all kind of whiny and overly dramatic.

He has also become the scapegoat for everything.

Who ate all the oreos? Devin.
Who let the cats in? Devin.
Who didn't take out the garbage? Devin.

He= a saint.

P.S. Yes I know I haven't blogged in 2.3 billion years.
P.P.S. Half of the reason I posted was just because when we were talking about Devin being a scapegoat I pictured the above picture in my mind and thought it needed to be shared with the blogging world. You're welcome.

Tales of the junior high nothing.

2010-05-23T18:02:00.000-07:00

AIMS is over and so school life has returned back to normalcy (if that exists in a junior high). Of course this means students are back to their normal routine which equals new stories for you to read. You're welcome.

There is always one student in each class that sits in the back of class near my desk. This is generally because they need extra reminders to work or can't sit next to another student without poking and harassing them.

So yesterday I was reminding one of these students to get back on task and to finish the story he was writing and he growled at me. So of course because I am five and sometimes forget that I am at school, I hissed at him like a cat. Normal right? Right. Anyway he hissed back at me and totally put my hiss to shame. It sounded EXACTLY like a cat.

Impressed I said, "Whoa that was an amazing hiss."

His reply, "Well how many cats do you have at home?"

"Only one"

"Well I've got ten back under my dad's truck at home! So of course I am better than you."

Of course. What was I thinking.

Bright Star

2010-02-28T19:59:00.000-08:00

So Emily and I saw this movie in theaters and I just rented it this weekend so that Devin and I could watch it. If you love English period pieces with lots of birds chirping and classical music then I highly suggest this movie. It is a sentimental tear jerker and very sweet. I know that I sound like a mother but it is very refreshing to watch a movie that is clean without all the extra nonsense.

You should watch it while eating ice cream on a rainy Sunday afternoon. I mean that's not what I did today. I read my scriptures like I am supposed to. If someone feels like buying it for me I wouldn't say no.

Anyway. Rent it. Love it.

Disclaimer

2010-02-23T19:04:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the previous post. I didn't mean it to sound like I was curled in the fetal position ready to take a razor blade to my wrists. I actually kind of think what my students say is hilarous.

Another example for your reading enjoyment...

Wednesday last week I woke up late and wasn't going to make it on time for the kids I tutor in the morning if I didn't literally put on clothes and walk out the door. So picture left over make up, hair in a pony tail me. Yeah gross. So needless to say my kids commented on how pretty I looked.

So Thursday rolls around...I actually get ready. No comments.

Friday. I get ready again. (which is normal by the way)

A student walks in second hour.

"Mrs. Fletcher, you are actually wearing make-up today"
"Yeah I was yesterday too didn't you notice?"
"Oh no, I didn't pay atttention to anyone yesterday."
"Gotcha"
Then a kid who has no shame in telling it like it is turns and says,
"Yeah, but it doesn't do a very good job of hiding your zits though does it?"

Apparently I = This Guy

I thought I was done with junior high and low self-esteem

2010-02-17T19:46:00.001-08:00

Remember how awkward Junior High was? and how especially cruel it was that if you grew up in Mesa, AZ you had to deal with 3 years of junior high becuase you go to high school when you are a sophmore rather than a freshman?

Well I get to relive that Every. Single. Day.

The students I teach have no filters. That means they think it, they say it.

As their teacher, I get the lovely end of those non-filtered comments.
I bring to you my new segment: I thought I was done with Junior High and low self-esteem.

Part One

Yesterday I got to my first hour. I am up in the front talking about the journal question of the day. Students are sharing their answers to the question. One student raises his hand. I call on him expecting that he will share his journal response. Instead I get this:
Mrs. Fletcher, are you gaining weight?

Part Two

This winter I purchased a new pea coat from Downeast Basics. It was a green coat. One day I wore the jacket with tan-ish brown pants. During second hour one of my students mentions that I look like someone. He can't quite figure out who but I look familiar for some reason. The hour passes and I forget about his comment. One minute until the bell rings, I tell the students to go ahead and pack up their stuff and he shouts out, "I got it Mrs. Fletcher! I know who you look like! You look just like Shaggy from Scooby Doo!" Laughter ensues. Students leave.
Needless to say, I don't wear that jacket and those pants anymore.

New Blog to Ignore

2010-02-03T22:00:00.000-08:00

Hi there, Devin here. If any of you are facebook friends with me, you will have noticed (until you hit the 'ignore post' button), that I have been recently been including links to songs that have been lost to the ages that I have been, at one time or another, obsessed with. Since Facebook is hardly a place of permanence, I have decided to additionally list these treasured gems at my new blog, aptly titled "From the Vault". Yes it sounds like the name of some cheesy infomercial hosted by Donovan, or Stephen Stills, or maybe a cable access show extolling the virtues of the B-movie genre of the 1950s. Still, I think you will enjoy them. Because, hey the only thing better than being ignored on facebook is putting in twice the effort. Word up peoples.

http://fromthevaultmusic.blogspot.com

25 Things.

2009-12-24T15:00:00.000-08:00

Hi there, Devin here. The lovely Laura "Jones" Fletcher and I are spending our fifth Christmas together and to commemorate it, we here at DevandLolly.blogspot.com would like to put together a list of twenty five little-known facts about Laura "Jones" Fletcher.

1. No matter how good you think you are at Mario Kart, she can beat you. Especially if she is using the red koopa troopa or birdo.

2. She is the proud owner of not one, but two bachelor's degrees.

3. For as good as she is at scrapbooking, and for as many wedding books as she has scrapbooked for other people, she has never once made anything for herself. It is a testament to either her selflessness or to her getting burned out. Kind of like the maid with a dirty house, or the mechanic who drives a beater.

4. She is a bad negotiator. e.g. (Laura: $20, Devin: $10, Laura: $25, Devin: . . .)

5. She got a teaching job in this economy despite the best efforts of the state legislature to combine all students everywhere into one big class and fire all the other teachers.

6. She can tell you the plot of any episode of any Disney Channel show. Be it Suite Life of Zack and Cody or Hannah Montana, she knows it by heart. That Annie Jones is a terrible influence.

7. Laura will obsess over a tv show until she has seen all the seasons of it on DVD. Current obsession: The Big Bang Theory.

8. Fines Fines Fines. The amount she has paid in fines to ASU parking , Mesa Traffic Court, and the Gilbert Public Library is greater than the GDP of certain sovereign nations.

9. Laura is easily the most selfless and devoted sister I have ever met. She would do anything for her sisters and even my siblings.

10. Her love of chinese food borders on obsession. Luckily we have a about 80 chinese places within a four mile vicinity of our house, and they all hurt her stomach.

11. She doesn't know her rights from her lefts. Because of this, when I ask her which way to turn while driving, she has started saying "right" by default. Thus, I have learned to never ask her for directions.

12. She loves to travel and would go to Europe in a heartbeat.

13. She plays Settlers of Catan (sort of nerdy) on the internet (really nerdy) against other people on the internet (who did I marry? answer: this guy)

14. She likes to drive. One time we went on a road trip from Gilbert, AZ to San Jose, CA and she drove the whole way there and the whole way back. Ugh.

15. She has had two organs removed: appendix and gall bladder. At age 23, that's an average of slightly less than one per decade. Pretty soon she will start running out of vestigial and vestigial-ish organs to lose.

16. Every time she tries to grow her hair out, she gets about six months in and then can't take it anymore, so she chops it off.

17. She has six toes on her right foot. *

18. She hates gift bags. I mean, despises them. I try to put presents in gift bags and she takes them out and makes me wrap them. This year, for Christmas, I put one of her presents in a gift bag, but thought better of it and wrapped the present and the gift bag.

19. She loves Jesus.

20. When she goes shopping she is always thinking of things she can get for other people. Whether it is a headband for her friends or candy for me, she is always looking for things to get other people.

21. Halloween is her favorite holiday. She loves it so much she will decorate crazily for it and not nearly as much for any other holiday. She loves the candy, the parties, and most of all the costumes. The order of her favorite holidays goes like this

a. Halloween

2. Thanksgiving

d. all them Jesus ones.

22. She has better musical taste than you.

23. When she was a kid, she got chased up a tree by a rooster.

24. She works like inifity hours a day. Like, I think if you divided her salary by the hours she works, she makes less than this kid.

Queen Creek, you owe me money.

25. She is my favorite person in the world.

Anyway, those are some things you should know about her. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night . . . or something.

* May not be true.

Remember me?

2009-11-17T21:30:00.000-08:00

You may not... I am the giant loser who hasn't blogged in oh say six months?

Yeppers. That would be me.

Well I decided if I waited until I had something important to say I might never blog again so inspired by Emily, I decided just to tell you what I have been up to/random info about life lately at the fletcher casa.

1. I teach junior high students or walking/talking attitudes. I love most of my students but I'm not gonna lie there are a couple fighting for least favorite.

2. I decked out my class for Halloween and didn't take pictures. Sad face. But I lost my camera also impacting my blogging motivation.

3. Kia gave me a free GPS. I might have agreed to them sending it while on pain killers yet cognisant enough to know that if they tried to charge me later I could blame it on just having surgery and being on pain killers. It is awesome and I love it. I use it to go to Fry's approximately .2 miles away because it tells me where to go in a British accent. Her name is Bridget.

4. I was a giant box of OxiClean for Halloween. Devin was Billy Mays.

5. My new obsession in the land of TV is How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory. Very entertaining. I highly suggest them.

6. The best books I have read this year (read: only books) were The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. Read them. Emily told me to, which means they are good.

7. I am a writing teacher, yet my husband corrects my grammar and writing ALL of the TIME. See also as I type this blogpost.

8. I am realizing as I write this that I spend all of my time at school and have nothing to say that doesn't involve school. I= a workaholic. When you have to ask your principal what time the school alarm sets because you are afraid you might trip it when you leave at 10pm, you know you have a problem.

9. I have officially lost 30 pounds. I don't feel like it is very noticable because I am tall but hey progress is progress.

10. I forgot how to blog.

The end.

Oh yeah.

2009-06-11T17:52:00.000-07:00

So it would probably help if I gave some
more info on my new job.

Excitement got the best of me and I
kind of forgot the details.

I am going to work at Newell Barney
Middle School in Queen Creek.
I will be teaching writing in a resource classroom
to 7th and 8th graders.
This school is only a year old and
has amazing technology resources!

Each teacher gets
a document camera and a laptop.
I seriously feel so blessed to not only have a job
but to have one that is so perfect!

And, their mascot is the buccaneers.
I'm hoping I'll get to dress like a pirate at least once.

GOOD NEWS!

2009-06-10T13:45:00.000-07:00

I got a job! I got a JOB! I got a job. I GOT A JOB! I got a job!!!!! I got a job! I got a JOB! I got a job. I GOT A JOB! I got a job!!! I got a job! I got a JOB! I got a job. I GOT A JOB! I got a job!!! I got a job! I got a JOB! I got a job. I GOT A JOB! I got a job!!! I got a job! I got a JOB! I got a job. I GOT A JOB! I got a job!!! I got a job! I got a JOB! I got a job. I GOT A JOB! I got a job!!!

And I am REALLY excited!

That's all.

Let's review...

2009-06-03T14:03:00.000-07:00

Now that I am furthermore finished with Arizona State University I can blog again.
Aren't you excited?!?

So I got two degrees from ASU and I couldn't be happier that I am finally done...

Oh wait yes I could... I would be much happier if the economy wasn't stupid and districts were hiring teachers.

You see earlier in the semester I went to this little rally at the capitol building where people were slightly upset that the state was cutting millions of dollars in education. Aren't these two little girlies cute as buttons? They held up that sign for a good hour before getting tired.

Anyway, let me tell you a little story. Student teaching sucked up all my time. But I loved it. So to catch the world up on my life I will give you an assortment of pictures that will tell you what I've been doing.

For I ♥ to Read week we made green eggs and ham and painted toast. Thanks Mrs. Doreen!
(I stole the idea from my preschool teacher)

I assume it tasted bomb because my kids ate it like lunch wasn't in an hour. But I'm not gonna lie I was too afraid to taste it.

Food dyed the wrong color grosses me out.

Later in the month I made volcanoes for the kids to explode.

Let me just tell you a little secret,
neon pink play-doh + neon purple play-doh + neon orange play-doh + neon green play-doh and little bit of green food coloring = gross orangish volcano looking play-doh.
That might just save you some trouble down the road.

Oh and walgreens is the only place in, say a 10 mile radius that has pop-rocks when you need them at 11:30 at night.

If you can see the clock on the oven then you can tell it's 1:55 am when I made these beauties.
Someone should tell ASU that student teaching 50 hours a week is TOO MUCH!

See the cute dinosaurs? The sand is compliments of the park down my street where all the moms in my ward say you get pink-eye at. Luckily no eyes were hurt in the making of these volcanoes.

Then we made them explode at school.

The kids got to put in a mixture of baking soda, vinegar, water, dish soap, red food coloring, alkaseltzer, red glitter, pop-rocks and minty life savers.

I thought it might make the explosion bigger and adding stuff is always fun. The pop rocks made the explosion sizzle. The kids learned that dinosaurs drowned in the lava and that pop-rocks and gushers are great mixture!

Later I switched to a fifth grade class. We had lots of fun too! We watched "Gone with the Wind" and we made planet models and planet posters. Those pictures are on my other memory card. Come back soon to see the planets. They are AMAZING!

Besides student teaching, we sent Elliot off on his mission.
I have actually been keeping up on his blog.

Isn't this picture of him and his dad precious?

I also hung out with this kid when I had time. I am the best wife in the world because I bought us matching clip-on mustaches.

My favorite thing was going to the Jimmy Eat World Clarity tour this spring. Devin, Me, Emily and Julia all went but didn't hang out together. We also saw half of Mesa there.

Pre sweaty hair

Post sweaty hair

Devin kept hoping that Davey from The Promise Ring was going to show up when they sang "The Praise Chorus". He didn't show. Devin's hopes and dreams were crushed.

I taught Julia how to pump gas too. She failed. It got all over her jeans. She smelt like an auto-mechanic. I made her walk home. Okay not really. But I thought about it.

She also participated in her and Devin's favorite hobby. Taking awkward pictures together.

Normal picture. (sans the rock star gear)

Awkward molester picture.

For spring break me and Emily decided to go and get our finger print clearance cards. Emily needed one to apply to the nursing program and I thought I needed a new one with an IVP number on it.

We got all gussied up to go and then remembered that we were going to a government facility where we should have worn pajama pants and wife beater tanks if we really wanted to fit in.

Of course per usual, the building was near impossible to find. Says the lady who we finally found to give us directions, "oh no, you see when the road says 'No Access Dead End' you're supposed to go past it and then make a left to get to the building."
We were mad at them until they reminded us to buckle up and we promptly forgave them.

Thanks crash test dummy DPS man!

Then we had a party of the century for Annie's birthday.

First week was the family celebrations.

Then we moved on to the friend celebrations.

They decorated purses.

Had brownies with powdered sugar which blew into our faces.

Blew bubbles, had a silly string war and spent the night.

Finally, Teeny was bored and hated me for never being home and decided that a box made a better mother than me. See how she averts her eyes and won't even look at me?!?
I'm crushed.
My cat hates me.

We have since made up and are now best friends again.

Next up girls camp pictures. I went for a FULL week so don't you worry about a thing. There will be plenty more posts a comin'.

Okay so I posted. Can we be friends again?

Happy Birthday ANNIE!

2009-03-10T17:17:00.000-07:00

It's that time again. Annie just (on March 7th) turned 15 years old!
Hard to believe she's 15 eh?

Here are 15 reasons why I LOVE Miss Annie Jones Fletcher King (self named)

1. Annie is hilarious! No really you don't get it. She is really ridiculously funny.
Por ejemplo...

When my dad first started dating his new wife Annie asked him if he was coming to her choir concert. He said yes and that Dianne was coming too. Annie leaned over to me and behind her hand said, "Uh-oh. Incoming."

The other day she said this while hugging the cat. "Oh Jane I'm so sorry. Will you forgive me?" And then she proceeded to sing from "Just Friends"
"Forgiveness...is more than saying sorry."

2. Annie LOVES Disney channel. She can quote anything that's from "Hannah Montana", "The Suite Life of Zac and Cody", "Wizards of Waverly Place" or "Sonny with a Chance". She is so good at memorizing what the characters say we have seriously considered asking Disney Channel to start embedding things we need Annie to memorize into their shows like the Young Women's theme or the Articles of Faith so she can start quoting those things instead of the random lines from the TV shows.

3. Annie is an amazing dancer. She can shake it like nobodies business. She loves to come up with choreography and to tell everyone where they should be and what to do.

4. Annie also loves to teach people how to dance. If you're ever bored on a Saturday night and want some entertainment, come to our house and watch Annie teach me how to dance. Its like watching Justin Timberlake try to teach Steve Urkle. Kind of pathetic.

5. When Annie grows up she wants to be famous, a teacher, and a dress designer. She doesn't want to be a famous teacher or a famous dress designer. Just famous for being famous. Watch out Paris Hilton.

6. Annie loves America's Next Top Model. Tyra Banks is her idol and she has a FIERCE runway walk. Ask her. She would love to show you.

7. Annie is a great reader. Right now she is reading Twilight because "Edward is SO romantic" her words not mine.

8. Annie loves to learn. She is a fantastic student and always wants to get straight A's. If you want her to do well you just tell her that she needs to get an A and she will do the best she can. She loves to talk about school especially the units her amazing teacher Mrs. Schulte puts together. Right now she is learning about the human body and her favorite thing is to tell you about all of the different systems in the body and what they do. She retains so much of the knowledge she learns is science and loves learning it.

9. Annie is super excited to turn 16. She has been talking about turning 16 since she was 13. It started out with..."Next year I turn 14, then next year I turn 15, then after that when I'm 16 I'm going to go on a date and get driving lessons." Now that she is 15 she reminds us every day that she is almost 16 and that soon she can go on dates.

10. Annie is an amazing swimmer. She loved doing swim team at Mesa High last semester and really had a great time with all of the other swimmers. She is a really great at freestyle!

11. Annie really likes to learn sign language. She is going to take it at Mesa High next year and she is already practicing out of her sign book so she will be ready to go. She thinks it is so fun to talk to people by signing.

12. Annie is the most polite girl you will ever meet. She always says "please", "thank-you", "you're welcome", and "bless you" when she needs to. She is so nice to be with because she is always so polite.

13. Annie always compliments whoever makes the dinner. It can be macaroni and cheese and she will tell you that you are the bomb.com because it was the best food she has ever had. She seriously makes you feel so amazing because she always tells you whatever you made was fabulous.

14. Annie is afraid of our chickens. If you want to give her a heart attack you will make her go outside and feed them. She really freaks out if she thinks they are chasing her.
Annie+petting chickens = not friends
Annie+ eating chicken = best friends

15. Most of all we love Annie because she is such a sweetheart. There is a reason we have Annie is my BFF! bumper stickers. She always tells her friends that they are her BFF. Annie is great at complimenting others and is very in tune with others feelings. She is always concerned with how others feel and wants everyone to be happy. I love having Annie around. She really is my BFF! (shh don't tell Devin)

Happy Birthday Annie! We love you!!!

Happy Birthday AMANDA!!!

2009-02-23T20:35:00.000-08:00

So I guess I can end my blog hiatus in order to post about my darling sister's birthday.

What better reason right? Right.

So here are 27 reasons I love Amanda...

Lets be honest the first and foremost reason is because she makes freakin' cute babies/kids.
But on a less {I'm a selfish aunt} note...

2. She is Martha Stewart. I seriously have stopped calling her Amanda and only refer to her as Martha. She can make anything, decorate better than those Domino folks and always is thinking of her next project.

3. She is an amazing photographer and has a great eye for color and composition.

4. She loves her girlies more than anything! She seriously does so much for them and makes their little lives perfect! She gives them fantastic birthdays and Halloween costumes and always makes sure they look ADORABLE!

5. She's still a cute pregnant girl = not fair.

6. She gives her everything to her church callings. She goes all out as young women's president and all her girls LOVE her.

7. She wants to be a gourmet chef. She is seriously going to be one of those mom's that makes TDF meals because she already makes them and loves to try new fun recipes.

8. Halloween is her favorite holiday...always a top quality in my book.

9. She dressed like a prom queen for Halloween. Awesome.

10. She is OBSESSED with ketchup. Sometimes we can't even tell what the original meal was because ketchup exploded on it.

11. When you look around her house you want to cry because you know yours will never be as cute. (or is that just me?)

12. When she was a kid she used to do an impression of Uncle Joey doing an impression of the woodchuck ALL of the time.
{Is this table made of wood?}
Remember that?
She would say it about the dinner table, the cabinets, anything that slightly resembled wood.

13. She hates strawberries. She used to cry when she had to eat them.

14. Once when she was pregnant with Eden she bit me. On my arm. On purpose.

15. She keeps her house perfectly clean all of the time.

16. She throws the best parties ever!

17. She loves to go to the lake with her family. I think she would live there during the summer if she could.

18. She married her perfect match. She and Lee are so similar.

19. Her favorite dessert is rice krispy treats.

20. She is totally the best sister to have when you plan a wedding. She helps with so much and puts everything together to look so classy and perfect!

21. She is my bone marrow match! Daniel and Emily were perfect bone marrow matches and so are Amanda and I. So pretty much when I can't have babies, need a new liver, or just have a hankerin' for some new marrow, she's my gal.

22. She is the best at finding deals when she goes shopping! She found her bedspread at Anthropolgie for only $200 and she always finds shirts for like $5 and still has amazing style!

23. Speaking of shopping, she can stay in one store for HOURS on end. She seriously has to touch each item before leaving.

24. She loves pop punk and maybe is secretly excited for the Blink 182 reunion.

25. The day after any holiday you can find her at Target picking up all the clearance items and stocking up on cute things for the next year.

26. She always anticipates the next season. When spring is about to come she is so excited for easter but when easter is about to come she is so excited for summer.

27. She is the best second oldest sister we have!

WE LOVE YOU AMANDA!

School

2009-01-22T22:41:00.000-08:00

Currently for school I am student teaching at Houston Elementary in Gilbert. I am VERY EXCITED to be in my LAST and FINAL semester of ASU. Its like any time I talk about GRADUATING my Caps Lock automatically can't stop working.

Anyway, I love my placement and my school and am highly entertained by my adorable and smart students. I am also highly entertained by the pictures I find on the internet while I am trying to make up worksheets for the kids.

Tonight I was working on a visual cue poster for Super Sentences. I was trying to find pictures that would depict verbs. I wanted ones that showed a lot of action so that the students would get the correlation of Verbs=Action.

I typed run into google images and this came up...
along with it came a whole website that had pictures depicting all of the parts of speech: adjectives, nouns, verbs etc.

Other verb pictures I found that I deemed a little on the inappropriate side for the second graders.

Fight

Gain weight
Smoke

And my personal favorite for obvious reasons

Get Drunk

My Expert Review

2009-01-08T10:30:00.000-08:00

So last night Devin and I went and saw Twilight.

It was his first time and my third time. He just finished reading all the books and finally wanted to see the movie. We are nerds.

But given my new nerd status (seeing any movie three times in theaters makes you a nerd) I consider myself an expert on the movie and will now critique it.

Jasper:
Let's just say you do a great job of looking in pain for most of the movie, but during the baseball scene when you are wearing a blue and white baseball tee you are hot.
You are forgiven for being awkward and looking like someone just punched you in the stomach.

Rosalee:
I was really disappointed in their choice for Rosalee until I looked up pictures of Nikkie Reed and realized she's actually hot.

She just makes a really ugly blond.

And did anyone notice she was wearing gloves in the kitchen scene where she broke the glass bowl? What was that all about?

Bella:
You really look the part and I really want to like you but could you talk more monotone? Seriously I thought when you were scared your voice would have a least a hint of inflection but nope you kept on talking like a robot.

Edward:

I really like Rob Pattison as Edward but you know what I don't like? This EW cover. He is nasty and hairy.

Also not a fan of Robert Pattison in real life. I never thought I would say this but he is a guy who sounds better without the English accent. All you have to do is watch an interview with him and you will realize he's kinda "bleh".

And then there was Carlisle:
Does anyone else remember him from another movie? Playing the character which he will ALWAYS be type casted in my mind as?

Well hello Mike Dexter from Can't Hardly Wait! How are you? I see you've dyed your hair blond and are pretending to be hot.

I'll always know you as the guy who dumped Amanda Becket.

"I'm a loser. I broke up with the hottest girl in school, my friends all sold me out... and somebody in there just called me a fag! "

The P.B.C.

2009-01-05T21:00:00.000-08:00

The Polar Bear Club
Initiation to the Fletcher Family

Every New Year's day, the Fletcher Family has a terrible tradition of taking turns jumping into a freezing cold pool and then getting out.
Why? Well its all started in 1994 when Laurie (their mom) kicked them out of the house to get some much needed sleep. David (the dad) took the family on the five mile walk to the mall and back so that Laurie could get some peace and quiet. On their way home they walked past the complex's pool and David suggested they all take turns jumping in. The tradition was born.
Now its turned into an initiation/object lesson. Every year they do the same thing on New Year's day. David always says, "If this is the worst thing you have to do this new year then your year wasn't that bad." Before you jump in you're supposed to tell what your new year's resolution is.

Last year David jumped in first. We did it at our apartment's main pool thinking we wouldn't die since there is a hot tub right next to it. Well David jumped in only to find that the pool was heated. About the same as putting a gun up to your head and pulling the trigger only to find a blank inside.
So we ventured over to the pool by our apartment thinking it wouldn't be heated. Padlock on the gate aside, we hopped the fence to do the jump.

Unfortunately for David it meant he had to do the jump twice. On the second time around I saw just how painful it was. I hadn't planned on jumping. I was the camera girl extrordinare. But when it came Devin's turn he wouldn't jump. He pretty much said he wouldn't go if I didn't go. So I manned up and jumped in with him.

It was less then pleasant.
This Saturday marks this years P.B.C. jump day.
Needless to say I am really really really dreading Saturday. So if anyone feels like breaking one of my legs or performing some other sort of bodily harm that requires a cast...
by all means be my guest.
Cast=can't jump into icy cold pool=Laura happy.

Oh earbug.

2009-01-03T11:04:00.000-08:00

Today is Eden's FIFTH Birthday!

Here are the five reasons I love Eden...

1. She is such an amazing singer! All you have to do is sing a song once around her and she'll be humming it all day long and have the words memorized already. So you have to be really careful what you sing around her unless you want her to be singing, "Shake that A.."just kidding Amanda don't have a heart attack...that never happened.

2. She loves to perform for people. Whether it is in the play 1856 where she was an actress and singstress extrodinaire, just standing on our fireplace singing one of the songs she learned in her music group, or acting like a total ham at family dinner she is ALWAYS doing something to show off how much she knows and how amazing she is!

3. She is so SMART! Like I said, Eden can memorize anything. It was quite the sight to see her singing the FULL national anthem when we were watching the figure 8 car racing (yes we are white trash) at the fair. She had the whole thing memorized and was belting it. Everyone around us turned and just watched her sing because it was kind of incredible.

4. She loves to play and have fun with the Fletchers (a fantastic quality on my list). Eden comes to our house to spend the night on weekends and is so much fun to have. Whether it is watching Little Mermaid and singing and dancing to all of the songs or going out to eat and doing impressions of Devin she is a blast to have over!

5. She is the cutest girl! She was the first grandkid in our family so she will always be thought of as the cutest baby in the family and she totally was. She was so much fun to play with and take pictures of as a baby and her mom still always keeps her dressed up perfectly!

We LOVE you Earbug you can come play at our house ANYTIME!

Don't be late in 2008

2009-01-02T15:26:00.000-08:00

So my main goal for 2008 is stated above...

"Don't be late in 2008"

when I told devin that he said, "oh so you don't want to have a baby right now?"

not exactly...but I guess I could add that in?
I already have two fake kids with my fake spouse Emily named Julia and Annie. Thanks tho.

but really my goal was to not be such a procrastinating waste of space...
because lets be honest, I kind of can be/am.

But overall I did much better. I was almost never late to all of my classes.
Being late to church is still a regular occasion but at least I have my priorities in order right? And its gonna be a lot easier this year now that we have 9:00 am church.

There were still plenty of no sleep nights see also ALL of October.
And I still tried to do WAY to many things see also ALL of October
with my schedule just being a little too full.

To give you an idea, here is the list of October's festivities.

All YW at my house for watching Saturday General Conference,

15 page wedding sign in book,

Stake YCL leader for 4th year camp,

30 page anniversary book,
Make all games for Ward Halloween party,

make time to go to the fair with the fam (that is an event that CANNOT be missed!)

make food for the opening of Elliot's mission call,

all on top of going to school full time,

interning 6 hours a week,
( I would post pictures of the kindergartners becuase they are ADORABLE but I'm pretty sure I'm not allowed so here's something we made together after learning to sort with their Halloween candy.)

working full time-ish (being one of the pretend moms at the Jones house),

playing photographer for Julia's homecoming date,

midterms,

trying to celebrate my FAVORITE holiday Halloween
and pretending to be a wife.

Just thinking about that month makes me tired.

I am kind of really good at pushing the limit and working until the last possible second which results in regular mental breakdowns. Emily always tells me that just hearing about everything I have to do gives her stress. But I think I am getting better...right? Just don't ask Devin, Emily, Julia, or any other family member that has seen me in one of my stress induced comas.

I'm pretty sure 2009 is going to be filled with more no sleep nights but I'm trying to get a jump on things.

Motto for 2009:

"It's going to be fine in 2009."

I already bought my the scrapbook paper for the valentines I am making my soon to be students for student teaching this spring,

I am already decorating for Valentines day, my second favorite holiday.
(maybe I am the grinch becuase I kind of hate decortaing for christmas/it ranks pretty low on my list of favorite holidays),

and I am trying to be more composed/have less mental breakdowns.

So I think I am going to keep with the quote on the bottom of my computer screen from Mi Madre,

"I can do hard things"

and keep reading this talk

to remind myself of the change Elaine S. Dalton made to that quote,
“In the strength of the Lord, I can do all things.”

If I remember that quote then I know that
"It'll be fine in 2009."

Who studies. Lame.

2008-12-30T14:56:00.000-08:00

so ya my blog hasn't been very up to date lately I mean I didnt even blog about halloween even though it is my favorite holiday and devin and I placed in two different costume contests...
but in my defense apparently I do much better in school when I actually do my homework instead of blogging.

this is the first semester I have gotten straight A's at ASU*. Usually I get at least one B.
Hurray for being studious.

On the flip side I decided that I would have way rather put forth minimal effort most semesters and gotten a B then tried as hard as I did this semester every semester to get straight A's.
Way too much effort. I definitely like being mediocre much better.

* maybe one semester I got straight A's on my transcript with one W for withdrawn but really got an F in that class that I appealed and got removed off of my record. oopsies.

citrus fruit

2008-12-15T00:27:00.000-08:00

Day after Thanksgiving we went to the Christmas Lights at the Temple.
They were amazing, per usual.

We even got to see Brooke White turn on the lights. I don't watch American Idol so I was not star struck. Just kinda bored.

Then we walked around the lights and Devin and I had a conversation that went something like this...

Devin: I'll give you a dollar if you steal an orange off of that tree.
Laura: Deal but its not an orange its a grapefruit.
Devin: Fine just get the "citrus fruit" and I''ll give you a dollar
Laura: Sweet. (picks fruit off tree)
Laura: Done and done. Where's my dollar?
Devin: Umm...I don't have one. I owe you.
I'll give you a dollar if your throw your orange at the protesters.
Laura: What? No. I didn't get the last dollar your promised and I told you its a grapefruit!
Devin: Laura it's a figure of speech. I wasn't really ever going to give you a dollar. Sorry Miss Citrus Expert.
Laura: Fine. I'll give you a dollar if you won't promise me a dollar again and then not give me one again. Seriously...figure of speech...what a let down.

See it was a grapefruit.

(oh and BTW devin dyed his hair black.)

Flat Stanley

2008-12-12T14:52:00.000-08:00

Dear Grace,

We had so much fun having your Flat Stanley at our house. We finally had time to put together a little package for you to return back your Flat Stanley. Sorry it took us so long.

We promise we will mail it today. Included is...

Pictures about our favorite Christmas traditions like going to see the temple lights and going to Disney Land.

Also a couple of hand drawn numbers by Miss Annie-bo-nannie.

Hope you enjoy and thanks for giving us the chance to have Flat Stanley!

Love,

Annie, Laura and the rest of the Jones Fam.

My secret fear

2008-12-02T15:00:00.000-08:00

In case you are ever driving in front of me slash behind me
and see me swerve in an irrational manner
to miss hitting something in the middle of the road like
a box, a bag full of something or maybe even a shoe
its because I have a secret fear...

there might be kittens inside.

and you have to look out for the little loves.

Eat. Breathe. Sleep. Swim.

2008-11-19T10:00:00.000-08:00

The above stated = our life for the past three months/twelve weeks/84 days.

Introducing the Mesa High Swim Team

It all started back in August, when the three of us witnessed an hour that is never spoken of in our family during the summer. Apparently the sun rises around 6:00 am in the summer. Who knew?

A week before school started we rolled out of bed at the crack of dawn for swim practice. We were really excited to be there. See also none of us were coherent enough to realize how stupid we were to be up that early.

It was Annie's first year and Julia's third so Julia was a darling and showed Annie the ropes of how it was done. We practiced a lot over the summer at the pool to try and get Annie to learn that she had to swim ALL the way across the pool and couldn't stop in the middle. Both girls did really well.

Sometimes Annie acted ticked but she secretly loved it as evident in the second picture.

Saturday practices were always entertaining (sans the mosquitoes) because I got to watch them do stupid exercises like the bunny hop and jump or dive. Random Julia talent, she is really good at jump or dive. Read: really lucky at jump or dive and the coach always says what she is already doing so she won the game. Jones's are never actually coordinated.

Julia had one major set back. When she got her team suit one strap was ridiculously shorter than the other strap. You can see in this picture as she is about to race how far the strap is cutting into her back.

This is what it looked like on the front...

I told everyone on swim team that she just had really uneven boobs. Julia wasn't so much a fan of that littler rumor.
No exaggeration. When we held up the straps it looked like this.

The extra strap isn't part of the short strap its the strap that goes across her back. I honestly don't know how she got the swim suit on. But I think it was lucky because this was the pool that Julia first broke her 29 second 50 free and got a 28.7. We were very proud. Here she is coming in from the race.

Julia really focused on dropping time this swim season and did an awesome job! She qualified for state which is no small feat as junior and we are hoping she will swim at state next year too!

While Annie waited for her race she practiced her top model poses. Who says a cap and goggles can't be fashionable.

Annie was a great swimmer! She was able to drop over 18 seconds on her 50 free over the course of the season. Annie always swam so fast on the first 25 lap across the pool but her favorite thing to do was stick her head out of the water to see who was cheering for her on deck. So her second 25 kinda slowed her down since her stroke went like this one arm, two arm, stick her head out of the water and turn back to see who was on deck cheering. She just loved seeing that all her friends were on deck screaming for her to do well.

At the swim banquet (my pictures are on my internal camera memory and i can't transfer them to my memory card so we might never see them...if you are reading this and have pictures of Julia or Annie at the banquet send them to us) Julia got another Varsity certificate so she received a pin for her letter that she got as a freshman (like I said she's really good). Annie got a junior varsity certificate and was able to give a little thank you speech to the other kids. She was very nervous but did an awesome job speaking clearly in front of everyone and reading her little speech. Then she told all of the swimmers that they were her BFF and handed out a bumper sticker that looks like this:

You know you are jealous. Let me know if you want one, we have extras. All during swim season, as Annie made friends on the team she would tell them that they were her BFF so we decided they all deserved a bumper sticker that said it for all the support they gave Annie.

Anyway Julia and Annie both had an awesome season and we are so excited to do it again next year!

Consolation Prize

2008-11-05T20:17:00.000-08:00

Hi there, Devin here.
No, no, I am not going to gloat. I know that a lot of our friends were ardent supporters of John McCain, and trust me, I know what it is like to have your candidate lose, while the country elects a president you think will ruin the country. So, as an olive branch, I give you one of the best videos I have seen in some time. God Bless America and God Bless snarky kids on the internet.

Its been three years this month...

2008-10-28T12:04:00.000-07:00

since I met my best friend.

DEVIN

ALAN

FLETCHER

(the above mostly drawn on mustache was a joke for labor day)

We are awesome and met in a Preparation for Celestial Marriage class.
We both were there because we were dying to get married as soon as possible and were ready to tackle the first person who approached us and asked on a date.

PSYCH!
(when's the last time someone said psych?)

For serious though, we were both there because of completely random situations.
You might even say that it was meant to be.

My dear friend Sean Larson was about to leave me friendless as he embarked on his mission to Australia, so I was looking for someone new to hang out with. At the time I was going through a phase where I changed my friends as often as I changed my underwear. So when I remembered that tall kid who I saw at institute wearing a Get Up Kids shirt...I thought it was time our fates collided. Turns out, he was Devin's best friend.

(a million times thanks! and as you said at our wedding...be careful who you introduce your friends too.)

Dear Darson introduced us.
After introductions we talked some music, I gave him a CD to listen to, and he gave me a new middle name.

One John Vanderslice concert later it became very apparent to me that I kinda liked this kid.

We held hands about a month later while watching "Walk the Line" at the movies. The next day he kissed me before I left on vacation to Florida with the fam.

Every night I was gone I would walk outside of the house we were staying in that had bad reception to talk to his friend Courtney trying to figure out if I was sure I liked him. You see anytime a boy liked me back I immediately figured something must be wrong with him. I was coming home that Saturday so I had to make a quick decision on whether I was okay with this whole thing. She told me that the whole time I was gone he kept singing these lyrics...

"And yeah if only it was Saturday Saturday,
things would be better in every way every way,
And I would be okay."
...from a Rocket Summer song

As well as these modified lyrics...
"Come back to me from Florida
All of us here in Arizona
Are starved for your attention
We're starved for your attention"
...from a Copeland song

That sealed the deal for a while.
But a short time later we broke up. You see our feelings are like this picture...

He was all for it, but I was hesitant.
So when I told him I wasn't sure I was ready to be exclusive we broke up.

That lasted a whole five days.
After showing him true devotion by going to an Aquabats concert with him we were back together.

By late December I was in love. On New Years I asked him what he thought about getting married since I couldn't imagine being with anyone else and the first Sunday in February we fasted about it and decided to go for it.

He proposed in March. He thought he was pretty sneaky but I knew the whole time.
(hence the painted nails)

Since then we got married and now we are just two stupid kids in love.

He still makes me mix CDs.
He still says I love you at least a million times a day.
He still can make me laugh harder than anyone else can.
He still randomly puts on 50s music and slow dances with me in the kitchen.
He still likes me love handles and all.
and He still gives me that look that tells me that I'm the only one for him.

So for me October 26, 2005 was a pretty good day.

Blarg

2008-10-27T11:39:00.000-07:00

My excuse for not blogging are as follows:

THIS

Fourth Year Camp (next door cousins please excuse the swearing you heard from my parents house last Saturday when I was cleaning out the throw up in my backseat from the trip home. I finally resorted and got the car detailed. It still smells.)

School per usual.

My month of October has been rather full. Which leads me to two conclusions

1.I can't wait for November to come

2.I am so glad I put up my Halloween decorations mid september. Boo to all you Halloween Naysayers. My goal is to convert you all.

I leave you with evidence that Halloween can be cute.

More about voting

2008-10-08T13:19:00.000-07:00

I realized while watching the debates last night they totally stole the idea of presidential debates from high school.

Or maybe its the other way around...

Either way if one of these guys wants my vote then they'll have to win over the leading man in my life

because he pretty much gets two votes.

Dear Susan B.

Sorry if I wasted your time with the whole women's suffrage thing.
I don't care about voting.

Sincerely,
Laura

Voting Sucks

2008-10-02T22:34:00.001-07:00

Laura: I didn't vote in the last election

Devin: I forgive you.

So I needed to register to vote since my address changed. While I was registering it asked me what my political party was. What kind of a question is that? I dunno the answer to that. "I'm Mormon so I'm republican" doesn't fly with me but then again I don't want to go all "crazy Devin-liberal wants to disarm our army and give them bubble blowing guns instead of real ones apparently we're going to soap them to death." But then again I'm not all "on the third day God invented the Remington bolt action rifle so men could kill the dinosaurs and the homosexuals." Therefore I did what any reasonable person would do given this predicament. I took an online quiz.
Perfect solution.

On the quiz, this was one of the questions:

You find out that the government is tapping your phone line. What do you think?

a. With the proper checks and balances the government can keep us safe and protect our liberties.

b. Hey, the world is a different place after 9/11. If these measures mean keeping me and my family safe, I'm all for it.

c. If the government starts getting this involved, what's to stop them from monitoring our bedrooms, what we eat, etc; where does it end?

d. These security measures are all about protecting our foreign investements. We need to be focused on improving our domestic social programs.

I chose C because I had just come home from watching Eagle Eye. Shia LeBeouf fought against evil government computers tapping our phones and taking over America so I will too. Who needs debate and reason when crappy movies can make my decisions for me?

Concerned Blog Reader: So why did you become a liberatarian?
Laura: Two words. Stanley Yelnats

Krispy Kreme Debacle.

2008-09-06T23:57:00.000-07:00

Okay so if any of you read this hilarious post....it will help you understand my story better.

So today at swim practice we worked on starts in the deep end. Annie has lately been like the queen of belly flops and its been hurting her poor little legs so I decided it was time to crack down and get her to stop flopin and start diving in a little deeper. We practiced a ton in the deep end and she was having a hard time trusting me by tucking her chin and diving deep she wasn't going to crack her head open. So being the good sister that I am I bribed her with Krispy Kreme. If she could get her start down we would go get donuts.

She did a fantastic job after that (I highly recommend bribery) and so we headed off to the donut shop after swim practice. As we pulled up to the drive-thru I thought of Sara's recent post and how wouldnt that be so funny if my debit card got declined...okay not really funny, that would be sad but amusing since it just happened to her since someone stole all her money unlike mine where it would have been like your account is already -$45 you silly girl who has no money.

Anyways so I get to the window to pay only to realize that all I have with me is my swim bag meaning no purse and no wallet this no money. Crap. After feeling like an idiot I asked them to hold on to them while I drove home to get my wallet.

Lesson learned: Don't think that other people blogs will come true in your life or else they will.

Post Script- Sorry about my stories on this blog, they kind of have a well developed beginnning a shaky middle and a lack of an ending. I think devin rubbed off on me. So sorry that my stories have no end. The end.

2008-09-05T22:38:00.000-07:00

Dear Daniel,
Ditto.
Love Laura

return to sender. no such number.

2008-09-02T15:00:00.000-07:00

(i wish my phone looked like this)

back story: the ONLY reason we got a phone was because Emily was kind enough to give us her old tivo (which Angie had given her...thanks ang!) when she got a new one and to have tivo you need a phone line. therefore the only people that call us are telemarketers for some lady who doesn't bare the name Laura Fletcher and now people from our ward because we decided it was time to be adults and get a "home phone number" rather than just cell phones. earlier today the phone rang and given my experience with it only being telemarketers I told Devin not to answer it. The person left a message and it ended up being the stake YW pres needing to talk to me.

set scene: 3:48 PM we are watching our niece Delia and Eden and so Devin, Laura and the girls are taking a nap together on the Fletcher's bed. Laura wakes up to the sound of our phone ringing.

action: I hear the phone so I wake up. I think, "I gotta answer this because it might be the YW pres again slash if I don't its gonna wake up the girls". I groggily stumble out of bed, open our door to grab the phone in the kitchen, put my ear to the receiver and hear this...

"This is a Quest collect call from, 'Mom I'm in jail. I need help!' If you choose to accept these charges..."

I hang up.

At first I was ticked but then I thought...If this kind of entertainment continues I am very happy that I got a real phone.

28 things we LOVE about Emily

2008-08-31T17:10:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY!

This is why we love you...
1/2. You were Meredith from The Office for Halloween last year. See picture above.
1. You are an amazing piano player.
2. You are the favorite aunt of Eden and Delia
3. You have single handedly cleaned every room in the house and organized them. Two more miracles and you'll become a saint.
4. You are hilarious and came up with that last joke when Devin woke me up at 5:00 am when we were dating.
5. You hate candles and think they are the biggest waste of money.
6. You LOVE LOVE LOVE Halloween and you always say that you LOVE LOVE LOVE things in general.
7. You grammar check other people's blogs.
8. You make amazing crafts for holidays.
9. You think everything smells like carrots see this post.
10. You can't be late for anything or else you REFUSE to go. Except for church. You are consistently late every time.
11. You enjoy handling raw meat.
12. You wish that the 90s never ended and maybe you are kind of stuck in them.
13. A complete meal for you must include krispy kreme or dip-n-dots.
14. You are an amazing mom to Annie and Julia and you make tasty dinner for them every night.
15. Your favorite thing is to go to the 10 o'clock $5 movies at AMC where you must have popcorn (which you can only butter because you make it to perfection) and you CANNOT miss the previews or else you'll be ticked.
16. You are up to date on all TV shows and always know the best ones to watch.
17. The one time you hit me in the face with a baseball bat...it was awesome.
18. You love art can tell anyone the backstory on all of the classics of who painted them, when and what was going on in their life when it happened.
19. Your secret shame is that you love all books about serial killers and murder mysteries...maybe we should be nervous. (see #11 & #17)
20. You love to travel and go backpacking through Europe like every other week.
21. The age you wish you could forever be. Slash forever 21 your favorite store.
22. If I ever get you angry I have to walk around the house covering my ears or else you will spoil the book I am reading or the TV show I am currently watching.
23. Maybe you tivo Hannah Montana and say that its for Annie but you secretly love it and watch it.
24. If you could make a living out of laying out and reading Entertainment Weekly slash any celebrity gossip magazine you would.
25. You wish that you could go into a family as the nanny and make the widowed husband fall madly in love with you like in Sound of Music or The Nanny.
26. You have the most amazing laugh and our whole family tries our hardest to make you laugh. It always results in Julia and I being the DEVILS to each other.
27. Everyone thinks that you are my younger sister and that Amanda is the oldest sister, not you.
28. You try to revisit childhood experiences thinking that they will be just as entertaining as adult but they never are. Like this summer when we went to sun splash or when I was 18 and you were 24 and you made me go with you to the Renaissance fair and felt like nerds and heard a weird couple talking about which lady they wanted to invite to their three-some. This is when we realized you have to go on your sixth grade field trip to enjoy either of these places and that every one else there is crazy.

WE LOVE YOU EMILY! YOU ARE THE BEST SISTER EVER!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAP DANCE! WOOOOOH!!!!
(doo da dooh... doo da doooh)

stop the madness

2008-08-19T12:54:00.000-07:00

I go to swim practice with Annie and Julia every day where EVERYONE thinks that Michael Phelps is a god. Quite frankly I'm bored with it and have started responding with this:

If you have five dollars and Michael Phelps has five dollars, Michael Phelps has more money than you.

Michael Phelps recently had the idea to sell his urine as a canned beverage. We know this beverage as Red Bull.

Michael Phelps' tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried.

Michael Phelps does not sleep. He swims.

If you spell Michael Phelps in Scrabble, you win. Forever.

Michael Phelps is 1/8th Cherokee. This has nothing to do with his heritage. He ate an f*ing Indian.

Michael Phelps has the best poker face ever. He once won a game with a 2 of spades, a three of clubs, the old maid and a green four from uno.

Apple pays Michael Phelps 99 cents every time he listens to a song.

Ultimate face off:
Michael Phelps and Chuck Norris

Return of the Phone

2008-08-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

Sorry for those of you who have been annoyed with me for the past two weeks when I didn't answer my phone. Maybe its because I accidentally left it in California when we went...

Laura's hidden talent:
I'm REALLY REALLY good at loosing my phone.

Example 1. Leaving my phone in California at the hotel. The very nice man who stayed in room after us found it and called everyone in my contact list to find someone who could tell me that he was going to leave it at the front desk. Finally got a hold of my Young Women's president while we were on Mt. Graham (random) for girls camp and she told me where I could pick it up. I called the hotel when I got home and they said they never got a phone turned in.

So Question. Why would a man go to HUGE effort to call everyone on my phone list only to forget to turn it in?
Answer options.
a. he is a jerk and wanted to get my hopes up
b. a worker at the hotel stole my phone

I'm thinking b.

In conclusion...RIP Samsung replacement phone

Example 2. The reason I was using this samsung phone was as a replacement for my razor that I had been using for the past two years. I had a sidekick two and thought I was sick of it so I got a razor. I hated that phone with a passion. T9 texting is stupid. I wanted the QWERTY keypad again but had to wait two years for my contract to expire. See also I was too cheap to buy another phone at full price.

While using the magenta razor I left it multiple places including by the pool rafts at Wal-Mart. After driving away I decided not to go back and get it because I was lazy and sick of the phone anyway but Devin was with me and said I was ridiculous or something like that and that I couldn't give up on life. Eventually the phone broke and the screen wouldn't light up anymore so I would have to guess if the phone was on, press a speed dial number to call someone, and hold it up to my ear in hopes that it was going to ring. It was awesome.

RIP Magenta Razor

Example 3. The worst of my examples is with my old sidekick 2. I got it and was so so so excited for the phone. It pretty much didn't leave my hand. (Yes I'm a nerd.) But I could use it to email which meant that on my friend's p-days on his mission when he would send emails we would send email back and forth like text messages so we could kinda talk to each other (Ya, ya I shouldn't have, but that's not the point). Anyway exactly a week after getting the phone I got gas on the way to work. Got to work and realized I had no phone. Went out to my car and called my phone with a friends cell and couldn't hear it. Then realized that I had left the phone on top of my car and driven away. This wouldn't have been as bad if I hadn't done it exactly a week before with my old phone which is why I had to get my new phone in the first place. Luckily I had insurance but I still had to pay another 100 dollars to get a replacement.

RIP Sidekick 2

Enter new phone.

My family has bets on how long it will be until I lose it. Hopefully I won't ever lose it, but given my track record... well I wouldn't give myself very high odds.

Holy California Batman!

2008-07-28T11:50:00.000-07:00

Two weekends ago we went on a last hurrah trip to San Diego before Devin starts his new job.

We went with our bestest friends in the world Courtney and Davey.

Highlights from the trip:

1. The tasty pizza we had at asaggio's over in seaport village.

So good it made us look like we were in a drunken coma, or at least the girls did.

Before Pizza...

After pizza...

2. The delectable fudge from The Fudgeworks shop at seaport village.

3. The Homeless person Vertriliquist show on the way to the movies to see The Dark Knight

(You might need to make that one full size to see that no that isn't a small child on her lap but a ventriliquist dummy. The stupid man got in the way of the girl dummy on the other ladies lap. He looks very smug about ruining our picture. richard cranium.)

4. The treacherous climb down to the tide pools. Lets just say we were precariously perched.

We had to get from up here...

to down there...

all on this teeny little rope.

I was nervous for my life and very proud when I climbed back up without casualty.

Devin makes it look ridiculously easy but let me assure you. It wasn't.

The only problem was maybe I ripped my pants and maybe it made me really sad especially when I spend the rest of the day walking around with a 12 inch rip in my pants.

(sorry about the crotch shot.)

5. The tide pools that were really fun, even if Devin and I were the only ones brave enough to climb up to them. Courtney and Davey were babies and stayed up at the top of the hill.

'k so its kinda hard to see but there are sea anemones in there that we poked with sticks and were very entertained by.

This is Devin's I start a new job on Monday face and I am so excited.

6. The drunk man who we bought food for at taco bell and hearing about how his brother offered him a job and he didn't want to be bossed around by the mother f-ing goodie two shoes brown noser blah blah more swearing blah.

7. The seemingly useless warning signs on the diaper changer...but then again all rules are there becuase someone was dumb enough to do it once, right?

8. Never finding a fire pit at the beach to sit by to burn our wood so watching it sit as we pretended it was burning

9. Finding a frozen banana stand but never seeing Gob.

10. Seeing the most amazing sea shell house ever.

11. Going to more tide pools that were easier to get to so everyone could go and having fun.

12. Feeding seagulls whether intentionally...

or unintentionally.

13. Seeing amazing Sunsets.

14. Playing games on the beach.

15. Having an amazing time with our favorite friends.

Sorry...

2008-07-21T03:27:00.000-07:00

We just got home from California and I don't have time to post before I leave to girls camp at 7:00 in the morning. ( Apparently I can't break tradition of staying up to a ridiculous hour before girls camp). But I promise I will post about both trips when I get home. Lets hope I have as much fun as I did last year....

Cross my fingers!

oh pickles

2008-07-11T13:00:00.000-07:00

While Eden, Amanda and Lee were at the 1856 play I got to watch Delia a couple of nights.

It was pretty much the highlight of my week because she is the most hilarious kid.

First we went to trader joe's to buy flowers to make Eden a bouquet to give to her that night.

Delia insisted on carrying them inside and was very serious about it.

She whistled as she walked.

Then we laid on the bed and watched The Little Mermaid. It was fun.

And she made funny faces.

and cute faces

Then we went and gave Eden her flowers at the play. She was adorable too.

The end.

our trip to st. george

2008-07-10T12:21:00.000-07:00

Two weekends ago we went to st. george to see our Aunt Sue and Uncle Dave and to go to a wedding for Devin's mission companion, Andy Buys. We had so much fun!

Before Annie and I got our hair cut by my friend Courtney who did a marvelous job.

Annie cut off about 7 inches

and I died mine one color. gasp. First time its been a solid color since I was 17.

We left two days later fully equipped with a new 96 pack of crayons for Annie.

Annie was ecstatic until we turned on NPR news radio as we were driving out of phoenix and she almost killed us.

While driving we stopped at pivotal landmarks to take pictures. Such as the Arizona Strip District.

Also so Annie could do a Top Model pose off,

and so devin could pee every 30 miles.

Annie also love to listen to Hannah Montana in the back on headphones and still sing at the top of her lungs so we got to hear her rendition of the songs instead of Hannah. It was my favorite.

Well we got to St. George and had a great time with my aunt Sue and uncle Dave. They have so many fun animals to play with, were so fun to talk to and had a great pool to swim in. Annie and I had a blast the first night when Devin went to a bachelor party and the next day when we got to swim with all of our cousins.

The next day we missed the sealing becuase we are awesome. Devin forgot about daylight savings and I can't wake up for the life of me. Hence us showing up for the sealing around 8:15 when it started at 8:00. Thats what you get for getting sealed too early in the morning.

We tried to go to the luncheon after the sealing but the groom's brother gave us directions. They went a little something like this.

" Umm first you take 200 east out to 700...uh well wait do you have something for me to draw it on? I'm a much better drawer. "

He then proceeded to draw us a map on the back of a tithing envelope that was absolutely unreadable. He couldn't write in all of the streets because he didn't know their names and he told us we needed to turn at a McDonald's and a maverick. That's like saying a McDonald's and a CircleK. in other words pretty much every other corner. After giving us the directions he proceeds to say, " ya its a good thing you asked me for directions because I'm pretty much the only one in the family who can give decent directions." Devin replied, " ya that's not saying much for your family"

Needless to say we didn't find the luncheon either.

But we did get to witness a really bad motorcycle accident. The guy wasn't paying attention and hit the back of the SUV that was stopped at a red light. The car that was behind us. The car that would have been us if we hadn't have just gotten into the turning lane to flip a U-turn since we were lost. The car that had a guy and girl on their way to their sealing at the temple. They got in an accident on their wedding day. We got out to help and it was like the hugest drama ever.

Later we were kinda glad we got bad directions becuase if we hadn't then that man's head would have hit our back windshield right next to annie. Trauma.

Anyway, we did make it to the reception and civil ceremony. It was really well done. The guy who performed the ceremony went on this five minute shpeal on what love was.

Stuff like
Love was...giving your last cookie to your wife.
...giving your husband a back rub when he's tired
...doing the dishes when your wife cooks dinner
....giving your last five dollar bill to the other just becuase they ask

After he said that, devin handed me a crisp five dollar bill. Maybe it was really adorable and I put it in my dress pocket to always stay there. Maybe I really like him.

The reception was at this really cute golf club that had the most amazing view. The girl was French and so she repeated half of her vows in French for her grandparents who barely spoke English. They did the civil ceremony for her family too since she is the only convert. It was really well done, until I found out that the minister guy used to play Merlin at the Excalibur in Vegas. That kind of ruined it for me.

Well after spending Sunday with Sue and Dave we got ready to go. On the way home we stopped in Fredonia to look at the cop car that was still sitting in the same spot because I swore it was a mannequin. It was.

So we took a picture.

So no worries next time you are in fredonia, speed all you want. When you are approachin Tuba City on the other hand don't speed. I mocked the Law and the Law won. I maybe got a speeding ticket. Call me Reida.

Our last stop was at montezuma's castle to leave a treat for Devin's dad at the casino where he works. We heart-attacked his car. Sorta.

This concludes our vacation.

Hurray!

2008-07-08T23:57:00.000-07:00

I am now a proud owner of one of these darling machines.

I have been lusting after it for about a year now.

I almost bought the original cricut for t-giving but I held out.
(read: didn't have enough money)

Hopefully one day my classroom will be amazing because of its help.

Happy Early Birthday to ME!

Teeney

2008-06-24T14:48:00.000-07:00

My cat loves to play in her box...

until she gets caught.

Go ahead call animal protective services on me.

But it was funny.

The Amazing Annie Jones

2008-06-16T01:22:00.001-07:00

So Annie was really busy the last week in May and I never had time to blog about it so I just wanted to mention all of the things she's been doing.

First she had her recital with Higher Ground Studios where she is part of the Teen Jazz dance group.

I spent about four years trying to get her hair to poof for the rectial and then realized once we got to the recital that they meant a poof with the front part of your hair like your bangs part not overall poofy hair. I'm an idiot. But still she looked adorable with all her makeup on.

She did so great at the recital and posed perfectly before. She seriously loves to pose and thinks she's going to be america's next top model.

The next afternoon Annie had another recital with Higher Octave Music Therapy.
She sang "Gotta Go My Own Way" from High School Musical 2 and did a marvelous job.

That next Monday we were off to girls camp where I lovingly forced Annie to go on the third year hike. She was kind of really ticked at me for making her go. But she had a really good time and SHE MADE IT OUT ALIVE! She didn't even die once even though she told me over and over that "Come on, Laura! You're killing me!" and "I think I'm going to die!"

Hence her angry face.

That night she performed again in a dance group for the program.

Here she is freezing her booty off before going on stage. She's the one on the bottom left.
She did such an awesome job! She seriously kept me so busy with all of the things she was involved in!

It was FREEZING the first night at camp. That night she came and slept with me in the camping trailer and practically pushed me off my twin bed. But then we snuggled and tried to keep each other warm.

We had such a fun time at camp even during the more boring certifcation parts. Annie only told me once that she was sick of me (apparently I was getting too bossy) and the rest of the time she and I just had fun. During the skit for the ward she got to pretend to be Hannah Montana! It was pretty much her favorite part but it was too dark to get a picture. Sad face.

This is the "lake" at camp or marsh which is what it really was. It was about a foot deep. They were going to try and have the girls canoe until they realized they wouldn't go anywhere.

The girls we got to be with both young and the leaders were so awesome and we had such a good time with them. Thank you Sister Dixon for letting me go as a tent mom! I had a blast!

.

Annie you're a STAR!

a new friend

2008-06-10T10:40:00.000-07:00

We have a new friend at our house.

She's ickle and cute.

Devin finally gave in to letting me have her but only since he got to name her.

Meet Mitch Tupac the Cat Fletcher

Devin chose Mitch, I chose Tupac, but I call her Teeny.

Devin is still trying to make Mitch happen.

Devin, stop saying Mitch! Mitch isn't going to happen!

We stole her away from her friends and took her to our house.

But I take her over to my parents when I go every day so she can visit her brother Delia.

All of our cats are gender confused. The boy is name Delia the girl is name Mitch.

We dress her up in clothes.

I make her take pictures when she tries to drive my car on the way over to my parents house in the morning.

Pay attention to the road Teeny!

(and people wonder how you can total three cars. Wonder no more. )

She proabably hates us.

but cats dressed in clothes is always funny.

Like this book I had growing up....

Or this book...

I just couldn't let my mom leave the school book fair without taking this gem home. I didn't think it was funny. I thought it was adorable.

My new favorite website. Now you can browse for yourself.

http://members.shaw.ca/pelorian/index2.html

Here's a sampling of what else they have...

ya pretty much all animals dressed in clothes is always funny

Things That Should Not Be: Bros

2008-06-05T20:00:00.000-07:00

"Your not my bro

Don't say it

Don't you pretend that you're my bro"

-Goldfinger

Hello friends, Devin again. After the overwhelmingly positive response I received after the Mustache rant, I decided to continue the trail of rage. You see, I like a lot of things and I hate a few things, but one of the things I hate is Bros.

Before I get hate mail from 50% of the human race, I must clarify. There is a distinction that must be made. I am not taking about Brothers; Brothas; or the city of Brothers, Oregon. I am talking white-hat wearing, Natty Ice swilling, roofies slipping, venereal disease spreading Bros (pronounced "broze"). For the uninformed, Bros are:

"Obnoxious partying [white] males who are often seen at college parties. When they aren’t making an a** of themselves they usually just stand around holding a red plastic cup waiting for something exciting to happen so they can scream something that demonstrates how much they enjoy partying. Nearly everyone in a fraternity is a bro but there are also many bros who are not in a fraternity. They often wear a rugby shirt and a baseball cap. It is not uncommon for them to have spiked hair with frosted tips. Bros actually chose this name for themselves as they often refer to each other as "bro" even though they are not related. " (Urbandictionary.com)

Bros can be easily identified by sporting one of the following:

-The angled cap

-Cheap Beer

-Bleached tipped hair

-Puke

-Nearby Floozies

and the uniform of inebriated bros everywhere,

-No shirt.

Now you might be thinking, "Devin, I got drunk and had promiscuous relations in college, but I'm not a bro am I?" Yes, you are. Secondly, a Bro unknowingly emits a sort of douchey musk or pheremone or whatever you want to call it that attracts unintelligent drunk girls.

If you meet the previous requirements and were surrounded by these girls in college, hate to say it, you were probably a bro. I Gar-an-tee!

To avoid and eradicate these foes, you must unfortunately become aware of their terminology.

"Bro"- the co-opted phrase that started the terror. Before they stole the phrase, Bros were just known as jerks.

"Brah" a derivation of the original term, not endearing, exceedingly douche-y.

"Broseph" this phrase was cooked up after a long night of binge drinking and statutory rape.

"Woooooooooooo!!" translates to english as "Gee Fellas, this party sure is enjoyable, the beverages are at both the optimum temperature and alcholic content, and those ladies are most attractive. Perhaps they will remove clothing in exchange for inexpensive bead necklaces" (Now that I think about it, Mardi Gras is the modern version of the Indians getting screwed out of Manhattan.)

but the worst phrase of them all is . . . "supbrah"

Whenever I am at work and some tool greets me with a "Supbrah." I have to exercise an excessive amount of self control to keep from reaching into his chest and ripping out his heart a la "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom"

I had far too many conversations with bros that all went something like this:

Devin: Hey how's it going?

Bro: Supbrah.

Devin: ...

Bro: So, whatcha got for the weekend?(does not wait for answer) I got this party at my boy Mitchell's house, we're gonna have like two kegs. It's gonna be sweet. Prolly (sic) gonna have some chicks there from the (insert a sorority's Greek letters). You should totally come by. We're all going to get trashed bro.

Devin: ...

In a perfect world, I would disembowel this bro as an act of mercy to him and the moronic legions of bimbos he will undoubtedly impregnate, but realistically he will probably inherit a steady middle-management job at his father's company and die forty years later from liver failure (Natural Ice, you sly devil you.) and a stress-induced aneurysm from a combination of being unqualified for his job and the child support he is paying from knocking up a sorority girl all those years back.

If "Broseph" does not mention a party he is going to, he will undoubtedly mention the Bro-messiah, Dave Matthews. Dave Matthews probably deserves a post of his own. I have hated Dave Matthews since before I knew what a Bro was, but with their powers combined we, America, don't stand a chance. Dave Matthews provides the Bro with all the things he needs to sustain his Bro-hood: Laid back attitude, inane music, and an environment conducive to hookups. I will address things things in turn.

Dave Matthews does not feel obliged to follow the rules of the Circle Game

1. Laid back attitude- Dave Matthews doesn't wear shoes. This example coupled with the Bros proclivity for not wearing a shirt means a lot of unnecessary Bro nudity.

2. Inane music- His music sucks

3. Enviroment Conducive to Hookups- For as much as bros love Dave (and they only call him Dave, as in "Hey bro, you goin' to see Dave this October?", as though they are on a first name basis with a guy whose income exceeds the GDP of certain sovereign nations), the ladies love him more. Drunk ladies love him even more. Few things will get a woman in the sack faster than hearing this swooning crooner. Dave Matthews is a new form of roofies. Dave Matthews must be stopped.

Stop Dave Matthews and you will cripple the Bros. But they are a resilient breed. They will find a way to eke out a perverse existence. Bros have been a source of destruction for years. When our Lord was scourging the Pharaoh and his lot, he stopped one plague short of total destruction: The infestation of Bros. Sure, the Egyptians could take rivers of blood and fleas in their bed (and to a lesser extent, the loss of their firstborn sons), but do you think they would have chased the chosen children in chariots if they would have had to endure millions of drunk college guys with collars popped, hi-fiving and pledging Beta Kappa Phi at the University of Thebes? It almost goes without saying that the Pharaoh would crack after one semester of being greeted with "Hey Bro!" and "Hey Broseph" and, eventually, "Hey Broseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat!" But the Egyptians were God's children too and there are punishments worse than death, so he spared them the horror.

As with mustaches, there are counterexamples to the bro policy.

Exception 1. Super Mario Bros.

Even then it's an abbreviation pronounced "Brothers"

Exception 2. A man may address another man as "Bro"/"Brah" IFF he is a native Hawaiian in Hawaii at, or in transit to (but never from), the beach for surfing or luau purposes.

If you are not roasting a pig on a spit on Oahu, you can't call me Bro.

Congrats Rachie!

2008-06-03T11:10:00.000-07:00

Today is Rachel and Chad's big day and I am so excited for them!

For those of you that don't know Rachel that well she is one of the sweetest girls in the world. So she deserves a great guy and she totally found one.

I just have to say that Rachel was always a friend to me when I needed one. I think I spent every Sunday night at her house from like the day they moved next door to us until I was 16. I'm more than sure that I was really annoying the majority of the time but she put up with me and always made me feel welcome.

Rach,
Thanks so much for being so nice when you were a senior and I was a sophomore. I pretty much didn't have any friends at all and you took me to lunch everyday with your fun group of girl friends and never made me feel like the annoying younger cousin that I was. You pretty much made that year bearable for me and I am so grateful for it.

I hope you have the most perfect wedding day ever!

Heart,
Lar-lar

Forgive me Angie for I have sinned.

2008-06-02T11:30:00.000-07:00

So I've decided to get back on the bandwagon with these fun girls.

Let's just say it got rainy and I kinda slipped off the wagon.
Well actually it was kinda a little bit before that...maybe lets say day two?
Or maybe I never really got on.

But never mind that. A week or two ago a little rain called for some major slippage in the direction of Superstition Boulevard if you catch my drift.

My ambrosia has returned.

Can anyone else hear the hallelujah chorus when they see this lovely sight? or is that just me?

Seriously we've got problems when there is a panda express and a krispy kreme within five miles of my house. If my mom taught me anything it was how to appreciate a good box of donuts.
Here I am about to go into a diabetic coma.

Emily wants to eat it in one huge bite.

Annie already had the glass of milk ready and waiting. Smart girl. Her comment on the way home from the store was "MMMMMMMM(drooling) DONUTS..." Said in a homer-esque voice. She's my favorite.

And us Jones girls know how to eat them in a goodly amount of time.
Our lovely box of donuts didn't even make it to the house before we had each had one.
We left around 5:40 PM and got home around 6:00 PM. Thisincluded going to krispy kreme coming back and taking a donut to Julia when she was at vista. Don't you worry she did a heel click on the way back into Vista Cleaners.

By 6:10 The box was empty.

Needless to say I have indulged. Angie I hope you'll forgive me but I promise I am on with ya'll for the next five weeks or whatever is left. I'm in like Flynn. I should be okay as long as Disneyland doesn't set up camp in Mesa and start giving away free churros. Then I would have a major problem.

But so far this week I've been doing great. My friend even brought over a box of Krispy Kreme claiming they are healthy and I haven't given in. That little temptress.

***More posts to come on Miss Annie and I's recent adventures at girls camp and all of the recitals she's had lately. Here are the decorations I made for camp.

We were very green to say the least.***

Things That Should Not Be: Mustaches

2008-05-21T18:33:00.000-07:00

Hi there, Devin here. Today on the Laura show, I present to you a new segment called, "Things That Should Not Be". This segment will document some of the more major atrocities in the world today. Let us begin.

I like a lot of things and I hate a few things, but one of the things I hate is mustaches.

Now as one who cannot grow any discernible facial hair, I may be perceived as a bit jealous. "Devin," you might say, "as a perpetual preteen, you must surely long for the feel of a gentlemanly stache resting on your lip." but most assuredly, you would be mistaken. Now don't get me wrong. I give my approval to any other facial hair, whether it be: The Grizzly Adams, the Abe Lincoln, the IT guy goatee, the soul patch, and even the dreaded neck beard; but I can hardly rest easy in a world wear a man can walk around sporting this monstrosity.

That's right, feel the collective shudder of a thousand years of bristly kisses, and centuries of tobacco juice caught in the stubble. You might have thought that the abomination of pitchers and porn stars went out with the homocide of J.R. Ewing or the decline of Hulk Hogan, but this subtle menace still continues to haunt America.

What I intend to prove to you, ladies and gentleman of the jury, is that frequency of a man sporting a 'stache is directly proportional to the probability of him being a creep.

Exhibit A: The Brawny Man

Brawny Man. The ladies love him. He'll come into your home and spruce the place up. Maybe he'll sop up that spilled grape juice in the dining room. Perhaps he will clean up the dust off your hardwood floors. Maybe he will put on John Tesh's greatest hits, light a few candles and SEDUCE YOUR WIFE! Every year, 40,000 American wives are spirited away by Brawny Man. It's not too late to save your marriage. Look for the warning signs: rugged good looks; denim shirt; and most of all, the molester stache. Dude can't even dye it the same color as his hair. He may be after your wife soon! Warn your spouse about the dangers of Brawny Man.

Exhibit B: Wilford Brimley

"Now Devin, Honestly?" you might say, "Wilford Brimley is a national treasure, how can you put him in the same category as Brawny Man?" Apparently quite easily. Sure this man brought us quaker oats, and helped us rid the nation of the scourge of "diabeetus", but there is a tails-side to every coin and a dark side to this grandfatherly old fellow. Did you know that Wilford Brimley (or as his german birth certificate reads 'Wilheil Brimhaut') served on the side of the Germans in World Wars I and II and refers to the American Civil War as "The War of Northern Aggression"?* Did you know he hasn't paid taxes for the last 42 years due to a glitch in the IRS computer systems** Did you know that he doesn't have 'diabeetus' at all, and in fact puts smashed up Reese's Pieces into the medicine bottles of local nursing home residents?*

*may not actually be true
**may have been stolen from the plot of "Office Space"

Yes folks, behind that down-home, folksy charm rests the violent heart of a deranged psychopath,

Or maybe a walrus.

Exhibit C: Adolph Hitler

Now Hitler was obviously going to be on here. He was "an ignorant f***head" as Eddie Izzard put it. His crimes go without saying. I can't in good conscience say that the mustache was worse than genocide, or conquest, or torture, but it definitely is on the list. Also, thanks to him, Charlie Chaplin hasn't been able to get decent service at any restaurant since about 1939.

Exhibit D: Burt Reynolds

What a turd. (pun intended)

These four men are infamous for many reasons: adultery, tax evasion*, murder and banditry but the thread that pulls them together is the mustache. These are not the only offenders. Other men who have disgraced the male visage include:

TV personality John Stossell
Dr. Phil
Snidely Whiplash
Children's icon Captain Kangaroo
And numbnuts extraordinaire Geraldo Rivera.

Thus we see, having a mustache is directly proportional to the probability of a man being a creep.

Now, we live in a world full of exceptions and counter-examples and it would not be fair to say that every mustache is sinful. Out of the millions of mustaches in the world, there are 3 exceptions.

Jon Waters- Never before has a man been so simultaneously classy and trashy. The shame of a mustache is negated by the genius of his tackiness.

Neil Jones- What man can say aught against Neil Jones?

and the Reigning Champeen... Tom Selleck.

This is the only man on earth who loses something as a person when he loses the soup strainer. I submit that he loses a big part of himself when he shaves, nay, we lose part of ourselves as a nation. While I would shout myself bloody and hoarse for Dr. Phil to lose the 'stache, I would kill any man who came within ten feet of Tom Selleck with a Bic Disposable.

That being said, Dr. Phil, Lose the 'stache you perv.

Tag from Mom Dixon

2008-05-21T13:21:00.000-07:00

You know how you play that game for FHE, the memory game where you put a bunch of random items on the floor, look at them for a minute and then number a paper with the number of random items and try to remember what they were?

Well, let's play with the items in my purse. Blow up the picture, look at it for a minute and then try to name the items on a piece of paper and see how many you can get. There are 18 items if you don't count the duplicates.

Okay lets see how you did. The items from top left to bottom right are:

1. A bottle of orange OPI nail polish. You never know when you just might need to touch up your nails or get bored and need something to do so I have nail polish in my purse and my car.

2. My Kyrene ID badge. When I interned there last semester I always had to wear it. It hung from my rear view mirror but took it down and put it in my purse when I got my car washed the other day.

3. White Sunglasses. When Annie and I went to go and get her eyes checked at the doctor she had to get her eyes dilated. We went to the dollar store and got sunglasses afterwards. She loves to wear them everywhere.

4. Nail Clippers, more specifically bates brand. They are my moms and I don't know what it is about them but they are like super strength nail clippers. They are all rusted now but they still work magic. I just might get tetanus from using them. Eh its the price you pay.

5. Yellow Highlighter. A must have. I use it when I go over my YW lessons and the talks that go with them.

6. USB stick. For school.

7. Pink chapstick. Its aquafina brand chapstick. I love it. You can get it at wal-mart. It's like soft lips chapstick but way better flavors and it comes in a three pack.

8. Shower crayons. I was bringing them back from my dad's house. They are the funnest things to play with in the shower.

9. Black bracelet. It was in my car too when I cleaned it out.

10. Altoids. Annie's favorite mint. She is so easy to bribe with them and very willing to sit through adult stake conference with you if you have a box of them.

11. Film. I've been carrying around the 35mm Hannah Montana film for like 6 months. I just never go and turn it in. I really need to.

12. Pink Camera. Julia and I have the same one. This one is hers. She thought it was lost. It was in my car from the Disney land trip.

13. Quarter. I like change.

14. Pencil Container. I always have five billion pens rattling around in my purse so now I am a nerd and have the equivalent of the pocket protector for my purse.

15. Orange Chapstick. Aquafina brand again. Go buy some.

16. My wallet. I wish I had a cuter one. I'm so bored with mine.

17. Spearmint orbit gum. My favorite flavor is orange and cinnamon but I swear all they have anymore is like strawberry mojito and mint julep.

18. Weight Watchers point counter card. My friend wants me to start weight watchers together...I'm not so good at keeping to anything. I haven't yet used it. But I will. One of these days.

So, how'd you score?

I told Mom Dixon that more entertaining was when I looked in my purse the first time I saw this tag going around. I had a remote, miracle grow and sidewalk chalk. I was entertained.

2008-05-20T13:30:00.000-07:00

Last night for our anniversary Devin took me out for a surprise dinner. We went to this little place in Tempe called House of Tricks. It was so fun and extremely tasty.

I kinda didn't take any pictures because I am an idiot but we overheard a lot or conversations. Devin and I are really bad at stopping mid conversation and finding each other both eavesdropping on the other tables conversations.

First we heard the table behind us, young couple probably in their late 20s. Girl who was obviously drunk slurring out to the waiter...
Girl: I really wish you weren't married Mike. I have the perfect girl for you.
Waiter: Ya (nervous laugh) bu it's funny to hear what kind of girls, people would set me up with.
Girl: It's just too bad. Think of it we could eat here all the time together.
Waiter: Ya (nervous laugh again) I can just imagine all the fun we would have. Can I bring you your check?

Then we found a couple who probably go to the renaissance fair every year and dress up. Man had a long pony tail, girl had long gross hair, having a conversation.
Girl: I just love Sinead O'Conner
Boy: Ya I only like her early stuff

What a music snob. Actually I don't think you can be a music snob if you like Sinead O'Connor

Last but not least there was a large group that was just joining at the end of our meal. We knew the girl that was arriving was the one that they were celebrating for but would couldn't figure out why. When she showed up they all did the ooh lets look at that dress ordeal and made her spin so they could see the back and then they got ready to order drinks. The honorary girl was at the end of the table. It was her turn to order.
Girl: Do you have like fruit punch?
Waiter: Umm no sorry we have cranberry juice, pineapple juice...etc Maybe if I mixed them all together hahah that might work.
Girl: Really do you think it would? Ya do that.
Waiter: I really don't think it would actually taste like fruit punch.
Girl: (disheartened) Oh well then I guess I'll just have the pineapple juice.
Crazy Lady at the table: You know pineapple juice is an excellent juice.

We later realized that this girl was there because she had just had her eighth grade promotion ceremony. That my friends is why you don't take fourteen year olds to fancy restaurants.

Other thoughts

I went to wal-mart the other day to get spray paint for girls camp project. When I went to check out at the express lane the guy says oh buying spray paint huh? Well I hope you're 18.
I'm thinking he wants me to show proof so I pull out my ID. I can see the scanner because its the self check out. He starts do the approval and doesn't even look at the ID then turns around after he's done and sees me holding the ID. "Oh", he says. "I really didn't need to see that."

I felt like the 40 year old lady who still hopes she gets carded when buying alcohol.

2 years later

2008-05-19T09:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Anniversary to US!!!

Okay so maybe I've put on a little weight since the blissful event.
But now I'm just more fun becuase fat people are more fun right?

(We both looked about five when we got engaged.)

Anyway, Devin is keeping what we are doing tonight a secret so I'll fill in y'all tomorrow on what we do and take lots of pictures.

I hate the Shins!

2008-05-13T12:04:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Okay so I may not necessarily hate them, but I think they are very overrated.

This is definitely Devin here, and the views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of Laura Fletcher or her subsidiaries.

I haven't put anything on here as of late so I thought I would drop a few recommendations your way. Here are some things I like as of late:

Songs:
- "A Little Luxury" by the Muffs (especially this song)
- "Worms of the Senses/Faculties of the Skull" by Refused
- "Que Shiraz " by Hey Mercedes
- "When You Get Drafted" by the Dead Kennedys
- "You You You" by the Mr. T Experience
- "Bring It On Home to Me" by Sam Cooke

Movies:
- Baby Mama
- American Graffiti

Books:
- "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
- "As I Lay Dying" by William Faulkner
- "The Book of Mormon" trans. Joseph Smith
- "Winesburg, Ohio" Sherwood Anderson

People:
- Devin
- Laura
- You
- Ted Leo

Things:
- Grape Nuts
- "Scene It" on Xbox 360
- Water
- NPR
- Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (the best webcomic in the world)

Check out at least one of these things as they have all made me joyous as of late.

Devin

Five things

2008-05-12T17:28:00.001-07:00

1 - Five places that I go to over and over:

-My parent's house
-Mesa High/anywhere Julia demands
-Gilbert Public Library
-Wal-World
-Scrapbooks Etc (at least lately since I'm working on a couple of things)

2 - Five people who e-mail me (regularly) :
-Devin
-ASU professors
-Facebook
-Work
-Myself (to send papers I worked on at my parent's house)

3 - Five favorite places to eat:
-Panda Express (to worship once a week)
-Texas Road House
-Taco Bell
-Applebees for happy hour
-Ruth Chris (or at least it will be when I'm rich)

4 - Five places I would rather be right now:
-backpacking through Europe
-Boston, Mass
-anywhere on the north west coast like Washington, Oregon, Northern California
- Palo Alto, California in Law School (I wish)
- Our cabin...tear

5 - Five TV shows I watch all the time:
-America's Next Top Model
-Buffy the Vampire Slayer
-The Office
- Futurama
- Dawson's Creek

I tag Kate, Cambi, Jodee, Kat, Richelle and Mike

Our Latest Obession

2008-05-06T10:08:00.000-07:00

Lately we have been doing only one thing over and over again...

Watching Buffy.

We might be the biggest nerds on the planet. Maybe we'll even dress up like this for halloween.

Oh wait...we aren't that far gone yet. Give us a week or two and then maybe we'll dress up.

Or there's the more hardcore kids.
(if you can tell what characters they are dressed as then you are as big of a nerd as us.)

See this is the calibur of people we are now categorized with because we are Buffy fans.

The worst part is we aren't even watching it together. We started watching season four together becuase I had seen season 1, 2 and most of 3. After we finsihed that season devin decided he wanted to start at the beginning and I decided I wanted to keep going. So if you come to our house on a Friday night you might just catch a glimpse of Devin watching buffy on the comptuer while I watch it on the portable DVD player with headphones.

Don't worry we aren't bad...we just got Dawson's creek to start watching. Thats a step up. Right?

Maybe not so much.

50 things to tell my mom

2008-05-01T00:57:00.002-07:00

1. Happy 50th birthday!

2. You are the best mom ever.
3. We miss you.
4. My gardenia's are dying. Can you fix them?
5. We aren't as good at making dinner as you are.
6. I think you've got some competition on your backyard porch pots. Emily has been miracle growing them like a madwoman. The sunflowers are truly a forest. You'd be proud.
7. The pool is green. Make dad fix it.
8. Every time I watch Sabrina, Pride and Prejudice, or Men in Black I think of you
9. Can you talk to my future kids? If so...give them some good advice before they come down here okay?
10.We really need to make a Wal-Mart trip like we used to when we just threw tons of stuff in the cart and you bought it all.
11. You always had the best Halloween costumes. Especially your witch costumes.
12. I loved when you sewed for me. Skirts, dresses and shirts. I loved the winter formal dress you made me my junior year and that you prayed for help with it so it would be perfect.
13. I will never be as skinny as you dang it.
14. You are the prettiest mom I know with sparkley eyes that shined even more when you lost your hair.
15. You are completely selfless.
16. You will always get the most credit for how smart Annie is.
17. I think every teacher at Irving and Taylor is still in love with the tasty cinnamon rolls you made.
18. I still can't believe that you hiked Havasupai with the messed up tendons in your foot.
19. I'm excited to go to girls camp with Annie and Julia this year and hope to make it as fun as you did.
20. You were the most fun person to go on trips with.
21. Food will always equal love in our house.
22. I wish I would have inherited your green thumb that made everything blossom.
23. I miss waking up to you playing the piano on Sunday morning.
24. You always gave the best Young Women lessons, church talks, and testimonies.
25. I'm sorry I didn't plant flowers for you at Emery. I'll do better next year. I promise.
26. I'm very grateful for all of the music lesson you gave me.
27. You set the best example for me. I always remember walking in on you praying and all of the service you gave. The gifts you would anonymously give to people and the love you shared. You had charity for everyone around you.
28. I hope that you and Daniel are having fun together.
29. Thank you for buying the cabin and for always taking us camping. I always had so much fun there.
30. We all had such happy childhoods because of you.
31. Sorry for all of the stress that I caused you. I know I wasn't the easiest kid by far.
32. You were right. Devin does have kind eyes and I was lucky to find him.
33. Thank you for giving me the best wedding ever even if the chairs did make it look like an 80s prom. p.s. I am over that.
34. Thanks for escorting me through the temple. My two year endowment date is coming up.
35. You are such a strong person.
36. I love reading through your scriptures and seeing all of the versus you marked and made notes by.
37. Some of my best memories are coming home to you sitting in the rocker reading your scriptures and then talking about my night.
38. The best memories are of laying on the bed and talking to you for hours on end.
39. You have the best parents. I went over to their house a while ago and talked to them. They are so giving and your dad has the best stories to tell.
40. I wish my kids could have you as a grandma here on earth so you could give them things and tell them stories.
41. I'm so grateful for all of the cultural experiences you gave us kids at such young ages. I'm glad that at seven I knew who VanGough and Monet were.
42. You are the best cardboard painter I know and your spook alley's were always spooky.
43. You are so creative.
44. How did you get such a gooball for a daughter?
45. You are such a good dutch oven cooker and pyro. I need to know your secrets.
46. You should have written down your recipes.
47. I think you were the most fun in our family. We aren't as fun without you.
48. I loved when you would text me with your oh so fabulous texting skills.
49. Thank you for always loving me no matter what.
50. I'll always love you!

Disneyland!

2008-04-22T00:19:00.000-07:00

Disneyland Dance

Friday at the early hour of four a.m we left for the land o' happiness. Yes that's right Disneyland.
It's been like a year and a half since we've been (an eternity) and so we were all Jonesin' for a visit. We took the Kia known also as the smallest backseat ever and stuck the skinniest ones in the back. My dad has been a dear lately constantly reminding me how he is skinnier then me so to return the favor, we put the skinniest of the crew in the back. It made me feel better about my weight for about fifteen seconds. Bubs looks really happy about the seating arrangements, I believe this picture was taken right after my dad she had wide hips. The nerve of the guy.

When we got to the land we had to take the signature picture by the California letters. We were meeting the guy who was getting us in at the C so we had a opted for a family pic. You know the standard "we don't have someone to take our picture so we'll take two and have someone missing in each of them".

It'll become apparent pretty early on in these pictures that my dad's goal was to make the creepiest face possible in all of the pictures. See also the two above and all to follow.

Except for this one...okay bad example. The ride lines weren't too bad especially when we accidentally cut half of the line for Pirates of the Caribbean when we took this picture. Does it bother anyone else that you pronounce Pirates of the Caribbean differently then the Caribbean Islands or am I the only crazy one? I can't figure out how that one got started.

Later my dad continued making creepy faces.

Devin got to feel like a pediphile because Annie insisted on sitting next to me the majority of the time. That meant with five people that I sat next to Annie. Devin and Julia sat next to each other and the Reidster sat alone.

But they managed to take great actions shots while riding the rides.

After Splash Mountain Annie took her turn at the Creepy face game.

We are all kinda very soaked. My dad loves to start the splashing game on rides even though he is a cat when it comes to water and HATES getting the slightest bit wet. Well we kinda soaked him.

I got my fair share as well as Annie.

Here Annie is taking the advice of the Pirate on Pirates of the Carribean and "showing us her larbor side"

We had to get our Splash Mountain picture because we all are making such awesome faces. I love Annie's best. You might also enjoy or adopted son Carl's face in the back of the log.

After getting so so wet we went to the car to put on dry and warm clothes. We finished off the night with the Matterhorn and tomorrow land. While waiting in line we took more pictures with each other. I love night time pictures at disneyland. We have some of our best pictures of Annie, Daniel and Julia at disneyland. For some reason they just seem to like each more there for some reason.

While in the line for autotopia Annie sat on the ground about every four steps.

And while driving the cars she kinda let of the gas a lot making Julia run into us a lot. We told her it was all her bad driving skills because I swear at fifteen you take autotopia seriously and figure that if only you can drive well on that ride you will be an awesome driver and pass your license test with flying colors...or at least thats what I thought.

By the end of the night I only needed one last thing to make me happy. Sleep for one thing which I wouldn't be gettting before driving five hours home and two churros...one for each hand.

Oh and of course...for all of you who know my dad too well yes he did get pulled over about at country club on the 60 when we were five miles from home but no he didn't get a ticket.
It's just not a family vacation unless my dad gets pulled over.

Paying Homage

2008-04-18T05:15:00.000-07:00

It's time for the annual trip to Mecca.

We'll eat a churro for you.

Oh Emily

2008-04-16T08:06:00.001-07:00

Dear Emily,

Every morning you call me on your way to school at 7:55 AM. You know that I am upstairs getting Annie ready, but because of my extreme hate for voicemail and Annie's persistence that my phone is ringing and that I need to go and get it, I will come downstairs to answer my phone. I answer in a crabby voice and get mad at you for calling me. You say something interesting and so I forget that I am mad and that you made me come downstairs to answer and start talking to you. Just when I am enjoying the conversation and in the middle of telling a good story, you hang up and say you have to go to class. Why must you leave me hanging? Five minutes just isn't enough time for me. Couldn't you last a little longer so I could enjoy it too?

You're such a little phone tease.

Sincerely,

Laura

Today's post

2008-04-10T08:21:00.000-07:00

For my most recent post, please look at my sister's blog. I hacked into it and posted for her.

Click HERE

tide me over till the summer comes

2008-04-09T11:29:00.000-07:00

life is a teensy bit stressful here at the fletcher house trying to finish up the semester. laura and 18 credits don't agree well. who knew. but despite lots and lots of homework and this being the only thing i feel like i ever look at...

the end of the semester is drawing near and I quite frankly am extatic. End of the semester means spending lots of time with my sisters, swimming 24/7, no homework, only one more year until I graduate and seeing devin more than an hour every night. I'm stoked.

But until then, here are the things that are tiding me over.

***I have made my bed for like a week straight. No making fun this is kind of a huge accomplishment for me.
*** I started making these smoothies every day that I'm kinda obsessed with. It makes me feel healthy. Even though it isn't. It's nothing special, just the frozen berry blend from sam's club, strawberries, orange juice

and my special ingredient

snow cone syrup.

***Going out on the weekend's with Devin. Two weekends ago we went to Texas Roadhouse for a much needed break and to get in one more steak before Devin became vegetarian again (don't forget he also hasn't eaten sugar since like the middle of December). He definitely has more will power then I will ever have.

Seriously I think he just wants me to give up cooking for him. I'm one of those "I like animals, they taste good" people and so giving up meat is not gonna happen on my end. I'm pretty sure soon I will be like this

And devin will look like this.

*** Devin's new attitude towards cleaning.

For like the last year or so Devin's been really good about doing the dishes and trying to help when he's not working or at school but lately he's been amazing. He cleans up after himself, does his laundry and more. It's kind of amazing. I think I'm getting too spoiled. Either that or he's trying to butter me up for some reason.

*** Sweet peas are in bloom.

I really really really love sweet peas. They just make everything better and they smell so good. I wanted to use them for the bouquets on my tables at my wedding reception but my mom's all died like the week before. Stupid Arizona heat. But luckily they were in bloom when I did my bridal shoot so I could use them for my bouquet in those pictures.

(p.s. what happened to that girl? oh ya, see adding snow cone syrup to my fruit smoothies above)

I tried to grow them this year and miserably failed. I was kind of obsessed with them and watched them grow. I counted each of the stems and was really excited for them to grow tall up my rail in front of my house. But they didn't get enough sun and to my huge disappointment, they all died.

Despite my disastrous attempts, Emily has done a great job with the sweet peas at my mom's house. Probably because she gives them a whole package of miracle grow like once a week.
They are hot and give me lots and lots of enjoyment.

*** Arizona wild flowers are in bloom.

A few of my laurels and I went hiking at the wind caves two weekends ago to get ready for havasupai (p.s. my ward isn't going anymore because they couldn't get reservations).

I almost died of exhaustion on the way up because I'm out of shape but overall it was pretty fun and suprisingly pretty for Arizona because of all the california poppies and other flowers that were in bloom.

***Easter

Easter was really fun. Devin spoke in our ward on the atonement and both of our families came to see him speak. It was really great having all of them in our ward to sit by me so I wasn't lonely. Then for dinner we had the tasty cupcakes seen above (made for my family by one of my friends from the ward) and a really tasty dinner of ham, red potatoes and asparagus for dinner made by emily and amanda. It was tasty.

***House Projects

Recently Annie and I painted the shelves for the wall unit in my family room. Not that big of a deal but I love the feeling of accomplishment of having another thing done that I can stop worrying about. Apparently Annie didn't find it as rewarding.

Last but not least
*** Annie's birthday party of the century.

The invitations

The location

The pizza

The not so hired help

The girls

The cake (of sorts)

Annie doesn't like cake only brownies. This time brownie cupcakes with Reece's peanut butter cups inside

The trick candles

Last one...

The presents

The happy birthday girl

Tag, I'm gay.

2008-04-07T12:52:00.000-07:00

Hi there, Devin here.

So I am on my lunch at work and terribly bored. I want to state for the record that I feel extremely foolish doing this, but I am bored and Laura never updates her blarg. So here is a post to tide you over until she iscaught up with school work.

Ten Years Ago: I was in eighth grade, living in the Bay Area, furious that I was going to have to move to AZ. Not being a player, but crushing a lot. Listening to Third Eye Blind and Reel Big Fish and Sublime. I had the "Butt Cut" a.k.a. hair parted down the middle like a poor man's Backstreet Boy. I was on the cross country team. My favorite shows were The Simpsons, David Letterman, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (shame), and Road Rules (double shame...) I was just getting over a two-week bout with poison oak.

Five things on my to do list:
1. File my taxes.
2. French Homework
3. Apply for ASU
4. Not be such a fatty.
5. Laura

I enjoy: Going on walks with Laura, Playing guitar and ukulele, reading books, watching youtube videos, watching crappy church videos (e.g. Uncle Ben, Nephi and the Brass Plates, and Cipher [sp?] in the Snow {which is comic genius by the way.}), Lusting over guitars, hanging with the kids, seeing the fams.

Two bad habits:
1. Procrastination, I have turned in two major papers two weeks late this semester.
2. Letting my toenails get disgustingly long. Gross.

Five things you may not know about me:

1. Cutting with scissors, playing guitar, using a mouse, and playing mini golf are the only things I do right-handed. Other than that I am a southpaw.
2. When I was in elementary school I drank water out of a puddle and ate goldfish crackers off the ground
3. For as much as I am a music snob, I secretly love Marcy Playground
4. I can and will beat you at scrabble.
5. I used to be obsessed with Ren Stevens from "Even Stevens". Not when I was 15 or anything. We are talking 19 years old.

Five jobs I've had:
1. An under-the-table gig working at a box warehouse for two weeks when I was fifteen
2. Whole Foods Market- bag boy/cart schlepper
3. Missionary in Orlando (I know it's not a paying gig)
4. Adoptionshop.com - Purchasing Director
5. University of Phoenix - Financial Counselor/Stress Haver

Devin.

P.S. as Laura includes pictures in all of her posts, I thought I would include this motivational poster I created.

Never Been Tagged

2008-03-21T02:28:00.000-07:00

Ten Years Ago: I was a dork in sixth grade thinking I was the shiz cause I had two pairs of Doc Martens, TWO PAIR!. I wore sweater vests and aeropostale ribbeed t-shirts. Hot.

Five places I have lived:
1. Mesa, AZ
2. Gilbert, AZ
3. QT at Greenfield and U.S. 60
4. The underpass, see also Recker and Baseline
5. The overpass see also Greenfieldish and the freeway
Pretty much I live like a hobo

Five things on my to do list:
1. Graduate from ASU
2. Co-exist with Devin for more then 2 days out of the week for an extended period of ti
3. Finish all my BLE 408 homework before class at 9 am tomorrow which I started at 7:00 pm tonight
4. Give Annie the birthday party of the century next Friday night
5. Paint my nails

I enjoy:
Hanging out with Devin, planting flowers, having nothing to do, irresponsibly ditching class with Emily and going to the movies and getting panda express, eating fantastic dinners at Amanda's house, talking to Julia about her high school drama, having a dance party in the car with Annie slash living it up everyday with Annie, buying new CDs and listening to it over and over again, reading a book I can't put down until 5 in the morning, listening to music really really loud in my car, driving long distances/road trips, going to disneyland, doing projects, having a clean house.

Two bad habits:
1. Procrastination, see you thought my BLE 408 teacher was just a real B since I have been doing homework since 7pm nope just procrastinated and haven't done about a month and a half's worth of homework. Which leads to me not sleeping, another bad habit
2. Spending too much money.

Five things you may not know about me:
1. I think Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is a pretty good actor and enjoyed the movie "The Gameplan" with its predictable plot.
2. Devin and I met in a Preparation for Celestial marriage class exactly one week after he got off his mission. ( I know gag me)
3. I am equally half of my mom and dad with both of only their bad qualities (over talking, overspending, over procrastinating etc) so my sisters call me Randra when I act like one/both of them.
4. All of the major decisions I have made in my life were originally suggested by my mom i.e. spending a lot of time with Annie, being a teacher, marrying Devin, etc.
5. I am the queen of communicable diseases, you name it I've had it. Disgusting? Pretty much.

Five jobs I've had:
1. Jones/Vista/ Clare Cleaners
2. University of Phoenix (the whore of all the earth)
3. Instruction assistant at Robson Elementary
4. Annie Jones' Personal assistant
5. Landmark Restaurant for a week.

Tag: Everyone from EBay that read this, yes even you Morgan.

Five Years In

2008-03-19T17:42:00.000-07:00

Hi there, Devin here.

Today marks the five year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Maybe it was was the teenage punk rocker in me that was against it initially, but here I am five years later still against it. I know that some day to make sure my soul is saved I will have to forgive George W. for the lies he has told, for the lives he has cost, and for the perhaps irreparable damage he has done to this country and the world. I am just not ready to do that at this point.

I don't know what his real motivation for going to war was. I doubt it was really to spread democracy and protect the Iraqi citizens. Otherwise he would not have worked so closely with other despotic countries. Otherwise he would have invaded all of the other countries with gross human rights violations. Either way, I don't know.

I believe, and you may disagree with me (please feel free to exercise your first amendment right and disagree with me), that the current president is too proud to admit that he was wrong and thus more American lives will be lost. He sent the country to war under false pretenses and now it will take years, if not decades, to clean up the mess. These false pretenses were cemented into history by a recent report published by the Pentagon confirming once again (and once and for all) that there was not a link between Saddam and Al-Qaida. Iraq did not attack the United States

I'm not saying pull every troop immediately. That would be unreasonable and unwise. I am just saying that as long as there is a huge Coalition presence (both militarily and monetarily) in Iraq, the Iraqi government will not need to do its job because it doesn't have to. Half a trillion dollars has been spent on the war in Iraq since 2003. Think about how much good that money could have done to benefit the American people.

So Laura is probably going to be pissed because I came on to the blog and did a huge political rant seeing as a lot of you are her family and friends. Still, this is the Fletchies' blog and I am a Fletchy. I just want to make my opinion known. I love this country very much and am constantly frustrated at the efforts on the part of the current administration to silence opposing viewpoints. That being said, I hope that those with any viewpoint don't feel frightened or intimidated into silence by the government or mass media or even this blog post.

Please write to:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

and let the president know how you feel about the war(whether you are for it or against it) and why you feel the way you do. That is why he was elec-. Oh excuse me, that is what he is in power to do, represent the interest of the people of the United States.

I end my blog with this quote, while I don't necessarily agree with all of her foreign policy, I agree with her on this point.

"Vietnam presumably taught us that the United States could not serve as the world's policeman; it should also have taught us the dangers of trying to be the world's midwife to democracy when the birth is scheduled to take place under conditions of guerrilla war.
--Jeane Kirkpatrick, 1979"

Much love and peace to you all. -Devin.

Don't be distracted by this post, I still need help on the post below!

2008-03-13T19:06:00.000-07:00

Typical conversation between Devin and I

Laura- Babe, will you clean out the fridge?
Devin- Can’t, doing something.
Laura- Watching inmates in China dance in unison to thriller on youtube does not count as doing something
Devin- Laura it’s the Philippines, get it right.
Laura- Doesn’t matter, it still doesn’t count.
Devin (singing)- “Just beat it! Beat it! No one wants to be defeated! Just beat it”
Laura- You could have at least sung the right song in protest
Devin- It wouldn’t have made as convincing of an argument
Laura- Just clean the fridge and stop stalling
Devin (singing)-“Ben, the two of us need look no more. We both found what we were looking FOOOR.”
Laura- (sigh)

Havasupai

2008-03-13T09:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I learned from my Young Women's President that we will be hiking Havasupai in a month. The YW leaders decided it was time for the girls to have some fun because the boys go fun places all the time. Needless to say I am very very excited but also very very out of shape. Right now the girls are going to have to push me back out or get on all fours and be my donkey. So I am a little more then nervous about carrying a 60 pound pack (knowing my packing ability to over pack every time even if its over night. I'll bring a parka to the beach just in case it gets too cold) and hike the 18 miles or whatever it is round trip. Any ideas from the peanut gallery on what to do to prepare? Keep in mind I only have a month to get ready. We are going April 17th. Also any suggestions on how to bribe your loveable husband into going? Right now his idea of strenuous activity is standing up to change channels when we can't find the remote, not like I'm any better, I'm pretty sure I asked him last week to come into the bedroom so that he could hand me a glass of water that was out of my reach. We need some serious help.

Fool...sarcasm is odorless

2008-03-05T23:50:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know Devin and I went on the Ensenada cruise for our honeymoon. I was rather "sick" most of the trip which resulted in us playing a lot of scrabble, eating a lot, calling in for room service so in other words eating some more, hanging out in our cabin, gaining like fifteen pounds each and watching mindless TV

There was this one stupid movie that kept playing over and over and of course Devin decided it would be a great idea to watch it over and over. You see one of Devin's not so secret shames is that he loves bad movies, like no plot/predictable plot, crappy actors, great to make fun of movies. The movie was called Motocross Kids.

Tag Line: No one wins alone

My Tagline: Gary Busey, Lorenzo Lamas, and "Joe Millionaire" in a movie about a motocross riding chimp? Are you kidding me? Forget Best Picture of 2004...this might make a run at the title of "Best Thing Ever Put on Film in the History of Western Civilization."

The particular movie is about a motocross chimpanzee that saves the day when it rides in a dirt biking competition and wins in place of the best kid on the team that got hurt. The best part of the movie was a line that went something like this:
-That monkey can't compete!
-There's nothing in the rules that says a chimpanzee can't

Devin loved it becuase it had Gary Busey and he found that hilarious.
I personally find the most hilarious thing about Gary Busey to be his DUI photo.

The only part of this movie I loved was looking it up on IMDB.com and finding this little conversation:

-I think I smell an Oscar!

-I just feel bad for the people who don't live in LA, Atlanta, Detroit, Houston and San Francisco, who will miss out on seeing this film during its special "limited" theatrical release. I'm not sure the home video experience will really do it justice...

-my local blockbuster has 10 copies...and they are always rented out. This saddens me, as I desire to see this piece of art.

-The only thing I smell is a crappy movie. Oscar my foot!

-You know what I smell? Sarcasm.

-Fool... sarcasm is odorless.

Anyway, back to the original point

Lucky for Devin Saturday night he turned on the TV only to find a new classic to watch

MXP: most xtreme primate
This movie has just about the same concept as the first

1. Features a chimpanzee doing stunts that are improbable and only mildly entertaining for fifteen minutes tops if seen in real life and the monkey does a trick much less on a TV for a good hour and a half.

2. Includes a poor child actor whose parents are hoping this will be his big break that will allow them to quit their day jobs and live off his income but are simultaneously setting him up to be the laughing stock of high school once someone posts posters of his made for TV movie all over the school.

3. Who could forget the bumbling bully duo who grace the film with amazing lines, terrible misfortune and are easily duped by the intelligent, snowboarding chimp.

4. Targets an easily entertained audience

Oh Canadian Cinema, must you give us yet another reason to make fun of your country?

My team funny homeless men

2008-03-04T19:16:00.001-08:00

Devin saw a homeless man sign in Daytona Beach that said

"Things I need:
1.Beer
2. Cigs
3. Popcorn
4. Woman"

Popcorn?

Oh the projects you'll make

2008-03-01T18:42:00.000-08:00

If anyone had told me a year ago this time that I would enjoy and kind of know how to scrapbook, I would have laughed in their face! I seriously never would have thought I would ever make a book, card, project or anything else much less all of these things in the month of February.

Four Valentines for a present for a Young Women's Service White Elephant game

Finished a wedding book

25 New Beginnings invitations

And two valentine's books. One for a friend and one for devin

Here's the one for devin.

March is filling up quick!