The Meandering Thoughts of Jan

Yesterday at church was rather entertaining, especially since Danny and I got to substitute teach in primary.  We taught the 4-5 year olds, too cute.  Those kids just had me cracking up during each meeting. During sacrament meeting the speaker was talking about the importance of reading our scriptures.  The little boy behind us who is probably 3 whispered loudly to his dad, "Dad, don't we already know about this?"  His dad responded, "Yes, we do." The little boy replied, "Then why is he talking about it if we already know?"  Danny and I were cracking up. Then in sharing time, the primary leader was teaching the kids about what commandments are.  She asked, "Who knows the name of the prophet who received the 10 Commandments from the Lord?"  Little boy in our class excitedly raises his hand and answers, "Moses Smith!"   This was a sweet moment.  A little girl in our class while raising her hand accidentally hit the boy next to h

I stole this from Talena's pinterest board.  It made me happy.  I hope it makes you happy too.  Happy weekend everyone.

Danny and I went on a snow adventure to test out our snowshoes.  We've had them for a year, so it was about time.  We headed up to Mueller Park.  The trail was pretty packed down, so snowshoes weren't needed too much at the beginning, but we ventured off the beated path into deeper snow and had a blast.

I love holidays.  They just make me so happy.  I wanted to do something fun for Danny that would surprise him.  My sister Noelle showed me some cute Star Wars valentine's on pinterest.  I printed them off and posted them around the house for Danny to find and wrote on them some of the many reasons I love Danny, because he is pretty great.  I then got up early and made heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast. I couldn't resist dying them pink, like my mom used to.  I never make breakfast, so I figured this would really surprise Danny.  He seemed quite pleased.  I also got him some of his favorite candy and treats for him to find later in the day. Danny definitely surprised me as well.  When I got home from work, Danny told me he got tickets to Wreck It Ralph  at the Dollar Theater for our evening activity.  I laughed and said it sounded fun.  Then he handed me the tickets. I did a double take and realized he was teasing me and had really gotten tickets to Ballet West'

Congrats to my amazing sister Michele and her husband Dan.  They had their little girl yesterday evening.  After 11 nephews, this is the first niece on my side!  I'm more than thrilled for my sister and I can't wait to meet the newest addition to our family.  I'll let Michele be the first one to post pictures of her, since she's the mom.  But she did send me a few pics last night and know that little Princess C (she already has a nickname from me) has LOTS of hair and and cute chubby cheeks.  She is adorable.

Highs Danny got me a pre-Valentine's bouquet on Friday, because I had such a hectic week last week.  How sweet. Friday night = Date night Sleeping in on Saturday. I got to video chat with Melina, my wonderful friend that is living on the other side of the world right now. Visiting my mom and dad.  Plus, I left with so many gifts ranging from small appliances to sheet music.  Well, I have to give the sheet music back. Game night at Mary's!  Danny's uncle was in town, so we all got together.  The nephew and niece (JM and Lady L) were super cute that night as well.  We had fun. Remember how my old ward was dissolved last year?  Part of my calling is visiting different wards in our stake and I got to go to the ward that took in half of my old ward.  I was so happy to see old friends and some of the kids I taught in primary. Lows Since I had such a hectic week last week (many nights I didn't get home until 10pm) I was super cranky on Friday night. Poor Danny.

I know I've talked about introversion before on this little blog of mine.  I am what I am. For Christmas, Danny gave me the book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking .  It is by Susan Cain, who I posted a Ted talk by before.  Anyway, I loved this book.  It was rather fascinating and validating. Introversion/Extroversion is the most defining aspect of one's personality.  Introverts generally have high sensitivity to their surroundings, so they need solitude to re-energize.  Extroverts generally have low sensitivity to their surroundings, so they find being around people and novelty energizing.  Cain does make it clear that there are some exceptions to this, but it is the case for the majority of people. Being an introvert doesn't necessarily mean you are shy, which is a common misconception.  Also, there is such thing of an ambivert, which means you are in the middle range of both introversion and extroversion.  Danny turns out to be one

Apparently there wasn't much to take pictures of during the month of January, just a whole lot of snow.  My amount of Instagram pics is much less this time around.  Interesting to see what February will have in store. Jan. 3(ish):  Our icicle farm, they just kept on growing. Jan. 10:  We had this insane snow storm  that hit right during the evening  commute.  My 15 minute drive turned into 1.5 hours.  Since I was  spending  most of my time stopped,  I passed the time by documenting  this crazy  weather.  This past month the weather has been a little freaky. Mountains of snow, freezing rain and fog, oh my. Jan. 12:  Since our city had turned into a frozen tundra, Danny and I  planned  an indoors date to pass the time one Saturday. We did have  a  fun time, because Color Me Mine is one of my  all time favorite places.  However, we were unfortunate  enough to have to sit at the only free table,  which was by the door.  The  temperature was in the single digits outs