Will You Be My Valentine?

Hannah says, "Will you be my Valentine?"




Yesterday Scott surprised me by taking off the whole day of school. I felt kind of bad because I didn't want him to be behind, but it was nice to be able to spend a whole day with him; it doesn't happen very often. We decided to go out to lunch, since Scott wasn't going to be in class. We went to the Thai Kitchen, which is a really small restaurant here in Provo. There was one lady doing everything: cleaning the tables, being the cashier, hostess, and server to about 8 or 9 tables. After sitting there for while, we decided to get up and go somewhere else for lunch. I felt sorry for the lady doing everything, and it reminded me a little bit of when I worked at Mimi's, even though I didn't have to do everything like she did, but it was stressing me out just watching her. Anyway, then we just went shopping and I made dinner for Scott that night. Thank you to everyone who sent Hannah a Valentine's card.....it was very sweet!

Ground Turkey!!!!

I have found a miracle! I've been watching The Biggest Loser and heard the trainers on there tell the contestants that ground turkey is a lot better for you than ground beef. So, I decided to try it out since I've been trying to watch what I eat lately. We had meximelts the other night for dinner with the ground turkey, and they were delicious! Of course I added a bunch of spices to the meat, but I thought that it tasted better than ground beef. It's not nearly as greasy (ground beef tends to hurt my stomach but this turkey didn't) and get this......it's cheaper than ground beef!! It's a miracle! I haven't tried the ground turkey in any other dishes so I might change my mind, but for now it will be a regular item that I will be purchasing from the grocery store. I still have about a half of a pound left, so the main reason that I am blogging about this is because I was wondering if anyone has any good recipes that call for ground beef besides spaghetti, tacos, or meatloaf. Please let me know if you do, and if you would rather email it to me, that would be fine!!!!

P.S. Mom-I lost that pirate sandwich recipe......I might have to get that again from you.

Yet Another Video

Ok.....here is another blog of me bragging about what Hannah can do. I just wanted to apologize to anyone who is not Hannah's grandparent because I'm sure it gets annoying that I am constantly posting videos of things she can do (even though, like I said earlier, I know that any baby her age could probably do these things). However, I hope you all understand that her grandparents live 100s of miles away and don't see her very often. So, with that being said, here is another video of her and me doing what we do everyday. She loves books, but she's kind of picky about them. She loves the book in this video and wants to read it several times a day. We go to the library every week and get new books. Sometimes she likes them, sometimes she doesn't. Also, I got the idea of teaching her animal noises from her cousin Sara, so that's one thing she will be doing in this video as well. Enjoy!

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A Blog About Me.....(sorry grandparents)

Well it's official......I'm a graduate!!! I got my diploma in the mail last week with President Hinckley's digital signature on it. It only took me 6 1/2 years to get a 4 year degree....whippi! I will be walking on April 24th, so if anyone wants to come, you are invited (although I wouldn't recommend it.....graduations are boring). Scott also received his Associates degree but refused to get a picture with it (hmmmm...I wonder why. By the way, does anyone else think my mouth looks abnormally huge in this picture?). Maybe once he gets his Bachelors he'll take a picture. Here are the three most important things I learned in college:

1. You really don't have to do all of the reading assigned to you. Yeah, that's right, I didn't read half of what I was assigned this last semester and still did well in my classes, but this is probably because most of my sociology classes were very similar to each other.
2. You really can wait until the night before to study for a test (this depends on the class, though).
3. You can use the same research paper several times for different classes. Yep, I used the same research paper three times for three different classes, two of which were with the same teacher.

My college experience was challenging, but not incredibly hard. This was probably because of the major I chose, because I know there were classes that were extremely hard (like American Heritage). This is proof, though, that if I can get through college, anyone can.


Also, I got tagged again, but this time it's about Scott and me, so here we go.

What is your husband's name?
Scott Randall Sprague

How long have you been together?
Been together: 5 years Been married: almost 4 years

How long did you date?
A year before we got engaged, then 4 more months until we were married.

Who eats more?
I guess it depends on what we're eating. Spaghetti- I could definitely out eat him.

Who said I love you first?
Honestly, I don't remember....I think it was him.

Who is taller?
Scott

Who has more speeding tickets?
Neither of us has any. Yes that's right, we're perfect drivers.

Who is smarter?
Kind of a silly question....I guess it depends on what subject. Scott has more street smarts than I do.

Who is more sensitive?
Probably me.

When there is a fight who usually wins?
Well, I can give the silent treatment for days if I wanted to, so probably me. I don't know...we usually just sleep on it and then forget about the fight the next day.

Who does the laundry? Mostly me, but Scott will help when he has time.

Who does the dishes? Ditto to the above

Who sleeps on the right?
Scott

Who pays the bills?
Scott

Who mows the lawn?
The guys that our landlord hired....not sure what their names are.

Who cooks dinner?
Me

Who drives when you are together?
Scott...I hate driving.

Who is more stubborn?
Definitely me.

Who kissed who first?
Scott kissed me, but I did walk him to his car so maybe he felt obligated.

Who asked who out first?
Well, I sort of did. It's kind of a long story, but I was on a date with someone else while I was on the phone with Scott. It was very awkward because this other guy was in the car listening to my conversation and he was mad. Because I knew that Scott was going to ask me out, I just asked him as soon as I could so that we could get off the phone.

Who proposed?
Scott. He took me to the park on Christmas and gave me a "present" that was a bridal magazine with a big heart cut out in the middle. In the heart was the ring. It was very sweet.

Who has more siblings?
Me.......I have 4, he has 1.

So that was fun. I will tag anyone who would like to do this. It's always fun to learn these things about other people. Have fun!

More on Hannah....

I just posted some pictures of Hannah yesterday but I didn't write very much, so I thought I would just write a few funny/new things that Hannah has done lately, even though grandparents are probably the only ones that really care about this stuff. The other day we were sitting there reading a book and she pointed to her diaper and said, "Po Pos," when she had a stinky diaper. I was surprised because I usually say to her that she has poo poos when she does, but I didn't think she had connected it with her going number 2. She did it again today as well.

She also loves to push around her walker, running back and forth throughout out house. Whenever she hits something, she says, "Munk," which is supposed to be "bonk." She tries to bonk the vacuum every time I get it out, which makes it hard to vacuum anything.

She has a Baby Einstein video that she watches occasionally that teaches sign language for easy words. Yesterday she made the sign for book and then said, "book." I was really surprised. I didn't think those videos were teaching her anything.

Her vocabulary has tripled since Christmas. I've tried to count all of the words she can say, but have lost track. I think it's somewhere around 100; however, half of them would probably not be understood by anyone but Scott and me. Anyway, I just wanted to write a little bit about her since I didn't write anything last night.

As promised...

As promised, here are a few pictures of Hannah. She and I made a snowman yesterday. I think that this was the first snowman that I have ever made (that I can remember).

Maybe no one will notice if I take off his eye.

Hannah and her stuffed animals

Sickness

A few nights ago, I was reminded of what it was like to have a new born again. Hannah has been sick this week, probably worse than she has ever been. On Tuesday night, she woke up about 4 times in the middle of the night and I had to rock her back to sleep. I haven't had to get up with her in the middle of the night since she was 8 months old. It's funny how you forget what it's like to get up with a baby. I think this is why so many of us have children so quickly after the first because we forget what it's like to wake up with them in the night......and then there are those babies that are angels, sleeping through the night when they are newborns. Anyway, getting up with Hannah was enough to make me want to wait a little bit longer until I get pregnant again.

As far as me getting sick goes, all I have to say is one thing:

ECHINACEA + ME = B.F.F. (best friends forever)

For anyone who may not know what this is, it's a supplement that helps your immune system. It's awesome! I have the immune system of a pea (I don't even know if that makes sense) and I get sick often. Since I've been in Utah, it's actually gotten better, but as soon as I smell a whiff of a cold coming on, I have to take Echinacea. If I take it on time, I only get the small effects of a cold.

OK......this is about the lamest blog I have ever done, but I had to write something. Hopefully, I will post some pics of Hannah soon.

A Tribute to President Hinckley- 1910-2008

I have been preparing myself for President Hinckley's death for some time now, so I was not surprised when I came home tonight from visiting teaching to Scott with watery eyes, telling me that he had passed away around 7:00pm. He has been a wonderful man and prophet, and when I think of my adolescent/teen/young adult years, he will be the prophet that I will remember. He was always happy, and you could tell that he had a certain light about him. I know that he is going straight to heaven with his wife Marjorie. Anyway, I just wanted to do a tribute to him because I love him very much and am grateful for him.

Scroll down for another post.

Dates!!

This weekend, Scott and I were able to go on TWO dates alone. It's very rare that this happens, so it's definitely something to blog about. Yesterday we were able to hang out with our friends Seth and Fabiola. We haven't seen them in quite a long time, so it was fun hanging out. It seems like that happens a lot around here. We have friends that we would like to hang out with that don't live in Provo, but we often don't see them for months at a time because things get busy. Anyway, so we decided to go to lunch with them at a BBQ smokehouse. Afterwards, we dropped Hannah off at some girls' house and went ice skating. Here are a few pics:

I look incredibly white standing next to Seth and Fabiola.

There are many things that Scott is good at:
1. Reading
2. Playing basketball
3. math

However, ice skating is not one of them. He told me before we went that he didn't like ice skating and that he couldn't do it. I thought, 'Oh, he's just being modest. Everyone can ice skate if they try hard enough.' Well, the first time we went out on the ice he could not let go of the side wall. His ankles kept turning in like the picture above, so he could not stand on his skates straight. I must admit, it was the funniest thing I have ever seen in our almost 4 years of marriage. I was really proud of him, though, because he kept trying. He was willing to keep going around the rink, even though his ankles were killing him. By the time we were ready to go, Scott was able to make it around the rink, holding my hand, without touching the wall at all. He made major progress, and I think that if we were to go more often, he would be able to master skating on his own.........after all, this was only his second time going in his life.

On Friday night, we got a call around 3:45pm asking if we wanted to go the Kings/Jazz game by one of Scott's co-workers. I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to go, but it worked out great. Hollie and Jarin were able to take Hannah (thanks again). We rushed to get Hannah to meet Hollie in Orem on time, then we rushed to Scott's co-worker's house to get the tickets, then we rushed to the game during traffic hour. Everything turned out perfect, despite all of the rushing. We got tickets to go to a buffet on the bottom floor of the Energy Solutions Arena. I had no idea people could go down there. So, before the game started we had a delicious meal and dessert. During half time, this place was also serving nachos, drinks, and popcorn for anyone that had tickets. We were stuffed! Our seats were only 19 rows up. We could see everything very clearly (except I did have a man in front of me with a huge head.....it was kind of hard to see around it). The Kings lost, of course, and Ron Artest was getting booed left and right, but the experience was the best. We got free parking, free dinner, and awesome free tickets!


I had to take a picture when the Kings were up by a little bit, because I knew that it wasn't going to last long.

Here is a video of the fun we were able to see.

Puzzle!

Now that I am done with school, days seem to run together and I often feel bored......especially since it is winter. It seems like this is the worst winter since we have been here in Utah (maybe I've just forgotten what past winters were like). It seems to snow several times a week, every week. The street that we live seems like it has not been plowed since the first time it snowed, so there is ice everywhere. I can't wait for spring when I can get out and go for a walk.

Even though this winter has been depressing, watching Hannah learn new things every day has been very rewarding. Here is a video of her with the puzzle she got from G-ma Julia and G-pa Greg for Christmas. She LOVES it. Every day she points to her toy box and says, "puzzle." I never knew she was in to puzzles, but this is good for me to know for future presents. She also loves the nursery rhymes book that my dad got her and the pop up animals that my mom got her (she finally learned how to do all 5 of them). Anyway, these past few weeks Hannah has always let me put the puzzle pieces in the right spot, and then she would push them in. She finally learned how to do the puzzle herself. It's funny how every mother thinks their child is the smartest child on earth. I'm sure any 15 month old baby could do a puzzle if she or he had the practice, but I get so proud of Hannah when she figures out new things. She surprises me everyday with a new word or action that she learns. Anyway, here is the video:

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Here is another video of her walking. She is getting better and better everyday. Hopefully within the next few weeks she will start using walking as her primary form of transportation.

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My name is Scott, do you remember me?

Hello Everyone -
For those of you who do not remember me, my name is Scott Randall Sprague, husband to Maran and father of Hannah. It has been quite a while since I have blogged anything, but here I am.
Life is really good right now. It is busy, but I am really enjoying it right now. School is great. I have been telling people that I was nervous to start at BYU, because it was going to be like leaving high school to attend college, but there is more truth to that than I had hoped. Classes are fun, but a lot more time consuming than I was used to at UVSC. It is to be expected, and to be honest, I am not complaining. It makes me apply myself more, which makes me feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day when I do well on a quiz or homework assignment. Now, I realize that the semester has, in the words of Karen Carpenter, only just begun, but I think that I can do OK if I stay on track. It feels good to be a Cougar, and am glad I am in such good company.
My calling serving in the Bishopric is also going very well. I really enjoy the friendships that I have made with the members there. I catch myself calling them kids sometimes, which really makes no sense because some are just as old or older than I am. They really are great, and the Bishop is a great man, who I really enjoy working with.
Now, what would a post from me be without mentioning the Kings? If anyone remembers, last year I tried really hard to take time off from them, but in the end, it did not work. Things this year are a lot better. Their record is not great, in fact, they are still six games out of the playoffs at 17-22. They are, though, playing like they want to win, even though they don't have the talent that they once had. Reggie Theus, who some of you might remember as a NBA player, while others might remember from the great TV series, "Hang Time," is the current coach, and is getting the best out of these guys.

Work is also going well. OK, as good as retail can go may be a better term. It really is not that bad though. I go to work, do what I have to, and then come home. I don't have to think about it when I am not there, and probably get paid too much for what I actually do. They have been very good with my school schedule, offer tuition reimbursement, and are always a good topic of conversation when I am getting my hair cut. (Do you really sell Easy Buttons? Yes. Aren't you right there on University Parkway? Nope, that would be either Office Max or Office Depot, take your pick. Is Mitt Romney your head boss? Nope, but he did help fund the company.)


And, for the most important parts of my life, Maran and Hannah, they are doing great. Maran is a great mom, and is teaching Hannah so many things. Mama is Hannah's favorite word, and loves saying it as soon as I pick her up. We have good times together though, Maran just has to be in the other room.
That is it from me. Hopefully I will post more, but I am making no promises. Until next time, go Kings!

Bumps and Bruises

Yesterday Hannah received the first bruise on her face. I don't know if you can see it in this picture (it's on her upper left cheek), but it looked pretty painful. She knocked her face on a wooden tray. I still have nightmares of myself bumping my head or slipping on the kitchen floor while it's wet. Maybe all of the times we hurt ourselves as children is the reason why when we are falling asleep we think about scary things like this and jump (or is it just me that does that? I did slip and fall on the kitchen floor several times after mom mopped it as a child....maybe more than most children do). On a side note, Hannah is a typical girl who loves sparkly jewelry. I gave her some bracelets and a necklace to place with while I was in the shower and when I came out, she had all three bracelets around her wrist and the necklace around her neck.

As far as the bump goes, Scott got rear-ended last week on his way home from work. The only damage it did was this perfectly round circle. If you look closely, you can actually see two circles. My only guess would be that this was the indent from the screws on their license plate. It's kind of strange, though.

Silly Moments

Here are a few silly moments that have happened over the past week.This picture is hilarious to me because she closed her eyes on purpose.

She has been getting herself into this position lately. I have a picture of myself doing this as a baby as well.

Another huge mess.......she dumped a half a box of fish crackers on to the floor and started crawling all over them, smashing them into the carpet.

playing in her toy box

Finally, she has been walking a lot more. Here is a quick video of her taking 4 steps. She's getting very close to walking and will do it when she's good and ready. She usually hates it when Scott and I make her walk and will refuse to do it. I think she'll get better as the days go by, though.

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Our Christmas Vacation

I have a lot of pictures from our trip to California, so bare with me. We had a lot of fun on our trip and often wish that we could live in Sac town again, but we will just have to stick it out a few more years here in freezing cold Utah. Here are some pictures of our trip.....
Hannah on Grandma D's swing. She loves to swing.

Allie pushing Hannah on the swing

Allie.....so cute!

Opening presents on Christmas Eve with my mom and Dave. Hannah got an adorable homemade dress, a toy, and some cute boots.

Hannah and Dominic playing with her new toy

On Christmas Eve we went to Aunt Annie's house and had a delicious meal.

Hannah and Aunt Annie's grandson, Ian, on Scott's lap

Christmas morning we were at Scott's parent's house. Hannah got a lot of books, outfits, and toys from Grandma Julia and Grandpa Greg. She was very spoiled this Christmas by all of her grandparents. From Grandma and Grandpa Price she got some toys and from Grandpa Sprague a gift card to Gap. Thank you to EVERYONE who gave us presents! We were all very spoiled.

Eating an apple on Christmas morning.

Christmas afternoon we spent at my mom's house. Every year we have lasagna with meatballs and sausage, and I have missed it terribly for the last two years because we were not able to go home for Christmas. It was delicious, as usual, and I hope that we can come back next year.

Christmas Day

This is the kid's table at my mom's house. They don't look too happy:)

Hannah eating her meatballs.....I think she is a true Price/Trasmundi because she loved it!

I looked over a few minutes into eating my lasagna meal and saw Ella and Allie sitting at the kid's table alone. It's funny how when you're a kid you really don't care much about eating (well, maybe if it's treats) but now that I am older I could not wait to eat this meal.

The day after Christmas, my dad met us at In-n-Out and took the kids to the park next to his house. It was freezing outside, but I think all of the kids had a lot of fun.

Kaden and Hailey on this teeter totter thing.

Thursday we went bowling with the Spragues.

Here's Scott bowling. He did really awesome and scored a 161 in one of the games. I only scored a 111, but I also only played one of the three games because I wasn't feeling very well and Hannah was being a stinker.

Scott's dad, who took the cake. He scored the most points when adding up the three games total points and won by one point. I guess Scott and I will have to practice so we can beat him next time:)

When I count "1,2,3" to take a picture, Hannah knows the flash is about to come, so half of our pictures have her eyes half closed, similar to this one.

Hannah and her first cousin once removed, Sara....they both don't look too happy. Okay, on a side note, I thought Sara and Hannah were second cousins but I just looked it up and they are considered first cousins once removed. Also, mom- I was listening to my video camera of you and Jessica wondering what Audriana and Hannah were to each other and they are considered second cousins. Hannah and Jessica are first cousins once removed. Anyway, I have been wondering this for awhile so I had to look it up.

On Wednesday night, Scott and I got the privilege of going to a Kings game (thanks to his parents). They were playing the Celtics and got their butts whooped, but it was still a lot of fun.

Scott's dad was also at the game but was sitting a few sections away from us.

Before the game, Scott and I got to go up to the court and watch the players practice. This is Mikki Moore, one of the Kings players that was about two feet in front of us. We didn't get his autograph, but on Friday Scott went to another Kings game without me and got Kevin Martin's autograph (who we think is a better player) and also got up on the big screen in front of everyone. I don't have pictures of that, though.

Friday I was sick and tried to stay in bed most of the day. As mentioned earlier, Scott was able to go to another Kings game that night without me. On Saturday, we were able to go to a crab feed at my mom's neighbor's house, which Scott found to be delicious. Then, we had to say goodbye to everyone so that we could leave Sunday to come back here to Utah. We didn't get pictures of our Christmas with my dad and Vickie or with Scott's dad, so I apologize about that. We did have a lot of fun, even though I ended up getting sick and Hannah was so exhausted from the trip that she's still trying to catch up on sleep (she slept around 16 hours on Monday).

Scott and I feel like Hannah grew up a little bit on this trip. Even though she's not walking yet, she is acting more and more like a toddler. Just as Kerrie caught Allie practicing her "mine"s, I caught Hannah practicing her "No"s. I was listening to her through the monitor and heard her saying over and over again, "Nnnnnno." It's funny and was bound to happen eventually. Hopefully I can teach her not to say it to everyone, though, including me.

Anyway, last but not least, on New Year's Eve Scott and I watched a movie that we got for Christmas and fell asleep before midnight. We are getting too old. Next week Scott starts up school at BYU, and I am officially done with school forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. A big thanks to my mom and Dave and Greg and Julia for letting us stay with you guys and eat your food.