Progress on the Ducks

Remember when we kept two baby duckies in our apartment last winter? Well these little duckies are all grown up and here's the proof!This is Tyler and the Ducks' dad, Jon, who takes very good care of them.

Speaking of duckies, I wanted to give a shout out to my older brother Ryan. I will never forget the spring day when we were driving in his car on BYU campus....a mother and her babies were crossing a busy intersection....Ryan stopped his car and proceeded to say, "Duckies, duckies move little duckies." He is a tender hearted after all! (We knew it all along)

Mima, Mama, and Me

For the first time in my life I had the wonderful experience of waking up at 4:30 AM the morning after New Years Parties and attending the Annual Pasadena New Years Rose Parade. The floats and whole experience was awesome, but the best part was being there with my mom and mima (nickname for my grandma Phelps).They are both wonderful people. Everything my mima does and says is full of passion. This provides invigorating conversation. For example it can be the most beautiful day in the California sunshine and the end of the world because Israelis and Palistinians are at it again in the same conversation. My mima has lived her entire life full of passion, gratitude and love. She takes interest and is keenly aware and educated on all facets of life. She has the ability to truly love and accept all people, but still makes it very clear what she stands for. She has been a great blessing in my life and I am so glad I got to spend this New Years with her.

My mother is just as wonderful as my mima, although for different reasons. My mom is someone who will answer the phone and ask me how I am doing and then really listen. She is someone who would quietly leave Sees Candy bars on my bed to let me know she was proud that I woke up each morning for seminary. My mom never let me think less of myself then I was. Insecurities were foolishness and waste of time considering how blessed we are. Although, there were times when the world would get me down and my mom would be there to let me cry it out and then send me to my Dad who figured out ice cream is the cure for just about everything. In adulthood my mom has proven to be the greatest example I could ever ask for. I learned valuable lessons about what a house full of love and support felt like from my mom (and dad!). I also learned how to have a healthy relationships and when to ask for guidance and direction from my mom.

I love and respect my mima and my mom. They are incredible women in all that they do. I thank my Heavenly Father each day for the blessing they have been in my life. I hope I can go through my life living up to their example and blessing their lives and they have mine.

Mrs. Ellis' History 8 Honors Class are Champions

In December my school had a book drive for the library. I knew from the beginning my class would win because luckily it was during my honors class. Contrary to common belief, honors kids are not necessarily the kids with the highest IQs (although they often they) but they are definitely the most responsible (meaning they remember when assignments are due).


My 16 students brought in over 300 books throughout the week and won a pizza party. I am so proud of those little smarty pants!

Why I have Neglected my Blog

So, it's been a while since I last blogged. I have not been very good about blogging for a few reasons.

First, I am a technology idiot and it takes me a month or so to get up the patience to download pics from my camera on the computer. I don't like to blog without pictures because we all know pictures are worth a 1000 words and its a whole lot quicker finding out about your friends' lives via pictures then reading volumes of personal narratives.

Second, back in October I "broke down" and bought myself a gym pass. Tyler and I canceled our gym passes when we got married because we viewed it as an additional expense we could surely live with out. Now that I have one, I can't believe I lived without it. It is amazing what exercise can do to the dark and dreary winter months. I am happier and feel better about myself, but the gym is a time sucker leaving me less time to write meaningless entries about why I never blog.

Third, Beehives. Simply said, my Church calling and dear beehives keep me busy!

Fourth, the holidays. I don't know what it is but I get major anxiety with buying gifts. I spend countless hours shopping before Christmas and still always feel like whatever I come up with is lame. So I spend most of November and December searching for gifts and then Tyler ends up going with me to the mall 1 time right before Christmas and we get everything done. Thank goodness I married an efficient man or I would never get anything done! But, I still do spend a lot of time and come out with little to show.

So that has been what has been keeping me the busiest these past months. Yesterday I got the stomach flu which slowed me down and bit. Lucky for you, I will be catching you up on the last few months of my life so keep reading the posts! Don't worry pictures will be included :)

All's Forgiven

I am married to a pretty remarkable man. Although last year come Christmas day and I didn't get anything from him, I did have a brief moment of questioning. I understood that he was stressed with school and didn't know what to get me but as a precausion I drastically lowered my expectation on what to expect from my dear Tyler come festive occassions.

This year I was blown out of the water.

December 19th, 6 days before Christmas:

This was my last day of teaching before the break and was wonderful because it was a half day and I had plans to go snowboarding before the resorts closed. I frantically pulled into the garage (thank you Jensen's for the indoor parking especially in this snowy weather) and as I ran downstairs to get changed, I passed Tyler bringing up my Giraff snowboard of 10 years that I had bought "used" at 14. This trusty snowboard still works altough the bindings are rusted to the board. We got up to Sundance Resort and as I was pulling on my coat and gloves Ty tells me he has my board for me. I turn around and it is a brand new beautiful snowboard and bindings! Of course, being that Tyler bought it, it was one of the best and newest of the season. For those who know snowboards it is a K2 Luna 10th Anniversary Snowboard with sorosky crystals (love the bling). It was awesome for the two hours I have gotten to use it so far.

So, I thought that was it for Christmas, I mean a snowboard? That is a pretty awesome Xmas gift. But this morning, Christmas Day, Tyler tells me there is more. I have been wanting a gold watch for a long time. I am not a big jewelry person, primarily because I am convinced the weight of necklaces and bracelets irritate my "cancer spots" (you don't want to know; I am perfectly physically healthy, but maybe a little sick upstairs), but do enjoy wearing "flashy" gold earrings as of late and they clash with my silver watch (which I also love, Thank you Meg and Ron for the Xmas gift 4 years ago!). I have had trouble finding a gold watch that didn't look old ladyish but recently Tyler and I found one we both liked. I thought it was way to expensive and he didn't say anything until this morning, when I got a letter with the picture of the watch inside. (The reason for the pic and not the actual watch is because I am an incredibly curious or "nosey" as some like to say, person and Tyler had hidden the watch so well he forgot to grab it before we left for Indiana). Although I love the watch and can't wait to try it on when we get home.

In conclusion, this year Tyler totally rocked my socks off in the Christmas present department.

Although, I must admit that I love that sucker the same, gifts or no gifts. He is the greatest blessing in my life.

Merry Christmas!

LA Trip

Last weekend, on a marketing venture, I took my Intercultural Outreach BYU students to Los Angeles to explore the cultural variety of LA.


For a first time trip that was often close to being canceled on more than one occasion, the trip actually went very well.

We arrived in the Long Beach airport on Thursday night. After gathering luggage and renting cars, we headed to downtown LA where we stayed at a very upscale Marriott near the fashion district. http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=1063135772110082920

Friday we hit the ground running. We started with Chinatown where we had a tour and history lesson from a very knowledgable 5th generation American Chinese man. We shopped at the little stores, I bought a bowl that matches my dishes for $2.99 (whoohoo! steal!) but we unfortunately ran out of time for traditional Chinese lunch.

We had an appointed at the Islamic Center, the largest mosque in LA which also hosts a K-8th school and other social activities. We meet with a man that teaches Arabic at UCLA in addition to running the center. After a short briefing, we took our spots for the midday Friday prayer. (This is the most important time for prayer in Islam. It is like the 3 hour block on Sunday for us LDS, but only last 30 minutes and they don't have to wear shoes! Lucky...) Watching people from all different socio-economic classes and ethnic backgrounds pour into the mosque as the call for prayer was announced was truly touching. These men and women leave on their lunch breaks to come to prayer. I was overcome by the feelings of brotherly-love and could feel that these hundreds of people truly cared about their relationship with God. It comforted me to know that I am not the only one out there that still believes in God and desires to know him better. The service included scripture that was sung and repeated in Arabic, prayer and a short sermon. I loved seeing the womens beautiful veils (they cover their hair in reverance and the shoe boxes outside the mosque filled with shoes of all shapes and sizes. If you have a chance to go to an Islamic Friday prayer, do it.

We next went to the Getty Museum which was BEAUTIFUL! I can't believe I grew up an hour away and had never been to see the art and architecture there. We finished up the night with the Mann's Theater and the traditional Hollywood shopping. I finally got to a Sephora (there are none in Utah) and got some new eye shadow. I also got a cute sweater at H&M (also not in Utah) for 10 bucks!

Are you tired of reading?? Now we are on to Saturday.

Saturday we woke early and did a little shopping in Santee Alley. Best place in LA to shop. If you need directions, call me! I got a few xmas presents and spent most of the time trying to round up the girls in my group who did not want to leave.

We also went to the Pacific Asian Art Museum in Pasadena and then went to Korea town to have Korean BBQ. Korea town truly was like entering another country. No one spoke English, the signs were in Korean and English (they actually had to pass a law a few years ago to make sure they were in English also) and the shopping mall completely catered to Koreans styles and taste. My favorite was the shoe store that sold shoes that increased your height! We had our best meal at a traditional Korean BBQ. Apparently meat is highly prized in Korea because it is so crowded there is not much roaming room for cows and stuff, so this was a Korean specialty. See the pics. It was nothing like anything I have ever had before. I have been to the Touch of Seoul in Provo and it made me sick. This place was much much better!

That afternoon we dropped our students off at the airport and I got to spend about 21 hours with my family. It was great seeing everyone (except I didn't get to see Elise :( she had to work).

I think I'll end now even though I have more to say. I hate reading long post so I bet no one is actually reading by now. hehe. LA was great and I loved it!

Merry Christmas Tree

Here is our first Christmas tree! I think it turned out pretty great. :)

My husband is the best and helped me with the buying and decorating. We have pretty good taste together.

Merry Christmas Tree!!