Our Christmas Vaca

Does anyone else feel like Christmas came and went too quickly this year? I can't believe it's over already!

We had a completely wonderful, relaxing break this year for Christmas. Early last year, the Wall family decided that their next Christmas would be spent outside of Utah. Instead of the traditional gifts, we all decided to take a getaway. Originally we all wanted to go to Ohio to ride the tallest/fastest roller coaster in the country, but the bright eyes of this little girl convinced us to pursue a different location:

She told us all about how she was the only twelve year old who had never been to one of the Disney theme parks before. She has been all over Mexico and cool places like that, but they all amounted to nothing without a visit to Disney World. And away we went.

We had such a blast partying with the fam in Orlando! Everything was so much fun and the company was even better. I suspect that the trip helped prep Tyler for another semester of school. It was a wonderful Christmas!

This was taken on our way from the airport to the condo. We had a few hours to burn before the rest of the family got there, so we were able to go for a walk and explore the area before all the excitement began. We also hired a chauffeur to pick us up from the airport and this is what he showed up in. What an exciting start to our vacation!

This ride won my award for the best roller coaster of the trip. Each seat had an MP3 player type of gadget where you got to pick what music you wanted to listen to throughout the ride. The drop right at the beginning of the ride was FANTASTIC!

Here we are inside Hard Rock Cafe, which was delicious and overpriced. We also accidentally stole an I heart MJ pin that belonged to our hostess. Once we figured out whose it was, we snuck it back onto her desk and ran for the doors. What a silly night!

This was taken during the first day at Universal Studios. In case you can't tell by my gigantic perma-grin, we were a little excited to be there.

How cool is this building? I just had to have a picture of it! Once inside, we rode Mission Space, which makes you feel like you are taking off in a space shuttle. I was most impressed with the experience and have never been so excited to push two buttons before (each rider is instructed to push their own buttons throughout the ride). It seems silly in hindsight, but we were all feeling pretty intense as we soared off into space that day.

This car represents the one cool part of the Test Track ride in Epcot. I was not a fan of this ride, but the cars we got to see along the way were neato.

Our pose in this picture was inspired by the giant belly above our heads, which belongs to a blow fish. Unfortunately Mom is opposed to needless scenery in pictures, so instead it just looks like we decided to puff our cheeks out for the heck of it.
These next few pictures were taken at Epcot in Disney World. For those of you who haven't been before, they have individual areas dedicated to several different countries so you feel like you are touring the globe. One of the best parts was the soccer store in the United Kingdom. We were able to get Tyler a Manchester United shirt. Between his shirt, and my fascination with all the cool UK accents, we were both in heaven.

We couldn't go to Epcot without visiting Japan. They had all sorts of really cool Japanese items inside for purchase. One of my favorites were the socks and sneakers that separate your big toe from the rest of your other toes. Tyler said it stems from a religious belief. They look exactly how you're imagining it: like a mix between mittens and toe socks, only they also came in sneakers. I almost wish we would've bought some just for the sake of owning them.

Rockin the 3D "safety visors" at the Simpson's ride in Universal Studios
This is just a really cool wall we found at Epcot Center at Disney World that I insisted on having a picture of. I want one of these at my house.
One of the things we were determined to do in Orlando was to visit the temple there. It was gorgeous and the celestial room completely blew me away! While inside, I met a temple worker who was my age. She had moved to the area so her husband could fulfill an internship. I was so impressed that at such a young age, she was serving in the temple. What an awesome opportunity for her and what an excellent example of faithful service!

These next few pictures were taken at the Toy Story Mania ride inside Hollywood Studios at Disney World. They must've had the most creative interior designer ever. The place looked amazing! Everything from the walls to the ceiling were covered in giant toys that made you feel like you were the same size as all the toys. I've never been so excited to wait in line before! The actual ride was fun as well. We got to shoot a cannon at toys just like a carnival ride and Tyler schooled me every time. Here are some pictures of the completely adorable building:

The entire street is covered in lights like this that "dance" to Christmas music. One of the highlights of this trip occurred on this very street. Tyler agreed to dance with me down the street between all these bright buildings while fake snow fell from above. After one particular dance, we heard a group of people clapping for us. Apparently they had gathered just behind us and stood there watching us get our jigs on. It was just like out of a movie and I will never forget it!
Here is a glimpse of the new Harry Potter land they are creating at Universal Studios. It is not opening until May, but we were able to get some really cool views of the work they've done so far and it looks incredible! Once it's done, it's going to have all of the cool little shops in it from the book. We were a little sad that we missed it by such a short amount of time, but were happy to see some of the progress they were making on it.

Here we are on the cutest merry-go-round I have ever seen. It was inside Grinchville in Universal Studios.
The prince and his noble steed.

This is what the top of the merry-go-round looked like. So cute!

Ready-Set-Graduate!

I know, I know, I just posted about school, right? Well I now have 30 minutes to kill before I turn in my VERY last final and it occurred to me that this is the only time I'll ever get to experience this feeling. From where I'm standing, it would be silly not to write about it while I have the chance.
My LAST FINAL EVER!! Can you even believe it?! It has been a lot of work, tears, and sleepless nights, but I'm finally here. Was it worth it? Maybe not. But either way, it's time to open a new chapter in my book of life.

Here is a list of things I'm excited to pursue in my post-student life:
1. Reading for enjoyment- I've discovered that I'm a total nerd. I love reading about words, yes words, and psychology, and spiritual topics, and of course, the classic escapism books. Regardless of the subject material, it'll be nice to read the occasional educational book not because I have to, but because I want to.
Speaking of which, has anyone ever read Word's Worth or Write Tight? They are great books for word nerds like myself.
2. Gym visits- Before getting married, Tyler and I were both in excellent shape. Pretty soon school caught up with us and now we rarely get to go. I plan on enrolling in either a zumba class or a belly dancing class. Seriously. People are often surprised by this, but belly dancing is one of the best ab workouts in existence. You should all try it and see for yourselves.
3. Cooking- I love cooking and trying new recipes, but rarely have time to do it. This is one thing I absolutely will not settle on; cooking will be pursued regularly at the Grange house from here on out.
5. Scrap booking- I finally get to do more digital scrap booking and it is going to be fantastic! Now if only I had really great adventures to scrapbook about...
6. Holding cute babies- Okay so this is not school related, but I'm about to become an auntie (courtesy of Stacie and Kelly) and I can hardly wait. She is going to be an absolute doll!
7. Brushing up on my dirt bike skills- This list is sounding way too girly; I just had to throw something a little less frilly into the mix. In all honesty though, my Kawi has been rather neglected over the years and it's high time I rediscover my need for speed.
8. Last but not least, Driving by students walking through ice next semester and laughing- A little mean I know, but that's one of the things I dreaded each spring semester and I can't think of a better way to appreciate the moment. To all of you students out there, it's all in good humor :)

And with that, I'm going to brave the icy weather and close this chapter of my life. So long readers!

2.5 Weeks

I created this lovely illustration one day when I should have been working, but decided to daydream about graduation instead. Is it a masterpiece or what?

This post is relatively pointless now that I think about it. Pretty much the only reason I created it was to say how incredibly stoked I am to finally graduate. Provided I pass all my classes this semester (knock on wood), I will be a free woman!! Wow!

It's kind of crazy to reflect back on the last four years of my life. Being married and owning a home while working full time, going to school full time, and serving in young womens, has been completely insane. My house is never as clean as I want it to be (we run ourselves dry of clean dishes during finals), I rarely get around to exercising, and sleep has continuously been put on the back burner.

As hard as it's been though, I'm glad I did it. I'm not sure why, but for whatever reason, I know that college was something I needed to do in my life. There's just no other explanation as to how we made it through as a poor newlywed couple in our apartment, putting both of us through school without any sort of tuition reimbursements, etc... It was an absolute miracle that we were able to make it work. It became clear early on in our marriage that our paths were being lead by a higher power and that we just needed to hold on for the ride.

At long last, that section of our ride is finally coming to an end and I'm ecstatic. Tyler still has three more classes ahead of him, but even just having one of us free from school will be excellent.

This post is turning out to be a lot longer than I anticipated, but I can't help it. I'm just absolutely thrilled!! I love learning and I'm so thankful that I decided to major in Public Relations and Advertising. It has been so interesting to learn and to write about the minds of the consumer and to learn about a world that so few people know about in spite of the fact that it drives society on a daily basis.

2.5 weeks 'til takeoff. Bring it on!

2 New Posts

It has recently been pointed out to me that I haven't posted for a while. Looking back, it has been a rather long time. Let it be known however that I misplaced my camera cord. Now that I've found it, here are two new fresh posts.
We hope you all are doing well and as always, love hearing from you!
-Tyler and Shaela

Tyler's FIRST candy bar!

This post makes me laugh because I totally sound like a doting parent posting pictures of my child's firsts. Really though, this is seriously his first candy bar! Can you blame me?!
Here's the story behind that happy face:
Tyler has long been a semi-sweet chocolate chip snacker. He loves chocolate, but he can't have milk and has always been told that semi-sweet is the only chocolate he can have. This misconception was put to rest one day at Wal-Mart when I took my dark chocolate dove bar and compared the ingredients to his beloved (and somewhat putrid) semi-sweet chocolate chips (which we've been debating were the same thing for a few years now). The final verdict? A perfect match! I was squealing and jumping like a little girl while Tyler looked at me like I'd lost a few screws.
I'm a firm believer that the closest thing you can get to milk chocolate, is Dove dark chocolate. Seriously, Dove knows their stuff.
After making this discovery, I invited my sisters over to enjoy, what else? Tyler's first s'more. Here is a play-by-play:

The man of the night prepping his mallow.


First bite!

Is it just me, or is this face screaming out, "I'm not sure about this"?


Sorry, these pictures appear to be in the wrong order, but here he is going in for the kill.

The final verdict? Me again squealing and snapping pictures and Tyler, happy to have eaten his first s'more, wondering what all the fuss was about.

A trip to the desert and a walk through history

We took a fun trip out to Little Sahara/Cherry Creek/Jericho, etc... with some family and friends. Honestly, people call it so many different names that I never know how to properly cite the location, so I usually stick with 'the desert'. Easy enough?
Anyway, it was loads of fun! Tyler is getting so good at riding! He still can't beat me... my one claim to fame. But he is getting dangerously close. I've been considering taking some secret practice runs in order to prevent him from getting any closer.
Sadly, my bike was out of commission. Just as I was ready to burst into tears, a friend offered to let me borrow his for the weekend and I was in heaven. Thank you forever Taylor!!
Now that we've got that out of the way, let me show you what we found:

This is a really cool old house that sits alongside one of the trails. It's old and clearly falling apart so naturally our first thought was to climb on in.
This location is commonly visited because it contains Porter Rockwell's cabin. Porter Rockwell just happens to be a crazy cool small pioneer man who scared anyone and everyone who crossed his path, which is probably why he was selected to be Joseph Smith's body guard. Pretty cool, eh? Anyway, people usually stop and take pictures by this house because they think it was Porter's. Not so my friend. This is simply a cool old rickety house. This next picture on the other hand, depicts his REAL house, commonly depicted as a shed (and rightfully so if you ask me).

Here is a pic. of Porter Rockwell's real house. And an added bonus, a fabulous shot of helmet hair. I'm not ashamed.

An even better shot of helmet hair :) Seriously, this house is so tiny! Even still, we can't help but cheese it up a little for the camera.

Here we are with the rest of the clan in the cabin. What an incredibly fun trip it turned out to be!!

Politically Speaking

In today's world, speaking candidly about political issues is often viewed as cliche'. Thankfully this is my personal blog, so I can post whatever my heart desires and I think this music video is spot-on! Plus, I'm seriously considering adopting some of his dance moves--- they are fabulous! For anyone who is interested, check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO2eh6f5Go0&feature=player_embedded