Another Trip to the Zoo

I feel like whenever I post about a trip it includes a trip to a zoo. I think we're just going to have to make it a tradition that we visit a zoo on any vacation we take. Mike and I both love going to the zoo. We enjoy seeing the animals and walking around just enjoying each others company. This trip included my parents and little brother as well. We were trying to decided what to do on New Year's Eve and I suggested that we drive to Columbia, SC and visit the zoo. So we packed up the car and the 5 of us headed to Riverbanks Zoo.

We were very excited to be doing something different and new for Mike. We didn't get there until around 2:30pm and were a little worried that it might be a little too cold for the animals to be out. We couldn't have picked a better day or time to go though. It was beautiful and since it was towards the end of the day (the zoo would be closed in about 2 hours) the animals were out and ready to entertain us.

Our first stop were the grizzly bears. We assumed they might be hibernating but they were out and happy to pose for a few pictures.

They had added a new exhibit since I had last been there. Now you can go into the enclosure with the kangaroos. Now these aren't the most exciting animals but it was pretty cool to be close enough to touch them if we were crazy enough to do so which we weren't.

You should all know that I love Disney movies and one of my favorites is Lion King. I've wanted a pet tiger or lion for as long as I can remember. I'm pretty sure it was when I saw Lion King and Aladdin for the first time that I wanted these two pets. I've never been lucky enough though to go to a zoo and see these animals up and walking around (as Mike reminds me they are cats and cats sleep). This must have been my lucky day though cause none of them were sleeping!

One of Josh's and Mike's favorites were the meerkats. We decided to name them all timon (told you I love Lion King)

We also spent some time at a petting zoo. Mike and Josh fed the goats.

It wouldn't be a trip to the zoo without seeing elephants :)

We also like to take pictures with the statues of animals that we find around the park. Someone told me that these are mainly for kids to climb on....to that person I say that I think its sad that you have lost the child within you. If this makes us weird then so be it.....we loved taking these pictures!

So the next two pictures need a short introduction. Before we left I told mike that the last time I was at Riverbanks Zoo was when I graduated from high school in 2008...so about 4 and a half years previously. I was 18 and Joshua was 12.......

And 4 and a half years later....

The lion that Joshua is sitting on is the same one as the picture above

We had a great time at the zoo and it was a fun New Year's Eve activity!

Merry Christmas 2012

So I know its the end of January but I am finally sitting down to write about Christmas. We spent our Christmas in Charleston this year and it was nice. Mike and I had our shopping done well before the holiday so we weren't stressed at all. However, I got to help my mom a lot with shopping especially since my brother didn't give her his list until the 20th of December. I always enjoy being back home for Christmas especially since its fun to have other people around to bake goodies and of course we go to the Festival of Lights. Another plus this year.....no one was sick on Christmas!

One of my favorite activities was the festival of lights. We went on Mike's birthday and it was a great birthday present for him. This year he got to drive which if you know him you know he LOVED that he got to drive all the way to James Island and the three mile park. Mainly he wanted to see the park from the front seat since last time we were stuck in the back. Anyway, the lights were wonderful as usual, it wasn't too cold or crowded but the sand sculpture was a bit of a disappointment (again). I don't know why but every year that Mike goes the sand sculpture is weird and lame.

So you can judge for yourselves (The other side was a big girl by a Christmas tree)

Usually we make tons of junk food and Christmas treats. However, this year we all agreed that the last thing we all needed was enough junk food in the house to feed an army so just made a few cookies and gave the majority of them away. It was fun to bake them though :)

The only explanation for the next pictures is this.....it was late on Christmas Eve and we were all very tired and excited for Christmas the next morning. Mike and Joshua decided to represent Sherman and Joshua wanted to match Mike so he is wearing my pajama pants....I really do love my weird little brother but I think I love the fact that Mike encourages him a lot more.

In this picture they are dancing and singing the "No Underwear for Christmas" song to Santa

We had a wonderful Christmas and we are so grateful for the wonderful gifts that we received. We spent all day playing with our new toys. Thank you to everyone who made it such a great day and a fun trip.

We were also able to spend time remembering the true meaning of Christmas, the Savior. I was lucky enough to be able to sing in my parents ward's Christmas program which was wonderful. I love singing and the music of Christmas is one of my favorite things. Nothing helps me feel close to the Savior like music does. It was also wonderful to help my mom teach the sunbeams. We got to watch a Christmas movie and we read the story of the Savior's birth. We read it again as a family on Christmas Eve.

I hope that we can all remember the reason for Christmas, Christ's birth, all year. Christ came to earth and lived and died for us so that we could return to live with Him again. He is the perfect example of who we should all aspire to become. I'm so grateful that He was born and for His life.

Happy Birthday Mom!

This year we spent Christmas in Charleston with my family. We had about 18 days off to spend together and we were super excited! After the terrible drive last Christmas to Washington (14 hours in freezing fog is not fun) we were happy to have a 3 hour drive in sunny weather and clear roads.

In addition to Christmas we also had two birthdays to celebrate. My mom's birthday was the 20th. For her birthday she just wanted a nice relaxing day at home and we gave it to her. She and I did a little shopping and Mike and I cooked dinner. (My dad and brother were busy with the last day of school)
Then it was time for presents and cupcakes for dessert.

Happy Birthday Mom!! Love you!

Mike and I gave her the complete series of the original Planet of the Apes and no we did not watch

 them with her.

We LOVE Ticker to Ride! It is one of my mom's favorites and these two weeks we spent a lot time playing it :)

Thank you to Virginia who made these delicious cupcakes :)

Sherman College of Chiropractic

Hey so I am finally sitting down and writing about starting my new journey to become a master of Locating, Analyzing, and Correcting Vertebral Subluxations (more about the "S" word later) or in other words a Chiropractor. So here I am starting my third of fourteen quarters at Sherman and I am really enjoying my time here thus far. As a recap, in the previous two quarters I have done very well in my studies. I have made the deans list for both of them and I have made some great friendships in my small class of 27 students. Along with those things, I have also been asked to and started a student chapter of an international chiropractic organization. The name of the organization is the International Federation of Chiropractors and Organizations. The goal of this organization is to propagate the knowledge that Chiropractic is a separate and distinct profession that only seeks locate, analyze, and correct, vertebral subluxations, because vertebral subluxations in and of themselves are a detriment to the health of an individual. So I guess now is a great time to explain what a chiropractor does. We deal with the communication network in the body. We know that through this communication network i.e. the nervous system all bodily functions are controlled and regulated. Through life we encounter forces that cause the bones in the spine to put out of normal position, these forces can be physical, mental, or chemical in nature. Now if you remember from science class inside the spine is the spinal cord and that cord is made up of nearly all of the nerves that bridge the gap between the brain and the rest of the body. Now remember that the nervous system is our communication super highway, now if a bone in the spine was out of place do to a force and one of its holes was closed slightly enough to put pressure on a the spinal cord, or a nerve leaving the spinal cord, enough to disrupt the communication to the body than that would cause what we like to call incoordination or dysfunction. That lengthy sentence just defined what a Vertebral Subluxation is, (and you thought I would never get back to that would you). So the only thing that a chiropractor should do is apply a physical force to that bone to help the body put it back into proper alignment so that communication can flow unhindered to its destination. This is the business I am getting into, I simply want to help peoples bodies function at their highest potential with proper function of the nervous system. I have decided to dedicate my life to this goal. Everyone from birth to death deserves to live subluxation free functioning at their highest potential. Anything else that you have heard that a "chiropractor" does is simply not Chiropractic and not what I will be doing. If anyone has any question for me they can email me at mkstuf@gmail.com. I would love to clarify what I am doing and also help you find a Chiropractor in your area so that you can get your spine checked as well. So that is what I am doing these days. Three more years until I can really start accomplishing my goal. Until next time,

Mike

Goodbye 2012....Hello 2013!

This has been an interesting year to say the least. Sometimes I feel like nothing happened to us at all and other times I feel like too much happened to write about. When I think about it, this time a year ago I was sitting in the Hinckley building at BYU-I listening to teachers tell the elem. ed. majors how difficult student teaching was going to be. I was nervous because I was going to be in a fourth grade class and I had already met my cooperating teacher and she had told me that right away I would have to teach alone cause she was going on a cruise! Then when she got back we were splitting the class! Needless to say....I was nervous but its the good kind of nervous that goes away as soon as I step into the classroom. I spent three months with those kids and I was so sad to leave them.

In 2012 Mike figured out that he wanted to be a chiropractor. I think when he told me I was just so relieved that we had a direction to go that I didn't even take the time to figure out what a chiropractor was or did. But once I listened to him explain it, I was very excited :) Then we had to decide where we wanted to go live and where he wanted to go to school. At one time Mike wanted to go to New York (a small town of 1000 people....umm I was wasn't too supportive about that one) then he narrowed it down to Life Univ. in Atlanta, GA and Sherman College in Spartanburg, SC. Both of these schools put me in a perfectly respectable driving distance of family so I was happy with whatever he chose. Finally he chose Sherman, applied and got accepted! That was the good news...the bad news was that he still had to do an internship and we didn't know where yet!

On April 6th Mike and I graduated from Brigham Young University Idaho! I got my elementary education degree and Mike got his chemistry degree (smarty pants). It was a bitter sweet experience. We were excited to leave and start a new adventure but this had been our home for 4 years and we were leaving some wonderful people and everything that was comfortable and familiar.

2012 also marks our first cross country trip! We traveled to Utah and Vegas to say goodbye to family before we began our journey and we picked up Mike's sister Stacey in Vegas. The three of us then began the three day trip to Charleston, SC. Mike got lucky and did his internship at the College of Charleston so we lived with my parents for three months or so which was such a blessing.

Then we moved up to Spartanburg, SC. It was great to be back in our own place by this time and Mike was excited to start school. While he was in school all day, I was job hunting. Finally I found a job. I was babysitting an adorable 2 (now 3) year old girl named Abby! That was a huge blessing! It was just in the morning but it was so much fun to play with her! We also got to make some new friends through the experience. Its been wonderful to get to know the Hobbs family better and have such nice friends here.

Then I got another job. I would be teaching pre-school at St. Paul Methodist preschool. The director is in our ward at church and she heard I was looking for a job. (Thank you to all the people in the ward who helped me look and gave me people's contact information and told me about openings). I've been teaching a group of 10 boys in the afternoon ranging in age from 7 to 10. Its been a challenge but I feel like it has helped me to grow and become more patient. I'm very grateful for the experience.

At the end of 2012 I told Mike that this year was going to be the year of the Eppersons! (More specifically the year of Mike and Nicole Epperson) I am going to start teaching the 4 year old class at work in the morning and the older kids in the afternoon and Mike is loving school. He is the president of the IFCO and is making all kinds of connections. He had also made the deans list twice so far!

This is going to be our year. I will not say more cause I don't want to jinx it and cause I don't really fully know what it means either :)

I'm excited for 2013 and all of the blessings and experiences this year is going to bring. I'm excited and nervous! Love you all! Thank you for making 2012 such a great year for us!

I hope that 2013 is a wonderful year for everyone!