title

La Famiglia Itri

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Back to High School

I have to say, my life just keeps going backwards. First I revert to before I was married, and now I've reverted all the way back to High School!

My little sister, Lauren, is in Africa with my dad. She will be missing a few weeks of school. She went to school on Thursday, then she and my dad left for Kenya on Friday morning. She happens to have Chemistry with my old teacher, that I loved. She also had homework that needed to be turned in. So, I decided to do my little sister a favor. On Friday morning I got dressed out of Lauren's closet. I wore her shirt, her jeans, and her shoes. Then I parted my hair on the side she parts it on (we normally part it on different sides). Then I got her homework and her backpack. I went to work for a little while, then left in time to get to Lauren's school before chemistry started at 10:25. I met up with her friend Mayson in the hallway, and walked with her between classes. Lauren had drawn me a picture of where she sits in Chemistry, so I just went in, sat down, and pulled out Lauren's homework.

Class started, and it was just the same as it was 7 years ago. Different kids made announcements, then Mr. Shelton asked if anyone had a funny joke to share "I recall that 'laffy taffy' jokes are not acceptable". When he announced, however, that he was out of candy, no one volunteered. He then answered some questions about the homework. They had just learned to balance equations. Then it was time for the quiz. I folded Lauren's homework so I couldn't cheat (the class all was doing the same thing), and wrote "THIS QUIZ WAS NOT ACTUALLY TAKEN BY LAUREN FABER" at the top. Then I proceeded to balance the 4-5 equations. I turned in the quiz with the homework.

Then the lecture started. I just sat there for a minute, not sure what I should do. Then I decided that I better take notes. So I got out Lauren's notebook and a pencil. I noticed a boy in the front row looking back at me, and mouthing to the girl I was sitting next to "Is that really Lauren?" I gave him a funny look. A minute later he whispered "Lauren!" to which I looked up at him. He asked if I had cut my hair or something. I raised my eyebrows and shook my head. Then I went back to my notes.

The girl I sat next to was really nice. Her name was Aubrey. We chatted a little, and I told her where Lauren really was. I was just enjoying my time there, and wishing I could take Chemistry from Shelton again. We were talking about combustion reactions, and how they always produce carbon dioxide and water. Then Shelton called on me. "Faber. If combustion reactions are always occurring within our bodies, why do we need to drink water?" From the front row I heard a quiet "it really IS Lauren!!!!" from a bewildered classmate (that was my favorite part). So I answered "Because we need more?" And Shelton continued with the lecture "Because we need water for a LOT of things." Awesome, I got it right.

I did notice during the class that a lot of people were looking at me funny. Another kid from the back row also called out "Lauren" to see if I would look. Which I did, and I waved back at him. It was great.

After the lecture, everyone was doing their homework out of the textbook. Shelton was passing out some paper to go with their next lab. I raised my hand when he was by my row and asked if I could go to the bathroom. Shelton asked what happened to me, and I told him I got plastic surgery. Then I told him I really just wanted to say hi and turn in Lauren's homework for her. He asked if I remembered anything, and I said I was excited that I did. He then said "well, this is really easy stuff." Ah yes, the most cynical and demeaning teacher I ever had. Somehow he was also the most encouraging one. Somehow the subliminal message behind his coarse words really shines through. I then told him that he should probably not actually give Lauren points for the quiz and he said "Why not? She was here, I saw her take the quiz." Again, one of my favorite teachers. At that point I decided the game was over and I needed to go back to work. Pretty much everyone was staring and talking as I got up to leave. Everyone was wondering who the heck I was. I said goodbye, and "I'm off to Africa!" and left behind a confused group of kids.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Single Again

That's right. I'm single again. Shocking, I know, it was very sudden. I even went back to my old single's ward today. Todd and I just weren't meant to sit next to each other I guess. I must admit, I was a little heartbroken when he left me. Just got right up and walked away, didn't even look back.

And now I'm home alone. Who knows what Todd is doing. Counting money I guess. He's off learning new and exciting things, probably forgotten all about me.

Luckily, I won't be single forever. Todd will come home later tonight, and we'll kiss and make up. I guess this is how it will be for at least the next 6 months, maybe even a year. He was called to be the second counselor in the bishopric of my old singles ward. We got the call on Wednesday. Todd had set up an appointment with the Stake Executive Secretary, so we went in to talk to our Stake Presidency. Unfortunately, as you may have guessed, our Stake doesn't have Singles Wards, so we were at the wrong place. They were kind enough to research where to go to find President Norby, the one we actually had an appointment with. So we sped down to our new destination, confused.

Afterwards I was really, really excited. All week just flying on cloud 9, what a fun calling! I was excited too because I always thought I got married a little too young, and this would be a chance to mingle with singles again, and NOT have to worry about the whole men thing. However, today I realized that you really do get a little awkward after being married a little while. I wasn't sure what to say or how to talk or where to go................ Todd get's training on what he is supposed to do, but what do I do?

Well, hopefully it will all work itself out in the end. I suspect it won't be too long before we just can't imagine ourselves anywhere else.

Sunday, October 04, 2009

Cruising

Well, the major highlight of our summer was a cruise to the Caribbean with my family. It was so much fun. We enjoyed warm weather, free and infinite food, beautiful water/beaches, and just fun hanging with the family. We loved every minute of it. Here are some fun pictures:









And a few more:




Tuesday, September 15, 2009

PASSED

Today is a special day. It is the day that I found out I am a licensed Registered Nurse. I did it!! It took a lot longer than I was hoping because of several different events this summer (including a 3 1/2 week vacation), but it's done. Hooray!

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Baker, NV

After Maria left on Saturday, I got to go down to Garrison, UT, and Baker, NV with my daddy. I was lucky, he paid me to drive him down there so he could work on the way. I was suprised by the stories he told me. He had lived down there when he was younger and told me all sorts of stories about driving fast down the very straight, long, dirt road, and how you always knew when someone was coming because of the dust it kicked up. He also told me about herding cattle, and showed me where people lived. He obviously had a great time when he lived down there. I also learned that my Grandpa used to drive his own airplane and that is how he brought his kids to visit their relatives when they lived in California. Apparently, my Grandma didn't mind to much but got a little nervous with her three little boys when Grandpa flew over the mountains. I think I would be nervous too.

We went to the cool cave that's is there. I don't remember if it was in UT or NV. The hotel we stayed at is called the "Border Hotel" and literally sits on the state boundary line. The gas station portion and convenience storee is in UT, so they can charge UT tax which is lower, but if you just walk under a big archway in the convenience store you are in NV and they have a little casino because it is legal to gamble. Pretty interesting.



The reason we were there was to celebrate my Dad's Aunt Daisy's 70th birthday. It was pretty awesome. I met some distant relatives for the first time, and was reintroduced to a few I have only seen on rare occasions. I wish I got some pictures of the party but I was feeling really sicka and went back to the Hotel early while my dad stayed and had a blast.

It was really great to spend a little time with my dad. He is always so busy I hardly ever get to do stuff wth him. I loved to hear all his stories, and he was so excited to be back there with so many good memories. Hopefully we will go down there again sometime soon. I want to show Todd around. He couldn't come with us because he had to teach Sunday School the next day.

If you look closely, you can see the sign that says "Welcome to Nevada/Utah" (depending on which way you drive.) Sorry I didn't get a better picture.


At the gas station they have one of those old-fashioned pumps. My daddy taught me that it worked by gravity. You would pump it up to the top of the tank, let the gas flow into your car, then you could measure how much you used by the marks on the tank. Pretty cool.


Some beautiful clouds we saw over the mountains as we drove home:

Sunday, August 30, 2009

A friend comes to Visit

this post is, again, backtracking about our summer. In May my friend Maria came out to visit us. I met her when I lived in Philadelphia, and she became my best Philly friend. She belonged to the 7th day adventist church, and I loved to hang out with her mom and brother as well.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take a lot of pictures while she was out here, but we did do some fun things.

The first day she was here, we thought we would treat her to some Mexican food, as the Mexican food on the east coast isn't quite so good. I know Cafe Rio isn't really amazingly authentic, but it sure gets a lot of raves so that's where we went:



Later, we went over to where Christy's husband Jason works. He works for a way rich guy that lives up Hobble Creek Canyon. We had the privelige of trying out the human sling shot. Maria passed on the whole harness thing, but she had a lot of fun riding around with Christy on the oversized go-cart:

Todd's brother Dan and his wife Kelsey came with us too. Kelsey was the brave first one to go:


I was way excited to go. I love this kind of thing!





by the time Todd went it was pretty dark, so we couldn't get any really good shots.

Here is Christy and Maria drivin' crazy:



Later in the week, we had the opportunity to take Maria to Temple Sqaure. We brought along my friend Ashely, who I also met in Philadelphia but is actually from West Jordan. She is now on a mission. We watched the Joseph Smith movie, had a private tour of the Conference Center, and went to the Christus statue and the family presentation. It was nice.







On the way hom we stopped by and went out to eat, then played some card games with Grandma and Grandpa Faber. It was fun, and I was glad Maria could meet some more of my family. Unfortunatly, I didn't take any pictures.

On Friday night, the night before Maria went home, we held a barbeque at my parents' house. Unfortunately, Maria wasn't feeling well so she couldn't participate in much of the fun. But I was glad she was able to mingle with my friends and family.

The Itri table:

Sunday, August 09, 2009

Here ya go

So we have now had the internet for a few hours. My dad has already given us a hard time about the fact that we hadn't blogged yet even though we now have the internet. So here ya go. Before we went on our great and everlasting vacation this summer, Todd and I did some fun things. We went bowing with Todd's family, which was a blast. It was really fun because a lot of people bowled really well.






Our Niece Crystal


If any of you have been bowling with me, you know this is a normal sight.

We also got to babysit for Reese! We had so much fun watching her. We miss her now that she lives all the way in Logan! (We miss Anna and Will too, they just aren't as cute)







she really liked my sock

Monday, August 03, 2009

Moooving!

So, we apologize to psych everyone out by saying we were going to post soon, then not actually doing it. We were hoping to get some stuff posted before our cruise at the very end of May, but you all know how things go right before vacation. Anyway, we disconnected our internet right before we left, and haven't had it since. However, we are moving this Saturday, and will begin to be better at updating our page since we'll have the internet. So sit tight just a little longer!

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Coming Soon!

Hey everyone! sorry for our lack of being interesting! However, I have some picture on my camera I will post, and I have a friend, Maria, coming in from Philadelphia this week! We will take lots of pictures and let everyone know how awesome the week is!

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Megans 22nd Birthday!

Megan had a wonderful 22nd birthday this past Tuesday! It started off with me making her my famous french toast breakfast, that is seen on in your kitchen. And the best part about it, is that she had no idea that I was going to make her breakfast. And at breakfast I decided to let her open up her present. I know that's not the normal thing to do but I had a good reason for it. For the longest time we had no camera, and I was sick and tired of not being able to take pictures at all the fun and important events that we go to. Oh and plus I figured this also would motivate her and me to write on our blog more often. So I was able to find an amazing deal on this nice HD camera that was very affordable! So I had her open it in the morning so we could take pictures of the day. Unfortunately the quality of the pictures that you see are not nearly as nice as they really are. Oh well, one day everything will be in HD.
So after breakfast both Megan and I had to go to school, and I had to take a Chemistry test, not very fun. But after school was over for both of us, I picked up Megan and we headed up to Salt Lake to have lunch and relax and have some fun. Well she had no idea where we were going. I guess that's kind of a thing we have on each others birthdays, neither of us will tell the birthday person what we have in plan for the day, so the whole day was a surprise for her. Well I took her to lunch at a place called Settebello. Its a pizza place, and it now has become my favorite pizza place in Utah! It is delicious, if you want a true understanding of how authentic Italian pizza is done, this is the place to go! Both Megan and I absolutely loved it and we highly recommend it. Just looking at the pictures makes me hungry.









Then after we were done eating, we were so close to temple square we decided to just take a little walk and enjoy the beautiful weather. It seems like ever sense I have known Megan the weather has been amazing on her birthday. She lucks out every year. It was very nice just spending some time looking at the sights and just relaxing, we both needed that.







After that we decided to go home and relax a little bit more before dinner. Now I kept telling her that we were going to go out to dinner and that it was going to be that much better than lunch. But what she didn't know is that I was planning on going to Chic-a-fila and getting one of their party platters. Megan loves Chic-a-fila and a long time ago she told me that she wanted one of their platters for her birthday dinner. So I took a mental note and thought this would be the perfect time to do it. So I told her that I had to pick up one more thing for her before we went out to dinner. So I ran over to the mall picked it up and she was shocked when I got home with a big thing of chicken nuggets! She loved it.


Then after dinner she had a piece of cake, and I also got her some cold stone ice cream, that she loves. And then we just played video games the rest of the night. It was a great day all around and I think this was her second best birthday ever! Number one was when I went back to Philly and surprised her for her birthday, nothing will ever top that one.



Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Let the Spirit Guide

I just wanted to post a short note about a small experience I had last Friday. I have school this semester on Tuesdays, and for the first little while Fridays as well. I knew that I had school for 5 Fridays in a row, not including the day Todd's brother, Dan got married to Kelsey. (Actually, I did have school that day but I didn't go because of the wedding.) For all but one of those Friday's, I had a clinical rotation at the Utah State Hospital. For the other Friday, I had a lab about how to take a good assessment. Anyway, last Friday I got up in the morning and got ready for my USH clinical. I got on the computer to double check the time, 7:00 a.m., and the location of where I was to go. I thought about checking the schedule to make sure that was where I was supposed to be, but felt like I didn't need to. (You might think arrogant, but later we will see that it just may have been a message from the Spirit).

I got to the Hospital, and took my umbrella up the sidewalk to the administration building. There was one other girl from my school there. We waited around for a while, but no one else showed up. We paged the teacher, but he didn't respond to our page. We went outside in the rainy morning, and shared the umbrella between buildings while we looked for our classmates. Finally, a little after 7:30, we got a hold of another member of our class who was not scheduled to be at the USH with us. She looked at the schedule, and that day was actually the day I had scheduled to be at the assessment lab, while no one was really at the USH. At first I was frustrated because my lab didn't start until 9:00, and I had gotten up early. But then I found out that my classmate that I was with had been dropped off by her husband, and all she brought with her was a pencil and a few dollars for lunch. Her husband wasn't going to be able to pick her up until we were "supposed" to be done at 4:00, so I had the privelige of giving her a ride home.

Sometimes even silly little mistakes allow us to fufill the Lord's purposes and help out another Child of God.