He & She Chinn

2011-07-31T15:34:00.000-07:00

I've pretty much been lame at updating this, I can't keep up two blogs. So basically all I do is now at my other blog www.artatchinn.blogspot.com so go there for everything from now on....basically.

It was my birthday....

2011-04-20T13:44:00.001-07:00

I know my birthday was a week ago...BUT it was so great I have to share. My dashing husband kept me in the dark about what would go down on my 25th birthday. I asked him SO many times..."what are we doing what are we doing?" But he played it off non-chalantly as if he were too busy and that I shouldn't expect much cause he had lots to do with school, work, etc. So I was ready for a chill day.

1st trick- David told me he had to work the morning of my birthday and he couldn'

t get it off. So I woke up expecting

to make myself a breakfast worthy of a 25 year old. However when I walked into the kitchen I saw a lovely plate of breakfast waiting for me on the table and my husband dressed handsomely sitting on our couch. That morning he had gotten dressed and kissed me goodbye while I was in bed so I thought he had left! Smooth.

2nd trick- When I asked for a napkin while eating my yummy breakfast, I found a CLUE inside! It started me on a fabulous scavenger hunt.

3rd trick-Well the 3rd trick was really all the clues he had hidden around town...and me trying to figure them out. One was in the library, on one my brother's door, but they weren't all that clear. One of them read "Ask the sister of your uncle, but not your aunt." I was a little confused for a few minutes there...honestly what would you think if you read that? Well if you don't know what that means I'll help you...call mom. He even got my mother in on it. Awesome.

4th trick- I thought the scavenger hunt was just for fun, but at the end of the rainbow of clues was a pot of gold that read..."at 4:30

pm go to massage envy for a 1 hour massage." Wahooo! I have only had one other professional massage in my life and it was heaven. So at 4:30 I got pampered and figured that was it.

5th trick- I had asked david to have people over for cake or something, but he said we'd do it another day cause finals were coming up, it was the end of school etc etc. I accepted that. However at 7pm my little sis and her hubby showed up. I thought they just felt like stoppin by to say happy birthday. But then Ryan says...are we late? Late? late for what? It didn't dawn on me until other people walked in our door that david had pulled off a surprise get together with my friends and family.

He seriously lied, I mean tricked, me all day long. It was an awesome birthday. Thank you dear husband for showin'em how it's done.

new website

2011-04-18T12:49:00.000-07:00

I have wanted to start a website for my artwork for a long time. The whole idea was exciting but intimidating. I wasn't really sure how to start or what to do. My twin brother (and my mother too) got me started!! The best part is Todd has done all the stuff I didn't want to. My site is still under construction. I haven't been able to upload pictures to it from my computer and I can't figure it out!! Hopefully I'll fix it soon so my website will be officially in the works. Check it out =)

www.rachelchinnart.com

lists

2011-04-07T15:48:00.000-07:00

What have I done with myself lately? Honestly I don't know. I don't know how today is Thursday. Or how tomorrow is Friday. I cannot stop the fact that I will be 25 next week (along with my twin Todd, sometimes I forget =) I have so many things on my to do list. It's actually more like my "want to do" list. It sometimes tends to take over my need to do list. There are lots of lists in my life. They help me make things happen!

I made a list last year for things I wanted to do while 24. I actually completed most of them except "take a cake decorating class." Still need that one. Big on my list was making art. Lately I haven't gotten to much art making. That is on my need and want to do list. But somehow when I come home after 3 classes with hormonal 14 year olds, I am pooped and tell myself..."self, later today after you chillax, you should do art." Then later comes and I instead think...what's for dinner? where's david? etc etc.

My life is a simple one to be honest because really those are my questions at night. I don't have kids, yet. That means that unlike my mother friends, I do not have to think..."where are the wipes? why won't they stop crying? and what the heck made their diaper smell like that?" So my days feel kind of selfish sometimes to be honest. I do what I want when I want pretty much. Surrounding me are young mothers walking their children, playing at the playground, watching their kids eat dirt. Cute. I remember writing in my journal in high school about my future plans and where I thought I'd be at 25. On the list was...go to byu. Check. I think following that was...have 2 kids. Well I'm fresh out of those! I am almost 25 and although I am not a mom, I am a wife. Check. That is high on my list. I love him. One day we'll be parents. Check.

We have a new couch and its name is Awesome!

2011-03-10T11:52:00.000-08:00

So recently I just completely changed our living room. It's one of my new favorite hobbies to constantly change our house, I'm sure it's driving David nuts. I sold our old entertainment center, bookshelf, and our couches. We used that money to buy some new stuff and I am quite pleased. After much debate and online shopping, we decided to get this slammin' couch from IKEA (one of my favorite places on earth). It is a sofa bed AND the chaise has extra storage underneath that is full of blankets right now. It's SOO nice to be able to lay down on the couch! Our others were both basically love seats and I got tired of them really fast. Cheers to our new comfy couch! She is awesome. (here ya go mom!)

2011-02-08T12:59:00.000-08:00

After a long weekend of sewing while sitting on a rock hard ottoman, david's quilt is finished and my butt is sore. The quilt turned out pretty dang huge, but that makes it all the more perfect to snuggle with. It took up my entire living room floor and somehow I mangaged to quilt it all together without a quilting square which means that it is not perfect and DEFINITELY homemade looking, but I'm glad that project is done! check off my list!

and other good news...new stuff on the art blog

got skills?

2011-01-29T10:40:00.000-08:00

Jessi had given me this orange shirt that I wasn't sure what to do with. I wish I would have taken a before picture, but I got too excited to start working that I skipped that step as I often do. Anyway I cut these balloon sleeve type things off and cut off a few inches from the bottom, re-hemmed it and used the extra fabric to sew on a bunch of little flowers! I'm pretty siked with the transformation. Thanks jessi for the donation =) It's not perfect looking, but I like the whole handmadeness of it. Now I feel a little more empowered to make this stuff for our future little ones...hopefully girls so I can make lots of cute stuff!!!

Teacher time

2011-01-22T11:05:00.000-08:00

I forgot to mention.... I have a real job! not subbing anymore. It was a tough situation cause I had already kind of committed to this sub thing, but I got a job offer at a junior high and I have been teaching there for one week now. I had to take it because of course the permanent sub thing was going to end and then I'd be out of a job again. I was blessed though to be offered this one. It's actually really perfect. I only teach half day so I'm done around 11:30, my classroom is huge and we have a HUGE budget, and I have an office! Also I had always heard horror stories about teaching junior high, but I love it. These kids are great so far. It's nice to finally have my own classroom. =) Ah how nice to have a job. Phew!

welcome 2011

2011-01-09T13:27:00.000-08:00

It's 2011 already?! ! So far in 2011 I have...well? I have been looking for a job! It's weird to be jobless and have so much free time with no homework to worry about. I've tried to keep myself busy. I am now the proud owner of a "project runway" sewing machine (the whole project runway thing makes me feel cooler) and I did some sewing I've been dying to do! We now have pillows on our bed and I fixed our curtains, fixed a whole in my pants, and I have other big plans for my new slick machine. Thanks to mom and dad for the graduation money to help fund my projects =)

oh it's so beautiful! it works like a dream! I never knew I would get so excited over a sewing machine...what have I become.

It hasn't all been "summer" free time, I am going to be a permanent sub for a girl I know who is having a baby soon. It's teaching art at an elementary school and I might get her job next year, schwing. All about networking. And finally we went to go see my paintings at the Springville Museum...we went twice and it was closed. Oops. My fault.

And yay I have started to train for the marathon this summer. ahhhh I'm so excited.

Playing house

2010-12-17T08:47:00.001-08:00

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Our pretty star got cut out of this image, oops. Although our tree may be small, it makes our house feel like Christmas! Since school is out, and I am SO glad it is (cause I don't have to go back next semester), I have been playing with the house and doing some painting (update on the art blog).
This is where I've been doing my work. Welcome to my tiny studio! If you can't tell, this is a kid's table. Ha! I found it by the dumpster and grabbed it thinking I might use it...It doesn't really fit with our house or me, but because our green ottoman is small too...it might just work! After sitting here for a while my back starts to hurt, but it has some kid's name written in crayon on the top, so I don't mind messing it up!

This is my favorite corner of our house, yes I have a favorite corner. One day I arranged our books by color and I love to look at them! I know I'm a grown up, but I love playing house!

Give Thanks

2010-11-28T21:38:00.000-08:00

So we had a gggrrreat thanksgiving break, wish it wasn't over. On thanksgiving day, david was getting everything set up for the turkey and asked where the 4 gallon jug of peanut oil was that we had bought on tuesday. I didn't take it out of the car cause it was HEAVY. Unfortunately, that meant our oil turned into a solid block of ice, as close as oil can get to ice. I didn't think about it getting down to below zero at night. Oops. Our oil took a nice hot bath for a while until it was ready to use....It was about 20 degrees outside, but that didn't stop todd and david. They were so worried about dangerous flames that they lowered the turkey down on a broomstick. There were no fireworks, would have been exciting though.
We ate with some friends and todd and kristi. It was awesome! Everyone contributed and I am thankful for all of them!
The boys and their broomsticks.So I am dumb sometimes. I've been feeling a little sick in the mornings. On Friday when I went to work, I was feeling really tired and wierd. A little numb actually and dizzy. I actually fell asleep for an unknown amount on time....at work. Well this morning I did the same thing. After taking the same medicine I took on thursday...it suddenly dawned on me my symptoms might be being caused by the medicine. I finally noticed the big moon on the label and the little words that said "night-time." I am such a dork for taking drowsy medicine in the middle of the day. I kept falling asleep at church and had to give the lesson in relief society. By then, I was feeling it. I crashed at home after laughing at my stupidity.

Cause to celebrate

2010-11-14T15:15:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday was david's birthday!!! For several years, Mark has been making David a doughnut cake. Apparently it's a tradition they adopted from the cartoon Johnny Bravo. This was my first time trying to make this. It's usually made in a circle cake pan, but we don't have those so I tried it in a pie pan. It worked for the most part. However the last layer completely crumbled when I tried to take it out. So I mixed it with icing and sculpted a doughnut out of it. It tasted good...mostly. Well David liked it so I guess that's the most important thing. Happy birthday to David!!!! He is the best man on earth.

Rewards

2010-10-02T15:08:00.000-07:00

I feel bad about my last post, I sound pretty cynical. I was just having a bad day. So I think I should share a rewarding teacher moment to make up for it.

My students did these blind contour self portraits and then chose a color scheme to water color them. They turned out pretty awesome so I set up an exhibition in the school hall. I had to choose 4 from each class to display because of limited space. One little boy's painting I thought was awesome so I took it to display of course. I handed back everyone's paintings and this little boy raised his hand with a concerned look on his face. I came over to him, he asked where is painting was. I told him I thought it was so beautiful, sincerely, that I wanted to display it in the hall for everyone to see. He agreed that was ok. As I walked away I saw a HUGE smile light up his face. I found out later that day this boy has had a hard time in school. He has some learning disabilities and hasn't really been recognized in school. My heart warmed up knowing that a simple thing like choosing his picture could make him so happy. This is his painting, he's in fifth grade.

AHHHHHHH

2010-09-22T17:56:00.001-07:00

So sometimes I get the urge to do something drastic to relieve me of this stress. I've been in control of the classroom for a few weeks now and every day is different. Some days I come home ready to conquer the world and others I feel like the world is caving in. It's pretty much a flip flop from day to day. I can't decide either if I'm just stressed and hormonal or if I'm really not liking this. At first I thought, oh these kids are so cute how wonderful. And now I'm frustrated a lot. It's mostly my fault cause I haven't figured out how to manage 6 classes a day with 45 kids in each class with many in each class with ADD, learning disabilities, English issues or whatever. Plus I'm starting to really dislike the school system.

Ok this all sounds bad. Really there are some rewarding things I've seen so far. Some have just done some really wonderful art. It's a great feeling for them to grasp a concept. I also love that elementary students always say "hello mrs. chinn!" when they pass me in the hallway. So among all the craziness, I can find some things to smile about I guess=)

and here's jessi's painting: (also on the art blog and facebook I think)

no talking in the art class please sir

2010-09-04T16:51:00.000-07:00

I feel like I should update. This week was craaazy and no signs of slowing down. This semester has no speed limit. I'm student teaching at an elementary school with a great man. He is super smart, knows ALOT, is wonderful with kids.

However those kids I'm teaching are to die for cute. I always imagined teaching upper grades, but I love the little kids! and they are so creative! I've already noticed boys draw aliens, lightning, explosions, and things eating people. When you ask them about their pictures they tell you incredibly detailed stories about it. I laugh inside.

I finished the painting for Jessi and Ryan wedding present. I'll post a picture later. One goal for myself: update art blog. I kind of stopped using it. I've got another commission from a friend for a painting. The more the merrier! more yes! I need more!

Stained glass biz

2010-08-15T13:57:00.000-07:00

I just finished my stained glass class. I'm thrilled to have learned how to make it! Although I cut myself almost every class, I think I'll keep doing this. I just need my own soldering iron =) These are my projects, the colors aren't very accurate, but just imagine pretty colors. I learned how to make pendants, which means our christmas presents are already done =)

tribute

2010-07-18T10:42:00.000-07:00

3 years ago today I was a fresh naive missionary entering the MTC excited and totally unaware of what was coming. The next year and a half was the best time of my life. So I've been thinking about all the things I learned in my service as a missionary. I am who I am today in great part because of this incredible journey. So...some valuable things I learned...

I learned Spanish and Papiamento

I learned how to love people I didn't know

I learned to love people I didn't like

I learned to work even though you're dead tired

I learned to follow the Spirit even when you're not sure why

I learned to give comfort even when it makes me uncomfortable

I learned to hate contention

I learned to rely on the Lord first

I learned to love the scriptures

I learned to talk to strangers!

I learned to make delicious food

I learned you are strongest when on your knees

There are so many other lessons learned from the incredible 18 months I spent among the islands of the Caribbean. I think about the people there every day. I still think about moments, good and bad, from the mission. I wish I could see their faces again and hug them tightly. I am so grateful that I decided to serve. Aside from deciding to marry David, it was the best decision of my life.

Speaking of David...he is in El Salvador. This opportunity came up suddenly and I immediately told him to do it. We were a little hesitant cause he had to pay his own way, but it's worth it for preparing to apply to medical school. He's with a BYU venture company called 2ft. prosthetics. They go to struggling countries to provide a cheap alternative to expensive carbon fiber prosthetics. They figured out how to produce a prosthetic limb for only 20$ using PVC pipe. Amazing. So David is gone for 2 weeks with them really as their spanish man. He is the only in the group that speaks the language, so he's doing lots of translation. I'm alone until August 1st and being without him for one day has already made me appreciate what he does around here. I have taken him for granted.

Oh and he took my camera with him, and it's already been stolen. Oh well.

June rocks

2010-06-27T13:17:00.001-07:00

The month of June rapidly flew by and soon eclipse is coming out! (which is the culmination of my summer experience...and the colorado trip). This month was very busy with the Utah Valley marathon, my praxis exam (teacher certification), my huge research paper, our one year anniversary, and a visit from my mommy!

I know it's late but I had to do a tribute to my wonderful husband of one year. We've been together for a total of 6 years so here are 6 things I love about you.

1. You prop the door open for me when you know I'm on my way home.

2. You eat my bad cooking graciously and tell me it's delicious.

3. Dr pepper, pizza, playing golf, and watching football make you a happy man.

4. You scratch my back when I don't ask for it, and sometimes when I do =)

5. You are such a good sport when I make you do things you don't want to do...like shop and eat vegetables.

6. And your number 1 priority is me, your wife, and making me happy.

I love you babe. Here's to many more years of a rockin' marriage!

disclaimer...we are drinking welch's white grape juice in our private balcony hot tub at our park city resort

Happenings

2010-06-15T11:21:00.001-07:00

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

2010-06-15T10:41:00.001-07:00

We've been busy bees lately...the utah valley marathon is finally over. Last weekend David got hardly any sleep and was working all night to make sure the marathon happened. We were up really late on Friday night cutting hundreds of bananas and oranges for the runners. There are so many things that go into events like this that people don't think about. Next year...I'm gonna run it! David sounds like he'd like to run it next year too =)

I've also had the pleasure of doing some wedding stuff with Jessi like seeing her try on dresses! It's hard to choose because she looks perfect in all of them. Jessi got the beautiful Kirk genes. At first I was a little freaked out to think my little sister is getting married, but now it just seems normal. I got a video of him proposing but you can't really hear anything until we cheer at the end, but it's worth watching, it's sweet =). They're so beautiful together it makes me sick, they're gonna have super cute babies.

My friend Lauren commissioned me to do a painting for her little sister's graduation present. I'm really happy with how it turned out and am anxious to do MORE paintings for people who will pay me =) So if any of you would like a painting...I'll do whatever you want, you can email me and we can talk about prices =)

So I did one of those little video things that has what we've been up to lately, AND "the proposal." In their video he is singing to her, you can hear faintly singing sometimes, it was adorable. All of us were perched in a horse trailer nearby so jessi wouldn't know we were there. She was very surprised, not by the proposal, but all the people watching her.

running into summer

2010-05-06T13:26:00.000-07:00

We finally did our half marathon on a cold snowy hailing spring day. It hailed and rained freezing rain on us the whole way, but we finished holding hands even though we couldn't bend our frozen fish stick fingers. I'm so lucky to have a husband that would suffer through it with me. When we finished he sounded ready and willing to do another! So this may be a thing of ours now, but in the future I hope it's on a day with less depressing weather conditions. The back of my shirt said "If you can read this, then you're right where I want you." Everyone that passed us got a kick out of it even though I was thinking, dangit obey the shirt. Afterwards we got free french toast breakfast, a free massage, and lots of other free stuff. Plus we felt pretty darn good about ourselves. We'll start training for the next one eventually, for now we are enjoying not having to obey a running schedule.

I love SPRING!

2010-04-24T19:05:00.000-07:00

The semester is finally over and we are trying to relax. I start spring classes on tuesday so we don't have much of a break, BUT it's nice to get a few days at least. Today david was sweet enough to take me to the tulip festival at thanksgiving point. It's an annual thing they have each year at these gardens where thousands of tulips and other flowers are planted and blooming. It's GORGEOUS. We wandered around found stroop waffles which I haven't had since my mission. I'm just so happy to be outside and feel the sun again.

one year older and wiser too

2010-04-16T09:28:00.000-07:00

I am now 24 years old. I realize how young that may seem to some people, but I indeed feel old. Regardless of my age, I like to think of myself as carefree like I was when I was 15. However now I have lots of responsibilities that get in the way of me having fun. Nonetheless I managed to have a grrrreat birthday. Mom came to visit and introduced us to green smoothies. I think they're delicious and even David is willing to have one every day =) He's not much for vegetables, but when they're disguised in a drink...he's more accepting. We had dinner at PF changs and mom took me shopping for some MUCH needed clothing. (THANK YOU!) It was SOOOO wonderful to see mom again. She's gets more beautiful with age =) I hope my aging follows my mother's.

I found some OLD pictures that made me laugh and want to be a kid again.

and happy birthday to Todd too =)

april fools!!!!!!

2010-04-01T11:12:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I got all of you SOOOO good. Actually I'm not that sorry. I've always wanted to actually trick someone on april fools and it finally worked. Sorry to get your hopes up, but we will ACTUALLY be pregnant eventually and I'll make sure when we inform you it won't be in text message and it won't be on april fools. =)

so since all of you didn't know each other's reactions...i thought i'd share a quite motherly reaction.

From me to mom:

I'm not pregnant, April fools

Mom's response:

I was wondering! Still confused. The NOI part is true?

Me:

No mom, I'm not pregnant, april fools, like the opposite of not pregnant.

Mom:

Whew!! Honey the opposite of pregnant IS pregnant.

Me:

Yes I know. Meaning I am.

Then I called mom because she really wasn't catching on. She screamed and was laughing thinking I really was pregnant. She said "on purpose or accident" and I said on purpose...because I'm actually NOT pregnant. It took a second and she realized she was fooled. Then I laughed because she tried to cover for her saying thank goodness I wasn't pregnant and then trying to make it ok. Oh mother, I knew I'd get you the best.

Mimi screamed, chris believed me easy, jessi and dad didn't fall for it, and I totally got erin and juli's hopes up. And the funniest part to me is...none of david's family believed it, but my family gulped it up =)

I love you all, I laughed really hard this morning enjoying our prank, hope you did too =)

MUAH!

hair today gone tomorrow

2010-03-25T09:57:00.000-07:00

I got a haircut!!!!!!!!! wooot! Since yesterday I've been through a love hate relationship with this cut. I loved it right after, then I changed my mind, I loved it again, and then hated it. But now I really love it! I got my very first hair straightener yesterday to be able to style this "do" and so far I haven't burned my hair off...so far so good! I love having a fresh haircut!

laugh out loud time

2010-03-18T10:31:00.000-07:00

this guy is hilarious. this video has only been posted a week or something and already has 2 million views. It's a guy serenading strangers through a roulette chat and improving about them...it's so stinking funny.

run for red

2010-03-07T14:56:00.000-08:00

this saturday was super fun! In the morning david and I helped with a local 5k run called run for red for the american red cross. We were also promoting the utah valley marathon he's on the committee for. We had fun and best of all, didn't have to run! =) Later we got a call from uncle brad and aunt shirley who were in town! they came over to visit for a while and we had a great time catching up. It was so good to see them! We love you!

i'm also debating about cutting my hair...i'm dying to. i kind of like this hair...we'll see what happens!

2010-03-07T13:15:00.001-08:00

almost 24

2010-03-04T11:09:00.000-08:00

I'll be 24 years old in april! Geez. So I've made a list (that's not done yet) of 24 things I want to do in my 24th year. I really stole the idea from elsie blaha. But I got started early even though I'm not 24 yet. =) I'm still adding, but I hope I can actually do all I want to do.

running running running

2010-03-02T16:21:00.001-08:00

We are in our fourth week of the marathon training. It hasn't really been that bad. We were both so proud of ourselves when we ran 5 miles straight last friday. Neither of us had ever run that far at one time. We felt pretty accomplished. Each friday in our training schedule adds a mile. Thankfully it's getting warmer outside so we don't have to do like 30 laps on an indoor track. It's been fun too to practice our finish line dance for the day of the marathon. We'll hold hands and run across it together =) Most days I feel like this woman and want to lay down and nap after such long runs.

David has recently snagged some great opportunities and is helping manage the Utah Valley Marathon in June. He's in charge of something, but it will give him lots service hours he needs for medical school as well as a cool t-shirt. He also got a spot doing research about knees or something. I can't remember exactly what it is, but he'll be starting that sometime soon I imagine.

I've also have laughed SOO hard watching this video david and I saw on America's Funniest Home Videos, so watch it and laugh yourself: (she just got her wisdom teeth out)

he went to jared

2010-02-15T21:45:00.001-08:00

So Valentine's day was made special by my thoughtful husband. He locked me in the room on Saturday so he could finish his surprise but it was worth it. so here are a series of the happenings...I first had to go through the prints he made to understand clues. He used printmaking skills he learned at an Evening for Educators I made him go to. The last print said "He went to Jared" and I was confused.
I opened our ottoman in the living room to find a lovely box with earrings in it! lovely!!
as well as some M&Ms which you can't tell in this photo say "R&D 6/20/2009" and "sealed forever" how sweet

He then took me to Rodizio's Brazilian grill. For those of you unfamiliar with this Utah phenomenon, it is a brazilian buffet type thing where men with huge sticks of different grilled meats come around and cut off hunks for you. A little indicator on your table can be left on green to tell them you want more meat, or red to say you want a break. It was freaking delicious and we had a fabulous time. Really, if there's good food, then we'll be happy =)

I recently made 2 homemade sketchbooks which I'm happy to say only cost me $4.70. I have a bunch of different kinds of art paper left over from classes and I just cut some of it up into stack and had it bound. Now I have two homemade ones with lots of different paper so I can do lots of different things in them! hooray!

grilled cheese please

2010-02-09T12:22:00.000-08:00

I recently made a recipe for a dressing that a woman gave me on my mission. It is delicious, easy and we've been putting it on everything from salads, chips, and sandwiches. I even saw David dip some string cheese in it when he thought I wasn't looking. So here it is so you can enjoy its deliciousness:

I guess this could be called...cilantro ranch dressing

1 Packet of buttermilk ranch dressing mix

1 c. mayonnaise (light mayo =)

1/3-1/2 c. buttermilk

1 c. fresh cilantro, chopped

2 cloves crushed garlic.

Basically throw this stuff in a blender and voila! I put it on our grilled cheese sandwiches and they tasted ridiculously fancy and yummy.

Tuesdays are my day off of work and I only have one class in the morning. It quite possibly my favorite day of the week. I do laundry, clean the house, make stuff, and at night David and I watch Lost. One of my most favorite things to do is open the windows when it's sunny. I love sunlight! Especially since we're so deprived of it during winter in Utah. I'm twitterpated with thoughts of springtime and actually feeling the warmth of the sun again!!

And I love my hubby David, the end.

My husband rocks every day

2010-01-19T10:25:00.000-08:00

This weekend was especially fun thanks to Martin Luther King Jr.! We had an extra day to play so we took advantage. Sunday we taught sunbeams again...one SPECIAL little girl Autumn will stand up and dance while we do singing time, she is very dramatic and very hilarious. However she is hard to control. I took a little girl to the bathroom while david sat with little Autumn. When I came back another teacher told me I better look out cause Autumn was all over my man, kissing and hugging him. For a three year old, she flirts like a teenager.

Anyway, David has been dying to go camping. While our current weather situation remains below freezing, we made compromise so I did not have to freeze outside. David happily set up our tent in the living room, opened our windows, and turned down the heat. Oh and he set a fan in front of the tent so we could get the full feel of the outdoors without leaving home. So we made a giant nest inside and read ghost stories and watched the ultimate camping show...LOST. It was actually one of the better sleeps I've had in my life.

Then Monday night I had to work til 930, making me hungry and tired. David picked me up and on the way home said...what was it you wanted me to heat up for dinner? I thought...c'mon david you know better. We came inside to a beautiful supper fit for food network and a huge beautiful bundle of flowers waiting for me. Did I forget to mention candles too? I made an unfortunate klutz mistake and left my leather purse leaning on the candle holder...It burned a nice crispy black thing on my shoulder strap...poo. BUT all was well because I have a wonderful husband who takes care of me when it's not a special occasion =) That's the best.

We also bought a desk and dining room table and chairs! Our old dining table would flip on you if you leaned on it because it wasn't screwed down...now we are safe when we eat. And we have a place to study!

Help

2010-01-15T15:59:00.001-08:00

K so I have homework in my second language acquisition class that I need some of your help with. So I'm hoping you will all visit this site:

www.stuffwhitepeoplelike.com

and look around and stuff it says. Go with a sense of humor, you don't have to make any in depth analysis of anything. Just comment here about what you think about it, or some thought you may have. That's all.

Yes I'm white, and I like camping.

2010-01-09T21:09:00.000-08:00

We just survived the first week of school. I finally got to the doctor about my eyes. Ever since September I've been having infections and have not been able to wear my contacts. Everyone thinks I'm the girl with glasses now. So the doctor said I have an infection on my coronia or however you spell that, and it's clouding my vision (another problem). I'm on some new drops and hopefully I will be back to contacts soon! I hate wearing glasses!!! I took contacts for granted.

In other news...we have been called to teach the Sunbeams!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Last week we substituted for their class and it was the hardest 2 hours of my life. They just graduated from nursery and are used to playing with toys and snack time. We had them the first sunday for their transition to primary. Not cool. They ran around the room and had a hard time sitting still. I guess they thought we did a good enough job that they decided to leave us here. HELP! I miss nursery already. I prefer stinky diapers and snack time.

blurb

2009-12-30T09:02:00.000-08:00

ok so I just made a Wedding book for David and I using blurb.com and it's sweet. You download the book making program thing and custom make your book, easy and it has cool features. Our book has 88 pages and it'll only cost 40 dollars to print and get it shipped to me. Let me know if there are other book making site things that are cheaper...but for what you get this seems like a pretty good price. i love it!

www.blurb.com

2009-12-30T09:01:00.001-08:00

Well, I've been too busy to hardly get online, but now that it's christmas break and I am free from school until next monday...I can get on the internet! Woohoo!

Lots has happened...

Before david and I went to texas, Todd and Kristi moved out and in preparation for China...dispersed their things among friends and relatives. David and I ended up with their big items: their tv, futon, all their dvds, a keyboard piano, and lots of other stuff we really don't have room for. But we enjoy getting free stuff for a few months. However we will miss having todd and kristi around, bring me back a t-shirt! =)

I feel like a truck driver across country this past week. We drive the 2 days all the way to Lumberton, then to Houston to see Erin and Juli, then to Austin, then to Sweetwater, TX and then all the way back to Utah. I thinks it's safe to say we're not going anywhere for a while. At least not until we get some more audiobooks.

David just got a job at the MTC. He's teaching the senior missionaries. It's the perfect job for him and he loves it so far. Imagine teaching your Grandma Margie, that's what he does and it sounds hilarious. Their sincere and sweet, but set in their ways and some are hard of hearing. It comes with interesting challenges for them since senior missionaries only spend 1 week in the MTC! It's like a shotgun training before they head to the mission field. It's nice we work in the same place, we get to each lunch together in the MTC cafeteria....all you can eat.

This coming semester will probably kill me. I think I've taken on more than I can manage healthily but I'm gonna try it. Right now I have 17 credit hours, 20 hours of work at the MTC, and I'm a Teaching Assistant for an elementary ed class. Oh ya, and David and I are going to train for a half marathon. I think we might be crazy. But we have each other and I think we'll survive.

I wish we could have seen everyone while we were in texas! I think everyone should just come up to utah for skiing trip (or snowboarding for Chris). There is lots of fresh snow! We love ya'll!

2009-12-03T14:36:00.000-08:00

Ok so tonight our jar show goes up and it's gonna be great! I'll post some pictures later, but my class was very excited to have a big article thing written about us in the Daily Herald (the provo newspaper). Apparently they thought it was a really good story. There was a big whole page dedicated to it. Here's the thing to the article online:

http://heraldextra.com/lifestyles/article_3a01477e-df67-11de-901c-001cc4c03286.html

love you guys!

art in my heart

2009-11-20T18:51:00.000-08:00

This semester I have finally learned how to oil paint. I had an oil painting class before but it was frustrating and my teacher didn't teach squat. So I have been grateful to have that prayer answered this semester by a wonderful teacher. I'm in an advanced painting class which my teacher realized the first day none of us were very experienced and had only done 3-10 oil paintings, making us very inexperienced! SO he changed the whole curriculum and assigned us to paint 20 paintings of mason jars. Throughout this whole thing he taught us different techniques etc...and now I am best friends with my mason jar. I've had to stare at it for many hours.

We've all improved drastically and on Dec. 3rd we are having a show in a gallery to exhibit all the beautiful jar paintings. Each will sell for ten bucks eat and the money will be donated to different charities and food banks around utah. We have 322 jar paintings so if each one sells that's 3200 bucks made for charity. I think that's awesome. I'll post later my first awful painting compared to my later ones. I'll have to scan them first but this is our flyer:

art busy-ness

2009-11-18T22:56:00.001-08:00

hey ya'll, I just posted an art assignment up on my art blog so please go check it out and let me know what your reaction is. It's for a project I'm doing =) thanks! love you!

www.artatchinn.blogspot.com

happy birthday david chinn!

2009-11-08T20:08:00.001-08:00

modeling his new backpack ( i made him)

Yesterday was my dear husband's birthday. He got breakfast in bed, presents, dinner, a visit from jessi, todd and kristi, and the day to be his own master. I got him a new backpack which is flipping awesome if I do say so myself. He's 23 years old now so we'll be the same age for a few more months. I love him SO much, he is so patient and understanding when I do stupid things like get our car towed from parking in a red zone. He's also the smartest, most honest, handsome man I know. I love to see him with our nursery kids that say funny things and have stinky diapers, he knows how to make them happy. I am grateful he agreed to spend eternity with me. Here's to you my special birthday boy.

happy yellowstone day

2009-11-08T20:06:00.001-08:00

The weekend of halloween we skipped out of town and drove to yellowstone which is only about 5 1/2 hours from here. Most of the park was closed because of black ice on the roads but we were able to see old faithful, boiling mud pots, lots of steaming gysers, elk and lots of other cool stuff! Halloween night we hung out in our hotel in rexburg and watched the longhorn game on CABLE! in our apartment here we have "cougar cable" we basically means no cable ha. It's local news channels, food network, tbs, and like 25 different language channels including japanese, russian, french, german, whatever you want! We don't time to watch tv anyway but david misses ESPN, Versus, FSN, and those that allow him to watch longhorn games. But we survive =) Anyhow it was nice to get away for the weekend and have some fun.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

other art blog

2009-10-23T13:20:00.000-07:00

K so I created a new blog just for my art and other people's art I like. I'll be doing more with it in the future but it's there now! So I'll get so more things going on it soon. =)

www.artatchinn.blogspot.com

falling into fall

2009-10-13T09:04:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel like I really am falling or stumbling around my daily routines. We're well into school now and it's crazy! I'm in several studio classes which require much outside work with oil painting, ceramics, drawing etc. But it's something I love to do so homework doesn't feel SOO strenuous as opposed to david's poor schedule which demands chemistry, algebra, and lots of reading!! I'm thankful to not be required to sit and do math problems all day, ugh.

October has been so much fun even among the stresses of school and work. Mom and dad came to visit for conference which was so much fun! It was almost like they lived here! How cool that would be. We miss and love them SO much!

Well the new in the news from the chinns is...not much. We eat, sleep, do homework, watch so you think you can dance, clean stuff, walk to and from school etc...that's our usual day. Well I make it sound monotonous, but we of course have the variety of friday date nights, temple tuesdays, meeting up with jessi, todd, and kristi, running on the provo river trail, trying to get our apartment in good fashion, and other fun and exciting things.

I've been tutoring spanish at the MTC and it is soooo great. Before I was teaching the same group of missionaries for an entire 8-9 weeks. Now missionaries set appointments to come see me, they pick what to learn, and I just facilitate. It's so much easier and less stressful than before. Spanish is my friend. =)

Plans for christmas aren't solid yet. For thanksgiving we're planning to head to california to see chris and mandi and the little ones =) We miss our families and especially our growing nieces and nephews who say and do such hilarious things.

oh and wedding pictures are in! I posted quite a few on facebook, but here a few if you missed them.

our own space!

2009-09-06T21:36:00.001-07:00

moving in...

first day...

This last week has been CRAZY to say the least. When we walked into our apartment, we felt a little bit of shock. Never before have we lived in an unfurnished apartment. The only piece of "furniture" we brought was an air mattress with its pump. Plus we returned ALL our wedding gifts to the store to have more room when we moved (we've got most of them back.) So we didn't even have a fork, plate, towel... or anything really. The next few days were spent getting the essentials and putting assembly required furniture together. ugh. Here were our food essentials for friday, saturday, and sunday last week:As you can see, David's idea of essentials were pizza and dr pepper. I found us an apple, water, and milk. Well it lasted us a couple days. On Sunday with only bread crumbs, elbow macaroni, tomato soup, milk, and a few cans of corn and beans, David made up some delicious pasta meal with many bizarre ingredients using spices that were left in storage. I'm surprised it turned out so well.

Oh and we slept on an air mattress all weekend til the bed we rented from the apartments arrived on monday. (we rented a couch from them too, 7 bucks a month added to the rent) schwing!

Now our fridge is better stocked and only one box remains to be unpacked. Oh my gosh moving is EXHAUSTING and we hardly had anything! I'm not looking forward to moving with life size furniture...

Here is our little apartment so far:

notice the box fan, we have no A/C until winter comes.

you have now seen all the rooms in our apartment! you must come and do a real life tour and visit us! we love ya'll!

the greatest catch

2009-08-14T16:55:00.000-07:00

We went deep sea fishing (my first time) as a reward for david's office winning their july incentive. I had no idea what to expect. We rode out 4 hours on the boat to get to our first fishing spot. They put rods out all around the boat for about 100 people. Then they filled these troph type things with dead squid for bait. The smell wasn't so bad until the sun got to them and they got warm, yuck. I have never really fished before but it was such a blast! the water was BEAUTIFUL! I didn't know texas had water like that =) It's pretty exciting really in something that's fighting you from the bottom and then not knowing what it is or how big til you pull it out. David made fun of me cause every one I caught felt huge and heavy to me, so I'd yell, I think I got a huge one David! Then he'd pull it up by hand...so I pulled in no shark. But several other people on the boat got sharks! I'm SOO glad we didn't get sick, we had a great time. But I really have the best catch of any day, and that's my dear husband =)

The joy of a salesman

2009-07-28T10:19:00.000-07:00

I'm in lufkin this week with david. His team will be here for the next 2 weeks probably. I thought after being married we were done with long distance!! =) So i decided to be here with him at least one week.

Yesterday I went on the doors with him. It's hilarious the kinds of things you can see and do on 2 streets for 7 hours. We saw a big fat possum, met lots of old people with funny opinions to say, had a naked lady come to the door and say "why you knockin so late?!" when it was only 6:15pm. David sold this old lady who kept repeating herself and forgetting what she was doing, her birthday, her middle name etc. However she wanted and needed the system. Later her son found out and cancelled it...apparently she has als heimers. Then Why does she live alone??!!! I don't know, all the more reason for an alarm system. ANYway.

David says the ONLY way he'll do this again is if I'm selling too. The money is good, but I don't know if I want to put myself through that kind of mental anguish. Is your home protected??? Call david! he can hook you up!!! =) We honestly can't wait to just be students again!! Well...me anyway.

my chinny chin chinn

2009-07-20T10:20:00.000-07:00

I sure hope we've changed!!!

Today is david and I's one month anniversary! ha! We celebrate everything =) why not?! Even though we've been married a short time, I am confident we could win the newleywed game by a huge margin =) Being married has made our lives easier it seems. No more long road trips, late night phone calls, having to go home late at night, packing clothes to visit etc etc. Everything about being married is grrreat. And I'm pretty sure it's not the "honeymoon" stage. We've been together 5 years so I believe that whole rose colored glasses syndrome has worn off, but we still love each other like crazy!

So in honor of our special day, I thought he deserved some major props for the man he is. He does it through all the little things...for example...yesterday he:

brought me cereal in bed
helped me teach the 3 sunbeam class at church
tells everyone I'm amazing when I don't deserve it
Opened the door for me
let me have a sip of his coveted dr. pepper
taught the FHE lesson with his parents
let me sleep extra while he showered
kissed me on my forehead
listened to me talk about nothing
laughed at my dumb jokes
and basically made me feel like a queen

I'm a pretty lucky girl. The end.

One more great thing that happened yesterday...I walked outside to a surprise gift from mark and patti! Mark made me an easle! (is that spelled right?) He's handy with a saw and made me an artist's easle!!!! flippin awesome! Thank you thank you!

I'm rachel chinn

2009-06-29T13:16:00.001-07:00

We're married!!! what a dream. We've been married a whole week now! Now real life starts. I'm trying to figure out how to change my name...find an apartment in provo, do financial aid and all this other stuff we didn't care about on the honeymoon! So I need to get back to work. But here are some good shots david's cousin brandy got at the wedding.

after david lost his ring and found it

daddy daughter

first dance!

all the siblings in ONE place!!

it was SOOO hot outside

puerto ricoooo

2009-05-17T18:01:00.001-07:00

I've been home nearly 5 months now from my mission. It seems it was a dream! I wanted to pay homage to that wonderful time I spent. I was in some of the most beautiful places in this world. soooo here's some pictures to prove it

Shete Boka in Curacao

Curacao

El Morro in San Juan, PR

The view from our investigator's house in PR

The Ponce Plaza

ARUBA

Dona Juana in Villalba, PR

Even though my time has past here in these beautiful islands and among wonderful people...I'll always be puerto rican/aruban/curacilanian at heart.

getting married

2009-05-10T15:00:00.000-07:00

These past few days have been hectic. I've spent most of my time preparing wedding announcements. I never knew there was so much involved! You've got stamps, envelopes, the announcement, pictures, addresses etc etc. It's quite a chore, now I see why mom left it to me to do. =) But it has gotten me all excited for june 20th! We've officially been together for 5 years...more if you include how long we've been friends. I know him better than anyone else and he definitely knows me. We may be young in the world's eyes but we know exactly what we're doing.

Being married is very important to us. It's not just for now but for forever. It dawned on me today how big a deal this is. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints we hold family relationships very dear, they are essential to God's eternal plan. I wanted to explain a little of why being married in a temple is different from a civil ceremony.

In the temple, priesthood ordinances for the living and the dead are preformed, and sacred covenants are made. The primary purpose of the temple is to “seal” or unite families together for eternity. For this reason, Church members search out information about their ancestors. (http://www.mormon.org/) In a temple marriage, a couple is sealed "for time and all eternity" as opposed to "til death do you part."

visit this link to see a great video on temples. =)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x_-TQivCx8

What is the difference between a temple and a meetinghouse?
Regular Sunday worship, instruction and other social and recreational activities occur in Latter-day Saint meetinghouses, or chapels where visitors are always welcome. In temples, on the other hand, faithful members receive specific instruction about the purpose of life and their relationship to God. There they take part in family-oriented ordinances, both for themselves and in behalf of deceased ancestors. Sacred ordinances available only in temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally. Unlike meetinghouses, temples are closed on Sundays.

Visitors are welcome to visit the temple grounds at any temple and attend open houses prior to dedication, thereafter only baptized members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who are qualified and prepared are allowed to enter a temple after it is dedicated.

Families!
Families are ordained of God and are the most important social unit in time and eternity. Our Heavenly Father’s divine plan of happiness allows family relationships to endure beyond the grave. I cannot imagine heaven without being with those I love. That is why I am so grateful to know that after centuries of being lost, Jesus Christ's church is on the earth today in it's fulness. My current and future families are the greatest blessings I could ask for.

eh

2009-04-29T09:20:00.000-07:00

I think I've caught a little of spring stuffy nose. These days I'm generally bored...most of my friends and family AND my fiance have all moved away. I am going to try and give plasma today for some extra cash and something to do. But it's kind of freaking me out getting stuck with a fat needle. Not really my idea of fun. I'd rather be in Texas with David or doing THIS:

engagement photos

2009-04-05T19:31:00.001-07:00

engagements4/5/09

Festival of Stains..I mean colors

2009-04-02T09:33:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend David and I braved the "Festival of Colors." It was at the hare krishna temple (probably the only one in utah) a little south of here. THOUSANDS of college students were there...we had to walk at least a mile to GET to the temple because of parking. Most of the people were not even listening to the announcer who was explaining the religious significance. We yelled with him "hare krishna! rama bama.." something like that...then everybody throws colored chalk into the air and this is what happens (see pictures...now). It was good one time experience...it was an atomic bomb of chalk and you can't breathe for a few minutes...then you blow pink and purple snot and everything turns the color of the chalk.

I even had to spend MONEY to get my hair fixed because it was dyed...pink.

see exhibit A...B...C etc

I'm picking up mom from the airport today! hooray!! And today is kristi's birthday! So to kristi...I LOVE YOU! you are the best, I'm so glad you're part of our family. Happy birthday old lady!

2009-03-16T12:03:00.000-07:00

So i didn't ACTUALLY get to fly the plane...but David and i were fortunate enough to stumble in this awesome flight musuem as they were closing. The man there was happy to stay after and give us a tour. He had all kinds of stories from WWI and II etc about the planes. All very fascinating and cool to sit in them. We had a GREAT time as always. The fun never stops when we're together. He compliments me perfectly.

So...I am now an MTC teacher. Woohoo! I'll be teaching spanish and I get my first district of missionaries next week. I was so excited when they called to offer me the job, but after I accepted I realized what a huge responsibility. AND I realized that there is A LOT to this than just teaching spanish and preach my gospel. I'm in training trying to get my feet wet before I'm thrown in the shark tank. =) apparently teachers have a little bit more mentoring time before they get their first district but I have to do this fast. It's way better than working at storesonline taking phone calls. I am doing something meaningful. I can't wait, even though I'm nervous as heck.

I can't wait for conference so mom can come!!!!

More wedding...

2009-03-08T21:02:00.001-07:00

this weekend David and I went dress shopping. That's not bad luck is it? Well...I only tried on 4 dresses but at least now I know I don't want a train. How am I supposed to dance with that?!! We also went to the draper temple open house. It is beautiful! There were protesters outside with signs like josephlied.com and other silly things. We also attended stake conference with Elder Ronald A. Stone and Elder M. Russell Ballard. It was wonderful! And now I've been watching a harry potter marathon. oh my.

2009-02-23T17:10:00.000-08:00

SO the wedding is...drum roll please....

JUNE 20TH! The sealing is at 10am. We'll have the reception that night I believe. =)

Easy enough because it's close to everyone...Houston!

So what's the opnion on these two dresses? I think they're pretty!

once upon a time...

2009-02-20T17:57:00.000-08:00

I just did another teacher evaluation at the MTC. It has all reminded me of my wonderful memories as a missionary in puerto rico and the ABC islands. I miss it soooo much! It was the best year and a half of my life. I learned how to be a member, how to study, how to learn, how to love other people. I am a different changed human being because of it. Sometimes I feel like it was a dream. It flashed before my eyes. I think to myself...I really did that? I know other languages? How is this possible?! Can someone please send me back? But in the meantime I am trying to do my part as a member missionary. This part of life is really exciting and full of different purposes! So which purpose is meant for me?

we're engaged!

2009-02-17T18:14:00.000-08:00

so guess what! we are engaged finally.

Wanna know what happened?

I had actually been planning on telling him "yes" all week but I wanted it to be cool and a surpise. I figured a good valentine's day present is letting him know I'd like to marry him. That's all he's been waiting for is for me to tell him that's what I want cause he's known. I borrowed kristi's ring box and put a candy heart inside that said "yes." After our ring shopping expedition on friday I figured that would be the best time to let him know. I gave him the box but it was dark so he couldn't really see what was written on the heart and nearly ate it! Once he saw it said yes all was well. I won't tell all the gushy details that followed.

So saturday (valentine's day) we just couldn't stand not being "engaged." I wanted him to ask me already! Funny thing cause I said yes before he asked. Anyway he finally got on his knee in is apartment and "popped the question." Then we went to the ring store and he bought the prettiest one I found. Then at the exxon gas station he put it on me. We couldn't stop smiling the rest of the weekend.

If you're wondering...we'll probably get married june 20th. That seems to be the best date so far. So start planning! we're gonna have a wedding!!!

2009-02-12T20:15:00.000-08:00

I am going to Idaho tomorrow to be with David until MONDAY! We are going to have an extended fabulous valentine's day weekend. I love valentine's day! but only when I get to BE with my loved one...otherwise...what's the point? candy, cookies...getting fatter. Not the greatest holiday I guess.

Jessi and I did a yoga class today. I'm not the most flexible and downward dog warrior pose whatever had me like pretzels. Needless to say...I think I will go back!

2009-02-03T12:08:00.001-08:00

it's a miracle! I have a blog! so now I will try to use it. I have to say remembering how to use technology is not as easy as remembering to ride a bike. A year and a half away from this makes me feel like a grandparent using this...not our grandparents of course because they're techno savy. However I...a 22 year old...am not. But I getting there!!

So cheers to the new blog for rachel hooray!