NEW BLOG!!

Hello!! So I have been terrible about blogging since the wedding, but I have tons of pictures to upload and lots of things in my life to update!! Meanwhile, my account keeps getting spam comments, so I am permanently moving to our new blog!! Here is the web address: www dot brentandmaryrose dot blogspot dot com
(I am hoping writing it that way will help it from being hacked into!

Lots of posts coming soon on the new blog!!

Teacher Appreciation Week

This week has been teacher appreciation week, and I just have to say that I have the sweetest kids ever. They have been so good to me. I have gotten cupcakes, candy, coke (even though they get mad at me every time I drink it because I said I was giving it up for new years haha), a plant, a mini donut maker, a head massager, an itunes gift card, and a bunch of other fun treats. My favorite part though, is the sweet messages they have written me. I am so lucky to have gotten the greatest 2nd grade class. This school year has been long at times, and pretty rough at others, but one thing I know - is how much I love my kids. They have even started calling me 'mom' sometimes because they think it is funny that I refer to them as 'my kids.' Here are just a few of the notes I have gotten:

"Ms Adams thank you for being a grate teacher. youur my Favorit techer I hop that you have fun when you. Get maryd. Love Adela"

"Thank you for being a sensational teacher and role model. All of your effort this year is appreciated. You do our job well! You are amazing! Love, Sydney" (written by a mom haha)

"Dear Ms. Adams, this big and I mean big jar of candy is for you! It's got so much candy for you because you are the best teacher in the whole wide world! From, Jessica"

"Dear Ms. Adams you are the best teacher! Love, Megan"

Now obviously we all know I am not the best teacher, but I do love those kids. I have been counting down the days until summer because I have been so excited to move on to this new chapter in my life, but I am really going to miss them. 15 days and counting! Honestly it has turned from anticipation to despair. How can I just move away from my 23 kids?

Cakewich

So when my neighbor's Food Network Magazine accidentally came to my house, I MAY have read through it... :) and I about peed my pants when I saw this. Is this not the greatest thing you have ever seen?! Well naturally I immediately had to go online and purchase it. Well... with the week I had last week, I am surprised I haven't been baking up a storm. So right now I am gleefully awaiting this to come out of the oven...

Don't worry... I will publish pictures of the final product soon. Along with pictures of my BYU GRADUATION! Woot Woot!

A few pictures..

So I haven't posted pictures in forever! These aren't the best pictures, but they do show a little of what we have been up to! :) Sorry about the ones where you have to turn your head haha I couldn't rotate them.

This is the night we got engaged. I didn't feel cute at all and we were in our comfy Sunday clothes, but I am glad I got a picture of that memory!

Here is a side view of the ring! Brent designed it and it is absolutely beautiful!

We went and saw Mystere at the Treasure Island in Vegas and it was amazing!!

Here is my handsome fiance :)

I think this was outside the Venitian in Vegas... the weather was so beautiful!

WOOT WOOT!!

Found out today that I passed my teacher work sample!! WOOT WOOT! Now it is time to move the stress onto finding a teaching job next year!

Oh, and I found my dress for the wedding :) That also lowers the stress levels quite a bit!

Dirty Laundry

This thought was pasted on the school's weekly newsletter and I really appreciated it. It really made me think. It is crazy how true this really is...

A young couple moves into a new neighborhood. The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbor hanging the wash outside. "That laundry is not very clean," she said. "She doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap." Her husband looked on, but remained silent,. Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments. About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband: Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this." The husband said, "I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows."

And so it is with life. What we see when watching others depends on the purity of the window through which we look.

Many times in life it is easy to blame or to complain that we have it hard. During these times step back and look at what is asked of us in a different light or from a different perspective and the burden often becomes lighter, and we realize it was not what we thought.

Happy News

As of tonight, Brent and I are engaged!
Save the date: June 15, 2010

Never Again... :)

Well folks, my Teacher Work Sample has officially been finished! This was probably one of the most stressful things I have ever done. Granted I have been a procrastinator since the day I was born (I was born one day early and that was the only time I was on time my family would probably say haha), and I actually started working on this months ago.... Well... even though I know my kids so well and was able to easily assess what they know and everything, it took me FOREVER! Before all my attachments and samples, it was 30 pages 1/2 double spaced and 1/2 single spaced. Let me just tell you... that takes A LOT of hours to do well. BUT I am finished! Woo Hoo! Last week was probably the longest week of my life, and while after a couple breakdowns and some mood swings later I am trying to get back to enjoying only have 2 jobs and a boyfriend that lives 2 hours away ;) Believe it or not, it makes my life seem so boring with so little to do!

Here are a few updates on my life (just incase anyone was wondering :)

• I become an auntie again this week when baby Harrison decides to grace the world with his presence (hopefully before Saturday, so pray for Steph)
• I get to walk and have the fan fair of actually graduating from BYU (April 22-23)
• Clay got home from his mission in Switzerland and is now my roommate :) It is so much more fun having a roommate than living alone (at least Lole and I have a few less conversations haha)
• Trey got his mission call to serve in the Democratic Republic of the Congo mission! He leaves June 16th! I can't believe it! We are going to miss him so much!
• My parents came to visit last week which was amazing! I tell you what - I wish I could go back and be more appreciative of living at home. Thank you Mom and Dad for all you do for us (and have done). You are amazing!
• Things with Brent are going amazingly. He is so good to me and makes me so happy. Not to mention he spoils me a little bit :) He got me a Polar Watch for my birthday which makes it SO fun to exercise and keep track of it!
• Sunday dinners have officially gone to having 6 of us (Katchie, Jeff, Me, Brent, Clay, and Trey)! It is so nice to have so many of us together here in Utah. We miss our family so much and I am so glad we have that tradition. My brothers and sisters are some of my best friends and I am so glad we have the relationships we do.
• I have 58 more days of school this year! I can't believe it is already ending! With all of the layoffs and budget cuts in Utah this year, pray for me to get blessed with a teaching job!

I will post some pictures soon, I promise :)

I'm on a roll :)

I have a lot to be grateful for. I have so many opportunities and reasons to be happy. Here are just a few things that make me smile...

1. Getting a voicemail from a family member. I don't know why I love it so much, but I get so excited when I get a voicemail! ESPECIALLY when that voicemail is full of sweet little singing voices :)

2. Lole. She is so cute. she is back to her old self after all the puppies are gone, and she has such the sweetest personality! She makes me laugh every day! Every morning when I wake up, all she wants to do is run around and play with me. And when I am down, she will lay down and whine with me :) (misery loves company haha)

3. When my students are trying to spell something and they accidentally do a naughty word without meaning to :) For example, one of my students wanted to write that she was funky looking and wrote a 'c' instead of a 'n'... I love how innocent they are.

4. Weekends. Having worked weekends all through college, I never really had too much to be excited about when Friday rolled around. But now that I am dating this amazing guy that lives in LOGAN, I have learned to appreciate and look forward to the weekends, where I can just wind down and enjoy the company.

5. Email. Similar to voicemail, I love it when my momma sends me an email to let me know she is thinking about me. It always brightens up my day.

6. Not having a headache. I have finally found a prescription to take away my chronic headaches, and it is crazy how much more enjoyable life can be when you don't have a headache :)

7. Brent. We can seriously be doing nothing (i.e. wandering around the gateway and realizing that neither of us knows where we are going) and have so much fun. He is willing to be spontaneous, he is romantic, he is fun, and he always knows how to make me smile. It was truly a tender mercy to have him come into my life when he did, and I am so blessed to have the experiences I have had... because I think without them, I wouldn't truly appreciate what we have and the kind of man he is.

8. Picture books. I absolutely love reading to my kids. And in 2nd grade we read a lot of picture books, and I didn't realize how much we miss out on when we grow up. There are some great books out there! I love to watch how intently my kids watch and listen while I am reading a story.

9. Honesty. For example, one of my students asks to use the restroom at a very inconvenient time, to which I reply "Can you wait, or is it an emergency?" and he looks behind him and says "it is kinda leaking..." haha

10. The scriptures. I have been off and on since high school about being diligent with reading my scriptures, and the past couple years I have been terrible. I have been reading the scriptures nightly (well most nights haha) right before I go to bed, and I love the way it makes me feel. I love reading about my Redeemer and the things he has done for me.

11. Family and Friends. Through everything in the past 2 years, good and bad, I have realized how amazing the people around me are. I am so blessed to have all of you in my life. I know that whenever I need anything, that there are so many people I can count on. I am truly blessed.

2 Years Later...

I know I haven't been very good about posting the past couple of months, life has been crazy busy lately! But today I can't not post. Today Elder Bubba comes home. I can't believe that he has already been gone two years! It is crazy to think about everything our family has gone through in the past two years and now here we are! Sickness, surgeries, death young and old, new life, divorce, moving,... a lot has happened. I am so proud of my little brother. I like to call him my 'little' brother because age wise is really the only way I can get away with that. He is such a spiritual giant and has been such a great example to me. He has spent the past two years serving others and bringing them the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is such a testimony builder to me to hear about all of the amazing experiences he has been able to have, and the lives he has obviously changed for the better. I wish I was going to be there when he flies in, but unfortunately I will be in Utah and he is flying into Iowa. I know the rest of us will be there in spirit! I am so excited to just give him a big hug and hear in person about what he has experienced! Love you Bubba!