Bessie!

Seriously, how can you not fall in love with this face?! Our camera is retarded but here are a couple of pictures of baby Bessie with her eyes open! The first picture shows how little she used to be and I don't know if you can tell... but look how huge she looks in my hand!!! She is the fattest little girl ever!! :)

WOO HOO!!!

So I just officially submitted my last final and I am FINISHED!!! I could not be more thrilled about life! And I think I actually got pretty great grades! :) It felt so great walking down from campus today knowing that was the last time I would have to take a test in the testing center! It has been a great 4 years and I look forward to the future! Unfortunately I won't graduate until next April when my internship is finished (which I think is rediculous) but that doesn't kill my excitement at all!!! I have been through a lot in the past 4 years - so thanks so much to everyone for all your love and support! I couldn't have made it through school without all the amazing people in my life! Love y'all!!

Only a month or so until Adam and I are enjoying the beaches of Maui! Doesn't this picture make you so happy?

Photo Shoot!

She is getting bigger every day!! She was just over 11 oz when she was born and now she is already over a pound!! Lole is an amazing mom and is enjoying having the company of Biggie T, Momma, and Trey!

My Baby Mama

Our baby girl went into labor last night!! At one thirthy she gave birth to the cutest little puppy you have ever seen! After that sweet girl we waited, and waited, haha and then realized there must be only one! A little crazy, but she just had the one puppy! Here are some of the pics I took on my cell phone, it is real hard to get a good pic of her cuz she is a little squirmy and if she is with Lole she is being hidden :) More cute pictures to come!! (Sorry about the goriness of this pic) Minutes after she was born!!
"What are you looking at? There is no puppy here!"

What a sweet face!

Her little squished face! It was so hard to try and get her to hold still! She is so tiny!!!

Isn't life beautiful! They both know just what to do! I LOVE the 5 spots on her back!

WOO HOO!!!

So the interview this morning was very scary and pretty much sucked (especially the part where I had to sit so still without completely bouncing my leg!)! And I just barely got a call from the principal at... Hillcrest Elementary School!!! I will be teaching 2nd grade! I couldn't be more excited! Thanks so much to all of you for your love and support! It means the world!

Ra Ra Ree, Kick him in the knee! Ra Ra Rass, Kick him in the...

(haha that was for you, Mom :)

So this weekend I have been remenising back to 8th grade and the crazy dealings of cheerleading tryouts. Now if you knew me back then, I don't know if you remember, but it was a big deal! But the hardest part of it all was that most of my friends were also trying out for cheerleader and there were only 10 spots available. 10 spots = not all of our friends making it (tragic, I know). And if you also remember... I didn't make it.

Well... this coming Monday comes another stressful time for me... Intern interviews. I am finishing up my second practicum in a 5th grade classroom on Tuesday and on Monday we have our interviews to intern in Alpine School District next year instead of student teaching. There are about 15 schools in the district that have openings for interns next year so there will be about 15 principals and 15 vice principals interviewing us in groups of about 4 or 5. There are about a million questions we are supposed to study incase they ask us, and we will find out on Tuesday whether or not we got one of the 26 spots available. If not, there is a second round process, and if you still don't get picked you student teach next year instead. I am super super nervous! I really hope to get an internship, but I also have a lot of friends that are applying that are excellent cantidates (as well as other impressive girls that I don't know as well).

SO... I'll keep you posted on Tuesday... hopefully with good news. I have been working for this for 4 years so I really hope it pays off! Keep my in your thoughts and prayers this weekend!

We're pregnant!!!

Haha ok so not me... but our baby!

So after 5 weeks of speculating... we think Lole is prego! Dogs are pregnant for about 9 weeks so this would mean she is over half-way there! We are super excited/nerveous cuz we have never done anything like this before! But we are pretty positive she will have the world's cutest puppies... Seriously, just look at this cutie when she was a puppy - how could she not have beautiful babies?!

So I was reading about what to do when your dog is prego and one of the sites said in week 6 to feed her to the max that she will eat... (pause for laughter if you have ever met this crazy girl)! So I think I will have to made adaptations for this girl since she could easily eat herself to death! As the belly starts poking out more we will take some pictures so you can see her progress!

What do you think of the final products?!

Busy Bee!

Ok so life has been crazy busy lately! School is kicking my butt, we moved into our triplex... but still don't have a kitchen, and I am trying to work a couple minutes a week :) As soon as I unpack our camera out of the boxes and everything is done, I promise there will be pictures! Since we had to tear everything down to the cement, put up new walls and cielings, etc... the construction has taken a lot longer than we anticipated and I can't wait for it to be finished! It is so nice to see one room completed at a time and to see how great it looks (after how terrible it looked when we moved in!!) The kitchen should be completed in the next week or so, and I couldn't be more excited to cook and, of course, bake! I am going to be a baking machine! So if you live in Utah... watch out cuz there will be goodies galore!!!

I start in a 5th grade classroom next week so school has been extra awful lately! I have the worst case of senioritis! This week has been especially busy with projects and one of them is 10 hours of service for my social studies class. I decided to make baby hats for the humanitarian aid. It has been so fun to bust out the crochet hook and realive my stress making these super cute little hats! I am about halfway through my 10 hours (which have to be done by Friday by the way) and here is what I have done so far! Don't they look so cute!?

Sorry (Trey) that I haven't posted in a while!

Life is crazy lately with hardly anything to blog about!

22!!

Thanks everyone for all the birthday wishes today! My day was wonderful! Adam threw me my first suprise birthday party ever! It was a total blast with pictures to follow soon! Love you all!

Survived...

Christmas, 2nd Anniversary, New Years, and back to school again! The break wasn't near long enough but we had such a blast! It was amazing to be able to go home to Marshall and spend the holidays with the family! I can't believe how big Steph's kids have gotten! They are so much fun! The week was filled with "I like to move it, move it" from Madagascar, lots of yummy food, racquetball, games, and wonderful company! We even got to sit on Santa's lap :)

The 5 dogs also made for an interesting week! It was a Christmas miracle when we found poor Troy after an hour of looking for him in the MN winter, and we got the joy of cleaning up throw up from sneaky Lole and her love of Buckeyes (chocolate and peanut butter amazingness)! I don't have any pictures to post from Christmas cuz I forgot to get them off Mom's camera - but as soon as I get some I will post them!

We were blessed with great dogs and once again great weather on the way back to Utah! Adam and I got to celebrate our 2nd anniversary a couple times! The first was in Rapid City, SD on the way home :) When we got home we decided to buy a bed so we went to IKEA and picked out our sweet new bed! We love it!

I worked New Years which was kind of a let down this year... stupid economy... but then we got to celebrate the New Year at the Huka Bar in SLC with Katchie and her friends for Cellen's birthday bash! I worked a bunch last week and now it's back to school again! I can't wait to be done!

Lol it took forever for Adam to take the picture... and I have no idea what Jeff is doing behind us... he is making some funny faces in the other attempts :)

Did everyone come up with great New Year's resolutions for 2009?! I tried this last semester, but wasn't too successful so I have decided to try again... my resolution is to have balance in my life. I am going to get a good balance of school, work, gym, family, church, etc. in my life! Wish me luck! Sorry my life is pretty boring :( I'll try and be more interesting soon!

Happy Holidays!

Finals are over! Woo Hoo! I made it through one more semester! Just wanted to let y'all know that we made it to Marshall safely! We left at 11 on Thursday night and just barely beat the winter storms! And with 3 dogs in the car it was quite an adventure ;) We even woke up to a white Christmas and a couple hours of shoveling my parent's endless driveway! Can't wait to enjoy the break from life!

6 more days of classes...

Thats right... 6 more days of classes. The countdown is officially on. This has been such an amazing semester and I have learned so so much, but it has also been so so hard! But I know I can do it! I only have like 20 more assignments left ;) No big deal!

Seriously though, life has been flying by lately! Thanksgiving came and went so fast! We kept going back and forth on what our plans were and we ended up spending Thanksgiving in Park City with Adam's relatives, it was a blast! I got some shopping done with Katch and we got to go to the Jazz game with Eric and Nina!

I am so excited for Christmas! I can't wait to spend time with my family in Marshall for the holidays! I even bought some wool socks to help me adjust to the crazy weather! That is if we ever get our tickets! I was dooped by the media, I can't believe it! I kept hearing that airfare was going to go down for the holidays so I held off buying our tickets and now they are lots of money! :( So I think we will end up flying out of Vegas, which is a lot cheaper! But I can't wait for fondue and trifold and Christmas brunch and the talent show and the nativity and the list could go on and on! I love our family Christmas traditions!

Anyway, I am pretty boring lately with school and all, but I promise to post anything exciting and life changing that happens to me this week!

PS Never knew how much I was obsessed with youtube before... It is so great to be able to listen to whatever Christmas song you want anytime! :) Soak it up people, I love this time of year!

So great news! I registered for classes for the last time of my college career. Can you believe it?! I am so so so excited! (not that it took very long because my classes are already picked and saved for me) I can't believe how fast/slow the time has gone since I started college. At times (including yesterday), it feels like I have been doing this forever and it will never end, and then I realize that I only have 4 weeks of classes left this semester! Where did the past 3 months go? Anyway, I am THRILLED about it!

Not so great news... I won't be able to walk in April like I had hoped. Depending on what I decide to do next fall, I will probably end up walking in August. My options are student teaching in Houston, interning in Utah, or student teaching in Utah. My hopes for the future are in that order. I got the best education in Houston and I really feel like it would be such an incredible experience to learn from the teachers down there. Also a huge plus is that my dad just moved down there and my mom will hopefully be down there soon aswell. It would be so nice to live near them again, its crazy how much you miss you parents when you move away! Anyway! I think that would be amazing, but I have to apply and see if it is really going to be a fit or not!

So my dog has anxiety. This is not new news to me, I have known all along, but today she was driving me crazy! Her bathroom anxiety has been a fairly new development. I think it may have something to do with the fact that Zeus always comes out and distracts her. She will whine to go out to the potty and after about 5 minutes of me ignoring her - I finally take her out and she goes to her place and walks around and sniffs... And then she walks around and sniffs... And then she starts to squat, looks around, gets nerveous, and walks around and sniffs some more. We go through this process for about 5 minutes and I get super annoyed! So I have been trying to walk inside the door so I am not watching her and either she goes faster, or the time just goes faster becuase I am not standing outside harassing her :) I hope she gets over this before the snow comes!! But then she comes inside and snuggles me (like right now) and it is all worth it cuz she is so darn cute!

Life has been busy busy with the practicum but I only have one week left! It's crazy! I am really going to miss those kids, they are so fun! They are so sweet to each other and I really feel like I have gotten to know their sweet little personalities and I just love them! I can't wait to have my own class so I get them for more that 4 weeks! There are so many funny stories I could tell you, but I will just tell you one - cuz it is so funny:

One day I was walking around while the kids were working on their projects and one of the girls (Madide) burped. I looked at her and laughed and we started talking about burping contests. I told her that I liked to have them with my dad but he tells me that it isn't ladylike. So then I told them that burping isn't always appropriate in public. Well, Nate says, "ya like at school - burping or farting or tooting. Boys fart and girls toot. Boys' are called farts because they are more smelly and louder." At this point, Maddie felt the need to prove him wrong so she says, "thats not true. You should hear mine - they are loud and VERY smelly." I laughed so hard! They are so honest and so funny!

Halloween 2008

So I started my practicum this week and I am loving it! Halloween was a blast and all the kids looked so cute in their costumes! Adam got SUPER festive this year and decided to grow a handle bar mustache and cut his hair into a mullet. Lets just say, he promised to have both gone by Nov 1st :) Lole and I were both devils, which was so fun! Of course she didn't keep her costume on for very long! After a fun filled day at the elementary school we went over to Tommy and Aria's house to help pass out candy for a minute and then Adam and I went to Katchie's annual Halloween party, which was a blast! I hope everyone had an amazing holiday! Can you believe it is already November 3rd?! Rumor has it that Walmart is already playing Christmas music?! Where did the time go?!

So I am about to start this new perscription to help with my chroic headaches, and in order for this to work I have to be off of excedrin, ibuprofin, tylenol, and... caffiene :( I am really struggling. It's not that I am SUPER addicted, I just like it. A lot. So I know this will be good for me, but I am having to take it one day at a time! So I decided I just might have to buy myself this shirt for motivation. What do you think?

$15
Size
SMLXL
Cute dark heather tee with wise, wise words. Have 1 last one from the fountain before you quit for good! Women's S, M, L, XL. These run true to size.

I pretty much love this shirt and think that I need it. :)

So I start my practicum on Tuesday and I am so excited! I will be working with 2nd grade! My only problem is that I am going to be there on Halloween and I need a cool costume to wear and I am having a real hard time! I am trying to find a pattern to make a pink chefs hat and matching apron and being a baker... but I dunno... Any suggestions?!

Still Alive...

So for my Multicultural Education class, we were given the assignment to go to a cultural experience. My teacher gave us a lot of great ideas and told us about his friend who is a Pastor in Salt Lake. He told us about how this pastor is an icon and marched with Martin Luther King and how great his sermons were.

So a few of us drove to SLC today, not really knowing what to expect. To be honest, we didn't even know what religion of church we were going to be attending! So we got there and were greeted warmly, asked our names, etc...

Church started and it was quite the experience. First of all, it is so impressive to me to see how much respect these people have for church and they come looking in their absolute Sunday best. I know we all should, but I am definitely guilty of too often getting ready as quickly as possible on Sunday morning so I don't miss my sleep. So anyway, the church service was full of prayers, praising Jesus Christ through song, and a powerful sermon. My favorite was when they had a boy and girl (probably only about 5 years old) sing a song about having Heavenly Father teaching them how to pray and live. they sang alone with the accompanyment and it was beautiful and powerful! Pastor France A. Davis gave an amazing sermon about how to make our homes a good place for children. It is amazing to me how blessed I was for being raised in a home where (as he would put it) our house was dedicated to God.

It is always such a neat experience to see the unity that the knowledge of Jesus Christ can bring to people, no matter what religion, race, or color. They really made me feel welcome and seeing their devotion made me so happy! I do have a testimony of the gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints with all my heart, but I honestly feel like it is good for us to go out and know what others believe in and bridge that gap that religion can place between people.

Seriously?

So let me just preface this by saying that we have a really good dog. Lole has been well trained from day one and it is so nice to have a dog that we trust to sit on the front steps of our apartment without chasing people or running away or causing trouble. Our neighbors, on the contrary, have this stupid basset hound who would run away in a heartbeat if he wasn't on a chain.

If you want to have an outside dog, wait until you have your own house or move into an apartment with a fenced in area. Don't chain your dog up outside your apartment so people can't walk on the sidewalk unless they want to be jumped on or barked at. Now our neighbors have been informed a couple times that if they are going to have their dog outside on the chain, he needs to be supervised. Well, aparently they don't feel like that is a need. If you really don't like your dog well enough to have him inside, then get rid of your dog. Seriously.

So our neighbors were informed again yesterday about thier dog and he flipped out. Mind you he is pretty much an alcoholic and I'm not sure how many drinks he had before he was confronted at 6 oclock in the afternoon. Well, quite a few profanities later, he called the police and felt the need to inform them that Lole is not on a leach when she is outside. And since Springville is a leash city, we can get a big fat fine for having our dog outside our apartment without a leash. Which includes her going to the bathroom.

I am so frustrated! My dog goes to the bathroom in the same place every time and she is perfectly capable without me standing there holding a leash! WELL now he has threatened that any time she is not on a leash, he is going to call the police on us. SO I had to go buy Lole a leash last night (lol thats right, we didn't even know where ours was because she never needs one when we go anywhere). And now I have to stand outside and hold my dog on a leash every time she goes to the potty.

Well. There you go. Thanks for letting me vent!

I love spinning!

So when school started, I started losing my habits of going to the gym. But I have really been trying to get those habits back recently! SO... my really cute friend from Happy Sumo recently became a spin instructor at Golds, so I been going to her spin classes! I LOVE IT! It is such a good workout! The first time Adam and I went, I threw up half-way through the class, but since then it has all been uphill :) I don't know what it is about the dark room and loud music, that totally gets me in the zone!

Other than that, Adam and I have been keeping really busy since school started! I am taking 16 credits and I think Adam is taking either 15 or 16 credits also! His business is keeping him really busy every other moment of the week! I am working about 2-3 shifts a week at Happy Sumo and am really needing all the extra time that frees up for me with all the homework my professors assign!

All in all, I am really enjoying my classes. I am learning some really interesting things about education and how I can be the best teacher possible! I can't wait to just get out into the classrooms!

With everything that has happened in the past few weeks, I am just reminded of how lucky I am to be blessed with such an amazing family (old and new)! The support system we have and the strength I have seen in my family, especially Trey, amazes me every day! It's crazy to think that if I had to deal with so many situations that I would just shut down, but I see members of my family go though these things and they are so strong and have so much faith! I am grateful to them for their great example to me.

And with that I just have to add how lucky I am to have Adam for a husband! He really is so good to me! He always knows just what to say to make me smile and he really makes sure I know, every day, how much he loves me! I am so grateful that we can be an eternal family!

PS! I just have to add my shout out to the dear Madelyn Wayment! She helped me (and when I say help I mean pretty much did everything while I watched lol) create my wonderful new blog, which I absolutely love! Thanks so much Madelyn!

Avid Reader

So in my Children's Literature class today, my teacher was talking to us about the one question you can ask a person to see if they are the sort of person who loves reading and reads regularly or not. I thought this was super interesting (after trying to guess the question several times he finally gave us the answer he was looking for lol)! The question is, "What are you planning on reading next?" This is because someone who is constantly reading, will probably be thinking about/planning for their next good read!

I know a lot of you are big readers, so my question to you is, what do you plan on reading next, or do you have any great suggestions for what I read next? I am STILL working on the 9th Work and the Glory book (I took a break to read the Twilight series) and am trying to decide what I want to read next! I was thinking about reading East of Eden again, since I read it in highschool and absolutely loved it! So... what do you think?!