Oregon!

I can't believe what a slacker I have been about keeping up my blog! Life happens though I guess :) I'm still trying to work and go to class at night, which has not been very fun. The good news is that I'm done with my ESL class and got an "A!" Yeah! The bad news being I still have my Masters' class and have a 10 page due here soon that I haven't started :)

Over the fall break I was able to fly to Portland, Oregon to see my sister and her family. It was such a fun trip and I loved every minute of it. I have missed all of them so much, and it was so good to see them. The time went by so quickly. I spent four days there, but it didn't seem like it at all. Here are a few pictures of some of the fun things we did.
Can I tell you how much I have missed these faces! Treyson talks pretty good now and says "Aunt T" It's funny because Payton has always called me "Nant Ne" even though she can say Aunt T, but now that Treyson says is right she now callls me "Aunt T" too. I kind of miss being called "Nant Ne" :( Probably just because it means she's growing up.

The first day we went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. It was really interesting to see the factory and all that cheese! We had some of the best ice cream ever there!

Even though it was way too cold to get in the water I still had to go to the ocean. It is defintely one of my favorite places to be.

We also went to the zoo and had lots of fun there. Treyson loves the bears!

Kacie took Payton to the bathroom,so I decided Treyson and I would have a little photo shoot. He thought it was sooo funny and kept yelling "More!" So, I have about 5 pictures of us like this.

Me with the kids at the zoo.

It took forever to convince Payton to get her picture taken with this bear, she was scared of it!

Payton helping cook on Sunday.

Me and my favorite niece. Oh how I love this child :)

~Random Rambling~

I thought I would just do a quick update since I am trying to get better at keeping up with my blog. I start my second masters class tomorrow, so I will be in class two nights a week now instead of just one, we'll see how that goes :) I'm so thankful for Chelsie and that she is doing this with me because I don't know how else I would survive if we couldn't figure out and complain about things together.

This is an old picture but I just have to say how much fun I have been having with these girls lately :) Kara and I spent Labor Day weekend over in Parowan at the Iron County Fair which I love and until last year hadn't missed going in forever. We went to the rodeo on Sat. night and then back on Monday for the horse races..one of my favorite things in the whole world. They bring back so many good memories of my childhood and the time spent with my grandparents there. I'm so glad that Kara is willing to go with me and likes being there too. It seems like the three of us haven't been able to do anything all together in a long time, so we've just been doing random things seperately. MaCail and I have had a ton of fun together lately going to movies, just talking and working on little projects:) I'm so thankful for both of these girls and that we are such good friends.

Today is Becca's 32nd birthday! I love that for 6 months and a day she gets to be older than me. She's not much for birthdays or making a big deal of them, but she humors me and lets me even though I know she totally hates it. I love Becca so much and am thankful everyday that she's my best friend and for the relationship we have :) Happy Birthday Bec!

Yes! Football season! I am so excited :) I just know my bears are going to do great this year. 1-0 and off to a great start!

Can I tell you how much I miss these two already! I stole this picture off of my sister's blog. I can't believe how much bigger Treyson looks since the last time I saw him. I hate so much that I am missing so much with them being so far away. It makes my day to be able to talk to Payton on the phone.

I went down to Mesquite and stayed with the girls for the weekend, which was great and something I haven't done for awhile so it was good to just spend time with them. Tori was cheering at a game one night and the next Cooper and Caleb had football games down there, so it worked out perfectly. Jessica and Tori came to the games with me and hung out. I didn't get any pictures of Tori because she took off with her friends not too long after we got there:) Cooper loves to use my camera and walk around taking pictures of everything. Here he is in action!

Jayden has had a crush on Jessica since he met her, so it's always funny when they get together. It always takes him a minute to warm up but before long he is on her lap and playing with her. This picture is classic:) Who is that weirdo in the background with her mouth open?

Caleb in his football uniform. When did this kid get so big? Watching him on the field is crazy because he looks so big out there. He's still the one who will always give me a hug though :)

~One Big Catch Up Post!~

I had really good intentions of blogging about every trip and everything that happened this summer! Not because I think everyone really cares, but eventually I plan to print this out and make it into a sort of journal I guess. Well that didn't happen. Life has been crazy lately! I am in the process of getting my Masters in Education which means I'm stuck in class two nights a week after teaching all day and also stuck with the homework that comes with it. Luckily, my friend Chelsie has agreed to do it with me and it's made it a lot easier because we are able to do our homework together and just suffer through the whole experiene together :) So, school started August 11th. I am still teaching 4th grade and have 29 awesome kids! I don't know if they are just waiting to bring out their other personalities later or what but as of right now I feel so blessed! They are great and it has been so much fun! The pictures below are pretty much a mixture of summer and everything I had on my camera up to now.

I loved my classroom so much that I talked Becca into painting my bedroom. Of course she went above and beyond what I would have expected. I gave her the picture that I wanted and she did everything else. I didn't even tell her where I wanted it on the wall. I couldn't be happier with it though! Looks awesome :)

She also put this new desk in and painted the flower on it! I love the whole thing, my room puts off a happy feeling!

This is how you know you're besties! We both walked out of the bathroom wearing almost the exact same outfit and looked at each other and said "I'm not changing!" So we didn't we went through the day looking like twins. Didn't bug us at all.

The last week in July my grandma got a houseboat on Lake Powell for 4 days. It was such a great vacation. The whole family was able to come besides Christan and her family and Daniel and of course Chase who is on a mission. We had so much fun together boating and riding the jet ski. I was so glad my grandma was able to come and had such a great time. I am so thankful for the wonderful family I have. Here are a few pictures from our trip. I wish I would have gotten more but I was so scared of getting my camera wet that I didn't take it out on the boat too much, and that's where I spent the majority of my day.

Lake Powell is so pretty!

Jessica and I riding on the tube with Mark driving. Scary stuff, but so much fun :)

Tori and Krystle riding on the tube. Mark would whip Tori, Krystle and Zach around so much and they would just get right back on. My favorite saying of Zach's to Mark was "Is that all ya got Grandpa!"

Tori being Tori. I love this girl so much she just seems to make everything so much fun! Her and Jessica I just didn't catch Jessica in action. Any time I get to spend with these two anymore I treasure because they are both so busy. I love both of them so much and miss being able to see them all the time.

I had planned on going to Indianapolis with MaCail and Kara over the same time we went to Lake Powell. The Lake Powell trip was kind of a last minute thing, but luckily I had decided not to go to Indianapolis, not because I didn't want to go but just because of how much it would cost and with school being close and everything. I would have loved to go with Kara and MaCail we always have so much fun together. I was really glad though that I hadn't bought plane tickets and everything because I really wanted to go to Powell with my family. I took Kara and MaCail down to Vegas to the airport and made Becca go with me so I would have some company on the way home. This is all of us at Caesars Palace waiting to eat at the Cheesecake Factory!

Becca, MaCail and I decided to walk around Caesar's Palace a little while we were waiting and saw this really cool glass thing. You can't see it very well but it's a good picture of all of us!

Becca went down to Vegas to take her LPN test and took the night before to study, so I got to watch the boys overnight. We had so much fun! I love her boys and spending time with them. We went swimming, to the park ,played video games and lots of other stuff. They were so good I kind of wondered if they might get a little nervous at night never staying here before overnight, but they didn't. Jayden came in early in the morning and told me he had a bad dream but just curled up next to me and went back to sleep. It was the cutest thing ever :)

In July, My mom, Kacie, the kids and I went to California to visit my great grandpa Just. He is 89 and is still in great shape and gets around so good. He has a girlfriend that is 64 :) We went to the beach in Malibu. It was so pretty! It was so good to see my grandpa and get to spend time with my sister and mom.

Here are my grandpa Just and Mom with the Payton and Treyson.

Treyson and I at the beach. I love this kid :) He is such a cutie.

Payton and I at the beach in Malibu. Love her so much too :)

My grandpa Just and I by his 77 Lincoln. This car is the best! He is leaving it to me in his will.

All of us by our favorite car!

Jen and I wearing matching shirts. I showed up at Jamaica's and there she was in the exact same shirt I was wearing, great minds think alike! I love Jen so much and am so grateful for the wonderful example and friend she is to me.

So I guess that's it my life in a quick post. One last thing sad bit of news :( My sister and her family moved to Portland last weekend. I can't believe that I'm not going to be able to see them anytime I want anymore. I am going to miss my sister and of course the kids so much :( I plan to make some trips to Oregon though. I've never been there before so it will be a new adventure for me!

~June California Trip! Seaworld, Knotts Berry Farm and the Beach!~

I have three vacations I need to blog about so I figured I would start with California back in June and hopefully get the other two on here soon! At the end of June I went to California with Beccca and the boys. We went to Knotts Berry Farm the first day, a really cool science musuem the next day, Seaworld the next, amd then the Beach on the last day. On the way home we hit the rides on the top of the Stratosphere. We had almost every minute planned out it seemed, but that's the way I like it, and it was so much fun! This is the second year I've got to go on vacation with her and the boys and I love it! Hopefully we will be able to make it a summer tradition :) My pictures are not in any order.
Me holding a starfish at Seaworld. I loved watching Cooper at Seaworld with all the animals and especially with the Starfish. I think we came back to this place three different times.

Bec and I with our yellow ponchos, and boy did we need them to sit in those soak zones at the shows.

Jayden and I at the science museum.

There were some scary rides at Knotts Berry Farm. Most that Jayden and Cooper didn't want to go on so I went on with Caleb. He is such a little daredevil and wanted to do all of them, so I had to pretend I wasn't scared!

At the hotel the first night :)

Knotts Berry Farm

a water ride at Sea World.

Caleb and Cooper at the beach

Bec and I at the beach

Me and Jayden

Jayden buried in the sand

At the top of the Stratosphere after driving way too long!

The boys at the top of the Stratosphere

~Painting the Classroom Purple!!!~

So I am still way behind with blogging because this happened almost a month ago..but I decided this summer since I had to switch classrooms that I wanted to paint it purple! I had never painted anything before I started helping Becca paint her house she is remodeling. It is actually kinda fun and a lot easier than I thought. At first I was going to just paint my front wall purple, but with some help from Becca, ok A LOT of help! We painted the front wall purple and she painted my favorite hibiscus (Roxy!) flowers, two on the front wall, and one on the side. I love it! Before it was done I couldn't get the vision of what it would look like, probably because I have no artistic talent myself :) Each of the flowers took her a couple of hours to do, so we had a really long night, but it was sooo worth it! My classroom puts off such a happy feeling now:)

Bec and I standing by the flower on the side wall

The biggest flower on the front wall. Caleb was such a trooper and stayed up with us until 3 in the morning.

The view from the back of the room.

The Big Flower

The smaller flower on the front wall by my desk.

View from the back again

The flower on the white wall

I have to admit I was a little scared to do this, but I'm so glad that I did with lots of help of course! Thanks Bec :) I think my 4th graders are going to ♥ it!