The Milnes

2 month check up

2012-01-18T09:48:00.004-07:00

Wow I can't believe Kaylie is more than 2 months now! She is seriously growing like a weed. She changes everyday and has already changed so much since she was born! Here's her stats from yesterday's doctor visit.

Height: 24 inches long
Weight: 12 lbs 8 oz
Head circ.: 16 inches

Doctor said she is in the 80th-90th percentile in everthing! Like I said she's my big girl. Doctor said she looked great though! She has been hitting all the 2 month milestones like smiling, recognizing mommy and daddy's faces, grabbing at things, and lifting her head really well. She has a mild case of thrush but the doctor said it should go away soon. She did so good at the doctor's office! She drank the stuff so good with her pacifier and was still smiling when the first shot when in, but as soon as the next two came she started screaming! But she was such a brave girl and only cried for about 2 minutes and then fell asleep in the car. I had to go to a quick Relief Society Meeting and when I got home she was screaming. I mean bloody murder screaming! Derick said she woke up and he fed her 2 ounces and as soon as that was gone it was like she realized that her legs hurt! So I put her into a warm bath and that calmed her right down. Then I put on her fuzzy jammies and put my rice heating pad on her and she fell right asleep. That was 8:30 last night and she didn't wake up until 6:30 this morning! What a rough day yesterday I guess!

Here's a few fun things about Kaylie:

*She has been sleeping 8+ hours most nights

*She eats about 4-5 oz each feeding and does so good with the bottle

*She loves Denise the baby sitter but was so nervous the first day she wouldnt take her eyes off her so she would take a nap-needless to say she slept so good that night!

*She loves her swing and is getting better at putting herself to sleep without mommy holding her or sucking on a bottle

*She loves her play mat and loves to kick things

*Loves when mom sings song or plays the glow worm at bedtime and always falls alseep to them

*Hates daddy's wiskers when he rubs them on her tummy or cheek!

* Loves to stick her tongue out! She does it all the time lately!

*She loves bath time. She absolutely loves the warm water!

She is seriously like her daddy! They both have these wierd floopy sock things they do. Her fit are so long and skinny that I cant find any socks to fit her. Plus she kicks them off all the time!

She is starting to smile! I love this! She loves to talk and coo all the time especially after she wakes up from a nap or when I give her some naked time! (with diaper on of course cause this girl has given daddy and mommy too many surprises when the diaper comes off!)

She loves fuzzy things! She practically attacked her bear when it was next to her! The other day she had turned in her swing and was licking the fuzzy blanket underneath her!

Here's all of Kaylie's silly faces she's been giving me lately! Love this girl!

Blessings

2012-01-14T21:09:00.002-07:00

Our little Kaylie was blessed on Sunday, January 1, 2012

She looked so adorable in her blessing outfit that Brittany and my mom picked out! It was a 3-6 month dress and I was shocked that it fit her perfectly and she's only 2 months! Her tights were a little baggy and she constantly kicked her shoes off but all in all she looked cute! I also made her blessing blanket. I've made a few for my neices/nephews so I knew I needed to do one for Kaylie and it turned out pretty good!
I love this picture! It shows just how long her legs are! She's my little string bean but yet has some pudgey rolls! Derick did an amazing job. Her blessing was so sweet. Derick said she squirmed the whole time but didn't make a sound!

Afterwards we went back to our clubhouse and had cinnamon rolls, juice, and fruit. And of course Kaylie got passed around and got held by all her grandparents and great grandparents. I'm bummed we didn't get a whole group shot of everyone who came but Kaylie was surrounded by lots of loved ones on her special day.

I know it was a bad day, being that it was New Years Day and of course our ward had just switched to the 9 am hour but I am still grateful for those that were able to make it. We know things come up and you can't try and please everyone but it was nice to have family around since my parents and siblings couldn't be there. Derick and I and now Kaylie are truly blessed with some amazing family and friends. Thanks everyone for making Kaylie's day great! We will always remember this special day! Love you all!

Christmas Time!

2012-01-14T10:18:00.007-07:00

Sorry this post is long overdue. But with all the craziness of the holidays, Kaylie's blessing, and going back to work, it really has been tough finding time to write it all down! I hope everyone had a fun Christmas! I know we did. It was especially fun having Kaylie with us this year. We went to lots of work, friend, and family parties the week of Christmas. It was good just spending time with everyone! On Christmas Eve we went to Derick's grandma's house for the annual party where Santa comes and brings his little elf Bert. It's always a fun time with everyone there. Kaylie was wide awake the whole time until Santa got there so needless to say she slept on Santa's lap! But hey it's better than screaming right?

Ava, Ila, and Kaylie got these cute pink dogs from Santa and they all loved them! Ava thought it was the best thing that their dogs were matching!
Kaylie opened her first pair of Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve and wore them to the party. They were 3 months and only a tiny bit big! It reminds me that she is getting so much bigger all the time!
Kaylie and her buddy Ava! Ava absolutely adores baby Kaylie! She smiles everytime she sees her! She loves to give her kisses, tickles, and she always makes sure she has her blankie on!

Kaylie got passed around lots and was so exhausted that she slept in until 8! Which gave mommy and daddy time to sleep in and eat a yummy breakfast. When we went to get her out of her crib she was wide awake and so happy! She got lots of stuff in her stocking from Santa and loved her little wrist rattles!

She also got lots of darling clothes. Here is her cute pink dress from Aunt Terra

And her cute jammies from Aunt Andre

My mom got her this cute purple church dress!We got Kaylie this cute play mat. She hasn't quite starting grabbing at things yet but boy does she love to kick. We put a bird chime from Aunt Lindy on there and she loves to kick it and make it chime!

Here is Kaylie's stash of Christmas presents! Thanks for spoiling her everyone!

She loves this little glow worm she got from aunt Kristi. I remember when I had one when I was little and it's so cute to see Kaylie with hers. She loves it in her crib and loves to listen to the music and then she zonks right out!

Yes Derick and I also go presents! LOL I got Derick and dehydrater to make jerky and he got me a cartridge for my cricket with baby things on it so I can scrap all about Kaylie! Overall we had a great time with family and friends and Kaylie!

Show and Tell!

2011-12-23T18:31:00.005-07:00

Kaylie is almost 7 weeks and I can't believe it has been that long already! I am sad to be going back to work cause she is finally starting to be awake more during the day and way more alert and playful! Sunday was our first time going to all 3 hours of church. She looked so cute in her little dress, tights, and shoes! However, we were in for a surprise when we got home! She had a major blowout! It was all over her tights, and onesie. I had no clue how to get it off without getting poop all over her! This seems to be her favorite thing to do lately. She definitely knows how to fill up a diaper lately! Definitely gets that from her dad!

She is getting so big. She is now over 11 pounds and almost 24 inches long! She just keeps growing! She is now in 0-3 month clothes. Her newborn sleepers are getting too small but some of her 0-3 month clothes are too big. But she is getting quite the belly and chubby cheeks! Daddy calls her his little pudgey pudge! She is so funny when we lay her on the floor. She likes to look around and once in a while will just stare at the TV. She will also move her head from side to side when you shake the rattle but she still isn't grabbing things too well yet. She likes the soft little catterpillar guy and once in a while we catch her trying to eat it!

We opened our first Christmas present yesterday from Aunt Kristi and it was some cute hats that her friend Amanda made. She did such a good job on them and they are so adorable on her. I love this little owl hat. I love that it covers Kaylies ears! I wish you could see more of the hat in this picture cause Kaylie's eyes are as big the owl's!

I also love the other two hats and she even made cute flower clips so that they can be interchanged! I love these pictures because she looks so old! I can't believe how much she is changing already. She definitely doesn't look like a newborn anymore! Today we went to my school to see my students and show them all Kaylie. It was so fun! It was nice that the kids were so excited to see me. I was a little worried about if they'd want me back after having fun Miss Benson there for the past few weeks! I'm also excited for Christmas. I can't believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve. I can't wait to take pictures of Kaylie with Santa and her first Christmas and then on to her blessing! Merry Christmas everyone!

Tis the season

2011-12-16T14:22:00.003-07:00

Wow- tis the season for craziness! We have been super busy getting everything ready for Christmas. I can't believe it is in 9 days! I've gotten all of my Christmas shopping for family done and shipped! But now I am on a hunt for Derick's presents! And boy am I stumped! He's a tough one to shop for! It's also hard getting things for Kaylie. What do you buy a 5 week old? :) LOL it will be a fun Christmas this year! We've also been super busy with Christmas parties! It seems like for the next week we have one party after another! It will be fun and nice to actually get out of the house and hang out with adults! Last night I went to our annual gingerbread house making party with the girls from work (past and present!) It was fun to see them all and catch up and of course show off Kaylie!
Kaylie is getting so big! She now weighs about 11 pounds and is changing so much. She is getting too long for her newborn onesies. Yes I said too long. Hopefully she got daddy's genes and will be a tall little bugger! Now that the snow is coming I've been trying to keep her warm and pulled out her cute moccasins that Aunt Terra gave her! So cute! And it's good that they go up high because her pants are all too short!

She's been such a good baby during the day but has a hard time at night. She drives Derick crazy with the noises she makes all night night long! The other day her swing ran out of batteries so I put her right next to me on the couch while I pumped. My pillow was there so I proped her up on it and she instantly fell asleep which never happens! She seems to love it! Too bad i can't put a pillow in her crib with her! I think she just loves to be near people and that helps her sleep. She has been eating from the bottle really well and has been better about not spitting up. Once in a while I will try to nurse her to see if she wont spit it up anymore but that always backfires. She eats well but afterwards she just spits up like crazy. No clue why! But I still keep hoping that would pass cause all this pumping is starting to drive me crazy! I can tell my milk supply is having a hard time keeping up with her but not sure if I should start taking something to help increase it again. So for the time being i am still pumping like crazy cause I refuse to buy formula! But she is starting to look around more and recoginzes momma and loves to cuddle with me! Probably cause daddy always rubs his scruffy face against her to bug her! I've also tried to have Derick get up with her more during the night to get prepared for when I too have to go to work! I think he hates me! LOL but he does a good job with her! But she can sure be a stinker sometimes!

One month old

2011-12-10T17:38:00.002-07:00

Kaylie is now 1 month old! So crazy how the time goes. In just a few weeks she has changed so much! She now weighs 10 pounds and is 21 inches long! She is so long and lean! It amazes me that she still fits into her newborn clothes but some of them are too short. Yes they fit around the waist but not in length. Yesterday I put her in one of her newborn sleepers and she couldn't stretch out her poor legs. But then I put her in a 0-3 month sleeper and I found her the next morning with both legs stuck in the same foot hole! Poor girl-mommy will get it right sometime I guess! And yes she still has a big head- she has already outgrown some of her cute little hats! My favorite picture of Derick and Kaylie from a few weeks ago. Back when she didn't mind being swaddled. Now she just fights it! Also she fights sleep and grunts all the time! The only time she sleeps really good is cuddled up next to one of us!
One morning I woke up with a start and thought something was wrong cause she slept so long in her crib! She loves her arms out and laying on her side!

Just lounging on Mommy's bed in her favorite deer jammies!She loves her tummy time for about 5 minutes and does so good getting her head up. Instead of flopping around she actually has some control and is starting to be more alert and likes to look around. This is also the look she gives when she is hungry! She does ok with breastfeeding during the day but at night time it's a fight. I've started pumping to get ready to go back to work and we've also started introducing the bottle to get her used to it and she does really good. It also seems better and doesn't make her spit up as much. I've had a hard time being ok with not breastfeeding as much but Kaylie is a stinker and Derick keeps telling me, As long as she's eating my breast milk it's ok. I still love to feed her and have that time with her but I love that she still looks up at me and holds my hand when I give her a bottle. I'm just happy that she's gaining weight now and growing like crazy!

She actually loves her little bath! I thought for sure she would scream and hate it but she loves the warm water. Lately she's been trying to stick her leg over the edge into the water but once she touches it, she doesn't know what to do and just holds her leg up in the air! But once you take her out and try to dress her...then the screaming starts!

Kaylie Girl

2011-12-02T13:50:00.002-07:00

I can't believe Kaylie is already 3 1/2 weeks old. She is already changing so much! I'm not sure how much she weighs now cause we don't have a scale but she is definitely getting a tummy! She has already grown 1 1/2 inches in length and still has such long arms and legs! He poor pants fit around the belly but not in the legs! We also measured her head which is 14 inches around which means she has a pretty big melon as Derick would say! We've been giving her some tummy time each day because she is quite the "flop"er and she doesn't mind it for a few minutes and then she starts kicking her legs. Then she gets up on her knees and sticks her bum in the air! She still fits in her newborn onesies and couple of 0-3 month things but those are often huge on her. We've been keeping the little mittens on her hands since she loves to have her hands out of the blankets and I was worried her hands would freeze but now she wiggles out of them! She has a little sleeper with the mittens that fold over on it and the other dayshe had her thumbs sticking out on both hands. Then the next day she had her whole right hand out of it! So needless to say we are about done with the mittens! This week I have been trying to keep Kaylie awake more during the day so that she could sleep well at night. She still takes a few naps and absolutely loves her swing. I also had to buck up and have her start sleeping in her own room in her big girl bed! And she did great! The first time I stuck her in there she loved it! She has been sleeping with a fluffy blanket that she loves to be snuggled in and then she falls asleep so fast! She also loves sleeping on her side and if she ends up on her back, she flops her hands in the air and stretches her legs out! She must have been so cramped in my stomach cause now all she loves to do is stretch out! One thing she does that I love is when she first starts to fall asleep she gives a tiny smile and then giggles and then she is out cold! She is also learning to use her voice and like her mom, she cries when she is really worn out and wants to sleep! She also hates to be naked but loves to sit in the warm bath water! We are still working on the whole eating thing. Sometimes she finishes and is full in 10 minutes and other times she likes to sit and suck for 40 minutes! At night she often sleeps for 4 hours straight before waking up to eat again. Now that she is gaining weight I've been doing a lot more of "feeding on demand" and she definitely lets me know when she is hungry! Although our 3 am feeding is rough! This morning she wanted to eat for a few minutes and then refused to sleep or eat. So needless to say daddy was up trying to get her to sleep. Then around 5 she decided she was hungry and then passed out for the rest of the night! This girl definitely throughs me for a loop. One day she does great, and the next day she switches it up! I promise I'll get better at this! LOL But I love her anyway! Next week we are going to meet some people who might be watching Kaylie when I go back to work. I'm a little nervous about finding someone good and leaving her all day! Sorry for such a long blog but of course I have to share all the things I love about this girl!

Photo Shoot

2011-11-24T19:21:00.004-07:00

So my good friend Jenny came over the other day and we did a fun photo shoot with little miss Kaylie. She did pretty well at first but hated being naked so did it pretty quick but ended up getting so many good shots. Here are a few of my favorites.

Kaylie Ann Milne

2011-11-17T14:30:00.003-07:00

Kaylie Ann Milne

November 8, 2011

8:03 AM

8 lbs 19 1 /2 inches

On Novemeber 8th Derick and I went to the American Fork Hospital at 6:15 am. I of course was a little nervous about the whole surgery but Derick was as confident as ever. We were taken to our room to get ready for the c-section. For those who don't know we chose the c-section because my body never made any progress towards labor. And it's a good thing we did because the doctor even had a hard time getting her out of my stomach and had to use the suction to get her out.
Derick watched the whole surgery. He said it was crazy to see my muscles move everytime the baby did. He said she was completely covered with the white stuff. She had a little bit of a hard time breathing but they said it was normal with c-section babies. The first thing the doctor said was how pretty her lips were and that she was a big baby.

She has such long arms and legs and loves to kick them around. She also has such cute skinny feet and toes! But everyone kept saying what a perfectly round head she has! Derick went with Kaylie to the nursery to get cleaned up and she got her first cute hair bows. She was doing really good until the second day when we noticed her yellow coloring. She had her bilirubin tested and had to immediately go under the lights to get rid of the jaundice. They had to give her a pacifier to calm her down for a second and after that she was great. She loved the lights and just laid there like it was a tanning bed!

Daddy and his little girl. They are absolutely adorable together. She loves to lay with her daddy after eating. Because of the jaundice she became extremely sleepy and had a hard time feeding. We had to supplement a little bit with formula and of course I pumped the colostrum with the hopes that my milk would come in faster and not make it so hard for her to suck and eat. She lost about 7-10% of her body weight so of course you can imagine what a wreck I was everytime she had to eat. Derick of course was awesome and the lactation nurses at the hospital were awesome and helped me feed her without giving her a bottle which I didn't want to do.

My mom was able to come out from California to help me with the baby. Kaylie loved having her Grandma time! It was nice to have her here since I had to go to the hospital everyday to have her bilirubin checked. I was shocked that I felt so good after the c-section. I was sore for the first couple of days in the hospital but I was able to get up and walk around and shower.

We were able to stay until Saturday morning but decided we wanted to go home on Friday instead. It was so nice to be able to go home and sleep in our own bed! She looked so adorable in her going home outfit. I got the clothes from one of my students this year and loved them! The hat is from Kaylie's Aunt Kristi! I love how snuggly she looks in her carseat!

Thanks to everyone who came to visit us in the hospital and for all the fun gifts for Kaylie. She has so many people who love her and she is truly one spoiled little girl already!

Love This Girl!

2011-11-17T13:17:00.003-07:00

This past week and a half have been filled to the max! But I love spending time with this little girl! Everyday I learn something new about her. And now that the jaundice is going down she is showing her personality a little more each day. Here are a few things I love and have learned about this sweet girl...She has long arms, legs, fingers, and feet! And they are so skinny!

She is the 50% percentile for weight and is working on getting back to her birth weight.

Her newborn pants are huge on her and she loves to kick off her socks! Kaylie hates to be swaddled at night! She fights so bad to get her hands and legs free.

We got some mittens to wear at night so her hands don't get too cold!

She is a good sleeper and so far has done well in her pack n play all by herself!

She would sleep through the night probably if I didn't get her up to feed!

And boy is it a fight sometimes for her to wake up and eat!

She loves her bows! Ok maybe mommy likes her bows! But she looks so darling in them!
She both hates and loves bath time! She hates to get cold but she loves the warm water on her feet!

When she her jaundice levels were high it was a rarity to see he with her eyes open.

She has beautiful eyes and loves to look around.

I love it when she is nursing and just stares and me.
Sometimes she gets this grumpy/what are you doing? look on her face!

Family Baby Shower

2011-09-21T20:17:00.003-06:00

On the 10th my family threw me a baby shower in Las Vegas. Derick and his family were going down to California for the Utah vs USC game so I said just to leave me in Vegas and we could have everyone come half way for the shower. I am so glad that it actually worked out. It was so much fun to stay with my friend Chelsea and her little family and to see all my family! (minus Brittany-I missed ya) Terra and everyone did a great job! It was such a cute ladybug/watermelon theme! And Chelsea even made the cutest, yummiest cake pops that were decorated like watermelons! I don't have all the pics from the shower yet but here are a few sneak peeks!

My belly @ 33 weeks! We're getting there!
The cute diaper cake Terra made! I love the cute ladybug hair clips!

The cute tutu my friend Sarah made for Kaylie!

Kaylie's first Teddy! Thanks mom! If you know me, you know I love Teddy Bears!

The quilt Terra made KaylieInstead of playing weird baby games, Kristi had everyone decorate bibs and onesies! They all turned out so cute! Of course I had to make one to represent Derick!

Onesies from Grandpa and Grandma and my friend Ginny

The purple one is for Lehi soccer from Tara and Hailey and Kristi made the cute pink one with the giraffe!

All the cute bibs!

All the fabulous bows for Kaylie! I love it!

We got so many cute presents from everyone! I was so glad that everyone could make it, especially those that came all the way down to Vegas from Utah even though we live so close already! It was fun to have everyone together. Well I think that is enough pictures for now. I will post more soon! Thanks everyone for a great shower! Kaylie is so spoiled already!

So much going on!

2011-08-26T18:30:00.003-06:00

There has been so much going on these past few weeks that I feel so out of touch with things going on around me! First off, Derick and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary! Crazy huh? 2 years already! Derick was so cute and he really knows how much I like to celebrate special things like this. So he got me a beautiful purple orchid (my favorite), chocolates, and even a cute onesie and bib for Kaylie! I love this guy!

We've also started softball season so every Monday Derick and his brothers play in a rec league which is really fun! Then yesterday we celebrated Derick's 29th birthday by going to Chili's with our family and friends! Oh and then of course there is work. Both Derick and I are fully back and work now! We love our jobs but can't believe it is yet another school year already! My kids have been really good but I come home completely exhausted!

Oh yeah and swollen feet! Yes! swollen feet! It sucks big time. I can't fit into most of my shoes! But the nice thing is that my principal gave me a student teacher! So the next couple of weeks will be hard but once she takes over I can hopefully get things ready for my maternity leave! Thank goodness! I keep saying, if I can just make it to track break in October! So as you can see, so many things in just a few weeks! Yes I am tired! This weekend Derick is hunting and I plan on......RELAXING!!

Don't laugh at my huge belly! I seriously can't believe I still could grow more in 2 months! But I am loving my pregnancy! Kaylie is litterally bouncing off the walls! She moves all the time and lately has been getting the hiccups daily. (yes she even has them right now) Last night was the first time Derick has been able to feel her. She loves to play hide and seek with daddy cause she usually stops moving when Derick is around! He couldn't believe he actually felt her last night and kept saying it was me moving my belly. Does he understand that I can't just make one little spot move? LOL :)

We are getting more and more excited to have her here already! We have the nursery decorated and everything big we need. In 2 weeks my family is throwing me a shower in vegas with lots of my vegas friends. I am really excited! I am also excited to have it there so that my friend Chelsea can be there. I was never able to go to her baby showers so I am excited to have her there for mine! I just hope things slow down a bit before Kaylie gets here! Keep your fingers crossed!

Family Pictures

2011-07-31T14:25:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago we went and did some quick family pictures since Jason and Andrea were here this summer. It was the first time we had all been together in a long time so it was fun to have everyone together. It's crazy that in November there will be another little Milne running around! Oh and for everyone who hasn't heard- we have decided to name her Kaylie Ann Milne!

Me, Britney,Andrea, Lindy
What a cute family huh? :)

Bear Lake 2011

2011-07-31T14:09:00.003-06:00

This year we did our annual trip to Bear Lake with Derick's family! It was so much fun and it was nice to have Britney and Andrea there this year! We had almost everyone there this year except Jason but hopefully next year everyone will be able to be there. This year was a bit different for me with being pregnant and all. I had to sit out of most of the family volleyball games, boating, and playing tennis but it was still fun! We got to go swimming a lot, hit the beach, mini golf, and of course hang out with the family playing cards!

All the Milnes (minus Jason) on our last day!
Kendall

Britney and Diana

Family volleyball game- Milnes vs Bauers!

Ava and Kendall at mini golf

Britney and Hailey at the lake

Kendall playing Mini golf-she loved this hole!

Derick and Ava became fast buddies while sharing Otter Pops!

Cute matching girls with their mommies!

Ava and Kendall with Devin's girlfriend Leah!

Once again no pictures of myself and Derick! Can you tell I am content to be out of the pictures! LOL I'll try and be better and getting pictures of myself and the growing belly for everyone! All in all Bear Lake was very hot and very fun! I look forward to it every year. Next year will be wierd with Derick and I having a little one of our own to take care of. So crazy!

Baby Shower

2011-07-31T13:47:00.003-06:00

A few weeks ago my awesome sister in laws- Lindy and Andrea threw me a fantastic baby shower! It was so much fun! Everyone from Derick's side of the family came and we had a blast. There were cute decorations and yummy food! I am so blessed to have everyone come for me and this little girl! She is definitely already spoiled! We had all of Derick's grandmas, aunts, cousins, and sisters there! It always makes me nervous to be the center of attention and put on the spot but it was a lot of fun. And everyone gave us some super cute presents! Like I said...spoiled!

This is the cute banner Andrea made!

Derick's mom got us our carseat/stroller and Cousin Chelsea got us the cute pink bouncer!

And everyone pitched in and got us our pack 'n play!

Andrea made the amazing purple quilt and Derick's grandma Jill made the cute pink one!

Grandma Gabbitas made the cute grandma quilt and Jill gave us some burb cloths she made as well as some burb cloths from Derick's great grandma Isla! I love these kinds of things!

We also got so many darling outfits!

Thanks everyone who came and especially to Lindy and Andrea for putting it all together! Like I said, Derick and I are so thankful for our families and for this little girl! We can't wait until November!

Trip to the Aquarium

2011-07-09T16:51:00.002-06:00

Friday we were invited to go to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy with our friends Brian, Carli, and their little girl Molly. Derick had never been to an aquarium and it's been a few years for me to go there so we were excited to go. Me especially 'cause I really wanted to see the penguins!

Here's a good belly shot for everyone! Yes it's getting big!
Derick touching the sting rays. One almost came over the edge and got me!

All you who know me know I love the turtles!

The penguins! They were so fun jumping in and out of the water! Derick says I like them because I waddle like them now! Which is soooo true some days!

Derick with the Emperor penguin and it's chick! Soon to be Derick and our little girl!

Overall it was really fun to see the animals. We joke that it was our first trip out with our little one (yes she still has no name so that's what we call her). Next week we go to Bear Lake and I hope I can make it through the heat! I plan on lots of time by the lake in the water and the shade! Wish me luck! Also Monday is my first baby shower which I am way excited for!

The Nursery

2011-07-09T16:33:00.002-06:00

Well I must have hit that "nesting" stage that everyone talks about! Cause I seem to spend all my time doing something for this little girl and I still have 3 1/2 months left! I love putting together her room. It was fun to pick out her crib and bedding. Derick ended up picking this cute bedding which turned out so cute! The crib did give us a bit of a struggle but it's finally up and ready for her.

I have also been completing a lot of projects for her room. One thing I did was paint a shelf brown and now I want to get some picture frames and hang them from the shelf with ribbon. I also got some cute clips from one of my student's mom so I wanted to make something to hold them and put on her dresser. I did this one with an old frame painted white and some ribbon and cute bird paper. It turned out cute. Now I want to make one that can hold ribbons and bows and clips. Misty yours is way cute so now you have to teach me how you did it!

With flower clips
Without any clips

We also decided not to paint her room yet. I guess I just couldn't decide on a color that I like to put all over the walls. I would have liked to put some beadboard or moldings on the bottom half of the wall but boy that can get pricey so I found this cute tree with blossoms to put on her wall and it turned out great!

So all in all I am so happy to get all of this done but now it makes me want this little girl to get here fast! I don't know if I can make it through the summer! The last thing we are waiting for is her dresser and then Derick is lucky enough to put it together! Hopefully it goes a lot smoother than the crib! I also have some cute wooden birds to paint and finish! So I will post more pictures when her room is all done!

It's A Girl

2011-06-18T17:46:00.003-06:00

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. A lot of things have been happening around here and keeping up pretty busy. But in the middle of it all we found out that we are having a little girl! Our first ultrasound was a few weeks ago and they said that she looks healthy but is measuring small. So they actually moved my due date back to November 9th. They also couldn't see her heart,lips, and nose to check for things so that means we get to go back and see our little girl again! It was so cool to see her on the ultrasound. She was moving all around that morning and would not stay still! I think she was too excited like her mom! It was good to see her legs and arms and know that everything was ok. I think it was a little shock for Derick since we were so sure it was a boy! LOL so much for his dream of a house full of boys! It's taken him a little bit to switch from calling it "little guy" to "little girl" but he's getting there. And from the way he is with our little neices Ava and Kendall then this little girl will be a daddy's girl! We've already got her crib and bedding which turned out so cute! Now all we need is this little girl to be here. I hope my due date doesn't keep getting pushed back! :)

Drum roll please.....

2011-04-19T13:14:00.004-06:00

Yes most of you probably already heard but for those who haven't...Derick and I will be adding one more to our family in October! We are pretty dang excited! But it sure has been a rough past 14 weeks. Luckily I went off track last week but that's about when I couldn't keep any food down. Come to find out I was pretty badly dehydrated and had to go to the hospital for an IV. But since then I have been feeling better. I still have some bad nauseated days (like yesterday) where I am pretty much stuck in bed all day. But for the most part everything is good with the little one. Heard the heartbeat 2 weeks ago and go back in 2 weeks. Everyone's wanted me to post belly pics so I will post one but do not look at my face (without makeup) just the belly bump or there will be no more pics! LOL

Meg's Baby Shower

2011-04-19T13:04:00.002-06:00

Back in January the girls from work and I had a fun baby shower for Meg and Baby Cash! We had it a Kate's house and she made tons of yummy food! It was fun to be with everyone and talk and especially opening presents! Cash was born in January and boy is he adorable! Congrats Meg!

The Diaper Cake I made for Meg!
Meg and her baby bouncer!

The cute jammies Derick and I got Cash

Yeah! Diapers!!

Oh and of course cute Lindsay!

2011 Projects

2011-04-19T12:39:00.006-06:00

Arts and Craft Projects: The past few months have definitely been crazy! Here are a few projects that I was able to complete back in January. For now a lot of projects have been put on hold until I can feel better!

The bag I made for my Relief Society Binder!
A bag I made for our Relief Society President!
She's Awesome!
Derick and I found a foam mat for cheap at Hobby Lobby.
So I got some fabric and covered it so he can sleep on it while camping!

I saw these cute blocks at Roberts and decided to make them for valentines day.
One side is the front and the other is the back.

I made this blanket for Whitney a friend of mine who had a cute little boy named Skylar!

It turned out so good!

Wowie Wow Wow!

2010-12-21T20:03:00.003-07:00

Well in the words of Junie B. Jones- Wowie Wow Wow! (sorry for all of you who don't know who that is!) It has been a crazy past couple of months. For some odd reason I always get ideas for projects I would like to do and then try to do them all at the same time. It all started right after Thanksgiving. We have a cute store called Crafters Corner and instead of doing the whole black Friday thing, I decided to pop over there and do some crafting. The items were on sale and then they had free craft day where you could use any of their supplies, paint, etc. It was so nice a relaxing and I was one of the only ladies there! So much better than trying to beat the crowds!

My next project idea was to stitch these cute tags. I saw some pictures online and decided to mimick them. But instead of using them as gift tags I decided to use them as ornaments on my Christmas tree. I stitched each one and then used crayons to color them! Then I glued on some rope hooks. I think they turned out so cute and they look great on the tree!

The finished project!

I also decided to make some Christmas presents! I have Kristi's family for Christmas and decided to make the girls and boys something! So I can't show the pictures yet! But be sure that pictures will come soon! I hope everyone has a great Christmas!

Gingerbread Madness

2010-12-21T19:34:00.002-07:00

Wow! Is there really only a couple of days left until Christmas? This time of year definitely flies by! The house is all decorated, presents are all wrapped, tree is decorated and lit, and now I am just waiting and waiting to be done with work! Every year the girls I work with and I do a book exchange! I love doing this because we all get something nice and that we will all use instead of doing some dumb white elephant exchange! Sorry to all of those who love the white elephant thing! But after being a teacher, you would hate dumb trinkets too! LOL

Tina (and of course Lindsay!)
Kirsti (and more Lindsay!)

Lindsay and Tina

We also were able to decorate some amazing gingerbread houses that Shelley made! We had tons of candy and lots of fun! I learned that I am totally not creative! But everyone's houses turned out so cute! I love holiday traditions!

My House

Meg's House

Kirsti's House

Tina's House

Lindsay's House

November

2010-11-23T19:31:00.003-07:00

November is finally here...oh wait where did you go? Can't believe Thursday is Thanksgiving already! Then December and Christmas will be here soon! Last year my parents were here in Utah! It was fun spending Thanksgiving with them since I haven't been able to in years! But I am super excited to be going home for Christmas! Derick isn't as pleased since our drive is quite long! But he'll be excited when we get there! He can be such a holiday scrooge! Anyone know the number for the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future! LOL He'll start loving holidays so help me! :)

In all of my excitement to be going home for Christmas I have broken one of my cardinal rules! I have been listening to Christmas music already and can't wait to break out the Christmas decorations! But I know Derick would kill me if I got them out already! (Guess I'll just wait a few more days!) I have also gotten most of my Christmas shopping done! I made my nephews and neices presents and then know what I want to make Chris and Kristi, I just have to go get all the materials! So I am super excited! Then I already got my parents done! Yeah! Now I just have to get Derick something and stocking stuff! Yeah! But I refuse to go out on black friday! All of you who do are crazy! Especially here in Utah! It is soooo cold that early! I might venture out later on in the day because Crafters Corner has some good deals on Christmas decorations--yes derick doesn't need to know that! He'd kill me if i brought home one more decoration! Scrooge!!! LOL So if anyone wants to go let me know!

October Projects

2010-10-27T14:02:00.013-06:00

Derick always says I have way too many projects going on. I've always got some kind of sewing project or crochet project or scrapbook project that I am working on. So I told Derick that I could get it all done within the 3 weeks that I am off track. So far I've been off for a week and a half and I'm almost done with my crochet project (which I can show cause it just might be a present for someone). My next project was going to be some kind of Halloween table runner, but then I got a cute spiderweb one and decided to turn the project into pillows. So of course I got to work while Derick was out of town for the weekend.

This is my first Halloween pillow. On this one I just stitched and little picture and then used fabric. Turned out pretty cute I think!

This was my second Halloween pillow. On this one I got a little creative and decided to use fabric, ribbon, black lace, white tool, and even black buttons. (I think Derick likes the back better!)

My next project (which I tell Derick is a continuous, never ending project) is my scrapbooking. I have so many pictures and pages to do that I've been trying to make lists. ( I think it helps me to see things getting crossed off) Since I finished my "Williquette Family Scrapbook" I moved on to my "Schmidt Family Scrapbook". Which turned out pretty cute! But I can't wait to add more to it. I love having both of them done so that now everytime I get new pictures all I have to do is print them off and glue them in.

The next things on my scrapbooking list is a scrapbook of all the Trips I've taken mixed with all the fun things I've done with my family when I went home during summers and off track times. So I am doing tennis with Brittany and Donny, going to the Cavaliers/Jazz game with Donny, Sarah's baptism, and lots of others. Keep posted for more pictures, oh and to my sisters...please send me lots more pictures of the kids!

Fun Filled Summer... Sorry it's over

2010-09-22T16:48:00.004-06:00

This summer has been full of activity! Derick and I had lots of fun doing things together once school got out! Of course we did the annual Bear Lake trip with the Milne’s! Anything involving water and being outside is always good for me! This year we spent lots of time on the beach of the Lake. Derick and I did the wave runners and even played with Cooper and Ava in the Sand.

Last year I got a hole in one on the 18^th hole and won a free game. This year Derick did that and beat me! Ava was so cute with her golf ball and every time I asked Cooper what he got on the hole it was 4. I think that was his favorite number for the week.

We went to Manti for 24^th of July (pioneer day here in Utah) and camped out. Last year I told Derick that if I caught a fish I would cut it. (of course I had no clue what this entailed) So I freaked out and didn’t do it. This year he was cute and bought me my own fishing pole! So I was bound and determined to catch something. After a long weekend of nothing I finally caught one. I screamed and yelled for Derick to see and help me and of course he is no where around. So as I am trying to get Derick’s attention, what does my fish do??? JUMP OFF and SWAM AWAY! Of course Derick didn’t believe me but I did gut one fish that he caught! Well I was wearing gloves but hey at least I did it right???

We also had a lot of fun in Manti for the opening day of the bow hunt. It turned out to actually be warm with just a little bit of rain here and there. But over all it was lots of fun and a pretty relaxing weekend. Of course I was still too chicken to go down the zip line. Who knows maybe in a few years! LOL

I’ve also spent a lot of time scrapbooking and sewing. A few years ago my sister Kristi made me a scrapbook of the kids. So I decided to take all the extra paper and add some new, up to date pictures of the kids. I also had to add little Jonathan to it all! But I think so far it’s pretty cute and I even left some blank pages to add more pictures each time I get some! I also scrapbooked some pictures that were long overdue for it. For example, college pics! Yes college was about 7-10 years ago!

I also did some from when I lived in Vegas. I’m trying to get everything caught up before I start a scrapbook of Derick and I. Who knows, it might take one more year of being married before I get to it! LOL. Next on my list is Terra’s family and all my pics of Dakota! But first I have to finish my quilt! Look forward to many more pics!

A Year Already!

2010-09-05T20:19:00.006-06:00

Wow I can't believe Derick and I have been married for a year already! But it truly has been a great year. Derick and I both had the day off so we went to a nice lunch at Chili's (where we had our first date) and then Derick was a sweetheart and went and saw a girl movie with me. We didn't do anything over the top or go on any special trips but this was perfect for Derick and I. Any day that I can just spend with Derick is great. He also surprised me with a roses. (He claims he's not romantic but he really is!)

That is just 1 thing I've learned about Derick and I truly have learned so much each and

everyday. And I couldn't be more grateful for this year with him. I started looking back and thinking of all the things that have happened this year. Here are a few things I've realized, am grateful for, or have enjoyed with Derick.

1. I never could have thought I'd love someone as much as Derick. I'm thankful for this year with just he and I. We've loved spending time together and have gotten to know each other so well. He shocks me everyday and I'm still finding out more things about him that I love.

2. I love and am grateful for Derick's fun sense of humor. He balances my stressed, organized life with fun and spur of the moment things. He's taught me to let things go and to have fun in all things. 1 thing that shocked me is this:

Yes, Derick really wears his socks like this around the house! :) He really makes me laugh!

3. I've learned a lot about compromise. Derick and I have similar personalities but we've learned how to give and take in different circumstances. We've learned that we aren't trying to change each other but that we are willing to let go and do things a different way. (yes I've learned that my way is not always the best way!)

4. I love being a wife. I really do love cooking and taking care of things around the house and my husband. But like everyone else I definitely have my days, and I'm thankful when Derick steps up and does the cooking or takes care of things for me.

5. I love to lay around the house and veg with my husband. Most of the time Derick is out watching sports but I love to cuddle up with him or read a book while he's watching TV. Yes sometimes I bug him (but that's what a wife is for right?) :) But I love when I'm watching TV in the bedroom and he comes to see me and cuddle for a minute.

6. I've always liked going on trips and new places but since marrying Derick I have done so many new things I can't even keep track. I've loved going camping, riding the motorcycle, going to Bear Lake, and yes I've loved watching sports!

It's been great being married to Derick!

Where does the time go?

2010-06-30T20:34:00.005-06:00

Well...I'm still here. This much has been a busy month. Full of trips, projects, and the school year ending. And the summer is already looking pretty busy! But I promise to take lots of pictures!

This is a wreath I made for our door out of strips of cloth!

Derick has been talking about making a coffee table/ottoman out of his sheds. So with work over for him, he has been building away! Here's his completed work! (I upholstered the top so it turned into a couples project!) Now he is on to making lamp with his sheds! Pics to come later.

We also celebrated our niece Ava's 1st birthday! I can't believe she is 1 already! Isn't she darling?

She had the cutest little Strawberry Shortcake Cake and boy did she dig into that! I think she ate 3/4 of that thing all by herself!

I just love her on her little trike! She'll be zipping around on that in no time!

Well the end of the school year is just about over. I am having mixed emotions. I've really enjoyed this group of kids. There have been many challenges this year but also a whole lot of fun! My room mom made me this cute apron. It says "Your are the apple of our eyes!" And all the kids make fingerprint apples! I love it!

Here are my cutie pies all dressed in their cowboy attire for our dance festival where we did Hannah Montana's Howedown Throwdown! So cute!

Oh and I hope everyone has a great 4th!

Memorial Day Weekend

2010-06-03T20:57:00.006-06:00

Derick and I had a fun Memorial Day weekend. Saturday morning we headed for Manti to do a little camping with Derick's brothers. We stayed at the Temple Hill Campgrounds which was amazing to have a view of the temple everyday! Saturday we ate at the Malt Shop (which Derick knew I've been wanting a shake from) and took a drive up the canyon. We didn't make it too far thanks to all the snow but we had fun going through the mud and shooting the guns! Sunday we headed to the Palisades campground where there is a nice lake. Lindy and Justin rented a paddle boat which was fun to take Cooper out on!

He loved trying to fish with Derick (yes while I was the one doing the work!) I love being outside in the sun! I am so glad it is summer! Finally! And it better stay this way for a long time! We spent a lot of time sitting out around the campfire, talking, and eating!

Monday we packed up and headed over to Manti High so the boys could play tennis with their cousin Steven. And what we found was perfect for us girls and the kids! It was a nice pool. Complete with kid area, whirl pool, and water slide, and not to mention the water was a nice 84 degrees! It was the first day opening so we pulled out the suits and jumped right in! It was fun to take Cooper down the slide and see Ava kicking in the water!

We went to Derick's parents' house that night and had a BBQ. Everyone started playing a little backyard whiffle ball which turned into boys against girls. Which ended up with Justin hitting the ball over the neighbor's fence a few times! All in all it was a way fun weekend! (Sorry for the lack of real pictures! I'll try to be better this summer!)

California Dreaming

2010-05-10T16:31:00.002-06:00

It's been a while since I was actually able to go home to see my family. Some family I haven't seen since the wedding and I haven't seen my parents since Thanksgiving. So I was thrilled when Derick got me a plane ticket to go home to California. We were hoping to make it down to Arizona to Terra's but just couldn't make it work so now Derick owes me a trip there! LOL kidding! But it was really nice to spend a week at home. Mostly I just liked being able to hang out with my siblings and parents. Kristi and I spent a lot of time watching our favorite show "One Tree Hill" and playing with the boys! I also got to watch movies with Britt and go around town with Donny. We ate out a lot and even managed to do a little shopping! On Sunday we headed down to the beach. I hadn't been to Morro Bay in soooo long! It was fun to play frisbee on the beach, eat seafood, and walk the pier. Here are a few pics from the trip!

Sarah, me, Kristi, Jonathan, Hayden, Brittany, Mom, and Miranda

Don't step on the cracks! :)

Us again!

Jonathan and Me!

Hayden and his taffy!

Britt, Sarah, and Miranda on the whale!

The shortest pier ever! Oh and the biggest rock!

Huge seal!

Fun on the beach!

Kate's Baby Shower

2010-04-15T17:59:00.005-06:00

My friend Kate is having a little baby boy in May so Meg and I decided to throw her a little shower last week. We had lots of yummy food, good presents, and tons of fun!

Gotta love Lindsay

I love Kate opening her presents but Lindsay's expressions are the best! LOL

Sorry some of the pics got blurry for some reason!

My diaper cake. I decided to make it short and simple but I think it turned out pretty cute!

Meg and Shelley

Me, Kate, Meg

The team!

Beware: A really boring blog!

2010-03-20T13:48:00.004-06:00

I apologize for our lack of blogging recently but there has seriously been NOTHING going on! LOL Both Derick and I have been working, working, and working. And that's about it! This past week was parent teacher conferences, which equals a lot of long, tiring days! But I am so glad that they are over for the rest of the year! I also can't believe that the school year is more than half over. Derick has about 2 months left and I have 3. Time really does fly. Speaking of time, this weekend was the anniversary of mine and Derick's first date. Could a year really have gone by? I am happy to have him and am now looking forward to our 1st wedding anniversary (yes I know it is still 5 months away but what else do I have to look forward to?)

Yes we've done nothing too exciting these past few weeks but we have a lot coming up. For Easter we are heading down to Moab with Derick's brothers and some friends. They go every year but this will be the first time for me so I am excited! I'm also planning a baby shower for my friend Kate and then track break! I've been missing my family a lot lately so my sweet husband said I should go home for track break! So needless to say I am super excited for the up coming months! Look forward to more exciting blogs than this one! :)

Great Giveaway!

2010-03-12T18:29:00.002-07:00

This has been one of my recent favorites! My friend Meg got a cute necklace from here and I'm so jealous! I've been wanting to get something for a while now and am saving up my money and now the Vintage Pearl is having a giveaway this weekend. Go on and tell them your plans for a fun spring break! Good Luck!

Guilty Pleasures

2010-01-17T21:42:00.002-07:00

So today I was thinking that I have way too many "guilty pleasures". Now a guilty pleasure is considered something that you enjoy and then feel guilty or slightly embarrassed for doing it. Most people always have at least one. And you know you all do! So what are your "guilty pleasures"? Well here are a few of mine:

1. Watching reality TV competitions. My favorites are Worst Cook's in America, Project Runway, and of course...The Bachelor. Maybe I just love a scandal that has nothing to do with me!!! :)

2. Making chocolate chip cookies but mostly eating all the dough and only making a few cookies!

3. Watching stupid shows like the Kardashians, Guiliana and Bill, and anything with celebrity gossip instead of sports with my husband. And then I totally impress Derick with my knowledge of which athletes are married or dating whom!

4. Playing guitar hero and other girly games when I have time to myself!

5. Going shoe shopping-- which I haven't done since I got married by the way....But oooh I so want to!

6. Making a deal with my husband that whenever I work out he gives me a back rub! And if I work out all week then he..... well I can't reveal that part of the deal! (keep your mind out of the gutter!)

7. Watching sappy romance movies and reading sappy love stories over and over again!

8. Blog stalking!!

A year in review

2010-01-03T16:09:00.004-07:00

So it's been a crazy past couple of months, let alone a crazy year. I saw on a friends blog that she did a year in review by looking back at each month and thought it would be fun to do, so here it goes...

January: Celebrated the New Year with my family in California and went right back to work!

February: Ended up getting Lasik done while on track break and couldn't believe how painless and easy it all ways.

March: Went on my first date with Derick to the Timp. Canyon and celebrated my 26th birthday.

April: Went to California Adventure with Tina and Kate for Spring Break. Also went to Arizona for a few weeks to celebrate Dakota's 1st birthday! Derick graduated from SUU!!

May: Derick moved to his parents' house in Lehi and got a job at Westlake High as a special ed teacher!

June: Derick and I went to Lake Powell with Meg and Colby for a few days. Derick proposed one night when we went on a hike. We decided we wanted to get married in August before school started again! Derick's sister-in-law Lindy has her baby and we got a new niece- Ava!

July: The school year ended and we went home to California so my family could meet Derick. Had fun with the family and celebrated 4th of July. Also went to Bear Lake with all of Derick's family for a week!

August: Derick and I decided to still have our reception on the 7th and enjoyed celebrating with all of our family and friends! We got our sealing clearance a few days later and got married in the Timp. Temple on the 13th! The next weekend we left for Manti for opening weekend of the Bow Hunt. We also celebrated Derick's 27th birthday.

September: School started for Derick and I. Not too much else going on. Just loving married life.

October: I went to Park City with the girls for a fun weekend. Derick's sister-in-law Andrea had her baby and we got another niece- Kendall! And thankfully it was time for a track break!

November: I went back to work for a few weeks before Thanksgiving break. Derick's Aunt Allison threw a fun New Moon party and we all went to see the movie! We were able to move into our own condo finally!!! My parents were able to come up from California to get sealed in the Manti temple. Derick and I had fun celebrating Thanksgiving with his family as well as mine!

December: Derick and I got settled into our own place. We even painted! We went to lots of Christmas parties for Derick's family. It was difficult with my family being here but it was fun to celebrate Christmas with Derick's family. Derick did great filling my stocking and being Santa! We are very blessed for such a wonderful year together!

Trying times...

2009-12-21T11:45:00.002-07:00

Well, first off I can't believe it is already the week of Christmas. So much has been going on and so much has changed this year. It's hard to imagine my life without Derick and we've only been married for 4 months. But I am so thankful for him.

Last week was a hard week for me. In the midst of all the craziness surrounding the holiday, I found out that one of my really good friends lost her baby. It came as a total shock since she was so close to her due date. I was pretty upset about the whole thing and am glad that Derick was there to put everything back into perspective. I just can't believe that it could happen, especially to them. I am so sad that they will not have the opportunity to be with their little guy here on Earth but am so thankful that they are an eternal family and will be together again someday. I'm thankful that they have each other to turn to and hope that she knows I'm here for her anytime. I pray nightly for their family and hope they can get through this difficult time.

It's also been a hard week, in the fact that it is Christmas and I won't be around any of my family. This is the first time I haven't flown home for Christmas and I miss my family terribly. I'm glad Derick's family is close and we get to share the holiday with them but it just doesn't feel the same this year. I'm excited to start new traditions with Derick but it sure has been hard. I love my family and it seems that Christmas is also the one time when our family gets together. I miss family pictures, playing with my Nieces and nephews, cooking/baking with my mom, playing games with siblings, and all around just sitting and laughing with everyone. I wish Derick and I could have gone home so that he can see how fun Christmas really is, and not just about money and presents but how it's really about the thing that matters most to me... my family.

Home Sweet Home...finally!

2009-12-10T12:44:00.003-07:00

Well, as most of you know Derick and I have finally moved into our new place! It's a simple 3 bedroom 2 bath and we love it. It's out towards Eagle Mountain, just passed Saratoga Springs. We just finished painting the kitchen and living room and it looks great. I'm glad I talked Derick into doing it before we got our TV all setup or else I never would have gotten him off the couch to help! LOL But here are a few before and after pictures for you all!

Before...

After...

New Moon

2009-11-08T16:13:00.003-07:00

Well it is exciting to say that New Moon is coming out this week but I have some mixed feelings about it. Out of all the Twilight series books this one was my least favorite. Was it because I am not a big Jacob fan? I like Jacob and his friendship with Bella but I was never the reader who sat there while reading the book and rooted for Jacob and Bella to get together. I know Edward was always the dangerous one and Jacob the lovable one but something about Edward and Bella always drew me to thier relationship more than Bella being with Jacob. I'm also very interested to see how the whole werewolf thing is portrayed on film. I know the first film was a little low budget and at times corny but I'm really thinking (or rather hoping) this one will be done better.

I'm also excited because all the girls in Derick's family (and a few boys believe it or not) are going to be having a Twlight party and then go see the show together. We are going on Thursday which should be way fun. I guess they all did it last year for Twilight but this year we are going to Grandma Myrna's and have dinner, play games, and hang out before going to the rented movie theater where they will also be having prizes and all that fun stuff! I wish my sisters were all closer so that we could all go see it together! But I'll let everyone know how it is! Miss you girls!

Home Sweet Home

2009-10-30T19:24:00.007-06:00

Here are some pictures of our new condo. Today everything got cleaned up and our fridge and stove were installed. We are starting to get excited to move it. I can't wait to get in and paint and decorate. Our final walk through is on Monday so we are thinking we will close sometime next week! Yeah! Now we are trying to figure out paint colors. I would like a blue in the living room and Derick wants green. Oh and don't forget there will be a deer head somewhere in the living room! Yikes- What a nice wife I am! LOL

The living room

One of the bathrooms

Living room looking into the kitchen/hall

Kitchen

So now that you've pretty much seen the main rooms, what colors do you think would look good. Right now it's like 10 different shades of brown so I need color!!

Wedding pics

2009-10-26T19:59:00.001-06:00

Hey everyone! Derick and I are so happy with the way our wedding pictures turned out! Don't worry everyone will be getting some pics soon! If there is one you love just let us know and we can print it for you! And if anyone is ever looking for a wedding photographer please check out amylittlephotography.com. She was such an awesome photographer to have!

2009-10-26T19:58:00.001-06:00

Name Change and Shopping Frenzy

2009-10-03T18:59:00.004-06:00

Well for the past two days I have been off work due to UEA which is were the teachers are supposed to go to conferences but they never go so now it's just called "Fall Recess". Well, no matter the reason I was thankful for two days of relaxation! But then I started thinking that I really should go down and get my name changed officially. And after having battled lines before, I decided to get up early and be one of the first people to the Social Security place. When I got there I was #15 and ended up only waiting 15 minutes and then I was out of there. I was about to head down to the License department when my cute husband called and asked if I wanted to go to the high school and have lunch with him... even though the License place was only a few blocks I couldn't turn him down and I headed out to Saratoga Springs to eat lunch with him! He has been to my school before but I had never seen him interact with the students and he was pretty cute with them! Afterwards I headed down to Orem and thought "it's the middle of the day, I am going to be at the License place forever!" I filled out the application, got some crap from the desk guy about my hyphenated last name, and was out 20 minutes later! Everyone I have talked to said what a pain it was changing their last name but it was pretty easy for me. I am so glad to officially have the last name of Milne! I've changed over credit cards, insurance, and all that. The only thing left to do is wait for my new ss card and license and then I can change it officially with the school district and the title on my card! Yeah!

Condo update:

Most of you know that Derick and I found the cutest little condos in Eagle Mountain...don't worry it's not completely out there in the boondocks, but it's more towards Saratoga Springs in a little development called the Ranches. It's like 5 minutes from Derick's school and we love the area. They've pushed our closing date to November 1st and we are way excited! We are on the 3rd floor so thats usually the last floor to be finished. We drove out last week to check the progress and they have it all framed and are putting in instillation and sheet rock. For the last few days I have been worried that we are going to move in and have absolutely no furniture. We pretty much have my bedroom stuff and thats it. So I suggested to Derick that we go out and have a look around and price some things. I couldn't believe he agreed! (I think it helped that I showed him some things that were on sale!) We stopped at a few places but it is amazing how high priced things are at one place and lower at another for completely the same item! We headed over to ShopKo in Orem because Derick's mom had seen a dining room table on sale. So we went to get that. We were shocked when we got there and saw that they had a nice couch, loveseat, and chair on sale. But even better...they said that if we got the couch and loveseat, we would get the chair for free! So we walked out of ShopKo with a 5-piece dining set, a couch, loveseat, and chair for $800! When we got back to Derick's parent's place of course Derick wanted to rip off the plastic and start putting everything together. (typical boy- can't wait for an excuse to get out the tools!) but I said we'd better wait until we move everything to our new place. I think he was kind of sad but I am so glad we got all that taken care of. The only things we need now are a fridge and stove (they came with the place but we want to upgrade to a side by side frige and a flat top stove) and then we will be all set! Here's a picture of our new furniture!

Randomness

2009-09-23T12:38:00.003-06:00

Well, not much has been going on and I keep thinking that I should get on and blog but there really hasn't been much to actually write about. Things are going good. Derick is still pretty busy with work and all the IEPs he has to do but I think he is enjoying what he does (some days more than other I think!) My class has been good. They definitely have their good days and their bad days though. The good news is I only have four weeks and then I am on track break! And I also don't have school next Thursday or Friday for "fall recess"! Yeah!

For the past few months we Derick and his brothers and friends have been playing on a recreational softball team. It's been lots of fun to go and watch them play every Tuesday. And it's sad to say that now it is over. I won't mention what their record was but they sure tried! I'm going to miss going to the games now! What else is there to do on a Tuesday night???

Tonight Derick had his first parent teacher conferences so he was pretty much gone all night. It was kind of nice to make something for dinner that I like but know Derick will hate. It was also nice not to have to watch sports but watch my own shows. I can't wait until we move into our new place and have two tv's so that he can watch his sports and I can watch my girly shows! Even though I know Derick secretly likes watching some of my shows. Ok maybe the word "likes" is a bit much but I think he gets sucked in sometimes! LOL

Speaking of girly shows- tomorrow is the season premier of Grey's Anatomy! I am totally addicted! And so is everyone on my team at work. We are all going to Shelley's house to watch it amd eat yummy pizza. We have done this for the past three seasons and I love it. And now that I'm married it's definitely nice having a girls night!

Go Thunder!

2009-09-17T12:35:00.002-06:00

So last week it was homecoming week at Derick's school- Westlake High. I had been telling him how fun it would be to go to the football game. So it was a nice surprise when Derick asked if I wanted to go get some dinner and go to the game. It was actually lots of fun. It was fun to see some of his students and to watch the game. I kept getting distracted by everything going on. The kids with their painted bodies, the kids jumping all around in front of us, the cheerleaders, and all the people around. We even got to see the marching band, cheerleaders, and drill team perform and they crowned the homecoming royalty. All in all it was a good date night! But I learned that I definitely don't miss high school!

One month of fun!

2009-09-13T17:46:00.002-06:00

Well today is officially our one month anniversary! Crazy! I can't believe it has already been a month since all the wedding craziness! Everything has been good with Derick and I. We've both settled into work and Derick seems to be enjoying it all. He's been pretty swamped with all the paperwork that comes with teaching, especially all of it that comes with opening a new school, getting new students, and being in special ed. Sometimes he seems overwhelmed and it makes me think back to my very first year of teaching and I don't miss that at all! My class has been good. I don't have any hellions or trouble makers, just a few low kids and of course some talkers but all in all they are pretty good and cute. I forget how low they are when they first come to first grade but they already seem to be making progress which is good! For the time being, Derick and I are living in Derick's parents' basement until our condo is done in October. We got to go pick out all of our carpet, appliances, and colors the other day. I can't wait to be able to move in and have our own home. As for everything else, our days have been filled with lots of camping and football. But I don't mind as long as I get to spend time with Derick. Today we are both feeling a little under the weather. I have a sore throat and am very tired and Derick has the same but he actually is running a fever and has it a little worse that me. I told him thats what happens when you are a teacher. You seem to get sick quite often. I'm sure his immune system will be pretty tough like mine soon! So yeah, we are spending our one month anniversary at home sick, sleeping, and watching football!

Wedding Pictures

2009-09-03T20:06:00.009-06:00

Alright, I know a lot of you have been asking for pictures of the big day. So here are a few that Derick's family had. I've still been lazy and haven't uploaded some from my camera and I'm still waiting on the ones from the photographer but hopefully some of these will hold you over for a bit! :)

Derick and I outside the Mt. Timpanogos temple!
Diana, Britney, and Devin

Lindy, Cooper, and Justin

My new brother and sister in laws on our sealing day!

Britney and Ava

Derick and I with Derick's parents on our sealing day!

Camping fun

2009-08-31T21:38:00.002-06:00

So if any of you know my husband Derick, then you know that we will definitely be spending a lot of weekends camping during our marriage! Yes, I have always loved camping and we often went when we were kids. I love sleeping in a tent, the sounds of nature, waking up whenever you feel like it, lounging around all day outside, going for hikes, playing games, and sitting around the campfire are just a few of my favorite things about camping. Derick and I have gone camping quite a lot since we first started dating. I love that he goes with his brothers and extended family and is so excited when we do it. This weekend we headed down south and camped out with Derick's brother Devin and friend Kyle. Derick's main reason to go was to hunt deer. So I told him to go out while I set up the tent! I love setting up our tent. It's so easy. It's all color coded and just clips on. I hate those dang tents where you have to shove the bendy poles into the pockets and hope that it all turns out right. So I was pretty proud of myself to do it and thought "This is going to be a good weekend!" Well thats when it started. I tried to put on the rain flap, but the tent was too tall for me to do it alone. I tried to start a fire but the matches were locked in the car (keys were with Derick) and then I smashed my finger inside the folding table, the kind where the legs push open, yep thats right where my finger decided to land! That night we tried to play rook. But the batteries in the flash light died. (don't worry we still beat Devin and Kyle) and then I got really bad allergies. The kind where when you go to lay down you absolutely, no matter how hard you try, can't breathe! The kind where your eyes itch so badly they swell up. The kind where your nose is rubbed so much from blowing your nose that it hurts. Yep, no matter how much I love camping, I definitely was ready to come home! And don't worry, guess where we are going this weekend??? Yep, camping! but this time I'll be prepared with allergy medicine and those soft tissues that have the lotion in them! Wish me luck!

Wedding Bliss

2009-08-22T16:06:00.002-06:00

Sorry i've been out of touch a bit lately! And I know everyone is dying to see wedding pictures. I will post everything i've gotten lately from people but we haven't gotten our temple ones back from the photographer yet, but as soon as I get some you will all know! Well everything went well with the wedding. We were a little sad that everything didn't work out to get married in the temple on the 7th but we still had fun taking pictures that day and we definitely had fun with everyone at our reception! My flowers turned out beautiful and even the table cloths and cupcakes were great! We were a little concerned about rain and it almost rained us out of the reception but thank goodness it cleared up and we didn't have a problem with too much heat! Derick and I had fun seeing everyone and talking to all our family and friends. Then we were super excited when we got our letter the next week. It worked out for us to go to the temple Thursday night, August 13th. It was actually really nice not to have to worry about setting up and getting to a reception. We had a beautiful sealing with those family and friends who could make it. (and missed those who couldn't be there) We had fun taking pictures afterwards and there was even a beautiful rainbow outside afterwards. Then we headed to the hotel. Sadly, Derick and I both had to get up early the next day and go to work. But overall we had a fun reception and wedding and are enjoying our first week of marriage! Thanks everyone who supported us through it all! Derick and I love you!

Lots going on

2009-07-30T20:34:00.012-06:00

Gosh it sure has been a long time since I last blogged. And yes there has actually been tons happening! First off- Derick's brother Justin and sister-in-law Lindy had a cute little baby girl! They named her Ava Marne and she is absolutely adorable. We were able to go visit them in the hospital and got to watch as the nurses gave her a check-up and a little bath. Even Cooper was so cute with his new little sister!

Then Derick and I headed down to California to met the fam. (Don't worry, he survived!) LOL we had lots of fun BBQing, swimming, playing with my nieces and nephews, and even playing tennis against my parents! (Don't worry, we won!) We were also in California for the fourth of July and Derick had fun helping my dad set off the fireworks. I think I'm learning that every guy loves fire! All in all I think my family loved Derick. Especially my little nephew Jonathan. We would walk in and he would crawl right to Derick! It was so cute and it was really fun seeing my family.

We had a few days rest from our California trip before we headed out to Bear Lake with all of Derick's family. At first I thought I'd never been there before but as soon as we pulled into the Condos where we would be staying, I could remember coming there for a family reunion like 15 years ago! It was so crazy. We had lots of fun swimming and riding the wave runners. Here is cute baby Ava in her little swimmy!

We even got to play mini golf. Derick and I did pretty good against his parents and I even got a hole in one on the 18th hole so I got to keep my golf ball (purple of course) and got a free ticket to play again. But of course Derick beat me both times. It was really fun spending time with his family and getting to know them a lot better. I also got to met Derick's brother Jason and wife Andrea who live in Arkansas. And they have two cute kids- Hayden and Hailey.

(Hayden, Cooper, Hailey)

Last week I started going back to work to get things together for my classroom. I can't believe it's almost time to go back to work. Derick has been going to lots of new teacher and special education meetings. It's exciting to watch him get ready to start the year. Last weekend we went down to Manti and did a little camping/fishing. I had never been down there and couldn't believe how pretty it was. I loved all the wildflowers and even enjoyed some of the rain. Derick taught me how to fish. Of course I sucked at casting it but I even reeled in a few fish! I told Derick that I would gut a fish if I caught one (guess I thought I would never catch one) but I did! And yes he wanted me to gut it! After he showed me how to do it, I just couldn't do it! Maybe if I had gloves but ew putting my fingers inside the fish and oh the noises! YUCK! But here are a few pictures of our fish!

Well the next big thing for us is the wedding. I can't believe it's a week from tomorrow! Thanks for everyone helping us and offering to help. Yes, we are still waiting on our sealing clearance but I guess it's a lesson for me in patience. Keep your fingers crossed! But we still look forward to seeing everyone on the 7th for the reception!

Engaged!

2009-07-02T10:54:00.004-06:00

So I know that pretty much everyone has already heard that Derick and I are getting married! but I know some people have asked how it all happened and such. So here you go! About three weeks ago we were asked by my friend Meg to go to Lake Powell with her, her husband, her brother in law, and a bunch of their friends. I had never been and thought it would be fun. After a bunch of changes and such, we ended up leaving with Meg, Colby, and their 9 year old nephew around 1:00 AM! We got to the lake around 7:30 and got everything on the boat and headed toward where the house boat was docked. It took us a while to actually find it and we were exhausted when we got there. Pretty much all day we ate, swam, played horseshoes, frisbee, and took naps. Derick asked if I wanted to go on a hike and I told him yes and even asked Meg and Colby if they wanted to come along. (Luckily Colby said no, that we needed some alone time) Now mind you, I had absolutely no clue that Derick as going to propose! He even changed his clothes so I couldn't see the ring in his pocket. We walked to a pretty spot overlooking the lake where we sat and talked and then he got down on his knee, handed me the ring, and asked me to marry him. It was so sweet and so perfect for us! The bad thing was the we didn't get cell phone reception the whole week so our families and friends had to wait until Sunday to hear the news. After that we had a fun weekend. I wakeboarded, we swam, ate, went boating, went on a crazy hike through disgusting water, and even went to rainbow bridge. Overall it was a fantastic weekend!

Fun in the Sun

2009-06-07T20:51:00.007-06:00

One weekend last month, Derick and I went camping with some of his friends. Yes- I am still waiting for one of his friends to send me all the pictures! Gosh, leave somethings to guys

and you'd never get anything done! But we had fun camping and hiking. We hiked down a small gorge which was very cool. And then we did a bit of shooting. I do have to say, that I did pretty good for my first time shooting! But I promise to post more about it all when I get those pictures!

So Derick and I didn't really have any plans for the Memorial weekend. We just knew we wanted to relax and play the rest by ear. But Saturday morning came around and no luck. Derick got a call saying he needed to head down to Arizona for work. But, he being the sweetheart that he is, asked me to come along. Our end destination was the Northern Rim of the Grand Canyon but we had a few stops to hit along the way. It was a long drive but it was nice to spend some time with Derick, just he and I. We saw lots of deer and even got in a stupid car accident when some kids rear ended us. But luckily it wasn't too bad and no one was hurt....just Derick's trunk! :( Well it ended up pouring for a majority of the trip but was nice and sunny as we pulled up to the Grand Canyon.

Well it sounds like we've done a lot of stuff out doors this last month. Cause we've also enjoyed hiking and bonfires with Derick's brothers and friends in the American Fork Canyon. But don't you worry, we've also spent a lot of time indoors watching all the basketball games. I don't think i've ever watched so much basketball but it sure has been fun! (I can say that now that it's almost over!) Since all this fun stuff, not much has been going on. Just hanging out here and there and oh, of course work! Thank goodness I'm down to four more weeks! Then we're off for some more fun! Cali with my fam and Bear Lake with Dericks! So look forward to more posts soon!

Mother's Day Quilt

2009-06-07T20:43:00.004-06:00

So for Mother's Day I decided to make my mom a quilt. Now if you know anything about my mom, you know that 1. she's always cold 2. she likes to nap and 3. she loves her family! So I decided to make a small quilt so she can take it with her in the car or she could just use it to take nap with. I also thought it would be cute to put some baby pictures of my brother, sisters, and I on it. It turned out pretty cute for only my second quilt. Don't ya think??

Arizona Trip

2009-06-07T19:45:00.007-06:00

Ok ok! I know it's been a long time since I last posted but in all honesty LOTS have been going on this last month. So beware of the blog overload!! First off I had a blast down in Arizona with Terra, Josh, and little Dakota. I was scared at first that Dakota wouldn't recognize or like me since he was still really little the last time he saw me. But he and I got along great! He is such a cute little guy with a fun personality! I had a blast helping Terra with his 1st birthday party! And the cake turned out so cute! He got tons of presents and even a slide from Grandma and Grandpa!

My mom and I

Terra and Dakota

Our cute crocodile cake!

While in Arizona Josh was nice enough to take my parents and I down to Sedona. It was really pretty there. Reminded me a lot of St. George with all the red rock. We walked around all the fun shops and ate some yummy ice cream. All in all it was a fun trip. It always sucks when you have to leave family, especially when you have to get back to work!

My mom and I

Terry, Dakota, and Mom

The start of something wonderful!

2009-04-26T18:16:00.010-06:00

Monday started my first week of my last track break. It's k

ind of bittersweet. Yes I'm excited for it to be track break so I can be on vacation but I am not excited that this two weeks is my last track break of the year. And that means its 9 more weeks until the end of the school year! Yuck! But let's not look at the bad stuff! Cause right now I'm on vacation!!

So Wednesday I headed down to Cedar City to hang out with Derick for a while before I had to get to Las Vegas. While I was there I got to meet all of his friends, we went on a hike, went to Derick's tennis practice at the high school, and went to eat. Then I headed down to Chelsea's house to spend some time with them.

It was fun playing with Chelsea's little girl Karlee and talking with Chels. It was fun reminiscing about old college roommates and the fun things we did.

I stayed there Thursday and got to go with them to story time at the library and the park. Then I left on Friday for Arizona. Saturday we got up and went on a hike of Thumb Butte.

It was a fun hike (steep on the way up but nice and relaxing on the way down) and you could see all the way out into the valley. It was cool.

Today we just went to church, had some yummy elk roast, played ladder golf, and watched movies. I just can't say it enough--I love vacation!

Enough already

2009-04-21T12:38:00.004-06:00

Well I guess it's true what they say..."When one thing goes bad...it all goes bad!" Friday morning I woke up with a horrible pain in my stomach. Thinking it was only cramps, I got in the shower hoping to make it feel better. Well it didn't. It turned into about 40 minutes of throwing up. I called a few girls from work hoping to find someone to sub for me but no luck. I barely made it through blow drying my hair and put on the bare minimum amount of makeup to make me at least look decent. I barely made it to work on time. Thank goodness it was only a half day at school. And that goodness for Magic School Bus movies! LOL Well then through the weekend it turned into a horrible cough and a bad sore throat. I also got a stye in my eye and now my nose and eyes itch and I've been sneezing all day probably due to allergies. Gosh, can't a girl have enough already??? :)

Spring Break

2009-04-14T21:55:00.006-06:00

Last year for spring break, a couple of girls from work and I decided that since it's the only time we all have a break together, we would go to California and hit Disneyland. So of course this year we decided to continue that tradition. But this time hit California Adventure. (Yes since we are teachers we can only afford one park at a time! LOL) So Tina, Kate, and I left Wednesday afternoon after school got out. We decided to drive down to Las Vegas and stay the night there instead of driving all the way through. We stayed at the Stratosphere but decided that we wanted to meet up with another teacher from work and see the Bellagio fountains and the flowers. Of course we took silly pictures and laughed so hard we all were about to pee our pants! Thursday we drove down to Temecula (a small town between LA and San Diego) where Kate had family. So we decided to hit the mall and get lots of good food. That night we headed to our hotel in Anaheim. Friday it was supposed to rain so we decided to go to the LA temple, which is amazing inside, get pedicures, walk the Santa Monica pier, and see a movie. Saturday we got up and went to California Adventure. None of us had been there but it turned out to be fun. I loved to roller coaster and Soaring over California but boy did Tower of Terror freak me out! But don't worry I still went on it twice! :) Over all we had a blast but I was sure exhausted after that weekend! But hey, three more days and here comes another vacation...Arizona here I come!!

Birthday fun!

2009-03-31T20:11:00.003-06:00

Ok ok! I know it's been a while since I last wrote! And I wish more was going on so that I had some kind of excuse! But the only thing note worthy since I last wrote was that I had my birthday! Yes...the big 26!! It was a fun birthday this year. Still wish I was around my family for it but hey thats what I get for moving out here to Utah. But mom and dad both send presents and Kristi sent me Twilight! Yeah! And Terra sent me a cute picture holder with pics and artwork from Dakota! I also got tons of birthday wishes! Thanks everyone! I had to work on my birthday but I love being able to share it with my class. Once they found out it was going to be my birthday they were stoked! I got lots of presents and flowers from my kids and one mom even brought in a cake! My little girl Madeline was so worried that I wouldn't have a birthday cake because my mom isn't here so she made sure I got one! So cute! Then after work, my friends Meg and Kate took me out to Applebee's for dinner and to a movie afterwards. We saw Duplicity with Julia Roberts and it was sort of a disappointment- but still a fun night! Thanks girls! And yes, still no pics. My home computer is being retarded and taking forever to load. but as soon as I get it worked out I'll post some! Promise!

Thankful...

2009-03-15T16:36:00.002-06:00

I don't know how many of you know about the show on HBO called "Big love" but it is supposedly about a fictional modern day polygamist family who lives here in Utah. When the show first game out the makers said that they aren't really talking about "the Mormons". Well tonight they are airing an episode that supposedly takes viewers through an LDS temple. They've said that they are going to be showing the endowment session and the celestial room. They've hired and ex-mormon to help them build scenes and to tell them exactly what happens during these sacred rituals. Anyone can go through a temple during time that a temple is having an open house before its dedicated. Here they can see each of the rooms and signs are posted throughout explaining what happens in each room. However, like most other faiths, the temple is a place reserved for sacred worship. Having been able to go through the temple myself for the past few years I can honestly say that there is nothing shocking, weird, or inappropriate that takes place. I am interested to see how this HBO show portrays these rituals and the story line that would allow a polygamist to go to the temple. However, I will not be watching the episode. The funny thing is, they are showing this episode in hopes that their ratings will improve. So I hope others will put aside their curiosity and not watch the show.

Well, then this morning while on the internet I came across a few pictures and websites where people have been talking about this whole thing. The worst website that I came across was a site where people were talking about their bad experiences in the temple. I was mortified about how people were talking about going and not understanding what was happening or that it was simply boring so they never went back. I can't even put into words how I felt as I was reading the reasons these people had for leaving the church. I honestly believe the people that spread these rumors about weird or inappropriate things that happen inside the temple, simply don't understand LDS doctrine. I don't believe they were ready or prepared to go through the temple. Not because anything is shocking or scary but because I don't think they were prepared or at a place in their life where they are ready to incorporate the blessings that going to the temple brings into someone's life. I have felt the spirit multiple times in the temple. I know the things that we promise our Heavenly Father in the temple are sacred to my life. I have spent many hours in the celestial room feeling embraced by the love Christ has for me. It was sad to read that someone went through the temple once and never felt that love or the spirit and turned away from the church and never went back. I feel bad for these people. I am thankful that this controversy has come up because it has made me truly think about the blessings that the temple has brought to my life. I am thankful that I know and have felt my Heavenly Father's love and I know that this is His true church. One silly show, not commissioned by God, is not going to make me outraged or change my mind. It will however, make my glad that I am a part of this church and one of His "peculiar people."

Check-Ups and 100th day of School

2009-03-11T21:23:00.002-06:00

Today was a big day. First off, it was our 100th day of school! Yes I know, a pretty lame thing to be celebrating but belive me it is a huge accomplishment (especially for the teacher) to know that you've made it through 100 days with these "wonderful" little tikes! And now we only have about 60-70 days left of school! Thanks goodness! LOL But it really is a fun day. We wear fun 100's day glasses, bring in collections of 100 things, and basically lots of activities having to do with....you got it 100! The kids end up having fun and the poor teacher goes home exhausted. ha ha what's new about that?? LOL After school I also went to the eye doctor for...can you believe it... my 1 month LASIK check-up! I can't believe it's already been a month! Boy does time fly. But all in all my eyes are doing great. I can see 20/20 but my eyes still need about 2 months to heal completely. I can see just fine but have a bit of trouble with lights. I still see halos and starbursts arounds some lights, especially at night. But the doctor says that should start going away as my eyes heal more. (HOPEFULLY) But all in all, everything is great!! Happy 100th day everyone!

Kissing ball

2009-03-03T20:43:00.004-07:00

Valentine's Day kissing ball

So as I was blog hopping (aka stalking) when I came across a tutorial on how to make kissing balls. I have loved the look of these cute little balls of flowers ever since I saw them hanging in the Wynn hotel in Vegas. And I have always wanted to make one of my very own. Then, I read that according to tradition if an eligible young lady received a kiss on the cheek under the kissing ball, marriage would soon follow. What?? No wonder! I better get making my kissing ball....and fast! :)

Kissing ball made with Hydrangea

Busy, Busy, Busy

2009-02-19T19:50:00.009-07:00

I know it's been a while since my last blog so I thought I'd let you all now exactly what I've been up to while on my track break! This track break has been a busy one, even if I didn't go on a trips. Well first off, I had my LASIK surgery last Thursday! YEAH! The doctor said that everything went really well! My aunt Kim took me to the doctor's office where they gave me Vallium (which Kim said I'm not any fun on 'cause it didn't really affect me in any way). Then the doctor took me back and had me sit in a chair. Kim got to stand outside the room and watch through the door and she saw everything on a tv screen. I had to put on a surgical cap and then they gave me a teddy bear to hold. (I wanted a picture with it but they pretty much get you in and get you out) But good thing I had it 'cause I'm pretty sure I squeezed it to death! The only pain came from the thingy magig that they put in your eye to hold it wide open. Good thing it didn't take too long! They also gave me some pretty awesome sunglasses and goggles to wear while sleeping and lets just say I am pretty good at putting eye drops! But after all that, I am happy to report that I can see 20/20!! YIPPEE

Well, I also went to the Draper Temple Open House. It was yet another beautiful temple of the Lord. I especially love all the murals in the rooms. I can't believe we have 12 temples here in Utah. (There iwll be 13 when the Oquirrah Mountain one is finished!) Other than that, I've been doing a lot of scrapbooking and stitching. I made this one for Kristi's Birthday. (It's an updated version of one I made for her like 6 years ago! I also made something for Terra's Birthday but since she can't open it for a few weeks here it is wrapped!

And I even made a quilt! My roommate asked who it was for and I am proud to say that it is for....myself! Yes it is the first thing I've made that has all been for myself! The front is a patchwork and with a flower applique which took like forever! And I think it turned out great! I can't wait to do another one!

Track break stuff!

2009-02-05T21:17:00.002-07:00

Well I totally hate posting without pictures but I can't find my camera cord at the moment so you will all have to do without pictures today! Since being on track break not a whole lot of exciting things have happened but here are a few... First I have subbed a few days. Once for a second grade teacher and one for another first grade teacher on my team. Both times were fun but boy it really does make me miss and actually love the class I have. Of course I've got a few stinkers but after these classes I really can't wait for my kids to come back! Next, I went to the open house of the Draper temple. And boy was it gorgeous. It seems that in the new temples they have had a lot more murals and the ones in this temple were beautiful! Of course the celestial room was beautiful but my favorite place was the place where the brides get ready! So amazing! Then I took Donny down town to the train station so that he could go back home for a while. And I've also been to the eye doc for my pre-op visit. After a few eye scans and some tests, it looks like everything is a go for LASIK next week! YEAH! The wierdest thing was that the Doctor had to dilate my eyes. I've never had my eyes dilated before and they looked crazy! And now, abot 26 hours later they haven't changed! So I still have big black eyes! I look weird! See, now you're all wishing I had those pictures! I have to go back to the doc tomorrow to get these little plugs put into my tear ducts so that my eyes will stay more moist for the surgery and then it will be time for it all to happen! Yippee! Don't worry, I'll look for my cable and post some pictures of me in my cute glasses I hear that I'll be getting next week!

Cute Valentine's Idea

2009-01-28T16:51:00.005-07:00

So I know everyone has probably already seen these but I got them as a Valentines gift from one of my students and thought they were cute. They are simply chocolate dipped fortune cookies! I also got a red "love" picture frame, stuffed lion, and heart socks. But an idea for any parents who want to get a present for their teacher...gift cards are always the way to go! Especially when its for a place that doesn't have to do with school! Just an idea! :)

Jazz vs. Cavaliers

2009-01-28T16:02:00.005-07:00

So a few weeks ago Donny and I were thinking of things that would be fun to do. He mentioned that his team, the Cleveland Cavaliers were going to be playing against the Jazz and it would be fun to go. I dismissed the idea cause he had job interviews the day before and I wasn't sure if he would be free the next day for the game. Once I found out that he was available I looked up tickets and asked if he wanted to go. All I got back was a text that said, "Yeah sure." Now I knew he wanted to go but it sure didn't sound like he was excited! But I found some good seats, not front row but not exactly nose bleed section either! I went and got Donny and we headed down town. Donny has been talking about the restaurant Tucanos for a while so we were going to eat there but of course their was an hour wait. I guess everyone else going to the game had the same ideas. So we settled for Applebees and then headed to the Energy Solutions Center for the game. Donny said that the center and it's fans are known for being loud and boy were they. It was crazy! Well it turned out to be a great game and I found out that Donny was super excited to go. Maybe he was just playing it cool earlier! :) But hey, I had tons of fun too! Thanks for going with me Donny! Oh and yes that is me looking fabulous in my glasses! Yuck! But hey only two more weeks!!!

No More Contacts!

2009-01-19T20:30:00.003-07:00

So today is a weird day. It's weird because it is the last day that I'll ever wear contacts again! You see, n 23 days I will be having LASIK done! I am so excited! The obly thing that sucks is that I have to wear my glasses up until then! But I guess its not such a big deal since I won't have to wear them ever again! Thats wierd to think about since I've been wearing them since the third grade! Like Donny said today, its so crazy to think about because thats like a major part of my daily routine. I mean I can't even look out and see my alarm clock when I wake up. Thats one thing I am excited to be able to do. I'm excited to go swimming and be able to open my eyes under water without having to wear goggles. I'm excited that I don't have to buy contacts, solution, and everything else that goes with that. I'm so excited for so many things!

Jam Packed Vacation!

2009-01-10T18:06:00.015-07:00

It's been about a week since I got home from California for Christmas Vacation and I know I still haven't blogged about any of it! But it has taken me nearly this long to recover from it all! And a lot really did happen while I was home. First off you read all the drama that occurred while trying to even get there. Once my luggage was located it was a mad dash to wrap presents and get them under the tree. Thanks Britt for helping! Christmas was good. It was a lot of fun to see the whole family. Christmas is usually the only time ALL of us are together. So naturally we do the annual family pictures and they actually turned out cute for trying to get all three little kids looking and smiling at the same time. It's really going to be weird that one Christmas where someone is missing. It was fun to see Jonathan and Dakota. They are getting so big and they will probably be walking next time I see them! Well, I finally got a much needed new camera and yes, it's even red! I also got the wicked CD and all the books I wanted! Yes I guess I am a nerd! Or my family just knows me REALLY well! I'm glad that Terra and Josh could come down even if we only got to see each other for a short amount of time. Luckily Terra was able to come back down for Sarah's baptism. It was such a sweet baptism and she looked so cute in her dress. Britt and I both gave talks, Terra played the piano, and Donny got to perform the baptism and confirmation. Miranda even sang and did the sign language to "As I Have loved You". It was nice to have the whole family involved! Kristi even did a great job putting together a video of Sarah! The rest of the week included a lot of hanging out with my family. I love going home because they actually will play games with me. My parents are totally obsessed with guitar hero and rock band so of course we pretty much played that where ever we went. We even played for a bit with my Dad for New Years! I was of course dubbed the singer each time since everyone else wanted to play the guitar and drums. I usually suck at singing the songs on there but since I had a bit of a cold I had to show off my sexy voice! Too bad smelly cat wasn't a song on there! LOL (That was for all you FRIENDS fanatics like me!) Well, for my last day in California we decided to head up to San Francisco. Of course everyone else had already been there EXCEPT me! We really wanted to go and tour Alcatraz but it was all sold out. So instead we decided to buy a city pass that let us go to the Aquarium on the Bay, Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum, and the Wax Museum. The Aquarium was amazing. It had some amazing sea animals that I didn't realize were all native to the San Fran Bay. They had these pretty cool tunnels where all you had to do was on hop on the moving side walks and it would take you right through while you looked around. Of course I had to use my new camera and ended up taking so many pics that my memory card got full! It was also fun to walk down the pier and of course eat some fantastic sea food. The chowder and shrimp were sooo good! The museums were also lots of fun. Some of the things in Ripley's were AMAZING. I can't believe some people can do that stuff! Like building an old cable car out of matchsticks! We also went up to Ghiradelli Square and got some yummy ice cream. The one thing I wanted to do when we were there was get our picture drawn by those funny artists. It turned out so cute. And boy did he draw Brittany to the T! Alot more stuff happend but this would turn into an even long blog! But all in all it was a pretty fun day. The next day I went to Kristi's in the morning to say goodbye and then headed to the airport. I don't really want to get into it but lets just say I got to the airport at 9:45 am and didn't get home until about midnight! Thats about 8 hours later and even $120 more than what was supposed to happen that day! So you can now understand why it's taken me a full week to recover from my vacation!

Airport Craze

2008-12-29T23:10:00.002-07:00

Sorry it's been a while but I hope everyone had a great Christmas and is enjoying the rest of their holiday vacations. Christmas was great back in good old Fresno. Sorry there won't be any pictures with this blog but I got a new camera and I'm still playing with all of its awesome features! So pics to follow later! However, my fun filled Christmas vacation began back last Tuesday when school let out for Christmas vacation. (Which don't get me started about why we had to go to a day and a half of school the week of Christmas but whatever!) Anyway, I really didn't want to fly home on Christmas Eve and I wanted to spend enough time with Terra, Josh, and Dakota before they had to leave after Christmas, so I made sure to book a flight that left later in the evening on the 23rd. My aunt and uncle were nice enough to let me leave my car at their house and take me to the airport. I am always worried about flying home so close to holidays and making it on time to my flight so I got there about 2 hours prior to my flight leaving. And its a good thing I did! Upon arrival I learned that my bags couldn't be checked outside at curbside so I had to go inside to Delta's "special services" lines a wait for a bit. They were nice enough and go me set to get on my flight and assured me that my bag would make the switch from my Delta flight to my US Airways flight during my layover in Vegas. I was all set and headed to wait for the next hour and a half at my gate. As I was walking I passed on of the screens that tells you what gate and if your flight is on time. Well, it is a good thing I looked because my flight was delayed from leaving at 7:45 until 9:00! Yes I would be waiting for like 3 more hours! However if that were my only problem I would have GLADLY done it but since my flight was delayed that meant that I was going to miss my connecting flight in Vegas! I immediately got on the convenient telephones and called Delta's help line. They kindly told me that I was screwed as all of Delta's flight leaving from Salt Lake were way delayed and that I could make it to Vegas and stay a day there or leave the next day from SLC, or buy a ticket from some other airline! Needless to say it didn't look good on getting home before Christmas! Luckily there was a direct flight from SLC to Fresno leaving at 8:55 that I could get on standby. My flight left at 9. Which meant that if I didn't make it onto the 8:55 flight I would have 5 minutes to get over and to the other side of the airport and make the other flight and possible get stranded in Vegas! EEK! Luckily I decided to stop at the DELTA customer service desk and make sure that I was on stand by for the direct flight because the lady was nice enough to just put me right on the flight without waiting on standby! NICE! She called down to baggage and again assured me that there was plenty of time for them to get my bag aboard my new flight! So I happily went over to wait at my NEW gate for another 3 hours! Luckily I made it to over to Fresno and even got in a bit earlier than my previous flight would have! But my bag was not so lucky! I hate that sick feeling you get as you watch all the luggage go around the baggage carousel and not one of them is yours and you keep looking and waiting and finally they stop the carousel and say thats all the bags! I do feel sorry for those workers who have to deal with people like me who just don't understand why the baggage workers at the SL airport had OVER 3 hours to get my bag, couldn't put it on the correct flight! UGH! Lucky for me, I had decided to carry on a small bag and put some very import neccesities in it or else I would have had absolutely nothing! It definitely was a bad way to start my Christmas vacation! Well, all in all I spend the whole next day trying to get an acutal human being on the phone! Later that evening we decided that instead of sitting around waiting for the airline to call we took matters into our own hands. I went down to the airport to look for my bag! No luck! It wasn't there! I just wanted to cry! I mean it was all my Christmas presents and everything! Luckily, to make a long story short, the girl who worked at Delta, thought maybe she would call over to the US Airways counter and see if maybe they had it since that was my original flight, and wouldn't you guess.....THEY HAD IT!! I was thrilled! So needless to say, I officially hate the baggage system at all airports! I just hope I don't have to go through all this trouble when I leave again on Sunday! Everyone keep your fingers crossed!

One of "Those" Days!

2008-12-18T23:43:00.003-07:00

So I know you all know what I am talking about when I say that it has been one of "those" days! I could have guess it would turn out like this by this morning. You know, the morning when you change outfits a few times and don't like the way you look but better get going or you'll be late for wor. Yep that was this morning. Work was ok except for the fact that it was an all inside day for the kids because of snow and how cold it was outside. For all of those who don't know that means the kids come right inside in the morning and have to stay in for recess and lunch! Then just through in a few kids who got sent to office, phone calls from parents complaining about other kids, and a few phone calls/notes home! Well if you thought that was bad just wait, it only gets better! Tonight we also had our ward christmas party. I was in charge of cooking a bag of potatoes (which luckily I had cooked the night before) and getting the ham. I rushed home from school to get everything. I literally left everything in the car and ran inside. Well, in my rush to get the potatoes out to the car and talking on the phone, I (out of habit) turned the lock on the door and shut it! Yes you guess it, my car keys, house keys, everything, was in the house. I was locked out! Thank goodness I had put on shoes (thank you snow!)my coat and scarf, and I had my phone! Thankfully the sweet girl who is head of my activities committee was able to come get me (and my potatoes) and go get the ham. I totally made her late and felt like an idiot! We went to the party (which luckily went off without a hitch) and my roommate came and took me home to get my keys! I also had to go to Walmart and get marshmallows for my class tomorrow and stuff for Sarah's baptism! Crazy Crazy! I am so glad today is over! Keep your fingers crossed that tomorrow is not one of "those" days!

Congrats Donny and Jonathan

2008-12-14T21:20:00.004-07:00

Today I was able to go down to Orem and see Donny get ordained to an Elder. It was so nice to see him take on this big responsibility. It reminds me just how grown up he is! I was so proud of him! I wish mom and my sisters could have been there too. But it was nice to be surrounded by my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. Also today Jonathan was blessed. It makes me sad to think that so often I have to miss out on important things like this in my family. I'm grateful for where I am in life but it would make it so much better to have all my family close together! So it was a very eventful day for our family.

Family Elf Yourself!

2008-12-13T21:24:00.001-07:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Busy, Busy, Busy

2008-12-05T19:32:00.002-07:00

This week has been a really crazy week. Monday started off REALLY interesting! About 10 minutes into class I had a little girl throw up at her desk! And I mean the gross, disgusting, smelly kind of throw up. And throw up is one thing I absolutely can not do! Well the little girl ran to the bathroom and then the cute little boy sitting next to her started gagging. I guess I'm not the only one who can't handle throw up! So I told him to quickly go to the back of the room. Then the whole group was gagging so they all had to ran back there too! Well all in all it ended up getting all over her book and inside her whole tote tray! So disgusting!

And then its just been go, go, goo all week! I was able to meet up with my friend Chelsea who was up visiting from Vegas. Chelsea, Aubrey, and I took Karlee down to Temple Square to see the gorgeous lights! But boy was it cold! But it was good to see them again!

Today was a good ending to a busy week. Today we had a Teddy Bear Picnic. It was cute seeing all the kids with Teddy Bears. Some of them looked like my old bear, flat and worn out! :) I was exhuasted in the end but I know its be even worse next Friday when we do gingerbread houses! Or the next Friday when we do Polar express activities with all 5 classes. Or maybe the 23rd when we have Christmas Around the World! Yikes! I hope I can make it through December! Wish me luck!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

2008-11-29T22:49:00.009-07:00

So after school let out on Wednesday for the Thanksgiving weekend I decided it was time to decorate for Christmas. I swear I decorate my classroom more than I decorate my home escpecially since its my roommate's home so she mostly decorates it herself. But it's nice to actually have a place of my own to decorate, even if it is my classroom! But atleast the kids love it! So I set up my little tree, hung christmas lights, and put up a bunch of Santas. And no Christmas decorating is complete without a countdown to Christmas! This week the kids will be making more decorations so I'll post some more pictures later but it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here, even if there isn't any snow yet! :)

Nontraditional Thanksgivings!

2008-11-29T22:16:00.007-07:00

I can't believe it is already the Thanksgiving holiday weekend! Just a few more days and it will be December! So crazy! Well in my last blog I wrote that in the past seven years I have had seven different Thanksgiving I've spent it at mom's house, aunts' houses, at grandparents, I've even had it in Mexico while eating crab and lobster instead of Turkey and gravy! Well this year was no different for me. .My aunt Tara and uncle Dusty invited us to go to Wendover with their family and eat at a great buffet. It was actually nice to not have to cook or clean up! We also go a nice hotel room where we played poker until about 2:30 am! Not with real money of course! Thank goodness! It was my first time playing Texas Hold'em so if we were playing with money I would totally be broke! LOL but Dusty, Donny, and Tara were all pretty good. Overall Donny took all of our "money" but it was tons of fun. Donny also had a fun time playing with Tara's wheelchair. He has a new found talent of popping a wheelie and holding his balance. He was even able to do it with no hands and fell just a few times! But overall it was a fun Thanksgiving weekend!

Long time no see!

2008-11-23T17:04:00.005-07:00

I know its been a while since I last posted but its been a busy couple of weeks. First off, after I got back from the Bahamas I was able to go down to Terra's house in Arizona and visit for a few days. I stopped over in Las Vegas and was able to stay with Chelsea and Jeff for two days. And I also got to play with their cute little girl Karlee! Karlee is just one month younger than Dakota and one month older than Jonathan. I love when babies start getting at these ages because their little personalities just start to come out! It was fun to just sit and chat with Chels again. It was also fun to see Terra, Josh, and Dakota. We went shopping, ate yummy food, watched movies and soccer games, and I even took Dakota for a walk! He is so adorable with his little hat on! Then it was finally time to get back to work. Last week I had parent/teacher conferences and boy did those make for some really long days! But now they are all done and its time for some holiday fun! Our first grade team is so much fun! We always do Thanksgiving, Polar Express, and Christmas around the World rotations where the kids from all 6 classes switch around and do all sorts of fun things! And then when those are all done, it will be time to go home for the holidays! YEAH!! But I am sad to not be going home for Thanksgiving. I was looking forward to mom's good cooking and seeing Twilight with my sisters but I guess that will have to wait until Christmas. But I really can't complain about Thanksgiving because in the past 7 years I have had Thanksgiving in a different place every year. So this year will be yet another place and adventure!

Bahamas/Snorkeling Slideshow

2008-10-31T21:04:00.001-06:00

Cruisin' the Bahamas!

2008-10-31T18:42:00.021-06:00

So after talking to my sister Kristi today, we realized that I never write about anything good on here. Kristi pointed out that all I blog about is leaving for vacation and when I'm home from vacation. So I promised I would post pictures from my trip so here they are. Now you have to remember that I hate taking pictures of myself, and even more so, I hate asking people to take a picture of me in front of things! I'm crazy I know. So most of my pictures are of things I saw while in the Bahamas or while I was snorkeling. So here it goes.

Day 1: Miami, FL

My roommate Jodi and I left for Miami, FL early on Thursday morning. Now I had been looking at all the weather reports for like two weeks in advance and they mentioned that while in Miami and the Bahamas there would be thunderstorms! Yikes! But luckily when we arrived in Miami it was just overcast with slight sprinkling. But as soon as we walked out of the airport I could feel the instant humidity. I was hot and sticky. No wonder people just go everywhere in their swimsuits! :) Our flights were long with a short layover in Atlanta. I don't mind flying but I hate wasting the whole day traveling! So needless to say I slept good at the hotel!

Day 2: Arrive at Port and Sail Away!

We woke up and took a taxi to the Miami Port. I had heard from others that it took forever to get on the ship.
But it was just like an airport terminal. We waited in a small line to check passports but then we got our room keys and walked right on the boat! It took maybe 15 minutes! The ship was so nice! Everything was exquisite! As soon as we got on there were people waiting with champagne and Orange Juice (for all of us lame people wo don't drink! Just kidding!)We were able to go straight to our stateroom and drop off our luggage and then we toured the boat. But it was so big we were still finding new places everyday! They also had lunch ready. The food was good. They had like 7 different places to eat and it was all pretty good. Hey for free food, I've got no complaints! That night we had a sail away party with lots of dancing and yummy drinks! Virgin of course! :)

Day 3: Nassau, Bahamas

We arrived at our port in Nassau, Bahamas the next day at like 8:00am. And yes it was finally sunny! We walked off the gangway and met our group on the dock to go Kayaking and Snorkeling. Nassau was a pretty city. Full of vibrant colors as well as the pale pink color that you would find on a conch shell that Nassau is famous for! We walked down to the harbor and jumped on a catamaran run by some local guys. They were hilarious and kept calling my roommate and I "pretty girls". As we sailed through the harbor they gave us a tour of Paradise Island. This is where all the famous people build houses, store their yachts, and even the hotel Atlantis is found here. We arrived at a small island where we got in our clear bottom Kayak and meandered around for a bit. It was neat because right underneath us we could see all the way to the bottom of the ocean! After a while we jumped out and snorkeled around for a bit. It was my first time snorkeling. But luckily I had practiced at home in my parents' pool so I felt ready! What I wasn't ready for was the fish that just swam right up to me and completely encircled me! It was crazy! And totally awesome! The water was amazing! So bright and clear! And the fish were beautiful! Afterwards we headed back into the harbor and did a little shopping! There was a few stores and what they call a "Straw Market" which is basically a big tent where these women would bring their goods and haggle with you for the best prices. I loved it but my roommate wasn't so keen on the whole atmosphere. So we walked around some more and then had to head back to the ship. I loved the carefree and happy attitude of the Bahamian people. That night I went to a Vegas type show on the boat and they had a "White Hot Party". They even had snow and ice sculptures on the boat. This is a picture of me before the party showing you my half of our stateroom which surprisingly wasn't that small to me! I also loved our towel animals that our little friend made for us each day!

Day 4: Great Stirrup Cay- Private Island

The next day we got to Norwegian Cruise line's Private Island. There aren't any docks so we anchored off shore and took a tender over to the island. The island was absolutely gorgeous. Once again beautiful blue waters and crystal white sand. We were able to layout and snorkel all day. There was also a BBQ, sand volleyball, and a small straw market to buy souvenirs. I spend most of my day in the water of course! I saw some amazing fish! I saw this amazing trumpet fish. I also saw some baby squid but of course those pictures didn't turn out!This little guy is also one of my favorites because it is unique and different. I'll post a slide show with all of my snorkeling pictures. But overall it was a nice relaxing day. But the best part was as we were on the tender heading back to the ship. As we were almost there, we got to see dolphins swim alongside our tender! It was amazing! And once again it happened so quick that I didn't have my camera ready! That night the ship had a funny comedian and some game shows to play along with, which were hilarious to watch! I swear, drunk people will do anything! We also had one last dance/toga party before getting into Miami at 7:00am!

We got on a flight at 11 and were home by 4. Overall it was a fun trip! I would recommend the Bahamas to anyone who wanted to go! And the cruise was nice and relaxing with lots of fun stuff to do. They also had raffles everyday and lots of free give aways! And the Norwegian Sky was a beautiful boat!

Home Sweet Home

2008-10-29T20:24:00.004-06:00

I am finally home from my amazing vacation to the Bahamas! It was nice to be out and doing something relaxing and fun, but it is so good to be home. I wish you can go on a vacation without the days of traveling to and from your destination! It is so exhausting that its taken me a few days to recover! And not to mention all the laundry! But it was definitely a good time and I would do it all over again anytime! I'll post more about the whole trip when I get all my pictures back on Friday! But it sure is good to be home! Well...until my next trip next week!!!

VACA!

2008-10-16T12:27:00.002-06:00

So today is the first day of my vacation! I am officially on track break for three and a half weeks! Today I slept in, got caught up on some of my shows, and basically doing a whole lot of nothing! Sometimes this is much needed! But I have to admit, I like having to get up and get ready in the morning and needing to be somewhere. I think I need that because it forces me to do something! But for today I am happy to not have to put on makeup or get dressed or even leave the house! Also its getting down to the wire for my cruise! So I'm trying to get things ready for that. And I am super excited! I went and got travel size shampoo, conditioner, contact solution, lotion, everything that I would need without having it all take up a lot of space in my luggage. Especially since I only get to take one bag! I hate all these new flight restrictions and extra fees! Stupid if you ask me! But we finally booked our hotel in Miami and now I think we are all set! I leave next Thursday for Miami. Then our cruise leaves on Friday. While in the Bahamas I plan on doing A LOT of relaxing by the pool and on the beach but we also decided to do some snorkeling and kayaking and of course shopping! So if anyone wants a souvenir put your requests in now and if anyone knows where to get an underwater camera let me know! So I know the countdown has already been going but now it really starts! Friends have always made fun of me because I tend to pack and get things ready way ahead of time. I even tend to start packing like a week or more in advance! Crazy I know, but I am so not the type who likes to rush and do things last minute. So maybe I'll go start packing I me there is only seven days and counting!

Seven Things

2008-10-10T19:10:00.003-06:00

Well, I have few spare minutes before I have to get ready for the big singles dance tonight...Pathetic I know, but what's a single girl to do??? So I decided to complete my seven things that my lovely sisters tagged me for. I have no husband or babies so I hope its atleast somewhat interesting for you all! LOL

Seven Things:

7 Things I want to do before I die:

1. Get married
2. Go to Australia, Paris, Italy, Sweden, and Ireland
3. Have lots of children
4. Own a house
5. Get my masters
6. Build a school in a third world country
7. Be fluent in sign language and spanish

7 Things I do now:

1. Get up early
2. Wash my hands....oh so many times!!
3. Fix boo boos
4. Grade papers
5. Teach
6. Go to church (and sometimes FHE)
7. Blog!

7 Things I can not do:

1. See my nieces and nephews daily as they grow up
2. Loose weight!
3. Be there when my mom and sisters need me
4. Read my scriptures EVERY night (I'm working on it!)
5. Get married....too hard!
6. A pull up! Not even one!!
7. Buy any more shoes! :)

7 Things that attract me to a man....had to change it a bit! (and yes I know I wont find ALL of these things in a man!) :)

1. If he can hold an intellectual conversation
2. His smile
3. If he likes sports
4. If he can sing or even play the piano...HOT!
5. Yes of course his body! You'd know I was lying if I didn't put it!
6. The way he treats his parents and siblings
7. If he likes children

7 Things I say most often

1. "Sit on your pockets"
2. "Zip it, Lock it, Put it in your pocket!"
3. "Try your best"
4. "Sound it out"
5. "Ew gross, go wash your hands"
6. "Awesome Job"
7. "Have a great day!"

7 Celebrities I admire:

1. President Monson
2. Celine Dion
3. Martin Luther King
4. Helen Keller
5. Hayden Panatierre
6. Benjamin Franklin
7. Sandra Bullock

7 Favorite Foods:

1. Mashed potatoes
2. Salmon
3. Shrimp tacos
4. Enchiladas
5. Tortilla Soup
6. Fruit snacks
7. Rocky Road Ice Cream

7 People who should do this:

1.I think I am the last one to do this so anyone else who has a few spare minutes should do it!

Is it time to go yet?

2008-10-03T17:47:00.002-06:00

Well if anyone has been keeping track of the date, like me, you would notice that it is almost October 23rd! Now you probably might be thinking..."what's so special about October 23rd?" Thats the day I leave for some much needed VACATION silly! And this is no boring vacation! Its the BAHAMAS baby! (Can you tell I'm REALLY excited??)I have 20 days left. This is the time where it gets really hard. I just want it to be here already! Oh family trips I would always be the first one to ask, "are we there yet?" so now I'm asking, "is it time to go yet??" Last night I was trying to book my shore excursions. But there are so many things I want to do and its hard to just pick a few. I definitely want to go snorkeling but what else? Here are some of my options....

1. kayak in a clear kayak and snorkel in the reef
2. Swim with dolphins or stingrays or sea lions
3. tours to zoo, pirate museum, Atlantis resort, etc
4. sailing
5. ride a segway transporter through the forests
6. submarine experience
7. parasail

The hard part is that times are set for each thing so some of them overlap so I can't do everything I want to. I have to pick the best ones. Which should I do? And then there is shopping! I guess my family knows what they are all getting for Christmas! LOL thats what happened when I went to Mexico one year! Sorry fam! LOL

So a week and a half until track break and then a week later its cruise time!! I hope you all are as excited as I am! :)

Bored!

2008-09-23T18:16:00.021-06:00

So I stole this from Jessica's Page cause I too am just way too bored and this looked fun!

My name:

Favorite Food:

First Job:

Where I was born:

Favorite Color:

College:

Bad Habit:

Favorite Place:

Favorite Animal:

Past Love:

What I am doing now:

Where I live:

Favorite Object:

Grandmother's Name:

My age:

K I tag my sisters! Cause I know you all want to do this too! Just type in the info into google image search and pick an image from the first page!

Whirl Wind Weekend with Family

2008-09-20T18:29:00.015-06:00

I know it's been a while since I actually wrote a good blog but things have been just way too boring to write about. Pretty much I started school (so you can imagine all the fun that goes along with that), got a new calling at church (head of every activity imaginable in a singles ward), and have been counting down until I leave for the Bahamas (just about a month left!). So last weekend was really the first fun thing in a long time! It all started when I went to Salt Lake airport to pick up Terra and meet my adorable nephew Dakota for the first time! (Can I just say real quick how much I love the SLC airport! Terra's bags we out fast and I love the little parking lot where you can wait for flights to arrive!) Anyway, I was so thrilled to finally see and play with Dakota! He is such a ham! But only in those cute checks! I couldn't believe how fast he is growing up! And he was such a good baby in the car! And he was so content to be held and just sit and watch everything going on around him. Immediately after getting them we set out for St. George where we would be meeting practically everyone in our family. Mom and Terry came in that night and we ate a yummy steak dinner! Then later that night Kristi and Brittany arrived at about midnight (I think...I was soooo tired!) And YEAH because they brought with them my other cute little nephew Jonathan! I was in heaven. Surrounded by family and my two new nephews. I wish the girls and Hayden could have come, I miss them everyday. (I love talking to them on the webcam though! and watching Kristi's cute videos of Hayden!) I'm glad that Brittany had to leave later that day so that Kristi could come with her. I love how the Lord works sometimes! Well after a long night of chatting with the fam, watching Achmed,and screaming at bugs in our room, I woke up early to attend a session at the St. George temple with my mom and step dad. The temple was absolutely gorgeous! It is so much fun to be able to go through other temples and see how beautiful they are inside! I wish everyone had that chance! And it was fun to be able to go with my mom. Afterwards we had breakfast with the fam. Now when I say "the fam" I'm not just talking about my mom and sisters, but my grandma, aunts and uncles were all there with their husbands and a few of my cousins! And of course we aren't the quietest family ever! But it was great to be with everyone. Then of course we did a little shopping and then the best part...we ate lunch at Cafe Rio! YUM! I love it there. My new fav- pork tacos! YUM! After hanging out at the hotel and even taking Dakota to the pool, we had dinner at some mexican resturant (the best thing was the drinks and my sisters!) I think we have too much fun when we all get together! We are crazy! Afterwards we headed to Tuachan to see Les Miserables! Which I absolutely LOVED! It was so good. And I got to hold Jonathan the whole time! I couldn't believe he slept practically through the whole thing! I wish I were like that! So needless to say, after a three hour play and watching some more Achmed I got very little sleep! Oh and my allergies were killing me! I think I sneezed 7 times in a row during the play! Well, we woke up early...again....and headed up to Orem to see Donny! The rest of his family got to meet the roomies and see his apartment. I think my mom feels better now seeing everything for herself and that she got to take him grocery shopping! It was fun to hang out with him and everyone. Oh and of course we went to CPK for Brittany's birthday! (She she got so much free ice cream this weekend!)Happy 21st Breezy! Overall it was a fantastic weekend. Of course I was beat afterwards and it's taken me like a whole week to catch up on the sleep i've missed but it was well worth it! I miss everyone. Wish they were around more or that I could go home more often. I'm trying to figure out how to make it home for both Thanksgiving and Christmas so we'll see what happens! But so far I miss these little tikes! I hope they don't grow up too fast!

Rough and Interesting Day

2008-09-15T17:45:00.002-06:00

So this weekend has been a lot of fun. I was able to drive to St. George and meet up with pretty much all of my family! It was tons of fun and I will post more and put up some pictures later. But after this weekend and lots of driving I have been EXHAUSTED!! Yesterday I even fell asleep for like 3 hours. And if you know me, you know I never take naps! So this morning I was dreading having to get up and go to work. It took me forever to get up and get ready. I even fell back asleep for thirty minutes after my shower! Well, I finally made it to work and right before the bell rang...our principal told us that it smelled like gas down by the office and that we needed to evacuate the building and we couldn't let the kids come inside. The gas company and fire department were called but it took 90 minutes before we were allowed to enter the building! Now you are probably thinking "What did you do outside for 90 minutes?" Well, we looked through each other's library books, played down by the banks, duck duck goose, hopscotch, a game of "pig" (horse was too hard for the kids to spell) ;) , and basketball. By the time we were allowed to go inside I was BEAT! And my allergies were killing me! So needless to say it has been a rough and interesting day!

Getting Closer!

2008-08-31T19:28:00.002-06:00

So its getting closer to my cruise to the Bahamas! I am getting so excited! The only thing left to do is book all the activities I want to do when we get to the islands. There are so many to choose from. There is of course snorkeling, swimming with dolphins, playing with sea lions and sting rays, tours of the island's pirate exhibits, forests, and zoo, sailing, kayaking, and tons more! So if anyone has some ideas on the best things let me know! I also need some ideas of books that I can take to read. I love sitting by the pool and reading but I hate going to the bookstore and trying to pick a book the "sounds" good and then I just get disappointed! So if anyone has some suggestions for a good book that they've read please tell me!!! I think its about time to start my cruise countdown!! YEAH!!

Twilight Movie

2008-08-25T18:41:00.002-06:00

Yeah I am so excited that the release date for Twilight the movie has been pushed forward! If you haven't heard it is now coming out on November 21st. If you want to see the trailer or a pretty good video about the movie go to the official website at http://www.twilightthemovie.com/ Kristi and Brittany are you going to wait and see it til I come home for Thanksgiving??? :(

A Day at the Lake

2008-08-17T16:20:00.005-06:00

So yesterday, our Aunt Kari invited Donny and I to go out on the lake with her and her family. At first we were iffy about going because we had heard that at this time of year the lake can get kind of slimy and gross but we decided to go anyway. We got to the lake early and waited for kari to get there. Then we loaded into the boat and hit the lake. I was surprised by how big Utah Lake actually was. There were lots of people on the lake but the whole time we were out there, we only came across 2-3 boats. It was so nice. It was our first time out wakeboarding so once we got out there our cousins Ty and Kyle went first. They made it all look so easy! Then of course Donny gets out there and gets up on his second try! He did an awesome job! Then it was my turn. I have to say that it took me a couple of tries but once I got up it was actually easier than I'd expected!(I also tried the knee board and I have to say wakeboarding is so much easier than that!) I did walk away with a bit of a sunburn, a few bruises, and boy am I sore today but needless to say Donny and I had a great time out on the lake!

FINISHED!!!

2008-08-13T11:01:00.005-06:00

I forgot to mention in my last post that I officially finished Breaking Dawn yesterday! I went back and reread the series to get me ready for the new book. And I loved it! Of course there were a few wierd parts for me but in the end I am so happy how it all ended! I don't want to give anything away for those of you who haven't read it yet (shame on you!) but I can definitely say that I bet this is the end of Bella's story and the beginning of another! So now I am looking forward to the Twilight movie! I was so worried that the actors wouldn't match the images I had created in my head while I read each book. I am still "iffy" about the actor who plays Edward especially after I saw the cover of Entertainment weekly! Take a look and tell me what you think...He just looks so much like a zombie or something. Too white, wierd color hair, and who ever pictured Edward Cullen as hairy??? And Bella looks amazing but much more like I would picture her in a different book! ;)

Summer fun

2008-08-13T09:45:00.008-06:00

K I know I have been so bad at blogging! Now I know how Brittany felt when I was home and she couldn't blog. Donny's been keeping me pretty busy! But it's been a lot of fun having him here. We've been off doing something almost everyday. And if we aren't out having fun, then we are at home glue to the TV watching the olympics! I love the summer olympics. Swimming has been awesome! As well as gymnastics! Any how- my summer vacation is now winding down and I have to start working officially on Friday! But it really has been a fun summer. And it sure has been action packed! One of my favorites was going to Yosemite with Mom, Britt, and Terry. We hiked about 3 miles up what they call "The Mist Trail" to the top of Vernal Falls. It was absolutely beautiful! Of course Brittany and I had fun taking pictures along the trail. There were some tough moments, especially with all those stone steps but I'm so glad we all made it to the top! I also had fun hanging out with Kristi and the kids! I am so glad we have webcams so that I can see how big they are all getting! Hayden is so adorable. I love his cute little smile! And Jonathan is going to be a little heartbreaker! It was so cute when Donny and I left and the girls were upset that Donny was leaving. They are getting so old! Now I can't wait for a few weeks when Terra and Dakota come to Salt Lake and I finally get to see the little guy! We all had fun playing the wii (boy that wii fit is intense!) and playing bochee ball. I even got a chance to practice snorkeling for my trip in October! LOL what can I say...I love going home to the family!
And now I get to have Donny here. We've been to the water park, played some B-Ball and tennis, and have hung out with the family! We had to come back to Utah a little bit early because I needed to speak at my cousin Tanner's baptism. Its always fun to hang out with our aunts,uncles, and cousins that we usually don't get to see. So like I said, it has been one fun filled summer!

Fun in California

2008-07-24T01:23:00.011-06:00

I am so excited to be back home in California. I was thrilled to find out last minute that I could leave for home earlier than expected. Which was great because Jonathan had been born just a few days earlier. I hate being so far away from my nieces and nephews and hate the fact that I usually don't get to see them for months at a time. I mean I haven't even gotten to see Dakota yet and he's already a few months old. So I am excited to be here and to get to see the kids. It took Hayden a few days to get used to me. And tonight he even cried when I had to leave. But I do love to just come over everyday and play with them.I also love being around my siblings. Donny and Brittany have been making me laugh everyday! Yesterday we went and played tennis. I won't tell you who won (because we had to keep extending the game) also probably because we are all so competitive and hate to loose! But we had tons of fun! Then today we went out and washed our cars. Mine was pretty dirty from the trip and Donny probably hadn't washed the Expedition since prom! But Brittany's car...the lovely carolla... beat our cars by quite a bit! I am glad we washed that thing! And we had fun doing it! Sadie even got out there to help us!I've had a lot of fun at home so far and its only been a few days. I can't wait to see what other crazy things we do before I have to leave again next week!Sorry about all the pictures but this is the only time I get to take fun pictures! And yes, don't worry, I'm sure there will be tons more to come!

Handmade by ME!

2008-07-24T00:48:00.006-06:00

So before I left for California I decided to make some aprons for my nieces Sarah and Miranda.(and I was really bored) Well, they turned out way cuter than I thought they would. And the girls looked so cute in them. I also made one for my mom and Kristi (told you I was bored). And then I experimented a bit and made one for me to wear in the classroom! (I got kinda sick of having my nice clothes ruined from the kids' little hands). And even that turned out pretty good. I was very proud of myself, since this was my first time even attempting to sew something other than a blanket! Now that I know what I can do and how easy it can be, maybe my next ones will turn out even better! I also made little Jonathan his baby blanket. (Kind of a thing I have done for all my neices and nephews.) It too turned out way cute. I have to say I am definitely getting better at crocheting! Poor Hayden who had to get my first attempt at a crocheted baby blanket! Maybe by the time I have my own kids, my skills will be ten times better and their blankets will be cute too! HUm...Now that I've written this blog, it makes me think about just how much time I have on my hands! :)

Jonathan Ryan Williquette

2008-07-17T17:57:00.002-06:00

I am so happy that little Jonathan is finally here. It seemed like forever that Kristi had been pregnant. I'm sure she is thrilled to not be pregnant anymore! I wish I could have been there to see them in the hospital but I am thrilled to be going home this weekend so I can see them. I wish Terra and Dakota could be there too. But who knows, maybe I'll need to make a special trip to Phoenix. I promise to take lots of pictures of the little guy and post them later this week!

Fourth of July

2008-07-08T16:36:00.003-06:00

So last week was the fourth of July. And I have to say that my holiday lasted more than one day. It started on the third with a party at Jodi's parents house in Bountiful. Her parents have an amazing house right on the golf course. There were tons of her family and parents' friends there. We ate some great food, played games, and watched an amazing fireworks show! The fireworks were shot off right by where we were so they were HUGE! And I couldn't believe how low they were letting them off. One even lit the hill next to us on fire in a few spots! Crazy. Then I had to fight crazy traffic and went down to Farmington to Aunt Kim's house. Its nice to be close to family during the holidays when I can't be with my mom and siblings. Well needless to say I planned on staying for one day but it turned into four! On the Fourth, we went to the Centerville parade and somehow managed to gather tons of candy! I was so disappointed though because all they threw was taffy! Oh well! Then we hung out, played Uno out on the deck, and then went to see the movie Hancock. Which actually wasn't too bad. Then we barbecued and played some more Uno. It was nice to have someone to play games with. Which is totally what we would have been doing if I was at home in California! Then we went and watched the fireworks that Lagoon was doing and had rootbeer floats. Overall it was a nice, traditional fourth! But don't worry we also did our own fireworks at Kim's house the next day. So it was a great weekend with lots of fun and family and definitely fireworks! But I sure did miss my family!

Other than that, not much has been going on these last few days since I've been done with school. I pretty much sleep in, go to the pool, and have been trying to complete a few projects that I haven't gotten to in a while! Over the next few days I am trying to write my lesson for Relief Society, get some things for linger longer (also on Sunday), put together a hand out and presentation for my school meetings next week, finish a baby blanket, get some stuff ready for the beginning of the year, and get ready to go to California! (now that last one I am REALLY excited about!)

So while I have been home a lot these past few days I have been experimenting with recipes. And yesterday was so hot that I was craving sherbert. So I made "Raspberry Summer Sensation". And mmmm it sure turned out yummy!

Last Day

2008-07-01T21:24:00.002-06:00

Today was the last day of school. So now I can officially say that I have survived my first year teaching first grade! I am going to miss my little cuties. It was actually sad to see some of them go. But the best part is that now I have a few weeks of vacation! And that is super exciting. I plan on sleeping in, laying by the pool, and all around just relaxing for the next few weeks. Then after some mandatory meetings I am excited to say, I am heading home! I am excited to head to California. It seems like forever since I've been home. And I get to spend some time with my family and hopefully my new little nephews! I'm so glad it's summer!

Much needed Vacation

2008-06-29T22:02:00.004-06:00

So the past couple of weeks have been kind of crazy with school ending and all that. But over the past few days things have been pretty good. I love the fact that I have made it through my first year teaching first grade and it has been so amazing! I love the girls that I work with and I have enjoyed the kids. I'm nervous about beginning another year but I am so thrilled to have the next month off! After Tuesday I am free to hang out by the pool and do absolutely nothing!

So this week my roommate Jodi and I were quite active. We went down to Herriman Days and walked around to all the booths and watched the fireworks. Lately we have been talking about planning a trip to somewhere. So...of course I decided to look into cheap cruises. And I found a really cheap cruise to the Bahamas. We were thrilled and instead of just talking about it and thinking that would be cool...we booked it! So we are headed to Florida/Bahamas for 3-4 days in October during one of my track breaks! So if anyone wants to join us let me know!!!

To cut or not to cut?

2008-06-23T17:38:00.006-06:00

So I have been trying to grow my hair out for a while now. However, I swear my hair can't or won't grow beyond a certain length! And then I get that feeling that I just want to cut it all off! Right now my hair is a little bit passed my shoulders and layered.

Then as I was watching So You Think You Can Dance I saw Kherington and her cute haircut and I just loved it. I don't think I want to go as short as her haircut and of course I would stay a brunette but isn't it a cute cut. She has it kind of flipped out in the picture but basically it is an A-Line cut. Tori Spelling's hair cut is kind of the same. Still a little shorter than I want to go but I love how she has it curly. So my question is, Should I cut it or not? I am always worried to cut it too short because I don't want my face to look fat or anything! So please vote in my poll and let me know what you think!

Yikes!

2008-06-13T20:40:00.003-06:00

So the worst thing ever has happened! Ok so I'm being a little over dramatic but it still sucks! Today was a pretty good day until I remembered that a few girls from work and myself had signed up to take a class today. I had so much to do to get ready for camp week and now leaving early had me a little frazzled. So (here comes the bad part) I left my phone at work! I know, horrible right?? I mean I have no way to contact people and even if I had a home phone, I know absolutely nobody's phone numbers! Sorry guys!

Medical Mysteries

2008-06-12T17:55:00.004-06:00

If anyone is looking into becoming an elementary teacher I have a word of advice for you! Make sure your shots are updated!!!! LOL :) No seriously! After having taught for over 4 years now you would think that I have a pretty dang good immune system built up. And I thought the same thing until recently!
I'm not sure if it is my recent move from teaching third grade to first but I swear I have been exposed to some pretty wierd, awful, and disturbing things! I can't help but laugh when I think of some of the things parents have told me that their child has contracted! I've had students with chicken pox, lice, rashes, colds, and so much more. But today was the topper!
I had a parent call the school today and tell me that her child has hand, foot, and mouth disease! Which consists of rashes and sores on your feet, hands, and yes...in your mouth! Now I won't show you any pictures but...YUCK! And yes, you'd better believe that it is highly contagious! Now I am so paranoid. I think I have washed my hands 20 or more times today! Oh and you'd better believe we cleaned the heck out of our desks and I made the kids wash their hands a ton too! I so hope that no other kids get it. And most of all, I had better not get it! My immune system better be ready!!

2008-06-04T19:25:00.005-06:00

K so I know I've already posted a lot today but I thought these were so cute. And hey why spend your money on buying a stuffed animal, a pillow, and a blanket when you can buy all in one! Here's the cute lion!

Stuffed Pet

Pillow

Blanket

Isn't he cute? You can also get lots of other animals! I believe they are called "Zoobie Pets".

Happy Graduation Day!

2008-06-04T19:17:00.002-06:00

I cannot believe that tonight Donny graduates. I mean he just seems so little still! And it will be wierd to ever think of my parents as empty nesters! I am excited for this next part of Donny's life. I wish he was still coming up here but I know he will do amazing things in Fresno. And who else it going to keep Brittany company! Congrats Donny!

Who comes up with these things??

2008-06-04T18:47:00.004-06:00

So I'm not a huge brownie person but the reason for this is that I absolutely hate trying to get them out of the pan. Because then by the time the brownie has finally made it to your plate it looks like a big pile of crap! So if you are like me and share this problem, check this out.
Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

Pretty cool huh? You can purchase it at www.bakersedge.com for a pretty reasonable price!