Is Summer really over?

With my summer quickly dwindling to an end I feel like I need to write a blog about it. I went in to my school last week and checked out my new classroom and it kind of felt like a self defeat that was actually admitting that my summer is over and school is starting in less than two weeks. I had this hilarious dream of doing some school prep one day a week all summer long. Ha ha ha ha, that was so funny of me. I have not done a single thing to plan my curriculum yet. I did go and arrange the layout of my room and spend a bunch of my own money on new posters and frills for my room. You know the stuff you don't really need but must have because you don't want to have the most boring classroom in the school? I worked in Elementary for two years so I have the little panic inside of me that I need to have some kind of amazing theme for my room and have all kinds of crazy little cute things. I keep having to tell myself, this is Jr. High, and they don't care. They are not little kids. I go back to work for meetings on Thursday and is it weird that as sad as I am for the freedom of Summer to be over, I am kind of excited for school? I am sure I will take back those words in a few weeks. I am teaching three subjects, Utah History, U.S. History, and Geography. That is a whole lot of prep in teacher talk. Three subjects is a lot, especially for a first year teacher, but I feel confident and I say bring it on teenagers!

I have been frantically trying to organize my house before school starts because I know that I will have no spare time and if I don't get it done now, then it probably won't get done until Christmas break. Looking back on the last two and a half months, I would say this has been a pretty fantastic summer. We went on Trek, went to Washington, spent a lot of time with family, had plenty of lazy time, lots of fireworks, bbq's, and other summery type of stuff. I feel like the older I get the less I care about doing all the things that I think I "should" do each season. I am just enjoying the ride of life because it has been going too fast lately. We did get in a little Youngs Family trip to Lava Hot Springs at the end of July. Of course I did not take any pictures. We had a great time and it was nice to get out of the Utah heat and relax at the pool all day. 

It has been great Summer, but now it is time to move on. I can't wait for cooler nights and days, and for Fall to come, and for my life to had a schedule again. Here is to the new school year and to a new adventure in life. So in farewell, enjoy this picture of Sam eating two popsicles at once, because that is how dang hot it is in our house.

Feels like summer just began.

The other day I was looking at the calendar on my phone and I realized that I start work in 3 1/2 weeks. That is less than one month people! For some reason it felt like I had a lot longer before I needed to get my classroom ready and start mapping out my lesson plans. I mean, it is still July! Our Summer has been packed full of fun things and I guess that has just made the time fly.

I thought that I would have a lot more down time this summer but as soon as June hit life stayed pretty busy. Between my little weeding business, helping watch my sister's kids for a few days, and getting ready for our Stake's Pioneer Trek, the month of June flew by. We went on Trek on the 26th and it was a blast! Some people kept talking about Trek like it would be horrible and we would just have to cope with it while we were there. It was totally opposite. I was a little nervous about who our kids would be and if our family would all get along, but our family was awesome! We had such a strange little mix of kids but somehow we all just meshed and everyone was so nice and got along so well. Here we are in our awesome pioneer get-up.

Here is our awesome family at the very end of our journey.

I was super sun burned at the end, exhausted and filthy but I would definitely do it again. We are super crazy and the day after we got back from Trek we headed out on a road trip to visit my brother Matt's family in Washington. It is a 13 1/2 hour drive to Bainbridge Island so we broke it up into two days by staying the first night at my Grandparent's house in Idaho. It was a long drive but it was so worth it. It was so fun to see my beautiful little nieces, especially my new little niece Rosie, who I had not met yet. The weather was perfect and the Island is beautiful. We mostly just hung out with my Brother's family but we did spend one day in Seattle and spent the 4th of July at their friends beautiful home on the waterfront. It was an ideal week and there is a part of me that wishes I were still there. 

On our drive there we got stuck for an hour in a mountain pass because of rock blasting. At least it was a beautiful view with fresh mountain air.

 We spend out first day on the beach with my beautiful nieces. The ocean was freezing so I mostly just hung out on the beach.

 The next day Sam and I took the ferry where we met my brother after work in Seattle!

 It is a beautiful city!

 We ate delicious Korean food.

 The next day I got to meet for lunch with my friend Amy who I had not seen in 7 years.

 This is the view from the backyard of the house we spent the 4th of July at. It was beautiful!

 On our last night we had a delicious seafood dinner with the best Salmon ever and fresh caught crab courtesy of my brother Matt.

 It was a long drive home but after almost two weeks of being gone, we were happy to see this state sign. It was a great vacation.

The last few weeks we have been able to relax and get back to regular life. Now we are just getting ready for the 24th celebrations and then we are off for a weekend camping trip with my family. We are just enjoying the rest of summer now, even though there are only 3 1/2 weeks of it left. I guess now I should start stressing about my classroom layout and lesson plans, which I am actually pretty excited for.

And now I can breathe

Ahhh. That is how I feel right now. Why you ask? Oh well, because the last 6 months have been some of the craziest and busiest months of my life and I feel like finally I can sit down and breathe. Which, means I can sit down and write a little blog post. Ever since Thanksgiving we have really been going at full speed. Between helping Matt and Debi move to Seattle, moving ourselves, moving my parents, the holiday season, birthday celebrations, Sam being in school, helping Bethany and John do some remodeling to their house, lots of babysitting, taking on a full time position at my work, teaching a subject I have never taught before at my work, starting a side gardening business with my friend Haley after taking on a full time job, and all the regular things that keep a person busy these days, we have been busy. See why I feel like I can finally breathe? My life has felt as long and busy at that run on sentence. However, finally (and I mean finally), school is out, Sam is out of school, and my life is suddenly very open. It feels amazing!

Ever since April I have been teaching, Marketing, Business and Keyboarding at my school. I did a long term sub last year for 5th grade as well. It really was a good experience, but it was challenging going back to Jr. High since I have worked with 5th graders for two years now. I was so grateful for the opportunity though, and all my work and waiting has paid off and you are looking at the new social studies teacher at my school! Yes, that is me people. After two years of looking for a full time teaching position (in the subject I actually studied in school) I finally have one. I am way excited! I will probably be more excited in August since, like so many other teachers, I am still recovering from the month of May.

I am so excited for this summer and to have a chance to get on top of things in my life. Even though I complain about how busy we have been, I am truly grateful for all of the things in my life. All of them have been amazing opportunities, whether service, work, financial, or social. We have been overwhelmed with blessings, so much that we don't know what to do with all of them.

We are looking forward to this summer and the month of June is pretty much already booked. We are going on Pioneer Trek at the end of the month and then immediately after heading up to Seattle to visit my brother's family. I can not wait! We also just welcome my sister's little twin babies last week and so we have a lot of snuggles to fit in. Well, hopefully I can update our lives a little more now that I actually have some free time these days. For now enjoy a few photos of the last 6 months.

Happy Summer Everyone!!!

Happy New Year!

Well 2013 has gone and 2014 is here whether I am ready for it or not. On Dec. 31st I turned 27, which I have realized is a pretty uneventful age to turn. I had a pretty good day shopping with Sam, eating out with my family and playing games until the clocked turned midnight and another year was gone. We had a pretty low key night and since I was still recovering from being sick for the whole month I was ok with it. Of course with the new year comes reflection as well as making plans for the new year.

I would say 2013 was a pretty good year, not without it's challenges though. Here are some of the highlights for me:

• Moving into John and Bethany's house and inheriting 3 crazy cats, thus making us cat people.
• Planting my very first garden
• Celebrating our first wedding anniversary
• Finding Nala and having our very first pet
• Traveling to Boston to visit John and Bethany
• Running (mostly) a half marathon
• Helping Matt and Debi move to Seattle
• Moving to a new house

Last year Sam and I set a few goals, some of which we kept, some partly kept, and some hardly at all. We have set some goals for the new year:

1. Run a triathlon together
2. Attend the temple at least once a month
3. Do a 52 week savings challenge
4. We did not set too many because even though at the new year I feel a lot of ambition I don't want to be unrealistic.

Here are my personal goals for 2014:

1. Go to the dentist (yes that is a big goal for me)
2. Finish menu plans I started
3. Make a wedding album
4. Related to #3, I want to organize our photos
5. Start an etsy business
6. Have a booth at my local farmer's market this summer.

I wanted my goals to be things I have deeply wanted to do, which probably seem ridiculous to others but are important to me. I wanted them to be realistic and not your typical "New Years" resolutions. Of course I want to loose weight, or be a better person, but I think those can be obtained better through more specific goals. My hope for this new year is to be settled in a new place and to organize my life in a way that I have been wanting to for a while now. Happy New Year!