Happy 2015!!!

Well another year has come and gone. Yesterday I celebrated my 28th birthday and it was a great day, but I was pretty lame celebrating the new year last night. I could barely stay awake until midnight. We didn't really do anything crazy because I had no energy to do anything. That all sounds pretty lame, but it was maybe a metaphor for how 2014 was for me. It was a great year but it has been exhausting. Here are my favorite things about 2014.
1. Getting to travel to Seattle in the summer
2. Being a ma and pa on pioneer Trek
3. Finally having a full time teaching job, even though it is exhausting me
4. Living in the same place for more than one year
5. Buying our first car together

I looked back on my new years resolutions from last year and I was pretty pathetic about some of them. I am laughing to myself because one of my resolutions was to go to the dentist and I have still avoided that one... yes, I make a very terrible adult in some ways. At first glance it seems like I didn't meet any of my goals, but I did do a few things. I ran a triathlon and I did have my own little business with my friend Haley. It was not an etsy business but we started a weeding business that I made some good money at this summer. One goal I did not write down on my blog, but that we had was to pay off one of our debts. We paid off two, including Sam's car. That was a great feeling, I just wish we did not have any more to pay off. I did not do a 52 week savings plan, but I can say that we have even more than what we would have saved doing one in our savings right now. So I am going to say that goal was a success for sure. I have yet to organize our photos and make a wedding album, but those had to kind of be put off because of how busy I have been. So here are our new goals for 2015.

1. We are keeping our goal of attending the temple once of month. Sometimes we are good at this, and other times we are bad. Currently we have been slacking so this is definitely at the top of our list to become a habit again.
2. We are going to do a triathlon again. Well Sam did not do it the first time, but I did. This time we are going to train and complete it together.
3. Go on a trip outside of the state of Utah.
4. Start our family this year. I realize this one is a little out of our hands, but it is something we are hoping for this year for our little family.

Here are my personal goals for 2015
1. Complete the YM personal progress program as a leader, which includes reading the entire Book of Mormon. My scripture study has seriously been lacking recently and I know I could really redevelop that habit into my life.
2. Actually organize our photos and make a wedding album.
3. Go to the dentist.
4. Do something physically active at least 3 times a week. Even it if is just going on a walk.

I am excited for 2015 and for all the potential for this next year. I am crazy busy with teaching full time, and Sam is crazy busy with working full time and school. We are always busy with family obligations, church callings, and everything else that keeps people busy. As much as I loved the holidays and having a long break from work, I am a little relieved that they are over. Once again they were almost more busy than relaxing because right before Thanksgiving we had a big flood in our basement and so we have been living in a construction zone for a month and a half. Also, we helped my brother and his family move back to Utah from Washington. We are very excited to have them back but it was a long drive to get them here. I am ready for a quiet January and for this new year. I am so happy that through all of these things I get to do them all with Sam. I kept really thinking about what my most favorite thing about 2014 was, and while there were a lot of good things, my truly favorite thing was just growing closer to Sam and being more in love with him than ever. This year has proven that we can make it through hard things and come out of them closer and more in love. Thanks for the good times 2014, but I am not sorry you are over. Bring it on 2015.

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!

Christmas turned out just fine after all.

After all my stress about getting ready for Christmas and mustering up whatever Christmas magic I could, it all turned out great despite my worrying. I managed to get up a cute little tree and some stockings.

And that is about it for decorations. On Christmas Eve we had a small dinner with my sister Rebekah's family and actually watched about half of the movie Rad that my brother in law Sean found on Youtube. Nothing says Christmas like a good 80's movie. 

On Christmas day we woke up and opened the presents we got for each other and the gifts my parents spoiled us with. We always say we are sticking to a strict budget but we end up spoiling each other. I did not really even create a Christmas wish list because life has just been busy and I have not been thinking about it that much. Sam was so sweet and for like the last 6 months he had been creating a list of things I had mentioned that I wanted or would like to have. So even though I did not really give him any ideas he surprised me so many cute and wonderful things. What meant more than the presents did was how thoughtful they were. That is what makes presents great. 

After a quick breakfast we headed over to Sam's parents. We got to talk to Sam's little brother Joe who is on a mission in Ohio. We got to talk to Joe for about 2 hours! We talked with him through facetime so it was cool to actually get to see him. I think he was a little homesick but he is doing great and is starting to become more and more comfortable as a missionary. Since most of my family was all gone somewhere else we just spent the day with Sam's family. We ate delicious food and we were thoroughly spoiled by Sam's parents. We watched a classic Christmas movie and just lounged most of the day. Pretty much all of us were sick so it was nice to just relax.

Overall it was a pretty great Christmas. I had a big realization that even if I do not do any of the normal traditions I love about Christmas, it will come anyways, and all you can do is just enjoy it. That is precisely what I did. Even though we were spoiled with things I really felt that this Christmas was not about the gifts at all. I realize that is really cliche but it is just so true. I am mostly just grateful to have family (especially when you spend a holiday without all of them). I am grateful to have Sam's family to spend the day with. I am most grateful for Sam who has taken care of me while I have been sick this whole month. He is so thoughtful and just being with him made it a wonderful day. Now I get to look forward to my birthday, the new year, and getting back to normal, or at least the life I consider normal :)

Merry Christmas!

It's really not beginning to look like Christmas at all.

This time of year everyone is eagerly anticipating Christmas and are finishing up the final touches on gift wrapping, decorations, and Christmas parties. Well, that is not the case for me and Sam. I have pretty much done nothing to get ready for Christmas and it is a little depressing. I love holidays. I mean LOVE. I love the planning and all the excitement. I love Christmas lights and decorations. I love turning on Christmas music while I hang ornaments on the Christmas tree and hang lights around all the windows. I have done nothing. Not one twinkling light.

The reason for this lack of holiday cheer really started with Thanksgiving, which we also did not celebrate this year. Well we did, just not on Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving day we headed out with my brother Matt's family to help them move to their new home on Bainbridge Island just outside of Seattle. Even though we had a big Thanksgiving dinner the Sunday before, it was still a little weird knowing everyone was sitting down to a nice turkey dinner when I was driving through western Idaho. We were lucky enough to stop at my grandparent's house and my Grandma made us a delicious lunch with a little pumpkin dessert. The saddest part of the day was when we made it to our stopping point in Baker City, Oregon. We went in search of a place for dinner and not one place was open. NOT ONE. Not even McDonalds. Where did we technically eat our Thanksgiving dinner? Maverick. Yes, that is right. We ate Maverick gas station food while watching the Price is Right in our hotel room. My niece Leah may have shed a few tears that night, but the kids were really big troopers and they never complained. 

We finally made it to Seattle the next day and helped Matt and Debi move everything in to their new house, which is super cool and in such an amazingly beautiful place. I am not going to lie, it made me think of moving the the beautiful northwest someday. We spent the weekend with them in Washington and then had to say a sad goodbye to their family and head back to reality in Utah.

I say back to reality because being in Washington was really relaxing for me and as soon as we got home that meant we had to move as well. We are going to be moving into Matt's house now that he is gone. Here is the deal. My parents are moving into the upstairs of Matt's house and they are selling their condo. We have now moved out of Bethany and John's house (since they are now back from Massachusetts and Bethany is pregnant with twins!!!). So now we have moved in to Matt's basement and will be living with my parents. Are you confused yet? I don't blame you if you are. Anyways... we left Seattle late Monday night, and had to get back to work the next day. We then spent a crazy tired week packing and moving little by little all week while trying to paint our new bedroom.

Unfortunately I came down with a cold last weekend, and unfortunately that cold turned into bronchitis. And unfortunately I also caught a case of pink eye two days ago. So I finally made it to the Dr. and finally made it back to work after being out for 3 days. Let's just say I am grateful it is the weekend. But I am still surrounded by unpacked boxes with no Christmas cheer in sight. My goal is to get into the Christmas spirit, decorate a Christmas tree, and buy some presents no matter what this weekend. Oh did I mention that we are helping my parents move tomorrow? Let's just say I am a little tired of moving.

Even though the holidays have not been very conventional for us this year it has also really put things in perspective for me. Between Thanksgiving and now I have had a hard time feeling holiday magic and cheer, but I have been trying to really focus on the true meaning of Christmas. I keep trying to tell myself that the decorations are not that important and that there is no need to feel any stress about not having any of the traditional Christmas things done. I am trying to focus on the fact that I will get to spend time with family. I am going to focus on the fact that Sam only has one more week of school and then I will get a lot more Sam time for the next three weeks. Tonight we are going to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert and I am so excited that I get to hear about the true message of Christmas in such a beautiful place.

So hopefully I will recover from all the sickness soon, get a tree up, eat some peppermint ice cream and eggnog, and try to feel a little Christmas magic soon. I have a feeling that even with all the craziness in my life, it is going to be a great Christmas either way.