My career

Ever wondered... "What's it like to be a teacher?"

Well, today's your lucky day, because I'm going to show you.

This is what it's like to be a teacher a lot of the time.

You make it work, hope it's enough, and are proud when you get them all to the goal alive.

Oh the glories of teaching!!! :)

An August Update

This month has been good! I've liked it! Then again, I've always loved August. The only bad part was going back to school. And even then, I was ready to see my friends most of the time, so school wasn't that bad.

I came home for a couple days at the end of July before leaving again, so J planned a big date weekend. We spent every moment together. It was fun. Some of it was going to Olive Garden together and to Captain America with Ty and Em. It was a great date!!

Then, I drove to Spokane for my friend Janet's wedding.

It was a 7 hour drive, but not too bad, actually. There were beautiful parts of Oregon and Washington that kept me occupied.

You know something kind of crazy? I listened to ONE mix the entire way there. My Disney Mix. What's so crazy about that, you say? Well, I didn't repeat ANY songs the entire 7 hours...wow.

Anyway, I went to her endowment at the Spokane Temple on Thursday.

It was beautiful. I was/am so proud of her! She looked just lovely, the session was very special, and I just loved being able to hug her in the Celestial Room at the end. What a beautiful experience.

I could definitely feel the spirit strong there.

Friday, we set up the reception. It was at a family friend's house. It was gorgeous.

Here are some pictures:

JP and I set this up. I'm very proud of it :)

JP's mother in law and I hung ALL of these lanterns. 7 trees, 8-9 lanterns each...that's a lot of lanterns

The beautiful couple :)

The next week was my birthday week!! I've always had the love of stretching my birthday from one day to an entire week. So it's a birthweek! This one was definitely a birthweek!!

Here's J and I at the Cheesecake Factory. YUMMY!!!

The rest of my birthweek consisted of Tucano's lunch with J and Paige and watching My Fair Lady friday night with J's family because I got that for my birthday. Then, Saturday, we went to Roaring Springs. I wanted to go to a water park and had never been to this one, so we went!! Linda, Kristin, Tyler, Ty, Em, Paige, and J and I went. It took some convincing for some, but they all said they had lots of fun. More than they expected. We had a blast! And we went on every ride!!!

It was an awesome birthweek. ;)

John bought a pretty new car. It's 1970, 18 feet long, and roars like a good, ole fashioned car. It's a cool car.

Last weekend, we went to a family reunion for J's dad's side. It was a beautiful park where there was a lodge with running water, big, spacious fields, and lots of space.

Here's a picture of the drive.

My handsome husband being the snitch while playing Quidditch

Gma and Gpa Taylor brought old coats and jewelry that we could take pictures in.

This was a mink coat that would be worth $7000 now. It was realllly warm. and Pretty!!!

The old farmers. I got to keep that bonnet! Gma Taylor made it for the pictures, so she said I could have it since I'm a teacher, I'll have lots of opportunities to use it!! :)

We made S'mores. J's had a HUGE marshmallow.

Kristin got my camera. so we had fun.

It's been a good month!!!

Lucy Grace

It's Lu's 3rd Birthday!!!

Lucy is my sister's younger daughter. She is absolutely adorable. I love this little girl.

She sings while she plays

She shakes her booty when you make strawberry or chocolate milk

She gives you kisses and hugs to make the heart just melt

She loves my hubby

She has beautiful curly blonde hair

She is so full of love anyone falls in love with her instantly

She wears sunglasses outside...and inside...

A couple days old.

She still loves to cuddle.

Always smiling

Except on her birthday when you take away the card... :)

She loves food

Looks adorable in piggie tails

Shares my birth month

She's OBSESSED with J. When he comes, she can't get enough of him.

Does he love it? Yes. Yes he does.

She loves her Aunt Gracie

but J is soooo much better!!! :)

She plays well with her sister and cousins

She's starting to dress herself more. Her shoes are usually on the wrong feet. But they're footwear, right?

Oh, and she's a BYU-I fan. :)

She plays nicely with my barbies when I come home.

Band-Aids are a fashion statement

And so is chocolate

She loves princesses

I love her face here. "Get. Me. Outa Here!!!"

And she sings so beautifully!!! Enjoy!

I love my little Lu Lu. She is sooo sweet and loving. I can't wait to see her again at Christmas!!

Jolyn

Today is Jolyn's birthday. She is just a wonderful girl!!

She was the first Curtis I met when J and I were dating. They invited us over for dinner one night at the very beginning. I liked her instantly. She was welcoming, friendly, easy to get along with, and very kind.

I still think so. She's a wonderful sister-in-law. She includes me, is interested in what I have to say, loves me, and is kind.

She's also very beautiful!!

Here she is when she graduated in July 2010

Her and her sister at my wedding. So cute

Muscular siblings!!

Wiping the lipstick off from my hubby's face. (it was her lipstick...not mine)

Here she is just a couple months ago at Wicked. She's so beautiful! I LOVE her new haircut. She looks stunning.

At her graduation doing the can-can. Yes, while pregnant, too.

Such a cute girl

July 2009 when I came out to find out if J and I should get married... :)

Happy Birthday Jolyn!! I love you!

My weekend

I don't have my pictures uploaded yet, but here's a link for pictures taken by the photographer at Janet's wedding.

She's an amazing photographer. I loved hanging out with her and helping her! What a sweet girl with amazing talent!!!

Thoughts

Picture this.

You pour your favorite cereal. Cheerios, Life, Capn' Crunch, Honey Bunches of Oats... Whichever.

Before you get out the milk, what do you do?

I pick out the cheerios that stick together. Or the perfect cinnamon life that looks just amazing. Or I eat a big bunch from Honey bunches.

My younger brother picks out at least 60 cheerios or pieces, then pours more because half of his cereal is gone then! No joke. I counted once how many he ate...

Soooo.....what do YOU do?

Arkansas Trip

So after Lake Ouachita, we did a lot of fun things!!

J got to play some more with the nieces and nephews.

Here, Sol is showing him that doggies make panting sounds... :)

Ev read Harry Potter 5, 6, and 7 so he could see the 7.2 movie in theaters. We saw it in 3D (not as great as other 3D movies.)

M with her Rapunzel doll

My Squishy

J is so wonderful with these kids!!

M and Lu and I played barbies one day. It was a lot of fun. I miss those barbies! :)

J went on a ride-along with my cop brother. He really enjoyed it. I went the next week and it was pretty cool!

We went to Harry Potter 7 part 2 at midnight!!! And what midnight showing is complete without dressing up?

My favorite character is Tonks. So I dressed up as her. I've done it several times, and I love it. I like having pink or purple hair. It's awesome. :)

Mom spraying my hair. I washed it 3 times that night. I still had two purple spots and my scalp was purple the next day...

There was an awesome moon that night!!

Jake and Christian went to sit in line at 2 in the afternoon. They were great to do that! We got to sit exactly where we wanted to because of that.

Here's my studly nephew

His favorite seat was on top of the wall.

J dressed up as Dobby

Dobby and Tonks.

A lot of people asked to take our pictures. They especially loved Dobby! (and he enjoyed his fame)

This was the theater we were in

J helping out Harry

I'm staring him down. Die Voldemort!

Our favorite costumes. They looked great!!

Us and Jennifer. We liked getting to know her better.

This one was an awesome costume, too.

This is when we went to HP 7.2 a week later for Ev's first time. I think he was proud of himself.... :)

We went swimming a LOT, too!

Jo's awesome swimsuit...heehee

Body Builder

Cute boy

His older brother. I still can't believe he'll be in 5th grade...

And their dad. Made a massive splash

DCI came to Little Rock, so Mom, Sam and I went to watch. They were very impressed. I like DCI. They are quite spectacular.

It was a crafty trip, as well!

One night, Siz brought her silk and we made flowers!!

I made the green and yellow one, the red one, peach with black center, and pink with crystal center. It was awesome. I only burnt the crap out of my finger once... :)

J and I needed a summer time quilt, so I bought fabric and got started.

Here are the pieces laid out and ready to be stitched.

My camera's awesome.

Finished quilt top!

Took blood, sweat, tears, and lots of wanting to shred it, but it's beautiful now!!!

I LOVED my trip to Arkansas. I am so thankful that J was willing to drive alllll the way home by himself so I could spend another week and a half with my family. I loved being with my wonderful family. I loved just hanging out. I loved swimming. I loved being the cool aunt again... :)

Thanks Mom and Dad. You are wonderful.