Quarter Century

Hey!
I am officially 25 years old. Weird right?
I love the way life's turned out for me so far. When I reflect about things, there's nothing I'd change in the past. And we have a lot of moments where we sit back and say, "This is the life." I don't want anything to change for a long time because I'm having so much fun with what we're up to now.
Anyway...
Dallin made my birthday a breeze. He gave me backrubs, spent time with me, drove home to let the dogs out before our plans, made me snacks, let me choose what we watched, just all the best stuff a girl wants.

Our Date Last Week

We went to a Real Salt Lake game! Omg it was the funnest thing ever. Those fans are legit! They are sooooooo passionate about that team! And it makes sense because they're good! The stadium was packed, we had excellent seats (on the 7th row), and we saw some amazing soccer!

(Plus they had cinnamon roasted almonds. My dad woulda died they were so good.)

It was just the funnest sporting event because when you go to Jazz games nobody really cares. To see them do well, and be around people who are cheering like crazy, is sooo much fun!

They got a penalty shot on our side, and we got a video! It's so cool! I am now a soccer fan.

My First Parent Teacher Conference as a Paid Teacher!!!!!

It was great. (That's not even sarcasm.) There wasn't really anyone who had a bad grade and all the parents were nice. Plus we got free food and the night went by quickly. (as Peyton Manning would say to the Nation Wide jingle) "that's a first rate caso dip." We took a faculty picture before hand. I couldn't possibly work with better teachers. They are the salt of the earth and inspiring, hard working people. 

Yearbook staff chose a cover!

We had a lesson on themes, and then I presented them with 12 options and they voted. Of course they picked one that I didn't like! lol but I'm happy we at least have a cover now. Here are some of the options that the manufacturing company has for templates.

The Green Fam threw me a B-Day Bash

They asked what I wanted for dinner and I said pasta carbonara and hot german potato salad. Both of those foods are very good, but I didn't think through the fact that they're also very starchey. Needless to say I had the best meal followed by the worst gut ache of my life. While we were there I caught a pic of Jake and my mom in action during tug of war. And poor Josie became the bud of our jokes as she was placed inside a laundry basket lol 

Last Thursday...

Josie had a vet appointment for her ear, and Jakey was feeling abandoned because he always gets to go with and he's rarely without his sister. 

So when I got home we went on a walk. He was so happy and so was I. It's still beautiful weather and I think that I had an exaggerated idea of what this job would be like. Everyone says that your first year of teaching is a lot of work, but my struggles are the opposite. I don't feel that it's a lot of work at home, but I do seem to struggle with different things while I'm teaching. I can make lesson plans easily and I think it's fun. So it really doesn't take me that long. (I still say competing and getting ready to compete for miss utah is significantly harder than anything else in the world-even teaching. lol compared to that time management and gettin' crap done's a cake walk.)

That was rambling. Anyway, Jakey is so cute and I love him!

We got to see good ol' Miss Tonya!!!

We went to Olive Garden and then she came over and saw our house and we hung out for a while. She's one of the strongest people I know. She's been through a lot but it hasn't slowed her down one bit. Her and I have a history for sure, but I'm really glad she's still my friend. It was so great to see her again. 

And she got to meet Josie for the first time! Jake remembered her and missed her of course. And idk why josie couldn't put down the toy for this picture lol 

 

Part 1 of our Date last Week

We took the dogs to the "Dog Days" promotion at Thanksgiving Point Gardens! That's one of my favorite places on earth, and every time I go there I think "I wish we could bring the dogs here they'd love it." So when we could, I jumped on the chance. We went with my mom, tom, bentley and it was beautiful. 

Look how freakin' cute this picture is.

 Dallin has been taking care of Josie so well with her ear thing. He took her to the vet, remembers her med schedule, and does all the cleanings and stuff. So she loves him :)

 I got my school pictures back!

I ended up doing re-takes because I wanted a picture with my short hair. But of course when I got these my mom cut one out to save it lol just like old times. 

Except this time we didn't have to pay for it!

Speaking of School...

I think I'm getting over the "honeymoon" phase of teaching. I've had a few rough days, and recently ended up in tears because of it. But I still love it. And the weird thing with 12 year olds is that they will come in to the next class period completely different depending on the day. So luckily, although I've had 2 or 3 horrible class periods, they were a lot better the next time. 

I had to be really patient and remind myself they're in a weird phase of life. In the end it was all worth it, too. 

Jakey gettin' his tan on

The kid loves to sun bathe. He wouldn't come inside! He just wanted to stay there on the step!

 

Last Saturday 

Last Saturday we sat around watching football, drinking tea, I did my nails, and it was wonderful. I simply love fall. As I age I'm starting to like the seasons more and more. I used to hate everything that wasn't summer, but now I'm actually ready for it to start cooling down. I'm sick of sweating so much outside at PE! lol
We got the mail, and our Halloween costumes were inside!

 How 'bout that eclipse!

That was pretty cool to see. I never used to understand when people would say that the moon looks like cheese. Now that I've seen it looking sortof orange I totally get it!

 Cross Country News

We've had good runners who usually place, but our team score has never been that great. 

THAT ALL CHANGED YESTERDAY!!!!! 

I was sooooo happy! The boys team got 3rd overall and the girls team got 1st!!! 1st 1st 1st!

They did so great. They said they dedicated it to me because it was my birthday! 

(I just found this on pinterest and thought it was a cute idea. Some of the runners on my team have gotten medals and they get numbers, so they could get one of these!)

For the reward for getting 1st, the girls all got candy, and then we all played flag tag for practice instead of just running. They had fun with it, but I knew they were still working out! lol Flag Tag's hard work!

 Another addition to the office.

Slowly but surely it's coming along! I keep adding more and more yellow accents so it's slowly getting cuter. I painted this jar and got the flowers, and I'm in the middle of painting a cork board to hang as well. 

 High School Reunion

I can't believe it's been 6 years. We got together with my high school class, and it was a lot of fun. Even Dallin said he had a lot of fun. Everyone was so nice, and it was a good change of pace to socialize with people we don't normally see. It was good to see my old friends again as well. Afterward, we went out with Rachael and Randy and ate and played shuffle board. That is a really fun game and I'm actually good at it! The Utes game was on as well (lucky I was wearing red) and they rocked it. Plus the restaurant was excellent and cheap! Win.

 Made some stuff for Health class

They were all nice and grossed out which was what I was going for. 

I'm old.

I'm so old that the students made fun of me today for not knowing how to "whip & nay nay" lol I know the song but I didn't know there was a dance associated with it!
I definitely felt the love on my bday. My dad called at 5 in the morning and played the "they say it's your birthday" song on a dancing, battery-operated frog we had growing up. It's tradition. lol
And I loved not having my birthday on facebook because then it meant  alot more when people told me happy birthday. I had so many texts from friends and family, and I really reminded me of how lucky I am and how many people care about me. It was perfect. 

 This is when it's awesome to be a teacher. If I woulda had my birthday at my old job, a couple people woulda pretended to care and we would have gone to lunch and had an otherwise boring day. At the middle school however, I swear all 130 of them knew about it and were stoked. They came in between classes to sing, dance, deliver candy, and ask questions about how old I was and what I was going to do for my birthday. They complimented my "birthday headband" and outfit, made me cards, and all of my classes were ultra-behaved. The students sang happy birthday to me in every class period, and Dallin even had flowers delivered during my 3rd period class!
Of course I blushed and the whole class went "AWWW!" And they wanted to smell them and see the card.
Although there are hard days, 12 year olds are still a lot funner to be around on your birthday than adults.

 After School,

I went with the green fam to celebrate my mom's birthday at an amazing Italian restaurant. We sat in the "Pope room" where they have pictures of the pope all over and a plastic pope bust on the table.Lol it was AUTHENTIC! and soooooooo GOOD! It's definitely an experience to go there. I will definitely go back! It was the perfect dinner on my bday because I love italian food. And they sang happy bday to us there (pic on the right with teh candles).

My present from my mom

I asked her to make me this shabby chic sconce I saw on pinterest for in between the bathroom mirrors. She did great and it looks so cute in there!

And all of my birthday festivities aren't even over yet! I'm getting a pedicure tomorrow with shanna and michelle, this weekend we're doing more, and then we're going to Colorado for both dallin and my birthday since we're so close. I'm spoiled!

Upside down french braid

This is the only way I can get all of my hair up into a bun now that it's short. Don't judge, it was hard to make it straight because all the blood was rushing to my head lol I had to put a flower there because there was a big ugly rubber band there holding the braid. 

I'm cutting it shorter on Sunday so I won't be able to do this anymore! I'm stoked to go even shorter!

Just for kicks...

So that's our life.
cya next time!
-Sydney Graff :)

Fall Festivities

Hello everyone!

I can't believe it's already the middle of September!

Just to warn you, Dallin got a new phone this last week and it has that cool slow motion video feature. So we took a lot of videos. Some of them worked and went onto the blog in slow motion, and others changed into normal speed when I put them on here and I have no idea why. But he loves his new phone because it takes such great pictures and has a stylus. I think this is the first time I've ever seen him have a non-iphone!

Computer Troubles

Dallin finally got a paying gig with the video game thing. He's teaching people who are bad, and they pay him! So that's great, but of course once that happens his computer stops working. His friend Kyle came over last night to help him fix it. Luckily the part that needs to be fixed is still under warrantee so we don't have to pay. 

I love this nail color!

This year, I beat the Labor Day Sales!

I went to Kohls and had 10$ kohls cash. They were having a labor day sale, and plus I went to the clearance section. All of that added up together, I ended up saving 95 dollars!!! Ya, for everything pictured below, I paid 14 bucks. BOOM. That's how it's done.

It's birthday time!

We have a lot of birthdays with friends and family that have birthdays this time of year (including us) so I broke out the sign.

We got to interview the current MO!

Her name is Jessie, and she is cute as a button. We had her over and practiced interview with her and then talked about Miss Utah and I showed her my dresses so that she can borrow some. Anyway, here and her mom are both so funny and it was great time!

Lazy 3-way Tug of War

He's a good dad. He even plays with them when he just wants to take a nap lol

Dallin's Co-worker's Birthday Lunch at Texas Roadhouse

There he is on the famous birthday saddle!

I finally did it!

I've been working up the courage to chop my hair off and I finally did! I was also starting to hate the color because I felt like a red-head (nothing against red heads, it's just not my color.) 

So, I went shorter and darker! I love it so much I'm thinking about cutting it even shorter! Short hair is where it's at. I'm so over the whole long hair/extensions thing. 

This was me at Desi's getting it done. Her cute dog has a spot in the salon lol 

It was good that we did it when we did because Desi ended up having her baby like 3 days later! 6 weeks early! She's a cutie and all went well. 

It's a long a-line right now. I'm thinking of doing a shorter a-line soon.

 

The creative shots from the yearbook staff.

I asked them to take as creative of pictures as they could, and get stuff like this. lol They're trying. We'll get better. 

More from the Field of Dreams!

We've got to soak it up while we can because we won't be able to go much longer.

Date-Night In

Instead of going out, we grilled brats and watched the Alabama football game last week. It was really fun and really tastey!

The Rachael-Sydney Rendezvous

We met up at Kneaders last week and talked for hours as usual. I saw one of my students lol gotta start getting used to that!

It's on like Donkey Kong

The fantasy football tradition has started again. I'm so glad I'm not doing it. But Dallin's all stressed about how his teams are doing lol 

This was me learning how hot dogs are made.

lol Dallin thought my reaction to the video was so funny he filmed me watching it. Ya. It's disgusting.

If you don't believe me, here's the video I was watching. Something about watching waterfall-looking mounds of processed meat makes you wanna never eat a hot dog again.

Poor Josie Girl

These chronic ear infections are getting really old. So, we took her in again. They gave us a complicated set of medications, cleaners and ointments with different schedules and then if that doesn't work we'll have to move to prescription food. Hoping for the best this time because it feels like we've tried everything and that special food is expensive!

Graff Get Together

Dallin's parents were in town last week so we all met up in the mountains for a bbq. We played in the river and it was so great to see everyone again!

Dallin's grampa (aka "papa") has severe Alzheimer's, and health problems so he can't do much anymore. I thought this was a sweet moment between him and Selena. He doesn't know me well but he's always been such a charismatic, nice guy. And it hits close to home for me because my Grampa Flanigan had Alzheimer's too before he passed. 

Our Date Last Week

Dallin surprised me with tim mcgraw tickets! It was so fun! And again, I saw one of my students there lol 

Tim was good live, but also Billy Currington and some other guy (can't remember his name) they were good too.

The amount of people all packed into USANA was insane. I have never seen that many people at a concert there before. 

Cross Country Meets!

The official season has started, and we have some really good runners, and some not-so-good runners. In the boys race we had a 3rd place and on the Girls we took 1st and 3rd. They're pretty quick, and they got medals at a school assembly.

I had to host a meet, and that was a lot of work. They run on a path until they get to a turn around point and then go back to the start to finish the race. So when I got there I had to run the race to put up the cones, and I was just so grateful because I was surrounded by so much beauty, I was out and exercising for my job! That's the life.

We were so lucky that the storm didn't hit until after our meet! Look at the difference! I have enjoyed having rain though after a long, hot summer.

Puppy Kisses = True Love

To a dog, you are their entire world. There's nothing better than puppy kisses

I got my first evaluation!

Well, a short informal one. I love working with such a great admin and staff because everyone is so positive. She had nothing but good things to say, gave me candy and left it in my box. It was a nice surprise.

Little family reunion at the school on Friday!

Dallin came in to be a guest speaker for my yearbook class to speak on sales. We had a sales lesson to try and sell yearbooks, and he came in to give them tips. He took the car up to work, and then after school my mom picked me up and I gave her the tour! It was fun to have them where I work every day. I don't think Dallin ever even saw Prodigy lol 

I'm stoked for Fall.

Ya I'm the cliche white chick who likes PSL's, leggings, sweaters and boots. I just think it's fun to get into it when the seasons change because it's a change of decor, colors, styles, smells, tastes, etc. So far I'm loving my pumpkin spice candles!

That's not really our wreath pictured above. I pinned that cuz I loved it. Here's our real wreath.

I think it's cute. 

Olive Garden

We went to olive garden and that was fun! This is terrible pic of me but oh well. #sharetherealmovement

#rightaftercrosscountrypractice 

lol

I better go get ready for our date tonight! I'll include that next week! 

Have a great weekend ya'll!

-Sydney