Hey friends and fam! Lots has happened since the last time I wrote. This whole post is out of order because I didn't want to rearrange the pictures. So this time we're going from most current to oldest I guess.
Work
We both got some new shirts that we could wear to work as well as our cruise. This was one of mine.
One of the first graders wrote that I was her hero because I have "lots of integrity." (They're currently learning what integrity means.) I like how big she made my lips! lol
I did an online webinar on classroom management with this program and then signed up for a course. I am learning a lot as I go along and it's awesome so far. I like feeling like I'm improving because it helps me on bad days to know that it will get better. Anyway it was cool because it was only 35$ and it comes with a free manual and a poster and link to resources and you get PD credit.
I am also starting to listen to this while I drive to and from work. I like it so far! I hope it sinks in! lol
Tumbling and dance day happened. And yes, injuries happened. For some reason when a 1/2 inch mat gets pulled out people think they're Olympic gymnasts. But I'm exaggerating of course. There wasn't anything serious, I was just incredibly worried the whole time because they were really going for it.
I got this sweet note from a student out of the blue!
You know you're a PE teacher when you end up with a tan line from your whistle! lol I am now literally a red neck.
(Apparently Arizona is so hot that even in November you have to wear sunscreen to work!)
This was our game to celebrate Halloween! Run into the "haunted house" to grab a peice of "candy" without getting tagged by a "ghost" and put it in your bucket.
Clearlink has been doing well. I came to visit Dallin when it was fall break before we left on vacation. They've painted and customized a little more now and it looks so great. It was good to meet all of the cool people he works with.
One of the people Dallin works with is an artist and has drawn two pictures of Dallin! Look how amazing this is!
Dallin the warrior!
Vegas Weekend
Last weekend was the weekend Clearlink had their retreat in Vegas. So of course I told myself I was going to be really productive and get lots done, and all I got done was cleaning. Dallin also didn't really take any pictures.
On Saturday night I went to Oktoberfest at Gethsemane Lutheran church with Elizabeth and Joel. It was really fun! Live polka, free food and drinks, selfies with Martin Luther, bouce houses, the cubs game, and a pitcher holding competition. What more could you need?
Joel won the guys competition!
Here we are at the selfie booth.
Elizabeth, Joel, and her parents. Me and Elizabeth in the pitcher holding contest.
We were dying. It's much heavier than it looks. Bounce house with people young enough to be our children. lol we're immature.
And so did Jon!
Josie's Injured Again
Now we get to the sad part. A few weeks ago, I left the bedroom and Josie went to follow me out as usual. She's jumped off the bed millions of times, but this time when she did she must have landed wrong. I was already out of the room and I just heard her land and then scream like crazy. She screamed and cried for like 2 minutes straight and then wouldn't put her back leg down for like 2 days. We took her to the vet. The first time, the vet thought it must be just a sprain because she was letting us move it around without crying. But after a week of medicine didn't help I brought her back and they did an xray. The x ray showed that she tore her acl and the femur and tibia were sliding like they weren't supposed to since there's no longer a ligament to hold it in place.
As it turns out, acl surgery is almost 3 thousand dollars. She also has hip displasia on that side so it makes the knee more likely to tear again with the other ligament that crosses with the acl. (it's called the pcl in humans) And we don't want to pay that much or do it twice. We also think it's only a partial tear and not full. If it' partial you can get them a brace and do swimming and physical therapy and monitor their jumping for a while and sometimes it heals itself. The brace also stops it from sliding so it doesn't hurt them anymore. So this is what we're leaning towards, even though it is sad to think that she's in pain. :( Poor Josie. I hope this brace helps her. This is similar to what we're thinking about getting.
She wouldn't move the first few days, but now she's acting more like herself again. I'd like to think that means it's getting better already, but it could be that she's just getting used to it hurting all the time.
HALLOWEEN!
Our school had the halloween dance! Me, the art teacher Becky, and the technology teacher Jaron hosted the dance and Dallin came to help me DJ. It was really fun. We went with an animal theme this year! The dogs were a monkey and rabbit, and we were a shark and giraffe.
Parents and teachers said that this was the best turn out they've ever had for the Halloween dance! It must be cuz I'm so "poop-ular" lol just kidding. We had a trunk or treat, food, crafts, costume contest, and lots of dances like the limbo. (pictured below)
Here we are with two of the students. They are such sweet brothers who love PE. It was so funny watching the little kids dance their hearts out. I was also able to raise a lot of money for the PE department! Enough to buy scooters! I cannot wait!
This is Dallin helping to clean up afterward. He was such a sweetheart. I was thinking he would probably dread it, but when we were driving home he was saying it was actually really fun and he wishes he could teach and he was glad I invited him. I know I had a lot more fun with him there than I would of had if he didn't come. So thank you dallin!
This is me with the other specials teachers!
This picture, although it is not flattering, shows the giraffe makeup and braids. It was kindof difficult but the students loved it since they call me Mrs. Giraffe. 
On Halloween night I set up this table and our two chairs outside our front door and I had so much candy ready to hand out. It was disappointing though because there weren't very many trick or treaters. (Another reason why I don't love gated communities.)
Halloween day was pretty difficult behavior-wise. They're just over it and wanting to celebrate in their costumes. At the end of the school day they have a parade in their costumes on the road behind the school. Here they are!
Florida-Georgia Line Concert
Now we're even farther behind. The night before we left on the vacation (maybe not a good idea, but we did it anyway) we went to FGL concert! Molly and Jacob invited us and it was so fun. I must be old because I thought it was turned up too loud. lol
I wore my country getup and Dallin wore normal Dallin-stuff. lol he doesn't really get into it as much as I do.
The whole crew! We also saw cole swindle before FGL and he was sooooo good. 
It's very hard to capture in pictures but the lighting and stage was cool. That stadium is much bigger than usana in utah. I was amazed at the amount of people. We left a little bit early to go home and pack and go to bed because we had to wake up at an insane hour for our flight.
The Best week of the whole year.
Jakey and Josie stayed with the Millers for the week. They seem so happy there and they take care of them so well. This was when I was saying goodbye for the week.
I'm not going to sugar-coat it- the flights both there and back were awful. There was so much turbulence on the way there I had to run up through first class after the seat-belt sign turned on to throw up in the bathroom. The flight attendant came over to tell me I wasn't allowed up there and I had to be in my seat, but I barely made it in time to barf and in my rush I forgot to close the door! lol That walk back to my seat through first class was the worst walk of shame in my life. I knew they heard me and were like a foot away so I just kept walking and muttering "sorry" over and over.
We finally made it and our hotel was amazing!
right on the beach with a balcony! It was the coolest place I've ever stayed!
This was while we were eating outside on the beach at the hotel restaurant. 
The hotel had it's own fancy buffet, casual bar and restaurant, private beach, and store.
In the morning we saw the sunrise over the water and it was breath-taking. That's probably the first time I've ever known dallin to want to wake up early!
We had breakfast on our balcony! I cannot express how awesome that was. My favorite meal in my favorite place with my favorite person and my favorite temperature with my favorite view in my favorite outfit. (my pjs.)
Does it get any prettier?
It was so much food and it was sooo good!
After that we went to the beach. Dallin thought it was funny that I wanted to read Harry Potter.
It was my dad's birthday while we were there!
It's called the Pelican if you're ever wanting to stay in ft. lauderdale. I'd definitely recommend it. 
Us at the fancy restaurant buffet part before we left.
beautiful hotel.
Boarding the ship! We were marveling at how huge it was!
Dallin loved the endless view of water.
The housekeeping staff always left us towel animals. We saw a lot of jaw-dropping performances and we went on the absolute best ship there is so there was no shortage for entertainment. This was the diving show!
This shows the inner part of the ship and the rock walls on the sides
Picture of him mid-dive.
Handstand dive.
The highest jump either of us had ever seen!
These were our excursion tickets. We were so excited. it makes me sad thinking about certain parts because we didn't get to go on one of them because I suddenly got really dizzy and sick because of the heat. I think it snuck up on me since I'm not used to humidity. I hadn't drank any water all day and it was kindof like the scottsdale incident all over again except worse because I almost passed out. I'm also sad because we bought pictures at one of the other excursions and then lost the disc. So we're in the process of tracking that down but dealing with anything after a cruise is a total nightmare. We did have a blast though! We went and swam with dolphins and had a beach day and went on a tour and had a spa day. So I don't mean to complain. We definitely were still spoiled. 
On the boat. 
All of the design on the ship is impeccable. I don't even want to know how much each of those chairs cost!
We went to bingo and then the love and marriage show.
This was our first stop. Anguilla and st. martin! Look how turquoise the water is!
This was our first excursion. It was a beach day and a dolphin encounter. Swimming with the dolphins was the coolest thing I've ever done! I really hope we can get the pictures from this because those memories are priceless.
Yes, this is real. We really were there and we really took this picture! lol it looks like it could have been found on google images if you searched for "total bliss."
This was the boat ride from the dolphin thing back to the cruise ship. It made me so tired that I laid on the disgusting floor to sleep! lol it was a great nap I just can't believe I was able to sleep on metal!
Lol look how sun burned I was!
That was the comedy show on the ship. Below was a show we saw one of the nights out on the main drag because it was "disco night"
The dancers....
Dallin chilling.
The massage we had was the best one either of us had ever gotten before. It was a couples massage with special oils for relaxation and hot stones and the whole 9 yards. The therapists were so attentive and truly cared about our life styles and pain levels. I know you might be thinking that they all seem to because that's their job, but these two stayed after the appointment for quite a while to talk to us about potential causes for my back hurting and Dallin's shoulder and wrist injuries. They told us what to do that will help and gave us this stuff. It's supposed to help with the PH and something and something lol Honestly I don't remember but it seems to work! We have never been so relaxed!
Puerto Rico! We went on an amazing tour of the city san juan!
amazing ceiling!
The inside of their capitol building. It's 100% marble!
It was an informational tour, but also really cool because you don't always know about where to go or what to do in a new place. It was nice to have him take us to 3 different stops and then drop us off at shopping. 
Puerto rico beach
This was the shopping area we stopped at. Everything was so vintage and picturesque! I feel like Utah and a lot of Arizona is all newer and when something is old they just tear it down. There's very little cobblestone streets and older buildings. So just being there was amazing to me and I was soaking it all in. Dallin did the wide selfie mode and I think he moved his shoulder so in the picture it disappeared! haha
I mean, seriously, how can you not find that adorable?! I would love to live in the eastern US or other places that have a rich history like this. 
I struck gold with shopping in PR, but Dallin didn't. Guys clothes and stuff is just more expensive. I found a store that was so cheap I got 4 things for only like 30$
We got back on the boat.
This was at dinner. This was one of the formal nights. We dressed up 3 times and I wanted to buy at least one picture, but we forgot before we left the ship and I was so so sad about it. That is a really big regret for me.
This was at the ice skating show! It was so cool and we were holding our breath because they did big jumps and stuff even while the boat was moving! They must be used to it though because they landed everything!
She did a dance on the ice while also being lifted up in that hoop and flying around above us! It was stupendous! (trying to use another word besides 'amazing' for the 100th time)
This was the stop we were supposed to go jet skiing on when I felt faint. This picture was after I started feeling better again. Apparently coconut water is very hydrating! After I sat in air conditioning with water for a while I started feeling better. So that was good. They gave us our money back and we just enjoyed the beach instead.
This was when we were getting back on the boat in Labadee. It's cool because it's a private island of Haiti through royal caribbean so there was a lot there that was all free to do. 
Dallin's birthday we were in labadee and swam and stayed at the beach all day. Then we had a fancy dinner and a show on the boat. It was the best. This was the waiters singing to him!
We also went to see the broadway play Mama Mia. It was so good but we didn't take any pictures. This was in a latin place where they had a band and people would dance merengue and bachata. It was really fun.
This was an irish pub type place and this guy singing was seriously the best we've ever heard. He was from ireland so he had a cool accent and he was funny and he played his own background music with the guitar and he was just amazing. We stopped in to watch him several times because he was that good. 
The top boat deck at night just watching the waves. 
Dallin wanted to get matching t shirts as souvenirs. lol I didn't mind because they weren't bad looking anyway.
They had a disney character parade.
Dallin got really into watches on the cruise and ended up buying one. He got a really good deal on it since it was on sale. It was funny that the whole process took him an entire week because he was being picky and indecisive. It was good because it was his birthday present!
Dallin was picked to judge the final night of the ship's Karaoke competition! He was very excited and he was very popular with the big crowd of people because he was the best judge. He had a funny comment when there was this really good singer. When it was his turn to give feedback, he said, I have a song for you and sang, "This girl is on fire" and the whole place laughed. At the end she ended up winning and for her encore song she sang "This girl is on fire" by alicia keys and even did the rap part!
This was our last night at dinner so we took a picture with our waiter and assistant waiter. They were always happy despite working basically every day of the entire year for the last few years when they'v been working for RC. Their outlook on life was inspiring. 
We got to be really great friends with these guys. This is Kathleen and Alvin, we played a trivia game with them and then saw them in Labadee before I got sick and then hung out with them some more at the karaoke night. They were so cool we called them our adopted parents!
This was on the way home in our day hotel before we went to the airport to fly home. 
For some reason the universe thought I needed even more fear of children because on both flights home we had the misfortune of screaming, crying, seat-kicking, running crazy babies. We both at different points of the day said, "I'm never flying again or I could never deal with that." lol sooooo yeah. That was fun. We were either in an airport or on a plane for an entire day and it was the worst day of my life. Seriously. I swear those babies gave me a migraine. 
Back to Reality
The students at my school keep asking if my husband's name is ben and if he's running for something. lol
My sweet pups
Although we certainly did not want to come home from our glorious vacation, it's nice that we like our lives enough that it doesn't feel like we need to escape. It was a good break, but we didn't dread coming home because we both like our jobs, hobbies, coworkers, dogs, house, life, etc. We missed the cute puppies.
This was josie after a bath on the left. She carried that popsicle stick around all day in her mouth and was so sad when I had to take it away.
This was after we got her groomed. You can tell that her knee hurts her after vet appointments and grooming, and the bath and a time when she's been running or playing. But for the most part she seems to be getting better because she's starting to act more normally. 
See? How could you complain about a life like this? I get to take relaxing baths in my nice huge tub whenever I want at this house. So I can't complain :)
Jake is so weird. He always wants to jump in the water when I take a bath! When I tell him no, he'll just lay there in the spot next to the tub and wait. 
Nails! I was surprised that 3d flower stayed on all week! That yellow bracelet was a hand made gift from a little sweetheart 1st grader!
Dallin had a bad day. He woke up to being notified that some crazy crisis was happening at work, tried to eat breakfast but we didn't have much, then on his way out he grabbed this bottle because his face felt dry. He put it all over his face thinking that it was face lotion, and it's ICY HOT!!! His face was burning all the way to work and then he had to try and wash it off but his eyes were super watery. lol isn't that the funniest bad day ever? I'm sorry dallin. It just sounds like a movie!
I love my cute fall decorations. I do feel like I'm missing out a little on fall. Here it still feels like summer to me. I couldn't believe it when I realized that it's November and I'm still wearing shorts and sweating. That makes me miss Utah a bit, but it's still okay. I'd rather it be warm all the time than cold all the time, and I can still pimp out the house in fall decorations and pumpkin spice candles and pretend it's fall. lol 
The exterior of our house was painted! I think it looks cute. We weren't home when they did it so the only thing that was kindof annoying was that they just broke off my wreath hanger so that they could paint the door! lol Oh well. I like it better now. The door is now an olive green instead of that weird brown that it was. Also, you can kinda see my fun fall wreath in this pic!
Dallin got a massager from brookstone and it works really well! It's nice to have because you can quickly just use it on yourself and there's a bunch of different attachments for it.
My mom finally finished my shower curtain!! I'm so excited to finally have it because I absolutely love it and since I saw it as it was coming along I knew I would love it. She has such attention to detail when she sews. I also love the new towels we have for that bathroom. Shelly sent them to us and they match perfectly! I'm not 100% done with that room because I think I want different mats, but it's coming along.
It's Jessica and Preston's wedding in a week, so Kaylynn brought Kaden and Calvin out and she'll be here for 2 weeks. We went out for pizza and shaved ice and then went to the park with them. We both think Kaden's a cool kid. lol
We went to red lobster last night and we were just talking about work and improvement and all of the things we've learned from the books we're reading on the topic. Dallin told me he got some feedback recently that said many of the reps feel that he is approachable and friendly. And he was telling me that the first thing he does when he gets to work is goes around and says hello and asks how every person is doing. The chapter that i'm on in the 7 habits was just talking about how in every organization, family or company, the most important thing should be the people. So often the focus is on results, performance, deadlines, assignments, etc. In the process of all that happening people get walked on or bossed around or feel like pawns, and steven covey's point was that if you make the focus on each one of those relationships, your organization will be able to go above and beyond with your results and performance. But the focus is always backwards. When we were talking about it I was inspired by Dallin's ideas, and we were both recommitted to the idea in our own jobs. I need to re-focus on each individual student instead of just ripping through PE as fast as I can in the 45 minutes allotted. I am certainly going to try, because I know how great it is when people make you feel remembered and cared about.
I think that's a really good idea to end on, because that's something that we all need to be reminded of with how busy and hectic life can be. I need to refocus on communicating more with family, and getting to know people instead of just focusing on getting things done.
Holy crap this post took so long. Ah! Next time I'm going to do it in a week instead of 4 weeks. lol But I say that every time.
See you all later!
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