Adulting

Adulting is stressful and hard and scary. And it's boring most the time. So it's been another month, but again, not much happened. I accidentally broke my phone so I went a while without a phone so I couldn't take as many pictures, but the good news is I got another cool phone!
(The stupid thing about our world today is that every little thing you do is debated and made fun of and evaluated. As I was finding this picture, it was on a blog where someone was ranting about how it sends such a bad message to our future generations if we post "anti-adulting" memes because it makes them think they have nothing to look forward to. Well, if any teens or kids are reading this, I'm not going to lie to them and say that being an adult is always easy and wonderful. Who knew you were classified as a careless rebel just to use a meme like this. lol quit with the judging people!)

Summer is Back!

The river opened last weekend and we all went to float it for the first time in 2017! I am such a wimp after living here in AZ because it was 94 degrees out and I was shivering because I was so cold. I am not exaggerating. The water was pretty cold. It was good to see friends again and to meet some new ones too! Afterwards we went to this good Pizza place in Tempe.

Josie is obsessed with sitting in this bush for some reason. We keep trying to catch her sitting in it, but this is all we've gotten so far. She will literally crawl inside it and hide.

There she is inside the bush

 She is inside the bush in this picture too.

 JoJo cuddling with me :)

 This stupid tree is dropping all of these berries and I don't know what they are. They look like night lock from the hunger games to me. lol so it's alarming that the kids won't stop eating them.

It's even more annoying that it attracts tons of birds who like to eat the berries. If you know me, you know I have "Ornithophobia," or an irrational fear of birds. So that's nice. 

 

Pictures of my nails because apparently I need more hobbies. The white ones were cool because they were holographic.

These energy shots from isagenix are amazing. 

Work hard Play hard

Dallin's work schedule has been different than mine lately which kinda stinks. Jakey just stands there waiting for him when he works late. lol 

 
Speaking of that window, Jakey and Josie had a dog trainer come and train them for a couple hours. Here is a picture of him below- his name is Bruce Lincs. He was really great. He reminded us that we can be strict on them but we do need to let them have a little enjoyment too. One of the concerns was that Jake sticks his head through the blinds to look out, so Bruce suggested that we pull the blinds up. He stood up for Jake and said as long as he's not barking to excess, he should have the right to look out because that's what he loves to do. I felt so silly for not thinking of that myself- I thought that it was a matter of training him to never look out the window. So now they can do "sit and stay" even when we open the front door. It's still so exciting for them to hear the door bell that they freak out barking- but they are getting better every day. It was cute to see them learning :)

We love our new mister and the amazing arizona weather. This was actually like a month ago- so while it was snowing in utah we were laying out tanning!

Very relaxing. After that we went to the mall and shopped. Best day ever.

This was my Easter this year. Dallin worked and my day was the most boring day in my whole life. Turns out if you aren't into religion, you don't have kids or family in the state, and your husband works odd holidays, Easter sucks.
We tried to go to the dog park and even that was a drag because it was completely empty. lol I guess most people have other things they wanna do on Easter. Go figure

I've been watching the voice off and on because I'm really far behind. We are also on a New Girl kick right now.

We went to a really cool place called the Second Story in downtown Scottsdale and it was amazing. Dallin tried duck! It was very fancy shmancy and we had a really good conversation about self-improvement and theories with our jobs and coworkers. (I'm not explaining it very well, but it was an intellectually stimulating conversation and I think we both inspired one another. One of the things I like most about Dallin. Our conversations aren't just surface level, and they're also not gossipy.)

Anyway the chef came out and introduced himself to us and made us 2 desserts on the house! He was super cool and you could tell he took his work really seriously.

 
We have kind of become "foodies" lately. We've been eating out a lot and trying new restaurants, and then the other night we made ourselves a great dinner. We made crab, potatoes, and watermelon. It was perfect.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Only 2 and a half weeks left of school. We are all tired from the year and also because there are a lot of events at the end of the year. 

6th Grade Track Meet

It was so so so fun. It was a lot of work, but so worth it. I have never been more proud of them! They tried so hard and had so much team spirit. They were all encouraging each other and cheering and giving it their all. This is a military dad leading our team in stretches and cheers before we started. I was so grateful for all the help we had. Including Dallin! He took the day off and he was the announcer! 

 Here he is up by his announcer box!

 It was a busy, hectic day, but weather wasn't bad and we took 2nd place overall. Plus, we got a lot of 1st places in different events.

 It was amazing because we were outnumbered by Queen Creek like 3 to 1 and we were still louder than them!

 This was the best part! We took 1st place in the girls and boys tug of war! And we only had 3 teams and other schools had like 7! So cool.

 It was so fun to watch. They were so into it!

 Look at the struggle! They are such hard workers. I know I have a biased opinion, but my students were the best ones there.

This was our little team hangout spot. 

We had the girls team and the boys team face off at the end and these girls won the whole thing! I was so proud of them! Girl Power!

 Jordan let us borrow his truck so that we could haul stuff and setup. It was so nice of him.

 Only problem is, it made the tan line problem worse. lol

Teacher Appreciation Week

I think it's the goal to make the teachers as fat as possible that week. I had nachos, chick fil a, donuts, bagels, pizza, waffle love, etc. Students brought me candy, dr. pepper, starbucks, and so many cute cards and letters. Becky stayed all weekend to decorate every door in the school and we all loved the Oscars theme. She's so creative and hard working. Mrs. Mansouri's class gave me this cool bucket full of lotion, candles, face mask, soap, etc.

 
The principal and maintenance guy made us lunch after school last Friday on the half day. We also had time for a teacher's baby shower after.

 Another singing concert

The specials team facilitated what felt like tons and tons of practices with the whole grade again. I'm not a fan..... but we got through it. lol :)

The up side was the kids were cuties at times when they sang certain songs/parts/solos etc. That is what got me through on the days when I was wanting to die.

This was on the actual night of the concert from my view. kinder, 1st, and 2nd. I was so happy it was over. And so happy that they did better in performance than they did in the practices lol

 Open House for the New School

We had a better turnout than we thought, and I was able to gather together  a few runners for the cross country team.

It was a blast being at the athletic table. Coaches and PE teachers are just so much fun to be around.

These two will  be a blast to work with. They are both hilarious and made the night so fun.

I was handed this from a student who didn't want to run the pacer test. LOL apparently doctors are writing notes on post its now. And they also don't know how to spell the word "ankle."

Surveys

We had to give the students surveys about how we teach, and I really enjoyed the process. I got mostly all smiley faces from the students and that means a lot to me. I do this for them, and I care so much about them, so it meant so much that they reciprocated my feelings and saw all the effort I put in. I got some valuable feedback and so many cute notes like, "She is at the peak of awesomeness," or  , "She is always happy and makes me feel important." As I looked through what they wrote I was re-energized and moved. Makes it all worth it. Those students are the best and I know it's going to be hard to leave them in a couple weeks.

Had to capture when Jojo got her face stuck in one of her ring toys.

House Hunting

House hunting sucks and I'm so sick of it. I'm at the point where I told Dallin I give up and he's doing all the looking now. 

Dave, Sara, and Selena think they're going to move here so they're also looking for a house down here. He was in town for a night and we went to dinner and looked at houses online. 

 This was us on one of the many trips to look at houses. Our realtor is a saint by the way. He has given us so much valuable advice and been so patient. He will take us out looking with only a few hours notice. He's the best. If you're looking for someone you should use Gus Palmisano.

 This was us making an offer.

 Signing all the papers.

 While we waited for an answer we had a fire outside and it was nice.

 The stars out were so pretty.

 But then we got the bad news that there was another offer and they accepted that one. So now that's 3 houses that we've liked that we haven't been able to get. So that's why I'm giving up.

Got my Hurr did

Finally! It's been about 6 months, and I'm at the point now where I have to cover up a crap-ton of grays. 

I tried out a new girl and she was very good at what she did- but I was shocked when I saw the final price. It was one of those "try to pay without looking too pained" situations. I was surprised Dallin didn't skin me alive lol 

I took a quiz online about what state I'm supposed to live in based on my personality and I got Texas. Then when Dallin took it he got Alaska. Lol so we know that's got to be reliable. (Dallin hates the cold)

I am loving reading the last Harry Potter book because there is so much in it that is not in the movie. The only problem with that is I get nightmares about Inferi and Horcruxes and stuff. lol 

this is the perfect picture involving 2 of my loves.

You might have been able to tell I'm not in the best of spirits right now. The truth is both of us have felt overwhelmed and busy and stressed lately. We've also felt this way about a few people who have been making our lives harder. So that's the way it goes in life. You learn and you grow and sometimes while you're in the midst of learning the lessons you're supposed to learn it sucks. (That's me trying to see the bigger picture in all of this and have a positive attitude.)

Happy mother's day to Sara, Shelly, and my mom Christy. They're great moms!

(My furry kids didn't even get me anything! Can you believe them?! lol )

Speaking of Mother's day- Congrats to Ben and Jamie, they're going to have twins here soon!

To quote the greats.... "Don't hope for a great day. MAKE a great day."

-Sydney