Preschool Portions

You know those beads that link together? Well we have about 40 of them in the nursery at school. One of our favorite things to do is squeeze them and have them suck onto your face. Today we were able to get 6 on my face. New record.

A Time to Shop

Black Friday, what a night! It is really still Thursday and I am almost done with a lot of my Black Friday shopping. Most people don't like the sales starting on Thursday night, I love it! I can get regular sleep, and am not out when it is the most freezing.
For the past few years I've been going to Park City with my mom and little sister. It's become a beloved tradition.
The first store of the night was Old Navy. I got jeans, slippers, and a ring for $14.07. Thank you Black Friday, thank you.

A souvenir

I'm not a big souvenir person. I rarely buy a snow globe, t shirt, key chain, or stuffed animal. Today I was cleaning out my car and found this snow globe. Last month while I was student teaching in a fifth grade class a little girl went to New York and brought me back a snow globe. I had only known her for maybe 5 days and she bought me a little gift.
This is what I love about teaching. You mean the world to these kids.

Slacker To The X

So I don't know what my deal has been. I'm being so lazy about blogging. I have had nothing to do all summer and I can still tell myself I don't have time for it. But, sadly, I still haven't done much worth blogging either.
I need to learn how to create photo collages for effectively for moments like this. The only way I know how takes SO MUCH TIME!
So I'll give a quick run through of my summer.

Hannah had her birthday.

Hannah and I went up to Park City, did a little shopping. Then we went out to dinner at the Provo Towne Centre, but while waiting for others to arrive Hannah, Britney and I rode the carousal. It was definitely fun!

Then a few days later we went camping. I have no good pictures of the camping trip. They were all taken by Sam. I have yet to even see them!

For the Fourth of July I went to Moab with my mom and two of my nephews to watch my brother-in-law do the firework show. It was pretty fun, we went to the National Park, but didn't have time to hike to Delicate Arch. I have lived in Utah my whole life and still have not really been to Delicate Arch! One of these days...

I spent a lot of my summer visiting Trae. One trip I brought some faux glasses for us to play with. He looked so adorable!

We had fun playing at the pool, too. He is growing up so much and is just getting the cutest personality! I love that little guy.

We finally returned to our traditional Bear Lake trip. Though it was drastically interrupted when my mom got a KIDNEY STONE! Luckily my sister and her family was coming up the next day, so my brother-in-law took my mom home and my sister, her two younger boys, and I stayed and played for a little while. We were not good about taking pictures.

The boys loved getting buried. I didn't get as tan as I was hoping, though. I was good and didn't put on any tanning oil, just sunscreen. I'm not tan, but I also won't get skin cancer. Guess I made the healthier choice...

School started!

I had my mom take a picture of me like she did when I was little. The lace on my backpack, I added that myself! I am so proud of myself. It looks so adorable! I actually am loving school! My professors are all really cool, and since I'm in my major now I'm loving most of the content I learn. It's awesome.

Yesterday I went to the Riverwoods to see their Chalk the Walk event. They had tons of artists making big chalk murals in the parking lot and a percent of the precedes went to a school for autistic children. It was pretty cool. There was even an owl one! I would like to point out, I hopped on this trend before it was even a trend.

They aren't quite as cutsie as I like them, but I loved this one. It was a really cool event.

We also went to my parents' new house yesterday to check on the progress.

I got to stand in my new room! the first picture is through what will be a sliding glass door to the outside, the second is through the regular door from the hallway. At first I was really bummed about my parents moving, but I'm excited now. This house is going to be really cool. And I'll have a walk in closet! Too bad I'm basically grown...

AHHHH!!!!!

Today I scared the pants off a child at school today. Now, before you think I am mean teacher, let me explain. Yes, I scared him on purpose. But, no, he wasn't one of my students. He is one of my co-worker's sons. He is eight years old. There is an unspoken knowledge that we are in a scaring contest that shall last a quarter of a decade. The night I first met him was at the Christmas party we did this year. He scared me so bad, and continued to try to scare me throughout the rest of the night. I saw him today for the first time since that night. The first thing he says to me, "I remember you, I scared you really bad!" I knew I needed to scare him, and scare him bad. We were at the park and he was going down the twirly slide, I crouched down and waited. He had NO idea I was there. His mom was standing facing the slide, and she was excited to watch me scare him. When I saw his feet get to the bottom I popped out and shouted a loud quick, "AH!!" Oh boy was he scared! It was awesome! Probably one of the best scares I've ever done. I know to watch my back the next time I see him, though.

The Best Two Years

 Today is the 2nd anniversary of when I met Chris and Dani (Trae's parents).

I was terrified. I remember thinking, "What if they don't want a baby that looks like me?"

Well they were delighted when they saw him for the first time at the ultrasound.

And their families were quite thrilled, also.

I got to know Chris' sister, Ashley, and her kids pretty well.

And we went to an adoption conference. Dani got to feel the baby kick, after much effort on my part!

We went shopping, and apparently did a bit of modeling.

They visited me on and off in the hospital.

And even on the hardest night of my life they still got me laughing.

We then kept a friendship.

And continued hanging out.

They even let me take on some "mothery roles."

We play.

We take poorly lit photos, very rarely though.

And we go to Thanksgiving Point more than any other group of people I know.

Sometimes I envy them. Sometimes they make me cry. Sometimes they make me angry.

But I love them every minute, of every day.

They are my son's parents, and I could not have picked two people better qualified for the job.

They are two of my very best friends. And I am so glad they are in my life.

Preschool Portions

It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that many of my stories about my preschoolers are about the same children. There is a boy, Dylan, who has eyes that will melt your heart. He is quite tiny for his age, he's easily the smallest in the class, but not the youngest. He has an adorable little laugh and thinks everything is funny. He is the one who gave me the rose on Valentine's Day. Today he didn't feel like sitting on the rug for singing time. That is fine as long as they stand with a teacher. I was sitting in one of the miniature chairs we have for the children and he was leaning against, standing between my legs. He was bouncing his head on my chest lightly, which is very normal for preschool age children to do. Now, it is no secret that I am...well endowed in that area. After a couple minutes he turned and looked at me, held ten fingers toward my face, and grabbed my chest saying, "Squishy!!" I pulled his arms back saying, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. No, no Dylan." With a very shocked look opn my face. That only encouraged him. I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to redirect a three year old from groping me. Can't wait for tomorrow!

To the Point

Chris and Dani and Trae are going to be in Hawaii during Birthmother's Day for their 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!! (I know, right?!) So we celebrated a couple of weeks early. We went to Thanksgiving Point, our usual outing location. One of my Top 10 best days probably.

When they got there the first thing my little Trae did was look at me and put his arms right up for a hug. Isn't he adorable?! I love him and he was so excited to see me! He's finally comfortable with me all the time. FINALLY!!!

We went to see the animals.

Trae got more excited about the "BA!" (ball) inside the pen.

We got some adorable pictures.

Aren't we so cutie together?!

He did NOT want to touch any of the animals.

Or have me touch any of them.

The horse/wagon ride thing was fun. We didn't see any animals really. But we got to watch all the humans!

I love Dani. I can't imagine finding a better mom for my little one, or a better friend.

There was a cute little alcove area and Dani got a couple goo pictures.

But the cutest ones were over by the flowers.

This one is probably my favorite. Dani called it the "mini-me picture."

I love this angle.

Dani is really great at capturing the essence of my laughter face in the most hideous way.

At the end of the day we exchanged a couple gifts. I got him a little banjo from Hawaii. He likes it a lot. And he gave me a cute picture of us that he colored and a book of him.

Fourteen Days

Day One:
First day of my spring break! But all my friends have school or are lame so I had to do something on my own. So I took my little nephews to the zoo. We had a BLAST!

Of course, there are no pictures of me because I was the one in charge of the camera. It was pretty crowded, but some of the coolest things happened while we were there. First, there were a couple babies. Who doesn't love baby animals? Especially little monkey ones that are no bigger than a couple inches.

Next, I'm so mad I didn't get a picture of this, but one of the giraffes bent down and was probably 3 feet from our faces! I was so fascinated that I forgot all about the camera that was IN MY HAND. Ugh, silly me. It was incredible, though. The two boys LOVED it.

I got the ride the carousel for the first time. I took Brock on it, Happy Birthday! He was so cute!

Tallon was "too cool" to ride it, so it was just me and the birthday boy.

After the carousel we went to find the Ape Exhibit. It was pretty cool, nothing too exciting going on. Then we did the traditional measuring up.

We walked around the corner to a viewing area of orangutans that isn't really used much, it is kind of hidden away. And saw this:

How crazy is that?! I have never seen anything like it in real life. We just stood there and watched for probably 25-30 minutes. She was definitely putting on a show.

We rode the train and saw the portals to pop your heads up through. The boys needed to get in there.

Now the park. Is there anything more fun than the park at the zoo? Probably not.

When we left there was a goose just hanging out in the parking lot. The last animal to say goodbye to. He scared the boys when he honked and ran away flapping until he lifted for flight.

Day Two:
I woke up totally bummed that I had a whole week of free time and no plans. I really wanted to get away and try to forget about things. So I called my second mom Nani. She currently lives in Hawaii. I booked a flight.

Day Three:
Flew to Hawaii. No big deal. Didn't even have a ticket 24 hours earlier. Nani was so cute to have a lei for me. I love her so much!

Days Four to Nine:
Hung out in Hawaii. I didn't take very many pictures, but I did take some.

That is a monk seal behind me. He was adorable.

Day Fourteen:
Moved.

What a busy two weeks I have had!