Little Miss E.

It's hard not to have favorites in your classroom. It's actually impossible. My favorite happens to be a little ball of fire that I will call "Little Miss E." I don't have a word to adequately describe her, so here are a few stories:

One day she came up to me and handed me these:

If you can't tell from the picture, these are two tickets to Disneyland. One for me and one for my family. They are little "tinkerbell" things that came off her tutu she was wearing that day :)

She also made invitations to a Pajama slumber party for her birthday (which isn't until June by the way) and handed them out to her friends at school... her mom had no clue. Oh, and I was invited too.

While sponge painting yesterday she told the other kids at the table that she saw baby Jesus. They all wanted to know where. She stood up and with a foot pop and a wave of her arms she said in a sing, songy voice..."In a MANGER. And he was SO cute!"

The kids are always asking to give me hugs and normally I say "not right now" just because I'm in the middle of teaching a lesson (they're so sweet). Well Little Miss E is sneaky. She came up to me and asked "Can I ask you a few questions?" I said sure and called her over. She ran to me and wrapped her arms around my neck and then skipped away. Tricky little thing :)

Today, she gave me this picture of an umbrella man.

I love my Little Miss E and will miss her dearly after next Friday, along with all my other adorable kindergarteners. They are so stinkin cute--such a fun age to teach! :)

P.S. 8 MORE DAYS FOLKS! ahhhhh!

Sunday Night Blues.

I honestly think Sunday nights might be my least favorite part of the week. The weekend is so fun and then it's over before you know it. Back to reality.

Ugh. Only 2 more weeks of "lead teaching" and then I'm done. But I really just want to be done now. 10 more days. I think I can... I think I can...

Then I GRADUATE and go to the happiest place on earth and be with my second love:

I heart Mickey. Oh so much.

AHHHH! So dang excited. I'm getting a little trunky. Can I use that term if I'm not a missionary? Oh well. Goodnight world. Praying these next two weeks go by FAST!

The Best

It is the best having him home with me on the weekends. The absolute best.

Our first plane ride together to Austin a few weeks ago

Honestly, today has been nothing special. Woke up early. Cut the Mr.'s hair. Cleaned the bathroom. Did 2 loads of laundry. Made lunch. Watched Lost. Took a nap. Planned my LAST TWO WEEKS of student teaching. Made dinner. Watched Lost.

Quite a normal day. But it's been one of my favorites...because we've been together for every minute of it.

I simply can't get enough of my Landon Dean.

Golden Birthday

Landon turned 23 on the 23rd of March. Biggest.day.of.his.life. (other than November 25, 2009 of course).

Happy "Golden" Birthday to my sweetheart!

We spent the week celebrating (we have week-long celebrations in this family).

First stop, this yummy place with our cousins, Melyssa and Zac.

I forgot to take pictures....

Saturday night we hung out with my brother Tim and sister-in-law Angie and went to another steak house (if you haven't guessed already, Landon likes steak)

Yeah, I didn't get any pictures of this night either...man I suck at life!

Tuesday night we went to...another steakhouse with my mama, daddy, and brother. I have probably eaten a whole cow this week!

Wednesday/Today=LANDON'S GOLDEN BIRTHDAY!

It consisted of:

School...LAME

Beatles Rockband

Birthday decor/present

Orange Chicken (his favorite meal)

All of his "23" themed presents

• 23 people that love him. This was the main present. I had 23 friends/family write a cute little something about why they love Landon. It was really sweet. Some tears were maybe even shed :)
• 23 minute motorcycle ride.
• 23 reasons why I love him.

• 23 cupcakes.
• 23 chocolates.
• 23 minute massage.
• Birthday coupon:

We also went car shopping...just for kicks. I really like this one:

2011 Honda Insight (hybrid). In my dreams!!!

Maybe for my birthday? :)

Landon Dean, you are the absolute best thing that has ever happened to me. I'm so happy you were born so I could find my missing piece, my best friend, and my happy. I love you more than you'll ever know. Happy Birthday sweetheart!

Adios Utah.

And hello....

OREGON!

We will officially be moving to Hillsboro, OR in May.

The Mr. and I in Oregon 2 summers ago. Oregon really is gorgeous.

I totally have mixed feelings about this whole moving thing. I just have never lived outside of Utah so I'm scared out of my mind. And I'm really sad about not being around family...

But on the other hand I'm SO excited. It will be an adventure, just Landon and me!

I Love...

• Picking Landon up from the airport. Make fun of me all you want, but I can't stand being away from him!
  
  
  Dang, he's cute :)

• Having a day off school to get everything I need to get done (laundry, errands, planning...)
• My family. It's really starting to hit me how MUCH I will miss being around them...
• The fact that in 24 days I will be DONE with student teaching.
• That I got to spend all day with my bestie, Jenna.
• Buying new black flats because my old ones were destroyed.

• That Spring is in the air!
• That the bachelor finale is tonight...GO EMILY!

Today is definitely a good day :)

Stumped.

So this is the big week. The week where we either have to accept or decline the job offer at Intel in Oregon. And honestly, we still have NO idea what we are going to do. We have an offer in Oregon and an offer in Texas...and we feel stumped.

I guess I'm expecting lightening. I want to feel 100% sure about what we are supposed to do. I want to feel SO strongly that it is the right thing...

But I just don't have strong feelings either way. I feel like I'm either:

A. Letting my fear get in the way of my ability to receive revelation right now (fear and faith can't coexist. I have to tell myself that every single day.)

B. Both options are great and it's up to us.

I just feel good about Oregon and Texas. None of the options are giving me that sick feeling of "no" or a excited-can't-contain-myself feeling of "yes."

What is a girl to do?

We even made this huge/intense pros and cons list. It really is pretty legit. We listed all the pros and cons and then both Landon and I gave each thing on the list a number from 1-10 (10 being very important). Then we added up all the points and subtracted the cons from the pros.

I really have been "studying it out in my mind" but still feel like I haven't gotten an answer...

"Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart." (D&C 8:2)

For by my Spirit will I enlighten them, and by my power will I make known unto them the secrets of my will..." (D&C 76:10)

I do have a strong testimony in personal revelation, so I just need to be patient and have FAITH that Heavenly Father will not lead us astray.

Any advice is welcome and much appreciated. I do not like making huge life changing decisions...

A Day of Firsts

March 9, 2009. The day that my life changed forever.

Landon and I hung out for the first time March 5th, and hung out every day after. But March 9th was a very important day.

Our first date.

Our first time holding hands.

Our first time snuggling.

Our first kiss.

It was a perfect day and I can't believe it's already been 2 years!

The day consisted of Landon and I going up to Sundance where he taught me how to snowboard. I can't believe how patient he was with me! I seriously did a front flip just trying to get off the lift. After that, it took me half an hour just to stand up on the board. By the time I actually stood up, I screamed all the way down the mountain and fell on my bum every 10 feet. I can't believe Landon stuck around! But he was SO cute and patient with me :)

After snowboarding I made dinner and we watched The Office (The Injury episode, to be exact). I was SHOCKED when Landon kissed me, but also very happy. I still can't believe how fast we moved... we had all of our firsts in ONE day. That is so not like me, but what can I say... we just hit it off! :)

Homemade Pizza

I promise you, this is the BEST homemade pizza you will ever have. And I decided to be nice and share the recipe...something I haven't done before on my blog :)

This recipe comes from my good friend Jen. Landon and I eat it weekly (sometimes more). In fact, we're eating it tonight!

Pizza Crust:

1 cup warm water

1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast

2 tsp. sugar

3 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

3 Tbsp. vegetable (or olive) oil

Dissolve yeast in water. Using a mixer, blend in 2 cups of flour and remaining ingredients. Mix until well-blended. Stir in remaining flour. Knead on floured surface 3-4 minutes. Cover and let rest 30 minutes. Punch dough down and shape into a ball. Roll out ball or stretch by hand to fit a 12" greased pizza pan (or pizza stone).

**I highly recommend buying a pizza stone. Totally worth the money!!**

Pizza Sauce:

1 8-oz. can tomato sauce

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Simmer 3-5 minutes or until sauce starts to deepen in color. Spread over pizza crust and layer with grated mozzarella cheese (I do about 2-3 cups) and desired toppings. Bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy your delicious pizza! :)

Home

As scary and uncertain as the future seems to me right now, I find comfort in knowing that no matter where we decide to move to... I will be home. Oregon, Idaho, Utah, or Texas? Who knows! No matter what, I get to be with my Landon Dean so it doesn't really matter.

I'm so grateful I get to go through this crazy life with my best friend.

Kindergarten + MARCH!

You know what I've noticed? I've been blogging a lot lately. And I know why, too... It's become my little outlet. I'm using it as:

1. a journal of sorts (because I don't write in my journal every week like I used too, woops!)

2. as a way to procrastinate other things I should be working on :) Hence, the plethora of blog posts lately (I really love the word plethora!)

Anyway, I started Kindergarten on Tuesday and I really do miss my cute first graders...

But I also am really loving Kindergarten! There's a lot less structure, a lot more play/being silly, and the kids are SO DANG CUTE! It's such a cute age. They're just teeny tiny and so happy to be at school. I absolutely LOVE it. And I got really lucky with another amazing mentor teacher. I feel like my brain is going to explode with all the amazing ideas I'm getting for my future classroom!

The only thing I do not like is that there are 31 kids in the morning class and 29 kids in the afternoon class. Can you say CRAZY!? It's nuts-o! But oh so much fun :)

Also, I'm really happy that it is MARCH! These months are just flying by and I will be a college grad NEXT MONTH! Eeeeek! This is also Landon's birth-month, so needless to say I'm very pleased that it is March :)

P.S. We get to fly to Austin, Texas tomorrow for the weekend. Don't even worry, it's 79 degrees and sunny sunny sunny! Adios Utah! :)

P.P.S. This is the cute banner/balloon/present Landon came home to on Monday night :) I'm so proud of that boy!