one of those great days...

 Yesterday was one of those great days. The kind I want to remember. We woke up early for a Saturday, got some homework and cleaning done and went grocery shopping so we felt productive. Then we just played the rest of the day. The weather was absolutely perfect and Mike needed some new socks so naturally we rode bikes to target and fro yo. When we got back, we played with these little dolls   

Went home, Mike and I cooked dinner together in our tiny kitchen, bumping into each other. After din din went to popcorn and soda, I mean movie (the popcorn and soda is the real reason I go). We were going to invite some friends but on second thought we just wanted to be with each other. After we came home I baked Mikes favorite cookies and we stayed up late snuggling and watching Chuck.

When we got into bed and got all warm and snuggly under the covers I looked at Mike and said, "this day was perfect". It takes imperfect days to get perfect ones like yesterday, and I am grateful.

Lumberjack

I am officially a Lumberjack! I start NAU's elementary education program with an emphasis on early childhood tomorrow. I am taking my classes at South Mountain Community College but earning my bachelors. I am so very excited. It took a lot of thought, a lot of prayers, and  a lot of time to decide if I wanted to continue forward with my education at this point in my life. I am thrilled about my decision to become a college graduate and an elementary teacher. It is going to be so hard working full time while taking 13 credit hours a semester and still being dirt poor, but the hard things are the things worth doing. At least that is what i am telling myself. I might think otherwise when I am neck deep in homework and sleep deprived, but once that passes, my education is something I will never regret. Wish me luck! 

Go Lumberjacks! 

*Esther doing a swinging motion with her fake ax*

Thankful for...

Life.

Health.

Sweet husband.

The knowledge we have.

Family.

Time to spend with family.

Church.

The opportunity we have to grow and change.

Dreams and hopes for the future.

Those brave brave pilgrims who courageously came to America.

Our little apartment

Work.

Good friends.

Coke.

Christmas decorations.

The privilege Mikey and I get to go to school and better ourselves. I need to remind myself that it is a privilege a little more often.

Little people.

Two working cars.

Free time.

Passions and interests.

It's sad that it sometimes takes a blog post for me to remember how blessed I am. Looking at the list the things I am most grateful for, I realize again how unbelievably lucky I am. Right now, I'm especially thankful that I am busy. It means that I am working hard and progressing. I am becoming the person I want to be. I don't have time for self pity. The best part of being busy is when I'm not anymore. Having four days off to do nothing and everything is pure bliss. At the end of Thursday, Friday, Saturday I told Mike, "I like this day."

And I still have the end of today.

I ran a 5k on Saturday.

And I am proud of myself.

In high school when I was "in shape" aka dancing an hour a day 5 days a week I could barely run a mile.

I trained for 4 weeks.

I have no idea what a good time is so my only goal was to not walk at all.

I'm a wimp, okay.

I finished in 38 minutes.

I don't know if that is good or bad, but I'll take it.

It feels really good to accomplish something that I've been working hard on and something that I've never been good at.

I'm thinking...

Spank me for not posting in ages. Some thoughts I'm currently thinking: 

Mikey's sister is having a baby and it's a .....

BOY!

She lives in Alaska and since she couldn't tell us the gender in person, she ordered some cupcakes with the color of the gender in the middle. She was on the phone and we all took a bite of the cupcake... BLUE! BOY! I love when people make an event out of things. Celebrate life! 

I'm thinking I miss this lady and I'm so excited for her to come home for Christmas and for us to go to costa vida and eat frozen yogurt and do nothing all day during the break from work and school. 

I'm thinking that homework is the worst.

I'm remembering our awesome homemade Hallows Eve costumes of Phantom of the Opera and Christine Daae.

I'm remembering our pumpkin carving with Hillarie and James.

I'm thinking James' Darth Vader pumpkin was awesome.

 And I'm thinking my batman pumpkin is kinda lame.

I'm thinking that I love working with 1st graders. I have so much fun with them, singing songs and playing games and seeing their genuine excitement for learning. I could just take all those little ninos home with me.

I'm thinking I have been watching a little too much of this lately. I'm a bit addicted and I take the characters problems way to seriously.

I'm thinking I love this little precious so much. I am so lucky his mama lets me snuggle with him for hours on end.

I'm thinking that my husband is weird.

Lastly, I'm thinking I love Snively.

school, work and pinterest make me neglect you little blog.

 Fall is here! Hallelujah! Hillarie and baby Rhone and I had a craft night! We went to good ol' dollar tree and I made these little cuties. And I made a baby headband and put it on Rhone, Duh.

 

One great thing about having a little apartment is that just a few decorations make our whole home look festive.  

Next on the fall to do list:

 

Italian soup from Pioneer Woman 

 

Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese 

 

Pumpkin pancakes with cinnamon syrup 

And classic melt in your mouth pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting. This ones not a link because I already have the best recipe written down in my recipe binder. Credit to the one and only Meagan Breadsguard. 

Have I ever told you how much I love being an aunt?? It just might be one of the very best things about my life. I love when Mike and Lincoln play ping pong together. 

I also love taking them out on their very own birthday dates just like my Aunt Cindy always did with me. We took Roxy out to Chick-fil-a and had a grand time playing with "mommy and daddy" sauce packets. They liked to swim in the water cup, go to sleep all snuggled up in the napkins, make breakfast for each other, it was a fun time. Then we went to the dollar store and she got to pick out anything she wanted. It makes her think we are so cool. Birthday dates next: Stella turning three and Rhett turning five.

Speaking of birthdays I just had mine! I declare that my birthday always has been and always will be the best day of the year! Even when I was hurling all day on my 13th (?) birthday it was still awesome. Everyone makes me feel so special! We ate some yummy and free food at Joes BBQ and I had a class and then afterwards we went to my in-laws for a bit. They got me and ice cream cake!!! I felt so honored that they would do that for me. They treat me like I am and always have been part of the family. I have the best in-laws ever. Thanks everyone for making my birthday so happy! Mike, Sara and work friends, Kat and her first grade class, Hillarie, Grubbs clan, and mom aka Baby Nan. 

Now I am going to live up my fall break off of work!

Reminisce

On Mondays the MCC library is full of missionaries using the computers to email their families and friends. When I see them I smile. I hope they are writing letters to their mothers, who I know miss them so much. But mostly, I hope they are writing letters to their sweethearts. And then I want to cry for their ladies. It brings back the memories of almost 5 years ago, living for those weekly emails. Reading them over and over. Mike left right before Christmas break, and I didn't get a letter for a full two weeks. I had no idea how he was doing and it drove me nuts. At this point, he could only write letters, not emails. I remember literally sitting by the mailbox waiting for the mail to come and almost crying when there wasn't a letter from him. Pathetic. But when there was a letter, it was instant happiness. Honestly though, having him gone was terrible. Before he left, we talked or hung out every day (minus a one month break up) for more than a year. He was my world. Then all the sudden he was gone and I didn't even know what to do with myself. Oh how I'm glad those days are done. As crappy as they were, I look back on them so fondly.

  

It's crazy how he left as a boy and came back a man. I don't think we would have gotten married if he wouldn't have gone. We both had to grow up a little, by ourselves. I had to experience certain things to figure out what I really wanted. Then when he came home, even if I didn't know it at the time, we were ready.

Maybe the next time I see the missionaries at the library, I will pass them a little note that says something like,  write your girl a nice long letter. Tell her everything thats going on, and don't forget to tell her you love her. It will make her week.