Disneyland

This April, our family was feeling a little spontaneous.  We planned a trip to Disneyland, and luckily everyone could come! We had a blast! It was only for a few days, and we only had time to go to Disneyland, but that was fine with me. Here are some pictures:

Our first trip to Cars Land! It is awesome.

It was literally like walking into the movie.

'nuff said.

Waiting in line for the Racers!

Long long wait, but worth it! What a fun ride!

We won. No big deal.

We love Screamin!

Toy Story Mania- Ethan's favorite!

Tower of Terror

Ethan, my dad and I left early that first night to go to a Duck's hockey game! Ethan was so excited to see an NHL game, and we all had a blast!

Beautiful day for Disneyland!

 

Poor Chelsie didn't have a riding buddy...

So pretty.

you can't look at this picture without your heart melting just a little...

Haunted Mansion

What a bunch of goofs.

Yes. We did fit 8 people into those tiny ferris wheel cages.

Yep. Tight squeeze.

Ethan is really proud of this score, even if it isn't 200,000. But please, someone check out my accuracy.

Teacups!

Last ride of the trip!

If you frequent Disneyland you know that what you see in line behind us is awesome. Short lines! That's what makes up for our favorite rides being closed.

There it is! Our trip in a few pictures. It's late in coming- sorry. Hopefully we don't have to wait a long time till our next trip. :)

All you need to know, you learned from Primary music...

So, I'm the primary chorister for our ward. A few people have mentioned how they wish they had that calling, and how it seems like the most fun calling ever, and don't you just love working with kids for all of church, and that seems like it would be so easy, and to that I always say... Meh? Not so much. Truth be told, it stresses me out a lot during the week, and I do love working with kids, but sometimes I miss Sunday School lessons, or just getting to relax and listen...All week I get anxious about the coming Sunday.

And then Sunday morning comes back around and I get to see their sweet smiling faces, ready to go. (most of them, anyways. I will get those 11 year old boys to sing!!!) And I listen to their sweet talks, and see how excited they are just to be there and participate. And I wonder how long it has been since I felt that way about church, and realize its been awhile.

Then, the real magic happens. They sing! And even if they think what I have planned is kinda lame, or they already know the songs I'm teaching, they stick with me and sing anyway. I love watching their faces as they sing the words. I love that they show me they know its all true while singing.

Its at that moment that I realize how selfish and ungrateful I can be.If I'd just think less about myself, I'd realize how much I'm learning from these kids. And the reason I'm doing this is not for me, its for them, because I know its all true too. I want them to know what I know, and share my happiness. The Spirit is so strong while they sing about Jesus and their Heavenly Father and how much they love them. And then I lose it and cry like a baby, and its generally awkward. (I DARE you to make it through A Child's Prayer without getting at least a little misty-eyed. Go on. Just try it.)  If you need a pick-me-up, just go listen to the kids singing those songs. From the nursery kids, who only know a few of the words to I Am a Child of God, but they know that most important first line and sing it loud and proud, to the stubborn 11 year old boys who think they are too cool to sing about rainbows and popcorn popping, I love my calling. I love hearing the most basic truths taught through children's voices. I'm so glad for the reminder each week that my Heavenly Father loves me. This poem I found says it all:

     All you need to know,

       You learned from

       PRIMARY MUSIC:

          You lived in heaven,

Families can be together FOREVER,

Pray He is there-Speak He is listening,

Reverence is more than just quietly sitting,

I BELONG to the Church of Jesus Christ

           of Latter Day Saints,

       Bring the World His Truth,

   I’ll be a Sunbeam for Him      

         Love One Another,

       The Temple  is a Holy Place

where we are sealed together, have Faith,

     You want your life to be clean

          and live with God again,

        Search, Ponder and Pray,

        Follow the Prophet,

           Give, Oh, Give

    Keep the Commandments,

Be like the Wise Man, GO and DO as the

Lord Commands, The Scriptures have POWER,

          My body is a Temple

Stand for the Right, Saturday is a special day,

            And…yes,

   Once there was a Snowman,

       And you are all made of Hinges..

But most importantly, you are a CHILD of GOD

      And Heavenly Father Loves YOU!

Poem courtesy of iheartprimarymusic.blogspot.com  

New Year!

Alright, this is a little late in coming. I'd say its because I was so busy, but that really isn't true. I just feel like our life hasn't been exciting enough to write about, but I'll fill you in. Since Ethan's last very sweet post, we celebrated Christmas! Christmas was a great time for us. We did the usual traditions, including Temple Square, which is my favorite.

So many beautiful views!

I love Temple Square at Christmas!

Playing charades on Christmas Eve

 We got to celebrate on Christmas day with my family in South Jordan. We visited grandparents and cousins and opened presents and ate entirely too much. We had a blast. The next day, we packed everything up and left for Odessa! We were so excited to spend time with our family in Texas. In Texas, the whole family was together and we had lots of fun. We saw movies, ate lots of Rosa's, and had a pajama-movie party. We also got to celebrate birthdays and New Year's.

Selene's birthday dinner. Kenley and Selene are so cute together!

My Christmas Mickey footies! I love getting Christmas pjs!

 It was sad to come back and we miss everyone in Texas! I wish it was easier to visit everyone there. Since then, Ethan has been really busy with school and work. He got straight A's this last semester! He is doing school full time this semester, and working one day a week at Thatcher. He rides frontrunner down to school every day. He is such a trooper, it makes for really long days but he doesn't complain. He's the best! As for me, I finally started substitute teaching. Its been going well, and I'm looking forward to start interviewing for next school year. Also, my diploma finally came! Its official. I have a diploma and a teaching license!

A few weeks ago we also got to celebrate Ethan's birthday! It wasn't his favorite birthday. We had a wedding to be at all day on his birthday, but we tried to celebrate all weekend long to make up for it!
Ethan's sister and her family came to have dinner Friday night, and Saturday we had my family over for Ethan's favorite- cheesecake.

Birthday morning cinnamon rolls!

Happy Birthday Ethan!

I sure love that guy. Now we are just settling into the winter that will probably never end! Hopefully we will make it out of this one alive... I'm sure Ethan will be glad to have this semester of school done, too. Well, that's really all for now. More to come when something happens!

One Lucky Dude

This is Ethan. I have highjacked my wife's blog. I've never posted on a blog before, don't have a Facebook page and social media is a little foreign to me. But Ive got something really important to say.

I have the greatest wife ever.

 That's not a shot at all the other great moms and wives out there its just a fact that I have no doubt that I made the best decision I have ever made when I asked her to come gold-panning with me over three years ago. She may not be perfect but she is perfect for me and I will ALWAYS love her. Alright, I'm not going to get all squishy on here, so that all for now. Peace Out.

Goodbye, College...

Well, its here. I have been waiting for this moment in my life for the past 5-ish years. Say hello to one of BYU's most recent graduates- me! I have officially graduated from BYU with a degree in elementary education and a minor in history teaching. It still hasn't hit yet- I feel like I'm just on Christmas break and have to go back in January. I'm sure when Ethan goes back to school in January it will hit me. It still feels great, regardless of whether my mind has caught up with me or not. I don't have any homework to worry about. Unfortunately for me, I chose a profession that requires me to take a lot of my work home with me. At least it isn't homework and I'm not getting graded on it.

I just finished my last block of student teaching at Southland Elementary in a 5th grade classroom. I had so much fun with those kiddos. I have to admit they intimidated me at first because most of them are as tall as me. But I quickly learned they are just like really tall second graders. They love all the dorky kids stuff just like the little ones, even if they act too cool for it. We are able to have some cool lessons, though. They are older and can handle doing more during the lessons. We did things like cool science experiments, had our own class tax system while learning about the Revolutionary War, and even learned the Lewis and Clark rap. Come on, you know you are jealous. I miss those kids already.

Here is the crazy class on Halloween, just after we finished our Halloween Fear Factor.

It makes me excited for my own classroom. I can do all of those cool things the way I'd like to do them. Excited, and also very nervous. But in a good way. I'm in the candidate pool at Jordan School District, and I apply for jobs as they come up. I'm just waiting to hear back on some of them. If nothing turns up, that's ok too. I'm not feeling too much pressure- I can always substitute teach until the new school year starts. That way I can get my face out there so principals know who I am, and I can get to know schools in the area so I can see what I like and what I don't. 

In other news, Ethan finished another semester with great grades. He's a smarty pants, even if he tries to deny it. We are looking forward to the next few weeks off. He'll keep working, but not quite full time so we will get to spend more time together. We are headed to Odessa the day after Christmas, so to all of our Odessa friends, we look forward to seeing you! We've missed you bunches since we came back. I'm also looking forward to being a part of all the Newman family traditions, like fudge making, Hatch's hot chocolate and temple square, watching the Grinch, and all the others. We started a new one this year that just might stick- dressing up in crazy Christmas decorations and caroling at my uncle Kerry's house, or as I like to call it... kerry-ling! ha! Ok, ok. I know I'm the only one who finds my puns funny. I love Christmas so much, and I'm so excited to really relax and enjoy it this year, as well as see all of my favorite people, in both Utah and Texas.

our kerry-ling costumes...

see mom, aren't you glad you saved all those old decorations?

my personal favorite.

a close second favorite...

 I'm having trouble uploading the rest- as soon as I get it to work I'll add them.

Isn't it crazy the year is almost over?
I realize this was a long post, so thanks for hanging in there, but we've had a lot to catch up on! Now that I'm graduated, maybe I'll be able to find more time to keep our blog updated!

Happy 2012 everyone!

Settled.

Well, I don't know about you, but I sure love conference weekend! General Conference is my favorite times of year. This one couldn't have come at a better time. I've really needed a relaxing weekend to rejuvenate. Also it gives me time to catch up on my blog, which is good because it is has been awhile and a lot has happened!

We are finally settled in our new basement apartment! We are just a few houses down from my parents in South Jordan. I think I can speak for both of us when I say we love it here! I love being back in my hometown. We were so lucky to land this awesome place, (thanks, Curt and Nat) and to have our own place again.

A shot of our new place, and Ethan, of course.

Overall, as we moved back to Utah to start this new semester, we have be so blessed! Ethan was able to get a paid internship position with my brother Curtis, working for Thatcher. He is a trooper and commutes to school at BYU Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Then he commutes to Salt Lake on Tuesday and Thursday for work. I'm so blessed to have such a supportive husband who agreed to live in South Jordan so I could be close to my school for student teaching. That way,  I don't have a long commute every day. He works so hard for us. He's the best!

At the BYU game. Loving football season.... even though our teams aren't awesome right now...

I have been student teaching at Riverton Elementary so far this semester. I'm in Mrs. Bianucci's second grade class. Let me tell you, I have never been so continuously exhausted. However, it is totally worth it! I've completely fallen in love with my cute class. They are such good kids. I just finished my first week of solo teaching and it went very well. It gave me confidence that I can do this! Next week is my last solo teaching week at this school. On October 22, block 2 starts! I can't believe it is half way through the semester already! I have a lot of work to do within the next two weeks, but after those are over, my work load will decrease a lot, and I will really be able to enjoy the next half of student teaching. Next semester, I'll be at Southland Elementary, also in Riverton. I don't know what grade yet, although I do know it will be an upper grade. I'm so excited and nervous! Even though I'm having a great time student teaching, December can't come fast enough. I can't wait to graduate!

My cute 2nd graders!

That's all the highlights for now! We will keep updating as updates come along! :)

No Place Like Home

Well, it has certainly been awhile... Its already AUGUST! I can't believe summer has flown by so fast. For the last few weeks in July, I got to go home to Utah. I love Utah summers, and I've missed seeing the green mountains and sitting outside on a warm night. I got to see some of the people I've missed so much, too! I got to have lunch with this beautiful girl- my best buddy Erin!

Lunch at Cafe Rio and Erin is pretty much one of the best ways to spend an afternoon!

I was so glad to see her before she is off on her adventures for the summer!
It was so good to see my family. I got to be there for the 24th of July and we had so much fun at the neighborhood BBQ that ended with a great fireworks show!

Ruby with her cute little friend Owen

Ruby wanted to hold him of course.

waiting for fireworks to start!

Only a few days after getting her tonsils out and she gives us this gem of a picture. What a champ.

The fireworks were pretty spectacular, and Ruby was so brave!

All the family except Ethan. We missed him but it was a great Pioneer day.

 

We got to play in the yard and swim...

My all time favorite way to spend a summer night.

Then I got to see some more of my favorite people!

I love these guys, and hanging out at our favorite spot! The thinking spot will always be the greatest.

Some of my favorite people! I wish I could have seen all my friends, but I'm so glad I got to see these guys!

I loved getting to see my friends. I love how we've known each other for so long and when we get together we can pick up right where we left off. Even though we are all moving on with our lives, getting married, having babies, graduating from college, we are still good friends. I'm so lucky to have such great friends. I love these guys!

Finally, Ethan came back! We spent the last weekend of our trip hanging out with family, and it was great.

 

Ruby missed her buddy

All too soon, it was time to leave. Luckily, we got to bring some family with us on the trip home! My dad's bank owns a plane, and we were lucky enough to be able to go to Texas in it. It was small and a bit freaky, but really fun. And the no security thing was a major bonus. 
Michelle and my dad came along for the ride.

We pretended we were on the bachelorette with our sweet headsets.

There's our plane!

Now we are back in Texas for a few more weeks! This weekend, we got to go to Dallas and Six Flags! I love me some roller coasters! The kids all went to Six Flags and Lynn and Sterling went to art museums with Kenley. We had dinner and came home on Sunday.

Even though we were so tired and Ethan lost his phone, we had such a fun time at Six Flags! We'd have taken more pictures but we were too busy being awesome and riding roller coasters. 

Dinner Saturday night... haha apparently the flash was too bright for Ethan! :)

Its been a great few weeks! Before we know it we will be moving back to Utah! Hopefully soon we'll have our situation figured out for the fall. More updates as they come!