Summer is always too fast.

Can you believe how fast this summer has sped by? It's already half-way through July! No rhyme intended. We have had a great summer so far. For Mother's Day, we were able to go to Odessa and surprise Ethan's grandma, Renae, for her 80th birthday party! We love her so much and were so happy to be able to celebrate with her. We stayed and visited with the family for about a week.

We sure love this amazing, beautiful lady!

After we got back, it was time for Ethan's sister Amber to have her baby! Lynn, M'Kaylee and Kenley were able to come up for a visit and to help with the baby. M'Kaylee and Kenley stayed with us, and we did lots of shopping and eating yummy food.

Love this face!

We were all so excited to meet baby Neil!

He's so cute and tiny!

After our visitors left, we celebrated our anniversary! Because it fell on a Sunday, we went to the Melting Pot for dinner on Saturday. We decided to go back to the spot we had our first date on our actual anniversary. For our first date, Ethan took me gold panning up American Fork Canyon.  We packed a picnic and went for a little walk down memory lane.  I can't believe it has been 3 years since I married this amazing man. I'm so lucky to have him in my life, and these have definitely been the best years of my life.

Since then, we've had a pretty fun and busy summer. We were on the youth conference committee, and youth conference was at the end of June. We had so much fun getting to know the youth and leaders in our ward better. Our ward has some pretty awesome kids and I think youth conference turned out to be a blast!

July 4th has already come and gone. It is one of my favorite holidays and this year did not disappoint! We had a fun, packed weekend planned with my family.

On the 3rd, we went to the annual Riverton parade, and sat on my grandpa Stocking's front lawn. On the 4th, we went to Miller Motorsports Park in the morning to race go-carts.

I wish I could say I was awesome at this, but not really. It was still a blast!

That night we had a BBQ at my grandparent's house with the whole family. We ended with fireworks. It was a perfect 4th of July! The next night, we went to the West Jordan rodeo, and Saturday we all saw the Lone Ranger and had dinner together. I love holiday weekends with my family! We definitely know how to celebrate.

Since then, things have slowed down and I'm enjoying some  down time this summer before the insanity starts in the fall. There has been swimming, game nights and lots of fun!

Running through the sprinklers!

Daddy should be proud of his girl- she loves to swim!

  This has been a great summer. Although I am going through withdrawals from the pool and swimming, it has been nice to relax and do all the fun things I love about Utah summers. Sorry for the long post. Hopefully I can do better at keeping this thing up to date in the future!

Graduation!

Ok, ok. I know it has been a really long time since I walked for graduation, but I'm just now getting all the pictures together from my camera and my dad's camera. So, finally, here it is.

Although I graduated officially in December of last year, there was no ceremony. I walked with the rest of my class (most of them, anyway) in April of this year. I fought it at first, but I'm so glad I did. It was the perfect way to make graduation seem real, and I got to see some of my BYU friends that had been scattered with this past year.

When trying to decide which college to go to my senior year, I was pretty sure I was going to UVU because I had a scholarship for the first year. Something about going there never quite felt right, though. When I got my acceptance letter to BYU, that was my answer! It wasn't even that I had always dreamed of going there, because in truth I'd never really thought about it. I just knew that it was the right decision. I'm so glad I did. I know I complained a lot about some of the classes and people and such, but throughout my time there I met some amazing people. Three situations come to mind: the people I met while working at the MTC, who have become some of my best friends, the people at the Provo Rec Center, who are also amazing friends, and the people I met in my cohorts in the Elementary Education program. They are some of the best people, and absolutely changed my life for good. I owe a lot about the kind of teacher I am and the kind of person I am to those sweet girls and guys.

Picture time!

I am so glad we got this one in before, it was impossible to find everyone after!
Top row: Ashtyn, Mercedes, Michael.
Middle: Rachel, Alyssa, Ellen G, Ellen F, Katie, Alicia, Kilee, Me, Brooke, and Brianna.
 Bottom: Emily, Kate, Megan.

My cute Grandma and Grandpa Newman

I'm so lucky all of my 4 grandparents were able to attend.

My Grandma and Grandpa Holt- Even though my arm looks weird, I had to put this one because Grandma is smiling. And that's a big deal.
I also love how they dressed to match the occasion. :)

My mom and dad. I could not have made it through with out you!

Birthday lunch at Station 22. So yummy! and Thanks Nat and Ruby for driving down and bringing me graduation balloons and a tiara! :)

I need to thank all of the people in these pictures for getting me through college, especially Mom, Dad, and Ethan.
Mom and Dad- thank you for your endless support! Thank you for the groceries, occasional rent bail outs, paper editing, advice, and love. You are the best parents a girl could ask for!
Ethan- Thank you for listening to my complaining, dealing with my crazy projects, backing me up when I was bullied, and loving me regardless of all the stressed out nights. I'm so glad we both came to BYU so we could find each other. I love you!

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!