School Days.... and Nights....

Looks like I made it through the first 2 weeks of school!
I am so tired.
SO. TIRED.
But seriously, I'm exhausted.
It's worth it, though. It is beyond rewarding to be able to call a classroom my own and do my own thing. I don't have to rely on another mentor teacher to tell me what she wants me to teach. I get to decide on my own! This is overwhelming at times but so much better. It feels like I have been working non-stop. I work at school and then when I get home until I go to bed. I know it will get easier. I hope so, anyway. I have been slowly catching up a little at a time and my plan is to get ahead, so I can leave (most of) my work at home.

This year I have a class of 26 very chatty 5th graders. :) I am glad to say this is really the biggest problem I have with them- there are a lot of other problems I would not want to deal with. They are a sweet bunch of kids, and we have so much fun together. They get along with each other and I can truly say I have grown to love them all! This will be a fun year. I have so much work ahead of me this year, but I know that I will enjoy it because my kids make it all worth it!

Here are a few pictures of my classroom:

Thanks to all of you who have helped me get through these past few weeks. This has been the most challenging experience I've faced so far, and it really means so much to me to have your support. Thanks to all the people who brought me Dr. Pepper and chocolate when I needed it, who stapled bulletin boards endlessly, and who sent encouraging notes and texts! Thank you!

Ethan started school this week as well. He will be very busy this semester between school and work every day. This is his last year, and we are very excited to be in the home stretch!
We will keep you updated, as soon as we have any time. :)

As of late...

Summer is winding down quickly. This is my last full free week before contract days start next week, and I wish I could say I'd done something more productive and fun with my time but I just didn't. I'm alright with it though. Lazy days will be few and far between once school starts on the 26th. Every day I realize just how close that date is and get a bit more freaked out!! Oh well. I know things will turn out fine and I'm ready for the anticipation to end so I can just get into the swing of things.

Last week, we were so lucky to have all of Ethan's family in Utah. This rarely happens, as most of them live in Texas and it really can be an inconvenient journey at times. Ethan's sister and her husband blessed their new baby, Neil, and the whole family got to come for a vacation!
We were crazy busy, and we had so much fun. We saw Temple Square, made numerous trips to Park City and the surrounding area, went to Vernal, ate lots of food and sweets, and had some quality family time. Ethan and I love having his family come to stay and see our lives and what is going on here. It is very different from Texas, so we like sharing our lives and Utah with them.

While they were here, we had some family pictures taken! They turned out really well!

Best in-laws a girl could ask for!

This one of our nieces and nephews melts my heart! Love it.

Love this one in black and white.

 As always, we were so sad to see them go. Texas and Utah need to be closer together so these visits can happen more often!

Now, we are just getting ready for back to school madness! Don't be offended if over the next few months I seem distracted or absent. I know I will be both as I navigate my way through this crazy first year of teaching. I am getting more and more excited, and I'll post more (with pics) as I start to set things up!

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