Super Star!

Camden had his very first play this past week. I was so sad that I couldn't be there to cheer him on, but Cami promised me she would film it. Mom, Dad, and Cami were all good about taking pictures and sending me fun videos about the play. All I really know about the actual play is that Camden was a crazy doll??? 

He looks pretty cute for a Crazy Doll!

He worked so hard at all of his play practices. He is only in Kindergarten and was asked to participate in the school play. That is our stud! 

Way to go Mr. Poopy Pants!

Memory Lane

Yesterday I had one of those, "I wonder what I was doing around this time last year" thoughts. I pulled out my old journal and flipped through to find that I had become a very poor journal keeper the last couple of years. I use to be really good and had a journal for every year. My college ones are pretty great! I randomly started flipping through this journal that has basically been the last 7 years of my life. I started with page one and worked my way through. I'll be honest I laughed a lot as I read it, teared up a few times, and was completely lost through a lot of it. I think the one thing that I realized while reading it though is that my poor children should never have to read this! I might just lock it up and keep it just for myself. Need for them to know everything! 

As I read I took a few pictures of some random pages...

 (Red journal, The big trip was my first vacation with just friends. Collette, Claudia and I went to the East Coast and I fell in love with it. The list of names are people who I felt were important to me. I use to write down whatever was on my mind not so much in poem or lyric form, but just randomly put together. So the blue writing must have been a rough time for me. The last one is from an entry about a great weekend I had with a friend.)

I'm really bad about documenting trips and important events in my life in my journal. I actually found the page where I wrote about Camden being born and I stopped mid sentence. Ha Ha! Distracted journal keeper!

(Delaware sign was from our big trip. On the train we would make a sign and take a picture as we went through that state to document we had been there. Movie ticket from a date. Plane ticket from Cancun with Lisa for my 24th birthday Greece memories with Lisa. Jayden being born and my pass to visit. General Conference ticket. Playlist ideas for a friend's birthday cd from 2006.)

I need to be better about keeping a journal. I have loved spending the last two days going through page by page and remembering so many experiences, people, trials, failures, events, joys, etc. Hopefully I can make it a bigger priority!

Go Read Your Journal! Promise you it WILL be worth it! 

Big Sister

My awesome sister turned 32 today! Kind of crazy to say that because what I'm realizing is that as she gets older, I get older also! NOT COOL! 

This is what you need to know about Cami:

She is a genius! Seriously! 
She LOVES Duke!

She is a Labor and Delivery Nurse.

We played 2 years of high school volleyball together!

She use to drive my crazy friends and I around in high school.

She has a sweet tooth!

She loved bossing me around as a kid!

She always includes me in fun activities with her family. 

She still likes to have sleep overs when I visit.

She loves me even though I call her to talk to her kids most days!

She is a great mom!

She can cook a mean batch of chili!

We spent years together making funnel cakes!

People use to think we were twins and that I was older!

She doesn't let the small stuff get to her.

On a bad day she is always willing to listen!

My favorite thing about her...She gave me those 3 kids!!!

Hope she likes her present! 

She has to work tonight, but I just talked to her and the kids baked her a cake to share with her work friends! 

Thanks Cami for being so awesome! 

LOVE YOU!

Valentine's Day

So I'm not a huge fan of Valentine's Day. Most people think it's just me being a single girl with no one to love, but really I just don't enjoy the holiday. I want someone to love me EVERY DAY, not just on Valentine's Day. I'm more the surprise me with flowers on a random Wednesday kind of a girl. 

With that said I do celebrate the holiday a little bit... I'm forced to as a teacher. Lots of love from the kids this year. It's a crazy day with very little actual learning going on. Thank goodness my kids were pretty good all day and we were able to have some fun. 

Yes, I did let my students draw on my feet. Yes, I did give Brynlee, Sadie, and I matching heart tattoos! 

Amanda, Aubrey, and I made homemade pizzas! I got a food processor for Christmas from my parents and was excited to use it. I found a recipe for an easy crust and we made it happen.

Amanda chose the movie "Pizza My Heart" on Netflix for us to watch, which was SUPER cheesy, but went with the theme of the night. We watched "The Romantics" afterwards too. 

I called it a night after that and with the help of a sleeping pill got to go to bed early!

Best Parts of the Day:

 Olivia bearing her soul to Teagan in front of the whole class (see note above)

Morning Happy Valentine's Day Text

Phone Calls from my little Valentines!

An early Valentine's Day present from my mom (A beautiful ring)

SLEEP!

Maybe one of these years I'll enjoy the holiday a little more, but for now I'll just be the girl that doesn't really care for February 14th!

Just What the Doctor Ordered!

I've been feeling pretty sick the last couple of days. 100% drained. Showering takes just about all of my energy. With that said, my life has not slowed down! I still have had work, play dates, errands, etc. Last night was exactly what I needed though. Megan decided the girls needed to get together and watch the bachelor and catch up! I couldn't have agreed more! I was feeling pretty sick yesterday and almost thought about cancelling, but thought that I really needed to see these ladies. Thank goodness I did because not only do I love them, loved the treats, but it was a GREAT bachelor last night! One that you need to watch with your girls!

It was a Jones kind of a night!

 Everyone brought a treat! We had Sweet Tooth Fairy cookies, oranges, bananas, jello with whipped cream, caramel chocolate greatness, and caramel snacks. We ate...a lot!

I wish we would have had cameras up to see everyone's faces as we sat watching! We were a mess last night. So many shocking, crazy, intense moments. Next week will be AMAZING! 

Thanks Ladies for a wonderful night!

Missionaries

There are big changes coming with the new change in age for missionaries. This video has been going around and although I do not know any of these people willing to serve, I think it is amazing! 

I think it's amazing how many there are leaving right away and how many are actually going to the same mission.

Road to Success

There is a wonderful program that my school is involved in called Road to Success! It is to get kids more excited about reading. There are different class and school goals that we try to meet throughout the year. The kids get excited to win prizes, have parties, and participate in an assembly if their goal is met. The best part is that as teachers all we have to do is track their reading and everything else is taken care of! We met our 2nd goal which was a read-a-thon! These kids have been so excited to have this. They bring blankets, pillows, stuffed animals, and snacks. Then we READ! 

The only thing that would make this better is if I could bring my own book to curl up with and read! Instead I'm stuck giving reading tests.... The glamorous life of a teacher....

China is too far away....

Carrie, Kenny, Noah and Jack FINALLY made it to Utah! I love these guys and I was so glad that I got to fit in a quick Cafe Rio hang out. It has been a year since I have seen them, which in my book is way too long. It's hard to get from China to the US though so I'll just be glad for a yearly visit until they move back to the states. Noah was a snuggle bug, which made me so happy. He just sat on my lap chatting with me. Jack was hilarious as he pushed buttons on a massage chair and just giggled. Carrie is pregnant with a GIRL! It was so nice to get to see her and talk with her about the baby. One thing I love about Carrie and I is that we have been best friends since we were little and no matter how long it has been it always feels like it has just been a few days. I will be bummed when there are 3 Hunsaker babies in China and no Aunt Ashlee to help out, but I look forward to the day (hopefully sooner than later) that they move back!

Meathook!

California Road Trip

Wes and I have been saying we need to go on a road trip for awhile! Basically I just wanted an excuse to get out of the cold! I got a text a week ago that said Anaheim? I knew exactly what he was thinking...Road trip to watch Supercross. Now I'm not a big Supercross watcher, but being friends with Wes has taught me a lot about the sport and I figured why not? My only rule... We had to go to the BEACH! 

Friday night Wes finally made it to Utah and the road trip began! We were going to try and do Utah to Anaheim in one night and just go straight through, but around 3 am when we stopped for gas and a bathroom break we decided we better just spend the night. It was a smart choice! We would have gotten to California and had nothing to do and been exhausted! 

We got on the road early the next morning and continued on our way! I swear it felt like it was taking forever to get through the ugly parts of the trip. I just wanted my beautiful California! 

We headed straight for the beach! We didn't have a lot of time, but made our first California stop at Newport Beach! I was giddy! Seriously, so giddy. I love the beach, the warmth, the smell, the people...everything! I was in HEAVEN!

We couldn't stay long, but I soaked up the sun, dipped my feet in the water and loved every minute of my beach time!

Next stop Anaheim!

We checked in at our hotel and got ready really quick. We were staying just a few minutes from Angels Stadium where the race was being held. We parked, walked to a good little Mexican restaurant and then headed over to the stadium. Now growing up in a family who loves baseball it was a little odd to walk into the baseball stadium and see the beautiful green field and crisp white lines covered with DIRT! Dirt EVERYWHERE! It was a little shocking. I've seen the races on tv before, but I couldn't get over how weird it was that they turned a baseball field into a dirt race track. I was very out of my element, but having a blast. Wes was in heaven! He is so good about answering all my questions and pointing out different guys so that I know what is going on. I've learned a lot about Supercross in the last couple of days.

By the end of the night and the final race I was pretty excited. It's 20 laps (which takes about 20 minutes)! I know about 5 guys names and was hoping someone I knew would do well. Luckily Vilopoto who we hate LOST and Dungey and Millsaps took the 1 and 2 spots! It was such a fun night and totally worth the trip! I'm even more excited for the one in SLC in April now! 

We drove around Anaheim for a little bit to "see" Disneyland, which you can't really do, get gas, and hopefully find Wes food. I was so tired and just wanted to sleep. We finally made it back to the hotel and of course I couldn't sleep! BOO! 

Sunday Morning came way too early! I wasn't ready to leave my sunny California! After a quick bite at Dennys we got back on the road. We had a blast listening to some of our old favorites and enjoying some radio hits. Let's just say I now know Taylor Swift's I knew you were Trouble, Trouble, Trouble song VERY well now! 

(Top left: My feet and Nevada. Top Right: In-n-Out in St. George...Wes had to make a couple U turns

Bottom Left: Utah...snow Bottom Right: Sunny Blue California Sky through the Sun Roof!) 

It was hard to leave the warmth and slowly see the temperature drop along the way. My feet started to get really cold as we got closer and closer to Utah.

It really was a quick, but great trip to California! Next time we hope to make it to Disneyland and a little longer on the beach. I was very grateful Wes drove the WHOLE way! Yes, I didn't drive Rogue all weekend long and I loved it! Poor guy did have to drop me off and still drive 3 more hours back up to Idaho! 

California Road Trip 2013!!!