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....