Softball

Well, like most of my posts this one's a little belated. Over Memorial Day weekend Jake and I went up to Heber/Show Low/Snowflake for a softball tournament. We headed off fairly early Saturday morning. Remember, this is the end of May. Just 4 days before had been one of the hottest days I have ever experienced in May. As we were just getting to the rim, this is what we saw...










It's summer! Who would have thought? Let's just say I spent the weekend watching my sweetie play softball all bundled up in a blanket and hoodie and still shivering! But it was definitely worth it. Jake is an awesome ball player! He had some really good hits and can run those bases like no other! He played left field and the audience would always ooh and ahh when Jake's knee-high red socks would turn into a blur as he ran to snag a ball. My hubby has got some wheels on him! His team had never played together before, so I was really impressed with how well they did.

We also got to visit Jake's sister Sarah and her family in Heber. They were a lot of fun and so nice to let us stay at their place tucked in the forest of Heber. We also got to stay with my cousin Kara and her family in Show Low. We had a lot of fun chatting. If anyone knows my mom and her sisters at all, their children are no different- we just had a hard time stopping the chatting. It's kind of like Pringles- once we talk, we just can't stop! Anyway, thanks to all of you who gave us a roof over our head! It was a great weekend filled with snow, family, friends, cold wind, and softball!

Haircut

I got a new haircut on Friday. It's a little shorter than I expected, but I actually like it. It's a nice change. I figured, hey!, I'm changing careers and pregnant; I might as well change something else in my life! Here are some pictures. Enjoy!
Before:

After:

Update Anyone?

Alright, alright. I know, I'm a slacker. I don't even know if anyone will even read this. I'm sure everyone's pretty much given up on me by now, but I'll just blog anyways. Wow- a lot sure has happened since I last blogged. I finished up teaching another year of 2nd grade! Woo hoo! Although it was a really tough year and my Spanish skills were tested a bit, I am truly going to miss my sweet students. In fact, for those that don't know, I won't be going back to teach for a long while. Jake and I are expecting our first baby in Dec! I could teach for half the year, but let's be honest here- I don't want to be 8 or 9 months pregnant and trying to teach 30-some kids. We are very very excited to join the ranks of new parents! Jake is so cute and finally lets me look at all the cute baby things at Wal-mart/Target when we pass by. I think he secretly like looking for baby things too. My doctor gave me the estimated due date of December 22nd. A Christmas baby! I just hope that he/she comes before Christmas so I'm not still great with child during all the celebrations. I'll probably have a little more to blog about now that I have something exciting to share- all the updates of the pregnancy (weight gain, due dates, new baby purchases, etc.).

What's even more fun is that both of my sisters are pregnant too! Lisa is due in the middle of July and Cindy is due at the beginning of November. And... get this! 2 of my sister in-laws are pregnant too! Nikki is due the day before me, and Becca is due probably about 3 weeks after me. Our baby is going to have lots of cousins to play with!

Jake has just started a summer class and keeps busy with that in the mornings, and then goes straight to work. He's such a trooper! Meanwhile, I'm enjoying not teaching/working for awhile and searching for a job. Don't you just hate the job search? If anyone has any hookups let me know!

Well, hope you all haven't given up on me. I'll do my best to be a little more consistent.

2nd Grade

So I teach 2nd grade. I am really starting to enjoy it. I was really hesitant there for awhile about whether I even wanted to come back and teach next year. The following are a few reasons why I am loving teaching right now (for the most part anyway).
Exhibit A:
We just started out "Mighty Mini Mealworm" science unit. Pretty gross, but cool too. The kids absolutely LOVE being scientists and most of them aren't freaked out by the worms at all. They have been asking everyday if they can play with their worms and are having a great time with them. They are kind of like caterpillars in that they form a kind of chrysalis and then turn into a beetle. The kids are really excited about it.
Exhibit B:

Field Day. We had Field Day "Fun Day" on Wednesday and we had so much fun. We did all kinds of relay races and climbed the rock wall in our gym and did DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) in our "Active and Healthy" room. Our school got a huge grant to help promote active and healthy lifestyles, so we have a whole room devoted to the DDR game that was purchased with part of the grant. The woman on the left is one of my student's mom, not a very tall 2nd grader. This is a picture of them presenting the grant check to our school. Yes, it says $97,488.Exhibit C:

Skateland Parties! Our school had a Skateland Party Thursday night and Jake came along with me. He is so supportive and my class absolutely LOVES him! He comes in to the class all the time and the kiddos get so excited. Me too! They always ask why he doesn't kiss me when he leaves- I guess they don't understand the inappropriate aspect of PDA in the workplace (which the DJ and one of the workers at Skateland didn't understand either, apparently!). Which brings me back to Skateland. We had a lot of fun and I felt like I was in 6th grade again, only this time Raylene didn't have to drag me over to skate with my crush during the "couples skate"- which by the way, they don't even do anymore! We had to make up our own couple skate. The best part about the Skateland extravaganza came after the Guerrero Elementary party was over. As we were waiting for all of the kids to get picked up, all of a sudden these scary women started pouring into the skating rink. They were covered in tattoos and piercings and were wearing short skirts and fishnet tights. It took me a few minutes, and then I realized, "Oh my! It's a roller derby night!" I didn't even think those things actually existed- especially in lil' ol' Mesa! I guess they were having tryouts or something because they all had numbers on there backs and were videotaping them and having them show how fast they could skate. We didn't stay too long- Jake was getting a little scared. But it was amazing! We were laughing so hard (but tried not to show it- those ladies could have beat me AND Jake up!). This picture is a little blurry and don't do their scariness justice, but you might be able to see the roller derby chicas. Exhibit D:
I have one student who is a total "brown noser." She is very bright and a cute little girl. The other day she had a little free time on her hands, so she decided to draw a picture. This is what she made. Isn't it lovely? I'm sure a quote from Napoleon Dynamite is coming to your mind at this very moment. I suddenly became frightfully aware of my mustache that could probably use a good waxing. But then the next day she presented me with this masterpiece, putting my worries a little at ease.
She told me that this was a picture of me (I don't know who the last picture was supposed to be, but I am sure that they are beautiful). This picture does actually have hair, but my scanner just didn't pick it up very well. I think my favorite parts about the picture are my teeth, my nose, my fingernails (on my right hand only?!?), the off the shoulder straps, and the lack of a mustache. Yes- I am one good looking teacher!

So I like 2nd grade. However, my principal told me on Friday that he is going to move me to 3rd grade next year. Which just means that I'll get to have a few of my "angels" next year!

Night on Broadway

Last night our ward had a "Night on Broadway" social for all of the adults. Jake and I were asked to be a part of the performance, along with 3 other newly wed couples. We did a little dance to "Why Do I Love You?" from the musical Showboat. The lady in charge of everything is kind of funny and has made this social her life for the past month. She would hold practices at her house and helped us make up our dance and found these crazy costumes for us. It was all kind of silly, but we actually ended up having a really good time. The whole dance was pretty much just all of us couples swooning over each other and showing a little too much PDA in front of the whole ward. I think we made the audience blush more than we did ourselves! But we made some new friends out of the experience. They had lots of fun performances complete with 7 Brides for 7 Brothers "Bless Her Beautiful Hide" and Oklahoma's "I'm Just a Girl Who Can't Say No".

After the social we had a "cast party" at one of the couple's house with just the couples from our dance. We played games and got to know each other a little better. We discovered that one of the husbands (who lives just two doors down from us) is pretty much an experienced spy. He keeps a (mental) log of all of the cars coming in and out of our complex and what "loot" they've got in the back of their trucks. I can't blame him- we've had some pretty strange things happen around here. Like washers and dryers being stolen out of carports in broad day light (they even stole laundry detergent- they must have been desperate to get some laundry done!) and cops arresting a guy right in front of our mailbox. Don't worry Mom- we're safe. We've only had our laundry detergent stolen. Other than that we love it here!

Baby Brooklyn Rae

I am an aunt again (sort of)! Raylene and Brad finally had their baby on Wednesday, February 13, 2008. She is such a beautiful baby with lots of blonde hair. If you know me, you probably know Raylene, and have probably already seen and heard about their sweet little thing, but I just had to put in my two cents. Raylene is such a trooper and has been so positive about her entire pregnancy experience. I only hope I can be as positive as her someday when it's my turn.
I had to throw in these pictures in honor of Jake. He is such an awesome guy. If any of you know Jake, you know he is way into football- especially college football. Well, he's also into sweet little babies. I got the funniest picture of him watching the Orange Bowl, while helping to crochet a blanket for baby Brooklyn. I have to say I think he was a little more interested in the crocheting than he was in the game! I thought it was so cute! You can't see the t.v., but there was definitely a football game on. Is he looking at the t.v.? Nope!

Slacker

Ok, ok, I know it's been awhile. What can I say- I'm a teacher and a wife and, well, that's about it. Ok, you're right- I have no excuse. Well, not a whole lot has happened these last couple of months, but I'll give a quick update. Christmas was a blast. I just love Christmas time. I started asking Jake what he wanted for Christmas back in August
(he had no idea I was such a Christmas maniac). I've surprised him by already asking him what he wants for Christmas this year. He just gave me an "Are you crazy?" look as I'm sure you are right now. But what can I say- I think Christmas should be celebrated all year long! For Christmas I got Jake a nice softball bat and a new glove. He's excited to put them to use on the co-ed softball team we've joined that will be starting in March. Jake got me a pedicure kit that he so sweetly volunteers to use on my feet. He also got me TheFirm workout that I had been asking for. I've enjoyed that a lot but have a hard time motivating myself to get up at 5:45 to actually do the workouts. We had fun re-enacting the nativity with the Merrell family and hangin' with both of our families.
Valentine's Day was also a lot of fun. I just love holidays. My class of 2nd graders had a fun little Valentine's party. Several of my students even brought Valentine's for our pet frog, Max. I thought that was funny. My students were so sweet and brought stuffed animals and chocolates and all kinds of goodies for me (many of which went straight to the trash- used stuffed animals just don't appeal to me. Neither do questionable chocolates labeled in Spanish). Jake and I spent Valentine's chaperoning a bunch of 5th grade students from my school to the Coyotes hockey game. It was my first hockey experience and I actually enjoyed it quite a lot! Jake treated me to a dinner at Macaroni Grill and a date to As You Wish (pottery painting). He's such a sweetheart!