Wednesday, July 31, 2013

My family's coming!!

I am so excited for today.. The day that my mom, little brother, and sister drive to Utah to spend five days with us!! This is the first time since Cody and I got married that they'll be out here, which also means that it's the first time they'll be seeing our house! I don't know why it's such a big deal to me to have people look at my house. Maybe it's because Cody just doesn't get into home decorating as much as I do? Whatever the reason, I love having people over! They'll be sleeping on air mattresses in our front rooms since we don't have any extra bedrooms (or at least ones that aren't to the ceiling with old furniture). I'm excited to party with them on my birthday tomorrow!! Cody will be at work during the day, but he'll join up with us when he's done for some good times!
Jaycee is the most amazing and talented little sister in the world! She is so amazingly sweet and such a good example to me! Definitely one of my best friends in the world! (Luckily, I get to keep her forever too!!) 
My mother is so silly, goofy, and strong willed. We butt heads every now and then, but I love her to death!
Oh Tanner.. He's growing into such a great young man. He is smart, spiritual, and so talented! He's so happy most of the time and is such a good friend to Jaycee!
I wish the rest of my family could come, but they wouldn't have anywhere to sleep unless they got some tents outside, haha. I sure do love my family though, and I love that the older we all get, the closer we get to each other! I wouldn't trade my family for anything!

Happy weekend! Make sure you come back tomorrow for the third round of PLTs!!

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

And I thought I was finished...

I got this email a few days ago..


I thought I was done with school, getting my associates degree in the field that I want to be in, but then we realized that paying off our loans is going to kick our butt, so I'm going back. Cody and I both qualify for grants, since we're broke as a joke, so we'll be able to defer our loans for a little while longer.

I had to re-apply since I officially filed for graduation, therefore, they have no reason to keep me enrolled as a student if I'm no longer a student. Luckily I just had to fill out an application, and didn't have to pay the fee that all new students have to.

As of right now, my declared major is ASL and Deaf Studies, as I'm already in love with ASL and I'm closer to that BA degree than any other..

I'm not sure if I'll finish, as this is just a way to put off paying our loans until we have some more money saved to pay off mine altogether, and I'm not sure what our family situation will be in 2 years (like, if we'll have kids that disable me from taking classes). Also, the classes that are required are at the same times that I'm going to be working at Head Start, so it might not go as smoothly as I want it to.

As you can tell (by the lack of exclamation points) I'm not very excited about going back. I was so pumped up about being finished and not having to do any more homework ever again, but hey.. I'm going to do what's best for our family. And this is sort of a win-win situation, as we'll be able to defer our payments, and I might end up getting a bachelor's degree.. So that would be cool!

Anyways, I have to set up an appointment with my new counselor, and I need to figure out which classes I'll be taking, so I'll keep you updated on all of this progress. Wish me luck that all goes smoothly and quickly!

Monday, July 29, 2013

Even more deer

They're in our yard all the time!! This time, I was coming home from something and this little one was just chillin in our back garden area!! We were having a stare down for a little while, but as soon as I got my video going, he got spooked.





Now as long as they don't eat our plants that we are growing, I'll be happy to have them in our yard!

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Horseback riding!

On Friday, Cody's boss and his neighbor invited us to go ride their horses up American Fork Canyon. I was so excited because it's been SOOO long since I've ridden a horse, but I wasn't very stoked about having to wake up at 5:30!! I'm glad we did though, because the weather in the morning was so perfect! We got up there at about 7, but didn't start riding for about a half hour to 45 minutes. My first thoughts while helping get the horses ready were, "They're so cute! We should get horses sometime!!" which is my response every time I see a new animal.

This was the horse Cody was on. His name is Peepers haha.

This is where we rode up to.. This gorgeous waterfall! Apparently in the spring time it's LOADS bigger and shooting straight out with how much volume there is!


We could see the whole valley!! Such a gorgeous view!

The sky was beautiful!! Not a cloud in sight, with the moon still shining a little bit in the lower right corner!

Austin found a snake! He kept saying, "Shaun will be so proud of me!" ( Shaun's their oldest brother, who is in love with all types of reptiles and animals and .. everything basically) They think this is a Rubber Boa?




This was my horse, Hollywood. They nicknamed him Gigantor, because he's huge! So tall!! I got on him by myself both times that I needed to though, so I'm pretty proud of myself! His mane was braided to the other side.. Pretty cute!

This is how pictures turn out when you're trying to take them while riding.. not very well.

But I did pretty good getting Cody's picture!


We were done and in our cars by 10:45!! I felt like it should have been 2, since I never get up that early! We found a $20 bill, so we went to lunch at DP Cheesesteaks.. DELICIOUS!

Oh, and unlike my initial thoughts about wanting horses eventually.. Maybe not. We had to ride back down the hill, and there was a super steep part where I thought I was going to die. And then another. So scary to trust my life into the legs of a horse! I ended up making it out alive, with just a rip in my pants from Hollywood not noticing huge tree stumps sticking out, but all is well!

Saturday, July 27, 2013

24th of July

Because July 24th is a holiday in Utah, Cody and I went up to his parents' house to celebrate! We watched some old TV shows while waiting for Austin and Brady (TV shows such as Rhoda, I Dream Of Jeannie, The Dick Van Dyke Show <hilarious!!, and one more that I can't remember) and I forgot how much I love old TV shows! They always remind me of really fun times with my Dad! Then we ate some incredibly good pork chops for dinner, and afterwards, we all climbed up onto their roof to watch the fireworks. Also, I just realized that this is the third year in a row that I've done that with them!! It's a tradition for them any time there's fireworks, and it's the coolest thing! You'll have to try it next time there's fireworks where you live!

Anyways, I got a few pictures from the night!! Brian got some REALLY awesome fireworks that scared the piddle out of me!! I almost fell off the roof (because I was close to the edge trying to get pictures of him, since he always seems to avoid them) and it was rather scary, but funny!





Dex was doing much better this time than on the 4th! He wasn't as nervous, and was actually watching all of the fireworks instead of hiding under our chairs! Possibly because we weren't on chairs this time...

Brian being the master of fireworks.. He decided to start the used ones on fire to lessen the clean up.


I was super impressed with how well my little Point and Shoot camera caught the fireworks!
It was such a great night and I'm so excited to continue this tradition every year!! Happy day of the pioneers moving to Utah all those years ago!!

Friday, July 26, 2013

I made a skirt!

Cody's sister, Alysa, is getting married on August 2nd!! She's getting married to Nate, who is Samoan, and she wanted her in-laws (me) to wear something that would match the rest of the family. So I was given these two fabrics 

and told to make something.. HUGE INTIMIDATION! But I was excited to take on the task!! I knew I wanted to make a skirt, rather than a dress, so I looked on Pinterest for a while and found this one that I thought would be cute. But of course, like all my other sewing projects, I got so intimidated that I let the fabric sit on my desk FOREVER until I either get asked what's going on with it, or I'm just so sick of not having it done. I'd had this fabric for about a month, and didn't work on it until Trina asked if I had any extra fabric that I could give back to her.. Whoops!! So I hurried and made it in a few hours. Why didn't I just do that in the first place?!

Anyways, here's what I came up with!

Front


Back

Please don't mind the crazy hair and lack of make-up...  I was in serious sewer mode all day.
Not too shabby, huh? The bow is actually two pieces. I made the sash so that I just have to tie it in a single knot, and then the bow just gets pinned on. I was in a super lazy mood apparently, but it works! I also added a zipper on the side that I didn't take a picture of, but it looks dang good! 

You guys! Check me out! I'm sewing legit things!!

Thursday, July 25, 2013

PLT: 2nd Edition

You guys! I've made it! In these spreads, I FINISH 2012!!! In fact, I even got into January!!
**EDIT- In last weeks PLT, I posted the spreads that actually come after this. So this is a little flash back! **









Come back next Thursday for another edition of PLT! And I won't get out of order again (:

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

A fun video of how much Dexter loves his bones (:

We get Dexter the 6ish inch bones from Walmart that are only a couple of bucks, and he absolutely LOVES those things!! He'll chew them down to the size in the video in about a week, maybe a week and a half. And he absolutely loves to play with them when they get this small! He didn't do it in this video, but sometimes he'll grab it in his mouth, throw it across the room, chase it, then throw it to the opposite side of the room. He'll do this forever! It's so cute. I love how he can entertain himself sometimes (:

...Continuation on last week's post about my failure of a job.


...Continuation on last week's post about my failure of a job.

The day that I quit my job (Thursday), I was determined to get another job, so I looked up jobs in the preschool field. I sent resumes and emails, and filled out online applications. The next day, Friday, I had a job interview for a pre-k in Lehi, and I had good hopes for that. It ended up being the exact same situation, so that didn't go anywhere. The following week, I had an interview at  a place called Jump Up Gymnastics. I was really excited about that job, and wanted it really badly. The interview went so well and they really seemed to like me. They told me I'd hear back the next week.. And they hired someone else. I felt so dejected, thinking that every situation was going to be the same as The Kids Connection, and that I picked the wrong field of work. 

About a month later, I got a call from one of the places that I'd filled out an application for, and they wanted me to come in for an interview. This was for Mountainland Head Start. Ever heard of Head Start? They're pretty legit. The position was for an assistant preschool teacher, part time, and it sounded perfect! I went in for the interview, and I had to fill out the most intense 4 page question and answer thing.. But I was basically planning lesson plans on that! Oh, and they gave me a time limit that I had to finish it in.. Talk about stressful! I answered the questions the best that I could, and I felt pretty good about it. When I was finished with that, they took me into a room with three ladies on one end of a table, and one chair on the other side of the table for me to sit at. They all seemed really nice, and they asked me about ten questions which I felt like I answered pretty well. I had a few questions of my own, but it was already sounding like a MUCH better situation than my prior job. I asked about pay, and they came back saying it was FOUR DOLLARS MORE than my prior job. Okay, love that! So, they said they would let me know the next week whether or not I got it. 

Well, next week rolls around, and I really start getting down on myself. Why isn't there a decent preschool out there that wants to hire me? What is wrong with me that I'm getting rejected for someone else? I just figured that I'd never get another preschool job and I'd have to get a job doing something I hated. 

But then the very next day, I got a call from Mountainland Head Start, where they OFFERED ME THE POSITION!! I had about ten different emotions during that phone call, but of course I accepted! They told me I'd be working in their Provo location and that I needed to come pick up some paperwork. I went in that day, and they told me that I had to pass a background check, a TB test, and a physical. Goodness gracious! So official! So I went and got the TB test, made an appointment for the physical, and was stoked out of my mind.

Everything went well, I passed, and I start on August 8th with orientation, and then the rest of August is full of training and seminars and setting up the classroom. They actually sent me a calendar of all the things that I have to attend. 

You guys, I'M SO EXCITED! I didn't want to say anything about this job, seeing as the past two jobs I've had (and wrote excited posts about here and here) didn't work out within two weeks, and I felt like an idiot for posting about it all over the internet, but I really don't think I'm going to have a problem with this job. So, just keep your fingers crossed, or pray for me, whatever your thing is, that I can just have success with this one. 


Way to go if you made it through this post. It was incredibly long, and I applaud you. And thanks for being sensitive to my situation, as these are very sensitive and personal stories.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Dexter and The Bug

[The title sounds like it could be a cute children's book, huh?!]
I was sitting on my couch working on Project Life, when I noticed Dexter across the room, standing on his back legs, right in front of the window. "Cute!" I thought, "He's looking at the kids across the street!"

Wrong. There was a ginormous bug in between the window and the curtain that couldn't get out, and Dexter wanted to play with it! He started pawing at it and jumping up, then going back down, and then up again. It was the cutest/funniest thing! He was over there for probably about 10 minutes, just trying to figure out some way to play with the bug.



He's swatting at the bug in this picture, haha

We have the cutest puppy! I just love him!


Also, I snapped this picture of him the other day.. I've been keeping our black curtains closed most days because if I open them, it gets really hot inside. Dex used to love sitting on top of the couch so he could look out the window, and apparently he's been missing that lately!
Haha, trying to see as much as he could through the curtains. Don't worry, I opened them for him after I took this picture, and he was MUCH happier (:

Monday, July 22, 2013

Dexter in a sink.

I gave Dexter a bath the other day because he gets into the most random things when he goes in our yard. I don't know what it is, but it stinks and is goopey in some spots, and then turns brown and hard. And it's gross. Anyways, he was in need of a bath, so I gave him one. And when I took him out, I wrapped him in his towel and was trying to dry him off, but it's hard to do with a puppy that just wants to climb right up onto your shoulder and then jump out of the bathroom. So I was wanting to put him down so I could towel dry him some more, but I didn't want him running around the house getting everything wet.

And my only solution at the time was to put him in the sink. I wasn't sure how he would react, but I did it anyways. Turns out, he kinda liked it! He just sat there, looking and sniffing around, and it was the cutest thing. But of course I didn't have my camera with me, so I picked Dexter up, walked to the front room, grabbed my camera, and headed back to the bathroom. I made sure to have the camera ready as soon as I put him in the sink to capture what I just saw, and that's how I got these:




I had to stop taking pictures though, because this started to happen:
 He was gonna jump. And although he probably would have be fine, I didn't want to risk it.

There's just something about black and white pictures of my wet pup that I love so much.

........................................................................................................................................................................
On a totally unrelated note, "scheduling posts" on my blog has been a recent obsession of mine. I first realized I could do it about two weeks ago, and I've been finding reasons and topics to post blogs about, just so I can space them out throughout the week. Like today, I've scheduled 5 posts to be posted between now (Wednesday night) and Monday (which is most likely today for you, since that's when I've scheduled this post to air) except for one more PLT (Project Life Thursday) which won't post until next Thursday (my birthday!!). I used to always get in moods where I would write tons of blog posts about the most random things, and hit "publish" one after another. But this way, I can make it look like I am a normal blogger that blogs on a regular basis. PSYCH! You should try it out. Even if you can't think of things to post. Just make up something. It's the coolest thing.

Anyways, I should probably get to sleep now.. Cody's been out for about an hour, but I couldn't fall asleep. Probably because I knew I needed to schedule more posts! Good night, blog world!