Matt and Adrienne

2 months - 3 months

2011-06-24T18:29:00.005-06:00

May was a pretty big month for us.... I went back to work, First Mother's Day, Matt went out of town for a week, started formula, School ended and summer began! I am so glad it is summer and I am able to spend every moment with Carter! I am so in love with him and I am already dreading going back to school in August :0/ Enjoy the below pictures of Carter at two months!

Mother's Day! Breakfast in bed and a beautiful necklace!

First time on formula :(

Going for a ride!

Hanging with daddy!

My new hat!

I found my feet!

I really like bath time now!

one month to two months!

2011-06-11T14:35:00.005-06:00

During April 1- May 1 my little guy grew tons and daddy had to return to work :( Even though daddy had to go back to work, I was able to bond with Carter, but don't worry, daddy had his bonding time when I went back to work at the beginning of May! Enjoy the pictures of Carter from one month to two months!

First Trip to the ZOOOOO!

Loving the zoo!

Tummy Time!

Sleeping in my swing!

Wearing Daddy's hat!

Still not awake Easter morning!

Easter loot from Grandma and Grandpa!

Mother's Day!

2011-05-24T22:20:00.003-06:00

Just a quick picture update until I have more time! Last week of school...very hectic...need more time in the day!

My first Mother's Day!

birth-one month

2011-04-19T12:52:00.006-06:00

I am trying to get caught up on pictures so I can be better at sharing things going on in Carter's world...so... here are some of my favorite pictures of Carter from birth to one month! Hopefully I will get better at "blogging" and you won't be left out of anything going on in our Lil' guys world!

With Great Grand Papa

With Great Grand Gar. Winnie

Maya wants to eat Carter I do think!

Uncle Ted and Aunt Anna

Uncle Justin

More to come soon!! Hopefully tomorrow???!!!

Carter's newborn (at home) pictures!

2011-04-11T14:24:00.003-06:00

Two days ago I shared Carter's hospital newborn pictures that were taken by the very talented Laura Meeks. Now, I am sharing Carter's two week pictures taken by Laura! Enjoy!!

Carter's Hospital Pics!

2011-04-09T12:00:00.003-06:00

I know I am very behind, but this new mom stuff is tough to get the hang of! My good friend Laura, of Laura Meeks photography, came to visit me at the hospital and she took some wonderful 1 day old pictures of our little guy! Enjoy!

Carter is here!

2011-03-13T21:10:00.005-06:00

Carter was born on March 1 at 10:35 pm!!! He weighed in at 8 lbs 3 oz and was 21 3/4 inches long!! Labor was quite the experience and Carter had some minor "issues" upon entering the world but all in all it was a wonderful experience and we are over the moon! Tomorrow is our 2 week appointment with the pediatrician so stay tuned about a new weight and length!! Below are some pictures of Carter's first week!

Carter's milestones... holds his head up, found his fingers, and only wakes up two times each night!! We have a wonderful baby!

Just a few hours old!

Going home outfit!

"playing"

We DO NOT like bath time!

1 week old!!!!

I think Carter can come out now!

2011-02-23T23:39:00.004-07:00

Well I am 39 weeks and 5 days... at our last appointment (on Tuesday) I was dilated to 3 cm and 90% effaced.... I think Carter should come out NOW! Matt and I have been walking walking walking and when we went to the doctor she said I lost 13 lbs...ha ha ha ha yeah right! I am trying to stay patient, but with all of the emotions running through my body it is hard. My doctor said I could go in to the hospital tomorrow and if I am having somewhat consistent contractions and my back still aches that she will possibly induce. However, she said if I go in too early their is risk of a c-section or a very long labor...both of which I do not want. So my plan is to stay home (my principal told me to start my maternity leave two days early which is fine by me), relax, and let nature do its thing! If by chance I do not have Carter by this weekend, we have an appointment on Monday, the 28th, to check the progress and make decisions. My doctor told me that she will not let me carry Carter past 41 weeks.

So, the waiting continues....

Week 38

2011-02-13T21:06:00.002-07:00

13 days left until our due date. Will I make it all 13 days? Will I be late? I gotta tell you, I don't like not knowing when Carter will make his debut. I am starting to become very impatient. Maybe its uncomfyness. Maybe is going to the bathroom every ten minutes...or maybe its the fact that I am just dying to meet little Carter and love on him! I can tell you one thing, Matt is about to go crazy. He is so excited to be a dad that he can hardly contain himself! We have our bags packed, car seat installed, house sorta cleaned...and now we just wait! Oh yeah...we also have ourselves a nice new family car...and no its not a mini van!!!

Here is a picture of our family car...the Honda Pilot!

and here I am at 38 weeks...Yikes!

At our last appointment (on Thursday) I measured at 38 weeks (2 days early) and Carter's heartbeat was perfect! We go in again Wednesday afternoon and at this appointment I will be checked to see if I have dilated at all!! Should be an interesting appointment!

At 38 weeks, Carter could be gaining an ounce a day now. His intestines are accumulating lots of meconium (baby's first bowel movement). The circumference of his head and abdomen are about the same size and he could be sporting about an inch of hair! The last bits of vernix caseosa (the white goo keeping baby's skin moist) and lanugo (downy hair) are slowly shedding into the amniotic fluid. I have been feeling more and more contractions, but they aren't consistent yet. I will let you know how Wednesday's appointment goes!

Snow Day!

2011-02-03T13:07:00.004-07:00

Well I wished for a snow day and in return I have gotten three snow days :0( Normally I would be pumped, but... these three days have messed up the sub plans I have already created for my maternity leave (I have fixed them twice now) and now school will go until June 2nd (an extra week away from my son). However, the snow was a great surprise for Cooper! Yes, Cooper...our dog! He is a native of Colorado and when we lived there we couldn't get him out of the snow. He would come inside with clumps of snow everywhere. Needless to say, he has been in heaven the last three days. Maya on the other hand is wishing it was summer and barely ventures from the doggie door! Here are some pictures of the snow day fun!

Maternity Pictures!

2011-01-26T21:54:00.004-07:00

My fabulous long time friend Laura took our maternity pictures and we are so in love with them! Laura is such an amazing friend and it was so great having her photograph this special time in our lives! Enjoy the pictures and be sure to check out Laura's website here!

Baby Shower!

2011-01-16T23:58:00.008-07:00

I have had two baby showers and will have one more on Wednesday! The first baby shower was a surprise! I joined a teaching sorority (ADK) back in September and even though we meet only once a month the ladies decided to throw my friend Amanda and I (she is due two days after me) a surprise shower. It was a wonderful surprise and we got a lot of baby essentials. Then yesterday (January 15) my mom threw me a shower! It was perfect! The decorations were perfect. The food was perfect. The guests were perfect. It was an absolute perfect day! I am not a fan of shower games, and I am really not a fan of the diaper/chocolate game so I told my mom all I wanted was for people to decorate onesies for Carter. I read about some actress doing it in a past issue of US weekly! So in the invitation my mom said the guests could decorate one at her house or decorate one and bring it to the party. The hard part, I had to pick a winner and it was hard! But in the end I ended up picking a giraffe onesie courtesy of my friend Amanda! My family and friends definatly spoiled me and I am so blessed to have all of these ladies in my life. Below are some pictures of the shower!

Chocolate covered strawberries made by my mom!

Diaper cake also made by my mom!

The food!

The Cake!

Annie (due April), Me, Laura (due July)!

With the grandma to be!

All of the onesies!

Chrissy, Me, and Lauren!

Opening presents!

The aftermath....let the organizing begin!

The shower on Wednesday is at my school!

Weeks 32 and 34!

2011-01-16T22:57:00.004-07:00

It has been a crazy two weeks! Baby showers, maternity pictures, New Years, back to work, drill team competition, nesting, practice and games, and a mini hospital scare. Before I get into anything else I will start with the mini scare (I am not rereading any of this so my apologies for misspellings and/or non sense making)....

It all started with heartburn that turned into this stabbing pain in my chest and upper back that was making me sick. After day 3 or not being able to eat even soup without my chest hurting I called the on-call doctor. He was not very friendly, in fact, I pretty much felt that I was bothering him. This uncaring doctor told me take tums and if I have continued chest pains I needed to go to the ER. So Matt bought me tums and they helped with the acidic burning I had, but not the stabbing pains. I decided since the doctor didn't care much I must be ok. I waited another 24 hours and when I couldn't even swallow my macaroni and cheese told Matt we need to go the ER. At 8pm (on December 30) we made it to the Pres ER where I was immediately taken to a triage room on the pregnancy floor. We were greeted by a poor girl walking the hallways hunched over and by some other girl screaming...it was quite an eye opening.

Once in the room we were set up to monitors and my blood pressure was taken and then the nurse left and we didn't see anyone for quite sometime. And then comes in Nurse Bob. Nurse Bob appeared to be in his sixties and maybe should go back to school. Within in the first minute he told me I was borderline hypertension but the doctor was doing a c-section due to people trying to get their kids out for the tax credit and she should be in within 45 minutes. So Matt and I sat in this dark interrogation type room with no TV, just the sound of Carter's heartbeat. Finally the doctor came in, told me I was not borderline hypertension and asked what was up. I told her and she said I bet it is just severe acid reflux. So she would have Nurse Bob bring me Maalox to try, I would wait 20 minutes to see if it helped and if so I could go. If in 20 minutes no change she would do blood work. About 40 minutes later Nurse Bob finally brings me the Maalox and ten minutes later this huge, and I mean huge, guy walks in and says he is there to take my blood. About a minute later the doctor walks in and says to be on the safe side she decided to take blood just in case. So Mr. huge blood guy was horrible at taking blood and bruised me (I didn't even bruise when I broke my nose).

About forty minutes later and after playing eye spy with Matt Nurse Bob comes in and tells me that I can go and I sign the discharge papers. Right as he is about to leave the room I asked if my blood work was OK and he informed me that he didn't know they took my blood...back to waiting. Another thirty minutes go by and Matt went to find out what was going on and Nurse Bob informed Matt that not all of my tests were back. About ten minutes later Nurse Bob flies through the door and says I am probably staying because my LDH levels are high. Matt asks what we can do about that and Nurse Bob very calmly says ohhh we will induce you tonight. After a very loud WHAT from me Nurse Bob says that he isn't sure though because they changed the level readings and the doctor is doing another c-section. Once he left I went into full freak out mode. I was telling Matt we need to sneak out and leave now and then I was going through everything that was not done.

About thirty minutes of freaking out the doctor walks in and tells me I can go now. Very irritatedly I told her what Nurse Bob said and she told me that my levels were average. Are you joking me??? Nurse Bob should be fired. So after five hours of non sense Matt and left the ER knowing I had severe acid reflux and that Maalox is amazing. I took the Maalox for about a week and now all is back to normal! If only that darn on-call doctor would have told me to try Maalox.

*New Year's Eve was pretty low-key. We were pretty tired from our ER adventure the night before but thank goodness for Maalox and we were able to enjoy our four course meal courtesy of our good friends Ann and Jay. We had quite the feast and on our way home I literally fell asleep in the car. Luckily I made it to midnight and was able to watch the ball drop!

* On January 2nd we took maternity pictures by my good friend Laura Meeks! Click here for a sneak peek! Last night we picked our favorites and i will share them when I get them! She will be back to take Carter's newborn pictures sometime soon!

*I have had two baby showers and will have another one on Wednesday! I am so lucky to have such wonderful people in my life! I will post pictures of the shower and explain later!

* I am working on my sub plans for my maternity leave. I don't like writing plans for a one day absence so this 8 week sub plan writing is very difficult and tedious. I am half way through writing my sub plans and then I need to explain what to do during each subject and I will be done! I started my sub plans beginning the first week of February (just in case)!

* Today was our first day of baby school. We are in an accelerated course that takes place on two Sundays from 1-5. I almost feel asleep about ten times, and Matt and I couldn't be serious during the breathing exercises but all in all we heard some good pointers and even though we had to watch a video of a live birth (OMG) I believe the class was beneficial.

* Now on to Carter and week 34! On the 19th we go in for another ultrasound! Fingers crossed that all is well and we are on track for a mid to end February delivery! Apparently Carter is responding as a newborn with his eyes open while awake and closed while sleeping. He is developing immunities to fight mild infection and his sharp little fingernails are at the ends of the fingertips already. Carter can also recognize and react to simple songs. In fact, he will apparently recognize frequently sung tunes after birth and probably find them soothing. Less cute news: He now urinates about one pint per day...lovely. As for me, I'm just getting bigger and bigger and have started feeling Braxton Hicks contractions...nothing painful, just a tightening of the stomach for a few seconds.

~ Hopefully I will be on top of things next week and will actually post pictures in a timely manner...but who knows! Enjoy my weeks 32 and 34 pictures below!

Week 32

Week 34 and very tired!

Here are some pictures of Carter's bathroom!!

Blame it on the holidays!

2010-12-26T12:43:00.006-07:00

We have been so busy with work, school, the holidays, shopping, parties, competitions, etc. we forgot to take some belly pictures :0( But we did take belly pictures for weeks 27, 30 and 31! As of yesterday I am now 31 weeks!!! In the last five weeks I have grown and grown! Last week we went to baby school (which ended up getting canceled so now we won't go until January 16th), had two doctor appointments, interviewed pediatricians, and preregistered at the hospital! Our doctor appointments all went really well! Carter has evened out since our last appointment (thank goodness)! He is now predicted at being 8 lbs and not 8 lbs 12 oz, he is also coming in at the 70th percentile and not the 78th percentile and is measuring a week and two days early instead of two weeks and four days early!

At week 31 Carter's growth begins to slow a teeny bit, and the brain goes through a period of rapid development. The only major organ left to fully develop is the lungs. His irises now react to light, and all five senses are in working order. (He won't pick up anything from his nose until after birth, though -- smell is transferred through air, not amniotic fluid.)

Carter received a bunch of little gifts this Christmas, a mattress from Matt and I, and a glider from my parents!

On January 2nd we are taking maternity pictures!! I cannot wait
for Ms. Laura Meeks to capture us once again!! I am just hoping for some snow for our outside pictures!

Below are pictures of weeks 27, 30 and 31 as well as the new glider and the finished crib!!

Week 27!

Week 30!

Week 31! and Merry Christmas!

New Glider!

Finished Crib!

Weeks 24, 25,anddd 26 all rolled into one!

2010-11-22T18:10:00.007-07:00

So I took a bit of a blogging break and now I am here to update you! These past three weeks have been hectic! Let's see, since November 2 (the date of the last blog) I turned 28, we took a babymoon to Vegas, I had parent teacher conferences, tons of drill team practices, a few doctor appointments, our good friends (The Putnams) had their baby boy, my good friend Chrissy got engaged, and tons of other things I am sure.

My birthday was amazing. My husband, family, and friends really made my day special! It was twin day at school and my friend Lauren and I dressed alike. Black leggings, a purple shirt, uggs, and Lauren even added some extra touches to make sure we really looked like twins! My mom made my favorite meal...lasagna, and the entire family came over to celebrate! Matt gave me a coupon book complete with a coupon for gray uggs, and foot and back massages! I received tons of texts, cards, facebook messages, etc. I even received the World's Largest Gummy Bear! Anyone who knows me knows my love of gummy bears...even my students and drill team girls know about this! I cannot wait to take a bite of the world's largest gummy bear, but some people have requested to be present when the eating takes place!

Matt also took me to Vegas for our babymoon! Well actually, we went for the So You Think You Can Dance Tour! The show was amazing!! We also went shopping, went to the wax museum, gambled (not me, but Matt), saw Ka, ate really good food, and by mid morning my feet were swollen everyday! Swollen feet aside, we had a wonderful, much needed, vacation!

Our most recent doctor appointment went great! We went to see our "regular" doctor...her name is Doctor Lebkutchner and I just adore her. I measured at exactly 25 cm...so I am measuring right on track! Carter's heartbeat was 158... we go again to the ultrasound appointment on the 23rd, the same day I have to do the glucose test...blah. Then we will be going to the doctor every two weeks, with ultra sound appointments thrown in every three weeks. We have registered for "baby classes" and Matt hung a curtain in the nursery! Hard to believe it is already Thanksgiving!

Our good friends Jennie and Lance welcomed Hayden Robert Putnam into the world on November 5! He was 7 lbs 13 ounces of pure cuteness! Matt and I went and visited them in the hospital and of course I freaked out just a little. Hayden was in the nicu because both momma and baby had a fever. The nicu was a very sad place to be and I hope to not have to go in there again. Congratulations Putnam family! We cannot wait to have playdates!

Our other good friends Chrissy and Damian are engaged! Damian proposed to Chrissy in DisneyWorld during Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party! There were fireworks, the castle in the background, and a gorgeous ring...perfect for Chrissy! Congratulations you two, we cannot wait for the big day!!!

Ok now on to week 26! Carter is moving around like crazy...all day long! I am not complaining though...it is an awesome feeling! He should/could weigh about 2 lbs right now and be around 9 inches long (crown to rump). Research says that as the blood vessels in the lungs began last week, the air sacs in the lungs begin this week. The lungs begin to secrete surfactant which covers the inner lining of the air sacs which then allows the lungs to expand normally during breathing. Besides the active lung growth, the brain kicks in with brain wave activity for the visual and auditory systems. Carter's soaking up my antibodies, getting his immune system ready for life outside the womb. Eyes are forming, and he'll soon be practicing the blink...perfect for batting those freshly grown lashes. As with me, my uterus is about 2 1/2 inches above your belly button. I also may begin experiencing "Braxton Hicks" Contractions. These are normal, usually painless or feel similar to menstrual cramps and happen at irregular intervals. They are my body's way of practicing for the real thing and help to tone up my uterus for the tough job of labor. Enjoy my week 24 and 26 belly pictures below...excuse week 25, we were having too much fun in Vegas and simply forgot to take them!

Week 24..

Week 26...

23 Weeks and a few days!

2010-11-02T17:53:00.003-06:00

I cannot believe it is already November! Time needs to slow down just a bit. It is going to be February before we know it!

At 23 weeks I feel like I have doubled in size. My once loose fitting t-shirts now do not cover my belly and I could seriously live in leggings. My back feels like it constantly needs to be popped...prenatal massage here I come!!! My ring that once twirled around my finger is now getting a bit tight and I take it off frequently... I am hopping the hubby will buy me a "replacement" for the time being! Nothing fancy, just something that shows I am taken...not like being pregnant doesn't show that to some extent! The upside to being "bigger" is the amount of help complete strangers, and my students give me. Just today an older lady at the grocery store did not want me loading the groceries into my cart! My students fly out of their seats anytime I drop something (which is frequently) and hold doors for me and carry things for me...all without me asking!

AT 23 weeks Carter weighs 1 lb 5 ounces! I know this is exact because we had an appointment last week! He is measuring at the 64th percentile which is great considering the news we received. Turns out that Carter has one artery and one vein from the placenta to the umbilical cord while "normal" babies have two. This news freaked me out but the doc reassured us that as long as all of Carter's other organs are working properly he will be fine, if they don't work properly then he could have fetal growth development issues. All of Carter's organs are in perfect condition so doctor just requested more ultrasounds which is ok with us! Carter's little face is fully formed...minus the baby fat, of course. The next task at hand for him: sprouting two teeny-tiny nipples!!!

My brother Justin came in town this weekend! He surprised me! We haven't seen him since he left for college mid August. Boy was he surprised by my belly. I believe his exact words were "Whoa you went from like 180 to 245". I responded with a smack to his gut and "I don't even weigh 180 yet"...I think I used some other choice words though! It was an awesome visit and Justin even felt Carter kick!

Enjoy my belly pics! I also added a picture of the Halloween Parade at my school and the newest addition to the nursery!

Family Pumpkin Carving Party!

2010-10-24T21:06:00.005-06:00

Matt and I thought it would be fun to have my family over for Sunday dinner! Instead of the normal football watching we thought it would be fun to carve pumpkins (with football on in the background)! Justin couldn't come home for the weekend and Anna was in Texas visiting her family, but the rest of us had a great time! We ate chili, pumpkin pie, and had a great time carving pumpkins!

The beginning of the party!

My mom and dad made Carter pumpkins!

Matt designed his own "friendly" face pumpkin that "won't scare the little kids".

I used a pattern to make this skeleton guy and a cat!

Ted used a pattern to make the owl!

All of the pumpkins ready for Halloween!

We then dressed up Cooper and Maya and took them to my neighbor's Halloween yard!

Nursery Continued!

2010-10-24T20:51:00.003-06:00

Matt has been working very hard on the nursery. The walls are painted, border is up, crib is put together, and now we are working on smaller details!! Enjoy the below pictures of the nursery!

Weeks 21 & 22

2010-10-24T20:10:00.003-06:00

I know I know I forgot last week...and I am very sorry! I know that we were busy but for the life of me I cannot think of what we were doing! Yikes, the memory is fading. I have been doing good, feel a lot better and have energy. I am really going to be needing my energy this week so I am glad that it has decided to return.... practice, Halloween parade at school + class party (yikes), doctor appointment, football game, Halloween party, and Halloween! Well enough about me..here is the Baby G news!

1st: Baby G now has a name!! After much deliberation we have finally decided on Carter Hudson Grindstaff!! We both had Carter on our lists that we made and Hudson is my mom's maiden name!

2nd: During week 22 Carter is probably close to a pound and very thin but very developed. The eyelids and eyebrows are now formed, and the brain begins rapid growth! Carter is also settling into sleep cycles, snoozing about 12 to 14 hours a day.
Carter is also ranging in measurement from 10.5 inches- 11.8 inches

3rd: My uterus is nearly an inch above my navel. I will probably be gaining weight more steadily now as Carter continues to fill out. Yipee haha! Apparently my belly button will pop out any day now...another Yipee!

Look below for week 21 and week 22 baby pictures!

Week 22 (after team pictures, dinner out, and watching The Social Network...I was sleepy)

Week 21...yep those shorts are from high school! Ha.

The start of the nursery!

2010-10-09T20:48:00.004-06:00

We ordered our changing table and crib online anddddd the changing table arrived Thursday night at about 8pm (poor UPS man delivering that late). Of course Matt had to set it up right then and there...little did he know how much setting up would actually be done.

Matt basically built the changing table himself with materials that were delivered to our house!

Step 1...open the box/read directions/notice all of the pieces!

Step 2...begin setup.

Step 3...become smart and move the setup to the actual nursery instead of the office!

Step 4... all done! Beautiful changing table with the bedding and hamper that arrived today!

We took part of the bedding set to Lowe's and picked out our main paint color!! Matt is currently painting away! Will post pictures later!

This is a picture of the cradle that my godfather built for me and that was used by not only myself but by Ted and Justin as well! I am so glad that my parents saved it for me and now my kids can use it! I think Maya is glaring at me in this picture...I was only trying to include her :0)

Halfway there....20 weeks down, 20 weeks to go!

2010-10-09T20:07:00.003-06:00

20 weeks...only 140 days to go! 140 days seems like an eternity but I am sure that these 140 days are going to fly by! Week 19 was much better! Besides being tired, I almost made it the entire week without getting sick! Now if only I could can this cough. I am definitely getting bigger and my lack of motivation to get dressed in the morning is playing a toll on me. I wish that I could just wear sweats to school but I am thankful that I can wear jeans...I just need more maternity jeans and I think my morning routine will be much easier.

Baby G (we have exchanged baby name lists and are now in the process of choosing the perfect name...easier said right!) has become a lot more active...especially right before I want to go to sleep. It is a surreal experience and I am so glad that Matt surely felt Baby G give one of his better kicks! He can be compared to a cantaloupe this week which is so hard to wrap my head around. Aren't cantaloupes huge??? Well I guess not huge, but a pretty big fruit to compare a baby to???

From my hours of research and book reading, I have learned that baby G has as much sleep and awake time as a newborn and his scalp hair is beginning to grow. Baby g is also gulping down several ounces of amniotic fluid every day, both for nutrition and to practice swallowing and digesting. And, these days,his taste buds actually work! This week Baby G could be weighing in at 10.6 ounces and measuring 6.5 inches (crown to rump). At our next ultrasound he will actually be measured from head to toe and not head to rump! Apparently my belly button is going to start becoming tender as it makes its way out to an outtie...Yippie. Below are my week 20 pictures!

Aside from baby news, I would like to wish my grandma a very happy 86th birthday! Below is a picture of her blowing out her "candle". She couldn't find any birthday candles at her house, but she did find a decorative candle, so that is what we used! Happy Birthday Gar. Winnie!!!

Balloons and Baby Registries!

2010-10-03T12:23:00.004-06:00

So yesterday we went to the balloon fiesta, and registered for Baby G...all in one day, as I am sick...yes, we don't think ahead when we make plans. Even though it was a great day and we got a lot accomplished, we were exhausted and my feet are still sore.

We woke up at 5 am with the intentions of being at the balloon fiesta park-in-ride by 5:45 (keep in mind that every year we have chosen the park-in-ride minutes and have never waited in line. We pulled into Hoffmantown's parking lot at about 5:45 only to find a line about a mile long. Since we were already there and figured that there would be a ton of buses driving into the balloon park we parked and got into the line. As it turns out, there were minimal buses and around 6:45 we were finally in a great place in line...near the front. This is when we get the announcement: "this is the last bus, we don't know if you can refund your ticket but feel free to use it sometime this week". I thought there was going to be a riot. People were yelling. Matt was mad (we have tried to go to the Balloon Fiesta or the Balloon Glow for the past few years and each of the three times we have gone into the park the Balloon Fiesta was cancelled due to wind). Just as we decided to just try our luck another day and started to walk back to our car three more buses pulled up. People came running from all angles of the parking lot, screaming was still going on, and people were booing...it was insane. We did make it on to the second bus and our bus driver got us to the park in record time (pretty sure she broke a dozen driving laws). The balloons were already taking off, but we actually arrived at a great time. We took at ton of pictures, ate an amazing breakfast burrito, and had a great time! We are headed back on Thursday night for the Special Shapes Glowdeo with some of our friends...fingers crossed for good weather.

After watching the balloons we headed home to change, collect our baby registry helpers (papers we printed out), and headed off to Babies-R-Us. After being there for 4 1/2 hours, pushing strollers around, lounging in the gliders so I didn't pass out, and being confused about every single item, we now have a baby registry. I made my friend Jocelyn go online and check out the registry to see if we got what we needed and what we should take off and switch....she said we did good...I am still unsure. However, we did get Baby G's homecoming outfit! So if anyone else wants to give me your opinion please take a look on our registry and give me your advice...we need it! After starving to death and having the most sore feet I have ever had, we went to Scarpas!! After a brief break at my parents house to show my mom the registry we were off to Target. Thank goodness the baby section is only a few aisles, we were done registering in about an hour!

To treat ourselves we had a healthy dinner of Chile's queso, ice cream, and we watched Letter's to Juliet. Well Matt watched it, I fell asleep within the first half hour and had to get the movie scoop from Matt.

My feet are still sore, but I am so glad to have the registry done....and Baby G's bedding picked out (Cocalo Sahara)!!!

19 Weeks!

2010-10-03T11:23:00.005-06:00

The ONLY good thing about week 18 is that we found out we are having a boy!!! Otherwise, boo to you week 18. I thought I had allergies last Sunday and was given the ok to take Benadryl allergy medicine...helped with the runny nose, but then the coughing started on Tuesday. Wednesday we went to the doctor and I was told that I could take anything Tylenol. So off to the store we went and purchased some Tylenol cold medicine. It is working ok, still have a cough though! This was seriously the longest week of my life and I am glad it is over and we can start into week 19! The two bright sides to week were 1. finding out the sex of Baby G, and 2. crazy sock day at school (picture below)!

We have began picking out names for Baby G. Matt is making a list and I am making a list and when we are done compiling we will go through the lists and see if any of our picks are the same! But don't get too excited we will not post the name or tell anyone our picks until we have decided on Baby G's perfect name ourselves! I currently have 11 names on my list ha!

Baby G is moving around a lot more and although it is so weird, I love being able to feel him punch/kick me! The only things I am craving have to do with cheese! Pizza, grilled cheese, string cheese, queso and so on. Good thing I love cheese!

New updates with Baby G: Along with the lanugo, vernix caseosa is forming on Baby G's skin. Vernix is a white cheesy substance that protects baby's skin from its aquatic environment ~ imagine how your skin would look if you sat in water for nine months! The placenta is continuing to grow and nourish the baby. Baby G is about a half pound in weight and six inches long!

This week is going to be great...only 4 days of school! We have Fall Break on Friday! However it is class picture day on Tuesday..yuck. On Thursday Matt and I are going with our friends to see the Balloon Glowdeo and Fireworks and hopefully on Saturday we will go to Las Cruces to visit Justin! Friday is Sandia's Homecoming Game...seriously who schedules Homecoming during Fall Break..ug.

Week 19 belly pics!!

Crazy Sock Day! Chrissy, bad hair day Adrienne, and Janie!

It's a BOY!!

2010-09-30T20:48:00.003-06:00

We found out yesterday that we are having a boy and we are so very excited!! Matt literally jumped out of chair, threw his arms in the air, and gave a "whoo hoo" when the doctor told us! The majority of our appointment was spent measuring all of baby and paying close attention to the heart which the doctor said is a "beautiful heart". Then, after waiting and waiting and being pushed on (Baby G likes to move his arms and legs a lot) we were told we are having a boy! After receiving about 30 ultrasound pictures and having 3D shots taken (a very pleasant surprise to us) we went straight to my parents house to show them pictures of their first grand baby! My mom kept all but three pictures (she is making us a baby book) and my dad came up with a firetruck for Baby G to ride on when he is like 1!! (Pictures below) I have also posted pictures of our Lil Boy...3D style! Can't wait to meet our son!

As soon as we left my parents we went to Target and bought some cute little things! We are going to register this weekend! Matt put both Cooper and Maya in the firetruck...poor dogs!

18 Weeks!

2010-09-26T10:49:00.003-06:00

I finally feel normal again!! I have my energy back, not getting as sick, and minus some hormonal outbreaks I feel like myself!! Baby G is moving all around and I love being able to feel him/her and know they are in there...brings me some comfort. Poor Matt can't feel Baby G yet but I hope his day comes soon, he looks so sad sitting there waiting for something to happen.

Baby G is now the size of a sweet potato (what an ugly vegetable) and is about 5.6 inches long and weighs about 6.7 ounces. Our little one is growing rapidly and is very human looking. Pads are forming on the fingertips and toes, and the eyes are looking forward rather than out the sides of the head. And now for the skill of the week.... The art of the yawn has been mastered. In fact, we might catch a glimpse of that adorable yawn at our ultrasound on Wednesday. We could also catch a glimpse of all the fetal movement Baby G is doing — twists, rolls, kicks, and punches!!

Something we won't see on the ultrasound, is baby G's nervous system, which is maturing rapidly at this time. Nerves, now covered with a substance called myelin (which speeds messages from nerve cell to nerve cell), are forming more complex connections. And those in the brain are further specializing into the ones that serve the senses of touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing. Talking about hearing, Baby G is growing more acute, making our little one more conscious of sounds that come from inside my body. Also at our ultrasound we should be able to tell if Baby G is male or female!!! We cannot wait!! Here is hoping that Baby G cooperates and "spreads" there legs! We cannot wait to start shopping, decorating, and picking out the most perfect name! Here are week 18 pictures...

Matt is finally home for a few weeks!! He told me he would be home on Saturday but he actually surprised me and was home on Friday night! We had another football game at 1:30 on a Saturday. I'm over the 1:30 games...it is so hot! This past week it rained a ton and the temperature was finally in the low to mid 80's, but the sun decided to come out and warm things up just in time for the football game (oh joy). After the game we went to Uptown with our good friends Ann, Jay, and little Carson. Carson is almost 16 months and he is the coolest kid I have ever met. He is so happy, has the best personality, and gives the best massages! I stole one of Ann's facebook pictures to show how cute Carson is! After shopping and eating at California Pizza Kitchen (mmmm that sounds good right now) Matt and i went to Lance and Jennie's housewarming party! I love their new house...especially baby Hayden's nursery!
Carson!!

The girls at the game!

Will update you on Wednesday on the gender of Baby G!!

17 Weeks!

2010-09-19T20:41:00.003-06:00

I think I might be feeling the baby move? Maybe just maybe?? Either that or I am just really anxious to feel Baby G move that I am just thinking I feel him/her move. Anyway, week 17 was so much better from all of the prior weeks. I only got sick a few times!! I am so excited about this! It was such a busy and stressful week that it was the absolute perfect timing to stop the yaking. I have included more belly pictures and they are horrible. But I had to take them on my little camera all by myself since Matt left out of town without taking them :( So ignore the horrible quality and how tired I look.

This week Baby G is the size of an onion measuring in at 5.1 inches and weighing 5.9 ounces. It is so hard to believe that there is something that big inside my belly. Perhaps hard to believe but every time I get dressed I do realize how big I am getting! During week 17 Baby G's skeleton is hardening, changing from rubbery cartilage to bone, and fat is finally accumulating around it. The umbilical cord is getting thicker and stronger, and those little fingers and toes are now topped by one-of-a-kind prints. I also read that this is a period of rapid growth as the fat begins to form underneath the baby's skin. Baby and placenta are about equal in size now. The tiny heart is pumping as much as 25 quarts of blood a day! The reflexes are probably in place now as the baby sucks, swallows and blinks. Wow so much going on...Baby G is busy! Only a week and half left until we find out the sex of Baby G! I cannot wait!

I had a wonderful weekend. My good friend Jennie's shower was at my house on Saturday afternoon and she got a lot of really cute stuff. I cannot wait to meet Hayden who is due on my birthday!! Then Matt and I were off to the "o" party. Get your minds out of the gutter. The "o" party stands for over the hill party. The secretary at my school turned 60 and a lady I teach second grade with turned 50. It was a great time with awesome food and a delicious cake. This morning Matt left to go out of town AGAIN. Ug. But, it will be another super busy week: dinner with friends, practice, parent meeting, football game, and Jennie and Lance's house warming party!

Super cute little Converse shoes!

The mommas to be!

Happy week everyone!

Doctor Appointment

2010-09-16T19:32:00.002-06:00

Today was a very busy/stressful day and i am glad it is over and that tomorrow is Friday! I had a doctor appointment at 7:45 am and I had to go all by myself since Matt is out of town. However, the going alone was my choice since I had about ten people offer to go with me. Since it wasn't an ultrasound appointment I declined all offers and went to the appointment solo. Upon arriving at the appointment I thought I was going to have an anxiety attack. What a wuss bag I am. The appointment started off with the normal "routine" and then I sat in the doctor's office, room number 4, for 15 minutes with a very annoying ticking clock. Apparently my doctor was stuck at the hospital and was hurrying over. To satisfy my time I took out my phone and I had two very comforting text messages, one from my hubby and the other from my fab sister-in-law. The texts really helped ease my mind just a bit since I was now sweating and becoming very nervous. After what seemed like forever, the doctor finally came in and my appointment lasted for all of 2 minutes. I did get to hear Baby G's heartbeat (158 beats per minute) and it was music to my ears! Sorry you missed it hunny!

After my appointment I rushed to school to get ready for the Student Council election assembly. My friend Chrissy and I decided to be the sponsors of student council and its been quite stressful already. We had about thirty 3-5 graders run for one of five positions and today at the assembly they did such an amazing job reading their speeches. I give these kids so much credit for standing up in front of their peers and explaining why they should be voted into a certain office. After the assembly Chrissy and I had our classes go to each 3rd-5th grade classroom and pass out/collect the ballots. Then we had our students cut apart the ballots and sort them according to position. Chrissy and I then had to count each candidates vote by the end of the day. We made our deadline and we are very excited to start our weekly meetings! I hope its not too time consuming!

Our big appointment is coming up soon... the 29th to be exact and I am counting down the days!! I cannot wait to find out the sex of Baby G!!

16 WEEKS!

2010-09-12T11:38:00.005-06:00

Yay, I am officially 16 weeks, and I have a baby bump that is growing!! It is now time to order those maternity pants because I cannot button anything! This week the baby is the size of an avocado. It's probably between four and five inches. Over the next couple of weeks the baby is supposed to double in size. Quite a little growth spurt. The baby is growing toe nails this week! We go back to the doctor on Thursday and Matt is going to be out of town. I am terrified as it is to go to the doctor and I cannot believe I have to go alone. Oh well, life of an Army wife. I cannot wait to hear the heartbeat and know that everything is ok since I cannot feel the baby move yet. I will update you all then and let you know how baby and I checked out! Week 15 was horrible. I was sick morning and night but at least my sickness is allowing my food to stay down and my appetite to stay quite active! My principal informed me that my hormones are changing which is causing something in my nose to swell and therefore I have a lot of drainage, causing me to be sick. Makes sense I suppose! Below are the week 16 pictures! Ignore the sunburned nose and my very tired eyes!

Besides being sick from drainage (attractive I know) this week was pretty normal. Matt and I spent a lot of time together this weekend since he will be out of town all of next week, home for a day and then gone for another week. We went to dinner at Bostons and all I was craving was one of their ginormous beers. I don't really even like drinking beer but I could smell this beer that was two tables away and that I all I could think about. Then we went to see Going the Distance and I loved it! Not only did I love the movie but I will be cutting my hair just as Drew has hers in the movie. Matt was a bit skeptical of seeing the movie, but it was my turn to pick so he had no choice..however, he actually liked it! In one part of the movie Drew Barrymore is about to eat a hot dog when she throws away the entire thing after accepting a dinner date. When she threw the hot dog away, the lady next to me (and I am not joking) very loudly says "nooooo, do not throw away the hot dog, that is a sin....TIMES TEN". I busted out laughing. I mean really, it was a hot dog. On Saturday we had a football game at 1:30! 1:30??? are you crazy APS athletics. It was so hot out there and most everyone in attendance was sun burned. A 1:30 high school football game is just ridiculous. I felt really bad for those poor players wearing all of their gear in that heat. My girls did perform before the game and they did great seeing as how it was the first time more than half of them have performed on the field! After the game we watched Did You Hear About the Morgans. Not my favorite, but it had some funny parts.

Now we are off to see Ted and Anna's new house!!! They moved in about two weeks ago and we cannot wait to see it! Next week is going to be busy with Matt gone, but I will make it through! Practice, meetings, Dr. Apt., Jennie's baby shower, and the "0" party! Have a wonderful week!

15 Weeks and feeling chunky!

2010-09-06T15:04:00.004-06:00

We are now 15 weeks pregnant! Just to let you know, our baby is probably measuring in at about 4 1/2 inches and weighs around 3 ounces. Baby is growing! Growing enough where I feel like I had a long night of drinking instead of a baby belly! People who know that I am pregnant are loving the belly bump but I am sure that people who don't know I'm pregnant, probably just think I gave up on working out! I read that the baby is the size of a naval orange this week. Baby G now has the coordination, strength, and smarts to wiggle his or her fingers and toes and even suck a thumb, and his or her legs now out-measure its arms. And finally, all four limbs have functional joints. Baby G is apparently squirming and wiggling like crazy down in the womb, but I can't feel the movements just yet.... from what I have heard that should happen in the next few weeks! I can't wait!! Hopefully I will notice the movements and not just think that I have gas!

I am still not craving anything out of the ordinary or really anything at all. Last weeks horrible morning and night sickness has come to an end!! I can also brush my teeth without gagging!! My clothes are fitting snugger but thanks to American Eagles' low rise jeans I don't need the maternity pants yet..maybe in a week or two I will bite the bullet and buy some. I have been checking out Gap maternity jeans and I have decided on a few pairs I could splurge on! Other then that nothing really new and exciting with me! Below are week 15 belly pics!

Today Matt and I ventured out to look at baby furniture. Who knows when or if we will ever decide on anything. I used to like that I had a hands on husband but now I'm wishing he would just let me pick what I want....wishful thinking! Matt wants to put his two sense in about EVERYTHING....I'm not giving in and neither is he...we shall see who gets the last word!!

Even though Matt is very opinionated, he is quite wonderful!! I have been hinting, or more so demanding, a babymoon! Wikipedia describes a babymoon as..... a term that has come to be used to describe a vacation taken by a couple that is expecting a baby in order to allow the couple to enjoy a final trip together before the many sleepless nights that usually accompany a newborn baby. Babymoons usually take place at a resort that offers appropriate services like prenatal massage. Although I wasn't looking for a resort with appropriate services like prenatal massage I did find my perfect babymoon.... a trip to Vegas to see the So You Think You Can Dance Tour!! Matt was in Vegas all last week for work and while he was there he bought tickets to the show!!! I am so excited! Since I picked that show, I let Matt pick a show and he picked Peep Show...which in all actuality I am excited to see.. I like Holly Madison! We leave November 11th (the day after my birthday) for our babymoon in Vegas!!

Happy Labor Day everyone!! I hope you were able to enjoy the day!!!

Week 14..

2010-08-29T10:25:00.005-06:00

Boo to you week 13, I am glad you are over. Weeks 1-12, no morning sickness. Week 13, morning and night sickness. I also HATE brushing my teeth...well actually, Baby G hates when I brush my teeth. Here is hoping that week 14 is much better than week 13! Here are some other things that happened during week 13...

*I sent an email out to all of the parents of my students informing them that I was pregnant. I also told them that I would be telling their students the next day and if they wanted to give them a heads up that was okay with me! On Wednesday, the day after the email to the parents, I expected students to come asking me all sorts of questions. However, none of my students said a word about me being pregnant. I caught a few students looking at my belly, but that was it! Second graders do not keep secrets and they ask a ton of questions so I figured that maybe none of the parents told any of their kiddos about the email. But I was wrong!! With ten minutes left in the school day a little boy raises his hand and in a very stern voice says "Mrs. Grindstaff, when are you going to tell me about your baby...I have been waiting all day". At this point I start laughing and found out that actually 13 students knew that I was pregnant but didn't say a word all day. My class was VERY excited and asked a lot of questions like "is it a boy or a girl", "what does it look like", "where is your belly". I told my students they are allowed to tell whomever they want, but they cannot make fun of me when I get fat..... this caused my students to laugh hysterically until the bell rang.

*Other students keep coming up to me and saying their are rumors going around about me that I am pregnant!

*I went from being called 'Coach G' by my drill team girls to 'Mama G'.

*I have to drink a ginger ale every morning or I just don't feel good.

*Saltines are amazing!

*Einsteins and Taco Bell are what I think about all day long. So healthy!

Below are week 14 belly pics!

We took Cooper and Maya to get haircuts! Maya looks like she has piggy tails!!

And...it was the first football game of the season! The girls were going to perform but since it rained during our entire tailgate and most of the first quarter we decided to save our performance until September!

Shopping!

2010-08-22T11:50:00.004-06:00

Sooo we are very excited to be first time parents and hopefully we don't go broke before Baby G gets here, but here are some of our most recent purchases!

The teddy bear...

Our obsession with giraffes... (Matt says we need to lay off..we will see if that happens :) )

WE ARE EXPECTING!!!

2010-08-22T11:28:00.002-06:00

The real reason I started this blog was to keep family and friends updated on our pregnancy. Seeing as how I started this blog a long time ago you may have figured out that we are still a family of 2. Miscarriage. Even though I was no longer pregnant I decided to keep the blog anyway and haven't been really great about updating it.... but now, I have a perfectly wonderful reason to update the blog!!! As of yesterday we are 13 weeks and Baby G should be here on or around February 26, 2011!!! We are both beyond excited and can't wait to share our journey with our family and friends! Since I am not currently feeling comfortable posting belly pics on facebook, this is the place you will be able to find them... if you wish to see! All in all the pregnancy is going perfectly! We had an ultrasound on August 17th and we went to the doctor again on the 18th and the babies heartbeat was 160! I have been really tired and cannot stand brushing my teeth, but other than that no cravings, no foods that I cannot stand, and other than some of my clothes becoming a bit tighter, I am great! Below is our 12 week "inside" ultrasound picture and some 13 week belly pictures!

Summer Time!

2010-07-23T19:34:00.003-06:00

I cannot believe that summer is almost over! However, I have had a very busy, fulfilling summer, and unlike the past two summers, I have yet to be bored! Matt and I went camping with my parents to a place in Arizona called the White Mountains. We used to go camping there every summer until the year I started high school and amazingly, it looked exactly as I remembered it. We used our new tent, but used our old air mattress. The air mattress that fit perfectly in our old tent, but barely covered half the ground of our new tent. Going from sleeping in a king sized bed to a full air mattress, was horrible. Matt and I apparently thought that since we were camping in Arizona it would be scorching hot...we were very wrong. Thank goodness my parents were there or we would have frozen to death...I think it was 32 degrees one night, and we thought my old high school comforter and our picnic blanket would be enough to keep us warm...in our tent...wrong. Lets just say that the next time we go camping, we will have a new air mattress and we will have plenty to keep us warm!

Our 16 day trip to North Carolina, Florida, and our cruise was fun, but 16 days was way too long to be away from home..more on that later!

Today I was reminded how wonderful friends are. I hadn't seen my good friend Chrissy in about three weeks...or more, and I hadn't realized how much goes on in ones life in that much time. We met at Flying star at noon, I had looked down at my phone at about 1:30 and then again at 4! We sat there for four hours just talking..gossiping of course..and having a wonderful time. I love all of my friends dearly, and although I may not always have four hours to spend chatting, I hope you know how much I truly appreciate all of you!

Weekend!

2010-05-18T13:57:00.004-06:00

This past weekend was so much fun! Matt and I had our normal weekly date night and we went to Nick and Jimmy's for dinner

and then to see Iron Man 2!

It was actually pretty good, and pretty funny at some parts! Then on Saturday, after much a much needed house cleaning, I went to see The Backup Plan

(cute, predictable, funny) with my good friend Jennie and then on to eat at Nob Hill Bar and Grill for Heather's birthday!!

After a very long dinner due to our very strange dinner, and Heather for paying for all three of us (even though we were celebrating her birthday) we went to Cold Stone and taught heather what a "like it" was! Since Jennie is prego, my Saturday night ended early and I came home to find my husband in "safety gear" making my mom a wagon wheel. Yes, a wagon wheel. Apparently she told Matt that she really wanted one so Matt made her one, and it is pretty amazing if I do say so myself. Then after much convincing and reminding him that our neighbors have children and he shouldn't be making this much noise this late at night, we watching Couples Retreat...also funny!

On Sunday, instead of going to church, we spent the entire morning figuring out how to get our Droids working again after Verizon's update changed things all around and then it was off to family dinner... we ate ribs! Sunday evening I started working on the slide show that I make for my class, and I only got teary eyed twice... I love summertime, but I really do not like saying goodbye to my class.

Trying again...

2010-05-16T12:47:00.010-06:00

I'm back...again!!! I got so behind in my "blogging" since I think about October or November of 09..YIKES! I kept thinking that I should update my blog, but never got around to actually doing it! Let me just update on what has happened since my last post...

We had our second annual Christmas party!

We went to Phoenix to watch Shaq..and the Cavs, play against the Suns!!!

We took the dance team to San Antonio over New Year's to perform during halftime of the Alamo Bowl!

My team performed a glowstick routine!

My team competed in the State Competition which took pretty much all of my time from the end of January until April 16th!

We took sixth place in our pom routine at State!

We took third place in our military routine at State! Combined, we took sixth place overall!! Highest ranking since Coach H took over the team five years ago!

We had the drill team banquet...I cried :(

We had tryouts for the new team!

And now...two weeks of school left...this year flew by!

Summer Plans: camping, NC, FL, CRUISE, Denver wedding, and lots of plans with friends!!!

Regionals update!

2009-11-14T23:10:00.003-07:00

We got second place!!!! Super proud of the girls, they did amazing!

Regionals!

2009-11-13T10:30:00.003-07:00

My first competition as a coach is tomorrow! The pom line (the more advanced girls of the Varsity team) will compete in the NDA regional competition. I am so nervous, but yet so excited to be on the coaching side of the competition. I hope that I am able to sleep tonight! Good luck girls!

Done!

2009-11-11T17:05:00.003-07:00

I am done done done with my Master's degree! Thank goodness! I started online courses through Walden University in February of 2008. During my different courses that lasted 8 weeks each, I moved states, got married, went on a honeymoon, bought a house, started teaching at a new school and a new grade, and had a bunch of other life ups and downs...but now I am done! There were many times that I just wanted to quit or not write a paper every week, but thanks to my hubby and family for their constant support and motivation to keep going! I am so glad to be done, get a very small pay increase, and be able to watch Sunday night T.V. and not have to write a paper!

I'm Sick...boooo.

2009-10-21T11:23:00.003-06:00

This is what I get for announcing to anyone and everyone that I think I'm immune from all sicknesses because I teach 2nd grade. This is also what I get for getting that darn flu shot. I have never gotten a flu shot, therefore I don't recall the last time I got the flu.... oh wait I got one in September and now I have the flu. I have taken three days off of work, which is not easy when you teach 2nd grade. Monday, at about 12:30 am, I woke up freezing, but sweating, and had a 102 degree temp. I immediately put in for a sub. I went into school at about 6am so only the janitor could see me looking like a hot mess, did my sub plans and went home to lay on the couch all day. The only good thing about the flu is that I got to catch up on all my reality t.v. My wonderful mother made me a doctor appointment for Tuesday afternoon, so again I called in a sub, but this time I called in for the sub for both Tuesday and Wednesday. I went back to school Tuesday at 6am to do sub plans and then back home. I went to my doctor appointment, where they made me wear one of those mask things (I felt like I was carrying the most deadliest disease ever), only to find out that I must have one of the types of flu that the shot doesn't cover....yes those are the words straight from the doctors mouth. I was also checked for strep...negative result... and told to take one more day off of work. So here I sit, thinking I should write a thank you letter to Tylenol for creating their AM/PM cold medicine, and I have also decided that I am skipping the flu shot next year.

Drink lots of fluids and wash your hands all the time, because being sick is awful!

Bento Lunches???

2009-10-17T21:29:00.006-06:00

So this little girl in my class brings these fabulous lunches to school everyday, and I mean like really fabulous. These lunches are so amazing that my class gathers around every morning to see what this little girl has for lunch. She told her mom the excitement that the lunches create, so now the mom prints a picture off for me so that when I have kids of my own, I too can make these fabulous lunches. But seriously, where does she find the time? She works full time and can still prepare these lunches. So after much snooping and stalking her facebook page (where she posts the new lunch pictures daily) I found that there is actually a whole "bento" world out there devoted to these lunches. Who knew. I am still beyond amazed and wanted to share some of the pictures!

Fabulous right! I think the only creative lunches I got were when my mom cut my sandwiches into hearts on Valentine's Day!!

New Uniforms and a new car!

2009-09-07T17:26:00.005-06:00

In trying to stick with the "dance" times, we sent the girls new uniform tops to a wonderful "sparkle" lady in Colorado. Kami did a great job and now we fit in! You can't see the sparkles so so great, but they are blue and outline Sandia! We even sent in our "Sandia Coach" shirts to be sparkled! We are performing at our football game this Friday and I am N.e.r.v.o.u.s.

In other news, Justin came in for the three day weekend and I cried when he left. I just worry about him and how college life is treating him. He doesn't know when he will be home again so left me by saying "Until then... I love you sis". And then the tears were flowing.

We also bought a new car! An 09 Yukon!! Its a bit big for me, but I love it. Matt says we have to fill all of the seats (it holds 9 uncomfortably and about 6 comfortably). I do not think we will be filling all of the seats, but wishful thinking on his part!

I start my last master's class tomorrow!!! I am so glad this is the last class and I am worried that I will have zero motivation after having two weeks off! However, 8 weeks of school work doesn't seem toooooooo bad!

Hope you had a fabulous Labor Day!

I'm back!

2009-09-03T15:49:00.003-06:00

No, we did not just return from San Deigo, but I am back to blogging! Here are some quick updates before I get back in the swing of things:
*San Diego was amazing! We went to the zoo, Sea World, to Coronado and La Jolla, to a Padres game, and we ate really good food! I however got sun burned from head to toe.. I even peeled on my knees!

*I have started school... I had to move rooms once again (6th classroom in my 5 years of teaching). Although I am now down the hall from my buddy, I love my new room and the way I set it up. My room will be complete once I get my new white board! I will post pictures later. I have 22 students, and 13 of those are boys, but so far I cannot tell that the boys outnumber the girls! I love my class yet again!!!

*Justin went off to school and we went to visit for his birthday! We were able to watch him play in a tournament and he scored low enough to get the team golf bag! Go Justin! He is coming home this weekend and I am so excited to see him! I hate that he is in college, I worry non stop.

*Drill team is amazing! We only lost one girl over the summer, so we are set with 30 girls. We had our first game last Thursday and despite the 45 minute rain delay and getting home at 11pm, the girls did really well. We have another game tonight against the 2nd place Eldorado Eagles so hopefully we can hold our own! The girls are working hard on their routines for half time performances and regionals!

*Matt and I are upgrading to a Yukon (I think thats the one) and he is going to Phoenix to pick it up this weekend!! Yay for us ha ha!

Hope everyone is doing well!

Tooooo.....

2009-08-01T00:49:00.002-06:00

SAN DIEGO WE GO!!! BE BACK IN A LITTLE OVER A WEEK!

I thought I lost you

2009-07-31T15:20:00.006-06:00

Yesterday after getting ready for drill team practice and starting the laundry for our trip to San Diego I could not find Maya anywhere. I hadn't yet been outside so I knew it wasn't my fault if she was lost. I searched outside (once I found her hiding in a planter), and in every bedroom/bathroom/room that we have. Just as I was about to panic and call Matt I hear Cooper growling. I run upstairs and he is staring at our decorative pillows (that were on the floor and not the bed he he). Afraid that he was growling at a spider I got down on my hand and knees and look what I found....

Turns out that little Maya likes to bury herself in the pillows of our unmade bed. Note to self...stop being lazy and make the bed! Since my parents are dog sitting for the next week while we are in San Diego, I warned them of her hide-in-seek playing!

Here are more pictures from the seek and find!

she appears to be so innocent...don't be fooled!

Cooper the seeker!

Happy Birthday Babe!.. well Happy Birthday last Sunday!

2009-07-30T00:16:00.009-06:00

The hubs finally turned 26 and once again we are the same age! He is the hardest person I know to shop for. He has everything he needs, does not need any more clothes, and really throughout the year if he needs/wants something he gets it. So thank goodness he decided (with much debate from my end) to buy two bikes (that is a whole different story). So when he bought his second bike, a "road" bike I told him that he doesn't get any birthday presents because he spent way more than enough.

A few days passed and it was about a week before his birthday and he said "am I really going to have nothing to open on my birthday". The little sucker. Now I know that my parents will get him gifts, and my brother and girlfriend will give him something and his dad usually sends a gift card, and that's about it. So I said "well now from me you aren't". End of conversation.

Now me being the kind hearted soul that I am (he he) I decided to get him a present. His sister has been mentioning this cornhole game and we are both clueless about what it is, so every time we are out shopping he subconsciously looks for the game. Well we never found one because you pretty much have to order them. Soooo being the wonderful wife that I am, I ordered him a cornhole game for his birthday (it better be fun because it was pretty expensive, or more then I would want to spend on wood and bean bags). I had to give him the order form early because he is always checking the accounts!

On his real birthday, my family (mom, dad, Ted, and Anna) came over for a BBQ and ice cream cake and he was able to actually open up some presents. Poor deprived hubby...NOT, he was spoiled!

I decided to trick Matt with candles that relight themselves, but he saw the package... thank goodness he still played a long because those were the only candles that I had!

Happy Birthday Baby... here is to many many more together! I love you!

The birthday boy!

My parents

Anna and Ted

Family Pictures!

2009-07-28T21:20:00.008-06:00

I hired my good friend Laura, of Laura Meeks Photography to take family pictures for my dad for his father's day and birthday present! Here is a look at her fabulous work!

My mom and dad

Me and my brothers

The family

The family + Anna

Parents and Kids

I love this picture!

The kids!

Justin

Matt and I

Ted and Anna

I love my brothers!

Pyramid!!

Thanks Laura for capturing my family! We love you and your work and we think that you are amazing!!

Family Pictures!

2009-07-18T12:13:00.003-06:00

My good friend Laura took our family pictures as part of my dads father's day/birthday present! She put up a sneak peek on her blog and you can check them out here!

Laura, the pictures are amazing! It has been so long since we last took family pictures and we are going to cherish these forever! You did a wonderful job and you truly have a gift! Love you!

Happy Birthday Pops!

2009-07-12T01:12:00.004-06:00

Happy Birthday Daddy! Thanks for everything you do for all of us. We wouldn't be who we are today without all of your love and support! You are the best and I love you so much!

For my dad's birthday and Father's Day, Matt and I splurged and booked my friend Laura to take our family pictures! She is amazing and I cannot wait to have family pictures done.... it has been since forever since we were all together and in a professionally done family picture... I can't wait!!!

1 room down!

2009-07-09T13:53:00.002-06:00

Matt finished putting the laminate down in our dining room!! Now on to the rest of the house!

You can view the finished product here!

Happy Birthday Jennie!

2009-07-08T22:56:00.003-06:00

A good friend of ours celebrated her big 30 at the beginning of June (yes I know that we are already in July but I have pictures to share). Jennie is awesome. She is always smiling and always had a good time. For her birthday we went to the Melting Pot (yum yum yum) and then to Graham Central Station (I was worried about this place being totally ghetto, but we actually had a wonderful time) to dance the night away in the 80's/disco room!

Jennie and Lance are getting married October 24th and I am so excited! Matt can hardly contain himself since he is going to be a groomsmen!!

Happy Happy Birthday Jennie!

Want to win a prize...

2009-07-08T11:10:00.005-06:00

One of my favorite blogs is having a giveaway! If you would like your chance to win all of this....

Visit Confessions of a Control Freak!

Camp....

2009-07-06T21:14:00.008-06:00

I have finally recovered enough from camp to hop on here and post. Camp was an experience, both good and bad, but how the girls came together is something that will not be forgotten. Let me highlight my first camp experience as a coach.

*9 hour bus ride with 30 girls to Ft. Collins Colorado to attend a UDA camp. Ann (the head coach) was already in Ft. Collins visiting family and reassured me that since we were leaving Albuquerque at 3:30 in the morning the girls would surely sleep. I think the girls slept a total of 1 hour... I was one tired coach.

*We stayed in possibly the oldest dorms at CSU which came without air conditioning (thank goodness for Ann's family and the fans they brought us). We had one hall completely to ourselves which meant all 30 girls shared one bathroom, which surprisingly caused zero run ins.

*First night of camp when we had to perform our home pom routine the girls spelled SYS at the end of the routine instead of SHS. SYS now means Save Your Spot (for the state competition team). This first night of camp is where we also discovered that CSU doesn't believe in having air conditioning in their main gym either... so much for being excited that the girls get to be inside for the entire camp.

*Day 2 of camp. In the first coaches meeting we discovered that all of the teams (minus us and one other out of state team from South Dakota) go to Nationals and most have placed in Nationals, not to mention they have all been teams since February. Yes, apparently Colorado is a huge dancing state and all of the "good" teams there have their state competition in December (ours is in April), then they go to Nationals in January and in February they have tryouts for the next season. Oh and, all of the teams have their own choreographers and most of the routines that these teams performed for the home pom routine were in fact their Nationals routines. At this point I just wanted to bail.

*Also on Day 2 one of the coaches tells us that she danced with Michael Jackson when she was nine on MTV (seriously).

*Our poor girls were beyond frustrated with the performance level and they were pretty down on themselves, so Ann and I decided to do a talent show in our dorm room. All of the girls had 30 minutes to prepare and they all had to participate in groups of 3 or less. It was such a success and it really lifted the girls spirits, we even had everyone vote for their favorite performance and we had prized for the winning talent.

*Since this post is growing rapidly I am going to sum up the rest of camp.
-We were pretty ghetto compared to every other team since we have had 1/3 of our uniforms come in while this one school had (and I am not joking) monogrammed pillow cases, personalized Nike running shoes, sparkles on everything from their flip flops to their hair clips, team water bottles, and their parents came to every performance/evaluation and hung signs and had noise makers.... seriously I thought camp was for learning and growing, when did it turn into a competition??
- Our girls had to perform a routine they didn't even know and seriously they just shook their hips while one girls did some leaps and turns... they cried after it was horrible.
-The staff was horrible and their routines sucked, they were slow and the music was horrible.

*Besides the talent show, the best part of the trip was the dorm food (and this is not a joke it was delicious and such a variety) and the bus trip back. The girls really got to know one another and they really grew as a team, and all in all, that is the point of camp. I am so proud of the girls and their effort!

**OOOPs I forgot, we had to take a girl to the hospital for a bug bite that made her entire thigh red, and it was burning up. The doctor just looked at her leg, never even touched it, and prescribed her some medicine. On the way home this poor girl pulled out a stinger... way to go Doc.

After this camp experience Ann and I have decided that 1. we will possibly hire a choreographer for state 2. The girls will have to try out for the state team and we have made a list of must haves 3. we will not be returning to a UDA camp for awhile and 4. We love our team!

Off the bus at 12am..I think we look pretty good after four days of camp with 30 girls!

To Ft. Collins I go

2009-06-27T11:53:00.003-06:00

Monday morning at 3am I will be waiting in the high schools parking lot to board a bus with 30 drill team (high school aged) girls and head to camp at CSU. I am beyond excited to take the girls to camp and watch them grow, but I am less than thrilled to jump on a bus that early in the morning. For one, I am not a morning person at all, and two, the head coach is already in Colorado so I'm flying solo on the trip to camp. That is a lot of girls and I am praying that they just sleep the entire trip out there.

The girls have been working hard on a pom dance routine that they will perform the first night of camp (they are judged and will receive some sort of place/trophy on the last day of camp. We have only been working on the routine for three weeks and I am quite impressed with how great it looks considering the amount of new girls to the team.

I will be back late Thursday night to share my first camp experience as a coach!

The Proposal

2009-06-26T23:58:00.004-06:00

Matt and I just got back from the movie The Proposal and it was fantastic. Matt and I laughed so hard.

I definately recommend this movie!

Sandra Bullock was gorgeous and hilarious, and Ryan Reynolds is as sexy as ever!

It's a BOY!

2009-06-26T00:48:00.005-06:00

No, not for me, but for my friends Jen and Adrian! They already have a sweet little guy named Adrian who turned one in February and baby boy number 2 will be here November 9th! I secretly hope he comes one day late so that he arrives on my birthday! I am so excited for you guys and I can't wait to meet the newest addition!

Yes I stole your picture Jen!!!

Congratulations Jen and Adrian!!!

Projects projects projects...ug.

2009-06-21T22:34:00.005-06:00

So the hubby Matt is quite the handyman as I have stated before. He does fantastic work and takes great pride in what he does. However, he has so many projects going right now that I cannot get my house in order. Currently there is one curtain rod, and curtain hanging in my bedroom while the other curtain and rod sit next to the naked window. Our hot tub that he worked so hard to refurbish is currently without water and without one side of panels. The grass (his cleaning duties lie in the front and backyards per our agreement) needs to be tended to. He destroyed my shoes and hangers... OK not really destroyed but rather threw into a pile when the alarm guy needed to get to the electrical box thingy and they are still in the same pile. AND now he has decided to put in the laminate hardwood floors in our dining room before finishing anything else. He has done an excellent job thus far (the picture does not do him justice because he is almost done) but my goodness can he finish something before moving on to the next project. I told him that he is allowed to lay the floor in one room at a time and he cannot move onto another room until the above mentioned projects have been completed...lets see if he listens to me!

I love you so much baby, but please finish all of the other projects... I cannot handle the couch and "fancy" dining room table being crammed into my kitchen any longer and my window is jealous of the window on your side of the bed!

The beginning of the project...

almost done...

the couch in the kitchen... see both of our dogs ha ha, they are not happy they cannot get to their "lookout window"...

1 year down, forever to go!

2009-06-14T23:28:00.007-06:00

Happy Anniversary to us! I can't believe it has been a year since we tied the knot! My goodness how time flies. Our wedding day was beautiful but I am so glad that for the rest of my life I can sit back and enjoy everyone elses wedding! This year has been fantastic! Yes we have had some minor glitches here and there, but all of the good overcomes the bad and I am so blessed to have this man in my life. I love you so much Matt and I can't imagine what life would be like without you. You are my rock, my best friend, my life, my one and only. With you by my side I know that I can make it through anything and I cannot wait to see what God has in store for us. Together forever... I love you babycakes!

A loot at our first year has husband and wife!

Honeymoon in Tulum

Buying our first house (which meant moving states and both of us starting new jobs)

Getting a new dog

Celebrating holidays together for the first time

Decorating the house for Christmas

Disneyland for New Years

Graduation of both our sister and brother

and today... celebrating our first anniversary!

We also went to see Cirque le Masque today and it was awesome!

Here's to forever and ever!

My first award!

2009-06-11T12:02:00.003-06:00

Thank you The Gifting Gumshoe for giving me my very first award! I feel so honored, especially coming from a blog like your own! I have recently discovered a lot of wonderful blogs so to some of my favorites, here is an award for you, as well as the rules for you to follow!

1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.

2. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you have newly discovered.

Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

So here is my list of not quite 15 newly discovered great blogs:
1. A Day in the Life...
2.AGH
3.Baby Kennedy
4. Chic & Pink
5. DNAPLUSone
6. I'm Just a Girl
7. Laura Meeks Photography
8. Simple Pleasures
9. Dave and Brit Plus One

First week...

2009-06-08T22:41:00.002-06:00

of practice was a hit! I was a little bit terrified because there are 31 girls on the team and so many of them are new, but WOW what an improvement they have made in just one week! Every Monday we practice cheers/chants and work on technique and skills and then on Wednesday and Thursday the girls have been learning a camp dance. We are going to camp at CSU in Fort Collins at the end of the month and on the first night of camp all of the teams have to perform a dance. It is a very unique and awesome dance and as soon as the girls are done learning it the head coach and I will begin to critique it. That is going to be quite difficult since there are so many of them. I cannot wait for camp! Here are some picture from the first day of practice!

ode to my bro

2009-06-02T21:35:00.004-06:00

Since I have been slacking once again, mostly due to my little brother, I thought I would dedicate a post entirely to him. Justin is the youngest and just graduated from high school. Yikes, my little brother is going to college. Is he ready? Is he prepared? Is his head correctly placed on his shoulders? Is he going to meet some rude girl and marry her? Is he going to go to class? I sound more like a mother rather than a cool hip sister, but I cannot help it. There is 8 years that separates the two of us and I remember every single important aspect of his life. Oh well back to my ode, I will deal with Justin and college in August.

My little brother is amazing, truly he is. He is a nationally ranked golfer, his high school team won the state golf tournament (he took 4th individually), he won two huge scholarships for New Mexico seniors, was offered a scholarship to play golf for New Mexico State, is a third team All American, Sandia's athlete of year, and a scholar athlete. I just can't believe all of the things he has accomplished with golf with only his four short years of playing the sport! I am so proud of you Justin and I love you so much!

Now to why my little brother has caused me to slack...

1. Due to the swine flu nonsense APS athletics decided to move the state golf tournament back by one day. This caused a huge mess with some of his other plans.

2. Due to state golf being moved to Tuesday and Wednesday instead of Monday and Tuesday, I now was going to the first day of the tournament instead of the 2nd day. I was pretty bummed about this because i wanted to be there when they won. I woke up at 4am on that Tuesday (had to get to sub with only nine days of school left) and drove the three hours to Las Cruces. Justin was set to start at 8 and I didn't want to miss any part of the 18 holes of golf. Well as some of you know, I sprained my ankle.. no wait, a doctor unofficially told me that I tore the ligaments over my ankle bone and by some act of God (said the doctor) they replaced themselves?? So since I'm a self healer, I don't have to be in a cast which apparently is what normal people who do what I did to my ankle have to wear. Instead, my ankle was flippin huge its still pretty big. If the swelling is not down in one week I have to get an MRI....eh no thanks. So anyway, driving to Las Cruces just made my ankle double in swelling, but I made it in time and since I was injured, I was given a cart. Thanks to Lil Nate (family friend) he drove the cart and let me know how Justin was doing on each hole. After the long 18 holes of golf, eating with the family and taking loads of pictures, I drove home. My mom of all people told me to get a Red Bull.. shocking I know. This was my first experience with a Red Bull and my goodness it did the trick. So on the three hour trip home, I was wide awake, jammed loudly to Britney and never felt like I was going to fall asleep.

3. On Wednesday, the big final day of the state tournament, Matt had to accept Justin's Vaughn Company scholarship at a luncheon. Thanks to the swine flu Justin missed his scholarship luncheon. Matt however enjoyed himself, the lunch, and his special shout out for being a war veteran from Mr. Vaughn himself.

4. Also on Wednesday was the senior robing ceremony. Well thanks to the state tournament being moved back yet again, Justin and the five other senior golfers missed out on being robed and getting awards. But lucky for Justin, he has a super cool sister that accepted all of his awards. This however was a bit embarrassing seeing as how I am accepting awards for my little brother in front of 385 graduates and their families and two it was very sad as well. Sad for two reasons, 1. my baby brother is graduating and he can't be here to accept his own awards, and 2. he won a scholarship in memory of Kyle Kerschen and Mike George (both friends of mine that graduated from Sandia) who died last year while skiing. Also on this busy evening, my drill team girls were getting fitted for their uniforms in the building next to the gym. Thank goodness Matt is so wonderful because he would call me every time I had to be back to accept an award. Phew.

5. Graduation was on a Thursday and since they are renovating the Pit, they are having all graduations at Tingley (Boo). So in order to find parking we had to arrive about an hour early, but thanks to my dad's status at Sandia, we had reserved seats!

6. Matt left on Saturday to watch his sister Shelby graduate in Missouri.

7. Justin's graduation party was on Sunday and the sole reason I could not attend Shelby's graduation.

8. On Monday Justin had an athlete of the year banquet that I of course found out about one hour before. So I raced home to record the Hills and made it back just in time. He didn't win this award, but right after the banquet he received the call from the New Mexico State golf coach offering him the final spot on the golf team! So now of course we have to go to dinner to celebrate.

9. And finally, this past week I was able to watch Justin sign to play golf and two different news stations were there filming!

I am so proud of you Justin and I cannot wait to see what lies ahead for you! Stay true to yourself and never give up! And don't forget my car you promised me when you win all of those high paying golf tournaments! I love you so much!

Im still alive...

2009-05-14T13:46:00.007-06:00

The end of the school year is near which means that I need about five hours added to each of my days in order to get everything done. I need to catch you all up on my hectic last two weeks, and in order to do so, I am going to write a little each day and hopefully get caught up!

The last time I posted it was the first day of drill team tryouts! During the 2nd and 3rd days of tryouts Ann (the head coach) and I interviewed all of the girls. It was a great way to get to know all of the new girls and ask some girls who had attitudes last year to explain themselves. All of the interviews went pretty smoothly except for one. This one particular girl who is going to be a junior found out during her interview that she doesn't have a high enough GPA to be captain. So little miss thang pipes up that she is now rethinking if she is going to even tryout, because if she is not captain, then she doesn't want to be apart of this team. I was so astonished and I just wanted to reach across the table and slap her. What a little snot. Ann was so mad at this girl that (even though this girl is pretty amazing) she was hoping she wouldn't come back. Needless to say, the girl came back and has been pretty silent ever since. Hopefully she was put in her place.

The actual day of tryouts was hilarious. Ann called three people in to judge and I had four come (Amanda, Laura, Jennie, and Kristin). I tried to explain to them that some routines would be pretty bad and whatever you do, do not laugh.. I should have practiced what I preached. Tryouts started right on time, and the girls performed in groups of three. They had to do leaps until the middle of the basketball court, do their best split, perform the routine they learned during the week, and then perform a 1 minute dance they made up on their own time. Some of the leaps were a bit horrible, most girls could go all the way down in their splits, and the clinic routine was difficult but no one was beyond terrible.... well maybe one girl. We could really see the true talent, or lack of talent, when the girls performed their made up routine. There was an array of dance styles that we saw from jazz, to ballet, to hip hop, to military, to some "interpretive", and one routine that should be done only in strip clubs. All I can is thank goodness for gummy bears because they certainly helped me stop laughing! (I forgot to mention the highlight of the tryouts was when a judge leaned over and asked if we were punking her... that is how funny and bad one routine was)

To make a very long story short, we had 33 girls tryout and 31 made the team. 15 are on the performing team (the pom squad) and 16 are on the spirit line (my team). We are hoping that I can get all of my girls up to performance level and that we can take all 31 girls to state!! I am very excited to be coaching drill team and to work with a mentor and past coach of mine! Go LTDT!

The 2009-2010 LTDT!

1st Day of Tryouts

2009-04-28T21:16:00.002-06:00

Today was the first day of tryouts! We had 32 girls come out and that is the best turnout yet! I am so excited. The girls all did a wonderful job and I hope they all come back tomorrow. The routine consists of pom, kick, military, jazz, and hip hop and its pretty intense. The current seniors make up the routine and teach it to the girls. We have two more days of the clinic portion of tryouts until the big tryout on Friday (complete with a panel of 10 judges). Tomorrow the head coach and I are going to interview all of the girls... should be very interesting! I am so excited to have tryouts and begin working with my team!

This is Tori, the drill team "mascot"!

Polka Dot Ideas Needed!

2009-04-25T22:31:00.005-06:00

I have finally decided what I want to do with my classroom next year.. POLKA DOTS! I love polka dots and I think it will make an excellent classroom theme. However, I am in need of ideas. I have found the following three pictures from web searches, but other than that I am at a loss. I like the ladybug idea, but I don't know if I can have a black, white, red classroom all year long (I don't have windows in my room) or if I should use brightly colored polkas.... ideas are greatly appreciated even if you are not a teacher!

Vera Bradley Gift Set

2009-04-25T12:21:00.005-06:00

I love Vera Bradley and my friend at Lauren Nicole Gifts is giving away a Vera Bradley gift set. Hurry to enter because the deadline is April 30th!

I was tagged...

2009-04-24T17:18:00.003-06:00

1. Respond and rework: answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention, add one more question of your own.
2. Tag other un-tagged people.

The Questions:

What is your current obsession? eating healthier, organizing my life, working out... how old am I geez.

What do you think your name says about you? One of the sea... so says the framed picture that hung in my room when I was little.

Who was the last person you hugged? some of my students

What’s your favorite dinner? pasta...mmmm or pizza.

What was the last thing you bought? KEVA juice.

What are you listening to right now? my dogs

What is your favorite weather? not too hot and not too cold!

What is your least favorite season? winter..I hate being cold.

What's in your bathroom cabinet? everyday needed bathroom type essentials.

Say something to the person/s who tagged you. Sweet Tea Diaries has a fabulous blog and she has the cutest gift ideas.

What is your favorite ice cream flavor? chocolte and coffee mixed together with raspberries and choc chips mixed in... from Coldstone. Super healthy right?

What did you want to become as a child? anything that would make me famous!

What do you miss? my friends in Colorado, and others that have moved away.

What's your favorite brand of jeans? express... they are long enough!

What designer piece of clothing would you most like to own (new or vintage)? im not spending tons of money on something materialistic... not matter how cute the juicy purses are!

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go? to get a massage

Who do you want to meet in person? Lauren Conrad.
What is your most challenging goal right now? finishing my masters degree

What’s your 5 year plan? mom. teaching 2nd grade at humphrey. happily married.

Why is today special? its Friday and the kids had a half day, and I got free lunch!

What is my favorite sport to watch? college basketball

To play? four square volleyball, with a beach ball... yes I teach elementary school!

What is your favorite piece of jewelry that you own? my engagement ring and wedding band

OK now to tag.... I am not sure who has answered this or not, so I am tagging all of those who have yet to participate!

Seriously.

2009-04-22T16:48:00.006-06:00

Last week at the parent meeting for drill team tryouts I got pretty excited to see all the cute girls come in, and yes I did expect to see some going through the ever famous awkward stage, and I even expected to see some hoochies (yes I said hoochie). However I did not expect to see girls looking like this....

I get the whole freedom of expression and the need to be different, and I sorta get the emo thing...

OK who am I kidding, I don't get it. But seriously girls, why have so much black makeup on that it looks like you were punched in both of your eyes, and why wear so much black, and attend a drill team meeting, have you seen the uniforms? Quite little dance numbers that are red and light blue and barely cover the tush. Now for the EMO thing. I like to add some color to my hair, like blond, maybe some red, could do a little bit of purple... but seriously, the pink,blue,green combo is not going to match the uniform and if you cut your hair and spike it, how is it fitting in a pony tail.

I guess I am just used to preppy girls who had simple makeup and normal hair.

Maybe I just don't get it.

The past weekish...

2009-04-21T18:08:00.003-06:00

This coaching thing is pretty time consuming, but I love it! I have attended a parent informational meeting for girls trying out next year, the end of the season banquet (it was beautiful), and captain tryouts for next year. All within a week! All of next week is tryouts, and I have enlisted in a friend to help judge... I hope she can contain her giggles like Natalie and I had to do last year! Plus I wrote some papers for one of my classes that I am beyond done with mentally... come on October! It was all in all a pretty busy week, that flew by quite quickly.

Speaking of flying by quickly, I only have 23 days of school left. I'm not very happy about this. I am actually quite sad to be going on summer break. I guess its because after teaching these kiddos for 180 days they start to feel like your own. I worry about them when I have a sub, I worry on the weekend, and I worry about what the future holds for each of them. I am however excited that they are going to third grade, but I love this class and I want to keep them forever! Anyway, I downloaded a super cute ABC countdown to countdown to the end of the year, and today was C= career and college day.

Here is my class on our B day (Beach and Book Day!)

This past two weeks I have been pretty upset with the amount of procrastinating I have been doing, but as it turns out I get pretty fantastic grades when I procrastinate. In fact, one particular paper I had three weeks to write, and I wrote it in 10 hours (7pm-5am to be exact) and I got a 100 on it! Whoo Hoo! Hopefully after my two week break, the procrastination will subside and I will be more on top of my game... heres hoping anyway!

This Kid is Amazing...

2009-04-11T15:25:00.000-06:00

I wish I had his skills....

State Performances

2009-04-08T17:52:00.005-06:00

As promised, here are the performances from last weekends State Spirit Competition. We won both of these routines!!! This is our prop routine. The girls had to use a prop (their hat) for 80% of the routine. For those of you who don't know, Sandia's mascot is a Matatdor, so the drill team has the title of the Las Toreras (Lady Bullfighter). Hence the outfits, hat, and capes!

The next routine is our military routine, which we also won!

Red Robin

2009-04-07T21:50:00.005-06:00

Tonight my school had a fundraiser at Red Robin! Each family that went to eat at Red Robin took in a flier for their child's class, and with this flier, the school gets 10% of their bill and whichever class has the most fliers wins a Root Beer Float party!! My class has yet to win anything this year, so I made my parents, Justin, and Stacy (for her birthday dinner) all come in hopes to get extra fliers going my way. My principal even put my name on her flier! Here is hoping that my class finally wins something this year! Justin had a little too much fun with Stacy's birthday balloons....

On a side note, Happy Birthday (April 5) Stacy P..... My longest best friend, I love you! We have known each other pretty much our entire existence and I can't wait to grow old and gray with you!

Stacy and I (1st or 2nd Grade)

Wii Fit

2009-04-06T22:13:00.003-06:00

So I went to Target today to strictly buy Easter goodies, and some needed essentials. I went my normal route through the store, purses, clothes, shoes, cute baby clothes (for all of the showers I have coming up!), and then stopped to see if they by chance had a Wii Fit! What do you know, I picked up the very last one! I didn't necessarily want the game for its so called "workout" purposes, I only wanted the balance board so that I can now buy this cheerleading game! Woo Hoo I am pumped to get that game. Apparently you get to make up your own routines, how fun is that?! Since Matt and I have a "call if you are spending over fifty dollars" rule, I called him and he didn't answer... so I left a message, bought the game, and left Target without getting anything I really needed (big shocker there). I guess I will just have to go back sometime this week..... maybe I will pick up the cheerleading game before Matt gets home on Saturday!

State

2009-04-05T21:43:00.004-06:00

The girls did amazing! It was a very long two days of competition at a new venue (the Santa Ana Star Center) which took about an hour to get to. The venue totally sucked, the seats were horrible, and I believe that everyone misses the PIT. I was in charge of starting the music for the girls' routines. What a stressful job that was. Not only was I high above them, I had to watch them from behind and I have decided that I would much rather see their beautiful faces from the ground level. They nailed both of their routines, won both categories that they performed in, but didn't place. Yes, they didn't place. Don't ask me how you win both categories and then don't walk a way with a trophy (there are a total of four drill/dance team categories for one state trophy). Oh well, the girls are totally excited that they won their categories. I am so proud of all of their hard work and I think they were robbed (says the competitive coach in me). I am hoping that someone will put their routines on youtube because all we have for now is the entire State video, and it is very hard to move from team to team (its like a five hour video). If one is created on youtube, I will post it immediately! Here is the proof that we won our categories!! GO LTDT!!

LTDT!

2009-03-29T21:08:00.005-06:00

Next year I am going to be the assistant coach of The Sandia High School Las Toreras Drill Team! Yes, I was a cheerleader in high school, and yes I need to learn some new drill team terms and techniques, but I am beyond excited for this experience. I will actually be coaching with my high school cheerleading coach. Her name is Ann Holmes and she is by far the most organized person that I have ever met. Anywho, this past week was my Spring Break and since I had no vacations planned, I attended drill team practice everyday! Their state competition is this coming Friday and Saturday and I am honored to be attending their practices and helping them perfect their routines. These girls are very talented and extremely welcoming. Let me tell you, if some random chic walked in during my senior year and they week before state and started telling me what to do, I would have been pissed. These girls are apparently the exact opposite of how I was in high school!

Best of luck at State Ladies! I am so proud of you!

I won a purse!

2009-03-28T19:56:00.002-06:00

I do not answer my phone if I do not recognize the number calling. So at about a 11:00 this morning my phone rang and I didn't know the number so of course I didn't answer it. I finished getting ready for drill team practice and as I was headed to my car I saw that I had a voicemail. I was quite shocked at the voicemail.... a lady named Brenda telling me that I had won a purse! About three weeks ago I got my hair done and my fabulous hairdresser Gray had me fill out a paper to win a free purse. So of course I filled out the little slip and never thought anymore of it until today!! I don't think I have ever one anything before so trust me I was ecstatic! I couldn't wait for drill team practice to be over so I could go and pick up my purse! Turns out the shop is about two minutes from my house, which is not a good thing because this shop is like purse heaven! After picking up my purse, I looked around the store and ended up buying a giraffe print purse! I can't wait to go back!

Here is a picture of my new bags!! The white one is the winning purse!! You can see more of their loot at www.MyStyle-Handbags.com or at www.MySpace.com/MyStyleHandbags!

My student is famous!

2009-03-26T00:47:00.005-06:00

My very own Sierra Pater is going to be in the upcoming Jackie Chan movie. She is the stunt double for the lead (little girl) character. She filmed part of November and December, and I am guessing the movie will be out in Octoberish of 2009. She is a very talented gymnast and an extremely bright little girl. I cannot wait for the movie to come out... I will be first in line to get my ticket! I am so proud of you Sierra... remember your second grade teacher when you are rich and famous!

Jackie Chan blogged about Sierra at this website.... http://www.jackiechan.com/blog/426229--A-Hectic-Week

I love this guy....

2009-03-25T21:58:00.001-06:00

and I secretly want to meet him.... oops secret is out!

Hubert Humphrey

2009-03-22T22:20:00.004-06:00

I have a class website that is not available through google type searches. I am very proud of it, and although it is still a work in progress here is the website if you want to check it out..... hhhawks.com. You have to click on faculty and then either search by Grindstaff, or 2nd grade! Enjoy!!! I am going to upload class pictures on that site soon!!

Here are some picture of my class, my teammate and classroom neighbor (Chrissy Baca)...

Hot Tub!

2009-03-17T22:41:00.004-06:00

Matt has been working really hard fixing the sides of the hot tub! He has been very busy and working non stop. I am very proud of him and his hard work. Who knew I married such a talented wood worker!

Long Overdue

2009-03-17T22:21:00.004-06:00

Natalie came to visit! It has been since November since I have seen my bestie, and in my book, that is entirely too long. She came in on Thursday night (we talked for over an hour on her drive down and Matt was afraid that when she got here we would have nothing to talk about...ha ha silly boy) and we stayed up until midnight talking, gossiping, and watching greys of course. We would have stayed up much later if I didn't have to go to school the next day.

We started Friday morning off by going to Starbucks (a routine I grew fond of when I lived in Colorado) and then we headed to Hubert Humphrey! It was so wonderful having her visit my classroom and meet my colleagues, I even let her glue some projects that I am working on! After school we headed to Gardunos for the Humphrey weekly happy hour. Later that night we met up with Lance and Jennie, and of course Topher, and went to dinner at Texas Land and Cattle and then off to bowling. We went to Leisure Bowl (that place is in much need of some repairs) and the girls had to bowl with a 12 pound ball because that is all they had left. My shirts seem to fit tighter around my right arm now! At the end of the night, Natalie and I decided that on Saturday we would get much need pedis and manis.

Like usual, our plans did not follow through. That is pretty classic with us, but even though we still have ugly toes and fingers, we had an amazing day. However, if it wasn't for the video game Raving Rabbids, we would have followed through with our plans. Natalie hates rabbits, so I decided that it would be fun (mostly for my amusement) if we played Raving Rabbids. Turns out the bunnies did not creep her out and we ended up playing the game for 2 1/2 hours! So by the time we showered and ate at Jason's Deli and visited my parents it was almost 7 pm and a no go on the manis and pedis. In our defense, we sat at Jason's Deli for a really long time talking, laughing, and catching up. Saturday night we enjoyed boxed wine, the hilarious movie Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and Rock Band 2. Matt and I were even caught red handed spying on Natalie and Topher saying good-bye on our front porch (nothing juicy to report, perhaps if we hadn't have been caught a goodnight kiss might have happened...way to go Matt ha ha).

Sunday came way too fast. We woke up, did some last minute catching up and then before you know it she was headed back to Colorado. As soon as she left the tears were flowing. This trip really proved how strong our friendship is and how much I need Natalie in my life. I am planning a trip out to see her, and hopefully she can come for an extended amount of time this summer. I miss you Nat, see you soon!

Jazzercise

2009-03-04T11:48:00.003-07:00

I made it through my first class! It was so much fun, but my goodness I am so sore (but that's a good thing right?). The music was awesome and not only are you moving for an entire hour, we did weights, abs, and legs! Also, there is nothing about Jazzercise that deals with the 80's. Bummer. I wanted to buy some leg warmers! Two days until Matt comes home!

I think that if I get my paper done in time, I will soak my aching muscles in my hot tub tonight!!

Where did February go???

2009-03-02T21:03:00.004-07:00

My goodness February flew by! I have been very busy with teaching and my online classes (only 4 more to go). Matt has been traveling, he was in Florida until the beginning of February, and now he is in Los Alamos. I could do without all of the traveling, but I will take that over him deploying again.

Our February was pretty relaxed, we saw a few movies, went bowling, hung out with friends, and received a hot tub!! Oh yes the 103 degree bubbling tub is sitting in my backyard!! My parents never used it so they gave it to us...yes, they just gave it to us! Although I have yet to get in it, I do know that once I do, it will take a strong force to get me out!

Valentine's Day was wonderful! The best yet! Matt and I took our dogs to my parents for the night, and we went to stay at Hotel Albuquerque (I am still waiting for Matt to upload the pictures). Once we checked into the hotel, we went to dinner at The Melting Pot!! We love The Melting Pot. After dinner we went to Q bar and had a really nice evening.

This first week of March is going to be busy, and a not so great time for Matt to be gone. I have parent/teacher conferences all week long, and will not be getting home until after 5 (poor doggies). Tomorrow I am going to try Jazzercise for the first time! My friend Jennie teaches, and I am so excited to give it a go. A few weeks ago Matt and I went to dinner at Jennie and Lance's house, along with our friends Laura and Justin, and Jennie showed me some of her Jazzercise instructional tapes and I am so excited! Thursday I am getting my hair done!!! I had a good run with going darker, and even adding red, but it was just not me. We shall see what Gray decides to do to my hair this time! On Friday, after school, I get to sit on stage at my school's talent show! I am going to sit on stage and hand out certificates to the participants with my friend Jane. Jane and I decided to get jumbo Sonic drinks in case we need to giggle during some of the acts! Phew, busy week...

I have attached some pictures of our evening with Jennie, Lance, Laura, and Justin. Lance and Jennie sure know how to throw a dinner party. The food and drink was AMAZING!

Yay!

2009-02-05T21:48:00.001-07:00

Matt comes home tomorrow! It has been a very long month and its time for him to come home! I am very excited!

Hello

2009-01-30T21:12:00.002-07:00

It has been awhile, I know. I decided to stop in and say hi to all my trusty readers.. all two of you haha. Nothing exciting going on with me. Matt is in Florida until the 6th. School is very busy at this time of the year. Trying to get winter assessments done, and preparing the 2nd graders for 3rd grade! Next week I will only be with my kiddos for three days. I have a mandatory training on Tuesday (boring) and I am taking Friday off to spend with Matt.

While Matt has been gone I have managed to not cook dinner every night, skip out on going to the gym, set up a cleaning schedule that I have actually followed, I cleaned out my closet (but then went shopping), and I have taken to lying diagonal in our king bed (sorry for when you come home honey).

Anywho, just wanted to say hello!

Disneyland!

2009-01-13T18:49:00.012-07:00

New Years in Disneyland was a blast, but a bit overcrowded. I truly believed that because of our suffering economy and that it was New Years, that Disneyland would not be crowded. Boy was I wrong. There were thousands of people who came to Disneyland to ring in the New Year. I believe that most of the visitors were from other countries...mainly China! All in all, we had a wonderful time and it was a vacation that we will never forget!

We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel. I have always wanted to stay there, and my dreams came true. However, it is very pricey, so who knows if we will ever stay there again. Disneyland was still decorated for Christmas, which was really neat, but was a little old after 2009 began. We spent five days in foggy California. 2 days were spent at Disneyland, 1 day at California Adventure, 1 day at Universal Studios Hollywood and 1/2 day catching things we might have missed. Below are highlights of the trip!

Disneyland: Christmas decorations, snow falls sporadically at night, Haunted Mansion was transformed into Twas the Night Before Christmas, Its a Small World was in full holiday mode, let into ToonTown an hour early and met Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Pluto, rode on the new Winnie the Pooh ride and Finding Nemo Submarine, watched the holiday parade, Matt loves the Indian Jones ride, I will always love Splash Mountain, I beat Matt at the Galactic Galaxy Toy Story ride, and then he beat me, were given party hats and horns to ring in the New Year, danced to DJ's, and counted down to 2009 with Mickey and Minnie!

California Adventure: Matt has never been to Disneyland, but I have been quite a few times. The last time I visited Disneyland, California Adventure had just opened and a lot has changed. We enjoyed our experience very much. Flew through California, met the Stars of Cars, rode on a 4-D Toy Story ride and on the best roller coaster, learned how sourdough and tortillas are made and we were able to sample them, watched the 3D shows Its Tough to be a Bug and the Muppet's, Tower of Terror was a blast, we watched the Pixar Play Parade which blows all of the other parades out of the water, and we watched the Aladdin Musical performance, it was amazing!

Universal Studios Hollywood: Too foggy to see the Hollywood Hills Sign, we bought front of the line passes because it was so cold, watching Shrek 4D, took the Backlot Tour and were able to drive down Wisteria Lane because they were not filming on that day, rode on the new Simpson's ride which was awesome, watching Terminator 3D, walked through a Monster House, rode on The Mummy Returns ride and the Jurassic Park ride (we did not get wet), and then we ate at Hard Rock Cafe Hollywood!

Back at the Disneyland Resort, we shopped in downtown Disney, enjoyed a character breakfast with Goofy, Chip & Dale, and Pluto, ate at Steak 55, and rode on the monorail. Matt took some 600ish pictures, so we have a lot of memories of our trip to share! Matt says we can not go back to a Disney destination until we have kids who are old enough to enjoy the trip!!

On a different note, Matt is in Florida until February and the dogs and I are very lonely without him.

Christmas

2009-01-07T17:29:00.006-07:00

Merry Christmas.

This was the first Christmas that we actually spent together! Usually Matt flies home to North Carolina, but we just didn't have the funding for him to do so.

Christmas Eve was chaotic. I went and watched Matt play broom ball with his unit. It was fun, cold, and quite entertaining. Broom Ball is ice hockey, except with brooms and tennis shoes instead of hockey sticks and skates. Then we went and ate at Golden Pride where we picked up sweet rolls for Christmas morning. Then it was off to do some very last minute shopping. I also had a meeting with Ann Holmes. She is my high school cheerleading coach who now coaches the Drill Team at Sandia. I will be coaching with her next year and I am very excited!! I do not know much about drill team, but I think I will be able to manage!

After all of our crazy errands, we did not have enough time to put up our luminarios :0( before we had to be at my Grandparents house. We are going to save the luminarios for next year... paper bags filled with sand should last an entire year....right?

We had a great time on Christmas Eve. We ate tamales, pasole (not sure how to spell that), fried tacos, and lots of finger foods. We played "dirty bingo" as Matt calls it and we won lots of lottery tickets (we only won a free ticket)and a pretty cool popcorn maker. Then it was time for the annual picture taking extravaganza. Below is some of what was caught on camera.

On Christmas morning, Matt and I woke up and let the dogs rummage through the loot Santa put in their stockings. Then we opened our own stockings and the gifts from Matt's parents. We didn't buy each other any gifts because as our gift to each other, we went to Disneyland for New Year's!!

We were at my parents by 9am. We started off with Mimosa's and then the unwrapping began! My parents thing is Christmas. They always go above and beyond and we spent a total of about 4 hours opening gifts! We all made out quite well, had a wonderful time, and were able to celebrate with both Matt and Anna for the first time!

The Christmas Day festivities continued until the night with family coming and going and of course eating, football, eating, and more football. We didn't make it to a movie Christmas night, but we went the next night and saw Marley and Me. A very good movie, but very very sad.

Hope you had as wonderful of a Christmas as we did! Disneyland will be discussed in the next few days!

Pre-Christmas Festivities!

2008-12-21T23:30:00.017-07:00

Three Christmas parties in one weekend. Yikes.

Friday was Matt's work party. We anticipated a boring night, not enough food, no one to talk to. However we were pleasantly surprised. Lots of good food, highly entertaining, and we chatted with some Albuquerque newbies whom we are sure are going to be great friends!

Saturday. Adrienne woke up at 8 to begin cooking. She made chocolate chip cheesecake brownies, regular brownies, pin wheel cookies, pound cake, deviled eggs, drinks, drink recipe cards, three different dips, cut fruit for the fondue, and cleaned the kitchen. Matt ran last minute errands and to Rudy's to pick up the BBQ, and he cleaned the rest of the house. Family began to arrive at 4:00 with wine in hand. We ate, talked, and played the Wii. Even Papa and Gar. Winnie enjoyed the Wii when they participated in the bowling tournament. We enjoyed showing off the neighbors light show all while enjoying Holiday beverages. Friends began arriving after 6:00 and many more holiday beverages were served, Rock Band was a big hit, and pictures were taken! Our first party was a huge success!

Sunday. We were guests at Laura and Justin's first annual gingerbread house making party and potluck. We ate delicious food and then began constructing our houses! Matt was the builder and Adrienne was the landscaper. We created a masterpiece! Laura and Justin made real gingerbread walls, rooftops, trees, and gingerbread men, and they both created beautiful and creative houses. Jodie and Cameron went for the log cabin gingerbread house and we think they did a fantastic job, but they beg to differ. Laura's parents kept their houses simple, and we are wondering whose will make it on the mantel! We had a great time, and we are already drawing up some plans for next years party!

On a side note.... Justin won his golf tournament in Arizona this past weekend.. take a look at the website>>> http://fcwt.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/fcwt8/event/fcwt827/contest/7/leaderboard.htm We are so proud of him!!

The Dogs!

2008-12-18T15:09:00.007-07:00

We would like to take a minute to introduce our children, aka our dogs, Cooper and Maya.

Cooper, goes by many names: Coop, Coop da Loop, Cooper the Pooper, Fluff Ball, Coopie, Coopster, Lil Man, and I am sure to be leaving out a few. Cooper is a cockapoo, which is a cockerspaniel mixed with a poodle. In Coopers case, his dad was a miniature poodle (funny I know) so he is smaller than most cockapoos. Cooper is going on 2 years old.

We got Cooper in May of 2007. Matt bought me a dog a couple of months before he was leaving to Iraq. Her name was Bailey and she died of a genetic blood disorder after we had her for only a month. I was heartbroken and we decided to keep our voucher (we bought Bailey at a pet store and sense her passing was due to a genetic disorder we were given a full refund in the form of a voucher). We had two years to use this voucher, so we decided to wait until Matt came home from Iraq to get another dog. Cooper was a great pick!

Cooper's Stats: He loves treats, chews every toy to pieces, loves towels, has an extremely long tongue, chases shadows and laser lights for hours, is not photogenic, loves walks and going to his grandparents house, hates the dog park, is terrified of other dogs, is a cuddle bug, hates getting his haircut, chases leaves, and enjoys chasing Maya.

Maya, goes by many names as well: Maya Papya, Miss Maya, My My, Myyyyaaaaaaa, Meanie Head, The Mayanater, My, Snot face, and a few others!

We got Maya in August of this year from a breeder (no more pet shop puppies for us). She was a great addition to the family. She bothers Cooper daily, bites his ears, and follows him everywhere. My mom has said that if Maya was a real child, I would be called to the principals office daily on her because she is such a little monster, but a sweet monster. We named her Maya because we went to the Mayan Riviera for our honeymoon...ahhhhhh!

Maya's Stats: Loves treats and Cooper's food, steals Coopers toys, likes to play tug-o-war with Cooper's ears, is fearless, loves to lick your face, is very photogenic, tilts her head to the side when you talk to her, not a big fan of going on walks, loves the dog park, loves the big dogs (like huskies) at the dog park, lays on our couch and coffee table when we aren't looking, HATES bath time, eats plants, only barks at my parent's dogs, and she loves laying on her back.

Our dogs in a nutshell!

We are ready for this coming weekend filled with Christmas parties (including our own open house), 12 days until we are in Disneyland for New Years!!!

Busy Busy

2008-12-14T13:24:00.004-07:00

December has been a whirl wind and its not even half over yet. I have a week left of school before winter break...thank goodness, and at the end of December Matt and I are headed to Disneyland to ring in the New Year with Mickey and Minnie!! We are very excited for the trip and to just get away for awhile. Last night was the big Humphrey Staff Party, and it is going down in the books as the best work party we have been to yet. Those HHH staff members and spouses sure know how to celebrate the holidays! Next Friday is Matt's work party, but we are pretty positive it will be nothing to blog about, but you never know!

Today is our 3rd anniversary....yes, we have been together for three years Today!! We are celebrating by having family over and watching the Dark Night, or is it Knight,. The more Matt and I sit back and reflect on these past three years, we are very thankful to our family and friends who have been along for the ride. We greatly appreciate all of you, and love and cherish you beyond belief. We look forward to creating many more memories with all of you! Thank you for being you!

This coming Saturday is our first annual Holiday Open House. We are nervous, seeing as this is the first party we have ever thrown, but I am sure even with the wide range of people, everyone will enjoy themselves and have plenty to eat (we hope).

Birthday, Family Pics, Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T22:53:00.005-07:00

Yes I know it has been awhile. It has been a very busy November and I haven't had a moment to just sit. My 26th birthday was fabulous! Matt, and my good friend Laura, threw me a surprise party on Saturday, which was perfect, then Laura and I celebrated on our own with "grape juice" and wii playing, my mom made her wonderful lasagna on Sunday night and I was spoiled by all of my family members, and on Monday (the real birth-day) Matt spoiled me rotten and we saw Madagascar 2!

Our amazing friend Laura took some wonderful family pictures of Matt, Cooper, Maya, and I! We haven't had official family pictures taken by a real photographer before! She is wonderful and if you want to have your own pictures taken, check out her website: http://www.laurameeksphotography.blogspot.com/.

Thanksgiving was great. Amazing food, enjoyable conversation, family time well spent, and lots of laughter. My parents hold Thanksgiving at their house and the whole family comes over. We watch football of course, eat way too much food, and then play games. This year, thanks to our good friends Laura and Justin, we played the game Mad Gab and it was hilarious! This is a Thanksgiving that I am sure to never forget!

We are currently enjoying our neighbor's Christmas Light Show Extravaganza! To see what you are missing, go to www.speakefamilychristmas.com or come and enjoy the show from our driveway!

2008-11-07T23:11:00.009-07:00

Colorado

Ah how I love it there. Or do I just love the people, because we all know I do not love the Colorado weather. I flew to Colorado this past weekend and had a blast! I stayed with Natalie, of course, and Emily too! It was an action packed weekend complete with a woman being escorted off the plane, a new sightseeing adventure, a trip to the hospital, shopping with my Colorado ladies and a very handsome young man, and visiting my old school for the day.

Lets start with day 1: I was a hot mess the day of my arrival because, thanks to the Halloween Party I attended, I had a little too much fun the night before and had to wake up pretty early to catch my flight! So I was greasy, tired, irritated, and in need of a shower (Natalie says I was fine). Anyway, this crazy lady on the plane had her dog in her lap (her poor husband had a dog on his lap as well). Now these dogs were not in cages and they were seated in an exit row. According to the Frontier flight attendants, you are not allowed to have anything in your lap while seated in an exit row. To make a very long story short, the crazy lady asked to see the rule in writing, wouldn't provide the flight attendants with her name and yelled at her husband when he tried to hand over his license, told some head Frontier lady she would be getting a free ticket for having to move seats, decided she was not going to move seats until security came, when security came the lady threatened that she would die because she did not have her medication, security calls an ambulance since the lady has now threatened death, passengers are yelling, she finally is escorted off the plane and our fifteen minute flight from Denver to Colorado Springs is now delayed....some people.

When I finally arrived in Colorado Springs, Natalie was waiting for me with a handmade sign! Later that night, Natalie drove up some secret dirt road that leads to Cripple Creek that I never knew existed. The view was amazing and we even stopped to pose for some pictures!

Day 2- Nat, Emily and I drove to Castle Rock to meet our friend Jen and her baby Adrian. We ate lunch and then hit up the outlets!! Before driving back home we posed for some more pictures! Later that afternoon, Natalie and I went to visit a student she had last year who was in the hospital. This poor little boy ate four magnets and they connected in his small intestines. When the magnets connected, they ripped through his intestines. He has a pretty big scar, but his intestines started working again, and now we are just waiting for his stomach to decide to work again.

Day 3- On to Mesa Elementary! Oh how I have missed most of the old staff. I was able to see so many of my past students, and catch up with a lot of people that I cherish and miss very much. A lot has changed at the school, and I felt a bit out of place, but it was so great to just visit and chat with everyone and to see the kiddos. I cannot wait to go back! That evening Natalie and I had dinner with our other friend Jen and her son Dominik, and it was like I had never left. We chatted and gossiped and had a great time. After dinner it was on to the airport, where I of course cried and cried. I hope to go back in January, if not sooner!

Here are some pictures from the Halloween Par-tay!

Big 26 on Monday...YIKES!

Fall Pics!

2008-10-28T19:42:00.009-06:00

Matt bought a new camera and we decided to try out his photography skills this past weekend. We drove up to Sandia Crest and with much coaxing of the dogs, we were able to get a few good shots! It was a lot of fun and the scenery was just beautiful! Although, we decided that next year we need to go a few weeks earlier to capture the true fall colors.

Tomorrow is the Halloween Parade at my school. After much pondering, I have decided to wear a 50's outfit that I picked up from Target. Not my costume of choice, but it was slim pickings and it is not skanky like every other adult female costume. Next year maybe I will just be a pumpkin or a hot dog. On Friday, the real day to be dressing up for Halloween, Matt and I are going to be Ghostbusters!! Matt's costume comes complete with a blowup backpack and mine, well it would not be allowed at school, and it needs alterations before I feel comfortable wearing it out and about. Dressed as Ghostbusters, we are going to attend Lucy's Halloween Party.

On Saturday Matt and I are leaving on separate vacations. I am going to see Natalie in Colorado Springs!!! I am so excited, I miss my best friend so much and I get to see my other Colorado girls and I get to spend a school day at Mesa!!! I am so excited. Matt is going on a training vacation and will be back just in time for my birthday!

"Things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things turn out" ~Jack Buck

Us

2008-10-25T23:01:00.002-06:00

Since our wedding day, it has been very hectic. Honeymoon, moving to a new house, starting a new job, friends coming and going, training a new puppy, finding myself in Albuquerque, being happy in Albuquerque, and trying to figure out a schedule that works for me. I have come to the following realizations after a very long summer: 1. I love my husband more than anything 2. I love Albuquerque 3. True friends are hard to come by 4. I love my job, even with all of the hoopla and days I just want to pull my hair out 5. I miss Colorado dearly, and Natalie even more and 6. I am very lucky to be where I am in life.

I have a year left to go with my Master's program. This should be exciting news right?? Well, I am burned out. I thought that taking online courses would be a breeze and I could work at my own pace, and do homework wearing my PJ's and sipping coffee...ha ha yeah right. Yes, I do not have to drive to class and I could technically do my homework in my PJ's, but I need face to face interaction, I need to see people. But a year left, I think I can handle it.

Next Saturday I will be flying to Colorado!!! I am going to be staying with Natalie, of course, and going with her to school one day. I am so excited to see some of my old students and just hang out with friends who still don't carry around their high school drama. Speaking of friends, I have some of the best and I am so grateful they are in my life. Matt and I just came home from a surprise party for our friend Justin and it was such a great evening, we laughed, talked, and met some really nice new people.

I know this blog is jumping from subject to subject but I wasn't sure on a subject to start with, so this is what you get....

“Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget.”