my kind of heaven

I'm in love with these springish summerish days... where the sun-kissed weather has just enough warmth to wear my new favorite sandals and make-shift shorts out of old jeans but requires a long sleeve button up on your arms to protect from the Pocatello breeze that seems to inhabit this small town.

And the evenings... oh the evenings. They just might be the best part. Maybe I'm partly biased because that is the time of day when Nic gets home from work and our evenings are suddenly free of homework obligations {something we've never experienced before until now}. Where the sun doesn't drift below the mountains until nine. And the days only get longer and longer.

This is my kind of heaven.











And sorry if you are now blind from my freakishly white legs!! Yikes!
These springish summerish evenings also offer the most heavenly light which are perfect for this budding photographer. Out came the camera and Nic was forced to be my subject. ;)
He loves me. haha

Matched Trilogy {a book review}

One of my favorite things that summer brings is the time and opportunity to read. Any books that I get during the school year end up finding themselves a place on my shelf to collect dust until the first week of May is over. That was exactly what happened with this series. I got the first book on Christmas Eve and the other two for Valentine's Day.

A little bit about the book...

Just like every other sixteen year old in this society, Cassia and Xander attend a ceremony at the age of 16 that tells them who they have been matched with and eventually will marry. Growing up together as best friends, it comes as a pleasant and comfortable surprise when Cassia is matched with the boy next door, Xander. She leaves the ceremony feeling confident in her future until she gets home to view the micro card the society has given her about Xander. Believing she will learn nothing that she doesn't already know about him, the micro card opens with... "Cassia Reyes, you have been matched with... Ky Markham."
A different name.
A different boy.
Someone she doesn't know.
Someone who was never meant to be matched by the society.
And just like the things we can't have in life, he becomes someone she is completely drawn to. A love triangle that is full of secrets and adventure.

It never fails that when I read a book I love, I find myself lost in the story and entangled in the lives of the characters. This book was no exception and I found myself drawn to Cassia as a character for her love for people and discovering their life stories. If you have read and really liked The Hunger Games or The Uglies Series then you will have this series read in oh, 2 days like me. :) I missed being able to read for entertainment and not for falling asleep purposes for school. HA 

Oh sweet sweet summer time.

Are there any books that you have been loving lately? I am always open to new suggestions! Leave them in the comments below. :)

the end of something wonderful and the beginning of something even better

A couple weeks ago I had my last day of student teaching with my second graders at Tyhee Elementary. When I applied for my student teaching internship I had 3 completely different schools listed on my application. Tyhee was not one of them. When I had my first interview with the professor over my student teaching internship, she pointed me in a few different directions. I remember walking away from the interview feeling confused and no longer knowing where to student teach. What made it even more confusing was not knowing anything about any of the schools that she had suggested.

After experiencing this semester, I definitely believe it was divine intervention that I felt drawn to picking Tyhee. I had no specific reason to. In fact, on a list of about 4 other school choices, I just made a leap and went for it, truly hoping it would be a good experience. Well, now I can say it wasn't a good experience, it was an incredible one. My cooperating teacher and I were so similar it was unreal. I'm so grateful for these people who taught me more than I could have ever imagined.

{cooperating teacher}                                            {university supervisor} 

and a little video of my graduation celebration held by the College of Education at ISU where I received a completion of student teaching certificate. :) Still waiting on that diploma in the mail.

p.s. Yes, the whistling is coming from my husband in the background. haha

After an incredibly intimidating round of interviews, I accepted my first teaching position at Lewis and Clark Elementary in the third grade. I could not be more excited!!! Their colors are even blue and yellow {my high school colors}. How crazy is that! Going back to my roots. While I'm sad to be closing such a wonderful chapter in my life, I'm thrilled to be opening a new one in a place I feel completely welcome surrounded by people who I believe will end up becoming some of my closest friends in the coming months. :) Happy Graduation to me indeed!

our second anniversary

It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating our first anniversary. In fact, it seems like just yesterday we were getting married. And man were those two perfect days! Tuesday was no different. In fact, can we just rewind so I can re-live it all over again?! Okay, thanks!

Nic left for work at his usual time with the promise that he would try his darndest to get off early. I felt fortunate to have a large portion of the day to get things ready as I was the one who wanted to surprise him this year. When he got home, I was just finishing up on the final touches and of course he showed up with a gorgeous bouquet of roses and tulips for our new shelves {kinda been my thing lately} like the hopeless romantic that he is. Loved it!





And my surprise...
I had a bouquet of balloons waiting for him with something special tied to the bottom of each one! The pink ones were for a progressive dinner {he had to guess from the pictures of clues where we would be having drinks, an appetizer, dinner, and dessert}, green for the gifts I got him, red for a favorite picture and memory from each year we have been married, and blue for our date activities!







We had smoothies from Jamba for drinks, shared a cactus blossom from Texas Roadhouse for an appetizer, shared a grilled chicken salad from Cafe Rio for dinner, and had a little frozen yogurt from Kiwi Loco for dessert. We had only done a progressive dinner one other time together but it was with a bunch of other couples where we went from house to house so it was fun just the two of us this time having a few of our favorite things!



One of our date activities was put put golfing, something we did on our first date together at this very same course. See the one where Nic looks like he is rejoicing down there... he got a hole-in-one on the second hole. The SECOND hole! Who is this guy and where did he get his talent? I'll have you know it clearly did not rub off on me! My average... five puts per hole! :)







And since I can't ACTUALLY relive this amazing day with this even more amazing man all over again, I'm so happy to have these pictures to remember it by. Happy Anniversary you! xoxo

two years.

May 21, 2013

Nic,

This day snuck up on us so quickly that it was hard to believe that it has been a year since the last time we celebrated this special day. I think that it is because every day with you is more perfect than the last one. Not short of hundreds of wonderful memories though. I hope you know that I absolutely adore you. Here's to two years of special holidays, finishing school, and becoming a family of 3 with our little Rue. All of which were wonderful because we did them together. You and me. 

Happy Anniversary, love you to the moon!!! 

p.s. Today was just as perfect as the last ... one year

Momma's Day

"Of all the gifts that life has to offer, a loving mother is the greatest of them all."

I felt so grateful on Sunday to be able to spend Mother's Day with my mom. Ever since I moved away, it doesn't always work out that we get to spend this holiday together. Some of my favorite memories are from Mother's Days when we would plant beautiful Spring flowers together and talk for hours about the ups and downs of life. While we weren't able to plant flowers together this year, we also didn't have to spend it apart and that meant so much to me.

My mom is my angel, my best friend, and the person I admire most in this world. She is strong, courageous, and loves me and my brother unconditionally. I am also blessed to have a mother-in-law who is equally as strong and courageous. I have never been more thankful to someone than I am to her for giving birth to a son who is unlike any other man I have ever met in this world and for raising him to be the complete gentleman that he is.

Happy Mother's Day!
xoxo

home improvement project :: {ballard inspired shelves}

In our apartment we have very limited decorating space. In fact, one of my only open shelves to decorate was the top of our entertainment center that we ended up losing when we decided to saw it in half. I have been telling Nic the last couple of years how much I wanted to build some Ballard Design inspired shelves in our kitchen and that little dream of mine finally came true.



I am normally a very patient person in most aspects of my life but during the process of this project I was so excited watching them come together so perfectly that I was dying to get them finished, up on the wall, and decorated! We still have to touch up the screw holes in the corbels but other than that, they're done and I absolutely adore how they look in our kitchen! They were so easy to build thanks to the help of my husband, father-in-law, and a tutorial from the House of Smith's blog!!

My mom was in town this last weekend for my graduation and Mother's Day and we had so much fun shopping for little things to put on them! Of course since I took these pictures the decor is constantly evolving {I wish tulips were in season allllll summer long darn it!!} but this is how they looked initially. :)

home improvement project :: {entertainment center}

When Nic and I got married almost 2 years ago {crazy}, we were blessed with getting furniture as a wedding gift from our families or inheriting hand-me-down furniture. One piece in particular was our entertainment center. My dad found it at a garage sale right before my sophomore year of college so it has apartment hopped with me for several years now. As is, it is very boxy and when Nic got his 65'' monstrosity of a t.v. for Christmas last year, it wasn't a possibility to put it in our living room. Even knocking out the center board the t.v. still wouldn't fit. So it found a home in our bedroom on the top of a little dresser {a little rickety and disconcerting}. Our bedroom quickly became a theatre room. haha

We got an idea to saw the entertainment center in half for our living room. The end of school brought more time for projects so we hauled it to my father-in-law's garage and after five minutes of sawing, we had ourselves a new entertainment center. Here is a before and after...

The before picture is actually from my college apartment that I lived in during my sophomore year. I didn't have a recent one. But, I loved how it turned out! Add a little chalkboard basket for storage and it is perfect!!

april :: according to my iphone pictures

In April, my plant that I was given from a friend slowly began to die along with my hope of ever having a green thumb! ha I really tried hard this time but I knew it was inevitable. I made those delicious looking tuxedo brownie cups with raspberries on top for a church auction. The final bid for them was $85. I was ecstatic to be able to contribute. Definitely the prettiest dessert I can make. I posted the recipe here.

I spent a lot of time writing thank you notes to some of the most wonderful people who have crossed my path in my final semester of school. People who made a huge impact on my life and helped to make me the teacher that I dreamed of becoming.

We've been sleeping like a queen and king over here ever since we bought our memory foam mattress with our tax return. Best purchase we could have made. It is heavenly and the back pain I've been experiencing for quite some time now is finally gone. You truly know you are an adult when you get excited over these kinds of things! haha

Rue spends most of her day life sleeping. haha She really lives a tough life. Then around 10:00 at night she acts like she is on crack and goes flying around the room. It is hilarious and probably my favorite time of the the day! We are in love with her if you can't tell!

Honestly, I spent most of the month of April sick. After the first 10 days of the month I finally drug myself to the doctor {hate going there} and was given antibiotics for a sinus infection. Not 2 days after finishing the round of antibiotics and finally getting my voice back I got it full force all over again. This chest cough is still hanging on for dear life. Oh the life of a being a teacher with a weak immune system. :) Even though I was sick, I spent the last week of April feeling like I could conquer the world after finally submitting my 76 page Teacher Work Sample to finish off my Bachelor's Degree. BEST.FEELING.EVER hitting that submit button. A huge weight lifted and Nic and I have finally got to start spending more time together and working on a few home improvement projects I can't wait to share! :)

dear mister graduate

Dear Mister Graduate,

We did it!!!! As of Saturday you have your Master's Degree and I have my Bachelor's. While it feels like it has been a long time coming... endless hours of homework, stress, and tests... it also feels like it went by in the blink of an eye. When we met you were just finishing up your Bachelor's Degree and considering psychology school in another state. I remember feeling desperate for you to stay and we barely knew each other then. I know it was because, in my heart I knew right away that I could never say goodbye to you. When we got married I still had 2 years left of school. I was on the 5 year plan... ya know, what happens to people when they get crazy and switch their major {a decision I am SO grateful for making by the way}. It was then that we debated whether or not you should get your Master's now. We'd planned on you getting it someday but you hadn't even been done with your Bachelor's Degree long and you were working full time so I'm sure, the thought of working on homework at night did not make it an enticing decision. But man am I sure glad we decided to do it. We finished school like we planned before starting our family and we worked hard side by side the last year and a half to do it. It feels so good to say that it is finally done!! I want you to know that I have never been more proud of someone than you. You are incredibly smart and dedicated to doing what you set your mind to and I admire that in you. We make a great team you and I and I'm ready to conquer this new adult job world with you. :)
Happy Graduation to the both of us! On to our next crazy adventure together!

Love you!

a couple of videos to make you giggle on this lovely monday

Easter!

| Nothing like a post about Easter a couple months late! |

Like I mentioned here, this has seriously been the craziest school semester of my life and I can hardly believe it is about to come to a final close in 4 days... 4 DAYS! With that said, I am hoping that I can truthfully say this time that I am back to blogging more frequently. Now lets jump back to the end of March shall we because I have a million posts to catch up on!

Easter was very low key for us this year. We spent our morning at church reflecting on the Savior and feeling so blessed to know that he has risen, lives, and loves us. Then we spent the afternoon with the bun bun and of course, had to have a little Easter photoshoot. It took a little coaxing to make it happen. haha









I mean, does it get any more adorable than that?! In the early evening we died a few Easter eggs. I love all of the pastel colors that Spring brings. I'm looking forward to the day when we have little ones to do an Easter egg hunt with and grow lollipops from jelly beans in our front yard!

But this year... this year was just perfect for us. Nothing necessarily special on the dinner menu or anything. For me, it was a day I spent reflecting on the things and people that matter most to me in my life. Hope you had a Hoppy Easter!! ;)