Valentine's Day

Nothing like a little trip down memory lane...these pictures are from when I was 17!! Ha! WOW, was I "cute" or what?!

This was absolutely the best Valentine's Day ever! We went up to Salt Lake, stayed in a nice hotel (the room was awesome), went to dinner at a great Thai place, went to a movie, walked around and just enjoyed being together. :) It really was SO fun! Bryson surprised me on Friday and walked into my classroom with beautiful flowers. My kids all shouted, "Wow! He looks so handsome!" and "He's charming!" because he was all dressed up from work.

Thinking about Valentine's Day this year made me remember our VERY first Valentine's day together...7 years ago!! I was 17! Bryson made me a cake. It was chocolate, my favorite, with marshmallow cream in the middle, and pink frosting. He had even decorated it. I woke up that morning (it was a Saturday) and went to get in my car and Bryson had completely filled my car with red, white and pink balloons and the cake was in the front seat with a cute card he handmade. I knew then that I was dating a "romantic." :) And 7 years later, it still proves to be true. :) Every Valentine's Day since, he has done something (even while he was on his mission, he had his mom send me flowers!). Am I a lucky girl, or what?! :)

Suuuuuuuure love ya!


PS Bryson and I were laughing about how "different I look" from when I was in high school to now. Judging from the picture below...I say I still look the exact same hahaha. What do you think? :)

Oh Young Love

Everyday, my students write in their journals for about 5-10 minutes. They are allowed to write about whatever they want, but we always talk about ideas that they can write about. This week, I've given them ideas like "What is the best part about Valentine's Day?" or "What are some things that you love?" Then, at the end of journal time, they can turn their journals in for me to read and respond to if they want. There is one boy in my class who turns in his journal everyday. He is more on the quiet side and is shy about talking in front of the class or sharing his thoughts and feelings, but he is VERY open, blunt and honest in his journal. :) I always look forward to reading his journal because it makes me laugh everyday. Anyway, today was the BEST journal entry of all:

Dear Journal,

So our Valentine's Party is tomorrow. Well, don't tell anyone, but I am making a special Valentine for T. Don't tell the class who it is from, promise?
Here's a preview:

Roses are red
Violets are blue
My heart belongs
To only YOU.

Well, that's all for now.
-C

Cute?! I did NOT expect this AT ALL from this one particular boy! But, it just goes to show you YOUNG LOVE is real haha. I didn't think I would be dealing with this kind of stuff, but I have heard SO much of it. I had one girl tell me, "The boy I love is in this class, and he loves me back." And they sit by each other on the carpet, and always call on each other and want to be partners for everything. Wow. And these are 7 years olds!! :)

One more funny story. So, whenever my kids finish reading a chapter book, they do a "book talk" where they just tell their favorite part and a little about the book. One girl read a book called "Junie B. Jones Loves Handsome Warren." So I, knowing full well the potential of hilarious responses, asked, "What does it mean if you are handsome?" All the boys hide their faces in their hands and wail, "Ehh! yuck!" as the girls' hands eagerly shoot up to answer my question. I called on one girl and she declared, "You know, like a prince is handsome." Then I asked further, "Well what makes a price handsome?" Another girl answered, "Maybe because he's cute?" I called on one more girl who pointed her finger as she answered, "Like, T...he's handsome." T is a boy in our class...who immediately turned BRIGHT red and made a face as if to say, "I have no idea what she is talking about." All the girls nodded in agreement and determined that yes, we had officially found the definition of handsome. :) Well done ladies haha.

Sometimes I think back...was I ever like that? I remember being in 2nd grade and a boy liked me and carved me a whale out of wood and drew me a picture. I remember being mortified, going home and crying because I was so embarrassed and didn't want to hurt his feelings because I didn't like him back. So are kids just different now than back when I was little? Who knows. All I know is they SURE ARE CUTE!!!

Life is wonderful!!

twenty five

Now that I've been tagged like a gazillion times in this, I figure it's time.

Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you.

1. When I was little, my biggest fear was sharks. I was so scared, it would keep me awake at night and I would run to the bathroom and kneel on the little fuzzy blue bathroom rug and pray and pray that my family wouldn't get eaten. Which wasn't even a remote possibility, since I lived in COLORADO.
2. You couldn't pay me to eat pretzels or cantaloupe. Yuck.
3. I played Barbies with my little sister until I was like 21. Okay, not really...but practically. haha
4. I avoid talking on the phone at all costs, and I'm horrible at calling the people that I really DO want to talk to. Sometimes even though I want to talk to someone really bad, I ignore their call, It's seriously nothing personal, I know it's crazy! If I DO call someone, it's usually as I am driving alone in my car.
5. After my first date with Bryson (I was 16), I wrote in my journal, "I want to marry a guy JUST like Bryson."
6. I have "quit" biting my fingernails about 1,000 times. Maybe I will "quit" again tomorrow.
7. I love musicals - like Singing in the Rain, My Fair Lady, The Music Man, Hello Dolly. It's what I grew up on. I think life would be SO cool if we all acted like they do in musicals. This is one reason I love 2nd grade...we can sing and it's still "cool." :)
8. I love to "appear" to be clean and organized. Just don't open any of my closets or drawers.
9. I prefer to watch TV online, like the day after it is really on TV. To me, that is the perfect way to unwind after a long day...lying in bed, falling asleep to a day-old TV show haha.
10. I usually "obsess" over one type of food for about a month or two and then never want to eat it ever again. I've been through an oatmeal phase, a Subway phase, a "Rumbi" phase, an "Olive Garden" phase...and many more. BUT I don't think I will ever outgrow my ice cream phase.
11. I LOVE going to the gym, once I'm in the routine! :)
12. When I'm driving alone, I acutally prefer driving in silence to having any music playing. It's therapeutic to me.
13. I always, always, always misspell the word "actually" and don't realize until the little red squiggly line tells me so. (see above for proof) :)
14. One skill I have, that REALLY helped me get through college, is that I can write a paper in record time and somehow pull off an A every time. No clue...really.
15. I have split my chin open twice and have the scars to prove it. Once when I was a baby and once when I was about 8.
16. I have a scar on my leg from when I hiked a volcano lava field in Hawaii, forgot flashlights, tripped and fell onto the glass lava rock. More than anything, I just felt dumb for being clumsy.
17. I have played the piano for 18 years. Now, I just wish I had a piano to play.
18. It annoys me when people post their whole names including their middles names as their default name on Facebook.
19. I check my email any spare second I have (while waiting in the drive-thru, waiting for a commercial, etc). It's just a habit.
20. I hardly ever take medicine when I am sick. When I do, I read and re-read the instructions and precautions and side effects about 20 times. It scares me...for some reason.
21. I asked for a pencil sharpener for Christmas.
    
22. I am never satisfied with my hair color...I'm always thinking about what I should do NEXT.
    
23. I fight the urge to correct people when they use poor grammar.
    
24. My dream job would be a photographer/videographer! That would be SO fun to me!
    
25. 25 things is WAY too many things! wow
    

Aloha! (From Provo, Utah?)

I have been missing Hawaii lately! I mean, how could you NOT miss Hawaii, really now?! I miss being tan, wearing flip flops year round, never worrying about what my hair looked like, walking or riding my bike everywhere, going to the beach for an hour in the afternoon, eating chocolate-haupia pie at Ted's bakery! Mmmmm doesn't it all sound sooo nice?!

I remember when I lived in Hawaii and Bryson was on his mission, I would be driving on the North Shore, watching the sun set behind the ocean, the whole sky vibrant red, orange and pink (there is nothing as beautiful as a Hawaii sunset!) and I would think, "Bryson would LOVE this!" I would be watching the surf competitions at Pipeline, jumping off cliffs into the ocean on the big island, or laying on the beach at night freaking out about the little crabs scurrying across our towels...thinking "Bryson would LOVE living in Hawaii." We weren't "together" at the time, but even then I would think, "What ifs." What if we got married and we came to live in Hawaii together? What if?

I feel SO lucky that we were able to go to Hawaii on our honeymoon. I feel especially lucky because the only way we were able to go was through some VERY, VERY generous and loving gifts from family. What a wonderful, amazing, fun way to start our marriage!!

I always considered myself a lover of snow and winter and all things "Colorado." I still love, LOVE Colorado, but after living in Hawaii, I have determined that I love warm weather and I wouldn't mind doing without a 10 month winter!! As Bryson looks into internships and jobs for the future, Colorado is of course my first choice so we can be close to family...but if a California or Arizona jobs sneaks its way in...I don't think I would mind a bit. :)

How many more days until summer again!??! Never mind...it's too far away to even think about yet.