Coming Soon. . .

Jeff and I just got back from our awesome trip to NC. We were able to spend a lot of time with my parents and other friends/family. We also had the chance to attend Jessica and Adam's wedding. Congrats guys! I left my camera in NC so it might be a little while before I post the pictures of our trip. We had so much fun and didn't really want to come back. Thanks everyone for showing us a good time. We love you!

The Great Outdoors

On Friday, Jeff and I decided to go camping at our favorite camping spot, Joe's Valley Reservoir. We had a blast! We both love camping, but we haven't been able to go this summer because of all the rain. But the weather has finally cleared up, so we are hoping we can go a few more times before I have to go back to school (which is ONLY 5 weeks away. . .). Enjoy the pics!

Our favorite camping meal:hamburger, potatoes, carrots, onions . . .delicious














We went hiking on Saturday, which was really fun. But I am SO afraid of snakes. I think I have a snake phobia. I can't even look at pictures of them. Just thinking about them is making my skin crawl! Before we left to go camping, we saw a story on the news about how there have been a ton of rattlesnake sightings this summer. So of course all I can think about on our hike is what I'm going to do if I see a rattlesnake. My plan was to run as fast as I can until I got back to our car. Luckily, there were no rattlesnake sightings on our hike. We had a great view of the reservoir when we were sitting at the top of the mountain. We also did a little cliff-jumping. The jump wasn't nearly as high as it was last year (all the rain made the water really high), but I was still really afraid to jump at first. It was really fun once I got the courage to jump in. Luckily, the first couple of times we went jumping, there were people waiting behind us so I felt a little more pressure to just jump in. Here's a video of me jumping. I didn't realize Jeff was videoing me working up the courage to jump . . .



Here are a few more random pictures: Jeff chopping wood and us playing cards during one of the storms.

My dilemma

I promised myself I would go to the gym at least 3 days this week. I don't want to go on Saturday, and it's already Tuesday so I really need to go tonight. A really fun Pilates class starts in less than an hour. But it would take less than an hour to bake the chocolate chip cookies I have been craving all day. What will it be . . . cookies or pilates?!

Warning: Its a long one!

It's been a while since I have written so there is a lot to catch up on. Here we go. My brother Matthew, who is stationed in Everett, Washington came to visit in May. It was so great to see
him. While he was here we climbed a waterfall, shot guns, and went to see the not so Great Salt Lake.
We went shooting with Jeff's sister and brother-in-law: Tina and Jason.
Here's the boys setting up the targets.














Matthew shooting. We didn't have guns that even compared to the ones Matt has on his ship, but I think he had a good time.














This is a video of me shooting. The boys told me a million times that the gun wouldn't kick that much. (My biggest fear was that I would shoot the gun, then drop it on the ground or something.) I'm pretty sure they just told me that so I would shoot it!



Jeff and I took Matthew to hike Bridal Veil Falls. It was absolutely beautiful!

Me and Matt at the top of the waterfall.















Of course Jeff had to get right in the middle of the action!















A few weeks ago, Jeff and I went to the Taylor Swift concert. It was AWESOME! We had a great time. Our seats were almost at the very top, but we were still rocking out. She put on a great show.
This is when she came out in the crowd! We were still really far away from her, but at least we could look at her instead of trying to see her on the big screen!














Us waiting for the show. You can tell which one of us was the most excited to see T-Quick! You can kinda see the sweet necklace Matt brought me from . . . Honduras?? Shoot. . .I already forgot.














The lovely cake you see below is my first attempt at a two layer cake. I'm an ok cook - Jeff and I cook dinner almost every night. It's a lot of hamburger helper and different kinds of pasta with chicken, but I would say we eat pretty good. However, I have never really gotten into baking. But since I got out of school last week, I have had this weird desire to bake. So, today I decided I would bake a cake. It ain't pretty, but it sure tasted good! It made me think how amazing all those relatives of mine are that can make those delicious 16 layer cakes. How do y'all do it?! I will take any advice anyone has about how to keep the side of the cake from falling off!

I love my job!

I don't write much about my job on here, mostly because of confidentiality. But I have to share something that happened today. If it's not my favorite moment since I started teaching, it's a very close second. One of my students read his first book today! He has a REALLY hard time focusing sometimes, but he has worked very hard this year learning sight words on note cards. Today I pulled out a book to see if he could transfer his knowledge from note cards to an actual book. It was amazing!! I took a video of him reading and showed it to him. He got the biggest kick out of it! I'm pretty sure his mom is the only person who was more excited than I was. Sorry everyone, I have the best job ever. :)

Tulips and Walking for Autism!

Although the weather wasn't great, we had a fabulous weekend! Jeff picked me up from work on Friday and we drove to Thanksgiving Point for the annual Tulip Festival. I'm sure it wouldn't have been Jeff's #1 choice for things to do on a Friday night, but he was a really good sport.











(Excuse my homely appearance in the pictures. I went straight from work, where we were having casual Friday.) At the end of the trail, we noticed the entertainment for the evening was a local dance company. They had one little group of 4 and 5 year olds. They were adorable! It brought back a lot of memories of dance recitals back in the day. It got me really excited to start dancing again, so I'm currently looking for a dance studio in the Provo area for adults who aren't that great at dancing!

On Saturday, Jeff and I participated in Utah's Walk For Autism. It was amazing to see how many people (including tons of kids) turned out when it was pouring down rain. My job can be stressful sometimes, but I was reminded on Saturday how much I LOVE working with students with Autism. Just like in any class, each of my students have different strengths. There is NEVER a dull moment, and it is a great experience to see them acquire a skill that they have worked so hard to acquire. It was also really fun to see all the family members and friends who show so much love and support. It made me want to do my job better.











Jeff and I walking for the GIANT STEPS Preschool team.













This is one of my cute students! (I got permission from his mom to put this up)












The T-shirt we got for raising at least $100. Thanks family!

For more information about Autism, visit www.autismspeaks.org

We have spent the last couple of days hanging out with Jeff's mom, sister, and brother-in-law.  His sister, Tina, graduated from BYU yesterday.  Jeff and I were able to attend the general graduation (for all the students) on Thursday.  Pres. Uchtdorf and Elder Nelson both gave great talks with encouraging words for such a scary economical time.  Later that night, we all went to a really fun restaurant in Sandy called the Mayan  They have a huge waterfall, where some divers put on a great show!  We had great seats, so every time one of them took a dive it felt like they were going to land on us.  Last night, we went over to Tina and Jason's house and had pizza and played a game Jeff's brother John gave us for Christmas.  It's called the Redneck Life; you go around the game board losing money . . . and teeth.  Whoever has the most teeth at the end wins!  It was a lot of fun.  It was really great to see everyone.  Congratulations, Tina