Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine's Day and it has been great. Yesterday, however was when we celebrated. We decided not to give each other gifts but instead make dinner, cookies, and spend quality time together. We had a blast. I subbed in a third grade class yesterday. The kids were out of control which was expected. It was fun but very stressful. When I came home from school James had a rose sitting on the bed with a note. He got me something even when we agreed we were going to go without presents. He is always so thoughtful. I'm grateful I was able to spend Valentine's Day with him this year. I love him so much!!! He is amazing. I hope everyone had a wonderful day today. 

Wedding Pictures

Here are a few wedding pictures. Our wedding was wonderful. Thanks to all of you who helped and came. :)

The wedding book. My sister-in-law made it and did a fabulous job.

Mark (One of James' mission companions), James, and Sam (James friend from high school)

The table decorations. 

Mollie, Allison, Me, and Tiffany (cousin)

Mollie took all of our pictures and did such a wonderful job. 

THANKS MOLLIE!!!

The cake was delicious. James step sister made it for us. We are so lucky to have talented friends and family who were willing to help out. 

James family. (There were a few step brothers missing)

My family.

All the people that stayed for pictures. 

Sean, Tess, Me, and Jonny (siblings)

Coming out of the Logan temple. 

We got married in October and were grateful it waited to snow until after the pictures were taken. We have been married for a little over three months. It has been a blast!!! I love being married.

MACBOOK!!!

James and I recently purchased a macbook. We are so excited to finally have one. James gets to enjoy it the most because he has homework everyday. My computer is so slow and he deserves to use the nice computer. We got a refund from USU and used that money to buy the new computer. Tess and I have already made up a song on garage band. The mac is great!!!

I subbed today for a fifth grade class. I was sad when I walked them to rotation and realized they are all pretty much as tall or taller than me. I knew I was short but now it is really confirmed. Being short hasn't been all that bad. The worst part would be having to use a chair or kneel on the counter to reach for items placed in the high cupboards. I have learned to deal with it though and am grateful I'm at least 5'4".

I now need to retire to bed. I will post pictures when I am using the mac!!!

Officially Bad at Blogging

I have decided I am the worst blogger. I thought it would be so fun to keep everyone updated. Well, the problem is I never find time to do it. Of course, now that I am graduated I have plenty of time. I just use my time for other activities.

An update:
I did my student teaching in Preston last semseter. I loved it. I planned a wedding in my first block which I thought would be more stressful then it was. I had amazing cooperating teachers who helped me immensly. I learned a great deal from both of them. I did my first block in a third grade class. They were very talkative but enjoyable. The fourth grade class I was in for the second block were hilarious. They constantly brought me gifts which brightened my days. Both classes had their moments of cauos. Overall, it was a wonderful experience. The best part was knowing something new was going to happen each day.

I got married on October 11 in Logan. I decided not to have a reception which was the best decision I could have made. My wedding was perfect. James and I love being married. James is now working at Academy Ranches and is attending USU. We love our apartment and ward.

Here are a few of our Bridals and Groomals taken a few weeks before our wedding. The actual wedding pictures will be another day.

As many of you know I graduated in Elementary Education in December. I have been subbing and interviewing for jobs. After my first interview, I got offered a job. I accepted it and will be starting around April or May teaching 4th grade at the West Side Elementary School. I will continue teaching 4th grade for the next contract year which will start in August. I am so excited to have my own classroom.

James and I have only been to our ward in Logan around 6 times. I already have a calling and am enjoying for the most part. I am the Relief Society Chorister. I didn't think it would be too bad. I found out yesterday all the responsibilities I have and I was surprised at the many tasks I am required to do. Hopefully it will get better each week.

Until next time, which could be in four months. I will try to be better at updating and keeping everyone posted on life happenings.

Update

Well, yesterday I finally got my hair done. It looks so much better. I don't look like I'm wearing a witch wig anymore. HAPPY DAY! I don't have a picture to post yet but I will soon. 

James will be coming home in 19 days and I am so excited. He gets home the day I start student teaching. I can't believe its almost been 2 years since I have seen him. CRAZY!!!

I only have 10 more days working as a nanny. Its going to be so sad leaving the kids because I have grown so attached to them. I have loved being a nanny. It is so rewarding although it can be very difficult at times. 

I am in the process of cleaning my room at home. My bedroom is a disaster. I moved out of my apartment at the beginning of this week. I have been so busy that I haven't had much of a chance to clean. I never knew how much stuff I really had until I moved it all home. Its going to take a lot of work to get everything organized again. I have been sleeping on the couch this last week and am excited to sleep in my bed again. 

I finally finished my online class. It is such a relief to be done taking classes. All that is left is student teaching. I thought I was going to fail my class but surprisingly I pulled off a B-. Wahoo! I never thought I would be so happy to get a B-.

I can't believe the summer is almost over. It has definitely been a great one. It has been full of adventure and fun and I will be sad to see it end. 

Slacking

I have been slacking big time with my blog so I apologize. A lot has been going on lately. In my last post I mentioned how I dyed my hair. I decided it was time to tell the story. So here it goes...

When I was visiting Megan almost a month ago I decided to dye my hair. I had been wanting it a shade or two darker for a while but just never got an appointment with my hair stylist.

While Megan and I were shopping at Target we looked at all the hair coloring boxes. There were quite a few that looked good. I sat pondering which one I was going to purchase. They were cheap and I figured everything would turn out great because I have done it a few times in the past and never had a problem. Well, I'm stupid enough to have picked the darkest brown color. The box must have been deceiving or I was just too blind to notice how "DARK BROWN" it must have been.

That night I was all excited to have a new hair color. When Megan was applying the dye, my roommate Abby pointed out it was purple. Megan's gloves were covered in purple. I should have known it wasn't a good sign. Once the bottle was empty and my hair was covered I sat hoping it would turn out a success. I wanted to rinse it out 5 minutes or so after it was applied. Megan and Abby told me it would be a waste to wash it out. I thought about it and agreed.

After 15 or 20 minutes and hurried to the bathroom to rinse it out. It took forever. I started blow drying it and was shaking with fear. Once pieces of my hair started to dry I was furious with the outcome. It was COAL BLACK!!! I went to the other room where Megan, Abby, and Megan's brother and sister were to show them my "witch" hair. I was crying and so worried it would stay black forever. They all tried to comfort me. It wasn't working at first but then I decided I had to get over it sometime.

It has been weeks now and I think back with a bit of humor. I felt so hideous when it happened and I still do some days but I am slowly getting over it. I will admit it was quite hilarious the more I think about it.

Sadly enough, my hair is still dark and taking a lot longer to lighten then I was hoping for. I am getting used to it but still don't like it very much.

The before picture: I seemed happy before but let me tell you, when I saw my hair after I had washed it all out I couldn't help but cry.

The after picture: This was a few days after I dyed my hair. Pretty scary I know. If only you would have seen it seconds after. I had no makeup on so my face was extremely pale. I seriously looked like I was wearing a wig. SCARY SIGHT!!!!

I finally turned 21 and had a wonderful birthday. I have amazing friends and family that made my birthday so fantastic.

Allison and Mollie threw me a surprise party the Saturday before my birthday. It was a lot of fun. On my birthday I worked, went to dinner with my family, and attended Marybeth's bridal shower. I received so many phone calls and texts from friends and family. Thanks to all of you who made my birthday so memorable. Also, James sent me a package and it came on my birthday. He couldn't have planned better.

I had all of last week off of work because the family went to Portland for vacation. I took the opportunity to go on a short road trip with Allison and Mollie. We went to Lake Havasu, Arizona. Mollie's family has a house there. It is so nice. I spent almost two days straight in the pool behind her house. It was great to have a vacation.

I am taking an online class this summer that started yesterday. I was very upset and annoyed when I found out I had one more class to take before I could graduate. Apparently, I took the same class twice. The University switched the course number on me and I had no idea. My advisor didn't catch it either. Therefore, now I am stressing out with this class. It is only 6 weeks long making it really crammed. Its going to be a lot of busy work but at least I will get to graduate in December. I am very grateful my new advisor realized I needed one more general to graduate. I will definitely be busy with work and this Civilizations: Humanities class.

Fun Filled Weekend

This weekend I adventured to Orem area for a fun filled weekend. Abby and I stayed with Megan Friday night through Monday morning. We did all sorts of things. We went shopping, roasted smores, ate, slept, ate, slept etc.... Oh I can't forget the dying of my hair. That is a whole different story I will post later.

On Monday, I went shopping for birthday accessories. I found great deals and left the mall feeling very successful. After the shopping trip, Abby, Mollie, and I went to a concert. I have been to a lot of concerts in the last few months. I never used to like them very much but now I really enjoy them. It was Death Cab for Cutie who performed. They did fabulous. The other band wasn't too impressive. It had been raining on and off all weekend but luckily it didn't rain at all while we were at the concert. We stood in line for over 2 hours. The concert was outside which was lovely except it got a bit chilly at times.

There are a few complaints I have about concerts....
1) The people there are CRAZY!!! I can't even tell you how many interesting people I saw. There were several couples I saw that I wish I wouldn't have. I was very disgusted.

2) Waiting in the long lines... we showed up a half hour early and we still had to wait 2 hours before they opened the gates. This happens everytime I go to a concert but it still doesn't stop me.

3) It is expensive most of the time. The concerts I chose to go to are almost always near Salt Lake. The tickets alone are costly and then I have to pay for gas and food.

4) Parking. I got a parking violation at the concert because I was parked out on the street where about 200 other cars were parked. I figured it would be ok since there were hundreds of cars parked there too. Apparently not! It is always a hassle to find somewhere to park. They always charge to park close so I try to find a way out of paying. It was a bad idea this time. I will end up paying about 5 times more than I would have if I chose to pay $5 to park in the parking lot AHHHH!! I figured there was no parking left in there though, oh well, I have definitely learned from my mistake.

Other than that I love concerts. I don't think I will be attending many more though. I have been to my fair share. I always leave with many interesting and fun filled memories!