Monday, November 26, 2012

A Lil Fam Vacay

This post is a beast considering I haven't blogged since July. 
We had an awesome summer and fall...here's the evidence.

Last family gathering before our nephew, Briggs, came to this earth! We all went to the PlayMill in W. Yellowstone and saw "Annie Get Your Gun."

Before the show, the gals went to lunch while the boys shot guns.
We love the PlayMill!
We celebrated my 23 rd b-day! I am having a grandma moment because I can't recall what we did. 

We try to hit up Chukar's baseball game once a year...

Then, the 21st of August is the day my care-free no stress at all life changed. I got a call (the night before school started) by a principal who asked if I wanted to teach 1st grade. I excitedly accepted, quit my PSR job that second, and headed up to Rexburg to set up my classroom. The classroom literally had NOTHING in it, and let's be reminded school started in 12 hours. Thank the heavens, Matt, my mother-in-law, my family's encouraging words, and lots of fellow angel teachers came to the rescue. Those first 2 weeks of school are a literal blur. I would just come home crying every day because it was so physically, mentally, and emotionally overwhelming. I would just come home and cry and have no idea why I was crying lol! I had no books, teachers manual, curriculum, for the 1st month of school! Not only was I trying to balance a full-time teaching job, the end of summer/fall is my BUSY time for my photo business, and could easily be full-time as well. My dad told me, "This is gonna be like drinking from a fire hose at first, but it will get easier." Teaching is definitely NOT easy, but I'm starting to relax more and enjoy it. My kids are great most days, and their random humor is hilarious. It's also so nice to have a steady pay check and insurance!

This is what my class looked like the night before school started. It was a little rough...
I just loved this writing activity we did about prepositions.

Halloween party!!
A couple months into school, my mom surprised me and flew in from Houston!! It was SO AWESOME having her here. She helped me so much at home and in my classroom, and my kids loved doing their math facts with her. We had a blast!!
The newest addition to the Taylor Gang.



My mom trying to smuggle as many of those Idaho potatoes as possible into her carry-on.

We still teach the lovely 9 year olds at church~


We unsuccessfully tried to scare 3 of Matt and Bryan's co-workers on Halloween weekend. We need to practice for next year.
Since our scare attempts failed, we decided to scare the kids who came to to our house on Halloween. I believe that every child needs to be scared at least ONCE on Halloween. We gave some of the kids we knew $1 if they could make it to our door. The parents loved it.

We also hit up "Deep Love: A Ghostly Folk Opera" which was the coolest thing ever!
Visiting Mikey and Cree in Logan is always fun!

We went to our first hockey game. IT WAS AWESOME, and I do not like hockey on T.V. at ALL.

A few snapshots from Thanksgiving...

Matt played flag football with some high school buddies...


Monday, August 20, 2012

It's about to get realll fun yall!

Each summer, I take two trips to Texas. This trip was by FAR one of the most fun! Before we left for Tejas, our lovely friends, Toad and Cass, were married in the Draper temple. Toad served his mission in Kingwood, and we have all been close friends ever since.

Us with the Jensens! He was Toad's mission companion, and those two made a HILARIOUS duo. Jens is a farm boy, and well Toad is...more preppy haha. Total opposites but they're great friends!

They're like the modern day Barbie and Ken.

A day after the wedding, we were off to TX!

Our first GOOD (I won't mention Red Lobster, Dave!) food stop was Pappadeuax! 

My parents threw us a FUN birthday/graduation celebration! This was one of the highlights...

My second cousin, Lilly turned 1!

We spent lotsss of time here.

A bunch of our familia took a trip to Garner! It was a blast! Some of the highlights at Garner were:
-Playing a new card game, Garbaage, and getting beat by Little Randy.

While we were at this part of the river, a group of girls asked Matt to take a picture with them. It was kind of an awkward moment...

My favorite uncle!

Granny took a 3 hour float trip with us! We were all pretty hungry, so I kept telling Granny, "It's almost over, we just have to go around one more corner!" Twenty-five corners later, we were happily eating chicken salad sandwiches. Matt, Michael, and my mom were all tour assistants for Granny when she would get stuck in the shallow parts of the river. Granny enjoyed holding Matt's hand ;) Love ya, Carla!

Garner State Park, a family tradition since 1992!

Riding a 4-wheeler that turned into a boat once on water. It was pretty fun/sketchy!

No words needed...

Love my grandparents!