Taylor Gang: 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.