Luminaria

If you want the pleasure of seeing Mary light up like a little kid, just take her to see some lights. This was seriously such a joy!

There were beautiful poinsettias.

Peppermint Lane actually smelled like peppermint.

There were REAL LIVE reindeer! Comet and Vixon to be exact. We learned so much. Who knew.

And best of all, was the quiet little section off the path where you walked through the beautiful statues of Christ that I have been dyiiinngggg to see ever since I learned about them. It was so peaceful and the pathway was filled with flickering lanterns as you walked through Christ's life and ministry. There was also a spot to walk to a "grove" of trees and see statues of the First Vision complete with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ floating. It was amazing!!

We warmed up by these huge firepits, took pictures with our friends, and watched the big lights flash to music.

I would highly recommend going to Luminaria at Thanksgiving Point this holiday season!

take note

Mitch went in with 5 others guys and got season tickets to the Jazz. I had never been to a NBA game before so going to the season opener was a blast!

Now I consider myself a Jazz regular. I even know most of the player's names. It's a big deal.

Although I haven't committed to getting a jersey yet, I do have a t-shirt and it makes me feel pretty official ;)

It's been a fun year to watch them too. They don't quite compare to the rest of my family's beloved Warriors, but they hold their own and it's so fun to be a fan!

I've even gotten to go to a couple games with Jacob!

gobble gobble

Every holiday is such a fun ordeal when you're with second graders. Our school does the funniest thing. A GOBBLE OFF. At first I thought it was so weird, but it quickly grew on me. One of my girls ended up winning for our grade level!

We also had a pie feast!

And they had their Thanksgiving Program. They did amazing! It was a fun, but busy week!

We last minute decided to come up and surprise my mom for Thanksgiving. All went as planned until we were already in the car and she magically found out! But, it was still a fun surprise though and she was so happy we came!

It was pretty chill, but that's what I love the most about being home. Relaxation and no responsibilities.

I'm really slacking in the picture taking department, but that's a new goal for the New Year. Love old friends and new!

FALL

We really do have such festive friends. Their philosophy is that you can only do these things once a year so you might as well take advantage of it.

My favorite event was probably going to the pumpkin patch. It was the most beautiful fall day!

It was a monumental moment when Mary realized where sunflower seeds actually come from...

It's such a challenge to find the PERFECT one!

They wanted to go to a Haunted Forest. I was SOOOO nervous. Like I don't do scary. Anything. Period. So I tried to be brave. But it was a disaster. By far, one of the worst experiences of my life. I felt some serious blessings that night that they didn't go after me too bad. 

Rule #1: just keep walking

Rule #2: don't show them you're scared

Pretty sure that Mitch's hand was permanently wounded by the end of the night, but he was such a good sport because I know I wasn't much fun. We stayed in the middle of the pack the whole time and I think that I didn't see like 90% of it because majority of the time I was looking at Mitch's jacket. I don't understand how people actually ENJOY those things. ahhh!!!

There I am as a little scarecrow. Halloween is a big deal when you're in elementary school. 

It's totally a blurry pic but I had to capture our carved pumpkins before they got bad. 

red ribbon week

We had such a fun week celebrating Red Ribbon Week which promotes being drug and violence free.

"purple and red day"

"sock drugs"

"team up against drugs"

"hats off to being drug free"

"dream away drugs"

They were so excited about dressing up every day! 

surprises

Ever since I learned about the Alpine Loop, I wanted to drive it in the fall. I had no idea where exactly it was except up some canyon. 

One Sunday, I made all these plans about what I wanted to do after church and Mitch was like, 

"Well are those plans set in stone?"

I thought about it for a second and said no. 

He said...

I have a surprise for you.

We hopped in the car and I literally had no idea where we were going. Pretty soon we were heading up Provo Canyon, past Sundance and then I saw a street sign that said ALPINE LOOP

Oh, I was beyond thrilled!!! It was the most GORGEOUS fall day and all the way up the canyon the trees were so vibrant and I basically just sat in awe the whole drive because of the beauty I was seeing. 

I was loving every second of it. Seriously. I could've spent all day up there. 

We got out and adventured around this pretty creek and climbed over a huge dam of fallen trees. Definitely worth the stop.

Falling for FALL and this cute boy 

celebrate

I'm convinced that all holidays and birthdays should never be celebrated without your family. This weekend was definitely one to remember.

I am lucky enough to always have my birthday come right around General Conference. It always makes for a meaningful and fun-filled weekend.

This year Mitch and I got to spend conference weekend with BOTH of our parents. So we went to dinner with Mitch's family on Thursday night.

Then I went to school on Friday and lucky for me, my parents stopped by in the afternoon! It was SO.FUN! My mom read them a story (she is the perfect teacher) and then the handed out treats. My kids were in heaven.

Except the best part was, I couldn't contain my excitement all day so I told my kids and they got so excited as well. Just asking questions up a storm and being so impatient for the end of the day to arrive. I really do have the cutest class.

After school, we headed up to grab a bite to eat and then go to my mission reunion. How special it was for my parents to meet President Hanks and his wife. They are so special to me! I am amazed at their love for so many people and their enthusiasm for life. It was also fun to catch up with a few people.

We then headed back down south for Jacob's mission reunion. Except Jacob still was en route. So we just chilled in the car for a while. But then Koa came out and I got to catch up with him for a while! Presidente and Hermana Gomez are theeee cutest!

Then we headed to the BYU football homecoming game. The best part was that I got tickets for my parents for free from my principal! I had to run through the school to the office to get them, but it was so worth it!

Saturday morning we went to breakfast with Mitch's family at Mimi's Cafe. I had never been there before but it was delicious! Then we drove up to Matt and Mikelle's to watch the first session of conference. We may or may not have gotten distracted by those cute kids! 

Right after we drove up to Salt Lake to go to the second session at the conference center with Mitch's family. It was VERY hot waiting in line outside.

Dinner came next with both families. 

It was my birthday weekend so dessert was in order. Except we're pretty sure that the lady called me "Berry". Whaaat?? 

While the boys were at priesthood my mom and I went shopping and then we went to the hotel and played games! ha and facetimed kenzie at 2 am...It was so fun staying right downtown and being within walking distance of Temple Square.

We had tickets for Sunday morning and ended up sitting with the Lybbert/Roisum clan. It was fun!

Mitch told the girlfriends that we needed to hang out more and that he didn't want to be responsible for us not hanging out haha!

What a lovely view! 

 Monday I had to teach. But right school we went shopping! And then went to dinner at Tucanos. They even made me do a little dance with the tambourine. And then we met back at my apartment for cake and ice cream with all the friends.

HAPPY 24th TO ME!

let the adventure begin...

It still hasn't really hit me that I'm a real teacher. It's been an absolute blast so far. A LOT of work, but so fun. They are energetic, funny little 7 year olds, but I love them. We are learning and growing and it's great. I decided to do an adventure/travel theme. It took literally forever and a day to set up my classroom, but I had a lot of help. I started with 20 students but I had one move so now I have 19. 10 girls and 9 boys. 

I'm so excited about this! There are so many options when it comes to writing! The mailbox is for little notes to be delivered to our class. The composition notebooks are for class journals. The pads of paper are for lists. The buses and globes have prompts on them. There are letter papers,opinion papers, and just plain lined paper. How fun!

 I'm so excited about this bulletin board. Each month I am having a visitor come teach the class about a country that they've visited or served in. My kids will have little passports that they get a stamp in and do a little writing about the country. 

This clip chart is for classroom management. A little bit better than the traditional card flipping method because in this one you can move up!

This is for student spotlight! They will have "patches" to put on the suitcase to help us get to know them. 

Class Rules

This is one of my favorite projects. I took a map of Utah and mod podged it to some cardboard letters. It was so fun!

There's so many little things that go in to making a classroom! And for someone who HATES making decisions, sometimes it was quite a challenge, but it's finally done and all ready for these little students. I'm really looking forward to the year!