Hot Christmas Deal!

Christmas shopping is so much fun now that I have my little bug to buy for! I just bought her this adorable hat for less than five bucks shipped from HauteLook! Click here to check out their awesome deals! Right now if you use the coupon code ENJOY10OFF at checkout, you can get $10 off a $10 purchase AND it can be applied towards shipping! I just LOVE scoring awesome deals on Christmas gifts!

Grateful

1- For my family - all of them. I feel absolutely blessed to have so MANY family members who love me. I feel grateful that my mom is so young - Kaiah will have lots of years to get to know her grandma! I am grateful for wonderful in-laws who care with all their hearts. I am grateful that Stephen became my dad.

2- For Sunday - even though I don't think that I heard a word at church between Kaiah's fits, I am so grateful for the spirit that I feel from just being at church, knowing that I have a ward family who loves me, and, more importantly, that I have Heavenly Parents who love me, too.

3- For good blogs and true feelings. I am grateful for people who make me think and feel and remember the important things. I just finished reading my Kamie's blog, and it made me cry. Her husband lost his father last year and is now losing his mother, too. At 27. Wow. I am in awe of their strength and just so unbelievably grateful that I have never been to a funeral that I remember.

4- For my job. I love it. No, I really love it. And I know that it sounds so cliche, but all the time I can't believe how lucky I am to be paid for something that I love so much. Thank you to all of you who pushed me to become a teacher. Definitely one of the best decisions I have ever made.

5- For my husband. I could go on and on. I'm grateful that I found someone who loves analyzing our relationship with me - we spend hours talking about why our marriage is so great. I am grateful that I found someone who honestly thinks of me as an equal in EVERY aspect. Someone who is disgustingly loyal and completely faithful. Someone who is confident enough in our marriage that he never gets jealous. Someone who respects me. Someone who still makes my heart flutter.

I Heart Fall

Soup, boots, jackets, pumpkins, squash, candy apples, colorful leaves . . . There is no time of the year that even competes with fall! It has always, always been my favorite time of year, and now it is even better . . .

because now I have this little girl and her adorable hats.

Thank you, Kaiah, for making all of my favorites even better.

Sticking up for my Cougs

This is the second year that Jer and I have had season tickets to BYU football, and I am pretty sure that this is a tradition that is going to stick. We love football. No, we love football. I wish I could do double-italics or something – that is how much I love, love, love football. I know more about football than I ever thought I could, and learning more all the time. Best. Sport. Ever.

I know. We lost. I know. We have lost a lot. And yes, I know that we will lose some more. But I am a Cougar fan through and through and I will be this season, the next, and the one after that. And yes, I also know that we have lost because we have played crappy. But I know that we will get better, and I will be there watching, and cheering, the whole entire difficult-heart-wrenching-and-oh-so-hard-to-watch way. Because that’s how I roll.

Now, if we could only get Kaiah to stop screaming every time people cheer so that she could come with us to the games . . . now that would be great.

My beliefs

Lately I’ve been thinking how truly wonderful it would be to have a record of the things that are important in my life – more than just pictures and captions for the month – but the things that truly define me. I guess I have been inspired by some amazing family members’ blogs who take the time to really document their thoughts, feelings, fears, and beliefs. I want to do this, too. I want Kaiah to be able to look back and read about who her mom really was.

One thing that I am really upset that I haven’t been recording are my beliefs. I want my baby to know that I have a testimony of the gospel. I want her to know that her mom believes, with all her heart, that we are children of a Heavenly Father who love us more than we can even understand. One thing that I have been especially grateful for recently is the Priesthood. I still have a hard time believing that I am lucky enough to have a worthy Priesthood holder in my house – what an amazing blessing! Kaiah will have so much that I never did – Father’s blessings and a worthy patriarch in the home. What a wonderful gift!

We have definitely had our struggles. For some reason Jer and I have had some hard times since we have been married. We still struggle with doing the daily things that will strengthen our family. But we are trying. And we are working, together. And we know that we need to continue to do those things to be worthy of our eternal family. Because I love my baby and hubby too much to not have them forever and ever. We will work together to create our own happily ever after.

What a life.

So much is happening in my life right now - I seriously feel like I live in a whirlwind with no chance to even get my bearings. But things are good. Like really good. Seriously crazy, but good.

I am love, love, loving being a teacher. I am also hate, hate, hating it, too. I hate leaving my baby - I can't even count how many tear-filled drives to Heber I have had after leaving her. I also hate that I spent my Saturday night grading. How lame. But I love that I lucked out and got the Honors kids. And I love that I only work every other day. And I especially love that at the bottom of the last quiz I gave my students I got nice notes telling me that they love everything from my class to my bangs. I feel super blessed to be working with the 9th graders. I think that teenagers are at such an important stage of their lives, and I get the chance to watch and (hopefully) help with those important changes. The kids are hilarious and my work is so entertaining. I definitely have my highs and my lows. One day I am stoked and super happy about the amazing day I had, and other days I feel like I am the worst teacher in the world and that I should just give up. This first year has been hard, so far. I feel like I don't know near enough and I definitely do not have enough time. And I am freaking out because I never am more that one day ahead in my lesson planning. But I am lucky to have this job, and I know that, and so I remain grateful and positive.

Jer is taking three more classes (and still working full-time) and that, combined with me working, and resulted in a house of disastrous and stress-inducing lack of order. We are still not unpacked from moving. We have a half-painted piece of furniture in our back yard. But we play with our baby, and that, I say, is way more important.

Speaking of baby - what an adorable little monster. She is such a little babbler. I can't believe I ever lived before her. She sits all by herself and stands if she is holding on to something (sometimes) and loves her solids! Jer and I are making her food and, so far, it is going ok. She is a chunk and I love it.

PLUS - a big congrats to the newest members of the family! My brother-in-law and his wife had little Ciara a few weeks ago and Kamie and Alex just welcomed Ari 2 weeks ago! I am so glad that Kaiah will have so many cousins so close in age!

Finally - happy birthday to my amazingly wonderful mommy! I was lucky enough to grow up with a mom who always, no matter what, put her children first. I never for one second questioned whether I was loved. My mom had my back, and I knew it. And, most importantly, she taught me to love and respect myself. I think one of the biggest problems with people today is a lack of self-confidence, and I think that confidence comes from how you are raised. I attribute everything good I have ever done to my self-confidence, which I definitely got from my mom! So mom, please, please have a fantastic birthday. You deserve it. And no, $40 on your first "real" purse is not too much to spend on yourself!

Now off to do something productive, or not. We shall see.