Mesquite Four-Wheeling

As a graduation celebration, Dave and I went down to Mesquite with my family for a few days.  Here are A LOT of pictures from our four wheeling adventures.  Enjoy.....there are many.  :)

 Just a little dusty!  :)

 These teeny tiny flowers were everywhere.  They're only about 1/2 inch tall.

 Group for Day 1:  Aunt Shar, Uncle Leonard, Grandpa, me, Aunt Sue, Uncle Brent, Dad and Carlie.

(Dave wanted to stay back at the condo to read and soak in the hot tub).  :)

Group for day 2:  Aunt Sue, Uncle Brent, Grandpa, Uncle Leonard, me, Mom, Dad and Carlie.

 

I TOLD you there were a lot.  You didn't believe me, did you?

Graduation Memories

 Of course, I HAD to have a picture of the last link on my paper chain countdown.  ;)  YAY!

 Me and my good friend Lindsay from the Teacher Ed. program

 Waiting for commencement to begin

 Just some of the graduating class in Elementary Ed.  It's going to be weird when I don't see these guys every day anymore.  I've probably spent more time with them than I have Dave for the past two years!  :)

 Woot!  All graduated! 

My parents, me and Dave.  

HOLY COW!!!  I'M DONE!  Thanks so much to everyone who helped me through school and for supporting me through student teaching.  The past four months have been super difficult and I'm so glad it's over.

Now, just wish me luck that I'll be able to find a teaching job!

4 years and I'm DONE with school forever!

Dave and I celebrated our 4th anniversary last week on the 12th.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures (I know, you're so disappointed).  BUT,  I have a funny story to share.  We got a gift card to PF Chang's a few months ago, and decided that we would use it on our anniversary.  Neither of us had ever been to the one in Salt Lake.  So before we went, I looked up the address online and wrote it down.  Off we went.  We start driving into Salt Lake (and if you know me at all, you know I HATE driving around in downtown Salt Lake), and we end up at this deserted road up by the Capital.  So, I look down at the paper "300 North 174 East"..."Oh, I think it was 300 SOUTH 174 East" (Dave is getting mildly annoyed at this point.  He hates driving around in Salt Lake more than I do)... So we head down to 300 S and find a parking spot (and pay for said parking spot of course).  There is no PF Chang's in sight, but we decide to walk around and see if we can find it anyway.  No such luck.  Dave ends up calling the restaurant to get their address (just a little annoyed now).  It was 300 South 174 WEST.  How I managed to write down the wrong coordinates TWICE ceases to amaze me.  It's good Dave loves me.  :)  SO....we headed west, found another parking spot (which just so happened to be free "YES!") and enjoyed our meal.  And yes, Dave will proudly be the navigator from now on.  Oh, and just a little side note here:  If you go to PF Chang's, you must get the Banana Spring Rolls for dessert.  OMG.  It was quite literally the best dessert I have ever had from a restaurant. Amazing.  

Moving on to school now.  I finished my student teaching last week as well.  I miss my class, but I can't tell you how happy I am to be done.  Here are just some of the fun art projects I did with my class from the past few weeks.  (I'm mostly posting them here so I can refer back to them in future years).  

 Scratch and Sniff rainbow paintings

 Water Color Easter Eggs

I finished ALL of my course work this past Tuesday and am now waiting to graduate TOMORROW.  Here's my little paper chain as of today:

 It feels AMAZING to be done.  I'm sure I've annoyed everyone around me (Dave...), because I can't stop talking about it.  :)  But seriously, college was the hardest thing I've ever done and if you've graduated you know exactly how I feel.

This has been a forever long post, so here's a lovely end to it.  I just love my Spring decor.  I really do.  Don't you just love those little chicks?  I got them at Ben Franklin Crafts (now Bennion Crafts, I think).

Have a wonderful day!

A month long gap...and I'm almost done!

So, I realize it's been awhile.  I didn't know if you knew, but my life has kind of been SUUUUPER crazy busy the past little while.  Student teaching kicked into "Make you wish you were never born" mode.  :)  JK, but in all honesty, this has been the hardest thing I have ever done in my life.  (I know, I have a privileged life...).  As of today, I only have 7 official days of student teaching left.  I'm not done yet, but to be this far feels amazing.  I finish out this week, have a week off for spring break, and then just go back for three more days.  I'm not sure if you can tell, but the excitement levels at my house are at an all time high and only continue to grow.

I know you're probably sick of seeing these paper chain comparisons, but boring pictures are better than no pictures, right?

And now....

 How could you not just be totally happy inside when you look at those!?!  It's impossible!  AHHH!!!  :)

Half Way Done!

 I finished up my first student teaching placement a week ago and am happy to say that I am HALF WAY DONE!!  AHHHHH!!!!!  :)  I'm so SO happy to be to this point.  I started teaching 2nd grade this week and I miss my 4th grade class SO MUCH.  I know that I'll love my 2nd grade class too, it's just so sad to get to know all of your students and then all of a sudden have to leave them.  Anyway...here's a comparison of my paper chain countdown to graduation.  YAY!   

...

and now.

 

Oh, and I finally got around to taking a picture of my short hair.  I cut off A LOT of hair, but I love it.  So does Dave, which is always a plus.  :)

Only 5 more weeks until Spring Break and then three more days of student teaching.  Holy cow!  I'm excited!