A little of this and a little of that

Hello.  Remember me?  The person who is doing a terrible job of posting on her blog?

Well, here I am, attempting to fill you in on a little of what we have been up to lately.

So, I have this amazingly talented husband (who might I add, is quite handsome...) that completely surprised me with this gift:

when Alayna and I came home from our trip to Laramie. Yep. He made it. Awesome, I know.  Don't you LOVE it?!.  I have been wanting a corner shelf for our den and it is perfect. 

I am having one minor dilemma though...deciding what color to paint it.  Dan and I don't agree on this at all.  He claims men like the look of natural wood, so he wants me to stain it.  And I on the other hand, have this itch to paint everything.  I don't know what it is.  I just want to slap a nice coat of paint on it and maybe antique it a little.  I am thinking white.  What do you think?  Black?  Gray?  Really, what do you think?

Now onto the next tidbit.  Fall.  Can I just confess to you that I absolutely LOVE Fall?  I do.  I LOVE it.  I have to admit, I wasn't always this way.  In fact, I might have dreaded it a little.  But I have since repented and it really is one of my favorite seasons.  It took me moving to a few new places to really appreciate this season because, well, let's face it....in Laramie, WY, Fall lasts about a month.  Maybe a little longer.  I just didn't have time to really enjoy it.  Now, I live at the complete opposite end of the spectrum and Fall (I hear) can be a long season, it just takes a LONG time to get here.  And I am getting antsy.  Enough with the 102 degree weather already.  Where is the crispness in the air?  So in order to nudge the season along a little, I decided to go ahead and decorate.  (As you saw in the previous picture.)

Oh, and I might as well admit, I have a bit of an obsession with pumpkins, or puh-kins as Alayna calls them.  LOVE them. 

Now, the next tidbit.  I have been having an inner battle lately.  About what, you might ask?  Well, preschool.  Preschool is causing my inner battle.  Alayna will turn 3 in less than a month and with the start of a new school year, we had the opportunity to do a preschool co-op with some other moms in our community.  And I decided NOT to do it this year.  Am I terrible?  I have gone back and forth and back and forth again.  But Alayna would have been the youngest one and with her still having three years 'til Kindergarten I just didn't want her to be burned out of school before she even went.  If I started her now, then she would go the next couple of years and after having taught Kindergarten, I know she will be fine if we wait. She really is young.   Plus, this mommy wants to spend a little more time with her Layna.  But still, I know she would have loved it.  So we are living it up by having our own fun letter games and as many play dates as our friends will allow to provide her with all the social-ness she craves. 

Excuse #1 for my absence.  Classes.  I have been taking online classes to renew my teaching certificate.  I have to do this every 5 years.  Can you believe that in May it will be 5 years since I graduated college?!  Me neither.  Sheesh. 

So, I am enrolled in 4 classes that are rather interesting, but admittedly, I will be glad when they are over. 

Excuse #2. Sharing time.  I am in the primary presidency which means I have to teach Sharing time every few weeks.  I absolutely LOVE it!  Oh, how I miss teaching Kindergarten...but this is a perfect filler.  I really look forward to it each time.

And that, really is the end of my excuses.  Pretty pathetic, huh?

And while I am filling you in, I might as well tell you a little about the other two people that live with me.

Layna is busy as ever.  She is getting excited for her "Happy Birthday".  Especially after having gone to her very first birthday party (other than family)....which I will save all the details for another post. 

And have I mentioned that she is COMPLETELY potty trained?!  Like at nights as well as days.  And she has been for a few months now.  I just decided I was tired of buying pull-ups so I stopped and she really was AWESOME!  Only one accident to date.   She seriously made it so easy.

And....she doesn't know it yet, but she will be getting a "I'm all potty trained" present.  Because, well, that really is a big deal.

Now, Dan.  What can I say?  He has been busy providing for our family and gearing up for his upcoming seven off where we may take a small, much needed, family trip. 

And there you have it.  A little of this and a little of that.

A glance

The past couple of weeks have felt super busy. (What's new.) I'm sure you all are feeling the same way. And that "busy-ness" has kept me away from the computer. So here's a glance at some of the happenings (in bullet points, no less).

• Dan reached his half way mark in school. Can you believe it? I sure can't. Time has flown by. And I am happy to report that Dan is LOVING Wyotech.
• While Dan has been doing the school thing, Alayna and I have been doing the Babysitting thing, among other things. But babysitting really does take up a lot of my week. I have had a little break for a few days, and I have to admit, I am LOVING spending one-on-one time all day long with my Layna. She is the best.
• When Alayna is down for a nap, after I have straightened the house, checked my email, and exercised, I have been crocheting. This new found hobby of mine really is quite addicting. I have been busy making baby hats and shoes. I promise to show off the fruits of my labor when I am done.
• On some of the mornings that I don't babysit, I have had a chance to help in my friend/former co-worker, Kathy's, kindergarten class. Oh, how I have missed teaching Kindergarten! But it has been wonderful to go and visit and re-live my Kindergarten teaching days. If there were two of me, you can bet that one of me would be teaching Kindergarten at Beitel and the other me would be staying at home with my little Layna.
• Prom was this last weekend in Laramie, and I was asked to be my little sister, Sarah's, hair dresser and makeup person. KaLee was my "assistant hair person" as she put it and also in charge of the manicure and pedicure. It was a blast. And I have to say, she looked stunning! Her hair was pretty darn awesome, if I do say so myself. In fact, I have decided that I will have to post pictures later so you can see the awesome-ness for yourself.
• One of the biggest changes recently is Dan was just made the 2nd counselor in the bishopric in our ward. I am now the single mother that has to fight to keep her child from running up to the stand to sit with her Daddy. You probably already know (because I have said it a million times), but Alayna is a BIG daddy's girl. I mean she love, love, loves her daddy. It was so sad to see her stand on my lap on Sunday and hold her arms out to Dan, saying in a very sad voice, "Dada. Dada." I have a feeling we will be out in the hall several times during Sacrament meeting for this first little while.
• I have a new (as of a few months ago) calling in our ward as the visiting teaching coordinator. I had no idea how much time goes into this calling. Especially in a transient ward like ours. This last week I made changes on visiting teaching routes since so many people were moving due to graduation. When all was said and done, we had to hand out 34 new visiting teaching routes.
• Mother's Day was fantastic! They just get better and better.

Sometimes it Stinks to be a Grown-up

Decisions.

They have to be made, but lets just face it. Sometimes they are hard. And not fun.

Dan and I have recently been in the decision making process.

After some thought and prayer, we have decided to go back to school. When I say we, I mean Dan.

He is enrolled in the WyoTech diesel program and is absolutely thrilled! It has been a dream of his to go to WyoTech and now it is coming true!

With this decision comes some bitter-sweet feelings. We have LOVED the people in Casper...especially the people in our ward. We have felt so welcome here. It will be sad to go, but we know that this is what we are supposed to do right now.

On the bright side, we get to be near family! There will be two new babies born while we are there and I am excited to play the role of Aunt.

So there you have it. You are now officially in the loop.

Dan starts Dec 28th (my b-day). Oh, did I mention we are moving in the middle of DECEMBER? By the time he finishes (in 9 months) I will be a pro at moving. Five times in two years.

By the way, does anyone want to contribute to our back to school fund? It is NOT cheap going back to school.

It Never Changes

While trying to accomplish one of my New Year's resolutions (learn a new hobby),

I have discovered the following characteristics of students within a few short minutes of attending my class:

The Know-it-all? check.

The Teacher's Pet? check.

The Class clown? check.

The I-Have-to-get-everything-perfect student? check

The-I-really-don't-want-to-be-here student? check.

And of course many others.

It never changes.

Why?

I don't know.

I was kindof hoping that this time when I went to class, it would be different.

I could really do without some of them.

But to my dismay, they were still there. (In all their glory)



And now, you are wondering...

Which category do I fall under?

Well, let's just say maybe I have a little bit of all of them in me at times.

That's not bad. Right?



I might as well face it.

What fun would any class be without them?