109 Days

Have no fear, I am still alive! In case you were wondering (Ericka) it has been 109 days since I have blogged. When life gets busy, blogging seems to be the first thing to go and boy has life been busy. Here is a quick recap of the past 109 days, give or take a few things, and hopefully I can stay on top of the blogging world from here on out!

A little hiking . . .

A trip home for . . .

going through the temple . . .

Tyrel and Chance's graduation . . .

Back to Utah for . . .

a little pretend skydiving with Melanie . . .
and before, after and in between all of that was the end of one school year, the start of another and plenty of friends, family and fun!

The End!!

All of the anticipation, waiting and hard work is over!

Although a couple of weeks late, here are a few highlights from my graduation!

If you look really closely you can see me:)

Proud Parents!

Love this one!

My favorite kid!

Soon it will be their turn!

Can't forget the great sister!

Go UTES!!!

Grandma and Grandpa!

Love my grandma!

Love them!

The best of friends!

The dignified graduate!

Reflection

*Disclaimer: This post will be cheesy and a little sentimental, but I deserve it and so do all of you!

After three and a half years, I have done it! On Friday I will walk in graduation at the University of Utah to receive my masters of education degree. As I was driving home from Ogden yesterday, I started to think about the past three and half years and all of the moments, experiences and people that have gotten me to this point. There were times when I really thought that I would never finish and times that I sincerely thought it would just be easier if I quit. However, during those times there was always someone to encourage me along and assure me that I would and could make it. So this week would not be complete without me having a chance to say a very deserving thank you to all of the people in my life who have helped me along the way, because if there is one thing that I have learned for sure from this experience, it's that I could not have done it alone!

* To my family (immediate and extended): There is absolutely no way I could have done this without you and even though I don't always say it, I do know it. Thank you for listening to me complain, being excited for me when I did well and always pushing me to be better.

*To my friends and co workers (whom I consider to be some of my best friends): Thank you for putting up with all my craziness, stressing and hectic schedule. Thank you for always listening to me whine and hearing me out on some of my crazy ideas. Thank you for celebrating my successes with me and calming me down when I would freak out (trust me, I know I did this)!

*To my school friends: I am so lucky to have gone through this experience (at least most of it) with such great girls who I am also very proud of. I am so lucky to be able to look back at this experience and have such great people in my memories.

* To all the kids I have taught over the past 3 years (even though I know they will never see this): Thank you for putting up with and unconditionally loving me as a teacher even when I was stressed, impatient and tired. Thank you for being my guinea pigs:) I hope I didn't mess you up too much!

There are so many people that have helped to make this possible for me and I can never thank any of you enough. This has been a dream of mine and I am so excited to see it come true. I truly do feel like I have grown more as a person in the last three years than I ever have before. I have learned and accomplished things that I never would have thought possible! I can't wait to put that cap, gown and hood on and walk across that stage! I am excited for what lies ahead for me, and NO it is not a doctorate!

Is there life without homework?

So as I am sitting here on a Saturday afternoon writing yet another paper and I can't help but wonder what my life will be like without homework. I am in my third year of teaching and about to finish my masters degree (26 days!!!!). I have realized that I do not know what it is like to teach full time and not go to school at the same time. What will it be like to not have to rush out of work, often leaving things undone, in order to get to class on time? What will it be like to not feel guilty for doing something I want to instead of homework? What will it be like to not constantly have the thought of what assignments or readings are due next in the back of my mind? What will it be like to be able to read something besides the readings assigned for class? What will it be like to eat dinner at a normal time instead of whenever I end up getting home from class or done with an assignment? I have realized that the answer to all of these questions is INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!

What I Love!!!!

So, I am starting to be harassed because it has been so long since I have blogged, so here it is. I thought in honor of this day of love, I would share what I love and what this day is all about, family and friends!

I love my great family, including grandmas, grandpa, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephew, etc. I sincerely could not imagine a better family and extended family than I have.

I love my incredible friends. Even if I don't see them or talk to them often, without a doubt I have the greatest friends!


*Disclaimer: If you're picture is not in this post, it is not because I don't love you, just that I don't have a lot of pictures on this computer and it would take way too long to put a picture of everybody that I love:)

I love you all and Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!

My Best Friend's Wedding (not the movie)!

Last Saturday was Jill and Spencer's wedding! I am so happy for both of them and feel very lucky to call them both my friends. Here are a few of the cute and crazy moments from that great day!

I have no idea who blew up all these balloons or what happened to them:)

I still claim to be completely innocent!
These shoes may look cute, but oh the pain they caused me (I am on the right).
SO HAPPY!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

So, I know that my birthday was a few weeks ago, but all of the great celebrations did not end until last week. I don't have pictures of them all, but it started out with celebrating with my family at home. It was so fun to see everyone. Thanks for helping me celebrate! Then I celebrated with my family in Ogden, which is always fun!

Round three was with my friends, and most importantly, combined with the Sugar Bowl. The night was made complete by an AMAZING win from the Utes!
Jill made me this way cute tile!

Jill and I make U of U bean dip for all of the Utah football parties!

Fun friends and Utah football, what more can I ask for!!!!!


The fourth and final round of the birthday celebrations was with the fun girls from work. We went to Desert Star Theater and saw "Home School Musical." It was hilarious!!! I am definitely going back to see more shows!

Home Sweet Home!

After a lot of hoping that the weather would cooperate, I made it home for Christmas break! Lucky for all of you, Santa was so kind and gave me a brand new pretty camera. I was so busy though, that I did not take too many pictures, which makes me sad, but here is what I did capture!




Since I only see Matthew a few times a year, I am
always so amazed at how much he has grown and this time was no different. I cannot believe how much he is talking. He makes me smile and laugh so much. I am the luckiest aunt ever!

What would Christmas vacation be without a little (or a lot) Guitar Hero!

Everybody always looks so serious when they are playing Guitar Hero!























This post would not be complete without mentioning the dog, Maggie. We all went and saw Marley and Me, which made us all love Maggie a little bit more!

Something is missing . . .

Well, as you can see from the picture there is something missing. Our beloved class fish, Phelps, passed away on Christmas! While, I am a little sad about it, and am not looking forward to telling my kids, there also has come a little relief. The kids loved him, but it was kind of a pain to make sure he was fed, his water got changed regularly and that he had a place to go when I was off track or out of town. So, my new motto is: NO MORE CLASS PETS!!!!!!!

This post is dedicated to Phelps the fish.
August 2008 - December 2008