2010 Goals + Wedding Stuff

This has been the first week back to school, and it has been a little hard to get back on schedule! I was used to staying up until midnight, and then sleeping in until noon! I must say, I do LOVE to be on a routine, so I am thankful that school started back up. This week has actually been SUPER in my classroom. I think that Santa sent me a new class back to school. All of my sweet babies have stayed on the "blue star"..which means nobody has gotten in trouble ONCE since we started. This is monumental! They have been so proud of themselves. I pray that this kind of behavior continues to the end of school!

I always hear of people who make their resolutions for the new year, and end up forgetting about them a week later. So, I always make goals for myself. I like the sound of goals better than resolutions. I figured that if I shared my goals with you on here, then they would most likely get accomplished..I expect some accountability! :) Here it goes...

*be a better Christian--I neglected God so much in 2009. I want to spend more GENUINE time with Him. I have worried so much about what other people think of me, when I need to start thinking about what God thinks of me, and how I am serving Him. I want to have a more intimate relationship with Him.
*be more healthy--I wouldn't mind losing some weight, but I really want to be more healthy.
*tell and show Ben how much I love and appreciate him daily.
*make time to sit and talk to Ben daily about his day--even if it is just 5 minutes!
*love on my family more!
*save more money--I buy so much junk that I do not need!
*give more--I want to give more love, more patience, more kindness, and more money to those in need.
*pray more often.
*learn to truly love myself.
*do more random acts of kindness--send random notes to people, pay for the person's food/drinks behind me in a drive through line...just be kind.
*take more pictures.
*blog more--this is hard for me, but I am going to try it!
*learn to knit--I have ALWAYS wanted to do this! Cute hats and scarves coming up!
*be more positive.
*read more--I LOVE to read, and I tend to forget to "make time" to just relax and curl up with a good book.
*be more appreciative.
*drink more water--I must step away from the Diet Coke!

Those are the goals I have come up with so far..I think that most of them are pretty reachable!

Ok...so for wedding stuff....I have A LOT done! I am so glad that he proposed while we were on a break! I was able to get a lot done, and hopefully, I won't stress as much now. I have gotten my dress, talked to Whitney Owen about our invitations and all that jazz, bought some decor, come up with guest lists, found super awesome photographers--Rocky and Sara (Thornhill) Garza, and printed off tons of pictures for ideas! Our colors are going to be a real light blue, red, and different shades of pink. The wedding will be June 26th at 7.30 in the evening. We are going to try to get married in my parent's backyard. It is just gorgeous, and I would LOVE to have an outdoor wedding--just pray the weather cooperates! It is going to be SUPER relaxed and casual...very vintage retro. Here are some of our inspiration pictures...

Those are just a few pictures that I fell in love with when I saw them. Lastly...here is a picture of my dress! I absolutely love it! I couldn't have found a better dress.

I hope that everyone has had a great start to 2010! Can't wait to start a brand new adventure this year!

Saying "bye" to 2009!

This has definitely been one of the roughest years of my life, but it has also been one of the best years.

I worked so very hard the past two years of college. I was on the Dean's list and the President's list all semesters. My life consisted of going to school, going home, working on school stuff, and going to bed. All of that studying and working paid off this past May when I graduated from LCU. I made the most of my student teaching assignments. I was at a GREAT school, with great teachers, and I was very blessed by everything that happened those 12 weeks at Cooper-West.

Summer came, and I was introduced to a guy that turned out to be the love of my life. The past 6 months have been the best of my life with Ben. I cannot wait until June 26th when I can actually call him my husband.

I worked hard, graduated, met my future husband, landed my first "real" job, lost my Gram, and now I'm planning a wedding.

The thing that hit me hardest this year was losing Gram. She was such an awesome lady, and losing someone unexpectedly is so hard. I think about her often, and I think about what she is doing in Heaven. She reminds me that life is short, and we have no guarantee of when we will go. One of my goals for this next year is to love people more. She inspired this goal because she loved anyone and everyone.

I honestly can't belive 2009 is over, but I am so ready for 2010! Bring it on!

Going to the chapel...

This is going to be a SUPER quick post! But, I wanted to share the news with everyone!! Ben and I are engaged! He proposed yesterday out in the snow...which was perfect! I will blog later about the whole proposal, but I don't have time to right now! The whole proposal process took over an hour...so I will give more details later! We are so excited, and are planning on getting married June 26th! So, be ready to read all about the wedding planning in the next few months...

Crazy Week

This past week was crazy! The last week of school was good, but a little chaotic. The kids were so hyped up! It was definitely time for a break! We went on a field trip to the movies on Tuesday, had The Polar Express day on Wednesday, and had our class party on Friday. I wasn't able to go to the party because Ben and I left Friday afternoon for San Angelo to go to his sister's wedding.

We had a blast at his sister's wedding! Everything went perfect! The wedding was great, the cake was great, the decor was great, and the couple looked great! I got to meet a lot of Ben's mom's side of the family, which was awesome. I took my camera to the wedding, but it was dead when I tried to turn it on. So, I am borrowing this snapshot of Ben and me from his Dad. This was taken right after the reception was over.

We came back to Snyder on Sunday afternoon. Before we left San Angelo, we went by a house to look at two dogs. Their owner passed away from Cancer earlier this month, and they needed a good place to live. Ben and I had talked about getting dogs before, but we found these girls and thought they might be for us. We brought them home with us Sunday evening, and they have been absolutely PERFECT!! They are labs that are 5 years old, and they are sisters! So..meet Choca (chocolate one) and Sophie (black one).

Fun Times

This month has already been full of so many fun times!

This week and next week, we are doing Christmas themed activities at school. I decided to turn this little nook in the corner of our room (that usually acts as our "home center") into a living room/library. I used some mini furniture that was already in our room, and I put up a class Christmas tree, and I made a "fireplace" for the kids to read by. This is how it all turned out. They LOVE to sit by the "fire" and read their books to each other! :)

I have also had the priviledge to lead an 8th grade girls bible study, or 180 group, this year. We meet at a "host home" and have dinner and do a bible study lesson. I lead this group with my friend Sarah, and I know that we both have laughed so hard every Wednesday night, and we have had so much fun getting to know these girls. We get to go watch them play their sports, listen to their band/choir concerts, and just hang out and talk about boys! I am so thankful that I get to hangout with these girls every week. They are all so unique and interesting. It is so fun to watch them all grow in their relationships with Christ.

We had our 180 Christmas party last night. We had dinner and then everyone brought a gift so we could do a fun exchange. A lot of my girls think that my brother, who is a sophomore in high school, is just too cute, so I thought it would be interesting to put a picture of my brother with my gift to see what would happen. The girls went crazy when they saw it! Here are some fun pictures from last night...

Kelsi loved the picture of Hunter that was attached to my gift!

Here she is pleading with someone not to "steal" her awesome gift....and her picture of my brother!

I am already excited about blogging next week! Next week is going to be CRAZY fun....class field trip to the movies, Polar Express day, Christmas parties, and Ben's sister is getting married next weekend. Many more pictures to come...

Stone Soup

This post is a little behind, but last Tuesday, we made our own version of Stone Soup. We read the book, and made a list of things we wanted to put in it. On Tuesday morning, we put all of our ingredients into my crockpot, and by lunch, we were able to have a big feast in our classroom. I also made us some grilled cheese sandwiches! We made some glittery feather headbands--a newer version of the Native American headbands they wore at the first Thanksgiving! :) We had so much fun. Here is one of the sweetest pictures of my kids. This was right before we ate our meal together, and we were praying to bless our food.

Thankful

think that this Thanksgiving has been the best one yet. As I have gotten older, I have realized how much I am thankful for everything in my life. I really think that this past year has opened my eyes to see how thankful I should be. My sweet students and their families have really shown me that you do not have to have much to be happy or to be loved.

I am so thankful that I serve a God who is all knowing and who can handle anything and everything. I am so thankful that He has a plan for me and for you, and it is only for the best. Without Him..I am nothing. God has given me so many blessings, and I am forever grateful.

I am thankful for my awesome and amazing family. They are so special to me. We are all best friends, and can hang out forever and not get tired of each other. We have a special bond, and we always will. They have all taught me so much. My parents and grandparents have been extraordinary role models for me and my siblings. They have taught us morals and how to respect others. I am so incredibly thankful for such a loving family.

I am also thankful for Ben. Since we met, I have had a new outlook on life and love. We went through a lot together, and I believe that if we could get through that, we can get through anything together. He is such an amazing Christian man who challenges me to be a better person everyday. He is so incredibly sweet and puts up with me everyday. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for us...