Last weekend was filled with little moments of joy. Those moments include eating gelato from our favorite Italian place on Center Street, having family dinner with my siblings on Sunday, and getting a reassuring priesthood blessing from my sweet husband. Tomorrow the school week is halfway over and I'm so looking forward to the Labor Day long weekend to relax and recharge my batteries. I finally get some togetherness time with my hubs and a fun ward camping trip in store.

Travis has officially moved back to Provo and Paigey is still camping out in our living room so it has been so fun having family time. The other night we had taco night at our place and then Trav brought Krispy Kremes for dessert.

Yesterday night we met at Jdawgs for dinner with our friends and family and then played Just Dance on the Wii

Such a fun night and many more months of family togetherness. Nothing better!

Jesse's been at home for the week and my sister came up to be his substitute, but no one can calm me down quite like my hubs. Whether it's taking on extra responsibilities like dishes and laundry or just reassuring me that I can do things. Boy oh boy could I use him right about now with either of those things. . . both preferably. For now a hot bubble bath and a good book will have to be my therapy tonight. Teaching is crazy and my brain is going in 500 different directions at lightning speeds. I can't wait until the year starts to progress and things start to normal out and my head doesn't feel like it's going to explode everyday. I have a new found appreciation for teachers and all that they do. Especially all the time, effort, and money they sacrifice for us.

Jesse takes doing the dishes very seriously as you can tell by his soccer attire and gloves. Hard core!

Talk about a complete whirlwind lately! My life is insane. I've been at teacher training all week and feel like I've barely had time at home with my family. I'm trying to take it one day at a time, but having no prep time is so overwhelming. I have been through a roller-coaster of emotions and am finally getting it together just in time to start my classes Monday. My co-workers have been so understanding and helpful and that has made me feel more at ease. Slowly I'm hoping I'll get the hang of being able to cook and clean and teach because right now I'm slacking in that area since the majority of my days and evenings are spent at the school. On a lighter note my mom and sister have been in town, which has helped to keep me sane. My simple pleasures from last week were seeing The Help, continuing to read The Power of One, my mint green Essie nail polish, and soaking up my last few days of free time before my career started. I know I'll be treasuring those little things with minimal time to myself in the future. Tonight I'm taking the whole night off to relax and sleep in and then tomorrow marks a full day of shopping for supplies and lesson planning.

At Bridal Veil Falls with my mom and sister

I did it! I interviewed and was offered a full time teaching position at Reagan Academy in Springville. I will be teaching math and language arts to second and fourth graders. I am definitely intimidated by the position mostly for the fact that teachers get a whole summer to prepare for the school year and I am getting one week. Needless to say I am already a stress case, but definitely feel blessed because I know how hard it is to get a teaching job right now. Monday starts my week of teacher training, so this weekend is my last weekend without having teaching responsibilities. Knowing that, Jesse and I took our time to enjoy being outdoors. Friday we ate at Jdawgs and then hiked to the grotto in Payson. Today we went to the Hogle Zoo and then took the scenic route home through Big Cottonwood Canyon, which is on my list for most beautiful drives. Holy Cow it was gorgeous with majestic rock faces and hundreds of thousands of pine trees. We found a secluded lake and witnessed a ginormous moose bathing in it. It has been an incredible weekend and I know my weekends will be more stressful and busy in the future, but I'm going to make a promise to myself that I will take time to do one thing a weekend that will slow down my pace so I can enjoy my "me-time" and time with the hubs. I don't think I'll survive without it.

My favorite zoo creature:

I couldn't stop laughing when Jesse climbed into this turtle shell. He looked like a real turtle.
The Grotto

Hold on to your horses...it's gonna be a crazy year and we'll see where it takes us.

Jesse's classes are finally over for the semester and to celebrate we went to Awful Waffle for brunch and it may just have jumped up the chart to one of our favorite local places to eat in town. Obviously Jdawgs is our number one and this has become our number two. Both are right by campus and really cheap. Tonight I just might be going to see The Help if I can convince myself to pay full price for a movie. Lots of changes are in store for us in the near future and we are excited to see where they take us!

My go-to hair style these days. Finally a hair style that takes no time at all and works awesome with my curls.

This weekend has been perfection. Yesterday we went to dinner and then attended the rooftop concert series and got to enjoy a night under the stars with amazing musical talent to entertain us. Today I made a delicious lunch and packed it in the picnic basket and we took a drive up American Fork Canyon to the lake. This spot is my favorite in Utah and it is absolutely breathtaking. I would love to build a cabin right on this lake and enjoy every summer here. We soaked up the sun, ate, read, fished, and enjoyed mother nature at its finest. Now we are off to play laser tag with our friends to end the night and tomorrow we are having a potluck dinner with our friends that are back in town.

Just Call Me Betty Crocker

This week I've been challenging myself in the kitchen and it has been a success. I made our favorite pear and Gorgonzola pizza. With the leftover dough from that I made homemade cinnamon rolls. Making cinnamon rolls has always intimidated me, but I conquered my fear and boy were they delicious, and with Jesse helping me roll out the dough it was a fun experiment for us. Tonight on the menu I'm attempting a new recipe for white chicken chili with corn bread. Sounds amazing and hopefully turns out that way. Maybe a yummy cinnamon roll for dessert. The fruits of my labor in the kitchen are sweet this week! I'm so proud of myself and my confidence in the kitchen has definitely been boosted.

Jesse ruptured his eardrum wake boarding last week and has been talking super softly ever since because he can't hear his own voice. He is legally blind and now deaf in one ear...am I married to an 80 year old man? I think so! Other than that mishap we are dealing with, life is great. Jesse has finals next week and that means our summer is officially coming to an end, but we have definitely enjoyed our time together, which a majority of it has been spent watching Swamp People and eating at our favorite shaved ice shack. So it looks like we will have to be squeezing in the last activities on our summer bucket list.