The Russell Family

Family Pictures 2011

2012-01-05T20:27:00.000-08:00

My friend Chelsea MacDonnell Fullmer took our family pictures last minute. She even did 2 photo shoots because the weather was very cold and windy during the first one and her camera stopped working. I'm glad it did because looking back at the outfit I chose for the 1st one, it wasn't such a great choice. It is CRAZY to look back at this family picture compared to our family picture when Rylee was a newborn. Just to prove it, I have included one of those pictures at the bottom of the page.

8 Months

2011-12-19T11:40:00.001-08:00

I am very anxious for her 9 month checkup to see how much she has grown. She now can barely fit into 12 month clothes, at least the onsies. She is in 18 month pajamas. She loves to laugh and giggle all of the time. She likes to hear the sound of her voice and will just yell and scream to hear herself. We are really looking forward to having Rylee's first Christmas. Here are a few pictures right after we put up the tree. She loved it!

7 Months

2011-11-26T11:28:00.000-08:00

Not much has really changed since last month. Rylee started eating some puff cereal every now and again. She didn't really like it at first, but now she does. When we go out to eat she likes to play with and try and drink from straws. She is really excited for Thanksgiving. At the last Dr. appt, our pediatrician said, "Don't let any old people sneak her food" haha! I guess she is still on a strict diet of baby food and formula for now. At least until her 9 month checkup in January. It was so nice to get a whole week off with her for Thanksgiving. She has so much more personality now. She is a blast to play with! Here are some pictures from her 7th month.

Izabell Joy Stapleton is Here!!!!

2011-11-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

My sister had her baby on November 2nd. Her name is Izabell Joy Stapleton. Isn't she beautiful!? We love her already. Rylee can't wait to get her hands on her new little cousin.

6 Months

2011-10-20T11:20:00.000-07:00

Rylee is 6 months old! 18lbs 13.5oz, 27.5 in in length, 44.5 cm head circumference. 95th percentile in all! She was such a good girl! Rylee is now eating solid foods. We started with the green veggies. This is her eating some peas. She likes eating with a spoon. Grandpa is trying to teach her to use it herself. At 6 months she is rolling even more. She can start to sit by herself. She loves to play with her toys. She is getting into more things and I'm sure we will have to baby proof soon. Here are some pictures of Rylee at 6 months.

5 Months.... ALREADY?!?

2011-09-11T16:15:00.000-07:00

Wow! Ok, I am VERY sorry I haven't posted more. If you are my friend on Facebook, you see plenty of pictures because I can easily post from my phone. However I have totally forgotten about the blogging world lately. This past week, Rylee celebrated 5 months! I know people said it would go by so fast but they didn't say it would be lightning speed. She has 2 teeth that are very prominent. This means that EVERYTHING goes in the mouth for her to chew on. Her pacifiers are often turned on their side so she can chew on the plastic. She has teething chew rings and other things but she doesn't like them as much. Her favorite thing to chew on is her burp cloth or the ribbon of her paci clip. She is rolling around alot. She has a play mat with toys that hang over her and she really likes playing with that. You have to be careful because she will roll right off of things if you aren't there to catch her. She is still only on formula. Our pediatrician was pretty adamant about keeping her on formula until 6 months. Some studies show that feeding solids too early leads to obesity and our family history and her advanced size already, we aren't taking any chances. She is very curious though when she sees adults eating. She will stare and even sometimes move her mouth when you do. She is becoming more brave with her surroundings. She will reach and grab for things, especially faces. She loves to grab your nose, so watch out. Her nails grow like crazy so sometimes she can scratch herself and you pretty badly. We have to cut them more often now. She is in a 6-9 month set of clothes. She is so long that often the 6 month aren't long enough so we have her in 9 month onsies. She is still such a joy to be around. She sleeps through the night and loves playing with her daddy during the day. She is a cutie patootie!

Happy Birthday Evan

2011-09-10T22:00:00.000-07:00

Evan turned 29 today. I have loved getting to celebrate birthdays with him. This year was kindof low key, but we still had fun. I hope you had a wonderful birthday papa bear!

Rylee is four months old!!

2011-08-10T18:22:00.000-07:00

Rylee had her 4 month checkup today. She weighs 15 lb 10 oz, which is the 95th percentile. She is 26 inches long, which is also the 95th percentile. To our amazement, she has also started to have a tooth break through the surface of her gums!! She got her 4 month shots today, and she only cried for a minute, then she was fine. She also has started blowing bubbles, to which the doctor said was advanced for a 4 month old. Because of her height and weight, she has been wearing 6 mo or 6-9 mo clothes. She eats 4-6 oz every 3-4 hours. She is rolling over more often and has great neck control. She can hold her neck for longer periods of time. She still takes about 4 naps per day, and is sleeping between 8 and 9 hours every night!! She still enjoys naps and swimming in the pool. This Friday, she will meet Uncle Coulter when he flies in from his mission! She loves to grab things, especially her binky. She has seen a few Baby Einstein videos and seems to enjoy them. Overall, Rylee is doing wonderfully, and we could not ask for a better baby. We are excited to see what each new day brings!!

4th of July

2011-08-02T11:40:00.000-07:00

We were able to drive up to Stillwater to celebrate the 4th of July this year. Rachel, Evan's sister, flew in from Utah to see all of the new babies. It was great to have everyone together. We went to several places in Edmond and Stillwater. Everyone was over on Sunday for a large meal. Rylee loves visiting her family in Oklahoma!

3 Months

2011-07-07T22:09:00.000-07:00

Rylee turned 3 months old today! Here is Rylee with her "grow with me" blocks that I recently made for her.

Here are a few things about Rylee at 3 months old:

*Rylee coos and makes sounds quite often now. We swear we have heard her say "hello" and "momma" but we think they might just be coos that sound like the words.

*Rylee LOVES to stick her fist in her mouth and we think she might be teething sooner than later.

*Rylee was put on a diet by the pediatrician and has adjusted well to cutting her feedings back from every 2 hours to every 3 hours. She still has alot of gas and is working on getting her digestive system to work correctly.

*Rylee doesn't quite enjoy tummy time yet, but she is working up to it.

*Rylee LOVES her baths and likes to splash daddy by kicking her feet in the water.

*Rylee is wearing 3-6 month clothes. She has been sleeping in a onesie instead of her PJ's because she naturally sweats alot. She is enjoying her new swaddler we got her and she likes to sleep in it.

*During her 3rd month, she took 3 road trips. 2 to Oklahoma and 1 to Tyler.

*Rylee sleeps anywhere from 8-10 hours at night time and takes quite a few naps during the day. She is a good sleeper!

*She is adjusting well to her car seat and doesn't cry as much when she begins her journeys.

Overall, she is a happy baby and we are just trying to soak up every moment!

Summer Crafts

2011-06-24T03:58:00.000-07:00

I love summer time because I actually have the time to try out new crafts and do things that are fun and entertaining for me. The down side is that they usually cost money, but sometimes I can make do with what I already have. My friend Allie gave me the idea for these "Grow With Me" blocks. These were great because I already had all of the materials and just needed to purchase the wood. You can use these to place in your baby's/child's pictures to watch them grow. You can also use these if you are pregnant to document your belly bump progress week by week. I am excited to start taking Rylee's picture with hers each month to see her grow! I think these would make a fun addition to a baby shower gift as well. Let me know if you would like some and we can decide on a fair price. :)

Rylee's pacifier clip has seen better days. I wasn't too thrilled with the other patterns at the store so I made these! I already had the clips from attempting to make hair bows (I'm not too good at that). These are simple and cheaper to make than buy at the store.

2nd Wedding Anniversary

2011-06-20T14:23:00.000-07:00

Today is our 2nd Wedding Anniversary. Our 2nd year will definitely be remembered as the year that we had our first child, Rylee! We started the day with a nice breakfast at Our Place in Mansfield. It is SO good. We then took Rylee and the dogs to the dog park for some nice family time. That evening my parents watched Rylee. We went to Olive Garden for dinner and went to see The Green Lantern. It was a nice relaxed Anniversary. During dinner we reminisced over the fun times we had this past year. We also set some goals for the upcoming year. Some of our goals include: 1) Growing spiritually and attempting to attend the temple at least once every 2 months. 2) Sticking to our budget and finding was to save money. 3)Take a family vacation each summer, either near or far. We talked about how we won't really remember the stuff we buy, but we will remember the memories we create on vacations. Therefore we planned to try and go out to California next summer! Our hope is that Jill, Evan's sister, and her family will be relocated to California by next summer and we will get to visit them. Overall, our marriage has definitely been strengthened this year. I think having a child definitely tests you and can bring you closer together when you work as a team. We look forward to many more years! :)

2 Months!

2011-06-08T12:11:00.000-07:00

Rylee is now 2 months old! She had her 2 month checkup today. She is 12.4 lbs (80th percentile), 24 inches (95th percentile), and her head circumference was 15 3/4 (80th percentile). She is doing great developmentally. She can be soothed by holding her. She can almost roll over from her tummy to her back by herself. She can hold her head away from the ground or your shoulder. Her reflexes are great too! She has been overeating a little so we need to cut back an ounce at each feeding. (probably my fault because I wasn't sure how much she was getting from me) Things we have noticed in the past month. She is growing like a weed!!! When we looked at her chart at the doctors office, the curve was huge! We were so concerned that first month that she wasn't growing like she should. To give you a comparison, her head circumference was in the 10th percentile at her 1 month check up! That brain is GROWING! She still prefers to sleep on her side. She is having regular poopy diapers (which we were worried about). She is starting to like her swing more now that she can see the rotating birds above her. She has spent the night twice at Nana's house with grandpa watching her. She sleeps between 7-8 hours straight through the night with at least 2 long naps during the day. She is going on her first road trip this weekend to Stillwater and OKC to visit family for Baby Oliver's blessing. We just feel so blessed to have her in our lives!

Goodbye to Room 28

2011-06-03T07:35:00.000-07:00

Before I had Rylee, before we bought our house, before I met and married Evan, I moved in to room 28 at Otis Brown Elementary. Room 28 has been my home away from home for 3 years now. Recently, our district re-drew the boundary lines for the elementary schools. Due to this, my school is loosing about 2 teachers per grade level. While on maternity leave, I got a call from my principal. He was almost crying and said he had some bad news. I had to leave. I am getting moved to another school. I took the news rather well. I feel VERY VERY blessed to still have a job when so many others do not. As I came back to work after my leave, I kept my optimism, until yesterday. Yesterday was my last day with my kids. Each year, I think, "oh I will see them again next year in the halls and stuff". No more of that. Each year I say goodbye to coworkers thinking, "we will keep in touch and I will see them again next year". No more of that either. I realize that Heavenly Father has a plan for me and I need to be faithful. As for now, I am assigned to another elementary school teaching 1st grade instead of 2nd. This school is an extra 20 minutes north of my house which means my commute, with traffic, will be over an hour now. That means over 2 hours of my day will be spent in the car away from Rylee. There was a bright glimmer of hope in the 3 counseling interviews I had within a week. But that glimmer burned out when all 3 called to say they had chosen someone else. Like I said, I know there is a plan for me, and I am trying my best to just forget about work and start my summer with my family. As I say goodbye to room 28, I reminisce over the fun and hard times I have had. Goodbye Brown Elementary and goodbye to room 28.

Newborn Pictures!

2011-05-13T10:46:00.001-07:00

We are VERY fortunate to have a friend like Jenny Rossi who is an amazing photographer. She took our engagement pictures and wedding pictures so it only seemed fitting to have her do Rylee's newborn pics. We flew her down Easter weekend so that she could be with her family, take pics of another friend's reception, and take Rylee's pics. It worked out so well! I never realized how much hard work it would be taking a newborn's pictures. We literally spent almost 20 minutes in between pictures trying to get her to fall asleep again for the next picture. By the end though, she was sound asleep. I had a hard time picking which ones I wanted on her announcement. Scroll to the bottom and you can see a preview of what is coming in the mail soon! :)

Blessing Day

2011-05-13T10:30:00.000-07:00

On Mother's Day, May 8th, Rylee was blessed at our church. We belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We believe in baptising a child when they reach the age of 8. When a baby is born, they are given a blessing that is similar to a prayer circle. My mom, dad, grandma, and sister came to witness it. I was so glad that they could come! My friends, Amanda Churak, Johnnie and Glade Smith, and Elizabeth and Sam Akinaka came too! We also had Evan's good friend Josh Wray in town visiting and he got to participate in the blessing as well which was really special for Evan. Evan was a little nervous giving the prayer, but he did a great job! I am very blessed to have such a wonderful husband who is worthy to bless our little girl. Afterwards we went to celebrate Mother's Day with my family and had a good time. Overall it was a wonderful day!

1 Month Already?

2011-05-06T10:40:00.000-07:00

Today was Rylee's 1 month checkup and tomorrow she is official 1 month old! I can not believe how fast time goes by. I like how some of my friends keep updates on how their babies are progressing so I plan on doing the same with each month. Here are a few things Rylee is doing:

*Rylee is both breastfeeding and bottle feeding now. We were worried about her weight gain and so we have been introducing formula slowly. Breastfeeding has gotten better and more enjoyable for the both of us.

*Rylee was sleeping through the night but we had to wake her up to feed her every 2 hours to gain weight, so now she is in a pattern of waking up and will wake herself up every 3 hours or so. She will sleep in her crib or pack and play for the 1st 3 hours but once we get her up to feed her she will not go back down in the crib and will end up in her bouncer for the rest of the evening. We are slowly trying to get her out of this habit.

*We spend 10-15 minutes of tummy time a day. She has really gotten to like it and will usually fall asleep after 10 minutes at which point I will roll her over and she takes a short nap.

*She has gained a whole pound in the past 2 weeks! We were really worried about her weight at first. She was born 7lbs 11oz but lost a whole pound in the first 4 days. She was up to 7lbs 7oz at her 2 week checkup and is now 8lbs 7 oz. They didn't measure her today but at her 2 week checkup she had grown an inch.

*She is almost too long for the newborn clothes but the 0-3 month clothes almost drown her. We are trying to figure out different outfits she can fit in, but we usually have a habit of wearing some of the same things over and over.

*She is VERY alert and usually has her eyes wide open trying to take in the world. She loves to look at lights and can usually be calmed down by being cuddled closely while talking and looking into her eyes.

*Her baby blessing at church is this Sunday and I will make a new post with pictures then.

Overall, Rylee is a wonderful baby and we couldn't feel more blessed. When we can figure out what she wants, she is almost always content and happy. We love our little girl!

Rylee's First Sunday

2011-05-01T19:44:00.000-07:00

To tell the truth, I was dreading going back to church today. I personally thought it was too soon, but Evan was determined to make it back to church. He teaches a primary class and has missed alot (since we were out the Sunday before Rylee was born too). It couldn't have gone any better today! On the car ride to church, Rylee was NOT happy that she was in her car seat. When we got there, I quickly fed her and she seemed to do fine! She was awake and alert through the whole sacrament meeting and did not really fuss once. She did fuss right after sacrament so I took her to the car to change and feed her. (Side note: The reason I took her to the car is that I am not too comfortable feeding her in public just yet and the mothers lounge and bathrooms were packed and it is almost impossible to find an empty classroom because our ward is so big) We spent most of the second hour of church in the car and then made our way back in the building for relief society. She was awake for a little while and then napped through the rest of the meeting. I had planned on keeping her in the car seat so others would "look and not touch", just because she is still so small at only 3 weeks, but she really wanted out so I held her for most of the 3 hours of church. Needless to say, my arm was hurting. I guess it takes some getting used to. I really really enjoyed the relief society lesson today about making sure that your "links" in your chain are strong enough to keep you anchored to where you need to be. I really need to be better about personal prayer and scripture study. Evan and I pray together, but I sometimes forget that I need to take the time to physically kneel and pray. Well, here are the pictures from before church today. I didn't realize it would be FREEZING cold outside when I dressed her today. We made good use of the blankets that were in the car and car seat.

Rylee is here!

2011-04-12T12:14:00.000-07:00

Rylee is now almost 5 days old and it seems like she has been around forever! It has been an interesting 5 days. She was delivered at 11:37pm on Thursday. We got to our postpartum room at around 2:30 am that evening. I made Evan go home to get some good rest. I had lost alot of blood and had to be given some morphine so I was literally shaking for about an hour after the delivery. The nurses took Rylee to the nursery for an hour after we got to the room. They brought her back because she was fussy and needed to eat. She started to eat but then fell right to sleep. So I laid and held her for the next few hours just staring at her. She is so beautiful!! I was not expecting a full head of dark brown hair. She is basically Evan's clone with my nose. However she has my personality. She is extremly stubborn! She wants to do things when she wants to do them. She is a very good baby though. She does not cry much. We have had alot of visitors and have been blessed with so much help! My best friend Johnnie stayed with us our first night home from the hospital on Saturday to help. It was so nice having her here! We haven't had to cook one meal so far because of friend's and family which has been very nice. Rylee has been having a hard time eating, which has caused her bilirubin levels to go up which causes jaundice. At her pediatrician appt on Monday her level was 22. Because of her levels being so high, they had to order an at home phototherapy crib. I didn't realize how hard this would be on Evan and I. Basically she has to lay only with a diaper in this baby tanning bed at all times unless she is being fed. Even when she is being fed there is a pad that goes on her back that lets off light. Fortunately, at today's appt her levels dropped to 15! We can take her off of the lights at 10pm tonight. Our friend Matt came over last night to help Evan give Rylee a blessing. I truly think Heavenly Father helped her improve so quickly. Yesterday was one of the hardest days I have ever been through. Not only were her bilirubin levels high, but she had lost 11oz of weight and she was vomiting. We felt SO much better after today's dr. appt where they said she looked much better and she gained 3 oz of weight in 24 hours! We are completely in love with our little girl. She truly is a gift that we cherish every day.

Labor and Delivery

2011-04-12T11:40:00.001-07:00

Warning: Don't read this post if you don't want to know the details of Rylee's delivery.

That being said, I feel very blessed to have been able to carry Rylee with little to no complications and to have had a relatively normal delivery. About 3 weeks prior to Rylee's due date (4/11/11), we decided that we were going to induce her a few days early. We made this decision because she was projected to be a big baby and I did not want a greater chance of having to have an emergency c-section. Also, our doctor was going to be out of town and I did not want to have the doctor that would be on call that weekend. That being said, we did have to spend more time preparing for labor than I thought we would have. We checked into Mansfield Methodist on Wednesday at 6pm. I was given a cytotec pill to "ripen my cervix" at 7pm. At 11pm I was still dilated to 1cm so they gave me another. The pill seemed to be softening and thinning my cervix but not dilating it. At 4am they wanted to give me a 3rd pill, however my contractions were 1-2 minutes apart and they needed to slow down my contractions to give me the pill. So they started an IV drip to slow contractions. They gave me the 3rd pill at 7am and things started to slowly progress. By 11 am, I was feeling pretty heavy contractions and was in some pain. My doctor came at 11:30 and broke my water. The anesthesiologist came at 12 to give me the epidural. At 12:30 they started the pitocin to induce my labor. At around 4pm, I started to feel some isolated pain on my lower left abdomen that would just not go away. The anesthesiologist gave me a small dose of pain medicine but it didn't really help. At about 7pm I was only dilated to 7cm. We started to worry that I wouldn't make enough substantial progress to deliver and would maybe need to consider a c-section. Little did I know that the pitocin was just waiting to kick in. From 10pm-11pm I went from 7 to 9 1/2 cm. By 11pm I was having quite a bit of back labor. I told the nurse that she better get ready because I was going to push Rylee out. She said I needed to wait 30 min for the last 1/2 cm of cervix to dilate. By that time I was folded over on my side crying and she said "You better get your game face on because this is what labor is like". Needless to say she was kindof a rough nurse. I told her she better check me again because I just made it dilate. She checked and sure enough, Rylee was on her way out! She called my doctor (who had left because I was taking so long) and my doctor basically was running in as Rylee was going to come out. I had to push around 7 or 8 times and there she was! My dr had to preform an episiotomy and give me 3 stitches. One of the most painful parts was when she was trying to get my placenta out. It had torn into 3 pieces and she had to basically dig her hand around my uterus to get it out. (sorry for the graphic) That part seemed like it took forever! Meanwhile Evan was helping clean off Rylee and get her ready to meet the world. Rylee Erin Russell was born at 11:37pm on 4/7/11. She weighed 7 lbs 11 oz and was 21 inches long. She was born with a full head of dark brown hair and the chubbiest cheeks! We are in love.

Getting ready to get into bed for the next 30 hours.

Amanda came to visit me

This picture was taken around 10:30pm, about an hour before she was born. Evan is holding my hand and helping me through the contractions while my mom feeds me ice chips.

Rylee is finally here!

Look at my chubby cheeks!

Nanny's Birthday

2011-03-20T09:07:00.001-07:00

Thursday, March 18th was Nanny's 80th birthday! Nanny is my (Shelbee's) dad's mom. When we were kids, my sister and I would spend a few weeks each summer at Nanny's house in Tulsa. When my grandpa died in 2004, Nanny came to live with my parents in Duncanville. She has been a big blessing to my family. About a week before her birthday, she had a health scare where she thought she was literally dying. She came out of the bathroom and passed out in my sister's arms. I am so grateful my sister was there because Nanny would have really hurt herself if she would have fallen on the tile. She spent 3 days at Charleton Hospital. They said that it looked like her new prescription medication, mixed with cold medicine, had caused some pretty bad heart arrhythmia's. Luckily, Nanny got through it and she says she is feeling better. I am very grateful for Nanny and all she has done for me and my family over the years. Happy 80th Birthday Nanny!!

26th Birthday!

2011-03-06T18:49:00.001-08:00

Friday was my 26th birthday! I had a great birthday weekend. Evan did a spectacular job of keeping me entertained and well fed. Friday started with me waking up to birthday streamers and a table full of some of my favorite goodies. We got to work and my secret pal had a gift waiting for me. On our birthday, our team buys us lunch and everyone eats together. We ordered some Mr. Jim's pizza. At about 1:00, our office attendance clerk brought in a box of beautiful flowers. (Ps. This is the first time Evan has gotten me real flowers. I have gotten artificial flowers, fruit flowers, and even paper towel flowers).

After work, I went home and took a quick nap (I have been so exauhsted in this last part of my pregnancy) and then woke up and we met my best friend Amanda Churak at Red Robin for a free birthday burger. It was a great birthday!

Saturday was a PTA fundraiser called "Jam the Gym" where teachers play basketball against each other. Here is Evan and his coworker Richard after the game. It was alot of fun.

We came home, I took another nap, we did a little shopping and then headed to Dallas. We had dinner at Uncle Julios and then came the big surprise! Evan's birthday present to me was a night stay at the Renaissance Hotel in Downtown Dallas. Our room was on the 24th floor and had a great view. This picture was taken on the roof by the pool. Our stay was complete with 2 breakfast buffets that were oh so yummy. Rylee was definately well fed. Sunday night was my family's birthday dinner at BJ's. The service was awful but we still had a great time. Overall, it was a very nice birthday. Evan did alot to make it extra special. I am very blessed to have him as a husband. :)

Rylee's Room

2011-03-06T14:48:00.001-08:00

Well, I finally put some of the finishing touches on Rylee's room last weekend before the shower. Here are pictures. I'm still thinking the wall with the bows needs something else, but I haven't quite decided what. I'm open for suggestions.

4 Snow Days!

2011-02-04T09:03:00.000-08:00

Snow Day #1- Tuesday Feb 1st, 2011
We were so excited to find out that we had no work on Tuesday. Evan and I have been into watching episodes of LOST on Netflix. We spent most of Tuesday watching LOST with the puggles. Here you can see the puggles enjoying watching it too. Also, Evan kept Bella warm inside his jacket, while pretending to be pregnant with her. He said he is practicing for the big day.

Snow Day #2- Wednesday Feb 2nd, 2011

Snow day #2 began with a cleaning spree. When we were done, around 11am, we looked at each other and said "whats next?". We watched some more LOST and decided to order some pizza for dinner. Coincidentally, our friends Matt and Jenni Herzberg also wanted pizza, so we decided to venture out to their house about 2 miles away. I made cookies and we stopped at redbox to rent "The Social Network". It was fun to get out of the house and talk with other people.

Snow Day #3- Thursday Feb 3rd, 2011

Thursday we spent the day watching more LOST. Evan played some video games for a while while I did some lesson plans for work. Thursday night we found out we didn't have work again Friday and both of our schools had been canceled as well. We decided to go ahead and have date night on Thursday so we could actually get dressed and get out of the house before more snow on Friday. The new Olive Garden opened up in Mansfield on Monday so we decided to try it out. It was really yummy! Afterwards, we did a little shopping at Target. It was so nice to be out and about. The roads weren't too bad, but we still had to drive about 15-20 miles per hour.

Snow Day #4- Friday Feb 4th, 2011

We woke up Friday morning to snow everywhere! It is so beautiful! We decided to get dressed and take pictures. Then we went out back and played with the puggles. They LOVE the snow. It was so much fun seeing them run around in it. Overall, it was a nice break from work to really focus on our little family and to spend some quality time with each other.

One of the only pregnancy pics I have taken because so far I have just looked really fat and not pregnant. This one isn't much different, but you can see a little bit there. I am 30 weeks here, so only 10 more weeks to go until we get to meet Rylee!!!

Changes in 2011....

2010-12-27T21:15:00.000-08:00

Evan and I are both VERY excited for 2011! I have really been feeling Rylee move around lately, especially at night. Evan hasn't quite gotten to feel her yet, but each time he tries he gives this certain look and talks about how he wishes she was here already. 2011 will bring some changes for us as well. I will graduate in May with my Masters in School Counseling. This new degree will also bring a job change. I have started applying to school districts closer to where we live. If I do not get a counseling job, I still plan on changing schools if a teaching job becomes available closer as well. I just know spending 45 minutes in the car each way away from Rylee is going to be too much for me to bare every day. We are about 75% sure that Evan will stay home with Rylee and take night classes towards completing his bachelors in Special Education. Depending on his class schedule, he might also take some day classes a few times a week. I have decided that during the summer and winter breaks from work, I am going to complete the extra 5 classes it takes to be a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC). This way I have more flexibility in the future if I wanted to work for a hospital, my own private practice, or even for our church, I could. We have pretty much finished the nursery for Rylee except for a few finishing touches I want to complete soon. I promise to post pictures, but not until I think it is complete. We are trying hard to prepare for Rylee's arrival, however I know we can not be fully prepared. There will be lots of changes for us in 2011!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-27T20:54:00.000-08:00

This Christmas has been very relaxing. We have decided to switch off holidays and this year was my families turn to have us because next year EVERYONE will be in Oklahoma for Christmas including 2 returned missionaries and 3 new babies! My family has a Christmas Eve tradition of going out to eat. To keep the tradition alive, we made reservations and ate at Cheesecake Factory. It was great to not have to help cook or clean. We ordered 3 different appetizers and had a piece of cheesecake or dessert for each of us. So yummy! Afterwards everyone came back to our house to relax and sit by the fire. Christmas morning Evan and I work up and took the puggles to my parent's house. We opened presents, watched "Salt", ate a big Christmas lunch, went to the movies to see "Little Fockers", and then came back to relax and watch the Cowboy's game. Memorable gifts this Christmas included our first grill, a new printer, a fireplace screen, and the start to our Disney DVD collection for the both of us. Evan got a beard trimmer with a vacuum so he doesn't have to clean up tiny hairs. I got pajamas and money to buy maternity clothes with. Evan got me a pedicure foot bath set and a "powermat" for my iphone. I got Evan an Xbox 360 (which he got in early October), the tickets to see the Big 12 Championship game, and a new headset to use while playing on his Xbox 360. Rylee even got presents this Christmas! She got a new stocking, some Christmas ornaments, and an OU bib. It is nice having this 2 week break with Evan. I am very grateful that we have the same work schedule! I ended up having to take a class over this break in order to get my financial aid in the Spring. It is a marriage and family therapy class and so far has been quite interesting. Here are a few pictures from this past week. I will have more once I get them from Nanny's camera. I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

This is my sister and I taken at Cheesecake Factory on Christmas Eve

This was taken at my friend Melanie's house when a few of us girls who were in town got together to visit.

It's a GIRL!!!

2010-11-23T17:31:00.000-08:00

We are having a girl!! Rylee Russell will be joining us in April! Our doctor appointment was on Wednesday. The sonogram tech wrote on the sonogram what the sex is and put it in an envelope. It was really hard to not peek in the envelope, especially for Evan. We had a fun "gender reveal" party Friday night. We had around 20-25 people at our house for the big reveal. We waited until Evan's mom flew into see us until we revealed. She looked into the envelope first, and then handed us each a cake ball. When we bit into the cake ball, they revealed pink cake which told us that we will be having a girl! We are so excited! Saturday we spent time at Babies-R-Us and Target registering for baby stuff. I have been a little addicted to craigslist lately, and have gotten all of the furniture for the nursery and am now working on the decorations. We decided we wanted bright happy colors, so we are centering our nursery around this painting of owls we found at Target. It is so cute! Anyway, I am at 20 weeks now (5 months) and we are so excited for April to get here. :)

New Transmission with a Bright Side

2010-10-06T09:37:00.000-07:00

Well, Monday could be described as a "Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day". It started with my first parent conference totally ditching me. Which I got to school early for by the way. That always upsets me. I had to reschedule 5 parent conferences to get blood drawn at my doctor's office because the nurse was sick at my previous visit and they couldn't find anyone to take my blood. Bright side: All 5 parents were happy to reschedule for another day. So on the way to my doctor appointment on Monday, the Equinox starts acting funny and all of a sudden will not go over 5 mph. We ended up sitting in a Michocana parking lot off of the 360 feeder road for 2 hours while waiting for a tow truck and someone to get us. Bright side: my mom was available to come pick us up. We dropped the equinox off at the dealership. Bright side: my mom took us to Mimi's for dinner to cheer us up. We got home at about 8pm. Side note, yesterday my parent conferences lasted until 7:45 with only a 30 min break, so we got home at 8:30 last night. Well it turns out that the transmission is out and the engine needs to be taken apart. Bright side: the dealership is 98% sure the cost will be covered under the power train warranty. So we are without a second car for at least the next week. Bright side: We carpool to work and rarely use two cars in one day.

We're Having a BABY!

2010-08-30T19:11:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is official. Evan's wishes have come true. For those of you who do not know, every day since we were married, Evan has touched my stomach and said "Baby?" with sad lonely eyes. His lifelong dream is to be a dad. Well the time has come! We are now 8 weeks pregnant! I was feeling pretty tired and queasy about 4 weeks ago, so I thought, just for fun, I would take a pregnancy test. We were going to start trying and I had just gotten off my birth control about a month earlier (the dr. said it would take about 2-3 months to wear off.... little did she know). Anyway, it came back positive and I couldn't believe it. My whole life I have feared not being able to have kids. So I decided to read more on the Internet about what a positive means and it said the most accurate results come with a morning test. So as hard as it was, I didn't tell Evan I had taken the test. I didn't want to get his hopes up if it was a false negative test, as he has been wanting this forever. The next morning I took another test and it too came back positive. By that time, Evan was still asleep and I had to leave for an 8am Saturday summer school class. Obviously I could think of nothing else during that last class session. I still needed to know for sure that the tests were positive. So I called up planned parenthood (pretty much the only place open on a Saturday) and went by myself to get a more accurate test done. Sure enough, it was also positive and they gave me an anticipated date of March 23rd. On my way home I stopped by Target and bought Evan a onsie that said "I <3 id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">grand kid, I bought them each a bib that said "I love Grandma" or "I love Grandpa". Their reaction was priceless too. I know they wanted us to wait until Evan was done with school, but now just seemed like the right time. My sister got a onsie that said "My Aunt is my BFF". Overall it has been fun slowly telling people, but after our great doctor's appt today, I just couldn't hold it in any longer. The official due date is between April 8th and April 11th. My doctor could pick up a good heart rate visually, but we couldn't really hear anything. She said it is a healthy gummy bear. haha! We call it "mini muffin" because Evan's mom's nickname for me is muffin. I have had more nausea lately, but mostly at night time. Most of my exhaustion has been due to starting back at work, trying to finish my Master's degree, starting a new church calling, and keeping up with our dogs and Evan. Evan is going to help out more with chores and house stuff to take some of the pressure off of me, which is really nice. I couldn't ask for a better husband. He will be an amazing dad! Well, here is the sonogram of our little mini muffin. The left is the head and the right is the rump. Ha ha!

Florida Trip

2010-08-22T17:07:00.000-07:00

We took our anniversary trip a few weeks ago and had a blast! We flew to Orlando first class both ways (thanks to my grandma's standby passes). We stayed with Evan's sister Jill and her family. It was so much fun just getting to relax, swim, go to the beach, and eat some good food. On the last day of our trip, we went to Disney World's Magic Kingdom. We also got to stay at the Hilton (which was really nice). Overall it was a much needed break. Here are a few pictures from our trip.

At the Florida Temple with Jill and Tyler.

Evan surfing with Tyler

Swimming in their pool

Outside Squidlips

Taking a trip on the black ghost

Evan with our nephew Keith

At one of the happiest places on Earth

One of my favorite characters growing up was Cinderella, so Evan was nice enough to stand in line with me for an hour to take a picture with her.

In front of the spitting camel

A yummy bakery we went to.

Evan's favorite ride.

Evan hit the jackpot when at "Pacos Bill" he ordered a hamburger and you could put as many sauteed mushrooms on it as you wanted.

First Class to Florida!

2010-08-06T17:20:00.000-07:00

This morning Evan and I flew 1st class to Orlando Florida. It was quite wonderful. I have flown 1st before, but never in the very 1st row of 1st class. It was nice. We were served egg breakfast quesadillas. They were really tasty. We both had a good nap after waking up at 3am to check ourselves in to standby on line and not really going back to bed after. Jill and Tyler picked us up from the airport and then we got to go to the Orlando temple. It is SO beautiful! It seems bigger than the Dallas temple. Afterward we got some yummy food at Olive Garden and then drove to Satellite Beach, where Jill and Tyler live. It was a great 1st day of our vacation! Tomorrow is going to be a day at the beach filled with boogie boards and laying out. :)

1 WEEK!!!

2010-07-30T12:59:00.000-07:00

One week from today we will be on our way to visit Evan's sister Jill, her husband Tyler, and their 3 adorable children in Satellite Beach, Florida. The fun includes many beach trips, swimming in their pool, Jill's yummy cooking, and DISNEY WORLD! We can't wait!! We have beach fever!!!!!!

Medical Marijuana for Kids..... REALLY?!?

2010-07-29T07:22:00.000-07:00

I have this App on my iphone that lets me watch news clips. So every night before I go to bed I catch up on what is going on in the world. Anyway, this one really disturbed me. Especially when the mom says that she won't give her kid Ridilin but she will give him pot?!? Anyway, you have to see for yourself. Also, I want to know what you think. From a parent or teacher's point of view. What would you do if your student showed up high every morning because his/her parents are giving them medical marijuana? Just wondering.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP-RHZqTEVs

Ranger's Game and Other Happenings

2010-07-26T08:01:00.000-07:00

It is the start to another week of Summer. Recently I have not remembered what day of the week it is. However, taking summer classes keeps me in check. This is the last week of classes for me! HORRAY!! This is also Evan's last week of Summer school. I'm not sure who all heard about the mother in Irving who strangled her 2 children to death because they were Autistic and she wanted "normal children" but the little 5 year old boy was in the summer school program across the hall from Evan. He said the teacher and other staff have been having a really hard time since last Monday's incident. I can not even imagine. On a lighter note, we recently attended a Ranger's game. It was really hot, even for a 7pm game, but alot of fun. Former president George W. Bush was there. Here are a few pictures from that.

In less than 2 weeks, Evan and I will be on a plane to visit Evan's sister Jill and her family in Florida. We are REALLY excited. They live in Satellite Beach, which is on the Atlantic Ocean side. We are also planning on going to Disney World and Epcot. We can't wait! Other than that, summer is quickly winding down, which is sad, but inevitable.

Our True Identity

2010-07-20T08:32:00.000-07:00

We always could use a little reminder on who we are and where we came from.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiiadnMvm20&feature=player_embedded

Lydia's Wedding

2010-07-11T11:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the wedding of one of my best friends Lydia. We have been friends for about 12 years now. She married one of the most wonderful men on this planet, Jared. The festivities started with the rehearsal dinner Friday night at Dickey's BBQ. Friday night all of the bridesmaids stayed at a hotel together. Lydia woke us up bright and early Saturday morning running into our hotel room singing "It's my wedding day!" while jumping on our beds. ha ha. It took from 10am-4pm for all 6 bridesmaids and the bride to get ready. We had a blast! At 5pm we went to the Irving Arts Center to take pictures and get ready. The BEAUTIFUL, but hot, ceremony was outdoors in the sculpture garden at 7pm. The reception was AMAZING. Lydia borrowed a friend's dining room chandelier for the event. Needless to say, it was one of the top 5 best days ever. Lydia looked gorgeous and there were very few mishaps. They flew standby and got to fly 1st class on their honeymoon to Lake Tahoe. It was great and we had a blast!

Diet

2010-07-03T11:35:00.000-07:00

Diet to me, is a four letter word. You know what I mean. I have never liked any diets because mostly I am a VERY picky eater and I like very few vegetables, and most diets consist of vegetables. Well, a little over a week ago, Evan's sister Heather sent the whole family a message asking us if we would like to take part in a nutrition study her friend is doing. So we all said yes! Lets do this together! Everyone decided they would start on July 1st. Evan and I got excited so we started on June 29th.

My diet consists of
Breakfast: 1/2 cup egg whites and 1/2 cup oats
Morning Snack: 1 TBS Natural Peanut Butter, 1/2 apple, 1 protein shake
Lunch: 4 oz chicken or tuna, 1/2 cup brown rice or sweet potato, and green veggies
Afternoon snack: 1 TBS Natural Peanut Butter, 1/2 apple, 1 protein shake
Dinner: 4 oz chicken or tuna and green veggies.

I get 1 "sweet treat" a day which consists of either a sugar free low cal Popsicle or a cup of sugar free jello. To tell the truth, I am really NEVER hungry. I feel like I have to force myself to eat to keep my metabolism going some times. However, it is hard because you are so tempted by the foods around you. The hardest part so far was on Thursday when my summer school class had a pizza party. There was left over pizza and I just couldn't have any. We have to eat pretty much every 3 hours, which can be hard if your at work, class, or on the road. So it takes some planning ahead for sure. So far in the 5 days Evan and I have been doing this, he has lost 7 lbs and I have lost 5 lbs. We are supposed to be exercising too, but haven't really gotten into a good routine with that yet. It has been really nice to have the support of Evan's family. You really need someone to be held accountable to. Evan and I help each other be strong. We will do this diet for a month to complete Rachel's study, and then after that I think we will continue it but give ourselves a reward at the end of each week. We will keep you updated!

4th of July!!

2010-06-21T09:49:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, the 4th of July is my favorite holiday. There is many reasons it makes the top of the list, but here are my top 5:

1. It occurs during summer break.

2. The days are longer so there is more time to party!

3. The FOOD FOOD FOOD! I love hot dogs, hamburgers, BBQ, potato salad, and beans.

4. The DESSERTS! I love pie, cake, cookies, puddings, fruit salads, etc.

5. The American Spirit!

We have decided that we are going to go to Stillwater for the 4th this year. We are REALLY excited because Evan's mom makes some amazing food. We are also excited because Evan's sister Jennifer should be having her baby around the time the 4th gets here, we aren't exactly sure when they will have to induce her. Anyway, do you have some favorite 4th of July traditions?

1 Year Anniversary!

2010-06-14T09:43:00.000-07:00

Some days I think, has it really already been a year? Then I think, wow it feels like we have been married forever. Recently, the talk about marriage and cheating has been discussed in my family due to some unfortunate events. The other day I asked Evan, "Do you wish you would have been single for longer to have more single experiences" His response, "Heck NO! Married life is awesome! There is absolutely no way I would go back to that!" Ha ha! I love Evan so much I can not even express it. Of course, like any marriage, we have our good and bad days, but I can say we have had many many more good than bad days this past year. In one year of marriage we both went back to school, Evan started a new job, we bought a new car, we got 2 super cute puppies and we bought our first house!! We truly have been blessed! Our goals for this next year are to continue to get out of debt and to loose weight. I hope each year of marriage is as good as this one was. I love you Evan and Happy Anniversary!

End of the School Year

2010-06-03T07:05:00.001-07:00

Every year is bitter sweet. What's sad is that this year, namely this bunch of kids, has been so rough that I am not too sad to see them go. This year was probably the toughest for me so far. Anyway, here are some pictures of my classroom ready for the summer. They are painting every room, so every shelf, counter, and wall has to be cleared. Which means everything gets put in the center of the room so the painters can get to the walls. Yay for summer!!!!!!

Anyone 18 or Younger Eats Breakfast and Lunch FREE in Irving

2010-06-03T06:43:00.000-07:00

Irving ISD Summer Meals Program

Summer Food Program Keeps Kids FedStudents 18 years old or younger eat FREE!!!

Question:
Where can you take your children, your neighbor’s children, or even visiting family members, to eat for FREE?

Answer:
At your nearby Irving ISD school that is open for summer school! *
During our Summer Feeding Program, everyone 18 years old or younger (no id is required) can eat breakfast and lunch for FREE at any of the district's Summer School sites.
For security purposes, and as to not disturb the education programs occurring, please check with each of the schools as to where they wish for visitors to enter.
The Food Service Department is proud to offer this program. We hope you will take advantage of our healthy, delicious, and FREE summer meals!
From all of us at the IISD Food Service Department, have a safe, happy, and healthy summer.
* Please note the Summer Feeding Program is designed for individuals fitting the age criteria. Government rules & regulations require all food to be consumed at the Campus and may not be shared with others. Individuals not meeting the age requirement are welcome to purchase a meal at District established prices. Visitors meeting the age requirement for free meals are limited to one breakfast and one lunch per day.

Early Childhood Schools

Monday ‑ FRIDAY(general public - served in the cafeteria)
Breakfast
Lunch

Clifton
June 8 - July 1
7:00 - 8:00
11:30-12:30

Kinkeade
June 8 - July 1
7:00 - 8:00
11:30-12:30

Pierce
June 8 - July 1
7:00 - 8:00
11:30-12:30

Elementary Schools

Monday ‑ FRIDAY
Breakfast & Lunch
10 Schools **
June 9 - July 1
7:30 - 8:00
11:30 – 12:00

** Davis, Britain, Brandenburg, Elliott, Good, J. Haley, T. Haley, Johnston, Lively, and Stipes
(Please note that some elementary campuses have multiple programs and you may chose which time slot you wish to attend for your free lunch or breakfast.Please check this schedule carefully since some time slots are Monday-Friday and some are Monday-Thursday ... and the dates vary.)

Monday ‑ THURSDAY
Breakfast & Lunch

Good
June 7 - July 1
8:00 - 8:30
12:00 - 12:30

Schulze
June 7 - July 1
8:00 - 8:30
10:30 - 11:00

J. Haley
June 7 - June 25
8:00 - 8:30
11:30 - 11:4511:15 - 11:45

Johnston
June 15 - July 1 & July 12 - July 29
8:00 - 8:30
11:30 - 12:00

Britain
June 7 - July 1
7:30 - 8:00
12:00 - 12:30

Barton
June 7 - June 2
7:30 - 8:00
11:30 - 12:00

T. Haley
June 7 - July 1
7:45 - 8:15
10:00 - 10:2510:30 - 10:55

Brown
June 7 - July 1
7:30 - 7:55
12:00 - 12:30

Davis
June 8 - June 25
7:30 - 8:00
11:20 - 12:30

Middle Schools

Monday ‑ FRIDAY
Breakfast & Lunch

Crockett
June 8 - June 30
7:30 - 8:00
11:15 - 11:45

Monday ‑ THURSDAY
Breakfast & Lunch

Bowie
June 7 - July 1
9:20 - 9:35
12:15 - 12:30

Houston
June 8 - July 1
7:40 - 8:10
11:30 - 12:00

De Zavala
June 7 - June 30
8:00 - 8:30
11:30 - 12:00

Austin

June 8 - July 2
7:45 - 8:15
12:00 - 12:30

Crockett
June 7 - June17
7:30 - 8:00
11:30 - 12:00

Bowie
June 14 - July 1
9:15 - 9:45
12:00 - 12:30

High School Campuses

Monday ‑ FRIDAY
Breakfast & Lunch

MacArthur HS
June 16 - July 7
7:15 - 7:30
11:20 - 12:30

Monday ‑ THURSDAY
Breakfast & Lunch

MacArthur HS
June 16 - July 16, June 15 - July 1, July 12 - July 29
7:30 - 8:00. 8:00 - 8:30, 8:00 - 8:30
11:20 - 12:30, 11:30 - 12:00, 11:30 - 12:00

Singley Academy
June 7 - July 1
8:00 - 8:30
12:00 - 12:30

Irving HSG Annex
June 7 - June 30
8:00 - 8:20
12:00 - 12:20

Happy Birthday Amanda

2010-05-19T19:08:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Amanda Joy Forston! You are the ripe ol age of 24! I am proud to be your sister. You are an inspiration to me in many ways. I hope you have a wonderful birthday because you deserve it!

Work School and School School

2010-05-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

It can get confusing when talking about work or school when you work at a school while going to school yourself. Friday Shawnee and I were driving back from getting massages. I pointed to Dallas Baptist University and said "That's my school". Obviously that isn't very clear. So she said "Wow that is why you get paid so much!" I was confused so I just kindof laughed. She said "Is that a private school". So I said, "Yeah, that is why it is so darn expensive". Anyway, after a few more questions, we cleared things up that DBU is the school I am a student at, not a teacher. haha! Anyway, work school is going well. Only 3 more weeks and we will be done! This year has gone by fast but at the same time has dragged on. It will be sad to see a few of my kids go. I wasn't as close to this class as I was last year's class. Maybe because of all of the challenges I had. Not sure. Evan is really excited to work summer school where he will get to see his kids Monday-Thursday. I will be working a summer camp at another school Monday-Thursday where I will teach 2nd graders and I also get to do Arts and Crafts! Every Thursday we take a field trip, so basically I only have to teach Monday-Wedensday. Then I have a Tuesday night class and a Thursday night class. I also have an every other weekend class. I'm about to start a mini mester that meets every night for 4 hours for 2 weeks. Needless to say, I am going to have to be REALLY good at time management over the next few weeks. I actually really enjoy taking classes. It provides an outlet outside of work to talk about and get advice on the teaching profession and counseling from many different perspectives. Anyway, that is what's goin on with work school and school school.

"Family" Pictures

2010-05-03T19:42:00.000-07:00

My sister and I decided to get together and take some pictures for my mom for Mother's Day. We chose a nature preserve close to her house. We had alot of fun! I nonchalently mentioned how great it would be if we could actually let our dogs off their leashes and expect them to not run away. As soon as I finished speaking, Landon decided to try this idea. He reached over and let Bella off her leash. Bad idea. As soon as we saw her disappear into the very tall grass and out of sight, I got a big pit in my stomach. Fortunately, Evan is pretty fast. He ran and caught up with her. She didn't stay in the tall grass long and chose to run down a very narrow stretch of mowed area. Luckily she loves her daddy and she came running back. I don't think we will try that again any time soon. We got a few cute pictures before the sun was too low.

Pictures of House!

2010-04-11T18:13:00.000-07:00

I have hesitated putting up pictures of the house because each time I think about putting up pictures, I want to fix or do something. Until finally, a friend said "there will always be something you want to fix". So I decided if I wanted to post pictures sometime this century, I would just go ahead and do it.

Things on the to do list for the month of May:

*replace chandelier with 2nd matching ceiling fan
*change shell sink vanities in bathrooms
*paint master bedroom a light gray color
*purchase new bedding for master bed
*make cabinet doors for front of built in in living room
*put doggy storm door in

And of course our house wouldn't be complete without a photo of our two children. Aren't they adorable in their daddy's off limits massaging recliner?! :) You can see the guilty look on Barkley's face!

We would like to thank craigslist.com for the majority of furniture you have seen in these pictures. I was literally obsessed for a few weeks there, but I have limited myself to only looking once a day now. We are loving living in Mansfield! Everyone has been EXTREMELY nice in our ward. We even have been invited to dinner at another couple's house next Sunday! Hopefully we will make more friends over the next few weeks. The drive to work has been lengthened by about 10 minutes. We have decided to stay working at our school in Irving next year (my last year teaching). Then I will go wherever I can get a position as a counselor. Evan wants to take over his lead teacher's position when he finishes his degree in 2 years. We feel very blessed to be where we are!

Bella!

2010-04-10T18:37:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I haven't posted about Bella yet! At the end of February, Barkley's owner contacted us. She said that her and her husband decided they didn't want any dogs anymore. They had another puggle, Barkley's sister, and they wanted to know if we would want to buy her. We had thought that maybe Barkley had been abused by his mannerisms. When we sat down to talk about it, we just couldn't bare leaving Barkely alone all day while we were at work. So now we have Bella! Bella is has more pug qualities such as a shorter snout, breathing problems, and a constant need for affection. She is adorable though! Her and Barkley just love playing with each other. We feel like a complete family, for now.

GLEE!!!!!!

2010-04-09T18:48:00.000-07:00

Evan and I are GLEEKS!!! We are in love with Glee! Maybe it's the show choir in us both, but we think this is one of the funniest shows we have seen in a while. We have even bought the soundtrack. Yall should all check it out! The new season starts on Tuesday on Fox. Love it!

Busy, Busy, Busy......

2010-03-13T22:15:00.001-08:00

Wow, March has been a BUSY month so far! It all started with my 25th birthday on March 4th! This year was AWESOME! Evan really is the reason it was so awesome. We both took off work and had so much fun. The highlight of this birthday was the purchase of our new fridge for our new home. We found a fridge that retails for over $3,000 for only $1,400 at Sears Outlet in Arlington. So exciting! Evan surprised me with a hotel stay on Friday night. It was nice getting some alone time since we have been staying at my parents and don't get alot of privacy lately. Amanda Churak made it great too! It was fun hanging out with her and my family that Friday.

Then I had one of my Masters classes end on March 9th. This is a critical class in which alot of info is given, but it is only 6 weeks long. It ended in a final project. I had to take a day off of work to complete it because it was just so time consuming. Here is the cover to my final project.

On March 11th, we had open house at my school. This means that there wasn't a real routine the days prior to open house because we were creating things for visiting parents. We had fun making 3D solid figures (hanging from the ceiling), clay insects, and silhouettes. Evan and I decided to stay at school until after open house rather than going home. It was a LONG day. Then after we got home (around 8pm), I had to stay up and bake the cakes for Summer and Aaron's wedding. I ended getting to bed close to 2am.

Friday, March 12th, after work, Evan and I loaded up the baked cakes and all of my decorating supplies and headed to Oklahoma. Summer is one of Evan's friends that I got to know on my many trips to Oklahoma. She is awesome, and so is her new hubby Aaron! This is the largest cake I have made before. Needless to say, after 12 cake mixes, 5 pounds of powdered sugar, and various other ingredients, a wedding cake was born! It was time consuming but fun at the same time. She wanted the icing color to be "M&M blue". Poor Evan had to go to the store SEVERAL times to get things for me when I ran out. I definitely underestimated the quantity of some of the ingredients.

So anyway, now we are just waiting to close on our house over spring break. Our fridge gets delivered and we just bought a kitchen table and chairs on craigslist. I hope all of you have a wonderful spring break!

Valentine's Day

2010-02-19T04:15:00.001-08:00

Evan did a great job this Valentine's Day surprising me. If you know me, you know I'm not easy to surprise. He planned to have a beautiful edible arrangement delivered to my school on Friday. Well, it snowed a record 13 inches here in Dallas, which meant that school was closed on Friday. SO he had to call and have it rescheduled to be delivered to our apartment. It was so yummy!! Then on Saturday, he took me to see the movie Valentine's Day. It was really cute, until I started getting nauseous. I ran to the nearest restroom but didn't quite make it. I got sick all over the lobby of the movie theatre. And even though I smelled awful, Evan still sat next to me for the rest of the movie. What a great husband! Because I was sick all weekend, we didn't do much besides that. We stayed the night at my sister's house so we could spend some time with Barkley. He is so stinkin cute! Evan's Valentine's present was a pizza and chocolate dunkers one night and then his favorite place, Ghengis Grill, on Monday night. Overall, it was a nice first married Valentine's day!

Barkley!

2010-02-11T16:20:00.000-08:00

Well, Evan and I just couldn't wait until we had our house to get this little guy. His name is Barkley and he is a puggle. His dad was a black pug and his mom was a pocket beagle. We had been searching for bull dogs on craigslist and then decided they were too pricey. Evan wanted a pug but the pug buggy eyes kind of creep me out. SO we decided to compromise and that is when we found Barkley! Isn't he cute!?! He is 9 months old. His previous owners couldn't handle 2 puggles and a preschooler any more. He was $50 although his previous owners paid $250 for him from a breeder. We haven't gotten to spend much time with him yet because he is staying at my sister's house until we close on our house. We don't have much space in our 700 sq ft apartment. Anyway, without further adieu.... HERE'S BARKLEY!

Our First House!

2010-02-11T16:05:00.000-08:00

Evan and I are buying our first house! It all started with a friend of mine from work wanting to sell her house in the neighborhood. We loved it but it wasn't affordable for us. So we started seriously thinking about where we wanted to live, have our kids born, and stuff like that. We finally found a house in south Arlington/Mansfield area that we love. It is just the right size for us (1700 sq ft). The lot it is on backs up to a very new elementary school. The elementary school principal was also a professor of mine at DBU last semester! Anyway, life has been VERY stressful with work, school, and now my third full time job of signing paperwork and answering phone calls. We had the inspection today, in the many inches of snow. The report seemed to be good. We are going to meet with him on Saturday so he can inspect the roof and sprinkler system. Next is the appraisal. Hopefully the house will appraise for more than we offered, but if it doesn't then we have to go back to negotiations. Well, enough of the info, here are pictures of our potential first house!

POOP

2010-01-26T20:18:00.000-08:00

I rarely post about my experiences as a teacher but today's experience was definitely weird and random. Today started out pretty normal. We had our morning math, a mini lesson, and then broke into small group stations. We all went to take a restroom break. We came back and had reading lesson and stations. You know, the usual. After the final station, I give the signal for the kids to get ready for lunch. Just about as everyone has finished picking up their station, a notorious trouble maker yells out POOP!!!!!! Everyone busts into laughter and as I start calming them down and trying to get to the kid to talk to him about his action, I notice that he wasn't just yelling the word poop. Right beside his desk is a HUGE pile of human poop. So big in fact, that when cleaning it up with paper towels, I couldn't pick it up with 1 hand. (I know, disgusting). I start to question students about where this came from, who saw this, etc. With 2 minutes to lunch, I had to cut my interrogating short. After dropping off my students, I stop by the VP that is over my grade level and chat with her about the situation. Suspecting it is one student imparticular, I stop by the counselor as well. All three of us could not come up with a logical explanation as to how a pile of human poop (that wasn't squished together like it had come out of a bag or anything) ended up in the middle of my classroom. I guess the poop mystery will go down as one of the top craziest things to happen to me as a teacher. Yet again, this is another example of how I definately do not get paid enough for what I have to do on a daily basis!

Back to school.....

2010-01-23T18:34:00.000-08:00

Evan and I started classes this past week. Evan is taking a history class and an online intro to teaching class. He is going to use some of his lunch breaks to observe teachers at my school for credit. I started a lifespan and human development class along with a curriculum and guidance development class. Evan is pretty excited about his classes and thinks they will be fairly easy. Me on the other hand, not so easy. Fortuantely, I have a former colleague who has taken the same class with the same professor. Unfortuantely, she said the professor is extremely tough and she had to really struggle to get an A in the class. This better not mess up my 4.0 GPA! I already have 3 projects due this Tuesday after only 1 week of class! Pray for me! Other than classes starting, things have pretty much been the same. We are making new goals and trying harder to attend the temple each week. One thing we want to improve on is being more social. We need friends. Most of our friends live outside of Dallas, but the ones that do live here, we rarely see. We are going to try and make more of an effort to see our current friends and make new ones.

Christmas Break and New Years

2010-01-13T17:19:00.000-08:00

Sorry it has been so long since a post! I know you would think I had time to post over 2 weeks vacation but it truly was busy..... well most of the time. This first picture is from when Evan and I went to see Avatar. I saw it 2 times over the break and Evan saw it 3 times!

I got to visit with some of my best friends! It was alot of fun even if it was for only a little while. We met up at Corner Bakery. I love my girls! I also missed the girls that couldn't be there.

There was a BIG snow storm that came in on Christmas Eve. Evan and I were planning on leaving Christmas Eve for Oklahoma after opening presents with my family here in Dallas. We decided the safest thing would be to wait until daylight. We ended up not opening presents till around 1am on Christmas Eve morning because my sister and her boyfriend didn't get back from his families house till 12:30. We woke up at 8am and were out the door by 8:30. Over the course of our trek, we saw over 200 stranded cars. I was SO grateful that we hadn't left the night before and gotten stranded or worse. It ended up taking over 10 hours to get to Stillwater. Just as we were about 100 yards from the house, we got stuck in the alleyway. Our brother-in-laws had to come help Evan and I push our car out of a big icy pot hole. I was so glad to finally get to grandma and grandpas house. I was also glad to see the smiling face of our niece Iliana. She has been saying my name ALOT since it is one of the only ones she can say. Isn't she cute!

Christmas night was alot of fun playing games and hanging out with Evan's family!

We spent New Year's Eve at James and Shawnee's apartment. We had ALOT of fun! It was nice to just relax, play games, talk with friends, and watch the festivities on TV. It was our first married New Years and it was a BLAST!

Evan loved getting to hang out with his besties that he never gets to see. I really wish we all lived closer so that we could have this much fun all of the time. Evan misses his friends alot.

8th Baptism Anniversary

2009-12-21T17:57:00.000-08:00

It was 8 years ago today that I was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Being baptized into the church changed my life. I have loved every second of it. Knowing the truth is so comforting. If you want to know more about the gospel, please visit www.mormon.org.

Happy Anniversary!

2009-12-20T17:47:00.000-08:00

Today is our 6 month anniversary! We have had a wonderful 6 months of marriage. My parents took us to Dunston's Steakhouse. That is where we had our wedding reception. We are thinking we might make this a tradition. Dunston's is where my parents had their first date over 30 years ago. We had a wonderful time remembering our wedding day. We highly recommend marriage!

Christmas Decorations

2009-12-12T12:15:00.000-08:00

Our tiny apartment has been decorated for our first married Christmas! We thought long and hard over how to decorate the tree. Evan wanted blue and silver while I wanted traditional red and green. We went with blue and white after we saw these cute snowflake ornaments. I think it turned out pretty good. The Russell door hanger is one that hung in Evan's house growing up. We had alot of fun putting these up this year. Hopefully I can take a picture of our balcony to our apartment. The apartments have a balcony decorating contest and you can win a gift card! We want to win! I hope you are all having a great holiday season!

Christmas Wonderland

2009-11-30T13:18:00.000-08:00

Every year, my parents add more and more to their ever growing collection of Christmas decorations. These decorations are stored in 30 gallon plastic bins. These bins are stored in a small basement closet underneath the house in our play room. These bins must be carefully removed from this closet, carried up 2 stairways and through 2 narrow hallways where they are stacked on top of one another. There they are unpacked one by one. I guess I didn't realize how not normal this was until I helped Evan's family put up their decorations this year. It literally took them 3 hours to put up BOTH the inside decorations and outside. It takes us 6 hours to only put up the inside. Here is a picture of most of the bins stacked together. Remember, this is only the inside decorations and ornaments. I will post pictures of the final products once everything has been put in its proper place. Here is also a picture of Evan resting after helping bring some of the bins upstairs. Once everything is said and done though, I do enjoy going to my parents house and walking into their personal Christmas Wonderland.

The stockings were hung...

2009-11-19T16:35:00.000-08:00

.... and the stockings were hung, on the island bar with care..... well it's not as good as a chimney, but it'll work. :)

Can you believe I found these at the Target dollar bin!? They were $2.50 each. I'm thinking about going back and getting some for our future kids. Evan says I better buy at least 6 more then. HAHA! A friend from work embroidered them with our names for me. I just can't wait for the holidays!!!

OUR NEW BABY!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-11-07T21:58:00.000-08:00

We have a new addition to our family!!! We would like to introduce you to our new SUV! We are the proud owners of a 2008 Chevy Equinox Sport. We were planning on waiting until January, but we have been looking at used cars on the internet and found one that met everything on our checklist. It is rare to find a sport edition. It is silver with black leather interior. It has a 6 disk CD changer, heated seats, remote start engine, sunroof, auxiliary MP3 input jack, and lots of leg room in the back seat! It was a great experience overall. Our sales guy was awesome and because we knew what we wanted going in, it only took us 3 hours from start to finish ( it took over 9 hours to buy my Corolla). Anyway, here are the pictures of our car from the dealer's website. We will take more later.

HaPpY HaLlOwEeN

2009-10-31T15:19:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween! Evan and I had a hard time deciding what to be this year. We wanted to be 2 things that went together. Last weekend, we had a coworkers Halloween party to go to. I had class untill 3pm and the party started at 7pm. So after class, we went to look for costumes and couldn't find anything we liked. Finally we stopped by Target and Evan just loved the gorilla costume. So we were thinking that I could be Ann Darrow from King Kong and that I could just find a Marilyn Monroe type dress. Well, that wouldn't be too appropriate to wear to school, so we had to think of something else. I remembered seeing a banana costume at Target but this Target didn't have one. We called 5 Targets in the area and only 1 Target had 1 banana costume left. So we rushed over there, changed into our costumes quickly at our apartment and headed to the party. Yesterday, we were able to wear our costumes to school. We were a hit! Evan decided he would pretend to follow me into the cafeteria during both breakfast and lunch and chase me around the cafeteria. It was pretty funny. Our computer tech teacher even caught it on camera. The kids came up to me after school and said how worried they were that he was going to eat me. HAHA! One of my kids said several times, with bulging eyes, "I'M GONNA EAT YOU!" It was funny at first and then got a little creepy haha. Anyway, we hope all of you have a wonderful Halloween full of lots of treats and a few tricks!

Love at First Sight

2009-10-25T12:17:00.000-07:00

Our visit to the State Fair this year was so much fun! We decided to do something we haven't done there before, and test drive some cars. Well, that was a mistake because we are now in love. Let us introduce you to our new love affair. The 2010 Chevy Equinox. Can you believe this SUV gets better gas mileage than my Corolla!?! Evan and I have been discussing whether or not to fix the car he has just paid off (it shakes pretty hard after you get over 60mph) or just to get more money for trading it in sooner than later. We will see this beauty on the road and both of us will just get so excited. Its like we are 2 little kids waiting for Santa to arrive. We have told ourselves that we need to wait, but each day feels like agony. Our goal is to save up money the next few months and buy a used Equinox in January. We just can't get over the new one though. It was love at first sight.

Wedding Present

2009-10-08T18:38:00.000-07:00

Evan's friends, John and Kelsi Gagnon, surprised us with a wedding present this weekend while we were in Oklahoma. We just love it!!!! I want to find out how to make stuff like this ...and the clock we got too.

State Fair!!!

2009-09-25T19:35:00.000-07:00

I can not tell you how excited we are for the STATE FAIR OF TEXAS!!! This is a major tradition with my family. I need to start exercising more now because I just can't resist all of the good fair food. If you have never been, it really is a treat! Fortunately, teachers in Texas get free fair tickets! We highly recommend going. Here is a picture of us at last year's state fair.

Our First Year

2009-09-19T16:21:00.000-07:00

This weekend marks one year since Evan and I met. It seems like so much longer! Just incase you don't know the story, here it is. I added the event "Colleyville YSA Conference" to my events on facebook. When I did, I noticed that there was an attractive guy who had said he was going as well. I thought "what the heck!" and I poked him. The next day, I got a message from Evan saying...

Shelbee, have we met? If not, nice to meet you, and if we have, what kind of jerk am I? :) haha. I just moved to the area a month ago, and am still getting to meet people around here. How long have you lived here in Texas?

Over the next few days, we messaged back and forth. Finally he asked me if we could have lunch on Saturday before the conference. We met at a gas station 5 star resteraunt (http://www.chefspointcafe.com/). After lunch, we went back to his apartment and watched Heros. That evening, instead of going to the conference like originally planned, we went to an Amos Lee concert. Evan says he knew from that first night that he loved me. For me, it was our 3rd date to an Italian resteraunt called Sardines. Here are a few pictures from when we started dating one year ago.

The Infinite Power of Hope

2009-09-19T09:19:00.000-07:00

My friend Morgan posted this on her blog and it really touched me. I knew instantly that I wanted to share this with many of you. Like her, my favorite quote from the video is, "No matter how bleak the chapter of our lives may look today, because of the life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we may hope and be assured that the ending of the book of our lives will exceed our grandest expectations." President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

My Project was Funded!!

2009-09-12T16:15:00.000-07:00

THANK YOU SONIC DRIVE IN!!!!!!! Sonic has decided to fund my classroom grant for a new document camera worth $400! In less than 3 weeks, my grant was written, posted, and funded! The staff at my school was great about collecting the peel offs from their drinks and in the end, my class recieved over 100 votes! The "Limeades for Learning" is not over yet though! If you are a teacher and want to get free stuff for your classroom, go to donorschoose.org and create a grant. Thanks for all of the support and for my new document camera!

Happy Birthday Evan

2009-09-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

Evan turns 27 today!!! Happy Birthday Evan Keith Russell!!!!!!!

Dallas Symphony Visit and FREE Museum Entrance

2009-09-07T18:56:00.000-07:00

Our friend Beau recently won concert tickets to see the Celtic Tenors preform with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra at the Meyerson and he couldn't go so he graciously gave them to us! It was fantastic! The Tenors were simply AMAZING! So good in fact, that Evan and I really want to go back to see Ben Folds preform with the symphony on the 30th. We also found out this weekend, about a cool program that Bank of America has. They have partnered with over 100 museums across the country to grant FREE admission twice a month with those who have an account with Bank of America. The first Saturday and Sunday of each month, if you show your Bank of America ATM or Credit Card and photo ID, you can get in free to several museums. The ones in Dallas include the Dallas Museum of Art and the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science. It also includes the Ft. Worth Museum of Science and History. I am all about the FREE! If you go to museums.bankofamerica.com you can get more info. I hope everyone had a good Labor Day weekend. We got some much needed sleep since we are both currently sick, Evan worse than I. We also both completed a few homework assignments for our classes. Kindof boring, but needed. Well, time for bed. Have a great 4 day week!

Limeades For Learning

2009-09-03T17:53:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends and Family,
Sonic and DonorsChoose.org have an exciting new program called Limeades For Learning. With your help, I can get the funding I need to inspire my students to learn.
Your part is simple. Just order any drink* at Sonic during September to get a vote code, and then go to LimeadesForLearning.com to vote for my project. Sonic will donate more than half a million dollars to the projects that receive the most votes. But I need your help to make sure one’s mine!
Here’s the project I submitted:
Displaying Creativity and Imagination with ELMO (#309681)
My school is classified as having a high poverty population. I am a second grade ESL teacher with a wide array of students with various ability levels. I am limited in providing my students the visual instruction they desperately need to understand the curriculum across subject areas. My students are also lacking a way of displaying their authentic written accomplishments and illustrations to the class. This dilemma can be solved by the means of an innovative piece of technology. Through the use of a document camera, my students can not only understand concepts through visual learning, but also display their creativity to the world! With your vote, you will help ensure that my students gain knowledge and express their creativity in more ways than ever before!
Go to LimeadesForLearning.com to learn more about it. And don’t forget to buy a drink and vote. Thanks for your help!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Shelbee Russell

Class...

2009-08-30T18:09:00.000-07:00

I started my classes this week. I have one every Tuesday night from 8:00 to 10:30 (but she said we would usually get out about 9:30 instead). It seems like it is going to be a great class! It's about students with disabilities or "special populations". We will have guest speakers at almost every class which is AWESOME! I am really excited because now that I have experience teaching, I can really relate to what I am learning in class and apply it. My other class meets only 3 weekends for a Friday night and Saturday from 9-3. It is Intro to School Counseling. It is really interesting especially because it focuses on being a counselor at all grade levels, including high school. I like it, but there are quite a few projects I have to do in between sessions of class and several are group projects. Fortunately I found 2 teachers to be in my group that teach in Irving at a neighboring school so it will be easier to work with them. Anyway, I am pretty excited about my classes. I also found out that I can obtain a probational counselor certificate after 24 credit hours and 3 years of teaching. I can start applying for counseling jobs then. If that is the case, then I should be able to apply for a counseling job after this next summer if I want. I think I will wait until I have at least a few more years teaching so that I can enjoy being in the classroom before I leave it. Well, its time to go watch some more episodes of 24 with my hubby! Goodnight!!

First Day

2009-08-24T18:29:00.000-07:00

We started back to work today! I think being a teacher is like having a kid (even though I haven't had one). You prepare and prepare and then when the day comes (the first day of school) it is REALLY painful but with time you forget how painful that day was and you are ready to do it again. But by then you have had some time off, and then when it comes again, you remember why you needed the time off. HAHA Anyway, saying that, today was actually a good day. The more you go through the first day of school, the more you expect. I have a few kids that already think they are "too cool for school". They will find out real fast that they in fact, are not. It has been really fun seeing old students though. I didn't get that the previous year because of moving states. I love seeing how much they have grown and hear all of their stories.

Evan had a good day today. The job seems like it will be alot like babysitting at first, but he will get to help do lessons and stuff later. The teacher he is an aid for had to change kids diapers 12 times today! She is one strong lady because I don't think I could do it. Evan also started class today. He has an American Lit class but it seems like it will be fairly simple. He got approved for a grant that more than covers tuition so we are hoping to pay off some previously accrued debt... so exciting!

I start my class tomorrow. It lasts until 10:30!! Which means I won't get home until 11 which is WAY past my bedtime. I am excited and nervous all wrapped up into one big ball of EXHAUSTION. It will be good though. If I just stick to it, I know I will be done in no time.

When we got home today, I made some dinner and then Evan ran to class. In the meantime, I got some alone time tanning and swimming laps. Of course, my luck, there was this 7yr old kid (the same age I teach) splashing around. As soon as I got in she started following me, asking me questions, and intentionally trying to get in my way as I swam laps. I played along at first, answering her questions and asking her some in return, but then it just got annoying. Finally her dad got off the phone and got in to entertain her.

Anyway, I hope all of you teachers out there had a good first day back. I also hope that all of you parents of school aged kids enjoyed the first day back to freedom. ;)

Back to School.....and other updates

2009-08-16T19:03:00.000-07:00

One more week 'til school starts.... CRAZY!! This will be my third year teaching and my FIRST year of my Master's degree!! Evan is continuing his bachelors after a short break. The other day we sat down and looked up the salaries of our desired professions. Like little kids, we each said what we want to be when we "grow up". I want to be a counselor, and hopefully will be in 2 more years! Evan wants to be a principal. He needs 2 years for his bachelors, 2 years for a masters, then at least 3 or 4 years as an Assistant Principal. When its all said and done, we just want to be happy in what we are doing. Registering me for classes was a breeze (besides the $600 PER CREDIT HOUR!!). Registering Evan on the other hand was a little trickier. Evan is at a crossroads where he is pretty much done with all of his core classes that he could take at community college. We had a few advisers evaluate his transcript and find maybe 3 classes that he could still take. So, we need to decide soon where he wants to finish up. So besides the few visits to the advisers at North Lake CC, we also had to go to the admissions office SEVERAL times to try and prove his residency. Evan has lived here in Texas since the beginning of last August, but he moved several times because of his work. Well the school won't recognize any of the documentation we have from last August because 1) his company had him living at a hotel 2) his company is an Oklahoma based company and 3) he has no other bills or licensees showing he was here last August. So, we are going to try one more time tomorrow to claim residency and then we will just have to fork over the out of state tuition if it doesn't work. In state = $250 Out of State = $867...... bye bye $600......... Anyway, besides that fiasco, life has been good. We drove to Oklahoma for a few days to surprise Evan's mom for her birthday and we had a blast. It was my first time at the OKC temple and it was BEAUTIFUL! Today we celebrated my Dad's 57th birthday by going to Uncle Julios. Yummy! He was surprised at work on Saturday with a midget Mexican stripper that a coworker had played a prank on him with. My mom says the pictures do not give the experience justice haha! Evan is contracted to work starting tomorrow, and I start on Wednesday. I have been having nightmares about school starting. One involves a class full of this one trouble maker and I try everything I do to get them under control but I can't. The other recurring dream is where I wake up on the first day of school and make it there right as the bell rings with nothing ready... I mean nothing, no bulletin boards, no back to school packets, no school supplies, no worksheets, NOTHING. That one scares me the most because I hate being under prepared. Anyway, I am rambling now, but I hope everyone is having a good end to their summer. I know my summer has been one I will NEVER forget :)

OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL!!!!

2009-08-04T15:58:00.000-07:00

I FINALLY have gotten my name changed on most everything. I finished the checklist with a stop at my District Office today to change my name for work. I am officially a Russell now. It's going to take some getting used to, but once I hear it from 20 second graders, 50 times a day, I think it will sound normal to me. Speaking of second graders, I started training today for work. I have a few days this week, then next week off, then more training and then school starts! It's so crazy that summer is almost over. I wanted to cry this morning when I had to pull myself out of bed, and it wasn't even at the time I usually have to wake up for school. I am excited to get into a good routine though. I started a teacher blog for everyone to share ideas. So make sure you stop by and leave a comment! Even if you aren't a teacher, some of the stuff we talk about could possibly help you with your kids. You never know. Anyway, time to go eat some MONSTERS. Click the link for the recipe on my recipe blog!

Our Apartment

2009-07-27T16:26:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to post pictures of our apartment for some time now, but it wasn't quite ready. Evan and I deep cleaned it tonight after we got home and it seemed like the perfect opportunity. Here ya go!

Recipe Group For All!

2009-07-22T21:48:00.000-07:00

I started a recipe group blog! I want to start cooking more and thought I would enjoy trying to make recipes that the people I love, love! The address is www.recipegroupforall.blogspot.com. If you want to be an author and post your own recipe, all you need to do is send me your email address. If I haven't requested you yet, it is because I do not have your email address. I am SOOOO excited to start trying new recipes!!!!

Dough-Nu-Matic

2009-07-16T19:50:00.000-07:00

We received a late wedding present gift card to JCpenny. Since we have pretty much bought everything we need for our tiny apartment, we decided there are 2 options. Option A, spend all of the money on something fun we can both use or option B, split the gift card 50/50. Well, not long into our search for an item to fill option A, Evan found this. The Dough-Nu-Matic. He put up a good argument, but sadly lost. Here is Evan giving his goodbyes to the Dough-Nu-Matic.

Wedding Pictures!!!

2009-07-14T21:03:00.000-07:00

After much anticipation from many, here are a few of our favorite wedding pictures! The amazing Jenny Rossi was our fabulous photographer. She is amazing! She does everything from bridals, weddings, engagements, families, babies, seniors, EVERYTHING. On top of that, she is extremely reasonable in price. You need to check out her blog at jenniferrossiphotography.blogspot.com . Anyway, without furthur delay, here are some of our favorites. To see more, let me know and I will send you an email to view our facebook album.

Mr. Clean

2009-07-06T16:18:00.000-07:00

Evan and I returned a few gifts on Saturday in order to purchase a much needed vacuum. Evan was very excited to use it when we got back to Dallas. I snapped this on my phone today as he was cleaning. It's a little blurry, but doesn't he just look adorable?!

Friends

2009-06-28T13:34:00.000-07:00

If you want your blog website to be in our friends list on our blog, let us know! Leave us a link to your blog in a comment to this post and we will start a new list of our combined friends. Thanks!

Honeymoon!

2009-06-28T12:53:00.000-07:00

Our honeymoon was fantastic! For those of you who don't know, Lydia, Amanda F., Johnnie, Amanda C., and Emily paid for our entire honeymoon to Santa Barbara! After our afternoon reception on Saturday, we checked into the Hyatt at Reunion Tower downtown. Shelbee's mom was gracious enough to pay for the night of the wedding. The view was gorgeous! Also, we could order whatever we wanted from roomservice. We had a wonderful dinner and watched a movie too. It was great! The front desk was also very nice and sent us strawberries and champagne. We took some pictures and then asked to exchange the champagne for ginger ale since we do not drink. Here is a picture of Evan with our complimentary champagne.

Shelbee with the roomservice table of food.

The next morning we woke up at 3am in order to make our 6:15 standby flight to LAX. Flying standby is not the greatest. We waited untill everyone got on the flight and then heard them call our names! We were so excited and then we were even more excited to find out that we were sitting together in first class. Here is Evan excited about his first class ticket.

When we arrived in Los Angeles, we were excited to get our rental car. We decided to upgrade to a nice sportier car. Here is a picture of Shelbee with the rental car infront of our resort.

On our way to Santa Barbara, about 90 miles, we hit alot of traffic and saw about 3 wrecks. Once we finally got to our resort we were so excited to rest! Here is us infront of the doors to our NICE resort.

There was definately one place that was top on our list to eat at when we were in Cali.... IN AND OUT BURGER!! We both love that place. We ended up eating there twice while we were there. Here is a picture of us visiting our favorite place.

Monday we went sight seeing at Stearns Wharf and went swimming at the resort pool. We walked to the beach to watch the sunset but quickly found out that we needed to get some warmer clothes. The next day we went to Ventura (where Evan served his mission) and bought some new clothes, ate at another one of our favorite places (Rubios), and visited other areas of the city. Here is a picture of us at Stearns Wharf.

Tuesday we visted the CUTE little town of Solvang. Its a town replicated after a Danish community. There we ate some tasty aebleskivers and shopped at the cute little shops. That night we decided to relax in the hottub and order some hot chocolate from roomservice. The $6 pot of hot chocolate ended up costing us $23 after all of the charges and fees associated. Kindof silly. Here is a picture of Evan eating his delicious Aebleskivers.

Wednesday we went to downtown Santa Barbara to the coolest one screened movie theatre to watch Transformers. It was awesome!!! Then we walked to Rusty's Pizza Parlor for lunch. The shops on State Street are so cool! Its like a big outdoor mall but with one of a kind shops mixed with high end stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstroms. Wednesday night we decided to relax in the hot tub again, but no hot chocolate this time. Here is a picture of us in the hot tub.

Thursday was unfortunately our last day there. This was our designated day to lay on the beach and get a honeymoon tan before coming back. We woke up to 60 degree weather and cloudy skies. We decided to get some breakfast at a Santa Barbara local's favorite called Cajun Kitchen. It was here that Evan FINALLY got some tri-tip. We shopped some more on State street and then around 1pm the sun finally came out and it got warmer. We got our day on the beach! After a couple hours on the beach, we moved to the pool and swam and layed out for a few more hours. It was great! That night we ate at another local favorite on the harbor called Brophy Bros. Then we boarded our sunset cruise. It was alot of fun. We passed a few booies with seals on them and got to see the beautiful coastline. Here are a few pictures of the seals and the sunset.

As the sun went down and it got colder, Shelbee was FREEZING!!! This is her mad face because Evan would not get her a blanket from inside the boat. Evan thinks it is hilarious.

Overall our honeymoon was WONDERFUL!! We are so grateful for all of the friends and family that made it possible. THANKS!!!

Wedding Day

2009-06-27T17:16:00.000-07:00

June 20th, 2009... OUR WEDDING DAY! As much stress as it brought upon us, it was all worth it. We had a blast! We are very thankful for all of the friends and family that came to the sealing and to the reception to support us. We both feel as though it could not have been any more perfect. We are anxiously awaiting pictures within the next few weeks!