Uncle Cole

So Coley wrote this poem... it's so cute! And yes, Alyse is having a boy!! Wooo hoo boys!

Dedicated to Nephew

Call me Uncle Cole,
if you may, you can
My sister's going to have
her own little man!

We don't know his name yet,
for he hasnt been born.
He could be quiet as snow,
or as loud as a storm

Whatever his personality,
he will be great!
I love my nephew
September 21 the due date.

Soon I will have children
with who i don't know.
But our awesome little baby 
will be happy as he grows.

PS Cole will not be having children for a long time... but everything else is quite accurate.

Social Media

I feel like a lot of people use their Facebook accounts as a way to share EVERYTHING in their lives.
Not even the "Woo I love to get drunk and ruin my chances of a good job later" pictures.
Watching the things that people say makes me want to be even more careful with my own posts.
Things like:
-Pictures of spouses in labor
-Pictures of spouses in compromising places
-"Wow, you really can't trust a liar" posts.
-"Oh em gee I've known _______ for a year and we've already been married for 8 months!"
-"Wow, I can't wait to move out of _________ and go to ___________" (Then visa versa the next week).
-Unnecessary information about pregnancies, such as dilation, effacement, and other stuff.
-Talking about their kids' poop. Seriously people?!
-"I hate you so much I hope you die" ... "Ohhh em gee I just want to be with my baby"
-"I am so much better than anyone else, I look down on everyone".

As a result, I have only said nice things about Brandon on Facebook and my blog. If there is ever anything that might seem not ultra complimentary of him, it's because it's sarcasm.
I also try to not say anything unkind about my family, because that's just uncomfortable. And, you'd better believe I will NEVER post any pictures of myself in labor. Because that's just GROSS. There is a difference between the excited picture when in the hospital bed, and a picture that's awkward to see because of the position the woman is in.

Let's just be classy people.

Happy 24th Birthday Brandon!

So for my birthday, Brandon made me breakfast in bed, took me to lunch, and drove me to Vegas on our way up to Rexburg for fall semester. I deicded from then on that I was going to give him a GREAT birthday this year, as we have been together for 3 of his birthdays and this was the first one that I was actually around for.
So, I started scheming. I think this helped Brandon realize that I can do anything I want and get it done. I had some help, with some friends offering to decorate while I had Brandon out to dinner, and another friend offering to make the cake.
Our day went as follows:
-Breakfast in bed (sausage McMuffins without the egg naturally)
-Brandon went to volunteer at the hospital to do a Teddy-Bear clinic, and I bought all the decorations for the party.
- Lunch from Taco Bell (I knew he'd want it).
-Uninterrupted 2 1/2 hours of the gym for Brandon.
-Dinner at Winger's, and....
-A SURPRISE PARTY.

Thanks to Karen for helping fund the party! I loved planning it. My biggest concern was that people wouldn't remember, so I spent the morning of texting people to remind them about the party. We had about 15 people come, and it was great. When Brandon and I went to dinner, I was texting the entire time to make sure everything was working out. Brandon kept saying, "Umm, isn't it my birthday dinner?" I felt bad, but I needed to make sure it was working out! Whoops.
Brandon then wanted to go to a movie, but luckily I had a 7:45 AM class today so I could say, "Ohh I need to go to bed early!" So we went to the arcade right by Winger's until I got word that everyone was ready for us to come home. On the way home, Brandon said, "Why don't we just go home and grab our old cereal, to feed to the ducks at the nature park?" I said, "Ok, let's just GO HOME and pick it up!" Luckily he had the car keys, so that he had to open the door first. When he walked in, he didn't even notice the decorations. Right when he saw two of the guys standing in the kitchen, everyone screamed "SURPRISE!" They also stomped on balloons, for dramatic effect.
I'm so grateful to everyone who came, and those who wished Brandon a happy birthday even though they weren't able to go.
I told Brandon one of the reasons why I love him, and this was it:
ONE of the many many things I love about Brandon is how kindhearted he is. I have never heard him raise his voice in anger towards anyone, and I know someone's in trouble when they're an "idiot" or "dumbo". He's one of the few boys I know who calls his grandma just to see how she's doing. He has worked for an entire year in a job that he only sometimes enjoys, and has given up his weekends for a whole year in order to give me a good life. Even on his birthday, he volunteered at the hospital for 4 hours so that he could teach children how to not be afraid of hospitals. What kind of guy does that?! I'll tell you. Brandon. Who is, in fact, my husband. I always tell him his niceness evens out my tendency to be stinky at times.
I'm so grateful to be married to this boy, he's making my life so much better. And he said it was a great birthday, which means I succeeded at showing him how much he means to me.

The picture he wanted in a frame for his birthday... I've kind of made it a tradition.

Teacher Knows Best.

So in one of my classes, I have a teacher that is the type of personality where she is never wrong. That's an issue by itself, but I've taken the liberty of writing down some of the things we have learned in this class:
1) A thesaurus is where you look up antonyms and.... syntonyms.
2) Kids from the states of New York and Vermont have never seen a cow before.
3) People with smaller vocabularies are not as smart as people with large vocabularies.
4) The i Pad will help children learn their colors and numbers. (as opposed to parents and real life?)
5) "You probably don't know what this is, but..."
6) Mitt Romney pays 13% tithing.
7) When someone gives you a wedding gift, and at their wedding you give a gift back, that's called "recipuhcating".
8) The Decloration of Independence was what the Founding Fathers signed.
9) Atlanta is a city where again?
10) "Hope for Esmeranda" was a famous novel that changed the world.
11) If you score in the 87th percentile, that means that 87 out of 100 kids did better than you.
12) An orthodontist is a doctor who can prescribe you glasses.
13) "Oh, you guys don't read the paper!"
14) Jane Eyre was a famous woman's author.
15) One of the measures of central tendency is the medium.
16) There are many required requirements to pass this class.

From the Mouths of Babes Part 2

More Quotes:
Teacher: We are making grape juice, this is what smashed grapes looks like.
Girl (Turning around to me): That looks like puke!

Girl: I HATE preschool teachers! They are all so mean!

Girl: You teachers never let us do what we want! All you are is nice to us!

Girl: fishes don't have yegs!

Girl: Yesterday I went to the park and we saw ducks and they were quacking! (If you've never heard a 3 year old say the word "quacking", it's quite a treat.)

Girl: My butt is wet!
Me: Oh, your bottom's wet?
Girl: No, my BUTT is wet! From the slide!

Me: Why'd you get glasses?
Girl: Because I can't SEE!!!

I walked by a girl, and tugged on one of her pigtails.
Girl: Hey! Don't pull my bunny tails!!

I'm really going to miss all the funny things the kids say. They totally made my semester better, because I loved them and their silly little quirks. If I have kids like some of those, I'll be so happy!

Top 5 Lessons I've Learned from Winter Semester 2012

This semester was rough. So I'm turning it into a list of things I've learned.
1) I can do hard things. If I can get through this semester with some of my wits about me, then I can get through any other semester that is coming my way.
2) Take responsibility for your actions. I taught 5 times this semester. Each time, there was something I forgot to do, or something I forgot to get before the lesson. Etc. I had to own up and face the music about that, because I would get marked down. I just sucked it up and let the teacher tell me what I could have done better. I saw some other people who would blame what went wrong on their lesson with "Well, I said..." "Well, it should have..." "Wa waaaaaaaaaaa." It's just more adult-like to say "I'm sorry, I will do better next time."
3) If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. I would get critiqued after every one of my lessons, and sometimes they were brutal. It's something about the 6-on-1 mentality that gave people the idea that they could say anything they wanted and get away with it. I know that in the beginning I did that too, but I learned something after a while. If I didn't have something positive to say about that part of someone else's lesson, I could just keep quiet. Some days I didn't say a single thing. But I am glad, because I felt good about only contributing positively to someone's day. In addition, many of the people who were quickest to jump at things that didn't go right did not have the best lessons either. So heh heh haters.
4) Don't procrastinate. Many of my big projects were things that took the entire semester. If I had waited until the last possible minute like I had last semester, Brandon would have probably died. I still have a lot of work to do, but it's not nearly as stressful.
5) Heavenly Father really understands girls. I have had plenty of classes that are all girls, or all girls with a few exceptions. After a while in all of these classes, the gauntlet gets thrown, the gloves are removed and the claws emerge. Cliques come out, and we always talk about that one girl who drives us insane. It happens everywhere. However, I think Heavenly Father knew I would be this stressed out with people by the end of the semester, because I have made some great friends from these classes. I had 3 girls that were in class with me for 24 hours a week, and I would not have made it without them. Thanks Kelli, Melanie, and Casey! There were many more girls that made my life easier, you know who you are.

Worst Best Friend Ever.

So I was looking through my old posts, and realized I didn't put up a post about Gabrielle's wedding!! It was a year and a half ago, but here's a picture montage of how the day went.
Jen, Emily, and I were the three non-sister bridesmaids. We took our job very seriously.

 Hams.

Super cute dresses, but I can't wear it anymore.

 Outside the Seattle temple.

Typical serious face close-up.

The bridal party at the reception.
And my favorite picture of the night...

Totally sums up how we acted that day. We were the best bridesmaids ever OBVIOUSLY.

 Gabrielle's cousins were nice enough to pick us to dance with, so we weren't bridesmaids sitting by ourselves. It helped me realize I realllllly liked Brandon, because I had no idea how to talk to guys anymore.

Waiting for them to come out of the reception.
It was a great day. I was so glad I got to be part of it! Sorry Gabrielle I know it's late!

Semester from Outer Darkness Part 2

So I haven't blogged in a while... the last few weeks have been pretty rough. I taught preschool twice in a week, and had three major meltdowns. One of the days was a two-teacher day, where I was the lead teacher and only had one other teacher in the room. It was AWFUL. I've never wanted to quit my major so badly. Brandon had no idea what to do with me, because he had never seen me like that.
However, it's over. My life is no longer ending, and I no longer feel like a failure. I have a 92% in my preschool class, which I did not think was possible after all the negative feedback.
I definitely need to work on getting negative feedback. Some people may not like what I do with my work, and that's ok. I need to not take it personally. I know people are not victimizing me when they tell me what I should work on, and it doesn't mean I'm a failure.
The important thing is that I have a good family, good friends, a wonderful husband, and I'm still doing well in the hardest classes of my semester. Possibly my whole college career.

And, I've got a super cute preschool class. I get to teach them about keeping our bodies clean on Wednesday... Because they don't know how to properly wash their hands or keep their mouths covered when they cough and sneeze. I hope to instill a little fear into them about germs. I wish I could put pictures up of my class, but confidentiality laws or whatever keeps me from doing that. I actually feel like I could handle a preschool lesson by myself. I know I'm not the worst preschool teacher ever, so that makes me feel good.

AND, the semester ends in a week and a half! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Happy Birthday Dad!

I'm sure he's glad the wedding payments are over....

Ah, Saint Patrick's Day. The one day of the year that we celebrate a part of our heritage that isn't Icelandic.
In all seriousness, happy birthday to my dad! Story about his birthday- apparently, his grandpa Murphy thought that he should have been named Patrick, because of his birthday. So until his death in the 90's, he called my dad "Patrick".

 Tucano's- this year.

Dancing with Daddy.

Telling Brandon exactly how it is.

 New York City- Rubbing Buddha's belly.

(Note: Dad doesn't take a whole lot of pictures... so this is what I have!

It hasn't been until the past few years that I've learned how great my dad really is. Without him, we would be in a lottttt of trouble right now. He's a great bishop, great dad, and soon will be an excellent grandpa!! Happy Birthday Dad, we love you!

RIP 54 Jay Way

So the Giullians moved from their house in New Hampshire. It's too bad, because I liked New Hampshire a lot and now we don't really have a reason to go back.
What was even more sad was they had to leave this behind:

Meet Cienna. She's crazy, but super cute. This was taken of her when she was still little, but even when she was older she was cute. The problem was that they didn't know where they were going to end up yet, because they don't have a house. And Cienna deserves better than traveling for a month at a time. So they found a house, where the woman was a dog trainer (LUCKILY). She'll love that home, and we'll always remember her as being crazy and hyper.
On the plus side, they're so much closer to us now! They're going to be living in the Walnut Creek area, right by San Francisco. I looked it up, it would take us about the same amount of time to get to their house as it would to the Murphy house in Irvine. So we're thinking of going there for spring break to see their new house.
We'll all miss Cienna. But we'll now always remember her as the crazy puppy that she was.