Gratitude...

Now and Later....

Today's Sunday School lesson went better than I had hoped for!

I have some truly amazing kids who are more than willing to participate.

Today we talked about being financially self reliant

I explained to them that "The decisions you make NOW will affect you LATER"

Of course, I needed to put together a cute treat for that! lol

It's a simple handout, but to the point :)

Since it's also the week of Thanksgiving, I had them all come to the chalkboard and write things that they were thankful for. Everytime they wrote something, they would get a frootie...so as you can see....I handed out alot of candy today!

I love all the different things they were thankful for. I took a photo of this so I can get it printed for each of them. Then on the back of their copy I am going to write a few things about them that I as a teacher am thankful for....I love these kiddos!!

Quote of the day...

Fruitful Meeting..

I had a meeting today and we were all supposed to bring a treat to share.

Seeing how I cannot have any 'treats' because of my diet restrictions, I decided to bring something that I could actually eat, just in case.

It turns out that my fruit was a hit and I didn't have any left to bring home. They had a good laugh at my soccer tray. It's the only tray I have that was big enough...I guess I have thrown one too many soccer parties..lol

Eating fresh has been a blessing and I feel great!

Dark Chocolate!

 My doctor is so funny! He said I could try dark chocolate, etc.  Except, I had to make sure it was 70% or more of dark chocolate. How in the world am I supposed to find something like that? He did say it should say right on the package....

And low and behold I found it!...!! crazy stuff!
I am not a fan of dark chocolate, but this is sure a treat with all the foods I cannot eat :)

Waffle Love....

This truck is somewhere different everytime,

Today we found him in Spanish Fork!!'

and Kimee wanted to order.....

so nicely done! Hope you liked it Kimee!

Kimee's BFF got Braces ...

Kimee and I put this fun treat together for her BFF that just got braces put on...

Here is the cute little sign that we put on the bag....

Parable of the Unwise Bee

This was the handout for my class last week..

We talked about temperal self reliance...
This is a great story....

I tried to think of what treat would go great with the story....and found it! Bit-O-honey! :)

I made this bookmark as well,
I laminated it so the kids could keep it nice and could refer back to it if necessary..

My Hair!! I cut my freaking hair!!!!!!

My facial expression pretty much sums it up...."Oh well, its just hair, right? It will grow back...RIGHT????!"

I allowed my hair dresser to cut it shorter than I wanted, she said she could probably donate it if I went a little shorter,
so why not? It's just hair...um...I've never had hair this short so its something I need to get used to....
But still....AHHHH!!! I am still freaking out that I cut my hair!!!

I bought these awesome products from her as well.  They are my must have's and I love how it makes my hair smell good :)
She is amazing. Thank you Shelley!!!

My Twin!!

Rosslyn is one of our cute Diabetic kids at the school,

she was so excited when she figured out we wore almost the exact same outfit....

Oh my goodness, I just love this cute girl!

This holds true in my life.

A little over a year ago, I found the courage to finally stand up to my parents and I have to say it felt amazing! I am finally free from all their emotional and verbal abuse. Its taken a while for me to realize just how bad things were now that I don't have to deal with any of it. Walking away was THE BEST thing I could have done for myself and my family. I have felt the most freeing feeling someone could feel. I don't miss them, I just don't. That might sound cold, but if you have been in my shoes, you would agree. I did what I thought was the best thing for me. and it was without a doubt the best thing I could have done. I am so much happier, I take people's opinions with a grain of salt because they were not there, they didn't see what was happening, they don't know what went on. I do not have to plead my side of things and no one will ever know my side because I did what "I" needed to do for me. I have no regrets at all.  They said some things that no child should ever hear from their parents, thing that stung, things that hurt to the core that you just don't get over.  I am looking forward to moving ON with my life and am loving every single bit of where I am. My kids are thriving and doing well and I am not missing a second of it.
With this being said, I do not have time to dwell on all the negativity that my family has. I have better things to do like watch my kids grow up with the time I have left, seeing how the doctors seem to think I have a life span of 15 years left with my Liver Fibrosis/Hashimotos. Who knows what medical things will come about in 15 years. There is only one man who knows when my time is up and its not the doctor...lol So, as you can see. I have bigger things to focus on and worry about in my life and my parents are not one of them.

Forgiveness....Check!
Moving on....Check!
No Regrets...Check!

This will be the first and last time I post family drama.....I am a positive person, but just know I've been through more than I should and I have learned many lessons through all this. But, the time has come to put it all behind me and move forward. My heart cannot take it anymore, so I dug real deep to find the forgiveness to let them go from my life and my heart.....moving on is one step at a time....

Loved this...

6 cups and 6 girls....

These girls have been practicing so hard to perfect this....good job girls!

6 cups and 6 girls. CLICK HERE for video

Power's Out!

Our power went out unexpectedly. I guess a fuse went out, and half my neighborhood's power was off.

It was quite comical to say the least. The power went out while Kaylee was in the shower....She yells out "Hey, I'm still in the shower"....seeing how I was in the kitchen making my way down the pitch black hallway to let her know the power was out, she yelled again and said "HEY!! I'M STILL IN HERE".  hahahaha I made it to the bathroom with a flashlight and told her what happened and left the flashlight on for her in the bathroom to finish her shower...too funny!

Sure, we have lanterns, lots of flashlights, but we decided to light candles instead. The girls immediately got on their ipods to post pics and let the whole world know the power was out at our house...needless to say, I feel confident we are prepared enough...so we just had fun with the power- outage.

Survival Kit for Life

November's Sunday School Lesson: Self Reliance and Spiritual Reliance

I put this little handout together for them and I think it turned out great!

I gave this lesson last week and made a tray of Peanut Butter Bars too. Needless to say, I made an entire cookie sheet and had a few left over, but word got around I had them and they were gone in a flash :) Either they were good, or they were fasting and were starving! lol

I currently have 10 kids in my class, but this turned out way cute, so I made a few extra to give to my Visiting Teachers :)

If any of you want a copy of this, I am more than happy to share it :)

Quote #2 for the day..

This is so true. My life would have no purpose if I didn't have children.

When I think about my kids I smile. All THREE are my life, my joy and my heart. Each one of them hold something special and I couldn't live with out any of them. I see what kind of people they are turning out to be and it makes me proud that I had something to do with that. They are amazing kids and I am very proud to be their mom!!!!

Quote of the day..

Olympic Development Program - Week 2 of Tryouts

Kaylee and Haylee - HC Storm Keepers

Kaylee and Haylee partnering up during the Keeper drills at ODP.

Brandon Gilliam is the keeper coach, so Kaylee at least knows one of them so she feels more comfortable :)

Good luck Kaylee, week 2 down, looking forward to our final week 3. You are doing great!

Birthday dinner with aunt Margie!

I had a great dinner with Aunt Margie, Uncle Dell and cousin Rob...

Seriously, this man is so kind!

Plus he bought the most awesome gift!!! A Steelers steering wheel cover...sweet!! It's already installed too! Yippee!!

Thanks Dell!!!! You nailed it :)

Oh my heck, we laughed SO HARD. We bought each other the exact same birthday card!!!!

Great minds think alike! hahahaha

Margie was supposed to make a goofy face...lol

Thanks for taking the pic Kimee!

I just love my Aunt Margie. I have no idea how I could have gotten through the past 6 months without her love, compassion, listening ear and advice. 

I love you to pieces Margie and am so thankful you are back in my life :)

Thanks for a great birthday dinner. I absolutely loved the time we spent together tonight.

My Birthday!

I love that I get to have my birthday at school!

I had a few classes come sing happy birthday, a few other classes made me handmade birthday cards,

the office bought balloons and gave me some treats...as in  fruit! yum!

It was such a great day today! Even though my birthday is tomorrow, its fun to have it extended!
I kept getting asked how old I was turning. I told everyone I was 29 again! lol

Shane is our Special Ed Technician. 

Today he wished me a happy birthday and called me his "Sierra Bonita Girlfriend' - too cute!

...and one of my favorite Diabetic students...Haylee Lambert!

Everytime she comes to the office to check her blood sugar, she asks for me! ((love))

Another student drew me a happy birthday picture. Thank you Ia!

Yum! Popcorn. One day I''ll be able to eat this again. We had to pop 100 bags of popcorn for our Poppin Personality winners :)

Laurie, Tiff and Terena...love my office staff!

I love these ladies! Thanks for making my special day extra special!

Team Unity when we have a man down..

Kaylee's fellow teammate broke her wrist during our last game.

She is out for the season, so after practice, Codi and I rounded up the girls and made a get-well candy bar poster

I stopped off and picked up some balloons and off we all went.

Kat is the one in the blue shirt...we even talked her coach into getting in the picture!

One of the girls made her a fruit loop neclace...don't ask! lol

Kaylee's 12 Birthday Party!

Ok. I know I am a little late posting this. Kaylee wanted her entire soccer team to sleepover, so I told her she needed to have the girls over when their wasn't a game the next day. This made it so the girls slept over during Fall Break. There were a few that were not allowed to sleepover, but we still had them over for a late over...it was so much fun!

I can't believe Kaylee is 12!!

We are ready for the party!

Kaylee's awesome birthday cake!

The center piece...of course I had to get all the girls hackie sacks! lol

Kaylee's soccer team! Happy Birthday kiddo!

 

 Kim and Kelsey playing Minute to Win It

Brinley and Taylor

Almost Taylor!

There were many 'Selfies' taken that night..lol

Binkie Swag....lol These were the soccer rings from the birthday cake..lol

Starting to wind down...hair getting braided, talking about boys..

"Blind Makeovers"

The girls insisted that I get a turn on Blind Makeovers...lol  The things I do for my kids! lol

Kaylee, Phillis and Kelsey

They are getting settled in. Good Night girls!!