My Story Through Pictures

I'm in my final year of college!!!! Hooray! My journey through school has not been an easy one, or a "quick" one either. It's been full of setbacks and struggles. However, I've grown so much from this experience.

I'm finished with all of my Elementary Education Levels. (Except student teaching.) This semester I'm taking support courses that must be completed before I begin student teaching in the spring. One of my classes is an instructional technology class. So far I LOVE it! I'm learning so much about different programs and software that will truly benefit my lessons. One program I just love is Animoto. It's a movie making program that is so fun and so user friendly. I made this video for my class and I'm just dying to share it with you all.

The instructions were to collect pictures of yourself, and also make some "wordles" to include in the video. So, when you see the subway art and wordles just remember they were required ;)

This video tells my story through pictures. It starts with pictures of my young-single adult life, then tells the story of mine and Brian's first few years of marriage; before the birth the Lydia till now. I remember when we were first married everyone told us how much fun married life was, and that you just have to get through the first year. Well our first year of marriage was amazing! It wasn't all rainbows and butterflies all the time. (Being poor college students is never easy.) But we worked through the struggles together. I just have to say even though we were so poor it was still SO much fun! How can life not be when you're married to your best friend?

Now, almost 3 years later we've been blessed with our beautiful daughter Lydia, and life just keeps getting better and better. I thought this video is an accurate depiction of our lives so far.


It's been brought to my attention that some of you haven't been able to see the video below, so click HERE and it will take you to YouTube. Thanks!

Enjoy!

Lydia is 11 Months!!!

Do all mom's get emotional when their babies get closer to their first birthday?? I sure am. I actually had my sister take her "1 Year" pictures yesterday so I could have them printed for her first birthday party. I was sad at the thought that these are her 1 year pictures!!! But on the bright side I just LOVE them!!!! I posted a few below, if you want to see more check out my sisters photography blog here.

Those Eyes!

In these ones she was watching Kami's dog and she just looked so  intrigued.

I think this one is beautiful! I might have to print it in the biggest size I can find!

At eleven months Lydia can take about 4 steps by herself before she looses her balance. Full blown walking is just days away! 

She has found a new interest...cows. She LOVES the cows. She points and moo's whenever she sees them. At Nana Julie's house she looks out the window to find them. 

She loves for me to chase her. She crawls as fast as she can and just squeals, and screams with delight. It is so funny. She will look up at me then quickly turn and crawl as fast as she can while screaming away.

She has been a mommy's girl since day one, but now that she is getting bigger she is really starting to want her Dad. Earlier this week when Brian left for work in the morning Lydia crawled quickly towards him before he could leave and pulled herself up to his knees whimpering to be picked up. Once Brian picked her up she turned to me and waved bye-bye. So long Mom, I'm going with Daddy! And Brian is loving it! 

As far as her eating goes, she is way over the pureed baby food. She doesn't like it anymore, but she still only has her two bottom teeth. (I keep thinking more are going to break through, but they haven't yet). Remember, she is kinda picky. She'll eat cottage cheese, scrambled eggs, pancakes, tuna fish, tiny pieces of meat, and potatoes. I can't get her to eat fruit very well, or pastas. I tried peaches last night and she kept spitting them out. She loved the pureed sweet potatoes when she ate baby food, so I mashed a sweet potato up with a fork the other day and she did not like it! I tried getting her to eat it a few times and the girl kept spitting it out and wanting more cottage cheese. I'm trying to think of more ideas of what to feed her if any of you mommy's out there have suggestions please comment below! 

Lydia is the most fun baby ever. Her goofy personality is really starting to surface. She growls and screams just to get a reaction from us, once we laugh she just growls louder! She is so playful, and social. She loves her cousins, and playing with other kids. 

She is always on the go, and is never still! She is in to EVERYTHING! I can't imagine what else she could possibly get into once her walking improves!! 

Well, the year of Firsts is almost over :( I can't believe my next "Lydia Update" will be her first birthday! It will be so much fun so stayed tuned :) ...

Lessons Learned from "The Rainbow Fish"

I would have to say that the sweetest part of my day is reading to Lydia before bedtime. (This is the only time she'll sit still!) I love reading, and I couldn't wait to start reading to my daughter. I enjoy the stories (especially the one's with a moral or lesson to be learned), LOVE the cuddle time, and I can't resist squeezing my baby when she is in her soft, warm pajamas. Lydia also loves story time. When me or Brian sit down in the big reading chair with a story book in hand; Lydia crawls as fast as she can towards us, pulls herself up with a smile, eager to begin story time.

We have accumulated quite the Children's Library this past year, and one of my favorite children's books in our library is the Marcus Pfister classic "The Rainbow Fish." We all remember that story right? It's about a beautiful  Rainbow Fish with shiny, colorful scales who refused to play with the other fish in the sea, because he thought he was too beautiful. One day, a small blue fish asked him for one of his sparkly scales and the Rainbow Fish refused. Then the other fish did not want to be around him anymore. The rest of the story outlines the Rainbow Fish's quest for counsel as to why no one liked him, and what he could do to make friends. 

One night Brian was reading this cute story to Lydia. It was the first time he had ever read The Rainbow Fish. Lydia was cuddled up to him in the big rocking chair, and I was sitting on the couch listening with a grin. 

"...He went to the starfish for help. "Brian read, "Why doesn't anybody like me?" he asked. "Go ask the octopus," said the star fish. "She is very wise. The octopus said, "Give away your shining scales. You wont be as beautiful but you will have friends." "I can't do that!" cried the Rainbow Fish." Brian continued to read, while me and Lydia enjoyed the story. 

"Suddenly the little blue fish was back. "Please," he said. "Could I have just one scale?" Well the Rainbow Fish thought. Maybe just one tiny little scale. The little blue fish was so pleased, it made the Rainbow Fish feel happy. Soon all the fish came, and the Rainbow Fish gave away his scales, one by one. Finally he had only one shining scale left. But now, as he swam off to play with his friends, he was the happiest fish in the sea."

I smiled as Brian shut the book, thinking what a wonderful lesson for little kids to learn about the importance of sharing. I was just about to open my mouth and express how much I loved it when Brian suddenly exclaimed,

"And that Lydia is how you buy friends."

HAHAHAHAHA! I laughed hysterically. I guess the lessons learned from the Rainbow Fish are bit different from a dad's perspective. :)   

Here's to Happy Reading Everyone!

Engagement Project (1)

I'm an Elementary Education Major, and as a part of my major I'm required to do a 30 hour service project. I've decided to "double-dip" and use this service project for my class. I've been helping a few fourth grade teachers at Mt. Green Elementary school with their prep work for next year.

May is a very relaxed month for the the fourth grade team at Mt. Green Elementary School. Mrs. Fearn said that the teachers and the students are "done." SAGE testing is finished and the kids are burned out. So, on May 19th and 20th, I went up to Mrs. Fearn's classroom to do help her put in grades, and get going on prep work for the next school year. Mrs. Fearn likes to do a lot of the prep work during the "relaxed time" so she can enjoy most of her summer and not worry as much about school until August.

It's crazy how much teachers work after hours. They do A LOT of prep work which includes, cutting, gluing, designing lesson plans, writing their schedules, writing letters to parents, making their "Welcome to 4th grade!" mailing packets, etc. They do all of this during their "time off" and recently the teachers in Morgan school district no longer get paid to do this. Teachers used to get 10 paid planning days. Due to budget cuts, they no longer receive compensation for those 10 days. Just by spending time with the 4th grade team here, I'm learning a lot about the "realities" of becoming a teacher.

Me grading papers

Grading more papers and creating spreadsheets

Our Little Lydi Bug is not seeming so little anymore. (Sniff) Her 1 year mark is approaching much, much, too quickly. This past month my baby seemed to completely change. She is crawling SO much faster, she pulls herself up to anything and everything, and just yesterday she tried to stand up in the middle of the floor with no support. I miss the tiny baby stage, (especially since we have two new nieces on the Rose side that are just the sweetest!) however, this busy, baby stage is so much fun! Lydia is getting pretty good at performing. She was (and still is) waving bye-bye, "Rocking Out," giving kisses. Her new assortment of tricks are: "What does the puppy say?"she will pant like a dog. It's so cute! She says "cracker" (it sounds more like "tra-ter") for any finger food. She has been saying "mama" and "dada" for a while, but I think just recently she figured out that I'm mama, and Brian is dada. When she is tired she'll crawl towards me and say "ma-ma-ma-ma-ma." When Brian gets home she'll start saying "da-da-da-da-da" while she's playing around on the floor. She loves feeding herself these days, and is starting to eat "real" food better than baby food. She is growing up TOO FAST! I love it and hate it all at the same time.

Here are some pictures of what she is up to these days.

Here she is walking along the chair to the end table.

Her first funny pony tail :)

How she sleeps these days. I love her little diaper bum in the air.

Trying to figure out how to eat with a spoon.

Her favorite thing in the world: Riding the 4-Wheeler! Here she is riding with her Great-Grandpa Scott and cousins.

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Lydia is 9 Months!

How did my baby get to be 9 months old already! I just love this baby girl of mine! She gets cuter and more fun each and every day.

At nine months Lydia waves, claps her hands, and "Rocks Out." She actually just bounces up and down and bobs her head when we tell her to "Rock Out." It's super funny. We just need to catch it on camera so we can post it. Her crawl is still well, not the traditional crawl. She used to do a swimming motion, now she actually pushes herself up with her arms. She actually uses her toes to push her self forward instead of her knees. We try to help her up on her knees to see if she'll really crawl, but she just gets mad at us, so we just let her do her weird toe and army crawl thing. She has pulled herself up to the couch a few times in a standing position and we decided right then an there it was time to lower her crib. She'll take a few steps with me holding her fingers, but then decides to plop back down on the floor where she can do things herself.

She LOVES her books. She claps and laughs whenever I pull one out to read to her. If it's a new book she will actually lean back against me and sit still for maybe 15 minutes while i read to her! I LOVE it. These moments are super rare, since my baby is not the most cuddly.

She went through a phase where she HATED baths. I think it was actually because I sort of, maybe traumatized her while rinsing out the shampoo from her hair. I poured just a bit of water on her head to rinse it out and it went all down her face. She kinda panicked, after that she would cling to my shoulder and cry whenever I started filling up the tub.  Then she would cry the entire time I bathed her. She's gotten over it now, and once again enjoys her bath time.

She is kind of a picky eater. She gags when food it too cold, or if I introduce her to a new texture. She won't eat mashed up food at all. No mashed up bananas, no mashed up sweet potatoes, though on Father's Day I gave her some of my mashed potatoes, and she did eat a few bites. She is even going through this "I don't like fruit anymore" phase. She would rather eat green beans, sweet potatoes (as long as they are pureed), squash, or any other vegetable. 

She went on her first go cart ride last weekend with her dad. Don't worry, her cousin can drive the Go-Cart and he's 6. It goes VERY slow. She loved the noise, and kept waving to everyone who was having a turn.

Oh I just love my Lydi bug so much! She is the best thing that has happened to us. I'm sad that she is growing up so fast, but at the same time it is so fun to watch her reach these milestones. 

Love you Lydi!

A Dad is...

A Dad is someone who sneaks Mountain Dew for you when Mom isn't looking.

A Dad is someone who lets you play video games with him AND his friends.

A dad is someone who takes you for rides in his truck.

The BEST Dad's do such a good job at raising their own kids, they get recruited to help raise their Grandkids!

Grandpa Matt

Grandpa Rodney

The Best Dad's get promoted to Grandpa.

A Dad is someone who takes you camping.

A Dad is someone who is an expert at assembling items for mommy to use. :)

A Dad is someone who doesn't mind it so much when you wake him up to play with you.

A Dad is someone who snuggles with you when you don't feel well.

A Dad is someone who gives you blessings.

A Dad is someone who takes you to see the temple. (Especially at Christmas time.)

A Dad is someone who works hard and teaches you to work hard too.

A Dad is someone who takes care of you and mommy.

A Dad is the first man his daughter falls in love with.

Happy Fathers Day! We love Daddy.