Bye Bye Puppies

Giving up two puppies:

Jeff and I sold two of our little puppies to his sister and her husband. We were so sad to see them go but knew they were in good hands and would be pampered like no other puppy ever has.

Val and Jessica loving the new puppy

Nova, the new "daddy" holding both puppies

New "mommy" holding Sophie

Niece Emily holding the boy Leka

Nieces Olivia and Jessica showing how to use the puppy beds

The puppies go on their first walk

One down...

Its official, I passed the Arizona teaching certification test! I even got all the questions right in the Social Studies and the Arts section. What a relief! There is no way I want to take two 4 hour tests back to back again!

Thursday is my last official day of student teaching. It will be a bitter-sweet day. I have really learned to love those kids and will miss them so much. I am also excited to be done with lesson plans and classroom management :). All that is left to do right now is hope for a job opening. Luckily I have my old job back, just in case.

Update on Life...

I haven't blogged in a while so I thought I would let everyone know what is new in our lives, not that there's a lot new:

I am still student teaching till May 7th and loving the little 3rd graders. On May 9th I finally graduate with my Masters degree and my teaching credential!

I have recently, as of last week, gone back to my old job at Northcentral University. I am working there part time until I graduate. I work at the school till 2:30 and drive a half hour to NCU then work till 6. It makes for a long day, but it isn't too bad. I really like working at NCU. It was actually a huge blessing to be hired back at this time, and to work part time for a few weeks. Heavenly Father is watching out for me in our time of financial need.

We have sold 3 puppies and still have one. Two of the puppies have gone to one of Jeff's sisters in CA, and one went to an older couple a few blocks away from us. The one we still have is super cute and I want to keep her so bad but Jeff keeps reminding me we already have an animal house. I really do miss the 3 we sold too :(.

Jeff and I have started our Biggest Loser diet competition with members from Jeff's family. It is an 8 week program where we each give the winner $5. Every week we post our weight loss percentage on our family website and support each other. We have been going 5 days strong...so far its hard but it feels good. We are counting calories and working out when we can. I hope to lose over 20 lbs by June 15th. Wish me luck!

Now that the weather is getting so nice we are starting to work on the yard again. I am excited for our lilac bushes, our daffodils, and our crab tree to bloom. Our pond is almost warm enough to put the turtles back (which are currently residing in the garage), and our berry bushes are starting to sprout. We hope to plant a garden again...dreading changing the location though. Last years garden was okay, but needed more sun. Needless to say, the yard will be a large spring/summer project for us.

Flat Abby's Arizona Adventures

My niece, Abby, did a Flat Abby for her class. This is based off of a story about Flat Stanley, a boy who gets flattened and is sent all over the world by price of an envelope. We received Flat Abby after my sister in San Diego, and one of her in-laws in Samoa. Here are a few picture of Flat Abby's Arizona adventures:

Grand Canyon- boy it was cold that day!

Historical Route 66

My 3rd grade classroom (missing some kids)

Back to San Diego for Libby's blessing

The vault at Wells Fargo

Meeting the Christmas puppies

We had a blast with Flat Abby and were privileged to be apart of the fun!

Little Girls

This video was made for all of my beautiful nieces, who are loved so much!

(Pause the music at the bottom of this page before you play the video)

Birthday and Baby Blessing Party

The family (minus Darren and mom) with Flat Abby

Jeff and I at the blessing party for Libby/Birthday party for Cassidy
The kids were watching a show and I couldnt' get their attention.

Aubrey and Cassy are only a few months apart...so cute with grammy. Cassy was very tired.
Cassy was excited about her yummy cake.

Cassy didn't understand that she was supposed to blow the candles out and just wanted to hold the balloons on top.

Cassy was so happy with each present she opened.

Adorable baby Liberty (Libby) about two months old.

San Diego Fun

Jeff and I went to San Diego for the weekend...basically one day. We were able to visit my sister's family, my mom, as well as my brother's family. We always enjoy seeing the kiddies.

For some reason Cassidy started the nudey dance and all the kids decided to join in.

Naomi couldn't get enough of the Stratego pieces...we had to convince her we'd take good care so we could play with them.

This is a picture of Aubrey being shocked after getting caught picking a winner.

I love this picture, the three of them are so cute in their giant hug!

I am not even sure what the kids are doing in this picture but they thought it was hilarious. Aubrey is a big helper with her new baby cousin. The four girls trying to scrunch in on the couch.

Cassy couldn't get enough of the camera. Everytime I went to take a picture of the baby she walked in front of the camer and gave me a big smile.