february 14, 2015

january flew by. february is half-way out the door. that's kind of how life is now days. 

important things that come to mind from january are:

• a lot of teaching and lesson planning
• in between teaching and lesson planning, working on my TWS (Teacher Work Sample) or last assignment left before i can officially graduate, and it has a tendency to cause a great amount of stress!
• in between teaching/lesson planning/TWS creating, some walks to the park with my loves

• and then, saying goodbye to seven inches of hair!

 

then february came. we got called to serve in our ward as CTR 6 teachers, and we've only gone once for singing time. we're excited to have a way to serve where we can take zenna, but we're a little scared of that age of kids! 

i've started a new experiment to increase the words of prophets in my life by listening to conference talks in the morning while i get ready. i've been surprised with how really and truly this has influenced my days. it does set the tone for my thoughts throughout the day, and i say little prayers in my heart for the names that come to mind while i listen. i keep my thoughts in my mind and then have satisfying pillow talk with drake before bed. i've felt my testimony and love for the leaders of the church deepen a lot. one particularly touching morning i documented through social media #sharegoodness, right? and so, it must be shared here as well to influence my daughters one day as well. 

"This morning as I listened to President Eyering speak, I felt an overwhelming sense of love and gratitude for my mom and the sacrifices she made to get her children to church. More than remembering her diligence in taking us alone, I remember times when I felt her testimony as she shared it during the special time as my Young Women leader, or simply through her enduring example. I am so grateful for her example and teachings to me so that I was prepared to make the covenants in my life that have brought me all my most happiness. Because of her, and the other strong examples who taught and prepared me, I have the amazingly special power to be with my family forever and partake of all the blessings the gospel has to offer us all. Because of her, I will never be separated from my sweet husband who I love more and more every day. I'm grateful for the message and gratitude I felt this morning to remind me how lucky I am to have my Mama! I love you."

february 13 meant valentine's day at the elementary school and it was a whirlwind day of sugar highs and fun. that was also the day we had a special ultrasound. . . . 

it was really special finding out that we are having another baby girl! once again, i was convinced she was a boy. i thought since i wasn't very sick and that i look like i'm carrying her higher, she just had to be a boy! but i'm pretty happy that i get to use the pronoun "she" when i'm talking about the baby inside me. zenna will absolutely adore having a little sis, and hopefully they become best friends! (her obsession with babies has only increased. now babies go with her into the bathtub, at least four go on walks in the wagon, and there's always one left in the cars for her company). 

we took our valentine's date on the 13th after the ultrasound and sadly, didn't make it to our annual Red Lobster date due to an insane amount of people out on the day before valentine's day. so, we tried something new at Happy Sumo and got cream cheese and crab wontons to satisfy the craving. we also treated each other to a pretty awesome gift: a new iPad Air 2! it may have been a little bit of a splurge for sure :) drake also surprised me with Gone With the Wind on blu-ray and we even started part of it together. i've been talking about this forever. we came home early, ate milkshakes, and spent the night with both of our sweet girls. 

BONUS: more cute pictures of zenna :)