ZOO

Gracie and I went to the zoo. 

Nicole and Sophie came along, too.

Grace wanted to go home after about an hour,

But once filled with ice cream, she gained more power.  

We saw gorillas, penguins, and even some bears.  

But it was the fish that won the most of her stares.  

We wandered around for the rest of the day, 

Hoping more animals would come out and play.  

Once we had finished our animal quest,

We went home to have a much needed rest.  

Beckham in the Making

 Cheering on Ally at the soccer playoffs.

 But mostly did some puzzles.

Ally's team won the gold!  Watch out, Beckham.  

Preschool Graduation

Gracie had her last day of Preschool this week.  We were invited to their "graduation" party.  It started with a picnic at the park.  We waited for about 30 minutes and no one showed up.  Then we went to her school to find out that they had moved the party to another day.  Sadly, we didn't get the message.  And after all that work showering, doing hair, finding cute matching clothes, and getting to the park.  We (and by we, I mean me) were not going to do that again.  So we had our own little picnic, took pictures, and got a special treat.  I really don't think she knew the difference.  :) 

"Thanks for making me one smart cookie."  

Gift for her teachers.  

"I wish to have an ice cream cone."

Well, the ice cream store was closed... is yummy lemon cake ok??? 

Operation Super Nanny

My brother, sister in law, mom, and dad were lucky enough to go on a trip to Spain for 16 days!  I was not so lucky.  Haha, I got to be the babysitter instead.  :)  

I got to be an actual soccer mom and take Ally to her practices/games.  Playoffs are this week!  

What do you do on a rainy day?  Make cookies, of course!

Making sure I didn't abandon her at preschool yet.  

Nope, not yet.  

A Great Horned Owl visits preschool.

Ally had her first piano recital.  She was super excited, and really nervous.  But she said a prayer to do well, and did an AWESOME job.  Check it out:

And of course, we went to Dairy Queen afterwards to celebrate!  

The girls were invited to a garage sale with their friends.  They decided to make maracas to sell.  A couple of them actually sold!

After the garage sale an actual ice cream truck drove by.  It was their dream come true!

Delicious!!!

So what can you do if you can't get to an actual Zumba class?  You do it on the big screen, that's what.  It was so much fun!  Almost of fun as being in a real class.  I have to give some serious props to all the moms who still find time to work out.  I had real intentions of working out everyday here, but then reality set in and there's just too much to do to keep up on everything.  But I'm trying!  :)  

This little sweetheart appeared in the garage...  I just about picked up the girls and hightailed it out of here!  I can see why Ally gets in on the other side of the car.  I would, too!  Guess I'll stick around a little bit longer.  :)

Change

Fact.

I really think that's why I've been in Idaho for so long.  I haven't known where I really wanted to be.  But now, after ten years since I first came to Rexburg, I am taking the plunge and moving to Arizona!  I got a job teaching 1st grade in Mesa.  And it works out perfectly that my parents have a house there (cheap rent), I have a few friends already who live there or are moving there soon, I love the heat (no more scraping my car!), and they just announced 5 new singles stakes.  Them are some good odds.  :)    

While I am extremely excited for the job, I'm also very nervous, scared, sad, apprehensive, and any other similar adjectives you want to use.  This past year in Rexburg was really great.  I made a lot of new friends and came out of my shell.  I even finally came to realize that I don't actually hate Idaho.  I've just become so attached to this area, it's really hard to leave it.  I really don't do well with change, but this seems as good a time as ever.  

I was discussing all the pros and cons of leaving Idaho with one of my friends, and she told me that I really wasn't happy here, I was comfortable.  And that is the truth.  I know I'll be much happier and able to progress more in a different place.  Now I really hope that place is Mesa!  :)  

I spent two and a half days cleaning and packing up my classroom.  It was so overwhelming and kind of depressing.  Honestly, I think I'm mostly sad about leaving the school and the families I've really grown to love.  I've been at this school for five years (that's over 100 children!), and have taught a few sets of siblings (I even got to teach three girls from one family, and now I'm really good friends with their mom).  It's amazing how attached you really do grow to the entire family.  I will miss seeing all their smiling faces in the hallways.  I'll really miss walking through the halls and knowing just about every child's name that I see.  

It will be a challenge to start over, but I'm ready for it.