What are YOU doing October 7th?!

We present Baby Braun



Here's a 3D image our doctor took! Pretty crazy, huh?!?!




What in the world does THAT mean?!?!?! We didn't know either but four tests later we finally got a positive. So much for 99% accurate.


Anyway, we are 15 weeks along! Crazy, crazy, cRaZy! We're pretty stoked.

Moving forward

Well, yesterday was my last day student teaching. It was quite an emotional day. I tried my hardest not to cry but I couldn't help myself. As students were leaving class and I was saying my typical, "Make good choices! Bye!" it hit me that this was it. The tears just came and I couldn't stop them. It was hard. Some of my students cried but most of them kept it together. I told them they were not allowed to cry (because I knew if they did I would be in trouble...turns out I was in for it anyway!).

The students made me farewell cards and brought treats to share with the class. My cooperating teacher bought cookies and handed them out. Overall it was a fantastic day. I wanted to end on a positive note, with the students happy, so I planned to play musical bingo. That went well. :) It was good I planned a "Chill day" because I was way too emotional to do anything else.

Anyway, I am now officially done with my student teaching. Part of me is so heart broken I can hardly stand to think about it. I have honestly come to love those students. I absolutely adore my cooperating teacher. The other faculty members, staff, and administration are phenomenal. I have HONESTLY never been to a middle school like the one I was assigned. The atmosphere is so different! I felt at home.

I am planning to go back and help every now and then, if my schedule will allow. But for sure I'll be at their next concert! So, the good news is I'll see them again.

Overall, I am incredibly grateful for my experience. I feel I was given the most opportunity to experience what being a teacher consists of, what the demands/needs are, and what I need to work on. I am walking away a better person. I hope, hope, hope those I worked with and those I taught feel the same.

Again, I am so blessed and I can't figure out why. But, I sure am grateful.

Tired and lacking motivation

Dear world,

I have two days left of student teaching and some SERIOUS projects to finish in the next few days and ya want to know what I've done every day after teaching?! I have sat on the couch, taken a nap, or just watched something stupid on TV. I have no motivation and I know it's going to throw me in a panic if I don't make changes fast. But I find myself nodding off when I finally make myself sit down and face the misery.

Ahhhh! I must finish, I MUST FINISH! I can't get this far only to mess it up.

Ugh. I welcome prayers, positive vibes, happy thoughts, etc.

Until next time,
Me

Changes are quickly approaching

I remember back in January as I was sitting and observing the classes I'd be teaching. I remember talking to my mom about how long and painful the observation period was going to be (3-ish weeks) and how I didn't know how I'd get through it. It was my idea to observe that long because I felt it would give me a solid foundation in regards to the environments/cultures of the classes my cooperating teacher was going to turn over to me. While the observing turned out to be well worth it, those days seemed to be quite long for me.

Now, here I am with one week left of teaching. That's it. It's absolutely crazy to me. I had a feeling it would go fast but I had no idea it was going to go that fast! I guess it's a good thing though, because as they say, "Time flies when you're having fun!". I'm thinking this is the case with me. I've had so much fun I haven't paid much attention to time - until recently.

So, after my student teaching I plan to take one more class (a piano class) and apply for graduation. I just hope the class I need to take is offered during the summer. If not, well, I guess I will be graduating a little later than August. But cross your fingers. I'd really like to successfully close my under-grad experience before the end of the year. I feel I've put in my time, the hard work, the sweat and tears. I'm ready to jump into other adventures!

Right now Trav and I are enjoying our Spring break. We don't go back to school until Tuesday and let me tell you, it's been fabulous thus far. I'm even fine with the inch of snow we woke up to this morning. Why? Because I don't have to drive in it unless I choose to! Yipee!!

Travis is wonderful, as always. Am I the only one who stops and looks at my husband, really stops and looks, only to realize how lucky I am?! I swear, I am reminded daily of his incredible character. He's so handsome. He's simply wonderful. One thing I really love is how much he loves Scarlet. He is always holding her, talking to her, watching her...just crazy about her. I like seeing this side of him. Here is a picture of him cuddling the little bug. :) Aren't they cute?!?!






And here's the only picture I can get a hold of at this point. I'll post more as soon as I'm able. I'm on the right. :) Proof I was actually in an opera! Ha!!


La traviata, Utah Lyric Opera, February 2012

Good intentions :)

Two months later here we are. I am almost done with my student teaching at this point. I literally have 10 school days left. While this is exciting (one step closer to graduation) it is also sad. I have come to love and respect the students I work with. I have a high respect for my cooperating teacher. I am impressed with the administration and other faculty members at this school. Really, I have been very lucky in my student teaching experience.

After I'm done with the student teaching part, I have three ENORMOUS projects I will need to complete by April 16th. After that I am done with my semester. Yipee!!! One more down - ONE LEFT. Yup, I still have one more semester left but I'm not too worried. It's going to be incredibly easy compared to any other semester in the past. I will be taking ONE class. When that class is over I will apply for graduation! I can't believe I'm that close. It seems like it's been a long time coming. Lots of hard work, stress, tears, exhaustion, success, growth, time and money. I just have to keep breathing and keep my motivation high so I can finish. At this point I want to find a hole and hide in it. Maybe hibernate for a few months.

The opera I was in, La traviata, was a wonderful experience. I feel I learned so much working with experienced performers. It was awesome! I hope to continue performing. I was eating everything up - as much as I could anyway. Thank you to those of you who were able to come. I know it was a first for many of you (wink, wink) and I appreciate your support. Hopefully I'll have pictures in the near future. I thought I'd have them by now...

Travis has been doing really well. He's a trooper. I'm so grateful he doesn't get stuck in dumb thoughts (I often do). I'm grateful he is capable of taking on each day as if it's a new day. His perspective is refreshing for me. I've noticed a trend in his family: they're all hard workers and they take things head on. They don't over think things or allow themselves to fall into thoughts of hopelessness or discouragement. I am so, so grateful for their outlook and the way they have influenced me. I have a long ways to go but I'll take progression in any form, large or small.

Travis's hard work and good nature has been noticed by his administrators at school and his principle has approached him about many different opportunities. I guess they see what a good guy they have and they want to use him as much as possible. I think this recognition is well deserved. He works hard. He's very dependable. He's quality.

As for Nic and Ash, they welcomed their little princess, Scarlet, into the world last month. She's beautiful. I could kiss her all day and still want to eat her up. She is so feminine and sweet. Scarlet is unique in that she is very, VERY observant of people and her surroundings. From day one, I kid you not, she was staring at people. It feels like she's peering into your soul. And it's not the stare where you know she's tapped out of reality - it's the focused-very-attentive type of stare where you can almost feel her thinking. She's a doll. I'll post some pictures of her in the near future too. But as a fair warning, you'll fall madly in love with her. She's my little lady bug. And Trav is equally smitten with her. He can't seem to get enough of her. I love it, though. I love that he loves her.

Kolton is still home trying to figure out what in the world is going on with him and the horrible headaches he suffering. My parents have taken him to nearly every kind of doctor imaginable. Still nothin'. It's frustrating but inspiring because Kolton doesn't really complain all that much. He's a trooper.

Well, I best be going. I can't promise anything - at least not until I'm done with my student teaching and huge projects. ;) But I'll do my best to get some pics uploaded for you.

Short & Sweet

I'm sorry it's been so long since I last updated the blog. I've been super busy! The holidays flew past - I can't believe it's nearly February now. When did THAT happen??!




Clearly my antlers had issues. :)



Cute little family, they're all growing up so fast!



Travis was on the good list (I don't know how that happened!) ;)


I have started my student teaching and, to be honest, I'm enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. I'm student-teaching at a middle school in the Jordan School District - the same district Travis works for - so we commute together every morning. This has been really awesome because we get to spend a little more time together every day. On our way up we listen to religious talks/lectures. Lately we've been listening to an incredible set of lectures by Truman G. Madsen. We were given this set of lectures (on CD) as a Christmas gift from Travis' parents and we absolutely LOVE them. The things Truman G. Madsen speaks about and understands are so deep. Trav and I often find ourselves listening to lectures multiple times. It's nuts! Another cool thing about commuting to "work" every day is that we pass FOUR LDS TEMPLES! I posted pictures of the temples at night because they glow and it's absolutely gorgeous. This is how they look when we pass them in the morning hours because it's so early the sun hasn't peaked over the mountains yet. Aren't they so beautiful?


MOUNT TIMPANOGOS TEMPLE





DRAPER TEMPLE





JORDAN RIVER TEMPLE





OQUIRRH MOUNTAIN TEMPLE



I'll give more details about student teaching when I have more time to write. Just know I love the school I've been assigned to, I'm thrilled about the administration and faculty members of the school (there is so much energy at this school it's ridiculous!) and I absolutely respect and adore my cooperating teacher. The students are pretty awesome as well. I won't lie, I'm relieved things have been so great. Last semester I was having doubts about teaching. I didn't know if I would enjoy it as much as I thought and I'm honestly so happy to say I was wrong. I'm loving it. :)

Travis is a stud, what more can be said about him?! He's awesome. He's been so patient and encouraging. I drop him off at his school and head north to mine and when I pick him up at the end of the day he gets in the car and asks, "How'd today go?". I'm grateful he cares enough to ask and TALK about it. There's so much running through my head every day...Travis is simply awesome. I'm so lucky to have him.

My brother, Kolton, did come home from his mission. He has now been home for almost two months and is still suffering pretty serious headaches. He has had numerous appointments with a variety of doctors. He's stopped medications, started others, been to a physical therapist, went and did homeopathy (I'm a huge believer), and most recently had a spinal tap (shudder) - and still NOTHING. The good news is Kolton isn't just laying around feeling sorry for himself. He's actually started going to school. He's taking a full load but seems to enjoy being busy. Oh, FYI, he was released as a missionary but will still have the option of going back out and finishing once things have been figured out and he isn't suffering. He won't be sent back to Mexico though. It'll probably be somewhere state-side. We don't know if he'll actually go back out but we're not worried about it right now. Our number one priority is to get things figured out so he can get better.

Okay, I'll post more later.

Elder Gourley

My little brother has been sent home from his mission in Torreon, Mexico. He'll arrive back home tonight. He hasn't been released from his mission, just allowed to come home on medical leave. His headaches have been getting worse each week. He is still a missionary until he's released (his mission president said they would extend and honorable release to him if he couldn't get feeling better). Because all of Kolton's tests have come back normal we've been at a loss as to what could be causing these debilitating headaches. Kolton had testing done on his brain, had a CAT SCAN, was put on 14 different medications, multiple anti-depressants...yet nothing seemed to help (some of us were asking why the heck he was put on anti-depressants for a headache...but whatever).

So what the heck is going on?! Why is my little brother suffering so much, to the point where he can't have a conversation because his head is throbbing so hard?!

Well since hearing Elder Gourley (Kolton) was being sent home my dad decided to do some research on Torreon, Mexico. Guess what he found?! Um, yeah, there's a pretty darn good reason why Kolton may be suffering from severe headaches and it's NOT psychological.

CLICK HERE TO READ SOME OF OUR FINDINGS

*You will need to scroll down to "BACKGROUND" and read from there.*

Please pray for Kolton. He's struggling with the fact that he has to come home, but if his headaches are from what we found, he needs to get out of there. There's still a chance he may be sent back out into the mission field if he gets to feeling better but we're thinking it may be state-side at that point. Who knows...we'll keep you posted.