On the Countdown to School!

I now wake up at 5am every. single. day. Kill me. But, really, ugh! It's pretty much the worst. Honestly, I love it though. Only for the fact that I don't get to waste the day away and I get to see part of the sunrise, and that's just beautiful.

Aurora is (mostly) all smiles in the morning and Dan and I have gotten into a good routine of helping each other get out the door on time.

Right now we only have one car, so this has pretty much been our schedule:

Drive 20 miles to drop Dan off at work by 6:30am.

Kill some time driving super slow and creepy-like on the streets of Parker so I don't take Aurora to the babysitter too early.

Drive back 10 miles to drop off Aurora at the babysitter (whom she is absolutely loving--basically, Esther is the best... and Desiree, who fills in when Esther can't) by 7:00am.

Then drive back 10 miles into town to do meetings at the high school for new teacher orientation by 7:30am.

THEN Dan and I are off at different times, so I leave the car with him in town, and I catch a ride with my cool new co-worker, Katie (who reminds me of my most wonderful cousin, Melissa--yeah, Melissa, I know you're probably reading this so I'll tell you all about why later!), for the 20 mile drive back out to my school for meetings there.

Later, Dan picks up Aurora on the way back home, and then we ALL work on getting my classroom ready until late and we go home for a late dinner and an early bedtime, so we can do it all again the next day!

Phew! Just typing that made me tired... Oh, wait, maybe I'm tired because I'm up past my new bedtime of 10:00pm... Yeeeaaaahhhh...

Anyway, that's been our crazy schedule for the last week and next week, we bump it up to needing to LEAVE the house by, at the latest, 5:30am, so Dan can be to work by 6:00am to drive the school bus.

Speaking of Dan, I'm going to brag on him for a minute. He hates it when I do, but I don't care! The man deserves some recognition, because he's just freaking awesome!

Dan took his final driving test to get his CDL (commercial driver's license), and he crushed it! For real! He got 100% and he's the only one the instructor has seen! So, pretty much, if you want safe kids, have them ride Dan's bus! I'm super proud of him!

He got his bus route and he'll be driving one of the three routes for my school, so that's exciting! He'll get to know my "kiddos!"

haha so I had to say "kiddos", because I've recently observed that that is the word here. I don't know if that is an Arizona thing, or a Parker thing, or I've just never noticed many people referring to our students as "kiddos", but they ALL do it here! haha So if I start calling my students, my "kiddos"... yeah, you all know where that came from...

Anyway, back to Dan... the other day, I finished with meetings at my school and I text Dan on the way back to my classroom asking if he'd be able to bring Aurora and come to the school to help me with my room. When I reached my classroom, he was already in there, and he had managed to get ALL my student desks cleaned (they had permanent marker on them)! 

Today, he helped me put up a "Blast Off To Reading!" bulletin board design in my room and it looks fantastic! I'll have to post a picture later of that so you all can see his great work! AND he wrote down the title and the author for every. single. chapter book I have in my classroom library, and that's a lot of books! (THANK YOU AGAIN FOR THE BOOKS, MOM!)

Aurora has been SO patient and flexible with my crazy, new teacher schedule!

AHHH! Her and Dan win the prize for Best Family! I mean it! You have no idea how much I love them!

You guys, school starts here on M-O-N-D-A-Y. MONDAY! That is in 4 days!! Oh. My. Heck! 

I'm so excited and nervous and overwhelmed and enthused and just a whole bunch of emotion right now! 

Seriously though, this is what I am supposed to be doing. This school year is going to be crazy and busy and a learning experience, but I think it will go so well! I already love teaching!

Arizona Living

Oh, hey there, blogging world!
Did you forget about me?
Did you forget about us?
I hope not!

I never forgot about you... I know that a move or two and no internet connection has really hindered our relationship, but I promise to do better!

For now, I'm shooting for once a week posts about the crazy, everyday lives of the 3 Johnson's, and hopefully, that will keep our relationship going strong!

So, a whirlwind update will start right... about... now!

On April 22nd, we moved back home to Cedar City and lived with my parents while we figured out where we wanted to be and while Dan helped out his dad, Steve, with work as he finished out his chemotherapy for Cancer.

That went great! We loved being near both families, and we especially appreciate my family for making that sacrifice to have three added house guests for an extended stay!

We definitely made the most of our time in Cedar, even making frequent visits to St. George, spending much needed time with all our family and friends... because we also made a major family decision while there that would move our family 6 hours from home, to a whole new state!

Dan and I decided I'd put my teaching degree to use and I'd apply for elementary education jobs. I first applied in Southern Utah to stay near home, but the more we thought about it, the more we felt we needed to do something else. I joined a great website for teachers that lets you select states you'd be willing to work in and all the jobs available in those areas--I put in all states surrounding Utah and quite a few jobs came up.

We researched those places and weren't feeling good about any, until jobs came up in the small town of Parker, Arizona.

We'd never been to Parker.
It's pretty much as big as Parowan, Utah... small.
We had no idea why Parker sounded good.

But I sent in my resume, and the principal of a school in the district contacted me to set up an interview.

I interviewed over the phone and it just. felt. right.

Two days later, he offered me the position as the new third grade teacher at the school and two days after that (and much praying and discussing), I accepted!

With a job in place and a home to rent from the school district, we made plans to move to Parker, AZ!

Dan worked his booty off to get our family prepared to move and I am so grateful for him and his willingness to support me in this new venture!

On June 22nd, we packed up our Budget moving truck and our family of three, and we were on our way to our new home... having NEVER seen it before! We broke the trip into two days, and stayed one night in Las Vegas, Nevada at our friends, Dan and Amber Shoemake's (that was so fun!).

On June 23rd (my birthday!), we made our way from Vegas, down through California, and across the Colorado River into the Colorado River Indian Tribes land and outter farming communities of Parker, Arizona to our new home right down the street from my new elementary school.

The drive was desert views; barren, harsh, desolate, and Dan and I were nervous as ever as we awaited the sight of our new area, but I will never forget the beautiful views of HUGE palm trees, gorgeous green farm fields as far as the eye can see, and the refreshing, blue water of the Colorado River as we came into Parker. Wow! Our nerves were immediately calmed and we were ready for the beautiful adventure we had ahead.

Fast forward to almost a month of Arizona living and we are loving it! We have been SO blessed and I know, our prayers are being answered! THIS is where our family needs to be. So many things have fallen into place; it's insane!

♥We have been able to see so many beautiful sights all up and down the Colorado River; from Lake Havasu City down to Yuma.
♥Our only neighbors when we arrived were my principal, Brian, his wife, Heather, and their son, Tillman, and they have made us feel so welcomed!
♥Despite having to first move into the house next to the one we were really supposed to move into, and then a week later, having to move again into that house, we were blessed with a cute little 3-bedroom home to live in!
♥My classroom is HUGE and there is SO much stuff there already for me to use...I am so happy, I could cry!
♥Dan got a job with the school district at the bus garage driving school bus for the school year almost immediately, AND they offer paid training! Then today, he was offered a position in their warehouse for the hours in between bus routes, so that we can successfully navigate living 20 miles outside of town, having one car, and one spouse work in town and the other 20 miles out.
♥We found TWO wonderful babysitters for Aurora; one Monday through Friday, and one as a fill-in on the days the other can't. She will get to experience so many fun things with both and friendships have formed between us already!
♥We have been blessed to be in a small ward, where we feel like family; the ward party is tomorrow and then Sunday, we've been invited to dinner with another family in the ward!
♥Dan and I already feel so much closer to one another, as we've had to rely on each other more being away from everyone and everything we know... Our family relationship is already growing stronger and we've become better friends!
♥And although, moving is always financially stressing, we have been able to make it...

Blessed! We are blessed!

So that's the fast version of our lives over the last month. It's different than Utah, but we love it.

AND as of today, it's officially official... We both have Arizona driver's licenses! haha

OH! And I helped another guy rescue a scared and lost little baby boy from the middle of the street today! I was driving to the park with Aurora when I drove past a boy around Aurora's age wandering in the street in nothing but a diaper and large shoes... in 104° weather. So I continued around the block to see if I could see some family (no luck) and as I came back around to the boy, I pulled up to a man in his car who had the police on the line to report it. We talked briefly and I let the man know that I would get the boy from the street while he was on the phone with the police department, then together we waited for them to show up.

By the time the police arrived, the cute and sweaty little boy was clinging to my neck crying as I held him in my arms and wouldn't budge. The other man gave his statement and left. Then I waited with the boy and the police officer for Child Protective Services to arrive since there was no sign of his family. Luckily, I got the boy to drink some water and got him cooled off a bit in the air conditioning of my car... and then just before CPS arrived, the boy's mom came walking down the street! She thought that maybe he had followed his older brother out the door without anyone knowing... Needless to say, I held the boy (and Aurora) for about an hour before his mom came... crazy. I gave my statement and my license to the police and then I went to pick up Dan from work.

It was an eventful trip to the park!

Wednesday Is My Day Off

Wednesdays are my day off... usually. And today, I had the day off... because it's Wednesday. SO I had big plans for my Wednesday, to have fun hanging out with my little cutie, Aurora all day since it was just going to be us.

But then we both slept in and I thought I'd have to babysit my friends' little girl after school and things just weren't working out.

So I was bummed. And Dan's out of town, helping his dad, Steve, with his courier business since he's sick from starting chemotherapy and having a bad cold on top of that. Ugh!

I was just feeling stuck in the house and down.

Around 3:15pm, I was packing Aurora into her car seat to go pick up our little friend from school, when her mom called to say that she ended up getting off work early and I didn't need to babysit today! Woo! Not that I don't love our little friend, but I had "big plans" to do something today, remember?

So I kept Aurora in her seat and we headed out the door with $21 in hand and a plan to find toddler shoes for my walking babe. OH MY GOSH! I forgot to tell you guys! WE HAVE A WALKING GIRL ON OUR HANDS!

Anyway, I needed to stretch that small wad of cash in my wallet as far as possible because I also needed diapers... hmmm... yeah.

For you moms who buy diapers, you know that this was basically not going to happen. Diapers are freaking expensive.

Lucky for us, I remembered seeing an ad on Facebook about a diaper sale happening at a store here in St. George called Traders Discount Markets, so before we left the house, I called them to see if they had some in stock... They did!

Oh! And I also called the Iron County School District to have them activate my application for some open elementary teaching positions! Eeek!

But then, we were on our way!

You guys.

Traders had diapers on sale for pretty much HALF OFF the regular price for the EXACT brand we buy!
I wanted to jump up and down for joy! I didn't.
And I wanted to buy all the diapers on the rack! I didn't do that either... only $21, remember?
So I left there spending only $15 for 138 diapers! That is a steal!

People, that was step 1 to turning my day around.

Step 2 happened after searching Walmart and Target for semi-cheap toddler shoes, to no avail, and ending up at the D.I. (All Target brought us was a fun little jam session with the Beats by Dre headphones haha)

I tried a few pairs of shoes on Aurora at the D.I., had her walk around in them (that was adorable), we chose two pairs, and then we paid for them! Guess how much?

$6!

I spent EXACTLY what I left the house with. Oh, success, you make me happy.

Then we drove around for a bit, enjoying the beautiful scenery of St. George and the summer-like weather before stopping by Albertson's on the way home.

Just one question for ya, Cedar City... Why the heck did you get rid of our Albertson's?! That store has everything! haha I love it!

I left with comfort food (guacamole, chips, a mango, fruit leather, and mini ice cream cartons) and pictures of my cute shopping buddy, so that went well.

When we got home, I watched a small portion of Lilo & Stitch with Aurora before putting her to bed. I am so lucky to be her mom! She is the sweetest thing!

Oh! And I got to talk to one of my best friends, Natalie Wade, tonight on the phone and she let me know that she will be coming to visit St. George in two weeks! I was so happy! I miss her!

AND THEN right after that, I checked Instagram to see that I had WON A CONTEST!!! It wasn't anything huge, but I never win! Never! I was so excited! You all have no idea!

I won a cute little stuffed bunny for Aurora from Apple Park Kids!

And then my cute hubby text me to say he missed me. And my dad called. And my sister-in-law, Kaela, posted a picture for me on Facebook saying they missed me being there.

So even though I'm alone tonight, I don't feel lonely. And even though my day seemed doomed, it turned out pretty good.

Saturday Saturday

Welp, Dan's gone tonight having an all-night bonfire with his brothers. So what did I do?? Well, I went on a walk to try out my new app called Runkeeper (Awesome!), hung out with my family, ate yummy steak and chicken fajitas that my mom made, baked up some brownies and then ate them, decided to apply for a teaching job for next year (Eeeee!!), came home and put Aurory to sleep, and painted myself a cute little lyric art piece inspired by A Beautiful Mess while watching Elf.

Yup. And it was great. Also, the weather was perfect during my walk and the smells of the outdoors were just...ahhh...heaven. I wish I could describe it!

Speaking of the great outdoors... last night we tried to watch the meteor shower that was supposed to happen, but it was overcast, so that didn't happen. BUT we did do a little fire out at my in-law's house in Enoch so Aurora got to experience her first fire. Which gave me the chance to dress her in this super cute, fleece winter-suit we got at her baby shower. Adorable!

Also, I present to you: Aurora's new trick! haha

Korea Korea!

Hello, bloggers! Sorry it's been SO long since I've posted! (We are currently internet-less at our house so with only phone access, keeping up on the blog is a bit difficult) But the last few days we've been spending a lot of time at my parents' house because they have some Korean girls staying with them AND our washer is broken at our house so they've been nice enough to let us bum theirs (Dan's parents too! Thanks!).

So the girl next to Erin is Heejin Moon and the next one is Minji Kim. They are here to attend some classes at SUU and will be staying with my family for 2 weeks. It's been really fun to get to know them. They are the same age as Collette! Kind of. haha I say that because in the United States age is different than it is in Korea! HERE they are 17 and in Korea they are 18 because in Korea, they count the time in the womb as their age so when they are born, they are considered 1 year old. I thought that was kind of cool!

Other things we learned:
-They don't get driver's licenses until they are 20 years old so they were amazed that Collette could drive haha
-They love s'mores!

Things we've been introduced to:
-Korean pop music! They had us listen to a popular boy band from S. Korea called Big Bang and they're actually really good
-Korea's version of string cheese.... uhm.... yuck. haha it tastes similar to bologne... or something. Yuck. (But don't tell them that! They love the stuff!)

Collette and Erin love having them here! It's like one big teenage party at my parents' house all the time now haha lots of screaming and giggling. It's lovely.

In other news, Dan and I find out what our baby will be on August 2nd!! AHHHHHHHH!!! I'm dying! I can't believe I'm already almost to 17 weeks! The pregnancy is going great so far. I'm over the nauseous part so that's great. BUT my hip is hurting like I have a pinched nerve which is not so great. It's ok though because I know it'll all be SO worth it in the end! Dan and I are over the moon excited to be parents and to meet our little "bundle of joy" (seriously though!).

Also, I met with Trish Adams from North Elementary (who I'll be subbing for this school year when she has her little girl) and Lori Bunker (the teacher I did my practicum with) today and I'm starting to get really excited for the school year to start! It'll be like I have my own classroom to start the year off. 5th grade! It's going to be so much fun!

Summer Arrived

Summer is in full swing around here! Sunny skies, warm weather, swimming almost everyday (we love our pool), cabin trips, cub scout day camps, movies/JustDance in the backyard, sleeping under the stars, and road trips. It's great!

ALSO, Dan got a new job at a place called IPS! Yay! They do plastic welding and other hands on stuff with tools (haha descriptive, right?). He loves it! He's learning new skills and he feels like he gets to "play" all day. It's a good job for him and just what we needed. He still does a bit of landscaping on the side but we just needed something new. He works from 7am-3:30pm Monday thru Friday so the hours are awesome and I love seeing him come home from work so happy and proud of the work he's doing.

In other news, I've started to teach private swimming lessons again. I was doing them at our pool but that got the kabosh so I'm over at SUU. I have three kids: Ryker Weeks (7), Crue Peterson (5), and Cooper Peterson (4). They're so great! Thanks, Blair, for letting me crowd your pool! haha

Done! and It Feels So Good

Well, it finally happened! I am an official college graduate! It's so crazy. I've been applying for jobs and now I can fill in the college degree part with the fact that I have a BACHELORS DEGREE!! I'm all growed up... Ahhh, feels good!  

AND I have a job interview tomorrow for an elementary teaching position in Washington County! Cross your fingers that I get it because I would LOVE to start out in the Fall with a teaching job and a classroom of my own!

InstaTuesday #7

/I got new makeup from Mary Kay; since Dan's mom sells it, we got 50% off! Woo! Also, I captioned this one "Nice to 'nose' ya." haha I'm crazy. Welcome to the party./ 

/Erin painted my nails sparkly red! Didn't she do a good job?/

/Dan and I babysat Jack again (while Jeremy and Kaela learned to do the photo kiosks that Clay and Leslie do for cruise lines) and we picked up Erin after school so we painted masterpieces with watercolors for about 3 hours. That kid. haha/

/I made up a new recipe and it was amazing! I call them Sloppy Joe Cups and for those of you wanting the recipe, here it is: 

ingredients- About 1lb. hamburger (browned), 1/2 can sloppy joe mix, About 2 cans biscuits (pilsbury or whatever), shredded cheddar cheese

directions- Heat oven to the temperature indicated on biscuits. Grease your muffin tin (I used Pam and two 6-cup muffin tins). Flatten out your biscuits and place them in the tins. Brown hamburger and mix in sloppy joe mix. Scoop about 1 and 1/2 heaping tablespoons full of sloppy joe into the muffin tins on the biscuit (just fill the cup the biscuit made). Put in oven for the full recommended time on the biscuits (more if needed) or until browned. When there is about 2 minutes left on the time, pull out them out and cover with cheese then pop back in for the rest of the time. Pull them out when the cheese is melted and the edges of the biscuits are browned. Swirl a knife around the edges of the cups to get the muffins out and enjoy. (If you let them cool for a couple minutes before eating, you can pick them up with your hand and just eat them that way)/

/Well, here it is; my "final" (my compilation of everything student teaching) for student teaching. 4 inch binder packed FULL! This was my last thing to do for student teaching so now I'm ready for graduation! Ahhh! This is so unreal!/

/Dan got to participate in The Relay for Life that The American Cancer Association puts on to raise money for families that have someone with cancer with the scouts in our ward. I went and walked with him for awhile. It was fun but chilly! Poor kid got to spend all night there haha/

/I have been eyeing these little succulents at Smith's whenever I go shopping and I finally got me some! Aren't they pretty? I die./

/Saturday after The Relay for Life, we went to New Castle Reservoir with Dan's family. It was so much fun and Dan caught lots of fish!/

/Just, you know, having some quality Facebook time with my Dad haha/

/I love going to my parents' house! They always have the yummiest food. Fresh strawberries and one of my favorite treats that my mom makes, chocolate rolled rice puffs. If I cook for my kids like my mom cooks for me, my kids will be in heaven haha/

InstaTuesday #4

/This is where I spend my days at CVHS. Room 208./

/As we've discussed, I'm obsessed with Polyvore. This is what started that.../

/If you're familiar with the play, A Mid-Summer Night's Dream, then you know that it's all about mixed up love and it's just...silly. Well, my reading class gets a whole lot better when we read A Mid-Semester's Daydream (an adaption of the play mentioned before), and the students get to "profess their love" to each other. Especially when one character is a donkey mascot... haha. They loved it. They were recording themselves reading it and sending it to their mothers. I got a "What is your teacher having you read??" reply back to the recording of the few lines read in the picture haha/

/This one time, my Grandpa Smith bought a little motorcycle. Then he sold it to Dan and his brothers. It's so fun to ride!/

/Camping mistake #1: Giving this child a Monster Energy Drink. Good job, Dan and Ryan. haha JK he was all hyped up and hilarious./

/1st camping trip of the year! It was a balmy 20°F outside and the fire did NOT help but, boy, did we have fun!/

/Just hanging in the trailer with this guy. We could be models./

/I feel like, when I'm camping, I can eat whatever I want for breakfast. True story./

/I totally made dutch-oven potatoes for dinner on the camp trip and they were good. A few mistakes but I know what to change for next time to make them even better!/

/Study hall is so boring when I have no one to help and 90% of the students have gone to the lab. BUT I usually do get to hear all the gossip of the school in study hall (you know? drug busts, arrests, fights, ex-girlfriends, etc.) AND I get to hear all about Pokemon and computer games. I'm so lucky./

/Oh, just a shot of the boys at the pinewood derby tonight!/

/Tonight, Dan fell asleep before me, but that's ok because even when he's dead asleep, he still reaches to hold my hand. You know it's true love when he isn't even aware he's doing it. It's these little moments that remind me how glad I am that he's all mine ♥/