Sharing our Life

First of all, I am finally done with parent teacher conferences!! I had three straight nights of basically living at the school. I would get up at 5:30, leave at 6:30 and then be at school from 7 am until about 8 pm. They were LONG days with no breaks. I would barely even have time to eat or run to the little girls room. Then I would come home, sleep, and do it all over again. It was so exhausting! I am still recuperating from it. Today I slept in until 8. Since we got paid this week and I feel like I deserve it, I went and bought myself a new pair of jeans. I spent an hour at the mall before I was off to babysit. I really should take a day for myself every now and then. I am starting to burn out I think.

What I really wanted to write about was a thought that I had this morning. As I was eating breakfast, I began to think about my situation. Right now I am living with a great roommate and her little girl. Even though they make a mess or ruin my stuff sometimes, I enjoy having them around. Here are some of the thoughts that ran through my head this morning: No one was home so it was really quiet and abandoned feeling. That is nice every now and then, but it would get so boring and lonely after a while. I wished someone else was there. We also just cleaned, so as I looked around, everything was clean, in order and in its right place. If I lived by myself, it would always look that way. It almost looked lifeless to me now that I have gotten used to living with a child. I didn't know what to do with myself after breakfast because Aspen wasn't there wanting to be picked up, there weren't dishes in the sink to be cleaned, Alisha wasn't there to talk to, Travis was at a basketball game so he wasn't available either. I just had no idea what to do with everything taken care of and being alone.

The thought that came to me after that was that life is pointless without someone else to share it with. This is why we are encouraged to find someone and get married and start a family. We need to share our life with someone. It helps bring purpose to our life. I know that some people do not have that opportunity, but I still think that they need someone to share their life with; be it a family member or friend...we all need somebody. Focusing on our self does nothing to help us progress to our fullest potential. In order to be the happiest we can be, we must focus on others. It finally hit me today when I was sitting in my clean apartment with no one else around.

Blah

Have you ever had a day where you don't feel like doing anything? Well, that's the kind of week it has been for me. I woke up yesterday not wanting to go to school. Luckily it was a short day, so the kids left early. My morning class was so talkative that I even told them that they were "driving me crazy," which they actually thought was kinda funny. Then we packed up a few minutes early because I told them I was tired of trying to talk over them. They asked if I was really ready to send them home and I told my aide that I was ready for them to go home an hour ago. She could not stop laughing. The kids didn't hear the comment and they thought we were crazy for laughing so much. The afternoon class made up for the morning class by acting like perfect angels. Boy do I love that class! Anytime they would start to talk, I would just have to say, "where are my angels?" and they would stop. It was like magic.

Then, today I woke up feeling really sick. Once again I did not want to go to school. I don't know what has gotten into me. And once again the morning class was a nightmare. Hopefully they will learn one day. The afternoon class was great once again!

Right now I am trying to motivate myself to figure out tomorrow's plans and everything for parent teacher conferences, but I just can't do it. I have that same feeling: I don't want to go to school. Maybe it is the mid-year blues. We are half-way through the year so it isn't the exciting beginning anymore and we aren't close enough to be looking forward to the end. Or maybe it is the "I know I am going to be at school until 8 the rest of this week" blues and I am already dreading it. Who knows? All I know is that I need to figure it out before the morning.

Running

Earlier this week, I ran into an old friend and we caught up on life. She is recently married and I recently started my job, so we were talking about how we haven't taken as much time for ourselves and we have let certain habits slip...like exercising. Both of us used to run almost everyday, and neither of us have really run since September (sad, I know). So, we committed each other to run at least once this week and then call and report it to the other. I planned on doing it on Saturday because weekdays are too difficult. Saturday morning came and I had a migraine, but I knew I had to do it. Then I got a text from her and the guilt rushed in.

It was early afternoon by this time and my migraine had subsided for the most part. I got my running clothes on and made sure to stretch really well. Ever since I hurt my knee last summer, I make sure to get in a good stretch. I laughed because I knew that I would probably only be able to run as long as I stretched. It was a beautiful afternoon, with the exception of the wind. I was excited, but dreading it at the same time. As soon as I started running, I remembered how much I enjoyed running. You just feel so good while you are doing it. I felt so much happier. I don't run with headphones in because I like to think; although yesterday I was thinking more about breathing and saying "come on Amber, you can do it!"

When I did actually think a little at the beginning before my breathing was wacko, I couldn't help but notice how beautiful Utah is. This is something that has been on my mind a lot lately. I love the beauty around here. The mountains at this time of year are breathtaking with their snow covered tops and the blue skies behind them. I think about this as I drive to and from work each day. I love living surrounded by all this beauty! I need to go on a drive to get some pictures to show you.

Samuel Edward Jones

This post is for mom. It was my job to get a picture of Sam as soon as I got back to Utah, but it wasn't meant to be.

Try one: The day I got back to Utah. I got out my new camera and the battery died immediately.

Try two: One week later. I stopped by after school so I didn't have my nice camera, but I did have my small one. I went to take a picture then it notified me that I had no memory card. Travis never gave it back to me after he copied pictures at my house.

Try three: Samuel was having a bad day because he had just been at the hospital for a procedure. No pictures.

Try Four: I finally got some pictures even though he was not awake.

Mom, here is your picture!

A Quarter of a Century...Ah!

To be honest, I don't really like birthdays. In recent years they have become more of a time of reflection. Sometimes life turns out differently than you planned it would when you were younger. Also, it is all hyped up to be your big day and it really isn't all that exciting. So, that's how my day started off. Thankfully it ended up being one of the best birthdays in a while.

Our family doesn't do anything big for birthdays, but one of the traditions is that the birthday person gets to pick somewhere to go out to eat as a family and we get to bring one friend. This year I picked Texas Roadhouse and of course the friend I picked was Travis.

After dinner Travis and I went back to the house while the rest of the family stopped to pick up some groceries. When we got there, we realized that we were locked out. We explored our back yard. Here are some pictures.

Since it was my birthday and I got to do whatever I wanted, I talked Travis into helping me scrapbook some. He was a pretty good sport. He was working on something else and "helping" me at the same time. The boys also played some with their marshmallow guns. Here is the result.

We ate my cake and opened my presents. I had the coolest cake this year! I am not a fan of regular cake, so I got a dip-n-dots cake! Mom and dad also got me a cookie cake. I felt pretty special! I got some pretty awesome presents. Travis got me a long necklace, some clothes that we picked out the day before from Express, my favorite store, some books, and he made this memory box with pictures of us. Mom got me some dress pants, dad got me some games for my classroom, Nathan got me a tripod, and Andrew got me stuff to pamper myself.

Since my birthday is New Year's Eve, there are always a ton of fireworks, but this year I wanted to do some. Travis, Nathan and I went to the store and bought some cheap ones to shoot off. We made sure not to get bottle rockets. :) We shot off some fire works and then did the sparklers, my favorite. Then someone had the idea to spell my name. So, we figured out how to do it on my camera and got some pictures.

So, this goes down as one of my favorite birthdays!

South Carolina

On Tuesday, Travis and I took a trip to South Carolina to visit his sister Courtney and her family. Travis was excited to go visit them and see the kids. He prides himself on being the favorite uncle, but I keep telling him that it is only because he is the only single one. They were all excited that Travis got to come for a visit, especially Lucy. As soon as we walked in, she ran over and yelled "Travie!" He picked her up to hug her and she just kept saying his name over and over.

It was Halle's first birthday so they had some kids over to have a tea party for her. After her party, we stuck around for a while to visit. We played the new game that we got them for Christmas. It is fun playing games with kids. They get excited even if they don't win. Willy was the best to watch! Then Jeremy took us on a tour of the Army Base down there at Fort Jackson. We got to see where he did basic training and where he is currently stationed. We had dinner and then made the drive back to Atlanta. Since I took Travis away from his family for Christmas, I am glad we got to go see at least one of his siblings.