New Car and Back to School

Russell brought his guns when he came up and while I was in California they went out shooting. Sounds and looks like I missed out on some fun!

 ...but I was so excited to come home to this new beauty!

 This is officially my first new car-- '06 Nissan Altima. I am in love with it!! I feel like a grownup in it for some reason. My first car was a '00 Ford Focus that my dad drove and handed down to me. I was supposed to pay it off but my parents graciously gave it to me as a wedding present. Second, I shared a Honda Accord with Erin, which was their family car. Then we bought a sort of hand-me-down '95 Nissan Maxima and Ford Taurus. The Maxima was a great car but ended up crapping out on us almost. It was time. Not saying I'm excited to have a car payment, but this is what I consider my official first new car!

PreAutumn has started, which is a 2 week experience in a classroom, working with a teacher and learning how they set up their classroom for the year; kind of like an internship. I am working with a 2nd grade teacher who is absolutely awesome! I am super shy and she helped me get out of my shell right of the bat! School started yesterday and I warmed up to those kids right away. Oh my goodness, they make my heart melt and I already can't stop thinking about them! I was extremely nervous about student teaching, but even after this week, I love being in the school and absolutely love 2nd grade. I hope to do my student teaching in this class, especially because I know them and they know me.

So that's what's going on here! I'm finally up-to-date.

My Summer 2011 Trip Home

I like to take advantage of not having children or a full-time job yet, and filling my void of California a few times a year. I went home to visit my family for a week after our Harstine Island trip; so I basically had a 2-week vacation! I was welcomed with a lovely sign. My dad calls me "Janni-anni-anni-anni-anni-anni-anni-anni...annica." The length changes every time.

 Aside from In'n'out, Roundtable Pizza is a must eat for me when I got home. I worked there for over 3 years, and I crave it all the time! It never disappoints me.

 I planned my trip so that I would be able to make it to my best friend Jenna's baby shower. It is beyond weird seeing her pregnant, haha! I'm so excited for her though! She is going to be an amazing mommy! Can't wait to see baby Millie Rose Haycock!

We were able to go up to Lake Tahoe and float down the Truckee River. We've done this a lot as a family, and it is so fun every time! We met up with our friends, the Burtons, and had a great time. My dad is the biggest dork alive but he cracks us all up. He secretly hit up the dollar store the night before and bought shower caps, loufas, and bubble bath just to show off and get some laughs. The Truckee River gets busy with other rafters, and it's a slow, mild float so we are able to bring water guns, coolers and other toys. We have water fights with other rafts and so that made for more crowds for Dad to get laughs out of. After rafting we went and got some delicious pizza and went up to the Burtons' beautiful cabin for some games and relax time.

 My parents spoiled me while I was home and took us to Six Flags for a day as well. Again, my dad had me laughing the whole time. I even asked him, "Dad, do the boys even laugh at you anymore?" and he told me, "No, that's why I like having you around." Silly Dad. I love you!

 Devin works at Sunsplash and invited us to his work family and friends party. We got to ride the water slides, eat free food, and play arcade games for free. Thanks Devin!

It was a great week with my family! We were just missing Britt and Lane! Devin is leaving for BYU-Hawaii this weekend, and I'm missing out on that trip with the family (they just happen to be "stopping" in Maui on the way). I'm so excited for and proud of him though! He'll have so much fun!

Harstine Island

Lane's parents rented a house over on Harstine Island (near Shelton/Seattle) for a weekend. Erin was in town for a couple weeks before, and Russell met us there for some fun! We were a little nervous for the togetherness of this family trip because everyone has their own input on everything--but it turned out great! The house was adorable, the surroundings were beautiful, and we had a lot of fun!!

 There were thousands of sand dollars and other cool shells on the beach right by the house so we went on lots of walks on the barnacle-covered beach each day to collect them.

Our game we love to play is Settlers of Catan, and we were excited for Russell to come so we could play with him because he introduced it to us; but he introduced another game to us--Ticket to Ride, which is now next on our list to buy! Even Faith picked up on it...lil' miss smarty pants!

 There were deer always walking around and this mama deer came to our front yard and after about 30 minutes of restraining the kids (trying to keep still and quiet), Lane got the deer to eat right out of their hands. The kids loved it!

 Harstine Island is right on the Puget Sound. Blake, Lane, Russell, Tobie, and Faith all made it a deal to jump into the cold water at night and then go sit in the hot tub on our deck.

So our weekend consisted of playing games, eating, collecting shells, feeding deer, hot-tubbing, going to a silly kiddy carnival, relaxing, and spending a lot of time swimming in the community pool. It was an awesome weekend. Thanks Tim & Vicki!

Beach Shrine

My mother-in-law found me this cute baker's rack at a garage sale. I decided to turn it into one of my beach shrines with the adorable shell dishes she bought me as well. It's a work in progress, and it's not very baby-proof so when we have baby guests I'll have to block it off, but I love it!

One of my bathrooms is also a beach shrine. Someday when we can afford to redo our bathroom and get me a huge jacuzzi tub, my beach bathroom shrine will be glorious and complete. 

Misc.

We finished our fireplace! It looks a-m-a-z-i-n-g. I updated our house blog so there's more stuff on there.

Side note: I made the Dean's List for the third time, and I got straight A's for the second quarter in a row...kind of a big deal for me! :)

Gatorade

I think we should have a Gatorade party...just sayin'.

They were 50cents a piece two different times so we have about 100 of them.

July 2011

July apparently wasn't very picture-worthy this year. For me, it has mainly consisted of school and feeling homesick. We were able to see some friends from Rexburg --Tyler and Kelly Hesselgesser came up for a weekend. She had a triathlon in Chelan, so we were able to go to dinner and play some Wii. That may not sound very exciting, but trust me, Wii Party is pretty stinkin' fun!

Last week I was able to go to Spokane and see one of my old roommates, Michelle. She was visiting home for a family reunion and celebrated her 2yr old's birthday. I hadn't seen her since the little guy was born, and now she has two!! So that was fun to see her and her little family.

We also started our Jack & Jill Softball league. Our team is "Blaydes" which is Blake's company. We had these awesome shirts last year, and now we have more friends on the team! It's pretty fun. Softball is totally not my sport, but I think that I've improved (I've been hitting pretty well at least). Last year all I played was right field (because it rarely gets hit out there) and I'm scared of the ball. I'm moving on up in the softball world though because I'm now trying 2nd base as well! We have a lot of people on our team so we rotate positions and sitting out, so luckily all my errors will only affect every other inning, haha. Here's some of the people on our team; I can't photograph myself or ones who bat before/after me, so I'll post the other part of the team later!

Summer quarter ends this week! I am SO in need of a break. Going to school year-round wears you out, I can tell you that much. We're so close though! I have Pre-Autumn Experience (2 weeks long) at the end of August, Fall quarter, Winter Quarter, and then Student Teaching in the spring...and then I graduate! It's so close, yet so far. I am proud of myself for sticking with it because it hasn't been an easy ride. I have had many moments where it would have been much easier to quit!

Ps. This will be our new roommate starting in August! This is Amanda. She is in my cohort and we've become pretty good friends. She'll be renting downstairs for a while!

And she is moving.... :'( This is Leah. She is married to Brady Harker (Dusty's brother) and they have a son named Leo (who is in a lot of our pictures). She has also become one of my best friends. Brady accepted an awesome job in Washington D.C. Although they are moving across the country and I won't have my ally close anymore, I am so happy for them to start a new chapter! Plus, we now have an excuse to go visit the East Coast!

And she is coming to visit! This is Erin. She is Lane's sister (duh!). She is also pregnant! We're excited to see her!

And after all is said in done, I am going home home to visit my family in August! I am beyond thrilled and it is a trip well overdue. The end.