The only thing better than Spring Sunshine

is a Spring Thunderstorm.

I love you rain, just please don't stay long enough that you drown all the beautiful flowers and ruin the trails so my mountain biker hubby gets grouchy. 

Pizza Party!

This week was pretty rough for a number of reasons.  It was the first week back after Spring Break.  It was my first full week of school in 4 weeks.  The weather finally turned nice, and we had to stay inside all day (except for the loooong recess breaks I would give.)  And, we started end-of-year testing, which is completely miserable for all involved. 

So I decided we deserved a pizza party for making it through.  It is finals week so Bryan didn't have class and he kindly agreed to pick up the pizzas and bring them to school.  As we neared lunch time my kids' eyes were glued to the windows looking for their pizza.  Finally, our hero arrived with pizza boxes in hand.  One of my students called out, "Mrs. Martinez, I didn't know your husband is a pizza delivery boy!"

If he wasn't so close to getting his masters (one more semester!) we would probably ponder a career switch to pizza delivery boy, because he was really darn good at it.  But, I think  we'll stick to the engineering thing.

Ode to Spring Break

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

1. sleeping in every day
2. re-reading The Alchemist, starting To Kill a Mockingbird and Leadership and Self-Deception
3. getting ahead on lesson plans (pretty sure that hasn't ever happened in my life)
4. trying a few new recipes/actually making dinner for a change
5. dollar movies- Dear John and Sherlock Holmes
6. getting caught up on Glee episodes (so excited for Tuesday!)
7. finishing a sewing project and starting another
8. eating my first Sweet Tooth Fairy cupcake9. going to the Creamery and making fun of all the awkward daters (we can make fun because we were once there)
10. getting caught up on laundry, cleaning, and re-filling my refrigerator
11. watching Duke win and gloating over my not-too-bad bracket
12. going to the gym (okay, maybe only did this once)
13. going to Dear Lizzie with some of my favorite girls
14. going on a bike ride with Bry
15. reading some of my favorite talks from General Conference
16. taking mid-day naps

The only thing that could make me love you more is for you to never end! Please?!?!

A Love Story

The real reason we went to Virginia was for Bryan's brother Trevor's wedding. He married a cute girl named Kirsten who I love because A. she is hilarious, B. she is so sweet, C. she's going to be a fabulous sister-in-law, and D. she's from Virginia!This isn't really my story to tell, but their story is so great I wanted to share. I'm not sure when Trev and Kristen started dating, but I know that it was before Bryan and I started dating in April of 2006. They dated for a while then in 2008 they both left on missions. For two years Trevor was in Brazil and Kristen was in Indonesia. They wrote back and forth (it still amazes me that letters could actually make it from Indonesia to Brazil and vice versa) during that time. Kristen came home in November, then Trev got back in January. After many years of waiting, they got engaged in February and were married on March 26th. We were so glad to be there for the exciting event (even if it was freezing cold!) It was also fun to be back at the Washington D.C. Temple because we hadn't been inside since we were sealed there in July of 2007.

All the Martinez ladies plus Grandma Griffin

All the guys

Cupcake Mess

Be Still

This past weekend we went to Virginia for a wedding (more on that occasion later.) Being just an hour away from home meant of course that a visit to the most wonderful family in the universe was a necessity. It was fun to see them and we had a great time together.

But late Monday night one of our dearest family friends had a heart attack and passed away. I'll never forget the events of that morning. My mom came and told me then I listened as she told each of my sisters the terrible news. The hardest part was cuddling with my 7 year old brother as he cried and tried to understand.

This friend was an amazing lady- talented, sweet, friendly, the biggest BYU fan ever, and funny. Just that afternoon we had gone over to show her my latest quilting project. She told me my stitches were very even (a complete lie) but I will be forever grateful for that last compliment she gave me. She had four children- a missionary in Guatemala, a 16 year old, a 14 year old, and a 9 year old that now have to face life without their sweet mother.

That morning my whole family sat in my parents' bed crying and wondering how this wonderful friend could be gone so soon. The words of the primary song "Families Can be Together Forever" kept running through my mind and I was so grateful that these children could know that because they are an eternal family they will be with their mom again. My dad pulled out his scriptures and read us Psalms 46:10-11, "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge." He reminded us that even when things seem tough and unfair, we can trust Heavenly Father and know that He has a plan. We can have faith in His infinite atonement to comfort us and bring us peace.

I know that our Heavenly Father loves us. I know that it will be terribly hard, but this family will receive the comfort and strength they need. I know that this life is much bigger than the here and now, and that Heavenly Father's plan will make everything okay.

Happy St. Pattys!

The one day of the year when it's cool to eat green bread.

Great People

There are so many great people in my life, and one of those is my principal. He is a genuinely nice guy who wants to help us do our job without putting too much pressure on us- love that. But today he did the nicest thing ever for me. I went into the workroom to check my box and there was a candy bar inside. I immediately began salivating over this treat and thought, "how kind of that random person to give me some delicious chocolate to brighten this terribly looooong week." Well, upon inspection of the candy bar I realized that it had one of my student's names on it. Darn kids. They don't need more chocolate.

My principal happened to be in the workroom as well and I told him that I was so disappointed because for a second I thought the candy bar was mine! He laughed and didn't judge me too harshly when I (jokingly) said, "She won't know if I eat it right now will she?" Then about five minutes later he came walking into my classroom with a bright, shiny, beautiful, chocolate candy bar with MY name on it! I laughed so hard and couldn't believe how lucky I am to work for this man.