Twinsers

So much for 'great minds think alike.' Apparently I don't have a mind of my own at all. This morning I arrived in the workroom at school to find that Cami (fabulous 3rd grade teacher) and I were wearing the exact same thing. We had the exact same skirt with a black cardigan.

Really? Really? What are the chances of doing this twice in one week?

Great Minds Think Alike

I need to start off this story saying that Lisa Michelle is amazing. She goes to the gym every morning at 6 am (by amazing, I meant psycho.) Let's not let this downplay the fact that I created a personal record this week going to the gym 3 days in a row. I know, you're impressed.

Anyway, last night as we were parting with the Schaders past 12 in the morning, Lisa said, "Step class at 7:30 tomorrow morning?" Some crazy part of me said, "Yeah, that would be fun." First mistake. The majority of the completely gorgeous, skinny women who get ready to go to the gym at 7:30 in the morning have been going to this class regularly for approximately 10 years. The instructor says "West Side" or "do the T" or "Elvis Presley" and everybody immediately goes into a complicated step routine that they can do perfectly. Needless to say, I am completely left in the dust and look ridiculous as I jump around trying to figure out what in the heck they are doing. Even Lisa betrays me because she's been to this class enough to know all the steps now (this was only my second time going, so cut me some slack.)

I showed up at 7:30 worried that I still had no clue what the West Side is, I had no makeup on, and my hair looked utterly disgusting as it hadn't been washed in approximately 48 hours. Lisa was very obliging and was willing to find a spot in the back corner where I could hopefully be very inconspicuous.

We started the warmup and things were going okay. Lisa and I both decided to take off our jackets cause it was getting hot. After disposing of our jackets we turned to each other to find that we were wearing the exact same thing.
We both had black capris and our black Rock the Block shirt. So much for anonymity.

The instructor noticed and- in the microphone- said, "We have some twinners today!" Poor Lisa was trying so hard to not be connected to this psycho girl that could not do the West Side, and now we were inseperable.

We made it through the class, and actually had a lot of fun. I would crack up every time I looked in the mirror and saw these two identical girls, except one could actually do the routines and the other couldn't. We even stayed for 10 minuts of Zumba which was completely insane and fun.

Lesson Learned: Coordinate what we are going to wear before we go to the gym together.

Love is more

As previously mentioned, I read The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks this weekend. I was just walking through the workroom at school when another teacher said, "Rachel, do you want to read a good book?" My policy is to always answer this question in the affirmative, I never know when I'll find a treasure.

I was a little surprised when she handed me a Nicholas Sparks book. First off, she's not really the type of person I would expect to cuddle up with a sappy romance. Second, I've read lots of his books and thought they were pretty good, but nothing I would circulate around the workroom. But, I thought it was an appropriate weekend to fall in love.

So, I took the book and enjoyed every minute of it. I laughed, I cried (a lot), it made me want to be a better wife and person in general. My favorite part was when he said,


"But love, I've come to understand, is more than three words mumbled before bedtime. Love is sustained by action, a pattern of devotion in the things we do for each other every day."

So true.

Love is Bryan making a fabulous dinner 2 nights in a row.
Love is my mom listening to me ramble every morning about the little things going in my life.
Love is my sister never saying no when I ask to borrow her cute gray dress.
Love is Tiffany sending me a cute text, just to check on me.
Love is one of my kids proclaiming, "You're the coolest Mrs. Martinez!"
Love is a friend sharing a book that she really enjoyed.

One Fine Day

I would give pretty much anything (well, not my firstborn, but probably my second born) for more days like today. I love getting little breaks from school to relax and get things done. But, today was extra wonderful. This sounds dumb, but I really feel like I was able to feed every part of my being today.

I slept in :) then laid in bed writing in my journal and reading scriptures for a while.
We went sledding with the fabulous Schaders which was totally fun (minus a near-fatal crash where Bryan's entire weight landed on my head- ouch.)
I went to the gym and watched Gilmore Girls while whipping my bod into shape.
I made quickie to the grocery store- not the most exciting, but a necessity.
Took a nice long nap while cuddling on the couch with my Valentine.
It was time to give our apartment a deep clean, which was quite rejuvenating.
Ate a scrumptious dinner of stir fry made by my sweet hubby.
Baked cookies and delivered them to our new neighbors.
Had FHE with my little family.
Worked on a little crafty project.
Continued reading The Wedding, a fabulous sappy love story just perfect for this weekend.

I can go to bed a happy girl, ready for whatever this week brings to me.

ugh.

I think Bryan felt like our blog was getting a little too girly and decided he needed to contribute to make it a little more man-friendly. Unfortunately, he chose a different path of masculinizing our blog than the usual method of simply writing a post. He changed the settings so whenever someone tried to visit our blog it gave a warning that we have adult content that may be unsuitable for children.

Really Bryan, really?!?

This blog is pretty much the most suitable thing for children in the whole entire internet. So I'm sorry if you were afraid to log on because of our explicit blog. We'll work on keeping it clean for the kids from now on.

Happy President's Day!

LOVE is in the air

"You know how lots of kids get really excited for their birthday, or for Christmas? Well, Rachel gets excited for Valentine's Day." -Bryan

Yes, my favorite holiday has come and gone, but it came and went with all of the red, pink, hearts, and happiness I could have asked for. Here are some of my favorite moments:

Apparently, it is necessary to have a Valentine in fourth grade. I really thought my kids weren't into the whole boy-girl thing at all. I'm still not sure if I was being completely oblivious, or if they just make an exception for V-day. But, all (okay, maybe not all, but many) of the kids picked a Valentine and brought a special gift for that person. There were chocolate roses, real roses, super huge candy bars and the likes showing up all over Room 19. Here's the best part. One of my little darlings emailed me the night before Valentines,
"hey i know you told us to tell you who our valentine is so mine is david it seems a little weard but he asked me so i said yes but the only reason i said yes is cuze i want the treat but don't tell him i said that!!" (You can tell I copy and pasted because that is the exact spelling and lack of punctuation a fourth grader would use)
I'm grateful that my girls are learning at a young age that a Valentine is worth it for the treat. We teach important truths in fourth grade.

School was crazy and fabulous. We had an awesome party, my kids gave me enough chocolate to last 2 years- Bryan and I will eat it all in 2 days, and we had a Valentines Box contest that had some spectacular entries.

On Saturday it was time to celebrate for real. Katie and Chad came over for my first ever "Valentines Breakfast Party." I'm thinking of making it a tradition because it was a huge success. Everyone wore red and pink pajamas and we ate the most delicious omelets (made by Bryan), strawberries, and cranberry juice.

That night Bry and I splurged and went to Tepanyaki. He had never been before, and I love places like that. It was very entertaining and delicious. My favorite part was when I caught my shrimp! (For those of you who have never been, the guy cooking your food always tosses a shrimp for you to catch in your mouth.) I don't want to say any names, but not everyone at the table was able to catch their shrimp...

Afterwards we just hung out at home. We ate about half of the treats that cover our kitchen counter, drank some sparkling cider, and then I bawled my eyes out as we watched A Walk to Remember.

It was a good day, a very very good day. Now I guess I just have to wait for next year!

random

I'm super late on this, so I hope Lisa (my tagger) forgives me, but it's really hard to thing of random things about myself, I feel like I'm an open book. But, I'll give it a try.

1. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Valentine's Day. My roommates and I used to wear red and pink every day of February until the 14th. My new roommate isn't such a big fan of this game, but that's okay. I still love him.

2. I have always wanted glasses. Not sure why, I've just always thought they were so cute. Some times I would steal my little sister's glasses (that she hated, oh if she only knew how lucky she was!) That's one of the reasons it was so fun to be Sarah Palin for Halloween.

3. I've wanted to be a teacher ever since I was in second grade and now I'm "living the dream." Not many people can say that.

4. I'm a cell phone killer. Ever since I was 16, I've had to get a new phone ever year because they break one way or another. Luckily they've all been under warranty/insurance so it hasn't been too hard on my wallet. I've had my current phone for 1 year and 2 months...pretty sure that's a record.

5. When I was growing up, half the people I met would tell me I look exactly like my dad and half would say I look exactly like my mom. So, are they long lost separated twins? Never solved that one.
6. I'm a HUGE texture person. I cannot eat something if I don't like its texture. Tapioca pudding- never. Celery- no way. Sweet Potatoes- disgusting. I'm probably missing out on some good flavors, but I just can't let crazy stuff like that down my throat.

I tag anyone who wants to play this, it's actually pretty fun!