Tender Mercies!

 Prayers are not always answered immediately. Today was one of those days where a prayer was finally answered, one I had been praying for since July. And I am SO grateful. Back in July, when I had the Epstine Bar Virus (mono), I was told the recovery from mono can take anywhere from a few months, to a year. So as time went on and I was still dizzy and tired all the time, I didn't worry too much. I just tried to keep chugging along, and stay hydrated. This past week Braden and I went to Boise to be with my family for Thanksgiving. My mom has a doctor there that she absolutely loves, and she suggested I get a check-up, just to see how my body was really recovering from the mono (because the doctor I saw here was not all that great). I got an official weigh in, and my weight has been slowly declining. This is pretty common with mono, but it is crazy to see my weight below what it was in high school. My tonsils are still swollen as well. I got a lot of good advice, and I was put on probiotics for the next 3 months to help boost my immune system.The nurse took a blood test to see if anything else could be causing problems, and we got the results back today. Turns out I am severely anemic! Back in July, the doctor tested me for anemia, but he only tested my current iron levels. At the time, they appeared okay. (Probably because I had taken two iron supplements in the previous 24 hours, suspecting I might be anemic. However, with how tired and sick I was, I completely forgot to mention that to the doctor.) Last week, the nurse tested my iron storage. A normal level is between 30-60, and I am only at a 5. Holy cow! So that explains all my dizziness, fatigue, weakness, and nausea! It is truly a miracle I haven't passed out at school. I have to take iron supplements twice a day now, and I am so excited to get my body back on track and feeling better. What a blessing it is to finally have answers! (and to know that I'm not crazy. There were so many days where I felt like I must be insane, because I was seriously dizzy ALL THE TIME. I'm grateful to know I'm not crazy, and it wasn't all in my head.)

Here are a few pictures from the past little while (including a few from summer I just forgot to post...)

At the Hogle Zoo.

                 

Playing with shaving cream for FHE :)

About to break the record for the World's Largest Scavenger Hunt!

ha, I love this picture! The llama was trying to kiss Braden.

Found $20 on the ground. How often does that
happen? We gave it to the missionary fund though,
because I felt guilty keeping it.

Eating our wedding cake one year later!

A Thanksgiving gift for my siblings at home.

Made this wreath for our front door.

Pac-Man and Ghost. Not the best picture of us, but it shows our costumes.

Putting up the Christmas tree. We have had that tree for 15-16 years, and most
of the branches are being held up by fishing line. So setting it up can be quite
the difficult task. 

My cute little niece, River.

And her twin sister Sage. She loves to dance!

Sage probably got her dance moves from her Grandpa.

This is a screenshot of a snapchat my sister took, but I
just really like this picture of my family :)

And, we got to meet this sweet family again. Oh, how we love them!

A day with small human beings.

Today was one of those days where I felt like I just laughed through each class. Maybe it's because it is Friday, or maybe it is because small human beings are SO funny. Sometimes I wish I could just put them in my pocket and bring them home. Because it is constant entertainment being around them. Here are some quotes I want to remember (from today, and the past few weeks.) Enjoy :)

*Preschool Boy: "Miss Sarah, come here. I have a secret to tell you." (He then grabs my head and pulls it super close to him so he can whisper in my ear.) I want to be bored and take a nap with you."

Now, out of context that sounds super dirty. ha. Obviously he didn't mean it like that! It is kind of a running joke in his class that being bored is fun. But I laughed so hard after he said that, so he starts laughing, thinking what he said is super hilarious. Which made me laugh harder! Oh, it is never ending with that boy.

*Boy: "Miss Sarah, now that we know the primary colors, when will we learn the nursery colors?"

*Girl: (Pointing at a picture of the Mona Lisa) "Miss Sarah, that is a beautiful picture of you." Thanks da Vinci for capturing my beauty so well ;)

*Girl: "Miss Sarah, you have paint all over your apron. Will you please clean it before I see you next time?"

*During pick up one day, the children were playing with these little counting bears.
Boy #1: "How about I be the God over your bears."
Boy #2 does not respond for about 10 seconds.
Boy #1 repeats, a lot louder: "How about I be the God over your bears!"
Boy #2, with a super annoyed look on his face: "Ok, that's fine, but not until after I leave."

*I was explaining the art we were doing that day in class.
Boy: "Oh! I remember this. I did it before when I was a kid." (He is 3.)
Girl gives him a dirty look and says, "You are still a kid."

*Girl: "Miss Sarah! I had pink eye!"
Me: "Oh, I have blue eyes."
Girl: "Wow! That sounds pretty bad."
(hah, I'm so mean messing with them when they totally don't get my jokes. But how else do you stay sane during long days?)

*This one did not happen in my classroom, but it makes me laugh so hard! Warning: this is slightly inappropriate...
Teacher: "Get your hands out of your pants!"
Boy: "But something is just getting big down there!"

*Teacher is walking child out to car during pick up.
Teacher: "I like your coat."
Boy: "Thanks, I just found it at school today."
haha! He just found a coat he liked, and decided to wear it home. This boy is so naive though, he really had no idea that was wrong.

*Me, talking to 3 year old girl: "How are you today?"
Girl: "Good. But not so good. My dad just told me that I didn't sleep good last night. And now I am just tired all day."

*This exchange happened between two girls who are the same age!
Girl #1 hands girl #2 a paper towel  to dry her hands, then pats her on the head and says in a baby voice, "Here you go little fella." I started laughing and said, "Did you just call her little fella?" Girl #1 says, "Yes, she is just the cutest little fella I ever had!"

*One of my coworkers is pregnant. A 3 year old girl that had just come from her class was telling me about how her tummy was getting bigger. She then says to me, "Miss Sarah, I just wish you would grow a baby in your tummy."

*Boy: "Miss Sarah, you have cute cheeks!"

*Girl: "Miss Sarah, you are invited to my birthday party! Here is how you get to my house. You just get on the freeway and drive for a while. Then turn, turn again. Go down the hill, pass the tree, around the corner, turn, and my house will be on the end. Now put that in your brain!"

*Girl: "I am thankful for God, Jesus, and the stuff he telled us to do."

*Boy: "I am thankful for a law, and schools."

*Girl: "The truest thing in the whole wide world is that Jesus loves us and we love him and he died for us and that he cares about us and we care about him and that's the truest thing in the whole wide world that can never ever be broken."

*Boy #1 is at the front of line. Boy #2 goes and cuts in front of him so he can be line leader. (At this point they have no idea I'm watching.) Boy #1 starts to protest. Boy #2 looks at him, shakes one finger in the air and says, "Uh uh. Don't. Say. Anything." Boy #2 was smart enough to know that if a teacher didn't find out, boy #1 wouldn't fight him for the line leader spot. Kids can be so conniving...

When Life's Worth Living, It's Worth Recording.

Right after Braden and I got married, KSL ran an article about a man named ShayCarl who posted daily videos of his family on youtube. They make their living off of these videos. Braden started watching, and he got me hooked. It has become our routine to watch these videos together in the evening. This family goes by the name of "The Shaytards". They first created nicknames for all their kids - Sontard, Princesstard, Babytard, Rocktard, and Brotard - to protect their privacy. So, that's where the name Shaytards comes from. Although everyone knows their real names now, the nicknames have stuck around.

A few weeks ago, Shay announced in their daily vlog that they would be doing a meet and greet in Utah. Braden and I were stoked! After following this family's life for a year, they have started to feel like our family. The meet up was at Shay's Uncle's corn maze in Garland, Utah. So, Braden and I drove two hours to meet this little family. (I know, you are probably thinking we are crazy.) Once we got to the corn maze, there was already a line forming to meet the Shaytards. We ended up waiting in line a little over an hour before it was our turn! It was driving me crazy, because we could hear their voices through the corn, but we had to wait as the line slowly moved up. (We were actually grateful at how slow the line was moving though, because it meant the Shaytards were really taking time to talk to each person who came.)

This was the first good glimpse we got of them through the corn!

While waiting in line, Shay's sister Carlie's son, Cooper, was running through the corn trying to scare people with this mask. When he jumped out at Braden and I, I said, "Hi Cooper!", and he threw his hands up in the air and said, "How did you even know it was me?!" It was cute!

When it was finally our turn, everyone in the family hugged Braden and I, asked us our names, and where we were from. Go Idaho! (They are from Pocatello.) I told them that we had started watching them right after we got married, and that it almost felt like they had been a part of our whole marriage. Shay laughed and said, "Well, that's creepy." He told us a story of another couple that had been brought together by the Shaytard vlogs, and we thanked them for their example in our lives. It still amazes me how sincere they were talking to us - especially after they had already been greeting people for an hour! We talked about their little baby, Daxton, (who we unfortunatley didn't get to meet - he was inside with Grandpa). Daxton and I share a birthday, and this all happened the weekend of our birthday. So the Shaytards wished me a happy birthday, which was pretty cool! :) Brock wasn't very happy that night, but you can see him in the back of our pictures. He was scared because some of the haunted corn maze people were starting to come out, and it was getting cold. I asked Brock for a high five, and he just glared at me. Poor little guy! His Uncle took him inside the house a few minutes after these pictures were taken.

Shay's Uncle took this picture for us. 

Colette is so small! I'm 5 '4, and I felt tall next to her! 

After the Shaytards, we went over to talk to Shay's sister, Carlie. She even put us in her vlog! That was pretty cool, because we didn't even ask. I told her we do her 'Carlie walk' all the time, and she said, "Would you do that for the vlog?" Fast forward to about 3:00, and forgive my awkwardness.

After Carlie, we went to talk to Shay's mom, Laurie. This was probably my favorite part of the whole night! First off, she looked at me and said, "How do I know you? You look so familiar!" I'm pretty sure I have never met her before, but that was cool! She talked about how when Shay was younger, they got kicked out of everywhere because he was noisy and always causing trouble. She talked about how nervous she was to fly to New York for the NYC Marathon that Shay and Carlie were running (which actually happened yesterday.) She works at middle school, so we talked about kids and our jobs a little bit. It was just strange to feel like I know everything about this woman's life (because of watching it on the vlogs), and yet this was the first time we met. But in that moment, I just wanted to be her best friend! I know that sounds cheesy, but she was so so easy to talk to, and so funny. Her laugh is just infectious! We spent about 15-20 minutes with her, and we only left because there was other people waiting to talk to her. The whole night just felt totally unreal. Seeing people in person you have been watching on a screen for so long is a wierd thing. I'm grateful we went, because it really was the best birthday present I could have asked for. 

Babies and Children, Children and Babies.

Being around children all the time has it's pros and cons. One of those cons is that small human beings love sharing germs. Sneezing on you, coughing on you, drooling everywhere, snot running down their face - you name it! Just about every single teacher at my school has had a sore throat, froggy voice, or cold this past month, just because our students are so darn good at sharing! Luckily, I got all three. Trying to teach all day when you can't hardly speak above a whisper - now that's a challenge. But we survived, and I'm almost back to normal.
A huge pro of working with children is the funny things they say. They have no filter, Sometimes at lunch, we just sit as teachers and laugh over what the kids said that day. Here are a few highlights as of late:

-A 2 year old who described shaving cream as "soft and lush". What two year old knows the word 'lush'?! I hardly ever use that word myself.

-"I know you are the teacher because you are old and rusty."

-Child #1 had missed several days of school in a row. Child #2 asks me, "Miss Sarah, how come you gave [Child #1] so many days off of school, and not the rest of us?" So, hey! If you are wanting days off of school, apparently I'm giving them out!

-"My brothers just call me a little devil, because I never leave them alone."

-"I can't move right now. I'm about to poop."

-Child #1 passes gas. Several times in a row. I try not to laugh, and remind him to say "excuse me". The area around him starts to stink. Like, really stink! Child #2 looks at him and says, "WHEW! [Child #1], what did you have for breakfast?!"

To sum it up, school is going wonderful :) When I was younger, I used to play school with my younger siblings and neighbor friends. I remember making simple math worksheets, and spelling tests, and how much I loved to pretend to be the teacher. Sometimes as I plan lessons now, it still feels like I'm just 'playing school'. That's how you know you have the right job. When it just feels like play!

While on the subject of small children, please enjoy these pictures of my cute little nephews, Carter and Owen.

I love watching babies suck their thumbs. Carter hasn't figured out how
to roll his fingers up, so he just squashes his whole nose down.

Owen makes the funniest faces in his sleep!

I love me a good baby burrito!

Remember to Laugh.

You often hear that laughter is the best medicine. While it obviously cannot cure all, I'm grateful for those little things in life that make me laugh. These past two months have been rough. Back in July, we found out that I had the Epstine Barr Virus (similar to mono). While the virus has passed, it can leave you feeling tired for a few months after. School started up again about a month ago, and I really love my job. But, sometimes it's hard. I wake up in the morning feeling awful (again, I'm not pregnant! We have already confirmed that), and I feel sick off and on throughout the day. Eating is a struggle, and I have to remember to eat, because I rarely feel hungry. I don't have as much energy as I would like, and I just want to sleep ALL THE TIME. It's frustrating, and sometimes I cry a little because I feel like I'll never feel completely well again. I wonder if there is something else wrong with me, but I'm waiting it out a little longer before I go back to the doctor. Because if I can avoid another blood test, life will be better for all of us :) But through it all, there have been those little things that consistently make me laugh. 

One of those things are my students. They say the funniest things! Like the boy who refused to move during class, because he was "about to poop". Or the girl who drew a picture of herself and said, "This is me when I was a martian." Sometimes I have to remind myself not to laugh out loud at them, because they are so serious when they make these comments. 

Another comic relief is Braden. Sometimes when we are going on a walk at night, he will just start running. So, I run to try and catch up with him. Then he will glance at me over his shoulder and yell, "Help! This crazy girl won't stop chasing me!" 

And sometimes at night he snores. This evidently wakes me up, but I have discovered that all I have to do is say, "Braden, you're snoring" and he will stop. The best part is, sometimes he talks back to me, and he won't remember any of it in the morning. The best responses I have gotten are:

No, I wasn't.

At least I wasn't snoring very loud.

You have a cute little finger.

That last one always makes me laugh. He seriously doesn't remember saying any of those to me. 

Marriage is a beautiful thing. Especially when it's forever. It's a blessing to know I will always get to be with Braden, and that whatever trials or adventures come our way, we get to take on together. 

Life's Like A Jump Rope.

When I was at BYU-Idaho, I volunteered for Get Connected just about every semester. (Get Connected is the program to introduce Freshmen to the school.) During the volunteer training before the new students showed up, we frequently listened to a song by Blue October called "Jump Rope". It basically talks about how life is like a jump rope - there will be ups, and there will be downs. These past few weeks have been a big jumble of ups, with a few downs in the middle. Let's get the bad stuff out of the way first.

My older sister Rachel was expecting her first baby. (I say 'was', because by this point he has made his appearance in the world. More on that later :)) I was going to go out and visit her the week before her due date to help her make freezer meals, decorate the baby's room, etc. Well, two days before I was set to fly out (she lives in Wisconsin), I started feeling kind of sick. By the morning I was supposed to head to the airport, it was awful. I couldn't eat anything, I felt so dizzy, and I was shaking so bad I couldn't think straight. Although it was painful to do, I didn't end up going. That was definitely a down! Rachel was disappointed, I was in tears, and I spent the rest of the weekend mostly in bed to drown out my sorrows. Except for the few hours where I went to the doctors office so they could take my blood to run some tests. (Which, for anyone that knows me, I HATE needles. I have a completely irrational fear of them.)  With that, and the fact that I hadn't eaten much in the past 24 hours, I was on the verge of passing out. I had to lay down in the doctor's office for a while before they would let me go home. Braden was a wonderful support though, and I'm grateful he stayed with me the whole time. The doctor suspected I had anemia or celiacs or something of the sort. The dizziness and tiredness had been going on for a while, but that weekend it was just bad enough that I finally went to the doctor. (And for anyone even thinking it - I'm not pregnant! We ruled that one out with the blood test too.) Well, turns out I had mono. By the time we found out though, I was in the final stages of it anyways, and there was really nothing we could do but wait it out. It must have been a fairly mild case of it though, because I only had half the symptoms that usually occur with mono. I'm very grateful I'm not working this summer though, because it allowed me ample time to sleep, and make sure I was feeling better. And another tender mercy - because it was a medical reason (and we had a doctor to back it up), we were able to get a flight credit from the airlines - which I used this past week to go and visit my sister and her new little man. But that will be another blog post for later!

Now for the ups... pictures of the fun things we have done since the last post!

Visited family in Meridian.

These two videos are of my niece Sage talking/laughing. I just LOVE baby laughter :) It's so infectious. 

Since it's been a while from our last post, a lot of these pictures and videos are over a month old. But I wanted them on here for memories sake :)

Amelia got the twins these darling swim
 caps to keep their heads from getting
sunburned.

 Sage could not keep her hands
away from her face for a
picture, but she still looks stinkin cute! 

Look at River's chubby legs! And her little
 swimsuit. So cute!

Check out the propped up elbows and crossed legs.
She just looks like an old soul in such a little body :) 

With some extra time on my hands this summer, I made this double sided sign for our dishwasher.

And these for friend's wedding gifts. 

One day Braden left for work. He was wearing his Color 5k shirt, and tan shorts. I decided to wear the same thing just to make him laugh. He came home from work at the end of the day, and I wish I had captured his reaction. I tried to get a picture later, but Braden was on the phone, and I wasn't very skilled with my phone camera. ha! This is the best I got. 

For the 4th of July, we hung out with Cassie and Kenny and little Carter. Braden and I went to the Stadium of Fire later that night. I wasn't feeling too hot, so we didn't even stay for the whole thing. On a happy note though, the 4th of July last year was when Braden proposed to me :)

Some of our best friends in our ward , the Steeles moved away. We were sad to see them go - they have been such a blessing in our lives, and we have had countless FHE's and game nights with them!

My dear friend Rachel got married. I roommed with her for over half my time in Rexburg, and I love this girl dearly!

Hokulia :)

We went to Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon, and fed the fish. Braden kept trying to touch them and pick them up. Silly boy.

We have been finding different places to hike to as of late. Here are a few pictures at Timpanogos Falls.

A yummy crepe from the farmer's market.

Braden won this painting from Deseret Book, which is awesome! Even before we got married, he always told me how he wanted to have this painting in our home someday.

And last but not least, we went camping with our neighbors, the Hills (same ones from the Spider Story a blog post back.) We went to Mona, Utah, and tried out the rope swing out there. You had to climb up in this tree, grab the rope, and jump off. Braden captured some great shots for us!

I realize this blog post is forever long...but I didn't feel like figuring out how to break it up into two posts :)