Rock and Roll

Before at the biffy...

This last weekend my sister Danielle and I flew to Seattle to run the Rock and Roll 26.2 mile Marathon with our other sister Rachelle. It was so much fun!!! Rock and Roll Marathons and so fun because there is a band playing mile to pumps you up. The course in Seattle in especially pretty because you run by water most of the time and its a very beautiful course. I was hoping to qualify for Boston and just barely missed the cutoff.. I ran it in 3 hours and 50 min. Danielle was so kind to run the first 13 miles with me and then she ran the final 13 miles with Rachelle. My amazing Parents, Melissa and Paul, Megan, Parker, cousin Rob, and Rachelles friend Kristie were there to cheer us on! It was so nice to have a fan crowd! Everyone was amazing at motivating us, cheering and even running a little ways with us!

The weather was so nice and cloudy! It didn't rain but it wasn't hot and sunny! It was just right! I am so happy to be done with the marathon but really want to do another to qualify for Boston!

Mr. and Mrs. C

This last weekend, I traveled up to Idaho with the Warrs to go to one of our best friend, Brig's wedding. It was a super fun time.. i just love the Harpers! Let me just say, they are all beautiful people, funny, super chill and very creative! Mama Harper made all the Bridesmaids skirts and a really pretty quilt for Brig and Jared. Brig looked beautiful in her dress and Megan is like the prettiest girl I know! Their brother Matt cracks me up with how chill he is! After the Temple, we all went to the Harpers and helped from about 2:00 till 7:00 decorating, setting up, samlping the candy :), and doing whatever needed to be done. Matt calls around 6:30 saying that he ran out of gas after playing basketball this whole time! :) After someone comes and gets him.. he walked into the house about 15 min. before the reception started and just says... "Hey..." and walks downstairs to change! I thought it was the funniest thing.. maybe you had to have been there!

But the reception was really fun, the colors were brown, orange, and green and the food was yummy! Meg and I stayed by the drink table and served people their beverage.. (luckily it was RIGHT next to the chocolate fountain and I passed by there many times to snag a chocolate covered strawberrys!)

the sweets!


I dont know why i keep catching these things... the rumor (that you get married if you catch the boquet) is NOT true people! this is my third boquet catch.. three's a charm??? ehh?

did i mention the chocolate fountain!! YUM!!!

Harpers!!

Beauitful couple!

oh BBBBBB

So my little littlest sister graduated a couple weeks ago! It was so fun to go to Washington and be there for the festivities that took place in the Bradshaw home. My mom and dad sure know how to keep a house of 25 people happy and fun! We did a little Winthrop shopping, Rachelle and I went on a 20 mile run, we watched Bailey do an amazing RAP for her graduation speech, we had a BBQ, played games, and took some fun pictures with Tiffany 50's style! Tiff and Terry came up with their kids and it was so much fun to spend time with them!

one good looking candle holder!

B and her amazing, awesome RAP

sisters...sisters... there were never such devoted sisters

B, you are amazing and I love ya! I am soo happy that you are going to be in Provo! So close and snug to me, Sarah, Dani, and Meg... should have thought of that Mel and Shell! :) Your speech/Rap was funny, creative and very YOU!

i LOVE my life!

so let me just humor you for five minutes on my day yesterday at school. Fridays are half days so whatever you read/hear/think... just imagine it happening all over again in the afternoon on a regular day :) i never realized how much teachers multi-task... while going back and forth telling two kids how to spell different words, i was tying a boys shoe, telling a girl what rhymes with pink and telling one kid with ADHD to stop jumping off his chair and grabbing his feet in the air!

It sounded like this... "okay Linda "there" is spelt T-H... Amanda you spell "happy" H-A... Natasha listen... pink... sink... link... Linda E-R... Amanda P-P... Jimmy please stop jumping off the chair! I have asked you multiple times to stop! Linda E.. Amanda Y... Natasha.. rink...dink.. Jimmy! Sit down Now!"

I start the day with 25 six and seven year olds calling out "teacher, teacher" and end the day with a kid in detention twice and he still comes back and jumps off his chair and grabs his feet in the air! I also had one kid crying so loud today i swear the whole school could hear him! he was weeping and wailing because he was mad that kids wouldn't play with him at recess! two boys were chasing eachother around the room and one boy tripped and fell dropping a huge stack of papers i had asked him to give me! weeping, wailing boy is still crying, jimmy is jumping off his chair and kids are coming up to me left and right handing me their poems we just wrote! I am now kneeling on the floor helping four or five kids with rhyming, asking weeping wailing boy to "please hold it together" and agian asking jimmy to "stop jumping!"... i find one boy putting my magnets in his pocket, tell one boy that he can't rhyme "fine" with "fell" and thank two sweetheart girls for sitting quietly and just doing their work!
between rhymes i say.. "ahh i love me life" and for a split second.. the crying stops, the jumping stops and i really do realize how much i LOVE my job! I LOVE my kids and teaching! It is the greatest!

craft ideas

I am always looking for new and fun craft ideas! I love making things for my bedroom and house, and making hair/jewelry accesories. Here are a few fun ideas that I have done that are super duper easy! My style is a little Shabby Chic (NOT pronounced Chick as Jimarah (Jim and Sarah) so kindly corrected me!) :)


I bought these white canvas boards and then went to JoAnne and got 4 different kinds of fabric that matched (not exactly) and they look great hung up next to eachother!

And then remember those picture frames I bought at D.I for my room? I bought some cute scrap book paper to go in each one and then I collect buttons (not really sure why) but then I randomly put a button on each picture frame! I love how they turned out! I love buttons becuase they are all so different and unique! I also think two of the buttons I glued on belongs to my Grandmas (from each side of the family) who have passed away.

Okay last idea.. these are super easy. I found some old shirts, and cut them up in flower shapes... Cut a huge one, then one a little smaller than that, than one alittle smaller than that... and so on... until you can stack them on eachother and then sew! So easy.. I glued clips onto them so you can put them in your hair or on your clothes! I also glued on a few buttons that I had too!

growing up....

so I guess when you finish college, you are supposed to grow up into the real world and get a job and buy a car. Well let me just tell you that I must be growing up because i just BOUGHT A CAR!! It's so exciting and I don't know if I should cry, laugh, or hug someone! Well lets start with the first thing.. I did cry after I left the Honda dealership after I had signed papers and had the keys handed to me! It's a big thing, a big payment, and a big commintment.. and I had been there for 6 hours so I was ready to leave anyway!

I also laughed many times as I arrived at the Honda place alone feeling very small in this world and didn't want to be taken advantage of... there were about 10 guys standing out on the curb just waiting for people like me to come ... but my wonderful dad probably called me about 15 times helping me out and telling me what to say and my Awesome, Amazing, Fantastic brother-in-law Jim came to my rescue when he showed up and told these guys what was up!

Seriously he was soo good at talking to them and getting them to lower the price and throwing in extra things!! And it was like a movie, because the salesman wasn't going down to what Jim wanted him to and so Jim was just like "K, well we will keep shopping for a car.. come on Madz" and we left!!!! I was soo sad and scared and didn't know what was going on, so i followed him out the door and all Jim said was... "just wait Madz, they will come..". I was thinking.. yeah right! They won't come running OUT of the STORE back to you telling you they lowered the price... but that is EXACTLY what HAPPENED!!!! We were literally getting in the car and the salesguy comes running out, saying they would throw in an extra year of maintanence work on the car!!! OH my goodness I just wanted to scream and hug everyone! That is some faith people! Jim had them pinned down so tight and really did squeeze everything out of these guys! I really do get the biggest smile on my face just thinking about how he talked them down so much!

I am totally impressed and amazed at his skills! So thank you again Jim!

I am now a proud owner of a cute little 2004 Four Wheel Drive Honda CR-V!!!!

Now i just need to name her..... any suggestions?

a little bit of COLOR in your life!

So my best friend Jeff got married this weekend. It was super fun to be there at the temple when they got out and to go to his reception! Megan and I also got to go to his bachelor party and be "dudes" for a night! :) he wanted to invite us since we are best friends! :) I thought it was pretty cool!

I am soo happy Jeff is married but I am also sad that we wont be able to hang out as much anymore! Jeff has been one of my best friends for a couple years now and we have had soooo much fun together! We have done some fun adventures together and I am constantly laughing with Jeff! He has been there for me through my many boy breakups, we hiked Coyote Gulch together, he was with me when I crashed on my longboard:), when we were in Rexburg he would have "girls night" with me and my roomies, we have gone to countless dancing parties and halloween parties, and he is just always there to talk to! Love ya Jeff and congrats on getting married!

It was soo good to see my friends from selling in California 2 summers ago!

at Jeff's bachelor party!

These next pics have nothing to do with Jeff's wedding but I wanted to blog about it too! So a few weeks ago Bailey, Parker and my Mom drove to Utah and stayed a couple days with us! It was sooo good to see them and we did some fun things while they were here! We went to Jump On It, did baptisms at the SLC Temple, and we went to the Color Fest! It was soo much fun! You go looking like this...

and then chalk is thrown, Indian words are spoken and you come out looking like this...

nEW bEgiNNinGs AlL aRoUnd!

okay so its been a while... but my life has been a crazy whirlwind of happenings, answers to countless raw-knee-kneeling-prayers, and new beginnings in all aspects of my life! I stumbled across an amazing ward with a fun Bishopric and peeps! check. I found an amazing HoUse with awesome roomies and a cute room! check. I got a first grade teaching job in West Valley that is year round so it will continue into summer! double check. my mentor is so great and has helped me so much with my new and improved classroom! I was also offered (and accepted) a teaching job for next fall in Draper at a Charter School! check. Its a first grade position and I am soo soo excited!

So here is some pics of my room Before and After!

BEFORE:

AFTER

(found this sweet headboard on ksl for $50!! the picture frames and mirrors are D.I findings!)

(this is my quilt i made over Christmas break!)

(I found that cute chair on ksl too! i LOVE it!)