Live every day as if it's your first

2011 has brought a lot of changes into my life. Unlike many others, I have loved this year and am sad to see it go. But at the same time, I am excited for the new adventures that lie ahead.



When this year started, I was dating this amazing guy. He was everything I wanted and yet I was scared to take that leap, to fully commit to something, someone, when it was still so new and mysterious. It was fun to be with someone who made me so happy and encouraged me to enjoy life.
In March, I went with his family to Washington DC. I knew I loved him, he was the other half of my rainbow. As we stood outside the Ford's Theater waiting to go inside, his family asked me the question " What are your intentions with my son?" All I could say was that I loved him and we would see what the future had. As we took a picture outside the theater, I couldnt imagine that in 5 months time, I would be a Ford.

In May, Ryan proposed and I happily accepted. He romantically took me to Rubios (It was taco tuesday afterall) and then to the place we had our first date. He told me how much he loved me and how he wanted to spend the rest of eternity with me. It was one of the moments I will never forget.

From June to August, I didnt see much of my fiance. He was at school in Utah while I was in California busily planning our wedding and working. It was hard being away from him but it helped both of us to concentrate. I got to spend time with my family and had so much fun planning with my mom. Those are memories I wil never forget. She is my absolute hero. Without her, my wedding would never have come together.



August 20th. The big day. The day I married the man of my dreams. It is hard to believe that a day could go so perfectly. Sure, I got to the temple and realized I didnt have the marriage license and that the invitation had the wrong address for the reception and that i was so stressed out that my feet were swollen so my dream shoes no longer fit. All these things were means for devastation... and yet somehow, everything worked out. Every piece of the puzzle fit and at the end of the night, I ran through a sea of sparklers, holding hands with my best friend, knowing that I would spend the rest of eternity by his side.

We went on a cruise to the Bahamas and had a blast. Irene tried to ruin it for us, but like most honeymooners, nothing could bring us down. We had a blast spending the week together, in the nice bahama weather.

We have since been living in Utah and from September to December, it has been a whirlwind of event.
•I turned 21, ryan 24.
•We got a new nephew! Ryker Glodowski
•I got to see my best friend get married
•We spent thanksgiving with the Fords, running a 5k and eating delicious turkey
•I did my first practicum in a first grade classroom
•We spent christmas with the Saffords playing minute to win it and going on our traditional 16 mile+ bikerides. With our families, it has been such a blessing because by getting married, we both gained another set of amazing parents. I am so grateful for my parents and for the relationship I have with them.
•We spent our first christmas together!

As a little girl, I always dreamed of what my wedding would be like. How everything would be, who I would marry. But now that I am married, I realized that as important as the wedding was, it isnt that one day that matters. It is all the days before and after. All the little things that build the relationship and the marriage. I was watching Friends and a quote really stuck out to me " Wedding days are important but, more importantly I just want an amazing and life-fulfilling marriage" and so far, thats what 2011 has brought me. A happy and life-fulfilling marriage. The type of happiness that makes me grateful to wake up in the morning. The type of happiness that makes me willing to change my last name and begin a life with someone else.

2011 has been a changing year for me.

2012 has a lot to live up to

Im beyond grateful

With Thanksgiving coming up, I have thought a lot about the things i am grateful for and this past week has been a cornacorpia of events that have made me realize how grateful i truly am. 

1. I am grateful for the opportunity that I had to be in the schools for my practicum. It was challenging and absolutely exhausting but I loved every minute of it. This practicum has confirmed to me that I am in the right major and makes me look forward to being in my own classroom one day

2. I am grateful for music. In church, we had the most gorgeous music number "Be still, my soul"As I sat there, i realized how much music affects my life and how grateful I am that music is such a big part of my life. 

3. I am grateful for those that serve. With so many friends and family serving missions and serving in the military, I just want to give them my thanks. It is incredible to me that these men give of their time and life to serve others. In the elementary school, the third grade put on a production about America and being free. They had a video and presentation dedicated to those who serve and I thought of all the amazing people i know who are serving in some division of the military. To my cousin travis, my brother in law shawn, my uncle Shawn and my friend Kelsen I give my love and thankfulness for their willingness to serve and protect this country. 

4. I am grateful for family. For the new family I have gained. I am so grateful for the relationship I am building with them and the opportunity I have to open my heart to these wonderful people. I am grateful for my mom and sister. I love the relationship I have with them. I would not be the person I am today without them. They have seen me at my worst and at my best and have helped me to grow and prosper. I love my grandparents and for everything they have done for me. I am grateful for my brothers who always teach me what it means to be alive. They are so full of life and i miss them everyday. I am grateful for my daddy. He is my hero and I am so proud to be his galpal. I dont know how i got so lucky to have such amazing people to call my family. 

5. I am grateful for the gospel. I am a member of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints and it has blessed my life tremendously. It has given me a purpose in life and allowed me to live life to the fullest. It has given me a reason to be happy and helped me to know what true love and selflessness is. 

6. I am grateful for a great book. I do not have a lot of time to read lately but there is nothing better than a  cozy spot and a good book. I am grateful for the worlds that reading creates and the imagination inspires. 

 7. I am grateful for the incredible man I married. Every single day, Ryan gives me reasons to be thankful to have him in my life. I have so much fun with him. He is my forever and I look forward to finding out what the rest of our lives hold. I could go on and on about how much i love him and how grateful I am. But I wont embarrass him by doing that, so this will have to suffice.

Ryan sang this to me earlier this morning

"Do you know the muffin man?

Alex knows the muffin man, she sleeps with him every night." 

When we went to buy our nurf guns, the cashier was so excited to find out which cute child we knew that would be getting these nurf guns... uhhhhh there for us. haha. just one of the many reasons why i love Ryan. hahaha

There is so much more I am grateful for but I feel as if it is time to actually spend time with my man instead of in my own virtual world. =) Happy thanksgiving to all and to all a good night!

peanut butter peanut butter jelly jelly

I am loving the first grade! Today, I taught a lesson on sequencing, focusing on first, next, then, last. To teach my adorable little first graders, I had them make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We only had one girl with a peanut allergy and she could be around it. She just couldnt eat it. So, I supplied her with butter and jam. she was in heaven. The sequence we worked on was: First, we take the bread, next we spread the peanut butter, then we spread the jelly and last, we put it together and eat it. The kids were so excited, thinking that it was a party and not a lesson. To make sure they actually learned something, I had the students use graphic organizers to draw the sequence. Then before they were able to eat, they had to write the PB&J sequence using FIRST, NEXT, THEN, LAST. It went better than i could have ever imagined and the kids absolutely loved it. They continue to amaze me with how much they can learn and how excited they are to be in a classroom. It is inspiring to me and makes me want to continue to grow in education. When I started this major, I thought for sure I would want to teach the upper grades, but these little cuties are changing my mind! How could you not love 7 year olds and then oddities. I know I am in the right major because I wake up everyday so excited to go back into the classroom. PEANUT BUTTER PEANUT BUTTER JELLY JELLY!

ryans kind of a big deal.

Picture this... 8:00 am 34 degrees with a 21 mph wind and where are we? not in bed! we are at Ryans first triathlon! HE did awesome and it was so much fun to watch him race. I was absolutely frozen but it was totally worth it to watch him. I am so proud of him! Here is a hodge podge of pictures from the day.

                                                   Where's ryan? can you find him?

                                              His bike and swim stuff, all ready to go.

                                                              Pre race. So cold!!!!!!!!

                                            And off he goes on his bike.. He likes to ride his bicycle.

transitions

                                                                  GO GO GO!!!!!!!!!!

                           
                                             Swam at the OFC in an indoor pool. It was so hard to find him!

                                                           So proud of him!

                                                          What a freaking stud!

Im legal!

So November 1st was my birthday and it was awesome. Ryan surprised me and stayed home from work to wake me up with breakfast burritos. Then I went to Rosamond elementary and got to spend most of my birthday with the awesome first graders. They are the cutest thing. They even made me a birthday book which was so absolutely adorable. Each student wished me a happy birthday and wrote one wish they had from me. I got everything from a house to a unicorn. Then I got to come home to my awesome husband who took me out to sushi! YUM! and what was incredible is that boy actually liked it. Who would have thought. We spent the rest of the night playing around in the arcade of the provo beach resort and then we came home and watched crazy stupid love. It was a great birthday with my hubby. I felt spoiled from my mother and grandma who send me tons of clothes and awesome gifts! I was in love so many adorable thing. Hannah got me an awesome gold watch! Plus Ry spoiled me in gifts. Everything he got me was incredible and made me feel so special. Finally got myself a pair of red toms! yes! Ryan is such an incredible husband and I feel so blessed to have him in my life. Overall it was a good day, although it did finally hit me that i am 21. I am an adult and I am married and getting close to finishing school! who would have thought. I never thought life would be so happy and complete. I cant believe I am 21 years old. It is excited and nerve-racking. Where did my youth go?!? ;) haha. I have a feeling growing up with ry by my side with be an adventure worth getting old for.

                                              Ryan trying sushi!!!!!!

Oh how i love this boy! 

                                           Keeping the Safford tradition alive. Made my day.

                                            Hayley Hucks is awesome and decorated my car. <3

wolverine and a pumpkin.

This past week has been crazy! so i will break it up into different posts. everything is just so important, they deserve their own posts =) First. we had a halloween party! It was so fun to spend the weekend with friends. I feel so lucky to have such awesome friends. We had everyone up at the cabin to hang out, go fourwheeling and naturally dress up in costumes and go bowling. It was so much fun. When we got back, we watched a scary movie and thanks to Momma Ford  had a scare with the lights. Modern technology making it possible for her to scare us from california. got to love it.

The halloween party was so fun and then halloween came. I dressed up like my pumpkin and headed off to school. 1st graders said i wasnt a very good pumpkin because i wasnt fat enough. I decided to take that as a compliment instead of a dig on my costume. it was fun watching all the kids come in wearing their costumes. They were all so excited. For their morning question, I asked the students how much candy they got. Obviously I got jipped as a child because some of these kids got 100 pounds, 10000 pounds and one kid didnt weigh his candy. haha got to love the first grade. We had a parade around the school to show off our costumes. it was quite the event. Then I came home to ryan. We had a relaxing night at home. no trick-or-treaters. So now we have candy to eat. just what we need. Another halloween has past and I am in love. The end.

overindulgence of fun

So this past week has been crazy fun. so much has been going on and it has definitely kept me on my toes. WARNING: this is gonna be a longer post. ye be warned
Thursday night hannah came to visit for the weekend. It is always fun to have her here and to get to hang out with my little seester. But the reason she came down was not really for me. We set her up on a double date. Ryan works with a guy named ryan ( confusing, right?) so Hannah came down for the double date We went to a crepe place for dinner and i will admit, I was dubious. Crepes for dinner? why? I was craving a big juicy hamburger and the guys planned on going to crepes?! masculine. But it turned out to be delicious.. I am converted.. I cant remember what it is called. it might simply be called CREPES, but it is hte place with the huge owl in front of it. anyways.. i digress. After we went miniature golfing. Hannah and Ryan proceeded to cheat and play the games of their lives.. they won. I have never seen two people be so lucky in miniature golf. they deserved to win.

As we were having fun playing miniature golf and eating delicious crepes, Melissa Glodowski was giving birth to a gorgeous baby boy. so on saturday we woke up and headed over to the hospital. And my goodness! that baby is absolutely positively the cutest baby. Ryan was so kind to immediately let my mother know that I was going off my birth control.. not true. was i tempted after seeing that gorgeous little baby? yes. Anyways... Back to baby. We hung out for about an hour and fell in love with Ryker Gary Glodowski. 

                                                        i mean look at the adorableness!
We just couldnt get enough of him and I cannot wait to watch this little cutie grow up. If he is anything like ashton, he will be an awesome kid.

The rest of the weekend was Just in-n-out, church, the office, dropping hannah off in slc and hanging at melissas house with family on sunday night.

Then today came.. and I STARTED MY PRACTICUM! I will admit, I was not worried about being in the classroom. Children dont scare me. But teachers do. I was nervous about who my teacher would be, if she would be helpful to me, if she would trust me, if I would like her teaching methods, if i would learn alot, if i could be organized and not go crazy, if i can do all the workload on top of being in the school.. ect. so i woke up this morning at 530, too nervous to sleep in. I tried on at least 5 different outfits, trying to decide which would make the best "first impression". ridiculous. Then drove to the school, almost dying three times on the way. hello utah drivers. ( BTW i wasnt driving so dont blame me) We got there and were very professional and took pictures in the front

These are the awesome ladies who are in the schools with me. We are in different classrooms but I just love them. they are awesome. And my teacher is great! It was so fun. She is so energetic and loving toward her students. She is also awesome for me. She is so helpful and willing to work with me. I am so relieved. Most of my worries have dissipated and I couldnt be more happy. the children are so funny. I am in a first grade class and they are so eager to learn and get the approval of the teacher. I have already been given a teaching assignment. i will be teaching on sequencing this thursday or friday. eeek. I am so excited to learn and grow. I want to be a good teacher and I know that being in the schools and gaining the experience is the best way to becoming the best i can be. It is exhausting being in the schools though. I wake up at 6 leave the house by 7 and am in the school from 815-245 and then i still have classes at BYU after with hw and lesson plans to create. Needless to say, as much as I love being in the schools, this next month is going to be crazy! I look forward to the adventures and challenges it will bring. But for now this is the end of my blogging. I have hw and tests to study for and lesson plans to make.
Adios blogging world.

i felt like dying.

                            

So I have been not feeling good lately, but decided it was time to stop using that as an excuse and went running with my hubby. I pushed myself while ryan jogged lightly next to me. haha i guess it is ok since he is planning on running a sprint triathlon at the beginning of November. Im so proud of him =)

Anyway... We went running and I was running my hardest. We ended and i was like "Yes! we went at least 3 miles.." Ryan mapped the run.. turns out we only ran 2.16. haha ouch. but I guess that is a good start. Pinterest has gotten me motivated to do better, go farther, and run more. haha got to love pinterest.

But on a side note.. Made lasagna tonight and it was the BOMB! I am actually enjoying cooking now a days. awesome. got to love running and then sitting down and scarfing down lasagna. just a typical tuesday. well, that is all for tonight.

This week is super stressful. Im working 16 hours and have 3 tests to take. oh joy. but melissa (my sister-in-law) is having her baby boy this week! prolly friday! i am so excited to meet the baby!!!!!! and hannah is coming to visit this weekend. double date! it should be way fun. I am looking forward to this weekend. just got to make it there.. let the countdown begin