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.