This past week has been pretty good. I got some sort of flu of sorts, who knows. I had a cold, but then Tuesday morning, I just felt extra crummy and had a weird stomach ache, headache, and just felt unwell. I hurried and wrote a sub plan and bailed from work. It also happened to be on the day that our garage door needed to be fixed, so it was convenient in that I was home for the repairman to come and fix it. $600 later. Don't you just love out-of-the-blue expenses? Apparently, you need to grease your garage door springs every 6 months, so John has put that reminder in his phone. Corbin had the flu a week ago, and Gabby was also sick. Ryan missed school on Friday but seems to be alright now. It's going around for sure. I still didn't feel great on Wednesday or Thursday, but I didn't feel like I could skip school again. I feel back to normal now. 

I got my formal evaluation over with last week. I love checking those things off my list. My VP is super laid back, so it's not stressful at all, which is nice! 

Corbin has earned 28 college credits throughout his high school career. Mostly math and science classes. Good work Corbs! Gabby is already taking several college courses, so I'll be curious how many she has earned by the time she graduates. Piper's meds aren't working as well, which is annoying. She's still doing well in school, though. Gem Prep has been a very good switch for her. Ryan is doing great. He's such a cute, funny boy. I don't want him to grow up. Stay my baby forever, Ryan!

I felt like celebrating Valentine's Day with my kids this week since I won't see them next week. I made a special breakfast and got some very expensive chocolates. Never again. LOL. I have a friend who owns a local candy store, so I thought I would support her. Holy smokes, they were expensive. Oh well. For breakfast, we had crepes with fruit, fried red potatoes, eggs, and bacon. I made Ryan a slice of French toast with my homemade artisan bread because he loves French toast. It was a feast. Making yummy food is definitely how I show my family love. haha. 

Hutch and Charly love me so much. They follow me around waiting for me to sit down so they can cuddle next to me. It's pretty cute! 

My sick buddies.

Piper was so excited to get this Stranger Things 1000-piece puzzle. She knocked it out of the park!

Ryan built a fort randomly last night. 

Breakfast feast.

Because she's cute.

My study buddies.

 

This past week was pretty good. My culinary class had to make treats for Sophomore Night. Borah hosts a night where incoming sophomores come to the school to see which classes, sports, and clubs are offered. I was happy to have that off my list. I hate staying at the school into the evening. Our treats turned out well, and I was happy with my table advertising my classes. 

I signed up to have some mentor students come to my classroom from BSU this semester. I had no idea what I was signing up for. I will have 2 students come for a full day every week. I guess it will help me up my game a little bit. It might be nice for them to see that I fly by the seat of my pants most of the time and that it's okay to not be perfect right out of the gate. I'm a work in progress, shall we say. We will see how it goes.

Gabby is a social butterfly, and she is GONE. She has her own car and driver's license, and girly is gone most of the time. I do absolutely love that I don't have to go pick her up at her friend's house at midnight anymore! Corbin had the flu this past weekend. I hope the other kids don't get it. We had an inversion for what felt like a million years and the sun has been out for the last couple of days. Thank goodness!

I think I may have found my wedding dress. It's a bit more casual than the average wedding dress, but I think that's what I want. I might see if I change my mind down the road. I ordered the girls' dresses and the boys' outfits, but I'm waiting for them to come. It would be amazing and a miracle if they all fit and looked good. I really want to have that all sorted so I don't have to worry about it. I want to keep everything as simple as possible.  

Chocolate mint cookies, brownies, lemon bars, chocolate chip cookies, and chocolate-covered strawberries.

Posters and flyers for the classes I teach. My table was very busy because of the treats of course!

I never thought I would be a dog mom, and certainly not a dog mom to 2! These dogs love me a lot; it's pretty hard not to love them hard right back. I was sandwiched between them both in a nap earlier today. They both follow me around all of the time. Hutch hasn't had any accidents for weeks! I think that has passed. Thank goodness!

 

This past week crawled! I'm so glad it's the weekend and it's a long one. Woot! The weather has been really cold, and the sun hasn't come out much. Woof. It makes me happy to have my happy lights.  We scheduled our wedding and applied for our marriage license. I've been looking for an inexpensive wedding dress on Amazon; they have quite a few options. I've tried two so far with no luck. We will see if I can find something I like that looks good on me. Corbin is in McCall for a Beal's man weekend. He's in his happy place, skiing and hanging with his favorite cousin Benett. 

Shahar's 1st birthday was on Tuesday! Crazy! I can't believe it's been a year. I feel very lucky I was able to have a healthy pregnancy and an easy delivery at 43. I have a childhood friend who is 44 and she had her baby 6 weeks early due to pre-eclampsia (baby and mom are okay). I am forever grateful for what an amazing experience I had being a surrogate and for how it blessed their family and mine. 

Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden, our wedding venue

First week of the semester done! I was surprisingly not tired and didn't have a hard time adjusting to my work schedule. I'm feeling pretty good about my classes. For the next three weeks I will be teaching lessons I've never taught before because last year at this time I was on maternity leave. Crazy. I feel like the next few weeks will be a bit more challenging with navigating brand new material and lessons but I just have to do it a bit at a time and then it works out. It's a little chaotic and last minute but that's kind of how I roll. I'm somewhere between a type A and a type B personality, not sure, it depends on the day! Lol. My kids did great on their semester grades. Corbin and Ryan all A's and a few B's and Gabby and Piper straight A's. Last year Piper was crying everyday over school work, crazy. This year has been so much better! 

Hutch didn't have any accidents last week. Fingers crossed that's done! We have been planning a trip to Hawaii this summer for a wedding/honeymoon/family trip and I got the idea about going over Spring Break instead and John was on board. Just like that I booked flights and a hotel. I'm so excited. We are trying to figure out details about getting eloped while we are there but we will see what pans out. Going to Hawaii in March sounds way better than July and I won't have to worry about lesson plans or subs. I'm sure it will still be crowded but according to the internet it's less crowded than July. Huzzah!

I put up my Christmas stuff over the break and busted out my January decor. It's Christmas light. I love it! I need warm and cozy lights in cold dark January. It absolutely makes me feel better. Love!

Just like that, the break is over! This week will be rough for all. I have been going to bed late and sleeping in for a few weeks, but my kids, forget about it, they stay up really late and sleep in extra. Good luck to them! Luckily, tomorrow is a teacher workday which is sooo nice. I really need a day to get my crap together before students come on Tuesday. I really should have worked more, but I did get some stuff done over the break. My google classrooms are ready to go. It was a laid back week. I didn't scrub my showers but I did organize a bit. On New Year's Eve, John and I met his friend's family in Caldwell and had dinner and then we checked out the lights. They are really good. Good job, Caldwell. Afterwards, John drove me downtown and we checked out the lights on Warm Springs and Harrison Boulevard. It was a really fun night. We have new neighbors next door that like to party with LOUD music. They had music blaring until 4:00 in the morning on Christmas Eve. They partied until 4:00 am on New Year's Eve (although the volume was turned down a bit at least) and until 2:00 am on New Year's Day. SOOOO annoying and inconsiderate, I can't even handle it. I'm not quite sure what to do if it continues. People are cray.  

2025 was a great year! Amazing end to my surrogacy journey and beginning with John. We will see what 2026 brings!

It's Christmas!

This past week has gone by in a flash. We didn't do much. I tried to set up something with the Beals, but that fell through. I tried to do something with the kids, but they didn't really want to do anything, so I didn't worry about it. We really enjoy just hanging out at home, so we had a great time. I was very busy for days cooking for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Gabby got her driver's license. She couldn't really relax until Christmas Eve morning after she passed her written and driving tests. We played a lot of games and watched a lot of Stranger Things and Christmas movies, and other movies. For Christmas John got us all season passes to Roaring Springs. That will keep us very happy and busy this summer. We went out to dinner for Corbin's b-day and our Christmas splurge to Kyotos, my favorite. My kids really like it too. My aunt Bev and cousin Sherry came over for dinner on Christmas Eve, and it was fun to host them. John and I headed to Middleton on Friday to have Christmas dinner with John's mom and stepdad. They are both excellent cooks, and it was really good. My kids go to their dad's tonight, and they will go to Utah and party hard and do all of the things. I need to clean up Christmas, possibly do some deep cleaning, and get ready to start a new semester, plus maybe binge-watch a show or two. Hutch has been motivating me to walk outside this winter. I really like having the motivation to force myself outside. I quite enjoy it once I get out there. Hutch hasn't had any accidents this week. Yay! We put him in the laundry room when we leave, which is the easiest place to clean if he does have an accident. Well, that's all!

Christmas Eve games. "Speak Out"

Piper's Christmas gift. A custom chess set from her favorite YouTuber. It is pretty cute.

Pictionary

Charades

Headbandz

Christmas Eve Dinner

New Driver

Pics from my favorite Israeli's.

Shahar is so beautiful! 

A new game, "5 Seconds," from John's mom.

He's 18!!!

Kyotos

Christmas Break!

Wahoo! It's Christmas break! I'm so excited. The last week of school wasn't too bad. I will have some new students next semester and some of the same students. It will be good to change it up a bit. I don't know many of the teachers at Borah, but one of them got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last week, and she won't live beyond a year. So devastating. She's in her 40's. Really sad. Life can change in an instant. 

My kids come back tonight, and I get them for the week of Christmas. I'm very excited. We will try to plan some fun things to do and some yummy food to eat. 

Well, Hutch has had too many accidents, and I've reached my limit. I had John throw the ottoman away. It's been peed on too many times. We put him in diapers, but sometimes they don't stay in place, and he pees somewhere in the house. From now on, he will have to stay in the laundry room while we are gone. It will be easy to clean up if he pees. I shampooed all of the living room furniture and the carpet, and I think the pee smell is gone. I cannot handle smells, and I do not want my house to be stinky. I think we might buy new couches when they go on sale. I'm thinking President's day maybe. He's a sweet dog, and I do love him, but I'm done with the pee!

Piper had a mini recital of sorts at her studio. You can skip the first 40 seconds.