Thanksgiving

I have not been so good at posting lately. So many things have been happening in my life. I have SO many things to be thankful for.

I have a loving fiance who is the love of my life and we are counting down til we are sealed.
I have such a wonderful family who we love each other for who we are and will do whatever we can for each other.
I have such amazing parents who are my greatest cheerleaders and support and have raised me to be who I am.
I have a loving Heavenly Father who has blessed me with so much and listens to my prayers.
I have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life that strengthens me every day and guides me back to my Heavenly Father.
I have such wonderful friends who are a great support in my life (even when we don't see each other or talk - when we do, it's like nothing has changed).
I have a job that I love that fulfills me every single day and working with the kids makes me want to be a better person and teacher.
I have 3 amazing children that will be my stepchildren in a short period of time. They definitely help me to be a better person. I've become a better teacher this year because of my association with these wonderful kids.
I could go on and on. There are so many things to be grateful for.
I can't wait to get sealed for time and all eternity with my soulmate and best friend and start our life together.

Winter Wonderland Wedding!

Some of my plans for my wedding reception have solidified in my mind as I've brainstormed and talked with family and friends. I'm excited to have an idea what it is all going to look like. I've decided to incorporate red and snowflakes together, hot chocolate and snowflake marshmallows and chocolate. We'll see how it all comes together. I can't reveal it all. It's still three months away. It'll be just in time to take advantage of holiday sales. The time will also work to my advantage to get some things made without too much craziness. Yay!!!!

. . . and yay for 2 days off for Fall Break!

I love my fiance!

Can I just tell you that I love my fiance, Kelly so much!!! We've both had a long week and have been so tired. Tonight, we just sat and talked while I folded laundry and put it away. We had some great conversations and learned some new things about each other. Sometimes it is so nice to just sit and relax and be able to talk about anything. We often have heavy things to talk about, but it's fun to just talk about whatever and have a light conversation that could lead and go anywhere. I didn't want him to leave.

I love him!

Fun School Moment!

I just love my students and my class this year!!! They are so much fun and I'm loving my teaching style and interactions with the kids. It's just working for me! I don't know if that makes sense. The last 2 days have been parent/teacher conferences. These are very long days for me and I am so exhausted, but I love talking with parents. They were so kind in saying that they kids are loving school and loving learning. What more could I love to hear as a teacher.

I have a small magnetic easel that I've opened up for the kids to use magnetic letters and create sentences on using correct capitalization and punctuation. I had 3 cute boys come over to me this morning all excited. They had written a sentence and wanted me to see it. It read, "We love Miss Jones do you?" I had to take a picture. Maybe I'll post it when I get it downloaded. I have to crop the kids out first, but it sure made me feel good!

HCG progress

Today is day 23 of HCG and 500 calories. I could be done today and moving on to the other phases, but I'm going to continue. I'd like to only do this once. You can go on the HCG up on 40 days. I don't know that I'll go that long, but we'll see how it goes. I'd like to at least go one more week. I've lost about 15 pounds. I'd like to lose more. It's been a bit frustrating because I'm not losing everyday, but that's kind of how my life goes as I've committed to this type of thing in the past and lost weight. It's always worth it, though. I know that sounds funny, since losing weight every single day is crazy, but on this diet, that's how it works and it's safe. If you want more info, ask me, or do some research. There's lots online.

I've been taking this new energy drink, Rush, that is really good, with no caffeine or bad stuff. It really helps. However, I don't know that it's always helping with weight loss. I'm not going to drink any more for at least a week and see if that helps.

Everyone at work is so kind and I had lots of compliments today with how I look. That always makes you feel good. There are several at work doing this same diet, so we can commiserate together and rejoice together.

New Day!

I don't know what it was about yesterday, but it was a long and tough day for whatever reason. There were no students. We had a half professional day. Friday, my classroom was painted, so all my things were in the center of the room and there wasn't anything on the walls. It's sure nice to have a newly painted room, but I spent the rest of yesterday putting everything back. I don't know what the deal was with my mood, but it kind of stunk. Poor Kelly. It wasn't so great by the time I saw him last night. He was a great sport, though, and helped me put everything back up on the walls. Maybe part of it was I knew this week was going to be a long one. Wednesday and Thursday are 12 hour days with parent/teacher conferences after school. I always love meeting with the parents and it always goes well, but it just takes something out of you to be on your A-game for quite that long.

Well, today is a new day, and I just love teaching!!! I didn't mind not having kids yesterday. Sometimes, it's rather nice to have a little break. However, the short weeks somehow end up being or feeling longer than the regular weeks. Today was great, though. It was so good to see my kids. I'm really enjoying our writing time. . . and for the first year, I started my science rotation with my own class on the day it was planned to start. You see, the first rotation is our own class and if it doesn't go right on schedule, that's okay. It's my time. However, I'm all about routines this year and being better about staying on my schedule, etc. So, yay for me! Also, Friday is a field trip, which are so much fun, but are very exhausting!!! We are going to Thanksgiving Point to Farm Country. It's fun because they also do something on plants, which we learn in 1st grade. They make wheat necklaces. They have a little tube on the necklace where they can put in dirt, water, and some seeds to grow some wheat, I think it is.

I came home from work today in a much better mood! Kelly already noticed when I called him. :)

Montana Trip - August 2009 - Meet Kelly's family for the first time!

HCG

Kelly and I started HCG on Sept 12th and I have been keeping up with it faithfully. I've lost over 10 pounds and feel so much better! I'm hoping to continue to lose and finally get to my original weight goal I had from when I was doing LA weight loss a few years ago. I lost over 50 pounds over a year or so. I completely changed my activity rate and lifestyle and eating habits. It's one of the best things I have ever done. Since Kelly and I have been dating, I have started back up with emotional eating with the roller coaster of dating. HCG is helping me to get over that and get back motivation, determination, and control over that part of my life. Health is so important and it is a priority in my life. This last week, I was on a plateau, but I seemed to have broken that the last few days. I'm so glad. All that I'm doing isn't worth it, if it's not having results. Yay for good health and healthy eating. I can't really exercise on HCG, and look forward to getting that back into my routine as well as having more food to choose from and being able to really good again and come up with healthy meals. Right now I can only eat certain foods and certain combinations.

Journals

This last month Kelly and I started writing in our journals on a daily basis. It has been the best thing. I wish we would have started sooner. We decided to use ldsjournal and I love the online journal. It's so fast and easy. Sometimes, I write myself an email if the internet is too slow and I'm away from my computer and then copy it into my journal. I've been successful at writing every single day since Sept. 6th. Yay for me and my posterity! Hopefully, I can keep it up!

School!

I'm still teaching 1st grade and loving it. Last year, I loved my kids, but had such a hard group. This year, I love my kids and am having such fun. They are really such a great group!!! I think my teaching is a little different this year with my experiences with Kelly and his kids and the thought of being a step-mom. My perspective has definitely changed and my teaching along with it for the good!

Today we were moved into a different classroom while our classroom was being painted. It's exciting to have newly painted walls, but a pain to get it ready and my room is a mess. Everything is off the walls and everything else is away from the walls stacked and piled on desks in the middle of my room. I am excited, though, because they decided to paint our window wall a green color. It will be nice to break up white walls only. It gives the room a little more character. Now I don't need to put up posters to cover up paint taken off from past occupants.

This next week includes a half day professional development, 2 evenings of parent/teacher conferences and a field trip to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point. It will be a long week, but a good week. I always enjoy meeting with parents, but they are such long days and I get exhausted.

I'm so glad I'm teaching this year!!! I'm truly having a delightful year and loving it. I'm also loving my team that I work with. This is our second year having the exact same team. I don't know that I'm so good as team leader, but they manage to put up with it and me. I imagine it's partly because they'd rather not be the team leader themselves. :) It's also been fun car pooling with the ladies. It's a great chance to talk about life and school, when we want, to and from school.

Getting Married!

I haven't blogged for a super long time! I've been so busy with school and life with my fiance and his kids and my family, etc. Kelly and I got engaged on July 17th, our 6 month anniversary and we are getting married on January 16th, 2010. Yay!!!

I'm really excited. It seems like so far away, but I know the time will go quickly, especially as I keep busy with school and the holiday season is coming fast!

We have also put in some offers on short sale houses. We haven't heard anything yet, but they definitely aren't short time frames. We know the Lord will help us find the house we can spend our life in with the right ward for us. I look forward to that. It'll be so exciting to have enough room for all my things and a place to put it all. Yay! I'm also exciting to decorate a place of my own.

I love my niece!

I have tons of catch up to do and pictures of trips, etc., but tonight I just want to share a funny. We had my nephew's 13th birthday party tonight. It was lots of fun. My niece asked me how old I am. I asked her, "How old do you think I am?" She answered, "19". Sounds good to me. :) That sure gave me a lot of years. She tried to guess again and said, "29". I thought that sounded pretty good, too. I gave her a hint, "I'm 4 years younger than your dad." She said, "28". "How old do you think your dad is?", I asked. She said, "32". We all had a great chuckle on that one! "He's 39", I told her. I think my nephew said my age, but she finally figured out 35. I was feeling pretty good! :) I love my niece, Lily! She's great! I love spending time with my family. This time of the year is fun, because we have so many birthdays and get together lots.

Summer Has Arrived!

Yeah!!!! Summer is here!

Now is the time when I can get some decent sleep, be outside, exercise, read my scriptures in the morning without falling asleep, clean and organize my classroom, my house and everything else, connect with family and friends, and regroup!

Today is a glorious Sunday. It's Fast Sunday. I got lots of sleep last night. I'm preparing for sharing time in Primary today on how faith in the Lord Jesus Christ can strengthen me and my family. I'm trying to decide if I want to spend the time straightening my hair or just leave it curly. I'm thinking of some wonderful thing to make for dinner for Kelly and I. I'm trying not to think about Literacy Institute tomorrow and Tuesday and all the work I still need to do to be ready to present on Tuesday morning.

This morning I ran across a little book I got from a visiting teacher of thoughts from President Hinckley about woman. I read part of that and it was inspiring.

I'm off to fold some laundry that has been sitting on the bed, shower, decide whether to straighten the hair, and put the finishing touches on Sharing Time before church.

I'll add a quick picture from Lily's baptism yesterday.

Busyness

Many of you are wondering why I haven't posted about Hawaii . . . or my most recent trip last weekend to Texas . . . and haven't privatized my blog. Well, life is so extremely busy. This is one of my busiest months of the year for teaching, plus add in there getting ready for presenting at a literacy institute in June, new calling of 1st Counselor in the Primary over nursery and scouts, family events, a relationship with my boyfriend and his 3 kids, and voila! It results in craziness! I will try and be better and get some stuff up, but no promises right now until life slows down a little. For sure, it will slow down after about midday on Friday, May 29th. Hooray! I'm so ready for the school year to be over.

. . . and to top it all off, I have been progressively losing my voice all day, my glands are swollen, and I'm not sure if it is sickness, tiredness, or what. It seems like I've been on the verge of getting sick the last few days, but hoping it wouldn't really go anywhere. So far so good, until today. My coworkers asked if I was going to come into work tomorrow. It's more work to write lesson plans and find a sub, than to actually be there.

Last Chance!

Well, I'm back from Hawaii! I had a fantastic time! I will post soon pictures and all about my adventures there.

This is your last chance to let me know if you want an invitation to view my blog. I'm going to go private. If you've already emailed me, you are good to go. :)

Life sure is busy. I'll have to post soon more about it all.

Going Private

I have decided to take my blog private and share with family and friends who are near and dear to me. I'm keeping it up for me, as a sort of journal, and also to share with family and friends all over. I'm going to Hawaii next week and will make this private when I return. Let me know if you are a follower and would like to be invited to view my blog. Email me at my main email address and give me your email address or email me at tash_jones@hotmail.com. I look forward to posting more in the life of Tasha. More to come after Hawaii!

Student Teacher!

I have had a student teacher in my classroom for the last approx. 9 weeks. This is her last week. Most of the last 5-6 weeks, she has completely taken over. This means I have been "homeless". Mostly I have taken over a conference room. Sometimes, other teachers with student teachers have also been in there, and sometimes I've been all by myself.

It has been great in so many ways. I got to talk to my parents lots before they went into the MTC. I get to talk to Kelly lots throughout the day. I have created tons of assessments for my 1st grade team. I was able to get everything done for grades during school, rather than after. I also was able to do all of my own testing of my students, rather than have an aid or parent test them for report cards.

However, it is also hard in many ways. I am sitting way too much!!! One reason why I love teaching is because I am always moving. I also go into my classroom and it's tough not to take over, give the teacher look, and generally not be in control. Go figure! She's really good, but it's still tough.

Next week, I'm back full-time in the classroom. I'm really excited and also quite scared. I'm excited to have my class back, but a little worried about having them back for a whole day, day after day. I've gotten used to "doing my own thing".

I am glad to have accomplished so much during this time. I guess I'd better just enjoy myself for the rest of the week and get myself prepared in all ways for next week.

Good news! When I come back, there are only 8 weeks of school left for the year! Yay! One week in between those weeks is Spring Break and I'm off to Hawaii!!!!! Whoohooo!

Valentine's Day!

Can I just say that Valentine's Day is so much better when you have someone than when you are single. I think it's just a given. For the record, I had a fabulous Valentine's Day! My Valentine's Day ended up being on Friday. It started with roses being hand delivered to my school with a card. Sweet! That started the day off right. How could it not?

Valentine's Day is also the best as a teacher! My student's really showed their love. I love those little guys so much! They were so cute! I had expressed many times to not bring me any candy. Many of them brought me fruit. It had lots of apples and oranges. It was awesome! I still have some fruit from that day. For my students, I wrote each of them a "secret" message on white cardstock in white crayon. They got to use water colors to "find out" their secret message from me. They loved it and each card was different depending on the colors they used. I loved it! The day just continued from there and got better and better.

I also had some great times with a good friend that day (a previous colleague) and got to see my nephew's hockey game that added to the great mix of the day.

Thanks to my students, student teacher, and Kelly! You are the best!

Steph's Birthday!

It was fun times at Macaroni Grill for Steph's birthday last week! It's a great excuse to get together and have a fun evening with friends. We also played Battle of the Sexes and Guitar Hero. I'd never played Guitar Hero before. It was great fun! I can't wait to play again!

Tyler, Stephanie, Lindsay

Kelly and I

Tyler, Stephanie, Lindsay, and Katie

Jen and Gifford

Liesel

Katie and Liesel (totally blurry, but oh so cute!)

A funny!

The other day I went to school with my hair straightened. It never gets straightened anymore. It's always curly, but I decided to straighten it on Sunday, so it was straight on Monday as well. I got lots of complements, including from some of my students. One student asked me if I had brushed my hair. I had to laugh.

Snowshoeing!

No kids today for school! We had a professional development day! I really enjoy them. It's great fun to spend the day with teachers and not have to worry about the students. We learned about "the secret" and visualized wonderful things happening in our lives. We created a "vision" board of what we'd like to see happening in our life. We spent the afternoon snoweshoing! It was awesome! I've wanted to go, but never gone. It was a beautiful day!

I kept stepping out of one of the snow shoes. I guess it wasn't on my boot tight enough. It didn't help when it came off as I was going down a steep hill. Some teachers were sliding down and I was snowshoeing down, but ended up on my backside. One snowshoe wasn't enough to keep me up. :)
I'd love to go again. Here are some pictures. They go backwards.

Steph

Gorgeous scenery

crossing the stream on some logs

the beginning of the steep part where I managed to get my whole backside wet. :) Justin had to help me get down, since I wasn't having much success not sliding with my snowshoes.

Marie and I

My wonderful team: Jessica, me, Brynn, Jen, and Marie

Jen and Marie

Colleen and Jessica

Jolena's wedding

Jolena's wedding was wonderful! I loved seeing all the family. The day of the wedding was incredible with the Temple and reception. I'm so grateful for my family and for the knowledge that families can be together forever and not just for this life.

For now, I'm going to post a couple of pictures and then I'll add a slide show. All of the pictures from the cameras are being gathered and put together. I can't wait to see all of those.

The sisters, Tori, Jolena, and I

The happy couple, Bill and Jolena, newly sealed.

I'll post more later and probably a slide show. What an amazing day!

Snow and Ice!

We thought our HOA would take care of our snow, but it ends up that they only plow public areas. We had quite a bit of snow by the time we found this out. We hadn't had any snow shovels and had to invest in some. One night, we borrowed a snow shovel from my dad and one from the neighbors to take care of our driveway of thick ice. It was quite the workout, but felt so good when we were done.





It took us forever to clear out, since it was all ice. We had to pick away at it and try to get it in chunks. It looked like big huge pieces of candy bark. The neighbor's new puppy came to join us in our picture.

Girl time!

The week before Jolena's wedding, we had a bridal shower for her. It was lots of fun with a few family members and lots of Jolena's friends. Katie and I made a video of Bill to compare his answers with Jolena's. It was so much fun to hear of their experiences and their love for one another. We are excited to have Bill in our family now! Here are some pictures.

Mom, Jolena, and I

Jolena and Bill (after the shower)

Bonnie (aunt) and Tiffany (cousin)

Mom and Jolena

The day before Jolena's wedding, I took off work and we went and got pedicures.

All of our feet and some hands
(Mom, Kelly, Jolena, me, Jolena's mother-in-law and sister-in-law)

My pedicure. I have to have flowers on my toes or I'm not loving my pedicure.

Kelly (my sister-in-law) and Mom

San Diego Trip

I never finished posting about my trip to San Diego during Christmas Break. Here are some pictures! I loved it and had a wonderful time with family and with my parents!

Hiking in Poway in the hills behind the house

In front of my aunt and uncle's house in Poway

Playing games in Mira Mesa with my grandma. We also went out to lunch.

Dinner in Old Towne San Diego with my aunt and uncle. They are serving a mission there.

We spent some time at the San Diego Temple. It is so beautiful!!!!

My aunt and uncle took us to this restaurant on the ocean. I had swordfish and loved it!

It was a wonderful relaxing trip! I'm so glad we went, not to mention the warm weather. Utah was COLD!