October 25th... ALREADY?

Holy Moly, I can't believe I haven't posted in like five months... that is pathetic. Actually it is pathetic how busy I have been! It's a good busy though. Teaching kindergarten in Waterloo @ Kingsley Elementary and then straight to coaching at Wapsie until about 7 every night, getting home at 7:30, eat dinner, then finally see my husband!! And that gets pushed back even later if it is a game night!! Geessh! Does life ever slow down? I feel that even if I had 30 hours in a day, I would still feel behind. First year teaching and coaching makes for a very sleep deprived, workaholic, tired Amy. Good news... Thanksgiving break is coming up, then only two weeks back to school then 2 weeks off of school! Woo Hoo!

My volleyball team is doing a wonderful job. Tomorrow night is their second game in regionals. If they win tomorrow night (which they SHOULD) we have to win two more games to go to state! This team is very capable of going to state. They just have to play to their ability and control our side of the net. Lately they have been so up and down like a roller coaster. I am just hoping the Wapsie Valley team that is on the up is going to show up tomorrow and for the rest of the regional tournament. WE CAN DO IT!! =)

Welp, that is my life for now... school, volleyball, sleep! And all over again the next day!

We are HOMEOWNERS!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, it's been about a month since I've posted and some pretty cool things have been happening in our life! We bought a house!!!!! Taylor and I had been talking about the idea of buying a house since about January. Nothing serious just throwing out ideas and didn't know if it was really the right time to. In February we went to look at a few houses in Readlyn (where Taylor teaches) and we LOVED one!!! Since our realtor was friends with the guy selling the house we were able to just throw out some numbers and man did we find out that he wanted ALOT more than we were willing to pay for the house!!!! So... we gave up and just decided hey, it isn't the right time right now for us. We love where we are now and we aren't spending much on rent. One of the reasons we were thinking about buying a house for the first time was the first time homebuyers rebate from the government. Since neither of us has owned real-estate the government literally writes you a 8,000 dollar check... I mean, COME ON!!! Nothing is free in this life but wowsers that is a lot of money! The deadline to have an accepted offer is April 30th. We thought there was going to be NOOOO way for us to meet this so we gave up on all kinds of houses. Well about two weeks before the deadline Taylor called the realtor to see if the seller had come down on his price at all.. just for one more final push. We were almost within about two thousand dollars but we didn't really, nor could be pay that much more for the house. So strike two we gave up again. Then we get a call from our realtor that he found a place for the seller, a little acreage, and that he might be a little more motivated to sell right now! And then the doubts came.... why now? Is this really the house for us? Is this where God wants us to be? I was super nervous because I don't know where I am going to be next year. Then I started throwing ideas like Waverly out there. We looked at a few houses and BOOO they were awful. Then just to make sure that we LOVED the house we looked at houses in Waterloo and Cedar Falls in our price range. NOTHING and I mean NOTHING compared to the house that we bought. So all doubts aside after looking at other houses and MUCH praying we decided to write up one final offer. Could this possibly strike three? NOPE!!!! He accepted and now we are going to be closing on the house on June 1!!! We are so excited and can't wait to have people over to hang out and entertain. =) Thank you God for making this decision clear. Although it was not easy we were just pulled to that house and God made it happen!!!!!!!

The pictures that I do have of the house are from the website where it was listed so they are not the best quality nor do they have the paint and decorating that I like but you get the just!! ENJOY!!!!


This is a front view of our lovely RED house!!! 123 Highland Ave! It is a ranch style house built in 1950 with a very spacious and open floor plan. Three bedroom, 2.5 bath house and about 2,000 square feet!


This is a view of the kitchen with the dining room attached. Half bath off the kitchen and sliding doors to the deck/backyard for little Ellie to run around!


The other half of the kitchen. Cupboards will need some work this summer!! We have a DISHWASHER!! FINALLY!!! =)


This is the family room off of the kitchen! Super big and cozy for lots of people to come and visit!


Other view of the family room!


Bedroom off of the family room. (the whole upstairs goes in one big circle... gotta love the ranch!!)


Our huge basement... which has the same amount of space as the upstairs. 1/2 of the basement is finished the other half has furnace, washer/dryer etc. And soon to be a workout room!


Other half of the finished portion of the basement. Eventually there will be a wet bar on this half!


And last but not least. This has to be one of my most favorite things about the house. It has a screened in Gazebo. This will be so perfect for hang outs/grilling/ bonfires! Yikes... can't wait!!!

My Man is in Colorado

Taylor, Josh, Tim, Ed and Walt all made it safely out to Colorado this morning! As you can tell, it is a guys trip and all ladies are left at home, alone! Taylor said it was a long trip out there but it is so worth it because the mountains are just beautiful. They are planning on skiing and snowboarding for the next couple of days and heading back Sunday to be back early Monday morning. They are going to have a blast!!!!

Last night was my first night alone. Well, I shouldn't say alone, I guess I was with my puppy, Ellie. She kept me company! She was so cuddly and cozy all night long. Maybe a little too cuddly and cozy because it was so hard to get out of bed this morning. Especially because Taylor wasn't there to turn the light on in my eyes and PULL me out of bed!! haha Needless to say, I was running a little bit late to school the morning but, still made it in plenty of time before the kidos got there.

Tonight, Emilee Bates and I are going to go to the new "japanese steakhouse" restaurant by Texas Roadhouse. We just keep calling it the New Tokyo because we can't remember the name of it! I am so excited to spend some time with Em... catch up and talk about her upcoming wedding in August! Taylor is completely jealous because he wanted to take me there for the first time. Too bad, so sad!! He is in Colorado.... he can't complain!!!! YUMMY.... Can't wait for school to be done so we can go eat!! =)

First Grade, Here I Come!!!

So, for the past two months I have been long term subbing over at Fairbank Elementary in a 6th grade classroom. It has been such a great experience for me. I was pushed and tested in ways I didn't even know possible as a teacher. I can honestly say I am a much more confident and prepared teacher because of this experience. I finished up my last day with them on last Monday and tomorrow I get to start with a new group of 1st graders at Denver Elementary. I am totally pumped for this change and I am hoping I can have another great experience! I am sure I will!! =) I met the first graders today. There are 21 of them and the teacher has left me EXCELLENT plans!! I am excited for the next two weeks! =)

I haven't heard of many job openings as of right now, so I am keeping my fingers crossed and wishing and praying for the best! I cannot wait to have a classroom of my own and my "own" students. Again... I'm trying to be patient!!!

It's been awhile...

Wow, I haven't written a blog in forever! I got started and was really excited about it and then I got busy and forgot about it! A lot of things have happened since I've written last. I am busy at a long term sub in Fairbank Elementary in a 6th grade room. I am having a good time however, I am excited to get out to other schools and get my name out there.

My whole family was in Iowa this past weekend! I had so much fun with them. They were such troopers. They came to my volleyball tournament in Cedar Falls and were the best spectators ever. We had a nice dinner with Taylor's parents also. It was just soooo good to have them at my house with me. I love being with my family! =)

Yesterday after work, Shelby and I went on a super long walk with the dogs: Brooklyn and Ellie. It was such a beautiful day and an awesome walk. It was great to get to talk with her a little bit and enjoy the wonderful outdoors! God is great!

Well, until I am motivated again....

Congrats Brian and April**

I got a call from my Aunt Lori a couple of days ago... I was in the shower and when I got out I had two missed calls, a voicemail, and a text message to call her because she has some news. At the time I was sort of freaking out because I thought there was something bad or wrong she needed to tell me. Luckily, I was the first one to call back out of all of the cousins and all of the other aunts and uncles. She called to tell me that my cousin Brian and his girlfriend April are now ENGAGED!! =) Phew... good news! I am so excited for them and cannot wait for their wedding in summer 2011! I love them both and this was great news to get after getting out of a steaming hot shower!! =) I pray that God will bless their engagement as they prepare for their lives together!! Woo Hoo!!

:::ice ice baby:::

Last night we had a very relaxing night! On the 17th was Shelby's birthday and unfortunately we were unable to hang out at all on that day. So, we had Shelby and Tim over to our place for a nice dinner and a little hang out time! I made some Chicken Parmesan. It was really good and super easy! Here's the recipe:

3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 egg with a little water for the egg wash
Italian breadcrumbs
Mozzarella cheese slices
Shredded Mozzarella/Parmesan cheese if you have it
Traditional Spaghetti sauce
Spaghetti noodles (I use angel hair!!)

-Take each tenderized breast and put it in the egg wash. Then dip them in the bread crumbs until they are completely coated. Put them in the skilled with a little vegetable or olive oil. Fry them up so they are browned on each side. (3-4 minutes per side)

-When each breast is done, place them in a sprayed 9x13 pan

-Cover each breast with a slice of mozzarella (or 2 if you like them cheesey!!)

-Spread the spaghetti sauce over the pan- USE IT ALL!

-Sprinkle shredded mozzarella/little Parmesan cheese over the top (if you have it)

-Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes

-Cook your spaghetti noodles like normal and serve the chicken over top the noodles!

ENJOY!!!!!

So we had chicken parmesan, salad, and bread cooked over the grill. My dad can get loaves of bread (sort of like Panera Bread) at a store near his office! They are so yummy with butter, garlic pepper, a little garlic salt, and chunks of garlic! Toast them up over the grill and it is so delicious! Pretty simple meal but so yummy! I only make things that are easy and this is one of them!

After we ate we pretty much couldn't move because we were so full! We watched the newest episode of CSI! Taylor as usual was sleeping on the couch in all sorts of crazy positions! All of a sudden we heard a loud pop and bang! The dogs were barking (Brooklyn was over). We go to the door and this is what we see!!!




Okay!! Scary. All of this ice fell off of our roof! It may not look like much but it was seriously the loudest noise I've ever heard! The next picture shows how stinkin thick it was!!! That could have killed someone!



Luckily we had the grill out last night because that would have smashed our grill! Look at how far the overhang of the ice is!



We were so lucky that Taylor wasn't grilling under there when it decided to fall off the roof!



Overall, besides the ice falling, we had a great night with the Walsten's and we look forward to another hangout soon!! Happy Birthday Shelby!

My last blog noted that Ellie is in Heat... yup, and I said dog's wear diapers. Well we got one for Ellie. It is making life a whole lot easier but looks totally goofy! This is her little bum snuggled up underneath Taylor's sweatshirt this morning! =)



Too cute! I love my little hunnies!! =)

HEAT!!!

So, this may be TMI for some people but hey, it's part of life! Ellie is just over seven months old and we had been talking about getting her spayed soon. (removing the ovaries and uterus so she can no longer have puppies) We knew that we should probably be getting this operation done before she is one year old but we had kind of been putting it off. Usually, you would want to get them spayed otherwise they will go into "heat" and if male dogs are attracted the female dog will get pregnant during heat.

Two weeks ago or so, is when Shelby (SIL) informed me that when dog's go into heat they will bleed. (similar to that of a woman) I have never been a dog owner before and had no idea that they did. This morning Ellie was just walking around our place and she started dry heaving. She has been known to have a sensitive stomach so I thought nothing of it. She threw up a little bit on the kitchen floor and Taylor cleaned it up, no big deal. Then he was like... "um, is she bleeding somewhere?" Well, just a while ago she had a toenail ripped off when she was playing with the other dogs so I figured she had just irritated that again. Taylor picked her up for me to see her nail and nothing was on it. Hmm... that was weird we thought to ourselves. Taylor was holding her on her back and he looked down. "Am... I think I know where it came from. She's in HEAT." WHHHHAAAT?! Oh my goodness, yeah right... this CANNOT be happening! Sure enough there was blood. Taylor and I had no idea what to do. We were passing her around like she was a toxic puppy or something. Which I feel bad about now! He called his mom and told us the vet's number and we called. They said she couldn't be spayed for two to three weeks because that is how long dog's can stay in heat for. Two to three weeks? Are you serious? I feel so bad for her. Now she can't sleep with us, she has to be in her kennel! Ugh, we're bad parents for not getting this done sooner!

I did some frantic searching on the internet to catch up on my doggie knowledge. It was confirmed... dogs are usually in heat for 21 days and have three different cycles, each being seven days. The first seven days is called the Proestrus stage. During this time is similar to a women's cycle where she will be secreting blood. (Now don't get too grossed out... it isn't like spilling out of her it just comes out every once in awhile.) This is way worse in larger breed dogs. They actually make doggie diaper pad thingys. haha The dog also has a decreased appetite. The second seven days is called the Estrus stage. During this time a female dog is more receptive to allow a mate to mate with her. This is usually shown by flirting with other dogs. The secretions are now a light color/clear. (THANK GOODNESS) The third seven days is called diestrus and the dog will end her flirting with male dogs and the secretions will STOP! I hope this 21 days goes by quickly so we can have her spayed at the end of February and never have to deal with this again.

As far as our place is concerned. I have towels on our couches and floor just in case it were to get on anything. We are being very proactive and she has been in her kennel with a bunch of towels cuddling up.



Ellie actually walked into her kennel with a rawhide and sat in her kennel without us even telling her to go in there! What a good puppy... I just hope she knows her life will soon be revolving around that kennel for at least the next 21 days! Poor girl!

I'm officially a blogger

Woah! I never thought the day would come when I would create a blog! I love reading other people's blogs and finally it hit me... why don't I create one! So, I have no idea what I am doing but I am hoping I can figure it out as I go!

I am hoping this blog will allow family and friends to stay connected with our life. So....enjoy! Leave a comment if you wish, we would love to hear from you!!! =)