Why am I awake at 11pm on a school night. This is pretty unheard of. But Jon is at the Jazz game and I'm having a hard time falling asleep without him!

Last night we went to temple square to see the lights. Kingston reminded ys how awesome they were by saying "wow" and "aahhhhhh" every couple of minutes. They really are so beautiful. Jon and I have gone every year since we met! This was our 4th trip! Crazy how time flies.

We have had a crazy few days of school. I don't know if I would be able to get through December without Roby the elf. Yes my class named him Roby. And they literally scream in delight when they come into class and see what he's been up to since the day before. All I have to do is say "Roby is watching you..." And they snap into formation. Ha ha. Love those kiddos.

Well I should probably count some sheep now so I can function tomorrow! Merry merry Christmas to you!!

The Little Things

It's always about the little things. Am I right? Ill never forget a talk I listened to while in college about really focusing on the little things in life. The speaker who was an area authority (I don't remember his name) said that if the little choices in your life and right then the bigger choices will also be right. I have found this advice to be true spiritually but also true in my job, my friendships, and especially my mommy hood.

Last night I got home from work to my sweet boys who were so excited to see me! Kingston started running around spinning in circles in excitement that I was there! It was so cute!

We didn't do anything big last night as a family but I just remember looking around and feeling so blessed to have the life that I do. One small choice could have led me somewhere else. I'm one lucky lady!

Thanksgiving came and went so quick! My long holiday break got a little bit dampered (is that a word?) when we got the dreaded "will you give a talk?" call. So Sunday Jon and I gave talks in our ward while Kingston sat with Dan and Ally throwing goldfish and string cheese at people. The kid is nuts.

I had a great break though! We did some Christmas shopping, lots of eating, Black Friday shopping where I scored a great sewing machine, we put the tree up and even jammed out to some Christmas music! I'm so excited for the holiday season just because I love the peace and happiness and the cinnamon scented pine cones! Life is good guys. Don't forget to count your blessings.

The holidays are fast approaching my friends! We spent our Saturday night this weekend at our friends eating a pre-thanksgiving feast. It was delish.

We've been so busy over the last few weeks. I was so busy this past week I didn't watch any tv at all! What a catastrophe! It's okay guys don't worry, I caught up today!

Things at school are okay. I love my job but it is so so stressful at times. Teachers have such a huge responsibility and not enough time in the day to complete it all. But all we can do is try our best and stay positive.

Kingston's 18 month bday is just around the corner! I can't believe it. Before I know it he'll be in kindergarten! He is in such a fun stage though. He is learning how to pick up after himself and he loves to help me around the house. He's such a sweet little thing. He makes my work stress melt away as soon as I walk in the door.

Fall Time

It's finally feeling like fall here in Salt Lake. We've already hit up Gardner village, I've already partaken in a Starbucks caramel apple cider (which legit tastes just like your eating a caramel apple minus the chewing part), and I wore a sweater to school today! On our to do list for this fall is to take King to a corn maze (Jon wants to take him to a scary one...what's wrong with him?), I'm going to paint a chevron pumpkin, we are going to play in the leaves (Kingston's idea), we are goin to dress our baby up in an adorable Halloween costume, of course ill be busting out some smore cookies, AND I'm going to cuddle with my hubby while we watch movies. That has nothing to do with fall but I really like to cuddle and he's pretty cute.

Happy Fall!

Is it weird that I still feel like its summer? I was picking up the kids from recess today and started sweating from my jaunt outside for two minutes. I will gladly welcome a little breeze to Utah. There's a cold front coming. Bring on the fall weather. I like sweaters. But the snow can go somewhere else. Because i do not like six year olds in watery boots and husbands who refuse to wear a winter coat (doesn't he know by now to wear one for me incase I'm a but chilled?) and I'm semi afraid of what Kingston will be like tromping through the snow. Because he always goes to the things I wish he didn't. Like mud on the driveway. Or a piece of trash on the sidewalk. It's like he knows how to make my crazy come out. I do not like being dirty (unless its paint) and he loves it. Where is that baby girl of mine? She's going to love pedicures and sitting still on the grass looking at the clouds. Ha ha ha. I love baby K. He really is the sweetest little/big thing ever.

Anyway I'm 27 now. Yeehaw! We celebrated my birthday by going to dinner at Thanksgiving point which has a few places to eat. We went to the fancier restaurant called Harvest. Nothin to write home about. Kingston loved my leftovers though which isn't saying much since he eats more than me at any given meal. Not an exaggeration my friends. He can down four pancakes. I am pushing it with two.

Anyway, then we celebrated my bday again with Josie and Brad on Saturday night. Why didn't I take any pictures? We went to Texas roadhouse and they made me ride the bull after eating my twenty five rolls. Damn those rolls i will never stop loving them! All in all it was a good birthday. I have a good husband who loves to make me happy and a son who loves me just a little bit less than his dad.

I cannot forget Ally and Dan. They got me an amazing gift from Sephora that is the envy of every makeup loving girl on the street. Love them and their awesome gift giving skills! If I asked Jon to step into Sephora to try and find something I wanted he would probably pass out. He doesn't even believe in lotion. So pretty much what I'm getting at is that I am glad Ally understands me.

27 on the 27th! My golden birthday has passed. Onto the next year!

I should probably just blog all the funny things my students say. Most of my kids are ESL; Spanish being their first language. It's so funny watching their little brains work so hard to translate from Spanish to English. Example: "my new pants bought my dad for me!"

I also have a super smarty pants 5000 girl in my class too. She says the most random stuff. Example: "hey mrs. S guess what I just thought of while I was in the bathroom?" "I thought that if I was in there when there was a fire alarm I would just stay in there, turn the water on and plug up the sink and let the water flow all through the whole school. Then I would be a hero and the firemen would tell me I'm the best!" I looked at her and smiled and she said "I know it's not real mrs Stoddard but one day I'll have a real good idea come to me in the bathroom."

What the?

Oh hey one more week til my bday!!! I'll be 27! Weird!

School is in full swing and I feel like its been at least a month of these kids. The other day when it was day 9 that we were coloring on our hundreds chart I laughed. Day 9.

My class is pretty amazing so far though. I'm pretty lucky. I love my job! Hilarious story for you: so last Thursday the kids needed to take the mid chapter check test in their math workbooks. I had them get out their office (a tri folder meant to shield their neighbors eyes from looking..yet I should video how much they look at each others work even with the offices up...they don't understand "cheating" at six). Anyway I had some major chatter going on everywhere so I put my microphone up to mouth and old them to stop talking. It was my "teacher voice". I mean it had been a long day and I'll admit I was losing patience so I gave them all the look. It worked I mean they were totally silent as I read them the questions, putting their pencils in the air quickly after each question to signal they were ready for the next. It was PERFECT. The next day one of the moms of my kiddos, who works at the school, told me he came home and said "Mrs. Stoddard got mad for a minute and my heart was beeping so fast I didn't know what was going to happen next." ha ha ha ha ha. Amazing!

Oh my. It's been a crazy crazy week!

School started and that means a couple of things. I am tired by 8pm and my voice is hoarse.

My class is pretty great. I have some awesome and hilarious kids. Super bright too! But I do have something else that I've never dealt with. Criers. There are 3. They are all boys. Go figure. One day at a time....

Well it's 920pm so I better go to bed! :)

Well back to school night is over! It was semi stressful because I love creating more work for myself. And my team and I love creating more work for ourselves in the form of cute pinterest crafts we saw for back to school night. Either way it was a success and now I can breathe and spend the long weekend with my boys before I'm a teacher full time again. No more mid morning naps with King. Tear.

Oh Ally finally got around to sharing some of her wedding pics! Heres a cute pic from ally's wedding! I have cute sisters. Also the bride and her maids.

This week has been busy. I had a two day training on a new writing program for my class and I've gone into my room everyday trying to get things organized and ready for school to start.

More importantly Jon and I celebrated our anniversary on Tuesday. We got a couples massage and then went to dinner. We laughed during dinner because we were so relaxed from our massages that we wanted to sleep. We also had a kooky waitress who kept us entertained. We ate and went home to our little angel. We decided that he was the best thing we've done in our marriage thus far. Hopefully one day we will have another babe running around...and by babe I mean a mini Meghan. I mean K loves to play with my make up and brush my hair with the wrong side of the brush but he also thinks my make up brush is a stick to hit a ball with. He would choose a ball or car over me anytime! I would love a little girl to do all the girly things with me. But i will also say that we are so lucky to have Kingston. If he's the only child we have I will always love and cherish him. :)

Wanna see a funny picture? Josie texted me this today. This was in our apartment in rexburg! It was summer 2008. 4 years! Wow. I'm old.

Lazy Day

King and I have stayed pretty busy this summer. We've been on several planes to several different places (some unintentional), we have been to the beach, the pool, the park and the zoo. We have ran alot of errands together and even taken a few naps. It's been a great couple of months. I've been there as he started taking his first steps and now he is walking everywhere! I've tried to teach him as much as his little one year old mind can handle. He even knows what app on my iPad is the one he loves. Let alone he knows how to turn on the iPad. I mean he's still so young and he does silly things, like right now he's got a golf ball and he's smashing into a Lego... Whatever floats his boat!!?

But I am so glad I've been able to be with him this summer. Our school schedule is moving to traditional so I won't have my breaks with him like I did last year but that just means I've have an extra long summer next year :)

I'm excited to start a new year with a new group of kiddos. I love my job. I feel lucky to have a job that I love going to.

But I sure will miss that face!

Kingstons dresser

So a while back and I mean a good few months ago I found a steal of a deal on a wonderfully sound and stable dresser at the DI. I had plans to make it new for that baby of mine. Well it only took my friend Katie planning a craft night at my house to make me actually do it. And it turned out awesome! It's a perfect shade of gray for his room and I can finally put his clothes out of his reach! Well actually he will probably open the drawers but whatever. I also remade a side table I have. I was trying a ikat fabric type of paint look but I just don't know if I like it. I haven't finished but I'll post the top of the table anyway.

All in all it was a good night. No kids and painting. I kinda needed it.

It's here

This morning Jons anniversary present arrived. It's taking up a lot of space so far. It even came with three d glasses! What the heck? I can't imagine sitting on the couch with glasses on to watch tv. Ha ha. But maybe I'm just in the Downton Abbey mindset where tv didn't exist. Please watch that show if you haven't yet. It makes me wonder if I come from royalty or maybe my ancestors were servants. Guess I should do some genealogy?!

Utah celebrates Pioneer Day. Which is awesome because it's just another day to enjoy family and friends and no work and BBQ and fireworks! So we went to Jon's parents and had a BBQ and then watched as Anthony lit fireworks. Kingston loved them!

I also got to snuggle baby Zander which was so fun!

The past couple days I've had school trainings for our new math program and I spent some time in my class room today organizing and getting things ready for school to start. I only have two weeks left of summer :(. But that's okay because I probably have the best job in the world so it's all good.

Any other news? I guess I'll just post some recent pics and call it good :)

Weekend was good. Batman was an excellent movie.... Despite the recent events. My heart goes out to all of those affected by the shooting. I know that God loves his children and I find comfort in knowing that those people who died were needed in heaven. It doesn't make it any easier on those they left behind, but a work greater than us is in store for them!

Jon and I are about to embark on our third year of marriage! I can't even believe its only been that long. I feel like we've been married for at least ten years! Ha ha. Having a baby so quick will do that to ya. But really, I love my hubby. I was just saying to our friends at dinner the other night that sometimes you look at your spouse and you're like "well I wouldn't mind being far away from you for a couple hours" ha ha or maybe that's just me? But then there's those times when you are so happy and so in love with your partner. I am in that place right now. Jon is my guy. He's a piece of work ya know but he does deal with me. And he's pretty dang cute. And he's probably the best dad in the whole world. Little K just loves him. Which makes me love him a little more too.

Home!

Well today I've done five loads of laundry and changed three dirty diapers. I'd say it's been a success!

Tonight Jon and I are going on a legit date Kingston free. We are going to see Batman with some friends. But not before we go dine on some dang good Tex-Mex at Los Cucos. It's the best!

Also last night Ally picked us up from the airport and we matched... Unplanned! Love her :)

Family Vacay

Well we had an awesome trip to Michigan City with my side of the family.

Besides the way there of course. We pretty much flew to Europe, rented a boat and paddled our way there. When we finally arrived though life was good.

My whole life growing up we use to go to my grandparents house which sat on a lake. I kinda want the same thing for my babe (ies). Some of my favorite memories of my child hood are from that house and the lake. I used to sit in the front of the boat and sing Mariah Carey. Maybe I pretended to be a mermaid. Maybe Ally wore binoculars and said she was going on a safari in the grove of trees around the house. Maybe sitting on my grandpas lap was my favorite. He used to ask me how many boyfriends I had and I would reply with none (of course I was only 7) and he would laugh and say "good, I'm your only boyfriend and it better stay that way."

Although my grandpa isn't here anymore, and there is no boat at the beach houses my grandma so graciously rents our entire crazy clan of kids cousins and spouses, it sure was a blast! Jon got to meet the rest of my family and Kingston got to play with all his second cousins. We also discovered that Kingston does have some Mullin genes in him because that blonde hair and blue eyes of his looked alot like my cousin Sammy.

We also discovered that Kingston is a beach baby. After testing out the flavors of the sand, he decided to stop eating it and just play in it. The water was perfect and it was so relaxing sitting on the shore with the water coming in on my feet. I loved it!

I was terrible and I mean terrible at taking pictures. I rarely had my phone and when I did it was so dead but I will post what I have. Mostly I have about 210 pictures that Maddie took around the house when she got ahold of my phone. Love that girl.

But now it's back to reality. Which really is just fine because my reality is going to the pool and hanging out all day. I still have another month of summer until school starts! :)

Ps, a few of these pics are taken my Maddie! She didn't do half bad!

Seriously?

So we were flying to South Bend and halfway through the flight they tell us there's a maintenance issue and so we are turning around to go back to Atlanta to get it fixed.

New departure time: unknown.

Remind me to never travel again.

Traveling Curse

Just wanted to stop in and let everyone know that when Jon, Kingston and I travel together as a family we are always cursed by the travel gods.

Last time we tried to get to my parents we ended up having to fly to many parts of America to get there.

Trying to get to Michigan yesterday didn't work out either! We got stuck in Cincinnati and now I'm sitting on a plane getting ready to head out to Atlanta and then South Bend, IN here my dad will pick us up.

I do have to mention how great my hubby is though. We are separated on the plane right now and he insisted he take Kingston with him in his seat. Just a gem!

Also, Kingston may have woken up about seventy five times last night to adjust his sleeping position between on top of Jon and sprawled out around the bed. Being a mom I of course woke up each and every time.

I'm tired! Wish us luck getting to the fam reunion today!

My son is craze!!!

Kingston is usually pretty easy to take care of. I mean he loves to eat an play and throw his plethora of balls around the house. He's getting to the point where sometimes he'll be in his room just entertaining himself!

That Kingston that I just spoke of does not exist today.

He is destroying everything in his path. He threw about twenty blueberries at me during dinner. He keeps popping out of nowhere and scratching my leg!

I love him!

Saturday

Ally and Dan are living in Suncrest, which is at the tip top of a mountain here in Utah. They have an amazing club house and pool. Theres a slide and a lazy river, not to mention the awesome baby shallow end. They even have a snack stand with healthy treats and they always have music playing. Its awesome! So today little K and I decided to go meet Ally and swim! As soon and we get there, this crazy whistle was blown and everyone had to get out of the pool. Because someone got the runs! Gross. They said it would only be an hour or so to shock the pool. So I let Kingston crawl around, we got some drinks and then they told us the pool would have to be closed for 12 hours. BUMMER!!! So now I'm at home, Kingstons napping and I'm looking up stuff on pinterest. But only a few more hours until Josie gets here and reveals to me what her babe is! I'm soooooo excited. I'm kinda baby hungry. Is that normal when you have a one year old? He is a handful but hes also starting to really grow up. Example, today I needed a shower BAD. But Kingston was awake which is usually a dilemma because he will get into the toilet or even worse rip open the shower curtain while I'm showering and think its hilarious when he gets sprayed with water. So I look at him to decide what to do with him and he was sitting calmly on the couch watching Yo Gabba Gabba. He doesnt really watch TV for longer than 2 minutes, so I put some laundry in the dryer and then came back out and he was still there! So I booked it to the bathroom, semi shut the door, took a quick shower and came out to check on what he was destroying. But he was STILL sitting there. Adorable. So what I'm trying to get at here is that I could handle a new born and my little boy....right?! He did hold baby Zander and give him a kiss on the forehead. But he also loves to wrestle and pinch people. Either way, I think the Stoddard family should start thinking about growing a little bit bigger soon :)

Boy or Girl?!

I just got off the phone with Josie. For those of you who don't know who Josie is, I wish you did! She is so funny and easy going and has been such a good friend to me over the years. But this phone call left me in complete anticipation for time to fly by so I can see her tomorrow!

See my BFF is prego. And she wants to surprise me and tell me the gender of her baby in a fun way! So now I have to wait until tomorrow!! The Chinese baby calendar I often reference says boy! So we shall see tomorrow!

Also, I may have spent two hours on pinterest last night. That site is so amazing, I love it! It has come in handy so much.

Example: Just last night I was painting my nails on the living room floor (which if you know me is NOT a good idea t o begin with...I am a spiller) but I wanted to watch TV while I painted. Low and behold there goes my bottle of paint right into the almost brand new carpet in our condo. I looked at Jon (who hates the spiller/stainmaker in me), throw a cotton swab over it and run to get my ipad where I KNOW I pinned a stain removing pin. BAM! A little hairspray, rubbing alcohol and water later and there is no pink polish left in that carpet! Now only if I had pintereest while living in our apartment when we first got married...

4th of July

I sure do love holidays! Our 4th was great. BBQ with fam and friends, an excellent carnival in which Jon won Kingston two stuffed animals and i saw tons of mullets which is always fun, and then a firework show! It was kind of weird watching fireworks while right behind us flames are burning up the mountain but I love the fourth! It always reminds me of how blessed I am to live where i do and have the life that I have. God bless America!!

It's official! I am on summer break. Not going to fib to ya, June was a rough month to be teaching. My kiddos were losin it! I mean they just wanted to play outside and act like seven year olds. We did alot of review games and playing outside.

When the last day finally came, I was totally ready! I have never gone through the last day of school before because last year I had Kingston before I could say bye to my class. But I found out I'm that emotional teacher. I had them sit in a big circle and we were about to play this game when I just lost it on them. I started crying! Which then made me laugh because most of them starting crying too! Then we all just laughed and played our game. I am so so glad that I am able to have a job that I love. I am so lucky.

Day one of summer has been great. I've cleaned, done laundry and even met up with the hubby for lunch. Now I'm about to attack the laundry room. It is in need of some hardcore organizing. I keep just throwing stuff in there but it has now gotten out of control. So I'm on it! I'll post a before and after picture when I'm done. :)

Until next time! Oh and some pics of course! Kingston with baby cousin Zander, him and I, swimmin with dad, and hanging out gettin some rays!

One week!

Well I have one week left of school!! Holllla! Then it's two months of being a stay at home mama!

On the agenda for the summer:

Play at the pool with Kingston
Take Kingston on walks
Take Kingston to the park
Go to Target
Family reunion lake side in Michigan :)
Cook
Read!!!!

It's gonna be grand! Oh, I cut my hair! Love it, thanks Katie!!!

Lately

Well life just keeps rolling on! I have told myself to blog every night this week, but things like Kingston being covered in food all the time, or Jon wanting me to watch some weird basketball documentary has gotten in my way.

Anyway, two more weeks of school for me and those little deviled angels. I love my job I love my job I love my job. 11 days. I can do it!

Ally and Dan are married! Their wedding was perfect. They are currently gallivanting around Texas sleeping until 11am and eating tex mex, the best kind of mex!

I won May I when my parents were here!!!!

Kingston turned one! I have a toddler. He is getting so old it's weird. He laughs whenever I say no. He is my favorite.