Dinosaur Train is brought to you by...

So this story is short it is about the same "Mr. Magic Man" student,
we'll call him X.
X is extremely smart and loves routine. Recently X has been shouting
20+ times a day "Mrs. Tabitha, Mrs. Tabitha, what is it brought to you
by?"

Now, this doesn't make much sense but X loves the TV show Dinosaur
Train. When X asks me "What is it brought to you by?" the answer X wants me to say
is:"This program is brought to you by PBS kids, and contributions from
viewers like you, and by Juicy Juice, 100% juice for 100% kids." Sometimes I will also add: "Chuck E. Cheese, where a kid can be a kid." I haven't watched PBS since I was a kid so the contributors may be different now, oh well.

Man, that is such a mouth full! X loves it when I say that, I'm not
sure why...but X LOVES IT! LOL! If I leave anything out X will add it
on when I'm finished. I use it as a reinforcer so I will only say it
if X is sitting nicely and following directions.

If any of you saw me teach you would laugh. I work up a such a sweat,
I'm singing, I'm dancing! I try so hard to entertain my students so
much that they'll actually sit and pay attention to me. If I'm not
entertaining enough I'll have students running out of their chairs,
pulling stuff off the walls, hiding under the table, hitting/kicking
the kid next to them, or climbing under/over my desk. All in a days
work! LOL.. good times. Oh, and if I mess up on anything in my
calendar routine X will make sure to correct me!

Dinner with the family!

We hosted our first dinner tonight. It was so fun! Our apartment is actually great for company because the dining room is a pretty big. It's right next to the living room too so Trev and Bran were watching the game while everybody else decorated Valentine cookies. Good times!

Timber is being so cute right now! He is sitting on Brandon's lap soaking up all the attention he can get. He is such a sweet dog, we LOVE him!

FUNNY SCHOOL STORIES: So as most of you know I am currently teaching special education kindergarten. My students are constantly saying and doing the funniest things and I always forget about them because I don't write them down. So I'm going to try and start documenting some of the really funny things.

So Friday we were doing an art project as a class. I was sitting with students on both sides of me and while I was helping the student on my right the student on my left kept putting crayons down my cleavage! LOL! I kept telling her to stop and pulling the crayons out but she continued to put them in my shirt while smiling! Also the student on my right was playing with my wedding ring on my finger which he often does and said "where did you get that?" Me "My husband gave it to me." Student "Brandon? Is he here? Mr. Magic man?" HE SAID THAT AFTER MEETING BRANDON 1 time! This student has the most amazing memory, it's amazing! Brandon came to class to do a magic show for my students during Mm week, apparently he made a good impression.

Christmas and New Years in California

My friend Mike Jolley made this for me for my birthday present! How fun!


Preston, isn't he cute?
Tamar and Preston.
Madison came to Pasadena to hang out with us when we were there. She is so much fun to be with!

Bran opening his kite.
Christmas morning. Santa came and it was all decorated when I woke up! It was so special!

Almost finished unpacking!

We got a king size bed! We still need to get some more pillows/bedding for it but I LOVE having a king! I used to only want a queen size bed cause I wanted to cuddle with Bran-NO WAY, not now, KING all the way!




We are almost finished unpacking. We have had a long long weekend. I NEVER want to move again! LOL!

The Challenge of Moving

Our soon to be bedroom. Don't you love the light fixture?
Storage room, we are hoping to make into a second bedroom. Want to come stay here?

Living room.
Outside view. It has it's own 2 car driveway and entrance:)



Our lease is almost up on our current apartment, it has been a charming little place and I have enjoyed living here as a newlywed the past 8 months. On the other hand I have found that living in a little apartment with a dog is pretty challenging. It is such a pain to take him out on ice cold mornings and wait forever for him to find the perfect spot (or spots in Timbers case because he poops at least 2 times AM & PM). I miss the days when I could just open the back door and Timber could go do his business while I go about my day. Taking him on walks are no fun cause there are apartment buildings everywhere, I really miss the neighborhood feel..ya know? Plus there are no dog parks around here and we love going to dog parks.

Brandon's Grandmother lives in Cottonwood Heights Utah, she has a mother-in-law apartment in her basement. It is not ideal but after a lot of discussion we decided to move there for multiple reasons: 1. Timber can have a nice big yard to play in with Grandma's dog Foxzee 2. We will be able to save a little money 3. It is close to our horse Stanley 4. The house is in a nice neighborhood close to parks and the mountains

Now here is the challenge, the apartment to say the least needs a little updating. I am attaching pictures of the apartment as it currently is now. I will attach some more pictures after I have worked a little "TABITHA MAGIC." Wish me luck, I really really need it!

Also, we were waiting to hear about a job Brandon interviewed for in Denver as a medical device sales rep. We just found out tonight that Brandon did not get the position. We are super sad about it and were excited about possibly moving to Denver. Brandon has worked so hard to get his MBA and working to gain more experience...I am so proud of him. This economy is getting really depressing. I'm sure Brandon would be able to get a fantastic job if he wasn't competing against professionals with 10+ years experience. I know that he will get a different job eventually we are just so grateful we both have jobs now!

LOVE YOU ALL!

Decorations

Timber sleeping under the Christmas tree. Isn't he cute? Who knew dogs liked to sleep under the Christmas tree, I thought only cats liked to do that. My old cat Maggie would ALWAYS sleep under the Christmas tree-I miss her:(
Here he is again. Full view of tree.
Timber yawning.
Timber brought his bone under the tree. It is a good spot for him to guard his bone from Foxzee.
He really wanted to open the present his paw is one.
Foxzee is Brans Grandmas dog. We're watching her while she is on vacation in Florida. Foxzee and Timber are so cute together!
Festive candles.

It is so hard to decorate a bathroom, I had to get creative.

The Grinch. Trevor bought this for me before I was born. It's been a family favorite since.



Fiz made Bran his stocking-doesn't it look great! We love it! Now we have matching ones!!!!


I decorated our cute little apartment a couple weeks ago for Christmas. I love it, it makes our home feel so festive.

Christmas Pictures!

Zoe and Zac-Niece and Nephew Brandon's side:)
Brandon's brother Justin and family-Dani, Zoe, and Zac.


I love this picture but I hate that Bran put his hand on my tummy! It makes it look like a prego photo! No, I am not having a baby.


Hello everybody! It is about time I update our blog. We have been having so much fun getting ready for Christmas. We decorating our apartment, it looks beautiful (pictures to follow). We bought a real tree! This is the first real Christmas tree Brandon has EVER had!

We had a lot of fun taking our Christmas pictures-actually it was REALLY cold! It has been so snowy and freezing lately that I haven't been able to ride poor Stanley for over a week:( Just in case anybody is interested-it is very difficult to get a dog and a horse to look at a camera and stand still. Timber kept running around or eating horse poop (he loves to eat horse poop-nasty much?) and Stanley kept trying to eat the pine tree in the photos. I have never heard of a horse liking pine trees but Stanley LOVES to eat that tree! But even with all that I think the pictures turned out pretty cute!

Stanley has a big cut on his leg-silly horse kicked the fence post and broke it in half! So the vet is coming tomorrow to check his leg out, give him winter shots, and trim his hoofs. We try and get up to the barn at least everyday because the cold weather is freezing the horses water. It is such a pain to fill that water cause the hose and pipes get FROZEN...fun stuff. I feel so bad that the horses have to be out in 0 degrees-at least I bought them blankets, I hope that helps keep them warm.

Anyway, that's it for now. I will try and take pictures of our apartment and put up pictures soon.