culinary masterpieces, school updates, a passed test, and a lot of love.

Sometimes life can be overwhelming.

Sometimes getting ready for a baby can be overwhelming.

Sometimes my teaching career and T's job can be overwhelming.

Sometimes our church callings and responsibilities can be overwhelming.

This past weekend we found that we need to really try to take some time out for each other and focus on our marriage sometimes.  Because sometimes, we let the overwhelming parts of our lives completely take over every other moment of our lives.

We're definitely a work in progress.  No, our lives are not perfect.  Nor would I want them to be.  This weekend I've finally realized I'm kind of a crummy communicator when it comes to my marriage relationship.  Now Tyler, he's pretty amazing at communicating.  Me?  Sometimes I bottle things up and let them explode once they all add up.  

I'll tell ya now, that's not exactly the correct way to communicate ones feelings.

I'm workin' on it.  And T is being patient.  As always.  I married a good one.

On another note, this school year is whizzing by!  It's almost mid-March already and my students are ready for their Quarter 3 testing already!  Say what?!  I feel like we just finished Quarter 2!

Some activities as of late have been related to geometry and shapes...  

Some of their ingenius ideas crack me up... Like the monsters with side ponytails or bright orange hair?  Yeah, these kiddos of mine are hilarious.

Speaking of school, I passed my teaching relicensure Praxis 2 exam!  Otherwise known as the test from hell that put a good strain on our marriage and my career for a good month or so. 

I overstressed way too much for this dang test.  My poor husband put up with many weekends of stress, studying, and meltdowns.

However, it DID pay off.  Take a look at these scores...

Why yes, the highest score you can get is 200.  And why yes, I did get 190 on it.  I somehow aced it.  I seriously thought I'd be borderline passing it.  What a relief that it's over and I don't have to retake it.  I'm quite proud that I passed and that all my hard work paid off.  That's for sure.  It's always a good feeling to do something hard and be successful.  I just need to work on be happier throughout the journey to success... at least my teaching license is updated and ready to go for the next 5 years!  

T and I have also been cookin' up a storm lately!  We tried some crispy cheddar chicken on a bed of string beans (that's me attempting to bust out some chef vocabulary) the other day and it had some seriously good flavor.

And then T spoiled me for breakfast last week and made homemade crepes.  I mean, really?!  A man who can make a good crepe is hard to come by.  We filled those babies up with toppings like strawberries, blackberries, pineapple, peanut butter, syrup, whipped cream, powdered sugar, and even a banana or two.  

I think I know what I'm requesting for my birthday breakfast...

And because no blog post is any good without a picture of one or the both of us, here's what usually happens when we attempt nice pictures...

I love T's crinkly eyes in this picture.  Because even though he looks decent and smiley, you can tell he's holding back a laugh that would have him doubled over and cracking up.  It's times like these ones that I want more of and I need to make the effort to make T laugh just as much as he makes me laugh.

FYI: The day we were married T promised he'd make me laugh every single day of our marriage.  Guess what?  He hasn't failed yet.

We also just bought our first piece of baby furniture.  We finally found the perfect dresser to use for a changing table on KSL and it's adorable.  We'll paint it this weekend along with a handful of other projects to prep for Baby Girl.  This is suddenly becoming more real...