Glued.

After the announcement about the individual mandate yesterday, I was absolutely glued to the tv/radio/computer all day.  I have an absolute passion for politics and history (hence becoming a history/government teacher), so yesterday was like Christmas to me because of all of the political hype. It is going to be so fascinating to see what will happen with Obamacare and how it will affect the 2012 elections.

Taylor kept giving me weird looks last night.  I had my earplugs in as I watched the news on my mac, and every few minutes I would randomly clap, cheer at the screen, yell at the screen, make an excited noise, make an angry noise.  I guess that was probably where the weird looks were stemming from.  Regardless, yesterday was awesome.  And today is just as exciting.

Sorry, I know this is probably boring for most (which is why I did not include opinions/facts/etc), but I am completely obsessed and glued to the news right now.

Okay, moving on.  When Marci and I went to Parade of Homes last weekend, we saw this in one of the  houses:

A reading nook for children!  Isn't it adorable?  It was at the end of the hall, next to all of the children's rooms.  I am definitely going to have one of these in my future house.  Taylor and I both love to read (in fact, Taylor is never not reading a new book), so we hope our kids will love to read as well...and if they don't...well, we will force the little brats to read anyways. ;) Kidding...kind of.

I am excited its FRIDAY.  This weekend is going to consist of some awesome/relaxing things.  Looking forward to it.

Just how we do it.

During our lunch breaks yesterday, Taylor and I decided to go home to eat. But when we got there, we realized we didn't really have any food (yesterday was grocery-shopping day...and it was much needed).  I (kind of) jokingly said, "I just feel like making cookie dough, and eating that for lunch."

Without hesitation, Taylor looked at me, gave me an emphatic nod, and said, "Let's do it."

And that's how it happened.  

We, twenty-something-year-olds, sat in our kitchen and ate cookie dough for lunch.

It was awesome.

And so yum!

Proof.

 I already know that I will willingly succumb to my children any time they ask for cookie dough.

My absolute favorite!

Oh, and if you love little kids and need a quick laugh, check this out.
My sister's blog on funny things her kids say.
Max is 2. Emma is almost 4.
Maybe I laugh just because the littles are my niece and nephew, but I think the
average person would at least crack a smile.

This is probably my favorite one:

emma asked me to teach her how to bake a pretend cake, so i was giving her instructions like "get a bowl. now pour the cake mix in the bowl. now add an egg." etc. after she had frosted her pretend cake, i told her she could eat it.
emma: actually mom, it's for my kids.
me: oh. well your kids can eat it then.
emma: they're not here right now, they're at the store. but we need to make another cake.
me: why?
emma: because i have a lot of kids.
me: how many kids do you have?
emma: 15.
me: oh. that is a lot. what are you going to do with 15 kids?
emma: feed them cake.
makes sense.

Give the blog a read if you want!
Enjoy your Wednesday!

Mrs. Gilbert

It's starting to feel real!  I got an email today telling me which classes I will be teaching come August.  I will be teaching:

4 World Civilization classes (with a mix of geography!)

2 U.S. History classes

4 semesters of Government

This means I will be teaching a good mix of all grades (9-12)! I'm excited for that!  I am a little nervous about the World Civilizations (since I never took a class like that in high school), but I am excited to figure it all out.  And, I'm pumped about the Government and U.S. History classes! Dream!  I will have a blast with the Government classes during the first semesters because of the 2012 Presidential Election.  Any ideas on how to make that great?  I've got a few swimming in my own head right now, but I'd love to hear more ideas!

I'm also looking for ideas for the first day of school.  I'm still having a hard time deciding what I will do. Ideas?

I am still sometimes surprised when I think of the career choice I ended up deciding.  Considering, I was convinced I wanted to be a family practice doctor all of my life.  I worked so hard in high school and even started college early to start on the path of becoming a doctor. Oh, being a doctor is still a dream of mine.  But, I realized that I was so obsessed and in love with the idea, that other realities and dreams were being pushed to the side (like getting married, having children, raising a family).  As hard as it was to let that dream go, I know that I will be able to focus on much more important (and eternal!) dreams with my new career choice.  

And I am more pumped than ever!

It's getting real!  I'm a teacher! So excited!

Just 2 more months and I'll be in the classroom with some awesome kids.

Can't wait.

Hoorah for graduating and starting real life!

Brothers.

This sight made my heart happy yesterday:

Taylor and his brother, Seth, playing video games at our house.  It makes me so happy to see the two of them finally reunited.  So glad Tay finally has his brother back.  We just love Seth!

It's going to be a hot week (finally!)...I'm ready to sit out by a pool and enjoy summer. :)

The desired forgettable, yet unforgettable moments of marriage, Part 2

Part 2 of the desired forgettable, yet unforgettable moments of marriage is here!

See this if you missed part 1. Hopefully, you won't regret taking a moment to read that one first before you plunge ahead to this post.

Let's refresh what this post is about: 

We all have these moments, don't we?  You know, the moments that you never want to relive.  The moments that you pray everyone will forget.  The moments that make your cheeks turn red just thinking about it.  The moments you wish you could forget, but you know will never be forgotten.  Well, I figured since there was no hope of these memories ever being forgotten, I might as well record them.  So please, enjoy mine and Taylor's desired forgettable, yet unforgettable moments of marriage.

So, you ready?  Here goes,
 Part 2:
For the past few months, Taylor has been going to the gym with his dad every morning.  The other day, while we were both in the bathroom getting ready, I turned to Taylor and asked, "So, which particular muscles are you working on?"

Taylor named off a few, and then gave me a quizzical look, "Why?"
I obviously wasn't thinking, because I answered with the truth, when I should have answered with a lie.
"I just wanted to know, so I knew which muscles to compliment."
 As soon as that came out of my mouth, I slapped my hand to my mouth and whispered, "Dang it." 
Definitely ruined that. Good job, wife.
You weren't supposed to tell him that was why you were asking!
Now, whenever I compliment Taylor and his cute sexy muscles, Tay always just laughs and rolls his eyes.   
No muscle compliment from the wife is taken as a sincere complement from here on out.
Dang it, dang it, dang it.


A couple of Saturdays ago, Taylor woke up much earlier than I did.  He started playing video games, while he waited for me to wake up.  The handsome boy just didn't realize how loud the surround system was.  
So, half-asleep I yelled from the bedroom:
"David!"
No response.
Still half-asleep: "David!"
No response.
Still half-asleep: "David, can you turn that down?"
Taylor walked into the bedroom slowly.  "Did you just call me David? Multiple times?"
I opened my eyes, this time fully awake, and said, "Yeah....yeah...I did.  Who's David?"
"That's what I wanted to ask you." Taylor said as he playfully winked at me. "Who's David, and why is my wife thinking about him first thing in the morning?"
I just started laughing.  Who the heck is David? I hardly even know a David!
Don't worry, dearest husband, you have nothing to worry about.  I was thinking about you first thing in the morning...I just couldn't remember your name. ;)


Taylor came home one day and said to me as he walked into the door, "Hello, my chubby bride!"
His face looked just as surprised as mine when the words came out of his mouth.
"I...have...no idea why I just said that...." Taylor said, with a confused look on his face.
Now, the nickname has stuck...just for kicks. ;) 
But it sure was funny to see his face once he realized what he had just said. 


This one actually has a blog post of it's own, but I think it deserves to be on this post as well:
Taylor (with a sad face): "You forgot my half birthday..."
Me: "What? When was it?"
Taylor: "February 1st."
Me: "Whoops. Sorry. But you didn't remember or celebrate mine on October 15th."
Taylor: "Well, we were on our honeymoon that day, so that's automatic celebration."
Me: "We weren't on our honeymoon on October 15th..."
Taylor: "Yes, we were..."
Me: "Taylor, our honeymoon was only five days."
Taylor: "Yeah, I know. We got married on the 11th. So we were still on our honeymoon on the 15th."
Me: "Are you serious?" Then I explode in violent laughter. "This is so sad."
Taylor just looked at me with a confused look and said, "The 11th..." in a small timid voice. Then a startled look of realization and immediate regret hit his face (an appropriate "oh shizzz" face), until he joined me in uncontrollable laughter.
We've only been married for 5 months and he's already forgotten that we were married on the 8th. And he can't even use old-age as an excuse...
Hope you enjoyed.  Look forward to Part 3 of the desired forgettable, yet unforgettable moments of marriage. Coming soon. :)

Love this boy, and love these moments.

Gone for the weekend!

Well, folks. I will be out in the woods for the next couple of days, so there probably won't be a post until late Sunday or Monday.  But wait...I've got your backs.   I've got Part 2 of the desired forgettable, yet unforgettable moments of marriage scheduled to post Friday morning!  Look forward to it! Adios!

A little gem.

While looking through some random files on my computer the other day, I found this little gem.

Britt, me, Tay, and Kelsey

I started laughing so hard when I came across this. Dearest Kelsey Briggs sent it to me after the wedding, but I don't ever remember seeing this picture!  Taylor's face is what makes this picture a treasure.  My chunky little Asian. ;)

Hope this made your Wednesday a little bit better. :)

Baby Wallace + Weekend

This last weekend was so jam-packed, I hardly got a second to sit down and breathe!  

On Friday night, Tay and I went to a work party for doTERRA.  We got to do fun things like this:

Yep, that's my husband....

And take fun pictures like this:

After the work party, I stayed up all night preparing for sister's baby shower--baking cakes, other goodies, and making decorations.  Marci is the best party-planner--she always has creative and cutesy ideas.  So, I really wanted to make this shower perfect for her.  She's thrown me so many different parties (surprise 16th birthday party, numerous other birthday parties, bridal shower, + more!), so it was my turn to make a great memory for her.  I finally went to sleep at around 3am on Friday night...but I could hardly sleep because my mind was racing with everything I still had to do.  So I was up again three hours later at 6am.  I was pretty pleased with how it all turned out (thank you pinterest, blogs, and other internet sites!).  A big thanks to my dearest sister-in-law, Rachel, who helped plan everything! Here are some pictures of Marci's & Baby Wallace's shower:

Treats table.  Notice...blue candy, blue PRETZELS (so proud of that find), handmade banner, marshmallow rattles, and my favorite: the cake! (Oh, and the cute little baby blocks!)

Close up of edible rattles!

Close up of shirley temples (with floating ducks that decided not to float half-way through the shower)

Food table. Yummy chicken-salad croissants, baby=fruit (look closely), and yummy shirley temples!

Close up of baby fruit! (notice binky!) Thank you, Pinterest, and Rachel for doing it ;) 

Front door.

Some of the guests!

Close up of the cake! (Three layers with blue frosting on the inside!)

Gift table...as seen from the baby blocks.

One of the games we played was a "memory" game.  If you matched the words (all pregnancy related words) then you would get a candy bar that related to the word.  Here are some of the examples:

Preemie= Runts candy

OBGYN= Butterfinger ;)

Daddy= Pop Rocks

Conception = Skor  (score!) candy bar ;)

Contractions = Whoppers

Ultrasound= Look candy bar

etc, etc, etc.

If you would like to see the whole list, let me know!

Here's what the game looked like.

The rest of the weekend consisted of: Parade of Homes with Marci (so fun!), deep-dish Chicago pizza with the Utah sibs+spouses, and of couse, Father's Day!  I was so sad that I couldn't actually talk to my Dad on Father's Day (him and Mama are on an Alaskan cruise as we speak! Lucky ducks...). Regardless, Happy Father's Day to both my wonderful daddy and my amazing Father-in-Law!

A post about Miss Kelsey Briggs

Taylor and I have been looking forward to this week for quite some time!  Why? On Wednesday night, we got to pick up this darling girl (who happens to be our very best friend) from the airport:

Meet Kelsey Briggs. She was flying in from LONDON...she just finished her study abroad there!  And we missed her so very much!  

Kelsey's flight got delayed two hours (poor girl, she was traveling for over 27 hours!), so we didn't pick her up until 1:30 in the morning!  But it was worth every minute of lost sleep. :) I pretty much died of excitement when I saw her in the airport!

We even got to spend all of Thursday with her until her flight back home to Oregon this morning.  I miss her already, and can't wait until she's back in Utah for school, come August.  

Hoorah for wonderful friendships, and beautiful people like Kelsey Briggs.

Highlight of my Friday so far? (spoil alert: mushiness ahead...) Taylor left early this morning to go and play basketball.  I was still asleep when he came home and started to get ready.  When he came back into our bedroom, I asked him if he would come lay with me for a little bit longer.  He cuddled up right next to me, kissed my shoulder, and held me as he told me a story while I drifted back to sleep. Ah, I love this boy. 

I'm looking forward to this weekend: work party tonight, baby shower tomorrow morning, and Parade of Homes tomorrow afternoon!  Great posts are in store!  

A happy surprise!

The other day, I was blog stalking my wedding photographer.  I love looking at her work.  I was so surprised when I saw a post explaining how one of mine and Taylor's wedding pictures had been featured on a bride website! It was the Photo of the Week! I felt so honored!  The real credit goes to my photographer though.  She was so awesome and so much fun to work with.  If you're in the Sacramento area, and are looking for a photographer, I highly recommend her!

Click here for more details on our featured picture (and brief moment of fame)!

Here's the featured picture:

I get giddy every time I relive my wedding day.  How many people get lucky enough to marry their best friend? 

Mangina.

Remember how I talked about the Mongolian BBQ Taylor and I went to on Friday? And remember how I said that I couldn't wait to go again?  Well, we went...again.  Here's what happened:

The past couple of weeks, Taylor has been having some strange chest/heart pains, among some other bizarre symptoms.  I finally decided to take charge, and scheduled a doctor's appointment for him.  He complained to me about it all weekend, and tried convincing me that he didn't need to go and see a doctor.  He told me he was perfectly healthy (which I responded with, "Then go and have your doctor tell you that, and I hope you prove me wrong!") and going to a doctor's appointment was silly.  

I jokingly diagnosed him with Angina (a heart condition, pronounced 'an-gyna'...which is what makes it so funny), which quickly turned into Mangina (thanks to Seth).  Taylor's Mangina has been the ongoing joke of the past few days.  Every time Seth sees him, he's sure to ask Taylor how his "Mangina" is doing. Ha.  Or, anytime Taylor does something wrong, drops something, or stumbles on his words, we quickly tell him, "Don't worry. It's just because of your Mangina."

Anyways, so of course, Taylor continued to complain all yesterday leading up to his afternoon appointment.  But I just stuck firm and continued to say, "We've got to get your Mangina checked by a doctor!"  

Taylor finally told me, "Okay, I will go to the doctor's happily if we can go to Mongolian BBQ tonight."

Done and done.

Even after that deal though, he still wasn't very happy about it...but I wasn't going to challenge him, because I really wanted Mongolian BBQ ;)    

To get me back, he teased me about having a fatal heart condition for the rest of the afternoon. 

Dear husband: that wasn't funny. Even though some of your comments made me laugh...it still wasn't funny. :)

Here's some proof via our texting conversation that day (excuse our frequent misspellings...there was a time that we cared about that {like when we were dating}, but that time has long since passed):

Anyways, long story short: Taylor's Mangina is a-okay!  Thank goodness!  He was given a few medications, and it's nothing too serious.  But I think the "mangina" term will stick around for awhile longer. ;)

And then, we celebrated the end of the day at our new favorite place:

See?  He smiles even with Mangina!

No rhyme or reason

This weekend was wonderfully relaxing.  Taylor and I were able to spend a lot of time together cuddling, watching Netflix, eating good food, and being with family.   Last night, we went spent time with Marci and Tom (sister and brother-in-law).  We ate a yummy dinner (thanks, Marce!), played games, and had yummy ice-cream/cookie sandwiches. Yum.

The pictures (and video) associated with this post are a little random.  But, please enjoy nonetheless.

Taylor was craving Mongolian BBQ on Friday.  So we left work an hour early and went to fulfill his cravings.  It was so delish.  I'm already wanting to go back! It was an all-you-can eat again, so once again, I was done after one plate, while Taylor had about five more after that.

Oh hey, remember that picture I promised?  Here is the dress on:

Creepy eyes...but I'm loving this fun zebra dress.

I found this video on Taylor's ipod.  It was the first time I had ever seen it, and it made me giggle a little.  This was actually the same day that we got ENGAGED.   I'm excited to tell that story soon.  With all of its glorious little details.  What do you think? 

Anyways, background on the video: I was smelling some perfumes at Bath&Body Works.  I ran out of room to spray them on my arms, so this is what I resorted to.  Apparently, Taylor thought it was funny enough to video.

This is going to be a busy week for me.  I'm hosting dear sister's baby shower this weekend, so lots of preparing this week! I am excited!

 Enjoy your Monday! 

Another one to the mix!

I have been so excited about this post! Congratulations to my sister Laurin Woodland for bringing her third baby to the world!  Little Nathan was born on Monday, June 4.  He is so darling!  I can't wait to meet and hold  little Nate!  

Here are the pictures I've been staring at all week!

My beautiful Mom with grandchild #3!

Big brother Max with little brother Nate.

Big sister Emma with little brother Nate.
Laurin told us that while Emma was holding Nate, she said: "Hi, Nathan.  I'm Emma.  I'm your favorite sister." :)

The three Woodland littles.

 I cannot wait to meet little Nathan!  Unfortunately, they live in Kansas now, so Taylor and I will have to make a special trip to see the Woodland family.

You know what else I can't wait for?  For Taylor and I to start our own family one day.  We talk about it frequently and get giddy over just the thought of it. But for now, we cherish and treasure the little ones around us that aren't our own.  Like these Woodland littles.  How we love them.  Families are what life is all about.  How can you doubt that when looking at these precious pictures?

Congrats Woodland family!

Flagstaff, Part TWO

After a splendid night in Vegas, we were off to Flagstaff (the location of the Fun concert)!  On the drive down, Taylor turned to me and said, "I just had a sinking feeling that I scheduled our room in Flagstaff for the wrong night."  Taylor opened up his email...and, sure enough, he had scheduled our hotel room for the night before.  While Taylor sunk in despair, I couldn't help but laugh.  Come what may, and love it, right?

The part that made me laugh the most was that Taylor scheduled our hotel in Vegas and our hotel in Flagstaff in the same sitting!  How did he not notice that he scheduled two rooms for the SAME night!? It was just soooo funny. ;)

Seth and Jordan, were sleeping in the backseat during this discovery.  Taylor turned around and yelled, "Hope you like sleeping in a car...because that's where you'll be sleeping tonight!"  They were startled awake, and then we all had a good laugh about our current debacle.  What to do?  Pay for another night? Buy a tent at Walmart and sleep in the woods? Sleep in the car? Try to convince the hotel to let us stay for "free"?  I mean, we already paid for a room, right?  Then Seth had an idea: "Let's just drive the eight hours home after the concert.  We'll take shifts, and then have all of Wednesday to relax at home!"  We were sold.  Goodbye, $90 that paid for an empty hotel room!

Next up? Concert time.  I think I'll let the pictures tell the story.

First of all, we were shocked when our GPS led us here.  The concert was actually held in a stadium in the middle of the woods!  I felt like I was going to camp or something...haha. 

We were so excited!!

We couldn't believe how close we were!  (little did we know, we would
 be pushed up to the very FRONT row!!) 

Oh, baby! 

Look at how close we were! Amazing!

I love you, Nate! 

Alright, this video has awful sound quality, and all of us in the audience sound awful. BUT it still gets me excited just watching it, and remembering how amazing this concert was! Watch how close Nate gets to us!  We were so dang close!

So, Taylor had a major stomachache all day before the concert.  He was downing Pepto-bismol.  Gross.  But he was such a champ, and survived the concert.  I had to take a picture of him with his Pepto ;)

After the concert, we were all so hyped up, that driving home seemed like a breeze!  Who could be tired after a concert like that?  After a stop for food, gas, and some treats, we were off!

A picture before the all-night drive!

We decided to drive in double shifts.  The passenger (and driver, of course) would stay awake, while the two people in the backseat would sleep.  While Seth and Jordan were driving (which meant Tay and I were sleeping), we were suddenly jolted awake by Seth screaming, "Oh my gosh!" Jordan slammed on the breaks, and then...BAM!

I woke up thinking, "This is it.  This is how I'm going to die." ...dramatic? Yes.  Because, folks, we did not die.
"What just happened!?"  Taylor asked frantically.
"We just hit a gigantic bird!" Jordan answered.  I think we were all a little shaky at this point.
Seth: "What the heck is a dumb bird doing up at four in the morning?  Doesn't he know it's time to be sleeping!? What a stupid bird!"  The funniest part of this statement is that Seth was legitimately upset that the bird was not sleeping at four AM.
Taylor: "Well, maybe it wasn't a bird..."
Seth: "What? Oh no...what if it was our guardian angel!"  He then bowed his head, "Dear God, if we just killed our guardian angel, can you send us another one?  And please send us one that is a little smarter and won't fly in front of the car and get killed.  Thank you for your consideration." I don't know how he does this all with a straight face.
We all couldn't help but laugh.  And we were all now fully awake at four in the morning.  We arrived home safely (but exhausted!).

Even though this trip was short, it was worth every minute (and every lost dollar!).  We had so much fun!


  

Vegas! Part ONE

Alrighty folks, we are back! And we had such a lovely time! Did I mention we had travel friends? We bought Fun tickets for Seth and a friend.  When Seth got home, we told him about the concert, and told him he could invite a friend to join.  Friend choice was a boy named Jordan Hall.  Wonderful choice, Seth.  We sure loved Jordan.

On the first night, we stayed in the New York New York in Vegas...beautiful room!  We spent the afternoon and evening walking the strip.  We went into a lot of stores (even the expensive ones that had socks more expensive than our rent).  Of course, we only shopped at the ones we could afford...like the world's largest H&M.  And that is NOT an exaggeration...it really is the world's largest H&M! It was a tad bit overwhelming. 

This mall was so cool!  Look at the whirlwind tornado things inside that glass tube!  Oh, p.s. if you look at the store names in the background, you can conclude this is one of the malls we didn't spend money at. ;)

Here are my two favorite items from our shopping trips:

Do you see the zebras on it?  It is even cuter on!
I will have to take a picture the first time I wear it just to prove it!

Alright, I am now a proud owner of this lovely Fossil bag. I almost died when I saw it.
And then really died when I actually BOUGHT it!! I love it so much! Between Taylor's watch fettish, and my...well, just everything fettish, we really love Fossil.

For lunch, we stopped at a Korean BBQ (all you can eat!).  Taylor ate for me and him.  The all-you-can-eat isn't the best deal for small people. ;)

Look at all of the food!

Seth and Jordo.  

We also watched the water show in Vegas.  That was splendid.

Me and my best friend :)

When the sun went down, we couldn't even tell.  Lights so bright.  Oh, how we love Vegas.  We spent the night watching people lose their money gambling, watching drunk people party, and strolling down the strip (whilst trying to avoid the many handouts).  We witnessed and overheard some humorous things, like:

Strippers and steak. Steak and strippers. Nothing better in the world than steak and strippers.

That one made us all chuckle. :)

Or how about:

I am so mad at myself. I am so drunk that I can't even see the other side of the street. ARGHHH! I am so stupid! I am so drunk! I am so drunk! AHHHHHH!!

(for the full effect, please insert random swear words about every other word).

While getting off of the elevator at the New York New York, the guy riding the elevator with us (obviously a little tipsy) gave Jordan's butt a nice smack.  That had us all laughing, too.

Oh, Vegas.  We do enjoy you.

This guy on the strip forced these wristbands on us.  He tried to convince us to go to a party held in the Monte Cristo.  But of course, none of us were interested since none of us drink.  I think he had a hard time conceiving how four people in their early twenties were not intrigued when he used his "very best lines" about drinks, girls, and dancing.  Sorry, worker man!

A little blurry, but here's me and TayRay on the strip!

Part 2, which includes the wonders of the Fun concert, and the drive home (funny stories go with this post) will be posted tomorrow! Look forward to it!