a few thoughts +high school-isms

^completely unrelated picture--but it's one of my favorites as I reminisce about summer travels and dreamy locations! and plus, what's a post without a picture? ;)^

+ I survived a week without taylor! 

it was one very happy reunion.  

His flight got in at 11pm, and I was texting him during his layover (at like 9ish), and telling him I was so excited to see him, but so very exhausted.  

I had just returned home from an 11 mile run, and had been on the go all day! 

He freaked out and told me, "kells, I have been gone ALL week! You can't be tired--we have to stay up all night watching movies and cuddling and talking! Go get an energy drink right now!"

 I don't think I've had more than a sip of an energy drink my whole life.

 I don't drink carbonated drinks + energy drinks make me want to gag. 

BUT I was so excited to see him, I ran to walgreens and bought an energy drink.

true love. 

And then downed the whole thing in less than 3 minutes. 

I was so proud (+ so sick), and I had no one to high-five.

aaand then, this happened:

when we got home from the airport, we cuddled up to The Office.

  About 10 minutes into it, I look over and Taylor is OUT COLD.

I was ticked. hahaha

I was wired (and drank that whole drink because I loved him) and he was asleep!

within ten minutes!

HA

+tonight are parent teacher conferences

my favorite thing in the world...not!

such a long day ahead of me...BUT silver lining--we have pre-release tickets to mockingjay tonight!

pretty excited about that!

+aaand a few high school-isms.

I swear--if you want to laugh all day long, become a teacher.

these kids! they are sooo clever and witty.

in my u.s. history class, we watched this little clip on the infamous "lady spills hot coffee in her lap and sues mcdonalds" story.

we discussed the story as a class, and one kid said, "Well, you think she would know--never put something hot between your legs!"

he instantly turned bright red and put his head down, while the rest of the 16-year-old brains burst into uncontrollable laughter.

I teach one section of Financial Literacy (which somehow got stuck into the history department).

At first, I dreaded having to teach this class--but I absolutely LOVE it.

It is such a fun class--and the only class that really applies to every single one of them, so the kids are really intrigued.

Anyways, we were talking about paying for college and I said, "Let's say that you apply for a lot of scholarships, but you keep striking out.  You really don't want to take out a student loan.  You can still do what?"

One student yells out, "pray!"

HA

I was looking for "work through college," but his answer was a lot better. ha

okay, this next one is a little long. and maybe it's a "had to be there" story--but man. It was one of my favorite moments of all teaching history:

in my financial literacy class, we read a book called "Rich Dad Poor Dad."  I was reading out loud to the class as they followed along: "In the real world outside of academics, something more than just grades is required.  I have heard it called many things: guts, balls, bravado, daring, chutzpah..." I stopped and asked, "Chutzpah? has anyone even heard that word before?" 

(I had never heard it--but when I told taylor the story, he knew the word & informed me that I was pronouncing it wrong. and then he said, "it's Yiddish, isn't it? " who is this guy?! I felt sufficiently stupid...but what else is new? ha)

anyyyways,

 we figured "chutzpah" was synonomous with "guts, balls, bravado, and daring"--the other words listed. But we were so fascinated over this new word--it was so fun to say! ha so we decided we would use "chutzpah" in a sentence everyday for a week. I said, "Someone use it in a sentence." and of course, a boy in class says, "she kicked me in the chutzpah." hahahhaha get it?

+I was teaching my class about the building of the Panama Canal.

I was telling them how before the canal, in order for the west to get to the east, they had to go all the way around the tip of south america, adding an additional 8,000 nautical miles.

so I said, "let's pretend I was in San Francisco, and wanted to take something to Djibouti, Africa." (just because djibouti is funny to say--pronounced ja-booty)

Then one kid yells out, "Mrs. Gilbert, Djibouti is niiiiice!"

and geesh, I'm just so happy to be flattered by the 16 year olds of this world.

HA not.

to see more high-schoolisms, see here!

happy wednesday!

tuesday tangents

just a few tuesday tangents--with some really bad i-phone quality pictures...

taylor is trying to convince me to buy a six-acre farm.

no...really. not kidding.

the only reason that it's a liiiiiitle attractive is that the land he found is lake-front. 

taylor is constantly driving me out to the property at different times of the day and telling me all of the reasons why we would love living here. HA

never in a million years did I ever even think about living on 6 acres--but this view changes things a little bit.

but taylor has still got a lot of convincing to do if he wants me to live that far from target.

lets be real.

okay, and I must document this, so I never forget!

these windmills are up a canyon a few minutes from our home.

I don't know why they have always fascinated me, but I've told taylor since we were dating, "man, I want to have a picnic under those windmills one day."

and a couple of weeks ago, taylor surprised me by packing a picnic lunch and driving up to them.

it was perfect! and so fun!

it's all blocked off near the windmills, so this was the closest we could get--but I loved every second.

and props to taylor for making it happen!

 on friday night we went with our greatest friends to nickel-cade. we loooove that place.

hahaha

and it's proof that I should never ever gamble with real money, because I'm always like, "just one more nickel."...and then 10 nickels later, "just one more! I'll win this time!"

we did boys vs. girls, and the boys killed us.

and then taylor and i used our tickets to buy "grow safari animals."

the little animals that you stick in warm water and they grow.

we were so excited to try them when we got home, but WE WERE JIPPED

not a single one grew!

it was the saddest day.

aaaand one more bad quality picture--because, why not?

last night we went to a play and laughed our little heads off.

aaaand then we snuggled for the rest of the night and enjoyed our last night together.

taylor left for boston today for a business trip--and doesn't come back until saturday.

cry with me now.

thank goodness i've packed my week with lots of fun things!

happy tuesday!

xoxo

i love apple hill.

when I went home to sacramento a few weekends ago, we were able to go to apple hill.

it's one of my favorite places.

and it is the best way to welcome fall.

you basically go there to look at pretty things and eat yummy things.

aka in 2 hours we had huge apple fritters + hot chocolate + caramel apples.

and I pretty much followed this little guy around and took pictures of him.

because he is darling and melts my aunt-heart!

and I'm not in any of these pictures, but that's okay--because these three are cuter than me anyway.

so just pretend you're at marci's blog--because that's what this post will feel like. HA

oh, but hey!

here's a little film I made of our apple hill adventure, and I'm actually in it. 

so there's that.

oh and hey! it's friday

oh and hey! taylor is out of town all next week for a business trip.

oh and hey! i might cry every night because I have to sleep in an empty house.

oh and hey! thank goodness for facetime.

;)

a film + a nest

here's a quick little peak at our halloween party last weekend!

thanks to everyone who made it such a fun time!

in other news--on saturday night, taylor and I suddenly had a genius idea--we pushed our couches together to form a little "bed," and then pushed it right up to the big screen tv.

we threw all of our pillows and blankets into our new "nest" and then giggled with giddiness at our new set up.

aaand, we have slept in our nest every night since then. HA

the first couple of nights, we binged on "love it or list it" (on netflix now!), but the last two nights, we've been reliving our childhood with disney movies. 

it's the best.

every morning, we wake up and say, "we should probably sleep in our bed tonight."

and then that night, cuddled up in our nest, we say, "one last night in the nest?"

this conversation has happened three times...

 ^also, please notice that taylor is wearing is wolf sweater. hahaha kills me^

we love our nest. haha

and pretty sure tonight will be another night cuddled in the nest.

taylor is out of town all next week for business, and i'm half tempted to keep it for when he's gone.

who needs a bed when you've got a nest? ;)

this girl

today is bittersweet as my cute little sister left for the Mexico MTC to serve an LDS service mission for 18 months.

Half of me thinks 18 months will fly by--but the other half of me (the half that woke up this morning and started to text her something out of habit--and then realized, WAIT. can't.) wonders how I will live 18 months without this little sister.

but I am SO proud of her.

pittsburgh is such a lucky city!

^and this picture is just the sweetest. their missions will overlap so they won't see each other for over 30 months! can't even fathom.^

a couple of weeks ago, I got to go home to go through the temple with Jamie for the first time.

it was sooo special.

and I never posted pictures--but today seems like a pretty appropriate day to do so!

she is going to rock it.

and I am SO proud of her.

dear 18 months: please fly by so I can hug this girl again!

AND is it sad that I've already sent her 2 emails? HA

well, here we go: countdown begins!

Halloween fun!

happy belated halloween from the big bad wolf and little red!

we had just about the greatest Halloween!

our party was so fun--and I did silent cartwheels and cheers when a couple said they couldn't come afterall--because we had an accidental guest list of 36 people. HA

we ended up with such a great group of people!

I kinda failed at taking pictures--but I do have some pictures of some of our cute friends!

wish I had gotten everyone!

 (just got to throw in here that at first I spelled "pus" as "puss" and taylor was quick to tell me to change it. HA

^please notice my hanging ghosts. HA I love those ghosts even though taylor laughs at them.^

 

oh, you know, just delivering lunch to grandma when a big bad wolf attacked!

 ^^how cute is this idea!?^^

 we played lots of fun games--and I only got one picture.

but don't worry--I have a mini video of our party coming your way!

OH and let's not forget how after the party I suddenly had a major bloody nose that got all over my white dress.  so that was awesome.

but taylor was a gem and cleaned it for me, and I thiiiiink we may have saved the dress!

things are kinda hectic in the gilbert household right now--so many things to do when the holiday season comes around!

but we are loving life!

Hope everyone's Halloween was as fantastic as ours!

xoxo