easter decorations!

a little peek at our easter decorations!

one of my favorite seasons--with the cute printables, fresh flowers, and extra pictures of our redeemer around the home!

 ^these little eggs light up, too!^

I am getting so excited for easter sunday!
wahooooo!

I am so ready for a weekend full of this guy!

just one more week until SPRING BREAK!

I can hardly wait!

me and him are really excited with how things are turning out in our little life.

except, I found that I'm constantly looking forward to the next "step," and I really need to concentrate more on the now.

I hope each of you have a great weekend!

chicks night

caution: really stupid easter puns throughout this whole post.

you've been warned.

last weekend, I had a few of my favorite girls over for "chicks night" in honor of easter. 

get it?

I can't take credit for the name though--christie came up with it.

but I love it, and want to do it every year! haha!

I was so hoppy to get my girls together for another girls night!

let's get cracking on what happened on this eggciting night!

 we had SO much fun.

we went back to jr-high times and watched a "chick-flick" while "decorating our nails" (instead of decorating eggs.)

look at how perfectly timed this picture is:

THE TV HAHAH

so bunny, I know.

 I was stupid and forgot to get a picture before everyone hopped home.

but here's most of our crew at chicks night!

I remember when I first moved to Utah (and then again when some of my roommates started moving away), I wondered if I would ever really have the close girlfriends that I had in high school and in the first years of college.
but friendships just keep getting better and stronger as I grow older.
and I am SO grateful to have a house full of girls that I am filled with love and appreciation for!

no one was chicken when personal story time came up. 

too many laughs, too much TMI (does that even make sense...too much, too much information? haha!), and I'm not eggzagerating when I say that we acted like jr high kids for the majority of the night.

i'm a strong believer that girls night is good for the soul!

i'm back!

wow, the last few weeks have been cuh-razy.

it was the end of term 3 last friday (still can't believe we are in TERM 4!), and I hate the end of term more than wearing pants (which if you know me, you know I hate pants HA..if it was acceptable to walk around pantsless all day every day, I would do it in a heartbeat).

the end of the term is always the same.

I come home and complain to taylor, and try not to be as mean to him as I was to some of my students.

Here are the questions I get about 15 times a day the last week of term.

#1. second to last day/last day of term: "I have an F. what can I do to pass?"

UM. well, I'm currently helping 20 kids who actually tried all term, and it's really hard to help you when you have a 32% in my class.
seriously, if they came to me ONE WEEK earlier I would be sympathetic.  But the last day of term!? really??

#2. when I give students assignments they can do to bring up their grade and they say, "I don't really want to do that though.  What else can I do?"
how about...go back in time and actually try?

#3. "Mrs. Gilbert, what's my grade? Am I passing?"
If you have to ask me that, then no, you are probably not passing.

#4. "Mrs. Gilbert, what am I missing?"
GO LOOK ON SKYWARD AND FIGURE IT OUT!
I spend time putting every assignment online so students can print/download them AND have an organized system in class that they can find missing assignments.
It drives me NUTS when students want ME to look at their grade and tell them everything they are missing.

#5. "Mrs. Gilbert, if I turn in this assignment, what will my grade be?"
um, hold on a second please, while I calculate in my head exactly how this one assignment will affect your grade (especially since each category is weighted).
so instead I respond with, "it will either make your grade go up, go down, or stay the same. turn it in at your own risk."
BECAUSE DUH. you should turn in anything you have a zero on.
I mean, c'mon!!

anyways, by the end of the day, there are chunks of my hair lying around my feet (that I pulled out myself) and my forehead is bruised from banging it on my desk.
so yeah, I'm a real treat when taylor comes home.
but HOORAH for the end of term.


ANYways, some things that kept me sane last week:

+exercising with tayrayg!
especially when he lets me collapse on the grass and take pictures instead of running stadium stairs. HA

(p.s. still love the BBG. this is week 4! wahoo!)

+quality sister time

helping my sweetest little sister through a break-up this weekend.
that's not a happy thing--but fresh flowers, ice cream, quality time, and using my new stationary were highlights. ;)

+nightly walks with the handsomest guy of all handsome guys

 the other night we ended up on a hill overlooking the city.
it was dark, and the city lights were incredible.
we just sat there together for awhile.
we talked about life and the future.
and I stretched out his sweatshirt sleeves because my hands were cold.
oops.

I still can't believe we are in TERM 4!
summer is just around the corner!

Happy Wednesday, lovelies!!

the time i was trending on twitter.

+why am I so obsessed with girls scout cookies right now? it's like all I can think about. HAHA how sad is my life? I literally almost texted the girl's mom who we buy from to ask if she would be home during my lunch break so I could buy more. I feel like monica in friends..."christmas cookie?" anyone with me?

+as much as I hate daylight savings time, there are two things I absolutely love: #1. how giddy taylor gets over it. he looooves daylight savings.  #2. nightly walks are back in session! last night we went on an hour walk, and it was just about the best thing ever.  I loooove our walks.  it is one of my favorite traditions we share.

^throwback to summer and squinty eyes^

+last night I laid out the things we needed for our crockpot dinner for today. I needed taylor to start the crockpot, so I was giving him little instructions. and it was just so funny to me for some reason--I felt like I was such an adult all of the sudden.  I had flashbacks of my mom giving me instructions on sunday mornings to start a crockpot dinner.

p.s. the first 2.5 years we were married, I sucked at actually making dinner. and we ate cereal a couple of times a week (I would eat cereal every night if I could. but poor taylor was so patient with me and our non-existent meals) haha. ANYways, I am proud to report that I am 100% better at dinner making. I make dinner at least 4 times a week. WAHOO, kelli!

+remember the time taylor and I made a nest?  taylor emailed this article to me: http://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/couches-that-ensure-youll-never-leave-your-home-again#.ysQW8RwKyZ

I NEED THAT FIRST COUCH! HAHAH but #17. that's exactly what our nest was. #allhailthemightynest

+I found out last weekend that I was trending on twitter. HAHAH  one of my students had asked me to wear his jersey for their first home game and I agreed. Didn't realize it would make me so popular.

+i got a new projector for my classroom. and I couldn't be more excited. my old projector was soooo loud. and it got louder everyday. but the new one is so quiet and beautiful. and...I get excited over strange things.

+um, i have to admit that from the time I started writing this post to now, I actually did end up buying girls scout cookies. hahahah and I don't regret a single second. I keep using " but they're only limited time!" and "eh, i'm doing bbg every day anyways" as excuses. 

+happy wednesday! xoxo

PROM

taylor and I went to prom this weekend! ...as chaperones. haha

I'm the junior advisor, and the juniors were in charge of prom, so it was a big night.

the girls who planned it though did such an amazing job!

me and the boy had our fingers crossed for prom king and queen...which we didn't get.

I also had my fingers crossed for a kiss on the front porch...which I did get.

being married made taylor about the best prom date ever by nights end ;) HA

(gosh, dad, I have to apologize to you way too much on here)

also, I think I had more butterflies slow dancing with taylor this weekend than I've had slow dancing with any other human.

the magic--still exists with us little lovebirds.

we really did have a lot of fun chaperoning though.

my students are too too cute.

UM, but at 3:30 THAT DAY I found out there was NO DJ BOOKED.

talk about a potentially disastrous situation.

LUCKILY, I had texted the DJ that was supposed to have been booked and asked him what time he was coming.

when he texted back with, "I don't even know what event you are talking about! We don't have Orem High booked."

I had a mini stroke and thought, "is this some kind of a sick joke?"

turns out there was a huge miscommunication with scheduling (and it was actually the dj's fault--he never got it down in his calendar!)

but can you imagine if I hadn't have sent that text?

no DJ!? that would have been sooo bad!!

anyways, it all worked out in the end, and the night went so smooth!

^oh and don't forget the must-have-prom-selfie as I waited for taylor to finish getting ready. HA ironic.^

here's our "sad we didn't win king and queen" picture. HA

but guys. let's talk about girls scout cookies.

there is a GARAGE FULL next door to us.

which is the best/worst thing ever.

the best? because we have an unlimited supply.

the worst? because we have no sense of having to "save the cookies!"

and also...it hurts the wallet a little after about 15 boxes. HAHA

and also! bachelor finale!!

I loved becca, but I think chris and whitney make such a good couple.

what do you guys think?

also freaking out a little about the britt/katelyn season. like whhhhaat? why change what's not broken?

I really do like them both A LOT, but I think I'd like watching katelyn better.

but I'm reallyyy curious about anyone else's thoughts who watch??

I've been at school since 6am and will be here until 4--same with tomorrow.

oh, and thursday too.

HI STUDENT COUNCIL INTERVIEWS.

i love student council---but this part sucks.

I'm tired.

and hungry.

and taylor just brought me in-n-out (literally two seconds ago)

so now I feel guilty about complaining HA

life just got a little better again.

p.s. on week 2 of BBG

I LOVE IT

but last week I was more sore than I've ever been in my entire life!!

and that is saying something!

let me know if you're part of #kaylasarmy too!

xoxo

#ouch

if you follow me on instagram, you may have seen that I started the bikini-body-guide yesterday!

I've been researching the bbg for about 2 months now, and following kayla (the creator) on instagram.

don't follow her unless you want to be completely 100% motivated by the transformation pictures.

(@kayla_itsines)

I finally showed her instagram account to my cute workout buddy, jadey.

and then we both got even more obsessed about doing the bbg.

and SO, here we are. day one complete! and 12 weeks to go! haha!

but we are really pumped, and are hoping to see some awesome results (especially right before summer!)

^just look at how good our form is!^

before we started yesterday, we were looking at the day 1 circuits and we both said, "oh, that's not even bad!"

uh. wrong.

IT WAS SO HARD.

like probably the hardest workout I've ever had.

and I (used to) think I'm pretty tough.

this was 10x harder than: p90x, insanity AND jillian michaels COMBINED.
(the intensity of it may be a little affected by the fact that I haven't been able to do ANY cardio for a month because of my dang cough and weak lungs. i was literally dying. and crying over the fact that I felt so fat and was SO ANTSY TO RUN. so I mostly just pouted while I ate tubs of ben and jerrys on the couch. HA this is my life.)

jadey and I have been running/workout buddies for almost two years (!!!), and this seriously kicked our butts.

we were one hott sweaty mess.

thank goodness it was raining last night, because we literally stood outside after each circuit complaining that it was too hot outside. HAHA

so, if you've considered doing it for awhile, I am happy to be your real-life sacrificial lamb--I'll give you the good and the dirty about it.

but a quick p.s.: the first thing that intimated me was the equipment needed for the bbg. 

jadey and I didn't want to go to a gym to do it...I knew I'd need a good ground to lie on after each circuit, and I didn't really want to lay like a pancake on the gym floor (but I'm seriously giggling a little just thinking of that image)

BUT kayla has some ways to substitute some of the equipment.

and I've been following other girls doing it, and learned what they used instead.

so all you really need are:

dumbbells

jumprope

and some sort of sturdy furniture to use as a workout bench

today is ACT testing for the juniors.

and I feel so bad for them as I watch their little stressed faces while they clumsily punch numbers into their calculators.

and then their faces scrunch up as they look from their calculator to the test booklet and can't find a matching answer.

It's times like these that I do NOT miss that phase of life--and they still have all of college ahead of them. poor poor children.

but then again, I was complaining all last week because I have to "re-certify" my teaching license.

and I had to make a whole portfolio and watch all these dumb videos.

does it ever end!?

but I'm happy to announce I am officially done with recertification--wahoo!

anyways, wish us luck on day 2!

(my body already hurts...)

oh, and:

currently reading: sarah's key

SO GOOD

just finished: where'd you go bernadette?

(super quirky read--definite recommendation)

our last february weekend

we loved our last weekend of february.

i can't believe it's MARCH.

only 5 weeks left until spring break! wahoo! haha!

I feel like I've been a little checked out since january--I love my job so much, but something about this school year has me totally worn out.

(no, i'm not pregnant)

ALSO, this weekend, I obsessed a little too much over THE DRESS.

It just literally blows my mind.

THE DRESS IS BLACK AND BLUE.

it is so blue to me that there is NO WAY someone can see white!

like it blows my mind. hahaha

you're all probably just as sick of #thedress debate as taylor is.

i think I asked him like 20 times over the weekend, "do you still see white and gold?"

HA

we started our weekend on THURSDAY night with our cute friends, the reynolds.

we played a few games (in which I tried not to be too competitive)

and gosh, we love them!

especially that cute baby!!

on friday, we got to celebrate our dear friend's birthday at PF Changs.

we are super glad taylor (wood) was born so that we could go eat at PF changs--one of our favorites ever. ha

and this is the best picture I have of the night...haha

but we just love kate and taylor. 

 on saturday, we had an articles of faith ice cream party for our primary.

they are the cutest kids--I love them all SO much!
and I am so proud of them for learning their articles of faith!

also, their parents may hate me for letting them have multiple bowls of ice cream... 

we also went to see "the duff" on saturday night with christie and brooks.

and OH MY gosh, funny funny movie.

you kinda have to be just in the right mood for that genre.

and it hit the spot for me on saturday night.

it was funny without being too cheesy or too inappropriate (which is hard for a high school movie...ha).

although, there were a lot of high school humor "dick jokes"--so be prepared for that.

but all in all, it was quite enjoyable!

aaand I'm also kind of a sucker (still) for high school romance movies. I think I almost cried when they finally kissed. 

maybe it's from being around high school kids all day, but I told taylor after the movie, "I just want them to love each other forever and get married!"

and, I told christie thank you for letting me be her duff (designated ugly fat friend) HA

(because see how cute she is in the above picture? ;)

and I have to include this picture.

taylor subbed for a primary class yesterday in church (the four year olds) and he created a little "campfire" so that when it was "story-time" he could tell them stories around the campfire. haha it was THE cutest thing ever.

on the way to work this morning, I was thinking about how great life is.

 I am so grateful for so much in our little life.

we are so blessed, and I really want to focus on that in march!

I love you all! xoxo