HAWAII!

we had SUCH a blast in hawaii.

I feel so behind in blogging, so I think my hawaii posts will mostly be picture dumps.

there is some sort of psychological insurance about putting pictures up on a blog--I'm not quite so paranoid about "losing pictures." so, I've got to get these up before I stress out over them suddenly "disappearing." it's a real fear, I tell ya.

I lost a whole card of pictures once...and ever since then, I've been suffering from PTSD.

we went to hawaii (kona) with taylor's brother and his wife.

it was so fun to spend time together!

and even though we always forgot to bring a condo key with us almost every time we left the condo (which resulted in rock, paper, scissors over who had to climb up and over the second story deck to open the back door and let everyone in), it was pretty fun being the "grown-ups" and calling the shots (the only vacation us four have been on together without mom and dad gilbert!)

so here are a few piccy pics of hawaii!

^seth was awesome and upgraded us to a mustang convertible for the week. it was SO fun!^

on the way to the beach one day, we spotted a cave on the side of the road. it was sooo cool!

 ^look how spooky that is. kelsey is out there. but it almost looks like its the end of the world or something. HA

and of course, the beaches were beautiful!

 places you must eat at in kona:
kona brewery co (best pizza)
mike's pretzels (soft pretzels by the weirdest guy that is probably high 99% of his live)
lava java (cinnamon rolls are to die for, and super good hot chocolate)
and also the most awesome thai restaurant that we went to three times...that I can't for the life of me remember the name. if you're headed to kona, let me know and I'll do some searching.

moreee pictures and a video to come!
tonight is parent teacher conferences--my least favorite night of the year.
so that's cool.
and looking at these beach pictures is notttt helping my motivation for tonight!
HA

plus talk about major drama at school today!
from a student that left my room saying, "whatever, I don't even care. I'm just going to go tell the principal and he'll make you do it." HAHAHA--irritating. mostly that they have the nerve to say (or think) that. but I also withheld from saying more than I should have, so if any one is handing out gold stars, I'll take one.
to teacher drama that resulted in an hour long chat with another teacher (I'm not part of the drama, p.s....just somehow in the loop of it all)
to student council drama
and now...parent drama!!

the only plus of today was when another teacher told me that all of the students were voting for me for homecoming queen HAHAHAHAHA

is it friday yet?

a lovely homecoming

last week, I was able to film the homecoming of sweet keena. keena has been serving an LDS mission and has been away from her family for almost 18 months! While on missions, missionaries are only allowed to email home once a week, and call home on Mother's Day and Christmas.   So it is a VERY happy reunion when they are finally reunited! My favorite part about filming this sweet homecoming, was that the siblings had an ordered list about who got to hug Keena first. But as soon as they saw her, all bets were off, and it turned into a priceless, candid, and beautiful family hug! I dare you to not cry when you see how anxious her mom was as she is waiting for Keena to come down the escalator. Or when you see that beautiful family hug! Welcome home, Hermana Horton!
Happy Tuesday! (Hawaii pictures tomorrow!!)

HOME OWNERS

a couple of posts back, I mentioned that we had a little secret...

WE BOUGHT A HOME!!

I was sooo hesitant saying anything publicly until we signed the papers.

I was a nervous wreck for a whole month, because I was sure our dream home would slip right through our fingers and something would fall through.

BUT WE SIGNED THE PAPERS AND WE ARE OFFICIALLY HOME OWNERS!

and man--I feel like God is right in the center of our lives.

He knew exactly the perfect timing for us to buy a home, and led us to our perfect dream home.

we have been in our new home for 10 days, and we are just in love!

I think my eyes literally turn into little hearts when I come downstairs in the morning and the sun is shining through our whole house...and I just pause and revel in the moment that THIS IS MINE.

and we could not be happier!

somehow, we found the perfect home with the most beautiful backyard and taylor, of course, has plans to make it even more beautiful.

it was so fun to see Taylor mowing the lawn on Friday night.

he is OBSESSED with landscaping (he once worked for landscaping, and his dream has always been to own a beautiful yard).

he was so dang giddy as he was mowing his lawn the other night, and I just sat and watched him in the most cheesy manner ever.

our yard has a built in sandbox on the side of the house, and I said to taylor, "I guess we won't have to worry about that for a few years." taylor said, "are you kidding? I'm buying sand tomorrow so I can play in it." HAHAH you laugh...but he's serious. building intricate sand castles might be his favorite thing ever. HA 

we are still getting things together, buying furniture (so fun, and yet...I don't think tay and I have ever been more frustrated with each other than when trying to buy furniture HA. for a boy, he is very opinionated about the decor of our home ;)), painting furniture, unpacking...it has been a whirlwind.

so excuse me for not being on this little bloggity blog of mine.

I have been having way too much fun building the inside of our dream home.

so here are a few little sneak-peak-snippet-pictures of our home.

a few of my favorite things...

(once more furniture/decorations are in, I will show more :))

^plantation shutters on EVERY window! a dream....^

^these light fixtures!^

^the beautiful wainscoting throughout the first floor^

^our real hardware floors with alternating planks^

^beautiful gray cabinets, with...

 ^this beautiful white tiled backsplash...up every single wall in the kitchen!^

^this cutest hexagon window at the stair landing^

^a real brick fireplace with the most beautiful mantle (not pictured). perfect for all of my seasonal decorations ;)

 ^little bay windows throughout the house^

^open shelving in the kitchen...and again with the backsplash...I mean, c'mon!^

can you see why we are in love?

can't wait to share more soon!

we are so so so happy and cannot wait to continue to build our future in this home of OURS!

hiiii, second day of school!

it is necessary that I start this post with this picture...because GOSH, I love him!

second day in to school, and life is GRAND.

Sometimes during summer, I forget for a minute how much I genuinely love my job.

And I just hope everyone can fill as fulfilled at their jobs as I do!

^oh, and the above picture is meant to illustrate the polo I was supposed to wear the other day (story mentioned in last post)^

and also...classroom selfies are back in session.

please notice the door behind me.

my TA last year (and this year) has an "ode" to herself door. and she writes me notes every single day.

it is the funniest thing ever.

So life is sooo hectic.

I am scrambling to prepare sub plans for all of next week...because...HAWAII!

we are sooo excited!!

EXCEPT the weather forecast says it's supposed to rain ALL NINE DAYS!

but we are really praying that is NOT the case!

PRAY FOR US

so yesterday, taylor and I were out to dinner and I spotted two of my new sophomore students.

two identical twin boys who are just adorable!

their mom came up to me and told me that they were really excited for my class.

and then she says (with them standing right there), "and they both think you're really pretty!"

they went BRIGHT PINK and just started sending death stares at their mom.

it was soooo funny.

then they bee-lined it out of the restaurant, and their mom said, "I think I might be in trouble..."

HAHAHA

taylor and I were laughing so hard!

okkkk and can we talk about how DARLING my sister is!?

she is serving a mission, and I haven't seen her in 9.5 months!

I AM DYING

but I am so excited that I have one school year to make it through and then I can give that little sister of mine one GIANT HUG!!

the eve of the first day of school, taylor and I headed to the temple.

and it was honestly one of the best temple trips we've had together.

we shared some really special moments and had some really special experiences...and just WOW. the temple is such a cool place!

^okay, and THIS picture. you guys, taylor is getting GRAY hair! like soooo much! hahah and I AM DYING. it is the hottest thing ever. my little salt-and-pepper haired boy. can you see it there on the side? I am PRAYING I get a 50-year-old silver-haired FOX! SO HOT SO HOT HA

BACK TO IT

Today is SOPHOMORE DAY!

and tomorrow is the first real official day of school. wahoooo!

Each day I come back to the school, I get more and more excited.
I just love my job sosososososo much!

EXCEPT apparently my brain still isn't off of summer.

yesterday, we had an "alpine school district celebration."

and apparently all of the teachers were told to wear our school shirt.

I walk out to get on the bus with all of the other teachers...and here I am in a bright pink shirt and THE ONLY ONE not wearing our OHS shirt.

I think my face got just as pink as my shirt.

I was sooo embarrassed. 

So I ditched the bus and drove home to change and then meet them at the celebration.

and THANK goodness I did!

EVERY SINGLE PERSON out of 8,000 people there were in their school shirts. EVERY ONE.

How the heck did I miss that announcement? No idea. HA

and getting this done today, made things REAL official.

I can't believe that we are starting another school year!

 okayyy...and for your entertainment.

look how long taylor's hair is!

I made him let me put it in a little pony...a wannabe mun. HA

his hair looks really good styled...so it's not like he's dying for a haircut or anything ha. the top is just sooo long!

I have always hated all things mun. 

but for some reason, when I saw his little pony, I was like...WAIT. THIS IS HOT

and I know it looks so awful in this picture...it reminds me why I hate them all over again.

but in person, I was begging him not to take it out.

OH and one more story about my tayray.

in the middle of the night last night, taylor woke up screaming my name.

he started yelling, "my arm! my arm won't work! ah! it hurts! my arm, kelli! it won't work!"

I started freaking out...he was practically in tears.

he was absolutely in hysterics.

I thought he was having a stroke or something because his speech was kinda slurred.

so I started getting out of bed--completely on full alert and panic mode.

and then he says, "wait. stop. I think I just woke up. My arm is fine. I think it was just asleep..."

me: "wait are you serious? you were asleep? I AM FREAKING OUT."

he was yelling for like a full 15 seconds before this!

him: "...what just happened?"

HAHAHAHAH 

I am seriously laughing so hard just typing this.

it was soooo funny. 

and taylor and I can't stop texting about it all day.

HAWAII IN THREE DAYS, FOLKS!

HIATUS ENDED

my blogging hiatus has officially ended!

I think this goes down in record as my worst season of blogging since I started this blog 3.5 years ago.

BUT I feel like I have good reasonings:

1. SUMMER ROCKS

having three months off is the best/worst thing ever.

best? because DUH. 

worst? because eventually it ends. and it is SO much harder to go back to work.

except yesterday was the first day I felt like I was ready to go back.

I actually told taylor yesterday, "I'm kinda sick of sleeping in until 9:30 every morning."

I think his mouth dropped to the floor. HA

my summer has been such a good mix of laziness + vacations.

2. A secret I can share in t-7 days.

NO, not pregnant.

but I feel like this "secret" has controlled every waking thought lately, and I felt like I had nothing to blog about besides said secret--and so every time I sat down to blog, I just got stuck and gave up.

so there's why I had a little blogging hiatus.

but I'm happy to announce it is officially over!

and you know what else is almost over?
SUMMER.

I start back tomorrow!

and the kids come back wednesday. GAH

the back-to-school nightmares have already begun.

Last night I had the "I'm totally unprepared and it is the first day of school, and the bell just rang...and OMG what do I do!?" nightmare.

the night before I had the familiar "classroom management" nightmare. where students yell at me and I yell back and then I cry because no one is listening to me.

I know when I'm ready to go back to school when these nightmares start--because I cannot wait for them to STOP.

see here for more about these annual nightmares. HA

last night taylor and I went on a little picnic.

it was just about the best thing ever.

and let me clarify--when I say picnic, chick-fil-A comes too. 

I actually make a mean pb&j (since I swear it's what I've had for lunch since I was 5 years old), BUT taylor isn't so thrilled with pb&js. and since that's the only picnic food I would attempt to make...chick-fil-A it is.

(my other go-to meals, chocolate chip waffles, quesadillas, and grilled cheese don't picnic so well. ;)

you may laugh...but these are weekly meals in the gilbert home. HA I AM NOT A COOK

probably one of my favorite "things" that taylor and I share is our love of reading!

frequent library trips together make my heart happy.

and reading right next to each other, and then one of us will say, "hey, read this paragraph. isn't this a cool thought?"

and then swapping books if the other recommends it.

get this...taylor woke up at 5:50am just so he could read for 2 hours before going to work. HAHAHAH...I'm not that dedicated.

(although when SIMS first came out, my siblings and I did wake up hours before school started to play on the computer. ohhh memories.)

 

I am also anxiously waiting for some swimsuits to come in the mail because we leave for HAWAII in 8 DAYS!

(not the secret)

We could not be more excited!

except, I'm a little stressed since I'm missing the FULL second week of school.

that was a really fun conversation with my principal:

"heyyy, so I know I have three months off, but the second week of school, I'm gonna take off and go to Hawaii.  That cool?"

a tiiiiinsy bit worried about how this will affect the "reigning in of crazy students" when I come back.

but...I'll be in Hawaii. 

so mostly I won't think twice. HA

summer with this forever sidekick of mine has been quite memorable.

WISH ME LUCK because I have to wake up early tomorrow.

gooooodbye summer vacation!

but I am actually craving crisp air and crunchy leaves and fall colors...sooo that makes life a little better!

xoxo

boston part 1!

oh, hiiii!

the owner of this blog still exists--it's true!

I've been a little MIA since summer hit.

my first week of summer, tay and I watched 4 little neighbor kids all week while their parents were out of town.

we had a little party all week long with our favorite littles!

and the second week, I was off to the east coast!

my history department was selected to go on a east-coast-history-tour funded by Larry H. Miller and Zion's Bank.

and WOW. it was possibly one of the coolest trips I've ever been on.

I had seen a lot of these sites before--but never with 20 other teachers that were just as passionate about history as me.

plus, we had two professors lead the tour and they told us so many cool stories along the way.

aaand it's really nice when the whole trip is planned out and paid for (plus a weekly stipend for all food/souvenirs/etc.) win-win.

my department head, reggie, and I loved the trip SO dang much that we are recreating the EXACT trip next fall for our students! haha!

I will try not to bore you with lots of history but I want to record a lot of these pictures for my own sake.
ALSO a big apology in advance for all of the selifes and solo-pictures.
it's really awkward standing by yourself in front of a monument thing, so I resorted to selfies a lot of the time...which is probably just as awkward. HA

I also tried to master the selfie stick, but it broke on the first day. DANG.

okkkayyy I will try really hard not to be too nerdy about my excitement over all of this stuff.
so here's a few little piccys of my trip!

 ^at the actual site of the boston massacre! pretty dang cool!^

 ^harvard campus^

 ^I look like a harvard-goer right? we tried to go into a library and got kicked out. HA
also, they have THE BEST pizza place in cambridge: otto pizza.
a MUST if you're nearby!

we did a bike tour of boston--probably one of the highlights.
boston is just one of my favorite cities EVER.

 ^fenway park for all of the sports lovers out there.
can I admit I had never heard about it before this trip? HAHAH...I blame it on you, dad.

 
^bunker hill. it's tall.^


we saw lots of grave-sites of historical folk.
there's something pretty cool about historical graveyards.

AND YOU GUYS.
did you know mother goose was a REAL person?
I sure didn't!
she also has a little gravey-grave right in boston!


more pictures to come!
my summer days have been spent by the pool for the majority of the day.
I think I've finished four books on the little floaty-thing in the last week!
life is good!