I took a new job for next year and am so excited about it. I worked at Captain Shreve High School for four years but will be teaching PE and First Baptist Church School private school for K-8 next year. It'll be great because I can have Rylan and the baby with me. I'm ready to get back into PE too work with little kids. The only slightly negative is coaching 5th and 6th grade basketball, but I'm sure I'll learn to love it. Brooke got into Arthur Circle's ECE so she'll be going there next year, which is great because it's free! yeah! I really feel that it was an answer to a prayer though and know that it's where I need to be.

We've been having these ward food storage firesides every month and I've been getting so much out of them. I'm slowly getting better at it all with little baby steps. Tonight it's on wheat! It's a topic I should know about rather well since it's my mom's favorite thing and she put it in everything we ate growing up - orange juice, brownies, you name it. I'm making wheat meat burgers tonight and making the wheat meat has been a pain so far. I seriously need to invest in an electric mixer. I've had to beat it with a rubber mallet, which on the plus side I got to get out some aggression. We'll see how it turns out.
I recently went to Painting with a Twist, a new store in town that gives you a canvas and paint and teaches you how to paint. It's so much fun to do with friends. I wish others could have made it but at least my girl Sue Ellen and I had fun. It turned out pretty good. It's even hanging up at the house.
We watched all the 10 kids for co-op Fri. night and it was quite memorable. There's a sandbox and kiddie pool in the backyard so together it's a recipe for disaster with no swimsuits on them. Needless to say they got all nasty and muddy and I wasn't about to bring them in the house and get it dirty too. So I had the bright idea to give them a bath on the trampoline together. They stripped down and Judd and I scrubbed them with soap and shampoo, hosed them down, and brought them in one at a time with a towel and put them in their pajamas. We had a pretty good system going and they kids had a blast slipping and sliding on the trampoline. It was hilarious and I think since they were all 5 and under it was okay.
My new obsession is with Everybody Loves Raymond. It is so stinking hilarious! I have to watch at least one episode before I go to bed at night to get a really good laugh in - not that I don't have them throughout the day with Brooke and Rylan. When I was single it was Friends but now that I'm married it is this. I guess we like what we can relate to.

I just posted 2 videos I found on lds.org that I love but don't know how to get them to show the full screen or to not play at the same time, so oh well. I'm going to leave them on there because I love their messages and hopefully others will too. You can just push pause on them to not hear them play at the same time and pause on the music too.
Anyways, today has been great. I'm really growing to love our 4-5 year old primary class more and more each sunday. Kids really get the gospel and they just say it like it is. They are so cute and funny and remind us of the simplicity of the gospel. I love teaching it with Judd too because it's neat to see him interact with the kids. He's so good with them and I love spending time with him. Brooke gave her first talk in Primary today and did such a good job. She talked about how the Holy Ghost guides and protects us.
The summer has been great so far! I am loving being at home and spending time with my adorable children. We are always finding fun things to do like go to the library, pool, indoor gyms, parks, gymnastics, the zoo, and anything else that will entertain them. I taught swimming lessons and am teaching gymnastics and water aerobics, playing on a tennis team, and taking online classes this summer too. I enjoy getting together with other moms and letting our kids play.
Brooke is "little mommy". She loves to help clean and help show her little brother how to behave. She helps me cook and loves to read her books. The playroom at our house has been the best thing for the kids! Rylan is our little crazy man. He is full of energy and life and goes non-stop. Literally we could just sit and watch him and be entertained for hours.
Judd has been so busy working on their new playset and it looks amazing so far. He already made a sandbox that they love too. Last night we had a great date night and Papa and Grandma Sandy watched the kids for us. We went to dinner and watched the movie "Grown Ups" with some friends and family and it was hilarious! We went to see Big Daddy and Grandma and Uncle Mike and Aunt Mel and Shalom last weekend and had fun playing tennis and playing in the pool!
Every Sunday we go to the Relief Society room during Sacrament meeting instead of the chapel because Rylan is a little rambuncious - sp?! We're always in there with Scott and Tracey and Bryce because he's a little wild man too. I've tried taking him in there but it's just so hard because he's everywhere and doesn't want to be still at all. Any advice out there?
We had a fun Maranto gathering at our house recently watching the World Cup. It was a lot of fun to get the cousins together to play. Dominik made some great burgers!
Judd recently went to Costa Rica with Jared to go surfing! How fun! I was really happy that he got to do that though! Especially since I'm going to Paris on July 7th for a few days for free. I got kids at my school to sign up for a Spanish trip to Costa Rica next spring break and this educational company was doing a promotion for first time teachers doing a trip to take them to a training tour to Paris if they got enough kids for their trip to sign up. I did it and even though I won't be teaching at Shreve next year I'm still going as a leader on the trip so am going. I'm excited but wish Judd could go too. My mom's nice enough to come up and watch the kids. I'm hoping I can make it out to Utah this summer too with the kids to visit Megan. It's been too long! We'll make a Dallas trip too to see some family soon and play!
My mother in law made this awesome cook book with great recipes that I've been using a lot actually. She's doing the 3 day walk for the cure - 60 miles - in November. I so wish I could do it with her but will be almost 9 months pregnant by then. We'll find out what we're having at my next doctor's appointment on July 6th. I can't wait to find out! I have some name ideas but any suggestions?
We're also enjoying doing the co-op babysitting switch every Fri. night. The kids are really good and have fun playing together and we love that we get some extra time together as well!
We planted our first garden this year and it's super tiny but we've actually gotten some stuff out of it, so we'll try to go bigger next year.
I still have lots of goals this summer - one of them being couponing. I really want to get it down but always feel so overwhelmed every time I try. I know it'll be worth it if I stick to it but it's just a little overwhelming.