Happy Halloween!!

Here are our costumes! I was a flapper girl and Clint was a gangster.... and Cosmo was Robin...we just couldn't resist a picture with BYU's mascot. :)
We spent the evening at BYU where the athletes had a little trick-or-treat/carnival/shin dig and we passed out some candy. We saw some CUTE costumes and got a lot of compliments on ours too. In fact, I think Clint may have decided to wear his fedora permanently. He loves it. A. LOT.

Also, let me just give you a little insiders view. Me (my teacher self that is) and Halloween have a love hate relationship. One one hand, my kids are just the cutest. They are happier than a witch in a broom store (ps, have you seen those GEICO commercials? I laugh out loud every time. I seriously love them) and they have the cutest costumes ever. I had two spiders, two devils, a ghost, an army guy, the mad hatter, a ninja turtle, a platypus, a wizard, and a whole slew of other cute things in my class yesterday. Then there is the other side of that excitement which is also called crazy. yes. crazy. hyped up on candy- well at this point, just the thought of candy- and they know we'll have a party in the afternoon. and a parade. and a monster mash dance with the school... lets just say the almost "normal" morning I had planned went out the window because these kids were not having any learning  fit into their holiday. And this teacher just loves to see her kids happy. O darn. Throw the lesson plans out the window for a day and play Halloween BINGO for a half hour? fine. pull my leg. yes. we can do that.

 Here is a picture of all of us after the parade :)

Ya, bumblee is the go to costume for school mostly because I can still wear my slacks and feel semi-professional... second because my kids would have no idea what a flapper girl was...

I hope your Halloween was as good as this one! 

Blessed

Sometimes I look at my life and I think "What in the world am I doing?! Am I ever going to get this right?!"

Other times, like tonight, I feel so happy and blessed with exactly how everything is going.
Which is weird a little...since this week is parent teacher conferences + I have a nasty cold which made me have to reschedule half of them and do sub plans + I'm taking this medicine which is making my body go kind of bizerk = crazyness.

 But tonight I turned on my Memphis song mostly because I love that man's voice, and also because I still get a little nervous about going across the country next year so far away from my family(s) and its a scary unknown so that song helps me. While I listened to it, I decided to look through all my facebook pictures. That sounds weird, but pictures and music... they get me everytime. (I also recently rewatched our wedding video. o man. love that. and it just reaffirms that the babies I give birth to will be so cute I just can't even wait to see them) 

 

So I was watching these photos of the last 2 years Clint and I have been dating/married and listening to the Memphis song about the adventure coming up for us and I felt so blessed. So blessed that although this is by far one of the scariest decisions we've had to make in our marriage, I get to go across the country and have an adventure with my best friend. And I'll cry a lot at first (someone recently reassured me that was ok) and it will be an adjustment, but I'll have Clint to cry to. And he is always willing to go get some ice cream or just talk to me to help me calm down. And I'll also probably laugh a lot cause Clint and I do some funny things together and I like that. He is seriously just perfect for me. We're opposites in a lot of ways, but we just fit together and complement the strengths and weaknesses of the other.

So here is to new adventures and taking life one day at a time and remembering that when life does or doesn't feel crazy, I have my best friend to cuddle up with every evening and that makes me the luckiest girl in the world.

Fall break

I love my job. For some reason that i'm not entirely sure of, some say it originated with hunting or harvesting, I have today and tomorrow off work for fall break! I have nothing planned except a little cleaning of the apartment and a lot of reading, snacking, and laying around still in my pjs :)

Now if you will please excuse me, I have some relaxing to do :)

Funnies

I promise I will be better at this because my kiddos are too funny to not document. So I have two for you today.

First, we were reading a cute book about a raccoon mom sending her baby off to school and she gives him a kiss on his hand to put on his cheek whenever he misses her. At the end of the book there is a picture of a little raccoon hand giving the sign language sign for I love you. So I explained:
Me: kiddos, some people can't hear so they use hand signs to communicate. This sign means I love you.
Chatty little girl: no Mrs. Prestwich, that is what spider man does to wrap people up.
Little boy next to her: well, maybe he's saying, hey I love you, but you're a bad guy so I have to wrap you up.

Yep, spider man, the sign language hero.

Next. I have a very talkative boy who is really so so sweet that he's probably one of my favorites... Except that he really can't close his little mouth. He's in for the first 3 minutes of recess almost everyday for this reason. And he always is telling me a new reason that he needed to talk.
"I just have so many friends"
"I got this watch from the carnival and I was talking at the carnival so it just reminds me to talk."
"This ring is cursed and whispers at me to talk"
.... the list goes on and on. We're at the point now that I don't even need to ask him, he'll just give me a new reason as soon as the rest of the class leaves for recess. I always try my best to look extremely understanding of all these hardships he has to face then give my teacher look without busting up laughing while I try to discipline him. Then one day, in the middle of a math lesson, when he hadn't even really been talking, he raises his hand and asks if he can speak to me privately. we went to the back of the room...
Me: yes?
Boy: I know the real reason I can't stop talking.
Me: I think you've been doing really great all morning.
Boy: no, I need to tell you this. You know Kathy (no her real name isn't Kathy) in our class?
Me: yes...
Boy: well... I think she's cute.
Me: honey, you don't even sit by her... How would that make you talk?
Boy: well, you see, I just think she is so pretty that even if I see her from all the way across the room, I just feel like talking, even if it's not to her.
Me: I see... i'm sorry this is Problem for you, but it still isn't ok to talk when you're not supposed to ok?
Boy: ok, but one more thing... Don't you think it's peculiar (yes, he did use that word. He's bright. Talkative, but bright) that we have the same last name?
(they do have the same last name. I didn't have the heart to tell him that Jones is a pretty common last name...)
Me: I suppose that is a little peculiar..
Boy: ya, I've been thinking about that a lot lately...

And just like that he turned and got to work on his math. Sometimes you just have to get that overwhelming feeling of love off your chest in second grade I guess :)

Love my class

Walking in... where?

That's right!! It's decided! Next August, Clint and I will be moving to MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE!!!!! Pretty much I plan on singing this at least 5 times a day once we get there. Probably blast it every afternoon when Clint comes home from grad school... see how long he goes with that.. :)

But ya, we'll be living in the big city (or right outside it preferably) for 4ish years while Clint goes to Southern College of Optometry (SCO) for Optometry school! He'll train to be the best eye checker there ever was and hopefully I'll be staying home with some cute kidlets - no, not an announcement, but I like to dream :)

It's been quite the process to get to this point. When we were first looking into schools Clint was set on Ohio State and I REALLY liked the idea of living about 10 minutes away from where I grew up so I liked SCCO in Fullerton, California. Clint got his first interview at Tennessee however, and it all changed. I was attending Education Week at BYU while he was gone and he called soo excited about Tennessee. He loved everything about it and his interview had gone really well. He ruled out Ohio, but went to the interview he got at SCCO for me. I called him while he was in California and the excitement just wasn't in his voice. Then, we got a little phone call yesterday informing us that SCO (the school in Memphis) is awarding Clint their highest scholarship and...well... since grad school basically costs your arm, your leg, plus your first born child... we decided that would be really helpful and the decision was practically made for us.

Clint sent me this video when he went for his interview. Ya, we're aware its upside down... don't know how to switch that haha

It's going to be a crazy change for us, but we are so excited to learn and grow and try new things (like good southern BBQ and going to Nashville for the country music awards... or just to stalk a few country stars... ) Also, should you feel inclined to try these new things too - since I doubt Clint will really want to stalk the country stars with me...- please come visit while we're there! I promise we'll show you a good time :)

Happy moment

Every day on my way to work, I drive down this street and the sun is seriously shining right at me. let me tell you, best way to start a day.

Our Rhythm

Right now life is getting into a rhythm around here. 

Clint is going to school.
Last year at BYU yay!!!

 yes. this is an old picture...but I failed to take a first day of school picture of Clint...

I am teaching my cute second graders.
which reminds me... I have funny stories already. I will definitely be posting about that soon.

Clint is flying to Optometry interviews.

We're down to two options. Clint got accepted to this school in Tennessee, and he'll be interviewing at a school in Southern California on the 15th of this month.
 We'll be really happy for either of these schools so we're very excited! 

And suddenly we don't have a vacation lined up in the next few weeks. laaame!

From our vacation this summer to the Pitt family reunion

From our stay in Idaho with the Prestwich clan

and our trip to Yellowstone

It has been a really fun summer, we enjoyed it thoroughly, but it is nice to have a little bit more structure to our life. 

<3