Spring Break 2011!

This year Elkhorn had one WHOLE week for spring break. I was told this has never happened before and will never happen again. So...I made sure to book tickets to someplace warm as soon as I heard that! It actually worked out super nice because last June, when Adam proposed, on the way back from Arizona we were asked if we could stay and switch to a later flight, thus receiving plane vouchers:) So we did, and the vouchers expired in June...so it worked out amazing! We went to Gma & Gpa Sapp's house down there (thanks so much!) and relaxed poolside basically the whole time! We basked in the sun, we ate everything that has a million calories, and we read. We try to read a few chapters of the Bible together daily, so it was fun to switch up the scenery when doing that. One of my favorite times, no offense to Adam, was early morning. The sun would always shine in and sparkle around 6am, so I would get up, make a little cup of vanilla latte or mocha deliciousness from the fun little "single cup" coffee machine they have down there, and sit out on the porch and read. It was just amazing to unwind and appreciate God's creation. Granted, we should be doing it all the time, it just is a little easier when the only noises you hear are the songs of the birds instead of the screams of 20 third graders:)  I finished Bittersweet and dominated Heaven is for Real in less than 24 hrs- so good!


Adam and I had talked awhile back about both getting haircuts. A couple weeks ago I scheduled an appointment without him knowing and chopped of seven inches of my hair:) I remember when I came home I was so excited to hear his response...he was loading dishes in the dishwasher when I came in...I waited for him to turn around...and waited...(COME ON BABE)...finally, he turned around and was like "Whoaaa, I love it"- good thing he added in that "I love it" or there might have been some tears, sometimes Adam might say I get a little over-dramatic on little things...hmmm, I don't know what he is talking about;)!  Anyways,when we were on the plane to go down there he mentioned buzzing his hair when we got to the house. So, we took the minivan to Target and made that purchase stat! 

 

The weather was perfect, 80's and 90's! We ventured off to a couple different shopping areas and restaurants. 

A Heart-Shaped Chip!

And grilled out...

And Adam busted the floatie by doing this over and over...don't worry cousins, we bought a new one for future reference.

We appreciated this getaway a lot. No itinerary. No obligations. Just us.

S'mores and Some High Schoolers

This year Adam and I volunteered with the high school group at our church. Last Sunday we celebrated the year of new relationships, sleepovers, and learning about the "Man Upstairs" as we roasted marshmallows and exchanged personal letters of gratitude. 

Adam and his guys!

A.Ehly "coaching" it up

The whole gang

Adam had one year of experience on me as he led the same group of guys last year as well. I was unsure what to think when getting into this. Over Adam and my honeymoon I read the book Cold Tangerines (which might sound familiar to some of you because I've talked about it way too much) and there was a chapter that focused exactly on how I felt about this year! I read it aloud to Adam and found myself about to tear up a couple of times throughout the chapter because it made me think of the girls in my small group. Yes, girls, I know you probably would have never guessed I would be "tearing up" about you- and I can already hear your "smart" comments yee- but I was;)! I wanted to share a couple parts of this, and yes, it is dedicated to you: Angie, Emily, Hannah, Courtney, Kira, Shirley, and Ashlee:) I'm so thankful to have ya! 

The pretty little ladies in my group:)

"...Somewhere in between going through my trash and asking me about tampons, in between the recitals and games and phone calls, they burrowed into one of the deepest parts of my life and my heart. They became something between friends and little sisters and extensions of my younger selves. They became a central part of my world, my thoughts, my prayers. My schedule became more and more wrapped around their term papers and prom and problems, and my home became more and more the safest landing spot for this strange, whirling little gypsy wagon of girls.

...I began to love them, not because they were the finest, most-upstanding kids in our student ministry, because actually they weren't. They had their moments of upstanding-ness, and they had moments of absolute insanity. I loved them because they were mine, because we were  us, because of the funny and sweet and strange things they did and said. They're smart and honest and they make big mistakes and dream gorgeous bright dreams. Sometimes they tell me everything, and sometimes they try not to tell me things, but then the other girls tell me anyway. I think at this point, I know almost all the things they think I don't. And I love them more than they know.

...When I think about how God made us live, when people talk about true community or true intimacy, I think of them, this lovely, bizarre group of teenage girls who came over unannounced and never left when they were supposed to, who let me into their fears and secrets. They loved me with a force that I think only comes with youth, a wide and fierce and expressive force, and I loved them with that same love, because being with them let me live like I was young." - Shauna Niequist, Cold Tangerines







Whether it's them coming to my classroom on their day off or dancin' at our wedding...they are always fun and have so much energy it's ridiculous! From Yee's sarcastic comments to Hannah's delicious baked goods to Emily's weirdness and passion for dance to Courtney's nike kicks and pink hair to Kira being a good story-teller while eating Chinese food to Shirley still attending the sleepingover like a champ after working all day to bringing Ashlee JuiceStop at work just to make her smile (and then Yee complaing about herself not getting any)....I love 'em all:) 

 My junior girls...totally acting like junior girls (aside from Court of course...she is a year older and much more mature..I mean she did rock hot pink hair for most of her senior year and it was amazing)!

Here's to next year!

The Girls with Glasses

I usually wake up a couple hours before Adam on the weekends and make this my "Amy time"... This time is usually spent turning on the Food Network (praying that watching people cook will inspire me to do so) or surfing random blogs online. This was my find today and I am in love with it! It is a online variety/talk show, The Girls with Glasses, that is super cute! So here are a couple quick videos, check it!

 

The Water Project

Last summer I felt like I wanted to do some sort of a service project for our school. I looked up different options and organizations, tossed around ideas that I thought would be neat for my school to raise money and awareness for. I came up with The Water Project! A lot of students in Elkhorn...Nebraska...and even the US, are unaware of how blessed we are here in this nation. I wanted to show them what was going on across the world. Quick stat: Every 15 seconds a child dies from unclean water. When approaching my principal this fall about it I was unsure of how if would pan out...lucky for me, my principal is amazing and was all for it! Oh yeah Anne Doerr! So, we thought we'd wait until after the busy fall and wedding until we put this into motion. 

This last Monday, we had an assembly presenting this service project to all of the 500+ Fire Ridge kids and staff. I was veryyyy nervous about heading up this assembly...Long story short, it went pretty well (aside from the part of the assembly when Ms. Sara was describing the difference between the clean water we have here and the dirty water they have in third world countries, following up by asking what kids would want to drink some of this water with animal poop, pee, bacteria, and dirt in it...of course three students threw up their hands...TWO OF THEM IN MY VERY OWN CLASS! Ugh! After I was JUST giving my own class the inside scoop about this service project and how important it was...You have GOT to be kidding me!).

At the assembly we presented the students with "The 2 Week Challenge" (Shout out to Britt Hardin for speaking)... Basically, they are to drink ONLY water for the next two weeks. Then, take the money you would have spent on soda, juice, sports drinks, bottled water etc., and put it aside to give clean water. They would collect their savings and put it in a cup that were handed out last Monday. The money would then be totaled up and donated to The Water Project Organization to help build wells for small villages in Africa and India! So great!


We are halfway through the project (It ends April 15) and I'm so unsure on what the results will be. It's TOTALLY up in the air! Kids could be saving money daily or they could have thrown the idea out right after the assembly on Monday. So, it will be interesting. I've really been praying about it and know that if whether we raise $100 or $2,000 it will help those in need!

The kids will carry gallons of water around on Monday to get a little little glimpse of what girls have to do daily in Africa. This is one gallon. Sometimes they carry 5 gallons (which is 40 lbs) 6-7 hours a day!

Student Council made some posters to put around the school:)

Students have wristbands to remind them of the "2 Week Water Challenge".

I will keep you updated with the results! 


http://thewaterproject.org/

and I said yes...to a bulldog!

As many of you know I am not what you would call an "animal lover"...I don't know why, I wish I could be, I think I should be, but I'm just not. I usually get the response "but you teach little kids...", ha. I may teach the little ones, but having cats walk in between my legs with their tail out and about gives me the creeps, and doggie drool....just not a fan. There have been countless times where my friends will take over to "protect" me when it comes to the animal creatures. Whether Jen and I are at a friend's house with animals (immediately there is eye contact made between the two of us...she knows that I know a dog is quickly approaching my area, usually I try to secretly move behind her, and let her take over the petting approach) or when Breezer and I used to go on walks around different neighborhoods. As soon as I would hear a dog bark I would dash around her to the opposite side of street the dog was, I would freak out and nervously think about how big the dog would be or how fast it could catch us, all the while she is laughing and making fun of me. So yeah, animals...don't want one, not ever getting one...

Adam and I will be picking up our bulldog in a few weeks...I gave in! Ever since I knew Adam, he has ALWAYS wanted a bulldog.  He strategically has been sending me pictures, photos, videos, anything he could about bulldogs for the last two years. I think he had a plan that getting me used to the idea of "awww the puppy is kinda cute" would make it easier in the long run to get my "okay"...which it did, so props to him (and anybody else in this situation you could learn from this sly little planner-ha).

Yesterday Adam and I decided to paint the food and water bowls for our little "Bruce the Bulldog". Note: I have recently found that little Bruce might come in very handy for me as well...(It would have taken a lot more talking for Adam to go to "That Pottery Place" if I just wanted to go paint frames, plates, and vases:) but since it was for Bruce, he was in in a heartbeat)!
 

Here's a look into our painting! We will go back next week once they have been glazed & fired to pick 'em up!

And here is a quick preview of little Bruce. Born February 21:) We will go get him the day before Easter if everything goes as scheduled...This will be interesting!

Colors, Words, and Shelves.

So...three things I want to share and three things that have nothing to do with each other. Bear with me here...

1) Cards. For anyone who knows me, they know not to send me into Hallmark quick to grab "a card". Minimum time spent in there will probably be 30 minutes, give or take. I have multiple boxes stacked up in the closet at home designated for my "cards" (yes, it may be pathetic, this I understand, however, am choosing to ignore it). Some, of course, are for "certain events" that happen with friends and family (duh Amy, right.)... aka , my last minute "Thank God I bought this card 4 months ago" cards to grab as I am throwing on my long, gold Jcrew necklace and rummaging through my bins of shoes to head to a wedding that we should have been heading to fifteen minutes prior! A lot of the cards that I buy are displayed around wherever. School, my room, the bathroom, anywhere...(This is now a little trickier to pull off since Adam thinks it is not super necessary to have twenty cards stuck on our fridge, the bathroom mirror, etc.). I love to send random cards though! Cards in the mail, to someone, just because it's "March 20" (which means nothing at all). I will say I have been slacking in this area since the wedding and whatnot (and I don't even want to think about all the thank yous I have yet to start..!!!), but I think I will make it my "summer goal" to do this better. Before Adam and I were even engaged we talked about starting our own card company! Perfect! There are more times then I can count when having your husband be a creative little son-of-a-gun comes in veryyyy handy:) Here are just some random cards that make me smile (the best one, of course, being one my lil bro made for me for my 22nd bday, let's just say...he forgot about my birthday, I made him feel supperrr guilty, and that sparked him to do something a little more personal that would get him outta the doghouse with his older sister- ha)!

My friend Rachyl moved out to Cali and sent me this one. I'm a sucker for the sparkles and bright colors!

From the Boss himself (aka Austin)

2) I don't think many people got to see how Adam proposed to me, so here is a little booklet that he made and shared with me on June 10, 2010! Hooray, he is so dang cute!

One day when we were out for dinner he drew two stick people on a napkin holding hands and I was obsessed with it! Hence, the stick people:) 

3) Shelves....So, I didn't know that practically every small piece of furniture you buy you basically have to put together! What?! Adam and I used some of our gift cards from good ol' Target to buy a shelf for our room...needless to say, what we thought would be a 45 minute project turned into a 4 hour and 50 minute project! Ahh! We would proudly screwed in bolts, humbly unscrewed them (figured out how the piece was really suppose to go), and screwed it in the correct way. This was what we did. and did. and did.  Let's hope we have lots of time to get better at this....ha. 

Snugglefest 2011

As cheesy as it is, one of my favorite things to do is snuggle! Ha. The other day before I left for work I told Adam I just wanted to snuggle the whole day and not go to work. He responded by saying..."so like a snugglefest?"...This caught my attention quick, but I knew there wasn't such a thing obviously. I laughed, thought about how much fun that would be if there was one, and left to go spend the day with 20 nine-year olds.  A couple days later I got the mail and this is what I found:

Hahaa...I loved it...and just so happened it was on our big "1 month" anniversary:) Adam is so good.