Thanksgiving Time. . . .

Leavitt/Merrill 1st Annual Softball Game!!

(THE All-Stars posing for a pic. . .well at least before we played)

Hey Batter, Batter. . .

My thoughts, "Keep your eye on the ball, just keep looking at the ball. . . DON"T MISS!!!!"

Our first EVER attempt at deep frying Turkey-Gobble, Gobble!!

TA-DA!!

It was delicious-the best turkey yet!!

(Yep. . .that's my husband)

Do ya think we can fit more in the kitchen!!

I kept out of the preparations hysteria. . . . but later became clean up crew, which I will take any day!!

This is your face after a heaping dose of Turkey Dinner. . . .and then some!!

After dinner we all played games, went 4-wheeling, rock crawling in the Jeeps, taught young children how to hunt with a bow. . . .ya it was the usually get together!! :)

Then the big boys had to have their turn!

It was a great Thanksgiving!! It was terrific to see all of Jesse's family again!! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving time!!

GRADUATION!!

The whole crew. . . I have had the amazing opportunity to be with this terrific group for the past two years - (The AP RED Cohort) It has been a long and almost never-ending two years, but the sweat, blood, and tears have paid off-FINALLY!!

"Wannabe's"NO MORE!! Way to go all-We Made It!!

Anne, Eliza, Me, Mary-Elizabeth

Love you all-Thanks for being there for me!!

After our Senior Banquet-hugs all around

Thanks Jess for being my rock and supporting me!!

I love you Mom & (Dad) for all your prayers, support, and guidance throughout my life and for raising me to know the value of an education.

Thank you!!

THE BIG DAY!!

Picture Time. . . . .

Mama'D & Papa'D

I couldn't help but add this picture. . . we were giggling at Jesse and the camera snapped. Just a cute moment!

Love ya Mom!!

The big moment. . . .

My last walk through Dixie's "D"

I'll always be a 'Rebel'

I did it. . . . . (great cheeser babe!!)

Oops! Camera was still rollin'. . . . .

Thanks to all for your love and support as I have ended another chapter in my life. Now a new chapter begins as I start out as a 4th grade teacher, yahoo! Someday I plan on getting my masters, but I need a little break for a minute before I go back. Maybe a family is in my near future - who knows. . . time will tell!!

Strawberries 'n' Sunday

What a post I just had to laugh at this. . . .

Sundays are crazy days when you have the "privilege" of attending church at 1 to 4. It is a switch I tell ya from the 9 to 12.

Well, as we walked in the door, not 10 seconds later, I turn around to find Jess stationed on the counter eating strawberries dipped in sugar.

(Or should I say sugar dipped in strawberry-SUGAR BUZZZZZ!!)

I just had to laugh and snap a picture of him and the delicious treat he so hastily concocted for himself.
Well I wasn't about to let him have all the fun and deny my taste buds of such a definable, summer-days delicacy, so I joined in!!

Yep!! Strawberries and Sundays go hand-in-hand (especially when you are starved from lack of nourishment for the better part of the day)

What a little quirk from the lively leavitts!!!
Never a dull or lacking moment-just the way we like it!!
FUN & SWEET!

GUESS WHAT. . . . . (No, not what you think!)

There are so many reasons to be celebrating!!! Where to begin. . . .

Teaching positions in Washington County has been slim to none this year and the pressure and necessity of finding a teaching position has been weighing me down. BUT NOT ANYMORE!! I will be teaching 4th grade at Bloomington Elementary School next year! YES I HAVE A TEACHING JOB!!! AHHHHHHH I am so thrilled!!

I have had one of the best experiences of my life working at Bloomington and I had hoped for a position there. Well dreams do come true!!! I got the official phone call from the district Wednesday. I finally feel that all of my hard work and countless prayers have paid off. I am so excited to be working with a great 4th grade team and especially finally have my own class!!

Next, I will also be graduating in 14 days and I am also graduating with honors!! It has been a long journey, but I will FINALLY have my Bachelors in Elementary Education. Someday, after a year or two of teaching, I want to begin work on my masters, but for now I am content and can't wait to begin work planning for next year!

Birthday Blessings!

I'm a little slow on the go in blogging about this . . . but I guess better late then never!

Birthdays are just not the same as when you are little and can't sleep the night before, because you are reeling in the anticipation of the biggest day of the year. Quite honestly I rested well the night before MY DAY. Here's what the day had in store for me.

5:45am, my darling husband rolls over and gives me a bear hug and wishes me a Happy Birthday to wake me up for my big day!!

I arrived at school to find my desk all decorated!! (Thanks Annelies)

The day previous, March 24, was my mentors birthday! I decorated the door for her and had secretly planned a party for her with the help of her fiancee. Well . . . unanticipated by both of us. . . . she had a little party planned as well. So we partied twice that day and send the kids home on a major sugar buzz!
(Although it's way past and I am so late blogging this . . . Hope YOUR day was fabulous Annelies-your the greatest and I appreciate all you do for me!!)

My Birthday Balloon Buddy!!

During lunch, Jesse showed up with a dozen roses and balloons!! What a darling husband!! He had come to eat lunch with me and meet the kids. (The students had been asking me from the first of the year when they could meet him and they were so excited when he finally came-He loved it)
Thanks babe for making my day to wonderful - Your Amazing!!

Just before he left he told me to come home as soon as possible and get dressed in some warm clothes. He anticipated my question and stopped me mid-sentence to say, "Don't ask questions on your Birthday!!)

I was totally excited to get home!!


These are the darling Gerber Daisies that Nicole and her family sent me at school. They were so vibrant and beautiful. Thanks sis!!

Here were a few gifts from the kids and Annelise
(Thanks to ALL!)

I almost forgot to show you MY birthday present from Jesse! Well, technically is OURS, but since the purchase of our new OUTLANDER 800 was so close to my birthday I call it MY Birthday present!!

Pretty FLASHY huh??!

So. . . when I arrived home Jesse was ready to go!! I went to ask where we were going, but got the 'quit asking questions and hurry and get dressed' look. Needless to say-I was so excited!!

Here we are as we venture off into the mountains on "MY" new ride!

Jesse had planned for us to go on a picnic up to Browse, by the old ranger station. This is the place where we went on our first date and where he sent me on a "treasure hunt" where he proposed.

It has become our little spot. We had not been up in a while and I was so excited! It is gorgeous and has breath-taking views!

Well, we came to a little problem. . . the gate was locked!! What a BUMMER!! So we picked a spot on a nearby ledge and had our picnic. Below are some picture of where we were.

You can see Kolob in the background.
Although we didn't reach our destination-I was loving every minute of it!

We had subway sandwiches-same as we had on our first date . . . . I scarfed mine down-yeah the whole thing!

As we finished eating Jesse gave me my birthday present-Tennis Balls!!

The roses, balloons, and classroom visit was terrific and on top of that I got Tennis Balls too-WOW Jess you went overboard!! Ha Ha!

(We had talked about going and playing tennis forever-we both have our rackets but we never bought the balls-but now we are set!!)

After he laughed and I giggled, because I couldn't tell if he was serious or not. . . (what a tease) he pulled out a coupon for a massage to a salon of my choice and a little coupon booklet. I was elated by the massage, but the handmade "Happy Birthday Coupon Book" was priceless.

Jesse had made it and it was filled with things like: Good for one full-body massage for 30 from him, Good for any (on the spot) hunny-do, Good for one car wash from your husband, Good for one a romantic night on the town-my choice-and other than the usual we do, Good for one 'night off'-Jesse makes dinner, clean the dishes, cleans, etc., good for anything I want-NO questions asked (gift, chore, favor, $$), plus a few more!!

Really. . . what a tearjerker!! I began to cry-it was so thoughtful and meant more to me than any expensive gift ever would. Honestly this was the best Birthday present I had ever received-it was purely made out of love.

I have the most amazing and thoughtful husband ever!!

It truly is the little things in life that make the biggest difference. I can't imagine my life without you babe.

Thanks for all you do for me. . . &

Thanks for being my Knight in Shining Armor!

XOXO

Detroit Temple--Detroit Pistons--& Snaps

Detroit Michigan Temple

Ty and I in front of the Temple.

This temple is a smaller-working Temple. It shares a parking lot with a stake center and the stake center is a little bigger. But it is Beautiful!!

Front View

Backside
Nic & D

Darling Family!!


THE PISTONS v. LA CLIPPERS
Tyson talked about cheering on the Pistons the whole day!! He was in cheerleader spirits!!

Nic and I didn't plan on wearing similar clothes. . . . but just as Mom and Mama'D do. . . we both came out with long-sleeve black undershirts and red!! We couldn't believe it. . . . although 7 years apart we are so twin-like!!


Taryn all ready to go. . . . not quite sure what to think about the noise. . . .

Tyson getting frustrated at the Pistons. . . . They were only warming-up!! So Funny!!

(Aunt D is a goof and recorded this sideways sorry all for the kinked neck!)

The Drummers put on a great opening show and did more throughout the night!!
Opening . . . . Awesome!! The fire was so hot we could feel it where we sat (balcony)

Opening Tip Off!!

Tyson is thoroughly thrilled and loving every minute of it!!


(Oops!! Sideways again--sorry)
FREE PIZZA for TYSON!! The cheerleaders were handing out free pizza from Domino's to the loudest fans. Vaughn grabbed Ty and put him in the air about 5 feet and started to wave him around and told Tyson to scream loud!! Needless to say he got the pizza!!
What a Lucky Kid!!

Taryn made it through pretty well until. . . the Pistons made a come back and we were all yelling. It scared her!! Then we found out that when her mom would yell she would fall apart!! So Nic quite cheer leading and kept quiet. Tyson asked why his mom was not cheering every second like him, he is definitely the Pistons #1 Fan!!

Final score. . . . PISTONS WIN!!!

It was a pretty good game. . . .full of energy and drunk fans!! It was great!!

I loved to see Tyson just take it all in. Thanks Vaughn and Nicole for the wonderful evening!!

Here are some SNAPS that I thought were blog-worthy!!

All Day Shopping & Painting

Today we went to the coolest mall (Somerset) I have ever seen! I was in heaven!!!

First of all it was so huge that it spread across the highway-2 HUGE malls-and you had to take the sky walk across the highway to get to the other mall.

We shopped hard and both kiddos were tuckered out by the end. Nic held sleeping Taryn and I pushed the big kid in the stroller.

We took a few seconds in our rush to see it all and took a few pictures by a water feature that shot water from the center of the glass squares. Tyson loved it and wanted to climb in. . . . Sure go ahead lil' buddy!

What a stinkin' cutie!! I just love her smile. . . . I can't wait til she is older so we can do gal-weekend getaways!!

Later on (after we all had naps) we decorated our T-shirts that "Larry the Leprechaun" left for Tyson for St. P Day. He had a ball and was VERY creative!! His was a jungle and 'jungle" it was!!

Oh, but it was a Hoot!


Mine. . . pretty normal-not quite as abstract as Ty's



Way to go Nic!

Don't you love this?!?!. . . . He'll be a famous designer someday! HAHA

Final products!! TADA!

Tomorrow MORE Shopping and THE PISTONS GAME!! YAHOO. . . .