Summer Lovin and the job of my dreams

Guys,
This summer has been the most fun EVER!!!!!This is going to be a picture overload...sorry!
We started the summer by getting extensions in Sophie's hair....love them because they are so easy to maintain....no combing, moisturizing, braiding, etc. Hate them because they make her look so much older and she adds a little more sass and attitude into daily activities which is not so much fun:)

 

Next, it was off to Des Moines to visit family and go to my brothers wedding. It was so great to see family who I rarely get to see. I love Families!!!! I do feel kind of sad because I have more pictures of food that I ate than of the people I ate it with:( boo! Next time, I am going to be snapping more pics of actual people! Anyway, my Aunt Amy lives by a beautiful forest and Sophie was so happy to be a wild child and run through the trails....here are a few pics! oh, and my brother Paul is a monkey!

 

Next, we went to the Mall of America!!! We shopped our little hearts out, rode a merry go round and ate the most delicious Godiva Shake!  Love that place! Amen! oh and isn't my sister Katie stunning? Seriously! She got all the good looks!

 

The next few days were spent getting ready for my bro's wedding, staying up till the wee hours chatting with very dear cousins, (I love you so much Tani!) and going to the Omaha Zoo which is the most amazing Zoo I have ever attended!

 So, my brother Tim was the first of my siblings to get married! What a happy day! He made a super good choice, Kayti is so sweet and I am so glad to have her as a sister:) I am thankful for the temple so that we can all be together forever!
Thank you so much to Tani and Camille and Amy for letting us sleep at your beautiful homes! I just loved visiting you guys!!!!

The next morning, we drove to Kentucky to visit Dan's sister Meghan her hubby Riley and their baby Owen! We had SO MUCH FUN! We pretty much love Louisville, and I may or may not be plotting ways of how we can move there. It was so fun to watch the kiddies play together in their pool, Sophie was obsessed with Owens Lightning Mcqueen Car, and we had so much fun attending a little fair their neighborhood put on...they had hot dogs, cotton candy, bouncy houses and soda...what more can a 2 year old ask for? we also enjoyed swimming in the pool...that girl Sophie has no fear!

 

We were able to spend a bunch of time in downtown Louisville...can I just say that I love Downtown Louisville so so much! It is a such a beautiful, diverse, old, and fun city!!!!! I just love it!  We walked down by the river, went to the Louisville Slugger museum, toured old beautiful mansions that made me covet and ate lots of yummy food!

We also went to the zoo which had a very fun splash pad area and Churchill Downs...Sophie kept saying "let me race mom....I run faster than the horses!"

 

Guys, we got to go to NASHVILLE! I love love love that place!!!! Such a fun city! And the food! I love deep fried green tomatoes so much!!

Sadly, we did have to come home and drive 25 hours with a 2 year old:( we couldn't resist stopping at Santa Clause Indiana and Sophie got to sit on Santa's lap...

 

Thanks Meg and Riley for opening your beautiful home to us!!! You guys are great host's! We cant wait to come this Christmas!!! jk:)

 

The rest of the summer was spent going to Kangaroo Zoo, North Shore Pool in Ogden, lots of play dates with our friends Kae and LoLa, celebrating free slurpee day, picking lots and lots of black berries, celebrating Sophie's Sealing Day by eating her favorite Tacos, celebrating the 4th by dancing the night away, and dancing in the rain whenever we got the chance!

 

 

 

 

We even had visitors this Summer!!!! Devin Megan, Duncan and Liam as well as Meg and Owen came to see us! We had so much fun going up to Park City, going to Lava and taking the kiddos to Jungle Jims play land and Get Air in roy...so much fun!

 

 

We even got to drive to Vail Colorado to attend my cousin's wedding...it was such a beautiful ceremony on top of a mountain. We had a fun celebration of dancing and yummy food after. We also drove over to Denver and went shopping and ate even more yummy food!

 

And we even found time to squeeze in the county fair! Whew! What a fun summer! I love summer so much!

 

So, now that we are all caught up, here is how I landed my dream job! On our way home from KY, on our 25 hour drive, Dan and I discussed our hopes and dreams for the future. He decided that maybe continuing his schooling right now would not be the best idea and so we decided that he would quit school and use his Masters Degree in Social Work...he is working with elderly people in SLC. I decided that I wanted to quit working to possibly be a stay at home mom. so I quit my job with Ogden School District....I love and miss the people I worked with (the school district not so much:) I seriously thought that I was going to stay home and possibly do a pre school so I gave away a bunch of my teaching materials. As the summer progressed, I remembered why every August I need to find my self a job outside the home and inside a school....so I applied as an aide at the Willard School just a block from our house. I was so excited when they called me to the position. I was even more excited when they called my last week saying they had more kindergartners than they had planned and they wanted me to teach kinder in the mornings!!!!! You guys, this is the best job ever! I cant beat the commute, I get to work at the same school I attended as a child and I even get benefits which Dan is not getting right now because he is doing contract work. I want to leave with this testimony that I know Heavenly Father knows the desires of hearts and knows our needs! He wants to bless us more than we can even imagine! I am just feeling so blessed! I hope that you guys are having a fun summer! oh and guess what? Dan, Sophie and I get to go to Disneyland next week! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

LOVE,

EMILY

PS I am so thankful for 3 hour naps which Sophie just had!