Best Week Ever

It's F R I D A Y! Which means there are sweatpants to be put on, debates to be had about where to eat for dinner, and Rob & Big to be watched! (our current obsession) Friday, I love you. But before I join Chris for our wild Friday night plans, I thought it'd be fun to just take a minute and reflect on the past week and see who's having the best week ever--according to the Gourley's.

First up is our front door. This guy has gone through some rough patches--one too many church flyers being taped to it + kicks, scrapes, and sticky hands from the Gumball Gang. Fortunately for him, I started to notice and decided to give him a little TLC. I put the vinyl "hello" (which Chris thinks is too inviting...) on him a while ago, but hadn't had time to add much else until last Saturday, which is when I decided to make a wreath!... because wreaths are basically the extent of my crafting abilities.

Front door also got a new doormat this week! I hadn't planned on buying a new doormat, but while I was wandering aimlessly through target with my large soda in hand (so therapeutic), I found that bad boy on clearance! And just like anything that's in the clearance section at Target, I convinced myself that I needed to buy it. 

Next nominee for having the best week ever would have to be Hi-Chews. 

Chris decided it would be a good idea to buy a huge bag at Costco for us since we don't have a membership/luxury of buying crap we don't need in bulk, so he made sure to take advantage when Tom G and Martha took him there. After this past weekend I am now reminded of why we don't have a Costco membership... we ate the whole bag of Hi-Chews in three days, people! THREE DAYS. Hi-Chews may be gone, but they are not forgotten (literally-I'm still finding wrappers!), which is why they most definitely are having the best week ever. I guess you could say my thighs are having the best week ever, too. 

Speaking of my thighs... they, along with the rest of my legs are having the best week ever. Why? Because for unknown reasons, I have shaved my legs not only once, but twice this week! That's about two times more than I usually shave in the month of February (Chris might be a better candidate for having the best week ever than my legs-ha! No shaving=marriage!). 

Let's be honest though, I think we really know who is having the best week ever this week...THIS DRESS!

I actually had no idea who this dress was until this morning, only after I had 3 different students ask me what color the dress was. "Mrs. Gourley is it blue and black or is it white and gold?!" I felt like I was taking a pop quiz every time a student pulled out their phone to test me. At first I thought it was just a high schooler thing to be worrying about the color of this dress, but after checking my Facebook feed, apparently the rest of the world is worried about it, too. Obviously, it's white and gold ;) But when I looked at another picture of the dress, I saw blue and black?! Clearly, I'm a Divergent or something. And clearly, this dress is really who is having the best week ever since it's broken the internet better than Kim Kardashian. What color do you see?!? 

Now it's time for dinner! Where I'm sure me and Chris will still be talking about that dang dress. Happy weekending!

high schoolers say (and do) the darndest things

Almost every time I tell someone I student teach at a high school they gasp in amazement and say, "Teenagers? Wow, you are brave!" which is when I usually just kind of smile and reassure them that teenagers really aren't as big (even though most of them are taller than me), scary, or annoying as everyone else makes them out to be. In fact, they're actually quite entertaining. You know, when you can get them off their phones and keep them awake during class.

Don't believe me when I say that teenagers are entertaining? See for yourself! Here's a little glimpse into what the past month and a half of my life has been like spending most of my time with hyper, hormonal teenagers...

+ (on my first actual day of teaching)
student: "So, are you like, a teacher?"
me: "Yes. I'm your teacher."
student: "What?! I thought you were one of us! I feel so betrayed!"

+ After introducing the class question box (students submit health-related questions anonymously for me to answer next class period), a student came in with a mischievous smile and made sure to tell me, "Look in the question box! I have a really important question!" which I looked at during lunch, only to find a note that read, "Do you wanna build a snowman??" + an inviting looking snowman drawn underneath.

+ Students answering test questions like this:

+ And like this:

You're right, student. "You shall not pass" this exam.

+ (during a student spotlight) 

me: Okay, what questions do you have for our spotlight student today?

student: "Zombie apocalypse. Where you go. Who you're with. Weapon of choice. Ready, GO!" 

+ student: "Mrs. Gourley, I think I'm dying."

me: "Why do you say that?"

student: Because I've been throwing up all weekend and now I just don't want to eat anything and I haven't had an appetite for like, two days. Am I dying?! Please tell me I'm not dying!" 

+ "OH! Your name is Mrs. Gourley? I've just been callin' you 'Big G'..." (thanks, child? still prefer that than being called 'teacher')

+ I noticed a girl in my class had a really big heart-shaped Valentine on her desk and so I said, "Ooooh Grace, is that a Valentine?!" To which she immediately squealed and said, "Yes! It says I hope you get Chipot-laid!" (Chipotle is her favorite restaurant). After holding back a huge laugh (be a grown up, Shayli!), I had to quietly ask her to put it away. I didn't dare ask what another girl's Mountain Dew Valentine said on it... 

+ "Please bring your horse up to my desk, please"--a sentence I never thought I would have to say in my entire life, let alone teaching. But I did have to say it during 4th period when I was in the middle of a discussion about fitness components and was so rudely interrupted by a horse's naaaaaayyy. For whatever reason, a student had brought a broomstick horse to school. 

+ "Are you testing us to see how big of fatties we are?" is what a student asked as he looked questioningly at the bowl of M&M's I placed on his table for a caloric expenditure activity. 

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See? Teenagers aren't so bad! Are there days I want to rip my hair out? Yes. Are there days that I blame my 4th period class for the 44oz of Dirty DP I'm sippin' on the way home? Absolutely! But when it comes to teaching high schoolers, the good definitely outweighs the bad. They're funny, they get my jokes, and honestly, all they really want is for you to smile and show that you care about them. They're simple creatures.

It's crazy to me that I only have a little over a month left with these people...I can't help but be a little sad thinking about it. The only thing I can think of to cheer me up is thinking about the comments I'll hear tomorrow when I have my students watch a CPR video that says "push fast and hard" about five too many times... 

...and now I am starting to understand why I love/relate to my students. I think I'm okay as long as I don't start using #'s in formal essays, right?

my "old" man

We celebrated my dad turning the big 5-0 yesterday! And I gotta tell ya, I wasn't expecting it to be such an emotional birthday. Not for me, anyway. But then again, how did I not expect to get emotional when one of my biggest heroes hit such a monumental point in his life?!

I've grown up knowing that my dad is bad-a, especially in a my-daddy-can-beat-up-your-daddy kind of way (which he can), but I kind of thought other dads were almost as cool, too. It wasn't until more recently in my life (especially now that I'm teaching) that I started to realize that not all dads are created equal. Not all dads would never miss a sporting event (including high school cheer ha), be able to help you through those boy problems in high school, or carry the train of your wedding dress all around Temple Square in a blizzard. I was one of the luckies who got a dad who did all those things + so, so much more.

Since we're not the sappiest, touchy-feely, type of family, I'll just end with this: *Dad, you are my biggest hero. You inspire me to work hard, love my spouse with everything that I have, and always be there for my future children (your grandchildren!).  Happy 50th, fajia!!!

Love,
Shay-leh
(shitbird)

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*Huge assumption that Shelby will make you read this post. Also, I'm convinced you are cheating in Trivia Crack. How are you doing that?!

LOVE DAY!

After this weekend, I've come to the conclusion that Valentine's Day should just always be on a Saturday, because we basically got to celebrate Valentine's day for two days! And I'm all about twice the love + twice the food (Chris just gets me). I'm happy to say that this year I definitely felt the love...and I'm still feeling the food. I'm guessing Chris is too, since he just walked in and suggested we go on a cleanse (ha!). 

I feel like our Valentine's this year was pretty low-key, meaning that a good 75% of our weekend was spent in sweatpants. We started off our Valentine's weekend on Friday by eating at Apollo Burger--because we are classy like that-- followed by some cuddling on the couch and watching basketball. I also surprised Chris with some bath time crayons (Chris takes a bath every single day), which we now use to leave dirty messages for each other in the shower, again, because we are classy like that. 

I think the only thing not low-key was Chris' gift for me this year. I was so, so shocked + surprised on Valentine's morning when he brought it into me! All week he just kept saying, "So you're in charge of Valentine's this year, right?!" Chris must have known that the only other way to my heart (besides food) is makeup. I think Chris might be regretting setting the standard so high for Valentine's gifts after this year, though. 

Saturday afternoon was spent at Discovery Park with the Gourley gang, which was nice, because I'm pretty sure we would have just spent the day on the couch if we didn't have that excuse to get out and go play. After the park we went back to mama and papa Gourley's and had pizza, a Valentine's pinata, and cake for Tessa's birthday. 

After hanging out with the Gourley gang, we went home and (accidentally) enjoyed a 2 hour nap (romantic or what?!). When we woke up, the battle of "What should we do?" "I don't know, what do you want to do?" started. Luckily, I won that battle because Chris came up with the idea to go visit our spot, Tidbit. Unfortunately when we were driving up there, we realized that the road gate wouldn't be open yet, so we wouldn't be able to go visit our spot. At least Chris was "lucky" enough to remember his binoculars in case he needed to look for some turkeys. It also worked out for us because we got to go visit my cutest cousin in the hospital and her new baby boy, Ridge! (kickin' myself for not getting a picture with him now...)

The rest of our Valentine's Day consisted of a food crawl: Bam Bam's BBQ for Swachos (just do yourself a favor, and go get the brisket ones), Brassa's for some good ole street tacos (that aren't $11!), and then of course, SWIG, because hi! It's US. 

Speaking of us...I love us! There's no one else I'd rather be an "us" with than Chris Gourley. 

I hope you all were able to spend your Valentine's Day with your own Chris Gourley! And if you haven't found your Chris Gourley yet, keep lookin'! I'm sure he's out there... lookin' for turkeys or somethin'.

  

Taco SaturDATE

Do you think a couple that intentionally puts sweatpants on before going out to dinner can afford $11 tacos? Let me rephrase that... do you think a couple that intentionally puts sweatpants on before going out to dinner is willing to spend $11 on tacos? I'll let you decide...

After seeing Masa Mexican restaurant pop up countless times on my insta feed + being recommended by one of my students, I convinced Chris that we should go try it on Saturday night. We weren't quite sure what to expect. Okay, that's a lie. I did know what to expect because I read reviews on Yelp and Urbanspoon, but Chris didn't because I "forgot to mention" that the reviews had the words "fresh" "organic" and "ambiance" in them--not the words we typically look for in restaurant reviews.

I knew it was going to be a little pricey, but I was expecting more like 180 Tacos pricey ($2 a taco at 180 Tacos is pricey to us Gourley's), not $11 for two tacos pricey! I will admit, they were yummy tacos (fist pump to whoever decided to put green apples on a steak taco!), but me and Chris both agreed they weren't that yummy. "We could both eat at Chubby's for the price of two tacos!" I guess we're just all about that Del Taco life.

So if you haven't already figured it out, the answer is NO--couples that intentionally put sweatpants on before going out to dinner are not willing to spend $11 on tacos. They are, however, willing to share one plate of tacos because they plan to go to Del Taco and Juice Press right after. Oh, and they're also willing to be in bed by 9:00 on a Saturday night.

Do you guys want to be friends with us? WE ARE COOL DANG IT!



p.s. 5 days 'til Valentine's Day!!!

weekending via bullet points

(how terrifying is Chris here?!)

+ We started our weekend off right by finally putting our gift card from Mama & Papa Gourley to use! Dear Texas Roadhouse, you complete me--and my thigh gap. Someday I'll be able to refuse the bread basket, but that day was definitely not Friday. 

+ Watching our cutest nieces in the mini cheer clinic + confirming Chris' worst nightmare--there's a good chance that our future daughters will be cheerleaders ;) But seriously, after all of my PE classes, I think cheer is the only sport I'm qualified to teach our children. Unless they want to learn how to spike a volleyball INTO a net. This all made for great conversation in my parent's hot tub. 

+  (not pictured)(for good reason) Cardio Muscle Mix Class with Shelby, which consisted of a lot of being shown up by middle-aged women + "holy $h*#! this hurts!" looks exchanged + shamelessly leaving 10 minutes early. Sisters are the best gym buddies. 

 + Sisters are also the best shoe shopping partners. I'm so glad Shelby was there to help me make sure I didn't buy any Nike's that were "chunky," "mommy," or "90's-looking" this weekend--I think we succeeded. Guys!  I'm seriously so pumped about my new shoes! I have never bought Nike's that weren't for cheer. I felt like a new woman! Like, where have you been all my life Nike? Even if I did kind of force Chris to compliment my new shoes (Babe don't you like my new shoes? You always say girls who wear Nike tennis shoes are hot! Do you think I'm hot?!), I could tell that he was proud of this purchase, too.

+ I crafted! Well, if you count putting stickers on sticks as crafting... but anyway, I loved how it turned out! I got my vase at Target, sticks from my mom's, and heart stickers from Dollar Tree. I'm thinking I might keep the sticks and change out the stickers to shamrocks for St. Patty's Day... I know, SO crafty of me!  

+ (also not pictured for good reason) The Super Bowl! aka Finger Food Day! And Katy Perry! Truth: I totally teared up when she sang Firework and...um... when Missy Elliott came out on stage (ha!) yes, I know--I got issues! So many feels, though! Speaking of feels... how sad were the commercials this year?! Not sure how I feel about it yet.  

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This may not seem like that great of a weekend, but it's one of the better weekends I've had in a while--food, shopping, exercise, semi-crafting, family and more food! What better way to bring in February than with some of my favorite things?

I didn't realize how much I love February until I started thinking about it.... Valentine's! The Walking Dead! Presidents Day (no school!)! Shorter month! + One month closer to graduating. Ah!

I like you, February.