adulting!

Want to know what a clear sign of transitioning into adultohood is? When all of your conversations at the dinner table have to do with the state of your yard (AND maybe when you start blogging about it?). We're not the only ones talking about our yard, though. We have had SO many neighbors come up and congratulate us on saving the yard. 

To give you an idea with what we were dealing with before, Chris picked up so much garbage around the house, like, actual garbage, we had a woman in our neighborhood come up and ask if we would let her rabbits come and feast on our dandelion infested yard (okay lady we get it our yard sucks!), and the first thing people would say to us when we first moved in was, "Oh man, we're so happy there will be someone in that house to take care of the yard now." Yes, our yard was quite the talk of the town... and we caved into the pressure and finally did something about it!

"Can you drive by our house really slow so I can admire our yard?"

You'd have thought it was Christmas morning when we got our curbing done. We talked about it for a week straight. Then we put the soil in and planted--that's when I knew we were full-blown adulting! The excitement over flowers + trees + greenery was uncanny! Now that our yard is all done, we find ourselves going outside every evening just to sit and admire it. Okay, and maybe I've already mentioned that we should get some bird feeders, because adulting, guys! 

Take THAT rabbit lady! 

. . . now let's hope we're adult enough to keep all our plants alive. 

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: St. George + Vegas!

As you can tell by the title of this post, we went on vacation! Except this vacation was a little different for us--we went with just us two! Which I'm pretty sure hasn't happened since, um... our honeymoon? Is that bad?

Before we left, Chris kept calling this vacation our "trial run" to see if we really could spend that much time together and not get sick of each other. Spoiler alert: we still love each other. However, there were a couple of times when we both would look at each other at certain moments and mentioned something along the lines of needing a "travel couple." Mostly when I wasn't brave enough to ask someone to take a picture of us. Hence the very poor quality of snapchat selfies...

Anyway, St. George and Vegas were so, so much fun and just what we needed + our way of compensating for not going to Hawaii with my siblings. Enjoy the highlights from our trip! Whether it's the good, the bad, or the ugly ones.

THE GOOD: 

-Stopping in Fillmore to golf (Chris' request obviously) + driving the golf cart

-Peter Pan at Tuachan Theater 

-Nielsen's Frozen Custard (ask me how my clean eating went while on vacation I DARE YOU) + proving Chris wrong after he doubted I could eat a whole pint by myself (does he not know me??)

-Zion's--so beautiful!!

-Seeing "Now You See Me 2" in St. George

-SWIG (always)

-swimming with the Robinson gang!

-Chris getting a massage

-The Vdara hotel in Vegas. Holy nicest hotel I've ever been to + the pool there giving me all the heart eyes.

-Shake Shack! 

-The Variety Show in Vegas--so last minute for us, but so fun. 

-The al pastor tacos at Yolos 

THE BAD:

-Not realizing that the person playing Peter Pan at Tuachan was a boy. Totally thought it was a girl until intermission when Chris corrected me. Woops!

-Chickening out on the last stretch of the Angel's Landing hike. Two words --> hell.no. I'm still having panic attacks at night thinking about how high up there we were! 

-Someone pooping at the pool while we were swimming with the Robinson gang.

-Walking into someone else's room at the Vdara hotel. Think CSI episode and that's what it looked like--silver briefcase opened on the floor + clothes scattered everywhere + one random strappy gold high heel standing up on the floor... awkward. 

-That it was 109 degrees in St. George the whole time we were there.

-Getting sunburned. 

THE UGLY:

-Seeing not one, but TWO students at the swimming pool.... while in my bikini... UGH. SO MORTIFYING!! I took that as a sign from God that I just shouldn't wear bikini's anymore. 

-Tears that were shed up on Angel's Landing. Straight up tears of fear. 

-Nipple tassels because Vegas. 

-Coming back to reality. 

...and that's it! Short and sweet. Just like our trip.
Viva Las St. George + Vegas!!!

Clean Simple Eats Challenge

WHO THE FREAK AM I?!?!

That's what I've been asking myself as I've been preparing to do the Clean Simple Eats Summer Challenge with my sister-in-law, Kat. But wait, I know exactly who I am! I am someone who has shamefully been living off of Diet Dr. Pepper + Dove Chocolate this week and it's only the first week of Summer! I am someone who is sick and tired of feeling. . . well, sick and tired! Okay, okay, and maybe I'm tired of being a mermaid and want just a liiiiittle thigh gap? So, as Barney Stinson would say, CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

If you're not familiar with Clean Simple Eats, it's a 40 day meal plan which entails lots of "clean eating" with foods that are definitely new to my kitchen--greek yogurt, protein powder, peanut butter in powder form ("What the freak is that?!" said Chris) and a bunch of other foods that my love handles just scream 'EW!' at. But don't get me wrong, I am pretty excited about this! I have never done anything like this before + my sister in law had such a good experience with it last year, so even though I'm a little nervous, I'm feeling pretty good about it!

Anyway, in order to hold some kind of accountability for me since I'm a "my diet starts Monday" type of gal + a major lover of junk food, I thought I'd post this on the blog and maybe do a couple of updates along the way? Which I'm sure will involve a little whining and humor and NO awkward before and after pictures--unless I end up looking like Jen Aniston, in which case there will be a lot of afters.

Okay, and maybe I'm hoping that those of you who read my blog will be inspired? But mostly I just want you to tell me to STOP IT RIGHT NOW if you see me start using the hashtag, #cleaneating, or Snapchatting every single thing I eat.  Promise you will? Thanks.

Wish me luck!
And if you really want to join in on the fun, click here.

Shelb's Day

If you don't already have a Shelby in your life, are you okay? Like, are you even enjoying life? Because goodness knows everyone needs one in their life! Luckily for me, I have a Shelby that I get to call not only my sister, but my best friend (because I'm sure you didn't already know that) + it's her Birthday today!!!

If you're not quite sure if you have a Shelby, let me ask you a few questions. . .

• Who do you tag in hilarious/inappropriate Instagram posts?
• Who do you have to believe you every single Sunday evening when you tell them that your "diet starts tomorrow?" 
•  Who do you talk sh*z with + with your mom?
• Who's there for you when you completely crush that one part in Jessie J's song, "Domino"? 
• Who'd you go through the "cringe-worthy eyebrow stage" with?
•  Who do you SnapChat with while you're on the toilet + end each statement with the poop emoji?
• Who do you take Zumba from?
•  Who do you approve all of your hair + outfit choices with? 
•  Who knows what's pissing you off just by giving them a certain look?
•  Who do you go on loooonnng walks with? 
• Who do you tell everything to even after your husband said not to tell?
•  Who do you convince to let you cover them completely in peanut butter because it'll be like "Tom and Huck"?
•  Who tells you whether or not you have swass?
•  Who has a whole file on their phone dedicated to unflattering pictures of you?
•  Who is your best friend in the whole wide world?

Okay, so maybe that was more than a "few" questions, but maybe that's because Shelby is in Hawaii right now without me and I'm a lot bit depressed about it and feeling a little sentimental? Anyway, if you were able to answer all those questions with the same answer, you have your Shelby! Congrats, that means you've lucked out in the best friend/sister department.

Happy 23rd Birthday, Shelbs! I hope you're having the best time in Hawaii (but kind of not really) and that your day has been filled with Cade, miniature things, Dr. Pepper, chocolate chip cookies, and everything else you love!

bike rides & back scratches

One time I made Chris go on a bike ride with me RIGHT after eating Mexican food so that I could show him this house with an amazing backyard (I explained that this yard was #yardgoalsAF now that he understands what "goals" and "AF" means). Then I told him it was only 3 miles away, when really it was 4.21 miles. Then Chris' back tire was flat, and he said he'd be fine because we were only going out 3 miles. Then Chris' bum started to hurt because it's been a long time since he's been on a bike. Then he started to realize our bike ride was a lot longer than 3 miles, and he started to get the meat sweats + some angry sweats. So now I owe him lots of back scratches while we watch basketball this Saturday night. . .

MARRIAGE, amiright?!

MAYday(s)!!!

You know it's the month of May when . . .

-you need all of the caffeine in the world

-your students ask you every single day "Will this count on our grade?" or my favorite, "Do I need to dress out for PE today?" Yes, and YES, child, you still have two more weeks of school . . .

-you leave your classroom for one minute and come back to notes like this on your whiteboard (p.s. I may or may not have had to explain to Chris what "af" and "goals" means. Jr. high definitely keeps you young!)

-you have about 5 different "end of year checklists" you're scrambling to do at any given moment

-you find yourself getting a little sad at the thought of not seeing your students for 10 weeks

-you find yourself smiling at the thought of not seeing your students for 10 weeks

-you're creating your "Summer of Shay Bucket List" which pretty much only consists of "workout" and "get tan" on it so far. . .

-you can tell someone at any given moment exactly how many days of school you have left

-you're tired of saying words like "penis," "vagina," and "scrotum" because you're almost finished with the human sexuality unit

-you have to answer questions like "what's a vagina?" (asked from a GIRL in my class... true story) again, because you're teaching human sexuality

-you sit and complain to your co-workers about how all your students have checked out, but in reality, you've checked out too

-your 3rd period class asks if they can do the Running Man Challenge, and you agree to let them, because really you hope it goes viral so you can be on the Ellen Degeneres Show

Ask me how many times I watch this a day... I DARE YOU (this is when I get sad about not seeing my students for 10 weeks--they are seriously the best!)

-Your students act a little too excited at the thought of throwing their notebooks around during the Running Man Challenge

- - - - - - - - - -

Is it coincidence that the word mayday begins with "MAY"? I think not. 

Only 7 more school days left + lots of caffeine to be consumed. 

Tuliping + Half Marathoning + Mother's daying

This weekend felt so, so busy! But the good kind of busy, like the busy that makes you feel like you got your sh*z together, you know? I only say that because I feel like I have anything BUT my sh*z together these days... why is May the month where students decide to go crazy and act like they don't need to follow rules anymore? Can I just curl up in the fetal position and read Harry Potter and have Chris feed me chocolate peanut butter ice cream? Ah, I'll save you from my teacher vents (Chris can be the lucky one to hear them ha!) and just get back to telling you how BUSY I was this weekend... ha! I'm the worst.

The weekend started off with me and Chris going to the Tulip Festival on Friday... after it hailed all day...leaving pretty much all the tulips destroyed. NBD. I think that worked in Chris' favor, though... since I only asked him to take ONE picture there with me. Chris did tell me he had mentally prepared himself for 5 or 6 pictures, though... he's slowly learning! But anyway, I guess we couldn't complain too much about the destroyed tulips since I was able to get us in for free (#teacherperks) + I love just walking around those gardens because it brings up memories from one of my most favorite dates with Chris (you can read about that here). Long story short: We had fun tuliping for date night!

Saturday was my half marathon! <--You'd think from that exclamation point that it was something I trained consistently for, and didn't completely stuff myself with Los Hermanos the night before... but you'd be wrong! Because I probably should have trained more, and ate a lot less Mexican food... but it all worked out! I made it across the finish line without losing my sh*z (literally) + I crossed the finish line with my brother, Mckay! It was his first half marathon ever and I was so proud of us because we never stopped and walked or anything. It was so fun, and I hope that Mckay will forget the pain of those last 4 miles so that he'll want to sign up for another race with me! I'm strategically waiting a couple of months before I ask him.

Last but not least... Mother's Day! Chris surprised me with my favorite homemade smoothie in bed + a Swig giftcard + ice cream. Is Chris my person or is he my person? Which now that I think about it, maybe I need to set the standard a little higher than just bringing me all of the junk food to become "my person." Anyway, Chris was so sweet and made this Mother's Day imposter feel special.

And speaking of Mother's Day. . . I'm so grateful for my own mom and my mother-in-law! They are both so self-less, funny, loving, AND always feeding me... so I guess I can consider them both "my person" too? Anyway, I'm grateful for all the other wonderful mother figures in my life--aunts, cousins, sisters, friends--I love you all! Can we all just agree with Beyoncé when she asks us WHO RUN THE WORLD?!

I hope everyone had as "busy" of Mother's Day weekend as I pretended to have + has the ability to walk down the stairs normally.

xo