For Laura

My friend Laura is getting married in December and since I am in Southern California this weekend I checked out a color for bridesmaid dresses she had been looking at. I told her to check my blog to see if she liked to color. It was really beautiful! It is a little more purpley in person.

The little house

We recently moved into to a little house in old Roseville. It's adorable with lots of character. However, it is small with no dishwasher and only a swamp cooler. We are having a great time decorating but even with the few extra square feet it is a lot more to take care of! (ie clean... (: ) We love the extra space and we love the backyard! Here a few pictures of the house, including the original stove!

State Fair and SoCal

After my wonderful BTSA meeting I rushed over to the State Fair to meet some friends, Erica and Casey, Bobbi, Kevin, and Jake, and Kristin. I am not really the throw down type of girl but I had to trick Kristin because her fiancee was planning to propose to her at the hypnotist show. I will give more details later but it was a wonderful surprise and it is so great to see her happy!
Now I am packing to go see our family in SoCal! Matt is driving all the way to SF and back to Sacramento tomorrow and then we are driving to Riverside for the long weekend. It will be nice to see family. I know it will be hard to see them before the holidays. It is going to be a busy few days! ~N

I have to sneeze!

Whew, today was crazy. Teaching is crazy. 1st graders are crazy! I love teaching, I really do, but man do they exhaust me! When they come into first grade they are babies, confused to why they cannot go home after lunch like in kindergarten. Some struggle with holding a pencil and for the first few days the poor little guys got lost coming back to the classroom for recess. With first graders you have to be on the ball the whole time. If you look as though you are wearing down they too will wear down. I am using my perky teacher voice all day every minute. They can smell if you are unsure of something. With teaching you must make a lot of quick decisions and once in a while I get out of teacher mode and go right into Niki mode and forget that I have to make quick decisions. You can lose them fast!
Yesterday I had all my students sitting in perfect little rows quietly looking at me for directions when one little girl raises her hand. I can on her and she says "I need to sneeze." I say in my perky teacher voice, "Honey, you don't have to tell me you need to sneeze you can just sneeze!" She just continues to look at me. So I say, "Do you need a tissue?" She said, "No, I have some in my backpack." Finally, while still looking at me with big, innocent eyes, she coughs twice. It was so funny. Her first language is not English so I know that she was so confused! It was really cute!
Oh, the joys of teaching! If only they learn how to sit in a chair! ~N

Love and Marriage

I love being married. I love having someone with me all the time. I love having someone to wake up to in the morning. I love to have someone always "doing" things for me. And, I love having someone to always do things for.
Don't get me wrong, it's not all beautiful and perfect, we have had our fair share of fights these first 2 months of marriage. We are still learning how to live with one another and we especially struggle with time together. Right now our schedules are completely opposite of each other. I work all day and he works all night. And now that I have started teaching and don't remember ever being so exhausted!
I love Matt though. I love how he loves the LORD and how he loves me. His desire is to make me happy and I never thought I would find someone who loved me so much. What a blessing! ~N

Blogging???

So, I love to read blogs. I find them so interesting. I am constantly checking the few blogs that I read. I guess it is a case of nosiness. But then again I love seeing how the people are that I have crossed my path are doing and what they are up to.
Today I was inspired to start my own blog. I had sent my mother-in-law some pictures of the work Matt and I have done on our little house and realized I needed to email her another update. Then I thought, my grandma would really love to see that also. And, it would be fun to send my friends pictures in the south and keep them updated on my life in the west! Plus, half my family is in southern California. While washing dishes by hand (oh the joy of no dishwasher!) I made my decision. I am going to start my own blog. I don't know how do it. I don't know how to add pictures or put up links. I want to learn. Let's see if I update! ~N