I wrote a paper for my health class. The assignment was to write a journal type essay on the one thing that I was most thankful for. I chose my family. After that we were supposed to decide which dimension of health it applied to and blah, blah, blah...Anyway, I wanted to share it. Its kinda long so... I just thought it was important to make sure the people I love know it! (sorry no pictures this time!)

Ok well Justin says the hormones have officially made me crazy, which is scary because it is still so early! Anyway, maybe he is right. Maybe it is the hormones, or maybe it is this most amazing time of year, I don't know, but either way I feel like I have so much to be thankful for.
First of all, I have the most amazing husband a girl could ask for. I know without a doubt that he loves me; he shows me that every minute of every day. I know that he will be a great daddy.
I guess I really want my family to know how much they mean to me. I sometimes forget to say it or even show it. Some people say that you can't choose your family, but I believe that I did choose my parents and that they chose my sisters, brother and me.
My mom used to tell my sister and I that people would always come and go in our lives but we would always be sisters. I used to hate when she would say that, but now I think it all the time. It's not right to say that my sister is my best friend, instead she is my sister. I don't think a best friend even compares to the relationship between sisters.
Then there is my brother. I know he can be a pain, but hey I love him. Even though we used to literally torture him until he would explode, he still looks up to me. I only hope that I can live up to his expectations. He was always proud to be my little brother. I hope that he will always feel that way, because I certainly feel proud to be his big sister.
My baby sister, do I really need to say more? I think anyone who has a baby sister knows how I feel. She taught me so much. She lovesme unconditionally, no matter what I do or say. From the day that she was born, she seemed to be my reason for living. She is and always will be my baby sister!
Not only was I blessed with an amazing family, but with some pretty great in laws. I have some of the best brothers and sisters in law. They are truly an inspiration to me (even if some of them live hundreds of miles away!) Their faith and courage strengthens me everyday. From day one they treated me like a sister, not just the girl who married their brother. And when I married Justin I gained some pretty neat nieces and nephews, who I love very much!
Now I know I didn’t say much about my parents. I am very thankful for them. I just don’t think there are words to describe how much they sacrificed for me and how much I truly love them. I wouldn’t even know where to begin. All I can say is that I love them very much and I am thankful for every thing they have done and continue to do for me.

Havin' my baby!

Two nights ago Justin and I went to the movie with my mom and dad, and little sisters and brother!It was fun. We saw Four Christmases! It's about spending Christmas with in-laws(the crazy kind!) After the movie my dad made a comment about "Now I feel bad for being an in-law!" Justin wanted me to clarify that we don't think we have crazy in-laws! We just wanted to set the record straight!

Last night Justin and I went to my parents house for a fun family game night! It really was fun! I put a family slideshow together with a bunch of pictures from when we were growing up. I set music to it and everything. Not to brag, but I think it was pretty sweet! I think the best part of the slide show was the last few slides. I'll post those three on here so you can see what I mean! (the whole slide show was over 20 minutes so I'm not posting the whole thing!)

Their reaction was great! When that first slide popped up at the end both my parents were like "wait, what?" and then after a second it sunk in and my dad was like "seriously? thats awesome!" It was way cool! So yes, Justin and I are having a baby. Our due date is June 6, 2009. We are ecstatic. So far we have had one ultrasound (8weeks) and we have heard the baby's heartbeat and movements. On Monday we get to hear the baby's heartbeat again. We are thirteen weeksright now! We don't know yet if it is a boy or girl. We don't know yet if we want to know! We both kind of want to be surprised. I guess it will depend on our mood when we have our next ultrasound!

Pumpkins and Baptizms

Ok this was supposed to be posted last Sunday (11/2)...but our internet was being weird, so it is a little late!












Justin and I didn't really do anything for Halloween. We just hung lights and carved pumpkins. Here is a picture of our pumpkins. The silly face is mine, and the pirate skelaton head is Justin's. We had fun carving them together!












Yesterday, Justin and I went to Burley and Justin had the privilage of baptizing his nephew, Braxton. He was a little nervous (actually, I don't think nervous is the right word, he was more anxious and excited! After all this was his first time baptizing anyone.) He did so good, I was very proud of him. We are also very proud of our nephew for choosing to be baptized. Today we went back for Braxtons confirmation. His dad confirmed him. It was great! Justin kept saying how honored he felt that Braxton asked him to be a part of this special event.

"My Wish"

Ok so the other day I was on my way to work and I was listening to the radio. This song that I had heard at least 100 times came on. As I listened to the words of the song I had this thought. I could just imagine our Heavenly Father saying something similar to this. It just reminded me how much He loves us, and all the things He wants for each and every one of us. So, I just thought I would share my feelings about this song with everybody!

"My Wish" -Rascal Flatts
I hope that the days come easy and the moments pass slow,
And each road leads you where you want to go,
And if you’re faced with a choice, and you have to choose,
I hope you choose the one that means the most to you.
And if one door opens to another door closed,
I hope you keep on walkin’ till you find the window,
If it’s cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile,

But more than anything, more than anything,
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you’re out there gettin’ where you’re gettin’ to,
I hope you know somebody loves you,
and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.

I hope you never look back, but ya never forget,
All the ones who love you, in the place you left,
I hope you always forgive, and you never regret,
And you help somebody every chance you get,
Oh, you find God’s grace in every mistake,
And always give more than you take.

But more than anything, yeah, more than anything,
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you’re out there gettin’ where you’re gettin’ to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.

My wish for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you’re out there gettin’ where you’re gettin’ to,
I hope you know somebody loves you,
and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish

This is my wish
I hope you know somebody loves you
May all your dreams stay big

Too Tired To Sleep

Ok so some of you might know that our cat, Stretch, ran away about 4 or 5 months ago. It was very sad, Justin still misses him very much :'( We decided to get a new kitty. He was very cute at the pet store. Now he is just kinda mean. The top picture was right after we got him when he was still cute and cuddley and fuzzy. The other ones are within the last week or two. His name is
"Chevy". He is kind of a mean spirited little stinker. I have the cuts and scratches to prove it!!! He does like Justin though and thats what counts I guess.

This was the weekend after the Fourth of July when Justin and I went fishing at Milner Dam By Burley. It was fun we could see the huge carp jumping in the water. We don't really have heavy duty poles or fishing line so a couple of the big carp got away with a hook or two. Justin was trying to reel in a big fish he caught but it just snapped the line and took off with his hook, line and sinker. It was pretty funny. I also was lucky enough to catch the biggest and the littlest fish of the day. I would say the littlest one was about:

[_______________________________] and my biggest fish was probably about this big:

[_____________________________________________]

Haha those are probably pretty acurate measurements!!! My brother-in-law caught 3 fish and he was pretty sure it was the same little fish all three times!!! LOL We did have fun though. We love to go fishing with Justin's Brother and Sister-In-Law, and niece!!

Last week two of my nieces, Jaxi and Tori, and my little sister Jessi, came and stayed a couple nights with us. We had fun. Justin and I took them to the Temple Open House. All three of them had already been through it. I was amazed at how excited they were to go through again. I was a little worried that they would get bored and start misbehaving, but they didn't. They just kept saying 'wait til you see the next part' or 'there's this one thing that's really cool'. I thought it was great that they were so intrigued. I also took them to the park that is just down the street from our house. They had fun playing. I love when the kids come over and play. I also noticed the other day that I only ever post pictures of like 3 or 4 of my nieces and nephews, just so you know we have around 22 nieces and nephews total. We don't get to see all of them as much as we would like but they do exist!!

Justin and I went fishing again last weekend. We didn't catch anything! My neice and I decided that the fish just aren't hungry this summer! We tried some new bait because we got a tip from a guy who was catching tons of fish on the dock next to us. Sadly, it didn't work for us!

I started work on Thursday. I am back at the same pre-school I was at last year. It is a little bit of a commute, but I just love my job too much to leave. CSI classes start on the 25th of Aug. So Justin will be starting his last year! In case you haven't checked our countdown at the bottom of our page, he has 8 months and 21 days to graduation!!!! Only two more SEMESTERS!! I am so excited!!!!

I heard something interesting the other day that I thought was worth mentioning. It turns out that the "gates" were open the same day the Temple Open House started so the Shoshone Falls are Full Flow, just like in the paintings and in President Hinkley's vision. And they will be shut the last night of the open house(and this was not planned by the city or the church it just happend that way). Last winter everyone here was complaining about all the snow we got, but it was because of that, the dam could be opened so early. I just thought it was cool that the Falls could flow the way they are painted in the Temple and the way the Prophet saw them in his vision of the Twin Falls Temple. I will try to scan the picture of the temple that has the falls in it. Anyway...

I finally decided!

Ok so over there on our little 'About Me' paragraph thing it says that Justin is going to school to be an Auto Tech and that I haven't decided. Well, good news! I HAVE decided! I want to teach preschool! So I am going to get my Early Childhood Special Education Blended Certificate. It sounds like a lot but really it just means I can teach preschool through 3rd grade special ed or not. Anyway...the plan is as soon as Justin graduates we are moving to Pocatello so that I can go to ISU and finally finish school! So, I am pretty excited that I finally know what I am going to school for!

I've been tagged!

Where were you 10 years ago? Justin: It was summer before my Junior year. I was just working at Wal Mart and hanging out with Thomas.
Toshia: Wow, ok 10 years ago I was, ready for this, enjoying my summer before I started 6th grade! I don't really remember much about that summer except the neighbor boy, Ryan, and his friend Andrew. They used to come over and jump on the trampoline everyday! I do remember 6th grade tho, the friends I made that year stuck and we had fun together for the next 6 years!

Five things on today's to-do list?
1. Pick up the house a little
2. Get some pictures developed
3. Make Visiting Teaching Plans
4. Feed the Missionaries
5. Clean the Kitty litter box (that's on Justin's to-do list!!)

A snack I enjoy: Jusitn: Oreos
Toshia: a snack? hmmm, I dunno, baby carrots & animal cookies... not together, but as two different snacks.

Things I would do if I were a millionaire: Justin: Start my own business.
Toshia: Oh man I think the real question is what wouldn't I do? I would probably buy a cute little house somewhere beautiful, so I would have somewhere to call home. But then I would just travel. Travel everywhere! I mean EVERYWHERE!

Places I have lived: Justin: Burley, Heyburn, Pocatello, Boise, back to Pocatello, back to Heyburn, to Wendell, and now to Twin Falls.
Toshia: Wendell, Jerome, Wendell, Coos Bay then North Bend, OR, back to Wendell, then Hagerman, Wendell, Rupert, Wendell, and then Amon/IF and back to Wendell, then two different houses in Newport, OR, back to Wendell again, to Provo, to Pocatello, Heyburn, BACK to Wendell AGAIN, and now Twin Falls! Sadly when Justin graduates we are planning to move again, but this time hopefull we will stay a while!
Ok so now we tag all of you! (NO TAG BACKS!!! hahaha)

Camping

Justin and I went camping over the 4th of July weekend. The only downside was that we missed the fireworks. We did get to see some while we there, they were a little ways from us but we could still see them. We went to a place called Hayspur, between Shoshone and Sun Valley. Justin and I had never been there, but one of Justin's brothers was there and told us how to get there. So we camped with Justin's brother Chet, his wife Teresa, and their daughter Taylor. We fished all day, and I mean ALL day, Saturday and didn't catch a single thing!!! The sad thing is that this particular stream is stocked (it is part of a fish hatchery). We could see the fish in the water, they were huge, and we watched them swim right past our hooks! We used every type of lure and bait we had (which was a lot)! Anyway the weekend was alot of fun, we enjoyed capming with family! Here's Justin PRETENDING he caught a BIG fish!!!Yes, that is a PINK pole AND a PINK princess chair!! ha ha!And yes that is a pretty pink bike!! It was beautiful where we camped. It has been so long since I enjoyed the beauty that is truly all around me! (Unfortanately that nice fifth wheel and truck overe there are not ours! We slept in a tiny little tent!)

Splish Splash...

A couple saturdays ago Justin and I went to Dietrich to visit with his brother, Josh, and his family. Actually I went to visit, Justin went to help Josh out with some "Automotive Technician" stuff. Anyway, they barbequed (thanks for dinner by the way!) and we ate dinner outside. After dinner Josh was watering some strawberry plants in front of his house. Charlie (he was exactly 11 mo that day) decided to run through the hole in the hose! Well he ran as fast as his chubby little baby legs would carry him. It was so adorable!

Jaxi and Tori had just finished swimming and changed into dry clothes or they probably would have joined him!

Caught a fish!!

Justin and I have been fishing a few times over the last week or so, and haven't had a single bite. Yesterday we went and we weren't having much luck. I told Justin we had to go fishing every night until we caught something. He was getting tired and wanted to go so I was just dangling my line over the dock waiting. And then out of no where a big fish tried to eat my dead worm and I caught one!!! It was crazy! The one time I didn't take my camera with us we caught something! We just do 'catch and release' so we didn't keep it. But still it was fun, our first fish this year.

Justin's Birthday

Yesterday was Justin's golden birthday! He turned 26 on the 26th. I bought him stuff for fishing and camping. Fishing poles, full tackle box, sleeping bags, a tent, and bug spray! We went fishing and had a picnic when Justin got home from work.

I also bought Justin a smiley face cake. He didn't know about it until after we got back from fishing. I told him to wait in the bedroom while I got the cake ready (he didn't know what I was doing). So I got the cake out and lit all 26 candles, then took a picture.
When I went in to the bedroom to tell him I was ready he pretended he was sleeping because it took me too long. So by the time I got him to stop faking and come out I turned around and the cake was on fire!!! Yeah, on fire!! The candles melted to fast and caught the plastic glasses on fire. So I had to run over and blow out all the candles! After we picked all the wax and burnt plastic off the cake it was still pretty good!
By the way...if anyone is curious we have a counter at the bottom of our page that counts down to Justin's graduation day.

Sunday Afternoons

Justin and I stay so busy through the week that when Sunday comes around we don't know what to do with ourselves! We try to catch up on sleep but that only gets us so far... we get really, really bored!

Random

WOW! I can’t believe it is the middle of May already! This year seems to be going by so quickly. Justin only has one year left of school! I am so proud of him for working so hard and doing so well in school so far. He got a B in his Chemistry class! (At mid-term he had a D…so a B is AWESOME!) He is going to be working at his sponsoring dealership for the summer! One of my favorite things about Justin is his desire to be such a hard worker. Even though he doesn’t HAVE to start working until the first of June he went in the day after his last day of class! He doesn’t want to miss a second of learning (he has a mentor who teaches him on-the-job stuff).

Anyway…enough about Justin, lets talk about me! Ha Ha just kidding…but seriously… Thursday was the last day of preschool :'( Out of 23 preschoolers 17 will go to kindergarten next year. I am going to miss them so much. Thursday was kind of bittersweet because I am relieved that school is almost over but it was sad because those kids really grow on ya. It was still fun though. We finger painted!! Talk about fun! I still have to work for two weeks though, doing screenings and testing for kids who will come in next year. Oh and we have inventory and cleaning. So the next two weeks will be hard work.

Last weekend we went to Jerome and celebrated Ty’s birthday with my family. He turned 15. I can’t believe my chubby little brother is a superstar teenage athlete! We went and watched him play baseball today. It was hot!(It was over 90 degrees out there and his game started at noon!!) When we first got there my mom offered us sunscreen and being total idiots we said no thanks. (I wanted to get a little color…unfortunately the only color I got was red!!) So now we are sun burnt! Anyway Ty did really good. His team lost but Ty did good! Sometimes I am so jealous of my little brother! He is so cool and he has so much talent. I wish I could have had half the talent he has. I am so proud of him for working so hard to be such a star. Today he pitched, caught and played a little shortstop.

Two weeks ago our cat, Stretch, left and hasn’t come back since. I keep telling Justin he will come back, but…Justin has had Stretch for over 5 years, since he was a kitten. I hope he comes back, for Justin’s sake.

April...

So here’s a post to let everyone know that we are still alive!! And to give a little update on what happened with us in April.

Well, at the first of the month we moved! We live in Twin now, in a cute little one bedroom apartment. I don’t have any pictures of it yet because we haven’t actually finished unpacking so…it’s kind of a mess! We like living in Twin. We are just a couple of blocks from The College, so that’s nice. Plus we don’t have to drive 25 miles to go to a store!!! Our Cat wasn’t too happy about the move though. We kept him inside for the first two weeks; we didn’t want him to run away! All he did the whole two weeks was stand at the door just like that!!

Two days after we moved I turned 21! My parents took us out for dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant. It was nice.

A week later we went to Jerome and celebrated Jessi’s 10th birthday with her! She is growing up so fast! I remember the day she was born. I remember my dad calling from the hospital and saying “You have a new baby sister” I was so excited! And now she is 10! I can’t believe it! It doesn’t matter how old she gets though, she will always be my baby sister!! I love you Jess!

This last Sunday was quite eventful for us. It started out nice and quiet. We went to our new ward here in Twin, it was…small and…loud, very loud! We came home and put in a movie and were planning on taking a nap. About 3 o’clock there was a knock at the door. Apparently, we had a new neighbor. She is…different. After introducing herself she asked if we drank, we said no and she was taken aback. “Well then, do you smoke pot?” was her next question. When we said no, she said “Oh, so you guys are like perfect or something?” again we said no so she asked, “So what do you do then? Crack?” Ok now we were starting to get freaked out!! We kept trying to politely go back inside but she just kept talking! Finally we just jumped on the motorcycle and left! We came back and tried to sneak in the front door. About 5:30 there was another knock on the door. We weren’t going to answer it (ok I wasn’t going to answer but Justin is just too nice). It was her friend this time. She needed to borrow our phone because our neighbor had fallen down her stairs and thought she broke her arm…oh and she thought she had a stroke! Come to find out this lady is a raging alcoholic. She was so drunk she couldn’t…she just couldn’t. The ambulance came and took her away! We have tried to keep our distance and be very quiet so she doesn’t know we’re home…ever!

So that was April for us, just as boring as the other 11 months! We stay pretty busy with work and school and crazy neighbors, but I am going to try to post more than once a month. This post was way too long! And if you read all that I’m sorry it wasn’t more interesting!

This is the last time I let Justin take the picture! HA HA HA!!