bored. at school?

to start...  a picture from erin's wedding.  isn't she such a beautiful bride?!?!  photo credits to andrea filio.


i have never been bored at school before. normally i have SO much to do and catch up on that i barely have time to breathe!


well, i am leaving right after school today.  in 1 hour.  for the airport with my love.  so we can catch a plane to long beach municipal airport. so my dad can pick us up at 6.35 pm (actually after we get our bags). so we can get things set up the next few days for our wedding!!!  in just 3 days!!!

OUR WEDDING IS IN 3 DAYS!!

so i'm bored because i have the next 7 school days COMPLETELY planned.  papers copied.  examples done.  explicit lesson plans.  that's pretty much never happened.  and for once, i won't be going day to day or even hour to hour.  instead, i will be laying on the beach with my husband in the bahamas.


i told my kids this is the last time they will see me as miss kendrick.  they're all super excited for our wedding but even more excited to call me mrs. hopper for the last week of school.  and since it was the last time they would be seeing me as miss kendrick, i let the whole class stay in and eat lunch with me instead of the usual 1 table on fridays.  they clapped and were soooo excited.  i'm such a good teacher. (and completely humble, i know.  but wait...refer to the above statements of never being this planned and going hour to hour.  yeah, not that great.)

happy moms day.

i can't even describe all that she has done for me and my family these past few months, let alone my whole life and for my whole family and for anyone else that has ever come in contact with her.

2 weddings. 2 graduations. all within 2 months.

plus a job.

and a family.

and serving diligently in the church.

that's only the start of it... 

she's kind of amazing.

i love you mom.

i'll see you in 3 days!

because.

i am getting married in

5 days.

sub plans: i hate you.

yesterday was no bueno.  no one likes to be at the school past 3.15 pm on a friday.  well, how about 6 pm? i don't even stay that late any other day of the week.  i take my things home and work on them.


alas, i have 7 days of sub plans to do. 7 days, people.  that's pretty much a teacher's worst nightmare.  if you think about how long it takes me to do 1 day--a good 2 hours, plus preparing and setting things up for the sub, it's like 3 hours at least.  okay, times that by 7.  that is 21 hours.  i've already put in a solid 10 hours on these bad boys.  and call me a bad teacher, but i pretty much worked throughout the half school day yesterday on them. but before you think i'm too bad, they were working independently on their centers, and they did an art project, and they earned their "special activity"/end of testing/seis de mayo chips and salsa and a movie party.  so, it was only like 2.5 hours, really.


on the plus side, i have never been more prepared this far in advanced.  i have the next 2 weeks completely planned--worksheets ran, overheads made, powerpoints made, it's great.  okay, well i still need to do all of my set up and typing up of my lesson plans for my sub, who is one of the best.


but why 7 days? 


oh maybe because i am getting married in 1 week!!!!!!!
but we are leaving on a jet plane in 4 days!!!!
and then we will be in the bahamas for 5 days...nbd.  

and this is the photo that was in our wedding announcement.  thanks to b&l hopper.

so sub plans?


YOU ARE TOTALLY WORTH IT.
actually, it's steven that is totally worth it.

pinch.

13 days!

then you can just call me Heidi Hopper

Photo credits to Brett & Elaine Hopper, my almost in-laws--Thanks!

This photo represents what our relationship is really like.  Steven finds it very amusing to pinch me.  I tell him to stop.  Every time.  He probably never will.

Weekend happenings and highlights:

1.  Steven and I bought a bed.  It is very comfortable.  Hooray for no more worn out apartment mattresses.  Well, in 13 days, that is.  Actually, more like 21 by the time I get to sleep in it.

2.  We also bought some sunglasses for our honeymoon.

3.  Today, I taught my last Relief Society lesson as a single woman.  I used President Uchtdorf's talk, "Waiting on the Road to Damascus" from April's General Conference.

4.  I am currently working on my final classroom newsletter.  This week will be my last full week and I will only be there 3 days next week, so I decided this will be our last one.  Well, I will also be there the last week of school, but we get back from Arizona the day before, so I don't want to have to worry about writing one.  That's the beauty of being a teacher in your own classroom!

5.  I picked up Steven's ring.  He wants to see it and wear it now because we are so close to being married, but I told him no and that he can't see it yet.  And then he tried to tell me it isn't fair that I get to wear one and he can't.  Well, sorry bud!  Mine is an engagement ring and we are still engaged.  His is a wedding band.  And we are not wed.  And I don't wear my wedding band yet.  Confession: I did try it on with my ring, again, when I was home for Spring Break.  Whoops!  

6.  Momma Hopper was up here for BYU Women's Conference with her girlfriends this weekend. They are hilarious.  I didn't know 3 married women, each with a slew of kids, could be so crazy (in a good way, Elaine.  it is good!).  But, then again, that is pretty much how I am with my sisters and girlfriends, so it is good to know that outings with the girls will never change! Steven and I met up with them for dinner Friday night and then a trip to the temple.  I love the temple.  And then we hit up BYU Creamery for some ice cream.  Peanut Butter Trails is death by chocolate AND peanut butter.  YUM!

teacher appreciation week.

um, love this week. 
nice lunches.
treats in my box {which have been added to my "candy" closet.}

this was on my door monday morning.

the present opened up and there were all these cute sayings!

hopefully, you can click on the picture then zoom in to read them.  some are pretty funny.

and today one of my little girls walked in with a little gift bag for me.  and in that little gift bag was a little gift card.  and that little gift card was $25 to nordstrom.

UM, hello thank you!

and then during our lunch drawing, i got a lovely book, "the joy of gardening." and 2 free meals to in n out. i'm sure steven will enjoy those.

***

i am just SO happy right now.

duh.

i'm getting married in 15 days!!!!

2 weeks from tomorrow!!!!

yeah, i graduated.

that's right, folks.

i graduated.

but i still have 5 {strike that} 4.5 weeks of school left.

well, really i have 2 + 1 = 3.  because in 2 weeks from today i will be IN california.

for our wedding.

and then i will miss a week and a half from school.

2 days before my wedding and then a week for our honeymoon.

and then i will be back for the last week of school. which is full of tangled, assemblies, field day, desk scrubbing, and games. so pretty much, i just have 2 weeks left.

{and 7 days of sub plans. that's like asking if i could lick the scorching hot cement for an hour. aka not fun.}

but yeah, i graduated. feels...like i need to finish teaching and get a job? should it feel that way?

and now a poem for your enjoyment.

i lost my favorite mug.

was it eaten by a bug?

or stolen by a thug?

maybe it's under the rug.

wherever it is...

i want it back.

thank you.

tomorrow marks 16 days!!!!

kids are funny. and a good quote.

in the morning the kids come in and put the things away and get right to work on their brain book.


so, i am sitting at the back table going through the homework folders.  one of my little boys walks back to the trash can to sharpen his pencil.  he then says, 

"i used to have 2 goats.  one got hung over at sally's house.  one...i don't know what happened to him, but i think he froze."

***

one of my girls has been "banished" to the corner.  she has a really hard time not talking. being in the corner isn't really helping too well, though.  it's a problem.

so yesterday was her first day in banishment.  at the end of the day, she had a sign taped to her desk that said,

"{girl's} propity.  peaple that can come in mikalei, sally, joel, miranda, me,"

[and then the bell rang.]

well...at least she did the right apostrophe s.

***

in other news...

despite the fact that i've been sleeping on emily's couch cushion's on her floor, and the fact that her shower broke sunday morning and i had to shower at the gym this morning, and the fact that i barely get to the gym anymore and there are too many causes of celebration {i.e. my graduation / upcoming marriage}...

i am getting married in

18 days.

yeah.

18 days!!!

everyday i wish i could close my eyes and wake up and it be 11 am may 14th.
because that's the time we are being sealed in the newport beach temple.

“The temple sealing has greater meaning as life unfolds. It will help you draw ever closer together and find greater joy and fulfillment.”


~Elder Richard G. Scott
{read full article here}