Whew.....I survived!

I am sure that you are wondering what exciting and dangerous adventure I have been on lately, and I am sorry to tell you that it is not nearly as exciting as what you are probably thinking.  It has to do with a wedding that I helped plan/run where the bride struggled to be organized, despite my best efforts, and some how wound up with a list of 100 things that still needed to be done one day before the wedding!

One of my loves in life is weddings.  I decided after our wedding that I might enjoy doing some wedding planning/coordinating on the side of teaching.  I won't be one of those people you see on TLC who is able to design everything, but I enjoy helping the selection and organization process of it all.  My friend Janae was kind enough to let me test my skills at her wedding and rehearsal, and things went well.  So, when a friend asked if I would be interested in helping from the start with a cousin's wedding, I was excited, and said I would do it for free (crazy I know) since it was my first one from the start.  Little did I know she would change her mind a thousand times and end up being so unorganized.

Some of you are probably bored, so let me just get to the day before the wedding.  Keep in mind that she and I had already met and planned for 20+ hours over the last 6 months.  I show up Thursday to begin the set up process for the reception expecting to see some strong young men, boxes that were labeled and organized, and possibly more than five people, including myself, but that expectation ended up being unrealistic.  Despite the unorganized state of the set up and the overwhelming list of to-dos we got it knocked out.  I was very frustrated because I checked in with her frequently to see if she had questions or needed anything from me, and she repeatedly told me no.   Some of our set backs Thursday could have been prevented has she told me she needed help, and I would have gladly taken care of them.

Trying to move this post along because I can sense your bordom, let me just tell you to envision anything that could go wrong before a wedding, and it probably did.  Including things like having to buy flowers at 8:00p.m. the night before the wedding, the groom getting so drunk the night before his big day that he doesn't remember how he got the huge scratches on his face, half of the wedding guests showing up 15 minutes into the ceremony, finding out 30 minutes before the wedding that the bride decided she needed to run to Wal-Mart, discovering the groomsmen and groom drinking IN THE CHURCH before the wedding, and the list could go on, but I think you get the point. In the end they were married and things turned out nicely.  Here are a few pictures of things I helped do at the reception.  If you want more details feel free to ask.

One of the center pieces I made

Close up of the other center piece I made.

Candy Favor Table

Delicious Fruit Table

Guest Book Table

And that is the end of my pictures, I was too busy doing other things to snap any more.

The first part of this week was spent with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law in St. Louis for the ICRS convention.  (click ICRS to learn more about it).  Sara and I were there to help Jennifer out with whatever she needed.  It was so much fun to spend time together, and it reminded me just how blessed I am to have such wonderful in-laws.  God gave me one of the huge desires of my heart when He gave me Stinson's family!  Anyway, Sara and I met lots of authors, picked up way too many books, and even got ourselves into a little trouble with the ICRS police!  I think you may recognize the people in the picture with us.  

Well, I am off to work my way through my piles of new acquired books!

Longest Blogging Vacation Ever

I am sure that by now many of you have given up on me and my blog, but I am vowing to make a come back starting TODAY! I finally found the will power to sit down and write about what is going on around the Dean household. I am going to try my hardest not to lull you to sleep with the things in our lives, but I have to warn you, your eyes may be overwhelmed with pictures.

The reason I have been away for so long is wrapping up the school year takes a lot of energy, it takes even more energy when you started two summer school classes for a graduate degree on top of it. Then it takes about two weeks of sleep to have a fully recovered brain that is ready to put into words what has been going on.

We are making progress with the house. While ripping out the mountain of ivy in the backyard we discovered a cement patio slab. We both shouted with glee when we made this discovery because this was something that we were going to put in, hurray for saving time and money! Also, we uncovered a small bomb shelter underneath. Stin made me climb down there to check it out. Nothing but nasty spiders and lots of wet dirt. Stin was disappointed not to find any hidden treasure in it. Here are a few pictures of the progress we have made out front.

Stinson and I are both hard at work with grad school classes.  Over the duration of the summer I will be working on completing four classes.  I had forgotten how much reading and work goes into college classes.  I am enjoying my classes a lot and learning some interesting things.  I have already found a few things that I will be able to take back to my class in the fall.   Stinson is into his first MBA class, and he is loving it.  In addition to going to class he has been busy running football camps up at MidAmerica.  He is enjoying taking ownership of running some of the camps, and loves working with the players.  He is also helping run summer work out for the MNU players.  The dogs and I enjoy heading up to campus to walk around the track while he does his coaching thing.   The summer is flying by!

Our biggest news is that we have another dog!  Stinson has been wanting a big dog, so at the end of May we ventured over to Wayside Waifs to find a dog.  We fell in love with one, and now he and Mia are the best of friends.  Our new dog's name is Jake, and he is big.  He is about 80 pounds.  We think he is a lab, German Shepard, Rottweiler mix.  He has the personality of a lab, and is so sweet.  I think I will end this post with some pictures of the dogs.  I know there is a lot more I could put in here, but I am sure you are ready to be done reading!  More to come in the next few days!  FYI we have turned into those people who talk about their dogs ALL THE TIME!

Newest Family Member Jake

Jake loves Maggie and Mia, especially Mia

How do you not fall in love with this face?

Maggie enjoying some sun in the laundry room

And of course Miss Mia, don't you want to just kiss her cute face?!

Hope all is well with you.  I vow to be a much better blogger, at least for the summer!

Slightly Absent

I apologize for not being around lately.  Spring is here and when spring comes things seem to really pick up.  The last two weeks I have been overing over my students shoulders as they take their state assessment, kicking and screaming on the inside at a few of their answers, and the fact that I can't believe they missed that question because it is something we have talked about the whole year!  But now that is behind me and it is on to keeping them focused on the fact that we will be in school until June 2.  They about pushed me off the cliff to join the teachers who have lost their mind, but thankfully the bell rang and they went home for the weekend!  I left them with some serious consequences should things not improve by Monday at 4p.m., we'll see how they respond.

Last weekend was like an episode of Tool Time around our house.  Adrian and Stinson were busy learning how to put up new gutters and assembly a work bench.  While they boys were hard at work with tools, I was busy ripping out all of the ivy in front of the house.  After two hours and three yard wast bags I felt like I had made some progress.  Then I looked at all of the stuff we have to dig out before I can put in all of the flowers I want.  The back yard will be our major project this summer.  Enjoy some pictures from our home inprovement weekend.

Oh, I forgot to metion that last weekend, Stinson achieved one of his life long goals, holding a wild snake.  In the middle of ripping out ivy this little guy slithered by and scared me half to death.  Of course I screamed, the boys came running, and decided they needed to pick it up!  Yuck!

Our Little Friend

Stinson and the Snake

Gutters

The Gutter Men

Stinson really is Tim the Tool Man Taylor!

My weekend project before I started

After

All of the stuff I ripped waiting to be picked up by the yard waste people

Work Bench

Praying for Grace

So recently God has called me to help co-lead a bible study at church...... at first I was excited, then I was nervous, and now I praying for huge amount of grace and courage.  The last few month I have had the opportunity to grow in the Lord with some amazing women, and I have seen God begin to really work on the deeper issues of  my heart.  The leader of my study recently approached me and said she felt that God was prompting her to ask me about co-leading the study with her.  After several weeks of prayer, I felt the Lord calling me out of my comfort zone to step up to the challenge.

We will be working through Max Lucado's Fearless study.  After meeting tonight I am excited, but also nervous.  I know that in embracing the co-leader role I am going to be stepping out meeting more people and really opening myself up.  I know that God will give me the grace I need to fulfill what He has called me to do, but the anticipation of it beginning seems to be pressing on my shoulders.

Through this study I can feel that God is going to bless me with new friendships, as well as to take my relationship with him to a new level.  If you think of me, would you say a few prayers that I am open to God's voice and His plan for this study?!  I know I am going to need all of the prayers I can get.

Spring Break Adventures

Spring break was pretty exciting.  I wish I could have come back with a tan, but the Florida weather wasn't in the mood to cooperate.  I had a wonderful visit with Ryan and Bailey.  I loved seeing how they have settled in as newlyweds and being able to explore the Clearwater area. 

The sun greeted me the day I arrived, so we took advantage of the day and layed by the pool for a bit, then headed down to John's Pass to walk around and grab a bite to eat.  John's Pass is a cozy little walk with fun colored buildings and every kind of tourist shop you could imagine.  Only in Florida could you paint building like this and get away with it.

John's Pass

Out on the board walk headed to dinner.  I always feel so short around my extremely tall brother! :)

Bailey and I.  I couldn't have asked for a better sister-in-law!

The 3 of us.

The restaurant we ate at.  I love the fresh seafood!

Due to the rainy weathe Bailey and I took a day trip down to the Tampa Aquarium, we weren't the only ones who had this idea.  They had some great exhibits and this litte guy was our favorite.

Before heading home I checked out where Ryan works and the plane that he works on.  Oh my gosh, it is one of the biggest things I have ever seen!  His plane is huge.  I am amazed that something this big can actually lift off the ground.

Talk about feeling short!

The seat Ryan sits in during flights.  You should see/hear about some of the other stuff that he has to do....I don't think you could pay me enough to do them.

One of the rescue helicopters.

Don't think they'd actually let me do this.... I probably wouldn't make it out to rescue anyone.

Aren't they cute?

I fell in love with this little guy too!  He was a lot of fun.

In other news, last Sunday Stinson and I brought home Mia.  She has been such a wonderful addition to our family.  We both love her to death, and Maggie is adjusting well to having another dog around.  Stinson took her to Dallas with him to visit Sara and Kennedy, and she and Elvis became best friends.  Maggie has definitely missed her.  She brings me her toy that they like to play tug-of-war with her because her new friend isn't here to play with her.  Here are a few pictures of our new little pup.

Mia in her little red dress!

Here they are playing their new favorite game. 

I am sorry if I bored you to death with pictures and my not so exciting life, maybe next time I write there will be more exciting things to write I about! 

Expanding

Expanding, adding, growing, etc.  And no I don't mean my waistline or pant size ( I am working hard to shrink that right now!)  I think that is what we will be doing in our humble family of two, well three with Maggie, to four.  While many of you wish the word I am going to say next is baby, it is not, it is a puppy! We orginally thought that we would be a loan family, but the opportunity has presented itself to be the proud parents of this precious one!

Meet Mica Don't you just love her?!

We are going to go meet her next Sunday.  She is a 9 month old miniature dachshund whose orginal owner no longer has time for.  She is from the same breeder of the puppies.  Want to know the best part?!  She is already potty trained, crate trained, well socialized, and on her way to learning tricks!  Stinson is excited to not have to do the puppy thing, and to be honest, so am I. 

Sunday will be the first time we meet her, but I have a feeling that we are going to fall in love with her and bring her right on home.  You just have to look at her sweet face, and then you want her to be cuddled up with you!  I'll be sure to let you know what we decide.  I think it is safe to say that she will be ours very soon!

Finishing Touches

I was hoping to post the pictures of the finishing touches of the house decorating sooner, but I never brought myself to sit down and just write or post pictures. My last post I left you hanging.  I know you have been losinng sleep over the reveal of my snow day project #2.  Without further ado here it is!

Snow Day Project #2

Don't you just love it?!  I sure do.  I have envisioned this in my head, and as I was slaving away over it I was praying it would turn out as awesome as I had dreamed.  The whole project cost less than $25.  Here is what I did:

1. Went to Goodwill and purchased thses 8 frames for a grand total of $11.

2. Went and purchased 3 different spools of ribbon and 3 cans of spray pait (with gloss finish) for $12.

3. I arranged the frames on the floor how I thought I wanted to hang them. I took out the glass in each frame and wiped them off with a damp cloth.  Then I decided witch color each one would be.

4. I coated each frame with several layers of spray paint, then let them dry over night.

5. I cut ribbon, (I just estimated, if you are a perfectionist you could measure) varring witch kind went on the various frames.

6. To attach the ribbons I just used hot glue, it may be more secure to use a staple gun, but I don't own one and the hot glue has worked perfectly.

7.  I used pin head nails to hang them on the wall.  I love how it turned out and it really adds some fun and color to the empty space on the wall.

Last week one of the teachers on my team helped me sew drapes for the kitchen window and valences for the laundry room.  Both rooms feel finished and look exactly how I imagined them. 

Kitchen Window

Kitchen Wall

Laundry Room Valences

In other news, it is spring break.  It could not have come at a more perfect time.  I think I was in desperate need of some time away from the classroom.  With our state test coming closer each day, the pressure of things to get in and review continues to build.  For those of you who are teachers, you know what I am talking about and all of the pressure that comes with state tests.  I am doing my best to not let it get the best of me, but I so desperately want to push my studnets thinking and ensure that I am preparing them for not only the test, but for the challenges that will come throughout the rest of their academic careers. 

In order to fully enjoy my week off I am going to be heading to Florida on Wednesday to visit my brother Ryan and his wife Bailey.  I am so excited not only to go to warm place, but also to see them. I have not seen them since July when they passed through on their way to Florida.  Ryan is planning things for us to.  Hopefully the weather will change its mind a bit and the sun will shine so I can get just a little bit of color to my pale skin! :)

Stinson and I will be adding to our family this May!  No not a child adding, but adding a puppy!  We will be an loan adoption family for a local miniature dachshund breeder.  The litter of puppies was born on Sunday.  We will picking out our puppy very soon.  Our puppy will be breed by the breeder 2-3 times, and then it will be forever ours.  It is a really neat program and her dogs are wonderful!  Here is a link to the litter if you are interested in checking them out.  I will be sure to keep you updated about which one we pick, names, etc.