Ginger Bread Houses!

Christmas time isn't complete without gingerbread house making. Even when you eat half the candy while you are making it. ;) We had everyone over for broccoli and cheese soup before we began the gingerbread house making competition! :)

Here is our house. We weren't completely finished but here it is half way done!

Adam and Amanda's masterpiece

Philip and Theresa's gingerbread village!

Happy Birthday STEPHEN!

Stephens birthday was last Thursday and he turned 25!! We had such a fun day! I woke up early to make his favorite breakfast before he headed off to school. We had bacon, eggs, toast, and Orange Juice. Then he opened his birthday presents and was off to school. That night we celebrated with his family at Carrabas for dinner and then everyone came to our place for cake and ice-cream. Happy Birthday babe... I LOVE YOU!

We didn't even mean to match!

Right when he woke up... getting reading to open presents and eat breakfast.

On Friday I made Christmas treats for friends, family, and neighbors. I put them in little baggies with red, green, and gold ribbon. They were super easy and super yummy! ;)

All you need is:
Bite size waffle-shaped pretzels
Hershey's Kiss or Hershey's Hug
M&M candy

*Heat the oven to 170F. Set a number of bite-size, waffle-shaped pretzels (one for each treat) in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, then top each pretzel with an unwrapped Hershey's Kiss or Hershey's Hug.

*Bake for 4 to 6 minutes (the white chocolate will melt more quickly), until the chocolates feel soft when touched with a wooden spoon. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and quickly press an M&M's candy into the center of each Kiss.

*Allow the treats to cool for a few minutes, then place them in the refrigerator to set, about 10 minutes. Place handfuls of the candies in clear plastic bags and tie on colorful ribbons.

They are DELICIOUS! Some people also use Rolos in place of the kisses and put a pecan on top instead of an M&M. Both are great!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Clutter Free

I LOVE organization. This is deff a quality I got from my Mom. I just feel so much better when my home is organized and free of clutter. I wish I would have taken a picture of the garage before we organized it and built shelves. It was a complete disaster because we just threw everything in the garage when we were remodeling and things just continued to pile up. One Saturday we took a huge load of stuff to the dump, a load to DI, and then organized the stuff we kept. Stephen built these amazing shelves with my Dad's help and we LOVE them. Eventually we will build more when we run out of space. Now we can park in the garage and enjoy an organized, clutter free garage! :)

Jen and Steve!

Stephen is writing a paper tonight and I got caught up looking at the million pictures we have together. They brought back so many fun memories of dating, getting engaged, and getting married. I thought I would share a few... well a lot. Enjoy! ;)














Good luck with finals!!!!! I won't be able to post again until after finals are over... then I will have a life again! :)

o0o baby...

I am now 27 weeks. I can't believe I only have 13 weeks left out of 40. It has gone by so fast. Probably because I have been SO busy with school and haven't been able to slow down. Our little girl is quite active. Stephen and I can't figure out if she is going to be a little dancer or a little athlete. Either way she kicks, jumps, and moves around in my stomach constantly. I remember when I first started feeling little movements but wasn't sure if it was really her or if my stomach was just growling. Well now there is no question in my mind... those kicks are clear as day. I love it so much.

Last weekend we bought the crib and changing table from Babies r Us... we got a good deal on them from the black Friday sales. We can't wait until the crib finally gets here so we can start working on her room. I love decorating and already have a whole plan mapped out in my head of how I want it to look. I can't wait!

I have a question for anyone who has been pregnant before! I already started having those fake contraction things... I think? Randomly my stomach will tighten up for 10 seconds or so throughout the day. Is that normal at 7 months? It isn't painful it just feels a little weird and I didn't know they came that early.

Anyways, I hope everyone had a happy Monday!

Barnett Elementary School

Monday was my last day teaching at Barnett Elementary! It was such a fun, exciting, and enjoyable experience. I loved all those first graders and was so sad to say goodbye. I love how sweet and innocent they are... and they have such a strong desire to learn. They each have their own unique personalities and I was so glad I was able to get to know each one of them. I got a little teary eyed when they read me their notes and gave me lots of hugs before I left. I am going to miss them!

This is the class I taught. There are 4 kids missing

We had to do a crazy picture.

I made these little goody bags for each one of the kids with a note attached. It included a pencil, two smarties, and a tootsie pop.

The notes I wrote to the kids

They were so cute before I left. My mentor teacher and the kids got me these darling children books. They are the cutest books!

They also each wrote me a note and they each read them to me. It was so fun!

Here are a couple notes that I loved. I will include the misspellings and all! ;)

Mrs. Jett,
I love Mrs. Jett. You are a grat teacher. You are osum! You are kute. Thac you for helpeng. Thac so much. You are so butiful. Do you rile have to go to school. You are a grat teacher. We wot you to stay. We love you we like you. I love you so much. Good bie Mrs. Jett.
-Briley

Dear Mrs. Jett (The J was backwards)
Mrs. Jett is buetiful. She is a grat teacher. She is vere nice. She helps me get my work done and she reads the best storiys.
-Hinckley

Mrs. Jett
I likes how you smile. You aer the funyest teacher.
-SavAnna

Dear Mrs. Jett
I love you so much as much as the hol world! You are a good techer! You are the best techer in the hol world. You are beutiful! You rock Mrs. Jett!
-Adelaida

Dear Mrs. Jett
I like you lessons. Yo read us books. And you are a very good theacher. You help us with centers and you help me fill smart. And also you are nice. You help me. And you helped us learn. Plese don't go.
-Rodney

Aren't those so sweet. When they were reading them to me I couldn't help but cry. Children are so loving, caring, and honest. I love going back and reading all those sweet notes. I am going to miss them!

B-O-W-L-I-N-G

Last weekend was such a fun weekend! My brothers and Tiffany (Trav's GF) came in town! I love those weekends when they come down to visit. Although, it was sad because we were missing Chase but we got Spencer all the way from Georgia. We even got Spencer on his birthday... so of course we celebrated all day long!

My youngest brother Spencer is now 18! Holy cow! We had his favorite cake and ice-cream with sparkler candles. You can't tell that the candles are sparklers in this picture... but trust me they were pretty cool! Then we opened presents and had such a fun day all together!

We went bowling to Fat Cats Saturday night. I don't mean to brag or anything but I WON! This is a big deal for me because I never win at bowling. I'm not sure how I got so lucky that night but I got 4 strikes and 3 of those strikes were in a row. Leaving me with a grand total of 150! First time breaking 100 and first time beating everyone including my brothers... it felt so good. :)

Jacob and Spencer

I love my family!!

Reminiscing...

I love my husband!

Bows... Bows... Bows...

Once I found out I was having a girl I knew I would be having fun finding clothes and accessories for her. I love all the fun, cute bows and flowers you can buy but they are SO over priced. So I decided to make them on my own. With a couple mess ups I finally figured out how and was quite pleased with the finished product. It was much cheaper and it was so much fun learning how to make the bows. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought the ribbon because it was 50% off! :) The spools have 3 yards of ribbon... the thin ribbon was $1 and the thicker ribbon was $2! What a great deal!

The ribbons I chose at Hobby Lobby

One of the bows on a baby headband.

Here are the 5 bows I made tonight... I still have more to go :)

I also made the flower bows from my fake wedding flowers.

If anyone wants to learn how to make the bows let me know and I will put a tutorial up... it is super easy!

Dear...

Dear Savannah Jane or Tammy Lee,

Can you please stop kicking Mommy's tummy so hard every time she eats. I love feeling your kicks but they make my stomach hurt and I can no longer enjoy my food. I can't wait to hold you in my arms and kiss those strong feet of yours!

Love, Mom

Joyeux Noel!

That means Merry Christmas in French. I know what you are thinking... Thanksgiving hasn't even passed and you are already saying Merry Christmas.

Stephen and I got a little excited for Christmas this year as you can see. This weekend we listened to Christmas music, drank hot chocolate, and decorated our first Christmas tree. It was so fun! Only one more month and we will be in GA with my family for Christmas. I love everything about the Christmas season!

Stephen putting up the tree

me taking the price stickers off the decorations

red and gold ornaments

We loved the finish product. There is still a couple things I want to add. Such as a tree topper and a gold ribbon around the tree. I love walking into our home at night with our Christmas tree lit up. It fits perfect in our bay window and gives a great view from outside since we have yet to get blinds. haha

Giveaway!

Pointe Digital is having a giveaway!

Check it out here http://pointedigital.blogspot.com/ :)

BELLY!

I woke up this morning and could have sworn my belly grew a couple inches over night. My little girl is growing and I love feeling her kick throughout the day.

This is me at 24 weeks (6 months)

Happy Tuesday!

Mrs. Jett

I have started teaching 1st grade at Barnett Elementary!

A few things I have learned:
1. I love kids (this I already knew)
2. 1st graders LOVE the teacher and LOVE school.
3. I love teaching.
4. Being a teacher is a lot of work and quite exhausting.
5. Preparing lesson plans every night and memorizing them for the next day = no time to relax and no time with Stephen :(
6. I have a Hinckley in my class and a Monson in the class next door.
7. Little 1st grade girls want to be the teacher and little 1st grade boys want to marry the teacher. haha I have a couple cute stories that I will share on another post.
8. Being a teacher has helped me realize why we are told to be like little children in the scriptures. They are so full of love, so forgiving, so genuine, so trustworthy, and so happy.

A cute story...
The first day I started teaching a little boy came up to me named Keyton and tapped me on my bum. (It was all he could reach) Our conversation went a little something like this...
Keyton: "Mrs. Jett... How come your belly pokes out?"
Me: (I bent down so we were at eye level) "O, that's because I have a baby in my belly."
Keyton: (His eyes got really big and concerned) he then said, "You ate a baby?"

I continue to laugh about this story. He was so concerned that I "ate a baby." haha I love my little first graders and I will miss them when the practicum ends.

In the mean time I MISS DALLAS! I usually watch him during the week but ever since I started the practicum I can't for this entire month since I teach full time. It is killer... I miss his fun personality and sweet smile!


Happy Sunday!

HALLOWEEN THRILLS!

We have had quite the fun Halloween weekend. Full of parties, candy and costumes. We love Halloween time. My favorite part this year was seeing all the little kids dressed up in so many cute costumes.
Wednesday: Stephen and I went to a Halloween party and dressed up as salt and pepper.
Friday: We went to our wards trunk or treat and saw so many cute kids all dressed up. Stephen was dressed up as Brett Favre (Gray hair, broken ankle and all). I dressed up as his biggest fan. I decided to let Stephen choose what we were this year for Halloween since last year I convinced him to dress up in pajama onesies with me. haha
Saturday: We had a get together at our place full of fun games and finger foods. Plus I got to see the Draper family which made it an even better Halloween!

This is Friday night before the trunk or treat!

Kayla is the cutest horse I have ever seen ;)

haha so cute!

I love Maleen!

Pictures of all the couples who we hung out with Saturday night.
There were tons of good costumes.
Aaron and Megan were Peruvian soccer players!

Bryan and Dana were characters from Jersey Shore... The situation and Snooki

Theresa was an Indian/Pocahontas/Tiger Lily and Philip was a cop!

Brett Favre and his biggest fan!

Anna and John were from the 50's

We loved the Wymann's costumes... so creative!

Spartan and Greek Goddess

Wednesday night dressed as salt and pepper!

I hope everyone had a HAPPY HALLOWEEN! :)