Where Does The Time Go?

Time has flown since I was on that beach in California. We have been back at work for over a week. This time of year at work always seems to fly. I keep telling those seniors that the 43 days until graduation is going to fly. And it will.

Life is good. This past weekend was all about celebrating with the second family. All of the Bills kids were in town for going to the temple as Josh went through for his first time. We celebrated his birthday on Friday night then Saturday we went to the temple, had lunch at Red Robin and then went to Sarah's youngest kid's(Dani) baptism. It was a very filled weekend and we are still recovering.




Josh's cake. Morgan striking the match on her zipper. Silly.



Dani and my sunglasses. That girl is so fun.



Blurry Red Robin.



All the Bills.




Miri and Grandma Bills. They are kindred spirits.



Grandpa Bills and Zach playing frisbee.



Reuben and I hit the driving range and mini golf last week.



And here is the baseball game I wrote about in the last post. It rocked. So did 47, the movie about Jackie Robinson. Go see it. We loved it last night.



And here is a bonus baby bump picture. That little guy is having fun sleeping on my bladder like a waterbed and kicking away every few hours. I like him already. Hopefully, one day, we will find a name for him besides Frank the Fetus.

Cheers.

Spring Break Part One

So? What do you do while you stay at a house that is about 50 yards from the beach?



You go for a walk along the beach.









And then you find a place to sit and read a book.



But you actually never take the book out to read.


And you eat a ton of food. Both inside the house and out by your bonfire.






Or at your favorite bakery.



Then you take a day trip an hour away to San Francisco.



And harass sea lions.



Then eat a big burger.



Then ride cable cars and go to the cable car museum.












Then you go to Chinatown to buy fortune cookies, sesame cookies and t-shirts(because none of yours fit currently).












Then you go to see the world's most crooked street, Lombard Street.









Then you drive over the Golden Gate Bridge and take your picture on the other side.






Then you go to Muir Woods to feel small among the giant redwoods.








Then you sleep and take the next day to recoup because even just walking to the bathroom is much too far!!!

Then you will go to a baseball game this afternoon.

Cheers.

Ah...Spring Break

Greetings from the beach. Well, actually from the beach house where I am currently laying in my twin bed pretending to still be asleep.

There are kiddos up and about getting ready to tackle the beach again. It is fun to see them so excited for this new to them place. I think that will be an awesome part of having my own kids. That whole teaching them about cool and new stuff and seeing their awe and excitement.

Oh yeah. If you live in the dark ages and didn't hear the announcement, Reuben and I will be welcoming a son around August 2nd.

Here is my favorite picture of the little pumpkin inside of me:



Doesn't he have some cute toes? I love his toes. I am kinda surprised at how much seeing the little bugger on the screen made me fall in love with this little person. And he has been moving a whole lot which reminds me that he's really there, and oh my goodness, I love that boy! (Seriously, the eyes are wet as I write this. Silly pregnancy mommy hormones.)



Reuben says he has my feet. I think it is hard to say in this silly picture. Can't wait to meet him! Reuben was adorable when he first saw the ultrasound screen. I really like that I married a man that cries on occasion. I think that made me weepy more than the actually ultrasound. I was more like: "Oh my goodness, look at those toes." And just plain in awe.

Here is a prime example of people in awe of the first pics of their 16th grandchild.



So fun!!!

Besides that awesomeness this week which was announced at work by blue frosting filled cupcakes,



the week was filled with basketball,



Pie throwing,



Baseball,









Finding my favorite hat,



And saying farewell to Reuben before heading to sunny California. There are no pics of that but we did have a nice date at the exhibition pro baseball game between the Rockies and Mariners in Salt Lake and some ice cream while waiting for my friend Kari to meet me to carpool to Cali.
We saw this cool stuff at the old train depot in salt lake:


Nice way to start spring break, no?

Well, off to my first full day on the beach. I'm sure you'll find more adventures posted this week as I have more time to do so. Cheers.

Exciting things are coming!

Hiya peeps! I often say Peeps to my students and apparently that is no longer a cool saying, so I guess I will just have to keep using it to make sure that I bug them as much as humanly possible.

Speaking of bugging as much as possible, I bet you want to hear about one of my students and how I have a goal to bug her every single day. It may make me a bad human, but it makes me chuckle every day and sometimes you just need a chuckle, am I right?

Well, there is this one song on my playlist that she hates. Last week, when it started to play she said: "I hate this song." A few days ago, it randomly came on again, which actually is quite funny because most songs do not randomly come on that often. But again, she was very miffed that the song was playing. Her reaction made me laugh a little bit so I just couldn't get myself to change the song for her, when she asked me to. What can I say, I am weak. Anyway, it made me laugh so much that the other day, I looked at another student and said, I bet so and so will complain about this song within a minute and then selected that song to play. It only took about five seconds and said student says: "Why? Why this song again? I hate it." I then was nice and changed to a different song, because, I actually don't really enjoy the song myself and it really is all about the reaction anyway right? Well, I was a little disappointed when I repeated the song later and got no reaction, but guess who will be playing the same song again come tomorrow during that class? Yep, this kid!

School is actually going really well right now. I am liking the kids more(thank heavens for the second trimester of pregnancy) and am also getting a little bit of a social filter back. I never knew how much I really thought but did not say to my students in the past, but now I am realizing just how much self control I really have had over the years. It takes a lot of self control to love these kiddos!

We have been continuing puppy training for Reno here at the Ficklin home. This has taken a little bit of convincing of one of the Ficklins because let's just say one of us is a little bit more bugged by the constant barking than the other person. Well, bark collars have been brought up lots the past few months and finally we came upon an agreement to try said collar. We are getting better about putting the collar on EVERY time we take Reno outside and Reno is getting pretty good about not barking at people or dogs outside. He was adorable with three other Yorkies the other day. I wish I had some pics because it was priceless. Don't tell anybody, especially my husband, but I think Reno is growing on me.

This week we will know if we are having a boy or girl alien. I mean baby. It still feels like I am having an alien and a little bit unreal. I have been feeling movements the past few weeks and it is way cool. I also heard the heartbeat again at my appointment this last week and I was weepy. It has to be all the hormones, right? We are way excited to finally see him or her, even though I still always call this baby a her or she. Will I be disappointed if it is actually a he? Probably not. We just will have to get crackin' on names because we have only agreed on two names so far and they are girl names. We are very good at vetoing each other. Even today, Reuben brought up a name and I vetoed it because I have a student that name and she is a crazy.

Well, spring break is the week after this week. I am incredibly excited. On Saturday, Reuben and I have tickets to a pro baseball game that will be played at the minor league field in Salt Lake between the Seattle Mariners and the Colorado Rockies. That will be a great treat. Then right after that I will be leaving(or as Reuben says "abandoning him") with a friend to head to California for spring break. I cannot tell you how excited I am to get out of dodge and have some down time on the BEACH. Oh thank heavens for friends with beach houses. It is going to be wonderful and is very needed. I will probably have to plan an excursion with Reub because me being gone is hard on him!

So, there is your update and a bit of things to look forward to. Look for a special pink or blue post on Wednesday. And be sure to make your guesses via comments on this post. What fun this is!



The sunsets lately have been gorgeous.



The weather was a tease for a few weeks(we had snow yesterday) so I have been on many walks. This is from a walk to Utah Lake this past week.



Reuben and I went to an exhibit at a museum in Salt Lake last night. This was a cool sculpture. The exhibit was about mummies and it was way cool. It was nice to get out of Provo for a bit.