Weekend Recap!

So this past weekend was a pretty busy weekend at the Tipton house. Brandon had the day off Friday so he began rocking a grill area he built last year. It took him a total of 2 days to rock the entire area and build a door, but it turned out great. The door is still not finished. We have to stain the door and get a handle to put on it. I think he did a wonderful job! Here is a picture of the project.



Brandon and I found this cute sign at Michael's yesterday. It was 40% off! Can't beat that!


My mom found this chair at the Habitat store. When she bought it, it was painted white and had a super old cushion on it. I painted it black, Brandon used some sand paper to ruff it up, and I covered the cushion. I think this chair turned out great and I love it for my front porch. We have a small front porch, so it was the perfect size.


My mom bought us some orange mums to help celebrate fall.


I have had these pictures for a long time. I just never bought frames for the larger ones. Well I decided this weekend was time to hang them up. These pictures are by Brian Andreas. I absolutely love his pictures and all of the neat sayings they have on them.


We found this wreath in a Martha Stewart magazine. We changed it up a little by putting spiders and an orange bow on it. We are still going to add some snakes to it to make it a little more Halloween like!

A Most Memorable Trip with the Tiptons

So a few weeks, maybe months, ago Brandon and I went Kayaking with his mom, dad, sister, cousin Julie, cousin Lauren, and her husband Scott. Well, this girl has never been kayaking before, EVER! So I had no idea what to expect. I was so nervous about the experience. Once we got there and got started we had a great time. My father-in-law and sister-in-law were out of their kayak more than they were in it, which made for good laughs! I just thought I would share a few pictures from this most memorable day.

On our way to kayak, all we heard from Ashley was how she was going to buy herself a kayak. After falling out of her kayak numerous times and having to receive help getting out of the water to be shuttled back, she hasn't mentioned much about purchasing her own kayak!


Professional!


This is after he fell in the water and we had to wait on him for over an hour to figure out how to get himself back in the kayak!


Brandon's self portrait.


Just sitting back and enjoying the view!


The whole gang!

Back to School

It is so hard to believe, but I only have 7 more weekdays off before I return to school. I have really mixed feelings about it. Part of me is excited about getting back in a routine and working again, but another part of me is going to definitely miss the sleeping in, lazy days, and doing anything I want to do. Wednesday I am going to school to work on my room so I am going to post some pictures of what my room will look like this year. The beginning of the year is so crazy and so much of our workdays are taken up by other things we need to do. So hopefully Wednesday I will get everything where I want it and all of my things back up on the walls. Pictures soon!

DIY

A few posts ago I made a TO DO list for myself for my last few weeks of summer. I have checked off 2 things on my list and completed a lot of things that were not on my list. I made myself a coupon book, which I LOVE because I can see my coupons so easily and I completed my jewelry boards! I made 2 jewelry boards, a picture board for school, and a board I can use to hang memos on at school. So here are a few pictures of my completed project.

I bought a pack of 4 cork boards, 4 individual pieces of super cute fabric for $1.00 each, brown ribbon, and clear push pins.



Here is the first jewelry board in the works!



The completed jewelry board!



My picture board for school!



Making these jewelry/picture/memo boards was so super easy! I actually got the idea from another blogger. I thought they were the perfect things to hold all my jewelry and I can easily see all of my options!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my WONDERFUL mom! Hope you have a fabulous day!

Thank you for everything you do for us!

Vacation Ideas

So our goal for our third anniversary, June 7th, is to go on a vacation. We went to Mexico on our honeymoon and LOVED it! We would like to go somewhere different. So I am blogging to ask for some advice on places you have been that you would recommend. I would like somewhere tropical and definitely all inclusive. So please let me know if you have any ideas for us!

Who is in need of some furniture?

Furniture For Sale!!!!
1 couch
2 chairs
1 coffee table
2 end tables
2 lamps

Let me know if you are interested!!!!

Summer

It seems that the summer is slowly coming to an end. I think I only have about 5 more weeks before I go back for workdays. That is probably the last time I will say anything about going back to school for sometime.

After working an 8 day summer camp at school, Brandon and I made it to the beach for a week. We had a wonderful time. We ate too much and stayed out on the beach alllll day. It was so nice to get away and not have anything to worry about for a while. We couldn't take Bella and I missed her like crazy.

Since we have been home my summer has consisted of cleaning, reading, and relaxing. My mom was out of town for about 10 days and Brandon and I kept her dogs. So needless to say, this past Monday I spent about 5 hours cleaning my house. I cleaned baseboards, blinds, dusted, vacuumed, and mopped the whole house. I was exhausted when I was finished.

Still on my to do list for the next few weeks:

clean off the shelf in the garage (it is terrible!)
make a jewelry board to hang in my closet
make a picture frame out of an old window (when I get this finished I will post pics)
make a coupon notebook
sale furniture!

Before I go back to school this is what I want to do just one more time...

Happy Anniversary!

This post is a little late, but Monday was our 2 year Anniversary! It is so hard to believe that 2 years ago we were married! It has been an amazing 2 years of loving, arguing, learning, lots of laundry, new house, new (to us) car, and lots of getting used to! I can't wait to spend MANY more years with my wonderful husband! Here are a few pictures from our wedding day...

Our First Dance!

Right after being pronounced Mr. and Mrs. Brandon Tipton!

Loving my HUSBAND!

Happy Anniversary Babe! I love you!

End of May/Beginning of June Happenings!

May 28th-31st we headed to Myrtle Beach with Amber and Andrew. This was a much needed vacation. We left Friday around 6:00 and arrived around 11:00. Of course we had to stop for dinner and restroom breaks. Saturday morning the guys got up early, took our stuff to the beach, then they went to play golf. Amber and I walked down to the beach from the condo. We stayed out on the beach ALL day. For dinner we went to Drunken Jacks in Murrells Inlet, yum! Sunday morning we got up and got out on the beach by about 9. Once again we stayed until about 5:30. Sunday night for dinner we went to Carolina Roadhouse. Then of course we had to go down memory lane and cruise the strip, it was hilarious! Monday morning we got up and went to the outlets and Hamburger Jo's before heading home. We had such a wonderful weekend!

The Case of the Missing Rose Bush
After coming home from the beach, Brandon had to leave for PA Tuesday morning and didn't get back home until Friday. Friday night we were outside watering the garden and flowers. All of a sudden I realized that one of our rose bushes was missing. It was there just last week and it was blooming. When we walked over to investigate, there was a hole that looked like the bush had been dug up. Immediately we decided someone in our neighborhood spotted our beautiful roses and decided they wanted them. We couldn't believe someone would do that. We called Brandon's mom to make sure they didn't decide to take it and she said she had no idea what we were talking about. We look around at our neighbors houses and call people we think could have wanted to "borrow" it. Later that night we talked to Mark, Brandon's dad, and the mystery was solved....

HE THOUGHT THE ROSE BUSH WAS DEAD AND PULLED IT OUT OF THE GROUND!

WHY?!?!?!

I then decided to let him know that it was not dead because just last week it was blooming. Needless to say I was not happy!

Monday is our 2 year anniversary so later tonight we are going to eat dinner at Del Friscos and see Wicked!!!!

Pictures coming soon!

Summer Vacation Is Just Around the Corner!

I am so happy to say that there are only 15 days of school left, yes 15! I love my job, but summer break is much deserved! I have a wonderful class, but they definitely keep me on my toes. I have been called stupid, told that they didn't have to freakin' listen to me, and much more! So needless to say, I am ready for June 9th! Although I have to continue to work a few more days, workdays are different. They are extremely peaceful and so much more can be accomplished.

This week we are taking EOG's. We started today with reading and continue the next two days with math. These poor kids. We started testing today at 8:30 and did not finish until 11:45. I mean seriously???? I am not a 9/10 year old and I was about to go insane, and all I had to do was walk around to make sure they stayed on bubble! These kids are put under so much pressure to pass this test. Students are gifted in many areas and not all of them are gifted in reading and math. To me, that is completely fine. People shine in different ways every day. If we all were experts in reading and math life would be boring. I am so proud of my students. They worked super hard today and I hope they continue to work hard the rest of the week. It breaks my heart to see them stress. So tomorrow and Thursday between 8:30-11:30, please say a short prayer for all the students in Lincoln County that are testing, they need it!

Just a little side note: We leave to go to the beach in 10 days for a long weekend!!!!!

South Mountain

Saturday Brandon and I packed up and headed to South Mountain. We packed our water, lunch, blanket, snack, and Bella Rose. I had never been to South Mountain before, but Brandon had. When we arrived at the state park we went to the welcome center and got a map. Then we were on our way.

We started hiking the trail to the water fall. At first it didn't seem to tough. As we walked it got harder and harder. The trail was straight up, climbing rocks and stairs. So needless to say we had to take a few breaks. Bella Rose was a pro! She acted like she had hiked her whole life. We went to the top and took some pictures and then had a picnic. We sat for a few minutes and ate our lunch and got some energy. After lunch we packed up and finished the trail, which circled back around to the beginning. We had such a great time. I posted some pictures so everyone could see how we spent our Saturday!
Brandon and Bella Rose on the trail. The beautiful waterfall, which was definitely worth all the hard work.
Family portrait, I think something scared BR, and Brandon setting up our picnic!


Bella Rose enjoying the creek! Bella Rose and me after climbing up a hill, that was not on the trail, to look out over the mountain!

Wednesday Happenings!

Today Brandon had the day off, so we enjoyed spending the day together. The day started off with breakfast at the Lincoln House. It was yummy! Then we came home and waited on the people to come install our dishwasher! I am so excited about having a dishwasher! I have been waiting a year and a half for this. As you can see we had to take the tile off the top to get the old one out. Brandon worked super hard on our tile, so I know it broke his heart to pop this off, but he says it is easily fixable! So I can't wait to dirty up some dishes to use it. I actually took some clean dishes out of my cabinet just so I could use it, I couldn't contain my excitement!


After the dishwasher was put in we ran a few errands and met my dad and Amber for lunch at Taco and Tequila. We then went and bought some tomato plants for Brandon to plant. So here is a picture of our garden in the beginning stage. I can't wait to pick some veggies this summer!

Spring Break So Far...

So far Spring Break has been wonderful! The weather has been beautiful and I have enjoyed the fresh air. Although, I have been having some major sinus/allergy problems all weekend.

Saturday Brandon and I spent the day outside. We planted some new shrubs in our front yard and some flowers in our planters. Sunday we went to my mom's house for brunch and then my in-laws for dinner. We had a great weekend.

Monday began with a walk, as promised to Bella Rose. I then came home and majorly cleaned my house, which no longer looks that way. How do two people get a house so dirty? I just don't understand. I then went and ate lunch with my dad and sister at Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut is a favorite of mine and Amber's. Anytime we go eat somewhere without our husbands that's usually the place we pick, they aren't as big of fans as we are. After lunch I did a little running around. My plans were to go to Zumba at the gym, but they weren't having any classes. So Hope and I went walking...again!

Tuesday began with a walk, Bella Rose is loving me being home. After that I came home and showered and went to lunch at Shake Shop, yummy, with my in-laws and sister in law. We then went to see The Last Song! Wonderful movie, but not as good as the book. If you go see it, which I recommend, take your Kleenex! It is an extremely sad movie. Also, Carmike Cinemas has $1 popcorn and drinks on Tuesday! So we got the entire movie experience with some buttery popcorn and a Diet Coke!

Tomorrow Brandon is off. So I can not wait to see what the day will bring!

Spring Break!

It is official...I am on Spring Break. My Spring Break officially started yesterday at 3:15. It was a huge relief to see 3:15. After spending 4 days with 23 9-10 year olds who were super excited about the warm weather and break, this was a much needed break.

I do not really have any plans for my break. I do know that Bella Rose and I will go for a walk every morning when we get up and play outside a lot! I am going to try to get some sun on my pale body. And Brandon has taken Wednesday off, so we get a family day! Of course I will have to also do the usual cleaning and laundry.

This really doesn't have anything to do with Spring Break, but we got a dishwasher today! We have an extremely old dishwasher in our house now that does not work. So for the past year and 3 months I have patiently waited to buy one. We went to Lowe's today and got a really good deal on one! I am so excited about it...I can't wait for it to be installed!

I am sure I will be posting again soon about my wonderful, relaxing week and about how wonderful it is to have a dishwasher!

What I am Thankful for!

So here are a few things that I am extremely thankful for!

• Brandon: My wonderful/amazing husband! I love spending time with him. I enjoy our little chats every night about our day and our future. I thank God for him every day and I don't know where I would be without him.
• Bella Rose: I love her more than any person should love a dog! She is my baby and I treat her like a real person.
• Amber: My sister/best friend! I love having a sister that I can talk to about ANYTHING and she completely understands me and always listens!
• Mom: I love my mom! I don't know where I would be without her. She is wonderful!
• The in-laws: I love the Tipton family!
• Dad: I love my dad! I enjoy hanging out with him and I love it when he brings me lunch to school!
• Granny: There is nothing like talking to my Granny! Gossiping about everything and everybody...I just love her!

Valentine's Weekend

Valentine's weekend was a fun yet tiring weekend. We began our weekend by heading to my dad's parents house Friday night. We started that way just as the snow was beginning to stick to the roads, and of course Brandon chose back roads to check everything out. We had a good time hanging out with family.

Saturday Amber and Andrew came over to hang out and brought Pizza Hut for lunch, yum! Of course the boys had to play video games so Amber and I took a trip to Wal-Mart. We decided to go to 131 Main for dinner, which of course was an excellent choice. We had a great time hanging out.

Sunday morning all four of us, Brandon, Amber, Andrew, and me, went to South Carolina to see my mom's parents. We met them at one of their favorite restaurants, that they eat at most days for lunch, along with our aunt, uncle, cousin, and his wife. We had such a great time hanging out with family. Of course I love seeing my grandparents because we don't get to see them often. I also love catching up/gossiping with my grandmother. She is such a wonderful lady and I love being around her. Of course we all spent most of the trip trying to talk my grandparents into moving to Lincolnton. On our way home from SC we ate dinner at PF Changs. Once again a wonderful choice for dinner. We finally ended our weekend about 9:30 Sunday night. We had such a great time catching up and hanging out with family.

Life as a Teacher

So I was sitting here tonight reading blogs, of course, and came across another teacher's blog. Reading this blog really made me think.

As most of you know, I teach 4th grade. Teaching is very rewarding, yet very draining. This week has been a rough, yet short week. We were out of school Monday and Tuesday and had a 2 hour delay Wednesday. On top of that we are supposed to get some kind of wintry mix tomorrow, Friday. Just imagine how excited we get as adults about snow. So imagine dealing with 23 9-10 year olds who have spent 4 days playing in it and expecting more. It has been rough to get students motivated and myself motivated. I have been so whiny and complaining with my co-workers about how hard this is and so on. I struggled to teach/work all day yesterday and today. It is super hard to get back into a schedule.

Then I began thinking...I am so fortunate to have my job. I teach 23 students every day. But more than that, they teach me so much. I learn so much about how life is so different for kids today than just a few years ago. So many children come in to school and just want to talk. In my mind I am thinking, "Why are you talking so much when you should be doing morning work", when I should be saying "Tell me more"! Life at home for children is so different today than when I was in elementary school.

I have a very rewarding job! I see students learn something new, and watch their eyes light up with excitement! I also do not have to work weekends, except Saturday snow make-up days. I have summers off, which I LOVE! There are many days throughout the school year we have off, holidays and workdays. So I am going to try my BEST to have a positive attitude every day. Instead of being "lazy", I am going to put forth my best effort. After all, not many people have the wonderful job that I do!!!!

My Husband!

So if you read my previous blog, you know that we have been car shopping. Saturday was the big day. I made an appointment with a car dealer at Hendrick's in Hickory. Brandon and I went with no intentions of buying. We got to the dealership and they had the car we wanted to test drive in the front, nice and clean! Of course we fell in love. We test drove the car and I let Brandon know, with my looks, that this was MY car! So we decided to proceed with getting a loan and all that mess.

As we sat making an offer on the car Saturday, I began to think of how proud I am of my husband. Brandon, if you know him, is not an extremely social person, especially with people he does not know. But I love him no matter what. We knew what we were willing to pay and decided we would not go a dime higher. Brandon was so stern in his offer and what he wanted. I am so proud of the man he is! Not only for putting his big boy pants on and know what he wanted, but just in every day life. He works extremely hard every day. He has many goals in life and strives every day to reach those goals. I am also proud of how much he is allowing God to lead his life and our marriage. We have prayed about a car for a few months, but nothing has happened. He told me Saturday morning that he prayed that God would lead us to a car that was dependable and affordable, and of course he did! I love him more than words can express. We have only been married about a year and a half and I fall in love with him more every day. I am so proud of the man he is and the man he is growing into daily!!!!

Car Shopping

So Brandon and I have decided that we want to buy a car. We definitely are going to buy a used car, but the problem is which car...??? We both have some thoughts as to what we would like to have. There are certain things we know we want in a car, but we just have to find it and in our price range. We have decided to choose a few cars and test drive them, trying to go in with an open mind. Brandon suggested the other day that we each choose 2 cars that we would like to drive.

Well one car that we know we want to look at is an X3, so now we each choose 1! We have found a few online, but shopping online is very difficult. The other car of my choice is a Nissan Murano. I love these cars!!! I even know that I want a white one with tan interior and a sunroof. I think that we need an SUV so that we can have a family car. Not that we are wanting kids anytime soon, but we do need a family car. Our cars are both small and can not easily fit more than us.

Brandon on the other hand wants a Toyota Prius. Now I understand that these cars are fuel efficient, but it's not much bigger than my Jetta. So to me, this isn't the best choice for our "family car". Brandon thinks that buying this car would be an investment, especially because of gas prices.

So over the next few weeks/months we are going to be in search of a car. Hopefully this will be a peaceful/easy decision for us. To some people this may not be a huge decision, but for us, this is our first car purchase together. Please pray that we do not kill each other in this process!!!

Bella's Release

(by Brandon of course)

At this moment Bella Rose is sitting on the couch crying and whining. She's had 2 treats today, she's not hungry, nor does she need to go potty.

This cry is different. This cry involves her "favorite" pillow. Yep. She's a pillow addict. She loves to hump her pillow and get her release. Don't let me forget to mention that her mommy sometimes provides an assist with the pillow by holding the pillow in place while Bella lies on her back and does the deed.

At one point it had gotten so bad that we had 3 round pillows that were each her "favorite" and she would drag those pillows around the house hoping that one of use would help. We would hide these pillows under the bed and she would still be able to pull them out and jump on the bed with them. We had to throw those away and she's done pretty well since then until tonight.

Another thing with Bella's situation is that she knows when mommy and daddy are about to....you know. So she will run to find a pillow to get her's.

It's all fun and games sometimes but then again at times it's sort of gross too because she tends to pass gas when she is totally relaxed. She's also sh-arted before.

Needless to say, Bella's addicted, and she's cost us a few pillows. It's taken me 5 minutes to type this and she hasn't stopped crying yet.

Christmas Break

My Christmas break is slowly coming to an end...very sad. I enjoyed every single minute of being out of school and not having to stick to a schedule. I did not sleep late, but I did enjoy being lazy. I would not mind being a stay at home mom, but with no kids!

My Christmas break got started with an early dismissal from school! The kids left around 10:30. I tried to get myself prepared for my return after the break so I did not leave until around 11:30. I hated staying, but I know that when I walk into school tomorrow I will not have to stress about what I am going to be doing all day. I even went as far as putting all my books on my table open to the page where I would teach from. I don't ever do that!

Over the next few days I did not do very much. I did a little last minute Christmas shopping and met Brandon for lunch. I love being off work and being able to go to Huntersville to meet him! Along with shopping I did wrap a lot of presents. This year, along with tons of help from my family, we bought 3 kids, all from the same family, Christmas presents. I LOVED being able to help this family out. I enjoyed toy shopping all day and then coming home and looking at everything that was bought. It felt so good to know that on Christmas morning these kids would have so many gifts to open! I loved every minute of the shopping and wrapping gifts for this family.

Christmas Eve Brandon was home. Our tradition with his parents is to have Christmas Eve dinner. This year we had it at our house, since this was the first Christmas in our house. Brandon cooked a delicious dinner, he worked super hard. After we ate we exchanged gifts. His parents got us a new microwave, I was sooooo excited, and some money to put towards a dishwasher, we have one but it is super old. His sister got us the weekend subscription to the Charlotte Observer!!! I was super excited, but I felt old getting excited about these gifts.

Christmas morning Brandon and I woke up and had breakfast at our house with my mom. Mom had given us a tv for our bedroom a few months ago as our Christmas present. After breakfast we went with Brandon's family to Hudson, which is where his moms family lives. We had lunch up their and spent time with her family. We came back home and went with Amber and Andrew to my dads parents house. We stayed there for a while and then went to my moms house for Christmas Day dinner. Mom had made a wonderful dinner for us all. We had such a good time hanging out with my family. It's so nice to all be together. We had such a wonderful Christmas!

The day after Christmas we went shopping for new ornaments for next year! We had a wonderful relaxing weekend until the plumbing issues began. Saturday we had to move in with my mom due to plumbing problems. We didn't get moved back in our house until Tuesday night. It took a while to get all of our clothes moved back in and unpacked. I worked on taking down Christmas decorations most of the day Tuesday and Wednesday. We had our first New Year's party Thursday night. We really enjoyed hanging out and catching up with friends. Since then we have done nothing. Brandon got a new video game and he has played it since Friday. Amber and Andrew came over Friday and spent most of the day here so Andrew and Brandon could play Call of Duty!

I have really enjoyed being out of school for 2 weeks. The time has definitely flown by! It has been a very relaxing break. I loved being able to spend time with my wonderful husband and Bella! I am already counting down the days until the next break!