A busy month!

This month has been a busy one! It has been a whirlwind of fun, work, planning, and playing! I decided I better take the time to do a quick update before I get even more behind. Here are a few things we have been up to this month (not exactly in order because these pictures are not cooperating when I try to move them!).

First of all, May means new calves and with that comes branding day. The weekend before last we went to Hatch to give the calves shots and brand them. It's a good time with everyone pitching in to help!

I also had a recital with my students to finish up the year. They did a great job!

Casey and I have been going on fun adventures together as usual. Did I mention I'm so excited to marry him?!!! I can hardly wait!!!

And this is old news, but about a month ago Casey and I volunteered to help at the St. George Iron Man race. His roommate Greg was participating in it and we had a fun day helping and cheering! It's amazing the things people can accomplish.

My other good news is that tomorrow is my 22nd birthday and I get to go pick up my wedding dress!! It's so pretty. I'm very excited! We also picked out my flowers and the planning is rolling on!

the Biggest and Best news!!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the moment we've all been waiting for! Yes, it's true, I'M ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wahoo!!!!!!!

Sorry I know many of you have been waiting for this post. It has been a whirlwind of a week! This is the first chance I've had to post but I'm staying up late just so you won't be left in suspense any longer. Here's a quick recap of how it happened!

Sunday afternoon Casey and I drove to northern Utah to visit his family. We decided it would be nice to have a little vacation after finishing the semester and we figured we could wash some windows to make a little money during the week. We made plans to go shopping to find me some cute shorts Monday morning, followed by lunch, after which we were going to go on a little hike before heading to Little Cottonwood Canyon for some climbing with his brother in law Matt. I woke up feeling excited for a relaxing fun day!

We went shopping and found some very cute shorts for me! That is a very important detail. :) Ok, maybe not really, but I was kind of excited at the time.

We stopped for lunch at Quiznos and then drove to the Rocky Mouth trailhead. I had never been there before but Casey told me it was on the way and I would love it because it's such a pretty place. We got out of the car and Casey went to the trunk to get his "jacket." I was oblivious to the fact that he had a ring hidden in his backpack there so I followed him back. I'm not sure why I did.... I just like being with him I guess! He grabbed his jacket, shut the trunk, and we started walking towards the trail. After only a few steps he said, "shoot! I lost my phone again!" so he went back to the car and started looking through. Luckily I didn't follow him this time and he told me he found it in the trunk. We hiked up a short trail and at the top there was a beautiful little waterfall that led into a stream. There were lots of pretty rock faces with moss on them so I was taking pictures trying to get a cute one of both of us. We climbed up the rocks so we were right at the base of the waterfall and tried taking some more pictures. Casey pointed out a cool moth on the rock behind me and told me to take a picture of it. I turned around and was taking a picture with my finger next to it to show how big it was (I tried to load the picture but I think the battery of my camera died before I could upload it). He said he had something in his shoe and started to bend down to fix it. When I turned around he was on one knee opening a ring box!!!!!!!!!! My heart felt like this: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so surprised!!! And then he said, "Sheralee will you marry me?" I felt so so happy and it was wonderful!

Casey is so sweet and I feel like a very lucky girl! I'm glad that he surprised me, that's how I always hoped it would happen. He's perfect for me! I'm so excited to get married to my best friend! I love the ring Casey picked out. It's simple and beautiful and perfect. I love seeing it sparkle! I especially love that it's the one he picked out and he even did some studying to find out what makes a diamond good. He said every little diamond is perfectly in place. He is the sweetest!!

We're going to get married July 30th in the Draper temple. We went to the open house there together and we both thought it was beautiful and just felt like home. Yesterday afternoon I was starting to feel overwhelmed with all the planning and everything because it was happening so fast so we hopped in the car together and drove to the temple grounds. I felt so peaceful and happy and content! I'm excited to buy my dress and pick flowers and a cake, but the most important part is that I will get to be sealed to my best friend to grow together through all eternity!

In Memory of Michael

Late Friday night my cousin Michael was killed in a car accident. He was 16 years old and it was completely unexpected. It has been hard for my family, and I can't even imagine how his family is feeling. I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ that we have in our lives and for our knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. What a blessing it is to know that families can be together forever! He was a sweet amazing young man. I am making a slideshow of pictures of him throughout his life for his viewing and I am grateful for the chance I've had to be reminded of what a beautiful, happy life he lived.

I loved this picture of Michael in my Grandpa John's arms when he was born. I'm grateful to know that they can be together now, probably working hard as missionaries!

a few things I love about Spring

Babies

Blossoms
(I couldn't decide which picture I liked best...so you get to see all of them!)

And semesters ending!!

These pictures are of all the students that have been in the Block with me this semester. After being together from 9 to 4 every weekday we have been able to get to know each other pretty well!These are the shirts we designed to remember our semester. We were going to wear them when we went to schools to do science days, but they didn't come until last week so we actually only got to wear them in a school once. I think they are quite funny though. We each drew a self-portrait of ourselves and they were displayed on our shirts like this: See the resemblence? :)

...continued

Ok I have some more details that I knew before but my mind is racing and I can't concentrate so I forgot to mention them...but I want to. :)
First of all, I don't know what grade or school yet. Hopefully I'll found out soon because I feel a strong need to be prepared so I have just been looking up random stuff for every grade level! haha. I have a job right now working as a "research assistant" for the Dean of Education and we are setting up a website to help first year teachers. It's perfect because I can look up useful stuff and use it!
Second of all, after the first 12 weeks (which will count as student teaching) I will get paid full salary and benefits. I am slightly excited about that bit of information.
As soon as I have updates, I will share them.
Thank you family and friends for being wonderful and sharing in my excitement with me!

attention everyone!

I have some big news!! Some very big news! (No I'm not engaged yet.... :) )
I made the decision about two weeks ago to apply for a teaching internship in St. George next year. The day they came to interview I had no idea they were coming and felt very unprepared. Luckily I had dressed up for an interview I had later that day so at least I looked decent. I ran to the computer lab to print off a resume and felt like the interview went ok but it was really short! The other girls who interviewed are really amazing so I really didn't think my chances of getting a position were very good. I was debating about where I wanted to do my student teaching, trying to figure out what to do with the next year of my life, etc. Well, this morning I got a very unexpected phone call letting me know that they have positions for every one of us who interviewed!! So that means next year I will be teaching my very own elementary class!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't even believe it. I think I'm in shock. Kind of nervous. Very excited. Kinda nervous. :) That's all that I can think of to say right now. I'm not sure it has processed in my mind completely yet.

April showers bring snow sculptures and b-day bashes!

April is a good month. Yes I seem to have a billion assignments, interviews, and tests as the semester is drawing to an end, but it is ok because there are so many wonderful things going on!

First of all, it's finally getting warmer! At least one half of every week feels like Spring! The other half feels like winter with snowstorms galore, but hey I'll take what little warmth I can get! Besides, March and April snow storms have proven to be excellent snow sculpturing occasions. This year we decided to try a stegosaurus. Yes we know it looks like an iguana.

Second of all, we celebrated Casey's birthday last weekend! He will be gone on a geology fieldtrip the day of his birthday so we celebrated a week early. We had a bbq at my house and the cupcakes I made actually turned out quite delicious!Our friends little boys had a great time "tricking" Casey into coming outside so they could silly string him. They were in heaven!

I have been wanting to get Casey some basketball shoes and my wish came true when I found a pair of Converse shoes on sale for a really good deal. I couldn't wait to give them to him, so I was kind of glad we got to celebrate early. I probably would have spilled the beans and ruined the surprise if I had needed to wait any longer!

My mom and dad got him a new basketball to go with the shoes. He has been having a great time enjoying our gifts!

(In this picture he was actually spinning the ball...just so you know. I thought it was funny that it looks like he just has it perfectly balanced!)