It's the Little Things.

New Realization: 

I need to live somewhere warm and where the sun shines a lot.

This week, in Utah, it has started to warm up a bit, giving us a "tease" of Springtime air. 50 degrees, sun shining, etc. (Isn't it funny that this weather is considered warm? My sister in San Diego would be bundled up in a sweatpants and gloves here! Ha)  I know that this is a tease because this silly state does it all of the time. It is nice, beautiful weather for a little bit, then a huge snowstorm always hits in March, and of times, another one in April. And I have noticed that since this nice weather has "come about", I have been a lot happier. I have more energy. I want to go outside and bask in the sun. I want to go for walks and hikes and bike reads and read in the sun!

And let me tell you…A Happy, Springy (pun intended) Sierra is much better than a sad, wintery Sierra. Ha.
So I have decided that Spring should just come early here…and stay.

Another thing that I like about nice, warmer weather is the fact that I like the way that I think. I feel more alive, more free, more fun! I start noticing the little things that make me happy in my life. I have made a concerted effort in the past month of my life to look at the things I do have, instead of dwelling on the things that I wish I had. It's the little things that have made me more content recently. And I am grateful that I have the capacity to see them, even when life seems a bit dreary and dark internally.
(Let me remind you that I am not perfect at this. I am still working on this. But, I am not pessimistic and sarcastic and cynical all of the time, so that's a start, right? Ha!)


It's the little things that make me happy. Like...

*When this hunk gets up after we are both in bed to turn off the lights, turn on my piano music and lock the doors, just because he knows how much I hate getting up once I am comfortable. 

*When we go on hikes up the mountains and he slows down just because he knows I get frustrated that his legs are 50 times longer than mine. 

*Flowers. I have seen some sloooowly starting to sprout and it makes me so happy. Flowers. yes. 

*Speaking of flowers….when one of my boy students came in with a bouquet of flowers the other day. I almost lost it. It was the sweetest thing in the world. Especially cause I could tell he was so embarrassed, but he remembered when I told the class how much I love flowers. Would you die? They aren't as bad as they seem sometimes ;)

photo via instagram

*Basketball. Lots of basketball. T and I have been going to a lot of BYU games (we are avid BYU basketball fans over here). One of my favorite thing sin the world is getting out all of my anger, energy and excitement out on those refs at the basketball games. I'm pretty sure T is embarrassed of me at these games. But I love. Basketball just makes me happy

*Phone calls with my long last friends in Piper (yes, that's my car name. So perfect for my Subaru Outback! Love the bluetooth). I have been driving a lot recently and have noticed that talking with my dear friends and siblings who live far away makes the time go by so much faster. And it reminds me how much I love them! I am so grateful for my loved ones, even if I don't see them often.  

Sidenote: Yes, I am obsessed with my car. 

*You guys ready for this one?

TWITTER.

Hahaha. Yes. Twitter. I love it. I love that people are so much more brutally honest on here. It's inappropriate and funny and ridiculous. Everything that makes me happy. 

I don't really know what else to say. 

So I guess I'll stop there.

Yay for the little things? 

Oh, also, THIS is how I feel. 

PS! Come win free glasses! Giveaway ends this week! 

Firmoo Glasses Giveaway!

This is a sponsored post from 4sponsor.com with my unbised thoughts.

I have perfect eye sight.
No, I do not say this to boast.
I say this because I am completely, utterly grateful for it.
Ever since marrying my husband, Tanner, I have become even more grateful for my eyesight. I look at Tanner poke his eyeballs with contacts everyday and it makes me cringe. I am so happy I don't have to constantly wear glasses in order to see. (knock on wood).
However, I have to admit, sometimes I wish I could wear glasses, especially in my classroom. I would feel so much more like a teacher. So I may or may not have bought some glasses from Firmoo without lenses to prove my coolness. It worked. My 6th graders completely ate them up. I felt so trendy. But, then, it was Tanner's turn to gain some glasses. And, let me tell ya, he looks like Clark Kent with them…don't ya think?

Well, dear friends, now it is YOUR TURN to win a 150 dollar gift card to Firmoo Glasses.   That is a pretty sweet deal if I do say so myself.
Good luck!
May the odds be ever in your favor. 

Note: Each winner can use gift card once. Shipping is excluded. 

• The gift cards can only be applied to glasses from this page. 
• All the winners have to be in the United States. 

Click to join the giveaway


Also, friends, if we are Facebook friends, please go to my page and see my opportunity to win the chance to review adorable clothes for a local boutique here. Go "like" my comment (see more info on my page! Email, text, call, message, comment, etc. for more info. 

LINK UP: //A Photo a Week// {Week 6}: Snowshoeing

   One of the benefits of being a teacher is being able to have holidays such as President's Day off from work. I had such a fun weekend bonding with my husband, my in laws, friends, and fun adventures. Tanner and I decided that we needed to get out and do something up in the mountains--actually take advantage of the snow and mountains that's literally in our backyard. So, we went snowshoeing. It was so warm. I was in a shirt and a little hoodie. The mountains were beautiful, glistening with snow and filled with trees. I hadn't been since I was in 8th grade, so it was fun to experience this again. When I told my students what I did over the holiday weekend, they all instantly replied, "Ewwww whyyyy? That sounds awful!" And I just laughed. Because there were definitely moments when I felt that way. Mostly just because my husband could snowshoe for 50 miles and be fine. My thighs definitely did not like that idea. Alas, through our different body types and energy levels, we had an enjoyable afternoon of sweat and smiles. Enjoy my lovely commentary in these videos. (I'm such a dork haha).

Also! Friends! My blog was voted 'Most Beautiful Blog' for Best Of Blogs! Please take a minute to vote. Today is the last day to vote. It would mean so much. I am so flattered I was voted in the first place! Hurry and vote before it closes!

Photos&videos on instagram too. 

   

Other Photos of the Week: 

//Week 5//: Love in 6th Grade

//Week 4//: Wintery Daydream. 

//Week 3//: Squinty.

//Week 2//: I Hope They Call Me on a Mission.

//Week 1//: Home and Children. 

Now! It is your turn to link up your most recent photos!  

Here are the rules: 

1. Apply the button on your blog below.  

2. Put your blog in the link up below.

3. Tweet (shout out to @sainge_worth) and social media it up! 

An InLinkz Link-up

Top 10 Reasons Why I Should Become a Fashion Blogger.

I think it's time, guys.
Here are the reasons why I think I should become a fashion blogger:


1. I wear Blair Waldorf-esque outfits. Every day.
This was my Valentine's outfit for the BIG TIME 6th grade dance our a Sushi Date. Lace and red leggings? I am all about that. Now, I just wish I had the legs to pull them off more often.

2. I take really good close ups.  Even with zits all over my face...This will help with my accessory photos. (ex: earrings). I also have no shame in taking these….maybe I should, though.

3. I love purses. More importantly, I have good taste in purses. Heh. Cause, ya know….all you fashion bloggers always have these amaaaazing purses. I'd fit right in.

4. When the camera is on, I make a specific point to a) have perfect body position and b) make a really beautiful, natural face when I laugh. So. Yea. 

5. I started at a young age with being in front of the camera...

6. Two words: polka dots. 

They are in style (right?)

 and I am OBSESSED. I could and do wear them often. 

(I'm on the far left…dur). 

7. One time…I wore a necklace like this with an outfit. (I don't even know what these are called…I mean, I do, but I can't seem to remember. I am proving my point, huh?)  Oh! Bubble necklaces! 

Okay, but really, I do love big necklaces. Ha.

8.  How can you not resist this face? It screams…fashion model blogger face, don't ya think? 

9. Fashion Blogger Pose…I have it down. 

10. Last but not least, If I had the money, I would spend lots of it on clothes. And I would be so in style you guys wouldn't even know what to do. I mean, just look at what I post on Pinterest? That's gotta mean something, right? Pinterest is basically my fashion in real life. 

And that's just the beginning, y'all...

Please remember that this is all sarcasm. And I am not trying to offend anyone :) 

This Won't Help You Unless You Are A Huge Procrastinator.

For Valentine's Day, I decided to be the most pinteresty wife out there. (After all, I am incredibly obsessed with Pinterest. No, you think I am kidding.) I saw so many cute little gifts with phrases on them and I thought to myself, "I need to do something fun for Tanner for our first Valentine's day!" And we don't have any money, so I decided to do the "12 Days of Valentine's" for my husband.

I missed a few photos from a few days because between Parent Teacher Conference, my 6th grade dance, praxis testing, and Valentine's day in elementary school (insane, I tell ya! Yea, you KNOW we pre-game danced in our classroom before the Valentine's dance…come see it on instagram) , I was a wee bit busy this week on Valentine's Day! I wish I could have taken them with my nice camera, but phone pictures are what you are going to have to deal with this week.

I realize that this might not help you all for Valentine's this year….cause this is AFTER the day, but it's a great idea for birthday months, or other holidays coming up…Even for next year, possibly! Enjoy! 

Note: I came up with most of these on my own. :) I stole some from Pinterest, but I did this myself. Man, I'm so crafty. Hahahaha. (kidding).

On the First Day of Valentine's Month,

My love "Quenches My Thirst"

(Tanner loves his Blue Drank)

On the Second Day of Valentine's Month, 

You are the Oreos to my milk!

(Oreos) 

(No picture)

On the Third Day of Valentine's Month, 

You make me snicker with delight.

(Snickers)

(No picture)

On the Fourth Day of Valentine's Month, 

You Make my Heart do "Flipz" 

(Flipz Chocolate Covered Pretzels) 

On the Fifth Day of Valentine's Month…

I DON'T REMEMBER. hahahahaha.

(No Picture)

On the Sixth Day of Valentine's Month,

I am "gushing" with love over you.

(Gushers)

On the Seventh Day of Valentine's Month,

I Love you because you deal with my "drama."

(Chocolates with Drama on it) 

(he loved this one)

On the Eighth day of Valentine's Month,

I love you because you are my "hot tamale." 

(Hot tamales)

On the Ninth Day of Valentine's Month,

I love you because you give the best Hugs. 

(Chocolates with Hugs on the front). 

On the Tenth Day of Valentine's Month,

You became my real "Sweetart."

(Sweetarts candy)

 On the Eleventh Day of Valentine's Month,

You are the "Riesen" for my happiness.

(Riesens)

  On the 12th and final day of Valentine's Month,

I am so happy that we "tied" the knot."

(Ties!) 

I also made Tanner a video of all of our special moments together. 

See it here. 

 Also, friends! Awesome news! I have been voted for the Best of Blog Award for "Most Beautiful Blog". Please take a moment and vote for my blog under this category. I am so flattered. Click button below to vote! It ends soon so I would appreciate votes ASAP! Thank you!

Side note: This is a video about an upcoming show for young boys about Honor.  Host, Andrew, takes young dudes on a heroes journey in Honesty, Chivalry, Nonviolence, Skills, & Strength using games & sports and needs help to win! Come check it out! This is going to be shown in my classroom on Tuesday!….perfect for boys ages 7-13!  Should be an awesome show--would love to see this be successful. 

Why We Work.

Happy Valentine's Day!!
I posted last night about Tanner and I's special moments for Valentine's Day. I love those memories so much. I love my husband, ya know? On this special day, I wanted to link up with Bon Bon and all of you others to post about why my husband and I work well together. Come join the party.

There are a lot of reasons why T Money and I work. Let's begin, shall we?

1. He does random things. All of the time. And I enjoy random. All of the time. Randomness=happiness. He does things like: sending me a banana while he was on his mission just to see if it would actually make it. When the postman knocked on my college apartment door with the most puzzled look on his face…my roommate and I could not contain ourselves. It's the little, romantic things he does, ya know?

2. He has brought out the "country" in me. I was raised in the rich suburbs. I wouldn't call me a "city girl" because well, I rarely wear make up, and would basically not wear clothes ever if I had the choice, but I am definitely more city than he is. I have always loved rodeos, cowboys, wide open spaces, and he has reminded me of this love. Plus, he teaches me how to do fun things like fish and ride horses and be outdoorsy. Something that I am slowly, but surely learning to love.

3. He's tall. I never thought I was tall. But as I look at pictures of my friends and myself, I realize that I am always one of the taller ones. I always said I was going to marry someone who was at last 6 ft. I got 6'3''. Even betta. 

4. He deals with my double jointed elbows. Loves them? No way. Deals with them? Yes. Honestly, that's all a special girl like me can ask for. I am still scarred from raising my hand in 3rd grade and the kid sitting across from me goes, "Ewwwww what is wrong with your arm?" I have learned to embrace them, peeps. So does the husband. Again, it's the little things. 

Sidenote: This goes with me shaving my legs. He still loves me even when I don't shave my legs. Like…we are talking weeks.  If that's not true love, then I don't know what is. 

5. Sometimes when we are both just looking at each other in silence, I can feel his love. And I hope that he can feel mine. I can tell just by looking at him what he is thinking. Just like this photo…when he came off the plane from his mission and I was already lecturing him, or being emotional, or crying, or all three and he still loved me. 

6. We make each other laugh. A lot. Mostly more AT each other than WITH each other. But we laugh. And that, my friends, is huuuuuuuuge. 

7. We're just fuh-reaking hot together, ya know? 

Do I sound conceited yet?

(It's only cause I actually did my hair and makeup and am in a wedding dress. His handsome face helps--and the fact that he's doing the forehead kiss….sigh…makes my heart melt). 

There are also many, many other reasons why we work, but these are the most important. 

(Ha. kidding). 

Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you all stop and take a moment to remember why you and your love work like magic. And if not, create some magic (yea…that was supposed to be dirty. heh)

Love day. Go celebrate.

 over and out. 

Special Moments on the Day of Love.

Happy Early Valentine's Day, my fellow bloggers!
I am posting now because tomorrow is going to be a craaaazy day. Read yesterday's post to understand why. 

Whether you are single, dating, engaged, or married, I hope you have a  wonderful day celebrating those that you love. I have always been so apathetic towards Valentine's Day. I never loved it or hated it, I just let it exist. Ha. And to be quite honest, I still kind of feel that way. Tanner and I don't have much money and I have a huge teacher test on the 15th (Praxis grrrr) so we will be just doing something simple: going out to dinner and having a nice night in. Which, honestly, is what we prefer a lot of times. (Especially after a whirlwind of a day tomorrow--6th grade dance…gonna wear me out.) 

However, for this day, I wanted to do something for Tanner that showed all of the moments that we have spent together as a couple. It has been almost four years since we met and I love seeing how much we have grown even in the small amount of time. I made this video of most of our moments together--a collection of our dating lives, engagement pictures, bridals, wedding pictures and other fun times. I love to use my creativity in things like writing, music and pictures, so making a video was so fun for me!! 

Now, a note specifically to Tanner:

(cheese ball alert! Read on if you love sappy crap. Ha)

I am sort of hesitant and weary to even tell you how much I love you on this special day, because, quite honestly, you show your love to me on many, many other days of the year in more ways that I can count. Sometimes, I feel like you show your love better than I do in many ways. In fact, almost every day. Since our very first date, as you will see below, I have been attracted to something about you (yes, even more then your high cheekbones and hot bod). You had a smile that was 90 miles long and it made me want to reiterate that smile. Since we met, almost 4 years ago, I have seen how much you have grown. And yet, through that growth, I have loved you more and more. Thank you for all of these wonderful memories. I can't wait to spend many more with you. I love you so much babe. More than 1 million pieces of crushed ice :) Enjoy the video :) 

Also, friends! Awesome news! I have been voted for the Best of Blog Award for "Most Beautiful Blog". Please take a moment and vote for my blog under this category. I am so flattered. Click button below to vote!

//A Photo a Week// {Week 5}: Love in 6th Grade.

I missed last week. Just love me.

Valentine's Day is in full motion at elementary school, people. Whether you like Valentine's Day or not, my 6th graders' hormones are raging, so as a teacher, you better learn to love it. Embrace it, more like it. I actually love giving my students' their valentine's gift. This is the second year in a row that I have made this "Valentine's Love Potion" for my students and I love seeing their faces when it's on their desks in the morning. They all go, "ooooooh greeeeeaaaattttt, Mrs. C." and roll their eyes. Yet, they love it. Little divas.

Not only have my kids been on crack this week for the holiday, but also because for Valentine's day, we throw a 6th grade dance in the afternoon. For the past month or so, for PE (yes, we teach our own students PE, we don't have a PE teacher…Don't get me started), we have taught them about 6-10 different dances. They have learned how to dance with each other and different line dances (waltz, electric slide, two step, slow modern, etc.). It is HILARIOUS to watch them. I love torturing these hormone-ridden pre teens :) This dance has been the talk of my students since September and now it is finally here. Great. My students will be so focused the next few days. This holiday has pretty much overtaken my life. So I thought I'd share

I will post more on the dance next week. Get ready for some craaaazy good times. Hahaha. I'm making Tanner come and show them up. He was on Ballroom so he will pretty much dominate. And I will have to really learn. Hahaha.

photo on instagram too.

How to make this love potion (it's really complicated)….

1. Go to the store and buy pink/red Kool Aid. (Literally got 6 of them for a dollar at Walmart. Big spender over here. Two words: Teacher Salary).
2. Make a cute printable on word (because I am too lazy to make it on Photoshop or do fancy crap like the rest of you) that says, "love Potion" with an arrow and cute designs.
3. Print. Cut out. Put around bottles.
4. Succeed.

I am putting this on Pinterest because it is ACTUALLY something I could and would do….unlike these other things that take 5 hours. Who has time for these things? Seriously?
I am getting so crafty these days. Look out Martha Stewart.

Sidenote: I am by no means encouraging love in 6th grade. In fact, it would make my life a lot easier if they still believed each other had cooties. A little too much flirting has been going on in the classroom. Like, seriously? Do you need to hit her? Are you still 5? Ugh. 

Other Photos of the Week: 

//Week 4//: Wintery Daydream. 

//Week 3//: Squinty.

//Week 2//: I Hope They Call Me on a Mission.

//Week 1//: Home and Children. 

If I were a smart blogger, I would do a link up for these photo a week posts. Should I do this? Is anyone interested? Is there a free site to do link ups that I can include. Help a girl out. :) 

Reminisce: College Edition

You demanded. I responded.
I had people texting me about my Reminisce: High School Edition post , and they were dying from the memories. It was only fair that I did a college one, right?
Hold on to your seats, people.

As I was gazing over my College pictures, I realized something… It was pretty much exactly the same as my high school one.

All of the following happened:

weird faces,
a lot of dressing up,
a lot of parties,
a lot of dances.
a lot of group photos and memories.
a lot of traveling (Africa, Fiji, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii anyone?)
…and a lot of two or three of these involved together.

And a lot of really, really fun times.

So grateful for these memories, experiences, and the people that were involved in this phase of my life. You know who you are. Because of you, I am who I am.

 Awesome. So, yea, I wish I could say that this post is going to be significantly different, but, unfortunately (or fortunately) it won't be. See, I told you, I haven't changed. Hahaha.

So, uh….just, yea…enjoy the many faces and experiences of college Sierra.

Warning: Lots of Photos. like…lots

And that's all, folks. I'm tellin' ya…a lot of good faces.