Graduation and winter break

I did it. I finally got my Master's Degree. It felt so nice to be able to walk and have that moment where I could really say Wow! My goal is accomplished. I did it. I will admit now I don't quite know what to do but I haven't had too much trouble finding things to fill the time. I am really enjoying being primary chorister and coming up with ideas and games to teach the kids the songs. I also am finally on Winter Break which is good because I was really tired and not quite enjoying my job because of this. I have been scrapbooking this afternoon which is always one of my favorite activities. I am also enjoying spending time with Kaylie and look forward to when Erick gets Christmas Eve and Day off. I hope Christmas is good for all of you. Here are some pictures of my graduation and other things that have been going on with us.

Just thought you would like to know I passed my COMPS!!!!

An update because I feel like it

I figured I was grumpy today and maybe looking at some cute and happy pictures and thinking about fun stuff like Disneyland would make me happier. It seems to be working a bit. I had a rough day at work. Students were challenging and aides too. It probably doesn't help that I was out late last night at my favorite place (Disneyland). So I came home checked my Facebook and found out Grandma Jenson was in the hospital. Not much to make me happy. I called my mom to get an update and proceeded to vent to her about my day. (Thank goodness for Mom's!!!!) From there my day did start to get better. I found a frozen Lasagne in the fridge and decided to get vegetables for a salad so we are going to have a super yummy dinner tonight. I threw a load of laundry in. I then took Kaylie to the park where she really enjoyed sliding down the slide and figured out how to climb up to it on her own. Now I'm going to call Meghan as soon as she's off I hope I don't interrupt the basketball game because I always have uncanny timing and I don't think she has DVR. So here are some of the pictures that made me happier today.

A sampling of my life the past few weeks!

I have had a very busy few weeks. I had my Grandma Barnes pass away unexpectedly on Oct. 30th. So I took an unplanned trip to WA to have an unplanned but wonderful family reunion with all my cousins and aunts and uncles plus all my Grandma's siblings. I think it was exactly as she would have liked it to be. It was a loving tribute to her.
When I got back from my quick trip to WA we had my sister and her family come to visit. It was so fun! We were so busy and really enjoyed getting to spend some time with them. Amanda and I worked on quite a few adorable hair bows for our girls.
We did a quick day at Disneyland and the kids loved it! Sam was so cool with wanting to go on Space Mountain. She definitely takes after her dad and not her mom in her fearlessness!
I forgot to mention that during this entire time I was busy prepping for my COMPS. It seems like when it rains it pours.
I took my COMPS about a week ago and I feel that they went well. I haven't thought much about them since then so hopefully that is a good sign.
I was called as the primary chorister in the middle of all this. It is going to be good. I really had fun conducting on Sunday. I think it is fun to be able to use my teaching ability on General Ed kids as something different. I also really enjoy coming up with ideas to teach songs. Did I mention I have never known how to lead music. We are very lucky to have a nice pianist who is understanding of this. Thank Goodness! I don't know what I would do otherwise.

COMPS

I take my comps today. Wish me luck! Lindsey

The Incredible Grandma Barnes

My Grandma Barnes was an incredible lady. She lived an incredible life and was an incredible example. I could spend hours going on and on about her wonderful example and what I learned from her but instead I am just going to say a few key things.

Grandma made the best cinnamon rolls one of my favorite memories of her was when they lived in Cheney and we went out to visit. Her cinnamon rolls were not ready yet and it was time to go home. I didn't like this at all. I devised a plan to stay the night at grandma's house just so I could have some! (I didn't admit to my mom till the next day the real reason I wanted to stay was the cinnamon rolls)

Grandma always had candy and olives. I think all the grand kids were shocked when grandma and grandpa admitted that neither of them liked olives but they had cases in their basement just to please the grand kids. Grandma always had smarties and red licorice in a "hiding" place which every grand kid pretended not to know but would go sneak it before dinner.

Grandma was always there to cheer me on. I can't imagine it was fun to sit through my plays in high school or 2 graduations on the same day (My mom and I graduated High School and College the same day) but she was always there with her camera to take pictures of those things. She was at my college graduation and cheered me on so much in getting my Master's Degree. She always told me how proud she was of me for sticking to it and getting my education. I actually would usually send my grandma important papers to look over and comment on. She was a great editor.

Grandma and grandpa were able to come for Kaylie's baby blessing. She loved to see Kaylie so much and loved holding her. It was so neat. The last time we saw her was at the Barnes Family Reunion this past summer. She made sure to cook some of our favorites, her baked beans, cottage cheese with green onions and radishes, and of course her world famous buttermilk dressing. (Mine just isn't as good as her's was)

She was a good woman who loved her family, loved her genalogy and loved serving the Lord. She will be greatly missed and I am a better person because I had her in my life. Thanks Grandma. You will be missed.

Read me

Kaylie pulled the stool over to get the sweet treats. Yep thats my girl!

Kaylie is officially binky free! It wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected. It was about 3 days of crying and throwing fits (add to that learning to climb out of her crib) and then she kinda settled down about it.
I have been studying super hard for my COMPS (Which come on Nov 14th) and feel like I have a good handle on things. I feel that if I study I'll be fine. Its just a matter of making sure I take the time to study.
Erick has been having to work a few nights here and there again but it is nothing like it has been in a while so I don't mind too much.
That's basically all I can think of with our life at the moment. We are just busy busy busy but that seems to be the story of our life.
We have had some fun decorating cupcakes and enjoying Halloween so here are some pictures:

Like Father, Like Daughter

Kaylie is gradually becoming more and more of a Daddy's girl. She likes to climb up on his lap when he plays Rock band and she tries to use the computer just like him. He usually is the one who rocks her to sleep at night. She also likes to sit and "play" the PS3 with him. Here are some pictures of her recent cuteness.

Family Pictures

Erick and I decided that now that Kaylie is 18 mos old it was way past due to get new family pictures. Kaylie was a little doll about gettting her picture taken and I will post some of our cutest. Don't worry I got copyright released pictures so I can legally post these!

Family Night

Monday we had family night. It is one of the funnest ones we have had. Kaylie is getting old enough that it really feels like we can teach her little lessons and do activities with her. She enjoyed the game Kerplunk we "played" with her. (actually we set it up and let her pull the pieces) She was so cute I couldn't resist taking some pictures of her.

Nursery

Kaylie had her first day of nursery on Sunday. I was so excited because I could finally go back to Sunday School and Relief Society which I have felt like I haven't been to in weeks. So I get settled into Sunday School listening to a very good lesson and then comes the peeking in nursery leader with my poor little red-faced angel baby. She was scared (I would be too there are 17 kids all older than her in there). So mommy and Kaylie went back to the nursery together to get used to the nursery some more. Kaylie refused to let me leave her if she noticed I was gone so I think I'll spend a few more weeks in the nursery. Relief Society you're not just all a dream....someday you will be a reality again. I must say though my little miss looked very cute for her first day of nursery. She helped me unload the dishwasher while still in her dress here are some pictures:

Kaylie's new bracelet

You can see the bracelet on her wrist. She doesn't leave home without it!

Kaylie got some new bracelets. I didn't think she would like them. I just bought them because my cousin Amanda made them and I loved them (the website is ellabellacinderella.etsy.com) So does Kaylie! She wears them everywhere! She refuses to take them off and gets mad when she has to go to bed without them. She puts her wrist out everytime after she has a bath so that I can put it right back on her. It is really cute. I love it! She is such a cutie.

Yesterday Kaylie took her shampoo and put it in her hair while it was dry so she came out with a cute little look on her face and needless to say she got her bath which is what she wanted.

A wedding and a funeral..Yeah it was a busy week

This past week I had quite an eventful time of it. First was my sister-in-laws beautiful wedding. She was a gorgeous bride! Everything went quite well with the exception of a little glitch when Kaylie freaked out five minutes before the ceremony was about to begin. She did manage to walk down the isle but I pretty much took her out after that. I felt bad about that but she's only 18 mos old what do we really expect? I realized later she was really nervous about all the people. It taught me a lesson about understanding her. The party was great afterwards. The food was super yummy and my favoirte part had to be the strawberry bar where you could either get pre-dipped yummy strawberries or make you own dipped ones. You can guess who enjoyed that (I'll give you a hint Kaylie was already asleep) It was amazing! It was also great to see family we haven't seen in a while. I can't quite figure out how to post the pictures from the web so when I do I'll put some more up. Kaylie was a beautiful flower girl.

So here comes the funeral part. The same day as the beautiful wedding I found out my grandpa died. This kind of put a damper the day for me. So we had fun at the wedding, spent the next day going to family stuff and packing and then left for Utah at about 4:00 Sunday Morning. We were there for the viewing and the funeral on Monday. I sure loved both of them. I know that sounds morbid but I thought it was just like my Grandpa Jenson would have liked it. It was fun and people were talking and just enjoying each other's company. I loved seeing those I hadn't seen in a long while. It was wonderful because my sister was able to come from North Carolina and then my brother surprised everyone and came from Washington. He was only able to stay for a minimal amount of time but it was good to see him again. Its been a few years.
We were able to stay a couple of days and we went to temple square. Kaylie loved the reflection pond and did not want to leave. As soon as I get pictures from my sister I will post them. Overall we really enjoyed our trip to UT and Kaylie was an excellent traveler.

My few weeks off

I just went back to school. I really enjoyed my time off. It was interesting to go back. I'm still not quite sure how I feel about it. I have a really great class this year though so that makes it nice. While I was off Kaylie and I had a blast! I love my time off because I get to have more time with her and I always have so much fun playing with her and doing my hobbies which keep some how expanding. So here is a list of some of the things Kaylie I have done:

Played tea party
Got a new piano
Went to the zoo
Worked on Kaylie's Scrapbook
Sewed some PJ's for Kaylie
Went to the park
Cleaned the house
Finger Painted
Watched some cute movies
Cooked a lot

Needless to say we had fun. Kaylie is such a doll and it was great to be able to spend some Mommy daughter time with her.

Kaylie saw this pillow at Sam's Club and just had to have it. She loves how soft it is.

This is Kaylie when she climbed up on the table because she wanted the chips.

Kaylie has been learning sign language and is actually picking up on it quite quickly. She has more and please and has the cutest little way of signing cookie. She will also say thank you with prompting and eat. I think we will work on drink soon. She also tries to verbally say the words and it is just really fun to see.

Oops!

Please note that the last 3 entries were supposed to be entered in chronological order but it did not work out that way. So really we went on vacation, had an adventure with bees and then got a dog.

Bees, Bees, Bees

Okay. Bees are very pretty as a decoration on a wall or a cute little scrapbook embellishment but not when there are thousands of them in your attic!!! So Erick saw some bees and thought humm that's not good they look like they have a hole they are going into so he called a bee exterminator to come and look at it. (Me I was thinking why? Its just a few bees) Yeah turns out there was a hive in our attic. So we had they guys spray what they could then and then they came back on Saturday to remove the rest and the 40 or so pounds of honey right above our closet. Here are some pictures of the process:

Step 1
Notice an unusual amount off bees around your house

Step 2
Call an exterminator Step 3
Kill the bees
Step 4
Extract the honey

Step 5
Discard the honey (sorry all you honey lovers we didn't get to keep it)

Vacation

Erick and Kaylie on family picture day

Kaylie Ella and Adam loved the sand toys

Kaylie watching the fireworks

Kaylie and the pinata

Our day in Spokane at the park with Meghan

At a beautiful garden in Spokane

Kaylie is a little over zealous in her kiss for Mommy

Kaylie on her way to Spokane

We were able to take a wonderful trip to Washington State for a family reunion. We had a lot of fun. It was great to see everyone and on the way up there we enjoyed a stop in Utah, Boise, and McCall Idaho where we spent the night and enjoyed the view of Payette Lake. I seriously wouldn't mind retiring there. Here are some pictures from our wonderful trip.

New with the Cortes Family

So here is an update on the Cortes family. We got a new dog and named her Chloe. She is a totally mellow awesome dog and with the exception of a little bit of nipping at Kaylie she totally is great! We still love our house and enjoy having a place of our very own. Erick has kept busy fixing sprinkler heads and keeping up on the lawn. I'm attempting to get used to cleaning a bigger house. It seems like there is always something to be done!

We are busy as always, but right now Kaylie and I are busy having fun! I'm off work for the next week or so and so I am taking time to do some of the things I really enjoy but get to distracted for during the school year. I've been learning to sew and have made Kaylie 3 pairs of pajama pants that actually turned out!!! I also am working on an apron but I didn't realize that when you are supposed to line it up with a fold it is so that they can stay together! So that one will probably have a few more hems than necessary but hey there is always a learning curve. I really am starting to appreciate Ether 12:27 which is about turning weaknesses into strengths. I couldn't cut for anything when I was younger and now I'm sewing with some success. It is such a great feeling to watch a project come together and actually look good. I'm very proud of myself. (Well the good kind of proud).

Father's Day

We had a great father's day. My mom and I made a scrapbook album for Erick and each of the grandpa's. It was a great surprise for them and they all loved it! We made the day special by letting Erick enjoy a nice simple day with no real responsibilities to deal with. We had one of his favorite meals (Shredded Beef Tacos with all the fixings) with our families at our new house. (I love love love my new house) and we had fun with Kaylie. It was a great day.

Yeah so I have been staying at home this week. I have to start by saying how much I admire you all who stay home everyday!!! You are amazing you deserve awards!!! I love the time I get to spend with Kaylie but I feel like 2/3's of my day consist of cleaning the house. It could just be because it is a new house and I'm still getting unpacked but seriously, it feels like all I have done. Kaylie and I did have fun though yesterday with a trip to story time at the library (She is still a little young but her elephant pictures she colored are so cute!!!) We also went and fed the ducks (I almost accidently typed dorks what a slip that would have been!) at the park. Kaylie can't quite get the crackers out of her hands to throw them so she ate them. Oh well I guess they were her goldfish. We have had fun this week even if it seems we have spent most of our time cleaning!!! I'm glad I had a little extra incentive to get the house clean today because the relief society pres. coming to visit. Nothing like guests coming to really make cleaning a reality. Now thats it!!!! I'm done cleaning for the day. I'm going to bake something. I love to bake. After that I'm going to make Kaylie bows so that she can pull them out of her hair. Kinda dorky I know but I love to do it.

I never know how to title these things!

This week was great! I finished my last week of teaching and school. I am so thankful. I'll be glad to have the summer off of CSUSB to prepare for my COMPS in the fall. Then I will have my Master's Degree. I'm excited. Erick Kaylie and I have been having a good time in our new house. We haven't quite gotten unpacked but that's okay. Now that I have some time off I should be able to get some done. We like our new ward. Its nice. Its fun. I'm glad to have a lot of other people that are my age and in a similar stage in life as me.
Kaylie has done quite a few cute things this week. Here are just a few of them.

• She "worked" out in the backyard with me and put leaves in a pile
• She "helps" make dinner
• She bounces in her bouncy chair to get to sleep
• She eats with a spoon
• She drinks from a cup

We moved into our new house. Erick and I love it!! It is nice and spacious. We haven't had a lot of time to unpack because Erick has had a crazy work schedule and I've had class two nights a week. But it is coming along slowly but surely. Kaylie continues to grow like a weed and learn so much every day. She keeps me busy and entertained all at once. We have a lot of fun together. I'm still working full time but get off next Wednesday which is a relief to me because I'm becoming grouchy teacher and I hate that feeling!!!! Erick has been installing his project at work and so that has meant the evening shift for him most nights. It is finally starting to get back to normal. All in all we are excited to be in our new house and just love it!!!