Our vacation to DC

We had such an amazing time, and I really don't think there is anything left to do in DC that we didn't do. It was quite EXHAUSTING!! We went to all of the monuments, did the Smithsonian (all of it), went to a Washington Nationals game, walked, walked, walked, and walked some more!!

The day we got there was the day we went to a Nationals game. Steven was able to get us seats in the diamond club level for $100 off the ticket price. Now I have sat in the suites at an astros game, but can say that I have never had someone disinfect my seat when I arrived before. That was a little weird, but whatever we were rich for a night :). The game was a new experience for me because I can honestly say that I have never been to a game where I didn't care about either team. Here's the view from our seats...

Not bad, huh? Notice how empty the section is in front of us. This was great! We enjoyed the first half of the game thoroughly, and then about 30 22(?) year olds came and sat by us. They were obnoxious, and had the waiter running back and forth for tequila shots. We decided at that point that we should just walk around and check out the stadium.

The next day we started our hunt for the monuments and such. It was a lot of walking, and I have to say all of the monuments were quite impressive! We also started our Smithsonian tours. If you have never been there, it's huge and there are a ton of buildings to go through. There is NO WAY you could do them all in a day, so we did them in a few days. Here's just a few of our pictures from the monuments:

There's a miniview of our vacation. We decided after this one, that our next vacation will be on a beach somewhere. We want to relax and have people wait on us hand and foot! Mom said she wants to come with us too :).

Well we decided on our vacation that when we got back home we would look for a friend for Lilly. We found a cute little boy named Cody. He's 5 months old, and he's a heeler mix. We decided to go to the pound, and rescue a little puppy from being euthanized. So here's a picture of him we got off of the Internet. We will get him today sometime between 12 and 2.

Elisabeth is EXCSTATIC! I will post more pictures of him with us after we get him. Wish me luck on training a puppy, good thing I have done it before! Also, it's great timing since I'm home for summer. We decided if we don't do it this summer, we might not ever do it because hopefully next summer we will have a different new addition to the Falgout family ;).

I hope you all are doing great! Sorry if this post is a little long. Until next time...

So much going on...

Well here it goes...

I'm offically a 2nd grade teacher at St. John Elementary and couldn't be happier!! I am going to be an inclusion teacher (which scared me at first, but now I'm excited). I am so excited about all of the ladies I get to work with, and can't wait to get to know them better :)

Steven and I are leaving on Sunday for Houston to spend two days before we leave for Washington DC

I CAN'T BELIEVE I have been married for a year!! This has been the most incredible year of my life!! I have moved, found a job, and most of all...married the MOST AMAZING MAN in the whole world!! I know most of you have hubby's too, but none compare to mine (for me). I just can't believe how much my world has changed in a year!!! I will post pictures of our 2nd honeymoon as soon as we get back, but think about us on June 6th because that will be our one year anniversary!!!

GOT IT!!!

Woo wee!! I got the job I have been waiting for! It's been a LONG year coming, but I'm finally there. I'm not sure what grade I'm teaching, but I'm thinking it could be 2nd grade. It really doesn't matter to me though, I HAVE A TEACHING JOB!!!

I'm going to have a girl's night tonight with some of my friends from work to have a nice night of dinner and wine! We are going to celebrate, and I'm excited about that too. We've been talking about getting together for a while now and we finally have an excuse.

Where in the world has Laura been???

It has been absolutely FOREVER since I have posted anything!! I could give you the "I've been busy" excuse (and it's true), but the real truth is I just haven't felt like coming home and typing on the computer! I'm sure some of you understand this. I have been keeping up with all of your busy lives on here via my palm, but it's such a pain in the you know what to comment that I haven't been good about that either.

So, all in all I'm a terrible blogger these days. Oh well summer's coming up and then I'll have LOTS of free time, and let me tell you I'm SOOOO READY!!

So where have I been? Home and school, and not much else! We moved into a house in the middle of March, and I love our new place! The hubby and I have become hermit crabs because we love our new place, and are saving up lots of money for our anniversary vacation! We're going to Washington DC for 7 days/6 nights, and let me tell you I CAN'T WAIT!!! I feel like I haven't seen my husband for 2 weeks! Since this is the case, I'm counting down until I get to spend 10 whole days with him. We are leaving on the June 2, and coming back on the 8th. We are flying out of Houston, and this is perfect because my Mom's birthday is on June 1st so I'm so excited to spend it with her. Last year on her birthday I don't even remember if we did anything because it was a little over shadowed by wedding preparations.

Elisabeth is now 10 years old, and I swear she's getting taller EVERYDAY! That child will definitely overshadow me any day now (not that it's saying much since I am only 5'2"). My dad got her a slip and slide for her birthday, and I think it's become more of a present for Steven than Elisabeth. He LOVES it! Here's a picture of the fun (he would KILL me for doing this).

Lilly couldn't help herself! She HAD to join in with Daddy!!

I really thought we were going to have to make a trip to the hospital!

Professionally things are about to change for me, and hopefully for the better! I did say before that I am not quite doing a full teaching job. What I do is a reading initiative program, and I'm paid by title 1 (for all of you non teachers this is a government funding program for underprivileged children which we have a lot of). The job doesn't pay a full teacher salary, and is a temporary position based on funding and needs. Well now that we are coming to the end of the year I have been VERY nervous about what's in store for me next year because of cuts in our parish. I have been sitting on pins and needles hoping and wishing for an interview, and yesterday I got one! I feel really good about the interview (especially since I was told about it 2 hours before the actual interview). I have it much better than the other candidates because I do know all of the people who were sitting in, and I just was granted a very expensive technology board for my classroom (without actually having one). I am just in the waiting phase now to see, so prayers please!! I'm thinking it's for 2nd grade, but wasn't actually told what grade I was interviewing for.

Well I think I've rambled enough, and I promise to be updating more soon! I hope all of you Mommies had a fantastic Mother's Day!!

Until next time...

Well things are going great!!

It's Tuesday so I figured I should make my Tuesday 10 about all of the great things I'm looking forward to, or am doing at the moment...

• Good news on the front is that my Dad found an amazing job! He is now making more money than he did before, has an amazing car allowance, and will travel a lot. It's all wonderful for him, and I haven't heard him sound this upbeat in a WHILE! He actually has been exercising (he has type 2 diabetes that he's ignored for YEARS) so I'm a happy camper.
• We moved to our amazing new place! We got all of the furniture in fairly easily, but now it's the dreaded decorating issue. I can never make a decision, and now I'm at the point where I refuse to try. I will get all of my decorations up soon, I promise :)
• My hubby's bday is coming up on Sunday. I took the day off on Monday because I wasn't sure if we were going out of town or not. We may come to Houston, but it's looking more like we might stay home. I don't care what we do I'm just looking forward to my 3 day weekend.
• My spring break is coming closer....we don't have spring break until easter week since we have 2 days off for Mardi Gras. I'm definitely looking forward to that!!
• My hubby's best friend is back from Korea, and I might actually get to meet him soon. Steven and I met the day after his best friend's wedding after which he went to Korea so I've never met him. I'm really excited about that possibility because he was such a huge part of Steven's life for so long.
• Elisabeth's birthday is coming up, and she'll be 10! I'm trying to plan a camping weekend for it because she's never done that and is excited to try it out. It should be a blast if I can get it all figured out.
• I'm going to a really wonderful training at the end of April for work, and I'm really excited for two reasons. #1 I have heard nothing but amazing things about it! #2 I love that my prinicipal is sending me because it makes me feel like she wants to keep me around for a while :)
• We are just 3 months away from our 1 year anniversary!! I'm so excited and I can't wait to go on our 7 day 6 night vacation to Washington DC!! I can't believe I've almost been married for a year!! This year has flown by so quickly....
• I just talked to my best friend and we want to plan a trip to Greece in a few years. I feel like if we get everything lined up soon, maybe it could happen...
• Well I just filled up 9, and I can't figure out what to put for our 10th. I thing this is pretty good though...

I'm so glad I can finally not post a depressing blog! I promise I will post pics of our new place soon, well as soon as I can figure out where to put everything.....

Well it's a new week so hope is in the air...

Well we just had gloom and doom all week long! I'm so ready for this week to be over, and for things to turn up. They should as we are going to start moving into our new place. I'm very excited that we found a perfect patio home. It's brand new and really nice so we are very excited about it. Elisabeth is excited because it's 2 stories and you know kids just love stairs! Also on the upside my Dad has two interviews this week, and had one last week. It's looking like things aren't going to be so down for him, and he is in MUCH better spirits than I have heard him in a LONG time!!

On the not so upside, some tragedies have fallen upon our families this week. We have had 2 deaths, a hospitalization, and a lost job. Since all of this stuff has happened in a week things have to turn up right?? Please pray for my husband's family as Steven's 26 year old cousin Nick was in a car wreck very early Saturday morning and passed away. It's an absolute tragedy, and his parents are not doing so well. We just need prayers while the family copes with their tragic loss.

The other death was an old family friend Bruce Willis (not the actor) who lived to the ripe age of 98. That is a happy occasion because he will now get to meet his family in heaven. Bruce drove himself around until two months before his death, and didn't suffer throughout his long life. He lived longer than his wife and children, so it is a very happy occasion.

So there's my update, hopefully my next post will be very happy all around as we start a new week!

What a day...

Well I want to start off by stating that this one is a bummer of a post, but my life isn't all gloom and doom these days. I really am a happy person, and I love where my life is right now. Now that that's cleared up...

This morning I got to work to find out that they are cutting back in Calcasieu Parish (where I work) on 200 education jobs and upping the kids in the classroom to 35 from 23 for next year. SERIOUSLY???? Tell me what person could handle 35 kindergartners/1st graders at a time? Am I going to have a job next year? This had me concerned, and worried a bit. Right as I decided to just let God take over, and started calming down I received an email from my Dad.....

I read the words, "I just got laid off" and my stomach hit my toes! I know that this isn't all that uncommon these days, but you just don't think it would ever happen to someone so close to you. My parent's divorce was final just a few weeks ago, and now this happens to my Dad! He now doesn't have a car, cell phone, or a job. I'm just worried sick about him because I think he's about at his max. Please pray for him that he will get himself a new job, and get out of his downward spiral sooner rather than later. I don't know I'm just sick with worry, and I have to unleash so here it is!!

Then my brother is having some trouble finding a job. He finished his 4 years in the Marine Corps, and came back to have a wonderful job working on seismic testing for oil rigs. Well he worked that job about 2+ months and has since been laid off. He's been trying to find a new job which has been harder than he originally wanted, and is getting frustrated too. He does have some possibilities, but we'll see. So I guess the Turner family needs your prayers, so please help!!