Happy Holidays!

I belong to a very "tradional" family. We do the SAME thing every year. AND it is the BEST! We always start Christmas Eve out with taking candles to the cemetery at dark. After that, it is in to our Santa PJ's and dinner at Grandma's. We also play cards. Christmas Day means up early to open our gifts at my mom's house, then go to the niece's and nephew's house for excitement! Then, at around 11, we head to an outstanding breakfast back at Grandma's (better than Thanksgiving dinner) and more presents. If there is time for a nap, we take a nap, then head to aunt Susan's for southern-style food. Gumbo, hot wings, and stuffed mushroom... AND... another game of cards. The day after is always our snowmobilling trip with Rylan's family. So, to sum it all up, I think I picked the perfect profession. After all of this excitement, I have a week to catch up on my sleep (and have more fun!)

Finally!

So, the past month has been NOT fun. I started having body aches on my birthday. My birthday was November 19th. Today is December 23rd. The problem with this? I HAVE BEEN SICK FOR A MONTH! I am not complaining, because the past week I have only had a cough/sore throat, which I will take ANYDAY over meningitis. I can actually function on a head-cold, so I am OK with that right now. My blog has suffered majorly because I just haven't felt "good" for the past month. After being in and out of the doctor, they finally concluded that I had a case of meningitis. My poor family. I am such a baby when I am sick. If anybody would have seen me during those 3 weeks they probably thought I was going to DIE! It was terrible. Anyway, I went back to work and I was feeling OK. However, my activity at school was limited. I wasn't as "energetic" as I usually am. The students seemed to understand and they were just glad to have me back. During Thanksgiving Break I kept telling myself I was better. However, that was only the beginning of my sickness. I did manage to snag a day and grab lunch with Jena over Thanksgiving Break. (We did not plan to wear the same hoodie) I felt sick that night after lunch, but at least I am happy to say I felt OK enough one of those days to go to lunch. Going in to Christmas Break I am quite excited to actually EAT (my appetite came back strong) SLEEP (Ok, so not sleep really well because of the sore throat/cough) and do pretty much whatever I want. My poor blog has suffered tremendously the last month....Along with everything else in my life. Merry Christmas everyone!

the story of my life...

I am always on the go. If I blogged about something that I have done every day the last couple of weeks, I would seriously have a "post overload." So, here goes! It started out that Rylan and I went on a ride with grandma. This is one of my most favorite things to do. It makes me so happy. Hello hunting season? I wish the hunting colors were like hot pink or neon green, but orange will do. At least it is bright! It was a beautiful day and even though I ride quite often, somehow I still get sore when I ride for that long of a time.








This last week was red ribbon week at school. We had "support your favorite team" day, and "career day" I had to sport the UTAH gear (they did move up to #5 in the BCS standings) and this day just happened to be the day that we went on a field trip to BYU. Yes, I did it! I wore my UTAH clothes to BYU. I was very proud of myself. The next day was "career day" I dressed up as a zumba teacher. My kids kept saying, "Wow, Miss Bingham! That is what you want to be when you grow up?" I just responded "Yes, of course!" They have no clue that teaching is a "career".





Then, there was Halloween! Oh, how I love Halloween. I didn't dress up this year, but I still had chilli and flu shots at grandma's. Isn't it a great combination? My grandma's friend always comes and gives us our flu shots on Halloween. I cried and said some really bad words. I HATE shots. Oh yeah, and you gotta love the cute litte ones in the family.





Sunday was family day. Ty and Sarah came up from Springville, Hadly and Tyler were here, and Austin, Lee and the kids were all around. You know it is hunting season when I bring in a big slab of meat to be cut and cooked for Sunday dinner. (I promise we aren't that redneck.) And I had a good time hanging out with my Belle.

Wedding & Then Engagement

So, a lot has happened lately. First of all, my best friend from college rodeo, Courtney, got married! I am so happy for her, she has been a huge part of my life the last 6 years. I remember the first day we met. We were at our first college rodeo in Logan. I was warming up my horse before the barrel racing and I saw a girl warming up beside me. We got talking and she was in one of my brother's college classes. My brother went to Weber State at the time, where Courtney went, and I was at UVU. I was just as scared as she was for this "big rodeo". We talked, laughed, and had a good time. Before we knew it we were on our way to Moab to pick up a horse for one of her friends. We cranked up the music to Matchbox 20's "Bright Lights." That started our awesome friendship. I visited her in Arizona when she would go home for breaks, and she managed to pretty much LIVE with me while she was in Utah. Shopping, cold stone, and singing loudly in the truck is some of the things we enjoy. We have gone through a lot together, and I was so happy to be a part of her wedding. Our other friends: Riccy, Italy, and Texie were also apart of the wedding. They have been my friends for awhile also. Italy and Texie rodeoed in the same region as Courtney and I. They also went to the College National Finals the same years we did. They are both such a good time! Italy lives in Texas and Texie lives in Idaho. Riccy has been a great friend also. She is from California and currently lives in Texas. It was really good to see all of my rodeo friends. I miss them so much. The wedding was beautiful and I am so happy for Courtney and Cole.

And then.....Tuesday was the big exciting day for me! Rylan called me at work at about 3:45 and asked me if I could come help him. I had no idea what was going on. Rylan said his dad lost his wallet up Cascade Springs that day 4-wheeling. Rylan's eyes are really bad and I thought that he could use an extra set of eyes, so I agreed to run up there and help them. I was in leggings and a dress, but I am always up for a ride in the mountains. Once we got up there, we drove through a ton of gates and got to this beautiful area of land. As I started walking around, I had no idea what was going on. Ok, let me rewind to earlier that day, Rylan wasn't having the best day, everything seemed to be going wrong, or so I thought...So when I started looking for a "wallet" and couldn't find one...I walked around to a place where there was a tree with a bouqet of flowers. I looked at him and said, "Oh, it is OK that you had a bad day today. You didn't have to go to all of this trouble to make it better." He then pulled out the ring and asked me!!! I was so shocked I didn't know what was going on for like five minutes! Haha.. Rylan knows that I don't catch on too quick, so he knew that it would be easy. However, he was expecting me to know what was going on when I saw the flowers, but of course I didn't "get it". I am so excited to get married and we are both sooo ready. We are at such a good place in our lives and I am so happy!

So Proud!

So I spend many days (and long nights) at rodeos. I would not trade it for the world. I am so proud of Rylan and all that he has accomplished. He is so humble about bull riding. He is such a star and I enjoy watching him and supporting him. I just wanted to share with everyone how great he is! Check out the video!

What My Summer Consisted Of....

With the end of summer around the corner, I have to admit that I am getting excited to get back to work. We have been on the road a lot going to rodeos and PBRs. We have been to many different states and have seen a lot of great things. I have become a really excellent driver, but better passenger!

When I am home, I never thought in my whole life I would be obsessed with a clean house. I wake up, clean, and then I find myself filling my time with workouts at the gym, eating out A LOT, riding my horse and having a sick obsession with making brownies pretty much everyday. Oh yeah, and don't forget... working on my tan! I have become addicted to summer TV, thanks to TiVo I get to watch my shows in between rodeos and bull ridings. My summer line-up has included, The Bachelorette, (now the Bachelor Pad) Teen Mom, (love it!) Jersey Shore, (I find myself talking like them sometimes) The Real Housewives of New Jersey, (can't stand Danielle) and of course, Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami. I know you are probably thinking I am so lame, but TV shows make me happy for some reason. I am becoming anxious for my favorite fall line-ups to start in the next month.

I am excited to start the new school year and I hope that it is as successful as can be. I will be sad to see my tan go, but all good things must come to an end, right?

Boston

I just got back from Boston and I had a blast. The most memorable thing for me was the food. We had really good dinners everynight. I also ate a whole lobster! Ok, not the whole lobster, but it still had it's eyes on it when I ate it! It was YUMMY. We were there for almost a week and we had a great time. I stayed in a room with Rachel and Lorie which was really fun!
We learned so many things about history. We visited the Minute Man Museum, Plymouth Rock, saw an exact replica of the Mayflower, learned about Paul Revere and his "alarm" that the British were coming. We also road the subway, visited Harvard in Cambridge, and watched the Blue Man Group. We did lots of shopping, TONS of eating, and learned some great ideas about assessment at the conference. But most of all, we enjoyed each other! We had a great group and a good time! I feel very lucky to be able to have so much fun through work... It is the best!