Bennett Watson Bogle

Born June 29, 5:39 pm

8lb 13 oz
20.5 in long

practically perfect in every way!

a million years

life is crazy.

BUT I have been trying to be better at photographing all of our events =)
Here's what has been happening lately...Last month, we got a new puppy. His name is Spooner and he is adorable!

those pictures are a few weeks old. he is not so tiny anymore and the only growing faster is MY STOMACH! :)

my dad was in town this last weekend and took some photos for us... this is my belly at 33 weeks... time is flying by!

Is it just me or do the frontal view and the side view look drastically different??


Ty can't get enough of my belly which is super cute (especially considering the fact that I am losing interest in my waistline quite rapidly). He rubs it all the time and lays his face on it while we watch tv.

Ty has been working hard around the house. I feel like he is nesting more than I am! He installed curtain rods in practically every room of our house and hung all the curtains I picked out. And today he spent a good 6 hours on yardwork (planted grass in our monster backyard... we'll see how that goes...)


Life is good here. We just never remember to brag about it... oh- I mean blog about it =)

Til next time...

Happy Valentine's Day

Tyson woke me up this morning to breakfast in bed- my favorite indulgence =) he made hashbrowns, sausage, and eggs and brought it to me on a tray with a long stem rose. I love that he can be so romantic!

I got him a box of chocolates and a gift certificate to a couple's massage class so we can learn how to do legit massages.

This Valentine's Day is extra special for us because it marks the one year anniversary of our sealing in the Mesa, AZ temple.



Being sealed has been such a blessing during the last year. I am so glad to call Ty my eternal companion and feel overwhelmed with the thought of spending forever with him.



In other news- I am officially half way through this pregnancy! Hooray! We are working hard on the nursery (which really means working hard on our den/guest room so we could clear out the nursery). Our friends Kathrin and Ryan are helping A LOT! We love them =) I'll post pictures when the room starts taking shape. I'm really excited about how its going to turn out.

I'll try to post ultrasound pictures and whatnot soon. Life has been busy lately but we are loving it!

Nursery

Why is this crib bedding $300?? I love it!



Anyway- i think i have decided on this black crib =)
I love the 'jenny lind' style and you can get matching changing tables, bookshelves, etc.



I'm DYING to find out if we are having a boy or a girl, but we've got to wait another month or so. We always talked about wanting a boy first, but I think I have jumped ship. Obviously, we will be happy with either, but I just want to know already!!!

Oh Baby

Haven't updated in forever... but we've got news!




I will post my sonogram as soon as we have hooked our scanner up to the new computer =) Our baby is the size of a lime and I am due in June!

I can't even tell you how excited Ty is. He literally said that all the stresses he was feeling went away when he found out we were having a baby. So cute! =)

CHICAGO

We got back from Chicago this week so I'm posting some of our pictures here. The rest are on facebook =)


We rented this bicycle for an hour and it was embarrassing! There were no gears so we were going sooo slow! The joggers were passing us!! Fun anyway

We spent a few days at Navy Pier which was lots of fun! There are a bunch of rides and mini golf along with boat rides, a really pretty garden, FOOD and fun =)




We took a pirate boat tour from navy pier too. It was a lot of fun!

We went to a museum that was having a Harry Potter exhibit with artifacts from the movie. This is the flying car. You couldn't take pictures inside the exhibit, but it was super cool! They had everyone's wand and costumes and even the moving pictures that you see on the walls at Hogwarts. Super cool!


This is Buckingham Fountain. It was really pretty!



We made two trips to the Ghirardelli shop for ice cream! It was amazing!!


Field Museum! This is Sue, the most complete TRex fossil ever discovered!



Legend has it, if you get married in this church behind us, you will never get divorced! There is a crazy long waiting list.



We didn't take any pictures at the Art Institute except this one- an example of the Miniatures. They had about 30 of these little rooms with real furniture and decorations. Some were really elaborate. It made me want a doll house!

These are a few pictures from the aquarium. It was really neat! They had small animals like turtles and pirhanas and big animals like beluga whales and dolphins.





We had a realllyyyyy fun time! It was nice to get away from our usual routine and go somewhere together. We havent really had a trip since we've been married except our honeymoon and we really want to start travelling more. I'm excited to cash in the rest of our frequent flyer miles!

Time Traveller's Wife

I can't even tell you how excited I am to see that this book is being turned into a movie!! Who else has read it? Who else wants to read it before August so we can see it together??

jessie nelson bell- if you're out there, please invite me to read your blog! i miss hearing about your newlywed escapades.

Thats all.



oh- pictures of the house will be posted soon- i promise!

No Doubt

Remember these guys? The band that launched Gwen Stefani to solo artist stardom?

Yeah, I totally won tickets to the reunion tour this morning on the radio! Be jealous!

I called Ty to tell him and his exact words were "Well, there is NO DOUBT that you'll have to find someone else to go to this concert with you."

Any super fans out there? Anyone? Bueller?

My birthday is off to a great start!

Those Who Can...

I love my job.

One of my sweet angel boys wrote me a letter for Valentine's Day that was just so cute and I wrote him a thank you card for it on fancy stationary. Ever since, he has been writing me "thank you for the thank you" letters about once or twice a week.

Today, it was sealed in an envelope from home that he had decorated with flowers.

Dear Mrs. Bogle,
think you for the litter you sent me. I love you as a teacher and you are the Best and most cind teacher I ever hade. I love you as a techer more than the galexey and more than that. Love Derek


My job here is so much fun. I've been thinking about trying to get a job in the Laveen district once we move, but I can't imagine leaving this school and these kids and my humongous classroom. I guess we'll just see what happens.

Speaking of Laveen, we should be closing in the next week or two... Our official closing date isn't until March 20 but we should be moving before spring break as long as there aren't any huge holdups.

I CAN'T WAIT!

Good News!

So many wonderful things have happened lately so I'm excited to blog about them today!

1. Tyson and I were sealed on Valentine's Day and spent the weekend with my dad and stepmom in Sedona. It was so nice to be up in the mountains again =) I really miss it. Oh and being sealed is cool too haha

2. Tyson and I celebrated Valentine's Day on Tuesday by having a candlelit dinner of grilled cheese sandwiches and ramen noodles with Pomegranate sparkling cider. Mmmm. He got my High School Musical 3 on bluray and I got him a nice framed picture of the temple.

3. On Wednesday, Ty was talking with his manager about work stuff and the possibility of transferring to a f&e closer to our new house. Long story short- his manager gave him the asst. manager position and said they promise to work around his school schedule! He jumped from making $9/ hr. to $12! Awesome.

4. Also on Wednesday, I won a $50 gift card on the radio!! It is for some American Bistro in Phoenix that is supposed to be pretty good. I had to guess a riddle that sounds like something wayyyy dirty but is really a household object.

5. We should be closing on our house in the next few weeks! We are so EXCITED!! I can't wait to have my birthday party in our monster backyard. Oh- and we are already discussing the tetherball 'court' that we will be setting up as well.


All good things! Oh- and someone contacted me about advertising on my Year of Pizza blog that I made in January (but i never posted anything on it) because it has had 80 hits already! haha. That could be fun...

Catch you later!

Ketchup

I am the worst blogger on the planet.

In an attempt to rid myself of the guilt I feel for not posting since Christmas, I will update you briefly on everything going on in our lives:

Shanda's job: Good. Today ranked top 3 worst days at school. My little challenge child attacked me and wouldn't stop punching me in the stomach and arms. I'm okay. He is suspended.

Ty's job: Great. Everyone loves him. He was told that he was next in line for an assistant manager position, but his availability with school won't let him get it. I'm glad he isn't dropping out of school! He might be getting a new job doing car detailing that pays better. We'll see.

House: We bought one. You can look at pictures on this craigslist post http://phoenix.craigslist.org/cph/reb/992990653.html
We will be closing sometime in March I think... Hopefully earlier, but we'll just have to see.

Misc: Ty is the best husband ever. We made a resolution to be more romantic and I'm sucking at it just as much as I suck at all my resolutions. Ty has started doing cute things all the time =) Last week he painted my fingernails for me during One Tree Hill. Today I came home and he had left a trail of flowers from my parking space to our apartment door. There was a bouquet inside and the entire house was clean! Luckiest girl ever.

Also, we will be getting sealed on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 9am (i think thats the right time...). Does anyone want to volunteer to do my makeup? Please?

Never got around to making Christmas cards... Here's our family portrait anyway =)

Merry Christmas Eve

I really just wanted to post this picture. My grandparents played Santa and Mrs. Clause in their older years and I love this picture.

The last few years have really made me miss them around the holidays. I wish Ty could have met them. Grandpa Dean had a huge heart and always sat with me at the counter cracking pine nuts when we would visit. I would eat them as fast as he could crack them open. Grandma would spend all day in the kitchen baking and bustling. I remember as a kid just trying to stay out of the way. My brother and I would usually go play in the garage which was the size of a pretty big barn and completely filled- floor to ceiling- with old stuff. Rolls of carpet, bull horns, sharp, rusted metal. It was a kids playland and a parent's worst nightmare. I can even remember a few times that our parents would come calling for us and we would just hide. They probably would never have found us if we hadn't popped out from wherever we were.

We spent a lot of holidays with my Grandma and Grandpa Dean because they lived so close to us, and I'll always remember the love and warmth that filled their home at Christmas.

http://www.designspongeonline.com/2008/12/uxus-designs-mcvillage.html

this is easily the coolest mcdonalds playland i have ever seen. too bad its in amsterdam or else me and ty would have to plan a roadtrip.

design sponge is the coolest if you haven't ever checked it out before...

Picture Post

Halloween



First Year Anniversary at Landmark

Westin and Katrina's wedding

Kids Vote

I've never been very politically active or even aware, but this election I am really trying to pay more attention. I hate to admit that I've never even voted before and that now, as a 21 year old adult, I had to ask my mom how to even register. I don't want to talk politics here though, or even discuss my feelings about the presidential candidates; I want to share a story about the students in my class.

I teach second grade in inner-city Phoenix. We are a charter school, so we serve a pretty large area- any parents that want their children in our school are welcome to come no matter where they live. Every student at our school receives free lunch because of their low family income. It can be heartbreaking hearing about their home lives and realizing how sheltered I was as a child.

Today at recess a group of third graders asked their teacher, a good friend of mine, who she was planning on voting for in the upcoming election. Being a diplomat, she asked who they thought she should vote for and the students started debating the candidates back and forth. My second grade students and I started listening to the older kids as they discussed what they had heard about both McCain and Obama. It was surprising and pretty cool to hear the students talking about how their lives would be effected by the outcome of this election.

Eventually the conversation turned to immigration laws and how the presidential candidates were going to change or reform the laws and practices. My students began to join the conversation and started talking about how scared their family is of Joe Arpaio. They were under the impression that if Obama wins this election, their families will receive the paperwork they need to stay in this country and they won't have to "hide from Sheriff Joe" anymore.

It doesn't matter how I feel about Sheriff Joe, Obama, McCain, or even immigration laws. It was emotional listening to these children trying to make sense of the politics that are forcing their parents into hiding. They don't understand why they can't live freely in what they learn is the Home of the Free. There are no easy answers.

I talked to my students a little bit about voting and being good citizens, but I want to do a more in-depth political study with them. I hear that Nickolodeon has Kid's Vote online so I'll be doing some research there to guide our discussion. Any feelings on this topic?

Hope everyone is having a great day.

Oh- and my phone got stolen from Ross. Super lame. Call Ty if you need anything.

Loving, Laughing, Living

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let the countdown begin...

so I haven't posted in a while, and I haven't posted pictures in even longer... so here are a few from May... A few days before graduation, me and Ty went down into Oak Creek Canyon which ranks in the top 3 of my favorite places on the planet. Dandy loves it there too. She is such a water dog and loves all the smells and running on the river rocks and chasing lizards and butterflies. We have a special place called Grasshopper Point that we love to go to because it has a beautiful portion of the creek running through it along with a bunch of waterfalls and big still pools. There are walking trails and big trees that change color in the fall. Every time we visit Grasshopper Point I find more things I love about it. Its on of the only places I've ever been that makes me feel so close to Heavenly Father because of all the natural beauty. These pictures don't even do it justice, but if anyone wants to go- I'll share my special place with you =)







Oh and this is a tree frog we found... You can't tell from the picture, but his belly was BRIGHT NEON YELLOW! It was so cool.

I also graduated from NAU in May!! YAYYYY! It feels so good to finally be done!

I have some cute pics of me and Ty, but can't get them to work at the moment so I'll save those for later!

We are moving down in about 2 weeks! Both of us are getting super anxious already.

haha

i haven't posted in over a month so here is a new one.

ps- i'll have pictures soon



oh and me and ty are moving to the east valley sometime in the next month or two... we'll keep you posted.


ohhhh- and i'm a college graduate now =) yay.

firsts

So i'm graduating in about four weeks and although I've been looking forward to it for the last year, I'm surprisingly nervous. This is the first time in my life that I haven't known at all what the future holds and where I will end up next. I've applied for teaching jobs all over Arizona and in a few districts in Washington and Oregon. Ty had a hard time moving out of Chandler just to come to Flag and I thought he'd be more nervous than me about a big move like that but he is mellow as ever (typical for Ty, right?). I feel like we are about to enter legit adulthood which means careers and children. Eeek.

Last night I got my first blessing from Ty. I woke up around 3am and felt like I had been poisoned or somehow stabbed from the inside. I am usually the one in our relationship that suggests spiritual solutions like reading scriptures or praying for help, but amidst my wailing, Ty suggested the blessing. After snuggling with me on the bathroom floor for a few minutes, he also went to the Circle K next to our apartment to buy some Gatorade in the middle of the night. Within half an hour I was able to go back to sleep and even made it to work this morning like nothing had even happened. This was really the first time I've been able to see the miracles and blessings of the priesthood in our marriage and it is truly incredible. I know I picked the right guy and can't wait for more of these miracles over the years.

My student teaching is going a lot better these days (which I never thought I'd say). I taught my own unit during the last three weeks. It was an entire unit about Africa and I did a LOT of research in preparation. I taught the kids about one animal every day and they really picked up on some interesting facts about each one, like how a giraffe can kick 360 degrees with every foot and elephants can snorkel with their trunks above the water. We also learned a lot about how people live in different regions. My main goal was to educate the kids that not all people in Africa are black and poor and live in grass huts. We learned about the big cities and the different things that people typically do for work there. Next week we are going to learn about diamonds and food crops. Surprisingly, my coop. teacher has only had positive things to say about all the lessons I've prepared. She asked for copies of all the activities I did with the kids and wrote me a nice letter of recommendation. I'm glad things are going better now toward the end.

For those of you interested, my graduation is on May 9. The weather is going to be fantastic and its a great excuse for a vacation =) I'm going to be mailing announcement thingies this week.