twelve things in the twelfth month.

* my first kissing picture on the blog...ironically is with the same boy as my first kissing picture ever taken (which was taken 6 years ago).... ironically also taken at temple square.

* i happened to see a christmas carol at hale center theater. after a slight mishap of buying tickets to the theater at west valley and showing up to the theater in orem i was a slight scrooge. luckily we were still able to be seated. oh and did i mention it saved us 23 dollars because orem is cheaper? god bless us, everyone!

* although i may not know how to make french toast i can whip up a batch of christmas toffee.

* playing wii u games has now turned me into a gamer. me. of. all. people. i just love the candy game.

* i have realized my love for lord of the rings will never die. when i was younger (ok in high school) my entire ceiling was covered in lotr posters. my mom said i couldn't hang them on my walls. it was pretty awesome. one of my finest creations. now all that is left is push pin holes sadly. after seeing the hobbit it only increased my love for middle earth. and peter jackson. i'll stop now. oh i can't.

* winter brings two of my favorite things. reading and sitting on a heater. maybe one day i'll have a fire place.

* i did sat on santa's lap. he gave me a roll of tootsie rolls and a church cd. smiley face.

* i am going to star valley in approximately 68 hours for my long a waited christmas break. only to be spent with the people i love most.

* i recently learned how to ice skate backwards. this has taken me years in the making.

* fate as you would have it has come and confirmed great things to me. i have realized that god really does know me better than i know myself. sometimes i wish i could go back and shake my old self and say better things are in store, blessings are going to shower on you.

* i still hate waking up at 6 in the morning. it is something i will never get used to.

* after watching the horrible events that have occurred in connecticut i have had the chance to reflect on my own teaching experiences. my students have expressed their own fears. nightmares about them getting hurt or me getting shot. i can't watch the news. it's too sad. i do however know that a love of a teacher goes deep. the love of a parent even deeper. i will continue to pray for those who were hurt. 

thankful for a thanksgiving getaway.

basically i had the best week. 

it was one of those weeks that goes by in the blink of an eye.

one second your having the time of your life and the next your back to reality.

we went up to citrus heights for thanksgiving. took the train. 

if i told you how long the train ride was you would judge and say it wasn't worth it.

14 hours.

both ways. 

but let me tell you, it was infinity times better it sounds.

it was even better than 500 days of summer portrayed it to be.

anyways we spent the week with family.

not my family, but family that made me feel like family.

we ate 15 pies and watched the first season of pretty little liars.

we stayed up until 5 in the morning trying to figure out who a is.

but it was to no avail. apparently you don't find out until season three.

please no hints. i suspect mona.

we went black friday shopping and went to the cutest town around.

placerville.

 we watched as they lit the christmas lights and ate amaretto fudge.

which coincidentally gave us liquor breath.

inside joke. 

the best part of the trip was grandma odie,

"gumbo gumbo in the pot."

also an inside joke.

oh how i will miss that woman. 

three days.

three days until i get to take the train to california with this boy for thanksgiving.

decided not to drive this round. 

can't wait for a chance to eat on the trolley cart and watch movies all night.

being a teacher.

welcome to our fifth grade program.

the united states wax museum.

i was in charge of the boom box. tough stuff.

being a teacher is pretty great.

it is also probably the hardest thing i have ever done in my life.

period. and i have done some dang hard stuff.

you have to wake up at 6 in the a.m.

i haven't consistently done that since high school.

you have to go to school, even though you were barfing the whole day before.

and you have to be the cheeriest person every day. 

teaching has literally taken over my life. there is no other life.

i go to bed and wake up with 23 kids in my brain.

social life is down the drain. 

every once in a while i get to see a boy that i happen to really like.

thats why i live for saturdays.

but i also live for days when kids write notes saying,

"miss haws thank you for telling the boys to stop teasing me. you are the best teacher in the whole world."

and moments when their tears flow from their cheeks, 

but i can be the one to make their smiles come back.

yup. it's totally worth it. 

a weekend trip to star valley.

both of my parents are from a place called star valley wyoming.

when i was younger, i used to spend a great portion of my summer there, 

listening to country music and catching frogs, 

you know the good stuff you wish you could do all the time. 

if only you were a cowboy.

since i have grown up i haven't been up there as much as i would like.

sometimes responsibility wins. sometimes a lot.

this past weekend i had the chance for a quick trip and no way i was about to pass it up. we crammed every day with all the must do's. we all sat in the back of the beater pickup truck, got ice cream cones and drove up through strawberry canyon. we dangled our legs off of the back and drug sticks into the dirt while singing adele's someone like you. you know what is pretty surprising... we actually knew every single word. it's pretty hard to sing a song from start to finish. don't judge me that the only two songs we all could sing from start to finish were adele and justin bieber's baby baby. 

when we got up the canyon we walked the pipe back down. my dad told us the story of the haunted woman who walks the pipe at night. i wanted to go back later and find her, but that had to be postponed until next time. we went swimming and saw the bar jay wranglers over a chuck wagon dinner. we went four wheeling until our hands reeked like gasoline and my thumb hurt from pushing the gas. we ate at the drive inn my mom used to hop cars at and we drove past the fields that my dad would change the irrigation pipes at...which happens to be the grounds for the new temple site. one of my favorite parts was finding my mom's old wedding dress. i loved it puffy sleeves and all.

dear star valley: i miss you

sincerely: kylie jo.

my best friends wedding.

my best friend in the entire world just got married.

here are some snippets from the day..

there may be a lot but deal with it because she looked so pretty.

tennis thursday.

so in high school i may or may not have been on the tennis team.

my friend rachel rawle and i played doubles.

we called ourselves kychel raws.

"make your hand like pasta, to make the ball go fasta."

this one particular match is burned into my brain, it was against springville.

their mascot was the devils, and this is probably why:

we were playing against these blonde twins and one of them happened to hit the ball straight into my face and they started laughing. 

now i don't get mad, i get even. and we ended up winning the match to say the least. 

i still am no fan of the blonde twins from springville.

after high school, i stopped playing as much.

don't ask me why. i guess my time was filled with other stuff.

lameo. time to fix that because,

tonight the flame has been rekindled. the fire is burning.

game. set. match.