My career has been good to me

 I'm so grateful for my jobs and career....-I have been thinking about that a LOT lately.  I have never blogged about it because its "work",  not "fun"...but actually, I am so lucky that I can call my work, fun!  I absolutely love what I do and it's a big part of my life and who I am. 
I am a cosmetology educator going on 5 years now.  Even though it is a lot of hard work, stress, and can be exhausting at times, I freaking love it.
I love the students so much.  I always think, "this is the best class I have ever had...the next class won't be able to compare..."  but then the next class comes along and I feel the same way!!  It is soo rewarding to see them finally grasp something, get excited about learning something new, learn to trust me, get better and faster, work hard, be professional with guests, and have fun.
I have taught every type of human being on earth I'm pretty sure haha.  I have also been able to teach cosmetology students at every point in their education...brand new, excited, innocent babies/  Students half way done, in a little bit of a burnt out rut /  and the students that are almost done, that think they know it all (and then you blow their minds with something new....boom....you're a cool teacher......I treasure those rare moments)
I am grateful that throughout my teaching career I have been treated with nothing but respect and kindness (minus a few stories :) ) from my bosses, co-workers, and students.
I looooooooooooove my co-workers!! I can't even begin to start with that...so ya...love
The reason I started teaching - I remember in the first couple years out of hair school, I learned so many little tips,tricks, and helpful information, from the salon and random classes.  And I remember thinking "Why didn't I learn that in school!"  So my goal has been to make sure they have all the information I wish I had while in school, along with their curriculum.
I started teaching at Dallas Roberts Academy (where I went to school), and learned a lot about how to be a better teacher.  I was always prepared for my lessons and definitely worked my butt off (even though all that was pretty much required of us towards the end was to just show up...sad)  But thankfully AVEDA came into my life and purchased the school!!!! Hooray!!!  And luckily my hard work paid off, because I was 1 of 4 offered a job, of the 20 or so staff that worked at Dallas Roberts that were let go.  The transition was a little crazy with the remodel and learning TONS of AVEDA!!  But I'm so glad it all worked out and now I'm going on 3 years with Aveda (still in the very same building where I started haha).  Working with Aveda has brought me tons opportunities and cool learning experiences (to name a couple that I blogged about in the past)---...I went to Summit in Minneapolis in Oct 2010 which was a huge conference specifically for all the educators in the Aveda network.  And last October I was chosen to represent our Institute at Aveda Congress also in Minneapolis, which is a global Aveda event where all the biggest names in hair come to show their stuff!  And I was even on stage for a segment with the other 50-ish educators that were representing their institutes from across the US.  Bottom line, Aveda is cool, teaching is cool,  and I'm grateful.
I am also very thankful that they (and my boss Mackenzi) are so willing to work with me.  Before I had Jade, I taught full-time, plus worked at the salon. (50 + hours a week).  And now, being a great mom is my number one goal, job and priority.  But I still wanted to be able to keep my career of a hairstylist and educator going.  So now I am working only 2 days a week (one day at the school, and one day at the salon), and it is seriously perfect!! So Tom has Jade one day (and he loves it and I'm glad he gets that one on one bonding time with her) and my amazing friend Jenni watches her on the other.
And I definitely wouldn't be able to only work 2 days a week if it weren't for my awesome husband.  He is such a hard worker.  He didn't want me to talk about his work haha but babe you are amazing.  Your boss and customers love you.  You have worked hard to get where you are at and I'm so proud of you!! 
Did I mention I'm grateful? :)
So here are some quick pictures of the institute I took with my phone while at work last week. 

Right now I'm teaching the state board phase.  And this is my students practicing the ridiculously meticulous men's shave portion of the state exam (that they will never do in real life) on their balloon man' face....which I had them fill with a little shaving cream...using no guard on their razor:)...just upping their desire to do it right haha!  State boards is the big important test you have to take from a Utah state proctor to become licensed

So the owner of our Institute is a big into sports guy and he decided that the Institute champions that are awarded every year deserve big championship rings!!  So it was pretty cool that I was the educator champion for 2011.  Definitely a very proud moment that I wasn't really expecting with the transition during the year from teaching part-time night school to full-time days

Now, my passion!!!!!!!!!!!!
The salon....
I have been doing hair for over 9 years if you count hair school.  I started hair school in high school (which was mostly us doing whatever we wanted, and me highlighting and doing up-do's the exact same way, every time, on all my friends hair:))  Then transferred to real hair school and have been doing hair professionally for 7 years!

 I think "doing hair"  has quite a bad stereotype, but I'm proud to say that it is the best career there is!  I love being my own boss, making my own hours, interacting with people everyday, being creative, making someone feel beautiful, and it is so fun!  Plus it doesn't hurt that I have the best co-workers and clients in the world!  

These are the lovely ladies I work with

 These are some pics I took at the salon last week!  Apologies to all my co-workers and random people that might be in them:)

This is the view from the front window

 This is the third salon I have worked in, in about a 2 block radius haha (I guess I get comfortable in my work territory).  I started at Salon Status (loved it til the owner had a baby and sold it to a complete nightmare that ran it into the ground...thats a WHOLE other story) Then moved to Stuart Fraser Salon (LOVED it, learned tons, really built my clientele, made life long friends, and was so sad to see it go due to the owners illness and divorce)  And now I am here and I LOVE it so much!  It is so comfortable and relaxed.  Everyone does booth rent so we all do our own business so that's nice.  I love my boss, she is so sweet and also great to work with me only doing one day a week.  I plan to be here for a very long time!!
It has definitely been a lot of work, referrals, time and effort to build my clientele.  And they have all been so supportive of me and all the salon changes and everything!  I love my clients!  They make it so I never, ever dread going to work.  And I am more than grateful for them, without them I obviously would be without an income or job.

This here is my lovely station....I absolutely love being behind the chair!  I feel so natural and comfortable with scissors and a comb in my hand.  I love figuring out the formula and the placement of color, and then seeing the end result!! Sounds like crazy talk, but its true.

 It's crazy that a lot of my clients have been coming to me for 6+ years!  I love that when they are in my chair we talk like old friends, they know a lot about me and I know a lot about them.  I never knew exactly where I wanted my career to go until it all happened.  I love my career.

..........Grateful, lucky, blessed

Delta pheasant hunt weekend

 We went to Delta over the weekend for the annual Styler pheasant hunt and it was so nice to relax and spend time with both sides of the family!  Jade did sooo good!  I was worried, because she has such a great schedule right now and I didn't want to screw it up!  We spent the nights at my parents house and Jade had a blast with all the attention. 

She loved listening to Conlan play the piano

And of course watched the Jazz games:)

 Saturday morning was the pheasant hunt at Uncle Mike and Aunt Luann's property.  Tom went way early to go hunting with the boys and I slept in with Jadelyn and we went out a little later.

These pictures make me laugh....this is Jade meeting her cousin Emily...they are only 10 days apart and definitely didn't know what to think of eachother!!  It was a good, solid, five minute staring contest....

 I guess Jade won haha

 Glad I could stay toasty warm chit chatting with the ladies.

He's hot:)  I kinda like him

 The Chili and spud nuts is one of my favorite parts of this tradition:)  The picture above was taken for the sole purpose of making Lashel jealous she missed it:)  They seemed to think having a baby was a reason to not show up!  haha totally kidding 

 Aunt Luann is seriously the best host and most patient grandma to all the little ones.  It is so cute to watch her teach them the wonders of the magical doughnuts and have them help

Even though I missed Lashel and Trev at the pheasant hunt this year, I guess they had a legitimate excuse:)  We are soooo happy for them!! They are the best parents- Kiptyn picked some good ones.

 Congratulations on your sweet little girl Kiptyn Ty!  She is so cute and I can't wait to meet her!! I hope that her and Jadelyn will be close:)

 Now just some pictures of what Jade is up to.  And I promise, Jade really does have real clothes!! For some reason I only take pictures of her in pajamas!  But this next pic pretty accurately describes our day to day.  Pj's, no makeup, a huge mess, and just playing:)

The only show that really catches her interest is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!!  When that dang hot dog song comes on, she will stop whatever she is doing (which comes in handy when that thing is crying) and start smiling, laughing and focusing solely on it

 Wants us to help her stand ALL the time:)  She is also a major fan of her walker lately...It is sooo hilarious, she just spots something or someone and just CHARGES!!  She loves running around in it.  I will try to post a video

 I am in love with this picture......

Love that big gummy smile

 These two:)  They are always cracking us up,  I put them in the car to run an errand and when I went around to my door they were both paws up on the dashboard like "let's go".  Looks like Marley wants to drive this time

 I think she will be crawling really soon!  She gets up like this and squirms and rocks all the time.  Even though she hasn't mastered crawling yet, she still manages to get where she wants to go with a swimming/army crawl

Still no sign of teeth yet!
 She has been trying new foods and it's pretty funny to see her try to get it into her mouth:) 

 She still loves our walks with the dogs and loves to be outside!! Sad, because it is certainly not going to be warm for a long time!!

She also still prefers playing with random objects to her actual toys, but whatever:)  This is her just playing with the lock to our back door...aka a pvc pipe;0

I'm just so proud of her lately!!  She is at such a fun stage and learning so much!  She sleeps from about 8:30pm-8:30am and takes two naps 11am-2 and 4-5:30 usually!! I know, amazing right?!  Believe me, it wasn't always this way!  I definitely paid my dues:)  We will see how long that lasts:)  She is just wanting to play constantly, and is sooo curious about everything and everyone, and we love it!  She is also finding and loving the sound of her own voice!!  She is constantly talking (yelling) to herself when she plays and says da-da all the time! (Still pretty sure she doesn't know exactly what it means)  And she is definitely a copy cat and mimmicks what we say.  The other night Tom and Jade went back and forth making these roaring/growling noises and it was soooo cute and funny!  Again, another video I will have to post.