I'm Back! :)

Hi everyone, I’ve missed y’all so much but I’m happy to announce that today I’ll be back on the ‘blogging bandwagon’ after my long hiatus. I know, it really has been a long, unannounced absence and I’m deeply grateful for the number of emails I received from kind people asking if I was okay and where I had been.

Let me start from the beginning: I began this blog for a few reasons, one of the main ones being that I simply love to write. I always have, it’s a stress relief and a creative outlet in many ways. The other reasons are simply to share some ideas, get to know people, and keep in touch with some of my more long distance friends and family members.

While I love the social community on the ‘blogosphere', the real world one will always top my priority list which was a HUGE part of the reason I took such a long break. :)

You see, about a year and a half ago, I happily became “Mrs. Farm Girl Teacher” at a small ceremony in Tennessee. It was one of the happiest movements in my life and has been a wonderful journey ever since. While on our honeymoon, my husband I made a deal to limit the usage of our phones/social media—opting instead to focus on the moment before us. It was in a word—freeing. All of a sudden, a stress I didn’t know I even had was lifted off my shoulders! I made a personal decision at that moment to continue this route, constantly reminding myself that my real-world relationships must always be put first. You see, it wasn’t that I’d been putting them second, the problem was that I had been allowing the stress of constant posting bother me, when it really didn’t have to be a pressure at all!

I wanted to dedicate our first year of marriage to him fully, and then decide if and where this blog would fit in later. I have to be honest, in many ways it was absolutely glorious! I still followed other favorite blogs of mine (check out Farmish Momma and No Big Dill if you haven’t already) but I didn’t allow myself to become troubled over my own, simply responded to emails from fans and people who had questions about some of the crochet patterns they’d downloaded. I won’t lie—I also flooded my draft folders with titles of posts I wanted to jot down so I wouldn’t forget later. I’ll be slowly going through that but I have to say, for some of them I have no idea what I was thinking! (I have to throw in this reference for my mom—remember the Seinfeld episode where he wakes up in the middle of the night to jot down the ‘hilarious’ joke? haha that’s what I feel like!)

Shortly after our one year anniversary, I began to think about this blog once again, but once again life had other plans. (I’ll make this short and to-the-point because I have a whole other blog post coming on this soon) Basically I have a neurological disorder that had other plans for me. All of a sudden, symptoms began to rear their ugly head and my life took a few hits as a result. Nothing major, I’m perfectly okay, but once again, my priority list changed dramatically. As I said, I want to wait and go more into depth on this later, but I will go ahead and spoil the ending for you. :) My wonderful doctor assisted in starting me on a new medication and for the moment everything seems to be under control!

I am now happy to announce that I am back for as long as life sees fit. My health and real world relationships will always be the biggest priority but the truth is that this blog is something I love and will only become a burden if I allow it to. (Which I don’t plan on again!) I love meeting new people and some of the wonderful conversations we have via email and sites like Ravelry and Craftsy and I have had many family members who’ve talked about how much they enjoy keeping up with our family in this way.

Breaking News!

I'm breaking again from the formal wear series because I have some news! :) Hang on to your socks! :D

I started this week off by celebrating my birthday! My mom loves this picture and wished me a "berry" Happy Birthday...

 

And for my birthday surprise, I'm pleased to announce there is going to be a Mr. Farm Girl Teacher! :D My boyfriend of three years proposed to me recently and I am thrilled to know I'll be spending the remainder of my life with my other half. We met in middle school and have been friends for years, I truly feel that God made us for each other and I can't wait to spend my life with him!

“A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.”

 

(Bonus points if you can name the book before you reach then end of this post!)

Y'all know me, so you probably know I've already planned our wedding on Pinterest (along with an imaginary house, children, sewing room, etc. haha!) but I will be sharing photos of planning and preparations after we set a date and get closer to time. (Don't get too crazy, there is not a date set, but I promise it will be a while from now....I need time to knit a dress! KIDDING!)

I also recently purchased a new car! My first car was a trusty 1993 Toyota I bought in high school, but alas, I have outgrown it and am proud to say I have upgraded to a 2015 Mazda 6 that I am LOVING. It has back doors AND cupholders, technology these days! If you know my family personally, you also know we have a small obsession with naming our vehicles so I've been putting lots and LOTS of thought into finding the perfect name for my Mazda. (This is serious business, people!)

 After much deliberation, I have officially named my car! I was rereading one of my favorites, Pride and Prejudice, when I test drove the car and on the day I picked it up, so I have been toying with character names from the book. In honor of finding my "Mr. Darcy" my car is "Mrs. Darcy." Although I don't care much for the 2005 movie, the "Mrs. Darcy" ending was it's saving grace.

“I am the happiest creature in the world. Perhaps other people have said so before, but not one with such justice. I am happier even than Jane; she only smiles, I laugh.”  

  

But, MOST IMPORTANTLY (and this really is the most important!) my family and I celebrated my little sister's high school graduation this weekend! So proud of her, she is the Jane to my Lizzy! (I am REALLY channeling Pride and Prejudice today!)

I am so proud of the person my sister has become. She is caring, funny, hardworking, and she's become a leader that knows how to make truly good decisions! She's accomplished quite a lot in the last 18 years and I know the journey is just beginning! Of course, by Mr. Darcy's standards, accomplished ladies are hard to come by.. ;)

As of right now, she plans to get her AA at a local community college, before going to a state college to begin their Animal Science program. (Y'all seriously have no idea how accurately this fits her personality!) 

My mom made an awesome slideshow presentation with pictures from our childhood set to music that fits (she sorted through 18 THOUSAND pictures, go mom!) and we really got to see how wonderfully well-rounded Miranda is. 

 

 She has accomplished so many things and (almost) always had a smile on her face doing it! I can't wait to see what the next chapter has in store for her!

 

I know she sounds perfect but trust me...she's not, you see, she has this REALLY annoying habit of being taller than me.... :)

WARNING: Lame joke alert:

We're so hot, we have to wear shades! (Don't hate, I warned you!)

 

I hope your summer has been as wonderful as mine has so far! Stay tuned! :) 

~Soon-to-be-Mrs. Farm Girl Teacher 

Christmas Traditions

I really do love Christmas traditions and one of my favorites is our ornament tradition. When my parents got married 27 years ago they began purchasing ornaments every year that reflected major events of that year. This continued once my sister and I came into the picture and some of my best memories come from taking out the ornaments to decorate the tree and bringing back some wonderful (and often hilarious!) memories! Some of my favorites include the hood ornament that came off the Buick my mother and I totaled just before Christmas in the early 90's, the pink ornaments my aunt handed out at her baby shower BEFORE she was told she was having a boy, key chains from our favorite vacation spots, etc. Take a look at two of my ornaments for this year... (I have at least one more but I forgot to photograph it..)

 In honor of my first year teaching, we found this at a beautiful kiosk at a local mall. They are an awesome little shop and always willing to customize! :)

And a 'Saint Leo' ornament in honor of my graduation last April.

Of course, there's always a few traditions that just won't die...

So naturally I must drag others into the tradition with me...

 :) By the way, what do you think of these pictures? They were taken with my brand new....Christmas camera!

(In hindsight I should've turned off the TV) Since I've been taking pictures with a potato for the last year or so, I decided to treat myself using some of the traditional Christmas money given to me by my Granny Woot. Yay!

Merry Christmas!

~Farm Girl Teacher

Wooten Family Photo

It's that time of year again! Every Christmas there is tons, and I mean TONS of hustle and bustle. My immediate family and I go to at least two Christmas parties, (one on either side of the family) as well as prepare for our own family traditions. I know three parties doesn't really sound like a lot, but when you couple that with the fact that both my mother and I work at elementary schools and are very involved with charity/Christmas fundraisers this time of the year, December tends to be quite a blur!

One of the particularly fun traditions we do is take a family Christmas photo...which doesn't sound like much if you've never seen a Wooten Family Photo...take a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly from 2013....

Left to Right: (Horses) Tux, Jose, Colby, Drew Piney (People) Tammy, Rebecca, Miranda Randy (Dogs) Mandy, Cole

The above was the winner for the official card, but of course I'm going to show you more than just one picture. :D

Thanks to Eric, our wonderful photographer and my boyfriend who inevitably gets roped into the ordeal whether he likes it or not. :)

I'm not going to lie, the process is not an easy one and I'm often reminded of the Griswold family antics! (Mom's favorite Christmas movie)

In addition to the big photo, we also do smaller photos with just humans, just one person with the animals that belong to that person, the children, the adults, dad and kids, mom and kids, etc.

All told we easily take over a hundred pictures, I promise I'll try not to get too carried away with today's post...

Well, maybe... I am my mother's child after all.... :)

The animals are the most challenging as it's borderline impossible to get everyone looking the same directions with their ears where they belong, however you wouldn't believe how many we have where the animals look great...and at least one human is just a bit off... :)

And yes, I know that not all our animals are pictured, but we try to get as many as possible. Chickens and sheep just don't always photograph well! Plus, it's not possible to have EVERY animal in the picture so we often just grab one to represent their entire species...

 Merry Christmas!

~Farm Girl Teacher