Twisted "Night Before Christmas."

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the town, all the people were thinking "How will we get down?"
The hills were covered with snow, inches deep and the people said "we'll stay home and sleep."
The shoppers so brave faced the slushy wet roads and hoped they could make it home with their loads.
With mama so worried and I so scared; would Santa even come, did he even dare?
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, all of us ran to see what was the matter.
And what to our wondering eyes should appear, 2-foot long icicles scaring the reindeer.
With icicles falling this way and that, we knew in a instant we should get out the hard hats.
More rapid than eagles those chuckles, they came, and Santa chuckled and chuckled and called them names.
"Now Dasher, now Dancer, now Prancer, and Vixen. On Comet, on Cupid, on Donner, and Blitzen.
On top of your heads you each have a hat, and oh how dumb you all...."SPLAT!"
Now Santa is the brunt, and the reindeer laugh
As they see Santa sprawled on the ground, icicles cover him all around.
Then Rudolph, with his nose so bright, turned to Santa and called "have a good night!"


So this is my silly random poem that I made up in my spare time just now. I now it's cruel to think that the reindeer left Santa there, but hey, he called them names...and I got lazy and didn't want to write anymore. Enjoy and feel free to suggest any additional lines or changes.

Snow, snow, snow

I keep hearing about schools being cancelled and everything shutting down in places like Oregon and Washington because of snow--lots of snow! Now, I don't blame them one bit, but I think SOMETIMES Utah should follow in the footsteps of the great Northwest. On Friday I drove Kristen and Brittany to the airport, then headed off to the Salt Lake Temple for my best friend's wedding. The roads were pretty good, but it was very cold due to the wind chill. About the time when the girlfriends were done taking pictures with the bride, it started to snow, a lot! I ever so carefully (though in vain) drove to get gas and slipped and slid the whole way. SCARY! Even though there was still about an hour until the luncheon, I headed to the luncheon place anyway to hide safely inside the restraunt. All through the lunch I could see the snow coming down hard through the window. Around 3pm I began my trek back to Provo; generally a 30-40 minute drive. 3 hours later and lots of sliding with a near accident, I made it home safely; scared, but safe. The freeway was horrendous! It's days like that when Utah needs to shut down for a while and give the plows time to do their thing. The slightest, slightest touch of my gas pedal would cause my car to slip. THAT IS NOT SAFE! Even here in Provo, my car did that. And you want the kids to come to school? Nice! Hey, maybe it will reduce my class size for a day. I wouldn't mind. :)

I'm just going to say the snow better not keep Kory and I from getting home to Oregon tomorrow. In fact, it better not hinder us from getting to see family in Washington, either. Curse the snow! May we all be content with just watching it from our windows and not driving in it. The end!

39 years ago...

I doubt that 39 years ago that Eric Carle even had the thought cross his mind of his book becoming a legend. The Very Hungry Caterpillar was written in 1969 and has since been the staple book of every elementary teacher's classroom. Even my 2 1/2 year old nephew received a copy from yours truly (and I was very proud to give it to him) just a couple months ago. I've loved that book since as along as I can remember, as have many other people. I doubt any other book even comes close to mearsuring up. Well, imagine my excitement to find that Hallmark made a Very Hungry Caterpillar Christmas ornament followed by my disappointment that they were sold out! Go figure, huh? Last night we were at the mall and I decided we should go to Hallmark. Kory confessed to me that he was considering getting me that ornament for Christmas because he got me a cute teacher one last year. Keeping up with tradition, I suppose. There was only ONE left at that store so we snatched it up then and there. Tonight, I proudly hung it on the Christmas tree and it looks so fantastic! How could Mr. Carle know that his book that teaches food, days of the week, counting, and much more be so famous to be made into a beloved Christmas ornament? I don't think he even imagined it.

Craziness

Oh, sigh! I really should be in bed, but I also should write here again. So much has been happening. I've had two long conversations with my principal this week--she gave me the evil face when I jokingly threatened to quit! My crazy class gets crazier by the minute and I become a teacher that I don't like when they are with me. One of the students' parents told me their son doesn't like me. Join the club. I should charge a fee. I am VERY strict with that group because they are so crazy. Even my angel Hannah missed a recess this week for misbehavior. That is NOT like her at all. Thankfully, I have a completely supportive principal and a majority of parents who are being so patient with our situation of finding a new Spanish teacher. Any ideas for a gift for a principal that I adore more than words can express?

'Tis the Season

Well, the Christmas season is upon us. Man that came so fast. I was counting the weeks I have left at school until Christmas break. It is only 3 full weeks. Crazy. I will be totally ready for the break when those three weeks have passed, especially because I have my hard group of kids this week and the last week before break. I only get my good group for one week. Sad!

Not much is happening around here. Our Christmas tree goes up today, which I am very excited about. There won't be many presents under it because we are heading to Oregon for Christmas. But it will still be fun. Last year Kory and I started a tradition that his family has had for almost 30 years. Each year they buy an ornament from Hallmark. It's a series ornament so it has the same character(s), just a different scene. Kory and I got our first one last year--the seventh in the series. Yesterday, we went and got the next in the series. Here's a picture of it. That's Snowball and Tuxedo sharing some cocoa. Isn't it CUTE?





This is the one that Kory's family does every year. It's always an Eskimo and so cute. They have every single one in the series, minus the very first one. Such a fun little tradition.

Thanksgiving Break

Ahhh, finally. Thanksgiving break. The long awaited, hopefully relaxing, break is here. I think every teacher and aide at school deserves this break. We have worked our tails off moving and adjusting to our new place and it has been quite a wild ride. All the craziness has made me thankful for some "unusual" things that a person generally doesn't express gratitude for.

1. I am so thankful that Diane (my principal) is who she is. She's had so much life and school experience that she could probably handle any situation that comes her way. Plus, I love the fact that I can sit in her office and she can tell me to pray about a problem I'm having and be totally comfortable with that.

2. I am thankful for the parents who have supported me through the trial of the Spanish teacher resigning. Those parents are my life savers and they have been so patient and understanding. Believe me, not all the parents have been this way.

3. I'm glad that I have Elaine, Amy, and Peggy to be my support system. Technically, Peggy is the newest "newbie" of the group, but she has been in education a lot longer than me.

4. I'm thankful for a functional, new, happy classroom. No need for further explanation.

So, there you have it. Despite the stresses and woes that come with teaching, I am so happy that I teach at Timpanogos Elementary but also equally grateful for the breaks that come along. People wonder how we do it sometimes...well, I secretly think it's the breaks that contirbute to our sanity. But that's just my opinion.

Wow, this required too much thinking!

Saw this on my Aunt's website and thought I would do it too. Enjoy.

8 things I'm obsessed with right now:
1. 1st grade (though not by choice sometimes)
2. Facebook
3. Kory
4. the nephew
5. Settlers of Catan: Cities and Knights
6. helping my students progress
7. shoes
8. I guess clothing in general!

8 words or phrases I use daily:
1. Get your homework folders and put them in your book boxes.
2. How do we walk in the halls?
3. Oh, I love_________'s folded arms!
4. Hi sweetie!
5. I love you!
6. I'm a sleepyhead.
7. Quickly, please.
8. You get a tickle!

8 T.V. shows I love to watch:
1. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
2. What Not to Wear
3. BYU football
4. First
5. grade
6. takes
7. all my
8. time!

8 Things I did yesterday:
1. taught 1st grade
2. ate FREE lunch from Sam's Club
3. kissed my husband
4. graded papers
5. slept
6. went on a date
7. watched BYU men's basketball
8. checked my email

8 of my favorite places to eat:
1. Zupa's
2. Cafe Rio
3. Red Robin (I highly recommend the cheese sticks)
4. California Pizza Kitchen
5. at the kitchen table
6. Tucanos
7. Lupe's (in Oregon)
8. the in-law's

8 Things I'm looking forward to:
1. Thanksgiving break
2. Christmas break
3. Jon Schmidt concert in December
4. making our family of two bigger someday
5. Kory going to grad school
6. Not having to worry about substitute plans for the other class
7. Hawaii in July
8. seeing the progress of my students when May rolls around

8 Things on my wish list:
1. a house
2. an IKEA house
3. a kitten
4. a baby
5. a piano (yeah, I think big!)
6. no more spiders in my apartment
7. happy first graders
8. Kory in Grad school

8 People I tag:
1. I’m
2. not
3. gonna
4. name
5. names.
6. Play
7. or
8. not.

The video is a little dark and I don't know if you can see Jase very well, but he's in his "stunk" costume. He was too cute!

Music

I love music. There's a playlist on my iPod that I have created that's pretty much awesome in my opinon. But, there is one song that I'm completely in love with. It's called "If That Were Me" by Melanie C. Two years ago, Kory and I went to BYU's Ballroom Dance show and 4 dancers from the tour team did a Rumba to that song. They did it again as well last year when we went. I was completely touched, not only by their dancing, but by the song itself which speaks of a homeless person and people's reactions to homeless people on the streets. Melanie sings of how fortunate she is, but seems almost ashamed because this homeless person doesn't even have a place to live. It's interesting and I love that song, a lot. It not only makes me want to get into ballroom dancing again, it makes me think. When a song does that, it's a good song.

My craziness

Well, I suppose I'll write a quick entry before I head out to school. I got a call from my principal on Sunday evening. I had a feeling I knew what it was about, especially since I couldn't log in to the Spanish teacher's grade entry report to do report cards. Both the Spanish teacher and I have two log-ins since we teach two groups. In a nutshell, Diane (the principal) told me that Sonia resigned on Friday for personal reasons and that I needed to make the substitute plans for her sub on Monday. Part of the reason for her resignation was not passing a test that all teachers have to take (including me) in order to be "highly qualified." Diane can't employ us if we are not highly qualified. I have to take the test before my third year of teaching is over. So I still have another year and half.

Sub plans? Generally not a big deal. I wasn't stressing out too much even though Sonia's schedule was very different from mine. So I did what I could on Sunday evening and figured I could get the rest in place on Monday morning. Boy, was I making a overstatement! I went into Sonia's room yesterday morning and there was NOTHING! No files with work for the students, no homework folders, no plan book, NOTHING! Panic mode set in at that point. I only had things for the substitute to do math and for the kids to write in their journals; but what were they going to write?? Not a clue! So, I just made up stuff in English for the kids to work on and the freaking substitute didn't even follow the plans I made AT ALL! He's substituted before and he totally creeps me out. I was angry at Sonia for taking everything off the walls and taking student's names off the desks and cubbies. Literally the room looked sterile! Ugh! She even took the crayons so I had to give the sub my "lost and found" crayons. Yeah, I was totally exhausted by the end of the day because I had to keep up with my plans and the substitute plans. Plus, parent-teacher conferences are on Thursday and I have to do grades but i can't log into the other class's grades and Sonia has my math tests still in her possession. Yeah, this week is going to be crazy. I have to make sub plans for the whole week. Yay. That's my craziness.

School pics-cont'd

So, since I can't figure out for the life of me how to arrange several pictures on my blog, you're getting another post for my new classroom pictures. Look how much space there is!! AND OUTSIDE WINDOWS! The whiteboard on the left in the picture with the two whiteboards will soon be removed and replaced with an interactive whiteboard called Promethean Board. The kids can interact with it and it's a VERY fun toy! I'm looking forward to having one. Most of the pictures show what my room looked like before I tackled the unpacking and arranging job. The other two show my room all nice and ready for kidlets. Can I just say I love all the SPACE??? and no orange carpet or brown wall! Yahoo!

School pics

Well, here's my old classroom. Check out the lovely orange carpet and brownish-orange wall. The picture with me is what my classroom looked like after the movers cleared out everything. It was dark in the school because it was like 8:30 at night and Kory and I were packing up a couple of last minute things into my car. The yellow paper is covering two windows that looked into the library!! No outside windows or doors in my old classroom.

nooks and crannies

I'm half awake at 9:00pm writing this entry. I was ready for bed at 8:00! I have been working my hind end off in my classroom and still am not finished. It looks ready for students, but I know the little nooks and crannies that need to be taken care of--which will happen tomorrow. Yes, Saturday. It's rare that I actually go to my classroom and work on a Saturday, but tomorrow such will be the case. *sigh* It's down to the nitty gritty and that's the worst part. You have pieces here and there that you're not quite sure how to approach so it's basically you standing there and staring. Yup, that could possibly be me tomorrow. I am very tired and just want to go to bed. Off I go. Pictures soon, I promise!

untimely injury

Yeah, all I need is a back injury during the week that we're moving to our new school. It is not a constant pain, but one of those where if I bend in any way my lower back screams at me!! So, my back was so stiff today from standing so straight and sitting so straight and hardly bending at all! I felt bad that I couldn't do much in my new classroom and that Kory had to do all the work because he didn't want me injured anymore. It's sweet of him to help me and I'm grateful for the help but I'm just the kind of person where if I'm not working on something that's mine and someone else is doing it for me, I feel bad and unproductive.

I've got pictures now of my old classroom and the new place with all my junk piled in the middle of the room. I'll put them up when I can actually bend and get my camera. Plus, I don't feel like putting them up right now. I want to go back to my heating pad!

a little complaining with some rejoicing

Every other week at school, I feel like each day should be Friday. Unfortunately, tomorrow is only Thursday and I have two more whole days with my motley crew. Group A, as Sonia and I refer to them is a HARD, tough group. I want so much to just love all of them, but some days I really have to have a big prayer in my heart that centers along the lines of "please help me be patient; please help me be patient." The kids seem to be improving in their behavior, but then I have days like today when Brayan cried so much I hauled him to the office and made him stay until he stopped. I have found his weakness: recess. Take away recess time and you've got his attention. I might have to endure more tears, but maybe enough lost recess time will make an impact on his behavior. I can only hope, right?

Truly, I hate being the witchy teacher, but sometimes I have to let the little ones know that I mean business. It seems in this group that none of the kids even know what respect means. We've talked about it, I've called them on disrepectful behavior, and we've practiced showing respect. How do I make it sink in? Being a teacher for just over a year has taught me that when I am a mom, I might not be perfect, but I can at least teach my children the fundamentals for playing the school game. UGH! Honestly, do none of my students' parents care about them showing respect?

Well, that's my compaining for the week. On a happy note: Amy helped my arrange my NEW furniture in my new classroom because I helped her arrange her furniture in her classroom. One bruised foot later, I have a room that's actually starting to look like a classroom. My new teacher desk is HUGE! No seriously, Amy and I figure out we had to angle it to provide for ideal space usage and comfort. I'm putting my camera by my school bag right now so that I can take pictures of my soon-to-be old classroom and the new classroom. You'll see how big my desk is and if you're a teacher, your jaw will drop. Hee hee! I love it!

School picture

This is a picture of our new school (it looks slightly different from this). My class room is the farthest right corner on the bottom. 9 more school days until we officially start, Oct. 20 at the new place. We're moving over fall break (2 days) and it's going to be wild. We got a grand tour of the school on Monday and it's absolutely gorgeous and fun. If any of you saw my facebook status, my classroom is the only one that is not finished. Diane said that when it came around to doing cabinetry work, my classroom got completely let off the plans. She has been so apologetic. I suppose I just have to deal with what I have. I'll try to take pictures of it and post them here soon.

School is just crazy busy. I have one group of kids that makes me want to retire every day I have them! Kory has even said he notices a difference in me when I have that group of kids. *sigh* I just don't know what to do. That's all!

What to say?

I haven't posted in a while because I haven't had much to say. Hmmm.....I love my husband. My nephew is super cute. 1 more month until we move to our new school.

That's about it. Though I continue to get parents writing me notes or emails about how their child is bored because everything is too easy for them. They are very understanding about my time constraints and preparing something else for their child to be engaged in while I teach the majority of my class that needs the instruction. It gets a little frustrating, but I'm glad that I'm able to work with the parents and have them be so understanding. They are great!

My principal won the Bilingual Administrator of the Year award. We are very excited for her. She totally deserves it because she is just fabulous and so patient, especially with me. :)

That's pretty much it. Hope all is well for everyone else.

Family

So, my mom wanted a family photo when we were all in Utah (there's more of us in Utah now than in Oregon) and whaddaya know? My beautiful Laura Johnson just happens to love my mama and me (and probably the rest of my family, I'm guessing) and said she would photograph us. Here are some of the pictures. Enjoy! For all the images, visit my facebook profile!

My shirt and addition to the last entry

So, this is what my t-shirt looks like. BYU puts out a new football shirt every year. Last year it said "Fully Invested" meaning you give your all to everything you do--sports, academics, religion. This year "The Quest" means the quest for perfection. So far I've only heard reference to perfection being a perfect 12-0 record in football, but judging from the culture at BYU, I'm sure it has more meaning than just a perfect football record. Getting my shirt was wild! They kept selling out of shirts, so my mom finally found out when they would be getting a new shipment in and ordered one for me on that specific day of the shipment (last Friday). They said they would have it for me at customer service. Last Saturday, I waltzed up to campus with Kory to pick up my shirt before the game. First, I hit the BYU apparel, they sent me to customer service. CS claimed they didn't have my shirt under my name or my mom's name. They tried calling the "internet orders" department--closed! So, next stop the clothing counter in the bookstore (different from BYU apparel dept.) and the same kid that sent me to CS came and talked to me again. He checked with his manager and they had zero shirts left. Annoyance is setting in; I go to the library, look up my confirmation number, take it up to CS and they say "sorry, we can't do anything with your confrimation number." The whole time I'm trying to call mom to find out if it's perhaps somewhere else or under some random name. She was working so she didn't answer. No shirt for the game. :-( I finally went and picked up my shirt today. YAY!

That same Saturday I went out to lunch with some mission friends. One of the members from my second area was visiting. She said the Spanish sisters are being taken out of that mission!! Thus ends our great legacy. Gosh, I feel so sorry for everyone. They don't get to bask in the awesome-ness that is Hermana's. Apparently too many hermanas were teaching single men who would join the church for wrong reasons and then go inactive. I understand the reasoning, but it's still sad.

Oh, and to add to my last entry, I was working on my plan book and I looked down--spider crawling up my leg! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!I flicked it to the floor with my pencil and Kory squished it. Gosh, he's amazing!

UGH!

Okay, I'll make this quick especially because there aren't pictures to make the story more entertaining.

I have this big yoga ball and I decided tonight that I wanted to bounce on it. So, I rolled it to a place in the Living Room that I deemed safe from destruction, should any accidentally occur. :) Anyway, I move the ball and behind it is this BIG, at least 2 inches long and probably almost 2 inch wide ROACH! UGH! EW! GROSS! YUCKY! KILL IT NOW!!! Oh my gosh it was so gross. I would have taken a picture as evidence, but it started to move and when it moves, that's the end of it all! Thank goodness for brave, knightly husbands who aren't afraid to squish roaches and spiders on the floor or on the wall. I'm just surprised it was such a clean squish--that thing was huge! I was expecting roach guts all over the carpet, but there was nothing. Yay for Kory! Many kisses to him.

Yeah, now I'm afraid one will join us in bed. EW!

Heartbreaker

Okay, so I totally got a heart-ripper moment today. We went to lunch and after my kids were through the line, the lunch secretary said she needed to talk to me about Jorge. I knew what was coming, but I had to listen to her anyway. The district has this policy where if a child is in the negative for lunch money to a certain amount, then they can't have lunch! DUMB, yeah I know. Anyway, Adriane (lunch secretary) told me that Jorge had a block on his account because he was whatever amount in the red that made it so he couldn't have lunch. So, I had to walk him all the way back to our office (we go to lunch at the school next door until we move into our new place), tell the office secretary and she gave him crackers to eat because of the dumb district policy. Oh my gosh I wanted to cry for my sweet Jorge. Just because mom hasn't sent lunch money doesn't mean you should punish him! AND it was pizza day! I felt so bad for him and his little empty tummy all afternoon. He even had to stay in the office for all of lunch recess too. I understand that the parents need to pay for lunches, but honestly!! This is ridiculous. Needless to say I felt horrible for not forking over enough for him to be able to eat lunch. I should have; I totally should have! Maybe it's not a big deal for anyone else, but for me it just confirmed how much I really do care about my students and that I can't ignore or brush off the fact that the majority of them are dirt poor! I feel so blessed.

SEPs-part 2

Let's just say, they went a whole lot better on days two and three! But seriously, that whole anti-homework situation ate at me all night. I didn't fall asleep as quickly that night because I just was so shocked by the situation and that mother! Oh my word! Now that I've had her child in my class for a week, I can see the effects of her "no homework" choice. Her daughter cannot problem solve to save her life, she has a hard time working, and she is very needy. When she can't figure out that if she asks Andrie to move over, he will because he's sitting in her spot and has to come tell me EVERY SINGLE TIME it happens, there's a problem. Ugh! And yes, it happens quite often. Andrie has a hard time with some things.

Anyway, on a happier note: all week this group that I've had has made me crazy. I prayed last night that they would be good today because if they weren't I think I would go completely insane and compared to yesterday, they were fantastic! I think I'll be utilizing prayer mode more often concerning this issue. :) Plus having two cute visitors in my classroom after school made my day as well.

My life until May 29 now officially revolves around two groups of kidlets. They're so cute, but sometimes.....

That's all!

SEPs-part 1

I really hope there is no part two in this ongoing entry unless it's all good news. SEP stands for something like Student Educator Parent conferences or something. Anyway, they're pretty much parent teacher conferences. Yeah, we have them right at the beginning of the year to go over homework policies and procedures and to get all the paperwork done that we need. Yeah the homework ordeal did not sit well with one mother. Sonia barely had two words out of her mouth and this mother was like "Okay, we need to talk about this homework thing." Before we went too much further than that, I invited the principal to come and join us. It was absolutely crazy!! She did not let us get hardly one word in to explain that her child would have maybe 10 minutes of homework on top of her reading that she already does anyway. Her theory was that school is time to learn and home is "dinner time, play time, and family time." Mom didn't want her "sitting on her butt all day at school then coming home and sitting on her butt again doing homework." Pretty much she said we could send homework but to not be surprised if they didn't do it!! GEEZ! We're asking for 10-20 minutes per night lady! Oh my freaking heck! This went on for at least 15-20 minutes and Sonia and I were completely shocked. What the...? Plus this mom associates with the mom (they trade off carpooling or something) who asked us what theories of education and management we use in our classroom. Theories? What?? I was so glad Sonia was there because she explained that each child and class is so unique that we're constantly adapting and changing what we do when we teach (not the curriculum itself, but the approach). YAY! Go Sonia!! So then, this mom proceeds to tell us in so many words that her daughter needs to do an art project everyday in order to get her creativity out or some wierdness. The dad couldn't believe that we don't have time in our schedule to do art projects every day. Well sir, we have to devote time to math, literacy, lunch, recess, and planning times (P.E., music, library) as well. Plus, until we get used to our new reading program, it's going to take up a lot of our time. UGH! I had a headache when I got home.

I think I'll put up a "part 2" entry and just hope and pray that we have no more anti-homework, art project nazi moms telling us how to do our jobs!

Screwed up emotions

I'm in Oregon; just got back from my friend's wedding reception. I thought it would be different, and my emotions are all screwed up right now. I cried (more like blubbered) once today already for many different reasons. It's just crazy and weird. Her wedding was beautiful in the Portland Temple and the reception was gorgeous and fun but, there's just some emotions that I need to get past before I can fully accept that she's married. No worries, she and I are good friends and we're not in a fight or anything, I just have issues! I feel like I need to pour out my soul and my feelings, but doing it to her would not be nice so I'll just pray...with the tissue box next to me. Gosh I'm pathetic and apologize to anyone who read this entry. UGH! Just needed to get some things off my chest as much as possible.

apartment pictures and first day of school!

So, I know I've promised pictures of our new apartment, and here they are, finally. In order from left to right, top to bottom: second bedroom, master bedroom, living room, kitchen (yeah, check out those beautiful brand new counter tops--they used to be pink, according to Sadie), and the other part of our living room with evidence of us starting to move in.
So, there you go. Enjoy!

Today was the first day of school! This year is going to be stressful! We have this new reading program that seems fantastic, but it will only be SUPER effective for a class that doesn't switch between Spanish and English every week. I teach in a Dual Immersion program which means I have my class for one week and teach in English, then they go to the Spanish teacher, I get her group and teach them in English. They do that back and forth every week! It is totally crazy. Anyway, this new reading program builds on what was taught in the previous week(s) and since I teach the same thing to my group and Sonia's group (she's the Spanish teacher) it's hard to get through the whole program, especially because it's jam-packed with stuff. I know that it will be just like our math program we adopted last year: the more of it that you implement and teach and stick to the schedule, the more success you will see from your students! That is what's eating at me; I can't implement the whole thing whereas math is basically the same in English or Spanish so it doesn't matter if I don't teach one week's worth of lessons in English! I don't know if that makes any sense, but it does bother me alot!

I can already pick out which kids are going to be my problems! And I already know about some parents who will be issues as well when it comes to reporting behaviors of their child. Basically, they focus only on the negative things and nothing positive. My goal: be positive even though I KNOW this kid is going to make me crazy if he keeps up with the behavior I saw today.

Okay, so I have some majorly cute kidlets! Oh man, there's this one boy who is to die for! He's tiny, both in height and weight and is adorable. Yeah, pretty darn cute I must say.

Can I just say "Oh my holy goodness!" to the Olympic 4x100 men's swimming relay last night? That was completely amazing.

I've started pondering on Olympians and how much work and dedication they put into their event. When I saw various athletes take the stand last night to receive their medals, I tried to picture them in my head practicing, training, grueling for hours and working to improve their great talent(s). I imagined it being their life and that all they did, besides training and practicing, was eat and sleep; no job, no other committment, nothing. But, I don't think that's how it is with the majority of the athletes. They probably work and have families and obligations to tend to, but they just never cease to amaze me. It's crazy and interesting.

School starts in a week...AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! I feel totally unprepared, even moreso than last year, in some ways. I mean, I already have lots of my curriculum set and ready, but with our new reading program this year, I think this feeling of unpreparedness is really hitting me hard. Serously, our new reading program is CRAZY! We are so excited about it because it seems like it will be very effective and helpful, but each 1st grade teacher got AT LEAST 20-25 boxes of stuff that goes with the program. Yeah, it's all sitting in my room wondering what it's future will be. I've barely scratched the surface of it all and I have to decide what will stay in a box to be unpacked when we get to our new school. YIKES. Okay, I'm going to stop talking about this because it will make me nuts if I think about it anymore. Let's just say I hope I survive these next couple of weeks!

Finally Getting Around to it!

So Aunt Marie left this on her blog for me to complete (i.e. she tagged me!) and I started it once, then never finished it! Let's try it one more time and see if I can get the whole thing done.

3 Joys:
1) Kory (My husband)
2) Jase (my nephew)
3) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

3 Fears:
1) one or more of my first graders not being ready for second grade
2) having to work when I have children
3) roller coasters (the fear used to be a lot worse, now I can somewhat handle them)

3 Goals:
1) Learn to play guitar
2) Have children
3) have my own house

3 Obsessions:
1) Jase (the nephew)
2) Settlers of Catan: Cities and Knights
3) shoes

3 Random Facts:
1) One of my legs is ever so slightly longer than the other
2) I was proposed to by a member from my mission (and he was dead serious)
3) Even though I'm obsessed with shoes, I think my husband has more pairs of shoes than I do (His last count was thirty-something!)

Alright so there's a little about me. Now, I think I have to tag people to be it so let's see: Airie, Jamie, and Stella. Enjoy!

The New Place

I was thinking the other day that I would make a list of Pro's and Con's about both apartments. It might make me feel better about moving out of our old one. Even though the landlords at the old apartment are dumb, I loved that apartment and Kory finally admitted last night that it was nostalgic and kind of sad. I've been sad about it for a long time. So, here's the list.

OLD APARTMENT (1 bedroom apartment)

PRO'S

- HUGE bedroom

- lots of closet space in the bedroom

-huge storage closet in the hallway

- huge living room

- tons of cupboards in the kitchen

- great neighbors and church ward

CON'S

- no dishwasher

- coin-op laundry

- old, bumpy carpet

- THIRD FLOOR

- A/C didn't function very well

- good water pressure was a hit and miss!

NEW APARTMENT (2 bedrooms)

PRO'S

- 2 bedrooms

- HUGE kitchen

- pantry shelves in kitchen

- hardwood floor in kitchen

- nice carpet

- good water pressure

- big bathroom

- DISHWASHER!!!!!

- access to a washer & dryer (shared with my cousin who lives upstairs)

- central air

- big living room

CON'S

- small master bedroom

- small closet in master bedroom (Kory uses the closet in the spare bedroom)

- not much space for storage

- low ceilings

- small windows

So, there you have it. I think storage space is what is still bothering me. I loved being able to hide all our junk in the hall closet at our old place and now we don't really have a spot. We have two utility closets, but technically it's illegal to store stuff in them. My cousin is a lawyer, though and he said he didn't care if we put stuff in there. Plus there are rafters in the garage we can use as well, but it's currently locked while my cousin and his family are out of town. Oh well, we're getting put together, slowly but surely.

Our box spring on our mattress set didn't fit through the door, so we had to list ours on KSL and craigslist and buy a split box spring. After shopping around at Big Lots, RC Willey and a teeny tiny firuniture store here in Provo called Ideal Mattress and Home Furnishings, I found the teeny tiny place had the best deal. Big Lots doesn't deliver and RC Willey would have charged me about $130-150 for EACH PIECE of the split queen, plus $65 to deliver. Throw in taxes and that's close to $400, which is about what our whole mattress set cost when we first got it! Ideal Mattress charged me just under $180 for the whole set up and they delivered it for free! Yay for them! The greatest was the RC Willey said if I ordered the split mattress it would take 2 weeks for it to arrive. I called Ideal Mattress yesterday, they didn't have any at that moment, but they delivered the box spring today! Another YAY for them. Now all we have to do is check out of our old aparment (I'm scared of the Nazi's!!) and make our new place look decent before we leave for Oregon on Saturday. There's a lot to do still! I've got pictures of our new place before we moved in, but they wouldn't upload. I'll try again and post pictures of our new place when it's clean and organized!

P.S. I don't know why the purple font wouldn't change color when I specifically asked it to...twice! I copied and pasted it from another online diary that I keep so maybe it didn't like being copied and pasted. Who knows. Sorry about the different fonts as well.

Lobster

I was so excited yesterday morning when Kory came home from work at 11:30 and said he was finished for the day. Wohoooooo! I was very happy. We decided to go to his parents' house in Orem and pick up the nephew to take him swimming at the local water park, Seven Peaks. Jase LOVES swimming (well, he's two so it's more like playing in the water) so it was exciting to watch him enjoy the water so much. We had sunscreened up before heading out to the water park, but apparently it didn't help for me. Kory and Jase turn brown in the sun--me, I turn red, lobster red. Usually I don't get burned if I have put on sunscreen, but last night after Kory's intramural ultimate frisbee game I noticed it hurt to put my purse on my shoulder. I checked it out and saw both of my shoulders had turned a nice lobster color. I should take a picture and put it up here. Kory lathered my shoulders with Aloe and I think that practice will continue for a few days until the pain and redness subsides! Ugh, I haven't been sunburned like this for a loooooong time. I suppose a good thick layer of sunscreen is required the next time Kory and I go to the waterpark.

Stimulus happy

So on Wednesday Kory and I stopped by his in-laws to pick up some mail that had arrived there. We got our stimulus check from the government! Let's just say we were NOT expecting $1,200!! We were hoping for about half that much, but hey no complaints here. We're saving to go to Kory's family reunion on the big island of Hawaii next year. We'll see what happens.

Random Entry

So, I don't have much to say. Still no pics of our new apartment, but we're getting excited to move. Just wanted to post a picture of my absolutely adorable nephew. Kory and I randomly decided to go to the mall yesterday and ran into Jase (the nephew) and his mommy (Kory's sister, Kali). He looked so cute in his hat and eating little pretzel bites that I couldn't resist taking a picture. Jase is two years old and a little smarty pants (I'm referring to both his intelligence and sassiness). Enjoy the picture.

Found an apartment! Hopefully we can have pictures up here soon. It feels so good not to have to worry about finding a place anymore!

old stuff and new stuff

Just wanted to write and say that things are looking up for apartment hunting. My cousins who literally live just down the street might offer their beautiful 2 bedroom basement to us for rent. our fingers are keeping crossed and prayers continue to be said.

In other news, it's freaking hot here! We're supposed to hit 100 today and 101 tomorrow. YUCK! Not great weather for fireworks but we'll see what happens.
We might get a new couch! I'm very excited but no one else probably cares...until you see and sit on our couch then you'll appreciate the excitement welling up inside me for a "new" couch. The sooner we move, the sooner we get to toss the old one. Yahoo!!

P.S. can anyone tell me how to add pictures onto my posts? I haven't quite got it figured out yet!

Apartment hunting

Right now my life is focused on apartment hunting and...apartment hunting! Our new landlords are raising rent by $75 and we're not too happy. So, while Kory works all day, I frequent Craigslist and BYU housing website for potential apartments. It's stressful but I'm hoping it will all be worth it in the end. We continue to pray that we will find something suitable and within our means of affordability. So far there are a few prospective places, but nothing for sure yet! Wish us luck!

My new blog

This is my new blog! I'm still playing around with it, so I apologize if it's so bare!