Craft Day!

When I get together with my high school friends, we usually end up doing some sort of craft. Now, I do NOT consider myself creative in the craft department.  When I find something to paint, I usually find something where I can paint a solid color.  We met up at Wood Connection where I picked out a Pilgrim and Indian set so that I can have some Thanksgiving decorations. I also brought the "SPOOKY" letters I had started at Jenny's house several weeks ago so I could get the paper cut out and Mod Podge it.  Here's how they turned out:

Becca cut out my letters for "Spooky" and Tara Mod Podged them.  Kym helped me bling up the Pilgrims and Indians.  Way cute, right?

Halloween Cupcakes

My sister, Amy, had a great idea last week that we should make cupcakes and decorate them for Halloween.  We had been to Target and saw some cute ways to decorate cupcakes with mummies and other monster-type things so we started buying some things for decorations including tons of sprinkles, licorice-type strings and other what-nots and during the first session of General Conference, we mixed the batter and made the actual cupcakes.  We used a white cake batter, then colored some of it green and orange and made a swirl.  The others were chocolate cupcakes.  When we made the chocolate ones, something bad happened:

This is the mix that came with the mummy decorations.  They were a complete failure!  The dripped right over the side of the pan.  I didn't even bother to let them finish cooking.  In between sessions, we ran to the store and grabbed a real chocolate cake mix and those ones were better!  During the second session of Conference, we started the decorating process:

 Amy, Shaun, and Kerry planning out their designs

 

Jonathan and Kerry mixing colors

 

 

It was messy, crazy, and FUN.  Enjoy our finished products:

 

 

By the way,  they tasted great!!!



New School Year-New Goals

So much for me trying to be a regular blogger.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I didn't blog much during the summer-my summer days are pretty much the same.  I really took advantage of the time I had off so that I could relax.  Like my last post stated, it had been too much this last year for me to deal with.  I feel like I have had a good rest and now that I'm a few weeks into the school year, I can take some time to do some catching up.

Like I said, nothing much happened in the summer.  Some of my family and I went to the Oregon Coast and rented a beach house located in Seal Rock.  It was soooo much fun!  We went as far south as Coos Bay and when my Dad met us on July 4th, we drove up to Longview, Washington, where he lives.  When we were there, we went to see Mount St. Helens.  I had a great time and it was truly a relaxing type of vacation.  Here are some pictures:

Beach house in Seal Rock

Amy and I

 Haedyn, Tylee, Jen, Dad, Me, Jennifer at Mount St. Helens

 

 

The only other trip I went on was to San Diego for the AVID Conference.  I love going to the AVID Conferences-I learn so much!  I didn't really take any pictures so that is it for that.

 

 

Once school started, it became busy again.  I have great classes this year and I actually feel good about what I'm teaching for the most part.  On September 8th, I ran my first 5k ever!  My sister started us on this 5k last year, but we didn't actually end up running it.  We finally went through with it and we didn't do too bad.  We got it done within about 40 minutes!  More pictures:

 

 

 Before the race: Jonathan, Kerry, Amy, Me 

 Amy, Kerry, and I dragging ourselves across the finish line!

 



 Shaun, Jonathan, Kerry, Amy, and I after the race

 

 

To end this very long blog, Toni Hull and I have decided that we are going to try to be healthier so we have what we call "The Sticker Games" going on.  We purchased a calendar and individual sticker packets (mine are pirate themed) and we get a sticker for every day we work out, every day we DON'T go out to eat, and another for not eating sweets.  I've been able to do it for a whole week although it has been very hard.  We didn't actually start the sticker for the sweets until Friday and let me just let you know that it's killing me! :)  Good news?  I've lost SEVEN pounds so far!!!!!

 

Signing out... for now!



I'm Back!

I have wanted to spend some time actually blogging in the past few months, but my schedule and work ethic were put on trial.  This past year of school has been a tough one and I am so glad that I finally have summer break to recuperate and plan things for next year that will make my life easier.  I think if I do that, I will be able to have a better year.

Don't get me wrong-I had some awesome students this year!  They made teaching really worthwhile.  What I have been sick of are the parents who think their child is entitled to something they don't qualify for or deserve.  Let's just say I had an issue with a parent which got taken all the way to our superintendent and he didn't back me up.  It's very hard to want to spend any effort on anything when the people who are supposed to back you up, don't.  I'm going to try to put it behind me and move on.  It's always about looking on the positive side, right?