Snow in Vegas

It is has happened. I didn't think it would but it has finally snowed in Las Vegas. It now feels a little like the Christmas Season. Molly had her first experience with snow and I am not sure if she likes it or just tolerates it. She better get used to it because she will have 2 weeks in Utah with it.

WE ARE HAVING A SNOW DAY TODAY!

REALLY???

This week we have parent teacher conferences. After I had scheduled with all the parents times to meet with them I find out that I had to go to a training on Tuesday. I had conferences scheduled to start at 3:20 that day. The training was not supposed to get over until 3:00 and it was almost a forty minute drive back to my school. Luckily I was able to talk to the presenter today and she let us out early so I could get back in time. Since I had to miss school during the day I had to get my first sub. I hated the thought of having someone else being in control of my class and hoping they would do what I wanted them to do. I stayed late at school last night getting sub plans typed up and copies made. I was so proud of myself at how organized I was for making it very simple for the sub. I didn't think anything could go wrong. Well I got back from my training to find out that the sub I had scheduled did not show up. My students got split up between four or five other classrooms with other teachers. Finally around 10:30-11:00 they got sub in my room. I couldn't believe it. I was happy to see that the sub did a good job while he was there and he left me a really nice note. The note started out. "You had the best sub plans I have ever seen." At least that made me feel good. Well I hurried and read the rest of the note from him and found out that my class was well behaved and were probably one of the best well behaved classes during the Awards assembly they attended. Thank goodness for good students. I have a sub that said he would sub for me again in a heartbeat. I then continued with Parent Teacher Conferences until 6:00. They went well and all the parents are happy that their students finally have a teacher.

Our ten O'clock at night candy house building experience.

While I was up at home for Thanksgiving visiting my Grandma Hicken she had given me all the pieces to make a gingerbread candy house. I took it thinking it would be very fun and easy to make. Growing up I always went to her house to make them and decorate them. She always did the hard work. I just showed up to stick the candy on. This time she did most of the hard work, but I had to make the frosting. I have never made this frosting before, all I really knew about it was that you have to hurry because it hardens fast and it hardens like cement. The first batch was to runny. So I learned from my mistake and made a second batch which might have been to think but at least it didn't run off the side of the house and things could actually stick to it. In the process of hurrying and learning from my mistake I must have had some kind of fun making the frosting because I have the pictures to prove it. Roy finally got guts to come into the mess I had made to help decorate the house. We put Frutie Pebble on the roof, we made a path out of Hershey's chocolate and a fence out of pretzels. My grandma always bought the candy too. I couldn't find many of the things we used growing up with to decorate so we had to get creative. (hence the Frutie Pebbles). But it actually turned out really cute. The final picture with the whole family didn't get taken until the next morning because the frosting in some spots was to runny and was having a hard time holding up the fence. Here are a few pictures of our 10:00 pm candy house building experience!!!




















As you can probably see, Molly really loved this activity. She enjoyed licking up the powered sugar I spilled on the floor. She also enjoyed the Dots that went flying everywhere when I opened the box. She is such a joy to have around the house and I am so happy she leaves the Christmas tree alone.!!!!!

The Smith's Funniest Home Videos

Molly at the dog park playing with a baby

Basset hound.

Molly chasing her tail for way too long.

Apparently she doesn't like the vacuum.

We can't wait to go home for Christmas

Roy and I are having a hard time feeling the Christmas spirit. When we put our tree up it was 70 degrees. It was weird to see blue sky and palm trees outside instead of dead trees and snow. It is begining to look like fall not winter. We both grew up in Orem, Utah and it was always cold and snowy this time of year. It is weird how that can set up the season for you. We are eager to come home next Saturday. We will be stopping in Nephi for the anual Prisbrey family Christmas party. It is a hoot!!! Santa comes and he is hillarious.

I also can't wait to go home because I need a break. This teaching stuff is not easy. It really wears me out. I am probably at the school nine hours a day and still have to go in on Saturday and bring stuff home to grade. I don't know what is worng, but I feel like am doing the bare minimum and still have no time. I don't know how some teachers do amazing things and they are never at the school. They leave right when the bell rings and never come in early. AHHH maybe one day I will have my head on straight. If anyone out there as any suggestions or advise PLEASE let me know.
Roy is up in St. George today playing golf with a fried today. I went into school for a while then came home and was not in the mood to clean. I decided to take a few pictures of our Christmas tree for everyone to see. Well that turned into me taking pictures of our little Molly. (She is just so cute) So here are some pictures of our tree and her. We have a little pink jacket for her to wear because sometimes she shivers and doesn't want to go outside to do her business. That is something she can't get away with if you know what I mean. Anyway Roy's friend Wayne who he is golfing with today is coming back down here with Roy and is spending the week with us. Since Roy is done with finals and has a week off while I finish teaching they are going to go play some sweet golf. Roy has met many people down here and has made arrangments at some really nice courses for them to go and play for free or practically nothing. They are very excited.
Well this is what happens when I don't write on my blog for almost a month, sorry there was so much.... but thanks for reading.

New Phones

So Roy and I were due for an upgrade on our cell phones. It has been about two years since we got new ones. Mine, of course was in mint condition and well Roy's was... lets just say it was definatly time for a new one. We switched our plan and so I had to get a new phone becasue my old phone would not support the My faves we added. Well of course Roy needed the coolest with the newest technology. The one he wanted is pretty cool. We decided to get me one too. We have twinner phones now! Mine is pink and his is black. I felt like an old lady at the store though. The guy at the store had to show me how to use it. I was so used to my old phone that learning a new one sounded too complicated. I told Roy I was just getting to old to figure this kind of stuff out. Now I have had my new phone for about 24 hours, Roy has done done everything on it for me. I think I can make a phone call and answer an incoming call!!! I have gotten a little lazy with keeping up with technology because I always can count on Roy to do everything for me. I guess that is what he is there for! Thanks Roy!

WIll I ever get caught up?

So I am supposed to have my lesson plans done a week in advance and posted on the school email for "important" people to look at or if I happened to get sick over the weekend a sub would know what to do. Well this past weekend I got a weeks worth done and posted. I felt great, like I was all caught up. But then I looked around my room and remembered all the things I want to rearrange, clean up, go through, hang on the wall, create buliton bords..... the list goes on and on. I can only do one thing at a time. So now that I am caught up with lesson plans, the plan is to; on Monday do the next Monday plan, and Tuesday do the next weeks Tuesday plan and so forth. This way I stay a week ahead. Thank goodness I have found some kind of system. Now after school I don't feel overwhelmed about what I am going to do the next day and I can spend a "little" time getting things done on my long list. One thing at a time is what I have to remind myself. Maybe by Christmas my room will resemble a bit of me rather than 4 substitute teachers. And yes I am still grading that lovely stack of papers for grades since I now have access to the grade book and there were NO GRADES for the whole tirmester, which ends on the 21st of November. Yeah wish me luck on pulling stuff from who knows where to give the students grades on things that were taught at the begining of the school year. (just venting a little)

Halloween

This past weekend Roy and I didn't have school because it was Nevada Day. We decided to go home and see our families for Halloween. As many of you know that is my Dads holiday!!! We decided to keep it a secret from my parents and suprise them at their house that night. We all dressed up, even the dog. I was a nurse, Roy was an anesthesiologist, and of course Molly was a little devil. It was so fun to see thier faces when we showed up. My Dad was dressed up as Frankenstien. He reminded me of a character at Disneyland when he saw us. His movements had to show his expression since he was inside a mask. Then he gave us a HUGE hug! I had my camera ready by the time we saw my mom. Roy went up to my mom and said "Trick or Treat" I think it scared her a little, but she was excited to see us. She didn't expect us to be there. Soon my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins showed up. It was a big party. Even my sister and her husband came down from Logan. We ate and ate and ate. I love being at my parents house at Halloween. It is always so much fun. I love listening to all the kids say how cool or scary our house is. It has definatly turned into a big tradition. Here are a few pictures of Halloween and our trip home.

3 Years and counting

Happy Anniversary!!!!! Wow, its really been 3 years already?! Time really does fly when you are having fun. I just wanted to let my amazing husband know how much these last three years have meant to me. Roy you are the love of my life. Thank you for all your hard work. Thank you for the millions of laughs we've shared. Thanks for all the support through all of my stressful, or at least what I thought were stressful moments. You always have good words of advice and back me up on my decisions.




Life has been crazy, but at least we can be crazy together!!!

October 20, 2005


"Teeing off together"

Now we have been married longer than we dated!!!

No Time

So when we moved down here to Las Vegas neither Roy or I had a job. Roy wend to school and I looked for a job. I had all the time in the world to do the laundry, clean the house and give Molly all the attention she could ever have. Well the tables have turned. We are now both working and have the hardest time keeping up on simple house hold chores, such as emptying the dishwasher (which by the way I am so glad we have one now) cleaning out the bathroom sink and just vacumming the floor. I am sure you can only imagine what the bathrooms look like!!! Just kidding, I have only been teaching for one week, they are not that bad yet, but I have got to figure out some kind of system, and soon. (Mom now I get it!) Maybe this is the reason we have kids... Too bad Molly can't clean the toilet or fold the laundry. Well I just thought I would let you all know that I am still alive and breathing as I try to clean up my classroom, understand the different programs the school wants me to use, and survive day to day. Eventually I want to have my classroom set up and organized so I can function. Right now there are piles and piles of papers from all the subs. I don't think I will grade them all, we will start fresh, but I feel bad just throwing them away. The books in my library have no orginization and are in a disaray. It just seems that nothing makes sense in there and for those of you who know me, I CAN'T TEACH UNDER THOSE KIND OF CONDITIONS. Here are some pictures I took the day I first saw my classroom. I will post new ones when it is more in order. Some of you may think it doesn't look that bad, but from a distance it isn't bad. It is when you start to open boxes, cubards and look in the students desks when I started to know how bad it was.


My desk.

One of the many piles of work to be graded.

The class library

Front of the room.

Well everyone, I am offically a 3rd grade teacher

This morning I got a phone call and for the first time it was not bad news. It was news that I was to start teaching tomorrow. So for all of you teachers that had all summer to prepare, just to let you know I am very jealous. I got less than 24 hours notice of my first day. My room obviously will not be up to par. With a little elbow grease and some help from many caring people hopefully I can get it looking nice soon. I will have to give you more details later, but right now I need to make sure I have everything to teach tomorrow. I just wanted to update everyone first! Thanks for following my crazy life!!!

What a Mess

So I forgot I need to tell everyone what my calling was in church. Believe it or not, but I got called to be a cub scout assistant. I am not exactly sure what that means I am supposed to do. Maybe assist someone...

Well this whole job thing has kind of been a mess. Last week I had a few interviews at a school. They offered me job, and they sent my file in for hire. There were a few things I needed to get done before I could sign my contract so I quit my bank job. Roy and I were excited so we decided to celebrate at the Olive Garden for dinner Friday night. Never celebrate anything until it is set in stone. Monday morning I got a phone call from the Principal at the elementary school telling me there was a problem. My file was rejected due to me not being "highly qualified" enough to teach at a Title 1 School. All I was missing was one stupid test score. This test is equivilent to the ACT which I had to pass with a certain score to even get into the elementary ed program at UVSC. Well many phone calls, faxes and conversations later I got a phone call Tuesday morning saying that now I was "highly qualified". Again I am waiting to hear from the contracting office to go sign that contract before anything else can go wrong. So everyone keep your fingers crossed for me that NOTHING ELSE GOES WRONG!

Finally

Well I am excited to say that I have been offered a teaching job out here in Las Vegas. It is still in the works, I have to get fingerprinted, get my licence switched over and pay them a lot of money. (which doesn't make sense if they are hiring me right?) Anyways I quit my banking job today so I would have time to complete everything soon. I think they wanted me to give them two weeks notice, but think about it, I was not even employeed by them for even two weeks. Plus I still had a lot of training to do so I felt that I would be more of a waste of money to them if I did stay. I feel bad quitting a job with no notice, but I gotta do what I gotta do right now to pay the bills. I will make a lot more teaching than I ever would have at the bank. Next week the contracting office is supposed to call me since my name has been submitted for hire. Now I play the waiting game again. It is hard to wait, especially alone. Roy is usually at school or some golf related event. Good thing our little Molly is here to keep me sane. So the school I get to teach at is deffinatly not my first choice of school I would choose, but I didn't get to choose so I guess I "get what I get and will try not to throw a fit" It is a Title 1 school, which means it is a low income area. A lot of students are on free or reduced price school lunches and most of them are not from around here if you know what I mean. But I think it will be a good learning experience for me and I guess if I hate it that bad I can transfer schools when they let me. So I am excited, but still nervous.

A scary story for October

I went to the scariest place in the world yesterday....The Nevada DMV. I pulled into the parking lot around 2 o'clock and searched for a parking place. Around 2:15 I found a spot and walked inside. I stood in a line for about 20 minutes and spoke to the lady behind the counter. She said "you have everything you need except for your VIN check." I said, "what is a VIN check?" She told me about a building next door that has a tunnel I have to drive through and somebody there would check my VIN number. I said to her in a lovely tone, "I just took 15 minutes to find a parking spot." She didn't care... I walked outside and got in my car and went into the tunnel. This VIN check took about 10 seconds and I found myself looking for a spot again. 15 more minutes pass and I get another spot. I walked inside again and got in line again... Now the lady told me I have to take the written drivers test before I can register my car and get my licence. She gave me number and told me that it is about a 45 minute wait to see a "technician," so if I hurried through my test I would be able to get both things done at once. I thought PERFECT! I might get out of here before I DIE! I took my test and passed pretty quickly. As I walked out of the testing room I looked up at the big board to see if my number was up there, IT WAS!!! I ran over to the booth that I was supposed to be at and just before I got there the "technician" changed the freeking number! He told me I had to get another number and wait my turn. I got another number and sat down. The people around me looked like they had all just murdered someone or were contimplating doing so. A couple of guys were fighting over who should be the next president. This was enough to keep me occupied until my number came up again 45 minutes later. I went to the counter and handed the man my stuff, he quickly got to work on it and was almost done when he said, "will you be paying with cash or check?" I said, "neither, I have a debit card." He then told me that the card machines had been down all day and I would have to find an ATM or a bank. It was now 4:30 and there was no time for that so this story continues today with me going back to the DMV to finish my stuff. This story will haunt me for the rest of my life....

The freeze has lifted

So tonight while I was at the RS brodcast, I was talking with another RS president in our stake. She is an elementary teacher in the area and I had talked with her a few weeks after we moved in, when Roy and I volunteered in the nursery for the other wards enrichment night. She got my number and said she would talk to her principal and try to drop my name. Well when they had a meeting this past Tuesday their principal said to recomend anyone they knew, she immeditaly thought of me and pulled out her phone to remember my name. It was not there. She felt terrible. She told me that she hoped and prayed that I would be at the brodcast and that she would recognize me so she could talk with me and get my name and number again. She is going to give my name to her principal first thing Monday morning. I need everyone to keep their fingers crossed for me. Getting a teaching job at this point would really help.

A little this and that

It seems that the days here are going faster and faster as the weeks go by. It seems like everytime we go to church on Sunday, if feels like we were just there a day ago. We really like our ward and they have kept us busy this past week. We had ward temple night, and they were very excited to have so many people there (13 came) yeah!! We also had a game night with the ward, and had delicious banana splits. It was a great way for us to meet some members of our ward. There a lot of new couples in the ward and we have all gotten to be pretty good friends. One of them is named Leah, she is so sweet, we have really began to be good friends. Her husband is in law school at UNLV and is always at school studying, since Roys hand is feeling much better he is playing more golf, this has given us a lot of time to get to know each other. She is from Korea, but has been living here in the US for the last ten years. She had me over this week and she cooked me some good korean food. YUM!!! I had to take a picture becasue it was set up so perfectly it was like being at a resturant. We had lettuce wraps and dumplings.

I had her over today, we made taco soup and she played some wii games with us. We had lots of fun. She thinks Molly is the cutest puppy ever. (and so do I!!!)

Our puppy is very spoiled, but is also a scardy cat. When we leave for a short period of time we usually leave her out, and she ends up hiding in our closet. Well on Sunday we put up the gate and left her in the bathroom. Either we have a very strong puppy or I don't know how to work those gates very well, but this is what we came home to after church, and guess where she was?? You got it, she was in our closet waiting for us in her safe place. We couldn't believe it. Maybe we should name her houdini.

Well tomorrow I get to start working. I am excited to start making some money, but I am sad that it is not teaching. I will be a teller at Wells Fargo. (definatly not my dream job) It is frustrating becasue I went to college for 5 years so I could do what I wanted to do and make a decent amount of money. Well now that I am graduated that is not happening, and I am very discouraged. The school district out here is apparently going to start hiring teachers again on October 2nd. If I get an offer I will be more than happy to take it and probably not have a problem saying good bye to the old one. With me working, Roy will not have his own personal driver to drive him to and from school. Parking permit, ya right $$$$$$$. So he will get to ride his bike, which he has put about 2 miles on since we bought it. Hopefully the weather will cooperate for him and not be too hot.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention I got a calling at church, I am not telling anyone yet what it is until I am set apart, and you will never guess what it is.... Any ideas, leave me a comment I want to hear what you think it may be...

Well sorry if this was not as exciting as the ocean!!! Have a great day and we miss you all!!!

My Birthday

My birthday started out pretty early for it being on a Saturday. Molly did not want me to sleep in. I got up and Roy was mad that I was up so early because he wanted to make me breakfast in bed, I said I would go back to bed... but he ended up going and getting Dunkin Donuts. (I have never had theirs before) Roy continued asking me what I wanted for my birthday. I just told him all I wanted was a job. Since there was nothing he could get me he decided to drive me somewhere. We packed Molly up and got a few water bottles to take with us. We got in the car and started driving. He wouldn't tell me where we were going. We drove and drove and drove. Soon we were in California. We stopped in Barstow and got McFlurry at Mcdonalds because I was craving one with M&Ms. I finished mine quickly and even shared the last little bit with Molly, she loved it as you can see!!!

We continued on our way, by now I was starting to have a good idea where we were headed. Roy knows how happy I look when I am at the ocean. There is someting about it that just makes me smile. Soon we pulled up to Huntington Beach. It was beautiful minus the bad air quality. It was so bad you couldn't see the ocean from a distance. We parked, got Molly and the camera and headed for the beach. We noticed that there was a sign, "No dogs on beach" Well we had just drom three and a half hours, we were getting on that beach whether or not we had a dog.

Roy got clever and emptied out my purse and tried to put molly in it. Akward, I probably looked like an idiot carrying a regualr purse with a puppy sticking out. OH well we still got some cute picture of our little family. We spent about 45 minutes at the beach walking around and just hanging out.

What a fun birthday present, I got the ocean for my birthday!!! Thanks Roy!

That is not everything!!

After our our long drive back home we went out for a nice birthday dinner. We went to Chevys, which is one of my favorite mexican resturants, and the one in Orem went out of business a long time ago so I was excited to find one here. Dinner was excellent, Roy told them it was my birthday and out came some ice cream and of course a sombrero. Of course we had to capture this lovely moment.

Color on the walls

So we moved into our new apartment about a month ago. The paint on the walls was terrible, it looked and felt like sheet rock. Since our apartment complex allows us to paint, we decided it would if nothing more be cheap intertainment. We went to the store and picked out a color. We really liked it and thought we would paint most of the apartment with it. We decided to start in the dining room. HOLY COW it was darker than we thought once it was on the wall. We liked it but knew we couldn't do the whole apartment that color. We wanted to paint the living room aswell but not that green color.... so we went to the store again and found another color we liked, being very careful not to get anything too dark that we would regret putting on the walls. We taped everything up started painting and it was very light. Now that that room is painted it doesn't really look like we spent four hous taping and painting. We got too light of paint. I didn't know picking out paint colors woudl be so hard.



Before and After Pictures


It was kind of fun to paint together. Roy tried to paint my arm with the roller, but he knows better so he just got a little on me. Again he remembered how big of a perfectionist I am. He couldn't believe how much time I spent making a clean line by the baseboards. Of course Molly hated us painting because she had to be locked up in her kennel. She couldn't figure out why she was locked up while we were home. But can you imagine what color our little puppy would be if she would have been out???? Who knows when we will paint again, maybe tomorrow we will do another room.

Sprained...Really?

So I have had a sprained left wrist for the past month...sweet... I have decided that I will play golf only when I have to and try to keep it in a soft cast for the next little while. I hope that makes it better soon. Maybe I can be like Tiger and win a tournament with an injury...

We also have some news about our not so perfect angel, Molly. After two and a half months of her being a "perfect" dog, she has finally pissed me off. It's not the usual pee or poo on the carpet either, she chewed up my freeking drumset for the game RockBand, chewed right through the cord. She doesn't even seem to care that she is in trouble, or maybe its just me being mad.

Could have a problem.....

I had my first tournament yesterday, things were going well for the first 8 or 9 holes, then my left hand really started to hurt. I could barely even swing the club. Lets just say I didn't place too high in the event... My hand has been hurting on and off since we moved here, I must have done something to it around that time. I thought it would go away but it doesnt seem to be working that way. I am going to the student health center this morning to see if they can tell me whats going on. I will keep you all posted.

We made it back.

After a good long weekend back in Utah we are back home doing the same old thing. Angie is looking (and praying) for a job while I am in school. It was nice to come home one more time before we really get settled in. As much as I say I don't like Utah it is always hard to leave. We were very happy to see some of our friends and hear all the good news they had to share with us. (Go Steve Go!) Well, I am off to school. Have a good one!

Heading Home for the Weekend

We are heading home for the long weekend tomorrow. I don't have class on friday so we are leaving pretty late on Thursday night. We are very excited to see our families and friends. We have some fun things planned to do. If you want to see us give us a call! Hope to see you soon.

First Day of School

Well, here I go again... Today is the first day of school at UNLV. I am really looking forward to getting involved with everything my program has to offer. It is a little strange getting back into student mode but I think I will adapt quickly. Today I have Environmental Science. Tomorrow I have Psychology, Social Leisure Behavior and a Golf Management class. Friday is the first day of my Player Developement class (don't be fooled by the name, it's really just golf practice...). My whole week is packed full of extra activities and meetings. After class today I get to go the PGA Demo Day at The Badlands Golf course and try all of the new equipment. Tomorrow I get to go the PGA expo at The Mandalay Bay Expo Center. I will keep all of you posted on how things are going throughout the semester.

NO JOBS

So the most frustrating part about living here now is that the school district is in the middle of a hiring freeze. This means they are not hiring teachers, which means I still don't have a teaching job. This will be a very busy week for us. Roy starts school and I get find a different kind of job. I have a interview with the substitute services Monday, hopefully that goes well so we don't run out of money soon.

We are here in Las Vegas. This will be our new home for the next 3 1/2 years. Roy has been accepted into the PGA golf management program at UNLV. He is very excited to start school on Monday. He will be playing in a golf tournament with all the other students in the program on Saturday.
We hope to meet people soon so we can make some new friends.