Level 1 Kit FINISHED!!!

The past couple semesters Roy has been putting in many hours trying to finish his level 1 kits for the PGA. It has been quite the process making sure every single important piece of paper is in it. He is not completely done, in February or March he has to take level 1 check point, which is a huge golf test. I am sure he will do awesome. He knows so much about the game he loves. Good luck Roy! I am happy you finished the book!

Doggie Christmas

I never thought I would have to hide Christmas presents like you have to for kids. Roy and I took the dogs to Pestsmart yesterday to buy some dog food and try on new collars. Molly and Macie have out grown their puppy collars. We found some really cute ones for them. As we were checking out they had rawhide in different fast food shapes. They had hot dogs, hamburgers, french fries, and chicken nuggets. I thought they were so cute and they were only a buck. So we bought the fries and chicken nuggets because they were small enough for them. We got home, put everything on the table and ran out the door to run a few more errands for the day. We came home to find all their treats opened and scattered on the floor. Usually Doggie Christmas is just a few days before Christmas we decided to just give them their collars anyway. They look so cute in their bigger collars. Molly even got new jewelry since she lost her name tag a few weeks ago.

I picked up the treats and put them in a zip lock baggie. Apparently I didn't put them up high enough. I think during Church they found them and hid them. I didn't realize this until this afternoon I hadn't seen Molly for a while and went looking for her. She was under our bed with the zip lock bag chewed open and her little stash of fast food. WHAT A PIG!

Thanksgiving 2009

This year we spent Thanksgiving here in Las Vegas. Roy's mom and sister came down to eat with us. Roy was in charge of the turkey and did a fantastic job. He stuffed it with fruit and bathed it in butter and spices.











Dinner turned out delicious. But of course we ate too much and had a 2 hour nap.




At midnight we went to the outlet malls for some shopping. I don't feel as safe here shopping on black Friday as I did in Utah. We decided to sleep in a little Friday morning since we were out late. We hit up all the stores around ten and still got everything we wanted. Roy and I got some great deals. I am just trying to explain to him why he has to wait until Christmas to have it. He argues that he already knows about it so why can't he have it now. Boys...

Today I put up the Christmas tree. Roy is eagerly working on his PGA kits so he wouldn't help. He came out every now and again to check on me and give me a kiss. This year is our "red tree". We alternate the "golf tree" and the "red tree" each year. It looks so cute. The only problem is that we have such a little apartment there is no space in our living area for it. So it is in the dining area this year. Macie was scared of the tree as I put it up. Molly soon showed her there was noting to be scared of. Now Macie is curious of it and smelling everything around it. Now we just cross our fingers that she doesn't chew anything up.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Today two of my students called me mom. I finally said, "Do I look like a mom? I am not one, I don't have kids." The students laughed and couldn't belive I was not a mom. Then I said back, "Well I guess I am a mom to my dogs." One of my very smart boys said back to me. "You were pregnant with dogs?"

Bath Time

Macie is getting bigger so indstead of giving her a bath in the sink we have moved her to the tub. As you can see she really likes the running water. If you need a good laugh just watch Macie! It sure made us laugh!

I think she likes to drink water. What do you think?

A Late Halloween Post

For Halloween we made our way up to Orem, UT to see our families. Like I have said before my family really gets into Halloween. We were very busy while we were there and were able to see a few friends. Ellie, Steve, and Lilly were dressed up as an i-pod. Lilly was the i-pod and they were the L and R headphones. How creative are they?



































I was my usual doctor/nurse, or as my parents' neighbor Josh called me a dental assistant!!! We had lots of fun seeing our families. I love that my parents have so much fun on Halloween despite all the work that goes into it.
Yes my dad is Frankenstein and my mom is a Pirate.

And of course I am not sure what the dogs thing of all this Halloween mess. I guess they don't really get a choice!!!

If you look closely in the car window you can see the witch flying!

Halloween Costumes

If you don't know already my family (my dad) has always decorated a lot for Halloween. I think we decorate more for Halloween than for Christmas. Anyway, since I have been raised to love Halloween I am raising my dogs to love it too. This year since we have two dogs that both names begin with M, we decided to have them be the yellow and red M&M. I made the costumes myself and am quite proud of how they turned out. Hopefully they will keep them on.

Now to figure out what we will be so we can celebrate with our family this weekend!!! Yes we are coming up!!!

4 Years

Yes it has been 4 years since Roy and I were married. Well 4 years and 2 days. We were married October 20, 2005 in the Salt Lake Temple. We have really enjoyed every moment so far and can't wait to enjoy the moments to come.

We have accomplished a lot together and also experinced a lot as well. We are a team and that is what makes marriage fun!

To celebrate our anniversary we headed out to the strip to eat dinner at the new Hard Rock Cafe. It was good, VERY LOUD, but fun. We then wen to the NY NY to get some ice cream and play the arcade games, and of course put a couple dollars into a slot machine... no winnings :(

It was fun to just be together, catch up and reminice on exciting moments we have shared together. One of our favorite moments was getting Molly. I can't believe how fast time flies and soon it will be 5 years and then 25 and then.......

Learning A Lot

Well I am learning a lot about how to get stains out of carpet and clothes. On Saturday Macie must have thought it would be fun to chew up a black pen. Well I didn't think it was very funny when I came home to a good sized spot of black ink on the really light carpet. Not in a spot where you can just put a rug over it. Roy immediately got online to look for ways to get it out. We tried all sorts of concoctions, but soon realized that rubbing alcohol worked the best. Yay for alcohol!!!
Then on Sunday night right before we had some friends over for dinner I noticed there were blood spots on the carpet. Molly had cut her lip on a rawhide chewie and dripped blood all through out the house. Luckily I knew that hydrogen peroxide gets blood out easily because Roy gets bloody noses all the time. Any way I quickly dumped some hydrogen peroxide on all the spots and broke out the carpet cleaner that has really come in handy since we have had it.
So now for all of you that have to get ink or blood out of something you know how!!!

Yahtzee

Roy and I have been playing a lot of Yahtzee on the Wii. It is a little addicting... Actually Roy won't stop at night until he wins a game. I just had to brag little more about my amazing game of Yahtzee. I crushed him!!!
CHECK IT OUT! 534




I know it is kind of pathetic that I blogged about this, but wouldn't you?

Bumps in the road of life

Well as many of you have probably heard, we have had a taste of the American dream and and felt a piece of the American reality. We had an offer on a perfect house accepted. Well as many of you know, money talks and someone else put in a higher offer and they accepted theirs after they accepted ours. RULES.... Apparently there are none in the game of buying a house. We have decided to put the brakes on this house thing for a while.

In the meantime we are trying to make our little apartment feel more homey. I got so excited about getting a home I started to neglect keeping up on house work and fixing things that needed fixed. Today we cleaned the carpets, loaded the kitchen with food and replaced our down comforter on our bed that had multiple holes in it. Which meant feathers were everywhere!!!!

We were almost done with all our chores for the day, all we needed was one last trip to the grocery store. On our way we took all the trash out, even the old laminator that had been sitting on the front porch for a month. We got in the Mustang and went to start her up.... Click click click... What??? Dead battery. We jumped it and took her to Auto zone. A few precious dollars and a new battery later we were finally off to the grocery store.

I am finally starting to recover from being sick. Many of you know that I don't get sick very often and when I do, I don't let it stop me from doing much. I had to take almost 3 days off work to recover from this one. I am positive I got sick from the germy kindergartners I teach on a daily basis. I am not really looking forward to going back to work. I am sure it will be a disaster in my classroom after 3 days of substitutes.

Well sorry to vent today, there really isn't anything exciting to write about. We are just crossing our fingers for something positive to happen anytime soon!!!

25 and Counting

Yesterday was my birthday. I turned the big 25. The problem I have is that I don't feel that old, but now I have this number attached to me that means I am not in my young twenties anymore. Oh well, what matters is that I feel 19 or so.

Sunday Morning I woke up to breakfast in bed made by my fabulous husband. He made me bacon, eggs, toast and even orange juice. Every bite was delicious!!!

We went to church and I got a spatula from the relief society!! Woo Woo.

We were evil and went out to dinner after church to the California Pizza Kitchen. They might make the best pizza ever! I had a BBQ chicken pizza and some lemonade.

After dinner we walked around Town Square and shopped a little. I purchased some new makeup at the MAC store with some birthday money that was given to me.

We came home and had some ice cream cake and Roy was supposed to sing happy birthday to me, but instead of singing a solo he played "So You Think It's Your Birthday" on the computer. Of course I am too old to just buy one pack of candles so we purchased the numbers 2 and 5. Sticking them into a frozen cake is not the smartest thing. Roy lit the candles and I picked up the cake to make a wish and blow them out when the 2 fell off and hit the ground. Luckily the wind on its way to the ground blew out the candle other wise we could have had a birthday fire... So we tried again and had success. I made a wish and blew out the candles and we both enjoyed some ice cream cake, even the dogs!! They love ice cream... Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes!!!

Take 1 oops

Take 2

Made my wish but I don't think it came true... :(

Kindergarten???

I never thought in a million years I would be teaching kindergarten. I am still not sure about it after my first day. The age difference is very different from the 3rd graders I taught last year. Today I had 21 5 year old students walk through the door who really don't know anything. I am teaching them very basic things right now such as how to sit, stand up, push in their chair, line up, fold their arms, walk in a straight line, trace, cut, color in the lines.... ahhh. Oh and go on bathroom trips every 2 hours. I really was overwhelmed at the end of today. I am so used to accomplishing a lot in one school day and all I think we sort of accomplished today was stand up and push in your chair. I know it is a long process and it will slowly come along, but WOW, I need some kind of results so I don't feel like I am wasting time.

I promised you all pictures of my classroom. I have to admit my room at least looks like an inviting kinder classroom. ENJOY!!!

Lake Powell

The last week I was up in Utah I spent with my family at Lake Powell. Roy didn't come this year because of his internship. It was weird with him not there but I survived. We had great weather most of the trip. I don't think it ever made it to 100 degrees. It even rained on us a couple of times. I water skied more than usual this trip because of all the good water we had. I am pretty sure I gained at least 5 pounds because of all the good food we ate. I think we all eat better at Lake Powell then we do any other time of the year!!!

During the trip I was a nervous wreck. When I would be sitting around all I could think about was EVERYTHING I needed to be working on to get ready for school and could do nothing about it. On the last day I probably acted like I didn't want to be there and had a game plan all drawn out of what everyone needed to do so we could leave quickly. I just had so much to do because we were driving back to Vegas the next day. So family I had fun but sorry I rushed you out of there! Things are coming along for school and I will post pictures soon of my classroom!

It's almost over

I can't believe how fast the summer has flown by. I go home in less than two weeks. I have less than a week here, a week at Lake Powell and then we will be back in Vegas. We can't wait to be back there in our own space and be married again...
Oh and we did get the Mustang back. It looks great. So great on the side that got wrecked that the other side looks old and could use some paint!!! Oh well, I am just happy to have a car again.

Tagged by Ashley

8 Things I'm looking forward to
1. Living with my husband again

2. Getting the mustang back (it got wrecked)

3. Sleeping in my own bed

4. More money

5. School

6. Labor Day (no school)

7. Losing some weight...

8. My birthday

8 Things I did this weekend--Friday through Sunday
1. Ate at Chili's

2. Saw my husband

3. Went to church

4. Saw my sister and her husband

5. Painted chair rail

6. Did laundry

7. Played with my dogs

8. Dyed my hair

8 Things I wish I could do
1. Pass all my tests soon

2. Know how to teach Kindergarten

3. Go on a shopping spree

4. Buy a bedroom set (I found one I LOVE)

5. Sing

6. Dance

7. Lose some weight

8. Be a few inches taller

8 Shows I watch
1. Scrubs

2. 18 Kids and counting

3. Fox 13 News

4. Cake Boss

5. The Simpsons

6. Family Guy

7. Sports stuff with Roy

8. House

8 Places I'd like to travel to
1. Florida

2. Mount Rushmore

3. New York

4. Paris

5. Caribbean

6. Chicago

7. The Moon

8. Philadelphia

8 people I tag
1. Angie

2. Ellie

3. Cori

4. Heather

5. Carrie

6. Shallee

7. Audrey

8. Julie

Anyone else who I haven't tagged who wants to do this can!!

Hoola Dogs

Just thought I would post some pics of our cute dogs. Roy's mom bought them some summer hoola outfits to wear at the family BBQ.

Molly had a skirt, but she was a little too chubby to wear it. Remember she is on a diet!!

Stinkin' Deer

Early Sunday morning Roy was on his way to work in Park City when a deer jumped out in front of him. He hit his breaks, but hit some gravel and ended up missing the deer but slammed into a guard rail.

We are VERY happy Roy is okay. Cars can be fixed or replaced but good husbands can't. We are also thankful for guard rails. Even though this is the thing that did the most damage to his car, it also saved his life. Just beyond this guard rail was a pretty steep slope with cement at the bottom. He is sad that is new ride that we have only had for 3 weeks is smunched. It is already at the auto body shop and should be back to normal in a week or so.

This is the guard rail he hit

The tunnel the deer are supposed to use to cross the road... Hmm I don't think they understand, but also where Roy could have landed.

Our brother in law was nice enough to come tow it back down to Orem for us. Thanks Scott and Aubri!!!

OUT WITH THE OLD AND IN WITH THE NEW

So I am a little slow posting things because I don't have my own computer with the Internet, so getting around to putting my pictures on my parents computer takes a little while longer for some reason.

Anyway two weeks ago today we bought our new car. We sold the Explorer about 3 weeks ago because we needed a more reliable car that would also get better gas mileage driving back and forth from Vegas. I wanted to take our time finding the RIGHT one. I didn't want to pay for something I was not completely satisfied with. So I decided if we only had one car for the summer it would be okay since I have NOTHING to do. Well Roy felt bad that for like 3 whole days I couldn't go anywhere.

Thursday night Roy found one online here in Orem. It was way out of our price range but we decided to go look at it anyway. At 9:30 at night we went to go look at it hoping they would be closed and we wouldn't have to deal with any lot lizards. We were wrong they were still there. Before we knew it we were talking to a sales man and he let us take it for a spin. It was the right color, the interior was exactly what I wanted and it had decent miles on it for the year. I immediately said "uh oh"as Roy went cruising down the road. If any of you know me, that is not a good thing for me or Roy to say, especially if we
say it at the same time. It usually results in us buying something we LOVE!!! We took it back to the dealer and told them it was just too expensive.

Friday was Roy's day off so we got up early and headed to Salt Lake to look at some others that were closer to the price I was willing to spend. None of them compared. Well long story short we talked the other one down to a price I was kind of okay with. It was exactly what we both wanted so we pulled the trigger.

Now we have two cars that hopefully won't give us any problems driving back and forth, plus we will save a ton in gas... I hope.

The old explorer

Since I Have Been Off

I looked forward to my paid summer off all year long. I wanted to get a part time job but don't want to work with teenagers for a couple months. So I am trying to keep busy.
I spent a week home alone waiting for Roy to fly into Vegas to drive up to Utah with me and the dogs. I was very excited to see him, and so were to puppies.

We drove home and I have spent most of the time staying at his mom's house. I spent one night in Park City with him at his house with his roomates. That probably won't happen again. They are interesting and really like to DRINK. It is fun to hear all the funny stories he has to tell about them.

My parents have been remodeling and are just finishing up so I will be moving in with them tonight. Hopefully we all still get along. My plan is to help my mom get the house more organized this summer. This will become my part time job.

This past weekend I volunteered at the Wasatch Back Relay that most of my family participated in. This was a 188 mile relay that consisted of twelve people. My little brother and his friend Corbin ran and were happy they survived.


I am also trying to study for the Praxis 1 again since I apparently don't know how to read or write. Wish me luck.
I have also been taking Molly and Macie for many long walks. I took them to the vet the day before we came up to Utah and was told that Molly needed to lose some weight. A whole 1.5 pounds. That doesn't sound like a lot but when you are only 12.4 pounds it is a good chunk.

What to do???

So I have looked forward all year to having my summer off. It has now been a week and a half into my summer and I am going completly nuts. If you have any ideas of what I can do that won't cost me much money PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!

How Fast Can You Type?

73 words

http://speedtest.10-fast-fingers.com">Typing Test

I say not so bad since I have never taken a real typing class before.

Last Day of School

Thursday was the last day of school for my little 3rd graders. They were such a good class for me to have my first year of teaching. I had a lot of students come and go, but that transiency comes with the area I work in. My class consisted of mostly girls. I only had 7 boys. Every time we got a new student it was always a girl and they boys were always so disappointed. We spent a lot of the year laughing together but on the last day of school it was like being at a funeral. I was very surprised by how many students were crying. I never remember anyone crying on the last day of school growing up. We were always so excited for school to be out. I think these students are in a different situation here. They look forward to coming to school to have some kind of stability and love from their teachers and friends. They are going to miss that for 2 and a half months.

I asked one student particular why she was so sad and crying. She told me "You know when someone just cares for you so much... I am going to miss that." I am pretty sure she was talking about me. Ahhh. How sweet.

I also got two gifts on the last day of school. I got a rose from one little boy and one of my girls gave me a necklace. I am pretty sure it was a used necklace from Clair's, but she was so excited to give it to me. I told her it was absolutely gorgeous, took off my heart necklace and put hers on. She had the biggest grin on her face.

I will really miss my kids even the ones that were a handful! But I am going to enjoy my first summer off being paid the whole time!!!

The Boys (the kid in the front in the white shirt was my classroom exterminator, he kept our room cockroach free because Mrs. Smith doesn't do bugs!!! )

The girls crying (they were so sad to leave thier friends and favorite teacher)

Today we had our last staff meeting of the year. We ate at this restaurant called Cili's. For the last month I thought we were eating at Chili's and someone had sent an email with a typo. I had never heard of the restaurant Cili's. I even googled it and couldn't find anything about it. Hence I thought it was a typo. Well turns out Cili's is a very nice restaurant at Bali Hai which is a golf course on the strip here in Vegas. The food was fabulous, but the atmosphere made me really miss Roy. (1 more week and I get to see him!) Anyway here is a picture of some of the other third grade teachers and me at the golf course. I will miss working with them, and hope I get along as well with the kindergarten team next year.Mrs. VanMeter, Mrs. Salas, Ms. Johnson, Mrs. Smith

Just for Kicks and Giggles

Well if you need a good laugh keep on reading.
This morning at about 6 am Little Miss Macie jumped off the bed and you will never guess what she dragged back into bed with her. . .

Her water dish! She dumped the water out on the bathroom floor, put it in her mouth and jumped up her step back into bed. She just sat it there on the bed next to her and just laid by it.

Hmmm was all I could think, but it sure made me giggle at 6 O'clock this morning.

Coming Out of Her Shell

I know I blog about our dogs an awful lot, but they are like our kids for now, so if you don't care, you can stop reading.
When I take the girls to the dog park Macie always hides between my feet. We have been going to a new dog park that just opened up and she is much more out going there. This is a video of her playing with an American Eskimo. It is pretty funny to watch her go and go and go.

Macie Sure Has Grown

Today Macie is 6 months old. We have had her for about 3 and a half months and she has at least doubled in weight and probably size too. We love having her around, she has been a good friend for Molly. We miss her when she is not around, which is surprising with all the messes she makes. She is very shy, a complete opposite of Molly. She is such a sweetheart!!!