5/31/11

Postcard Experiment

Hey kids. I hope your summer has been great so far(isn't Memorial Day the kickoff to summer?).

I just wanted to announce my postcard experiment. You can read all about it on the postcard blog HERE.

Basically, I am journaling(did you know that journaling is not really a word?) my summer adventures via postcards. Wanna be a lucky recipient of one of these cherished postcards? Visit that site and email me your mailing address. It doesn't cost anything to participate and you could win cool prizes, like postcards in the mail!!! :) You don't have to send postcards back, but it would be really cool if you did. Get creative send some crazy and fun ones. I know you can and want to!

I will be blogging again later with the weekend's adventures. The router at the family's house is on the fritz so I am off to Walmart to replace it. It is very convenient to blog from my phone on wireless because my pictures are on my phone. Technology is awesome but frustrating sometimes. Well, off I go. Cheers!

5/29/11

On Wisconsin!!!

Well, I made back to the homeland. I currently am lying on a comfortable bed in a hotel near the Milwaukee Airport listening to my niece slowly breathe and snore. My head hurts but my heart is full. I love being home and look forward to traveling to Green Bay today to see many of my relatives and my mom and dad(I guess they are relatives too!)

Friday, I went to a wedding for a friend from my church in Wausau. Holly and Jake are way cute and it was fun to reconnect with some of my former ward members.



Morgan and Ezra were cute too!!



Yesterday, before leaving on a jet plane, I met up with the other family for In N Out.(If you have never had a double double with well done fries, you haven't really experienced the greatness of In N Out.) We had a blast and it was hard to say goodbye as it often is! Here are some pictures of the event!


Oliver kept resting his tired head on my hand. It reminded me of the Vegas trip where he would not sleep unless I was practically choking him.



Kent was very good at entertaining Ezra(the burping in his ear is my favorite!)



Erin met up with us too, which I am very glad for because I didn't get to say goodbye on Friday at the wedding. She is moving this summer so I won't see her for a while, which may or may not have led to a tearful parting! I will miss you, Erin!(and Levi!)



Levi didn't want to look at me in this picture, but he had fun with Uncle Derek and kind of looked at the camera!



The boys were ever so sweet too! Spencer gave me lots of love and hugs and shared this awesome look at his cheeseburger!



Henry was determined to take a funny picture too. This is what we came up with:



Anne, Josh and Morgan were there too but must have not done any cool posing like the rest of us!

It was good travels! Here is The Grand Canyon from the airplane:




I am going to go back to sleep now that both my seester and niece are still sawing logs!!!

Cheers!

5/26/11

The End.

Yearbook signing was today. This is my favorite page. It is a good salute to our Principal in her last year, no?



After I left work today, I headed to Sandy and went frisbee golfing with Josh. The course was cool and Josh kicked my butt(I haven't played much this year!) but it was a blast!





I am tired and should get to bed. I have no motivation to move off my couch, though!

Isn't this sculpture Josh made of Abraham Lincoln cool? I thought so.

Hey, I am doing a postcard experiment this summer. If you would like to participate, send your mailing address to my email. Basically, I will send you a postcard or ten this summer and you can send me one back if you want. There is no real commitment but I will be making a book of some sort with the postcards I have sent and recieved. I may also blog about the experiment. You should totally be a part of this. Email your address now(please!) me: softballrita@gmail.com

Cheers!

5/25/11

Graduation










I love graduation day. It is one of the shining moments of the school year. It makes me happy to see my kids succeed. It was a good one tonight. We even had more kids graduate than last year. Go us!

Shule came. She brought this cutie:



This week is flying by. That is ok with me! My kids played guitar hero yesterday. I am sure there are YouTube videos of me singing Bon Jovi out there somewhere. It was fun.



Must get to sleep. At least I will have a few months to catch up on missed sleep!

5/23/11

Monday Monday!! The last one of the school year!

Today went fast. I was glad. We rewarded the sophomores who are passing their classes with Red Robin. It was fun. Here are two of my students:



That is what success looks like. It tastes good too!!!

Yesterday I spent some time with the Hageys

I will miss Sunday dinners with them this summer and the other fun adventures we have together. I am hoping that when they make their next move, they won't move too far away from me!

Here are some pics from the visit:


Oliver found a fly on the table after he was done eating. He didn't like the "bug" at first but when I told him it was a fly and that the fly was eating his dinner he seemed to be at ease.



Close up of said fly.



Morgan and Ezra. He is getting strong and big! It will be weird to go two months without seeing him. Babies don't keep and I am saddened by this fact.



Ez was fascinated by Kelly Clarkson's face on my t-shirt. It was hilarious to watch him try to suck on her face.



I stayed much too late because I cannot resist holding a sleeping baby. He is so sweet!!! It was worth the late to bedness.

Tonight, I am also going to bed late. I really don't have an excuse. Sigh! I don't know why I am going to sleep so late these days!

Only two days until class is over for the summer. Craziness. I am only a bit excited.

5/21/11

Fridays Rock!!!

If the world ends today(which it will not!), then my last day was pretty much a good one to end on.

Work was work but something amazing happened in the middle of it. My wee little sophomores took a field trip to read to third graders at a local elementary school. They had written children's books in their English class and their teacher set up this amazing trip! Here are a few pics:












While witnessing this event I got misty eyed and was reminded that moments like these are why I teach. It was so touching! Loved it!!!

After work, I hosted a pizza, cookies and a movie party at my house for my neighbor kids. Gabby is six and her brother, Grant, is eight. We watched Toy Story Three and then played Band Hero. If you have not yet attempted to play Guitar hero or Rock Band with kids, you are missing out. It was a blast!

My friend, Moo, got into town last night and we watched Bones. The season finale was awesome!!! I love that Moo is low key and we can just be chill this weekend. Me and my body need some chill time.

Well, off to enjoy my Saturday. Sleeping in is definitely my favorite!!!!


Aren't my tulips pretty? I love spring!

5/19/11

Sleep is...

...not something Alice gets a lot of these days. Maybe that is why she feels like she isn't getting over the uti she has. I guess this weekend will need to be a little bit of a catch up! Or summer can be too!

It was senior banquet tonight. It still doesn't feel like it is the end. Crazy.




I am going to miss these little weasels!

5/18/11

Mid-week

My 7th hour is hilarious. They know I am bothered by the desks being left up, so when I left during passing time between sixth and seventh, they did this:


Then they thought it would be Funny to then put them like this:



They are silly. I like them!

I had a pretty busy night after working all day. I had a crown placed on the root canal tooth, went shopping(socks, waterbottle, and toothbrush), went to Weight Watchers, bought new running shoes(actually had a prescription written out for a certain pair by my chiropractor), ate Jimmy Johns, bought a pair of shoes for work(all my exercise shoes are wrong for my horrible arches), and watched Chuck. Fabulous end to the season by the way(if you watch Chuck you understand. If you don't, get on it!)



Wish i could have gotten these shoes. How cool is that saying?

I had two options for running shoes. Which one do you think I chose?






I am tired and didn't get myself to bed any earlier tonight. Sigh,
my life is hard!

Cheers!

5/17/11

Is it Friday yet?

It seems that it is not. Tuesday is a good day though.

It was a full moon tonight and the weather has changed to rain again. This may not seem significant but I am pretty sure this is the reason for my second hour being a little crazy today.

Other than that hiccup, the day went well.



There was an amazing rainbow today. So something good came of the silly rain!




Now off to sleep. Only 6 more days of getting up early!

I finished a book...it's a miracle.

I am going to be a crazy reader this summer....I cannot wait.

Here is my review from Fast Food Nation on Goodreads:

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American MealFast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser




Wonderful history of the fast food industry. It made me hate McDonald's even more than I already had. I was highly impressed with In N Out Burger. I also want to avoid the big chains at all costs. Thank you to small town little burger dives. I love you! :)



View all my reviews

5/16/11

Where has Alice Been?

She has been hanging out with Waldo. Time is flying and she hasn't been blogging. Maybe she has just been boring lately. Maybe not. Here are some pictures to bridge the gap:

Delicious food


From my favorite hole in the wall diner in Idaho Falls






Kerri and I went to Idaho for Laura's baby shower.



It was my other Mother's birthday on Sunday. The cakes were awesome.



Two peeps Alice will miss this summer. Morgan and Ez



Two more people Alice will miss. Levi and Erin.



More. Henry and Derek.



Two more. Oliver and Spencer below.






Me and Ez




I'll miss this too. Even though I may complain about it a bit sometimes!!!

5/13/11

Silly Blogger!!!

So blogger went down and ruined my life! Just kidding. I just kept living my life. Here are a few highlights:



On Wednesday, I took care of this little guy for my friend. He's way cute.



I am a stellar babysitter! (so is Mickey Mouse)



It's spring and the snails are everywhere because of recent rain. I love the rain! The nights it rained earlier this I slept so good. I have loved that it is getting warm too. I have great new shorts and capris. I am missing running though. Hopefully in the next week or so I will get the okay from my doctor to run again. Healing takes a while sometime.

I am heading up to Idaho after work today for an old roommate's baby shower. Should be fun!

Until later!