9/26/11

It Doesn't Matter How Long the Weekend...

...It's still too short.

Had a three day weekend. It was nice. I even got out of town. Manila is a nice place. It isn't in the Philippines. Well, I guess there is one in the Philippines, but this one is in Utah. It is in the middle of nowhere which is grea for star gazing and cattle watching. I like rural areas where the only store is a little convenience store. Nice and quiet is a good vacation sometimes.

It is always nice to visit Sarah and her family and traveling with Morgan and her family I always good for my soul!

I got sicker than sick on Sunday. It wasn't fun. Glad it wasn't today though. Driving and sick would have been worse than just sick on vacation.

Here are some pictures:



Only a McDonald's in Wyoming would have saddles in the play area.



It makes me smile that the kids also wear cowboy boots in Wyoming!



Sarah has a darling kitten. I took a million pictures of her and not a whole lot of the humans I hung with!



The kids always make for good photos.



As does Morgan



Henry and Zack had a hard day of play.



Utah Dad perfected the marshmallow roast.



There is nothing like sitting next to a fire,



Or next to a cute kitty!(made my day of sickness better!)



Isn't she funny?



Riding with the angels was a good time too.



Even when this one gets grumpy because he LOVES "Ice Ice Baby" by Vanilla Ice! Too funny and cute.

It was a nice little break. I am still uncertain if I am ready to go back tomorrow. At least it is a short week!

Hope you are all well!

9/18/11

Hmmm...more weekend please!

The week finally ended and here I am laying in my bed wishing I could stay here longer. I am secretly wishing I could have a few more days to recoup before storming back to work. I guess I will have to settle for one day. Having a three day weekend next weekend will be what gets me going in the mornings this week. I don't think I have ever been this burnt out so early in the school year. I worry this could be as very bad thing!

I got up earlyish yesterday and hiked Y Mountain. It is a pretty intense hike and you really only gain 900 feet in altitude. But that 900 feet comes in about a mile space. It's a very steep climb!

Here's a few pics:



Me with Provo in the background.



Looking down at the "Y"



Pretty. I do live in a very pretty place.

Yesterday, I had the neighbor kids and (a friend's 8 yr old) over for Guitar Hero and a movie. Funny thing is I didn't take any pictures. All I have for proof they were here is this:


See their drinks?

Friday there was a big party for a coworker who doesn't work with us anymore. I couldn't get over how amazing the house was that the party was in. I wish I were rich. It had an indoor and outdoor pool and it was huge!



This picture doesn't do it justice but here Janette shoots pool. In the background is the slide to the indoor pool. Crazy. The kids playing was my favorite part.



Aren't they sweet?

After that party we went to a Rock Band party with some friends from church. It was way fun and again I wish I would have shot some pics. Oh well.

I guess I have crammed a lot into my weekend. I am going to enjoy a low key kind of Sunday!

Cheers.

9/14/11

Everyday Holds the Possibility of a Miracle.

Here was today's miracle: the second go around with yoga in Weight Conditioning went amazingly. I loved hearing them laugh as they worked through the awkwardness and just kept with it:





Went hiking with Aiden. He is so dang cute and funny. It really helped the day end well! He is one of my favorite 8 year olds!






And the sunset was gorgeous.






Kinda like my picture for this school year!






Who's that hottie?

I am very sleepy. Why am I always up past 11:30?

Catching the bed bus now!

Decompression and Stuff

Have you ever had a day where you feel it just started out crappy and continued to roll downhill into a ginormous crap ball?

That is how I feel today. First period started with a student being upset and argumentative and not wanting to do what was required. (BTW it was Yoga. Who doesn't like the calming effect of Yoga, hello?) Then it was the worry of kids getting hurt in PE class because they were getting too competitive, and then it was students just being plain rude and angry because they had to present two sentences in Health Class. It felt like I should have had some crackers and cheese to go along with their whine all day long. YIKES. I will quit complaining now and move onto grading Health tests.

Here is one of the two very cool things that made my day better today. There will be more to come when I blog later tonight, I just needed a little moment to decompress and relax.
This is Alice wielding the Sword of shut Your Face and Quit Your Complaining.

The end.

9/10/11

Question #2: Elizabeth

Remember, if you would like a questions answered about me, leave it as a comment. I am promising to answer it. This is a very fun way to write posts. I like sharing these things about myself.

What is the first thing you do in the morning...every morning? Why?

Thanks for the question Elizabeth. The first thing anybody should do in the morning is get out of bed, am I right? I usually weight myself and then go to the bathroom because my bladder is always full(in fact, most nights I am up at about 3 to go to the bathroom as well!). I then go to the kitchen and weigh myself again. Believe it or not sometimes I lose three pounds in urine alone. I know it sounds silly but it is intriguing to me and getting on the scale everyday motivates me to stay skinny! I then will usually eat a banana and decide what to eat for breakfast. The staple breakfasts at my house are: Greek Gods Fat Free Yogurt, Bob's Rolled Oats, Nancy's Natural Cottage Cheese, Eggs with organic toast with jelly, almond butter(I am allergic to peanuts so no peanut butter), or both, and crumpets with Nutella. Food choices are always the hardest deciscions for me to make. Food is very important to me and I want to be satisfied and it is always nice to have choices. I eat breakfast in front of my TV while watching Sportscenter. I gotta keep up with my sports and the Top Ten Plays are my favorite part of the program. I then will shower and get ready for work. It is nice to dress in mesh shorts, a t-shirt, and running shoes for work! I then either drive or bike to work, depending on mood and time. I have been much better this year about getting up and moving so I can get to work on time, no ten minutes late like I did most of last year!

So there is not only the first thing I do in the morning, but my whole morning routine. On Saturdays, it is much different. I love not having plans and go very slow while getting ready and getting things done. Today I am planning on cleaning the bathroom and then eating a bit more because I only had a banana so far, and then I am going to write a little bit and possibly read and grade some things for work. Tonight is dinner with the family in Sandy.

Question #1: From Morgan.

If you want a question answered, read my Friday post and leave a comment. You could also leave a comment on this post if you would like and I will post and answer!

My question is this: If you could travel to one place and one place only (family visits aside) where would you choose to go see? And why? And would you send me a post card?

Interesting question, Morgan. I feel very limited with one place. I have a list of like a hundred that I would still like to see in my lifetime. Here is the big one: The Sacred Grove in Palmyra, New York. This is where the Prophet, Joseph Smith, saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. The story of a simple prayer being answered in a very huge and magestic way draws me to this sacred ground. As I was writing this, I was very touched and I better get going on getting myself there. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, this is a sacred and special place. I know that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ there and the world would be changed forever because of that event. My faith is strengthened to know that Heavenly Father and his Son, Jesus Christ live and that God still talks to His children. I know that He guides my life daily through revelation. What an important truth that was restored through a very young man, Joseph Smith in The Sacred Grove in upstate New York. For those of you who don't know about this amazing event and would like more information you can read more about it here: The Sacred Grove by Donald L. Enders

You can also learn more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints HERE.
Here is a picture that reminds me of this amazing place:

I would, of course send Morgan a postcard. Here is a list of ten other places I would like to visit:

1. Italy and Greece
2. Canada during the daylight.
3. All the baseball parks I have yet to see. The most important being Fenway Park, in Boston, Mass.
4. The Oregon Coast
5. Seattle
6. Tennessee-Memphis(Elvis places especially Graceland, and Martin Luther King Jr. Sites), Dollywood, Nashville(The Ryman and Grand Ole Opry), and Great Smokey Mountains National Park
7. Alaska
8. New Zealand and Austrailia
9. Some sort of a cruise to a tropical island(Hawaii would be fun)
10. This shouldn't be #10( this list isn't a priority list). Jerusalem and places where The Savior walked

9/9/11

Question Friday

Post a question as a comment and I will answer it. It can be about anything. Just thought it might be a fun game to play with all my wonderful readers! This is time for you to get to know about me! (Like I am not an open book, anyway, but this could be way fun!) I know a lot of stuff about a lot of things, so ask away!)

9/7/11

Stalking and other muses.

I am sitting waiting at the Doctor's office. This is the fourth time for the same issue. Why is medicine about elimination? I am hoping to get some relief from my ailment soon. I won't go into details because, trust me, you don't want to know.

About the stalking. I saw a guy at church that I thought was cute a few weeks ago. I was able to sit close to him in Sunday School. We talked a bit but not enough to be acquaintances. I felt like I wanted to know him more so I found his number on the ward website and texted him. Eventually, he stated he could appreciate a forward girl and invited me to hike with him Saturday. He got off work early yesterday and asked if I wanted to hang. I said sure so we watched some baseball and ate some pizza. It was nice. I think he is a great guy who is cute. Who knows if anything will come of it, but here is to the first time interweb stalking has paid off! Yippee!!!

I feel burned out already. It is coming a bit early this year. Tell me it is normal and okay.

Cheers!



9/4/11

And Sleep in She Did!

It is 11:30. I just woke up. Man, that was some sleeping, even if I went to bed at 3.

I have been organizing my house. I had planed on doing a little rearranging of my living room, starting by going through the books on my bookshelf. I also wanted to move the shelf to make some room for my printer and a cabinet. It turned into a major fiasco when I found that the bookshelf was getting wet every day because of the sprinklers. (or it may be when it rains, because I just checked and the carpet is dry this morning.) Anyway, I was debating whether to just move the bookshelf and get rid of all the moldy stuff or get rid of the bookshelf. I decided it was time for a change, so out to the porch with the bookshelf it was. I then decided to put it on the curb with a free sign because I really didn't want to deal with it anymore. It was nice because within an hour it was gone(oh the power of free!).

I then went to look for new bookshelves. I decided that I didn't want a big one but multiple smaller ones. I was in luck because Shopko had their three shelf bookshelves on sale for 18 bucks. I got three for about the price of one. Score. Here are two of them in my living room:



It may take a while to get used to the new arrangement seeing it has been the same for years. The whole goal is to be more organized and I think this will be a good start. I will now quit boring you with the details of my new living room.

The Timpanogos Storytelling Festival happens every Labor Day Weekend in Orem. It is a tradition to go to Laugh In night. Jane, Janette, and I went last night. It was wonderful. I laughed and laughed. It was nice to sit outside on a nice cool summer night. Great times!



And now I will go and enjoy the rest of my three day weekend, as should you!

Cheers!

9/3/11

Ah...Three Days of Sleeping In!

Well, we made it to the first official long weekend. It feels nice to be awake on a Saturday and know I have no where to be and nothing that absolutely must be done today. Nice, nice, nice!

Last night a few friends from work got together and visited a friend(former co-worker) and her baby. We then went to dinner. Then I came home and attempted to watch TV. Instead, I slept on the couch. Surprising, right?

Here are pics of the cute bambino. She is getting big fast. They never stay tiny long. That's why you gotta stop and play sometimes!



Almost walking on her own.


Almost Falling.



So cute.

Now, I am off to a run and laundry and a bit of cleaning. The neighbors are gone for the weekend and said it was okay to use their washer! Bonus.

Later it is the Laugh In at the Storytelling Festival. Very fun!

Enjoy your weekend!

9/1/11

One more...

Only one day until the long weekend. Much needed!



Doesn't this shirt just make you smile. It made me!



Red was at Red Robin yesterday. So was I...



So was Annie(and her parents). It was good to catch up with my friend, Sarah and her Husband.

Must sleep. The week has gone fast. Drug dogs today and two drug finds. Go go wonderful students. Crazy.