Take a blogging break and the world falls apart. I just finished my first year teaching. It was truly amazing. I'm blessed to have had the greatest group of 4th graders the world has ever seen. They are going to do great things with their lives, mark my words.

 My classroom the first day of school looking towards the front of our class. (August 2011)

 Kat snapped this picture when I wasn't looking. I believe this is after day 1. I'm finishing our birthday chart.

 My end of year gift. My first class. It's been 2 weeks and I miss them terribly :)

Only the COOLEST diorama ever created. The 3rd term assignment was to create a puppet or diorama based on a novel. Ashleigh O. made her Willy Wonka diorama completely out of candy.

So much has happened this year. I'm going to take some time to recap it all...

So... did the holidays sneak up on you too?

Crazy! Where did this year go? I know... it was stuck in student teaching land. But I am done! Yes... I officially graduate from Utah State University with my Bachelors in Elementary Education. I can't believe it's finally over. I can't wait to take my Calculus final and have time again. Be prepared for a HUGE post soon...

Wow, it has been a long time

I really need to update this more. Maybe once I graduate. Speaking of graduation... April 22, 2010 I will unofficially graduate. Technically I graduate in December, but we only do the cap/gown thing once a year in the spring. So it's now or never.

School is going well. I'm exhausted. Level III is kicking my butt. I'm lost, dazed and confused as to what's due when. I start practicum next week and hope to get everything caught up soon. Alot is due tomorrow through Wednesday.

Thomas is having a great freshman year. He was on the sophomore football team and Jr. Varsity Wrestling team. He took 8th in regions and DNP in divisionals. He's been working hard to make Varsity next year. He also earned a Wrestling Letter. This last week he got braces, and he has a girlfriend. She's adorable!

Julia is doing great at Excelsior, the charter school. She is getting As (mostly) and learning a lot. She has a great debate teacher and is excelling at playing the clarinet. She's first chair and earned second chair at the Salt Lake Charter School Honor Band.

Byron is also working hard at Excelsior. He is playing the trombone and is 4th chair in the Honor Band. He has found a new love, the Rubik's Cube. He's pretty awesome at it.

Kat is giving her kindergarten teacher a run for his money. She's stubborn, that child. We love her. She has a great sense of humor and is always keeping us on our toes.

Football season is starting again, this time we are running the league. I am coaching Kat, Julia, and Thomas (in addition to my school work). Is it too much? Probably, but what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger, right?

I'll be sure to attach pictures soon... (I hope)

She works hard for her money!

It's been a while... school, kids, work, football... it's a busy life. It was that time again, Ft. Bridger Mountain Man Rendezvous held every Labor Day weekend in Fort Bridger Wyoming. Here's the story of the year this year.

Kat Works Hard For Her Money!

On our first day in Fort Bridger, we were listening to a harpist play. It was beautiful. Kat took a dollar and put it in his hat.

Fast forward to day two. As we were parked by the guardhouse resting, she decided to "make some dollars". Kat got out her harmonica box, opened it up and started playing for the crowd. Mommy paid her a dollar for her great musician skills, so for the rest of the day, she walked around with her harmonica in her mouth and her box in her hand.

She's gonna make us a fortune someday!

We are the Champions my friends...

Way to go 49ers. We started our game out strong. By half time it was 44-18 with us in the lead then a storm came through to end all storms. With 8 minutes left we had to evacuate the field for lightening strikes. The Cowboy coach didn't want to concede victory to us, so we met on Wednesday to finalize our victory. On their first play they got all excited by scoring a touchdown. My QB slowed it down some to run out the clock and got us one right back. At that point there was nothing left to do but wait. The 8 minutes passed and we won 54-26. After that, we ate ice cream sandwiches. YUM!

Go 49ers!

So, we beat the Raiders 55-30. It was a great game, my team executed very well. We're on to the Championship game on 5/30 against the Cowboys. We will be victorious! (to be continued...)

Awesome Season...

The 49ers have entered the semi-finals winning 7 and losing only 2. They get to play my husband's team, the Raiders, in the semi-finals. The Raiders have won 3 and lost 5. It should be an awesome game as we all practice together. I'm pretty excited. The winner of this game is in the championship!!!

Here are my football stars! (click the picture to see them in full view)

Is it September yet??

Kat is so ready for school to start. We were smart this year and started school shopping early. With 4 kids, it gets expensive. Here's Kat in her school uniforms.

Are you ready for some (flag) football?

So, I'm coaching Julia's flag football team this season. It's gonna rock!! I can't wait to get on the field and kick Chad's teams butts!! Not really, I'm just hoping to have a ton of fun. Thomas is going to help coach. We should be a force to be reconned with!!

Finally... level 70

So, as most of you know, I'm a casual gamer. So, after 1444 days of playing Everquest II (and no, I don't play every day), I finally reached level 70!! It's awesome. Only 10 more levels to go and I'll be capped (unless of course the cap is bumped up again). It's a great escape. I love my Swashbuckler Buffytha Bixieslayer. She's awesome!!

Here's Buffy with her newly acquired deity pet, Motleymoo

Resolutions, revisited...

So, last January, I jotted down a few resolutions. It's now time to revisit and revamp...

Here's my post:

So, here are my resolutions:

1. Lose weight (I lost 52 lbs, not too bad!)
2. Complete my A.S. and apply to the teaching program (I earned my associates and will be applying for the teaching program 7/1/09. I didn't have the prereqs filled to apply last July).
3. Stop stressing the small things. (This one is tough!!)
4. Stop biting my nails. (As if... )

Well, that was them... So, resolutions for 2009:

1. Lose even more weight (and get active)
2. Apply to the teaching program.
3. De-clutter the house and work on remodeling.
4. Stop stressing the small stuff!!

Santa stopped by on Monday night...

Yes, he's a busy man, but we ended up getting him to stop by our place. He said he was in the neighborhood visiting an "aunt". Here are some pictures:

Kat hamming it up...



Once she realized who was at the door... oh the excitment!


A big hug for Santa!



Chillin' with her Dora DS game and her big brother's Nintendo DS...


The kids got a big present too... Santa was concerned that they wouldn't have time to play with it because they leave on Christmas morning for a week, so he dropped it off early. What a nice man!

Jazzing it up

So, Chad won tickets to tonight's Jazz game. We took Thomas and a friend of his. It was awesome! We lost, but still had a blast. All in all it ended up costing us about $20.00. We were chosen to run a relay race during the first break. If we won, we would get a $500.00 water heater, if not, a consolation prize. I got out on the floor and rode my little tricycle, Chad pushed Thomas in a wheel barrel, and Micah was supposed to dribble the basketball and shoot a layup. Those floors are really slick. I fell behind quick, and Chad almost dumped Thomas, it was hilarious. The other team couldn't make the shot, so Micah went charging down the court. He was about 3 steps away and the guy made the basket. We did get a really nice thermostat though. Totally had a great time. We are the perfect family to make total fools of ourselves in front of 19911 people.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We got our tree up last night and took our traditional Christmas picture. I'll be printing them up at the Wal-mart a bit later today. Kat's got extremely pink cheeks. I'm guessing she snuck a granola bar when she was playing at the neighbors.



Byron, Kat, Thomas and Julia


me and Kat

One more to go... and a concert

I'm sitting here studying trigonometric functions for my very last final of Fall 2008 semester. I'm glad it's almost over. I have a few grades posted so far. Yay me!

English Literature: A
Family Finance: A
Statistics (I was worried): A
First Aid (unless I bombed the final): A*
Trigonometry (again, unless I bomb this final): A*

*not sure on this grade yet.

I went to Byron and Julia's Christmas recital tonight. They both looked awesome and sounded really good. They've only been playing the trombone and clarinet for a couple months. I'm really, really proud of them. I can't wait to post the pics/vids. After the first song, Kat yelled out to the stage, "That was awesome Julia! You should blow harder!" The ladies in front of me about died laughing.

Finals...next week

I finally finished Family Finance and English Lit, my 2 online classes. Next week are my finals in First Aid, Stats and Trigonometry... then, I'm free. I'm exhausted, and stressed! I took a couple days off next week to prep, but I know I'll be ready. Wish me luck!

My little champion.

Byron had his first wrestling tournament this weekend. He did AWESOME! It was a Pre-k through 6 tourney and he took 3rd place. Way to go Byron!!

Holy light at the end of the tunnel Batman!

I can see the end of my collage career!! This is it!
Spring '09 - 2 classes
Summer '09 - 1 class (if it's offered) and apply for the program!
Fall '09 - Start teach program Level II plus calculus
Spring '10 - Move to Level III
Fall '10 - Student teaching or internship!
(I'm hoping for this. It's 5/8ths pay for the first semester and then full pay and full benefits after graduation. I'd get my own class and a support teacher assisting me. That would so ROCK!! Especially if I can get into the Jr. High)

Right now, I'm taking 5 classes and have been averaging 16 credit hours the last 3 semesters. I'm wiped (though I have made the Deans list each semester). I still can't believe it... that's all there is I should be teaching Fall of 2010! It seems so far away, but not when you look at it like that. I'm so excited!! Weehaw!!!

Exhausted...

You know it's getting towards the end of the semester when you just feel totally exhausted, beyond exhausted, wiped out maybe? It's 9:22 pm and I have a huge Stats test tomorrow, a major project due in finance and have to be to work at 6am. I'm hoping that I can get off around 10 because I have a PTSA meeting and would LOVE to have some more time to study and get these things finished. Only 4 more weeks... now, back to studying!

My little Kat...

She's getting so big. I finally scanned in her school pictures. I can't believe she's 4!! (click on it to make it bigger!)