Dig it up uh, uh....dig it...

The adventures of student teaching: one of many to follow, I am sure.

Thursdays is the day that Danielle (my mentor teacher) and I plan for the following week. Typically, I bring my computer to show her my lesson plans and everything I have going on for ASU classes. This Thursday was no different.

We planned, we talked, and then, we packed up our bags with the things we needed to take home with us. I packed up my laptop, unplugging my flashdrive from the computer, same as I always do. I thought I put it in my bag, but I must have been distracted packing up, because it wasn't there when I got home. I figured I had left it on her desk.

I decidedly couldn't do any school work without my flashdrive, so I just read, played with my kitten, and went to a Relief Society activity. Pretty relaxing, right?

Little did I know what kind of a morning I was about to experience...

I got to school around 8 AM cuz I had to buy lemons to show the kids (our weekly story was Lemonade for Sale). As soon as I got there, I looked over on Danielle's desk, where I was pretty certain it would be.

It wasn't there.


I can't even describe how I felt right then and there. My mind jumped to the worst possible conclusion: it had fallen in the trash can right below where I had set my computer to plan.

Problem: the trash gets emptied every night by the janitorial staff.

Trying not to panic, I went through with the morning, getting the classroom ready for the kiddos, and frantically picking my brain for other possible locations of this tiny little flashdrive.

When the pledge started, I got really emotional, and had tears streaming down my face. A lot of my kiddos looked really worried for me, so I tried to suck it up at least until they went to specials. By the time they left though, the waterworks started again.

I explained to Danielle what had happened, and she let me drive home and look for it, which I did.

I didn't find it in my other bags, I didn't find it in my folders, and I didn't find it in the pocket of the pants I was wearing the day before.

I was seriously praying so hard this whole time, begging Heavenly Father to just send and angel to pick it up out of the trash and put it at my house. Suffice it to say, that didn't happen.

As I prepared myself to go back to school, I was attempting to accept the fact that it was probably in the trash, which I knew got taken out on Fridays sometime. I didn't think I'd find it ever again.

Literally shaking with sobs, and feeling queasy, I texted Danny to tell him I hadn't found it, and I went back to school. I was counting on the fact that I wasn't going to find it anywhere, that I'd have to redo all my huge ASU projects that I had saved on there. I was feeling pretty much like I'd hit rock bottom of student teaching. I had extremely important assignments on that thing and didn't have the time or energy of mind to try to redo them before Monday, when my second evaluation was scheduled for. Danny sent back a message saying that he loved me, and that everything would be okay, and that he was praying for me.

When I got to school, I had to park in the back, near the dumpsters.

Just go look by the dumpsters. I stopped where I was, attempting to get out of my car with my bags again. That certainly hadn't been my thought. They're smelly and nasty.

I started to walk toward the school, and the thought came again: Just go look by the dumpsters.

So I did. I slowly walked toward the dumpsters, scanning the blacktop for my little flash drive; harboring, I suppose, a tiny hope that if it had come to the trash, that it had fallen out on the ground somewhere.

I didn't see it, but got to the dumpsters and was looking at the mounds of trashbags in there.

My first thought was, No way am I looking in there!

I went inside the school, with the mindset that maybe the janitors hadn't taken out our classrooms trash from their custodial office. They had.

Danielle saw me come back in the classroom, hopeless written all over my face, and then I had that same little thought come back: Now look IN the dumpster.

I told Danielle what I was thinking I should do, figured out that the trash would be picked up at noon, and found a kind man who equipped me with a ladder, and a big rolling trashcan to use for sorting.

Yep. I went digging. In the trash.

Rubber gloves and all, I started grabbing bag after bag, and opening them up, searching for some clue that the trash I was looking through had come from our classroom.

Then something interesting happened.

Searching through what was probably close to my 7th or 8th bag of trash, I found a cupcake container from Safeway, probably from the Halloween party, or someone's birthday treat.

My mind immediately remembered that a boy in our class had had a birthday Thursday. His cupcakes were very distinctive. 3 rows of 4 cupcakes in green, purple, and orange.

If you find the cupcake holders, you'll find the thumbdrive. Literally relying on faith, I grabbed the next big trash bag and opened it up. No cupcake holders. Next one.

I sifted through what was probably my 10th bag of trash, and saw the cupcake holders. Heart pounding, I picked through the trash, recognizing the pencil shavings I'd tossed Thursday, as well as some papers.

I lifted another cupcake holder out, and there, in the pencil shavings, was my black and red flashdrive!

I could hardly believe it! I started crying again, this time though, it was tears of relief and happiness.

I knew that without the promptings I'd received from a patient and loving Heavenly Father, I wouldn't have found that flashdrive.

Yet again, my testimony of the power of sincere prayer has been answered.

Lessons learned here: A) I can pray anytime, and anywhere, about anything--because Heavenly Father is looking out for us. B) I need to back up my files from my flashdrive on my computer. Every day. 

And I've also gotten a nice dose of perspective. I was super stressed about the assignments that are due coming up. Now, I feel a lot more relaxed.

It could be worse. Much worse.

Halloween Decorations, Fun House Crafts, and More!

Happy Halloween and Happy Beginning of the Most Gratifying Month of the Year! (AKA the month of my 21st birthday)

So I have to just let everyone know, contrary to what my photos show, Danny and I do dress up a bit for Halloween. We didn't do much for the trick-or-treaters, but we did a "country guy and gal" deal for the trunk-or-treat at church. I was just too preoccupied holding everyone's cute kids and talking with the fun gals in the ward that I forgot to have us take a quick picture of our costumes. (We had no cowboy/girl hats btw.) This will be the second year I haven't gotten a picture of our Halloween costumes. Note to self: must do better next year.

Rewind a couple of weeks.

Student teaching has been a blast! I'm really enjoying getting to know the kids better, and I feel like I'm growing a lot as a teacher. I've got tons of incredible ideas, and hardly any time to try, let alone plan all of them! I'm super grateful for a phenomenal mentor who is extremely patient with my faults and weaknesses in the teaching profession. On a lighter note, I did have a break.

My fall break went something like this:

1. Wake up Monday morning, realize I didn't have to go to school, then promptly go back to sleep.
2. Finally crawl out of bed, get on the computer, and try to crunch out some of my ASU course work, lesson planning, and of course the never-ending grading that all teacher's experience (student teachers, it's definitely less, but sometimes it doesn't feel like it).
3. Read a book.
4. Grow bored of sitting still so long.
5. Go shopping, find cute things or buy the stuff to bring cute ideas I've had to fruition in our house.
6. Realize Danny's back from work, and rush home to make something yummy for dinner.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were a little more like this:

1. Wake up too early, then fall back asleep.
2. Spend 5 minutes telling myself I'll do homework and lesson planning, then quit.
3. Go shopping, socialize with old friends (Ashley Houston) from elementary school, go grocery shopping, or do some kind of home-improvement project--lose track of time..and then of course...
4. Get home later or finish than I should, try to make something good for dinner, and then read/watch movies.
 
Below are a few pictures of what I did around the house to decorate and add some pizzaz to our home:

I found this desk on Craig's list for 25 bucks. I knocked out the drawer that used to be above the chair, cuz I forgot to account for Danny's height when I bought the desk. Still looks good, and it certainly gets rid of the clutter and hides the cords I hated so much from the viewer. All I had to do was repaint it a bit with some paint sample from Home Depot.

The only thing that looks different here is that there's SO much room around the kitchen now. I moved the big computer desk we'd been using out into the garage to sell (if you want one, let me know), and then moved the desk I just told you about to be underneath the counter area. Lastly, I got some white paint at Home Depot and painted the molding around the kitchen white. My only regret is not sanding off the staining and the finish that was already on the molding. The paint is holding up well for now, but I can imagine that it'll be a little more chipped looking when we have kids. On the kid note--that corner is definitely where I envision keeping a high-chair once we start having kids. :D

Guest bedroom: Finally got the bed on a frame (thank you Evan's family!) and I got the colors in there that I liked the best. My hand-stitched pillows ended up in the guest room (they're really pretty here), cuz I didn't like them on the couch as much. :D My living room now has some black curtains. Kinda a random note, but I also did that for "home improvement."

Back to my break (which wasn't a break at all): Friday, however, was a different story. I got up, ran a few errands I needed to run (which involved spending money on the maintenance of our cars...talk about a depressing morning) and thought about getting some homework/lesson plans on the table. Yeah, that didn't work out very well.

Suffice it to say, I went to a "NOT" Super Saturday--A time when a bunch of ladies get together and we make as many or as few of the cute crafts that someone showcases on a blog of some sort--in Tempe with a few of my old Petersen Park Ward friends. It was really fun! It just took a LOT longer to do than I thought it would take to do 2 projects.

Here they are! :D

These super cute pumpkins are reversible! Best idea EVER!

I made this for the guest/kid bathroom. I hope my guests this winter get a kick out of it. :D I know I do. 

Whew! This is a long post! (I've been meaning to do this in pieces for weeks now!)

If you'd like the instructions for how to make either of these crafts, I plan to type up the instructions we got at the craft day. They're really detailed so I don't think I'll post them yet.

Fun little photo phenomenon: Danny and I carved our pumpkins too early, so they looked horrid yesterday. However, the day we carved them they were AWESOME! Here's a few pictures of those, and us taking silly pictures of ourselves. As you will see, I'm terrible at making a "panicked face." (keep reading, I promise there's more good stuff! ;D)

He looks very panicked....I obviously don't know what I'm doing....

I seriously love this guy so much. :D

Last but not least, (drum roll please!), I got an early birthday present from my wonderful husband!

Her name is Niza (short for Ceniza, which is Spanish, and translates to mean "ash"). She's adorable, lively, loud, and whiny--all in all, everything a kitten should be. :D Her little meow is absolutely hilarious!When she's really nervous, it almost sounds like the beep on a heart machine! We love having her!

She's 3 months old, and our giant of a cat, Jet-Jet (who's 10 years old) isn't loving having her around. They haven't officially met yet, but Danny and I are a little nervous.

We'll keep you updated. The plus: we're pretty sure they won't hurt each other. The down: we have to watch them get all angry and hissing and spitting before we'll know how they'll act around each other.

Yep.

To be continued.... :D

Time for some stress relief....

I haven't said much as to what's been going on in life. Honestly, it's been SO busy lately with school, and right now, at the peak of my stress, I feel like maybe it can help me to share some of the silliness and the cuteness that I have experienced as a learning teacher, and also as a learning wife. :D

First things first:

The kids.

They're adorable!

These little second graders are seriously so cute--even when they're tattle telling on another student. I love helping them learn (though I'll admit that it's harder than it looks to actually teach them suffixes, to teach them about the American Revolution, etc.).

Just today, I came in and on the desk, left from yesterday, was a compliment from one of the kids who quite honestly gets on my nerves sometimes. His name is Jackson, and he's just the funniest kid sometimes, but other times, he's purposefully trying to be funny and it's at the wrong time. Basically, he's a little boy! :D But he wrote me a sweet little note saying, "I compliment Mrs. Peterson for being sweet."

My heart just melted! All day today, even when he was being boyish, I had to just think to myself, he told me I'm sweet, I can handle this. It was really a pretty funny thought process to have, like a mini battle in my mind.

A few other little things: today I attempted Power Teaching. For those of you who aren't aware of this method of teaching, here's a link with tons of great and FREE information:

http://www.wholebrainteaching.com/

On the website is a quote by Ben Franklin that I have had on my mind quite often since yesterday:

" Tell me and I forget, teach me and I will remember, involve me and I will learn."

Whole brain teaching (power teaching) just involves the kids in so many ways! I taught suffixes--spellings and meanings today, so much faster than I have in the last two weeks I've taught grammar. Much more effective and much more engaging.

I LOVE this idea! And the kids today loved it too! I asked the kids if they wanted me to keep doing it and they said yes! Since we're going on fall break starting tomorrow, I guess that means I get to reteach this all starting in a week. But that's teaching! Chris Biffle said that if you don't like repeating yourself, then don't go into teaching! Makes sense right?

Secondly, my lovely husband. :D

A few nights ago, when we went to sleep, Danny turned to me and said that I had stolen the covers a lot the night before. He told me, "If you try and steal my covers tonight, I'm gonna steal them back, and then I'm going to push you off the bed and yell, 'I'm the king of the bed!'"   Cracked me up!

This same night, he had also run around the house, chasing our poor kitty with a pillow, telling him, "Run kitty run! Get your exercise!"  The pathetic cat was yowling around the house, trying to escape, and failing miserably. I could hardly stop laughing!

I love my husband. :D

Now I just need to go laugh some more. Tomorrow is the start of Fall Break and I understand why teacher's look forward to breaks more than students! Time to NOT think about school for the rest of the night!

See ya!

Home Decor and Improvement: Project 1...

 

Crafting is something I LOVE to do. The problem, however, is that I tend to try to bite off more than I can chew. What I mean by this is that I start one project, and then have another project idea, and then try to do both at once. Usually, this doesn't work too well with my busy schedule. I've spent the last six months working on one or another of the projects you see below. Some took a couple weeks to finish, others a month, and some only took a day or two. Most of them I probably would have been able to finish in a weekend if I had made myself lol. Most of my ideas came from pinterest, so I'll attach the link to those pages and also include my own tips for making them. For today, I'm just gonna talk about my first project:

 

Project #1:

 

3x3 Scrapbook array

 

I had a giant wall to fill in our master bedroom and decided an array of square scrapbook pages I'd seen on pinterest was the answer. This is the link to the blog: http://jensidea.blogspot.com/2011/06/easy-art-blocks.html

 

My total cost for this project was about $20 bucks for scrapbook paper, wood, modge modge, and black paint.

 

I made a few adjustments to the intstructions she gives. Here's my tips: 

 

1. Get thicker shelving board (mine was only 1/4 in thick and I had to gorilla glue small pieces on the back to drill holes into for hanging the pictures over a nail)

 

2. Scrapbook paper--just head to the nearest Walmart and look through their paper section. I found a coordinated packet of TONS of paper there for $5. Saweet!

 

3. Use a glossy modge-podge if you want a more dressy appearance. Our bedroom is all silver, blue, and black. Shimmery seemed to fit best.

 

4. Paint the edges of the wood before you do the paper unless you want to play Picaso like I did: I glued paper down first, and then went to paint the edges black. Suffice it to say that my artistic skills weren't that amazing when I needed to fix a mess-up. I like how it looks now, but I wouldn't have had to add to the edges around the paper had I painted the edges of the wood before I glued down paper.

 

5. If you want your artwork to hang flat, then just drill a small hole, angled up into the wood, so that you can hook it over a nail. If you want to add dimension to your masterpiece, then add a few extra slivers of the shelving wood to the back before drilling. I just gorrilla glued, but wood glue wood prob work too. When you hang it up, be sure to measure out where each block will go so you don't fill your wall with holes. ;)

 

6. Have fun arranging the paper and don't be afraid to mix it up to be more random than I did!

 

Along with making the array, I decided to add a little green to my kitchen. I found the scrap book paper at Hobby Lobby and just followed the same steps as I did above.

 

 

 

This last picture is near our kitchen. I found sticky white-board block pages at Michaels and decided I could do something similar. I got thicker wood this time (about 1/2in thick) and just painted around with black like I did before. The nice thing was I didn't have to wait for glue to dry--it was kinda like whiteboard vinyl. :D

 

 

Anyways, this project is totally finished. I love how the arrays both small and large help to give the kitchen and the master a little personality. I hope you enjoy making this if you decide to try it! Don't be afraid to go smaller if you don't have wall space to fit one this big. :D I'll be posting another blog about my latest sewing project...the one that's still not finished lol.

Starting school...

This last week, I've started my student teaching for ASU at an elementary school in the GPS district. My little second graders are all adorable! I've been in there 3 days with the kiddos and I'm pretty sure I have all their first names down; last names, that's an entirely different story. I absolutely love being with the kids, and I can't wait till I get to teach in my own classroom.

A few plans for my future classroom...

I hope to do an overall hooter owl theme around the room.

This is a big canvas owl bag I made to keep my teacher stuff. :D

Ideas for bulletin boards include:

--- "Who are you?" to share all about me posters
--- "Who's ready to help?"
--- "Learning is a HOOT!" for a learning tree that changes every quarter or holiday with leaves on construction paper that display what the kids have learned
--- The "Owlphabet"--this was Danny's idea :)

So far that's all I've got, but I'm sure I'll figure out some more. Mostly, I just want to have little owls everywhere. And maybe a little "talking owl" for when we have circle time.

I've decided (officially) that pinterest is my addiction when it comes to teaching ideas. There are SOO many great crafts and lesson plans available out there!

Quick idea I saw on FB:



These last few days, there's been one little boy who, without fail has come up to give me a big hug every morning, at lunch, and after school. He's such a sweetie! I love teaching!

When reality hits you

This morning, I woke up to a quick kiss from Danny. We said a prayer together and then he left for work. I spent a few moments trying to decide whether I'd wake up or go back to sleep and decided to get moving for the day. Imagine my shock at finding the news about the Colorado shootings. Perhaps you felt it yourself.

For those of you who haven't heard, there was a brutal shooting in Aurora, CO at the midnight premiere of the new Batman movie. I've literally spent all morning obsessing over the news story, and trying to come to terms with the fact that this could easily have happened to any of us, anywhere in the world.

There's a part of me that wants to panic, to never attend a midnight showing ever again, and to refuse to even go see the new movie, no matter how good I've heard it is. It brings to mind speeches and talks I've heard of where violent movies/video games were discussed as a potential cause of violent behavior later in life.

We all make choices in life. It's up to us to accept the consequences for those choices. But I find it hard to see why it is that other people's bad choices have to affect us directly or indirectly in such negative ways.

I've found a few answers to these questions and confusing feelings as I've thought about the events of last night: just basic gospel principals (for those of you who don't know, I am a Mormon):

1. God knows each of us here on Earth by name. He knows our deepest thoughts, fears, and desires. He also knows what we are capable of handling by way of trials in our lives. It is up to us to meet the refiner's fire, no matter how hot or heart-wrenching it feels, and live our lives the best we can, relying on our Savior every minute of every day.

2. It is not our place to judge. No matter how terrified, how sad, and how confused I, or any of you, feel about the man's actions in Colorado, it is not for us to decide if he will be saved or not. It is our obligation to obey the commandments of God, and forgiveness is one of them:  

"Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin. I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men." 

Doctrine and Covenants 64: 9-10

3. We are all Sons and Daughters of our Heavenly Father. Our Spirits "grew up" together before we chose to come to Earth. Whatever relief I feel that this terrifying event didn't take place in a theater near me, that it didn't happen to me or my family, I find myself realizing that at some point in my pre-mortal life, it is likely that I knew some or all of the people involved--they are a part of my family: my spiritual family. My heart goes out to them. 

I pray with all of my heart that the families involved will find comfort they seek. I know that there is life after death. In the words of Albus Dumbledore, "death is just the beginning." Whatever the world says, death is NOT the end. Our Spirits and our bodies will be reunited one day in total perfection, to prepare to meet our God and our Savior. We ALL will live again, will have the chance to be reunited with lost loved ones, and will have the opportunity to meet those ancestors who passed away well before we were alive. Christ will come again and we will be judged according to our actions here on Earth. I know each of these truths without a doubt.

Oh what do you do in the summer time...

It's summer time, and in AZ, for those of you who don't live here, this means MONSOON season! Yeesh. It's July and officially MONSOON season. 

Our backyard is royally flooded. Pretty sweet huh? Wrong! We do NOT want our house flooded! :P

Danny's first instinct? "Let's make paper boats!" 

So, we did. Correction: Danny did. :D

His hands are moving so fast here you can't even see his fingers!

It. Was. Awesome.

Epically awesome. 

Oh, and the cat joined in too!

Here's a link to the page where he found instructions for anyone who wants to try making these nifty boats:

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Paper-Boat 

 

THE MAIDEN VOYAGE

 

The rain was battering down pretty hard.

Currently, the sailing is going well...

Crashed on shore. Testing, failed. Next time, we'll build a bigger one! 

Despite the warning not to leave the house, Danny and I are off to Famous Dave's with Don and Debbie Hubbs. Food + Rainy day = Very good. 

Tah-tah for now! Enjoy the rain and stay safe!

 

A family reunion and a trip to the lake

Imagine a tarantula. Now add a hard shell and evil looking claws. The spidery legs just keep wiggling, squirming, almost touching your fingers. Snappish is what you could call those claws.

Despite the miniature size of the crawdads our nieces and nephews pulled out of Big Lake, AZ, I still managed to scream when the one I was holding wriggled all over the place (most likely in the middle of its death throws).  It. Was. Nasty.

This was RIGHT before I screamed because the legs looked like they were going to get me.

Other activities included being rained on in the tent (no rain actually in the tent, but it sure sounded like it wanted to come in...), reading, because Danny and I LOVE the books we're reading, and of course, fishing around Big Lake--at least watching fishing take place. It was really neat to meet more members of my new family.

Don't I look like a little librarian? A very tan librarian lol.

One of the neatest experiences I had the whole family reunion was hearing stories about the Donaldson ancestors. Obviously, I couldn't have known most of them, but a few of them were Danny's great aunts and uncles. It's incredible the memories their sons and daughters still have of them. I only hope that they'll preserve them in writing some how, if they haven't already.

Speaking of family stories, I'd like to share a story my sister-in-law shared with me when Danny and I first arrived. I hope Sarah doesn't mind: their son, my nephew, got feeling pretty sick early on at the reunion. He was running a fever, feeling pretty low. Sarah was thinking they might need to take him into town and have him checked out. Their son's reply was that he didn't need a doctor, he just needed his Grandpa Don and uncle to give him a blessing. His Dad was at the lake with the other kids, or else in town picking up medicine (Sarah, I don't remember which). Don and I think it was Billy gave him a priesthood blessing. In the blessing Don basically told my nephew Sam that if he had faith, that he would recover from his illness. It was only a matter of hours before Sam was up and about, wreaking havoc in the campsite with the other cousins. Even though I wasn't there, I know exactly what Sam was feeling before and after he was given a blessing.

There have been many times that I asked my Dad for a blessing because I was sick, and times I've asked Danny to exercise the priesthood (the authority to act in God's name) to give me a blessing of healing or of comfort. I know my Heavenly Father was listening and according to my faith, those blessings have been fulfilled. I'm so thankful for the priesthood in my home and in my family.

Danny and I also had the opportunity to go to Saguaro Lake with my family this weekend. These are just a few pictures.

The angle of the photo just makes Danny's arm look tiny. He really is a normal-looking person. :P Love you Danny!

Would you believe me if I said this is a picture taken with a cell phone camera? I know, pretty sweet huh.

The highlights of the lake trip:

-- Danny getting up on the wakeboard for a little bit, and then totally eating it. I wish I'd taken a video. lol He hadn't wakeboarded in 15 years! I think he did pretty awesome!

-- My brother Cameron doing crazy jumps over the wake, sometimes landing them, and other times....well, just kinda smacking around into the water.

-- My sister Brooklyn slalom-skiing. I must say, she's pretty dang good at it.

-- Tubing with Danny. Cameron was driving the boat. Never letting him do that again. We got thrown so hard, my stomach hurts again just thinking about it! :P

-- Watching Jenna and Evan tube behind the boat. They're so tiny in that giant thing!

-- My Mom jumping into the lake with Evan to go to our neighbor's boat and eat food (he was hungry.)

-- Being on my Dad's newly reupholstered boat. Red, white, and blue inside and out. It was definitely awesome. 

I'm SO grateful to have a wonderful family to spend time with. We had a blast at the lake, and I look forward to spending more time there with them. Off to more work this week? I think yes.

Coundown of early mornings left this summer: FIVE. :D

Random Funnies

So since pictures aren't up from the recent family reunion, I have a funny story from about....11 minutes ago.

Danny and I are watching a TV show, no big right? But then, suddenly, I have to PEE. I run to the bathroom, go to sit down, and SPLAT!

I fall down on the inner rim of the toilet seat, nearly splashing my bum in the cold water. Thankfully, I hadn't started tinkling yet.

"Danny!" I screamed. "What!?" he called back. "Don't leave the toilet seat up!"

This was his reply: "But then I wouldn't be able to laugh at you!"

:P

Husbands...gotta love 'em. :D

Of burning, biting, and other things...

1. Of Burning...

So yesterday was interesting. I promised my sister-in-law that I'd make an apple pie for my father-in-law's birthday party last night. So Saturday morning comes around, I have all the apples, and no apple-peeler-corer from Pampered Chef. Danny ran to borrow that from my Mom. A couple of hours later, the apples were peeled, cored, sliced, and sugared up, the pie dough was awaiting formation, and the oven was on.

Pie one of two went in the oven.

Fifteen minutes into pie one's cook time, I realized I forgot the secret cube of butter that makes it boil over with sugary apple juices. Rolling my eyes, I just left it to go.

45 minutes later: Pie one has boiled over completely, the sugary stuffs is sticking and bubbling in the oven. We're all good to bake pie number two right?

WRONG! Being me, however, I decided turning the heat up again to start cooking pie two would be A-okay!

The oven started smoking. Furiously.

Cautiously, I opened the oven door. Flames. Yep, there were flames in the bottom of my oven, threatening to jump out the door!

Long story short, I called for Danny in what I thought at the time was a pretty panicky voice. It must not have been cuz he came pretty slowly lol. We threw open doors and windows and I took the five-minute cooked pie I was baking for my Dad for Father's Day out of the still-smoking oven.

Self-clean cycle should do the trick, right? Eh, kinda. It still smoked enough to make me nervous about burning down our house, but it burnt the sugary goodness to ash. Awesome right?

This is how it turned out-yummy I hope! 

2. Of Biting...

So you know how when you have little kids you're watching (whether your own or someone else's) and you just know if you turn your back for even the tiniest split second, that something bad will happen? Well, today in nursery, I had the most extreme reminder:

One little boy is super mellow, almost always willing to do what you ask and usually super nice to the other little kids. (You should know that today was a nursery of five VERY energetic boys). Another boy, who for the purpose of this post I'll nickname the 'Lil Biter, LOVES to give hugs. Big giant bear hugs that send whomever he hugs careening to the floor in a heap.

There's probably only five-ten minutes until all the kids mom's and dad's come to get them. And both of us nursery leaders made that teensie weensie mistake: we turned our back on the 'Lil Biter for just a split second.

It was just long enough for us to turn around and see him laying on top of the other little boy (the mellow one). He looked like he was just trying to give him a huge hug. But low and behold, he had latched onto his friend. Literally.

The poor little guy had teeth marks on his cheek from our 'Lil Biter! :(

Come to find out, the other leader's son got bit in primary. Small world huh? Despite this little escapade, I still have to say, I love being in nursery. :D

3. And Other Things...

I LOVE Pinterest, which is why I'll share a few little secrets. Today's secret is this:

-- The "Sock" Bun: This is one of my all-time favorite hair-dos. It's quick, easy, and looks pretty dang cute if I do say so myself. I prefer to use a "filler" scrunchie from Sally Beauty, about 4-5 bucks. It's more sanitary than an actual sock stolen from your husband, dad, or brother's drawer. Who knows where their feet have been...

               I pull my hair into a pony tail and shape it however I like best. For those of you who know me well, you know I tease my hair. I do so a little bit for this hair-do. Then I take my scrunchie and, starting and the end of my pony tail, I pull the hair through and under the scrunchie, forming this pretty "Cinderella" bun:

Tah-dah! Here's a link to the actual video I learned from. Enjoy!

http://aspottedpony.com/for-moms/how-to-use-a-sock-to-get-beautiful-curly-hair-without-heat/1517/

This link is where I learned it from, but they use it to make curly hair. I didn't like how my hair turned out with the curls, but I love, love, love the bun! Have fun!

A day with the little ones...

Recently, I accepted a calling to be a nursery coordinator in my ward. For those of you who aren't LDS (Mormon), it's basically a specific job I am asked to do by the leader in my ward. It is strictly service in the church--we aren't paid for what we do, but we love doing it anyway. Today was my first day in our new ward's nursery. Let me tell you, it was a blast!

I was thrilled to be called to be in nursery again because I have done it once before in my old ward. Playing and teaching the little kiddies in the church is such a blessing. No Debbie, I don't think it will produce the desire to have our own little guys quite yet. :P

Normally, I don't actually need to be in the nursery teaching and maintaining order. But today they needed help, so in I went. There were only five little kids in there with the other leader. Not too big of a handful. One little boy came up to me and asked to have a story read to him. Since he's 18 months old, one book was usually pretty boring after a while so he'd dash off to grab another five to try. At one point, he handed me a Christmas book that illustrated the song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas." I love singing. So I sang it to him. I don't think he knew the words, but he was bouncing around with me as I sang the song.

It would figure that as I'm writing this, the words pop into my head...Danny's gonna go nuts if I start singing Christmas songs too, too early. :D

Speaking of holidays, shortly after our personal marriage holiday (a.k.a. anniversary), we had a few pictures taken by my good friend Siri Baxter. Anyone looking for a phenomenal photographer, check out her blog! She's wonderful to work with and, well, I suppose I'm biased, but still--check out what she can do!

http://www.freckledlemonade.com/apps/blog/facebook-photoshoot-giveaway-winners-p-family-one

The photoshoot I'm linking too was done at 6:00AM on a Saturday morning. Danny was kinda grumpy to begin with, and I can't blame him, but I'm glad he was smiling and awake by the time we drove out to the picture location. My favorite is the one where I'm looking over his shoulder. If you check out the blog, it's close to the middle. I tried to post it here, but blogger is being silly.

Maybe the one on facebook that I like will work; sorry if the picture looks huge. I'm not that conceited, I promise.



Isn't he handsome? I'm seriously so blessed to have him as my loving husband, best friend, and eternal companion.

Hopefully I'll have time to blog later this week...wish me luck!

Walking down memory lane

In the last few weeks since my last post, not a whole lot has happened, which is why I decided I'd reminisce a bit.

So, mine and Danny's first actual date: It was the cutest thing ever. He picked me up and said we were going to go out to dinner, which we did, at a yummy Mexican place somewhere in Mesa. I ate too much and my tummy hurt a bit, but I was ready for more when he explained we had more to go do.

Next stop was a park he used to play frisbee golf at with friends and family. By the time we got there, it was actually a little dark and it was getting chilly. Of course, he gave me the jacket in the back of his car (this jacket has since been donated to D.I.--he'd had it since he was 15!). The frisbees? Coolest things ever! They GLOWED in the dark. I didn't know they made them like that. I know, I'm real caught up with the times. We got started on our game of frisbee golf, and being me, I managed to over-toss one of the frisbees into a dark abyss somewhere in the park. We looked everywhere, but the downside to glow in the dark frisbees is that they need to be recharged with light to glow well (at least I thought they did). Frisbee lost, game, continued. It was actually a ton of fun--I'd never played before, so I didn't know what to expect.

Danny was such a goof: he had paper in his backseat to make paper airplanes as soon as we got bored with frisbee golf. My airplane looked awesome! And... well...it didn't fly well. Danny's looked pretty simple and, as you might guess, it flew straight. It was super cool to alter the designs of the planes and try to make them fly in different ways. I think Danny got one to loop the loop. Yep, it was great.

Now, quick note: Our first date happend the week AFTER we went to Sunday dinner at his family's house. And thank goodness it did, because we both feel very strongly that without that Sunday dinner, we may not have begun dating as quickly as we did. Here's how it happened:

During sacrament meeting in early December/late November--don't remember which--Danny happened to overhear me telling a few other gals in the ward that I had a choir concert way out in Phoenix and was trying to figure out how I'd get to my home in Gilbert after I was finished. Being the gentleman that he is, he offered to pick me up from the lightrail station and then take me to Gilbert to have dinner with my family. It was in the direction he needed to go anyways.

Hours passed, my choir concert finished, and this handsome guy in a blue Honda shows up at the lightrail station to pick me up. A little while later, he had his brother Jimmy in the car and picked me up from my dorm to go to Gilbert. I had my laundry with me, which was a bit...weird feeling to say the least. He opened the door and almost hesitantly, asked if I would like to come to dinner with him at his family's house in Queen Creek. It was Fast Sunday, I was hungry, and hey, I wanted to get to know him a little better. What better way than around his family?

Now, he'd told me about all his siblings, but when he invited me to come with him to family dinner, I certainly wasn't expecting to drive up to a gigantic home with at least 5 other vehicles parked around the driveway. When he said family dinner, he literally meant the WHOLE family! Talk about a shocker!

Danny would say I took it all in a stride, and learned all the nieces' and nephews' names in a single sitting, and for the most part he's right. But I didn't feel like I had to try to fit in with them. Everyone was easy to talk to, funny, and best of all, I got to see how phenomenal Danny was as a brother, an uncle, and a son.

A little while later, Danny told me he felt prompted to ask me to come to dinner with his family. Thank goodness for the influence of the Spirit. It certainly helped us. I'm so grateful for a wonderful husband, and amazing family and friends. I know the gospel is true and I know that Danny and I are strengthened every day because of our testimonies.

Stay tuned for more!

Pity My Feet Please :(

So, have you ever tried standing for about...oh say 10 hours straight? I have--once. That was the day of our wedding. My feet were killing me because let me tell you, the shoes I wore were INSANELY unconfortable, and the shoes I replaced the uncomfortable ones with weren't much of an improvement. Now, according to my sister-in-law (recently a graduated and licensed massage therapist), standing and walking on your bare feet is healthier and more beneficial to your foot muscles than it is to wear flip flops, heels, or even tennis shoes. You'd think that after a day of standing and walking and jumping in water (where you're more bouyant) that I wouldn't have such achey feet right? WRONG! My feet are aching all over. My goal for the night...bribe a foot rub out of my tired and achy husband. We'll see how that goes.

*****break for 20 minutes*****

The foot rub hurt. A lot. But now my feet feel a tad better. :D

Since I'm teaching swim lessons every day all day nearly every day of the week, it makes sense to mention a few memorable moments, such as these:

---My name is called to teach a beginner level toddler swim class, followed by the kids in my class. A little girl in a neon pink suit walks up with her mom, clinging to the mom's hand. Her mom tells me her name, which I promptly forget, and then walks away to watch. The girl walks over with the class of kids and we start getting our feet wet in the water. She bursts into tears. :( "Sweetie?" I ask, "What's your name?" Tearfully she replies, "M-m-maya." "Oh! What a pretty name! Do you like your name?" Shaking her head just as sadly, she tells me, "no." I didn't know what to say to that...

---My first class of the morning at the public pool was beginner (caught on have you?). One boy and his mom walk up to join the class and I ask him his name: "Shrig," he tells me excitedly. I looked at his mom for some help. Rolling her eyes, she corrects him, "It's Trig."  Talk about needing a little speech help, I thought to begin with....25 minutes later.....I was SO wrong. This kid can talk. He never STOPS. I swear, if I put my hand over his mouth to muffle his chatter, he'd keep jabbering. As soon as my hand moved away, he'd likely pick right up where he was in whatever story he was telling me. I sure hope he enjoys talking as much about his namesake math topic one day.

---Final story: swim team. I love coaching. It's a blast and the kids are great. Like Colton. Little blondie with skin more tan than mine. Crying in line while we waited to do warm-ups. I bent down and asked him what was wrong. "I forgot my goggles..." he says, crying again. He's five or six by the way. "Well, do you want to borrow mine?" I ask. "No," he tells me, "I want my own." Finally convincing him he'd like to have some goggles, even if they aren't his, he asks me this question: "Are they girls' goggles?" (They're grey and have absolutely no gender specific traits.) I laughed and told him, "nope." "Ok, I guess I can use them." Priceless.

Anywho, tah-tah for now. I need sleep.

Ready-set-go!

So...I created this blog ages ago--around the time Danny and I got married, maybe even shortly after we took engagement pictures (even earlier). I've decided, after reading up on so many friends' cute blog posts, that this is something I want to attempt at least for the duration of the summer. Certainly with a full time job at the pool as a coach, teaching private swim lessons, and being the best wife I can be to my wonderful husband Danny, I can squeeze a teeny bit of casual laughy-posting in. The question is, will I? I hope my posts can be as entertaining as some of the posts I've read from friends.

My wonderings aside, I think I ought to introduce myself and Danny (since I'll be talking about him quite a bit I'm sure).

I'm an energetic, loud kinda gal who loves talking, teaching, singing louder than the radio, making yummies, reading, watching cheesy chick flicks, and of course, being the wife of an incredible husband who makes me laugh. Lots.

Danny is a rather quiet, goofy kinda guy who loves listening to me talk, working (NOT), playing with our obnoxious cat, reading, eating whatever delicious food I manage to make, occasionally watching those cheesy chick flicks with me (playing with my hair the whole time), and making me laugh. Lots.

Our story began last August when I started school at ASU. He met she, she met he, that kinda thing. I have to say, I did single him out in our "singles" ward as one of the cute ones. Props to me. :) We started dating shortly after Thanksgiving of 2010, the happy coincidence of a laundry dilemma. But that's a story for another time. Suffice it to say, we were engaged by February and happily married just over a year ago on May 21st, 2011. I love him tons, and he loves me lots.

Quick story (I hope):

Last Monday, May 21st, 2012 to be exact, I woke up feeling like crap. Half-falling down the stairs of our 2-story house, I fumbled around the wall until I found Danny, merrily making his lunch for work (he doesn't like going to work very much, but lunch is good...). I kinda fell into his chest and just stood there, swaying. He tells me "happy anniversary" and I'm all, "appy anniversry" scratchy sore throat and all. After feeling my forehead--no we don't have a thermometer...I need to get one--Danny concluded I am burning up and we should get me to a doctor.

I hate doctors' offices. They smell funny. He proceeded to take the entire day of work off (a yearly tradition in the making) to pick up my prescription drugs, buy me tons of Spaghetti-Os, cuddle with me when I needed it, and have a gorgeous bouquet of roses delivered to our door (they smell nice).

I mostly slept all day, hoping I'd at least feel well enough to get out of the house to go to dinner for our anniversary. It was a vain hope. I tried to get ready and look somewhat presentable for a fancy dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, but by the time we had driven ten minutes, I knew it was a mistake. My stomach was half-way in my mouth all evening. Watching me, it's no wonder Danny didn't eat more than an appetizer. Total bill for our 1-year anniversary dinner: $8 even.

                                           Awesome right?

Fast-forward to today:

Thanks to whatever viral bug I had, Danny is now sickly...I feel terrible. Add the fact that I butchered his hair Saturday night, and I've really made his Memorial Day awesome.

On the plus side, we got his hair fixed; it's just shorter than I would have liked. And at the moment, his fever is down, he's eating ice cream, and he's laughing at the Disney class, Incredibles. Love that movie.

This is kinda fun! We'll see how I do this week. Wish me luck!