It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Despite the cold, I love this time of year!  There are so many fun traditions, parties, lights, eats, decorations, smells, movies, and good times associated with this time of year.  I love pulling this stuff out of the closet and getting them up around our little house.  It's still coming up piece by piece.

These are handmade by the talented WMHRoyal:

We don't have room for a Christmas tree this year, so here's our improv tree.

Our other "Christmas Tree" in the corner.

Merry Christmas to All! And to all a good night!

*PS  This post is dedicated to the nagger- I can't do both classes yet!

**PSS  Disneyland pics are still to come!

{the countdown has begun}

In just one day and two nights, we will be on our way to the happiest place on Earth!  I am so excited!  I feel like a little kid again just thinking about it!  We're going with my family.  They are leaving Monday morning.  But since I didn't want to miss two days of school, we're going with my grandparents Tuesday morning and will be on the rides Wednesday and Thursday!  I can't wait! I can't wait! For this reason and many more, I am thankful...

Remember when it was Halloween...

Slow. I know. But Halloween (it was actually Pre-Halloween) was a blast. Horito and the Rat put together a fun pumpkin carving good time. As always, they went all out. They had yummy food and spooky attention to details:



We stuck with the classic jack-o-lanterns this year. You can't tell by the way I'm holding my pumpkin, but it had a beat up side which equaled a beat up carving face. We also tried a new method by carving out the bottom instead of cutting the top because I heard that it is easier to empty the guts. I think we came to the conclusion that emptying the guts is still a task but having the hole on the bottom of the pumpkin made it easier to light the candle and the top still looked pretty.

Here's the whole groups minus Keith and Tricia's. They had an awesome Phantom of the Opera pumpkin. Loved it!



Ours are the two on the right. And yes, the two on the left are bigger pumpkins with little pumpkins lit up inside their mouths. Crazy good carving skills shown above! It was an awesome night! If you want to see more you can look here and here!

A little bit of Heaven

Fall Break is a wonderful, wonderful concept. I thoroughly enjoyed it. We left town with Jenni and Gray. We finally got on the road and this is what it was like for an hour.

Not the best start.

But we were still excited to be going. We drove straight to St. George. Ate some In 'N Out and then headed to Tuacahn. We saw 'Aida' at their gorgious, outdoor theatre. Of course, we played with these cut outs before the show.

I LOVED it all. The music. The weather. The Company. The Stage. ALL of it!

The rest of the weekend we stayed at my grandparents wonderful cabin up Cedar Mountain. I really have so many memories from that cabin. It's always fun to make some more. We played golf. And when I say we, I mean the boys. The girls drove around in a golf cart.

The boys even did some fishing. (For golf balls)

We went hiking on some trails in Bryce Canyon. (It wasn't as long as the last hikes we took there!) But it is phenomenal. Being there really makes me wonder how anyone can doubt that there is a Creator and that He knows what He is doing! It's beautiful!

This is all of us on this intense switch back part.

We had great fires, great hikes, great scenery, great ATV rides, great eats, and a great time!

That's my sister!

Brag time! Check out this article:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705338081/Darts-reach-5A-finals.html

That's right! That's my sister that's quoted and has the awesome flip throw. Camille and Melanie are both on the Davis High Girls' Soccer Team this year. And they are headed to the State Finals this Friday at 7:00 PM in the new Rio Tinto Stadium. Go watch!

Camille's a senior. (So weird that she's that old.) And Mel Mel is in 9th grade and still made the High School team! They've got serious skill. I'm so excited for those Darts of mine!

Fear of Commitment

Don't worry, I am commited to the boy I married.  I'm talking about another kind of commitment that I feel is sort of like marriage- picking out a couch.  You have to see it everyday.  You have to like it for a very long time.  It has to make it through thick and thin.  It's there for you when you have a long day.  It will support you.  It will still be there even if there are all manner of spills on it.  It needs to like children and possibly pets.  It needs to be compatible with your personality and work with you through time and all eternity.  (Ok stretching it there.)

Yes, I know I am a little dramatic.  But,  this has been my recent struggle.  When we go browsing through furniture stores, it is usually a window shopping type experience.  He will like something and she dislikes it.  She will like something, he will despise it.  Occasionally, there are things that we both feel mildly positive about.  But on one certain occasion, we both liked this beauty... 

But now, all these questions start going through my mind like am I ready to buy a couch?  Is it the right couch for me?  What if I don't like the couch after a year?  Is it a quality couch?  Will it crumble if things get rough?  Is it just a phase? Do I LOVE it or just really like it? 

I then start making pro/con lists in my head like we don't really need it right now, but next summer we will.  And it is on sale for a REALLY great deal.  I don't want to miss out on that.  I think the jury is still out on this one.  What do you think? 

{the perks of being a teacher}

A couple of things that I really like about my job:

(In no particular order...really)

• Fall Break- Starting today! Nice! 
• Spring Break- A whole week this year!
• Christmas Break
• Summer Break- No work and still getting paid. Great idea!
• Thanksgiving Break- (There are a few more of these, but I think you get the picture) 
• No homework for me (unless you count grading while watching movies) 
• Something new everyday 
• Kids say the darndest things
  
• Actually seeing students grow and learn so much in one year
• Realizing that your attitude and smile really can make a difference to someone
• Getting to read a bunch of good books
• Celebrating every holiday known to mankind- Johnny Appleseed Day, Grandparents Day and Red Ribbon Week are a few of the lesser known ones that are recognized in Elementary.
• Having and decorating a classroom
• Watching my class play dodgeball- it looks like "The Matrix" out there sometimes
• The pay- HA!
• The benefits are actually a pretty sweet deal- now I just need to schedule all the Dr. Appts.
• Recess
• Being able to casually say, "Reese's are my favorite" and have students from this year and last year drop off Reese's for me. Yum!
• It's just fun, but I am excited for Fall Break!  Sleeping in and adventure, here we come!