Snowshoeing Season has Begun

Snowshoeing has begun! My friend Dustin Randall called and asked if I wanted to head home this weekend and snowshoe into Bronson's cabin. I couldn't resist. So I took a personal day from work, called my friend Christina and spontaneously headed down to Monticello to start the snowshoeing season out right. We met up with Dustin, Scott Frost, Morgan Barton, and their friend from Sweden named Linus. It was an amazing trip. The snow was great! Here is a little picture walk through our trip...

Here are the boys just after strapping their shoes on to head out


Christina and I were already ready to go...


My first slip of the trip... I stepped on my own show when I stopped to take a picture... When I tried to move, I went down pretty quick...


My friends have good taste in gear


We made it the cabin in just enough time to get a fire started and dinner cooking before the sun went down


We made tortilla soup and had jalapeno cheese bread... plus, a lot of "comfort" food as Linus liked to say...


Inside the cabin, packing up to head out


The group before leaving the cabin. Nice view of the mountain...


I thought this picture was quite a work of art... we all tried to catch the icicle just as it dripped


Check out the cool shadows from the trees


Scott crossing the meadow... another great view of the Abajo's...


The sunset on the drive home

How well do you know your Christmas Carols?

To emphasize the importance of word choice and to teach great skills such as how to use a thesaurus, my students have been working on quite a fun little Christmas holiday writing project. I gave each student the lyrics to a fairly well-known Christmas carol. After finding all of the common nouns, actions verbs and adjectives, students began changing the words, creating their own song lyrics, while keeping the same message as the original song...

...They turned out so funny that today I was in tears I was enjoying myself so much as I read them. Here are a few snippets! See if you can name that tune while looking into the thoughts and imaginations of some fourth graders!

Kris Kringle is Approaching the City

You better look out, you better not bawl, you better not wine, I'm telling you why... Kris Kringle is approaching the city. He's writing a record and monitoring it twice, gonna find out who's mean and giving. Kris Kringle is approaching the city...

Answer: Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Above the Roof

Up on the roof, Buck's wait. Out leaps great, old-aged St. Nick. Descending down the fireplace with a load of good, all for the small ones holiday happiness. Ho, ho ho, who wouldn't hit the road? Ho, ho ho, who wouldn't hit the road? Up on the roof, bang, bang, bang, descending through the fireplace with great Santa Clause...

Answer: Up on the Housetop

Bobsled Tour

...Come on, there are enchanting elements for a bobsled tour together with you. Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, let's cruise. Let's view the fireworks. We're touring in a paradise blizzard. Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up it's majestic, just embracing your hand.. we're gliding along with the lullaby of a frosty fairy land...

Answer: Sleigh Ride

Freezing Dream World

Sleigh alarms ring, are you listening? In the road, snow fall is sparkling. An appealing sight, we're gleeful tonight, cantering in a freezing dream world...

Answer: Winter Wonderland

Jogging around the Pine Tree

Jogging around the pine tree at the night party celebration. A plant hung where you can look, every husband and wife tried to stop. Jogging around the pine tree, let the holiday spirit sound like bells. Later we'll have some yam pie an we'll do some Christmas singing...

Answer: Rockin around the Christmas Tree

I needed a good happy laughter today and these song lyrics did the trick!

I keep moving, moving....

I have relaxed a lot over the last few years of teaching. I hate to admit it, but I think I was kind of a dictator my first few years... Don't get me wrong, I still keep very strict order, I'm just not afraid to be spontaneous and have fun anymore.

Take today's science lesson for example. We were doing a review for our Science test on the "Water Cycle." I have a "water Cycle" rap song that I decided to share with them as part of the review. We went over the words to the song as a shared read before I let them hear the music. As soon as I turned the music on, they all naturally started bobbing their heads and swaying their shoulders. I asked them if they wanted to get up and dance. There was a unanimous YES!! So we decided to have a little class dance, right then and there, stopping only to sing the chorus...

"I rise to the air from the sea below, then down to the ground as rain and snow, I keep moving, moving, cause I'm the water cycle... moving, moving, cause I"m the water cycle."

My favorite was when even my shy quiet girls were demonstrating the water cycle with their arms as they grooved to the beat. Yes, they demonstrated, evaporation, precipitation and they had a special move they created for every time the song said "water cycle."

I love being a teacher.

Uganda here I come...

So it's true... I am going to Uganda next summer for six weeks as a service volunteer. My friend Kim Hall is going with me and I couldn't be more thrilled. I have always wanted to do such a thing and who knows if I will ever have the opportunity again. We are going with a company called HELP International that was started by a few BYU professors ten years ago. Our responsibilities will range from working with kids in schools, to construction, to health education for adults. I can't wait. What a life-changing opportunity.

House Warming Party

I had a house warming party last night with many of my close dear friends. It was so fun to host such a social event in my new home.... Ahh, I like the sound of that.. my home... I made a seven layer dip, had the famous mango salsa from Costco and I made my first cheese ball. It turned out pretty dang good if I do say so myself.

I figured the cheese ball needed a close up...


This is my colleague Rebekah. She is one of my favorite people. We both teach fourth grade and have so much fun together. She got me a rice cooker and not just any rice cooker, but a red one. She saw the color scheme in my front room and decided to add to it. She did a great job decorating the wrapping. Each side of the gift had a very special note on it.





Six of the eight folks from our Havasupai trip earlier this year were there, so
we had to get a reunion picture! It was so great to see them all!



A few other pictures of great friends...

This is Cherise and the twins Kali and Kaitlin. They are a part of my dinner group.



I work with Halle and Gina and I was so glad they could both come!



This one is Clay. I hadn't seen him since the STP road trip we took in July, so it was extra fun to catch up.



This is Cody (good friend from high school) and Keri (friend I met through the frisbee club team).



This picture shoes Dave and Sam, who go all the way back to Campus Plaza days, Keri, Jake (Macey's Boy) and Mark



To top the night off, my cousin Heather stayed the night. She had driven down from Salt Lake for the party and decided to stay. We stayed up talking until 4:00 AM! I can't remember the last time I stayed up that late. It was so great catching up with her.



All in all, a very successful night! I love people and my associations with them are very important to me. It brought my heart a lot of joy to see so many people I care about.

I'm a "real" adult now...

So I figure that having a mortgage now qualifies me as a real adult. I finally bit the bullet and bought my own place. I would have done so years ago, but I wanted to wait until I was done with my graduate degree. Since I graduated in August and have no more tuition to pay, it was time!

It has been so much fun. I took a day off work and Kristy came over and we went shopping for all of the stuff you need that you didn't realize you needed, like a garbage can, toaster, broom, microwave and the list goes on. Here are a few pictures from the moving in process and of the house.


Kristy had to take a picture of our Target excursion... It looks like I'm a contestant on Supermarket Sweep!



After we made it home with all the goods, Kristy helped me to assemble...



Here we are after hanging up pictures and finishing all of our assembling projects



A different view of the living room that shows my favorite feature of the room... the red wall!



The kitchen



Joe and Dave are going to come put shelves in my garage and hang some hooks so I have a place to hang my bikes. It is so fun to have a real home... a home of my own. I have the place to myself for this month before I have a roommate move in and I am enjoying it thoroughly!

A nasty trick...

So someone played a nasty trick on me tonight. The trick wasn't meant for me necessarily, but I was the lucky girl to fall into its grasp none-the-less.

I headed out to go to the gym tonight for my daily run. The gym in the evenings is especially busy and tonight was no exception. The place was packed and I was excited that there was one treadmill still left open. I don't like wasting the time waiting for a machine. (For the record, I would go outside if I could, but I won't go after dark by myself, which means I go to the gym often...)

So I parked myself next to the only open treadmill and went to set my jacket and keys down. At the same time, I stepped my foot up onto the base of the machine. Ha ha, funny joke! Someone had left the machine running! I'm sure you can picture what happened here... Yes, as soon as my foot hit the runner, my body went down. Talk about embarrassing. I some what caught myself on the rail, but I can only imagine what I looked like.

The guy on the treadmill next to me quickly jumped off the machine to make sure I was okay. I tried to compose myself and brush it off like it was no big deal, but I can only imagine what I looked like.

So word of advice... Sometimes people like to leave the machines running when they are done with them. Look closely before stepping onto treadmills! You might end up with some sore knees!

The Joys of Childhood...

When I was younger, there was nothing I loved more than Art. I LOVE art. Getting markers, crayons, pastels, paper, or anything else that had to do with art on my birthday or Christmas was like a dream come true. I can't count the amount of coloring contests I entered...

I have been given the opportunity this year to teach an after school art class for 3-6 grade students. Thus I have taken some time out of my hectic schedule to return to my childhood love and explore art once again. My sister-in-law Marina teaches an art class out of her home once a week and she has shared some cool ideas with me. In-between conference sessions today, we had a little "art hour." Here are some of the projects that resulted. Doesn't the self portrait look just like me!

Sunday Morning Excitement

As I pulled into the church building this morning, there were herds of people hanging out in the parking lot... odd. As I parked and joined the crowd, I found out that there was a fire drill of sorts at the church. I don't know if it was truly a drill or if it was a real scare, but firemen and a ambulance showed up. It was kind of odd to experience a fire drill outside of a school setting. Suffice it to say, Church had an exciting start today!

So I told a falsehood...

So my last post saying that I am "all raced out," is apparently a lie because this blog post is a call to you all, possibly a plea, to have you all come run a race with me. Let me explain...

This race is called the PiMi. I have a friend that started this race two years ago as a way to raise money for a charity. They invited me to be a part of the team that puts on the race last year and I am now an official member of the "PiMi" team. Pi stands for the number 3.14 and Mi stands for mile, creating a 3.14 mile race... in case you hadn't put two and two together yet...

Really long number, really short race. This year there is not only a 5K, but there is also an option to do a 10K relay. I have five good reasons why you should run this race... hear me out...

Reason #1: All of the proceeds go to a charity... this year being the Women's and Children's Crisis Center. There are so many that have so much less than we do and this is a great way to help out some of those folks.

Reason #2: If you know me, you probably know a lot of my friends... many of whom have already committed to run. Yes, this includes co-workers, neighbors, friends, my chiropractor... what better race to run than one with friends!

Reason #3: Everyone needs a little motivation to get in better shape!

Reason #4: You can be a part of the elite group of people who own a t-shirt that has a "pi" symbol on the back. Everyone who sees you will think you are extra smart.

Reason #5: Consider it a birthday present...

The date of the race is Saturday, October 10th. If you are interested, check out the website to register at

thepimi.com

Hope to see you there!

All raced out...

I have participated in a ridiculous amount of races this year... my race budget has by far been surpassed. I participated in another race today... a marathon relay. I did it for the first time two years ago and quickly became hooked. This was my third year to participate and it was again a success! Last year they capped the registration to only 50 teams, but this year they let it stay open and we had 97 teams. We took first place in our category and got first place medals! It was very exciting.

However, I am a little raced out. I need a little break. It has been difficult for me to keep a very strict training schedule with school starting... I might just take a little break for a while... not from running, but from racing. Here are the pictures from all of the exchanges today.

Runner 1: Dave Kroupa
Runner 2: Jessie Jensen
Runner 3: Barry Beckstrand
Runner 4: Nick McCombs
Runner 5: Cami Larsen

Exchange 1


Exchange 2


Exchange 3


Exchange 4

First Triathlon

I completed my first triathlon up at Bear Lake last weekend... sort of. I can't take credit for completing the whole thing on my own because I had a relay team and I just did the biking portion of the race. However, it was still a triathlon and I loved it! This was the first time for me to race my road bike and I think I'm hooked.



This is Jake. He was our swimmer. He also works for Alpine School District as an English teacher and he helps in coaching the swim team. I met Jake at the grocery store a few years ago... yes, the grocery store. Jake and I became friends at Maceys!



This is Nick. He was our runner. Nick has been in my ward for the last year. He used to run for BYU and he is a phenomenal runner.

My roommate Cherise is the one who invited me to do the triathlon. She and her brother did the full Olympic on their own. I thought it would be fun to join them, so Cherise, her brother Dallas, his wife Natalie, Jake, Nick and I left for Bear Lake Friday afternoon. We stayed the night at a cabin there so that we could get to the race start nice and early. This is a photo of Jake, Cherise, Nick and I just before the swim was about to start.



For triathlons, one has to be marked. The race officials take permanent markers and write your race number on both sides of your arm. They then write your race category and age on your legs. I didn't know this was how it was done, but we thought it was really funny. Here is Cherise and I at the end, showing our team numbers. They had already started to wear off by this point.



My relay team ended up taking first out of all the other team entries! We were pretty excited. Jake had to swim 1 mile, I had to ride 25 miles and Nick had to run 6 miles. We finished in 2:21.33. We were very pleased with our time and placing, especially when we found out that we beat the second place team by 10 minutes! I want to try a sprint triathlon on my own someday, now that I know how the exchanges work and things like that. I just wish I liked to swim more. Here are a few more photos.

Here is the exchange between Jake and I. He is trying to get the timing chip off his ankle so he could pass off to me. Ironic that there is a Macey's sign in the background! Ha ha....

There I go... 25 miles to go...

Here is Cherise on the bike

Done and done...

A group shot before we took off to head home


What a great experience!