I got tagged!

Ok, so I got tagged by Cindy the other day and I have been struggling to come up with something to blog about. I feel like I am pretty boring, so what's there to talk about?


Here are the rules:
A. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves
B.At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people then post their name; then goes to their blogs, leaves them a comment letting them know they have been tagged and invites them to read your blog.


Anyway, here goes:


1. I used to have recurring dreams (or nightmares) about losing my teeth. In my dream, I would be eating something like bread, and all of my teeth start falling out. Since my dreams started, I have developed this phobia of my teeth falling out!!
To give you an example of this fear, a couple of weeks ago, we got tickets to see the Blaze game at the Energy Solutions Arena. We were in the tippy- top of the stadium. I kid you not, there was not one row above us. During the game, I had a hard time relaxing. I gripped my chair for fear of falling. I kept envisioning myself falling face first and hitting my mouth on the seats, and all my teeth falling out!
I'm also afraid of getting in a car accident for fear I will...you guessed it... loose my teeth!


2. I don't really mind fixing meals, but I absolutely HATE coming up with something good to fix! I hate asking "What do you want for dinner?" and no one knows what they want, or I go to make something, to find that I am missing just one ingredient. I want to find somewhere where someone could email me a week's worth of meals, a checklist to see what I already have, then a grocery list I can make from that.


3. I worry with my pets, that my home will smell like a kennel, rather than a home, so I am obsessed with things that smell good! I love the smell of clean white clothes (I love the smell of bleach too, Cindy) I love to use the Snuggle fabric softener in the dark pink bottle! mmm! I love to have the scented oils plug-ins throughout my house. I love cucumber-melon candles, and other candles too, but I HATE buying a candle that doesn't smell when you burn it! I love the Bath and Body works pillow sprays. (the sensual and relaxing kinds are my faves.)


4. I love the weekends. I know you are thinking don't we all? But, the reason I love them, is that my family sleeps in; sometimes till 10:30 or 11:00! If I play my cards right, I can get a couple of hours of pure, quiet alone time! I can read a book, or blog, or anything I want to do without feeling guilty for doing it. (after all, why should I feel guilty when everyone else is asleep)

5. I love reading books that are for me, but I get a kick out of reading children's picture books! Part of that comes with my being a teacher, but the other part is that some of them are so dang cute! Have you ever read any of Mo Willems books? He has written a couple of my favorites. I absolutely love Knuffle Bunny (and it is pronounced with the "k" sound)- it makes me laugh every time I read it. Plus, this one, and all his others I have read, are kid books that are fun for kids AND their parents! The other one of his that I like is Leonardo the Terrible Monster! If you have kids at home, go check them out from the library! Here are a couple more of my favorites (from other people) Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Hinkeys, Good Boy Furgus by David Shannon, Alice the Fairy by David Shannon, Olivia by Ian Falconer, Room on a Broom by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. I could go on, but I must stop!

6. I am not really a "shopper"! I feel like if Old Navy, Kholes, Lame Giant (Lane Bryant) or Costco doesn't have something, then no one does! But I really do hold a special place in my heart for Costco and Amazon.com! They are my faves! In fact, I have 2 dorky dream jobs, one is to work at Costco (I could be the greeter, cashier, or work at Customer Service). I would love to see all the awesome things that come in before anyone else! My other dream job is to be a reviewer for Amazon. Whenever I feel like I have something useful to say about something I have read or bought, I always write a review for that item. (yes, I am aware that I am a dork)

I tag: Janene, Kelli, Kylie, Lexie, Jenny (and as soon as I find one more person to tag, I will tag them too!)

Young Women Leaders' Retreat

I am so tired!
Yesterday, Cami, Tala, Adria, Marci, Terri, Afton, and myself; went to Bear Lake for the night! I think that was the most fun I have had in a really long time! I felt like a little school girl at a sleepover!
We talked, ate treats, laughed, then played games, then laughed some more.
We were going to go to bed at 11:00, but Marci, Cami, Adria and I decided we weren't tired enough, so we talked some more. Then at 2:00am we thought we would call it a night, Adria and I shared a room and started getting creeped out at the window well in our room, which brought up ghost stories, then Cami and Marci tried to scare us, and the four of us talked some more until about 3:00am. Then we thought this time, we are really going to go to sleep. So after a potty break, we got a second wind (or 3rd or 4th) and talked till 4:00am, when we finally threw in the towel.
We got up at about 8:15, and what do you think we did....you guessed it, talked some more.
We got home today at about 6:00pm.
It was so much fun! Thank you Afton for the use of your cabin and the great time we had, and thank you everyone else, it was a blast!

Love notes

Sue walked into Super's room last night when she came home from work, and found these notes for us!


so cute!

Loo is MOONing us!

It's about 1:00pm on Saturday, Loo could be out playing with her friends, playing Wii, or watching a movie. What is she doing... she has been carried away to a small little town called Forks, Washington. She is hanging out with Bella, Jacob and the Cullen's. Yes, she is reading New Moon. Oh my goodness, I think I have created a monster!

update:

11:00pm, still reading

1:00am Sunday, finally finished

LUCKY ME!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Top of the morning to ya!

My post today was inspired by a cute scrapbook page entitled "Lucky Me"

I thought I should share some of the things I love and feel lucky to have!

#1 Jason and the girls! Jason rocks! He is sweet, thoughtful, a handyman, the finder of lost things, and my best friend! He knows me better than I know myself. (how does he do that?)

The girls never cease to amaze me!

Sue is super motivated, and self sufficient. I don't know of any teens that are as responsible. She know what she wants to do with her life and how long it will take her to do it, and she is always making her way toward her goals! We just found out (and I do mean moments ago) that she is getting a promotion at work. She is going to be a Supervisor at Arctic Circle!!

Loo is the spiritual giant of our home. She is also the one who sets the mood among her sisters. If she decides that today she will be a peacemaker, then all will be great with all of the kids. If she decides to be feisty, then most of the time, the kids will bicker and fight. She is a big softy too! Especially when it comes to the pets. Loo is also very witty. On her report card, her teacher commented on her rye sense of humor.

Super is very independent and loves a good routine! She loves to help do things with her dad (especially home improvement projects) recently, she and Jason hung the banister for the stairs together. No one else was around, and Jason couldn't do it by himself, so he called on his personal assistant. She loves to lock herself in her room and play Barbies or with her cash register or school set. She doesn't like anyone to hear or see what she is doing.

As far as their relationships with each other, well they can be the best and the worst of both worlds. I guess you could say they are very passionate! Sue said something really funny the other day that pretty much sums up how my girls are to each other. She said "it's OK for me to make fun and be mean to my sisters, but if someone else tries to do it...watch out!" That pretty much sums them up!

#2 I'm lucky to have a great extended family as well. My mom and dad have taught me a lot. My in-laws are terrific and so supportive, and Jason's siblings and their spouses, and all of my nieces and nephews are great. Plus, I have the BEST grandparents hands-down who have been there for me from the time I was tiny until now, and they just keep going! I have great aunts and uncles and cousins too!

#3 I'm lucky for great friendships! I have awesome neighbors (Chris and Chrissie, you will always be our neighbors, even though you live 40 minutes away), and church friends, and school friends, and I have my sweet friend Alyssa!

#4 I am lucky to live in the U.S. (Do you ever stop and wonder what your life would be like if you were born somewhere else like Iraq or just about anywhere in Africa?)

#5 I am lucky to be alive in this day and age. I could not have made it without flushing toilets, lights that turn on at the flip of the switch, a furnace to keep warm, a stove and oven to cook with, the Internet, so I can blog, my mp3 player to keep me company on the playground, modern medicine.... I could go on all day!

#6 I'm lucky to have Coke. I know it sounds strange, but not a day goes by that I don't drink one. It is simply delicious!

#7 I am lucky for Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, and Samantha who have kept me laughing until all hours of the night!

#8 I am lucky to have a nice home that Jason and I enjoy fixing up. Mostly he does the fixing up, but the ideas do come together, and I help where and when I can.

#9 I'm lucky to have a job I love doing! I just love my little preschool kids. They are so cute, they say the cutest things, and it's the only place I can be a HUGE DORK and no one will care!

I guess what it all boils down to, is that I am pretty dang lucky!

What to read next?

Ok, I am dying for another book to read! I just finished Pillars of the Earth, I have re-read the Twilight series, I need something new to read!! Any suggestions?

Here are the pics we bought for the family room

OK Chrissie, here are the new pictures we bought. We still need a couple more, but we thought these were a great find!

Poor Jason, I really feel bad for him. When we moved into our house, Jason had visions of a room that he could decorate any way he wanted. When we started finishing our basement, he had dreams of making an office with his Star Trek pictures and comic book pictures, only to be forced out by my and my scrapbooking first, then preschool. I feel like he needs a place where he can decorate as he chooses (within reason of course), so that is the reason for all the "Frank" stuff. Don't get me wrong, I like Frank too, but not as much as Jason does! Luckily for me, he also likes Audry Hepburn!

Out with the OLD...in with the NEW???

old living room.... Ahh! The moment of truth!

About little over a month ago, we decided we needed to buy new couches for our downstairs. We searched and searched and finally found something we could be happy with, but we had to special order it and it was going to take 6-8 weeks. (bummer) That's ok though, we thought. This way we will have time to re-paint and get our carpets cleaned before they come.

Meanwhile, we started trying to pick paint. The kids wanted green, Jason and I wanted blue, but we couldn't agree on a blue. Then, we decided we had better find a pillow we like or something first, then pick out our color. We found some great pillows that were lime green and yellow, and decided to go with green!

The first batch of green was fluorescent! It was highlighter marker green! It looked like something really important should be going on in our living room! I told Jason we should decorate with post-it notes and an "EASY" button from Staples!

The next day, we went back to Home Depot to try to get the paint color fixed! Fortunately, we came home with the perfect green, and it was exactly as I had imagined it!

We waited a couple of weeks, for the new couches to be well on their way, and then put we put our old couches up for sale on KSL. Within the first 5 minutes of putting them on, someone called to come and look at them. (yea!) My brother in law, Duane, came over and helped Jason move the couches out of the basement and into the garage so that we didn't have weird-os coming into our home when they came to see the couches. The love seat went out of the basement with no problem, but the couch, was a BEAST! We totally scratched and dented the walls trying to get it out! Then, after the old couches were gone, a SICK thought came to our minds Is the new one going to fit?

We made a trip to the furniture store to check the floor model and measure it. We bought a sectional and thought that both pieces were the same length, 80 inches. When we came home with that measurement, Jason thought there was no way that could be right, so the next day, he went back again. It turns out that one piece is 80 inches, the other is 93 inches!!!!!

Jason came home from work that night with some cardboard, so we could make a pretend couch and see if it would go down into the room, but we had trouble with the pretend one. The next day, Jason wanted to cancel our order, but the furniture place called the manufacturer and they told us that the couch was done and ready to ship! We were devastated. It was ours whether we had it in the basement or in the garage!!! We were sick! Because we special ordered it, there was no way to return it, plus we spent about $1500 more than we planned! We were SICK!!!

We decided that rather than trying to sell it and lose money, we would spend more money if we had to to get it into the room. We borrowed the Saws-All from Jason's dad, and were planned to cut a load bearing wall if it came down to it.

Well, this morning, the people came to deliver it. We were still on the edge of our seats! We took the smaller one down first because we knew that would fit without a problem, but the guys had trouble with that one. Jason and I looked at each other and said "we are going to have to cut out so much wall!" With a pencil in hand, we waited, Jason was upstairs watching, I was downstairs. They went down and backed into the bathroom, but couldn't make the turn, then went back up the stairs to try for the angle. And it fit!! By the skin of our teeth it fit! I was almost in tears!

The kids made fun of us because I was dancing around and Jason told the guys if he was gay, he would kiss them! We are dorks!

Now that this project is done (except for some cool movie posters we want to buy), we will sit and enjoy our new couch, and relish in the fact that we didn't have to cut down walls to get the stupid thing in!

"Get out of jail free" card

My friend Chrissy asked me if I ever get stories from my preschool kid's family life. But they really don't say anything that would embarrass a family though.
Now Loo on the other hand... when Lexie was in first grade, she told her teacher that I was in jail. the teacher called me at home during recess to find out if I was out of jail. (she suspected that I was probably not in the slammer) Apparently one of the kids in the class' dads was in jail and she wanted to make her feel like that happens to everyone.

Preschoolers say the cutest things!

Yesterday, I was doing some prep-work for preschool, and using the "runny glue" as I like to call it, when Kylie walked in and said "Oh, you're using the teen-ager glue!" I had completely forgotten about teenager glue! How could I forget something so cute!
(The story)During my first year of teaching, whenever we needed to use standard-issue Elmer's Glue, I would squeeze it on the paper for the kids, I wouldn't let the kids do it (mean ha). And of course all the kids would want do it by themselves. I would tell them, "this is glue for grown-ups". Well, Colby would always ask me "Teacher, when do we get to use the teenager glue?"

Last year, I had this little girl named Olivia. She had the cutest way of talking. It was kind-of slobbery. Anyway, she always called me "T-shirt" instead of teacher. Unfortunatly, over the summer she learned how to say teacher. Bummer!

Last week, Damian, one of my youngest students, came to school, walked right inside, and dropped his drawers right in the doorway! He said "Teachoo, look I have big boy pants on!"

And today (Feb. 12 edit) I asked my kids what they know about Valentine's day... Elizabeth said "It means like when your boyfriend gives you lots of presents and stuff, you should give him some too". You can tell she has a teenage sister!