more shopping

So... I guess being on vacation has turned Nate and I into shopaholics. We do pretty good at home not to spend too much money on stuff we don't need... but seriously. We have gone CRAZY the past week. We shopped in San Antonio, San Marcos, and now Austin. I have like 5 new pairs of pants from places like Delia's, Express, American Eagle... some really nice sweaters, victoria secrets pj's, sweats, and sweatshirt... I got skirts and shoes etc. etc. Not to mention all the good coffee I have been drinking. Nate got a blue ray player and today we found some not too expensive blu ray discs at Fry's Electronics... where we spent like 4 hrs roaming and being nerds with all the elctronics. We did well to walk out with just 6 blue ray movies and nothing else. One of the projectors was quite tempting, but that should wait until we have our movie theatre room... if it happens. With all that said and done... NATE AND I ARE SPOILED!! We actually had this conversation... we are totally, completely spoiled. We don't usually do much more than work and work related things... which keeps us busy, but we are really spoiled. We're thankful for the abundance we have, but we have set some goals for the new year and are going to work toward being completely debt free, save wisely, and give wisely. Besides... I don't think I ever want to go shopping again. It actually made me dizzy today... and I have no more money to spend. :) Good thing the relatives are allowing us to stay with them!! By the way... this part of Texas is pretty neat. If you ever get a chance to visit San Antonio or Austin... do it! Now I hope to go to bed... oh yeah... It's my dad's birthday tomorrow... good times!

Christmas Vacation

Merry Christmas!! Nate and I are in Austin, TX. We took a detour to get here... enjoyed a day at Carlsbad Caverns then a couple nights in San Antonio at a really neat hotel on the river walk, which to me is like another country... here's some pictures.

Our living room in our hotel room














This is the path just across from our hotel... so cute. At night it's all lit up with white lights that follow the arches. Our room is above and across from this spot.


















A nice fountain.


Here's a picture of our hotel. Our room windows are the second windows up on the right side. We had a nice view of the river walk.















We left San Antonio this morning and stopped at the largest outlet stores i have ever been to and we walked like 20,000 steps today ( i wore a pedometer to see) and I am exhausted now and not feeling well. I am glad to be in vacation mode and able to sleep a lot and live without a watch. I shouldn't get too used to it though... the drive home and back to work life is not far off...
Merry Christmas!!

Legos and Robots Rock!

Yesterday was the Wyoming FLL (first lego league) Championship. I volunteered to help with our school's team and we have been practicing since September. I helped as much as I could, but being a new teacher requires many meetings and taking classes, so I missed almost half of our FLL practices. Anyway... FLL is pretty fun for 9-14 year olds. It's basically like being on a basketball team for nerds. The top team goes to Atlanta to compete against teams from all over the world. Our team tied for 10th for Robot round points. They did pretty good considering they are mostly 4th graders and competed against 8th and 9th graders. Also, we were in 1st place after the first 12 teams and by the time 58 teams had gone were were still in 5th. It was a LONG, but fun day.
Here 2 of our team members are helping their robot get ready to run another mission.












Here's a look at the competition tables from the stands.












Here's the crowd during opening ceremonies. I am guessing there were about 500 kids there plus coaches and parent. Good times. All four of us who coached our team are very glad it's over, but we'll probably all help next year because we are nerds and enjoy this kind of science, robotics thing.




Today Nate and I went to church to watch the children's choir, then went to lunch with my mom and dad, then did a bunch of Christmas shopping and we have just a few things left to get, but we're pretty much done. Now I am exhausted and can't believe we go back to work in 10 hours. YUCK! Weekends aren't long enough. I did absolutely nothing in my house this weekend... that's always awesome later in the week. :(
I better get some stuff done before I go to sleep... have a great week!

I actually wrote this update last night, but didn't post it until my internet was working again... so here's the post...

Why does the long weekend have to come to an end? I really enjoyed all the time off we had this week. We both had Wed-Sun off and if was great! We went to a movie, had everyone over for Thanksgiving on Thursday… and by everyone I mean 11 adults and 2 kids in our not so huge dinning room, but it worked and was a good time with the family. Someday we may not all be able to get together like we did this year, so it’s awesome that it happened.
On Friday we went to Pottery By You with Erika and mom and had a fun few hours painting pottery. I can’t wait to see what my cup turns out to be… it was fun painting. Then Nate and I went home and decided that we had time to do something that every couple should do once in their lifetime… Watch the Lord of the Rings Trilogy back to back… it didn’t work out to watch all of them at once, but we watched in shift and finished the third one Sunday afternoon after church. They are good movies, but I don’t know how you could watch all 12+ hours of the extended version in one sitting… way too hard!
Sunday night we had friends over to our house and it was very random, but fun. I got to see Bernnie… our friend who has decided to become a Georgia girl. She and her husband even bought a house there… Nate and I will go visit someday. Anyway… it was a good time with the friends, many whom I haven’t seen in a while, and we even got a carpet cleaning lesson. Isn’t it weird how things happen in groups or pairs? Hear me out… our dog Shadow is a very well behaved dog. He never makes messes, hardly ever barks and is just fun. Tonight he puked on the carpet right when people were showing up, so we cleaned the carpet and discovered our carpet cleaner was stupid, then my friend Jamie was balancing her cute baby (Jordan) and a plate of salsa and chips and the salsa ended up on the carpet in a different spot. How crazy is that?! We haven’t spilled on our carpet at all (except water) and the dog never pukes and both happened tonight. So I ran to Wal-Mart and bought some good carpet cleaner and all seems well… it’s just odd how things come in pairs like that.
Now I am watching Nate play Wii Music and it’s kind of a crazy video game. We played lots of Wii Fit this week too and it’s awesome! I want to try to do it every day and see if it really does get me into shape. My muscles hurt from it. Well… I have lots of other things I could write about, but this is already long. It was a good long weekend and I am sad that it is ending, but maybe it will be good to get back into a routine and I do want to see my school kids again… they are a hoot.

Stuff

It was a little over 2 years ago when a former coworker brought me a small, green piece of a Christmas Cactus plant that has been in her family for over 50 years. I didn't really know what to do with it so she advised me to stick it in a cup with a little water in the bottom and watch for roots to sprout, then plant it. Well... i do remember it taking forever for the roots to sprout. Nate kept telling me to be patient to plant it and let the roots get longer. So I waited. They got longer and I put it in this pot. Many times I thought I had killed the thing. I forget to water my plants some times, and they almost die, then I rinse them out with nice water and stick them in the sunshine and they keep bouncing back. Well this one is really bouncing back... gave it a good watering a few weeks ago and sat it in out front window where the sun shines most of the day and I noticed it has buds on it. It's going to bloom this year! Yay! I really didn't know if it would, but here it is. Pink buds preparing to bloom around Christmas. It's kind of a fun thing to see.
Christmas? Thanksgiving? That's next week! I remember last year's Thanksgiving like it was yesterday... time flies when you are busy.
Today I really felt sad for some of the kids in my school. One was excited because she got to go pick up her mom from jail tonight. Another student i was going to work with freaked out when he didn't get help with a math problem and was sent to 'time out' for the rest of the day because he wouldn't calm down and he just kept screaming. I saw 2 teachers almost cry today because they are so frustrated with teaching kids who don't care or don't learn because their lives are so messed up outside of their school day. It's sad. Working at the science zone for 4 years made me forget some of the hard parts about teaching. I was disconnected from really getting to know kids. Now i don't know if I want to know what they have to deal with. It's easier. That sounds bad, but it's true. The hardest part is that I know what it is that they need, but can't share it with them freely. I did see one of my kids at Nate's mom's church the other week, so that's good. I really don't know where this blog is going... just had some time to kill before going to bed. Nate's dad will be home tonight and will be able to celebrate Thanksgiving with us. I know I have other things to blog about and have other pics to show, but they're on Nate's computer and I don't feel like going to get them.
I am off to get ready for bed... ah sleep... one of the best parts of each day!

quick thoughts on the election. Let's just say... we didn't vote for the winner and we're not excited about the fact that the House and Senate are going to be ran by democrats also. It could mean some very interesting changes for America in the next four years. So... we're not too excited about it. However, we trust that what's supposed to happen does and God will do what He must.

On happier notes... we went to Denver this weekend and it was 75 degrees and hardly windy and we had a great time. We went to the science museum and saw a couple Imax films, ate out at some good restaurants and even went dancing... which we aren't good at but we have fun and wouldn't do without each other. For fun we looked at some apartments in a 24 floor apartment building and asked about pricing... let's just say some of the apartments we're well over $2,500/mo. It made me feel like my mortgage payment isn't so bad... at least we have something to show for our money. But if that's the life you want... it was a very beautiful building with tall ceilings, swimming pools, fitness center and coffee shop. Anyway... i want to post pics again someday. I promise to get around to it before Christmas... which is sooo soon! Yikes! Hope you are all doing well.

Weekend

So... the week ended much better than expected, which is lovely.

Today Nate and I worked on our house, did laundry, cleaned, and went to the mountain to make dinner on the campfire. Good times. I feel like I got a lot done this weekend, but there is always more to do. Having had a job that consumed my brain so much these past few years caused me to just do nothing whenever I did have time off, but now I have time to think about all the neat things I could possibly do with my house and with other people, like fam and friends. And again... I am so thankful for the new job I have. So yeah... no pictures to post. I have been too lazy in that area of my life... I'll get to it someday.

Today wasn't the best day. Actually... this week has kind of sucked. I was late for a staff meeting which was quite embarrasing since I'm the noobie and all, and today my kids were bad and I feel like I don't know how to teach them, but I have no curriculum or specific structure to follow and I have 25 different kids and have to plan 25 different things for them to do each day and this is a run on sentence, and I have been helping out at The Science Zone because the new director is in the dark about exhibits and they are setting up a new exhibit and it's just been too much. Did I mention the 3 hour training I had to go to last night and the 2 hour training I had to go to tonight and all the extra work I have to do because of the training? Anyway... i am whinning, but sometimes I just have to get it out to get beyond it.
OK...
So that's that. It's been a busy week and it's only Wednesday night. I am going to try to sell more PartyLite again. I hope some people can come to the party I am having. I need to go send an email out to people so they know about it... I should call some people too. I am also going to have a booth at a craft fair in November and try to sell some extra stuff I have, candles, and maybe get people to have shows so they can get free product too.
I have nothing else to say. I am going to go read my book and go to sleep. wait... I just thought of something. I really miss being on worship team at church. I haven't been able to sing for well over a year and it's sad to me. I miss it. I feel like a part of me is not the same without it. Is that weird?

New Sidewalk

The joys of living in a new development come with some frustrations... like having to replace the entire sidewalk up to our front door and part of our driveway. We decided to have some fun with it though and put our hand print and the year we moved into the house on our sidewalk... so that's the pic to the left. We even had Shadow put his paw prints on it, then washed his paws very quickly! Good times. We'll have to see if they laid the concrete correctly this time. It lasted just over a year before it began cracking, shifting, tilting and splitting apart. Thankfully our foundation is looking just fine and the reason for so much shifting on the driveway was due to a water line and them not compressing the dirt correctly after digging the hole.
On to other stuff... life is busy. My new job is great, but time consuming. I would like to sell PartyLite candles still, but I don't know if I have the time. I just like all the candles and I don't mind getting them for free, while making money. I have an entire 'buffet' full of candles and accessories... i guess if I don't ever sell anymore, I can make that work for a few years. :) Well... Nate and I need to get off of our computers. Sometimes I feel like I live in front of this thing... I use it 50% of the time at work, and then come home to check personal mail, check the weather, look up random stuff, and read family/friend blogs... tis life!

New Job... Old Pic

This picture is from my sister's wedding the first week of June. Now it's August. Wow... I hope i have more time to post pics in the near future. I feel like a lot happened this summer, so far, and going through pictures will help me remember. I remember better when I write posts more often too... journaling is not a bad thing.
So I began my new job this week. I still don't feel like I have closure on the old job... maybe that's because I am still working there a bit? I don't know how long I will be able to do that, but I had made a promise to some things and I need to let my 'yes be yes'.
This week has been pretty easy. Sitting in trainings, soaking up a lot... I mean A LOT, of material, and meeting my colleagues, but it's nothing compared to what I was dealing with at The Science Zone. The Lord surely knew the right timing to give me a job with our school district. Sometimes His timing is everything... actually His timing IS everything and it's hard being patient for Him, but I have a great appreciation for the way He worked this job out. I have a lot to learn, like where my office will be, but that will come next week. Tomorrow we (all the new faculty) have a breakfast with all the administrators in the district and then learn about the education association and policy stuff. Monday we are in our schools rushing to get ready for students who show up on the 18th... I actually think that next Tuesday night is "back to school night" at the school I will be in. Oh yeah... I'm not a classroom teacher. I am a district tutor placed in one of the elementary schools. I bring in new strategies and techniques for students who are not excelling with the ones the school/teacher has used. Could be an interesting job. I believe God provided it for me, and it will be a good experience.
OK... getting long. I just have so much to catch up on. I hope more people I know will begin to read this thing It's hard to keep in touch with people, and if you have a blog and use it, that's how I keep in touch with you!
That's all for now...

two blogs in a row... crazy! I am really just playing with it figuring things out, like how to post photos and stuff. Anyway...

This photo is from Museum Adventure Quest Camp which is a camp I made up last summer. This year we had 5 of Casper's museums together with only 15 kids, but it was still fun. Ft. Caspar Museum made camp fires with the kids. Can you tell what the campfire ring is made of? They're m&m's! It was totally cute and a great way to teach kids how to build a fire. Pretzels were the logs, a graham cracker was the base of the fire, oreo crumbs are the dirt you push away from the fire ring. What a fun idea for kids and summer... Anyway... now that i know how to upload photos, I hope to get many more on here, and now that we are using blogger, more people can comment!

hello blog world. I don't have much time, as always, but I just wanted to blog for a second. Life is weird. Random. I used to listen to tons of music everyday. I can go for days without listening to anything more than the radio, which is fine cause I still get music that way, but seriously... I guess I didn't realize how much I miss music until I have a night like tonight. Nate and I are members of a cd club and we earned 6 free cds and then had limited $.99 for all cds once you buy one at regular price. So we are gonna catch up on the music scene. We ordered 23 cds tonight. they range from new Christian artists like Addison Road who I am excited to have to music like Nelly Furtado and Timbaland so we can go clubbin in our living room... :) I just hope we have time to listen to it all.
Here's another example of random... I got a call from a principal tonight, SUNDAY, and he asked what job I was interested in, said he would look for my resume and call me back. I was totally excited and ready to set up a time for an interveiw and now it's 11:40 pm Sunday night and I haven't had a phone call back and it's kind of dissappointing. I honestly think that the second they hear or read that i work at The Science Zone, they black list me. I have had almost no positive response from principals once they learn I work for the museum... I don't get it. And isn't that illegal? So anyway... it was really weird getting a call on a Sunday evening of a holiday weekend from a principal, but it's even more weird that he didn't call back to say he needed another copy of my resume or that he found the resume I already gave to him after he said he would call back. I'm totally frustrated with lack of a real teaching job... it would be such a blessing financially and in so many other ways, and I really do have a desire to teach in my own classroom. I am trusting God will provide. I am also trying to decide if God is telling me to leave my job since it hasn't been doing much good, even though it's been such a learning experience... I don't know what to do about it anymore. I'm done thinking about it tonight.
Hope you had a great 4th!! We have tomorrow off too! Yay!! I hope to post some good pics of our real quick trip to Denver and Rocky Mountain National Park...we got realy close to some elk... REALLY close and we won a trip to Orlando... it will be the first time we're on an airplane together and the first time on the ocean together... I'm excited. We just have to pick the dates and go. More details to come...

So... this blog is going very slow, but whatever. I am trying to learn how to do some 'design' stuff with it. Like the header? I don't know how to get rid of the original header, but I thought I didn't do too bad with the picture of Estes Park taken on our honeymoon over a year and a half ago and our names looking all cool...

Well... It's Easter Weekend!! I hope everyone enjoys celebrating our Savior's most AMAZING gift of forgivness and love this weekend with family, friends and fellow believers! YAY!!