Always Wright

The Un-Fun Parts of Being Pregnant

2012-02-07T18:47:00.000-08:00

There are lots of fun parts of being pregnant.

Like getting excited about having your own little bundle of snuggles.

And having other people get so excited with you.

And wondering what the baby will look like.

And picking out cute things for him/her.

And baby showers.

And finding out if it's a boy or a girl.

And feeling baby kicks (which hasn't happened yet, but I'm sure will be fun!)

And choosing a name.

And hearing baby's heart beat.

I like those parts.

But there are other parts that I don't like.

Like feeling sicky to my stomach.

And being super tired.

And crying lots and lots.

Overall, it hasn't been as terrible as it could be--I know plenty of people who are much sicker when they are pregnant. I think I am a pretty typical, textbook pregnant lady.

But it has still not been easy.

I have been feeling nauseous, but, luckily, have only thrown up once. Smells definitely trigger the sick feeling (the school cafeteria, bacon, and Walmart are some of the grossest smells right now). It took me about a month of feeling sick to figure out that eating protein throughout the day (and staying away from nasty smells) keeps the nausea mostly at bay. However, cooking meat grosses me out at the moment and makes the sick feeling worse. So...enter lots of cheese and peanut butter. And extra pounds. And pants not fitting.

Mostly I have just been really, really tired. Exhausted is probably a better word. My job of herding 7-year-olds just about wipes me out by the end of the day. I end up staying much later at work than usual on most days, simply because I am so slow and lethargic by the time school is out that it takes me longer to get things done.

So I get home at about 6:30 or 7, eat, then sit on the couch in zombie mode for about an hour until I decide I can't stay up any longer and go to bed.

Needless to say, I don't get much done these days.

Ever.

It's probably sad to admit how proud a day it was for me on Saturday, when we finally took down our Christmas tree/decorations and vacuumed for the first time since mid-December.
Normally that would horrify me, but I am just to tired to care lately.

(I'm sure you've already put two and two together, but this whole tired-ness thing would be why I haven't written any blog entries for the past three months. For some reason tonight I feel very awake! This hasn't happened...well, ever. So it's a good sign!)

And then there's the crying.

Oh, the crying.

I'm not talking about little happy tears from a tender moment in a commercial.

It's more like, as my husband put it, me crying as if someone has died.

Bawling hysterically could be another description.

Without any reason as to why (or maybe with some made-up irrational reason).

It happens maybe three times a week.

Or more.

Last week it was almost every day.
Usually at night.
So, I wake up with super puffed up eyes (which are extremely difficult to put make-up on).

I am, however, very proud to say that I have been tear-free for three days (knock on wood).

Matthew has been the best. He does the cleaning, the cooking, the laundry, the grocery shopping--everything that I used to do. Along with all the stuff that he already does. And he puts up with my irritable moments and crying episodes. Good grief. I don't know what I would do without him--he makes all of this so much easier. I don't know how single moms get through being pregnant on their own--kudos to them!
I know I have needed help.

Which, actually, has been one of the hardest parts about this for me. It has been really, really hard for me to accept the fact that I can't do some of the simple tasks that I normally do (either because they make me sick or because I am just too tired). I have felt like such a subpar wife and a lazy bum!

But that all doesn't really matter, because, in the end, we will have a squeezable, adorable, little baby that is all our own, and every little un-fun part will be so, so worth it!

First comes love, then comes marriage...

2012-02-07T18:13:00.000-08:00

If you are reading this, then you have probably already heard the news:

we are expecting a baby!

The official due date is August 6th.

Right now I am 14 weeks along, just starting my second trimester (woo-hoo!)

No, we don't know what we are having yet (too early for that).

Yes, we are going to find out (probably sometime in late March).

And, yes, we are also moving to another state this summer (Ahh! Crazy. Let's not talk about that right now.)

My young women (at church) and my second grade students' reactions to the news were my favorite by far.

The young women (being teenage girls) screamed and screamed.

The second graders looked at me blankly for about 30 seconds to a minute, until it dawned on them what I had actually said. Then every single one of their hands shot up into the air, wanting to ask a question or tell me about how they know someone else who is having a baby.

Here is my favorite second grade comment:

Student (we'll call him Jack): Mrs. Wright, if the baby is a boy, I think you should name it Jack Jr.
Me: Thanks for the advice. I'll have to run that one by Mr. Wright.
Student: Okay. But, either way, can I be the godfather?

3 Keys

2011-11-19T16:49:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the almost-car-thief (see previous post),

Matthew had to get a new driver's side lock on his car, and a new ignition.

Both of those came with a new key.

So...

Matthew's car now has:

one key to open the driver's side door,

one key to start the ignition,

and another key to open the remaining three doors and the trunk.

The Ghetto Neighborhood Strikes

2011-11-16T16:10:00.000-08:00

I'll just be honest, we don't live in the nicest part of town.

Almost all of our neighbors and people from church have stories about houses and cars being broken into, stuff being stolen, creepy men following them, etc.

So far, none of that has happened to us.

We've just been biding our time, really.

This morning at about 6:15, just as I was finished my workout, a knock came at the door.

Weird.

I looked through the peep hole.
It was the girl who lives upstairs.

I opened the door and she told me that when she had just gone out to her car to leave for work, she had seen a running truck and a guy standing by Matthew's car. When she walked outside, the guy ran back to his truck, and drove off, leaving the emergency lights flashing on Matthew's car.

I thanked her, and went back in the house to wake up Matthew and let him investigate.

The driver's side lock was picked and ruined, and the key ignition was completely stripped.

Had our neighbor not come out at the right time, his car would have been hot wired and stolen.

The downside:

Tow truck + new lock + new ignition = $675

Thanks a lot, car thief.

The upside:
The car wasn't stolen!
For this I am very grateful.
Paying for a repair (even if it is pricey) is waaay better than paying for a new car.

Thank you, neighbor!

An Allison Miracle

2011-11-06T13:11:00.000-08:00

I went to an NFL game.

On Halloween night, nonetheless.

I know.

It's hard to believe.

Here's the proof:

What I Wake Up to in the Morning

2011-11-06T12:54:00.000-08:00

I took this while lying in bed *trying* to sleep in on Saturday.

Just watch it--it's only a few seconds.

{You need to watch the whole thing though, because the good part is at the end.}

He knows he's not allowed on the bed, so this is how he gets our attention.

It makes me laugh every single time he does it!

(Again, sorry for the crappy camera and the lack of sound.)

One of Life's Essentials

2011-11-06T12:48:00.000-08:00

STICKY NOTES

I seriously don't think I could teach school without them.

A Matthew Miracle

2011-11-06T12:33:00.000-08:00

This conversation, or one similar to it, has happened many times over the past two years.

Me: There's a hole in your (boot, shoe, pants, shirt).

Matthew: Yeah, I know. It's falling apart. I've had it forever. I really just need to get some new ones, but not now.

After hearing this over and over, it finally occurred to me that none of these holey, falling apart clothes would ever be replaced, unless I did something about it.

You see, my husband is what you would call cheap.

(Or frugal, which I was informed by a store clerk last week is the more appropriate word I should be using.)

Not only that, but next year, he is going to be starting pharmacy school.

Pharmacy school = major debt = an even worse time to convince Matthew to buy new clothes for himself.

I decided that something had to be done now before it was too late, or I would have to wait for 5 more years until he was done with school and had a real job in order to convince him that we could afford to buy him much needed clothing.

So I cornered him a couple of weeks ago, and made him list off all of his clothing items that were falling apart.

I wrote them down.

Then, last Saturday, I asked him to go shopping.

He actually went.
And he even tried everything on in the dressing room!

Seriously, a miracle.

We didn't get everything on the list, but so far have gotten three nice pairs of dress pants, tennis shoes, and a button-down shirt.
A good start, I'd say.

Also, I was very pleased to discover that several brands make dress shirts in "slim!" Now he can wear shirts that actually fit! Woo hoo!

National Eat An Apple Day!

2011-10-09T14:24:00.000-07:00

This was awhile ago, but on September 17th, we were in charge of organizing a Stake Dance for the youth.

The youth in our ward decided to find a wacky holiday going on that day and theme the dance around it. While we were at the church planning it out in August, we didn't have a computer to look up the holidays, so my little Andrew brother looked them up for us. He always saves the day when it comes to technology.

Anyway, turns out there aren't too many awesome holidays on September 17th. The best one was National Eat An Apple Day, so the kids chose that one.

We kept it pretty simple, with just a few decorations. The food was apple slices with different toppings, apple candy, Apple Jacks cereal, and apple juice.

Here are some photos from setting up the dance:

Youth Trip

2011-10-09T12:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went on a church history trip with the youth from our ward. We visited Far West and Adam-Ondi-Ahman, two places where sacred events in our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) have occurred.

It was a beautiful day to drive out in the country. We are right at the height of perfect fall leaves--bright orange, yellow and red everywhere.

I didn't really get any pictures of that, but here are some other pictures from the day:

Our awesome group of youth at the Far West Temple site:

My amazing first counselor! (And our newest Deacon...)

The Young Men's President and Young Women's President in our ward get along pretty well. ;)

Tree climbing was the activity of choice in Far West...

that, and eating "hot chips."

Overlooking the valley in Adam-Ondi-Ahman

These kids are the best! I love them. :)

Recess Nowadays

2011-10-03T18:34:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I was out on recess duty with another teacher.

We looked over and saw a group of boys taking turns jumping up onto a ledge and then hurling their bodies at each other.

Hmmm.

Definitely not safe or okay for school.

The other teacher went over to investigate/put to an end this little game.

Once she reached the group, all I heard was,

"Boys, we do NOT play Angry Birds at school!"

She then proceeded to tell them that they could be birds, they just couldn't be angry birds or throw themselves at each other.

And so, for the remainder of recess that day, there were five or so boys running around the playground flapping their arms and shouting,
"CAW! CAW!"

The Black Hole

2011-09-25T12:37:00.000-07:00

This is my purse.

My husband affectionately calls it "the black hole."

He can't figure out how (or why) I fit or find all of the things that are in there.

But I will say that it has come in handy for him on more than one occasion.

What can I say...I like to have what I need, when I need it!

A girl has to be prepared!

But I will admit that it is also a bit of a dumping ground.

So today I cleaned it.

And here is what I found:

a cell phone
a checkbook
keys
a flash drive
a purple ipod
a mini Sharpie
a "box top" for education
3 small tubes of Goldbond lotion
1 small bottle of Japanese Cherry Blossom lotion
1 travel size floss
1 chapstick
a Tide-to-go pen
1 mini toothpaste tube
carmex
a comb
4 lip glosses
a jumbo bag of cough drops (70 in the bag)
a ponytail
a digital camera in its case
a Ziplock bag with four bobby pins in it
a roll of thick masking tape
2 plastic eggs filled with Silly Putty
1 silver wallet
a $5 Target gift card
a small bottle of hand sanitizer
a spoon
a small first aid kit with Band-aids and Neosporin
a bottle of Zicam
a pair of sunglasses
an tiny empty sample make up/lotion container
a dime
a business card for my Ear, Nose Throat Doctor
Dramamine
ear muffs
3 binder clips
2 pairs of winter gloves
a polka dot umbrella
two fliers from church
a small notepad
a receipt
a slip of paper listing the addresses and times of some classes I attended in the summer
a thank you card
a Chick-fil-A coupon for a free chicken sandwich (which expires this week--good thing I found it!)
a copy of my visiting teaching route
an old grocery list
a ticket stub from the Princess Diana exhibit that I went to (with Amy, Mary, an unhappy Joey, and baby Moses) in June
a self defense flyer that was probably stuck on my windshield at some point
a Paul Cardall CD
an invitation to a funeral
a hand sanitizer tube
a container of Icebreakers mints
a lanyard
a reusable grocery bag
headphones
a stack of leftover magnets with my name and info on them that I gave to the parents of my students
another spoon
Tylenol
a stack of pass-along cards
lots of cough drop wrappers
2 pencils
4 pens
1 regular Sharpie
(other feminine unmentionable items)

Even I am shocked by all of this.

A little.

Okay, not really that much at all.

Sympathies of a Seven Year Old

2011-09-25T12:03:00.000-07:00

Every week my students write me a letter.

And every week, I write them back.

One of my students (who happens to sit at Team BYU) asked me in a letter last week if I had watched the BYU game.

I wrote back and told the student that no, I didn't watch it, because we don't have t.v.

(That and the fact that I hate football and sports in general...which I didn't feel the need to say.)

Here is the student's response to me about that in this week's letter:

Dear Mrs. Wright,

how are you? I am not great but I am good. I'm so gald that you are my thecher! What do you mean you don't have a t.v? I feel sorry that you don't have a tv! you do have a family and freinds that give you intertament and love!

Love,

(Student's Name)

I had to laugh!

p.s. We really do have a t.v., just no channels. So all it is good for is watching movies.

Justified Pet Peeve Hypocrite

2011-09-19T18:52:00.000-07:00

We all have pet peeves.

You know, little things that annoy us and drive us crazy, even though they truly aren't a big deal.

Here are some of mine:

drivers who think the speed limit doesn't apply to them
when people take their food out of the microwave before it beeps, but never push the reset button, so that the microwave says 00:03 all day instead of the time.

Another one of my pet peeves is this.

A husband is in medical/dental/law school, and his wife either works or stays at home with the kids,

yet the wife walks around saying to people, "we're in medical school."

Lady, you are NOT in medical/dental/law/whatever school. Your husband is.

(If she was also in medical/dental/law school, then she could totally say that.)

However...

Next Fall, Matthew will be starting pharmacy school.

Right now he is going to the community college taking the last few pre-requisites (statistics, micro-biology, anatomy, and speech) that he didn't take at BYU, back when he was still planning on going to medical school.

And ever since the semester started, our nightly pillow talk conversation has suddenly centered around cells, bacteria, where all of the holes in a person's skull are, muscles of the body, number of bones in the hands and feet,

etc, etc, etc.

I'm pretty sure he comes home and tells me just about everything he learns in class.

Because of this, I am pretty sure it will be fair to say that "We" will be in pharmacy school starting next year.

If only I had a better memory, I could be a pharmacist too--home-schooled style.

Don't Look at Me with Those Eyes...

2011-09-18T16:06:00.000-07:00

Someone has been throwing his kong (what we put his treats in) at me alllll day long.

Then staring at me with expectant eyes.

Like this.

I did not give in to him.

Matthew did.

(Like father, like son?)

Here is a video (that is very poor quality from my super old digital camera that is grainy, pixely, and has no sound) of what has been happening all day.

Mostly, I share this video because I know it will soothe my father-in-law's jetlagged, dog-less soul.

p.s. sorry it is so long...I thought he was going to do it again--I guess he got camera shy. Pretty much you can stop it after about 30 seconds--nothing else happens after that.

(And I probably need a better camera for Christmas...hint, hint, husband.)

Will Work for Food

2011-09-11T18:23:00.000-07:00

Matthew occasionally tutors one of my young women from church in math, when she needs help with her homework. They had worked out an hourly price that she would pay for his help.

Then I had my birthday.

And she made me a cake.

A carrot cake.

An amazing one.

The next time we saw her, Matthew mentioned how amazing the cake was and told her that he would be happy to accept tutoring payment in cake form.

She and I laughed.

Then he told us that, no, he was dead serious.

He wanted to be payed in cake.

So, today he got his first "paycheck."

And he is one happy camper, let me tell ya.

Team BYU

2011-09-11T18:16:00.000-07:00

As part of introducing myself at the beginning of the school year, I mentioned to my kiddos where I went to college. Most of them had never heard of it, but I do have three LDS kiddos in my class this year (Yes, THREE! Isn't that crazy?!) who totally ate it up.

My students are always seated in either tables or rows. I let them come up with a team name every time I change the seating chart. It's fun for them and it makes it easier for me to call them in small groups to line up or transition to other parts of the room.

I gave each group five minutes to come up with a name, and told them that if they couldn't agree on one by then that I would name them the Hannah Montana Lovers (That method never fails :)

As I walked around to check on the teams and hear their name choices, lo and behold, what do I find?

Team BYU.

In the middle of a second grade class in Missouri.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

2011-09-11T18:03:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are curious, here is a look at my classroom!
(sorry for the fuzzy pics, p.s.)

(These were taken before school started--the day of Back-to-School-Night. And this is the cleanest you will ever see my desk all year...)

One of my roommates, Darilyn, helped me pick a theme for my room the first year I started teaching. We decorated it Wizard of Oz style, just for fun, and because we couldn't come up with anything else that we liked. I just stuck with it every year after that, because I didn't want to buy new stuff.
Now everyone assumes that I am obsessed with that movie, which is not true, but it's okay. :)

(I do, however love the musical Wicked.)

So...of course students buy me Wizard of Ozish presents. Here is the stash:

And there you have it! Where I spend most of my waking life.

No. 27

2011-08-27T15:31:00.000-07:00

On the first day of school, I had my kiddos guess different things about me: favorite color, animal, sport, etc. One of the things they had to guess was my age.

Some of their answers were:

"48?"

"32?"

"20?"

Turns out I am 27.

As of yesterday.

{As I typed that I realized how scarily close it is to 30!}

I don't usually even like to mention my birthday. I feel like it draws unnecessary attention to myself, and that I am making people feel obligated to do things for me on that day.

Over the past few years, I have been getting better at not doing this, but it is still hard for me.

The day before my birthday, we had a lesson in math about calendars.
Our math lessons are pretty scripted for us, and we pretty much have to stick to them.

One of the things the kids all had to do was fill in a blank calendar in their math journals to match the current month. Once they had filled in all of the dates, we are supposed to go through it as a class and mark important dates, such as holidays or class birthdays.

Turns out there are no holidays in August.

{Unless you count the 1st day of school, which I did in this case}

Or class birthdays.

Except mine.

So, here it is, the second week of school, and I am having my students all write on a calendar that my birthday is tomorrow.
I have a paraprofessional in my classroom this year.

Throughout the whole lesson I was really hoping she wasn't think I was just trying to advertise my birthday.

I was so totally embarrassed.

The actual birthday turned out fine. Over half of my students made me cards at home and proudly handed to me as they walked into class. I loved those--kids make the cutest cards!

A few of my co-workers got me treats {Reese's, to be specific, since they all know I have a serious addiction to peanut butter}.

Unfortunately, I have a peanut allergy in my classroom, which means NO peanut related products can even enter my classroom. I had to take the Reese's back to one of the gift-givers and ask her if she could give it to me after school. Haha.

I also received an unexpected rock star style singing and dancing performance of the Happy Birthday Song, performed by the lady who makes our copies, who randomly showed up in our classroom during writing time.

As I was driving home, I thought to myself, "Man my feet hurt! I am so not used to being on my feet all day anymore. I could sure use a pedicure!"
And, lo and behold, I walked into my house and opened a card from my in-laws which contained a gift certificate for a pedicure! :) :) :) Inspired.

After school, I came home to the hubby, who gave me some flowers and presents (one of which included extra Yahtzee score cards. haha.).

He then blindfolded me and drove me to an unknown location for dinner, which turned out to be a surprise party for me, put on by one of my young women.

We had dinner, and games, and AMAZING carrot cake, which I blew the almond slices off of and all over the table when I blew out the candles.

All in all, it was a very good birthday.

Thank you to the bestest husby, co-workers, family and friends!

Strange...

2011-08-18T17:31:00.000-07:00

I have made an interesting observation this week.

Remember how I had that blister/cyst thingy on the inside of my lip?

I first had it from about January 2010 until May 2010, when I had it removed.

This past April, it returned.

I would pop it, and then in two or three days, it would be back.

For two months straight.

Same spot as before and everything.

Grrrr.

I spoke to my doctor in May about whether or not I should have it removed again.

He said to wait for a couple more months to see if it went down.

So I did, and the thing disappeared! Woo hoo!

About a week ago, it was back.

Yesterday (the first day of school) it was HUGE.

I started thinking...and I noticed something.

Let's recap what was going on in my life throughout this whole situation.

First time I had the cyst: I was getting married/planning a wedding. It appeared within weeks of our engagement.

Second time: I had just been called as the Young Women's President and was finishing up the last two months of the school year.

When it disappeared: Summer.

When it re-appeared last week: week before school started.

Hmmm...

Is anyone else seeing a pattern here????

Is this cyst my body's way of responding to stressful events?

Is that even possible?

Strange, I tell you, strange.

Piano Man

2011-08-13T15:04:00.000-07:00

The husby plays the piano. Very well, actually.

As they like to put it, his siblings were forced by their mother to learn to play the piano until they could play all of the hymns in the hymnbook.

Funny thing is, he doesn't like to let people in on that little secret.

I don't think I'd ever heard him play until we'd already been married for 3 or 4 months.

I did know, however, that he played.

One week, the Bishop asked me at church if I knew how to play the piano.

I responded by telling him that I do a little, but not well enough to accompany.

And also by telling him about my husbands hidden skills.

The following Sunday, Matthew was asked to play in Priesthood meeting.

After the meeting, the Bishop walked up to him and said,

"I'd like to thank you for playing today. I'd also like to thank your mother, for forcing you to learn to play.

And I'd also like to thank your wife, for letting me know that you play."

Mwa-haha.

Shortly after that, I convinced him to play a musical number in Sacrament meeting.

After the meeting, he was approached by two teenagers wanting piano lessons. Although he had never taught lessons before and wasn't sure if he felt qualified, he decided to try it.

Now, eight or nine months later, he has some 10 or 12 students.

Not something he ever expected.

Funny the things life brings you sometimes.

Anyway, we live in a one bedroom apartment and own no piano, so he has been traveling to everyone's homes to teach lessons, which was very time consuming. {And with gas prices lately, expensive.}

But last week, my wonderful mother-in-law brought down their family piano for us to borrow, since no one is really using it anymore.

Here it is, all nice and shiny and pretty!

In case you were wondering {like I was} how in the heck we were going to fit that thing in here,

the answer is: barely.

He had his first lessons at the house today, and I must say that it is kind of fun to watch him in action.

Thank you Julie and Newell for letting us use the piano!

Frustration and Stuffed Pizza Rolls

2011-08-13T14:45:00.000-07:00

First I shall vent.

I have to watch 2.5 hours of safety training videos before school starts on Wednesday. And I also got this new packet of phonics stuff from the school district that needs to be cut out, colored, and laminated.

So, my brilliant plan was: do them both at the same time, on Saturday.

Which is today.

I got myself situated with the computer and my crayons, all ready for the day's activities.

And the dern website for the videos won't let me in.

It seems to be working for everyone else that I have talked to or emailed, just not me.

So now I have to find some other time to do it on Monday or Tuesday, after the District Office is open and someone can help me fix it.

Time is what I do not have on those two days.

Lame.

But now, let's talk about fun things. Tasty things.

Aside from my continuous coloring, today I made these stuffed pizza rolls from a food blog, Our Best Bites {which I adore}.

{One pan was ham and pineapple, the other was olive and tomato. Hence the pineapple and olive marking the tops.}

They were crispy, and fluffy, and full of cheesy goodness!

And, not only that, but we got to dip them in Matthew's homemade marinara sauce!

My husband {who possesses more domestic skills than me in many ways} has been busily canning homemade spaghetti sauce that he is making using tomatoes from our garden {and many other people's}.

Delish.

And we are going to a friend's wedding reception tonight.

Friends.

Cake.

Pretty Dress.

My day is much, much better.

For Reals?

2011-08-13T14:09:00.000-07:00

I got my Downeast catalog in the mail today.

And these pants were in there.

And the description reads:
"Relaxed fit tapered ankle pant in rayon jersey.
Front pockets.
Elastic waist and hem.
Pull-on styling."

OMG.

Seriously?

Can we say early 90's??

I know that retro and bringing back old stuff is in and all, but there are some styles that should just be left alone.

p.s. Caroline, this post is especially for you.

Our 1st Anniversary: Geriatric Style

2011-08-07T16:30:00.000-07:00

So last week, for our anniversary, Matthew took me to see

It was at a dinner theatre, so you sit at a table and get to eat nice food, then watch the show, which I thought was really fun!

We went to a lunchtime showing on a Wednesday.

As we were pulling in, I asked Matthew, "Who goes to a matinee showing at lunchtime on a Wednesday?? Is anyone else even going to be here?"

Oh, you betcha there were other people there!

OLD PEOPLE.

Lots and lots of them.

And 80's neon lights.

We're pretty hip like that.

Just more proof for ya.

{in case the whole Yahtzee thing wasn't enough}

{I was still sick with a tummy bug, as I'm pretty sure you can tell from the above picture. Unfortunately, the tickets were semi-expensive and non-refundable. But I made it through!}

The show was great {I had never seen it or heard the music before} and we had a lot of fun.

Thanks for the gift, Matthew!

{Even though he refuses to read my blog}

Faking It

2011-08-07T15:57:00.000-07:00

My hair is straightish/blah in texture.

If I leave it to its own devices, it dries neither straight nor curly/wavy,

but somewhere in between that is just fuzz.

In order to look decent, it must be forced into a style.

Which takes time. And damaging heat.

Don't get me wrong--I love my hair! {Probably too much}

It's just that sometimes I get so jealous of people with naturally curly or wavy hair.

Seriously! How nice would it be to just scrunch in some gel and go?

My hair does not do that...

on its own, that is. :)

Fortunately, I have learned how to make it do that!

Step 1: Wash or wet hair at night.

Step 2: Twist small sections of wet hair and use bobby pins to pin twists on top of head.

{you don't have to pin it on top, but it is much easier to sleep that way--trust me}

Step 3: Sleep!

Step 4: Unpin hair in the morning and comb it out with your fingers.

{If your hair is anything like mine, it will look like you stuck it in an electric socket--veeery frizzy! Do not be alarmed!}

Step 5: Grab some gel and scrunch it into your hair until it looks the way you want.

Voila! Wavy hair!

YUM Yum yum

2011-08-06T17:15:00.000-07:00

Two tasty new discoveries were made by yours truly today.

Discovery # 1

These breadsticks {the husby is still raving about them, even after dinner}.

You should totally try them.

If you do it, make sure you make the garlic bread seasoning recipe to go on top.

Just trust me.

{Byers--this bread is so for you. You will die of happiness on the spot!}

Discovery # 2
The second discovery is something that probably everyone else knows,

but I am excited--so I will share!

I made homemade chicken noodle soup to go with the breadsticks, since it is a good sicky food, and I am still feeling sickish {and I gave my stomach bug to the husband...whoops}. It was the least I could do.

Usually when I make something that calls for already cooked chicken breast, I just boil it,

because it's fast and...well that's all I've ever done, basically.

Once, while looking online to find out exactly how long one should boil chicken (I feel like I always overcook it) I found that I kept stumbling upon person after person ranting about how no one should ever boil chicken.

They claimed that it overcooks the chicken, dries it out, and saps it of its flavor. Most of them recommended baking your chicken instead.

Today, as I was cooking, I remembered this tip. And I had time, so I baked it.

I will never boil chicken again, if I can help it.

It was SO much juicier, so much more flavorful, and just all around so much tastier!

{Matthew even tasted it and agreed.}

I am amazed.

And probably you already knew that chicken secret, but I did not.

Yay for chicken!

And learning how to cook better!

Zer0 Credibility

2011-08-05T14:56:00.000-07:00

I've seen it time and time again.

I give my husband advice.

He completely rejects it.

Shortly thereafter, someone else tells him to do the exact same thing.

Suddenly it's the greatest idea ever and he's totally going to do it.

- -

______

The classic example of this is the blueberry pie story.

We were engaged. It was March 14th (Pi day).

Matthew is into math. I am into food.

So I thought I would make it into a celebration and bake a pie!

I thought a blueberry pie sounded really good, made with fresh blueberries. I've never had one, but I wanted to try it.

He thought it sounded gross and told me no.

Not a month later, Matthew is watching Good Eats on t.v.

Alton Brown demonstrates how to make a blueberry pie.

Using fresh blueberries.

And ever since then, guess who is fascinated with wanting to make a fresh blueberry pie?

Seriously.
I knew to expect my teenagers to be like this, but I never thought my husband would be!

true lo♥e

2011-07-31T15:04:00.000-07:00

sick as a dog
{and looking like a beast},
with a
tear stained
and
make-up-less
face,

having just lost
breakfast,
lunch,
and dinner
for 3 days in a row.

yet,

my husband

sits at my side,
gazing at me

as if i were
the most beautiful
thing
he's ever seen.

if that's not true love, i don't know what is.

Poisoned at Youth Conference

2011-07-31T14:27:00.000-07:00

In the wee hours of the morning on Thursday, Matthew and I left to chaperone a group of teenage youth on a 3 day Youth Conference trip to Nauvoo, IL.

Nauvoo was one of the early settlements of the Mormon Pioneers and is rich with LDS church history.

There is a whole little "city" full of restored buildings from the 1800's, such as a blacksmith shop, bakery, post office, shoe store, homes, and many more things. There are guided tours, performances, horse drawn wagon rides and ox cart rides, a beautiful temple, and a big pageant at night. And everything is free.

It is an amazing place and I love it there.

Plus I was going to be there with my husby and my cute girls from church.

Excited?

Um. Yes!!

Unfortunately, something I ate the day before we left gave me food poisoning.

My body did not decide to inform me of this until we were already on the bus.

And I spent the whole trip either dying of sharp abdominal pains on the five hour bus rides there and back, or cooped up in the ~~bathroom~~ hotel room.

The end.

p.s. Stay away from food. It has poison in it.

{p.s.s. Just because I'm sick does not mean I'm pregnant. Had enough of that rumor already this weekend!}

Sweet Things

2011-07-27T06:03:00.000-07:00

The young women and the other leaders gave me these at my first activity back, after being out of town.

Just because they missed me, they said.

Such sweet people in my life. :)

Speaking of sweetness, for that same activity I made these marshmallow brownies that I saw on someone else's blog:

Basically you make a recipe of brownies, pull it out of the oven 5 mins early, pour a pound of marshmallows on top, stick it back in the oven for 5 mins (it will have POOFED up like crazy), let it cool down completely (and deflate), then cover it in a fudgy frosting (like the kind on Texas sheet cake) and let it set for a few hours.

So, you know.

Just in case you are ever interested in eating all of your daily calories in one brownie.

{p.s. these are very tasty and gooey, but so rich you won't be able to eat more than one!}

{Old Movie}

2011-07-26T17:48:00.000-07:00

Last weekend's movie night choice:

DON'T be expecting deep dramatic moments or a spectacular plot, but DO expect a good laugh!
It's fun, lighthearted and silly, but not overly cheesy or annoying.
(and perfect for those who enjoy a healthy dose of Cary Grant!)

Haircutting Woes

2011-07-26T08:35:00.000-07:00

One of the responsibilities I inherited upon getting married is cutting my husband's hair.

It terrifies me.

Normally I would say no.

I'm not trained! (Even thought I would LOVE to be)

Why would I want to risk butchering someone's locks because of an accidental flick of the wrist???

Go to professional, for crying out loud!

But.

It's Matthew we're talking about here--

won't spend a dime on something he can do himself.

It's either I cut his hair....or he does.

So I do it.

The whole process is a flying mess of hair bits (we're both covered in it by the end),

and shrieks and screams (from me), and eye rolls (from him).

He could care less about how it looks or comes out, whilst I agonize over and analyze every sticking up hair, the straightness of lines, and whether or not everything is blended enough.

{Just another one of those lovely differences between men and women. Once I messed up and had to buzz the whole thing. I am still mortified by it. He doesn't even remember that it happened.}

In the end, I usually call it "good enough" and put away the clippers with a "Harrumph, " completely unsatisfied with my work, but glad to be done with it until the next time.

{And then I spend the next 24 hours staring at his head and whining about all of the bad spots.

Which he loves I can assure you.}

It's terrible.

And yet, I keep doing it.

I guess I just care too much.

The Hike of Death

2011-07-25T18:56:00.000-07:00

On our second day in Yellowstone, we met up with Matthew's aunt and uncle to take some hikes.

We arrived at our hiking spot sometime in the late morning, so we decided to take the short hike before lunch and do the longer one after.

Sounded good to me! I am all about short hikes.

The name of the hike was "Uncle Tom's Trail." I thought that sounded wonderful--like a leisurely meandering path beside a stream. It was would be short, easy, and we would be back for lunch in no time!
Perfect.

We headed down the trail. It was hardly steep at all, and nice and woodsy. I was enjoying myself quite nicely.

After we had hiked for a few minutes, we began to pass some hikers who had already completed the hike and were heading back to the top.

They all looked very sweaty. And they kept saying things like, "Oh, you must be brave souls!"

Odd.

Then I turned a bend and saw the rest of the trail.

Stairs.
Many, many flights of stairs.
Heading straight down the canyon for as far as the eye could see.

(p.s. my camera was dead on this day, so all pictures are pilfered from the internet)

"No big deal!" I told myself.

After all, I used to live south of campus when I went to BYU, hiking the stairs at the bottom of the hill and in the Tanner building day in, and day out.

I was totally tough enough for this!

I was wrong.

Turns out these are not normal stairs.

Lookie at this picture right here. See how the stairs are bolted to the side of a cliff?

Do you also see how they are full of see-through holes?

DO you know what that means?!?

It means that no matter how hard you try, you cannot help but stare hundreds of feet below into jagged cliffs each time you take a step, because you have to watch where your feet are walking!

About halfway through, my knees began to shake. Not from being on the stairs, mind you, (we were going DOWN at this point, not up), but because I was totally freaked out by the view.
Well, more like terrified.

Somehow I managed to make it (still shaking) to the bottom, and this is what I saw:

Totally worth it.

{p.s. You can't really see it in this picture, but all of the stone in that canyon is bright yellow! And THIS would be why they call it Yellowstone. No thank you very much jeweler lady!}

Why do they call it Yellowstone?

2011-07-25T18:35:00.000-07:00

All week long, I kept wondering why it was called Yellowstone, and no one could tell me.

One night we were visiting the little tourist shops in West Yellowstone.

I was in a jewelry shop looking in the display case, when a large yellow gemstone caught my eye.

Next to it was a piece of paper describing a Native American legend about these precious yellow stones found in the area, and the struggle that was undertaken to save them from the white people.
The end of the story explained that this was how Yellowstone got it's name.

I was so excited! Finally, I knew why it was called Yellowstone!

I called over my sister-in-law and had her read the story. She agreed that it was beautiful. We were both glad to know the secret of Yellowstone at last.

Just then, a saleslady came over to us and asked if we needed anything.

I immediately gushed to her enthusiastically and thanked her for giving me the answer to my question that no one else could seem to tell me.

Her response: "Oh, that? I made that up."

- -

Hmmmph.

Yellowstone

2011-07-25T18:21:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we went camping in Yellowstone with the in-laws.

Of course we stopped by Old Faithful.

And lots of other crazy geysers

(Including this one that hadn't gone off for several years, but happened to go off right when we were there!)

We also saw lots of hot springs.
I learned that different bacteria in the pools can cause the ground to turn certain colors.

We were surrounded by gorgeous waterfalls and fantastic views,

And TONS of puffy clouds. Puffy clouds are my favorite.

Other than the beautiful scenery and volcanic thermal areas, this is what I saw all day:

He loved every bit of it. LOTS.

We searched for animals the whole time we were there. We saw a bunch of elk, a few of us saw a wolf run across the road, and a few others of us saw the backside of a bear.

But THE animal of Yellowstone is definitely the bison. They were everywhere.

Along with signs that said things like,

"Warning: Bison may look friendly and gentle, but they are wild and ferocious."

So you can imagine my reaction when one day this happened:

{Just to give you a visual, our windows were down at this moment and I was screaming at Matthew to roll them up. Of course his car is old and the driver's side window needs to be (literally) pushed on in order to roll up, which added to my panic.}

But don't worry. We remained safe from the all of the ferociousness of the bison and we are still alive.

Daughters of a King

2011-07-24T19:26:00.000-07:00

My heart feels very full right now.

Today I have spent a lot of time with and thinking about the young women I work with at church.

I have never known teenage girls who are so strong in their morals and standards, so willing to stand up for what they believe in, so full of the light of Christ. Not only that, but they love each other! There is no gossip, drama, or unkind words. They are always excited to help and ready to give a hug.

These girls know who they are: daughters of God.

They are incredible.

I love this song, because it describes so well how I feel, and it reminds me of my sweet girls.

There is so much filth in this world, and so much confusion. So many women settle for less than they deserve because they don't feel they are worth anything.

The truth is, we are daughters of a Heavenly King, filled with potential beyond anything we have ever dreamed.

I wish every girl and woman could realize this sacred truth and the power that is in it!

Dunce of Cakes

2011-07-23T15:34:00.000-07:00

For those of you who were wondering if I still existed, fear not!

I was just on vacation (some of it for real and some of it for pretend).

Anyway, now I'm back.

As part of that vacation (the real part) we went to Utah to see family.

We got to be there for the Fourth of July, which is one of my all time favorite things to celebrate with my family in Provo.

It so happens that Matthew's cute littlest sister, Eliza, was born on the Fourth of July.

And is also so happens that she lives in Provo.

She is a fancy cake-maker-person, so I decided to make her a cake.
(Don't ask me why I thought that was a logical decision.)

I had an amazing plan: a three layer cake (with red, white and blue layers), and cream cheese frosting topped with strawberries and blueberries in a lovely design.

Like I said, I had an amazing plan...

It started out well. I made a red velvet cake and dyed half of the cake blue instead of red.

I thought the batter looked like playdough.

And dyed myself in the process...

Notice my lovely assistant with her deadly looking utensil.

(It was Carol, in the kitchen, with the whisk...)

I made the cakes the day before, because I wanted to freeze them so that they would be easier to stack and decorate. They cooked and cooled and froze beautifully.

The next day, after the 4th of July parade, which is THE best part of the day, hands down, I set out to make the frosting.

I knew I needed to make it right away so that the cake would have time to defrost before the party that evening. But, silly me, I had failed to read the recipe to the frosting ahead of time, or to even think about what it might entail. I suppose I was distracted.

That being the case, I had not left out any cream cheese or butter to thaw.

Whoops.

My mom and aunt told me to just microwave it and it would be fine.

I microwaved the cream cheese just a smidge, until it was nice and soft, but not melty.

Then one of my lovely little assistants proceeded to microwave the butter for me. An unnamed mother of mine told her how long to put the butter in the microwave. And it melted. (Well, half of it).

I panicked, but my mom reassured me that it would still work, so I dumped it in.

I added the rest of the ingredients, expecting nice, thick, creamy frosting to appear.

No such luck. It was runny as milk.

Dangit.

I decided to add more powdered sugar.

Two bags later....
not much had changed, so I gave up and began to frost the dang cake.

It started out okay. The layers were looking decently fun and pretty.

The problem came when it was time to frost the sides. The stuff was just so goopy! Someone suggested I cover it up with more berries, so I did.

And this is the goopy, sideways, mess that was produced:

And also....I forgot to consider that the party was outdoors, up in the canyon.

So, yeah--the cake pretty much melted into a puddle as soon as we got there.

It reminded me very much of this:

Sigh.

Girl's Camp

2011-06-27T18:03:00.000-07:00

This past week was Girls Camp, which is a week long camp for teenage girls in my church. I had one of the smallest groups there (8 girls), but they are also some of the cutest, funniest, and sweetest! And CRAZY. I had so much fun getting to know them better and see sides of them that I never have before (at 2 a.m.).

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures. Actually, I didn't even take my camera, because I was warned that it would probably get ruined from all of the rain they usually have. (The weather ended up being perfect).

The theme this year was "We Believe" and centered around the 13th Article of Faith.

The girls in my ward remembered the line from Peter Pan ("I do believe in fairies, I do believe in fairies!") and decided that we should have our ward be fairies and decorate our cabin to match.

Here are the shirts that we made. Two of the girls drew the fairies. They are so talented!!

Anyway, I'm pretty sure I never got to sleep before 1:30 or 2...then right back up at 6:30 or 7...needless to say, I am EXHAUSTED! I am doing my best to recuperate before attempting the 17 hour drive to Utah in two days..

Fun with the Girls

2011-06-26T18:51:00.000-07:00

Throne Thief

2011-06-17T11:43:00.000-07:00

This week we inherited a chair from our friends, the Arnetts.

Who moved to Pittsburgh.
Frown.

Within half an hour of bringing it home (and ever since), it became apparent that we will not be using this chair much for a while...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

2011-06-14T09:02:00.001-07:00

We're out of cheese.

Magnum Bars

2011-06-10T14:09:00.000-07:00

Due to his father's job, my husband grew up travelling to Europe often, and even lived in Paris for a few years.

Several times, while recounting favorite European memories, he has mentioned Magnum Bars.

He always gets a dreamy look in his eyes when he talks about them.

Apparently they are the best ice cream bars on earth, but, unfortunately, can only be found in Europe.

Well, we were at Walmart a week or so ago, with Matthew's sister.

Both of us girls were having desperate female cravings: one of us for chocolate, and the other, for ice cream.

As we veered onto the ice cream isle, lo and behold, there they were:

(picture angelic music and a halo-ish glow)

MAGNUM BARS.

They were a little pricey (more than $1 per bar), but the two Wright siblings assured me that the taste was more than worth the price.

So we bought them.

As soon as we got home, I gingerly opened my treasured bar and took a bite.

HEAVEN.

On a stick.

This is no American chocolate, folks!

This is the real deal: Belgian chocolate.

(Although Amy claims that the American version, while still extremely tasty and superior to anything found here, is still inferior to a Magnum Bar sold in Belgium)

I am telling you: YOU MUST TRY ONE.

And look at all of these tasty flavors!

I am definitely intrigued by the double chocolate and the caramel. Those are on my list to try next.

yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum

Little Appetite

2011-06-10T13:07:00.000-07:00

Lately, my diet has taken a rather childish turn.

Today's lunch: PB crackers, cheese crackers, yogurt, and milk.

And last night for dinner, while the husby ate leftover alfredo, I ate graham crackers and applesauce.

Why am I suddenly eating like a 3 year old?

(No, I am not pregnant.)

Weird.

But tasty. And easy.

I'll take it!

Movie Recommendation

2011-06-10T10:47:00.000-07:00

We watched this last night:

If you are an old movie lover, this one is a must! It is the movie that You've Got Mail was based on, but, in my opinion, is much better. It has a great story line, memorable and fun characters, and lots of charm. It was very enjoyable to watch and kept me (and the husband too!) fully entertained throughout the whole movie.

Anyone else have good old movie suggestions? I am always looking for good ones.

Sunday Afternoon Nap

2011-06-06T06:57:00.000-07:00

Best BBQ in the World

2011-06-06T06:54:00.000-07:00

My beautamous sister-in-law, Amy, is here.

Woo hoo!

To celebrate her love of meat and give her the KC experience, we had to take her to the very best BBQ place in town: Oklahoma Joe's.

It doesn't look like much, being in a gas station and all...

but don't let that fool you!

Every time I have been there, this place has a line going out the door that we get to wait in for at least 30 mins. And it never dies down.

Amy and Matthew devoured this entire slab of ribs.

(By the way, that is Lou Diamond Phillips' tush behind her)

I tried this tasty sandwich, with pulled pork and spicy coleslaw.

And I got everyone's pickles!

There is a magazine article hanging in the store that lists 13 places you must eat before you die. Most of them are in Paris, or London, or Tokyo, but the very last one is none other than Oklahoma Joe's. And, as the article says, it is the best BBQ in Kansas City, which makes it the best BBQ in the world!

A Blustery Day

2011-06-02T13:49:00.000-07:00

On Memorial Day we went to a park with our good (and basically only) friends Tom and Mary for a little picnic. I was worried that the park would be crowded, but when we got there, it was pretty much empty.

And we quickly figured out why.

It was windy.

Really windy.

But we were determined to stay and have our picnic, so we did.

I couldn't quite capture the windyness in a picture, but here is my best attempt, if you look at Matthew's shirt.

Here is Matthew making us some dutch oven cheesy potatoes with the new dutch oven that we got for Christmas. (They were tasty, although they took a long time to cook because of the wind...)

Tom and Mary

All of the food, utensils, (my plate of cheesy potatoes), kept getting blown off the table.
Especially these donuts.
Which ended up being held down by a camp chair, after falling on the ground and flipping upside down.
Matthew still ate them.

I played my first ever game of croquet. It was fun, but I will definitely need to practice. And play somewhere where they actually mow the grass.

Here is Matthew's croquet pose.

And the lake next to us.

Mary was very excited to kick all of our trash in croquet, even though it was also her first time playing.

We felt all sophisticated playing croquet.

Socially Awkward Dog

2011-05-30T08:49:00.000-07:00

Titan loves people.

Ever since we let Titan stay with the neighbors for a day, he adores them. Once, I was bringing him back in from a potty break, and they were just getting home from somewhere. We had already started up the stairs to our apartment, but he turned around and ran back down to their car, wanting to lick and sniff and snuggle his friends.

We walked back up to the apartments with them, and he tried to go home with them instead of me.

Every time people come over, he is obsessed with them. And every time we are on a walk and someone else walks past, he pulls and tugs at his leash, so anxious to go say hi to the new friend.

Like I said, he loves people.

But when it comes to dogs...it's another story.

He is such a wuss. He is afraid of every other dog, big or small. But instead of cowering in fear or running away, he runs towards them and plays the role of cowardly bully. He gives off threatening signals until he starts up a fight that is all his own fault.

This morning I took him out and there were two small dogs out with their owner--not on leashes.

Oh geez.

Of course, they came running to Titan, wanting to sniff him and be friends.

And, of course, he went berserk.

I could hear their owner calling them in the distance, but couldn't see her anywhere. Somehow, I was barely able to get the other dogs away and pull Titan out of there before he did something destructive.

For the next five minutes, Titan was all upset. He kept huffing and puffing, making the weirdest noise that sounded like choking/coughing/someone with a cold.

Issues. This dog has social issues.

He reminds me of one of those kids who only gets along with adults, but not with other kids.

Soul Food

2011-05-30T08:39:00.000-07:00

Remember the sweet elderly black lady who lives across the hall and watched Titan? And told Matthew she wanted to make us soul food sometime?

She wasn't kidding.

Yesterday evening she showed up at our house with this:

I think it took her four trips over to our apartment to bring it all, but she wouldn't let us help. She kept explaining to me that I need to realize that this is soul food.

She grew up in Georgia, so this was some legit southern food!

I only made it through about half of what was on my plate before I HAD to stop. And even then I had eaten myself into pain and was waddling around for the rest of the night.

But it was so worth it.

Stubborn vs. Smoke

2011-05-30T08:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was craving biscuits when I got home from church, so I made some. I stuck them in the oven then went about my merry way.

A few minutes later I smelled a funny smell.

I went to check on the biscuits. When I opened the oven door, thick clouds of smoke came pouring out.

The biscuits looked fine, still doughy even.

As I peered and coughed through the smoke, I noticed a big pile of something black on the bottom of the oven.

I don't remember spilling anything. (I asked husband when he came home--he claims he didn't either.)
I still don't know what it is.

Oh, well. I closed the oven door to let my biscuits keep cooking. A little smoke wasn't going to stop me!

Then the smoke detector went off.

That was when I realized my house was full of smoke. I could barely see anything! And it was getting worse.

But I wanted my biscuits!

So I kept cooking them. And of course when the timer beeped, they weren't done, so I had opened the oven door again and let out more smoke for nothing.

In the end, our tiny apartment looked like a campsite.

I opened all of the windows and the door, and turned on a fan.

Poor Titan was very unhappy.

He was trying to run away out the open door, so I had to put him on his leash and tie it to a closet doorknob. He nearly yelped himself to death.

In the midst of all of this, my across the hall neighbor came over a few times to use our can opener. I apologized profusely for the thick smoke, and she said, "Oh, honey, I'm used to smoke!" (She's a smoker.)

Our house still smells like a campfire. So does my hair.

At least I got my biscuits.

Whoops.

2011-05-27T18:25:00.000-07:00

We are trying to save money for when Matthew goes back to school.

Therefore, we don't eat out a whole lot.

That said, Thursday night, we were doing what we usually do when we have free time (playing Yahtzee. ha.), when Matthew got up to make some chocolate milk.

My reply to that: "Chocolate milk?! Why make that when we can go buy Frostys?!"

He was immediately persuaded.

So, we gathered up our shoes, and our puppy dog (who needed a walk) and got in the car.

After we had taken Titan for a walk (we have to drive over to a big parking lot to walk him, because we live in a hilly, twisty area with no sidewalks), we headed to our friendly neighborhood Wendy's for some Frostys. (Not smart, btw, on my part, to get a Frosty when still recovering from the stomach flu, but that's not what this story is about!)

As the nice lady at the drive-through window handed us our yummies, she glanced into the back seat and, seeing Titan, said:

" Hey now! I remember him from yesterday!"

As we drove away, I remarked, " Crazy lady--she thinks she saw Titan here yesterday!"

(Yesterday was crazy tornado day from previous post, in which Matthew hurried home to be with sick me, and we were together for the rest of the night)

To which Matthew replied, "Well, maybe she did see us yesterday..."

Perplexed, I asked, "When??"

"After I took Titan for a walk..."

Moral of the story: Don't involve Titan in sneaky undertakings. He is not good at helping keep secrets.

Tornado

2011-05-27T17:15:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday I was sick at home, thanks to a sub who randomly showed up at the doors of my classroom like an angel that morning.

Poor thing.

At about 11:45 that morning, I was curled up on the couch, watching a movie on my laptop. Titan was acting very strange and jumpy. I assumed it was because we'd been having a lot of thunderstorms lately (he is terrified of them), and the trash man had just dropped the dumpster so loudly on the ground that it sounded like thunder.

Suddenly, my computer shut off. I still don't know why, but I am glad it did.

Once my attention had been diverted from the screen, I noticed a funny, high-pitched sound.

Could it be...?

I opened the front door a crack and poked my head outside.

Yes, it definitely was!

Tornado sirens.

I grabbed Titan, which was not an easy task, and my cell phone, and headed for the bedroom closet.

We sat there for the next hour and a half. Titan was antsy for about the first 45 minutes. He kept running back and forth between burying himself in my lap and sniffing at the door.

I realized that I hadn't ever showed my sub where the emergency folder was. I kept frantically texting my co-workers and husband to make sure everyone at both schools was safe and okay.

Turns out my kiddos spent an hour and a half in tornado position (on knees, curled in a ball, hands over head), crammed into the downstairs girl's bathroom with two other 2nd grade classes. Of course, one of the kids threw up, and, of course, it was one of mine. And all of this only two days before school gets out.

My sub ended up being fabulous in that situation.
Thank goodness.

Nonetheless, I felt horrible for not being there.

Turns out there was no damage done anywhere nearby (to my knowledge) and no one was hurt.

We did find out, however, that a funnel cloud was reported to have touched down a little less than a mile up the road from my school. So the threat was very real.

Too real.

(Here is a picture of that cloud that our vice principal sent to us the next day, and a another of the sky over downtown KC)

I grew up in Utah where we only have earthquake drills!
I'm going to have to get used to this...

Awkward Moment

2011-05-25T13:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got sick.

It started about late morning, and continued to get worse by the hour.

By afternoon, I felt like I was going to throw up any minute.

If I stayed sitting down, didn't move and didn't talk, it wasn't so bad, but that doesn't make for a very effective 2nd grade teacher.

I kept my kiddos going with whatever busywork I could find, just trying to survive the rest of the school day.

About 30 minutes before school got out, I realized I wasn't going to make it.

I found someone to cover my room for the last bit of the day, emailed the secretary, asked her to let the principal know, then left.

I got in my car and drove off. Just down the street, I came to a red light. As my car rolled to a stop, another car pulled up and stopped in the lane next to me.

The driver was none other than my principal.

She glanced in my direction, then did a double take.

Frantically, I tried to mouth and gesture to her that I was sick (not sure what that must have looked like...) and going home, feeling very embarrassed to be caught out of work during work hours by my boss.

She rolled down her window and told me she had heard I was sick, and to go home and get some rest.

Phew.

Separation Anxiety

2011-05-22T18:41:00.000-07:00

**Warning: Content may be lengthy and (as usual) dramatic. You have been warned.**

Last Monday evening, about 9 p.m. :

Matthew: "Oh, by the way, our apartment is being sprayed for pests tomorrow. It's a routine thing they do in all of the apartments every year. The office left a paper that said all pets must be locked in the bedroom if we aren't going to be home."

Me: "WHAT?! How long have you known about this?"

Matthew: "I don't know...a few days. The paper was sitting on the table, so I thought you had seen it."

Me: "But we can't lock Titan in our room for TEN hours! That is so mean! I doubt our room is puppy-proof. Plus he isn't even allowed in our room by himself! What kind of consistent dog parent does that make me by telling him every day he can't get on our bed, and then tomorrow locking him in the bedroom alone all day?? Dah!"

I frantically began to search for another answer. I just couldn't do that to our little doggy (or to my bed).

I called some young women from our ward who adore Titan and do home school, to see if they would watch Titan the next day, but they couldn't do it.

Everyone else I could think of has another dog. And Titan does not get along with other dogs (he is afraid of them, so he gets in their faces and starts fights).

Then I had an idea.

There is a retired couple who lives across the hall from us.

We don't know them super well, but once in awhile we (literally) borrow cups of sugar from each other. The wife always brings us her magazines when she is done with them. Once she made us a pie and she told Matthew the other day that she wants to make us some "soul food" one of these days.

I felt a little shy about asking them, but I was getting desperate, and it was getting late.

So I walked over and asked.

They said yes.

The next morning, Matthew had to leave early for work, so I had to drop Titan off with the neighbors by myself. I was so nervous to leave him with someone else!

It was pretty early in the morning for them, so I had to call and wake them up. The wife came to the door, and Titan immediately ran straight to the back of the apartment and into the open bedroom door where her husband was still sleeping.

Whoops.

After about 3 minutes of giving unnecessary instructions, I realized how silly I was being and reluctantly forced myself to leave.

The rest of the day was maddening.

All day long I worried, worried, worried.

Would they take good care of him? Would he be a good puppy and behave himself? Would they remember to take him out? Would Matthew get home in time to pick him up?

My co-workers were annoyed with my pet paranoia by the end of the day, but I couldn't help it. I had never left him with anyone else before! I texted Matthew throughout the day, double checking that he would remember to pick Titan up at 4:30 and telling him how nervous I was.

At 4:30 I got a call from Matthew, letting me know that Titan was safe and home and that he had had a wonderful time.

For the first time that day, I breathed.

Goodness gracious, I'm afraid to know what I will be like the first time I have to leave my own children with a sitter!

Mr. Hedgehog

2011-05-22T05:47:00.000-07:00

Mr. Hedgehog has remained mostly untouched for the past few weeks, other than the daily game of fetch the hedgehog.

Of course, yesterday, right after I had vacuumed...

In the end, although he is somewhat mutilated, Mr. Hedgehog came out on top.

Titan still can't get the squeaker out.

Looks like we'll be seeing stuffing for a while longer...

Busted!

2011-05-19T18:33:00.000-07:00

I love pillow talk.

You know, when you have a sleepover with your friends and just talk for hours after the lights go out?

When I got married, I was so excited at the prospect of having someone to whisper and giggle with every night.

Unfortunately, my husband seems to have this disability that causes him to fall asleep the second he hits the bed.

I learned this the hard way.

It is best not to talk to him (especially about anything that is important or that I want him to remember) after we are in bed and the lights are out.

So...there we were the other night, bedtime, lights out.

We have a tradition where every night we tell each other what we loved about each other from that day.

It was Matthew's turn. And it went something like this:

"I love you because............you're a great algebra teacher."

Hmmmm.

If you know me and math at all...you understand why this was an extremely hilarious thing to come out of his mouth.

(I think I took algebra for three years straight in high school, trying to pass. Maybe four.

I took college algebra in college. It was painful.

I have not touched or attempted or looked at algebra since.

I hate math.

With a burning passion.)

I immediately started to tease him for being asleep. He repeatedly tried to tell me that he was awake when he said that. He just didn't know why he had said it, that's all...

Nice try--not buying it!

***Note: I was given husbandly permission to write about this. Although I can't remember if I asked him for that permission before bedtime or after... :)

Don't rub noses with a dog.

2011-05-15T16:27:00.000-07:00

Theirs are wet.

Titan

2011-05-14T16:04:00.000-07:00

We have a puppy twice a year. October-November and May-June, while my in-laws take groups of students to Europe for a study abroad program.

It is the best arrangement ever. The dog comes to us, fully trained, with food and supplies. Plus he is adorable.

The in-laws came down last week to drop him off and celebrate Mother's Day with us (which was a super fun visit, by the way!)

So...you may be hearing more about Titan than usual on the blog. Because he lives with us temporarily.

And also because my father-in-law misses him and needs to see pictures of him.

Here is a picture of my two precious boys from today:

Um...

2011-05-13T20:20:00.000-07:00

Why I always seem to share my embarrassing moments on my blog, I don't know. I probably shouldn't.

But here's another one.

So...yesterday at work, I did a very clutzy thing.

It was the end of my planning time and I was about to go pick up my kids from specials. I decided to quickly go and use the restroom, since I wouldn't get another chance until school was over.

On my way out of the stall, I opened the door into my head.

Hard.

Really hard.

And it hurt.

Really bad.

I saw two teachers on my team at this point, and told them what I had just done.

They said I had a big red mark on my forehead that looked like I had burned myself with a curling iron.

I picked up my class, still feeling a little funny, and my head throbbing in the front.

We had snack and read aloud right after that. As I was reading to the students, I began to feel very light-headed and nauseous. I couldn't really concentrate or think very clearly. It was all I could do to finish the chapter.

All we had left was math and social studies. THANKFULLY we were taking our end of unit math test that day (I really don't know what I would have done if I had had to teach a math lesson), so all I had to do was pass out the tests (and read some of the questions to a few of my kiddos who still can't read).

I just sat there through the whole test, kind of in a daze. I felt like I was going to throw up (luckily, I did not) and like the room was too bright on my eyes.

When social studies time rolled around, I still did not feel good. The kiddos were supposed to be working in groups to research various cultures from different countries, but I just couldn't take the noise or manage that kind of activity at the moment. We had been reading Ramona Quimby, Age 8 earlier in our read aloud, and Ramona was talking about how they had "Sustained Silent Reading" at school and how much she loved it. So...I told the students we were going to try out Sustained Silent Reading, just like Ramona (ha.) Thank goodness that I have a very good class and they all read quietly until it was time to go home.

About 15 minutes before school got out, I began to feel a bit better.

I went to see the nurse after school and told her what had happened, and how I had been feeling.

I asked if I should be worried.

Her response, "Um...YES."

She began to question me about who would be there when I got home, how far I had to drive, etc.

When she found out that no one would be home for several hours and that I had to drive thirty minutes to get home, she tried to convince me not to drive myself home.

But, really, I had no other option.

So I went home. And I was fine.

Anyway, my head still hurts today (the fact that we went on a field trip today may also be a contributing factor...), especially if I touch it. I discovered this when I was kneeling down next to my bed to say my prayers last night. I rested my head on my hands and immediately yelled, "OUCH!"

Anyway. Just weird. The whole thing.

And embarrassing.

Who hits their own head when they open the door?!?

And possibly gives themself a mild concussion?

Just embarrassing.

"I'm Going There Someday"

2011-05-13T19:46:00.000-07:00

Our Young Women group from church went up to see the new temple for our activity night this week.

We shared testimonies and had a really nice spiritual experience, despite the lack of places to sit without getting dusty construction dirt all over our dresses and shoes. :)

I am so lucky to work with these sweet and beautamous girls! I learn a ton from them every week and can't believe how solid they are spiritually at such a young age. I can only wish that my own girls will be like them someday. Here are about half of them:

Showing off their spiritual strength! haha.

I love these girls! I have the best calling.

Funny.

2011-05-13T19:28:00.000-07:00

So I was reading my sister-in-law's blog and she mentioned that she loves to watch her stats counter because it lets her know that people actually read her blog.

I thought to myself, "Hmmmm....stats counter? I wonder if I have one of those?"

So I went and checked. I do indeed have a stats page that I had never noticed before.

I was totally shocked! I thought that maybe five people at the most read my blog, but I found that some of my posts had 50 or 60 views! And I have blog viewers from places like Turkey and the Netherlands and Pakistan?!

But what was really interesting to me, was that the post with the highest number of views (274, to be exact), was my jar o' fun post, which I find to be a particularly boring post.

I was intrigued.

So I did a little detective work and found out that I could see the traffic sources for my blog. I discovered that this website had used my jar-o'-fun idea in an article about things to do with jars.

Of all the blogs I have ever written...that one gets linked somewhere else?

It just makes me laugh.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

2011-05-13T19:14:00.000-07:00

We planted a garden! Some people from church are letting us use some of their land to plant lots of yummy vegetables. We planted tomatoes, green peppers, green beans (tons of those), squash, and zucchini. I can hardly wait for all of these tasty plants to grow so we can eat them for cheap! (That is, if they grow.)

We just planted a couple of weeks ago, so no sprouts just yet. But I still wanted to post pictures anyway. Because I am excited. :)

Here is sunshiny Matthew amongst the tomatoes and peppers:

And the many rows of green beans:

A tomato plant. Or maybe it's a pepper plant...

All of the PVC pipe is a little homemade irrigation system. There is a hole drilled in the pipe right in front of each plant. I thought it was a pretty cool idea.

Hopefully there will be more exciting pictures of actual plants and vegetables in the future!

easter

2011-05-13T17:51:00.000-07:00

After church we dyed Easter eggs.

I still lack the ability to dye Easter eggs or use crayola markers without getting them all over my fingers.

Us.

p.s. This was my first easter with no Easter basket. :( (Unless you count last year, when I made my own :)
I guess at the age of 26 it's about time to grow up.

Don't worry--I still bought the most essential of Easter candy earlier that week. And ate it all.

road RAGE

2011-04-20T16:16:00.000-07:00

Road rage is not good. I know it. And I feel terrible every time it happens.

But somehow I can't seem to control it. And it happens. Almost every day.

(the worst is when I am in the middle of listening to a General Conference talk or church music when it happens...)

There are two main types of drivers that cause my blood to boil with this red-hot sensation that can only be labeled as rage.

The first are lane darters.

You know the type:

driving at 10 (if not 15, or 20) miles above the speed limit,

constantly darting and weaving in and out of traffic,

always searching for the front of the line.

The worst is when someone behind me changes lanes, only to advance about 5 feet ahead of where they were before. And half the time, these people are still right next to or behind me several miles later, which proves that this type of driving is not getting them to their destination any faster after all.

Maybe if these people would actually plan ahead and leave on time, they might not be so impatient.

But, no. That's not it.

At least I don't think so.

I think the true cause is that these drivers are forever trying to win. No matter what happens, they must come in first and be the best.

It reminds me of the students in my class who feel they must always be the first one called to line up for lunch. They try to run and push and shove and step on anyone in their way, just to be first.

Not that they're going to get to lunch any sooner than the rest of the class does anyway...

The second type are last-minute-mergers.

These are the people who think the rules of the road don't apply to them.

They see a sign telling them "Lane Ends 100 Feet, Merge Right,"

and choose to completely ignore it. They either change lanes at the very last second (in a tight squeeze, with no blinker) or never merge at all.

Usually these aren't such a problem, simply because merging lanes are not extremely common.

Unfortunately, there is a major lane merge on the freeway that is part of my daily commute.

During rush hour.

The worst example of this that I can remember happened last fall.

I was merrily driving along in the middle lane. For over a mile, there were signs on the side of the road warning that the left lane would be ending and that all drivers is said lane must merge to the right.

And for over a mile, the driver next to me did not merge.

When her lane finally ended, she was exactly next to me (there was plenty of space behind me and in front of me, mind you). Instead of slowing down or speeding up in order to merge safely, she began to furiously honk and shout expletives, waving crude gestures in my direction.

Seriously??

Nowhere did I see a sign telling me to make room for you!

GRRRRRRRR.

That's all I can say.

I shouldn't even have written about this, because now I'm reliving the rage.

The Many Faces of Mrs. Wright

2011-04-18T16:27:00.000-07:00

So my students like to draw me pictures.

To show my appreciation, I usually tape their artwork to my desk...or filing cabinet, or bookshelf, or whatever else isn't already full.

For some reason, one of their favorite things to draw is me.

And sometimes I'm not sure if I should be flattered or offended by this.

(Just FYI, the way to get small children to like you is by wearing huge bows in your hair and painting little circles on your cheeks with blush.)

Um...is that no neck or a double chin?

Okay. I know I don't have a small chest, but this is just ridiculous.

Picasso?

Temple Update

2011-04-17T12:15:00.000-07:00

I realized a week or two ago that I can see the new temple on my way to and from work (off in the distance), if I look in the right direction. It makes me smile every single day. I feel so blessed that we are going to have a house of the Lord right here!
We drove past the Kansas City Temple on the way back from Omaha. Here are the most recent pictures. I think it is beautiful.

Real Life Nightmare

2011-04-17T04:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday our good friend, Rachel (also known as Byers), moved to Omaha. *sniff* :(

We decided to go help her move stuff into her apartment and set things up.We also went up a little earlier than she did to do sealings in the beautiful Winter Quarters Temple. It turned out to be a really beautiful day, and we got a ton of work done in Rachel's new place.

Her boss and his friend has loaded up all of her stuff in the back of a truck/trailer and driven it up there. While we were unloading boxes (to the third floor, I might add), I showed Byers a pretty big box and asked her what was in it. She told me what it was, then said, "But you should see the box with my shoes in it!"

I laughed. Byers has a HUMONGOUS shoe fetish. Even worse than I do. I know this because we used to be roommates.

After we had done as much unpacking as we could help her with, and gone out for a tasty lunch at Qdoba, Matthew and I began the 3 1/2 hour drive back to Kansas City.

On our way, I got a call from Byers.

Byers: "Did you ever see the box with my shoes in it?"

Me: "No...actually, I didn't."

Byers: "Me neither. I can't find it."

She said she would check some more and go have her sister check her old apartment, just to make sure.

But no luck. They're gone.

The shoes never made it to Omaha. Must have fallen off of the back of the trailer. She later texted me to say that she just went from about 30 pairs of shoes to 3.

Ladies, I think you can agree that this truly is a nightmare.

I'm sorry, Byers. I am crying for you.

little drops of sunlight

2011-04-15T15:00:00.000-07:00

when days get long

my patience gone

these little drops of sunlight

brighten up my day

a random joke, a sneaky smile,

a hug around the waist

Speaking of Nightmares...

2011-04-14T19:26:00.000-07:00

Last night I dreamed that we had just driven out to Utah for our three week vacation in the summer.

When I woke up the first morning of the trip and went to get ready for the day, I realized I had completely forgotten to pack any clothes, shoes or accessories. The only thing I had brought was a duffel bag that contained several pairs of undergarments and a pair of running shoes. And, of course, what I had worn the day before.

Truly frightening for a person like me.

Nightmares Before Easter

2011-04-13T15:12:00.000-07:00

(No, I did not make that. I just found it online and thought it would be a good illustration for my post).

A few weeks ago, I had a nightmare.

I dreamed that I was getting up to get ready for school. As I was heading to the bathroom to shower, I noticed that the light was on in the living room. I wandered down the hall to see which light we had left on. As soon as I peered into the living room, I saw a man exit our sliding glass door (which we don't actually have in real life). He hopped off of the balcony (which we also don't have--we live in the basement), and landed on the ground. He had another man with him that he was dragging. Suddenly, he looked up and saw me.

I was petrified.

I ran back into the bedroom and shook Matthew awake, shouting, "There's a man! There's a man in our house! Come, quick!"

Once he realized what I was telling him, Matthew sprang out of bed, and rushed with me back into the living room. Just as we entered the room, the man was coming back through the sliding glass door and closing it behind him, staring us in the eye."

And then I woke up.

It was only 3 in the morning. I was completely terrified. And what was even worse? I had to go to the bathroom. Which was where the whole dream started...

I shook Matthew awake.

The conversation went something like this:

Me: "I had a nightmare about a man in our house trying to get us and I'm really, really scared."

Matthew: "I'm sorry, baby. Come snuggle next to me and I'll protect you."

Me: "But...I have to go to the bathroom."

Matthew: "Okay. Go ahead."

Me: "I can't. I'm too scared."

Matthew: "Do you want me to get up with you?"

Me: "Yes. And check the house. For men."

So he did.

What a good husband.

(And I felt terrible the next day, because I found out that he wasn't able to fall asleep after that and had a horrible day because of it. Whoops.)

About a week later I had another dream about a man trying to attack me, although this time, he was already trying to kill me when I woke up.

This is significant because I rarely remember what I dream, and I even more rarely have nightmares that leave me terrified when I wake up. It happens probably once a year. If that.

A week later (about two nights ago) I had ANOTHER one. This time, the dream took place in our apartment building's dark and creepy laundry room. And in this dream, I dreamed about the whole attack, all the way up until the police arrived.

I don't know where any of this is coming from. I don't watch t.v. (we don't even have a single channel anyway), and I avoid scary movies.

I just hope they stop.

And, for the record, I never woke up Matthew again after the first nightmare.

Even though I wanted to.

April Fool

2011-04-13T14:40:00.000-07:00

As a teacher, I get a lot of April Fool's Day jokes. Most of my morning goes like this:

Student: "Mrs. Wright! Did you know that we have school on Saturday?"

Me: (gaping, gasping, shocked, in horror) "WHAT?! No one told me!!"

Student: "APRIL FOOLS!!!! Hehehehehehehe!" (runs away, giggling)

I was, however, a little excited and curious to see what one of my students would do.

Earlier this year, he lied to a secretary at our school
(about something pretty serious, that could probably get DCFS called on his parents).

When the secretary told me what he had said, I had a little conversation with him to investigate and was able to discover that he had made up a story in order to get adult attention. When I took him back to apologize to the secretary, and he said:

"I'm sorry for fibbing. Next time I'll wait until April Fool's Day. Do you accept my apology?"

(He had also written her an accompanying note, which basically says the same thing).

Fighting the urge to laugh, the secretary forgave him and all was settled.

I saw that same secretary on April 1st, and she mentioned that she was also anticipating what this student might have up his sleeve that day.

It ended up to be nothing. I even ended up asking him out of desperation towards the end of the day if he had anything planned, reminding him of the prior incident with the secretary. He just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Nah. I haven't thought of anything this year."

Kind of a disappointment.

The only REAL April Fool's joke that actually got me this year came from none other than my own husband.

All week, I had been planning his surprise birthday date. I had reminded him day after day that he needed to be home from work by 5 p.m. on Friday, so that we would have time to do everything I had planned. He assured my paranoid mind several times that this would be fine.

On the morning of April 1st, our alarm went off at 5:30 in the morning. As I lay there struggling to pull myself out of my groggy state enough to get out of bed and prepare for the work day, Matthew said:

"Honey, I forgot to tell you. I have a whole ton of stuff to do at school tonight. There's no way I'm going to be able to make it home tonight by five."

SUDDENLY I WAS AWAKE.

"WHAT?! You promised me all week that you were going to be home by five! How could you change it at the last minute? What could you possibly have to do at work that you haven't known about all week?!"

His response: "April Fools!"

Grrrr. Not Funny.

Killer Bunnies

2011-04-12T16:29:00.000-07:00

If you know what the title of this refers to, then we can be friends. If you don't know, you must!

I only recently discovered Killer Bunnies. It is a card game in which you get to kill and attack everyone else's bunnies. Maybe that sounds gruesome, but it is not. And if you are competitive at all in games (ahem. Wrights?) then you will LOVE it.

We played it once about a month ago and now I am obsessed. I want to play it all the time. The most depressing thing is that my roommate last year had it, and we NEVER played it once. Knowing about all of that wasted time that I could have known about and played Killer Bunnies kills me!

As soon as we played it, I knew I needed to own it.

So? Solution? Buy Matthew something that I want for his birthday. :)

Here is the lucky boy with his presents.

And I had to add this one because it's funny, even though it doesn't have Killer Bunnies in it.

We have already played it several times. And I always win. Matthew doesn't like it anymore.

If you live in Utah (or Fargo), expect to play this game the next time you see us!

Coconut Cake

2011-04-12T16:21:00.000-07:00

As Matthew's birthday approached (or maybe it was several months before, because I love to plan), I decided it would be fun to make the strawberry cake that my mom always makes for my dad's birthday. I told Matthew about the idea and explained that it is super tasty and I know that he would love it. His response was a mild tantrum, somewhat along the lines of "it's my birthday, and I'm going to choose whatever cake I want."

Fine.

So, the usual--coconut cake--it is.

Since I couldn't try making the strawberry cake, I decided to see if I couldn't add a little bit of surprise and extra tastiness to his request. I found this recipe and made it. Here's the final product:

This is what the inside looked like:

It has four layers with a lemon curd between each one and the frosting is delicious!

Matthew's aunt and uncle were supposed to visit us the day after his birthday, which was perfect because I had no idea how on earth were we supposed to eat that humongous cake all by ourselves. (I'm sure Matthew is thinking, "I'll show you exactly how I'll eat it all by myself!")

Anyway, due to Southwest shutting down a zillion flights that day, they ended up not coming.

So we did have the whole humongous cake to ourselves.

(except that we took a few slabs to our friends who had a baby the next day)

So basically we had cake every night for like a week. Matthew was in heaven.

Good thing it was tasty!

The Not-So-Surprise Birthday Date

2011-04-12T16:10:00.000-07:00

Matthew's birthday fell on General Conference Saturday this year, and he also had a meeting with Teach For America that day. We hadn't been grocery shopping in quite a while because we had already hit our grocery limit for March (if we spend our monthly budget on food before the month is over...we live off what we have), so we had to do that on his birthday. Pretty much, I got to see him in the morning while we grocery shopped, and watch the first session with him. And then I didn't see him again until about 9 or 10 at night.

happy birthday. :(

I knew this was coming, so I decided to plan a celebration on another day. Probably two weeks before, I asked him to keep his night open on April 1st because I was taking him on a special surprise birthday date.

Baseball opening day was on Thursday, March 31st. The Royals' stadium is about a mile from our house, and I knew that Matthew wanted to go, but it was during school, so we couldn't.

So. I thought I would be sneaky and surprise him with tickets to the Royals game that Friday night.

I also thought it would be a nice gesture to take him to this bbq place that he loves, that I hate. It's called L.C.'s This is what it looks like:

(Not sure if you can tell, but there are bars on the windows)

And this is what their food looks like:

It's totally a Matthew place.

They do have good fries, I'll admit that. But it's also very dirty inside (literally--like dusty and sticky and stuff) and I'm just not into big slabs of meat that I have to rip off a bone with my teeth. I usually won't eat there. Also I hate the way Matthew's breath smells after he eats there and I won't let him kiss me.

So...you probably think I'm prissy now. But it was actually kind of a big deal for me to take him there AND eat the food.

After two weeks of secrecy (which was hard for me--I can keep other people's secrets, just not my own!), and also two terrifying weeks of being in charge of the tickets to the game (I am absolutely paranoid when it comes to tickets to anything. I check my purse every 5 seconds to make sure they are still there), the day finally arrived. I was so excited to surprise him!

I got home from school to find Matthew sitting there anxiously on the couch, wearing his Royals shirt.

Me: "So...do you think you know what we're doing tonight or something?"

Matthew: "Um....I have hopes..." (puppy dog face)

Thank goodness he was right...

I was a little bugged that he figured me out, but him waiting there in his Royals shirt was just too precious for me to be mad about it. At least I had picked something he was super excited to do. :)

Anyway, the game was fun (although COLD) and the Royals won in the bottom of the 9th. Also, it was fireworks Friday, so we got to see a long firework show after the game.

In the end, it turned out to be the perfect birthday night and I'm pretty sure Matthew loved it.

Obsessed with this Song

2011-03-26T07:33:00.000-07:00

I heard one of Matthew's piano students play this song during a lesson, fell in love, and had to buy it on itunes. I have been unable to take it off of repeat for about a week straight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOqUFqF_ZwM

Kansas City Temple

2011-03-20T11:54:00.000-07:00

For those of you who didn't know, a temple is being built in the Kansas City area by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

When the temple is finished, it will look like this:

I am so excited!

Why?

The temple is the most sacred, holy and special place on earth. It is different than one of our meetinghouses, where we hold services each Sunday and have activities during the week. A temple is literally a house of the Lord. It is a place where we go to be close to the Lord and feel his spirit, to learn, and to make promises to God about how we will live our lives. It is also a place where we perform ordinances, such as being sealed to a spouse for time and all eternity by the power and authority of God. We can also perform ordinances for our ancestors who have already passed away without having had a chance to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. (For more info about LDS temples, see mormon.org)

There are currently 134 operating temples around the earth, 10 more under construction, and 13 that have been announced. Right now the closest temple to us is about 3--3 1/2 hours away (St. Louis or Omaha). We try to go about once a month, but with a temple right here, we will be able to go much more often!

The other day, we drove past the new temple site (Located up near Liberty off of Shoal Creek Parkway and I-435)

Here is the progress so far:

Right now the temple is scheduled to be finished in early 2012 or possibly even late 2011.

I can't wait!

Ew.

2011-03-20T11:30:00.000-07:00

Has anyone else noticed that almost all public restrooms have the handle placed on the inside of the door?

And is anyone else disturbed by this?

I know there are germs on all door handles, but thinking of the germs on a bathroom door handle grosses me out extra.

Spring Pause

2011-03-20T11:27:00.000-07:00

This past week we had Spring Break. I said Spring Pause in the title because I actually had to work on Monday and Tuesday to make up snow days, so my break was only a couple of days.

Since we only had a few short days, we decided to do a mini-vacation. I have been hearing tons of great things about the zoo in Omaha, Nebraska and was curious. It's only three hours away, and there is a temple there too, so it seemed like the perfect little getaway. Plus, even more perfect, our insurance (Blue Cross Blue Shield) does this program where you can earn points for doing healthy things, and those points transfer over to gift cards! I used the points I had on there to pay for the hotel--woo hoo!

We drove up really early on Thursday morning so that we could spend most of the day at the Homaza Zoo (what one of my students from last year calls it). Matthew's parents drove down and met us there. We had a great time at the zoo! The only lame thing about it was that most of the outdoor exhibits had no animals or were still closed from the Winter months, or were just kind of lame. BUT...it's okay because they had some AWESOME indoor exhibits.

And...whoops. I forgot to take pictures. So I'll just have to tell you.

My favorite exhibit was a nocturnal exhibit. They made it all dark inside during the day and light at night, so all of these different nocturnal animals are awake during the day and you can watch them. That was really awesome because most of those animals I had never actually seen before. There were these GINORMOUS bats that totally freaked me out. My two favorite animals from this exhibit were the geckos (I loved seeing their feet stuck to the glass from the other side) and this little armadillo that ran around like a robot or the energizer bunny! I found a video of him on youtube. You have to watch it for a few seconds before he shows up, because it is dark in the exhibit. He just kept running around in circles like that and never stopping! It was hilarious.

They also had an indoor rainforest exhibit that was AMAZING. It was like actually being inside a miniature rainforest, complete with tons of trees and waterfalls and everything.

There was also a butterfly exhibit. You walk into a room and there are butterflies and moths flying everywhere--some of them even land on you. The only pictures I took from the day were here (don't ask why). This is a picture of all of the chrysalises outside of the exhibit. They said that they get in about 500 per week in order to keep enough butterflies in the exhibit.

After the day at the zoo, we went back to the hotel and watched BYU play in the first round of the NCAA tournament (which they won!).

The next morning we went to the Winter Quarters temple in Omaha. It is a small temple, but it is beautiful and there is a special spirit there from all of the sacrifices made by the pioneers. We also went to the visitor's center and walked through the pioneer cemetery.

All in all, it was a short and sweet little trip! And I think one of my favorite parts was that I had deep cleaned the day before we left, so we came home to a spotless apartment. :) :) :)

Pizza Stone Convert

2011-03-13T18:51:00.000-07:00

Some of our friends bought us a pizza stone for our wedding. We were a little skeptical at first, because neither of us had ever used one.

But we tried it.

One use and we were totally convinced. Now we will never make pizza any other way.

The reason why it is so amazing is that it cooks so evenly. There are no doughy spots and no overly crunchy edges. Even better, the bottom gets crispy!

We also learned (from Alton Brown on the Food Network) that if you don't want to pay 30 bucks or whatever for a pizza stone, you can just got to a home improvement store and buy an unglazed clay tile for like 99 cents (or the bottom of a terracotta planting pot) and it should work the same. He also says to place the tile/stone directly onto the bottom of the oven (unless there are coils). We haven't ever tried that--we just put it on the rack and it works fine.

The important thing with pizza stones that you need to remember is that you have to put it in the oven (without the pizza on it) while the oven is still cold and heat up the stone on it's own, because it can crack if you put it straight into the heat. After the stone is heated, then you can slide the pizza on (if you have a paddle). Or you could just slid out the oven rack a little with a hot pad and quickly build the pizza on the hot stone.

Anyway, it always turns out amazing!

Here is the latest pizza that Matthew made. The crust is slightly humongous because this was his first attempt at making a stuffed crust pizza. It was tasty, but there was not enough cheese in the crust for it to be stuffed crust. He said that next time he is going to put string cheese in the crust. So...we'll see how that goes.

I've also heard that stones are great for baking bread, but I've never tried it (or baking bread--ha).

Valentine Food

2011-03-12T14:51:00.000-08:00

All I have pictures of from Valentine's Day is the food.

We made heart cookies on Sunday.

And lobster cookies.

(cookie cutters from our honeymoon in Maine)

For breakfast the next day, I made pink heart pancakes. I thought I would be clever and use the metal heart shaped cookie cutters that we have. But I didn't think about how to get them out of the cookie cutters...haha. Luckily they popped out pretty easily after they cooled.

Also, since the pancakes couldn't spread out to the sides, they spread up. So they really were...well, cakes.

But the best food of all that day was dinner. We went to P.F. Chang's. I had been planning it for over a month. We don't go there because it is expensive, but we got a gift card for Christmas (woohoo!) so I made reservations like the first week of January. :)

I was also so excited that I had already planned out what we were going to eat on the same day that I booked the reservation. Well, part of it anyway.

Of course we had the chicken lettuce wraps for the appetizer--those are so tasty! For the main course (I let Matthew choose this) we split a spicy lamb dish, which was very, very good.

But the main event was this little baby:

I discovered this dessert online and HAD to have it. It is called banana spring rolls. They are little crispy spring rolls, filled with warm banana, drizzled with vanilla and caramel sauce and served with a scoop of this delicious coconut ice cream.

It was AMAZING. I almost died of happiness right on the spot.

Hi. My Name is Allison and I'm Addicted to Yahtzee.

2011-03-12T14:39:00.001-08:00

We are totally addicted to Yahtzee. We play it probably two or three times a week. And when we play, it's not just one game. It's like 3. Or 6.

For the longest time, Matthew would get a Yahtzee in almost every game. I never had any. I would still beat him sometimes, but I just never, ever rolled a Yahtzee.

I was very frustrated by this and determined to get one. Of course that didn't matter, because it is entirely a game of chance.

I felt that, in order for my life to be complete, I must roll a Yahtzee. I told Matthew that I didn't even care if I lost the game, I just wanted to roll one.

Well, one day in February, I finally got my first Yahtzee! Matthew hadn't gotten one yet during that game, so I felt all the better about myself. The moment was of course accompanied with joyful shrieks, and had to be captured on camera, as Matthew rolled his eyes and plugged his ears.

Here is my little pride and joy:

Lo and behold, a turn or two later, I rolled another one!

Unfortunately, Matthew STILL rolled two Yahtzee's of his own and won the game.

But that doesn't matter.

Because my life is now complete.

Backblogged

2011-03-12T14:16:00.001-08:00

It has been awhile since I have blogged.

Of course I have plenty of things to tell you.

So, why, you ask, haven't I been telling them?

I'll tell you why.

It's because of THIS.

Remember this? (that unnecessarily long and dramatic rollerskating fall story from January)

Well, after about four weeks, my wrist was getting better, but still tender if I put pressure on it. I was trying to be careful, but one day, while cleaning the church, I pushed it too far and ended up hurting it all over again.

It's not a very glamorous story at all. I was using one of those yellow mop buckets to clean the men's room floor. I went to squeeze the water out of the mop, and without thinking pushed down on the handle with my left hand. After that it felt exactly how it had felt the day after I had fallen at the roller rink. Grrr.

So, the next day I went to the doctor. He told me I most likely have a sprain, but that it is just taking it's sweet time to heal. He gave me some anti-inflammatory drugs and told me to wear the lovely brace pictured above for two weeks.

My mom used to have to wear those same braces on both hands for carpal tunnel. We would make fun of her because she hated to wear them and would take them off.

Now I understand.

First of all, notice the velcro straps. While they are extremely convenient for putting on the brace easily and adjusting the tightness of it, they stick to EVERYTHING. I wore a long sleeved sweater on the first day, and the sleeve was getting all eaten up by the end of the day. So I ended up wearing short sleeves for the rest of February.

The worst time with the velcro was nighttime. It would get stuck to the blankets and sheets and make scratchy noises whenever I moved.

The other fun part was that on the bottom there is actually a metal bar inside that long leather pocket, so that there is no way your wrist can bend, even if you try to. This would be the main reason for my lack of blogging. The doctor said I would still be able to type, but it was really hard for me to do and took me much longer than normal, so I kind of avoided it.

I wore it for two weeks (that felt like two months), and now it is off (hallelujah!).

My wrist is still healing, but doing much better than before.

One of my students (same one who gives me all of the gifts) asked me if he could have my brace when I was done with it so he could use it for bowling.

Hehe

Anywho, there's your reason for my lack of internet presence over the last month or two!

Caroline Saves the Day

2011-02-03T14:41:00.000-08:00

After work on Monday, knowing that a blizzard was in the forecast, I made a quick trip to Walmart to grab just the essentials: ice cream, bananas and vanilla wafers.

Obviously ice cream is a life essential. But why, you ask, did I need bananas and vanilla wafers?

For banana pudding!

I had been craving it for about a week.

Being snowed in for days seemed like the perfect time for such a warm, tasty treat.

Yum, yum, yum.

So. On Tuesday I decided to make it, but since I didn't have my mom's recipe (and she was at work like most normal people), I went with Paula Deans' from online.

The recipe told me to start with milk, cornstarch, and sugar. I was supposed to put them in a double boiler

(which I don't have, so I used this)

and stir until it thickened.

So I stirred...

and stirred...

and took the pot off the top and put it straight on the burner...

and stirred...

40 minutes, and what I was stirring was still the consistency of MILK!

No creaminess, not even lumps. Just milk.

I was angry.

So I called my mom. She wasn't home.

Luckily, my domestic sister, Caroline, was. She tried to give me ideas for how to fix it, but there was no saving the stuff and I ended up angrily dumping it down the drain.

I was MAD. Waste of an hour!

The next day, when I was calm enough to try it again, I used my mom's trusty recipe (thank you very little, Paula Dean!) which Caroline had kindly emailed to me.

This time it worked out perfectly! Delicious layers of pudding, bananas, and vanilla wafers, with a fluffy meringue on top. It was so warm and tasty right out of the oven!

(It looks like a pie, but it's really pudding. I just used the pie pan because my square pyrex already had cornbread in it).

Matthew insisted on taking a picture of me with the pudding.

And we ate almost half of it in one sitting.

Which, Matthew will tell you, was mostly my fault.

Don't worry. I exercised twice today. :)

Thank you, Caroline!

Snow Day Number Seven...

2011-02-03T14:07:00.000-08:00

This is just ridiculous! We've only had ONE full week of school since Christmas (and it was last week)!

We have parent-teacher conferences in less than two weeks. The kiddos are supposed to be in charge of the conference, so we have to help them get everything ready and know what to do. We have SO much left to do! The rest of the curriculum might end up going out the window next week...

Here are some pictures, two days after the storm:

Snow Day Number Six...

2011-02-02T07:56:00.000-08:00

Before you get too jealous, know that this comes at the cost of three extra days tacked on at the end of the school year, one day taken out of Easter break, and (so far) two days out of my Spring Break.

And for the husby, who has a lame school district, 8 extra days in June (so far his last day of school is something like June 14th).

But for now, I'll be making banana pudding and watching movies.

Snow Day Number Five...

2011-02-01T04:11:00.000-08:00

Most legit one we've had, I might add.

It's literally a freaking blizzard out there.

rollerskating

2011-01-31T16:10:00.000-08:00

Last week, for our Young Women activity at church, we went to the roller rink. I thought nothing of it, until we got there.

As soon as the skates were on my feet, (not even tied yet, mind you) panic began to set in.

I thought for a moment, and realized that I haven't been on roller skates since my end of the year 6th grade field trip. I didn't know how to skate!

I began to change my mind...maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Maybe if I just sort of linger to the side, forever tying the laces on my skates, no one will notice that I am not on the rink.

Fat chance.

Several of the girls detected my hesitation. They guarded me like hawks as I laced up, until there was nothing else I could do to stall. As soon as I was done, two of them grabbed me by the arms.

Next thing I knew, I was being pulled onto the rink.

Now, for the record, I do know how to ice skate. I took lessons when I was little and have been every so often over the years and, while I am not super great at it, I am comfortable doing it. This thought entered my mind at the moment, and I thought, "Silly! You know what to do! Just act like you are ice skating!" So I did.

And I almost fell flat on my face.

That was when I learned that ice skating and roller skating are not the same thing.

The girls had decided that baptism by fire would be the best method, and were taking me in a full lap around the rink at regular speed. It must have been a sight to behold. We were going so fast! My feet were going every which way. People zoomed in and out and all around us so fast that just looking at them nearly knocked me over (and most of them appeared to be under the age of 5, which makes this all the more embarrassing). I began screaming and hollering (those of you who have ever played any kind of game with me know that I have this uncontrollable reflex). I was wobbling all over the place, but we kept going, never slowing down.

After awhile, I got smart, and stopped moving my feet, so that I was literally being pulled (rolled?) along, just trying to survive through the lap. Still screaming.

We finally finished the lap and I broke free, clinging to the wall. Luckily, before protests that I needed to keep trying in order to be any good could get very far, the skating rink employees cleared the rink for the limbo contest. Phew!

As everyone crowded around the edge of the rink to watch the contest, I noticed that the carpeted areas around the sides had cleared out. Aha! My golden opportunity to learn in a safe environment!

So, while everyone else cheered on the limbo contestants, I skated back and forth up the 50 foot stretch of carpet at a snail's pace. I may have gotten some strange looks, but by the time the rink was open again for skating, I was feeling much more comfortable on my wheels and ready to give it a shot.

I was so proud of myself! I did several laps by myself, kind of slow, mind you, and never fell down! I learned that I do best skating by myself, because I get more shaky when a friend is too close to me or when I try to keep up with their pace.

I did have a close call when a little boy, probably about 5 or 6, was skating about two feet away from me and yelling at the top of his lungs "I'M DOING THIS WITH MY EYES CLOSED!! I'M DOING THIS WITH MY EYES CLOSED!" (until he biffed it and almost took me down with him), with me yelling the whole time, "OPEN YOUR EYES! YOU NEED TO OPEN YOUR EYES!!"

It was almost time to get the girls back to the church to be picked up by their parents, so I decided to do just a few more laps. As I was heading toward the first turn, two of my girls caught up with me.

One of the girls was all over the place! I'm pretty sure she had been getting up from a fall, falling or about to fall all night.

As they skated up to me, however, she got pushed into me. She started to wobble and began reaching out for me to keep her stable. I started yelling, "DON'T TOUCH ME!! DO NOT TOUCH ME!"

But it was no use.

Suddenly I was flat on my tush in the middle of the rink, with skaters flying all around me. I was terrified to discover that I couldn't get up, due to my rolly feet! (I still don't get how people do that!) Luckily, a few of the young women came to my rescue and helped me up.

After that, I was done for the night.

I will say though, that I did have a really fun time. It was a good workout too! I did hurt my wrist though when I fell (sprained it maybe?). Not cool.

Next time I go, I will make sure to take the husby for support. He says he would never let me fall if we went. Hopefully he is as good at skating as he claims to be.

he's the bestest

2011-01-29T17:37:00.000-08:00

I was super stressed this week, with something going on every night. I probably saw the husby for one hour per day this week.

On one of those busy nights, I had appointments to visit with some of the young women from church, and I needed to make treats for work. Matthew was going to be somewhere that night and I probably wouldn't see him before I went to bed.

When I got home from my young women visits, the treats were already made and ready to go, and there was a note on my pillow to tell me goodnight.

Oh, I love him. :)

the bed

2011-01-29T17:04:00.000-08:00

I never knew a bed could be so complicated, but ours is.

First, I must take you back to the purchase.

Matthew likes hard beds. I like soft beds. (We later learned that is because of the way we sleep--he is a stomach sleeper and I am a side sleeper). So, we thought that the best choice would be a sleep number bed. We went to the store and tried them out a few months before the wedding, and bought one. Pricey, but, we thought, a worthwhile investment.

Matthew slept on the sleep number bed for a while (I never tried it myself), and had a terrible time. We took it back.

We bought a new mattress. We decided to compromise on the firmest pillow-top mattress at the store. I was very worried that the bed would be too soft for Matthew. He didn't even use it before we got married, so we didn't know.

Surprisingly, we found out, after sleeping on it for a few days, that it was too hard for me! Matthew seemed to be fine. So we took my old twin sized foam mattress topper, cut it to fit half of our bed, and put it on my side. Problem solved!

Next issue: I get so hot at night. I literally wake up sweating, even in the winter. I sleep with just the sheet and the comforter, no matter the season. I pretty much always sleep in a t-shirt and shorts, and rarely even wear socks to bed. This was fine at first, but once it got cold (and I turn the heat down to 62 every night), Matthew began to freeze to death. He now has three extra blankets on his side of the bed.

A few weeks ago, I found out that I most likely have a condition called laryngopharyngeal reflux, or LPR, which is kind of like acid reflux. To keep stomach acid from coming up at night, my doctor told me to prop up the head of the bed. So...we headed down to Lowe's and bought two bricks, and our bed now sits at a tilted angle.

Although it wasn't apparent at first, the bed has turned out to be way too soft for Matthew and it bothers his back. Once, when the Christmas tree was up, we took the top mattress off our bed and put it on the living room floor so we could sleep by the tree. With the hard floor underneath the bed, it was very uncomfortable for me, but Matthew loved it. So...solution? We just have to put something hard under the mattress. We are planning to go get some plywood cut to fit half of the bed and stick it under his side to see if that helps.

See? Complicated!

SNOW DAY!!!

2011-01-11T17:17:00.000-08:00

On Monday morning I received the most glorious of text messages at 5 am: School is closed today due to weather conditions.

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

I love living in Missouri.

The other fabulous part about it is that Matthew is also a teacher, so we both got to stay home together. Yippee!!

It was very timely, because we got back from Fargo late Sunday night before school started last week, and just dove right back into the routine. Our nights were crazy and full of goings on, and we are trying to meet our Stake President's challenge to read all the standard works this year, so it was a busy week. On Saturday, we drove to the 3 1/2 hours to St. Louis for a wedding reception of one of Matthew's former roommates (which was so fun, by the way! They had a photo booth with props where you could take all of the pictures you want. Maybe I will have to post those up here...). Since we were there, we went early and went to the temple. We left at 10 am and got home at about midnight.

It was fun, but in the end, our house was still a mess, there was laundry to be done, and our Christmas decorations were still up. Thank goodness for the snow days! We spent the first one cleaning and doing laundry and watching all of the Back to the Future movies. ***That was really fun, by the way. I have seen the first movie a lot of times, but apparently I have not really seen the other two in years and years, because I didn't really remember anything about them. At first I thought the second two would be cheesy, but they ended up being really good! I love how all three stories intertwine, and how each one takes you back to the same day in 1955 from the first movie. *** And the whole time we left the blinds up so that we could watch the big, fat snowflakes falling. Bliss. :)

While we were watching the movies last night, we both got notified that we would be having a second snow day!! Woo hoo! This time we mostly just relaxed and slept in, played card games and now we are about to watch Casablanca. Hoping for another text, since it is supposed to be below zero with the windchill tomorrow, but not getting my hopes up too much.

And the Christmas decorations are still up. I couldn't bring myself to take them down.

Christmas in Fargo

2011-01-11T16:26:00.000-08:00

We spent this past Christmas with the in-laws in Fargo, North Dakota. Unfortunately, my camera died, so I only have a few random pictures to document the trip. This is especially sad, because Matthew's sisters let me do hair and makeup makeovers on them a few times (my dream come true!) and I wanted to put up their beautamous pictures. Oh well.

Fargo has the best puppy store. Ever. And they let you hold three puppies every time you go in! So I requested that we go there every day, please.

I only made it there once. And this is why:

I met this little ball of fluff, and we fell in love. She was so calm and snuggly and sweet. I instantly knew that her name should be Eva. I found myself unable to hold any other puppies. I needed her. I tried and tried to talk Matthew into buying her, but he said no. Pout.

I had to ban myself from anymore trips to the puppy store after that, for fear of greater heartbreak or a sudden purchase.

Luckily, I could just go back to the house and force Titan to snuggle with me. I'm sure he loved it.

I also made some Finnish food for the Wright family. My grandmother was a Finn, and these are some of our traditional foods. I made Pulla, which is a dessert bread. I have never made it before (or any other bread, for that matter), but I think it turned out pretty well!

I also made Karjalan Piirakkas, which I have made before. They have a rye crust and a rice puddingish type filling that is then baked. You mash up hard boiled eggs with softened butter and put that on top. Yummy.

The whole trip was very snowy--we even had a blizzard and were snowed in for a few days. I didn't get a picture of the snow, but it was crazy! The winds went up to something like 40 mph, and some of the drifts were up to the windows. It was nice to have a white Christmas, but I am glad I didn't ever have to drive...

We are trying to visit all of the 50 states together (eventually), and take pictures of them, so we stopped by the South Dakota sign to take a picture on the way home. I do the North Dakota road trip in my pj's, slippers, and a snuggie, so I had to dig out my boots to be in this picture and tuck my pj pants inside of them. Matthew sent me out to go stand by the sign while he set up the camera on the car. I started tromping across the snow, when --BOOOM--I fell in up to the knee! I just stayed in my hole, and Matthew carefully knelt next to me for the picture.

Great Moments in Public Education

2010-12-19T17:08:00.000-08:00

Three favorite stories from this week at school.

#1 On Monday, I was walking my kiddos to lunch. I was very hungry and was just thinking about my lunch. As I was walking down the hallway, the student behind me (who is usually not doing what he is supposed to) kept poking me in the back and "Mrs. Wright"ing me.

I kept muttering over my shoulder "We do not talk in the hallway."

We passed a teacher's aide standing in the hallway, and she seemed to be laughing at me. The student behind me continued to poke me in the back.

Suddenly, I heard the voices of many of my students asking me questions and making exclamations, such as "Teacher! What are you doing?!"

At that point I realized that I had walked right past the lunchroom and almost all the way to the teacher's lounge. Whoops.

I made some lame excuse about how we needed to practice walking in the hall, which none of them believed, and snaked the line back around to the lunchroom. The kids were all laughing their heads off as I walked away.

#2 For our assembly on Friday, we had to choose three students from each class to receive an award for "putting first things first." So, I chose three students who do that. I had to tell them about it on Thursday because before school started on Friday they needed to go downstairs and get instructions about where to go and what to do.

The next day, the mom of one of those students came in to volunteer. She told me that her daughter had come home the night before, so excited to tell her family about the award she had won. Her older sister, probably bitter, said, "Psssh. My teacher gave that award to some kids too. They just choose the teacher's pets you know."

To this my student responded, "Really? Cause Mrs. Wright hasn't ever called me her pet."

#3 This one is the best. One day this week, it was Wednesday or Thursday, I got a phone call from a parent, telling me that her son's snack keeps getting stolen at school. I was completely surprised and unaware of the situation, and I told her I would look into it.

About an hour or two later, I got an email from another parent telling me that her daughter's snack kept getting stolen at school.

I was not very happy with this information. I HATE handling stealing situations in the classroom. It is really hard to figure out who is doing it. There is a problem with it every year, and I hate it. One year I even had my phone stolen by a student for a week! Luckily I outsmarted her and got it back, but that's another story. Anyway, the point is that this stuff makes me very frustrated.

I was determined to get to the bottom of it, so I scrapped the next lesson, gathered my kids into a circle on the carpet, and held an emergency class meeting. I ripped into them about the stealing problems and tried to scare them by telling them they would go to jail when they grow up if they try to do something like this. I then handed everyone a sticky note and instructed them to go back to their desks, write their name at the top, and then write down everything they know about the situation underneath. Sometimes this method is effective, and students (of this age) will actually confess on their sticky note. haha.

No such luck this time. No one knew anything. Grrrrr.

A few minutes later, the boy who was getting his snack stolen came and told me that he actually knew something. He said that his snack was being taken before school. He said that he has seen two third graders walk up to kids before school starts and steal from them. One of them unzips the backpack, and the other reaches in and grabs the snack. He said that he has seen them do this multiple times, and that he even watched them do it to his twin brother the other day, but he didn't say anything because he was scared and didn't know what to do.

I was pretty alarmed by this information, so I reported it to the assistant principal. He said that he would pull up the pictures of all of the 3rd and 4th graders and have my student come in to see if he could identify the thieves.

Later that afternoon, after I had dropped off my kids at music class and was talking with the nurse in the office about one of my students, the assistant principal told me the results of his conversation with my student.

Apparently my student said that the thieves were wearing masks, they can somehow smell the snacks in peoples backpacks, that they don't go to our school (they just sneak in to steal the snacks and then leave), and that principals can't see them. The vice principal asked him if he has actually had his snack stolen this year. The kid said, "Well, in kindergarten and first grade...."

The vice principal cut him off and repeated the question: has your snack been stolen this year?

The student replied, "Well, one time I couldn't find it..."

And that ended the investigation.

Later, the vice-principal called the mother, and it turns out it was the other twin in a different class who was being stolen from. Whoops.

Oh Deer

2010-12-19T16:03:00.000-08:00

Today we gave a man named "Brother Bob" a ride to church. He was baptized earlier this year and is quite the character. He is a huge Chiefs fan and lives in a truck that he parks behind a sports store. Since it is Winter, he is living with some friends. He hasn't been to church really much at all since being baptized, so we were glad that he asked for a ride and decided to come.

Tonight on the drive home, he checked under Matthew's car, because it was making some funny noises. He said he has worked with cars a lot, and he explained that there was a broken part underneath (I can't remember what exactly). He said that he would look at it and see how hard it would be to fix, and that if he could do it himself he would.

Then he told us a story about how he went outside last night and saw three beautiful does laying on the ground. They were startled and ran away. He then proceeded to explain that he could never kill a deer, no siree. He could eat a deer, but he could sure never kill a deer. Heck! He couldn't even kill a turkey. He then clarified that he technically COULD kill a deer, it's just that he wouldn't. Matthew said, "Hmmmm. Could I kill a deer? I don't know. Maybe I could...I mean--I would never kill a deer just for fun, but if I was going to eat all the parts and use the skin for something...maybe."

Just as we were about to drop him off, it came up that we are planning to drive up to North Dakota this week, and he flipped out, telling us that we needed to drive my car instead because it was too dangerous. Matthew told him we would probably just call him up in January to have him look at the car, since we don't have time before we leave.

As we pulled away, Matthew told me that he was thinking he would just risk it and drive his car up to North Dakota and get it fixed up there, because we wouldn't have time to take care of it during a work week.

Not two minutes down the road--BAM! We hit a deer.

It ran right in front of us, it was dark, we were going 40 miles an hour--there was nothing we could have done, no way to have seen it or braked fast enough.

We sat in shock and could hardly believe it. What timing!

After about one minute, Matthew's two responses were, "Well. I guess I can kill a deer." and "Did you see how high that thing flew!?! It went about 20 feet up in the air! That was cool! I always wondered how deer end up clear over on the side of the road."

Ew.

Here's the car:

When we got home and looked at the car, and as I was taking this picture, is smelled disgusting. Matthew claims it was just oil smell, but I'm pretty sure it was the smell of animal remains! Sick.

We came inside and Matthew called the insurance. The lady on the phone started asking for all of the info about our car, who was in the car, where it happened, what the damage was, if anyone was hurt, etc. And Matthew says to her, "You should have seen it--that deer flew about 20 feet in the air! That was the best part! It was so cool!"

Her response, "I bet your wife thought that was really cool too..."

Anyway, I guess now we know which car we are driving to North Dakota.

Gingerbread Teepee

2010-12-07T15:55:00.000-08:00

Last night, for FHE, we made a gingerbread house. But we decided we wanted to be more creative than that, so we made a gingerbread teepee with Indians. (Not the most politically correct, I know...)

Matthew was the architect who built and decorated the teepee and I made the people.

Yes, I do realize that the people are a little big for the teepee...

Shirley Temple or Carrot Top?

2010-12-07T15:52:00.000-08:00

I just had to try curling the new short hair, just to see if it would work. It took about a bazillion years and was so much harder than curling long hair (I know..you wouldn't think that, right?)

I couldn't decide all day if it was cute or scary...

At least the husband liked it. That's good enough for me!

Christmastime!!

2010-12-07T15:43:00.000-08:00

YAY!! I LOVE Christmas decorations! We put them up pretty much half an hour after we were back from celebrating Thanksgiving in Utah. :)

This little tree is going to be our "traveling tree." We are going to try to get an ornament (or something we can turn into an ornament) from everywhere we travel. So far we only have one: a lobster from our honeymoon in Maine.

I know the decorations aren't much, but they are SO fun! We love the lights so, so much. Matthew always tries to leave the house before me and go to bed before me so that he never has to see the living room with the Christmas lights off. :)

Last Friday night we pulled our mattress out into the living room and slept with the tree lights on. We were going to watch a Christmas movie and drink hot chocolate too, but Matthew fell asleep right away. We tried to do that when we woke up in the morning, but I promptly spilled the hot chocolate all over the bed. Whoops.

The Seven Year Old Bodybuilder

2010-12-04T08:14:00.001-08:00

We all know that kids are hilarious. They tend to say the funniest things in such a dead serious way.

This is why I have the greatest job. I hang out with 7 year old all day. Sometimes it is extremely hard to keep a straight face. Here is my favorite story from this week:

Two boys in my class had filled up their star charts (they earn stars for good behavior) and chose to eat lunch in the classroom with me for their prize. This was part of the conversation I had with one of them.

Student: My mom got some 40 pound bags of sand in the mail for our aquarium. She couldn't even lift them, but I could! Cause I weigh 58 pounds. I have my own personal trainer, you know.

Me: Oh? And who is that?

Student: My cousin.

Me: So what does your trainer have you do?

Student: Well, he makes up routines for me to do. Like he tells me which stuff is good for abs and stuff like that. I already have a two-pack you know.

Me: So how often do you do this routine?

Student: Every day. (kind of in a "duh" voice)

Me: Wow. So what kinds of stuff do you do?

Student: Well, right when I wake up I do 20 push-ups. Then, right when I get home from school I do 40 push-ups. And before I go to bed I do 40 more push-ups.

Me: (speechless and trying not to laugh.)

**I notice at this point that for his "salad" from the school lunch, he only took one cucumber slice. He has been nibbling on it for quite awhile now.**

Me: So, you like cucumbers a lot, huh?

Student: Yep. Good for protein!

Chop Chop!

2010-12-03T16:19:00.001-08:00

My hair is gone! I had the urge to cut it off a few weeks ago, but I haven't found a new hairdresser in Kansas City. I went to a coworker's hairdresser about two weeks ago to get it done, but since we had never met (and I was requesting such a drastic change), she talked me out of it and we just cut off three inches. It was okay, but the layers were not done how I like them, and I did not love the way my hair looked (which, for me, is a must. :)

I went home to Utah for Thanksgiving and found out that my mom and aunt's were all going to see our amazing hairdresser, Wesley. My hair was driving me nuts, so I went to have her fix it the very first day I was there. Oh, how I love her! She understands how my hair is and how I like it. Sigh. I need to find someone like her out here, but that is not an easy process...

Anyway, here is the finished product, styled in two different ways:

I really like it, except for the fact that I am forced to do my hair every day--no more quick ponytails or up-do's on early mornings. That part is a little tricky.

Matthew thinks I look like some girl from the X-Files. Haven't ever seen it, so I don't know who that is. Not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not...

How to Prepare for a Temple Marriage

2010-11-18T16:03:00.000-08:00

Last week we had a Stake YW activity. The theme was the temple. The girls attended three classes and then we had a fake wedding reception, complete with a full on wedding cake.

One of the classes was about modest wedding dresses, and was taught by our ward's wonderful YW President. After talking about what you are and aren't allowed to wear in the temple on your wedding day, she had the girls draw a design of a modest wedding dress. When that was done, we created them, out of white butcher paper, tape, and tissue paper.

Here are some of the lovely beehives modeling their teams' creations:

And I Thought the Zoo Story was Embarrassing...

2010-11-18T15:56:00.001-08:00

Oh wow. I've done it again. This time the story has to do with my directionally challenged-ness.

My computer has a virus, so I decided to take it in to get fixed. I googled a place up in Liberty where I work and wrote down the address.

After school, I got in my car, typed the address into my GPS, and drove around the block, giving my GPS time to wake up and realize where I was. Then it directed me to the computer store.

It was one block away from my school. And I hadn't even realized that or recognized the name of the street.

All I could do was bust up laughing and be glad that no one else was there.