Caroling Down the Strip

WOW! SO MUCH FUN!!!! My bishop owns the dairy, so he decorated a flatbed semi with tons of Christmas lights and loaded it with hay. We all climbed on and rode down the strip playing Christmas music, singing along, and waving to all the people on the strip. It was so much fun to see people's reactions. They would be thinking 'What is going on?' and stare at us for a few seconds, then smile and wave back with a lot of enthusiasm. It was so much fun!

It's a snow day!

No school today! School has been cancelled due to the weather. It sounds like the snow has melted and frozen on the roads. I have every intention of not going anywhere today, except maybe outside to play in the snow. Hot chocolate here I come!

Snow Totals:
Las Vegas 3.5 "
Henderson 8-10"

We got the most snow here in Henderson.

Oh, The Weather Outside is Frightful

It's just starting to snow

My view from my classroom. My steps are covered in snow.

The school as I'm leaving work.

There's something wrong with this picture: Palm trees should not have snow.

My roommates and I playing in the snow.

Ruth, Jordan, Lola, Andrea

Snow Angel!

(Jordan)

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow

There had been rumors that it was going to snow here in Las Vegas this week, but I had been hoping it wouldn't. I lived in Idaho for three years and did not enjoy living in snow. So this afternoon as I'm running around getting things ready for my class and for parent teacher conferences, I walk outside and it's snowing! And I remembered how much fun snow can be when it doesn't stick! This just proves to everyone that it really does get cold in Las Vegas in the winter.


It's starting to stick....

Christmas Lights

One thing that I love about Christmas is driving through the neighborhood and looking at Christmas lights. Jordan found out about a house near her work that we had to check it out. This house has a crazy amount of lights and it's synched to the radio!!! It had a loop of about 8 songs and different lights would turn on and off to go with music. It was the coolest house I've ever seen!

Track Break Happenings Part 2

I drove out to Phoenix to visit Tamara and Jack before I went home for Thanksgiving. (Yes, kind of a big detour, but definitely worth it!). Tamara and I scrapbooked, scrapbooked, scrapbooked--oh and did I mention that we scapbooked? But hey! We finished our Lake Tahoe scrapbook! Saturday morning Tamara and I (Jack had to finish some homework) went on a hike. We both forgot to bring a camera, but I had a disposable camera in my trunk. We stoppped about halfway up and took some pictures overlooking Phoenix. Unfortunately, they didn't turn out :( You gotta love disposable cameras. I had a good time visiting with Tamara and Jack; I'm glad that we don't live too far apart.

Track Break Happenings Part 1

Mom and Dad came to visit for the weekend. We of course went to the Original Pancake House (only the best pancakes EVER!). We also went to the Bellagio to see the water show because it's Dad's favorite thing to do here in Vegas and Mom's favorite is the conservatory. I of course just handed my camera over to Mom because let's face it--Mom takes more and better pictures than I do:)

Happy Halloween!

This year I was a mermaid for Halloween. (No I did not go around singing like Ariel.) On Saturday, we helped Riann at the hospital with the NICU reunion. The children loved all of our costumes. Then on Monday, FHE was a Halloween carnival. Lola was in charge of the cake walk, so we helped her run the station. It was fun to see everyone's costumes.

*Top: Andrea (Mermaid), Alyson (Fairy) Bottom: Jordan (Glenda the Good Witch), Lola (Wicked Witch of the West)

Bite of Las Vegas

Ruth, her friend Abby, and I went to Bite of Las Vegas, a food and music festival on the Northwest part of the valley. It was only $8 to get in and we got to listen to great music and eat cheap food. We were able to listen to Justin Nozuka, Lenka, Secondhand Serenade, Metro Station, Puddle of Mudd, and Lifehouse. We had a few frustrating incidents with people who don't think, but other than that it was a ton of fun!

Moving (again!)

Once again, I am moving. My rommmates and I found a house that is a really good deal ($400 cheaper!). I pay a little more to have the master bedroom, which is necessary with all of the stuff I own. I know you're supposed to get rid of stuff each time you move, and I do, but it is still amazing how much stuff can accummulate. I really like my new bedroom because it's bigger than my old bedroom and I have plenty of room for all of my books and scrapbooking supplies!

Tamara and Jack

What a beautiful day filled with love, family, and friends! I'm so happy for Tamara and Jack!

Top: Tamara and Jack

Left: Andrea, Brent, Jocelyn

Bottom: Chelsea, Brent,

Mrs. Gross,

me, and Jocelyn

Breaking Dawn

I went to the midnight release Breaking Dawn party at Borders with Ruth, Lola, Jordan, Riann, Kerri, and Stephanie. There was a shirt contest, so we decorated shirts the week before. Lola and I designed the iron-ons and we even were able to find the same font as the book covers! On Friday, we decorated them even more with ribbons, silver iron-ons, and silver/glitter fabric paint. We would have won if the Borders people had judged, but instead they just had people scream for the ones they liked ( the one who won was a store bought shirt). A Borders person told us later they thought we should have won and all night people were giving us compliments on our shirts.

The actual party at Borders wasn't that great, they didn't have very much going on-I heard Barnes and Noble had a better party. Borders did get us our books and get us out of there pretty quickly, though.

So, needless to say, I read all day Saturday! This book is SO GOOD! I loved it!

Here's the front and back of my shirt up close:

Michaels and JoAnns

I should just not be allowed in these stores with money. I went in there to get three things for my school scrapbook. Did I find what I needed? No. But I did walk out with 4 different slabs of scrapbook paper. I was going to put some back, but I just have a hard time resisting really cute, sparkly, fuzzy paper.

White Water Rafting Adventures

What a fun weekend! Kerri's friend Scott is a raft guide, so invited Kerri and her friends to come up to go rafting. I flew up to Idaho Falls on Friday and met everyone at the airport. We ate lunch, then some of us went to Rexburg to look around. It's amazing how many changes can happen in two and a half years! The temple is done and looks beautiful and can be seen from everywhere in Rexburg! The school is under construction: they are adding on to the MC and building a new, much bigger auditorium. It was great to be able to see Rexburg again.

Saturday morning we drove to Wyoming to raft down the Snake River. The first time down the river, the water was icy cold! It was fun to go through the rapids and try not to fall in; I pulled on Jimmy's life jacket a few times to make sure he didn't fall in. On the biggest rapid, those of us that fell, fell inside the boat! It was pretty funny.

We were able to go down the river again and the second time was so much better! The water was a little warmer, as was the wind. The rapids were also bigger and better! We lost Jimmy and Julie over the edge this time around, but were able to get them back in with no problem. We also did a trust exercise, where we all stood up and held hands on the outer rim of the raft. At first, it was hard to get up and not be worried about falling, but once we were all up, it was fine (until Jimmy started to make the boat shake and we all fell into the boat:)

And even though I was a responsible red head and put sunscreen on, yes, I still got sunburned.

We then drove to Jackson Hole for dinner at a restaurant that had delicious BBQ. After that, we drove back, got cleaned up, played Catch Phrase, talked, and then slept.

This morning we went to Scott's ward for church (I had to leave early to catch my plane). The Young Women in his ward had just gotten back from girl's camp and were giving their testimonies in sacrament meeting. One of the girls looked kind of familiar, but didn't think much of it. Then after the counselor introduced the speakers, I realized why she looked familiar...She was in the fifth grade class I taught in for my methods class the semester before student teaching!

This weekend was a blast!

What a Nice Day...

This afternoon we had a thunderstorm! I opened my sliding door so that I could hear and smell the rain. Las Vegas doesn't get rain very often, so we have to enjoy it while it lasts.

After the rain had cleared away, I went for a nice 3.5 mile walk around my neighborhood. One thing that I really like about my neighborhood is that there are so many little walking paths that every time you go on a walk, you can go some different way. I definitely had a workout, but it was nice to be outside and enjoy the weather.

Sisters!

Chelsea came out my last week of school before track break. She was a HUGE help! She fixed bulletin boards, made copies, and cut and traced for me. She would also help students if they had questions and I was busy working with a group of students. On Friday, we went to the Bellagio because Chelsea has never been to Las Vegas. Ruth and Kerri came with us. We watched two water shows--it never ceases to amaze me :)

Jocelyn came out the following week for a few days. We ran errands, went swimming and running/walking(she ran...I walked), worked on bridal shower planning, and worked on projects. Oh yeah, and had fun hanging out :)

Two weeks later, I went to visit Tamara in Phoenix. I helped her gather pictures for the wedding slideshow and make her guest book. We got a lot accomplished, plus still found time to go swimming and enjoy each others company:)

Happy Fourth of July!

Ruth, Lola, Joy, Riann and her brother, and I went to breakfast at The Original Pancake House (only the best pancakes EVER!). I love chocolate chip pancakes! Then Lola, Ruth, and I went to Dan's house for a BBQ and swimming. We had a lot of fun hanging out with friends and making new friends. That evening we went to Anthem (just south of where I live) and could see the whole valley. The station casinos synchonized their fireworks. It was fun to see the same fireworks going off at the same time across the whole valley (even if they were small because we were far away). We then came back to my house and lit some of our own fireworks and sparklers! I have never lit fireworks before and it was a lot of fun! Overall, it was a fantastic Fourth of July!

Hey...you never know when you need a book!

Birthday Fun :)

I took Friday off of work so that we could go to LA to celebrate mine and Lola's birthdays. We spent the day Friday at Magic Mountain. It was so much fun! Tatsu is an awesome way to start the day! We practically walked on the rides because most schools were still in. And it might have helped that is was Friday the 13th. you never know :)

On Saturday we went to the Getty Museum with Ruth's mom. The gardens were beautiful! I got some really great pictures of the poppies. They are definitely one of my favorite flowers. We are laughing in this picture because Lola accidently stepped into the water because it was closer than she realized :)

Scottish Games

For Memorial Day, we went to the Scottish games in Orange County, CA. Jocelyn was able to meet me there and spend the day with me and my friends. A friend of hers was in the UCR Pipeband, so we were able to get our picture taken with a man in a kilt as to Kerri's request :)

Madame Tussauds

For teacher appreciation week, we were able to get free tickets to Madame Tussauds at the Venetian! It was a lot of fun to see wax representations of real people. I love this picture of us with the founding fathers!

Shark Reef

Jennifer and I went to Shark Reef on Friday, April 4, 2008. It was fun to get out and do something different (and free because I'm a teacher!) We had fun trying to get pictures of the saw shark...it kept swimming out of view. So we have a ton of pictures of nothing :)

Hello World

This is my first blog post. Tamara's boyfriend Jack made it for me. I approve of him wholeheartedly. I'm the first one who gave Tamara permission to fall in love with him, so she owes me big time!

I think he's so great for Tamara. He knows how to play piano, and sing, and dance, and play the guitar. He even bursts out in Disney songs! He's so much fun.

He reads out loud really well. Yesterday he introduced me to one of my new favorite authors, Rudyard Kipling. He read from Just So Stories. It was nice to be read to for once and not doing the reading. Not that I don't enjoy reading, but he was so animated, it made the stories so much more fun.

This picture was taken at the Renaissance Faire in Phoenix. Look how happy we are. We must be friends.