Day at the Zoo

One day in June I took my niece with a friend from work and her little girl to the zoo. It was a fun day filled with"ooo, they're so cute" comments :)
This gorilla is actually really weird, but you can't go to the zoo without a picture taken by it. Fortunately for us, we were lucky enough to take A LOT of pictures here!Here is my friend's little girl and my niece (5 months apart) - smiling at the same time which is always somewhat miraculous.
And then we got them to hold hands! It was so cute I could hardly stand it! But I am pretty sure that it is a true sign of friendship when they don't immediately pull their hands away :)
We had a very enjoyable ride on the train. My niece loved seeing all of the animals and sitting on the bench seat by herself, being a "big" girl.

Of course the merry-go-round had to be last. I was worried that my niece would freak out when we weren't able to ride it again (she rode one to her hearts content at Knotts Berry Farm). Fortunately she was worn out enough that we were able to break away without too much distress.

Definitely thankful for friends, cute girls and a great day!

Whooo's Done?

Here is my completed quilt for my classroom this coming year, with the theme "Look Whooo's Working Hard!".

Exciting, I know. This is officially my last quilt. I have six different themes so I can go through a rotation because, unfortunately (or fortunately for my favorites), I generally have kids more than one year. Hence the changing. If I just had new kids every year I don't think I would change. Now most kids will only have to see each theme once while they are in elementary school. Of course there are always those few special souls that will get a couple of repeats because they come to see me from age three all the way through sixth grade!

Thanks to my mom for always finding cute patterns, and phone technical support. And thanks to my sister for helping with the border, binding and "stitching-in-the-ditch". Of course that leads you to ask what I actually did... I bought fabric all by myself, put each owl together and sewed the owls together. Easy?!? I think not...

Just Because...

She is so cute :)

I was attempting to use this photo program to entertain my niece this morning. It didn't really work out, but at least I got two that were semi-okay.
I am biased. I know.

Knott's Berry Farm

On our final day in California we went to Knott's Berry Farm. It was a little crazy with all of the kids, but they all seemed to enjoy it!
My niece wasn't too sure about that big snoopy character. She would talk about him and point to him, but she wasn't too interested in being that close...

I get motion sickness pretty easily, so I didn't go on any of the big rides. I went on a couple of little kid rides, but some of those were VERY uncomfortable and nauseating! For 2 hours I held my niece while she took a nap. It wasn't terrible except my bum was becoming quite numb :) The day ended well because I got myself a funnel cake with powdered sugar. Everything tastes better fried and with powdered sugar.

Cali

I went to Los Angeles to visit my parents with my sister and her family. I flew out with Hannah and then my brother-in-law and sister drove out in the van with gobs of stuff for my parents and the two boys. I got the better end of that deal for sure!

We went to visit grandpa Toolson in San Diego one day. We had to take our classic picture by grandpa's chair, but my niece wasn't too interested. She wanted to make sure I wasn't going to leave her there to fend for herself with grandpa!
We went to an indoor park one day to help get some energy out of the kids. My niece thought it was great and surprisingly enough, my nephews thought it was pretty fun too. I convinced my mom to give me some quarters so that I could make the ride go. My niece was on cloud nine :)
A lot of nights were spent swimming in the pool at the hotel. Now you are wondering why all of my pictures are with my niece. The boys can't sit still long enough to take a picture and it usually involves a lot of guilt and bribing to get it done. My niece is readily available for the most part.

Plus she was almost always with me if she wasn't with her mom. She liked to talk to Nana and Papa, but wasn't too sure about them getting too close to her.
And just because they are cute - here are most of my nephews and niece. Adorable. Well, I think so at least! My sister-in-law flew out with her boys the same day that I drove home with my sister and her kids. I sat in the back to keep my niece happy ("We're back yard friends, the Backyardigans") and my sister drove. Worked out great for me - minus the Backyardigan songs that are STILL stuck in my head!

Artists

Did you ever make your own plastic plate as a child? Well apparently you can still buy them! My sister got some for her kids to make for Easter.

When they finally came in the mail, my sister and I were forced to be in the picture with the plates we had drawn when we were little. Of course mine is the only one that is actually "drawn". The rest of them were traced. But, they were all so proud of their plates. They love setting the table with these and making sure that everybody has their plate. The only one left out is their dad...

SPRING BREAK

Every teacher long awaits the day when it is finally spring break. I couldn't even wait so I took the day off before my spring break started. My week was spent in Seattle with my brother and his family.
We went to A LOT of Easter egg hunts. I believe I went to four different ones. Crazy huh?!? The boys were ecstatic about finding eggs and candy. It was very hard to monitor the amount that was consumed. Shocking, huh?!?
Easter morning I was able to take a picture with one of my nephews. Who knows where the other one was - he must have been really poky in getting ready. My brother and sister-in-law gave me some of my favorite candy and an i-Tunes gift card when the boys got their baskets. That was a nice surprise. The rest of the week we spent doing regular activities - drawing with chalk, playing outside, going to swim lessons, taking naps (well, that was just me - the boys didn't ever take a nap). It was nice :)

Decorating Eggs

I was going to be out of town for Easter, so I convinced my sister that she should decorate eggs EARLY! Well, not too early, but it wasn't the day before Easter, which is what it usually is :)

My niece was stripped down in case she came close to the dyes. Of course, it was my sole purpose to keep Hannah out of them. I guess stripping down showed what little faith they had about my success!
Stickers are A-MAZ-ING! Well, at least my niece thought so. I am still unsure of why so many stickers come with egg coloring kits - they don't ever stick.
Then she discovered that she could eat the egg inside and the evening went from awesome to OUTSTANDING!
The boys diligently decorated their eggs and were quite distressed when there were no more eggs to color. I do love those kids!

Sledding

I went sledding with my sister and her kids one morning. It must have been on a holiday since obviously I wasn't working that day... Of course I use the term "sledding" loosely. As I have gotten older, I have become more terrified of heights - even little hill heights! So I would just walk down the hill and play with the kids at the bottom :) But as long as there is snow for the kids to eat, life is good!

The Big 3-0!

One would think that I would be more concerned with turning 30, however, it was just another birthday. No melt-downs or crisis (well, no more than usual of course).

I went bowling with my sister and her family and was pretty much like a pro. Oh wait, that must have been someone else... I think I beat my one year old niece though - does that count?!?

My sister, the master cake decorator. The pattern is the same as the birthday plates we used. That's talent! And it was my favorite cake... can you guess it?!? Yep - vanilla cake with a layer of orange sherbet and vanilla ice cream. YUM!
My niece wasn't too interested in helping me blow out my candles, but my nephew sure was!
I am displaying the blanket on my shoulders that I got from my sister. Tricot and flannel with no batting. It really is the perfect blanket. I just have a hard time keeping them in good shape. Let's just say dry, cracked feet and tricot don't really mix...
And, if you can look away for a moment from my scary eyes, I am displaying sweat-wrist bands that my friend Carly gave me at school to go along with Just Dance 3 that we tried out as a family :) I know you are all jealous. Maybe someday you can look as cool as me :)

Christmas

I went to spend Christmas with my mom and dad in Los Angeles who are currently serving as Mission President and Wife for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I helped with some baking and wrapping and all things "last minute" Christmas. We were able to Skype Christmas morning with my sister and her kids; and then my brother with his kids. But, when there are only 3 people, there really isn't a need to take pictures to document events.

But before I went out to visit my parents, I helped my sister's family decorate their Christmas tree.

My job consisted of untangling ornaments and ...
giving child-proof ornaments for my niece to hang up (all in the same exact spot, which then proceeded to fall and then be re-hung by my sister or brother-in-law).

I also had the pleasure of helping one of my nephews build a candy train for his teacher.It required a lot of concentration and motivation to finish the task at hand. The candy is just so yummy... (for the child of course, I would never be tempted).

And the final product! I have a greater appreciation for my mom and all of the Christmas crafts she would do with us when we were kids. I was only helping one child and it wore me out!

Another Birthday

This one was the BIG 8! He has really been into scooters and tricks, so he wanted a Tony Hawk emblem on his skateboard cake. I help find things and then my sister implements them. But it turned out awesome! In my unbiased opinion of course...
He was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by his dad. I was very blessed to have been there to experience that with him.
One of his cousins was able to come out with my brother for the big event. The boys had great fun running around together. And the baby loved chasing them and acting like she could do anything the boys could do! Happy Birthday Big Boy!

Somebody's ONE!

My sister and her family picked me up at the airport and we went right to the baby girl's first activity. My cousin Katie was also coming into town that day so she got the pleasure of celebrating with us :) I had to pull a guilt trip on the boys to even take this picture with me. They are "too cool" for me now. But being in the tree slightly made up for having to smile for a picture!

We went to Wheeler Farm to see the animals and the baby girl LOVED it! I could have done without all of the swarming birds (i.e. "Mary Poppins" and "Home Alone" like). It was a little chilly so we didn't stay too long.
And there is ALWAYS cake! My sister made the cake to look like the plates she had purchased. She will have to only make chocolate cake from now on because the birthday baby will only eat it if it is chocolate or looks like chocolate!
There was a lot of family there, so I got to open presents with the birthday girl while my sister took pictures. I am displaying my gift of a onesie that says "My Auntie Rocks". Which is totally a true statement. I can't believe she is ONE!

"This is Halloween, This is Halloween"

I carved pumpkins with the Turnbow Family. Well, really I was in charge of Hannah not getting into everything. We used plastic face attributes and stuck them into the pumpkin. No carving, no mess - my kind of pumpkin decorating!
Aren't these monkeys cute?!?
And then the big monkey was swayed (by the beaten up soccer player) to be a "dead monkey" with a bruise on his face. Little boys always seem to make something cute, not so cute...

After pictures and going around my sister's cul-de-sac one time, I quickly retreated to my house where I could hide with the lights off and not hand out any candy. Scrooge huh?!? I count handing out candy to my kids at school (60 children) to feel better about not handing out candy at my house. No eggs yet...

Seattle Visit

My school gets a couple of days off for UEA weekend, so I decided to take the rest of the week off and go visit my brother and his family out in Seattle. The weather was surprisingly good for most of the time that I was there :) Some of these events may be out of order due to my "delayed" blogging...

I went with J to his preschool outing at the pumpkin patch. He was so excited to put his hands and face in the holes!
They each picked out a pumpkin that matched their size. J wanted a "yittle" one. (Trust me SLPs, I have worked on this sound /l/ with the boy and he can do it... just chooses NOT to!)
My parents had a conference in Portland the same weekend that I was there, so we drove down to Portland, picked up my parents from the airport and went so see a couple of waterfalls and some fish breeding place. All very interesting and of course the boys were SO excited to see the fish!
We stayed overnight in Portland after we dropped off my parents at their conference and the following day we went to the Children's Museum before heading home. The highlight of the day was the special Lego exhibit. I am trying to be "tough" like the knight - are you intimidated?!?
It is pretty amazing what people come up with to build with Legos. Since those are my only pictures, that is all I remember doing. But, all in all, it was a great trip and I always love seeing my Seattle boys!

Where Were You?

It was my first year off campus and I was living in The Riviera at BYU. That Tuesday I had an 8:00 history class, so of course I didn’t watch any TV before class. The guy that I sat by in class worked in the BYU Bookstore on the early morning shift and told me he had seen one of the planes crash into the building. I didn’t really think much of it until I got home and turned on the television.

Over and over it showed the planes crashing and the towers collapsing. My roommate Jennika (crazy girl with bright pink hair) kept saying it was a ploy by the government to do who knows what. I finally told her to leave and fortunately she went to her room.

I tried to make sure that my Dad wasn’t in New York or in D.C in harm's way. Also, I wanted to make sure that my aunt Joan’s family was all okay. Fortunately they were all safe. I went back to campus later in the afternoon for a geography class, but it was cancelled due to the day’s events.

Since then, every year, I listen to a CD I made right after the events occurred. It has a variety of songs with sound bits from the news in it. Generally it makes me cry, but it is worth it to remember the lives of those who were lost.

Where were you?

Celebration

This is my happy face. It may be difficult to discriminate from my not-so-happy face...

I should have taken a follow-up picture. It would have resulted after the following:

1. Riding a bus with 50 others wearing the same shirt.

2. Walking through a gauntlet of high school cheerleaders and band members.

3. Sitting in a hot stadium.

4. Having items thrown into the crowd that seemed unnecessarily close to my head.

5. Thinking I was going to be attacked by some student council person running up the steps.

6. Waiting in the hot bus for 20 minutes.

7. Riding a bus with no air conditioning back to school.

I'm pretty sure it was a VERY un-happy face...

Painful Reality

The image to follow was a very painful experience. However, it is what happens when you are allergic (not slightly, but highest level of allergic) to the following:

TREES:

Boxelder

Birch

Juniper Rocky Mtn.

Oak

Ash

Cottonwood

Elm

Maple

Russian Olive

Willow

GRASS:

Timothy

Johnson

Bermuda

WEEDS:

Cocklebur

Lamb's Quarters

Pigweed

Dock

Sagebrush

Plantain

Ragweed

Marshelder

Scale

Kochia

Russian Thistle

Greasewood

Alfalfa

OTHER:

Cats

(That doesn't even include the lower rated allergies i.e. dogs, horses, sycamore trees, walnut trees, linden trees, mulberry trees and mesquite trees).

My arm was ON FIRE! And it took quite awhile to get the itching to subside - even after heavy duty anti-itch cream and a shot of liquid Zyrtec...

The avoidance techniques won't really work since these allergies occur all spring, summer and fall here in Utah. I do get a higher A/C bill because I don't open the windows. Lucky me.

Possible allergy shots are in my future...

On the plus side I am not allergic to mold or dust :)