Something Beginning with "S"

Makes You Feel Merry

On the Floor

Something You Made

 Here is us all prepared for the ugly sweater party.

But wait...what's that on Annie's sweater?

Why...it's a stork.

Yup, Annie is great with child.

Happy Holidays from the 2.5 of us!

Outdoors

Something Green

Lights

Hat

Sweet

Under

Out & About

Someone You Love

Stars

From Where You Love/Your Country

Looking Up

Black & White

Something You Held

Peace

December - Photo A Day

8 o'clock

Shingle All The Way

This little boy has shingles.

Yup, shingles.

All the stress of finishing up the semester

and applying to grad school

 has forced Joe's body to rebel.

Thank goodness he is on the mend

and only has one more week of classes.

A Thankful Feast

This about sums up my Thanksgiving!

Besides:

Driving to SLC

Being with Family

Sleeping In

Playing with Mae and James

Enjoying some Wii with Nathan and Ashley

Eating 2 Thanksgiving Dinners

Watching Nathan's Magic Show/Sunday School Lesson

Playing Catch Phrase

Eating Pie for Breakfast

Watching Movies

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

Being with Friends

I am so thankful for all that I have been given!

A Monsterrific Halloween

 This year for our ward Halloween party,

Joe and I went as Mike and Sulley from Monsters, Inc.

We actually won for best homemade costume!

What do you think?

 We...well...I won for best pie!

I also made another to keep around our house.

This is a picture of the pie Joe ate almost entirely by himself.

 The monster theme continued at work.

Our classroom is decked out with monsters this year,

so we decided to go as Monsters, Inc. characters as well.

Here we have Sulley, Mike, and Celia.

Don't worry,

 the adults were not the only ones having fun this Halloween.

My students all looked wonderful in their costumes!

They even made Halloween Jack-o-Lanterns!

A Lego Birthday Party

Joe had a very busy weekend.

Not only did he take the English Subject GRE,

but he had a party to celebrate his birthday with friends that he loves!

A party is always a great way to recover from a 3-hour exam.

This was no ordinary party, this was a Lego party.

A Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars Lego Party.

Our table was filled with some of Joe's favorite foods,

which were surrounded by Lego characters from the various movies.

We enjoyed chili (not pictured), chips, pretzel bits, and pretzel dogs (not pictured).

We also had some bagel bites,

a cheese and cracker spread along side some fruit and veg.

For the sweet tooth we had chocolate frogs, 

Lego candy blocks and of course a birthday cake!

After filling our bellies we played some one-of-a-kind games.

We started with pinning the ring on the hobbit.

From there we played "celebrity" with a Harry Potter,

Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings requirement.

We also played the party version of Harry Potter Scene It.

The decorations were also quite extrodinary,

if I do say so myself.

Joe's cake was one of a kind.

It was exactly what he wanted.

Delicious chocolate cake with vanilla mouse filling and a ganache topping.

It was so rich!

We had a great time celebrating with friends, and 

Joe is looking forward to continuing the birthday celebration 

with our families this weekend.

Let the celebrating continue!

Joe's 25th Birthday

 Joe's birthday celebration was extended this year, to more than just one day,

 since his actual birthday fell during Conference weekend.

It is too difficult to fully celebrate a birthday
when you are stopping every two hours.

 Some of his favorite moments from the weekend included playing on the original Nintendo system.

 Eating some eclair cake...

And preparing for his birthday party which is this weekend!

We are looking back to his childhood and throwing a Lego themed party.

More details and pictures to come soon...

Our Labor Day Weekend

Over our Labor Day weekend we had a lot of fun with family.

We celebrated James' 1st birthday at the firestation

and I learned how to can peaches!

We will enjoy our fresh peaches during the first snow fall of the season.

Yum!

My Monster-ous Classroom

 As promised, here are some pictures from my classroom.

This is a picture of my enormous white board,

which I cover with butcher paper to make curriculum bulletin boards.

Above my white board are my math vocabulary cards.

And below my white board are my number line

and multiplication race track.

 These are the rules of my classroom.

In short I want my students to be STARR students.

Safe, on Task, Attitude, Respectful and Responsible.

This year I am using the Monsters Inc. characters 

to help my students remember what each rule means.

 "Read Every Day for a Monster Sundae"

Our students are competing for an ice cream party.

The class that reads the most books throughout the year wins!

Our monsters will "grow" as our students start to read.

My monster is the red one.

 We have monsters all over our room.

This one is the most recognizable.

This week classes started.

We had our students make their own monsters.

Don't I teach the best students??

School Bells Are Ringing

Can you tell what the theme for my classroom is this year?

MONSTERS!

I will post more pictures of my darling classroom soon!

The Happiest of Days

On the 18th, Joe and I celebrated our third year of mawage.

We decided to extend our day and celebrate the whole weekend.

Joe planned everything.

On Friday, after my contract day at work, 

we enjoyed a movie and an unbeatable burger.

When the day arrived we enjoyed pastries in bed,

nothing wrong with being lazy and staying in pajamas. 

We spent the day enjoying treats and movies.

In the afternoon we went to Nickel City.

We played hours of arcade games and earned lots of tickets.

We enjoyed a fancy dinner at La Jolla Groves.

The food is amazing!!

The entire ceiling is covered with tree branches and lemons.

They also have twinkle lights.

I think this picture speaks for itself.

Yum!!

You can't enjoy an anniversary without a dessert.

We thoroughly enjoyed our day.

We can't believe it has already been three years!

I am pretty lucky right?

Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow!

 The night before James and Katie embarked on their
 6-year adventure in Georgia, 

we all got together for a family photo.

 Brothers!

3 generations saying so long.