10 weeks left to go....

Today is our sons "growthday." So today he's offically 30 weeks old....

I still feel pretty good. Suddenly this week my clothes are no longer fitting, and I have had to come to terms that I can no longer just wear maternity pants..
I have been super tired lately, that could be due to the fact that my iron is low, that I am on my feet 8hours a day, working with little kidos everyday, and that I drive 2 hours a day, and that the baby is starting to get a lot bigger. lets just say I'm looking forward to the christmas break. (April and Rosie-- I admire you guys so much-- because you taught school and were prego... its exhausting eh?).
Everyday I think about how lucky I am to have a good husband who takes care of me.

Happy Birthday Robert!

I am a terrible blogger in that It takes me forever to update my posts...
Anyway, December 4th was Roberts' birthday! That morning I woke up at 4:30 am to make him crepes. That following weekend I made him a special birthday dinner " Alice’s Chicken" from the outback. (I really did make it!)






And then we had a free 10.00-dollar gift certificate to this Italian restaurant near our apartment. We ordered a dessert, which was kind of pricey, but I won't complain because it was free! I gave Robert after eights and Turkish delights for his birthday presents! Happy 27th birthday!!! I love you!




Robert is the best husband because...



He makes me dinner everyday when I get home from a long commute.

He is always so thoughtful and creative and funny.

Our trip to san Antonio

To celebrate our anniversary, Robert and I went to San Antonio. Its only about 3 hours away, and its a super cool place to visit, especially the "River Walk."
The River walk is down town, where they have all of these restaurants and shops looking out on it. People can walk along the river and enjoy the scenery. There is a lot to do and lots to see. We even went to the Alamo.
The American history buff that I am, I only knew that it had some significance to Texas history. How many of you knew that Davy crocket was a real person--- not a TV show character, AND that he was a Free Mason.
Anyway- enjoy the pictures.

Elizabeth Bennett

What can I say... She is my fictional hero. I wish I had as much class and wit as her. Especially in moments when I would love to say some clever remark to those who annoy or push my buttons. Unfortunately, my wit is more of an afterthought

"The Batman"

OK, so even though this happened a month ago, I still must journal this wonderful event on my blog. Now we have all seen the office episode when there is a bat trapped in the office, and dwight, the animal control expert takes matters into his own hands. And of COURSE we have all seen the wonderfuly crafted season premier for this year....

Anyway-- we all laugh, because these senarios seem very unreal.... think again. About a month ago, our entire staff recieved an e-mail discussing that there was a bat incident on our school campus and we all recieved instructions titled "Bat procedures." At first, I thought this was a joke. it wasn't. I guess bats carrying rabies is a real issue. I guess a couple of years ago, a teacher at a school was attacked by a bat in his classroom that carried rabies. He became very ill, but don't worry, he recovered.

Anyway, we had a "BatMan" expert ( animal control personal) come to our school and talk to the children about bats, and other rabie carrying animals. It ws very informative.

I know this is a serious serious issue, but I still can't picture merideth screaming and while dwight throwing a garbage bag over her head.


Thank goodness for charities like the micheals scott foundations who are fighting for the cure for rabies.....

Its been to long..... so heres an update

Its been a while since I have written on our blog..... because life has been super busy and thats an understatement....

Here's an update in a nutshell:

1) September was the month from H-E (double hockey sticks). We were going to move into our apartment after living on peoples floors for a month... and then the day we "moved in" with none of our stuff, because the moving van didn't deliver on weekends (which was a blessing in disguise), we discovered that our aparment was Roach hotel. We didn't stay more than 15 mins, and went back to living on the floor of my sister-in-laws. A couple of weeks later, Rob found us a place to live, in a gated, non-roach infested apartment, with a dishwasher/washer dryer. I feel like its living in a resort.

2) In september, I got a teaching job at an elementary school. I commute 2 hrs or more a day to get to it. But, I do feel blessed in that its good pay, and I don't teach at a scary school. It is however, like a first year of teaching all over again in some ways but its been a huge blessing though. Lets just say I RESPECT elementary teachers so much more than I EVER have in my life. They work harder and get paid less.

3) I am pregnant. A month ago rob and I found out that we are going to have a little boy. He will be born around feb. 23rd. We are very excited! He currently remains nameless, due to lack of names. Teaching school ruins many names for you... and we don't really LOVE any names we have come accross. If you have any suggestions, please, give them.

Editors Note: (Please do not be offended if we didn't tell you. We didn't really tell anyone until about 20 weeks. I had a miscarriage last january, and i wanted to make sure everything was ok before we told people.)

5) After being in our new ward for 2 weeks, rob and I were immediatley put into primary. Because i am a teacher, that means I LOVE children right? Ummm yeah-- thats why rob teaches the lesson every sunday, and I just sit there and my duty is "crowd control."

4) In the past month and a half robs been to Belize and now currently in new mexico. And I attended a teaching conference last week in galveston texas.



So... thats probably all that is really new with us.

Teaching in the Ghetto....

So as I have searched for teaching jobs I have found some really great school districts that I have applied to. In contrast I have found some very interesting jobs posted in some interesting school/areas of houston.
As much as I would love to be michelle phiefer in "Dangerous Minds" or the teacher in "Freedom writers"( which by the way I have never seen any of these films) ..... making a life changing difference, teaching students to be expressive with paint and art then with crime....I admire real life teachers like that... but I don't think I'm cut out to be teaching in the inner inner city of Houston.....

House Huntin'

So.... currently robert and I are looking for a place to reside while we are in houston texas. What we are learning fast is, soon as somthing is posted, its been taken....
For example, last night rob was mass-emailing renters about their posts on the rice website. Anyway--- we found this great place (well it sounded great) in a "safe" residential area outside of downtown. Anyway--- I guess rob and the owner were e-mailing all last night and today. I guess he e-mailed her at least 10mins after she posted. She told rob today that since then there have been 10 people inquiring about the place. Fun eH?
She is going to have an open house in saturday, and we are having robs sister, tara, check it out. As you all know.... EVERYTHING looks better on the internet than is really is. We think this place is pretty good... we will see. I like the fact that the manager does background checks on all of her tenants... actually that is realy really smart.
If all else fails, Robert and I can build a cardboard box house. We could live right off of the corner of Rice. Then we wouldn't have to worry about commuting... doesn't sound to bad.... I foudn this cardboard box house on-line!

Just for the weekend

Over the weekend we had some really good friends of ours come and visit us, the Kenningtons and the Amourims from p-town! This picture I chose of the wives, because I think we all look awesome... We had a lot of fun when they were here--- we went to the temple, we made lots of international food... since katie lived in germary for most of her life, Casey (her hubby) served his mission in Japan, and the Amourims are from beautiful brazil--- we had an array of recepies and meal choices.





We went inner-tubing down a river in Boulder Colorado, and cruised the streets of downtown. I felt bad, because I was such a poop! the last 2 days, I wasn't feeling very well at all so I was taking lots of naps and laying in bed :( yuck! Anyway--- Roberto and I enjoyed having them visit. We enjoy their friendships so much!

A Startling Resemblence?

So the other day I was thinking about the office.... and the oh so odd and funny characters we love to watch... And the other day I came to the startling thought--- that we ALL resemble these characters in some way--- in some way we have shared or share similar character flaws or traits.
Ok-- I'm not trying to make this a deep thoughtful post, but I did have some thoughts of why as a young child.... I shared similar traits as... Angela...

1. When I was 6 yrs old, I would wear my "smoking kills' pin over to my neighbors house whose (wonderful, kind) mother smoked. I wore the pin in hopes that his mother would get the hint that smoking was bad for your body. A couple of years later, my neighbor’s mother told me that she had quit smoking.... I wonder if she did that out of guilt, and that I would stop wearing the pin.

2. When I was 8 or 9 years old, after church, I saw some boys in my class throwing their scriptures into the basketball hoops. I told them "Future missionaries of the lord DO NOT throw the word of God around like that.

3. In grade 3 in PE class, we played a game called "resurrection". I told my teacher that I did not like the name of it because I felt that it was sacrilege, because of what the term resurrection meant. This is Canada... and so in order to be politically correct... we changed the name to something else....

Ok thankfully.... as an adult, I have HOPEFULLY grown out of this bratty self-righteous character. To be honest I think it only lasted while I was 7 yrs. old.

However, as an adult, Angela and I are very different.... Ido not scowl all day; I do not like numbers (hence I'm not an accountant.) I do not like posters of cats or anne geddes pictures. I do not like weird men who love fantasy creatures and who thinks superheroes are real people.

Our summer house...ummm...more like housesitting

This is where rob and I are staying this summer. A friend of ours offered us to stay/rent/watchover one of his houses while rob is doing an internship in Denver. We are living in castle rock, and we enjoy living in denver very much! We appreciate the generosity of our friend.... and its located in a safe neighbourhood-- which is nice to know.







I will, however note, I have become a fan of granite countertops!

Some more artwork

As much as I would LOVE to say that I taught these students EVERYTHING they know.. and that it was my expertise that helped them create the amazing pictures... I think that some of these kids are just dang talented....... and work hard.. all I can say is that I gave them the assignment... taught them how to do it... and volia -- the rest is up to them..

The self portraits are my 9th graders. We talked about and looked at different abstract artworks, and self portraits and the art movement Fauvism. We discussed the role of colour and how it is used more as expression than for realsitic purposes.
Of course I taught my students proportions of the face, and measurements, and they created a "realsitc" self portrait drawing. Then I made them creat a second one,.... and man were the second ones 100x better! Practice makes perfect!


Disclamer about the Packing tape, human sized statues... Yes it was educational... it was not an excuse to let my students tape eachother up! They learned about a pop sculptor-- George segal.....

Memories of Lehi Jr. High

Here are some pictures of some of my students artwork.
I thought that you would all love to see what in the world I do with my students. Big update! I am currently looking for art teaching jobs in houston! Its amazing what summer does to you! And i swore that I was retiring... what can I say-- I think rob is the only person that I know who comes home from his job and says " I LOVE my job!" I like to compare teaching to parenting--- (except that we send the kids home after 8hrs) I highl doubt that a parent says " i love my job-- when:
1) baby spits up on you
2) Child is sick with the runs-- its all over the bathroom floor
3) you are trying to grocery shop... and your children are screaming.
people are staring... and you have an appointment that you need to get to...
and you are trying to mast patience...

of course I am not talking from experience... just from observation..

OF COURSE parenting has its rewards...... you probably see them every day... but... they are there.
Like teaching, parenting is a thankless job-- nobody notices the wonderful, hardwork, and scarafices you make....
So.... teaching has its rewarding moments.... it really does, they are just far and few... and thats ok---- it really is...
because like parenting its probably the most rewarding and influential profession around!

oh the irony

So rob has been gone for 2 weeks, and then off to italy... pompeii to be exact to help with geological research.
Originally the plans were that I would go with rob, since it has always been my life dream to go to Europe--but the problem was that I needed to renew my passport. Anyway--- due to canada changing their passports everyone in canada needed to change theres. I submitted my passport in february and there is no way thatI could know for sure that I would get my passport in time, so I decided that I wouldn't go with him. Anyway--- rob leaves for Italy on the 11th, and my passport came in yesterday.....

Don't mess with Texas

Robert and I will be moving alot this summer. Rob has an internship with the Encana (an oil company) in denver. Afterward we wil be moving the Houston Texas to graduate school. Rob got accepted to Rice Univeristy. We're excited to venture out of utah and have new experiences and meet new people. To be honest though, I'm not sure how we will deal with the heat. When we visited houston in march--- I thought that I was going to die of heat stroke. Everyone there says that: "you get use to it!" Who uses their air condtioning in march???? you can't tell me that this is normal....

Jr. high

Well for the past two years I have been teaching jr. high.... can I just say that it is probably the most awkward stage in our lives that most people seem to automatically block from their memory. (Note: I don't think that utah girls ever have an awkward stage of life, they are very much aware of the latest fashions and utah hair styles---)
Anyway--- This year I am hoping to retire from teaching in utah (due to moving)..... so I decided to post some of my most memoriable moments as a jr. high teacher.



1. A student telling ME that I had a choice: I could give his cell phone back or he would make my life a living hell ( *laughs* 2 seconds late they were on their way to the office..)

2. Jr. high kids volume goes from loud to louder....

3. Two kids wrestling in the mud at alpine days admists hail and rain. Then proceeding to slide down the ice hill toe "clean off"

4. Homeschooled children

5. Student slithering across the classroom floor to avoid being tardy

6. The lunch lady mistaking me as a student.

7. Working with the Awesome Track Distance team ( and forgetting to hit start when timing them on the mile--opps!)

8. One of my students asking me when I was going to start to have children.... (am I really that old?)

9. Working with prodigy artists....

10. getting a sweet large paycheck every month!!!!

Actually I have really enjoyed working my students! They are so much fun! There are many times when I have to try very hard not to laugh..... They're awesome kids!!!!! Its a bitter sweet job....