Appreciate Your Teachers

In honor of teacher appreciation week, I'm going to post a cute gift idea. It was made by one of my students and her mother at the beginning of this school year. I thought it was so cute, I kept it in my classroom where I could see it everyday. Only recently did I bring it home to put it to good use-- and since then I've received compliments from everyone who's entered our guest bathroom!Although I haven't made this, I did ask them how they did it:

1. Buy a bottle of soap.
2. Empty the contents and clean off any labels.
3. Copy a cute saying or something onto a transparency and cut it to fit in the bottle.4. Place the transparency in the bottle.
5. Place marbles or something in the bottom.
6. Pour soap back in.
I'm sure this would also make a cute end-of-year present for teachers.

And I don't mean to imply that teachers expect gifts. We don't!! I just know some of you like to give gifts. I just thought I'd help!!

beautiful moms

for mother's day in the 2nd grade, we have the kids draw portraits of their mothers.

these hang on the bulletin board in the hall for the rest of the school to see. little do the kids know that this is mostly for the entertainment of the faculty and staff at the school. it is so cute to see how they portray their mothers.i just had to share this one with you. it is, by far, my favorite! it's from one of the other 2nd grade classes. but i seriously can't get enough of it . . .

Last Week

Last week we went camping.
One word: FREEZING!

Thursday: We drove 4-5 hours to Joe's Valley with some of Brian's friends from the rock climbing gym.

They bouldered . . .

And I sat here with my blanket & book (while I wasn't taking pics) . . .All 4 of them had a crash pad to carry on their backs as we hiked to the different spots. It was pretty funny to watch the giant pads climbing up the hills with little legs under them!
Thursday Night: Brian & I set up camp & said goodbye to our friends. (there may have been some slight wishes that we were going back home with them)

Friday: We spent the day exploring the remains of old, abandoned mining communities. Brian took pictures for his final project in his photography class.

gratitude journal

cute gift out of nowhere.
just because it made him think of me.














1st entry: i'm grateful for my hubby
what are you grateful for today?

Excuses

I have this game that I like to play:
Whenever I'm driving and I see another driver do something stupid, I like to make up extravagant excuses for their behavior.

For example, the guy who cut me off on the freeway is probably rushing his wife to the emergency room to deliver their baby. Or the old man who is driving 15 under the speed limit is probably wearing new shoes that day that happen to be way too tight and it hurts him to press on the gas pedal too hard.

But this afternoon as I drove home from school, I prayed that all the other drivers might be playing my excuse game for me. I took every corner at 2 mph and drove about 5 under the speed limit the whole way home.

My excuse? About 50 butterfly cocoons were sitting in my backseat coming to spend spring break at our home. Each of them was hanging by small, silk-like threads on the walls of 2 aquarium-type thingys. Seriously, can your excuse get better than that? I wish I had made that one up!

So the next time you're behind a really slow person . . . just think-- they may also be transporting butterfly cocoons. (or wearing too-tight shoes!)

(here are the butterfly cocoons in their new home in our guest bathroom)

Aren't they kinda gross-looking? I'm not an animal/bug/cocoon lover so this is difficult for me.

Young Again

spirit week
students dress like teachers
teachers dress like students

me in my new hannah montana attire

Dreaming of Spring

On Friday, we spent our evening putting together our new bbq grill!

On Saturday, we had friends over for the first bbq of the season!

On Sunday, we went back to this:Stupid.

Doesn't the bbq grill look cold? Poor thing.

Weekend Goodies

Several goodies came to us this weekend.

First goody . . . these books.
It comes in a whole set of 10, but I didn't have $100+ to spend, so I chose 3 of my favorites. I got the idea to buy these from this blog.

Confession: I bought these 3 for the color of the covers. I've never read "Cranford." Have you? Is it bedside table-worthy?


Second goody . . . these pillows for our couch.
On sale at Pottery Barn. I spent a whole week contemplating whether I should buy them or not. Finally, I sat at the computer to purchase them . . . and they were all sold out! Of course. I called the store in Salt Lake and had them set some aside for this fickle-minded girl!


Third goody . . . heaven.
This was my birthday cake! 3-layers of the most delicious chocolate cake on the planet. Brian had my sister pick it up from Magleby's Fresh in Provo. Yum!

(Formerly) Miss Independent

I used to pride myself on my independence. I opened all my jar lids, managed all my car repairs, did my taxes (I guess my dad helped a little there), carried heavy items from my apartment to my car, opened my own doors, killed spiders without so much as a gasp . . . and then I got married.

Brian went to St. George for the weekend. And I am realizing how un-independent (i.e. dependent) I've become! Tonight as I looked deep into one of our cupboards, I saw this:(If you can't tell, it's a large spider- about 1 inch big!) My heart stopped beating. I think my breathing even paused. I thought, "I need Brian!" Suddenly, I realized that I've been killing spiders for years. I reproached myself for being such a pansy and went to grab some toilet paper because I was going to smash that thing and, so doing, regain my independence!

I slowly crept my hand closer and closer, anticipating an attack at any moment. I pounced on it and smashed. As I pulled my catch out of the dark cupboard, I soon realized what my spider really was. . .
Yes, a toy spider ring. I am so lucky it didn't attack!! So, with my newfound independence, I would like to offer to come kill any plastic pests that might be haunting you.

P.S. I swear the top picture doesn't do it justice- it looked much more realistic in real life!

2 Weeks

Yesterday, Brian turned 27! (happy bday again, honey!) We had a wonderful day full of all the things Brian loves- rock climbing, good food, friends, xbox, buying new movies, and spending time with his favorite person (me!). It was a lot of fun!
With the passing of Brian's birthday, I have entered my favorite 2 weeks of the year (just so you know, I'm known to use the term "favorite" quite loosely). For two weeks, I get to be 2 years younger than my husband! Brian turned 27, yet I'm still the ripe, young age of 25! Exactly 2 weeks from his big day, I will be turning 26 and we'll go back to the 1-year apart thing. But in the meantime, I have 14 days to enjoy feeling younger than usual! Wahoo!