Christmas Tree :)

A few weeks ago Stewart and I went and cut our own Christmas tree. This is the first time I have ever done this, and I will admit I wasn't to excited about it at first.
Cutting down a tree has been an argument in our house for the past few Christmases. I never wanted to do this because I was afraid we would cut down some poor animals house, or we would bring home a whole bunch of bugs into our house. Stewart has bugged me to do this and I finally gave in this year. We did have fun together and it was nice to get out in the fresh air. I think our tree is really cute. We did get one that was a little to tall, 13 feet high, and we had to cut 3 feet off. I was pretty excited to get one that had pine cones on it, it looks really cool with the lights and pine cones.
I did have fun, but I am not convinced yet to do this every year.



Penny REALLY likes our tree. She sleeps under the tree all the time!!!

Stewart is dragging the tree to the truck. Stewart thought this was the best part because he felt like we were pioneers. This was NOT my favorite part.

Here is Stewart cutting the tree down.

Happy Holidays :)

I love this time of the year. I love the weather changing and decorating for the seasons.
School is continuing to keep me busy. For Thanksgiving we had an Indian feast. The students studied different Indian tribes in Idaho and then presented their reports. After their reports they made vests from brown paper bags and decorated them with Indian symbols, and played Indian games. They also got to make butter. We then had a huge feast. I was pretty shocked at how much food parents brought for it. The students we so excited and kept saying they were lucky because they were able to have two Thanksgivings.
I hosted my first Thanksgiving this year. My parents came down and spent Thanksgiving with us. They decided to come to us because my brother and I both live here, and my mom stated I needed to host one in our new home. I will admit I didn't really cook that much because my mom did most of it. But I did stuff the turkey and set the table!! Stewart and I had a great time, and it was nice staying home this year.
Stewart has been working a lot and is the new 11 year old boy scout leader. He is having a lot of fun with his new calling. He is really good at it and the boys are pretty cute.

Teaching

School has been going by very fast. I can't believe the month of September has already gone by. Next week I have parent teacher conferences!!! WOW!! School has been getting tough. I will admit this is a lot harder than I thought. Some of my boys are very hard to work with. They are very active and they could care less about school. 4th graders are at a hard age. They want to be treated like adults, but they want to be taken care of like young kids. They are also at that age where friends and peers are starting to become important. Anyway, we have been having fun. Stewart came into my classroom last week and did a lesson them about maps. He taught them about latitude and longitude, and how to read and use maps. When the students left for the day he told me now he knows why I get so frustrated with them, he said "Your kids are very wild!"
Today we went on our first field trip. We went to a farm on the reservation. The kids had a blast, expect for the FREEZING weather we had. It was soooo bloody cold. One of my students told me she would be ok if we went back to the classroom and did math worksheets instead of being at the farm. LOL:) They got to pick potatoes, pet the horses, cows, chickens, bunnies, and they had someone from Rocky Mountain Power come and talk to them about electricity. They also had firemen from the local fire station come and talk to them about fire safety. We did have a lot of fun.

Some of my students after they picked their potatoes.

The students trying to stay warm.

All of my students on the 2nd day of school

Update

So, I have gotten in trouble by my husband for not updating our blog. So here it is.......

I have started my job as a fourth grade teacher and I love it!!!! I am dead tired when I come home each night, but I can't wait to go back. I have some pretty wild students, especially my boys, but they make me laugh everyday. I also only have 20 students, which is very unheard of over here. This has turned into a great blessing. Think of it this way, only 20 papers to grade, only 20 copies to make, and 20 kids to get ready for lunch.

Stewart is busy working, and has decided he is going to run a marathon. We officially kicked off the training tonight!! We went running and only ran two miles, but we feel like we ran the marathon already!! Stewart is so stoked for BSU football. They beat Oregon 19-8 and the rest of the season looks very promising. Obviously, this is a very important time of the year in our household. Well for Stewart that is.

We bought a new car!! It is a 2007 Toyota Camry. We love it!! It is our first car. I feel so luxurious in it. We have power seats, window, and power locks.

So that is about it for us now, until next time....

CRAZY Summer

WOW! This summer has gone by soooo fast. I can't believe the 4th of July is over and now we are about half way done with July.

Stewart and I have been busy working on the house. We got the sprinklers and grass put in. We also put shelves in the garage and have been constantly working on organizing it. We also sealed the posts on our front porch. We were told if you don't do this then over the years each post will start to fade different and they will all have a different color. Yuck!! We have had so much fun working on our home. We did try to get a garden going, but with all of the rain we have had and the constant watering we have been doing to the grass, the garden is no longer there. I seriously think it has flooded many times. So next year that will be our goal. This weekend we are going to try to get started on our retaining wall we have to put on the side of the house. Because of they way our neighbor's lot sits we have to put one up. Again, with all of the water we have gotten that side of the house gets hit the worse, and the ground has settled many times. This wont be fun, but we have to do it or our basement will flood.!!

We have also had fun with our cat this summer. She is so much fun and keeps us entertained!! We went to Boise for the 4th and had fun seeing family and playing in my parents pool. I also got brave and took the whole top off of the jeep. I realized that I have not taken the top off in almost five years!! It has been fun driving the jeep around. I feel like I have a new car!!

Our summer has been nice and we have had fun getting stuff done around the house.

A couple of weeks ago I made spaghetti! Can you tell it was a hit at our house!!!

I am going to be a teacher

Drum Roll Please......... I got a teaching job!!!!!!!!! I will be a fourth grade teacher next year. Last Monday I had two job interviews for local elementary schools. Then on Wednesday I had a job interview for the Head Start program here. I was so surprised by how many schools called me. I thought there weren't going to be any openings next year because of the budget cuts in our school district. But on Thursday the principal from one of the schools I interviewed at called me and said they would like me to be their new fourth grade teacher. I am soooooo excited!!! I have already been thinking of books to read to my students, and other activities I can do with them. I will have to admit, I want the summer to go by fast. This is a first for me:)

LOL!! OMG!!!

Thanks to a family member that has posted examples of these cartoons on thier blog. These are hilarious!


These are the tools needed for nursery!! Too bad the church doesn't provide them for you like this bishop did.

Graduation

Graduation was this weekend. Stewart and I both graduated from Idaho State University. The ceremony was three hours long!! The funny thing is I bet the speeches only lasted about half hour, the long part was watching everyone walk the line and get their diploma. After the ceremony we had everyone come to our home to have a BBQ. It was fun to see our family and friends and show everyone our new home. We had a great time visiting and we were so happy that everyone took the time out of their busy day to watch us walk the line.


This is only half of the students that graduated. The newspaper said there were 2000 graduates.

Stewart and I with our diplomas.

My parents with Stewart and I

The Newest Member of our Family

This is the newest member of our family. Her name is Penny. Stewart and I got her on Monday. She is seven months old. We got her from a women that takes in pets who do not have a home or animals that the Humane Society have. She is sooo much fun and still has a lot of kitten in her.

Busy Month!!

This month has been very busy for Stewart and me. We moved in our new home the first weekend and spent the next few weeks unpacking. I have spent the past two weekends at dance competitions and will spend this weekend and the next in Utah for more dance competitions. Stewart has been busy with work and has been traveling to Blackfoot a lot for work. School has been busy with my new 6th grade class. 6th graders are a lot of work and they sure do keep me working and thinking on my toes. This is my last week with student teaching and then I will officially be done with school. I can't wait. I also can't wait for graduation. It is coming soon and it seems like a dream to know that school is done.

Some of my 6th graders after we did a math project with candy bars

The house is finally done!!!

We are very pleased with how our home turned out. Can't wait to spend time working on the yard.

Update

Since Danyiel has signed up for Facebook she has been neglecting the blog...so I have taken the responsiblity (just this once) to update everyone on the house.

Last Friday the 10th we signed the papers to close on our house. It was a little scary but after signing our names about 100 times we are now officially home owners. We love our house and can't wait to finish the yard, well we have to start first but we did get the trees planted this week and now we just have sprinklers and grass to put in. This may sounds wierd, but I am looking forward to the yardwork, especially mowing, and the garden. Danyiel keeps telling me she is not going to work in the graden because she is not that type of person and she doesn't want to pull weeds. Oh well I guess I will have to do all the work.

We will post more pictures of the house when we get more time. The next three weekends Danyiel has dance competitions. Today in Malad and the next 2 are in Utah.

Danyiel will finish her student teaching at the end of April and then graduation is the 9th of May. Announcements are being sent out today. Hope to see everyone here. We can't wait to finally be done with school.

GRANITE

The granite finally got put in yesterday!!! It looks soooo good. I am so glad we were able to do this up-grade. The color looks almost black in these pictures, but it is actually a really pretty green. The plumbing is also finish, expect for the sink in the kitchen. I have also started packing this week and I am having fun, knowing that this is it and we are moving!!!

This is the desk in the kitchen. Stewart and I couldn't decide between this color or the one that we picked. So we decided to put this color here and the other color is the main one.

Looks good!! We are also starting to get our appliances in!!

Here is a close up.

We are so happy with our kitchen. It has turned out the way we had hopped!!

The House:)

Yea!! We had another great week with the house. The carpet is done and they have started putting rock on the outside. The electrician put all of the lighting in. Yea, we have light switches and plug-ins!! Granite will be installed on Tuesday and so will the plumbing. If the weather stays nice this weekend the driveway and the sidewalk will be poured Monday.

The Cabinets Are In!!!!!!

The cabinets were installed this week and they look FABULOUS! Our house really feels like a home now, and the end of the building is starting to come to a close.
This is in the bathrooms.

These cabinets are around the range (stove and microwave)

Close-up of the handles and what the wood looks like

Another close-up

This is what the kitchen looks like! Yea!

Half way done with student teaching

This week was my last week with my second grade class for my student teaching. I am going to miss these guys. They were so much fun and very patient with me. On Monday I finish my semester of student teaching with a sixth grade class. Here are some pictures from our Dr. Seuss night at the school.

Tile

We are one step closer to moving in!!! The tile is done. Thank you mom and dad. Stewart and I did not expect to get so much done this weekend. Because my parents came down we got everything done. We worked really hard all weekend and got both bathrooms, kitchen, and laundry room all tiled!!! Now all we need to do is clean the tile and seal the grout. This makes it so the cabinet guys can come in this week and get going on putting in the cabinets!! Yea!!!

This is the tile in the bathroom. It looks great!!

This is the tile in the kitchen. We put tile all through the kitchen and dining room.

This is what the tile looked like in the bathrooms before we put the grout in.

Looks Like A House

This is the view from the back. The siding is almost done!! They are working on the front now, and then when it gets warmer they can start putting the rock on. The house is finally starting to look like a house!!!

The Painting Is Done!! :)

Yea!!! The painting is done!! We are so pleased with the colors and the way everything turned out! Thanks to the help from Josh and Stewart's family we were able to get the whole upstairs done with two coats and we have one coat on in the basement. I am hoping to get the second coat on this week. Now we are getting ready to put the tile down. When that is done then the cabinets will get put in, and then the carpet. We are getting so excited. The house is coming along smoothly and it looks great!!

This is the color in the master bedroom. It is hard to see here, but it is a soft blue. This color is also in the master bathroom.

This is the main color in the house. This color is in two bedrooms, living room, kitchen, and basement. This color looks really good with the white trim.

This color is a soft green. It is on this wall and goes down the hallway.

This was a little scary. We had to get creative to find a way to paint the top of the wall. The extension rod we had for the rollers would get to the top, but to not get the tan on the ceiling we had to find a way to get the edger up there. So Stewart and Alan went and got this rail from outside from the guys who were putting the siding on the house, and used it to get to the top of the wall.

Here is Josh and Parker painting the laundry room. They got a lot done!!

Now the Painting begins

The painting was a success!!! Well spraying on the primer was. We finally got started on painting. We have spent the past week just getting the prep work done. We have been caulking and filling in the nail holes. Which took a very long time. Then we had to cover the windows and showers. That was a lot of work!!! Finally, yesterday we swept up all of the dust and busted out the spray gun!! It was nice to finally start painting. We feel like we acutally got something done!!