Ash and Will

making lemonade

2012-01-30T17:48:00.000-08:00

we've lived in tracy just about 8 months now. today i was hired by my 3rd school district in california. that doesn't include a charter school and my "private" preschool employment.

tomorrow i will begin my career as a paraprofessional at monticello school in the jefferson district. subbing had some serious pros, but it also had some real cons. this new job also has pros and cons... we're just hoping the ups far outweigh the downs... and as far as our analysis has gone (before i've even spent a moment on the job : ) we think this will be an improvement!

i'm going to know where i'm going to work each day, and it won't be far (about a mile!). no more guessing or dreading getting jobs the morning of!

i don't know anyone who has paraprofessional down as their dream job, and i'm no exception... but we're grateful for this opportunity and the blessings it will bring. this part-time position will fill my mornings, and my preschool friends will still delight my afternoons.

life can be tough, but we're making it!

i think i can i think i can

2012-01-05T16:42:00.000-08:00

when the going gets tough, this girl tries to keep going.....

i've run 4 times in the last week. which is also 4 times in the last few months. 2 times with will and 2 times without him. only because he had to go back to work. it's good to get back into it. we're going to run a half marathon this summer. rather than pay a lot of money just to go run, we're going to do our own course on our own day. it will still be a half marathon. heck, i could even make us shirts... : )

i told a couple friends that idea at mutual last night. i said we'd just do "our own family half marathon." they said, "oh, with one of your sides of the family?" i said, "no, our family: me and will."

the howes family half marathon.

"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." (Isaiah 40:31)

i can't do it alone.

"..... with the power of an oxen!"

2011-12-14T20:44:00.000-08:00

: ) ... minus the zilching

today kyler crushed his size 3 oz dixie cup in one hand as he walked to the garbage can to throw it away. he smiles at me and says, "i can crush lettuce, too." : )

it was only kyler and hayden left outside and i couldn't help but laugh. hayden asked why i was laughing. if you tell them they're funny they get annoying trying to be, so i said i just liked being with them so much it made me smile... and sometimes laugh.

the choice to be grateful

2011-12-14T20:24:00.000-08:00

well... not to be cliche or anything, but...

will is my best friend : )

he is smart AND wise, funny, a hard worker, worthily holds the Priesthood, supports me, listens to me, teaches me, is patient with me, and strives to make me happy. he willingly helps around the house, knows what i like, and has been the best weekly grocery shopping date for the last 4 (give or take : ) years.

we're excited to spend our first christmas with just us. not because we want to be away from our family, but because we're embracing the opportunity to begin our own family traditions and enjoy the simplicity of a small christmas with just our family.

though it's small and simple, we have everything we need, and i'm aiming to focus on our many, many blessings. how excellent that the Ensign's First Presidency Message this month is about gratitude! i really appreciate that it is titled "the choice to be grateful." boy, it's a choice all right! : ) while are always things i can spout off that i'm grateful for, there are more blessings that might not be realized readily... thank you President Eyring for the reminder!

http://lds.org/ensign/2011/12/the-choice-to-be-grateful?lang=eng

check it out!

i am especially grateful right now for the opportunity we have to think about and celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. i am also grateful for my knowledge and testimony of Him - to know that through Him we will all, too, be resurrected and live eternally, happily with our families in the presence of our loving Heavenly Father.

any hardship, heartache, or trial we may have can and will be made right through Him. if it's not ok, it's not the end. thanks, mom : )

violet red

2011-12-01T16:30:00.000-08:00

for some reason, THE color of crayon to get at preschool is violet red. too bad they can't figure out for themselves when they've got it or not : )

sometimes they each get their own little cup with fat (for little fingers) crayons that are only in the main rainbow colors + brown and black. think like a beautiful box of crayola markers (ok, before they added pink and grey to the box). it's not really that much of a hassle to distribute, because each of the cups is a different color, and they all have a color of the day, so they match. sometimes i get tired of those little cups, or i think it might be nice for them to be able to use other colors aside from the big 8, so i just set out the baskets of regular sized crayons that come in just about every color.

once the skinny crayon baskets have come out, they start digging frantically and shouting, "hey! i have violet red!" they make sure their friends know, and then get on with their coloring. sometimes they like some validation so they'll ask me if "that says violet red." they hold it very carefully so i can read the part that says CRAYOLA or ROSEART. i usually say something like, well let me see and twist it a little so i really can read it. sometimes i can give them the confirmation they want and say, yep, you have violet red! but usually i say, nope, that just says red. they're a little disappointed, but it colors the same as it did before they asked so they usually just move on.

thanks a lot crayola, because sometimes i tell them that that have red violet. there is no difference to a 4 year old!

what else aids in their confusion? the fact that we also have violet blue and blue violet out there!

so the odds of getting a crayon with violet somewhere in the name is higher than you might think. it has lead to questions such as:

is this violet green? is this violet pink? is this violet purple? and so on.....

i'm not sure how many of them say violet. i think it's usually biolet. regardless, they REALLY want violet red. i'd rather hear about violet red than some other things we could get stuck on. i think i'm pretty lucky.

now that you know the violet red background, here is a short story:

one day they had scrambled for their crayons and while the boys are already coloring, my two girls have this discussion (not exactly the same words...this happened a few weeks ago): hey kylie do you have violet red? yeah. me too. let's see if they're the same. ok. do you have a r first? yeah. then a o? yeah. then a s? yeah then a e? yeah. then a a? yeah. then a r? yeah. then a t? yeah! we both have violet red!!!! (beside themselves with joy)

i just about died. that was one of my favorite moments. the thrill of a roseart crayon... : ) i can't stand coloring with roseart ones.

just this week carson has also adopted a love for orchid. he gets a look like he's getting an ice cream cone when i tell him he has orchid.

i hope this lasts until may : )

benefits

2011-08-26T14:50:00.000-07:00

when i taught 2nd grade, i was getting health insurance benefits. it was great.

now that i'm teaching preschool, two states away, luckily i'm still getting benefits.

sing "it's august, it's august" to the tune of "a tisket, a tasket" to yourself. now sing it again. now sing it again. and again. and again. and about 352 more times. good. now you're starting to benefit from my benefits... : ) that line of a song, and several others have been stuck in my head for a while! that's right, i get the benefit of singing myself preschool songs all day long. i usually spare will...

i also get the benefit of hearing the cute and funny things they say. well, let's clear up one thing right now: 2nd graders are funnier than preschoolers... BY FAR : ) i didn't say 3 and 4 year olds can't be funny... just not as readily or often. i did get the benefit of hearing this yesterday, though:

while i'm working on painting someone's foot for their "about me" book, the other kids are playing. a little girl playing with doctor toys had found two spring-loaded toys (for "shots"?). she had one in each fist and was pounding them on my back, alternating. i was enjoying my little massage and, just looking to amuse myself i said something like, "thank you kylie, that's just what the doctor ordered." as i said it i was thinking to myself that it was maybe silly to have said anything because i didn't think she'd hear me (facing the other way and above all the other noise). well i don't think she understood my comment, but did hear and understand the "thank you." i know she did because then i hear "don't mention it, partner." i laughed out loud. coming from a 4 year old, it was pretty funny. i'm about to ask her if that's what she really said, and i hear, "haha, i just called miss ashley 'partner'... haha." she was cracking herself up over it... so i laughed out loud again.

there are a few other benefits, too...

preschool benefits aside, i miss 2nd grade. i miss amelia earhart. on monday i went to help clean the house of a family who is moving from the ward. i met one or two new people there. one of them didn't ask me if i had kids, she asked me how many kids i had. the first thing that came to mind to say was "zero," so i did. later, back at home i wished that instead i had told her, "24, and they're all starting 3rd grade today!" that afternoon at 2:30 (3:30 utah) i realized they were all getting out of their first day back at school. i was pretty sad. i also wore my school tshirt earlier this week... : ) i miss my little kiddies.

i learned so much in that one year and i wish i could have had another chance at it all. after a year i knew things that i loved and would do again, and i knew things that i would never do again. i'm a little jealous that ali gets that chance. maybe someday....

i went to get a zucchini from my friend the other day and saw her daughter's school papers. i saw a "book" (one sheet folded in half) called "counting with the ducks." i know that book! her daughter is in 2nd grade. that's the first book/corresponds with the first unit of the exact same math program amelia started (k-3) last year... : ) i'd recognize it anywhere. so i told her and she said, oh yeah, they have these colored papers that she brings home. i know.... : ) she was trying to find it in the stack, and i could easily spot it only seeing the corner. i found myself even missing envisions math!! : ) so as soon as all this silly subbing/credentials stuff is sorted out i'm going to make sure i can sub at banta so i can do more envisions math.... : ) woohoo

yes, we went to discovery kingdom (formerly known as marine world africa usa) last saturday. yes, we celebrated our 3rd anniversary on tuesday. and yes, we currently have a long-term scrabble game going on (free app : ) .................. so I KNOW that we need to "catch up" and post some more.. maybe even put up some pictures?! (woah, i know... : )

ps.. i ran 5.3 miles on monday, then have been prevented from running this week since (boo : ( (thanks a lot water maintenance and car woes..... and preschool? : ) well, it's really mainly because i dont' want to run when it's 90 degrees. there goes my half marathon down the drain..... just joking... hopefully back on that a sap.

that's life... : )

2011-08-17T17:21:00.000-07:00

AND where we're going on saturday.... : )

i'm looking forward to seeing what's the same and what's different from how it used to be. though, i really doubt i remember much of how it really was back in the 90's. i only have faint, though very fond : ), memories of the good old "marine world africa usa." i love that there will be animals and shows.... and rides : )

i guess what i mostly remember is the shows... elephant, lion and tiger, seal and sea lion, dolphin, whale, water skier, chinese acrobat... wow, they had a variety! i also remember elephant rides and playing tug of war with the elephants. they always won... : )

so excited for the best kind of day with my best friend : )

pinterest confession

2011-08-09T10:21:00.000-07:00

after "hearing" about pinterest several times i finally decided to check it out (a few weeks ago)... well, i'm a little bit hooked now : )

here's the thing... i'm not exactly doing my part contributing new ideas, i really just take from other people. fair? i have not pinned a single thing up for the first time. i only ever repin.

i like to think that by repinning i've at least passed it on... : )

i must have over 50 pins (at least) by now. how many of those things have i made/used/done? one : ) but really, i've done one! i made the strawberry lemonade bars. they were pretty good. a little on the sour side first, but then we either got used to them, or they balanced out? we took a plateful to our friends, and then put some in the freezer. they are pretty good alone, but a dob of whipped topping was pretty good with them, too.... : )

i try to limit my pinterest visits, otherwise i'd spend far too much time there.... (it's a website if you've never heard of it, no gas needed!) that's kinda why i couldn't look up exactly how many pins i have because i already was there this morning... and i can't go back for at least a few days... : )

time to pick a new pinterest project. because what's the use if i never DO any of it?!

...the world keeps spinning round and round...

2011-07-29T13:33:00.000-07:00

this morning i ran 3.6 miles in about 37 minutes (just going off of the wrong time on my mp3 player...)

go me : )

i'd like to attribute some of my success and probably my fastest mile to this song:

(there are better quality ones on youtube, but not all of them allow embedding)

yes, i listened to it twice in a row this morning. yes, i wish i could dance like that. no, i do not condone swearing.

thanks to my brother on his mission, who introduced me to this music a few years ago. he would watch hairspray movie videos on youtube, which i didn't recognize, so i watched some with him. that was probably about 2008 (visit home before the wedding?). i didn't see it until 2009 (a los alamos-boredom-buster-$5 movie-bin-at-smith's purchase). sometime since then we've downloaded this song and have been enjoying it ever since. thanks for putting me in a good mood this morning. : )

we've got a list of dances to learn from movies, and if hairspray isn't on there, it is now. somehow zac efron usually seems to be involved.. ha : ) and when i say we, i don't mean me and will... : ) (though he is more than welcome...... : )

well folks, just livin the dream in california... whatever that means... : ) oh, i must say, a large portion of the time when i hear "tracy" (our town name) i do think of hairspray...ha... sad? 10-4

teaching love : )

2011-07-25T15:18:00.000-07:00

warning: i don't usually write like this.

are you a teacher? were you once a teacher? are you training to become a teacher? we're talking public school teachers. everyone is a teacher in some way or capacity, which is wonderful, but right now i'm talking about public school teachers.

if you answered no to the above questions, then calm down. if you answered yes to any of the above questions, then i support, applaud, and understand much of the hard work and time you put into your job. mmmm... actually, thanks for dedicating most of your life to it.

to the person who would be a noer (you answered no), please do not think that you are going to get any other sort of degree or training and then go out to save education. please don't think your law, business, math, arts, or science degree informs you of what's going on in our public schools.

if you are a yesser (you answered yes) then you know that you had many ideas and visions of what it was like to be a teacher. then you became a teacher and discovered there's so much more to learn that one simply CANNOT understand until they have been the teacher.

noers, listen up: teachers do what they are told/asked to do. teachers don't make the laws. guess what, it's not principals either. next time you are thinking about teachers who aren't teaching enough science or arts, or using assessments that don't seem developmentally appropriate, remember that we do what we're asked - even if that means doing something we wouldn't choose or changing multiple times in the same school year. we didn't write the standards, but we are required by law to teach them. you may have ideas of what is or isn't working in our public schools. you may have ideas of new things to try. innovation and change are how we can improve, so please bring on the ideas. but remember this: until you have been the teacher, there are things you will just not understand. listen to teachers! they're the ones that have been eye-deep in authentic experiences. if you want to "save" education i invite you to obtain the proper training and credentials, then try it. i offer you my personal guarantee that you will make some new discoveries and have your eyes opened to things you did not realize before.

while on the topic, as a teacher, let me give you my suggestion. smaller class sizes. quit letting teachers go. teachers just can't be everything to everyone all of the time. not with classes so big. brand new technology isn't always the answer. i'd rather have a person teaching my child than a computer.

lastly: no, i didn't choose my major or field to attract a husband and get married or to take "the easy way out". thank you very much. do you think that major/job is easier? teachers must make it look easy because they enjoy it so much. aren't we lucky? : )

thank you, world. those things have been bothering me for a while now.

"The noblest of all professions is that of teaching, and ... upon the effectiveness of that teaching hangs the destiny of nations." - President David O. McKay

i am grateful to have the example of my Savior, Jesus Christ, the Master Teacher. it is my goal to teach children temporal things as well as share our Savior's love with them. until i am blessed with my own children, i am grateful that i can teach and serve in this fulfilling capacity. : )

: ) : ( : ) : ( : ) : ( : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) : )

2011-07-08T12:08:00.000-07:00

i am trying to compare two job options..... ugh......

i can only know certain aspects of each job once i am there working.... couldn't they just give me a month trial at one, then a month trial at the other?

there's always just subbing if i wanted that.

and let's not forget the applications that i've submitted weeks and months ago that no one has bothered to get back to me about. (and what if after i take a job i hear back from a better option?!)

what if i choose the wrong job and i'm miserable?! how would i know if i'd love it or be less miserable at the other??? now i'm just being dramatic... : ) there is one option where i'd be very surprised if i were miserable. and the other? well? i could always go back to subbing the next year : ) orrrr.... who knows.. : )

this is what happens when life doesn't go according to your own plans, people!! good thing that i know that i have a loving Heavenly Father who knows me, what i'm experiencing, what i need, and has a plan for me : ) without that knowledge i may be very sad and lost. not that it can't or doesn't ever get hard! striving for patience often feels like i'm swimming upstream. and i try to do it with a smile on my face : ) as well as in my heart... : )

on another note... it's my mom's birthday!!!! : ) she has been a great example of hard work and service to me over the years. she has taught me so much! in so many ways i want to emulate her. to the woman who doesn't give up.. i love you, mom!!! : )

All that hair

2011-06-30T22:04:00.000-07:00

"...brush and brush and brush and brush and brush my hair..."

I'll spare you the full explanation, but yesterday I was in the car with 3 kids in the back seat on the way home from the beach. Tangled was on in the car for them to watch.

Today I was helping out at Cub Scout Day Camp in the "tot-lot" and they put on a movie for the kids to relax in the middle of the day. That movie was Tangled.

Two days in a row. Good thing it's a cute movie. I didn't even watch all of it either time! And yet that line is stuck in my head....

Also... what would it really be like to have hair that long?? Someone (an adult) posed that question today. My immediate (and almost no-thought-required) response was: miserable. I can't hardly take care of my hair now... imagine washing and allllll that brushing.... : ) Props to her for handling it so well.... : )

Announcement to the world

2011-06-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

I think ever since we moved somewhere with a dishwasher we use more silverware.

Go ahead... judge... If you live somewhere without a dishwasher I'm sure you understand... : )

Life is so easy now... : )

Next up: washer and dryer! (yes I do rewear some things before washings, thank you very much!)

3 weeks... i guess we've made a habit out of living here... : )

2011-06-24T10:33:00.001-07:00

"we could have had it all!" ... nothing significant, it's just stuck in my head right now... : ) (probably from the nba draft last night) and now that i've told someone i can move on with my life... : ) that's been one of the hardest things about this move, i guess. i used to spend hours every day with 7 and 8 year olds and other teachers. then when i got home, there was will. and when i needed her (which seemed often : ) jenn was right there too. sometimes i really enjoyed my alone time in the car. not because i felt crowded or bothered by being around all those other people, but just to have some time to think (usually about school.. : )

i've always known i'm a people person and now i miss it terribly!!! for the first week or two we were here i'd think of something clever or funny (happens a lot, huh? : ) and i'd want to go tell jenn... or i could hop on gchat and tell will. but jenn isn't upstairs or across the street anymore, and will can't be on gchat... now i spend hours on end every day with just myself... little old me all alone... greg asked me yesterday what i do all day... ... ... ... : ) ... ... ... i told him that's what i wanted to know. ha : ) i'm slowly learning to do things for myself and by myself (very difficult).

anyway... now i'm resorting to my readership (all... 0 of you?.. : ) just joking... i go back and read my own posts sometimes : ) to listen to everything i have to say. here are some things that i would have made will or jenn listen to already today:

1. first and foremost, jimmer is coming to the sacramento kings!! i feel entitled to say coming instead of going now that we live in california... : ) like i emailed dad last night, we'll have to start saving up our pennies so we can go see him play!

2. there is a kindergarten position at amelia... how perfect would that have been?! i don't really know how to expound on that except for, again, how perfect would that have been?! : ) good thing i know we're supposed to be here and i'm happy to support will.

3. i ran somewhere between 33 and 35 minutes this morning.. ok, jogged, really.. and discovered i went 2.7 miles. and i know i could have gone farther... easily... hallelujah : ) i was following my "schedule" which said to do 25-30 min of easy running today or cross training... i chose the jogging. when i was out there, however i couldn't remember how long it said. so i decided 30 was safe. but then i had to stop at a stoplight once so i added some extra time. and then there was a nice older man taking a break on his bicycle at the corner i was planning on turning at and he decided to start going again right when i got there. poor man in his nice Indian clothes sitting on his bike... he kept apologizing and after i was sure i hadn't given him a heart attack i kept going. for that incident i also added a little bit of time (though that one really happened all in about 10-15 seconds). then when i was about to be done i liked the song that was on and i knew it wasn't too long, so i decided to just run out that song... (fascinating, i know : )

4. there is someone (or multiple someones) who occasionally/frequently puts up hot air balloons in a field not too far south of the train station... which is not too far south of where we live!! and it happened again today! it is incredibly delightful to be driving south to take will to the train station and see the summer-feeling inducing hot air balloons!! yes... sometimes there are more than 1! reminds me of the tigard balloon festival that we'd go to sometimes growing up... or the freedom festival balloons in provo. while living in new mexico we went to a hot air balloon museum in albuquerque (i can't remember the actual name) which was pretty cool. shame on us for not blogging about it two years ago!! : )

5. i check edjoin every day and there aren't really any new teaching jobs around here... boo... i'm destined to my life here.... or other jobs... which would be less desirable? ask me again in a month or two... : )

6. so the song that came on at the end of my run this morning (i think) was "under the sea." if you're reading this i hope you know me well enough to know i'm a little bit of a disney lover. and if you didn't... you do now... : ) so i was delighted to bebop my way through that one as a finale. i have fond memories of a certain little boy that was in my 2nd grade class.... in case his mom would care, i'll leave his name out of this. almost 2 years ago in a class at byu, with a group, i wrote new lyrics to "under the sea" to teach about christopher columbus. if you ask really nicely, i may post those lyrics (which i think are ingenious, thank you very much : ) so of course last october i couldn't pass up the opportunity to teach my kiddos the song!! it was catchy and they were all 7 (except maybe one at that point). we learned it and performed it for our other 2nd grade friends. we didn't really sing it past that week. aside from that we had "2nd grade music time" all year long. each week we'd take turns having all the 2nd graders come into one of the classes (rotated) to sing. the other teachers could use this time for remediation. this extremely fun (unless you are one little girl i love) literacy activity went on, like i said, all year. so at the end of the year when i told them we were going to learn a song (and i cannot remember which song or for what) it was fairly common practice. well my dear little friend shouts out (of course : ) "what's it gonna be? 'let's talk about chris columbus.'" well... at the time i did not appreciate his shout out (or sing out, as the case may have been : ), but i was tickled that he remembered the song... : )

7. this is already too too long and i have laundry to look forward to today! : ) but this is my reminder to myself to share (and preserve for generations) one of my favorite stories from this little boy.

8. last... : ) i love "chinese" food. i also love free food. if you are lucky enough to be reading this today... know that panda express is giving away a freebie tonight only after 9. that's all... : )

we're going to the oakland temple tonight for the first time and i'm so excited! it's beautiful and i've been yearning to go to the temple these last few weeks. so that will be good : )

and in case you were wondering what i really do... i run, read, pretend i can sew, sometimes clean : ), talk with family, eat, unpack, and play piano here... it really is nice to relax : ) sometimes i get the bonus activities like helping out at mutual, going to other activities, or picking cherries... life is good : )

oops : )

2011-06-20T11:56:00.000-07:00

well now it looks like will's the one who revived this thing.... i can't figure out how to change the "author" of the last post so..... just know that i wrote it and will did not. nor did he marry a man. i did. : )

that's what we get for having 2 gmails logged in at once i guess.. : )

priorities

2011-06-20T11:28:00.000-07:00

now that i have tons of time on my hands that is not officially dedicated to anything, i suppose i will try to reenter the world of blogging. at least a little bit...

we've talked for some time about working up to a half marathon. we have been thinking that a 10k first would be a good idea. we could do a 5k (we like to think : ) but we'd need to work up to a 10k. so we'll start there and then hopefully keep going to a half. i don't know if or when we'd get to the marathon... that's just a little too lofty right now.

last night we were talking again about it and looking up people's workout schedules to work up to a 10k. then we started looking for potential "real" races we could run in august. we found several options in the central valley and tons in the bay area. we both thought it would be pretty cool to do one that goes over the golden gate bridge. surprisingly (or not?) there aren't that many... at least over the summer. i think we may have found one possibility that we'll think about. as we were trying to think of more that might and look them up, will suggested that we look up the san francisco marathon. it in fact DOES go over the golden gate (how could it not?). not only do they have the full, but i think it said they have at least a half with it. we looked up the date (this year, next year.. whenever) and began talking excitedly about it. then we realized...

the san francisco marathon (and half, etc) is on a sunday. i said, "oh, it's on a sunday." and will said oh. and that was the end of it. no questions asked, no further discussion. (aside from comments such as, bummer, or that's too bad.)

story 2: then we were looking up fun things going on in the area over the summer. we looked up the summer outdoor movies. then we looked up the summer concert series. it just so happens that the first one is this friday night. so we said we may as well go and check it out.

then i said, "oh, no we won't. that's stake temple night." and that was the end of it. no questions asked, no further discussion.

i'm so grateful that i've married a man who has his priorities in place and will not change them when they're inconvenient or could cause disappointment. there was no question about it, we would keep the Sabbath day holy and choose to not participate in any runs on sunday, no matter how spectacular or fun they may be. if there really are none, we'll either just go walk or run across the bridge ourselves some time, or we will just forget about it all together. there was no question, we would not skip an opportunity to attend the temple with our new stake in order to go to an event in the park. will we need to eat dinner in the car that night? or eat a really late dinner after? probably. is it worth it and important? definitely!

i'm grateful that will wants to live according to the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. i am grateful that he is supportive of me in our decisions together. i know this brings us blessings and happiness. he is my best friend : )

i love will : )

2010-02-25T18:43:00.000-08:00

i love will : ) he is the best! and when i say the best, i mean THE best!

i don't have time right now to chronicle everything nice and wonderful he has done for me in the last few days alone! when they publish the best husbands ever hall of fame, though, you can look for his prominent entry at number 1 : )

we are 6 days away from the beginning of the next (and last : ) practicum! excited and nervous both... could they please add a few more things to do all at once?

for my posterity: a week ago i got 98 on my children's lit midterm! i, for the record, am rocking that class : ) i am on the 9th (and last) assigned common chapter book, i've done the 40 picture books, and i now just need to decide which 7 more chapter books i will read and do it.... that and whatever that poetry file assignment is... hallelujah!

and good news: my family is coming for general conference!! they will be here in 5 weeks! and i will get to see jeff again! that all ought to motivate me to get my stuff done during the practicum... : )

well, to end on a good note.... i love will!!!! : )

so happy together : )

2010-01-20T21:32:00.000-08:00

well we're still alive... and happy : )

we're in the third week of the semester now and keeping busy with stuff....

but still finding plenty of fun stuff to do! we had a really fun holiday weekend (3 day!)... here is some of what we did:
went to the BYU men's volleyball home opener which they won in 3 games
went to the EE/EE dance (elementary education and electrical engineering)... we fit in great : )
skyped with my sister and her family
worked out
went shopping
bought new shelves and organized our books
made our very first pumpkin pie
also made rolls, green bean casserole, and mashed potatoes to have a super fun and delicious mock thanksgiving dinner with my sister's family who lives upstairs
read books
relaxed
went to church
had fun

it was amazing! a little tough to come back to school this week... but we're already halfway through now.. ha

additionally, i recently finished and turned in my student teaching/internship application! glad to have that over with... and a light at the end of the tunnel.

other positive points from recent:
my 302 teacher wanted me to send her an electronic copy of my management plan to use as a good example : )
our 4 year old nephew commented on the culinary exquisiteness of our mashed potatoes that really will is the master maker of... ok he really just said he "likes ash and will's potatoes"... but coming from a 4 year old... we're proud : )

well.. i really should be reading something right now...
ps... will is wearing his waybacks shirt for pjs : )

2009-12-11T15:11:00.000-08:00

I had forgotten what our blog even looked like... haha...

Now it's the day after our last day of classes for the semester. More relaxed than the last post... Now just some finals to prepare for, and an assignmenty one to do.

I'm ready to go home... ready for a break! Let me rant one more time that all semester one professor said that we had to take the final at the university assigned time (Friday of finals week). To get an exception we'd have to talk to someone in the department office. I even had emailed the professor to be sure... (with no response)... So back in September we bought tickets to fly home on Saturday. A couple of weeks ago in that class some people were whining that we had to stay until friday, so after not much of a fight, he changes things and says that we could take the final on the last day of class! why could that not be the case all semester? so i took it a week ago on the last day of class and it was not a big deal at all... basically a completion sort of thing.... so as you might have guessed, i am very annoyed about that. i'm sorry that you could not follow directions, or you poorly planned, but it is not fair that someone who tried to follow what we had been told all along is now being PUNISHED!! my "scheduled" final for thursday is also now not "scheduled" for then... i can take it any day monday-wednesday. i also can take my math test on tuesday instead of wednesday... so... if i had known all of this i could have gone home on wednesday, or even thursday or friday! but no... i'll wait until saturday.

home is home and i just want to go home. i haven't gotten to go home since last christmas time.... i'm excited for christmas, but i am most excited to be with my family at home.

thank you for listening... : ) don't be mistaken... i'm very happy to be with will and at least on those days that i'll be here still i will be with him : ) will is my best friend : )

happy end of the semester!

2009-11-24T15:31:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is right up there on my list of favorite times of the year : ) Lots of good food, family, and being thankful for all of our many many blessings! For me it and Christmas kind of blend together in the middle. I don't value Thanksgiving any less, the Christmas feeling is just part of Thanksgiving to me. Just like I did with my family all growing up, Will and I put up our "Thankful Chart" a couple of weeks ago (we were a little slow)... it's fun to think of all the things we have to be grateful for..... I love traditions : )

My practicum ended yesterday. I miss all of those cute kids, but this means I can continue on and move on to the next step...

a school lamentation

2009-08-30T20:23:00.001-07:00

school school go away, come again another day....

i'm a proponent of school - i really am. i want to teach elementary school and instill a love of learning in kids. i just don't want to go to school tomorrow. i'm excited for new classes, but not for 2 and 3 hour classes... and i don't feel like i remember enough about independent study to go back to work there. luckily i will probably get to spend some time talking to tech support getting all my passwords reset...

on the bright side, this is my second to last semester (on campus)... and maybe some day i really will be done. for now i will brace myself to be on campus from 8 am to 7 pm tomorrow. that is all my classes and work. don't worry, i do have one 50 minute break in there... i'll live. : )

also, tomorrow is alan's birthday! everyone loves a birthday and everyone loves cake (ok, not everyone, but i do : )

i still need to write down where tomorrow's classes are and find all my stuff. no, i don't know what i'm going to wear... clothes... : ) more later, it's a school night...

last hurrah for Los Alamos

2009-08-15T20:11:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted anything on this blog yet, and I decided I'd better get with the program and write something before the summer is all over. we're down to just a few more days in Los Alamos, then it's back to Provo and school, college football, and civilization, just to name a few of the changes we'll have to go through. it'll be different to no longer live on Central Avenue at the center of the (Los Alamos) universe, but we'll survive. luckily our new apartment is right across from the Wymount creamery, so we'll still be able to buy milk at a moment's notice.

today we went to Bandalier National Monument, which is nearby. I've been here for two summers and still hadn't been until today...shame on me. but, since our friendly neighborhood National Parks Service decided to make today a free fee day, we decided today was as good a time as any, plus, it's not like we can go next weekend. (we'll be at Mesa Verde and Arches and on the road back.) last time it was a free day we went to Carlsbad Caverns, but unfortunately we got there on Friday and the park was only free on Saturday and Sunday. so we paid and our admission was valid for Friday and Saturday, but since Saturday was free anyway we unfortunately did not get the freebie. so today was a triumph of sorts for us, finally getting something for free. (plus, it was founder's day at Smith's today so we got free sandwiches, wraps, bakery goods, chips and salsa, fruit, punch, shrimp, roast beef, chicken...the most extensive grocery free samples I've ever seen. they were even giving free samples of chardonnay. we didn't have any, but we were pretty surprised that it's legal to do that in a child saturated grocery store...)
so after driving behind several bikers for a while (several of whom were probably at least four times as old as I am...well close) we made it up and then got to climbing those ladders...

so for those of you who have never heard of Bandalier, its main feature is several hundred cliff dwellings built by the ancestors of the Native Americans who live in the pueblos around New Mexico. most of them are of the "do not lean on, sit on, stand on, walk on, touch, etc." variety (we did see one younger kid (and his harried dad) get the wrath of our usually mild-mannered, grandfatherly park ranger for violating this policy (the walking on part) - it scared us enough that we resisted the urge to do any of our own unapproved climbing), but there are a few that have been reinforced with concrete which are accessible to the average park visitor. if there's a ladder leaning against one of them, it's fair game. so, we took advantage.

here we are inside one of them. apparently the rock inside was blackened by the ancient inhabitants. (actually it was only a few hundred years ago, so I don't know if they can be called ancient.)

after climbing a few ladders with five or six rungs, we decided we were up for a challenge, so we hiked a half mile or so to the base of the "Alcove House", where we were greeted by four or so more substantial ladders similar to this one...

so we ascended 140 feet and saw some other cool stuff, like little cavities in the rock we could hide ourselves in.

the pictures don't show it, but it was actually pretty crowded (since it was free day and probably the last hurrah before summer's end for a lot of the locals, since school is starting next week for the Los Alamos schools and some other districts have started already. luckily our last hurrah doesn't come for a few more weeks.) have you ever seen a traffic jam of fifteen or so people waiting to go up a ladder when fifteen or so people are coming down said ladder? especially when the path leading to/from the ladder is approximately one and a half feet wide? it's not pretty. we decided not to take a picture, though, to spare our loyal readers the trauma.

so that was probably the highlight of the day (since the rest of the day consisted of thoroughly cleaning our kitchen and bathroom. we don't think they've been thoroughly cleaned since a time long ago, predating by far the day when we first moved in. that both incriminates us and the previous tenants.)

in other news, we changed our blog template (hopefully to one that will allow comments.) so feel free to comment now.

at the rate that we've been posting over the life of our blog....we'll let you know what's going on in our life sometime in late September!

a work in progress...

2009-07-21T07:21:00.001-07:00

so maybe we aren't as good as we thought we'd be at posting on a blog... it's not like we're extremely busy or anything... but we have been doing lots of fun things all summer - i promise! for example, we just got back a couple of days ago from going to carlsbad caverns and guadalupe mountains national parks!! : )

we just don't do very well at posting... we're just more used to calling and writing emails. i like it that way... it's more personal.

maybe we'll have a blogging party later.... and when i say maybe, i mean maybe... : )

the june post

2009-06-30T21:17:00.000-07:00

i realized that if we didn't post today we would have missed june completely... and what a shame that would have been!

in case you were worried, we're still alive. that's what the girls outside were supposed to come report every so often today. but i didn't know that for a while... until lucy (name changed : ) told me she told the girls to come tell me that every little bit while i was the only one there... don't tell julia (another changed name... : )

well, we've had a heap of adventures and good times in june that we will put up soon. we've got to get through a couple more work days before the long holiday weekend!! on the priority list is the fantastic personalized tour we got of oklahoma city and the super fun times we had visiting linds and alan's happy fam! : )

i think the 4th of july might be my second favorite holiday... maybe 3rd... it kinda ties with thanksgiving - christmas being the number one. regardless of the number, i'm pretty excited for the 4th of july!!! : ) i think a big part of it is traditions... we'll have to see what los alamos has to offer. wait.. unless there are some surprises, it may not be much. but we'll go to the church picnic/potluck and to the park for the fireworks... should be fun enough, just different.

yay america! : )

the waybacks

2009-05-31T13:57:00.000-07:00

after being here nearly 4 weeks we decided to check out the concert on friday night that was the week's event for the summer concert series here in los alamos. this one was actually just a couple of blocks over from our home, so we walked. it was a nice night, and a nice night for a free concert. the environment was a little different than we're used to, but all in all it was pretty family friendly... it was supposed to be from 7-10... we walked over at about 8:30, of course right when they're going to take a break... we had just eaten dinner, so there was no reason to buy anything from the overpriced vendors, we didn't have chairs to sit down, and we didn't really know anyone else... so we walked down to smith's for a few minutes for some things we needed... when we got back, luckily they were about to get started again!!! (we looked them up on google, and apparently they are real, and didn't just join up for the concert...) so when they're advertised as "bluegrass, newgrass, something, and rock" we were waiting to see just what we'd been missing out on our entire lives!! just what is newgrass anyway? ha... so the guy with the mic says they're going to play such and such song, then one that "you would all recognize".... good one... : ) naturally, we didn't recognize either song... and we had a little bit of trouble trying to tell if we had switched songs yet or not... after about 2.5 songs we decided we were done and headed home, but it was a good culturing experience. moral of the story: check out your local free summer concert series... you don't know what you're missing! there are plenty more this summer that sound like they might be a bit more promising for our tastes... we'll have to check them out....
and if you don't believe that we really went.... we have t-shirts to prove it... free from the sponsor: our local del norte credit union. they say: "the waybacks", the date (may 29, 2009), and los alamos, nm.... there is also a shameless advertisement from del norte on the back.. : )

will enjoyed himself so much he's already wearing his shirt : )

will's birthday and our engagement anniversary!! : )

2009-05-25T19:06:00.000-07:00

today is our engagement anniversary!! yay!! : ) what a happy and exciting day it was... i was a little sad when will had to go back to los alamos, but i knew it would only be 3 months until we got married! this summer we don't have to be apart, and we could enjoy our whole memorial day weekend together!
friday was will's birthday! and he didn't have to work.. : ) we didn't get to go camping the night before like we wanted because of the rain, but we'll just try again another time...we still had our foil dinners - cooked in the oven.. : ) so on friday we had a fun day going to the science museum, relaxing and other fun things. i only had to work a little so we had a good, fun birthday party for will's 24th! this was his last year he could have just one pack of candles... next year we'll have to get a nice pink one to put with all his blue ones... : ) a triple chocolate fudge cake with brownie ice cream.... mmm.... so much chocolate!!! it was super fun : )
saturday we went to albuquerque... remember that song from 1st grade? albuquerque he's my turkey.... will's only ever heard it from me.. : ) it's only about an hour and forty? minutes away... we drove through what seemed like cats and dogs rain for a little while, but we were able to go to the temple in the morning which was nice : ) then we went to what felt like a billion other places... a good, long day : ) among other things, we went to redeem will's birthday coupons.. we ate just about as much as we could at red robin... we'd been looking forward to it for a while : ) it was one of those times (like thanksgiving) where you tell yourself you're never going to eat again! and then you always break that promise later.. : ) we also got baskin robbins and cold stone ice cream : ) between the red robin and ice cream we went and found my parents' old apt complex from when they used to live in albequerque, right after they left byu... just for a little while. that was pretty neat! we also went to check out the unm campus (univ of new mexico)... we still needed to walk around some to ease our poor little tummies... : ) on the way home we went on a wild walmart chase in bernalillo... just for a few items... could they make it any harder to find?! if they would have put it where they said it was, it wouldn't have been so bad, but we drove to the end of don tomas one way, then the other way and never found it... with some other roundabout getting lostings... finally, by a stroke of luck, just beyond some casino (who was housing a sold out WWF match that night) we found it! then they couldn't even fix the battery in will's watch... good thing we got our bread and stir fry sauce we can't get here in los alamos... : ) when we were coming out of walmart the rain was really coming down... we thought it was cats and dogs before, but this was seriously cats and dogs this time... maybe even... cheetahs and wolves! as we drove up to temple it must have really just been gerbils and... lab rats... (that's what will said in the car... imagine if it was really raining lab rats... sick!) anyway... in the 20-25 seconds it took us to *run* to our car, we got super duper wet! big chunky rain, flashes of lightning in the sky, thunder, the parking lot was looking kinda floody... in albuquerque they have signs various places saying not to drive there if it's flooded... but we saw no such signs in bernalillo.. : ) so we drove home, enjoying the pretty clouds, views, etc... we've enjoyed our long weekend... : )
ps... i very much love and appreciate skype... that was my little plug/advertisement
psagain... i even more love and appreciate will.... : )

this is us at the bradbury science museum... about nuclear warfare, the manhattan project, and current lab research... hours of fun... : )
will just opened one of his birthday presents... apple cinnamon cheerios... his favorite!!! : ) can you see the grocery ads i wrapped them in?... : )
will getting ready to blow out his candles!!! don't worry... he got them all...
enjoying my raspberry limeade at red robin... mmmmm..... : )

out the car window as we drove home... it wasn't raining at this point, but the clouds looked so cool!!
sitting down to our memorial day "picnic"... : ) chicken salad sandwiches, potato salad, chips, strawberry kiwi juice.... delicious : )
this is camel rock... looks just like one! and whether it's man made or not... they've banked off of it by building, yes, camel rock casino... : ) a joy to see each time we drive to santa fe or albuquerque... : )

monopoly... 5 days later...

2009-05-21T10:11:00.001-07:00

so... we started our monopoly game last saturday. with only 2 of us it went fairly quickly to get several properties bought. (growing up my family always played you had to go around the board once before you could buy, but will and i decided to have everything fair game from the beginning) so we went on our spending spree for several turns each, hoping for "good" properties... i don't know how it happened, i suppose i was a little wiser with my money : ), but will was hurting... so i let him catch up (winning a truck load of money from free parking - which evidently the rules state that that space is not for winning money, but for "resting"... boring... : ) so of course that was the "traditional" jackpot spot) well, i soon wished i hadn't played so easy on him because before too long he had tons of money! thousands more than me!
now, this game went on for 5 days... we'd play a little each evening (most evenings... not all) and it sat out on the coffee table each day for us to think and strategize.. : ) sometimes we'd just have discussions about what deals we might make with each other... it all hinged on st. charles place! that was the last property to be bought... it took until last night! each time one of us would come up on it we'd count how many we'd need to roll to land on it... either that, or free parking, which we knew had not a truck load this time, but a boat load... more like an ocean liner load... well, i ended up getting st. charles place, and by that time, neither of us cared so much about the "deals" we could do... (because at that point none were in will's favor.. : ) and much to my sadness... will soon after got free parking... it ended up being 1999... that's nearly 2000 dollars!!! and he took forever counting it... : ) haha well, at this point, never mind the fact that i had 3 monopolies, all with houses... they were the wimpy ones (light blue, pink, and red - red's not too bad).... with a house on a light blue all you get is 30... lame... by this time will had the corner by "go to jail." whatever those colors are... yellow and green. so he had a death row corner for me (which he had 2-3 houses on everything over there!) that i luckily kept missing... : ) (even jail was better than paying 800-1000!) well.. eventually i landed on him and owed him 900 or so... i had to clear all my houses from two of my monopolies! not long after, i owed 800some, so i cleared the other houses... : ) next time i had to start mortgaging things... and on my last turn i believe i owed 1000 and i had to mortgage everything else i had!! i was only able to offer 852, a get out of jail free, and my humble little iron piece... : ) will won.... there's always next time... : )
we had tons of fun and love monopoly!! probably the play by play of our game wasn't very exciting... but we're having such a fun summer! we're not necessarily in the butchart gardens, but it's fun to be in a new place having new experiences. there are plenty of neat things down here and we should enjoy them while we're here... and best of all, we just work during the day, and have fun and relax in the evenings and on weekends! no homework for us : ) it's a little harder to relax when our smoke alarm is going off... but we'll hopefully get all that figured out eventually.. : ) if nothing else, it is just for the summer... : )
we have tons of fun plans for the weekend and it's will's birthday tomorrow! : )

Happy Sunday!

2009-05-17T17:30:00.000-07:00

Happy Sunday everyone! This is our first blog post, if you didn't notice... After creating it, we decided to change the layout. We have searched high and low for a good choice... and we'll continue our search. We even looked through all 77 pages of one site - we did find a good one, but it was all in Spanish... After much too much time we chose this flowery one for now.

We've been in Los Alamos for about 2 weeks now. We are enjoying our relaxing time away from school and homework, but with each other. Just yesterday we went to the kite festival in White Rock - good times. There were tons of fun kites to watch - little kids running around with their little kites they made at the kids' workshop (we would have, but we weren't sure they'd let us...) and other "for fun" kite flyers. There were a couple who seemed more experienced, or wanted to be... there was one lonely kite up on the "stunt kite" field, who wasn't there very long, a man with a humongous octopus kite (which never made it very far up, but it was a fun one to watch), and a man with what looked like a homemade box kite... he gave up after about 5 minutes... muttering to himself... : ) It was pretty windy. We also watched as several people untangled their kites from each other. They had some overpriced food booths, a kite vendor, and a 4-H club selling soda, etc.... Oh! and a "kite hospital" to mend kites that faced the "inevitable" (the ad said it : ) bonks and breaks. It was fun to be out in the sun and see the local festival. Sorry, we forgot the camera... But we'll be sure to post other pictures...

We're new to this... give us some time... : ) We almost had a sad ending to this blog and our computer.... Will was tickling me and the computer almost tumbled to the floor! Luckily we're all ok... : )

Monopoly update: although I had to play easy on him for a while until he won about $840 from Free Parking, I believe Will is several thousand dollars richer than I am... he owns 3 of the 4 railroads which is what's draining my funds! But I do have the only monopoly so far...