A funny thing.

Did you know that I am almost teaching an 8th grade class? I say almost because most days I just observe and watch the BYU-Idaho students teach it. But, I am their official teacher and do official things like enter grades and take attendance. I don't like sitting back and watching. See, I got to teach these kids for the first week or so and we had a blast. We made adobe houses out of clay, homemade salsa and tortillas, musical instruments, and much more. Now, they are being taught legitimate lessons, they don't like it, I don't like it, really it just stinks. Observing does have a few perks though. For example, these kids are hilarious and say some of the funniest things ever. I find myself laughing all of the time, even though I probably shouldn't encourage their behavior. This was my favorite quote of today:
"My little brother tries to kill me with his mind."

I wonder what he was trying to get at, because most of the time they just can't seem to find the right words to describe their feelings. But, I am sure once he would have explained it, it would have made perfect sense. 

Things like this make me miss my 8th grade year very much. Those days were quite carefree and very easy it seems, plus no one expected you to actually know what you were talking about. Like now, when they ask me questions that I don't know I just fudge my way through it. But, I am sure they think I know everything, because at that age your teachers did know everything, at least it seemed. It's somewhat eye opening and a little discouraging to realize that they probably didn't.

So, this doesn't have a direct point. Maybe you can take out of it to look for the funny things in your life, or treasure the memories you have, or to realize that your teachers were all phonies. You choose. But, if anything, have a nice week!

A very unwelcome homecoming.

Why hello there,

I hope everyone had a splendid weekend. Brandon and I sure did. We took a little adventure down to Provo and spent some quality time with family and friends. We also escaped the two inches of snow that surrounded our apartment. But unfortunately we had to return. And we returned to something very, very terrible. Downstairs neighbors.

They have been moving in for a while but they finally made an appearance yesterday. Now, I don't want to make any prior judgements before I actually get to meet the three teenage looking occupants, but I do have one complaint. The dog. First of all, dogs and apartments don't mix. They just don't. Dogs need a backyard and a doggy door. They need to be able to run free. This particular dog needs one of those barking shock collars. Early this morning (around one or so) one of those shocking collars would have been very helpful. But, these things I can live with...mostly. It's what happened this morning that constitutes removal of this particular canine.

I was happily prancing down the stairs ready to jump in my car and make the little trek to Rexburg when this furry fireball came charging at me. See, they obviously realize that dogs and apartments don't mix well either. So, they decided to tie up their dog to a pole outside of their apartment. Well, the rope is pretty long, so this dog has free access to a great deal of the parking lot and complete access to my Honda. Did I say it came charging at me? Yes, barking, sprinting, and showing it's very pointy teeth. I had to climb in the back seat of my Honda (were thankfully the little bugger couldn't get to) and then climb into the drivers seat. Then as I backed out it chased my car until it's rope yanked it back.

Us having a stare down. Being the smart person I am, I took this from my patio. Also, it may look small but small things can be quite the terror as well..I mean just think of that two-year-old you saw at Wal-mart today...

So, the conclusion to this story is the dog has to go. Like, very soon. Any suggestions? I might accidentally run it over as it chases my car out into the parking lot..just kidding..but maybe. Or, maybe some really good pepper spray would work? Who knows. But for now I will continue the climb over the seat routine to save myself from being a chew toy.

Fall love.

Fall is here! And I love it. It felt very official today considering 61 was the high in Idaho Falls and it rained on and off throughout the day. To commemorate this cold weather we ate beef stew and homemade rolls. Ahh, fall does have its perks. Like this:

Island Park on Sunday. Aren't the leaves fabulous?

But really, fall you're wonderful. How have I never noticed you before? Wait, it's because I lived in Arizona and there is no such thing as leaves changing colors there. But seriously I think that fall might be my second favorite season (summer is obviously my favorite). I think part of this comes from the fall colors, decorations, crisp mornings, pumpkins, sweaters; I could go on and on. But, right now it's the decorations. I have been dying to put up my fall decorations (all three of them) for a while, but Brandon wouldn't let me. I mean, technically the first day of fall was just a week or so ago...

Their debut was just yesterday and it is oh so fantastic. With the pumpkin candle burning it feels very legitimate. I wish I could decorate my apartment like this, but since I have like 1/16 the space and budget, I had to improvise. Below are my sad attempts at decorating:

It's just about the effort, right?

If you are looking for some fall-ish like crafting ideas this website as some good ones. I am tempted to make that fall table runner mat for my coffee table, or even one of those grapevine pumpkins. 

But as for now, this is how my apartment is going to be. If you were wondering what was inside of those frames (because I know you are dying to know..) I got together with Google and Photoshop and crafted a few nice little fall messages. Google provided the text while Photoshop fostered the design. Below are the actual documents:

Feel free to snag them, I don't know how like downloading and what not works so you can always let me know if you'd like them and I'll send them your way. The best part is they're only a few cents to print at our your local Wal-mart, and if you don't have one of those around you need to move into a bigger city.

Geeze, this was longer than I anticipated. But I hope this somehow fueled your desire to get hose nice cozy fall decorations up. Because before you know it you'll be taking them down for Christmas, which is fun too.

Happy fall!

Poetry, or something like it.

Every now and then, when I can't sleep, I peruse the old "creative" things that I used to write. Really, they aren't that creative. But I can't classify them as school files, and since my computer is very organized, the creative section is where they will remain. These are especially hilarious because I wrote most of this stuff years ago. Like still in high school years ago. It's fun to see how I've changed. I laugh about the things that used to be important back then, like dating and high school football games.

This particular gem was crafted during my engagement. This time was absolute torture. See, when my semester ended in April, I had to go home to Arizona. Brandon had to stay in Idaho. We weren't getting married until the end of May. Yes, that equals six weeks of pure suffering. Yes, suffering. And, it wouldn't have been so bad if I had a job or something but instead my days went kind of like this: wake up, read book, homework, run, lay out, sleep, read again, talk to Brandon, go to bed. So, obviously I was bored. (I am just trying to make a good excuse of writing really lame poetry..if you can even call it that..) Ha, but anyways, I hope you get a nice little chuckle out of this. Here it goes:

I am in love.
Did you know that?
I am actually getting married.
I have found the person that I want to spend the rest of forever with.
I get excited thinking about it.
He makes me happy.
I smile when I think about him.
I look at pictures of him when he's gone.
He's cute.
I love his smile.
I love his laugh.
I love the way he looks at me.
It shows me that he loves me back.
I want to be with him forever.
Because when I get a glimpse of life with him
I can't contain my happiness.
I love my Brandon.


Precious, yah? Even though I wrote this May 19th, 2010 at 1:05 am, I still feel the same October 3rd, at12:35 am. The crazy things I do late at night.