Happy December.

Seriously, HAPPY DECEMBER! I just love December. It's hands down my favorite month. So many lovely things happen in December. Christmas and my birthday to name a few..

And, in December I get to redecorate and almost have an excuse to buy new pretty things. Are you starting to see the beauty of the month December? I hope so.

If you haven't put your decorations up, shame on you. But don't you worry, it's only the 6th so you have approximately 18 days left to bring some Christmas spirit in your home. Really I am just doing this for you, I don't want you to feel like little Cindy Lou Who when she sang "Where Are You Christmas?".

You can start with a nice festive wreath. 

I got the idea for this one from this website. It was like super easy and super cheap and super quick. Three great supers.

Another thing I did to add to the feeling of Christmas in our little apartment was change some pictures around. This was the final product.

I love that picture of Brandon right there. Can you say winter apparel model?

 Well most of it, I suppose you can't see the outside of it. I got that large print from here, the scripture reference print from here, and the Grinch one I made myself.

And finally a few gifts under the tree don't hurt either. 

Don't be fooled. We simply wrapped empty boxes to make it appear as if we are getting presents.

But, you don't need big things to bring in that extra Christmas spirit. Even a little Clay Aiken Christmas music in the background should do the trick :)

The rest of our festive decorations will make an appearance in another post. 
Until then, have a happy Tuesday!

A list of recents.

So, it's been a while. I know you're not too distraught. But let's just be honest. My life has about as much excitement as my pet tortoise's, Gus Gus. And all he does everyday is sleep and eat grass.

But, a couple of fun and exciting things have happened:

1. A new little nephew was added to our family this past week. His name is Logan and he looks absolutely precious. Since Stacie and Rob (this said cuties parents) are going to school in Michigan we haven't had a chance to meet him. But, we will get the opportunity to cuddle and hold him during Christmas time and Brandon and I are very excited for that. 

2. We have officially started the application process for Brandon's MBA program. This makes me super giddy, but does not quite have the same affect on Brandon. Maybe that's because he's going to be writing all the essays and doing all of the dirty work, which when I start to think about it, it does sound awful. I choose schools purely on location, which I realize is not the right way to go about this, but it sure has been fun. I am anxious to find out were we will be!

3. We got our first legitimate snow the other day. It was hideous. (I'd totally show a picture but I am afraid that you would think that it is a very illegitimate amount of snow)

4. Let's see, I start my student teaching at Hillcrest High School in Idaho Falls this January. It's quite laughable what I am going to be teaching. Senior English and AP English, only less AP considering I am not even a college graduate yet, and they don't really trust me to be teaching a college type class. I don't trust myself either, so it works out quite nicely.

5. I went to my first Super Saturday activity for our church Relief Society and created these little beauties. Good thing I can keep them up for like two more weeks...

Don't you love how the T is crooked? I think it almost adds character..almost.

6. I am listening to all the Harry Potter books on tape and have realized how much better they are than the Twilight series. Like, seriously no comparison. I look back and can't even believe I spent so much of my time reading those. I am glad my reading tastes are starting to mature. That doesn't mean I am not going to see the Breaking Dawn movie coming out next week though..

Ha, you can tell that our lives are super exciting. I can't even get past 6 major events, and one of them was listening to the Harry Potter series as I drive to school everyday. This is getting rather pathetic. Good thing I don't mind being a little pathetic.

Let's finish today up with a little inspiring quote from one of my students, because they know how it is:

Teacher: "Have you ever tried to rescue someone from the gallows?"
Student: "Yah, it sucks."

I must say, the teacher set herself up for that one. Have a super lovely weekend!

Funnies..again.

Much like last Tuesday, I had some great laughs today. Seriously, these kids are so funny. Hopefully I don't bore you with these but I just had to share!

First quote:
Teacher: "Don't you think it's important to be honest?"
Student: "Sometimes.."

Well, I know honesty is important but this kid might be on to something..But really, if you were his teacher how would you have responded? Maybe something like this, "You know, you're right, honesty is only important most of the times, sometimes it's okay to be a little shady." I guess it might be days like this that I start to fear for the future of our country. Thankfully his teacher just kind of looked at him and walked away..

Second quote:
"Snow White was greedy. She did take the apple."

I can say that I have never thought about that before. I mean maybe she should have been thinking about all the kids in Africa who really could have used that apple, or the nice little forest creatures who wanted a treat, what in the world was Snow White thinking?!

Ah, great aren't they? These moments make teaching all worth it.

On a more positive note check out my oober cute nephew.

I like how he's giving me the stare down. If only he were smiling, he has like the cutest smile.

I went to the land of sun and warmth a couple weekends ago and got to see him. Oh and I got to see my family as well :) But, let's be honest he is just a little bit more exciting than them, sorry guys..

Anyhow, have a lovely week!

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.