Pinewood Derby

We got to go to our nephew's first Pinewood Derby Race. Unfortunately he didn't win, but he had fun.His brother and sister "graduated" from preschool. They did a cute, bunny play and sang lots of songs. It was entertaining to watch 25 little kids on stage.

I love being close to family so we can go to these things.

Jane Eyre

My sister Kim (along with most of my family) is an avid reader, and in October she suggested I read Jane Eyre. I love all the Jane Austin books/movies (well, mainly movies) so I thought I'd give Charlotte Bronte a chance since it's a similar setting. Kim told me the beginning is kinda slow (she wasn't lying), but the rest of the book has mystery, suspense, and romance (she wasn't lying about this either).

I have an active imagination, and when I'm reading something, I am in the story experiencing it. This was fine until I was laying in bed reading some of the parts of Jane Eyre where people are getting hurt and almost murdered! I didn't know anything about the mystery, so I would lay in bed thinking about all the weird stuff going on and it was hard to fall asleep!

Every day I would go to work and just anticipate when I could go home and keep reading to find out what would happen next.

I was so into the book that it was starting to stress me out. Especially the part when she is deciding whether or not to live with this man (I'm trying not to give anything away since the movie is coming out soon). As she was deciding, I wondered to myself, why shouldn't she? They are in love. Then at the Young Women General Broadcast this past Saturday, someone brought it up, and I finally realized that Jane Eyre teaches a valuable lesson: No one else would care what she did... except God; and He has given commandments, in this case, marriage. She stayed true to herself, her virtue, and her Father in Heaven even though no one on earth cared what she chose.

So, I'm grateful to Jane Eyre for holding to her standards. In the end, everything worked out as it should. I think it is one of the most romantic endings ever! I am excited to see the new movie, and I hope they keep it true to what Charlotte Bronte wrote. If not, I'll just have to stick with the Masterpiece Theater version.

Update?

I really want to update my blog, but our camera has gone missing and that's where our recent pictures are. Without pictures, I don't know what to post.

This is what I would post if I had pictures:

I had a fun birthday in January where Rob's whole family went bowling.

In February my mam-maw passed away. We fortunately got to attend the funeral.

We took a trip to Texas to meet our niece Katie.

My brother and wife just had a baby a week ago-Liam. We're going down to see him in 2 weeks.

The snow has melted here. Yay! But now the wind has come.

This week I am having a Poetry and Pie Night for my students. They are going to read or recite poems for their families and classmates, and then we'll have pie and dessert afterward.

And that's about it. I know without pictures it's not that fun to read, but we are staying busy. Rob is traveling for work but gets to come home on weekends. And I only have 9 weeks left of school!

Things I'm Looking Forward to this Summer...

A FREE trip to Washington D.C., Mt. Vernon, and Gettysburg through work. Now that I've been teaching U.S. history, this trip will be so much more meaningful. I can't wait to bring back pictures and souvenirs to show my students next year.

The family reunion at Bear Lake. Where all my immediate family will be able to attend (minus 1 bro-in-law)

A trip to Oregon to visit my aunts and cousins. This is my cousin Jordyn at the last reunion.

And.....

A trip to OAHU!!

We are so excited to be going back, but we're sad most of our friends have or will be graduated by June. We'd love to meet up with anyone who will still be there. Let us know.

June is going to be a busy month, but so much fun!

Fall Wrap-Up

In September, our friends Jenny and Steve just moved back from Hawaii and got to visit Idaho for a few days. It was great seeing them!

Rob was working in Colorado for the past 2 months and I got to spend a weekend with him in Denver. We went to Casa Bonita (for the environment, not the food) with his friend Johnathan. We ate at Macaroni Grill and Kelly's Cajun Grill, bought our Halloween costumes, and we went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. We got to see Rob's friends and people he went to church with when he lived there.

With Johnathan

It was a really fun weekend. I hadn't been to Denver in the fall before and it was gorgeous; colorful trees everywhere and the weather was nice. I didn't take any pictures though!

We decided to be Jessie and Woody for Halloween. It's always a lot of fun on Halloween when you're in the schools. The kids are so excited.

My pumpkin is on the left, Rob's the right

We also took our new pet/class pet to school that day. He's an African pygmy hedgehog named Pike. He's almost 8 months old. We've had him for about 2 months. The kids think he's the coolest class pet, so do I. He's really easy to take care of because he doesn't chew things, doesn't need much attention, he's quiet, and he sleeps all day. He is so cute!!

Class, settle down

While he's been out of town, Rob's been spoiling me by sending flowers to my school, so in the middle of the day I get a beautiful surprise.

This was to remind me of the fall colors in Denver-I love Gerber daisies and lilies

And this was just for fun

Houston 2010

I decided last minute to go to Houston again for Spud Harvest break since Rob was going to be in Denver for work.Just so you know, this is about the nastiest BBQ I've eaten, but I liked their sign.

We did a lot of shopping and not much sightseeing like we did last year. I just realized I never posted about my trip last year. Last year we went to Galveston, saw dolphins, the Blue Bell ice cream factory, ate out a ton, shopped, and decorated. It was very humid last year.

View from our hotel in Galveston-I didn't even try to straighten my hair here.

This year the weather felt perfect. We did lots of shopping and decorating. They have a huge house which I almost got lost in the first few days.

We made these Halloween signs

We made these decorations to hang in her music room.

All they need is curtains for this room to be complete

We also went kayaking which is always fun, until you realize you forgot sunscreen!

Little did Kim know, she did more paddling than I did...

Waiting for my piano lesson. Look at that burnt skin!

We ate some good food: Pufferbelly Restaurant, Red Mango, and Pei WeiAnd we got pedicures. I thought my feet were cracked and dry beyond repair but the lady did a great job. She had to use what looked like a cheese grater though!Jacob's billboard A familiar-looking mannequin in Old Navy

Thanks Kim and Jacob for treating me so nicely. It was fun!

State Fair

The whole family went out for the State Fair at the beginning of Sept. Of course the best part of the fair is the food! I ate so much junk. It was fun taking all the nephews/nieces to see the animals and giant pumpkins.

Carnivores!

Huge dairy cows

Chocolate milk floats

Caramel apple

Mixed berry funnel cake

Rob was a good sport and had a few bites of everything. He doesn't like sugary foods nearly as much as I do. I love going to the Fair every year! Growing up, we got Monday off of school for Labor Day and Friday off for Fair Day!