Third time's the charm

We have been married for three whole years. It seems like a whole lot some days and like nothing other days. 

This year we.....

-Got two black labs ( not at the same time) Skip and Duke. Kolton loved that Skip. We will see how long Duke lasts.

-I joined the ranks of college graduates and got my first big kid job. And have more money in the bank than I have ever had before (which is not saying much) Lets just say I now have more to my name than I had coming into this marriage...which was $200. 

- We went to Mexico and had a blast. 

- We still love living in Monteview and have been here almost two years now. 

-I learned that Kolton is a super awesome animal house builder. Seriously. 

-We actually harvested something from our garden. First time ever! 

-Started and stopped many exercise regimens. 

- I ran a 6k and was pretty sure I was going to die. 

- Kolton got a head cold and was pretty sure he was going to die. ( hee hee)

-We partied hard and then worked even harder.

-This was the first year Kolton rented his own ground and it was great! And super stressful. But we were so blessed and ended up with a good crop. Mostly due to me weeding the field one day while I was stuck with Kolton and he was fixing a flat tire. Okay, mostly due to Kolton working his fanny off day and night including changing 6 flat tires. 

Proud Teacher

Last Friday I had the proudest moment of my teaching career thus far. (As opposed to one of the lowest points of my teaching career that occurred the previous Monday)

During my short prep time break I was running around trying to get everything set for my afternoon class to come in and start the day when the secretary told me I had to meet with the insurance guy that was at the school that day. 

I was not looking forward to meeting with him and was avoiding it for a couple of really good reasons. 

1. This same insurance guy had talked to us at a staff meeting earlier in the week and quickly lost me as he used words such as Section 125, IRS, flex accounts, etc. I do not know what these things mean and he was rushing along so fast I didn't even get a chance to ask. 

Okay, I probably should have just asked the questions I had but it had been a long day and I was tired and really not feeling it. 

2. I only have a one year contract with the school (so far) so if I am not here next year all the insurance junk I've signed up for and spent time looking over will be wasted and gone when I no longer work at the school. 

3. Because I only have a one year contract, even though the school provides insurance I have kept my previous insurance because I don't want to go through the hassle of signing back up in a matter of months. So I am already double covered on health insurance...I think I'm good!

Good reasons, right?

So you can understand why I was not looking forward to and was avoiding this meeting. But he pulled me in there and I got to ask all my questions and give all my reasons for not being interested and then feel guilty when he talked all about being covered for everything and then feeling silly because I just didn't want any more insurance! 

It's complicated. 

ANYWAY...so as we were in this meeting that I didn't want to be in in the first place I realized that my class was getting back from P.E. and were probably wreaking havoc in the classroom as I was speaking about insurance. 

Needless to say, I was a bit nervous to head back to class and see the state of the classroom and the children in it with no teacher there to supervise them. 

But lo and behold, when I walked into the classroom this is what I saw:

-Almost every kid seated quietly at their desk copying down the DOL sentences I had written on the board. 

-The one student that was not in her seat was up at the board erasing the corrections to the DOL that I had done with the previous class.

And then I cried.

Not really, but I felt like it. I was so impressed with those kids for knowing what they needed to do even though I wasn't there to tell them. Oh, they were so amazing and I told that about 500 times how much I just love them. 

That was a good end to a crazy week.

A Juanito Bandito Christmas

So this last weekend we went down with my family to Utah. 

Our first stop was Temple Square to see the lights. We walked around and froze our faces off and got teary eyed while looking at the nativity and then decided we had had enough. 

Then we went to Benihana's which is a little Japanese restaurant that is pretty neat. They cook your food for you right at the table and it was just cool. Our cook was quite the little performer and about two minutes into the meal and watching him do his thang, Brevan asked if we could go there again. 

After that we hiked up to the parking garage where our car was. It just so happens that at exactly the same time we were trying to leave the parking garage, there was a concert at the Conference Center that was being let out. So traffic was a mess and we spent almost an hour and a half inching our way down that parking garage. It was super. When we finally got to the hotel at midnight we all crashed. 

The next day we went to the Gateway to do a little shopping and then hopped over to City Creek to grab some lunch and look around a little more. We ate at Johnny Rocket's and enjoyed our hamburgers and shakes. 

After lunch we headed to Logan to see Juanito. We got there early and had nothing to do so...we went to WalMart of course! And then we went to the Bluebird to have a little dessert before the play. 

 And look who we happened to find....Tyrelly!

 After our little dessert stop we walked over to the theatre. As we were waiting for the play to start I started thinking that I needed to grab my camera so we could take a picture. I tried to tell myself no because I knew that Kolton would be annoyed by more pictures but then I told myself yes because I wanted one. So then we searched for the camera for a couple minutes before we realized we had left it at the Bluebird. So Kolton hightailed it out of there and got back with time to spare and luckily we were able to present this picture and all the other ones since my camera was not lost forever.

And that's the end my friends! After a looong drive late at night we finally made it home.

I Hesitate to Share This...

But I'm going to anyway. Because it was really bad and still not quite yet really funny (but it might be one day) all rolled into one. 

So Monday was just not a super great day to be me. It was the Monday-est Monday I have ever had. I was just having a bona fide bad day and then it got worse. 

That afternoon the kids at school were doing their Literature Circles and reading silently when a girl came up to my desk and told me she didn't feel well. I told her to go to the bathroom or do whatever she needed to if she was feeling sick. She headed toward the door and right when she got to the door I called out that I needed to see the members or a particular group. She was one of the members of the group so being the obedient girl she is, she came back to see what I had to say. I didn't really notice she was there as I started in on my directions for the group. But I heard "Oh no..." 

And then, there was puke. 

Bleh....I still shudder when I think about it.

She ran out of the room and I ordered the rest of the class to get in line RIGHT NOW. and NO TALKING. And then we went down to the gym where they continued to do their literature circles and I ran to the office to get the custodian. 

Turns out...the custodian leaves early in the afternoons so the mess was all mine. I'm sure the secretary got a kick out of the look of utter disbelief/disgust/anxiety that I gave her. 

When I recovered after asking "Really?" about 7 times I headed back down to the classroom to grab the rest of the class' worksheets. And as soon as I walked in the door my gag reflex kicked in big time and I about threw up myself. Like, really. 

So then I went back down to the office and got the girl out of the sick bed because I am the meanest person in the world and then I made her clean up her own puke. 

And then I ran back and forth from the classroom and the gym and the custodial closet and the office about fifty times and it was just a really awesome afternoon and a fabulous end to a fabulous day. 

The end.

The rest of Thanksgiving

So for Thanksgiving we headed up to Island Park with my family. We got there on Wednesday night and stayed until Friday afternoon. We spent our time eating delicious food, doing puzzles, playing pool and ping pong and watching movies. It was a good time! 

It's Thanksgiving

 And I am feeling guilty I have done very little to celebrate the holiday other than lecturing my kids over and over about all the things they have to be thankful for. One assignment I gave them was to write down 20 things they are thankful for and I was amazed at their gasps of indignation so then we had to have a quick talk about all the things they have to be grateful for. But now I'm feeling like I need to fulfill my own assignment.
I'm thankful for...

-A husband that does the dishes every night and pretends to listen while I talk his ear off after the lights are out for the night and is the most patient man in the entire world.

-A family that teases, laughs, plays, and works together.

-In-laws that are the opposite of everything I had ever been warned about.

-An extended family that we are very close with and love spending time with. 

-My job that stresses me out and makes me laugh til I cry...simultaneously.

-My fifth graders who make me want to pull my hair out and who I love more than I ever imagined.

-My friends who I can talk to all day long and still never run out of things to say.

-A warm house that I love to come home to.

-All the nice material things that I have...soooo spoiled.

-The peace the gospel brings to my life.

-The wonderful community we live in. Some of the best people in the world live here and we get to associate with them every day.

-The free country we live in. I'm not always happy with the decisions being made for the country but we really are blessed with the freedoms we have. Every day we say the Pledge of Allegiance I am reminded of the valiant men and women who have sacrificed for all the things that I have.

-My cell phone. It's embarrassing how connected I am with that thing but it has saved me from being lost and driving around aimlessly more times than I can count.

-My education. I have been so blessed with good teachers who have taught me about more than their subject matter covered. Those life lessons will always stay with me.

-Food. Oh my stars I am grateful for food. According to me, good food is one of the things that makes life worth living.

-Seasons. Each time we have a new season coming around I decide it's my new favorite. I love the new life in spring, the fun and sun in summer, the leaves and crisp air in fall, and the snow in winter.

-Candles. I am a little crazy about my house smelling good and have all sorts of candles burning to make it smell lovely.

-Flowers. Even though they are all dead now, I love my flowers in the spring and summer. Every morning this summer I would get out of the house and take a walk around my yard admiring my flowers and examining the new growth.

-A soft and cozy bed to sleep in. Kolton and I say every night that our favorite part of the day is when we get to stretch out in our bed. It's just so comfy and fluffy and great.

-Good people all around the world. Even though there are bad things that happen every day there are always good people there trying to lift and help and do what they can to better someone's life.

There's probably a million more things I can think of, but there's a pumpkin pie calling my name that I had better get to...

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is why 5th graders are punks.

It's the night of Halloween. 

I'm standing in the dark and cold and rain in my winter coat and sweats with a shotgun in my hand.

Waiting.

So a couple days before Halloween I had my kids at school write a journal entry about their favorite parts of Halloween.
Brevan was freaking out. He asked me at least five times if I was going to read his journal. 

Each time I said no. 

But he kept after me and was quite persistent that I did not read his journal. 

I knew something was up. 

On Halloween day at school one of the kids mentioned he wanted to go T.P.ing that night. I said I was glad he didn't know where my house was and Brevan busted up laughing. 

It was pretty easy to conclude what was going to go down at my house that night. 

On the way home from school I called Kolton and filled him in and he immediately began plotting. I didn't realize what a conniving husband I had until he called me three times with different plans on how he was going to scare our little 5th grade T.P.ers. 

One plan included him dressing up as a scarecrow and hanging himself from one of our trees. 

I finally got him to calm down and think a little more realistically. I guess I just didn't realize what an affinity he had for scaring people!

Eventually his plans led to the part with me waiting outside with a shotgun loaded with flares and him waiting next to me with a scary Halloween mask. 

Our carefully laid plans went to heck soon after that. 

The car full of boys pulled up near our hiding spot and Kolton and I got separated in our rush to find a new hiding spot.

We had agreed to let them have their fun before we scared the living daylights out of them. Then I was going to shoot three flares into the sky and Kolton was going to run after them being all sorts of freaky. 

They started their T.P.ing and were rather confident due to the fact we had turned off all the lights in our house and made it appear that we weren't home. They approached our front door and were all sorts of excited about the bowl of candy we had left out for trick or treaters. 

Meanwhile I was searching for Kolton in the darkness and silently counting to 100 while I hid behind the bushes. 

When I was at 95 I suddenly heard the roaring and the screaming and realized Kolton had jumped the gun. (Probably due to the fact that he could see the boys were getting quite a bit of T.P.ing done and had decided they had long since "had their fun.") So I fired off my shots as the boys went screaming and running back toward the car. 

They finally calmed down and we all had a laugh over it as we were standing in the front yard talking for a minute. Then I realized that a few of the boys had recovered from the scare and were STILL T.P.ing. 

They had been caught but not deterred and while we were standing right there in the yard watching them they just kept on doing what they set out to do. 

So then we made them leave and WE cleaned up the mess even though I was about frozen at this point. 

We all had a good laugh the next day at school and HOPEFULLY they won't try it ever again.....

yeah, right.

How to be the Best Husband Ever in 7 Easy Steps

1. Don't complain when your wife is sick with the first death cold of the year and keeps you up all night with her coughing, sneezing, blowing her nose, and just being altogether disgusting.

2. While your wife is gone to Parent Teacher Conference until all hours of the night (9:00 feels so late now that I'm old and boring) pick up the house and make sure it is sparkling when she arrives home exhausted.

3. Take your wife on a date and don't even laugh (too much) about the fact that she talked too much at Parent Teacher Conference and now has lost her voice and can't speak above a faint whisper.

4. While on the date, let your wife order the dish you were eyeing and pick something else. Oh, and make sure you order the Spinach and Artichoke dip too.

5. Always, Always, ALWAYS, remember to grab ice cream at the end of the date. And don't even stop at Walmart before heading home even though you really want to.

6. After telling your wife 10,000 times that you can't help her with the yard work the next day because you are just too dadgum busy, surprise her the next morning by removing the flat tire from her car, pulling up all the plants in the garden and loading them in the back of your pickup, and retrieving the lawn mower for her to use later that day...all before 8:00 in the morning. (I seriously got a little teary eyed when I saw he had taken care of the garden for me.)

7. Come home after working all day and before going to a big long church meeting help your wife finish mowing the lawn and cleaning the garage.

Yeah, Kolton was kind of the MVP of our house this week.

Oh my stars, I love that man.

A Boy and His Cat

We got a cat this summer. 

Her name was Lola (note the "was"...just so you're prepared)

Kolton loved this cat. Like, really. As I have grown older I do not care for animals as much as I once did. As Kolton has grown older he has become a real softy. 

Lola was delivered to us while we were up camping at the Hansen family reunion. She stayed in a box inside the camper while we mingled with family. Later that afternoon I caught Kolton carrying Lola out of the camper to give her some fresh air. I had forgotten all about her. 

Every morning before he leaves for work, Kolton feeds that cats and pets them and tries to tame the wilder ones. I'm not exaggerating in the least when I say that I honestly have not even seen the cats for a week. Let alone petted them or fed them. It's a good thing those cats have Kolton. 

Out of the three cats Lola has always had a special place in Kolton's heart.

One day we realized that Lola was getting awful fat. As time passed and she kept getting bigger and bigger we determined that she was probably "with child". We were a little angry because she was so little and her stomach was getting so big and we were worried about her. So Kolton, being the good pet owner that he is, spent some time after work one night and made a cat house. I got a text from him saying, "Get a housewarming gift ready!" and when he came home I went outside to see this:

And I died laughing. 

Unfortunately, this story has a sad ending. 

So Lola just kept getting bigger and bigger and we started thinking that any day now she would have those kittens. 

One morning we went outside and she couldn't move to stand up. Her back legs weren't working. We brought her in the garage and figured she was probably in labor. I checked on her every couple hours and she just kept getting worse and worse. By the time Kolton got home for lunch she had died. It was the weirdest thing and I felt so bad. We really don't know what exactly happened but we started wondering if maybe she had a tumor instead of kittens...? Don't even know if that's possible, but we sure felt bad. 

Our animal killing saga continues. We've decided it might just be best to stay away and not get attached. If this is any indication to our parenting skill level, we may be in trouble.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

School is great.

School is fun. 

School is exhausting. 

But it's mostly just really awesome. 

 Those kids just kill me! We've had some good times together. 

Here are some of the funnier things that I can remember. 

1. One kid in particular just makes me laugh. It doesn't matter what he is saying, I think it is funny. One day we were all lined up ready to go to the library and he made a comment and I exploded into a giggling fit that I couldn't get under control. For at least two minutes. So all of the kids are in line staring at their teacher who can't quit laughing. They think I'm weird. 

2. Kolton brought his potato gun to school to show the kids and we both received the following comments: 

-"Your husband has nice rims on his pickup."

-"Wow, that's a nice chevro-let (he pronounced the 'let')

-"You guys make a cute couple."

-"You have a beautiful wife."

-"Can we go out in the field and catch the potato after you shoot it off?" (um...probably not darlings...)

3. We did a pre-test just the other day and the kids had to list 3 helping verbs. A surprising number of kids wrote things like:

 -Mowing the lawn.

-Making my bed. 

-Cleaning the house. 

etc. 

(I died laughing while grading their tests. I thought this was so cute and funny.)

4. "We just want to have FUN!" -After I told them that planning a flash mob to the Harlem Shake during the middle of class was unacceptable. (I was actually laughing really hard inside but I didn't let them know that)

5. After I told one of the kids that swinging made me motion sick he said, "Just try to think of something boring. Pretend you are in church."

6. "Wanna know somethin? I have acid reflux."

7. After I told the kids that I was keeping track of every time they got in trouble and would tell their moms about each incident one kid was just devastated. He put his head in his hands and said, "Oh no....you CAN'T tell my mom...."

Oh man, they just kill me. I'm sure there are many more, but that's all I can remember for now.

This is the story of an almost iPhone

So once upon a time (this story actually happened back in July) Kolton had surfed behind the boat with his phone in his pocket. It was unknown whether his phone would survive the damage, so he started planning and plotting about the new phone he would get. Since we like to stay up on all the trends and be cool and stuff, he wanted to get himself a fancy little iPhone.

Fast forward to a few days later, Kolton had finally decided to get himself the iPhone even though his old water soaked phone was actually still working. (Don't ask me why, I've never quite understood the workings of that boy's mind) So he headed into town and got himself the phone. Honestly I did not even care what he did, but I did think it was strange that he was getting a new phone when his old one still worked. But I think it had something to do with the fact that the iPhone was on sale at the time and if there's one thing Kolton can't resist, it's a good deal. With his affinity for good deals we have found ourselves with many treasures that we neither wanted or needed until we found out we could get them for cheap and they became necessities. (A certain piano comes to mind...)

Anyway, so he got the phone he wanted. And from the minute he got home from town until the next morning all I heard from him was what a huge mistake he had made and how dumb he was and how he now wanted to return the phone he had had for less than 12 hours. Well lucky for him, he had to work so I was volunteered to drive to Rexburg and return the phone. 

The reasons Kolton wanted to return the phone. 

1. I don't deserve it. 

2. It's going to get dropped/wet/muddy/shattered/filled with hay leaves/ruined out at work. 

3. My old phone works fine. 

Now if you know me at all you will understand why and how much I DESPISE cell phone stores. If you do not, here is a noncomprehensive list. 

1. There is never anyone working there. Two people at most. 

2. The two people that are working there are almost always not super smart. 

3. The two nonbrilliant people that work there only know how to speak in some advanced cell phone technology language that I just do not understand. Their vocabulary includes words like:   fastest 3G network, specialized mybullfrog insurance plan, unlimited data plan, account numbers, etc. I do not know what these words mean. 

4. For some reason, even the simplest transaction seems to take at least an hour. I have never in my life gone in a cell phone store and gotten out of there in under an hour. Never. 

5. The two techie employees are always trying to talk me into things that I do not want to be talked into. And they put on the pressure. And they make me feel dumb. 

6. etc. 

Continuing on...

So now you may understand why Kolton was not exactly my favorite person in the world when HE volunteered ME to return the phone that I told HIM not to buy in the first place and that HE had bought less than 12 hours before. I really just don't know how I got mixed into this equation. 

I still don't know how it happened because I did put up a fight (including sharing with him my noncomprehensive list from above...except he got the comprehensive version) but somehow I found myself walking through the dreaded cell phone store doors.  

And the experience proved to be everything nightmares are made of and was just exactly as unpleasant as I knew it would be.

He owes me big time. 

Believe it or not, returning the phone took three different trips to three different cell phone stores before we finally got everything settled. We did not even OWN the phone as long as it took to RETURN the phone. 

But Kolton did get his old phone hooked up and a severe talking to from his wife about doing dumb things. 

And that's the end of the story.

Addi Too!

Addi also proved to be a pretty good sibling in the week before school started. She came down to the school and spent two full days working with me in my classroom. 

And I worked her hard! She put up bulletin boards, decorated my door, and hung up tons of wall decorations. I couldn't have gotten it all done without her. 

We took a break and got ourselves some grilled cheese at KG's and then afterward stopped at the Lube Shop and got a Frazil which I immediately dropped and spewed ALL OVER the floor of the store. One of the more embarrassing moments I've had...lately. 

But Addi really did an awesome job and I was so grateful for her. She just kept asking, "What do you want me to do next?" 

Love that girl!

That Brevan!

I sure like that Brevan kid. 

Especially when he offers to mow my lawn for me. 

The other day I was out mowing and he was discing wheel tracks by my house. when he finished with the wheel tracks he came over to my house and made me get off the lawn mower. 

I tried to tell him that I was fine and I could do it but he just said. "I'll do it. You go inside and make something."

So I did! I whipped up some zucchini bread that we munched on after he was done...and after he had cleaned his face and hands. I guess it was a little dusty out there...?

Love that little Brevy!

Blackfoot Fair

We made it again down to the Blackfoot Fair. I've honestly been more in the last two year than probably almost my entire life combined. And it was a good time! 

After school on Wednesday Kolton and my family picked me up and we headed down. We were going to see the Motocross Event. So I got myself some corn on the cob and a tiger ear and settled in. It was a pretty good show and we had a nice time watching those guys do out of this world tricks. I would jump and shudder every time they did anything. I was just so nervous for them!

The next day we got an invite from the Shively's to go back down to the fair on Saturday for the Demolition Derby.
So Saturday we were back! And can I just say that it was about the most redneck thing I have ever done. Oh, it was so dang funny watching those cars just beat each other up. It was a pretty good show and we had a nice time. It was about two hours longer than I would have liked, but still good nonetheless.

 So excited!

 This little John Deere car was my favorite.

And then we finished off the night with a strawberry kabob. Good times at the fair!

I had a birthday!

Clear back in the beginning of August we celebrated my birthday with the whole fam damily. 

Everyone came to my mom's house and we had cake and ice cream and I opened a whole lot of presents. All of them were "teacher clothes" so I can wear something other than the black pants with the torn hem that I wore every day during Student Teaching. 

So it was a pretty perfect birthday. It just doesn't get much better than opening a bunch of clothes and having some cute kids helping me. 

P.S. 44 were the only candles we had, so we had to do a little math and divide by 2

Mud Lake Fair and Rodeo

The Mud Lake Fair is one of my favorite parts of summer. I don't really know why besides the fact that it's just dang fun to go out and about and see all of the people in our little town turn out for the event.

And plus, there is always good food to be had. 

I went down the day of the pig show to see Addi, Brevan, Teagan, and Kortni show their pigs. It was a dang long, hot day and I didn't stay for too long because I got all sorts of nervous that school was starting and I had yet to organize my classroom. So I went down to the school for a couple hours and worked and then still was able to make it back in time for the rest of the show. 

 Teagan reminds me so much of Kolton in that picture.

 If moving a pig around a stinky corral filled with fifty others pigs doesn't look like fun, then I don't know what is! 

I did pig 4-H for a number of years and while it really was a good experience...I sure don't miss it too much. Except for the payoff at the end of the summer, that was always nice. 

That night was the big parade. My Grandma and Grandpa Newman were the Grand Marshals of the Fair this year so they invited us cousins to ride with them in the horse drawn wagon in the parade. We had a ginormous laundry basket full of candy and still somehow managed to run out before we made it to the end. We ended up digging out the candy that Keston had stashed in his pockets. 

It was so fun!

 After the parade, we ate at the fairgrounds and I was able to get a picture with the Grand Marshals themselves.

 And of course I had to eat some of the delicious authentic Mexican food that is always the main part of my diet during fair week.

Oh yum! Those tamales and rice were to die for! 

And then on Saturday night, it was time for the rodeo! My favorite! 

I don't know why I love the rodeo so much but I just really do. Everybody in the community turns out for it and it's just a really good time! 

I was even able to drag Kolton out of the combine to join in the fun!

And that was that!

Until next year!