The very sad Tree

So I would just like to announce to everyone the inevitable has happened. Our poor, poor Christmas tree has seen its last drink of water. I told you have were having issues with our tree, but it has continued to go down hill. We have learned that no matter what you MUST cut off the bottom of the tree. Also check your water level after that about every hour. For some reason when we cut the bottom of the tree the first time (after we realized it was dying), the we filled up the water, but it was gone within like an hour or 2. So after we realized the water was gone it was too late. The tree continued to die because it was not drinking. Then we decided to try this trick one more time. When Alison was at our house, we tried to cut the tree one more time. Well, it hasn't changed anything. OUR TREE IS DEAD!!! Maybe we just weren't meant to have a real tree? But they look so pretty and smell so good. We may have to try again next year, I guess it just depends on how high our ceiling are since we will still be in PROVO!

PS I get out of school today. HALLELUJAH for Christmas Break!!!!!!

We are heading out to NJ very soon and we can't wait!

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

After the Christmas tree fiasco, we were certain nothing else would go wrong. We began decorating the outside of our house with lights. We had already put the garland and bows up and around our columns and railings, but it was now time to brighten it up. We knew we would have to put up two strands of lights cause we only had 150 and 200 light strands. So we began with the 200 whirling and twirling it through the garland just having a wonderful time. This strand soon ran out and we went on to the next section. It was perfect we would have just enough lights to make the house beautiful.

This is when disaster struck again. Maybe we aren't supposed to decorate for Christmas. The lights wouldn't plug into the other strand we had just used. Even though we bought them together at the same store, same time, same brand...it wouldn't fit. With the strands we were using...one had the prongs the same size, and the other had prongs that were two different sizes. You know what I am talking about...when there is one prong on the plug that is bigger than the other, so they only fit one certain way in the outlet. So there was no way we could work this out!

Can I just say my husband is brilliant/crazy. He decides all we have to do it make the bigger plug smaller. So he takes a hammer and some pliers and shows the thing who is boss. IT ACTUALLY WORKED!! After about 5 or 10 minutes of getting the prong straightened out and small enough Adam plugged it into the first strand of lights. The lights actually cut on (yes Cassie, I didn't say turned on I am proud to say CUT ON)!!! HE IS MY HERO!!! The only thing I was worried about was him getting electrocuted, but he is perfectly fine.

Well we went on decorating and our whole house is so pretty. Jonny and Cassie live above us and well...they did a great job also. Here are some pictures because it is finally done! I just hope nothing else goes wrong!

If you haven't decorated yet (you are a little late), but be sure to check all your lights and see where they plug in, so you can figure out an easy way to decorate everything! (our decorations on on the right side and Cassie and Jonny's are on the rest of the house!)

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

It is such a wonderful time of year! I love decorating for Christmas. We have just moved into a new apartment (a blog and pics will come soon) and have decorated for Christmas! I just absolutely love it. Last year we decorated, but we had a fake tree. It just wasn't the same. The only reason we did it was to save us money in the long run and also because we wouldn't be home for the whole Christmas holiday. We travelled back to North Carolina and New Jersey to see both our families. That was such a fun time! But this year, moving into our new apartment, which just happens to be a basement apartment, there isn't room for our old fake tree. It is 7 1/2 feet tall, and well our ceilings are only 7 feet tall. You can see how this would put us in a little bit of a predicament. Boy was I excited that we could go get a real tree to fit in our little apartment. Adam and I went to a place that my brother and sister...in law (I don't like those words) told us about. They had some really pretty trees for a reasonable price. So we got our tree home and it was perfect. We put it up immediately. We decorated it with all the lights. I was the one who did the lights because I know how I like them done. In my family it was always my dad who did them to make them just perfect, and my brother does it now with his wife. They both claim it is the curse of man! I love it though and if I want them done right I do them myself. We put ribbon around the tree and then put LOTS of ornaments up. This was great. We loved the smell and the cheer it brought into our home.

Then something awful happened. I guess it was our stupidity, but Adam and I thought the tree fit perfectly so we didn't need to cut the bottom off. We also figured because our Christmas tree stand had little spikes in it that all would be ok with the watering of the tree. Man were we stupid! After a day or two Adam checked in the water level and it hadn't moved. He also noticed that the needles were getting very spikey. So we did the unimaginable. You all should have been there. It was really funny to watch. We called our friend Jonny to help us. He and Adam lifted up the tree, because it was decorated and oh so pretty, while I climbed under the tree with a saw to try and cut off the bottom. Well I found out in the middle of all this that maybe I am not a very good sawer. So Adam and I traded positions and with all my muscular power...(or maybe Jonny just held up the tree on his own...but that is beside the point) we held up the tree. In just a few short stokes, the saw cut through the wood and everything was ok. Now our Christmas tree is pretty and healthy. I think we learned our lesson! ALWAYS CUT OFF THE BOTTOM OF YOUR TREE EVEN IF IT IS THE RIGHT SIZE!!!!!!!!!

Thanksgiving Adventures

Sorry it has been so long since I posted. We have just been so busy. We had a great time at Thanksgiving in Phoenix with all of the family! It just didn't last long enough. It was so fun to be able to sleep in if I wanted to (although I woke up early every morning for no apparent reason). We had an amazing meal with like 30 people there. The weather was perfect. We were able to eat outside on the patio and just enjoy ourselves instead of being locked up inside a house with that many people because the weather was amazing. I wouldn't mind living there for just these few months. I could never make it in the summer though. Anyways, I think the best part about the whole long weekend was the shopping. Aunt Pam, Mom, Katie (my sister-in-law, but more like a sister) and I all jumped in the car at about 11:30 on Thanksgiving night cause for some strange reason we thought it would be fun to hit the deals at the outlet mall at midnight. That was the biggest waste of time. I came back exhausted and completely empty handed. We then went on Friday (at a decent time...around 9 AM) to shop at the "real" stores. We did get a few good deals. I got some fun cute clothes and so did everyone else. I don't normally do the whole Black Friday shopping thing and I don't know if I ever will again unless Katie wants me to go again. She better know I love her to get in all that mess. But we had a great time until I got a terrible headache and made everyone go home. WHAT A BLAST!

Then on Saturday we met up with a friend of Adam's to go 4-wheeling. That was so much fun. We went in a dried up river bed. There were tons of people out there, but we had a great time on our own.

We had a wonderful trip, but when we left we were all exhausted. Everyone slept on the car ride home, except Adam of course. He was the one who had to get us home. I love vacations, but I always feel that I need a full day to recover. It never seems to happen that way though.

I will really miss Thanksgivings in Phoenix!

If you want to see a great list of why Thanksgiving was such a blast (Top Ten of Turkey Time), check out Katie's blog there is a link from my blog!

We hit a milestone!

We are so excited because we have hit a milestone in our pet owning life. As many of you know, Cassie and Jonny (our really good friends) have a bird. They got it at the beginning of the summer. Well, they talked about how cute and fun their bird was. When they came back this summer and met their new friend, I fell in love. I decided I needed one too. Adam just laughed, but I really wanted it, so he said go ahead. We have both been a little sad cause our bird was scared to death of us. Tonight we decided to let the bird out of the cage and after having him out for a few minutes I tried pick him up. He was a little afraid to begin with, but he did step up on my hand. He actually got comfortable and didn't mind being on my hand. Then, Adam wanted a try. Spritz, our bird, stepped onto his hand as well. Here is a picture of our little friend. We can't wait for him to be completely comfortable with being around us.

Almost T-Day

I can't believe we are getting so close to a great holiday. We get to go to Phoenix this year which has kinda become a tradition. I have an Aunt and Uncle who live down there and Adam and I also have friends who live there. This will be the first year that Adam and I actually go together, but we have been going separately for a couple years, before we got married. He goes to visit his friends and I go to visit family. My family also flies out from North Carolina, so I get to see them too, YAY!!! We are leaving tomorrow and it will be a long drive but I can't wait to get away from Provo. This should be such a fun week to see all my family. One thing that is so awesome with going down to visit, is that my Aunt Pam (the one we are going to visit) claims that she and Marie Calendar work together in the kitchen for hours making pies. Which literally translates into she goes and buys a lot of pies that are so good. By a lot of pies I really mean a LOT of pies. I am surprised I don't gain 15 pounds down there. Her T-Day meal is so good. I will have to put up some pics of the trip and the dinner when we get back!

I hope everyone has a GREAT hoilday!

Recipes!

I just want to let anyone who reads this blog know that I am starting a recipe share blog. I have a link to it from this blog site. If you just look in the left column, you will see it. I am hoping to get many of you who want to share some recipes, to do it through this. So just go to that site and write a comment with your email address. Then I can add you as an author, so you can add recipes also. I hope many of you will be interested. We will see how this works out!

I've been Tagged!

Well, Cassie has tagged me and so I understand...I am supposed to write 6 things about me that you may or may not know, so here goes.

(Please don't judge me)

1. I am completely obsessed with school supplies. I don't know how this started, but it has basically been forever. When shopping with my mom for school stuff when I was little, I would spend more money at the beginning of the year than all three of my brothers put together. My mom always thought it was funny, but I just had to get everything! I still have that obsession. When I come across a cute package of pens, markers, papers, or stickers I just want to buy them. Adam knows that when we go to the "office supply" section of a store he has to get what he or I needs and grab me to get us out of the store. It is a sickness I tell you!

2. I really can't leave Walmart without spending at least $50. I may go in just for a $2 item, but then remember I need 20 more things. We have now decided that we don't go into Walmart without a good list and cash. I don't bring a debit card in, so I only have a certain amount of money I can spend.

3. I absolutely love redecorating/moving. We have been in our apartment now for only 9 months and I am tired of it. I think the biggest problem is I just don't like things to stay the same. We have moved our living room around a few times and I begged Adam to help me move the kitchen around, but he just laughed at me. So I decided, when the opportunity presented itself, that we are going to move again. We are basically just moving next door, but it is the fact that I can move and change things. Most people think this is just a hassle to move all their stuff, but I love it. I have been packing and we are moving in about 2 weeks.

4. If I didn't have my cell phone in my hand, I don't know if I could really breathe. I have my phone with me all the time. I love to keep in touch with my family and I am scared people may need/want to talk to me, so if they call, I have to answer the phone.

5. I love to sing! Whether it be in church, to the radio, or while playing games with Jonny and Cassie, I love it. I absolutely love music. It makes me so happy. The weirdest thing about this, is even though singing was my talent in a "pageant" and I have done it is church choirs, with the drama program in high school, etc. I can't read music. I have to listen to the music and I can catch on extremely quickly, but I can't read a note. I did take a piano class in college, but I haven't kept up with it, but even in that class it was hard for me to read the music. I just listened to the teacher play the songs and I found the notes to match.

6. I love Christmas music. I would listen to it all year round if I wouldn't get made fun of. I took my sister-in-law Katie's suggestion and listen to Christmas music on Pandora.com. Adam just shook his head the other day when I told him. He thinks it is so funny. Last night I actually was trying to sing Christmas carols while playing a game at Cassie and Jonny's, but they all told me I needed to stop. That it is just way to early for that kind of music. But Christmas just makes me happy, so the earlier the better.

Well, I hope you all now know me a little bit better than you did before.

Once again I ask, please don't judge me!

If you haven't been tagged I am tagging you now! (Katie, Michelle, Ali, Amy)

New Orleans

Well, Meredith has been bugging me to write on our blog so this is what you get.

I got back from a really eye opening trip to New Orleans last week. I know Meredith made mention of it in a previous post. I was able to go to a Facilities Management Conference, while there we toured the Katrina damage. It's amazing to see how much damage is still there after two years. Even Six Flags is closed and does not plan on going back. Anyway, here are some pictures I thought you would enjoy seeing.

HALLOWEEN!!!

You know, I am kinda sad because we don't have a cute house, porch or anything we can decorate for the wonderful holiday. I don't even know if kids will come to our door to trick-or-treat tonight because there is nothing festive there. We don't even have a front light to turn on to let others know we are home. That makes me somewhat sad. But I did have a fun day at school. All the kids dressed in their costumes all day and there were fun parties and all. The best part of the day was our Halloween Parade! All the kids paraded around the school in their costumes and picked all the classes up, then they proceeded outside to march around the entire school grounds. Parents came to enjoy the event as well. It really was cute to see all the creative ideas. Sorry I just never have a camera with me, or I would have some fun pictures.

I hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween!

I will never understand

I am very sorry that I really only talk about things going on at work, but that is all I really do right now. But I have a funny little experience to share with you all. So some of our kids in speech really don't need to be in here anymore. They have worked hard over the summer and now do not need my help. It is so important for them to be in their actual classroom and learning their curriculum. So I have given out a few permission slips to the students to give to their parents to sign and bring back to me. This permission is for us to test them to make sure we can release them. We really have to get permission for EVERYTHING!!!! So 2 of my students came to talk to me yesterday and I asked them if they brought their permission slips back to school. They both kinda looked at each other with these smirks on their face. Keep in mind these are both 3rd graders who are really good friends. They had come up with, what they thought, was the ULTIMATE DIABOLICAL plan. If they didn't get their permission slip signed, they couldn't get tested, which meant they didn't have to get out of speech. For some reason most of my kids love being taken out of their classes to come do speech lessons. I try to explain that it won't be fun when they don't do well on their tests and when they don't learn everything they need to because they are being pulled out of their classes. They just don't get it.

Well, today I still have not received their permission slips...those evil buggers. I love them to death and these kids are really fun, but I don't want to keep taking them from their valuable learning time to come do something they don't need to do anymore. Yes, kids can be sneaky. For all you parents out there with kids in elementary school...a little piece of advice...check your children's backpacks EVERYDAY to ensure your children have not "forgotten" to give you something that was sent home and REALLY needs to be looked at.

Back at work once more

Well, I am back at work once again. I have decided, I think the reason I don't absolutely love my job is that I don't get much "adult contact" all day long. I see my supervising SLP usually first thing in the morning and last thing of the school day to just check up on things and the rest of the day I am either in my room alone, or with elementary school children teaching them how to TALK RIGHT! It is fine though, I do feel at least that I am helping them to fit in and do better in school. I do get fulfillment out of that knowledge.

On a more positive note, I did just get back from Yellowstone. Adam and I have been traveling a LOT. Last weekend we were in Las Vegas to see my parents and this weekend we went camping in Yellowstone. Also, in 2 weeks, Adam is heading off again, but this time to New Orleans. He is going for a Facilities Management conference. We both just can't seem to stay home. But this past weekend was a lot of fun. I actually didn't freeze out there. It was cold and Adam continued to make fun of me for wearing a beanie all day long, but it was better to look stupid than to freeze to death. Pictures will come of the 2 trips at a later time. But we will be staying home this next weekend to maybe recover for a little while before he takes off again. I don't have anything fun to say today, so I will be off to work.

I think I have a disease!!!

I am no doctor, but I think I have a problem. Let me start from the beginning. Today is the last day of school for the week because Thursday and Friday are considered our Fall break. I am just so excited that I get a REALLY long weekend. But my excitement stems from something that many would think is strange, including myself. I can't wait to have a full day all by myself, while my husband is in school, to CLEAN MY HOUSE. It isn't like it is dirty or anything. I am just excited that I can reorganize and restraighten all of our belongings. Is that a disease? I think it may be. Please let me know if you think I need help, and I mean professional help.

IT'S FRIDAY!!!!

Well it is finally FRIDAY! I am so ready to get off work today. We are heading down to Vegas as soon as Chad and Adam can get on the road to come pick me up from work. It is going to be a long drive as usual, but it should be fun, and it will be well worth it when we get there. I feel like I haven't seen my parents in a LONG time, but I guess it has only been a few months. I just really miss living near them (with them). I guess that's what happens when you grow up. But I will let you know all about the trip when we get back. Just thought I would say TGI Friday!!!!!!!

toodles

Counting Down

So I don't know about all of you, but I always count down until the weekend. That is my favorite time of the week and guess what....tomorrow is FRIDAY!!! I have been so confused by the days this week. I don't know what threw me off, but I haven't known what day it was all week. But all I do know is that tomorrow I get to go to VEGAS!!! My parents are flying out here so Adam, Chad(my brother) and I are driving down there as soon as I get off work tomorrow. I am really not going to be very productive today because I know that I am so close to going on a mini vacation.
Well today is just another normal day at the elementary school, but I did get a brand new computer for my classroom. They are spoiling me here. I have my own HUGE classroom to work with students and I also have a new computer. What more can a girl ask for. The only thing I don't really have is a budget. Luckily, I don't have to spend a lot of money, but they should provide a little money.

TATA

Just a quick HELLO

From our home to yours... I have fallen into the grasp of the evil blogging world. I decided that I had heard enough of "everyone's doin it" and have joined in. I am weak and peer pressure has gotten the best of me. My only excuse is that I know my mom and Adam's mom will just love to hear all about our life out here in Utah. I have nothing really to say at the moment except that I might not be able to tell you a lot about Adam's life because we actually never really see each other. Only in passing do we even get a short "hello, how was your day?" before he is off to class and I am in the office at the apartment complex working hard to keep all these needy tenants happy. This is all for now.


Two jokes to make you smile that our school secretary told over the loud speaker...

(If you aren't a BYU fan you may not enjoy these as much)

What do you call a Utah Ute with only half a brain?

Gifted!!!

What do you call a really smart person in the Rice Eccles Stadium?

A BYU Fan!

Ok those just made me laugh today so I thought I would share them with you!