Thursday, April 30, 2009

I'm Done !!!!

I can say I am really done with school now. All I have left is student teaching and I will be doing that in the Fall. I am so excited. It was very sad to say good bye to all of my friends but I am so happy to have some time to me and my family.
They probably think that I have abandoned them for the last three years. There is so much going on in my family life that it will be nice to focus on that instead of worrying about school too.
I am hoping that I will get my placement for student teaching next week. That will be exciting.

Three of my kids also had finals this week, so I am hoping that they all passed. We will all be very thankful that we are done for school until Fall.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Three and a half hours of what????

I just finished my last test that I am going to have to take to qualify for teaching other than my finals this week. This test is called the PLT. It is basically about Principles, Learning and Teaching children. There were about 15 case study questions that I had to write about each one of them according to the questions and 24 multiple choice questions. It took forever. It is so frustrating when it takes them four tries just to hand out the testing booklets.

I HATE TESTS!!!!!!!! At least I finished, some of the students didn't get finished. I hope I passed so I don't have to take it again. I hope you are all crossing your fingers that I pass. It is so nice to have one more thing behind me. Angela also had to take the ACT about four weeks ago because if she passed with a certain score she could start to take college classes and she did. She received a 23, which I think is pretty good for a Freshman in High School. Congrats Ang.

I can't believe my Summer is right around the corner.
I wish I had more Summer fun trips planned. Any ideas????

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

My Life is so Crazy

My life has been so crazy lately that I haven't had much time to blog. There are days that I just wish that life would go away because life is so stressful, but there are days when I am loving every minute of it. I can't believe that today was my last actual day of regular class in the block(which is filled with intense classes all about teaching) I will be very excited to be done for Summer until Fall when I do student teaching, but I will really miss some of my friends that I have spent every day all day long with for all semester. Tomorrow we will be doing mock interviews so that we can find out what it is like to have an interview for a teaching job. Next week we will be doing our finals and having a party, and then it is all over.

Last weekend was very eventful for me and my family, but I have been so stressed about life that I haven't had a chance to blog about one more fun event in my weekend. I was able to go to my first meet and greet blogging lunch. Susette happened to be down this way for a vacation and blogged a couple of us and we met at Costa Vida. I have been friends with her for quite a while through blogging and was so excited to actually see her. She is just as wonderful in person as in the blogging world. Lara and Erin also came to the lunch. I have been friends with Lara in person for quite a while. She is so talented and so fun to be around. I happened to be lucky enough to already meet Erin. She came over one night and brought me some treats that I had blogged about. It was awesome. She is so fun to visit with. She has such a fun personality. We all gabbed for quite a while.
I love to blog but it is always a treat when I can meet such great people in person. I hope we can do it again soon, if not down here up north if we happen to be up that way.
Thanks to all of my blogging friends. You are awesome.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

5K Fun Run with the whole family

I know I can't believe it either, a blog post two days in a row. If you haven't checked out my last post make sure to scroll down and check it out!!!

Saturday was a day of many fun events. We started out the day with all of us running in the SUU ROTC 5 K fun run. It was quite cold but it was fun. I took a picture of my kids all being quite funny, you can tell they aren't very warm.


This is a picture of all of us after the run. I look a little more of a red head here than my last post. I am truly a red head but do have some blonde highlights. My kids all did great on the 5K. Todd placed first in his division, AJ and Angela placed third and Mike placed second. They all did great. I think I placed fourth but not sure.
This has become a tradition for us each year to all of us run this race.

Questions to be answered
Some of you have commented about my husband's retirement and what our life will be like after that, so I thought I would clarify a little.
1. He doesn't retire until December, he just happened to speak at the dining out and they thought it was a great time to award him with some awards.
2. He definitely needs to get a job after that. He has his masters in business so we are hoping he can find something.
Thanks for all of your COMMENTS!!!

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Special Night

This week has been a week of many special occasions for us. We have been very busy. On Thursday night , we went to the military awards formal banquet. My husband was the speaker for the evening. It is always fun to go to these because they are formal and it is fun to get all dressed up.
My husband is retiring this year and so they wanted him to speak. He did a terrific job. He is so talented. The students presented him with a flag that they all signed and one of them drew a portrait of him. I think they did a tremendous job. I was amazed how many students came up to him afterwards to tell him how great of an instructor he is and how much they will miss him. Everyone wanted a picture with him. Well, I can understand that.


I asked someone else that was there that night if they would take a picture of us together. I just love it with the big flag in the background. I am so proud of my husband, he is truly an instructor to be admired.
I know, many of you probably are saying that looks like the picture of you from last winter, but it is of this year's special night. I look a little different but not much. I just love the opportunity to dress up and spend a special night with my hubby. What a night to remember always.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

My diet and other randomness

This week has been very crazy. I am so sorry that I haven't posted, but school has been very busy and stressful. It is so hard to have a growing family and go to school full time too and keep my house up.

Texting- Anyway, to all of those wanting to know if we decided to get texting or not for Todd, yes we did!!! Thanks for your input. I told Todd that we were going to try it for one week and if for any time, texting begins to overcome his life then we would cancel it. We also made him and his sister help pay for it. One of the things that has a big deciding fact in this matter is that we receive texts all the time anyway even though we don't have texting, because I am going to school and friends from school text me about assignments and Karrilyn also has friends that text her, so we end up paying for those texts anyway. Wish us luck!!! I really think Todd won't abuse this, because he is such a good kid and I can't see him texting all day and night. We will see.

Diet( new way of life)Next thing on my mind, I have been on a diet(a way of life change) now for almost four weeks. It has been hard, but I have a great husband that also did it with me. I can't believe that he put up with it. Yes, we actually paid for a new diet plan that is out there and it really worked and helped quite a lot. If you are really interested, let me know and I can give you some information on it. It is definitely not for everyone.

The good news is that my husband lost 18 pounds and I lost 12 pounds. I was really thinking that I would have lost more, but I must be getting old. You are told that you do have the possibility of losing between 10-30 pounds, so of course, I am on the tail end of the weight loss. I guess I should add that I lost the weight in the first three weeks on the diet and the last week has just been a stabilization, but you are still pretty much on a diet but it is less strict. It is supposed to help you to not gain back what you have already lost. The other good news is that I feel great. We both had our blood drawn before and then again after and it lowered my cholesterol 45 points and also my blood sugar. It lowered my husband's too but not as much as we had hoped.

Would I do this again if I knew what I know now? yes, I probably would. I have learned a lot and I really think it has helped me to change how I live and how I eat. I haven't had any sugar for almost four weeks, that is just part of it but it does feel good.

School-The last thing on my mind is that I just can't believe how close I am to being finished with school. The end of this month I will be finished and then all I have is student teaching in the Fall. I am so excited but I will truly miss all of the friends that I see all day every day. It will be sad too.

I definitely need some fun ideas for this Summer down here in southern Utah. If you have any ideas let me know.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Easter Memories

With Easter getting so close, I have been thinking and thinking more about past Easters. I really enjoy this time of the year. It is supposed to finally be Spring. I love to drive down the road by my house and see baby lambs. They aren't there yet but they will be soon. I love to ponder about the real meaning of Easter and the resurrection of our Savior.

As I was thinking, I remembered my husband and my first Easter together. On Easter growing up we had usually had an Easter hunt and possibly a new dress or something like it. Being the oldest, I was still used of this and wanted to start our own traditions. I decided that I would have to do something special for him. I bought plastic eggs and put candy in them and also bought him a shirt and a camera case for Easter. I decided that it would be fun to hide the eggs before he woke up and also have breakfast ready for him. I started to get everything ready for breakfast and hid the eggs. He woke up and started to look for the candy filled eggs and then we both noticed a bad smell, a burnt smell of some sort. He continued to look for the eggs and I kept trying to figure out what the smell could be and then I remembered that I had put a plastic egg in the oven for a hard place to find. I had turned on the oven to preheat it and it had melted the plastic egg and all of the candy all over the place. What an Easter to remember!!

We still laugh and tell our kids about our first Easter together. How crazy!!!

I hope you all have a great Easter and remember not to hide Easter eggs in a preheating oven.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

To text or not to text, that is the question

What do you think about texting?

My 16 year old son wants texting real bad. He just received a cell phone for Christmas and I guess it is not real great if he doesn't have texting. We have been trying to decide for quite some time now if we really want to cave in and just get it. I don't want it to be something that overtakes his world. I think some kids get so overcome in it that they say things on texting that they would never say to someone in person. These things concern us.

Reasons against
1. I think kids forget how to communicate with words sometimes if they are texting all the time.
2. I also have seen many kids ignore people they are around because they have received a text or are texting someone.
3. It costs every month $20 more.

Reasons for texting
1. Todd is a great kid.
2. He is willing to practice piano without arguing with me if we get it.
3. We all received texts anyway from other students because they don't know we don't have texting so we end up paying for about 6 texts a month anyway, which adds up when you don't have it on your plan.

What is your take on texting? Do you think if you had a son that wanted it, would you get it????

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

All Dressed Up

I just have to say that I have the GREATEST KIDS.

I just can't believe that Todd is old enough to date let alone go to Prom. Last weekend he got all dressed up and went to prom with a great girl. They had a lot of fun. I am so glad that he got to go and with such a great girl.

All boys at my house LOVE sunglasses. It is COOL.

Isn't her dress beautiful??? I think they both look so great. I am having so much fun with my kids. They are the greatest. I am glad that I can share all of these great times with them.
Todd is my son that always says " Mom, I know I made a good choice in my best friend( meaning me)"( from the movie Cars).
Doesn't he look great???

Sunday, April 5, 2009

I Feel Loved

I Feel My Savior's Love

I feel my Savior's love in all the world around me
His spirit warms my sould through everything I see
He knows I will follow him, give all my life to him
I feel my Savior's love, the love he freely gives me.

A couple of months ago I went to a fireside and the speaker talked about the many ways that we feel our Savior's love in our own lives. Lately I have thought about this a lot. I am so thankful for my Savior's love.

I Feel My Savior's Love:

1. when my kids give me a big hug or kiss or say thanks .

2. when someone calls when I am having a bad day just to say hi.

3. when I have to sign up for a Science lab this summer and the teacher is a friend of mine.

4. when a sister or sister in law sends me an uplifting note just to tell me I am loved.

5. when a friend sends me cookies in the mail.

6. when my kids tell me that I am their best friend and that I ROCK.

7. when my husband emails me a nice love note.

8. when my kids grow up to be teenagers but they still are good kids.

9. when I am worried about something, but reassured by a friend or husband.

10. when I see a beautiful sunset.

11. when I go to church and am very spiritually uplifted.

12. when someone smiles or just makes my day.

13. when I am on a walk on a Spring morning and hear the birds chirping.

14. when I have major back problems and they continue to get better.

15. when I go on a major diet and my husband decides to do it with me and I actually lose weight.

There are so many times in my life each and every day that I feel my Savior's love for me. Even when there are trials and hard times I can still feel his love for me.

What are the many ways that you feel loved in your life???? I hope you have a great Sunday!!!!

Friday, April 3, 2009

Try these out

I guess everyone has heard of the No Bake Cookies that I just posted. Sorry. One of my friends just tried my recipe and had never tried them.

So here is a yummy but lowfat recipe for Chocolate Muffins. They do have some ingredients that you might not have on hand, but I think they are worth it especially if you are looking for healthy and chocolate. They might not be a Costco muffin but they are great for lowfat and watching what you eat.

Chocolate Muffins
3 cups of Fiber One Cereal
Soak cereal in 2 1/2 cups water for 10 min, I usually put it in a bowl.
Add Krusteaz Fatfree Fudge Brownie mix, you might have to check a couple of stores.
Add 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
Spray muffin tins with pam or grease them. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.
Weight Watchers: 1 point
I hope you enjoy these and that this is a recipe that is new to you.

Another note
I can't believe it is snowing... When will Spring ever come???

You should try these yummy treats

I haven't posted a recipe for a while and with Easter and Conference weekend coming up I thought some of you might enjoy an easy yummy recipe to try.

My family loves this recipe and it is real EASY!!!! I hope you enjoy!!!

No Bake Cookies
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup margarine
1 Tablespoon cocoa
1/4 cup milk
pinch of salt

Bring margarine to a boil on medium high heat, stirring constantly.

When it reaches a good boil time for 1 minute continue to stir.

Remove pan from stove onto a hot pad. Then stir in the following ingredients:

1/4 cup peanut butter
1 cup quick oats
1/2 tsp vanilla

Continue stirring until mixture cools and holds its shape.( Stir and stir and stir)

When cool drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper

Yummy!!!! You can double this recipe if you desire but boil the mixture for 2 minutes instead of 1 minute.
Enjoy!!!! These are great for any time.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Do you need sleep???

I NEED sleep. I don't know why but I can't get to sleep at night. For a long time, when we go to sleep I just lay there and just lay there. I have tried everything to get myself to fall asleep.
It is just not fair, my husband lays down to go to sleep and he is out in two seconds. I don't get it.

Last night I woke up to use the bathroom and tried to get back to sleep and I laid there for at least an hour and some times when this happens it is a couple of hours. I guess this is something I will just have to live with. I could understand it if I slept in the morning but I am up by 6:30 am. I know I am sleepy, but how do I get myself to wind down enough to actually fall asleep.

The other thing that is frustrating is that anytime that I watch a movie with my husband for date night in our bedroom, I have a hard time not dozing off but when I go to bed at night I can't sleep. It doesn't make sense to me.

If you have any ideas I would love to hear them. Do any of you have this same problem???