Nanning- 3 kids for 3 days

I have so much more respect for my parents. I love children but did not realize how much work they really can be. Babysitting kind of shows me what it would be like to have children, but not like the three days Curt and I spent Nanning these three cute girls.

We watched these girls the second half of the week that their parents were gone to Lake Powell. We learned a lot and had fun but I am so glad that I don't have to do that every day. And we know now that I don't think that I could foster older kids. I like the Lords plan one or two at a time and you raise them form babies so you get used to them and all their little ticks one trick at a time. The little girls were 8, 6, and 4. They were like any sisters best friends one minute and fighting the next. The oldest girl could be a great help and really fun to be around, but sometimes she would boss around, tease, or pester her younger sisters until they would cry. I had to send her to her room a few times and she would throw a fit and cry in her room. I kind of felt bad but I knew that she was just trying to test me because I was not her Mom. The middle girl was really cute and fun, but was kind of defiant. Curt had to pick her up and carry her into her bed one night and she tried to tell me that I had to give her everything she wanted. And the youngest girl was a doll and said the funnies things, but when she got tired she would kick and scream. I am sure most kids are like this but being thrown into the middle of it was a bit much at times. It is not easy to try to care for and discipline someone else’s children, especially if you don't really know them. Hopefully things will go better with my own children.

We did have fun making colored pancakes (Pink and Green), making cookies, jumping on the tramp, playing outside in the sprinklers, going to the fun park, reading lots of books and playing games (especially Uno). We had fun and learned a lot from the experience. We are excited to be parents one day, but I don't think we could handle a whole family all at once.

Summer!

I think that summer has finally come to Logan. I can finally go outside without a coat!!
Also I am finished with work!!! It is nice to take a break from the before school reading program, after school homework club, during school reading and math power hour groups, and the one on one reading. In addition to everything else we were required to do on top of that. I will admit that I had a lot of fun I really came to love some of the students I was working with and I absolutely loved the girls I was working with. There were some tense times (but what job does not come with stress), but we had a lot of fun together. Plus I kind of got burnt out by the end of the school year. I am not sure if I am going back next year there have been so many budget cuts, although I would probably go back if I could.

The students were so funny at times. There was one little girl who would come up and give me a hug every time she saw me and one boy who would call out my name until I would say hi. There were these two adorable little first graders who I enjoyed working with. One girl was in my first grade reading power hour group and she was always excited to read. She gave me a hug at the end of the year because she was so happy that her reading was improving. The other little girl was in homework club. She did not start out as one of my favorite because she was so sassy, (she smiled when one of the other students said she was evil:) But as the year went on she became by little friend, I would still have to figure out ways to increase her reading speed but at least we enjoyed working together. One day when she finished early I let her play with magnetic ABC’s and she spelled out “I Love Yuo.” Getting little notes like this and realizing I am helping them made all the stress and headaches worth it.

There were also some kids that I never figured out how to work with but we won’t mention them I am just glad that I will at least have a summer break from them.

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For Memorial Day we drove up to the Idaho Fall Zoo with my brother Allen and his wife Kathy and met up with Curt's brother Ryan and his family. (As you can see summer had not come to Idaho yet :). It is a cute little zoo that had quite a few animals like lions, tigers, bears (oh my) camels, zebras etc. My little nice Emmy, wanted to climb in and pet all the animals. And the niece Hannah on Curt’s shoulders by the monkey cage was so excited to see the monkeys. We had a fun little afternoon at the zoo and had nice little picnic at the park. It was good to see our nieces and nephew since we had not seen them in almost a year.

Here are pictures of me and the kids-


And her is curt and the kids-

As for the rest of our life Curt is taking a summer class and is one month away from being half way done with graduate school. He will graduate next summer and then who knows where we will be going.

I am just relaxing, hanging out with my sister and babysitting for my neighbors.

Tonight we are heading up to Kamas for the Father and Sons camp out. Curt is going to go camping with his dad, brother and nephew and I am going to have a girls night with my nieces, sister in laws and mother in law. It will be fun to go spend time with the family.

Spring Break Daycation!

During my spring break from the elementary school I went to Twin Falls, Idaho with my sister and my parents, Curt had to work :(. It is a beautiful little place hidden up in Idaho. They have their own Niagara Falls called Shoshone Falls which is actually taller than Niagara Falls but not as wide, and their own mini Grand Canyon.

While there we got to see base jumpers jump off the bridge, it was fun to watch but the coolest things was when the instructor stood up on the railing and did a flip off the bridge.

Twin Falls is a beautiful place I would visit again and possible live, since it has a Junior College called CSI- College of Southern Idaho where Curt could work.

My New Toy

I have been saving up for a while for a craft cutter machine and finally had enough so I bought a Silhouette. I love it! It is kind of like a cricut except it is hooked up to your computer and you can design projects on the computer and download die cuts off the online store. You can also cut fabric and heat transfer paper. I have not done much with it yet mostly just figuring out what it can do, but here are a few cards I have made with some downloaded die cuts. I am going to have fun making cards designing scrapbook pages, customizing clothes, making decorations etc, once i figure out how to do it all :).

Also here are some card I made at a card party I had with some friends in my ward, my design is the pink one with the presents.

Better Late then Never :)

Here are pictures from my Birthday, the flowers were from my Dad, the card and candy bar from the Relief Society and of course Curt made the cake (chocolate whip cream and strawberries yum). But the main present is the Kinetic that I got from Curt. It is so fun!!

For Valentines Curt made a fish and veggie Dinner. Curt likes to arrange the food like he is preparing food on Iron Chief. He is so Cute :). I got Curt the only type of dog we can have in our apartment right now (Curt really wants a dog) and Curt got me Anastasia.

This past weekend we went to Angie's, a local restaurant and "Cleaned the Sink" with our friends the Kjars, or in other wonders ate a lot ice cream out of a little sink. We got a bumper sticker for finishing it all, but it wont be going on my car.

Just the Same

Just the Same

By Diana Lynn Lacey

Sometimes—
God sends rain
Straight from the sky
To nourish the young flower
and it grows.
Sometimes—
God sends rain from the sky
To the mountaintops,
Then over hills and through valleys
Until it reaches the flower
and it grows, just the same.
Sometimes—
God sends a child
Straight from His realm
Into a mother’s arms
and love grows.
Sometimes—
God sends a child
From heaven to another’s arms,
Then over hills and through valleys
Until he reaches the arms of his mother
and love grows, just the same.

I really love this poem. It helps me remember how much the Lord really does love me.
My children may not come the normal way but I have faith that the Lord will still bless me with children, my children just have to take a longer path to get to my arms.

Snow Shoeing!

Curt and I went snowshoeing on Saturday with my little sister Debbie, my older brother Allen and his wife Kathy. We went up green canyon, a smaller canyon in Logan. The weather was great, we actually ended up getting to warm but we had a lot of fun. Now we are considering buying some snowshoes so that we have a way to be more active in the winter.

We tried going again on Monday with my sister since it was a holiday and the place we rented them from was closed but the weather decided to warm up and it rained melting all the snow away. Oh well at least we got one good trip out of the rental.

Christmas Fun!!

We had a really great Christmas, we both got bonus's so we splurged and bought an XBOX 360. I got Lego Harry Potter (which we spent a lot of the break playing) and Curt got Halo 3. I also got, clothes, a sewing machine, sewing supplies, beading and scrapbook supplies. Curt got clothes,a pocket knife, Books (the new books written by the author of Percy Jackson and a redwall) and painting supplies.I know you guys were waiting with anticipation, so here is the present I got from the student at my school. I have used the mugs but I have not used the hot cocoa or made the S'Mores (Brigham and Chelsea this made me think of you guys). This is a nice gift to be getting from a student I know I never gave my teachers this nice of a gift. We spent Christmas at Curt's parents house. We made a Chinese dinner for Christmas Eve. We made cream cheese wantons, egg rolls, sweet and sour chicken, sesame chicken, and Teriyaki beef. It was delicious.

We spent a lot of our time playing games and watching movies. Here is a picture of us playing Lumber Jack on the Wii, they are all chopping logs. We had a great Christmas and really enjoyed spending time with family.

After Christmas we went and spent time with my family. We spent a day in Salt Lake going to the zoo, the aquarium, the planetarium, and the Lion House for lunch. We also went to Crystal Hot Springs and sat in the hot tubes during a snow storm, which is a really cool feeling. It is fun to be with family.

I don't have many pictures of our trip but her is a link to my sister blog if you want to see more pictures http://debbiegales.blogspot.com/2011/01/family-time.htmlMy parents have two birds that like to talk and climb all over you. I never new that birds could have such personalities and be so fun of play with. I think Curt may want to get a bird someday because he enjoys playing with them when we go down to visit.

Decorating for Christmas

We have been busy so we did not get our tree put up until last night. Curt and I enjoy putting up the Christmas tree and decorating the apartment together. So we had to wait for a time when we were both available. Here is a our cute tree.
I received a Christmas present from one of the boys in the 2nd grade math class that I work in. He told me that I could not open it until Christmas. It is kind of big present to be getting from a student so I am really curious what it is, but i guess I will have to wait until Christmas. Aren't children so precocious.


Today at the school instead of having math time one second grade teachers had her son dress up as the Grinch and act it out as she read the story. Her son must of watched the new Grinch because he acted a lot like Jim Carey. He did a great job, the children loved it and I got a good laugh. I just love Christmas.

My Amazing Little Sister

This past weekend we went down to my parents to celebrate my little sister Debbie's 21st Birthday and have a Court of Honor for her receiving her Ranger award in the Venturing program.

So for those of you who don’t know what the venturing program is or what the ranger award is I will give you a brief explanation. Venturing is a scouting program for 12 to 21 year boys and girls, so when I worked up at scout camp I was a member of the venturing program. The Ranger award is kind of like receiving your Eagle except harder and more in-depth. She is one of the few in our scouting district to receive this award and the only one in my family, even though we were all members of the venturing program. I am so proud of my sister and all of her hard work, and grateful for her amazing example she is to me and everyone she comes in contact with.

For her birthday we played the dice game Farkle and had Little Debbie Snack (a traditions since her name is Debbie and she is little) and Ice cream. Watching her blow out the candles on her little Debbie Snack Cake was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. First off I haven’t seen some one blow so hard on the candles and not have single one blown out, second I haven’t seen someone take 5 or 6 breathes to blow out the candle, and last I have never seen candles light when you are trying to blow them out and not have them be trick candles. We were laugh so hard that I thought my sister was going to pass out which did not help her blow out her candles.  Come to find out she was having some problems with her breathing and had to take some medicine, so it was sad but it was still kind of funny.