Tag x 5

Favorite TV Shows:
1: The Simpsons
2: NCIS
3: Project Runway
4: Criminal Minds
5: Stargate SG-1 (yes I know I'm a nerd)

Favorite Foods:
1: Tuna Noodle Casserole
2: Cheesecake
3: Mango
4: Tomato
5: Wendy's Spicy Chicken Sandwich

Favorite Movies:
1: The Three Musketeers
2: Pride and Prejudice (A & E Version)
3: Ratatouille
4: Sense and Sensibility
5: Clue

Pet Peeves:
1: Disorganization
2: The lingering smell of smokers
3: Cupboard doors left open
4: Contention
5: Gum left on the underside of desks

Looking forward to:
1: Jason moving up to Twin Falls with me

2: Teaching!
3: Getting rid of student debt
4: Becoming truly independent
5: The third installment of the Professor Layton games to come out

TAG:
1: Tricia
2: Allison
3: Tawny
4: Ashley

5: Lisa

The 5th of July

Every year Provo throws a huge party centered around the 4th of July. One of the big things they do is the Freedom Festival parade. I have been going to this parade without fail for 20 years! Below are some of the floats that went by.

There were many stake floats that went by. The Wasatch stake did a great job on that temple!

The 4th of July just wouldn't be the same without dad. (And the rest of the family too).

I thought this float was kinda funny. It is the Republican party float.

This was the Tuachn Theatre float showcasing their upcoming Tarzan play.

This float was really cool.

This float is actually my home stake's float. They did a great job! Apparently my family spent one FHE pulling out last year's staples for 3 hours to get ready for this year.

Instead of going home to the traditional Barney nap after the parade, dad and I wandered around Colonial Days, the Freedom Festival and the car show down at the mall. I only took pictures at Colonial days, however, we had a great time all over the place.

This is a member of my home ward, Brother Scheetz. He built that lathe himself!

Of course I had to put this in. I told my dad he needs to make me one of these and one of the lap looms that we saw as well. Wouldn't it be so neat to spin the yarn, weave it, and construct something all yourself?

A tribute to those who have been killed in action this year.

This was in the printing museum. My stake spent several days "transcribing" ancient symbols onto these plates. When we did it they told us to randomly put the symbols on the page, since we did not know what the symbols meant.

This page is very important. Because...

It is the page that I did! (I don't know why Blogger uploaded it sideways, on my computer it's facing the right way). We were told that we could put our initials in the corner at the bottom of the page. This one page took my 4 hours to etch in all of the symbols!

Lesson Learned

So, my mother's birthday snuck up on me (June 12) and I HAD to make a cake. (Of course)! So I rummaged through what I already had in the house and came up with this. I am fairly embarrassed to share these pictures with you, as they are atrocious, but I wanted to share a lesson I learned.

1. The last 3-4 Betty Crocker brand cake mixes that I have made up have been extra crumbly and really hard to work with. I think I'll probably stick to Duncan Hines.(Pillsbury cake mixes also give a difficult texture to work with when icing).

2. DO NOT USE WHIPPED ICING FROM A CAN! I didn't have any powdered sugar, so I could not make my own, so I used the canned stuff. BIG MISTAKE! The texture is impossible to pipe with. It is too sticky to smooth out well, and no matter how much practice you take you will always end up with peaks on your piped letters. It just will not let go of the icing still in the bag.

Lesson learned recap: make your own icing!

Richard and Rachelle came to Provo!

We were so excited to see Richard and Rachelle and girls in the middle of June! It was so neat to see their newest Kayla, she is so pretty. We had everyone over for dinner. (Jason made some great food, of course)! While the adults were talking I dug out some of my boxed up toys. Elisa had fun with my Barbies, and James really loved my DisneyLand Mr. Potato Head.

We also had a lot of fun at the Bean Museum. James was my special buddy. I carried him throughout the museum. We had so much fun. I especially loved it when we would walk up to an animal with big teeth and James would cuddle up against me and hide his face. Here are some of the fun animals we saw:

Every time I see a hippo I am amazed at how big and scary they are.

This little creature made me think of Dolly when see is begging for a treat. (Her ears go all rigid).

This was just scary. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

I had to put this in since I studied textiles. Angora wool is much sought after for textile products.

My friend James. I thought this picture turned out pretty good considering I had him in one arm, my purse in the other, and trying to take a picture at the same time!

The Job Search Ends

So, I didn't get the position at O'Leary Middle School. However, I did get the job at Twin Falls High School! I am so excited! I had a phone interview the week after Jason and I drove up to Twin Falls for O'Leary, and the next day I decided to call the principal at TFHS and ask if I could come up to meet him face-to-face. I guess that impressed him, because I got a call by the end of the week saying they'd like to hire me.

I had a lot of fun running up to Twin Falls again. That was my first solo road trip (Jason needed to stay home to work). I stayed at the Hoffmann's (my aunt Karen's house) in Hagerman which is about 30 minutes from Twin Falls. (Thanks again guys)!

I will be teaching Teen Living, Adult Roles, Foods and Nutrition 1, and Food Management Skills (which means I will be in charge of supervising the student-run before school cafe). I am a bit nervous for that, but otherwise I am totally excited!

This picture is from when Jason and I went up for the first job at the middle school.

Soccer Cakes with Karissa

My sister-in-law Karissa Garr asked if i would come over and help her decorate soccer cakes for her husband's work. (He works at Heritage School and manages a group of teenage girls who were in a soccer tourney). She needed to make 2 cakes to feed the whole team, so we each decorated one. They turned out great! I need to get this pan so I can make all sorts of fun ball shaped cakes!above: my cake. below: Karissa's cake on the left, mine is on the right.

Karissa and I. We had a lot of fun doing this together! Thanks Karissa!

Another Interview

I have another interview scheduled!

On Monday Jason and I will be driving up to Twin Falls, ID so I can interview with O'Leary Junior High School.

Wish me luck!

Not for the faint of stomach.

This week has been really gross.

Literally really gross.

Unfortunately, Jason and I got food poisoning early this week and it hit us HARD! Monday morning I was up at 3:00am vomiting. I don't think I have ever been in so much pain. :( For 24 hours I was so dizzy I couldn't even sit up for very long. I spent most of the night on the bathroom floor feeling miserable. Jason woke up feeling sick too. Fortunately, he does not vomit so easily, but he was totally miserable too. I think that was the worst part, knowing that he was so sick. I always feel better when I am sick to have a well husband willing to get me whatever I need. We are finally over it, but what a nightmare.

Sorry for publishing this yucky tale, but I felt I needed to get it out of my system, and sometimes writing is the only way.

4 Years ago me and he became we!

On June 2 Jason and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary! It was great! I am so lucky to be married to such a romantic man! Jason surprised me this year with beautiful wall art that I had wanted. Isn't it gorgeous?

We saw it at Tai-Pan Trading in the mall. I love that store! I said I loved it, and Jason remembered and bought it for me 3 weeks later! He also made me something! He made a cute little coupon book with various favors such as "5 free shaves" (he knows I like to kiss him best when he's clean shaven) and "5 free stop playing video games for any reason" (hooray!) and 10 free I'll make whatever you want for dinner" (Ok, so Jason almost always makes dinner, but this is still great)! As i finish each coupon I get another treat, Jason will take me out on a date of my choosing! The best part was that he took the time to make it himself. He used my "Create a Coupon" Stampin' Up! stamp set (retired :( ). He is such a sweet, wonderful man! We went to lunch at Pizza Pie Cafe, one of our favorite places to eat. We decided since this was a special occasion to order their mini monster dessert. It's something of a pazzuki (cookie base, ice cream pizza). It was really good, though it took like 20 minutes to get to our table! The manager came over and apologized for the delay though and she gave us 2 free mini monster coupons! Definitely worth it. The rest of the day we just hung out and had a lot of fun together. We played gin with the new deck of cards that I bought for Jason (we collect playing cards that have different backs on them) and Phase-10 (we play this every so often, but I have only ever won once. I'm surprised this hasn't gotten old after the 4 1/2 years we have known each other, but every time we play I get the feeling that "this will be the time I win." It never is. Oh well... I still have fun! I guess I should tell you what I got for Jason (besides the playing cards). He had to wait until Friday so I could afford it, but he didn't mind. I bought him 2 video games (I went into the store planning on buying just 1, but it was buy 1 get one 1/2 off, how could I resist getting more for my love)? This is what I ended up with.

and

Yes my husband is a nerd. That's part of why I love him so much!

I won't bore you with all the mushy-gushy things I could say in an anniversary post. Just know that we are absolutely, positively in love with one another, and we can't wait for an eternity of more anniversaries.

Another Concert!

This time it was a huge triple header. Kansas opened, and I have to say Dave Ragsdale was AWESOME. I have to say I love any band that incorporates a well played electric violin. So cool!

Foreigner was next to play.

They put on a really great show. This was my first time seeing them live, but I hope it is not my last!

The last to play was my all time favorite band: STYX!

I counted it up. I think this was my 9th STYX concert. They will always be #1 in my book.

The show ended with a bang. Just as STYX ended their last song in the encore, fireworks lit up the sky. Unfortunately, I was rushing away from the fumes of cigarette smoke and beer trying not to be sick, so I didn't get to see much of the fireworks, but still an awesome show!

Thanks again David, I never would have made it to the car without your help!

Insane Puzzle

Last year I went to the UEA (Utah Education Association) conference. The best part of this conference is all of the vendors that sell educational and personal enrichment items. It was hard to restrain myself, but I only bought 1 thing, this crazy puzzle. I am an avid puzzler, but this puzzle was really hard! You have to fit the pieces into a 4x4 square. You can rotate the pieces any way, and you can flip the pieces upside down. I finally found one of the possible solutions.

Congratulations David!

Last week my little brother David graduated from Timpview High School! Congratulations David!

The Job Search Begins

I am finally reaching the end of my university career. Now the hard part begins. I am currently searching high and low for a job opening. So far I have applied to over 40 schools, most of which I haven't heard back from. I have had 9 interviews. Although most have turned me down, it has been fun to check out different areas in the state. One such venture led Jason and I to the very, very small town of Salina, UT. While I wasn't too impressed with the area, we did find a old drive through stand called GatorZ that had pretty good food. We particularly liked their loaded fries!

Easter Chicks

My mother had a great idea for an easter craft. We made these chocolate chicks to set at each place setting for Easter dinner.

Wilton Cake Decorating

The last couple of months I have taken Wilton Cake Decorating Courses I and II. Here are some pictures of what I have done.