A Predicament

Here is a funny story for ya.  Once at ARL there was a sweet morning sweeper who I befriended.  She told me that she had two transplanted plants that she would like to give me.  I was very excited to get some more plants (I inherited several large plants from Tracy MacDonald when she moved back to Idaho).  Everything was going fine and dandy with the new plants.  Then one day I noticed that part of one of the plants had died and was rotting.  Out of nowhere fruit flies were flying around my head.  In a few days I noticed that my students were swatting at flies instead of working on their work.  I was SO embarrassed!  Finally I decided to make a game of it.  I awarded students points (playing into part of my classroom management point system) for quietly killing fruit flies.  We had about two days of fun before I caved in and bought bug spray.  I honestly did not think that we would have that many fruit flies.  On Thursday I asked my students to draw a picture of our class being infested by an army of fruit flies on the back of their vocabulary test.  There were so many great drawings.  This one highlighted the fact that we were outnumbered 4 to 1! 

Usually I don't blog at all... but I'm out sick from school.  This is the first time I called in sick.  I'm stuck with strep/the flu.  I wish I wasn't sick because I am not only missing school but also SIOP training up in Provo.  I hope the district can get a reimbursement for my absence.

Thanks for reading!  Merry Christmas!

A New Puppy!

Well we have a new puppy in our home.  Her name is Indie and we have had her for several weeks now.  She has a lot of spunk and loves to play with City boy.  Even though they are not from the same litter or even have the same parents, they look so much like each other!  They have the same colorings, and we assume they will be close to the same size.  Indie's litter was dropped off on the side of the highway, and a family picked them up.  We learned about the litter through Malia.  At first we went to look at the litter for my brother.  We fell in love with Indie and decided we would take her home.  If my brother decided he wanted her, he could have here.  Thankfully he hasn't said a word :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ok, I am really behind with blogging.  I wish I had some great excuse answering your question of why.  Why do you limit us from reading about your lives?  Why, Marissa, must I wait weeks before I find out what you did with your Thanksgiving break?  I know its a hard reality to swallow, but it's the reality of the matter.  Hopefully you caught on early into this post that I am trying for sarcasm.  And I realize it is just that... trying :)  For Thanksgiving we were able to visit our awesome family!  We headed down to St. George (or St. Gizzy as I like to call it-- that did earn me a few odd looks at a faculty meeting).  We had a ton of fun in the sun with the Merket family and we were able to check out Larry and Roxy's awesome new home.  It is a beautiful (and large) place in Bloomington.  They are situated right next to an amazing park that even has geocaches galore.  We brought the pups (and there are more than one these days) and had a ton of fun.  The only downside to the entire trip was the fact that I did not get any pictures.  I do not know how this is possible... I must be off my A-game these days.  I must say the visit to St. Gizzy has made me more and more interested in moving there.  It would be so great to live by family again.  Plus, it is situated right in the middle of Salt Lake and southern California.  The only family member that is left out of this picture is my father... but hell, I only get to see him once in a blue moon anyways.  Maybe one day when Chris and I have grown up we can figure out if St. Gizzy is a good spot for our family or not.

Sunday... not such a fun day

Growing up I absolutely loved Sundays.  I would read the Sunday paper with my mom and take a long luxurious nap in the afternoon.  The evening would be spent working on homework for school or washing clothes.  No cares in the world beyond a typical high school student's cares.  I loved Sundays as a child and teenager.  Now that I am an adult with responsibilities, I dislike Sundays almost as much as I hate Mondays.  I start to get in a foul mood in the early afternoon realizing that my weekend was not as productive as I dreamed that it would be.  The work I need to put in to be prepared for school for the week starts to flash before my eyes.  I count down the hours before I need to be in bed and realize that there will never be enough time.  I slump in my seat and give up on being completely prepared for Monday.  I also struggle to fall asleep every Sunday night.  A good night sleep would only benefit me, but it is the last thing available to me.  A nighttime sleep aid like Tylenol PM does not work either.  Any suggestions to help me avoid these 12:45 AM blogging sessions?

Update

Just a little update for the few people who read our blog.  We created a cute quote thingy for our dining room wall.  We both love this quote thanks to the viral youtube video.  If you aren't familiar with the video, click here.

We got a great open back frame from Hobby Lobby in Grand Junction, Co, for a great price.  We bought some paint and uses my mom's cricket to cut the lettering.  I think it turned out really cute. 

Another update includes school for me (Marissa).  I know I just finished school a year and a half ago, but I miss it.... so I'm getting a M.S. in Curriculum and Instruction from WGU.  I earned a partial scholarship by working in my school district, too.  I'm excited to get started but nervous about the time requirement.  We don't have kids... there aren't a lot of distractions for us in Blanding... perfect situation, right?  Somehow with all of those pros I am still nervous.  I am only a 2nd year teacher and I'm fearful I'm biting off too much than I can handle.  Yesterday was my first official day, and I've realized that online schooling is going to be a challenge!  Wish me luck!

California 2011

It has been a very long time since I have blogged about anything.  The table (see below) finally got me to blog again.  This post is dedicated to our trip to California.  Unfortunately, my pictures were posted backwards and I'm too lazy to switch them.  It was such a fun vacation filled with fun and family! 

This is our last night  at Carpenteria.  We were able to camp 20 feet from the water.  It was such a fun experience and a first time camping on the beach for me.  We were able to spend a week with the Birds, the Merkets, and the Heils.    The sunsets were beautiful and we enjoyed having City with us.

 One day we were sitting around the campfire and we heard several excited people talking about an idiotic man who sailed his ship onto the exposed reef.  The next day they dragged the boat up the beach.  It was pretty dang funny to see.

 Chris had a ton of fun seeing his cousins.  He even was sweater buddies with Jack.

City really enjoyed swimming in the ocean, but one day he stepped in tar.  All 4 paws were thickly coated.  City even began biting at the tar to get it off.  We had to buy baby socks to prevent him from getting tar on all of his teeth.  In the end a camp host said that soaking his paws in vegetable oil would do the trick easily.  She was right!  Sadly City had to suffer through 10 minutes of soaking for each paw. 

 

We actually started the vacation by visiting my dad in Northern California.  This is a great picture capturing the usual agenda while visiting my dad.  He works so much that we rarely get to do things outside of his market.  If you'll notice, behind us is a shelving unit full of liquor.  I love visiting my dad, but I wish, wish, wish that we could go on a vacation together and not hang out at the market all day.

My dad loved City.  He thought that City was the smartest dog :)  We actually taught City  how to shake while hanging out at the market.  City liked my daddy as well but began the trip by barking at him.  We figured City barked because my dad is a lot quieter that Chris or me.  City always knows where we are at home because we are loud.  My dad on the other hand is very quiet.  City would bark because he was surprised!

We visited Lafayette Reservoir with City in tow.  He wished that he could have swam in the water, but was content with just staring at the ducks.

Besides bowling, my father loves to play ping pong.  We thought we would show him.... he kicked our trash.  I now know where my competitive nature comes from.  My dad is very competitive at any sport even if it is ping pong at 11:00 pm on a Wednesday night.

We were fortunate to stop in Salt Lake for 2 nights before we headed out to California.  It was fun seeing my mom, but Brody stole the show by being a pooper.  He is such a funny dog.



New (to us) Table

We have FINALLY moved in our new table.  We worked on this table throughout the summer, but sadly it took us forever to finish it.  We decided at first to stain the table... that required a ton of sanding.  We got the flat parts of the chairs sanded, but the spools were a different story.  When we put the stain on the flat and sanded parts soaked up that stain like none other.  They were pitch black whereas the not so sanded spools were still the original brown.  It was sad to see that our hard work wasn't paying off.  After that horrible fiasco we decided to simply paint the table and chairs black.  That was a pain as well, but in the end we were very happy with the product. 

 The fabric took us a while to pick out.  I really wanted a fabric that was young and vibrant with color, but who knows how long we would like it... plus, home decor fabric doesn't usually fit the category "young and vibrant."  We looked online, at different stores, and while in Grand Junction, Co, we found this fabric.  It had some color (plum, something we normally wouldn't go for) and we felt like we would like it for awhile.  I'm very happy with how everything turned out!

We can now seat 6 comfortably (10 with our old chairs) and hope to have you over for dinner soon!