yeah yeah UEA

UEA (Utah Education Association) weekend-- also known as "fall break"-- came at the perfect time.  I was overly ready for a little breather from school, and so were my students.  Luckily, Samuel got the long weekend off as well!  Here are some things we accomplished:

• appreciated the autumn leaves on a gorgeous drive in Deer Valley.
• visited Park City's main street for the first time.
• saw Captain America.  liked it.
• ate out a lot.
• cooked/baked: pork chops, pie, peanut butter cookies, cheesy rolls
• did lots of dishes
• organized the junk room.  re-named it Samuel's Man Room. (there are 4 bikes in there. and lots of climbing/camping/scouting gear.  not to mention the cowbells).
• listened to/watched some college football
• organized/created our new "office" space in the kitchen.
• IKEA with Hil.
• chatted with my Nana.
• gardner village to see the "silly witches" with my nieces.
• taught a YW lesson on dating.
• visited Grammy and Grandpa.
• major grading of papers.
• sleeping in-ish.
• found some finishing touches for my Halloween costume.  

All in all, it was a very productive long weekend.  I had a hard time getting up to go back to work this morning.

Can you believe it's almost November?  We're nearly headed into the holiday season.  Speaking of the holidays, I need some cool arrangements of christmas songs to learn for an upcoming gig... anyone have any suggestions?  Please send them to me!

It's supposed to drop 20 degrees tomorrow.  wowzers.  

oct.

It's that happy time of year where leaves change and pumpkins grow orange and fat.  I've got my halloween tree out, an Autumn wreath on my door, and a witch on my mantle.  We've got big plans to carve jack-o-lanterns with friends, make chili, dress up in wild costumes, and watch some Harry Potter.  I'm excited to see the costumes my students come up with this year, and do lots of science experiments involving slime and dry ice.  I'm hoping we get some (or one?) trick-or-treaters this year.  Still dreaming up something amazing treat to pass out.  The drizzly weather has got me baking pie and sweet rolls.  I've been spending a large chunk of my time at school-- surprise, surprise-- but I hope it's paying off.  Samuel is working hard at BMW, and working hard at home as well.  We've been bike riding, pleasure driving, and sleeping under our down comforter.

Welcome, October.

thumbs up to tuesday

• jonathan apples
• rain
• fall
• homemade mac and cheese
• spumoni
• third graders
• pumpkins on my porch
• down comforter
• pie
• cardigans
• pinterest
• the library
• drives at night

MIA

So.  School started!  Which explains why my life has been taken over by elmer's glue, yellow pencils, and 8 year olds.  It rocks.  I've got a great class this year.  And my classroom is happy.  See?

I also got to go to St. George with the Grover Girls to see The Little Mermaid: 

This weekend I'm planning on making peach pie, hanging with my dad on his birthday, planning Canada Day and Johnny Appleseed week, going to the farmer's market, correcting spelling tests, and chilling with Samuel.

Happy Life, everyone.

last half of summer (in pictures)

I go back to school next week, and you know what that means... summer is quickly drawing to a close.  here's what we've been up to:

fourth of july barbeque + scout samuel.

"potato war" at science in the rockies (a study of force and motion).

aquarium with my nieces.

24th of July at the Joneses.

amazing 2 weeks at Hebgen.

birthday bash for Hilary's lucky #25.

happy summer!  and happy back to school...

being home is nice.

How agreeable it is not to be touring Italy this summer,
wandering her cities and ascending her torrid hilltowns.
How much better to cruise these local, familiar streets,
fully grasping the meaning of every roadsign and billboard
and all the sudden hand gestures of my compatriots.

There are no abbeys here, no crumbling frescoes or famous
domes and there is no need to memorize a succession
of kings or tour the dripping corners of a dungeon.
No need to stand around a sarcophagus, see Napoleon's
little bed on Elba, or view the bones of a saint under glass.

How much better to command the simple precinct of home
than be dwarfed by pillar, arch, and basilica.
Why hide my head in phrase books and wrinkled maps?
Why feed scenery into a hungry, one-eyes camera
eager to eat the world one monument at a time?

Instead of slouching in a café ignorant of the word for ice,
I will head down to the coffee shop and the waitress
known as Dot. I will slide into the flow of the morning
paper, all language barriers down,
rivers of idiom running freely, eggs over easy on the way.

And after breakfast, I will not have to find someone
willing to photograph me with my arm around the owner.
I will not puzzle over the bill or record in a journal
what I had to eat and how the sun came in the window.
It is enough to climb back into the car

as if it were the great car of English itself
and sounding my loud vernacular horn, speed off
down a road that will never lead to Rome, not even Bologna.

Consolation
by Billy Collins

making me happy monday

• garden growing
• the washing machine is fixed
• thinking about books
• less than a week until Hebgen
• 25 plastic folders on sale for cheap
• HP 7.2 
• smoothies
• nutella