Holidays are upon us

Well, it is time for the holiday rush. I was looking at my lesson plan calendar and got a thrill. Next week is Thanksgiving so we only have school for two days. Then, just three weeks after that, it's the Christmas Holiday. You may say you wouldn't be able to handle being with high school kids all day (and trust me, sometimes I wonder why I do), but then I look at my schedule and all the time I have off, I remember that I made the right choice. I don't have to go back to work the day afer Thanksgiving, I don't have to work on the day after Christmas. I get a real holiday time. I love it.

Talented Friends

It's amazing how I can have such talented friends. My friend Bonnie Bunnell is a wonderful photographer and is giving away a gorgeous photo of the Salt Lake Temple. SO if you are interested you might want to check out her blog here. And if you are in the Cedar City area, you really should think of having her do your next family photos. She is fabulous. Check out her photography blog here.

Bloggable Day

Yesterday was quite the bloggable day. It started with going to the Fair. It was actually a good day for the fair. It started out windy, but it kept it cool. I still managed to get a sunburn, thought. Anyway, Nathan and I went to the Fair with Jess and her kids, Jean (their foreign exchange student), and Carolyn. First stop was the animals, Whitney liked all parts except for the cows because Nathan made her scared that the cows might kick her. I know he was thinking he was being concerned, but poor girl was terrified of walking by the cows after that.
After that it was time for fair food. For those of you that don't know, the only reason to go to the fair is for the food. We had corn on the cob, scone nuggets, funnel cake, corn dogs, and burgers. Sadly, I didn't get any fried twinkies. I've yet to actually try them, but I really thought I'd try it this year. Unfortunately, I'm not a big fan of twinkies to begin with.
Anyway, we went to the different shops and all of the buildings with shops had a live infomercial for cookware. Also, at first I was excited thinking there was a shamwow, but it was a cheap imitation (the chamois). What a bummer.
While there, I ran into five students. They saw me in regular person clothes and acting like a human instead of a teacher...how embarrassing. They all smiled and said hi instead of running in the other direction. So that made me feel good. I even had one student get my attention and wave. Then of course my sister laughed at how he looked older than me. Not true, by the way. She was just being an annoying older sister.

Next on the bloggable day, the seven week break is over. For those who don't speak Rexburg, that means students are coming back. Now I know Nathan and I aren't permanents, but we feel enough of permanents to get annoyed with all the newbies (who for some reason can't figure out 4 way stops this year...not quite sure where that is coming from). We have also been around long enough to know to avoid Walmart, Albertsons, and Broulims from 3 days to the day before school starts. These stores area filled with single students and their mothers (or fathers) buying them things they don't have room for and hundreds of dollars of food (also something there isn't room for because their roomies's moms are doing the same thing).
Well, since neither of us in school we somehow lost track of the days and went to walmart last night. There were no less than 22 moms with their kids buying them storage supplies, pots, pans, dishes, things they could have packed, etc. Nathan and I have decided to make this a traditioin: go to Walmart and just sit near the checkouts and count the moms and the scared looking freshman. It really is more fun than it sounds.

It ended with Nathan and I watching my favorite show ever: Leverage, and eating chips and salsa. What a good day.

Back to School

Remember on your first day of school when your mom took your picture with your new backpack and cute new outfit that you painstakingly picked out the week before (and it's possible that the outfit changed 10 times before school actually started)? And now when you look back you think you looked like a gomer pile (At least that's what I think when I see my big rockin bangs). Do you remember the anxiety of wondering if you had the nice teacher or the mean teacher? How about the fear that this year might actually be difficult (who decided an 8th grader needs to memorize the periodic table?).

Well, today was the first day back to school. Unfortunately, Nathan wouldn't wake up at 7am to take my picture in front of our door. So, I don't have a cheesy picture to post of me on my first day back. Anyway, as a teacher the feelings are different. I hope I didn't forget anything important, especially when I say the same thing to each class all day it's easy to think you already said it (i.e. how I grade, how to get extra credit, what I do if your obnoxious, etc). I also want to make sure I don't look too much like a student.

One thing that is nice is that it is my second year so I know where to find supplies, who to go to, and I have previous students to say hi to me in the hall. It was really nice because I had previous students walk by and they were excited to see me and asking if I was teaching any of their classes this year. It made me feel good. That is why I teach, because it feels good to know you have a positive influence on someone. Oh I'm sure there are students who think I'm awful and tell their friends to get out of my class (which works to my advantage because it is normally the students that cause problems that tell their friends to get out of my class), but it's the few that come to visit you that make the bad days worth it. It's so nice to be working in what I chose instead of something to get by.

Sleepover

Whit and I had a sleepover a couple of weeks ago. We went to the beauty college and got all dolled up. This is why I'm the favorite.

Weekend Trip

We just got back from a fun little weekend trip from Utah. We went to Lagoon and had a lot of fun. I'm pretty sure Nathan had the most fun choosing rides that got us wet. I got completely soaked! It was very uncomfortable for I while. I ended up going into the bathroom and standing under the automatic dryers. We had a lot of fun, though. We very much enjoyed the funnel cake and other fair type food.

We also went to the Hogle Zoo, however, we forgot to grab our camera. They had a fun bird show and tons of animals that just aren't in our local zoo. I really want to bring my nieces to the zoo because they would just be so excited about everything.

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And what is a trip to Utah without going to Cabellas. I didn't enjoy this as much as Nathan. But he really loved showing me everything and explaining it to me. I need to learn to want to hear how a gun works, because I really don't care but he likes to tell me. We also went to IKEA (this is where Nathan doesn't really care). I was drooling over the kitchens and apartment spaces. Nathan kept having to remind me that it wouldn't go with us if we did anything. I know this, but I still loved one of the closets they had. Oh, it was beautiful! Walk in, great space for shoes, and shelves, etc. Oh it's such a wonderful store.

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Lastly, our favorite tradition is Tucanos! It has a fabulous salad and pasta and everything bar. Then the waiters come around with fabulous cuts of meat and ask you how much you want. They have such delicious food. The grilled pineapple is so amazing. And the fried bananas are magnificent. I totally recommend this jewel of a restaurant!

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We had a fun time playing and having time off of work!

This post is for Jessica

Pllllth!! That I assume is the noise made when you stick your tongue out at someone. You know. Just because I don't have cute kids to take pictures of blog about doesn't give you the right to make snide (no matter how true) comments.

Alright, that was directed toward Jessica. Everything else should be appropriate for all.

Well, I do have something cute about Jessica's children. First off, really good news. Ryan likes me now. It used to be that he didn't want to play with me, I don't know why. And it really bothered me that there was no apparent way to purchase his love. However, somehow we've had a break through. I'm excited.

Now for the really cute stuff. My niece Whitney told me happy Mother's Day yesterday and apparently the book she made in Primary for her mom is actually for me. Jessica saw it and said, "Is that for me?" Whitney's response: "No, it's for my mom. They didn't know Tiff is my real mom." Yeah I think it's pretty funny. I wonder how long this stage will last. Hopefully not much longer because Jessica is started to want to put some financial burden on me. : ) Okay may not so much, but it is her favorite thing to say when Whitney wants something. The nerve of some people.

Now for news actually about me. I have to share this because I just think I'm so clever. I'm doing a project based Geometry class this trimester and I'm pretty excited about the project we're doing next week before they present their final projects. Next Monday I'm having them bring cameras and I have a whole bunch of items of a Geometry Scavenger Hunt for them to take pictures of and then on Tuesday we'll go into the computer lab and create a collage of our findings. I'm really excited because I'll take the best ones and blow them up really big for posters my classroom for next year. Anyway, I thought it was a stroke of genius on my part and I hope the students have fun with it. I need to take my pictures this week so I can get mine made.

Anyway, Jessica I hope this blog post was a bit more to your liking.

What have I been doing?

Don't you worry. I am alive and well. I just apparently have been super lazy at blogging. I looked at when the last time I blogged was and it was ridiculous. Plus, Nathan had to start a blog for school and so he updates way more than I do. So now I feel like a loser.
The main news is, thanks to my friends, I'm getting lots of cute Lia Sophia jewelry. Thanks everyone for helping me out. When it all arrives, I'll take a picture for everyone to see!
Well, I don't have much to say right now. I just didn't want anyone else's blogs to say that I haven't updated in over a month. :)

Look who has gone digital!

I've got my mom hooked on digital scrapbooking. All it took was showing her how easy it is to replicate the recipe pages for us and all my sisters by simply hitting the print button. And it is no wonder where I get any of my talent. She's been doing digital for less than a month. Here are some of the things she has made (Just when I finally do something better than her...she has to start actually trying!).

Just letting you know I'm still alive

I know it's been a while but I wanted you to know I'm still alive. We just started a new trimester at school and so far it's going pretty well. The material is much less frustrating and I am loving my project based geometry class! Since it's all activities and no book work, an amazing thing happens...the kids get motivated! Who would have thought? Now if only that would work for Algebra 2 and still have the kids pass the ISATS.
Anyway, we're making a fun project in Geometry right now dealing with circles (since it's pi day on Saturday, we're celebrating on Friday). I'll have to take a picture of my example that I made. It's pretty sweet. Have a good week.

Happy Birthday Whitney

Today, my little niece Whitney turns 5 years old. Oh my goodness! I can't believe she's getting so big. I have a scrapbook page of her when she was less than 1 year old and she was just so smiley and wanting to walk everywhere. Now she's five!





For those of you that don't know, she calls me "Mommy Tiff". She and I are buddies and when I go to Idaho Falls to visit...I go to visit her. She's got such a funny imagination. If you want any proof just visit Jessica and she'll let you know (most recently Whitney has changed her name...she hasn't decided on one middle name so she has several). Anyway, happy birthday Whitney Daphne Belle June Cinderella Aurora Jasmine Pocahontas Mulan Ariel Lewis. I love you.

Stinking cute backgrounds

Okay, I used to like just my plain white backgrounds. But I am finding some stinking cute blog backgrounds. And thanks to the blog of my friend Bonnie, I found this cute website with super cute blog backgrounds. It kind of makes me wish I knew how to program so I could actually make my own. I'm sure it's easier than I think. But that one programming class I had to take at ISU has made me hate programming. I still remember my lab instructors dirty Zelda shirt...Nathan told me not to make fun of Zelda, but the whole greasy hair, gaming shirt, geeky thing, etc, was compounded by the fact that I hated the class. Anyway, these blog backgrounds are way cute and way easy that even Jessica could do it. :)
So, that is my two bits for the day. You now know what I can waste my time doing: finding cute things online.

Cold Cold Day

I have found heaven

And it is called the day spa.

Friday I went to Sage Day Spa in Rexburg for a bit of pampering. I know, I know. You're thinking, "Tiffany, you are so high maintenance." Now don't get the wrong idea. I pampered myself, got a facial, got a massage and heat wrap, spent all of my fun money, but that doesn't make my high maintenance. I don't have the Utah poof, and I don't wear sparkles on my face. But I have to tell you, this trip to the spa was totally worth it! I loved it so much that I now have created a pampering schedule (posted on my fridge) so that I can plan my fun money and feel spoiled. Nathan thinks I'm silly, but all I have to do is point out his gaming collection and his evergrowing gun collection. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, if you get the chance to go to the spa, take it! You'll love it!

This cold lasts forever and some other random ramblings

I've had a cold for the last two weeks now and it won't go away. It is to the point now where I'm losing my voice. It was so difficult to do a lecture today while I sounded like a moron. I think tomorrow I'll tell them to just pay really close attention to what I'm writing because I probably won't be able to talk. I'm sure it will go over well.
In other news, I can't believe the school year is halfway over. It feels like I just started teaching. I'm really excited to teach another year. Even though I have bad days, I really feel like I chose the right profession. I'm so lucky to have a husband who supports me and will listen to me be excited about math because heaven knows he isn't. However, I'm pretty sure he's more proud of the fact that I've graduated and teaching than I am. Anytime we go somewhere and people ask us what we're studying, Nathan is the first to say (before I can even get anything out), "She's graduated and teaching math in high school." I love my husband.