School

Well, yesturday school started, so I'm back at work. I work at the Madison Junior High School here in Rexburg. This is my second year at this job, and I absolutly love it. I work in the extended resource department, where I help children with special needs. I go to classes with the children, help with assignments, homework and adapt tests for them. They are 8th and 9th grade. We have 9 new kids that came over from the Middle School, and so it is really exciting getting to know them. It is such a rewarding job, and I'm excited to be back. But of coarse that means that the summer is over. I'm not used to waking up so early in the morning, and now I also need to get used to going to sleep earlier. It's definitly going to take some time getting used to.

Quilts! Quilts! Quilts!

Daniel and I have been collecting our old jeans for quite a while so that I could make a denim quilt. Well, it's finally done, and I'm really excited. It took me a while to come up with the pattern, because I like to make them up myself rather than follow an actual pattern. That way, there's less chance of me messing up, because I'm really not that good at following patterns. The more straight lines, the better. It took a lot longer then I thought it would, and it was extremely painful, but I love it now, and that is all that counts. I also made pillow cases and a little accent pillow. I'm plan on doing a couple more accent pillows, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet. YEAH for being done!!

Changes

Well, since Daniel and I have been married - 3 years - we have been in 5 different wards. This last sunday, the announcment was made that our stake was going to change it's bounderies, so some wards would be changing. And of course, we were moved out of our ward, and now that makes our 6th ward. Daniel and I have been teaching Sunbeams for the past few months, and it has been so fun. I love teaching the kids, and helping them understand the gospel. It is so amazing how smart they are. We have done the same routine ever since we started: table activity, movement song, lesson, walk, story time. And it got to the point that, we didn't even have to tell them what to do next, they just did what they knew they needed to do to start the next activity. It makes me proud. And now it's all over. We are in a new ward, that is still being created, so who knows what's next for us. It's a little sad, but I guess changes need to happen. I'm going to miss those kids, but oh well, what can I do. We'll just have to wait and see what's next in store for us.

Olympics

Last night was the opening ceremony for the 2008 olympics, and it was absolutely amazing. We've never really watched an opening before, so we didn't have much to compare it to, but it really was incredible. There were fireworks like you've never see before, and the choreography - OMG! There was this one point when there were over 2000 martial artists who were doing moves, and they were all in perfect circles. There were no markings to tell them where to stand, and know matter how they moved, they would still be in perfect form. It was so amazing. Then the lighting of the flame, it was all just so incredible that you really needed to watch it to know what i'm talking about. I just feel like who ever is in charge of the olympics next time, would definitely need to step it up to top Beijings performance. WOW!Some of our favorite events that we look forward to are: swimming, diving, volleyball, gymnastics and table tennis. But, if there is another even on, we'll watch parts of it too. IN HONOR OF THE OLYMPICS. This is what I found in my spoon my very last bite - and I was watching the olympics when it happened, how weird is that??

Best Meal in Town

Without a doubt, best food ever - CEREAL. It really doesn't matter what time of day it is, a bowl of cold cereal always does the trick. It's fast, simple, and it's the perfect late night snack. Over the months, my number one choice has changed several times. As of today - honey nut cheerios with sliced bananas. It keeps its shape and doesn't mush together like other cereals might. It's basically the best ever.


What's your FAV?????

International Dance Festival

These past 2 weeks there has been an International Dance Festival going on her in Rexburg. There are 10 different countries who send dancers to represent their country. Each year is different, but this year there was Isreal, Belgium, France, China, Mexico, Russia Cossaks, Russia Siberia, Germany, Greece, India and the USA. There were a couple of days where some dancers would do to a designated area and would teach children a dance from there country. That was one thing I helped out in. At one of the local Junior High Schools, Isreal, Belgium and France came. They were put in 3 different rooms, and then children would rotate between the rooms, learning dances, crafts, and songs. It was really fun, and the children absolutly loved it. They were each given a 'passport', which had all the names of the countries, and then after that session was done, they would go and get there book signed by the dancers and ask them questions. There were some dancers who didn't speak English very well, and it was sweet, because the children didn't understand why not. Daniel and I managed to get free tickets to the closing ceremonies. It was amazing. Each country came out and did 2 dances, and it was just incredible. The cool thing was, that all the dancers from all the countries were placed in homes with a host family. Wouldn't that be amazing to have someone in your home from a different country for 2 weeks and to learn more about them. Most of the dancers were High School age, but there were a handful that were older. Anyway, it was an amazing experience, and it is unfortunate that we wont be around next year to see it again. Team Belgium

Team Russia Cossacks

Team France

Team Isreal

Daniel with Team India

Team Russia Siberia

It was really hard to take pictures because the lights were really strong. Luckily, at the end, everyone was invited to the floor to meet and talk to the dancers. I was like a little kid, I was so excited. It would have been even better if this was the year Team South Africa came. Maybe I'll have to make a special trip when they come.

Sunburns

So when we went on our canoe trip a few days ago, Daniel got some major sunburn. The weird thing is, it was on his ankles and knees. The spots that were not lotioned up. It looks really weird, but it has now swollen, and he has a hard time walking. He can't wear shoes, and it hurts to wear long pants.

So next time you lotion up, make sure you get every part of your body. It makes me so sad to see him like this, but all I can do is give him pain killers and aloe :(

Sleep-overs

One of our favorite things to do is have sleep overs. We bring all our bedding into the living room, and watch a movie or two, and sleep in the next morning. Well, this time we decided to build a fort to sleep under.

So I recommend that everyone take the time to build a fort and have a sleepover. It's the best way to bring out the child in you.

Poppy

Okay, so a year ago we decided to get a pet. Since there were no children in our family, we thought we needed something. We can't have any large animals in our apartment, so that cut down the choices. Fish are boring, birds are noisy, so what could we possibly get. At that time I was working at a preschool, and I thought it would be fun to get a pet that I could take to work with me for the children to enjoy. So we went to the pet store and decided on a rat. The children loved it.

We got him at 3 weeks old, and named him Poppy. For the longest time we thought it was female, but soon realized we were wrong. Now a year later, he has grown full size, and is part of our family. YEAH !!!
I'm sure there are some that might be grossed out, but what choice did we have?

Canoe Trip

We were invited to go canoeing with some of Daniel's cousins the other day. It was supposed to be only and hour and a half trip, but after 3 hours we still hadn't come to the end. It was a gorgeous day, and the scenery was beautiful, but it was really hard going for that long. Oh, it was also my first time, and with every movement, I freaked out.

Loading up to go. It was a little bigger then we thought it would be.

We did see some amazing animals though: a moose walking along the river,

a bold eagle eating a fish it just caught,

a hawk sitting on a rock, and some interesting swallows nests against the rock side.

Thank goodness we made it okay without any injuries. There is even a chance we might go back again.

I Love You

I just thought this was the cutest thing. Daniel came home the other day from a randomn trip, and handed me the camera. This is what I found. You have to use your imagination to see what it says. It was the sweetest thing.

How can you ever be mad at someone who does things like this?

Just Getting Started

We have decided to start a blog. We don't know much about blogging, and this first one may be our last, but we're giving it a shot.

Daniel took the Optometry Admissions Test (OAT) last week, and scored a 350 out of 400. An average OAT score is about 320, so we are really excited. This should boost his chances of getting accepted into a good optometry school (we're hoping he gets into Pacific University, where Dad went).