SCUBA Certified!!!

That's right, folks! I'm Scuba certified!!!

My parents got us certified so that when we go to Hawaii (Sunday!!!) we can all scuba together. My mom and dad, Sam, Jake, Maria Mae, and Joe are all certified and now J and I are!!

Here's our awesome gear. Yes, my mask is white. You will always be able to find me!!

This is the pool we got our confined water dives in at Boise Water Sports. Hopefully soon, I can see some pics they took up on Facebook!
J with his gear
Me with mine. I look like I'm only wearing a shirt. I'm also wearing a swimsuit, just so you know. :)
In the pool! I was kinda cold and it's really hard to smile in a mask. It comes right off!
So then the next weekend, we went to Wendover Nevada for our Open Water dives.

We borrowed J's dad's truck and here's our gear all strapped in.
This is Wendover. Yep. That's it.
In the distance is the Salt Flats. It just looks shiny/white.
This is on Sunday after all of our dives, with salty hair, and lots of sunburns...and sexy wetsuits! haha
Wendover Will welcoming us...or in this case saying goodbye!
Check out my awesome suntan!! :)
and J's!
Our sunburns turned mostly into tans. We both had a peeling scalp and forehead.

So now we're Scuba Certified!!!

I had a roommate who was certified too and she told me that she thinks of the song "Love Song" where it says in the beginning "head underwater and you tell me to breathe easy for a while" when she dives. I understand what she means now! It takes practice to breathe easy underwater!

In certification, you have to show how to recover a lost regulator, a knocked off mask, what to do if you run out of air, etc. The worst is taking off your mask. I've already threatened J if he knocks mine off. I HATED it!!! I had to take it off. To me, it belongs there. It will stay there, gosh darn it!! I hate how hard it is for me to just breathe from my mouth without my mask on. I always try to breathe through my nose. By the way, it hurts to breathe water. :)

Otherwise, it was fun! I loved the people. They're funny. I'm super excited to go diving in Hawaii where you can see further than 5 feet. Yes that's right, I could see my fins....barely...

ugh

I get annoyed easily sometimes.

I have several pet peeves. And they're usually not very big deals!!

I get so annoyed when people type something and leave out all of their vowels. "smthn" is one I saw today. Really?? u and r in texts don't bother me too much. When they're together, they do though.

I hate it when people have cuss words on their statuses, too. I like to see what you're doing, but not when it involves the f word.

I hate it when people eat with their mouth open. If you're sick, fine. If you're not sick, you're gross...or you're young, so it doesn't matter anyway.

I can't stand it when people park in front of my house. That's my garage, thank you! Park somewhere else!!

Okay, I've vented. It's out there.

WICKED!!!

Last summer, Scentsy employees got a huge group to commit to going to Wicked this year. My family was part of that group!! Hooray!!

It was AMAZING. SPECTACULAR. DAZZLING. I LOVED IT!!!

Linda brought up the idea of dressing up all fancy and then going since it would be the entire family. I got really excited about that. I love dressing up. I don't mind the stares. I like that, actually. :)

So, I did Linda's hair. I am really really really proud of this hairdo! She asked for a french twist and this is what I came up with. I don't know how to do the twist, so I improvised. She liked it too. :)
I also did my hair. Not too bad for really short hair!
Tyler had to be the loner in our group since Kristin is in Europe.

So here are my mother and father and brother in law.
My sister-in-law and her husband.

She looks fabulous! She is down below her pre-pregnancy weight! Go Jolyn!!
J and I.
mmmm.............. he's hot......
We're really excited!!
Best picture I could get of the program, but you've all seen it before.
I really liked dressing up! My heels really hurt my feet by the end, but I loved wearing that dress!

I have now worn it for:

Prom 07, formal fall 07, formal winter 08, formal fall 08, formal winter 09, formal fall 09, and Wicked May 11.

I would say that I have worn this dress many more times than most girls with their prom dresses. I am proud of that!! I love that dress! It's a great one!

I noticed that most people at the play weren't dressed up more than shorts and flip flops. Isn't the theatre supposed to be a nice/casual thing where you wear slacks up to skirts? since when was it okay to wear jeans? Ok, off my soap box.

I loved Wicked. It was amazing. I think the soundtrack is going to be close behind... :)

Dishes

I can't wait for a dishwasher.

And yes, those are ALL of my corelle bowls and most of the other bowls.

Ridiculous. Can't wait for a dishwasher. It's gonna be awesome. :)

Adventures of a Substitute Teacher

After my Student Teaching, I was signed up to be a sub in the same district. I've only been hired by my school, but I think that was a good thing for me.

First, I subbed an afternoon for another 1st grade teacher. It was exciting. It's a tough class, so I was tired after that day. When other teachers saw me there, they realized I'm a sub for them, too!

I subbed Kindergarten all day. That was a crazy day. But it was tons of fun! I've learned that you can't really staple yarn to paper and expect it to stay. That needs tape, or a knot and then a staple.

There were two days when the teachers had grade collaboration, so they needed an entire half day off for it. I subbed all of the grades in three days except for kindergarten. It was fun! The hardest class was 4th grade. They are always hard, actually. They were my first half of the day and then, I had 3rd grade. The 3rd grade class earned a movie for the afternoon, so I got to watch Megamind. It was awesome. And I totally earned it with my experience with 4th grade. ;)

Then, I subbed in the same 1st grade class for an entire week. She had to be gone with her husband for medical reasons. So I subbed all week. I loved it! Day one, the hardest kid wasn't there. Day two, he was. He pushed me to my outer limits. At the end of the day, we talked about it and what we would change the next day. I told him I would be tougher and would follow through. I think he believed me. Throughout the week, I did end up sending him to the office, he threw the biggest tantrum I've ever seen, and he gave me a huge hug and said he liked me as a sub. Sometimes, kids make you crazy!!!

Then, I subbed in MY class last Thursday!!! I LOVED It!! We had a blast. Lots of fun! Good memories.

The other 3rd grade teacher asked me to sub for her on Friday and Monday. That was pretty neat because the principal suggested me because I could handle the kids. Turns out, they are REALLY tough. They gave 4th grade a run for their money!! On Friday, one of the kids struggled with me ALL day and at the end, told me he hated me. When J got home, I was moody and stuff, so I broke down and cried when I told him about this boy.

Monday, we learned how to deal with each other, so it went better, but we had an exciting day. Here's the note I got from the student who visited with the principal:

Sorry for saying that bad word that I wasn't supposed to say. I promise I will never say it again because I would get in real bad trouble if I said it at home. So I won't do it again because they would call my mom and I would get in trouble. You should never hear bad words.

Please forgive me, ______

Wow. Yep. I heard the F word. I couldn't believe it. Then, when I told the principal with him right beside me, he said he said "Frickin" hmmmm I could DEFINITELY tell the difference with this one. So she had him stay with her for the afternoon. Wow. I hate when kids get in trouble because I sent them out. I hate it. I feel so bad! but I know that he needed to go. He was trouble for me both days. I think he learned something from it!!

Stay tuned for adventures in PE tomorrow! School ends next week, so that'll be the end of the substitute stories for a while. :)

Easter!

I had a pretty exciting Easter this year! The Curtis family has a tradition they do every year for Easter. The conditions weren't ever right last year, so this was my first time.

1) Dye eggs-by the way, they need to be pretty cool. :)

I like Tyler's grenade egg. :) One of J's is a brain.
I made an orange one with swirls and then one I will show you in better detail soon.

2) Find a hill. Must be steep, smooth with a couple bumps, and easy enough to walk up and down it several times.

3) Climb to the top of said hill and roll eggs from top.

4) Go down and retrieve your egg NOTE: It helps if you watch your egg all the way down. I figured that out later. :)
5) Repeat steps 3 and 4 remembering your previous note. This is the point where they all start to look the same because they're shell-less now. Keep repeating until your egg turns into just the yolk and explodes everywhere.
Then, you can repeat for the other eggs you have! We each got two to roll. This is my second. I really liked making him. He was an angry egg on one side...
And a dead egg on the other (sorry it's blurry)
I loved how it looked when I got it after the first roll. :)

Here's its shell.
This is after losing its shell.
And then here's the yolk! I can't get my videos to work on my computer right now, but I did get a fairly decent video of the yolk exploding from what I could tell on the camera.
It was a fun Easter!

On more of the purpose behind the holiday, I love Easter. It's always a beautiful holiday. It always helps us remember the reason we are so blessed. I would be nothing without the love of my Savior, Jesus Christ. He atoned for me, died for me and was resurrected for me. He went to the lowest of lows so that he could rise above the highest and bring me with Him. I am eternally indebted to Him. Everything I have is because of Him. I know that He lives. I know that he loves me. I know that His gospel is true and if a person follows Him, they will live forever in His presence. He is my Lord.

I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me, confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me.

I tremble to know that for me he was crucified, that for me, a sinner, he suffered, he bled and died.

I marvel that he would descend from his throne divine to rescue a soul so rebellious and proud as mine, that he should extend his great love unto such as I, sufficient to own, to redeem, and to justify.

I think of his hands pierced and bleeding to pay the debt! Such mercy, such love and devotion can I forget?

No, no, I will praise and adore at the mercy seat, until at the glorified throne I kneel at his feet.

Oh, it is wonderful that he should care for me enough to die for me!

Oh it is wonderful, wonderful to me!

"I Hate You."

Worst words in the world.

Worst feeling ever.

The saddest three words anyone could say.

Linda's Birthday

It was my mother-in-law's birthday at the end of April, so we went over for the day. For the first half of the day, we weeded and organized the outdoors. In the afternoon, she went out to dinner with her hubby. While she was gone, J and his little brother went and played video games. I rocked out to disney music while I made an awesome cake!

Chocolate, chocolate frosting, and....
...homemade decorating icing!!
And then I made it in several different colors!
Linda took a decorating class in March, so I used her tools and book to help me figure out what to do. :)
I think I did a great job! I'm not thrilled with my writing, but I've never liked my writing-on paper, on a board, or anywhere...
She liked it. :)
She's such a beautiful woman. I'm so blessed to be a part of her family. She's so full of love and kindness. I know I can always come to her if I need help with something or just someone to talk to.

Spring in Nampa

I really never liked gardens. I hate weeding and really don't like bugs and bugs are found in dirt. I love the life that comes from gardens, but I'm still not a fan of weeding and stuff. :)

In front of this little house we're renting, we have a small garden. When we moved in, there were a TON of dead leaves and pine needles. One day, these Snowdrops popped up. I had to dig them out from under all of the junk, and look at what else I found!!

The beginnings of Tulips! And Daffodils but they're in a different picture.
I kept cleaning out the pine needles and loved coming home to such a big abundance of happiness everyday!
Then, I checked them EVERY day to see if they had bloomed. This day, I couldn't wait any longer to take a picture. :)
Then they all wanted to join in!
The tulips drove me crazy!! I wanted them to bloom so badly!!
This is the other half of the garden. I have no idea what it all is, but man, it's HUGE! It's about twice as high now! Those daffodils never bloomed, though.
Then, the tulips finally bloomed! I was so thrilled! They were my little babies!! :)
I love the colors of these daffodils. So purty!
And this just reminds me of Temple square! They were gorgeous tulips! I loved them!
Mmmm such beautiful colors!