I ROCK!!!

I rock. Yes, that's what I said. I rock! We had to give a mini-mini lesson in class today just using a "hook" and purpose. Basically, you get the students interested and the state an objective. Normally you would continue and teach a lesson, but we were just doing the basics. Well, I was the only one where every one was so hooked that they actually asked me to explain! My lesson was on buttons. What's interesting about buttons, you ask? Well, on men's shirts buttons are on the right and on women's shirts they are on the left. That's because when buttons first came out only the gentry could afford them. The gentlemen would dress themselves, but the ladies would have others dress them. Pretty neat, huh?

I also rock because I get Dad for almost a whole week! He's coming out to Elko to do some work at the Indian Health Clinic out here and he's staying with us. I'm pretty darn excited.

ERAGON TRAILER

I can't decide whether I'm excited or not.

Teaching

I'm not sure how many people know, but I decided to go back to school and get my teaching certificate. I've been busy! My job has been very flexible and worked with my school schedule, but that still means I'm working about 40 hours a week and taking 19 credits. Add organ lessons and actually spending some time with my husband and there's not a whole lot of time left over. That's about my only exciting news right now!

Review - Secondhand Lions

I know this is an older movie (2003), but I watched it again last night and it just reminded me how much I like it. I'ts just a fun, heartwarming story. If you didn't see it when it came out, you should see it now. It's rated PG for thematic material, language and action violence. It's a story about a boy who goes to live with his eccentric uncles for awhile. I think it's one of my all time favorite movies.

Final Fnatasy VII - Robot Chicken

This one's for Shane!

Sunset

This is one of my better sunset pictures.

Cody

I hope this works! This happens every time I try to play the piano.

Aaaaawwwwwwwwwwhhhhhh! How cute!

http://www.babyanimalz.com

Who needs sleep...

I have come to the conclusion that I prefer cold weather to hot. I cannot sleep in hot weather. We do not have air conditioning and so it feels like a haven't gotten a good nights rest for the last two weeks. It doesn't help that Cameron and I have conflicting night time habits. I open the window every night to try and cool the room down. Then when he comes to bed he closes it every night to block out our next door neighboors dogs barking. Then we just keep the cycle going all night long. I think we're going to move our bed downstairs though, because our basement is much cooler and you can't hear the dogs as much, so we can both sleep! This may seem insignificant to you guys, but I would really like to get some good sleep.

Also, I would just like to mention that I am a slacker. I do not post comments on your blogs as often as I should. I would just like to let you know that I am interested and I do check the blogs every day and love it when there are new posts for me to read. So, keep them coming and I'll try to comment more!

Elko Basque Festival

Every year Elko holds the Basque Festival, seeing as it was largely founded by Basque. We decided to go because I wanted to see the running of the bulls. There was dancing at first, and the coolest part of the dancing was a contest to see who could jump on a glass filled with wine without tipping it over. Unfortunately, I didn't get any great shots of the running of the bulls. The best part was at the end when they were trying to fence the bulls back in. One of the bulls almost sent the piece of fence flying into the audience! Over all it was pretty cool.

Supervising

So, this is what happens when I leave my little dog unsupervised. The cracker box got stuck on his head.

Also, Cameron was just promoted to shift supervisor! It's been in the works for awhile, but they finally gave him an offer last Friday and he accepted on Tuesday. It's more money, which is good, but some of the hours are going to suck. He has to work 14 hour shifts, but will only work about 14 days a month. He will also have to work five nights. He will get full week off a month though. We're pretty excited.

Pictures

I finally have a working camera again! Here are some pictures of my dogs and my cars. I think most of you have seen them already, but it was on a really tingy screen. Hopefully you guys will be seeing more pictures from now on!

Story time

I have a couple of stories today, some good, some funny.

First, a church story. I play once a month in sacrament meeting and it was my turn last Sunday. I was sitting up there kind of daydreaming when it was time to play the first hymn. I got through the intro and the ward came in and I realized - I was playing the wrong hymn! I had to stop everything and start over again! It was pretty funny.

Second, a personal story. The other day Cameron asked me, "Do you know some one in Salt Lake named Ann? I got a phone call from an Ann." I was quite confused because he knows Aunty Ann pretty well, so I thought for sure that he couldn't mean her. I racked my brain trying to think of any other Ann's that I would know in Salt Lake and couldn't come up with any, so finally I asked, "You mean Aunty Ann?" He said, "Oh! Well why didn't she just introduce herself as Aunty Ann!?"

Third, a work story. I am officially all alone at work. First, the sales guy quit, and now the pump tech quit. So, it's just little ol' me. On the bright side, since I was the only one to stick around, I got a raise! They're obviously going to find other employees, but it might take awhile so for now I get to be bored out of my mind for most of the day.

Finally, on a musical note, I love the organ! It's a great instrument to learn how to really play. I recommend that any one who has the opportunity to take lessons does it, because it's just so much fun. Next family reunion I'll have a great talent to share on talent night!

Hey

I'm sorry I haven't blogged for awhile. There just hasn't been much to blog about. The most exciting thing that we've done lately is clean our carpets. Why is this exciting you might ask? Well, we had a huge mud spot on our carpet that looked horrible. It took six gallons of water to get that sucker clean. It's just nice to have our carpet back to it's normal color.

Another event worth noting is that the salesperson who works here quit. With only three of us here, you definitely notice when someone quits. We should have a new guy in a couple of weeks though, so it's not a huge deal.

Other than that, not too much is going on. I'm still taking organ lessons, which is fun. My teacher says I'm a natural! I have a great new Bach piece to play that is very dramatic. And it's been helping me to keep up on my piano skills. Cam's still doing well at work. He's going to have a new boss soon, so hopefully he'll get along with whoever will be filling the position. His current boss is being promoted.

Like I said, it's kind of boring here, but I hope everyone else is doing well!

To be, or not to be?

Well, there has finally been an official decision regarding Cameron's desire to be a doctor. It's a resounding no! He decided to sign up for mine rescue to experience a little bit of what being a doctor would be like. Well, they finally got back to him and asked him to go on an ambulance ride. Well, let's just say that Cameron has absolutely no desire to be a doctor any more. Too much pressure. I don't think he's going to do mine rescue any more either. But, the floor is still open for many other careers. Teacher, actuary, etc.. I'm sure he'll figure it out someday!

Also, I thought I should share my adventure for the day. It snowed about a foot last night and it was still snowing some this morning. I decided to poke my head out the front door to see how bad it was and see if my car would be able to make it out of the drive way. Well, I guess I opened the door to wide, because Kayla escaped! Kayla as in the Alaskan Malamute we have that is bred for snow. Lots and lots of snow. I didn't have my shoes on, so she got quite a head start on me. The only advantage I had was the snow made it so I could follow her tracks quite easily. I think I trekked through over 2 miles of foot deep snow before I finally caught her! It was also still snowing a little bit so it was hard to see. To top it all off, I had just taken a shower, so my hair froze while I was trying to find her. It really, really, really stunk. Next time I'm getting a small dog so that it can't make it more than a few feet before I catch it.

Finally, I thought I would share my thoughts on the reunion. It was fun to see every one and to get to know all my nieces and nephews better. I also really enjoyed going to the temple with every one in such a beautiful setting. And the John Deere factory rocked! I now have one of the hillbilliest hats every. I think one of the funniest parts though was seeing Todd hyper. He's quite a funny guy with so much energy going through him. Good luck keeping up with him Deanna! Anyway, I miss all you guys and it was great to see every one!

New stuff

I thought I would update about the new things in our life. The two biggest things are that we got a new truck and we got a new puppy. I was trying to wait until I could post pictures, but I cannot find the cord that will dowload it from my camera to my computer. The truck is a 2004 Toyota Tundra. It's really nice, and it does well in the snow. The dog is a seven week old hound mix. He's really cute, but he bites a lot!

We did hear from the NRC and they offered Cameron a job. He's leaning towards staying in Elko though, because the cost of living is so high in DC. He's still thinking about it though, so we'll see!

Also, Tammy said that she was going to make me the official baker of the family reunion. I was wondering if there were any request. I'm definitely making Mexican Chocolate Cake and Fat Man's Misery, but does any one else have suggestions? I was thinking maybe ice cream cake or sugar cookies. Just let me know.

Finally, thanks every one for all my birthday calls and well wishes. I apologize to Shane though, because he called me after I had already been asleep for a little while, so I'm not exactly sure what we talked about!

I hope everyone's doing well, and I can't wait until the reunion!

Interview

Sorry that it took so long too update. It sounds like you guys want to know how Cam's interview went. Cam thinks that it went well, but he's disappointed because it's not the job he thought it was. He applied for a lot of different jobs with the NRC, and he thought this was the nuclear inspector job, but apparently it wasn't. He'd be more of an office man. Also, he was shocked at just how much higher the cost of living is over there. We'd be living right by DC and a crappy apartment is about the same cost as our house payment! We don't know officially if he has been offered the job yet, but we're not sure we're going to take it even if they offer. Another reason for us to stay is that his job is getting better. Some of the higher ups have taken notice of the work he has been doing, and they've started giving him his own projects! He's also been asked to do some Met II stuff, and he's still officially only a Met I. So, with the downside of going to DC added to the plus side of living here, it's looking more and more like we'll be here for awhile.

This last part is for Shane. I got FFVII Advent Children to work! It's not the highest quality possible, but it still looks pretty cool. I'll be bringing you a copy.

Jobs

I have some exciting news. Cameron has a job interview with the NRC! (Nuclear Regulatory Commision) This was the job that he really wanted, but he didn't think they were going to contact him. He flies to DC on Sunday and will interview in Rockville, Maryland on Monday. Obviously, if he gets this job, we won't be going back to school. I think he will basically be a nuclear inspector, but I'm not exactly sure where the job is located. Probably somewhere on the East coast though. It will be much easier for me to find an actuary job if we move to the East coast, so it would be good all around. I'll be taking the first actuarial exam on the 23rd of this month, so wish me luck!

Happy Birthday

I don't know if every one else thinks about this at all, but today is mom's birthday. I thought it might be nice to reminisce because she was a pretty special lady.

I'm so thankful for the many things she taught me. I would be clueless about the everyday tasks of life like cooking, laundry, etc. if it were not for her. Although, don't ask me to wash anything wool, because I will inevitably shrink it! I remember having to do chores every week and having to cook once a week. I used to hate it, but at least now I know how to do those things. She would always help me with anything new I wanted to learn about baking, sewing, or just general knowledge. She was always learning new things, and helping us to learn new things to. I think all of us can appreciate the things she taught us about music.

I'm also grateful for the strength of testimony she had. You could really feel that she had a personal relationship with the Savior. It is one of the things that has helped me build my own testimony. She was great about doing the everyday things like praying, reading the scriptures, and family home evening. I still remember using the flannel storyboard to teach us lessons for family home evening. What a great way to hold a child's attention. Even while she was sick, you could still see her faith and testimony shining through.

Mom was just a great mom. Her example has taught us all how to have great family's. Just look at all the great children you guys have raised. It's hard to express in words all the things I want to say, but I think you guys understand. So, happy birthday mom, until we meet again.

Early Morning

I guess I never explained why I've been posting so very early in the morning. Since my car is dead, I've had to carpool with Cameron. He has to be at the buses by 5:15 a.m., so I'm stuck getting up at 4:00 a.m.! He carpools with another guy, but on the week Cam is driving, I have to go to. It sucks. But, I have regulated my sleep schedule a little better. I went to bed at 8:30 p.m. last night. I haven't done that since the second grade! Also, since it would cost money and would cause wear and tear on the car to drive to back to Spring Creek after Cameron gets on the bus, I've been hanging out at a little coffee shop. It's one of the few places open at 5:00 a.m. and it has a couch. I'm hoping I will get a key to the office soon, and then I could just go sleep there in the mornings. But, I'll bet I get a new car before I get a key to the office, and by then I won't need it!

By the way Auntie Ann, no furniture yet. We're too focused on getting a new car!