Happy 24!!

Happy Birthday to me!!!!! Last week I had my first official birthday while in school, since I was in Elementary School that is......A birthday as a teacher is fun....but not as much fun when my students all ask me why we can't just have a birthday party that day ;) That being said, I had a GREAT day!!! One of my students told me "I know what I can get you for your birthday! I will be really good all day." What a great present, especially from a student who usually drives me a bit crazy.  The funny story of the day happened when my class first found out it was my birthday. One of my GATE kids (gifted and talented) asked for the date. When I told him, he looked up at the board and said "Oh my gosh, it's your birthday....it says on the birthday board that your birthday is on the 19th and today is the 19th, happy birthday!" What followed was a whole lot of happy birthday wishes which then one of my students said, "Wait, does that mean you are now a Mrs. instead of a Ms.?". I laughed so hard.....oh children......The rest of the excitement came from almost every child I passed in the hallways telling me happy birthday....I have no idea how they knew who I was, or how they knew it was my birthday, but it made me happy anyways.

Anyways.....The Saturday before my birthday I went out with a bunch of friends to Lucille's BBQ, which is one of our favorite places :) we had a lot of fun laughing and talking, and just hanging out! Then we headed back to our apartment to watch Thor, which is always a plus :) On Monday, we just invited our old roommates Nikki and Laura over for some ice cream cake.


I am now officially 24, which honestly doesn't feel a whole lot different than 23. I guess another year older but not too much wiser ;) I do have to count my blessings this birthday. I have started my second year of teaching at a most wonderful school and even though I have had a lot of struggles, I am grateful for the opportunity to work with such wonderful people. I have an amazing roommate who listens to me complain about school, helps me figure my problems out, and always pays attention when I need help. I have the most amazing set of parents who are willing to drop everything and help me when I need it. My mom is most amazing and will talk to me for hours at a time when I need a listening ear or some good advice. I also have the most amazing family. Although at times completely crazy, I know that I am loved by all of them!!  I have so many blessings in my life and I am grateful for times like these that remind me of all of the blessings that I have.

Madame Tussauds

 Back in August before school started, Madame Tussauds Wax Museum was having a special day where teachers could get in for free. I had never been to a wax museum before, and it was quite exciting. I went with some of my friends, and we had fun posing and "meeting" with our favorite celebrities. It was a great to relax and do something exciting before school started out again and we became so busy we could not take a break :) Stephanie, Jennifer, Laura, Nikki, Jenavive, and I really had too much fun, as you can tell from the pictures!!!

 

4th Grade

What's that you say?? You're excited?? Well, you should be :) I found out about a month after school was out that I was not only getting hired again for next school year, but I was hired back at the same school in the same grade!!!!! Oh my, I am so excited :) I think that it really hit home when my office manager at the school called me yesterday to ask me to send them a supply list to go home for my students. I know it may sound cheesy, but I was SO ecstatic! I get to start the school year at the very beginning! I have been reading and preparing and buying and I can NOT wait for the school year to start :) I'm pretty sure it will be a most wondrous school year!!

4th of July

Who doesn't enjoy some 4th of July fun?? This 4th was quite amazing. I was way excited to go home because I wasn't able to go home last year and I missed out :) BUT, this year was most definitely a memorable occasion!! With eight kids and eight adults, the house was full of commotion....Alan and Mary came with their kids, Adrienne and Jason came with their kids. It was just a bit crazy, but at the same time not quite crazy enough. We spent some time at some places I hadn't been in a long while and then a fireworks show to finish everything off. I love spending time with the family, even if all of the kids wear me out (one of the advantages of being single is that I don't have to deal with kids all the time-except for during the school year). When I got there we went to the zoo and this is my newest niece Amanda, first time I had seen her!
She is so adorable, and a very happy baby.
We went to the beach and then decided to stop by Camp 18, which is a restaurant. Outside of the restaurant is a stream (I guess it could be a river...) Anyways, here is a picture of me and the grandkids present on the 4th.
We also took a trip downtown and walked along the waterfront. We saw some ships, watched the bridges go up several times, and enjoyed the view. I love the colors of Portland, and often miss them while living in the desert of Vegas :)
Me with Alan's kids at the waterfront.
My most wonderful parents and I
Yet again, did I mention how much I absolutely LOVE the scenes of Oregon??

At the beach :) Brian (my brother in law) claims that I don't enjoy the beach because I didn't grow up around the "real" beach. (such as California where he grew up) I agree that it is probably true. The middle of the summer and we were FREEZING hanging out on the beach for just a hour or so...but you have to admit it is quite beautiful!



Me with Amanda again, she is so cute!!
And then my other niece Abby, she is going into fourth grade this year and it is hard to imagine that I could be her teacher (since I am teaching 4th this year) Wow, how my nieces and nephews are growing up, I remember when I held them as little babies....memories :)


A trip to the Tillamook Cheese Factory is a favorite. I refuse to eat any other cheese than Tillamook, even though it is a bit more expensive ;)
And then we get to the main event. Here we are loading shells into the mortars for the big show! Coming from Vegas my family was making fun of me because I actually was getting cold on the 4th while they were all sweating and hot...

And the crew. You have me, my dad, Alan (brother) Noland (friend of Alan's), David (brother), and George (friend of David's) It is true, I am the only girl in the picture....We didn't realize I was the only girl shooting until the pictures were being taken...I guess that is another benefit of being single, I don't have any kids to look after so I can be free to do as I would like!!





Overall, a wonderful trip. I have to say that I am grateful to my parents because it sure is a lot of work to not only have so many people in town at their house, but to also prepare for the fireworks show. We had a LOT of fun, I am so glad I went, and I feel blessed to be a part of such a wonderful family....even if we are on occasion slightly dysfunctional (which family isn't?? I take it as a sign of love :)

Our New Apartment :)

My roommate Theresa and I just moved into a new apartment. We were very excited to decorate and organize things and even though the apartment is smaller than our house, we feel like it gives us a lot more room than our house did. I definitely have a larger bedroom and a larger bathroom and I do not have to share either :) As much as I love Theresa, having my own bathroom is quite amazing!! So, take a tour with me through our new apartment!!!
Our welcome mat coming into the apartment.
Welcome to number 2222 (I love our apartment number)
The view out our front door.
Coming down our front steps. We have our own stairs that are not shared with any other apartments. We really like that!
Welcome to our Living Room. Off to the right is our front door. Then you have our new couches and coffee table. There is a matching end table in between the two couches.
Our TV and that side of the room. We really like the little ledge that you can see at the top of the picture from our vaulted ceiling. We spent some time deciding how to decorate it and the only thing we have missing is the temple picture we are still saving money to buy :)
The other side of the wall in the living room that leads into the kitchen. You can see the entrance to the hallway and the rest of the apartment to the left. You will notice that the wall is brown. We were able to have accent walls painted by the maintenance before we moved in. The brown is one of the colors they offered. The other walls are colors we went and picked out and brought them the paint. We really enjoy having the accent walls painted, it makes it feel like home :)
Another view of our living room going into the kitchen.


Here is our kitchen. We love it, but wish there were more drawers and cupboard space. We got a baker's rack that you see on the right of the picture to give us some extra storage space. We also have mugs hanging from the wall above it.
Here is the dining room. Again, we have an accent wall painted red. The table we have is temporary. Theresa is saving up for a nice big table from Sam's club. But, the folding table actually works great for now!
Leading out from our dining room you have the balcony. We don't use it right now for anything but storage. We want to eventually put some chairs out there that we can sit and read in, probably we will do it when it isn't so hot outside.
Here is my room with my purple wall (I quite enjoy that purple color). I got a new bed when we moved and am loving the queen size !! The only thing I don't like is the vertical blinds. They tend to clang together when they get a whiff of any type of breeze, which wakes me up if I'm not in my deep sleep stage yet....
Another view of my room.
My walk in closet I am now in love with. It was one of the things I was looking for in an apartment and I absolutely love the space it brings :) I am able to hang everything up and I ended up not getting a dresser-At least not yet.
Here is my bathroom. I LOVE having my own bathroom. Theresa has the master room and so she has a bigger bathroom but, believe it or not, this bathroom is double the size of my old one, so it is quite spacey. I love the counter space and the ability to walk around in the room. I also love that it is all mine and I don't have to worry about having my stuff all out and about :)
Another view of my bathroom. You can see my shower and shower curtain in the background. We tried to put up a curved shower curtain rod but were running into something in the wall we couldn't drill through, so I had to use just a regular shower curtain rod.


Just outside of my bathroom and bedroom we have a hallway closet that stores our games, vacuum, mop, and some kitchen appliances. It looks a little disorganized-just the way we like it ;)Here is the hallway leading to Theresa's room.
And that leads us into her bathroom. She has the master-yes, I offered it to her. I am jealous of her bathroom. Her counter space is incredible!!
And here is her shower with the curved shower curtain rod.
We then have her walk in closet which she claims is slightly smaller than mine....
And her room, with her blue accent wall. One of the things I really liked about the apartment is the space of the rooms. Although she has the master her room doesn't seem too much bigger than mine. The biggest difference is her bathroom.
Another view of her room with her mirror that we can not figure out how to hang up.....one of these days we will try something that actually works :)
And a final view of her room as you walk in the door. I do quite enjoy looking at her colorful room and I love the color of her blue wall!!


All in all, we absolutely love our new place. There are a few things we would change, but everything else is wonderful. We feel like we are living on our own with real bills to pay that are in our name and not others. We have loved decorating and organizing the place and absolutely love every minute of being here!! If you ever find yourself in Vegas (well, technically Henderson) don't forget to stop on by-seeing it in person is so much better than in the photo's :)