Singing Praises...Hallelujah...

To help bring a little Christmas Spirit into my life I decided to join the ward choir... just in time for the River Hills Ward's production of "The Prince of Peace" a live nativity. It was quite the spectacular event. I especially enjoyed the fact that we had to wear matching scarfs and the most incredibly itchy hats imaginable.
What you can not see is the amount of clothes I am wearing. Since we were singing outside I had to triple layer it with thermals, spandex and then jeans. Ahh the joys of winter in Utah!

"Let's go shake their hawnds"

One of my favorite movies has always been Cool Runnings. The best part of that movie is at the very end when the Germans win the bobsled race and they see the Jamaicans who have just lost (sorry if I just spoiled the ending) and they say "Let's go shake their hands" with their thick German accents. I don't know why I think it is so funny but yesterday we had the perfect opportunity to use that phrase. My family and I went to a Thanksgiving program in Millcreek. We played in their community orchestra and then they had special guest speaker Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf. After the program Elder Uchtdorf hung around to greet people and Clark suggested we "go shake his hawnd". As we were waiting Clark, John and I were double and triple dog daring each other to say something in German to him but since the phrases we know are pretty ridiculous none of us really did except John who threw in a couple of "ja"s into the conversation. Anyway after he shook our hands we walked to the back of the room to pack up and leave but before we did we ran into Elder Uchtdorf again and he said "hi again" and shook my hand again. I know what you are thinking... twice!!!I took this picture right after the incident so everyone can see the hand that touched Elder Uchtdorf's hand twice! It really was a great way to start Thanksgiving Day. Elder Uchtdorf is a spectacular man.The rest of Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. We ate dinner at my mom's house. Clark, John and I made pilgrim hat cookies for table decorations and since we had left over frosting we decided to use it to write our names on our plates.
I think my mom was a little bugged by our immaturity but it sure was fun!

Giving Thanks!

This year I have been feeling extra festive so we have been celebrating Thanksgiving all week long at school. Last Wednesday the school cafeteria was serving a turkey dinner so we decided to push the desks together to make a few long tables and eat lunch in our room. My students weaved some paper together to make festive place mats and they made themselves Indian and Pilgrim headbands. It really was hilarious how much they were getting into it. They even started calling each other "Chief Mose" and writing "Nicole the Pilgrim" on their papers.Since my students were becoming such Thanksgiving aficionados I decided to teach them how to weave with yarn. Our looms were pretty small so the finished product turned out to be more like a weaved coaster. It became a great fast finisher. When they finished their classwork they chose if they wanted to silent read or silent weave. It was great!!

Excitement on Legs

Last Saturday I went to watch Clark shake his thing at BYU Dance Sport. This was a dance competition for kids from about 6 or 7 years old to college age. Clark won a sixth place prize in the novice standard ballroom competition which was impressive considering how many people were dancing in his category. The highlight however was the little kids doing the latin dances. Classic!

Halloween! Halloween!!

One of the reasons I love being an Elementary School Teacher is holidays, especially Halloween! Some of the highlights of today were: the Halloween parade at school, making Witches Brew with my class, eating Irene's English soup and watching the Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D. And as always the thing I love most about Halloween is dressing up. Here are my picks for best costumes this year:
"Off with his heeaad!" This was one of my most favorite costumes (worn by Brittany) mostly I am jealous of her flamingo.
This is our fearless leader (aka Principal) complete with his walkie talkie (in case he needs to call for back-up)!
My class boogie-ing their way through the school parade!
As an added bonus to Halloween festivities here is the gang at our ward Halloween party. (I just wanted to use the phrase "the gang". I don't know why.)

This is Halloween!

I love Halloween! I mean really what's not to love...dressing up, candy, pumpkin treats... yes, yes and yes! Over the years I have taken a fashion to dressing up as someone famous. There has been Steven Tyler, Paula Abdul, Punky Brewster and this year I was Ugly Betty. In the past my costumes have been...good, but this year it was...awesome! I mean, I thought I looked pretty good at our ward Halloween party but then Mandy found this picture and the similarities are uncanny.

Can you tell who is who?

And yes, those are my real eyebrows!!!

Calling all Johns!

After three long torture-ous days my brother John finally opened his mission call. And the winner was......not me (I couldn't be more angry!) anyway I made a video of it so we can re-live the moment over and over and over again. So without much further ado here is John...

In case you missed it, he is going to Hiroshima, Japan!!!
Konichiwa!

"I Like You Because You're Not Right in the Head"

Last night Mandy and I went to the concert of a lifetime...
Morrissey live in a barn!
It was fantastic... the intimate setting... the lyrical genius-ness... and Morrissey took his shirt off twice. Apparently that is his signature move to remove his shirt during the song "Let Me Kiss You". The shirt removal was also appropriately staged because does it while singing:

Close your eyes
and think of someone
you physically admire
and let me kiss you
let me kiss you
But then you open your eyes
and you see someone
that you physically despise (remove shirt)

The best is that his shirt is all sweaty and then he kisses it and throws it to the audience. A fight almost broke out because of it. It was sweeet!

Sure Morrissey is old and a little chubby but his voice and songs are timeless. This was my first time seeing him live and I was glad to do so with the original, ultimate fan Mandy (I know there have been a lot of recent converts but Mandy is still the original and a s she puts it "I know I am not a significant part of his l ife but he is a significant part of mine. I have loved him for 2 decades.") I think that is pretty hard core. I only wish I had seen him 20 years earlier then I would have seen this...

Other concert highlights included the backup boy band or "Boy's club" as Morrissey most likely refers to them. And of course my Morrissey belt buckle which was given to me by Tara... Thank you Tara!

Party on Wheels!

"Mucho gusto!!!" This was my favorite picture because it took several tries to get it right. Luckily we had time while we were waiting at the Mexican border... Me, Kyla, Laura and Ramzy

Nice bikes!

T.O.W. on the ride again!! This time we rode 50 miles from Rosarito to Ensenada in sunny Mexico. This ride was awesome and just as the registration promised it was definitely a "Party on Wheels".

There was a lot of craziness going on. Many of the riders dress up in costumes or just interesting clothes. We saw a group of 4 Dorothys and a scarecrow. Raimee's favorite was the guys dressed in only ladies underwear and wrestling masks. (two words: ew and ow) And my favorite... people with donkey heads on their bikes wearing panchos and sombreros... very festive! Local kids line the streets to cheer for the bikers and the bikers throw them candy. Again very festive.

Luckily they had roadside assistance... I had a small incidence climbing up the 4 mile mountain. I was unable to downshift and had to tough the hill by riding in my second gear the whole way up. I'm a champ, I know!

The rest stops were also awesome because unlike the Heber ride where they had water, gatorade and fruit the Rosarito ride had stops at various cantinas where they served ice cold beer and tamales. Hmm... drunk people on bikes...and just in time for the 4 miles downhill.

At the finish line they had a fiesta for all the participants and the locals of course! Overall, good times were had by all!

"A Rude Awakening"

So recently some fellow teachers (Kyla, Raimee) and I decided to form a bike club. Every Wednesday we bring our bikes to school and ride up towards the copper mines after school. We decided that we should train for a specific event so we signed up to do a 50 mile bike ride in Rosarito, Mexico. We even have a team name... T.O.W. "Teachers on Wheels".

Well as the date approaches we have been getting more and more nervous. To help ease our nerves we thought we could do a trial bike ride and ride the Heber Century. Now for all of you who don't know, century = 100 miles but there was also a 25 mile option, which was our initial plan. Well for some suicidal reason we thought 25 miles sounded wimpy so instead we took the 50 mile option.

This event went down last Saturday and I have lived to tell the tale so that is good news. It was rather intense I won't downplay it. Raimee's husband took us up to Heber and was our unofficial pit crew. He tried to prep us for the ride up there but I think he thought we were crazy and said we were in for a rude awakening and rude awakening it was. This was in no way a "warm up" ride. If anything this ride was the great achievement and Mexico will seem like a joy ride. Here is my evidence:
*Exhibit one: the elevation... Heber 5500-6500 ft., Rosarito 700 ft.
*Exhibit two: weather... Heber- rainy and windy, Rosarito- sunny.
*Exhibit three: setting... Heber- mountains, Rosarito- beaches.

Well after a week of recovery we are off to Mexico so... stay tuned... and pictures will follow.

Ms. Ideaz!

Since I am currently off-track from school I decided to help out some fellow teachers and do some "trade days". Trade days means that I substitute for them while I am off-track and then they substitute for me when they are off track. In this manner we can save our sick days and we get more days off for free! Anyway, on Monday I substituted for a Kindergarten teacher. It was quite the entertaining experience. My favorite was a little Mexican boy (or "Messican" as he kept saying). He kept asking me what my name was and when I would tell him he would say "Ms. Ideaz?" It was pretty funny.
Anyway the purpose of this post was to share what wonderful things the students of Ms. Ideaz have learned during their unit on safety. We talked about different safety topics during our last few weeks of school and on the last day I put them in groups, assigned a director, and let them create their own "Second Grade Public Service Announcement". We watched a few examples from YouTube but the scripting and acting is purely their own. I would also like to add that I did assign all students a job in their group and one of the jobs was Costume Design. This cracked me up because they took it very seriously and tried to coordinate their outfits. The best comment I heard was from one group who wanted their "bully" to wear red because "bullies wear red".

Special Thanks to Raimee who did the editing and added the special effects!
p.s. The video is a little fuzzy to protect the identity of the students. Just kidding. I will try to get a better version of the video later. Sorry.

Bringing "Feelings" Back

Last weekend I had the pleasure of hangin' with my homegirls T-licious and Foxy A (otherwise known as Tara and Celeste) chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool at the End of Summer Jamboree at Thanksgiving Point. Despite the fact that entering Thanksgiving Point is like entering Prison we had a pretty good time. Points of interest were: The Aquabats (fun for kids and spectating from a distance), The Format (AZ locals), Some girl who sang songs about feelings, Toad the Wet Sprocket (surprisingly excellent) and the main reason for attending and lets face it the main reason for my existence... Dashboard Confessional (two words- tight pants and hightops, need I say more). Here is the magnificence himself, Chris Carrabba...
I am sorry but I don't care if he does spend most of his time screaming infidelities it was definately worth the wait of a 12 hour concert just for this piece of eye candy. I especially liked how Glen Phillips from Toad the Wet Sprocket, talking about Chris, said he was "bringing feelings back".

As a sidenote: on the way to the concert we stumbled upon a fantastic little restaurant. And for all my gueros out there who love juice it is a must try.

It's the Aquabats! High Five!

P.S. If anyone knows what a "Sprocket" is please let me know.

I Like To Party!

This year I had the best birthday ever!! Mandy, Lesli and I had a surprise party for myself which included margaritas, cake and karaoke. All of my favorite things!
Mandy, Lesli and I went out to dinner first and while we were away Katrina broke in and decorated in a Luau fashion. It was fantastic! I also received great gifts...

Jared's mustache

My bike (a gift to myself)

Cards from my many friends! Thank you!!

It's My Birthday and I'll Cry if I Want To...

Once again it's my birthday! I am another year older and wiser too. According to my mother, this year is significant because my birthday falls on a Monday and I was actually born on a Monday. In recognition of the blessed event I decided to post some pictures of birthdays past.

Presents!!! Yes please.

I like to party!

P.S. Since it is my birthday now would be an appropriate time to leave a comment especially if you never do!

Rockin' the Library!

Disclamer: Nerd Alert! I know but I am ok with that.
Fact: This weekend I was introduced to the wide world of wizarding rock. I had no idea that there was such a thing but apparently there is and it is huge. Don't believe me? Check this out.
Event: Saturday night "Harry and the Potters" performed live at the SLC Library with special guest "Draco and the Malfoys". It was seriously the awesomest concert I have ever witnessed. I don't know which band I liked better they were both so excellent. My favorite things about "Draco and the Malfoys" were that their opening song was "Party like your evil" and before every song they said "our next song is about this kid at Hogwarts who gets too much attention for his own good". For samples of their songs check out Draco and the Malfoys' myspace. I highly recommend the song "Potions Yesterday". My favorite thing about "Harry and the Potters" was the ridiculous amount of energy and enthusiasm they put into their music. They also had excellent songs especially "Save Ginny Weasley".
Evidence: This is a video of me and Clark at the concert to prove that we were there, we rocked and we bought the T-shirt!
Added Bonus: If you enjoyed this segment on Wizard Rock then here is another link you will enjoy. This is by far my favorite wizard rock song of all time (time being the last 2 days)... The Whomping Willows and their hit song "House called Awesome". It is a song about how the whomping willow wants to be sorted but he can't because he is a tree so he starts his own house and it's called "Awesome".

Well-Mannered Frivolity!

In recognition of the long awaited release of the seventh and final Harry Potter book I decided to pay tribute through blog. Last Saturday night, at 11:00 pm, my brother Clark and I joined the many Harry Potter fans at the U of U bookstore to receive our copy of the long anticipated book. We decided to take advantage of this opportunity to wear our Harry Potter outfits for what may possibly be the last time. Me in my Professor Trewlany glasses and Clark in his wizarding robes (he was crushed that he couldn't find his "Magical Me" book as a tribute to Professor Lockhart).

The Harry Potter Party at the bookstore was fantastic!! As soon as we walked in the door we were all sorted. I was sorted into the Ravenclaw house which we all know are known for their intellect (rightly sorted I believe). Then we received 5 galleons to spend on various activities such as wand making, butterbeer and Bertie Botts every flavor beans at the Hogshead Tavern, quidditch, face painting, Weasly's Wizard Wheezes, ect.

Brett, Aaron, Me, Clark and Steve.. all proud owners of the last Harry Potter book!

Some people couldn't wait to get home before they started reading. Steve read as he was driving us back to his apartment. I even read the entire first chapter out loud to Clark as he drove us home.

What you cannot see here is Brett because he is under the invisibility cloak!

Now I would like to take a moment to share some personal thoughts on the last and final Harry Potter book. I have to be honest here and say that I was a little disappointed. Not only because she killed off one of my

favorite characters but because the epilogue was incredibly chessy. Some may disagree but it kind of ruined the book for me. After giving it some more thought I have concluded that probably the main reason I was disappointed was because now the mystery and intrigue is over. There is nothing left to look forward to, nothing to try and figure out. This last book was bittersweet. I have enjoyed the fantasy that was Harry Potter. I guess I will just have to get on with my own life but what fun is reality?

We've Only Just Begun...

Last week I traveled back in time (or so it seemed) and went to Las Cruces, New Mexico. It was great to see some of my favorite friends of all times... Chacha, Sean E. Boy, Esmer, Lisa, Erika, Corby, James ect.
It was much like old times with the daily trip to Walmart and of course lots of movie watching. Thanks to Corby, we saw three movies in the theater over the course of two days and only paid for one of them: 1408- Freaky! Ratatouille- Lame! Harry Potter- Awesome!

During this trip I had the pleasure of going to the Gila Cliff Dwellings. I had never been before and it was quite spectacular. I have always felt that I was a Cliff Dwelling Indian in one of my past lives. That kind of stuff fascinates me.

Overall, pretty good trip. I think that James Davis said it best when he said, "Alina, I haven't thought about you once in 2 years and now that I see you I totally miss you!" The feeling is mutual with the exception that I actually do think about my New Mexican friends all the time.