I Can't Believe . . .

. . . two things:

1. That my computer is absolutely retarded and won't let me upload any of Collin's cool wrestling photos

2. That WRESTLING SEASON starts today! Is it already that time again? Wait a sec, who am I kidding? It is wrestling season YEAR ROUND at our house! But now it's legal, and everyone else is in on it too!!! So, I have strapped on my head gear and I'm determined to be a supportive wife this year! I made it to the week before State last year... here's for going all the way this year!!!

Tradition!

I love these little Pilgrim hats! For reasons:

1. They are so easy to make.

2. They taste pretty good!

3. They look stinkin' cute!

I have made these 3 or 4 years in a row for Thanksgiving, and last year I gave them out to my students the week before Thanksgiving. So I decided to continue the tradition! We've got 30 little pilgrim hats sitting in our fridge for good students this week! Yet another thing I love about my job. Who doesn't like giving out cute-looking sugar? ps- That's me in the picture! I know, don't I look different?

Painting!

Well, Collin and I finally sat down and planned all the improvements we hope to make to our house, and how we're (hopefully) going to do them. So hopefully within the next year or so you'll see us with new carpet, replaced/or painted trim, new doors, new outlets and switch covers, new light fixtures, and a sprinkler system! Our house wasn't a "fixer-upper" when we moved in, although there are definitely lots of things that need to be updated. And we figured putting it off for a year was fine... but now we better get started!

So, our first project started last weekend. We changed from this: to this:
... as you can see, it was light when we started... and dark when we finished! It was a 2-day project! I actually did the kitchen window and the back door on Friday, which actually took me like 5 hours while Collin was at a coaching clinic. Then Saturday I, uh, had to take some time to go shopping and stop by a craft fair before I got back to work.... so I didn't get started on the living room until about 4:00. Collin came home from the clinic and we both dug in...we had to make a trip to get more paint and another brush, and we briefly considered getting a new door for a closet, but ended up just getting some Beto's and coming home to keep working on the job. We watched 2 movies while we painted.... and painted.... and painted! And it was just the trim and baseboards! But now our whole living room, kitchen, and dining room are done... and we just have the hallway, bathrooms, and our room to finish. Okay, when I write that it actually makes it seem like we still have half the house. Dang it. Oh well. I'm excited about it. It makes our house much brighter and newer looking. I'm really excited to start replacing the doors too. So stay tuned, I'm sure I'll be posting more of our hard work!

This is a shot of the back door I spent 4 hours on! (if you're interested, that's 2 discs of Friends and an episode of Ugly Betty!)

Changes Next Door

So, if you've ever been to our house in the last year and a half we've lived here, you have seen the hideous eye sore to the right of us--the pale green siding, the weeds 5 feet high (from this we learned that there is a city ordinance against having weeds over 4 feet in your yard--you get fined), the random lawn ornaments littered in the bare dirt yard... you get the idea. No one has lived there for a couple of years, and it has been bought and sold by different "house flippers" several times just since we've lived here.
WELL . . . all that has changed! In the last few weeks, look what has happened: yahoo!! I'm sorry I couldn't find a "before" picture, but I know everyone who's been here can probably vividly remember the hideousness!! The house has been completely painted and landscaped! And now they are remodeling the entire inside as well. We are so excited because it makes our culdesac look WAAY nicer, not to mention we are hoping someday we will have some rockin' neighbors move in! (as opposed to the scary child-mo's we were expecting previously.)
I put in one more shot just for your viewing pleasure! It even makes our house look a little outdated!

Halloween... Yes I know it was 2 weeks ago

We had a super fun Halloween weekend! The night before we went to the temple and to Applebee's which is my favorite date night.

On Halloween we went to the BSU game! It was pretty gloomy weather and rained off and on . . . But we came prepared with our ponchos (that still smelled like camp fire!) and had a grand old time. BSU played San Jose State and for a while it was a pretty close game.... but of course they ended up winning by a lot. That's one thing I definitely don't mind about our Broncos--if you bother to come to a game you're not going to be disappointed by them losing!

Collin finally had an excuse to wear his hideously nasty blue BSU fleece that I have been secretly plotting to throw in the trash for years. He at least won't wear it when he is around me anymore, but this was the one exception. I just smiled and pretended it was great. . . :)

2 Little Broncos!

. . . so to finish what else we did on Halloween, there are no pictures to document it, but we ended up getting in a little fender-bender in the Hastings parking lot (our door is dented and will be getting fixed this week--wasn't our fault!) and then after heading home to do some grading/waiting for the 1 trick or treater we had, we went over to Amber and Brady's and watched a freaking scary movie (The Haunting in Connecticut), followed by a freaking stupid movie (Death Becomes Her). But the second was necessary after Amber and I were totally freaked out... I do believe this was the first time Collin has convinced me to watch a scary movie since we've been married!! And will probably be the last. I am just too wimpy.

So uh... Happy Halloween everyone!

Halloween Recital!

I tried something new this year and did a Halloween recital instead of a Christmas recital. Don't know that I'll do it again, mainly because of all the other events a lot of my students are getting ready for.... it was pretty crazy getting them prepared.... but the actual recital was super-great.

I always think of recitals as my "payback." I know I get paid each month but obviously most music teachers would agree we are not in this for the bucks! I often feel like I am on a one-way street trying to go the opposite way of a never-ending parade of stupid in week-to-week lessons. (I figure most teachers of any kind feel this way a lot.) But to have all my students and their families gathered together to enjoy some good music, and for me to hear how most (mark my words, most) of them have really stepped up and prepared well, is, no cliche intended, music to my ears!

Of course there are almost always a couple who seem to have forgotten what the piano even is and which keys make up their songs, but for the majority I am usually very impressed with the musical talent my students are fostering-and to think I had a small part in that is worth it to me! As you can see I rocked the pumpkin outfit--most of my students dressed up and it was so great to see their cute little costumes! I have 29 students so I split it up into younger and older kids' separate recitals in the same night. It worked out really well.

In each recital, as the kids came in the door I had a bag of little papers they drew one from. Each paper had a different thing on it, like "frankenstein bubbles" or "fangs." I had a bucket of each of those things, and I would draw one out for each performer and that was how the performance order went. After they performed they got their little Halloween thing that I had drawn out of the bucket. They thought it was great.

I wish I had taken some time to take some better pictures of the decorations and the great table of treats! But I didn't. I am always running around like a crazy person, getting everything together and talking to everyone. Collin came to help me set up so he took a few of these pics but that's all I have. It really was cool! I borrowed a few friends' carved pumpkins and we put little LED flickers in them and it looked pretty neat.

Awaiting the recital to begin. . .

Having some fun chatting afterward.

Like I said before, I love my job! It's truly the best. I feel less and less qualified every day as I keep realizing how much there is out there to learn! But I guess that's part of why I like it too--there's always room for new information and creativity!

... now on to Christmas music!! jeeze!

Apple Mania!

I thought it would be fun to make some applesauce this fall, and my mom was nice enough to loan me her stuff! It really wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Well, I mainly have horrible memories of having to crank the strainer for hours on end as a child as my parents made dozens and dozens of bottles . . .

But anyway, Collin was helpful too, and I only did 1 box of apples which gave me 10 jars. Not too bad--I saved a dozen for something else (but half of them got eaten by someone mysterious before I could use them!! grr.) so I probably could have gotten a little more.

So here is some of my work: ta da!
And the original plan was to make yummy, cute caramel apples for my friends . . . but well after so many apples got eaten and I tried an experiment with a caramel apple, I realized they are NOT good caramel apple-apples. So, back up plan . . . my first attempt at apple pie! They look good, I gave one away and have yet to try it myself! Collin insisted he will eat most of it (not really too worried about that) so it won't matter if I like it or not, I guess. :) I was impressed with myself for my first try ever:

And there is probably the longest post you've ever read, purely about apples. welcome to my exciting life!!

For your viewing pleasure

I promise I will be posting some cool stuff really soon! But I have to go to Fred Meyer today! So in the meanwhile, I thought I would post a few of my favorite recent pictures . . . enjoy.