Glinda and Greedy Little Punks

Halloween didn't disappoint this year. I LOVE it! A few weeks ago, I was trying to think of something Julie and I (the sixth grade teachers) could do as a duo. Last year it was Thing 1 and Thing 2.

This year we thought we'd be the good and wicked witches from The Wizard of Oz. Without Mom's costume room, I had no idea how to be Glinda! It came down to the night before. I had a Halloween miracle! Not finding anything anywhere else or even good material for a dress, I stopped by Savers for a quick minute and spotted a used, little girl's Glinda dress. What are the chances?? (That was for Ashna.) All I had to do was tear the back a little to put it on and wear a pink shirt under it.

That night, James and I stopped by our ward Halloween party and admired the different costumes. Unfortunately, James wasn't in on the Wizard of Oz theme, so he just put on some sweet retro clothes. Next year we'll have to do something together when I'm no longer an elementary school teacher.

Ben and Bri came over afterward to carve pumpkins. What's better than Texas and pirates?

Halloween at school the next day was a lot of fun. My room mom prepared a mummy relay for the kids to do, and they loved it. At the parade through the school, it was fun to see all the other Wizard of Oz characters who joined us.

My camera was doing something strange with the color red, but Julie was ALL green no doubt.

Halloween night was the first time James or I had been the Trick or Treat givers. It was quite the experience! We had only one bowl of candy, but it was the good stuff--Reeses, Butterfingers, Starbursts, and 3 Musketeers. The only problem was, we didn't know how to give it out. I tried putting the bowl out in front of them and saying, "Find one you like!" but if you know anything about hungry kids, that didn't work. James thought he'd take over for a few after that. He tried a similar strategy, but it turned out he just didn't have the heart to say, "No more." That's when the "Greedy Little Punks" phrase came in. It was hilarious. Then, James thought of a brilliant plan. "Ok, so first I'll answer the door, look at the kids, and then decide how much candy to give each." That worked alright for the next go arounds, of course, until one family came around for seconds. James decided that when we have our own house, he wants to have some carnival game outside for kids to earn a big candy bar (1 try only). Otherwise, they get 1 small bar. I feel pretty good about it. We'll see how it goes in the future.

Has it REALLY Been a Year?

It feels like James and I just got married a month ago, but somehow an entire year has slipped away from us! Maybe it's because the first few months were spent in hotels while our apartment was flooded with sewage... or maybe it's because we were so busy... or maybe it's because James is always entertaining! Who knows, but I do know we had a great first year.

Here are some pictures to remember the best day ever.
October 12, 2007

It doesn't feel like much has changed since then. We did, however, have a fun time celebrating our 1st anniversary in Texas! My sister, Angie, got married to her perfect match, Dane, on October 10th, so we got to celebrate twice--once in Texas and again by ourselves the next weekend. It was kind of neat to witness a wedding around our anniversary and think back about our own.

The Provo Temple before the Texas trip.

The Hayes Family at the Hayes-Jansson Wedding

The top of our wedding cake!

Okay, so that's not the real cake from a year ago. Funny story. I guess my mom saved the top of our cake (which James and I didn't even know) in her freezer, but because of recent hurricane events, they had to empty our freezer. Matt was going through our freezer throwing everything away when he realized in a split second before throwing our cake away, that this was something important. He was so sweet to bring it up to Dallas with him and save it in Kylene's parents freezer. After all that trouble, he forgot to bring it back to Beaumont with him (what, like there are more important things than our wedding cake?), so my mom had the same bakery make us a similar looking small cake for our anniversary. How nice is that? James and I didn't even remember it in the first place, and we ended up having FRESH, moist cake for our big day!

The next weekend when we got back, we went to the Roof restaurant in Salt Lake because that's where we went with our families the night before our wedding. Plus, James's parents were sweet enough to get us a gift card to use there. I'd say we ate enough... I literally felt full for 2 days. It was worth it though!

Up close and personal at the reflection pool.

Thanks, everyone, for helping make our 1st anniversary a memorable one!

Tagged- For James on our Anniversary

Where did you meet? BYU ward! Who would've thought!?

How long did you date before you were married? Hm...knew him for a year, but from our first date--8 months and serious for only 6. My mom always said, "You'll just know!" I did.

How long have you been married? 1 year and 2 days.

What does he do that surprises you? He cleans--dishes AND the floor!

What is your favorite feature about him? That's hard. I love his lips.

What is your favorite quality about him? He forgives and forgets quickly. I do not...

Does he have a nickname for you? We call each other "Lover."

What is his favorite color? Green.

What is his favorite food? Chicken cordon bleu and my chocolate chip cookies.

What is his favorite sport? To play--baseball. To watch--football.

Who said, "I love you" first? James. I followed quickly after.

When and where was your first kiss? Wait... the one I want to remember or the awkward first one? We were kind of pressured the first time--thanks Heather =), and it was in my apartment, The Avenues. We both weren't really into it, so I'll choose second 1st kiss. That was also in my apartment one night after I realized I was in to him, and this time it was good and wanted by both. =)

What's your favorite thing to do as a couple? Cuddle...eat...pretty much anything.

Do you have any kids? Not yet!

What's a hidden talent that he has? He can play the harmonica among many other things.

How old is he? 24--4 months younger than I. =)

What's his favorite type of music? Punk.

What do you most admire about him? He's competitive and athletic, but he doesn't rub it in peoples' faces. He also doesn't let it destroy his mood. He's a great sport.

What's his favorite pastime? Receiving massages. When that's not available... ESPN or playing sports.

Do you think he's going to read this? Absolutely.

I'll tag anyone else who wants to talk about their hubby.

Life is Beautiful

I love October... better yet, the FALL--beautiful weather, my anniversary month, Fall Break, and Halloween! We went for a little walk in the canyon last weekend, and it was so pretty.


Also on the bright side, things have been looking up with my job recently. I don't wake up SO excited to go and teach all day (not a morning person), but I don't wake up dreading it anymore. Part of the beauty of it is having a classroom aide. I'm so grateful for her help every day. Even if she just does copies, records grades, and goes out for recess duty, that's HUGE for me. She has made my teaching life so much more manageable. I only wish I could have her all day, but 3 hours is soo nice. She's also going to sub for me while I'm gone 2 days for Angie and Dane's wedding next week (another great thing for October)!

I did have a little breakthrough with one student today. So far, all he's done is annoy me because he doesn't try, he doesn't get anything, and his behavior and attitude are not good. It's so hard to have patience with him. Anyway, for 20 min. a day, we work in leveled math groups. He's working on mastering multiplication, and for the past week, he hasn't passed the 4's page in 1 min. If they don't pass it, they're supposed to work on practice pages with only that number. He was doing just that, and I stepped away for awhile. A few minutes later, I looked back and noticed he was glancing nervously at the clock and trying so hard to finish his practice page of 4's. I had never seen him try like that, and it seriously almost brought me to tears. Poor kid. He knows he's way behind (the rest of the class is on 9's), and he was trying his hardest to practice for the next day. Of course, I had to praise him profusely for putting forth such a great effort. He even got a tiny dum dum. =) The point is, for the first time, I could say I liked him and wanted to help him succeed (true confessions of a 6th grade teacher). I really am liking my kids more and more, even if some of them get in fights or write cuss words on the bathroom wall. The latter was the most recent issue, and that girl will be in ISS for a week and lunch detention for a month! I think she'll think twice next time...
Bottom line--I have a lot of great kids, and I'm trying to focus on their strengths so I can be a positive force in their lives.

Monday Nights (and Saturdays.. and Sundays.. )

Some save it for FHE, but we save it for FOOTBALL! I've never watched so much football in my life, but luckily I don't mind it too much (unless it's more than 1 game a day). I especially like it if we watch a game on DVR where we can fast forward during all the commercials and halftime. We're thinking about getting DVR for ourselves for our anniversary. Just think how many episodes of Barefoot Contessa I could save!

So James and the other Texas boys are all sports fanatics, but nothing beats football for them--especially the Dallas Cowboys. What a game the other night! I must say... I was even pretty riled up about Romo's fumble in the end zone and the bad calls, or lack of them. We came out on top in the end though. After a big TD, I figured I'd snap a shot of the jersey boys while they were happy.

Pose #1

Pose #2 (Clark said he didn't know another pose besides "sexy")

People Want to Give Us Free Stuff

So for some reason we've been getting free/discounted stuff recently. We don't think it's because of anything we've done right, but it sure is interesting.

1) I took an extra long lunch break on Friday (Teacher Work Day) to go pick up my transcript at BYU, so James and I decided to go to the bookstore. I wanted to find a shirt that actually fit, as opposed to my last year's nightgown. Surprisingly, there were a lot of smalls available for the new QUEST football shirts. I took one, knowing it would be only $5 (already a good deal), and was pretty happy about it. Well, James also loves a good deal, and he found a white BYU hat, which he's been looking for, for only $11. So, we went to check out and the lady gave us the total and apparently she only wanted us to pay for the already discounted hat. Free shirt for me!

2) As I said, we love good deals, so for lunch on Teacher Work Day, James and I went to Gandolfo's. Delicious. We brought a coupon for a $5 foot long (not to be confused with Subway, but same deal), but the lady decided the coupon meant $5 off a sandwich. Sooo... she totaled it up for $1.36. Not bad for us, but seriously lady, do you think you'd have a coupon for $5 off sandwiches that are only about $6 in the first place? No complaints from us though!

3) That same day we had to go to Lindon to the Comcast office to fix our internet bill because we we've been getting free internet since we've been back. The lady fixed it on the computer, and we were planning on paying for this month, but she didn't care and is letting us start paying next month. We're also getting the same great rate we got last year. Who knows...

4) Last night, we went to the Malt Shoppe with our friends (despite my feelings of ickyness about their cleanliness... my roommate worked there for a week and quit because it disgusted her so much). I DO like their shakes though, so James and I shared a mint oreo regular size shake. Oddly enough, James walked away from the counter with what looked like a XXXL cup of mint oreo shake. I'm pretty sure we paid for a regular. Too bad this wasn't for the better though because the mint extract was a tid bit too strong.

Hey, worse things could happen. I hope I have more to add to the list!

9/17/08- New Addition to Good Deals:

5) James found a coupon for Payless, so I thought I'd go look for another pair of disposable teaching shoes. I wanted some flats obviously because who wears heels all day as an elementary school teacher? Anyway, I looked around for about 2 minutes and then spotted these cute purple-ish flats. They fit perfectly, and low and behold... what did I see? A $5 tag! No other shoes had that tag on them, so I brought them up to the counter and asked if it was a joke. Nope. $5 shoes. Forget the coupon.

FoodNet-Aholic

Admist all the stress, there are a few things that keep me sane.

1) James attempts to make dinner sometimes. Yea!
2) FOOD NETWORK. What would I do without it? Some of my favorites...

Tyler Florence on Tyler's Ultimate. He's been a favorite of mine for some time now. He used to have the show Food 911 where he would go to the house of a chef in distress and help them fix their recipe. I used to think of recipes I could mess up so badly that he just had to come teach me how to do it correctly. So he's put on a few pounds and kind of does the deep, loud breathing when he cooks, but I don't mind. His dishes look and are amazing... and so is this picture.


Paula Deen on Paula's Best Dishes and Paula's Home Cookin', but NOT Paula's Party. The latter is a little bit much. So is her butter and cream cheese, but I love that southern cookin'.

Fat = delicious grub

Ohhhh Tessa. Ina Garten on Barefoot Contessa. I call her Tessa because one time James was trying to learn the names of these chefs out of necessity, and he asked if her name was Tessa because of the title- Con/tessa. He thought the show was Barefoot with Tessa. Thank you Espanol. She's pretty much my favorite. Nat always makes a hilarious impression of her because Tessa never really gets worked up about anything and always speaks so calmly. Nat will say, "Oh, there's a murderer at my door..." in a super relaxed voice, and it's hilarious. I like Tessa for that reason though because she's such a mom and is relaxing to watch.

Last, but not least - Iron Chef America & Ace of Cakes.



I watch pretty much everything else, but these are just my favorites. As far as I'm concerned, the network can get rid of all the newbies on the channel. How did Guy get so popular? He drives me crazy, but somehow he keeps getting new shows. All I want are the classics..... and my own show--Christie's Culinary Creations. =)

The whole food family.