Light-Black And Decker

In case I forget at the end, Merry Christmas! At work-school the students call me Mrs. Decker, understandably. Unlike the teachers, my first name is not easily accessable to the students. It is not on their schedules, not above a door or on a school blog. I think, for no other reason than they just don' know it, my first name has become kind of a special secret to me. There really is nothing wrong with them knowing what it is, as long as they don't call me by it, but for some reason whenever someone asks me what it is, I feel like it is a special secret that they have not earned the right to know. Maybe I am like all those fantasy magical books where knowing the name of something gives you power over it. ha. I have their name but they don't know mine! Anyway, the other day I was in a class and a student asked me to remind him of what my name was. I said "Mrs. Decker." Student: "Oh yeah, Mrs. Decker. Hey, what is your REAL name?" Me: "Mrs.

This past weekend I started thinking about making a new skirt. I mentioned it to Jarom, and he said "well, let's go get some fabric!" So off we went, and once I have the fabric in hand, I can't just not do something with it! So I made the whole skirt in two days. I really need to pace myself better. Once I get started it's hard for me to stop, and I am on the floor a lot laying out the material and ironing and stuff. By the end of the day my back hurts and my knees are raw from kneeling on the not-so-soft carpet. Then Jarom reminds me that I'm "past my prime" and getting older. Thanks Jarom. Also, I only sewed the yoke on wrong...twice. Third time is the charm, right? Anyway, here's my picture!

At work most of us dressed for Halloween. It's fun working in a school, there are tons of different costumes to look at. My favorite was a woopie cushion. Oh, and a shower.  Here's us SAC ladies enjoying some holiday spirit. Jarom and I spent the rest of the evening getting new tires put on our car, buying candy, giving out candy, and watching a Nightmare Before Christmas with the lights off and a black light on and a flashing spooky house on. When we were just getting home from the tire place, we were walking up to our door and there was a group of people already huddled around our door, waiting for us to give them candy. It seems some people don't know the whole "if the porch-light is off you don't ring the doorbell" rule. So as we approached I told them that was our door, they made room for us to get through, and stood there waiting for us to get the candy out and give them some.... Granted, we DID have candy to give out, but isn't that kind of pr

I got a new calling in church, I am the new MiaMaid Advisor, so I work with the 14-15 year old girls.  I have to say I have gone through a range of emotions with this new job. I am excited to work with them, I think we can have a lot of fun. I work at my real job with kids about that age and I love it. But then I am nervous about teaching lessons, about keeping them engaged, I'm trying to get to know them and let them get to know me so we can be comfortable with each other. I also still feel weird. It's just weird to be the leader, to have my role switched from what it was not that long ago. It's weird being back in that environment again, but not having it be the same, because now I'm in charge, and they're the girls. And why is it that if you talk about any topic the girls those age can just talk and talk and never shut up, but as soon as you ask them a spiritual question that has to do with the lesson, suddenly no one has any idea and stares at the floor? So on

At work-school we had a bunch of school maps we had to color in to color code them. We quickly found out that coloring as an adult is quite a different experience than coloring as a kindergartner. Employee 1: "Ok, I have to take a break from coloring, my wrist is hurting from my carpal tunnel." Employee 2: "Ok, I have to stop, my wrist is hurting with this brace on from tennis-elbow." Employee 3 (Me): "Ok, I need a break, my finger is hurting from when I broke it several years ago." Those kindergartners have us beat.

This post will be full of pictures because they are more fun to look at then reading words. My parents came to visit this past week and here is a photographic record of some of our doings: We rode some horses We camped on top of a mesa by Zion National Park Sister-in-law Amy, Me, and Mom posing on the trail Hiking through the Virgin River in Zion's Amy and I got to play the organ in the Tabernacle! Well, the St. George Tabernacle St. George Temple Getting ready to duel my opponents Me taking on Mom Laughing at Lisa. Her attempts didn't work. As thus shown Second attempt. Fail. Playing some volleyball Jarom serving by bouncing it off his head. And it worked! And we tried to take some nice family pictures. And couple pictures. How sweet.

At work-school we were processing the kids that came in tardy. One girl came up and I asked: "Why were you tardy?" Her Response: "I got stuck in my locker." Me: "Um.. IN? Did someone put you in a locker?" Her: "No..I put myself in the locker." Me: "................." "So...the great lesson you learned here was.. To NOT put yourself in a locker, right?" Her: "That's what the janitor said."

My last week of freedom before work-school started was spent going to Wisconsin to visit Jarom's parents! Fortunately for me and my motion sickness problems, I found out that eating candied ginger really helps me feel better while on an airplane. Unfortunately for me, I found out that even candied ginger has a limit. Nothing can go up against a crazy pilot and roller coaster landing. While there we: Made dangerous soap Stared at our checkers Repainted the house Went to the zoo... And pretended to be monkeys Made a meat smoker out of a card board box. Works great! Ate our smoked meat for an Anniversary dinner! Made and ate a cake for the anniversary And took pictures of each other and our food.

Here is a transcription of a phone conversation I had today. Me: "Hello?" Her: "Happy Birthday." Me: "Uh, you have the wrong number." (Today is nowhere near my birthday) Her: "This isn't Josh?" Me: "No." (But thanks for letting me know I sound like a man.) Her: "Oh, this is the number I have for him." Me: "Goodbye." (You are obviously really close to this feminine Josh guy huh)

I even got a certificate to prove that I successfully completed my cake decorating class. Here are some cakes that I did along the way.

Here are some pictures of our adventures from the last crazy rainstorm that hit a few days ago in Provo. The weathermen call it a monsoon, I am not convinced. But with a little encouragement from our neighbors we decided to head out and play in the rain. Most of these pictures were taken near the beginning of the storm, so the water levels are not as high as they actually got. But by that time, we were both too wet to safely handle the camera so no more pictures were taken. This water eventually got to the level of the curb in the background  The swirling vortex of doom. This is the sidewalk and street, melded into one   Our neighbor standing on the sidewalk that blends into the street Other neighbor frolicking in the rain Where Jarom is standing the water eventually got almost up to his knees Waterfall coming down from the stairs above

As it was pointed out to us, Jarom and I are still young enough and stupid enough to drive down to Mesa Arizona one day to attend a wedding reception, and drive back home the very next day. But we had to do it. Our good friend Chris got married, and it was worth facing the scorching heat that makes you feel like you're about to implode from so much of it pushing in on you. So here are a couple pictures.

I got this idea from a friend who had one a few years ago. I went straight out and bought some ties at the D.I. and then held on to them for 4 years because I didn't have a sewing machine. Well now I have not one, but TWO sewing machines, so I finally got to put it together. Although Jarom has reminded me that these are in fact used and discarded ties and so they are not the greatest, let alone prettiest ties, I can still wear it with confidence because I think it's cool. Also, disregard my overly red face. It was a long day of volleyball in the really hot sun.

So I decided I wanted to try lots of different decorating techniques and shapes and sizes and stuff when it comes to baking cakes. The problem with that is it takes SO MUCH cake. I don't have the biggest of kitchens, or appetites. So my solution was to make one regular size cake, and turn it into a couple mini cake-lets! So here are my first two cakelets. Don't mind the pink smudge on the stacked one. Just pretend it's not there. The cake itself was pretty good too! It was a ginger-coconut carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. And of course there were left overs from what I shaved off to make the shapes. These were not wasted. I mixed them with the cream cheese frosting and rolled them into balls (the size of truffles) and dipped them in white chocolate or dark chocolate. Best idea ever. On other random news, I am now officially a piano teacher. And I'm loving it. My whole ONE LESSON went well. ha. Hopefully all the rest will too.

So it is official, this school year is over. Today was my last day of work until next fall. And even though my job doesn't pay very well, sometimes it has great perks. Like going to Lagoon. For Free. And getting paid to go to Lagoon, and eat their food. Here are pictures from our trip. First, a picture from today, the last day. Unfortunately I couldn't get everyone we work with there together. But here are some of us. On the bus ride up  Enjoying lunch  The best ride  Our wet selves after the best ride  Trying to dry off in the bathroom after the best ride  She's supposed to be happy that she met the height requirement, but instead she's sad because I made her stand next to it to get a picture. Yay for the end of another great year!