Snow Day!

Here is the story or our beautiful snow day...

It started snowing Friday evening around 4:00. It didn't take long to realize that this was going to be a big one. I was still upset about school being cancelled when it wasn't snowing yet. That meant that our class party was cancelled and my hardwork the night before was in vain. I had made brownines, cookies, and wrapped lots of presents to get ready for the big event. So, I just shared with my neighbors and settled in for a long break!
I woke up Saturday morning anxious to head out an play. There was 14 inches of snow on the ground. I took several photos of the white covered world to remember the snow of 2009! Our yard and street looked absolutely gorgeous.

These photos show just how deep the snow was Saturday morning. By the way... it is now snowing for the second time.

When I delivered the goodies the night before, we made a plan with our neighbors to have a get together in the snow at 10:00 the next morning. Ryan and I suited up and headed out to play...

Dwayne and Dawson work on making a path for sledding.

This is Wendy, Dwayne, Dawson, and Cole Martin. Our favorite neighbors! We love spending time with them and watching the boys grow up. When we first moved in Dawson called us Micky and Brian. Now he can clearly say our names and Cole says Kicky and RyRy. I love sitting on the couch and all of the sudden seeing Dawson's little head poking up in the door to deliver a message or ask if I can come out and play. Okay back to the story of our snow day...

Our neighbors across the street, Tim and Taryn Jackson, had a lot of fun watching the silliness taking place. I think this needs to be their Christmas card next year.

The left picture shows Dawson sledding at the school. His face showed pure pleasure as he sped down the hill. Cole didn't like being in the deep snow. Who would if it comes up to your waist. He looked so cute!

After we cleaned up from playing in our own yards we headed indoors for a little while. Wendy made hot chocolate for us to sip in front of the fire. Our neighbor Becky brought over a chicken pot pie she had cooked. Her reason was that she had so much fun watching us play that she wanted to give us a treat. (See why I love my neightborhood). The men went out to finish shoveling our driveway, and Wendy and I played with the kids.

We finally decided we wanted a little more outdoor fun. We headed to the nearby elementary school for some awesome sledding. Here is proof of the treacherous journey back up after a fun ride down.
Ryan in all his craziness built a jump for his sled. I actually managed to catch him midair on his way down. He loves anything fast and dangerous.

Ryan wanted to show his family how hard he worked on the driveway. He made me take some pictures so he could text them to his family. I love that they show how much snow we got. One thing you can't see is the path at the top that leads to our neighbors house so we can get to the sledding and igloo easily.

It was a fun morning! I have a feeling though that we are going to have snow for quite awhile. The local weatherman says it is going to stay cold and snow again Christmas Eve. I think we are going to have a white Christmas.

SYTYCD #2

Ryan and I headed up to Richmond for a fun weekend getaway in October. I bought tickets several months ago to the So You Think You Can Dance Tour Show when I found out it was coming to Richmond, especially since I knew we would get free lodging (thanks Ed and Pat).

Friday night we went to Kings Dominion to get more use out of our season passes. They had it all decorated for Halloween. We went in a few haunted houses, but most of the time it was jumpy more than scary. I loved watching Becca scream and get chased. I learned quickly that if you didn't react they would usually leave you alone. The nice part was that it was rainy, so there weren't a lot of people. I don't thing we waited in one line.

Saturday morning we went back to Kings Dominion. It was pretty chilly, but I managed to stay warm in my winter coat and gloves. We rode a lot more rides this time. I really wanted to spend the morning shopping, but that didn't really happen. I only managed to get to Kohl's and Target.

Saturday evening was the concert. I had a blast. We had pretty good seats, much better than our nose bleed section last year. Here are some pictures of my favorite dances.

This is the opening number with all 10 dancers.

The winner of SYTYCD, Jeanine and finalist Brandon, danced a contemporary piece to "Like a Battlefield." It is so powerful and intense.

This is the Tyce piece that told the story of a woman suffering from breast cancer. It was danced by Melissa and Ade. I loved it just as much in person as I did on TV. I creid again!

Life as Usual

I haven't posted in quite awhile. I have been swamped in all aspects of life! Welcome back to the beginning of a new school year.

I spent the week of August 24th back at work setting up my room, preparing lesson plans, and sitting in a lot of meetings. Even though I had my classroom set up before the teacher workdays, I still ended up spending a lot of late evenings getting everything ready. Then they tcame back...
The first day of school was the toughest I've ever had. The kids talked constantly and took forever to do things because I spent the entire time trying to get them quiet. So then an action plan had to be developed- a behavior chart. Needless to say, the talking isn't perfect, but it has been better. I have noticed that I just need to keep them really busy and praise those who are working quietly to keep everything under control. They seem to be really sweet and have fun personalities though. I think once I get used to having 19 kids again, it will all seem easier. It has been hard to manage lesson plans, grading papers, and keeping the room clean. I spent over 60 hours at school the first week.

This week has been filled with church. Here is my week in a nutshell-

• Monday: Labor Day! Ryan and I did some things around the house and then went shopping in Christiansburg. I had to buy all the things for Thursday evening.
• Tuesday: Regular old school day followed by a presidency meeting for my new calling (Stake Camp Director) at Jill's house.
• Wednesday: Came home exhausted from aerobics to find out that I had no school due to a power outage. I slept for two hours, make stuffed peppers from my garden, and got a haircut.
• Thursday: Survived a tough day at school! Then I headed straight to the church. I was in charge of HFPE meeting. We did a Back to School Night. I had a cafeteria style dinner (chicken, peas, potatoes, fruit cocktail, and rolls) and three classes for the sisters to rotate through.
• Friday: Survived an even tougher day especially since my throat was hurting. Stayed late at school and then went to the church with Ryan for his Primary activity.
• Saturday: I went to Stake Auxiliary Training where I was assigned to speak about Girls Camp. The speakers were all really good. We focused on the four stake goals. They took so long that there wasn't time for me. It guess it was a good thing I was so busy and didn't have time to prepare a lot.

Now, I am just looking forward to a calmer week to focus on school, girls camp, and scrapbooking.

New Things in Life

Again, I don't have any big event or cute pictures to show. I just have had a lot going on in my life that I thought I should blog about before it is all forgotten.

Ryan and I finally got a new laptop computer. I am so excited for all the new programs and the ability to do more than one thing at a time with a much faster processor. Ryan did all the research and price comparisons. We finally decided on a Hewlitt Packard that we on sale at Best Buy. It was a whopping $750, but cheap compared to the laptop we bought 7 years ago that cost $2,000. Now, you're probably thinking why record the price. Well, my guess is that one day the price will even cheaper and the computer ever better in a very short amount of time. I can't believe how fast technology changes. It makes one feel as if they can never catch up to the new and greatest.

I got a new church calling... Stake Camp Director. President Pope called and asked to speak to Ryan and I two weeks ago. Of course we speculated on what we thought he wanted, and I actually guessed it might be something with camp. I am feeling very overwhelmed! I am not sure where to even start and what to do. I will sit down and meet with Jill Hellstrom the stake Young Women's president and Jacki Groesbeck the outgoing director very soon. Not only am I worried about where to start and what to do when, but I am worried about meeting the spiritual needs of the young women. I am sure that many of my future blogs will focus on this camp issue.

I've been trying really hard to get the house clean before I go back to work on Monday. Yesterday, I cleaned the kitchen. I actually pulled everything out of the cabinets and drawers and wiped the out. I also cleaned the refridgerator and oven, which by the way took a long time! I polished the cabinets and buffed the stainless steel. I really love how shiny everything looks and how clean it smells. I haven't done a big clean like that since we had the kitchen installed about 1 1/2 years ago. Today I plan on tackling the family room, dining room, and living room.

The summer is going by really fast. I have spent lots of time with other people, which I really enjoy. I have had lots of lunch dates with friends and opportunities to help with kids. I spent two days last week canning. (Thanks Jen) I did green beans from my garden. They are actually really easy. The next day we did spaghetti sauce and salsa. It was quite an ordeal to cook the meat and mushrooms, skin and cut the tomatoes, dice onions and peppers, and then cook for many hours desperately trying to get the right combination of seasonings. Once it was all done we had to process them in the canner. But boy do they look beautiful! It is such a fulfilling feeling to take something from garden to table.

I taught my first Relief Society lesson on Sunday. I spent about 10 hours preparing the lesson and lots of time in prayer trying to prepare myself. The topic was friendship, which would normally seem easy. I have really been struggling to develop better relationships with friends lately. I was sort of feeling like I didn't have any friends, but then decided I need to make a better effort to be a friend to others. I am proud to say that I no longer feel that way. I count many people as friends and have tried hard to remember that friends don't always have to be having someone to go shopping with. (Not that I don't still want to go shopping ;) I was really nervous on Sunday, but managed to get through the lesson. I think it went really well and much better than I thought it would.

Last Friday and Saturday I went on the Relief Society temple trip. Jen and I went together. Since we were kind of last minute we ended up having to ride in a van insteal of on the bus. It worked out okay especially when we heard that the AC wasn't working on the bus. I spent Friday from 12:00 to 6:00 on the temple. I heard a talk from the 1st Counselor in the temple presidency. Then Jen and I did an endowment session. We decided to do inititories even though we would have to wait. It was worth it. I hadn't done them since I took out my own. The promises were beautiful and just what I needed to hear. Saturday we walked around the temple grounds and then attended another endowment session that the Cloes were officating. I spent a long time in the Celestial room reflecting on life. I then went to the bookstore and bought some books that were on sale. I gained a stronger testimony of Jesus Christ and this gospel. I developed stronger relationships with my friends and had an opportunity to serve.

Just an Update

I don't have anything super exciting to write about, but it has been a week since I've posted. Here's what has been going on...

I left on Sunday, July 19 and drove by myself to Richmond. That is the farthest I have ever driven by myself. I was very grateful for the new GPS that got me around a blocked exit I was supposed to take. My hotel was really nice and boy could I really stretch out in a king size bed all to myself.

I spent from 8:00-4:00 each day working on the 5th Grade Science SOL Committee. We basically looked at over 300 test questions and decided to either accept, accept with edits, or reject questions based on their content, fairness, and appropriateness. I really learned a lot about the testing process and how our state really wants students to be successful on these tests. I gained a network of colleagues who can assist me with any further science questions I could ever have. I did manage to earn a mere $400 for my work.

I went out with friends or family most nights. Monday I went with a new friend named Chrissy to Cheese Cake Factory. We started at Red Robin, but had to leave due to a power outage in the area. Tuesday I went with Ed and Pat to Olive Garden after we spent time admiring their new shed. Wednesday I met up with Stephanie, Rebecca, and Sydney to have dinner at Chili's and some shopping. Thursday I went to see The Proposal with Stephanie and then anxiously awaited Ryan's arrival.

Friday all the adults went to Maggiano's for a huge feast. We ate italian food for 3 hours. Since we had eaten for so long we needed to walk around a little so we did some more shopping. Friday evening we went to Kings Dominion. The parlk wasn't very crowded so we didn't have to wait in line very long. My favorite part of the evevning was riding the Rebel Yell 4 times in a row with Chandler (who was very hesitant and first) and Sydney. The evening was so fun!

Saturday was Ryan's birthday. I gave him two kayak rentals for the day. He really wants a kayak, but I am hesitant to spend the money on something I am afraid he won't use very much. This way he can try it and make sure he really likes it. We had a yummy birthday lunch at Ed and Pat's and then headed to Kings Dominion to experience the Water Park. It was packed! I like water rides, but did not enjoy waiting in line for an hour to go down a tube for 15 seconds. I much preferred the roller coasters and games in the regular park.

Sunday we drove home after sacrament meeting. I found that the drive goes by much faster when you listen to a book on tape. I am listening to a bok called The Vineyard by Barbara Delinsky that I bought at Barnes and Noble for $5.00. After we got home and unpacked we went to Mom and Dad's for Ryan's birthday dinner. We came home and watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button while I got ina really sour mood trying to plan next week's meals.

Now I am trying to figure out some things to do this week in-between my morning aerobics class and the class I am substituting for from 6:00 to 7:00. I could use the extra workouts!

Top Sail Family Vacation

July 4-11 the Fisher family spent a week at North Top Sail beach in North Carolina. Mom's boss, Dr. Davis, gave each of his employees a week as a bonus. We quickly decided on the week of Independence Day knowing it would allow Ryan and extra day off and a good excuse to not teach summer school for me.

Saturday
Ryan and I arrived at the realty company the same time as Michael and Tracy. We got a little nervous when we pulled up to find the office closed. Tracy quickly discovered a late check in box and off we went key in hand to the house. Ryan and I quickly unpacked, set up our room and headed to the grocery store to get supplies for the week. We pretty much just explored the house, beach, and poo. After a long day of driving we were all beat, so we soaked in the hot tub and watched fireworks.

Sunday
Ryan and I really wanted to maintain a proper Sabbath Day. We spent the morning just hanging around the house. We looked up the time for church on the internet and used our calculations to determine that sacrament would start at 1:00. (We knew that sacrament was the 3rd hour). Unfortunately the time on the internet was for the start of sacrament meeting, not the time everything started. So we missed church, but I guess God knows we tried.

It was our night to make dinner. Ryan wanted sausage casserole, peas, and brownies. Everyone seemed to love our dinner. Ryan and I tried to be smart and use all paper products, but it still took awhile to clean up.
The night ended with snacks and games till pretty late into the night.

Ryan makes sausage casserole.

Noah helps make brownies!

Monday
There was raining weather so Ryan and I went into Surf City to explore. We went in quite a few shops, but we didn't buy anything. All the shopping made us hungry so we went into a restaurant called Andy's for lunch. It is a 50's style dinner with a simple menu that we loved. Ryan loved their milkshakes and got several throughout the week. I became quite partial to their Twist-ins that I got with Snickers.

Monday night means.... family home evening. It was so much fun to have family home evening with everyone. We had different assignments:

• Dad- conducting
• Mom- treats & s
  
• Nicki- opening prayer
• Ryan- story (told about a time he broke a bone)
• Richard- talent (ball balancing)
• Melinda- closing prayer
• Noah- activity (hide & seek)
• Macy- song
• Michael- lesson
• Tracy- song
• Jessica- talent

Richard talent- ball spinning

Michael teaching the Lesson

Tuesday
Everyone headed to Wilmington to tour the Battleship North Carolina. I was afraid that we would not get to see very much, but I was totally wrong. We explored the ship from top to bottom. We went up and down so many sets of stairs (more like ladders) and discovered so many areas of the ship I could really get an idea of what it was like to live and work on this floating city. The tour took almost 4 hours. I thought it was really cool.

The family on the main deck.

Could Ryan, Noah, Macy, & I sleep on the ship?

The men hit the head...

I steer the ship... ahoy matey!

After we left the battleship we were starving. Our neighbors recommended a place called Sticky Fingers. They are known for their ribs and pulled pork with different sauces. Ryan and I both tried ribs, but honestly we didn't think they were any better than Texas Road House or Outback. Ryan went to find a shop called Blowing in the Wind. He needed to get new string for his kite. Then we hit a shopping a mall. We weren't impressed with the store selection and actually left without buying anything. Then we tried an upscale shopping area called Mayfaire. It had some really good stores. We found some more pillows that matched the others we had already bought a Kirklands. I used my coupon in New York & Company and got a pair of pants, a shirt, and belt for only $9.00.
We headed home for a yummy dinner of tacos madeby Michael and TRacy. Then Ryan fell asleep on the couch while I learned how to play a game called Chicken Foot with Mom and Dad.

Wednesday
This morning was girls day at the beach. All the men went to play golf at the cheapest course they could find. So we took the kids down to the beach and just hung out. I worked on my tan and read a book before I finally dozed off. Once we were done being in sand we went to the pool. I actually like to sit on the beach and read or lay out, but I really prefer to swim in a pool. I just don't like how the current and waves wail me around.

Jessica, Noah, and Macy

The guys came back from golf and were pretty beat. Apparently they got really dehydrated and needed a break. While the guys rested Mom, Melinda, and I ran to Food Lion to pick up a few things. Then we went to a Christmas store. I thought I would find an ornament, but I didn't like any of the ones that had Top Sail on them. Jessica made dinner and again we had another night of playing games and just relaxing in the hot tub.

Thursday
Ryan and I played golf a a really nice course called North Shore. They even had valet cart parking. We started off kind of late because they were fertilizing the first hole. So we had to wait till the sprinklers were done before we could start. We both played pretty well, and yes, Ryan won. I did beat him on two holes though! I learned that I can play much better on flat courses.After golf we headed back into Surf City to look for a Christmas ornament. We never found one that we likes, but we did go to a restaurant to get some pizza. We looked in a couple of shops, but never found anything that suited us.
Mom made Aztecha chicken for dinner. While she was cleaning up the girls got in the hot tub. We were just minding our own business when all the sudden we were douched with cold water. Our dear, sweet husbands thought it would be hilarious to dump buckets of cold water from the above deck onto our heads. Watch out next year boys...
Just in case we weren't sick of golf, we played putt-putt with everyoneat Pirate's Cove. The course had cute decor, but he holes were pretty simple. We had to play in two groups, which I disliked. I at least managed to beat Noah and Jessica.
Again, we just played more games and ate food till we all passed out. I loved this time more than anything. I actually could stay awake past 10:00 and have a good time.

Friday
Friday was beach day! We all spent the day playing in the water, building sand castles, flying kites, and just making a general ruckus. We had enjoyed the beach in bits and pieces all week, but this was actually the first time we were all down there together. Karma Maples came and taught us how to find sharks teeth and I collected a large amount of smooth rocks to make a centerpieces with at home.

Macy & Noah

Ryan & I
Ryan with Boogie Board

No one was assigned dinner so we headed out for seafood. We found a place called Crabby Mike's. The food was good but pretty expensive. I had fried shrimp and scallops. I could barely make a dent in the large serving and felt guilty paying so much for food I could barely eat. Reminder to self... don't get fried seafood, you don't like it nearly as much.

Jessica, Tracy, Michael, and Ryan in front of Crabby Mike's

Saturday
We all packed up pretty early and headed home. It was an amazing trip. I thought it would be difficult and that my family would get on my nerves, but they didn't. I realized how much fun we can still have together. I better appreciate all their unique personalities and am better able to see all their good qualities.

Almost Finished Basement

The basement is closer to being finished. The carpet was installed on Wednesday and Thursday, July 2-3. I eagerly anticipated its completion for several reasons. First of all, it meant we were closer to being finished. Second, it meant we could put the furniture back in the room and start using it again. Finally, I could unpack many of the things shoved into the "ping-pong" room. I really missed the easy access to my food storage and the ability to scrapbook.

We still have many things to do though. I don't know why I say we, really it is mostly Ryan. The doors need to be cut, mounted, and door knobs put on. The closet systems need to be ordered and installed and doors put on. The stairs need the railing and banister put up. The back floor needs to be painted and eventually tiled. The back door needs a major paint job and ceiling tiles need to be put back up. Yet, I don't care. I am totally enjoying having my basement back. It may be awhile till it is all done, but I love it!

Here is a picture of the room right after the carpet installers left.

I bought new slip covers for the ugly plaid couches and added pillows I found at Kirklands. No insult to my wonderful in-laws who gave us their furniture.

I snapped these pictures this morning. You can see we still need some furniture, specifically another boookshelf, cradenza, and side tables. For those of you who think my house is always clean, notice the things on the back table... it's been there for over a week. ;)

Here's the office halfway through setting everything up. We bought this new executive style desk that we love. Ryan and I can sit at either side and both be working on things at the same time. Granted he is usually paying bills and I am scrapbooking, but hey one of us has to work around here.

The other picture is my scrapbooking "closet." I had a lot of fun organizing and putting all my stuff back. I wanted to start working on it so bad that I called my mom to come over and help me move the desk back so that I wouldn't have to wait for Ryan to get home. I love how everything can fit in this small space and be closed off. I adore my cassette rack turned into a ink pad holder and curtain rods turned into ribbon holders. Sometimes I think I love to organize my stuff more than use it.