Rosie's Ramblings

Ellie's 1 year pictures

2011-05-22T15:34:00.000-07:00

Here are a few of Ellie's 1 year pictures. All the photos are on facebook.

Nancy I would like my dollar now!

Happy Halloween

2010-10-04T17:22:00.001-07:00

Hopefully more pictures will come soon! I am working on Parent teacher conferences. Until then enjoy.

Sneak Peek

2010-06-04T11:56:00.000-07:00

We got Ellie's pictures taken last week. Here is a sneak peek. More pictures will be coming soon. You can also see a few more on the photographers web site.

I'm One Lucky Mama!

2010-06-01T14:31:00.000-07:00

I was told on Sunday from my mom and sister that I don't post enough pictures of Ellie. Apparently I need to post every day. So here are a few pictures I have taken recently. I will do better at taking pictures of everything. I really am one lucky mama!

Miles and Amanda With Baby Ellwie

If we lay Ellie down with a headband in her hair, at some point she will be wearing it like this. If she gets upset she will pull it down also.

This is Ellie's favorite place to sleep. If dad has her, she will be asleep in no time. I think this is Mark's new favorite thing.

Ellie's favorite thing in the house is our picture wall. She will turn her head and just stare at it. If her eye catches this wall she will turn and squirm so she can look at it.

We just love this little girl!

A Monkey's Uncle

2010-06-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

My whole life my uncle Steve always has told me he was a monkey's uncle.

(Thanks Becky I swiped this off of your blog)

Well on Saturday Mark and I ran to Wal-mart to grab a few things. When we got close to the entrance I noticed Steve and Kathy were sitting at the door collecting money for the veterans. We took Ellie over to meet them. While we were visiting Steve put his arm around me and told me he was now a monkey's, monkey's uncle. I had to laugh since I have decorated Ellie's entire room in monkeys. I guess all that monkey talk growing up made me have a love of monkeys.

On Monday I was getting Ellie ready and was sad that she wasn't wearing this outfit on Saturday when she met the monkey's, monkey's uncle.

It's hard to see but Ellie is wearing the cutest monkey outfit. Thanks Aunt Amanda!

Meeting Grandpa Jack

2010-05-25T11:39:00.000-07:00

We took Ellie to meet Grandpa Jack on Sunday. It was so sweet watching grandpa hold Ellie. I just had to post this picture.

I love my grandpa!

Birth Story

2010-05-25T11:36:00.001-07:00

Ellie arrived 11 days early. I thought for sure she would arrive late. With how stubborn she was when it came to finding out her gender I thought she would be stubborn again and come into this world late. Her delivery was not anything like I thought it would be.

Early Monday morning I woke up with some heavy cramps. I lay in bed trying to ignore them but they continued to be pretty consistent. I decided that I better get up and time the contractions and get a sub plan ready if this was the real thing. I got my sub plans ready and e-mailed out to a co-teacher. Then contractions were not painful but consistent. I decided that I better wake up Mark and go to the hospital to get checked out before Mark went to work. I didn’t want to send Mark to work just to call a few hours later to tell him I was in labor. So we loaded up and headed to the hospital.

We got to the hospital and they hooked me up to all the machines and checked me. I was barley dilated maybe a fingertip open. We waited for an hour to see if I would make any progress. An hour later they checked me again and I still only a fingertip. They sent me home and I was crushed. The minute you head to the hospital, you get your hopes up. I was tired and depressed so I decided to stay at home instead of going into work. I knew that if I stayed home I could induce labor. I had no such luck.

The next day I went back to work very depressed and embarrassed. I decided to use the day to prepare for substitutes just in case Ellie decided to make her debut early. By the end of the day I had lesson plans prepared and ready for a week and a half. I told Mark that because I did this she would come a week late.

That night Mark and I went to visit our friend Sara, who had her baby that morning. Sara was due 5 days before me. As we were visiting with her we joked about how Ellie needed to come out so she could share a birthday with Miranda.

Later that evening as I was preparing dinner I started to get contractions again. I had Mark keep track of how far apart they were. At 9 o’clock the contractions were 6 minutes apart and getting pretty painful. So we loaded up the car again and headed to the hospital because this had to be the real deal.

Once again they hooked me up to the monitors and checked me. Once again, I was barely dilated, maybe a fingertip. They kept me there for an hour to see if anything changed. After an hour nothing had changed. I was headed home again. This time they gave me a painkiller before I left. The nurse said if I still had contractions while on this painkiller then I was in labor. I told Mark I wasn’t going to come back to the hospital unless my water broke or the baby was falling out.

We went home and went to bed. At around 2 am I woke up in pain. I was very frustrated because I kept getting pain but it wasn’t labor. I thought for sure that the pain must be something else like gas. So I got up and took something for gas and tried to go back to bed. The pain kept coming. I couldn’t sleep and I couldn’t hold still. So instead of keeping Mark up with my squirming I got up and sat in the front room.

The pain kept coming. It got worse and worse. I couldn’t stand sitting in the recliner, or laying down. I started to walk around the kitchen. Pretty soon all I could do was cry. I didn’t understand why I was in so much pain I was on painkillers. I decided to call the doctor. The doctor asked me how far apart the pain was and I couldn’t tell him because I wasn’t keeping track. He kind of blew it off making me feel like it was just false labor and I was an over anxious new mom. He told me to wait about 2 hours and if the pain became more frequent or more intense go to the hospital. He also told me to try a bath.

I hung up frustrated and in pain. I kept walking and crying. The pain became so intense that all I could do to get my mind off the pain was to walk and sing. I would sing anything that came to my mind, from Christmas carols to hymns. Poor Mark, was in the bedroom trying to sleep during my personal concert.

I couldn’t take the pain any more so I went into the bedroom and asked Mark if he would give me a blessing. Mark got up and gave me the blessing. He asked me if we needed to go to the hospital, I told him no because they would just send me home. He went back to lying down and I started screaming. I tried the warm bath and I couldn’t relax enough to enjoy it. Mark came into the bathroom to help me at one point and I started to scream at him when he told me to relax. It was at this point I decided to keep track of the contractions. I started to time the pain and it was coming every 2 minutes.

I went into the bedroom and told Mark we needed to go to the hospital. The pain was coming every 2 minutes and they couldn’t possibly send me home in this much pain. So Mark loaded up the car yet again and we headed off. Mark would drive faster with every contraction I would have. All I could do was grab the door handle and scream every 2 minutes. I swear we stopped at every red light. That was the longest ride of my life.

We got to the hospital and Mark left the car running and took me into the hospital. We walked in and I was screaming. The nurse immediately called for a room. Mark gave the nurse my bag and left to take care of the car. The nurse walked me into labor and delivery and all the nurses rushed in the room to help.

When I got in to room all I could do was scream give me something for the pain. The nurses started helping me get my clothes off so they could check me. When they finally checked me I was dilated to 6. They then called in the anesthesiologist to give me my epidural.

During that time I know I scream a lot. At one point I remember telling the nurse I was sorry and I really was a nice person. The anesthesiologist got the epidural in and life started to look a little brighter. After it kicked in I was able to think clearly and relax. After things calmed down they checked me again and I was dilated to an 8.

After about an hour or two I dilated to a 10. They checked the baby to see if she was turned the right way. The nurse thought she was but wanted the doctor to check. The doctor came in and found that Ellie was posterior. He talked with us and we discussed turning her before we started pushing. We decided to try turning her. He attempted to turn her. Every time the doctor would get her turned he would let go and she would turn back. So we started to attempt pushing.

I pushed for 2 hours and I only made a little bit of progress. The doctor came in again and we tried to turn her again but she just turned back. Ellie was not coming down the birth canal. The doctor said I could continue pushing for a few more minutes to see if I could get her down a little further and then he could try and help her out with forceps. So I pushed for another hour. After 3 hours she still hadn’t made any progress.

I then had to make a big decision. I could attempt the forceps and take the risk of causing damage to me and maybe the baby but She was so far up that we could still have to take her c-section or I could just take her c-section.

I did not want a c-section but I was so tired. I had been up since 2am and I had just pushed for 3 hours and she made no progress. I decided to just stop and take her c-section. I didn’t want to try the forceps and cause some damage to me or to her just to have to have the c-section in the end.

So we started the process of getting ready for the c-section. Maybe 10 minutes later Ellie was out and crying. They put her in Mark’s arms, and he came over and let me see her for a moment and then they whisked her and Mark away to the nursery. The doctor stapled me together and then I went back to the labor and delivery room to wait for another hour for monitoring.

After an hour, they finally took me down to the mother and baby floor where Mark finally brought Ellie in and I was able to hold her for the first time.

Ellie is such a blessing. Her dad and I are so thankful to have her in our life.

Eleanor Rose Curtis

2010-05-21T09:37:00.000-07:00

Ellie joined our family on May 12, 2010 at 1:11pm!
7lbs, 13oz and 20 inches long
Enjoy a few pictures. Birth story coming soon!

Baby Room Makeover

2010-04-09T13:12:00.000-07:00

Ellie's room is almost finished. I wanted to post some pictures of the transformation.

When we bought this house the baby room was painted brown. The family that lived here before had twins and decorated the room with white cribs and light pink bedding and it was very cute.

When we broke out our cherry color crib and got the darker bedding the brown didn't look so cute anymore. My sister has a friend who is an interior designer and she said my baby room looked like it was a bear cave. So the brown had to go.

So, with some persuading, Mark started the transformation to change the brown to pink.
Bye bye brown!

After a few Saturdays we ended up with this. What do you think?

I still have a few finishing touches to do, like curtains, pictures and things, but we are pretty close to final product. We love how it turned out!

Update

2010-02-17T17:17:00.000-08:00

I have fallen behind again!
Here is an update of what has happened recently.

I am 26 weeks and I feel like I am gigantic.

I hated all the pictures Mark took of me! I guess that is part of being pregnant.

We still don't have a 100% answer on if this baby is a girl or a boy. We went in again the next week and she wouldn't open up her knees for more than a few seconds. We did get one picture and the technician was 90% sure it was a girl.

Then a week later we were in the hospital to get some things checked out and the nurse was nice enough to bring in the ultra sound machine and check again. The hospital machines are worse than the doctor office and once again She decided to be a stinker and hide. The best picture we were able to get was not very close. The nurse thought that it was a girl also. So... we have been planning for Eleanor Rose, or Ellie for short. I am hoping that two 90% sure answers are like a 180%!

We have started getting the room ready. We have been a little slow. Mark set up the crib a month ago and the bedding set came in the mail today!

Ellie has gotten more and more active lately. Her kicks have become stronger and now Mark can feel her all the time.

We are getting very excited and anxious to welcome this sweet little baby into our home in just a few more months.

Its a.......

2010-01-11T17:46:00.000-08:00

BABY!

We went to the ultrasound appointment today to find out what we are having and the baby kept its legs crossed the whole time! We tried everything to get the baby to uncross its legs. I turned on my side, I scrunched up, we poked and prodded but it wasn't going to be bothered.

I should have known this baby would be stubborn!

Here are the picture we were able to get.

The baby had its ankles crossed and stretched out.

The baby also kept placing its hand on its forehead when the tech tried to get a profile of the baby's face. This baby is really shy I guess?

Hopefully next week we will know if this baby is Ellie, or Logan, until then I will keep asking Miles who is in aunt Rosie's belly.

I'm back!

2009-12-13T14:35:00.001-08:00

I know it's been a long time since I have blogged and I am hopping to start my New Years resolution a little early this year and recommit to blogging again.

There have been a lot of things happening in our life and I will do my best to catch everyone up on all the details.

First, Mark and I are expecting our first child this May. I am 4 months along and very excited to welcome this new little one into our home. I am so thankful to be into my second trimester. The first trimester was not fun at all. I did not enjoy feeling sick all the time and feeling as if I had no energy at all. I am starting to feel a lot better now.

This Thanksgiving we had two wonderful Thanksgiving celebrations. First, we celebrated at my mom's house the week before Thanksgiving before everyone left for Thanksgiving with their in-laws. We then celebrated with Mark's family.

While we were down for Thanksgiving we carried on some fun holiday traditions like Black Friday shopping and Christmas tree hunting. We also went with Mark's dad to gather supplies for our baby cradle.

Mark's dad is going to make our babies cradle. It was fun to spend time together and pick out the wood and other supplies we would need. Also, I enjoyed watching Mark and his dad study the plans and pick out only the best supplies. I know this cradle is going to turn out great and will be cherished for years to come. Thanks Grandpa Curtis!

The last really big and exciting thing that has happened lately is our new home. Mark and I purchased our first home last month and moved in last week. We are so thankful to everyone that came and helped us move. You made the move painless. Thank you.

This is our new 4 bedroom, 2 bath home. A big change from our condo. I will post more pictures of the inside as soon as I get the inside decorated. I'm a little scared to decorate it. I don't want to screw anything up and make it ugly.

Mark and I have really enjoyed the extra space especially with the baby on the way. Mark loves his garage and I love my kitchen. We found a house that had something for the both of us. I'm to sure Mark is enjoying the snow that has fallen recently and the extra big driveway. He come is everyday and tells me he wants a plow for the 4-wheeler. Luckily the neighbor come over and helps with his plow. Maybe one day he will get a plow.

We can't believe how blessed we are, and we are so thankful for everyone's help and support. I can't wait for the new adventure that awaits us.

What do you do in the summertime?

2009-06-29T11:09:00.000-07:00

I get eaten by mosquitoes.

This is one mosquito bite. It measured 130 cm across.The doctor says it will most likely get worse before it gets better. In the mean time I have nick-named it Gigantor.

Girls Camp!!!

2009-06-18T12:20:00.000-07:00

I survived my first girl’s camp as a leader.
It was a little strange going to girl’s camp as a responsible adult. I'm not sure that I actually fulfilled that part of my calling, the responsible part, that is. I felt as if I was just another one of the girls. The leaders joked about how this year at camp there were 14 girls and one leader, and sadly that one leader was a Laurel.

On the last day of camp we modified one of the camp songs to fit our ward a little better. Here is the verse we modified:
The leader down at camp Shalom they say are mighty fine.
They play in Biffy water and act like they are nine.
Oh Gee I wanta go to camp shalom!

I guess we just thought the leaders needed to have some fun too. While the girls were doing their stake certification hike we went hiking too. This was so the leaders that were married could call their husbands. We also made sure to take advantage of the snow on the cliffs. We went sledding down a glacier. I know it is shocking; to hear that scrardey pants Rosie went sledding down a glacier. It’s amazing what a little peer pressure will do for you.

When returned from our hike four hours later we started our scripture study for the day. In the middle of the scripture study a water line burst by our cabin and water was spraying everywhere. A few minutes later the leaders of the 8th ward were having a mud fight. Don't worry our girls never left the fire and continued with their scripture study. What can I say we had the most righteous girls at camp.

We did have a spiritual experience at camp. The stake did a wonderful job with speakers. Each day we had a new speaker and they all did a wonderful job. We had everything from a recently returned solider who spoke on what the flag meant to him to Nephi, who shared with us his feelings about the gospel and what the vision of the tree of life meant to him.

I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to go to girl’s camp. I felt as if I learned more from the girls then I could have ever taught them. They have such strong spirits.

The spirit was so strong at camp and it helped me to strengthen my testimony of the gospel. I am so thankful to be a member of this church and to be able to work in the young women’s organization. This truly is the Lord's Church

P.S. I am waiting for some more pictures from one of the other leaders. So I will post more pictures and videos when I get them.

SORRY!!!

2009-04-16T11:53:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, all my blog entries start off with how I'm still alive and how I haven't posted anything in a really long time. Well, here I go again.

I'm still alive and I'm sorry I haven't posted anything in a really, really, really,long time. I just haven't been in a blogging mood. I still am a faithful reader and check all the blogs each day. I just haven't had any super exciting news to share. I haven't recently had a baby like Amanda. I'm not pregnant and going to find out the gender of the baby, like Mike and Becky. I've just been doing the same thing every day.

I'm grateful that this past week has been spring break at school. My patience was running thin with all the events that have taken place in my classroom with crying.I was really looking forward to some rest. I must admit I was a little disappointed to wake up to this today. I had to steal the picture off mom's facebook page.

I have used this week off to rest, clean up the house, and prepare for girls camp that is less then 2 months away.

Overall, Mark and I have been doing great. We have been slowly looking for homes and trying to get things in order to hopefully be in a new place by the end of the summer. Mark is still working with Taylor and he really enjoys his new field of work. We just got a letter informing us that he has been selected to be interviewed for a scholarship, and we are hoping he can get the scholarship and start school this fall.

As always I will end my post with the promise to try and be better at blogging but I can't promise anything.

2008-12-13T17:29:00.001-08:00

I know many have wondered if we are still alive. It has been over a month since our last post. We are alive, we are just busy. Here is an update.
Mark is still working for Taylor Electric and he loves it. He is currently working on the new high school in Heber. I haven't worried about him working up there until the snow started to fall. I guess I'm just a little paranoid about that canyon with snow and ice. Luckily Mark car pools with some guys from work so he is not driving the 2 wheel drive truck up there alone.

I am preparing for my last week of teaching before the much needed Christmas break. I just want a few days to myself where I don't have to be teacher or Mrs. Curtis. I am still enjoying teaching for the most part. I will admit there are some days that I want to quit and be done but I'm hoping these feelings are just because I am a first year teacher trying to get the hang of this.

For Thanksgiving this year Mark and I headed down south to be with his family. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at his parents. It was my first Thanksgiving away from my family. It was a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Mark and I got up early the following Friday to participate in “Black Friday”. We even got Nancy to come along since she has never attended. We thought being down in a small town like Richfield, the crowds wouldn't be so bad. Boy, were we wrong. The line for Wal-Mart was the length of the parking lot and there were two lines. We decided to go for an $8 jacket and some entertainment. Instead we came out with a George Forman grill, a video camera, a portable DVD player, a toy for my nephew and a jacket. I don’t think we should go shopping on “Black Friday” for entertainment anymore.
I told Nancy that I wanted her to come up north next year and go shopping with me. She was the best part of shopping. She is true shopper and so I was surprised she had never gone. Mark stood back why Nancy and I immersed ourselves into the crowd of people grabbing cameras and DVD players. I trying to be polite was walking around the crowd trying to find the most polite way of entering the mob. Pretty soon I hear Nancy scream “Rosie”, as she pops here head up from the middle of the crowd. Then, I hear her say, “I got two”, as I look over I see Nancy holding up two portable DVD players.
As I make my way closer to Nancy to help her with the goods, she screams, “Do you want a video camera?” Before we knew it we had two DVD players and a camera and everyone was asking where we got them.
We then left Wal-Mart and headed over to K-mart. We had a blast and I can’t wait to take Nancy to some real crowds next year.
On Saturday, we carried on our new tradition and headed up to the mountains to cut down our Christmas tree. I was so excited to actually get to cut down our tree in the snow. There was about 2or 3 inches of snow where we were.
We invited Mark’s friend Kevin to come along and I’m sure he enjoyed walking all over the mountain with us as I critiqued every tree we came upon. We finally found a tree I was satisfied with and cut it down and brought it home. After we cut down our tree we took the 4-wheelers a little higher up the mountain to play in some more snow. Although it was cold we had a great deal of fun.

We finally got the tree decorated and the Christmas decorations up. With both of us working this year, I’m not as into the decorating and Christmas feel as I was last year. We have decorations up but that’s about it. I’m hoping to be a little more excited once Christmas break is here.
Merry Christmas!

Halloween 2008

2008-11-02T16:07:00.000-08:00

This Halloween was nothing I would have ever expected.
I have been sick on and off for two whole weeks. I thought I was on the healing route this past week, but boy, was I wrong.

I went in to the doctors office for a cold I had for a week and it just wasn't getting any better. He gave me an antibiotic and it helped a lot. but the minute I was done taking the dosage, all of my symptoms were back. I tried to just take it easy but on Wednesday the following week I felt like I had the flu. I called a sub and went to the doctor where he gave a stronger antibiotic. It was called Factive. I started to take it and I was feeling a little bit better. Last Tuesday I took my last pill. I wouldn't say I felt like a million bucks but I was feeling better then usual.
That night I had to go to my new teacher cohort meeting in Pleasant Grove and then I had to hurry back and for my visiting teachers to stop by. As I was leaving the Elementary school I noticed my legs were a little itchy. I lifted my pant leg and noticed a few red bumps. I didn't think much of it and carried on with my schedule. Later that evening after the visiting teachers left I went into the back room to talk to Mark. The whole time I was just scratching away at my leg. Mark called my attention to it and I lifted up my pant legs and my legs had more red bumps. I pulled up my shirt sleeves and my arms had a few red bumps too. This was when I began to think that I had hives. I called mom to ask if it was common to get hives after taking the full dosage of medicine. She said that it can happen but its not as common. I decided to take some Benadryl and go to bed. I knew I would be okay in the morning.

When Mark woke me up the next morning I was a little surprised to find I was covered from head to toe with red bumps. I quickly got ready for work and headed to the school. I was supposed to go to a new teacher math conference that morning so I had arranged for a half day sub already. I decided I would just extend my lesson plan for a whole day and call my sub and just make arrangements for her to stay the whole day. I didn't even think twice that maybe my sub could not sub the entire day for me. Thanks goodness my fellow first grade team members helped me find a sub for the second half. I headed home to rest and take a heaping dosage of Benadryl.

I slept the day away and it seamed that the hives were just getting worse. By that evening Mark came home and was preparing to go to Young Mens. I decide to get up and walk around for a minute. The minute I got up I became faint and I blacked out. Luckily Mark was there to catch me. Mark helped me to the bed so I could lay down and relax. We decide right then I needed to get to a hospital. Mark called for our Home teacher to come help give me a blessing. Mom and Dad came over to help get me in the car and get me dressed to go outside.

Mark took me over the the Orem Community Hospital at 6:45, and just our luck they were busy. We got registered at the desk and then we had to wait for the 3 people in front of us. When they finally called my name they whisked off into a room and started to check my vitals. My blood pressure was very low, I had a temperature of 102.8 and I was dehydrated. They hooked me up to an IV and then I waited. They ran some more test on me and found that my white blood count was very high. Mark was a little upset with the doctor that came in and told us that from what he could see I had an allergic reaction to something and that was why I was covered with a rash, and I had some kind of infection for my white blood count to be so high. We kinda already knew all that. So he wrote me a prescription for something to help with the itching and told me to stay home for the rest of the week unless i started to feel better. Needless to say the ER doctor was very helpful. We finally left the hospital at 11:30pm.

We went home where I slept for a few hours but was up with uncontrollable itching and coughing. I went into the bathroom to find my face swollen. I couldn't get back to sleep after that, and I was keeping Mark up. I stayed up for the rest of the evening on the couch watching Ocean's 12. When Mark's alarm went off for him to go to work, I called mom to see if she could come over and get me so I could get my prescription filled and to stay with me because with the swelling in my face, the doctor was worried that my throat might swell up and cut off my air supply. Mom came and got me and found me looking like this.

I was just lucky enough, once again to have my team help me find a substitute and prepare my classroom with sub plans.

I ended up at the doctor later that day where they ran more tests on me. They decided to give my body some time to rest and they wanted to see me again in the morning.

The next day was Halloween. I was going to have to miss my very first Halloween as a teacher. I didn't have to worry about finding a sub thank goodness because my team had already arranged one. As much as I wanted to go I knew I couldn't go looking like this. This is what my body looked like as of Friday evening.

This is my leg.

My back.

My arm.

Thank goodness the swelling in my face finally went down too.

So I guess the moral of this story is... I won't be taking Factive anytime soon.
I'm so sad that i missed my first Halloween. On a funnier note I did have mom take me up to the school so I could see all the kids dressed up. I was able to walk in my room and it in the back and watch my kids for 15 minutes with out any of them noticing me. I also was able to poke my head into my mentor teacher's classroom and say hello and she had to ask who I was.
As of today my arms and face are starting to look like normal and the red spots that cover the rest of my body are starting to look lighter. I am going to attempt teaching school tomorrow in slippers.

One down one more to go!

2008-10-08T18:15:00.000-07:00

I just finished my first ever, parent teacher conference tonight and I have one more to do tomorrow. I know a lot of you have wondered what in the world has happened to me. I'm not dead I'm just busy. Now that I have finished up with one parent teacher conference I'm hoping things will run a little smoother. Well, as smooth as a first ear can go.
I do have one more obstacle this month. I have my first principal observation and then maybe I'll feel better.
I am enjoying teaching most days. I get tired really easy and of course some days I want to give up, but thank goodness for, Mark that won't let me and my family that push me a long and help me in so many ways.

I do have some things to post about, like the brand new king size bed Mark and I bought that I love so very much. Also, Mark and I are planning on going out this weekend to finally try out the 4 wheeler we received from Mark's parents a while ago. I also have fall break next week so I can get some posts up with pictures.

I get bored easily!

2008-09-07T12:11:00.000-07:00

Mark was gone for a few hours on Saturday and I decided I had, had enough of the ponytail. These are the reults!

Dog the Bounty Hunter

2008-08-20T20:29:00.000-07:00

To all of you that know me and know that I actually watch Dog and enjoy watching Dog you are going to love my adventures today in First Grade.

Today in my afternoon class I was working with the whole class on a graphing assignment where we looking for who had the longest name and the shortest name in the class. I did it like a guessing game. I randomly pulled kids name out of a jar and the kids would write the letters to the mystery students name in the boxes on there paper. Don't worry, this is just background knowledge all you really need to know is, I was spelling students names and allowing the kids to guess who's name I was spelling. After I gave one letter they all started guessing.

I came to on child who's name started with a "D". I said, "First letter is a "d", I heard some logical guesses, then I heard one that caught me off guard. One little boy who sits right next to where I was working said, "D" Dog. I didn't really think to much of it because he is known to say random things before. Then I gave the next letter, "E" I over heard him again, "Its got to be dog." Now your thinking this is kinda funny because dog is spelled with an "o" not a "e". Well, when I gave the next letter it was all I could do to keep myself from laughing out loud. I said to the class, "the next letter is "r". I then heard the little boy say, "r?" "Darn it can't be dog." Then he says to himself, "that's okay because Dog the Bounty Hunter isn't in our class any way."

I just wanted to laugh out loud after that. I'm so glad I had on my good listening ears so I could catch his little conversation with himself. I'm also glad Dog the Bounty Hunter is not a student in my class.

On a side note, I had my first student burst into tears today, and I thought I had a pink eye outbreak. I had a student come to school after being diagnosed with pink eye yesterday. Then today I had another girl with all the same symptoms. I sent her off to the nurse, and disinfected my desks right away. Come to find out later, when I was reading my students information sheets, I read on the little girls sheet who I thought had pink eye, that she has sever allergies and gets read puffy watery eyes that sometimes can be mistaken for pink eye. OOPS!

I survived!!!!

2008-08-18T20:11:00.000-07:00

I just survived my very first day of teaching! It is 9:00pm and I just got home for the day but I survived. I even had a little fun. None of my first day of school nightmares came true I feel like I had the class under control and no one was called in to supervise or assist. I think that counts for something.
I did have some interesting things happen, I had a student pee her pants and we had to call her mom. I had my class fish die over the weekend and no one noticed it including me until after lunch. I was hoping no one would think to look at the fish since no one in the morning even mentioned it but without fail one student had to come over right before class ended and say to me rather loudly, "Hey, what happened to the red fish?" This then caused a ripple effect and soon I had the whole class chiming in where's the fish or what fish?, or I can't find the fish? If anyone says anything tomorrow I'll just say I decided to take the fish home!
Wish me luck as now I have to be back tomorrow at 7:30 am to do it all over again!

It's finally done!

2008-08-08T21:59:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to my wonderful family!
Thank you for all you have done to help me get where I am today. All the time and effort you have given me through the years and the past few months. Thank you for supporting me from the very beginning. Thanks to all those that stayed up with me and let me cry on their shoulders that encouraged me when I wanted to give up. Believed in me no matter what!

Thank you Mark, for putting up with me, late at night when I was freaking out over something that seemed really big at the time, but really was small in the end. Thank you for letting me spend a little extra money to make my room feel more complete. For putting up with late night take out or lack of sleep so I could get one more thing complete. Thank you for your prayer and blessings to helped me get through school and life. Thank you for just being there!

Thank you Mom, for putting up with me from the very beginning of things. Thanks for putting up with my melt downs and still encouraging me to keep going. You never gave up on me. Thank you for the hours of cutting and coloring and other time and effort you put into projects to make me stand out and helped me go above and beyond. Thank you for still helping me when I get frustrated and take it out on you even though you didn't deserve it. Thank you for your creativity and pushiness. Those little things you pushed me to do really did make all the difference. Thank you for all the hours you have spent and the money you have spent. And also even though I said I didn't want it, thank you for the fish in my room.

Thank you Dad, for supporting me and encouraging to keep going in your own special way. Thank you for, letting mom be gone all the time to help me. Thank you for not shooting her when she bought another thing for me and my classroom. Thank you for coming after work to help mark the cupboards in my room it really made a difference. Thanks for coming and examining the globe in my room or providing comic relief when we have been working in my room. Thank you for all you have done.

Thank you Amanda, for your willingness to help out. Thank you for all the hours and hours you have put into making posters, and post cards, and writing my class list 500 times on 50 different things. Thank you for dragging your boys to my classroom to help me put up bulletin boards. Thank you for all of your encouraging remarks and telling me how proud you are of me. Thank you for letting me call you or text you all the time just so I can ask you what you think about putting a certain sign in my room. Thank you for always being the big sister that wasn't afraid to be honest with me. Thank you for everything you have done for me.

Thank you Cameron, for letting me steal your wife time and time again. Thank you for taking the boys all day on a Saturday so Amanda could spend more time helping me.

Thank you Tait, Blake and Miles, for enduring hours and hours of time in a small classroom watching movies on a little TV while your mom and I set up my room. Thank you Tait and Blake for sharpening all the pencils in my classroom. Thank you for trying your very hardest to be extra good while we completed just one more thing, in hopes that Aunt Rosie would keep her word and take you out to the playground. I owe you a few hours on the playground. Thanks for hanging in there.

Thank you Mike and Becky, for being willing to help out in any way. To come up to help me organize books even if it fell through. Thank you for your willingness Becky to cut out hundred of word wheels while we camped. Thank you for always being interested in what I was doing and how the classroom was coming. Thanks for just being willing to talk about school.

Thank you to my grandparents, for supporting me through the years and always being there to encourage me. Thank you Grandma Winnie for always asking how the classroom is going and telling me what a wonderful teacher I will be and how proud you are of me. Thank you for giving me a love of reading and all the books you have given me over the years. Thank you!

Thank you to all the other people that have helped and supported me along the way.

I am so very lucky my Heavenly Father blessed me with such a kind, loving and supportive family. I wouldn't be who I am today if I didn't have them! I hope that by me reaching my goal to become a teacher I help a few others feel like they too have reached a goal. I hope I can help and encourage anyone else to reach for the stars and make their dreams a reality.

This slide show is for all those that helped me reach my dream!

One Year!

2008-08-08T20:37:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Mark and I celebrated our one year anniversary!

I can't believe a whole year has gone by already. It feels like it's only been a few months. This past year has been the best year. I am ready and excited for many more years to come together.

Our anniversary fell on a Sunday this year so we had to improvise a little bit. To start off I had to give Mark his present a few days early. I wanted to get him some tools for his new job he started about a month ago. I had it all planned. I had talked to Cameron to see where to go to get some good start up tools and was waiting to go get them.

That all changed when Mark came home and informed me that we needed to go get him some tools. I tried to convince him to wait but when Mark gets an idea in his head it can be hard to change his mind. So I gave in and told him what my present was going to be. So we decided that we would go together to pick out his gift.

Mark had way to much fun picking out all his toys. Since I didn't get a picture of him opening his gift, I took pictures of him picking out his gift.

He told me the next day that his tools really did come in handy.

When we left the store that night after picking out his tools, Mark asked me if I wanted my gift early since he received his early. I told him, no, I would wait.

I decided I would plan our anniversary this year since Mark had been in the past working Saturdays. I told Mark a few weeks ago I would take care of it. Then he told me a week later he wouldn't be working that Saturday. (I should have made him take over!)

I planned to go up to Cascade Springs that day and have lunch. Well when he didn't have to work that Saturday things got a little mixed up.

Mom and Dad decided to go camping on the spur of the moment. We went down to help Dad load up the generator into the truck. They invited us to come a long if we wanted to. Mark surprised me when he said that he would like to go even if it was just for the night. I agreed we could go as long as we left in time to come down and go to dinner and maybe a movie.

So we loaded up some sleeping gear and headed for the mountains. On the way up Mark decided he would give me my Anniversary gift. I was very impressed Mark wrapped it himself in a lovely tan Fossil bag. Mark gave me a very nice red (does he know me or what?) faced watch . I told him a while ago I would like a watch for when school started. He did an amazing job picking out a very nice watch.

After chilling out in the mountains we came back home to celebrate. We cleaned up and went to Goodwood Barbecue for dinner. As always it was delicious. Then we went to a movie theater to catch a movie but any movies that looked good to us were either sold out or we were to late for the showing. So we decided we would stop off at Smiths pick up some ice cream and then go rent a movie. We rented Batman Begins. We thought I had better see it, since I had seen the second movie but never the first.

For the record: I may just be a wimp but I thought Batman Begins was more intense and a lot more scary then Dark Night. That scarecrow freaked me out!

We had a very relaxing low key anniversary but I enjoyed every minute of it. We both needed relaxing and low key with our schedules. Who knows what next year will bring.

24th of July Weekend

2008-07-27T09:53:00.001-07:00

Our 24th of July wasn't what I was expecting. We did nothing like we usually do. Mark had to work so I went over to Amanda's to hang out for the day. We got more things ready for my classroom. This time we created my welcome postcards I am going to send out to my students. Amanda did, once again, an amazing job!

While we waited for them to print we decided we deserved a tasty treat for all our hard work. So we headed over to Rumbi Island Grill for our favorite, Aloha Chicken salad, it seriously is to die for! MMMMM! MMMM!

Later that night after Mark got off work we loaded up the truck and headed down south to spend the weekend with Mark's family. We got there just in time to say hello to everybody set up our air mattress and head off to bed.

While we are down there Mark and I get spoiled. We always have a hot breakfast when we go down there, with all the trimmings. Mark's dad knows how to make the most perfect looking pancakes I have ever seen. They are always golden brown and all the same size. I love it!

While we were down there Mark changed the coil packs in our truck (Don't ask me what they are or how they work! All I know is our truck runs 100 times better then it did before.). We also got to go into the big city with Nancy and go shopping. (I love it, that even Nancy calls Richfield the big city.) Later that night I experienced something I have never seen before. I went to the Salina City Burn Off.

What's they Salina City Burn Off you ask, well its where people get to make a lot of smoke with their tires. Guys bring their trucks and cars to see how much smoke they can make their tires put out in a certain amount of time. It was actually pretty fun. It was fun to watch which ones could make a lot of smoke and also to watch one kid who couldn't make any smoke but kept trying. One of the cars put something on his tires so when he smoked them it put off red and blue smoke. I wish I would have got a picture of that. Although I still don't understand the point of this tradition. Mark promises me that its more fun to actually do the burning of the tires. I think I'll take his word for it.

Then after the Burn Off Chase and Nancy invited us to go with them to see the new Batman movie. It was sooooo good. I have never seen any of the other Batman movies so I didn't know what to expect. I had also hear d that it was a dark movie. I wasn't to sure about going to see it. I loved it though. It was very action packed that was for sure. Heath Ledger did an amazing job as The Joker. I was very impressed.

The next day we slept in until 11:30. After we got dressed and ready for the day we went back over to Salina to go to the Blast from the Past car show. There were a lot of really neat cars there. Its amazing to see what people have hidden away in their garages.

The show had a very special treat too. They had Dale Earnhadrt Jr.'s car. So we had to take a picture for all our NASCAR loving fans.

As you can see Mark was super excited to see the race car!

During this trip Mark inherited a 4-wheeler from his dad. His dad divided up the 4-wheelers and gave one to all of his kids. We are very excited for the 4-wheeler, and we are very thankful to be given one. We can't wait for next years annual 4-wheeling trip! We will be there for sure!

The weekend wasn't what I had expected. We didn't have any picnics in the park, at someones house or in the canyon. We didn't even have Grandma's Birthday cake. But overall we had a good time!

Bread for Birth Control

2008-07-23T13:47:00.000-07:00

Yes you read it right I bake bread for cheaper birth control!
I started this little agreement with my pharmacist about a year ago, right after Mark and I got married. You see my pharmacist is a family friend and when I was younger I would make him bread for some extra spending cash. When I got older I quit making him bread. So every time I went into the pharmacy he would hint around about how good a warm loaf of bread would be.
Right after Mark and I were married we didn't have insurance because Mark started a job the week before. My Birth control pills were super expensive. I went in to pick them up with my mom one day and she told me to see if I could work a deal with Brent to get him to make my pills cheaper. So that is when it started. I bake him two loafs of bread in exchange for a discount on my birth control. I did this for a few months until we got our insurance.
Well, since Mark has changed jobs I'm back in that same boat. I will be receiving insurance through the school but that won't start until the first of September. So I'm back to baking bread. Thank goodness Brent is so willing to work a deal with me just so I can save quite a few bucks!
I can't wait for the day that I can tell my grandchildren that I baked bread for birth control.

School Fever

2008-07-21T14:55:00.000-07:00

I decided I better post some pictures of my classroom. I have just recently caught the school bug. Now, don't get me wrong I'm still scared out of my mind and am having the first day of school nightmares but I'm enjoying the getting ready and I just want to jump into it.
I have spent a few days here and there getting ready. Starting next week I will be there full time. I will have my last day of work at Seagull book on Friday and then I plan to spend as much time as possible in my classroom.
Amanda and mom have helped me so much with getting the room ready. They have been such a big help! I can't thank them enough.
Her are some pictures of what it looks like.

This is how the room kind looked when I first got my keys. The only difference was all the supplies were in the back corner. I spent a day up there separating things into different piles.

To those of you who teaching in newer schools, check out my orange walls and golden yellow cupboards! Aren't they nifty? I do enjoy the fact that two of my walls are metal so I use magnets to put up all the posters on my walls.

Mom came up to the school and helped me put some things away and start working on putting things up on the walls. Here's how that looked.

We laminated all my bulletin boards that day. We cut out a lot of lamination that day!
Amanda and her boys came over a few weeks ago and spent the whole day with me putting up bulletin boards and helping with other projects. I sadly did not take any pictures.
Then last Saturday Mom and Amanda spent the whole day with me setting up the classroom. We put the desks out and more bulletin boards. We started setting up the class library area and made the room actually look like a classroom not a storage area. Again, I sadly did not take any pictures but I will the next time I am up and then I will post them for you. Its getting closer and the closer it get the more excited I become!

How Many of Me?

2008-07-17T17:29:00.000-07:00

I saw this on a friends blog and I had to try it out and post my results. So how many of you are there?

HowManyOfMe.com

There are
65
people with my name in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Silly Boys

2008-07-08T16:02:00.000-07:00

On Sunday Mark and I went over to Amanda's to watch a movie and hang out. Tait asked Uncle Mark if he would go downstairs and see his race track. Mark told him yes and Mark, Cameron and the little boys headed downstairs to check out the shake and roll race track. Amanda and I remined upstairs for a little while longer before we joined them.
We were a little surprised to find this happening down stairs. Notice the little boys are no where in sight.

Click on the picture to watch the movie.

Tagged!!

2008-07-02T16:28:00.000-07:00

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?
I was thirteen years old and probably hanging out at home and enjoying my summer!

2. Five things on your to do list today?
Complain about being sore
Pick up Grandma’s prescriptions
Return my library book so I don’t get another fine.
Cut out letter wheels.
Put something up on the blog so I don’t get a nasty text message at 8 in the morning from a certain sister.

3. Snacks I enjoy:
Everything! Chocolate, Ice-cream, brownies, Oh’ Henries, Cookies, anything with peanut butter,

4. What would I do if suddenly I were a billionaire?
I would pay off the cars and my school loans and buy a new house and Mark a better truck with a natural gas kit in it.

5. 3 bad habits:
Worrying
Chewing my finger nails
Putting things off for another day

6. Five places I've lived:-
Orem
American Fork
Heber
That’s it!

7. Five jobs I've had:
Preschool aid/ teacher
Provo Craft warehouse worker
Seagull book
Magazine distributor
Substitute teacher

8. Five things people don't know about me:
I broke my arm playing kissing tag in fifth grade and told my mom that I just tripped over my friend’s foot so my friend wouldn’t get in trouble.
I have a great moose call and I always seem to do it at the most embarrassing times.
I secretly love old western music, the kind my dad listens to but I wont admit that.
I have had plastic surgery
I hate being tagged because of questions like this one!

I tag: Amanda, Erica, Heather, Lindsey, and who ever else!

Look what we have been up to!

2008-06-09T15:23:00.001-07:00

I decided I had better get on here and blog before I get too far behind. A lot has happened in the past few weeks here at the Curtis’. We have been very busy!

On May 27 Mark and I had to say good bye to our very good friends the Mack’s. They left to make the long trek back home to Ohio to begin a new chapter in their lives.

As you can see both Mark and I are very sad to see them go, but we are excited for them as they begin this new adventure much closer to family. We just hope to make many trips out to Ohio to visit often. Thank goodness for blogs to keep us up to date!

Mark and I have been looking for natural gas vehicles off and on for a little while, but when the house deal fell through we decided to take it a little more serious. We spent days and nights scouring the internet for a good deal on a natural gas truck. After quite a search we found one. I was on KSL cars just moments after someone posted a 2000 Ford F-150 pickup. I called Mark immediately and told him what I found. We called the guy right away and set up a time to meet to check the truck out. We were a little disappointed to find out how beat up the truck was. Mark decided he could fix it up, so he negotiated with the man to sell it for a thousand dollars less. We are now the proud owners of a 2000 Ford Natural Gas Truck. Mark has received quite a bit of criticism and teasing for buying a Ford, but he just tells everyone he will be the one laughing when he is paying 64 cents a gallon to fill the truck up rather than $4.00 a gallon.

That brings me to my next bit of news. We are selling my Cavalier to get rid of an extra car and an extra car payment. If you know of anyone looking for a great little car that is excellent for gas millage let us know. It’s a 2004 Chevy Cavalier, it has super low miles (37K) and it’s in great condition.

We are also selling Mark’s truck if anyone is looking for a Dodge D-50 Convertible! This was Mark’s show truck that he built in High school. It has all the added little extras like shaved handles and a suicide hood. It can also be a low rider truck if that’s your cup of tea.

My Birthday was last Friday and I guess you could say I am one year older and wiser too! My sisters boys made my day when they called and left a message on my phone whishing me a happy 13th birthday! When Amanda asked them how old they thought I was, Tait guessed 13! Man Mark married young.

Last year for my Birthday we went bowling with some friends from the singles ward a day or two before my birthday. We ended up celebrating my birthday and another friend from the wards (Blake) birthday. I was excited to find out we were doing it again this year. Here are some pictures from the event last year and this year! I don’t have too many from this year since my camera batteries were dying.
Last year:

This Year

On my actual Birthday Mark surprised me by giving me a picture of Christ. All day Mark kept hounding me to go pick up my paycheck from work. I continued o tell him that I would either today or tomorrow because it wasn’t a big deal since I was only picking up the paycheck stub my check had already been direct deposited. He kept insisting I go. So after lunch I decided I would go down and get it and then go get my hair cut. When I got to work Jared came to the back to give me my schedule and to give me something Mark wanted me to have. Mark had bought the Simon Dewey picture, “The Lord is my Sheppard” .
the night before and instead of trying to hide it from me just kept it at work. I was so surprised! This is one of my favorite pictures.
Later that day I treated myself to a haircut for my birthday. Then when Mark got off work we went out to dinner at Macaroni Grill. It was a wonderful day! Mark did a good job on the surprise too! I definitely have the WORLD’S GREATEST HUSBAND!
Then to end the week Mark and I were able to attend my friend Gina’s wedding up at the Salt Lake Temple. It was a beautiful wedding.

It has been a busy few weeks but we have enjoyed every minute of it.

Chirp Chirp!

2008-05-21T21:49:00.000-07:00

It all started on Saturday when we weren't getting any hot water in the shower. I hoped in the shower on Saturday morning to find that there was only cold water. Now I used to have this problem of cold showers growing up in a family of five and if I was the last to shower on a particular day then I was doomed to have a cold shower, but when there are just two people in a house with two water heaters you tend to be a little surprised when this happens to you. After some screaming in the shower on my end Mark headed outside to look in our air vents. Sure enough there was a bird’s nest tucked away in the hole. Mark got a couple of hanger and stretched them out to get the nest out. Not only was he able to get the nest out but he also knocked out two baby birds. Problem solved right? Wrong!

On Monday night we noticed some chirping near the air conditioner. We didn't think much of the chirping because they uncovered our air conditioner on Saturday so we just thought that because of this we could just hear the birds chirping outside better. The only problem was the chirping didn't go away. We turned on the air conditioner and they still chirped. As we investigated the chirping a little more we realized the noise became louder when we opened the washroom doors. We soon discovered that the Birds had crawled into the dryer vent from outside and made their way to the middle of our house and nested the dryer vent.

We called our land lady to see who we need to call to have this taken care of. We weren't sure if this was the responsibility of her or are HOA. She gave me an e-mail address of the management guy and told me to keep her in touch. I didn't like that answer so I called the HOA president, and he told me that because they were in our house they were our problem. We got out our hook again and pulled out some more nest and feathers. The chirping soon stopped so we figured the birds had flown away. We borrowed a shop vac from our neighbor Kory to see if we could vacuum up the last of their remains and maybe a bird if it was still in there. We also blocked off the vent so they wouldn't return.

That night I didn't sleep very well and I tossed and turned. I began to hear a weird noise outside and I woke Mark up at about 7 am to see if he knew what it was. He heard the noise too so he go up to open our bedroom do just to hear the sound of chirping birds in the ceiling again! The weird noise I heard was the parents trying to get into the vent again to get to their babies. They were hitting the side of the house. So at 7 o'clock in the morning this was Marks plan of attack!
(Click ont he film strip to watch the movie)

After about an hour we saw a bird jump out of the hole outside. We no longer heard chirping so we sealed the hole up again and we went to work. When I got home again around 2 I heard chirping the minute I walked into the door. I called Mark immediately. He already knew and had put a piece of bread at the end of the pipe that was in our washroom to try a lure him out. So I sat in our house this afternoon reading a book and listening to a bird chirp. Needles to say, by the time Mark got home I was ready to scream. I wanted the stupid bird out. We could hear it inch its way closer to the food but it just wasn’t brave enough to go for it. So we decided to try a new plan of attack. After two more holes in the ceiling we were finally able to corner him.

I truly enjoyed walking into the back room to find my husband’s head in the ceiling.

He was able to take a picture of our new friend. After about another hour and one more hole in our ceiling the bird was out. The chirping has stopped and I am very grateful. But now, I have four holes in my ceiling. I would be upset but Mark assured me he could fix them. In the mean time I have vowed to never own a bird as a pet for the rest of my life.

A Day at the SPA

2008-05-20T16:01:00.000-07:00

WOW! What a day! A day at the spa can really help you relax. For graduation my dear sister Amanda gave me a gift certificate for the new spa in Lehi, Journeys End. I was very excited but a little scared to go by myself. I was thrilled when I found out that Erica's husband Shannan had given her a gift certificate to go with me! So last week we found a day we both could go and made our reservations for the Journeys End pedicure and manicure. I had no idea I could enjoy so much some playing with my feet.

We arrived at the spa early and they led us out to their back patio to relax until they were ready for us. While we waited they brought us a drink and a little snack to enjoy. We sat out there just visiting and enjoying this moment of peace. As time went on I began to hear a tractor in the distance. I made the comment to Erica, "This was relaxing until that noise started." We laughed and then all of the sudden here came the tractor right where we were sitting. The man running the tractor was digging a hole for the fence. Although we wouldn't have minded a young handsome young man out there to fan us with a leaf and feed us grapes, we were not expecting the middle aged construction worker with his two padres. Luckily we were able to go inside and begin our pedicures.

The atmosphere was very relaxing and the ladies that worked on us were very friendly. It was so nice to just sit back and just enjoy the peace. I have never had a manicure or a pedicure before and I loved every minute of it. I think I could get used to going back again and again for the same treatment. Next time I think I'll go for a message!

I had a total blast and I was very excited I could do it with Erica. I was very thankful for one more girl’s day out with just the two of us. I don’t know what I'm going to do with out here.

Here are some of the pictures from our outing and the before and after pictures of my hands and feet. Thanks again Amanda! Now I think we need to go together!
Before

After

1st Grade

2008-05-01T20:06:00.000-07:00

I got the call I have been waiting for yesterday morning. The Principal of Northdridge Elementary called to offer me the 1st grade position I had interviewed for. I of course accepted! I just hope I can be a great teacher! I have some great teachers to live up to. One of those teacher would have to be Mrs. MacKay my first grade teacher:
I remember three distinct things about Mrs. Mackay, one, she read us the book The Wizard of Oz after recess every day. I didn't know it was a book I just thought it was a movie. The book she read from seemed like it was a giant book and it had neat pictures every so often. I have since bought a copy of The Wizard of Oz. I just can't find a large copy of it.

Another thing I remember was, one day during school we had a big rain and thunder storm. Our classroom had one wall that was entirely windows. Mrs. Mackay gathered us all over by the windows and while we watched for lighting and listened to the thunder and rain she read us the book Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco That was a neat day. (I need to buy that book.)

My final memory of her is kinda funny. I remember that she always seemed to make me sit next to Sean. Sean was the class clown and was always getting in trouble. Well when ever Sean would misbehave Mrs Mackay would take the pointer stick with the large wooden apple on one end (ironically I gave her this pointer stick for Christmas)and hit the desk to scare him and to get him back on task. I was always afraid she was going to hit me or miss and get my fingers. I think this discipline tactic did a better job scaring me then it did getting Sean in line.

The other interesting thing about Mrs Mackay is we shared the same first name. I thought that was sooo cool.

My other great teacher is Miss Honey from Matilda. I mean you can't beat Miss Honey.

I am sure I could name over 100 more great 1st grade teachers and just teachers in general. I have a lot to live up to, that's for sure.

Finished!!!

2008-04-29T06:59:00.000-07:00

I am officially finished with college!! I even have the college degree to prove it, oh wait I will have the degree in July, right now I have a green cover for it.

I can't believe it finally happened. I graduated on Friday with all of my good friends. There were so many times that I wanted to just give up and not go back. towards the end you get so sick of jumping through hoops for professors. But looking back it was all worth it in the end.

All of my family who could make it were in attendance. Mark's parents and his sister Monica and her kids and Nancy and Hagen came up for the event. My parents were both there and my sister and Miles came and Mike and Becky, and Grandma Winnie and Grandpa Proctor were all able to attend (I was so glad they were both able to attend.)

After the graduation we all headed out to Springville for some good vittles at Cracker Barrel. It was a very exciting day!

I have had some people ask me if I'm going to miss it and of course the answer is no who would? I mean the boring lectures, the exams, the papers, the finals, (good luck Becky). There is one thing I am going to miss. That would be the social part of school. I will miss the friends I have made. In our cohort of girls we all really got along and had a blast together. From cohort Christmas parties with lingerie to coloring pictures from a coloring book during ESL Methods. I'm going to miss seeing them every day. I am hopping that we will still talk and catch up on what is going on in each others lives. Especially our little table of friends.

Here you go, Now leave me alone!

2008-04-22T15:13:00.000-07:00

I am writing a new post because of the many requests from everyone! I didn't fully understand how much everyone loves and adores me and needs to know what I am doing at every waking movement. I feel so loved!!!

I haven't posted because life has been busy. I have been preparing to graduate this Friday. I have been substituting at Northridge Elementary where I did my student teaching. I have also gone back to work at Seagull Book for the summer. On top of it all Mark and I have started looking for a home.

I have gotten better at taking pictures of all the things I do so I can blog about them it’s just sitting down at the computer and typing up the info and posting the pictures. Don't worry; I'm making a new goal right now! I am planning on being better at blogging, I will not let two weeks of events go by before I blog about them! Unless we find a house and then I may have a longer gap because of packing and unpacking and all that fun moving stuff. Who knows maybe all have Amanda post something for me during that time.

With all the events that are taking place right now some fun and exciting stuff has happened in-between. First off I am done with school and I graduate on Friday. I also received the results to my PRAXIS exam (the teaching certificate exam) and I passed!!!! Shocking I know.

Mark and I took a break two weeks ago and went down to Aurora to spend time with his family. While we were there we went on an all day 4-wheeler ride with Marks dad, uncles, and cousins. I had a blast. I'm really glad I decide to go with them. We saw some really beautiful country out there it reminded me from a scene out of the movie cars. I told Mark I feel like I'm in Radiator Springs.

While we are down there Mark and I stumbled across a house that we have considered buying. It’s perfect. I think most realtors description of it would be a cozy, country feel home, ideal for a young couple’s starter home. Other then the commute for us I think it’s a keeper. I don't know you tell me.

We also celebrated Hagen's first birthday while we were down there. Chase and Nancy put together a yummy barbeque with all the family. It was fun to see everyone gather together and enjoy good company and good food. Hagen seemed to enjoy his cake too.

I am thankful to my new extended family and the opportunity we have to go down there every once in a while and get away from all the hustle and bustle and go 4-wheeling and visit with them. I have officially given myself a bad rap down there. I've been asked d why it is that whenever I come down all I want to do is sleep. It’s either because they plan outstanding outings that wipe me out or it’s because I’m just used to the busier life up here and the minute I get down south my body begins to relax and so I sleep. Either way, I love it.

Book Tag

2008-04-01T09:52:00.000-07:00

Amanda tagged me.

Here it is:

Pick up the nearest book.
Turn to page 123
Post the fifth sentence
Tag 5 friends.

"Thou shalt not tempt the Lord Thy God."

Are computer is right next to the bookshelf with all of Mark's books from his mission. So I closed my eyes and graped one. I haven't read this book yet but its on my list of want to reads.
I'm reading right now the newest book by Dean Hughes, Before the Dawn. Its good so far.

I tag: Erica, Becky, Lindsey W, Nancy, and Heather!

Review

2008-04-01T08:47:00.000-07:00

It’s been a few weeks since I have posted anything and a lot of things have happened in those weeks. I decided I had better do a week in review before I fell too far behind. So here I go.

To start off with I finished up my student teaching. I am excited to be done because that means I am even closer to becoming a teacher and having my own classroom. I'm also really sad because I had a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the Kindergarten class and I'm going to miss teaching them. I am hoping to be hired at the same school as a third grade teacher next year. I'll keep everyone posted.

We also had Easter in those weeks. Mark and I had a very relaxing and enjoyable Easter together. We went down to Aurora for Easter this year. We did a wide array of activities while we were down there. We went four-wheeling in the snow (that was exciting because there was no snow up here and it was warm, how quickly that changed! Now we have snow and really cold temperatures. I WANT SPRING!). We helped dye Easter Eggs with Will and Harley and they even let us enjoy some of their Easter Candy. We had an Easter Egg Roll(this tradition was introduced to me this year.) On Sunday we all went to Big Rock Candy Mountain for a picnic. I enjoy going down to Mark's parents because it seems like life slows down. I needed that kind of break after student teaching.

After are nice relaxing weekend we came back home to get back to work. Mark went back to work and I went to work on my senior project. This is the last college assignment I will ever do! I worked with Erica on this assignment very day! We were both sick of even thinking about it. We made a goal with each other that if we got it done by Friday we would treat ourselves to Einstein’s Bagels and their Mudslide cookie. Erica finished hers by Thursday and I just needed to scan in a few more assignments so we went a day early to Einstein’s. It was a well deserved treat! It is so nice to know that I am done!

Last Saturday I threw Erica a baby shower. I couldn't have done it without the help of Mom and Amanda. Even Becky came to my rescue with the drinks. Between Mom and Amanda they took care of all the food and mom did the finishing touches on the games for me. They are the biggest lifesavers. Thank you guys!

Now I'm done with everything. I attend my last class tonight and then I don't have to step back into the school until April 25th for graduation. I'm so excited to be done! I just wonder what I'm going to do with myself this summer. I will be substitute teaching the last few months of school and then I have no idea. I'm looking forward to whatever life brings.

Happy Homemaker!

2008-03-19T17:33:00.000-07:00

Well, its official we bough something this week that is supposed to help me be the 1950's happy homemaker! We bought a new frontloading washer and dryer. We have been fed up with the washer and dryer that we were using that our landlady let us use. We had to babysit the dryer because it would turn off every 5 minutes, and it would take 4 hours sometimes to dry a simple load of whites. I think Mark was a little afraid that I was going to put my foot through the dryer if I had to deal with it for much longer.

We started looking at dryers a while ago but wanted to wait so we could find a good deal. Every time we went to look I told Mark I wanted the red front loading washer and dryer. Mark would just say me too and walk over to the dryers in our price range.

I swear we looked at every dryer and at every place imaginable. We looked and we looked and we looked. Finally after looking at all the deals for dryers we decided it would be cheaper for us to buy a new washer and dryer if we were going to buy anything at all. We finally found a good deal at RC Willey and after discussing the money we decided to get it. We bought our new front loading Whirlpool Duet washer and dryer, (white not red) on Friday.

Chase and Nancy came up on Saturday to pick up a pickup truck they bought and they were kind enough to help us get them home. Chase helped Mark load them into the house and we were lucky to only get one scratch on them (ha ha Chase!)

I love our new washer and dryer. I like to sit in the hall and watch the washer. I think that will end when the novelty wears off. I hope this is the first step in helping me to truly be the happy homemaker I want to be. Mark has been so good to me by cleaning up the house the past few weekends while I have been gone for school. I hope that now my student teaching is done I can take over the role of happy homemaker again. I am so lucky to be married to a patient guy.

Here is my happy homemaker shot of me showing off my new washer and dryer I was trying to look like the old 1950 ads with the happy lady in her apron. I just didn't have an apron to wear.

Apparently I Can Make Anything Interesting!

2008-03-06T20:08:00.000-08:00

Sorry it has taken me a while to write something new on my blog. Both Mark and I have been busy with work and school. I feel like all we do is work and sleep. I haven't posted anything because I haven't known what to post about.

I was talking to Amanda tonight and she wanted to know when I was going to put a new post up? I told her I didn't know because nothing exciting has really happened. The most exciting thing we did last night was go through the Taco Bell drive through for a carmel apple empanada. She informed me that I can make anything interesting as long as I write about it. I told her that I needed pictures to add to the post. She suggested I take a picture of my empanada. That would be a bit of a problem since I ate it the night before. So she suggested I take a picture of the wrapper but I always try to give a hoot and not pollute so, I threw it away. She was all out of suggestions at this point and ended our conversation by saying, "Just put something new on your blog."

So I decided I would start tonight to turn over a new leaf and but something new on my blog. Tonight was the first night in a long time and the first night this week that Mark and I had no plans. Mark came home at his normal time and we decided to run down to grandmas and put away her Christmas tree that she asked us to put away awhile ago. We visited with grandma for a little while. When we got ready to leave I noticed that her atomic clock in her hall was not working. The screen was completely blank. I asked her if the battery needed to be changed and that was why the screen was blank. She informed us that it wasn't the battery that was the problem it was because the government shot down the satellite a few weeks ago. That sounded a little strange to both Mark and I so we both looked at her and said, "What?" She informed us that the clock quit working about the same time the government had to shoot down the satellite . I took the clock down and put a set of new batteries in the clock and Mark reset the clock so I would work again and VOILA! It works again! Grandma was excited to know that it was just a faulty battery.

We came home from Grandmas and barbaqued a hamburger for dinner. We watched the end of American Idol and then we got interested in the new show that followed called New Amsterdam (What a strange show!)

Don't worry Mark is not really asleep he just wishes he was. Usually it is the other way around. I want to watch a movie and within the first ten minutes I'm out cold.

Lately I have had a craving for sweets (this was the reason for the late night Taco Bell run last night for and empanada.) I am always in the mood for something chocolate or sweet. ( I know what some of you are thinking with all this baby talk going on and the answer is NO!!! And yes I am sure about that. I have had some health problems and the doctor ran all the tests and they all came back negative. I am just my fathes daughter and there are soem times when I just get a craving for something sweet or just some ice cream.) I mixed up an Oreo desseret tonight and Mark and I were able to enjoy this while we watched T.V. It was very nice to have a relaxing evening for once. I'm hoping to have more of those in a couple of weeks as I finish up student teaching and get ready to graduate in about a month.

Oh just to give everyone a recap on what happened last week, Mark put his Beretta on KSL cars a couple of weeks ago, and we sold it offically on Saturday. Mark was sad to see it go but says he is glad to see it out of Ben's backyard and back on the streets again. The kid who bought it hopes to fix it up and use it as a show car.

Speaking of car shows Mark and I attended the Autorama last Friday at the South Town Expo Center . There were some nice cars and we enjoyed ourselves but Mark said that the show wasn't as good as it has been in years past. I don't know about that though, in years past they didn't have Lightning McQueen on display. That was the highlight of my evening!

What a weekend!

2008-02-17T17:01:00.000-08:00

We plan to have a relaxing weekend every weekend and it seems that every weekend our plans change and we do more running around then we do relaxing. On Saturday Mark and I both agreed that the one thing we were going to do no matter what was to sleep in. We both get up at 6am during the week and so by the weekend we look forward to sleeping in. So I was dreaming of sleeping in like I did when I was living at home with my parents. I was going to sleep in till 11 am and if I was lucky I would sleep till 12pm. You can only imagine how sad I was when my internal alarm clock went off at 7:30am. I guess you could say I hit the snooze bar until 8am. Then I lay in bed trying to fall back asleep till 9am. I hate being on this teacher schedule! I want to go back to my single ways of sleeping till noon. I rolled out of bed at 9am, with Mark and helped him clean up the house.
After all the cleaning was done we decide to run a few errands. We went to Provo to Losee Jewelers to see if they could solder my ring. We have been meaning to do this since we got married. Then we left there and headed to American Fork to check out the local pawn shop. Mark has been looking for a rifle for a few weeks now. I told him I would buy him one for Valentine’s Day if he found one he liked. So we have been going from Cabelas, To Sportsman’s Warehouse to every pawn shop around town trying to find a good deal and a good gun. All we seemed to find was overpriced items or nothing at all. So we decided we would wait and I would get him something else for Valentines.
I noticed this pawn shop in American Fork on Tuesday on my way to the district offices and I told Mark about it. We decided to check it out on the weekend. We were very pleased with this pawn shop. Not only did they have a great selection they also had some great prices. We found Mark a new rifle for $350 dollars. Not only did we get the gun for this price, it came with a scope also. We were very lucky to stumble across this deal.
We decide that we should take the gun out west and shoot a couple of rounds to see if it was worth the money. We gathered up Mike and Becky, Cameron and Tait, and our friends Shannan and Erica and went out west to shoot the guns. We got out there kind of late but the guys were still able to shoot a few rounds. It was a lot of fun despite the snow freezing temperatures and all the mud.
After our shooting adventures we went with the Mack’s to Outback Steak House for dinner. The wait was long but the food was great! Plus we were able to sit next to the bar and have some free entertainment. It was fun to be able to watch a group of people sit up to the bar and be completely shy and only talk with the group they came with. Then after a few drinks it seemed as if everyone was there friend and they thought everyone wanted to talk to them. We even had a guy strike up a conversation with us about the Super Bowl (at least that’s what we think he said it was a little slurred).
Even though we didn’t have the relaxed day at home that we seem to plan every weekend, we had a lot of fun. Now we plan to relax today. After church, we made our new favorite treat, Pretzel Bites. We found a great recipe on the internet for pretzels and they taste just like the ones you buy at the mall!

Valentine Tag

2008-02-15T16:13:00.000-08:00

How long have you been married? 6 months
How long did you date? We dated for about a month and a half and were engaged for 4 months.
How old is he? 27
How old are you? 22
Who eats more? He does.
Who said "I love you" first? I did.
Who sings better? He does. Mark can play instruments so he can hear the notes.
Who is smarter? We are smart about different things. Mark is great at math and cars and the technical more complicated problem solving things, and I can do the more elementary things.
Who does the laundry? We both do. Mark is very good about putting a load of laundry in. I did it more when I wasn’t teaching.
Who does the dishes? I do them because I’m home more, but Mark is very helpful and is always chipping in.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Mark does. There was no compromising on this issue when we got married.
Who pays the bills? I mostly do, but he helps when I make him!
Who mows the lawn? When we get a lawn mark will because he wants a big yard.
Who cooks dinner? I do most of the time because I plan the menu, but mark is very good about making it when I’m busy with school. My Favorite has been beans and franks!
Who is more stubborn? Mark is. When he’s right he’s right!
Who kissed who first? Mark kissed me. Even though he wasn’t going to kiss another girl until they had dated for at least a year I think we lasted two weeks.
Who asked who out? Mark asked me out after Mike told him in a text that I had a crush on him.
Who proposed? Mark purposed on my parents couch after I ruined the surprise twice in a row.
Who is more sensitive? I am. Mark will tell you some days I just have to cry and I don’t know why.
Who has more friends? We both have the same amount.
Who has more siblings? Mark does. Mark has two brothers and two sisters and I only have a brother and a sister.
Who wears the pants? Mark leads the family but we come up with the final decision after we have discussed things.
Who are you tagging? I’m not because I’m late getting this up and Valentine’s Day is over.

I'm back for a few more days!

2008-02-11T16:05:00.000-08:00

I'm sure all of you have been wondering what the heck has Rosie and Mark been up to for the past 6 weeks. Well the answer is school and work.
Mark has been very busy the past few weeks with work. Since we have had a true Utah winter this year, Mark has been very busy with all the wrecks out on the road.
There have been some days that he leaves the house at 6 and doesn't return home till 8.

I have been student Teaching at Northridge Elementary School.
I just finished up with the 5th grade and started today in Kindergarten. I have loved my experience so far. My day has consisted of coming home by 4:30 and beginning the lessons for the next day. Then when Mark comes home we eat whatever we can find or make quickly and then Mark will help me cut out quadrilaterals and parallelograms for the next math lesson or he helps grade the homework. I wouldn't have been able to get through this experience without him. He has defiantly been my lifesaver.

Needless to say I am ready for my house to get back to normal and our life to get back to normal, as normal as life can get! We both look forward to the weekend where we try to take it easy and get things done, so we will be ready for the following week. I hope when I get my own classroom life won’t be this crazy but I’m afraid that won’t happen until I have been teaching for at least 5 years. Until then I'll do my best to keep you posted on our life events.

5 Minute University

2008-01-04T17:36:00.000-08:00

My professor showed this clip to us today in class, after our 3 hour discussion on the final requirements needed to graduate. After applying for graduation this evening I am kinda wishing I would have attended a 5 minute university rather than attending for 5 years. Oh well, live and learn

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2008-01-02T08:55:00.000-08:00

(Amanda after having a few drinks this New Years Eve.)

2007 is now gone and here we are at the beginning of 2008. I'm looking forward to a New Year and the exciting things that will be taking place in this New Year like finally graduating, but I'm also sad to see 2007 leave. 2007 was a great year. We had a lot of happiness this year like, two weddings and some sorrow, losing my Grandma Proctor this past July. Overall I would say 2007 can be considered a great success.

For New Years Eve Mark and I invited some friends and family over for some food and games. Mark barbequed some beef for his favorite taco things. He learned how to make this dish from the Hispanic men from his old job. Mark did an excellent job and I think I'll let him cook every night. (The night before he made BBQ ribs for the first time and they turned out to be delicious too.) We had a ton of really good food. After we played some games and waited to ring in the new year together with some sparkling cider. We did discover that the later it got the more silly we became and everything that Becky said or did became hilarious. Thanks Becky for helping out with the entertainment, we sure enjoy having you in our family.

Then for New Years day we slept in till 12, (well Mark did I had to take care of my dog sitting duties for Uncle Al, so I was up earlier but I did go back to bed after.) Then we headed off to Eagle Mountain for some tubing with the family. The Tubing Beauties

Tait & Blake showed us how it was done, and even Grandpa couldn't resist just one ride down the hill. The hill was really crowded but we still enjoyed ourselves. I did hear that the hill we went on wasn't as big as the tubing hill down in Aurora, so I'll be expecting a visit to tubing hill with the Curtis clan next year around Christmas, or sooner. Sorry I don't have a lot of pictures of Mark and I sledding, I was having too much fun sledding. Check out Amanda or Becky's blogs to check out the pictures they took. So post the pictures you two.

Later that night Mark and I went to the movie with Mike & Becky, and Karen & Kevin. We saw National Treasure: Book of Secrets. I really enjoyed this movie. They did a really good job with this one. So if you need a fun date night activity I would highly recommend seeing this movie.

Now we head back to work and school. Mark was back at work today around 8 and I will enjoy one more day of freedom before I go back to regular school on Thursday and Friday and then I begin 10 weeks of Student teaching next Monday. I really hope I'm ready for it.

My New Obsession!

2007-12-31T09:06:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Day Mark and I went to the Mack’s to play games. Erica won the Simpson Monopoly game in our white elephant gift exchange, (actually Erica stole the game from me!) This is where the obsession began. I have never like Monopoly growing up, now I love it. On Christmas Day, I thought I was losing, but come to find out I had won the game. Then a few days later Mark and I were invited to play games over at Mike & Becky’s. Becky had me go and choose the game from the pile. She had the deluxe edition of the game. Even though I was the one to end the game by going bankrupt after on roll of the die, (thanks a lot Becky!) I had a blast! Maybe this game was so fun because Mike wasn’t watching his properties and giving people free rent. Mike says he officially hates this game.

On Saturday Mark and I were out doing some grocery shopping at Wal-Mart. I asked Mark if we could go look at the games, and if the monopoly game wasn’t too expensive, could we buy it. He agreed because I still had my Christmas money from his parents. Just my luck Wal-mart was having a sale on games and we were able to buy the new limited edition, Monopoly Here & Now game.

I made Mark play with me that till about 1 am. Don’t worry, Mark killed me in that game too. Then last night we had the Macks over for dinner and games and Mike & Becky stopped by and you guessed it, we played Monopoly. We don’t know the outcome for this game yet. We decided to call it a night when it became too late and the boys and Becky had to get up early for work the next day, but don’t worry, we left everything so we can finish it up tonight.

So stop by our house if you’re in the mood for some Monopoly.

Our First Christmas

2007-12-27T08:24:00.000-08:00

Mark and I just celebrated our first Christmas together. It was a very busy Christmas. Filled with lots of time with family and friends. We left the Saturday before Christmas, after Mark's work party to go spend time with his family. We spent a few relaxing days down south, where we exchanged Christmas presents with Mark's family. Koalton loved his Cars track
but I'm not to sure Chase enjoyed his Whoop Ass Peanuts. Judging by the face he made and the coughing and hacking. Sorry Chase.

We left Christmas eve evening to head back home to celebrate Christmas with my family too. We were welcomed in with a huge storm.
We drove through white out conditions, and saw a few accidents along the way. We were blessed to make it home safely.

We then celebrated Christmas Eve with all of my family, Grandpa Jack, and our friends the Macks. Mom and dad made their famous prime rib dinner and we played games and watched a movie. We introduced the new in-laws to the families favorite christmas tradition, the flour game. This is the game where you place a coin on top of some packed flour and then we take turns cutting it away and the person to make the coin fall, has to retrieve it from the flour with their teeth. Mark was the lucky winner this year.

that night Mark was kind enough to take part in one of my family traditions that I hope to carry on with my kids. Each year we get to open one gift on Christmas Eve, our Christmas PJ's. Mark was willing to play along but didn't really get why we needed to do it. I think I'll try this tradition again when we have our first child.

We were very blessed this Christmas. Both Mark and I received new cloths. Mark alos got a new movie and soem brain teasers. I thought for sure that these would stump him but he proved me wrong once again. He had the first one figured out within a few minutes of opening the gift. I guess his pajamas are right when they say, I am so smrt! Mark also received a new suit. This one was a black with a double pin stripe. I have never seen someone get so excited over a new suit.

Mark gave me a Family Home Evening board, a new frying pan,( I was so excited to get this. We only had a very small pan and every time i cooked hamburger I had more hamburger out of the pan then I did in the pan.) Mark also gave me a Kitchen Aid Mixer.
The perfect one too. It was red with a handle on the bowl. We used it that morning to make scones.

We enjoyed the time we were able to spend with family and friends this year. Although this Christmas was very busy. It was filled with a lot of joy and happiness. I am very blessed to be a part of both families and to be able to be close enough to spen christmas with both sides.

Mark and I also are thankful for the true reason why we clebrate this wonderful season, our Savior. What a miracle that took place so many years ago in a stable. We feel very lucky to be able to have this gospel in our lives and see the blessing that come from living it.

We hope everryone had a very Merry Christmas and we also hope that everyone has a Happy New Year.

Happy Early Birthday Mark

2007-12-17T09:57:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I decided to take Mark out for his birthday. We did it early because I wanted to take him to one of our favorite places, Tucanos. We had to go on Saturday so we could get the lunch time special. So we invited some family and friends. Some being the key word. When I made the reservation it was for 15 adults 2 kids and one baby. This event was not little by any means. We had my parents, Mike and Becky, Amanda, Cameron, and their three boys, Cameron's parents, and sister who were here for Miles's blessing, Our friends, Shannan and Erica, and Erica's parents who were here for Christmas and to find out the sex of their new granddaughter. Congratulations Erica and Shannan on the anticipated arrival of baby Olivia!

After we stuffed ourselves with all the food we could handle we let Mark open an early birthday present. I have been keeping this present a secret since September and I was dieing to give it to him. I ordered Mark a new suit right after we were married and have had it hidden at my parents house for a while. I have also been telling Mark that Brother Hazen (the guy that sold me the suit) wasn't selling suits any more and if he could just wait till after Christmas we would go to the Mr. Mac sale (I don't even know if there is a sale after Christmas for Mr. Mac, but he bought it.)

Before we left for the restaurants I informed Mark that i needed a box to wrap his gift in. We decided to go to his shop to get a box. He asked me what size of box I would be needing. As I explained the size of box I would need the little light bulb over my head went off, (sometimes the light bulb has a slow reaction time) he was trying to figure out what I was giving him. So I stopped and called him on it. He informed me that it was okay because he already new what I was giving him because I gave it away earlier. I was surprised that I had. I asked him what he thought I was giving him. He said, "The lift supports for my car." (Mark's lift supports for his trunk went out back in October and we just haven't been willing to hand over the $80 dollars for new ones.) i just gave him a hurt face and asked if he would at least act surprised when I gave them to him. He agreed. (I never knew I could be could at giving a surprise.) I was so excited to give Mark his present even more then before.

Mark loved his suit. I hope just as much as he would have loved the lift supports. We had an enjoyable time with friends and family and I can't wait to give him the other birthday present tomorrow.

Movie Rating

2007-12-15T07:38:00.000-08:00

Last night over dinner Mark and I were planning what we should do for entertainment. I'm officially done with finals and I was ready to do something rather exciting. We narrowed our options down to two things we could:
A: Try to take over the world. Or
B: Go see the new movie that just released, I Am Legend.
After weighing our options we decided that option B was more exciting and a lot easier.

We text our friend Jared to see what time he was going. The movie started in 40minutes. Jared said he would buy our tickets since he was already in line for them. Mark flew to the tub where he scrubbed with all his might. We dashed to the car and of we flew to the movie. (After a quick call to Jared to ask which movie theater he was at.)

When we got to the movie we were sure glad Jared bought our tickets in advance. The line was huge. I heard another lady exclaim as we ran through the line, "Look they were smart and got their tickets early." We then hurried to the theater to be blessed with the back row of the front floor seats, but we made it and we were ready to be entertained by a good movie.

Now the rating:
DON'T GO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!!! I repeat DON'T GO SEE THIS MOVIE! I don't think I can scream this statement loud enough. When we came out of the theater to see a line of people to go see the next showing of it, I wanted to go to each individual person and tell them not to see this film.
If i were to give this fill a thumbs up thumbs down rating I would have to not even give it the courtesy of even giving it a thumb. It was horrible. This movie was just a zombie movie.

Now I know what your thinking Amanda, "This is just Rosie and any movie that has the slightest bit of the boo factor will scare her, she's just a wimp." Even though the movie scared the crap out of me, the people we were with also agreed that it was a bad movie. There was no point to the movie and they took such an exciting hopeful scenario for millions of people and turned it into a dark and terrifying situation that leaves you hoping it will never happen. Overall the movie was very dark.

I have to admit there is a perk to this movie. I got to cuddle up with Mark during the movie. All Admit I needed a security blanket to save me from the zombies. Also Mark found a perk to the movie too. He will now be allowed to get the gun he wants for Christmas. Ha Ha Ha.

Now if we would have ended our night after the stupid show the night would have been a total failure and we should have chosen option A when planning our night. But we made a recovery. We went back to Jared's house after the movie to visit and say hello to his family, and there we were able to watch the end of one of my new favorite movies, It's A Wonderful Life. After that both Mark and I were a little hungry and so we headed to the most exciting place in Utah County at 11:30 at night, IHOP. i have to say If it wasn't for the delicious stuffed french toast and hot chocolate I would have thought the night was a total flop. Maybe next week will try to take over the world.

What's Your Holiday Mood?

2007-12-07T17:19:00.000-08:00

Sorry I couldn't resist posting this quiz. I really liked the results we got.

Here's Rosie's

and here's Mark's

What Ice Cream Flavor Are You?

2007-12-04T15:24:00.000-08:00

My Amazing Sister

2007-12-01T21:26:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to add that I have the most amazing sister ever. I decided to change my blog to a Christmas background. Instead I totally messed up my entire blog. Luckily I was able to call the blogging Queen and say, "help!" Amanda was to the rescue. She created my background and put everything back in its proper place. She truly is amazing! Oh, by the way I have learned my lesson. I will never touch my blog, (other then to create a post)unless my sister is here to help and guide me through the process. I promise Amanda. Thanks for all your help!

Oh Christmas Tree

2007-12-01T21:06:00.001-08:00

This year my Christmas has been turned upside down a little. Mark and I are preparing to spend our first Christmas together and combining family traditions has been an adventure in itself. It started with Thanksgiving. We stayed here for Thanksgiving. We spent Thanksgiving Day with my family and then we went down south for the rest of the weekend.
Mark had his first taste of Black Friday this year. He was a good sport and woke up at 3:00 am to wait in a line outside of Mervyns to open at 4. I think he was wondering what the heck he got himself into when I got him up and out the door by 3. It may seem a little crazy but if you ask Mark I'm pretty sure he'd tell you it was fun and definitely entertaining. Plus, we got some awesome deals! I'm sure he'll be the one next year waking me up to hit the Wal-Mart sales.
After we got our shopping done we headed home for a few more hours of sleep. Then we headed down to Aurora for the weekend. We spent the week visiting friends and family and picking out our first Christmas tree.
This was a bit of a struggle for me. I have grown up with an artificial tree most of my life. I love artificial trees. I love setting it up before Thanksgiving and sitting in the front room with all the Christmas lights on and listening to Christmas music. I love that I don't have to water my tree. I don't have to worry if it's getting to dry and if I want I can leave it up for a few weeks after Christmas and not worry about it dying.
So, when mark informed me that he wouldn't be having a fake Christmas tree in his house for Christmas I was a little upset. I only can remember one or two times growing up, where we had a real tree. Everything I tried wouldn't work there was no changing Marks mind. We were going to have a real tree or no tree at all. So I compromised and said that I would go along with it as long as we could go cut down our own.
While we were down south for Thanksgiving, we went with Chase, Nancy, and Chase’s family to cut down our first Christmas tree. Mike and Becky drove down to Aurora too, to cut down a tree also. What an adventure. When we started out on our trip they had me a little worried. Everywhere I looked, all I saw were Joshua Trees not pine trees. I was beginning to worry about the tree we were going to cut down. After my silly city girl comment they assured me that we would be cutting down a pine tree. Finally we reached the top of the mountain and all the beautiful pine trees.
When we got parked the boys began a fire and they also pulled out the Dutch ovens to make a delicious lunch. This was an event. The one time I remember cutting down our own tree. We went up into the mountains cut down a tree and headed home. We didn’t have lunch or a fire.
Mark and I wandered around after lunch looking for the perfect tree. We had are disagreements about what the tree should look like, but then we found it. It was sitting about 11 feet above us. It was the top of a bare tree. The bottom part was completely bare and the top was our perfect Christmas tree. We grabbed one of the guys who was with us and the two guys cut down are tree. After we cut it down Mark had to drag the tree back to where all the trucks were parked. All together I would say we cut down about 15 trees. It was like a min Christmas tree lot.
It was cold but a lot of fun. I'm glad we had the opportunity to cut down are own Christmas tree. The only thing that could have made it better was a little snow.

We came home Saturday night and on Sunday we trimmed the tree and began setting it up. Are good friends Shannan & Erica Came over on Sunday night and helped us set up our tree and all the decorations. It was such a blast. I can honestly say I have grown to love my real Christmas tree. I love how it smells and I like its distinct look. Mark tells me it has personality. What do you think?

I'm defiently excited to share our first Christmas together. We wish everyone a Merry Christmas too!

Visiting Teaching Message

2007-11-11T15:27:00.000-08:00

I just had my visiting teachers stop by. They left with me quite the message this month. They showed up right after church and we chatted for a little bit. We talked about what we would be doing for Thanksgiving and what was new in our lives. Then one of the sisters shared a message from the confrence report and did a very good job. After the message they asked me the all to famous question, "is there anything we can do for you?" I told them not that I could think of, everything was going well right now. Then what one of the sister said took me a litle bit by surprise. She looked at me and asked how things were going for Mark and I. I thought this was a little weird because they asked me this when they first came. I told them once again, that things were going well. She then states, "no I mean with marriage?" I told her, "Oh, they are going really well, I mean we have had our challenges as we try to adjust, especially as the holiday season approaches but we are loving married life." She then smiles and says to me, "well thats good, my first year of marriage was okay, but my second year was jsut HELL!" I was a little taken back. I wasn't expecting her to tell me that her marriage was hell. I think she even surprised her companion. I'm just hoping things are going well for them now. They seem to be happy at least at church that is. And with that happy note they left.

Hunting

2007-11-11T14:46:00.000-08:00

This is a week late but its better then not posting at all. Plus, I had some friendly encouragement from my dear sister to get a new post up or else! Thank you for all the comments on my blog and the friendly phone calls. Hear you go Amanda, no need to threaten me anymore.

Last week Mark and I took our friends Shannan and Erica down south for a weekend of hunting and relaxation. The boys were excited to go pheasant hunting and Erica and I were just excited to get away. We both started student teaching that week and were begging to feel the stress and anxiety that is included with student teaching.

We left for Aurora Friday night, so the boys could get up early on Saturday to head out hunting. So while they headed out around 8, Erica and I slept in. They were only gone for a few hours before they came back, beaming with pride holding two pretty yet ugly birds.

They paraded into the house with their kill and proceeded to lay them on the counter. Mark's family got quite a chuckle watching two city girls squirm over two dead birds. Just because its kosher in Aurora Utah to put your dead, bloody bird on your kitchen counter, doesn't mean it will ever be kosher in my house. Gross!!

The boys then took their new friends out back to pluck and clean them. Erica and I decided that we didn't want to miss out on this perfect picture taking experience. So we bundled up and walked out back to watch for a minute. This probably wasn't the best idea for two sqwimish girls in the first place but it really wasn't a good idea since one of those girls was pregnant and already had an overly sensitive stomach. We watched the guys pluck off all the feathers from the birds, but we left rather quickly when the scene became a tad more violent then we wanted to participate in.

After they finished cleaning and gutting the birds they headed out again. This time they took Mark's dad and nephew with them. They left the girls behind but with strict instructions to get ready, so that when they got back we could go to Richfield.

We got ready and waited for them to come back. They came back an hour later empty handed. We quickly headed to Richfield where we were able to enjoy lunch in a cute little diner on Main Street. We also made sure to check out all the town's hot spots, Ace Hardware and Wal-Mart. After an event afternoon in town we headed back.

The boys went back out hunting and the girls caught up on their beauty sleep. After about an hour of hunting the men returned once again. This time the only one that made a kill was Chase. When it got too late to hunt The whole Curtis clan met up at Mark's parents house for dinner. I tried my first pheasant. It wasn't too bad. I would have it again. We enjoyed our weekend but were ready to head home Sunday. We left Sunday afternoon so we could make it back in time for my mom's birthday party. What an eventful weekend.

A haircut tutorial

2007-10-25T19:18:00.000-07:00

After reading Mike & Becky's latest blog entry, we decide that Mike could use a little help from Mark. You see if you haven't checked out Mike & Becky's Blog yet you need to. Mike tried giving himself a haircut, which didn't turn out as well as he had hoped. So when Mark said he was going to cut his hair tonight I got a really great idea, why not make a how-to slide show to help Mike out and many other men out there that may be, well let say, haircut challenged. So here you go, just make sure you start watching from the first slide the one titled "before" we don't want to cause any confusion (Mike).
No need to thank me. I just don’t want you to have to wear a hat or beanie for the rest of your life.

Honeymoon Weekend

2007-10-12T14:00:00.000-07:00

What a week we have had! It started off with a mad rush to complete three papers for school, before I could enjoy fall break. Then when I got home from school on Wednesday, there was a message on our answering machine. Amanda has gone into labor.

I have been kind of baby hungry with Amanda about ready to have her baby, my friend Erica just found out that she's pregnant, and I live in a ward where everyone either is pregnant or just had a baby. I thought I wanted one. I think I'll be okay for at least another year after dropping off the video camera to the hospital early Thursday morning for Amanda and Cameron. Amanda was just in her room suffering through contractions when I showed up. I stood there and talked with her for a little while, when all of the sudden I became very light headed. I felt as if I was going to be sick to my stomach. I hurried and sat down before I passed out. Amanda says I must have needed some true birth control.

Soon after I left Amanda had Miles around 1:30 am. Amanda did it again; she had another cute little blond haired boy. He looks just like the other two. (Check her blog for the whole story I'm sure it will be coming soon.) Amanda and Cameron are very blessed to have three very handsome boys. With all this excitement I'm extremely glad it’s finally Friday.

You see Mark and I have been married for two and a half months now and we have never taken our honeymoon. So this weekend we are sneaking off to go to the Johnson Mill bed and breakfast in Midway.
We received a gift certificate for our wedding from Marks old employer. The Mill was booked the night of our wedding so we decided we would wait a little while before we used our gift certificate. So we booked our room over a month ago and we leave tonight.
We will be staying the water wheel room. When we booked our room there was only two rooms left for that night. The lady that took our reservations recommended the water wheel room. After looking at the pictures I'm glad I took her advice.
I'm ready for this little over night get away. I think its just what I need so I can finish up school and head into my student teaching, that is coming up real soon.

My First Entry!

2007-10-07T19:09:00.000-07:00

First of all, I just want to thank my fantastic sister for setting up my blog and designing this truly amazing, terrific, fabulous layout for me. If it wasn't for her, I don't know where I would be today. (Probably in a gutter somewhere-- Well, if not the gutter, I'd at least have an ugly, standard, boring Blogger template.) She is definitely the best sister I've ever had, there's no doubt about that! I want to be just like her when I grow up and that's the truth.

I'm starting this blog so everyone can catch a glimpse of my truly charmed life. First of all, I've been married for a whopping two months, so I've got this marriage thing down. If you need any marriage advice, I'm the one to ask!

I'm finishing up my last year of school at UVSC. I'm like totally the coolest, best-educated, smartest girl in like the entire teaching program! Next year (if I remember to take my birth control) I'll be a full-fledged teacher! I'll probably try to get a job teaching at my nephew's school, and then I'll definitely have to move very near to my sister... Did I mention how great she is?

Mark, that's my husband, he's pretty cool. Not as like, totally cool as me, and for sure not as cool as my sister, but out of all the resumes I looked through, I thought he'd be most qualified for the demanding job of my husband. He's doing pretty good so far. Oh yeah, he does auto body repair, but mostly and most importantly, he takes care of me.

Someday, we're going to have kids. (Sooner than later, if I don't remember to take my birth control pills.) Our kids probably won't be as cute as my sister's boys, but we'll never know that because nobody ever realizes if their own kids are as ugly as trolls.

I think that pretty much sums up the most important points of my life so far. Stay tuned for further posts and probably some more accurate details.