Finals

Finals are here. I'm done with 2 classes; 3 more to go! For two of my classes (same teacher) we are supposed to put together some type of portfolio that shows what we've learned--basically. 

...And I have decided that I spend entirely too much time on making my projects look "cute" rather than what information is contained in the projects.

Larson Family Pictures

Erin & Russell were able to come home over Veteran's day, so we decided to take some family pictures. We had the perfect settings with beautiful fall colors (which are now covered in white). Here are a few!



Thanksgiving 2010 in Cal-if-for-ni-a

Lane and I drove down to Rocklin, CA on Wednesday to see my family (took 15 hours going about 10 under on icy roads 3/4 of the way there). Britt and her boyfriend Mike were able to come! My mom's sister Kandy & Terry, their daughter Becky & Brad and their new baby girl, Libby, as well as my mom's brother Randy & Cheryl were all able to come as well! Full house! Thanksgiving day was very relaxing. We just lounged around all day, played some Minute to Win it games, ate our delicious meal that my mom did a WONDERFUL job on! Alona (my mom's best friend) and her boys came over for some dessert and we played a game of Catch Phrase. It was so nice to just hang out with the fam!

On Friday we headed to San Francisco for some fun. We walked around Pier 39, stopped for some Clam Chowder on the pier, rode the cable car up to Union Square to look around at some shops and the crazies, rode the cable car back down to Fisherman's Wharf and walked around Ghirardelli Square, ate at a pizza place and headed home!

Saturday Lane and I did some shopping at the Folsom Outlets, I had my IN'N'OUT with my brosephs, we all went to see the new Harry Potter, and then we went to the Kings/Bulls game! We were able to meet up with our friends/Lane's old roommate Doug & Cate.

 And Sunday we just left super early and got home super late. I hopped right back into school. ugh.

It was a wonderful break, and a quick jump back in to reality. I have been so stressed with school and have had no time to work on the house. Good news is, school ends in a week and one day! I can't believe it! The end is only slightly in sight because of how much work I have to do, but I can't wait to move on!

I have been dying to decorate for Christmas! There's not really any point in getting out all my decorations since I will just have to pack them up and move them in a couple weeks. So that's my incentive to finish the house...or one of them at least! haha

Cold time.

Last weekend my dad and Devin came up to take Trevor home. Tim and I drove to Seattle to get them on Friday afternoon. We all stopped for lunch and headed to Wenatchee. Next we went to the Hockey game. ~I feel like I am in third grade with how I am writing this story~

Wenatchee has a NAHL team, "Wenatchee Wild"...they are professional, but not the big leagues. They are pretty big in the community and everyone looks at them like they are famous.

It's really fun to go their games, so we thought it'd be fun to take my dad and bros! They had a good time. We sat 3 rows up and could smell their B.O., Trevor got the puck they used in the first period, Trevor also got on the dance cam for his awesome dancing, Devin got to flirt with the 12-14 year old girls who sat next to him, and Lane and I finally made it on the KISS CAM! I always thought I would make out with him or something to make it interesting...i froze. I pecked him and pushed him away. They kept it on us for a while longer, so I pecked him again. haha I'm lame!

Saturday we went and hiked a local Wenatchee mountain, Saddlerock.

It looks like a saddle if you can't tell. This is the very beginning...in which I ran out of breath. I was not prepared physically or mentally. It's about a mile and a half but it is pretty steep!

...

Devin and I gave up...we are pathetic

Trevor made it though! He is the speck on the saddle below

Lane and Dad made it too but I didn't see them to get a picture!

 And here we all are making a pit stop on our way down...

For the remainder of the day we went to Country Boys, the most delicious bbq place ever, and we went and showed them the house we are (still) trying to buy. I was excited to show them! We had dinner at Tim & Vicki's and then Devin and Trevor went and hung out with some of Trevor's friends. I wasn't too happy about that but I think I was just moody about them going back to Cali. It's not fair. It was a great weekend having them all here though! Next time Mom and Britt need to come!

...

I have to update for Halloween I guess. I was sick that weekend, and didn't have much of a voice so I opted out of going to work. We went to a friend's party last minute (which made me sicker). But we went as Alice and Bruce Lee:

HOUSE: We are still working on it. The bank has accepted everything and we are currently in final underwriting. That basically means we can hear back and possibly sign by tomorrow or Monday! I don't expect anything to happen because I'm so used to the process being extended, but that is good news! We will surely update the minute we hear! I just want it by Christmas so I can decorate it all Christmasy!

That's all for now, we are empty-nesters again. I didn't think I'd really miss having another roommate but I do miss my brother. I am happy to have it back to just me and Lane again though.

October 2010

Things are moving right along with the house. We should know by the end of the week if it will be ours or if they still need some stuff from us. Lane and I have reviewed our pictures of the house and got re-excited! I'm so excited to decorate it for Christmas. That was my very first thought when I even saw the house. It's going to be beautiful.

Trevor's time is just about up here. Guess who gets to come up to take him home!.....Dad AND Devin! YAYYYYY!

I'm sad my mom won't be able to come up because I've been wanting them all to come up, but I at least get to host those two...three counting Trevor. It will be a tight house (now would be good timing to have the bigger house). Maybe we'll have it by then and just put them to work for the day they'll be here! I'm sure they will just love that.

We will see my mom soon enough. Lane and I are going home for Thanksgiving!!! It's that year again, which means Christmas in Wenatchee. We're already here, so we don't have far to go then. I'm excited to be home next month though. I feel like I can't go enough. There's no place like home.

The cold/flu has been going around of course. I finally got a cold, and it hit me hard within minutes. I think we need to get flu shots this year since I will be going into classrooms and there are a lot of sick kids in those classrooms. I'm prone to catching something.

I feel very un-festive for Halloween this year. It's next week and I am not planning on any costume. I am working the nights of parties, and I won't be working on Halloween so I feel like I have no reason to dress up. And I didn't even decorate because I was assuming we would be in our new house by now. I guess I'll just go big next year...maybe.

There are crunchy leaves on the ground!

Fall Is Here

School:

I'm about 4 weeks into school. It's a lot of work. I haven't been as motivated and on top of things as I had hoped I would be. However, I do love the things that I'm learning because we talk about kids ALL day. Parts of it are overwhelming and terrify me, but most of it just makes me so excited to be a teacher. My favorite part is observing. I would hardly call it an assignment, but I have been able to actually go into classrooms to observe. I have been in 3rd grade so far, and love it. If I could get paid to just walk around schools/classrooms, help out, and just observe...I would love life. I am so fascinated with being inside elementary schools, especially here because in California most schools are out door schools. I have never experienced being inside a school that's all inside, with lockers and such. I always thought that was just on TV. It's awesome! (I'm a nerd, I know).

House:

Ohhh it's all so frustrating. We have almost given up. I updated our house blog if you care to read it.

http://ourhomeevolution.blogspot.com/

$:

I am grateful that we pay our tithing. We have had a few things come up recently that feels like it will cut us down to the wire ~ehem~ like my car...But we have been blessed with everything that we have. I guess I can say that I have been waiting for these random expenses to come up because things have seemed too good to be true. I opened up my own account just today for my tip money. So it will be nice to have that in case I need to go home or something...or if we have an emergency.

Entertainment:

I never really felt like a couch potato until lately. All I ever want to do outside of school and work is lay on the couch and watch tv. (I'm not depressed). DVR has enveloped my life. I record 2 episodes of "Boy Meets World" M-F 4,4:30am, so I love to watch those. I record Ellen Degeneres M-F and watch those when I have time. Of course this is all when school's in session, but I also record "Dancing with the Stars", "Teen Mom", and "The Office". Luckily, but sadly "Teen Mom" just had its finale. I have become hooked to that show, haha. Anyway, it's not like I have all the time in the world to watch all this stuff. I have been pretty busy. I just need to replace some of that time with better stuff like reading and exercise.

I love fall. I love the colors, and when the weather becomes crisp. I love the fall clothing. I am just ready to go crunch some leaves.

This blog has totally become a vent session I guess. That's all for now though.

Life

Well I survived my first week of school! First impressions: I will definitely get my practice in for presentations. I don't think I have ever been bad at giving presentations, however I am one of those who get the nervousness--thinks about it all night beforehand, nervous stomachache, throat gets dry--so hopefully that will all calm down (especially since I will be presenting all day M-F when I have a job)! I'm sure that's what this practice is for. I guess this will just test all those areas and prove whether or not I can teach for a living. We are going into classrooms starting this week! I don't know why I wasn't expecting all of this stuff. My first observation assignment is a 3rd grade class. As of now that's included in the range of grades I want to teach.

I also found out something else today: my minor is TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language). I guess I have been a little clueless going into this program. The automatic minor switches every 2 years. If you don't know much about the Wenatchee area, it is very diverse. So of course this minor is perfect for teaching in this area! My Bilingual Education professor mentioned today that he is considering setting up our practicum in Honduras--going there and teaching for 3-4 weeks! That would be pretty awesome if that worked out...a lot of money though. So anyway, this is a bit jumbled for a summary of my first week of school, but there it is.

Still no news on the house. We're still waiting on the lenders. I'm to the point where I'm not expecting anything to happen on a certain day. It will all just be a pleasant surprise when it happens.

I'm an official server at the Dirty Bird!