What did YOU do this summer?

"Miss Waite, what did YOU do this summer?"

Hmm....What did I do this summer?
#1: Counted my blessings that I'm a teacher and get a summer break!
#2: Didn't work for the first summer in over a decade.  :)
#3: Did stuff on my list that has been there for a long, long time!

Here's a brief recap (and the reason I basically didn't blog all summer):

*Made my mission book * Painted my bedroom * Got my file box organized *Cleaned out my bedroom in Provo * Started cleaning out my bedroom back home in Idaho * Got an ultrasound, blood work, and a hydascan and found out I didn't need my gall bladder out * Had my mom come help me decorate my classroom * Went to Idaho and helped my mom decorate her classroom * Went to a whole-lotta yard sales * Went to a week long summer institute for fourth grade teachers * Earned three college credits * Helped with summer reading with second graders for a week *  Went to Washington D.C. over the 4th of July for a week with my parents and fell madly in love with it * Dogsat Brinkley, an American Bulldog and her two doggie friends for a week * Did a little hiking * Went to my family reunion at Duck Creek (and organized Minute to Win It) * Went to Sun Valley and saw Itzhak Perlman, the best violinist in the world (think violinist of Schindler's List and Obama's inauguration) * Celebrated my 25th birthday--three times * Went to all the new teacher trainings * Went whitewater rafting on the Snake River up in Wyoming * Went cliff jumping for the first time * Got together with people from my mission and did a temple session * Spent all my spare time in my classroom * Found a little time to go to the pool * Was a bridesmaid twice * Made a wedding cake * Had both roommates move out * Moved rooms * Got a new roommate *
STARTED TEACHING 4th GRADE!

Hiking the beginning of Timp trail

The surprise party!

Emily's wedding

The White House

  

Whew.....Now if only I could have had two summers back-to-back I think I really could have made a dent on my list of things I wanted to get done!

Show me the gold!

Weddings.  We all LOVE weddings.  And this summer was full of them.  They started around April and haven't stopped yet.  The fridge is covered in announcements.  Weekends are planned around receptions.  Talk is around rings and dresses and colors and...shoes.

This summer I was a bridesmaid.  Twice.  Which wouldn't be too bad except that I've already been one once.  Most of you still have no idea where this is going.  May I gently remind you that the saying is, "Three times a bridesmaid, never a bride."  Exactly my concern.  Nevertheless, I'm hoping the last two bouquets I've caught will counteract all bizarre superstitions.  Because everyone knows the bouquet toss is pretty legit.

The first wedding required gold shoes.  Now, I know you are thinking, "That's perfect!  Everyone has a pair of gold shoes at the back of their closet," but somehow, I didn't.  I know.  Shocking.  Which required going out and buying a pair.  While there were some gold options out there this season, I didn't like any of them and you better believe I wasn't going to be shelling out twenty or thirty dollars for gold shoes.

My mother had the brilliant idea first.  Spray paint.  I know.  BRILLIANT.  And so, on one of my many trips home, I picked up a can of gold spray paint from her house and spray painted an old pair of black heels that were on their way to D.I.  They were great.  They were fabulous.  They were perfect.  Until it rained.  Until they wanted foot pictures.  Until someone asked where I had bought them because they didn't remember seeing those in the stores.  I think when I'll get married, they'll all just wear black shoes.  And no, I won't be providing spray paint.

Oh yeah, show me the gold! 

______
 The second wedding was my roommate Emily Allen's.  While there was no spray paint involved, there was a LOT of Crisco.  Over four pounds, actually.  And nine pounds of powdered sugar and four pounds of coconut.  Because we decorated the car?  No.  We made the cake.

Yes, we used the WHOLE can...and then some.  YUM!

What friend would ever make her roommates make the cake?!  Not Emily.  Nope.  We VOLUNTEERED.  That's right, volunteered.  It seems like the dumbest thing a person could do next to saying they'll make the wedding dress, but we what can I say?  My whole life I've wanted to make a wedding cake.  I put it on my bucket list when I was fifteen.  And thanks to Emily Tuioti, I checked that bad boy off.

We worked on it when Emily was gone so when she saw it, it looked like we'd easily whipped it up.  After all, who can't make a wedding cake?  The truth is, it took at least seven trips to the grocery store.  Five were all in one day.  Our apartment was covered in coconut.  My car is still covered in coconut.  There was frosting on the table, the counters, the carpet, and us. 

Nevertheless, I must say, it turned out pretty well.  There was one cake to take pictures of and let the bride and groom feed each other (I was hoping for a little smashing in the face action, but was disappointed)..............

Krissy, starting the frosting

Putting on the third layer.  Love that coconut!!!

Finished product. 

 Thanks for letting us borrow your stuff, Lisa!

 The other cake was for all the guests to eat.  Since some people don't like coconut, it got swirls instead.

Can you see the swirls? 

Now that it's all done and I am mostly recovered (don't ask how I slept less than the bride-to-be the night before the wedding), I have to say it was fun.  It was good.  They married good men and are happy.  It's all good.  But let me just warn you: the next time someone wants you to be part of a wedding, you may want to double check to make sure you've got your spray paint and Crisco.  After all, you just never know what you'll be expected to do.  But whatever it is, try to catch the bouquet--just for luck. 

The Color of Friendship

You may wonder what color friendship is. I don't know what color it is for you, but for me this year, it was Oompa Loompa Orange. (Don't check your box of 96 crayons for that; I'm pretty sure it's not there.) Oompa Loompa Orange, you ask...What is that? Well, let me explain.

The last day of school I told a fellow teacher (who never gets time for herself) that I would celebrate and we would go do whatever she wanted. It being summer, and us being the only two pasty white people left at our school (although frankly, none of them get any more sun than I do if you know what I mean), she decided we should go tanning. Not bake-yourself-in-a-little-box-and-get-sun-cancer-tanning but the special "spray on tan." As soon as I walked in, I knew I was in the wrong place and nearly turned and bolted. Some people obviously take tanning a lot more seriously than I do.

Now, I don't want to be like Dave Barry with his colonoscopy article and go into all the details. Suffice it to say when I actually got into the spray-on tan room, I felt like I was in some gas chamber with freezing cold vanity spraying all over me. I think I was so stunned, I ignored all instructions on exactly how to get an EVEN application. This wasn't too much of a problem the first day, but the second day I woke up orange. Full-on Oompa Loompa orange, with streaks in strange places and a few random patches of now even more apparent white. I tried everything. I scrubbed with salt (bad idea). I scrubbed with sugar (better idea, but it didn't work). I painted my fingernails hot pink to make it less obvious that I was an unnatural color.

Now, two weeks later, nothing remains but a little belly button that is Oompa-Loompa Friendship Orange.

Waiting for Christmas

Things have been busy lately with bridal showers and weddings and teaching school and trying to do some spring cleaning and working on figuring out my life. I've been reflecting on patience and timing and today, somewhat out of the blue, remembered an experience from long ago.

Kids love Christmas. I don't care who you are. There's that feeling that starts as soon as the Christmas season ends--the anticipation for when it will begin again. For most of us, we don't worry too much about it during June and July--it's when the days get shorter and the frost shows up on the windows and the festive songs start playing on the radio. For kids, however, sometimes it seems that the anticipation never takes a break.

One time, much closer to the past Christmas than the upcoming one, some kids began to ask if it was Christmas YET; they wanted it right then. It had been an emotionally trying time in my life--one when I had very specific blessings I wanted fulfilled and answers to come and could not understand what I was doing wrong. It was then, as I heard those kids long for Christmas, that I finally understood. Christmas hadn't come yet not because those kids had been bad, or were just getting coal anyway. It hadn't decided not to come because they didn't believe in Santa Claus. It wasn't even because their parents didn't love them or didn't want them to be happy or because they hadn't earned it. The simple fact was--it wasn't December, and no one (no matter how much they loved those children) could make it be. They would simply have to wait, and in waiting, it would, as promised, come.

And so it is. Sometimes it is not about whether or not we're good or whether or not we deserve it or even whether or not God loves us. Sometimes, it is simply not our December. And so, I have remembered and once again decided to have faith that with time, Christmas will come, but in the meantime, I may as well enjoy summer. :)

Spring Break

Spring break! It's the first time I've had it since I was in school. And let me tell you what--it's been nice. I'm not sure I can go back to working....

It was wonderful--General Conference, Easter dinner at the Joneses, and then soaking up the sun in Arizona! The weather was beautiful, it was fun to see Nikki and Brett again, and Mikey, my beautiful nephew was so much fun!

1. Got to see Mikey's new rolling over trick.

2. Didn't get to see Mikey's sleeping through the night trick.

3. Ate amazing food (mmm....I need some of those recipes)

4. Found out from Brett's professor I may or may not need my gall bladder out. Doctor visit, anyone?

5. Went to the pool and got to see Mikey check it out for the first time. He was completely unresponsive and then fell asleep. Hmmm....not the reaction I was expecting....

It ended with my plane being delayed two an a half hours and a blind date picking me up at the airport in Salt Lake. Sounds like me, right? End spring break with a bang. :)

Camrys, Cowboys, and Campaigns

Life has been good. Crazy, but good.

What can I say? It's been a past few months of car buying, teaching, crazy blind dating, and just loving life.

HANGING WITH THE USED CAR SALESMEN

Buying a car was an adventure, to say the least. Especially since I had to try to make the entire start to finish process happen in a week. In my mind, it's like trying to find a spouse. It's a pretty serious commitment--getting that first "real" car. You know that you could get something extraordinary if you had an unlimited budget, but you're very aware that you don't, so you start playing the "How much bang for my buck?" game. You want something with low miles and that's in good shape, something new and reliable. Anti-lock brakes and power windows and locks. And somehow you find a lot of okay options that have some of what you're looking for and they could work and be fine but that's about it. People start saying things like, "So the only reason you don't want this one is because it doesn't have power locks? That's it?" And maybe that's a bad reason but you still think to yourself, "If I'm spending this much money, should I really be annoyed every single time I get in it?" Not that it REALLY matters, but still...

Soon you've decided maybe you'll just ride a bike for the rest of your life when it occurs to you that there is another place to look, a place you originally didn't even consider, and before long...there you are, signing papers for something so wonderful and perfect that you can't even believe it's yours and every day when you go to drive to work you think, "I'm the luckiest person ever! How did I ever get this car?!"

So, after my traumatizing wreck, that is my car story. I found a car. I love my car. And if anyone wants to find a Mr. Toyota Camry 2006 for me to marry, I'll take that too. :)

RANDOM BLIND DATES

Hmm...I guess if you want to know, you should probably just ask in person. Let's just say some included building marshmallow shooters and making peach cobbler (Cowboy Night), building a model ship, and searching for a cave amid cow pies and jack rabbits. Enough said.

TEACHING

Hahahahaha! I love it. Most of the time. Like on the days that parents DON'T call me to ask me "personal questions" or on any holiday that involves mass amounts of sugar. We've been having fun. We're all used to each other now and having a great time.

Recent highlights:

Teaching a unit on electricity to the whole grade. Check that out! -->Static electricity at its best.

ELECTIONS!

We are teaching how government works by doing it. We took election day pretty seriously--ballot boxes, voting booths, signing it, "I voted" stickers...I just want you to know the new president is from my class. It was all about the campaign buttons. And the dance in his speech.

Ways to say I'm sorry

5th Grade has been full of adventure. They are supposed to get a 4 (meaning they were on good behavior) whenever they go to classes like art or P.E. Last week, the girls got a 3 and the boys got...well...a zero. I don't think that's been done in the history of P.E. at this school, but it happened. So, I got to come up with a punishment that would fit the crime. They boys missed two recesses, the girls one, and everyone had to write an apology. Some were so funny I couldn't resist sharing.

"Sorry for being bad in P.E. I am sorry for screwing around when we were supposed to jump."

"I'm sorry for what we did in P.E. Some of it wasn't our fault. Next time we will be better at P.E. I'll even try to make ______ and _______ (students' names) be more mature." (Put that tattling plug in, kid!)

"Sorry! We were bad in P.E It was not really me. I only did not Freeze! when you told us to. I will help my class be better and sometimes me too. I like to jump Rope. and I liked your recipe for your cake. We ate it for my mom's birthday. P.S. I like P.E. the best. Plus the grils (yes, it was spelled that way) only have to stay in one recess which is not fair!" (You'll be better only sometimes or you only need it sometimes?....Now that is a great question!)

"I am intensely sorry that the boys in Miss Waite's 5th grade class were not following the rules. Furthermore, I pledge that I, _______, will set an example to my fellow boys. Not only will I set an example, but I also cooperate and follow the rules." (Oooh..."intense" sorrow. I like it!)

"I'm sorry that us boys were even worse than the girls." (Now THAT's something to be sorry about!)

"I will help my classmates to be more in control. We are having to miss recess. Boys-2 Girls-1." (Just for the count.)

And there you have it. Remorse from the depths of their little 5th grade hearts. Maybe they get it from me, the teacher whose first spoken sentence upon this planet was, "Brett did it." No time like the present to learn accountablity, eh? :)