School Fever

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?

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

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!!

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!

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!

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

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