All done!!!

Wow! It only took us over a year but the place is finished. Not to mention that we don't even own it but it has been a good experience helping update our little place. I'm really liking how comfortable we are now. We can even lay on the carpet without getting the heeby jeebies! Just wait until a baby comes (no, I'm not) and turns the place upside down.

Life has been really good to us since I started my job and Daniel has been able to really focus on school. Our cute next door neighbors had their adorable baby girl who I get to hold almost everyday. My hair has changed a bit. Daniel and I have been doing a fitness challenge which has consisted of working out 4-5 times a week and eating a little better. We have both lost weight and I am just feeling a lot better - more positive.

According to Daniel I'm a little more feisty as a redhead. :)

Christmas 2009

Good Christmas this year! I always think that this is the year that I am going to get way into Christmas and do every fun thing that comes up then... I don't get done working until right before and by that time I'm ready to relax which is exactly what I did! Daniel and I pretty much shopped, ate, and hung out with family and friends for 10 days straight. It was awesome! One of the best gifts - our new carpet was put in a few days later. That's right, our tree was up for a total of 4 days before we had to move everything. We are loving the new remodeled floors and I will post pictures soon of the finished product!

I can't even remember which present he's opening but he looks really excited about it. :)
I loved this. We made breakfast for some family and friends one morning and this is what Daniel decided to wear. The little nieces loved it!

I had the privilege of narrating the nativity scene this year at Daniel's parents. They really went all out with scenery and everything!

Got spoiled by my students.

Got spoiled by my husband.

I hope Christmas was good to you all. Happy 2010!

Who says it doesn't snow in St. George?

A couple of weeks ago Daniel and I ventured out into the snow right here in St. George. We may have to move to Salt Lake in the future and that's all I could think about while we were driving 20mph up to the Veyo/ Gunlock area. When I told Daniel that I was going to freeze to death in Salt Lake he said "You'll be fine. We'll just get you some cute boots." Haha! I don't know if boots will save my life or not but it was fun to just have one day in the snow!

There is always something to be thankful for...

What is there to say about Thanksgiving? We had dinner at my parents...I ate a total of 8 pieces of pie...including pie at Daniel's parents that night...went to Wal-Mart to watch all the crazy people at midnight...then went to bed.

The next morning we hung out at my parents then went to ride my uncle's horse. It was a very relaxing weekend full of food and sleep. I did pretty well on the horse if I do say so myself.

I love Daniel's Cowboys shirt while he's riding the horse. It was very fitting I thought!

My brother Jordan was just like a little kid - "Annie. Take a picture of me kissing the horse!"

Look how cute Daniel and Chloe look. We love my little niece. She keeps every family event interesting.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving also!

Buddy Walk

My niece Hanna has been such a blessing to our family. One of the ways that she has blessed me has been by opening my eyes to how wonderful and sweet people with special needs are. On Saturday, Daniel and I with some of my family were able to go to the Buddy Walk for Down Syndrome. It was a big party and walk at the town square. It was so fun to see all the kids with special needs dancing and playing. I just love Hanna and I'm glad that we get to do stuff like this with her.

I had to post this picture of Chloe and I because I love this lady in the background with her sign.
My sister Jana, Hanna, and my mom. Chloe was in the background wandering by herself.

The people from Home Depot donated a ton of building stuff so my dad and nephew Hunter got to build a tool carrier.

First good day in a long time!

Daniel is in school full time. I am working full time. Hopefully all this will get us somewhere soon.

Nevertheless, I am beginning to understand why anybody would stay with this job longer than their first year. Here's the whole sleazy story:

First of all, I go to at least five meetings a week for school. Some of these meetings require me to report the test scores of my students to show my accountability as a teacher. I stress so much about this. I feel like my students are darlings, they are funny, they are thoughtful of me, and most of them are able to catch on to what I'm talking/ teaching about but not enough on paper.

For the past two weeks I have been teaching multiplication and division concepts. I am pretty sure that they are getting it so I'm so excited when I gather them on the floor around me to start my lesson. So far so good. I figure "Okay, let's review for our test tomorrow. If I buy one ticket for $5 how much would two tickets cost?" I call on one little boy sitting in the back. He was raising his hand so I figured he knew. His response "Eight dollars. It's eight dollars!". I almost lost it.
(Just so you know we talked through it, pulled out the play money, I'm pretty sure he knows it now.)

The children leave, I vent to Daniel and my mom about how hard I'm trying, then I decided that I can only do so much. In Daniel's words "You can't take the test for them."

Next day, a little extra practice, a little extra encouragement. They take the test, which took about an hour. Stressed me out! After school I grade the tests and analyze the scores. My class was at 90% proficiency, which means 90% of the kids who took the test scored higher than 80%. All but about 2 or 3 students out of 26.

I couldn't stop smiling when I reported that score at my meeting that day. I felt like I had arrived as an actual teacher. Those smart little buggers sure fooled me. I guess all my hard work, missed lunches, and walks to my car in the dark parking lot (I hate that) after school are paying off.

I'm starting to think that good days aren't necessarily up to the 26 third graders I teach, it's most definitely up to me!

Girls Night!

Can I just say that I absolutely love my friends? Daniel and I have such great couple friends that we have so much fun with but because my girlfriends have all been spread out in different places until recently I rarely get to see them all at one time. The last time all of us were together was two years ago so it was due time.

Girls Night is wonderful because it doesn't cost a lot and we just laugh and laugh the whole time. This time we had it at my house and although I don't like all the cleaning that I do leading up to it, it is definately worth it to have a nice, warm place for us all the eat and catch up. I have been friends with these girls since we were 15 and I miss them a lot now that we aren't running around screaming anymore, but they are all totally unique in what they are doing with their lives and they are just awesome examples to me.

Just look at this group: a world traveler, a recent R.M., a nanny, an orphanage volunteer, and a teacher. P.S. Three of these girls are still single, so if you know any guys that like crazies, let me know! :)

Happy Halloween!

I wish that I could post some pictures of my cute class but I have been encouraged not to post anything for privacy reasons. Halloween in the third grade was pretty fun-EVERYONE got dressed up. The only melt down I had was when the room mom's busted out the gooey, sticky donuts that I knew would make a huge mess.

The third grade teachers.

As far as Halloween day - I totally vegged out while Daniel finally found time to fix up our Jeep. It felt really good to do nothing. That night we had homemade chili and corn bread at my parents (YUM!) and then headed over to my sister's to see the children in their costumes. I didn't really get dressed up but Daniel pulled out the old alien mask and scared people. We had a pretty mellow Halloween but it was good.

My dad with my niece Chloe

Daniel the alien, my nephew Hunter (Obi Wan), and Chloe the ladybug

Sunday Afternoon at the Carpenters

Daniel's brother Chad's family came down last weekend so we got to visit with them a little bit at the Carpenter's. I love my mother in law's cooking! It was neat to see his brother Jarod with his trophy from racing Nationals and our little nieces and nephews. I just thought I'd post a couple pictures for the far away family.

Such cute litttle girls!

It's a Christmas miracle!

Last week, after our big trip to Salt Lake (pictures to come later), I was sick and tired of not having a camera. I begged Daniel for one the week before but our agreement was to buy a trip instead of a camera. So on Monday while our friends Skyler and Danielle were over I asked Skyler to try to fix my old camera. I felt like I had tried everything possible already. He didn't do much but then when he handed it back to me I turned it on and it worked! I looked through the pictures and realized the last picture I took was on February 28 and it was of Daniel golfing. I am so happy to have a camera again and I hope it lasts at least until I can get one for Christmas! Hopefully the blog will be updated a little more often now also!

Office Wedding Dance

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School = Life the past month!

So I have been wanting to do a post lately but my camera is still broken so I've had to use my mom's to take all the pictures of my classroom so it's been a long time coming but here it is!

First and foremost the big news is that due to the Vista charter school's enrollment I was transfered from Red Mountain Elementary to Bloomington Elementary a week before school started. You might be thinking "Wholy cow! How could they do that to you!?" And I agree with you 100%, but the move went smoothly and I wouldn't have it any other way. Bloomington has been a great school with great teachers, principal, and kids.

My class is adorable. I now have 26 students in my class rather than the 16 I had at Red Mountain but they are pretty good little buggers. We have a lot of fun. I would say the toughest thing about being a teacher right now would be all the preparations that go into every single day. I feel like I'm there until dark a lot of days and it's hard. Daniel is going to school full time so he's busy too but I miss our summer of relaxation. Christmas break sounds pretty good right about now.

Other things that have been going on besides school - hard to imagine I could fit anything else into my life but we have managed. We went to the Corn Fest in Enterprise with our good friends Skyler and Danielle and their cute kids which is always a good time. Daniel has been playing a lot of softball. My family has been in town a lot too so that means barbeques and shopping trips.

Last but not least - our apartment is almost finished! Daniel has been working really hard on laying tile and once it's finished we get new carpet! Yes! It has been kinda tough living in a place that looks dirty all the time but it's finally almost done and it has been nice of our landlords to pay for the update!

Well...that's all. I'm tired of typing.

The classroom finished product.
My mom, dad, and Daniel helped me out so much! Here my mom is sewing some stuff for my classroom.

My class library. Probably one of my favorite parts.

Daniel and Danielle at the Cornfest. Danielle is picking corn out of her teeth I think :)

Annie Goes to "Annie"

I was so fortunate to get to go with my mom to see "Annie" at Tuachan last week. I have been wanting to see it but didn't think it would be a sacrifice Daniel would want to make. Anyway, my parents callings in church are advisors for the Special Needs Mutual and Tuachan donated a bunch of tickets so I got to go in my dad's place.
Little did you all know that I was in the play "Annie" when I was in fourth grade. I couldn't sing then and still can't so I didn't make the lead - but I was still one of the orphans.
This play was really fun for me because I knew all the songs and it was just me and my mom. I loved it!

Carpenter Family Camping Trip

Over Pioneer Day weekend we went with Daniel's family to Panguitch Lake. It was awesome because his whole family was able to go (with one exception) which rarely happens because his brothers and sisters are kinda scattered in different places. We did take the camera with us - then we realized the memory card wasn't in it! So the only picture I have of Daniel and I is this one I stole off of Kylene's Facebook page. :)

It was fun to relax for probably that last time this summer. We played Skip-Bo, ate, went on a hike, tried to fish but caught nothing, then ate some more. Daniel and I even slept in the back of a truck under a shade thing, but technically under the stars. It was a great time. I really love my in-laws and I'm happy that we can do stuff like this with them.Todd, Katherine, Daniel, Annie, Angela, Milissa, and Colby Carpenter

Jordan & Brook's Wedding

Today we welcomed Brook and her son Rylan into our family. Jordan and Brook have been dating for over a year, and have known each other for about 15 years. They were able to have the ceremony and luncheon at my parents new house and everything went really well. My sister and her friend made the cake and it was really good. A lot of my family was able to come from far away so that was neat to see them all there.

Daniel and I. He is so cute! I love seeing him all dressed up. My brother in-law Aaron fell asleep right after the ceremony

so we took a ton of funny pictures of him. Jordan and Aaron "spooning". :)I love my dad! So handsome!
Jordan has to start his new job with North Las Vegas Police on Monday so they left on a quick honeymoon and they are going to be living there from now on. We will miss seeing them all the time but I think it will be good for them. Congratulations Jordan and Brook!

Jordan's Academy Graduation

On Thursday my parents, my brother Taylor, and I drove to Vegas for my brother Jordan's graduation for the police academy. He has already gone through the academy once in Salt Lake but because he's working for North Las Vegas now they require him to go through again there. We even got to watch a video of him getting tasered and pepper sprayed.
It was neat for me to see what goes on in the police academy since Daniel will be going through it all, hopefully within the next year!

He graduated second in his class, we were so proud of him!

Rylan, Brook, Jordan, Mom, Dad, and me. Taylor was taking the picture.

Fourth of July means it's Bundy Reunion time!

Let me just tell you how excited I was about going to the ranch this year. I couldn't sleep the night before - like a little kid! I don't know if I was just excited about getting to the ranch for the first time in a year or going on a vacation for the first time since Christmas.

This year by far was one of the greatest because it was Daniel's first time going to the "Big Reunion". He adjusted quite well to the Bundy Life and even got a double ringer in the horseshoe tournament. Way to go Daniel! It rained on and off so it wasn't as dusty as usual which was nice for fourwheeling and I love the smell of rain!

One thing I was really looking forward to was dancing with Daniel at the dances they have on Friday night and Saturday night. Yes...cousins dancing with cousins.... we are all related. 1,200 people came this year! Anyway, Daniel and I got to the dance Friday night, he took one look at the couples swing dancing and doing "the pretzel" and said "They are dancing too fast!" I thought it was so funny. That's just how they dance in Bundyville. He humored me and we had a blast dancing to "Cotton Eye Joe".

On Sunday we were able to go to the reminiscing meeting which was neat because it was all about my great grandpa James Bundy. I learned some neat things about him that I have never taken the time to find out.

I'm so proud of my Bundy heritage and love that side of my family so much. It's cool coming from cowboys!!
My cowboy! :) The only good picture I got of us the whole trip.
Yes, Taylor and Bethany did bring Sadie to church with them. :) And Taylor drank a Pepsi the whole meeting. That's allowed out there.

Jordan and Brook. Getting married next weekend!

All the people at church. This cement slab is also where they have the dances.
The view from our trailer. Can you see why I love this place?

I was sad that more of my family wasn't able to come, but the seven of us had a blast. Most of my fourth of July's have been without fireworks (obviously) but I made up for it this year by winning a game of Pit and Pinochle! Jealous?

Day at Gammas

So as I mentioned previously we are staying in my parents basement until our tile is finished. This week my mom has been watching my sister Jana's kids while she has been at girls camp. Since I have only been working until noon everyday I had the pleasure to play with the kids everyday. It was fun and I got some really cute pictures of the playroom in my parents new house out of it.

Hanna, Chloe, and I in front of the Mt. Trumbull Schoolhouse mural. Check out the cute ABC carpet.

Hanna going down the slide. There has to be a pillow at the bottom because you pick up speed pretty quick!

Hunter with his Lincoln Logs.

Chloe picking her nose in front of the mural of my mom's Aunt Maime's house.
******Yes, I have resorted to posting pictures of other people's children because I have no life. At least Jana will enjoy this post. ******

Photography memories

I got onto Flickr tonight to see if my photos are still on there from my photography class I took my first semester of college.
Some of them turned out pretty cool and I would like to hang them somewhere in our apartment. Each photo has a theme, so don't think I am totally random.

This guy thought I was crazy for wanting to take his picture. Entitled "Dirty Old Man".

I actually had to take this picture multiple times to get right. "Frozen Foot"

I love this picture. It took me like thirty hours to do the special effects but it's still cool. Properly titled "Dead Sexy".

This one is called "Back to my Roots". I actually Photoshopped my love handles out!

Maybe when I can afford a camera I'll get back into it.

Is this weekend being serious?

Okay, so, on Thursday Daniel didn't have work so he decided to pull up the carpet in our dining room and the linoleum in the kitchen in our apartment. Keep in mind we don't own this place but Daniel is so nice that he has offered to do the labor in updating the place.

I was pretty excited to go pick out the carpet and he was excited to lay the tile when out of nowhere on Friday our water heater went out. Aah crud.

So we are currently in my parents basement in their brand new house for the time being. I will post pictures later because it is a gorgeous house. But there is just something about your own house and bed that you miss.

Just had to vent. Thank you for reading.