Cousin Day.....ARGH!

Cousin Day!!!

Cousin Day this week was...in a word....ARRRGH-right!

We had a lovely Pirate theme going on. We first met up at Pirate Island Pizza to eat some grub. (They were out of rum) The cousins who attended were: Ryan, Me, Marie, Brennon, Derek, Chelsea, Tanner, and Jake. Jake by far had the best Pirate accent but it would disappear whenever the waitress came around....hmmmm.

Then we headed due south to the movie theater to watch the Pirates of the Caribbean movie. I was impressed. It was different but still good. I loved the crazy mermaids. My autistic student is always telling me about the world's most dangerous monsters, chupacabras, Black widows, sharks, and mermaids. I've constantly tried to teach him about good mermaids (Ariel) but he is dead set on deathly man-killing mermaids. After seeing this movie I told him I totally agree, Mermaids are not what they used to be.

Pictures....

The Kraken Pizza

The boys were jealous of us married folk holding hands everywhere!

Picture Update.

Easter Jeep Safari (April 2011)

Race for the Cure (May 2011)

Scout Camp

Before I let Ryan give you all the nitty gritty details of his Scout Camp adventure I thought I'd quickly get on and tell about a wonderful night we had last night with our friends Pete and Annie.

Let me give you some background on the Sundwalls. Ryan and Pete both served missions in New Jersey. They were companions. They are great friends. They liked to play at Princeton stadium on P-days. Pete is going to be a Psychologist and Ryan is going to research stuff for Pete. They both came home from their missions and promptly married the two greatest girls in Utah.

Pete, Annie, Ryan and I have had some great adventures. We hiked Timpanogos last summer. We both got engaged in the fall. We all went to Temple Square to see the lights. They got married and then a month later we got married.

Since being married we've all been real busy but we made time to have a dinner date with them. It was so much fun. I made Chicken Cordon Bleu (a new recipe not good on the stresses to use a new recipe on guests), they brought a wonderful pasta salad and we dined and visited.

After dinner we went country dancing in P-town. It was so much fun. I forget how much I love dancing until I get to go again. My poor husband hates dancing but he's good at it and he loves me. ;) It was fun going with Pete and Annie because they were at the same basic element of skill as us so we all learned together.

I am so impressed with my good husband. He can really dance when he wants to; and he doesn't do the side-to-side slow dance he actual knows steps and can lead me. We had a fun time learning some real fun lifts. You should really ask to see our twist-a-roo! It's super fun.

Now on to boring Scout Camp........

Let me give you the quote that the teacher who reported on scout camp gave. "Uh... we went to the Sand Dunes and we camped. We ate chili and pop-tarts, played capture the flag, and climbed up Sand Mountain." That sums it up. Both the teachers and deacons went on the camp out. Those boys are very funny. As we drove down to the Dunes, the Suburban that I was in was watching McGyver (who we all know is Chuck Norris's son, and the cousin of James Bond, the nephew of Indiana Jones, and the great-great-great-great-great grandson of Luke Skywalker.) I was in the front seat, so I missed all the action, but I could hear the epic scenes.

When we arrived at the Dunes, most of the boys started playing around in the sand. This was the first time that I've been on a scout camp as a leader, so I was surprised at the boys lack of preparation, but I thought to myself, "I probably did the same thing." (Since it's been so long that I was a scout.) Some of the boys only brought a sleeping bag and (maybe) a change of clothes. Dang. There was another boy who, got out of the car, "OH! I know why I wasn't supposed to come on the camp-out," he exclaimed, "I have a dance competition tomorrow at noon. We have to leave early." As the other boys heard this, they said, "yeah right." The leaders kind of laughed as they squawked to each other. "No... We ALL have to leave tomorrow, early." That was funny. We also forgot a pot to cook the chili, and utensils to cook. So we borrowed a pot from the deacons who were a little more prepared.

All those who have been to scout camp know that when there is lighter fluid, it will most likely not return home. Well, two bottles of lighter fluid were used at an alarming rate, which kept the fire cozy all night long, even through the light rain. The morning was cool and as I woke up to talk to the other leaders about preparing breakfast, they mentioned they forgot the pancake mix too. Oh man.... good thing the boy who had the dance competition had his dad come down to pick him up, because before the dad left we asked if he could grab some pancake mix. Well, he ended up bringing down a breakfast feast of pancake mix, sausage, and eggs. We were very thankful. As the morning passed, we decided to go to Sand Mountain, the tallest sand dune of them all! Let me tell you, climbing up sand that is ridiculously steep is extremely harder than climbing up a rocky hike. We had brought up some sleds, hoping the way down would be worth it. The saucers cruised down the mountain, and the boogie board needed some boosts to scoot its way down the mountain. Everyone else raced up the side on 4-wheelers. After the long hike and the semi-eventful descent, we went home. Again McGyver was saving the day on the drive, but I slept this time.

There you have it folks!

Besides I'm allergic to CATS!

I have really slacked off in the blogging world. Life is so busy right now, its the last sprint until the last day of school (June 3)!!!!!

Be prepared for a big HUGE novel of a blog. I apologize!

Silly School Story!

You are all probably wondering about the blog title, if you aren't you really honestly should be! It's only the best story ever. I have a student who is autistic and depressed. We'll call him Alex (that is obviously NOT his real name). Anywho Alex likes to "attempt" suicide every other day, by attempt I mean he threatens to do it. Some days it really scares me, other days its just funny. This story is a funny side.

Alex got mad at me this certain day due to the fact that I asked him to do his cursive. At recess he laid over a fire hydrant in despair. This was his attempt at suicide today. I was duty so I walked over to chat with him. The dialogue with Alex is my favorite. To fully appreciate it you need to read it with smoker old man voice.

Mrs. Woodbury, "Alex what are you doing?"

Alex, "uh, what does it look like, I'm trying to kill myself"

Mrs. Woodbury, "Well that doesn't look very effective, maybe you should just roll in the poisonous grass spot"

Alex, "uh thats stupid because of three things 1. grass isn't poisonous. 2. why would you even think that! and 3. besides I'm allergic to cats!"

Now usually I can usually hold on to my teacher face composure but I could not contain my full out laughter at Alex's reasoning! Alex then walked away in a huff and rolled down the hill.

Teaching is a hard job. Teaching is so tough mentally, physically and emotionally, but small moments like talking with Alex makes my job worth every moment!

Mother's Day!

Mother's day is a hard day for me and it comes after another hard holiday, Easter. Easter is the hardest holiday for me at the moment. I like to ignore it and forget it is coming or happening. Easter was the day my Mom decided to stop treatment. Right after Easter comes Mother's Day. But thanks to my wonderful newly acquired family these holidays were wonderful!

For Mother's Day Ryan and I made breakfast for Momma Woodbury then we attended the singles ward with her and Papa Woodbury. It's so fun to go to the singles ward and feel no pressure at all with the meat market atmosphere.

After church we all gathered around the phone for Mark's call from Mexico. It was so much fun and to make it even better we did a 3 way call with Melissa and Tyler in New York! During the call I kinda just sat back and listened. I feel like I haven't been in the family long enough to take time they've been waiting for with the phone call. Also I love to watch and listen to the Woodbury's interactions. (Sidenote: families have their own culture and I love learning the new culture I'm now involved in! It is so much fun getting the inside scope.) So I sat back, relaxed and closed my eyes. With my eyes closed I honestly could feel all of us in one room. It was so wonderful.

At the end of the phone call Mark said the traditional family prayer. I guess Ryan started that tradition with his phone calls. The missionary always gives the family prayer at the end of the call. It was A!-mazing! The Spirit of Family was so strong. I am very shy and private. This moment with the family prayer really made me feel like I belonged there, that I wasn't an outsider.

After Mark had to go back to mission life Ryan and I had a fun time chatting with Melissa and Tyler in New York. Then we had dinner with the parentals.

Dinner was monumental. Like I said I'm a very private person with my emotions and feelings. We ate with the normal dinner conversation and then as dinner finished our conversation moved into the topic of my Mom. It was so good to be able to talk openly about her and not feel worried about turning the atmosphere into a dreary one. We got to talk about all the good times and the hard times I had with her during her last months.

I am so grateful for this family I've had the privilege of marrying into. They are so wonderful to me.

School this Week!

I want to make a new law. My law would say that if you don't give your child their behavior mediation you are NOT allowed to drop them off at school to be baby-sat! With that said you can probably guess how this week went.

One of my autistic boys (not Alex, I have 2 others) did not get any behavior medication over the weekend. His meds are the build up meds. If he misses one day it affects 2 days, if he misses a full weekend you can image how wired he was on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday. The thing that bugged me the most was he was running away from my class, throwing chairs, throwing pencils, stabbing students, calling out, etc. Well I can't have that in my classroom. I have 28 kids to take care of I can't give all my attention to 1 student. That is why schools are given Behavior Aides, Secretaries, School Psychologists, Principals etc. but my school didn't get that concept. They would come and get Student from my room but then they'd bring him back 10 minutes later because they didn't have the time.

I was so stressed out and stretched out! I have been a horrible teacher this week because I've had to devote all my time to this student's outbursts. To make matters worse another one of my students lets call him Bob decided that he hated me thus he would not do the work I assigned him. He was rude and defiant and so very disrespectful. I felt like I was dealing with a surly 15 year old. Oh at the end of Wednesday I wanted to quit my job and never return!

But I battled through it. My poor husband was so sweet and understanding. He didn't take my bad mood personally. (and I was in a terribly horribly awful bad mood) At the end of today (Friday) I was exhausted, and ready for the weekend.

I plan on doing nothing but relax today and tomorrow!

WOOT WOOT WEEKENDS!!!!

Spring Break!

Sorry for the lack of posts these last weeks.

Last last week was Spring Break for me and finals for my dear husband. It was so nice to sleep in late, spend more time with my husband, and do all my errands when things (banks, DMV's etc) are all open.

My Spring Break was a full week, it was pure bliss! I spent Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday running around. I'd drop Ryan off at campus around 10am and then run around until it was time to pick him up again at 3pm. I don't know how relaxing my break was but I did accomplish a lot.

Thursday the real fun stuff started. Ryan had a final at 11am so he went to that while I ran to the library. After his final we packed up the Liberty and headed south to Moab for the Easter Jeep Safari.

I love road trips with my husband. We never run out of things to talk about and when it is silent its a comfortable silence instead of an awkward time. Its just nice. We arrived in Moab just in time to set up our tent and join my Dad and his girlfriend for a dinner and a visit to our friends the Stubbs' Family.

Friday we woke up early, took the top of the CJ and met up with the Jeep Safari on Metal-Masher. It was a fun trail. We had about 30 rigs in our Safari and we also had several of the Stubbs with us as well as Lance and Nancy. After a full day on the trail stuck in the Jeep with Dad and Darla (flirting it up) Ryan and I went into town for dinner by ourselves. It was so much fun to go on our own mini-date.

When we got back to camp Lance, Nancy, Dad and Darla were sitting round a campfire playing guitars. My dad always brings his guitar for campfire songs and this year Lance had a surprise for us. He got a guitar for Christmas and has been working at it real hard so he and my dad could "jam" (well "jam" as much as you can around a campfire) It was fun and a picture perfect camping moment.

Saturday we woke up to a stormy sky so the top went back on the CJ and we left and met up with the Safari to do Cliffhanger. Cliffhanger is my favorite trail. It was so hard being stuck in the back of the CJ with no windows, no breeze and no way out except by asking Darla to get out so we could get out. It was a cooler day and at the top of the trail we were grateful to be stuck inside the nice warm Jeep.

Saturday night was so much fun. We had a steak dinner with Lance and Nancy in the camper. It was tight, we were all very cosy but it was good food and good conversation. Lance is always full of good stories. I don't know how he does it but Lance is one of the best story tellers I know. His stories are always grossly exaggerated but thats why we love them. We stayed up till about 10pm telling stories about Jeep Safaris past and hunting trips.

Ryan and I decided that we'd rather be dry and squished then wet and cold. So we packed everything into the Liberty, put the back seat down and made it into a nice cosy squishy bed. It was surprisingly comfortable and toasty warm. We woke up Sunday morning to the sound of heavy rain on the roof. We were nice, dry and well rested.

Sunday we got up, packed up and headed out for home. We arrived home around 2pm and started the recovery process. Laundry, Laundry, Laundry. Ryan and I then headed up to the Woodbury's casa for Easter dinner. It was a perfect ham. It's always fun hanging out with the Parental Woodburys. We ate dinner, played a movie trivial game and then had delicious bunny cake and BYU ice cream.

Sunday night I was so nervous to start school again. After being away a week its always worrisome to go back.

This past week my kids were very calm and well behaved. I'm all the more nervous for when it wares off. ;)

Friday we had a 3rd grade field trip to see the African Cats movie by Disney. Best Field Trip EVER! We got on a bus, sat in a movie theater, got on a bus, came back to school, ate lunch and sent the kids home. Friday field trip plus short day equals easy teaching day.

All in all we've had a semi-boring semi-adventureous two weeks.