How to Cook a Turkey First Grader Style!

For my bulletin board at school this month I had my kids tell a mom volunteer how they would cook a turkey if they had to do it for Thanksgiving. The mom typed everything they said word for word. They were HILARIOUS!!!!! Here are a few of my favorites for your holiday reading enjoyment.

* "I would cook it 20 degrees. I would get it at the store. It would be this big because turkeys are always this big and they're heavy. Then I would cover it in oil. There's a timer that has a chord and it sticks right into the turkey and it goes beep, beep, beep when it's done. The red thing comes out like plop! It's kinda freaky. Then we get some Jell-O."

* "I would go to the store and get a humongo one. Put it in the microwave for 35 minutes. You rinse the plastic out and put some stuff in it, I don't know what. It's done when the microwave goes ding, ding, ding and the microwave has words on it that says, 'ready, ready, turkeys ready'."

* "I would get it from the store. Five inches long. Put salt on it. Cook it at my grandma's in her backyard for five seconds. It's done when the microwave beeps."

* "I would just go kill a turkey and take all the guts out and throw it to the chickens so they could eat it. Our chickens are mean. I can't go out there because they pinch really hard but they were so cute when they were little babies. Hmmmm, you put it on a pan and put it in the oven for 20 minutes."

* "I am going to go hunting for one and shoot one and pull off its feathers and cut off its head and rip off all of its skin. Put it in the oven for 35 seconds and put pepper on it."

Happy Cooking!!!!

Welcome Fall

Oh how I have missed Fall. It is by far my favorite season of the year for so many reasons:

Leaves changing color and cooler weather

Carving pumpkins, baking with pumpkin and decorating with pumpkins

Football Season - GO UTES!!!!

Plus sweaters, Halloween, yummy soups, jackets, homemade hot chocolate, cozy blankets, good tv, slippers, the smells, and so much more!!!!!

Home Sweet Home

No I have not been in escrow since my last post. Haha! The finger crossing (and lots of money) must have worked because I have been a homeowner since April 19th!!! It keeps me and my bank account busy, but I LOVE it and would never want to rent again. I love that it is MY space that I can do whatever I want with. I love that I don't have to answer to anyone but myself (although a maintenance man would be handy). I love living in a quiet neighborhood and listening to kids play, dogs barking (sometimes) and very few cars driving down the street. Here are a few pictures of my home sweet home.
Chance and Melanie were so, so, so nice to help me redo my front yard when they came to visit.

This was after one week and tons of water. It has grown a ton since then, enough that it got its first mowing last week (thanks for the super awesome lawn mower dad). I haven't taken any current pictures of my lawn. Sorry. You'll just have to come and visit to see for yourself:)

This is my front room. It used to have my tv in it until I was able to get some furniture for this awesome room:
I love, love my kitchen. It is actually bigger than it looks but I had a hard time getting it all in.
Just to add a little excitement (or because I couldn't for the life of me get it to turn) you'll have to turn your head for the picture of my laundry room/ half bathroom.


There you have it! There are actually two more bedrooms but they are either completely empty or used for storage. I love my little home sweet home and am so excited to be here!

In Escrow!!!!

Yes, you read it correctly. I am in escrow. I don't want to jinx myself by saying a lot, because the process has been so smooth since I put an offer in on this house. So cross your fingers that it continues to go smoothly, and if it does, I will be a homeowner on April 19th!!!!!!!!!!!

This is it! The outside needs some work and it is an older home, but the inside has been totally remodeled and is beautiful!

109 Days

Have no fear, I am still alive! In case you were wondering (Ericka) it has been 109 days since I have blogged. When life gets busy, blogging seems to be the first thing to go and boy has life been busy. Here is a quick recap of the past 109 days, give or take a few things, and hopefully I can stay on top of the blogging world from here on out!

A little hiking . . .

A trip home for . . .

going through the temple . . .

Tyrel and Chance's graduation . . .

Back to Utah for . . .

a little pretend skydiving with Melanie . . .
and before, after and in between all of that was the end of one school year, the start of another and plenty of friends, family and fun!

The End!!

All of the anticipation, waiting and hard work is over!

Although a couple of weeks late, here are a few highlights from my graduation!

If you look really closely you can see me:)

Proud Parents!

Love this one!

My favorite kid!

Soon it will be their turn!

Can't forget the great sister!

Go UTES!!!

Grandma and Grandpa!

Love my grandma!

Love them!

The best of friends!

The dignified graduate!

Reflection

*Disclaimer: This post will be cheesy and a little sentimental, but I deserve it and so do all of you!

After three and a half years, I have done it! On Friday I will walk in graduation at the University of Utah to receive my masters of education degree. As I was driving home from Ogden yesterday, I started to think about the past three and half years and all of the moments, experiences and people that have gotten me to this point. There were times when I really thought that I would never finish and times that I sincerely thought it would just be easier if I quit. However, during those times there was always someone to encourage me along and assure me that I would and could make it. So this week would not be complete without me having a chance to say a very deserving thank you to all of the people in my life who have helped me along the way, because if there is one thing that I have learned for sure from this experience, it's that I could not have done it alone!

* To my family (immediate and extended): There is absolutely no way I could have done this without you and even though I don't always say it, I do know it. Thank you for listening to me complain, being excited for me when I did well and always pushing me to be better.

*To my friends and co workers (whom I consider to be some of my best friends): Thank you for putting up with all my craziness, stressing and hectic schedule. Thank you for always listening to me whine and hearing me out on some of my crazy ideas. Thank you for celebrating my successes with me and calming me down when I would freak out (trust me, I know I did this)!

*To my school friends: I am so lucky to have gone through this experience (at least most of it) with such great girls who I am also very proud of. I am so lucky to be able to look back at this experience and have such great people in my memories.

* To all the kids I have taught over the past 3 years (even though I know they will never see this): Thank you for putting up with and unconditionally loving me as a teacher even when I was stressed, impatient and tired. Thank you for being my guinea pigs:) I hope I didn't mess you up too much!

There are so many people that have helped to make this possible for me and I can never thank any of you enough. This has been a dream of mine and I am so excited to see it come true. I truly do feel like I have grown more as a person in the last three years than I ever have before. I have learned and accomplished things that I never would have thought possible! I can't wait to put that cap, gown and hood on and walk across that stage! I am excited for what lies ahead for me, and NO it is not a doctorate!