Carling get-together

Yesterday was the annual Carling get-together at my uncle's house in Logan. We drove up for the afternoon and enjoyed good food, games, and company. We played the traditional horseshoes and horsey golf, as well as croquet. Brian also played frisbee golf a few times since he really enjoys that. I however, sat out of the frisbee golf since I have no frisbee skills (or croquet skills for that matter, I was only halfway through with the course when everyone else was done.) We had a fun time seeing my aunt, uncle, and cousins that I don't normally see.

My aunt and uncle:

Wax anyone?

Normally I don't post about the random day to day events that go on in our lives. It would probably bore you all to death. However, the other day Brian really wanted to try these ear wax removal candles. You put one end in your ear and you light the other end on fire. The flame actually got pretty big, which made me a little nervous. Anyway you lay there while it is burning and then you can start to hear the wax getting sucked up into the candle. After the flame reaches a certain point, you blow it out. You can then open it up and see all the wax that was removed. I was amazed at how much it pulled out, it was really gross. I don't know if we'll do them again because they took quite a while to do, but they definitely work better than q-tips.

Manti Weekend

Last weekend my parents came down to visit us for the weekend. They came down Friday afternoon and then we all went down to Manti, Utah for the Mormon Miracle Pageant. I hadn't been since I was a kid, so it was kind of like seeing it for the first time. It was pretty nice, however we kind of felt that the audio was a little outdated. We finally returned home from that at about 1:30 in the morning. I don't remember much of the drive back because I was asleep in the back seat. On Saturday we went shopping at various stores and went out to lunch . It was a nice day. After dinner that night, we took my parents up to Bridal Veil Falls. The weather was great so it was nice walking the path to get there. We were able to get some great shots, including some of Brian climbing to the top of the falls.

It was a great weekend with family.

Oh nuts!

When I asked Brian what we had done recently so I could blog about it, he replied "we made cinnamon roasted almonds." Since they are super delicious I agreed. We had a lot of plain almonds that we weren't really eating because they weren't salted or anything, so we decided to fix them. Brian suggested cinnamon almonds, so he found a recipe that was very easy and we went to work. After 15 of pulling the baked nuts off the foil, we learned a valuable lesson, Do not roast nuts on foil, and thoroughly grease the pan. The finished product, delicious, just look at the picture.

Memorial Weekend

On the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend Brian and I drove up to Logan to meet my parents, Kirstie, and my grandma. We went to visit the graves of my great grandparents, grandparents, etc. This entailed going to 4 different cemeteries, all in the Logan area. We then had lunch and made our way up to Idaho. We had a nice weekend there, playing games, having a BBQ,a jelly bean taste test and spending time with my family. We also went to the Field of Heroes, where they had placed one cross for every soldier killed in Afghanistan or Iraq. It was unbelievable to see how many there were. It was a good Memorial Day activity, to remind us of why we celebrate it in the first place. While there, Brian was able to use his new camera to take some great pictures. Brian left on Monday because he had class on Tuesday. I stayed until Thursday. On Thursday, my mom, Kirstie, and I headed down for Provo. We had a girls' day out,going shopping and out to lunch. It was nice to spend some time with them, even if most of it was spent driving.

Leaving Logan

Field of Heroes. This is just a small piece of the field.

My brother's cute puppy.

Last day of school

Well, since the last post, I have finished school. The last day was on Friday the 28th. As is tradition, that day was spent mostly at the dance festival. This is where each grade level has made up and learned a dance that they perform for the school and parents on the last day. Our 2nd graders did a great job, even though someone unplugged the sound system halfway through their performance and they had to start over. After the dance we went back to class so I could hand out their class assignments for next year before their parents took them home. This scene was a lot different from last year. Last year they got their assignments and mostly just left without saying good-bye, those lovely 5th graders. This year, all of my students wanted a picture with me and then they each gave me a hug goodbye. I even had one girl, who frequently gives me problems, give me a big hug and was in tears because she didn't want to leave. It was surprising to me because I felt like most of the time she didn't like me very much. Overall I'd say this year was a lot better than last, as you can tell just from the differences in the last day. I really grew to love my students this year and am sad to see them go.