Look who's been good this year...

This was part of my parents ward, "Christmas Idol" for our ward Christmas party. My dad and one of the members of the bishopbric did a little Christmas Rap. It was so funny. My dad was trying to learn some dance moves from my siblings a few minutes before it started!!! Sorry the pictures are blurry!
My sister was freaking out the whole time, because my Dad's hand was tight in ball, instead of loose and swaying above his head.... Good times!
Everyone in the ward loved them, except for the judge Simon, he told my Dad that he needed to Repent for the performance!
Dad and Andrea at our ward Christmas party!!!
Dan and I at the party
Sitting on Santa's lap. This was my second time this year, and I was just as excited as I was the first time. I am so excited for Christmas!!!!

laser face pics...

These pictures are not even bad... I only let pictures be taken when I looked semi decent. Now my face has almost completely healed minus a few places that are still peeling. Maybe on round 2 or 3 I will be brave and take pictures when I am at the worst point. Yes I am going through with lasering of the face 2 more times.

(I am blogging because tonight Bob flew back to Washington.... and I may be a little bored!)

And yes.... Bob is in both of the pictures! The first picture is a few hours after the procedure, don't worry my face got a lot more red and blotchy. This was maybe 4 or 5 days after, my face is still shiny, but their is a little peeling going on at this point. It is hidden by the large amount of grease on my face.

Snow Springs Christmas Party

Tonight was my work Christmas party. It was held at UVSC, some may call it UVU... but it will always be UVSC to me. Bob and I were a few minutes late, but my team saved us seats. There are 6 teachers on my team, but one didn't come. It was such a fun night. It was so nice and relaxing to sit and enjoy one anothers company without worrying what our students were doing. It was also fun to meet some of my coworkers spouses.

There was some youth group that put on the entertainment and they sang some great Christmas songs. At one point a kid started to hyper-ventalate and had to leave the stage. I was worried about him as I saw people fanning him on the side of the stage. Don't worry he made it back on stage later in the evening for his solo. They seriously were the cutest bunch of kids aka teenagers.

At the end we had to get some group shots taken by my class aide, Mrs. C. Not only did we get a group shot, but we got one of all the teachers. Mrs. C. thought that we shouldn't leave the guys out, so they got a picture together too. I was having a laughing convulsion.... It was SO funny. Enjoy the pics!Not that flattering of a picture, but Bob looks good!

Snow.... Gotta love it!

So this morning's commute took 45 minutes instead of the normal 20. Which was fine because I was out of bed earlier than normal today. I get so nervous driving in the snow, I hate not being in control. I made it safe, but with the wrong shoes. I wore these awful boots with heels. I didn't want my feet to be cold. So I walk inside the school and our nice linoleum floor with wax on it didn't agree with the boots and I slipped, but caught myself before the fall. I didn't have any other shoes except for some slippers. YES I am wearing slippers at school.

I just got done with lunch and was walking back to the trailer. The custodian was scraping the walk in front of my classroom with the four wheeler, he was probably 15 feet away, and as I walked towards my trailer, I slipped and ate it hard core. My pants are soaked-- Something I tell my students not to do! And I scraped my arm... Of course this was at recess so all of the kids are staring and the custodian is sitting on his four wheeler laughing at me.

I love the snow!

Christmas Decorations!!!

I love our little entertainment center.... so many cute things we had to put on it. Including the artic circle Christmas Troll set! (My Mom may have collected those when I was a babetot)
Putting the decorations on the tree after church! Thank you Danielle for cutting us down a tree!
Danielle, Jordon, Lacee and I in front of the final product. We were so excited and loved it!~
A couple days later I woke up to this.... At first I thought we had been robbed. But we hadn't, the tree was just being a little crazy and decided to fall over in the middle of the night. I'm surprised that none of us woke up.

There were Christmas bulbs everywhere and a lot of them had been broken! Sad day. But the good news is we tied the tree to our vent and it is back in standing position.... looking just as good!

Kids tell the truth.. well almost always!

So this week has been a fun week with my face looking like I have a major Blotchy sunburn and add some swolenness to it. It is still red, but now I am in the peeling stage so it may even look worse than on Monday.

Mattie: Miss Hales, what's on your face. Me-Nothing. M-I am sure there is something on your face.

Dax: Why is your face looking like that? --- after I told him he asked the class aide if she had had her acne scars lasered off. SOOO Funny.

Isaikk: Yikes! What happened to your face? -- He was gone Monday and Tuesday so I had to explain it AGAIN.

Alejandra: Teacher, what happened to your face? ME- It got burned. A-Oh ya, that happened to my mom.

Me- Raise your hand if you noticed something different about my face.... Every hand shoots into the air and the class starts discussing it. (This was after all of my kids came in looking at me like the world had come to an end, and I felt I should explain!)

On the plus side, a lot of kids tell me that it is looking better, and I told them they had to be quiet because it hurts my face to talk. They have been awesome this week!

I really should take a picture, but it's so gross.....

Good or Bad, we do not know!

So yesterday my Mom had me meet her at this laser place so the doctor could look at my face. My sister goes there to get laser hair removal... just a small unibrow! Anywho, they were having a deal with removing acne scars so my Mom wanted them to look at me. I drive over, thinking this is weird, I think I have a pretty nice face- there are flaws, but not too many. The next thing I know, I am laying in the chair in the fetal position holding on to my legs as they zap my face with a laser and my face isn't numbed. It was quite painful. But I survived. Then I got all my papers and meds and went home. Oh don't worry my face was a tomato. Good thing Bob doesn't judge and he was alright with it. I was supposed to get this numbing cream for the pain, but it didn't make it in the bag. We had a fun night and I didn't notice the pain too much. Bob seriously was so good to me not to laugh or make fun, especially since my face was also greesy from the lotions and not smelling that great.

I woke up this morning to Bob waking me up for church, or just asking me if I wanted a ride. I told him I would meet him there. My face hurt and when I looked in the mirror I was scared out of my mind. I am sure anyone who sees me will be scared. (Sorry to all the 3rd graders who expect a normal teacher at school tomorrow.) So my face is not only bright red but it has creases in it and big brown spots from where he was zapping it. It says on the paper that these things may accur. But I read this paper after it happened since my Mom was just so excited about this happening to me. I started to bawl. I look like an oompaloompa or a burn victim. My face looks 100x worse and I couldn't stop crying. I called my Mom and bawled to her, I was too embarrassed to go to church, I look scary. So she called the doctor and we are going to see him at 10. Hopefully he will give me some numbing cream and tell me this will all fade in a day. If I knew how to work my camera on my computer I might take a picture of myself, oh it's so gross. haha.

So if you are wondering where I am--- I am hiding in my room. It is that scary. I'll just post a good picture to remember my face.

Getting into the Christmas Sprirt!

This week at school we were collecting coins for some low income families in our area and also collecting food for the food bank. So this week was a big week for service projects. Can I just tell you how much I love my tots? They are seriously the cutest and sweetest kids.

On Monday we collected pennies and our class only brought in $.79. Only a couple kids remembered to bring pennies. Which is fine because it was hard to remember to bring things over the Thanksgiving break. Tuesday we brought nickels, Wednesday was dimes, Thursday was quarters and then on Friday you could bring any kind of bills. With my class I challenged them to get more than the day before. Each day they did just that! On Thursday I told the class that if everyone brought 1 dollar we would have 33 dollars and beat Thursday's amount. On Friday I had two girls who went above and beyond. One girl brought ten dollars and the other girl brought 8. Courtlynn my student who brought $8 was telling her friend that she had been watching her neighbors frog while they were on vacation and they gave her the money. It was as simple as that, she had worked and got $8, and now she was giving it to another family for Christmas. What great examples the kids in my class are to me. Our total for the week was $71.67!!! I was so impressed! And look at all of these cans and food items!!!!Last night Bob and I went up to Salt Lake to see the lights on the Temple. Salt Lake Temple has always been my favorite and I hadn't seen the lights for a few years. Don't worry that it was SO busy. With all the hustle and bustle of Christmas, the beautiful Temple and the Jazz game- there was no where to park. Finally we found a place to park and walked a distance to the Temple. We listened to the nativity story as we slowly started to freeze and then walked around the temple. It seriously was so beautiful and I loved every second.

3rd Grade Turkey Trot

Every year our school has a turkey trot for each grade. In past years they gave away a turkey to the first place boy and girl. This year they gave T-shirts... Some of the kids were disappointed. I was excited to watch the kids race. We talked about doing our best and for some finishing was just as good as winning. A girl in my class, Courtlynn took 2nd place for the girls. Both of the winners were from my friend Emily's class. We had a half hour set aside, but the race only took mmmm 1 minute. So we played around after with our classes. Emily and I decided to race, and we have pictures to document it.
We only ran half of the field... Teacher's get a break. We were both laughing so hard at this point. Her class was yelling... GO MRS. JONES, and my class was yelling GO MISS HALES. It seriously was so cute and I didn't want to let my class down, I was determined to win.
*** Side note, Emily had some slip on shoes on, so I thought I had it made. Miss Mitchell was taking pictures and she started the race. I took off, good start, and then I hear Mrs. Jones laughing and I turn to see her on the ground. She had fallen. Haha. I started running in place and turned around-- And as soon as I did that she was running past me. I had lost my head start, but I ran after her. And as you can see....
She beat me. I took 2nd. My favorite part of this picture is my student Emily in the far left corner who is jumping in the air as she watches me take 2nd place. Oh and my necklace broke during the race... But it was worth it. Mrs. Jones was laughing so hard and she felt so bad for passing me when I was waiting for her.
Here we are with our classes as we talk about the race. I love teaching 3rd grade. Each day is a new adventure.

5K, Pies, Comedy, and Spoon Me

Thanksgiving started out with a 5K run with the cousins! The parentals and Aunt Carrie walked the 5k before the tots began the run. Let's be honest, I am not in shape and was not prepared for this. But I am happy to say that I finished!!! My brother took 1st place!



For the Hales family Thanksgiving, we hold an annual pie baking contest. Last time we all made our own pies and put them in the contest and they were all horrible. This year we got an amazing pie crust recipe and a pumpkin chiffon recipe from Oprah. Thank you Oprah. It is an awesome recipe and we should've won. Needless to say we didn't win but our pie was an improvement from last year. Pic 1 is of me with my 2nd pie crust that I made, that is the reason I am holding up the 2. My first one didn't look so great. Then pic 2 is us with the tots! Andrea, Dan and I. And our beautiful pie... (when we made the the whipped cream, we forgot to put the sugar in it, so that maybe why we lost... Ooops!)
On Saturday night the Hales clan got together and we went to Comedy Sportz together. Before we went to Zuppas with the parents and Ayrika. All of the aunts and uncles and Grandma and Grandpa went to Comedy Sportz. Grandpa couldn't hear, so he didn't like it that much, but Grandma was loving it so much.
Matthew, Emily, me and Bob at Spoon Me!
After Comedy Sportz we went to Spoon Me which is now one of my favorite frozen yogurt places to go. Bob and I on accident went Friday and Saturday night. Grandpa got the green tea flavor that isn't that great, but he loved it. I love hanging out with the family.

I am cheering for____

Today in math I had my students write down who they were cheering for for tomorrow's rivalry game. I have a few die hard BYU fans, one die hard UTE fan and the rest of the class was just whatever. We are doing fractions so I totaled the number of votes. I had 22 votes for BYU and 7 for Utah. One girl voted for no one because "she hates football". I then had them compare fractions and a few other things.

It was really funny because I had the students write down why they voted the way they did. The girl in my class that is obsessed with the U, wrote down that she doesn't know why she hates BYU, but her parents just told her too and that is why she loves the U. So crazy! Out of the 7 who voted for Utah, 4 of them voted that way because they love the state of Utah and had to support it. Oh man, kids are just so cute!

(Disclaimer-- I do know how to add, but one girl voted for no one, that is why I have 22+7-- that extra 1 makes my denominator 30, haha.) * Hope you love my cursive, I've been practicing!

Now lets just hope that BYU can come through with a win! I am so excited for tomorrow's game. I really don't want to have to face that girl if the U wins....

Naked Turkey

For an art project last week I had my class disguise a paper turkey. I've seen a ton of examples of other classes and my class did a great job. They had to turn their turkey into something other than a turkey. The kids were super excited about the project and I added a writing portion to the project. The students had to explain why it wasn't it turkey.

Aryanna a girl in my class who moved this week, proceeded to turn hers into a hula dancer wearing a coconut bra. It was a great idea, but a lot of the kids freaked out because of the bra. It was so very cute and funny.

Mattie the girl sitting across from her was disguising her turkey as me. So during the writing project Mattie comes up and asks me how to spell bra. I look at her and ask why? (In my mind I am thinking- She is dressing her turkey up as me, why is she writing bra--- is she saying that her's isn't a turkey because Miss Hales is wearing a bra?) And then she says quietly, Aryanna is too embarrassed to ask you. I told her how and then she yelled back to Aryanna, I TOLD YOU SO, B-R-A! So funny. I love moments like that.

I'm just loving life...

Tonight I took a bubble bath in my jetted tub-- Yes jetted tub. I need to update the blogging world with pictures of my humble abode and my car... that isn't that new anymore. Anywho, tub was just so relaxing and then I blow dried my hair. I love going to bed ready for the next day. I put my robe on, which may be kinda short and walked out to my living room to see my good friend Danny. I chuckle and walk back to my bedroom and put some clothes on. For some reason when I put my robe on I had a feeling that that might happen.

School is going great! Tomorrow is Friday. Friday's for the class include.... Reading, Morning Work, Specialty, Math, Lunch, Cursive, Read Aloud, Library, Writing/Spelling Test and then FUN Friday! For me--- it means JEANS!!!! I love wearing the jeans, even though I get nervous to wear them. Principal said that jeans are unprofessional, but all the teachers are wearing them on Friday's so I am too.

For fun Friday we are going to do some type of turkey activity. I'm not quite sure what it will be, but I know the kids will love it. They love doing art projects and taking a break from our normal routine.

Not only is tomorrow Friday, but I only have two more days after that. Monday, is early out day for collaboration and we are actually having a celebration day, which equals--- FUN! And then Tuesday we are having our Turkey Trot. The 3rd graders run a mile and the winners get a T-Shirt. In past years they actually got a turkey. I may run with the kids.... How fun would that be? Except for when all the kids pass me, that might be a little embarrassing! We will see! Maybe I do a practice run this weekend.

OH this weekend, weekend of all weekends!!!!
#1 We have Twilight! Best book ever coming out on video. In all realness, the movie is actually coming out in 1 hour and 4 minutes. Why am I not at the theater? Oh wait, I'm a teacher.
#2 Saturday- I am just loving sleeping in. And then I am going to a matinee of Twilight with one of my bestest friends Jody.
#3 Coming home from the movie to watch the HOLY war. Oh my goodness, I am just being so nervous this year. I have a feeling the U is going to win, but I am just hoping that BYU can pull out a miracle. Go Cougs!
#4 Following the game, I will be going on a date with boy from the ward. Dinner and something to follow. OOO la la!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!!!

PS- Lost another student, I'm down to 31. Please let my class size stay that way for a few weeks!

Oh and look at this cute tot!

My baby brother Dan is graduating in May 2009. He will also be turning 18, so he will have a year of college before he leaves on his mission. I just have to say that I love him so much and he is the funniest guy I know. We were both just lovin posing for the grad pics. haha.

I guess I graduated and Mom wanted the pics...

Number 1
Number 2
Number 3
Number 4
Number 5
Number 6
Number 7
Number 8
Number 9

When my sister graduated she got one of her graduation pictures printed as 11x16- Crazy big I know, but ya. My high school graduation picture was just an 8x10 so my Mom was feeling a little bad for me and my baby pic. So when I graduated in April, my Mom decided I needed a new picture. My brother and I went to the park in Spanish Fork in September and got these pictures taken. My Mom wants a close up one to print, so go ahead and vote and tell me which one you think I should get. Pictures were done by Janille Wist, she is amazing. Check out her website!

http://www.jnwphotos.com/