Boys hate Girls

You may remember this post-- it was a LONG time ago. Over a year ago I had a boy who hated the girl who sat next to him in class. They were in resource together, and they were always pestering each other. He got mad and wrote a hate letter along with a picture of him shooting her. Little did I know that that was the thing to do in 3rd grade.

Today one of my students was acting a little off. He was in a bad mood and wouldn't do his work. A few minutes before my first group of kids went home, the assistant principal came and got him. I knew something was up when he was still gone 30 minutes later.

While reading with T, he said "I know why D is in trouble." So of course I asked why. T told me that at recess D drew a picture on the wall of him shooting this girl in another class that he hated. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. When D came back we talked, but he wouldn't tell me anything. It was all confirmed after school, and I couldn't believe it.

D spent those 30 minutes being told how serious it is to draw or talk about shooting someone, while he scrubbed the walls. Wow. Who would've known, 2 years in a row.

Cooking more = more dishes!

One of my goals for this year is to cook more. We eat dinner at home most days, but only about once a week was I cooking a meal. Most days we were eating sandwiches, soups, or other just assemble meals. This week was a lot of fun, but I remembered why I didn't like to cook a a lot. We don't have a dish washer, so the dishes pile up, and they pile up fast!

Monday: I didn't have to do anything but make a salad. Bob came home from school and cooked some amazing Ribs. Mmmm they were so good. All I know is he put salt, pepper, BBQ sauce and some brown sugar on it. (I might be missing some ingredients!)
Tuesday: Lettuce wraps and Orange Chicken
For the lettuce wraps we used THIS recipe. We substituted the beef for ground turkey. I also added a cup of chopped up mushrooms to it. We eat this as our whole meal sometimes, but today I went a little crazy.

Costco sells this sauce, it's the Panda Express orange sauce. It is amazing. I used this RECIPE and this is one of our new favorite dinners.

Friday: I made my Mom's famous Sour Cream Lasagna or also known as Cheaters Lasagna. It is so so simple. This is one of the few recipes I can make from memory! Sorry no picture, we ate it too quick.

1. Brown 1 pound ground beef (drain fat)
2. Add 1 bottle spaghetti sauce, 1 tsp garlic salt and a dash of pepper
3. Simmer for 5-10 minutes, while simmering boil 1 12oz bag of twisty noodles
4. drain the noodle and add 1 cup sour cream and 1 cup cottage cheese.
5. In casserole dish, spread one-half meat mixture. Top with sour cream, noodle mixture, then rest of meat. Top with shredded cheese. Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes. (I cover with foil and for the last 5 minutes bake without it.)

New Traditions

Our Temple-Pizza Wednesday night is no more. This Sunday Bob was called to be in the Young Mens Presidency as the 1st counselor. (He is in charge of 1 teacher, we only have 5 young men in our ward.) And their mutual night is on Wednesdays. We knew it would be too intense to try and go to the temple right after school and get home 5 minutes before mutual started. So we changed our temple day to Tuesday. And there aren't any pizza specials on Tuesday night.

I loved being able to come home from the Temple and swing by Wise Guys getting a couple pizzas. I never stressed about dinner. So now that we go on Tuesdays, we need a new tradition, that doesn't cost too much.

This week we went to In and Out. I am pretty sure I could handle In and Out every Tuesday- but I doubt my body could! Haha.

Don't worry about the huge zit on my forehead, it's taking it's own sweet time leaving. Goal- be zit free in 2011!

{Just Things}

Left my class fish for the whole Christmas break. Thought he would be dead this morning, but he was alive. Lucky me.

A button fell off my new Christmas jacket. I almost cried a little, it is the best jacket ever. I guess I'll go buy a needle and thread.

It's warmer outside, but the kids still wear their coats. This is the point in life where they start to sweat a little. My classroom stinks.

I am going to try and cook more this year, if you have any good recipes, please let me know. I need all the help I can get.

Teaching fractions today for math, was a lot of fun. The kids really enjoyed it. And I think we were all sick of multiplication and division facts.

I got reimbursed today for my teaching supplies I bought this summer..... What to do with the money?

Bob and I are going to the gym this afternoon. We on accident ate our lives away this Christmas break. Too bad everyone else is going today too for their New Years resolutions. I hate fighting to get an elliptical.

Christmas Day

We woke up at 8:30- Which was perfect. I loved waking up without an alarm. My Dad always sings this song to get us up on Christmas day. As soon as we heard him singing we all started to get up. We all met at the top of the stairs and walked into the living room to see what Santa had brought.

Bob and I got bedside tables for our bedroom and a picture of the SLC Temple. We were spoiled with gifts from everyone and got a few new games to play.

We ate breakfast and put our things away. We got ready and went to the movies in Payson to see Avatar in 3D. The movie was really good. I am not a huge fan of Sci-Fi type movies but it was good. I wonder what it is like not 3D, because 3D gives me a headache.These were our Avatar faces.

We had lunch when we got home and my Grandparents came over. At about 4, everyone started doing their own thing. My parents gave me luggage for my birthday and we packed our stuff up for our trip to WA.

We left at 5:30 for the airport and flew to Pasco to spend a week with Bob's family.

When we arrived in Pasco we were happy to see so many faces at the airport. Bob's parents were there, his sister Ashley and his sister Staci and her family were there. It was a fun filled week. To be told about in the next post!

Christmas Eve 09

On Christmas Eve, Bob and I went shopping for a few last minute gifts. We stopped at In and Out for lunch between the stores. (We love In and Out and wish we could eat there every day. Bob only eats the burgers and fries animal style.)

We met up with my family at the mall to see Invictus. It started out a little slow, but it had a really good story and we enjoyed it.
After the movie we went to Grandma and Grandpa Hales house for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner. We always have fried oysters and clam chowder. This was Bob's first time having an oyster. He said it was good, but he didn't go back for seconds so we all know what that means.

Bob and I gave Grandpa Hales a snuggie. (You all know how much I love mine. It was a knock off of the original, but it felt just as nice.) Grandpa said he loved it, and didn't take it off for an hour or so. Some say he looked like the Grinch.
This year we stayed until 10:00 playing games as a family. It was a lot of fun, we haven't done it in the past.

We came home and talked about the true meaning of Christmas. We then opened our Christmas Eve PJ's and then played Farkle until midnight.

Andrus Family Christmas Party

On the 23rd we all met at my Aunt and Uncle's house in American Fork. We had a wonderful dinner with ham, turkey, potatoes, and lots of dessert. (I'm sure we had some vegetables in there too.) It was fun to get together with family and celebrate the Christmas season.

Every year we do a present swap. We have a $5 limit and the theme of the gifts is food. This is one of my most favorite Christmas traditions. We trade the presents like white elephants where they can only be traded 3 times. Bob and I went to Costco and we bought a box of blow pops and a huge box of hostess cupcakes. In the end we came home with a huge bag of Swedish fish and mango salsa.

What happend in 2009?

January- We rang in the new year in Washington with Bob's family. Bob started another semester at BYU. I went back to teaching 3rd grade in Lehi. We celebrated my Mom's birthday and went to a few BYU basketball games.
February- Celebrated both of our father's birthdays and got engaged on February 7th. Dressed up for a fancy Valentines dinner with Matt and Emily. I had my last laser face treatment!

March- Alyse became bridezilla and we got going on wedding plans. Doubled with friends. Babysat our cousins and took them to Chuck E Cheese.
April- Bob's family came for conference. We went up for a session and ate dinner at the Roof. Emily and Matt got married in Mesa, and I went to Mexico with my family.
May- I finished my first year of teaching at Snow Springs Elementary. And most importantly, WE GOT MARRIED in the Salt Lake Temple!
June- We cruised to the Bahamas for our Honeymoon. Bob turned 23! He took the PCAT and started Summer semester at BYU.

July- Took a trip to Chicago with my family, and then spent the 4th of July with David and Kelsey in Wisconsin.

August- Enjoyed our last few days of summer and visited the Barber's in Washington and met Grandpa Fielding in Oregon.

September- My class changed from a split to only 3rd grade! We spent the night in Mount Pleasant at my parents hotel. And we went to Ayrika's volleyball tournament, which they won!

October- We enjoyed Halloween with Matt and Emily. Bob got his first interview for Pharmacy school.

November- Bob got accepted to Massachusets College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in NH. We celebrated 1 year from our first date. And spent Thanksgiving with my family in Spanish Fork.
December- We were spoiled our first Christmas together. We were in both Utah and Washington for Christmas day. While in WA I celebrated my 23rd birthday.
We have truly had an amazing year. So many memories and new friendships formed. We have been blessed with so much this year. We are grateful for our families and the time we have been able to spend with them this year. 2009 was a great year! We can only guess what 2010 will bring us.

2009 Recap

January-
Went to BYU basketball games with family and friends. (Thanks Mom and Dad for the season tickets!)