Tomato Extraordinaire

My mom has a garden so obviously she has butt-loads of tomatoes.  She sets these tomatoes on the counter and they usually are eaten pretty quickly.  However, the recent onslaught of tomatoes has made it difficult to use them quickly.  This has lead to some pretty interesting tomatoes.

What the...? I realize there are seeds inside a tomato but I have never seen this happen and I've seen a lot of tomatoes in my life.

You're probably wondering (much like I was) what it looks like inside.   Well, here you go.

Looks like bean sprouts.

Up close

And these, ladies and gentlemen, are the adventures I'm having right now.  Are you jealous?

Pretend Today is April 27th

So...I'm a horrible mother of a toddler.  I forgot this chubby, drooly, sometimes incoherent baby's second birthday.  I am so so sorry, baby blog.

I will try really hard to never forget your birthday again...but I can't promise anything.

Last year (when I acutally remembered my bloggy baby's birthday), I did a year in review.

Since I did a year in review on January 1st, I don't think I need to do one again because...let's face it.  I haven't been the greatest of bloggers lately.

So here's what's going to happen...I'm going to predict-o-blog.  That's right...predict-o-blog (copyright pending). What does that means you ask?  Basically, I'm going to pull a Miss Cleo and write things that (I hope) will actually happen...pretty sure it's basically like the Secret but without reading the Secret.

May

~Even better Cinco de Mayo party than last year.

Fake mustaches and sombreros.  What could be better?  Hopefully you'll see real soon.

~Students take (and pass with amazing scores) the CRTs.
~Spring finally arrives in Utah.

June
~Summer arrives, 6th graders start stinking up a storm.
~Go to Manti again.
~Make a countdown chain to the last day of the school year.

July
~Last day of the school year!
~Read a bunch of books.
~See the midnight showing of last Harry Potter movie.
~Attend Movies Under the Stars.
~Farmer's market.
~Meet someone new.

August
~Enjoy the last few weeks of my summer break.
~Paint my house.
~Be more awesome.
~Camp
~Have an epically awesome first day of school.

September
~Celebrate being married for 2/3 of a year.
~Have good ideas regarding my blog (this idea = bad.  I'm bored...you're probably bored.  Stop?)

October
~Get excited for Halloween (and a couple's Halloween costume!)
~Go off track.
~Have an excellent couple's Halloween costume...win some sort of contest.

November
~Thanksgiving!
~Kiss Husband lots (only in November....sorry Husband.)

December
~Christmas!
~Think about having a baby sometime next year...probably not though...sorry Court & Dev.

I Am Still Alive...Promise

Dear Lovelies,

I realize I haven't blogged in ages and I realize that makes me a hypocrite because I bother many of you about not blogging on a regular basis. 

Here's why I'm not blogging much now, in a nut shell: My life is boring.

I've been off-track for about 2 weeks and let's face it, it's the 6th graders that make this blog even remotely entertaining. 

I've also had a week full of trainings (which while I found entertaining and educational, you will not be hearing about...snore fest!)

And I just got back from a trip to San Francisco...without the Husband.  It was an adventure.  I'll tell you about it later.

Please stay tuned.  I'll catch up eventually.


Hugs and flowers,

Ash H.

I'm a Professional, Right?

I'm getting my very first cohort (aka month-long student teacher) tomorrow.  I'm a bit nervous about this.  I--the 2nd year teacher, the teacher who often acts like she's also a 6th grader, the teacher who sometimes forgets how to convert kilograms to grams when trying to teach it to 12-year-olds, the teacher who tells students to put their butts in chairs right now--am supposed to teach an up and coming teacher how to do things.  How to be a teacher.

Ugh. The pressure. 

I've spent the evening preparing, quite possibly over preparing, for tomorrow while Husband has been out with his friends.  I just don't want to mess up this lovely girl's education or have her go back to school and complain about the imbecile the school placed her with.

I just want to be the perfect teacher and mentor for the next month...is that too much to ask?

Happy Half Birthday to Me!

Yesterday was one of the best days of my life.  Up to now.  Period. End of story.

September 12th is my half birthday.  (I know, that's a very 5-year-old thing to keep track of but hear me out on why they are so awesome...First, you're not actually getting any older (yes, you're a day older but people age in years, not days); second, there's no pressure to make it awesome; third, who doesn't want an excuse to have a party?  I could go on and on about the advantages of half-birthdays but I won't because that's not what this post is about.)

Here's how my oh so amazing day went down:

I started the day off by going to church, which is always awesome.  Instead of going to my ward's sacrament meeting, I was able to go to Amanda and Thomas' ward for Amanda's confirmation.  It was so good.  I am so stoked for her.  She was so happy.


Following Amanda's confirmation, I made chili and cornbread for dinner with Anthony, Jaynee, and Jenny.  It was stinking delicious!  Then we had a pizookie for dessert.  Holy moley.  If you don't know what a pizookie is, you're missing out.  Here's a little explanation...take cookie dough, put it in a small pie tin, cook until it's done on the outsides but still slightly gooey in the middle, top with ice cream, devour.  So good.  There may be pictures one day.


Jenny and I then went to set up refreshments for the CES fireside.  We listened to Elder Richard G. Scott speak.  He is such an amazing man.  It was a great fireside.  Originally, I did not plan on going.  I'm so glad I did now.

When the fireside was over, I expected people to come to my house to hang out because that's what we do.  Anthony was giving me a ride home.  He was taking forever.  I was tired and just wanted to go home.


We finally headed home and I saw all my friends' cars in the parking lot.  As I was walking up to my complex, I realized that all the lights in my house were off.  What the heck are they doing in there in the dark?  Weirdos!

Then it dawned on me.  It was my half birthday and no one had said anything about it.  These little cuties were throwing a surprise party for me.  Yippee-I-O-Ki-Ay!

Yep, the cake has a double rainbow.

Adventures in Ash J. Land

Oh, man!  Today was an adventure!

The day began by heading to work to get some stuff ready for my classroom...not that adventurous...then Ryan came...you know, this guy...

Being at work wasn't really part of the adventure but it was the beginning to a very interesting day.

Once we left school, we decided to go canoeing.  Yep, you read that right, canoeing...who goes canoeing?  We do apparently.  I got a great arm workout and a great sunburn...I knew I should have put on sunscreen! 

After canoeing, we ate lunch and hung out at my house for a while.  While there, Ryan made a Facebook group about a camping trip.  No big deal.  Ryan also secretly updated my status and added a picture.  He was so excited about his prank that he told me 5 minutes after he did it.  Here's the picture he added:

Let's just say I had a lot of comments to sift through and a lot of damage control to do.  **This is not my hand...This is not an announcement...This picture was obviously taken in the fall and I wasn't even dating in the fall...I AM NOT ENGAGED.  Though Ryan would like you to believe that.**

After that fiasco, I went bowling with Anthony and two of his friends.  I'm not a horrible bowler but I'm not an excellent bowler either.  I generally break 100 and end any where from 105 to 115, when I really try.  On the other hand, these boys I bowled with are good.  They always smoke me.  Tonight was a different story.  Here's the picture of the screen at the end of the game (it's super blurry so I added a little something to help you out.  You're welcome.):

That's right...I tied for first place.  Go team me!  I think I'll give up bowling now so I can end on a high note. 

I'd like to take this time to publicly retire from bowling.  I don't think I can ever do this well again...or the guys can do this poorly...either way I'll never taste bowling victory again.