I Couldn't Wait Until Saturday

These folks are awesome.



End of story

Old Man Stain

I've lived in my house since November of 2009.  When I moved in, the old man who lived in the house before me left a little gift that I thought would stay with me forever...the old man stain.

It's been around so long, I've learned to ignore it.

Before I even moved any furniture into my place, I worked like a crazy person on this stain.  Carpet cleaners, different store bought cleaners, everything.  I resigned that the stain would live here until I had enough money to replace all the carpet...so basically forever.

Then one beautiful day I found the answer.  I thought, "Seriously.  It cannot be that easy."  But it was.

Want proof?  Here's the same spot on my carpet.

Vinegar.  You may smell like rotten eggs but you clean like magic so I'm going to keep you around.

Guatemala--Family Stay

Wednesday May 23, 2007

We had breakfast at a very touristy restaurant.  Unfortunately, I don't know the name.  It had fabulous food.  And the hot chocolate?  To die for.

me and Jordan and our delicious hot chocolate

After breakfast we talked to a nurse, Juana Riquac.  She talked to us about how important education is.  She said, "If I had land or a house, I could sell that and have nothing but no one can take away an education."  We loved her.  And she was so cute.

me and Juana

Afterward, we went to the Ruth and Naomi Project where they teach young people different occupations and in return the young people weave and sew things to sell in the shop.

 Next up was the elementary school in the community of Chontala.  We were able to visit almost every clsssroom there.  It was so fun to see all the kids there.  They were so excited to see us.  On class room even had a song and dance prepared for us.

Singing and Dancing

We stayed in this small community for a "family stay."  We broke into small groups and stayed at one family's home.  Our "mom" was Anastacia. 

After dropping our things off we headed back up the mountain to play soccer with some local kids.  I'm not a soccer player and I have no idea what the rules really are but I had such a good time.

After the game

After soccer we walked back to the house and spent some time with the kids while the food was being prepared.  At one point, Felix asked us if we wanted to go see the animals but I somehow misunderstood that and responded with my best Spanish "Yes, let's eat now." to which he responded, "NO! We can't eat these animals."  I felt a little idiotic.  After that adventure, we went back inside and tried to help Anastacia and Tomasa make homemade tortillas.  They were horrible looking and very funny for the family.  They thought it was weird that we didn't know how to make them.

After dinner, we went to bed in one of the two rooms in the house.  The bed was a bunch of boards on an incline...not fun to sleep on.  The room was infested with giant bugs.

I know it doesn't look big but it was finger sized...for real guys.

After we got the bug situation under control (by squealing like little girls, gaining our composure and ninja skills to kill all bugs in the room, and spraying every surface & ourselves with bug spray) we tried to sleep.

Jordan spraying the room

It was a horrible night for sleeping.  Aside from the fact that we had 3 people in a 5 foot by 5 foot space we also had to deal with the fact that large bugs may be crawling all over us, a crazy rooster that insisted on crowing (cock-a-doodle-dooing?) every hour on the hour and we kept sliding down our inclined bed.  Ugh.  No sleep.

For as horrible an experience as it was, I think it's the best worst thing I never want to do again.

Guatemala--Leaving Casa San Jose

Tuesday May 22, 2007


Today was our last day at Casa San Jose.  We will be coming back toward the end of the trip.

View from our window at Casa San Jose

Girls in our room--Ashlee, Jaclynn, me, Jordan

We went to the University of San Carlos and spoke with some students.  After we talked we left for the highlands of Chichicastenango (how great is that name?).  We spent the night at the Popol Wuj Hotel.

Guatemala

Sunday May 20, 2007

I slept horribly last night but that happens in every new place I sleep.

Breakfast was at 7:30.  We ate scrambled eggs, black beans and cheese on homemade tortillas.

We walked through the market quickly but couldn't take any time there because we had a lot of do.  We spent time with a man named Hector who helps to rehabilitate gang members and help them to become productive members of society.

We ended the evening by playing silly getting to know you games.

Guatemala...Traveling

When I was in college, I had the opportunity to go to Guatemala from May 19-27, 2007 (yeah, it's been a while.)  I'm writing these posts so 1) I can remember it 2) Husband can hear about it (he always asks me but then I forget or he forgets and we never talk about it.) 3) Because it's awesome 4) What else should I do while I'm not doing blog worthy things and Husband is working late?

Saturday May 19, 2007

We left Utah at 12:55.  We arrived in Houston just before 5pm (about 4pm Utah time) and we left Houston at 7pm and arrived in Guatemala City at 9pm (They're in the same time zone as Utah.)

As we came in to land in the Guatemala City Airport I thought we were going to die.  The runway was thisclose to everything else...houses, roads, other planes, I think maybe some water...a lake, river, something (remember it's been over 4 years, some of the details are fuzzy.)  Landing was terrifying.  Plus it was really dark.  We had no idea which way was up.  The landing was super bumpy but we survived.

Sign in the Guatemala City Airport

Ashlee, Shula, Bailey, me, Mauri

Carolyn (science methods professor), Drew, Mauri, Amber, me, Shula, Jordan, Jennifer, Chase, Bailey, Boy that played soccer, lady in the nursing program (it's been a while, I've forgotten some names)

We stayed at Casa San Jose.  It was in a pretty sketchy neighborhood (most of Guatemala may be a sketchy neighborhood).  We were in Zone 1, the most dangerous part of Guatemala.  Good call, College. 

When we arrived, we unpacked then went to bed.  I was so excited to see the city in the daylight.

Court's Coconut Cupcakes

I wish this post was to give you all the recipe for her delightful cupcakes....but it's not.  It's to share a funny little story that happened at Jaynee and Ryan's wedding reception.

These are the cupcakes and they are amazing even if you hate coconut.

One day Court hopes to open a bakery.  This will be her signature cupcake (possibly her only cupcake).  Court made a bunch of these for the reception last night.

At the end of the evening a 30-something guest called me over to his table.

Man: "Are you the one with the sister who makes these cupcakes?"
Me: "I sure am."
Man: "They are amazing.  I need more of them."
Me: "Oh, that's so nice of you to say.  Write down your name and number and I'll give it to my sister and you can talk to her about making some for you."

Then I left to help with some reception things.  Moments later, the man is back and handing me his business card with this little note on the back.

When I got home I texted a picture of the note and this message to Court:

Me: "A random guy at the wedding asked me about the cupcakes.  He says they were the best thing he had ever eaten.  He gave me his card with this note on the back."
Court: "Oh my goodness that is the nicest thing ever.  Was he nice?  Or weird??"
Me: "Nice.  He took a huge plate of them home."

Great compliment Court.  I'd be a great sous chef at your bakery although I'm not sure that's what it's called with baking but whatev.

You just keep selling cupcakes and one day you'll be able to actually have a bakery.

Lightbulb!  Sell them at work!  I'm a genius.

Also, I get 15% of all your profits.

Plane Crash

A plane crashed into the parking lot of my school this afternoon. 

I took the day off so I don't have any first hand details. 

Luckily, UDOT has taken away our front playground so no students were even close to the crash site.  I never thought we'd be thankful for the construction at our school.

 

I Caved

I joined Pinterest today.

Feel free to stalk follow me.

Being Productive Would be Nice, But...

...Husband isn't home and I have no desire to do anything remotely beneficial.

So instead of cleaning the bathroom, doing laundry, writing a speech for Ryan and Jaynee's wedding luncheon, exercising, going grocery shopping, and writing lesson plans I've spent the night eating Campbell's  Chicken Noodle straight from the pan and contemplating joining Pinterest.

Awesome day?  The awesomest. 

Did I mention I only had 17 students today?  Like I said, the awesomest.

Mrs. H! Don't Leave Us!

I had an all day training at my school today.  I also had to run into my room a few times to get things for the training.  Every time I went in my students were stoked to see me.

Last time I checked, you all hated me.

My training ended about 5 minutes before school ended.  I needed to get some things ready for tomorrow so instead of heading home I decided to stay in the 6th grade hall while students left for the day.

I've never had so many hugs and "I missed yous!" from 6th graders in one day. 

Weirdos.

Who's Gonna Be a Momma?

Not me...at least not yet.  

I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant freaks me out.  Whenever I watch it I feel like I may one day be on this show because I'm a pregnancy hypochondriac.

Here's a little background on why being pregnant is on my mind: 

Yep, my sisters are that cool.

My sisters announced on Facebook that I was expecting...triplets....that was really cool.  Especially the part where I got a million texts and Husband fed the fire...ugh.

So, as a heads up to everyone...you will (hopefully) hear that I'm pregnant from my own mouth before you hear it on Facebook.  Don't believe anything you see on Facebook...even if I was the one who posted it...thanks a lot Ryan Wayne!

September Videos

It's a music video month apparently...







(I saw these both on the blog The Soundtrack and loved them.)

Angry Students are Better Than Mean Students

After yesterday (and the 5 weeks preceding it), we cracked down hard on the 6th graders today. 

The day began with me picking the kids up from outside.  I told them they were to walk in silently and remain silent until their teacher told them otherwise.  If they chose to not do this they would be missing all recess for that day.

Three students began the day by having their recess taken away for the day. 

Whining, complaining and being disrespectful led to pulled cards and Think Times.  I had a kid in Think Time within 5 minutes of the day starting.  This same kid spent about 90% of his time in Think Time today. 

The rest of my students were terrified.  No one spoke in more than a stifled whisper until lunch.  We got a lot done. 

Hopefully tomorrow we won't have to be as crazy Nazi as today.

But...I'm sure we probably will.