Pinterest

Ok if you have not heard of Pinterest or if you have and just havent visited the website then DO IT!!!! I have recently become obsessed with it. I found a recipe for loaded potato soup on it. The recipe came from Live A Little Wilder blog. I made it for my parents the other night and it was so good!! For Christmas I got a KitchenAid mixer and it is my new baby!!!! I seriously could go bankrupt buying things to make with my new mixer. To go along with the potato soup, I made homemade bread. I was nervous at first because to make homemade bread you have to have time and patience...two things I normally do not have a lot of but luckily break provided me with both. My next thing I want to make is the Santa Fe Chicken Fajita Soup.

My new baby and her accessories


The bread: It is round because I did not have a loaf pan...


The final product!!


For real Paula you should watch out there is a new chef in town. :)

Watch our Paula...

Since I have had so much down time during break I have worked on my cooking and baking skills. I had no idea what to get my dad for Christmas other than a funny t-shirt that said: "I came, I mowed, I kicked grass" because even though I live on my own, he still comes to mow my lawn! I sure do love my daddy!!! After thinking for awhile, I decided to make him a homemade caramel cake using my grandmother's (his mother) caramel icing recipe. Not to toot my own horn, toot toot, but it was pretty delicious and daddy loved it. :) To make the cake I just used a box cake recipe but for the icing all you need is powdered sugar, light brown sugar, whipping cream, vanilla extract, and butter. Below is the masterpiece:


The beginning stages of the icing


The final stage of the icing


My final masterpiece after daddy ate a slice!! He loved it!!

My other thing I made was a pound cake! Usually I struggle with making the pound cake stay moist by Oh buddy it was real good!! All you need is butter, sugar, flour, almond extract, cream cheese, baking powder, and eggs. Here is the final product:

Christmas Season!

I cannot believe Christmas is just 2 days away. 2011 is almost over. So much has happened in the past year and I am so lucky for the many blessings that were brought to my life. In 2011 I finished my first year of teaching, first year of grad school, bought a house, went to Alaska, and paid my own bills. There are times I come home from work and I am still in shock that I am a "big girl". I love having my own house and be able to provide for myself, although I did not mind at all living with my parents. :) I used to absolutely HATE yard work, especially picking up pinecones. Lucky for me my house has one tree and it is not a pine tree. I have thoroughly enjoyed Christmas break so far. I never realized how badly I needed a break to kind of get myself back together and run some errands. I completed all of my Christmas shopping yesterday...I was a little behind/didn't start until Wednesday. My only complaint about break is that I wish it was a little bit colder outside so that it would feel like Christmas! I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!

Be the Shark not the Goldfish

I just started reading this book tonight called The Shark and The Goldfish by Jon Gordon. I have only read a little bit of it but already I 100% recommend this to everyone.



The back cover is what hooked me instantly.



Not many know this but I have been struggling the past few months with change. Some of the change is for the better while other parts not so much. It weighs on my physically, mentally, and emotionally. My hope after reading this book is that I can be more like the shark and not the goldfish.

Update

It has been over 2 months since my last post and so much has gone on since then. Work, grad school, and coaching have consumed all of my time lately. Teaching science this year is going well. I still love math the most but I do enjoy a change and I love the hands-on experiences. :) Coaching is going well. My girls have been working so hard this season and we have competed in 3 competitions already. They have placed 2nd at all 3 competitions but have been improving each week. We have this weekend off but start back up next weekend. I am halfway finished with the Fall semester of grad school which means I am almost 3/4 of the way finished with my masters degree. I will graduate May 5, 2012 at 3pm...yes I am counting down the days. I absolutely love my degree program and I am learning a lot of useful information. However, I am ready to not have the stress of grad school in my life. I have been living in my house for almost 3 months and I still love it so much!! I finally had a fence put up in my backyard. Eventually I want to paint the half-bath downstairs and my bedroom but that will be a later project. My dad finally installed a ceiling fan in my bedroom and one of the bedrooms upstairs. I will post some new pictures soon!! My goal is to update more often then every 2 months but I cannot make any promises. ;)

Alaska = AMAZING!!!

I loved Alaska! The weather was in the 50's most of the time and the scenery was gorgeous! I saw whales, grizzly bears, bald eagles, and a sea lion. Kaitlin (my best friend from college) and I took a ton of pictures. So about the trip...the plane ride there was a bit rocky because there were several screaming kids on it. Also I had the middle seat so I felt trapped and could not stretch out. It was 5 long hours to Seattle. We spent the night in Seattle and then set out for our cruise the next day. Once we left port, we were at sea for one day and then we hit Tracy Arms Fjord to see some glaciers. We did not actually dock anywhere so we basically were at sea for two days. On Friday we arrived in our first port, Skagway. Here Kaitlin and I did some rock climbing. It was so much fun. Since we were at port from 7am until 9pm, Kaitlin and I decided to ride in a floater plane over to Haines where we rented a car and toured the town for a few hours. This is where we saw grizzly bears and a bald eagle. We were within 100 feet of the bears and it was truly something else! I did at one point, while I was running across the field to get closer to the bears, feel like I was on the discovery channel creeping through the fields filming bears. After our bear adventure, we stopped and had dinner at Fireweed. It was one of the best pizzas I had in along time. We flew back to Skagway in time to get back on the boat and sail on to your next port. Here are some pictures from the first few days of the trip. I will post more pictures later but here a few for now.


Sunset from the plane to Seattle.


Seattle, WA





A tiny iceberg in Tracy Arm Fjord.


The breathtaking glacier!


Glacier up close


One of many waterfalls!!

Alaska Adventures

For the past 7 days I have been on a cruise to Alaska. It was WONDERFUL!!! I want to go back (just not right now). So much happened since last Monday when I flew out to Seattle to begin the cruise and because I took TONS of pictures, I will have to update slowly. I am currently sitting in my hotel in Seattle typing this entry. I fly out tomorrow (Wednesday) and will be traveling all day. I will try and start sharing my adventure on Thursday. But a cruise to Alaska is something everyone should do!!!

Updated house

My house is moving along rather nicely. This week they are painting the house and installing all of the hardware. By the end of next week it should be completely finished and had the final inspection. I close on my house July 22 and move in shortly after closing!

House!!!

My house is coming along very nicely!!! I feel like I am waiting for a baby to be born or for Christmas because I am SO ready for the house to be built so I can start decorating and to buy furniture!! I dont want to by anything yet because we have nowhere to store it right now. The builders are moving so fast with the house I am amazed each time I go up there. Enjoy the pictures. There will certainly be more later. :)

All Grown Up...almost

As of Friday at 11 AM, I officially became a home buyer. I bought my first home and in 120 days it will be built and ready for me to move in. My house is a starter home and in a new neighborhood about 5 minutes from work. On Monday I pick out my carpet, countertops, flooring for the kitchen and cabinets for the kitchen and bathroom! So many decisions but so exciting!! I will post pictures throughout the process and of course when the final product is complete. :) Oh being a grown up is fun and scary all at the same time...oh and quite expensive!! ;)

Pre-approved :)

Today I met with the mortgage guy to learn that I was pre-approved for the loan for my new house!!! I am super excited and cannot wait to get this house built. It will be in a new neighborhood near where I work. All these homes are cute little starter homes!! I go back and meet with the Realtor this week to officially write the contract!! I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!! More updates to come throughout the house developing process!! :)

The past few months

Wow...I am TERRIBLE at updating this thing. It is not like I have been busy or anything ;) The end of the semester is approaching in the next month, semester 2 of graduate school is almost over, and cheerleading is starting up again!! Phew! Next week I will be on spring break FINALLY!! I do not know who decided to make it this late this year but seriously this is crazy. My kids and I are mentally done and we still have 6 weeks after spring break before summer. Luckily it is broken down into tolerable segments. After spring break we have 2 weeks until PASS testing. Then after that we have 2 weeks until exams and then my first year of teaching will be complete. Crazy how I am finally doing what I have always wanted to do. This first year has certainly had its ups and downs (WAYYYYYY more ups than downs though). I absolutely LOVE the women I teach with on 6th grade hall and I absolutely love teaching middle school. For the longest time I only wanted to teach 3rd or 4th grade and when I had 5th grade as my placement for student teaching, I was very upset. I didnt want to teach 5th grade because they were "too old" for me. The 5th grade class I was in, was actually at the middle school because they needed more numbers to have an assistant principal. I fell in love with the middle school atmosphere. My kids I teach this year are so much fun!! They have amazing personalities and I have really enjoyed being able to watch them grow over the course of the year. I will truly miss them next year. Last year I coached cheerleading at my old high school. I have always wanted to coach cheerleading ever since I was a cheerleader in high school. This week we are having tryouts and I am very exciting about getting a new group of girls to work with and coach. I am proud to say that I have survived the second semester of grad school. There were times this semester that I honestly didnt think I was going to make it because of the intensity of one of my classes. Luckily I met a woman who works at Chapin High School that is in my classes. We have been able to work a lot together this semester and we will be in classes together for the remainder of our program. That is a MAJOR plus!! My main drive is that May 2012 this will ALL be over with! :)

My Bucket List

Since 2011 has started I have been doing a lot of thinking about just living my life to the fullest and "letting the chips fall where they may." July 30 was the day my life changed and my future began. I got a phone call telling me that I was just given the job at Chapin Middle School. Since then my life has changed. I love teaching so much. Sometimes I put in 12 hour days at school because I just cant get enough of it. Even though I work a lot, I would not change it for the world. I am only 22 so why not live my life to the absolute fullest. I saw the Bucket List a few years ago and started making my own bucket list. There are so many things I want to do before I am too old to do them. This summer starts the beginning of my bucket list!! Kaitlin, my best friend from college, and I are going to Alaska for an Alaskan Cruise. One of the ports we are stopping at is Skagway, Alaska where we are going to go rock climbing! I cannot wait to climb the White Pass. We have been talking and decided that we are going to train to climb Mt. McKinley in Summer 2012!! I know God has plans for me and when the time is right, he will show them to me!