Christmas Tree

Our first tree!!

Christmas

Christmas is here! I'm currently watching a great light show in the beautiful Hollister, California.

Apparently, the men in these two houses are both electricians and they work on their houses together to create an awesome show.

I am so grateful for my wonderful parents and Caroline, Arnell, and family. We've spent great time together creating memories-Black Friday, Poor little Berlin getting sick at the Mission we visited, and now, ditching the kids to watch synchronized Christmas lights (I kind of wish they were here but I guess the parents needed a break).

What a quick paced year it's been!

October 2011

First of all, how in the world do you people get two of these pictures to fit on one row? It is a mystery to me.

Natalie, Cynthia, Brannon, Russel and I went to Raczka's wedding reception in Utah. We were pretty much the last ones to leave because we were enjoying ourselves too much. And that's before we even heard Christy's hilarious stories. Remind me and I will tell you.

Also, if you ever get cold, wedding dresses make great blankets. See below.

Wow! I just figured out how to move the pictures.

This month was also filled with corn mazes and costumes. I went to a corn maze with my ward for FHE as well as on a ward date night. They were both fun. Though, I realized, much more fun when you are searching for others to scare.

This is Jayden. He is my best friend Coralie's little one. He is adorable and I just love him. He was showing me his cool cop Halloween costume and conveniently arranged my hand cuffs around his neck somehow. Not really sure how that happened.

Russ and I with the pumpkin

For another ward activity, we were able to carve pumpkins. It always seems fun until you get going and pull out gunk after gunk with no end. Luckily, Russ came along and saved the day. He did all the gushy hard stuff and all the cutting. So basically, he carved my pumpkin. I am pretty sure it is still sitting on my doorstep (yes, on November 15th) for your viewing pleasure. If you come look at it, feel free to take it to the dumpster on your way out :)

Courtlin is one of those people you can't help but love. She is hilarious and great to be around. We had a little football viewing party. For some reason, I just deleted all of the other pictures off of this blog page, but just imagine 20ish people watching the BYU game with another TV set up in the same room for the World Series. Brilliant planning, boys. Brilliant planning.

That night, a group of us went to a haunted house. (Breanna, Braden, Jenny, Lisa, Mike, Jeni, Kristen, me, and Matt). It was a great time (in a freaky way). How do these traditions get started anyways? 

On Halloween, I dressed up like Rapunzel from Tangled. Get it, flowers in my hair? Yeah, let's be honest, I didn't really care enough to go all out, but it was fun! Monday night, we went to a multi stake dance at the institute building. Here is a picture of Amy, Sascha, Steph, Mike, and me dancing. Not posing. Dancing.

I am blessed to have such wonderful roommates. We had another one of our signature parties. AKA--Kristen planned another one of our signature parties and we did exactly what she said. Here are some of our decorations. Kristen doesn't mess. They are glittered pumpkins, squash and apples (thanks Jane for all the sweat and blood you put into growing this produce so we could later glitterify it). They then proceeded to throw this great breakfast where 1/2 of the ward, I swear, showed up. We had the BEST french toast EVER. I will add the recipe as soon as I get it from Kristen. Marge also made this adorable, thoughtful sign and Kristen's aide made us some little bat glittery, hangy things. More pictures to come. It was a great birthday (I'm 25 now. Sigh.).

My students were also adorable. Some boys came and presented me this candy sign before school. I also got to hear really "interesting" renditions of "Happy Birthday" about 6 times. They're hilarious. If you need a confidence boost (or a humbling--depending on the day), teach middle school.

Comfort is...

A well-needed hug.
Roommates who listen night after night.
Late night drives with loud music.
Prayer.
Wanting to cry in your parents arms because you know they will listen with all sincerity.
Closeness.
Co-workers and students who always know just how to brighten my day.
A job that I can bury myself in and forget myself.
Smiles.
Remember the Titans.
The temple.
My grandma.
My warm bed.
My Savior--the most perfect, yet under appreciated constant in our lives.

Hard times come and go. All in all, I'm a lucky girl.

Pancreas

If you were wondering, the new put-down is pancreas. That's right. You heard it right here. Pancreas. You see, as I was hidden in the copy room, I heard these two students yelling (well, jokingly yelling?) at each other, "No, you're a pancreas!" "NO! YOU are a pancreas." Maybe they are learning about the endocrine system? Is the pancreas even a part of that system? Regardless, some days, I'm just glad they are using words that aren't 4 letters. Carry on, my pancreatic people.

Cafeteria food

So, the other day at lunch (school lunch, students, cafeteria, you remember how that was...) some random kid in front of me typed in his lunch number to discover that he was out of lunch money. He asked if he could debit as the lunch lady stuck out her hand to grab his tray and stuck it under the counter.

I stood there shocked. He asked if he could have a free roll and milk. I told the lady to wait and that I would pay for the kids food. He thanks me by name (which still shocks me that people I've never seen before know who I am) and walks away gratefully to eat. Not a big deal. Right?

Fast forward two days. Some kid, after school, taps me on the shoulder and says, "Miss Anderson." I turn to see a somewhat familiar looking face. He says, "You bought me lunch and I'm here to pay you back." I offered a profound, "huh?" He repeated his statement and after I refused it I finally accepted and the kid left.

What a great kid!! He was just adorable and sincere and I live that there are so many good people in this world.