O Christmas Tree!

Here she is in all her glory. Yes, she might be all glowing and beautiful now, but wow... I never knew the effort that it takes to make a Noble fir evergreen into a Christmas tree.

Lessons learned: 1. Christmas trees are expensive (or more money than I'd like to pay but that's okay, it's worth it.) 2. Make sure the bottom end of the tree's stump is long enough to reach the water that is in the tree stand. 3. Spend whatever money is needed to get a nice tree stand, granted they aren't very expensive. I learned this lesson because I bought a tree stand from DI for $3 thinking I was getting a steal. Turns out it was a cheapo and we ended up not being able to use it. 4. Do whatever it takes to make the bottom of the branches level, the more level they are the more level the tree will stand. 5. 25 ft of ribbon does not go very far! 6. I learned (from Justin) if you squint your eyes and look at your lit tree you can see the dark places where more lights are needed. I didn't care so much about the dark spots, I was so excited to see how much prettier my tree looked when I squinted! Is that odd?

Umm... if you can't tell by now, Justin and I sure put some hard work into this tree. I feel half bad for all the abuse we put our tree through...sorry we're first time Christmas-tree-putter-uppers! Buying our first Christmas tree together was so much fun! Decorating our tree with all of Justin's ornaments was also very fun! I'm so glad Mom Blackham gave Justin ornaments each Christmas, without his special ornaments our tree would not have so much character. We're pretty proud of our tree. And the Christmas presents that are already under the tree...that's right, we're trying to be on top of the shopping this year! I am still in the process of decorating
the rest of our apartment. Tomorrow I plan to spray-paint some brass Christmas themed candles I bought from DI. I want to hang some garland around the place too...gotta buy it first though! I think Justin might be a little worn out with all the Christmas decorating. But he loves it too :-)

Burnt chicken anyone??

Well my good and/or edible dinner streak finally ended last night. It lasted 6 1/2 months (plus if you count all the pre-marriage dinners I made..) so I guess I was due for a little bad luck in the kitchen. Can I just say that I feel like everything I have touched lately has broken, spilled, or made a mess? Maybe I should just stop touching anything in our home until I get over this unlucky spell.

A recap of the disaster that was last night:

I had been busy working on school work all day. I knew our leftovers were finished off the night before so I needed to make something for dinner. It was nearing 5 o'clock and I usually like to have something started by then so Justin and I can eat soon after he gets home from work. Well that wasn't happening because of the assignments I was trying to finish. So Justin gets home around 5:30 and I'm still working, 6 o'clock rolls around and I decide I should probably try to whip something up for dinner. Usually I have veggies, chicken, rice etc to make a good meal but not last night. When I went grocery shopping Monday I apparently got all the essentials and left out all the extras needed to make a recipe. So after looking aimlessly around my kitchen I decided we could have green beans, baked potatoes and chicken marinated in a marinade I got off the Worcestershire sauce (worcestershire sauce + balsamic vinegar + lemon juice + salt)-sounds not half bad right? Well the chicken didn't get a long time in the marinade before it got put on the grill (George Foreman grill that is). Justin was keeping an eye on the chicken while I was trying to cook the potatoes in the microwave. I also had the green beans in a skillet, sauteing with eevo and garlic (these were the only things that turned out edible). After microwaving the potatoes several times on several sides, the suckers were still not getting very soft on the inside. BUT the chicken was already getting burned (I think George needs to create a grill that has controllable temperatures, and if he already has then I need to get one because this one burns everything!). In a last attempt to salvage the potatoes, I pulled out the semi-cooked insides and plopped them in a bowl, adding sour cream, butter, garlic and salt to make mashed potatoes. Lesson learned: nothing can be made from semi-cooked potatoes. A sample taste of the chicken proved that it was pretty bland. At this point Justin and I looked at each other and said 'where do you want to go eat'?

I feel like a failure! Anyone who reads this, any advice? I don't have tons of time to make dinners at night...any quick dinner suggestions? How do you quickly cook your potatoes??

And to my husband, I am sorry I did not feel your stomach full of good home cooking last night. Let's hope my unlucky spell with anything I touch ends soon....

Thanksgiving in Chicago!

Justin and I left Wednesday morning for Thanksgiving with the Blackhams! I won't give an hour by hour replay but I will touch on the highlights :)

Thursday: Thanksgiving bowling games then the dinner in the evening. It was a yummy dinner! We had a great time visiting with family and relaxing after eating so much!


Friday: We did the Black Friday shopping! This was my first year going out on Black Friday. I've always dreaded shopping in super crowded places but it wasn't really all that bad. We didn't go out till around 11 a.m. and we took Kristen (Justin's little sis) shopping so she could get some of her Christmas shopping done. We went to the mall, Target (great deals on dvd's!) and the Outlet malls. I think since Justin and I weren't shopping for anything on our lists it made the experience more pleasant and less stressful. Justin did end up getting a big ticket item for his Christmas. I won't reveal it until he officially opens it on Christmas :-) A few more highlights from Friday... eating lunch at Portillo's....yuuummm, walking downtown Naperville and looking at all the pretty lights, and seeing Twilight with the whole fam. Dad Blackham was a trooper! We all liked the movie, I'm more interested in reading the books now! (I know, gasp, I haven't read the books and I saw the movie)
Saturday: Justin and I went downtown Chicago pretty much all day. We walked to Millenial Park then up to the Magnificant Mile then went up the John Hancock building then walked over to the Oriental Theatre and saw the Marshall Field's window displays. It was such a fun day in the city! We definitely walked off our Turkey dinner that day! That night we went out to eat with the DeMille's for a farewell dinner.

Can you find us??

We got back in town Sunday and decided to get out all of our Christmas decoration. Turns out I don't have nearly as much decoration as I thought I did! Soooo... Justin and I went shopping at JoAnn's tonight for some decorations. They had all their Christmas stuff 60% off! I don't understand why they put their stuff on such a sale before Christmas but I sure love it! Now we just have to get a tree this weekend and trim it :-) orrr put decorations on it. I'm excited because we already have a lot of presents to put under our tree! I just wish our place was a little bigger so we could fit a nice size tree in it instead of the midget one I'm sure we're going to have to get. Oh well.. maybe next year we'll be in a bigger place! We're sooo excited for Christmas! Next Thursday (I think) is my last day of class, I can't believe it's so soon! But this time of year is sooo fun....just hope it snows soon!

It's almost Thanksgiving..already??

It feels like life has been moving at warp speed ever since Halloween! This years Halloween was very fun for us! I participated in Westridge Elementary school's parade (where I am doing my practicum student teaching) and it was a highlight to see all my 4th grader's all dressed up in their costumes. I was a pirate (again) and Justin was a sales representative (it was a hit at his work). After school Justin and I went to my sister's house in South Jordan to see my nephew dressed up for his first Halloween (check him out! http://whitmer-family.blogspot.com/) he was the cutest pea in the pod I've ever seen!


Since Halloween... life has been pretty busy but yet I can't remember what we've really done...
I've been during my practicum student teaching since October 28 and it will end this coming Monday! The time has flown by and I've been able to learn and grow tons. The last month I've definately felt my low's when it comes to my capability as a teacher. But thankfully yesterday I was able to teach all day (my mentor teacher was out for that day) and it went so nicely! The kids were great, I was able to really enjoy my time teaching and let my personality come through-finally! It makes such a huge difference to be the only teacher in the room and be able to teach the kids all through the day (instead of just random 30 minute lessons). It has been great but I am really looking forward to what comes after practicum ends...Thanksgiving, 2 weeks of class then CHRISTMAS! (I also took the Praxis exam this last Saturday, cross your fingers that I passed!)


Justin has been working his tail off as usual. His company is in a huge transition right now, merging with another company. Justin interviewed for a new job with a company called Logoworks in American Fork and got the job. However, after some careful thinking we decided that staying with Icon (now known as Pinnacle) would be the best decision for the steps we are going to be making in the near future. He is working on MBA program applications...gotta get those in soon!

We saw Madagascar 2 last week-we recommend it! It got some great laughs out of us even after we'd had a long and hard day :-)

We are so excited for Thanksgiving in Chicago and spend time with Blackhams and DeMille's! The countdown: 6 days!

Zoo, Football, & Halloween!

I don't have much time to post but I wanted to put up some pics from our life lately! We went to Hogle Zoo in SLC a few weekends ago (school assignment and for fun), then we went to Logan for the USU vs BYU football game (so much fun-we cheered for our own teams but in the end the best pulled through!) and lastly we carved pumpkins this past Monday for FHE and decorated our lovely little home! Life has been fun and busy lately!

Memories!

I think I was tagged by Jolee for this (& if it was another Amy..that's ok--I wanted to do this anyway). Here are the rules: Go into your picture files and open your 4th folder and download the 4th picture onto your blog!!! Write your memories of the photo.



This was the picture I found! Here's Justin and me from Thanksgiving in Chicago with the Blackhams last year. This picture was taken in front of the Bean (a very reflective sculpture in the shape of a ....Bean!) It was sooo cold and windy! But we were dressed up because we were going to see Wicked :-) which was incredible! Then Justin and I changed into warmer clothes and explored the city at night. We saw the traditional lighting of the HUGE christmas tree downtown chicago and got some yummy hot chocolate. I was so excited to be seeing the city with the man I loved and he was such a great tour guide! We are going out to Chicago again this Thanksgiving so I am of course very excited again!

I tag: Heather & Amanda

The Power of Teaching

I don't have much time (still 4 lengthy assignments to get done today!) but I just wanted to get my thoughts out about what I'm feeling right now.

Lately I have been so overwhelmed by all the assignments that are required in the el ed major. Between unit planning and assessment plans and the teacher work sample...everything piles up and makes teaching seem like an extraordinarily impossible profession. (With the exception of a few teachers who actually make teaching seem worthwhile and do-able!) Between all the assignments due today and tomorrow I thought I would take an hour to attend the Power of Teaching seminar, today's being presented by Brad Wilcox (I have him for a class and have grown so much in love with him as a teacher!). Plus I definitely needed a boost of optimism about teaching right now.

The seminar was spectacular. Todd Holman, a well-known stained-glass artist, was the topic of the seminar. He overcame struggles with his extreme stuttering much due in thanks to his 2nd grade teacher who encouraged him to express his words through other means (art). After watching a video about Todd, Bro. Wilcox introduced Todd to his 2nd grade teacher-who just so happens to be Bro. Wilcox's mother. They had a touching reunion and then Todd spoke about his thoughts of teachers. He said that he believes in the life to come that teachers will be loved and hugged by all their students. That thought alone made me feel that I was in the right place, the right profession. Admist all the assignments and stresses and doubts that I have seriously had recently about teaching, a glimpse of hope came through the words of this man. I am so grateful that I attended that seminar and was able to see the purpose once again in why I chose this profession. I feel so inadequate and unconfident most times anymore in regards to teaching. It is a hard, very hard profession with much work required. But the thought always comes to mind 'I never said it would be easy, I only said it would be worth it.' I know teaching is worth it!

Now it's back to the library will I will undoubtedly spend the entire afternoon!