Miss America

So, I've had this blog for a while, and I can't believe that I've not said anything about this! If you are not a fan of Miss America, I think that you should become one this year. My sister will be competing!! She won the title of Miss Utah at the end of June this year, and will be competing in Miss America in January. So everyone should watch. I'm going to try my best to actually be there for the competition to see her.

She is also making history. I think that she is the first woman who is a war veteran to compete in the Miss America Pageant. Below is a picture of her as a combat medic in Afghanistan.

So, make sure you are watching this year to root her on. It should be pretty fun to see!

Amazing Pictures

My mom sent me these pictures in an email. It didn't say who the artist was - but it did say that he was featured in Readers Digest. He only does things like this with his hands. I just thought these pictures were so great! Hope you enjoy them. Just FYI - if you want to make the picture bigger, just click on it.

Homecoming Game

Here's kind of a fun video. Last Thursday, Bonneville High School had their Homecoming Football game, and the band played at the beginning. This is the closest thing to a marching band that Bonneville has. The video was taken with a cell phone camera, so it's not very good quality. But, if you look really close you can see me directing the band. Student teaching has been great, and I'm going to miss these kids when I go to a different school.

Promotion!!!

Kirk received a promotion at work!! We are so excited. He works on the French team at Melaleuca in Idaho Falls, and was given the job as a supervisor over some of the French, Spanish, Korean, and Russian associates. He's been waiting for a position like this for a long time, and we are so glad he's finally got it!

As many of you know, I have been furiously trying to learn how to play the guitar for student teaching. I had never played the guitar in my life when I found out that I was going to be teaching a beginning guitar class. (I was so stressed out about it that I was losing sleep!!) Well, Kirk took this video of me a few weeks ago and I thought it was fun to see my amazing guitar skills :-) I'm not that great - but I'm getting better everyday. It's been fun to try and pretend I know what I'm doing in front of a class of 20 students~!!

Chuckar's

Kirk and I have been in Eastern Idaho for... way too long now, and we had never been to a Chuckar's Baseball game!! Well, we finally decided to go during a Melaleuca night with our friends McKay and Paige and their little boy Camden. Here are some pictures:

Kirk and I together - with McKay deciding to randomly stick his head in the corner of the picture. Thanks McKay... :)



Not the greatest picture of the field



McKay - with his wife Paige hiding behind him. She loves pictures just about as much as I do.



Their cute little boy Camden. He had a lot of fun!

The Chuckar's won - 8 to 1, so it wasn't really that much of a nail biter. We still had a really fun time at our first Chuckar's game :)

Student Teaching

Well, I'm finally in my last leg of being a student. I'm student teaching this semester at Bonneville High School, and then I will get my Bachelor's Degree!!! I've had such a great time already. I've only been there about 3 weeks, but the students have been great. We are getting ready for a Halloween concert that will be on Oct 24. Here's some pictures of the band playing at some of the football games.

I've learned so much about myself as a teacher already. It has been so fun to be teaching such a great group of kids! I'll put some more pictures on of our Halloween concert coming up.

Vacation

We finally took a vacation, and decided to go and see family in Las Vegas for a week, and then in Ohio. We had such a fun time!! Through the trip, we got to see 14 of out nieces and nephews, and I think Kirk went home with the "Uncle of the Year" award. He was so great! I'm going to post a bunch of pictures, because they are alot more fun than me describing what we did.

Teej and me at his home in Vegas - then with Drew




Cute Pictures of Baby Cameron!!



Dad's dog Rowdy, and Brad's dog Ella - so adorable!


Brad and I at Smith and Wollenskie's ( I'm sure I spelled that wrong). It was the most expensive restaurant I've ever eaten at - but the dessert was amazing!!



A great view of the strip from on top of the Eiffel Tower. It was so windy up there!




Two of my cute nieces - Audrey (left) and Eliese (right)


Kirk trying to show off wake-boarding. This was his first summer getting out of the water - he loved it!

We wish we took more pictures. It was so great to spend some time with family. I'm so glad we got to see Teej and Lind's home before they move to Utah. It was so fun to see Brad at work. We finally got to see Gaylinn's beautiful home in Medina - and were so glad that Joy was able to make it out with her kid's. And I'm sure that Kari and Dirk felt our timing couldn't have been better :) Good luck with the move to Pittsburgh!

A New Member to our Home

Well, as many of you know, Kirk's brother Brett is living with us for a couple of months. To be honest, I was a little nervous :) , but it has really been great! Kirk is excited to have someone (other than me) to hang out with. Granted, there has been a lot more wrestling, and a lot more X-Box (as you can see from the photos). But, all in all, it has been really nice to have Brett here and get to know him better!

Melaleuca Picnic

We went to the Melaleuca Picnic yesterday. We had a lot of fun with friends, and a bunch of free food! They had 40 whole pigs lined up that were cooked and they fed to the 4,000 employees that came. We were hoping to win some prizes in the drawing, (especially when they announced they were giving away 50 26" LCD TV's) but we didn't win anything. Oh well, we still had a bunch of fun. Here are some random pictures, I'm not in any of them (surprise surprise). I couldn't get a good picture of Brett - hence the weird picture with the water bottle. And, no, the baby isn't ours - his name is Kaden, and he belongs to our friends Sarah and Kaili.

I'm Done!!!!

Well folks - it's official!! I just finished my last final yesterday, and I will never have to take another final again!!! Hallelujah! After I student teach in the fall I will receive my diploma. I never actually thought I'd make it this far :)

Conducting Debut

I recently had my conducting debut! It was a great band concert, and it was such an awesome experience. It was so much fun to be up there on the podium for the concert. However, the only bad thing about the concert was it hurts so bad to play the sax!! I couldn't feel my bottom lip by the time it was over. Still had fun though!