*Every Snowflake is Unique*

I was asked to decorate our school Christmas tree this year. About two minutes after receiving the overwhelming task...I called my mom! I knew she would have a great idea/theme for me. (She suffers from a x-mas tree decoration OBSESSION!)

Needless to say, within hours she sent me a text with a theme we could use about how snowflakes are unique & so are all our students. CUTENESS!!! Vicki saves the day again. But not only did she think of the idea, she went out got snowflakes, helped me punch out 815 Manila Mustang smiling faces, & came out to school to put it all together. THANKS mom. I can't tell you how many compliments I have gotten about our tree. You once again proved that you are amazing. Love you so much. (I also stole/copied this collage from her blog...thanks for that too mom!;)

The kids LOVE the tree too! They try to hang out in the hall & find their picture or their friends pictures. Here's a picture of my cute class by the tree.

{Old becomes New}

A few weeks ago Jon's mom asked us if we would be interested in having some old bedroom furniture. We said yes. Then...I said, "Sand & Stain!" The set came with two dressers. One wide 6 drawer dresser, a tall skinny 6 drawer dresser & a head board & foot board.

Jon spent HOURS & HOURS sanding! He is so meticulous. That furniture was sanded by 4-5 different grit papers, (mostly by hand) in rain, snow & cold dark days & nights. Thanks Susan for letting us use your garage!

Here are some before pictures of the furniture. I didn't take any of our bedroom before but here it is after... The furniture turned out AWESOME! We ended up getting new curtains, new pictures on the wall, a new bedspread, etc. The tall skinny dresser has glass panels in it. We took them to get sand blasted so you can't see through them.

It is a very simple & clean room now. We love it! Big THANK YOUs to John & Susan, MY JON & my bro in law Bryan! (He let us use his workshop to stain, lacquer & glaze the furniture).

It's also beginning to look a lot like Christmas at our house...I got all our Christmas stuff out on Friday. I can't believe it is already December! I love Christmas time...but wow, my class sure gets hyper for the next few weeks.

{Happy Halloween...finally}

Halloween was fun as ever at school this year! This is my AMAZING first grade team! (Lindsay =the nurse, Natalie =the princess & the frog, Heather =prince charming, ME=the tooth fairy, RaeAnn=a witch, & Emma=the penguin) Yet another fun class party! Here are a few pictures of our day, my cute class & their adorable costumes. I liked this game we played. You hold up a blanket dividing two people, count to three, drop the blanket and the try to say the persons name on the other side first. It was funny & surprisingly hard to do. The kids loved it!

Cortnie, Super Baby (Lexie) & The Flash (Gavyn) stopped by to say hi to me & my class!

After school I went over to Cort's to hang out for a while after work. She had dressed up to go help at Dyl's 1st grade party.

I had fun being the tooth fairy. I made a necklace, earings, bracelet, wand & toothpurse out of some plastic teeth I had. It was a cute & easy costume! I had a fun Halloween.

{EArlY HalLoWeEn PaRtY}

Happy Halloween!

We had an early HalLOwEen PaRtY on Monday over at the Frischknecht's. I can't believe I got jon to dress up, let alone to wear my cheer costume from last year! My original plan was that he would be the football guy & I would be the cheerleader...let's face it jon makes a much hotter cheerleader than I ever could have! Thanks babe for being such a good sport!

FYI: He did win an award at the party..."Most Humiliating Costume." It was so much fun to see everyone else in their creative & fun costumes! Jamie & Caleb were "Dunkin' Donuts", Andrea & Daryl were that famous farm couple painting...sorry I can't remember the official name..., Brand & Mir were old time gangsta's, Steve & Ash were a trainer & a killer whale! I didn't get a picture before Susan changed out of her nun outfit, John was a cowboy complete with hat, gun, knife, & chaps. We decorated sugar cookies & the kids had a blast with the ghost pinata. It was a fun party & sounds like it is going to become a yearly tradition! Thanks Susan&John for letting us use your house!

{FaLL BreaK}

It was Fall Break this weekend. For the first time in 5 years our school breaks landed on the same weekend. We spent two days & nights with jon's family up at the Frischknecht cabin in Ephraim Canyon. It is a beautiful cabin in the beautiful Utah mountains. The weather was fabulous!!! We had a great time.

Here are some pictures of the cabin. We helped spread some gravel around the fire pit. The brown-ish pictures are inside the left one is of the loft up stairs. The right:the view from the loft.

Left: jon-brandon-jon's dad workin' with the tractor.

Right: jon & brandon

Shootin'

We went for a long ride on the 4 wheelers. The view was spectacular!

Sharp Shooters.

Here are some of the cute Frischknecht grandkids anxiously awaiting the s'mores.

We had a delicious dutch oven dinner! (thanks brand & mir)

brandon vs. jon in an exciting game of PiNg-PoNg.

(Caleb kicked both their butts!) Caleb, jon wants a re-match! Thanks madi for taking our picture.

You are a great photographer!

We got up early Saturday morning & left the cabin. We got home showered & headed out to Springville. We were supposed to help Dad & Jody paint...but they went ahead & finished it all before we could help them. So instead we went & played an 18 hole round of golf with dad & Jody. We went to Spanish Oaks golf course. It was a beautiful day. I love the fall. I hate that it comes & goes so fast.

These are my new clubs!!!! We got a great deal on them. They are awesome. I am still trying to figure out some of my irons/hybrids but I LOVE my driver! I was smashing it Saturday.

We had a fun weekend. It was over too fast. It's back to the grind tomorrow.

{How about some RR&R}

Jon & I spent Labor Day weekend running in the Red Rock Relay. We drove down to Cedar City on Thursday night, got about 30 minutes of sleep & were up & off to the top of Brain Head Resort at 4:00 AM. We began our race at 6:10. Bryan my brother-in-law rode up the ski lift to the top of the mountain then ran down & passed the "RRR" wrist band to me. I then ran UP & around the mountain. Honeslty, words can not describe the incline, the lack of oxygen, the snow, the mud, etc. It was harder than I ever could have imagined but I DID IT! I finished 6.1 miles in an hour 1/2. GO ME!

We had a blast! There were six of us in our van. We would take turns running & then when the six of us were done, van two would run through their six legs. So in between our first legs we got some lunch & then went back at it. I ran my second leg though Zion's at about 5:00. I ran 7 minute miles! Our van finished at 11:00 that night. We went to our condo, showered & got about an hour of sleep. At 2:00 AM we were up to run again. I ran my last leg at about 3 & luckily five minutes in, the down pour of rain stopped! During my last leg I also got a surprise extra mile added on! GOOD TIMES. It was absolutely the hardest & coolest thing I have ever done. I was so proud of Jon & I for doing it. We were by far the most un-prepared ones there. By the end I ran a little over 13 miles. Jon ran about 15.

After out last legs were over we had a few hours to go back to the condo again, shower & then head to the finish line. We all ran across the finish line together as a team.

Our team of 12 finished the race in 30 hours! It was a lot of fun. I was so tired & getting so sore! My leg muscles & every other muscle in my body at this point were beyond stiff. We all earned a super cool medal!

Sunday morning at 7:oo AM we had a tee time at a BeAUtiFuL golf course! Jon, Brandon, Miranda & I played. There were bunnies, roadrunners & other critters running around all over. We played like crap because we could hardly move. We were all so stiff, sleep deprived & sore. Later that day we enjoyed hanging out at the pool. Monday morning we got up went to the outlets for a fast shopping trip & came home.

VACATION OVER TOO SOON! It was fun though & one I will never forget.

{Jon's Trip to Mongolia}

jon's trip to Mongolia was incredible! i have been meaning to blog about it since he got home...but we've been busy enjoying the last of our summer days!

jon flew out june 26th & got home july 10th. it was a two week trip and luckily we were able to talk almost everyday (thanks to skype). here are some highlights of the trip.

this picture is of jon's dad (far right), Dr. Nara (cardiologist/medical school prof.) & other cardiologist from Mongolia. they held a week long cardiology conference while jon's dad was there. he taught advanced cardiac life support to the cardiologist. he also did many procedures, pace makers, & gave lectures during the week.

at the closing ceremonies of the cardiology conference, these women, who are traditional Mongolian singers performed. they can sing very loud! jon suggests listening to a clip on u-tube.

this is Ulaanbataar the captiol city in Mongolia. jed (an EMT from Orem) & Uyanga (translator for Jed & Jon at the Nursing University)

jon in Central Square. it's basically the parlement/capitol building. there were lots of kids playing there because they don't have any parks to play in.

jed & jon infront of the Nursing University. this is where they spent most of their time while in Mongolia.

jon teaching basic life support class. the first day there he taught the TEACHING staff of the university basic life support! he couldn't believe that many of them had never even heard of CPR! then the rest of the time he supervised as the teachers taught their nursing students.

Group photo: these are some country side nurses & university nursing staff.

a toast of Vodka, (which Mongolians drink more than water) at the end of the week long conference. they were all very confused why jon and jed wouldn't drink the vodka.

all the people in this big group picture wanted to take a picture with jed & jon. jon said it felt like a wedding reception, his face hurt after smiling for everyones pictures! they were given many gifts, poems, & thanks from the Mongolians.

after the week of teaching, they got to go out to the country side to go fishing & camping. they drove for 13 hours on dirt roads! that's a picture of the 'ger's where the nomadic mongolians live.

gas station. they really stopped to fill up here!

these structures where found on every mountain top in the country side. they believe that every mouintain has an owner and travelers should pay their respects by giving well wishes & gifts for safe travel. the Mongolians will place rocks, cigarettes, money or a scarf on the structure & walk around it three times. the blue scarfs are well wishes for everyone, yellow was for nature, red was for water, & white is for teachers and students. jon brought me home a white scarf.

Jon loved the beautiful country.

Fishing!

they drove through several rivers. jon said the water was covering the entire hood & up to the door handles through many of them! YiKeS!

A better look at a "ger" both inside & out.

this little "village" is run by one of the cardiologist. she milks horses,yes, horses! then ferments the milk for several days in the sun & has her patients drink it several times a day. people pay to come stay here for weeks to drink the horse milk. they believe that it heals all kinds of internal sickness. jon even drank some of the milk! YUCK!

here are some more pictures of the capitol city.

jon said most of the city looked like this.

the day before he left his translator Saruul, (who is an amazing woman) took jon to a few more tourist places.

She insisted he ride the camel!

this tourist camp had a women inside who was writing in ancient mongolian.

jon had her write frischknecht for us.

Saruul also made jon try on these mongolian warrior threads. she laughed at him and said he looked more like a viking than a mongolian!

Then he went an saw this HUGE Chinggis Khan statue! This is Saruul. she helped to translate a lot for jon while he was there. she is a mother of two. A cardiologist. A teacher at the university. she translated all of the Basic Life Support & Advanced Life Support books, DVD's, and Jon's dad's lectures. she would love to come to America some day to take part in a cardiology fellowship. she really wants to learn how to treat heart arythmias. most of the women in the country have good jobs and are very smart. Saruul says it is becasue the men only want to drink vadka...the good men leave Mongolia.

I'm so glad jon had such a great time & was able to make a difference in their lives. He said that he was amazed at how hard they work & believes that if they continue to get the support they need their health care can be improved tremedeously! He is still getting e-mails from many of the Dr.'s. They like to practice writing and reading English. (it's fun to read them)

Jon had a wonderful experience! He would love to go back again. I want to go too!