So my friend did this on her blog and I thought it was fun...
Here are some random things that you may and may not have known about me.
1. I am the youngest of 8 kids
2. I was an aunt at the age of 7 and am closer in age to my niece than to my oldest sibling. Oddly enough my oldest sibling is one of my closest siblings.
3. I babysat a lot growing up and I always enjoyed babysitting the girls more than the boys...I like boys, it was just always nice to pull out my inner "little girl" and play dress up, barbies, dolls, and so much more.
4. I am very ticklish
5. I play ping-pong just about every night (sometimes not by choice)
6. I love to sew and make little stitcheries
7. I have to fold the laundry right when it comes out of the dryer or else it doesn't get done until all the clothes are dirty again.
8. I hate ironing -- I've been known to put the clothes back in the dryer and then fold them right when they get out to avoid ironing. I will iron things that only HAVE to be ironed.
9. I've been trying for over 2 years to have a baby -- please don't get offended if I get jealous if you have children.
10. I love the outdoors
11. I teach 4th grade and some days are better than most
12. I am amazingly patient -- maybe that's why I'm a teacher. Today I had a student who really struggled paying attention (maybe he/she didn't take their ADD medication). Believe me it was hard to be patient and yet I was! Go me!
13. My husband is hilarious -- he always makes me laugh
14. Sometimes I whine like a little kid
15. I cry REALLY easily and then get headaches after.
16. I got sick on the last night of girls camp every year I went. I think it's because of testimony meeting and me crying then I'd get sick and throw up.
17. I love going to girls camp
18. I live in my parents' basement
19. I attend the same ward I grew up in. This can get a little weird at times with people only remembering me from when I was little.
20. I'm not afraid of silence
21. I don't really like small talk -- some people may think me shy because of this.
22. My classroom has a camping/hiking/outdoors theme and I LOVE it
23. I have 4 nephews and 9 nieces with one on the way -- just on my side
24. I recently (Monday) became an aunt on Devin's side -- Troy Benjamin Allsop was born early!
25. I love reading children's books.
26. I'm currently reading Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Titan's Curse. It's about a 5-6 grade reading level, but I am totally engrossed in it.
27. I love when I do a read aloud to my class and when I stop they all shout "No!"
28. I have a continually growing library at my school thanks to scholastic -- Every month I get new books
29. I could spend endless amounts of money on books
30. I love to window shop -- I realize I don't have the money to buy things,but I can't help looking.
31. I love to go camping and hiking
32. I really like to ski and have never snowboarded.
33. I have my own pair of snowshoes and really want to get some for Devin
34. I love working out with the wii -- who knows whether it's actually a good work out or not, but it's definitely fun
35. I don't mind running on a treadmill
36. I always gain weight in the winter because I hate to run outside when it's cold
37. There are occasions when I don't breathe well if it's too cold
38. I was 3 months early -- weighing 4 lbs. 13 oz.
39. In elementary school pictures I was always on the back row for class pictures -- I don't think I've grown since 7th grade -- I'm 5'3"
40. I love to cook and bake
41. Tonight was the first night in weeks maybe months that I've made dinner -- I realize these past two might seem contradictory, but let me explain. Living with my parents we've got a system worked out. Devin and I do breakfast and lunch by ourselves and then my mom does dinner. Yes, I always help out, but rarely do I do all the work. At times it's nice, but sometimes I miss making dinner. There are times, like tonight, when I make dinner and I think I need to do it more often.
42. I beat Devin in Around the World tonight -- that's very rare so I have to brag about it.
43. I love the city I live in -- Alpine -- it's so beautiful!
44. I like chick flicks, but at the same time am often in the mood for action and adventure movies too.
45. I admit that I drive too fast and reckless sometimes
46. I was in band in junior high and high school. I was a marching band section leader -- I really wasn't that good and I rarely practiced.
47. I played the clarinet and was really good at pretending to be good
48. I was in Alpine Jr. Miss my senior year of high school. I didn't win, but it was a neat experience just the same.
49. I was married at age 20
50. I have almost been married 3 years to the love of my life. I am so lucky to have Devin as my husband. He is so wonderful to me and I am so happy in life!
There...now you have some interesting facts about me!
Friday, March 20, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Randomness
It's official...
Parent-Teacher Conferences make me exhausted.
Oh wait, they haven't even started yet :(
So I have been totally stressed trying to get everything cleaned and graded and updated before tomorrow night. Now I'm almost done and I am completely tired. Who knew teaching was such an exhausting career? Even Devin, when he comes to my class is tired at the end of the day and he doesn't even teach.
I have never been very good at math (in fact my mother was afraid I would never learn my X's tables). It has indeed been an adventure for me to now be the teacher of math. Although I am better now there are still occasional struggles -- such as teaching 4th graders how to compare fractions without totally confusing them. During my lunch break I realized that I had totally said something wrong. So after lunch I tried to correct my mistake...it didn't really work; instead it just confused them more.
So since this has been a totally random post, here's another random thing -- we're still not pregnant :(
Hope your day is going better than mine and that you're not exhausted too.
Parent-Teacher Conferences make me exhausted.
Oh wait, they haven't even started yet :(
So I have been totally stressed trying to get everything cleaned and graded and updated before tomorrow night. Now I'm almost done and I am completely tired. Who knew teaching was such an exhausting career? Even Devin, when he comes to my class is tired at the end of the day and he doesn't even teach.
I have never been very good at math (in fact my mother was afraid I would never learn my X's tables). It has indeed been an adventure for me to now be the teacher of math. Although I am better now there are still occasional struggles -- such as teaching 4th graders how to compare fractions without totally confusing them. During my lunch break I realized that I had totally said something wrong. So after lunch I tried to correct my mistake...it didn't really work; instead it just confused them more.
So since this has been a totally random post, here's another random thing -- we're still not pregnant :(
Hope your day is going better than mine and that you're not exhausted too.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Happy Valentine's Day!
Devin and I had a really great Valentine's Day. I made him a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit and served it to him in bed. As I was making breakfast he started to come upstairs. My mom was helping me and when she saw him she yelled at him, "Get back in bed!" He was very obedient and quickly turned around and went back downstairs.
So we ate our breakfast in bed, played several games of ping-pong, and got ready for a day of fun. Devin had the whole thing planned out with things he knew I'd like to do. We went to the mall and I was able to window shop -- something he hates! As a Valentine's gift he bought me a whole new outfit - pants, tank top, and 3/4 length cardigan sweater. He was so nice and patient as I tried on various sizes of pants and he even gave me advice for what he liked and what flattered my figure. The outfit is really cute -- it's bright colors and makes me think of summer. I'll have to put a picture on here soon.
We got a quick lunch in the food court and then went to the movies. We saw a chick-flick (again something that isn't his favorite). We watched "New in Town" and we both really liked it. It's clean, funny, and romantic.
We went to an early dinner -- okay so by the time we got seated is was a little after 5. But we put our name down early because we knew it would be crazy. We went to Olive Garden -- one of my favorite restaurants. While waiting to be seated we played games on his itouch. It was actually a lot of fun and really made the time pass quickly. Who knew pictionary could be so much fun? We shared a meal which is really the way to go. Not only does it save money (and after my new outfit we really needed to save), but it creates a more sensible portion size. We left feeling full and satisfied.
I bought him a few movies for Valentine's Day and so when we got home we watched one of them. The whole day was so much fun just being with him. I realized how lucky I am to have Devin as my husband. He is so sweet and always thinking of me. He asked me if I was sad that he didn't get me flowers. I told him flowers are always nice, but a day like we had was even better. Flowers wilt and die, the memories that we created will last forever.
Devin -- I love you!
So we ate our breakfast in bed, played several games of ping-pong, and got ready for a day of fun. Devin had the whole thing planned out with things he knew I'd like to do. We went to the mall and I was able to window shop -- something he hates! As a Valentine's gift he bought me a whole new outfit - pants, tank top, and 3/4 length cardigan sweater. He was so nice and patient as I tried on various sizes of pants and he even gave me advice for what he liked and what flattered my figure. The outfit is really cute -- it's bright colors and makes me think of summer. I'll have to put a picture on here soon.
We got a quick lunch in the food court and then went to the movies. We saw a chick-flick (again something that isn't his favorite). We watched "New in Town" and we both really liked it. It's clean, funny, and romantic.
We went to an early dinner -- okay so by the time we got seated is was a little after 5. But we put our name down early because we knew it would be crazy. We went to Olive Garden -- one of my favorite restaurants. While waiting to be seated we played games on his itouch. It was actually a lot of fun and really made the time pass quickly. Who knew pictionary could be so much fun? We shared a meal which is really the way to go. Not only does it save money (and after my new outfit we really needed to save), but it creates a more sensible portion size. We left feeling full and satisfied.
I bought him a few movies for Valentine's Day and so when we got home we watched one of them. The whole day was so much fun just being with him. I realized how lucky I am to have Devin as my husband. He is so sweet and always thinking of me. He asked me if I was sad that he didn't get me flowers. I told him flowers are always nice, but a day like we had was even better. Flowers wilt and die, the memories that we created will last forever.
Devin -- I love you!
Monday, February 2, 2009
Catching Pigs
This was an interesting email that I received.
"A chemistry professor in a large college had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab the professor noticed one young man (exchange student) who kept rubbing his back, and stretching as if his back hurt.
The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist government.
In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked, 'Do you know how to catch wild pigs?' The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punchline. The young man said this was no joke. 'You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyd ay to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side. The pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat, you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd.
Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity.
The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening to America. The government keeps pushing us toward socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, etc.. While we continually lose our freedoms -- just a little at a time."
"A chemistry professor in a large college had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab the professor noticed one young man (exchange student) who kept rubbing his back, and stretching as if his back hurt.
The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist government.
In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked, 'Do you know how to catch wild pigs?' The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punchline. The young man said this was no joke. 'You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyd ay to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side. The pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat, you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd.
Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity.
The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening to America. The government keeps pushing us toward socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, etc.. While we continually lose our freedoms -- just a little at a time."
Reading this story really makes me grateful for the values that I have been taught and especially the value of hard work. I'm reminded of phrase my family uses (I'm not sure where it originally came from): "Hard work has never killed a man, but it certainly has scared a lot of people."
Monday, January 26, 2009
January Adventures
Recently Devin and I have had some fun adventures and instead of going to bed I thought I'd finally post a blog about them. I mean who needs sleep anyways right? Here are some pics of our recent adventures.
Okay, so I still have adventures on the ice to talk about. But I decided that my class would hate me tomorrow if I don't get some sleep now. I'll have to finish with the adventures later.
Adventures on the mountain...
Before we started skiing.
Gotta love the huge goggles!
Devin learned really fast the reason you want to keep your hat on; even when it's sunny.
And no, he's not going gray -- it's snow!
This next picture was taken after Devin's adventure of falling down the mountain...yes the entire mountain. Give him a break though, it was icy and only his second time skiing. 
We were both pretty tired come lunch time. Devin was too exhausted to go any more after lunch so I went on a few runs by myself. 
We were both pretty tired come lunch time. Devin was too exhausted to go any more after lunch so I went on a few runs by myself. My only mishap was that my ski boots are now a little tight and totally pinched my leg. I have a blister as a reminder that if I want to go skiing more I need to either adjust my boots or get new ones. They were definitely red and swollen when I took my boots off. 
Adventures at the Marriott Center...
Devin and I have been to several BYU basketball games and we love cheering on our cougars. Too bad having great seats (row 5) didn't make a difference in helping the cougars on to victory. We lost! :( It was pretty upsetting. 
Adventures with Lynsie and at Color Me Mine...
Recently the boys got together to play Ultimate Alliance on the Wii, which the wives can't stand, so Lynsie and I decided to have our own fun. I introduced her to Color Me Mine and we had a blast. We spent the day picking out pieces to paint, painting, and catching up on girl talk. Before we knew it the boys were calling us wondering when we were coming home. Normally that never happens when they're engrossed in their game. Here are some of the pics from that great adventure.
Before
After... The red is the wrong color and it's not as fun as I thought it would be, but I still like it.
Okay, so I still have adventures on the ice to talk about. But I decided that my class would hate me tomorrow if I don't get some sleep now. I'll have to finish with the adventures later.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Fun with cake and soil
Now you may be wondering what in the world cake has to do with soil. But I actually just taught an entire lesson on it today. Okay so the lesson was actually on soil, but the cake made the demonstration so much more realistic -- especially to 4th graders. We compared soil to baking a cake. You can't just put the box of cake mix into the oven and get a cake. There are certain ingredients that have to be added. Similarly to get good soil there are certain ingredients that need to be added. You can't just break down rocks and have soil. You need to add organic material, oxygen, water ( at the moment I can't remember if there's anything else - does that make me a horrible teacher?). So during our lesson we actually made the cake mix into the batter that represents good soil.
My class was combined with another class for this discussion and I ran and added water to the mix and came back before mixing it. If course it was all watery -- the recipe called for 1 and 1/3 cups water. One of the students in my class looks at the bowl of very watery "cake" and asks, "Um, Mrs. Andersen how many times have you made a cake?" It was just so funny when she said it because you could totally see that she thought I was obviously failing at making this cake mix -- I almost started laughing, but was able to reply that I knew what I was doing. Courtney and I shared a good "smile" together. I say "smile" because there are so many funny moments during the day where you just have to smile because laughing would hurt their feelings.
Anyway, it was a fun moment at school today. Who knew there was so much information about soil -- we're doing an entire unit just on soil. CRAZY!!
Teaching has been good, but really tiring so far. I feel like I'm never going to get enough sleep again. Maybe I'll go off to bed now...
My class was combined with another class for this discussion and I ran and added water to the mix and came back before mixing it. If course it was all watery -- the recipe called for 1 and 1/3 cups water. One of the students in my class looks at the bowl of very watery "cake" and asks, "Um, Mrs. Andersen how many times have you made a cake?" It was just so funny when she said it because you could totally see that she thought I was obviously failing at making this cake mix -- I almost started laughing, but was able to reply that I knew what I was doing. Courtney and I shared a good "smile" together. I say "smile" because there are so many funny moments during the day where you just have to smile because laughing would hurt their feelings.
Anyway, it was a fun moment at school today. Who knew there was so much information about soil -- we're doing an entire unit just on soil. CRAZY!!
Teaching has been good, but really tiring so far. I feel like I'm never going to get enough sleep again. Maybe I'll go off to bed now...
Monday, December 29, 2008
Christmas!
Merry Christmas! I know I'm a little late, but I don't care. Devin and I had a great Christmas with lots of fun new things. We both got a "big" present then smaller things and one "big" thing for the family.
Devin's "big" gift that he can't stop playing with is his iPod touch. Those things are so amazing and we both have been having lots of fun with it.
My main gift was a Wii Fit. I was SO excited about this and was really surprised when I got one....considering they are always sold out. I gues Devin had been calling stores about every day to see when their shipments were coming in. The moment he found one he went right there and got it. Having a Wii Fit has really motivated me to get exercising and I've been using it every day with 6lbs lost already! It's so fun to exercise when you're playing little games, plus it's such an easy way to keep track of BMI and weight.
Our family's big gift was a video camera. We have been using our friends for such a long time and felt so bad for always having it -- we still need to return it (oops) -- that we decided to get ourselves one. It is really nice quality and will last our family a long time.
We've had a great break so far and are so excited for yet another week of nothing planned. I'm really not looking forward to heading back to teaching and I haven't planned anything for the new year yet -- I better get cracking!
Here are some fun recent pics!!
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