Remembering 2010

2010 was a great year I had and did a lot of fun and neat things. Here is a list of just some of the most memorable:

I saw the Grand Tetons for the first time.
I went to Yellowstone, twice. Once with my family and once with friends
I saw my first bears in the wild.
I learned how to make home made chocolates.
I accidentally drowned two cameras this year; one in the washer, and the other in the Henry's Fork river in Idaho. However, the third one still survives!
I also broke my Dell computer. I replaced it with a Mac, which I like much better.
I went to Strawberry days for the first time. The Strawberries and cream that you get there amazing.
I was ran off the road by a diesel and hit a construction cone. My car only suffered minor damaged and was quickly fixed.
I went to The Chocolate for the first time. DELSIH!
I got my first sewing machine.
I became THE favorite Aunt!
I got the job I had been hoping and praying for.
I went canoeing and we tipped the canoe.(This is how I drowned camera number two.)
I tandem jumped off a bridge...not a smart idea, but it was fun for me.
i hiked to Shoshone lake
I saw the Broadway musical, The Lion King
I got attacked by a bird.
I survived THE "blizzard of 2010".
I watched all of the Indiana Jones, and Star Wars movies for the first and, probably only time in my life.
I went to Disneyland for the third time.
I panicked as my apartment flooded in the middle of the night.
I bought a queen size bed.
I went to Vegas.
I went to Bryce Canyon.
I canoed right past a moose and her baby.
I spent the day sledding up in Midway.
I attended two of my nephews baptisms.
I saw Safetysuit in concert.

I am sure there are many more things that I am forgetting. But you get the idea. It was a great year full of fun and adventure and I can't wait to see what 2011 has in store for me.

My Favorite Christmas Card EVER!

Christmas 2010

Christmas this year was fantastic! It was very quiet, with just me Mom, Dad and Grandma at home this year. Kristie's family came and we had our traditional ham dinner on Christmas eve. We continued our fairly new tradition of going to Ihop for Christmas breakfast with all the family that is around. This is starting to become a favorite of mine. Sunday Mark, Kammi and their boys came down and we we able to play with the boys and their Christmas presents.
I am SO grateful to have such great family to spend Christmas with. That we are able to focus on the true meaning of Christmas and enjoy spending time together.
I slept downstairs in the back bedroom where it is always shielded form the morning sunlight. I was woken up at 8 a.m. to someone stomping on the floor above me. I guess Mom or Dad were ready to open up presents. I got up and the festivities began. I was very spoiled this year. I had asked for a sewing machine so that I can make more quilts, and learn to make other things as I learn and become better at it. I was expecting a cheap one from wal-mart or somewhere just to get me started. Instead I got this..



How Spoiled am I? Very. It is so nice, and not at all the cheap one I was planning on. I have sewn a few squares for a quilt that I have had fabric for for awhile now and I can't wait to do more sewing. I'm looking forward to having a new hobby that I will be able to do whenever I have an extra hour or so to work on it. Mom and I are also going to take some classes together, which is going to be alot of fun!

Several years ago, I think it was my 16th biirtday, my parents gave me an Amber ring. I absolutely loved this ring. I always wore
and rarely took it off. My finger was indented from it. Last spring the band popped. It split right down the middle on the bottom of it. I was very sad about it and planned on taking it to a jeweler to get it fixed but just never got around to it.
I was very surpirsed on Christmas morning to find this in my stocking.



It is very similar to my first one. I haven't been that surprised by a present in a long time! I put it on and Christmas morning and haven't taken it off since. It was a wonderful Christmas and I loved being with my family.

I'm Dreaming of a white Christmas....

....and I think that that dream came true. There is a foot+ of snow in Provo. And even more in Payson where I will be spending Christmas.

Roommate Christmas

The past few years I have been blessed with great roommates. We have a lot of fun together and a lot of memories together. A favorite past time when we are incredibly bored and/or a little bit sad is to force ourselves to laugh as loudly and weirdly as possible. Before you know it turns into real, uncontrollable laughter and our whole mood changes. It's a lot of fun, you should try it next time you are bored and or sad. We haven't done this in a long time, just writing about it makes me want to do it soon.
Anyway, tonight my roommates and I were sitting in the living room talking and looking at our Christmas tree and we decided there was no time like the present to open our Christmas presents to each other. So we did. Emily gave me key finders and Bonnie gave me a blanket. Both of these are very useful. I am always losing my keys at work, at home, At my Mom and Dad's, at friends, pretty much anywhere I go. They are usually at the bottom of purse, which come to think of it might be too big and thus causing most of my problem. The other day Clint hid my keys from me and thought it was very entertaining to watch as I pulled out a can opener, mucinex, approximately 100 pens, eccinecea, mardi gras beads, just to name a few. Well losing my keys wont happen anymore, now all I have to do is push a button and my keys will beep until I find them, or the battery goes dead, which ever come first.
Bonnie gave me a fleece blanket. In the winter I am always cold and if I am at home I usually have a blanket wrapped around me. Sometimes even when I am not cold I still have one wrapped around just for the comfort factor. In short, I love blankets, especially soft ones, And this one is soft and warm and heavenly.
Thanks Bonnie and Emily for being great roommates and creating fun memories that will last a lifetime.

It's Christmastime!

I love this tine of year! It has been really fun to watch the excitement of the kids at work grow as Christmas gets closer. For the kids gifts to the parents I painted their hands white and had them grab hold of a dark blue Christmas ornament. I then painted the ornament to make their fingers look like snowmen. I turned out really cute and I was impressed at my tole painting skills since I do not have artistic bone in my body.

p.s.
The yellow tole paint that looks like hair is really supposed to be earmuffs. So when you're looking at it, think of earmuffs and not hair. OK? Thanks.

soccer fans are crazy!

I went to my first soccer game on Saturday night! It was so much fun, I was surprised at how much i got into the game and how crazy RSL soccer fans are. I can't wait to go again. Sadly, RSL is out of the playoffs now so i will have to wait for next season.

We had great seats, fifth row right behind the goal. most of the second half was played right by us!

Me and Em. We are really excited, can you tell?

Dallas, Emily and I getting excited for the game.
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Our chuckin for chicken hats

Halloween

Me and my two aides; tweedle dee, retro roller skater, and a bumble bee.

I am usually not big into Halloween, or even dressing up for that matter. This year was different though. My students were so excited for our Halloween party. It was contagious. I found myself actually excited for the Halloween festivities this year. Every day the kids would want to know how many more days until our party. We even had some interesting conversations about costumes. One of the kids even asked Adri why she was so fat in her tweedle dee costume.This was by far my favorite though:

Me: "What are you going to be?"

Child: "Karate Kid!" as he kicks and karate chops in the air.

Me: "That is so cool. You'll make a good karate kid. What should I be?"

Child: "hmmm, well you're a girl so you should be Cinderella."

Me: "That's a good Idea."

Child: In deep thought. "but you'll have to get a really, really BIG dress."

Needless to say I wasn't Cinderella. I did not want to buy a "really, really big dress". Instead I settled on a bumble bee costume. I love my students though, they made this holiday so much fun, even if they were so hyper they wore me out every day the entire week before our halloween party.

I am starting to get excited for the upcoming holiday season. I went to the store today and they were putting up Christmas trees. Even that is a little too early for me, especially since I walked outside to 60 degrees and sunshine. However, I can justify listening to Christmas music as soon as it snows, whether Thanksgiving is over or not ....Don't Judge!

The Return of Keys

My Room mate had a halloween party at out house last night. We invited people over from our ward, at one point we had 22 people crammed into our tiny condo. Everyone brought their favorite halloween treat and we played several different games. We played the game Keys, which if anything, provides a great opportunity for some awkward pictures. My old room mate taught me this game and it is alway a hit. It was a lot of fun and I felt like I finally got to know some people in my ward a little better.

A Halloween-y Day

This was my first time going up to Gardner village. It was so fun to spend the day with the girls and see all the witches and Halloween goodies out and about in preparation for Halloween. The weather even cooperated for us. It was rainy on the car ride up and back, but just perfect as we were walking around.
This is a house of pumpkins


Mom, Kristie, Me and Amanda enjoying girls day out.


One of the many witches seen at Gardner Village

Disneyland/Hollywood/Venice Beach

What a fun weekend. Me, Ryan, Paul and Shaina took time off of work and headed to California for 4 days. We spent 2 fun and exhausting days at disneyland1/2 a day at the beach and 1/2 a day at Hollywood. Each time I go to Disneyland (This was only my third), It seems more enjoyable and I love it a little more. It was so fun to see how they changed things up for Halloween both with their decorations and the rides. I wish I could go more often but oh well, I enjoy it when I can!

Finding Nemo Submarine Ride




Paul and I were both exhausted so we took a break and watched some cartoons

My Review: It Hurts So Good

I have done the Jillian Michaels workout routine a couple of times now. And it is a BEAST! but it feels so good to be working out hard again. I actually like her "no more trouble spots" routine better than the kettlebell routine because it is broken up into 5 minutes segments so when I was in pain and I wanted to give up I could tell myself thatI could do it for 4 more minutes and then move on to another muscle group and go through the same thing again.

Dinner was SOOO good last night. The lady whose house we went to was from china and she even let us help her make the food. It was so fun and so good. I want to make it by myself now. It was very authentic and I rocked the chopsticks! I will have to thank Bryant and Tina for teaching me how to use them a couple of months ago. I was suprised at myself and how well I did with them.

Fabulous Fall Four Wheeling...and Food

My dad and I went on the hobble creek trail, which goes from hobble creek over to sqauw peak, yesterday. The fall colors were gorgeous and the company was great. The only thing that could have made the day better would have been BYU actually winning a game.






Tonight I am going to dinner with a friend. Apparently we are going to his friends house who is making us authentic chinese. eeek. I am excited but nervous about this. It should be really good, but what if it is some strange meat? I am a very picky meat eater. One of my past students moms opened up an authentic mexican restaurant and when I tried it I struggled a little bit with it. It was good and all, just different...and chewy. In short, with every type of authentic food that I have ever tried I have always preferred the americanized version more. So we'll see how I feel about authentic chinese later tonight.

I Need Motivation

I bought this yesterday.

I bought it because A) It was only 9-ish dollars B) I like The Biggest Loser. C) I want to get in shape and D) I want to save money by canceling my gym membership that I rarely use.
I am posting about It in hopes I will feel accountable to let you (my 4-5 loyal readers) know how it works. Just give me 5-8 business days to try it out for the first time.

Grandma Bernklau

My Grandma turned 90 Years old back in August. Here are some beautiful pictures that my sister Linnea took of her. I love you Grandma!

SafetySuit

SafetySuit+Dale=A super fun night and a new favorite band.


Dale and I have liked these guys for awhile now, but after seeing them live and the message they share of suicide prevention and self worth I am now in love with them. It was just cool to hear such a good message from a rock band. They were so engaging and fun to watch. You can read about them and listen to their music at safetysuitmusic.com.

It's Official!

For the past several months I have been hoping to land a teaching job at GIANT Step's, which is an autism preschool. It took longer than expected to get the position posted and to do interviews. On my birthday I was finally able to apply. And last wednesday I interviewed, on friday I was informed I got the job.
I am very excited about this new experience in my life. I am also a little scared.. ok maybe a lot. I have worked there as an aide for the past 4 years so I think I know what I an doing. But with the teaching job comes more authority and responsibility to the kids, and that is what scares me. I want to help them as much possible and in the best way possible. GIANT Step's is a great program and I plan on using what I have learned there the past 4 years and running with it. As well as the things I will continue to learn from the kids that are currently in my class. I hope and pray that I can help the children that I am working with progress and better live their lives. They are so cute and fun to work with and they mean so much me.
Heres to a great first year as a teacher!

Lazy Summer Days

Emily and I wanted to enjoy the great outdoors, so we hiked/walked to Bridal Veil falls. Once we got there we talked, dipped our toes in the freezing cold water and people watched.

oquirrh mt

My friend Megan and I were talking the other day and we realized that we are so blessed to live within 2 hours of approximately 10 temples. We decided that it would be fun to go to these temples. They are so close to us but we still haven't been to them. Today we tried to go to the draper temple. We drove up there and realized that they were closed for maintenance so we decided to head over to the Oquirrh mt temple. It was so pretty!



Megs and I almost getting blown away

Oquirrh mt, Utah Temple

Yellowstone Bear

My Dad sent me this picture of the grizzly bear we saw on our trip. I still can't believe how close we got to it.

Linnea took this picture of Sophia, me, Josh, Caleb and Sam. I think it is such a cool picture with the lighting and the steam.

A Day with Sagie

Me and Sage got to spend the day together while everyone else was busy. We had a nice, girly day. First we went shopping. Then we got pedicures


Then we went to my school to see how torn up the classroom I will be in this fall is, from the janitors "cleaning" it. I mean the carpet that they supposedly cleaned has black streaks on it from the carpet cleaning vacuum they used on it. That's not normal is it?
Then we went to The Chocolate and ate these delicious cupcakes
If you live in, or ever visit Utah County, you NEED to go here, the cake is A-MAY-ZING and it is in a really cute, old pioneer home. I think it may be my new favorite place.
Then we went back to my house and watched She's the Man. It was a great girly day. Thanks for playing with me Sage.

Wow...I have been blogging for the last hour and half. It's not like i had anything better to do. Like clean, Laundry, go food shopping. or the bazillion things i need to be doing for work to get ready for the new school year. Oh well this was funner.... The month of July was busy and fun and now everyone is caught up on the events of the month. Hopefully next month I will be more on top things and not wait until the last day to blog all my fun adventures. Because that wont happen, The last day of August is my birthday, after all. And I will want to be out and about playing. Plus it will be my fourth day of the new school year and we will be starting a new kid that day, so I will probably be exhausted. Yep, that solves it, I am going to try ad be a better blogger next month.

Family fun: Day 4

Our last on final day of the trip. We left West Yellowstone and headed back to Marks place in Star Valley. We took the scenic route through Ashton, Driggs, Tetonia, Swan Valley, and Palisades. It was such pretty country. I wish i had gotten pictures of these places, I think i was just too tired to even think of it (If anyone in the family got pictures of these please send them to me. Thank you). We got back to Mark's house and had a birthday party for T.J. His birthday was on day 3, but since we were all in different cars, driving through Yellowstone, we didn't see much of him.



After the Birthday party we all headed our seperate way. It was a fun trip. I love spending time with my family and can't wait to see them all again.

Family fun: Day 3

The next day we drove back into the park to see more of the sights and animals. I know this is a ton of pictures. Deal with it.