The PRAXIS is OVER!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, who knows if I passed.... but I am DONE! It is such a load off to have this week finally be over! I also had my SET (principal observation) this week, and had to plan 2 new units. My husband told me, "Welcome back!" when I got home today because I haven't seen him in about a week. It's been crazy! Luckily, I think the test went pretty well. It was 2 of the most intense hours I've ever faced in my life. I got a severe hand cramp and felt like my brain had melted by the end, but I got it done. It was my #1 goal just to finish the test. So 24 multiple choice and about 50 billion essays later, I welcome back my normal life with a huge smile, I am so relieved!

My husband SOOOOOOOO loves me and totally cleaned the whole house while I was gone (and I mean CLEANED the house.... even the stove! Is he not the best ever?) and bought me flowers and a congratulation balloon. He is so cute! I'm grateful for his constant support AND for the fact that he was able to give me an amazing blessing this morning that helped me through the whole ordeal. Marrying him was the best decision I've ever made!

So, that's the scoop for now! Hopefully, I'll put the good news of passing the test in about a month (when I get those dang test scores!!) Happy 7 school days until Thanksgiving Break! (Not that I'm counting or anything....)

"Rocktober!"

Man, I still cannot believe that the month of October has come and gone already! So many great things happened this month that I need to share! We'll see if I can get this all in on one post!

Let's start with some school stuff... at the beginning of the month we celebrated Red Ribbon Week. Now, Tara (my co-worker) and I had been planning to prank our fellow co-worker, Scott, sometime but hadn't found a way to do it yet. Scott graduated from Utah State and rags on BYU ALL the time. We decided that when the time was right, we were going to BYU his room and cover it with all things BYU. Our perfect opportunity occurred with Red Ribbon Week. Each day had a different theme to it and on Wednesday, the theme was something having to do with sports (Wow, it was so long ago that I don't even remember the official theme.) Tara and I decided that we would BYU his room the night before so that he would walk in that morning on Favorite Sports Team day and his room would have BYU all over it. Genius, huh? Well, it turned out that Tara and I had a class we had to go to Tuesday night and we couldn't go back to school afterward. Therefore, to pull off our plan, we decided to be at school at 6:30 the next morning to get the job done. Woo! Here are some of the amazing pictures we took that early, early morning!

Here are some shots of Scott's room. My kids helped me make all of the Y stuff to put around the room. They were pretty stoked about being to help out with a prank. They thought it was the coolest thing EVER!

Tara and I are so proud of our amazing prank! Too bad Scott got us back that same weekend. He took my desk and put it in Tara's room, and took Tara's desk and put it in my room. That was a fun thing to walk in to on a Monday morning! We sure got a work out moving them back to their respective classrooms! Let's just say, we won't be playing anymore pranks on Scott this year....

Here's just a quick, fun thing. So, for Red Ribbon Week they had a crazy hair day. Can we just say that I had the BEST hair ever? It was so hairsprayed that it didn't move an inch the whole day. That was also the day I almost set the school on fire.... so much fun!

Ok, next on the list....

Halloween Fun!

Brett and I dedicated October to a Murder Mystery Game. We had a Nikki night and a Brett night with the people that we invited. I got to invite my old roommates, Lisa and Stacey, and then my good friend Brady. It was entitled Pasta, Passion, and Pistols.... cool, huh? It was an Italian Mafia sort of game and it was a blast. I made dinner for both nights that consisted of tortellini, garlic bread, green and fruit salad, and fruit pizza for dessert. YUM!

So, here's the 1st crew: Mary and Brady Wilde, Keith and Lisa Jones, Stephen and Stacey White and of course, Brett and Nikki Waite :)

Pretty, pretty fruit pizza! Brett told me that it could have been a restaurant. He's funny!

Here's the 2nd crew: Steve Plowman, Ashley Barber, Tiffany, Ben Plowman, Mike and Lisa Lindquist, and Brett and me. Wow, what a fun night that was!

Ok, one last thing before I go, we obviously need to post my Halloween costume picture. I always put off finding a Halloween costume and just decided to go as a "nerd." I've done it before, and knew that I could do it again. It was a crazy day, but it was fun because I (along with many other teachers) performed the Thriller Dance in front of the whole school. Yes, Thriller, dressed as a nerd. My kids told me that I was DEFINITELY the best dancer up there. Aren't they so sweet?

Well, I think that's where we'll leave this never ending post for now. Happy November to you all!

Arizona, Here We Come!

We are so deliriously excited about the news we received yesterday! Brett got into Midwestern University in Glendale, Arizona!! We'll be moving out there at the end of May so that he can start up school the 1st week of June. That means I might have to ditch the last week of school, but we'll do what we have to do!

We are so grateful that the waiting period is over. We've felt like we've been going crazy for the past week and a half, waiting and wondering if word would ever come. I have to admit, I was starting to give up hope, and then the miracle happened! I've wanted to go to Midwestern since last February when we went to a meeting with the director. I've been very impressed with the philosophies of the school and the outlook they have on the medical profession. Luckily, Brett fell in love with it when he went down to interview a couple of weeks ago. Although it will be a challenging 27 months for him, we both feel that it's the right place for us and that Brett will benefit greatly from the quality of the PA program. Thanks for all of your prayers in our behalf, I just have to say that it was all about the POWER TIE! Thanks to that, we're moving to Arizona!

Shadow Mountain Adventure!

Whew! I am so relieved that Friday is over! I was in charge of the field trip for our 5th grade class up to Shadow Mountain (a fun little camp area in Hobble Creek Canyon.) It was an insane amount of work, and I was worried sick that I had forgotten many things, or that it would rain, but our prayers were answered and the day went without a hitch. The parents that came up and volunteered were FANTASTIC!!! They made my job so much easier! My co-workers say that they owe me big time... I'm just excited that I never have to plan it again :) Here are some pictures of the highlights of the day.....

Ok, seriously. Each class had to make their own class flag. We had a competition for the person that would get to make our flag, and Jacob won. So he came up to me one day after school and asked if he had to use markers, or if he could use paint on the flag. I told him he could do whatever he wanted to do..... and this is the outcome. Can we say, the coolest class flag in the history of mankind? I was BLOWN away! Needless to say, everyone else was too. If there had been a class competition for best flag... we would have totally taken the title!




So, here are a couple of pictures from the morning. We did different rotations all through the day. In the morning we had the frames (where they decorated picture frames), wildlife observations, and making rope. In the afternoon they got to make fire, throw tomahawks, play a fun game, and then play some team building games with our school counselor. Oh, we all had matching shirts where the kids drew a self portrait and they were printed on the shirt. Brett has one too :) I was also really happy because Brett made it up to Shadow Mountain for the last couple of hours. It was REALLY fun to have him there with us!

Well, we have a fireside tonight, so I think that's all I'm going to do for right now! We're still waiting to hear back from Arizona for Grad. School, but are not giving up hope yet! I'll post it when we get the good news!

I Love the Fall..... and BYU football!

Holy Toledo! So, I can't believe how fast time is flying right now. We've been in school for almost a month now... isn't that nuts? My class is pretty darn awesome, except for one student. I find it interesting how one kid can kind of change the "feel" of the class. My student isn't BAD, he/she (to keep it completely anonymous) just doesn't want to do anything. SERIOUSLY! I had to bring, said student, to lunch with me in the faculty room one day because he/she didn't get the work done that he/she was supposed to. Since that day, however, the student has been doing much better, so maybe they just needed a little kick start to the year. Time will only tell...

I'm also having a slight nervous breakdown because the GINORMOUS field trip that I'm in charge of is on Friday. We're taking our students up to Shadow Mountain to do some awesome rotations and team building activities. It should be pretty sweet (if things go according to plan) so let's pray that it does! I'm just going to be very happy when this week is over! I'm also doing benchmarking tomorrow, so that will be a joy. OH! And I signed up to take the 2nd Praxis (the big teacher tests) on Nov. 15th. If I die before Christmas, we'll understand why!

Brett, on the other hand, is feeling much more calm since this past week is over. He had his first interview for Grad. School this week in Arizona. This was a really important interview for us because 1) It's where I want to go. 2) It's where I want to go. 3) It's now where Brett wants to go too. So, he left Thursday afternoon and that's where the freaking out for me began. I had to drive home in rush hour traffic in SLC... not fun! Then I had to go home to an empty house and worry about how my husband was, if he was safe, if he found his shuttle, etc. (It didn't help matters that he was flying on Sept. 11th.) Luckily, Sara (my little sis.) said she would come spend the night at my house so I wasn't alone. It's a good thing she was there, too! She took my mind off of things as we caught up and chatted about her new ward, semester, etc. Then we watched a good 1 1/2 hours of the Office and I was feeling great.... until I went to bed and started thinking again. Needless to say, I slept about 2 hours that night because I was lonely and was worried out of my mind.
Friday came and I was going ballistic! I even told my kids that I was completely out of it and that they needed to just bear with me because I wasn't too focused on school that day. I was seriously scatterbrained. Luckily, Brett texted me and told me that he felt really good about it and I was much better from that point on.

SO.... in short, Brett feels really good about the interview. We'll probably find out if he's in by the end of this week or the beginning of next week. If things don't work out at this school, we still have several more options, so we're feeling good about things for now!

Last note... I LOVE BYU FOOTBALL!!!!!!! (Minus the fact that I look like a lobster except for on my forhead because I was wearing a hat. I look pretty stinkin' cute now.) Yesterday's game was phenomenal, and I am VERY glad that I was able to be a part of it! I can't wait for the next game against Wyoming, so we can crush the competition again! GO COUGS!!!!

Ok, that's the end of the never-ending blog for now!! Maybe I'll be able to write again in another month :)

Stacey's Wedding

All of my friends decided to get married this summer, but I was soooooo excited about Stacey's wedding. She's been one of my bestest buds since we worked together at Aspen Grove in 2004. We had one wonderful year of being roommates before she decided to go off on her mission. Then she came back and met Steve and now they're married! Holy cow! They got married on July 25, 2008 in the Salt Lake Temple at 8:20 in the morning. Yep, that meant that my mom and I got to be at the temple at 7:50 that morning, which meant we left at 6 to beat traffic. It's a good thing we love you Stace!! So, here' s Stacey and Stephen coming out of the temple.

They're married!! Look at how in love they are! For cute!

I was instructed by Erika to take a ton of pictures since she couldn't be there herself. Erika, this was at the luncheon. We had amazing Mexican food and got to enjoy a great program put on by the families.

This was coming out of the luncheon. No, we weren't throwing rice, we were throwing rose petals. It's a tradition in Stephen's family.... really cool. You should have seen how insane Stace's hair was after this. I bet it took a while to get all of the petals out.

THE RECEPTION!! Yes, the line was so stinking long (they are a POPULAR couple) that we had to entertain ourselves with our camera. We are such dorks. Sara decided to take over the camera in the next picture...

Here's Sara and my beautiful mother waiting in line with us. My mom was SO happy that she was in town the same week as Stacey's wedding. She loves Stace to bits!

Here I am with the blushing bride! She was so beautiful and it was a wonderful day to be a part of!

Summer's OVER?!?!?

Holy Cow, I just can't believe that I have to go back to school TOMORROW! This summer has the been the fastest summer of my life. It still seems unreal that I head back to the grind in the morning. We have a huge meeting all day tomorrow and then we have 3 days to get everything ready for the little children... school starts next Wednesday.
We've both had a pretty busy week this past week, but it was super-de-duper fun! Let's start the recap with our awesome trip to Idaho. We got to go visit Brett's family in Idaho and we also had the great opportunity to go through the Open House of the Twin Falls Temple. WOW. It was one of the most beautiful temples I've ever seen in my life. There were so many little details that created such a beautiful atmosphere. It was one of the smallest temples I've ever seen, but you could tell how happy everyone was to have it there. The sealing room is HUGE and has this amazing window in it with stained glass detail, it's sooooo beautiful. I told Kelli (Brett's sister) that she had to get married there just so I could sit and watch a sealing in that beautiful room. We also got to hang out with Kelli a lot, who is going to be a Senior this year. We're hoping she comes to work out at Aspen Grove this next summer (and that we'll still be here and NOT in New Mexico) so we can all hang out. Sara will be gone this next spring (WE HOPE... yay England!) so I'll need someone else to have Sister's Night with....
I love being with Brett's family and am so happy that we all have so much fun together-- I can't wait until Labor Day!
Brett finally finished up his term for the summer and WHAT A RELIEF!!! Functional Anatomy was killer (when I would quiz him I couldn't pronounce half of the words....) but he did really well and got a great surprise of not having to take a lab final. So we BOTH had today off and have been living it up....as I will not be seen again until the school year is over :) We look forward to the adventures of his final semester at BYU. Molecular Biology, Biochem, and Orthopedic Impairments anyone? It will be fun to see if either of us lives to December.
Anyway, that's the update with the Waite's as for right now. Who knows when the next post will be?? Life is so crazy.....