Soon...

I'll post soon. Maybe today.

Pull My Hair Out

Today has been one of those 'why did I ever become a teacher?' sort of days. In fact, the last two weeks have been like that. I have a couple of students that make my life from 8:00 to 2:15 so, so, SOO difficult. If you want details, call me but you probably don't want to because then I'll vent.

On a happier note, I fairly officially decided that I am going to go to Europe for a couple of months this summer. I have Sarah to visit on the Isle of Man, Ashley to visit in Vienna, German chocolate to eat, and trains to ride. There is a huge week long single adult conference for church members in Denmark that I will be going to with Havilah. The decision was between taking professional development courses in Utah or playing in Europe.

Also, Lachelle is having her baby soon. The question we all want to know is what they are going to name her. This baby being born will make 2 neices and 2 nephews.

I am going to Portland next Thursday through Sunday for Jessica's wedding. I'm sure that the trip will be way too short but I am glad to have the time off from school to relax. My two biggest desired destinations are the temple for Jessica's wedding (of course) and Powell's Books.

Krista LaMont is getting married on November 28 to Jorge Andrade (I'm sure I slaughtered that spelling). She is getting married in Brazil so I can't go to the wedding :( but I'm excited for her.

Lastly, today I learned that a group of zebras is called a dazzle.

Reunion

One of my favorite things to do is to reunite with old friends. I got to see Krista and Christy again this weekend. Seeing Krista was very exciting because I thought that she was in Brazil this whole time. She is leaving soon though and getting married and I won't see her until next summer. I'm so excited for her and her future. It was also great to see Christy because I haven't seen her since a few days after I got home from my mission (which was nearly 2 years ago). We had a fun time together talking about old memories and catching up on the details of our lives. It is interesting to me that despite having completely different lives and seeing each other quite infrequently, we are still really good friends. I treasure my association with these girls and feel confident that we have friendships that will continue throughout our lives. I love you girls.

Because my family is genius...

There is this meal in Thailand called Muu Kata and it is heavenly delicious. Basically, you cook your vegetables in a broth that surrounds a volcano shaped grill of sorts. You cook all this over coals. When we were in Thailand, we sweated our way through one of these meals and then proceeded to the nearest Big C to purchase Muu Kata cookers. As of late, I have been eating Thai food several times a week. This has set in a serious craving for Muu Kata so I suggested that we enjoy it while I was in Boise.

The only problem was that we didn't have the correct pot for the coals. So, we combined our Smith Family Genius to create one for under $3. I take credit for going to DI and finding angel food cake pans with tabs on the end to perfectly balance the cookers. My dad can take credit for using hardware mesh stuff to create a bed on which the coals could lay. He then drilled holes into the bottom so the coals wouldn't burn out. My mom gets credit for using paving stones as an insulator so that the cookers didn't burn through the table.

What resulted was a meal that took way too long to prepare. It was good though. There's nothing like cooking your own raw meat and then dipping it into Thai chile sauce. Muu Kata is definitely going to become more of a staple in my diet.

Ode to Avery (She's 5 Today!!)

Photos taken: 17 October 2008

Five years ago today Avery Caroline Smith joined the ranks of the living. Little did I know what sort of person she would be. Here are five things that I absolutely adore about Avery.

1. She has a memory better than any person I know. Don't ever promise her something unless you have sure plans to make that promise happen because she WILL remember. She doesn't forget anything. It keeps me humble and honest.

2. She is absolutely gorgeous. The pictures above are proof of this. She has bright, shiny eyes and hair that I would love to have. Her smile is totally charming.

3. She lines up her dolls and has a very specific way of doing it. Don't mess with Avery's dolls or princesses. You will live to regret it.

4. She makes me laugh. This weekend we were all in Boise. I sat down next to her at breakfast and she said, "Emy, did you know you are sitting by me?" I responded that of course I knew. Then she said, "My daddy's supposed to sit there." This same conversation happened a couple of times over the weekend. It was pretty funny.

5. She will always give you a hug and a kiss. Sometimes that hug is half-hearted, sometimes she squeezes the air out of me, but she always gives me one. Also, she's great at butterfly kisses.

Crazy Hair Day

I thought I was being quite crazy putting three ponytails in my hair until I came to school and discovered what my students had done to themselves. One kid dyed his hair gel bright blue with food coloring. Another student had black, red, and blue hair. But the definite winner was the student who put a plastic bottle on her head and pulled her hair up around it. The whole day I kept going to see what was wrong because her hand was raised when really it was just her hair. It was a great ending to a long week.

Some Really Awful Pictures

So, I really haven't taken any good pictures in the last 2 months since I moved back down to Utah. Here is a pathetic sampling of what I have taken. I promise to do better.



Me sitting at my desk in my classroom sometime in July. I sit there a lot.

Mom, Mike, Natalie, Avery, Aidan, and I went to eat Thai food at Sawasdee in July. I have eaten a lot of Thai food in the last two weeks (at least 3x each week) and it has been wonderful and glorious and spicy and delicious.

We took the 5th graders camping. We were all staring into the noonday sun in this picture.

This was taken as we were leaving for Utah in July. I filled the trailer, the back of the Explorer, and my own car. I have a lot of stuff but most of went into my classroom.