Elmo Pops!

Tabitha wanted an Elmo birthday party and being the planner Tami is, she started requesting these adorable Elmo pops back in December.  They were very cute on the website but looked hard to make.  I was stressing for months over these pops and I think in the end, they turned out Elmo-licious. 

There were many steps to the process and I was a little slow.  My brother and sister-in-law helped and finished about 5 to my one. 

Gabrielle liked her pop!  She only ate the face...first the nose, then eyes, then a bite to get the mouth. 

This sweet thing kept saying "Elmo Pops" every single day while I was there.  It was adorable.  She was so excited for her Elmo pops.

Tami made these cupcake toppers.  Aren't they adorable? 

Dinner with Morgan Freeman

Here is my story of how a fun filled weekend with good friends turned into a quiet weekend with Morgan Freeman. 

Spring Break is starting this week and I made plans over a month ago with my good friend Mary to visit her and her family in Twisp, WA. They all moved there a few years back and I have not been over to visit. I was excited for the time off to go visit. Mary and I communicated almost every day about what we were going to do. Eat, shop, eat, hike, eat, scrapbook, eat.

 (Mary and her family-minus the boys…of course I didn't photo shop myself in J)

 (Me and Mary a few years back)

 On Thursday, I dropped off my mom, sister and roommate at the airport to enjoy their Easter weekend in Utah. I went home to start packing to leave on Friday when I notice the weather report. That dreaded weather report… "Expect 1 foot of snow in the pass and local areas". After arguing with the weather forecast for quite awhile and realizing I was not going to win, I gave up the fight and had to call off the fun filled Twisp weekend.

(Twisp: what could have been so beautiful) 

That left me plan-less, friend-less, roommate-less and family-less. In other words, alone. I usually love being alone but wasn't looking forward to this on Easter. I woke up Friday morning with the thought in my head, "You can still enjoy your Easter weekend by yourself!" I made a decision to still have a good Easter even if I was a little lonesome. Sunday was General Conference (Mormon Definition: A conference that happens 2 times a year – April and October – where the leaders of the church share incite, wisdom and council with all the members of the church across the world. In order to reach the masses across the world, you are able to watch it at home via the internet. This means, you can (and I do) stay in your sweats while attending church. You can find more info here.) I always enjoy conference, and loved that it was held on Easter Sunday this year. Here's a look at my day:

 

 Instead of boring cereal for breakfast, I made myself yummy Dutch Babies. Yum! You can tell I was paying attention to conference because I added ¼ cup too much flour into the mix and they turned out a lot thicker than usual. Still very tasty!

 

 I continued to watch conference cuddled up on the couch with the illusion of a fire burning.

 I finished watching conference by preparing my family's traditional Easter dinner.

 

What Was Tradition: ham, company potatoes, deviled eggs, green beans, lots of dirty cooking dishes
What Wasn't Tradition: pre-cooked ham, watermelon, cupcakes (we usually have strawberry shortcake), not having my mom's homemade bunny rolls (Yes! She does actually shape them into bunnies), one place setting

After a great morning and afternoon of uplifting stories, I had a strong desire to watch March of the Penguins. It must have been the talk about the cattle herding and motherly love??? So, as my meal was coming to completion, I decided to watch March of the Penguins during my Easter dinner so I wasn't alone in silence. Morgan Freeman actually was just what I needed in the background. His voice was soothing and we had a great conversation about monogamy, child bird birth, unbelievable trials and true love. I will admit, there were a couple times I did make a couple comments out loud. It's hard not to when you are in such good company.
Well, that was my story of how I had dinner with Morgan Freeman.

Morgan and I both hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

An Elle of a Show!

Vanessa, Karrie and I went to see Legally Blonde at the 5th Avenue Theatre.  It followed the movie very closely but added a couple twists that made the show entertaining. 

Just trying to be like Elle!

2 Month Review

I'm getting better! It has been two months since my last post. I think the six comments I received helped give me the encouragement to keep writing. I don't want to let my fans down. J I enjoy blogging. It helps me release thoughts that fly in my head all the time. When I get them out, my head feels a little less cluttered. I used to be good about writing more but life changed when I went back to school. Oh school…How I love the knowledge you bring me, but oh how I hate the stress you give me. Luckily, I will be done in July! While that is exciting to think about, it is also frightening because I have a bunch of work still to do. Time is ticking, ticking, ticking. I knew I would be busy at the beginning of February so I planned a trip to Utah to spend a quick weekend with my girls to relax and have some fun.

No matter what is going on in my life, being with my nieces makes everything disappear. I sometimes wonder why I live so far away when they bring me so much joy. Each time I visit, I always get a little more tempted to move to Utah. Maybe one of these trips I'll get an answer. Until then, I'll take weekend trips to keep me going.

 We had a great time making puppets, snuggling, reading books, making candy and pasta necklaces and eating deep fried Twinkies at Dairy Keen.

 In January, my friend LeeAnn welcomed a new son into the world. What an adorable baby!

I also went to a Pho restaurant for the first time. It's always a big deal when I try something new to eat because it doesn't happen very often. A bunch of teachers went to a conference in Lynnwood and my old teaching partner Quyen suggested a Pho place across the street. While I was too scared to order my own Pho dish, I did try a bite before enjoying my noodle dish.

Glee: The soundtrack to my life

My roommate mentioned the other day, "I hate when people don't update their blogs". She then looked at me until I got the point. Today I am supposed to be working on my master's work and said I was bored and didn't want to work. My roommate quickly said, "If you're not going to work, update your blog!" I don' t know if anyone reads this anymore, but this one is for you Karrie. (Although you hear about my life every day)

However, I don't have much to blog about. Unlike my other friends out there who always have something big to report such as buying a new house, getting married, having a baby, having another baby, etc. My life seems so little and boring compared to most other people. I wake up, I go to work, I come home, make dinner, work on school work, go to bed and start all over the next day. These days, when someone asks, "What's new with you?" I struggle to come up with something interesting. Still, I can't complain. I have my health. I have a job. I have a place to live. Over the past few months, there has been one thing that has made me excited to continue the routine of my little and boring life....Glee. Since my blog audience is my roommate and we watch it every week, I won't get into the details. If you don't know about it...get to know it.

I have been listening to Glee Soundtrack 1 and 2 and have realized many of the songs are the soundtrack to my life. Let me update the Life of Fife from the past couple of months through the song titles of Glee. This may be a long post of writing...if you read one song title a week, it will keep you occupied until my next post.

Maybe This Time - In September, I started a new school year. I am teaching first grade after 3 years of exploring other grades. I was nervous to be back since first graders are SO little and needy. Last year when I taught 2/3 grade, I lost all my energy. It was the hardest year in my career in so many ways. I started the year saying, "Maybe This Time" will be different. "Maybe This Time" I will have a great group of kids. "Maybe This Time" I will wake up excited to see my kids. I have been blessed this year because This Time is different...I love my job and my students make me smile and laugh all the time.

Imagine - Along with a new school year, I started my last year in my Master's program. While I know I am getting closer to the end, I do sit and "Imagine" what life would be like without having to write research paper after research paper and give presentation after presentation. I sit and "Imagine" what it will be like to sit down and read a book that I enjoy where I don't have to write a paper on. But then I "Imagine" having to pay back my student loans and don't want to play that imagining game anymore.

Somebody to Love - Do I need to explain this one?

Don't Stop Believing - My daily mantra. See above.

My Life Would Suck Without You - What continues to keep me going is knowing when my next trip will be to visit my nieces. We had the pleasure of going down over Christmas and it was heaven as always. Pictures follow this post. If I didn't have these two precious girls in my life, my life sure would "suck". I am looking forward to a quick trip early next month.

And I Am Telling You, I'm Not Going - Karrie and I are coming up on 4 years together. While I didn't think we would be together for 4 years, I have enjoyed the time we have shared. Over the past month or so, I have had MANY dreams about Karrie moving on with her life without me. Over and over again, she moves to a new house, gets married, etc. And every time, I am left to look at my life and wonder what to do next. I wake up annoyed and I have say, "I Am Telling You, I'm Not Going!!!!" I still mean it. She better not get married or move on because I have a good thing going here. Here's to a great 4^th year of living together!

Hope you enjoyed the latest soundtrack to the Life of Fife. Can't promise a new house, marriage or baby in my next post, but I will try to make it interesting.

 

December Trip to Utah

Sledding and playing in the snow in Brandon's ice fishing clothes.

Playing dress up!

Traditional December dinner at Spaghetti Factory

The whole family together!

Whoooooo's That?

Thanks mom for making me a hooterific Halloween costume this year!