NYC!

We had an AWESOME time in New York. I wish we could have gone for longer! The weather was at record high at 70! We went to Rockefeller, times square, ellis island, ground zero, trinity church, 5th avenue, central park, the Met, Hairspray, Grease, and lots more! Enjoy the pictures!

Old Friends, New Fun!

These past few days, I was able to go visit one of my dear friends from college, Melanie. We became good friends our last year in college, in the credential program. Mel and her husband, Peter, were such a blessing to me during that year at Cal Poly. The last time we saw each other was June 2006! We have kept in touch, but I decided it had been way to long. Plus, Mel just brought Joshua Peter Thomas into the world on November 29th! He is so, so precious. We enjoyed just sitting around, catching up, sipping hot chocolate, touring the places that she grew up in, eating yummy mexican food and playing with Joshua. I so enjoyed my baby time and being able to help Mel out. Here are some fun pictures of Joshua. Hope you are all having a great 2008!

Christmas at home

Merry (late) Christmas to you all! I hope you had an awesome time celebrating our Savior's birth.

We opened presents at 545 am. Yes, you read that right. My step-dad had to get to work, so all presents were opened by 630. I'm still recovering. Then to grandma's then to dad's. It was all a fun time, and really fun to see the family. I got an electric toothbrush and blanket, some movies, lots of teacher stuff and a wonderful Nintendo Wii. It's awesome.My new favorite toy.My arm is actually sore from playing so much! Should be fun to have for parties and such! I hope everyone is having a great break. I will post pictures when I am home!

Charger fans at their finest...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1Ex8crGPjYs


I swear I don't know these guys...I never went to church with them or anything....

December is here!

I can't believe Christmas is here! wow! December has been a fun month for me. I got to celebrate my birthday all weekend, since it was on a Friday. Friday night we went to dinner and out on the town. Saturday was our young adults Christmas party and Sunday, we had about 30 people over to celebrate my birthday. It was awesome! I am so blessed to have that many loved ones in my Santa Cruz life. I enjoy being with them, all the time!

Birthday weekend:

Tomorrow, I head home to San Diego, for a week. I am looking forward to seeing all of the family! After that, I head back to Santa Cruz for new years, Visalia for a few days to visit Mel and baby Joshua, and then it's off to New York!! Soooooo excited!!


Christmas party:

Tomorrow, I head home to San Diego, for a week. I am looking forward to seeing all of the family! After that, I head back to Santa Cruz for new years, Visalia for a few days to visit Mel and baby Joshua, and then it's off to New York!! Soooooo excited!!

School ended well this December. I will miss my kids dearly for the next 3 weeks. The new year will be a new challenge for me, as I begin taking classes for my masters degree. Starting January 23rd, I will be enrolled in a masters program for a year. I will have to take two classes a week, even in the summer. :( Luckily, each class is only 1 night a week. To start, I will have one class on Tuesdays and one online(because its full). I think that will help me ease into being back in school. It should be crazy, but totally worth it, in the end. Well, Christy is here to scrapbook with me all day and night! yay!! :) I will update more after Christmas! Merry Christmas and remember the little one in the manger!

california missions!

Every Monday, I teach social studies in the after school program. We get to do a lot of fun things I usually don't have time to do in class. This week, I worked 2 days, and we built 5 California missions! It was AWESOME! The after school program purchased them at michael's (they bought the slo mission just for me) and I was surprised how easy it was for the kids to put together. They loved it! I wish I could do that with my own class! Here's some fun pictures!

Thankful...

Yeah, I know, Thanksgiving was a long time ago. I've been busy!But, it's still the season, so I'm still going to tell you what I'm thankful for.

I'm thankful for...

Jesus
My family
My Nugent family
my friends at home and here
my students
having an awesome principal
my job
time off
my awesome apartment
my cute christmas tree
netflix :)
starbucks

and many, many other things. Not much to update. All is well here. :)

SLOing down life...

I went away this weekend for a much needed vacation. On Saturday, I hung out with my Nugents and went to the melodrama with Cassie, Christy and her friends. SO much fun. Sunday was church and meeting up with my old college roommates. It was awesome to see them! Sunday night we watched the awesome/horrible charger game and played lots of games! Today was fun filling with Morro Bay, smores and more games! It was just what I needed, and it was awesome to see everyone. William is getting huge, and 2 months is too long to be away! Can't wait to go back soon. :)

Yosemite...in pictures

I went to Yosemite last weekend for 4 days, with some friends. It was amazing..I didn't want to come back to real life. Best Story? Coming back from the bathroom at 3 am with the girls, to find a bear in our campsite. Needless to say, we ran. We got back and it was gone! Crazy times!

Wow...

It has been too long! This last month has been a trying one. I have been sick for most of it, just starting off with a small cold and then ending with the wonderful flu. I took a few days off this week and had to cancel my trip to SLO. :( Luckily, my week of parent conferences is over, and there are lots of fun things coming up! 12 conferences on monday, 2 tuesday, 12 wednesday and 3 on thursday. Only 3 of them in English. yeah. Needless to say, it was a long week.

Next week, my mom is coming to visit! She gets in on thursday and then on Friday she's going on our field trip with us. We are going to Capitola beach for this fun California history program. I'm looking forward to it! I don't know what else is planned for the weekend, except Jen's wedding! I'm looking forward to it. Then the weekend after that is yosemite, then the weekend after that is a writing conference down south in ontario. Good times lie ahead.

Nothing else, really to update you on. I'll leave some pictures from when we took 130 kids to the boardwalk a few weekends ago. All of these kids moved up one level on their state standardized testing. SO much fun. :)

An awesome weekend!!!

On Saturday, a group of us headed out to San Francisco to watch the Pro Beach Volleyball AVP tour. It was AWESOME! We got to see Misty May and Kerri Walsh and lots of guys teams, too...which were the most important, of course. It was fun to get away for a little bit and watch some good volleyball.

On Sunday, the Nugents drove up to meet me in Gilroy...we went to Gilroy/Bonfante Gardens. It was tons of fun. I rode in an artichoke, a strawberry, and a banana! :) Went on some roller coasters I probably shouldn't have...but I fully enjoyed it. It was awesome to spend time with the family and be outside on a beautiful day!!

Fun Santa Cruz pictures...

The sun, last night in Watsonville...there was a fire in Morgan Hill!

Sunset at the boardwalk. :)

There's so many I can barely even fit them in a picture....

New Classroom!

My new room!

My least favorite subject....

The other side of the room..

Our mascot is a Dragon. :)

Exactly how is one supposed to fit 31 students?!? Like this!

I know, I know...

It has been way too long. My life has been crazy x 100 since the first day of school. I am still wondering if it will ever calm down! 4th grade seems so much more tiring than 2nd grade. There has been so much going on. Our numbers in 4th and 5th grade are low and the numbers in kinder are way too high. Sooo, we just lost a 5th grade teacher to kinder. So, we had to make a 4/5 combo. What does that mean for me? Gaining 7 new boys and 1 new girl, plus giving up 2 of my boys. It breaks my heart to move kids around like this. At one point during our 3 hour placement meeting, I actually cried. This population of kids really needs a person who is constant in their lives....It's just hard on everyone. The new class starts on Tuesday. Please be praying that the switch goes well for all of us!

I decided to stay home this weekend, just because I was sooo exhausted and my neck and back have been bothering me. Today, I got a new camera! Some friends came over for some UNO playing tonight...always great times. It has been a nice relaxing weekend. Tomorrow is church and probably grading math tests. :)

OH and my roomie and I are going to New York in January! We decided to go out for a few days because we really want to see Hairspray and Grease on Broadway. So excited!

Laura and her brother, Mark!

The UNO players.

Allen and Laura! So glad you're back, Laura!