The rest of vacation and graduation party

When I got to San Diego, my grandma picked me up and we got to walk around downtown and have breakfast in Seaport Village. (somehow I ended up with no pictures of her!) After, we met my bro and his girlfriend at the Padre game. 6 hours and 18 innings later, the Padres finally lost so that we could go home. :( But it was still super fun!

On Wednesday, my parents came back from their vacation, so I hung out with them for a few days. On Thursday night I had dinner with my dad and sister, it was SO fun. On Friday, I went to a breast cancer fundraiser bunco night with my mom. It was also really fun. On Saturday, my parents threw a big graduation party for my masters degree. I am still waiting on my test results, but I am pretty sure I owned that test! So I got to celebrate with 30-40 of my closest family and friends from San Diego and Orange county. I was sooo blessed and reminded about the family I have everywhere I go!

My week of vacation in SD...

The pictures of my trip will be out of order, but that's ok. :) At the beginning of the week, Katie and the boys came to visit! They spent the night Tuesday, and then we headed to Balboa Park for Ruben H. Fleet center. That place sure has changed, it's not as cool as I remember, but we still had fun! We also saw an Imax movie, Under the Sea, narrated by Jim Carrey. I thought it was awesome. The littlest guy didn't agree, haha. I hadn't been to Balboa Park in a while, so it was fun to visit. I hope to have some part of my wedding

there someday. :) It was so fun to have them in town and to spend time with all of them. Thanks for coming down!! :)

P.s. After the park, we had the.best.sushi.ever. Check it out, if you are ever in the area : http://www.yelp.com/biz/banbu-sushi-bar-and-grill-la-mesa

Soooo much blogging to catch up on.

Maybe if I blog the rest of the week, I'll catch up. BTW I am typing this on my new Macbook...it's soo pretty! :)

Well the end of the 2008-2009 school year has come and gone! Here are some fun pictures of one of my favorite classes ever.  Oh and that crazy Wii picture is them doing Wii Cheer the last day of school. Fun times!

Some things I learned this year??

-I like 5th graders, they're fun.

-Saying goodbye to students and families you have known for 2 years is so sad!

-Building relationships with students have a HUGE affect on their academics.

-5th grade math is hard!

-My school likes to give all the good teachers the bad kids. boo.

-You cannot change a kid's behavior if his parents do not back you up, no matter what you do.

-Enjoy your students, they grow up so fast *tear*

What's in store for next year?? 5th grade!!!!!!!!!!!!! Science camp here I come. :)

But first....summer school.....

Old Friends, New Fun!

My friend Rebecca, from college(we were wowies together!) is hosting a giveaway on her blog. She just started to use her creativity to make some fun stuff! Go Check it out!

http://www.travelinglite.org/blog/2009/05/16/giveaway/comment-page-1/#comment-422

Girls Weekend!

This past weekend I went up to Fulsom for a reunion with some of my favorite friends from college. It was SOOO much fun. We played rockband, did some wine tasting and went out on the town saturday night. It was a much needed weekend away! :)

Catching up...

Wow, life has gotten the best of me lately! In a good way. :) There are lots of countdowns going on right now!

18 days of work(School) left!

3 weeks until my Masters degree program is OVER!

4 weeks until my comprehensive exam :-/

So here's the current crazyness that is my life:

Mondays- study group from 6-9

Tuesdays-cook dinner and life group

Wednesday- freeeeeee--soon to be a womens volleyball league, yay for exercise

Thursday- cook dinner and youth group

Friday-Saturday-freee(sometimes)

Sunday-Church :)/ hanging out with andrew

Needless to say I went to bed at 7:30 last night! It felt so good. Although I'm busy, I love serving Jesus with my life!! My life group blesses me every single week. I just started working with the youth group, I enjoy them, too. I am looking forward to the summer, when work is less stressful and I'm not rushing around everywhere. I have 35 unwatched shows on my dvr, but life is still good. :)

Also, it looks like I may be heading to India in December!My heart has been pulled there for many months, and I finally got up the courage to do something about it. My new church is so small, that they don't really have trips, so I am going to be going by myself and joining a few other people in the same place! I'm going with a great ministry, check them out. If all works out, It will be December 19-January 3. I wasn't going to say anything, but I am about to apply for my VISA and book the flight, so I figured prayer is good! Can you help me with that? :)

http://www.hsminc.org/view/677/23482/India.html

I know, I know...SO much going on, I love it! This weekend, I am meeting Sarah, Meesh, Lesley and Kristina in Sacramento for a reunion! These girls were some of my closest friends in college and I am so looking forward to getting away for the weekend!!!

I'll leave you with some pictures of when Andrew and I went to the Moss Landing Marine Lab Open House when I watched him for 4 days. (so much respect for moms!)

Spring Break 2009

Sorry...these pictures are out of order! So for Spring Break I went home for the first time in 4 years. I haven't been home for Easter in Forever! My SLO fam was visiting Monterey, so they offered to spend some time and drive me down with them! I so enjoyed my short time with them! On Saturday Jarred (brother), Brittany(his gf), Cassie (sister), Brandon (friend) and I went to the Padres vs. Giants game. *excuse this interruption* This is for Mr. Tim N.: Uh Oh, did the Giants just get swept by the Padres AND the Dodgers?????? Ok, I'm back now. Anyways, the game was pretty fun and the padres won, of course. On Sunday, we went to an awesome church service and then had some of the family over for Easter. (The padres also beat the giants that day.) :) On Monday I got a pedicure and had lunch with Brittany. Tuesday I relaxed a lot and went downtown for dinner and drinks with Britt, Jarred and Brandon. Wednesday, I got to have lunch with gma and a few others before heading home. were equally fun. It was SO short, but really fun and relaxing. It was fun having the family all home at once.

Wicked!!!

For Christmas, my parents bought me tickets for Wicked in San Francisco. Mel and I have been SO excited to go! It finally came, and it was AWESOME! If you get the chance, you should definitely go! :) It was a super fun, much needed girls night out. Thanks for going Mel!

Super Short Trip to San Diego

On Thursday night I left for San Diego so I could make it to see Tricia and Travis get married in Coronado! It was super fun! I enjoyed seeing everyone that I havent seen in forever! I had fun hanging with my grandma and then with my siblings and friends at the wedding! I had to come back on saturday, because my parents were coming to visit on Sunday. It was short, but super fun. Congrats Trish and Trav!

budget cuts

http://www.register-pajaronian.com/V2_news_articles.php?heading=0&page=72&story_id=6824

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_11849653

More on this later.

Copying Kendra

On my friend Kendra's Blog...she talked about how Dr. Phil (who I think is lame..which is besides the point) asks his guests to fill out this questionnaire. I had fun reading hers, so I thought I would do it, since I pretty much don't have anything exciting to write about.

10 defining moments in my life

1. My parent's divorce.
2. Going to Christian Club in high school. seriously...the reason I turned around and followed Christ. Brandon was a big part of that.
3. Costa Rica Mission Trip
4. My first week of college.
5. Getting my first paycheck, and really being on my own.
6. Melissa going to the hospital.
7. My half-brother being born.
8. My mom being re-married and getting the best step-dad ever.
9. Moving out of my apartment/comfort zone
10. Benjamin being adopted and the miracle of his little bro.

7 critical choices I have made

1. Accepting Jesus at Sea World...awesome, I know.
2. Changing my major from Kinesiology to Liberal Studies.
3. Going to Grace Church for the first time.
4. Moving to Santa Cruz
5. Choosing to teach in PVUSD.
6. Showing up at a certain SLO house unannounced all the time.
7. Quitting soccer junior year of hs.

5 pivitol people who have written on the slate of who I am

1. parents, all 4 of them
2. Jamie, an old soccer coach.
3. Katie, Tim and Boys
4. My Grandma
5. Cynthia--Mentor Teacher

Life is good.

All is good in the world of Christal. I'm pretty much settled in and doing well. Budget cuts have been hard on us lately, but other than that, life is good. Not much to update on.

I am loving the new church I am going to. I just joined a small group and enjoyed it. The church just did an awesome series called "There's an elephant in the..." (basement, nursery, kitchen, bedroom, etc.) It was basically a series on difficult family topics. I really enjoyed it and was convicted by a lot of it. The abuse sermon was especially difficult and the bedroom one was more humorous.

Next week we start a series based on the Book of Ephesians and this book:

It's actually really interesting. You should check it out! Have a great week!

Student of the year

Now for some more bragging. One of my students (I've had her for 2 years) was chosen as the student of the year for our school. Here's our picture at the District Board Meeting. I'll have to harass her about holding her award upside down.

****See below post for fun Science Camp post****