More Testing and Fond Memoriesl!!!

I suppose it is time for an update!  I have been super busy since I went back to school!  My first week was full of meeting, which were all pretty good and worth while.  I wish they gave us more prep time to work in our classrooms though.  This week I have been giving my kids the State mandated Pre-Kindergarten screening.  Let me just say how sick and tired of testing kids I am!!  I am going on a month of testing!  Between the Extended Day Kindergarten Placement test and the one now, I am all tested out!  I am beyond ready for the kids to come to school so I can actually teach them!  My teaching assistant, Nancy, has been in this week helping get thing ready for me.  She is a doll and I know will be a great asset to me this year.  Right now I have 24 students in my class, 11 girls and 13 boys which is pretty balanced compared to my classes last year!  I do have 7 non english speaking students which is a new thing for me.  5 speak Spanish, and 2 speak Farsi (they are from Afghanistan and Iran).  I hadn't even heard of Farsi before!  I guess that shows how ignorant I am.  Anywho, I am really excited to get the year underway!

I am working on getting my ESL (english as a second language) endorsement this year.  It will help me with my non english speaking families, and get me some more money :).  That is always a plus right?  It is a year long program and gives me 18 semester hours, so I will be pretty busy.  I am also taking a Spanish class for teachers, which will be great!  It is a 12 week program taught out of Highland High School and will DEFINITELY help me with my Spanish speaking families.  I know it sounds like a lot of extra stuff, but it will be well worth it.  And, the school district is paying for ALL OF IT!!!  I am not spending a penny of my own money, which is AWESOME!!  Just don't expect me to be available on Tuesday and Wednesday nights :).

The other day, I was on my way to Lakeshore (the teacher store) and had a hankering for a fresh lime from Take 5.  Well, to my surprise, it was closed.....for good!  I knew they were closing because the property had been sold to make way for an extended stay hotel, but I though it would be open till the end of the month.  Well, I was wrong.  Take 5 closed it's doors for good after 35 years on August 23rd.  It was kind of sad!  I have many fond memories from my days working there!  Cam and I did meet there after all!   I guess all good things must come to an end.  The food wasn't good anymore, and their employees were kind of scary!!  Take 5's goodness ended after the good people left....which was like 6 years ago!!  Oh well.  So much for Liz and I enjoying one final Take 5 meal!!

Well, I better go and get ready.  I have to be back to school by 6:45  because it is Back To School Night!  Gotta love it.  Sorry for the lack of pictures this time.  I will put up my classes pictures when I get them all taken.  

Happy Labor Day Weekend!!

All good things must come to an end.

Well, today I am headed back to work after a fabulous summer!  I am so excited for a new year and a new school.  I am going to miss hitting up the matinee movies with Cameron on his days off though.  Wish me luck as I embark on the 2008-2009 school year!

Viva Las Fufu!!!!

Well, the Fufu Sisters made it home safe and sound from our AMAZING and much needed Cedar City/Las Vegas getaway!

Our adventures began on Sunday morning at 8 am when we hit the road for our first stop.....Cedar City to see Jaynann and Emma. The drive was not bad at all! Liz broke open the first of many Jones Fufu Berry soda at about 9:30 am. We hunted the night before for our stash since the renowned Fufu Berry soda is often difficult to find. We stopped in Scipio for a snack and potty break, then ended up in Cedar at about 11:30. It was so great to have all of the 5 of us together to meet Emma and see Jaynann in her new role as a Mommy! We played pass the baby for a while, then headed off to Taco Bell (we were trying to relive all of our High School experiences, obviously!) for 7-layer buritos! After lunch, we packed up Emma and all her "things" and headed to the movies to see The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2..........cause what would a sisterhood weekend be without a sappy girlie movie! It was overall a pretty good movie. We have all now decided we are all going to Greece together someday (Liz told Stacy that she had to get married in Greece)! We said our Jaynann and Emma goodbyes at about 7:30, and hit the road for Las Vegas!

What is there to say about Vegas............it is busy, full of great shopping and food, exciting, and this trip insanely HOT!!! It is August after all! We spent the days at the pool staying cool in the water. It was actually only tolerable to be outside in the daytime if we were actually in the pool. Our hotel was awesome, and only cost us $15 bucks a piece for the entire time we were there (thanks to Josh's cousin who has a timeshare with the resort who hooked us up!)! It was about 2 blocks off of the strip and had a great view of the lights of Las Vegas!

Monday, we showered and headed to the strip to shop fairly early so we could hit the Cheesecake Factory (a Fufu Las Vegas tradition) while we could still order off of the lunch menu. It was delicious! We then went shopping at the Forum Shops at Ceasars Palace. We hit up the usuals......MAC, FAO Schwarts (Stacy has a hilarious video on her facebook page of her and Liz reinacting the scene from Big when they play chopsticks on the giant floor piano), Express, and many more. Of course we had to stop and visit the stores that are EXTREMELY out of our price ranges, but are fun to look at. After Ceasars, we walked up and down the strip people watching and taking it all in! About 10 PM, we decided we were hungry, and went back to the car. We were hoping that Gina, the GPS system in my car (yes we named it on the trip) would help us make a decision on where to eat. Well, she let us down! We drove up and down the strip for about an hour trying to decide on what to eat. Finally, we decided on Strip Burger at the Fashion Show mall. It was ok, but nothing to write home about. The Las Vegas Apple store is at the mall, so we had to take a few pictures of it for Cam.

Tuesday, we again spent the day at the pool, then headed to the Miracle Mile shops at Planet Hollywood. We hit up H&M, Sephora (for the 2nd time), True Religion, and a few others. Then we decided to head back to the hotel to get ready to go out for sushi and hiting the casinos to play a little blackjack! We went to Sushi Roku at Ceasars palace, which was AMAZING! Best sushi I have ever had! It was Liz's first sushi experience so it was a lot of fun wathing her reations to the different kinds, tastes, and textures. During the day we had looked for all of the casinos who offered $5 blackjack tables, and decided to try our luck at O'Shea's because it was right across from Ceasars. We had no luck even finding a $5 table! Then we tried Buffalo Bills....they had 1 $5 table. We waited and waited for the table to clear, but the people never left. So we did. We drove to the other end of the strip and tried Circus Circus, where we were in luck! Liz, Stacy, and I tried our luck...........and well, they were luck and doubled their $40, and well, I lost mine. Lesson learned! It was still fun to experience the whole Las Vegas gambling thing. We got back to our room at about 2 am, and packed up most of our stuff so we could get up and be ready to leave at 8 the next morning. Stacy was going to a museum thing with her mom, so we had to be home as early as possible.

The next morning, we got up a little later that expected, and left Las Vegas at about 8:30 am and began the trip back to the SLC. We had originally hoped to stop in Cedar City for a potty break and to see Jaynann for another minute, but since we were late, that wasn't a possibilty. We did have to stop in St. George to get gas and lunch. Again, we relied on Gina the GPS, and were slightly failed yet again. We scrolled through the nearby restaurants, and choose Artic Circle. Well, it was a little further off the freeway that we originally thought. Oh well, the food was good and kept us awake for the rest of the trip.

We made it back to SLC just after 3:30, bid farewell to our little Texan Stacy (until Christmas :(), then I took Kim, and Liz back home (Liz had another 2 hour drive ahead of her to her house in Logan). We had a fabulous time, and it was sad to see it end. We have other sisterhood trips planned for the future! Here are the pictures from out adventures!

Viva Las Fufu!!

Watch out Las Vegas, here come the FuFu Sisters!!!

You heard right!!  In less than 24 hours the FuFu sisters are headed south to Cedar City to see Jaynann and Adam.....but most importantly Baby Emma, the first of the 2nd generation FuFu sisters!!  After spending the day with the Daly's tomorrow, we are off to Las Vegas until Wednesday!  In the words of Stacy...............Viva Las FuFu!!!

Here it is....Room 13....Mrs. Romero's Class!

Here are the fruits of my summer labor!  My favorite addition to my collection of teacher stuff is my new rug!  I love it....I didn't love having to pay for it.....but I love it anyway!  Anytime anyone wants to stop in to visit me and see the room in person, I am more than happy to open my classroom to visitors.  I am about half way finished with my Extended Day Kindergarten testing.  These kids this year are pretty smart!  I may not have "clean slates" to work with this year! 

What a week....or 2!

After a short sabbatical, I have returned to blogging. Life has been a little hectic the last few weeks......anyways, here is an update on us!

Tayler turned 19 on the 20th of July.....I know I am a little late posting about it, but I have been busy! We celebrated a few times. First with my Mom and that side of the family at my Grandma's house. We had burgers, pasta salad, fruit, and the signature white cake we have every year for Tayler's birthday. It was good times, and helped Tayler get her bike fund going, and since then has earned enough money to buy her pink road bike, and all the biker attire! Unfortunately, I left the camera at home, so we have no pcitures! Then we had the traditional backyard birthday at my dad's house. Meg and Chris (Cort's sister and brother in-law), and Lyle (our good family friend) came over to BBQ with us. It was fun, and yet again we had white cake! We will get her to try a new flavor eventually!

Tayler loves wakeboarding so we went up to Rockport for her birthday. It was a beautiful day, but the water was a little cold....according to Tayler, I stayed inside the boat. My dad and Tayler did all the wakeboarding, while Cort and I stayed inside the boat and soaked up a little some. Well, I soaked up A LOT of sun and turned into a lobster! It wouldn't be summer if I did get at least 1 bad sunburn! Just as we were going to get off the lake, it got cold and rainy, so it was a good thing we were leaving. It was a good time! Cam had to work so he was there in spirit.

Many people know that I am a big John Mayer fan!! So, obviously I was thrilled when Cameron's parents bought us tickets to go to the concert with them! It was awesome!! Colbie Caillat open for him, which was cool because I like most of her music. Lauren was most excited to see her, and even got one of her t-shirts! We went out to dinner before the concert at Texas Roadhouse, one of our favorites! It made for a fun, and yummy night! I will say it was SOOO hot, and it didn't help that I was a sun burnt lobster from boating the day before. It was a good thing they had sno-cones to help cool us off!

Cameron's dad works for Franklin Covey and was able to get us tickets to the game on July 26 and sit in the Franklin Covey Suite! It was almost like a family reunion because most of Cameron's aunts, uncles, and cousins were able to come! It was a really great game followed by the best fireworks show I have seen in a long time! They invited Tayler to come with us since she is such a big baseball fan! She got lots of Bee's memorabilia to send Sean (he boyfriend who is on a mission in Germany). We had a lot of fun talking, watching, baseball and fireworks, and meeting the newest addition to the Boam clan Baby Edward (Tamis and Dale's new baby boy who was only 9 days old the day of the game).

Today is Cody, my step-brother's 14th birthday. Happy B-Day Cody! We had a BBQ at Grandma's house last night. Again, no pictures. We are house sitting for Cam's parents and taking care of their dog while they are in Port Angeles, WA helping Erv clean out some of Granny M's things, and visiting with Karine's sister Jan and her family, so the camera got left at home. I am not used to being a dog owner, and unfortunately a few things around the house have gotten chewed to shreds. Sorry Greg and Karine! We had a few friends over the other night for a BBQ, wow we've been doing a lot of that lately! Josh and Liz were in SLC for a few appointments so we decided to get together. Kim and Nick, and Amber and Brett came over to hang out. We went and got Brown Toppers from Artic Circle, then Josh taught us the ways of Black Jack.....Vegas style so Liz and I don't look like idiots when we play in Vegas next weekend. It was classic! You will have to look at Liz and Josh's blog for pictures though.

My classroom is finally finished, so I promise to take some pictures and add them in the next few days! Back to school tomorrow to do my Extened Day Kindergarten Placement tests....then off to Cedar City to see Emma and Jaynann.....then off to Vegas!!!