Things I am Thankful for...

Well with Thanksgiving just a week away I thought I would make a list of some things I am thankful for. Here goes...

*I am so very thankful for my husband, Dave. I love him so much, and I feel so lucky to have him in my live.

*I am grateful for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that Jesus is literally the son of God. He lived, an He lives still. He suffered all things for us so. He atoned for each one of us making it possible for us to live with Him and God, and all the people that we love after this life. He is our advocate. I know He lives.

*I am thankful for my family and Dave's family. They have done and do so much for us. We love their friendship and support.

*I am grateful that Jen, Dave's little sister, is on a mission. I love reading her letters. They are always so motivating to me.

*I am thankful for my 2nd grade class. I love teaching them. They make me laugh everyday. They are such great kids.

*I am grateful that we live in Village Green. It is such a fun home away from home. :) We love our neighbors and friends here.

*I am grateful that Dave is in medical school at Crieghton. I am also thankful that he is about halfway done with his 3rd year. Only 1 1/2 more years of this part of our adventures. I am excited to find out where we will be after that.

*I am thankful that my sister Cece got married a couple months ago. I am also grateful that my sister Lexie is getting married this weekend. I am so glad that they are happy!

*I am thankful for all the nice things that we have here in America. We are so blessed. Even in a recession there is so much excess compared to other places in the world. I feel so fortunate to live here.

*I am thankful for the men and women who serve in the armed forces. They help keep our country save everyday. I am grateful to those who have died fighting for our freedom. I am also thankful to the founders of our country.

*I am thankful that they Native Americans feed the Pilgrims. If not for them lots of us probably wouldn't be here.

*I am grateful to have my new car. It is a Subaru Legacy. I love it!

*I'm thankful for good food.

*I am thankful for warm clothes.

*I am grateful for ariplanes. Getting to Utah takes way to long otherwise.

*I am thankful for technology. I love that I can look up anything I need to know in about 2 seconds on the internet.

There are so many other things I am thankful for. I may add to this list. But I have to get ready for work now. So this is it for this morning. Today I am going to remember everything I am thankful for!! :)

Pictures

Random pictures down by the Botanical Gardens

Out to dinner at Jack's Stacks in Kansas City

(Not as good as Oklahoma Joe's)

Dressed up at the World War I museum in Kansas.

Irish festival

Golfing in Omaha

Tani, Sister Dalton, Me

Heather and Mason, Katy, Lisa, Me with Lisa's little Ellie,

Megan, Tani and Brielle

I love this time of year!! Do you?

I have always really enjoyed the beautiful autumn weather. I love the leaves and I especially love "tromping", as my sister Lexie would say, through the fallen leaves. I just love that crunching sound. :) Silly I know.

I also love Halloween. My mom always made Halloween amazing at our house. I have so many great memories of steaming witches brew (dry ice and root beer plus plastic bugs/spiders)! There was always a creepy crawly creature in your cup. I loved the costumes and trick-or-treating with cousins. I loved going to the haunted forest and eating donuts and cider after.

Know I am planning Halloween parties for my class and hanging out with my friends here in Omaha. Which is great. But it will be fun to continue some of those traditions when we have a few kids.

Dave and I have been able to do some really fun things lately. We have been to Kansas City a couple weekends in the last month or two. The first time we went was with friends who live by us. The last time we were able to meet up with Dave's brother Jon and his girlfriend. Jon lives in St. Louis. The girl he is dating, Jana, is just finishing up pharmacy school in Kansas City this year. So it was the perfect place for us to all meet and hang out. We went to Oklahoma Joe's for dinner, went to a fire/water show by the river and went to a wonderful art museum that Dave and I had never been to. It was so fun! We had so much fun with Jon and Jana.

I also had a really neat experience a couple weeks ago. I am in the Young Woman's in my ward. There was a special training that all the presidencies were invited to attend on a Friday night. Sister Dalton, the general Young Woman's president spoke and taught us so much!! She is such a beautiful, wonderful person. You can just tell by her countenance that she cares so much for others and is just a very sincere loving person. It was such a neat experience to talk to her and hear her council for the Young Woman's presidencies. One thing I thought was really cool was that she told us that she always meets with the youth wherever she goes before meeting and teaching the leaders. What a great way to really know what the community is like in the area. Anyway she was absolutely wonderful!

Kids say the cutest things...

I always forget the things that my second graders say that make me laugh. So I am going to write one that I remember from this week. I wish I could remember all the funny things they do and say.

Ok, so one of the darling little girls in my class this year, who is a great reader, was reading aloud to the class. We were looking through a powerpoint about Mexican American culture. She was reading the slide that talked about the type of foods that are specific to the Mexican Culture.

When she got to the words spices and herbs, she read "spiceys and Herberts". So she read, "Mexican food is well known for its many different flavors, beautiful colors, decorations, and a variety of spiceys and herberts."

It was so cute and funny to me I couldn't even correct her. I was giggling behind my hand. :) Lol!! Non of the kids even realized, or at least no one corrected her. So I guess if my class ever meets a Herbert they are going to be be very confused!

On a different note two of my neighbors had beautiful baby boys this week. My next door neighbor Mandi and Chad, and Marissa and Brad. They are both darling babies! Another of our good friends, Lisa and Matt are due next week. There are so many cute babies around Village Green right now. It is really fun. :)

some pictures from the last couple months

Wreath Obsession

OK so I have to confess I have been totally obsessed with making wreaths for the last little while. I don't no what the deal is. I found three really cute wreaths that I wanted to make though and so I did. :) Here is a picture of them.


These first two were super fast to make... the last one took for ever. I love it though, so it was worth it!

I used coffee filters for both of these wreaths. I actually glued the white ones to a circular form that I made from a cardboard box. So this wreath cost about 2 bucks! I used about 150 coffee filters. You just glue the center of the filter with hot glue down to the wreath form. It is super easy!

For this next wreath I just got a pre-made grapevine wreath from hobby lobby- 2 bucks when it was 50% off. I used natural coffee filters for the flowers. I folded the filter in half so I had a half circle. The I twisted it loosely around my finger to form a flower shape. I then scrunched the bottom up and hot glued it on. I glued little pale pink plastic pearls into the center to make it a little more fancy. This wreath cost about 3 bucks to make.

To make this wreath go to: http://asoftplace.net/2011/03/diy-spring-wreath/ and to http://yarner.blogspot.com/2011/01/rose-wreath-tutorial.html

Swirled Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake Bars

I made this recipe for a school pot luck, and it was a big hit, so I thought I'd post it for anyone who wants to give it a try. I'd never made it before but I thought it was delicious. If you like peanut butter and cheesecake you'll love it.

Swirled Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake Bars

Graham cracker crust
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter -1 stick
1/3 cup sugar
Mix and press into the bottom of a 9x13 pan

Filling
2 Packages 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 can 12 oz evaporated milk
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1 cup 6 oz peanut butter and milk chocolate chips

Beat cream cheese, sugar and flour in a large bowl until smooth. Add evaporated milk, eggs and vanilla.
Microwave chips on 70% power for 1 minutes. stir, if they need more time do 15 second intervals. Add 1 cup of cream cheese mixture to the chocolate.
Pour remaining cream cheese mix onto the crust. Pour chocolate mix over the cream cheese. Swirl with a spoon.

Bake at 325 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until set. Cool completely on rack and then refrigerate until firm. Cut into bars.
Enjoy!!

Boards and Summer

Dave and Dahlia in California

June was a whirlwind. Dave spent many hours (in April and May as well) studying for medical boards, and then took the step 1 boards on the 9th. I finished the school year and then taught a couple weeks of summer school. I was able to take my class on tons of fun field trips. I had 11 students in my class. After summer school and boards Dave and I went to southern California for a week and a half. We hung out at the beach and boogie boarded, went to Six Flags, and to Disneyland. Next I went to girl’s camp with our stake Young Woman. While I was at girls camp Dave found a great deal on a Subaru Legacy. It was in Indiana, a couple hours south of Chicago. So as soon as I got back from girls camp we packed up and took off for Chicago. We spent a couple days there and then headed down to Indiana to check out the car. We loved it, so we bought it and drove home!

June was so busy, but so fun! Here are some some pictures of our June adventures.

Mmmm, the Taste of Chicago

Our reflection in the Cloud, this was awesome!

Some SUPER SWEET cars. :) lol

Yikes!! We are so high! Pretty scary.

Enjoying Chicago

Mississippi River