Summer Lovin'

I love summer time! Last summer was devoted all to raising Banner and I cannot believe how much he has changed in a year. Don't get me wrong, he is still a monster dog! But those monster dog moments have  become less and less. He still loves to chew on things, drink from the bathtub faucet, sleep on the bed and couches and go crazy when we have company. But how can you get mad at a cute face like that? He makes up for it by being such a lover. He loves to cuddle, sleep right next to you, and wake you up every morning. I guess we will keep him!

Last week Kyle and I went to Branson, Missouri and we had so many fun adventures! Most people thought we were crazy to go to Missouri because really, who goes to Missouri? I was really starting to wonder if we were going to have an awful time. Thankfully we had a lot of fun and it was nice to get away for a whole week! This trip created some first for Kyle and I which I think is difficult to achieve when you have been dating/married for 11 years. Here's a little list:

Our Firsts in Missouri
1. Flying together on a long plane ride- I learned that Kyle likes the window seat
2. Renting a car- we had a cool Dodge Charger
3. Eating fried alligator tail (for me)- tastes like chicken
4.Taking Kyle to the E.R.- ticks are NOT cool

The only downside to the trip was that it was packed full of activities that I didn't get much relaxation time. I guess it's a good thing I'm still on summer break so I can recuperate :) Anyway, after going through the 700 pictures that Kyle took here is a recap of our Missouri trip in pictures.

 Our comfy condo with a kitchenette

We visited the Springfield National Cemetery to see some cool old tombstones and also the civil war graves. We had planned to visit a couple of Civil War battlefields so I thought it would be interesting to see the cemetery as well.

 It was really sad to see all of the little white tombstones that are of unknown Civil War soldiers.

The Wilson's Creek Battlefield in Springfield, MO.

The forest area to the right of this picture is where were first met Kyle's friend Wilson the Tick that I lovingly named after the beautiful battlefield. 

Wilson's Creek

 This is the house of the Ray family. Their property was used as battle grounds and they observed the soldiers fighting in their corn fields. 

 Jefferson Avenue Footbridge- Supposedly people walk on this bridge and wait for trains to pass underneath. It was pretty quiet when we went and since I'm not crazy about heights, I wasn't too excited about watching a moving train pass underneath while I was standing on it.

 Fantastic Caverns in Springfield, MO- This cavern was one of 3 that was visited and I thought it was the safest because we sat in a tram the entire time. The other two caverns had us climbing lots of wet, slippery steps and crouching down in tight areas as to not slice our heads open on rocks.

 Veterans Memorial Museum in Branson. If you ever go to Branson (ya right, I know) you HAVE to visit this museum! It had lots of interesting artifacts on almost every war.

 Toy Museum in Branson

 Scenic View of Branson

 Trout Fish Hatchery in Branson

  Here fishy, fishy, fishy....

 This park is extremely overpriced beautiful and not worth seeing! It is owned by the same person that owns the Bass Pro Shops. We waited three hours for a tram to take us through the park because the tram just left as we arrived. I guess we could have walked, but it was a hot 6 miles and we would have had to pay to walk too.

Indian burial caves that contained three bodies! Spooky!

 The waterfalls were beautiful, but I was a little upset to find out that they were man-made.

Here comes the scary/adventurous part of the tram ride.

 As we pull into this open area of animals, we see a group of elk. OK...no problem...until...











...they started charging the tram!!! I thought the guy driving the truck was going to back us up and get us the heck out of there. But instead he got out of the truck and grabbed a big bag of food and spread it all out next to the tram for the lovely charging elk to eat.

Luckily they were happy after that! Whew!

This guy horned his way in and the elk were not happy about that.

Same thing happened with the buffalo, but they move a LOT slower.

Baby buffalo!

 Then we start to see this horrible rain clouds. I told Kyle that it's going to start to rain and he said "Yeah right, it's not going to rain!" About 5 minutes later....

 we were covered in water! It was actually hailing and pouring rain with thunder and lighting that was striking the ground. Luckily the guy driving the truck busted out some ponchos and we hid underneath them. Of course, me being the California girl that I am, I am yelling "Look! Look! It's hailing!" I'm sure the other tram riders got a kick out of me!

 Last battlefield on the trip- Pea Ridge Battlefield in Arkansas.

On our last night in Branson we went on the Branson Scenic Railway. This was an hour a half train ride from Branson to Galena, MO. It was nice and relaxing, but not very scenic since we had done so much driving and saw pretty much the same thing that we did in the car. 

Now that I have experienced Missouri I am completely in love and I did NOT want to come home. Unfortunately, there are many creepy crawlies in Missouri that will keep me from moving there. Plus they get this white stuff in the winter time that makes it very cold. I guess (for now) this California girl will stay in California.

Update

So, it has been a little over a month since I last posted about my resolutions. So far, I haven't done much. I'm still a stress ball and I'm still working way more than I would like to. I have gotten a lot better at leaving work at work but sometimes the stress of the day follows me home. So today I signed up for a personal trainer and I am OH SO EXCITED about having a trainer! I can't wait to get in shape. I know that when I exercise I feel better about my body and the stress seems to disappear. I have had a personal trainer before and I didn't take it serious, so I didn't see results that I wanted. Now that I am freaking out about how much they cost, I know I will work my butt off to get what I want out of it. Who knew that personal trainers were so expensive?!

Next week I start obedience class with Banner which is way overdue! I am continually talking to the dog as if he understands me and I also try to reason with him like he is one of my students. This doesn't work (obviously) and just makes me frustrated while he is still going crazy. I think this obedience class is going to be good for the both of us. If this doesn't work I'm going to need the Dog Whisperer ASAP!

It's a New Year

I have never been the type of person to celebrate the new year in a big way. I know it may sound kinda silly to some people, but to me it's just another day. I think this feeling comes from being a teacher. I feel like the beginning of a school year is more of a celebration to me than the beginning of a calendar year. I have in the past made new years resolutions though, only to have them fizzle out around February. However, this year I have made a choice to make some new years resolutions and make them a permanent part of my life. I know what you are thinking: yeah yeah, that's what everyone says. I agree with you, but I'm serious! I really thought about resolutions this year and I want to make them part of my everyday life and not something that I want just right now and then stop doing after a month or two. So here is my long list

Resolution 1- Stress out and worry less- Lately I have been a worrier to the max! I worry about everything and then I tend to stress out because of it! Work = stress and then I end up working constantly and I end up a grumpy teacher. Therefore....

Resolution 2- Work smarter/ Not harder- Basically get stuff done that's needs to be done and get outta there (by 3:30 at the latest preferably).

Resolution 3- Exercise and eat healthy- I know this is a typical resolution for people but I really need this to become a part of my life. Exercise makes me cringe and I absolutely hate going to the gym, but it's good for you and it makes me have more energy. Eating healthy really sucks too but I am determined to be bikini ready by June so it's a must!

Resolution 4- Save more money- This is a really hard one because I looooove to shop. I also love to spend money, especially on Starbucks!

Resolution 5- Crafts- I love to get crafty and it's such a stress reliever so this is needed at least once a month if I want to stay sane from eating healthy food and saving money :) I also want to learn to crochet.

Resolution 6- Volunteer- I really want to start getting involved in the community and helping others. I think this will be difficult because I already feel stretched so thin among the other resolutions but even if I could volunteer somewhere just once I know I will love it.

Resolution 7- Think Positively- This one goes hand in hand with worrying and I need to change my negative thoughts to positive ones. Difficult but definitely do able.

Finally Resolution 8- Train Banner- Yes, i have an 9 month old puppy, and he is absolutely adorable, but is NOT trained. He will be trained though starting next month during obedience classes.

Well I think that's good enough for now. I'm sure my list is too long but I feel like I need to make these changes in my life. I probably should add blog more to my list since I have been a lazy blogger, but I'm hoping that improves along the way.

The End of Summer and the Arrival of Mr. Tornado

Ok, so I have turned into one of THOSE bloggers. You know the ones! The ones that blog pretty constantly and then nothing for at least a month. The blogs that you go to and no one has updated their blog for months and months and you wonder what the hell happened to them. Well I have thought about blogging and I feel guilty every time other people blog, but truthfully I just have been busy. The end of summer has come and gone and we are now a month into school which has made life super busy. I feel so lucky this year to be able to be rehired over the summer and start the school year. Not only that but I also get to work in the same classroom, same grade and the same school as last year! I feel super blessed!


Ok, onto more interesting topics like Banner AKA- Mr. Tornado. Banner has actually calmed down quite a bit and he has grown so much in the past 3 months. It kinda makes me sad to see him growing so fast because soon he is going to be a huge dog instead of our cute little pup. He has already started losing a lot of his puppy fur and he is losing teeth like crazy right now. We are hoping that once his adult teeth are in he will stop chewing on everything in sight!

I have never had a puppy before so I forget that he is going to act like a puppy during certain events. For example, one night I had to pick up some things at the pet store so I decided to take him with me. I figured that he would be excited but he would act like a normal dog. WRONG! I put him in the car without his harness (because we were just going about a mile) and took off. The whole time he was in the car he was jumping from the backseat to the front seat and getting fur everywhere. Once we got there, I opened my door and he literally jumped over me to get out of the car! The whole time we were in the store he was pulling on the leash so much that he even was breathing weird. It was quite a show!



Then a couple of weeks ago I decided to give him a bath in the bathtub. Banner really likes water so I figured that he would just sit in the tub and play or drink the water. WRONG AGAIN! I was able to keep him in the tub long enough to put water on him and then he jumped out of the tub, ran around the bathroom, and shook off water all over the bathroom. All I could do was sit there and laugh because it was just so funny! Lately he has gotten the name Mr. Tornado because anytime we leave him in a room for longer than 2 seconds, it ends up looking like a tornado. He loves to get into the trashcans, counter surf to look for food or dish towels, and get up on the bed. Overall though he is much better than he was when we first got him and he is so darn cute that you can't help but forgive him for his puppy ways.

Cupcakes and Crafts

Yesterday, I blended two of my favorite things into one- cupcakes and crafts. I sorta designed and created a birthday card with a cupcake theme. I'm sayin' that I sorta designed it because I did take the idea out of a book but then changed it into my own. Prior to this card I have never ever, ever created a card on my own, but I have been taking classes that make card making so easy. At my card classes the instructors already have everything cut out and I just pretty much look at the examples and stamp, glue and create a card based on their design. I never realized how much time and effort goes into all of this until yesterday. It took me THREE HOURS to complete this card from start to finish! Now I'm sure all of the "crafty ladies" out there would think this is a little easy but hey, it's a start and I'm darn proud of myself for doin' it!

Above is a picture of the example card and below is a picture of the card I made.