Grandpa Black

Last week, my Grandpa Black passed away. Out of my four grandparents, I thought he would have been the last to go and not the first. He had such an active life in running, serving and always working on a project. My family gathered in American Fork, Utah for the services. This was really tough on my Grandma Black but we had most of our famiy there to help and support her. I couldn't believe how many people came to the viewing and funeral. We had prabably 200+ people who stood in line over an hour to pay thier respects to the Blacks. It was very touching to see how many people Grandpa Black had influenced. It was really nice to have so much family around. We really had a good experience being there. The funeral service was so inspirining and helped bring closure to the situation. Though this was a sad event, I am peaceful about it and know I will see him again.

I've Been Tagged

I have been tagged by Julia and Marissa to tell 6 things about myself. But, as usual I have procrastinated long enough!
A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. Matthew and I are really into Heros and Lost. We really are not TV people, but we have gotten into both of these shows and are obsessed! We are in Texas right now for the Thanksgiving holidays and pretty sure we brought season 2 of Lost with us on the plane. but hey the time passed by so fast! So these are the two shows we watch when we both get home at night.

2. So I have a fetish with really cute pillows. I love to have lots of fun pillows on my couches and bed. I am pretty sure I got this obsession from my mom but now I can't help it. I love going into stores like Burlington and Ross because they usually have really cute [pillows for less expensive prices. Matthew really doesn't appreicate them nearly as much as I do but they just add so much to a room!

3. I love to scrapbook. I think this is an awesome way to preserve pictures and memories. However when I am scrapbooking, I hate having one picture in the middle of a page while it is surrounded by all this cute-sy stuff. I like to cram (tastefully) as many pictures on as I can but still have enough room to decorate and make it look nice. I try to scrapbook in my spare time, which usually come to Sunday afternoons.

4.I love my job. Its really fun to have a real job and to enjoy it too! My 6th graders are great and I never have a dull moment during the day. I love to plan fun projects for them and to have creative lessons that the students are engaged in. Even though it takes about 50-60 hours a week to really be prepared and ready every week, I can't think of anything else I would rather do as a career. And the best thing is, no matter where we end up I can always get a job in what I love to do!

5.I like to cook new recipes. I definitely have my favorites that I made a lot but I like to try new dishes. The other day I made a homemade cheesecake was so rich but smooth and creamy. Some of the recipes i have found have been turned down by Matthew, but most of the time they turn out great. The only thing I really don't like is dealing with raw meat, so Matthew takes good care of that and then I can do everything else! So if you have any fun, new recipes, don't hesitate to share!

6. I really do love to dance and miss it so much!! I miss jazz dancing like I did in drill team and I miss being on the Ballroom Dance Company at BYU and competing in ballroom events! Matthew always catches me dancing around the house! So far this year I have taught the beehives in my ward how to line dance, a family in my ward had a family reunion with about 100 or so people that asked me to come teach how to line dance, I have been invited to a singles stake dance to teach line dancing, and now a co-worker asked me to teach salsa dancing to a group in January. I am loving all these oppertunities to dance and I would love any more! I am seriously considering taking dance this summer at a studio but feel kinda weird being an adult and wanting to take dance classes!

So thats me! I now tag Aria, Taryn, Debbie, Emily, Andrea Trowbridge, and Melissa Mann.

Yummy muffins!

My cousin asked for this recipe, so I thought I would post it for everyone to enjoy!

Coffee Cake Muffins
-1 ½ c flour
-1/2 c sugar
-2 t baking powder
- ½ t salt
- ½ c butter, melted
- 1 egg
- 1/3 c milk
-Topping (Below)
-Icing(Below)

Topping:
In a small bowl, combine ¼ c brown sugar, ¼ chopped walnuts (optional), 3 T sugar and 1 t cinnamon. Add 1 T melted butter stirring until mixture resembles moist crumbs.

Icing:
In small bowl combine ½ c powered sugar, 1 T milk and 1 t vanilla, stirring until smooth.

Directions:
1. Prepare topping, set aside
2. In large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Pour in butter, egg and milk. Stir (will be soft).
3. Spoon 2 T of batter in each cup. Sprinkle ¼ of topping over batter. Spoon batter over topping filling cups ½ full. Sprinkle ¼ topping over batter pressing into batter. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes. Cool 5 minutes. Remove from pan.
4. Prepare icing and drizzle over warm muffins.
(Doesn’t make good mini muffins—I tried it)

Halloween!

We had a lot of fun on Halloween in my classroom. In my school district all teachers and students are encouraged to wear costumes all day! So it was almost pointless to do anything productive cause students were so distracted and eager for that night! But we did a fun Halloween writing activity and some other fun Halloween stuff! I was impressed with the costumes my students wore. I had a motercross guy, a couple of devils, a few rocker chicks, a hobo, Legolas from Lord of the Rings, a dead soccor player, and much more. I am really not a costume person but I didn't want to let my kids down so I came to school as a pirate. The whole school had a parade so everyone could see everyone's costumes and even parents were invited. I got several teachers tell me "Oh I almost didn't recognize you as a teacher, I thought you were a student!" Oh well. I had a couple of parents come in to do a Halloween party and they did a great job. We played games (like a mummy making race by wrapping up students in toilet paper!) and made popcorn hands with candy corn as fingernails. It was a great day. I didn't get any trick-or-treaters cause we are in a basement and our door doesn't face the street! But that was ok by me. I was all Halloweened out just from the school day! Here is Jenna and I right before we left for school. I would show a picture of my class doing the mummy race but I probably shouldn't put up student's pictures without parents knowing about it. But they did such a good job!

Pray for Grandpa

This week has been very hard for the Black side of my family. My grandpa Black hasn't been feeling well that last couple of weeks and was finally brought in to the hospital. At first they thought it was his lukemia coming back but not quite sure. Grandpa has been taking some blood thinning medicine but the doctors found that he was bleeding inside his brain, and the blood thinning medicine was not allowing the blot to clot and stop the bleeding. There have also been some other complications, some of which I don't even know. Also his sodium level was very low, almost to a comatose state. We have gone to visit him and he isn't very responsive or talking very much. We are praying that he can recover! My dad came out here for a few days to be with his father. Grandpa was a talking a lot more the last time I saw him, but his health was not improving. I know the doctors have been debating surgery but think he might be too weak. So keep him in your prayers!