adriel and tierra

2011-08-22T09:48:00.002-06:00

This is the only picture I took this summer. And I didn't even take it-Adriel did. We were at an Orem Owlz game. Adriel watched the game and I played with Ian on the grass-it was great!

And now summer is over :(

We had fun while it lasted though. Caught a Lady Antebellum concert at Lake Tahoe with my mom (Adriel's anniversary/birthday gift to me). Went swimming a couple times. Went to BBQs. Watched fireworks. The usual.

Now it's back to school for both of us!

2011-03-28T17:34:00.003-06:00

This is how Ian feels about church (after his first Sunday debut).

Lately after eating Ian has wanted to stay awake and "play" instead of falling right asleep. It's fun to see his new facial expressions and interactions.

In other news...I had to return to work a week ago after a 6 week maternity leave. It actually wasn't as bad as I was anticipating, but I'm sure a lot of that had to do with the fact that I know Ian's in good hands with Adriel while I'm gone. It's hard to get up early in the morning and it's tiring to work all day, but no matter how tired I am when I get home, I'm never too tired for Ian. Going back to working sure makes me hate after-school meetings even more than ever...Come on people, I only have a few hours with my baby when I get home!

Ian Miles Wakefield

2011-02-13T10:01:00.006-07:00

He's here! Ian was born Monday, February 7th at 8:57pm. I was scheduled to be induced on Wednesday, but woke up at 5am Monday when my water broke. I'm really lazy at night and try to hold it until I get up in the morning to go to the bathroom, so my first thought was, "Oh, I think I just wet the bed." I woke Adriel up by saying something along the lines of, "Adriel! I don't know what happened!" He loves when I wake him up like that. Then I called my mom to ask her about what it's like to break your water. After talking with her I still wasn't convinced that I hadn't just wet my pants...until it happened again. At that point I decided to get ready to go to the hospital. Adriel decided it was a good time to play video games. My dad was a little more than alarmed that I wasn't in any hurry, but all the things I read and classes I went to said that there's no need to hurry unless the water is "dirty," indicating that the baby pooped and is under stress/in danger of ingesting the poop. Yummy, I know.
Finished showering and getting ready for the day...then dropped by my classroom to make sure everything was ready for my sub, dropped by McDonald's so Adriel could get some breakfast...you know, the usual "I'm going to have a baby" errands. Anyway, we checked into the hospital around 7:30am and the waiting started. When your water breaks they want the baby delivered within 24 hours to avoid infection so they started me on pitocin to speed things up-when we arrived at the hospital I was in no pain and was only barely 2cm. They kept upping my dosage and I was wondering when things would start to hurt. Around 12:30 I decided to start the epidural in case things really started to hurt. I was a little worried about the needle, but my twice daily injections I gave myself hurt more than the epidural. So far, so good.
At some point during this time my parents showed up and we all just hung out in the delivery room watching Myth Busters, Ellen, and Oprah...and a lot of basketball, thanks to Adriel. Finally at 7:00pm I was 10cm and it was time to push. My parents left and it was me, Adriel, our nurse, and a few med students. The nurse told me what to do and I did my best with not being able to feel anything. She said it was perfect, so I just kept that up. The whole time I was thinking, "Is this it? That's not so bad." After an hour of pushing, Ian wasn't moving any farther and my doctor was called in to see what he wanted to do. He said we could use forceps, I could try pushing more, or they would have to do a c-section since the baby was stuck. I decided to try pushing more...thinking maybe I could push harder. We tried that for another half hour and he didn't budge, so we called the doctor in to use the forceps. He got all set up and then Ian was out within 20 min!

They cleaned him all up and gave him to me. I was surprised at all the tests and things they do immediately after they're born...and all the tags they put on both of us. Adriel went with Ian to the nursery for his bath and they took me to our room that we'd be staying in. Up to this point things had gone really well and virtually painless. The worst part was that I got sick twice during the labor. It sure isn't fun to have to vomit while lying down when your lower body is numb and you can't move. Adriel was so great and held the barf bag for me and helped clean me up.
Everyone always tells you horror stories about labor and delivery, but they never tell you all the horrible things about recovery. For me, labor and delivery were easy. It's the recovery that I could do without. I almost passed out the first three times using the bathroom. Not to mention how sore I was for days. Anyway, all things considered I would do it again.

Especially when I get this out of it.

Just a sidenote- Adriel is the BEST! He's so good at taking care of Ian and me. In fact I have yet to change a diaper. I've helped him change a few, but he's on top of things! I get really nervous about changing diapers and hurting him (with his belly button healing and his circumcision healing). It makes me really anxious when he starts crying and there's nothing I can do to stop it until he's all changed and clothed again. Adriel is so easy going that he just goes about business regardless of Ian's crying. My plan is to jump in when he's all healed up...and when I'm all healed up.

:(

2011-02-02T18:46:00.003-07:00

The amnio went just fine, but Ian's lungs aren't ready yet, so I've been told I have to wait a week. I have another dr. appt. tomorrow and I'm hoping they'll give me a definitive date. If anyone who reads this ever has to get an amniocentesis, don't worry. It really was no big deal-at least not for me. I've heard amnios done earlier in pregnancy can be way scarier and dangerous though. I watched a video on youtube and I read a whole bunch of scary stuff online to prepare myself for the worst, but it really was nothing more than a needle prick. In fact, it hurt less than the shots I give myself twice a day. The most uncomfortable thing about it was seeing the fluid after they took it out. It was kind of a freaky, alien-esque type moment where a long needle just went into your stomach and took out this soup/broth type looking stuff.

But before they started probing my stomach we got to see Ian sucking his thumb on the ultrasound! That was neat.

37 Weeks!

2011-01-25T18:34:00.003-07:00

This post is for you, Sheri! Here I am at 37 weeks. I am scheduled for an amniocentesis on Monday the 31st to check if Ian's lungs are ready. If they are, then they will go ahead and induce me! In case you haven't been following my life/stalking me, I'm on a medication that thins my blood. They don't want me going into labor on my own while on the medication because of the risk of bleeding too much. However, they don't want me going off the medication for too long because I need to take it to make sure the baby is healthy and that there is a good exchange of blood, etc. from me to the baby. So they pretty much have to schedule my delivery and would like to just make sure his lungs are healthy. He's a big boy and I'll almost be 38 weeks at that point, so we're keeping our hopes up....cause I sure don't want to take Monday off of work only to go back for another week :( And I guess it would be nice to get this baby out and meet him.

29 Weeks

2010-12-05T16:59:00.003-07:00

This is what a butternut squash looks like if you put it under your shirt...and somehow got it into your uterus at the same time.

I took a nap on the couch yesterday and had a dream that I woke up and Ian was here. I thought, "Wow, that was pretty cool...I must have had him when I was asleep." And then I thought, "This works out pretty well. I have a student teacher who is teaching next week, then there's a week before Christmas break, two weeks of Christmas break...that only leaves 2 weeks of sub plans to do!" I keep going to sleep hoping this story comes true, but it's yet to happen.

Halloween

2010-11-01T19:25:00.003-06:00

I thought I should take full advantage of my current Halloween situation and play it up. None of the kids in my class got it....or could even read what my sign said. Someone asked me if I was a vampire. I might retire early.

Ian

2010-10-25T08:11:00.003-06:00

Check out those muscles! Ha, I thought this pic was funny and like to refer to Ian as having "fists of fury." He sure is moving around a lot now. Everything is going well with him. He's measuring at 1 pound, 5 ounces. The blood screening indicates there are no worries about any genetic defects and his brain and spine look really good, so no worries there. I wasn't aware of this, but apparently from the screening they can also see how well blood flows in and out of the placenta and they said that all looks really good, which is great because that's a concern with women who have lupus. And here's Ian...he's an ear of corn for Halloween.

21 Weeks!

2010-10-06T17:25:00.005-06:00

I'm more than halfway done! Ian's about 10 1/2 inches long from head to foot (the length of a carrot) and about 3/4lb. I've been feeling him move around for the last 2 or 3 weeks and Adriel finally felt him kick last Saturday. When asked if he wanted to feel it again a few minutes later, he declined and said it's weird and he doesn't like to feel it. Apparently this is a common sentiment of fathers.
So since I'm now on the downside of this pregnancy, I've been thinking if I want to get maternity pics or not. I found the following pictures on awkwardfamilyphotos.com and thought they were some great inspiration. I mean, who doesn't want to show off a picture of you and your husband, naked, and pregnant...in a really awkward pose?

I know I do. I'm sure Adriel does.

Outside View

2010-09-19T17:11:00.003-06:00

I finally feel like I have something to show now, so I thought I'd put a couple pictures up. Adriel tried taking some, but he thinks I'm a lunatic for posting them on here in the first place and I think that impaired his camera skills. I ended up setting the camera up on the top of the stairs and setting the self-timer. I can't remember ever purposefully taking a side shot of my stomach and it felt pretty awkward...especially trying to figure out what to do with my arms. You may never see another side-pic on here.

2010-09-18T18:40:00.002-06:00

Baby Ian is about 5 1/2 inches long and about 7 oz. now. Seems awfully small for 4 months of growing! I guess the next few weeks are going to be full of growth spurts though...and apparently this is when he'll start to chunk up. I hope that baby in the ticker gets a little more meat on his bones! Maybe sometime I should post a pic of me on here...I finally do have something to show.

It's a turnip!

2010-09-13T17:22:00.007-06:00

Who wants to look at a dumb piece of produce when you can see the real deal?! Here are the latest ultrasound pictures...yes, IT'S A BOY!

How big is a turnip anyway??

Remember this?

2010-09-09T20:23:00.007-06:00

I had this sitting in my backyard for oh...I don't know...like a YEAR! Adriel loved it...

WELL, my dad came down for about a week and helped me strip off the 5 layers of paint, grind the loose rust off, seal it, and then paint it. I think it looks great! It only took 3 grown men to lift it and move it into my classroom.

In case you're wondering, it's used as a place for the kids to sit and read books. My 4th grade teacher had one and I always loved the idea. Now I have my own!

15 Weeks!

2010-08-26T14:49:00.001-06:00

How did I not post last week?! Well, the fetus was the size of a lemon last week.
Here's this week:
Oh, and is it just me or does that baby on the ticker look really skinny to anyone else?

2010-08-16T14:00:00.004-06:00

I've had a lot of requests lately for posts. This one is a shout out to Jamie.

Have you ever been sitting at home and think, "Gosh, I wonder how big Tierra's fetus is today?" Well, wonder no more. It's a shrimp this week. I personally think that's misleading because according to another site that I frequent, it's more like the size of a peach. To me, a peach is a more uniform size than a shrimp. Shrimp come in all sorts of sizes. The one above is supposed to be a jumbo shrimp. And don't you think a peach is bigger than a jumbo shrimp? Maybe I'm going to the wrong seafood restaurants, but I've never been served a shrimp that was the size of a peach.

Oh, and does anyone know how to change the color of that baby on the ticker on the side? What's with giving everyone a white baby? I'm really crossing my fingers that our child gets more of Adriel's color than mine.

As requested...

2010-08-09T18:40:00.002-06:00

I had a request to share this little detail of my pregnancy...

As many of you know, I have Lupus. Along with that comes a problem that I have with my blood being too thick. Not too big of a deal-I just take Aspirin twice a day. Well, Aspirin and babies don't mix, so I had to stop taking it. The only medication that's safe to take during pregnancy is something called Heparin.

And the only way to take Heparin is with this:

And if that weren't enough fun, Heparin has a really short half-life so I have to take it twice a day. Double the fun! Kind of another weird thing about it is that I have to give myself the shots around my belly button. It's a good thing I'm not a belly-shirt type person cause it's not pretty. Probably mostly because I'm not very good at giving shots. Ask Adriel about the first couple of times I had to do it. I cried. I don't mind shots or needles at all, but the thought of having to do it to myself really freaked me out. Add to that the thought of having to do 400+ shots before this baby gets here. Daunting. BUT, I'm over all of that now and it's pretty routine. I've never had Adriel give me the shots because, honestly, that freaks me out more than administering them myself. Plus, I figured I would have to do it alone eventually, why not start off that way. He was very, very good at talking me through the first couple days though.

p.s.- It's first come, first served for used syringes from the garbage out back and those junkies are rough. Watch yourself.

And back to the BEST blog ever!

2010-08-09T07:48:00.002-06:00

There it is...a baby. And you thought my blog was not worth reading anymore. That ultrasound was about 3 weeks ago and according to my research, the baby is twice that size now and has arms, legs, and something more than a bean shape. I'm just over 3 months now and I'm due mid-February. Very excited! I'm wearing maternity pants today for the first time (mostly cause they make me feel more like I'm wearing sweatpants-not cause I REALLY need to yet). They also make me feel like my zipper is undone...if they had a zipper. I went in for an appointment a few days ago and the Dr. said, "Wow, it's very active....it's sure going to keep you awake when you can feel it." Great. Just kidding, I'm happy that it's running around-makes me think it's growing nicely. Keep coming back-I'm sure I'll have more to talk about soon!

Worst Blog Ever

2010-07-24T09:38:00.003-06:00

I pretty much only use my blog as a portal to the blogs that I read. I felt ambitious this morning and thought I would actually post something, and even a pic too! Then I opened my picture folder and saw that the last pictures I put on my computer were from Christmas. That's right, I haven't taken any pictures since December. Well, not totally true. We went to Yellowstone a couple weeks ago and I need to get those on the computer, but I can't find the cord to transfer them. I rock at pictures and blogging.

FYI

2010-04-24T12:26:00.001-06:00

Did you know you can get a third degree burn from a hot glue gun?

Yeah, me neither.

I know that now.

Well...

2010-04-23T13:44:00.002-06:00

Me: _______, where were you the last couple of days? Were you sick? (He'd been absent for two days in a row)
Student: Well, I didn't have any clean clothes.

Score-
Mom: 0 Laundry: 1

Blah

2010-03-30T08:26:00.004-06:00

I pretty much hate when people make their blogs private. I make exceptions when they have mean people leaving nasty comments. I just don't like when people make theirs private because they think they're so important that a serial killer is going to come get them. However, if that really happens, then please, go private. ANYWAY, I'm making mine private because I'm really tired of the anonymous spam comments. It's getting ridiculous. So, for those that do read, is there any way to block the spam comments? If there isn't, I'll be forced by my sanity to GO PRIVATE. Don't make me do it!

* Okay, thanks to Brittney, I turned on the word verification tool...now all you lurkers (and by all, I mean probably only one-possibly that serial killer out there) can still read about me in the secret darkness of your closet.

We're Never Gonna Survive Unless We Get a Little Crazy

2010-01-17T20:42:00.003-07:00

Today we were celebrating my sister-in-law's birthday as well as my brother's birthday. I should have known there would be drama....
We drove over to their apartment and when we pulled into the parking lot, this old RV (I tried desperately to find a pic similar and came up empty handed) pulled in next to us and I mentioned something to Adriel about the guy parking so close to us and that I thought he was gonna hit our car. Well, we get out and start to go up the three flights of stairs to their condo and I see this guy get out of the RV and start walking up the steps also. Whatever, not a big deal, although I thought it was kinda weird cause he didn't look like he belonged there-he was old and scruffy looking and the place is mostly college students.
We just keep going up the stairs and we get to the top and he is coming all the way to the top too. We stop at my brother's door and knock and this guy stops RIGHT behind Adriel and I'm thinking, ok, I guess he's here for my brother, even though it seemed really strange. My brother opens the door and we come in and I say, "Hey, someone else is here for you." This guy just walked in behind my husband and my brother has no idea who he is and has to push him out of the apartment and close the door. Meanwhile, I'm getting my dad so he can come help out. My dad and brother go outside with this guy and are trying to talk to him and he's not responding at all, just staring. My dad gets him to walk to the landing on the stairs and is trying to ask him who he is and what he wants. The whole time, he's just mimicking my dad's physical stance and movements, then he walks up to my brother's door again and just stands there. At that point, my brother called the police, they came started talking to him. That's when the guy started to mimick the police officer. Now that the police officer was with him, my dad starts to leave and this guy starts following my dad up the stairs again. It was really crazy. They finally got the guy to get back in his RV and leave. Scary that they let him drive still and sent him out onto the roads. It was the weirdest, creepiest thing. It's hard to tell with people like that how they're going to respond. I was afraid he was going to pull a knife or become violent. At the same time, it's very sad. He's obviously mentally handicapped and the police just put him back in his RV and sent him on. I mean, where would they take him anyway?

Your older articles are not as good as newer ones...

2010-01-09T21:37:00.002-07:00

Well, thank you...I think. Someone left that comment on my last post. Anonymous left that comment on my last post. Whoever you are, I'll try to keep up the good work. I'm thinking of figuring out how to track who looks at this blog because apparently it's more people than I think, and these people are coming back for more. It even sounds like they were coming back for more when my posts sucked. Was it David Bowie you're referring to because I will NOT turn my back on him.

New Years Resolutions

2010-01-07T10:49:00.003-07:00

I now hate people who make resolutions. Scratch that, I hate people who make resolutions that interfere with my already scheduled activities. As some of you may know, I go to a spin class at the gym. I've gone before New Years...a lot. Yesterday was the first time I went post New Years..and this is how it went down.
I get to the gym and it's packed. All parking lots were full so I had to park 2 blocks away and then run to the building so I wouldn't be late. I walk into my class 3 min. before it starts and every single bike (like 50 of them) is taken. Spin class pre-New Years there were never more than 7 people there (instructor included). I'm going to therefore attribute it to people with resolutions-hopefully they give up soon cause I'm not liking this. So, no bike for me. I had to go back downstairs and just run on the treadmill...until I accidentally dropped and then kicked (drop-kicked?) my ipod down to the next level below me. However, I didnt dare leave my machine cause there was a line behind me to use it. So for the rest of my workout I had my eye on my ipod down on the lower level so nobody would swipe it...and no music to work out to. LAME

Let`s take our chance together to get rid of nastiness of the life

2009-12-16T09:46:00.001-07:00

Is this happening to other people or just me? I've started getting spam comments. I'm not really sure why since I'm pretty sure NOBODY reads my blog. I do find it entertaining to read the broken English though. Check out the latest one in the comments section of my last post. Haha

Yes, I AM 95...

2009-11-18T09:09:00.002-07:00

I have a quart of these in my fridge at school.

This week I have been eating them everyday at morning recess. Why? No reason really...other than the fact that I behave like a 95 year old woman. I think they're tasty, but they cause fits of running to the bathroom around 12:00 (which I'm sure my coworkers enjoy as much as I do). Does that stop me? Oh, no it does not.

Kindergarten...

2009-11-11T20:18:00.003-07:00

I had 5 students shove paper towels down the toilet today...simultaneously. All while screaming and laughing. Here are a few of the rules that were broken:

1. Only one person in the bathroom at a time...not 5.
2. The bathroom is not a place to play....or scream. Sometimes it's a place to sing and I'm ok with that. In fact it makes me laugh while they're at recess and someone is using the bathroom and singing at the top of their lungs while they do their business.
3. Nothing goes in the toilet except waste and toilet paper.

I asked what would make them do this and they said there was no trash can. Don't worry that my classroom has two trashcans of its own and the other bathroom (3 feet away) had a trashcan. Well, as a tracked down the missing trashcan from the after school program that stole it, I came up with what I think to be the perfect punishment for these kids.

First, we talked about our school custodian and how unfair it would be to have him retrieve the paper towels. Then I threw in that it wouldn't be very fair for myself or my aid to have to get them either (gotta look out for number one). Soooo....I had them put on some of these....

and get their own paper towels....out of the toilet. Yep, I'm that kind of teacher.

2009-11-07T06:33:00.006-07:00

Remember this guy? If you don't, then maybe you don't belong here...

It's Saturday morning and for no reason at all I'm up at 5:57...AM. And I'm angry about it. So what does a girl do at this hour? I mean besides watching commercials for the Slap Chop (which, by the way, has been remixed
I witnessed it on TV, which makes it real). Enjoy it...stop having a boring life.

BUT, back to my original thought...other than watching infomercials, my only other option was to watch Jump Start on Vh1, and who do I see? None other than Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters.

"We were both young when I first saw you
I close my eyes
And the flashback starts"
(unnecessary reference to Taylor Swift,
just to piss Adriel off)

Well, what I'm trying to say is that when I was a young child I was in love with Dave Grohl. As well as David Bowie.

Both THIS Bowie...

And THIS Bowie...

But not THIS Bowie. Couldn't ever take it that far...

Halloween

2009-10-11T19:51:00.003-06:00

Halloween is approaching and I'm trying to figure out what to be. I have some stipulations.

1. Cheap-I don't have a lot of money to spend on just one day...unless that one day includes Adriel taking me out on an outrageously expensive date that includes getting banana spring rolls from PF Changs at the end of the night...hint, hint.
2. Unencumbering-I'm no longer willing to wear a wig or use face paint (which is how I define encumbering)
3. Child friendly-I do have to parade around the school (with my class) in front of all the parents, so if you're thinking of telling me to be a "nurse," think again. I'm talking to you, Mom. After all, you did call me a slut last week...

There, those are pretty good guidelines I think.

More Mohops and Bumpin It UP!

2009-10-02T19:45:00.006-06:00

Adriel got me these awesome pair of leg warmers last year because I freeze all winter. I only ever wore them inside because I didn't think the world could handle them...until today.

The long awaited Bumpit photos...BTW, I had to inform Adriel over dinner tonight that I had implants in my hair. For a week. As soon as I told him, he said I've been watching too much Oprah.

Mohops

2009-09-30T17:19:00.004-06:00

I ordered these shoes for my birthday and they finally arrived! I found them on etsy.com and knew I needed them. I didn't know how much they cost though... So after much deliberation (days of it), Adriel said it was fine by him if I wanted them for my birthday. They're hand-made, so it took FOREVER for them to arrive (9 weeks, I think). But when they arrived, they arrived. I've been wearing them almost non-stop ever since. They're even comfortable enough to wear all day at work...multiple days in a row. If you can't see in the pictures, those brads are where you can loop ribbons through. You can put any ribbon in you want and switch out the metal rings and add other embellishments. Here's a site that shows how some people do theirs.

Bump, Bump It Up!

2009-09-30T17:14:00.002-06:00

I bought them...and I use them. It was actually for fun at first (the biggest one is pretty scary), but I've been using them and I really feel like it was a wise investment. I no longer have to tease my hair as much to get some volume (I have really fine hair [not thin hair, fine hair] and it's hard to get it to do anything other than be limp). I'll really get it nicely done and take some pics someday.

2009-09-30T13:22:00.004-06:00

Why do I have to buy this monthly?

Tub-ular

2009-09-19T20:28:00.007-06:00

I've been looking for a clawfoot tub for some time now and finally found one under $500 on KSL...although it's not as great as the bell....

When I was in grade school, one of my classrooms had an old clawfoot tub where we were allowed to sit and read during free time or when we finished our work. I'm currently trying to strip the old paint off and hopefully I can find a good yellow color to put on it. I'll post after pics when it's done.

New Hair

2009-09-19T20:24:00.002-06:00

Decided it was time to go dark again.

Broken by professional.

2009-09-02T18:22:00.004-06:00

Every few days I check out what's free on KSL.com classifieds. I occasionally let my dad know about pigs and roosters that are free, or I just look for anything I might want-I think that's where I found our kitten. Anyway, check out this gem. Be sure to read the picture captions by clicking on the pictures. At first I thought maybe the person that posted this didn't speak English very well. Then I read on and thought maybe they were handicapped. Finally I read the picture caption about being able to see the night time when you look inside the bell. Now I think they must be on drugs. Enjoy.

No rectal suppositories for me...

2009-08-22T20:20:00.002-06:00

It's that time of year again! Time to test all the kindergartners and start a new school year! I've been excited for a new year in which I don't have to be stuck in a temporary school or move to a new school after school has been in session for a month. I've had my room alllll summer to tinker with and change things, switch stuff up, or work on ideas I've had for the last couple of years. So now it's finally time to find out who will be in my class! Exciting! That is until.....

My kindergarten team and I started testing students.

The first day of testing was ok. The second day of testing was a day out of hell. We started testing at 8:30am and finished at 8:00pm. We tested about 50 students that day (It takes about 30min. for each student-one to one testing). It gets pretty monotonous. And discouraging. It amazes me every year how children who have been on the earth for 5 or 6 years can know 0 colors, 0 letters, 0 letter sounds, 0 numbers, and cannot even tell me orally what their name is. Yep. They don't know their own name. And if they cannot speak English, they get to take the test in Spanish, so they don't know it in their native language either. I tested a girl who could only orally count to 1. She didn't know what number came after one. Now, you may be thinking they're special needs. Nope. We also test the special needs children and they usually score much higher. These children have just never had any kind of stimulating conversation or teaching at home. When asking a parent if their child spoke English at home they told me, "Yeah, he watches a lot of English cartoons." Great. Anyway, all of that aside, here was the icing on the cake:

I tested a child who got the lowest score as of yet. After the test I went to talk to her parents and voice my concerns about her very low score. I asked if she had ever been tested for something (She was not flagged as special needs and I wondered if maybe she was special needs but they just didn't notify the office.). No, this was her first testing of any kind. So I break the bad news that their child scored very very low...like she got less than a 5% on the test. They didn't seem to believe me and told me she had gone to 2 years of preschool before. RED FLAG!! If your child has gone to 2 years of preschool and gets the lowest score of anyone, ya might want to think about that. So I sent them on their way and just chalked it up to another student that would need a lot of help in my classroom. And then I read the note at the bottom of the information sheet that they filled out (after they left the building):

_______ is partially paralyzed on her left side due to cerebral palsy. She has severe seizures about once a month that require a rectal suppository immediately and immediate hospitalization. If this happens, please call us.

WHAT???? Isn't that something you think you should tell the kindergarten teacher????? I didn't notice that she dragged her leg a little when she walked because she was always walking behind me. I practically ran down to the principal's office and shoved the paper at her while asking, "What exactly am I supposed to do with this?"

Don't get me wrong....I love children. I love handicapped children. I'm not scared of them, but I am not letting that child in my room without her own aid. If she showed up to school alone, I would take her to the office. I am not a special ed teacher and I am not a nurse. By the way, my school has a nurse for 2 hours every Friday. How dumb is that? Off the subject... Then I start to think...Ok, even if she does have an aid with her at all times in my room, when she does have a seizure (possibly monthly), here's what I'm picturing:

Seizure is life-threatening, so personal privacy is not so much an issue....therefore, seizure begins while I'm teaching or whatever while the whole class is there....aid yanks down her pants, shoves a rectal suppository in, all while the child is convulsing and the whole class is watching. Can you imagine being 5 or 6 and seeing this happen to your friend/classmate...ONCE A MONTH! Nobody would ever come to school again. I really feel for this girl, but I am not the person to be her teacher. I am not trained for that and it wouldn't be fair to the rest of my class.

So Principal says, "Talk to the special ed teacher in the morning."

I finish my testing that evening, Adriel picks me up, I tell him the story and start crying....in the Carl's Jr. drive through. Then Adriel takes me home and gives me a 30min. back massage and tells me that I shouldn't have a job that makes me cry :)

Well, the next morning, I talk to the special ed teacher, she calls the preschool that the girl attended for 2 years and they say, no, no, no, no, NO. She is supposed to be at a special needs school for severe cases. I think the parents just were trying to slip her into mainstream school so that she would be in a full-day kindergarten instead of a half-day special ed school. Home run number 2 for Mom and Dad.

To end on a high note....

I love my job. Even though it's discouraging at times. And really, it's only discouraging and it only upsets me when I know the children are so disadvantaged because of poor parenting and poor living conditions. It's sad. It's not the kids' fault and I love being able to help them get a step up and be at the level their more advantaged peers are. It's almost like these kids don't have a chance, but I feel like I'm making a difference. I would rather work at my school and deal with the off-the-wall parents so that I can help these kids than work at a school where parents are helpful, students come in at or above grade level, and teaching is "easier." I don't want an easy job. I want a rewarding job.

Vacations and Tomatoes

2009-07-19T14:50:00.013-06:00

I went on a solo vacation the last 2.5 weeks and when I got home, I found these! The first tomatoes of my garden! I also found pumpkin plants taking over the backyard and some very tall corn stalks.

My brother Jeremiah and I saw The Lion King on Broadway and it was AMAZING! The costumes alone were good enough for me, but the music and everything else was also fantastic. I would post pics, but there was a very strict no picture policy. There were full-size elephants, giraffes, gazelles, and cheetah costumes. The opening was spectacular (when all the animals come in and they're singing "The Circle of Life" at pride rock).

Brooklyn Bridge

The Statue of Liberty

We took the ferry at dusk, which was the best time in my opinion. The sun was setting and then by the time the ferry turned around to go back to Manhattan, it was dark and the city lights were on.

Jeremiah and me waiting for the ferry. The family behind us was priceless. They sounded like they were from New Jersey and were even better than any New Jersey family portrayed on TV. father- "Can you believe this? My own daughta tellin me I can't tawk ta her!"
daughter- "I can't stand him (referring to her brother), he's like anotha fatha ta me!"
father- "That's his jawb, that's what he's posed ta do..."

on, and on, and on
It was pretty entertaining
I can't capture the moment in text

I visited my brother Brandon, my sister-in-law Amelia and their kids Levi, Madeleine, and Genevieve in Penn. Here they are at Gettysburg. We went to DC, Gettysburg, and quite a lot of other places while I visited. I had a lot of fun

4th of July festivities

Museum in DC

I had a lot of fun on vacay, but I missed Adriel a lot! I'm so glad to be home! While I was gone, Adriel took a trip to San Francisco with his old roommate Steve. He brought me back a nice jewelry box made of shells....oh, and a speeding ticket.

We're Old

2009-06-07T11:18:00.006-06:00

Adriel and I skipped from 25-ish to 65-ish. If you ever call or drop by between 7:00 and 8:00 on a weekday, you can bet we'll be watching Wheel of Fortune, followed by Jeopardy. And you can guarantee there will be at least one comment about how ridiculously tan Pat Sajak is.

(Don't know who this other guy is, but it makes it easier to compare a normal caucasian skintone to a Pat Sajak skin tone.)

p.s.-I've lost 5 pounds! 10-15 more to go!

Summer 09!

2009-04-30T19:05:00.001-06:00

I want to lose 15-20 lb. before my birthday. That's it. I've made it public and now I'm responsible for it. In order to do so, I'm trying to get a free giveaway of Weight Watchers by blogging about it.

I love cake.

2009-04-23T14:09:00.003-06:00

I just want to share this with everyone. I enjoy this blog immensely (and it's generally updated DAILY, which makes me love it even more).

This might be my favorite.

Play Doh

2009-04-08T08:08:00.002-06:00

School is about to start in 5 minutes, so I've got to make this really quick. I just opened my desk drawer and realized that quite a while ago I put a tiny little container of Play Doh in there. I think I thought at the time that maybe during recess break or prep time that I might like to get it out and play with it. However, after seeing how my class wrecks the art center after any activity involving Play Doh (or anything for that matter), the appeal has worn off. But part of my heart can't let go of wanting to play with Play Doh, so I'm afraid it's going to sit in my desk for a little bit longer.

Hmmmph

2009-03-07T08:36:00.004-07:00

It's been a loooong time and I still haven't figured out what's wrong with my computer, so it may be even longer before you get a picture from me. However, I finally decided to delve into the world of links (mostly thanks to TAMN [see side note at the bottom]and Fig).

I bought a sewing machine! So it's Saturday morning and I'm watching Hocus Pocus and wondering how I can use my new gadget next when I stumble upon this site, which I fully approve of. However, as I'm perusing the patterns, I see this. Is the economy really that bad? Do people really have to make their own from scratch and then (ewww) wash them....and then (ewww) reuse them? Or maybe these people are really just trying to "make menstruating more fun." Either way, I want nothing to do with any of it/them...ever.

On a different note, my friend Brittney showed me this and I thought it should be a #1 best-seller in (rural) Utah. Half of me wants it myself and the other half of me hates it/me for halfway wanting it.

Here are some other things bouncing around in my head.
1. Bolt-Love it-I even had a dream about getting a(nother) dog because of it.
2. Wall-E-Fell asleep a little bit, but pieced things together. Half of me hated that robots were falling in love and the other half thought it was cute (probably the same half that wants a Bump It).
3. Should I give that half a name to make things easier to convey in the future?
4. Is it a sign that you're getting older when you don't buy heels anymore and opt for the more sensible shoes that you can wear to work all day? I really only wear heels anymore when I go to church and when I go out with Adriel. I love all my flats, but I miss wearing heels. Some girls at work wear heels all day, but maybe kindergarten is less conducive to heels. That's what I'll say...Because the girls who wear the heels are older than me by about 4 or 5 years. And they're all the single girls. Why is that?
5. It's time for me to get up and do something today.

Side Note-if you follow TAMN then you'll love this and this, this and this (thanks, JJWT!), and my all-time favorite, this (note when the last one occurred-months after getting married). If you're wondering, I decided to go to the "followers" section on TAMN's blog and randomly clicked on a person to see what other kinds of people follow TAMN. Apparently that kind. I wonder if she even knows it's a farce. I bet she thinks they're eBFFs! BAAAA!

Huh?

2009-01-03T20:47:00.003-07:00

I need help! Some of you have wondered where I have been. The answer is...here, the whole time. I frequently, if not daily check up on my blogs, but I rarely blog myself anymore because the pictures keep getting screwed up (see Scooter's pics for an example).
With the exception of the prior post (which took a few tries), every time I try to upload my photos, they come out screwed up on Blogger. Only on Blogger-not on my computer or camera. I tried switching transfer methods from my camera, thinking that was the problem, but apparently not. I even tried uploading pics to the web and then loading from there to Blogger, but when I upload the pics from my desktop to the web, it does the same thing. Does anyone know what's going on?

Thanksgiving

2009-01-03T20:39:00.001-07:00

This pretty much sums up Thanksgiving. Scooter took his first roadtrip up to my family's. He feasted on Adriel's facial hair.

2008-11-24T21:20:00.002-07:00

Not sure what's going on with Blogger, but when I upload photos, it makes funny lines on them...

Scoot

2008-11-24T21:02:00.009-07:00

3. Scooter Douglas
We've added another member to the Wakefield fam. We got Scooter (Scoot, Scoots, Scoot-Doot, Scooty, Doug-e Fresh) last Thursday. He's 13 weeks old...pit bull/boxer mix. He likes to snuggle and bite Adriel's fro.

Serena & Ironman

2008-11-24T20:51:00.009-07:00

2. The Serena tag goes along with Halloween. I take pics of all of my students on Halloween because some of them are just hilarious...as seen above. Betcha didn't know I had Ironman or Spiderman in my class, did you?

I was a vampire (sorry no pics) for Halloween and got a wig. Adriel put it on the next morning and we took some shots. We decided next Halloween he should use it to be Serena Williams.

Circus!

2008-11-24T20:06:00.011-07:00

Ok, I've got the motivation to blog right now, so you're going to get it all at once.

1. Adriel, Gabe, my mom and I went to the circus! Gabe and I had never been before and I was 100% satisfied. It was amazing! Way more than I had expected. Check out my amazed, circus face...

Mental-ity

2008-10-19T19:08:00.003-06:00

Well, as many of you know, Adriel has started his own blog. I guess the one I started wasn't good enough for him... There's a link on the side bar for it. It's just his thoughts on various things. If you don't want to be offended about such things as gay marriage, sacrilegious topics, or such, probably not a good idea to go there. No, just kidding...mostly. I don't find him offensive, but he'll give you his opinion for sure.

In other news, I moved into my new school! We actually start classes tomorrow morning in my new classroom! I'm very excited. My classroom is HUGE and I can already see how much more effective teaching will be in a new, big school. I'll post my own pics at some point, but until then, here are some generic ones of the outside of the school.

Floo Powder

2008-09-06T15:45:00.003-06:00

Adriel started reading the 1st Harry Potter book around June and he just finished the final one. He's been making analogies between life and Harry Potter almost every day. Some people wake up in the morning and their husband calls them sweety pie or something like that, but Adriel woke up the other day and called me a blast-ended skrewt. Here's another good one...Adriel's phone went off early in the morning and he was still mostly asleep when I hear him saying something about his phone waking him up from his Harry Potter dream. Then he mumbled something about getting back on his Firebolt and started snoring. He claims he'll be wearing a cape soon.

Welcome to Verizon Wireless, how can we help you today?

2008-07-09T21:38:00.002-06:00

Well, I have another new job. I couldn't bear to sit in a 2x2 cubicle for 8 hours a day, so I quit one day. Not too professional, but it was me or the job and I would prefer my sanity. There was about a day and half of enormous stress when I realized I didn't have a job and rent would be due...oh, and that new car payment w/ the accompanying new car insurance. So after I enjoyed the first nap in a few months, I got up and went looking or a new job. Apparently a college degree means nothing to anyone because nobody wants to hire me. I guess nice slacks and a professional demeanor also mean little to Provo, UT. Who wouldn't want to hire me? I would love to hire me. Adriel then referred me to a job agency and I thought for sure I would be out working in a field somewhere (corn detassling?) for the rest of my summer. But my husband pulled through for me and they helped me find a job...at the Verizon store in the mall. Ok, so I thought it would be about the same as my last job, pay wise. Nope, they pay me a ridiculous amount of money to do the following:

1. Say "Hi" to the customer when they enter
2. Get their name, account phone number, and what they need help with
3. Give them to someone else in the order they arrived in

Yeah, I'm pretty much like a hostess at a restaurant...I can even give pagers that buzz to let you know you're up in line. I don't even have to know anything. In fact, if anyone asks me any questions, I just tell them who they will be working with and let them know I'm just crowd control. And they pay me $4 more an hour than my last job. The only downside I can think of is that I stand about 98% of the time, but I'm getting more used to that everyday. Oh, maybe one more downside...since I work at the mall, it's way too easy to buy lunch at the foodcourt, which is too expensive and too bad for your health.

p.s. Don't even ask if I get a discount, because I don't-I already asked. However, I did find out that you can get a discount depending on where you work. Since I work for the school district now, I get 20% off my bill every month.

Haircut!!

2008-06-29T15:15:00.007-06:00

FINALLY! Pictures of my haircut! I'm not sure if it's really reflective of how it looks, but oh well. I love the color (which is hard to see in the pics) and I don't love the pictures so much since I'm in our tiny bathroom. Adriel didn't see the necessity of taking pictures for me, so they look a little fake. My arm isn't very long and I feel like I look slightly distorted. Enjoy!

WE MADE IT!

2008-06-26T16:53:00.004-06:00

AGAIN, SORRY FOR ALL CAPS....IT'S JUST SUCH A HARSH TONE.

ALRIGHT, I'LL FINALLY BLOG ABOUT SOMETHING. WELL, I HAVE PICS OF MY HAIR, BUT I HAVEN'T PUT THEM ON MY COMPUTER YET, BUT THEY ARE COMING! IN THE MEANTIME, HERE'S HOW OUR ANNIVERSARY WENT...

JUST A LITTLE SIDE-NOTE, I WISH I COULD DO MY WEDDING DAY OVER AGAIN. NOT BECAUSE I DIDN'T LIKE IT, BECAUSE I LOVED THE ENTIRE DAY, BUT I JUST WANT TO RELIVE IT...MAYBE EVERY 5 YEARS OR SO.

SORRY, NO PICS OF THE DAY, IT WASN'T THAT MONUMENTAL I THOUGHT. JUST A LITTLE BACKGROUND, I HAD BEEN PLANNING THIS DAY FOR LIKE A MONTH. I TOLD ADRIEL THAT HE HAD TO PLAN NEXT YEAR'S (TRYING TO SET THE STANDARD FOR HIM).

WOKE UP AND CUT SOME HEART-SHAPED WAFFLES...YEP, DIDN'T EVEN MAKE THEM. I GOT SOME FROZEN WAFFLES OUT AND JUST CUT THEM...OBVIOUSLY SETTING THE STANDARD HIGH. DON'T WORRY THOUGH, THEY HAD SOME REESE'S CUPS ON THE SIDE. THEN WE WENT TO THE TEMPLE IN THE MORNING AND HAD A GREAT TIME. NOW THAT WE HAD THE SPIRITUAL DONE, IT WAS TIME FOR PRESENTS!

ADRIEL GOT- UNDER ARMOUR UNDIES, UNDER ARMOUR SHORTS, AND AN UNDER ARMOUR COMPRESSION SHIRT. HE REALLY HATES BEING HOT, SO I THOUGHT I WOULD GET HIM A WHOLE WORKOUT OUTFIT TO KEEP HIM HAPPY, PLUS HE LOOKS REALLY NICE IN THE COMPRESSION SHIRT (MAYBE A PICTURE LATER ON?)
HERE'S A LINK TO WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE...MAYBE MORE APPROPRIATE, PLUS I KNOW ADRIEL WOULD NEVER POSE FOR A PIC.
http://www.underarmour.com/shop/mens/apparel/tops/shortsleeve/pid1100200-Men-s-HeatGear-UA-Blitz-III-Full-T/1100200-002

ADRIEL GOT ME- ENCHANTED AND STARDUST ON DVD, THE NEW DEATHCAB FOR CUTIE CD, AND A JOURNAL. WHEN I OPENED THE JOURNAL I WAS REALLY DISAPPOINTED BECAUSE WHO NEEDS A JOURNAL WHEN YOU BLOG? BUT ADRIEL SET ME STRAIGHT BEFORE I COULD VOICE MY CONCERN...THE JOURNAL WAS FOR BOTH OF US SO WE COULD WRITE SOMETHING ABOUT THE OTHER PERSON THAT WE LOVED THAT DAY. VERY THOUGHTFUL, I THOUGHT. IT HAS BEEN SOMETHING VERY NICE TO LOOK FORWARD TO EVERYDAY.

THEN WE WATCHED "THE STORY OF US" WHICH IS A MOSTLY SAD MOVIE ABOUT A COUPLE (BRUCE WILLIS AND MICHELLE PFIFER) WHO ARE TRYING TO DECIDE IF THEY SHOULD GET A DIVORCE AFTER LIKE 15 YEARS AND 2 KIDS. I THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD, REALISTIC VIEW ON THINGS....VERY HONEST.

AFTER THAT I TOOK ADRIEL ON A SURPRISE PICNIC TO WHERE WE FIRST MET (ON THE FRONT LAWN BETWEEN MY APARTMENT AND HIS HOUSE). I GOT GOODWOOD BBQ AND LEMONADE FROM CARL'S JR (HIS FAV.).

FINALLY, I HAD RESERVED AND SET UP THE MOVIE ROOM AT THE CLUBHOUSE WHERE WE LIVE WITH A CHEESECAKE AND OUR WEDDING VIDEO SET UP. I BLINDFOLDED ADRIEL AND HE FREAKED OUT. DON'T EVER BRING A PINATA TO ADRIEL'S BIRTHDAY PARTY.

SO THAT WAS IT....WE MADE IT. DOESN'T SEEM LIKE IT'S BEEN A YEAR. WEIRD TO KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU WERE DOING ON THE SAME DAY THE YEAR BEFORE. I DON'T KNOW IF I'VE EVER HAD THAT EXPERIENCE BEFORE.

Blog on Blog

2008-06-14T15:33:00.003-06:00

Apparently the blog on blog idea sparks no guilt in my heart because I'm about to add to my list of things I need to blog about...which I still have not blogged about.

3. Our new car!
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1259/729476818_9e01d84127.jpg?v=0

http://thumbs.automart.com/imgs/ag/automart/autodata/pictures/VEHICLE/2007/Dodge/thumb/70DCGEA1-E0420031530011000.jpg
Here's a sneak peek. That's the exact model and color of ours, so until I post pics, that will have to hold you over.

Coming soon....

2008-06-09T18:35:00.002-06:00

I'm going to write a blog about future blogs to come so that I'll feel an obligation to actually write them.
1. My new haircut (I'll blog this once I get some good pics taken of it, which means I have to go buy new product and a new brush).
2. My one year anniversary!

I thought this list would be longer, but I guess our lives aren't as exciting as I had hoped.

I'M NOT YELLING!

2008-06-04T18:13:00.003-06:00

YOU MAY WONDER WHY EVERYTHING IS IN ALL CAPS. FOR SOME REASON UNBEKNOWNST TO ME, I HAVE TO YELL WHILE AT WORK. ADRIEL AND I ARE WORKING AT A SECURITY COMPANY DURING THE SUMMER. WE PUT SALES INFO INTO THE SYSTEM (USING ALL CAPS). THE COMPANY SENDS SALESMEN AROUND THE COUNTRY TO SELL HOME SECURITY SYSTEMS AND WHEN THEY MAKE SALES, THEY CALL US AND WE PUT IN ALL THE PARTICULARS. IT'S PRETTY BORING AND BRAINLESS, BUT I'M GOOD AT BOTH OF THOSE THINGS. I CAN READ AND BLOG IN BETWEEN CALLS, SO CHANCES ARE YOU'LL SEE/READ A LOT MORE OF ME DURING THESE SUMMER MONTHS...SO GET READY (YELLING NOW)!

St. George

2008-05-04T17:32:00.006-06:00

Recently during my spring break, Adriel, my brother Gabe, and I got to go to St. George with my mom. We had a lot of fun playing in the pool and eating lots of food. We also went go cart racing and Gabe and Adriel tried the batting cages. Our good friends Brittney and Kent Fairbourn are moving to St. George in a couple weeks and we look forward to visiting them...especially in the cold winter months! Here are some pics and videos of Gabe and Adriel hitting some balls.

Graduation!

2008-05-04T17:14:00.003-06:00

I think I'm the last person to post pics of graduation, but here they are!

Filthy...and Rich

2008-05-04T16:57:00.003-06:00

Kindergarteners....didn't know they were so filthy, or rich. Here are the stories...

1. Going about our usual daily activities in kindergarten, we begin to gather at the carpet for a look at our calendar when I see a girl with money in her hand. As usual I say something to the effect that if she doesn't put her money away she will be funding my lunch, when another girl says, "It's 50 dollars!" I might be eating well today.... So I take a look and that's what it is. At this time she says, "Robert gave it to me!" I didn't know Robert was such a good friend. I ask him where he got it and he said he sold some stuff. Then I asked if it was mom & dad's and he said it was. I took the 50 and tried to call dad, who didn't answer, so I store it in my desk. After lunch, dad calls and the secretary tell him what's up. Then about 5 min. later, dad calls back to tell us he's missing $350. We search Robert and find another 50 dollar bill in his pocket. We check his backpack, nothing else. Then the principal comes in and we had to search my entire class of 5 and 6 year olds. Pockets were turned out, interrogations were done, the whole thing. Alas, no more money. Someone said it must have been like investigating a bagel...you can't really get any useful information from a 5 or 6 year old...unless you want to know about their neighbor's dog or Alvin and the Chipmunks (which they could talk for hours about).
2. Now the filthy... We've been working on writing sentences in kindergarten. They have a test this week where they have to write a complete sentence with a capital at the front, a period at the end, and spaces between the words. I've been pushing them to work on their own for about 10-15 min. before I let them bring their paper up for help. Anyway, I have a boy who is working on his 2nd year of kindergarten. We all work for 15 min. and then I check everyone who brings their paper up. He was still working, so I went to his table to see how he was doing. Well, he was just sitting there with his paper...and ONE word was written. He decided that a complete sentence was comprised of the F word. I suppose someone could make an argument for that if you put an exclamation mark behind it, but he forgot his punctuation (however, it was capitalized and spelled right). He got a pink slip and a note home to mom and dad with a copy of the paper. I think he must have seen it written somewhere because he spelled it right (the "ck" combination is beyond kindergarten level). I considered taking a pic of the paper, and posting, but thought that might be a little offensive.

P.S. Both of these events occurred on the same day...which was also the same day I forgot my lunch, I was 45 min. late to faculty meeting, a student decided to climb a bookcase and it fell over on him, and I started a new job after work. Pretty intense for a Wednesday.

Pretty good...

2008-04-26T12:23:00.001-06:00

Christy, I have to say that I'm pretty close behind you...although 100 is very impressive still.

77 words

Speed test

Inside Out Ravioli...per request

2008-03-15T21:00:00.002-06:00

Alright, Mama Gilbert, here's the recipe:
Might I also add that I love this website www.allrecipes.com You can search by ingredients (or ingredients that you do not want for picky eaters), you can save and print your recipes, and any recipes you save to your shopping list helps to make a master list for all recipes you send there. So let's say you have one recipe saved to your shopping list that calls for one onion and 1 lb. of ground beef and another recipe that calls for half an onion and 1/2 lb. of ground beef...on your master shopping list it will have 2 onions and 1 and a half lb. of ground beef. AND it puts your list in order of aisle/produce area. It's amazing and it makes me love life. Oh, and the recipes are rated by five stars, so each recipe you look at will say the average number of stars and how many people rated it-makes it easy to pick recipes that will turn out great. On to the ravioli...

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Inside-Out-Ravioli-I/Detail.aspx

INGREDIENTS

16 ounces pasta
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 (16 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce

DIRECTIONS

In a medium pot cook pasta in boiling salted water until al dente. Drain well.
Cook spinach according to package directions.
Meanwhile, brown ground beef, chopped onion, and minced garlic in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in tomato sauce, tomato paste, and pasta sauce. Simmer for 10 minutes.
Combine cooked spinach, cooked pasta, bread crumbs, shredded cheese, beaten eggs, and olive oil.
Spread spinach mixture evenly into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Top with meat mixture.
Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven (175 degree C) for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Gabe!

2008-01-27T20:27:00.001-07:00

Gabe came back from Chicago after Christmas, just in time for his 25th birthday. We had Jell-O cake, inside-out ravioli, monkey bread, and salad. These are NOT good pics of my food. I'm an excellent cook...Adriel's just not as skilled in photography as I am in the culinary arts. The pie looks pretty good though, sans plastic wrap. It's a strawberry banana pie.
Not only am I a great cook, but I always smile while cooking.

Back Blog-Christmas & Festivities

2008-01-27T19:38:00.000-07:00

This is a funny one...After Christmas, Adriel and I visited his old stomping grounds of Roosevelt, UT. On a nice, sunny Sunday, we were driving home from church when we came upon a 90 degree turn. Being the excellent driver that I am, I said to Adriel (the driver), "Woah, it's slick, you should probably slow down." Now, before I tell you the rest, let me take you on a trip to Thanksgiving 2006. Adriel and I were dating and I finally decided I should let him drive my car. I NEVER let anyone drive my car (insurance and such). Well, this ONE time I did and Adriel rear-ended a police officer on the highway en route to take me to the airport. Ever since then, I get a little nervous when I'm in the passenger seat...and Adriel gets really annoyed when I say anything about the state of conditions while driving. Flash forward, Christmas 2007..."Woah, it's slick, you should probably slow down." Five seconds later, we're spinning like a teacup on the road, and then off the road into a snowbank. Oh, but not just into a snowbank, but into a snowbank that is below the level of the road. The entire car is below road level, backwards...and something smelled like it was burning. Being stranded as such, you might worry since it's obviously in the middle of nowhere, but you don't know small town Roosevelt. People drive around on Sundays looking for tourists who have misjudged the -20 degree, tundra-like wasteland.

The only, and very unflattering picture Adriel took of me on Christmas. I raked in many a good gift. Speaking of unflattering...you can't tell from this poor picture, but I like to get dressed for Christmas (my family doesn't open gifts until afternoon) and Adriel likes to bother me for hours on Christmas morning for this.

Here's Adriel's best hoodrat pose...I would be intimidated except for the dancing sunflower behind him.

My nephew got this Tickle Me Cookie Monster for Christmas. It mostly scares him, but everyone else thought it was great.

Me and the Foz atop our celestial pedestal in front of the SLC temple. Just the picture of marital bliss...except that I had to drag Adriel over to pose and then had to squeeze a little toy bird above the camera to get him to act like he was having a good time.

In case you are wondering...This was the last day of school before Christmas break...and pajama day...and yes, I made my students wear these hats alllll day, EVERYWHERE. When you get paid half salary, that's what you have to do to smile at the end of the day.

Christmas always comes this time of year...

2007-12-13T18:24:00.000-07:00

If you're wondering about the title of this blog, it's from a Christmas song-the gayest Christmas song made. Yeah, funny how Christmas always come at the same time every year... Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas music. It's pretty much all I listen to for a month or two, but I have to draw the line with that song and Feliz Navidad (because of my apparent hatred of Mexicans-according to Adriel-completely untrue). Now on to business...
Adriel and I drove to Tulsa, OK for Thanksgiving with Christy and Beau Hancock (see list of friends to the left). On the way there, we drove through Denver, hit snow, took a windy side road since the highway was closed, drove for 10 hours in the snow and then arrived at our destination a mere 22 hours after we left Provo. Don't even worry about how I went to work for 10 hours before we left for our 22 hour drive. Once we got there we had a wonderful time with wonderful people and wonderful food. Speaking of food, here's a pic of Adriel carving the turkey.

And on to another picture. In between teaching 5-year-olds all day, cooking dinner for my husband, and recently being put into the Relief Society presidency, I've been making fudge for 2 weeks. Not just any fudge, mind you. Peanut butter chocolate, cherry chocolate, white-chocolate mint, butterscotch toffee, peanut butter, chocolate walnut, and chocolate marshmallow fudge. Why you might ask? Because that's what you give people as gifts when you don't have enough money to buy them something real...or when you spend your money on gifts for yourself and your husband...or a combination of both. And then you say this to yourself... "Rings and other jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts. The only gift is a portion of thyself." according to Ralph Waldo. Now we all feel better about that. Speaking of spending money on other things besides gifts for people...here's a picture of our Christmas tree.

#5

2007-12-01T06:50:00.000-07:00

I like to lick the flavor off Pringles before I eat them.
P.S.- Mike D'Antoni (Phoenix Suns coach) looks like the Pringles guy.

#6

2007-11-23T07:58:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a while, so you should appreciate this all the more. It took me some valuable brain power to think of #6. Actually, Adriel thought of it, but I put a lot of time into thinking before he told me what to pick. Here it is...
When I'm sitting on the couch with a drink, I pull my legs up, hold my cup with both hands, and sip it. Almost akin to drinking hot chocolate, but with a normal cup and any kind of liquid. My old roommate pointed this out one day and from then on Adriel started reminding me of it. Adriel likes to say that I spent some time in prison and that I can't let anyone else see how much I've got. If I've got time, I'll re-enact this and post a pic.

#7

2007-10-08T20:12:00.000-06:00

Anytime I'm playing a game that involves hiding or being chased by someone, I have to pee really bad. I get really nervous, which might explain why I'm not very competitive. Good thing I haven't had to hide or run from anyone to make it in life.

Wedding Video

2007-10-07T20:43:00.000-06:00

Hey, our friend made our wedding video and now you can check it out! A word of warning though...Adriel says one of our kisses is pretty steamy, so watch out!

http://web.mac.com/gsmcallister/Tierra/hi-res.html

I'm Married to a Rock Star!...and #8

2007-09-18T19:07:00.000-06:00

I know it's been a long, long time and I apologize to our fans for such a delay, but as it turns out, teaching kindergarten takes a lot of my time and even when I do have free time, I find myself watching the Food Network...That brings me to my #8
#8
Food Network is like therapy to me. I can turn it on, watch it for hours, and feel totally relaxed. Except for that Rachel Ray lady...I will still watch her, but something about her makes me hate it.

Adriel and I had our friends the Fairbourne's over on Friday night. We had some tasty frozen pizza cooked on our brand new pizza stone-which Adriel insisted we needed. He also insists with equal determination that we don't need measuring cups or spoons...

After pizza and a Yankees/Red Sox game that lasted more than FOUR (!) hours, we got down to business. First on the menu...Chinese checkers in which I won (I was surprised too...). Finally to the meat and potatoes of our night-we played Guitar Hero! Luckily for you, I found my camera just in time to get a video and some pics of Adriel rocking out. Sadly though, I missed where he leaned the guitar back and went into full, rock star mode. There are some pics of that sweetness though.

(These pics are inside our new apartment...I should post more pics of it someday when it's more photogenic-ie no clothes on the floor and no books on the kitchen table)
P.S. Sorry the video is sideways, don't know how to flip it.

Kevin Arnold....a lifesaver

2007-08-19T14:01:00.000-06:00

#9 leads right into this. A couple years ago I had a ridiculously bad breakup. And by ridiculously bad, I mean that I was completely retarded about the whole thing. Because of this lapse in all judgment, this is what my daily schedule looked like for about a month or two...
Get out of bed (that was really hard)
Go to school
Go to work
Come home
Eat a frozen burrito
Watch the Wonder Years
Fall asleep
And there was a lot of crying in between each. Had I not had the shoulder of young Kevin Arnold to cry on, geez, who knows where I would be. (I contemplated making this #8, but thought that might be a little too sad)

#9

2007-08-19T14:00:00.000-06:00

#9
Many of you know this detail of my life already, but I thought it should make the list nonetheless. I own every single episode of the Wonder Years of DVD.

The Big 10

2007-08-16T17:27:00.000-06:00

Christy challenged me to post 10 random things about me. I'm not up to thinking of 10 random things that I deem funny enough to post, so I'll do them as they come to me (in no particular order).
#10
I like to touch bruises. When I find a bruise on my body, I push on it. I like pain in small doses. You may think I'm weird, but you're probably the kind of person that enjoys popping zits (and probably enjoy popping zits on your spouse...), so don't judge. I'm also on medication that makes me bruise easily, so what a treat for me!

A day in the life of Adriel

2007-07-25T17:16:00.000-06:00

You might think this will be written by Adriel, but it's not. In fact, none of these blogs are written (or commented on) by Adriel... Anywho, I decided to take Adriel on a date Saturday and I wanted it to be a surprise, so here's the story.

Friday I made a strawberry pie while Adriel was at work and I hid it in the basement (don't worry, no bugs or rodents in this basement-very clean and cool). Then Saturday morning I surprised him with tickets to see Transformers for Saturday night-he was sure it wouldn't be the same in the dollar theatre.

Later in the afternoon I took Adriel up the canyon to a park and we had a really fun picnic in the shade by a creek. We ate lots of good pie with ice cream and then we just layed around and talked. We both lost reception on our phones when we entered the canyon, so our phones said 4:45pm, so we thought we had plenty of time before the movie started at 7:15pm. We then spent another hour or so hanging out and talking and got into the car to see that it was 7:20!

We got to the theatre and it was 7:45, so we decided to act like we were going in late (who goes into a movie half an hour late, I don't know) and then snuck into the 7:55 show-and ended up sitting in the very front row! It was a pretty good show-some great lines. I'm expecting a kick-a birthday for that little treat...

I like how I'm just as white as Adriel's shirt.

Adriel has a game he plays where he acts like he doesn't like me.

It took us three tries to get this...

Phony Father's Day

2007-07-16T17:21:00.000-06:00

This picture pretty much sums up our trip to Fielding this weekend. My mom was out of town during Father's day, so we decided to wait until she returned to make the trek up north. Sunday was our fake Father's day and Adriel and I drove up for church and dinner before we had to return to Provo for work on Monday. Adriel decided to take some pics while we were at church. I like to call this one "my stroke eye."

Here is Adriel sitting in the pew next to me, staying hydrated, and here I am, trying to keep my eyes open for the picture.

Again, trying to keep the eyes open....haha.

And then we started the drive to my parents' house from their church building...there's a gravel road that's like 2 miles long that you have to drive about 2 miles an hour on, so it took a while. Adriel decided to document the occasion to let everyone know the sites and amenities that Fielding has to offer.

There's not a lot to look at, so we had to entertain ourselves...

Me entertaining.

Adriel being entertained.

We finally made it to the house and got to have a really great meal that my mom made just for us. We had a good time and then had to leave to make the 2 hr. drive home. Here's where the excitement begins: As we were leaving my parents house, like eight pelicans took off from the canal and then attacked our car with poo! I have never seen so much bird poo in my life! It was so gross. We thought it was a pterodactyl at first, but my dad confirmed that it was a gang of pelicans. We stopped at a gas station and cleaned it off with the windshield cleaners, but it was seriously from the tip of the hood to the back bumper. Grody. Eventually it got dark enough that Adriel had to stop reading his book and I was treated with the soulfully smooth sounds of Adriel singing Usher songs. Not only that, but also dancing rather suggestively in the passenger seat. Sorry, no pics of that...

Prime the Pump

2007-07-12T19:05:00.000-06:00

Sad to say I don't have any pics for this entry, but I'll try to describe everything in painstaking detail. Last weekend, my good friends Anna and Grant came down to Provo to visit us and have some good old fashioned fun. And here is what good old fashioned fun looks like: Anna and Grant brought potatoes, chili, and onions to our house, so we made baked potatoes and I provided those no-bake oatmeal/ peanut butter/ chocolate cookies that Adriel oh-so-loves (he hates them).
You might be thinking that's as good as it can get, but it's not. Before leaving Bountiful to drive down to Provo, Anna broke into their ward church building and stole some old church videos that were made, oh in about 1971. Among the films were such classics as "The Pump" and "Uncle Ben." Some might wonder why we would spend a Saturday night with such entertainment, so here's a little background.
The first Sunday that Adriel and I went to church as a married couple, the bulletin had something written on the back...."BYU 171st Ward-Prime the Pump." We couldn't stop laughing during church and then I told Anna about it, who asked me if I was talking about the old church movie. Nope. She told me the horrifying premise of the story and how she would have nightmares as a child. And so now I must give an account of the story...
It's set in the 1940s or 50s and a man is driving down a dusty road with a map in his hands over the steering wheel. He sees a sign that says not to deviate from the main road, but as he looks at the map, he sees that he can cut across the desert to reach his destination (what it could be in the middle of the desert, I don't know). There's another shot of the warning sign before he skids off onto an even dustier road amidst foreshadowing violins. Then it shows his car with the hood up, and he's trying to start it. He fails and then starts to walk off into the desert-nope, not along the road, but into the desert, climbing sand dunes, and walking on crumbly rocks. He reaches a ghost town where there are shots of lizards and creaky doors as the wind blows. Then the camera focuses in on a pump! He runs to it and pumps and pumps but nothing! Then he sees a note written in a can hanging on the pump. Here comes the best part...
In comes this voice-crackly, rhaspy, and the guy sounds like he could be missing teeth, or like he would be sitting on some porch with a jug of whiskey laughing and pointing at the front yard. He tells the guy that he has a bottle of water under a rock and that all he has to do is prime the pump and he can drink as much water from the well. So the guy finds the bottle, and then there's a dramatic internal struggle as he decides if he wants the water right then from the bottle, or if he should take the risk of pouring it on the pump. All the while, there is the old man's voice in the background whispering..."Prime the pump....prime the pump!"
The final shot is the man laying on a sand dune in the background and the empty bottle laying in the foreground. Pretty profound and life altering.

Pretty Fly for a White Girl

2007-07-10T20:06:00.000-06:00

Well, well, well...the poll is closed and it looks like I'm the best dresser. You may wonder what all of this is about. Well, I will tell you. Not too long ago Adriel informed me that he dresses better than me. You might think this is hurtful or strange, but that's just how we are-hurtful and strange. Ha, no not really, just honest and straightforward-Adriel more so than me. Anyway, I was shocked that he could imagine such an idea and I argued it with him. He claims that he has a better fashion sense, whether he follows it or not. He usually sports sweatpants and a t-shirt, or basketball shorts and a t-shirt, but he says when he does dress up that he will out-do me all day. But according to statistics, that's not so (and I think if you look at some of these pics you'll see the same thing...). So the poll was a challenge to his opinion. I mean, he can argue it on here if he wants, but things look pretty solid in my favor.

Onion Rings!

2007-07-02T17:28:00.000-06:00

Last weekend Adriel and I had the chance to hang out with our friends Brittney (She was my roommate our first 2 years of college.) and her husband Kent. Adriel plays basketball with Kent 2 or 3 times a week-or I should say, he did.... Last Friday, while playing, some guy hit him in the knee and rolled it weird. He's slowly healing, but you can see in some of the pics he's sitting things out for a while. Back to business... Brittney and I made some onion rings, and then we ate those, had some peanut butter cookies later, and then played card games and xbox til like 11:30 (pretty late for us old, married couples...). We had a lot of fun, despite the looks from Adriel. Hey, I mean Adriel and Kent got to spend some quality time watching Sports Center while we braved the searing-hot wok of oil and onion rings. FYI-Brittney is wearing a towel on her shirt so she doesn't get oil on it. The onion rings were tasty and we had a really fun time.
P.S.-Today is our one month anniversary! We made it!

POP!

2007-06-26T17:30:00.001-06:00

This will no doubt be the most pathetic thing you read all day...Ok, so Adriel and I get done with church on Sundays at 2:10, which is great, cause we get to sleep in, but church is still over early enough to come home and hang around for a good eight hours before thinking about Monday. Well, we were flipping through some favorite stations and hit VH1 at just the right time to see they were starting a Pop Culture Trivia Championship! We thought this would be an entertaining half hour of tv, but we were pleasantly surprised to be treated with 4 hours of pop culture trivia (in addition to watching snippets of Ghost during commercial breaks)! We even took positions on some of the teams and tried to play against each other-and I kicked trash. And to top everything off....Adriel took pictures of our slothfulness (you should note that my position on the couch changes every so often). I took a couple of him as well. Oh, and then we watched a movie. We spend Mon-Fri trying to rid ourselves of bed sores just in time to get some more on the weekend.

The stimilation from the tv is apparent on our facial expressions I think.

Adriel posing with our tv...hahahaha

That lump with hair on the couch is me.

Gravy Train!

2007-06-23T22:26:00.001-06:00

So Adriel had a "boy's night out" tonight (hence the two blogs in one night) and went to a BBQ/xbox extravaganza. I decided that while he was gone I would try to make gravy for the first time-for breakfast tomorrow. I talked to my dad earlier today and got the down low on how to make gravy and heard that it took my mom over 20 years to get it down. And that's why I waited for Adriel to leave before I started. If I ruined it, he would never know... Well, I followed the instructions my dad gave me and it turned out perfect! I was so happy/surprised. Thanks Dad!

Duck Pond

2007-06-23T22:14:00.000-06:00

Much to the dismay of Adriel, we went to a nearby duckpond to feed the ducks today. I really enjoy doing things like that and Adriel doesn't like it much, but he was a really good sport and even took some pictures and videos. And much to my dismay, most of the photos are the back of me... There were a few little ducklings and then there was a log with a lot of turtles up on it. The ducks were pretty aggressive though and I had a flashback of when I was three feeding some geese in Washington. I had a whole bag of bread and they started chasing me!

My Classroom!!

2007-06-22T17:34:00.000-06:00

(Tierra writing)
I will start teaching Kindergarten in August and when I'm not working, I'm planning what my classroom will look like and what I'm going to teach. Here are some pics of my class (and it says "Mrs. Wakefield" outside the door!). The school is called Timpanogos Elementary, but there's a story behind that...I did student teaching at Timpanogos and then they tore the building down last week. They are rebuilding in the same spot, but until that's finished in December 2008, everyone has moved to an empty school about 15 blocks away. The school was an old special needs school (so I have a bathtub in the bathroom off of my room...haha). Timpanogos was built in 1938 and this school was probably built around 1980, so definite upgrade, but the rooms are tiny. It's my first year teaching though and I'm grateful for whatever I can get and don't know any different, so I'm just fine with it.

Engagement Night

2007-06-21T21:29:00.000-06:00

(Tierra writing)

These are pics from the night that Adriel proposed. And here's the story....

For Valentine's Day, I picked Adriel up from school and we went back to my house where I gave him a strawberry cheesecake with a heart cut out of the center that was filled with strawberries (I thought of that myself!). He loved it and then he told me we were going to hike the Y (there's a big letter Y on one of the mountains here that stands for BYU). I wasn't too thrilled about this because I looked especially nice and done-up for V-day and didn't want to go hiking-oh, and it was FEBRUARY! But, I did it anyway...

So I changed into some sweats and we went to get dinner. He took me to Taco Time because I always want to eat there and he never does, so I thought that was cute and sweet. We took our food to his house and exchanged gifts-he got me The Fox & the Hound on DVD-it's what I had wanted for a long time! I got him his own set of clothes to wear at the temple (and I'm going to interpret for him when I say that he was very pleasantly surprised and loved the gift). Then we watched the DVD while eating Taco Time.

After that, we set off to hike the Y. It was already dark and there was some snow on the ground, so it was a little treacherous. The whole way up the mountain, Adriel told me a little story about how marriage would be a lot like climbing a mountain-it's steep, it's hard, and it's not always fun, but the longer you go and the higher you get, the better the view. But sometimes he had to help me climb and I had to help him-like life. So we got to the top of the Y (see blurry pic of the city...haha). And we told each other why we loved each other.

Then we came down and he blindfolded me and it seemed like we drove forever...and I got a little car sick, being blindfolded and all. When we stopped, he got me out of the car and then told me to take off the blindfold. We were in front of the Timpanogos Temple (where we got married) and he was down on his knee with the ring! Then he asked me if I would marry him, I said yes, and proceeded to jump him. I did not cry, much to his disappointment. So, long story short, there's the story behind the disheveled look that I'm sporting in the pics of that night-a long hike, cold weather, a blindfold, and car sickness....oh, and love.

Bridal Shower

2007-06-21T20:51:00.001-06:00

My sister-in-law Alesandra threw me a really wonderful bridal shower back in April. That's gum that I'm shoving in my mouth there. Alesandra made a really wonderful video of Adriel talking about us and I had to answer questions prior to viewing it and if I got one wrong, I had to put another piece of gum in my mouth. However, I was soooo good, they had to cheat and make me put gum in my mouth anyway. It was a lot of fun and I got some good goodies.

Snowshoeing

2007-06-21T20:44:00.000-06:00

(Tierra writing)
So I thought I would do some back-blogging of some events I have some pics of. In January, Adriel and I went snowshoeing up at Sundance resort. We were hiking to Stewart Falls, but it got too dark and I was picturing a tragedy in my mind, so we turned around and headed back. It was very cool-first time snowshoeing for me. We took some hot chocolate and my camera and had a good time.

Wedding!

2007-06-21T18:49:00.001-06:00

On June 2nd, we got married in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. It was a great day and we got to share it with a lot of wonderful friends and families. I absolutely LOVED my dress and hair (thanks to the hairstylin skills of my old roommate and great friend Brittney)! Adriel looked amazing in his tux and we had a really great day. We got married at 11:00am and then took pictures around the beautiful grounds of the temple. My good friend Emily took pictures for us, as well as Brittney and my dad. And my old roommate/friend Karen did my flowers for me-I have such great hook-ups! My brother Brandon and his wife/my high school friend Amelia, my nephew Levi, and niece Madeleine came all the way from Pennsylvania to be with us! Later that night we had a reception and got to visit with all our friends and family who have been so supportive to us. Thank you again to everyone!

This first pic is my all-time favorite

There are a lot of pics where we're just laughing and having fun :)

Our Blog!

2007-06-21T18:27:00.000-06:00

Ok, I'm not even sure what "blog" means, but I'm doing it. I'm setting up this website to post pics and updates on the life and times of Adriel and Tierra. We're D list celebrities and we have to keep our public happy, so here goes. Please add comments!