Happy October 30th!

Only in Utah can you change the day of Halloween if it falls on a Sunday. So, it's Halloween today, but all of our Halloween happenings have already happened.

Our Halloween weekend started on Friday with our ward's trunk or treat. We had visitors, lots of them: my mom and dad, Carrie, Ryan, Max, Lola, and Ryan's parents who are visiting from Kentucky. Rich made some delicious chili for the chili cookoff, and it turned out to be a hit. Max looked adorable in his fireman costume, which he has probably worn every day since they bought it three weeks ago.

Our trunk, which consisted of pretty much all of the Halloween decorations we own

Lola with Grandpa Steve, in her Halloween tutu

Fireman Max got a TON of loot this year, which makes sense after trick or treating 3 different times

Saturday night brought us to the Durhams' house for their annual Halloween party. As far as favorite costumes for the year go, Chad and Bethany definitely win. The party, and the food, were a huge hit, yet again! Thanks, Durham family! I just wish I had gotten a picture of Chase and Savannah in their costumes - they were adorable!

The food setup, complete with Witch's Brew and Mummy Dogs

Being the poor, starving couple that we are, we didn't go all out for costumes this year. We decided it would be fun to pull out the Jazz jerseys again, and the masks are recycled from last year (and they terrified Savannah again, like last year).

And here are the winners of best costumes...

 

Bleaker and Juno. Their costumes are really spot on. Especially Bethany's. Right down to the orange-striped shirt and plaid skirt. I put the movie poster there so you can compare. Pretty darn good, right?

And now, it's Halloween night, and we've had two trick-or-treaters come to our door. At least we got someone. I guess Rich will have to finish off our giant bag of Skittles and Starbursts ( I don't think that will be too hard for him).

Farewell, Halloween. Til next year. When we will actually celebrate you on October 31st.

Life's No Fun Without a Good Scare

Happy Halloween, all!

My absolute favorite Halloween decoration. Rich discovered it at the Stop & Shop in Ogden.

We carved pumpkins tonight and are pretty satisfied with our work. (Mainly Rich's work. I don't trust myself with the little details.)

Picking the pumpkin's nose

Our works of art

Oogie Boogie and Jack the Pumpkin King look pretty darn good with the lights off

High School

Just a couple of thoughts about teaching.

First, I worked hard in high school. No, it wasn't college, and classes weren't terribly difficult. But I still worked. I did my homework, and I did it on time. When we had time to work in class, I worked. And the rest of my classmates worked, too. I rarely remember free time in class.

I don't know if high school has changed since I was there (a whole 5 years ago), but I don't feel like students work today. From what I've seen in my student teaching and observations at different schools, kids just don't seem motivated. Maybe Weber High was a little weird - we did have pretty dang good academics. But still. Kids just don't seem to work these days.

Most schools where I have observed have given some form of "advisory time" during the school day. This is basically makeup time where kids talk with their teachers about what they are missing or how to bring up test scores. This seems wrong to me. It seems like schools are saying, "Rather than trying to prevent this from happening, we just have to give in." I'm probably not the only one to think this, but maybe kids would work harder if they knew the first time was actually going to count? Just saying...

Another thought. I think people have a very skewed idea about the life of a teacher. They, in fact, do not live in the school. They aren't even there until 5 o'clock every night, nor should they have to be. Their day starts early, so, therefore, their day should be done early. (For example, Westlake teachers need to be at school by 7:15 AM and can leave at 2:45 PM.)

So, students shouldn't expect for their teacher to be in his or her classroom at 3:30 PM. I have been at school a little later than desired grading papers and have seen students come in at this time, asking to re-take a test which will take another half an hour or so. This is not right, folks! Teachers need to have a life, too! They already get paid way too little, so don't make them stay longer than contract requires them.

And, it's one thing for a student to do this, but I feel like parents should just plain know better. I know it's hard to get in to the school on a teacher's schedule, but don't get mad when your child's teacher is not there two hours after school is over. I have good news for you - email works pretty much just as well as a classroom visit, and I can guarantee a teacher would rather respond to an email.

Please tell me other people have noticed these things as well?

Special

This past week as a special time for my family. My sister Carrie and her husband Ryan were sealed to their kids for time and all eternity in the Logan temple. That means that Carrie and Ryan get to be with

this handsome young man

and this adorable redhead

forever. That's a pretty amazing thing. And it was really special for Rich and I, and the rest of my family, to be there with them.

Here are some pictures from the week.

Ryan says Lola drinks like a little calf. But an adorable little calf.

Dinner at the Prairie Schooner (Ogden has some weird, but delicious, restaurants)

Uncle Skyler on a walk with Lola at the restaurant

The Bear Witch Project (Rich's clever title)

Khloe's adorable even when we force her into my glasses

Such a gorgeous family

Max is too stinkin' cute

I received my endowment at the Logan temple right before Rich and I were married, but we never got a picture there. We finally did.

Sick Day

Poor hubby was sick today. Not just cold sick but full out sick.

This morning, after an upchuck incident, I offered to clean up in the bathroom so he could lie back down. He refused, and I didn't know what to do. Either he is too much of a sweetie to let me clean up such messes, or I royally failed because I didn't force the rag out of his hand and him back into bed. Probably a combination of them both.

Today I found that I had very limited resources to help him recover. It turns out we are not well-prepared for illness here in the Nelson household. We don't even have chicken noodle soup. Instead, our soup of the day was Cup of Noodles (one of my lunch staples). At least I served it to Rich out of a bowl instead of the styrofoam cup.

In other news...

Fun things this past week:
     - Khloe's 1st birthday party
     - Hanging out with Scott while he was in town
     - Cheering the Cougars to victory against San Diego State
     - Today's date is 10/10/10, which is pretty sweet

Good things to look forward to this week:
     - Fall Break, which means NO SCHOOL Thursday and Friday
     - Carrie and Ryan going through the temple and us being able to there with them

Alejandra

Guess who I got to see this weekend! Alejandra! (For those of you who don't speak Spanish, that means Alexandra.)

Me with the ever-amazing Sister Ahern and her gorgeous little sister, Brooke

Missionaries in the Salt Lake Mission are allowed to see friends and family in between sessions of General Conference. This is Alex's last Conference before she is no longer a missionary. so I knew I had to go. She was willing to forgive me being the worst writer and for still not having sent her Christmas present from last year (I have seriously had it since November of last year, but for some reason I still haven't sent it). I can't believe she only has 5 months left. I know that the mission field is going to be losing an amazing missionary when she gets home, but it'll be fun to have her back! Good luck with the last 5 months of your mission, Sister Ahern!

Seriously Disappointed

I was looking forward to pizza and Pepsi tonight to celebrate making it through another week of student teaching, while watching the BYU football game. Instead, Rich and I had to leave the house because the game was utterly impossible to watch.

It's never a good sign when you're afraid you're going to lose to Utah State. And it's just plain wrong to actually lose. I guess every team has its off year once in a while. But knowing this doesn't make tonight's embarrassment any easier to bear.

Don't get me wrong. I'm still cheering as hard as ever for the Cougars. I'm no bandwagon fan. I know where my loyalties lie. They're my team. I'll be at every home game this year in my rotating student section seat cheering as loud as I can, just like any other season.

But let's just say I'm already looking forward to basketball season. I like basketball better anyway. So, here's to future hopes. Make me proud, Jimmer.