M&Ms and Skittles

Well...it has happened. It is now my turn to owe my roommates M&Ms and Skittles. No ice cream...yet. I'm holding out on that one. If you have no idea what I am talking about...just keep reading. In our house, the Lighthouse, we have certain "special" rules when it comes to guys. There are only 4 rules, if you don't count the "no guys in the bedroom" rule. Anyway, these rules are as follows.
1. Cuddling: Skittles
2. Hand Holding: M&Ms
3. Kissing: Ice Cream
4. Engagement: Steak or Nice Dinner
The first time you do one of those things with a new boy then you owe your roommates. Pretty simple rules...I've never had to pay up until now. And honestly, totally took me by surprise! Anyway, if it goes anywhere I'll let you know, but for now it sits at being a big fat nothing...except for the occasional cuddling and hand holding. :)

Catch Up...not Mustard

So it has been a while...actually way too long and there is way too much to get caught up on so I will try and summarize for the people who actually read this.

August and September were ridiculously busy months. Not only did I move to Thatcher, but the house I moved into was being shared by 5 girls so I was sleeping in the living room for the entire month of August. I started my job as a 5th grade teacher, which I love! (I'll talk about that a little more later). I was also in charge of 2 bridal showers, which I did on the same day. I would not suggest doing that. I was in a wedding. I went on trips to New Mexico and Mesa. To put it short...I was home 2 weekends during those 2 months, and one weekend was completely taken up by the bridal showers. Oh, and I got called to be in the relief society presidency of my ward. Whew, I think I have covered everything now.

Ok, for a little more detail I will break this up into sections by month. So August. I moved into my house during the first week of August because I started teacher meetings the second week. Well, one of my roommates was supposed to be getting married so she was going to live with us for a month before their wedding, but she was going to move her stuff over to their apartment so I could move my stuff in. Well, let's just say she moved the bunk beds out (which left no room for 3 beds in one room) and that is about it. So it was the living room for me for a month. Our hallway was a line of mattresses. We would lay them out for sleeping and pick them up during the day. Talk about being disorganized! I should have taken a picture of it. Well, then I started teacher meetings and school. That first week was busy! I am lucky to have great friends who spent a lot of time in my classroom with me helping me get it ready for school to begin. I really don't know what I would have done without them. Can I just say that I love my job! Sure I hate getting up early every morning and I've become the most anti-social person on the face of the planet, but most days I enjoy being with the kids and seeing them get excited about learning. I've even been some of the kids' favorite teacher...but I don't like to brag about that too much. ;) They are so fun and creative. And my homeroom group of kids really think things through. They debated for days on the pros and cons for certain class pets (I told them we could get one...what was I thinking?!). We finally decided on a box turtle. So I went to the pet store and bought a Sulcata Tortoise. I should have done my research first because this sucker is going to get huge in the years to come! He is very cute and little right now and the kids adore him, but one day down the road I am going to have to find an alternate home for him. His name is Tiny Tim. Haha. Ok, so on with August. My friend, Kyle, was getting married to a girl I used to visit teach. I kind of set them up. And since his fiance asked me to be a bridesmaid I got to throw her a bridal shower. We also had to throw a bridal shower for my roommate who was getting married. The only available day for both of them was August 23rd. So my day consisted of bridal shower stuff from 7 am to 7 pm and I would not have survived without my amazing roommate, Erin. It was ridiculous and I was a little more than grouchy afterwards. Note: that was the first weekend I had been in town since I had moved back. The next weekend was Kyle and Kyia's wedding so my roommate and I once again went to Mesa. We made it to Glendale for Kyia's bachellorette party and I stayed at another bridesmaid's house. Let's just say that everyone's hair had to be the same, which meant our day started at 5am and we did wedding stuff all day until 10pm. I was so exhausted. (The picture is of me at the wedding with 2 of the groom's men, Spencer and Eric...love them!) It was a good thing that my friends, Allen and Justin, had offered me their condo to stay at while they were out of town. I crashed for a good 12 hours after that. So in a nutshell...that ends my month of August.

Ready for September?! Haha, I promise it won't be as long as August was. I don't really remember where I was all the weekends of September, but I know I was in Mesa for a couple of them and I went to New Mexico for another. I have had the great opportunity to spend some time with wonderful friends and old roommates. In New Mexico I got to go visit with a friend's family that I dearly love. Marquette and Cameron were good friends of mine at school and they just moved to Tucson to go to school. Well Marquette's cousin is my friend too and he came over one night and invited me to go with them to New Mexico for the weekend but he was leaving before I could get out of work to go so I didn't think that I could go on the trip. Well, Cameron called me the night before and told me that Marquette really needed some of her old friends because they were having a hard time adjusting to Tucson so he made up an excuse to stop in Thatcher on the way to New Mexico and they picked me up! It was great! We were able to spend a day at their grandparent's ranch in the mountains. We played with horses, swung on a tire swing, walked in a waterfall until we were completely soaked, and hiked. (The picture is us in front of this cute little cafe and store in a town in the mountains...this was taken right before we had the bright idea to get in the waterfall). It was great! One of the weekends at the beginning of September we were told that Thatcher was creating a single's ward for those people not going to school or living at home. I got more upset by it than I should have. I had a hard time accepting the fact that I now had to switch to a ward where I wouldn't be with college students when I already didn't have the chance during the week to be with them anyway because I was at work. I was really mad that I had to go to that ward and the Lord knew it. So He decided it was time to humble me and I got called to be the 1st Counselor in the Relief Society. It is a tiny ward so it is going to be a challenge to get girls interested in being there. So far we have had a record of 10 girls in Relief Society. Each week we cross our fingers that more people have decided to leave their home ward and join us. We will have to see how that goes.

Well I think that about sums up my life the past couple months. I have the best roommates ever. We get along so well. I am so blessed to be back in Thatcher. I just cannot seem to get away from this place. Everytime I think I am going to leave something brings me back and it feels like home here. Thatcher has stolen my heart.

P.S. My good friend, Brittany, came to visit in August before she had to be back to Flagstaff for school. She is dating my friend, Dave, from down here. Anyway, back in March, Dave and Brittany played a stupid prank on me that I was super stressed out about at the time. So...my friend, Jordan, decided we should get them back for it. And our plan was brilliant! Jordan is a security officer at the college so he called his friend up, Justin. We planted IBC "beer" bottles and a bag of "drugs" (which were just mints) on the practice football fields. Our friend, Kasi, got a Bud Light box from the Elk's Lodge and we planted that under a tree by the bottles. So Brittany gets to town and I talk her and Dave into going with me to play with all the cool practice things on the football field. Well, Justin walks up not long after we are there and spotlights us with a flashlight and starts asking us questions because supposedly a call got sent in about drinking and partying going on at those fields. Brittany and Dave said that we were the only ones who had been out there...perfect thing to say I might add. Haha. So Justin tells us to stay put while he takes a look around. So he walks over to this ditch we are by and pulls out shines his flashlight in it and pulls out the bottles. Then he keeps looking and shines his light on the tree that the Bud box is under. I thought Dave was going to have a heart attack. So Justin asks us if we want to change our story and we don't so he calls for backup. Hah! So Jordan comes driving up with his red and blue lights flashing and he starts talking and looking around. And he knows all of us so he is acting like he is trying to be our friend and that he believes us but he has to be professional. So he asks to talk to me off to the side and while he is doing that Justin is telling everybody else that someone has to go down to the station to take a breathalizer test and tell the chief their aliby. At the same time, Jordan is telling me this and I agree to go so he puts me in handcuffs. This is the time where I for sure thought Brittany and Dave were going to wet their pants or something. They were calling my name and asking what was going on. So Jordan puts me in the truck and then says that the others can come talk to me through the crack in the window. Dave pleads with me to let him take my place since I'm a teacher and all, but Jordan said that I already agreed so he couldn't. Then Justin walks up to them and says, "I just got another call and I'm supposed to tell you all....this is all a prank!" IT WAS SO FUNNY! Brittany and Dave believed the whole thing! We got them so good!