Hilarious.

I ended up successfully waiting for my missionary and ended up marrying him. If I didn't maybe Daren would have ended up singing this one:

Shannie B. Cheater Pants

So, Janae will appreciate this one. I started a real diet this week and lost 6 pounds! All thanks to wellness pro. Only 19 to go plus my cheating I did last night. I was pretty good this week, and then the darn preschool had to go make breakfast in the AFTERNOON of all things. It left me craving french toast and sausage all night! I finally broke down after getting home at about 10:30 last night and got out the frying pan. Oh well, today's a new day!

Idaho State Fair and Rodney Atkins!

We went to the fair Saturday and LOVED it!

We looked at all of the animals. We love all the 4-H exhibits and think it is so fun that kids learn how to raise everything. We walked through the horse barn and found a whole row of horses that belonged to 3 different families in our ward. So fun to see them!

We ate and ate and ate some more.

It started with a tiger ear.

Then frozen lemonade.

Next was a funnel cake made from the stand that some of the girls from our ward were working.

Then we saw a sign for cheese curds.

Now remember: I am from Minnesota. Minnesota cheese curds are deep fried melty goodness from heaven. Daren goes to pay for the cheese curds and comes back with IDAHO CHEESE CURDS: cold squeaky cheese. Whoops.

Then we got an indian taco, carmel apple, cinnimon almonds, and some homemade bread from the bread barn, because "if you haven't been to the bread barn, you haven't been to the fair!"

We were stuffed silly.

Then we saw Daren's Cousin Davin and his sweet little family! They just moved back from Oregon and it was so good to see their little boys. They are so cute! Hopefully we get to see them a little more now that they are back in Idaho.

THEN

We went to our show!

RODNEY ATKINS!!!

It is hard to believe, but this was Daren's first concert outside of BYU-I.

We were in the Grand Stand, but they were really perfect seats because they were right in the middle.

Rodney was sooo entertaining! He has the best songs because it is all about real life with a sense of humor.

Do you think Daren had a good time? I think his favorite song was "Best Things".

LOVED IT!

Love him!

Then we went to the Midway.

The midway games are always pretty entertaining to watch. The prizes are all pretty lame, but this one takes the cake. I mean what kid wouldn't want a life size Homer who is wearing a speedo and missing a flipflop?

I married a stud.

And he took me on the ferris wheel :)

He also let me ride my all time favorite ride-- The SWINGS!

I totally love the feeling of flying and then the silly dizziness afterward!

We had such a good time! We can't wait until next year!!!

Reminiscing and hoping.

I remember where I was eight years ago. I remember where I was when I watched the second tower fall. This morning I was explaining to my students what Patriot Day is, and it hit me that they weren't even born yet when it happened. Despite all of the evil and sadness that is in this world, it amazes me that hope and goodness are still available to those who seek it. It is a wonderful, beautiful thing.

Thoughts from a teacher:

Our school district has chosen not to show the President's webcast to our younger students not yet in High School. It makes me sad that politics and opinions are influencing the general respect we should be giving to the office of the President of the United States of America. Even if you do not like Barack Obama as a leader, he is still our leader and he is still our President. Bad mouthing him to America's children only breeds distrust and fear in our country, when what we should be doing is teaching them respect for our country, it's offices, and what we personally as citizens can do to help our country become better and how we can support it. This may include teaching them to follow issues, writing letters to representatives or even our President, teaching them to be thinkers and decide for themselves what is good and right. Political differences set aside, the American people still love their country. God bless America, because we are going to need it.

The whirlwind called Augtember

Augtember. Yes I just made up a new month and it is called Augtember and it is going by so fast that it is really hard to remember what has happened, but I will try!

Back to school: I officially went back to work August 17th, but I had been in and out all month trying to get my new classroom set up. This is my THIRD room in the last 3 years, but hopefully now I will be in here for ever. I am pretty much planning on either retiring from there or dying there in about 37 years after all of the work I did to get moved.

My students showed up on August 20th. I have 23 students, which for first grade is a little big. 20 is ideal and anything less is heaven. At least they seem to be a really REALLY nice group of kids this year. After we get through the "Teacher! Teacher! Can you {Blank} for me?" stage, it will be a lot easier. They are really cute and they seem very smart. They catch on to procedures really well and are so fun to joke around with. I love my Job!

Anniversary: August 20th was the first day of school and also Daren's and my FOURTH anniversary! I can't believe how fast it goes. Because of how busy things were we weren't exactly sure what we were going to do to celebrate. We both went to work unsure of what our plans were.

While Daren was at work he pumped some gas for the owner of Craigo's. He got to talking with her and told her that it was our anniversary and that we actually met at Craigo's. She said "Oh that's neat!" She started to write on a paper and told him, "Here is a free meal for two, get dressed up and we will get a photographer and hang your picture on the wall!" So we did. And it was fun. It is hard to believe that some pizza and friends were what brought us together over seven years ago. Time flies when you are having fun!

Family: The week before our anniversary, Daren got to go watch Allen & Gerb's kids while they went off for a weekend anniversary get away. He had so much fun and I wish I could have gone but I had stuff to deal with here : (

This week my Mom and Matt brought Trevor out for school @ BYU-Idaho. The third of the Clayton Clan has arrived to continue the legacy! Daren got Trevor a job at Ray's and he started on Tuesday. He finally got his apartment situation squared away and I think he can move in on Monday. School starts up for him on Thursday. Mom and Matt only got to stay for a few days, but we enjoyed hanging out and playing around the 'burg. Mom LOVES Porter's & Baijo and we made sure we got to both. We all sat around watching The Office and laughed so hard. I got to spend time with Mom just visiting and relaxing-- or chillaxing as Matt calls it. They left Thursday and I miss them already! I am already looking forward to Christmas!!!

Grad School: My master's program started back up on the 25th. My literacy specialist class seems like it is going to be pretty easy, but I am horrified of my behavioral statistics class. Our professor is intense and just lectures the whole time and I am about ready to cry. I think this is a class that getting less than an A is going to have to be totally acceptable. Any closet statistics lovers out there? I may need to come knocking on your door.

The next few weeks:Harvesting apples & tomatoes. Rodney Atkins. So excited. Friday, September 11th. Eastern Idaho State fair. Need I say more? I will on September 12th.

I hope you all had a good Augtember!