[ happy st. patrick's day ]

After school today, Kate & I ran to the Tri-Cities to get supplies for the Youth Group fundraiser on Sunday. It was a quick trip, but we made it to Starbucks on the way home, so it was all worth it. :)

Chris & Candace invited Nick, Kate, & I to dinner tonight for Corned Beef & Hash (what exactly is hash?!). It was surprisingly good. I'd never had it before, but I enjoyed it! The conversation and company was wonderful. Lots of laughs with good friends.

So - Happy St. Patrick's Day. Especially to my good Irish pal, Jessica Fife. Today is basically like her Christmas! (I'm just excited to get to change my blog background!)

[ baby Audrey's Quilt ]

YAHOO! I finished my first quilt from start to finish. Whew! It is such a great feeling! I learned so much in this process and am pretty proud of myself for actually accomplishing this skill. :)

I'm even more excited to get it in the mail for baby Audrey.

Thanks Jessica for helping me tie it!

[ reunited and it feels so good... ]

I've lost touch with the craft room over the past month. I haven't been down there a whole lot during Junior Miss season and I was starting to feel a little antsy. I have worked on things outside of the craft room (making a cute March calendar with Jessica, hand sewing a quilt, etc.), but I was embarrassingly behind in my Scripture Challenge - a month behind to be exact! :)

This morning, I got up, vegged for a little bit and caught up on a few tv shows, then headed downstairs.

Here's what I accomplished:

(Annette - these are the other flower petals I was telling you about *above*)

Back in business!

[ 2009 Junior Miss ]

Well, another Junior Miss year is over. "Everybody Dance Now" was a great success. I am so proud of all of these girls. They worked incredibly hard over the past three months and showed poise, grace, integrity, and beauty. They are a wonderful group and will be well represented by Miss Sarah McGary as the 2009 Connell/North Franklin Junior Miss. The finalists are Brianna Casper, Chelsea Baker, and Maira Viveros. I'm excited for Katelyn Knight - the Talent award winner, Shannon Jorgenson - Be Your Best Self award, Samantha Fox - Inspiration and Spirit Award, and Lisa Pranikay - Scholastic Award.

I'm excited for what the next year has in store for these girls. What an opportunity!

{And as far as the status for the 2010 Junior Miss...we hear there is at least 15 girls ready to sign up. AH! We'd have our hands full!!}

fun fun fun

Ashley Harris was doing a giveaway on her blog of one of her beautiful cards - and I won! Thanks, Ashley! It's a bright spot in my blur of a week!

[ crazy week ]

We're here...Junior Miss week. We have practice Monday-Thursday from 5:30-8:30pm (which means 5-9pm for us), then Dress Rehersal on Friday from 5pm-who knows and then Saturday from about 11am to 3pm and 5pm to who know, again. Sunday will be the day of rest!

I took Friday off, so I'm looking forward to sleeping in, getting errands run, etc. I'm sure I'll stop by my new favorite spot - Viera's Bakery on Burden Blvd. I am constantly craving those delicious churros.

So - I'll be back after Sunday...

[ oldies but goodies ]

I have been lucky this weekend to be able to catch up with some old high school classmates...

I saw Jeff Colby at the basketball game on Friday - that was a surprise! I never expected to see him there. He's a pilot for the Air Force (I think that's the right branch of the military) and is usually stationed in Italy and flying to the Middle East everyday. He said he just flew in for the weekend...nice. Anyway - it was great to see him. It's been a few years, I think...

Then, yesterday, was Alan Scheenstra's memorial service. There were lots of friends there to catch up with: Isidro and KayLynn, Juanita and Fred, Lindsay and BJ, Alex, Somchay, Josh, Ismael, Jason and Irma, and Jessica. Alan's wife organized a nice service and all the people that were gathered there reflected parts of Alan's life. The only thing missing was Alan - he would've loved being there with everyone.

[ honor ]

Last Thursday, I took the Junior Miss girls to the Connell Chamber of Commerce Banquet like we do every year...

and came home with this:

It was quite a surprise, but definitely an honor. I think of all the well-deserving teachers and administrators that have been working so hard for much longer than I, and I am humbled.

I struggled to find the right words to express my emotions that night and I still do.

It makes the tough days a little easier...and the fun days a lot more fun! :) There are so many times when it's stressful or frustrating - but that is the job. This reminds me that it's about the students and the relationships I build...not the JOB.

I received these beautiful roses from my Grandma that night...

and these were on my desk the next morning from Tim & Chris (my Principal and Vice Principal)...

[ sacrifice ]

We had a great assembly at school today...we recognized the wrestlers and basketball players, the band played, we sang the fight song, a teacher got his hair shaved...

and we honored one of our own.

My friend, high school classmate, and now, fellow CHS co-worker,

Oscar Garza

is being deployed to Iraq for his 2nd tour of duty.

Stephanie & Oscar Garza

The ASB had a wonderful tribute to him and Mr. Clark even sang "I'm Proud to Be an American" (with the school joining in on the chorus) - the most meaningful was a video they put together with lots of students and staff members wishing Oscar good luck. He is so well-respected by the students...it was great to see how much he means to them.

DJ and Oscar Garza
(DJ is Oscar's sister and organized his send-off - so special.)

Once the assembly was over, practically the entire student body rushed to the floor to all give him hugs. It was a tearful moment. Seriously - I was in tears. I tried to keep it together, but it didn't work so well.

Oscar's wife, Stephanie (also a classmate), is so strong. She is incredible - I don't know how you do it.

Here's the link to the Tri-City Herald article: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/kennewick_pasco_richland/story/497490.html

These pictures are from the Tri-City Herald online photo gallery...

[ update ]

It's been a busy couple of days...

I have something real fun to write about, but I need to take a couple pictures first before I post a blog about it.

So, to begin with, I've been reading... :) wow. I would like to keep track of the books I read in 2009. So, here's what I've read so far in 2009:

Here's what I'm currently reading:

Here's what's on my shelf for my Spring Break:

So, anyway, here's a good story. :) I have been working for about two weeks on a simple baby quilt for my friend Stephanie who is having baby girl #2 on Tuesday, March 3. We went to elementary through high school together and even sorta went to college and grad school together! While I was at Whitworth, Steph was at Gonzaga. We spent sooo much time together - having fun, studing, experimenting at Starbucks, dining at Casa de Oro, and shopping! :) She lives in Missouri now, so I haven't seen her in probably 4 years (AH! Has it been that long?!). She married a great guy and they have a beautiful daughter, Katelyn. Their beautiful blessing #2 is set to arrive on Tuesday.

SO - I've been working on this quilt. It's definitely challenging my skills as a novice quilter. To save some time (and skip the skills I definitely DO NOT KNOW yet - machine quilting, heck - hand quilting, binding, etc.), I decided to sew this quilt inside out, flip it right side out, and tie it. I'm not a big tied quilt fan, but this baby is coming and I'm neck deep in other committments and don't have time to teach myself these skills that I lack.

I've become decent at piecing a quilt together, but everything that happens once the top is pieced together is frightening. Last night, I put the pieces of the quilt together (top, bottom, and batting) - figured out how to put the walking foot onto my machine - said a little prayer, and put the quilt to the needle. Straightness issues aside, I sewed around the entire quilt except for the 8" at the end that I kept open as the space to turn the quilt inside out. I was pretty excited to get that far so I was going to turn it right side out to see what it looked like (especially with the non-straight stitching). I realized that I put the batting between the top and bottom fabrics like I was going to bind it. If I were to turn it right side out now, the batting would be on the outside, not the inside. AH! It took me two hours last night to rip the seams out...so maddening. Not that I'm under pressure - did I mention the baby is due on Tuesday and she lives in Missouri?! Plus, Jessica offered to help me tie the quilt and I am going to take her up on that offer - on MONDAY! (tomorrow!) So, guess what I'm doing before church today?!

In addition, I've been working on the Junior Miss booklet (anyone mildly proficient in Microsoft Publisher and would like to help with JM next year? I'm ready to pass this job on...) which I need to take to the printer tomorrow, organizing all the information that has to do with the Beta Craft Retreat, and I'm supposed to be working on WASL stuff this weekend, but I realized I only got home with 1/4 of what I need to work on it, so it will have to wait until I get back to school tomorrow.

Exciting life, huh? So, I'm off to try to sew my quilt the right way. Wish me luck!