Hello LHS!

Say hello to the new choir teacher at Leesville High School!! WOo HOO! It all happened so fast. The Thursday before Thanksgiving I found out that the old choir director was leaving. The nest day I put in my application. We had vacation the next week so nothing happened with that, but then I called Mrs. Davis the next Thursday and we scheduled an interview for Monday...I found out this last Tuesday that I got the JOB!!!! I never thought in a million years this position would come open! It is really crazy the way life works. We were just starting to settle downs and get comfortable when along comes this opportunity to blow us in a new direction.

The best part of this whole thing is this now gives Daniel the opportunity to go back to school at a school that cares and he knows he can succeed there. So awesome! I am excited for him...and for my new kids! We are going to have a blast! Although I know it will be hard. Especially the first couple of years, but I am ready and willing and Daniel is too! Yay

Our weekend

This weekend was pretty awesome! Felicia came over and we finally got to go shoot these guns of ours. My 40 cal is pretty powerful...I LIKE IT! lol but actually I think right now I prefer my brother's 9mm. Smoother shot. But I think I could get used to mine. :) Then yesterday we decided to stop by the Frog Festival in Rayne. It was pretty lame. But we got some excellent jambalaya from one of the booths. Very YUMMY! And Daniel went on his first ferris wheel ride in his whole life! LoL. He was kind of freaking out and has now decided that he is afraid of heights.

And then today we went to church in our new branch in Jennings! That is really the highlight of the weekend! I love that little branch! All of us already feel totally at home! It is sad that we have been missing this for w whole year! See, We have kind of been in Limbo the last year (ever since we moved to Crowley). Because we thought we were in the Jennings Branch boundaries, but our Bishop in Lafayette ward told us not to worry about it. Its all good though. Now we have found where Heavenly Father wants us :) So awesome!

Happy Veteran's Day

YAY for Veterans. I am so grateful to all the vets who have fought and are fighting for America. And especially to my awesome husband who served honorably and continues to live as a righteous man in Zion. I LOVE you Daniel!!!

Also YAY for Baby Zoey!!! She is so precious and little! I wish we could be there with Crystal and Kevin, but alas we are too far away :( I hope and pray that all continues to go well with you guys. :)

And today my students performed a veteran's day program for one of the Elementary schools. It was very successful and I think even the littlest children were at least touched by the music. It was great and I am SOOOOOOoooooo glad its over. So all in all it has been a wonderful week so far. Now we get to start on Christmas music, and I have decided that since we have been working so hard thus far, instead if having a Christmas performance per say, we are going....CAROLING! Woo Hoo. I am even going to look up some of the addresses of the school board members and carol them YAY. Super fun.

Wow it has been a while. Well how is life? Let me see... I think I have finally gotten into the groove of teaching this year. I am actually kind of enjoying it. And I think Daniel is feeling better since he quit school. He has less pressure on him, but now he wants to go back....I promise that man is more fickle than most women!! Anyway, whatever he does I am supporting...although my preference is for him to finish school and that way I can stay home with our future babies. Which brings me to another topic. I normally don't complain because I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for all of us, and I really try to see the good in all situations, but right now I am just frustrated because I feel like Daniel and I are pretty righteous. I mean really we are average, and I know we can be much better. But why can't we just be able to have kids!!??? Why do I have to have stupid problems with hormones and fatness?! Why do I like food so much! Its really frustrating...

Stupid teenagers who don't know what they are doing and other people who don't even want their kids are having babies all over the place@!

But then I remember all of my friends and family who have problems and I think how much they are hurting. What right do I have to complain. Plus, like if we would have already had babies, we wouldn't have had this time to grow together and grow up. So I know its all good. I just find it a little hard to enjoy church sometimes because most women either have kids or are pregnant there. And i feel like I am less of a woman sometimes because I can't do the one thing that is the catch all purpose of women...to be a mother. Also all of my extra facial hair doesn't help. lol well anyways

Other than these negative feelings which don't really arise very often, we are doing well. Daniel really is the cutest man on the planet! He is very supportive and I just noticed that when I get home he changes into this super excited man who is just happy with life. That makes me feel like I am at least doing something right :) Well good night.


P.S. Where is the baby Zoey we are all so anxiously awaiting? Zoey? Zooooeeeyyyy...

Pics

We have some crazy bruising on our bodies! It is nuts how our bodies can change to such different dark colors, but that is not what I am posting pics of. I don't want to show off this fat belly to anyone except Daniel. :) I am posting pics of our car. We went to go get everything out of her today. REAL SAD :'(. Yes I HATE shopping for cars. I never know what I really want. Daniel says he wants a camaro. lol. YEAH RIGHT!!! I kind of want some sort of SUV thing or something bigger, but still get good gas mileage, or maybe a prius.... I don't know! Anyways here are the pics of our beautiful car (taken by my phone).

Prayer

On our way home from Lafayette yesterday, we rear ended a stopped vehicle while we had been going approx. 70 mph. We are fine, my brother was discharged last night from the ER and Daniel and I didn't even need to get checked out. The other people are also okay. We KNOW that we were protected by God. (Especially since we were in the Corolla and we caused SOOO much devastation without really even being touched.)

But our car is totally destroyed. And the truck we hit had a trailer on the back of it that had a motorcycle and a tractor on it.(And all of it is totaled.) Of course we rear ended them so it is our fault and we are not sure what is going to happen money wise. Please pray for us that everything will work out.

London part one

I know! I Know. I haven't posted in a LONG time...sorry all of you who have been waiting patiently :) So much has been going on. So anyway. We went to London and had a phenomenal time there. It was absolutely stunning and I would love to go back and spend more time there. But I think my sister is planning on going to Hawaii next summer and we are supposed to be going...so...well anyways. I took a TON of pictures and have been trying to choose the best ones to post. Here are a few from our first day.

This was a very typical sight there. Very many houses had this kind of detail.

On our bus ride to the hotel we saw a little boy on his way to school. He was SOO adorable!

This was a Methodist church that was right next to our hotel. It was absolutely stunning.
Everything was Super detailed...including the sidewalk!
There were flowers everywhere! These were outside of the mall. It reminded me of My Fair Lady :)
Here is the pub we ate lunch at. So gorgeous.
This was our Tour Director. Her name was Sharon and she is from an island in the Caribbean.
More flowers. They loves to put them on balconies and window boxes. It was really charming.
As we were walking to the restaurant for dinner, we came across a random lighted wall. Very peculiar, and cool for pics. This is my student Mary Kate and some girls from California.

This is Danielle (a parent) as we were walking to Trafalgar Square. She has a famous double decker bus behind her.
I thought this was cool. It was a restaurant with a random bathtub out front and yes it had water in it.
We got to see Rudyard Kipling's house on our way to Trafalgar Square.

This was a pretty popular chain restaurant. I liked the name.

The next three pictures were taken at Trafalgar square. Although I have many more I am going to put those in another post with more detail about them. The first one is George Washington, second is Big Ben (from a distance) and the third is a couple of random British guys hanging out in the square. lol

yes...it happened again. Sigh

THis little one was found in our driveway half starving, flea ridden and scared. So we are giving her a new home...actually we are not sure if she is a girl, but whatever. Anyway, we can't think of a name. post one if you can. (No, I'm not really that happy about another animal, but what can you do? Shelters kill cats like this everyday.)

London meeting

Last night I had a final meeting with all my peeps that are going to London. This is gonna be SOOOO fun! I have been looking at our itinerary and there is a day of free time so I was thinking maybe we could go as a group to Paris! That would just be the cherry on top! The people I am going with are really awesome! I know we are all going to have a blast. On top of that, one of my parents was telling me about her sister who is older but just found out after 5 years that she is getting a baby from China! A precious little girl! Her name is Wei' An which will be her middle name when she gets here. But she has the cutest little chubby cheeks and big brown eyes! I am so excited for them (even though I don't know them) Anyway, that parent gave me her number because she did a lot of research about adoption agencies and stuff. I would be totally happy with an American baby and it would be a lot cheaper. Well, maybe not a lot...She said the whole thing is costing her sister $17,000. So actually that's not that bad. Anyway, I got really excited about that as well and then came home and Daniel wanted a haricut! I really don't like giving Daniel haircuts because I feel I never do a good job and I like him to be cute! lol. But I gave him one anyways and it is WAAY shorter than what I normally do. It looks like he is in the army again! Oh well... at least his hair grows fast!

This is really good. You should watch it!

This is an arrangement by Jon Schmidt. He's the guy that wrote mine and Daniel's song.

Our kitchen cabinets are coming in in two days! FINALLY! We are almost finished with demolition, but are trying to keep some sort of order while we have to live with it. So that is really cool.

But something even cooler is that my best friend's little brother, Ryan, just got back from his mission today! It was really exciting! And he cried...so cute. We all went to the airport and helped his mom blow up balloons, and his brother-in-law, David made this awesome banner. Afterwards we went to eat at Ryan's in Alexandria and had a good time. That was when Theresa, Sandy's older sister said I needed to blog more. So here I am blogging. lol :)

Mainly the thing I have been doing the most since school let out is laundry. I don't know how two people create so much of it. Insane! I know I should throw some clothes out, but I love all of it so I will just have to deal with doing TONS of laundry. Shannan and I have also been watching Britain's got talent on Youtube. Our favorite was the dancing group "Diversity" They are really awesome! And we also found this funny guy called Dave Days. He does some pretty funny stuff. We have also discovered some new mangoes at the store that are very yummy. They are not the normal ones, but smaller and yellow. Oh my ghoodness they melt in your mouth and are super juicy and delish! So anyway, that's what's been going on with these Curiel's. I have also taken lots f pics of our kitchen which you will see when the transformation is complete!

Happy Last Day of School!

Whew! Got through another year. I hope next year isn't quite so hectic. But the summer is here now and I don't have to think about work AT ALL! Soo wonderful. Shannan has come over and we are having fun exercising and eating healthy. Its always better when you have someone doing it with you. We have pics of some stuff that I will post later. And yes Kelly, I am taking my medicine again. Its not fun, but I know its good for me. well see y'all later

Another play..I know...I'm crazy

So...my friend Patty and I are co-directing a teen mystery dinner theater play. We will be having rehearsals most Sundays throughout the summer. I think the cast is a bunch of very good kids, so it should be fun. So now we are doing a new kitchen, finishing the rest of the house, visiting Raul and Kelly lots, going to London, going to see Wicked, planning for nest year, and doing a play! What am I thinking! Well.. it will all work out :)
Now on to happier topics, tomorrow is the last day of school! Woo HOO!! But I still have lots to do and get it done before 1 o'clock tomorrow. whew. It will be crazy and fun and relieving. So that's that.

some pics

So, the cabinet guy gave us a front that is what our cabinets will look like and the counterrop guys gave us a chunk of Uba Tuba so we could pick out other colors...That is the WORST part! But, Daniel and I have settled on a color. It will be soft fern from Benjamin Moore. It will be lovely. Anyway, I took these so we could kind of get a SLIGHT idea of what the final product will look like. I am excited. It looks WAY better in person, but its cool.

Countertops

We are signing the papers for our GRANITE countertops TOMORROW!!!! I am so stoked! We were going to go with something less fancy, like a Corian or something, but I called these people and they are giving us SUCH and AWESOME deal I could not pass it up! So we are getting some fabulous counters and the beautiful edging and undermount sink are included. I wish my camera were working so I could take some pics for you guys. I should probably get some batteries tomorrow. Anyways I am so excited! And they are giving us such a good deal we are going to see if they will do a backsplash for us too! Our kitchen is going to be so shnazzy!

Kitchen Update

Our Cabinets Will be in by JUNE 5TH!!!!!!!! Woo Hoo. This is definitely happening!! Its just so exciting we are finally getting our kitchen. Its going to be P-I-M-P!!! Pics to come :)

Star Trek

We saw Star Trek last night, and I must say, I approve. It was pretty dope. Although there were a couple of times when Spock showed shades of Sylar. It was cool though.

Show Business

My kids had a performance this week. It went SUPER well. I was a little disappointed with the sound at points, but over all it was GREAT! And I am way proud of my students. Its going to be wierd not seeing them this summer. But a couple of them ar coming with me to London, and they are all coming with me to see Wicked in August. We should probably do some fundraisers for that. Hmm. Anyway Pics will be coming later

Spiritual Awakening

Last night, we went to the CES broadcast. Elder David A. Bednar was speaking. I always love his talks, but last night this one especially touched all of us. It was like he was speaking directly to our family. If you want to watch it, here is the link. It is lengthy but AMAZING!

http://lds.org/move/index.html?type=ces&event=1&lang=english#

Hilarious!

Okay, okay, I know it has been quite a while since I posted. Sorry, been busy and only a few things have been really exciting, but this is EXCELLENT! Last night we went to Barnum and Bailey's Ringling Brothers circus here in Lafayette. We had floor seats so we were kind of part of the action. SUPER DUPER close! It was awesome! And of course, before it started Daniel said, "If they ask for any volunteers, I am not doing it. Even if they ask me I will refuse. This is Daniel we are talking about. Everyone already knows :) So what happens in the circus? The guy doing the show comes up and shakes some people's hands and then takes Daniel's hand and puts it high above his head and tells him to hold it there for a minute...Then he asks for a volunteer!!!!! Oh my gosh it was the funniest moment EVER! Then my clever brother-in-law, Rick gets out his handy camera and starts recording it. It so SOOOO hilarious. You can hear Rick, my sister, my niece, and I laughing in the background!. Listen really closely. This guy was super funny! ANd it makes it even funnier because it was Daniel. You can view it on my page, but if you're having trouble, here is the website.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws93UxcOynA

Wonderful Weekend

We had a blast this weekend with Raul and Kelly and Trish! I really forgot how much I love and miss them! Going over there was like going to a warm home in the middle of a blizzard. Really. I feel so motivated now to do more stuff and be a better person. I LOVE YOU GUYS!

It was very fun trying to hide cakes and candles and Heart tickets from Trish and walking on the "brackish" water beach. Lol. Plus Kelly taught me how to ride a bike! She is an excellent teacher! It was scary but very fun. THANK YOU KELLY! Fun memories.

And there were some very awful pictures that hopefully will not make it onto the blog because they are BAAADD. (Blob neck)

We left late yesterday and did not get home until midnight so getting up this morning was fun :P But my kids are so good they make it easy on me. Anyway I CANNOT wait to go back this weekend. I wish we could stay for more than two days! Can't wait for the summer :)

Wicked - Defying Gravity

A couple of my students wanted to sing a song from the Broadway musical Wicked. I had never heard of it but wanted them to be able to have the chance to do what they wanted so I started researching. Then I kind of became obsessed. I love the premise, the music, and how clean it is. Its a really cool story. Anyway, this is one of my favorite pieces from it. Its called defying gravity. Not the best recording, but you get the idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5Z-1tcLwlc

Phantoms and schoolkids

Yeah...things have been pretty much SUPER CRAZY BUSY around here. I don't know how y'all guys with kids do it, because if I added ANYTHING else tomy plate I think I might explode, or have a nervous breakdown one. Well, first off I have been practicing with my theater students for the play we will be putting on somewhere and sometime, I just don't know when or where yet! And no one will answer their dang phones! Ahem...so anyway there's that. Then on top of that I have all of these IEPs to do which is basically a gripload of useless paperwork. Then, there are my music students. In Acadia Parish, we have begun working on our pieces for Spring Concert and I have been working hard trying to get all that in the works...then there is the stuff I have volunteered accidentally for. I have been working with these kids on The Phantom of the Opera everyday after school. Sometimes the practices go until 6:30! It has overall been a GREAT experience getting to work with really dedicated kids who actually have a TON of talent. I have loved every minute of it, but it doesn't make for lots of home time. Luckily I got pretty organized this Monday and made a menu for the rest of the month and went shopping for everything needed until next wednesday. (that's something i NEVER do) But it has made life SOOO much easier. Now right when I get home, I can start working on dinner rather than think about what is in the freezer that I can defrost and "what can I make with all these random ingredients? I don't know...let's just go out to eat!" LOL this way is better and cheaper! So anyway that makes dinner more efficient.

Something funny that happened to Daniel this week was he thought he had a program due in his class so he worked for like 2 days solid on it even when he was at work and he was freaking out about it saying he was going to quit school and stuff and then he goes to turn it in the next day, and it wasn't due for another week! LOL It was SOO funny! He texted me several times that day telling me all about it! Oh yeah, speaking of texting...we got new cell phones! I don't know Daniel's number, but mine is 337-581-7924. We are At&T so if you've got it its free! Anyway, something else that happened was...my sister stood up some crazy way, and when she did she tore her miniscus (is that how you spell it?) and is going in for sugery sometime next week. whew...lots of stuff. Anywho, ttfn.

Well talk about starting the new year off right. Since returning home, I have produced a very successful dinner theater show, begun writing music for another show that I am not even really a part of, returned to work, made booklets of a Shakespearean play for my students, began practicing that play, all while starting up the remodel again. Whew. Needless to say, the dishes have not been done, and the laundry is clean but not put away. I am going totally out of my mind. But my walls are starting to look really good. I have taken some pictures and will post them later, but the pics look like a diarrhea brown. Its really actually a pretty color and I think its making a cool effect on the walls. (they kinda look like stone) so overall I think I will be happy with it. If not, there's always more paint :)

But the most important thing of all is that my cute husband turned 29 on the 20th! Crazy! I love him super duper much. He is the cutest person on the planet. We couldn't actually do anything on his birthday because he was literally in school and/or working all day and then we had institute that evening so we didn't get home until 10:30ish. But I did cook him a really noce meal on Monday and we sang to him. He is just the best husband ever so I want to make things special for him.

Anyway, we love you all, and I feel bad for not blogging as much but know its not because I don't want to, but don't have the time.

Managing my home with flylady

In relief Society this Sunday, we had a lesson on Managing our homes. I thought it was an awesome lesson! I really needed it and there was a lot of good advice going on. One of the things that was brought up was a website called flylady.com and she helps you get your house in order a little at a time rather than overwhelming yourself with it all at once. And in the process, developing habits to keep your house this way. I just did Day 1 today. And the only thing she has you do is shine your sink. She also gives a step by step process of how to do it and I LOVE that!! Because I have never had a shiny sink and never tried to shine my sink. It is really awesome and I'm actually not grossed out by my sink anymore. I am excited to see what day 2 holds.

Here is my shiny sink :)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Christmas in AZ was a blast! We got to spend lots of time with the family, and play with the little kidlets. I love them! I finally got to see Sheena's house and we went to Filibertos until we were sick of it. :) Next time we will probably fly and rent a car though, because I think that will be cheaper than driving. See, we got a ticket on the way up and on the way back. GRRRRRRrrr!!! I am really having a hard time not hating police officers in Texas right now. On the way back, we weren't even going ten OVER!!!! Oh well...it has happened and there is nothing we can do now except pay them. But there was something cool that happened on the way home.

It was the middle of the night and both Daniel and I were kind of delerious so we decided we were going to stop at a rest stop. But it was FREEZING and we had no blankets or pillows or anything so we decided that we needed to stop at a place to by a blanket. These places in TX are few and far between so, we had to go for quite a while in this dangerous state (very tired) until we came to one place that I thought may have one. I asked a lady in the back and she did not speak English. ( I was not speaking it too hot myself at that point, so you can imagine that conversation.LOL) Then I went to the front and asked if they had blankets for sale. SHe said they did not but she had one in the car I could have. I was naturally a little wary and did not quite understand what she meant. (I couldn't even see straight much less comprehend conversation) Anyway, she brought me out to her car and gave me a cute little worn quilt. I was really touched. Actually I began crying because of her generosity (and exhaustion). I told her this was not necessary, and we would be able to find one. She said she wanted to give it to us and "Merry Christmas." WoW!! There are good things in Texas. So that was a little Christmas miracle that happened with us. And although it was just a little thing, it taught me a great real-life lesson.

"For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me:
I was cold, and ye gave me a blanket :)
...Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

This year I am going to try to have more charity. And I will work as hard as possible to be the person in this scripture. Whether its with my family, friends, or a complete stranger.



This is the quilt :)