Your name is WHAT?!

It's so funny to me when a student find out my first name. It's as if they go around thinking my first name really is "Miss". Today another teacher came in my room and said, "Hi Shannon." My students looked up in shock, and one said, "Your name is WHAT?! Shannon? That's so weird! Can I call you Shannon?" :) It's as if my secret identity has been taken away. It's still so weird to me because I grew up in a small town where you always knew the teachers' first names. Sometimes I tell my students that I used to babysit for my teachers. "That's so weird! I would never babysit for a teacher!"

Megan made me do it :)

My dear old roommate Megan forced me to do this. She said if I did it, she would give me a million of her billion dollars (see below) (just kidding Mego...I think it's kind of fun)

1. What were you doing 10 years ago? Wow, I was in 8th grade...which is creepy because that's who I'm teaching now! So I was probably doing what they are doing now...being incredibly annoying and occasionally hilarious! I was still wearing braces and being awesome in track meets (ya right!)

2. 5 Things on my To-Do List Today...1. Go to Costco and buy food for our big enrichment/ Relief Society birthday bash on Thursday. 2. Fill my roommate Staci's bathroom up with balloons for her birthday. 3. Read a bunch of "Enna Burning"...a Shannon Hale book. I love those books. They're so cute! I only have the book checked out from the library for another 10 days! 4. Talk to Kristy on the phone for 45 minutes (okay, that wasn't exacly on my to-do list, but it happened!) 5. Find me a man! (That's on my list every day...one of these times it will happen) :)

3. What snacks I enjoy...chips and salsa!

4. What would I do if I were to suddenly be a Billionaire? Well of course I would start with roughly $1,000,000 in tithing, then I'd pay off my school loans and buy a car. Then I'd buy my parents a new refrigerator so they wouldn't have to keep it closed with a box of Tide anymore. I'd put some away to buy a house someday with a wrap-around porch and a porch swing. I think I'd give my siblings and my parents a good chunk of it. I would travel the world with my man that I am going to find (see question #2). Included in that are several trips to visit nieces and nephews! I'd buy an annual pass to Disneyland every year. I'd save money for my kids...but not too much! I want them to have to work for their college education...it builds character, and there is nothing wrong with living off rice, eggs, and pancakes for months at a time! I would want to donate money for scholarships for good students who try really hard but can't get perfect grades! There are a lot of other things, but I'd take the leftovers and boost the economy by shopping. :)

5. 3 Bad Habits...1. Procrastination!!! 2. Not putting stuff away as soon as I'm done using it. 3. Falling asleep during movies (I got that from my mom!)

6. 5 Places I've lived...this question always makes me feel lame. 1. Drummond, Montana 2. Provo, Utah. Yep, that's it! I don't have 5! So I can break it down into specific places where I've lived 2a--Liberty Square, 2b--Heritage Halls, 2c--Singletree, 2d--Middle Cambridge, 2e--Summerlyn

7. 5 Jobs I've had...1. Drummond Elementary summer janitor with Tessa (those were the good old days!) 2. Cotton Shop (quilt store) in Drummond 3. Receptionist/ Auditor/ Secretary/ Materials Room/ Administrative Assistant at BYU Comprehensive Clinic (ya, I could pretty much get all 5 of my jobs from that place! I did it all!) 4. Lab Instructor for beginning clothing class at BYU, 5. Teacher at Timberline Middle School

8. 5 Things People Don't Know About Me...I'm kind of an open book. 1. I'm the teacher representative for our school's PTA (yep, my life isn't that exciting) 2. I talk in my sleep. 3. I once had a dream that Joey from NSync kissed me (this was back in high school) 4. I share a birthday with Harry Potter (okay, you probably already knew that), 5. I color code my closet.

This is the part where I'm supposed to tag 5 people to do this. I don't really know how many people check this, so how about if you see this, just do it if you feel prompted to do so :)

As Sisters in....Mesa!

A couple of months ago, my sisters started talking about how we were sick of cold weather and how we should all meet up somewhere where the sun shines and it doesn't snow! This talk continued for quite some time until my sister Kristy, who lives in Alaska, finally made a move and bought a ticket to Phoenix! About 24 hours later, all of us had made plans to get to Phoenix as well! Tammy (Seattle), Kristy (Anchorage), Cherilyn (Pinetop, AZ), and Natalie (San Diego...well, technically Carlsbad) all met in Phoenix at the end of February/beginning of March for a fun weekend that I hope becomes a tradition! Our brother, Brent, lives in Mesa, so we invited our brother, Paul (Las Vegas), to come, too, but he wasn't able to come.

I got up at 5:00 a.m. and drove to the airport go catch my flight. I got in at about 9:30 a.m. and met up with Tammy. Within an hour all of our flights came in. We converged on Brent's house and played my Guitar Hero. I got Guitar Hero for Christmas...you play it on the computer. Only problem...it doesn't work on my computer. So with a heavy heart, I mailed it to Brent so he could babysit it for who knows how long. All the more reason to visit him! :) We checked into our hotel and sat in the sun for awhile. We were a little cozy in the hotel room with 5 of us plus Cherilyn's 3-month-old baby, Amie (who is so stinking cute, I might add!)

That evening, we went to Massage Envy for massages. (Brent opted out! He watched Amie while Cherilyn got her massage.) Needless, to say, it was one of the highlights of the vacation!

We did lots of other girly sister things while we were there...like painting toe nails, pedicures...all while watching Tommy Boy? :) We also exchanged methods of applying eye make-up. It was fun to compare our eyes with each other to see similarities!

Every night we were there, we stayed up late talking. We all get along so well and are so chatty, that we didn't want to go to bed. It always amazes me that even with the age differences among us, we still get along so well! Ya, I couldn't exactly join in on the talks about being a mom and wife, but I just love listening to them share their stories. I would laugh at them and they would just say, "You laugh now Shannon, but this will be you in a few years!" And that's why it's so funny. :)

Saturday morning, Brent met us to go hiking. We had so much fun. Obviously Natalie had fun being a cactus, "Javelina" thrower, and the next Karate Kid!

Amie had fun too...

Our fearless leader...

Here are some other hike pictures...

Sunday was one of the highlights as we invaded Brent's singles ward. I thought it would be fun to check out the guys, but there was a small problem....there weren't any boys in his ward! Okay, that's an exageration, but there were so many girls!!! We promised Brent we wouldn't embarrass him enough to damage his social life. Throughout church and after church, we gave him our input as to which girls he could try to "get to know." :) Thanks for putting up with us, Brent!

Sunday was also Kristy's birthday, so we made lasagna dinner and cheesecake for dessert to celebrate. While we were waiting for the lasagna to cook, we went to the Mesa temple and walked around the grounds.

We had a fun dinner after we got back. We teleconferenced with our brother, Paul, and his family. His kids were so cute on the camera! Anna sang star wars again, Jacob made faces the whole time, and Aaron even put on a lightsaber show for us :)

After dinner, Natalie and I headed back to the airport. Our flights went out right next to each other, so it was fun to sit together at the airport. Unfortunately, my flight was delayed, so I got to sit there for another couple hours than expected and didn't get home until 2am! The exhaustion that week was so worth it! I love my family so much! They really are the greatest!