L Letterpress Giveaway!

Last week, my friend Laura introduced me to this super nifty tool she likes to call (because that's what it's called) the L Letterpress. Laura works for the company that makes the letterpress and develops designs for it...and she's pretty much the most talented person I know!
(Laura, is it called the "L" after you? I sure hope so.)

I was thrilled this morning when I saw on Laura's blog (check it out...she has some fun stuff on there, and you can see more of what this letterpress can do) that they are giving an L Letterpress away! I want one...then I won't have to call Laura every night to see if I can come use it (tomorrow night, perhaps? I'll call you) :)

So go check out their blog to see what it's all about!

It's the final countdown

6
school days until
Christmas Break!!!
(but who's keeping track?)

Oh Babies!

Three of my friends have had babies in the past week and a half!
(let me know if you're freaked out that I posted pictures of your babies...I just think they're cute. I can remove them if you want me to) :)

It all started with little Rosalee...daughter of my friend Jackie. She came on November 28th.Next came little Ryan...son of my old roommate Megan. He came on December 5th.The newest baby is not-so-little (9 lbs 12 oz) Ben...son of my cousin Trent and his wife Cristi. He came TODAY (December 10th).It's been fun to watch the countdowns on their blogs...since they were all due within a few days of each other. Congratulations!!!

Welcome to the world! :)

Cougar Basketball

Over Thanksgiving break, I went to a BYU basketball game with my family. It was so fun to have everyone here for Thanksgiving! My friend Carie and her roommates sat by us, and Carie took these fun pictures.

Anna was cracking us all up with her funny facial expressions and awesome dance moves.Cherilyn's family. I had to post both of these pictures because of Emily's face (bottom right, in the pink). She does not look happy to be there...probably because she knew that in two minutes she would be sitting in the car for 11 hours on their all-night drive home.

Go Cougars!

My principal sent this to me today. I thought it was great. :)

Twilight Bedroom

Today I was looking for pictures of themed bedrooms to show my interior design class. I came across this Twilight room and got a good laugh (my female students are coveting, my male students are dry heaving)Check out this blog to see more pictures of the room...

More Halloween Fun!

I know Halloween was two weeks ago, but I'm always delayed on posting! On Halloween night, I went with my roommate Annie and her siblings and cousin to a Jekyll and Hyde musical (ya, who knew it was a musical?) Before we left, they all came over for some Halloween fun!

Here are all of us with our sweet, last-minute costumes. We were trying to be in character, and I didn't know what to do for Statue of Liberty. I forgot that she has a serious face. Oops on the smile.
Left to right...
Me--Statue of Liberty (my Mike Wazowski costume was too big to take to a play!)
Erick--Taking it to the Disco
Annie--Olympian (good excuse to wear our medals from a ward olympic activity)
Kaylee--Hokie Pokie Instructor
Jared--Vampire (of the non-Cullen variety)
Jamie--Walmart Employee

Annie had some eyeball ice cubes. The eyeballs were apparently edible, but Kaylee was the only one brave enough to try one.We had glow in the dark fingernail polish. We were "charging" them before we turned out the lights.Evil Statue of LibertyI used a lighter as my torch (note how Erick is still "charging" his fingernails...pretty sure this is the only way to get a guy to paint his fingernails!)

Why I don't really like winter

The list isn't very long, but...
#1 Snowy roads
I think I would love the snow if I didn't have to stress about driving in it. You would think that learning how to drive in Montana would make me not mind it, but I really don't like it!
#2 It's dark
Now I know my sister in Alaska is rolling her eyes at me, but I don't like how dark it is during the winter! When I drive to work...it's dark. When I come home from work...it's dark.
(Saturday really is a special day...it's the day I see sunshine!)
So perhaps I will stop blogging and get back to work so I can go home! Sometimes I need a break...I feel like I've been running around like a crazy person all day!

Mike Wazowski

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Yesterday at school, there were all sorts of great costumes. From s'mores to a 13 year old Teletubby, there was plenty to see!

A few weeks ago a few teachers thought it would be fun if all the teachers dressed up at Disney characters. At first, I wasn't excited at all. I could only think of being a princess, but once I thought a little more I decided to be Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc.Here's the original Mike.This is with Brittany and Rachel. They are the other two FACS teachers at my school. They are awesome. :)

Things that make me cry

For those of you who know me pretty well, you know that I'm not really one to cry a lot. I typically only cry when
1. I'm at a funeral (I lose it and have zero control of myself...it's bad)
2. I'm sleep-deprived and don't know how to do my job (some of you had the "opportunity" to see this in my first year of teaching)
3. I'm laughing really hard (those are the good tears)

Sometimes people think I'm heartless when I don't cry in movies or when I hear a touching story that makes everyone else cry.

But I'm hear to say that I've found a couple of books that have apparently broken me. They were both recommended by former students and are geared toward a young, LDS audience (and both by the same author...Kay Lynn Mangum).

The first one I read last year...The Secret Journal of Brett Colton. I remember sitting on the plane to go to Tammy's in Seattle and just crying as I read it! It was sad, but really good.

The second one is called When the Bough Breaks. This is a SAD book! It's about a girl who just seems to have everything in her life changed abruptly (dad dies, mom is depressed, brother is an alcoholic, mom gets remarried). It was good, but so sad! I started reading it last spring and couldn't handle the beginning because it was so sad. I picked it up again a few days ago to find that (shocking) it was still sad, but I haven't been able to put it down! It really is good, and the last few pages give you a satisfied, happy ending, but I have been crying every night as I read.

Tonight as I finished it, I thought about how blessed I am. Today at church, we had a great lesson on faith and some great talks (one particularly amazing one courtesy of my roommate Annie) on agency. I've had some friends going through some really hard times lately with their health and other rough things (I love you girls!), and it's been incredible to see their great faith. I try to put myself in their position and realize that I'm not sure I could be so strong if I were in their situations. I am so blessed to have such incredible friends and family members in my life who are such "rocks" for me. I know I have a lot of work to do to build my own "rock", but I'm so grateful that I have all of you in my life and have a knowledge and testimony that my Father in Heaven loves me very much and knows my weaknesses and can heal me. What a blessing!

So tonight I have a few more things to add to my list of things that make me cry...
4. Books written by Kay Lynn Mangum
5. Emails and blog posts written by a certain friend (you know who you are, you old stinker...I love you!)

I'm free!

Everyone congratulate me...

I JUST PAID OFF MY SCHOOL LOANS!!!

Oh, I am so happy!
(I cried, actually)

FREEDOM!!!

I'm going to go take myself out to dinner to celebrate!

Cake Wrecks

I just discovered this blog...

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

Grab a husband, wife, friend, aunt, whoever and
Go look at it.
Now!
It's so funny!
I have been crying for the past 30 minutes from laughing so hard.

Be sure to look at "The Classics" and "Fan Faves" tabs on the side...
so funny!

Happy Birthday, Carie!!!

I have to give a shout-out to my friend Carie Eastman!

It's her birthday today!!!

And since she apparently checks my blog daily to see if I wrote anything new, I figured I would dedicate an entire post to her! Congratulations!

Carie and I met long, long ago (2002) in the land of the orange blob (a.k.a. the BYU Comprehensive Clinic in the Taylor Building at BYU. Everything in the building was orange, hence the "orange blob") Carie and I worked together and often had nothing to do, so we would chat on the phone, in person, and through thousands and thousands of emails (not exaggerated. I checked) Carie was usually the one who got to listen to me "vent" about stupid things or just hear what is going through my mind (which is frightening sometimes...I can't believe she's still my friend!)

So if you ever want to know anything about me (pet peeves, who I'm in love with, what scares me, if I'm really happy or just faking it, favorite stupid movie quotes, etc.), Carie is the one you should ask! She remembers more about me than I usually do.

Thanks for being such an awesome friend, Carie!

Check your email, Carie...I'm sending you a nice, long one like the olden days of working at the clinic when we had absolutely nothing to do. It's a really long email, but trust me...it's a good one!

Dear Miss Lacey

(I'm sorry if you don't like reading these student stories. It's more for me to remember them, but I hope you get a chuckle...this one's pretty creative)

Dear Miss Lacey,

You are an amazing teacher. I cannot describe how great you truly are. I learn so much.

It is almost as if I'm the scarecrow off Wizard of Oz and you are the Wizard giving me knowledge.

Or I'm in the great land of sewing and you're the Chief Indian and I am a young pilgrim and you are showing me around this great land of sewing and showing me your ways. You give me a feast of knowledge.

You've taught me much wisdom. Like don't touch hot irons and don't stick your hand under the sewing needle. It will hurt you.

But to sum it up...you are the wind beneath my wings. And I'm so willing to make you my designer aprons whenever! I know how much you love them!
With much love,
Your student Kami

(These are Kami's designer aprons she was talking about. Aren't they beautiful? She made them for me when she was in 7th grade. She's in 9th now. I wore these aprons as wings when we I danced in front of the entire student body at an assembly.)

Miss Lacey and the Hobo

One day Miss Lacey decided to go for a walk, when she stumbled upon a poor old hobo.
"Any spare change?" the hobo asked.
"Here you go." Miss Lacey, being her kind-hearted self, gave the hobo $100.
Miss Lacey and the hobo kissed! He turned into a prince and they lived happily ever after!

(written by one of my cute 9th grade girls)

Love is in the air...

This week has been full of engaged couples....

[ 1 ] My sister Natalie got engaged on Friday night!
Hooray for Natalie and Justin!!!
I'm so excited for you guys!

[ 2 ] I went to Salt Lake on Monday night and met my Uncle Alan's fiance, Sandy.

[ 3 ] The original reason I went to Salt Lake on Monday was to meet my cousin Trevor's fiance, Kristy.

[ 4 ] After 1st period on Tuesday, a student (I haven't even taught him in 2 years) approached me and said,
"Miss Lacey, are you married?"
(once again, students need a lesson in Miss vs. Mrs vs. Ms)
I replied with a "No, I am not", and he proceeded to get down on one knee and say,
"Miss Lacey, will you marry me?"
He had a big, fake ring and everything
(pretty sure he had just found it on the floor in the hall).
I said, "Oh! I feel so special! But you are WAY too young. Sorry dude." :)
He stood up and said, "Oh dang. It was worth a try!"

So it may have come from a 15 year old, but I did get a marriage proposal this week!

Nightmare

I had a bad dream last night.

I wanted to call my mommy and ask for comfort because I was so scared.

I had a dream that Verizon charged me every time I pushed my snooze button on my phone alarm.

My bill was $700!

Yes, that's how often I snooze.

Sometimes I think I should feel bad because Annie can probably hear it going off...but she snoozes too, so it's not too bad :)

Ms. vs Mrs. and Miss Lacey's Skills

Today I had one of our school counselors teaching my 7th grade classes. I overheard this conversation between the counselor and two students.

Student 1: What is your name again?
Counslor: Ms. ________ (name withheld for the safety of the counselor) :)
Student 1: I can never keep it straight...what is the difference between Mrs. and Ms.?
Student 2: Ms. means "I'm not telling" (meaning I'm not telling if I'm married or not)

I thought it was pretty funny!

******************************************************

I also heard another funny thing while the counselor was talking to the class...

Counselor: For most jobs you have to have a college degree. I got a masters degree and got a job. Miss Lacey went to college and she was able to get a job.
Funny Student: Well that's because Miss Lacey has skills!
Counselor: What...I don't have skills?
Funny Student: Well I don't know about that. But Miss Lacey has a lot of sweet skills!

Oh the things they say to make me feel good about myself. Such a funny kid.

Random fun...

First of all, I had a contest for my 9th graders to design a winning hall pass for me. This is one entry I got from two girls....they know how to sucker me with Harry Potter :)

It says "Accio Toiletious Paperous" :)

and here is the inside...Harry has to go potty. My students are so funny :)

Dinner at Mimi's Cafe for my friend Amelia's birthday. I love that place. Why didn't I go there for MY birthday?My birthday...a month late, but here you go...
Carie and Amy made this pan of tasty goodness. And in case you're wondering, I'm 25 now :)We also went to Macaroni Grill for dinner. It was actually a pretty bad experience. It took us about 3 hours and they messed up EVERYTHING!

Cheryl had a huge meat ball...check out that sucker!It was fun having dinner with everyone. Here I am with my old roommate Kristen and my neighbor Rebecca.

Cirque du Soleil

A group of us went to Cirque du Soleil's Saltimbanco. It was so fun! It was amazing to see the funky things people can do with their bodies. It takes such incredible strength to do the acrobatic things they do! It made me wish I could do it. Maybe I'll start with push ups :)

Here are a few pictures from the fun day...

Some of the girls...Alisa, Annie, me, Cheryl, Rebecca

With Annie...did I tell you I have bangs? :)Unfortunately, you can't see all of us. Dan and Jason are hiding down there somewhere. And Alisha, Sarah, and Jenn were hiding behind the camera :)

Moonlight Ride

The title sounds romantic, right? Well don't get too excited...I went with my roommates :) A couple weeks ago Annie, Alisa and I went up to Sundance and rode on the ski chair lifts. They do it every now and then when there is a full moon. It was nice to get out of the heat and into the cool mountain air!

Aren't we cute?
Dangling feet...I was scared that I would lose one of my new shoes :)We wore glow bracelets...because we're cool. There were so many people who commented on them as we passed.
Thanks for the fun times, girls! I think I had KC and Jojo's "All My Life" stuck in my head for weeks after that (we may have listened to it several times during the car ride)

I love quiet games

I love playing games with my classes. But I love it even more when we play quiet games! I play a game with my class that is kind of like Scattegories. They work in groups and have to come up with TV shows or movies that fall under certain categories. Sometimes group activities can get really loud, but when I point out to them that other groups can overhear their ideas, they realize that they have to whisper.

40 whispering 7th graders....it's a beautiful thing.

Letter to Scott

My friend Carie reminded me of this note I once wrote to my co-worker, Scott. He was a HUGE Utah Jazz fan, and he wanted me to cover his shift for him so he could go to an autograph signing for Andrei Kirilenko.He wrote this long note to me about why he wanted to go and how much he loves Andrei Kirilenko.

This was my response...

Scott,

I’m very sorry but Sheri Dew is going to be signing autographs in the University Mall Friday afternoon. I bought a t-shirt at Women’s Conference my freshman year in hopes that I’d be able to get her to sign it for me someday. She’s been my hero ever since my first day as a beehive. I think my role model is a better example than some “Andrea Kirlyhair” that plays basketball for a living, so after much searching, pondering, fasting and praying…I’ve decided that President Hinckley would approve of my being selfish and not letting you go see your precious Andrea. Besides, you already have a bunch of Jazz memorabilia – They don’t sell Sheri memorabilia on ebay. I know I’m awesome; you don’t have to tell me. You’re welcome.

Sincerely,

#1 Sheri Dew Fan

Shannon

“Life is filled with moments of joy, but life is also hard.”
-Sheri L. Dew

I triple dog dare you!

Last week we had a night that sort of turned into a dare night. They all kind of revolved around this awesome bird visor that Carie and Amy gave me for my birthday. I got to go first, and I feel like I got an easy one. They dared me to put on the visor and walk around the block dancing and walking like a bird. (oh, and I wore my awesome "water socks")

Easy!

Next, we gave Alisa $5 and told her she had to go into the grocery store and buy Fruit Loops (we think the bird kind of looks like Tucan Sam). We told her she had to walk around the entire store holding up the box. She only went down a couple of rows, but it was fun!Sadly, we never got to Annie's dare. We will do it the next time Alisa comes to visit! We are going to have her put on the visor and sit on the "kissing bench"...it's this cute red bench by our old place that is just the right size for two people. But she's going to hold a sign that says "Kiss Me" or "Free Kisses" or something like that. I'll be sure to post a picture of that! :)

I'm weird...what can I say?

My roommate Annie just emailed me a bunch of pictures. Since some of you apparently aren't satisfied with my lack of pictures in my past few posts, here you go...

These are just random pictures...

So I have a creepy look on my face in this one, but I think it's funny. My roommate had a magazine with ideas for kids. One of them was to make a head wreath. We had a wreath hanging on the wall, so I took it off and put it on my head. Isn't it cute? I was trying to make a weird face like the girl in the picture.
We got new couches in my old apartment. They are the suede-ish kind, so we always have fun "drawing" on them. One day my roommate Alisa stood up, and there was a PERFECT butt print left! It was so great tat I had to take a picture (okay, so I probably took 5)This picture was from my birthday (right at midnight, actually). My roommates Annie and Alisa, along with my neighbor Rebecca, were talking in the living room, and they told me I could do whatever I wanted for my birthday. I think it was Rebecca who said, "You could even wear socks with sandals on your birthday!" So I went in my room and put socks and sandals on...classy with the PJs!

April 6, 2005

Here is one of the stories that Carie reminded me of that I wrote to her a few years ago....

So I went to bed at 3 or so this morning. I was pretty stinkin tired

this morning so I just skipped my 8am class. Apparently I was still

pretty tired because I was just not paying attention when I put my make-up on...

Usually I start out with my foundation. But for some odd

reason I did my eyes first. Right after I put my mascara on, I did my

foundation.

Somehow I went right over one of my eyes with my little

foundation pad, so my eyelashes got all gooped together.

So I was still holding my open bottle of foundation in my hand and grabbed my

mascara to fix my clumpy eyelashes. (This really is the kind of mascara I use...I don't remember ever using another kind. I love it!)

I went to put my mascara stick back into the tube, and where do you think it actually went?

Right into the bottle of foundation.

I'm a moron.

So I had to pull it out and wash it off. I haven't tried using the mascara again, but I'm

guessing it's going to be a little screwed up for a while until the

brush can actually be covered in stuff again. Plus my foundation has

black swirls in it. It's lovely! Anyway....that's my stupid story for

the day.

And the winner(s) is(are)...

I know it has taken WAY too long to give the results of my 100th blog post contest, but I've been so busy with packing and getting ready for school!

It was so much fun reading the stories you all submitted. Thank you for entertaining me. I suggest you go through and read some of the funny stories. There were some gems!!! Last week I had found a clear winner, but there was a last minute entry that has caused me to choose two winners, and they are...

*drumroll*

CARIE EASTMAN & AMELIA PARRY

I have known Carie since I first moved to Utah. We worked together for 3 years at the Comprehensive Clinic and lived in the same ward for probably another 3 years. Needless to say, she knows what it takes to make me laugh. When we worked at the clinic, we were frequently bored out of our minds. So what did we do? We sent stupid emails to each other all day long! Carie went through and found some great emails and links that were sent around 4 years ago. Reading through those old things had me laughing so hard that I was crying!!! I guess she just knows that I find myself quite hilarious and knew she could win with my own stories. :) Over the next few posts perhaps I will share a couple of those stories with you.

And Amelia...oh Amelia...she likes to find funny videos online and share them. She found some good ones that had me laughing a lot! These were a couple of my favorites...

SNL--Penelope at therapy

High School Musical 4

Clear Rite (this might be especially funny for Brett, David, and Natalie...or anyone who is in the dental field, has worn whitening trays, or had a weird retainer like I did after braces) :)

Thank you again for participating! All of the stories were so great! I might have to do it again sometime soon...it was so fun to read all of them! Congratulations to Carie and Amelia! I think Carie said she wanted one of those purses I made. Amelia do you want one too? We'll chat about it. :)

How embarrassing

So I'm not afraid to admit this, but my birthday is on Friday! I actually love all forms of birthdays. I even wish I could throw a party for each of my students' birthdays (even the ones I don't like), but we would probably miss out on a lot of quality education :)

But what I don't like to do is make you feel obligated to get me a gift. My mother has taught me by example that "all I want for my birthday is a hug from you!" I always get mad at her when she says this (after I give her a hug) because I never knew what she wanted....turns out a couple of you feel the same!

So I'm blaming this on my old roommate Cheryl (sorry to give you away Cheryl...hee hee), but here is the requested birthday wish list. PLEASE don't think of this as me trying to get more gifts. (Though maybe I should register at Target...I like Target) And please don't consider this to be a lame list because I've been racking my brains for anything I might need/want.

• A hug from you (no really, that's what I want!)
  
• A table fan (I have a big one, and it's always in the way)
• Whoonu (fun game!!! From the makers of Cranium. Kind of like Apples to Apples. It's a brainless game...that's why I like it!)
• A big bath towel (they're so cozy)
  
• A knife (that actually cuts)
• A big round brush (I have a semi-small one and the lady who cut my hair the other day used a huge one)
  
• A car wash (my car is sick right now)
  
• iTunes gift card (or gift cards to any random place...they're always fun!)
  
• A CD of your favorite music
• Fruit (something fun...ya know...other than the apples, oranges, and bananas I usually get)
• Quarters (I am turning a quarter of a century afterall! Maybe I could use them for the car wash)

So there it is. I'm embarrassed to post this, but if it makes you happy, then I am happy...because your happiness is also what I want for my birthday (cheesy!!! but true)

100

Guess what...

This is my 100th blog post!

Some people do silly things like a give-away or a drawing on a blogiversary or notable post such as this.
That's just weird.

But then again, I'm weird!

So I'm going to do it!

I stayed up all night thinking about how to do this,
and here's what I came up with...

Whoever leaves a comment with a story that makes me laugh the most will get a PRIZE.

(Hey, I have to make this entertaining for me too!)

What is the prize? Well it's a surprize!

It could be a movie, or a book, or something crafty I made, or a pencil!

So get creative! You could write about something funny your kid said, insert a youtube link, tell a joke...
whatever you think might make me laugh until it hurts!

I'll give you about a week...ready....GO!

Random road trip

On Wednesday my roommate Alisa decided she needed to get out of Provo, so on Thursday morning at 9:30ish we hopped in the car and headed to Rexburg, Idaho (that's where Alisa is from). Her sister and brother-in-law were graduating from BYU-I, so she thought that was a pretty good opportunity to get out of town!

It was a super quick trip (we were only gone for about 34 hours), but it was a lot of fun! Alisa's family is a lot of fun! Her parents were so nice and her younger siblings were so very entertaining!

Thanks for the random fun trip, Alisa! Back to reality (well, as real as it gets for a teacher on summer break...hee hee) :)

Harry Potter Night!

Last week a group of us went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. To get ready, we made these AWESOME t-shirts!My roommate Alisa and I went at 7:45pm to get in line. We stopped at Costa Vida on the way to grab some dinner.We actually had a lot of fun waiting in line. We played three rounds of Dirty Marbles.I won once...twice...all three times!

I rarely win this game (probably because Rebecca wasn't there), but I just got really lucky!
Mel, Carie, and Amy played Phase 10.

We had plenty of time for random pictures.(Mel, Amy, Carie, Jason, Emily, Alisa, me)

(Jason taking a nap on Alisa's back...while they were standing)(With my Harry Potter ring. It broke at the end of the movie. I'm saying it was a Horcrux...therefore it was necessary for it to break)

And we finally made it into the theater! It was a GREAT movie! It's definitely my favorite of the movies so far. There were a lot of funny moments...mainly geared toward teenage hormones. Did you like it?