Viva Las Vegas!

Last week I couldn't handle the Utah snow anymore! So I took a little road trip down to Las Vegas to visit Paul & Amy and their adorable and hilarious kids! We had so much fun seeing the fountains at the Bellagio, playing Star Wars (of course!), and simply playing at the park in the 70 degree weather!!!

Aaron is still the Star Wars kid! I still haven't been able to win a battle of lightsabers against him. According to him, he gets to watch a new Star Wars video when he turns 7 next month.

Jacob still loves his trains! He talked about the Heber Creeper every day I was there and thinks Uncle Craig is the greatest! He also wants to go to Disneyland again because, according to him, he's big enough to go on Big Thunder Mountain.

Anna is such a doll. She appears to be following in her brother's footsteps with the Star Wars thing. Hopefully this video works because it's so stinking cute and funny!



I also got her to say "Anna Banana". She's such a chatter box, and she's willing to try any new word you give her!

My worst fear comes to pass!

A lot of you know that I run a preschool one day each term (for one class period) with my students. We have a child care unit and they bring their adorable brothers and sisters, neighbors, cousins, etc. It's one of my very favorite days of the whole term! This morning it was going great! The preschoolers were adorable. My 7th graders were doing everything they were supposed to do. When there were about 5-10 minutes left, there was a group telling the story of "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly." This is when my worst fear came to pass...the fire alarm went off!!! Seriously, every time I have this fear that it's going to go off when the kids are here. It's just my luck that it actually happened! They usually tell us if they're going to have a drill. I hadn't heard anything, so I figured there was either a fire or (more likely) a student thinking it would be a fun prank.

So after waiting for about 30 seconds to see if they would simply turn off, the principal came on and told us to evacuate the building. AWESOME! So we told the preschoolers we were going on a fun trip outside! Now at our school the students have to report to their 2nd period teacher when there's a fire drill. So the 7th graders took off with these little 3-5 year-olds and were no longer under my supervision! Since there were only a few minutes left in class, I had parents showing up to pick up their kids. I kept hearing, "Miss Lacey! Where's my child." I have no idea!

Now to make the story even better (is that possible?), we still have 3 feet of snow in the field behind our school! It has been warmer the last couple days, so the top layer has crusted over a little bit, so they kids were all trying to stay on top of the snow. However, with a few hundred kids on it, it kept collapsing and everyone would fall into the snow drifts. I also came upon a girl who had just slipped on the icy road and broke her leg. So I was trying to help her and my 2nd period students were all trying to find me and were hovering over me...all while the parents were asking for the preschoolers and other students asking me if the school was on fire.

What a fun day...it was all I could do to keep from crying. :) But the kids were all claimed (that I know of), so now it can be a good story. Well, maybe in a few days it will be a good story. Now I'm just mad because they're pretty sure it was a student's idea of a great prank. Hilarious, kids. Hilarious.

I don't get paid enough. :)

My "amazing" observation

So I had scheduled an observation today by one of the assistant principals. All last night and this morning I was really nervous. He was coming to a class that is really quiet and too shy to participate. But suddenly today they were participating and the lesson was actually REALLY good! So I start the lesson and the principal wasn't there yet. I figured it was the beginning of school, and he probably was busy making sure kids were in class. Then15 minutes went by...then 30...then an hour. With 10 minutes left in class he walked in my room. He had forgotten! He was taking care of a problem child this morning and just spaced it. I was so mad!!! So now I have to find another day for him to come and go through the whole nervous process again. Anyway, that's all!

Baby it's cold outside!

All I ask for is a little bit of sunshine and one day without snow! Yesterday was a fun day...I left for work in the morning with beautiful 40 degree weather (no really, that's the highest for 6 am in a long time!) Then half way through school I opened the blinds in my room to find a complete white-out! 5 minutes before school got out, the principal came over the speakers to announce that the highway patrol had kept the buses from leaving because the roads were so bad. So the kids got to hang out in my room for an hour and a half after school until the storm stopped and the buses were able to get to Alpine! I turned on an old Abbott and Costello video and waited with them!

So you would think that would be the great storm of the week, right? Well, the snow stopped for about 24 hours, but it's on full force again tonight and is supposed to go all through the night with more snow than the one yesterday. Now this wouldn't bother me so much, but we have had snow at least twice a week since the middle of December. And it doesn't ever warm up enough to melt the snow. It's just piling up. Okay, I'm done complaining! :)

School is going great! My class sizes are really big, but the kids are mostly good! Of course there are the typical "I can't stop talking" students, but I can handle it! :) It's still early in the semester, though. Sometimes the true personality doesn't come out for a couple more weeks.

Other than school and snow, what else is there? :) RS meetings, fondue parties, quilts, Cougar basketball, birthday parties, friends...I've actually been really busy lately with all sorts of fun stuff! I made the cutest quilt on Saturday. It's a baby quilt doubling as a Valentine's Day decoration for our apartment. :)

Well, that's really about it in the snowy world of Shannon. I hope you're all doing well. Dad, I hope you're recovering well and enjoying your liquids. :) Have a great week!

It's Halloween Time!

Well, it's been 6 months since I've put anything on here! :) I just thought I'd give you a quick update on my life!

Two weeks ago I went to California to visit Natalie! She's always an amazing hostess and more than willing to take you to Disneyland! Disneyland was all decked-out for Halloween, and it was so much fun! We had a little too fun in line for some of the rides. Follow this link to see what I mean :) ...

http://picasaweb.google.com/shannon.lacey/HalloweenAtDisneyland


I also had my first encounter with the game Guitar Hero. If you haven't played it, you're missing out! Jeremy left his game with Natalie, so we had to make good use of it. :)
The trip was really fun, but I had to come back to reality! School is going really well. The end of the first term was yesterday! I can't believe I'm 1/4 done with the year! It's getting busy though because a couple girls I work with are having babies very soon, so lucky Shannon gets to take on some of their responsibilities! Apparently I'm not busy enough, so I needed some more work (but not more pay...how does that work? :) )

I still try to have a little fun now and then. Football games are always fun...even if it does snow like crazy! There was a full-on blizzard last week!I also did something else this week...I finally got contacts! My glasses broke a couple weeks ago, and I was kind of tired of not seeing! It's really exciting to poke myself in the eyes everyday (I hate touching my eyes!) but it's very nice to be able to see again! I'm getting faster at putting them in. My roommate Kristen works at an optometrist office, so she was the one that got to help me put them in for the first time!Last night our ward had a big Halloween party at a barn up in American Fork. There were some really funny costumes. My neighbor dressed up as a trophy wife (see the link below to see a picture) and my roommate Kristen dressed up as roadkill. :) I kept with my traditional Statue of Liberty. Considering how this is the 3rd year I've worn it, I should probably do something different next year! I'll wear it again on Wednesday when I get to help with the Halloween Bash after school!
http://picasaweb.google.com/shannon.lacey/HappyHalloween

Well, that's pretty much my life. Not too exciting, but it keeps my busy! Hope you're all doing well!

Disneyland!!!

Someday when I have more time (24 days until school is out! 17 school days!), I will write more about my trip to California. Natalie and I had so much fun, and she is quite the host! I highly recommend a visit to see her if you haven't already done so! We had fun at California Adventure and Disneyland. The pictures of the flowers were at the flower fields right up the road from where she works. They were amazing! Anyway, as soon as school gets out, I'll write more fun stories about it (like all the rain!)
http://picasaweb.google.com/shannon.lacey/Disneyland

Graduation pictures

I think I figured out this whole photo album thing. I attached all of the pictures I have from last weekend's graduation festivities. I'm sorry my camera died, so I don't have any pictures from Grandma's party. Thank you so much again for coming. It was so fun to have a little adult weekend (with the exception of the two cuties, Jenna and Sophia!) Let me know if you have any problems accessing the pictures. Actually, if you do have problems, I don't really know what to do...so I don't know if that will help. :o)

Shannon

http://picasaweb.google.com/shannon.lacey/Graduation