You know you live in an inversion zone when...

... you hear something like this. 

In PE today, the kids were all running around and a boy came up to me, all out of breath.  Huffing and puffing, he said, "I guess the air quality in here is pretty bad.  I can hardly breathe!"

Rock Star

Spencer is a rock star.  

He's in a band with some of his buddies, and just last week they performed at the wedding reception of the band's lead guitarist.  This will be the band's last performance for a while, as the guitarist who just got hitched is moving to Texas.  They all did a great job on their farewell performance.  Spencer sang "Guardian Angel" during the bride and groom's first dance together. 

He then played bass for the remainder of the songs.

 

The reception had an 80's rock theme, so I wore my most rockin' outfit - black skirt, black and grey top, leopard print scarf, fishnet stockings, and my red high heels.  Thank goodness for the stockings and heels because my wardrobe just does not lend itself to rock and roll!  Spencer wore a disheveled white button up shirt, jeans, and a blue swirly-patterned tie. 

Here we are with the rest of the band and all the wives.

 We look pretty good, right?

Now, back to the fishnet stockings. 

While the band was performing, there were lots of little kids dancing around to the music.  A curly-haired three year old boy was dancing past me, then stopped and walked over.  Rubbing his hands on my leg, he said, "You have nets."  

"Yep," I replied. 

Rubbing further up and down my leg, he said, "Why do you have nets?"

"Because they're cool.  Do you like them?"

"Yeah," he answered.  Then, after another rub up and down my leg, he was off to dance the night away.

yummy.

My brother Adam made fried bananas during our trip to Zion National Park a few weeks ago,and they were so good I had to try making them myself. 

These are delicious, and super easy.  Just buy some egg roll wraps.

(These are found in the refrigerated produce section of the grocery store.)

Wrap half or 1/3 of a banana in a wrap and deep fry until brown.  Immediately dip them in a cinnamon sugar mix.  Serve with chocolate sauce.  We happened to have caramel and whipped cream, so we added that to the mix.

Since we had the wraps, we made some cream cheese chicken rolls for dinner.  They were okay.  I just threw some veggies in with shredded chicken, cream cheese, and seasonings. 

Dora? Not quite...

Every year at the beginning of October, I start stressing about what to be for Halloween.  As a first grade teacher, I pretty much have to dress up every year.  This year, my costume ended up being one of the easiest ever - thanks to a dress I purchased for my birthday this summer and a hat I borrowed from my dad.  Throw on some knee-high boots and a pair of binoculars, and VOILA! -

I called myself an explorer, and even thought of wearing a "My name is..." sticker with Dora written on it.  Then I could be Dora the Explorer.  But I decided against that at the last minute.  At school, I was called a variety of fun names - zoologist, ranger, safari-er, Africa hunter, someone who looks for animals, and more.

Spencer and I did not go to any Halloween parties this year, so he didn't have a costume.  If we had gone somewhere, I wanted to wrap him up in a roll of butcher paper and he could be my map.  Maybe next year.

We stayed home on Saturday night to pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters, and I couldn't believe how many kids came by!  Our neighborhood is pretty small, and full of young families.  Also, the ward didn't do a trunk or treat.  So if kids wanted to dress up and get candy, they would have to work for it!  It was nice to know that some of the traditions I remember best about Halloween as a child are still going strong.  Even the rain we got early in the evening did not deter the trick-or-treaters.  We ran out of candy around 6:30 or 7:00, so while Spencer drove down to the store for more I passed out hot cocoa packets.  Whatever works, right?

Zion

Three cheers for fall break!  Hip hip hooray!  Hip hip hooray!  Hip hip HOORAY!  Last weekend I did not have school on Thursday or Friday, so I went with my parents, my brother Michael, wife Jessica, and baby Asher, and my uncle David to Zion National Park.  My brother Adam met us there from St. George with his friend Brittany and her son.  Poor Spencer had to stay home and work.  Don't feel too sorry for him though.  The previous weekend he went camping with his buddies for the elk hunt.  But I did miss him a lot.

Michael made a great video compilation of our trip.


Untitled from Michael Jolley on Vimeo.


I took tons of pictures.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Kids Say...

...the darndest things!  Here's a conversation that happened at school a few days ago.

One of my students said, “So, you’re just a mom who comes in and teaches us stuff.” I said no, I wasn’t a mom, I was a teacher. He said, “Yes you are a mom, I saw it.” I was confused about what he meant, then he explained by pointing at my purse by my desk. “You have a purse, so you’re a mom.” Trying not to laugh, I said, yes I had a purse, but that didn’t mean I was a mom. He looked at me for a minute, then said, “So you’re a gramma then.”

And then yesterday a girl in my class wrote the following story:

Translation:  "I know a teacher that teached students.  The students were happy that they were at school."

Too cute.

Head in the clouds?

We live about 1000 feet above the valley, and today on the way home I got to drive through the clouds.  It was nice. 

The end.