Around the House

Today I was a middle school art teacher. Pretty fun and easy job...mainly because it was a half day with each period lasting only 20 mins. This everyday is a different day teaching deal is pretty fun.

At home I tended to laundry and other home items like dinner prep, and gardening!

Here is a shot of the first tulips from my garden. I love having fresh flowers around the house. I don't think anyone can pass by flowers without smiling.

For dinner tonight we are having ham, tomato and cucumber salad, and potato crisps! If you're looking for a healthy side, you can't beat tomato and cucumber salad! It's so easy and so yummy!

All chopped up soaking up for dinner tonight!

What do you get when you use the below ingredients????
Yummy potatoes ready for the oven! We are currently working on growing our own parsley, tomatoes, and cucumbers, so...hopefully next time I make this meal-- I'll use my own home grown goods.

Fingers Crossed

I entered almost every day. I think overall I only missed around 5 days. I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want to win this HGTV dream home! Plus, it's in New Mexico--I mean seriously, how fitting.

My sister and her husband are coming to visit the weekend they announce the winners, so...we even have family in town to celebrate. I really think this house was meant for me!! Luke thinks I'm silly, but I will continue to think positive. So...everyone keep your fingers crossed!!!!!!!!!!!

Avalanche Ahead

Luke and I woke up super early Friday morning and drove to Pagosa Springs, CO. Pagosa Springs is located right at the border of CO and NM, and receives the most snow in all of Colorado. These numbers sound impossible for anyone from the Southeast to imagine, but Wolf Creek Ski area has received over 310 inches of snow just this year!! That's around 25 FEET!!

Luke decided to be brave and try out snowboarding for the first time EVER! I've been a boarder for as long as I can remember, but hadn't been boarding in over 10 years, and since the car accident. So...we were both a little scared hitting the slopes. To make matters worse...we accidentally took the wrong lift our first ride up and ended with only blue and black options. YIKES! LUKE CAN JUST BARELY STAND STILL ON HIS BOARD AT THIS POINT!! I won't go into too much detail here for Luke's sake, but many face plants, bad words, taking board off and walking down the mountain a bit, Luke finally started to get the hang of things. By the end of the first day he was knocking out green runs without a crash. I was surprised at how well everything came back to me after all the years. I was even more excited that my foot wasn't a problem the entire weekend.

So...after a half day of boarding Friday we headed home and passed out beyond exhausted. We also caught news that night that Wolf Creek where we had skied Friday was going to be closed Saturday due to an Avalanche threat. They were expected to get over two feet of snow just that night! Armed with the new info we decided tomorrow morning we would wake up and drive the hour and half to Durango, CO to finish up the weekend there.

Turned out to be the best decision EVER! I am now in LOVE with Durango, Co. It is my favorite mountain I have ever had the pleasure to board. This was Luke's first taste of skiing in the west, and I couldn't think of a better place. The place is amazing, and I recommend it to all. Oh...I almost forgot to mention, by the end of the two days...Luke was killing some pretty hefty blue runs! SUCCESS!! We are already planning a trip back not this next weekend, but the next.

Enough talk though... a picture is worth a thousand words! Enjoy....

So Much SNOW!!

A family pic

Luke perched on the edge for a great Mtn. shot! This is more than half way down the mountain too! We didn't get a picture at the very top.

Throwing down a hillside turn!

Kids Stink

I bet you thought with a title like that I must not be enjoying my new found life as a substitute teacher. However, I simply noticed that 1st grade kids smell badly. Seriously though, they have strange funk about them. Not really sure what it is either.

The past two days I have been exploring the world of 5th and 1st grades. Teaching this young has brought me back to activities I haven't done...I can't even remember.. (ex: sharping pencils with the wall mounted sharpener--the darn thing does not churn out the beautiful tips I was expecting, but instead sharpens one side to make writing only possible with that one side--so frustrating).

I must say I thought the first graders would be a much better experience between the two grades, but I think overall I enjoyed the 5th better. I think a lot of it has to do with the first grade class I had! Turns out I got the little crazy ones! The sad thing is a lot of the kids I had come from troubled backgrounds and have a bad family life. However, there is always something truly amazing you take away from being with kids for a day. One little girl in my first grade class had no hands. She never complained and did everything the other children did. She held her pencil with two nubs, and when she needed to press ctrl, alt, delete--she simply pushed two buttons with her stubs and the last with her nose. I thought it was amazing how she never complained. She makes you really think about the things you take for granted. Tomorrow I'm off to the fancy school and very interested to see the contrast between the poor and rich schools.

On another note: I mentioned Luke and I worked on the garden this weekend and took some pics. I've decided I'll wait on those pictures until I have some progress to show.
Instead I have some pics of me making sausage bread! Luke loves my sausage bread, so that was part of my Valentine's gift to him. I do cheat and buy the store dough to save time in case you thought about making this for yourself!


Rolling out my dough! Use flour to keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin and counter.
Covered in yummy spicy sausage and cheese--doesn't need a thing more! Cook sausage 1st


All rolled up and waiting to rise! Let sit for many hours until the bread has finished rising
Finally the finished products! Heat at 350 for 20 to 30 mins.

Store the extras in the freezer for a long time, or give two away to friends, and put one in the fridge to slice up and heat in the microwave for a 30 second breakfast. YUMMY!!!!!

Weekends Are Wonderful

Weekends are Wonderful! This past weekend Luke and I worked on the garden, and went hiking at the Guadalupe Mountains located only an hour away from our home. I have garden pics, but plan to post those to tomorrow. Below are some great shots of the mountains for all to enjoy.

Here is our famous sign shot of course! However, you'll notice the added additions!!! We were so excited Jacob and Mandy joined up with us. For those of you who don't know, we have fellow Auburn alums living also an hour away in Hobbs, NM. It really is amazing that no matter where you go, you can find the Auburn family. Jacob is in the same line of work as Luke, so it's nice they can relate to pretty much everything.
This picture of Luke and Mandy looks like a postcard. It really was beautiful!


Such happy hikers at this point!

We were happy hikers the whole time actually, but we do have a good story as it turns out.

This house below is a stop along the trail we were following, however, with a poor map in hand we headed out to continue following the trail, and just couldn't find the path or any markers to help guide us in the right direction. Four college educated folks mind you. So...we headed off following a riverbed in search of our mystery trail. This went on for an hour or two with us following the riverbed, and certain to see a sign sometime soon. After attacks by large cactus plants, and no sign in sight, we finally decided daylight was fading too fast and headed back towards our truck. On the way back out we re glanced at an earlier sign to find that all four of us completely missed the arrow pointing us onto the trail we searched hours for. Oh Well!! We had a blast and made our own trail. We've all decided we'll return and conquer these mountains.

The fog was coming in quickly and daylight fading fast on our way out. The temperature really does start to drop very fast out here.
It was a great weekend! On another quick note--today I start my first day of substitute teaching. I'm only doing a half day of 5th graders today, but tomorrow I have a full day of 1st graders, and then a whole day of 2nd graders on Thursday. Should be a lot of fun! I am really looking forward to 1st grade.

So Excited!

I really thought twice about posting today. I feel like you people are going to get sick of me. However, I was thinking about all of the exciting things happening and wanted to make sure you folks were aware of what this weekend brings.

First off, THE WINTER GAMES!! I love watching any and every sport. I just thinks it's amazing what these people can do. It always motivates me too! If it's the summer games I usually want to go swimming, and the winter games brings out my desire to cut up the slopes on a snowboard. Thankfully we are going snowboarding next weekend, so that desire should be filled easily. The coverage starts today, so DON'T MISS A MIN.

And--

This Sunday airs the newest season of the AMAZING RACE! I love this show and want to really do it one day. I am almost sure they would pick me too! I have the whole storyline thought out, I just question who I should take as my partner. Luke would be great and I do think having a man is almost vital to survival (ex: the only all woman team was elminated on something that every man on each team knocked out easily! They just didn't have the strength).
However, I really think doing the race with a sister would be pretty darn exciting. Plus, they are the ones who expressed interest in doing the race. With my foot being the way it is, and that whole sob story--we know I'm the key to getting in the race, it's just breaking down each sister and seeing who would be the best fit for me!!

Katie my older sister has great street smarts and suprises me all the time being great at different things (ex: she can back any trailer no matter how large). I know that seems like a weird thing, but skills like that come in handy on The Amazing Race!

Jenna my younger sister is extremely smart! She is great with math (something i don't excel in) and speaks spanish. I think she would be better at many of the things I am not too great at since I do consider myself much more street smart and her book smart. So...it's a tough one!!

Last but not least--It's Valentine's Day Sunday! I don't get too caught up in this one, but it's always fun to show a little extra love.

Week Days

Ol Mother Earth has done it again. This past weekend I could have walked around in shorts in a t-shirt, and today we woke up to an inch of snow of the ground! I think this year has had some of the weirdest weather I can remember. For example, Carlsbad residents tell me they only get one snow a year MAX--we've had a ton so far. They say they only get on average 13in of precipitation a year--I think we've already gotten that this year! Weird! I'm glad I hadn't planted anything in the garden as of yet. I think I'll hold off for a couple of weekends now.

Today I'm off to get finger printed and turn in my 80 page application for sub teaching. Holy cow I didn't realize all the paperwork involved in teaching. Hopefully they will qualify me quickly so I can start adding income to the Dorman family. It's been half a year since I last worked! YIKES! I really wish I could have found something out here in my field, but...the whole state of New Mexico is pretty void in terms of cargo. Maybe the next location will be freight friendly :)

Now to touch on my weight journey-- I've been busting it at the gym for the past two weeks and feel pretty good. I'm doing a lot more strength training than ever before and think that explains why the scale hasn't budged.
One thing I HATE and must mention is my butt though. I love my butt don't get me wrong, however it's frustrating!! It's the kind of butt that when worked out well actually grows outward and up. This is great for walking around in a bathing suit, but...I don't walk around in a bathing suit most of my days. So...it actually makes my jeans tighter. BOO to that! I just must remember that some girls would kill for a big round booty! However, I've decided to keep it up! I think having a great, tight, lifted butt is better overall! I'll suck up the tight jeans and pray the waist shrinks enough to make up the difference. Wish me luck people!!!