Let the Training Begin

On Saturday the 21st of February, the Wildhorse bowling alley is hosting a Wii bowling tournament! Palmer is absolutely beside himself. The Wildhorse just happens to be around the block form our apartment which is really convenient for us. Of all the video games that Palmer has I have to say that I love Wii sports, actually I love the Wii, period. Probably because its something we can both play and it doesn't put Palmer in some zombie trance. Anyways, Palmer has about a week in a half to get his Wii bowling game up to speed. So with Palmer practicing so much Wii bowling I have chose to also improve my Wii skills. If I get good enough in the next week we are going to enter the tournament together. The grand prize is $640 which is not to shabby for a $20 entry fee. So for the next week we will be bowling every spare second we have. Wish us luck, we will keep you updated!

Games, Food and More Games

Two weeks ago Palmer's sister, Vivian, took a long weekend off to come and visit us. We had been anxiously awaiting her trip for what seemed like forever. Viv runs a daycare (among 1000 other things, she's super mom,) and really needed a weekend to herself minus kids and all that. So we all got together for a weekend filled with tons of games and food!

On Thursday, after Viv's flight got in at 10:00pm we made it back to the apartment and started up a game of phase 10. Mike was here too, so we had just enough people for some intense game playing. We visited and played games long into the early morning and then realized we were all starving! But it was 2:30 in the morning, a little late to get food. Well not in Vegas! We were able to find a 24 hour pizza place over by campus, Sofia's, that would deliver to our apartment. So at 3:00am we were able to satisfy our hunger before going to bed.

The next day we all kinda laid around and slept in. Oh and of course played more games! We played Jeopardy and Skipbo. By Friday afternoon Mike had won every game that we had played, so we were all out to get him. The guys finally got themselves together and all went to play Frisbee golf at Sunset park. Viv and I were than able to get ready and start the dinner. Palmer has been harassing me to learn how to make his family's chicken enchiladas. So finally Viv was here to show me all the tricks. The meal preparation took a little longer than necessary because not only did Palmer refuse to buy boneless skinless chicken but he had also put the chicken in the freezer! So Palmer, Mike, My dad and I had to shred the chicken while Viv did all the rest of the food prep. We finally ate around 7:45. The meal was amazing! Thanks Viv. So then we of course started another game marathon. David came over to and we played Scene It on the Xbox and some skipbo. I believe Mike was still winning and Palmer had managed to win one or two. Viv and I were still losing our asses off.

On Saturday Viv and I didn't get up and around til about 4pm. We had some serious catching up to do. So we all got ready and went to bowl at the Sunset Station. We bowled 3 games and in the last game Viv bowled 3 strikes putting her in second place next to Palmer. After bowling we went to Joe's Crab Shack and had an amazing time. All of our food was awesome and Palmer, Mike and David even did the Crab Shack dance. We made it back home and played a intense game of skipbo and Viv finally beat Mike.

On Sunday Viv had to fly home but not before we played a few more games. I won the last game of Skipbo. My only win! We all had an awesome weekend and can't wait for Viv to come back and do it again!

One Year

This week, (the first week of February) was officially my one year anniversary at my current job working for the Becker's. I was thinking about Valentine's Day last year and remembered that I had bought Grant, Bryce and Chase gifts for the holiday, which meant I was obviously working there this time last year. So I was looking back at my old emails and found the emails that included the date of my interview and first day with the Becker's. Anyways I figured out that I started last February. Wow, I can't believe that I have been working there a year! Time flies. I have so many memories of the last year working with these boys. This job has been one of the most educational experiences I have ever had. I have had my patience tested to the max and had to hold back tears and laughs on to many occasions to recall.

If anyone thinks they can handle the 24/7 job of being a parent or just working with kids, they should seriously consider being a nanny first. You will learn so much, so fast. I have been baby-sitting since I was about 12, I thought I knew it all. Needless to say, I was mistaken. The first week that I worked for the Beckers, Chase (1 1/2 yrs. old at the time) choked on a hot dog that I hadn't cut up small enough. Luckily I knew the baby Heimlich! When I went to Ohio with Christina and the boys this summer, Christina and I were both on the edge when Grant and Bryce decided that they were never going to sleep on the east coast time zone. Over the last year, Grant (now 8) has learned how to push my buttons and test my patience. I have gained more self control than I ever thought possible. But I'm still no where near being super nanny!

I still come home everyday and have something to tell Palmer about my day. I'm never bored because there is never a dull moment taking care of 3 boys. I'm thankful that I ever had the opportunity to work for the Beckers. I know that so many people never have anything funny or exciting to say about there job, I'm glad I'm not one of them.

I don't want to pretend that this job doesn't stress me out or make me frustrated at times, but the good definitely out weighs the bad. Being able to be a part of Bryce learning to read, Grant learning to write in cursive, and Chase learning to talk is more rewarding than I can explain. Grant and Bryce are turning in to little men and it amazes me. Grant has probably read 100 books since I met him and every time he brings home a book that I read as a child, I want to read the whole thing with him again. Bryce can spell about 10 to 15 words and he is so proud, its great. Chase still has the most expressive face I have ever seen. He can put a smile on anyone's face. He is so much bigger and smarter then when I first met him. He is doing puzzles, potty-training, eating at the table, and trying so hard to talk.

In the this next year, all the boys will turn another year older, move up another grade and continue to grow into little people. I hope the next year is as amusing and rewarding as this past year. That's all I could ever ask for.

Here's a few pictures of my last year with the Becker boys:

Back To School

So this week I went back to school, and I have a full schedule-Math 120, Spanish 113, Child Behavior Disorders, Film Noir and Literature, and Philosophy 102. So needless to say I'm going to be working my butt of until May. I'm really excited about my child disorders class; it is so interesting and I've only read the first chapter. Math and Spanish are going to be rough but that's expected and I really just want to get them over with. Along with school I am still working 3 days a week with the Beckers. So my 5 weeks of winter break bliss have come to an end and its back to reality.

Over the last 3 days I have gone back and forth to the bookstores on and near campus trying to find the best deal on my books. I have to say that the prices for college books is a serious crime. I still am shocked every single semester when I go to purchase my books. This semester my most expensive book was $160, overall I spent about $350; that's my car payment and insurance payment! No matter what the textbook industry or whoever is in charge of raping college students of their money, finds a way to screw the students. Like for instance, I bought most of my books used because its obviously cheaper, so I got my math book used and I just had to purchase the code for the online labs; the code alone is $65! It blows my mind that scams like this go on year after year! As I was standing in line the buy my books I was noticing other people's hefty book totals; one girl's was $650! I almost fell over and I didn't even have to pay it. No wonder college students are in so much debt! After being in all the bookstores this week I never saw one person pay with cash; everyone used credit cards. What other choice do most college kids have?

Here's the good news: On Monday after my first day of classes, I get home and my Dad hands me the USA Today and tells me to read an article. The article was about a man who started up a website that is basically a Netflix for college text books at discounted prices! Yes, I know, what a genius idea right?! Here's how it works: you search the book you are looking for, you can either rent it for the semester or buy it at a cheaper price. The website gives a date in which the book has to be mailed back or you get a late fee, kinda like the library. So I of course ordered my $160 book and got it for $98 tax and shipping included. Amazing huh?! This is the closest thing to a good deal that any college student is going to come across, here's the website, check it out, it saved me money.

http://www.chegg.com/

Puppy School Graduate

Tonight Tootsy Girl graduated from Puppy school! The class was a great idea, that taught Tootsy basic commands, how to socialize with other dogs, and best of all taught us the proper way to train her. The class was once a week for eight weeks. Tootsy can now sit, lay down, stay, come, walk properly on a leash, and leave objects that we don't want her to have. She's one smart pup!

New Years and a Sad Start

I have had quite an interesting start to my new year. It really hasn't been everything I was hoping for but maybe I can get all the bad over with now before I go back to school on Monday. Palmer and I had a great New Year's Eve, which included dinner at Bonefish Grill (an amazing seafood restaurant,) then we went to the Sunset Station to play some air hockey before the movie started, we saw TWILIGHT, and finally we ended 2008 at a party at David and Caitlin's apartment. We left soon after the fireworks because Palmer had to work at 6:30am New Year's Day.

I started my New Year's Day by writing down all of my New Year's resolutions, (I have 10 of em'!) Some of them are simple things like being on time and other are a little more tough to commit to like making school my #1 priority and working out at least 3 times a week. I thought I was totally on track and excited to start a new year but then I heard the terrible news...

On Saturday I got a terrible phone call about my friend and neighbor, Cade Cripps, getting into a car accident while him and his girlfriend were traveling to Boise. I was basically in denial or shock and had to call my mom to make sure the news was true. Sadly it was true; Cade and his girlfriend were killed in the accident. I think I am still in total shock. I haven't really let myself believe that the whole thing is true. I'm still waiting for Cade or someone to call him and tell me it was all just some confused information. I called my mom again Sunday just to ask her again if it was for sure the truth. As the days pass and I hear from more and more people, I am being forced to realize that this tragedy did truly happen. Isn't it so strange that when anyone gets terrible news like this they instantly try to remember the last time they saw or spoke to the person? As I was racking my brain trying to remember when I last spoke to Cade I was flooded with memories of Cade throughout the last 4 years. I remembered getting up at the crack of dawn to go jogging with him before our first period class. Our morning jogs consisted of me actually sprinting to keep up with Cade's log strides, (Cade was 6'5 I believe.) I remembered Cade letting me constantly borrow his big old gray truck during basketball season. I remembered Cade growing out his curly hair until he had this ridiculous afro puff hairdo. I have a bunch of great memories to remember Cade; I just wish what I think every person wishes when there hear terrible news like this, that I could have seen him one last time.

This weekend I am driving to Elko to attend Cade's funeral service and then rushing back to start my spring semester. I hoping that my year will turn around after all that.

VEGAS SNOW!!!!

On Saturday when I was getting off from work Grant (the little boy I watch that is 8) told me that he just knew it was going to snow sometime over the weekend. I told him not to get his hopes up, "it never snows here," I reminded him. Grant was very persistent that it would snow, because his music teacher told him all about it and he knows everything! So I laughed and told him I hoped it snowed so his teacher wouldn't be wrong.

Then on Monday, Palmer and I were driving to Hawthorne and on our way out of town sure enough, it was snowing in North LV. I was as surprised as anyone. Now it wasn't very much snow but enough for everyone to start driving like complete idiots.
But the real surprise came in the last three hours... It is actually snowing! REAL SNOW!! So far there is about 2 inches and the snow just keeps on coming. I got out my coat and everything to take Tootsy out for her first snow. She doesn't know what to think; she was sliding all over the sidewalk and eating all the snow off the ground.

Its amazing how many people absolutely hate that is snowing here. I went to the bank and Barnes Noble and both places were full of people complaining that its snowing. "I moved to Vegas to get away from the snow," is what everyone says. Well it probably won't snow again for two years so I'm the person outside taking pictures and making snowballs!