Suzanna

2 Months to Go!

2007-02-03T22:03:00.000-06:00

I'm really bad at updating this...sorry!

As the title says - 2 months until the wedding! This weekend we're working on finishing up all the invitations. I don't know how we would have gotten then all made without my parents who were here in January. Whie my parents were here I had 2 days off school and Erin had 1 day off work because of a freak snow storm we had - we have had CRAZY weather this year and are now looking at being in school until June 28th! This week I am also going in for my first dress fitting - very exciting!

Erin and I are planning to go look at houses next weekend. We were supposed to do it last weekend, then this weekend, but we've been too busy. Assuming we get all these invitations done and mailed out on Monday, we should have some time next weekend. Erin has found a lady who is going to rent out his condo and she is moving in in 2 weeks, so he's having to move his stuff into my little apartment. Hopefully we'll be able to find something we can afford that's a bit larger than my apt!

School has been very crazy with all the days off. We're finally kind of getting back into a routine, but we will have a week off Feb 19-23, so I'm sure the kids will get all crazy again. Erin and I are going back to KC during that time to finalize a bunch of wedding stuff. I know everyone says that your 1st year of teaching is your hardest, but I'm now convinced the hardest is your 2nd year because you end up volunteering for all these committees that you didn't have to do your 1st year.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Christmas and New Years

2006-12-30T20:56:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm not sure how many of your heard from the news, but we had some CRAZY weather here in Seattle recently. 2 weeks ago we had a huge windstorm that left 1.5 million people without electricity. Erin and I somehow lucked out as everyone around both our apartments were without electricity for days, but we never lost it. We had 1 day off school because so many schools were without power. Then there came the rush on gas...so many gas stations didn't have power that the ones with power had HUGE lines. Then those gas stations started running out of gas. We ended up having to not drive my car for 2 days and just take Erin's because it still had gas. Many people were without power for almost a week! Pretty much it was a compelete mess!

Anyways, I hope everyone is having a great Christmas and New Years! Erin and I went down to California (right outside of LA in Orange County) over Christmas. We had a great time there. It was great to meet all of his extended family - I must say they are a bit wilder than my family, but all seem very nice. It included my first ever 9 holes of "real" golf. Check out my amazing golf swing:

On Tuesday Erin and I went down to San Diego. We went to Old Town and to Sea World. I think we saw almost all the shows you could at Sea World. Neither of us had been there since we were little, so we both had a great time, but agreed that we were pretty sure Sea World had changed a lot since we were little. Here's a picture of me touching a sting ray:

For New Years we were going to go down to Portland to spend it with Erin's sister, Erica, and Erica's boyfriend, Scott. We decided, however, that maybe we should just stay here and relax a bit more before work starts up again. Also, we're a little afraid of the traffic on Monday! So, I think we're just going to walk down to the point by my apartment and watch the Space Needle fireworks. That way there's no driving involved!!

Hope everyone is safe and having fun wherever you are!!

Class and Jobs

2006-11-19T23:39:00.000-06:00

So, it's been awhile since I updated here. It started out that the beginning of the school year was crazy busy. Then some stuff started happening and I wanted to see how everything was going to turn out before I put an entry up.

So, first my class...this year is turning into a complete wild one in my classroom. I just have 2nd and 3rd grade this year, but I have some pretty tough kids (some have already been suspended.) The counselors are working with a few of my kids to try to figure out their behavior issues. Some of the kids seem to be getting better - but most days are rather tiring (that would be one way of putting it.) I am thinking that next year I will start to work on my Master's Degree. Down the road I'm considering being a college prof in a teacher ed program. First step is a Master's Degree, though, so I'll start working on that and see how it goes.

The year also started with me coaching with Swim Seattle (the club team that Erin is the head coach of.) There were a number of things that happened, but bottom line is the team will be closing in December. That meant Erin had to find a new full time job and rather quickly. This was quite stressful with the wedding and looking for a new place to live and everything else. He ended up getting a job with a company, Sylvia's Swimwear, that supplies swimsuits, equipment, and sweatsuits to teams in the Seattle area. In the end Swim Seattle closing in Dec may have been a blessing in disguise because Erin was already planning on leaving Swim Seattle at the end of the season - we kind of decided it would be nice for him to have a "regular" job so we could have nights and weekends together! This job with Sylvia's would not have been around this summer if he had waited until then to look for a job. Plus, it would have been really hard for him to leave the team. The team closing has been hard on him too, but I think he's doing better now that he has a job lined up.

At the beginning of the season we had a swim team get together and they did a little wedding skit with Erin and me - here's a picture:

Vacation

2006-08-26T13:19:00.000-05:00

Hope your weekend is going well! We got back from vacation on Sunday night and now I'm frantically trying to get ready for school, which starts in a week and a half. It sounds like I should have plenty of time, but between teacher meetings and this last week we could only be in the school until 3 p.m. - it really feels like time is going quickly and I'm not getting enough done!

The vacation was great although we felt like we were really busy through the whole thing and didn't get quite enough time to just relax. We were trying to pack a lot in since we were traveling all the way to the East Coast and who knows when we'll do that again. We started in Charleston, SC and spent about a day and a half there - which was plenty since it was so hot and humid!! We toured the city, which we decided was the quintessential southern town (we really felt like we were almost in a different country it was so different than Seattle or Kansas City.)

Then we went to Surfside Beach (just south of Myrtle Beach.) Surfside Beach was great - the water was just the right temperature and we stayed at a great resort, but we decided Myrtle Beach is not so great, Erin described it as a redneck version of Vegas without the gambling. There was just a bit too much neon and airbrushed t-shirts! After that we went to the Outer Banks in NC and also had a great time on the beach there. I think we could have used a day or two more at both of the beaches to really be able to totally relax. In the Outer Banks we also visited Roanoke Island where the Lost Colony was and the site where the Wright Brothers flew for the first time.

From NC we drove up through VI and stopped to visit a cousin of mine in Charlestown, VI where we toured James Monroe's house and Thomas Jefferson's house. That same day we drove up to a town outside of D.C. where we stayed with cousin's of Erins. We toured D.C. for two days - went to all the monuments and to 4 Smithsonian museums (Natural History, American History, Air and Space, and Holocaust.) D.C. was great, but of course while we were there the whole London terrorist thing happened, so that was a bit unnerving.

After D.C. we went up to NYC and stayed with Erin's cousin. We had a great time there, except Erin's cousin's apartment had an infestation of cockroaches. It would have been one thing if the place was clean and his cousin was really apologetic about it, but the place was a complete mess and he never mentioned a thing about all the bugs crawling around!! Boston was our last stop on the east and, like Charleston, we just walked around the city - got to see a lot more of history. We flew back through Denver and spent a few days in Colorado with my cousins and my family, who were also out there.

So, all in all, it was a great vacation. We both decided, though, for our honneymoon in Maui we're just going to relax on the beach...no trying to fit all this stuff into a little bit of time. What was nice aobut this vacation is the only place we had to pay for lodging was in the Outer Banks, all the other places we stayed with either family, friends, or in Myrtle Beach Erin's mom was able to trade around their time share and get us a room at the resort. We also got to see so much that neither of us had ever seen.

Swim Team and Wedding Dress

2006-07-14T19:17:00.000-05:00

My sister came into town over the 4th of July and we went wedding dress shopping. It was pretty laid back and we found the dress on the 1st day! It was less expensive than I thought it would be, so that's a good thing too!!

Oh, and on the topic of wedding - we have a wedding website - gotta have that!! It's www.erinandsuzanna.com. The password is: SuzandErin (it just has a password because apparently wedding supply people look at these websites and try to send you "wedding spam" stuff.)

My sister left on the 4th. Erin and I walked down a ways from my apartment and watched the fireworks over the bay. It was really nice because we had views of a number of different firewords shows, plus it was within walking distance, so we didn't have to deal with traffic.

Swim team just has a few weeks left - mostly of championship meets. We are getting pretty ready for it to be over. There are parts that we have really enjoyed and other parts that really stress us out!! The day after the season is over we leave for our 2 week vacation, which is MUCH needed.

ENGAGED!!

2006-06-24T14:19:00.000-05:00

Well, Erin and I got engaged on Wednesday (sorry it's taken me a few days to get this post up, but things have just been crazy!!) He told me we were going to have a dinner on the beach. He had a cooler and when I looked inside the cooler there was a dozen roses and the ring. He tried to get down on one knee, but I was too embarrassed because there were so many people around, so he just kind of sat and asked me to marry him (I said YES, obviously.) Then a limo came and took us out to eat at Anthony's - a restaurant down on the waterfront where we had our first date.

Here's a picture of us right after her proposed (Erin's squinting into the sun...so he looks a bit odd :)!!)

And here's a picture of the ring. We went engagement ring shopping together a few weeks ago and we both really liked this one. Erin went back and bought it later - I love it!!

We've set the date for Saturday, April 7 (the day before Easter.) We know maybe it's a bit weird to have it the day before Easter, but that's the first weekend of my spring break, so then we can have a bit of a honneymoon and we're hopping it actually makes it easier for some people to travel. The wedding will be in Kansas City. Of course, you are all invited and I'll have to get updated addresses!!

We've already starting planning some stuff - lots of fun, but a bit overwhelming at the same time. Thursday was the last day of school, however, so that frees up a bit more of my time. Summer swim team is fully underway, though - we just had our first meet on Thursday.

I hope you all are having a great weekend!!

2006-05-15T23:21:00.000-05:00

Field Trip!

My class took a field trip on Friday to the beach. It was a program through the Seattle Aquarium - it's free!! We went to the beach with scientists and they showed the kids all sorts of animal life in the tide pools. Erin was a chaperone for the trip - he did a great job with all of my wild kidos. Here's a picture of some of the kids looking at a moon snail laying eggs:

And here's a picture of one of the many starfish we saw - I had never seen them so big!!

Not much else too exciting. Erin and I start coaching the summer team next week, so my life will get much busier again.

Less than 6 weeks of school now...in some ways it seems hard to believe. Cally (my friend in Florida) only has 2 weeks left!! I've gotten 2 new kids over the past 2 weeks, so even though there is not a lot of school left things are still changing in my classroom.

Erin and I had a fun trip down to Oregon (although I wish Abby and I could have gotten together!!) Meeting his parents seem to go well and we stopped by Mt. Rainier National Park on our way back to Seattle - we got to walk in the snow a little up on the mountain. We also took a short, overnight trip across the bay to Port Orchard a couple weekends ago because Erin had a swim meet over there. It's a nice ferry ride over, so we had a good time.

2006-04-14T16:50:00.000-05:00

Here's Erin and me this week when we went skiing in Whistler, BC. We had a great trip and I'm definetely not ready to go back to school on Monday!! We skied Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Tuesday was the best - on the other days it was either really cloudy or snowing/raining. Neither of us had ever been spring skiing, so that was a little different since it was more like skiing in slush than in snow. Our hotel room also came with a hot tub, so we had a great time relaxing after a long day of skiing. We ended up spending less than 24 hours in Vancouver on our way back because Erin had to get back to Seattle for swim practice, but we got to walk around downtown a bit, which was fun.

School has been doing well - 2 months left (I can't decide if that seems like a long or a short time.) I've gotten 3 new kids in the last month, so that always keeps me busy and the class a bit crazy. The next 2 weeks we are going to be doing the WASL testing (the Washington state assessment.) It's a pretty big deal at our school because we have some funding that depends on how well we score. Of course my kids never really pass since they are ELL and are taking English tests - somehow that doesn't seem quite fair. So, the next two weeks are a little low key since the kids are testing most of the day.

Hope everyone has a great Easter!!

2006-03-25T19:30:00.000-06:00

Again, it's been awhile since I've updated here. Between this and Facebook and just regular e-mail I seem to not be doing a good job of keeping everything up to date!!

Here's a pic of Erin and me while we were in Vegas. One day my parents, my cousin, Erin, and I went to Valley of Fire State Park and hiked around for a bit. It was a good time, although I kind of got stuck at the bottom of this rock (you could jump down inside of it - why I thought it was a good idea I have no idea!!) but Erin and some other guy got me out. I liked how a stranger was helping me while the rest of my family was just watching a laughing! Vegas was a lot of fun and the hotel situation ended up being fine.

Spring Break is 2 weeks away - yeah! It will be very nice to have a week off - we're going skiing at Whistler (outside of Vancouver, BC) and then going down to Portland for Easter with Erin's sister.

It's been nice for swimming to be over and allow me to have some more time in my classroom. At the end of May, however, the summer team that Erin and I are co-head coaching this summer will start, so it'll be back to leaving school right away...but it should be a good summer job!

2006-02-16T01:01:00.000-06:00

District Champions!! So, we went into Districts without really thinking we could win - Erin's team was supposed to beat us by about 45 points, but we somehow pulled out a win by 12 points! Unfortunately Erin's team did have some disqualifications that probably cost them the meet. My guys, however, were way excited about it! This weekend is state and while we don't have a chance of winning - Erin's team will probably place higher than we will - I think we'll have some good swims. Saturday evening then Erin and I are flying to Vegas. I have Monday and Tuesday off from school and my parents were going to be in Vegas, so invited us out. It'll be the first time Erin and my parents meet, so it should be interesting as we are all staying in the same hotel room!

2006-01-22T18:45:00.000-06:00

Go Seahawks! I'm watching the playoff game right now as I hope you are too. Let's hope Seattle wins - how exciting!

So, Erin and I had our meet against each other. He ended up winning, but I was kind of planning on that after seeing some of their meet results. My guys actually swam VERY well for the most part, so I was happy even though we lost. He now has to do something nice for me...I think he's decided on cleaning out my car - inside and out!! So, I'm pretty happy and if you saw my car you would understand why! There is one month left of boy's swimming and then my life will get much less complicated and crazy. Erin pointed out to me that I haven't yet just had 1 full time job, for as long as I've had a full time job I've also had the extra swimming job.

Last week I ended up with Strep Throat, so I took my first sick day. I was glad I had made it that far into the school year without having to take a sick day! I had forgotten how horrible Strep is, but Erin did try to take really good care of me. Thankfully after the antibiotics got into my system I started feeling better pretty quickly.

Well, I'd better get back to doing some work. I hope everyone had a great weekend!

2006-01-02T21:08:00.000-06:00

Happy New Years to everyone! Here's a picture of Erin and me at a Christmas party. Don't think I look the best, but it's a pretty good picture of him :).

I went home for Christmas, which was nice and I got to see some high school friends. Then I was back in Seattle for New Years. I had sort of an odd New Years - it was a good time, just there are some weirdos who come out for New Years!! We ended up on the top of an apartment building for the 12:00 countdown and had a great view of the fireworks off the Space Needle.

School starts again tomorrow...boo! I do love my job, but I've also loved my 2 week break!! Tomorrow morning is going to come too quickly!

Swimming is going well. Our meet against Kennedy (Erin's team) is in two and a half weeks and we have a bet that whoever wins will make dinner for the other person...it should be a fun meet.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas and New Years!!

2005-12-17T17:22:00.000-06:00

Break!!

It's finally Christmas Break. I'm so excited!! Although I have swim practices everyday it's nice to think that I don't have to get up at 5:00 Monday morning. I will be home for a week over Christmas, though, so I will get a full break then.

School is going well. I got a grant to take my students to see "The Nutcracker" so we did that last Friday. It was great because a lot of my students hadn't even been downtown and seen the Space Needle, so the bus trip was exciting just in itself. Then I think they all really enjoyed the ballet - afterwards they were all trying to dance like the ballerinas, even the boys!!

Swimming is also going well...having a few problems with some of the boys and their attendance, but we are working on it. We lost our first meet, but have easily won the other 3. Unfortunately we had one of our really good swimmers break his hand during practice, so he's kind of out until the end of this month. He should be back in plenty of time to get ready for state. Per Abby's question...yes, I am dating the rival coach :). The boys don't know!! We're actually going skiing tomorrow and I'm way excited, I haven't been skiing in 3 years!!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!!

2005-11-19T22:46:00.000-06:00

I'm Back!

So, I haven't gotten around to posting in awhile. Even right now I should be doing my report cards, but decided to take a bit of a break. Girls swimming ended last weekend and the boys started right away on Monday - actually 12:01 a.m. on Monday!! Yes, we had a practice from 12:01-1:30 a.m. Monday morning...it's a tradition. The girls had a good state competition and ended up 8th overall, which was better than we expected!! So far the boys have been pretty good, much different than girls. If you want to keep up with the swim team it's at www.ramswim.com.

I was planning on going down to Oregon to visit some family friends for Thanksgiving, but have decided to stay in Seattle. The boys have practice over Thanksgiving and I decided I should stay so I could be at all the practices. My Colorado cousins are actually going to be in town visiting some other family too, so I'll get to see them. I have a place to go for Thanksgiving too...I'm actually going to another coach's house for Thanksgiving. Some of the swimmers think it's pretty funny because the guy is the coach of our biggest rival :)!

Miso is doing well, but has been driving me kind of crazy at night. He keeps crying at night and if I let him into my room he stops crying, but insists on sleeping on top of my head!! So, that doesn't work. Last night after listening to him cry for 2 hours I finally ended up sleeping on the futon and letting him sleep on the bed - how depressing I'm on the futon and my cat's in the bed!! But, at least I got some sleep then. I'm trying something new tonight, so wish me luck!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

2005-10-09T19:31:00.000-05:00

So I got a 3 month old kitten. I would put up a picture, but my digital camera is broken at the moment, so I have to finish the role on my disposable camera before I'll have pictures. He is all grey and I named him "Miso" (yes, after miso soup - my sister asked why I didn't just name him chicken noodle - but that's not very cute!!) So far I think he's been a bit shell shocked and he's just sleeping a lot under my bed. Thankfully he does know how to use a litter box, so that's all going fine. I can't believe this weekend is already over!!

2005-10-06T22:54:00.000-05:00

Why??

Today I am questioning why it is that the one person who is in your life that you never want to talk to again and never want to see again always has a way of finding you and popping back up in your life. Then that brings back all the horrible memories that you have to deal with all over again. I had this experience today when the one person who I NEED out of my life forever found me on facebook - does Bluffton have facebook?? Anyways, I've already blocked him from e-mail and IM - why did he have to go and find me here, why was he even looking me up?!?! Sorry for the ranting I'm just a bit upset right now.

In other news, we had two swim meets this week and won both of them. I'm finally getting a handle on the computer system that's used for swim meets - of course now the season is about over, but better late than never. I'm planning on getting a kitten this weekend - way excited about that! Hope your week is going well!!

2005-10-02T21:13:00.000-05:00

The Beach!

I've been wanting to get a picture up on this thing, but just hadn't done it yet. Here is the beach across from my apartment. You can see the space needle in the background. When you drive around that point you look over the water and into downtown - really pretty at night. You can't really see my apartment, but it's way on the right hand side (the first building you can see in the picture.) Right now I'm putting off planning for the next week. Today I went to a Doane alumni event - yes, Doane had an alumni event in Seattle- how weird! It was fun, but a bit odd since the person closest in age to me was still 20 years older! Everything is still busy, but going well. I'm making more friends at church, which is nice. Well, I'd best get to planning. Hope everyone had a great weekend.

2005-09-26T21:50:00.000-05:00

Internet finally!!

Well, I finally have internet in my apartment. It's so nice to not have to walk down to the coffee shop to get on the internet.

At school I am now up to 22 kids, although 2 are moving to a different classroom. I started out 3/4, but now have about 10 2nd graders too. Although sometimes things are difficult I'm having a great time. The kids range from knowing no English (having just moved to the United State a week ago) to students that are pretty fluent and about ready to go into the mainstream classroom. I am definetely learning how to make the curriculum work for all levels and ages of kids.

Swim team is also going well. We have had 4 swim meets and have won 3 out of the 4. We have another tough meet this week. We've had some good swims, but there are a number of girls who are off where they would like to be, which worries me because I feel like there should be something else I'm doing. Between school and swimming my weeks just seem to fly by. I go to bed at like 9:30 every night because I'm so tired. On top of that I do have a bit of a cold - definetely a downside to being a first year teacher.

P.S. - I already talked to Maria about this, but thought I would pass on that I did talk to Rickey and he got enganged last week. They're getting married in the summer. Congrats to them!!...but kind of weird.

Hope everything is having a great week!!

2005-08-21T20:04:00.000-05:00

rollerblading With Ski Poles...

So, I have found that by living in a place that has a boardwalk where people regularly bike, rollerblade, and run you see some interesting things. So far my two favorite have been the woman who was rollerblading and dancing to the tunes on her IPod and the older man who was rollerblading with ski poles. I'm not really sure what the ski poles were for, but it made an interesting sight.

This week I had orientation...pretty long, but got some good information. Swim team starts tomorrow and I am excited and nervous!! There is supposed to be almost 40 girls on the team - that seems quite large. I also have a workshop to go to tomorrow afternoon - the craziness has started!

I hope everyone has had a nice, relaxing weekend!!

2005-08-12T10:47:00.000-05:00

Finally in Seattle!!

I'm finally getting a free moment to write an entry. I don't have internet in my apartment yet, so I have to walk down to a local coffee shop to use theirs. So far I love my apartment and being across from the beach! My sister leaves today...kind of sad, but also kind of exciting. I had an interview for a swim coaching position at one of the high schools. I find out today if I got the job, but I don't have much hope, they seemed like a pretty high powered team and I'm not sure I came off as tough enough for them. If I don't get it I may need to find another way to make some extra cash...living here is expensive!! Remember, if you ever want a little vacation to the Northwest, I have a futon!! I'll try to get a picture up of my new apartment!

2005-07-30T16:43:00.000-05:00

All Packed Up!!

So, the moving van is all packed up and tomorrow morning we leave for the long drive to Seattle. Thankfully today was not 100 degree heat like last week, but it was definetely hot enough! Hopefully Seattle won't be hot seeing as how I have no air conditioning in the apartment. I've had a nice week at home, unfortunately all my friends left for a weekend at the lake on Friday, so my last two nights at home are all alone :(. It was good to see them all - especially Bobby (remember him :)!!) I'm excited to get to the West!!

2005-07-24T21:39:00.000-05:00

So, my parents are out of town right now and I'm in charge of all the animals (5 fish, one cat, and one dog.) It would seem like this would not be that hard, but our cat is really old and a bit crazy while our dog is somewhat old, but has arthritis so has to take a pill everyday. My cat has problems eating so somedays she only wants beef, somedays seafood, somedays she'll only eat if I sit beside her, somedays only the flaky cat food, somedays only the chunky cat food...she's driving me crazy!! My dog on the otherhand has this HUGE pill I have to try to feed her everyday. This requires me to soak the pill for at least an hour and then try to mash it up the water as much as possible. Then I have to mix the water/smashed up pill with her wet food - this is incredibly nasty and smells like wet, moldy food. This is making me seriously reconsider getting a pet!! (At least the fish aren't bad :)!!)

2005-07-19T00:13:00.000-05:00

I'm back from Seattle and I have an apartment! It is right across the street from the beach - which is great. It is also less than I thought I would have to pay (although still more than a nice 2 bedroom apt. in Nebraska.) It doesn't really have a view, but I am on a list to move to a view apt. Then I will have a balcony that overlooks the ocean. The neighborhood is really nice - lots of little restaurants and coffee shops. There is also a boardwalk that goes all the way around the area, which makes it nice for biking and walking. On the beach there are fire pits so you can make bonfires at night! I'm so excited, but now I have to start packing up all my stuff. I have never had to move before - I moved to college, but that wasn't like a full out move...so, I'm a bit nervous for all of this, but I'm sure it will all get done somehow - I just have so much stuff!!

2005-07-11T17:04:00.000-05:00

Tonight is my last night in Nebraska - I'm gonna miss this flat, hot land filled with cows and corn, but it's finally time to move on. I'm flying out to Seattle (YEAH!) on Wednesday to find an apartment. I'm hoping to get one right on the beach - there's an area that borders the beach, but still has pretty decent prices on apartments (it is sad, however, that I will be paying more for a small one bedroom than what my large two bedroom apartment this summer cost!!)

2005-07-06T18:57:00.000-05:00

I'm just trying this to see if it will work - I can't believe Maria talked me into making one of these things - I feel like such a dork :). It's my last Wednesday in Nebraska - thank goodness.