Goodbye LE Class

This was my very first Language Enrichment class to teach at St. Mary's. I have a special connection with this group because I got to teach them every day for the last 2 years. Besides having a billion inside jokes, we all got to know each other pretty well during our time together, and I know that I am going to miss them a lot next year. Good luck LE class!!!

First House

This is the house my family lived in for the first 10 years of my life. I have several great memories in this house, but here are some that always come back to me. Selling lemonade and cartoons on the front of our driveway, pushing Mike in the ditch in our front yard, riding bikes around the house, Mike falling off his skateboard head first and getting stitches, playing basketball in the backyard, playing hockey in the garage, building forts and climbing the pine trees in the back yard, running around in the common ground behind our yard, mowing the common groung for Mr. Duke's crouquet tournaments, jumping on the neighbors' trampolines, Samson getting run over in front of our house, Samson getting blown up by a firework's surprise ending in the backyard, Samson eating asbestos above the garage, playing double shot, Sega, pillow fights, and the sheet game down the stairs in the playroom, sitting around the dinner table in the kitchen at every meal, lying in the hallway by the washer and dryer for days when I had migraines from diving in the neighborhood pool, Dad watching countless hours of sports in the living room sitting on the pink chair, the brick fire place where we hung our stockings for Christmas, the old yellow out-of-tune piano in the corner, the tiny room that Mike and I shared our bunk beds(I always slept on the bottom bunk, and he always slept on the top bunk), sports posters on the wall, hiding a Halloween skeleton in the closet so Mom wouldn't find it, drawing cartoons on my cherry wood art desk in the corner behind the door, staying up late talking to Mike, going to sleep on the floor in Mom and Dad's room when we were scared or couldn't fall asleep, the night light that always stayed on in the bathroom in the hallway, fighting over use of the sink, toilet, and shower, always being the last one to take a shower in the morning and having no hot water, the yellow throw-up basin under the sink, and how much bigger Dave and Andrew's room always seemed.

The Van

Being in a family of 6, the van played an integral role in our family. I have many memories driving to school, the grocery store, and long beach trips in the van. Dave always got the best seat right by the broken sliding door which he slammed too hard, Mike got the seat right next to him because he would get car sick in the back seat. Andrew and I were the only ones who could stomach being in the back, but we never got any air back there! I remember pleading with Dave to roll the wheel up on the air conditioner to give us some air, but he would only do it for like 5 seconds. I also remember Dave leaning the middle seat back to crush our legs at random times, and he always thought it was so funny. Dad would ALWAYS drive, and mom always had shotgun. This picture of the red Astro van looks like the first van we had when we were living in the house Cottonwood.


This the first vehicle that I learned to drive. It had several nicknames like the Bean, the Space Ship, and the Death Mobile because it could accelerate so fast. In fact, it was even used by criminals because it provided such a quick getaway! Our family bought it brand new in 1993 about the time that Rena, our boysitter started taking care of us. She was always so scared that she was going to wreck it, and we were too as she got older and her driving got worse. Somehow, this van survived a long time in our family, and this is the van that we have the most memories.

Last HS HUB Video 2010-2011

Last MS HUB Video 2010-2011

Proposal Video

This is the place where I proposed to McLean...the best decision of my life:)

Goodbye Algebra 1 Class!

This picture is of our Algebra 1 class on the last day of school. They were my very first math class to teach, and I'm going to miss them all next year. Don't forget the Quadratic Formula Song:)

Last YL Club of the Year

These are pictures of the last YoungLife club this year. It was an all out war involving a really huge ice cream sundae. The pictures tell it all.

LE Song and Video

I wrote a song for my Language Enrichment class and made it into a music video. It was my gift to them after teaching them for 2 years! The song is full of inside jokes in our class, but there were so many more things that I wish I could have gotten into the song. It was a really great group of kids, and I will miss them all a lot next year! Here's to my LE class.

Concert Band Final Performance

Here is the video of our final concert band performance the other night. We played "Hot Cross Buns", "Go Tell Aunt Rhodie", "When the Saints Go Marching In", and "William Tell" on the instruments, and we played "Go Saints", "The Click Song", "The Intro Song", and "The Talent Show" on the drums. This video only got the last 5 songs, but it was a great final performance for our concert band! They have come such a long way this year, and I am so proud of each one of them.

Fast for Japan and the South

We had a fast for Japan and the South to raise money to send them because of the damage caused by the earthquake/tsunami in Japan and the tornadoes that went through the South. During the day, we did a service project and gave out lunch bags to the homeless in Tampa. We played sardines, hide and go seek, and dodgeball in the church, and we also went to Curtis Hixon Park to play kickball and fountain frisbee! It was a fun day, and the time actually went by really fast.

Here is a picture of the first bite after 12 hours of fasting at Five Guys at 8:00 pm. It was the best burger ever, and we ate until we were sick!

HUB Mission Trip: Nashville 2011

HUB Mission Trip: New Orleans 2010