The White House Dog

I am a sucker for cute stories, especially about kids and this story in PEOPLE magazine about the New Dog in the white house made me smile. No matter who you voted for, or what you believe, you must agree that Barack Obama's children are adorable and deserve a puppy! They are going to have to endure a lot of press, a lot of time without their father, and also a new house to grow up in - I am glad they are getting the dog that they were promised!

Children are amazing!
Children make life worth living.
Children make me smile each day!

What Kind of Dog Should Malia & Sasha Get?
Not since Knut, the polar bear, has an animal so captured the public's imagination – and this one hasn't even been found yet.
Speaking before the world at his victory rally in Chicago on Tuesday night, President-elect Barack Obama told daughters Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7: "I love you more than you can imagine, and you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the White House."

Presidential Dogs
When the four-legged addition to the Obama family moves into 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., he or she will be joining a long roster of First Pets dating back to George Washington's administration. (The Father of Our Country, in fact, owned several dogs.)

Currently, Scottish terriers Barney and Miss Beazley Bush occupy the manse, and, before them, Bill Clinton's chocolate Lab Buddy. George HW Bush shared the halls with Millie, a Springer spaniel (and the only First Pet to pen a book) and one of Millie's puppies, ranger.

In terms of young children and their companions in executive mansion, Amy Carter (who was 9 when she moved in with her parents in 1977) made room for her cat, Misty Malarky Ying Yang, while from 1961-63 the Kennedy menagerie included cats, dogs, a canary, rabbit and Caroline Kennedy's pony, Macaroni.

Halloween 2008

IT'S HALLOWEEN
It's Halloween! It's Halloween!
The moon is full and bright
And we shall see what can't be seen
On any other night.

Halloween was so fun this year! Not only did Will and I go as an AWESOME 80's couple, eat lots of Candy, and see a ton of really cute costumes, but best of all we had a blast scaring my class and the rest of the 6th graders while on the tour of terror at Canyon Crest!

At the end of the Day Will and I were so tired. Will was I believe more tired than I was! He is such an amazing husband who treated the 6th graders to the best Halloween they have ever had. And to the best Halloween I have ever had also!

The Story: Canyon Crest was built 25 years ago. The first year it was open there was a custodian who was really mean and who hated the students. He would lock them down in the "basement" or in the "boiler" room and leave them there. And that part is the truth! So of course this man was fired and never worked at Canyon Crest again... But doesn't that make the best story ever! And a story which you can exaggerate and make into a creepy Halloween story! So Ford White, our AMAZING vice principal, took our 6th graders on a "tour of terror" that would go on to tell the students that the custodian murdered students in the basement of the school. The custodian's name was "Mr. Riser" and so Ford took the students down to the "RISER" room or what we know today as the boiler room. I don't know if you have ever been into a BOILER room but it is so creepy! The kids were freaked out! It was awesome, especially when Will popped out of the dark shadows in a cloak. It was a fright those kids are never going to forget!

Here are some of the pictures from the day.
Halloween 2008 was one I will never forget!
This is one of the best pictures, it is our crazy librarian, music teacher and Mr. White signing "Halloween Carols" for all the classes. The went "spooky-caroling."
Here is the video of the singing, it rocks:


The costumes this year were awesome!
Musical chairs is still fun - especially to thriller...
HSM 3 or a bananna?
My McKay kids are so cute!
My boys, and yes they pulled the woopie costume off great!
Who killed her? This costume was just amazing!
Grandma?
The best twin costume!
Will and I ROCKED the 80's!
Vote Sarah Palin - or Rachel Martinez for VP?
Cami Roberts! What a sexy silver suit!
Jennifer Heldenbrant is the other 6th grade teacher. She went as a 2nd grader!

It is Halloween! It is Halloween!

High School Musical 3

Rachel Martinez beat me to it, but she should have with great pride be the first to blog about High School Musical 3!

Rachel is the teacher to Skyler, a Canyon Crest Student who is Zac Efron's "childhood flashback" in the movie! I taught Skylar's older sister Jenna who is now a Freshman at Timpview Highschool. Skyler is a 4th grader who is a ball full of energy and a cutie pie.

Canyon Crest is SUPER PROUD of him. And speaking for Rachel and myself - we would like Autographs!

GO SKYLER! GO WILDCATS!
To see an article click here.

Fall Break

Fall Break was so fun this year. I got to spend 4 full days with Will. It was awesome! I know why I fell in love with him, life could not be better!
Will's parents were in town watching Bailey and Hayden while their parents were on a trip for their 10th wedding anniversary in Hawaii. We did a lot of fun stuff with them including a dinner out with the rest of the family, a trip to the BYU creamery, and a trip to the Springville Art Museum.
Will and I also got a chance to go to the BODY WORLDS exhibit in Salt Lake, which if you have not gone it is AWESOME! I didn't get any pictures because they don't allow cameras in the exhibit, but here is the website.

Here is a collection of pictures from the weekend:

Mark and Brooklyn at Mark's baby blessing.
Dinner and Fire!
One of my favorite illustrations at the art museum.
Just cute!
Will, Bailey and I all have matching VANS and Bailey got a picture of us all wearing them.
Hanging around in the art museum was a blast! Can't you see the smile!
This was the coolest water sculpture and Hayden almost got dunked by Will, but was saved by his sister at the last second!

Grandpa was such a good sport, he read to Bailey and Brooklyn the whole time while Grandma, Will and I walked around and talked about all of the illustrators.

Grandpa and Grandma had to go home but Will and I could not be more excited to see them over Christmas. I am ready to be in California!

Post-it-Notes

I should be sponsored by POST-IT-NOTES!
I use these wonderful inventions all the time. I am sure Will is so annoyed with all my lists on these wonderful colored notes. (I like the yellow ones, but the colored ones just make me smile so much more!)
I use them at school, I stick them on messy desks with the note "clean me", I write notes in the car and stick them on the windows and radio display, for Will on the mirror in the bathroom, for basically anything that can be turned into a list! I should get them to sponsor me - in life.

Love the Notes!

School Pictures

Who remembers SCHOOL PICTURE DAY? Who remembers HATING school picture day?
Who recalls the people taking the pictures telling stupid jokes like:
Why was the turtle shy? ...He was scared to come out of his shell. (Really, this is supposed to make you smile...)

I started teaching five years ago. I thought that my days of school pictures were over. But alas, no. They take pictures of the teachers now too. Which wouldn't be that bad except that they give us a complimentary package of 8x10's, 5x7's, 2x3's, wallets, and stickers - oh yeah and this year they threw in some weird colored trimmed picture, and a black & white beauty. Honestly, who do I give these pictures to?

So as the teacher of a cute bunch of 6th graders... on picture day I truly know what it is like to feel like one of them.

Here is the 2008 Mrs. Tiffany Strong:

It is always the last place you look...

About two weeks ago Will lost his wedding ring. We looked everywhere - and I even went out at like 5:30 in the morning and scanned the grass for the missing ring. I felt so bad and wanted to get him a new ring. But a new ring costs money - and we are poor newlyweds and well just don't have that kind of cash. So he has been wearing an old ring from his mission.

Then a miracle happened...

Tonight my adorable husband was doing the dishes from dinner and reached in to grab one of those "gel detergent balls" and there it was - his ring.
He came over to me on the couch and of course I thought he was going to show me a bug...but no it was the best surprise the ring in the last place we would have ever thought to look!

80's what a RADICAL decade

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CANYON CREST
BORN: 1983

This past Friday night CANYON CREST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL put on a huge dance festival and carnival. It was a ton of work for all of the teachers but in the end it was worth it because the kids and the parents had a blast.
Of course the 6th graders had to be the best, so with the help of Will and Joey I made an 80's dance remix, and put dance moves to the songs. It was simply AMAZING! My students danced the night away not only with their dance moves but with their 80's wardrobe. Take a look at the BLAST from the 80's in the pictures:

I have to say the BOYS outdid the girls! They were KARATE KIDS, 80's PREPS, HIPSTERS, and WANT-A-BE "OUTSIDERS" it was just amazing!

Hot pink, neon colors - wow - did we actually put that much makeup on in the morning?

The boy again out did themselves, but check out the hair on the girls! Who remembers this?

Give a shout out for the BOMBER JACKET!

I got ready at home about an hour before I had to be back at school at 4:30 - when I came out of the bathroom Will said to me "Where is my wife?"

This is a Video of the Footloose dance!

The dance festival was AMAZING! My kids are AMAZING! And I am so lucky to be able to teach my kids not only about the 3-R's but also about one of the WORST decades ever, the 80's!

"This Blog will self destruct..." Inspector Gadget is on the case!

THE CARNIVAL PART II

Another great part of the whole night was the carnival. Will and I had Bailey and Brooklyn come with us for the night. A carnival is so much more fun with 2 five year old's. They are two adorable and smart girls, once they figured out that when they told people "We are Mrs. Strong's nieces!" the used this little phrase and their smile to get what they wanted. I just love having them at school with me, and Will is the best Uncle ever!

I just love being an Aunt, it is so much fun! Bailey and Brooklyn were so cute the whole night.

Check out the face paint, flowers and a dinosaur - Guess who picked which?

Bailey is my hero, she actually picked up the snake, I just couldn't do it! I would have had more nightmares than I already have.

Sliding down the slides was a huge huge hit! I was a little nervous because there were so many big kids, but Will reminded me that they are big now too and will be fine. I think I am way over protective!

Thanks for coming Bailey and Brooklyn! I love you two!

THE VICTORY 59-0

BYU ROCKS!

This past weekend Will, Stacey, Matt, Beth, Eric and myself went to the BYU vs. UCLA game. It was a blast and the good guys came out on top. BYU won 59-0! Not only did BYU beat them but they played really well. The stadium was packed, and no one left untill the last second of the game. It was Will's first BYU game in the stadium. It was also his first time seeing and being one of the - COUGAR FANS! They are just wild and can cheer hog wild without one ounce of alcohol. It is just amazing!

Just beautiful!

It was so sunny and both Will and I got burnt! But only on one side. It was so hard to look at the camera but I insisted on a picture together. Didn't turn out like I wanted it to!

That's right - look at the score!

The Disney Afternoon

Picture this please:
You are about 10 - or at least I was, think 1990 to about 1996. You come home from a long day at elementary school. It is about 3:30 in the afternoon. You get a snack. Think about starting your homework - or not, and then you realize...
The Disney Afternoon is on! "Step right in and come on in to where the fun begins!"
You remember - Mickey drawing all over your TV singing the coolest song you have heard all day. Then you sit and watch the best line up of cartoons in cartoon history:
Gummi Bears
Duck Tales
Rescue Rangers
Tale Spin
Dark Wing Duck
(Then later came Goof Troop, and Gargoyles)





So this weekend I went back to my youth, back to the good old days, back to the time where I thought Nutter Butter Bites were AWESOME, and a snack in a little plastic cup was the highlight of the afternoon...
Yes that is right Will and I bought Duck Tales and Rescue Rangers Season one and we hope to eventually buy all of the Disney Afternoon POWER pack. It is our obligation to our children to buy these shows and educate them on the greatest cartoons ever!