The Pentons

Another Christmas has come and gone and we had a great one! It started when we went and picked out our very first Christmas tree. It looked a little like a Charlie Brown tree next to all the big ones but it fit perfectly in our small apartment. I had lots of fun decorating it!

For "Christmas eve" aka December 23 we went to the Miller's house and opened presents. We got lots of fun things including aprons, new kitchen bowls, and more pieces to our nativity set. We had a yummy ham dinner and enjoyed playing the new wii fit with the whole family.

That night when we went home we couldn't wait any longer and we opened our presents to each other. I got a sewing machine, a grill/griddle for the stove, new socks and a belt. Craig got Guitar hero world tour, a new coat and cologne.

Christmas day we went to the Yauney's house where we opened up lots of new DVD's, clothes and DDR for the wii! We had a yummy turkey dinner and also enjoyed playing wii fit with the family.

Thanks for the good memories this holiday season!

Wow has it really been this long since I blogged??!! Update from the past month:

Halloween- I was Miss Frizzle....I'm glad it's over,can we say 30 sugar packed kids, WOW who invented this holiday anyway?

We went to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert, tons of fun! The first part was kinda weird, it was the Christmas portion, but the second part they took famous classical songs and converted them into rock songs, it was right up my alley!

We also went to the "Savior of the world" program at the conference center. I also highly recommend that, if you can get the tickets, they run out pretty fast apparently.

The first grade at my school has been classified as the "worst grade of the school" about 5 first graders have been suspended....not pretty sometimes.

Next week I only have 2 days of school, Hooray for Thanksgiving!!

That's the update in less than 10 minutes.

Did you know that the new Christopher Paolini book came out!! I was shocked when I walked into Smiths today and found it. I'm letting Craig read it first, but I'm excited to get started on it after him!!

So I've heard that the first year you catch every illness known to man, this week felt like torture! Wednesday morning I woke up feeling miserable, fever, nausea, lightheadedness, the whole nine yards. So I was thinking, I can't teach feeling like this but then I thought, my goodness I can't get a sub either they wouldn't know where any of my plans are, etc. So I went to school and took naps during recess, library, before and after school. Thursday and Friday, I didn't feel much better but I still went in, so on Friday morning after not being able to swallow my breakfast because my throat was so swollon, I called the doctor. This morning I went in and I was diagnosed with strep :( So I got an antibiotic, and I am already feeling a lot better, I can eat, I can swallow, I don't have a fever. I love modern medicine!

All I have to say is Parent teacher conferences. I had conferences on Wednesday and Thursday. I was at school until about 6 pm on Wednesday and there until 8 on Thursday....I'm exhasted!

As far as the class goes, my kids are getting a lot better at listening, they still have ants in their pants quite a bit, but we are working on it. I have set some pretty strict rules of them and I'm really consistent with the consequences when they break the rules, and they seem to be catching on.

Next week we start our Clifford theme. Every week I have a theme for the week, I have a poem that we read everyday, books related to the theme that I read, art activities and literacy activities. I really like conformity so if I have just one idea during the week, it helps me organize things better.

Well, week one of teaching is over here are my thoughts:
1. I'm feeling pretty confident in the classroom as a teacher, I feel like I know what I'm doing and I feel like I have the authority to do it, which is a new feeling for me and it feels good!
2. I have 30 kids in my classroom and its hard to keep them under control. They talk all the time! I've started doing certain things to train them how to listen and I can tell its really hard for some of them to sit and listen. The whole class ended up 10 min. late to lunc the other day becuase they were talking and I wanted them quiet in line. I'm pretty sure that once they figure out the routine, they won't be so talkative, but that may take a couple of weeks.
3. I have some students that are excellent readers and some that don't even know how to make their letters, its hard to accomodate all of them while making the curriculum interesting--I can't wait till we split classes! Whoever said ability grouping is a bad thing has never really been in a classroom.

My mom took this picture of me in my classroom!

Well, after hours of work, my classroom is finally at a point where its ready for kids, take a look:

Well, I've finished the new book in the Twilight series and all I have to say is, anticlimatic. The whole story builds up basically to one moment at the end and then it doesn't really turn out that great, its kinda like Stephanie Meyer was holding back on us becuase she didn't want to kill any of her characters...not saying that killing is a good thing, wow that came out wrong. What I mean is there is really no drama in the situation that she sets you up for through the entire book, I was expecting something to happen but it was just kinda a boring ending and I don't think I would really recommend the book. It is very descriptive and moves really slow and then the ending (like I said) is a let down. :( Bummer....

On Saturday, I had the opportunity to drive from Washington to Salt Lake. That may not sound like a hard drive, but it took about 14 hours. Highlights of the trip:
1. I almost got struck by lightning when I drove from Idaho to Utah
2. The same lightning storm had such strong rain that it actually washed the dead bugs off my windsheild.
3. Listening to Breaking Dawn the whole way...and I'm still not done with it (ps, I'm still not sure if I would recommend this book, more to come)
4. Stopping at a fruit stand and getting the most delicious, juicy peaches.
5. Seeing the temperature raise from 50 degrees (in Washington) to 95 degrees on the border of Oregon and Idaho.

Downfalls of the trip:
1. I did it alone since Craig is staying in Washington for another week and a half.
2. I have to be away from Craig for a week and a half :(

Wow, its already been one year since Craig and I got married. On August fourth we celebrated our anniversary. Craig gave me an impressive little poem that he wrote about our wedding day, and he framed it and it will soon be on our wall at our apartment in Utah. We took the day off work (kinda, with this job you never really get a day off) and we hung out. At night we went to a fabulously grand and expensive restaurant where we enjoyed seafood on the pier and free cake to celebrate. It was a good day...even after a year of being together, I can honestly say that I'm in love with the most wonderful man alive!

So this weekend we rented a couple of movies including "Dan in real life". We had seen it in the theaters a while back, but I've forgotten how funny it really is. I was laughing so hard through the whole thing. So if you're in the mood to laugh and you're looking for a good, clean flick (ps its also a love story) then I highly recommend it!!

So, I know I posted a comment yesterday about shopping at the thrift store for clothes, well I wanted to post another comment today about shopping at the thrift store for the classroom. My favorite rack at the DI is the book rack, they have childrens books for fifty cents each. Most of them aren't in really bad condition either, they're not new but when you are looking at a first grade classroom, half the books will be ruined by the end of the year anyways. Another thing that I like to get there for my classroom is stuffed animals. I'm going to have a corner of my room where I'll have a little couch and lots of stuffed animals and when the kids are done with their work, they can go to the corner and read to a friend (the friend being the stuffed animal). The stuffed animals average about $1 a piece, and if you just throw them in the wash, they are as good as new! I will send pictures of my classroom once I have it all set up for the new year :)

When I was in high school I would always shop at the thrift store but I found that many times I would buy the clothes becuase they were a good price and not becuase I actually liked them, so I haven't been back since, but today I got that urge to go in and I remembered why I like thrift stores so much. I ended up getting an entire outfit that I paid just $10 for. Wow thats a deal.

Word to the wise...Craig and I have been looking forward to the new Batman movie for a while, and tonight we went and saw it. For any of you out there who read my blog, don't see the movie, its of the devil, literally. I'm not really sure what our world is coming to.

Uneventful day full of work and laundry :) I did get to read a couple of chapters in my book which I haven't been able to do lately. I'm reading the "wheel of time" books and I like them, its good writing but it moves really slow and so I usually end up putting it down for a week or two and then I pick it back up and read a couple of chapters, no wonder its taking me all summer to read it. I also played a little super smash brothers with Craig, good bonding time :)

So my new goal is to write a little bit about every day. Kinda like a journal online.
So today was great because:
1. I finished my work early so that I didn't have to go back at night
2. I was pleasantly surprised to spend only $4.19/gallon on my gas which resulted in a $40 gas bill--that has been the lowest I've paid all summer.
3. Craig took me to glow-golf in the mall. It is a mini golf place in the dark so our balls glowed, etc. He won, but only because he got a hole in one when on the same hole I had to hit it 5 times.
4. We went out to eat at a new Mexican place (Puerto Vallarta), it was really tasty.

1. Today is my baby sister Adrienne's birthday. I called her up and left her a crazy song on her voicemail. I think shes at girls camp this week, but when she gets back she'll have a little surprise waiting for her on her voicemail :)
2. I bought some school clothes, a skirt and a sweater for under $15, I love Ross!
3. Craig bought me a cute pair of school shoes that I was too cheap to buy my self. What a sweetheart!
4. We went and saw the movie Hancock for free, compliments of my good friend Shelley (Thank you Shelley it was fun!)
5. We were able to get in and out of Wal-mart in less then 30 minutes, I hate the wal-mart here because usually they have like 3 checkers and a million people, divide that up...you do the math. Today though it was a pleasant trip in and out.

We are excited to announce that yesterday we joined the world of gaming and we bought a Wii! We got up and we were the very first customers in Best Buy where we grabbed the only wii on the shelves (can you believe the manufactuers still can't keep up with the demand!) We also purchased some games to start out with. Craig wanted to buy Super Smash Bros., he loved the one for Nintendo 64 and it was on the top of his list to get. According to him, its a lot harder then the Nintendo 64 one and there are some new moves that you can do with a lot of the characters. We bought Guitar hero which is Amanda's favorite, it makes you sick if you play it for more then 20 minutes, which is good incentive not to play on it all day long. Basically you jam out to songs on a guitar and you pass through different levels to unlock more songs. I'm still on the easy setting, but its pretty tough. We also bought a racing game. We really want Mariocart but they are sold out of it everywhere (apparently its a hit) so we got a different racing game that we haven't tried yet. We are enjoying our new little toy and welcome anyone who wants to come play with us.

Here I am in Utah for the weekend and I am loving the sun. Seattle is not much fun becuase it rains all the time, theres lots of wind and its cold! So when I came here, I sat in the sun for 3 hours on Sunday just soaking it all in so that I can face the darkness again. I just wish Craig was here to enjoy it with me :(

I know that most of the people that read our blog are ladies, so I wanted to let you all know of the killer sale they have going on at Bath and Body works right now. Today I went there and got 4 body lotions, 3 body sprays, a bubble bath and 4 portable sized lotions for $30! Yes thats right, all that for just $30. So if you're interested in good smelling stuff and good deals, go to bath and body.

Craig is looking for seashells, look at all that lovely seaweed! This beach was right outside Tacoma, so if you look real close on that hill in the distance, you can see the thriving metropolis that is Tacoma.

Craig, isn't he cute!

Craig again, I love the smile!

I've posted a lot about our favorites lately, and last night we watched this movie and decided that it was our new favorite movie. It made us laugh and made us cry, it was beautiful!! Its a romantic comedy, so if that sounds like your cup of tea, I recommend renting it!

Click here if you want to watch the trailer.

The other day I was in the grocery store and I had a craving for something sweet. While I was waiting in line I browsed the candy bar selection they had on display and I decided to try something different. I tried a "Take 5" bar. The experience I had when I took my first bite was indescribeable. It was a chocolate pretzal mixed with carmally goodness topped off with a few peanuts. So next time you have a craving for chocolate, go to your local grocery store and try one, you won't regret it!

I decided to share what we usually eat here at the Penton house, we like to eat things that are fast and good!! So here's a couple of our favorite recipes:

Lemon Teriyaki Chicken:

1/2 cup Lemon juice
1/2 cup Soy Sauce
1/4 cup of sugar
3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons water
Cloves of garlic (however much you like)
3/4 teaspoons ginger
5-8 chicken pieces

Combine everything (except chicken) together in a skillet. Cook until it starts to bubble, add chicken and simmer for 30 minutes or until the chicken is tender. We usually serve this on top of rice and sprinkle sesame seeds on top.


Chicken Roll-ups (variation of chicken cour d'bleu-- sp??)

Chicken (however much you want to use)
Deli ham
Swiss cheese
bread crumbs

Flatten chicken, place a piece of ham and cheese on top and whatever spices you want. Fold chicken in half and roll in bread crumbs until covered. Place on baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

Sauce:
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream

Combine ingredients for the sauce and heat up in microwave. Put sauce on top of chicken.

I like to serve this dish with steamed broccoli and rice ( we really like rice in our family).


Spanish Rice: I just made this last night with tacos, this is one of Craig's fav's

2 Tablespoons oil
2 Cups rice
1 can stewed tomatoes
3 cups water
Minced garlic to taste
1 bouillon cube ( you can use chicken stock instead of bouillon and water, whatever you prefer)
1/2 onion

Heat oil in a large skillet or saucepan. When hot, put the dry rice in and brown the rice (you need to watch it constantly or order for it not to burn) Put in everything else and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook for about 15 min. or until the rice is tender. Enjoy!

So this morning I woke up, walked into my kitchen and my counter tops were covered with ants! I opened my cupboards and there were ants all over our food! Needless to say I was shocked and I started killing them left and right with my trusty bottle of fabulosa. They kept coming back and so I went out and bought lots of ant traps. My cupboards are now empty, all our food is on top of our fridge and I have about 8 ant traps lying around our kitchen. I stil have that itchy feeling all over my body like I have ants crawling in and out of my skin!! YUCK!

We started our 12 and 1/2 hour trip to Washington at 6 in the morning. We got up really early becuase we were determined to make it here in one day. We made it!! We even made a few stops along the way. We stopped in Twin Falls and saw the new temple that they are building, we stopped for food a couple of times, and overall it was a mostly pleasant trip. Neither Craig nor I have taken this trip before and we were amazed at the change in landscape as soon as we passed over the Cascade mountains. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the geographical features of the west, the Cascade mountains are what divides eastern Washington and western Washington. As soon as we were over the mountains it felt like a whole different world. It looks alot like the east coast with lots of green foliage. I apologize for not posting pictures, we actually took quite a few videos of our trip and our video camera is having issues at the moment, so if I can figure it out I will post pictures of what we saw later. A big shock of our trip was the gas prices! In this area you can't buy gas for under $3.70 a gallon and I think we even paid $3.95 one time. It's crazy! The good thing is that we are here, we are in our apartment and we are happy that long drive is over!

Here are some pictures that we didn't take, but it is basically what we saw (and yes there was still snow on the mountains!)

This summer Craig has accepted a job as a summer salesman. He is going to be selling Dish, Directv and Qwest door to door here in Washington. Amanda is going to be the office secretary and will be responsible for scheduling installations and completing order forms/credit checks. Craig is also going to be the manager of the office. He is going to manage about 8 other guys that will be coming out to sell. What this means is that he will train/motivate/be in charge of these guys and it will eventually result in us getting a bigger chunk of money at the end of the summer. We're excited for this experience. Craig has had some selling experience for this same company when we lived in Idaho and he expects to do really well this summer. I'm excited becuase my job is easy and doesn't require a whole lot and I will have plenty of time to see the sights of Seattle and swim in the pool (thats located in our apartment complex)!!

Many of you may know but after five years of enduring tests, homework, and some really lame teachers I have finaly moved on in life, away from college and into the real world. To help with my transition into "the real world" I have been searching for a job for the past month. I initially signed a contract with the Granite school district in Salt Lake mainly becuase its close to home, offers good insurance and there are a lot of schools in which I could apply at to get a job. I interviewed at several schools and have finally accepted a job as a first grade teacher at Bennion Elementary. There are a couple of reasons why I'm really excited about this job and a couple of reasons why its kinda lame. The good things first: 1. I love first graders they are so funny sometimes, I feel like I really connect with them 2. The school is really nice, it is ranked as one of the top ten schools in the granite school district for test scores, the principal really works with his teachers and pretty much gives them anything they need. There is some diversity but not so much that it makes my job overly difficult. 3. The first grade teachers I'll be working with team teach-- that means that we ability group the kids for reading and math. One teacher will take the kids in the high reading group, one teacher will take the kids in the middle reading group and another teacher will take the kids in the low reading group. This makes my job really nice becuase I don't have to cater my instruction to many different levels. Now for the bad things about this job 1. Bennion Elementary is in Taylorsville that makes my commute an estimated 25 minutes right through the middle of a construction project. 2. I'm a little nervous on how to handle 27 first graders at the beginning of the year when they are used to 1/2 day kindergarten--I'm imagining my classroom will be a mad house for the first couple of months.

Obviously the good outweighs the bad, and that's why I chose this position. I start mid-August so stay tuned for updates!