the 4th!!

Precursory information: I love July 4th!  Always have.  Except this one was quite different than the usual.

This was the first 4th I have spent away from Rochester in a very very very long time.  Longer than I can remember.  When we are there we have a great day grilling and partying with friends and family and then we spend the majority of the evening at Silver Lake eating and playing games and watching fireworks and then getting stuck in traffic for the next 2 hours.  I love it.  It's predictable and I wouldn't have it any other way.

So how did we celebrate in our home away from home?

Well we grilled steaks and ate on our porch, which was delightful.  Then I really wanted to watch fireworks so we decided we would try to find a good spot to park and watch the show in Murray.  We didn't want to leave our car in case one of these wildfires broke out and we needed to make a quick drive out of state...  We found an awesome parking spot by a cemetery and right when the show started we noticed that our view was obstructed.

Giant tree right in the line of fire.  Seriously it was disappointing to say the least.  My pregnant hormones burst me into tears so we moved on to find a new spot.

We drove and drove for like 10 minutes (as a tearfully watched out the back window) and finally found a wonderful spot to watch the fireworks...

We pulled over on a very busy, loud state street and had the beautiful backdrop of best buy below for the remainder of our firework show.  It wasn't as glamorous as years past on a poo-filled silver lake, but it did suffice.

Needless to say it was a wonderful first fireworks away from home.  Our backdrop may have been ugly, but to me it looked a little something like this...

God bless america!

haley Johnson

halfway there...

Yes, 2nd post in one day, but I forgot to announce that I'm halfway done with my pregnancy!! 20 weeks down, 20 weeks to go!

So please pay attention to the chorus of this great 80's classic.

speaking of ugly hair, I think Billy Idol was our waiter at b-dubs last night...
...except he claimed his name was Ricky.

haleyJ

Maternity Bathing Suits

Wow, talk about ugly.  There is about 1 cute one for every 873,509,689 ugly ones.  Who's idea was that???  Just because I will feel like a whale in the water doesn't mean I have to be creepier looking than one.

Here are some contenders:


who likes flowers this much?


Someone decided each and every imaginable pattern can go together??!



the 1970's called...I can't even think of a terrible enough ending for that joke.

Sorry if anyone owns any of those bathing suits...they are pretty awful.
And lastly on this rant, who decided it was a great idea to have NON-PREGNANT ladies modeling maternity swimsuits??  About half the websites have very much non pregnant girls modeling their suits, is not at all helpful or informative!  I want to know what it looks like when you are big and huge and round.  A pregnant belly is hard to imagine in a bathing suit unless you can see it!

Wish me luck, I may look like a freak this summer.

Dryer

Did my dryer machine alarm just go off as I walked by...causing me to almost wet my pants because I thought there was someone in my house?

Why yes, yes it did.

(this post was indeed a backdoor brag that my new apartment holds a washer and dryer)

"I can't watch American Idol because there's a water bug on my channel changer"
-Kenneth Parcell, 30 Rock

HALEY JOHNSON

I'm so bad at packing!! !@#$%^&*

Paulina's blog title applys to me very well at this morning.  Because "right now, I am procrastinating".  We are moving on SATURDAY!!  and what is packed?  Not much.

Done:
1) My closet
2) Mike's closet (he did that)
3) The linen closet
4) Most of the books
5) The smaller picture frames
5.5) I technically took the bigger picture frames off the walls...except the really big ones and the two in my room

ok that last one was not what is packed.  Mike was going to be home soon so Erin and I thought that would make it look like I had done a lot more than I actually had.  It worked, he thought it looked great haha.

Packing is so hard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What do you do with all the crap that is left over after your boxes are filled?



For example: Erin and I packed the bookshelf, and we filled like 4 small boxes, and there are like 5 books leftover.  Where do they go??  Do I pack and label another box as "cups and a few books"??

LAME

BUT...there is good news in every post, WE SOLD OUR APARTMENT!!!  so please refer back to a previous post's celebration song.

So now we can officially move without that stress holding us down.  Just all this crap we have :)



I wish I could say we are moving that way, but I just remembered that I need to book a Uhaul.  I hate packing.

However, I'm sure once this is all done, me and Mike will be able to sit back and laugh at all the stress...just like these nice-lookin folks.



Except we won't be drinking...and Mike won't be laughing, because I'd punch him because he didn't have to do like any of it!...except all the moving part I guess.

BUT!

Notice I chose this picture because there will be that small pile of books that had no home in any box because they just didn't fit the appropriate boxing category!!

How can two people accumulate so much crap!?

haleyJOHNSON

on the radio

I found this new radio station that I LOOOOOVE... I can't remember what station it is, I just know its my preset #1.  Why do I love it?  It plays funky rap rap electronic music so often and best of all it plays Kelly Clarkson's Stronger like every other song.  Its great...makes me feel like I'm singing and dancing with my friends in this shot.


I should probably just buy the song on iTunes...

:) haleyJ

Graduate'n

We graduated!!!  Done and done.  Both of our families flew out and it was so fun!  Now we are one step closer to being grown up.
And because pictures are all anyone cares about, here is a nice one of my family:

I don't know why my leg is sticking out.  We took so many pictures...this one made it in at the end somewhere.
BYU was a great school to go to, I would do it again if I had the choice, it was also nice because they paid for like all of my schooling so yeah, of course I would choose it again.
So what's the plan now?  We have an apartment in Salt Lake that we are moving to in about 3 weeks, of course I'll post something about that later :)  The apt is like a mile from Mike's work so we are thrilled about that.

Now, on a much lighter note, I would like to share something I noticed while watching TV the other day.
Cee lo green looks an awful lot like the pups on the doggy dentures comercials...

versus


That's all I have to say for now.

Haley Johnson :)

Student Teaching

Oh my goodness there are only 3 weeks left of my student teaching experience!!  Weird!  It is fun yes.  My favorite part is being around junior high students all day long.  Oddly enough that is also my least favorite part.  Some of them are just so easy to love, and some of them are so easy to not love!

As my mentor teacher said: "Some of them are really obnoxious kids who will grow out of it and become normal adults...but some of them are really obnoxious kids who will grow up to be really obnoxious adults."


I love that guy.

Some things I've learned:

1) Never spill water on yourself...they will all laugh and ask if you've peed your pants lately.

2) Always give correct instructions.  Then repeat the instructions.  Then repeat the instructions again.  Then write the instructions on the board.  Then don't get annoyed when 2 more people ask you what they are supposed to be doing.

3) Always collect supplies once students don't need them anymore.  ANYTHING can become a very annoying  musical instrument e.g. rulers, cups, compasses, protractors, etc.

4) Always make more copies than you will need.  10% of the students will lose the first one.

5) Never take yourself too seriously.  They don't care 1/2 the time.

6) Don't even try to hold a grudge.  They love arguing and they LOVE thinking you hate them.  Just pretend like every student is your favorite.  Trust me, it works and you even start to believe it yourself.

7) Give each student a fresh chance to be great each day.

8) Always sleep enough the night before.  Energy cannot be created from nothing.  That is a law of the universe.

9) Have plenty of snacks ready for eating upon walking in the door at the end of the day.  Also find someone to tell all your funny stories to.

10) After a completely bombed lesson.....move on.  Let it go.  Look ahead.  Don't cry...too much ;)

I really do love this stuff, I def made a good carrier choice :)

Haley J

HairSpray

John Travolta singing and dancing in a dress is funny but also kind of disturbing.



I just have to keep saying ok that's a man.


HaleyJ

Why Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) Beats Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)

I was just surfing the tube yesterday and naturally, one of my commercial pitstops is ABC family.  Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory was playing.  Let me update everyone who doesn't already know taht I LOVE the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and the old Willy Wonka movie is old and creeps me out.  I allowed myself to become extremely critical and I came up with these reasons why the new movie whomps the old movie.

1) Old Charlie = really really not cute and really really bad actor.

    New Charlie = really really cute and really really good actor.

2) 1st movie = waaaay too much boring singing

(this is the mom about to sing cheer up charlie...gag me.)

3) New movie...MAGICAL...and appropriately creepy

Old factory = looks like a nasty old water park with rusty water

3) I like the new oompa loompas much better :)..I don't dream about them murdering me in the night.

VERSUS

4) The new cast had so much more character.

Versus

5) The background stories were priceless

(I couldn't Find a picture of willy wonka with headgear...forgive me.)

"This is the puppet hospital and burn center. It's relatively new." 

6) Johnny Depp's entrance beats Gene Wilder's

7) Creeper Gene Wilder...he ate the flower by choice...that was not in the script.

8) Slugworth was basically cut in the new movie...loved that.




9) It was just a better movie.  People who say the new movie is too scary and creepy should go learn how to not be such babies.  I distinctly remember going to that movie with the Weenigs and laughing from the beginning to the end.  I remember finishing the old movie for the first time and feeling really uncomfortable.

That's that.

HaleyJ