Top 10 from the past 2...

Sarah's favorite ten things from the past 2 months:

10. Living in warm sunshiney Las Vegas where its been in the 70s or 80s for the past few weeks.

9. Getting to go snowboarding again. And making it down the mountain a few times without falling!!

8. Getting to go to Utah to see Emily and Amy Jo.

7. Getting to visit the temple a few times. It is such a great opportunity for service and blessings!

6. Being recognized as the 'Star of the Week' at work... basically the employee of the week. It is great to have my efforts recognized.

5. Getting to go camping with boyfriend and other friends. And I didn't even freeze!

4. I have 20 toddlers under my care and supervision and I am handling it. I am amazing.

3. Speaking of amazing, I have a boyfriend who thinks I'm amazing. And he is amazing. And he treats me like I'm a princess. And he makes me so happy. Weekdays are the worst things ever because we don't get to see each other for like 16 hours straight while we sleep and then go to work. Weekends are truly becoming my favorite.

2. Setting a curfew so I get more than 5 hours of sleep. I need my sleep.

1. Being happy. Because I am doing things that allow me to be truly happy. I love making good choices.

And I have so much more to look forward to!!! April is going to be a fabulous month! Kickstarted by going to SLC for conference with Larin and getting to see the bestest Emily and meet her boyfriend and have her meet Larin. Oh, and before that I have another job interview this week. (cross your fingers. knock on wood. all that stuff.) Then a trip to Alamo, NV to meet Larin's family Easter weekend. Then I get to see Emily N. and her parents. So much goodness!!!

Oh, and here's some pics... As promised.

With the best friends. Amy Jo and Emily in SLC before Amy Jo left for the MTC.

At the cabin during our snowbaording trip. Yes, I know its fuzzy. Thanks to the amazing sunset behind us... But it shows Larin's amazing hugs. I love his hugs.

Also at the cabin. Larin doesn't like pictures... in order to get him to smile I had to say "poop". So this is a picture of him laughing at poop.

Sam, myself, and Larin... ready to hit the slopes, baby!

I'm Alive!

Yes. I am alive. Just busy enjoying life. Which is enjoyable.

What?! Is that not enough information? Okay... I guess I'll tell you more. I'm still working at Childtime and I turned down that job offer. Still looking. I have a boyfriend. Yay! Larin and I are officially dating. Which is probably why I've been so busy. A very good busy. Loving life and having fun!

If we're lucky maybe I'll post again. Maybe.

Yay, yay, yay!!!

The postings this week have been scarce because I've been busy! Good busy. Like hanging out with a great man busy. Fun. ...Insert HUGE grin...

So this weekend will be a fabulous weekend. And I have no worries setting such high expectations...

Tonight I'm going to the temple! That is always a wonderful experience.

I get to take a mini road trip to Salt Lake City! (like a 6 hour drive) and I'm driving by myself which means lots of Sarah time. yay!!

I get to see my best friends from college Amy Jo and Emily, both of whom I haven't seen in FOREVER! It is Amy Jo's last Sunday before she leaves to serve a mission in Argentina and she is speaking in her family's old home ward there in Salt Lake.

I promise to take lots of pictures. Or at least, I promise to try to remember to take lots of pictures.

Falling...

So this post is the result of a boring Sunday evening with a camera and a little life reflection...

One of my greatest fears is falling. When I was younger (like, 12 or 13) we climbed a ladder to shovel snow off the roof of the shed and when we were done I couldn't get down the ladder. I sat up there for a while. And I don't actually remember how I got down (maybe I blocked it from my memory).

As much as I fear falling, there are many things I do fall for...

#1 I fall for sleeping in. Almost every morning. I will never learn.



#2 I fall for stupid tricks. I am a little bit gullible.

#3 I fall for boys. Nuff said. ;)

These are all things I kinda like falling for.

I like to sleep in. No, that is a lie. I love it. I also like my personality, blonde moments and all. And I like romance.

I'm learning that falling might not always be all that bad.

Happy new week, everyone!!

Lovin the Love!

Its been a long and busy week. Here are the highlights:

Date with Larin Monday night. I looked cute. He brought me flowers. We danced. Ate good food. It was fun.

Monday I had 7 new kids start in my class. It went well. At least on Monday. And Tuesday. By Friday we were struggling though. By week three we'll have our routine down again.

Staff meeting for work Wednesday night. Enough said.

Thursday night was missionary blitz. Always fun!

Friday we had a Valentine's party at work. My kids got hyped on sugar and then half of them got the runs. Yay! But on the plus side, we had fun. And my kids brought me lots of Valentines Day Chocolate!

Friday night (tonight) Brett, Larin, and I went to eat some yummy food and then we went back to their place where I played pool for the first time. And then we went to watch a movie at our friend Amber's house.

Tomorrow? The guys are going to take a look at my brakes. And hopefully get them fixed. And then its girls movie night with Melissa. With a possible dinner with Larin before. We shall see.

Out of Gas and Anticipations.

Today I experienced a first. While returning to work after my lunch break, my car ran out of gas. Luckily:
#1 Even though I was on a big and busy street, I was able to cross 1 lane of traffic, a suicide lane, and then another 3 lanes of traffic to stop on a small side street. Opposed to dying while waiting at the majorly busy intersection I was feet from. That woulda stunk even more!
#2 I was literally around the block from work at that point.
#3 It was light outside.
#4 There was a gas station nearby.
#5 My boss and I are in a good place right now so she didn't freak out.
#6 It was kinda raining, so I didn't stand out AS much when I put up my hood trying to disguise the fact that I was a young caucasion woman walking by myself.
#7 I knew how to work one of those little tiny gas can thingies (only $3) thanks to my lawn mowing days.

Monday will be a fun day. Here is why...
1. Monday I will have fourteen children enrolled in my class. That is five new children. All starting in my room in one day. Thank goodness I will now have an assistant teacher. Yay!
2. Monday is pay day. I need money.
3. Monday night I get to go on a date with a really great guy. Not just a wow, he's really hot guy. But a cute AND really good guy. And I get to dress up all cute and stuff.

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy my weekend. Yay, Yay, YAY!!!

Sarah is Happy.

So...
between getting to listen to Elder Perry address the YSAs here in Vegas and instruct the ward missionaries on Sunday (hooray for spiritual highs), being able to breathe again as my head cold is going away, my coccyx only hurting when I sit straight on it or bend over or lift something, having Larin ask me to go to our ward's Valentine's Day Formal with him, having Bud invite me to go to dinner with him tonight, Grey's Anatomy being on tonight, and tomorrow bein' FRIDAY...

It has been an awesome week. And Sarah is Happy.

I think as a way to motivate myself this weekend, I shall be arranging a before and after post illustrating the cleaning of my bedroom. Maybe. We shall see...

Excitingness!

So last weekend I got to go SNOWBOARDING at Brianhead in Utah. So fun! We stayed at my friend Melissa's cabin just outside of Cedar City. There were like 25 people that went on the trip but the cabin was more like a winter home, so we all fit comfortably! It was fun to see lots of stars and build a fire and eat yummy food and have boys help keep us warm. Fantastic times!

Please note that Larin in the top right is holding a red plastic cup of ORANGE JUICE. Even though it looks a little like he's drunk and toasting the camera.

I'd only been snowboarding once before, but the last time I went my friend Josh had started to teach me how to carve so I was super excited to master that on this visit. Unfortunately, Sarah + Ski lifts = falling. Every time. I have never not fallen. But the first time off the lift I slammed my tailbone hard on the ice at the top (it was a warm day). Lindsay was kind enough to get a picture of me recovering after. Yes, I am holding my bum.

Needless to say this fall ruined my trip and I only made it down the slope twice. And maybe I cried that many times too. I did still have a fun time and my friends did a great job of helping me feel better. Love them!


Overall it was an AWESOME trip and tons of fun. I'm so lucky to live in a place where there are lots of fun people my age who are also looking for good and clean things to do.
Also exciting...

It is the beginning of February and its been like 70 degrees out.

I was offered a JOB with Compass Behavioral Health. I'm still deliberating.

...and I finally posted again... YAY!!!

The picture below is quite deceiving. You may think this area is clean and quite sanitary. And I can promise you it is. (I would know since I'm the one who gets to clean and disinfect it after each use.) But this picture of the diaper changing area in my classroom does not capture the permanent stench permeating the area. And the multiple air fresheners we've tried just don't do the trick. Sad. Especially since I spend probably 1/3 of my time in this area. Any ideas?!? And no, the window you see does not actually open. Not even a little crack. That would solve my problem.

Other things worth noting in this picture... the wonderful artwork displayed on the wall. I believe they were painting a picture of... nope, I don't remember. Also, please note the chair. This chair serves 2 purposes. #1 Its nice to sit in when changing diapers rather than having to lift them onto the table. Yay for changing diapers with the kids standing up! #2 My not 'time-out', but 'relaxation chair'. In other words, when I'm trying to get through 10 diapers and potty checks, any child running around my classroom dumping all the toys, hitting their friends, or doing something else dangerous (such as climbing on the shelves) who doesn't listen to my words reminding them what their body should be doing; they get to sit in that lovely chair.

Why is Sarah telling us such unnecessary details about her diapering routine?!?

DRUMROLL PLEASE...

My #1 underwear pooper and toy throwing and cussing little angel is moving and tomorrow will be his last day. My room will be less smelly, more quiet, and this chair will be less frequently occupied during diaper changing. And maybe I won't pull out as much of my hair. His moving isn't something we should celebrate, but since another child just so happens to be celebrating their birthday, I figured we'd throw a double celebration. HOORAY!




Speaking of food, Rashida found my lunch today entertaining. I found it yummy. What do you think? The Soda was a 99c splurge... the eyes on the smiley face are what remained of my PB&J sandwich and the mouth is the sliced banana I dipped in my chocolate pudding. Also note the high fashion blue polo and khaki uniform.

Check this out...

Sarah's To-Do List for Today...

1. Get to work on time. check

2. Survive work. check

3. Avoid any tactless criticism from my boss. almost check

4. Go grocery shopping. yummy check

5. Eat dinner. Do a banana, chocolate pudding, and doritos count? no check

6. Hang out around the house... instead of paying good $ to go bowling. Yay for Uno with 'Shida and Krystal. check

7. Go to sleep. soon to be check

Yesterday I was talking to a childhood friend of mine, Jenn Lewis, who used to go to all the church activities with me back in the day... and she told me how she'd bumped into the missionaries on the train yesterday and how she's going to start meeting with them... Yay!

One, Two, Fwee, Foh, Fi, Sik, Sen, Eight, Nine, TEN

Ten Reasons I Like My Job:
1. My children give such wonderful hugs.
2. I love the way their faces light up when they see me come into the room. It makes me feel special.
3. I love those moments when they GET IT.
4. There is a part of me that thinks that having 10 toddlers makes the idea of having twins seem a bit easier. Or even quadruplets.
5. Sometimes I get to eat their food. Today I got to eat a corndog and tator tots. And animal crackers. Yum!
6. Being exposed to every illness and communicable disease (scarlet fever, head lice, croup, pneumonia, pink eye, staph infection, the flu... you name it and we've probably had it at our center in the past 6 months I've worked there) will increase my immunity to future illnesses.
7. I get to do the most fun activities. Like paint. And color. And do all sorts of sensory activities like GORP and Playdough. And I get to play outside twice a day.
8. I can almost literally roll out of bed in the morning and go to work. Who am I trying to impress?
9. I get a paycheck every other Monday.
10. Bad days make me highly motivated to find a better job.

Speaking of better jobs, ...I do have a job interview this Saturday for a position here in Las Vegas at a company called Compass Behavioral Health!!! I would be doing early intervention (HOORAY!!) so lets all hope I do well in the interview and impress her with my knowledge and enthusiasm. And madd skillz.

Other notable news from the past 48 hours...
I almost went on an almost blind date. Explanation: A friend of a friend I met for a half second on sunday told her he wanted my number so he could take me to some concert tomorrow night that he had backstage passes to.. but my roommate said that she doesn't really trust him. And if I do actually remember this guy, I kinda got the heebie jeebiez. So I 'have plans' tomorrow night and won't be able to go. Sad day.
I had to work on Martin Luther King Day. But do not fret. I still celebrated by listening to his "I have a dream" speech and other Kinghorn family traditions.

You can be the judge.

Yes its after 3am and I'm just now posting. That is how exciting my life is! Okay, so maybe not. You can be the judge.

I slept in and Rashida (wonderful roommate) cooked breakfast for us. And then I talked to the fabulous fam for like 2 hours. Then I chilled with the roomies for a bit before getting rid of a headache AKA popping some pills putting a heating pad on my neck and taking a power nap.

Then ~DRUMROLL PLEASE~ ...Tonight I went to my first real college sporting event!!! I know, sad. But also YAY because I got to watch the UNLV Rebels beat the Wyoming Cowboys!!! ...It was quite fun. Dianna (my roommate) and I went with our other friends Sam and Richard.

Of course since I'm new to this whole 'camera of my own' thing I forgot to bring it along so I could take pictures. But I did take one at home. Holding my ticket. And saying "REBELS".

Then we all went to the store and bought some ice cream and laughed at Valentine's Day cards (some of them are really funny). Then we went back to our house and ate the ice cream with our other roommates and then talked for the next like, four hours. We played EC Idol. A game show where the others in the room nominated a 'contestant' (someone they thought you might be interested in) and then they get to be the judges about what they thought of those two individuals together. I was Paula. Sam was Simon. And Richard was Randy. And D was whatever that new judges name is. And no. This is not a real game. But once it gets to be like 2 in the morning, sometimes you come up with some pretty funny stuff!

After the game and the game we made up and the lactose intolerant 'tooting' and the cheek twitching and everything else, now I am ready for the Sabbath.

Thank goodness church doesn't start til 1.

Hearts: Warmed and Broken

Ohmagosh. Its Day 2 and I'm actually posting. Woowee I'm on a roll!!

Today my heart was broken as I helped comfort one of my kids whose parents are going through a divorce. Its alarming to see just how much a child is affected by the decisions their parents make. One of my other kids is also chatting nonstop about his Mom's fun new boyfriend. Who they are moving in with. He lives in another state.

Please let me be wise.

Today my heart was also warmed as I was serenaded by the awesome Secondhand Serenade who I went to see in concert tonight!! If you don't know who they are slash what they sing, check them out. Here is where I should put a link. But I'm tired. And lazy. So have fun googling! (Is that a word?!) Anyways, the concert was awesome and he is amazing. I was a little bummed that even though his music is clean he still was drinking beer and cursing a bit during his performance. Maybe he thought that would impress us "Sin City inhabitants" AKA Las Veganites? What am I called?!

Now I must go watch The Office. In my bed. And fall sleep to the docile tones of Dwight and Andy.

Here I am!!

So... this is my face when I think about the INTENSE world of blogging I've just entered!

Why join this world?! Well, I got a fabulous new digital camera from Santa for Christmas. Living soo ridiculously far from family almost makes having a camera and a blog a necessity. Phone calls can only share so much! Hopefully family and friends will be able to enjoy this as an added way to keep tabs on what I'm really doing here in Vegas!

Okay. So its not that exciting. I live in a house with three other girls. We're all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon church) which basically means we have tons of fun but can actually remember it the next morning.

I spend most of my time at my oh so fabulous job. What is this job I'm so psyched about? I'm a lead teacher at a child care center. I teach 10 children all between the ages of 2 1/2 and 3. This is important to know because, yes, I will be ranting and raving in the future.

I'm also looking for a more permanent and personally fulfilling job in the field of Early Intervention (providing developmental therapy for children birth-3 yrs old who either have a diagnosed disability, are delayed in some areas, or are at risk). Unfortunately, this job search has taken longer than I was hoping. In the mean time I'm trying to just be grateful I have a job. And I do love my kids!!

I also have a great group of friends out here! We get to do lots of fun things together which I will document. Most of. Maybe not all.

Well, I feel this was kind of a somewhat rather successful first post (note the uncertainty)...