Today we are teaching poodles how to fly

So, today in class I had to present a counseling technique with two other classmates. I was in charge of introducing an activity we were going to do to illustrate the technique. I started by saying "Today we are teaching poodles how to fly." I didn't quite get the reaction I had hoped for. Most people sat there with a confused expression, but I know Raul would of been proud.

I was about to publish this post but I could hear a certain family member telling me that I probably want to explain why this is funny. One of the world's most cinematic treasures is a movie called "UHF" starring Weird Al Yankovic. "UHF" is about a TV station and one of the programs on this station is Raul's Animal Kingdom. On one episode from his second story apartment Raul attempts but fails to teach poodles how to fly. By the way did you know the turtle is nature's suction cup.

Steamboat

About a month ago, Owen and I went to Steamboat to go snowboarding. We had a great weather and pretty good snow. On the way there all the plants were covered in hoar frost. It was so beautiful.

Here is a picture of me. Owen and I spent most of the day on this run. It was perfect for our level and not too busy.

Owen about to go off a jump and get 10 ft. of air. Not really, we are both pretty cautious.

Right after I took this picture, Owen sprayed me with snow. It was pretty funny.

Can you tell Owen is pointing at my head? I think he is jealous of my intellecutal abilities.
(Did you notice I spelled intellectual wrong?)

On the way home we had a spectacular sunset to finish off a great day.

The ship of Death -- Part 2

After leaving Mazatlan, we head to Puerto Vallarta. Our excursion in Puerto, was a Canopy Zip Line. I was a little nervous about this because we had to also rappel and I am afraid of heights, but I did it and actually enjoyed it. Once you sit down and you know you are not going to fall it is no problem.

So, we rode in the back of a truck that had seat belts and handles to hold onto. A very good indication that this is going to be a bumpy ride. The back of the truck reminded me of a war movie when they are moving prisoners.

We had to put our cameras in a bag before the zip line adventure so I don't have any pictures of us zipping through the canopy but this is a shot of the canopy. But if you go to this website you can see pictures of what we did.
http://www.vallarta-adventures.com/tours/canopy-adventure-park

Here is a shot of Puerto Vallarta from our boat. Can you see Wal-Mart across the street?

Our last stop was in Cabo San Lucas. In Cabo we went on a Catamaran to a snorkeling site. I loved the boat ride. We saw two hump back whales too. The snorkeling was okay. There weren't many fish and the corral was pretty brown. But it was still a fun trip.

Heading out to sea

I loved sitting here. I was kind of selfish because I sat in the same spot to and from the snorkeling spot. It was so much fun with the waves.

These are some rock formations near Cabo. In fact Cabo is kind of built into the mountains.

Leaving Cabo. I could do another entry on pictures of sunsets because I took so many. It really was just beautiful.

It is inevitable, that whenever I hang out with my Arizona friends, I get myself into some kind of trouble. Towards the end of the cruise, Nikki and I were walking around the boat taking pictures and we discovered that if we held our cameras far enough out we could take pictures of the very back of the boat. Well, after a few shots, Nikki said that one of the workers was watching us. So, we walked around the boat and came back to take a couple more. And sure enough there was the guy sent to make sure we didn't' go overboard.

The ship of death -- Part 1

On December 26, I flew to San Diego and boarded Holland-America's Oosterdam cruise ship. Our destinations were to be Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, and Cabo San Lucas in the order. After one day at sea, the Captain ordered full speed ahead to Cabo first because one of the passengers had had a heart attack. By the end of the cruise five people had to be taken off the ship and sent to the hospital. Although, to our knowledge no one died we called it the Ship of Death. Not a very comforting name, but despite the emergencies we still had a good time. I am surprised I only gained 6 lbs., there were just too many temptations to say no to.

We left San Diego in the evening and it was getting chilly. I want to be on the top deck to wave to all the people wishing up "Bon Voyage" like they did on the Love Boat. There was no one there but I still enjoyed it as I sipped hot chocolate.

Here is our ship from Stone Island off of Mazatlan. It had been rainy hence the nice hairdo or hairdon't.

My favorite part of the cruise was the excursions. In Mazatlan, we went on a four-wheeler ride on Stone Island. We got to ride on both the beach and through the jungle where they raise peanuts.

This is the beach we rode the Four wheelers on. This was my favorite part. We could go pretty fast and we found little hills to jump.

Here is a view of Stone Island (the bigger Island) from our ship that we rode four wheelers on.

Saying goodbye to Mazatlan.

Well, I am not sure how to rotate the picture, but what you see before you is me in a sexy and fancy outfit. And for dinner I had lobster tail with a Fillet Mignon. This was the first time I had lobster tail. Not too shabby.

Buzz Light Year to the Rescue

Owen and I decided in December that it would be fun to snowshoe up a hill and then snowboard down. Saturday we went, we did, and we pooped out. It is a lot harder than I had anticipated. We had snowshoes up this hill before and it wasn't that hard but add the weight of a snowboard and hard packed snow and it is a different story.

Owen said we looked like Buzz Light Year with his wings

Here is Owen boarding down after we had climbed up the hill. After one trip up we abandoned our backpacks and walked up with our boards.

Even though we had less weight to carry, we started to question why we were working so hard to go snowboarding. We soon abandoned our plan and drove to Snowy Range, paid $30 and rode the lift the rest of the day.

Jeff Foxworthy on School Employees

Jeff Foxworthy on School Employees

YOU might be a school employee if you believe the playground should be equipped with a Ritalin salt lick.

YOU might be a school employee if it is difficult to name your own child because there's no name you can come up with that doesn't bring high blood pressure as it is uttered.

YOU might be a school employee if you can tell it's a full moon or if it going to rain, snow, hail....anything!!! Without ever looking outside.

YOU might be a school employee if you believe, 'shallow gene pool' should have its own box on a report card.

YOU might be a school employee if you believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if anyone says, 'Boy, the kids sure are mellow today.'

YOU might be a school employee if when out in public, you feel the urge to snap your fingers at children you do not know and correct their behavior.

YOU might be a school employee if you have no social life between August and June.

YOU might be a school employee if you laugh uncontrollably when people refer to the staff room as the 'lounge.'

YOU might be a school employee if you can't imagine how the ACLU could think that covering your students chair with Velcro and then requiring uniforms made out of the corresponding Velcro could ever be misunderstood by the public.

YOU might be a school employee if meeting a child's parent instantly answers this question, 'Why is this kid like this?'

YOU might be a school employee if you would choose a mammogram over a parent conference.

YOU might be a school employee if you think someone should invent antibacterial pencils and crayons...and desks and chairs for that matter!

YOU might be a school employee if you know how many days, minutes, and seconds are left in the school year!

Exposure Therapy

In counseling we called exposure to a phobia, "Exposure Therapy"; pretty creative name, huh? For those that know me well know that I don't like to throw parties. It is stressful for me because I worry if everyone is having a good time. Well, some of my classmates and I thought it would be fun to have a party to carve pumpkins, but we weren't sure where to have it. Since I have a fairly good size living room and hardwood floors I volunteered to have it at my house. I also decided that I was not going to worry whether or not people were having fun. That is their choice, right? So, we had about eleven people show up. Some of the guys in our cohort thought it was going to be a chick party. But those that came had fun. We carved pumpkins, ate good and fattening food, and played a game called "Blurt". And when it was all said and done it only took me about 30 minutes to clean up. I'm even contemplating having another party.

Keri and Chad busy performing surgery on their pumpkins

Talon's finished product

Jamie works on her "Swine Flu pumpkin victim"

This is my jack-o-lantern. My friend Katrina designed it on paper and I copied it. This is probably the best one I have ever done. Are you frightened? You should be. It's the Grim Reaper.