I'm Now a Teacher Leader!

I made it back from the Leadership Academy yesterday. Our presentation was fantastic! It was the best by far. Of course, I am not biased or anthing... HA! But we did get a lot of compliments from our fellow teacher friends. You can view our Prezi by clicking on it. If you don't know what a Prezi is, click the link. It is a wonderful tool that anyone can use for FREE!  It also give your audience a break from another PowerPoint.

Last night, Bran and I went to a neat place here in town. It's called Hog Wild in honor of our Razorbacks! They had a live band playing while we enjoyed our meal. Bran ate a whole pizza by himself. It was really gross. I guess he hadn't eaten anything while I was at my conference! haha! They also have a huge arcade, putt-putt golf, a tree house playground for kiddos, and black-light bumper cars. We didn't play anything last night because we had plans with another couple. We went to Cathryn's to play cards. We played Skip-Bo for over two hours!! I guess time flies when you're having fun!

I don't know what's wrong with me, but I have been working out lately. In fact, I just got back from a weight-lifting class at a local fitness center. Cathryn invited me last night, and I'm glad I went. I will be sore tomorrow!! It would be really nice to lose some weight. Maybe when Bran and I are debt free, I will treat myself to a gym membership. Of course, once I buy it, I won't ever go... HA!

I took Mason on my walk this morning. He needed to get all his energy out because he stayed inside with me today. The heat index down here is a whopping 108! We left at 8:00 and didn't get back until 9:15 if that tells you anything. HA! Mase was ready to go, acting like a crazed dog at first. However, once we hit the half-mile mark, he decided he had had enough! So what did he do?? He just went over into the grass and plopped himself down. I sure wasn't moving this 105 lb dog anywhere. So we gave him a little rest, then he finally decided he could make it back Cathryn's house. There, we had to take another break. This time about 15 minutes! Finally, we made it home. The walk sure did the trick though! He was nice and calm all afternoon!

Greg, my father-in-law, helped me take Mason to the vet this afternoon. Mase is practically impossible to control in the car with just one person, and Bran was working. I am so thankful that I had some help! Mason has some kind of infection in his eye. I spent over $100 on his meds. *sigh* That was not in the budget!

I am leaving tomorrow to go to a teacher leader conference. My colleague and I have a presentation to give. I have been working on it for so long. I am glad it's here, and I will be even more happy when it is over!

She said "YES!!"

Today's Show Us Your Life topic is all about proposals! So welcome all visitors!

Brandon proposed on September 25, 2007. We had been dating two years. He planned a surprise proposal. Every Tuesday night is when Chi Alpha meets for service - at 7:00. Chi Alpha is an Assemblies of God organization for college students. Brandon and I arrived early to be greeters. This particular night, I noticed that everyone was avoiding me, and I couldn't figure out why! Little did I know, everyone knew what was to come. They were afraid to talk to me because they didn't want to spoil the surprise.... When service started, a staff member came to the front and said that tonight was going to be a little different and that we were going to play a game. I did not want to go on stage... but low and behold, I was the last person to be called up in front of about 75 people. The game was passing around an object to see if anyone could guess what it was. I guessed the object (a pencil case) correctly and was very excited to see what my prize was. As I took off my blindfold, Brandon was in front of me on one knee with a huge rock in his hand! He proposed and of course I said yes! We got married May 31, 2008.

Here are some of our engagement photos:

I was so very pleased with them. We had an amazing photographer! Bran and I just celebrated our second anniversary. I look forward to spending many, many more with him!

Mason

Who can not love this face??

I mean really?? Look at him!

This is Mason. Our adorable Dogue de Bordeaux!

These are pictures of when Mase was little bitty. Just presh! But then... Mason started to grow.

Maybe got a little crazy...

He grew and grew...

But he's still so lovable!

HA!

Sigh...

And he was still getting bigger...

But still, who couldn't love his droopy face!

So now Mase is about a year and a half old. He weighs over 100 pounds. My guess would be probably 120 now. But I have to be honest. Mason has a problem: a big one. He's a rude dog.  He jumps on people. He doesn't like to sit when we ask him. He barks at our friendly rabbits in the woods. He pulls on his leash which makes him impossible to walk! He needs a major attitude adjustment. m-a-j-o-r

So, my mission this summer is to whip my dog into shape! Without actually whipping him. bahaha! Today was our first training day. I worked with him about twenty minutes. He did such a good job! He's so very smart. He already knew the commands "Sit" and "Lay Down," so we did a refresher course. I cut up a whole package of hot dogs for rewards. I also used my clicker that Bran and I bought forever ago but never tried out. Once Mase associated the click with the treat, we got busy! Any time he sat down, I clicked and rewarded. Then we practiced sitting for longer amounts of time. Then we practiced laying down. What I was really impressed with though is that Mase only jumped up on me once. I simply turned my back to him and gave him no attention. He sat down finally and I clicked and rewarded! No more jumping! Woo-hoo!

After the training session, I swept all the pine needles off our deck. Mase goes CRAZY with the broom and tries to catch it. So I applied the same principles. I ignored him and stopped sweeping. He went and laid down and I clicked and rewarded! It worked like a charm! He sat down the entire time just watching me, so I kept giving out the hot dogs! Hopefully tomorrow will go just as well. We are going to work on the "Stay" command and maybe practice walking on a leash. I'm motivated to shape him into the perfect dog!

First Days of Summer

Ahhhhh.... Summer is here! My first days of vacation have been glorious! This weekend we went up to Springdale. Bran had his first MMA fight at a Maxtap show. He won in the third round with a triangle choke! He did such a great job. However, I'm ready for him to be done with all of this fighting stuff. He makes me nervous.

Yesterday I got to hang out with the girls. It was so much fun. They went swimming... I just watched and talked. I have to get a bathing suit!! I only have my old suit from high school. I can't believe it still fits! But it's old and worn out. My mission today is to find a new one. It's not in the budget though. ha! I'm going to have to be creative. Anyways, after swimming, Meg made a wonderful dinner, and then we watched Glee.

I woke up at 6:30 this morning!! I think I am insane. I met up with a couple of friends, and we walked around our neighborhood. It was a nice way to start the day. Hopefully I will keep it up! It was some great exercise. I need to start the 30 Day Shred again. Jillian knows how to get it done!

I've been thinking about starting graduate school. It would be nice to start early and enjoy the pay increase. I just filled out my FAFSA. If I can't get any financial help, I will just have to wait. One class costs about $700. That would cut way too much money out of our debt snowball. So if I don't get any help, I'll just have to wait until we are debt free. I refuse to take out any more school loans!! I hate those things!! Say a prayer that it will all work out!