Sanford Central. The entire in laws are in tact, sort of and it is a fun atmosphere.
I ate too many cookies and some of Katie's birthday cake as well. HA!

Anyways, I do believe Casey's mom and I are going to watch Ya Ya Sisterhood the book, NOT! The movie of course, and that makes me nervous. HA! At least no payment for viewing.

Not much else! This world is soon to be over New year's day and a little beegee ------IT'LL BE OVER SOON!

It's been a fun and relaxing time with both families and a little pajama making as well. Until next entry PEACE!

hello all you holiday peeps! Probubly no one is reading these, but I must record the excitement of this home!

To be with my family is amazing. To sit with them and just enjoy, with no worries of ANYTHING! That's a joy!

This trip thus far has put perspective that was so eluded to before we even took off. I feel so relieved and refreshed it's awesome. Thank God for home, for my mom, my dad, my brothers. They are aiding the Lord in this revitalization.

Being in Defiance is just as rewarding and fun. I thank God for Casey and his family is really great!

Did anyone notice it's snowing on Christmas Eve! YES! Thank you Lord Jesus for being born and for saving us from our situation.

until next entry ----peace and ipod

ajfdjkafl;awjfkjsdklfjkasdfjklajwdf;askfkal;wfjk YES YES YES YES YES!!!!! About 18 more minutes of babysitting and we're OUT OF HERE!! WOOOOOO!!!

We had a half day of school today even though every single one of our exams AND grades are all turned in. I can't believe kids came to school!

Anyways, Casey and I's Christmas was very fun and we can't wait to continue the fun next week with the fams! Talk to you all soooooooon!

Justin! Whatta moving entry today! AWESOME!

Mike I'm glad you passed that physics class, how were the rest of your finals!

Can't wait to see you all.....but for now CASEY AND MARY'S CHRISTMAS in Chowchilla got moved up a day! YAHOOOOOOO!!

Pizza, presents, and Mr. Deeds in 10 minutes! (Casey has to make sure Mr. Deeds is okay for his students to watch at school, HA!)

Love you all!

3 out of 5 classes TESTED, GRADED, AVERAGED and RECORDED!!!

Besides reading "My Utmost", and Romans 8:28 (all things work together for the good to those that love God), yesterday at Subway I took on an analysis:

The dude making subs was in a p-mood ----sluffing thru the motions of his wonderous job.

I laughed A LOT on the inside remembering how I was when I worked there--let alone when working at Burger King or Casey's in beegee. Then I thought, OH MAN IF I WORKED AT SUBWAY NOW, I would flat out love it. No pressure, no disciplining kids, yadda yadda misconstrued whining.

But really, what if my next job is even harder than teaching (and no summers off!??!) b/c the Lord wills it and I need it for His kingdom. Will I say, "oh man teaching was so much better and I would love to be a teacher instead of this ".........fill in the blank.....job".

Whatever to these thoughts b/c they are for wimps. God has been weeding my excuses out, and contentment follows EVERY time He gets done with me. I love the Lord! YAHOO!

p.s. matt ---this was a very funny quote from your blog today: "trim them up, care for them as if they were my own child". You are certainly one with your sideburns. A special relationship in deed. One that I am saddened not to have as well. But of course not. How weird are you men with faces like that?

Monday. Gross. And ugh to WORKING! NO MORE OF THIS LORD! Yet, at least this evening I got to spend time with the Savior. I'll go back to that Refuge after some of this blog vent.

Today Casey got 4 HUGE boxes in a UPS delivery and my curiousity is crazy! He wrapped them all and I have been guessing secretly. NO PEEKING! of course. right.

Our Christmas is going to be this Friday afternoon! YES! Then to san fran saturday (to stay overnight) to begin all that excitement we all know about.

Matt and Tracey happy travels. Dad---don't forget it's SUNDAY that you pick us up --3:45 pm YOUR TIME :) I miss you all! It will be great to see you all!

Wrapping the presents I have for you is #2 on my list to do after soaking in your smiles, convo, and hugs.

Justin that crossbows and catapult coolness was found on a "vintage board game" information page. The only other thing I could find on it was on ebay for purchase. The bid was going for $170 and climbing! OUT OF CONTROL! Worth it though. ---------Or I'd rather write the company and ask them to come back out with it.

Dad! You peep! You don't know what peep means!? Just kidding, it's short for people, or friends. Mom---as you can see I'm right there with ya on MONDAY BLAHS! Mike good to see your updates ---oh and, don't ever write about Star Trek again! DISGUSTING!

Guess what game this is family!! I wish someone still owned that!

And what about this guy! (I'm just figuring out blogs with pictures:)

Has anyone been catching all the great Christmas cartoons on tons of channels?!?

Last night I saw Charlie Brown, as well as A Truly Smurfy Christmas (well it should be called that)

Then tonight I saw Charlie Brown again, plus a Scooby Doo Christmas cartoon.

The Smurf one was the best b/c Gargamel was almost poofing up the Smurf village but the Smurf song "Goodness is better than badness" song turned all the evil into not evil.

Guess how long it took me to remember Smurfette's name.......forever and after 20 Daffney name callings. But she's from SCOOBY! HA!

The best line from Papa Smurf: "Come on Smurfs, sing your smurf out!"

Yes dad, I would like to put my jpg or gif or something on your web saver thing. I don't have it in jpg form, so I will just attach it to an email to you in Microsoft Word. But don't go telling everyone what it is--b/c it won't be as fun to post :)

Anyways, justin that was a good run down of what to do with a Year in Review.

Tracey I too had a hard time remembering movies of the year. I tried to write my fav music and movies the other night with my Year in Review and struggled but here's some dorky ideas: Mons. Inc :), Kate and Leopold, Ghostworld, not the Four Feathers, not Harry Potter, not Star wars, for sure yes to Monte Cristo, Monsoon wedding (WAY YES!), for some reason A Walk to Remember (Switchfoot flat out made that the movie it tried to be) lakfjkdawjfejwoiewo;ewifje;iew

Casey and I got roped into doing the 35 second clock (Casey)_and the entire scoreboard (Mary) tonight. Three games: frosh, jv, and varsity. I found out 3rd period today and threw a complete hissy fit inside! Seriously! So then I showed A Christmas Story the rest of the day instead of reviewing for exams.

But tonight went quick and it went well. I miss playing bball and I knew a lot more about the running that scoreboard and all the rules than I thought.

Casey's job was more intense b/c changes of possesion happening every 5 seconds. Thus, the hissy fit earlier was a major waste of whining.

Dad --that's hilarious you keep buying things people already bought.

Matt I'm glad your work is over! NOW SLEEEEEEeeeeeep!

Good to hear from you mom! ----oh mikey I've been enjoying your words of length as well!

NOW CASEY (that's a whole other blogspot) He has recently joined the Anti-Blog Militia. Yeah, it's weird how he "says" he wants to go to Cabela's over break but really there's some sort of militia meeting that I uncovered in a little undercover CIA work this week.

Justin you know I'm into your 175 mix ---it's always good to mingle into an unknown music venture of Justin's taste in music.

bye bye now-----I'll be back sunday evening when I wake up! HAAHHAHAHHAHHA!p.s. it has been raining alllllll day and night --I LIKE IT! NEXT: OHIO SNOW :)

last one....so tiring.....

hmm

picture

some hilarious attempts to load a picture.......

hi! Someone tried to break into our house and our duplex neighbor's house!

Thank God the next house over heard the guy jumping over our high fence and making noise. She called the police and they're on it. The fog is absolutely coooooool but dangerous with thickness from 6 pm till 11 am the next day.

Today we actually had a 1 hour delay --but teachers are expected to come in anyways and teach the "in town" kids who walk on over. RIDICULOUS! We didn't get in trouble for sleeping in though. Can you believe that was the first fog delay in like 10 years or something?

That made for a weird, but well rested sleeping in day.

Justin I FINISHED MY YEAR IN REVIEW! It's like 6 paragraphs. What do we do, you're in charge of that idea right ---whatever ---I'm just looking forward to reading other peoples so I hope they do them too.

Who can help me insert a picture on my blog? I know it'll be template time, but is the technique individualized to each "webpage setting-template". Like would Tracey's Fruit Page have different directions than dad's green page?

Talk to you all sooooooooooooon! NEXT WEEKEND YES!!!!!!!

dad i too want to see your pictoral fun from today (Tuesday)

Trace-an enjoyable kid excerpt as normal. According to Casey I do believe I should have had vocal chord surgury years ago.

It's hilarious b/c the other gym teacher is flat out LOUD, like you're right next to her and it's an explosive amount of volume. "Um...we're right next to you...Michelle?" Thus, Casey calls me Michelle voice. I'm sure Joan or whoever can relate to this considering all those neighborhood days of Mary being heard all the way in mom's nap room. HAJ!

SO PUMPED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This week is going good. God has worked thru some VERY unorganized teaching methods with me. I HAVE SYSTEM NOW! YAHOOO!!! (non-teachers---A SYSTEM means GOOoooooooooD!! Do the same thing every week.....a routine.....okay enough boring on that)

bye bye for now--it's time to clean our very sloppy apartment. ----kookoo for Cocoa puffs just came to my giddyness.

AND JUSTIN! Sacagaweaingly keep blessing the Lord at all times. Continually quadrupally be in the mouth.....DOES anyone from Colorado or Justin know where the Sacagawea audio tape went!?

This morning Mary ACTUALLY got up early! 10 minutes early at 7 A.M. It was so weird and felt great with just that little extra time.

You wouldn't know it but I pretend to get up every morning to run! HA! NEVER DO!

But oh my, one time at Evergreen I actually did go running at 6:30 A.M. It was refreshing, awesome, fun. Then a 1/2 mile later, I found out the Harroun Park right by my apartment, near Flower Hospital, was flooded from the spring rains.

Nah, it's not that deep, my eyes tell me. Two steps later it's 3 feet deep and getting deeper. I fell to neck level, with a huge yellow sweatshirt now drenched. With it FREEZING and early spring! LAUGHING hysterically all the 1/2 mile jog home. Yet, delirious with sleep brain and drenching.

To top it all off, my professional career took a dive as I was late 18 minutes the next morning being woken up by the secretary: "Mary, ...Mary are you coming in today?"---DROP THE PHONE AND RUN! ARGH! STUPID! --all b/c I was so tired from getting up early.

Moral of the story: don't get up early! HA!

Speaking of Evergreen, some of my old buddies called me last night and it was an uplifting time. I miss those peeps. Teaching and coaching there was so easy, settled, and comfortable after 2 years what else could it be.

I got the notion of "why would I leave that?" ----this is so MUCH work starting over and being crazy headed every day with lessons. But alas, it is worth it. Being out here with so much opportunity and newness, not to mention just living it up with Casey! AWESOME!

P.s. I'm going rock climbing this Friday at Yosemite (indoor rock climbing) Fitness center. Then in Feb. we hope to go snowboarding at Yosemite, the Sierra Mts.

It was great growing up in Ohio and I miss my family a lot. Yet, I have absolutely NO inclination to live there ever again :) Visiting of course, live there? Not unless God wants it :)

GUESS WHAT! Casey and I might get a very, very, very cute St. Bernard puppy from Coach English at Evergreen (I was his assistant last year..) Anyways, word has it that his two amazingly cute St. Bernards had 9 puppies last week, and they'll be ready to give away Dec. 20th.

Hmm....who knows, A LOT OF RESPONSIBILITY with that, and dog hair, but they are so supposedly layed back....WE'LL SEE ! --byebye for now

Justin! Awesome picture of that snowman! Hope they still have it up when we get there :)

Plus, Justin, I'm into that Year in Review thing. I'll just turn my essay on moving out here into that, and all :)

Mary's Top Ten Bands of All Time!
(not really in order and subject to change depending on mood & new groups :)

1. Cranberries
2. Equation
3. Cure
4. Juliana Theory
5. Larue
6. Cush
7. Koufax
8. No Doubt
9. Amy Grant
10. Switchfoot

YES! FRIDAY AFTERNOON!

Today my English I classes have been watching Romeo and Juliet, the Leonardo Dicaprio one. After a 5 week unit on all that and.........pfewey!! It feels good to relax with that!

FOOOOD is on my mind! Happy weekend everyone! 2 weeks till Christmas begins for Casey and I! YAH!!!

This week has gone oddly fast. One of those, "Oh it's Monday, and I feel like it should be Friday", then in reality it's Tuesday or something.

Casey and I hit a brick wall with reintroducing ourselves to "work". As I'm sure we all have after a nice little Thanksgiving :)

9 1/2 days of school for us! WOOO!! Then it's Ohio time!

What else about my life right now, that's not too boring?-----......

We're going to the mountains to see what their fall/winter is like this weekend. God is blessing us with paying off bills. God is redirecting my attitude about these kids and teaching: all good.

Grilled cheese and tomatoe soup bye bye now!

WOW! FUN, fun, fun, in Vegas!

First of all MOM I'M SO PUMPED FOR YOUR joining of the blog. Also, it was very fun to read everyone's after being out of it for the holiday. I missed you bros and rents!

Anyways, Casey and I finally made it home after a short snail movement of 10 hours!!!!! It would normally take 6 ish. Oh well, it went fast and was fun enough.

I'll give a brief run down here, and highlight the main things, b/c I have been hogging the computer from someone who actually will do work on it.

Casey and I got there Wednesday night and checked into our really cool temporary apartment. It was a one bedroom, bath, full kitchen and living room: all compliments of the Sanford time share. AWESOME!

We went to the grocery store soon there after amidst some light Vegas traffic and glitz. Among the grand purchases: a ham, water, potatoes, marshemellows, brown sugar :), clear tape and garbage bags.

Excellent enough, in the last hour of driving Casey needed fresh air, and the window threw a hissy fit. During it's tantrum it decided to stick half way down with a grinding noise. JUST LIKE AT THE WEDDING! We taped it up and went on our merry holiday of fun w/ only some stress!

Matt and Tracey got there Thursday around 3 pm and we ate a very adult yum Thanksgiving. Some unwinding and nappish, we then headed out to walk the entire strip! Lotsa in and out, up and down, yah, go, and fun to explore.

At New York, New York (casino) we went to ESPN zone and played a huge shoot out arcade game (bball) fun, and lots of work--out of shape much mary! Then we played a mini-bowling game where you just drop it and it whips down the lane. VERY fun! Casey got like 10 strikes, for a quadruple turkey or something count.

Friday we went hiking at Red Rock Canyon! Very cool and rock climbing inspiration! We should have went to Hoover dam but we were exhausted and that showed as we slept the early evening away. P.s. there was a 9 story fake rock to climb at the GameWorks, but the line got too huge for Tracey and Mary to go for! SADNESS!! Next time though.

That night we went back to ESPN for more major challenges on big bball, football throwing, smaller bball, arcade kayaking, and arcade jet skiing 4 player. HA! It was $25 bucks for like 125 points. Each game being like 5-15 each depending on extravagance.

Saturday we slept and slept and slept, plus it was raining gross, foiling Tracey and I's plan to workout and lay out.

Saturday afternoon we went to Bonanza, an awesome and huge (junk) Vegas gift shop. Casey and I got tons of used casino cards, as well as some cool dice. Not much was bought as far as slop, just food, some slot machines and arcade :)

To end our time with Matt and Tracey Saturday night (they left at 10 pm to beat traffic of Sunday), we went to Bally's buffet! SO GOOOOOOOOD!!! We had awesome steak, chicken, SHRIMP!, sides, ceasar salads, ice cream, cake....all of it times 4 helpings for 17.95 each.

But before that, Tracey and I went up with Casey on the space needle, called the Stratosphere. Only Tracey and I rode the ride that is just like "Power tower" at Cedar point. They sit you openly on latched chairs, so you can free hang on top of the world while they thrust you up 300 feet more than the 100 stories you're already up! CRAZY!

Freaky! b/c the shocks were being checked on the ride after Tracey and I had already been sitting. All the other waiting people were teasing us that it's broken and we'll fly off the top, but we were busy choking our stomachs back down, very cooly I might add! HA!

Overall the neatest, nice Casino was the Venetian (all Italian with gandalas in a moat), the Paris was really cool with a fake blue sky ceiling. The Bellagio had awesome water fountains that dance with classical music every 15 minutes.

The Sahara gave us the most luck with the ever popular "Wheel of Fortune" slot machines. Casey and I won 15 bucks twice but lost it in all the excitement of winning it! New York, New York was really neat inside with a complete reproduction of New York streets, even a smoking sewer hole ---and a ninja turtle coming out of it (jk on the turtle :)

I'm done for now ---Talk to you all soon!