LPJ 2010-2011 ♥

Tuesday was the first day of school, and I was so excited to begin my second year of teaching. I am no longer labeled a "Rookie," and I have taught all of these concepts before. This alone makes everything drastically easier. I am in the same classroom as last year, thank goodness. I changed some of my decorations, and I LOVE my classroom even more this year. I am teaching five classes, 3 PAP Algebra and 2 8th grade math classes. My students have been great for two days, it is a nice "honeymoon" period :)

First Day of School 2010

 

A co-worker and friend, Stephanie Davis, went to the zoo during the summer. She took close up photos of the zebras to be able to create this for my classroom! Isin't it adorable? I LOVE IT! Thanks Steph!

I absolutely love my career. I love the kids, and making a difference in their lives. I work with the most phenomenal people. I am so blessed to have such great friends at work. I definitely picked the perfect profession for me.

I also took on CHEERLEADING this year. I LOVE it. The team looks amazing, and I am so proud of them. It will be difficult spending so much time away from Brandon with practice and games, but I know it is nothing we cannot handle. The other cheer sponsor is awesome, and it is nice to have two of us to take care of all the responsibility.

I am so excited for this amazing school year!

ANNIVERSARY CRUISE

Brandon and I will be married for 1 year on August 1st, 2010. So, we decided we wanted to go on a big vacation to celebrate. The opportunity came up to go on a cruise with his sister Lacey and her brand new husband Casey. It was actually their honeymoon :) We are all best friends so we had a BLAST!

Brandon, Me, Lacey, and Casey

Our ship was the Carnival Ecstasy, and it was a 5 day cruise to Progreso and Cozumel, Mexico. The first day on the boat we figured out the layout of the ship, checked out our room, and got ready for dinner.

We were assigned a dinner table with two other families. One family was from Oklahoma, and the other was from North Texas. We really enjoyed the family from Oklahoma. They had two boys that were best friends and seniors in high school. Caden and Ryan introduced us to the amazing grilled ham and cheese sandwiches on the 24 hr menu. We hung out with them at karaoke a couple times. The meals at the formal dinners were interesting, but great. Brandon was the one who was adventurous and tried most anything. I ate steak, shrimp, and amazing molten chocolate cake. Brandon had salmon, veal, lamb, and tons of other fantastic foods. 

 

Our table at dinner :)

Caden, Lacey, Amazing Waiter Werner, and Ryan

Brandon and I before the Captain's Dinner

Lacey and Casey before the Captain's Dinner

Our first stop was Progreso, Mexico. We had bought an excursion to drive jeeps and see the Mayan Ruins, but we read the time wrong on the tickets. So, we missed it, and had to go on a different one. We went to a beach resort and had so much fun. We were happy with our mistake :) Lacey and I got massages, Casey and Brandon drank DOS XX from their waiter Fernando, who they tipped very well. He gave them phenomenal service the entire time we were there. Brandon met a couple from Wichita Falls, TX. Reed and Nikki also hung out with us throughout the trip.

Brandon and I in Progreso, Mexico

Brandon, Casey, Fernando, and Reed

Lacey and I

The following day we went to Cozumel, Mexico. We decided to swim with dolphins on this day. There was a mom dolphin named Aphrodite, and her baby Elena. I have always been crazy about dolphins. This was by far my favorite part of the cruise. We got to swim with them, hug them, kiss them, and touch them.

Kissing Aphrodite :)

Kisses

Swimming with Aphrodite

This experience was absolutely amazing. I will definitely do it again!

Lacey and I loved getting dressed up for dinner. We went to Karaoke almost every night, and it was quite funny to watch these people. Some people were great, while others certainly were not. We watched two different comedians in the 5 days. We enjoyed the pool and waterslides.

It was an awesome cruise, and a great way to celebrate a year of marriage.

Here are a couple more pictures from our cruise!