2007 in review

2007 sports the second highest number of posts in the history of this blog, but just in case you didn't get enough, i thought i'd share my reflections on the highlights of 2007.

--in early january ross and i took our newly acquired mountain bikes up to austin and went biking at town lake with todd. biking is an awesome activity we got involved in this year. like most fun things, we never get to do it enough, but now that ross doesn't have class on saturdays and the weather is great, we hope to get a lot of biking done in 2008 as well.

--on march 3, 2007 ross and i got married! (duh). i was very pleased with how our wedding went and i thought it was super fun. i do wish i could go back and relax for about 2wks before our wedding so that i could have enjoyed it even more...the stress of getting everything for the wedding together, working long hours at work, looking for a new job, and moving really made the first few months of 2007 a blur. after our wedding, ross and i enjoyed a trip to montego bay, jamaica. i had a blast, but i didn't realize how awesome it was until we got back. whenever i look at pictures and remember the good times, i wish we could go back! and maybe we will? who knows what 2008 holds?

--after we moved to austin in march, we enjoyed the outdoors! we went camping at pace bend with daniel & eveyln, we bought a hobie 14 sailboat and took it out on lake travis, and tried to take it out at corpus christi but had difficulties with the weather. we went fishing on lake travis with charles and also bought patio furniture to enjoy quiet evenings outside. we then bought another sailboat and took it out often for sunsets on lake travis. our outdoor adventures were somewhat more limited than we would have liked as this summer in austin we experienced lots of rain and flooding that was kinda crazy!! we look forward to more camping and sailing in 2008. in fact, ross will spend the first weekend of 2008 deep sea fishing with charles.

--this year was also full of visits from family and friends! ross' parents were our first visitors, followed shortly by my mom and rachel. the rest of my family also made it down, along with lots of visits from friends. jared and rachel came and spent an entire week with us this august. ross and i enjoyed hosting them, playing lots of games and showing them around austin, including a visit to the capitol and a kayaking trip on town lake. we are going to enjoy new years day with m&r and m&b, and also look forward to lots of visits at our new home from friends and family in 2008.

--this summer i was a stay at home wife! for the most part i found stuff to do. i was able to take a trip up to portland and spend some time with some special friends up there. i helped out at our church's vbs. i went to two math teacher conferences, and for 6 weeks i went to teacher certification classes and taught 7th grade math at summer school. also ross and i spent a lot of time together, including the time he took me downtown to a keith urban concert and many evenings getting caught up on the television show House. as i am now a teacher, i will also enjoy having the summer of 2008 off work and i am looking forward to all that this summer will hold. also, we are hoping 2008 will include House, provided this strike ends at some point.

--this fall was filled with...school. i'm in my first year of teaching and i have been putting in some serious time trying to be as prepared as possible to teach these little people. also, ross is in the middle of getting his masters degree in computer science, and this took up his monday nights and saturdays all fall. this spring his classes will be in the evenings and i am learning how to spend less time on my preparations, so we are looking forward to more time together in 2008!

--this fall we also had tickets with my family to the a&m football games. while it wasn't the greatest football season ever, we loved going and hanging out with my family. we also saw some great football games, including a win over texas.

--near the end of 2007 we also got peyton! she is an awesome dog and we really enjoy having her around. she makes us laugh just about every day. today i was carrying blankets through the house to wash them, and she decided she needed to do the same. she ran and found her blanket and began carrying it around all through the house and then proceeded to run around and around the backyard, blanket in tow. we look forward to more fun times with peyton (and minnie!) in 2008.

--on november 12th we purchased our first house! we absolutely love it and are fully moved out of our old place, and fairly moved into our new place. tomorrow our pre-cut shed from lowes arrives, and ross (and me sorta) will have the pleasure of putting it together. we have a lot of work to do, but we are looking forward to enjoying our house in 2008.

2007 was a great year. we will obviously always remember it as the year we got married, and also the year we bought our first house. i can't wait to see the exciting memories we will have of 2008. happy new year!

thats what she said

whoop! i'm now officially on christmas break, as of 2pm today. unfortunately i'll be up taking a certification exam by 7:30am in the morning. ross is also off for the next 2 weeks with me, so we hope to get some good quality time in. this afternoon we took the dog and walked down to one of our neighborhood parks to shoot some hoops. there were lots of people there and everyone wanted to pet peyton and some kiddos asked us to play knockout with them. now ross and his friend mike are out buying christmas presents for their wives, as good husbands should do on dec 21st. i hope they are not too overwhelmed by the mall. i'm really bad about keeping secrets from ross, but i think so far i have him bewildered as to what i got him for christmas, and i'm trying to make it through the next few days without him discovering or guessing it.

several of my students brought me teacher christmas presents and cards. 3 girls went in together to buy me a tin of cookies, which was super sweet, but the "best teacher" bear was probably my favorite. yesterday i gave my students a 20 question survey to see how the semester went. i was relieved to see most of my kids say that i was "really nice" and "fair". when asked what one thing they would change for next semester, i was surprised to see about half the kids put either the desks or new decorations. i told them today that i would consider these changes- they are not too hard to change! their least favorite thing about my class was overwhelmingly not enough chances to talk, homework, and too much work. with the exception of possibly a little more talking, i don't think these are going anywhere!

here's some of MY faves:
What do you like the most about this math class?
mrs. hytnen
nothing
well, the teacher is cool
sometimes she doesnt give us homework
the group activities and of course ms. hytnen
the activities we do
projects
how she helps us understand
i like most is my teacher
it is so fun
everything
its my last class almost
we learn new things
it helps your brain

What do you like the most about Mrs. Hytnen?
she gets mean and she's nice when she's nice
her personality
she's kinda nice
she is cool!!!
she's kinda fun
very nice
she helps me get good grades
everything
she's cool (sort of)
she's happy
she is nice and she know what she's talking about when she teaches us
she understands when i have a problem
her happy attitude
that she is a fun teacher that can crack jokes! (2 stars)
she's thoughtfull and generouse
how she's patient with the class and hardly ever yells
she is a good teacher
she's fun to talk with
her jokes
she's nice...sort of :)
she is funny
she is nice, cool, helpful, and i guess fair
she likes football and gives good explanation
nice you are ok
thumbs up and when we talk about our weekends
everything
that she is smart
i think she my favorite
she talks about her family
that she respects me
that she is nice and she teach so so good
well, i know one thing, she is better than ms. (other teacher's name)

What would you like to see Mrs. Hytnen do differently next semester?
i don't know
nothing
wher her contacts more
be cooler with us
change lesson to fun
nothin much
not as much work
more group activities and less presure
give us really challenging work
i think she needs to do the same next semestre
get a little nicer
be more specific
i like to see more math games
go outside to see math problems
be more strick, give more work
yes a little
i don't know what do you think?
make hard, but not to hard problems
more projects
teach a little bit hearder stuff
i would like her to give us candy when we make an A
the way she teaches
teach us new stuff like algebra
funner stuff
more chalengly stuff
i will like her to teach us more

and so i shall. teach them more. but i will enjoy these 2 weeks first!

its about time

on saturday, ross took his final final of this semester of grad school, and we are both elated! he has been going to class on saturdays from 9am-2pm and also on monday nights. and we missed our weekends. now we can actually do things we enjoy such as sailing, biking, sleeping in, playing playstation, etc. sadly i have a UIL competition all day this saturday, beginning at 6.30am (go math team!!), and a certification test the following saturday beginning at 7.30am. But seriously, we will soon be enjoying unhindered weekends.

unhindered weekends like this one. ross had a good friend over friday night and grilled out fajitas. they watched the spurs and played video games and we put up our christmas tree. saturday ross and i got more of our stuff moved into the house, and then some friends of his came into town from seattle. ross and carlos played chess practically non-stop all weekend, and we all enjoyed a most relaxing time. and so we had our first overnight guests. tomorrow night we are hosting our first party in the new home, and more overnight guests are due shortly.

and finally, what you've all been dying to see: pictures of our new house! we still have a lot of work to do, but here's a peek.

you can see pics here as well: