Mrs. Gifford's 1st day of School

Wow!  The last couple of weeks have been crazy for me.  I finally got the keys to my classroom about 3 weeks ago, so I had Chris and Grayson help me with the heavy lifting, and my mom and Jamie with some decorating to get the final product!  My room has been a hit at Brinley Middle School, and all of our hard work has actually paid off!  What would I do without my family?  See the video below for a virtual tour.  Since the new teachers got to go back early, I have been waiting for my students to show up since August 12th.  Well, today they did, and I must admit.... I really like them for the most part.  Who knows?  Middle school might just be right where I belong.  They were a little squeamish and I could do with a little less giggling, but I would say that the first day was a success.  I also signed up for my master's program last week.  It's an 18 month program in administration through Touro University.  Hopefully I'll be able to handle changing the world through 7th graders, maintaining the world's smartest dog, and getting my master's degree.  This is definitely going to be a busy year.  

Unfortunately, because of all the work I've been doing, this has left me a lot less time for training.  I really have to make an effort to get my tri training in.  It's 3 weeks away, so I can't let up now!  

Chris has officially started his final year of pharmacy.  He's been interning at Walgreen's the past few weeks and I love not having to watch him study 24/7.  Now I get to watch him strategize for his fantasy football team 24/7.  I don't know what he's going to do when he finishes school!  

In other news, Nadi has continually wowed everyone at obedience school.  She's a star!  This last week she was running through tunnels and jumping hurdles.  The trainers say she's one of the smartest puppies they know.  You should see Chris beaming at class.  We're not supposed to bring anything to class except her leash and treats, so no videos.  I'll try to sneak one in on the last week.

That's all for now!  I'll keep you posted.

Before Picture:

Lake Mead

As the triathlon gets closer, we've been stepping up our training a bit.  Last Saturday we did a "Mock Tri" at Lake Las Vegas.  We swam in the lake (which is a lot harder than swimming in a pool, by the way), we did a 13 mile bike ride and a 3.7 mile run.  It's refreshing to know that we can all actually finish the course.  However, we all would like to improve our times before the actual race on September 12th.  Next Saturday we're going to do the same race to see if we've improved.  

While Kristin, Amy, Grayson, and I were doing the tri, Chris, Eddy, and Jamie were on babysitting duty with Nadi.  Poor Nadi, she hasn't had the best of luck these last couple of days.  After the triathlon, she puked up a bunch of sea shells, rocks, and dirt.  Then today, she got in the way of our running workout and Chris accidently stepped on her....hard!  She's been limping around all day.  Hopefully we don't have to take her to the vet.  We're keeping an eye on her. 

 

In other news, Nadi has started obedience school at Petsmart.  She's been enrolled in the intermediate class, because she knows all of her basic tricks already.  The dogs in the class are a lot older than her and Nadi doesn't exactly have the longest attention span.  There's a german shepherd in the class that can jump through a hula hoop when it's about 4 feet in the air, and catch a ball on his way down.  It's pretty impressive, and here I thought little Nadi's "speak" trick was so cool.  

I start working on August 12th, just about a week away.  I'm starting to get a few lessons together, but I'm just having too much fun this summer!  Last summer, I was bored by August.  My last day at Applebees is on Friday.  Everyday I come home from that job I'm always grateful that I went to college.  It's pretty tough work and I'm not at all impressed by how much people tip.  I waited on a table the other day that had a $90.00 bill and they tipped me $5.00!!  I secretly wanted to go back to the table and explain how they should calculate a tip.  I guess it's the teacher in me.  I'll try to get Nadi on camera doing some sweet tricks this next week. 

 She's growing fast!  She weighs a whole 24 pounds now!