just us

We made the trek to Tucson for thanksgiving and spent time with my family. I took some pics of us just relaxing on the back porch, something we seldom do.

Case and Ila on Thanksgiving

Case and Ila, or "I" as he calls her, had a fun time playing together at my parents on Thanksgiving. My brother, tyler caught some pictures of them playing outside together.

Playing together in Ila's boat

Ila loves playing with Case, so much that she has to have him in a headlock whenever he trys to escape.

boots and the boys who wear them

Case is such a little cowboy. He rides horses, chases chickens and cows, pulls in kitty-cats tails and butts heads with the do-goat (our goat who thinks he is a dog). He has started wearing my boots, and I caught some pretty sweet pictures today!

I am pretty sure we are going to get Case his own pair of boots this year for Christmas!

many things can be hats

The other day we went to walmart and I got a mop and bucket combo. Case thought the mop strainer made a good hat, and he told me all the way home about his "hat"

future owner of McSpadden Ford

McSpaddens' this one is for you!

herding chickens

Case loves animals. Especially his chickens, and he loves to herd them with his herding stick.

Here he is stopping the hen from passing

and chasing the rooster around the yard

Teacher Turn the Key Recognition at 2009 National FFA Convention

This a bit late for posting, but I have been pretty busy.

This summer I was nominated and awarded a National teaching award for 1st - 3rd year Ag teachers, called the Teacher Turn The Key award, or TTTK in short key. TTTK is a scholarship program that allows new teachers to have the opportunity to travel (all expenses paid) to the National Association of Agricultural Educators (NAAE) convention and attend some awesome professional development workshops to become a top notch teacher. In addition to the professional development workshops, I will also attend special sessions only for the award winners throughout my week in NASHVILLE at the GAYLORD OPRYLAND HOTEL (only capitolized to share my excitement) as well as some fun activities during my entire WEEK away from home! I am quite excited if you can't tell!

Besides the point however, I was recently selected by the NAAE to do the "NAAE greetings" during the 5th session at the National FFA Convention in front of about ohh, 1,000 students. No big deal ya know... haha! just kidding! The President of the NAAE spoke about me and what a fantastic job I do as a teacher and then they showed my picture and stuff up on the big screen. Luckily, I had my FFA president take some pictures as well, so here are two for you to see!

Being recognized above, there were 3 of us teachers recognized out of 50 teachers nation-wide

The 3 of us teachers - the lady on the left is from Alabama, the guy in the middle from Missouri and me, from Arizona!

I will be gone in Nashville from November 16 - November 21, so I will take lots of pictures and you can be excited for me!

a red roof is a beautiful roof!

Case has started "smiling" for the camera and he is pretty silly. He also loves to play with eartags and pretends to put them in his ears and everyone who will let him get near their ears!

Case was a pretty good helper when it was warm enough to go outside!

Eric is Mr. Stunt Man himself. You wouldn't catch me standing like this on a sloped roof, but Eric has been on the roof nearly the entire time! Yay Eric!

Beginning the other side (North side)

The finished front of the house

starting off below

We put on our metal roof this weekend with the help of Udon, Kim and Rueben. Honestly I didn't do anything but cook and watch Case, but everyone else has done a fantastic job!

Alamogordo trip

Last weekend, my gramma Vergie got pretty sick so Case and I drove over to see her in Alamogordo which is about a 3 hour drive from our house. We were able to catch up with family and visit over lunch as well. Here are some pictures I caught during the day.

Uncle Rob is quite a talented singer/song writer. My aunt bobbie calls him her own personal George Strait. He is holding his grandaughter Kylee. Both Kylee and Case are facsinated with music, so they were both helping Uncle Rob play the guitar.

Here is a good pic of Gramma Vergie and Case, listening to Uncle Rob play some music

again, Case thinks that guitars are pretty cool. Then again, music runs pretty deep on both sides of my family, it just skipped a generation with me I guess.

Case always thinks he "needs" in the fridge. He will run up to it pulling on the door yelling, "Peezz, need!!!" (aka please need) Here he was helping Gramma Karen get some grapes for a snack.

The cutest picture of all. My grandparents have this tractor sprinkler and Case was persistent in trying to ride it and get it to go. Looks to me like he needs a riding tractor for Christmas.. even my grandma said so.

As I write this blog today, my gramma vergie is still not up to par, and probably won't be getting any better. She needs a lot of prayer, my grandpa needs guidance and my family needs wisdom.