The Last Red Robin Experience...for a while!

Here is the gang at Red Robin. Usually we only go on payday but we also like to get together before I leave for the summer. Man, I love Red Robin....and all of these people in these pictures...I love them too. I am so lucky to have such amazing friends. I always have a hard time leaving them behind for the summer. It is comforting to know that they will all be around when I get back in August, though!

Marla and I got back from Vegas(you will have to excuse Marla's serious look in the picture of her, Sarah and I.( Sarah's in the green shirt!) I think Marla had just partied too much in Vegas and just couldn't be as exciting tonight!)

Las Vegas was fun. I have been a few times and always manage to have a good time. We ate lots of good food, saw the strip, watched the Beligio fountains, saw the lions at MGM Grand, saw the white tiger at the Mirage, and saw Fremont Street. I was disappointed to leave Vegas again without my Elvis sunglasses...I guess I am just not meant to have them. I was also able to visit The Bodies Exhibition. It was interesting to me...of course I loved to see the cadavers in my Anatomy class and I completely understood why Marla wasn't so interested to learn about the body via dead bodies, but it was interesting to me. I learned a lot. I really wanted to be able to bus my students down to Vegas to see it too. It was awesome.

Well, I best get some sleep before driving to Kimball, Nebraska tomorrow. Bring on the road trip! If I don't have a chance to blog, the next time will be from Wisconsin. I am excited. Have a great few days...and enjoy each moment, okay? I just think I need to remind myself and other people to cherish their time here! Later, A

Summer, Here I come! :) Oh yeah...and Vegas too!

Well, the kids made it! A picture of some of our fine graduates from Independence High in Provo, Utah. I love graduation night and really look forward to it every year. Seeing them on there big day is a very big deal. I love it!

The next day we had yearbook signing. It is always a fun occasion too. One kid was even brave enough to write in my yearbook that I was a "Kickass Teacher!" I like that they can be honest with me and feel comfortable with me, that means I am doing my job. Yearbook signing was bitter sweet this year because my friend, Michelle, is not going to teach at IHS anymore. She is having a baby boy in August and is going to be a mom(The other picture is of her and I). I am way excited for her, but will miss her a lot. I guess in life we have to always have goodbyes along with our hellos. Makes life interesting.

I am about to start my drive to Las Vegas to pick up my friend, Marla. We are going to spend a few days in Vegas and see the sights. I am not excited about the drive but I am sure Marla and I will have a blast together in Vegas! We are staying at the Tropicana in a Garden Room. Sounds exotic...we figured we won't be seeing too much of the room so we got the best deal. I love my road trips with Marla and hanging out in Vegas will be fun. All I know is that I have to find the Elvis sunglasses I didn't buy the last time I was in Vegas.

I better get on the road so Marla doesn't have to be stranded at the airport. Hopefully, I will be able to blog here and there along the trip. So, keep checking in! You all rock...you my loyal readers that is! :)

Viva Las Vegas.
Koehne Out!

So Long and No Blog!

Well, I have been a blogger slacker the past few weeks. I am sure there is much more to write about than I will ever remember, so I apologize in advance.

Two weekends ago, I was able to go to Manilla with the Bills family(they are my adopted family...lived in Wausau, WI and now live in Sandy, Utah). Sarah directed the high school play there and did a fabulous job. Good stuff. "Into the Woods" was very enjoyable. I give it a 10.

I love to see Sarah's little family as her kids grow. You can see the pictures of them above. The blurry one is one of my favorites of Danny(Sarah's youngest girl). She was really funny because at first she pretended we were all strangers and was clingy to Sarah, but the second day she warmed up and kept pointing at me and saying: "You funny!" Way cute! The other one is of the three other munchkins making farting noises with their Flarp. That is probably trademarked by the way which is kinda sad to me. They thought it was hilarious. After a while, it was not so funny to me anymore! I like those kids though...and man, are the growing way fast!

This past week has been pretty busy at school. Trying to get all the stuff done we need to is always an adventure. My kids have been really good, even though I know it is hard for them to remain focused so near the end. Last week was Senior Banquet. Basically, this is a dinner for each of our Seniors and two of their guests. The school staff serves them dinner and then we highlight each Senior via a tribute. I was assigned James. He is a way cool kids who has overcome a lot in order to graduate. He and I have a special bond because of our love of poetry and especially the writing of poetry. He has emailed me a lot of his stuff so I can help him make it better. That has been a real honor! I will miss him. As you can tell, the top picture is of me reading James' tribute. I always get nervous up in front of the crowd, but I always survive. I am very excited for tomorrow because it is graduation. I really think that graduation is the highlight of the whole year. It is a time where we get to really concentrate on all of the positives of the year! I love it. To see these kids succeed is so cool. They really become my own kids as they grow and learn the four years at IHS. I am lucky to be a part of it all!

Tomorrow is our official last day of class. We only have a half day, which is good because students are very squirrely the last day. Thursday is yearbook signing day and then Friday is teacher checkout. It all seems very weird to be happening...I feel as if the year went lighting fast. Crazy.

I am excited for the break, though. I will be in Vegas a week from now with my friend, Marla. She is flying out to drive back to Wisconsin with me. It has been a few years since our last trip together. It is always fun to have Marla with me. It goes so much faster and is much more entertaining. I talked with her tonight and she reminded me that we always meet interesting people, which is one of the main highlights of our trips. I look forward to it all. It was funny that flying into Vegas rather than Salt Lake was like almost a 300 dollar difference. It just seemed logical to pick her up there. She has never been and is excited to see the place. It will be a good time.

Well, I better get myself to bed. I am glad tomorrow is the last time I have to wake up and deal with the stress of the job for a while. I like my summers.

Well, have a great day and until later,
Cheers,
Alice

Seven Short Days!

Well, another weekend has come and gone. Crazy how time is flying. I am always writing something about how times flies in my journal...so I guess there is transfer to my blogging. This week had some great weather. I was glad to get out and enjoy it, as I always seem to do. This week I did ride the bike a bit but I also got to go frisbee golfing with my friend, Kristi. As you can see by the photos it is an excellent golf course here in Provo. I will miss it when I go back to Wisconsin for the summer. It is a shame that Rhinelander does not have a course. I have to drive to Wausau to play and it is kinda a small course with lots of water hazards. I guess I will have to get down to Madison to see my sister so I can use the course down there. I enjoy going with my brother- in-law.
I think I am a little excited to be going home in a few short weeks, even though I do have a hard time adjusting to the transition. I already find myself being a little short with people in my circle. That is probably because I know I will miss them so I try go push away a bit emotionally. Not necessarily the healthiest way to deal, I will work on not doing that the next few weeks.

I got to go to Manilla, Utah and see my friend, Sarah, direct a play. It was "Into the Woods" and it was really good. It made me think back to high school when Sarah played Rapunzel. Good times. Where has the time gone. I sometimes feel like it was just yesterday that I was that nerdy kid who played in the orchestra! It was fun to spend time with the Bills and to sleep in the van both ways! I love those kind of weekends.

Last night, I finally got to see Spiderman 3. I was amazed at how much action they stuffed into one movie. I think they could have divided it and actually had a Spiderman 4, but it was real good. We did have some little girls sitting in front of us that would not shut up. I tried to Shhhhh them but it didn't work. Luckily, I did not get put in jail for hitting them. I only wanted to hit them and just dealt with it.

I am kinda tired right now. I guess it is a normal thing to be tired at 10. Last night I did not go to bed until 3am because I was distracted by a great documentary about ice cream. I like to fill my brain with useless information. One of my students asked this week why you would want to know so much stuff that really doesn't "matter." I took it as a teaching moment and asked him why he thought knowledge was a bad thing. He didn't have a real good answer. It kinda makes me sad that kids think that knowing stuff makes you "nerdy." I am glad that as I have gotten older(and wiser, of course!) I have realized how awesome it is to know things. I am always amazed at the things my friends know. It is cool to have a variety of friends who are passionate about a variety of things. It is good because they teach me things that I wouldn't otherwise have known because I wouldn't have searched for them! I am glad that we have each other to teach and learn from! I am glad we do not have to make this journey alone!

I talked to my mother twice today. She is excited to have me home in a few weeks too. I think she has a list of projects for me to do, but that is fine with me. I really think that I should make myself a schedule for each day because I often lose my time. I do know I want to write a lot this summer. In fact, I need to get my novel up and running again. Some of you know that I had it pretty much written and then lost my flash drive. Yes, a big lesson was learned: back up your files! I also want to write more poetry. So, I should set lots of time aside for writing. I also want to get my Phys. Ed curriculum a little cleaned up(I will get new textbooks for next year, and I am way excited for that!) so there should be time for that each day. And of course, I want to be riding my bike lots and walking lots. I think I will make a schedule! Hopefully, I will keep it too! :)

Well, not much else going on here. Tomorrow, I do not have students. Lots of meetings but no students. I am not sure which I would rather have, probably students. Meetings put me to sleep.

Only 7 days left with kids. I best be enjoying them while I can!

Take care and enjoy the time, for it passes quickly! :)

Lazy Saturday, Gloomy Saturday. Where did the Sun Go?

So, here are tulips again. Am I obsessed?....maybe!
The Spring type weather really helped the pinkish ones to blossom well. I am very proud of my little tulips you can tell. The funny thing is that I really didn't do much to make this process happen. I am pretty sure small children can dig shallow holes in the ground and then bury something in that hole. That is pretty much how simple it is to grow tulips, but they make me so very happy. Every time I drive in my driveway, I get a little smile thanks to these guys.

As the school days wind down (we have 12 left, but who is counting?), I think I am remembering what happens at school less and less. I really have enjoyed my students this past week. They are very funny. I really surprised one of them when I kicked him out of advisory class. He was just being a pill and trying to be funny but was kinda being disrespectful to me at the same time. Finally, I just told him to leave because he couldn't be respectful. The surprise in his eyes was pretty funny. Sometimes I think my students forget that I am their teacher and start to treat me more like a buddy. Which is okay and kinda flattering, but I cannot allow them to take that too far. I am still the teacher and need to be respected. But we do have a fun time together.

I have been very happy because it has been nice enough to take them outside lately. Three days we were able to play Ultimate Frisbee behind the school in the nice sunshine. I like that. I tried to play with my girls PE class a little one day, but it hurt my ankle a bit. I am getting tired of being on the DL, I really hope it gets good enough to run on by June! :)

I really wish I would carry around a little notebook to write down all the funny things that happen at school. Maybe Monday that will be a new thing. I need to remember the crazy things my students say and do. I sure do enjoy them. I guess I could even say I will miss them this summer but don't tell anybody. One of our seniors was talking with me the other day and asked me how long I was going to be at Independence. I told her about 3:30. She didn't think that was very funny and she was serious. Maybe it is hard for these kids to think that people really do stay at jobs for long periods of time, or maybe she was just curious as to why I would want to stay with the "troubled" ones so long. I really don't have an answer to how long I will stay at Independence, but I do know that I stay with the "troubled" ones because I know they are not failures like a lot of people may say they are. I know that they can succeed at whatever they want to do in life. I don't know how to motivate them to do great things, but I do know I can motivate them to succeed in my classroom, and that is what keeps me around! I love those kids.

Well, I better change the subject before I make my computer crash because they really don't work well under water. I hate to be sappy.

Last night, I took my adopted little brother to an arena football game. It was so much fun. Unfortunately, the Utah Blaze lost because the other team scored with 20 seconds left in the game. Dang it! It was a great game though. Very close, obviously. Josh (the little bro) really had a good time. It is fun to see kids really get excited about things. He brought my attention to so many things I may not have noticed had he not been there. I was glad to give him the experience. We even got to go on the field afterward and get an autograph from the Blaze's best wide receiver. That was even way cool for this kid! The turf was way cool. Very spongy. I really am curious as to how they store the floors for the different events, seeing the Energy Solution Center caters to basketball, football, and concerts. It also can be an ice rink, as it was during the Olympics. Way interesting stuff!

Today I am lacking motivation. I really should be grading some health assignments and I should be a better roommate and clean the floors. I am a slacker in both categories. So, here is to me getting motivation and to everybody having a great Saturday. Later, A

Do NOT eat Moldy Bread!!!

Well, It is half way through the week. I am tired. Usually, during the year, I feel this tired on Fridays. Today is just a special day I guess. My students were actually hilarious today and the day seemed to go really smooth. I like days like that. They are funny, even if they are a little hyper with the end being so near. It always helps for me to have a good sense of humor with them to keep them on their toes. The only thing I can remember from today was a girl telling me that there were bugs on the gym floor(she said it as if it were my fault and very gross!). I told her that it was merely my Aunt Rita and she thought it was funny...but silly. They do react well to my silliness!

The weekend was good. I think I blogged about it already. The pictures on here today are of my trip to Village Inn with my friends. Ben Gale, his brother Joseph and my roommate Mary Beth. Those Gale boys are so hilarious. Joseph found it very important to pose with the three hot chocolates he drank. Fun times.

I have been even more excited about my tulips the past few days. Some pink ones finally blossomed so they are not just only white anymore. That is exciting. So, I will have to take more pictures of they for your viewing pleasure.

Tonight, I went for a walk with Mary Beth and then went to ice cream with some friends from church. It was 31 cent scoops at Baskin Robins today. I had cookie dough and chocolate mousse. Good stuff. My friend, Sarah, even paid the 62 cent for it. My friends are good to me. I also had an allergic reaction to something I ate for dinner. It might have been the bread because I noticed a little bit of mold on it. But did that stop me from eating it, no. I am not smart sometimes. Anyway, apparently I am also allergic to mold, not just to peanuts anymore. Weird adult onset allergies. Luckily, the anti-histamine made the itchiness go away.

I also was able to ride my bike to school today. I have kinda been lazy when it comes to that. I was sad to put on some of my shorts today and have them not fit so well. Breaking my leg made me gain a bit of weight. I guess I am just going to have to pedal more! There will be plenty of time for that this summer!

Well, I am a bit wordless. I hope all is going well for each of you. I also hope you are taking moments to stop and smell the roses. Spring is short! Later!