Our Vacation to Punta Cana, DR

Hello all.  How do we do this whole blogging thing again?  It's been a while. 

We took a trip at the beginning of June to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.  It was ah-mazing!  The reason for our trip was to attend my friend's destination wedding.  But it was also our vacation.  We were able to stay for a week, and it was pure bliss.

 We stayed at the Hard Rock Casino Resort, which was beautiful.  

When we arrived, they gave us cool towels and a flower.  Classy!

 They had a couple of clubs, and 14 restaurants!  All inclusive, of course.  :)  The food was good, but not excellent.  It was nice not to have to pay at the end of a meal.  It was funny; we found ourselves sitting around for a while after we ate, just waiting.  I think we're just used to waiting for a check.  Now we have to get used to paying again!  Hopefully we don't "dine and dash" anytime soon!

 It was so romantic to be in a tropical location with no worries or responsibilities. 

 There were also 14 pools.  So relaxing.  They were all shallow, I guess because they don't want all the drunk people to drown. 

 The beaches were absolutely amazing; the sand was like powdered sugar!

Aren't we such a cute couple!

 Our friend, Sheree, on her big day.  What a beautiful bride!

 Played some beach baseball and volleyball.  Great fun!

 We took a free painting class on the beach.  I thought those were the coolest souvenirs! 

 More night life.  We salsa danced, did karaoke, and played pool while we were there.  LOVE salsa dancing!

 The water was crystal clear and so warm.  If you have not experienced a Caribbean beach you should try it some time!

 Oh yes the flight home... Started at 3:30 am, had to be on the shuttle at 4:20 am.  Our flight left at 7:45am and we didn't get home until 1:50 am the next day DR time.  Horrible day of travel!

 Sad to leave face and this is way tooooo early.

Yes, Amanda slept in the airport.  23 hours of travel?  No thank you.  It COULD have been a 10 hour trip, but that would have been too easy. 

All in all, a great time was had.  Getting back to reality has been the hardest part ;) 


Love,
Doug and Amanda

I Did It!

As many of you know, I am finishing up my 3rd year of teaching.  I can't believe it's already been 3 years!  In New Mexico, between your 3rd and 5th years of teaching, you have to complete what's called the Professional Development Dossier.  It is basically a giant paper that "proves" that you are a good teacher.  Mine was 54 pages and included a snapshot of instruction, evidence of professional development, and a collection of student work.  It was a major undertaking, much more than I had anticipated.  Well, I found out yesterday that I passed!  This means I will continue teaching, and hopefully won't ever have to do something like this again.  And it also means I get a raise, which is definitely a plus!  Thanks to all of you who have prayed for and encouraged me throughout this process.  And give all the teachers in your life a hug :)

Amanda

Keep Voting for Charlie!

Ok, ok, so I know people have better things to do than vote for a dog contest.  But if that was you, would you be wasting time checking your blogs?  Nah.  So while you are procrastinating on the internet, why don't you go to http://contest.kob.com/engine/Details.aspx?contestid=24573&pagetype=VOTING&SubmissionID=6574023 and vote for our pup. 

Charlie is really excited about this, and it means a lot to him.  And all votes got wiped out a couple of days ago because people were cheating.  So let's make him a winner!  You can vote once a day every day until February 4th!  And P.S., it's my birthday week, so consider it a gift to me. ;)
Thanks,
Amanda

Kitchen Lighting Remodel

Ok, so Doug and I are weird about weird things.  The other day, we were talking with our friends about how we don't like the fluorescent light in the kitchen.  Minutes later, we heard a loud "pop", and the light went out.  We went to buy a ballast, and then discovered that the ballast in that particular fixture could not be removed, and we would have to buy a whole new fixture.  (Insert frowny-face.) 

Before=Blah.

So, we decided we would just buy a regular light fixture, rather than the commercial-looking fluorescent light.  That just looked wayyy too dim, even for a temporary solution.  It reminded me of the kitchen in "A Christmas Story"--too dim.  So we decided to go for it--recessed lighting! 

The temporary solution...and racing stripes!  Can you spy Doug's finger?

Recessed lighting was the plan all along, but we were thinking we would do it later on.  We weren't even sure if we could get in the attic above the kitchen.  Well, Doug crawled right on up there, no problem!  He did a lot of research, and figured out how to do it himself.  I did my best to help. 
      

Up in the Attic

The hardest part was mapping it out.  We drew it all out on graph paper.  Then we cut out dots to make sure we liked the layout on the ceiling. 

Dots

Then we put coat hangers into the ceiling where they would go, so that he could see the location of the lights from in the attic.

Coathangers come in handy!

That's when he discovered that a gas line goes right through where we wanted to put our middle lights.  So we had to adjust. 

We got our plans finalized.  Then came the scary part--cutting! 

Peek-a-Boo!

But it worked out ok, and all the lights are now in their new homes.  It turned out quite lovely.  What do you think?

AFTER!

Classy?  I say yes!

Vote for Charlie!

We've entered Charlie into a contest.  If he wins, his picture will be put on a scratcher ( I think).  Anyways, since he IS the cutest and has provided endless hours of entertainment for all of you, why don't you go vote?  You can vote once a day per computer.  Here is the url:
http://contest.kob.com/engine/Details.aspx?PageType=APPROVED&ContestID=24573&SubmissionID=6574023&IncrementNumber=1

Once you are there, click on the "vote" tab on the top.  Then, in the search box provided, type in "Charlie".  He should be on the second page.  Let me know if you have any problems!  And thank you!
Doug and Amanda

Doug has hobbies too...

So, this blog has unintentionally become a showcase of all of my projects.  However, Doug has been busy as well.  He has recently taken up photography.  It all started with his sister Virginia's wedding.  Today we took some senior pictures of my cousins.  He is hoping to make it a side business, but he just loves doing it regardless of if he's making money or not.  He recently designed a website.  Please go check it out, and tell us what you think!  It's called Depth of Field Photography.  Oh, and if you want any pictures done...

http://www.depthoffieldphotography.com/Depth_of_Field_Photography/Home.html

The Latest Sewing Projects

Thought I'd post some of the latest sewing projects I have made.  These were for my sister for her baby shower. 

Boppy cover and Nursing Cover (Double sided this time!)

Carseat Canopy, Diaper Case, and Wipes Case

Wipes Case and Diaper Case

Wipes Case (First time I have made this.  Really cute, but a pain in the butt!)