Not a whole lot going on lately. I've been going in to work here and there to get ready for the upcoming school year. I officially start back tomorrow, while the kids start school next week. I think it's going to be a good year, hopefully all my new teachers work out.I been trying to cram as much fun as possible into the last couple weeks of summer. A few pool parties, shopping trips to the outlet malls, playing Just Dance on the Wii and just hanging out with friends. My classes at UNLV start this week too, so I am going to be pretty busy. The other day, Rick had gotten free tickets at work for the new Nanny McPhee movie. The tickets had the wrong date printed, so Holly called the theater and they told her the event was that night. So, Rick, Holly, Joe, Donita and I all get down there and the theater tells us that the event was two days ago. We tell them that Holly called and someone told her it was that night, and they kept trying to tell us that they are not responsible for misprints. After talking to two different managers, they finally let us pick a movie to watch for free. We eventually decided to see Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. It was pretty funny, especially if you know your video games. There's a lot of music, fighting styles and boss stereotypes that come straight from old video games.I also somehow got comandeered into making a wedding cake this weekend. Although I did want to know how to know how to at some point, this was not how I intended on learning. I made a white wedding cake from a recipe on the internet. Then I filled it with a raspberry filling I made. I am not too great at making frosting smooth, so I decided to cover it with fondant...
Covering a cake with fondant is easier and harder than I thought. I had some trouble leveling the cake, mostly because I couldn't afford a cake leveler. Plus, covering the cake in frosting after cutting it is hard because the frosting doesn't want to stick to all the crumbs.
This is what the cake looked like in the end. It was a pretty small wedding, so luckily I only needed a small cake. 
They didn't really have any colors, so I was trying to make a hot pink and teal. They didn't come out quite right and Rick kept telling me it looked like a baby cake. So, I added ribbon and flowers to make it look more like a wedding cake.
So, the final cake - white cake with raspberry filling, white chocolate buttercream frosting, covered with fondant. Everyone seemed to really like it. I don't know that I'll be making anymore wedding cakes, but it was fun and I definitely learned a lot.
So, the other day I was helping my friend Joe show some friends around downtown. We decided to hit some of our favorite spots, starting with the conservatory at the Belaggio. Apparently there's some sort of new trend for people to dress up and pose for pictures outside at the fountains. While we were there we saw the Blues Brothers, two Elvis impersonators, two members of KISS, two showgirls, the Mad Hatter, and an Angel and Devil pair. I don't know if these people have regular jobs or if they are trying to make some money in this economy. All these impersonators just started showing up last year. After the fountains we went over to Serendipity for a little frozen hot chocolate, which may be the best invention ever. I saw the guy making it, so I'm thinking I can figure out how to make it at home. We also went over to Fremont Street to watch the show. There we saw a Darth Vader and a Zorro. I think these guys put a little more thought into the whole costume thing. Darth Vader had a couple light sabers so that people could pose fighting him. Zorro also had a couple swords for the same reason. I actually think these people are pretty smart, because where else do you find so many tourists and have a shot at making decent tip money for this kind of thing? You gotta love Las Vegas!
So, I finally got to spend some time with Brian and his fiance, Kami. They had the day off work, so we had all sorts of adventures. We started by going to Sushi Tsunami, one of those conveyor belt sushi places. You grab what looks good as it comes by.
I have always been a little afraid of sushi - I don't exactly like eating raw things, or cold rice. But I told myself I would try it for Brian's sake. It was actually pretty good. I only ate one piece that had raw salmon on it, but everything else was good. I think my favorite was some kind of california roll with a sweet chili sauce on it. After the sushi adventure, we decided to hit up downtown Vancouver, WA. It was very small, or quaint, but Brian and Kami introduced me to their new hobby, antiquing. It was fun to imagine ways to use all the old items. We also stopped at a store called Pop Culture. I think it's popular at night for concerts and such, but they sell an amazing assortment of soda in bottles. Brian had a pomegranate soda, Kami had some sort of blue cream soda, while I stuck with a good ole Harry Weinhart's cream soda. Delicious!After touring downtown, we headed over to Portland and hit up OMSI - Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. I have loved this place since I was a little kid. Sadly I did not take any pictures. They had an amazing Einstein exhibit going on and I was thoroughly impressed. A lot of the other exhibits are geared a little too young for me to enjoy anymore, but it was fun going down memory lane. After OMSI, we headed back to their apartment to watch some Fraggle Rock. Brian also decided to cook up some oysters he had gotten. In case you've never seen one, this is what they look like in the shell. Usually when you buy them they've already been shucked. They're not very appetizing still in the shell...
Here's a picture of Brian cleaning out the oysters...
The adventures continued when I got back to Kat's that night. Apparently one of the chickens got out of the coup and Michael and Kat were running around trying to catch it. It was hilarious! 
They did eventually catch the chicken, and duct tapped the coup so it couldn't get out again. Those were the highlights of the vacation. Now I'm back in Vegas dealing with another round of tonsillitis (the second round this month!) I'm working on getting some work projects done and getting a gym routine established. I'm also registering for classes at UNLV in the fall to finish up my master's degree and looking at administration programs for the next year. It's gonna be a busy year, so I'm relaxing while I can!
I decided to take a little trip to Washington this summer, so I wouldn't get too bored hanging around Vegas. Kat and I went to go see the A-Team and both really liked it. It's kind of like being reunited with old friends, since we watched so much of the original tv show growing up. We also had a whole bucket full of oysters, which are by far my favorite seafood. They were pretty amazing! On Friday we had lunch with Aunt Marti. It was really good to catch up with her, especially since she was recently diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer. We wish her all the best with her upcoming treatment! We also managed to convince (guilt trip) Cheri into coming down for a couple days...
Cheri wanted to go wandering, so we went out to Lackamas Lake and hiked around a bit. It's really pretty out there, but the mosqitos practically ate us alive! Cheri was constantly swatting herself and by the time we left it looked like she had some weird disease. I thought I got away without too many bites, but mine just took longer to show up. 2 days later and I seem to have bites everywhere!
We found a nice bridge on one of the trails we were on, so of course we had to stop and take a bunch of pictures!
I don't know what Cheri was thinking when she took this one...
At least we got one, somewhat normal looking one.
Saturday, we decided to hit downtown Portland. 
Cheri had never been to Voodoo Doughnuts, so we took her there first. They make crazy doughnuts and there is always a line!
I got an m&m doughnut and Cheri got some sort of mango doughnut. Kat couldn't decide, so she got one of each. None of us were feeling very adventurous this time.
Next we hit up Saturday market. It's down on the waterfront and tons of fun. For the main area, people are only allowed to sell handmade items. There's another area where people set up booths and sell whatever they want. You can find some really great, unique stuff. It's kind of like Etsy, only live. I've been here many times, so the only pictures I took this time were of things that caught my eye.
This Shakespeare shirt made me think of Mary...
Such gorgeous flowers!!
There are always a lot of really cool artists with their works on display. This artist's work made me think of Rick and art that would be good for a dance studio...
This statue guy is usually hanging around somewhere...
This girl mad a dress entirely from newspaper...
An impromptu break dance session...
After Saturday market, we stopped by Subway and brought lunch to Michael, sort of an impromptu picnic at the park. Michael was working at Mt. Tabor that day and it's a gorgeous park on top of the hill, with a great view of Portland. It also has about 4 reservoirs of the city's water supply, which is why Michael works there.
Cheri also wanted to stop by and see Aunt Marti, so we went to her house in Washougal. I guess I've never been there in the summer, but it sure is pretty! Their house is next to a city park, and it sure is gorgeous! They also recently got a little dog, Charlie, who is adorable but a little skiddish around people. We had a good chat with Aunt Marti and Roy. I love being able to hang out with them! (We bought her some flowers at Saturday market, aren't they beautiful?!)
Cheri had to head back up to Tacoma, but it was nice that she could come down. I still can't believe she graduates from nursing school in December!
Of course, I still help out the Key Club when I can. Here they are at the Regional Training Conference participating in the spirit rally. They came in 2nd place for our division for their cheers. Not bad for one of the smaller groups there!
Some of us at work have to carry radios and have decided that we want to stand out. For the last 2 years, I have had a Jack-in-the-box antenna topper with a propeller beanie on it that Bill bought me. I figured that represented special education pretty well. My friend Ramiro went to Disneyland and bought me this one - I think it's hilarious considering the students I work with!
