All about...Me!

Here is a fun little survey to do so we all can get to know each other better. I encourage you all to do one and put it on your blogs.

10 years ago: I was a junior at La Canada High School, go Spartans! I think junior year was my favorite year of high school. I was involved in everything and had to be everywhere! I was a madrigal, in ASB (student government), various clubs, school musicals, etc. I had a great senior boyfriend and wonderful friends. High school was a lot of fun, but I was sure ready for college a few months into my senior year.

5 things on my to-do list today:

1. Gym, check. I’ve been hitting up the 6 am spin classes lately. Yes, it sucks getting up so early, but I am too tired to go after work, so I’ve been going before.

2. Faculty meeting after school.

3. Young Woman’s board meeting.

4. Make a “real” dinner tonight!

5. Watch Lost. It is finally back. =)

5 Foods I enjoy:

1. My favorite candy is chocolate-covered-gummy bears. They are delicious.

2. Favorite fast food is In-and-Out burgers animal style. I am not so much of a fan of their fries though. I love how they have fresh lemons for the diet coke!

3. Baby carrots with garlic egg plant hummus from Trader Joes. Try it, it is amazing.

4. Steak is also one of my favorites.

5. Indian food (nann bread and chicken makakna).

What I would do if I were suddenly made a billionaire: How cool would it be to own your house free and clear? I would totally do that, but probably buy a better one first, though! I would also buy my dream car, a Range Rover. Then go on a cruise to the Greek Islands. I would want to start some type of non-profit organization dealing with kids and poverty in 3rd world countries, too.

5 places I have lived:

1. Born in Oregon and raised in Washington, Arizona and California.

2. Rexburg, Idaho and Provo, Utah for college.

3. Cuenca, Ecuador (orphanage volunteer work).

4. Auckland, New Zealand (study abroad).

5. Fairfield, CA

5 jobs that I have had:

1. Jane’s Cakes and Chocolates (first real job in HS)

2. Valley Hunt Club (county club working at the kids club and snack bar)

3. What a Tan, Tanning salon

4. Nanny

5. High school special ed teacher at Payson High and Armijo High.

Favorite T.V. Shows:

1. Party of Five (in high school)

2. 90210 Re-runs in college

3. Arrested Development (funniest show ever written)

4.The office

5. Lost

Most beatiful place I've ever been: This one is hard! I think I have to do at least two. The most beautiful beach I've ever been to is hands-down Fiji. Switzerland (Alps) is the most beautiful country and mountains I've ever been to. I highly suggest both places to see before you die.

5 Things people don't know about me:

1. I love the smell of fresh laundry. It is probably my favorite smell.

2. I think I have developed an OCD about little noises, tapping, clicking, etc. When my students do it, it drives me CRAZY!

3. I love Oprah, I think she is great.

4. Love to read. Hated to when I was a kid, but learned to love it once I started reading things I was interested in. I read aloud to my students everyday hoping it will catch on.

5. I could wander in TJ Maxx for hours. I love looking at every little thing.

Monthly Update: January

I can't believe we are in February already. I am trying to think what to write for January, but it's been a pretty slow month so there is not much. It took us each about a week to sleep through the night trying to re-adjust to the Thailand time change. It also took us about that long to re-adjust to going back to work. My cousin passed away from a brain tumor a few weeks ago so we were up in Utah for the funeral. It was obviously a very sad occasion, but it was nice to see a lot of my extended family and my siblings and nieces and nephews. My brother and his wife came up to visit on their way to Rexburg. It was fun having them. I took them into San Fransisco, but of course, it was pouring. We also went to the Jelly Belly Factory. Steve is in the process of putting all new base board up stairs and so far it looks great! We went and saw 27 Dresses last weekend and it was very cute. I liked it, Steve tolerated it. I am excited to see Katherine Heigl doing so well. She attended my home ward in L.A. when we were in Young Woman's together. She was making Under Siege II and attending our church on Sundays. She was very nice. I don't think she is active anymore though. Anyway, we are doing great and love living here, even though It never stops raining! At least it's rain and not snow. I found a new appreciation for California right after our visit to Logan. I wish you all a very happy February.

Tales from Immature Juniors

Steve and I were out of town this weekend for a funeral in Utah, which was on Tuesday. There was no school on Monday so I only had to get a substitute for Tuesday. I guess my 4th period was horrible for my aid Nicole and the sub. They are a very wild and immature group of juniors. Nicole was so angry she pulled a few of the boys who were acting up out of the room and explained that Mrs. Bonner is at a funeral and is very sad and how do you think it is going to make her feel to know that they were acting bad? Nothing like a little guilt. Then she made the students who were acting up write down what they were doing, that they were sorry and then made them sign and date it. When I got back yesterday she had them read their sorrys to me and to the rest of the class. Here are a few of the I’m sorry notes. I will leave the miss-spelled words. Just imagine these boys standing in front of the class reading this. It took everything I had not to laugh!

“I was laughing in class. I will not laugh stupidly again. I am sorry”.

“I am sorry for make monkey noice (noises). I will not make ananizie (animal) noice no more”.

“I would not get up out of my set (seat) and jump up and down and make noises and I am sorry”. 1/22/08 1:50 pm

“I am sorry for laughing in class, and making clicking noises”.

There are good people left in the world!

So, sometimes I get a little cynical about the world do to where I work and who I deal with daily. Yesterday I decided to get my nails done to make myself feel feminine and pretty (girls, you know what I mean). I was talking to the person doing my nails about teaching, etc. There was a man getting a manicure next to me and got up to pay and asked me how much my nails were going to be? I told him $20.00, then he got out an extra $20 and paid for mine too! I told him that he didn't have to do that. He said that he asked his sister-in-law what she wanted for her birthday and she said just to do something nice for someone else. He also told me that he was a a retired teacher and appreciates what I do, and to keep teaching. How nice is that? There are good people left in the world after all! My nails look great by the way...

Taiwan

We are back!!! Steve and I just got back from a two week exploration of Taiwan and Thailand. What an adventure. The reason we went to Asia this Christmas is to visit Steve’s parents who are missionaries for our church in Taichung, Taiwan. I’ll break the blog into two sections: Taiwan and Thailand.

Taiwan: After a 13 hour flight out of SFO Steve and I landed in Taiwan and took the high speed rail train to Taichung. Bill and Ruth had emailed us a bunch of Chinese characters to show to taxi drivers to help get us there, and it worked! Taichung is the 3rd largest city in Taiwan. In many ways it was similar to big cities in the US, except everything and everyone is Chinese. There are not many tourists there. We got stares and smiles where ever we went. We even had someone ask for our autographs. We kept a very busy schedule to help with our jet lag and had an abbreviated Christmas eve together. Next morning Bill had arranged for a rental car to be delivered so we grabbed breakfast and were off to Sun Moon Lake and the Buddha Monastery for the day. Sun Moon lake was beautiful! There was a large temple on the hill with a gorgeous view. All of the temples there were very colorful and elaborate. We opened our presents Christmas evening. It was an interesting Christmas b/c most of the Taiwan are not Christians, so Christmas was like any other day there. We were able to load up on the culture of Taiwan with visits to LuKang, the Taiwan Cultural Center, the Science Center, local Buddha and Confucius temples. We went on a cool hike at Dakung where Bill persuaded all to take the unknown trail which turned out more scenic but much harder going. We left on the 5 am bus for the airport Friday and headed for Bangkok. It was so great to see them after a year. All of the missionaries told us what a great job they are doing and how much they loved them.

Thailand

Thailand: It was a 4 hour flight into Bangkok. We got there in the afternoon and we were unsure of what to do. After getting to our hotel we called a taxi company and had someone take us on a 5 hour tour. He first drove us to the main part of town and we took a long boat ride through part of the city. We saw more temples and a lot of slums built right over the water. We bought a wooden carved elephant from a peddler selling on a row boat that pulled up to our boat. Our tour guide drove us around the palace. Thailand has a king who has been reigning for 60 years. There are pictures of him everywhere. They seem to really love him. The palace was spectacular! He then dropped us off at the famous night market where we were able to bargain for designer handbags and sunglasses, etc. It was pretty fun. In my opinion one hour there was not enough… Everyone had told us how cheep Thailand was, but b/c the US dollar is so week now, it’s not as cheep as it use to be =( There were many other places we wanted to see in Thailand, like the floating markets, but we got there too late and everything was closed. If we had to do it over again I think we would have spent two days there instead of one. Oh Well. The next morning we boarded a small plane for Krabi, which is in the south. It was about an hour flight. Krabi is a beach resort town. Our hotel was about a 5 minute walk from the beach. Krabi is similar to Hawaii, just more lush. I feel like we were the only Americans there. I guess b/c we are so far away from Thailand. It was so nice to just be able to relax and soak-up the sun for a few days. We spend a lot of time lying on the beach and swimming in the warm water. One day we took a day trip to 4 different islands via a long boat. We snorkeled and had all sorts of fun! Another day we rented a scooter and explored. We found a hike to a Temple at the top of a cliff. It was 13,000 STEEP steps to the top, but we made it! It was an amazing view. There were signs every where about where to go if there was a Tsunami. The tsunami in 2004 just devastated this region. There were lots of monkeys there. If you fed them they would crawl on your lap. I keep trying to convince Steve that we should buy a monkey, but I don’t think it is working…

Disney World

Last week we had an opportunity to go to Orlando, Florida! Steve had business all week and I decided to join him on Wednesday. Since Steve would be working I didn’t want to go to the parks all by myself. I called the first person who popped into my head, my old college roommate Laurel. She came and we had a blast!! Neither Laurel or myself had ever been to Orlando before and didn’t really know what to expect. We each got park hoppers so we could see everything. It was the perfect time of year to go. Mid 70s to low 80s and no crowds. On Thursday Laurel and I went to MGM and Magic Kingdom. Friday morning we went back to Magic Kingdom, then Steve met us at Animal Kingdom in the afternoon. We all really enjoyed the Animal Kingdom. We went on a “Safari” where we saw Zebra, giraffe, Rhinoceros, etc… Saturday we went to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure (Steve’s favorite park). It was more of an adult park with really amazing roller coasters. We went on a few water rides and got SOAKED!!! None of us have ever gotten that wet on a water ride before. Sunday we went to Epcot. Epcot is really cool because it is just a bunch of miniature countries like; Mexico, Canada, Japan, France, etc… Disney sure knows how to do it! We flew home Sunday evening and because of plane trouble Steve and I didn’t get home until 3:00 am Monday morning and had to wake-up 3 hours later for work. Let me tell you yesterday was one long day. We are very happy to be back, even though everything is extremely busy right now at work. We leave for Taiwan and Thailand in less then two weeks and are tying to get everything done. I hope everyone is having a great December.