I think I have an admirer...

Day Two of student teaching:
~Sam:  "Mrs. Kruzner?"
~Me:  "Yes, Sam?"
~Sam:  "I love you..."
~Me:  "Oh that's so nice Sam!"  :)

Day Three of student teaching:
~Sam:  "I love you Mrs. Kruzner."
~Me:  "Ohhhh, Sam."
~Sam:  "And you know what?  I will go away to college and come back and still love you!"
~Me:  "Ok, Sam - it's time to pay attention..."  :)

*student's name obviously changed.

1st Day...

I am happy to report that I completed my first day of student teaching today...9 weeks and 4 days to go!!  God truly has answered my prayers in giving me a great master teacher.  I feel very comfortable with her and I just know that I will learn alot from her.  I am in a Kindergarten class with (are you sitting down?) 31 students.  Let me repeat myself, 31 students!!  It was a non-stop day leaving me exhausted.  However, it appears to be a good class with a few boys who are pistols!  I asked Mrs. J if they were in rare form today and she replied, "No, that's them everyday!"...should be interesting!

Since Dalton and Derek left before me this morning, I had to take my own "1st day of school" picture.  I'm not very good at it but at least my first day is documented... :)

One of my favorite LOFT outfits!

And here's a big "thumbs up" for Student Teaching...

Be prepared for MANY stories to be told!
:)

Handling School...

So last night Derek and I took Ruger to "handling school".  We have known about this class for over a month and just now have had the time to participate.  It is held at a local park by an expert handler and you just pay a nominal fee for each class you attend....perfect!

Our goal in taking this class is for Ruger to become more comfortable doing "show" things.  Hopefully with consistent practice of stacking, being checked out and running patterns, he will be in auto-pilot when it comes show time!!

We had a great time practicing and meeting new dog people... :)

The entire class...

"Let's see the teeth, please."  We met Dick who is a veteran handler who spent alot of time with us and Ruger.  He thought Ruger was great, of course!  heehee.... :)

Some stacking pictures...

Getting some tips from Dick...

These last two shots are my favorites...

And that's why I chose to post them Extra Large!

Such a handsome and good boy!
...be still my heart...
:)

Final Day...

We had such a productive week getting Dillon settled and I am so thankful that we got everything accomplished we had set out to do.  

But now it was time to say too-da-loo...  

brothers and best friends...

very proud parents...

this is the original Fort Collins High School...cool, huh?

On the road through Vail, CO....very cold and stormy in August!!
And might I add that the service or cleanliness in Vail was not at all what we had expected.
We stopped to get gas/coffee/food and the bathrooms were disgusting, Starbucks was out of hot water  and Dalton's taco bell order was completely wrong!  Yep, I guess Vail is only great when you stay at the fancy dancy resorts!  Which were VERY beautiful!

The drive along the Colorado River was breathtaking.  I loved every single minute.
These pictures in no way give it justice.
Gorgeous!

On the road into Utah.  I had no idea that Utah was such a beautiful state!
Even though the trip was a long drive, it sure was a beautiful one!
Once we entered California, it was very obvious that we were not in Colorado any more...what a difference!!

So that's it folks.
I am now settling into my new normal...

Campus Day...

A highlight of our stay was the University Welcome held at the Moby Arena on campus.  The arena was packed with new incoming students, their families, administration, faculty, cheerleaders, "cam the ram" mascot and the band!  It was very inspirational and filled you with CSU spirit.  In fact, at the end of the Welcome I wanted to stand and yell, "We've got spirit yes we do, we've got spirit, how 'bout you?"  

lame, i know...

After the Welcome there was a Family Picnic totally over 4000 people...wowsers!!

And some carnival rides...

I couldn't decide which picture to post so I did them both!...

The event was very well organized and I loved the way they served drinks.  They had approximately 5 old  small pick-up truck beds filled with ice and drinks....very cute, I thought.  :)

Earlier in the day Dillon got all his books and we had lunch together at the Student Center (can't believe I didn't get a shot of that!...)

It was a great day to walk around campus with Dillon and share in all the excitement of college life!

I'll leave you with this exciting fact:
The next time we will all be in that arena will be on the day that Dillon graduates!

Oh, happy day!!

Moving Day...

The day had finally arrived!  

The day we had poured so much thought and planning into...  

The day our boy moved into his very own space... 

It was a happy day.

Dillon signed his lease, received his keys and we're ready to go...

You just go up these few steps of stairs...

and on the right is his apartment...perfect!

It didn't take us long to move everything in...

I promise, I helped....I just took a break to document...  :)

We all were a little nervous about moving this bad boy in but with a little patience and contemplation...success!

Now let's put all that Ikea furniture together...

Enjoy the many shots of Dillon's apartment...

my favorite...

loving his new queen sized bed!...

I was so happy that we were able to spend a lot of time with Dillon in his apartment.
Everything just felt so right.  So comfortable.
Thank you Lord, for giving me such peace!!

We took a break from our busy moving/unpacking day and met up with Brooke and her roommate, Lauren for dinner in Loveland, CO.
We decided to go to Cracker Barrel since we all have heard such great things about it.
Well, I don't want to offend any of you Cracker Barrel lovers but let me just say that the company was better than the food.  It wasn't that bad just not worth all the hullababoo!!  Jus sayin'...

In spite of the disappointment of the infamous Cracker Barrel, it was a great time  catching up with Brooke and Lauren!

Afterwards, it was back to the apartment for more unpacking.  I think we all worked into the wee hours of the morning...

Totally worth it!