A night to remember

Last night, Monday March 11, 2013, the Idaho Leads Project had it's final event of the original 18 month contract. We have also been renewed, and are funded through June of 2014.

Our event last night focused on what is going right in Idaho Education and was about celebrating success and sharing bright spots in hopes to inspire others, and encourage districts to scale and replicate.

We made a short video featuring 7 of our "best" participating districts and featured them at the Egyptian Theater last night in front of all 500 of our Idaho Leads Participants along with a balcony full of "distinguished guests". Our distinguished guests included people from the state department of education, the house and senate education committees, Boise State University folks, the spouses of the Idaho Leads Team members, etc.

For more info on our evening, read this article on Idahoednews.org

Here are the videos we made featuring 7 great districts in Idaho.
Hopefully watching them will give you a better idea of the good things going right in Idaho Education since we so often only hear the negative.

Lakeland School District 
Bonneville School District 
Lapwai School District 
Garden Valley School District 
McCall-Donnelly School District 
Gooding School District 
Anser Charter 

I am so thankful to ge blessed with such a wonderful job and thankful to be working with such great people, both on the Idaho Leads staff and the participating districts we are working with.

https://education.boisestate.edu/idaholeads/

Out With The Old, In With The New

Dear Envoy,

You have been so good to me! You came into my life during my Junior year of college and you have been by my side for 8 years. We have been across the state of Oregon too many times to count, you took me to Kansas and back safely including an epic road trip from Kanas to Oregon with Dana and Katie. While in Kansas you were trusty and steady through an ice storm and much turmoil. You saw me through many short drives from Boise to Willowcreek and many many more. But the time has come to say goodbye. With so many memories and over 60,000 miles together, it is time say "Goodbye my love".

Sincerely,
Your trusty second owner,

Karen Rice

And now to welcome into my life a new love, my 2012 Buick Enclave.

Last Saturday, Jordan and I went car shopping.
We have been doing research and car shopping online for about two months now! Between finding out the Idaho Leads Project was renewed, and the Envoy quickly approaching 100,000 miles, it was time to upgrade. I am a happy and proud owner of a used Buick Enclave. With three rows of seating there is a plenty of room for Wyatt and room for our family to grow into some day.

So happy and excited! I love my new car! I hope it is a trusty and loyal to me as my Envoy was.

Pinterest Craft Day Prep

Vickie and I met up today and we are READY for Pinterest Craft Day!

Thanks to Vickie (she has LOTS of glassware), we are all going to make tiered serving platers which are great during the Holiday's for serving platters, center pieces and they can be given as gifts.

Here are some pictures of what we'll be making. The best part about this project is everyone can make something that fits their needs:

 Above are some platters Vickie has made. 

 More of Vickie's platters 

Below are some examples of what you can make and samples of the glassware we'll be bringing: 

You can use them as serving platters or decorate them for Christmas and use it as a center piece. 

We will also be bringing some Christmas decorations for everyone to use.

 There are all kinds of arrangements you can make. 

Above is an arrangement that would be fun for candies and decorations!

We are looking forward to Pinterest Craft Day! 

See ya soon! 

VHS Homecoming 2012

No, no one invited me to the 2012 Homecoming Dance, however, I was asked to be a guest speaker at the Vale High School Homecoming assembly. 

First of all, I am honored to be here and when I heard your homecoming theme was Super Heroes, my first thought was GENIUS! Then when I was asked to be a guest speaker at your homecoming assembly, I was speechless and honored to be thought of.

My first thought was, “what makes a super hero a SUPERHERO?” There are all kinds of heroes, but SUPER heroes are defined by a unique and different quality. Superman had superhuman abilities that made him different, Spiderman realized at a young age he could climb walls and shoot spider webs from his wrists.

Then I got to thinking about myself, and my differences. I certainly AM different. Thinking back to my high school days when I was 6’2”, uncoordinated and as skinny as a beanpole, I was REALLY different.

I got teased and made-fun of because of my awkward-abnormal height. I was called every name in the book, some were good nicknames, others, not so much. But my parents always told me “you are always going to be tall, so stand up straight and be proud of your height.”

We are all different, and those differences are what make the world go round. Think about it, if we were all the same, we would live in a boring, beige world.

I want you to think about what makes you different? Don’t hide it, master it; like Superheroes do and use it to your advantage. If I had tried to hide my height by shrugging my shoulders and not standing up straight, it wouldn’t have helped me any; it would NOT have taken my height away. So I did what Superheroes do; I learned to take advantage of my difference “my height” and used it to my advantage; I played sports.

I played Volleyball and Basketball here at Vale High School, and I am proud to a Vale Viking Alumni. I was recruited all over the nation and I signed with Oregon State University and received a full-ride scholarship to play basketball there.

During my collegiate years, there were lots of ups and downs and highs and lows. I have a ton of memories with my teammates and we traveled all over the nation playing ball. But what I want to tell you about today is a story that sticks out in my mind whenever I think back on my college experience.

Between my Junior and Senior year at Oregon State, we went through a coaching change. Our current coach was fired and OSU hired LaVonda Wagner, who was an assistant coach from Duke University. If you know anything about basketball, then you know that Duke University is a BIG BASKETBALL school, and we knew we were going to get a great coach with high expectations.

When our new coach joined us, it was spring of my junior year, which was our off-season. Our new coach told us, “We might not be the best team in the country, but we can certainly be the most in-shape team in the country.” So guess what we did? We ran, and ran, and ran, and worked on defense and ran and ran and ran some more. We all joked around that we were now a track team rather than a basketball team, but we were all so excited and happy about our new coach, we did whatever she asked of us.

That spring, Coach had our trainer take us to a local high school where we ran a mile and our trainer logged our times. Little did we know Coach Wagner was tracking our times for a baseline. She then set what our TIME should be the following fall. We each were assigned a personalized mile-time that we needed to achieve the following semester during pre-season.

Now, let me backtrack, when Coach Wager got to OSU, she “trimmed the fat.” She cut all of our walk-on players and made things really difficult so the weaker players quit. When I was assigned the SECOND fastest mile time on our team as the tallest and biggest post player on our team, my perception was that Coach Wagner wanted me to fail. She set my time at a 6 minute and 15 second mile. To give you a reference point, our FASTEST team member, our point-guard, was given a mile time of 5 minutes and 45 seconds. I was SHOCKED that I was only given 30 seconds more than the FASTEST person on our team, and thought I was being set up to fail, so what did I do? I told myself “I was going to do it and prove everyone wrong.”

Now mind you, this was my perception of what my new Coach wanted. This was my personal negative-self-talk. No one told me I couldn’t do it, no one told me they wanted me to fail, this was just my own negativity getting to me. So all summer, I trained as hard as I could with my team. I ran and ran and every time we ran, I kept that “what seemed to be impossible” mile time in my mind.

Then the day came; we all had to run the mile for the first time.

Once the fall semester had started, we, as a team, went to a local high school track every Wednesday morning at 6am, and we would go to this track every Wednesday morning at 6am until EVERYONE made their time. Once you personally made your time, you didn’t have to run anymore, however you still had to be there to support your team members.

So the first day, I ran my hardest, I told myself to put it all out there and ran my heart out. I kept up with my FAST point guard the first 3 laps, I am not sure how I stayed with her, but I did. I told myself not to listen to my body, but to listen to my mind… KEEP RUNNING or rather, sprinting. I thought my legs were going to fall off and I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest. The final lap I fell a little behind my point guard, but I figured I was fine, since I had a whole 30 seconds more than she. As I was approaching the finish line, I wasn’t thinking about anything, except, 6:15. I needed to run the mile in 6 minutes and 15 seconds; I came in at 6:14. I made it! By ONE second, but I made it!

Looking back on my college basketball experience, I don’t remember the score of any certain game. I don’t remember my personal best game, or our teams exact record of each year. What I do remember is achieving what I to be the impossible. I remember over-coming my fears and the hard work I put in to accomplish my goal, or rather the goal that was set for me.

When I graduated, Coach Wagner took me and my fellow senior teammates out to dinner. I told this story to her, letting her know I thought she wanted me to fail, hence the CRAZY goal of a 6:15 mile for a 6’2” post player. She could not believe that was my perception. She laughed and said, “I never wanted you to fail, I set that time because I knew you could do it.”

So my point is, only YOU can encourage or discourage yourself from making your goals. You can overcome what you perceive to be the impossible, and the feeling you’ll get when you do overcome it is something no one can take away from you.

I may not remember any other personal stats, or my team’s win-loss records, and so on, however, I will never forget the stat of 6 minute and 14 second mile time. The reason I will never forget that is because I worked so hard to get there, I accomplished it, and I worked hard with my team to do so.

When you are facing a situation that seems to be impossible, remember that challenges bring opportunities to prove yourself and to better yourself. Step up to the plate and work hard, because accomplishments do not come easy in life. Everything worthwhile in life is hard work.

Thomas Edison once said:

“If we did all the things we are capable of doing we would literally astound ourselves.”

Thanks for asking me to speak here today. I hope you have a wonderful homecoming weekend and GO VIKINGS!!!!

Bridget & Josh Are Engaged!

One of my very best friends, Bridget is ENGAGED! 


Josh West planned out a very exciting engagement for Bridget. He had planned ahead and contacted many of Bridget's friends and told us if we wanted to help celebrate there would be a surprise engagement party for her on Aug 26th in Portland. Of course, mom and I made the trip!

Josh proposed on the water front in downtown Portland and we were all waiting at the restaurant for her second surprise! She thought they were headed to dinner, just the two of them. She was shocked when she walked in the door and about 14 of her closest friends were there to help her celebrate!

Josh picked out (with Bridget's help) this beautiful ring! It is so pretty and it fits Bridget's beautiful personality so well.

 The SHOCK of seeing all of her friends is written all over her face! 

 And we cried! Josh did a great job pulling off the surprise! 

And we cried a little bit more cause we are so happy for Bridget! 

Bridget deserves this happiness more than anyone! She is one of the kindest, nicest, and giving people I know. I couldn't be happier for her and Josh and I can't wait to help them celebrate their life ahead.

Bridget, I love you so much!
Josh, I love you because Bridget loves you!










She was on cloud 9 with her future husband!

She and Josh couldn't stop smiling! 

And of course, more celebratory drinks at the hotel! 

And laughs and happiness! 

I love you Bridget! 

The fun has just begun! Bridget and Josh are planning a destination wedding in Jamaica, June 2013!

I wouldn't miss Bridget's wedding for the world, so we are getting our passports lined out and getting ready for the big trip! Is it June 2013 yet? WE CAN'T WAIT! 

Personalized Vase Tutorial

A few months ago I received a facebook message from one of my best girlfriends boyfriend. Josh was letting me know he was going to propose to Bridget on Aug 24th in Portland and that he was also planning a surprise engagement party with her closest friends to follow. He wanted to let my mom and I know in case we could make it. I was so excited for Bridget, I immediately emailed and called my mom and we decided we were not going to miss it for the world!

As Aug 24th was approaching we were thinking about an engagement gift for her. I wanted it to be something special because she is so special to me.

I looked on Pinterest and wedding websites for ideas and decided I was going to make something for her. During my searches I found this vase and was inspired. I was thinking about my options and how I could make it. During my brainstorming I emailed my super-craft-cousin, Tiffany. If you spend a few minutes on her blog you'll understand why I reached out to her for ideas. Between her ideas and mine, I had a plan!

Here is how it went!
I went to Michaels Craft Warehouse (with my coupons of course) and bought a square glass vase and bright/fun scrapbook paper.

I created a word document on my computer with what I wanted the vase to say and planned the vase layout in my mind and printed! Advice, be certain you have the word document set to the paper size (scrapbook paper is larger than printer paper DUH and your margins are set as small as possible). 

I had all my supplies and was ready to start cutting and gluing. 

 I wanted the bottom to be the black and white floral print paper, so I started with that.
I kind of wrapped it like it was wrapping paper, however I cut the excess 

paper away so it wouldn't be thick. 

I used Mog Podge glue. This is a water-proof craft glue. 

Next I used the Mog Podge to glue on the turquoise paper. This was the paper I printed on. 

I was very careful to not get glue on the ink as I was worried it might smear it. 

Then I added a black stripe at the top, and a black stripe over the seam between the floral and the turquoise. I was done gluing the paper to the vase. 

Now the tricky part, how to make it water proof!??

Well, I used wood shellac. I brushed it on in thin coats (2-3 coats) and made sure it was dry

before applying another coat. I think it did the trick. I need to follow up with 

Bridget and ask if it is waterproof!!  

When we arrived in Portland, our first stop was a flower shop to fill the vase! 

We were very happy with how it turned out! 

We were staying at the same hotel as Bridget and Josh so it was to be delivered to their room after left for the part so she had another surprise waiting for her after her exciting night. 

More to come on the proposal and engagement party! 

A few things I learned and would change if making this again (which I am sure I will). 

I would make my word document be a little different, I repeated the same saying, so they would wrap around the vase. However, I didn't adjust their staring point, so all of the Josh & Bridget are lined up. I would also find a smaller vase so there are fewer seams. I have 2 seams in the back of the vase rather than just one because the vase was larger than my paper. 

If you make one and have additional suggestions, let me know! 

New Patio! Bring on SUMMER!

This winter we had a lot of rain and mud, combine that with a 90lbs puppy and you get LOTS of dead grass. We decided we needed to get a sidewalk to Wyatt's kennel (on the other side of our garage). One thing lead to another we needed a new patio all together. 

Below is our OLD patio, with the sprinkle pipes removed, as we were getting ready for the patio guys to come! 

The DURING.... thank goodness for the equipment! 

That was a LOUD day! Sorry neighbors. 

The guys were at our house on a Saturday from 7am-10pm 

doing the removal and prep for the new. 

The following Saturday they came and poured! 

Jordan helped out and ran a wheel-barrow, one and a half trucks of cement later, it was poured. 

I was, of course, a great manager and drink supplier! 

 This weekend we got the grass seed planted around the edges and more of the finish work done. 

We are ready to ENJOY our patio! 

Bring on the summer! 

We also are thankful for our patio set we received as a wedding gift! 

As you can tell, we planned the patio with the furniture in mind :) 

And my flowers are planted and I love the color they add! 

 Last but not least, Wyatt has a sidewalk to his kennel, well it's more for US than Wyatt! 

Needless to say, we LOVE our patio!!!!!!!!!! 

We just need our grass to grow (might be tough with a 90lbs puppy)!