Shannon in Review 06

Since so many new things happened last year, I made a blog. With travels to California, Colorado, Florida, and Pennsylvania (I'll tell you about all of those places later), I was busy.

In March, I served as a parent chaperone for my sister Sarah's choir trip to San Francisco. I did not want to leave. It was absolutely beautiful with so many things to see and do. It was very cold and rainy, but we got to see snow! When I save up a ton, I'd love to go back.

I had a great summer this year in Longmont, Colorado, with Sarah, Danny, and Meigou Smith. We had lots of adventures, like going to Rocky Mountain National Park and to the museum, and watching hours on end of Freaks & Geeks and NCIS on their computer. I also learned all about prairie dogs and that I can love big dogs. Every time we went to the park, Meigou went to find the biggest stick around for us to throw. They also enjoyed introducing me to the world of Macs. (No, I do not have a Mac, but they are fantastic!) I can’t believe I up and left to go on such an adventure, but it was a great decision. I had so much fun with the Smith’s and my Singles’ Ward up there, and I even earned a little money teaching Algebra at Sylvan Learning Center!

On my way up to Colorado and back, I got to stay with the Brown's and get to know my "nephew" Alex a little better. He learned my name and called me "Shant Annie" instead of Aunt Shanny.

I came home and was here for a day before leaving to go to Destin, Florida, for the first-ever Connors' Family Reunion. This was another
place where I just wanted to stay. We had a huge beach house right on the coast. We spent time out in the water or inside playing, and went on big family trips snorkeling and on a sailboat. I came back home to stay the night before I had to return to school. It was a very full summer.

Upon returning to Katy, I began dating Joseph Amason more and more. Our 5 month anniversary is today! When we’re not together, we are both busy working. Joseph does desktop support for Fox Sports Net and goes to school at night. I’m in my 3rd year of teaching first grade and absolutely love my job. But when we are together, we have great fun. We both love the theater, so we've seen some shows: "The Lion King" and "West Side Story;" and some ballet performances, too: "Dracula" and "The Nutcracker." Joseph is teaching me how to use the computer more (since this is what he got me for Christmas!!!) and I'm helping him with his Algebra class.

In October, I was a bridesmaid in my coworker Tisha's wedding. It was fun getting ready and spending time with the girls. Joe couldn't be left out of the fun, so we took ballroom dance classes to prepare for the wedding.

In November, my Grandma passed away after having a major stroke. I went up to the cutest little town of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, with my brother and dad for the funeral. It was nice to see all the family again.

At Thanksgiving, we found out that my sister, Megan, is expecting in June. It’s a boy! She and her husband, Justin, are planning on coming back down here for Spring Break so that my mom and I can throw her a baby shower!

Something else my mom and I have decided to do is go back to school together at the University of St. Thomas to get Masters of Education in Special Education with an emphasis in Multicultural Urban Studies. What prompted this? It’s free! So, needless to say, most of Christmas vacation and the weeks leading up to it revolved around applications and GRE prep, but everything’s in now, and we will be starting school (hopefully) on January 22!