Mike and Katie Unger

Blog Hog

2009-07-15T11:09:00.003-06:00

So, I feel like I have taken this blog over and I don't even have much to write about. However, I really enjoy daily writing, so I asked myself - "What can I write about every day?" And the only thing I came up with is something that I am crazy about - cooking and food. So, while this blog will definitely stay up and running, I have started a NEW food blog as a creative outlet for myself.

I would LOVE to have you all follow me and my food ramblings at: www.yesiwantcake.com

and please, please comment - I would like to hear what you think!

Happy Wednesday and happy eating!

spring...er, summer cleaning

2009-06-24T16:10:00.003-06:00

So, I was rearranging the furniture in our bedroom today so that our bed is closer to the windows during the summertime (Mom, I know you are proud), and this is what I found under my husband's side of the bed:

If you can't see what all of this is, here is an inventory:

1. two assault weapons (UNLOADED...Daddy)

2. three knives (one attached to a belt)

3. one box of ammunition

4. a rawhide bone

5. two dog training books

5. a gun catalog

6. an NRA magazine

Oh, Meeker...I like you.

Punky Bones Jemima

2009-06-03T22:17:00.003-06:00

The doggels is growing - and so ferocious looking with her pointy ears. Plus, we added a third new name so that we can call her "PB&J"

setting them free...

2009-05-29T10:08:00.006-06:00

So, it is officially summertime for Mrs. Unger.

A week before school ended, I thought I would explode because I was so excited to be finished, however, the second that the last student left my classroom, I started crying - pretty standard for me. I was thinking about it for the next few days, and it makes sense that it was such a bittersweet occasion. I spent exactly 40 hours a week with these twenty-three 8 year olds, and then they all just walked out the door with a hug or a high five. I know their families, I know their siblings, their pets, their favorite toys, foods, shoes, colors, sports, cars, TV shows, books and so much more. I know how they learn, who they get along with, what sets them off, what makes them laugh and what makes them cry.

So, as glad as I am that I can sleep in and walk my puppy (who is exceptionally cute and growing like crazy), and read books for fun - I miss my little monkeys. I miss their hugs and their love letters and their little quirks. But I know that in two months I will start all over again and have a new set of babies to teach and adore. But for now, I am missing their expectant little faces.

Oh, and they are hardly ever this still and serious...so here is a video that captures their real energy. (Dance parties were HUGE in my classroom - a good way to get the "wiggles out")

three weeks two days

2009-04-29T21:17:00.004-06:00

I let this video play over and over again on my computer at school today. I truly appreciate things that both 9 year olds and 24 year olds can enjoy simultaneously.

Playing For Change | Song Around The World "Stand By Me" from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.

Oh and I have 3 weeks and 2 days of school left. (BIG SMILE)

Puppy Doggy

2009-04-05T13:49:00.004-06:00

We got a puppy dog this weekend. Originally, we wanted to wait until summer when I could be home with it, but Meeker's birthday is coming up, and I just figured it would be a good time...he is the one who really wanted a dog in the first place. But of course, after seeing the puppy, I was all for it. She is a full blooded German Shepherd pup. Very smart. Very adorable.

We welcome Punky Bones Unger. We just call her "Punky"...

Springtime

2009-03-27T09:42:00.011-06:00

I busted out this driveway before breakfast this morning. Forty-five minutes. I am extremely proud of myself.

Jiggly and Claws

2009-02-20T18:46:00.004-07:00

When I was a little kid, the idea of a Venus Fly Trap always intrigued me. I sort of always wanted one, but wasn't sure if (1) they really existed (2) I could catch flies to feed it. So, when one of my students asked to bring his Venus Fly Trap in to be our "class pet," I was all for it. Little did I know what I was in for.

When he walked in with it, the class went WILD (and I can't say I blamed them). There were actually TWO pods, so I guess we were getting two "pets." We had to find a safe spot for the plant (all the kids wanted to touch it), and we settled on the windowsill, and I told everyone not to touch it. When I went to check on the plants a few hours later (their names were "Jiggly" and "Claws"), Jiggly was looking....well, shriveled and dead. I was a little scared to tell the boy who had brought it in, because he is the MOST emotional 8 year old you will ever meet. When I mentioned it to him, he screamed so loudly that the teacher fron next door came in to make sure no one had been murdered. He cried for a while, then we found a new spot for it so that Claws might make it through the day (the boy was convinced that Jiggly had frozen to death next to the window).

So for the rest of the day, all we really talked about was the Venus Fly Trap. Kids kept pulling on the leaves, talking to it, and trying to get it to bite their finger (even thought I told them 3 billion times not to touch it). FINALLY, our "show and tell" time came, and the little emotional boy who had brought it was SO excited that he RAN over to the plant, crashed into it, and knocked it all over the floor....killing Claws. Again, he screamed for about 2 minutes, cried for 35 mintues, and finally we had a little eulogy for them both. Anyone who is bored with their current job should teach third grade.

all the single ladies

2009-01-28T18:21:00.006-07:00

I KNOW...it's disgusting and Meeker is going to kill me for putting this up...but it totally made my Wednesday.

business trip

2009-01-11T20:25:00.002-07:00

So, my scuzzband has a real, adult job now. I guess I do, too...his just feels more real because he has a cubicle and he makes phone calls and has co-workers and goes on BUSINESS trips. Well, he is currently in the air on his FIRST business trip.

He will be gone for 4 days, and when he returns, we will have set a new record for "longest-time-apart-since-we-have-been-married." He only left 3.5 hours ago, but it seems weird without him. The house is quiet. I am hoping that my alarm goes off in the morning (there will be no one to wake me up if it doesn't!). I enjoyed eating nothing but a can of green beans for dinner. I am watching an old Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez movie. I can't find the cats, and don't want to go outside. This is what it must be like to live alone...for 3 hours. I am glad I got in some practice with the guns this weekend. (Just kidding, Daddy. Parker is a really safe place AND I locked all the doors).

When Meeker left, I realized that I have NEVER before stayed alone for 4 nights! Not ever. So, it will be a week of firsts for me. Welcome 2009!

Candy Cane

2008-12-15T20:00:00.006-07:00

So, at my school we have this really cool group of moms called "Moms in Touch", and they offer to pray for us on a daily basis, and give us little inspiring gifts to keep us going during busy times of the year. It makes me really grateful to be teaching at a school that doesn't prohibit or even blink an eye at prayer, talking about God, or Christmas (which is particularly exciting this time of year). This morning, they had left this message (and a candy cane) in our mailboxes:

A candymaker in Indiana wanted to make a candy that would be a witness, so he made the Christmas Candy Cane. He incorporated several symbols from the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ.

He began with a stick of pure white, hard candy. White to symbolize the Virgin Birth and the sinless nature of Jesus, and hard to symbolize the Solid Rock, the foundation of the Church, and firmness of the promises of God.

The candymaker made the candy in the form of a "J" to represent the precious name of Jesus, who came to earth as our Savior. It could also represent the staff of the "Good Shepherd" with which He reaches down into the ditches of the world to lift out the fallen lambs who, like all sheep, have gone astray.

The candymaker stained it with red stripes. He used three small stripes to show the stripes of the scourging Jesus received by which we are healed. The large red stripe was for the blood shed by Christ on the cross so that we could have the promise of eternal life.

Unfortunately, this candy has become known as a Candy Cane - a meaningless decoration at Christmas time. But the real meaning is still there for those with "eyes to see and ears to hear". We pray this symbol will once again be used as witness to "The WOnder and GLory of the One True Saviour, THe Lord, Jesus Christ."

Now, I have never heard this before, and I don't know if it's true - but it doesn't make much difference if it is or if it isn't. I think it's pretty cool and gives me something to think about and remind me (even while I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off as I manage the 3rd grade chaos) of the real meaning of Christmas. So, Merry Christmas and God Bless!

Cats and Things

2008-12-06T19:46:00.007-07:00

So, we kind of stink at updating our blog regularly. But, here it is.

Big Tuna Marky Mraz Unger passed away, tragically. Seriously, we were heartbroken. I cried for 2 days. We don't really know what was wrong with him. We got home from work one day, and he was cold and limp...so we rushed him to the hospital, and he ended up dying. It was awful.

BUT we got TWO new kitties a few weeks later. They are really big and soft. We present: Bagheera and Bellatrix:

I promise we won't write about cats next time.

Big Tuna Marky Mraz Unger

2008-11-09T16:16:00.021-07:00

Little Kitty, Big Name...
Last weekend, we went to the Dumb Friends League in Castle Rock, and got ourselves a kitty. We gave him a ridiculous name, and he is cute and tiny and we love him except for when he goes potty on the carpet right next to his litter box. He enjoys sleeping on the computer, meowing loudly, and trying to eat people food. Here is a video starring Big Tuna:

And, in case you can't tell how cute he is...some pictures:

First Married Road Trip

2008-10-26T11:14:00.048-06:00

People are really nice in the Midwest...
We just got back from our first roadtrip as a married couple. The timing was perfect because I had fall break, and Michael didn't have to work because he quit his old job and GOT A NEW ONE!! Hooray! Actually, he got offered TWO new jobs, and just accepted one of them this Friday. He will be working as a sales rep for a company called ACME Manufacturing. He will be selling really exciting things like "threaded rod". But seriously, we are really excited about it.

So on our trip, we drove to Des Moines, Iowa to see Michael's brother (Robby) play football. He plays for Drake University as a defensive end...and we got there just in time to see him make some spectacular plays. We screamed our heads off for him. We hung out in Des Moines for a few days doing nothing at all...but it was a relaxing break, and it was really good to see Robby and Neek.

We heart them.

Then we drove to see Matt and Reagan in beautiful Kansas City...

Okay, so that isn't Kansas City...I stole this picture of them in Hawaii on their honeymoon. We really wish that they lived here...we are trying to think of a way to convince Matt to drop out of school and move back to Colorado. We could have them live in one of the guest rooms in our house. Plus, we have a room for their new and upcoming baby boy. (Think about it, Ogles -we could play CLUE and watch Myth Busters regularly...)

The Lovenasium

2008-10-11T15:12:00.010-06:00

Alright, since the last post was short on words, I'll do two today. I set up our home gym in the garage this afternoon. I built the power rack yesterday (see the tall cage in the pictures) and moved all the other stuff up from the basement today. The reason we wanted the gym in the garage is so we could have room to do overhead lifts. Katie and I are really into this crossfit thing, and they post a workout of the day (WOD) that we follow pretty religiously. Check out the link to crossfit.com at the bottom of the page, its a great resource and all free. Many of the workouts have lifts that require us to lift heavy things above our heads, lots Olympic lifts. As a result of our crazy desire to do insane workouts, we needed overhead space, so I moved all the heavy, heavy, heavy equipment upstairs. My back hurts. Also, my truck doesn't fit in the garage anyway, so we might as well put the space to work.

Anyway, that is the background on the garage-gym. We haven't used it yet, except for a few pull-ups, but are very excited to try it out. To combat the cold (it's already here) we put a small space heater in the garage and will use it on the frostiest of days, however, once we get moving in there things will heat up quickly. Pics follow:

The next picture is of kettlebells. They are used in many crossfit workouts. I posted them so that I could show you exactly what Katie tried to put through our floor the other day. She was walking in with one of the kettlebells and as soon as she got in the front door she dropped it. Luckily the 35 lb weight did not go through the floor or dent it even.

On a related note, here is the hole Katie put in our stairwell to the basement. She decided it was a good idea to kick a 20 lb medicine ball down the stairs. When it got to the bottom it kept going:

I am not sure if Katie realizes who has to fix this...us. I'm just kidding, I thought it was the funniest thing in the world, I just like giving her a hard time about it.

Okay, finally our new TV. I realize that images of things that display images is about as interesting as Alan Greenspan, so here is the only picture. It is a really nice 46" Samsung TV.

Thats it, whew this was a long one.

~Mike

Bedroom and Bathroom

2008-10-11T07:08:00.006-06:00

Alright, here's a quick update. These are some pics of our bedroom and bathroom. Here we go:

The painting in the picture is going to be hung up above the bed in the picture below. It is a pretty plain bedroom, but we are working on making it a little bit more homey.
Our bed. No big deal. Just imagine the painting in the other pic above the bed.

This is our bathroom. Well it's our sink, the shower is to the left of the picture, the tub is to the right and the toilet (throne) is behind the photographer. It is a nice bathroom, the tile, however, is very cold at 4:30 in the morning when I get up to shower. Okay, I just wanted to say that I get up at 4:30 (and it is only twice a week anyway).

Alright, that's the quick tour of the bedroom. Next post I think I will do the tour of the new toys that we have gotten since moving into the house (TV and the new gym!). Be back soon.

~Mike

Pics of the New House!!!

2008-09-27T12:22:00.024-06:00

Hey Folks,

We finally got around to getting the camera, charging the camera, finding the cord for the camera and taking pictures of the new house! I am sorry we took so long. It was big excitement when we started the blog, but then it was silent for a few weeks. Now we are back and you can expect more frequent posts. Also, our (my) new TV is arriving Wednesday, so you can expect pics of a TV coming up, exhilarating, I know.

A little brief on the house. It is a three bedroom 2.5 bath, two-story with a walkout basement. It was built in 1997 and has been updated since. Plenty of room for little kiddies a little later. The kitchen is redone and the house as a whole was in great shape. The yard, however, is another story.

I have decided, as I was working on this post, that I will post pictures of the places where we spend the most time first, so you all can get a feel of what our daily lives are like as well as a view of the house. Pictures of the exterior of the house will come later.

Without further ado, I present the new house (well, family room and kitchen):

Here is our favorite room: The Family Room. We really only use about 20% of the house: the kitchen, the bedroom and this room. We spend most of our non-working hours in this room.By the way the timestamp on these pictures are all wrong seeing as we moved in the 29th of August.

Here is the awesome kitchen, modeled by the lovely Katie... just beautiful... and the kitchen is alright too. (brownie points!!!)The kitchen was a major selling point fo us.

This is a picture from the family room of the kitchen and family room. It isn't a huge space, but its comfortable and its not like we have a trampoline in it or anything.

That is all for now. I have just decided to do the pictures in segments so that people don't feel bombarded by 1 billion in a row (also uploading all of them at a time would take me approximately infinite hours...approximately. We do have lots to come so stay tuned (huh?).

~Mike

Welcome!!!

2008-09-09T10:47:00.010-06:00

Hello all,
Welcome to Michael and Katie Unger's blog. This blog is so new that Katie doesn't even know about it yet! As soon as I get around to it, I will be posting pictures of our new house, interior and exterior. Also, I will try to find a picture of Katie and me that we can both agree we look good enough in to show the world (and by world I obviously mean the three people a month that will see this).

So, to sum up recent events and things to look forward to reading about:

new blog, new house, new couches, new job for Katie, new yard work, new TV? (I hope) and new view off our deck.

All of these new and exciting things will be on this blog as soon as I have time AND we get the camera working! Stay tuned.

~ Mike

P.S. If it try to type 'things' one more time and I accidentally type 'this' instead I may have to mash my head into my 'new wall.'