Heather Leigh

Super Saturday!

2012-01-16T10:45:00.001-06:00

We had a VERY productive Saturday. I was going to say weekend and realized that after Saturday, we didn't feel like being productive anymore.

Rich and Lavita got here late Friday night. We got up early Saturday morning and started tackling the brush pile on the side of the house. Before we knew it, the pile was gone! Loaded into the back of their truck and our green waste bin, so no more dead plants on the side of our house!

Well, since that was intensely motivating, we kept right on working. Rich got up on a ladder that was straddling two old doors over the bed of his truck while Lavita held his legs and he reached as high as he could with a ten foot saw to cut dead palm fronds off the tree almost 20 feet in the air. Sounds scary, right? I was more than a little panicked the entire time. Too bad I didn't get a picture of that. Once I called Adam out to survey the scene, we decided it best to wait for a taller ladder to do the rest.

The hole created by Rich's efforts. It looks small, but a ton of fronds came out of there. Plus some nasty bird feathers.

After a lunch break, we finished priming the trim on the house.

That itself was a big improvement from the chipping green paint!

Then we painted Americana blue over it once the primer was dry.

Eventually, we'll rip out these nasty green bricks and drop the garden to ground level with some edging.

The plants are just infesting the garden! They're trying to climb out. Just stay in there till we can afford to do something with you! Thanks!

I love it!

The rest of the house needs to be scrubbed, if not completely whitewashed again, but the blue makes me infinitely happier. It just looks like a happy house now, doesn't it?

After this, the only other thing I did this weekend was try to organize all the boxes of childhood memories brought by both parents. Now the room is in complete disarray, and I will not be showing pictures of that. My progress is impeded every time I open an envelope to read whatever was written in a birthday card or letter several years ago. Or a yearbook. Or a photo album. Or a box of toys. Seriously. I suck at organizing. It'll get done...eventually. I just have to look at everything first.

On another note, here are pics from our New Year's celebration with Adam's family. I didn't get any pics of the sparklers and confetti poppers, but you do get to see us in our cute party hats. :) Eat your heart out!

Christmas Break

2012-01-01T20:10:00.000-06:00

So, Christmas break has come and gone. This is my last night of freedom, so of course, I resign myself to the computer to recount the wonderful memories. I'm sorry there aren't any pictures, but I'll try to be brief.

The last day of school before break was packed with goodies: award ceremony, visiting with reading buddies (our first grade friends that we read with), and Christmas party! It turned out really well and I definitely spent a lot less money this year because the kids brought most of the treats. And of course, the students who promised to stay to help clean up disappeared as soon as the bell rang. Go figure.

We went to the Kelly Christmas party on the 17th and got to experience some family fun and home-cooking. We spent the rest of the weekend playing games and watching movies with Adam's fam in San Manuel.

Adam still had to work (have I mentioned what his job is yet? He's an investigator for the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners. Basically, he conducts interviews regarding background checks verifying information for licensure and complaints against licensees. It's really combined all of his interests: psychology, law, and criminal profiling. A perfect job where he never gets bored. He beat out over 300 applicants! He got a trial spot in which he competed with one other qualified applicant that is no longer in the running. Congratulations, Adam!).

So anyway, Adam still had to work up until Christmas Eve, and I would be bored around the house by myself, so I spent a few days in Clay Springs with Nana! We baked cookies, played hand and foot, and watched several Hallmark Channel Christmas movies. It was a perfect way to get into the Christmas spirit. I haven't ever had alone time with Nana and Gramps, so it was fun to get spoiled again. :)

I left Friday afternoon (after all the snow had melted enough for me to drive home--thank you for a White Christmas though!) to be home in time to meet Mom and David when they came into town. We had dinner at Red Robin and spent the rest of the evening showing off our new house and catching up.

We ran a few errands on Christmas Eve, but mostly relaxed. We saw a concert at the Mesa Temple that evening as we walked around and saw the beautiful lights. Mom helped me make donuts (a new Wilkinson family tradition that I intend to improve upon each year).

On Christmas day, we just went to church, came home and opened gifts, and spent the rest of the day playing with them! Adam got me a KITCHENAID MIXER! I told him it really would have been helpful the night before to make the donuts, but he said it would only make me appreciate it more, which I do! I look forward to many hours of baking with my new toy. :) We also got a new toaster, some camping equipment, and a Really nice gift card for our anniversary. More about that in a minute.

Monday was also a lazy day, but I did take Mom and David to the Bass Pro Shop to discover its many wonders.

Tuesday we went to the temple in the morning and then said goodbye. I made my first batch of bread with my mixer (also to be improved upon later). That night Adam and I had a FANTASTIC meal at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, thanks to the generous gift card from Annie for Christmas, in celebration of our 3 YEAR ANNIVERSARY! I can hardly believe it's been 3 whole years. We both admit we never thought we'd be here by now (with a house and 2 good jobs, instead of an apartment with law school debt). Heavenly Father has a way of putting things in our path when we need them. We feel truly blessed! We then went and saw Sherlock Holmes 2: A Game of Shadows--good movie, not as good as the first, but that one was hard to beat.

Then we pretty much relaxed for the rest of the week.

Friday I went shopping and got some good deals on Adam's shirts and some new bathroom furnishings (it helps a LOT). Then I picked up Adam and we went out to his parents house. Megan and I practiced our duet for New Year's Day, then we played games. I love board games with family! Boxers or Briefs is our new favorite.

Saturday we practiced our song at the church, then had a New Year's Eve lunch with Grandma and Grandpa Kelly, Aunt Carol, the Wilkinsons and the Wallaces. Delish! We made donuts with a new recipe that beats any donut I've ever eaten, seriously. There was much jubilation and rejoicing over the new found recipe, including things like, "It's so fluffy I'm gonna die!" This recipe will definitely be put to good use. We rang in the new year at 10pm (trying to get the kids in bed earlier) with poppers, sparklers, and noisemakers. We recounted the best parts of 2011 (ours being the move to Mesa and being closer to family), made a toast to the new year, and went to bed.

Today, Sunday, Megan and I sang "What Child is This?" for Sacrament Meeting in San Manuel. I've never done a duet before, but judging by the response, they want us back for more, so that's a good sign! We came home for lunch and games, then left to come back home.

Tomorrow I'll be back to the daily routine, while Adam gets one day off to relax and take a vacation from the vacation. :) 2011 has been a terrific year and it will be hard to beat! But we have high hopes that 2012 will be just as happy and exciting for us all. We are grateful for family, the gospel, good jobs, and good health (well, when Adam gets over this cold).

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

October-November

2011-12-04T21:11:00.001-06:00

Thanks to Megan and Chad in giving us your old computer, complete with Picasa 3! For the life of me, and ultimately taking the life of our old computer, I couldn't get it to work before. So here's my first successful collage and upload! October and November were full of Ashley's wedding, Halloween (we were nerds, original, I know), Dad's wedding, Thanksgiving, feeding the ducks and setting up the tree. Thank you family for these awesome memories!

I'm curious to see how Megan's pictures turned out from our visit to see the lights at the temple on Wednesday. It was a beautiful experience (in 50-ish degree weather)! I could really get used to these snowless Christmases. :)

Also, the Christmas Devotional tonight was very inspiring. I love how each speaker emphasized that it need not be Christmas for us to remember our Savior. It really helped me continue in the spirit of the season, which has already been magical so far! Merry Christmas everyone!

What a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!

2011-11-25T16:49:00.001-06:00

This year, we were blessed to host Thanksgiving at our house, our very first home. Lavita and the Wallaces helped so much in putting it all together that it was almost effortless! Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures, but Megan did, so I'll probably steal some of those later. I got out of school on Wednesday, ran to the store to pick up a few last minute things, then came home to start the prep for Turkey Day! When I arrived home, a cute little blonde girl ran out of my house to greet me! Bree is so fun to come home to. :) I started on my apple pie, picked up Adam from the train (coming home from his NEW job! More about that later.), finished my beautiful pie, and relaxed in the comfort of family.

Thursday went very smoothly. We got the turkey into the oven by 9:30, set up the tables, finished the side dishes and played games while we waited. Turkey was sliced and on the table by 1:30, dishes done by 2:30, and pie devoured by 3:30. What a great day!

I remember as a kid at Thanksgiving just sitting back in wonder at how such a huge feast came together, and now I really appreciate the helping hands of family members to make it easy. Then, sitting at the dinner table, we would go around and share something we were grateful for (I vaguely remember once having to get around the table before we served up the food, which built up the anxiety and hunger so much more) and regret not saying it when the family was sitting around the table yesterday, so here are a few things I am grateful for:

1. My husband.

2. My family (by blood and by marriage)

3. My job! I am loving my kiddos this year!

4. Adam's job, which he is doing so great at!

5. Our Church calling as 13-14 yr old Sunday School teachers--Adam is such a good teacher.

6. Our home! It feels so nice to have our own home. I honestly didn't think this would happen for a few more years, so I sincerely thank all the family and friends who made this happen.

7. Good health.

8. The endless possibilities for our future at this moment. Anything can happen, and Adam and I are excited to see where life leads us now that we are settled and happier than we've ever been.

I hope that your Thanksgivings were just as content! Now I look forward to Christmas, which I am now ready for because Bree and Mason helped me put up our tree today. It looks so beautiful!

Bay Windows

2011-10-03T11:59:00.001-05:00

As a kid, I'd always wanted a house with a bay window so I could sit on the window seat and read. They just looked so cute and comfortable, and the perfect size. Now, we have a house with two bay windows, and I'm trying to figure out what to do with them. Granted, this is not a top priority on my house to-do list, so it won't happen for a few more years at least. But my brain is spinning with ideas and I want to get them down before I forget.

This is what we have to work with. Please disregard the poor lighting and the clutter. We are new homeowners.

This window is a little taller than the other one, so I was thinking, after we properly support the window by revamping the outdoor structure of it, I want to knock in the wall below it (on the inside of the house) and create a bookshelf about a foot deep and as wide as the window. We are limited as it is on shelf area (we have two very small bookshelves that couldn't hold all of our books anyway), so this would be a GREAT addition.

The kitchen nook

This window is almost twice as wide as the other window, and it's a great place for the gerbils at the moment. :) But what is this space really going to be used for? I can't wrap my head around that one yet.

Here are a few inspirational pictures I posted to Pinterest.

Source: google.com via Heather on Pinterest

This one is SO cute! However, I worry about the amount of heat coming through those windows, so I need some blinds behind it or something.

Source: windowblindscurtain.com via Heather on Pinterest

I really like how these windows are framed out with trim to make it look completed. Also, those shades would be perfect because they are adjustable and easily complemented with those long drapes on the sides.

Source: baywindowtreatmentsguide.com via Heather on Pinterest

I like this one because of the panel up on top of the blinds, so it covers all the hardware and hooks and stuff. I don't think we have that much room on our windows, but something to this effect would be good.

Anyway, what do you think? Any suggestions?

The (Almost) Finished Living Room!

2011-10-02T22:30:00.001-05:00

This has been a most productive week! Not so much for me, as I wasn't home for most of it, but for Adam, Rich and Lavita. Adam's parents came in on Tuesday and immediately got to work. Lavita brought our newly reupholstered chairs, which turned out gorgeous! Another day, a beautiful rug and lamp had been added. The rug was much better than the one I had found online, and it wasn't sold out. I might be getting my days mixed up, so forgive me if these are out of order. I know when I came home later on Thursday, there was a light on in front of the house. I thought, "Surely this can't be my house. Our light doesn't even work!" But, lo and behold, Rich had not only figured out the wiring problem, but they had replaced our worn out light with a very pretty rustic one. (Oops, I forgot to take a pic of that one.) The baseboards have also been finished (what a task!), a side table repainted, hinges replaced, sconces and picture hung, light covers replaced, and console table installed! It is truly a miraculous change thanks to a lot of hard work. It doesn't even look like the same house!

When Grandpa, Helen and Helen's sister arrived on Saturday morning, I was beaming with pride to show off our one finished room. It is now a very welcoming, comfortable place to sit and visit. I took Grandpa on a tour of the place, and upon leaving, he said, "Well, you've got a great place, here. I guess you can stay." So, now that we are Grandpa-approved, we can officially call it ours.

I'm sure all you want now is to see pictures, right? Well, here you go!

All that is left to finish is the couch! The end is in sight!

My goal this week, since I'm on Fall Break, is to finish the flooring in the hallway and hopefully declutter (unpack) some boxes in one of the bedrooms. We'll see if it actually gets done. :)

Happy Fall!

Sharing Down Syndrome Weekend

2011-09-11T22:25:00.000-05:00

This weekend we were privileged to attend the Sharing Down Syndrome Walk at the Tempe Diablo Stadium. I was thoroughly impressed with the turnout of friends and families who came to support the cause. The staff working the event were very positive and friendly. One of the volunteers even offered to get us some water while we were watching the kids play in the bounce house; they were that dedicated. Lavita made all of us a t-shirt that said "Lincoln's Heroes" on it and a cute little onesie for Lincoln! We got pictures with Superman, ate lots of free sugary food, played games, and the kids won some pretty cool prizes that kept them entertained for the rest of the day. I'm even excited for next year's walk!

After the festivities at the Walk, Chad, Megan, Adam and I went to Costco and grabbed a delicious lunch. I saw one of the students from my math class there, but he promptly avoided eye contact. :) I probably would have done the same if I were 10. Also, FYI for Costco-goers out there, only Costco members can make purchases now. So while you can bring a non-member friend with you, realize that you will be paying, so prepare ahead of time. It's not a really big deal, but we were caught off guard because we've never had them check before!

When we got home, Lavita and I drove to the east side of Mesa to pick up our free couch! Now we have 2 sturdy sofas (to be reupholstered) for the front room and the family room. It's nice to finally have enough room for everyone to sit!

Then we just relaxed for the rest of the day, playing Bananagrams (which I highly recommend) and watching the kids have fun with their toys. Oh, and leaving giant red marks on Lincoln's skin where he was laying on the printed part of the t-shirt. I really hope that washed off before church today! We finished off the day with a BYU football game against Texas, which we sadly lost. It is nice to be playing some new teams though.

I'm currently uploading the past 2 years' worth of videos from my video camera, so be prepared for a bunch of new posts in the next couple of weeks!

Shelf from Lavita (Thank you!)

New paint color: Champagne Gold

Our temporary drapes (though they compliment the space very well)

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend! We are proud to be Americans and are so grateful for all the sacrifices made for our freedoms this day.

Fun Finds From Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-06T22:12:00.002-05:00

I started this post on Sunday, I think, so here's the updated version...

I've had such a full, fun weekend with the in-laws already, and it's still going! Here are some fun things we grabbed on our girls' day shopping extravaganza:

Rich, Adam and J installed our microwave! Rich and J did an amazing job on those cabinets above it, too. The cabinet used to be at least 10 inches longer. They shortened the cabinet to give us more stove-top room, installed the microwave, then cut the doors to fit the new length. It looks really professional. :)

We found the perfect piece of art for the living room!! The painting connects all the colors in our color scheme, which used to be gray, but we just found so much more that coordinated with browns. Isn't it beautiful?

The garbage disposal just wasn't working, so Rich and Adam hooked up a new one. Thank goodness! I'm not staring at a sink full of nasty, undrained waste.

That fun beige stripey couch? Guess how much it was? Anyone? It was $4.98. Crazy, huh? It still has really good springs and foam, so Lavita said it should hold up for several more years once it is reupholstered.

We got some fabric to match our picture and color scheme. On Monday, Lavita and I painted the whole front room. It looks soooo much better! I haven't had a chance to take a picture of it in good lighting yet.

We're excited to see the family again this weekend for the Sharing Down Syndrome Walk around ASU! It's going to be a HOT adventure!!

House Pictures!

2011-08-14T20:38:00.000-05:00

As promised, here are a few pictures of the house in decent lighting. I would have taken more of the other rooms, but my memory card is missing! How that happened, I have no idea. Anyway...

Megan and Chad were gracious enough to come over Friday and Saturday to help us finish up the flooring. Take a gander. It's gorgeous!

I bought these chairs at a garage sale last weekend for $3 a piece! The fabric is still in sturdy shape, but one is faded terribly. They'll need to be recovered eventually, but for $6, I couldn't pass them up!

My other garage sale find, a $5 mirror already distressed and had mounting holes in the back that I didn't have to add myself!

I was too lazy to move the bedding before capturing the beauty of the floor, but it gives you an idea of how large the room is.

The beautiful hutch! I just need to repaint the countertop and it will be set.

The new fridge and stove, life's necessities. Don't those cabinets look great? Thanks Lavita and Megan!

Chad did an awesome job with the table saw to make sure the boards curved around every little corner. You should have seen his work with the transition strip to one of the bedrooms...very impressive!

This room is now finished, and we barely made it with the materials we had!

Overall, it was worth it. I love the look and I really enjoyed the company! We're not sure which of the hundreds of projects are next, but we'll let you know. I can't wait for Dad to come out in October and see the house (and bring me some stuff to fill it with)!

Thanks again Wallaces!

New Home!

2011-07-30T23:55:00.004-05:00

We have officially been in our home for 2 weeks now! Thanks to Adam's family, we have running water, new locks, painted cabinets, working appliances, and covered windows. Because I started a new job, I haven't had much time to work on the house, but it is nice to have it liveable. I haven't taken any pics of the house yet, but they are coming soon!

In the meantime, here are some pics of my classroom! It is HUGE! I have a faucet and a drinking fountain in my classroom. I don't have to take my entire class to the bathroom at the same time. I have a laptop that I can take home with me for work, a Promethean board, a document camera, and in a couple of weeks, my students will all have mini-laptops for classroom use. Things are already off to a great start!!

Last weekend, we went to Lincoln's baby blessing, which was beautiful! While hanging out with the fam afterwards, Mason tried on Papa's glasses. What a cutie!! I'm glad we're closer!

Found a Sweet Giveaway!

2011-07-11T16:54:00.002-05:00

There is an awesome giveaway going on here at kikicreates. She has some awesome tutorials on her site and the etsy shop she is giving away from has some really cute stuff. Check it out!

Interviewing Advice

2011-07-05T20:26:00.003-05:00

A friend of mine posted this WONDERFUL interviewing advice after she landed a 2nd grade teaching position. This sounds similar to the advice I got when I started interviews, but she did such a great job putting it into simple terms for the average teaching candidate! Thank you Jamie!!

A+ for you!!

Look what I found!

2011-07-04T19:58:00.002-05:00

While out looking for cardboard boxes this morning, I came across a box that was still intact and made noise when I moved it. I peeked inside to find a whole one of these beauties and her sister broken into little pieces! Sad, but what an awesome find! Adam looked up the skew number online, since it still had a bar code on it, and found that it's going for about $20. WOO HOO!!!!!

Lucky, huh?

For those who don't already know....

2011-07-02T13:07:00.002-05:00

I got a JOB!!!!!

I realize that anytime there is anything remotely exciting in my life that I want to blog about, I get a really strong urge to break out the whole "I'm pregnant!" shenanigans and see who faints. Kinda like shouting "FIRE!" in a crowded place to see who screams (just kidding, I've never done that). Hence the suspenseful title and the dot dot dot sequence. Too bad you'll all have to wait a little while longer. Haha!

Anywho, I got an email on Wednesday night from a principal asking me if I was still looking for a job and we set up an interview date for Thursday afternoon. He was very congenial and casual over the phone, asking the routine interview questions interspersed with comments about how much I would get along with some of the teachers at his school. He had asked if I had interviewed anywhere else and I said yes, so by the end of the interview, he offered me a job! (For those who don't know, this is crunch time for principals to finalize their teaching staff for the upcoming year.) Less than an hour later I got a call from the HR rep who extended the "official" offer and I got my contract yesterday!

I will be teaching 5th grade in a small school in a small district about 18 minutes away from our new house (thanks to Google Maps). The school's website offers some great insight into the kind of school it is, and it appears to be a very friendly, tight-knit community. They have a community garden, before and after school activities (like scrapbooking, computer science, and other really fun things I would want to try doing without a grade), and the Accelerated Reader program that I saw in action while I was student teaching and LOVED! (The students basically pick the book they want to read, read it, and take a quiz on it for points toward a monthly contest the librarian has. It's SOOOO motivational for kids who don't normally like to read.) The principal said that he has a very young staff (great!!!) and I'd be working with a stellar 5th grade teacher to show me the ropes.

I really couldn't have planned this better! (Well, in all honesty, I tried, but some people take a little longer getting back to you than others.) I am just so grateful everything worked out so quickly! I was just barely beginning to stress about the job situation, so this saved me from a lot of grief! I'm excited for this opportunity to learn more about working with the older chillens and about Arizona.

I don't know who all reads this blog, but for those that have seriously helped me out through this process with advice, letters of recommendation, and support, THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I couldn't have done it without you or without the experiences I had here in Houston. This past year has really prepared me for what is to come, I'm sure of it.

So I think this means I'm ready to move! We'll be out of here on the 15th and arrive in Mesa on the 16th so I can start orientation on the 18th before school starts on the 25th. Yay! Did you get all that? The next couple of weeks (literally) will be crazy!

Anyone want to help pack??? :)

Creations

2011-06-27T10:35:00.005-05:00

With all my free time (that I should be spending packing), I found something fun to make with extra scraps and hot glue...fabric rosettes! Well, to be honest, I didn't go out and get the hot glue gun till Saturday, so only the last 3 were made with it. The others were hand-sewn because I didn't know any other way to do it! Anyway, I found some tutorials online and just went with it. The felt on the back allows you to wear it on a headband, just bobby-pinned to your hair, or clipped onto a purse or something. The world is my oyster, right?

Can you guess which one I didn't make?

I tore apart an old skirt (sorry Mom), 2 of Adam's old t-shirts, used some old curtains fabric and a little fabric headband someone gave me that just wasn't my style as is, and now it's my favorite (the pink and green print one). Which one is your favorite? (These may just be this year's homemade Christmas gift idea!) :)

Hobby Lobby Paradise

2011-06-20T19:20:00.003-05:00

I've just been inspired! I walked into a Hobby Lobby store today just to see what it had, and I was blown away with aisle after aisle of discounted home decor. I couldn't stop gaping and taking pictures with my phone of little things I'd like to have in our new house. I'd like to keep it simple, with a little bit of its old charm. That's why I instantly fell in love with these door knobs (for cabinets and drawers in the kitchen).

Then I looked at end tables and entry tables, but couldn't decide which ones I like because I don't know what kind of decor is going in that front room. There are so many rooms to decorate, it's going to take us a while, but this was indeed an inspiring trip!

Any other home decor website suggestions are very welcome. Annie suggested HGTV, so that'll be my next stop. Thanks Smommy!

New Hairstyle

2011-06-15T21:28:00.002-05:00

A friend just posted this video on her blog, and I really want to try it! So for any of you reading this that wants to try something different, here you go!

We'll see how it goes with this mess of curls!

School's out for summer!

2011-06-06T15:13:00.002-05:00

Since Friday I've had Alice Cooper's song "School's Out" running through my head. It's not the only song in my head and it doesn't play all the time, but anytime I start to think about school, there it is.

What have I been doing with myself, you ask? Well it's only the first official day of summer, so I haven't done much. Here's how the last week of school went for me:

Monday-Memorial Day--NO SCHOOL!!

Tuesday-regular day. I played Magic School Bus in the morning and reviewed a few skills with the kids that they'll surely forget by next week.

Wednesday-regular day. Watched MSB again (thank goodness for internet videos) and had a few students help me clean up the classroom. I got my math and reading materials separated and sorted (then had to move them all again later on). Played Jeopardy and other review games to pass the time.

Thursday-Sports Day. We had 2 hours of games and activities in the morning before it got hot. The kids were also able to buy all kinds of sweet, sticky, sugary treats to keep them SUPER energized for the day (thank you Student Council). We went inside and watched Cars to cool off. After lunch we played a very tense game of baseball (my kids are not very friendly when it comes to competitive sports). Went inside and finished movie to cool off from the 100 degree weather (no joke).

Friday-Awards Day. Adam came to school with me after only getting a couple hours of sleep to help me clean and take stuff home. He also got to meet the kids, who absolutely ADORED him! You should have seen the stack of notes and letters from them. After the kids got their awards, we went outside for a recess/otter pop treat to waste a little time. Then we went inside and finished Cars while a few kids and I cleaned up. After the movie, the kids (those who weren't absent or left early) literally took everything off the walls and packed up ALL my books for me (with Adam's guidance, of course). We played Silent Ball when we got too tired of packing and then, school was OVER! I walked the kids to the pod and took a few buses out until my shift was up, then that was it. (I didn't even cry.) Adam took me to lunch at Chili's (yum!), which I had to eat later because the restaurant was full of teachers after their last day of school and I had to rush back for an afternoon meeting. Then I spent 3 hours getting the kids' Cum folders ready for next year, went back to the classroom and loaded a few boxes into the car. We were really too tired to do more, and I didn't think there was much left, so we went home and relaxed.

Saturday-(yes, Saturday) Work Day. I had to go into work at 8am to organize the Cum folders for next year and finish cleaning my room. Silly Heather forgot her classroom keys and an important folder at home that needed to be turned in, so I promptly drove home again to get them after the meeting. Then, after what I thought would take me an hour or so, I finished cleaning the classroom and checked out around 2pm. I said goodbye to the AP (since she was the only one still there by that point) and cried all the way home.
I was too tired and rushed to get everything out of the car when I got home so I just left it and got in the shower to prepare for my Skype interview with a charter school in Phoenix. I was ready by 3:30 and sat there for about 1/2 an hour before Adam asked, "Did you think to clarify if that was 3:30 Arizona time or Houston time?" DUH!! I ended up taking a much-needed nap before the interview. They did it over the phone since their Skype wasn't working, and I think it went ok. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

It's been a physically and emotionally exhausting weekend, so I canceled my staff development registration for today and stayed home to relax (and unload the car, go grocery shopping and start cooking a beef roast, a feat I've not attempted since my epic roast failure in 2008). We'll see how it goes.

In other news, we got the house! We don't close until July 13th, but now I can finally post videos of what I've been dreaming about since I saw it!

The house is huge and has so much potential. I'm so excited to decorate! Now that school's out, I'm sure all I'll be doing is watching HGTV to get ideas for decorating. Woohoo!!

Happy summer, everyone!

Don't you wonder what would happen...

2011-05-22T15:09:00.002-05:00

...if we treated our Book of Mormon like we treat our cell phones?

What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?
What if we flipped through it several times a day?
What if we spent an hour or more using it everyday?
What if we used it to receive messages from the "text"?
What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?
What if we gave it to kids as gifts?
What if we used it as we traveled?
What if we used it in case of an emergency?
Oh, and a few more things-
Unlike our cell phones, one Plan fits all.
Unlimited usage.
No roaming charges.
You always have reception.
No weak signals AND we don't ever have to worry about our Book of Mormon being disconnected because our Savior has already paid the bill!

-Author Unknown

The Laurel Advisor passed this out at the end of her lesson today and it really got me thinking. I've really been slacking off on my studying, and I DO wonder how my life would change if I treated the scriptures like my cell phone. Despite my busy day, I still manage to check my cell phone during my morning break, lunch break, and at the end of the day. I call family on my way home from work. It would be nice to see an uplifting message from the scriptures that many times a day instead of the disappointment that no one has called or texted yet.

My new goal is to try to get the scriptures on my iPod (somehow, because they don't have them on itunes yet, and I don't have an iPhone) to listen to on the way to school or on the way home. Or at least download and listen to Conference talks to keep the Spirit with me. There are so many ways to increase my scripture study everyday if I just take a few minutes to make the effort. I love this gospel. I know that it is true because I have read the Book of Mormon and received confirmation that it is indeed the Word of God. I know that it will be worth the effort if I can come home with a smile on my face because I have just been uplifted by the scriptures instead of distracted by the problems of my day. Adam will surely thank me for it as well.

So, THINK ABOUT IT! What's your new goal??

Happy May!

2011-05-01T21:12:00.004-05:00

Quick update: I survived my first field trip! We went to the Oil Ranch in Hockley, TX. It went surprisingly well! No one got hurt, and the kids had TONS of fun. The parents were very helpful and supportive. The only down side was when I set my backpack down on the train and put it back on without realizing there was gum on it. So now I have a huge glob of gum on my rump area that began turning a precious brown color by the end of the day. I had to go to Costco after school, so I had to change into one of the spare Youth Medium t-shirts so I didn't appear to have poop on my back. It was a little tight, but fortunately it was long enough to cover everything, and I didn't run into anyone I knew. Whew! My only regret is not getting a pic of the whole class and chaperones in our 2nd grade t-shirts. Maybe next time.

Here's some pics of what we've done in April!

And Happy May! 5 MORE WEEKS OF SCHOOL!!!!!

FINALLY.......!!!!!!!!!

2011-04-15T22:33:00.005-05:00

ADAM GOT ACCEPTED TO THE PHOENIX SCHOOL OF LAW!!!!! We got the letter on Monday, but didn't call anyone till Tuesday, and if we didn't call, I'm sorry! It's been a very busy week.

Adam has been looking up houses in Phoenix, and we've found a couple that we really like that have a SUPER reasonable price tag. They are even located in a very large neighborhood with lots of other houses, which guarantees to be close to schools and away from busy traffic. I like it. The only problem is that they're short sales. If you know what that means, KUDOS to you! Adam had to explain it to me in very small, simple words. Short sales generally are far less likely to go through because the bank has the final say on what happens. The owner or the bank is able to pull out at any time. Often times, the bank is not aware of the price the owner listed the house at, ......... (dots signifying endless complications). So he's in the process of figuring out what we need to do to make a bid on a house, etc. Scary! Exciting! Nervous! All at the same time.

In the meantime, we're surviving work and callings. My second graders are starting to feel the end of year jitters, which means I have to be on my A-game at ALL TIMES. I can't begin to tell you the things I've seen this week that are completely out of the norm. Or at least, I hope it's out of the norm. I don't want these things to be annual occurrences.

I got a compliment yesterday from the Math Skills specialist. She worked at another school in our district last year that has a reputation for having difficult students. She said she saw one class last year run off 2 first-year teachers before the middle of the year. And they didn't have quite the class I have right now! She thinks I am doing a great job with what I've got and guarantees that every year will not be like this. THANK YOU!!!!! So after dealing with the pressures of lesson plans, grades, parents (crazy and normal), faculty meetings, staff developments, and crappy hours, it is all worth it.

It finally hit me yesterday that I am an adult. I mean, I am working in a career that I have chosen (for some reason that often escapes me), I am married to a very supportive and loving husband, I have real bills to pay and long term plans to make. I was in the middle of teaching a math lesson when something reminded me of a friend, I guess. I wondered what other people my age were doing at that moment. Probably getting lunch with friends, then going back to class to take another test or to the library to study for one. The last time I was at the grocery story, I stood in the Easter candy aisle and actually contemplated buying and eating a whole bag of whoppers or Cadbury eggs by myself. Who's to stop me? I don't ask anyone for permission (unless it's a large purchase that Adam and I discuss beforehand), and no one would know. Ok, maybe my dentist. Or my husband if I came home with chocolate all over my hands. But really...I am an adult. I do what I want. What a week.

Since I haven't posted since January, here's what we've done since then:

JANUARY
-Visited California! I surprised Mom and came down for Gail's un-wedding weekend. I helped Dad a little teensy bit (compared to how much work was to be done) on the camper, hung out with good ol' Jim Plympton, went out to eat with Annie and Jane, and hung out with the whole fam. Then we drove to Chico to spend the night and drove to Corning in the morning to celebrate Grandpa's WEDDING to Helen! All the sisters but Aunt Sandra were able to make it up for breakfast. I laid flat in the back of the truck and Sarah opened it to show Mom what she brought....SURPRISE! She cried for at least half an hour. It was a quick trip, but well worth it! I'm looking forward to the next time I get a chance to go home.
-GERBILS!!! I almost forgot! We have two additions to the family: Master Chief and Luther. We got them on Martin Luther King day when we ventured to Petsmart for goldfish. Adam couldn't bear to look at boring old fish and continued wandering through the other animal aisles asking, "Can we get this one?" to almost anything else we saw. Finally we decided a gerbil would be nice, but it said they get lonely, so we should get 2. That sealed the deal. We left that night as a family of 4. ;) They are thriving! Luther has actually gotten a little fat and eats anything we give him. Master Chief loves running in his wheel and burying himself in pine chips as he sleeps. My students love watching videos of the little guys as they clean each other. They think the gerbils are wrestling! One student asked, "Which one normally wins?" Well, that would have to be Luther. He's bigger and demands more of his brother's attention. They think it's hilarious!

FEBRUARY
-Valentine's Day and Birthdays were combined into two fun-filled weekends. I bought a Houston City Pass for Valentine's Day. Since we couldn't go to all the places in one weekend, we split it into two. Adam took the LSAT on that Saturday, then we spent the rest of the day at the zoo. So many cute animals! I took lots of pictures that I'll upload later. The birthday weekend we went to the Space Center (NASA Mission Control), Rainforest Cafe, and the Aquarium. Again, pictures will follow.

MARCH
-I took two of my Texas certification tests and PASSED! I can apply for certification. -Spring Break! I spent the week relaxing. I literally didn't finish anything till Friday. And I'm still working on those things.

APRIL
-General Conference: really good. It reminded me of the old days watching it with my family and made me miss them! Thanks for the memories!
-Adam's acceptance letter
-I took my ESL Supplemental exam today. I figured I would pay for the Texas certificate once, so why not cover all the bases and get that label on it the first time. I'll post when I get the results (but I make no promises, as it's obvious how faithful I am at writing).
-It's been so beautiful, I've even spent a few days lounging by a friend's pool to soak up the sun. I don't think it's going to last very long though. It's already hit the 90 degree mark! Next time I'll be IN the pool. :)
-We have the YW BBQ Fundraiser tomorrow and I'm making the family recipe potato salad to enter into the cook-off. Wish me luck!

I hope your lives are going well too! We love and miss our family very much. We are so excited for the next stage in our lives and know that we will end up where we're most needed. Love to all!

What are you?

2011-01-14T23:19:00.003-06:00

My friend sent me a link to the Meyer Briggs Personality test, just for fun, to see what my personality was. I took the test, eager to find out what my personality was. I've been struggling with this for some time, as I've never really found one that truly matches who I think I am, not that I really know. So after the test, it gives you the results, one of 16 personality types. I start reading the description and think, "this is not me." So I tell Adam to take the test. He reads his results and I'm thinking, "This is exactly like you! It describes you to a T!" It must be pretty accurate, right? So what's wrong with me? There's nothing worse than subjecting yourself to one of these things to find out it's wrong, and after taking it a second time, finding out it's STILL wrong! I must have NO personality! (I mean, I've always second-guessed everything I do/am, but I didn't think I had second-guessed the whole personality away!)

After many deep breaths, some tears, and some soothing words from my loving hubby, I just start browsing through the other descriptions. Imagine that...I found mine! I must be really bad at taking tests or just really dishonest with myself, because this was not either of the results I got after taking the thing twice. Adam, being the logical one, looked over my discovery to declare that, yes, this really sounded like me, and yes, I think we might have found my personality. Have no fear! It's not lost!

It turns out I am an ISFJ (Introverted Sensing Feeling Judging). I am a protector, a fiercely loyal and hardworking person (aka, Adam's definition of a Hufflepuff--take his sorting hat quiz here). Other ISFJ's you might have heard of:

Famous ISFJs:

St. Teresa of Avila (Teresa de Jesus)
Louisa May Alcott
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Queen Elizabeth II of England
Robert E. Lee
Queen Mary I ("Bloody Mary") of England

U.S. Presidents:: William Howard Taft

Johnny Carson, comedian
Robin Roberts (Good Morning America)
Kristi Yamaguchi, US Olympic figure skater
Ed Bradley, journalist

Fictional:

Bianca in Taming of the Shrew
David Copperfield
Hero in Much Ado About Nothing
Melanie in Gone With The Wind
Ophelia in Hamlet
Dr. John H. Watson, M.D. (Sherlock Holmes' faithful sidekick)

That's right. I'm cut from the same cloth as 2 queens and Holmes' sidekick. It can't get much better than that. When I mentioned Taming of the Shrew to Adam, he burst out laughing, thinking, of course, of our dating experience (I can't imagine why). Then I clarified that I was not referring to Katherina (the shrew), but Bianca, her sister (though in Ten Things I Hate About You she was not portrayed very well). Interesting, huh? I think we've both mellowed out since our Petruchio/Katherina days of courting. Thank goodness. :)

So, I'm curious...what are you?

Mid-year Musings

2011-01-08T17:22:00.002-06:00

To the average person, the title of this post might initially send the message that I am not really all there. That perhaps I may have lost a marble or two. But let me tell you, I am infinitely aware of what time of year it is, and according to my calendar, I have survived half a year of teaching.

Can you believe it? I can't. Really. It still feels like I'm just getting started. I know exactly how many stumbling blocks I climbed over, and how many more I still have to climb over to successfully say that I am a real, boni-fide (sp?) teacher. But you know what? I'm okay with that.

When we arrived home from AZ late on Saturday night/early Sunday morning, all I could think was, "There is no way I am going to survive this week." My stomach was churning as I thought about going back to school with those students. Thoughts of little 7 and 8 year olds eating me alive swam through my mind. How was I supposed to stand in front of them like some authority figure and teach them anything? I could barely manage to say "good morning" to my fellow teachers in the hall who were all aglow with their "Happy New Years" well-wishes. What was wrong with these people? Is this what teaching is all about? Being excited and perky at 7am the day after vacation? I really wasn't ready for that. Maybe I wasn't used to the idea of everyone saying "Happy New Year" to one another. Do people really do that 3 days after the new year starts? I thought it was merely a New Year's Day thing.

Anyway, the week went by surprisingly fast. And another surprising thing...83% of my students actually passed the 3rd six weeks Science Benchmark! I had serious doubts about their ability to come back from break and learn anything, let alone recall facts and information from lessons given a month ago. If that's not a reflection of a little good teaching, I don't know what is.

Basically, my students amaze me. It's a constant reminder that God's creations are so special and capable of achieving far more than they appear capable of.

I forgot to mention earlier that I have a new calling as a Young Women advisor for the Miamaids (14-16 year-old group). You may ask, with all the ever-present stress and time constraints of your first year teaching and living in a new city and being a responsible wife and everything, why would you take on a calling with very specific time commitments? I figured if Heavenly Father can help me remain sane through all of that, then I think I owe him a little bit of my time to be a good influence for those girls. I got to know some of the girls a little better at this past week's activity, and I really enjoyed it! I shouldn't sound so surprised, but I didn't think I would get a calling like this until after I had kids or had at least a few gray hairs. I'm not really sure how much I really have to offer. But it was surprising how some of them are really just looking for a little acceptance and reassurance that they're doing what's right. I can at least give them that.

I think I needed to take a moment and remind myself that the beginning of my calendar year was rough, but it really hasn't been that bad. I've grown a lot and learned even more. Heavenly Father has blessed me with a very supportive husband, enough patience for myself (to know that I may not have all those marbles, but I'll find the rest of them soon enough), and loving family and friends. I know that this is going to be an incredible year!! I hope your new year will come with the knowledge that Heavenly Father is always looking out for you and loves you very much!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Woops!

2010-11-20T23:28:00.002-06:00

I put good health twice. So instead (something I was saving for another thankful day) I'll say I'm thankful for the example of moms who cook (Mom and Lavita)! Thank you for showing me how to keep myself and my husband from starving. I hope to someday be as creative a cook as both of you! Love you both lots!

Thanksgiving Catch-Up

2010-11-20T22:42:00.002-06:00

Obviously I was a little over-ambitious about my goal to write something everyday. I thought, "Surely it can't be hard to log in for a couple of minutes everyday." I don't know why I set myself up for stuff like this. But I'm going to try to pick up where I left off since I know there is a LOT to be grateful for. Like:

8. A working car! It's so convenient to have a car that runs well to get us where we need to go.

9. My students. Sometimes they catch me off guard and say things like, "Mrs. Wilkinson, I bet your husband thinks he has a really great wife because I think you're probably pretty silly." (I think she meant I'm silly at home, but who really knows?)

10. Gatorade. We've been feeling a little sick lately, and this stuff is like my wonder drug. So I think I need to go get more.

11. Health insurance. I feel like part of the big-people world now because I have health benefits to worry about. Yes!

12. The flashlight on my keychain. Since daylight savings ended, it's been getting dark around 5:40 or so every night. Sometimes I'm just not ready to leave school before it gets dark, and the light outside my classroom doesn't work, so I had to walk from the classroom to the building in almost total darkness! That teeny flashlight is my security blanket (as well as my pepper-spray).

13. Sweatpants. It feels so good to come home and snuggle up on the couch in my cozy sweatpants. Nothing compares.

14. Cell phone. Thanks for keeping me connected to my family and friends. I promise I'll try not to forget you when I leave the apartment anymore.

15. Hair products. Learning to live in humidity has been a real challenge. Thank goodness for one less thing to worry about: frizzy hair.

16. Teacher discounts. Without them, I'd be spending ridiculous amounts of money on things for the classroom without getting anything in return (like rebates, discounts, bonus points for free stuff, etc.). It's good to be a teacher!

17. The ability to read. Sometimes I think we take this for granted because, as adults, it's something we do everyday, but when I see students who struggle with it, I come to appreciate the time my parents spent with me to teach me how.

18. Heat pack. I don't know what I'd do without it! I can't even fall asleep without that little bundle of warmth under my neck. It's a major stress reliever.

19. Hot chocolate. What is fall without a little cup of chocolate love?

20. Good health. I don't really notice how good it is until I lose it! And I'm grateful that we haven't been affected by anything serious. I can handle the small stuff.

I'm sure this is more than some people care to know, but this is the reason for the season! I'll try to keep up with it better this week since...

21. Thanksgiving Break is here! I'll have the whole week off to spend with my hubby and cook delicious food for Turkey Day. We'll finally get to catch a break for longer than a couple of days (weekends just aren't enough!). I'm sure I'll find lots more to be thankful for this week as I prepare a turkey ALL BY MYSELF! It's the ultimate domestic-diva test...without the help of Mom or Lavita to lean on! I'm sure it'll turn out fine (and Adam won't complain too much if it doesn't).

Days of Thanksgiving

2010-11-07T17:22:00.002-06:00

A friend posted an idea on her blog about writing something I'm thankful for each day of the month of November. I think it's a good challenge because I know there are a lot of things in my life that I take for granted. So here's a catch-up for the first 7 days of the month.

1. My husband. He is so patient! He knows me better than I know myself most of the time and is very good at keeping me on my schedule. Come 8:30pm, if I'm still at the computer, he'll kick me off and make sure I'm in bed at a decent time. He's very computer savvy, which comes in handy with my lack of technological skills. Cheesy, but I love him a lot.

2. The gospel. I've heard many people say, "I know where I'd be without the Church in my life, and it wouldn't be pretty." I feel like the Church is such a huge part of who I am that even if I wasn't a member, I'd soon find my way there. I know my personality is not matched to the party-girl night life, and I'd much rather sit at home with a carton of ice cream and a movie, but my life feels so much more enriched with the gospel. I know that there's a purpose for me being here on earth and that there's so much work to do to improve myself and become more like Christ.

3. My family. They give me another purpose in this life: a place to belong. I know we don't always (meaning rarely) agree on things, but when it comes down to it, they are the people that I can relate to. I mean, who else says "thee-ate-r" instead of "thee-ter"? (That was one of the things Adam pointed out to me before we got married, and I'm sure it comes from my family.) And it's hard for other people to understand the reasoning behind sitting in front of the tv with half a gallon of ice cream and eating out of it with a spoon. Or little inside jokes about Aunt Edna that will only EVER exist in a car with just the three of us. If I did that with anyone else, they would just think I was crazy. So, yes, I am thankful for my family.

4. My job. I've been working a lot, and thus complaining a lot, but I am very grateful to have a job. Especially in this economy. We can rest assured that we have something to live off of (and pay back loans with).

5. Houston fall weather! It's been beautiful here! Sunny skies and a high of 70 degrees? Yes, ma'am! I'm loving it.

6. Good health. I now religiously take a multivitamin every day, which has kept me from getting sick these past few months (not that I haven't been exposed to enough runny noses to keep me down flat till Christmas).

AND 7. Our apartment. I am glad that I spent the first couple weeks here getting it set up so now I can enjoy it when I am home. I have beautiful fake red flowers that never get old to look at as I work and it still makes me happy. :)

Stay tuned for what I'll be grateful for tomorrow!

Hard to believe...

2010-10-29T23:58:00.002-05:00

But it's true. Today, before I could even realize what was coming out of my mouth, I said "y'all." I was talking to my students in the hallway and it sort of slipped out. Don't worry, there wasn't a drawl or anything. Sometimes I wish I really had a Texas accent so I could get away with saying things like, "C'mon baby" without sounding like a creepy trailer park high school dropout. Maybe I should just stick with "sweetie" and "bud" for now.

Yeehaw! Y'all come back now, ya hear? :)

It's been a good week...

2010-10-08T21:45:00.005-05:00

Hello out there! Things are still going well for us here in Houston. Here' s a little update of our week:

I've been teaching up a storm, as usual. My attempts to get my planning for the next week done on Monday or Tuesday were unsuccessful, but they did get finished on time (which is more than I can say for previous weeks).

I attended the Relief Society 'Weekly Meeting' kickoff social thingy on Tuesday night. I was able to socialize with some sisters from our ward and eat some delicious pumpkin pie! (In honor of the new season.)

I rounded off the school week with a full day of staff development today (which meant NO STUDENTS!) followed by a relaxing trip to the grocery store. I say relaxing because I was not in any rush to get home to finish lesson plans or to prepare for the next school day, and Adam was studying so I would have interrupted him anyway. I also just needed a little time to relax and make a mental list of all the really cool things I wish I could buy at Costco (lots of books, Halloween costumes, pumpkin pie), if only those things were really necessary. And, for the first time in what seems like a YEAR, I got there while there were still samples out! I got to try a few items that are on my quick-fix dinner list for the next shopping trip. Normally I get there after the samples have been cleaned up or on a Saturday when it's so busy that I always end up walking by right after someone has grabbed the very last one.

I FINALLY realized that we have become creatures of habit. Adam noticed this long ago, but I was in denial until now. On weekdays, I usually pick up something for us to eat on the way home. We eat as we relax and watch a short TV show before I get things ready for the next school day. On Fridays, meaning almost every Friday for the past month or so, we have had dinner at Los Cucos, the delicious Mexican restaurant at the mall. How long do you have to frequent a place before they call you a 'regular'? My one hope for not being a creature of habit is that I have gotten something different EVERY time we go. Adam still gets his steak chimichanga with guacamole, only now he asks for a side of sour cream (I'm thinking this is going to be added to the habit, so it doesn't really count).

Adam has been studying all week long for the LSAT. Really, he's been studying for the past two years, since he took the practice version. He took about 1 test a day this week to finish his preparations, and now he is soundly asleep, surely dreaming of number 2 pencils and bubble sheets. Countdown is T minus 10 hours (or so). Wish him luck!

It's been a good week. And I get Monday off for Columbus day, so I'm going to make this an extra special weekend by sleeping in till 9am on Monday. Yes!

P.S. Have I shown pics of the classroom yet? Well, here's what it looked like a month ago. It's still pretty much the same.

Growing pains...

2010-09-19T17:11:00.003-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted. Too long. I think whoever reads this blog must think that my students have eaten me alive because no one is here to post anything. Well, that's semi-true. School has consumed my life. Just ask Adam. Gone are the days when I'm home in the afternoons to hang out with him and actually have a decent meal on the table for dinner. (Well, to be honest, the table is more for studying/working. The couch is the place for eating.) My schedule has been like this:

5:30am-wake up
6:15am-leave for school
6:40am-start preparing for school
7:45am-school day starts
3:00pm-school day ends (there's supposed to be a 1/2 hour lunch in there somewhere, which is usually spent making copies or getting things ready for the afternoon)
3:45pm-bus duty is over and I get to start preparing for the next day (i.e. copies, lesson plans, grading, calling parents, meetings, etc.)
6:50pm-leave school (because they kick me out)
7:15ish-get home with dinner (usually something I pick up on the way home that is fast and cheap, but not usually drive-thru)
7:30pm-Jeopardy while we eat and I tell Adam all about my day
8:00pm-more work time
9:30-10:00pm-bed time

Then I wake up and start the routine all over again. Can you say fun? Oh, and Saturday mornings are now going to be taken by training meetings that I don't get paid for. Super fun.

Long story short, school consumes my life. But there are some positives to that. I have some very sweet students that tell me I'm the best teacher they've ever had (too bad there's no way to verify that). I get a paycheck twice a month. I get medical benefits (finally). I get to work with children (which was the ultimate goal, right?). I am learning a tremendous amount that will help me be able to survive this career in the long run. It's making me grow, and as we all know, growing is painful. I'm learning to deal with it.

Enjoying the last days of Paradise

2010-08-08T15:00:00.002-05:00

Since today is my last day of freedom before school starts (and hopefully a consistent diet and exercise regimen), we are enjoying some simple pleasures:

1) Peanut butter cup popcorn: this is how mine turned out, but theirs looks better. Check out that link for the recipe.

2) Leftover cold pizza. Mmm, mmmm. And the best part is, I didn't have to cook it. I should probably be cooking up a storm of frozen dinner recipes so I can have something to eat when I come home from long days of meetings this week, but instead, I'd like to just enjoy my cold pizza and my time with my hubby.

New Apartment

2010-08-06T19:14:00.002-05:00

Here it is! Enjoy!

My Classroom!

2010-08-05T20:43:00.006-05:00

So I visited my classroom today! I already have some ideas to make it look more classroom-y. It's a "temporary" building, aka portable. Complete with wood paneling and a chalk board. Seriously.

Tonight we drove to the temple, which is less than ten minutes away from home! It's beautiful. On the way back I really needed ice cream to make my throat feel better, since I'm pretty sure I have a canker sore in my throat. Nothing's better than Ben & Jerry's Strawberry Kiwi sorbet. :)

Houston

2010-08-05T12:13:00.003-05:00

So, we made it! We're all moved in and really enjoying our new apartment. I'll post pictures or a video soon. Yesterday I signed my contract! I am officially a teacher in the Aldine Independent School District. Today we are going to the temple, which is only 7 minutes away from us, and then visiting my classroom! I want to get an idea of what the layout is so I can start making plans for it. My mind will not stop racing with ideas for the classroom and questions about my students...how many will I have? What will they be like? Will I have enough supplies for everyone? So much to think about! We have been so blessed with this opportunity and just so relieved that things are working out.

So I start the "Reach 2 Teach Induction Academy" on Monday (goes through Wednesday), then start teacher days on Thursday and Friday, and I'll be on a plane to AZ by Friday afternoon! Lots to look forward to!

More to come later, I'm sure!

Classroom Book Wishlist

2010-07-24T20:19:00.003-05:00

For the past 2 days all I can think about is my classroom...MY classroom...for MY students...where I will be teaching on MY OWN! Anyway, I've been thinking of lots of ideas for MY classroom and what I want for it. I realized I have like 5 kids books. NOT acceptable for a teacher! So I'm assembling a book wishlist for my classroom so I can check them off as I buy them and remember what I have. I'll probably keep adding to this list over the next several weeks, so suggestions for appropriate kid-reading material are much appreciated!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid series
Shel Silverstein poetry
Jack Prelutzky poetry (soooo funny!)
Goosebumps
Magic Treehouse series
The Story of Ferdinand
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
Tikki Tikki Tembo
The Paper Bag Princess
The Tale of Despereaux
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
Fancy Nancy books
Jan Brett books
Kevin Henkes books (Chrysanthemum, Julius the Baby of the World...)
old Golden Books stories
Nancy Drew
Good Night Texas by Adam Gamble
Arthur Adventure Series (like the PBS show)
L Is for Lone Star: A Texas Alphabet by Carol Crane
Mercer Mayer books
Bernstein Bears books
Percy Jackson and the Olympians series
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Encyclopedia Brown series
Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
Magic School Bus books!
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Dr. Seuss books

I'll keep adding more, but this is good for now!

GUESS WHAT?????

2010-07-22T20:26:00.002-05:00

I GOT A JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Which means, of course, that we're moving! To Houston! I got the call today to ask me to be a 2nd grade teacher for Sammons Elementary in the Aldine Independent School District. I need to be there by the end of July so I can get my fingerprints in by August 1st. Then the new teacher induction academy begins Aug. 9th, contract days start the 12th, I'll be flying to AZ for the reunion on the 13th, and school starts on Aug. 23rd. It's going to be a busy month, but I've been waiting for this for such a long time! The HR director said he's had my papers on his desk since April, but they couldn't hire me till they got the funds for it. 3 1/2 months! But I got the job, and we'll be making good money (with benefits) and I couldn't be happier!

So, we're moving as soon as we know that our apartment is reserved, which should be in the next couple of days. The apartment locator for the district really helped me out today. I called her shortly after I received the call and she immediately went to work finding us 3 great places that had openings NOW. So we called, filled out the application and are hoping to hear back soon. The complex is very NEW, SAFE, and CHEAP! Since I'm a TEACHER (WOO! I'll never get tired of saying that), they waived my application and administrative fee and will take $500 off our first month's rent. So we'll move into a nice apartment for about $400 (covering deposit and what's left of 1st month's rent). SAWEEEEET! I can't stop thinking about the place...it's beautiful. It's 763 square feet (about 100 more than we had in Provo), a full size washer and dryer, new appliances, wood floors, an island in the kitchen, a built-in desk in the bedroom, swimming pool, NEW and fully equipped fitness center, AND it's only 15 minutes from school.

I am so excited! I'm on Cloud 9 and I don't think I'll be able to come down for a couple more days. Which will help me get through the packing we have to start tomorrow so we can be ready to leave by Sunday!

Pictures of the 4th!

2010-07-10T12:40:00.006-05:00

So this post will mostly be pictures because, well, there are a LOT. I took pictures of EVERYTHING we saw in Chicago on Sunday. We took the train into the city and got there around 1/1:30. We walked from Union Station to Taste of Chicago, Millennium Park, Navy Pier, John Hancock Building, and hustled back to Union Station to miss our train by 5 minutes. But we caught the 6:30 train instead and we didn't have to suffer through the crowds after the fireworks that night. Thank goodness!

I anticipated that this would take a VERY long time to put these up (it's been over a week since I started), but I don't think I'll ever do that again! Time to finally figure out that Picasa website so I can just post collages and not deal with mile long posts of pictures. I hope you still enjoy it!

1 1/2 Years!

2010-07-02T22:36:00.003-05:00

Sunday was our 1 1/2 year anniversary! I don't know if anybody really celebrates this milestone, but at least we acknowledged it. And we acknowledged it before my mom had a chance to! Usually she calls me at 7 in the morning to say "Happy Anniversary"! Ha! We beat ya to it this time. We didn't do anything special, but it is hard to believe it's been that long already. Some days I feel like we've been married 10 years already because I'm so comfortable living with Adam. Other days I feel like a newlywed! But everyday is special because we're together. And I'm lovin' it. :)

Silence is GOLDEN

2010-06-23T20:31:00.002-05:00

Like the beautiful sunset that I saw tonight after that thunderous storm not too long ago. No more thunder, no more rain, just a sky that looks washed in yellow. Like looking through yellow sunglasses or something. Peace and quiet. :)

Happy hump day!

2010-06-23T18:46:00.004-05:00

It's the middle of the week, so we're just getting over the "hump" in the middle, get it? :) Anyway...

I took a couple of videos of the weather that's been going on out here. Crazy! It's usually over as quickly as it starts, but it can last about an hour. I though Utah was unpredictable, but this... this is different. I guess that's Midwest weather for ya.

A couple weeks ago there were 2 birthdays! J's birthday was on the 9th and Nathaniel's on the 12th, so my week was full of cake-baking!! I was so excited. For J's, I made a dark chocolate cake (from the box, I haven't been daring enough to make one from scratch just yet), then made chocolate ganache for the filling and the frosting. I topped the cake with some Halo Wars Lego figures, which rounded it off nicely. There was even a turret that swiveled 360 degrees. SOOOOOO rich and sooo good! Chase (J's brother) said it was the best cake he'd ever had. Thank you, thank you, thank you very much. :) Then for Nathaniel's birthday I made a Swiss chocolate cake with chocolate mousse for the filling and the frosting. This one was my personal favorite because I like the light taste and texture of it better than the heaviness of the ganache, but both were VERY good. I didn't get a picture of Nathaniel's, but rest assured it was properly decorated with Han Solo and Chewbacca Star Wars figures. After Nathaniel's dinner out at Red Robin (a birthday MUST), we went and saw the new Robin Hood movie. It was goooood. I wasn't as overly thrilled with it as the guys, but I liked it and would see it again if it comes out on Netflix.

In other news, I saw the Chicago skyline for the first time yesterday when I was driving for my boss. While I waited through stop-and-go traffic I took a picture on my phone, since that was the only camera on me, so you don't get to see it but it looks pretty much like this:

Oh! And I got a haircut. It barely touches my shoulders when it's curly, I don't know how long straight. But I loved the new place I went to. I felt like the stylist actually new what she was doing and appreciated her insight to help my frizz in this weather.

Have a good week! It's halfway over. :)

It just won't STOP!

2010-06-19T01:40:00.002-05:00

How long can a runny/stuffy nose last? I'm telling you, I have blown my nose more times than I can count over the past few days and you'd think that I was completely out of ... whatever it is dripping in my head. But noooooooo...it just keeps on coming. Considering the rest of me is feeling pretty good, I'm counting on this thing being done in the next couple of days. It has to end sometime right?

I got a JOB!

2010-06-04T12:27:00.009-05:00

LOOOONNGGG post, just so you know! But there are pics at the end, I promise.

So last Sunday night Adam's friend Redge called me and asked if I would be interested in working for him as an assistant. He's a sales rep and really needs some extra help in his daily tasks of researching areas and documenting his sales, plus finishing a Master's thesis and spending time with his three boys (who are soooo adorable!). Adam and all the other techs really, really like Redge because he's a great rep to install for, he's trustworthy, and he's nice. So I trusted his judgment and took the job! I'll be working up to 5 hours a day, depending on if I'm driving around an area or not. Yesterday I went out to drive for the first time, and it was actually quite enjoyable! I got to see new parts of Illinois that I'd never seen before and listen to the radio while I do it. Or I just have lots of time to think while I'm out there. Kind of a scary thought...all that time by myself in a silent car...I thought I'd be lonely, but it was actually great!

After driving around yesterday, I went to lunch at Red Robin with some of the other wives. It was fun! While I was the only one without a baby, it was great to be able to help out with the other kids and not have to take them home, though I would love the opportunity to babysit, if it ever comes up. It was nice to be able to talk to girls about things husbands don't care to talk about, no offense sweetie. And it felt like, since we're usually home by ourselves all day, we should stick together (if nothing else than to stay sane). We talked about taking a trip into the CITY to see the museums and aquarium and stuff, and it seems pretty doable even without all of us having cars. One of the ladies mentioned the Metro (public transportation, which I'm usually pretty scared to use in a city I don't know anything about, fearing I'll be left someplace without a way back and have to wait till Adam gets off work at who-knows-what-time to drive all the way out to pick me up). But she said she actually feels pretty comfortable about it, so I guess it's a plan! Though I don't know when. We'll figure that out soon though.

I made friends with another lady at the pool, Sharon, who is a retired 2nd grade teacher, of all things! So we hit it off right away. She's very easy to talk to, and we both love reading, plus she has an incredible library of mystery books that she offered to loan me if I ever needed it. Well, needless to say, I took advantage of that right away! By the time I'd met her I'd already read all the novels I brought out (I only brought 3 though, so it serves me right), so it was perfect timing. I just finished a book that I thought was one of the ones Megan mentioned on her Cookie Wednesday blog, but it turns out it was a different author. This was Diane Mott Davidson's book "Fatally Flaky", which was pretty good, but fairly predictable. The recipes in the back look really good, but I'm still so amateur at cooking that I'm afraid to spend so much money on all those ingredients if I'm going to ruin it. It's one of my goals to become a better cook this summer, so I'm gradually building confidence to try new things, much to Adam's confusion and skepticism. Not that he keeps me from trying, but the look he gives when I suggest one of my crazy ideas tells me he'd probably enjoy it more if I stick to the basics.

So the other day we got to go to a Schaumberg Flyers baseball game! The company gave us tickets for FREE, and I'd never been to a semi-pro/minor league baseball game before, so Adam, J and I all went. We only saw the last two innings, which I thought were pretty exciting, from shaded seats in a box! I think we were only two boxes away from the press box, so we could see the guy announcing. It was fun to see the community coming out to support their team, and I really hope we get to go again!

Here's a LOT of pictures that I've taken since we arrived in BLOOMINGDALE, IL!

Our Mother's Day BBQ!
(In honor of all the mothers we love but couldn't share this with.)
I know it's late, but Lavita: thanks for raising such a smart, good-looking, sweet son that makes me so happy! And Mom: thanks for being there for me and raising me to be who I am! I love you both so much!

The barbecue at Camden at Bloomingdale

Adam grillin' up some yummy burgers. The sunglasses look hott on him, don't you think?

J and Devin playing some baseball

The stash.

Yummy monkey bread. Didn't turn out as gooey as I'd hoped, but still delicious.

Adam brought home roses for me one day when I was feeling especially lonely. How sweet!

Geese crossing the road on our way to the game. Geese are EVERYWHERE around here! And so is their poop. Better watch your step. :)

The Gary Southshore Railcats

Proud supporters

The Schaumberg Flyers! (We won!)

A GRAND TOUR OF THE APARTMENT:

Our kitchen

The dining table/desk/office...

Kitchen counter, part of couch, hallway (the bedroom is on the left, where the light is coming from)

Living room (and Adam), balcony where the bright light is.
We actually moved the couch and chair about 5 ft away from the wall because it was too hard to see the TV from that far back (it's a VERY big room).

Bedroom: we get pretty fancy in our decor (that's a black sheet thumb-tacked to the wall)

Nice big dresser

The lumps in the bed are the decorative pillows from the couch because the mattress sunk in really bad in the middle. Again, notice our fancy side-table, aka cardboard box.

Hallway leading to bathroom with walk-in closet on left and shoe closet on right (though both are pretty empty--we're not used to this much space).

Because of this, I do at least 2 loads of laundry every week. We used to only do 2 loads of laundry every 2 weeks at our old place!

The catch-all closet for all things miscellaneous.

Living room (with fireplace)

Notice the gap between couch and wall

View to the left of balcony

View to the right (if you can see those tiny red letters out in the distance, that's the grocery store...SOOOO convenient!)

Our storage closet, though we don't have enough things at the moment to put into it.

I hope you enjoyed the tour! We really like our place, and the location, and we're getting to know some of the people here so it's going to be a pretty relaxing summer!

Raining...again?

2010-05-21T14:17:00.004-05:00

So, it's raining...again. We had one really good day of sunshine this week. It was FABULOUS!! I got to lay around by the pool, swim some laps, and meet another lady who lives her by herself without much to do. And, thanks to my Huggies Little Swimmers sunscreen, I didn't even get burned! I know I'm not any tanner than I was the day before, but it is comforting to know that I'm not getting skin cancer anytime soon. Adam is extremely grateful for this as well, considering he is at such a high risk and wants to prevent everyone around him from getting it. Hence, the 50SPF sunscreen in Blue Melon Splash. Fab-u-lous.
In other news, I have a job interview with Macy's on Tuesday! I'm excited, but not getting my hopes up since I have no idea what my chances are of actually landing this job. Here's a little idea, though: I have 0 experience in retail, I am leaving in August, and I don't have a car to commute anywhere if they want me at another location. But I am personable, dedicated, creative, and I write a BRILLIANT cover letter, if I do say so myself. I may have convinced myself that teaching experience provides great ground support for the retail world. I think that, in itself, spells success.

So aside from lounging around at the pool and hopelessly wishing for a job, what have I been doing? Well, I've scrapbooked, pulled out my sketchpad, dusted off the old camera (I mean seriously old, complete with real film and everything), finished a couple of books, worked out (in the apartment and FINALLY at the fitness center, which is lacking in a few things), watched old movies and LOTS of HGTV, and generally relaxed. Sounds great, right?

I have also had time to reflect on what I am grateful for. I am grateful for a husband that comes home in the middle of the day to pick up his forgotten PB&J sandwiches and give me one of those "I'm not going to let you go" hugs that make me want to cry. I'm grateful for the job he has which allows him to study for the LSAT on his down time (the results of which show how much I should be studying the same thing if I want to win an argument or 2). In relation to that, I'm grateful that Adam humbly concedes when I make a really good argument. This doesn't happen often, but I have actually won 2 discussions this week, which I think is a new record! He's so good about acknowledging a good argument when it comes along, which makes me feel valued. I'm grateful for my family. I got to talk to both of my sisters yesterday and it really made things feel complete. I'm sorry I haven't done this as often as I should, but it feels good to get back on track. I'm grateful for the gospel which has helped me stay grounded in all of the changes happening in my life. I know that whether or not I get the job I want or complete as many things as I want to on my life's to-do list I am working on something important. I am improving myself day by day to become more like my Savior. And hopefully in the long run, these efforts will be rewarded with checking off some of those things on my list. But because of the gospel, I know that I am loved, and that is what's important.

It's really cathartic to write all of this stuff down. And one day, after I have kids and make this blog into a book, I can look back on it and add lots of other things to this list. Great, huh? What are you grateful for?

Now I am going to take Adam's suggestion and go look at the cute little puppies in the mall and maybe even go see a chick flick. Yay!

Chicago!

2010-05-08T13:03:00.001-05:00

Ever since I found out we'd be moving to Chicago, the thought stirs up a one word rendition of "Chicago" by Frank Sinatra because that's the only part I know.

Anyway, we're here! The apartment is HUGE! And consequently, very empty. We didn't bring much of our own stuff along, so it just looks kind of bare. Oh well. It's only 3 months, right? Right now I'm using someone else's wireless internet connection because we won't get ours till sometime next week. But with the internet comes 200 channels with DVR (whatever that is). Adam's started joking last night that the TV is going to become my best friend during the day because I need someone to talk to. Apparently my response to him coming home last night too obviously a need for attention, so 200 channels it is. This means I can watch the Food Network!

After 2 weeks of packing, cleaning, moving, driving, and storing, I am enjoying my break immensely. And now I at least get to see Adam at the end of the day, which makes it SOOOOO much better! The last time we were apart was only a week. This time it was a week and a half! It's amazing what a difference 3 days makes. And I think this time was full of a lot more stressful things than before. Oh, it's good to be together again!

So, to make a long story short, the move was successful. We had a few bumps along the way, as well as a few wrong turns, a cramped 3-person cab, and sweltering heat, but we survived! I'm so thankful for our families that have been so helpful in this move. And I'm so glad Dad and Chris offered to help drive! I could NOT have done that by myself. No sir. I'm also so glad it's DONE. I never want to do that again, but undoubtedly we'll have to do it at least a couple more times in our lives.

Until then, I'd rather stick with my current hardships: trying to figure out what to do today, calculating how many scrapbook pages I can get done in one hour, checking out the view of the parking lot from our balcony window, and not letting my shredded wheat get soggy. I actually have a system that requires the milk jug to sit just next to the bowl of cereal so I can pour in a little bit of milk at a time until I eat the last piece. Oh, the joys of boredom. I'm sure it'll only last another week or so until I become so antsy that I'm forced to find a part time job to keep me occupied. Either that or make friends in the ward that aren't opposed to me following them around all day so I'm not at home by myself.

Anyway, I'll try attaching some photos to the next post so you can see what I see here in Bloomingdale, IL!

This Week...

2010-04-17T22:09:00.000-05:00

Here is a picture of the Houston Temple. That's where we'll be! It's so pretty.

I got back from Houston a week ago and time has just been flying by so quickly! Megan stayed with us Saturday night through Monday afternoon, which was so fun! Although all we did was watch TV shows and eat popcorn that shriveled from the amount of butter we attempted to drizzle on it, we had a great time. :)

Monday I went back to school for my last week and a half. I was in such a good mood because I knew I only had a short time left, and the good mood was crushed before the bell even rang to start the day. A 3rd grader from another classroom thought it would be funny to kick a soccer ball into traffic while I wasn't looking. Busted.

I got to play volleyball again for the first time in a couple years I think. My old roommate and I played at the park a couple days in a row and now I'm so sore! I walk like a grandma and I severely jammed or broke a toe. But it felt good to play again!

Last night Adam took me out to Los Hermanos. We hadn't been there in a while and we thought we should show our patronage one last time before we head out. It was so good! The only problem was that the size of the guacamole cup shrank and we still paid $2.39 for it. But it's nice to have those opportunities where we can enjoy our time together without cooking or cleaning up. :) Then we had a relaxing evening watching Arrested Development until I fell asleep.

Today I went out looking for boxes for the move. I checked a few of the local restaurants and found tons! We haven't put anything into the boxes yet, but we have them so that brings us one step closer to the actual move. :( Tonight I made beignets (like southern donuts) from a Rachel Ray magazine recipe. Good, but not that impressive. Maybe I did it wrong. But now I know how to deep fry in a pot...yay!

Here's to the last week...Yay!

Update from Houston!

2010-04-09T16:46:00.000-05:00

(I wrote this when I was there but had to wait for the video to load before I could post it, so here it is!)

So, here I am in Houston, interviewing for jobs, scouting out apartment complexes, pretty much just soaking up all that I can of the Houston humidity and traffic. My impressions... traffic-awful. Worse than Utah in regard to how many people are on the road at ALL times of the day! I'm starting to feel like Gramps in California traffic with the perspective that people are just hired to drive around the city all day. Weather-not too bad during spring. My allergies have been kicking in though and I've been sneezing and blowing my nose all day long! The humidity hasn't been that bad. I guess the worst time is usually between May/June and August. Apartments-huge! They say everything is bigger in Texas, and when it comes to apartments, it's true. Most of these videos I'm trying to upload will be so much bigger than our place. That's mostly because we live in a basement apartment with no storage, so these places all have 9 foot ceilings and storage galore.

(This is Cascade at Fall Creek, more for my reference than yours.) :)

As far as interviews, they went pretty well. No complaints. I'll just have to wait and see if anything comes of it. I decided to drive around to other schools in Conroe that have openings and drop off resumes, which was not very promising, but it was an enjoyable drive. Conroe is beautiful! If I could compare it to anything, it would probably be the back areas (like the farming area) of Lincoln. It's very green, lots of trees, lots of land, and more new housing developments than I could count! Everything was so spread out too, which is a drastic change from the city. If we could end up there, I think I would be happy.

I'll post more when I get home and have time to breathe again (literally, due to the slight humidity and allergies). That's all for now!

The Final Countdown...

2010-03-27T00:22:00.000-05:00

Days till...

Dani's Bachelorette Party: 7

Interviews in Houston: 10 :S

Megan's Visit: 15

My Family Arrives: 26

Graduation: 28

Dani's Wedding: 28

Moving to Houston: 35

Chicago: 38 or 39

Now comes the hard part...finishing my job, packing, finding another job, actually making the drive to Houston and then to Chicago, and becoming a REAL adult. It just feels like living in Provo has given me an excuse to not let it sink in yet. I've been a student for the past 4 years and now it's time to move on. So buck up, girlie, because it's going to be a long, hard road. But I'm SOOOO forever grateful for the person I get to share it with. :)

The Purge

2010-03-17T20:59:00.000-05:00

So it's been a while since I have posted (note that Adam posted a few days ago) and I finally realized how much stuff I have been holding back. Sorry fam! (And whoever else reads this.) :)

I'm using the pictures from my camera as a guide to past events, so bear with me.

While in Arizona for Christmas, Lavita showed me how to use my wheat grinder AND how to make bread with my newly ground wheat! It turned out delicious. But of course, the first time I try it on my own when I get home, I burn it. Not really bad, but enough that it makes it only slightly enjoyable.

Bread from Lavita's

Bread from my kitchen (don't be fooled; it looks pretty but has a crunchy shell)

I got a new haircut...

... in January.

Then there was Valentine's Day. Here is my lovely second grade class. When I walked in that morning, my favorite student did a double take and said, "Mrs. Wilkinson, you look BEAUTIFUL today!" Definitely my favorite. He's dead center. The cool guy with the vest and folded arms. He thought he was a biker that day.

And of course, the silly face picture. Can't have a class pic without one of those. Or without the disgusting use of fingers where they shouldn't be.

We also drove down to visit the Wallace family and got a few priceless pics of the kids playing with the Spiderman car machine outside Wal-Mart. They were satisfied with us just pushing the thing around so it kind of "moved." So easy, I love it.

For Adam's birthday, I invited several of his friends to join us for a surprise dinner at Red Robin (his fave) and then a night of Star Wars. It was awesome! We actually had 16 friends show up, which I was extremely grateful for given the short notice. We had to sit at different tables so we could be seated in less than an hour on a Friday night. Adam was blindfolded, but knew something was up, so I tried to record his expression when we finally took off the blindfold...and then the battery died. Epic fail. So maybe next time you'll get to see a video of the anticipation before the awesome expression on his face.

For my Valentine's surprise, Adam bought City Passes to Salt Lake! We went up and saw the Clark Planetarium, had free lunch at the Lionhouse Pantry Restaurant, and visited the Utah Museum of Natural History. There were a lot more places on the list, but some of them we'd been to before and wanted to visit the newer ones before they closed. At the Planetarium we saw a 3D movie called "Under the Sea" narrated by Jim Carrey. Totally a political spoof filmed before global warming was exposed as a LIE. But the experience was really cool, since it was my first IMAX movie. Here we are in our really, really ridiculously good-looking 3D glasses.

And, yes, we did blind the people behind us with the flash. Oops.

And, of course, a trip to Salt Lake is never complete without a visit to Temple Square. Adam had never seen the view from the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, so we went. The inside of the building is so beautiful and ornate. I took a video of it since the scene was accompanied by background music played on a real piano by a real person, but judging by how slow the other videos are loading, I'll have to save that for another post.

The next week the girlies took me out for a birthday treat! They blindfolded me, since the bandanna was still in my purse, and took me to Cocoa Bean, a new cupcake restaurant in Provo that is delicious and overpriced. Then we went to the dollar theater to see The Princess and the Frog, but being a Monday night (FHE night) in PROVO, they were sold out hours before the show. So we saw Leap Year instead, which was a more than sufficient chick flick replacement. I loved it!

(We are obviously professional self photographers.)

Last week, I made taquitos for dinner. I'm not trying to sound gourmet because I really pulled the frozen taquitos out of a box and put them in the oven. Anyway, as I was walking to sit down with both hands full, somehow the fork started slipping out of the bowl of sour cream and salsa on my plate and I tried correcting it by moving my hand forward to catch it, thus moving the plate and objects on the plate (aka the bowl of sour cream and salsa) which continued its path of motion when I stopped my hand to over-correct and it proceeded to fly projectile-like through the air and all over the living room. Not even joking. ALL over the living room. Adam and I couldn't stop laughing because there is no way on earth that could be replayed if I tried. Now I'm considering naming one of our daughters Grace. It will either be horribly ironic and terribly funny if she gets my lack of coordination, or mildly appropriate if she happens to skip out on that gene. I really can't decide. Here's a visual of the disaster if you can manage to make it out.

Lesson learned: duct tape all food to the plate before attempting to relocate it myself.

The Teacher Fair was last Friday and I successfully dropped off my cover letters and resumes to my top 5 Houston districts. I was also successful at landing 2 job interviews for my visit in April! I'm so excited. That's one less thing to worry about when I go down: finding interviews. The Aldine ISD rep was so excited that he wants to reserve one whole day to go over an interview and set me up with their district "apartment specialist" to help me find housing. Awesome!

Last, but not least, I went to Dani's bridal shower in Salt Lake last weekend. She got more gifts than we got at all of our receptions and bridal showers combined! Her kitchen's basically set, and then some. But it was really fun hanging out with the girls and eating delicious food.

I'll be working on those videos for an update in the near future. I hope. :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Did you ever notice...no, I didn't think so.

2010-03-14T20:12:00.000-05:00

I'm tired of being listed as an author and never writing anything. It's blogging fraud and I won't have it. If I had blogged ten years ago people would've called me a 'nerd' or 'sensitive' or other names to impugn my masculinity. But today...well the name calling hasn't changed but at least it's not for blogging.

I work as a secretary, one of the reasons for the masculinity impugning, for an organization of independent colleges and universities. I send out emails to various presidents across the nation and even a few from outside civilization (now that's just racist). As I was sending a letter to the new president of the organization (organization's name omitted for purposes of not being canned) who has a doctorate in psychology, I realized something. We live in a world unlike that of our fathers. They used to be able to get a college degree in basket weaving and get hired into computer programming positions. We, however, cannot. We have to plan ahead and be stuck with whatever line of work our degrees pertain to. Today you have to have a business degree to get into business and a computer science degree to get into computers. Degrees are far less powerful than they once were. Yet there is still one group of people who belong to the societal elite that don't need specialized degrees to be hired. They can graduate in whatever they want to and still make a healthy six figures. The irony of it all is that they're the ones most critical of our education: University presidents. In an economy that demands very specialized education for every possible job field, the people in charge of that education don't seem to need any specialized education at all.

Important? Nope. Interesting read? Probably not. Painful to peruse? Most likely. But like tobacco chew, though my thoughts taste like dead grandma, I hope to be the addiction that keeps you coming back to this blog even though you desperately want to quit.

Our baby!

2010-01-30T22:51:00.001-06:00

A friend of mine found this website and used it to create a baby from her and her husband's pictures (www.makemebabies.com). I think they have more than 20 varieties that they can make out of the same pictures, and only 1 out of those 20 is actually cute! But I thought it was extremely hilarious and I was curious to see what Adam and I would create, so here goes...

Maybe a little darker than both of us combined, but still not too bad! I think this image will help me hold off on babies for a few more years. Sorry to those who were really looking forward to seeing the real thing! Oh, and this is supposed to be a girl...

Have a great week!

Happy 2010!

2010-01-10T20:51:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year! 2009 was such a great year. I officially graduated and got a job! I interviewed at Lincoln Academy the day we left for Arizona (a tight fit, but so worth it!) and they called the next day to let me know I got the job as a teacher's assistant in a 2nd grade. It's a charter school in Pleasant Grove, right across the street from the Mount Timpanogos Temple. After this good news, Christmas couldn't get any better! (The previous blog has more details of our Christmas.)

So Adam and I got back on Sunday night from Arizona and really didn't want to end our wonderful vacation. What made it worse was that our car wasn't working... at all. So we (meaning Adam and Nathaniel, because I was too cold to stay outside the whole time) spent a few hours charging the battery, then replacing it, then trying to figure out what else it could be. I had to call a taxi on Monday morning to take me to work because I couldn't risk being late or absent on my very first day!

The school is very nice--the students all wear uniforms (only khaki, navy blue, or white), there are only 25 kids in my class, and everything is fairly new. I instantly liked the teacher I am working with: Ginger. She's a tiny woman from South Carolina who has the cutest southern accent I've ever heard and she is just FULL of energy. The kids absolutely love her. My duties so far have been rather tedious, but that is what a teacher's assistant does. I've been grading papers, entering grades, organizing some things, teaching a small math group, figuring out what to do for one-on-one training for one student in reading, and putting up a Word Wall (what 2nd grade classroom doesn't have a Word Wall?). Sounds fun, right? That's not the end of it. I also have the pleasant task of standing outside for 25 minutes every morning to do traffic duty. Friday's temperature was 0 degrees, not even kidding. Adam has no sympathy because he spent 2 winters in Jersey with below 0 temperatures (not counting wind chill) and tracting all day without being able to say his own name because his face was so frozen. I'm sorry honey. I am beginning to understand how you felt. I also go outside with the kids for recess duty, even though more than 1/2 of our students opt to stay inside with the teacher because she doesn't want them to freeze unless they absolutely want to. Thanks.

I'm working really hard to be grateful. It's been hard this week with all the new responsibilities that I'd rather not be doing (of course I'd rather be teaching), in addition to the fact that there are some things about how this school is run that I just don't agree with. The bright side is that I have a job, a car that now works, a warm apartment to come home to, and a loving husband that will love me no matter how much I complain about my poor frozen fingers. As I am constantly reminding myself of little things to improve upon at all times, I opted to NOT make a New Year's resolution that I will break and regret for the rest of the year. I will just enjoy life to the fullest as I am always striving to do.

Happy New Year! May this year be better than the last...if possible. :)

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-28T13:30:00.000-06:00

We spent Christmas in Arizona this year. We went to Megan's house on Christmas Eve and had a wonderful dinner, watched "All I Want for Christmas," and opened a present which was, of course, pajamas! It made me feel right at home. Then the kids went to bed and we watched "Santa" put together some of their presents and put them under the tree.

Christmas morning was great! We wanted to make sure we were up before the kids so we could see their reactions to Santa's gifts. It was so cute!

Then we opened a couple of presents and took a break to eat breakfast--yummy strawberry waffles, hot cocoa, bacon and eggs. Back to the presents!

Thank you Gail!

Megan opening the gift from us for baby Riley. I stenciled some onezies for him. So cute!

Presents from Gail, Dad and Chris. Thank you so much!

This was a fantanstic Christmas not soon to be forgotten. I love my family very much and am glad I got to share a little piece of all of you this year. Happy New Year!

I'll have a little cup of GRADUATION, please!

2009-12-14T02:04:00.000-06:00

That's right! I'm done! I finished my last day of student teaching on Friday and it was...bittersweet. A little girl in my class made me a bracelet that says "LIBBY♥LUVS♥MRSWILKINSON." How cute! I've worn it everyday since I got it. So I'm done, but I will miss those stinkin' kids so much! And it would help to have a job right about now. But applications will be filed tomorrow so I can start subbing as soon as we get back from the holidays.

Speaking of holidays, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving, thanks to Rich and Lavita! We were so thrilled to have them here with us (and to not have to drive anywhere). Thanksgiving dinner went very well. The only thing I forgot was the sugar in the pumpkin pie. (Yes, I went back and looked at the recipe and I instantly knew that's what was missing. Sorry! But thanks for not saying anything!) I also got to stuff my first turkey! So many fun firsts, I don't know where to start.

Other than that, we've been working and studying. Adam is going to take over my job for Stohlton next semester, which saves me from training someone who isn't qualified. Adam is the one who helped me reorganize a lot of the computer things to begin with! And Stohlton writes really good recommendation letters, so we're hoping to get one of those for Adam.

I have a few old pictures from pajama day and other activities over the past couple months. I promise I won't make it too long though. :)

Adam was even playing Christmas songs for me after we put up the tree. Merry Christmas!

Happy...November?

2009-11-10T21:22:00.000-06:00

I guess I missed Halloween and a birthday, so here's what we've been up to lately...

Adam is constantly busy studying for his classes and wishing he was done already! (To be honest, so do I.) But he has also been ever so patient with my busy-ness and craziness. I finished my Teacher Work Sample (WOOHOOOOOOO!) AND my last ESL Endorsement class! Everything is turned in (as of Saturday) and complete. It feels so good. I found out today that I passed my Teacher Work Sample, so that's a relief. Not that there was much to worry about, but just a relief that there's nothing major to fix. I also started my second block of student teaching in a first grade. It's definitely been a different experience and it's taken me a while (about 3 weeks) to readjust my teaching strategies for 5 year olds. They are just adorable though. One kid that reminds me of Adam tried sitting on my lap today (hmmm, coincidence?). Yesterday a kid puked during computer lab and then pooped his pants on his way to the bathroom. G-r-o-s-s. Period. Something new happens everyday to remind me that these adorable children of God can't do everything on their own. That's the perspective I have to keep. :)

Halloween was great though! We found our costumes at the last minute, which is why they don't match this year. We'll try harder next year. Long story short, we didn't want to spend a ton of money, and I couldn't find anything resembling a Princess Leia costume for the life of me! So I was a fairy instead. Last dress on the shelf and I conned another woman out of the last pink glittery wings in the dive basket at Wal-Mart. When asked if I had a big or a little girl who needed wings for her Halloween costume I replied, "Big girl. She's definitely a BIG girl." The lady at the checkout counter thought it was so cute that "she'll definitely wear this till Christmas!" I certainly will.

Adam's costume was a little more complicated, just because of the blaster. Blasted blaster. We finally found a pirate's gun that he spray painted black and a holster that I made out of some burlap material. Bad idea. It fell apart halfway through the night, but it fulfilled it's purpose: look good for pictures. Then we had a few friends over to enjoy some bloody fondue (we found some red melting vanilla at the party store, perfect for blood, and mixed it with a little bit of regular chocolate, which explains the orangey-brown color in the pictures), chocolate ghosts and pumpkins, and other yummy goodies. We didn't get any trick-or-treaters either, which was good since we didn't have any candy to hand out. But it was nice and quiet and enjoyable.

Last Saturday Adam took me on a date to celebrate my completion of all my work! We went to the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake and out to dinner at (any guesses?)...Red Robin. The zoo is where we spent our 6 month anniversary of dating and where Adam proposed, so it has officially been deemed our "happy place." It was a great day to be done with work because the weather was great, we could spend time together, and there were lots of new baby animals at the zoo! I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves and wish everyone a Happy November!

Happy Birthday Gail! And thanks to the old roomies for a great Sunday dinner! :)

Fall...

2009-10-18T23:09:00.000-05:00

I'm so glad fall is here! It's been so beautiful the past few days and I love it! The weather has been great, the colors are so vibrant, and it puts me into a great mood. Now that I've said that, I'll bet it'll all turn to pot in the next week and start raining and turning all brown. Blah.

Anyway, I had a wonderful 5 day weekend because Wed-Fri was Fall Break for the Provo School District. Let me just say it was amazing to not have to get up early for 3 days! However, it was not all fun and games. Thursday I was on campus ALL day, I mean from 9-5 working on the Teacher Work Sample (TWS) to try to get it all done. I still have a little bit left, but I am farther along than some other people, which makes me feel good. And I still have a whole week to finish about 3 pages or so...not bad. But in the time I did have off, I went on a couple dates with Adam, which was so wonderful! We've been so busy that our dates have just been a relaxing evening with a movie. We actually got to go out to dinner and saw the movie "UP" and went costume shopping for Halloween...basically amazing. Also, my old roommate Ashley got her MISSION CALL! She is called to serve in the Santa Rosa, California Mission speaking Spanish! She leaves on December 30. I was so excited, mostly because that's about an hour and a half away from my home town. Yay! We were all there, and I was able to get pictures, which should be attached. Congrats Ashley!

On another, almost sad note, this is my last week in the 4th grade. I'm being demoted (kinda) to a 1st grade classroom starting next Monday for the next 8 weeks. I know I'll love it, but I've grown so fond of my 4th graders that I don't want to leave! Last week was so much fun...we got to make playdough maps of the state of Utah (mine turned out amazing), go to Hee Haw Farms (so much fun!) and do art for most of the day. If only everyday could be like that. So, now I have to finish the last week out strong and be ready for another grueling 8 weeks before I'm officially a teacher!

Wish me luck!

New Calling!

2009-10-11T17:59:00.000-05:00

So today I was called as the 1st counselor in the Relief Society Presidency. I'm excited! It's going to be a challenge, but I'm looking forward to meeting all the other women in the ward that I do not know (which is most of the women in the ward). We actually had to conduct today, on our first Sunday, and it was so weird sitting up at the front with everyone watching you! Not like I do anything embarrassing during Relief Society, but I felt like I had to be on my best behavior. Anyway, it should be fun!

Happy October!

2009-10-08T23:22:00.000-05:00

I realized after visiting Megan's blog that it's been 4 weeks since I posted. Not impressive. The last time I posted I had just finished the first week of student teaching. Now I only have 2 weeks left! It's been a blast so far. I really love the kids, although there are a select few who decide everyday is their day to make my life miserable. For example, today one boy forgot his library books at home so he had nothing to read. He refused to find another book to read from the selection in the classroom, so the teacher took him to the library to check out the exact same book as the one he left at home. Upon returning to class, he continued to whine and complain for 15 minutes that he couldn't read this book because it wasn't THE book he had left at home. He insisted that he wanted HIS book because this one was different and he didn't like it. Oh, the NERVE!! After every threat we could manage, he finally began to read once he saw a girl in the class reading a book from the same series. WHAT?! Why didn't I think of that?
Another boy began reading one of the Rainbow Fairy books today. It's a series of children's chapter books about fairies. If you can imagine, as I came around to check off the reading log, there he was with the book conveniently hid underneath the table so no one else could see it. Then he began to defend it saying that "these books aren't just for girls, anyone can read them." What do you say to that? "It's ok, kid. We all know you like reading girlie books." I just smiled and nodded and moved on.
The whole experience has been an adventure. I come home everyday with some new funny story or frustration to tell Adam. He kindly obliges my daily venting, thankfully. The workload has been more than I imagined, so I can't wait to see what full-time teaching brings!
I found out that for the next block (from Oct. 26-Dec. 11) I will be at another school in a 1st grade classroom. Since I've already been in a 1st grade, I think I know what to expect, but every experience is different and brings new challenges. On the bright side, I will have my Teacher Work Sample done (a huge paper outlining your teaching experiences with all the details of assessment and student records, etc.) and my ESL endorsement practicum out of the way, so I will be able to just focus on teaching! It will be so nice!
Well, sorry about no pictures. We've been so busy we haven't really done anything fun or camera-worthy. But we're planning a lunch date for next week (thank goodness!) at the Skyroom (a fancy, student-budgeted restaurant on BYU campus). And that will be after our 2nd field trip of the year to Hee Haw Farms (can you imagine?). The kids are super excited, and so am I!!!

Week 1 of Student Teaching

2009-09-05T15:07:00.000-05:00

Success! I passed the first week. I absolutely LOVE the 4th grade and my mentor teacher. She really knows what she's doing, which was hard to say for the last teacher I worked with. The kids are hilarious, and I got to know everyone's names by the end of the 1st day. The kids tested me on day 2, and I passed. :) There's a student that speaks NO English, only Spanish, who is trying sooo hard to do well in this class! The other day, one of the kids heard him counting to 10 in English, and we were all so proud we gave him a round of applause! It's so great to celebrate each other's successes as a whole class.

I also survived the first field trip of the year yesterday! We went to the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival. Most of the kids loved it! One folksinger sang a song about sticking your tongue to a pole in the winter. Random, but hilarious.

Adam's first week went well too! He ended up having to buy more books at the bookstore than we wanted to, but oh well. And he gets all his work done on campus between classes, so when he's home we can actually spend a little time together, after my student teaching, work, and planning...if I'm not too tired. Next week should be better, since we'll know what to expect and it won't be too overwhelming...I hope!

Oh, the other night we came home from somewhere and saw a preying mantis on our doorway. I think he was soaking up some rays from our porch light. He was huge!

Thursday night we went out to dinner at Olive Garden (thank you Lavita!) and actually had time to run some errands together. When I went to bed that night I was starting to get a sore throat, and I didn't sleep very well, so Friday night when I came home from work, I was beyond pooped. We ate leftovers for dinner, watched "Changling" (good movie!) and eventually I was passed out on the couch. Adam was so sweet! Not only did he carry me to bed, he brought in the fan (no AC), some Gatorade, throat spray, and all other necessities to help me feel better. What a wonderful husband!

News!

2009-08-29T13:30:00.000-05:00

So I just found out last night that I will be student teaching in a 4th grade classroom at Franklin Elementary School in Provo! I am so excited! I wasn't supposed to find out till Monday, but fortunately I have a very excited and prepared facilitator at the school. I have a district meeting on Monday with all the other student teachers and then we go into the classrooms on Tuesday. I am so pumped to meet the little kiddies! I'll be in the 4th grade for 8 weeks, then I'll have another assignment in the lower grades (1-3) for another 8 weeks to be completed by December 11th.

The school is only about 10 minutes away from home, which is nothing compared to the hour drive to Salt Lake I used to drive everyday. Now that I know the specifics, I can look up more details about the school and the demographics of the students to be SUPER prepared. More updates will follow next week!

Wish me luck!

Catch up

2009-08-24T00:55:00.000-05:00

So, what have we been up to? Not a whole lot, to be honest. August has been a fairly slow month so far, which is a nice change. We went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House and it was gorgeous!

Lavita also came out to visit. It was so much fun! We went out to eat, see movies, shopping, and ate ice cream at home while watching "Troop Beverly Hills." (If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. Fun for the whole family.) We even got to see the Hyatt clan, or most of them, for lunch at Macaroni Grill. They are such a handsome family.

Well, they really are.

The second weekend of August we drove to California for Shaunna and Burley's wedding. We were lucky to be there after a storm had passed through, so we experienced really good weather for summer in Cali. I got to see my family, although no pictures were taken. But a good time was had by all. It was a beautiful wedding, and so relaxed! The bride and groom looked so perfect. And we got to see some friends that we haven't seen in a while...

Last weekend, Megan and Bree came up for a surprise visit with Megan's friend Jaime and Jaime's baby Zackary. It was so fun having them here! We went out to eat at Applebee's, where Bree saw her first (remembered) black man. Hilarious! When we came home we put Bree on the floor to sleep on a thick blanket and baby Zackary got to sleep in the laundry basket. He fit perfectly! They also came to church with us Sunday morning, and Bree was the cutest girl there!

Since then, Adam has been working from home, which is much less stressful for him and more fun for me! I've just been working here and there, cleaning the house, and catching up on movies that Adam has seen and I haven't. I'm just counting down the days till the 31st when I get to start student teaching. I should be getting my assignment this week for what grade level, school, and teacher I'll be with. I can't wait!

Life is good.

What a week!

2009-07-27T18:18:00.000-05:00

So last week was my last week of classes! I am this close to being a BYU graduate. I still have to turn in one paper, then student teach which includes another HUGE paper, and I'm done! I feel like I've got one foot out of the tunnel.

It was such a busy week with papers, group projects, etc. that I feel like I hardly saw Adam at all! I even skipped work a couple days to get everything finished. Oops! Thursday I somehow managed to make Banana Bread before visiting teaching before my last class. Despite the heat in our house as well! We don't have air conditioning, so the idea of baking, and actually doing it, must be an act of insanity. The bread turned out tasty, though dry, and Adam loved it!

But the end of the week was great. Pioneer Day was on Friday, which means no one in Utah has to work. So Adam got to spend the day with me! On Saturday we went out to dinner with Ashley, my old roommate, and her new friend, Tad. We were planning on going to the Spanish Fork Rodeo with them, but those old cowboys don't know how to use a credit card. :( Next year, we'll be more prepared.

I have a couple pictures from Carlie's wedding, mostly of Adam and I, since it was so hard to see the bride and groom as they came out of the temple. Between temple and reception, we went out to lunch at this delicious Mexican grill in South Jordan, but I can't remember the name of it. Unfortunately, we didn't make it to the reception because (silly me!) I forgot the card with the address, so we drove around South Jordan looking for the one Church building out of 1000's that was supposed to be hosting the reception! We even asked the temple workers, but there were just too many Church buildings. Sorry Carlie!

Last night, Adam and I moved my computer into the front room so we could watch movies from my computer on the TV. Adam was super excited. It's so fun! It's pretty cool to be able to see my email and other stuff on a bigger screen! We'll see if it actually gets used for serious studying...

I forgot to post some pictures from Ashley's birthday dinner we went to a couple of weeks ago. I got to see two of my old roommates at the same time! This rarely happens. After dinner, Adam and I went to go see the new Harry Potter movie. We waited in line a while, and we were getting a little bored as you can see...

On another note, Lavita is coming to stay with us this week! We're so excited! Hopefully she won't mind the futon and lack of air conditioning. Other than that, our place is great!

Here's to a great week!

Wow, it's been 2 weeks?

2009-07-14T12:23:00.000-05:00

My family keeps gently reminding me that it's been 2 weeks since I posted last, which I guess means that they enjoy reading about our lives! So here's a brief update...

Our 4th of July was very relaxing. In fact, we did nothing all day. Call us bums, but after a week of classes and hours of work, we were ready for a little break. We watched movies all day! I can't remember the last time I did that. Some were patriotic movies, some not. But the Spirit of Independence was with us anyway! We had burgers made on the Foreman grill, since we don't have a bbq. We left the house around 8:40 or so to find a spot to watch the fireworks. I wanted to see them from the base of Y Mountain (there's a big parking lot at the head of the trail) and finally convinced Adam to go, but as soon as we got onto 9th E, the line of cars was backed up for blocks! We looked up on the mountain and saw a bunch of black dots on the Y, meaning there were already a ton of people up there. Everywhere we looked there were people! On the sidewalks, parking lots, on every speck of lawn left open. So we turned around and went home, hoping we'd be able to see the fireworks from our lawn. So we ended up waiting for an hour and a half before they even started! (Meanwhile, we went back inside and started another movie.) The fireworks started around 10pm, lasted about 5 minutes, then stopped. Weird. I heard later that they were retiring the stadium's flag after like 50 yrs, or something like that. We were back inside by the time they recommenced the fireworks, and by that time, the excitement was gone. :(

Last week, nothing really exciting happened till Saturday. We invited our neighbors over for dinner, since they've lived above us for almost 5 months and we hardly know them! So I spent all day Saturday cleaning the house to prepare. I'm surprised how much fuzz can be collected on the floor of a 1-room apartment! Anyway, they came over and we had burgers, again. But they were delicious! We learned that Devin has 2 sisters and is the middle daughter, just like me! Francisco is a great dad, and he loves to play video games, like Adam. Hopefully, we'll be able to invite them over more for family home evening or something, and Adam will have a new gamer friend. :) This might be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

This past Sunday we were able to go to my old roommate's missionary farewell. Jillian is leaving tomorrow for the Belgium Brussels Netherlands mission for 18 months! I am so excited for her! After her talk, we went up to congratulate her and she confessed that she forgot her talk at home, so she just "winged the whole thing." Wow! If her talks are that good off-the-cuff, she's going to be a terrific missionary! On the drive home, Adam and I got to talk about our future mission. I can't wait! I'm so excited to serve an elderly mission, and Adam wants to be the "cool" couple missionaries, like his from his mission in Jersey. Hopefully we'll still be young enough to do fun things with the missionaries.

This Saturday we're going to my friend Carlie's wedding! I'm so excited for my first childhood friend to get married. Her excitement is so overwhelming, I can't help being so happy for her! So we'll get to go to her sealing at the Jordan River Temple, and I'll be able to see her family again after 5 long years. After that, I'll actually have some pictures to post. I wish we'd taken some on the 4th, but oh well. We still look the same.

6 Month Anniversary!

2009-06-28T00:09:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe it's been 6 whole months since the blessed day of our union. But I'd have to say it's been the happiest 6 months of my life. Since we forgot about our anniversary until yesterday, we didn't really plan anything. We were just grateful for the opportunity to finally sleep in...together! Adam earned a full 10 hours of sleep after working a long hard week, so we enjoyed it. We didn't get up till 11:45 this morning! After waking up so late, and be so relaxed, I guess neither of us really had the motivation to cook, so we had some yummy cold pizza leftovers for breakfast/lunch.

After lunch and a shower, there wasn't really anything to do, so Adam downloaded a game on the XBOX called "Carcassonne." It similar to Settlers of Catan, but you can actually play with more than one person on the XBOX. We played that for a couple hours to help me brush up on my strategy skills (with very little improvement).

Then what better way to remember your own wedding than by going to a bridal shower? My friend Carlie (from way back in junior high) is getting married on July 18th and invited me to her bridal shower tonight. It was great! Her friends froze cheap "engagement rings" in plastic champagne glasses and the first person whose ring came out of the ice is "the next to be married!" Appropriately, it was Carlie's that thawed first. (She actually filled her cup with hot water to make it melt faster, go figure.)

I left early so Adam and I could have some sort of celebration of our anniversary. We went to Olive Garden (my favorite restaurant) for dinner. It was so good! I even splurged and got a frozen rasperry lemonade (totally worth it!).

When we got home I gave Adam his gift. It's so hard to find presents for Mr. Practical, so I went with something...practical. I got him a Logic Games practice book for him to practice for the LSATs. Hopefully, it will come in handy. After that, we were so full that we just sat and watched the last episode of Heroes Season 3. A perfect end to the day!

Thank goodness for spending time with the ones you love. Happy Anniversary Adam!

On a side note, we went to Tucano's for Nathaniel's birthday last Saturday. I got a rare picture of the 3 brothers and Adam all together. Can't guarantee this will happen again for a long time! Happy birthday Nathaniel!

Summer again...

2009-06-23T03:52:00.000-05:00

So summer term started today...yay. Yet another 5 weeks of sitting in a class while the sun is shining and there is so much fun to be had. But at least it's only 5 weeks. Regular BYU Summer Term classes are 7. That means that I'll be done by the end of July!!! If only Adam could take some time off work, then we could visit his family again. Another good thing about these summer classes is that they don't start till 4pm, which explains why I'm still on the computer at this time. I'm trying to focus on the positive aspects of these classes so maybe they will go faster. After this term, I will officially be done with BYU classes. I'll be student teaching in the Fall, done by December 11th (not that I'm counting), and be on to bigger and better things! I hope.

I talked to my grandpa on Saturday for his birthday, hoping the phone conversation would count since I forgot to send a birthday card. Things are going super well! He went in for surgery about 3 weeks ago to place stints in his leg artery that would open the flow to his heart. My whole family was fasting and praying that things would go well, and guess what? They did! When they went in, the doctor said that he couldn't find the place where the stints were needed. Everything was clear! Grandpa was released the next day and actually went back to work a couple days later. He just finished teaching a class at the community college and was on a surprise trip on an old Albatross military plane to Clear Lake, a present from my Aunt Diane. He's super proud of his 3 great-grandbabies, and still going strong. Prayers do come true! Consequently, this occurence was an eye-opener for my mom's in-laws who aren't members of the Church. They've grown more interested and are meeting with the missionaries! Who knows how long it will be before we have another family to do geneology for? (I should probably get on that, by the way.)

On Sunday, I talked to my dad for Father's Day. Instead of relaxing, he was adding drywall mud to the ceiling and putting together a lawn mower and lawn furniture. I don't think anything less would have been acceptable for him on a Sunday anyway. My sisters and Chris had pitched in and bought him a floating lounge chair thingy for the pool which was "calling his name." He had been so busy the past couple days that he hadn't even checked the mail for my gift! Which was fortunate, because all over the package was written, "DO NOT OPEN till FATHER'S DAY!" He loved opening it to find a comical card and a "BYU Dad" barbeque apron. Just what he needed.

Also on Sunday, Adam and I were called as Ward Missionaries! This means we were released from the Ward Choir and Family Indexers callings. Adam is SO relieved. He was never big on Choir anyway. This calling is going to be so wonderful, I can tell. My mom couldn't help but mention that this was what I wanted, and the Lord was granting it at a time HE felt right, not me. (I really wanted to serve a mission before I got married, and chose Adam instead.) It just goes to show that some sacrifices aren't sacrifices at all, just postponements.

So, all is well with my family. My mom and her husband, David, just bought 10 acres of property up in Redding and should close Escro by August. (If anyone can explain Escro to me in a very simple, short explanation, I would greatly appreciate it.) Everyone is working and happy. It feels so good to know that there's nothing to stress about.

Life is good.

Spring is already over???

2009-06-17T19:44:00.001-05:00

I can't believe Spring term is already over and Summer is starting in merely 4 days! That's not much time to do anything, go anywhere, or visit anyone. I'm finding solace in Season 2 of Heroes. It's on our Netflix account, so I'm trying to catch up.

It's hard to believe that in just 2 months, I will be completely done with taking classes at BYU...until a Master's degree whenever I decide to do it. Then I'll have 4 months of student teaching and be DONE!! I'm letting my excitement get the better of me. I still have a while to go, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Adam will be done in April, then we'll be off to grad school! Whether that is here or elsewhere we still have yet to find out.

I know there's not a lot about our personal lives on this blog, mostly because it was created for a class, so I will soon try to correct that. Here's a little more of an update...

Adam has a great job right now and is working hard to put bread on the table. He gets paid for his efficiency, which he is extremely excited about, and gets to play when he comes home early. I am just taking classes to finish my minor in TESOL (an ESL Endorsement for Elementary Education teachers) and I'll be done in August.

It's hard to believe that we have been married for almost 6 months. Crazy! It's been quite a ride, and I'm loving it! Last weekend we actually went camping for the first time ever together! We went to Arches National Park for a night and hiked most of the next day. Besides the heat, it was great. I was so grateful to get to the top of the Delicate Arch! Adam was too. So much that he decided to sit down and not move till we started back down. He was the one taking pictures for us. We went with Kate and Victor, friends married on the same day as us, and had a blast. Sadly, they will be leaving for Tennessee tomorrow! We will miss them, mostly because they are our only married friends!

(In case you can't tell, that's me and Kate.)

The rest will have to wait until later...

The Office

2009-05-20T16:14:00.000-05:00

So I just watched the Season Finale of The Office...omg! Crazy! I guess it's a bittersweet ending to the season because of the exciting news, minus the fact that they're not married. I know it sounds a little judgmental for the real world, but that's what I think. I don't believe national television shows should be condoning children (or any other inappropriate relations) before marriage. It just shows what this world is coming to. Yet sadly, I cannot hide my excitement for the upcoming season. Can't wait!

Final Reflection/Summary of Research Progress

2009-04-22T03:40:00.000-05:00

1. Your progress on the research with your mentor
The program for 2009 is beginning this weekend (April 25). This week I have been helping Dr. Cantrell finalize documents that will be distributed to the participants of the study. We have not begun research yet because we do not have any data.
2. What you're learning by participating in this project?
I’ve learned that there is a lot of preparation necessary to make a study run effectively. Dr. Cantrell has spent several hours creating and revising documents necessary for this project. I think her efforts help this study align with its stated objectives as well as comply with IRB standards and legal procedures.
3. What problems you're facing while participating in this project?
I find that it also takes a lot of physical effort to complete tasks for this project that I was not aware of. It has been a challenge, but not an obstacle. Other than that, I’ve really enjoyed being involved in the process of preparation for this project.
4. How you're solving those problems or what help you need?
I believe a hand-truck is the most effective tool I need to solve the previously stated problem. It alleviates the stress to your back, arms, and shoulders that can be caused by other factors instead.
5. How many hours you have spent so far this semester working with your professor?
I have not counted recently, but my tally is at about 25 or 30 hours.
6. If you plan to be a MUR student in the future (remember that you need to sign up for two hours of IPT470R for at least the first two Winter and Fall semesters you work as a MUR but not during Spring or Summer terms)
I plan to continue working with Dr. Cantrell through spring and summer on this project. I plan to move on to other ventures in the fall, such as Student Teaching, but will incorporate the things I learned from this research project in my teaching.

Research background

2009-04-22T03:39:00.000-05:00

Interview your mentor (or gather this information however makes sense for you and your mentor), examine some of the links at http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/ to see which are being used by your mentor if any, and write a short paper answering the following questions about the research you are working on with your mentor:

1. What questions or problems led to this research study?
Students standardized test scores in science can be raised through inquiry-based learning. The problem is that teachers do not know how to teach inquiry-based learning.
2. What does relevant literature say about this question or problem?
Inquiry is a much more effective method for learning because the retention of information is much greater. It also helps students find answers to their own questions about the nature of science.
3. What is the study's purpose?
To compare standardized test scores of students who learned through inquiry-based learning with scores of students who did not learn through inquiry-based learning.
4. What methods or approaches are being used to meet the purpose?
The study teaches teachers how to use inquiry-based learning in the area of science instruction. Teachers conduct their own inquiry-based learning through the course, giving them experience they need to effectively teach their students.
5. How are the data being analyzed/interpreted?
Data is graphed and compared to data from non-inquiry-based learning classrooms. The researchers can conclude that the raise in test scores is due to the influence of inquiry-based learning, since no other factors change.
6. How are the results being shared, presented, published?
The results are shared in an annual newsletter displaying the effectiveness of the program compared to previous years and other data. The data is also displayed at a BYU Mentored Undergraduate Research Poster Conference in poster form for researchers and interested undergraduate and graduate students to view and assess.
7. What role does the student assistant (you, the MUR) play?
I enter data received from the participants of the course. I also assist in obtaining materials necessary for the research. I will be learning how to analyze data once it comes in.
8. What products will the presenters share with the School of Education as evidence of the value of this mentoring program?
The poster displayed in the Poster Conference will later be displayed throughout the School of Education as an advertisement of the effectiveness of the study and to promote interest in the program for future participation. The data will also be shared with the School of Education and incorporated into the Teacher Education Program to provide inquiry-based learning for teacher candidates to prepare them for full-time teaching and positive results on science scores for standardized achievement tests.
9. What are these researchers doing that you think could be adapted to or might suggest changes in your own research project?
I don’t think there are any changes I would make to the study at this time. It has proven very effective in recent years because of the process that has been planned out by the initial researchers.
10. What modifications do you think you and your professor might want to consider given what you learned here? Explain why.
I think the study has proven effective and is not in need of any modifications because previous year’s results have shown improved test scores for students of teachers who have participated in this program. I am not aware at this time of any processes or procedures that are in need of change because of inefficiency or any other factor.

Learning and Teaching

2009-04-22T03:38:00.000-05:00

I really enjoyed Elder Scott’s talk about how to learn and teach more effectively. He made some interesting points toward the end of his talk that I would like to discuss. The first is his suggestion to “…seek to learn by what I hear, see, and feel. I will write down the important things I learn, and I will do them.” I’ve learned through my teacher education courses that being a reflective practitioner, as Elder Scott suggests, is very effective in improving the way we learn and the way we teach. Keeping a record of the things I learn can help me see areas of weakness in my teaching, researching, and learning. It is easy to see my weaknesses just by reflecting, but writing them down creates a permanent record not only on paper, but in my mind. I am far more likely to remember things that I must improve if I write them down and even more likely to implement them.
Second, I should encourage active participation in lessons rather than passive listening. This prevents the teacher from becoming the “talking head” that transmits all necessary information to the passive listener, who may not receive it or even be able to respond to it. Through active participation, the learner has activated their agency and communicated to the teacher and to the Holy Ghost that they want to learn. This desire reaps benefits of increased motivation to learn, successful endeavors, and ownership of decisions and learning.
The library guide website provides several useful resources for me as a researcher, student and teacher. These resources can aid my research attempts by providing me with appropriate supplemental information. It can help my student endeavors by showing me the right way to look for resources that I may need for my assignments, thus increasing my efficiency in completing assignments. As a teacher, this provides a great resource for finding appropriate teaching materials and information that shows the effectiveness of these materials. I look forward to accessing this site and utilizing it in my many roles as researcher, learner and teacher.
I want to improve my efficiency in conducting research through online materials. There is so much information to sift through that it takes a great amount of time. I wish to find the most efficient way to find the information I need.

Scriptures and Research

2009-04-22T00:42:00.001-05:00

I found several good points in Elder Bednar’s talk. One of the most significant, and also the simplest, concepts was the comparison of the human body’s need for water and the spirit’s need for living water. I have heard this concept before, but it struck me differently this time. I found myself pondering this point long after reading it. It seems strange that every spirit is in need of this living water but few are aware of it. We as Latter-day Saints are aware of this need because our leaders have alerted us to it. But what of those in the world without leaders to remind them of their spiritual need for living water? They would suffer and possibly die from thirst in this vast world of desert were it not for the missionaries of the Church. I am not solely referring to those called to serve full-time missions. I also speak of Latter-day Saints who daily influence the lives of those they meet and inspire them to drink from the well of living water found in the scriptures. Such a simple task is often taken for granted because we as Saints have never, or rarely, felt this thirst from which millions suffer. Maybe this is why the subject hit me so strongly this time. I feel for the people who have yet to experience the joy that comes from quenching this thirst. I also regret all the times that I had the opportunity to give someone the cup of living water and passed it up. I feel the responsibility of this task heavily now, as though it is new. My studies will be renewed with vigor so that I may not fall victim to the awful thirst that many experience everyday. I feel the need to fill my reservoir so that I may more adequately fill the needs of others.

Musings about Learning

2009-04-21T19:32:00.000-05:00

In reflecting upon the uses of a PLE, or personal learning environment, I’ve discovered that several things are important to the process of learning. I have a blog that I created last semester for a technology class, on which I’ve posted reflections about discoveries in technology. At the beginning of that class we watched several videos and researched many sites about a PLE. From this study, I’ve learned that a PLE is a good resource for yourself and for other teachers to have a place to discuss topics of education. I’ve learned the value of incorporating technology into my education, and the education I provide to elementary school students. Technology is modernizing our world faster than we can see. It is improving the way we do things, how we find things, and how we learn things.
There are lots of ways that I learn. I am very fond of the learning I acquire from church. Spiritual learning is just a whole other dimension of education! I wish that everyone were able to experience the kind of development that takes place with spiritual learning. It provides such a firm foundation on which to place my beliefs, and lends support to the things that I learn in secular subjects as well. I find in my scripture study that there are so many things in our history to which the rest of the world is completely oblivious. If only they had access to the resources our Church has, especially the Book of Mormon. Our world would not only be more educated, but there would be a higher standard of citizenship and civility among the human race.
The education I receive here at BYU is another important resource in my learning. I’ve found that the education here is not only top-quality in secular subjects, but its integration with spiritual matters makes it so much more meaningful. I look at the experiences of family and friends at other institutions and see how much they lack in their education. It doesn’t seem as meaningful because it is just a step in the process to getting a steady paycheck. Their education is not supplemented with spiritual guidance or foundational beliefs in the calling they have chosen. It just reaffirms my faith in my future because I know that this is where I was meant to be and what I was meant to do.
I can definitely make improvements in my education. I can make a more solid effort to dedicate myself to finding meaning in my assignments. The age-old phrase used in elementary school, “When am I actually going to use this?” should no longer apply. I am almost to the end of my schooling and it is apparent in all of my classes when I will use the information I am supposedly learning. I still just sit there going through the motions, though, thinking that I’d rather just be teaching already and not have to worry about turning in this silly assignment. Dedication and significance are what I will be working on next.

Poster Conference

2009-03-29T20:36:00.000-05:00

Only 9 days left until the big poster conference for the MUR's! I still have a few things left to do, in addition to printing. It's going to be a busy week!

Bri and I got the layout all finished and are working on tightening up the content of the poster. That should be all finished and ready to print by Friday (that's the goal at least).

Also, Internship Interviews are tomorrow, so preparing for that has kept me on my toes. I'm nervous and ready for them to be over. But I'm really excited to teach! I should know by Tuesday at the latest if I get it.

Wish me luck!

MUR Update

2009-03-21T11:56:00.001-05:00

Things with Dr. Cantrell are going very well. I have spent my time entering data into a database from last year's research conducted in Zion and the Great Basin. Much of what I did is essential to the analysis of the research, which I think Dr. Cantrell will be showing me shortly. I learned that entering data may be a tedious part of the research job, but it is very important that it is completed and analyzed. The data I entered must be done very accurately in order for the analysis results to be correct. I also learned that anything on that data is highly confidential and federally protected. I knew data was protected, but did not know that the federal government has a role in its protection. Right now I am working with Dr. Leigh Smith's MUR to complete the poster for the Poster Conference on April 7. We have come up with a layout and taken information from last year's and this year's newsletters for SciencePlus. The data is highly convincing that this program is very effective at helping science teachers improve the science scores of their students, since scores from standardized tests are the best way to gather data about teacher effectiveness. The only problems we have faced have been with technology. Putting together a poster and condensing information has been a bit tricky. We solved these problems by working together and relying on prior knowledge of technology skills we have learned in previous classes to pull this together. We also consulted Microsoft online to solve some of our PowerPoint questions when a tool didn't work the way we thought it would. So far, I've spent about 20 hours working on the research and data entry that Dr. Cantrell has given me. Once we finish the poster, I can start working with Dr. Cantrell on some of the research. I'm really looking forward to focusing on the research and analysis portion of the MUR experience. I will be here over Spring and Summer, when more data will be collected, so Dr. Cantrell said I will be able to help her out with some of that as well. I will not be able to be a MUR in the Fall because I will be doing either an internship or student teaching for elementary education.

Video reflection

2008-12-13T12:30:00.001-06:00

I watched several videos on the NetSmartzKids site and I was amazed at the types of things that went on. You always hear about scary internet stories, but this really put things into perspective for me. When I watched the video about "Tracking Teresa" I was terrified. If someone could find out where she lives and what school she goes to in 20 minutes, what could they do to me? I definitely want to make sure that I protect my own future children and the students in my future classroom by setting up blocks for sketchy sites and limiting their internet use. I will inform them that they are not to put up ANY personal information of any kind. This would drastically increase their chances of being contacted by someone they don't know or having their identity stolen.

I can say that the most important thing I learned by watching these videos is to be wise about internet use. Take all the precautions that we talked about last week in class because they will really protect you from internet danger. Limit time, block dangerous sites, don't post personal information, locate computer in a visible place, and NEVER talk to someone you don't know. These tips will help keep you safe. I will post these items on every computer that I have in my home and my classroom so that kids will keep them in mind. I'll go over them in detail at the beginning of each school year and periodically review throughout the year so that kids aren't confused and don't forget the internet safety tips.

Ok, so not quite so final post

2008-12-13T12:19:00.001-06:00

I talked with my mom about internet safety. It was really interesting because my mom is pretty inexperienced with technology. I mean, all she uses the internet for is to check her email. Even then, she doesn't like it because she gets tons of spam. She knows that she needs a filter, but I don't think she knows how to do it. When I brought up the videos that I had watched and the articles I read for this class, she was really interested. We talked about the dangers of cyber chat rooms, which she thinks are a bad idea to begin with. She thinks that myspace should be done away with because its use drastically increases your chances of talking to someone you don't know or giving your information out unknowingly. She's right; it does increase your chances. However, there is a way to do it right so that dangerous things like what happened on the videos don't happen. She didn't know what cyberbullying was, so I told her. I think she assumed things like that happened, but didn't know what it was called.

I gave her some tips that we learned last week in class about things you should never do over the internet, and she completely agreed. She says that's why when we were kids, she kept the computer in the living room facing outward so she could always see what sites we were on. She also limited our time online (that I remember VERY clearly) so that we weren't tempted to get into things we weren't supposed to get into. Despite her lack of vast knowledge about the internet, my mom was a very smart parent. Her fear of internet dangers kept us safe. I think she did a great job! This conversation was a very positive experience for me because I was reassured that my mom knows what she's doing and that she is protected. :)

Final IPT Posting

2008-12-11T16:10:00.000-06:00

I think the most valuable part of this learning environment project was what I can take with me and use in the future. I can create a blog for my future classroom so parents can be more involved in students' projects in the classroom. It also provides a place for quick, efficient feedback on classroom procedures and my job as a teacher. I really like how I can post links and things on here for educational purposes because then parents can become really involved at home as well. I can post sites that the kids can use to practice curriculum subjects in a comfortable home setting.

In the realm of personal development, I can use this blog to keep in touch with friends and family that live far away and don't know how to download picture attachments from email.

There wasn't anything I really didn't like about the PLE because it all seemed relevant to our learning and growth as teachers. I think it was very helpful to create a fun learning space that anyone can have access to. I will definitely use this resource in the future. :)

READ assignment

2008-12-04T18:22:00.000-06:00

I read "An Ensign to the Nations, a Light to the World" by President Gordon B. Hinckley. The most important things that I learned was that we are to be the stewards of our homes. If we are stewards, we are protective, providing, and presiding. We can do that in the classrooms too. I really liked that Elder Ballard acknowledged the wonderful things that the internet can do, but that we must be careful. Like Professor Graham said, making priorities for our time with our family means that the family comes first. We will be more inclined to communicate face-to-face with family than with friends online. The importance is primarily in the home. That is our first priority.

These articles have influenced me to be more careful about my associations on the internet and to encourage my family to do the same. I know that for my future family, I will make sure that we set family priorities first. Since my role as a mother and nurturer is empowered when I protect and preside, I will make sure that my home is always a safe place for my children. We can create a positive learning environment in the home when we limit the dangers that could potentially enter into it.

I will encourage my family and friends to do the same. They are already knowledgeable enough about the dangers of the internet, but I don't think they are emphasized as often as they should be. You need to protect yourselves! Internet safety is of ultimate importance, especially when children are in the home or the classroom. You can never be too safe!

Internet Safety

2008-12-04T17:20:00.000-06:00

-DO NOT talk to strangers!
- don't give out personal information
-keep the computer in a place where your parents can see/monitor what you are looking at
-gambling: waste of money and time; possible identity theft
-beware of identity theft!
-PARENTS: block ALL bad websites (anything remotely questionable)
-beware of typo squatting (misspelling domain name to send to inappropriate websites)
-Create a filter for all SPAM
-DO NOT play games off of pop-up windows.
-avoid hate sites
-Piracy is ILLEGAL!
-plagiarizing can get you into more trouble than you think, and not just with your teacher.
-Don't go onto the internet alone, don't enter chat rooms.
-Have parents monitor email
-Beware of Cyber Bullying, blogrings (deadly consequences to bullying: depression, suicide, murder)
-Don't pretend to be someone else online.
-Some ppl online may not be who they say they are.
-NEVER respond to someone online that you don't know.
-NEVER arrange to meet up with anyone you met online.
-EDUCATORS: NCLB/internet prevalence in schools=tech savvy kids. We are responsible for teaching students smart internet safety.
-PARENTS: be responsible. Ask your kids what sites they visit.

Fourth Week of Practicum

2008-12-02T20:10:00.000-06:00

Sadly, this was our last full week of practicum. I've enjoyed everything so far! I did a lesson this week on Helpful vs. Harmful Wind. For my lesson I created a powerpoint with pictures and a link to a kids' website. The kids really loved the pictures and the link helped them understand where wind comes from. Without it, I don't think they would have completely understood what I was trying to teach them. It makes learning a lot easier when the kids have a visual to reference. I really enjoyed teaching the lesson because the slides outlined exactly what I wanted to go over. The kids were well behaved and attentive during the whole lesson because it was something different than their normal routine of listening to a teacher talking.

The student teacher from the U of U taught a wind lesson with centers. I think this would have been a great opportunity to have the kids use technology. Since they were already in groups of 4-5 students, it would have been manageable to have the students go out to the kiosk of computers and have them play some games that demonstrated wind. They would have been able to discover facts about wind on their own and increased their learning more than cutting out and coloring a book about wind that they didn't even write on their own. It would have also been a good opportunity to let the kids experiment with wind measurement tools. Some of them require the use of technology, others are just cool demonstrations that require little teaching effort and lots of student-discovery. Well, maybe next time. :)
Go to this website to find the cool link for wind I used in my powerpoint: http://www.windpower.org/en/kids/choose/wind/candle.htm

Third Week of Practicum

2008-12-02T19:55:00.000-06:00

This week I did an interactive writing lesson with the kids. In short, they loved it, I hated it. It was the hardest lesson I've ever taught. Ms. Gonzalez hates interactive writing because there is little room to reach out to every student. I took pictures of the letter that they wrote on the whiteboard and captured a video of the kids reading the letter out loud. Then I burned the video to a CD to send to the Army officers that visited us on Veteran's Day, since that's why we wrote the letter. The kids loved it! The video turned out soo cute! Other than that, we didn't really use a lot of technology this week. Enjoy the video!

I think it would be interesting to integrate technology into their weekly reading lessons. They focus on a new reading strategy every week. This week it was cause and effect. This could have been taught with technology, especially considering the extensive amount of videos and hands-on tools available now. I'd like to see what could have been done with that.

Second Week of Practicum

2008-11-08T12:28:00.000-06:00

This week has been so much fun. I'm learning so much from our coordinating teacher, who has done this program several times before and knows exactly how to help us become involved in classroom teaching. Her husband is also an engineer and very adamant about using technology in the classroom. They both understand that technology is the future and make it a goal to have access to lots of it in the classroom. Ms. Gonzales feels that there is so much that her students can gain from the exposure to technology and that students need to be starting at an early age (first grade) to keep up with the quickly changing trends. She invested in a projector for her classroom because the school does not provide those.

Ms. Gonzales also has some wonderful powerpoints that she uses for lessons in her classroom. She has a phonics powerpoint that includes sounds, pictures, and links to games online that the students can use to practice their phonics. I believe she has posted this on their classroom website so that parents can help their kids use technology in the home too. The classroom website is wonderful! Ms. Gonzales has pictures of the students performing classroom tasks, links to fun first grade level games, information about their classroom, etc.

Because of her enthusiasm and willingness to use technology, I was able to present a powerpoint lesson for math on sorting and graphing. I think it went really well, except for the fact that I was pressed for time, so a few parts of my lesson were neglected. However, the technology ran perfectly smooth! There were no technical difficulties because I had planned and prepared my lesson beforehand and there was nothing left for me to do but present. The kids loved it because it was an approach to teaching that was different from the usual lecture and made them patiently wait to try it on their own with sorting blocks, graphs, etc.

I really like Ms. Gonzalez's idea for using technology with a phonics lesson. I think it can be difficult for children to understand the essentials of phonics without technology. It helps to have an automated recording for students to listen to so that they have something to compare sounds to. The students catch on rather quickly and there is less room for error.

I really like this class, this teacher, and this school! It's so much fun getting to know the kids!

Reflection

2008-10-30T17:56:00.001-05:00

I learned in this class session that there are multiple integrations for reading and writing lessons that incorporate technology. I never thought of digital recording to tell stories or even to write them as a class. It can be incorporated into many facets of the literacy practicum, which I really like. I have trouble thinking of technology integrations because many teachers don't use it as much as they should or could. I really like the idea of using projectors, and I feel fortunate because we have a projector in our classroom. I also like creating a classroom blog that students, teachers, and parents can view to stay connected to the classroom. Other than that, technology is rather limited. I think it is definitely a possibility to use technology in the classroom because it is very important for students to be up to date with technology since it is controlling their generation. I want my students to be prepared for the future, and technology is the way to do it.

Technology Integrations

2008-10-30T17:23:00.000-05:00

Shared Writing:The most important part of Shared Writing is that the teachers collaborate and negotiate ideas. Only the teacher writes. Group size is limited to small groups or the whole class, depending on the purpose.
Technology Integration Ideas:
SmartBoard
ELMO (Digital Document Viewer)
Show digital pictures to get ideas for what to write
Projector for computer images
Use internet for ideas about what to write and details about topic
With a projector, you could use a powerpoint to write a story or photo essay.

Shared Reading:
Text should be accessible to everyone. Students take turns reading.
Technology Integrations:
ELMO
Digital Storyboard
PowerPoint
Promethian Board
SmartBoard

Read Aloud:
Choose a book a level a little higher than their own. Focus on reading, valuing books.
Technology Integrations:
Digital Storyboard
Google Earth tour of author or book setting
Digital recording of reading

Interactive Writing:
Student adn teacher write something together on chart paper.
Technology Integration:
SmartBoard
Typing it up
Highlighting tools in Word to emphasize parts of what they write
PowerPoint to highlight important topics

Guided Reading:
Students in a small group all have the same text. Homogenous groups by level. Students read in mumble voices. Focus on reading
Technology Integration:
PowerPoint with phonemes

Reader's Workshop:
Like a reader's theater to develop fluidity and prosody. Increases self-efficacy. Performed to show others.
Technology Integration:
Create a video of their performance.
Blog

Why did I become a teacher?

2008-10-30T17:07:00.000-05:00

I received this email from my stepmom, who is a fourth grade teacher. I just wanted to share it with all the other education majors out there who are feeling a little overwhelmed with the new practicum experiences. There were some cute pictures with it, but they didn't show up, so you'll just have to imagine cats jamming out to the different kinds of music with huge headphones on. Enjoy!

6 Phases of Teaching

Phase 1

You are listening to jazz -- Your first day at work is great. Your fellow teachers are wonderful, your classroom is cute, you love your students, and your principal is the best!

Phase 2

You are listening to pop music -- After a while you are so busy that you are not sure if you're coming or going anymore.

Phase 3

You are listening to heavy metal -- This is what you feel like after ONE month.

Phase 4

You are listening to hip hop -- You become bloated due to stress, you're gaining weight due to lack of exercise because you are so tired and have so much school work to do when you get home, you feel sluggish and suffer from constipation. Your fellow teachers are too cheerful for your liking and the walls of your classroom are closing in. You have started thinking 'WHATEVER' about your principal.

Phase 5

You are listening to GANGSTA RAP -- After more time passes, your eyes start to twitch, you forget what a 'good hair day' feels like as you just fall out of bed and load up on caffeine.

Phase 6

You are listening to the voices in your head -- You have locked your classroom door to keep people out, You wonder, 'WHY am I even here in the first place?' and 'WHY did I become a teacher!'

Virtual Tour

2008-10-23T20:36:00.000-05:00

This virtual tour idea is really cool. However, it is a lot of work for a project that might take about 2-3 minutes to look at. Great. But I wanted to make it good so that I could and would use it in my future teaching. I don't know whether or not I'll go back and teach in California, but I remember the Gold Rush being one of the most important lessons I learned my fourth grade year. It has stuck with me for years (apparently).

I also looked at Erica's and Kamden's virtual tours of various terrain throughout the world. I thought it was really cool! This is definitely something I can do for my students to help them become more familiar with geography, landscapes, habitats, animals, etc. Erica asked really good questions for students to discover, and I liked Kamden's link to an activity. I think kids would really love doing an activity like this. I could try to post the link to my tour, but I heard it won't work on a blog. So, if it's not here, then it didn't work. ;)

Google Earth, My New Best Friend

2008-10-16T18:27:00.000-05:00

I love, love, love GoogleEarth! I had so much fun looking up places that I know, or places that I want to go to. I got to see several views of the Sacramento California Temple, where I will be getting married in December. It is so beautiful.

Anyway, I posted a link to the tour for the Civil War. It has hundreds of sites to view and different dates, depending on when troops were there. Of course, it won't have pictures of the actual sites at that time, but it's cool enough that you can take students through this tour and let them see where things are in relation to each other. If the Civil War is what you are studying, you can take the students from site to site in order of when the troops moved. It would definitely help the students understand what the troops went through by traveling so many miles without a car! We could read stories or individual accounts of soldiers that were in this area at the time so that students could put themselves in the soldier's shoes. I think this is an amazing tool to use in the classroom that will help students relate to historical and geographical events.

Photostpry reflections

2008-10-14T10:41:00.000-05:00

I watched 3 videos-Marci Murray's, Josh Stewart's, and Aleisha Boehm's. I really liked all of them. I liked how well Marci's video can be applied to students here in Utah, or other cold places. I liked how simple Josh's video was because it is so easy to apply to the elementary level. I could definitely see little kids doing that! Aleisha's was cute as well, I just wish the sound quality was a little better; I could barely hear it. I realize that there are so many options for photostories within the elementary classroom! Poems, stories, songs...all can be made into a video in which all your students participate.

I think my photostory could easily be used in the younger grades, since that is what I want to teach. Kindergartners and first graders would especially benefit from it because of the different animals used in the story. It can be used to familiarize students with different animals and teach them how to identify characteristics of each one. The plot of the story is also very imaginative, something that will be more graciously received by the younger group of students that still think that way. Such a story can be applied to multiple genres and can be rewritten in a different style to show how the meaning and feeling changes when you change the tone of the story.

York Story cont'd.

2008-10-10T09:45:00.001-05:00

So, this story is so cute! We were fortunate enough to get the story from Erica's roommate, who had just written the story for one of her classes. She also gave us her drawing of the wonderful volatilis porcine constellation. I'm just so glad the project is finally done! It took so long because of the microphone mixup, or mixups. We had to try several times to make it work, especially with the background music, which we spent so much time finding. We wanted to be sure to use everything we had prepared, so it was, of course, essential to have the background music. The time spent was well worth it, because we have this fabulous video to share! I will definitely use this in my classroom when I'm a teacher, to give students ideas as to what they can accomplish with technology. Well, enjoy!

York story

2008-10-10T09:33:00.001-05:00

Storyboard

2008-10-03T16:56:00.000-05:00

I am actually really excited about this storyboard project! It looks like something fun I could help my future students do in the classroom. This is good practice so I can work out all the bubbles before I require it of my students. Especially since it took nearly an hour to get the picture of the storyboard saved on my computer so that I could add it to this blog. I am just super excited about technology. :) Well, at least the story is cute. I can't wait to figure out how to really make one of these storyboard things. It should be exciting, but it's gonna take a while. So much for a fun week. I think I'll be doing this in my free time. Oh joy.

Week 4

2008-09-27T22:38:00.000-05:00

The assignment this week was easy, but the posting of it (coordination and such) was a bit of a challenge. I feel like my reflections are a bit of a roller coaster, but that's how I feel! It's getting better, except for the things I've always had problems with. I guess I'll work on those next week.