Saturdays

 This Saturday I got together with my great friends Katie and Meagan and we went on an adventure. Actually it is always an adventure with us! We started the great night by driving down to American Fork were we went to Wing Shack. I love me some good wings and I am still trying to find a place as good as Dino's in Latrobe and I though maybe tonight would be the night, but still no. Don;t get me wrong these wings were delicious, but still cannot compare.

 Then we went bowling at Jack and Jill lanes. I really do love bowling, I think it is so much fun! Of course we needed to picture of the shoes, you can't go bowling without one. I try telling that to Kevin but he just thinks I'm nuts! I will point out that my shoes are the shiny blue and white ones! I bought those beauties off of ebay almost 5 years ago and I love them so much!

 This picture makes me so happy but the best part I would like to point out is that Katie Lee is holding a purple ball and that is her ball! She got it for free somewhere. It was funny as we walked in she was carrying her ball and I had my shoes. Oh what a sight!

I also just want to point out the laces on my shoes! I learned different ways to lace shoes on Pinterest yesterday and so I tried it out and I really liked both of them I couldn't decided so I let them be different!

Our next stop was Walmart for some whipping cream, denture cleaner, and gluten free stuffing (which doesn't really exist, that we know of). Meagan got this cart but it was a little broken and the back wouldn't go down so it was pretty easy to slide right in. :) At one point I was surrounded by some food but I had to take it out to get out.

 If you know me, there is a chance you know that I collect snow globes. It kind of started with getting one every year from black Friday shopping at JC Penny's. But I really do try and get a snowglobe every where I go. So last night we were just walking around Walmart and Katie sees these gems! Yes that is a snow globe at the bottom of this cup! There is also an explanation as to why the bottom of my cup is green. I love blue and really wanted the blue cup, but some ridiculous people seriously stole all the snow globes out of the bottoms of every single blue cup. I was so mad at them, so instead I switched a cute green snowman snow globe and put it in the cup I wanted. I probably and not allowed to mix and match, but I did anyway!

Building on s strong foundation

Last weekend my church had stake conference. A stake is about 10 separate wards, so all those wards got together and held a special conference that happens twice a year. We have bishops over each of the wards and 2 counselors, then the stake also has a president with his 2 counselors. Anyway last weekend one of the men were speaking and brought up a song that we liked to sing when we were younger... (the scripture reference is Matthew 7:24-27; Luke 6:46-49)

The Wise Man and the Foolish Man 

1. The wise man built his house upon the Rock,
   The wise man built his house upon the Rock,
   The wise man built his house upon the Rock,
   And the rains came tumbling down.
   The rains came down and the floods came up,
   The rains came down and the floods came up,
   The rains came down and the floods came up,
   But the house on the Rock stood still. 
2. The foolish man built his house upon the sand,
   The foolish man built his house upon the sand,
   The foolish man built his house upon the sand,
   And the rains came tumbling down.
   The rains came down and the floods came up,
   The rains came down and the floods came up,
   The rains came down and the floods came up,
   And the house on the sand washed away 

 I feel like at church we talk a lot about making sure that we are building our foundations on sturdy ground and making sure that our foundations are strong. If we have those strong foundations that like in the song we can stand still when the storms of life come.

So far up to now it has been merely an introduction to what was talked about at stake conference. (I honestly cannot remember who spoke about this so I am just referring to him as he or the man!) He spoke about a topic that is very quick to gain my attention and listen carefully. He spoke of the tragic day of 9/11 and of the twin towers. Now these towers were built on a very strong foundation and built to withhold weather and the environment....so what happened? We are taught that if we have a strong foundation we will stand still and we will not be washed away. Well think about for a minute why the towers fell.....there was something inside of them that was not supposed to be there..(that would be the planes in case you didn't know.) As strong as that foundation was, once there was something inside that was so destructive, they had a hard time standing a chance.

This of course turned into an analogy for our lives. We find ourselves going to church and doing so many things good so that we can build a strong foundation. But what if we slip just once and let something inside of us that doesn't belong, no matter how strong our foundation, there is a chance to still come crumbling down. I know this sound dramatic, but think of just one example of the use of pornography. You can be doing all the right things and be such an amazing, spiritual person who is this rock. Then one day someone shows it to you or you stumble upon it and you get hooked. I have known people who change because of it, and whose lives all of a sudden fall apart because of it. It is something that is inside that shouldn't be there and even though you built a strong foundation, sometimes it cannot hold up against those outside forces.

Lose one friend, lose all friends, lose yourself

That is right I just quoted a line from Boy Meets World. It is Plays with Squirrels (Eric's) manifesto!  I love that show but watching it tonight made me thinks about friends and friendship. I could sit here for the next hour and write down everyone's name that I consider or have considered a friend in the past. I am a pretty great person so it would be a long list:)

The question came to my mind, " what kind of friend am I?"

I like to think of myself as the listener. I would rather ask questions and sit back and allow someone else to talk than me. I love finding out about other people's lives and experiences they have had and trials they have overcome and grown from.  I have had all those too I just don't like to talk about them very much. But I realized that maybe some of my friends have become too comfortable with that and now they rarely ask about me or how I am, in a serious way, more than just the casual how are you. As I think to certain situations it seems like if I want to talk about my life than I have to be the one to say something, it is expected that I will not be asked but am required to talk if I want to. I think I have described it more harsh than it is, but I'm not sure of a better way of explaining it. Just make sure there is always some give and take.

Now I have not lost any friends as the title might suggest but I find it true that one friend can make such a difference in your life that it is weird/strange/awkward and so on, without them in your life. I have a particular friend that I really am not sure what I would do without this person. We grew up together best friends. We did so much together over the years. And while I don't live near her anymore, there are times I call her and can talk about anything and can come home and start exactly where we left off, like nothing has changed. I truly don't know of a more wonderful person I could be friends with.

I ask you, what kind of friend are you?

100th post

Never did I think that I would be able to stick to writing on my blog to get to 100 posts. This may seem insignificant to most but to me that is kinda a big deal. I use this almost as a public journal. I do not set it to private and allow anyone to look at pictures or read my crazy stories. A girl that used to go to BYU-I wanted an oak tree pin, if you read about that on here you know what I'm talking about. Anyway she searched and searched and could not find anything. Then Google finally pulled up my blog for her, she got ahold of me and I helped her get one! I find that so funny but I also love it.

I love that as I continue to write I can use this as a timeline to look back on and remember all the weird/funny/insane/crazy experiences I have had. There are many places that I want to go and travel to, and people to met, and nature to observe. I try and capture as much as I can so my family and friends can try and keep up with me, even though I know it is hard!

WOOT WOOT for 100!

and many many more to come

I am an advocate

This has been not only a long, tiring, and exhausting week, but it was downright hard. I need to express some of my feelings to let it all out and maybe help someone understand why I find teaching so hard this year.

First of all I know and fully understand that I teach on the west side of West Valley and if you know Utah or Salt Lake area, it can be a rough place. But like I said, I knew that before getting the job that I have now. I found that working with those types of students and people was even more rewarding than I had originally thought. So that is where I decided to stay and find a job, and it worked out and I know that I had that confirming feeling that I was where I was supposed to be. I guess I just have to keep reminding myself that the Lord never gives us anything that we cannot handle.

I will say it loud and clear that I was downright spoiled when it came to student teaching at West Kearns. That school knows what it is doing! That is not saying they know how to handle ever situation with every crazy, because seriously no one could keep up with all that. But they know how to best support teachers and staff and the best resources to help the students. ISN'T THAT WHY WE ARE THERE, TO BEST HELP THE STUDENTS.?! That is what I thought, well not every school has it so put together as West Kearns.

 I just want you to know that these are my opinions of where I have worked and what I have experienced. Finally I will get to the point of why my week was pretty much crap! At my new school I have a hard time feeling supported. Don't get me wrong I have a lot of people coming in and out of my room and giving me advice and pulling me this way and that, but is it helping? I have a mentor that is great and has helped me a lot and has been coming in my room to support me, the thing is my kiddos are terrified of her. So when she is in my room they seem like little angels (although that means I still have 1 kid in the corner crying, 1 running laps around the desks, and 1 laying on his stomach over a chair.) The moment she leaves, she gives me advice and says good luck. Me, I am more visual, you need to show me what you mean and how you think it is done with my kiddos in my classroom. People have been giving me great advice but my kiddos are different than your kiddos and it does not work.

Like the title of my post says I am an advocate for my students. That is why I became a teacher to stand up for and speak for those who don't know what is going on in the world yet or what is important. I teach them vital skills they will use for the rest of their lives, I teach them how to be positive and how to love and be kind to one another. I am more than just a teaching of reading and math. That is why I stood up for what I believe in today and sat down with some people and stated my opinions and talked about how maybe it could be different. Not to benefit me, but to best benefit my children.

            Just so you understand, I have my high (green), middle (yellow), and low (red) readers.We have aides that are payed for by Title One money and provided to the school. Now these aides come and take one student at a time, walk them across the school to a relocatable and have a 20 minute group with just that student about things we are not talking about that day. Oh did I mention they are pulling them during my whole group direct instruction. Did I also mention that they are pulling my yellow kids and not my red kids?
         We have specific jobs, the reading coach and reading specialist that work in our school and don't you think that with 1st grade being the main year they learn how to read that you would want the most support there? Oh no not at our school. Neither of those reading coach/specialist works with my class at all and not any of the others either? Really? Well one of those could be my fault for not speaking up as a first year teacher, but really who was I going to argue with at that time?
          Oh I did forget to mention that on a team of 5 first grade teachers, 3 of us are brand new teacher, and 1 is a long term sub due to maternity leave. Also the fact that my principal left like 2 weeks before school started and we got a brand new principal and a brand new assistant principal. I don't want everyone to think that this school is complete crap but with all the newbie's everyone is a little scared of stepping on toes and pushing too far the first year.

             I totally get not wanting to push to far the first year, but I also find it crap on my part. I choose to work at this school and I was so excited and everything was wonderful, until everything started changing. I know that I am still young, healthy, and have lots of energy, and for the most part I can handle the long exhausting days without getting burnt out. And while I may complain a lot about how hard it is for me, what I am really trying to get at is that I want what is best for my students and that they get the best help the school can provide and unfortunately that probably won't happen this year, and my class has this one shot at first grade and they are missing out on wonderful opportunities because they had no control over the transition period at the school. Sorry kiddos I promise to try my hardest but with these really tough kids, that is going to be more difficult than I ever imagined. 

But..

I promise to love you.

I promise to work my hardest.

I promise to keep you safe.

I promise that I will occasionally do my happy dance for you.

I promise that if you try hard and stick to your dreams and goals, you can end up way better than your parents. 

Cat Herding-video

If you have never seen this, watch it and it will give you an idea of what it is like to teach first grade.

Temples

 Today in Stake Conference for just a moment our dear Stake President Wall talked about how close his home was to the temples that are near his home. This got me to thinking about the temples that are also near me now. Growing up it was an all day adventure getting up early driving to DC temple, doing some baptisms, eating lunch and then driving all the way back. Now our temple district back home has changed so we are in the Columbus Ohio temple district. When I got home I took some time to look up all the temples that are within the distance of one drive to some of the temples closest to me in Pennsylvania.

1. Oquirrh Mountian-3 miles 8 minutes

2. Jordan River- 3.6 miles 9 minutes

3. Draper- 12.3 miles 24 minutes

4. Salt Lake-20.8 miles 31 minutes

5. Mt. Timpinogos- 21.3 miles 33 minutes

6. Bountiful- 32 miles 42 minutes

7. Provo- 32.4 miles 47 minutes

8. Ogden- 55.6 miles 1hr 3minutes

9. Brigham City- 76.5 miles 1hr 21 minutes

10. Manti- 110 miles 2hrs and 2 minutes

11. Vernal- 183 miles 3hrs 33 minutes

12. Idaho Falls Idaho- 232 miles 3hrs and 40 minutes

13. Rexburg Idaho- 258 miles 4hrs 7 minutes

1. Washington DC 179 miles 3hrs 24 minutes

2. Columbus Ohio temple 227 miles 4hrs

3.  Philadelphia, Pa 260 4hrs 53 minutes (not finished, under construction)

4. Palmyra, NY 307 miles 5hrs and 58 minutes

There is no excuse for not having regular temple attendance here in Utah. I try expressing this to some of my friends that live here. but since it is such a foreign concept living so far away, they don't understand how precious it is!

ATTEND THE TEMPLE!

Thankful November

I know November is not over yet, but I will continue to update throughout the month.

With it being the month of November and Thanksgiving I want to dedicate the whole month to things I am grateful for. I also wanted to do this with my kids at school, so we made a paper chain to Thanksgiving. Each strip of paper was given to each student who then wrote something they were grateful for and each day as we count down, we read what they wrote. My kids love it!

This is all my time though...
November 1- I am grateful for my best friend in the entire world who I truly love like a sister (cliche, I know). It is her 23rd birthday today and wish that I could celebrate with her, but just so she knows how much I love her! Happy birthday Rica, Geeka, Erica!

November 2- I am grateful for a wonderful dad who taught me all the right things growing up and he is one of the reasons I turned out to be such a wonderful woman! Thank you, I love you.

November 3- I am grateful that even without any sisters I have an older and younger brother whom I also love very much. I love that any time I go home we can pick up where we left off and joke and laugh and have such a good time together. I also really really love our sibling bonding days that have become a tradition!

(mom I have not forgotten you, but you have to wait til your birthday!)

November 4- I am grateful for my health that I continue to have so that I do not have to ever go to a hospital which scares me! I am getting better at fighting off sicknesses that my students love to share with me!
November 5- I am grateful for the job that I was able to receive right after graduating in the field I was searching in and the area. I may not love my job yet but I am thankful for being employed and the help I receive at school especially with my hard students.

November 6- I am grateful for the college I was able to attend and being able to come out of 4 years almost debt free. The school was amazing, I gained friends for life, and teachers that truly cared and still do. I truly loved every minute at BYU Idaho!
November 7- I am grateful for my student teaching placement I had in meeting wonderful people and teachers. I am grateful we created such a relationship that they are still willing to help me know. West Karns your teachers rock! Thanks Peercy and Gomez, Green, Roberts, Norton, Bunk, and so many others for teaching me what it is like to be a truly great educator!
November 8- I am grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. For the opportunity to practice the religion of my choosing freely. I love the knowledge that I have of why I am here, what I am doing, and where I am going. It also helps me on a daily basis knowing I am a daughter of God and I am loved!

November 9- I am grateful for a wonderful set of grandparents who make the best homemade cards when i need them the most! I could go on and on but my grandma can out eat your grandma! My Pappap can fix anything better than your Pappap! I love to Skype with them and getting random text messages and voicemails!
November 10- I am grateful for a working body and mind. With that body I am able to be active and play all the sports that I love. Today marked the end of flag football league and volleyball tournaments, even though my body hurts now I am grateful that I am able to recover!
November 11- I am so grateful for all the people serving or have served in the military. In 8th grade I did a presentation on my Pappap and I still remember it 9 years later! I am grateful for my cousin Mike who is Honduras right now as well as my old friend Chloe who is in Afghanistan. As well as everyone who put their time in. Thank you again Pappap, Dan, Mike, Taylor, Kaitlin, Chloe, Brendan, Jimmy, Lanell, Tyler, Jordan, John, George, Drew, Stan, and Peter many more that I am probably forgetting. You have my support and constant prayers for you and your families.

Random fact #5 Idlewild Flooding

When I was growing up I lived across the street from an amusement park called Idlewild and Soakzone. When we were young we had season passes and would go a lot! I loved the place. It is a children's park so it was perfect for my age growing up. When I turned 14 I spent a few weeks  working to earn money as a fundraiser for my brothers hockey. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. The next summer I turned 15 and started working some of the games in the park for a month or so. Again it was the perfect summer job that I loved. Well 7 years later I was still there working some of those same games in the park and some new ones. After 2 years in games, I worked a year in merchandise, the went back to games as a manager. I was loving working my way up the ladder! 2 years of managing before I spent 2 summers as the one and only games supervisor. For being 20 and 21 I felt very accomplished with how I worked my way up. I still enjoyed the park, I loved my 45 employes, but I hated having to deal with guest complaints and schedules! I feel as though I learned a lot about having a job, working with others, and in working for people.

One thing that I learned how to do really well was de-flooding a mini golf course. You see that was apart of the games section and it was in a lower area and the crick liked to flood a lot and when it rained the water had no where to go but sit on the course. I kept my rain boots at work because this flooding happened quite frequently. And to be honest it was the biggest pain in my butt!

The reason I write about this now is because I saw a picture of my wonderful Goofy Golf after Hurricane Sandy. I saw this picture and all I could do was simultaneously laugh and cringe because de-flooding used to give me nightmares, and this was obviously the worst I have ever seen it. This is probably at least 2 feet of water. 

(Sorry picture not available)

Good luck to those who have to clean up this mess. Trust me when I say I can empathize with you.

doTERRA Oils!

I would just like to say, I am now an oil believer.  I have friends that use them and I tried theirs and then I finally spent the money to get my own starter kit. I am still trying to figure out how to use most of them, but when I find what works it really does work! Peppermint is like my best side kick and it smells the best! Some of them work great but the smells are a little not good.I know others will continue to help me as I find out how to use them!

I wouldn't normally do this, but if you are wondering why they are so great and how they work so well, I put the explanation I was given below.

How doTERRA Oils Really Work

So the large circle obviously represents a single cell in our body. When we get a bacterial infection (such as respiratory infections, food poisoning, etc), we typically go to the doctor who prescribes us an antibiotic prescription which usually clears up the infection. The reason why this works is because all bacterial infections occur outside the cell, as shown in this picture. However, when we get a viral infection (such as flu, cold, etc.) the doctor can't do anything for us. They tell us to go home, get some rest, drink lots of fluids, and it will eventually work itself out of the body. The reason why your doctor cannot give you anything for a viral infection is because any kind of medicine they give you, whether it's an antibiotic or not, that medicine cannot penerate the walls of your cells to get to where the virus is and attack it. Viruses happen inside our cells. Bacterial infections happen outside the cell. The problem with antibiotics is that they can't tell the difference between good bacteria and bad bacteria. Antibiotics usually kill both, which is why you will usually get another type of infection somewhere because your body has been depleted of some of your good bacteria.

With doTERRA essential oils, these oils can actually penetrate your cell walls which your prescriptions and medications cannot do. What does that mean for you? You can use doTERRA products to help prevent and decrease the length of viral infections. You can use doTERRA oils to help eliminate symptoms of cold and flu. You can start feeling better faster.

Random facts #4

 Well it feels official that I am a Utard now :( I mean Utahian. I don't like it one bit. I feel 85% less cool driving now because I don't have my PA plates on anymore and I am just like everyone else. It really was a sad time for me, but it had to be done because my PA registration ran out.

 In case you were wondering yes that is a real taxidermy penguin. He was so cute and soft and I loved him. We had a relief society activity and we were in charge of Antarctica. Seriously!? So we went all out and got a penguin, we also were just the snack table so we had oreo's and milk! It was so great and everyone loved out station!

 Don't worry Antarctica is ready!

 These are some of the beautiful sunrise and sunsets I get to see as I am going to school and leaving school. That actually made me a little depressed typing that because I just admitted to the world how many hours I am at school :(

Halloween

My first big holiday as a teacher and I was a little afraid but it worked out well. We had a school wide parade and I think my kiddos think I am nuts now. They played music over the loud speaker as we walked in and out of every classroom in the school and the gym. When we were in the gym they played ghostbusters song. I started singing and dancing, and tried getting my kids to do the same thing, all I could do was get them to sing with me. But now I am the crazy dancing/singing teacher!

These are the wonderful first grade teachers I work with everyday. Cowgirl, Pippy Longstocking, Pirate, and a Cat! We looked so good.

I gave each table in my classroom a pumpkin to hallow out all the seeds and then we did math with the seeds. I was expecting total craziness, but I think they were so excited and knew not to mess around they actually listened and followed directions.

There it is my full on costume, my first graders loved it!

This wasn't specifically Halloween but the weekend before we got together to celebrate Corinne's birthday and we went to a corn maze. This was somewhere in the middle of it all. We have Liz as a dolphin, Cori was a fairy, Caitlin a superhero, Jeremy, Nicole, and the other guy cowboys/cowgirl, and then the 2 who decided to not dress up at all!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Scheels

My new found friend Charlotte works at Scheels which is a sports, camoing, hunting, everything store. In my opinion it is better that Cabela's. I couldn't wait for it to open and the night before opening they had a VIP night with lots of great stuff. Since Charlotte works there she got to go and bring one guest. Thankfully she is super duper nice and invited me! This was our fun filled night!

That's right free shirt, hat, and yes a do-rag!

That is an archway aquarium if you were wondering full of tropical fish! Oh and yes there is a scuba diver in there! I want that to be my job.

Live band and everything!

The animal mountain, no legit hunting store is complete without one.

my favorite part of the store!

They have a bowling alley, simulators for football, hockey, soccer, golf, and baseball. They also have 2 shooting ranges! I did the hockey while Charlotte did football! Then we both tried golf and that was awesome as well! Let's just say in the shooting range I dominated Charlotte :)

Random picture spots around the building!

That's right there is a giant ferris wheel inside the building! Charlotte and I were like the last riders of the night, thanks to Brooke B! So much fun!

No big deal or anything but I am VIP! Also I love my new hat :)

This is all the free stuff I got while walking around the store! SO GREAT

House Concert :)

 My friend Katie is an amazing singer/sonwriter/guiatar/piano player! She knows of all these singers and bands that a lot of people don't know, but they are so great! There was a house concert last weekend and so we decided to go and support these guys. I found out that I love them!

First a girl names Emily sang and she was alright, but then came Greg Holden! AHHHH I love him. First of all he is from England and has an awesome accent, second he has a beautiful voice, and third plays the guitar! How could you not love him! I was so excited to meet him and we talked for about 10 minutes at the end of the night :) Oh and I forgot to mention he also cowrote the song HOME that Phillip Phillips sings on American Idol. Let me tell you Greg sounds better when he sings his song than when Phillip does!

 I was sad when Greg was done but then came Ian Axel and Chad, who make up the band A Great Big World. They are so entertaining when they play and also sound amazing! I was just in love with the whole night and everyone that sang! Ian and Chad have some of the greatest facial reactions when they are playing so we decided that's how we should take a picture with them!

There were a couple songs that Ian and Greg played together and it was so amazing!

If you have never heard either of these guys you should check them out! Ian Axel, A Great Big World, and Greg Holden!

Fall drive around the Alpine Loop

Amanda, Ashley, and I had never driven the Alpine Loop before. It starts up in Highland and winds it's way down and around and up and back and finally lets you out in Provo Canyon. It was a perfect day for the drive and we couldn't have been happier just taking in the sunshine and seeing all the colors.

The colors are so much brighter in person. We have been oohing and awwing at them from afar all month long....finally we got to see them up close! I love the fall so much because of this reason and it was a nice Sunday drive with some great ladies.

I love the mountians

I was so excited to smell fall and the leaves that I literally just shoved them in my face! Ashely and Amanda got a kick out of that!

These girls are so cool, I am glad I got to spend some quality time with them. 

Did I mention they are going to be my new roommates here soon! WOOHOO

We had a blast driving around seeing everything! YEAH ALPINE LOOP