Saturday's a good day

 Even though I was pretty sick all day Friday, I slept it off all day and night and was able to get out of bed to go to the Speed Skating World Championships! They were at the Olympic Oval in good old Kearns Utah. It was so fantastic to see skaters from all over the world! Belarus, Kasikstan, Russia, China, Japan, Italy, Holland, Netherlands, and so many more! We feel as though we really turned into speed skating fans after a day spent at the rink watching the races! Oh and just so you know they have curling lessons at this place and cosmic curling on the weekends...booyay!

 Since google gave us an address for Apolo Ohno and he lives in South Jordan, and we were now speed skating fanatics, we had no choice but to drive by! This is his house. We are not really sure how much he is in town but it was still super great knowing he lives close to us!

Yesterday was a friend, Daeson's birthday. He was being kind of a bum and needed to get out and do something fun for being a quarter of a century old! So Katie, Ashlee and I went to his house to kidnap him! Luckily he didn't struggle too much because the get away car was super slow! Once in the car we gave him some options...get thrown in a lake, pie at village inn, marco polo at walmart, or ice cream. In the end we choose pie at Village Inn and it ended up being the best decision ever!

We had a great waiter and he made this hat for Daeson and then the hostess Christine called him a pie head which was the funniest thing to us at 10:30 at night! Then she loved our table to so much and thought it would be great to make Daeson the customer of the week! He was pretty embarrassed but it was a really great night! Then a biker gang carrying a bag of bullets sang happy birthday to him on the way out! So many good memories.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAESON!

Support for Special Needs

I follow a friend of mine on facebook and blogs very closely, to say the least, my friend inspires me. She has a preemie little girl that she allows the world to follow their ups and downs, sad moments and the successful times. I pray for Amanda and little CA, but not that these things be taken away, because for whatever reason this wonderful family is supposed to go through these trials in life. But instead I pray for strength for Amanda that while her husband is away serving in the Navy and going to medical school, she can do what her children need her to do for them, that she can be strong and supportive no matter what CA and her body decide to do. Not only that but Amanda and her writing made me all the more positive of the decision I made to go into working with children that have special and specific needs. I may not be doing that now in my life but that does not my mean my dreams are over and I will forever work as grade school teacher. This is just the beginning of the rest of my life. 

Moving on, Amanda re-posted an article written by a father with a daughter with a certain condition that I am not sure what it is. But of course as Amanda felt it was very well written it must be worth my time to read, and it was. Here is the link if you want to read the whole story. Support for Special Needs I took a little piece of what he says in the end because of how I found it the best part of the story.

"But as the character in the movie reminds us, life is a tapestry, built from moments, some awful and some sublime, but all of them unique and the best of them genuine. As Schuyler’s father, the best times I have are the ones in which I can live in those moments. And then let them go."

I forget about the small moments that make up our lives. I forget to take the time to stop and think about everything that is making me who I am. Sometimes I wish I could erase that hard times from my life and forget about them, but then I would not have had the learning experience from those times and there would be blank spots on my tapestry. Everything that I have gone through and that I have done is all being added to my grand picture that someday will be complete after I have lived the life I was supposed to have lived. I need to remember to live in the moments of here and now without always wishing for the future to come, because it never will. Learn from the past, do not worry about the future, but live in the present, because it is just that, a present from our Heavenly Father of being here at this time fulfilling the grand plan. 

Top 100 Movies

Top 100 Greatest Movies 

One thing on my bucket list is to watch the top 100 greatest movies of all time. All I did was type that into google and hopefully find a list, well I found like 100! I thought that the American Film Institute was a worthy choice and chose their list. And so begins the adventure of watching all 100 of these movies! Some I have seen and others never ever heard of, but if you have seen them let me know if there are any on this list that you think are terrible!

The following list includes the top 100 greatest movies of all time, according to the American Film Institute, including films such as Citizen Kane, The Godfather, and Casablanca. The American Film Institute asked more than 1,500 members of the film community to pick the 100 best films of all time from a list of 400 movies nominated by the institute. The criteria for inclusion was historical significance, critical recognition and awards, and popularity determined by box-office revenue, syndication, video sale and rental figures. The updated, 10th anniversary edition of the list was released in 2007.

1.	Citizen Kane (1941)
2.	The Godfather (1972)
3.	Casablanca (1942)
4.	Raging Bull (1980)
5.	Singin' in the Rain (1952)
6.	Gone with the Wind (1939)
7.	Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
8.	Schindler's List (1993)
9.	Vertigo (1958)
10.	The Wizard of Oz (1939)
11.	City Lights (1931)
12.	The Searchers (1956)
13.	Star Wars (1977)
14.	Psycho (1960)
15.	2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
16.	Sunset Blvd. (1950)
17.	The Graduate (1967)
18.	The General (1927)
19.	On the Waterfront (1954)
20.	It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
21.	Chinatown (1974)
22.	Some Like It Hot (1959)
23.	The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
24.	E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
25.	To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
26.	Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
27.	High Noon (1952)
28.	All About Eve (1950)
29.	Double Indemnity (1944)
30.	Apocalypse Now (1979)
31.	The Maltese Falcon (1941)
32.	The Godfather Part II (1974)
33.	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
34.	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
35.	Annie Hall (1977)
36.	The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
37.	The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
38.	The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
39.	Dr. Strangelove (1964)
40.	The Sound of Music (1965)
41.	King Kong (1933)
42.	Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
43.	Midnight Cowboy (1969)
44.	The Philadelphia Story (1940)
45.	Shane (1953)
46.	It Happened One Night (1934)
47.	A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
48.	Rear Window (1954)
49.	Intolerance (1916)
50.	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
51.	West Side Story (1961)
52.	Taxi Driver (1976)
53.	The Deer Hunter (1978)
54.	M*a*s*h (1970)
55.	North By Northwest (1959)
56.	Jaws (1977)
57.	Rocky (1976)
58.	The Gold Rush (1925)
59.	Nashville (1975)
60.	Duck Soup (1933)
61.	Sullivan's Travels (1958)
62.	American Graffiti (1973)
63.	Cabaret (1972)
64.	Network (1976)
65.	The African Queen (1951)
66.	Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
67.	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
68.	Unforgiven (1992)
69.	Tootsie (1982)
70.	A Clockwork Orange (1971)
71.	Saving Private Ryan (1998)
72.	The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
73.	Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
74.	The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
75.	In the Heat of the Night (1967)
76.	Forrest Gump (1994)
77.	All the President's Men (1976)
78.	Modern Times (1936)
79.	The Wild Bunch (1969)
80.	The Apartment (1960)
81.	Spartacus (1960)
82.	Sunrise (1927)
83.	Titanic (1997)
84.	Easy Rider (1969)
85.	A Night at the Opera (1935)
86.	Platoon (1986)
87.	12 Angry Men (1957)
88.	Bringing Up Baby (1938)
89.	The Sixth Sense (1999)
90.	Swing Time (1936)
91.	Sophie's Choice (1982)
92.	Goodfellas (1990)
93.	The French Connection (1971)
94.	Pulp Fiction (1994)
95.	The Last Picture Show (1971)
96.	Do the Right Thing (1989)
97.	Blade Runner (1982)
98.	Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
99.	Toy Story (1995)
100.	Ben-Hur (1959)

 

I don't do it for the money...

I had a good friend of mine share this with me on facebook and I think it is too good to not re-share and remember for the future. 

Teachers' hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It's time we put thing in perspective and pay them for what they do - babysit! We can get that for minimum wage. That's right. Let's give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That ...would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to......... 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan-- that equals 6 1/2 hours). Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day...maybe 30? So that's $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations. LET'S SEE.... That's $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year. Wait a minute -- there's something wrong here! There sure is!

The average teacher's salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student--a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!) WHAT A DEAL!!!!

Heaven forbid we take into account highly qualified teachers or NCLB...

My response to her: Thanks Tamara. One could only hope and the sad thing is I wish I could be making $50,000. Utah is the lowest paying state of teachers and I make around $32,000. That comes out to about $1.18/hour/student. Not only do I babysit but I teach them how to read and add/subtract. I teach them how to tell time and how to count money. I teach them how to tie their shoes and how to show respect. I teach them to not be bullies, and how to use kind words. I love them and care for them and provide a safe environment. Well as safe as I can by knowing the procedures if something were to happen and hopefully be able to stay calm and think on my feet for my safety and that of my students. But don't worry my taxes just went up on my already low salary so I am making even less than I thought imaginable as I am teaching the future of our country. No big deal though I dont do it for the money and luckily most teachers don't either, if we cared about the money there wouldn't be as many teachers. What else gets me is that if people don;t know what they want to do in life they decided to go to school to be a teacher because thats an easy job. My job is far from easy, the things I deal with on a daily or weekly basis are more than I would wish on anyone, and while things are getting easier for me that does not mean my troubles are gone. I still have children who come to school hungry. The kids who live with one or no parents because they are in jail and there only wish is to see them again soon. There are students who parents are on drugs, illegal and prescription and have a hard time taking care of them. There is a chance that some are being abused whether mental, emotionally or physically I do not know. I have students who do not have clean laundry and as a 6 year old know enough about life that they don't want to go to school in dirty clothes.These are problems that my 6 and 7 year olds face and yet I expect them to come to school everyday and want them to focus on learning to read and write and do math. To some school is a place that is warm and they can get 2 free meals and be in a safe environment. Yet I have to try and make them find a love for learning, being at school, and want to stay in school to graduate. Never thought I would wish to be making minimum wage at a full time job that I work 45-50 hours a week at. 

Here's to making the world a better place and not fully caring what the paycheck says at the end of the month.  

 

ERIKA

 I have this weird thing where I have 2 best friends named Erica and Erika. People get confused when I talk about them sometimes. But Erika has been on a mission in Tacoma Washington for the last year and a half and that feels like forever that I haven't seen her! Well she came home right before Christmas and I wasn't able to see her in PA but she is going back to BYUI so she flew out and stayed with me. Her first night my singles ward had an activity at a skating center and so we decided to go. We had a blast on bounce houses and roller skating. It was just so good to be with her again!

On Friday night we went to the famous Cafe Rio that everyone would talk to us about and how good it is. Since moving to Utah I have been there a couple times but Erika knew she needed to try it. The sweet pork is what they are famous for as well as the salads. I will say that both are very very good and I think Erika was satisfied. Although all the talk you hear you think it should be made of gold, but it is still good.

 After dinner we had to go shopping to pick a few things up for Erika at school. First of all if you know Erika you may know that she is obsessed with blankets and pillows. She has to sleep with about a million blankets and the perfect pillow. She had the blankets covered but she needed to find the perfect pillow since it would not fit in her suitcases out flying here. So of course to find the perfect pillow you have to try them out. I will admit that I encouraged this, and she found a great pillow. 

 After shopping we drove down to American Fork to meet up with someone Erika was on the mission with. We decided to go to Denny's for some hot chocolate. Well let's just say that I found out it was endless cups and I really had nothing to do while the 2 of them talked. These are not all my cups, but I did drink about 6 of them, and by the time I was done I think people may have been wondering what else was in there. Just lots of caffeine and chocolate!

 We also stopped at this fountain outside the library that they freeze in the winter and turn into a skating rink. It is super sweet and so are we!

 The next morning we got up and drove off to Rexburg so I could deliver my dear friend. Unfortunately I woke up pretty sick and it was a little miserable. Luckily I was able to fill the first part of the trip with stories from the last year. Then I had to have Erika take over the driving. She got us the rest of the way and we found her new house. It was extremely weird being there with her and not moving in with her.  But she got all  settled in while I napped. 

Then we went out shopping. The last semester I lived with her she found a rocking chair at DI for super cheap. As we were eating dinner at Wendy's Erika decided she wanted to check DI just to see what they had. Well as you can see, she found another rocking chair and it fits perfectly in her room. I was glad that she was so happy about it!

 Since freshman year Erika, Erin, and I have been roommates. It was one of those weird friendships that was just so strong! lol I found some of my favorite roommates my first year at school. Anyway we have had some real good times, then this summer Erin went and got married! She was also back in Rexburg just this time not as a roommate. She still came over and we hung out for a couple hours and talked about life and just everything. It was really a good time with just the 3 of us again. 
And believe me the good times do not stop here, they will continue!

 This was actually a rare moment I was sitting up and not under my heating blanket! Dang you sickness! I actually drove home and went straight to the doctor and found out I had some nasty strep throat!

The wonderful lonely drive back to Salt Lake! Luckily not many people were on the road.

Family time

Hanging out with the brothers!

 On my top 10 list of favorite things to do would be watching hockey games, especially my brothers. I used to go to so many hockey games it was crazy! The annual alumni game happened and it was great to see them back out on the ice again. I will say it was a little harder watching this game because it was so freezing cold in the rink and they played almost 6 full periods. My brothers were on the same team but never got on the same line.

 We also spent some time together and went bowling on New Years Eve.We got a couple games in and I think the guys are still surprised that I dominated the first game.  Our family has got a little skill when it comes to bowling. Nick picked up his game the second round for the win, and Kevin needs to go more than once every couple of years with me.

The boys and I for the last couple of years meet up with Grandma and Pappap and have some lunch. They are always real funny lunch conversations and topics. It is so fun to spend that time with them when we are all home together. One thing that never fails is that we laugh a lot. Anyway, after lunch Kevin and I went to a pawnshop because we had never been but watch the show Pawn Stars all the time. We went and looked and came out with the decision that it is just like a thrift store. 

 

On my last day we all got in the car and the boys drove me to the airport. On our way we had to make one more stop at Sheetz! It is more than just a gas station, and anyone who has been to one will tell you the same thing. I love their spicy chicken sandwiches but with it being early in the morning I went with my second favorite the schmagal!  It was magical! Sheetz you never disappoint.

Sledding with DAD

After it snowed a ton dad and I decided to get some sled riding in. We bundled up and headed to the back yard. The first couple times down was just making a path and packing the snow down. After we had a nice path we were flying down the hill. The fastest we determined was on our stomachs but you could feel every single bump when going down that way.

The Diamond with MOM 

One night we just decided to get pizza for dinner so mom and I ran into town to pick it up. I wanted to stop and look at the light first so we walked around. I miss going to light up night at the end of November, I used to go as a Girl Scout and help with light up night. One year I had to dress up like a Thin Mint. Now I just come back to visit and see if it ever changes, and it doesn't.

 My awesome Parents!

While I was home I brought some school work with me. I figured I would have some time to sit and cut out some flash cards for my kiddos. Well I didn't realize how many there were until they were finished, about 1200! My parents cut out all but about 12 of them which I did. They rocked using the paper cutter! They say sometimes they feel bad they can't help with anything in my classroom, well that was enough for this year! Maybe I'll take another big project home over the summer or next Christmas :) 

 

Super Sandwich, Shopping and Skating!

The day after Christmas is snowed and we had freezing rain. That pretty much cancelled all plans of doing anything because the roads were nasty to drive on. By that night we couldn't stay at home anymore so we ventured out to Primanti Brothers for Kevin's birthday dinner. This is a true Pittsburgh sandwich and must be tried by anyone that comes into the city. Really the only thing different is that all your sides come on the sandwich! The sandwich is loaded with fries and coleslaw and let me tell you it is amazing!

 I could not wait to see my best friend Erica! We went to the mall and they have this machine that you step in and it like scans your body and then you get a print out of the best sizes for your body type and where to find specific jeans, shirts, dresses, ect in the mall. It is really sweet! (when you go in they make you put your hands like that)

 Then we went to CalU to clean up her apartment a bit and getting ready to move. That only lasted like an hour before we ditched it to go to the Waterfront to eat some PF Changs and see Les Miserables at he Lowes Theatre. That was a really great night!

 The next morning we got up and went back into the city and met Jeff for lunch and then ice skating at PPG!

 It was a little busy but we had fun weaving in and out of people and watching them fall.

Christmas time

 Really what more could I ask for than to be home with my family for the holidays! I couldn't wait to finish school and start the wonderful almost 2 weeks break away from Utah and my crazy kiddos. Before I went home I had a stop to make at my very good friend Mallory's wedding. I is still crazy to me that she is married now but I am so happy for her because she is so happy!

 I met Mallory at BYUI, we had a few classes together, but then we became really good friends when we came down to Utah and student taught together. These amazing ladies were the teachers we got to work with, Gomez and Peercy! I seriously love these ladies and am glad that we are still all friends!

 I left the wedding and headed out for a red-eye flight home. Not my favorite but it is actually easier because I don't feel like I am wasting a whole day flying. I landed in Pittsburgh and had a mini McLaughlin family reunion! It was a celebration of Kevin's 21st birthday and Christmas all in one. It was really great to be able to see my whole family all at once. I won't say much about the condition Kevin was in, but I did learn from him that Ming Ming is the name of an elf on the movie Elf and it is the same boy who played Ralphie on A Christmas Story so long ago. WEIRD

 Our Christmas Eve traditions range from eating steak dinners, to going to church, family pictures in front of the tree, and opening a present from each other. For the most part we did all of those on this wonderful Christmas Eve. We had the steak dinner, but dad had to work so he missed most of it. We still went to church, my favorite part has always been singing at the end with the candles. Then we came home took out pictures and then mom had us open our ornament presents. I just have to give a shout out to the wonderful looking men in my family and their sweet suits, and bow tie Kevin!

 This year I got the mother-load of ornaments. The snow-globe because I collect them. Mom and dad made the Moab one from sand my mom collected when we were there in April. The nutcracker because last Christmas break I went with some family to see it!

Christmas Morning!

 WE ARE GETTING OLD! First we got kitchen sponges in our stockings and it was like the greatest thing! Then the boys both got vacuum cleaners.

 I wrote them all letters and made them read them together. A couple of them cried, I won't say who!

 My family has been planning on taking a bike trip and my plan was to load them up with gear so that they knew I was serious and that we were going! They all got helmets, camel backs, and biking shorts! I'm still not sure how they felt about all of them, but they know we are going biking this summer!

 Nick's ready!

Only one of the best presents ever! Nick and I got cordless power drills! That I was not expecting, but we sure had fun getting those! I might tell the story later how I tried taking that through airport security haha :)

My dad is the best and also completed my JCPenny collection of snow globes with 2 that I did not have. I am done with the small ones now because Penny's is done giving them away, but I still got 3 other big ones for Christmas! I love my snow globes :)

Merry Christmas Everyone!