RACHEL AND JOSH

My favorite cousin in the whole wide world got married in September! She was so kind as to ask me to be a bridesmaid. Even though I was 4 weeks into teaching I took a day off and flew to Ohio over night and was able to spend the weekend with her and my family! This was exactly the trip that I needed to take a little bit of a break from my crazy kiddos and also spend time with the family that I love so much! I got in early Friday morning and Rachel picked me up and we went and got our nails done, did some last minute shopping, and picked up her wedding dress. It was fun to just spend some alone time with her doing these little things and being ourselves around each other!

 Awesome bridal party!

 Girls pose like the guys would. Guys pose like the girls might.

 Classic Photo Bomb! :)

 When we were little we both stayed a weekend at Grandma and Pappap's house to spend time together. One day they took us to the mall to buy something. I don't know how I still remember but we went to Claire's and picked out best friend necklaces. I thought it was be a good little pre-wedding gift for her and she laughed so hard and I was surprised she remember doing this too! So precious memories with family.

 So much pink and so many glasses!!

It was also the perfect weekend to spend with my family and see them for a few days so I don't have to wait for Christmas! I love these men!

 The dancing sure was interesting and fun!

GOOD TIMES IN OHIO!

Utah State Fair

 There was a Friday night that a bunch of us wanted to go to the State Fair before they packed up and headed on their way. So we got a group together of some really cool people and went!

We were on our way through trying to meet up with some other friends and all of a sudden a sign popped out at us that said Peaches and Cream Ice Cream $1! How could we pass that up!

 Katie, Ashley, and Amanda all love corndogs and were super excited to get the footlongs here at the fair. Gross if you ask me, but I am pretty sure all 3 of them ate the whole footlong! I think also all 3 regretted that decision afterwards :)

 Fun at the fair!

So every year they make a sculpture out of 700 pounds of butter. They freeze it throughout the year so the butter is always the same stuff every year. Ashley had heard about this 700 pound sculpture so we really wanted to see it before we left. As we were trying to find the building we weren't sure where to go. So we walked in this crowded place and I just screamed, "Where's the butter cow?!" Amanda, Katie and Ashley were busting out laughing that I just randomly screamed it, but like 3 people turned around and politely showed us the way. Now if you ever hear any of us shouting Where's the butter cow you can be in on the inside joke! 

PS it was Hunger games themed!

Kaite won a fish and while they were in line to ride the big slide, Ashley and I went and picked it up for her. I tried claiming it as my own, but it is not.

Oh what fun the state fair was! Thanks my good friends :)

Campout #2

So I went on another campout 2 weekends later and this time it was just with a bunch of girls! This was also super fun, but definitely not as cold. We stayed in my friend Anita's cabin and it was so much fun.We ate lots of food and played games and went on lots of quad rides!


Seriously, who doesn't like moose?! They are such great animals, so big and huge antlers, and so cute. Unfortunately they can be mean but I really loved this picture of the moose at the camp!

 There is a gate to get into the little cabin community and so Meagan and I were gate duty which was driving the quad back and forth everytime someone showed up! It was so much fun. Meagan taught me how to drive it since it was a manual. Best part of the weekend right there! I think the best was when we danced in the car headlights for the people following us :)

Ward Campout

 I told myself that I would not get behind in blogging after school started but I have. Now is a good time to catch up!

I am going to start at a campout that I went on in August with my church.It was a lot of fun walking around the campground and sitting by the fire eating pulled pork and lots and lots of smore;s, popcorn, and cobbler! My ward knows how to eat when we camp :) Our bishopric also put on a couple skits that were pretty funny and maybe I thought a little differently of them afterwards. We also played glow in the dark frisbee! We wore glow in the dark bracelets and necklaces and the frisbee lite up and it was fun trying to throw it at just a little floating light! The only complaint I have about the campout was how STINKING COLD it was. Some of us were up til 3am just sitting by the fire because it was too cold to leave. Then I did not have the warmest sleeping bag ever, and that made for one long and cold night! In the morning everyone was complaining how cold they were throughout the night!

Here are some pictures from the weekend.

 This is butterfly lake, guess why....it is shaped like a butterfly! You cant tell here, but it was cool! I went with some friends and we took a nice relaxing stroll around the lake and these are some really great things that we found...

 First we found "Jason". This very handsome man fishing on the side of the lake. We stopped and talked to him for a few minutes and wished we could have stayed longer. We don't know his real name so Jason is the one we gave him.

Next we found a bear print. Let's be honest that is so COOL! WE tried finding him, but with very little luck. At first we tried convincing a little boy it was from a dinosaur! :)

Katie and I really wanted to take this canoe out on the lake but we didn't know whose it was so we just pretended.

Then there was the beautiful sunset over the camp!

I am not sure how we missed this driving in to the camp but this campground was not far from where we were. I'm just saying some people really wanted to stop and check it out but we didn't!

Utah summer

Yellowstone- The Lingard's had a family reunion in a wonderful cabin up on Island Park in Idaho. I may not really be family and neither is Jake, but while there Grandma called us family and that is enough to know that we are thought of as family. Jake is a brother-in-law to one of the Lingard's daughters, so he is closer to family than me. 

Anyway Jake and I drove up and met the family in this huge cabin. It was good to be out of the city and into areas of country and woods. At one point as we were driving we stuck our heads out the window to just breathe in the fresh air! We stayed in a big cabin on Island Park and it was so beautiful there!

  

For 2 days we spent time at Yellowstone National Park. Even though I have been there before I saw a lot that I had never seen before.

 OLD FAITHFUL

 Hot springs

 Resting my feet while hanging out in a tree

 We wen on this hike down towards the bottom of the waterfall, but really it was just like 329 steep stairs! Talk about a leg workout!

 GRIZZLY BEAR! I have never seen one, and this guy was super close. Of course there were the idiots who got out of their cars and tried walking towards him. Luckily he just walked away.

 Girls hanging out on the last night. I don't rremember what was so funny but we laughed for a long time! While eating oreo's of course.

Geo caching- One day Nicole came over to see Corinne and I and we were trying to decide what to do and so we went geo-caching! I had never been but it was alot of fun. People hide little treasures somewhere and put the coordinates online for you to look up one's close to where you are. We found 3 near us and so we set off. We had a little bit of trouble finding some but we successfully found 2 of them!

 

If I wrote a book...

 This week a lot of people have been telling me that I should write a book. Well I don't think it would be a best seller but it would be very enlightening into the world of teaching from my perspective and also humorous to everyone who doesn't have to put up with what I do everyday.
Instead of writing a book I will stick to telling all about it on my wonderful blog...

If you don't already know I teach 22 very energetic 1st graders. Now this is my first year teaching and was not exactly sure what to expect, but it was not this. Let me first preface by saying that I teach in a Title 1 school which means that most of my school is made up of low-income families. Also we have a very high percentage of Hispanics and Pacific Islanders, I do not say this to be racist or anything just pointing out the demographics of the area.

1. Parent Conferences- most of my parents only speak Spanish and therefore were translated by my first graders...yeah I wonder what they really told their parents.
2. Dad at parent conferences asking for my number...I said no
3. Dad asking if we can be friends on Facebook...I said no
4. Dad asking for my email...I said only if your emails are about your daughter
5. Kid who poops in my room 8 times in 8 different spots before someone notices
6. Reporting possible abuse
7. Poop happened again, this time only in one sport
8. Free IPad...whoops dropped and shattered that one
9. Total crazy lady as your substitute who leaves her hairbrush, book, and open can of pop all on my desk
10. Kids who can make the strangest noises with their mouths in the middle of every lesson

10. Boy crying because someone touched his chair (while he was not in it)
11. Boy crying because someone leaned over his desk
12. Boy crying because someone said good morning to him before they said hello
13. Boy crying because someone said that he didn't want his eraser, but he did
14. Boy crying because he ran into a door
15. Boy crying because he folder accidentally was folded
( YES THIS IS THE SAME BOY!)

16. Girl crying because she doesn't know what page we are on
17. Girl crying because she can't blow a bubble with bubble gum
18. Girl crying because she didn't have time to finish a project (which I told her she could finish it the next day)
19. Girl crying because her picture was not hung up outside (apparently now she didnt care if it was finished or not)
 20. Girl crying because she has a woodchip in her shoe
21. Girl crying because the point on her pencil broke
22. Girl crying because kids in the class called her a crybaby (It took all I had not to tell her it was because she is a crybaby)  ((And YES it is all the SAME GIRL))

23. It is not my kid, you are just not old enough to be a real teacher.
24. Boy throwing chairs at me
25.Boy throwing a book in my face
26.Boy whose favorite spot in my class is under tables
27. Boy who destroyed my room because he wasn't chosen to lead a game
28. Boy who would yell in my face one second and the next hold my hand and never want to let go
29. Boy who like to flood the bathroom everyday by holding down the flusher
30. Boy who knows how to pout and is more stubborn than ANYONE I have ever met.


31. Girl crying because she made a best friend with a worm and some kids stepped on it (the crying has gone on for almost 2 weeks now)
32. Girl who hides under desks and bites her hands when she doesn't want to go somewhere
33. Girl who hits herself in the head for attention
34. Girl who can stomp down the hall louder than anyone I have ever heard
35. Girl who can turn on the tears quicker that anyone I have ever known
36. Girl who tap dances during the middle of a lesson
37. Girl who loves to sing random songs during a lesson
38. Girl who can't handle coming in from recess without tears

39. I am looking for words that start with the /p/ sound?   party, pig, plan, pizza, panda, peso, paw, purple, pan, pat, pin, oh and pulsating! Me: do you know what that means? Kid: yes it means your heart is beating and pulsating blood throughout the veins in your body so you can live, it is the beating you feel when you put your hand over your heart. Me: (mouth hanging open) yep

40. tying shoes 1,000 times a day
41. giving out approximately 12 bandaides a  day
42. wiping away tears and blood
43. cleaning up bodily fluids and solids
44. picking wood chips out of hair
45. doing a happy dance when the kiddos actaully follow directions (they really enjoy seeing this)
46. putting in hair clips and headbands
47. zipping jackets and pulling off hoods in school


I walk and I talk all day. This is not a job for the WEAK. You lose your voice...to bad you must keep talking and discover ways so the kids and still hear you (talking in a very low voice works and is very entertaining) People may go to school to be teachers but the test comes to see if you can make it through the first 3 years without swearing to yourself you are never ever doing that again. 

These are not the things they list on the job description when you go in for interviews but listen people this is real life, I COULDN'T"T MAKE UP THIS KIND OF STUFF!

Home of the Pandas

I guess it is time to sit down and write about school. It is my first year and I have successfully stayed alive for my first 3 weeks. I work at David Gourley Elementary School as a first grade teacher in south Salt Lake City Utah. 75% of my school is below the poverty mark and about 70 % are Hispanics and 10-15% Pacific Islanders leaving a few white kids in my class. If your wondering I did plan on teaching kids with disabilities and that day will still come but for now I'm just in general education.

When I first decided to take this job at this specific school part of mydecision was because I got along with the principal so well. He helped a lot in the weeks leading up to school. Then about 1week before school he sent me a email saying he was sorry but he was going to be moving to another school. I almost betrayed and lost a lot of confidence in myself because I knew no one at the school and I felt alone. But those are things that we all feel in our lives many times.  I went to talk to him before he left and heat me down and gave me some great advice.
1. You area first year teacher don't expect to be perfect.
2. Leave school t school
3. You are doing good if you go home everyday still breathing and wake up the morning still breathing, that's all that matters.

There was more wise advice and those were all things I have been told before, but hearing intone last time from him made it finally hit home. But despite finally believing it I went against the first 2 pieces of advice and tried to be perfect and took school home and worked on it a lot. When week 2 started and week 1 was nothing like I expected I realized I needed again to try David's advice to me.  When something would go wrong I would sit and think about it after school and then I would just laugh...seriously that helps everything.

Since finishing 3 weeks I realize that everyday is still a challenge while I figure things out, but I have lots of help. My new principal and assistant principal are great as well as my other first grade teachers. Although out of the 5 first grade teachers 3 of us are new to teaching...sometimes we wonder if the first grade will even move on to second grade! There are days that I feel like somehow nothing got accomplished and that my kids leave hating me, but that is even something I have gotten over.

I am a teacher and if you ask if I love it, I will tell you no. I have not found that pure joy getting up every morning to drive to school for another day of yelling and struggling to get through alesson. But I am starting to like it more everyday. We are starting to get into a routine and when my kids finally can show me they can follow the rules and not act like they are 2 then I think I will like it even more.and don't worry I will let you know when I start to love it, but for now I am still breathing and patiently wait for weekends to come. I am a teacher.

 Kids cry everyday for whatever reasons and i am always the shoulder to cry on. My class has already gone through more tissues than I would I a year. I am the giver of band aids to make boo boos stop hurting. I am the one they run to the moment they figured out something for themselves. I a the one they telleverything to, even if parents don't want me knowing. They hate me for a minute then run over and give me a hug. My kids looked like they were going to tie me up when I told them they were going to have a substitute on Friday. They also told me if it was the same guy as last week they would never talk to me again.

 Most of the time I have no idea what is going on in their tiny little hands but despite all of it...I have found I love all of them already. Even my girl who interrupts class every 5 seconds to tap dance or scream at the top of her lungs, even the boy whose voice is always whinny, or the boy does that farting thing with his armpit, the girl who cuts hair or glues her shoes together, my little space cadets who never knows what's going on, or my precious children who always listen and pay attention. 

These are who my kids are and I love them.