Warning: I'm not in a very cheerful mood...

I'll try to be upbeat but we'll see how it goes.
Good news: last Wednesday I turned in my teacher work sample (capstone project of my major) and it is such a relief to have that off my shoulders!
Bad news: Last Wednesday I started my 2nd block of student teaching in a 6th grade class. I was very excited for the new environment since I didn't feel like I had a superb mentor teacher 1st block. Well so far this new mentor teacher and situation has me really missing my old mentor teacher. So far I'm not a fan of year-round schools and especially how this 6th grade team breaks up each subject by teacher (so the students are rotating for each subject to a new teacher). I've always thought I am pretty flexible when it comes to teaching but I really am not a fan of how flexible these teachers are with their schedules. I function well when there are procedures and set schedules to follow, this 6th grade team has no set schedules but rather very loose guidelines they try to follow. I am really just dying to graduate and get a job. With the way this experience is going so far I'm not even sure if I want to teach when I graduate. It is overwhelmingly depressing me.
Good news: I have only 34 days left of this semester and student teaching before I graduate though!

I think it is so important to keep hope in your life, especially when everything seems to not be going your way. We are unsure about where Justin will be going to grad school, if he'll be able to find a job while he's in grad school with the way the economy is, if I'll even be able to find a job once I graduate. There are so many uncertainties in our life at this point that I feel all we can do is hold our breath, pray and have hope in that things will turn out for our good. I know that when I am surrounded by negative & hopeless people that my paradigm shifts to also constantly dwelling on the negative. But each day brings with it challenges but moments of sweetness as well. When those sweet moments occur it is so important to focus on them and be consumed by them instead of the more obvious challenges. It isn't always easy to do but it makes all the difference. This is what I need to focus on doing during this student teaching experience. Any words of advice?

Valentine's and President's Day!

Whooo-hoo! Our weekend has been sooo much fun! Justin and I have enjoyed a wonderful 3 day weekend packed full of fun things but it will sadly be over in 11 hours :-( ...


Anyway! Our weekend began as follows:

-Friday, my sis picked me up from student teaching and I got to hang out with her and Matt till Justin picked me up. We made yummy cookie cakes for our hubbies! Then Justin picked me up and we went to our Marriott downtown SLC and checked in, got ready then ate dinner at The Roof restaurant. The food was delicious, unfortunately I feel like buffets are wasted on me but we stayed there for a while trying to let food settle so we could keep going back for more! The deserts were scrumptious...yuuummm I want to go back just thinking of them!




-Saturday we woke up bright and early (darn our bodies and their internal alarm clocks!) but were able to rest in bed before getting in our suits and going to the hot tub. This Marriott has their hot tub on the 2nd floor, surrounded by huge floor to ceiling windows so while it was a wintery/snowy wonderland outside we were nice and toasty in the hot tub...ahh relaxing! We got ready and had another yummy (breakfast) buffet at the hotel. We then packed and headed up to Park City for some outlet-store shopping. We hit nearly every store and racked up on the President's Day weekend sales! We headed back to Provo around 4:00, and upon arrival back to our lovely abode I found a gorgeous bouquet of flowers on our counter. I get so excited over flowers ever since I took the Floral Arrangement class at BYU so needless to say I LOVED these flowers :-) THEN...(I know this day seemed to go on forever...) we went to our Stake's Valentine's Dance to babysit in the nursery for half an hour then we danced for a little bit. After the dance, we rented Nights in Rodanthe then finally fell asleep! Whew! Have any of you seen that movie yet? I thought it was very typical Nicholas Sparks (and very reminiscent of Message in a Bottle) but it still was a tear jerker at the end!

Then we had today together again (Justin took work off today). We slept in then Justin went grocery shopping (thanks sweetie) while I spent hours slaving over lesson plans for this week! Then Justin finally took me out for some (wishful) home decor shopping. I feel like our apartment is pretty blah! I wish it were brighter, bigger and better decorated! Vern Yip can I qualify for Deserving Design?? We saw a matinee of Taken-very good!- then had ice cream at Sub Zero. Interesting place! They make your ice cream custom order-like Cold Stone-but everything is liquid until they release liquid nitrogen into the bowl and it freezes everything instantly. I would love to have them come to my classroom, my students would learn about science and enjoy a delicious treat! It was a pretty neat place. We would recommend it!

It was a busy and full weekend but so much fun! It stinks that we have to get back to the real world tomorrow! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and Valentine's Day!

My poor, neglected blog!

I have been horrible at posting lately! Justin and I have been busy since the new year began with work and student teaching. Things probably don't seem that much busier for Justin but things have become pretty crazy for me! I am student teaching in a 3rd grade class at Draper Elementary, so I leave each day at 7:00 am and get home around 4:30 and spend the rest of the evening planning lessons! Whew, it is a lot of fun though. I only have one more week in this class and then will be placed in a new school in a grade between 4th-6th. Those older kids scare me... the 6th graders at my school look like they could be my age! How am I supposed to manage and discipline students who look like they are my peers?! I am fully in charge of my class this week and the next and it is taking some getting used to-- having only 30 minutes before school and after for preparation is not enough! Anyway, besides those events we are doing the usual. Justin is playing intramural innertube water polo and basketball through our ward. He's trying to get me to do the water polo... not so sure about that... winter time is not prime bathing suit time!

We went up to Justin's sisters house in Kaysville a few weekends ago for our nephew's 1st birthday party and his older brother's basketball game. We were thoroughly entertained by the 5 year olds running around on the court! Jacob is a great sport and fast runner! He never gave up even when the lil' guy on the other team would not stop defending him!

We're excited for our first Valentine's Day together as a married couple! Justin better watch out though...I had one of my 3rd graders ask me to be his Valentine. We have exciting plans for Friday night...when we decided to celebrate the holiday instead of Saturday night. I'll share the details after this weekend :-)

Justin and I also got certified for CPR this past Saturday....that was an...experience. It was good to learn everything that we did but it was a very high-risk environment! We both left feeling very stressed and worn out from the written test and the practicum! We are certified none-the-less!

We are kinda boring probably and this is probably a boring post....sorry! I'll do better--or try to--from now on!

the Holidays

Christmas for us was wonderful (& busy) this year! My parents came out from NC for 2 whole weeks during the Christmas break and we had a great time together. They stayed at my sister's house in West Jordan so Justin and I were making daily trips up there to hang out with everyone. We played the wii, decorated gingerbread houses, saw a couple movies, had a great Christmas Eve together and spent the night that night for Christmas day. Justin and I woke up around 6 a.m. and waited a little while before waking everyone else up. There were so many presents under the tree and having so many of our family members there it took quite a while to open all our presents! Justin's got his big gift, a blu-ray player (though he's been using it since Thanksgiving), brown shoes, shirts, emergency preparedness supplies, some movies...and a few other things. Justin got me a beautiful right-hand pearl/diamond ring & a black jacket, I also got some exercise pants, really cute ugg boots, jeans, and some other things. It was a great (& white) Christmas and we were truly blessed with how many blessings we enjoyed over the Holidays.

After Christms, my oldest sister and her family drove out West and we were able to spend New Year's Eve with them in West Jordan. We played games and had food but Justin and I left to come home in time to see the ball drop and sip some sparkling cider in the comforts of our own home. So Happy 2009 everyone! Sorry it's so late!

Since then Justin has started back at the ol' job routine and I have begun my Student Teaching at Draper Elementary in 3rd grade. Commuting there so far has been a pretty hairy situation. On a clear day the drive would take around 30 minutes but because of winter weather and accidents the drive has taken around 1.5 hrs-2 hrs. Ah! My day is much longer now than it usually is. But so far I am loving working with these 3rd graders (though they could pass as 6th graders in my book). I can't wait to be a college grad and teaching full-time!

The snow has been so much fun (though hard to drive in!) and so beautiful. Tuesday night Justin went out to scrape his car off for the next morning and recruited me in the effort. There had to be over a foot of snow on his car! A snowball fight insued then came the desire to make a snowman. I began to make one and Justin decided to help, however after he smashed my perfectly round snowball I strongly encouraged him to make his own snowman while I made mine...haha. Here are the end products!:

Mine:
Justin's:


Last night Justin and I went on a triple date to Salt Lake for dinner at Stone Ground then ice skating downtown. We had so much fun with our friends and chasing each other around the rink. I'm proud to admit that neither of us fell, though I did some pro-skating manuevers while I was in the process of nearly falling. Justin was impressed ;-)

Anyway, that's whats been going on in our lives lately! Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas break!

Finisio!

I don't think that's actually a word but in any case...I'm finished with classes and finals!

Now I have one week to finish Christmas shopping (well...just Justin's presents...) and really get into the Christmas spirit!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Weekend fun

Justin and I had a full and fun Saturday and Sunday this past weekend. Friday was fun too...got some Christmas shopping done! But Saturday we spray-painted my candle holders from DI (pictures to come!) and went to the BYU vs. USU basketball game in Salt Lake at the Energy Solutions Arena. (Thanks Grandpa Allred and Uncle Ruel for the tickets!). The game was a lot of fun and although USU students were there in great numbers ... well let's just say the best team won! I know this kills Justin since USU lost in the football game against BYU also but what can ya do? He's a good sport about it!


Final score of the game: 63-68

After the game we walked around the Gateway and had dinner. Overall it was a very enjoyable evening :-)


Then on Sunday, we headed up to my sister's house after church. We had dinner with them then went downtown again for the 1st Presidency Christmas Devotional. For the first time probably ever we made it to the Conference center in plenty of time! The Devotional was wonderful as was the Tabernacle Choir. I realized that this is my 3rd year in a row going to this Devotional-such a blessing! Justin esspecially loves this Devotional because he feels like it really kicks of the Season. I agree. Anyway, it was another very fun double date with Heather and Josh! Here are some pics from last night.

Pardon Me While I RANT

I am posting this right after the Christmas tree post. Why? This post isn't going to be as nice and I didn't want to detract from the wonderful post devoted to my dear Christmas tree. Here it goes.

My newest and (quickly becoming) biggest pet peeve is people that cut lines! (Butt lines, cut lines, break in line...however you say it). These people stink! Perhaps it is the holiday season that is bringing it out in people or maybe it is a common occurrence and only because I'm shopping more now am I vulnerable to the situation. Whatever the case, there have been at least 3 distinct scenarios within the last couple of weeks that have brought out the red-headed temper in me.

First time: the phone store. Justin was quite excited to see the new blackberry phone the day it premiered... I think it is called the Storm? Anyway... the phone store only had 2 Storms on display and they were both being occupied. So I stand behind one of the men toying around on the phone. Clearly behind him. Clearly I was waiting for our turn with the beloved Storm. What happens? I look away for ONE SECOND and a man in baggy gray sweatpants sneaks his way in and hops on the phone that had just so happened to become free the one second I looked away. You might think, hey it's your fault for looking away, but don't forget-I was clearly standing behind the man waiting for our turn. I was livid. What did I do? Whisper a little to Justin of my frustrations and....that's it. Baggy sweatpant-wearing guy if you are reading this: I don't appreciate your line cutting.

Second time: Adidas Outlet store in Naperville. Kristen, Justin and I had been waiting patiently in a forever long ling that was creeping along at snail like speeds. We had been in like for perhaps 30 minutes or so when we could finally see the cash registers. What else did we see? A youngish 20 something man who appeared at of nowhere was now by our side. Mind you he was NOT in line but standing by the side of Kristen, who clearly was IN line. We began to very quietly whisper that we think we might have a code cutter on our hands. Kristen did her best to box this guy out but what happens? We approach the registers, there is one on both sides of us. He cuts in front of us to go to the register to the right and was out of the store before we had made it to the register. Justin says perhaps the guy was European and he heard that in Europe people don't stand in straight lines but huddle around registers. That was nice of him to try and lessen the crime of this guy. But I've been to Europe and I saw lines formed.

Third time: I know...you are probably tired of reading about my rantings. I'll try to make this one fast. Tonight I realized that I am getting a sore throat. What sounded better than a drink from Orange Julius. I made my way over to the counter with anticipating, seeing that there were not customers = no wait!, but then out of no where a group of young teeny boppers swooped in to the counter. The order was: a girl from their group, me, and the rest of that girls friends. Tell me this-just because your friend makes it to the counter first, does that mean you and the rest of your friends get to join her at the front??? You might that does sound kinda fair, well in my eyes it is not! So I semi-politely waited for the entire group of kids to order their drinks. Justin came up and asked if I was in line, I replied (quite loudly) "I was!". I thought Justin shooshed me...sometimes I can act in a way that embarrasses him...understandbly so. I asked him about it a bit later and he said he didn't shoosh me... he was trying to get me to nudge my way more in line.

After all this ranting this is my point. People cut in front of me. It infuriates me. What do I do? Get mad, maybe whisper to Justin, give glares and thats it. Have you ever been in such a situation? What did you do? What do you suggest I do?? I don't want to be a push over but I don't want to sound like a sqaure saying "You cut in line!" (Sidenote: The people in San Francisco have NO qualms about saying when you cut in line. I apparently cut in the Trolley line (completely unbeknownst) and all of the people waiting YELLED in unison "HEY the lines back here!" .. I apologized and was quite embarrassed. Kinda a funny story eh?).

I am definately going to teach all my elementary school students the importance of not cutting in line. That will not be taken lightly in my class! Perhaps everyone in these malls and stores were not taught that it is RUDE to cut in front of others. gracious.

P.S. Thanks for all the cooking advice! I'm happy to report that last night I cooked a yummy dinner despite my small amount of ingredients.