See what being a Utahan does to you? It makes you not write on your blog for months! I could probably write pages and pages of what has been going on since I last wrote, but you don't want to be bored to death, so I'll do a readers digest version. My summer went by in a flash! I finished of my six weeks of EFY and it was amazing. I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend my summer. I got to play all summer, get paid and influence so many teenagers' lives. It was truly amazing! I had a whole four days off between EFY and being required to be in my classroom. I hurried and got everything ready and I like how my classroom turned out. I have a great group of kids. Unfortunately they are all pretty good friends, so they like to chat. But overall they are really sweet kids and hard workers. I have 24 little munchkins and I just adore them. I really couldn't ask for a better job. I love being with the kids and they seem to like me enough. Here is a picture of my little children celebrating International Talk Like a Pirate Day. I celebrated that last year and I had a great time! As a whole 6th grade we celebrated it and did some really fun things. I created probably the most amazing treasure hunt! They had to know how to follow an order pair on a coordinate grid which led them to different parts in the school. It was pretty great and they had a lot of fun sneaking around the school like pirates and of course they loved the treasure at the end! We also took regular nursery rhymes and gave them "piratude". I have some creative kids. So far this year we have done some great things. We had a beginning of the year kick off field trip. We went up a canyon near our school and were able to go on a hike and play some fun games together as sixth graders. It turned out wonderful! We also had our school's Fall Festival. It was a huge success and the kids loved the pie eating contests as you can tell from the picture.
Over the summer I was able to go to a rodeo and a demolition derby for the first time. They were so much fun! Who knew you could be entertained by animal cruelty and people destroying cars by slamming into each other.As of recently my friends are slowly dropping one by one into the death trap of marriage! They should learn from my and steer clear of that trap! Well, I had my friend that I've been friends with since was two, get married this weekend. My two best friends from high school are about all gone. One got married last summer and the other one is getting married this December. A guy friend of mine that I have liked since 9th grade is planning on getting married this year. One of my best friends from college got married last weekend. Slowly I am losing them. It makes me really happy that they have found that person they can spend eternity with, but it also makes me sad. Not only am I somewhat losing them as close friends (marriage does that to friendships), but it kind of makes me sad that I haven't found the "one". I'm not the kind to be obsessed with getting married, but when I see my friends so happy with someone you can't help but want the same for yourself. Well, my time will come when it comes. I'm not going to get all worked up over it. I was able to go to Nevada for Addie's wedding and it was wonderful! Here is a picture from that.

Addie, Scott, and me. Are they adorable?

My two best friends from high school, Ashli and Jessi

Kyle, my really good friend since 9th grade

Jenna and me, back when we were cute. Please admire our amazing outfits!

Outside of teaching and losing friends, life is really great. I moved into a new complex and have a new ward. So far I have really liked it. We have made some friends in the ward (guys of course) and have hung out with them quite a bit. Really overall life is great and I couldn't ask for more. Sometimes I am just amazed at how blessed I really am. Anyway...I think I'm done blabbing. I hope this satisfies some of you!

Traumatizing Experience

Well, I had a very traumatizing experience this week. I had to give up a piece of myself. Here is what my car looked like as of a few days ago...


Here is what it looks like now...


See the difference? Yes, I have come that much closer to being a Utahan. It was a very sad day for me. I guess that's what I get for living and working in Utah for almost 2 years running. I will survive. I still have my Washington drivers license to tie me to my roots.

Where have I been?

You are all probably thinking (the whole 5 of you that sometimes read this), where is Allie? Well my friends, I have been a lot of places over the last month or so. I have been a busy woman with a lot going on in life. I'm not even sure where to start...

Back in April for spring break, my friend Jessi and I were able to take a trip to California. It was amazing! We made a stop in Vegas and saw the strip. It's just something you have to do in your life time. We were then onto California where we were able to go to Disneyland, California Adventures, Hollywood and the beach. I have never experienced Disneyland and it really is the happiest place on earth. I wish I could tell you more but it would take forever. You'll just have to trust me that is was pretty great.


Jessi and I at the top of the Stratosphere in Las Vegas and at the "happiest place on earth"

May was very busy with the school year coming to an end. There were so many things I had to get done before I headed out. We enjoyed some fun last weeks of school with field day, a field trip and a PJ/game day. I love those kids so much and was so sad to leave them. I had one of my girls bawling at the end of the last day of school. They are just amazing children and I was sad and very excited to see them move on in their lives.


Some of my girls dancing in the rain on field day and almost all my kids the last day of school

The day I ended school I drove up to Rexburg for my sister Kim's wedding. Her and Tyler were married in the Rexburg temple on May 30th. It was very nice. We had a reception there that night, which was beautiful. Some of my family left that night to drive to Spokane and I drove with my parents early the next morning. Saturday we spent at our home in Spokane getting ready for the reception there. The reception was set up in our back yard and had a "tropical" feel. It all turned out very nice and with a little "rain dance" around the firest we were able to keep the rain away.


Tyler and Kim right after they got married and what the bridesmaids and groomsmen did to their car. They weren't very happy about that.

I flew back to Utah on Sunday, was home for about a half hour, enough time to pack, and then checked in to do EFY (Especially For Youth). That has consumed my life for the past two weeks. You check in Sunday and have a meeting that night at 7pm. From then until that next Saturday around 9am when the kids are gone and your meeting is over, you are on the job. It is the most rewarding and most draining job I think there could ever be. The first week I had the 16-18 year-olds, with a group of 12 amazing girls. I adored those girls and gained so much love for them. We had a "company" of 50 kids, 24 girls and 26 guys. They were all so great. This past week I had the 14-15 year-olds. I had 9 sweet girls and a company of 48 kids, 27 boys and 21 girls. It has really been an AMAZING two weeks. It is amazing how you can gain so much love for these kids in the 5 short days you work with them. I love to see their testimonies grow and the friendships they make. I think I have learned just as much, if not more, from my experience as they have. I wish I could tell you all everything that happened these past few weeks but it would take forever. If you want to know more just ask me, I could go on forever.


My group "Not Ashamed" from the first week and my co-counselors, Enrique, Jes, and Mark

My second group "Believeth" and my co-counselors Eric, Sydney, and Mitchell

If I had favorite kids from these past two weeks these would be them. My girl Calais (Cal-a) from my first week and my boy Dylan from my second week. Calais was an absolute sweetheart and so much fun. She called me "Coach" and I loved it. Dylan was an amazing young man. Struggling a little with the gospel, but I was able to really touch his life. I called him "Precious".

So there is my life in a nut shell; the VERY condensed version. I am alive and life is moving forward and a little too quickly if I do say so myself. But I'm happy and life is great!

I do live!

No I am not dead...I just haven't written in almost a month. I have been wanting to write and post pictures about my spring break trip to California. Well, my camera battery has been dead and I keep forgetting to charge it. But it is on the charger as we speak (write). I just thought I'd write and let you know that I am still around. I was looking at what pictures I do have on my computer and I came across the ones when we had a guest visit our classroom. If any of you have ever looked and the Guinness Book of Wold Records (which 6th graders love!) you probably have seen the lady that has creepy long fingernails. Well, I had gotten one of these books to put in my classroom and it turns out that this lady is one of my girl's aunt! Well, one of my boys didn't believe her, even after she brought in picture, so she talked to her aunt and she made a visit to our classroom. It was fun for the kids and it caused quite the stir throughout the whole school. All of the students wanted an autograph and pictures taken with her. I felt really bad because it is a bit hard for her to sign her name and so I eventually told the kids no more. I had her sign my book and got some fun picture. So here she is if you haven't ever seen her picture.

Homemaker

It is a tradition for Addie and I to make spring skirts during April Conference. Ok, so we have only done it two year out of the past four, but that's enough for a tradition. Saturday we went to Walmart to pick out a pattern and material. We were hoping for some cute $1 fabric, but they were lacking in that area. So we did have to spend a little more, but that's ok. Saturday during morning conference we cut out the fabric. Then between conferences we started on the skirts but ran into some trouble with Addie's sewing machine. We left to go watch the afternoon session and then returned to working on our skirts. We fixed the problem with the sewing machine and were off. I ran into some problems when I got to the zipper. I have never put a zipper into a skirt before. We then decided to go out to dinner with Erika and Samantha. We went to The Old Spaghetti Factory. I had never been there and it was quite good. We then went shopping (window shopping) and then returned to the skirts once more. I also came to a problem when trying to sew a ribbon around the bottom. I didn't want to pin it on because the pins snagged the ribbon but it was hard to get it in the right spot without pinning it. I decided to just hold it and have at it. It worked out quite well. The skirts weren't done until around 1:30am. But they were quite cute! I was proud of my work! The next day we were just going to go to Samantha's to watch conference, but we wanted to wear and show off our skits. So we decided to go up to Salt Lake and do standby. We headed up and met up with Jessi and her boyfriend Cameron. We stood in standby, got through security and were lined up on one of the outside balconies in the conference center. The sun came out and it was absolutely beautiful! I didn't even need to wear my jacket. We got some compliments on our skirts. We also got to see some friends we hadn't seen in a while. We did end up getting in and it was great! Addie and I then went to her grandma's house and enjoyed dinner. I decided to wear my skirt to school today as well and have gotten compliments on it once again. Man I'm good! I'm going to be a great wife! If only guys understood that! Haha. Well...here are the skirts and some pictures from conference.

Ignore the cheesy grins


The skirts poof out cool when you spin


I just pulled out my camera to take a picture and this is what they were all doing


All of us waiting to get in

The Northwest vs. Utah and My Life Ambition

I love the northwest! I love trees, I love green, I love mountains. Being in Utah is a little hard for me considering it is a desert. I long for the tree covered mountains of the northwest. However, the mountains here have their own beauty. For one thing, they are huge and very close! They are mostly rock and pretty cool rock at that. The big mountains are to the east here in Provo, so during the wintertime at sunset the sun lights up the snow-covered mountains and makes them pink! It really only lasts a few minutes, but it is one of the most beautiful sights ever! I have caught those few minutes a few times on the way home from work (not lately because the sun is setting later). Every time I just can't help and stare. I am probably a danger to the drivers around me. I just love nature! I love God's creations. It really is amazing. Nature is one thing that I'm always in awe about. I could probably spend my whole life outside admiring God's creations. From the tiny bugs and leaves to the huge mountains and trees. Here are a couple of pictures I captured of the mountains at sunset.

Along the same lines. One of my life ambitions is photography. I think there are a few things that contribute to this interest of mine. For one, as I was saying, I love nature and I think there are so many beautiful images out their that should be captured. Another is that I'm a very sentimental person. I'll save a piece of string if it has sentimental meaning. Hopefully I'll soon be able to not be too crazy about it otherwise I'll have a house full of junk! Anyway...I love to capture the moment and be able to have those pictures that have sentimental meaning. And in general, I think photography is fun. I just wish I had a nice camera and then I would try to pursue it more. About a year ago I was able to take my friends' engagement pictures. I have never done such a thing, but she was nice enough to allow me to experiment and I was pretty proud of most of the results. There are a lot of things that I would still love to learn about the art of photography and much more practicing I need to do. But one day when I have the money and time I think that that is something I would really love to do. Here are a few pictures of my friends I took. That's all for now.

Welcome spring!...or maybe not

Well it was an exciting day yesterday. I along with some other friends, attended The Festival of Colors at the Krishna Temple (I believe it's a Hindu temple). They have this big celebration to welcome in spring. It's a tradition for their culture and a big event here in the Provo area. Thousands of people attend including many of the college students around here. People end up having to park miles away and walk. I have heard of it before, but have never attended. It was very exciting. When we first got there we had to wait in a huge long line to buy "color". They sell these colored powders almost like flower. It is part of the tradition that when they light the "demon" on fire you then throw these colored powders all over each other. So we finally got our color. They also have this dancer that comes and live music. It was then time to light the fire. As soon as it was lit the hundreds of people started throwing this powder everywhere. For a good few minutes it was VERY hard to breathe. I also had to keep spitting it out of my mouth. It was pretty crazy. After pretty much all of the powder has been throw people get a little wild. There is crowd surfing, pushing, dancing, singing, chanting and lots of chaos. I almost got killed by two guys crowd surfing above me. I did survive the night and it was a lot of fun. We ended by going out to eat and getting some weird looks for people. However, we were not the only group of people there covered in colorful powder. It felt really nice to shower afterwards. So we welcomed in spring that night and then we woke up to a good few inches of snow the next morning. Apparently spring didn't want to be welcomed in. I was not very happy to see the snow as I am very ready for some warm weather. Oh well...it won't last too much longer. Enjoy the pictures of the madness!

Here is the huge long line. This was probably only about a third of the line.
Here is the Krishna Temple. It reminds me of Aladdin.Addie, me and Samantha in our "before" picture. We look all clean!
And this is right after all the color throwing madness. Not so clean anymore.
Here you can get an idea of how many people there were, how colorful it was, and a little bit of how crazy it was.
This was right before we left. I love the bright orange hand print on my face.
And this is the snow we woke up to this morning. Yay for spring!

My Life Update

My sister brought it to my attention that I need to update my blog with a new post. I guess I just have nothing that exciting going on. Well, I'll do my best to put up something exciting. The most recent events in my life include: Field Trip, SEPs (parent teacher conferences), and Easter. Our whole school was able to take a trip to see an Amelia Badelia (sp?) Play. It was a good time. So here are just a few pictures of that.

It is always fun fitting 70 6th graders on one bus!

Some of my kids' faces crack me up!

Another recent event was Easter. A couple of room moms came in and had a game and a treat for the kids. We were able to go outside and enjoy the nice weather. The game they played was a tag game. Near the very end one of my boys was trying to tag one of my girls and he ended up smacking her really hard on the neck. She fell to the ground crying. It wasn't long until a bright red hand print showed up. Poor thing. She came later in the day for SEPs (around 7pm) and she still had a red mark. I had to make sure her parents knew it wasn't me abusing her. It was really fun for the kids and they had a good time. And of course they enjoyed the treats. Here are some picture from that.

The one on the left here is the girl that got smacked in the neck. It hadn't happened yet when this picture was taken. The girl on the right is my little dancer. She is actually wearing a shirt that she got when she danced at The Stadium of Fire show.

If you look a the far right of this picture, you can see one of my girls trying to tag one of my boys. It's great.

I enjoyed/suffered through another round of parent/teacher conferences. They call the SEPs here. It stands for Student (or maybe it's specialized) Education Plan. The students come along with their parents and we decide on goals for next term. We end school at 3:10 and begin conferencing at 3:30. We go all the way until 8:30 that night with just a half hour break in there for dinner. It is a pretty crazy night. And then the kids get the next day off and the teachers have to come to school and work. That really doesn't seem fair to me! I really don't mind SEPs because I have really good, supportive parents here. I love to brag about their kids. At least I can brag about most of them. But there are those few that there ends up being more negative than positive things said.

This past weekend I was able to head down to Bunkerville (Mesquite), Nevada. I went down with my roommate Addie to spend Easter with her family. She has a really great family and it is always a good time down there. This is my 3rd year spending Easter there in the 4 years that I have known her. We go there Friday evening and didn't return to Provo until late Sunday night. The weekend consisted of: Dying eggs, rolling eggs down a hill, having an egg toss, laying out in the sun, napping, playing basketball, eating really good food, watching enchanted, playing with LOTS of cousins and aunts and uncles, hunting for Easter baskets, going to church, eating more good food, getting fun things from her grandma, and enjoying lots and lots of sunshine! It was around 80 degrees there and I didn't want to come back to Provo where it was cooler. I also fell in love with her two-year-old cousin! He is one of the cutest kids! If only he was 20 years older. I'm kind of sad because it was most likely my last Easter I'll spend there. I guess life has to move on. I love how all of her family is so close, both in distance and in relationships. I never really had that with my aunts/uncles/cousin, so I love going down there and being part of their family. I would post pictures from that trip, but I didn't take any on my own camera so I'll have to hunt some down.

Well, there is what has been going on with me. I've been doing well and I am enjoying life!