Teachers are suppose to teach?

Over the past 6-7 weeks I have had a student teacher in my classroom. Being what is called a "BYU cooperating school" we receive many student teachers, interns, and cohort students from BYU. Last year I had a cohort (a step bellow a student teacher) and this year they decided to give me a student teacher. There are ups and downs to having a student teacher, but the last few weeks have definitely been an up. I spent the first few weeks, modeling for her, helping her plan lessons, observing her teaching, giving her pointers, etc. Then near the end of student teaching (the past few weeks) she is suppose to completely take over the class as though it is her own. They encourage me, the actual teacher, to stay out of the classroom as much as possible. This is for a number of reasons. One is that we just can't help ourselves in there and must manage the students and correct them. They want to student teacher to have to deal with ALL problems that occur in a classroom. Also, from my experience being a student teacher, you can act more yourself and do your own thing when there isn't someone in there watching you. So what have I been doing the past few weeks since I am not in the classroom? Nothing! Okay, not quite nothing. Being in my third year of teaching I have to turn in a "portfolio" in order to receive a level two liscence and continue teaching. This is what I have been doing a lot of the time. I have also graded assignments and project, created a classroom blog, made classroom signs, and wasted perhaps a little too much time doing things not really even related to school at all. The other teacher and I have set up office in a vacant room between our two classrooms. Here is what it looks like:
Ah yes, a wonderful work area. You can see the set of electric pianos in the back that were taken out of the piano lab we use to have here (they are for sale if anyone would like one). So, my portfolio is due at the end of this week and it is just about finished. I however, have a hard time working on it for a long time. I will work on it for a while, then take a break, then go back to it, then take a break, and on and on. Tomorrow I start teaching a few lessons and will be back in the classroom completely by next week. I have sure enjoyed this time away from teaching, but I'll be glad to be back with the students again. Wish me luck!

"The Boy"

Well...I guess I should introduce "the boy". After Christmas break I started dating this young man. Things are going well. His name is Micah Massey. He grew up in Las Vegas but his family now lives in St. George. We met each other back in the fall of 2006 when we were in the same ward in Glenwood Apartments. We have stayed in contact with each other over the past few years and just decided we were meant to be together...err...something. I just wanted to introduce him and show you a picture of us. That's all!

This was on Valentine's Day northwest of Salt Lake

Thoughts from school

Well, it's a teacher work day and I am not in the mood to work right now, so I thought I'd write a few thoughts. This year has been an interesting one. We went from three 6th grade teachers to two. Giving me 33 students in my class. I had to get rid of my teacher desk, kidney table, and reading corner in order to fit all the desks in my classroom. That is just the beginning of my interesting year. I am not completely loving my class this year as I did last year. I have tried to really pinpoint what it is that is making it this way and I have come up with a few reasons. One is the personalities of the kids. Last year I had such funny and sweet kids. They were bright and knew when it was time to work. This year I have some kids with great personalities and they are mostly sweet and funny, but something is just off. I think it is there ability to recognize when it is time to be serious and get to work. This is also the first year I have students that I feel really don't like me. I mean, I won't say that I am so wonderful that everyone loves me. But, I have never felt that I student just flat out didn't like me. I get that this year. It's hard for me. I also have realized that these students are as close and friendly with each other as my class last year was. I think the class size has a lot to do with that. But there are so many in my class that just flat out don't like each other. You would also think it was the end of the world if I paired up boys and girls. Last year my boys and girls were friends and would hang out together. I loved it! Before you start judging me as a teacher, understand that I am trying to make this a great year. I have a positive attitude and I treat these students much the same as I treated my students last year. But I am not absolutely loving coming to school everyday. I honestly loved being at school last year (of course I had my days). It has been hard for me to really get over this and try to enjoy the year as much as possible. It is a work in progress.

Another thing that has been hard for me this year is some of the issues my students are dealing with. If you don't know, the school I work at is in a middle to upper class area. It is about 99% Mormon families. Most of these kids have very structured and supportive family lives. I had a student last year whose parents had trouble with the law and that was hard to deal with. This year however, I have had other issues. Back in October one of my students found out her mom had brain cancer. That is a hard thing for a 12 year-old girl. I have talked with the dad a few times (who is a doctor) and from what I can pick up from what he says, things aren't going too well. She is in her 2nd round of chemo and it is pretty miserable for her. The parents are trying to not pull the kids into it too much and make them worried. Every time I ask this girl how her mom is doing she says "she's good". I hear they have given her not much longer to live. It just breaks my heart. I have another student who lost his dad in a car accident over Christmas break. He is one of 2 sons in the family, him being the oldest of the two. How hard would it be to loose your dad at such a critical time in his life. These are the years that dad's build their sons into who they are going to be. There are scouting trips, sports games, man-to-man talks, and teaching him the ways of the world. I was completely heart broken when I heard the news. It was then very difficult for me to figure out what I was going to say and do for this boy. If it was one of the girls in my class I would probably have taken her in my arms and cried (which I pretty much did when my girl found out her mom had cancer). With this boy it is different. He's a 12-year old boy who doesn't let his feelings show. I did after about a week of being back in class have a little chat with him. I got all teary eyed and just let him know I was hurting for him and that I really cared about him. That if he ever needed anything to let me know and I would be there for him. He seemed to really appreciate it. These are two very difficult situations for me. I get very emotionally involved and attached to people and situations. My heart goes out of them and I want to do anything and everything I can to be there for them and help them. I don't know if I am doing enough. We'll see how things play out.

It has also been an interesting journey with it being my 3rd year of teaching. My teaching license expires this year and I have to do a handful of things to renew it. Being the procrastinator that I am, I have put it all off. It is now down to about a month when it is all due and I have only touched the surface of it. Along with that, they now trust me with a student teacher. She came into my classroom the week after Christmas break and will be here until the end of February. As I am trying to get my things squared away with renewing my license I am also trying to help her with her teacher work sample and all the things she has to do to receive her first license. Things have just been a little crazy.

In all, this year has been an adventure. It is halfway over, which seems very weird. As crazy as it can get and as much as a suffer through some days, I absolutely love what I do. I wouldn't have it any other way. The classroom is where I belong. I love interacting with children (more so pre-teens with me) and just watching them learn and grow and let their personalities shine. I love knowing that I might have some kind of impact on their life and will hopefully be remembered years down the road. This is what I am suppose to do. I just hope that I can do it to the best of my ability. To make every day and every year count. To find that one child who really needs me and make a difference in their life. I am often afraid that I am not doing all that I can. In a meeting today we read this quote:

"I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming." - Goethe

It is so true. I just hope I am that teacher that makes life joyous not miserable, that inspires and does not torture, and heals not hurts. I want to help make this kids into the people they can become.

Near Death Experience

Ok...so that might be a slight over-exaggeration, but that's what it felt like. This experience brought me back to my blog to share it with the oh so many people that follow my blog. So here it goes...

Sunday, November 15 was a not so ordinary Sunday. I spent the day up in Syracuse, UT seeing family I haven't seen in about 8 years. We gathered together for a baby shower for my cousin. Now, this isn't really the point. This particular Sunday I began feeling a little sickness in me. A very slight sore throat. Nothing unusual, this is how most of my "colds" begin.

Monday, November 16 I went to work as usual. Because of a late night picking up a roommate at the airport, I was a little tired. The day ended and I had a meeting after school. During this meeting I began to realize that this was more than just tiredness. My head hurt, a felt a bit warm, and my body was starting to ache. Great, I thought! I left school soon after this and stopped by the store on the way home to get a thermometer. If I had a fever I was for sure taking the next day off. I came home and took my temperature...no fever. As the night progressed and realized that this sickness was getting the better of me. My whole body was aching and I was just plain exhausted. I realized that I was going to have to take a sick day (which I had not taken one sick day in all of my 2 1/2 years of teaching). I put in for a sub and wrote up so sub plans (the worst part of taking a day off) and went to bed.

Tuesday, November 17. Spent the day in bed. My body ached from the top of my head to my feet and my throat was feeling progressively worse. Looking in my throat there was a great deal of "white stuff" on my tonsils. Continuously took my temperature and had a slight fever mostly around 100 degrees. By the end of the day I had a feeling that I had strep throat.

Wednesday, November 18. Woke up to a massive sore throat and decided to go take a trip to the Urgent Care. The closest one didn't open until 10 am (lame, I know!), so I found one a little further away that opened at 8. I got there at opening time and got myself in to be check. the took a swab from my throat and tested for step...it came back negative. The doctor said it was most likely just a virus and I just had to wait it out. He said that the flu wouldn't infect my tonsils like that and that there was a slight chance it could be mono, but they can't test for that until it has been about a week after the symptoms started. I went home, laid in bed all day with slight body aches and a mild fever.

Thursday, November 19. Took another day off work and laid in bed all day. Body aches were mostly gone, but my throat was killing me. I decided to take a trip to the local health food store and get some good throat spray and herbal tea in hopes of soothing my throat. Also picked up some Tylenol PM to help me sleep.

Friday, November 20. I had a training meeting I was supposed to be at and decided to try and make it. I went to my school early to get things ready for the sub and went to my training. I felt alright for the first half of the day, but by the time it reached lunch time my body wasn't too happy with me. I began getting a headache and was achey and extremely tired. I came home and crashed. I tried to sleep through the night. Tried it the key word. I took Tylenol PM as often as I safely could and it did nothing to soothe my throat. It turned from an achey throat to throbbing pain all through my throat, ear, mouth, neck, pretty much my whole left side of my face. I tried to stick it out through the night with hopes of going back to the urgent care in the morning. After many very restless and painful hours I decided I could not handle it anymore. I woke up my ever so kind roommate at 5 am and asked her to drive me to the ER.

Saturday, November 21 (continuation of Friday night). I arrived at the ER. I have not been there since I was 3 years old and fell from the top of my garage and landed head first on the cement (I was first in line at the ER, which is hard to do). They took my basic vitals and gave me a cool bracelet thing with my name and birthday on it. I headed to a back room (area divided by a curtain) and sat around forever until someone FINALLY came to see me. There were about a million workers there and NO other patients. I have no idea why it took so long. They tested me for both strep and mono, and you guessed it, both came back negative. They gave me some steroids to help with the swelling and some pain meds and sent me home with a prescription for pain meds. I came home and crashed and slept most of the day away.

Sunday, November 22. I decided to try and make it to part of church. I got up and ready and went to church at 9am. I was feeling alright, just really tired and weak. I only stayed the first hour and then came home to rest. I laid in bed and took it easy. By the afternoon my throat was really acting up. I was taking pain meds as often as I was allowed and it was doing nothing to ease the pain. I was in tears it hurt so bad. Around 5 pm I finally decided I needed to go back in. My other two loving roommates took me into the instacare attached to the hospital to see a doctor yet another time. I told him I had been tested for strep twice and for mono and all were negative. He took a look at my throat and poked around a little and decided that he thinks I have an abscess. He sends me over the radiology in the hospital to get a CT scan. The put me on this bed, stick and IV in my arm and tell me the liquid stuff they put in me will make me feel like I am wetting myself (it totally does). The scan takes just a few short minutes and then I have to wait around for the results. Finally, I get the results and what do you know? I have an abscess. For those of you who don't know what this is (don't worry I didn't either), pretty much what happens is you get a tonsil infect and usually that stays contained to your tonsils, however, sometimes it breaks through to the other areas of your throat and essentially fills it full of puss. I head back to the instacare where they give me a shot on one side of my backside of pain killers and another on the other side of antibiotics. They prescribe me antibiotics and stronger pain meds. The antibiotics shot killed! My whole leg ached the rest of the night. The doctor gave me a name and number of and ear, nose, and throat specialist that I am suppose to call in the morning to get in and see him. We head to Walgreen's and pick up the new meds and head home. After the shots they gave me I am feeling a bit better and I am actually able to sleep.

Monday, November 23. I wake up quite early and call the office the second it opens. They can't get me in until almost 4 that afternoon. Not wanting to suffer the day in pain I decide to take two of my pain meds. Now, it says on the instructions that you can take 1-2 every 4 hours as needed for pain. I had only been taking one. After that I decided to just stick to one. Two was too much for my body. I felt...I guess you could say, "high". Now, by this time in this whole adventure my throat hurts so bad and is swollen so much that I can barely talk, swallow, let alone eat anything. The doctor gave me these horse-pill antibiotics I need to take, which should be taken with food. I force an all fruit Popsicle down and take the pill, hoping that was enough. I was wrong. A while later my stomach was not too happy with me and that pill didn't stay in my system. By the time I was to go to the doctors I was still feeling uneasy in my stomach and could barely talk. My ever so loving bishop's wife came and picked me up and took me to the doctors. I suffered as I had to fill out numerous pages of paper work. They finally get me back and I swear I am going to loose the nothingness in my stomach any minute. The doctor sees me and lets me know what he plans to do. He needs to stick this needle in my throat and "drain" the abscess. In other words, jab me with a needle and suck out the puss. I tell him to give me a minute, because, as I said, I feel as though I am going to loose it. After about ten minutes of waiting nothing comes up and he says he is just going to go for it. Now, I am sure you have all been pricked with needles, but have you ever had a needle jabbed in your throat with no numbing what-so-ever? I didn't think so. It is not a fun feeling. He does this, as I am just breathing heavily and barring it. He shows me the lovely liquid he pulls from my throat and says there is about 3 1/2 cc (cubic centimeters) of "puss". He tells me he wants to see me tomorrow just after 3 to check and see if he needs to do it again. I am still feeling rather sick and can barely even stand up. I end up lying in their lunch room on a couch for quite a while until I felt like I could take the car trip back to my apartment. I finally decide I can survive and head back to my place. I rest the rest of the night and am feeling only slightly better. I do force down some soup (pretty much just the broth), in order to take my antibiotics.

Tuesday, November 24. I am still feeling pretty swollen in my throat and still have some pain. It is a little easier to swallow and talk, but only slightly. I eat half a yogurt. Just enough to take my pill. I think later on I ate more of the soup. I head back to the doctor (with a ride from a wonderful girl in my ward) and he takes another look. He says he thinks he should drain it some more. Another needle in my throat and this time he comes out with twice as much as he did the first time (7 cc). I immediately can feel the difference in my throat. I tell him that I am down to the last few of my pain meds and he prescribes me some more (not as strong as the ones I had) and tells me that it should get significantly better over the next 36 hours and if it doesn't, or it gets worse, to page him. I take the rest of the day easy and sleep.

Wednesday, November 25. I wake up feeling so much better. I finally get out of bed and clean my room and do some laundry. I was feeling pretty tired and weak but a whole lot better than I had been feeling. By this time I have lost about 10 lbs. from not being able to eat. I was able to eat more soup and mashed potatoes, but my stomach was still a little uneasy. I took the day pretty easy but got by with only one pain pill the whole day. I was able to drive up to Salt Lake that night to stay with my sister.

Thursday, November 26 (Thanksgiving). Spent the day at my sister's in Salt Lake and I was able to eat EVERYTHING that there was for dinner. You will not believe how wonderful it felt to eat real food. I was feeling almost 100% better.

Now: I am feeling just great! I returned to school after not being there for two weeks. I was glad to hear that my students did miss me...well, most of them. It was good to be back, but it sure made for a long day. I am not use to working all day long. I left school a bit tired, but man am I glad to be back! I am still taking my antibiotics and still have a slight sore throat and white stuff on my tonsils, but it is all nothing to what I was experiencing before. I now just wait for all the medical bills that will be coming my way. Ugh!

Through this all I am grateful for many things. For a mommy that loves and and made sure to check up on me at least three times a day, even though she works full time. For my great health that I usually have. For a job that gives me good health insurance (this was my first time using it). For doctors that finally figured out what was wrong with me and helped me get better. For pain meds! No, I am not addicted, don't worry. Modern medicine. In the olden days, I probably would have died. For many people in my ward that love me. I had numerous guys come give me blessings, people willing to take me to the doctors, and a bishop who continually checked up on me. Great roommates who bought me food, took me to the doctors, and always asked how I was feeling. Co-workers who helped me get by with very poor, if any, sub plans. Subs who were able and willing to work with my poor sub plans. My students, who I missed dearly and my job that I missed dearly.

So even though I felt as though I was near death, I am alive and well and am very blessed!

The EFY Life

School got out on Friday May 29, I went to an EFY training on Saturday and began my EFY journey on Sunday. I was originally only suppose to work two weeks, but on Saturday of last week they called me up and asked if I would work that next week as well. I was more than willing to! I have just been loving it up this year!

I have worked with the same team all three weeks and have become very fond of them. Aaron and Jessica are the ones that run the show. They are amazing people that I look up to. Jessica inspires me! She is so knowledgeable and can teach with such power! I adore that girl! The BC (building counselor) team is also amazing. I have had the same BC for two of my weeks, Catherine. She is an adorable girl and I just love her! I also have become close to the health counselors, especially "Health Counselor Katelyn". She is so much fun and we have had some great times together! Each week has brought its own challenges, adventures, and rewards.

BC Catherine

"Health Counselor Katelyn"

Week one:

I had a whopping group of 12 girls. It is a lot of girls to keep track of and get to know. We had a company of 24 girls and 12 boys. There were some in our group that were so much fun and great kids, and others that challenged us throughout the week. That was also the week of sickness. There was a virus that was spreading that week and people were getting sick right and left. My roommate, co-counselor, three of my girls, and four of my co's girls all got sick. Needless to say, that is where my friendship with the health counselors began.

My company "What Ye Have Heard"

Week two:

I had my group of 8 girls. It was a lot nicer than the 12 girls. We had a company of 16 girls and 12 boys. I loved my co-counselors that week and overall we had an awesome company. There were a few here and there that caused a little trouble, but not much. One of my co's girls, Jessica, I just adored! She reminded me a lot of myself and we had some really good times together.

My company "Fellow Beings"

My darling Jessica

Week three:

Only six girls for me! I loved it! One of my girls was very visually impaired and it made for a neat experience. She was very open about her impairment and was a very outgoing girl. People in our company were so willing to help which I loved seeing! My girls were great girls and really didn't cause problems at all. There were my six girls and then my co's eight boys. It was a small company which I loved. We had four just amazing boys and four that were a bit of trouble. The four that were trouble acted like they were too cool for everything and were not making the most of the week. I just tried to show them love and by the end of the week they loosened up a little and I was able to have some neat experiences with them.

My company "According to the Flesh"

I would have loved to have worked this week (and it was very likely that I could have), but I have so much to do before I leave for my vacation in a week. I went shopping yesterday and picked up some items, but there is still more shopping to do. I still need to get my backpack and figure out what is necessary to pack, so that my bag doesn't weigh a ton. I also need to figure out what we will be doing in Munich, Germany, and according to Wendy, I still need to learn German. I'll be spending this week getting everything done. But let me tell you, I miss EFY already.

This past Saturday a group of counselors and I went to a Rodeo. It was a lot of fun. We had to remind ourselves however, that we were not at EFY, therefore, acting crazy is not normal. Haha. I really enjoyed being "real friends" with the friends I have made at EFY.

Me, Colby and Katelyn's brother Garrett

Isaac, Katelyn, and Jordan

Life has been great and I look forward to the adventures that await me this summer!

Roller coaster ride

If you have been wondering where I have been, I have been on a rollercoaster. Life lately has been having so many ups and downs. Where shall I start? The school year is coming to an end, and therefore, the kids, along with myself, are so ready for summer! Even my angle children have been acting up lately. I didn't know that reading time was an okay time for them to create paper boxes at their table, or that it was okay to wander the classroom and chat with friends during the time they should be working. My patience is about ran up and I am trying hard to just enjoy these last three weeks. We do have a some nice breaks throughout the last few weeks. Next week we have a day for "Hershey Track" where we go to the High School and the kids run in track events against other Elementary schools. It should be fun. I think the weather is suppose to be very nice, unlike last year where it SNOWED the day we went. The week after that we have a half day where we get to go down to Salem Pond to participate in some fun activities. This past month all the Salem schools took part in the "Salem Reading challenge" where they have to read set number of minutes for five nights a week and then their reward is this fun outing to the pond. Also that week we will have our 6th grade talent show. It is always very entertaining. The last week of school we have our 6th grade graduation. It is always quite the event. And the day before school gets out the 6th grade is going to Boondocks (a fun center) for a end-of-the-year-reward/celebration. It is so close to summer I can taste it!

In other events with school. Back in early April we got the word that we would have to cut back to only two 6th grade teachers next year. We were pretty devastated because we were told not too long before that, that we were set to keep the three of us. We knew it was going to be either Debbie or me that was going to have to go. We were stressing over it for a while, thinking one of us was going to lose our job. We had a talk with our principal and she let us know that yes, one of us would be leaving, but that they would place us somewhere else in the district. She said they would soon know which jobs were available in the district and then let us know and see if one job was appealing to one of us and we could make a decision on who would be leaving. A few days later our principal informed us that we had no choice in who was leaving or where we would be placed and she would let us know the next week. I was completely torn apart by the whole thing. It was affecting my teaching and my mood. The next week I was called down to the office right before school began and was informed that it was me who was to be leaving and I was placed in a 5th grade at Art City Elementary. I was definitely prepared to hear news that I would be leaving and thought I was ready to handle it, but boy was I wrong. I just broke down. It was very convenient considering that I had to begin class right then. I went and talked to one of my 5th grade teachers and she came and took over for a little while while I went out and composed myself. Now there was good and bad in this news. For one thing, Art City is much close to Provo and I did my 2nd half of student teaching there and really liked the school and really liked the principal. The bad news, I was going to have to switch grades and I absolutely love Mt. Loafer and didn't want to leave. Throughout the next week I was scoping the website to try and see if there was any 6th grade positions in the district that I could try and snatch. If I had to move schools I didn't really want to have to go through having to switch grades as well. There were a few places opened, but I was so torn between going to an unknown school, with an unknown principal, further away, yet staying in 6th grade or going to a school I knew, a principal I knew, and much closer, but switching grades. Debbie, one of the other 6th grade teachers, had been looking at this 6th grade opening at a school in South Santaquin (the most south school in the district). She had a friend that works there and it would be MUCH closer for her. Right now it takes her around 35 minutes to drive to work, driving to that school would take 15. Along with that, she would be able to carpool with this friend of her. It would cut back on how much she spends on gas immensely. She eventually decided it was the right thing to do, so she applied for a transfer. It was still up in the air for a few days while all the paper work went through and things were finalized. It finally was finalized and I am officially staying where I am. Now there are a few down sides to that. I will have a class of at least 32 children (7 more than I have now) and there will only be us two teachers, which will mess up our rotation set-up we had. I am grateful that I am able to stay however.

Besides school, life has been a roller coaster in other areas. One which involves a boy. I won't go into too much detail, but I'll give a brief summary. I started hanging out with a boy in my ward back in the middle of March. Things were great and I really liked him. I then got to my "freak-out stage". I have finally figured it out. I will start liking a boy and get those new and exciting feelings for him and that will cause me to jump into a relationship probably too quickly. Then a few weeks down the road I get to the point where the new and exciting feelings are gone and I kind of freak out. I am worried that I got myself into a situation I am not sure I want to be in. That is when I usually jump out of the relationship. So about two weeks into this relationship I kind of started questioning it. I wasn't sure exactly how "in" I was, and I was beginning to worry that I may have gotten myself into something I wasn't sure I wanted to be in. About three weeks into the relationship he wanted to define us as dating. I was honest with him and told him I wasn't sure if I was ready for that. The first few days after that were a bit rocky but I quickly decided I was being dumb and that nothing was wrong with the relationship so I had no reason to be afraid of it. I spent the next two weeks pretty much making up for me being lame and I thought things were going great. Key words, "I thought". Turns out he wasn't on the same page. Ever since I told him I wasn't sure about it, he kind of backed out a bit and it went downhill for him since then. Things were very rocky for a few days because of some events that took place and there were some hard feelings. Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately) my heart is just too good and I am quick to forgive. We ended things on a good note and we keep in touch. But let me tell you, it was quite the rollercoaster of emotions for me.

One other thing that has been a ride lately is my summer plans. The plan for the summer was for me and my sister(s) to take a trip to New York and then over to Europe. There is a bit of planning that has to be involved to make that possible. I am still in the process of knowing whether or not I can get a passport. You see....I don't have a name on my birth certificate. Whenever you have to answer those getting to know you questions like "what is something interesting about you?" I always use this one. My parents didn't name me until after they took me home from the hospital and they never got around to going back. Now that I am over the age of 18, I have to actually go through a legal court order name change. So I have been trying to get other documents in order to get a passport. I finally just sent some things in and should be hearing back from them shortly and they will either tell me that I am good and can have my passport, or they will let me know exactly what other items I need to send in. Hopefully this will all work out before the trip. We have been going back and forth between the time we want to travel. We were hoping to meet up with other family in New York as a fun family outing, but everyone's vacations are different. We did finally decided on a time and we finally booked our tickets. Since I did just spend around $1000 in plane tickets, I sure hope my passport works out. There is still a lot to do however. We still need to set in place or travel plans within Europe and places we will be staying. I am leaving most of that to Wendy and Angela, since they have traveled before and actually know what they are doing. According to Wendy, my job is to learn German. HA! We'll see how well that goes.

Other updates in my life...BYU has let out for the summer and many of my friends have left. Provo has calmed down immensely and my ward is about half the size it use to be. I received a new calling. I was on the Enrichment committee in relief society, but I am now a relief society teacher. EEK! I have never had a teaching calling and it is a little intimidating. I know you are all thinking, "You are a teacher, you know how to teach!" but teaching my peers about a gospel topic is MUCH different than teaching 11 and 12 year olds about math, science, etc. We'll see how it goes. I am staying where I am for the summer, however, I do not know where I will be living in the fall. That is still to be decided and figured out. I am thinking I'll probably stay where I am (that is, if it is still available). I did get accepted to be an EFY counselor again this summer. However, I did not apply for as many, since I will be traveling. So far I am only scheduled to do one week. I am excited to do it again, but a little disappointed to only have one week. We'll see if I can pick up any other weeks when I'm around this summer. I absolutely loved doing it last summer and not only was it great to help the youth, but it really helped me as well.

Shout out to my mommy on this mother's day. I love you very very much! You have made me into the person I am today and I could never say thank you enough. I am so grateful for the sacrifices you made for me growing up and that you continue to make. I love being able to call and talk to you whenever I want. I love that you care so much about what is happening in my life and always lend a listening ear. I hope to one day be the amazing mother that you are! I LOVE YOU!

This is what I like to do...just sit and chat with my mommy. This was from my first year back at home from college for Christmas.

This blog is probably more than anyone wants to read. I'm sorry it is so long, but it has been around four months since I have written on here. I'm sorry there are really no pictures. Perhaps next time. Once again, no matter how chaotic my life is, I always feel amazingly blessed for everything I have!

Non photogenic me

Remember how I put my school picture up here and said how my sisters use to make fun of me because I could never pose a smile and I looked constipated? Well...here it is. I think this is my 8th grade picture. Yup...I couldn't smile. Enjoy!

I have a dream...

In celebration on Martin Luther King Junior's birthday/holiday, I have been focusing some of my lessons and activities on him. My class watched a video that was about a group of 6th grade kids who went back in time to the time of Martin Luther King and learned all about him. We discussed his life a little and talked about how life might be if it wasn't for him. I then had the kids write their own "I have a dream" paper. Some of the kids really struggled and sat there for a long time. Apparently they think we have a perfect world. Some of them really touched me with the things they wrote. I was particularly impressed by one of my girls' and wanted to share with you what she wrote. Here it is:

"I have a dream that one day there will be peach throughout this world. That everyone will be treated equal and kind. I wish that nobody would judge by their outer beauty but by their inner beauty. I have a dream that one day every mouth on this planet will be fed, that their stomachs will be fulled for the very first time. I have a dream that everyone would be happy with their appearance and with who they are and be satisfied with the way God has created them. I have a dream that everyone will be happy with that they have and not grieve over what they want. I have a dream that everyone will one day get along and that there will be no jealousy, no hate, no racism. I have a dream that this world will become a better place for every nation, kindred, and tongue. I have a dream!"

Is that not so sweet? I can tell that she really did think about it. Many of my kids put great things like no more war, no bad in the world, enough money to support their family, no more drugs, no more killing animals and trees, that everyone will get along, etc. One kid even said that he has a dream that there will one day be peace on all planets. It is about time that we had peace with the aliens! Their papers really did touch me and they are such good kids.

Another thing we did is read a book called "Martin's Big Words". It mostly told of his life and talked about his "big words". This included things he stood for and fought for and the things he said such as: peace, freedom and love. I then made a poster that said "Miss Weathers Class' BIG Words" and they all wrote on note cards their "big words". Some wrote single words and others wrote quotes. I told them that if they wrote a quote it had to be their own, not one they have heard somewhere before. I am pretty sure that some still did ones they got from somewhere else, but oh well. They wrote some really cute things. Anything from family to courage to standing out and being a good friend. Perhaps I'll take a picture of our wall of "big words" and post it up here for you to see.

In all I think they have really enjoyed learning about Martin Luther King Jr. and what he fought for and what he stood for. I have enjoyed learning along with them. He really was an amazing man. Nothing could stop him. He knew that everyone deserved equal rights and he was not going to step down until they received those rights. It was a terrible way of life back in those times and I am so grateful that he helped change it for the better. Happy Birthday Martin Luther King Junior!

6th grade quote of the week

I know I haven't written in a long time and I will do more of it. I even have a new years post saved that I just need to look over and then post. But I wast thinking about what one of my boys said this week and I thought it was too funny not to share. Before I tell it though, you have to understand that kind of relationship I have with my kids. We have a pretty teasing friendly relationship, meaning, I tease them a lot and give them a hard time and often times they tease me back. I think that a lot of 6th graders personalities work well with that kind of relationship. Well...Thursday we had our spelling test (since we had no school Friday) and I read the words to them and then put the word in a sentence. Well, sometimes I like to try to be funny and make the sentences amusing. The word was "attractive" so my sentence was "I am very attractive". My intentions to somewhat amuse the kids and get a laugh. Well one of my boys took it upon himself to humor the situation even more with a comeback comment of "If you were you'd be married by now." WHAT!? Now this kid is not the mean type at all. He is really a sweet boy, so I knew he wasn't really meaning it to hurt me. Many of the kids were shocked at his comment and thought I was pretty harsh. I got a bit of a laugh out of it, but made sure he knew the rest of the day that it wasn't a very nice comment. I made him do things for me to make-up for it. It was also so convenient that parent/teacher conferences were that night. We also have our students come for those. I told his mom about the little incident (not in a way that he was in trouble, just that I thought it was somewhat amusing and thought she would want to know) and she made a point in reminding my boy that his dad was not married until he was 32. Haha. I also told some of the faculty about it and they found it quite amusing as well. There you have it...my 6th grade quote of the week. Maybe I'll find one of these every week. I am pretty sure with the group of kids I have, it would not be a hard thing to do.

6th grade debate

Every week at school the kids have a list of spelling words along with 8 vocab words. These vocab words are what they call "real world" vocabulary and are based on one specific real world topic. For example, last week our words were based on the atmosphere and included: ozone, stratosphere, exosphere, etc. Well this week our words were based around the subject of "debate". Our words included: Orator, conviction, controversial, argument, philosophy, consideration, rebuttal, and persuasive. I wanted a way to help the kids remember these terms so I decided to apply them to our own classroom and hold a debate. One thing in 6th grade that is a very controversial issue is that 6th graders don't get morning recess. I split my class in half and had one side in favor of having morning recess and the other in favor of not having it. The half that I told was on the side of not having recess wasn't too thrilled about it at first because they all want recess. I gave them some time yesterday to come up with all their philosophy and all their reasons to support their argument, making sure they were applying the vocab terms. This morning I had them gather up the rest of their thoughts and then we held a debate. They had an orator give their first thoughts and then I let anyone else put in their two cents. It was SOOOO funny! Who knew watching 6th graders argue over having morning recess would be so entertaining. I even had my few quiet kids standing up and giving their opinion (I made them stand up when they were speaking). There was even a few "I objects" and pounding of fists on desks. By the end of the debate each half of my class was fully convinced that their way was right. Even that half that were suppose to argue in favor of not having morning recess convinced themselves that that was what they really thought. One girl had so much fun with it all that she told me she wants to be a lawyer now. I think it did help them with the vocabulary words because every time one came up during the debate I would hold up a card with that word on it and tell them why that term matched the situation. We'll see how they do on the test tomorrow. Anyway, I just thought it was too funny and wanted to share that with you all.