Saturday

I awoke rather early this morning remembering I hadn't really started packing and how much still needed to be done before leaving for China (tomorrow). I got up and started running. I went to Costco to get some things Mom and Dad really appreciated. Costco didn't have everything I needed, and I stopped at another grocery store on the way home. I stopped at the mall for some American Christmas presents for my family. I remembered Mom wanted the December Ensign. I went to the Distribution Center and they were out. I found out the one downtown had some. I don't like driving to places I've never been before, especially in Salt Lake so I called a friend to come with me. The person I called was the guy who took me out on Wednesday and he reminded me we needed to finish the museum of art (we were literally kicked out because they were closing on Wednesday). So, he drove downtown and we got the Ensigns and went back to the museum. I came home late in the evening after a fun afternoon and evening with this guy and realized I had missed some calls on my phone during the day. One of the missed calls was from one of the guys who took me out this week. So I called him back and he took me out for a late dinner (crazy eating schedule today I'd say!) and we talked until it was late. Here it is Sunday morning and I still need to pack! I have had several full days this week and they have been so fun!

Friday

I had such a fun evening! I went to the Eclipse Christmas concert with Rick. It was so fun! The group Eclipse has been together for 6 years. They have performed all over the country as well as in Shanghai, China. I hadn't listened to their music much before the concert, but it was so good! They are an A Cappella group. This was their Christmas concert and it was exciting to hear their versions of the familiar Christmas songs, as well as listening to some of their own works they've written. After the concert, we went looking at Christmas lights for awhile. It was a fun evening!

Thursday

I went out with a guy tonight and we had so much fun! It was a blind date set up by a dear friend of mine. We went to my favorite resturaunt, Zupas, and went to the Christmas Carol play downtown Salt Lake City. It was so fun! It has been a long time since I have been to a play or musical. It was quite fun for me. We talked awhile after the play. It was so nice to be with someone who is older than 7! I had a great night.

Wednesday

I went on a date with a guy on Wednesday and had a great time! We went to a museum here in Utah. There were so many wonderful pieces of work! I couldn't believe how old some of the pieces were! We saw things dating back to early 14 century and even earlier than that. The art work was incredible. It was fascinating to see the different styles so closely together and to look at different art in a variety of cultures. I especially love the pottery.

Book of Mormon Challenge

I moved into the ward in August. I didn't hear until recently the Stake President gave our ward a challenge to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. It's somewhat a blessing I was sick for so long because then I was able to listen to the Book of Mormon on line and finish it on time. I have never read it in such a short period of time. It is the most incredible experience I have had reading the Book of Mormon. When I read it earlier, I would forget the characters circumstances when a later prophet would refer to an earlier account. This time, there as an intense connection through each experience and account. This time reading it (or listening to it) I have seen the power of Heavenly Father and the pride of men causing their own fall. It's incredible to see the faith of men fail in such a short time period. I have such a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon being another testament of Christ and as we follow the precepts will bring us to Christ. What an incredible book.

If I HAAAAAVE To...

Last week, I finally got help in my room that I have been praying and asking for since I started working for Entheos Academy. Things have really turned around. I am seeing significant improvements. By Friday, I was ready for a break. I went on a date with Rick and started feeling sick right after the date with regular cold type stuff. I decided to take a lazy day Saturday so I wouldn't have to miss any work. I did go to the Temple that day, but that was about it. Sunday came around and I felt worse. I ended up staying in bed all day that day. Monday came. I went in to do substitute plans because it was apparent I wasn't going to be able to teach that day. Maybe I just needed a long weekend. Tuesday came. I felt pretty good. I got to work and it went down hill from there. I did most of my teaching from a chair in front of the class because I was too dizzy to stand and turn my head. That's when I started to get dizzy, lightheaded and a massive headache that nothing would relieve me from. By one o'clock I went home. I experienced something like this a year ago when I was student teaching and nobody knew what it was. GREAT...back to that. I was sick for an entire week and was so dizzy and sick all I could do was lay in bed holding on to the walls to remind my body I wasn't in a spinning ride at the circus. I went to an urgent care last night and they told me I had a severe sinus infection and to stay home from work the next two days. Now, I have my fleece to make blankies for babies in China, my movies and light cherry limeade. Besides my headache, dizziness, runny nose and sensitivity to light and sound, I am enjoying this break! I'm just glad this happened this week and not next week-

Anyone want to come join the party?

Blessings of a Temple

After reading Mom's blog about attending the Temple for the first time since arriving in China (in the last 18 months) I felt a need to share how thankful I am for a temple that is so close to my home. I went to the Temple yesterday with my old ward from Provo. They came up to go to the Salt Lake Temple. They literally LIVE on the same street as the Temple in Provo but wanted to drive an hour to attend the Salt Lake Temple. The Temple we attend in this area is the Jordan River Temple which is about 10-15 minutes from my house. I couldn't believe how long it took my family, and how expensive it is to go worship at a Temple. They had to cross many boundaries, so besides making sure a Temple Recommend was in hand, a passport was also manditory. Having the right amount of money, which was quite a lot, and the time and transportation, and hotels just showed how dedicated the members need to be in those areas of the world where Temples aren't very close to them. How thankful I am to be close to MANY temples and for the dedication of those who are not close to temples who show us we should be going more than just once or twice a month. Thanks for sharing Mom and Dad!

It's Finally Starting!

The last four months, to be honest, have been an absolute nightmare. This is actually putting things mildly. I have not had any support for the challenges in my room. I have 26 students. 2 of which should be in self contained classes with a one on one teacher. I have three (that are identified and diagnosed) emotionally disturbed kids, 2 kids who can't add basic numbers are read a complete sentence. These are just a few issues. I have about 9 others who should be pulled out for special ed for half the day. Did I mention the emotionally disturbed kids are triplets? The lowest kids are brother and sister who are cousins to one of the other students, too. So, problems from home come to school, which is never helpful! That leaves 10 who are emotionally, mentally and physically capable of handling a regular work load any second grader would be asked to accomplish. But the history is only beginning. Last year, this class was altogether and had a teacher who was fired half way through the year. Up until that point, the teacher ran a glorified day care center. Four other teachers and adults were in the room at all times to cram a years worth of information into several months before being let out for the summer and forgetting most of it. This is where I come in...literally. I was hired, not told of the situation. After assessing the situation the first day, I knew I was in over my head. It has been a struggle ever since. I've had a boss who told me I was stubborn and unwilling, a mentor who talked poorly about me to my fellow teachers behind my back, being told it would just take time and I needed to learn how to teach kids. FINALLY- someone heard me and came to see what my room was like. She set up a system where the students and parents were held accountable for their actions. The severe needs of my room are FINALLY being heard and addressed. The severely emotionally disturbed kids needs are being addressed, I have more support from by boss and we are making progress. I AM FINALLY HEARD!

Drinking and Driving

I was returning home from President Cowley's Sunday night. I turned on a street to go to my house and heard a sloshing noise. It was the kind of sloshing you hear when you drink a lot and all the liquid is sitting in your stomach. I thought it was strange-I didn't drink almost anything the past little while and forgot about the incident. Yesterday, I was coming home and heard that same noise and remembered I have a bottle of windshield wiper fluid sitting on the floor behind my seat. That was the liquid I heard when turned the corner on Sunday. I had to laugh out loud when I figured that out. :)

Food, Family, Football; What More Could You Want?

I woke up way earlier last Wednesday to finish up a project and get on the road. It was a pleasant drive, but the best part was Jeni wasn't expecting me until later that day. I arrived in the early morning. In fact, Jen and Mel were still asleep when I arrived. I got to surprise them! We had a great 5 days playing games (I played Risk for the first time ever....I would not make a good country stealer.) We played lots of Nert and ate lots of pie. We played football before Thanksgiving dinner and watched movies until wee hours of the morning. It has been so long since I have played this hard for so long. It was wonderful! I even got to ride Chester, Harrison's horse. He certainly didn't want to be out of his stall, let alone someone riding on his back. I can't blame him, I wouldn't want to run the day after Thanksgiving either. :) We attended a session in the Manti Temple early Saturday morning and went to church Sunday. I even got to spend time making cards, which I haven't done for a long time. I also had a quote book that had bleach spilled on it, so I needed to transfer all my quotes to a new book. That took some time-It was a badly needed break that flew by! I loved every minute of it. Thanks, Harrison Family, for letting me make such great memories with you!

I arrived back home Sunday evening just in time to change my clothes and drive up to President and Sister Cowley's home in Murray for a fireside held for those who served in the West Virginia Charleston Mission. It was good to see a couple missionaries that I knew there. Most people who came served after I returned home, so I got to meet new people. It was fun. The best part of the day was coming home and going to bed at 9:15 pm and sleeping until 6:15 am. It was glorious!!!

Student Led Conferences

I have finished my second day of Student Led Conferences. I met with one parent yesterday. (Nice thing is it was for a brother and a sister so I met with one mom and covered both students). I saw the majority of the parents tonight. I meet with the other 5 tomorrow and then I will be DONE! Then it will be the weekend! It will also be the beginning of Thanksgiving break for the kids. A group of us teachers are going to the 9:20 showing of Twilight. We all are so excited! Nice part is...I didn't have to pay for my ticket. None of us do. Thanks to one of the teachers who works for the Utah Jazz, she got all six tickets for free. YEAH! Saturday proves to be busy with an appointment and my first date with another guy who served in the same mission. He also lives in Ogden. Sunday, I teach Relief Society and a talk in Sacrament Meeting. Wow-what a crazy week!

Rick Simpson

This is a picture of Rick Simpson and I on our first date. We ate dinner at Chipotle and bowled a couple games. It was so fun! We went on our second date to dinner at Chile's and miniture golf in Ogden, Utah. Rick grew up in Ogden and served a mission in the same mission as I did, the West Virginia Charleston Mission. He is currently working for Costco trying to earn money to go back to school to become a CNA. He plans to get his license and work toward becoming a anaesthesiologist's assistant. He wants to make a difference in the world and as a nurse he could do this. He wants to have a good job to make enough money to provide for his family and also be able to help other people. He said this career would provide those opportunities without having to worry about the stress of mal-practice. Sounds like he has thought through things. :) We are planning a third date to play lasertag soon.

This has never happened to me!

I checked my facebook to see if Rick had written me. He had written a message which was so sweet. He told me how much fun he had the other day and he is looking forward for the next date. He gave me directions to his house and ended the message. I responded I was excited to play lasertag and he might need to remind me how to play :). He wrote back asking if I would play the piano for his family (he lives at home while he is working to save money to go back to school...) He invited me to bring a piano book to play out of if I wanted. Interestingly enough, I received another message at that same time from another guy who was a missionary in my mission. We served in Christiansburg at the same time for several months. We saw each other at a mission reunion several months ago. He asked me then if I wanted to do something and never heard from him again. Tonight, he said he was planning on getting a group together and wanted me to come with him. So, I have a date with Rick on Tuesday and a date with Jones on Saturday. This has never happened to me before! This is fabulous!

How About a Second?

I met up with a guy that was a missionary in the same mission I served. We served around each other every now and then. He found me on Facebook and asked me to dinner. We met in Bountiful, and ate dinner at Chipotle. This was after I got ridiculously lost and he had to come find me for me to follow him to dinner. Sad, but true. I started out the date humbled and grateful... We ate dinner and decided to go bowling. This is not my forte to say the least, but it was so much fun playing together. On the way to the alley, he showed me pictures on his camera and I looked at his collection of CD's. We have a common interest in music. The first game we bowled he beat me by one pin. The second, he nearly doubled my score. Not quite sure what happened the second round. He took me back to my car and as I was getting in he asked if he could take a picture of me. We couldn't get the camera steady enough on either car so he took a picture with one hand while we stood close to each other and blind sighted taking a picture. After four or five tries we finally got one where most of both of our heads were in the picture. I always thought I had somewhat of a large head to begin with, having a little trim won't hurt anything. :) I suggested we go do something again soon and he asked what I was doing this coming week. We are planning to go laser tagging (play laser tag? Not sure how to phrase that...) Tuesday or Wednesday next week up in Ogden. I am so excited!!

How about Wednesday?

A guy from the my mission left a message on my facebook account recently. His message was surprising, but sweet. He helped me remember who he was and said how he always thought I was a cute sister missionary (Hard to believe seeing how I know I dressed and looked in the field) and asked if I was dating anyone. I responded I was single. We chatted last night and he asked if I wanted to do something. I excitedly accepted the invitation. It was tricky finding a free day that wasn't three or four weeks away. I never thought I would be this busy. I told him I was returning back to Utah on Wednesday from my trip and he asked if I wanted to do dinner that night. Knowing I will be tired from a week of training and flying home, I was so excited to have been asked out. I accepted. We are going to have dinner and play lasertag. I am excited! I don't remember the last time I was asked out. This will be such a fun evening!

Body World

We took both second grade classes to the Body World exhibit today. It was one of the most fascinating things I have seen on the human body. It's incredible the way our body is so intricately designed to work properly. For those who are unfamiliar, the Body Exhibit is in a gallery here in Salt Lake. The gallery takes donated human bodies and plastinates them so as to preserve them. They remove the skin and fat to show the muscles, bones and everything else that is under the skin. We are studying bones right now and that was one of the coolest things. Being a teacher, I was watching my kids more than I was the exhibit, which was appropriate. Now I REALLY want to go back and look for myself. We got a great discount through a promotion Kohl's was having. They endeed up covering the 80 percent of the cost of 58 people total. We only had to pay 185 dollars for 50 odd some kids and 6 adults. We got a promotional ad that showed students could get in for 2 bucks. Where the original price is 22 dollars a person, that was a steal! It was amazing. Some of the kids thought it was gross, but many enjoyed it. Mostly, they loved the plastic body they could put all the plastic organs in at the end of the tour. Why bother spending the 2 bucks to get in when you can go through the back door to the gift shop and play with the fake person? What was I thinking?

6 Days and Planning

I signed up for a workshop several weeks ago and assumed I would be contacted to tell me whether I was going or not. This workshop is focusing on Early Literacy and I have been so excited about it! I remembered to ask my boss yesterday and he told me "Oh, yes. You are going. You need to book your flight." This trip is from November 7-11, but with travel time, I'll be gone November 6-13. Did I mention the training is in Missouri? Then I found out that afternoon, I have another training to attend November 5 so I will be gone that day also. I have just begun to see great progress in my kids as far as responding to me and making great strides academically. Now I'm going to be gone for a week, which will feel more like two because I will be there for Monday and Tuesday of one week and return for Thursday and Friday of the following. Not only do I have to plan for the next couple days, I need to plan for a weeks worth of lessons so a sub can teach them, take my kids on a field trip tomorrow to the Body Exhibit (which I'm thrilled about!!! ) Plan for Halloween on Friday for my kids (and parents for kids costumes etc) and head down to Aurora for the weekend. I found out my best friend's younger sister Melanie got her mission call today but is waiting to open it when her brother and myself are there on Saturday. She's one tough cookie. She knows her call is here and is willing to wait, put it on a shelf, and wait until Saturday morning when her whole family could be there. Anyway-so I'll be gone all weekend, be back Monday ready to head into the crazy-ness. November hasn't even started and it feels like it's half over!!

Down with the Economy...and GAS PRICES!

While others are taking pictures of their little ones eating cheese, I take pictures of the gas prices JUST to prove they are going down. The cool part is I took this picture a day ago and gas has gone down several cents since then! I LOVE this game! Let's keep it up (or down as the case may be)

dalton sherman - Google Video

I was introduced to this amazing speaker at a recent training I attended. I would have to say it is one of the most influential speakers I have listened to about education in a long time. I find myself listening to this when I get discouraged in my own classroom. I hope you enjoy!! 

dalton sherman - Google Video

Cultural Experiences

Growing up, a child never thinks they are having a cultural experience. It's just the way life is. Tonight, I went out to dinner with a co-worker friend of mine. She is a very accomplished woman who lived in New York for many years as a lawyer and decided she'd be a fifth grade teacher at our school. She quit her practice, bought a car (she never owned one before because you walk every where you need to go in New York. This was news to me...) and moved to Utah. She grew up here and moved back here to work for Entheos. Anyway, she's an incredible lady, and easily one of my favorite people at work. We went to a greek place for dinner. I ordered a gyro. It was so good!! It reminded me of growing up and how every now and then we'd have gyros for dinner. My friend asked if Mom was Greek. I responded it wasn't unusual for us to try these types of foods. I guess that's where we learned not to be picky eaters. We ate crepes all the time growing up. It was strange to me visiting Ashley and Donny's house that Donny had never eaten crepes before. My conversation continued with my friend about how we each loved asparagus, and artichoke. These, I suppose, are delicasies that require and aquired taste only developed over a long period of precious time. When, all along, one could be enjoying such treats. We then talked about jicama and the joy of branching out to the uncommon and unusual. It was an interesting thing when I came to realize I grew up in a cultural environment growing up in Boise, ID. (Thanks Mom! and Dad...except for those times you tried to give me culture shot with a blob of straight wisabi on a perfectly fine sandwich.)

6 Quirks

The Rules:• Link the person(s) who tagged you.
• Mention the rules on your blog.
• Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
• Tag some fellow bloggers by linking them.
• Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged!

Quirk 1: Where many people crave sugar, I crave hot foods. I love anything hot. I have yet to find something that is too hot for my liking. Some may say anything is better hot. I would have to argue with that statement. There are many things good the way they originally are. However, there are many things that aren't even worth eating unless it's with a bottle of hot sauce. There are many flavors of hot sauce. The green sauce is sweeter than red sauce, which could liven up a salad a little. There are different foods that different kinds of hot sauce belong to.

Quirk 2: I think when workers are done working in man holes, they need to replace the man hole covers properly with the yellow line that was OBVIOUSLY painted on the cover lining up with the other yellow lines on the road. It's like an abstract piece of art work that doesn't really impede the progress of your life, but rubs you the wrong way anyway.

Quirk 3: In class, I have a couple students who came in after school started. When they arrived, they started calling me "teacher" rather than my name. Usually this may not have caused me grief, but the rest of my students caught onto this bad habit. It's not just saying the word or using it as a title because they say it in a whining voice that is less than pleasant to listen to.

Quirk 4: I have an ultra sensitive nose and walking down the bread isle in the grocery store is one of my favorites. Smelling on the different breads and yummy stuff is so wonderful!

Quirk 5: When I am especially tired and have barely climbed into bed (my mattress is on my food storage, so when I say climb, I literally mean it) and get all comfortable, I find myself rubbing my left foot on the inside of the blanket. I don't know why...

Quirk 6: I own more pairs of jeans now than I ever have in my life at any given time. This is strange because I am at work and don't wear jeans 99 percent of my life.

I Think They Took That Out

I took my class out for PE this afternoon. I taught them a brief lesson about pulse and how to find it. I found myself describing it was the "thumping you feel on the side of your neck and the beating of your heart when you put your hand over your heart." Pretty sure that wouldn't fly in the scientific world, but it worked for 7 year olds. We felt our pulse or how slow the thumping was while standing still. Then we felt how fast our throat was thumping after running around the field 3 or 4 times. I know some of those kids don't get continual exercise for any extended period of time. You could really tell the ones who got out and ran after school and those who didn't. Anyway, during our discussion about pulse, one little boy said "I don't have one!" I responded he'd be dead if he didn't have one. His response to me was "I think the doctor took that out..." This is the same kid who thinks you pull your arm out of the esophagus if you pull too hard. Life must be really rough on this kid :)

Cute Pumpkin Carving Prayer

I found this cute little poem on-line and liked it so much I wanted to share it with the rest of you!

The Pumpkin Prayer

Dear God,
As I carve my pumpking help me say this prayer:
Open my mind so I can learn about You;(Cut the top of the pumpkin)
Take away all my sin and forgive me for the wrong things I do.(Clean out the inside)
Open my eyes so Your love I will see;(Cut the eyes out in heart shapes)
I'm so sorry for turning up my nose to all you've given me.(Cut a nose)
Open my ears so your word I will hear.(Cut the ears)
Open my mouth so I can tell others You're near(cut the mouth)
Let Your light shine in all I say and do! Amen.(Place a candle inside and light it

:: I Looked Out the Window and What Did I See?::

I woke up this morning to see snow on the tree branches and small piles of snow on my car. GURRRRR......

I hope it's not contagious!

This time of year is notorious for sharing unwanted things. To some it may be wanted...it all depends on who you are. Up in Boise, Ash said it snowed yesterday. I had to laugh at her distress and utter astonishment at the white cold surprise. This morning on my way to work, I noticed it was rather windy and cold. I grabbed my coat before leaving the house. I'm so glad I did. By the time I got to work, BIG white snowflakes were whirling onto my windshield. I immediately called Ash and tell her the news. I knew colds, flu, as well as laughter and moods were contagious. I had no idea the weather was!

Bishop Storehouse

I spent a couple hours today at the Bishop's Storehouse here in Sandy. I walked in and was directed to start stocking shelves. For nearly two hours, I stocked only one shelf. People kept coming in and taking the cans off the shelf. I'd put more cans back on the shelf. As I did this, I was amazed at the organization of the store. This was my first time ever coming to a store house that I know of. They had the essentials available to those who needed them. What was even more amazing to me was how it was the sacrifiice of others who helped those cans to be ready for others to take. We never know how our efforts will bless the lives of others. The reverse is also true. We may never realize how much others do for us to make our lives as great as they are. I was taught another great lesson. The people who came into the storehouse were all different. Some had several small children with them, some were getting the supplies for a loved one. I was so grateful some sort of plan was in place for those who came upon hard times. Some of these people were very kind. Others were not. Some kindly refused certain items on the list because they wouldn't use it. It was an incredible experience to watch. Some of the volunteers were full time missionary couples, some were married women who just came for the afternoon. It was amazing to me to see this inspired organization to help others make ends meet while it gave others an opportunity to help where they could. I don't have a lot of money to donate, but I do have two hands that can stock shelves! I was taught, and uplifted by spending this time in the storehouse. I worked as a bagger and spent many hours in a grocery store and never felt so inspired and charged to do good. :)

General Conference Weekend

I have never been to the Conference Center until just this October Conference. I received, fought for might be more appropriate, tickets for conference. I got two tickets, one for me, and one for Jeni. Me in the Conference Center with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir practicing in the back.

We left at 7:15 am to miss traffic. We arrived at the parking garage by 7:40 am. We were certainly early enough...we were the third car in the garage. It was raining and cold, but that didn't dampen our excitment for the events to soon occur. We listened to Music and the Spoken Word, which was wonderful.

My Conference ticket

Jeni Harrison came with me to Conference. It was so great to share such a special experience with such a close friend.

From these pictures, the Conference Center reminds me of a grand theater in New York. To be sure, it is quite breath taking. It amazed me the organization of the whole program was so detailed they were able to seat thousands of people in such a short period of time.

I never knew people who were walking into the Conference Center go through a metal detector and do a soft search through purses. It makes sense given the amount of people gathering and the importance of the leaders who would be speaking. It never occured to me someone might actually want to hurt those I have come to admire, revere and love.

This was such a powerful experience in my life. I am grateful I had the chance to listen to the Prophet and several other leaders of our church Sunday. It was incredible. It felt as if someone had actually lived part of my life and learned what would be applicable to me. I was inspired, uplifted and comforted. My testimony was strengthed, resolve to be change renewed and focus was set on higher grounds. How grateful I am for Conference!

FREE HANDBAGS!

You in the mood for really cute handbags? Check out http://www.handbagplanet.com . Cutest bags ever! Log in for your chance to win a free bag! I personally love the red one on the third row and the plaid on the last row. Darling bags!!

Funny Moments

I have had so many funny moments recently and have failed to let everyone else in on the secret. How dare I be so greedy to keep these great experiences to myself when you could have a healthy dose of a laugh, too?!

Funny Story 1:

Matthew (my match maker) comes up to me and says "Miss Christensen! Someone pulled on my arm hard and it pulled it out of the ESOPHOGUS!" I'm sure that was quite painful. Having something pulled out of the socket doesn't tickle, but pulling it out of the esophogus would be untolerable I'd think...

Funny story 2:

Kaydon is the one I listen to whenever I need to laugh. He also has absolutely no filter in his brain to tell him to be quiet or follow social cues. The other day the students needed to stay in from recess a few minutes because they couldn't transition from one subject to another without wasting time. They were all in the room with their heads on their desks waiting for the timer to buzz saying the time was up. He shot up and said "That's awkward, staying in from recess on the 1st of October." Maybe it was the way he said it, but it was hilarious!

Funny story 3:

Our school calls administration things other than principal. He is our director and he has everyone call him Dr. Pace, including the kids. This has really improved the dynamics and culture at the school among other things. There was a person that came in to help me teach a lesson yesterday in class. I introduced her as Dr. Stephanie because she has a Doctorate in education. Jen told me later right after I introduced her Kaydon turned to her and exclaimed "Hey! I didn't know Dr. Pace was married!!" Funny kid.

My kids keep me on my toes, and I sure love them! I especially love their humor that I'm sure they don't know they have!

::Advice from a 7 Year Old::

I was sitting with my class at the rug trying to get their attention once again from leaving their seats. This is always a challenge. This whole task became that much more challenging as I had a side conversation with one student. It went along the lines "Miss Christensen, you should get married. " (Yes, I should but that takes more than just me) I respond "Yes, I want to but I am still looking". He said "I will bring someone in for you" My response, "Thanks, just make sure he's taller than I am" (or something to that affect) he says, "He needs to be a man, not a boy" I agreed with him. He then says "He needs to be handsome too!" I lost it. I laughed out loud for a bit to the joy of the students. They laughed too, not really understanding the joke. I thanked this student for thinking of me and for the laugh. Who needs a match maker when you have seven year olds on your side?

I Got Tickets!

This little paper has been a hot item for quite awhile in the ward. This little piece of paper is rather important because it is a ticket to get into the conference center for General Conference. I have two tickets for the Sunday morning session. I am so excited!! I have never been to General Conference. I've never even been in the Conference Center. I got one ticket for myself and I got one ticket for Jeni Harrison to go with me. This will be the first time either one of us has attended conference in the conference center. When I told Jen I got a ticket for her, she yelled into the phone. I don't know that I have ever heard her that excited. We both have mission reunions that weekend and then we both get to attend conference together. What an awesome weekend that will be!!

Full and Productive Day

Yesterday went by so fast! I made a list of things I wanted to get done. Half of the items on my list got done, but I did some other things I didn't anticipate. Two years ago, I bought my car from a friend for 800 dollars and put in couple hundred dollars worth of new parts. Thankfully, I didn't have to pay for labor because Dad fixed it for me. Thanks Dad! I have had this car for 2 years now and it was starting to look like a disaster. I vacuumed it out which took a lot of time and many quarters. I decided since I had the time today I might as well clean the carpet and seats in my car. They were looking pretty nasty. I rented a rug doctor and went over and over that carpet and seats. Little did I know how dirty it truly was. It took nearly three hours to do the whole task. It is done! Burt has never felt so clean since I've owned him. Now, when I actually anticipate selling it, I won't have to work so hard to clean it!

Walk for a Cure

Every month, the school has a theme they focus on. This month is caring and compassion. We held our own Diabetes Walk for a Cure today. All week, the students went around looking for people to donate to the diabetes fundraiser. We taped all the shoes representing donations on our door. Rachael and I are both diabetic, as well as 7 of our students in the school. We raised 2,000 dollars total. Second grade raised 1,114 dollars between the two classes. Amazing! Rachael and I are showing off our shoes, and our paper pancreas. They don't work any better than the ones we have...or don't have for that matter.

We had all the students in 1-3 grade walking for an hour. Total, we had 156 kids walking the field. Upon completion of each lap, the students were given a sticker to keep up the enthusiasm. We made necklaces out of the extra shoes that flapped in the wind the whole time we were walking. Most of the kids were wearing their paper pancreas taped to their shirts. Every now and then I'd see one fall from a shirt and I'd say "Hey, you dropped your pancreas!" What an odd thing to yell.

Here we are posing in front of the chart showing how much money was raised. It was pretty incredible to hear we raised that much money. I was pleasantly surprised.

Here is my class after the walk. We ate lunch outside, enjoyed sticky popsicles and cleaned up before returning back to class. Seeing the teaching moment, I took my shot after lunch in front of my students so they could see how it was part of life, every minute of every day. Some thought that was pretty cool, others weren't impressed. What a day, and it's only half way over!

A side note, I told Ashley once I would never be the teacher who would wear puff paint on my shirt or where shirts with pencils and apples lining the neckline. I was wearing an odd assortment of stickers on my shoulder showing how many laps I'd gone and a paper pancreas taped to my shirt. The things you do to teach a child...

Things you didn't know you didn't know

Tonight, my home teachers came over. This was really the first time I'd ever met them and it was great! It's interesting at this stage in life where people have their own careers or at least nearing completing their education for their career. A conversation has so much depth and variety that I was not used to. I talked with my home teachers for about an hour before the lesson was started. One is a correctional officer at the prison. That presents many challenges, for obvious reasons, as well as many things he really likes. He likes helping people get back on their feet and back on their own in the community. I'm sure that is rewarding, and I'm glad someone else can handle that. Leave me with the elementary kids and he can take the convicts. Toward the end of the conversation, I realized we were experiencing the same sorts of things, just with different people. I never thought I'd think teachers were like correctional officer. The other is a civil engineer. I never realized how much a civil engineer did until now. The intriguing thing was is how fascinated I really was about both of these professions. I had no idea the detail that went into making boundaries between lots and buildings. I learned a great deal about the nitty-gritty things about civil engineering. Quite an interesting field. The things you didn't know you didn't know...

Stake Conference

I had Stake Conference today. The whole conference, including the adult session last night, was focused on service. This is one of my favorite topics to talk about and do. We talked about a lot of different scriptures stating service as being a commandment from God, the benefits of service and what is really considered service. I really enjoyed it. It caused great self reflection of how I was fulfilling my promise to serve God with all my heart, might, mind and strength. I committed to be more engaged in serving this week with specific examples of what I could do for people to make their loads lighter. It's a funny thing, whenever we think we are making someone else's load lighter we always make our own lighter also. At least it seems that way because we focus on someone else and see how we would much rather take our own life and challenges than someone else's. Interesting. I also read the Ensign article by President Eyring titled "Be One". This topic went hand in hand with the my reflections on growing closer to my Heavenly Father through service. Even though the topic didn't directly discuss service, naturally my mind went that direction since I'd been pondering it today. This article was great and I encourage all to read it!

TGIF!

You know those weeks when Friday comes and you wonder if it really was only seven days and not seventy? That was this week. It was a week which no word truly describes. Monday rolls around after a busy weekend and I feel somewhat ready. After Monday is over, I spend way to long at the school preparing for the following days lessons. Tuesday hits and it feels like molasses dripping from a frozen spoon. I found desks on a public surplus website for way cheap. I wanted desks and I was told they would be $1500 for a class set. I got them for less than one hundred dollars. I went to pick them up Tuesday morning with Karen, my aide. I got up at 5:20 to pick them up at 7:00 am. The desks need some TLC and cleaning before use. We spent hour scrubbing those desks. (Karen did WAY more than I did) I was at the school way too late. Wednesday is here. We had a primary crew which is an assembly of the all the students in 1-3 grade. This was a challenge. I had to remove several of my students for inappropriate actions during this crew. This meant I missed a good portion of it because I was sitting in the class with these students. Thursday comes. I have 2 evaluations in one day (WHO IN THE WORLD SCHEDULES TWO EVALS IN ONE DAY FOR A NEW TEACHER?) not to mention the eval this morning. Three in one week. Yuck. I appreciate the feedback, but I could do without the added stress. During the evaluation, I was trying to keep one chronic wondarer in her seat while my aide kept another couple kids seperated. My director (or principal) was observing me that day and I hear him loudly say to a student to "SIT DOWN AND KNOCK IT OFF" This kid did just that. After that day was over, I had my mentor in giving me suggestions how to make the class better. This eval was only supposed to be 20 minutes. He was there over an hour. The second eval never came. Thursday comes and ends and I left the school at 6pm. I don't remember the last time I left school that early. I watched Pride and Prejudice that night. Friday comes. I have a meeting with a parent-very draining. Cleaned desks after setting up an appointment to finish my passport application. I get a call from a friend in the ward who invited me to go to a movie. I gladly accepted. Thank heavens it's Friday!

Miss C's Alien Necklace

I promised the kids I'd where my favorite color today. When I got up, I pulled on a green button up shirt and brown slacks. Mom and Dad have given me all sorts of beautiful jewelry and I love to choose what to where every day. Since I was on the hunt to wear green, I chose a cute pair of earrings that were green flowers. Then I chose a green necklace with unique beads on them. When I got to school, the first thing they notice was my green attire. They voiced how I was wearing my alien necklace. The beads could resemble some sort of alien when you use your imagination. It's quite fitting seeing the design on my walls. Crazy part was when I told an adult this later that day she looked at it and said "Oh, it really isn't aliens! I thought it was a necklace with small martians all over them." Now my legacy of planet walls has progressed to match my attire, apparently. At the end of the day, one little girl in my class asked me to wear that necklace again tomorrow, (It caught their attention, maybe I will!) She wants me to wear it so she can teach me how to talk alien. She's going to bring in the language tomorrow. Holding back a laugh, I said I'd try to remember to wear the necklace and I'd love to learn alien. I'm always excited to learn something new! I hope alien is a little easier than chinese. My family may agree it's one in the same.

My Second Grade Class

My First Class

"Miss C. That's Going to be Really Hard..."

Teachers are often blamed or rightly praised or anything inbetween. I have found the last few days to be an enlightening experience as I have put my school knowledge to the test. Mom was completely right in the fact once my students arrived in my room, nothing else mattered. I wouldn't put in the time to make my walls as colorful and lovely as they are, and thanks to my family, I don't need to worry about that. I don't have time to build shelves from IKEA to store all the stuff the students bring into the class, and thanks to my parents, I don't need to worry about that either. There are many other things which occupy my mind constantly. When I say constantly, I literally mean that. It's interesting when I get up to go to work, am there all day, go to meetings after school, write lesson plans that evening, somewhere in there eat dinner-usually while looking over plans or papers, get a step ahead and come home just to think about how to make the classroom a better place for each student, then to go to bed and dream about the students. I have 23 students currently. They vary in talents, and academic achievement, and absolute adorableness. Each has their struggles, and strengths. Due to the lack of structure in the past year, I have spent most of my time setting up that structure and reinforcing the classroom expectations. Each day proves to be a different challenge, but I think we are making progress. (At least I would hope!) The way the school is set up, the majority of my students were in the same class with each other last year. That made me a little concerned when I had a little girl who was new to the school this year. She fits right in, though. The first day of school, she cried for ten minutes after her mom dropped her off because she didn't want to be there. I called her mom tonight to get some information from her and found out this little girl LOVES school. I must be doing something of value if I can get a little girl to love school even though most of the time we have been focusing on classroom rules and consequences. This certianly taught me even though students may way they don't like structure, they soar when it is in place.

I have the most wonderful teacher aide in my room. She has had 12 years of experience as and aide and seriously and answer to my prayers. She taught this class last year and knows each student better than I do. I gain a lot of support and strength as she has been in the room to help me when I need it. One of the things I love about her is she supports me no matter what as a teacher and always returns all authority of the classroom figure to me. This makes it a lot easier when it comes to managing the room because the students know they cannot ask the other adult in the room and get a different answer. I know I have a lot to learn from this aide and look forward to working with her this year.

One story for your pleasure:
There is a little boy in my room that is so cute I can't possibly describe him. He reminds me of the Spanky off of Little Rascals, except much cuter. He has that same round face and adorable cheeks. The funniest thing about him is the fact it is IMPOSSIBLE to get this child to be quiet. He doesn't have a filter in his brain to stop his mouth from moving when a thought comes to his mind. This little boy melts my heart. I have to be careful when talking to him because he usually says something that makes me laugh. It's hard to be strict on enforcing the rules when his little face puckers and he asks for another chance. Rules are rules though. Anyway, we were gathered as a school for an assembly and this little boy was talking...no surprise. I moved him closer to me. He continued to chat to the boy behind him who would politely listen to him. Bless his heart. I sat on the floor next to my student and wrapped my arm around his shoulder to remind him to sit still and be quiet during the assembly. He turned to me very quickly and said, "Miss C. I have something to tell you."
Me..."Not now, we need to be quiet."
Little boy..."But I REALLY have to tell you something. Just one thing."
Me..."OK, quickly just one thing."
Little boy..."I know what that guy is wearing, they are clites" (the man was hiking mount everest and wearing cleats or clamp ons or whatever they are called)
Me..."Good, you can't talk anymore"
Little boy "Not even in my head?"
Me..."Yes, you can in your head."
Little boy "I can scream in my head if I want to!"
Me..." Yes I suppose you can." (fighting a laugh back)
Little while later

I noticed he was talking again
Me... "No more talking."
Little boy "Not even in my head?"
Me..."Not even in your head."
Little boy furrows his eye brows, brings his cute hand up to illustrate his point and says,
"Miss C. That's going to be really hard."

I had to quickly move my head to keep from laughing. What a kid. I tell you what, when I have had it for the day, I remember all those cute things he says that make me smile. I'm sad he'll be gone the rest of the week. It will be a lot quieter...that's really sad.

Sorry for the long post, but there's been a lot going on. Thanks for your support and prayers!

Welcome Earthings!

So, I know I've been a bit of a slacker on blogging. I haven't quite mastered having a busy life and blogging it all as well as Mom or Ang have. I'm practicing! We had a family reunion of just our immediate family the first three days in August and most of those three days were spent in my classroom painting, or putting up shelves. Thank you so much family! This is what your hard work ended up looking like. You are all amazing and know I owe you big! (You have a baby sitter anytime you need one when I'm in the area!)

Classroom Flood

Now I'm not sure if I just attract floods or what, but I found out I can't do anything in my classroom until next week because the bizarre rain shower/hail storm flooded the school. My room and the other second grade teacher were hit the worst. Dumb. We have big fans that look like over sized whistles every where, in our rooms, down the hall, to dry out the carpet. Right when I thought I could sink my teeth in to get ready for the year, I have to wait again. Watch out everyone, the moment I can get back into my classroom there will be a whirlwind of an Aimee to accomplish everything.

Cereal Council

There is a favorite spot under some trees where a group of us in the ward go sit on Sunday evening (we sound like a bunch of people from the south...) Tonight, a couple of the guys went to their apartment to get cereal and milk. A couple of girls (one being my roommate) met them on the doorstep bowls in hand. Pretty soon the whole group was eating cereal in a circle under the tree. The guys move their couch onto the sidewalk every Sunday evening and the rest pull up lawn chairs or crash on the steps. While we ate cereal, we created the rules for Cereal Sunday Council. One must eat cereal with the spoon going a certain way, one must slurp the milk from the bottom of the bowl, and it must NOT be healthy cereal such as bran flakes etc. At first, we someone suggested the group be called "Cereal Killers" because we kill the cereal by eating it. Thanks for the suggestion, moving on-it was suggested we call it: come-out-and-eat-cereal-together-on-Sunday-night-under-the-tree. The concensus was call the group Cereal Council. Whatever we call it, a new club was just formed! So, if you have any suggestions for cereals to introduce at cereal council, I am your representative to contact.

Honey, dinner is ready!

This morning I wanted to make scrambled eggs for breakfast. I put the pan on the stove with a little oil and waited for it to heat up. While I waited, I cut up onions and got out the eggs. I noticed where I had poured the oil started to turn black. I quickly moved the pan from the burner. When I did so, the pan ignited into 2-3 foot flames. I was so taken aback I didn't react well. All I said was-we have flames, we have flames! My roommates came from the other room. One poured baking soda and the other found a pan to put on top of the flames. Kristen, one of my roommates, said "Dinner's ready!" The other suggested doing cold cereal for breakfast. I've graduated from flames in the microwave to flames on the stove. Not a good progression...hopefully whoever I marry will have great fire insurance!

In matters of style,

Swim with the current.

In matters of principle,

Stand like a rock.

~Thomas Jefferson~

I found this quote in a fashion magazine. I thought it was such a profound statement, probably because it supports two points I feel strongly about. I found it interesting this quote was in a magazine, so obviously supporting the fashion part of the quote. However, the last part of the quote is just as influencial, if not more so. Thomas Jefferson has such an eliquent way of stating basic principles. I love it. So, live life fully-swim when it doesn't matter, stand when it does.

Aaron's In Utah!

Aaron has actually been here in Utah for a week, but he was at EFY and I wasn't able to see him until this morning. I went to bed rather late (kind of a trend I've set but want to soon break...) and got up really early. I was on the road by 5:30 or so and drove to Brigham City. It was actually quite an interesting drive because there were so many police man on the road through the construction areas. At one part, I had to laugh because there was a policeman driving in traffic with us and NO ONE dared to pass him. He wasn't driving at any consistant speed either. But there was a whole cluster of cars around him not going any faster than he did. I was one of those cars. A big cement truck pulled up behind me and flashed his lights for me to go faster. I actually invited him out loud to pass me and dare to drive faster than the speed limit, while passing a cop. Finally, the cop pulled off at an exit and almost immediately, all the cars started going faster. I found that entertaining. :) It's amazing what one car can dictate the actions of a whole fleet of cars. Finally I found the gas station I was to meet Sister Bran, the ward member and friend who picked Aaron up from EFY and brought him to the main road. Thanks so much Sister Bran! I got to spend a couple hours with Aaron in the car on our way to Highland. He was so inspired by EFY and the committments he made while he was there. He's set some great goals to work toward and it made me smile because for so long I still saw him as a little boy. He really has grown to be an incredible young man. From the kind things he says or does to the little things that touch his tender heart I can see the great changes that have taken place over the years. He was always a good kid, but now he's a young man with a strong testimony, a desire to do the will of Heavenly Father, a friend to many, and a wonderful brother. We talked about things he learned at EFY and listened to music on our ipods. It was a short little trip, but I was so grateful for it. He is growing up, and I don't want to miss that! I love you Aaron! I'm so glad you and I are in the same state for the summer!

The Big Question...

How many hours until Mom flies in you ask? Well, let me tell you. We are down to 110 hours until Mom flies in!! Are you excited? I am!

My First Rodeo

::Strawberry Days Rodeo::

I've never been to a rodeo before and I loved every minute of it! Ashley and Donny got there before my group did. We met up and found a whole bleacher almost to ourselves at first. Since my group consisted of almost 20 people, we found this a big blessing. The strawberries and cream are absolutely worth the wait. No wonder why people eat up to 6 cups of them. I don't know if it was the recipe or purely the atmosphere, but they were incredible! Then, there was the Mutton Buston (I think that's what it's called). It was so cute to watch these little kids ride these huge sheep into the arena. I loved watching the bear back bucking horses, the cattle tie race, bucking horses in with saddles, women riding horses for the barrel race, and of course, bull riding. There was half time entertainment of dirt bikers on jumps. They were more risky than I would have ever been! It was so fun to be there with my roommates and other ward members and friends, but mostly because I was able to be there with Donny and Ashley. Ashley found a perfect hat for me. She said she knew I wouldn't want a major country hat, and she found one that absolutely perfect! I don't wear hats too often because I don't find many that fit the way I like. She found the perfect one! I loved the rodeo! I want to go to another one soon! One recent discovery, I do have country in me. :)

Strawberry Days Rodeo

I'm going to my first rodeo EVER tonight! I am so excited!!

Happy Father's Day!

I want to take a second to wish my dad a Happy Father's Day. As I think about all the things he's done for me over the years, it's hard to sum up in one letter the gratitude I feel. From the beignning of my life, he chose to be an engineer rather than a doctor or something because he needed to get through school to support a family. The other day I was getting my bike ready to go for a ride and was a little annoyed I couldn't fix it as fast as Dad did so many times growing up. It's amazing, all the things in life he needed to get done, or all the places he needed to be, he still stopped to fix my bike so I could ride it. I remember once when I was younger I had some money and wanted to take Dad out for a Daddy Daughter outing. It was a lot of fun! We watched The Net and went to TCBY for frozen yogurt. There were al those times where he wanted to play a joke. So many times he wanted to play a joke....from Egore the nasty funny looking man who would come into our room to say good night to us with his pajama shirt pulled up over his head and walking with a limp, putting his nasty running shirt in my backpack for me to find when I got to school (he was kind enough to put a plastic bag in there too so I could put the nasty thing in the bag so it wouldn't stink up my locker...it still did), to putting his "hand" on my shoulder while playing piano just to find out it was the fake hand we kept in our closet, to jumping out to scare us while we walked past the stairs going to the basement. There were many more jokes he played, but one thing stands strong in my memories. His conviction to run every morning regardless of the weather. I am amazed at that dedication. He bore his testimony many times through action. I can't remember a time where he didn't hold two callings at a time. He was a great scout master. I never was a scout, but I saw the influence he had on those young boys who are now serving missions or older. I remember the many times Sunday morning answering the phone and having a young boy on the other end asking for Brother "C". I remember the many times he'd sing in the choir and watch his face as he sang hymns and other praises, right next to our opera singer choir member. He bore his testimony in sacrament meeting a few times. I didn't see my father cry often, but when he spoke of his admiration for his Savior and love for Heavenly Father, his eyes would get a little moist. I loved when he'd share his testimony during Family Home Evening right next to Mom. (and the many times he'd act out the scripture stories using barbies...my favorite was Ammon and gathering all the arms). I appreciate the support he gave me while I prepared to serve a mission and the many times after the mission where I needed help to get through certain times of my life. After graduating from college, I had a little bit of loan money left, but quickly used that up. Several times I've had to humble myself and ask for some help to cover rent that month. I asked him why he offered the money so willingly and so quickly. It frustrated me I couldn't take care of myself completely by now. His response surprised me a little with the answer with absolutely no hesitation. He replied to wait until I had children and I'd know what that felt like. Parents just want their children to be happy. Growing up in my home with my Dad certainly has made me happy! I love my dad very much and want to wish him the best Father's Day! I love you Dad!!

Pay It Forward

I worked at both Gap and Pier 1 today. I got to Pier 1 and started helping a customer with some wicker furniture. She had all sorts of questions about the wicker rocker and how well it matched with another set of wicker chairs, and love seats. It's been a lot of fun to offer my opinion to people on what I think looks good and actually having some agree with me! After spending a good twenty minutes talking about wicker chairs, I showed her our baskets and scents. She loved the diffuser idea. I currently love the scent called Citrus Cilantro. It's great! Anyway, I also mentioned there were some great dishes on sale and walked her over to the set I loved. It's also the set we've sold many of and only had one left in the store. In fact, earlier that day I had been doing mental calculations to see how much it would cost if I bought if myself. Not wanting to take it from a customer who may want it more than me, I was happy trying to sell it to another customer. I found out this customer didn't have green and blue in her kitchen and moved to some yellow dishes. Somehow it came up I loved those dishes and considered buying them but wouldn't until after my shift ended several hours later. She noted there was only one left and insisted she buy them for me right then. I declined several times, but she told me a story about how she went out to eat and someone had given her a coupon out of the blue at the resturaunt which covered half her bill. She wanted to do something like that for someone else. I tried to decline once more but she insisted. The dish set was 25 dollars. She bought a few other small things along with the dishes. After ringing her up, I walked around the counter and asked if I could give her a hug. She smiled and agreed. I am so grateful for people like her who do acts of kindness like that. I have no way of contacting her to send or give her a thank you note. The only way I can thank her is to do a kind deed like that for someone else. Pay it forward.

On the Hunt

I've been looking for apartments, which as anyone who has ever done this knows, it can be somewhat frustrating. I seem to come across the ones who are looking for a female roommate, and then later on say they are male. Not exactly the living conditions I want. Or the renter and their partner are looking for a male or female roommate, but they must be gay or lesbian friendly. That's not what I'm looking for either. Last night I spent a long time looking at rooms and came across one which I might have been interested. I emailed a few questions and got a reply. I was slightly confused because all the message said was "Could you please respond to this girl. Ask her if she's working for my mom." First of all, completely confused at who this guy was, why he was asking me to respond to someone I didn't know. Who was "this girl" and why was I needing to respond? and so forth. Finally, I understood what he had done. Rather than emailing his wife, he replied to me. When I understood that, I wondered why he wanted his wife to ask me details and not himself. Why would it have been a bad thing if I was working for his mom? Why couldn't he ask himself? Why did he confuse me with his wife? Rather than figure all that out, I crossed the apartment off my list. It wasn't the top of my list anyway...

I did come across another room I am very interested in. The girl is a BYU-Idaho graduate and living in a house, renting one of the rooms out for 300/month which includes utilities. The house is in Sandy, which is clean and a good part of town. She's looking for someone who is active LDS and sounds really nice. I am meeting her and seeing the house on Sunday night. The other interesting detail is it will be as if I am living in my own house part of the time as she is busy with job and school. For 300 month, nothing can beat that!

The Countdown is on ...or continuing.

The update for today:

Still not sure when Aaron is coming. Due to some complications, Aaron might not come until later. Hopefully he will be in America on Friday.

Mom will be flying into Salt Lake City in 15 days!!

Dad will be flying here in 50 days.

I AM SO EXCITED!! I have missed my family so much and am so grateful we have technology such as the internet to close the gap between one side of the world and the other. How blessed we are to have such technology and means to communicate, but also to travel the way we can. Even though it is a long time to us for loved ones to fly across the world (and even longer for them...) it's amazing this is even possible. Family, I hope you have a safe flight, but in the meantime, thanks for blogging!

Huge Thanks

I'd like to offer a huge thanks to the wonderful artist who makes bringing up my own blog a surprise because of the beauty. Mom has taken a lot of time and energy to make my blog look so cute! Thanks so much Mom!! Love you so much and can't wait to see you in 17 days!

June 3, 2008 Is It Summer Yet?

I worked quite a bit today, which I am grateful. It's nice to have income after not for a while. Anyway, I worked at Gap from 9am-1:30pm, then I ate lunch on my way to Pier 1 and worked for them from 2pm-6:30pm. By the time I got home, I was ready to be done working. I ate dinner and went to work out. All day today it's been somewhat pleasant outside. It wasn't too hot, but it wasn't unpleasant to be outside. Tomorrow I have most of the day off and want to go do something outside. Weather forcast: cold and rainy. WHO may I ask, makes it nice and sunny on the days I'm working inside all day and rain on the days I'm off?! This is some kind of cruel joke. I guess that's when you call in "sick" when it's sunny...

How many days until my family is here?

Just an update:

Aaron will be flying in for EFY sometime soon...not sure the exact date.
Mom will be flying into Salt Lake City Utah in 23 days.
Dad will be flying into Salt Lake City Utah in 63 days.

I am so excited to have all my family members in the same state, same time zone, same sleeping schedule for awhile. Best part is, I will get to SEE my whole family at the same time!

Seven Peaks

Today was the warmest it has been for nearly a week. It was really hot one day, but conveniently the water park wasn't open yet. The day it did open, it rained. The day after the grand opening, it rained. Actually it's rained nearly every day since May 24th. I'm not complaining, because I know we need the rain. It helps things to grow, but so does the sun! Today, it got up to 72 degrees. I called Ash and made plans to join them to Seven Peaks water park later that day. Thankfully, the water was heated a little bit and it not too many people were there. We played in the water until the sun no longer was shining and came home. It was great! I can't wait to go when it's really hot outside!

The Host by Stephanie Meyer

I read Stephanie Meyer's new book, "The Host" which was quite interesting. Stephanie Meyer has a way of writing from the underdog's perspective that it puts into question what we have always considered as fact. For example, vampires are not deadly as we thought, aliens are not as guilty as we imagined, and lastly, I would never read a science fiction book. She has an interesting way of showing the other party's point of view in such a way that one almost starts considering it as a possible solution, even if there aren't really any aliens. My question is how did she write a whole new 600+ page novel in the right before the last book of the Twilight series is to come out and how does she come up with this stuff?

Sand Painting

I made a sand painting one of my last semesters at BYU-Idaho for a religion class. The final project was to research a religion and portray my research in some way. I chose the Navajo religion. The Navajos use sandpaintings frequently as a way to express stories, legends, beliefs, and many other things. As I was doing my research, I learned there are many religions around the world that use sandpaintings as part of their worship and art. I had a lot of left over sand and wanted to create something one day. I started this sand painting. I only had white, black, and cream and brown colors of sand. Not wanting to use the brown in a flower design, I had to get creative. I made the red by using food coloring on the white. It worked really well. The rest of the shades and colors were created by mixing the three colors of sand. It was a lot of work, but so much fun!

Enrichment

I went to enrichment tonight and it was so amazing! We had a speaker come who is a personal trainer/physical something or another. He didn't talk about healthy eating at all like I thought he would. His whole focus is on the muscles and how to use stretching and strengthening to get over all better health. He taught us correct posture, exercises to do to strengthen the core muscles, showed us what is actually happening when we do some of the well known exercises that are actually hindering rather than helping. He is a very hard doctor to get into and for him to come share what he knows and is passionate about was truly a blessing to me. I learned how to strengthen the muscles that caused my arm trouble that cost me a lot of money and put me in a lot of pain awhile back. I learned how much our bodies are meant to be worked. It's interesting most injuries come when the body is forced to go into a position it is not meant to be in, or to be used when it hasn't been used in a long time. That seems like "no brainer" information, but when I thought about those principles while listening to him talk, the pieces came together. For starters, good posture makes all the difference. Don't wear high heels or flip flops. I'm excited to learn more about the muscles and how they work together in my own studies. Knowledge is power, but knowledge applied is a precursor for miracles.

Quote Ashley and I Found

Ash and I went into a furniture store not too long ago and found a powerful quote:

"One shoe made all the difference."
~Cinderella~

It made us both laugh. It's true, small things make all the difference-whoever thought
to quote Cinderella of all people...(or all characters?)

Cell Phones as Kitchen Appliances

I was making dinner and had my cell phone sitting on the kitchen table. My roommate walked into the kitchen and made a statement about my cell phone I won't ever forget. She turned to me and said "Your phone looks like a cheese grater!" We laughed for quite awhile about that!

Pier 1

Who hasn't walked into a Pier 1 and wished we all made a few more dollars to afford to decorate a home with its fine furnishings? I have taken this very walk a few times. The last time, however, I walked in with the purpose of applying for a job. I received a call today and I have an interview for tomorrow. Not only is this exciting because I will have a second job, but it will be so much fun to organize and decorate that store! One the application questions asked on a varying scale my experience with home decorated. Having never owned a home, or much money or resources to decorate, I selected it as a hobby and something I enjoy but haven't had a lot of experience in. I hope the interview goes well and they want to hire me on to be part of the staff who is lucky enough to play while they work!

Quote of the day

I am a great believer in luck, and

I find the harder I work the more

I have of it.

~Stephen Lealock~

24

There aren't many tv series that I have completely given into the "addiction" as some may say. I feel soaps, and other series often waste a lot of time and energy that could be used on living my own life. I have been found guilty of a tv series that has captured my attention. I got home from the mission field a little under two years ago. I was introduced to "24" when I was living with Aunt Susan in the Rexburg area. I didn't watch it since living with her. That is until now. Having watched several episodes the last few days, I am amazed at the script and story line. I never stop being captured by the action and drama created by the writers. I am in awe of how many different stories are occuring at the same time, and yet none of them are predictable. It amazes me that creativity, and the dedication of some of the characters in this series. These writers of this show have some complex thought process and creativity.

Quote of the day

It is a funny thing about life; if
you refuse to accept anything but
the best, you very often get it.

~Somerset Maugham~

2nd Batch of Black Bean Brownies

Wow-I actually made them taste good! I mixed in about a 1/2 cup applesauce and it tastes so much better!! It was a lot spongier this time around. It was more like a chocolate cake. I ate it in a bowl with a little raspberry jam on top and poured milk in the bottom of the bowl. It was really good. I'm a fan, now. There is still some tweeking I want to do to make it more dense. Really, I will add the pudding sometime. I was to lazy to mix up pudding. Sad, too lazy to mix up instant pudding. I would make a bad pioneer...

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.

~William Ernest Henley~

Black Bean Brownies

Now I know what you are thinking. I thought the same thing when I first heard of black bean brownies. I have recently become a little more aware of what foods are doing to my body and especially my heart. I've tried to make some changes to be healthier. Having heard of these brownies years ago, I looked on line for a recipe. I found several and when I made the batch, I actually combined two different recipes. They didn't turn out too bad, taking into consideration what the bulk of the "brownie" really is made from. Don't turn your nose up until you try it!

Black Bean Brownies

1 CAN RINSED & DRAINED BEANS(black or small white beans work well)

3 EGGS or egg substitute (I actually used 5 eggs)

3 TBS. OIL

4 TBS COCOA POWDER

A PINCH OF SALT

1 TSP. VANILLA

½- ¾ C. SWEETNER

MIX INGREDIENTS TOGETHER IN A BLENDER/ FOOD PROCESSOR UNTIL PUREE. POUR INTO A GREASED 8x8 CAKE PAN.STIR IN SOME Sugar Free CHOCOLATE CHIPS AND NUTS. BAKE 350 APPX. 30 MIN.

I served the brownies with a dollop of sugar free raspberry jam on top to bring in more moisture. The brownies were still a little on the dry side. In the future, I will make a box of sugar free instant chocolate pudding to drip into the batter before baking. Also, you'll want to put more than 1 tsp of vanilla in the batter.

I shared a piece with my roommates Crystal Kristen who were skeptical at first. I also shared some with Donny and Ash. All the taste testers voted it was surprisingly good, considering the batter is prodominately lentils. It definitely has potential!

Spiderwick Chronicles

I've recently decided I like being single here in Provo, Utah. I've come to enjoy doing things on my own when I want to do them. The other day I wanted to see Spiderwick Chronicles, so I went. It was a good movie, definitely worth the $1.25 I paid to see it. It's an interesting plot, based on a popular young adult book. I'm not sure who the author is, but I've heard 4th and 5th graders talking about it. Now I'm interested in reading the book. The story line is somewhat of a cross between Jumanji and Harry Potter. I enjoyed it and I would see it again in a heart beat.

Why comes temptation, but for

man to meet

And master and make crouch

beneath his foot,

And so be pedestaled in triumph?

~Robert Browning

Dripping Tami

Mom and Dad

Ash Mom and Sister Martin

Christmas in China

Mom Learning Mandarin Madness

Mom and Dad at the Three Gorges Dam in China