A Long Time coming

Well it's been since June since I wrote in my blog. At first I had some really good excuses for why I wasn't writing then life got busy and I put the blog on the back burner. I decided to post a blog to fill everyone in on the changes in my life since June.
When I last wrote I was working at Challenger as a Kindergarten teacher. I was finishing up the school year and getting ready to start a new job at Challenger as the art teacher. After school got out (June 12) I packed up my new car (a red 2005 Pontiac vibe) and took my trusty dog Daisy

for a road trip down to Arizona to visit Jeff, Allie, Jill, and the boys. I had a great time there and it was great to see Jeff and Allie's new house.
After my trip I did some grueling and time consuming graphic design work for The Be The Best You girls camp. Then I packed up again and went to San Diego. It was so fun to have the whole family together on vacation.

After the family vacation I decided to apply for the Alternative Routes to Licensure Through the State. I figured I would get the ball rolling and start the program Fall 2008. I sent in my application around July 12th. I got a letter on July 17th that said My application looked good and I should fingerprinted and have a background check. I sent these in the next day and I went to Vegas with some friends for my birthday. (July 19 - 22) A few days after I got back (Thursday) I found out that I had been accepted into the program and could start looking for a job in the public school system. I decided to call the Jordan school district to find out what I needed to do and was told to bring my resume, and three letters of recommendation to an interview the next day. I didn't have a resume ready because I hadn't really been planning to look for a job, I was just looking into this program and figured I had plenty of time to get things ready. I scrambled and got everything together and was ready for my interview the next day. I had a long interview at the School district and was told that My name would be emailed to principals as an available candidate for any job openings. I was told That it would probably be Monday before I heared From anyone since it was Friday afternoon at 4:00. I got home and immediately had a phone call from a principal who wanted to meet with me Monday morning. I wasn't off the phone with him for 10 minutes before I got another call from another principal who wanted to know if I could come to an interview right then. I went to both interviews and received offers from both schools. I took a job teaching first grade at Altara Elementary which is 10 minutes from my house. From start to finish the whole process of "Maybe I'll look into this program" to being accepted and having a new job was about 2 and a half weeks.

I spent the next month scrambling to get everything ready and started teaching at the end of August. During September I was busy learning how to do a new job, taking a class doing homework and studying for the praxis test. Life is finally settling down after a whirlwind couple of months. I'm looking forward to seeing my family for Christmas then It will be back to teaching and taking classes in January.

For my Big Brother

I have always looked up to my Big Brother and not just because he is bigger and stronger than most, but because he is an amazing person. I have always thought he was the coolest. I was the annoying little sister who would tell on him and whined about him. But he was a really great big bro. He was just enough older than me that I don't remember much about when I was really young except when he would play tickle lawn mower. He would chase us around the house making crazy noises and spinning his hands around in front of him like a lawn mower. When I was a pre-teen. I really couldn't imagine anyone more popular or hip than my big brother. As I have grown I have found I had a lot in common with him. I think I noticed it when he left on his mission. I raided his music collection and became educated in good music. As I have gotten older I find that I like the same TV shows and books that he does. I know if he recommends a show I'm going to love it. I always look to him for advice on the newest thing, for example, TiVo. At first I thought of it as a luxury something that was nice but not necessary. Jeff introduced me to it and now I don't think I could do without it! Once on April fools day he put water on the cement outside of his room and ran upstairs and told us that his water bed had popped. We all ran down stairs and saw the water. We had visions of the big mess that all the water would make. We opened the door and saw a mess but it was just clutter, his room was fine. We were really fooled. I always think of that great joke when it is April fools day.

I remember once he was down in his room with his music blasting and I went down (like the bossy sis I was) to tell him to turn down his music. He didn't turn down his music but he did give me a Debbie Gibson tape. He said he didn't want it and I could have it. I was about 11 at that time and was really into Debbie Gibson. I was so thrilled. I couldn't believe my good luck. I thought my brother was the best big brother ever.
When I was in 4th grade Jeff was watching us kids while dad was at work and mom was running errands. I fell down and broke my arm. He had me lay down on the couch and took care of me. He kept me distracted from the pain and kept me entertained until my mom got home. He then made ooblick (the not solid, not liquid substance that you make with cornstarch) I have never forgotten that day.

, because he was so caring and thoughtful.

I still look up to my big bro and really like spending time with him and his family. He is such a great dad to his kids. I always liked Jeff's birthday because it meant summer was here. Now he lives in Arizona and its always summer there. Happy birthday big brother.

Check "Janelles Day" for an updated version! New photos will be added soon.

It's Janelles Day

It is Birthday time again. This time I would like to talk about my older wiser sister Janelle. Janelle has always been older than me. She has always been the type of older sister a girl needs. I always remember thinking every thing she did was so cool and fun. I always wanted to be doing what she was doing. I know that she didn't really like me tagging around but I don't really remember her ever being mean to me. I always just remember her saying nice things to me and letting me play. (she was a much better big sister to me than I was to jill, poor jill) Because Janelle was older than me, we weren't in middle school or high school together. She moved to provo and went to BYU when I started high school and left on her mission shortly after I started college at USU. When she got home from her mission we decide to move in together to get re-acquainted. I moved down to Provo and we lived together at the Belmont apartments. It was a three bedroom apartment with 6 girls living in it. It was small but we had good times there. I loved having Janelle as a roommate. Once our car was towed in the middle of the night on a Saturday night because we didn't put the parking pass in the window. We almost called the police because we thought it had been stolen. It was a good time for me to live with her because I was immature and she was a good example for me.


Before Janelle got married Jill and I took her out to Ice cream. Then we blindfolded her and drove her all around. When our maze of driving around was finished we were at our parents house. We took her into the back yard through the garage and into the basement, where we proceeded to build a fort with blankets and couch cushions. That was a fun night.

When I had to get my Gaul bladder out. My dad was in the hospital My mom couldnt take care of me and my dad since he was at a different hospital across town, so my sister offered to take me in. She got up early on the day of my surgery to take me to the hospital, then was there to pick me up. She took me to her home and set me up in the guest bed She babied me and took really good care of me. I was really out of it for a few days and she woke up every few hours to give me my medicine and feed me waffles. I cant even tell her how much I apprecitated her help. She really went out of her way to be an awesome nurse.Janelle is such a great friend. I love hanging out with her.

Happy Birthday Janelle

Over heard in school.

I didn't catch all this conversation but it was kinda cute. "....you can't marry your mom, that is bad. You would probably have to go to jail."

"Miss Young, there is a real live Austrailian in the office. A real live one. Im not joking."

We were talking about the pilgrims and why they decided to come to America. I said something along the lines of they wanted to worship God the way they wanted noty the way the king wanted A boy called out "God! I love God!"

A penny for your thoughts

I have become a comment junkie. After I write a new post, I spend the next few days checking and re-checking to see what people have to say about what I have written. (I know that I don't always comment on what others write.) Then I realized that its not so much that I need comments as much as I need to know that someone is reading what I am writing. I've decided to have a new routine for visitors to my blog. If you read my post, You dont have to think of anything to say because sometimes Im just talking and there really isn't much to say, but maybe you could just hit the "make a comment" button and type your name or a ;) or hi. I don't know maybe its a dumb idea. but it will give me an Idea that you are reading

A wonderful year.

Yesterday marked the aniversary of Daisy coming into my life. So I thought I would talk a little bit about my dog. I have wanted a dog for a long time. About the time I was 25 someone asked me where I saw myself in 5 years. I replied that I hoped I would be married and starting a family. I said that if That didn't happen I would live by my self with a big friendly dog. I as I was approaching my 30th birthday I decided it was time for me to get my own place and finally get the dog that I'd been wanting. So I found a place and got moved in. Petsmart was having a super adoption. This is where all the dog shelters in the state bring their dogs and cats to the downtown petsmart. They set up two huge tents. One for dogs and one for cats. They set up kennels with 4 or 5 dogs in each then. It is huge and I think there are something like 500 dogs. As you walk around they have pictures of the dogs and whatever they know about them. If you see a dog you are interested in you can ask someone to let that dog out and you can walk around with the dog. It is extremely overwhelming and chaotic. There are so many nervous dogs and tons of people walking around. I just kept thinking that I had no idea how I was suposed to decide on a dog. I must have walked through that place 3 times. I had them take a few dogs out but I was having a hard time knowing what I wanted. Then I saw Daisy. The name they had given her at the shelter was Dory. I had them get her out for me and the first time she saw me she snuggled right up to me and looked at me as if to say "please get me out of this madness.." It was love at first sight. I knew right then She was the dog for me. Daisy is a black lab with two white toes in back and a white belly. The woman at the shelter said that Daisy had been found wandering down the street in Idaho. They didnt know how old she was or anything about her. I have never regretted my decision to get her. She barks like a crazy mad woman when someone knocks on the door and she has a hard time warming up to people when she first meets them but I couldn't ask for a better companion dog. As I write she is laying at my feet and when I get up and walk down the hall she will follow me and laydown in whatever room I go to. She makes me feel loved and a lot less lonely. She treats me like I'm the best person in the world and I really love playing catch with her and watching her race a top speed to get the ball. Happy Birthday my sweet baby girl.

The Dragon in the Cave

A student in my class wrote a story that I found both hilarious and a bit disturbing. Its called the dragon in the cave. Once there was a dragon who lived in a cave. One day a scorpion came out of the sea. He found the cave. Inside the cave was the dragon. They became friends and played together and excersized together. One day there was another creature and it was a zebra. The zebra cme into the cave and when it came in all the creatures blew up and turned into meat. Then another creature came into the cave. It was an elephant. He ate the meat and was the only one who lived and didnt blow up. He made a house by himself in the cave. The end.

The tell tale lunch box

There is a kid at my school who I think is so great. He is a tall dark skinned kid who is just bursting with personality. One day during loading at school. My principal called sara, the name of a girl in his class. Sara is a tiny blond haired, fair skinned, girly girl. He turned to me and in a falsetto voice said "I'm Sara" I smiled at him and said "don't you think that sara's mom will take one look at you and say " where's sara, this isn't sara" and he said in a very serious voice. "yeah especially when she sees my lunch box."

Another post from me

"I never make mistakes, I thought I did once but I was wrong." This being said I have a story for you. I was having a conversation with my sister and we had a disagreement. I thought that I had written more on my blog than she had on hers and she said that there was no way that was true. I knew she was wrong, so I made her follow me to the computer and I got online. It turns out that she had almost double the amount of posts on her blog that I had so now I feel like I need to step it up and start cranking out some more blogs so I can catch up to (or pass up) my sister. So I hope you dont get tired of me.

I thought I would post these photos of my fav girl and catch every one up on my life. Next year instead of teaching kindergarten I am going to be an art teacher. I will be teaching art in all the different classes grades 1-6. I think this will be so much fun (also there will be a pay increase!) Im excited to try something new and this will be enough of a change to satisfy my need to do something different, yet is familiar enough that it wont be too scary. Today we were talking about the sun, moon and stars. My team teacher was trying to get the kids to say "stars" so she gave them the clue "our sun is one of these". A kid in our class rose his hand and said "a black hole!" (this is an advanced class?!?)

A random spattering of memories for your birthday

Its birthday time again for my Fav little sister. This got me to reminiscing about fun times had with my sister.
The Early Years
I remember when she was still sleeping in a crib(she was about 2) and we shared a room. After mom would put me to bed I would pinch lil sis and wake her up. I would get her all riled up and play games with her, then I would go tattle on her saying she was keeping me awake. (for this I apologize to little sis and mom). As we got older we still had many fun times after lights out. I remember we would play this game where one person would lay in bed without looking and the other would silently sneak across the room and try to scare the other person. She was also a sleepwalker and would frequently end up in the closet in the middle of the night.

I also remember how sweet she was. Once when I was sick she was saying her evening prayers and mom had reminded her to pray for me. She said her prayer and then started a new one. She was saying my prayer for me. It was so sweet.
I also remember the Christmas Eve when she was still a small and Santa believing child. She woke up late into the night (about 10) when Mom and Dad were out in the living room. She heard them and started down the hall. I saved the day by calling out to the parents and saying "come quick!!She's coming down the hall!! I guess this wasn't as much a fond memory of little sis as it was an attempt to make up for the first memory where I was the bad guy.
The Middle Years

When Little sis was 13. I took her to the church parking lot to practice driving. We were in my 12 year old Toyota. Because it had a stick shift and I wasn't as good of a teacher as my father., she stalled the car. Without thinking I said you "killed the car." She said "what are we going to tell Mom and Dad?!"
Little sis and I could never (and still can't really) sit next to each other in church. We would always have giggling fits and cause all kinds of problems.

Current Times

Lil sis and I have taken some fun road trips to Denver, Washington and Vegas. She has always been a good friend to me and drops what she is doing to help me. I really can't name the number of times the she has done things for me. She is always there with an encouraging word when I need one, and its never to long before she gets me to laugh. She is one of my true friends and I love her dearly. Lil sis has always been a good example for me of how I should be living my life. I still look to her and aspire to be as good and righteous as she is. Happy birthday Lil Sis

Happy Birthday little brother

As it is my brothers 28th birthday, I thought I would sit down and write one of my favorite memories of my brother. About ten or eleven years ago our family was camping in American Fork Canyon. I don't remember what every one else was doing, but my brother and I decided to go hiking just the two of us. We went to this pretty meadow and were playing around in the stream. we looked up this steep hill and saw a waterfall at the top. We decided we wanted to hike up to it and started hiking up the river bed. We spent the afternoon climbing over big boulders and getting our feet very wet and we started actually talking. Our family has always been close and we spend a lot of time together, but this was the first time I remember having a real conversation with him. I don't know if it was because I was 20 and had spent the previous 7 years wrapped up in my own life, or if it was because he was a teenager, but we hadn't really spent much time really getting to know about each other. While we climbed over the rocks (scraping all our exposed skin, and stinging ourselves with poison ivy,) I remember him talking about his friends and things that bothered him and I began to understand my brother. I don't think we even talked about anything too profound we just talked.
We didn't see anyone all afternoon, it was if we were in a remote part of the Forest. When we reached the waterfall there were 30 or 40 people playing in the water. We were surprised to see families with small children and wondered where every one had come from. We knew there was no way they had braved the rugged way we had just come. We realized that there was a well used trail that passed by the bottom of the waterfall and everyone had taken the easy way up. We had a laugh and took the trail back down. It took us about 1/3 the time to get down. I think it was a beautiful sunshiny day and I enjoyed spending time outside. But the part I remember most is the time I had with my brother and the friendship we started that day. Happy Birthday little brother

Today I learned why the French say bonjour. Lance told me that they learned it from the movie flushed away. Here is the newest in a collection of humorous stories from my students.

(I just put it in and its upside down, oh well just turn your head)

In case you cant read it it says:

when I came to school this morning my teachers were fish and I cooked them for dinner

Its been a while

The main reason reason I started this blog was to give me a chance to keep in touch with my family. I also thought it would be a good outlet for creative ideas and funny stories. lately I havn't really been interested in my life so I really didnt think any one else would be either. This is the part in my life story that Im planning on fast forwarding to until I get to the good part. That being said I have been having a hard time coming up with a subject for my blog so I thought I would entertain you with stories from my kindergarteners.

A little bit confused

5yo: Teacher, I can speak spanish

Teacher: really what can you say?

5yo: blah, halb, blah

Teacher: Thats not spanish thats silly talking.

5yo: ok I cant speak spanish very well but I can talk like they do in that one state where the men wear skirts and blow trumpets.

Teacher: Trumpets?

5yo: yes

Teacher: do you mean Scotland?

5yo: yeah, that's it.

On Groundhog day a few years ago I asked the kids what groundhog day was. Several kids rose their hands and wanted to answer, but one student was really excited and was practically jumping out of his seat to answer so I called on him. He said very solemnly "it is so we will always remember all those groundhogs who came over here and had to live underground to survive."

Thanks, I think.?

I always try to be gracious when someone compliments me but sometimes its easier to find the unintended insult. Once a student said, "you look so pretty when you wear makeup, it makes you look older, you must be like 1000 years old."

A question about oxen

Ive been thinking of some recent humorous comments made by students in my class. I thought I would share them.

We were showing a picture of a very large ox type animal that someone had brought for show n-tell. The kids asked what the very large bump was on its back. Indy called out an announced that it was definatly a large mole. How would you like that on your back?

5yo went to the office to get some juice because his blood sugar was low. A teacher asked him if he was diabetic. 5yo got frustrated at the question and said "no, Im Jewish."

You Have to Start Somewhere.

Well here it is, my first blog. I wasn't going to do a blog because I don't really feel like my life is very interesting. I work, tutor, drive home, walk my dog, watch TV and go to bed. So I was worried that all my posts would sound like an itinerary for a very boring trip. "We will start our day with a 25 minute tour of 1-15 we will exit on lovely 13oo south were we will see the new Walmart.... " I thought I could write about my dog but she can't speak, so I can't share quotes from the funny things she says. You can only have so many posts that say. "My dog is so sweet. Today when I got home she wagged her tail so hard it made her whole back half wiggle." (this really does happen and one day I'll figure out how to post a video and you can see it.)
Then I realized that as a kindergarten teacher I have a treasure trove of funny things that happen almost daily. I keep thinking that I need to write these anecdotes down so I don't forget them. I found my inspiration and decided to become a blogger.