Good Feeling...

Okay, so I need to go to bed, but I thought I'd announce that I officially finished my masters degree today. I emailed my final to my professor and 30min later he emailed me back and said that I got 100% on my paper (good thing I spent 10 hours to write it for him to spend 10 min to read it... I love Masters professors!) and he posted my grade. I am excited to finally be done and I graduate this Friday at 1:30... Wish you could all be there (but lets be honest, graduations are actually pretty boring... but I wanted the pictures to prove I did it!).

P.S. I was called a princess today...I think it was a first and I was told to write it in my journal - this is as close as I am getting to a journal tonight...

Trip to AZ...

I realized the other day that I never posted any pictures from my trip to Mesa, AZ. It was a very short trip and I about missed my flight home (literally... I was running through the airport terminal... and yes, when I got there the doors were shut and I couldn't see the plane through the windows and I almost started crying right then and there because there wasn't another flight out until the next day and I HAD to get back for work! Then the airline attendant asked if he could help me and I told him that I was supposed to be on the flight... luckily for me got on the radio and told them to not leave and then he opened the door and let me down the walk way! I have never been so happy to board a plane! It was not the best night of my life... but somehow the Lord answered my prayers! Or maybe it was the attendants prayers... I don't think he would have liked it if I had cried...)

Anyway, I had a few good days of rest and some awesome long runs! as well as a fantastic nap by the pool one afternoon (it was around 85-90 degree's!) and one night I went to a Halloween party with Sarah's roommates. It was a much needed break and helped open my eyes to the vast possibilities of places I could move... Yes, I think that I would like to live somewhere else for a bit, but I don't know when or where I will make that move yet... but this trip helped me to feel more confident about the idea! (I'm open for suggestions...)



The day I was going to leave, Sarah and I drove over to Phoenix to shop and visit and then we headed to the Mesa Temple for a session. I thought the set up of the temple reminded me of the St. George temple but there is one part of the inside of the temple where you walk down these stairs and the walls look like a castle (which is unlike the St. George Temple)- Sarah said it reminds her of "Hogwarts"... I think I agree (Can you say that about a temple?)... maybe we were both on crack!

40 Days of Change

Tomorrow, November 16th, marks exactly 40 days until Christmas Day. It also marks the beginning of a "challenge" that Paige and I have decided to call the 40 Days of Change. Now I don't take any credit for the idea, but Paige is a little shy about sharing, and as we all know, I am rarely shy of sharing my feelings about anything:). SO, I invite you to join in on what I hope will literally be a life changing experience.

What is the "40 days of Change?" Well, for everyone it is going to be a little different, but the whole idea is to find something in your life that you'd like to change, and for the next forty days, do whatever it is you need to do to accomplish just that. It can be a physical, "secular", or spiritual change that you would like to make in your life. It doesn't really matter what it is, as long as it makes you more of who you want to become. So, I invite you to sit down and come up with a list of 1 - 3 things that you'd like to really focus on over the next 40 days and then watch what happens.

To help you with "ideas" I am going to try to be "open" and share what I am planning on attempting! I would love to see your ideas too!!!
My Goals: (Now that they are out there, I have to really do this!)
1. To do what I need to do to FEEL the love of the Lord in my life DAILY!
2. Watch for and write down how I have seen the hand of God bless me and those around me on a daily/weekly basis (like in Elder Eyring's Conference Talk!)
3. Work each day to have an "open heart" that I can give to the Lord.

Then you need to find a way to chart your progress - it could be a journal entry, visit with a friend, or if you'd like to be as festive as Paige and I are planning to be, it can be a chain of sorts. I am going to choose to make mine a "counting up" chain (becuase for one of my goals I am going to try to write down how things went that day on a slip of paper and then use it to make a chain) but a count down chain would be good too! You decide what works best for you and go with it.

I hope that if you DO decide to join in on the fun, you'll find some way to share in your experiences. I will be trying to "blog" some of my experiences and invite any and all to "comment" on how they are doing themselves. I think that participating in this "challenge" will be a a great way for me to prepare for the upcoming holiday season and am excited to see a "new ME!" in the process!

I look forward to seeing us become the best we can be!

My Tomato Plant:)

This was my Tomato Plant. I planted it just after school got out, so about the middle of June. I was VERY excited to have a "garden" item of my very own to take care of. Yes I know I am a nerd - no need to point fingers and make fun. I'm secure in my nerd-ness.

Over the summer I watered and tended to my little tomato plant, but there were few tomato's growing on my precious little "garden" plant. My flowers started to take off, but I wasn't seeing any buds on the plant so I began to worry a bit. In fear that I may fail at being a gardener (I don't do well with failure... its rather sad) I talked to the master gardener (My Father) and he told me to stop watering it so much, self attempt to self-pollinate(is that spelled right - probably not:) ) some of the flowers, and maybe step on it a bit. So I slowed the watering and broke a few minor branches and rubbed all the flowers together in hopes that I may get a few tomato's out of the plan... yet beginning of september, only one ripe tomato was visable! So I broke the branches a bit more, and we got maybe 2-4 more tomatoes. Not very exciting! So a few weeks ago I went to "look through the massive moster bush, and see if there were any tomatoes hiding inside the dense plant and I ended up knocking the dang thing over!


HOWEVER to my suprise, there were at least a dozen tomatoes ready for picking on the back side (fense side) of our plant. So, I proped the plant back up and gave it a MAJOR hair cut. I filled up two and a half garbage bags with "tomato plant" remains. Moral of the story, sometimes our treasures are there, they are just hidden and we have to knock everything over to find them. Okay so it's not a great moral, but I'm doing what I can:)

(Yes, I put on this outfit special for the "harvesting" of the tomato plant... Arent' you glad I decided to look the part!)

Another Great Conference Weekend!

So two weeks ago was conference, and I really enjoyed it. I really felt like some of the talks were just for me, though I am sure that I wasn't the only one who felt that way. On Sunday morning Paige and I went down town and sang on the sidewalks, so we could get tickets to the morning session. The church has started asking singles wards to come sing on the temple square sidewalks to help bring the spirit and help people be able to avoid listening to the obnoxious protesters. While we were there, I started wondering why someone would take time away from their lives to protest as people attend a church meeting... they must have some pretty boring lives if they find it enjoyable to come yell at a bunch of Mormons as they go to church. Glad that's not my life. On Sunday afternoon Paige and I went home to watch the afternoon session... as usual we all piled onto the bed and poked each other to make sure the other person wasn't sleeping. (Jamie, this photo is for you!... Bring back memories?) It was nice to be able to enjoy at least one session together!

Drinking it all off...:)

So, it was another crazy week... my work is driving me to drink!!!
Okay so maybe it's just rootbeer, but it sure
made me "feel good"! At least I wasn't alone... :)

7 year olds...

So, two weeks ago there was a child taken from one of the second grade teachers classes and placed in my class, due to his "behavior" issues. I being the "charitable" (right!) person that I am said I would take him, since my other students were really well behaved and quite enjoyable... what was I thinking!

So the past two weeks my life has been full of exciting experiences while I attempt to learn how to be patient... again, what was I thinking! This new student is constantly off task - literally - and spends most of his days in "think time" or time out. I have tried my best to not loose my temper with him, but today I guess I reached the boiling point.

Becuase of all of the time outs he has had the past 5 days, he had to go to "in school suspension" for the entire day. So, once he got to school - he was late of course - I sent him to do his "suspension" in another classroom and then as he came back from lunch he landed himself BACK in think time before we even got inside the building. As he came back to class from the time out he was interupting the class once again - SO I decided he would do the rest of his work in the hall - I shut the door to my room and the room next door. As I shut the door next door, I pushed a door stop out of the way then went back into my classroom to give my kids a test. I came back a few min later to check on him (to make sure he wasn't running up and down the halls...) I went to open the door, but it only opened an inch. So I closed it thinking he had moved his desk enough to block to the door. I tried to open it again, but again it wouldn't open... So I looked down and noticed that the door stop that used to hold the neighbors door OPEN was keeping MY door shut. I was "locked" in my classroom by a 7 year old! While I admit the idea was quite brilliant, when he finally pulled the stop out of the door, I was livid! I don't normally get TOO upset when my kids are being naughty, but I couldn't believe that he had "locked" me inside of my room! It was the last straw! I walked out and asked him why he had done that, and he said it was becuase I hurt his feelings when I sent him to think time. So, then I really was upset! As if I like sending my kids to time out... I proceeded explain my feelings on this (that I thought it was high time he quite blaming his think times on other people and realize that it was HIS behavior that put him there and nobody elses) but man I was ticked off!

So, needless to say I don't think I will every leave him in a hall with a doorstop again. I don't know if I'll ever turn my back to him either - you never know what he'll do the next time his feelings are hurt... I may just need some professional counciling. Boy, I love my job! :)

Utah Football

Okay, I think I am getting the hang of this...:) So, this last weekend I had the privledge of attending a University of Utah football game with some of my favorite people - the Hurtado clan. Yes, I traveled up to the Universtiy of Utah in time to enjoy the pre-game tail-gating festivities (though I declined the offers for beer, etc) and then walked over to the stadium to enjoy the coldest game I have ever sat through (and I only stayed till the beginning of the 3rd quarter!) Okay so it wasn't really that bad, since Jess let me barrow Joan's coat, which made a HUGE difference in my ability to stay warm and then supplied me with a blanket for my lap and a poncho to keep the rain/snow off. Though I was seceretly rooting for the Aggies (I mean, I am one now...) I enjoyed watching & cheering for the Ute's as they beat the oh so humble Aggie Football team once again... As Jared put it, it was the type of afternoon that memories are made of!

Women's Conference

So, I am attempting to post a picture, but think I may have messed that up already! Anyways, this past weekend, I went to the Relief Society General Meeting at the conference center with my sister Paige, my Mom and my Grandma Ellison. We ate dinner and rushed over in hopes that my parking pass would get us into the church office building parking. On the way there, someone who was parked right on the side of the road pulled out in front of us and we literally parked across the street from the door we were supposed to go in. It was sweet! So, we went in and I throughly enjoyed the conference! The past 2-3 weeks have been rather stressful and I have been fairly overwhelmed with everything that I am expected to do each day, and it was just awesome to be able to sit there and listen to what the Lord wanted me to do to become better! I especially enjoyed President Monson's talk on focusing on scriptures, prayer and service. Sometimes I think that I forget these simple things and then my life becomes much harder than it needs to be because the Lord can't give me those basic blessings unless I am obedient to those basic commandments... Anyways, I left feeling fed and well directed! I love being a woman!

Starting off small...

I am staring this blog page in response to my sister wanting to know more about my day to day life (not that its that exciting...) I am hoping this will be a good way for me to do more "journaling" and sharing with my family and friends of some of the small things I seem to forget to tell about... the things that really make up my normal, but exciting life as a teacher, student and exhausted person. Here we go... feel free to leave comments, criticisms, or whatever else you can think of doing...