The question of the day, and a few random lines

A question to ponder: Do you know Whak Fun?*

Some one liners worth repeating:

"She wretched across the table for the bread."
"Miss Pierce, what's your last name?"
"She was salitude and alone."
"When yo dun yur hw, yae has mor time to play!" (you may be thinking I exaggerated the spelling errors on this 7th graders sentence, but I did not.)

Thanks for reading, may you have as many funny moments in your own day.

*The answer to this question was procrastination

The wrong place to pause.

A conversation with my 7/8th grade students (ages 12-14)--

Me: "today you are going to design posters on this worksheet. You are going to work on your own. Tomorrow you are going to get a partner and reproduce...."

Class: laughter

Me: "Sorry, wrong place to pause."

The first week of school

So we have completed a whole week of school. It was uneventful and eventful at the same time. Here is a summary of all the fun events that happened in my classroom.

1. Meeting all the students--I am excited to have this group of students. They are going to be a lot of fun, and I expect that this year will be full of adventures
2. The first Friday--I was lucky enough on this Friday to have no voice. As in zero. I was about as loud as a whisper. The students joked around about it, as did the teachers. I was just glad that it was on a Friday in which it had already been planned for the whole middle school to meet together. That meant that the other teacher got to do all the talking on that day.
3. The first 2 hour staff meeting of the year...yeah...
4. Exploding Coke using Mentos. This experiment was done because the students were learning about writing labs, and using the scientific method. The question was asked "How many Mentos would it take to cause coke to explode 6 feet?" The question was never answered, but it was fun to do.

Finally...this was my favorite thing to do so far...
5. Teaching 6th graders how to open a locker.

The end. Well really this is the beginning. Who knows what other fun things we have to look forward to in the near future. We will find out tomorrow when Monday comes again.

Oregon week 2

I think it is now appropriate to post the pictures from the second week of our vacation.



Dad and I were able to play with my newest niece, as well as Savannah, Margaret, and Guy Smiley. We had a fantastic time as we went hiking, to museums, and played. We got to meet and play with the kitties. We were also able to sneak up to visit my Grandma and Grandpa. All in all this was a second fun filled week. We love you all and say thanks for all the smiles and laughs. Hopefully we can get down to see everyone again soon.

Oregon week 1

I had the opportunity to spend two weeks in Oregon with my Dad, visiting with my two eldest sisters. Now that I am home, I wanted to share some of the fun times that we were able to enjoy. I thought I would split it up between the two weeks and just give a small view of what we were able to enjoy.

We were able to visit the rose gardens in Portland, hike, visit the beach and enjoy beautiful weather with Missy and her family. We were also able to celebrate my birthday. We went swimming, on another hike, and we all laughed more than once. A fun filled week.

I would like to thank my sister and her family for making this week one full of memories. The pictures are better than any words I could possibly write. Love you all.

Yeah!

It's official. I got the contract in the mail yesterday. I am officially the newest teacher at Fronteras Elementary.

I intend to have a job

Last Friday I received a phone call regarding an interview that I had had at one of the schools here in the valley. I got the job. At least they want to hire me. I went in to the school on Tuesday and signed a letter of intent. This stated that I intend on taking the job and they intend on hiring me, but it is all based on approval by the school board. So if the school board says yes, then I officially start on August 16th. If they school board says no, then there is still a chance that I go teach English in Uruguay.

What did you learn at church yesterday?

The first Sunday of each month there is an opportunity in our church for members to stand before the congregation and share their testimonies. These are usually about the reality of Christ, or the Atonement, the prophet Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, or other principles of the gospel. This is what I heard in my testimony meeting yesterday...

"Hi, my name is A***********. I am 27 as of 5 days ago. I am currently unemployed. I am an engineer, and I did have a good job before I decided to quit. I own a house and a car, and I am planning on more education. That being said, will you marry me?"

Don't you all miss going to a singles ward?

The Cruise...

I went on a cruise. Let me explain a little bit. My friends Kyla and Brenda and I decided that we were not going to stay in Alaska for Spring break, and so we booked a cruise. Since I have been back, there have been many requests and reminders for me to update this blog with pictures. I have not done so, mostly because I do not know where to start. Kyla was the documentor of the cruise (aka she was in charge of taking the pictures), and she took 1600 pictures. No that is not an extra zero. So I really did not know were to begin. After some good advice, I have reached a starting point. 10 days, 10 pictures. Please know that this has been VERY difficult to narrow down.

We landed in Orlando, and with our spare travel day, we went to Universal Studios. We had a lot of fun just messing around and exploring. My friends and I were all super excited to be on vacation somewhere warm.



On Sunday we got on our ship, the MS Ryndam. We spent Sunday exploring, and going to church and figuring out that we were the life of the cruise party. The average age on our ship...72. The cruise was still lots of fun.




On Monday, we were in Key West. There we had a great time walking around town, taking pictures, and taking a Kayaking adventure. It's a good thing the water was only 7-12 feet deep at the most and an average of 1-2 three feet usually. We kayaked in the Mangrove trees and I learned that I am not really good at making the kayak turn on my own. I did not (thankfully) tip, but I did run into the trees a number of times. Kyla and Brenda laughed each time it happened.



Tuesday we were on ship all day, so we thought we would participate in all the on-ship activities. That included line dancing with DJ Casey. We shared all the dances learned at the last singles ward dance. Everyone was impressed.



Wednesday, we woke up in Honduras. Awesome. We drove on a bus to Copan, which was a rare treat. The cruise ships do not ususally dock long enough to be able to see these ruins, but they were inredible. In the picture above, I am stanting in front of a statue depicting two dragons eating each other. I do not remember the symbolism we were told, but looking at the detail work alone was worth the trip.



Thursday, Guatemala. This was by far my favorite port, and I could see myself going back to explore this country in more depth. The ruins were awesome, and the surrounding countryside even more so. This port alone made the trip worth taking. So if you get the chance, head to Quirigua.



This is also in Guatemala. After the ruins, we took a small river tour and we saw this cool spanish fort. We did not get to explore, but like I said, next time...




Friday we were in our last port, Mexico. These ruins were the best preserved, and we could climb all over them. So we did. The guide in these ruins was the best, and we learned a lot about the relationship between the Maya people and the people from the Book of Mormon. Our tour guide was a member of the Church. These ruins were the easiest to access, and if I get the opportunity to return to mexico, it would be a place I would like to spend more time in.



Saturday, we packed to get off the ship. Instead of a sad picture of that, I included a picture of one of the temples at Chacchoben in Mexico. Sunday we disembarked the ship, went to church and headed back to Orlando and our flight home.



On Monday, we had enough time to go to SeaWorld before we had to be in the airport, so we did. It was fun, and an experience since Kyla and I had never been. Tuesday morning found us driving from the airport back home, with the knowlege that we had to be at work the next day. All in all, the trip was awesome. Are we planning another, yes. 12 months, 16 days....(just kidding, the exact dates have not been established yet.) If you would like to hear more about the curise, I suggest you come and visit me, and then you can read the book. Yes there is a book.

I love winter

I love to be outside. And I love the snow and the winter. So I was excited when a friend of mine loaned me three pairs of snowshoes. I was able to convince my parents that this would be something that could be fun to try. We drove up to Hatcher Pass. Strapped the shoes on our feet and we set off. We had the perfect weather. It was a nice mid twenties, and the sun was shining down. The trail was quiet, and the mountains were beautiful. Since it was our first time the trial we chose was an easy, relatively flat one, but worth every step.

Here we are at the trail head, ready to go. Right after this picture Dad took off, while mom and I tried to adjust our poles so that we could follow.




With confidence about what they were doing, the parents were naturals.



I decided that it was important to climb a tree at least once on the trip. I was a little amazed at how hard it was with snowshoes on. It was something that I had not counted on, but I made it work, and I eventually was able to sit in the tree.



Making snow angles is almost a must when you are out having fun. Also a much harder task with the snowshoes on. I t is amazing how stuck your feet get...I was still able to convince mom to make one. Dad passed, because he didn't want to get back up, but he did take most of the pictures for us.



Mom wouldn't just fall backwards, she decided she needed to hold onto a pole. So she got Dad on one end and then she started to lay back.



Then Dad let go and she fell. She also ended up with the pole which was poor planning on Dad's part because it got thrown at him.






It was beautiful.



We returned home because the sun was going down, but it was an adventure that will for sure be repeated soon.