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Thursday, December 5, 2013

Thanksgiving Thankful List

1. The weather was good while I drove up the canyon every day. This week, the sky dumped a ton of snow on us. I am sooooo glad that I never had to drive in the snow!! 
2. Hot chocolate. I don't think I could survive winter without it. 
3. Fluffy socks!
4. EASY final exams
5. Missionaries
6. Christmas Trees all lit up! 
7. Being  close to my grandparents
8. Talking on the phone to Grandma T. 
9. The internet. I'm not sure how college students survived without it!
10. My family. The Gospel. Knowing we can be together forever. 

The ABC's of 2012

I never finished this, but, since it is now the end of 2013, I'll post it anyways.
Here are my ABC's of 2012

Appendicitis
BYU Laundry
Cinco de Mayo Party
DC trips in the summer
Emma's blessing in Idaho
FHE Mom
G
Huge power outage
I
J
Kransekake
L
MeLisa's wedding
Nanny
O
PE teaching
Q
Running contracts
Seven Peaks
TOPS tutor
U
V
West Point Trip
X
Y
Z


Practicum

This semester I finallyyyyy got to to what I have been waiting for for all these years!! I got to go be in a classroom, every day for four weeks, and teach a few lessons each day! It was awesome. The only non-awesome part was the 35 minute drive I had to take every day to get to my school. But, besides that, it was so wonderful. I feel like I learned more in the past four weeks than I learned in the past four years. You don't learn by listening to lectures, you learn through hands on experience. I was in the sweetest little first grade class with an amazing mentor teacher.
Kids do and say some of the funniest things--they were constantly making me laugh. One girl, upon seeing my old student ID picture told me, "You don't have red dots on your forehead anymore!" It was hilarious because I am pretty sure she has no idea what those red dots are. She was just making an observation on how I have changed since that picture was taken over two years ago.
One day, I decided to do a creative writing lesson. I was tired of reading the kids say, "I like ____. I like ____. I love ____." So, I read them a story that is told from a pet dogs point of view. Then, I had them write their own stories. They came up with some hilarious stories.
If you can't read 6 year old, it says, "I am a monkey! And I swing on the branches. I go like this ooh ah ah ah and I scratch my armpits. And I also sleep."

This one says, "I am a butterfly! Today I almost got caught in a web. I can fly! Ahhhh a spider! I ahhhhhh"

Cute Thanksgiving bulletin board the kids helped make


Happy Halloween

My roommate Amy made us 3 Blind Mice costumes (sadly we never got a picture with our 3rd roommate)


Also, Danny and Bryce were hobos. I supported them by wearing a fake mustache. 

Blanding for Thanksgiving

Bryce invited me to his grandparents for Thanksgiving. We stopped at the Monticello Temple on the way down. 

Thanksgiving morning: Exploring Blanding!


 This creepy rickety bridge is on (near?) his grandpa's ranch. I felt like it was going to break any second.


The time Bryce almost got arrested (but not really)
We went out to go shoot prairie dogs, and seriously this cop came out of NOWHERE and told us we were breaking the law but that he wouldn't ruin our holiday and only gave us a warning since we were from out of state

So, instead, we went far away from town (or like 10 minutes away) and shot up some cans. 

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious. The next day, we left to go back to my grandparents house, where I could get internet access and do my homework. All. Day. Long. Yuck. 

 We stopped at Wilson Arch on our way. 


 We found a bull and Big Foot. 
And a hole in a rock

It was great to relax over break! 

My artistic side

This is the reason that everyone thinks El Ed majors never do real work. Not that I minded doing this. I loved it! But, it can be frustrating when people think my major is "so cute." Gah! I actually work very hard! My class made this poster based on the Russian Firebird folktale when we were learning about incorporating different art forms into our classrooms. You can see the claws of the firebird holding the sword in the left hand corner of the picture. 

Happy birthday to Reximus! He always has loved penguins :)

T-Rexy and he knows it

Bryce and I carved a minion pumpkin for Halloween! I think it looks pretty sweet

And, we made caramel apples. Delicious!

Liz's birthday cakes

I hate surprises!

But, this one wasn't too bad. Bryce heard from my MD friend and his co-worker Sam that UT had recently acquired a Rita's. It's not secret that Rita's is one of my favorite places on earth!! One Friday night, Bryce refused to tell me where we were going, but he said I'd know it when I saw it. I was soooo frustrated. Howww would I know it?? Well, he was right. I did. As soon as I saw the Rita's, I totally squealed and freaked out. It was an awesome night!
He was so proud of himself :)

Pumpkin Cheesecake Misto Shake=Divine



I should have bought them. I am so mad!! 




Returned with Honor!

Welcome home, Matthew! This boy had horrible timing, and got back to Maryland only one or two days after I returned to Utah. I was so mad!! I had to wait until he could make it out to UT  to see him. 

Two Wedings

Two of my friends from young women's got married! Luckily both of them had UT receptions that I could attend!
Heather and Stephen (note...this was the same day as the water slide. I ran home and changed into a skirt. aka I had no time at all to get ready and look cute)

Caitlin

I am so happy for these girls!! 

Rope Swing/Natural Waterslide Outings

I went to the Alpine natural water slide with my co-workers, Reg, Rex, Derek, and Bryce. 

It looked sooooo painful to watch people go down, but it actually felt fine. Worse than any bumps in the rocks is the FREEZING temperature of the water, especially when you the weather was already kind of cool on the day we picked to go.  It was still quite fun though!

We also went to the Mona Rope Swings one day. That water was also cold, though not as bad as the water slide. 


Working up the courage to go!

Yikes! 

Last minute trip

At the end of August, my roommate invited me to go on a trip to her home in Oregon. She was going to be travelling with her 3 year old niece, and didn't really want to do that alone. So, I agreed to accompany her and also help drive. 
Day 1: Woke up at 5 in the morning and drove all day to get to Oregon. 
Day 2: Portland, Oregon--Saturday Market
Day 3: Oregon coast, Tillamook Cheese factory, and a light house
Day 4: Church, BBQ
Day 5: Portland Temple
Day 6: Drive all day back




Haystack Rock!

In front of the Pacific Ocean

The niece. Such a cutie :)



For some reason, whenever you got a cheese factory, getting ice cream is more important than getting cheese (although the free cheese samples were delicious)



It was so cold and rainy!! But I had to see the Octopus tree!

Gorgeous!


It was such a fun trip! I'm glad my roommate invited me :)