Of Course I do

The last four weeks have been real crazy in my life. I am in the block at SUU. I am going to be an Elementary Education teacher. The block is the semester right before student teaching and my schedule is very rigorous. I am at South Elementary for 8 hrs a week in third grade and then all of the other days I have classes. I have a Math, Social Studies, Science, Language Arts, and a Management class. There is a lot of work that is due each week in all of these three hour classes. How am I handling it?? For the most part good, but I have my days where I almost have a melt down.

I have been asked so do you still want to be a teacher??? Of course I do. I have ever since I can remember wanted to be a teacher. I want to hopefully make a difference in children's lives. I really love the eight hours a week that I am in third grade. They are so fun. I have had many opportunities to teach and it has been great. I hope that this dream that I have put off until my family was a little older will really come true. I think education is the greatest thing and it makes you feel so young. I come home feeling like I am a 20 yr old until I look in the mirror and then I am brought back to my senses.

This week they brought us all of our graduation papers to fill out. That was kind of exciting, I guess it means it is getting closer. Thanks to all of you that are concerned and very supportive. I always can use friends on many of my days. If any of you have questions, should I go back to school, "Do it". I don't think you will regret it.

That's my story and I am sticking to it

As it gets closer to Valentine's day I always think of my sweetheart and our life together. Last week, in one of my classes we were to share how we met our spouses or significant other and I shared this funny story. The funny thing is that my parents met the exact same way as Mike and I did, on a blind date. I guess blind dates do work.

At the time, I was working at KMart at the service desk and my friend asked if I wanted to go out with her fiance's friend that just came back from basic training. I thought it sounded pretty good. I still remember him coming in ahead of time to just "Check me out". He stopped at the service desk to say hi. I have to say it was not love at first sight for me. I was not impressed. He was almost bald and you can call me weird but I like guys with hair. I still figured what the heck, I would give it a try anyway.

They had decided that we would double with my friend and his friend. I still remember so many details of the night. They decided to take us to temple square to see the lights. I thought that was great. It was beautiful. We also saw "Mr. Kruger's Christmas". It is still one of my favorites. It wasn't too bad of a night but I do remember coming home and thinking this guy is so forward, because he tried to hold my hand and he put his arm around me in the car. I was so worried, "What was I going to do at the doorstep?" " I knew that I didn't want to hug of even kiss him that was for sure but what do you do with a forward guy. ( I was so naive)
At this point, I was very nervous. As we went up to the doorstep to say good bye, I said thanks and I punched him in the shoulder and said " I had a good time." Well that took care of that problem. He looked pretty dumbfounded but it worked.

I know I didn't punch him very hard, but it is a funny thing that he always tells my kids about how their mom punched him off of the doorstep on our first date.

Two weeks later he sent me roses. I thought it was cool, but still it didn't impress me too much, but it DID impress my mom. So no, I didn't fall in love at first, but he was pretty smart because my mom fell in love with him.( or so to speak, he had impressed her and she thought he was the greatest for her daughter) Pretty smart, don't you think?

Mike and I dated on and off for over 2 years and we did end up getting married, and I am definitely still totally in love with him.( even after all of these years) Good hint to men wanting a girlfriend or wife, make sure you impress the mother first and then you can almost have anything you want...

Something to think about

I thought this was awesome. It makes me laugh. Many times I feel this way, I can do anything but am I willing to do what ANYTHING takes.
I hope you enjoy!!!

What can you fit in a blue Volkswagen bus?

Today in church we were talking about life and memories that we have had with our own children or with our parents that have meant a lot but haven't been costly. I immediately had to share one of the many crazy memories that I have of life with my dad. My dad taught us at a very young age to work, work, work but he always had time to do fun things and play hard too.

I remember one day that he was definitely the coolest of all dads. On this particular day he decided to take all of us kids in our blue volkswagen bus and go for a ride. Mom had other things to do so she stayed home. As we were out running errands, which was a very common occurence with dad, he decided to stop and look at horses. We were all excited but knew that we would not be able to get a horse, let a lone a pony. By the time we were done looking, my dad had bought a shetland pony and we were all wondering how we were going to get it home. Not dad, he had his plans. He brought the pony into our bus and we took it home with us, and it was not just around the corner. You should have seen the looks that we got as we were going down the freeway with a horse and six kids. Yep, dad was definitely the best dad in the world that day. Everything was great until we arrived at home and mom was not happy AT ALL. I know we wouldn't have brought a pony home if she had been with us.
What a memory that I will never never never forget.

You better stay off of the sidewalks

Have you heard this saying before. I have, it is one that we continually tease our children with when they get their driver's license, and yep we have another child that just received his license. Todd is now a driver. WOW!!!! I know, for me it is just another stress but for him it is big time and he is excited and wants to drive everywhere by himself. Call me a paranoid mother or whatever but I have had children get in automobile accidents when letting them drive by themselves too soon.
Every day it is the same thing, " Mom can I drive?" I wish he would look back and realize that I am not picking on him but that his other siblings that drive weren't able to drive alone for quite a while. I don't even want to know how much more it is going to cost to put him on the insurance along with four other drivers.
There are days that I wish I had instructions on this mom thing, because I am not sure what I am doing or if I am doing it right. So if you see a car come up the sidewalk or off of the road a little run, it just might be Todd still getting the hang of this driving thing.

It just might be worth it

I have been wishing lately that I was graduating this May instead of this fall. I know it shouldn't be a big deal but it really is. I don't know how many of you know but President Thomas Monson the prophet for the Church of Latterday Saints if speaking at graduation at SUU. I can't believe it. What an awesome thing. I kind of wish I was doing my student teaching in Las Vegas this summer and then I would be able to graduate this May but I don't know what my family would do without me for 12 weeks if I moved to Las Vegas for 12 weeks this summer. I guess I will just have to wait and graduate in the fall. Bummer... How often does this happen??? What a great thing to have him come and speak. He is such a great speaker.

Mike has to be at graduation so maybe I will just HAVE to go and give him support and company, it just would be even cooler if I was walking and graduating too. (Oh well. Only if I had started a little earlier with my schooling instead of worrying about my RS president calling.)
I wonder if there will be any protesters at it. This will be interesting.

I guess I could pay for it

I have been blogging now for a while and still don't have many followers or many commenters. I have been thinking maybe the trick is to pay my followers or friends. Is that how it works?? Just kidding. If you have any ideas how to get people interested in commenting and checking your blog out let me know, I would love to know the tricks.

Great shows

We have been to a couple great movies lately that if anyone is interested I would like to recommend.

We went to see Bedtime Stories and loved it, all of us. I don't always like Adam Sandler but this was just fun and cute. Mike and I went to see Seven Pounds with Will Smith and it was a great show. What an uplifting show but kind of sad at the end. We also went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It was a long show but it didn't seem like it. It was quite interesting and enjoyable. It has been a long time since I have been to so many shows all together that I have enjoyed. If you need some ideas, here are some.

You need to GO

The weekend after Christmas our family had a once in a lifetime opportunity. We were able to go through the Draper Temple with Mike's dad as our tour guide. Mike's dad has been on a so called mission during the time the temple has been built for about 40 hours a week, watching and making sure the drywall and other things were done right and if not they had to be redone. Finally, the temple is done and it was so awesome to have him be able to take us through and show us the temple without a lot of people around.

It is a very beautiful temple, inside and out. The kids were totally stunned and amazed. I can't begin to express the feeling that we felt there, especially when we walked into the celestial room and to have all of my kids there with us was a very uplifting experience. I don't think that we will EVER forget this special time and special place. I do believe that we had the best tour guide that is possible too. What a day!!! If you haven't been and are interested you need to go. They are doing their open house clear up until March some time. For any of you that are not members but are interested, this open house is open to anyone rather you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints or not. It is a very remarkable building and well worth the trip.

Enter giveaway!!!!

One of my friends is giving some cool stuff away, so check her website out. Go to Kristy's blog right here. I know I am a little late so check it out tonight while you can.

Some of my favorites, just a little late

I know I am a little late but my life and my mind has been filled with much more than blogging lately. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from Christmas. There were many many more pictures but these are just a few of the great ones.
Mike in his new Grinch pajamas being a rock star with all of the rest of us.

Picture of all of us on Christmas Eve with new pajamas.

This is a picture of my cute kids in their Christmas outfits. I think they are just the cutest.

If you are dying to see more of Christmas photos, I will bring out some more just let me know.

This is so true

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. I don't believe all of this but most of it is so true and it made me laugh and think.

WHY MEN ARE NEVER DEPRESSED:
Men Are Just Happier People--
Your last name stays put.
The garage is all yours.
Wedding plans take care of themselves.
Chocolate is just another snack.
You can never be pregnant.
Car mechanics tell you the truth.
The world is your urinal.
You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is just too icky.
You don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt.
Same work, more pay.
Wrinkles add character.
People never stare at your chest when you're talking to them.
New shoes don't cut, blister, or mangle your feet.
One mood all the time.
Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat.
You know stuff about tanks and engines.
A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase.
You can open all your own jars.
You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness.
Your underwear is $8.95 for a three-pack.
Three pairs of shoes are more than enough.
You never have strap problems in public.
You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes.
Everything on your face stays its original color.
The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades.
You only have to shave your face and neck.
You can play with toys all your life.
One wallet and one pair of shoes -- one color for all seasons.
You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look.
You can 'do' your nails with a pocket knife.
You have freedom of choice concerning growing a moustache.

Wow for me

This last week has been very hard at school. As all of you know I was having a very hard day this week at school, but as I knew it would things got better as the week went on. On Friday I went to the elementary school that I will be working at two days a week this semester. I am very excited about it. All of my other classes I would rather not talk about.

I had such a great thing happened yesterday when I came home. There was an envelope there for me and I opened it up and it said that I am on the Dean's list for the college. This means that I am in the top 10% of the college. I was SO excited. I guess all of my hard work has paid off. I don't know right now if I will actually graduate and become a teacher but at least it looks a little closer. Yeah for me.

Thanks to those of you that truly care and made uplifting comments and tried to cheer me up the other day. I really appreciate it. You are true friends.

One of those days

All I can say is today has been one of those days and I hope I am not the only one, or I guess I should say I hope that I am the only one that has days like this. Today was real hard and I am not going to go into it or I will fall apart.

Our life in 2008

Usually I send a synopsis of our events with our Christmas cards to family and friends to kind of update them on our exciting, difficult and interesting moments in the past year and this year I didn't, so I thought I would do it on my blog for anyone that might be interested in our life.

I would have to say that there were many highlights in our life and home this past year.(2008)

Here are a few:
1. I passed College Algebra and even received an A- in it.
2. Karrilyn also passed one of her hardest math classes.
3. I was released from my calling in our ward as Relief Society President in February. This was quite a hard thing for me.
4. I was called to be 2nd counselor in the Stake YW presidency and also called to work in the nursery in our ward.
5. We finished our family room in our basement. We have room for parties and just need to start having people over. Any takers???
6. AJ graduated from high school. I still can't believe it. My brother Colt and both of Mike and my parents made it down for the graduation. It meant a lot to all of us.
7. We flew to Florida for a vacation and stayed for a week. We were able to see great friends, the temple, the beach and Disney World. It was definitely worth IT.
8. Angela started high school. ( she is supposed to be my baby and she can't be growing up)
9. I survived summer semester of school, it was very hard to go to school every day with all of my kids home.
10. AJ started college at SUU.
11. I passed the Praxis Content test and also submitted my portfolio for my degree.
12. Todd excelled in Cross Country for the high school. He improved his time about 4 minutes faster from the beginning race to the last one.
13. We were spoiled and were able to go boating at Utah Lake with my sister Kristi and her family on their boat. Thanks again SIS. It was a highlight.
14. Todd passed his College Algebra class. He is amazing.
15. I started blogging in May.
16. Mike was made Elder's Quorum President in our ward. ( new challenges in store)
17. We spent a wonderful weekend in St. George as a family. We went shopping, went to the Forgotten Carols, the temple and out to eat.
18. Mike and I spent New Year's Eve at the Regional YW/YM stake dance. It has been many years since we have been to one of those.
19. One of our greatest highlights of the year was getting to go through the Draper Temple. I will have to write about it. There is nothing quite like having all of my children together in the celestial room with noone else there. It was awesome.

This year has definitely been great. We have had a lot of great times but also hard and trying times. We are so very thankful for our great family(parents, brothers, sisters etc) and our wonderful friends and the difference that they have made in our lives and who we are.
We hope you all have a great 2009!!!!

Laziness

It has been forever it seems since I have made a post.

Yes, we did have a very Merry Christmas. I haven't decided if I want to post much about it or not. It was great just being together and playing and playing. We also went to SLC on Saturday after Christmas and went to a movie, took my parents to dinner, went to a farewell, had a breakfast party with great friends, had another party with the Glads, and last but not least we went to the Draper temple.

We only stayed in SLC until Monday morning and when we came home we took down Christmas and have just been shopping, sleeping, eating, going to movies, playing Rock Band and new games, and watching some of our movies that we received for Christmas. It has been so nice to not have to be anywhere. We spent our New Year's Eve as chaperones at the LDS Regional Stake dance for youth. We didn't get to bed until about 3 am. Not as fun as chaperones as I remember it being when I was actually one of the youth getting to dance on New Year's. On New Year's day we went as a family to see "The Tale of Despereaux". Part of the family liked it and the rest thought it was just ok. Personally, Mike and I thought it was pretty good.

Today I went and bought books for school. What a bummer!!! That cost quite a penny. I can't believe that it will be starting on Monday morning again. I guess I should tell you all that I did pass all of my classes for last semester but I am not ready for it to start again and I don't think my kids are either.

I think I need to plan a party or something fun. It seems like January can be so blah and depressing. Any ideas?