Summer Time and the Living is Easy!

So I really have had some weeks of down time but now I'm back at the books after a week of being an EFY counselor for the Ogden area. This was my first experience ever attending EFY in my whole life. It was very fun to work with the youth. Our company won the Spunity (combo of spirit and unity--the overall best award you can get!) award and we really did have a great group of kids. The amazing thing is that it was all them. We gave them a couple of ideas but they were the ones that really got into having a good time and getting excited about being there. As for me, I loved the working with the kids but I don't think I quite fit in with the majority of the counselors. They all seemed so young--not just in age but in maturity.

This week I'm working on another class for my masters degree: Creativity. It's pretty interesting and I like the content but it sure is a lot to pack into one week. Because of the holiday tomorrow we are going from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm so that we don't have to attend on Saturday, so it's crazy busy and super long days. Next week I have another one-weeker on cognition and brain functionality (I think), should be fun!

Just wanted you all to know that I'm a pisces (that's the two fish). This means that I am patient, empathetic, adaptable, affected by my surroundings, popular, instinctual, not bookish, sensitive, reflexive, idealistic, and capable of incredible deeds. I know you're all thinking that this is me to a "T" and you're right, what can I say? (ha, ha, ha!) Have a great 4th of July!

Show Tune Saturday Night!

Some weekends you're just glad to be able to sit at home and listen to Show Tune Saturday Night! What a great program we have here in Utah. They just play show and musical songs from 8:00 till midnight. I just heard "Modern Major General" from Pirates of Penzance. It's pretty fun to sing along with the ones I know and to learn about new shows too. This week was somewhat stressful for no particular reason, so it's great to just have a weekend to relax and not go to work!

New Car, New Ward, Class Play

Here are some pictures of my new car! It's a 2006 Saturn Ion III. It has 23000 miles, leather interior, sunroof (not that I need it), spoiler (not that I need that either), automatic windows, transmission and mirrors, cruise control, etc. I got it on Thursday, April 12th, and so far, I just love it! I don't know if you can tell, but Dad has the yard looking amazingly beautiful!





I have also made the decision to attend a Single Adult Ward in Salt Lake. I know, it's a big step. There is a little bit of a process to getting into the ward officially. You have to attend for four weeks (to prove that you're active and not a ward-hopper). The bishop seems to be pretty firm on making sure that the members of the ward are stable and reliable. I feel o-kay about going to this ward but it's kind of hard to be the new girl again.

And for my last piece of news, we performed our play this week. It was not without some mistakes, but I was so proud of my students. All of them except one and a half had all their lines memorized! The parents loved it and the other students/teachers in the school thought it was great too! One thing that I really kind of liked about the way we did it was the costumes. I had them all wear black and then they had colored sashes. It was an easy way to make sure that everyone had costumes that fit and looked uniform. Also, I can use the sashes for next year weather I do 12th Night again or choose to do another one. And, although it was super stressful (I don't think that I got a full night's rest all week), it was totally rewarding!

Quiz

Just for fun...let's compare where we all live by answering a brief survey:

1. Price of gas today: $2.39/gallon

2. Temperature today: 39 degrees at 5:18 p.m.

3. Sacrament meeting topics today (this week): Fast & Testimony Meeting - all over the board

4. Biggest news story of the last month: Shooter at Trolley Square.

5. What your kids are doing/did for 100 days of school: I didn't do anything with my 6th graders, does that make me a bad teacher?

6. Restaurants indigenous to your locale: Café Rio, Nielsen's, Pace's, The Mandarin

7. Top 3 attractions near you that people would be interested in visiting: Bountiful Temple, Lagoon? General Conference, to go to Niensen's, to go to Pace's, to go to the Mandarin and of course to visit me!

8. Closest temple: Bountiful, 5 minutes.

9. Distance from your house to where you attend church: abt. 3 blocks.

10. Number of different denominations you pass on the way to church: at least 0.

11. How long have you lived in the house where you live? 2 years.

12. The team everyone roots for in my city is: The Jazz?

13. The number of visitors that could sleep comfortably at your home if they were to visit: At least 6 in real beds with others on floors, in toddler beds an pack 'n plays, on couches or air matresses.

14. Distance between you and the next closest relative: about two feet, Lynette's sitting in the glider and I'm in the eastern most Laz-y-boy in the living room.

Sixth Graders do Learn

So, I'm here and I don't know how often I'll post but hopefully as often as I have something to say. I love reading the stories about my nieces and nephews.

I'm a sixth-grade teacher and this is a cute story that happened the other day. We are in the middle of putting on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and are practicing and memorizing lines every day. One day towards the end of the day there were a few papers and a pen left on the floor and I asked, "Who's papers are those?"

One student answered, "Alas, those are not my papers!" in a plaintive voice.

I laughed and said, "Did you just say, 'Alas, those are not my papers!'?"

He said, "Yes, I did!" then we all laughed and continued cleaning up the classroom to go home. I guess that they really do internalize some of the things they're taught.