Classroom Life

I have a job!  I will be teaching 2nd grade at Westside Elementary School next year!  This summer, I will spend my time finishing up school and setting up my classroom!  I have decided to do a pirate theme!  That's about all for my update!

Life

I don't know why I bother to pretend that I am keeping this blog as a journal... because if I wanted to journal twice a year, I could just do it on my laptop or in my actual journal (which hasn't been touched for at least 5 years since that young women's goal thing ended).  But alas, I have some free time (well, homework to do) so I'll update slightly.

Life has been crazy these past five months!  I have decided to apply for an internship.  I officially turned in my application a few weeks ago and have an interview in March (which is a freakishly long time away).  Hopefully I'll get it!  If I do, I'll be attending school this next summer to finish my course work and then I'll start teaching in the fall!  

School has been crazy!  Last semester, I thought I was busy.  This semester, I know I am busy.  Right now, I am in 19 hours of credit to finish off religion general ed classes and TELL classes (for my TESOL minor).  It kind of stinks but in April, I will be free!  Which will be exciting!  I also still work for Dr. Tunnell doing grading, book keeping, and random stuff (like CIP pages and all that jazz).  It's exciting stuff!  But seriously, I am freaking lucky in my job and my boss!  

People have left on missions.  Mallory left last week.  Haley leaves soon.  People have got back from missions.  It is super weird to run into guys my age that are back.  People have moved.  Ashley and Becca live in Provo now.  My sister is moving to Florida after she finishes school.  People have grown.  Riley is a big girl now. She'll be walking in a few short weeks (if Lisa will allow it).  It is all very exciting.  

As for me, I am pretty much the same.  Working, school, hiking, studying, and hanging out with my family/friends!  Here is my life in photos from the past few months!

We went to San Fransico a couple of weekend ago... 

Jeff, Durban, Michelle, Shawn, and Me (all of us)

I like this picture! 

Beach!

Jellybelly tour (with free samples... best part)

Oh Jeff... Jeffing that poor jellybean

Weird mural in this building

Me, Kevin, & Shawn in the hat store

Oh Jeff... 

Durban & I at the pier where I didn't see Salty the Sea Lion (I did see other sea lions but none as cool as Salty)

And I hiked some more (Spanish Fork Canyon Arch & to the top of this random non-trail that has a 360 degree view)... 

Spanish Fork Canyon

Kevin & I  

Point of the Mountain (on some random trail)

Dead Deer Leg... Sawed off

Mallory and Lindsey also both left on their missions!  I got to see them off!

Mal & I

Mal & I at a bondfire

Lindsey, Mal, & I

Lindsey & I

Also, football season is over.  BYU and LSU were basically losers (sad) but I've let it go... mostly.

Michelle & I at a game

Feet warming party (notice the snow in the stands)

Michelle, Shawn, and me

 Also, I finished with math classes!  I am super excited for that!  Here was my last assignment (it was a group assignment using a research questions and doing a five number summary/box plot):

And Christmas passed in our apartment and house... it was fun!  I got absolutely no pictures though b/c my camera died :(  Riley Paige loved Christmas though!

Roommate Christmas

And there were Presidential Debates... Jeff and Michelle hosted a mocktail party and found these at Walmart:

Yes, we are classy.

And that is basically my life (that I have pictures of b/c my camera died so I have to mooch off of others' pictures)!  Also, I ate at a not so sketchy diner in Spanish Fork (no picture documentation exists).  However, I don't think I'll count it for my bucket list... who knows though :)

Buckskin Gulch

Look at me, posting again and not waiting four million days after I do whatever I want to actually remember.  But really--it is mostly because I'm in my child development class (which is extra boring).  My professor is just lecturing us on how we are all failures (or at least that's how I feel she is expressing herself) so I decided it was time to post about last weekend!

Last weekend, a few of us drove down to the Arizona/Utah boarder to hike Buckskin Gulch which is a slot canyon about six hours away.  We got there at about two in the morning so we ended up sleeping at the trailhead (with a ton of other people who were also too tired to find a camp site)!  It was an awesome hike!

Our group (Kevin, Matt, Allan, Me, Luke, & Ved)

There was a lot of water we hiked through.  Some of it smelled like sewage and made me want to puke.  Other water was nice, clean, and muddy!  For me, it was about waist high!

There was lot of mud for me to play in 

Breaking for lunch in an open part of the canyon

The coolest mud ever!  It kind of felt like stepping on crunch leafs! 

I really wanted to slide down and play in this mud pit!

Wide open in a canyon

Giant mud pit we jumped in!

The canyon... it was so narrow and so cool!

Our group again!

I really like all of our faces in this picture

I'm pretty sure this was some sewage water... gross!

This was the surroundings outside of the canyon.  Kind of ugly and you would never guess there was a beautiful slot canyon right around the corner!  

It was a beautiful hike and totally worth it!  I would definitely go back and do this one again!

So I Stink At Blogging...

So I stink at blogging.  Like a lot.  This is why my attempts to keep a journal epically fail every time.  It is because I get bored/distracted/too busy/feel like I have nothing to say so I just kind of stop writing.  But I should probably at least attempt to catch myself up on the end of summer and the beginning of the school year!  

So the end of the summer was a blast!  Mal & I went hiking like four times a week and found some of the coolest places!  I have absolutely fallen in love with the Alpine Loop and all of the hikes on it!  They are beautiful!  Here are some a few of my pictures:

Mal & Me (somewhere on the Alpine Loop)

Weston when we hiked Wardsworth

Hiking Wardsworth

During August, I went home for a couple of weeks.  It was pretty fun!  I hung out with my family, went shooting, fished with my dad, started sewing a halloween wall hanging, and just had fun with my family.  I also got a few more projects done at my house.  I painted Lisa's old room and all of the doors (I now have a special hate for painting doors, like a lot).  But for the most part, it was fun to spend some time with my family.  Unfortunately, I'm a loser and didn't manage to take any pictures while I was at home!

My summer roommates also moved out and my old roommates (Amber, Katelyn, Amy, Talicee, & Kirsten) moved back in.  Shortly after, we started school.  The first week into the semester wasn't too bad until I realized that I wanted to graduate in two years (instead of the three I've been planning on).  So I was like, dang it, and went to my counselor (which I mostly avoid doing at all costs).  He flagged me for 20 hours of credit (which is a dang lot of credit) and I about had a mental breakdown deciding if I really could handle 20 hours.  Turns out, I can't.  Not safely and sanely at least.  So I dropped all of my classes a week into the semester, got all new ones (but only like 16 hours), and went to my first week again.  It went okay.

But then, my family had something happen and I had to leave for California for a week.  So I missed my classes for a week.  So, in the first three weeks of the semester, I've been to one week of classes.  It was bad.  But I'm almost caught up (except for my literacy class which I would just like to give up on).  

Now I'm back and life is getting back to normal.  I'm still working for Dr. Tunnell as a TA.  I'm going to classes and trying not to fail at life.  In my free time, I still hike, watch football games (LSU is undefeated but its too bad BYU is terrible this year :/ ), and cook.  In fact, I just barely tried to make homemade butterfingers (they were kind of interesting... not good, not bad, just weird).  Last weekend, Michelle, Kevin, and I went to hike Big Springs in Provo Canyon.  It was pretty and I drank spring water (at least, we hope it was spring water)--which was delicious!  This past weekend, I headed to hike Buckskin Gulch, a slot canyon in southern Utah.  However, that'll be for a future post!

Michelle & I at Big Springs

These pictures are always so awkward!

Big Springs 

It was so pretty--canopied trees that were changing colors

Our sweet jumping picture!

Me, Kevin, & Michelle