I'm a little bit Country

I'm on a country kick and I have these songs on repeat:

Whatever It Is-Zac Brown Band

Wild At Heart-Gloriana

The Climb-Miley Cyrus (I know, I know, the song would be better song by someone else)

More Like Her-Miranda Lambert

(More on last weekend and the wedding activities later!)

Silver Lining

Snapshot reasons for why I'm happy:

• I get the shivers randomly throughout the day when I think about living in DC...excited shivers.
• Warmer weather is in the foreseeable future (even though today is COLD).
• I get to hear funny things come out of the mouths of 7th graders every week and it helps me remember what I'm doing.
• The comfort of loving parents and an intense game of scrabble are only 30 minutes away.
• Aubry is going to Mongolia on her mission, and we see priceless terrified looks come from her everyday after hearing new information about it. She will be the best missionary ever!
• I'm sitting in my Teaching with Technology class right now*, playing with the Mac Photo Booth and putting my knowledge to good use.
• Finding this blog has brought me hours of entertainment and fueled me with hope. They are an adorable couple, have an intriguing life, are moving to DC soon, and share my love of junk food. Why wouldn't I want to read it?
• I'm busy this week for all of the right reasons.
• My bangs are almost long enough to stay in my ponytail (for now I pin them back on occasion).
• I LOVE family get-togethers so Wednesday and this weekend will be good. Tuesday and Thursday will be good because of DC meetings. Today is good in general...and I'm getting Cafe Rio with Erin after class.
• I used to think it was cheesy or an exaggeration when Relief Society Presidents said "I love you girls"...now I get it.

*The above was written in class...so, 5 hours later...

I love my life. A while back I stopped saying the exaggerated phrase "I hate my life." When you have to rake dirt for 8 hours or you have 3 tests in a week or you get your heel stuck in the sidewalk crack, this phrase is likely to slip out. BUT because I realized it was stupid and not true in the least bit, I added the phrase "In this moment" in case it continued to slip out. It's true, there are bad moments. A little positive humor always helps; for example, when we were at Cafe Rio, a lady dumped her plate of beans and rice on Erin. I said something like "Well, it looks like it all brushed off your shirt" and Erin said "I have sour cream in my pocket." I replied with "Well ,then, at least there wasn't a tortilla that you had to peel off of your shirt." See. Easy. (Erin was actually really nice about it and we felt really bad for the lady but, anyway) Another way you can combat the bad moments is to remember to look at the overall picture of your life. All of the above bulleted items make for a good life, some of them are permament meaningful experiences, some of them just good moments. Either way these things and many more unlisted things make up a life that is worthy of gratitude. It's true, I may be striving for other developments to come about, but I can have the comfort of knowing that the heart of my life is good.

"No it won't all go the way it should, but I know the heart of life is good."-John Mayer

LOVE it

Can I boycott school?

For the last couple of days I have been yearning for two things: summer and Wyoming.

The weather here has been off and on warm lately, and I just want it to be summer already! No homework, no coat, no problem. I usually enjoy winter, in fact, I went snowboarding at Rock Canyon Park last night and it was great. It's just more about the principle behind the season. Ahhhhhh, freedom!

As for Wyoming...I just miss it. The thought of going home to a ward that's all small town friendly, with people I know, and places I'm familiar with, well that's the best combination. AND summer and Wyoming together hold a lot of great memories.

Here are some pictures from Wyoming summers past:

The Keefer Ranch. Wyoming is truly beautiful in its own way.

Behind the scenes of our Superman photoshoot

Extreme Makeover Home Edition!

Waterworld with the Branch. Who can resist competing in the TurboRacer, burning your feet on the hot cement, and feeling terrified in the Wave Pool?

Wheatland? We had a branch boating day here that was a blast. 50% of us walked away burnt to a crisp.

Camping at Kurt Gowdy (Emily has always been really coordinated)

Sooooo many nights longboarding. (I do not recommend doing so in the dark)

I love driving the skidsteer (and giving people rides, shhh!)

Rockies game, right behind Matt Holliday...where all baseball games should be. haha

'Nuff said.

BUT...Utah and winter are good to me too.

Lady In DC

Sometimes I wish that my journey on this earth were as simple as the game of LIFE. Spin the wheel. Move two spaces and get your dream job. Move four spaces and get your dream man. It would be easy. The reality of it, though, is that life is nothing like LIFE, and life is truly better for that. If all I had to do was spin a wheel to find out my future there would be no anticipation of what may or may not happen, no wondering if you made a good decision, no anxiety because you wouldn't have control, and definitely no dreaming (what would be the use?). College has put my personal game of life on hold for four years with no major decisions and no major changes, as it does for everyone else as well. All of the sudden, my roommates and I are realizing that there is life after college...who knew?!? So when I say that I got accepted to do my student teaching in Washington DC, it is so freaking exciting! But it's sad too.

We'll start with the sad because endings are better happy...
You see, when I start my student teaching next year I won't be able to laugh at Kristen singing Christmas songs in the shower, I won't be able to laugh at Aubry's awesome facial expressions and hand gestures, and I won't be able to laugh at Erin when she trips on the table during a roommate dance party. I won't have my friends and roommates of three years to go on ice cream runs with, or to have random midnight talks with, or to watch 90210 with. LAME. But, we're not there yet so there is no use dwelling on our sad separation today...

SO, the happy.
The idea of going to Washington DC has intrigued me ever since I found out it was an option. I wasn't positive that it was something I wanted to do until about a week before I turned in my application. I couldn't really explain why I wanted to do it until I wrote my essay. Here is an excerpt to clear up any wonder:

" I have found that in comparison to many of my non-nomadic friends, I have a larger appreciation for the new, the diverse. Washington D.C. is definitely new and diverse in comparison to Utah; however, change is not why I want my student teaching to take place in D.C. With my many moves, I have also gained an understanding of the fundamental human being, the one that exists regardless of culture, beliefs or geographic location. No matter where I have gone, there have always been individuals willing to learn, willing to teach, and willing to succeed. I know that Washington D.C. has as lot to offer in these areas as well. Teachers have warned me that, although I would learn a lot, I would be entering a society much different then the one I am so familiar with here. It would be hard. I'm not worried that my student teaching will be hard; I would be worried if it weren't hard, in fact. The goal is to be a teacher than can appeal to individuals who have experienced vastly different walks of life, encouraging each one to find something in learning (especially in English) that they can grab onto and use toward their success. I think every teacher has this goal. The things that I have to offer this specific program outweigh those of Utah's, however, because I really have learned to thrive in situations very unfamiliar, I have passionate goal that appeals to diverse students that are rare in Utah, and having attended three different high schools, I have experienced and learned from a variety of classroom settings that many may not have. I am excited to teach the students in Washington D.C., and to take away all of the experience that I can and to encourage the cycle of successful learning."

I may sound a little cocky in this excerpt but you're supposed to sound confident in those things anyway. I was not confident. In the real game of life you can always hope, but in order to save face around your friends it helps to pretend like you aren't betting on something happening. I AM SO ECSTATIC. WHO KNOWS WHAT LIES IN STORE? I do not have only two very unspecific possibilities that some lame plastic wheel will hand me. Coincidently enough, when I got the email telling me I could go, these lyrics were piping through my headphones:

I can do anything I want to
I can do anything I want,
anything my heart tells me to do

Tells me to do
Tells me to do

I can be anything that I see
I can do anything I want to I can do
anything I want to
I can be anything that I, anything that I see
"Lady in Spain" by Ingrid Michaelson

Is it fate? Or just a really great opportunity to stretch my own knowledge and the knowledge of my students?

(I can't get this so that it is white! ugh.)

senioritis...or something

"Where you been?" you ask.
"Oh, you know, around. Taking a breather." I reply.
"From your blog?"
"...From pushing myself."

So last semester, being the semester of: not the alarm!-time to shower-wasn't I just awake?-where's my book?-which book-class again-work again-library again-library again-library again-library again-nap, I mean bedtime: I think I lost some of my psycho motivation along with my psycho schedule. So far this semester I have actually watched tv...on a weeknight...what?! Don't worry, don't get all worked up thinking that I have begun to go against all of my homework beliefs that I hold as a teacher. Homework gets done...just not with gusto. And really, who needs gusto to do their homework when it's their last real semester, the end is in sight, and according to Mr. Knudsen at Lehi Junior High I need to save energy for my year of "pure hell." Anyway, I'm alive and doing well. Here are some random snippets from the last month:

• I applied to student teaching in Washington D.C. (cross your fingers)
• I'm pre-student teaching 7th grade at Lehi Junior High (not bad)
  
• I have given up french fries (really easy), soda (fairly easy), and ice cream (have I gone insane?)
• I'm relief society president and things are going well (I was nervous about that one)
• I went to Rexburg last week to visit Emily (we don't see each other enough)
• I have spent way too much time at work looking at www.gofugyourself.com (as in, "That outfit is fugly!")
  
• I learn from school

Here are recent and random insights into my soul:

• I hate chalk boards
• I love movies or shows with dancing in them...So You Think You Can Dance, Step up, High School Musical, America's Best Dance Crew (amazing!)
• It's nice to think about others more often
  
• I can't WAIT to have my own classroom (although that's scary too)
• It's a lot easier to go out of your way for someone than you think (especially for the Lord)
• Ice cream=addiction

Okay so I always feel like I should end my blogs by saying something serious, but to be honest, I've read too much on Caribbean postcolonial theory lately to stretch my thoughts that far for a blog...and it's Friday. SO Michelle Branch, who is coming out with a new album soon which I am stoked for, has a new song that says this:

Heaven knows that it's a crazy ride
It's never perfect all the time
It'll pull you down and send you flyin'
So baby hold on tight
On this crazy ride.

Ride the ride baby, hands waved high.

Days gone by

It's 2009!

I think it's safe to say that we have all had our fair share of adventures in 2008. If you think about it in the moment, a year seems like a long time; think about it in the past, though, and a year is impressively short. You go from day to day, and from week to week tackling the jobs at hand, laughing with friends, and just plain living your life. There are new things to think about, to see, etc, in a new year and ultimately, the year flies. 2008 can now turn into a good time, a learning experience, whatever you want it to be. 2009 has endless possibilities. Despite what happened in year 2008, 2009 calls for new EXCITING adventures and new HOPEFUL goals and new MEANINGFUL changes. If there's anything that I've learned in my life so far, it's to welcome change along with the new year.

Happy New Year everyone! Welcome 2009!

This is for Kelli and Karl...