1st Grade

I got the call I have been waiting for yesterday morning. The Principal of Northdridge Elementary called to offer me the 1st grade position I had interviewed for. I of course accepted! I just hope I can be a great teacher! I have some great teachers to live up to. One of those teacher would have to be Mrs. MacKay my first grade teacher:
I remember three distinct things about Mrs. Mackay, one, she read us the book The Wizard of Oz after recess every day. I didn't know it was a book I just thought it was a movie. The book she read from seemed like it was a giant book and it had neat pictures every so often. I have since bought a copy of The Wizard of Oz. I just can't find a large copy of it.

Another thing I remember was, one day during school we had a big rain and thunder storm. Our classroom had one wall that was entirely windows. Mrs. Mackay gathered us all over by the windows and while we watched for lighting and listened to the thunder and rain she read us the book Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco That was a neat day. (I need to buy that book.)







My final memory of her is kinda funny. I remember that she always seemed to make me sit next to Sean. Sean was the class clown and was always getting in trouble. Well when ever Sean would misbehave Mrs Mackay would take the pointer stick with the large wooden apple on one end (ironically I gave her this pointer stick for Christmas)and hit the desk to scare him and to get him back on task. I was always afraid she was going to hit me or miss and get my fingers. I think this discipline tactic did a better job scaring me then it did getting Sean in line.

The other interesting thing about Mrs Mackay is we shared the same first name. I thought that was sooo cool.

My other great teacher is Miss Honey from Matilda. I mean you can't beat Miss Honey.


I am sure I could name over 100 more great 1st grade teachers and just teachers in general. I have a lot to live up to, that's for sure.

Finished!!!

I am officially finished with college!! I even have the college degree to prove it, oh wait I will have the degree in July, right now I have a green cover for it.

I can't believe it finally happened. I graduated on Friday with all of my good friends. There were so many times that I wanted to just give up and not go back. towards the end you get so sick of jumping through hoops for professors. But looking back it was all worth it in the end.

All of my family who could make it were in attendance. Mark's parents and his sister Monica and her kids and Nancy and Hagen came up for the event. My parents were both there and my sister and Miles came and Mike and Becky, and Grandma Winnie and Grandpa Proctor were all able to attend (I was so glad they were both able to attend.)


After the graduation we all headed out to Springville for some good vittles at Cracker Barrel. It was a very exciting day!









I have had some people ask me if I'm going to miss it and of course the answer is no who would? I mean the boring lectures, the exams, the papers, the finals, (good luck Becky). There is one thing I am going to miss. That would be the social part of school. I will miss the friends I have made. In our cohort of girls we all really got along and had a blast together. From cohort Christmas parties with lingerie to coloring pictures from a coloring book during ESL Methods. I'm going to miss seeing them every day. I am hopping that we will still talk and catch up on what is going on in each others lives. Especially our little table of friends.

Here you go, Now leave me alone!

I am writing a new post because of the many requests from everyone! I didn't fully understand how much everyone loves and adores me and needs to know what I am doing at every waking movement. I feel so loved!!!

I haven't posted because life has been busy. I have been preparing to graduate this Friday. I have been substituting at Northridge Elementary where I did my student teaching. I have also gone back to work at Seagull Book for the summer. On top of it all Mark and I have started looking for a home.

I have gotten better at taking pictures of all the things I do so I can blog about them it’s just sitting down at the computer and typing up the info and posting the pictures. Don't worry; I'm making a new goal right now! I am planning on being better at blogging, I will not let two weeks of events go by before I blog about them! Unless we find a house and then I may have a longer gap because of packing and unpacking and all that fun moving stuff. Who knows maybe all have Amanda post something for me during that time.

With all the events that are taking place right now some fun and exciting stuff has happened in-between. First off I am done with school and I graduate on Friday. I also received the results to my PRAXIS exam (the teaching certificate exam) and I passed!!!! Shocking I know.

Mark and I took a break two weeks ago and went down to Aurora to spend time with his family. While we were there we went on an all day 4-wheeler ride with Marks dad, uncles, and cousins. I had a blast. I'm really glad I decide to go with them. We saw some really beautiful country out there it reminded me from a scene out of the movie cars. I told Mark I feel like I'm in Radiator Springs.

While we are down there Mark and I stumbled across a house that we have considered buying. It’s perfect. I think most realtors description of it would be a cozy, country feel home, ideal for a young couple’s starter home. Other then the commute for us I think it’s a keeper. I don't know you tell me.

We also celebrated Hagen's first birthday while we were down there. Chase and Nancy put together a yummy barbeque with all the family. It was fun to see everyone gather together and enjoy good company and good food. Hagen seemed to enjoy his cake too.

I am thankful to my new extended family and the opportunity we have to go down there every once in a while and get away from all the hustle and bustle and go 4-wheeling and visit with them. I have officially given myself a bad rap down there. I've been asked d why it is that whenever I come down all I want to do is sleep. It’s either because they plan outstanding outings that wipe me out or it’s because I’m just used to the busier life up here and the minute I get down south my body begins to relax and so I sleep. Either way, I love it.

Book Tag

Amanda tagged me.

Here it is:

Pick up the nearest book.
Turn to page 123
Post the fifth sentence
Tag 5 friends.

"Thou shalt not tempt the Lord Thy God."

Are computer is right next to the bookshelf with all of Mark's books from his mission. So I closed my eyes and graped one. I haven't read this book yet but its on my list of want to reads.
I'm reading right now the newest book by Dean Hughes, Before the Dawn. Its good so far.

I tag: Erica, Becky, Lindsey W, Nancy, and Heather!

Review

It’s been a few weeks since I have posted anything and a lot of things have happened in those weeks. I decided I had better do a week in review before I fell too far behind. So here I go.

To start off with I finished up my student teaching. I am excited to be done because that means I am even closer to becoming a teacher and having my own classroom. I'm also really sad because I had a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the Kindergarten class and I'm going to miss teaching them. I am hoping to be hired at the same school as a third grade teacher next year. I'll keep everyone posted.

We also had Easter in those weeks. Mark and I had a very relaxing and enjoyable Easter together. We went down to Aurora for Easter this year. We did a wide array of activities while we were down there. We went four-wheeling in the snow (that was exciting because there was no snow up here and it was warm, how quickly that changed! Now we have snow and really cold temperatures. I WANT SPRING!). We helped dye Easter Eggs with Will and Harley and they even let us enjoy some of their Easter Candy. We had an Easter Egg Roll(this tradition was introduced to me this year.) On Sunday we all went to Big Rock Candy Mountain for a picnic. I enjoy going down to Mark's parents because it seems like life slows down. I needed that kind of break after student teaching.

After are nice relaxing weekend we came back home to get back to work. Mark went back to work and I went to work on my senior project. This is the last college assignment I will ever do! I worked with Erica on this assignment very day! We were both sick of even thinking about it. We made a goal with each other that if we got it done by Friday we would treat ourselves to Einstein’s Bagels and their Mudslide cookie. Erica finished hers by Thursday and I just needed to scan in a few more assignments so we went a day early to Einstein’s. It was a well deserved treat! It is so nice to know that I am done!

Last Saturday I threw Erica a baby shower. I couldn't have done it without the help of Mom and Amanda. Even Becky came to my rescue with the drinks. Between Mom and Amanda they took care of all the food and mom did the finishing touches on the games for me. They are the biggest lifesavers. Thank you guys!

Now I'm done with everything. I attend my last class tonight and then I don't have to step back into the school until April 25th for graduation. I'm so excited to be done! I just wonder what I'm going to do with myself this summer. I will be substitute teaching the last few months of school and then I have no idea. I'm looking forward to whatever life brings.

Happy Homemaker!

Well, its official we bough something this week that is supposed to help me be the 1950's happy homemaker! We bought a new frontloading washer and dryer. We have been fed up with the washer and dryer that we were using that our landlady let us use. We had to babysit the dryer because it would turn off every 5 minutes, and it would take 4 hours sometimes to dry a simple load of whites. I think Mark was a little afraid that I was going to put my foot through the dryer if I had to deal with it for much longer.

We started looking at dryers a while ago but wanted to wait so we could find a good deal. Every time we went to look I told Mark I wanted the red front loading washer and dryer. Mark would just say me too and walk over to the dryers in our price range.

I swear we looked at every dryer and at every place imaginable. We looked and we looked and we looked. Finally after looking at all the deals for dryers we decided it would be cheaper for us to buy a new washer and dryer if we were going to buy anything at all. We finally found a good deal at RC Willey and after discussing the money we decided to get it. We bought our new front loading Whirlpool Duet washer and dryer, (white not red) on Friday.

Chase and Nancy came up on Saturday to pick up a pickup truck they bought and they were kind enough to help us get them home. Chase helped Mark load them into the house and we were lucky to only get one scratch on them (ha ha Chase!)



I love our new washer and dryer. I like to sit in the hall and watch the washer. I think that will end when the novelty wears off. I hope this is the first step in helping me to truly be the happy homemaker I want to be. Mark has been so good to me by cleaning up the house the past few weekends while I have been gone for school. I hope that now my student teaching is done I can take over the role of happy homemaker again. I am so lucky to be married to a patient guy.

Here is my happy homemaker shot of me showing off my new washer and dryer I was trying to look like the old 1950 ads with the happy lady in her apron. I just didn't have an apron to wear.

Apparently I Can Make Anything Interesting!

Sorry it has taken me a while to write something new on my blog. Both Mark and I have been busy with work and school. I feel like all we do is work and sleep. I haven't posted anything because I haven't known what to post about.

I was talking to Amanda tonight and she wanted to know when I was going to put a new post up? I told her I didn't know because nothing exciting has really happened. The most exciting thing we did last night was go through the Taco Bell drive through for a carmel apple empanada. She informed me that I can make anything interesting as long as I write about it. I told her that I needed pictures to add to the post. She suggested I take a picture of my empanada. That would be a bit of a problem since I ate it the night before. So she suggested I take a picture of the wrapper but I always try to give a hoot and not pollute so, I threw it away. She was all out of suggestions at this point and ended our conversation by saying, "Just put something new on your blog."

So I decided I would start tonight to turn over a new leaf and but something new on my blog. Tonight was the first night in a long time and the first night this week that Mark and I had no plans. Mark came home at his normal time and we decided to run down to grandmas and put away her Christmas tree that she asked us to put away awhile ago. We visited with grandma for a little while. When we got ready to leave I noticed that her atomic clock in her hall was not working. The screen was completely blank. I asked her if the battery needed to be changed and that was why the screen was blank. She informed us that it wasn't the battery that was the problem it was because the government shot down the satellite a few weeks ago. That sounded a little strange to both Mark and I so we both looked at her and said, "What?" She informed us that the clock quit working about the same time the government had to shoot down the satellite . I took the clock down and put a set of new batteries in the clock and Mark reset the clock so I would work again and VOILA! It works again! Grandma was excited to know that it was just a faulty battery.

We came home from Grandmas and barbaqued a hamburger for dinner. We watched the end of American Idol and then we got interested in the new show that followed called New Amsterdam (What a strange show!)

Don't worry Mark is not really asleep he just wishes he was. Usually it is the other way around. I want to watch a movie and within the first ten minutes I'm out cold.

Lately I have had a craving for sweets (this was the reason for the late night Taco Bell run last night for and empanada.) I am always in the mood for something chocolate or sweet. ( I know what some of you are thinking with all this baby talk going on and the answer is NO!!! And yes I am sure about that. I have had some health problems and the doctor ran all the tests and they all came back negative. I am just my fathes daughter and there are soem times when I just get a craving for something sweet or just some ice cream.) I mixed up an Oreo desseret tonight and Mark and I were able to enjoy this while we watched T.V. It was very nice to have a relaxing evening for once. I'm hoping to have more of those in a couple of weeks as I finish up student teaching and get ready to graduate in about a month.

Oh just to give everyone a recap on what happened last week, Mark put his Beretta on KSL cars a couple of weeks ago, and we sold it offically on Saturday. Mark was sad to see it go but says he is glad to see it out of Ben's backyard and back on the streets again. The kid who bought it hopes to fix it up and use it as a show car.

Speaking of car shows Mark and I attended the Autorama last Friday at the South Town Expo Center. There were some nice cars and we enjoyed ourselves but Mark said that the show wasn't as good as it has been in years past. I don't know about that though, in years past they didn't have Lightning McQueen on display. That was the highlight of my evening!