PARENTHOOD

Having never been a parent, I cannot attest to the difficulty of this task. I can tell you however, that some parents just don't care enough about their children. Plain and Simple. I can attest to the fact that children need the support of their parents to succeed. I can also say that if all parents could and would just try the following, their children would be much better off.

1. Do check your child's back pack when they get home to see if they have everything they need.
2. Do not dodge a teacher/principal/social worker's phone call.
3. Do not teach them to disrespect their elders, or that saying please and thank you is optional.
4. Do hear them out when they try and tell you something is wrong.
5. Do not over-schedule your child, and by association yourself.
6. Do ask your child what they learned in school today.
7. Do not say you're too busy to listen to them read.
8. Do be consistent in enforcing the rules you set.
9. Do not pretend everything is always okay. (They know that it's not)
10. Do take their teacher seriously when they list concerns.
11. Do not attack said teacher for voicing their concerns. If they didn't care about your child, they wouldn't tell you.
12. Do tell your child that you love them.
13. Do not set unrealistic expectations
14. Do let your children know it's okay to fail.
15. Do not teach them to hide their feelings.
16. Do laugh with your children when they do something funny...and teach them to laugh at themselves.
17. Do not criticize, intimidate or bully as a form of discipline.
18. Do help your children show genuine emotion, rather than to blankly stare into oblivion.
19. Do not assume that they just know you love them.
20. Do teach your children to be a leader AND a follower.
21. Do not dissuade them from following their dreams, as obscure or crazy they may seem.

Some of the parents I have encountered may say this list is easier said than done, or that I don't know what I'm talking about because I'm not a parent. To them I respectfully say...just try it and yes, I do.

New Addition

Well, after months of bargaining, Megan finally consented to us getting a dog! She wasn't totally sold on the idea, but she knew how much I wanted one...and was maybe a bit tired of me asking.

I had found a listing for a 9-month old dog on ksl.com. We arranged to drive to Logan to see him last Friday night. His owner was a college student, who apparently thought that she would be able to find an apartment that allowed dogs when she moved to school, but wasn't able to.

Since we were teenagers, my brother and I have planned on having beagles. He would be naming his Bingley, and I would name mine Bentley. He's still working on getting his, but we decided to follow through. So the dog formerly known as "Koylei" was renamed--Bentley the Beagle.

As we drove home from Logan, he was super chill and cuddly! We could tell he was getting restless by the end of the drive. He would lay down in one position, move his head ten seconds later a couple of times, and then stand up and find another position. When we finally got home, he ran laps around his new home! We could tell he was happy to be here.

Since then, we've been adjusting to having him around. We built a pen for him in our storage room, and he's usually content to be wherever we are. He is super energetic, but crashes after running around for awhile. He loves to hang out under our furniture, though he has to do an army crawl to get there. He chews a lot, but we've found some good toys that distract him from our more precious objects.

We're glad to have him around! Here are some pictures. We took some good ones with our camera, but we can't find the cord...so these will have to do. They were taken with our phones.



He also likes to lay in funny positions, like this one we caught:

Grateful

Thou gracious God, whose mercy lends
the light of home, the smile of friends,
our gathered flock thine arms enfold
as in the peaceful days of old.

Wilt thou not hear us while we raise
in sweet accord of solemn praise
the voices that have mingled long
in joyous flow of mirth and song?

For all the blessings life has brought,
for all the sorrowing hours have taught,
for all we mourn, for all we keep,
the hands we clasp, the loved that sleep.

The noontide sunshine of the past,
these brief, bright moments fading fast,
the stars that gild our darkening years,
the twilight ray from holier spheres.

We thank thee, Father; let thy grace
our loving circle still embrace,
thy mercy shed its heavenly store,
thy peace be with us evermore.



-Oliver Wendell Holmes

School DAZE

My first bulletin board. I'm so proud! The students had to write a caption saying why they were proud to be in America, and then they drew a self portrait. I gotta say, some of my 5th graders have serious drawing talent. It's so fun to see the things they come up with.

So far school as been overwhelming, but at the same time a total blast! I've discovered that I secretly like the naughty kids in my class more than the good ones. I never seem to know what's going on with the rest of the school, i.e. meetings, assemblies etc. My kids are super good at reminding me of what I'm supposed to be doing. I smoothly pretend that I knew what was going on the whole time, and say I just wanted to see if THEY knew. I'm seeing that some kids don't have any kind of personality, which makes me concerned for their future. Also, I have already run out of patience with the "my mom didn't remember" excuse which seems to be the common fall back for any student that doesn't bring their homework.

Teaching school has it's quirks for sure, but so far.....totally fun.

Worries of a Future Teacher

-Heels, or the flats the first day?
-Pin system or card system?
-How can I teach language arts when I'M not even sure of all the rules of grammar?
-Can I get away with wearing jeans more often than on Fridays?
-How much diet coke should I let my students to SEE me drink?
-5th graders should know how to tie their own shoes.....right??
-How comfortable am I with parents popping in and out of my room?
-How much material should be my own, and how much should I get from my fellow teachers?
-Can I really go 3 hours without a bathroom break, or just a break period?
-Can I avoid a bickering match with a 10/11 year old?
-Will the students see me as an authority, or just walk all over me?
-How do I make what I'm teaching stick?
-Is it appropriate to laugh when a student is being "disruptive"?
-8:30-3:30 isn't THAT long......right?
-If I'm late to a faculty meeting or two, will they give me the boot?
-When I don't know the answer to something, will I lose all credibility?
-I wonder how many times I'll come home crying.
-How many art/music/pe activities can I get away with?

WHAT IF I'M NOT CUT OUT FOR THIS????

Goings On

Yes, it's been awhile. Not because I lack anything good to say, but because I lack the desire to write it down. Here's what's going on with us right now....

I GRADUATED

After lots of interviewing, I was offered a job at Bennion Elementary school in the 5th grade. So not only did I graduate, I got a BIG KID job.

• Steve's working full time for Sterling, and I'm working a couple days a week for Extra Space.
• We've had fun trips to Lake Powell and the Cabin, to enjoy time with friends and family.
• The sprinkler line at the top of the stairs to our apartment burst, thus flooding our kitchen and living room. Said flood was found when I decided to skip Sunday school to prepare the stuff for my Young Women's lesson. Having no idea what to do I ran back to the church and grabbed Steve out of his Gospel Doctrine lesson, (for which he didn't return) and some amazing members of our ward dropped everything to help.
• Due to the flood Steve and I replaced our damaged laminate flooring with tile, with help from my parents, and we are still in the process of putting it all back together.
• I'm off to spend my first young women's camp as a leader up in the Oakley area. It will be interesting to be on the other side of this. What I've learned so far is that the leaders get to go down to Kamas to get "ice" AKA "sodas" while the girls cannot leave the camp. I think I'm gonna like being a leader.
• We're both looking forward to the Cundick camping trip in Yellowstone as well as the Boucher California trip the following week. We'll be busy traveling this July. :)

Other than that our summer's flying by altogether too fast, and we're enjoying every moment of it.

More pictures and posts to come!

The Wooldial

The Wooldial (full name: The Second Annual End-of-Finals Wooldial Auto-Invitational Semi-Pro Golf Classic) is a golf tournament that a buddy of mine and I decided to put together last spring. It's a two-man scramble, meaning that you play as a team of two. You each hit, then you go to the better of the two shots and each hit from there, etc.

For the second year in a row, I played with my mission buddy Derrick. This year, his wife came along to ride in the cart and hang out. Megan would have come too, but she was working her last night at the Lion House (exciting story about that to follow in another post.)

Last year, Derrick and I won. We weren't so lucky this year. Derrick played well again...I did not. Still, we had an eventful outing.

From time to time, golfers have been known to put on some pretty good threads to play the sport, and Derrick and I feel that the Wooldial calls for a trip to the DI before-hand. Below are the pictures, first from this year, and second from last year.
Hopefully we can make it two out of three next year.

My mind has been reeling lately. I feel very behind on lots of things, including my blog and right now I should be catching up. Unfortunately, I cannot bring myself to to do it. So instead I feel like sharing a few things that have been on my mind.

I'm LUCKY

I married into an amazing family. When Steve and I got engaged, I was very intimidated by his family. I had no grounds to feel this way, other than that I wanted them to like me. Now I see how silly I was to feel that way. They are the most loving and kind people I know. I have been overwhelmed with the love and support we have been given. Steve's family goes to extremes to support each other, even when they have their own burdens to bear. I so admire his parents, and their desire to help their children succeed. I want to be like his siblings because of their concern for each other. His nieces and nephews are adorable, and never fail to make me smile.

I was raised by parents that cared about my education. I know this, because of how involved they were at my school. My mom was on every committee, my dad was at every play, music recital and class event. Even with all of us graduated now, my parents can still be found at foundation meetings, on school re-build committees and in my mom's case, sewing up a storm for the drama department. As I am student teaching, I am learning how crucial a parent's involvement in their child's classroom is. Because of their examples, I CARE about my education. Heck, I would say it's one of the reasons I want to be a teacher. They have inspired me to help my students to care about their education too.

My husband loves me. This may seem simple, but I honestly believe it's one of the reasons I'm lucky. I've noticed recently how he and I love each other more every day. And even though that doesn't seem possible sometimes, each day I'm surprised because it grows even more. The best thing about it is that I'm sure that it will be this way forever.

I have a knowledge of Heavenly Father's love for me. I know he's watching over me and those I care about. I know that even though I don't always like what he has in store for me, I know that I'll overcome whatever challenges come my way because he wouldn't send them if he didn't think I could handle them.

Sorry it's sappy, but it's as close to how I feel as I can say. I'm just really, really lucky.