Auld Lang Syne

As the year 2010 draws to a close, I thought it would be a good idea to post something. This has been an interesting year in many ways, but the funny thing is that I couldn't really tell you in what ways. Most of the excitement has come towards the end of the year with my sister getting engaged and my Dad getting married. It has been one of stress, one of relaxation, and one of new adventures.

I am hoping that as the year 2011 begins, I will be able to look forward at life with a positive attitude. One of the things I'm hoping to do is to be more organized both at home and at work. I want to be able to have a life outside of work and to manage my time more wisely. I am also hoping to re-lose the pounds I gained when I became weak and succumbed to my chocolate addiction.

Call these resolutions if you will. I will distinguish them as goals. I hope to be able to make my life and those of others a more positive experience. Have a wonderful end of 2010!

So It Begins...

Well, apparently I'm no good at blogging every day. It was worth a try. This has been one of the busiest months I've ever experienced! My leadership team at school survived Red Ribbon Week, I made a quick trip to Idaho to get a table and chairs, and my Dad got married last weekend. Thank goodness for Thanksgiving weekend. I get extra days off which makes for a nice long weekend, and I was able to spend time with family. Now I have the opportunity to start feeling stressed for the Christmas season like I do every year. I am going to go crazy. I just hope I can get everything all figured out. Otherwise, I may blow!

Thankfulness Catch-Up

Apparently I am no good at this blogging every day. I've had quite a week. I thought I would do a catch-up of things I'm thankful for so let's see if I can remember every day this past week:

• Monday: I am thankful for the job that I have. Even though my students drive me crazy, I have the opportunity to provide for myself. With these hard times, every little bit helps.
• Tuesday: I am thankful for my Personal Trainer, Danny. He not only helps me to become more healthy (with more success on some days), but he actually cares about what is going on in my life and helps me to set goals. HE IS AWESOME!
• Wednesday: I am thankful for the time I have to try to get everything done, both at school and home. It doesn't seem like I have a lot of extra time to get everything accomplished lately, but every little bit has helped.
• Thursday: I am thankful for my Leadership Team at school. These are some of the most responsible people at school and I could not get half the projects done without them. They work so hard and are so dedicated.
• Friday: I am thankful for automobiles that can take us to far places. I can't imagine what it would be like to have to travel to Idaho and not have a car. The pioneers really had it bad. Thank goodness I live in a society with faster transportation.
• Saturday: I am so thankful for the help my family was in getting things out of the U-Haul and into my condo and Kerry's room. They didn't have to, but they did it.

And finally, here is today's: I am so thankful for getting an extra hour to sleep this morning. As much as I don't like it getting dark earlier in the winter, I really needed a bit more sleep this morning. I only hope it will help me focus more in church today.

Okay-hopefully that takes care of it for the week. I will try to remember to get on this tomorrow and blog my thankfulness!

A Season of Thanks

Wow! I haven't posted a blog since the first week of school? What have I been doing with myself? I must be pretty lazy! Let me make a list of what has been going on:

• School started. That's obvious from my previous post, isn't it?
• My niece got baptized in October. She is so cute!
• My friend, Sommer, became engaged. She can't wait until December 11th!
• I played with my friends, Kym, Becca, and Tara. Becca now has a room that is green!
• My dad became engaged and moved to Washington State. A town called Longview. My sisters, brother-in-law, soon to be brother-in-law, and I are going to the wedding on November 20th. We're making a tiny vacation of it so we're arriving on the 18th.
• I started attending a Singles Branch for 31-45 year olds. After the first Sunday, I already love it and have met nice people so I'm waiting right now for my records to be sent over.

You'd think this would explain my lack of blogging, but really, it just comes down to laziness. Not to say I haven't been busy, but I could have blogged on the weekend. At least on Sunday. I am resolving to do better.

Even though this is getting posted on the last day of October (Ooh, spooky Halloween!), I think I will try to blog things I am thankful for during the month of November. I know people have done this before, but I thought I'd give it a try. Starting tomorrow, I hope to have my first post of Thanksgiving. Let's give it a whirl!

Operation First Week: ACCOMPLISHED!

So... another school year has yet begun. Interestingly, it's been a pretty good week all around. The night before the first day, I was worried I wouldn't sleep very well because when I get a billion things in my head, it's hard for me to calm down. I lay in bed talking to myself and going through some calming exercises which really helped!

For those who don't know, this is my 5th year of teaching at Wasatch Jr. High School. I started there when I was surplused from Jefferson Jr. High where I had also gone as a student. At first, I didn't like the change, but it was actually for the best because I have made some of my greatest friends ever! The teachers are great and I look forward to talking with them every day!

This year, I teach 2 GT World Geography, 2 Core World Geography, and 2 U.S. History classes. I am very excited about the U.S. History classes because it is my favorite subject and I was teaching Geography all day for the past 4 years and it can get monotonous! When I was in 8th grade, my teacher, Mr. Burton, made it so much fun and that's when I chose what I wanted to teach. I even got to work with him as a teacher before he retired!

I'm hoping I don't look like this guy by the time the school year is over!

When I got home on Friday, I could barely function. I decided a nap was the best way to go so this is what I looked like when I slept (just go with it-we all have our dreams)!

I think it will be a great year. I really do! And although I'm sad that Amy Dimick decided to desert me and go to another school, we will totally keep in touch! On a bright note, Trish Pedersen (who I worked with at Jefferson Jr.) is now teaching at Wasatch!

"Grey skies are gonna clear up..."

He Lives In You

On Thursday, Kerry and I were able to attend "The Lion King" at Capitol Theatre. I've been looking forward to seeing this for a long time! It's been on Broadway for many years and it finally came to Salt Lake on tour! It's so popular, they had to add more weeks so more people could see it. It will be here until the end of September.

"Hakuna Matata"

I really enjoyed watching this version of it. In order to make it a Broadway play, more music was added and some changes were made so it could take place on a stage. The actors playing the animals were incredible! Those who were playing giraffes had to be on stilts-I sure couldn't have done it!

"He Lives In You"

I actually knew most of the new songs that were added because an album came out after the original "The Lion King" cartoon called "Rhythm of the Pride Lands". It takes much of the instrumental music from the cartoon and adds words in English and some of the African languages. One of the songs called "He Lives In You" really touched me more than usual as I was watching the show on Thursday. I've heard it many times before, but for some reason I started thinking of our Father in Heaven and how this song applies to Him. Let me write the lyrics to the chorus here so you may understand a little better:

He lives in you. He lives in me.

He watches over everything we see.

Into the water. Into the truth.

In your reflection, he lives in you.

My eyes started to water as I was listening. I really felt the Holy Spirit whisper the truth of this to me. I think I've been taking for granted that Heavenly Father is there and I haven't been too happy with myself and my lack of motivation to change my life. I really felt His presence there that night and I believe it's stayed with me for the past several days.

Kerry and I at intermission

If anyone would like to hear this song, I have a copy of it. In the show, it's just Mufasa telling Simba about his great forebears and how they are around him all of the time. I think this principle applies to us and how much our Heavenly Father loves us! Don't forget that!

Countdown to Stress

So now it's August. I've had 2 great months of summer where I've done nothing but read and watch T.V. I even did some planning for the upcoming school year. However, I'm still not looking forward to giving up all my free time. It's not that I don't like my job, it's just that I start feeling so stressed during those 9 months. Mostly all my time is taken up with school things and I sometimes don't feel like I have any "ME" time. I think that's why I like my summer vacations so much. I don't feel pulled into a billion different directions. I don't feel stressed about if my lessons are good enough. This next year will be my 12th year of teaching, but I still get nervous about it. I guess the good thing is that it does keep me busy and I get to hang out with my teacher friends. I will just have to make sure I plan my time wisely so I don't feel the stress as much. Maybe it won't be as bad as I think!