Moping

It was a rough week, topped off by a really rough Friday. The kids were off. I was off. I was frustrated and ready to crawl into a hole and hide out for several days.

During reading groups yesterday we were working on the words mop and mope (the whole sneaky E thing) we then had this conversation:

Student 1: Teacher, what does "mope" mean?
Student 2: I know, I know! It is when someone is really ornery or in a bad mood. (Lifts eyebrows and looks at me)
Me: (Hanging head shamefully) Yep, that is a good way to describe what it means to mope!

UG! Now I am sure that my darling little student was looking at me for confirmation that she had given the correct definition for the word, but it sure felt like a slap in the face regardless! The timing was perfect!

I was really trying to keep yesterday upbeat because we had an assembly where EVERY SINGLE STUDENT in my class was receiving an award. No first grade class has ever done this before. We had worked for it all month and it was a very big deal. So I really tried to keep the day positive. Which was hard considering the day we were having. But the assembly was wonderful, my students were glowing with pride, and I clapped like an idiot.

After school got out and I spent a good amount of time with my head on my desk trying to remember why life is good. I gave up trying to get anything done and headed to Lacey & Steve's house. Funny how Haitian French Toast (divine!) and Baked Eggs can make life seem a little better.

Lacey did a good job of cheering me up, even convincing me that we should watch the Justin Beiber movie. Yes, the Justin Beiber movie. I was skeptical to say the least. I know nothing about the kid except that my darling students love him. However, I really like documentaries (I watched a bunch on the making of Harry Potter this week, they were awesome!) So I figured why not? We made it through most of the movie, it was even pretty interesting. Just long. We ended up fast forwarding when an hour had passed and we still had an hour to go! But Lacey was right, it did take the edge off the week! Such a great sister!

Kim Got Married!

Kim & I met back in 6th grade. We were in the same group of friends all through school, and became really good friends about the time we both started filling out mission papers. Kim got her call first, I got mine a week later. We were both called to missions in Brazil, and we left two weeks apart. We bonded over excitement & nervousness as we prepped to leave for Brazil! We were in the Brazil MTC together for 6 weeks and had a glorious time! We have been super close ever since! Last weekend Kim married a really good guy named Brad. They are pretty perfect for each other!

For having a wedding in January, they really lucked out! The day was beautiful, and not as cold as it could have been. They were sealed in the Salt Lake temple, and it was perfect! My favorite advice that the sealer gave Brad was this: "Never confuse being the head of the household with being the brains of the household!" Made me smile!

Sister Gold was Kim's MTC companion so we all became friends there. She flew in from Denver to come to the wedding.

I love this girl! We had so much fun in the MTC!

Kim, Charisse, Bethany and I have all been friends since 6th grade. We've gone through a lot together! We don't get to see each other often now, but it is fun every time we get together! We weren't sure Charisse was going to make it (she had her first baby seven days before the wedding) but she made it just in time for the sealing.

After we took pictures we headed to the Joseph Smith Memorial building for the wedding luncheon. My parents had their wedding breakfast in the room just down the hall from where we were, so we ran down to look around while we waited for the couple.

Kim & Brad had their wedding reception at a beautiful mansion. It was huge & lots of fun. Doesn't Kim look lovely? She glowed the whole day!

Kim asked me to be her maid of honor, which was so much fun!

There was cake cutting,

and cake smashing.

Flower throwing, (Bethany caught the bouquet)

Way to go Beth!

And car decorating.

(I may have found the best man and begged to be involved in this.
I am not a fan of the bouquet toss, but I LOVE to decorate cars!)

Congratulations Brad & Kim!
You two are PERFECT for each other!

What does one do ....

For a bachelorette party when everyone involved is LDS? This was the questions I asked myself many a times last week! My friend Kim was getting married and we wanted to do one last outing with her as a single woman!

We finally decided on dinner and a movie. Not super exciting, but we knew it would be fun! I decided that at the very least Kim needed to wear a veil, or else it would just be a normal girls night out. She was a good sport and wore the silly thing all night!

And it turns out that wearing a veil in a restaurant is lots of fun! We met all sorts of people we wouldn't have met if she hadn't been wearing it. A very kind woman even came up and hugged her and told her how proud of her she was. It really kept things interesting!

After dinner we watched a chic-flick. I tried to talk Kim into watching Runaway Bride. She vetoed the idea. I wonder why. :)

Not a traditional bachelorette party at all, but still super fun! (Next time I am making everyone wear pink feather boa's!)

This may seem totally un-spectacular

These are my classroom computers. I have two of them. They sit in the back corner of my classroom. One is quite old, the other one just old. One sometimes sounds like it is getting ready to blast off. You may be wondering why I am posting about two quite ordinary computers. It is because there is something quite extraordinary about them to me:

they are on!

You see, I do not do well with cords and wires and hooking computers up. Sure, once a computer is up I can find my way around the internet or Microsoft office no problem! But the actual setting it up - big problem!

For the past two years Steve (my brother in law) has been kind enough to hook my computers up. I never need them until after Christmas break, so it always gave me plenty of time to get them ready. This year got really, really busy though. And when I wasn't busy I didn't want to be running back to school to hook up computers!

Suddenly it was the day after Christmas break and the computers HAD to be hooked up. I was out of options. I took a deep breath, said a quick prayer, and began plugging every cord and wire into a likely looking spot. When I was done I stepped back and cautiously pushed the power buttons.

THEY WORKED! Both of them! Hooked right up to the internet and everything!

The cords look horrible, just a big tangle of dusty mess. I shoved them behind the desks and warned the students to be careful not to hit them with their feet. But i am so happy I don't even care! The computers are ON! Hallelujah!

Not quite what I pictured . . .

I am kind of a Harry Potter nerd. I LOVE the books, and enjoy the movies. Of all the characters I really loved Neville. I think that Rowling did such an amazing job and developing his character, and in the end he shined! I thought he was so well cast in the movies as well. When I saw this my jaw hit the floor:

This is NOT what I pictured when I imagined Neville all grown up! WOW! HAHA!

Happy Tuesday!

How I Spent My Winter Vacation

I know I severely neglected my blog last year, especially over the past month. I am slowing working to get the most important things up, though honestly, not much has been going on. That is not to say that life has been slow at all, it has been quite the opposite! But writing about grading papers/relief society visits/laundry/cleaning/etc. just doesn't sound very exciting! So though life has been very busy (and good!) I haven't found a whole lot of inspiration for blogging.

I really, really love Christmas break! By the time Christmas comes along I am ready for a break, and I feel like 2 weeks is the perfect amount of time for a good break without going nuts. And by the time school starts again, I am ready to go!

I ended up getting strep throat the week before school got out. It had been years since I had strep, and it was MISERABLE. I spent most of the first week of the break sleeping, reading, and letting my body recover. It was nice to have the time that I was really able to do so!

During the break I read four books. Yes, four books in 12 days. My name is Katie and I am a bookaholic. My stack of "to read" had gotten so big, I had to get to the ones that I have been craving for a while.

The first book I read was Crossed by Ally Condie. I was so excited to finally get my hands on this book. I had been waiting for what seemed like forever (really, only 10 months, but still!) I loved the first in the series (Matched) A LOT! Sadly, I do not feel the same way about Crossed. I found it quite dull, and I was really exasperated with the characters. As Lacey said, it is the epitome of a middle book (there is another one coming out later this year). I will still read the third one, though it is not likely that I will look forward to it with the same anticipation that I did Crossed.

After Crossed I wanted a book that I could really sink my teeth into and enjoy! I hoped that Pretties could do that for me. It is also a middle book, one in a series that I have wanted to read for years. I finally read Uglies a few months ago, and really enjoyed it. I found Pretties just as enjoyable as the first! A very fun and thought provoking book!

After finishing Pretties I knew it was time to move onto the book my book club is reading for January. I knew if I didn't read it over the break it wouldn't get finished! I was not super excited for the book. Though I do not dislike nonfiction it is not usually what I go to for leisure reading. That being said, I was surprised how much I liked this book! Though my heart broke for the little girl and the injustice she faced, I could not put this book down! I love learning about Chinese culture, which added to my enjoyment of the book. A surprisingly enjoyable read!

Enna Burning started out slow for me. I wasn't sure I was going to like it, and honestly didn't for the first third of the book. It took longer for me to get into than other Shannon Hale books that I have read, though when I reached the last third I literally could not put it down. In fact, I will probably go back tonight and read the last third again!

So really, that is what I did over the break. I spent lots of time with family, enjoyed days without stress and pressure, and finally got around to doing something that I have needed to do for a year.

See that envelope? The one I am holding upside down? It holds the manuscript for the book I wrote LAST December. Over the break I FINALLY got it ready to send to a publisher! For some reason it has really scared me, so I hadn't done anything yet. You are only suppose to send manuscripts to one publisher at a time, so I carefully picked the one I wanted to try first, pulled everything together, and it got mailed off (thanks Dad)! It usually takes months and months and months to hear back, but keep your fingers crossed! I know the chances of the first publisher I send it to picking it up are really small, but never hurts to hope!

All in all, a perfect way to spend winter break!

Ringing in the New Year!

New Year's Eve is one of my favorite days. I never do anything over the top exciting or different, I just love our traditional family celebration. It was small this year - just my parents, Grandma, Joi, Lacey & Steve & the girls, and me. Even so, we had a GREAT time!

Sisters:

Sisters:

We had our traditional finger food feast. It is my favorite meal of the year, and as far as I am concerned has absolutely no calories. At least none that I care about on that day! My favorites are always the pot stickers and the bacon wrapped water chestnuts. So yummy!

Ivy helped us to make some jello jigglers. We didn't know if they would be set up in time, but luckily they were! After putting them in a serving bowl Ivy grabbed the whole thing and plopped it onto her plate. Which was darling - until she realized that they really weren't just hers! She did share, and got a lot for her as well :-)

After dinner we sat around and chatted, then played the game Di Xit. Which was very different, and I really enjoyed!

At midnight we ran outside, hit pans with giant spoons, and enjoyed fireworks. It was a lovely way to bring in 2012.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!