Saturday night

Eating airheads

and

sipping Dr. Pepper.

It's a party.

Naughty or Nice?

Today, a naughty, chatty, annoying, not listening 6th grade boy told me if I taught at their school next year, he'd get held back a year just to be in my class. Sometimes the naughties kids are the sweetest.

There is a different boy--not as sweet--who asks questions I can't explain on a daily basis. Today we were reading about Erik Weihenmayer, the blind mountain climber, and a sentence said something about 'whet his appetite.' Boy said, "Mrs. Smith, there is a typo." Well I knew it wasn't a typo, but I didn't know why it wasn't a typo. So I looked it up. Wet means to soak something, but Whet means to stimulate. Look at how smart 6th grade is making me.

One year old cake

One year ago (yesterday), Andrew and I were sealed for time and eternity in the Salt Lake City temple. What a glorious year it has been. To celebrate we went to a movie and dinner.

We paid for a 3D movie, then changed our minds and asked if we could get a refund and see a regular movie. The ticket guy lowered his voice and pulled out two tickets(?) from his pocekt and said, "Here, you can have these." We are wondering the same thing you might be, are they real, free passes to the movies? I'll let you know when we find out.

Next we went to Carrabbas for dinner. Oh. My. Goodness. Deliciousness. Andrew insisted we go back tonight because it was so good. And I agreed. (But we aren't at Carrabbas, and we'll probably eat tomato soup and bread--which we made--for dinner. Not quite the same, but close enough.)

And then, we came home and ate our cake.

Our one year old frozen cake. My mom said they wrapped it up really well. She was not lying. there were about 10 layers of foil, then 10 more layers of press and stick plastic wrap. Guess what, it was actually edible, I actually liked it. The cake part was a little dry, but the chocolate on top and the middle filling was just as delicious as it was a year ago. Really the only difference was the way it looked:

1.14.10

1.14.11

Here's to another good year!

Christmas (only a few weeks late...)

I was appointed as the family historian (family=Andrew and me). I have failed thus far. I didn't take a single picture of Christmas! Andrew's sister Melanie, her husband Nate, and their two girls Scarlet and Autumn came from Washing DC to visit. It was so fun being with them so much! We also got to see a lot of our darling nephew Henry. (You'll want to go here to see some pictures of them--from Melanie's blog since she actually took pictures)

I'm pretty sure, positive, that Andrew and I are the favorite aunt and uncle. It could be because we pretended that the large beanbag in the basement was a big mud hole, and played that we had to help Scarlett and Henry out of the mud, and sometimes get in with them, over and over and over and over.... and over again. It could also be because we "let" Scarlett eat some of our chocolate bar (I found her hiding in a dark room with the chocolate munching away--so funny). Or it could be because I let Henry drag me around the house because "you need to show me something" all the time. Could they get any cuter?

Favorite quote: "Can I have some juice for the road?" --Henry, age 2 1/2

Some other highlights were feasting on Shannon's DELICIOUS food all break, and guessing Russ' favorite movie for Christmas to go along with his new Bluray player. We bought the movie on a whim, and later that day Russ was telling us how he loved Inception. Andrew is the best guesser, he always know the perfect presents for people. Which means he also got me some great things for Christmas. Dry Shampoo, love it! A new hair blow dryer, dries my hair faster, blessing. And a few other gems. He also volunteered to fill the stockings each year (score) and of course, that meant (and means) a lot of good candy, and chocolate from the greatest Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Good work, Santa.

Student teaching is going faaaaaaabulously! I am already too attached to those kids and dread leaving them in six weeks. Accounting is... going. I know it's not a recreational activity for Andrew, but he's a good sport to stick with it and he is hanging in there. Good news is he doesn't have class tomorrow! Hooray for canceled career fairs.

Some things to think about

(unfortunately, I didn't come up with these, but they are pretty funny)

• I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

• I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

• There is great need for a sarcasm font.

• You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day. (workees, I miss you!)

• How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?

• winner winner chicken dinner: Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey -- but I'd bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time.

Today I started student teaching! It was a bit overwhelming (teacher work sample is a beast). But, as we were taking the tour of the school, we passed the class I would be in. The vice principal said we were the student teachers and the kids asked, "Which one is Mrs. Smith?!" I waved to them, and I started to tear up when I saw their faces light up. It was really that emotional for me. And at the same time, it completely calmed me of my overwhelming feelings. At that moment, I knew I was exactly where I should be. I am so excited for the next seven weeks I get to spend with these children.

I am at a very low socio-economic school (currently #1 in the district), and they get a lot of grants because of it. In the 3rd-6th grade, the money from the government is used for computers in the classroom--among other amazing technology! There is one computer for every two students in class at their desks. While I sat in the back and observed the class, I noticed many students turning their heads to look at me. I would smile at them and they'd whip their head back around (as if I didn't notice). Well, one sneaky girl was looking at me through her computer screen! It made me laugh.

Another highlight of the day was the class auction. A boy bought the 4th Harry Potter book, walked to the back of the classroom, and gave it to me. He knew I liked HP because I told the class when I introduced myself. Yes, it's a written on, torn, maybe missing pages copy, but how sweet is that?

Student teaching, here I come. I can't believe I am actually doing it now. I've imagined this for so long. I have always known I wanted to be a teacher, and here it is. Wish me luck!

Liz's Text

Lizzzzzzz. Remember that text you sent me our sophomore year? I couldn't stop laughing about it last night. When I got the text, I was sitting on the second to last row in a classroom in the basement of the JKB. I never get service down there, but thank goodness I got it for this one. I actually laughed out loud. I had to cover my mouth as the tears started streaming down my face. I don't know, maybe we are the only two people who think this is so funny:

'I wish you were here in my class. There is a boy wiping blood off his forehead with little pieces of paper....whaaaaaaaaat?'

Really though, who does that?