Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Anniversary (a little late)




Happy anniversary Tim (a few days late)! I can't believe it's been two years. I was so strongly reminded of that gloriously happy day when we were in the temple today. This has been the perfect vacation - perfect for us, for what we needed right now. Like our wedding day, it's not that there weren't/aren't things that could be better (mainly the weather and coordinating with people so we get things to happen on time), but none of those things really matter: we're together, and we're happy, and that makes it perfect.

We've been lucky so far. Two years of good times, in spite of school and work or lack of work. We're learning together, and I love how far our little home has come. Thanks for being so patient with me as I figure out how to be married, and how to be myself and married. You're pretty wonderful at it already. In fact, you are the best. You are kind and loving and funny and hard-working and so dedicated to everything you do.

I can't wait for the next year, to see what surprises life has for us, what joys and even what trials. I can't wait to find out who we're going to be in a year. I love you, mi Timoteo. You are the love of my life, forever.

P.S. This really has been the best trip ever. Just so you know.



Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Father's Day

Tim's birthday usually falls right around Father's Day and I tend to get caught up in the birthday celebrations, so I wanted to post something about dads. About how lucky I am to have a wonderful, loving father who has given me an appreciation for eclectic French composers, exotic foods, and the finer points of English grammar. A father who looks for every opportunity to spend time with his children, who finds ways to spoil us (even when we're grown up and out of the house), who works hard to support us still. A father who once started an indoor water fight, who came to pick me up from the airport so I could surprise Tim when we were engaged, who offered to make cookies so Tim and I didn't have to bake a thousand cookies by ourselves. I wanted to post something about how he is so very thoughtful and concerned and strong, how proud I am of him for fighting his cancer, and how I love him very much.

I also wanted to post something about my luck in finding a great father-in-law, who raised my husband to be a good man. Who taught his sons how to love and cherish their wives. Who taught them how to learn from history. Who set an example of church and community service. Yes, I thought it would be appropriate to post something about this other father of mine, as well.

But then I remembered the grandfathers who have each touched my life and taught me lessons of value, the uncles who have been my friends, the brothers who will be my children's examples and pals, and the friends I have grown up with. And I thought of my husband, who will someday be an amazing father to my children, and my heart is too full to put it all into words. I am so incredibly blessed to have these men in my life; they have each enriched and strengthened me in one way or another. I wish I could tell them individually what they mean to me, but blog post intentions will have to do. Happy Father's Day!

Monday, June 20, 2011

Birthday

Four years ago today, I came home from England.

Two years ago today, I went through the temple for the first time.

Today, it's my Tim's 26th birthday.

I love June 20th.

There are a couple of days of the year that hold special significance for me, aside from the traditional reasons to celebrate, and this is one of them. It's a birthday of sorts for me and it's my best excuse to spoil my husband (which he only allows when I have a good excuse). Sometimes it's Father's Day too and then we just go all out.

This year, we had a rockin' birthday party for Tim on Friday - by far the best party we've ever thrown (success!!).





Saturday we made lots and lots of cookies for Father's Day, and though exhausted, we made our deadline (success!!).



After church, we went up to my parents' house for combined Father's Day/Tim's birthday celebration. I did a good job of coordinating with my parents to get Timmy some gifts he was way excited for (success!!).



And then on Monday, we went to the Hale Center Theater to see The Hit, which was really funny and I'd definitely recommend it. Didn't take any photos (fail), but here's Tim talking on the phone to his family during dinner.



Between making a thousand cookies and making food for a party and throwing the party and going to barbecues and then going to another party and then having an actual birthday day with presents and a play AND getting ready to go on vacation in a few days, I'm exhausted but completely satisfied. I truly believe in making a big deal out of life's anniversaries, whatever events they mark. All of my June 20th celebrations are for life-changing days, and I'm so glad that we took the time and made the effort to celebrate them fully.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Summer time

Summer means lots of things... Like carnival rides and blue skies




Parades


Fireworks


1st birthdays


Adorable nieces



Beautiful sunsets


Roses in full bloom



Green mountains



Gotta love the month of June. Happy summer everyone!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

It never gets old

I don't know how it's possible, but going to Torrey and Capitol Reef never gets old, boring, or less-then-beautiful. It's a magical place, that Torrey. I highly recommend it.

Because of school and work, Tim and I didn't get to go down to Torrey until Friday afternoon and then we had to come back Saturday night, but we sure did have a good time in the intervening 24 hours! (Well, mostly. Tim hurt his back this week at work moving furniture so he mostly got to rest and nap while I was out hiking with our friends. But it was still lovely, all around.)

Hiking Cohab Canyon




Dinner around the fire pit


Hiking Sulfur Creek (literally through the Creek -- so much fun!)








The only bad part was that I came home with blisters and extremely sore muscles, so that walking was more of a hobbling today and shoes were not possible so I had to wear my flip-flops to church. Add that on top of my still-terrible sunburn from last week and I make a pretty pathetic picture. But as I said a couple of times while we were hiking, "What are we if not adventurers?"

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Field Day/End of the School Year

This week, the elementary school had their end-of-the-year Field Day. I hadn't been to a Field Day since I was in the sixth grade, and just as I did at my sixth grade Field Day, I got fried. Sunburned to a crisp. When I was eleven, I was dumb; this week, I was just unprepared. (There's a different, I promise.) Regardless, the results were the same: painfully red and swollen skin. At least this time my face survived with only the slightest of sun kisses; when I was eleven, the awards assembly and 6th grade Etiquette Dinner were the next day and I look like I'm horribly embarrassed and blushing in every picture. (Which I was, coincidentally, but you honestly couldn't tell under the sunburn.)

Today (the day after Field Day) I taught my last class at Westmore. I figured the students would be stir-crazy on the second-to-last day of school, but I think they were a bit tired after yesterday's fun in the sun because they were pretty cranky and uninterested in almost every game we played. They perked up significantly when I had them help me clean the classroom and get the tape off the floor, confirming to me that kids need structure and actually prefer that to chaos (thought they'll never admit it). Which leads me to...

What I Learned in School This Year

1. Kids (ages 6-8) will do just about ANYTHING if you call it being a "special helper." Holding open doors, wiping down counters, dusting your classroom...anything. And they will fight over who gets to do it, too.

2. Free association is as its best (worst?) with 1st and 2nd graders (but mostly 1st graders). If you tell them that Mozart died when he was only 35, four hands will shoot up to tell you that "My mom is 35!" "My grandma is 67!" "My grandma died, but she was really old." "I know someone who is dead!"

3. Along the same lines, if one kid tells you he/she needs to use the bathroom, on average three other children will need to go within the next 5 minutes. Guaranteed.

4. Kids are sensitive - at those ages, EVERYTHING is personal. Kids are also super sweet and conversely, super mean. I was shocked at how much of the two extremes I found, sometimes in the same three minutes.

5. Yelling works. I hate to admit that I know that, but there were days when I was pushed way past my limits and let the kids have it. The first time I did that, they were shocked into silence and my next thought was, "Shoot, I just got rewarded for my bad behavior!"

6. Kids can handle some responsibility. Some of my best teaching moments were when I asked kids who had been acting out and misbehaving to come up with a solution to the problem, and they did. And then I gave them the responsibility of making sure they followed through, and they did! It's not foolproof (mainly because of item 7 below) but I was always very impressed by what they could handle.

7. Attention = everything good in life, even if you have to get it by acting out. I had kids who absolutely knew they were doing something they shouldn't, who listened when I said "no talking" and talked anyway, who consciously chose to be silly or chatty or dramatic because of the attention it got them. Drove me nuts, let me tell you.

8. If you don't spell out the exact perameters of a game/assignment/task, and I do mean the exact perameters, kids will break all the rules you thought were unspoken and then chaos will inevitably ensue.

9. Kids will repeat anything and everything you say and/or do to their parents, and usually completely out of context. I was grateful I learned this lesson early on. I believe it may have save me some embarrassment throughout the year.

10. Kids are listening. They are observing and picking up on things you never thought they would. And when given half the chance, they will surprise you with what they know and think and feel. I think my favorite day of the whole year was when I ran out of pictures of Beethoven for one of my 1st grade classes to color and so they drew their own pictures of the composers we learned about. I couldn't believe the specific details they added to show me who it was in the pictures.

Even though there were days I could have sworn everything I said went right over the kids' heads, I have learned that they really do hear and take in what goes on around them. I didn't really aspire to change their lives or inspire them to love music or anything; I made a commitment to teach and I fulfilled that commitment. But I did come away with new skills, with a better understanding of how kids think and act, and with a small hope that I did make a difference. Maybe not a life-changing difference, but I'd like to think that to the crying girl whose classmate said her eyes were ugly, the few minutes I took to tell her that her eyes were beautiful and they she was stronger than those mean words did make a difference. Maybe just for those few minutes, but a difference nonetheless.