Laughter and Tears

Learning

2011-12-12T15:33:00.002-07:00

I haven't written in this blog in so long. But since March, here's an idea of what I've been learning at work:

How to stay calm in chaotic situations
How to breathe deeply when nothing is going my way
How to keep my composure when everyone around me is grumpy
How to be content with a not-even-close-to-perfect day
How to listen to complaining without wanting to explode
How to let go of unrealistic expectations
How to make it through a day, one half hour at a time
How to smile at people who are looking down their noses at me

It's been awesome! :)

Okay, but in all seriousness, I have been thinking about what I have learned from my work as a preschool teacher over the last two and a half years. The last six months have been really trying, and recently as I've been contemplating them, I've felt a little upset that I didn't go back to graduate school during this time, rather than working too hard for too little money at a preschool. But over the last couple days, I've changed my mind.

I am so glad I chose to teach preschool rather than go back to school. Working with small children has taught me things about people, life, and myself that I don't think any graduate class could have taught me. And, it has brought me so much joy. True, there have been many times I have wanted to scream, pull my hair out, or throw my hands up in despair. But there have also been sweet moments of perfection, when you just want to stop time and savor the sweetness. I've often thought, "Wouldn't that be so nice to have all those moments put together in a music video." Moments of dancing, laughing, hugging, singing, comforting, running, joking, story-telling, tickling, praising, innocent conversation. When I look at my job in this light, it feels sublime.

I had a few of those moments today, and I want to share one of them with you. This week we are learning about Christmas, and so this afternoon I took the time to tell them the real Christmas story of Jesus' birth. They listened so quietly as I told them about angels, donkeys, stables, shepherds, and the Baby Jesus. When I finished telling the story, G* raised his hand and said, "How do you know Jesus?" He was asking me so matter-of-factly, but that question touched me so deeply. While I told the story, I never said that I knew Him, I was just telling the story of His birth. But I do know Him, and I was so grateful that G* asked, so I could tell them. I told them about the Spirit, about scriptures, and about prophets. When I mentioned the Bible, G* said, "Me too!" I could tell he was touched by the Spirit, as we both testified that we knew Jesus. G* is one of my favorite students, almost the same exact age as my nephew Josh, and so this conversation with him was very special.

And on a totally different note, this morning 8 of my 10 children had arrived, and we were talking about which countries their parents came from. Each of my 8 children had at least one parent who came from a different country. Here's the list:
1. China
2. Pakistan
3. India
4. Lebanon (G*'s parents)
5. Nigeria
6. Germany
7. France
8. Denmark

Dream Schedule

2011-03-17T15:05:00.003-06:00

I've found that keeping myself grounded in reality is good for my mental health, but today I indulged in some daydreaming concerning my schedule at work. Every half hour we rotate to a different room in the school for a different type of activity or lesson. Because so many classes share the same rooms in the building, no one can have the exact rotation schedule they would prefer. But if I were to have my dream rotation schedule, it would be:

6:30-8:30 Breakfast/Free Play
8:30 Calendar/Phonics/Handwriting
9:00 Outside
9:30 Math/Science
10:00 Snack
10:30 Language/Social Skills
11:00 Art
11:30 Outside
12:00 Lunch
12:30-2:30 Nap
2:30 Language Arts
3:00 Snack
3:30 Outside
4:00 Spanish
4:30 Computer
5:00 Music
5:30-6:30 Free Play

But alas, my current schedule is:
6:30-8:30 Breakfast/Free Play
8:30 Outside
9:00 Snack
9:30 Calendar/Language/Handwriting
10:00 Computer
10:30 Phonics/Social Skills
11:00 Math/Science
11:30 Lunch
12:00 Outside
12:30-2:30 Nap
2:30 Snack
3:00 Music
3:30 Language Arts
4:00 Spanish
4:30 Art
5:00 Outside
5:30-6:30 Free Play

Okay, now that I got that out of my system, I can get back to real life again! :)

Life in the Slow Lane

2011-01-02T16:24:00.002-07:00

It's been a while since I blogged last here. I spent October and part of November in Ethiopia (see my other blog for pictures), and once we got back life was pretty busy with helping my new co-teacher Kimberly do her assessments and parent-teacher conferences, and then taking care of my own assessments and parent-teacher conferences. And then it was on to getting ready for Holiday programs, Holiday parties, and Holiday gift-giving! And then on Dec. 23 we flew to Utah and had a wonderful time celebrating with family until returning on Friday night. The last couple days have been really laid-back, and I've had a chance to reflect, write in my journal, and look forward to the upcoming year.

One of the things I wanted to record is the wonderful news that I am now part-time at work!! I work 7-4 Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and Britta (who recently came back from maternity leave) teaches my class (oops, I mean our class--still getting used to that!) Tuesdays and Wednesdays. So far it's worked great to share a class, and I hope it stays this way! It has been so wonderful to have three days a week instead of just Saturday to get things done like shopping, cleaning, cooking, scheduling appointments, serving in my church and community, etc. Life is seriously good for me right now.

Right after I went part-time I started feeling some serious temptations from Satan to think I'm a loser for not feeling like I could stay on top of everything while also working full-time. I felt like people were judging and looking down on me for not working full-time when I didn't even have any kids. After some self-reflection, I realized that it was actually me judging myself for not working full-time, and then projecting those feelings on the people around me (something I've done before and am trying to stop doing).

I decided I needed to confront those feelings, and so I did.

As I did so, a talk and a story came to my mind. First, the story:

When we lived in Utah, one of the members of my stake presidency was an older, retired man. He was very giving and helpful, and he had a knack for fixing things, including cars. And so he decided that one way he could use his skills to help others would be to spend time driving on the freeway looking for people who were pulled over on the side of the road and needed assistance.

In a talk one Sunday, he explained that after making this resolution, he packed his truck with his tools and went speeding along the freeway, looking for people pulled over to the side of the road. Well, it turns out that he liked to drive fast, in the left lane. And he realized that in the left lane, by the time he spotted someone pulled over on the right shoulder, it was too late to merge over four lanes to help that individual. He realized that in order to help these people, he had to drive in the right lane--the slow lane. He said at first this was difficult for him, but eventually he got used to it and was able to help a lot of people that way. Since hearing this talk, I've thought many times of what he said next--"If we truly want to serve God's children, we need to slow down and spend more of our time in the slow lane."

Now, the talk. It's called "Don't Be in a Hurry" and it was in last June's Ensign. I really recommend reading it. It includes quotes from some of my all-time favorite General Authorites, Elder Maxwell, Elder Wirthlin, and Sister Parkin.

Elder Maxwell: "Each of us will be more effective if we plan some time for contemplation and renewal."

Elder Wirthlin: "Sometimes we feel that the busier we are, the more important we are—as though our busyness defines our worth...That we do a lot may not be so important. That we focus the energy of our minds, our hearts, and our souls on those things of eternal significance—that is essential."

Sister Parkin: "Take time to slow down and ponder so that you can feel the Lord’s love for you."

So, after some study and prayer and contemplation, I'm feeling a lot better about going part-time. I am just so excited to fill up this year with good things--serving others, developing new talents, and trying to enjoy life a little more. :) Here's to a fabulous 2011!

Enlarging My Mind

2010-09-26T10:03:00.003-06:00

Recently I've been contemplating how I often have to think of many things at once at work--several needs to meet, several disasters to avert, several materials to gather or disperse, several children to direct or comfort, several principles to teach, etc, seemingly all at the same time. Some days I feel like my head is running around in circles and might explode any minute. One day, the thought occurred to me, "I need more room in my brain to process everything at once." Upon thinking this, the scriptures Alma 37:8 and Alma 32:28 came to my mind. These scriptures say the word of God enlarges people's memories and their souls. It occurred to me that if I align my life with God's truth, He will help enlarge my mind and heart so there will be enough room for it all.

Understanding Time

2010-09-14T14:48:00.004-06:00

My three year olds are just beginning to understand the basic concept of time. But it is so funny to hear how they express their thoughts in relation to time, because they are usually way off. Here are some examples of what my kids have said and what they actually meant.

M*: "My mommy is going to have her baby in 5 minutes!"
Translation: "My mommy is going to have her baby very soon!" (her mom was about 38 weeks along in her pregnancy)

N*: "I went to Mexico yesterday!"
Translation: "I went to Mexico a few months ago!"

G*: "My birthday is tomorrow!"
Translation: "My birthday is in a few weeks!"

N*: "I want my daddy! When will my daddy pick me up?"
Me: "Your daddy will pick you up in about four hours."
N*, with a satisfied expression on his face: "Okay!"
Translation of what N* heard me say: "Your daddy will pick you up soon."

I Love My Baby Ducks

2010-07-23T18:05:00.012-06:00

Every 30 minutes at work my kids and I move to a different classroom. This can be a bit tricky to get 8-12 three-year-olds mobilized and walking in a line to the next room, but since we do it so often, the kids are usually pretty good about it. We have a few strict rules with transitioning, and one of them is that my children must always stay behind me in the hallway. I walk backwards in the hallway so as to see my kids at all times as we move from place to place. If I were to lose control and have one of my kids run off where I couldn't supervise him/her, I could lose my job.

One time when we were transitioning to the playground, I noticed that there were some patches of mud between the door of the building and the play area. So I told my kids, "Listen, when we walk outside, we have to pretend that we are a family of ducks. I am the mommy duck and you are all my baby ducks and you have to follow right behind me in a straight line, okay? There's mud outside and I am going to lead you around it, but you have to waddle right behind me." The kids loved pretending they were baby ducks following in my footsteps, and so it worked like a charm. But I didn't think much more of it until later that day, when we were transitioning in our normal every-day way, and my sweet N* said to me, "Ms. Abbi, you're our Mommy Duck and we're your Baby Ducks!" Melt my heart. I think whenever I see a family of ducks in the future, I'll think of my sweet kids at Creme and how they followed me around like a line of baby ducks.

Writing this story made me think of two others I want to record:

Often my kids will try to walk backwards in the hall, pretending they are me, and I have to remind them that only teachers walk backwards in the hall. My kids think they are so funny when they do this, and even though I don't show it to them, I think it's pretty funny too.

One time when my twins A* and A* were new to Creme (and the English language), A* ran off to the nearby computer room as we were all walking into the music room. When I counted all the children in the music room, I started to panic, realizing that I was missing A*. I ran and quickly found him in the computer room, smiling like it was a game. Like I said, this is a very serious matter, and so I told him very firmly, "You cannot do that. Never do that again. You have to stay WITH Ms. Abbi. You have to stay BY Ms. Abbi." When A* saw how upset his running off made me, he was very sorry for what he had done. And you know what he thought I was saying when I said that last sentence? "You have to say, 'Bye, Ms. Abbi.'" Because right after I said that, he said very solemnly to me, waving his hand, "Bye, Ms. Abbi." Hahaha. Oh my sweet A*!

Life is Short

2010-06-24T18:18:00.003-06:00

I'm coming up on my one year anniversary of working at Creme. This is the longest I've ever worked full-time in one place before. And it's gone by so fast!

I've been thinking recently about how much my kids have changed in the short 11 months I've been at Creme, and it blows my mind how different they are now than 11 months ago. They've all grown up so much.

And this is even more apparent as I think of the children in the younger classes. There were babies when I started that are now in the 2 year old class! And there are big babies now that weren't even born when I started! Sheesh!

If there's one thing I've learned from working in this profession, it is that babies and young children don't stay babies and young children for long. They grow up so fast. It makes me want to cherish every second I have with these darling, innocent, precious children of mine. The time we have to spend with them in their first five years is really so, so short. It's a lesson I hope to remember when I have children of my own.

Thoughts on Listening

2010-06-17T17:02:00.006-06:00

I have a few thoughts on listening, albeit three very different ones. I'll go in order from funniest to most serious.

#1. I am so glad I took the opportunity this morning to ask B* a question and really listen to his answer, because I've been laughing over his response all day. Let me introduce you to B*: he's a sweet, mild-mannered, polite, quiet, calm, good boy.

This morning he'd been riding a rather tall tricycle for his height (and when I say "riding", I mean slowly pushing his feet off the ground while sitting on the bike's seat). And then he says to me, "Ms. Abbi, I'm tired of riding bikes."

When he tells me this, I know that what he means is that he's not enjoying riding his bike, and I wonder what he'll say if I ask him this question: "You're tired? Are your legs tired, or your arms tired?" So, I ask him.

And this is his response, with a rather embarrassed look on his face, "It's hurting my....my....this thing." (And while saying "this thing," he stands up a little on the bike and points to his booty.) Hahaha!!! By divine providence I was able to keep a straight face and suggest he ride a shorter bike, but I've laughed out loud over it multiple times since then.

#2. While driving my 3 minute commute to work today, I listened to "The Sweet Escape" by Gwen Stefani on the radio. When I turned on my car over 9 hours later to drive home, the same exact song was playing on the same exact radio station. Should I take this to mean something?

#3. Recently I've been thinking a lot about listening to God. Am I really listening to Him, or am I so focused on what I want or what I need to get done that I don't pay attention to what He's trying to teach me or direct me to do? This quote keeps coming to my mind:

"The object of our prayers should not be to present a wish list or a series of requests but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is eager to bestow, according to His will and timing. Every sincere prayer is heard and answered by our Heavenly Father, but the answers we receive may not be what we expect or come to us when we want or in the way we anticipate."
-Elder David A. Bednar, "Ask in Faith," Ensign, May 2008

This quote makes me think about my kids--they are usually all too eager to "present wish lists and series of requests" to me, but they are not so eager to listen to me and do what I ask them to do. Frequently throughout my days I try to motivate my children to listen, ask my children to listen, remind them to listen, command them to LISTEN!! :) Some days I get exasperated over how they do not listen to me, and I wonder if that's how Heavenly Father feels sometimes. I think, "If they'd just listen to me, this whole experience would be sooooo much better!" And then I wonder if God thinks the same thing in regards to me sometimes.

So this is my new goal: to listen to God as attentively as I would like my children to listen to me.

I love my job

2010-05-29T12:51:00.007-06:00

I know I keep saying this, but I am so happy at work! After 10 months in my position, I feel like I have a lot of stuff figured out and I'm feeling confident in my role. It's a good feeling. If only I could feel like this with all the other parts of my life... :)

But anyhow, I wanted to share two things that made me happy last week. One was when I was reading Eric Carle's book "1, 2, 3 to the Zoo" to my kids. It's a book about animals riding in a train to a zoo. On the first page, 1 elephant is in a train car, on the second page 2 hippos, and so on. The last page is of all the animals at the zoo (1 elephant, 2 hippos, 3 giraffes, etc.)

While looking at this page of the zoo, that same blonde mentioned in my last post asked, "Why is there just a mommy elephant? Why isn't there a daddy elephant?" I said, "That's a good question. What do you think happened to the daddy elephant? Where did he go?" To which another little girl in the class enthusiastically responded, as though very proud to know the answer to the question, "At the office!!"

And the second thing that has made me very happy not just last week but for the last several weeks is what many of my children keep themselves busy with during our outside time. They walk around searching for "flowers" in the grass. These flowers are actually weeds, but if you look close enough, you can see there are tiny little blossoms in them. I would never have noticed all these tiny colorful blossoms, but my children do!

There are white, yellow, pink, and purple "flowers." They pick a handful of these blossoms and then bring them to me, proudly giving me flowers. And I have to say that close up, these blossoms are very pretty! I am so lucky to be given flowers every day! And I try to show my kids how much I appreciate their kindness.

I love how children see beauty all around them. Beauty that most adults overlook, are too busy to notice, or are too practical to appreciate. These flowers have brought so much joy to my life, and I am so grateful for my children for helping me notice and appreciate the beauty around me.

Today's Funniest Moment

2010-05-24T18:31:00.004-06:00

I'm reading a book to 12 three-year-olds about our bodies, and before the page about our brains, I ask the children, "What's inside your head?" After much probing, I realize none of them know. So I tell them that their brains are inside their heads and that they use their brains to think. One of my students, a beautiful girl with blonde hair and big gray eyes raises her hand and says very innocently and emphatically, "But Ms. Abbi, I don't have a brain!" Hahaha.

It was one of those moments when I couldn't keep myself from laughing out loud really hard. And so of course many other students join in happily, "Ms. Abbi, I don't have a brain!" Oh dear.

So I get myself together and say very seriously that everyone has a brain and without a brain we couldn't think or do all of the many things we do at school. But my blonde girl wouldn't have anything of it, she insisted that she did NOT have a brain. She said, "Ms. Abbi, I can think without a brain!" I finally had to drop it. I still don't know why she was so adamant that she did not have a brain. I'm glad about it though, because it made me laugh inside even after I had changed the subject.

"My Brother"

2010-05-21T16:32:00.004-06:00

I have twin boys in my class that I absolutely adore. They are so sweet to each other and to the other students in the class. I am so glad they are in my class because I love them soooo much!! They come from a great family--their parents and older brother are all so polite, respectful, and kind. I have been so impressed by the fact that these twins never fight with each other like you would expect brothers to fight. And to the contrary, they often help each other. Today I witnessed a very touching moment of them today that I wanted to share.

During circle time all the children sit on carpet squares. Sometimes it's a struggle for them to stay sitting on their carpet square for the whole 10-15 minutes, and so their favorite part is Weather, when one of them gets to walk over to the window to see what the weather is and then tell the class. It's a real treat to be able to get off your carpet square! :) The way I pick on a child to do this is by singing this song:

"Oh dear, what will the weather be?
Oh dear, what will the weather be?
Oh dear, what will the weather be?
[Enter name here], what will the weather be?"

When I start singing this song, all the children sit so nicely because they want me to pick on them. And after I say the name, there is always an immediate chorus of "Why didn't you pick ME?!"s and "Ms. Abbi, you didn't pick ME!!"s. And every day I have to tell the children that only one person gets to do the weather each day, and they will have their turn a different day.

Well today for weather I picked one of the twins, and right after I said the name, before any of the other children could even start complaining, the other twin brother punched his hand into the air in celebration and said with glee, "YES! MY BROTHER!" He was clearly extremely happy that his brother was picked for this special assignment.

That really touched me. It was a very powerful example to me of charity and selflessness. A* was able to forget himself for a moment and take joy in his brother's happiness, even when it meant that he was deprived of something he very much wanted. He wasn't thinking in terms of "me," he was thinking in terms of his brother. His brother's happiness was his happiness.

How difficult that can be for us, children and adults alike! We so often feel envious, resentful, or threatened by the success or good fortune of those around us. But we don't need to be. We can be like A* and think in terms of our brothers and sisters rather than ourselves. Their happiness can be our happiness. And because we are all part of God's family, we can exclaim like A*, "Yes! My brother!" (or sister) whenever someone around us is blessed or succeeds. I want to be more like A* and be able to say this easily and from the heart as he so evidently can.

Expressing Love

2010-05-14T20:40:00.005-06:00

I have been counting my blessings this week, because I have so many. My heart is overwhelmed by the love I feel for my kids and the love I feel from them. It is one of the most amazing blessings in my life. In my previous jobs there was a policy against saying, "I love you," but there is no policy against that phrase at my current job. And what a difference it makes in my day!! Some of my kids are so good at saying, "I love you, Ms. Abbi" and they will say that to me at the most random times of the day. I love it and try to show them how much I appreciate it when they tell me that. And I try to tell my kids often how much I love them as well. My life is beautiful because of this, that we frequently and openly express love for one another. These three words have a powerful affect on an environment when they are used often. I am so grateful for my kids and the love I feel when I'm with them. I am blessed beyond measure.

Laugh Out Loud

2010-04-30T15:57:00.003-06:00

Like I've said before, my kids make me laugh out loud every day by the things they say and do. I love it. Most things don't sound very funny to those who don't know the kids, but this week I've had two conversations that I thought you might appreciate, even without knowing the kids.

My coteacher is on vacation this week, and so I've had her schedule: 7-4. (I usually have the 9 to 6 shift.) I have love love loved having the 7-4 shift!! It is oh so nice. This morning I had an average of 2 kids between 7 and 9. Compare that with the average of 10 kids I usually have between 4 and 6 in the evening!

Anyhow, at one point this morning the two kids in my class were I* (girl) and G* (boy). They were both playing pretend, when out of the blue I* has the idea to pretend that they are getting married. G* goes along with it for a minute or so until I* holds her hands out to him and says, "Come on, G*, let's dance." G* says, "No." I ask G* why he won't dance with her. He says, "Because I'm Iron Man!" I ask him why Iron Man can't dance. He says, "Because Iron Man is a superhero!" I say, "Well, sometimes superheroes dance." And he says emphatically, "And sometimes they don't." Hahaha!

And yesterday in the hallway I told the kids we were going to drop something off at the kitchen. A*, one of my Korean kids who is just learning English, says, "Ms. Abbi, I like cooking!" I ask him if he likes cooking with his mom and dad. He says yes and this makes another child remember and say, "My dad likes chocolate!" To which another child says, "My dad likes white chocolate!" And then A*, my Korean kid, says, "My mommy likes pink chocolate!" So cute!

International Life

2010-04-24T15:04:00.004-06:00

Last week at Creme we celebrated the "Week of the Young Child." (One of my coworkers totally made me laugh by saying, "What about the 'Week of the Old Lady?'") We had face painting, a visit from the fire truck, we released balloons into the sky, had a Trike-a-Thon to raise money for St. Jude's Children's Hospital, and there was a book fair at school all week. That is one of my favorite parts of working at Creme--there is always something exciting going on, whether it's associated with a birthday, holiday, or something else we are celebrating. It definitely keeps us busy and on our toes! :)

One of these exciting things I've been wanting to write about is our annual "International Week." We had it in February and it was so so so much fun! Our area is very diverse and so we had lots of backgrounds to celebrate! Out of my 10 kids, the parents of 2 are from Korea, 2 from India, 2 from Puerto Rico, 1 from Lebanon, 1 from Denmark, and 2 from the US. 5 of my kids are bilingual. In our staff 1 is from Jamaica, 1 from Denmark, 1 from Panama, 2 from El Salvador, 1 from Mexico, and 1 from Uzbekistan. I love it! I love all the accents at work, and sometimes I notice myself saying certain words with the accents of the people around me (including the southern accents :) ).

During International Week each class represented a country with decorations, flags, and learning activities. We were Denmark (my coteacher is Danish). Each child had a "passport" that they used to visit the other "countries" and learn about them throughout the week. The school hired dancers, musicians, and a story-teller to visit our school to perform for the kids. We had multiple "Parade of Flags" where each class walked around waving their class's flag. And the best part was the International Night when the kids and parents dressed up in their cultural dress, brought international food, and everyone ate and walked around the school to see the different countries' displays. It was so fun!

And in a similar vein, our neighborhood is very diverse. Our neighbors are from India, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, and Korea. I think we may be the only white American people on our street! :) We look forward to getting to know our neighbors better, they all seem really nice. We've been seeing more of them since the weather has gotten nicer in the last couple months. We love going on walks together around our neighborhood in the evenings. Life is good.

P.S. I have the best class in the history of my teaching career. I love my kids so much and look forward to being with them every day. They are so sweet, cute, good, smart, and funny. My life is good!

Story Time

2010-04-08T17:37:00.005-06:00

One of my favorite parts of teaching preschool is making up stories for the kids. Occasionally my stories disappoint, and the kids get disinterested. But other times I can get them to stare wide-eyed at me in anticipation of what's going to come next in the story, and that is sooo fun! It's also fun to try to come up with morals to my stories. The kids usually ask for scary stories, and so I include things like dragons, witches, princesses, jaguars, dungeons, etc in them.

On Monday night this week I had one of those days when I had all the kids' full attention with a story I was making up. Because of this, I tried to drag the story on a little in order to keep the peace in the classroom. It was at least a ten minute story. I didn't think much of it until Wednesday night, when a five-year-old girl that had been in my class on Monday night asked me to tell her a story. I was tired and not exactly in the story-telling mood, and so I said, "I know, how about you tell me a story tonight!" She protested, but eventually gave in and started telling a story.

Well, to my complete and utter amazement, she proceeded to retell the exact story I made up on Monday night!! She remembered the sequence of events, the characters, the wording, and even the gestures I had used when I had told the story! It was jaw-dropping. I don't know if I could have recalled it as well as she did. Here are some words she had remembered me using: kingdom, Greetings!, Bengal tiger, sleeping potion, China (actually, I had used the word "Asia," but still!). I was amazed!

It was so cute to see her tell this story with such excitement and enthusiasm, and it was one of those times when you feel rewarded for what you do.

Trials Make the Heart Grow Stronger

2010-04-04T18:49:00.004-06:00

You all know the adage, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." Well, I've tweaked that phrase a bit to say, "Trials make the heart grow stronger."

I have had three extremely challenging children in my class over the last eight months, all three of which are no longer in my class. I cannot tell you how grateful and happy I am about this fact! It feels so nice to know that tomorrow most likely none of my children will hit, scream, yell, kick, throw toys, or continually and intentionally try to annoy their classmates or me. I have not had that luxury over the last few months, but now I do, and I am so grateful for it.

This has been such a happy Easter weekend for me as I've looked back over the last 8 months and what I have learned from these three children. Because of the Atonement and Resurrection of Christ, I am able to learn, grow, and progress because of trials rather than be defeated by them. Here is a celebration of 5 ways trials have blessed my life:

1. I have learned how important it is to try really hard to not judge parents or teachers by the behavior of their children. At times I felt judged by my coworkers for the outbursts or behavioral problems of my children, and it was really hard to not feel guilty or down on myself during these times. I am so grateful for a boss that assured me that I was a good teacher despite my kids' problems. On one especially hard day she could tell that I was feeling really down and she said to me firmly, "Do not let this get to your head. You are a good teacher. His problems are not your fault. Don't go there." That meant so much to me. Don't judge. You really don't know what these parents/teachers are going through.

2. I have also learned how important it is so not compare yourself to others. At times I would compare myself to the the teachers I felt judged by and wonder if my kids would be having so many problems if I were more like them. In some cases these teachers were able to come into my class and get my child to listen or obey when I could not, and that made me doubt myself. In subsequent experiences when these teachers had extended supervision of my children, I found out that they couldn't handle them any better than I could. That gave me hope. I realized that giving a command in one instance (when you are an outsider) is a lot easier than being successful in continuously directing a child in the right direction, and so you can't compare the two. Furthermore, just because someone is different than you or has different strengths than you does not make them a better person than you.

3. Because of this time of testing and trial, I now feel so much more confident in my abilities to manage a classroom, discipline, and know where to draw the line with behavioral issues. Now if I feel judged by another teacher, I don't doubt myself, but rather think, "I am doing the best I can, and while I know it is not perfect, it is pretty dang good if I do say so myself!" Trials help you gain confidence and self-awareness.

4. Going through hard times makes normal times seem easier. I don't think I would be so happy about or grateful for my present class if I hadn't experienced a very challenging class beforehand. In addition, eight months ago, the prospect of having 10 kids in my class would have seemed very hard, but now it feels so nice!

5. I have learned how essential the attribute of temperance is in raising children. The ability to be slow to anger or irritation, remain calm amidst chaos, and exercise self-control is absolutely vital in working with children. I have prayed for this ability, and my day goes by so much better when I am temperate. To sum up this important trait, I will write one of my all-time favorite quotes by Goethe:

"I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make a life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or deescalated and a personal humanized or dehumanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be...we help them become what they are capable of becoming."

This is my motto in teaching preschool. I have learned that if I want to create a good climate in my class, if I want to be an instrument of inspiration, if I want to humor and heal, if I want to be able to deescalate crises, and if I want to treat my children as they ought to be, I have to have the quality of temperance. I believe that because of my experiences with these three children, I am a much more temperate person than I was eight months ago.

If you are still reading this, I am impressed. :) I'll stop now in my celebrations, but I may write more in the future. Until then, Happy Spring!!

Perks of Working with 3 Year Olds

2010-02-19T18:19:00.004-07:00

Hugs, high fives, and "I love you"s are a normal part of every day, multiple times a day. And occasionally I also hear, "Ms. Abbi, you're my best friend," or "Ms. Abbi, I like your hair that way."

Funny situations occur frequently which make me laugh out loud, but which rarely sound funny to those to whom I repeat the story.

When the (little) people around me at work make me mad, I'm allowed to give them a piece of my mind.

I get to see incredible growth, learning, and maturity take place within a very short time, such as K* saying with the exact tone, inflection, and facial expression I've used as I've modeled it many times: "That is my spot. Please scoot over" (rather than pushing his friend in the line leader spot). Or G* choosing to share a toy and exclaiming to me, "Ms. Abbi, I'm a peacemaker!"

I have something to look forward to every morning when I go to work: seeing the beautiful and adorable faces of my students, and the way their faces light up when they see me...

Some days I think, "I can't do this, this job just takes too much out of me," but then there are days like today when I feel like I have the best job I could ever ask for!

Just in a Regular Day...

2010-02-05T16:28:00.002-07:00

Here are two phrases that I've heard in the last month that have made my eyes go big:

During Centers one afternoon a couple of the boys were playing in the dramatic play area. Here are the usual things they pretend about: being police men giving tickets, going to the store, and going to the "office." Occasionally they will go somewhere exciting like on an airplane or zoo. But this one beats all!
"Ms. Abbi, we're going to go see the porsche." The funniest thing about it was the way he pronounced it: "porsh-uh." Oh dear!

On Wednesday afternoon I was with my class in the art room and they were painting with watercolors. G's dad came to pick him up, but G still wanted to paint, and so G's dad just went to the other side of the room and talked on his cell phone. Here's one phrase I overhead while he was talking, "And what about the settlement for 1.2 million, has that gone through yet?" Yikes!

Lessons from Mary

2010-01-08T18:53:00.002-07:00

This is the 100th post of this blog. During the fall I saw that this was coming up, and during autumn time I always get so reminiscent, and so I kept thinking I needed to make my 100th post a list of memories from 100 different places in my life. I even started taking notes and jotted down sixty or so places I have memories from. But alas, autumn has passed and so has New Year's Day, and subsequently I feel much more forward- than backward-looking right now, so I guess I'll have to save that for a "103 Memories" post or something along those lines. :)

But for now I want to talk about lessons I've learned from Mary. During the month of December I thought about Mary a lot. And here's why:

Since graduating from college I have had three different jobs where I have worked closely with young children. I can remember how stressful college was--I always felt this burden of deadlines and work piling up and not being smart or fast enough to do it all in time and do it well. I don't experience that kind of stress anymore, and I am honestly grateful for that, but I do have a different burden I carry with me now--the burden of taking care of children.

This burden can feel so heavy at times and I feel so inadequate to carry it. Some days I come home and think, "I cannot do this. I cannot meet the needs of these children. I cannot give them what they deserve." It is a terrible feeling that I have battled these last two and half years, and I am so grateful for how the Lord has helped me learn how to battle it. But some days it is honestly overwhelming and I worry so much that I have, am, or will fail the children who are counting on me to help them develop their divine potential.

This burden is so different from the burden I carried in college, because my ability to carry it not only affects me, but many other innocent people. In college if I failed, I felt it was a blow to my self-esteem, future schooling possibilities, or efforts I had put in to succeed, but it wasn't like others would suffer if I didn't get an A on a test. But now, if I fail at my work, innocent children suffer. I know that may sound overly dramatic to you, but that's how it feels to me, and it is so real. Even the possibility of it can feel so debilitating and discouraging.

Furthermore, the management at Creme has made it very clear to me that the parents of the children in my class pay a lot of money to ensure that their child does not have any problems. And that responsibility falls on me, their teacher, the person who is with them 8 hours a day, day in and day out. I have been reminded more than once that the parents pay enough money that their child should be well-adjusted, well-mannered, advanced academically, and treated as though they were the only and most important child in the class. It's enough to make a person go bonkers.

And I do, occasionally. I come home thinking, "I cannot do this! I cannot make these children perfect! I just cannot do it!"

And the truth is I'm exactly right. I cannot make these children perfect. And I cannot expect myself to be a perfect teacher. I am going to make mistakes. I am going to lose patience and talk to a child who is driving me crazy in a less than gentle and calm voice. I am going to occasionally have to ignore the needs of some children to attend to the need of another. I am going to teach some lessons that just do not reach the minds or hearts of my children. I am at times going to be focused on something else and fail to intervene in a situation when my children get hurt or hurt each other. I'm sorry, but it's going to happen. As much as I try to never let these things happen, they do.

And that is why the last two and half years have been such a tutorial on applying the Atonement in my life. Since working with children, I have felt such a daily, intense, desperate need for Jesus Christ to save me and the children I work with from the mistakes I make, the weaknesses I have, and the good things I fail to do. When I come home at the end of a hard day, I have to believe that Christ will make up for my weaknesses and protect the children from any real harm, or else I would buckle under the reality that I alone am not enough for these children. I believe that nothing can make you realize your total dependence on the Lord like working with children can.

I am so grateful for the grace of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful that I can rely on Him to make things right when everything goes all wrong, despite my good intentions. I am so grateful that I know that He watches over my children, that He loves them, and that He will heal their wounds and in time make up for whatever I can't provide for them. It is such a gift to know this and be able to feel this at the end of a hard day.

During Christmastime I thought a lot about Mary, because she actually was asked to raise a perfect Child. I thought about the pressure she must have felt to be asked to raise the Savior of the world--I know it must have felt enormous--and I wondered how she handled it. I think she must have handled it beautifully, because in the scriptures, she seems so peaceful and serene about the whole situation. I thought if she were like me, she would have freaked out over the fact that she didn't even have a nice room to bring Jesus into the world in. She would have worried that the stable wasn't good enough, that their ability to give the Savior what He deserved was sub-par and a real disappointment. She would worry that she was failing Him, that she didn't have what it takes (both temporally and spiritually) to raise the Boy who would become the great Redeemer. But I don't get the sense that she felt that way.

And why not? Because she trusted that God was taking care of them, that He was watching over them, that as long as she tried her best, it would be acceptable and pleasing to the Lord. Even a lowly stable. She had faith that no mistake she made was too big for God to fix, to make right, to overcome, and to overshadow. Nothing she did or did not do could prevent the Savior from fulfilling His mission on earth. She had complete and total trust in God and His power to save, and because of that, she had peace and serenity in her heart.

When talking about this with my sister Audra and her husband Mike, he pointed out how even when she forgot Him in Jerusalem (talk about big mistake!), it didn't change the course of things. The mission of the Savior was something much greater than her, and nothing she did or did not do could stop it. And that's what I want to have faith in everyday. The mission of helping these children is so much greater than just me and my works--I am just a small part of the Savior's mission to save and bless their lives. I can and should do all I can to help them, but in the end, it is the Savior who saves them, not me. And I need to have faith in the Savior's power to complete that mission of salvation. It is exciting to be a part of it, and that's how I should see it--exciting, not discouraging.

To all you who work with children, I pray for you to feel this peace in your life. I hope we can all have the faith in our hearts to trust in the Atoning power of Jesus Christ to forgive, heal, and overcome the effects of our mistakes.

Mo' Money, Mo' Problems

2010-01-05T18:14:00.003-07:00

In working with (or should I say for?) super rich parents at my job at Crème de la Crème, I have learned a few things about wealth and what it can and cannot do for you. I’ve learned that money can:
1. Buy you delusions and for others to act like your delusions are reality.
2. Cause you to invent stupid problems for yourself and those around you.
3. Make you believe that you are the center of the universe.
4. Make your life overly busy, stressful, and complicated.
5. Make you think you need to pretend that you're someone you’re not.
6. Cause you to miss the precious early years of your child’s life.
7. Buy you super nice cars, homes, clothes, vacations, and childcare.
I’ve also learned a few things that money cannot do for you. Unfortunately, money cannot:
1. Make you happy.
2. Buy perfect children (or pay for others to make your children perfect).
3. Make you likable.
4. Erase all your problems.
Just a little food for thought to all who hope to be filthy rich some day...

Some Laughter

2009-10-10T07:08:00.002-06:00

My last post was about some of the things I've learned at Creme (some through tears) and so now I think it's time to share some parts of my job that make me laugh! I have one little boy in my class, K, who I absolutely adore, but who also tests me continually. He is the most enthusiastic and affectionate little boy you'll ever meet, but he is also the most high maintenance little boy you'll ever meet. He is always touching, pushing, yelling, making noises, trying to get the people around him to make noises, hugging, laughing really loudly, running, grabbing, banging, provoking the other kids, etc. He makes the kids around him mad all the time, but it's not done maliciously, just in an attempt to make some fun. And because of this, I am continually asking him to stop and asking him to apologize. He is VERY generous with his apologies. He is always so quick to say, "I'm sorry," and to tell his friends reassuringly, "You'll be okay," as though someone else was the cause of their tears. He also tells me every day (sometimes multiple times a day) that he loves me, I'm his best friend, and that I'm beautiful. Have I mentioned I love this kid? :)

So there's the back-up of this funny story. It's about 5:15 pm and K has had an especially hard time controlling himself this day. I'm tired of correcting him, and so when he does the same thing I've just asked him not to do 30 seconds ago, I impatiently say to him, "K, I just asked you not to do that. You have to stop doing that." He looks completely unaffected and proceeds to respond with his quick and obligatory "I'm sorry," and for some reason his cute face, his spirit so resilient to ever feeling defeated or discouraged, his Indian accent as he says "I'm sorry," and everything about the whole day strikes me as so FUNNY. I try really hard not to laugh, but that only makes it burst out all the more when I can't contain it. All the kids immediately look at me surprised and it doesn't take long for them to all join in with me, even though they have no idea what they are laughing about. I have a hard time stopping laughing and the kids have no problem keep right on laughing with me. I think we laughed for a good three to five minutes together. :)

And here's another thing that made me laugh: We're all outside on a beautiful day at about 4:15 pm. One of the kids, R, tells me that he saw me through the looking glass on the playground. I say, "Really? How'd I look?" He puts his head down slightly, tries not to smile, and says, "Great. Great with lipstick on." I tried not to laugh, just to look happy and pleased, but afterwards I laughed really hard about it.

And last one: one of the little girls in my coteacher's class calls me, "Ms. Happy." Every time she calls me that, a smile comes to my soul.

What I've Learned

2009-09-19T13:15:00.002-06:00

When I started this job as a preschool teacher, I decided I didn't want to expect perfection of myself, but instead made a goal for myself to learn something each day and then work on incorporating that thing for the next few days. After 34 days of working there, here are 34 things I've learned (or relearned):

1. Don't be ashamed or afraid to ask for help--when you really need it, swallow your pride and ask for help. People are usually willing and happy to help.
2. When a kid is potty-training, don't say: "Johnny, it's time to go potty," but rather, "Johnny, come with me" and then take him by the hand to the potty, and you'll get a lot less resistance.
3. Know your boundaries and stick by them. When a kid stays within the boundaries, reward him. When a kid steps out of the boundaries, have natural consequences for it.
4. Enjoy and cherish the magic of childhood. Remember that everything is so new to these children and celebrate their discoveries with them. Life is precious and is a gift from God--enjoy it!!
5. Talk to the children, not at them.
6. When a child is not listening to you, physical contact (touching their arm, holding their face, sometimes even just getting close to them) works much better at getting their attention than raising your voice.
7. Focus on the children's interests, feelings, and needs rather than on the rules and expectations of the program.
8. When talking to children, use short, simple, concise, concrete phrases rather than lengthy explanations or directions.
9. Involve the children as much as possible in everything you do.
10. Take time to give rewards (stickers, high-fives, verbal praise by name), and you will thank yourself for it.
11. Make a point of teaching good manners and respect for elders by having them say "yes ma'am" rather than just "yes."
12. Don't ask the children if they can or want to do something, direct them by saying phrases such as "Will you please..." or "I need you to..." or "I want you to..."
13. Play with the children and use that as an incentive for the children. Also, use the kids' desire to be your big helper as an incentive.
14. Focus on the people you serve rather than on whether or not you are doing a good job serving them.
15. The Atonement can make up for your shortcomings. With the help and grace of Jesus Christ, everything that is honestly worked towards is good enough.
16. Relax and focus on quality rather than on quantity. It's better to let things go than to feel stressed and consequently have a tense atmosphere in your class.
17. Logic often fails in working with small children, and so following intution and the Spirit is often the better way to go about helping a small child who is having a hard time.
18. Assume that everyone around you is honestly doing their best with what they have.
19. Children are innocent and need direction, correction, and consequences--not punishment or reprimanding.
20. Losing your patience with difficult children is a temptation that can only be overcome by prayer, fasting, and the Atonement.
21. Give children 3 and 1 minute warnings for times of transition.
22. There is not one "good teacher," so it's pointless to compare yourself to others. Everyone uses their strengths and personality to teach with a different style, and you need to focus on using your strengths and personality to be the best teacher you can be.
23. It's more important what God thinks of how you're doing your job than what management thinks of how you're doing your job. Follow the rules of the organization, but don't be preoccupied with pleasing management.
24. Choosing not to ever speak poorly of a coworker is so worth it. When you are having a hard time with a coworker, seek advice and understanding from the Spirit and outside sources, not another coworker.
25. Priesthood blessings can calm hearts and open the floodgate of revelation.
26. Kids need to know you're the boss and you're in control, or else they will feel their life is out of control and act out.
27. Love never fails--when you feel that all else is failing, seek to express love for the kids.
28. Think of the manual labor involved in raising kids as service rather than drudgery.
29. Physical touch and activity is so important for my class! Hugs, high fives, holding hands, jumping, running--these things are invaluable and must be incorporated into the day for it to go well.
30. Pray for specific things that you and your kids need help with rather than general blessings.
31. When children are upset, give them words for what they are feeling and then offer them a possible plan of action for them to feel better.
32. Sometimes my children will say "I can't do it!" when I ask them to do something. I know they can, but they think they can't. I tell them they have to try and then I will help them. I think that's the way with us and Heavenly Father--if we just try, He will help us, but we have to try.
33. To save your back, bend from the legs--even if you look silly doing it!
34. Encourage the children that they are big and can make good choices rather than emphasizing that they are not making good choices.

Here's to many more lessons to come!

Learning from Failure

2009-08-08T09:04:00.003-06:00

I'm back again! After the big move to Atlanta, I've found a job and am now ready to share my fun work stories again. :) I got a job as a preschool teacher at a Creme de la Creme (super high-end day care). It is the nicest day care anyone could imagine. The building is HUGE, with not only different rooms for all the different age groups, but also a gym, ballet studio, tennis court, basketball court, playground, water park, math room, computer room, library, art room, music room, uniform store, reading room, hair-cut salon, fish pond...you get the picture. (Everything is kid-size, but still!) The center of the building is built to look like a French town. Yeah, it's pretty nice.

Monday was my first day. Monday through Thursday I shadowed the teacher I will be replacing, and she was great to show me how things are done. Because everything there is so high quality, they also expect their teachers to do a lot, and so there was (and IS) a lot for me to learn! By Thursday I was starting to feel sufficiently overwhelmed. I started thinking, "What was I thinking that I could do this? I can't do this! I am going to let everyone down--my supervisors, my co-teachers, the kids, the kids' parents. Aaaah!!!"

As much as I wish this was a new thing for me to experience, it is not. In fact, having these feelings was like meeting with a very old and familiar friend (or should I say enemy). All these feelings accompanied me almost constantly as I tried to teach kindergarten at the KinderCare in Salt Lake. I really felt inadequate to the challenges I had there, and although no parent or supervisor complained about me (that I'm aware of), I was always worrying that I wasn't doing a good enough job for the children.

So, alas, here I was on Thursday night, feeling really inadequate and REALLY not looking forward to the companionship of my old enemy. And so I decided I needed to do something about it. So I wrote down all the negative thoughts that were going through my head and then turned to the scriptures for help. I turned to Alma 44, and in this chapter Moroni is talking to his enemy Zerahemnah about how the Lord has helped him (Moroni) overcome him (Zerahemnah). He said in verse 4,

"Now ye see that this is the true faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion; and never will the Lord suffer that we shall be destroyed except we should fall into transgression and deny our faith."

From that verse, I realized that the Lord will support and keep and preserve me in my efforts to be a good preschool teacher, as long as I continue in my faith in Him. I needed to give up the fear of my inadequacies, and rather accept them as a part of life and turn to the Lord for support, having the faith that he would preserve me (and the kids) despite them. I realized that I was focusing too much on wanting to be amazing, phenomenal, incredible, to the point that I was terrified of mediocrity and paralyzed by the possibility of failure. When really I should embrace the fact that I am just learning, and therefore I probably will fail repeatedly in my efforts to be a perfect teacher. But that's okay, because as long as I stay faithful to the Lord, he will not let my failings destroy me or the children I teach. So instead of being afraid of failure, I should anticipate it and learn from it, including taking advantage of many opportunities to daily apply the Atonement in my life.

Let me tell you, mediocrity never felt so good! On Friday I had such a good day, because I anticipated making lots of mistakes and struggling to meet all the expectations my supervisor has for me. I walked into the room expecting to fail and face it head on! But I also walked into the room knowing that the Lord would support and preserve and keep me through it all, that He was watching over me and the children, that He would help me learn from my failures and not allow me to fail in any way that would really hurt the children. It was like a huge burden was lifted off my shoulders.

I'm so glad I've figured this out, but now's the hard part: actually living it! I think I should pray every morning for help to learn from my mistakes, let go of the burden of perfectionism, and increase my faith that Jesus can and will make up for my weaknesses. Wish me luck!

The Power of ONE

2009-03-22T15:30:00.003-06:00

One thing I have learned during my time teaching at KinderCare is the power each child has to influence the atmosphere of a class. You add or take away even just one student, and the entire class environment can change. It is really amazing to me. This has become especially apparent to me since one of my kids has stopped coming on Fridays. He is my hardest kid--constantly seeking negative attention, picking fights with other kids, and not responsive to anything I do, positive reinforcement included. Ever since his mom started working four 10 hour shifts Monday through Thursday, every Friday has been SO nice!! Everyone is more at ease, more laid-back, and has an easier time staying on task. I am always amazed at how much we get done, how peaceful our class feels, and how much easier everything is on Friday. And it's just because one kid isn't there. Each one of us really does have such tremendous power to influence those around us, for good or for bad.

Chasing and Changing-It-Up

2009-02-25T20:33:00.004-07:00

I have two thoughts I wanted to share tonight:

The first is, I've been thinking lately about how amazing it is that almost all kids LOVE to be chased and never tire of it. I think I could chase my kindergartners around the playground the whole afternoon and they wouldn't get tired of it. But of course I get tired of it! Especially when 10 of them are begging for me to chase them at once and I can only chase one at a time. But it's not just my kindergartners--have you ever tried chasing a little kid who didn't like it? It's the sure-fire way to get a kid to think you're fun. It's amazing to me how simple and predictable it is, and yet how delighted they are by it. I think it's mostly the adult attention they love so much.

And the second is, I've been thinking a lot about what my friend Maegan said the other day. She was talking to me about disciplining kids, and she said something to the extent of, "When something isn't working, you need to try something different! Most of the time it doesn't matter what it is, as long as it's something different." I think that's so true. So often trying to discipline kids can feel like banging your head against a wall, but maybe we're the ones banging our heads, and if we just tried something different, the kids would respond better. Like using humor, or responding in a way they wouldn't expect you to, or saying something in an unusual way, or tweaking the consequence you usually use, or just stopping to give them a hug or tell them you love them, or doing something fun you don't usually do. Just doing SOMETHING different. Because then it catches their attention and brings them out of their fit, tantrum, stubbornness, bad mood, defiant attitude, etc.

Recently I've been feeling like my kindergartners are really testing my patience, but as I've been trying to implement this principle, I'm seeing it more in terms of testing my CREATIVITY, FLEXIBILITY, and INNOVATION. How creative can I be in helping them learn what they need to learn and behave like they should behave and snap out of their tantrums? Let me tell you, it's exhausting! And it takes a lot of self-control. But I have to say it beats banging my head against a wall.

So wish me luck in trying to be funny, flexible, innovative, and calm! :) And I wish all you parents out there the same.

Now that's funny

2009-02-05T14:24:00.002-07:00

Today one of my sweetest little girls said the funniest thing. The kids were playing after lunch, and I kept having problems with the boys hurting each other while play-fighting. So I gathered all the boys in front of me and talked to them about how we can't play-fight at school. While I was talking, one of my little girls came over by us and watched me talk to the boys. And then right after I finished my little lecture, she stood in front of all those boys and announced proudly, "I am the hottest person in this class!" I couldn't help but laugh at that, but luckily I don't think any of them noticed. She stuck out her hand and had all the boys feel how hot she was. I have no idea why she was so proud of how warm she was, but I am positive she did this innocently. But just the fact that it was in front of all the boys in the class, I thought it was so funny!!

Never Underestimate the Power of...

2009-01-12T16:14:00.005-07:00

Lowering Your Expectations
Hands-on Activities
Rewards (no, not bribery--rewards :) )
Praise
Social Thinking principles

The first three days back from Christmas break were probably the worst days of kindergarten for me yet this year. By Wednesday afternoon I was feeling like I was going to go crazy. I was thinking, "What am I going to do with these kids??!" It was that bad. Just ask my mom--I called her and vented my lights out when I got home from work that day.

But after venting, I was able to sit down and think, "Okay, really, what am I going to do with these kids?" I recently have had a handful of challenging kids added to my class, and so it was good for me to sit down and think about what I needed to do differently to help these kids. And that list up there is what I came up with.

First up, I had to lower my expectations of how much we were able to get done in a day. I needed to focus on QUALITY more than QUANTITY.

Secondly, I decided these kids need more hands-on activities--crafts, sensory stimulation, etc. This is really not my forte, but I'm working on it! Playing with clay, finger painting, making puppets, and playing musical bells are a few things I've tried. If any of you have any easy, fun craft ideas, feel free to pass them on!

Third, I realized these kids needed a little more to motivate them to get work done. I needed to reward them more often and with a wider variety of things. I'm still working on this, too.

Fourth, I needed to praise positive behavior more than give negative attention for negative behavior. And I've found being more exuberant in my praise hasn't hurt either. This is actually something I'm pretty good at already, so that's helpful.

And last but not least, I've applied some of the Social Thinking principles I've learned through working with my kids with autism to my kiddos at school. And it has worked wonders! Thank you, Social Thinking!

And I'm happy to report that the last three days of school have been leaps and bounds better! Wish me luck with the next three! :)

Transforming Truths

2008-12-14T18:29:00.002-07:00

One of my goals this year has been to teach my kindergarteners correct principles. These principles are not in the curriculum, but I try to teach them during teaching opportunities (mostly times of conflict) throughout the course of the day. Like, if you want to be happy, try to make other people happy, and you will feel good inside. Or, you have to take responsibility for your own actions. Or, people are more likely to do nice things for you if you ask them nicely. Or, just because you know more than another person does not make you better than them. And the list could go on.

But there are a few things that I wish I could teach the children that I cannot because of political reasons. I wish I could teach them truths that have changed my life, that transform the way I see the world and want to act in the world. And here are a few of them:

God loves each one of us very much.

Every person is of great worth because Jesus died for them. Jesus died for them and loves them, and so we should treat them with respect because of that.

God made our bodies and gave us our bodies, and so they are special and we need to treat them with respect.

Even though we make mistakes, we don't have to despair, because we can be forgiven. If we pray to Heavenly Father and ask Him to forgive us and help us not do it again, Heavenly Father will forgive us because Jesus died for us.

All the beautiful and good things in this world come from Jesus.

Heavenly Father can help us do hard things if we pray to Him for help.

And again, the list could go on. I love my kids so much and wish that I could teach them these things. But for now I'll try to teach them all the good things I'm allowed to, and I look forward to the day that I will be able to teach my own children these transforming truths.

The Color of My Life

2008-12-05T18:40:00.004-07:00

Chad and I had a FABULOUS ;) time in Georgia for Thanksgiving. Oh my goodness I loved it. Jessi and Audra both spoiled us so much and it was so much fun to be with family. So as you can imagine, I was not one bit happy to have to leave on Monday. But on the morning of our departure, we went to the book store to buy some books for our journey home, and I was blessed to find the perfect book! It was just what I needed to pick me up and push me on my way to a better attitude about my life.

It was "The Giver" by Lois Lowry. I loved it so much and I've been thinking about it all week. I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't read it, so I won't say much about it, only that it totally inspired me to look for the good in my life. After reading it I thought, "What gives the color to my life? What are the special moments of life that I should be savoring and rejoicing in?" And a flood of happy memories from my work at KinderCare came to me, and I jotted them down quickly. That really helped me feel more positive about going back to work. I thought I should record them in more detail, so here they are:

T*'s passion of finding, catching, and studying bugs. She loves them so much that at the beginning of the school year, there were several occasions when she could not stop crying because a bug was over the fence and she couldn't get it to come over to her, A* caught a bug that she thought was hers, etc, etc. It became so bad that I told her she could only look for and catch bugs if she promised not to cry over them. So whenever she started crying over them, I'd remind her that she wouldn't be able to look for bugs if she was going to cry. I cannot tell you how cute it was to see her little courageous spirit immediately compose herself, calm down, and deal with her conflict without crying. I wonder if God looks down on my problems like I've looked at T*'s bug catching problems, and I pray I am as courageous as T* is.

M* has the most outlandish stories! Almost every day, he tell me something that is untrue to try to impress me. He's lived in Germany, had a pet tiger, and his dad was bitten by a scorpoin and a spider at the same time! Man I love that kid.

Those success moments when my kids who have anger management issues handle difficult situations in appropriate and pro-social ways. In those moments I can almost hear the "Halelujah Chorus" being sung in the heavens (or at least in my mind! :) ).

During the summer every Friday was water day--the kids get in their swimsuits, fill squirt bottles up with water, and play around a water-spraying toy on the lawn. On a couple different water days this summer our water-spraying-toy was broken, and so I took the hose and sprayed the kids. The squeals of delight, the looks of surprise when the water hit them, the kids trying to get back at me with their water bottles: those are some memories I'll treasure during the cold winter days coming up.

Playing chess with B*! That was definitely one of my favorite activities during the summer. I love that kid so much, and chess sure did bring out the best of him. I love the memory of the first time he said "Check!" to me in jest. I was like, "What! How?" He got me good that time, and I think it was the last he did, too. Another time when he took one of my bishops, and I totally didn't see it coming! I was planning a good move with it, and so I said, "Oh, sad!!" He looked at me with a concerned face and said, "Don't be sad, Ms. Abbi, it's just a game."

I love to hear my kids use the term "team player." I'll praise my kids for being a team player when they are helpful to their friends, pick up toys they didn't play with, help out around the classroom, etc. So it's so funny to hear my kindergartners say to me, "Ms. Abbi, look, I'm being a team player!" or "Ms, Abbi, G*'s not being a team player!" :)

A few times when I've been sitting on the carpet with my class, teaching them something or another, they've all collectively decided out of the blue to give me a group hug. Those are sweet moments.

During October my schoolagers got it in their mind to make a haunted house out of the jungle gym in our playground. They absolutely loved being scarers and being scared, and they would scream and scream and scream. Eventually it got to the point that it was just too much screaming to sound good, so I told them they couldn't play it any more because it sounded like somebody was getting hurt. So what did their creative little minds do? They said, "All right Ms. Abbi, we'll change it to a Laughing House!" All the scarers were transformed into clowns and the visitors enjoyed their role of laughing as they had screaming. Then in November when Thanksgiving was around the corner, they made a "Turkey House." It was so funny seeing those kids walk around the playground pretending they were turkeys shouting, "Come to the Turkey House, gobble, gobble, gobble" over and over again. Needless to say, the Turkey House didn't last near as long as the haunted house had, but boy was it funny while it lasted.

During the summer on one particularly hard day, two of my kids, A* and A*, cleaned up the whole classroom before snack when everyone else was choosing to ignore me and not pick up their areas. I was so pleased and grateful that these two kids did this without even being asked, that I publicly thanked them and told them I would get them their favorite candy bar for it. Well, for the next two weeks, D*, A*'s brother, was constantly doing things to be helpful around the class and telling me, "Ms. Abbi, look what I'm doing! And my favorite kind of candy is a Nerd's Rope. You can get it at the Dollar Tree. Do you know where the Dollar Tree is?" And every day he'd remind me to pick one up for him. He was so persistent! So of course I got one for him. The day D* and A* stopped coming to KinderCare was definitely a sad one for me, I loved those boys.

On Halloween, C* trick or treated at my house. Her mom works at my KinderCare, and so I knew that they lived really close to me and told them they should trick or treat in my neighborhood. C* has been one of my more difficult students, but I'll tell you, there was no kid that I was more thrilled to see than her that night. It's really true, those you serve you love.

Playing soccer, bouncy ball, and basketball with one of my schoolagers J*. I could tell it made him so happy to play ball with me, and I'll tell you, a happy J* is rare indeed.

B* and A* (both girls) were playing police and robbers with T* (a boy). The girls were the robbers and the boy was the police. Basically, the girls were playing chase and the boy was playing police. A* has a crush on T*, and she also happens to be very fast and athletic. It was so funny watching them play, because T* kept catching B* and taking her back to the "police station," because B* was slower and thus easier to catch. A*'s face kept getting more and more jealous and frustrated when T* would kept only catching B*! The poor girl didn't get that it was just because she was faster--she seemed to think T* was preferrentially choosing B*. Oh young love! (I've found it's mostly from the girl's point of view, and the boys are oblivious.)

And this last memory is one of my very most treasured. In mid to late November, we had some beautiful warm sunny days. On one of these days the sun was out and there was a slight wind gently blowing from the west. There are a whole bunch of desiduous trees to the west of us, and it seemed the wind was carrying all of their leaves down to us as a gift. All the leaves were dancing down towards us, a parade of falling leaves. All the kids and I stood on the lawn for quite some time trying to catch them. The leaves were so quick and hard to catch, but there were so many of them, if you just put your hand up for a while, eventually a leaf would fall into it. It was the neatest experience, like a little moment of magic. Of course all the kids were absolutely delighted, and I felt like a kid again. I love how my job ages me and keeps me young all at the same time.

Regroup!

2008-11-18T13:00:00.005-07:00

Yesterday I was reminded of how important it is to regroup when my kids are out of control. When they are all fighting, bouncing off the walls, doing all sorts of things they are not supposed to do, and ignoring all my requests to do otherwise, the best thing to do is REGROUP. I definitely did not do that yesterday in an out-of-control time, and all I ended up accomplishing was feeling like a very mean teacher with some very grumpy students.

Usually, the schoolagers get back in two groups: one at 3:45 and one at 4:00. The first thing they do is sit down for snack and then they can play until we go outside at 4:30. I usually ask them to start cleaning up at around 4:25, and we're out the door by 4:35. That time from 4-4:30 is usually a stressful time of day because they get back from school so hyper, loud, and energetic, and our one little room can only hold so much. But most days it's bearable, and then once we get outside where they can run and yell, it's much easier.

Well, yesterday they all got back from school in one group at 4:11. And from then on I was yelling (you have to yell if you want to be heard over 20 loud kids--that is, unless you REGROUP), "Hurry and eat snack so we can go outside!" "Hurry and clean up so we can go outside!" "I am not the one who made all this mess, so I should not be the only one cleaning it!" "You need to stop ____!" "You cannot be ____!" "You know you're not supposed to ____!" "It's time to go outside, we need to all help clean up!" "Everyone, line up to go outside!"...You get the picture.

So yeah, we didn't get outside until after 4:45, and we have to come inside at 5:00. So of course all the kids complain when I say it's time to go inside that "We just got out here!" To which I snap that it's their fault, if they had just listened and cleaned up when I asked them to, we could have had a lot longer time outside. It was such a beautiful day, they were not the only grumpy ones that we only had ten minutes outside.

Needless to say, I came home feeling like an el-crapo teacher. Which is really unfortunate, because I think I had actually done a pretty good job teaching, explaining, and being patient for the first six hours of the day. But all I could think was, "Why didn't I just regroup!"

If I had just regrouped at 4:20 (when I started to sense that everyone was out of control), then I could have avoided all that nightmare time. I could have had them all come to the carpet where I would calmly and kindly explain the situation to them. I would apologize that we didn't have very much time to play inside today, but since they got back late, we needed to just clean up right away. I would beg them to please please please try to stay under control until we got outside and then they could be as crazy as they wanted to be. I would say the faster we clean up, the faster we can go outside. I would assign them to specific areas to clean up, so everyone knew exactly what they needed to do. And I wouldn't even need to yell one bit. *Sigh* If only... But I am determined to do better next time!

But on to a better story about regrouping, one that is actually a success story, and funny too.

Several times when my kindergartners have seemed to all be fighting with each other, I have had them come to the carpet and I've discussed the situation with them. I ask these questions, with these types of responses from them:
"I am really sad, because I am feeling some yucky feelings in this class. Is anyone else feeling that?" (Yes.)
"Why do you think I am feeling so yucky?" (Because we are all fighting.)
"I want our class to be a place where we can feel good and safe. How do you think we could get rid of these yucky feelings and feel good again?" (Stop fighting and be nice.)
"Do you think that if someone came up to me and stole the toy I was playing with and made me really mad, do you think hitting them back would help us have good feelings in this class?" (No!)
"So if someone came up to me and stole my toy, what could I do about it and still not feel yucky?" (Ask them nicely to give it back, explain that I was playing with it, etc.)
And then at the end of the conversation, I usually say something nice about each student in the class to help bring back good feelings into the class. This technique has worked so well for our class. (A big thanks to Heather W*, Quinn's mom, for demonstrating this approach to me in her home.)

So with that said, you'll understand why this story is cute and funny. Yesterday a little girl in my class came up to me and said the cutest thing. I wish you could see her little concerned face, and know her cute personality behind it. "Ms. Abbi, A* yelled in my face, and now I have yucky feelings." I had to try really hard not to smile at that!

Taught Right

2008-11-07T21:10:00.003-07:00

I can tell that one boy in my class has been taught how to treat girls nicely. I'm assuming it's from his dad, who drops him off and picks him up and always makes sure that he gives his little sister a hug and kiss good-bye in the morning. Here's one experience I had this week which made me really appreciate his upbringing:

Every once in a while I will write short notes to my students on the white board. It's good for literacy, and my kids get so excited about having a letter written just to them. I've also found that they love it when I sign my name as something other than "Ms. Abbi."

This week I wrote a note to the whole class, and then I gave each child a turn to have the note be written just to them and from someone other than Ms. Abbi--"Ms. Bones," "Ms. Kitty," "Ms. Grumpy," etc. They thought that was so funny, me signing my name as something I am not.

In the last note I put it as from "Ms. Beautiful." By this point they were primed to laugh at whatever I wrote, and in the spirit of the humor, one of the little girls in my class said laughingly, "Ms. Abbi, you're not beautiful!" To which another little boy responded quite defensively, "Yes she is! Ms. Abbi IS beautiful!"

Now that little boy was taught right! :)

"Nice try, Ms. Abbi"

2008-11-06T17:45:00.003-07:00

I brought some of the pictures we took in D.C. into my class to show my students pictures of our nation's capitol. I thought their responses to this picture were cute.

My kindergarteners responded all about the same:

"Ms. Abbi, that picture is so cool! It looks like you're touching it! You're not really touching it, are you?...How did you make it look like you're touching it?"

Here is the response of an 8 year old:

"Nice try, Ms. Abbi, I know you're not a giant!!"

And of a 9 year old:

"Ms. Abbi, I know how you made yourself look as tall as that building. You can't trick me! You just stood really far away. I've done that before." (He seemed quite proud of himself that he knew how I did it. :) )

Group Time

2008-11-01T08:43:00.006-06:00

One of the big challenges of teaching is transitions. That is, getting kids to clean up their areas for group time, lunch time, going outside, etc. I have found some ways that work for me to get my kids motivated to come to group time. I love kindergarten because these young kids totally fall for these tactics, whereas I don't think older kids would.

SING TO THEM
-I will sing, "I see Emma, she is sitting, she knows what to do!" The kids come running so I will sing to them that they are sitting and they know what to do!
-I will sing, "I have a friend that we all know, and Emma is her name--Get up and dance! Emma! Get up and dance! Emma! Get up and dance! Emma! And Emma will sit down." They will come running to group time so I will sing for them and they will get a chance to dance, and then at the end of it everyone is sitting down.
-Sometimes when I end the song (I've sung to each child in the class), I will sing it loud or opera-like or silly, and the kids LOVE it! It starts group with a fun feeling and helps everyone to be in a good mood.

REWARD THEM
-I tell them they will get these things if they clean up their toys and sit down for group in a certain amount of time:
-Stickers
-Jelly beans
-More play time
-Get to play "Kitty School." (I don't know why, but my kids love to act like they are cats. It drives me crazy to hear "meow, meow" all day, and so I tell them they can only act like they are cats during "kitty school." This is when during group I say I'm "Ms. Kitty" and I let them act like they are cats as long as they participate. I also call them "Emma Kitty" and "Tyler Kitty" and so forth. We say "meow" a lot during kitty school, but at least I don't have to hear it for the rest of the day.)

COUNTING
-I will say, "I don't think you guys will be able to pick up your toys in 20 seconds. Do you think you can? Okay, let's see. 1-2-..." They will race to be able to beat the 20 second mark.
-Sometimes as simple as, "I want all the toys picked up in 20 seconds. 1-2..." will work (but sometimes it doesn't, and they need more of a motivator).

COMPETING WITH ME
-I will say, "It's almost group time, and I still have to wipe off these tables and sweep the floor. You guys need to clean up your areas. Who will be ready for group time first--me or you?" They will race to get cleaned up because they love to beat Ms. Abbi and say they are the winners.

PLAYING GAMES
-I will start playing a game with the couple of kids who come right to group, and the rest of them will want to join, so they will stop what they're doing and join us.
-One game they love is "guess the person." I describe one of the kids who is sitting on the carpet and they guess who it is. Of course I say really nice things, so the kids will be motivated to come to group and hear nice things about themselves.

GIVE THEM A SCORE
-I will tell them that a 10 is sitting, listening, and participating in group, and a 0 is wrestling, talking, playing, and not listening or participating. I'll say, "I want you to be a 10 the whole time!" During group time if a certain kid or the whole class is having a hard time, I will say, "Remember, I want you to be a 10!" and they will usually want to come back to what they are supposed to be doing. And then at the end I will give them a score, and they love to get a 10!
-I will also grade how nice the room looks after they clean up. I'll say, "Oh, it looks great! This is an A+!" Or "Uh-oh, Home Living is still a mess, I think this room is only a B" or whatever.

Are there any other ideas you've used that work?

"Just Worry About Yourself"

2008-10-25T14:20:00.004-06:00

A lot of tattling goes on in kindergarten. A lot. I have found that there are two different types of tattling: 1) tattling to protect oneself or one's friends from hurt or injury, and 2) tattling to get someone else in trouble.

Type 1 Tattling is totally fine with me! I'm happy to tell a kids to stop doing something if they are hurting someone or may potentially hurt someone. Usually I repond to this kind of tattling by saying, "Thank you for telling me" and will go to resolve the situation.

But Type 2 Tattling bugs me. I don't think it's a very healthy attribute to be going around trying to get others in trouble. Every kid in the class does things they are not supposed to and it really is not very nice to go around getting other kids in trouble, when I know that in just a few minutes they won't want anybody going to get them in trouble! Usually I respond to this kind of tattling by saying, "Just worry about yourself, I'm the teacher and I will take care of it." (Most of the time I am already aware of these kinds of situations anyway and have done something outside of the tattler's knowledge to address the issue.)

I've thought a lot about that phrase--"Just worry about yourself." I think that is so true in life. I think that is what Jesus was saying when He said, "Judge not, that ye be not judged" (3 Nephi 14:1). He's saying, don't worry about justice being given to others, just worry about trying your very hardest to apply mercy to everyone. If you don't want others trying to get you to pay for every little infraction you make, don't do the same to others.

I can also imagine Jesus saying to me when I'm thinking about whether or not people who have done bad things will pay for it, "Just worry about yourself, Abbi. I am God and I will take care of it." And really, what a relief to be able to pass that on to someone else (a perfect someone, nonetheless) and not have to worry about it. It's nice that we don't have to figure everything out, we just need to do our best. I am going to try really hard to "just worry about myself" when I'm tempted to think about others' injustices.

New blog

2008-08-26T19:53:00.006-06:00

Hello all! I just wanted to let you know that Chad and I have started a new blog. chadandabbi.blogspot.com I thought it would be fun to have a couple blog instead of just a blog of my own. So if you want to hear from us, go there!

Good-bye July!

2008-07-31T19:11:00.003-06:00

The last two months of Chad's residency were so busy, that in May and June whenever we'd talk about wanting to do anything fun or productive together, we'd say, "We'll do it in July." It kind of became a joke around our house--we had about a million things that we were going to do "In July." And now I can't believe July is almost over! And although we didn't do everything we had brought up, we sure did a lot!

We visisted my parents in Eugene, had the M* clan over to our home for a pot-luck dinner, went out to eat twice, went out for ice cream once, went to see a movie, went to the Salt Lake temple, went to a BBQ with some friends in the ward, spent an evening with Nate and Michelle at Sundance, went to Lamb Days with family, spent an evening with Dale and Crystal's kids, watched a movie together at home, spent a day in Midway with Joe and Kjirsten, three of their kids, and Adam and Jessie, spent an evening with the C* clan in Centerville, bought a car, Chad went backpacking with his brothers in the Uintas, and we got food storage and medical supplies for our emergency preparedness. Now that is a month well spent!

And August won't be too shabby either, what with the sweet two-week trip Chad has been planning for us. It will include a week of camping in the Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Glacier, and Waterton National Parks and then a week on a cruise to Alaska! What a wonderful summer. I know I've never said this before, but I feel like the luckiest girl on the planet.

My Memory

2008-07-26T21:57:00.003-06:00

I'm not going to lie--I have a pretty good memory. But there is one thing I am NOT good at remembering, and that is plot lines. After watching a movie or reading a book, I remember characters, but I do not remember what happened or in what order things happened! It is so funny to me. I can watch a movie or read a book for the second time and it feels like the first because I can't remember what's going to happen! This has happened to me with the Bourne movies, Harry Potter VI, Moulin Rouge, and other books and movies. I kinda like it, because it means I can experience many wonderful things twice! :)

And on a less random note, we got a new car today! Hooray! Our Nissan Maxima was giving us grief and not getting very good gas mileage, so we traded it in for another Honda Civic. We've loved our civic and we feel happy to have two of them now. It's white, and so now we have salt and pepper in our garage. :) I'm so excited because it's a manual and so now I get to learn how to drive a stick shift! I've always wanted to learn how to drive a stick, but never had any need to, so didn't get around to it. And now I will. Wish me luck!!! And the best part of it all is we just passed mile 111,111 in the Maxima, and so we were able to still experience that happy milestone in it before giving it up. Chad and I were together when we hit mile 111,111 and had a great celebration over it. And in about another 25,000 miles, we'll be able to celebrate that milestone together for the third time in our white civic! Life is bliss.

Memories!

2008-07-14T18:24:00.000-06:00

Memory Lane...the tag that gets everyone involved.

I got this from my sister Audra's blog. I hope you will play along. Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Hooray for Chad!!!

2008-07-13T14:46:00.005-06:00

Chad finished his residency two weeks ago, and we are both loving this new life of ours! It's great to have him around so much more often. We've spent three Saturdays in a row together! I can hardly believe that this is going to last. It feels unreal that we don't have any more grueling rotations to look forward to. But even though I can hardly believe it, I am loving it!

The weekend after he finished we visited my parents in Oregon and went to two days of the track and field Olympic Trials. Talk about fun, fun, fun!!! If any of you ever want to have the vacation of a lifetime, visit my parents. They really know how to host guests. They treat you like royalty and you feel like royalty in their beautiful home. We just had a blast.

The Olympic Trials were awesome. My favorite events to watch were the women's high jump, the women's 1500 meter, and the men's 10,000 meter. The men's 10,000 (that's a 10K--6.4 miles, just going around and around the track) was so inspirational to me! It was the last race on the night of the 4th of July, so you could see fireworks in the distance while you cheered on these men who were running their hearts out. It was an awesome atmosphere to be in. Every time they passed your part of the track, you stood up and cheered for them. There aren't too many sports that are as inspirational as track and field is.

My parents got us amazing seats, and so we were able to see most of the athletes up really close, and even talk to some of them briefly. Not to mention that Michael Johnson was sitting within a few yards of us! The girl who won the women's high jump (Chauntel Howard) was SO personable, friendly, funny, and flamboyant. When we told her good job, she looked up at us and said, "I could hear you cheering for me!! Thank you!" I really hope she does well at the Olympics, she was so down-to-earth and nice.

One last Olympic Trials detail, and then I'll move on. We watched the women's 1500 meter qualifying races, and there was a girl who looked 14 who made it to the finals!! Later we found out she was 16, and that in that race she broke the high school girls record. It was so cool to be a part of that!

Another really fun thing we did in Oregon was tour the new hospital my dad has been working on for the last three years. He is the CEO of a hospital that will very soon have two campuses--the new campus (the hospital I just mentioned) and the original campus. They have put a ton of effort into this new hospital--not just to make it nice but also to change the structure of the hospital to make it more patient-centered. They analyzed the process of care in each section of the hospital, changed the processes to be more patient-friendly, and built the hospital in a way that would be conducive to these changes. It was so inspiring and exciting to see!

The hospital is beautiful and also in a very peaceful, natural setting (flanked by fields, tall trees, and a river). I think hospitals are such sacred places, and I was so proud to see how my dad has reflected this idea in his leadership of the hospital. Way to go Dad, you did great! And good luck with all the last-minute projects and with transferring the patients in a month!!! We'll be praying for you.

I'm sorry I don't have any pictures to post of this trip, but I actually have a good excuse this time. My camera broke. If it hadn't, I would have posted pictures of the Olympic Trials, the new hospital, and the beautiful wedding quilt my mom made for us and sent us home with. It's on our bed now, and I will post pictures of it once we get our new camera that we ordered last night. The quilt is a charm quilt, meaning no two fabrics are the same in the entire quilt. We did the math and found out that it includes nearly 800 different kinds of fabric. My mom says it is like a history of her quilting life--she remembers where and why she bought many of the fabrics. She can point out many of the fabrics and tell me where that fabric is in other quilts and projects she has made. It truly is a treasure. THANK YOU MOM!!!

We came home from Oregon a week ago, and then the next day all of the M* clan (except Wayne and Hillary) came over to celebrate Chad's graduation from residency. We had a delicious pot-luck dinner and talked and played games. It was wonderful to celebrate with family. It feels so good to love others so much and feel so loved in return.

In short, life is good because Chad is done with residency and we have the best family in the whole world.

Twilight

2008-06-27T20:35:00.002-06:00

My Review:

It's not that well-written.

There are major parts of the plot and characters that bugged me while I read it.

I have very little in common with the main character.

The heart-throb Edward really isn't my type.

AND I LOVE IT!!!! I can't wait to start "New Moon."

(P.S. Sorry, Kjirsten! :) )

Oh the Places We've Been

2008-06-21T19:59:00.019-06:00

A year ago this weekend Chad and I got married! In some ways I can hardly believe it, but in other ways our wedding day feels like a really long time ago. We have done so much in our first year! We've had multiple people tell us to live it up and travel as much as we can before having kids, and we've tried our hardest to do just that. And I think we've done a pretty good job, thanks to Chad's amazing trip-planning skills. Chad has taken me so many places, I don't know how I got so lucky. Here are the highlights of our year in 31 pictures:

MIDWAY--with a beautiful view of Mt. Timpanogos.

HAWAII--with a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean.

Helicoptering over Maui.Hiking through a bamboo forest.
Black sand beach.
The Hawaii temple (we've also been to the Jordan River, Bountiful, Provo, Manti, Ogden, Salt Lake, and San Diego temples together since we've been married).We also went snorkeling in Hawaii, but I don't have any pictures of that.

UINTAS--with a beautiful view of the mountains.

My first time every back-packing
My first time ever catching a fish
OREGON--where we had a marvelous time with my parents.THE CABIN--we've been there three times since getting married. While there we went four-wheeling, snow-mobiling, and snow-shoeing. Here's one picture of me on a four-wheeler, but not at the cabin.

PAYSON LAKE-- picnicing in the nice cool weather in the mountains--so refreshing when it's a hot summer day in the valley, and so fun to spend time with family!

TENNIS--I'm proud of how good my husband is at this sport.

NATIONAL PARKS TRIP--can be summed up in one word: WOW!!!
Canyonlands
Arches Camping--I'm a much better camper than I was a year ago. I've found that I really like it.
Mesa Verde--one of the many places Chad has taken me that has encouraged me to overcome my fear of heights.
The Grand Canyon.
Zion's

ST GEORGE MARATHON--Way to go, Chad!!!

CEDAR CITY--for Caytee's Wedding:

GEORGIA--wonderful Christmas with my family, minus Adam and Jessie.SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL--fun times with Nate, Michelle, and Jon.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA--pretend this is a beach on California (it's really in Mexico--I feel so dumb I didn't take any pictures in California even though we were there for a full week and we saw some very pretty stuff!).MEXICO--such a fun trip!

Sea kayaking to the arch at Cabo.

Deep sea fishing.
Sliding down rocks.
SALT LAKE HALF MARATHON--Go us!! Too bad it's not the most flattering picture of either of us, haha. Oh well.

GREEN RIVER TRIP--with beautiful views of red red rock.

I'm pretty sure I'm the luckiest girl on the planet. Thanks, Chad, this year's been the best!!

Swimming

2008-06-13T21:45:00.014-06:00

I am following the P* sisters' latest trend of blogging about swimming! :) It must be summer! :)

I am so excited because I am taking a swimming class at our community's recreation center! I've always been a bit jealous of my friends (Guin--if you're reading this, this is you!) who have gone to a nearby pool to exercise by swimming laps. Sure, I can swim if by "swimming" you mean treading water, but swimming laps with correct technique--now that's a different story. I could hardly put my face under water without plugging my nose! So I decided a couple months ago that if I wanted to learn the technique of freestyle and backstroke swimming, I should take a class. So I found an adult swimming lessons course offered in the community and signed up for it!

The month between signing up and the first day of class, I really looked forward to it!...And then the first day of class came. I drove to the rec center and started feeling really nervous. I thought, "What am I doing? Little kids take swimming lessons! Adults do not take swimming lessons!" It didn't help that when I walked into the room with the pool, there was a whole bunch of little kids' swimming lessons going on. The only adults in sight were parents watching their kids, the swimming instructors, and the already adept adult swimmers speeding their way along the marked-off lanes for lap swimming. Now I didn't just feel nervous, but quite embarrassed as well. "Please don't let there be anyone here I know!" I thought.

Needless to say, I was very grateful when another girl approached me and asked me if I was here for the lesson, and freely confessed her nervousness as well. It's much easier to feel embarrassed with another person than to feel all alone in your embarrassment.

But the first lesson, and the three lessons since, have turned out very well, and the feelings of nervousness and embarrassment have gone away. The pool is cleared out for just our lesson, thank goodness, and my teacher is great. She's real nice and perky and is very good at teaching. I really enjoy it and look forward to the last four lessons of the course. Not to mention a whole lifetime of swimming to stay fit! :)

There's something so enriching about learning something new. It gives you something to look forward to, to work towards. It fights off feelings of monotony or depression. One of my good friends Bri just went through a really hard break-up, and she says taking piano lessons has helped her keep busy, cope, and move on. My mom is also a great example to me of learning new skills--she has been taking French lessons and a tap class for the past year or so. She has taught me the joy of life-long learning. I want to be just like my mom when I grow up!

Overdue Half Marathon Pictures

2008-06-01T15:32:00.004-06:00

Here are the pictures I promised to post from my half-marathon:

This is at Mile 10. We were still feeling pretty good at this point!

This is approaching Mile 11, the farthest I'd ever ran before.

This is sometime during Mile 11, when we were feeling pretty tired. Once we hit Mile 12, it got easier because we thought "only one more mile!" and we pushed it hard the whole last mile to get it over with.

Hooray! We did it!

Here are the all the C*s who ran, minus Jon. At this point, Jon was still loving (er--okay, maybe hating) his full marathon. But here are the rest of us, who just ran the half marathon. Caytee, how do you look so good after running for so long?

Tag from Mom

2008-06-01T15:27:00.004-06:00

How long have you been married? Almost one year! :)
How old is your spouse? 31
Who eats more? Depends on what rotation Chad is on (he loses his appetite when he works long hours and nights). But when he has a normal schedule, he eats more than me, but not by much.
Who is taller? Chad by about 3 inches.
Who sings better? About the same.
Who is smarter? Definitely Chad.
Who controls the T.V. remote? Chad—I don’t watch all that much TV.
Whose temper is worse? Neither of us have bad tempers, I’d say we’re about the same.
Who does the laundry? Mostly me, but Chad does it sometimes too.
Who does the dishes? Mostly me.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? When you’re looking at it, me. When you’re sitting on it, Chad.
Who cooks dinner? Since I’ve been working until 6 most nights, neither of us. Thank you frozen pizzas, cereal, toast, and take-out! :) But I am going to try to be better and cook more often in the next couple months.
Who is more stubborn? Again, I think we’re about the same.
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Sorry to be redundant, but I think we’re about the same. I might be first a little more often, but maybe I just think that because I'm me! :)
Whose parents do you see the most? Definitely Chad’s. But we’re going to visit my parents in July and I can’t wait!
Who has more friends? We probably have about the same, but I contact mine more often.
Who has more siblings? Chad by 2.
Who wears the pants in the family? We share the pants—I get one leg, he gets the other! :)

May in Review

2008-05-30T22:16:00.005-06:00

I have had an absolutely wonderful last month. My whole family visited and stayed with Chad and me for a week, Adam got married, we took a trip to Colorado for Adam's Colorado reception, I started my new position as kindergarten teacher at KinderCare, I had a blast babysitting my darling nephew Carson for a weekend, and I went on a super fun canoe trip on the Green River with Chad's family. I feel so blessed to have this time to enjoy so many wonderful things. Life is good.

River Trip

2008-05-30T21:43:00.012-06:00

Last weekend Chad and I went on such a fun trip. I just had a blast! We went down the Green River in canoes with 13 other members of Chad’s family. It was so beautiful and fun! Props to Nate for making it such a fun, smooth trip. I would totally do it again. I probably liked it so much because I had nothing to worry about--Nate took care of pretty much everything as far as the logistics went, and Chad did most of the packing for us and then cleaned everything off when we got home. I'm so spoiled and I know it.

But besides it being a very relaxing trip for me, it was also a ton of fun to spend time with Chad's family and the views were AMAZING. It was seriously one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.

The first night we played some friendly softball.

A view from our first campsite.

Our first campsite (I didn't get a picture of it with all the tents up).

The place we stopped mid-day to hike around a bit. Most everybody hiked to the top of "pride rock" (center of the picture), but I couldn't get myself to do it, it was too high for me with nothing to hold onto. I'm sure Crystal will post pictures of it in her blog soon. Props to Dale for going to the top, even though he seemed to have a fear of heights like me!

The views were phenomenal. I just could not get over how spectacular the huge red rock cliffs were that sided the river the whole day. It was just amazing to me, and my pictures totally don’t do it justice.

We even got to take a nap on the river! Talk about relaxing! Here's Colbs and Chad enjoying a sleep on the river.
I'm not sure if you can tell, but in this picture three canoes are tied together. Just a while later we tied all six of our canoes together and floated down the river together. Talk about quality family time! We were all laying around on our canoes, talking, laughing, eating, sleeping, reading, enjoying the scenery and sun.

The campsite on our second night. Wow! Is it just me or is that one of the most beautiful things you've ever seen! The second morning I got up early and couldn't go back to sleep, so I got up and read my scriptures and took some pictures. That was such a lovely morning. It was so special to sit there surrounded by God's amazing creations and read the Book of Mormon. This was the view I had as I read. I eventually went back to bed for the cozy warmth of my sleeping bag, and I read "Enchantment," a novel Carrie lent to me, for the rest of the morning. Now that's life!

Another picture I took early in the morning.

Our six canoes, emptied of all our stuff (which was all at our campsite at the time). I thought it was such a picturesque sight.

P.S. Sorry I didn't include many close-up pictures of people--I'm never good at taking pictures of people. But here are the names of all the wonderful people who went:

Neal, Curt, Brady, Crystal, Dale, Natalie, Preston, Logan, Chad, me, Nate, Colby, Jon, Caytee, Preston.

Nieces and Nephews

2008-05-30T20:52:00.010-06:00

I love my nieces and nephews so much! At Adam and Jessie's wedding in Colorado I tried to get pictures of me with each one of them, but I was unsuccessful (I didn't get one with Jordan or Emily). I'll get one with them the next time I see them!

My affectionate and helpful McKenna.

My confident and beautiful Lydia.

My kind-hearted and easy-going Kyle.

My humorous and friendly Jordan (he's on the right in this picture).

My expressive and imaginative Emily.

My goofball and chocolate-loving Tanner.

My gregarious and silly Summer.

And last, but most definitely not least, my CUTE and SWEET Josh!

I love them all so much!

One of my most favorite parts of having my family visit was the day after Adam and Jessie's wedding. It was the first day of May, and it snowed! We were all tired from the wedding celebrations from the previous two days, so we slept in and took it easy for the day. The adults ate leftovers and played Settlers of Catan while the kids watched movies and played video games (thanks Nate and Michelle for letting us borrow your Wii!). It felt just like Christmas morning to me (snow and all)! :) The same happiness, family-togetherness, excitement, and carefree feelings of Christmas were in the air. Later that day we went to the Rec Center and played games and swam in the pool with the kids. It was so much FUN!

I treasure that day in my heart when I feel sad, stressed, or I miss my family. I love my family so, so, so much and am so grateful for that fun week we were able to spend together. For quite a while after they left every little part of my home reminded me of my family--"That's where McKenna slept," "This is where we had such a nice FHE put on by my wonderful parents," "This is where we played Settlers of Catan together," etc., etc. I'm so glad they were able to stay with us. Thanks for staying with us, even if it was a little cramped and maybe not the most comfortable place to stay!

Adam and Jessie's wedding was beautiful and wonderful. We are so happy for them, and excited to have Jessie in our family.

We Did It!

2008-04-21T18:36:00.003-06:00

After almost six months of diligent training, my friend Maegan and I finished the Salt Lake Half Marathon! I am so proud of how we did! I did not think we could do it as fast as we did. About three miles into the race, we were talking about the time we would get if we ran ten minute miles. I remember thinking "There's no way we are going to run it that fast!" And we did! The results were posted today and we found out our time was 2:10:07 and that our mile pace was 9:56! I will post pictures from it later, but I just wanted to share the happy news. I am so happy I did it. My favorite part of it all was getting together with Maegan three times a week to chat and run, but the actual race was really fun too. The feeling of accomplishment is wonderful.

Chad also ran the half marathon, and did amazing for not training for it! He ran the first five miles with Maegan and me, and then stopped to walk for a bit. He finished less than twenty minutes after us, despite the fact he didn't hardly train at all and we trained a lot! My brother-in-law Jon ran the full marathon and also did amazing for not fully training for it. Go Jon for finishing your fourth marathon! Wow! My other brother-in-law Preston and my sister-in-law Caytee ran the half-marathon and both did awesome too. Yay for us! Like I said, I'll post pictures later.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig

2008-04-01T21:12:00.008-06:00

For those of you who requested a report of our vacation, here 'tis.

Chad and I got home two days ago from a two week vacation! Well, the first week was a semi-vacation for Chad, since Mon-Thurs he was participating in a Pediatric Chief Resident Conference to prepare him for his role next year as chief resident. But even that week was like vacation for him compared to the hours he has been working!

On Sat. Mar. 15 we drove to Las Vegas and got there just in time for the Mountain West Conference championship game for men's basketball. Thanks to Chad's friend Rich for getting us tickets! It was quite sad to see BYU lose to UNLV (darnet!), but then Rich took us around Las Vegas for a bit (I have to say it's not my favorite city, but we got to see some pretty sweet circus performers in one of the malls/hotels we went to), and then we visited Chad's friends Bryan and Mariyah who live in Henderson. We spent the night, Sunday morning and afternoon with them (what a lovely family they are!!), and then we drove to Redondo Beach where Chad's conference was.

Monday through Thursday was the conference, and here are some of the highlights from our time there:

-Going to Korea Town and eating Korean BBQ with the two other chief residents in his program
-Getting together with his friend Wendy from medical school, and her husband Brian
-Sleeping in
-Playing tennis in the warm sun
-Walking along the beach
-Reading Goose Girl (another Shannon Hale book--I've decided I really like her books)
-On Wednesday while Chad was in his meetings I went to the Las Angeles temple--I never realized it is smack-dab in the middle of the city! I love the temple so much.

And then on Thursday night we went to WICKED!!!! Big Sigh... I would be very surprised if anyone in the audience loved it more than I did. I am a total sucker for big shows like that! I told my sisters that I don't know how else to describe how I felt at the end of the show other than high. It ended and I just wanted it to go on for another three hours!! Chad spoiled me with really good tickets for my birthday, and let me tell you I think I'll still be giddy on my birthday from how fun that show was! Thanks Chad!!

On Friday morning we went to the Getty Center, a really neat art museum in L.A. that is set on the top of a hill, with incredible views of L.A. You have to take a special little train just to get to it. The architecture and gardens of the place were art alone, not to mention all the awesome pieces of art insde its walls. All the art made me feel like I was taking a step into Europe again, and you all know how much I love Europe! If you go to L.A., I would recommend trying to make a visit there, because it was really neat.

After visiting the Getty Center we drove to San Diego where we spent Friday night to Sunday morning. I liked San Diego oh so much more than I liked L.A. Much greener, prettier, and more open space. On Saturday morning we ran ten miles together along a road just above the beach. I have been training for this run for four months now (my half marathon is in eighteen days!) and Chad ran it with me despite the fact that he hasn't even gone running in a couple of months! My husband is amazing. It was actually really fun to run it, because it was perfect weather, there were a lot of other people on that trail running and biking, and the views of the ocean with people surfing and boogie boarding were so fun--it made the time go by quickly. Thanks again Chad for going with me!

After showering and resting a bit, we went to the San Diego temple. It's beautiful on the outside, and it's just as beautiful on the inside. How lovely to be in the temple with my sweetheart. The temple makes for the best dates!

On Sunday morning we woke up and went to church in Oceanside and then drove to L.A. to hop on our cruise to Mexico! Another gift from Chad. I definitely do not deserve how much he spoils me.

Our cruise was wonderful. I can see why so many people go on cruises for their honeymoon! It was just so relaxing, fun, and stress-free. It was like a second honeymoon for us. Here are some highlights from it:

-Eating all the free (well, kind of free...) and delicious food (of course!)
-Sleeping in and taking naps! (If you go on a cruise, I would recommend getting a room WITHOUT an ocean view, because then when you turn the lights out it is DARK and you can sleep undisturbed by any light no matter what time of day it is! haha :) )
-Playing shuffleboard (I loved that game! I think it's the only game I've ever consistently beat Chad at), ping-pong, and being a part of the Family Wii Bowling tournament
-Talking to the other people on board, including our servers in the dining room
-Taking ballroom dance classes together--we learned the waltz, cha-cha, and swing
-Kayaking to the arch at Cabo San Lucas
-Deep sea fishing in Mazatlan! It's too bad we didn't catch anything, but it was still a ton of fun.
-Puerto Vallarta--sliding down the rocks and into the pool at "El Eden," going to one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever been to, wandering around the old city, wandering around a small town we drove to nearby Puerto Vallarta
-Watching "Bourne Ultimatum" again on the TV in our room
-The Magic show and "Love and Marriage" game show (we weren't in it, just watched it)
-Reading Mara, Daughter of the Nile--I haven't finished it yet, but so far it's been pretty entertaining
-The International Parade of Flags put on by the workers on the ship--so fun!
-Dressing up for the formal nights

And I'm sure I'm forgetting other stuff, but I think you get the point..it was FUN!

But it's also nice to be home again. I love our home, and I love my neighbors, and I love my work. I'm trying to soak all the luxury in to save it for later, because I'm sure life will get a lot harder once we have kids. Chad and I are trying to maximize all the just-the-two-of-us time we have together before we have kids, and I think we're doing a pretty good job of it. :)

Here are some pictures from our trip: (sorry, I only took one during our week in CA)

Me and Beth (another chief resident) and her husband Matt, at Korean BBQ in L.A.
The arch we kayaked to in Cabo.
The view of Cabo from on the ship. (If you look closely you can see my reflection on the window.)

Me chillin' on the boat we took deep sea fishing.

Chad chillin' on the boat we took deep sea fishing.

We are one happy couple.

A fun thing we saw in the streets of Mazatlan.
Me sliding down the rocks in "El Eden" by Puerto Vallarta. This picture cracks me up!! :)

Chad about to slide down the rocks in El Eden.

The beach we went to in Puerto Vallarta. Notice Chad snorkeling in the picture (middle right).
I thought it was such a pretty spot!
The view to our right on the beach. Chad and me with Puerto Vallarta in the background.
My favorite of the three ports--Puerto Vallerta.
The sunset as we were docked in Puerto Vallarta.
Us with the people we ate with every night in the dining room (Mike and Tanya), and our servers Asep and Joseth, on one of the two formal nights.
Notice our beautiful meals--the food was that nice every night.

So happy

2008-03-02T20:28:00.004-07:00

I have been so happy lately! I just feel so happy! My life is so good. Ever since I quit my last job, I've felt like I've had this burden lifted off me. I used to carry this yucky feeling home from work, and I don't anymore. I just feel so liberated! The last couple months I have often thought, "I just feel so happy! I feel so GOOD!" There are a lot of difficult things about my current jobs as well, but they rarely follow me home. I am so glad I don't work at the P* school anymore. My whole life is better since working there.

I've thought a lot about why I carried this oppressive feeling with me while I worked at the P* school, and I think I'm learning some lessons from it. First of all, I think some of it stemmed from the fact that the people there did not treat me well. That affected me more than I would let myself admit. I tried so hard to be emotionally independent from the way they treated me, and although I stayed so positive in my mind, my heart still felt a little sick from it, and that sick feeling would take a while to wear off after I got home.

I don't want to be around people like that anymore. I want to surround myself with uplifting people, not people who want to drag me down, who want to make me feel "el crapo" (as Chad and I like to say) so as to make themselves feel better.

But I know I can't avoid them completely, and so I'm still trying to figure out how to avoid being affected by them. That's a lesson I think I was supposed to learn from this experience, and I haven't quite figured it out yet. Any thoughts? I tried so hard at work to love the people who treated me like that--to forgive them, to understand them, to pray for them, to not care what they thought, to befriend them. But I still had that sick feeling from the way they treated me, and that feeling still comes to me when I think about working there. I never want to go back there! And I never want to treat people the way they treated me! I want to be a leader that uplifts, inspires, and encourages. I do not want to be a leader that tries to make people fear me and feel like they are SO below me.

The second thing I am learning is that I am believing to a fault. I am so believing! I tried so hard to believe in what I was doing, that the therapy we did there was what was best for the kids, that I was helping them, that my supervisors knew what they were talking about. My mind was in it, but my heart didn't buy it. I felt yucky from trying to believe in something I just couldn't. I feel so liberated now that I don't have to live something I can't believe!

I realize now I used to be really defensive about my work, and I feel bad about it. I couldn't handle any comments that were even slightly negative about it, because I was trying so hard to believe in it and be positive about it. I'm learning first-hand that if you have a firm foundation and firm belief in something, you can handle criticism. But without it, you fear that your belief will crumble with the slightest negativity, so you have to fight it off so you can keep believing in it. I don't want to be defensive and combative. I want to be open to feedback, even if it's not all positive. And I don't want to be so believing that I force myself into trying to believe things that are untrue.

I think Chad and I complement each other very well, because I am so believing and Chad is quite skeptical. He is good to encourage me to question things more, and I am good to encourage him to be more believing. Perhaps we'll help each other come to a good, safe, healthy middle ground.

I hope that I can learn whatever I was supposed to learn through that job, because it was a crummy thing to go through for nothing. But I know there are two very positive things that job has led me to regardless of how much I learned from it:
1. Working with the kids with autism I work with now, and learning about the therapy I am using now!
2. And helping me feel as happy as I am now that I am not working there anymore!

P.S.

2008-02-27T17:32:00.003-07:00

I'm realizing I am very fond of this little abbreviation. I use it quite frequently, in emails, blog comments, and letters. There often seems to be something I want to say that sounds better, has more umph, fits better in a P.S. that in the main body of what I'm saying. Has anyone noticed that I do this? Does anyone find it annoying?

I've Been Tagged

2008-02-21T19:35:00.003-07:00

Carrie tagged me, so here goes: (Sorry it took me so long, Carrie!)

*10 Years Ago?
Was not the most shining time of my life. Let's just say MIDDLE SCHOOL. You all probably understand.

*5 Things On My To Do list?
1-Write and send late wedding cards to four of my newly married friends.
2-Write and send letters to four of my missionary friends.
3-Work on planning curriculum for my cute and challenging preschoolers.
4-Nail up the framed pictures I have ready to put up on our walls (yay, I'm finally decorating!).
5-Get our food storage rolling (visit Costco and the cannery).

*3 Bad Habits?
1-Looking for split ends in my hair. I'm seriously compulsive about it.
2-Spending too much time on the computer.
3-Putting off cleaning anything until it's really dirty.

*Places I have Lived?-
Utah
Oregon
Washington
Michigan
England
Romania

*Things Most People Don't Know About Me?
1-I love performing on stage (as long as I feel well trained and prepared for whatever I am supposed to be doing). Whenever I was in ballroom dance competitions in college, I LOVED walking out on the dance floor and performing for the audience and judges.
2-I love sleeping and can sleep for really long periods of time if I don't set an alarm clock (hence that rarely happens).

An Honor

2008-02-13T18:27:00.004-07:00

The last two nights I have spent a couple hours at the bedside of my grandma in the hospital. I love my grandma so much, and it has been special to be with her during this time. She has been a real trooper through it all. She is so cheerful and kind. On Monday when a young man came in and asked her if she wanted a snack, she said enthusiastically, "You bet!!" Yesterday when I asked her how her day was, she said, "Oh, lovely. Just lovely."

She is just so beautiful. As I sat there holding her hand, I thought about all that her hands have done: rocked babies to sleep (including my mother), RAISED NINE CHILDREN, wrote letters to her missionary sons, made thousands of meals, folded thousands of loads of laundry, taught Chinese college students, traveled side by side her husband, worked as a missionary president's wife (while also raising eight children), cooked thousands of cookies for those missionaries, gave hugs to many, many souls who needed them, etc., etc., etc. And I thought, "Wow, what an honor to be sitting here and holding such special hands--hands that have done an immeasurable amount of good in this world." Just thinking about all that made her hands seem sacred, and I felt so honored to be there to hold them during this time. I feel it an honor to simply be her granddaughter!

This is a picture of my Grandma H*'s, Mom's, sister Jessi's, and niece Emily's hands, taken by Audra C*. Doesn't it speak volumes?!

More Prayers Needed

2008-02-11T20:29:00.000-07:00

This is my beautiful, affectionate, loving, wonderful Grandma H*. She fell down the stairs in her house in the middle of the night Saturday-Sunday and is in the hospital. If you could all pray for her, I would really appreciate it! She is in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's and so she has a hard time understanding what's going on, and that makes it all the harder. She could really use your prayers for the Lord to comfort her, strengthen her in her pain, and give her peace that she'll be okay at the hospital or the nursing home (she really just wants to go home and doesn't understand why she can't).

This man could also use your prayers. He is my Grandpa H*, and he is an angel on the earth. He has been so good to my grandmother through everything and I love him more every day for how graciously, patiently, and lovingly he has gone through my grandma's loss of memory and deteriorating physical health. He has always been so smart, witty, funny, and bright, but just in the last few years I have also realized how tender his heart is. I love him so much and I'm sure he would also benefit from your prayers for the Lord to give him peace, hope, and strength during this trying time.

Thank you for all your prayers! I know Heavenly Father hears them and answers them! So thank you again!

Compliments

2008-02-10T14:05:00.000-07:00

Last week my sister-in-law Crystal posted about how a little girl gave her the best compliment that made her so happy. Today at church I was given a similar compliment that just made me so happy, and I thought I'd share it with you. I taught the Relief Society lesson today (I was subbing for another lady in the ward), and afterwards an older lady, Sister Giles, came up to me and said it was a great lesson and, "What I want to know is where you served your mission!" I told her I hadn't served a mission, and she said, "Wow, I am so surprised! You taught just like a missionary." That made me so happy!!

I've always had a desire to serve a mission, but when I was about to turn 21 I just didn't feel good about it (now I know why--a certain gentleman came into my life about a month after I turned 21). Even though I know that wasn't God's plan for me, I still feel a little twinge of jealousy when I see sister missionaries--that I was never able to experience that. But I can't wait to be a missionary with Chad someday! So when that sister told me I taught like a missionary, I thought it was the nicest compliment she could have given me!

Compliments are so powerful--they are examples of how small things can make such a big difference! Just one little sentence can make a person feel so good for the rest of the day! Like the compliment Crystal received from that little girl, and the one Sister Giles gave me to me. Another compliment that made me feel so good was one I received on my wedding day. Chad and I were walking around the temple grounds to a spot where our photographer wanted to take some pictures, and we passed a little girl about four years old and her mom sitting on a blanket in the shade of a tree. The little girl looked at me, and then at her mom and excitedly said, "Look Mom--there's the princess!!" That made me feel so good!!

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, one of my most favorite apostles, spoke on compliments in his conference talk in May of 2005. His talk was titled "The Virtue of Kindness," and it is one of my favorite conference talks. In it he recounted these stories and gave this counsel:

"One day, when I was in college, a man seven years my senior congratulated me on my performance in a football game. He not only praised how well I had done in the game, but he had noticed that I had showed good sportsmanship. Even though this conversation happened more than 60 years ago, and even though it’s highly unlikely the person who complimented me has any recollection of this conversation, I still remember the kind words spoken to me that day by Gordon B. Hinckley, who would later become President of the Church.

"The attributes of thoughtfulness and kindness are inseparably linked with President Hinckley. When my father passed away in 1963, President Hinckley was the first person to come to our home. I’ll never forget his kindness. He gave my mother a blessing and, among other things, promised her that she had much to look forward to and that life would be sweet for her. These words have brought comfort to her and to me, and I’ll never forget his kindness.

"Kindness is the essence of a celestial life. Kindness is how a Christlike person treats others. Kindness should permeate all of our words and actions at work, at school, at church, and especially in our homes."

So when a compliment comes to your mind, say it! It might just make both you and the other person feel good for the rest of the day! And who knows--it may even make a lasting impression on them for the rest of their lives.

I Voted!

2008-02-05T18:00:00.000-07:00

One of the things I love about my husband is how he keeps up with politics. In my American Heritage class at BYU, I was inspired to become an active citizen, but it wasn't until I met Chad that I really did what I was inspired to do. Chad has helped me learn about politics, understand the political process, and think critically about a lot of the issues our nation is facing. He has gently invited me to the world of politics that is often overwhelming, intimidating, and frustrating to me.

This year I am learning about the primaries process. For the first time in my life, I actually know the candidates for each political party. I've kept up with primaries for Iowa, New Hampshire, North Carolina, etc... And today, Super Tuesday, I voted! I'm fulfilling my dream to become politically active!

I still don't really like politics, though. I believe it's important, but I don't like it. And here's why:

1. I don't like the fact that politicians seem to always be trying to impress everyone, especially during campaigning season. I feel like they are all fake! And because of that, I have a hard time trusting them or wanting to vote for any of them.

2. Along the same lines, I feel like during campaigning season, politicians are all trying to talk themselves up and make unrealistic promises. I want to say, "Yeah right, get real" to all of them.

3. I don't like how politics can be so polarizing. Why can't we all just get along?! :)

4. And most of all, I DO NOT like how political candidates bash on each other. Even when they rationalize it as necessary to point out differences between themselves and other candidates, I still think pointing out the weaknesses of others while emphasizing your own strengths is just plain low, whether it's in the political arena or outside of it.

But with that said, I voted! Yay! :)

A Word on Shoveling

2008-02-03T13:16:00.000-07:00

Since posting about shoveling a couple weeks ago, I realized it could have made my husband look bad. Well, I just wanted to clarify that. The reason why I've shoveled the snow so many times in the last two months is because the sky has dumped snow on us close to every day! :) Chad has shoveled the snow a lot of those days, but he has also been working a lot, and so while he's at work I shovel. And I like doing it. I'm one of those weird people who really likes snow, and I even like to shovel it once in a while. :) So I apologize if it sounded as though I was complaining, because that wasn't my intention! I was just celebrating how I've gotten so much better at shoveling. :) And here's an update on our house and the mountain of snow in front of it (and we're supposed to receive 6 more inches in the next day!):

11:11 and 9:01

2008-01-30T21:25:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I have this quirky love for the time 11:11. It makes me so excited! I love the number 11, and I love the look of four 1's in a row. Ever since I was little I remember being delighted by this number! I hardly ever see that time anymore. During the day I'm at work and even if I did check the clock, it's not a digital one. And I'm almost always to bed by 11:11, and so I miss it at night. But a couple of nights ago I was up that late and randomly checked the clock and it was 11:11, and the same feeling of delight came back! I just love that number, and I think I always will.

Another time that makes me happy is 9:01. When Chad and I were dating, we would wait to talk on the phone until after 9 so we wouldn't rack up our cell phone minutes (we didn't have the same cell phone company, but both had unlimited night minutes). So during that time, 9:01 was I-get-to-talk-to-Chad time (i.e., happy time). Some days it was so hard to wait until after 9 to talk to Chad. I can remember sitting in my room and studying, and checking the clock every five minutes to see if it was 9:01 yet. It's embarrassing to admit, but it's true. I'm so glad those days are over and we can talk in the mornings, evenings, and after 9:01! :) So now when I see the time 9:01, it is a reminder to me of the blessing of being married to Chad and not having to wait until 9:01 to talk to him!

Here are two happy memories related to my love of the number 11:

This actually is a really crazy story. It was November 11 (11-11) of 2005. I was on a three day trip to Northern England with my London Study Abroad group. We had started the day in York and then traveled to Liverpool. It had been a very happy day of fun traveling and sight-seeing with great friends. Once we got to the hostel we were staying at, one of the professors announced that they had already assigned the rooms and that he would announce who was staying in what rooms. And guess what?! I was assigned to room 111!!! Totally by chance. Talk about happiness for a girl who loves the number 11 AND traveling in England. So this picture is of me in my Liverpool, England hostel room #111, on 11-11, with my alarm clock at the time 11:11. As you can see from the picture, I'm pretty excited about the whole thing. :)

And this picture was also taken on a very happy day. It was the day our car's odometer hit mile 111,111. Pure joy! :) Not only that, but it was while Chad and I were on our National Parks trip, definitely one of the most happy weeks of my life. That was such an awesome trip!!

President Hinckley

2008-01-27T20:53:00.000-07:00

I just found out that President Hinckley passed away this evening. I will miss him so much!

I went to a stake Relief Society fireside tonight, and when I got home I noticed that Chad had called me. "That's odd," I thought. "I wonder what this is about." Chad never calls me when he's at work. When I heard his voice on the phone, I could immediately tell it wasn't for any happy reason. He told me that he had just checked the local news at work, and I've probably already heard, but...

At this point I'm thinking, "Oh no. Not another tragic accident. Not another death in our ward. Oh please let everyone be okay."

And then he finished--"President Hinckley passed away tonight."

And as bad as it sounds, I felt relief from that statement. That's not tragic! That's happy news for him! He gets to be with his dear Marjorie again! After Sister Hinckley died, I've felt that as much as we needed and wanted President Hinckley to be with us, he really just wanted to be with his sweet wife. And now he is! And I think we should rejoice in that!

The next thought that came to my mind was a prayer. "Heavenly Father, please tell him how much I love him. Please tell him how much all of us love him, and miss him. Tell him how much good he did, and how we will never be the same because of his influence on us."

President Hinckley is my prophet, and although I will miss him dearly, he will always stay with me. Through the things he's taught me by his words and example, the presence he radiated and inspired me to try to emulate, the encouragement he has given me, the way he has touched my heart for good. He always inspired me to do a little better, stand a little taller, be a little kinder. They don't come much better than Gordon B. Hinckley!! We'll miss you, President Hinckley! Oh--and tell Sister Hinckley hi from us! :)

A Few Things

2008-01-21T20:06:00.000-07:00

First:

I wanted to thank Jessi for posting on her blog here about Google Reader! I’ve been using it and it has been saving me a ton of time. I would recommend it to everyone. It’s been so nice to go right to the blogs that are updated, comment on them, and be done, instead of checking and rechecking a lot of blogs every day that aren’t updated. THANK YOU JESSI!

And Second:

I wanted to share with you the happy news that I did my hair curly for three days last week! I recently blogged about how much I loved how my hair went curly in Hawaii, and I was able to get it to go like that here in Utah! I’ve always wanted curly hair, and I am so excited about this. Even though it’s just the bottom half of my hair that goes curly, I still like it, because I can put half of it up in a clip and it still looks curly. I hope this lasts, and it wasn’t just lucky hair days for a few days. Here’s a picture I took of myself, I was so excited about my curly hair:

And Third:

Today it snowed a lot again, and to be completely honest, I don’t mind it at all! It is so fun and beautiful. The only two things I don’t like about it are: driving in it and knowing my family and friends are driving in it, and how it makes going running harder. But I do love how it’s so pretty and it makes the day out of the ordinary. I have shoveled our driveway so many times since the first time I shoveled it on December 1, and I have to say I’m getting a lot better at it! Today I shoveled about four inches of snow off our driveway twice, once before going to work and once after work, and I was pretty proud of how quickly I could get it done. See this picture of our house? Well, the mounds of snow around our driveway and in front of our house are at least double now! We have been getting so much snow!

Hooray for Adam and Jessie!

2008-01-19T20:45:00.000-07:00

Adam proposed yesterday! He and Jessie will be getting married in May, and I am so happy for them! I love Adam so much, he is such a good friend and brother to me, and I am just thrilled to see how happy he is. He and Jessie make a perfect match and we are so excited to have Jessie be a part of our family!

He proposed at Rock Canyon park. Jessie's good friends Brock and Laura, Jessie's brother Lance, Adam's roommate Loren, and I were looking on as he proposed (but it was kinda hard to see anything because of how dark it was). Loren and I had (on cue from Adam) snuck up in my car without our lights on, rolled down the windows and blasted Michael Buble's "Everything" to add to the atmosphere of the proposal. :) After Adam proposed, he motioned for us to join them and celebrate with them. After we got there Adam showed Jessie the rings he got for her, and this is a picture of him putting one of them on her finger. They are so beautiful and sparkly!

Afterwards we went out to eat at Los Hermanos and celebrated some more. It was a very fun night.

CONGRATULATIONS ADAM AND JESSIE!!! WE ARE SO HAPPY FOR YOU!

What We Need

2008-01-14T19:06:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been thinking a lot about what we as Americans feel we need. And more specifically, I've thought a lot about how many people in America do not feel a need for a Savior. It seems to me many people might believe in, worship, and obey Jesus Christ more if they actually felt they needed Him. But since they feel they are doing just fine without Him, they don't bother.

In 1 Nephi 10:6 Nephi says, "Wherefore, all mankind were in a lost and fallen state, and ever would be save they should rely on this Redeemer." If people realized how lost they are without Him, I think more people would be relying on His grace and doing whatever they could to thank Him for it. It is so crucial to understand our absolute need for a Savior.

As I've thought about this, I've thought about what Americans do feel they need, if it's not a Savior. What do we think we need in order to be happy? I've come up with four answers. The world tell us we need to:

Be beautiful.
Have lots of nice things.
Be more talented than other people.
Be smarter than other people.

And the nasty trick of these four "needs" is that they can never be satisfied. Four examples to illustrate:

Be beautiful:
I watched a clip of the Miss America Reality Show on Saturday night, and do you know what they said? The people in charge said that all of the contestants needed makeovers, and some of them needed "major overhauls." Are you kidding me?! Despite the fact that they had already won their state's beauty competition, they still weren't beautiful enough. The world tells you you must be beautiful to be happy, and then they drag you down saying your hair, face, and whole body needs to be changed in order to meet the standards of beautiful. In short, you will never be beautiful enough, but you must do everything you can to keep trying.

Have lots of nice things:
Last weekend my aunt was telling me that she works for a 65 year old physician who doesn't own a single thing, and is still in major debt. He has nice cars, a nice home, and nice things, but he never feels he has enough, and so he has to buy more things, and get into more debt. Our whole nation is in a plague of debt because of this "need" we think we have to have nice things.

Be more talented than other people
Recently there has been huge media reports about professional athletes taking performing enhancing drugs so that they can hit more home runs, be stronger, and be better at what they do. No matter that they are being paid millions of dollars, are hugely famous, and recognized for being incredible at their sport--they still take drastic measures to be better than everyone else.

Be smarter than other people:
As Chad and I were waiting in line for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Concert last month, we tried to make small talk with a family in front of us in line. The mother was obviously in a bad mood about their place in line and blaming it on her husband. Chad tried to start up a light-hearted conversation with them to lighten the mood a little bit, and I ended up asking the mother what she did. Big mistake. She proceeded to tell me all about her studies and career goals in an extremely condescending way, using huge words and ridiculous phrases to demonstrate how much smarter than me she was. I came away from talking with her feeling about as small as a pea, but luckily Chad was able to help me see how insecure she must be to have to talk like that in order to feel better than everyone else.

I think Satan is very smart. He says, "Oh no, you don't need a Savior! Bah! What a silly idea! But you know what you do need? You need to be beautiful, rich, talented, and smart--and if you're not, there is absolutely no hope for you to ever be happy." And then he proceeds to make it IMPOSSIBLE to ever feel beautiful enough, rich enough, talented enough, or smart enough. What a jerk!

But you know what, we don't have to listen to him. We can listen to Jesus Christ, who says, "You don't need all of that. You don't need to 'spend [your] money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy.' (2 Nephi 9:51) You need Me and My saving grace. Come to Me, and I will give you love, peace, and happines, which is 'most desirable above all things.' (1 Nephi 11:22) Follow Me, and I will change you into a person that you never thought possible to become. (see Moroni 10:32)"

And you know what else He tells us? "My grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before Me." (Ether 12:27) His grace is enough! For everyone! Regardless of how beautiful, rich, talented, or smart we are! We can all be happy through Christ's atoning power! Isn't that wonderful?! And here's another wonderful thing about following Him: you realize you ARE beautiful enough, you have enough, and He has given you talents and intelligence enough to lead an extremely fulfilling life.

Oh, how I wish everyone could know of their need for a Savior! Oh, how I wish everyone could know how much better Christ's way is than the world's way! It is infinitely better, and yet Satan is doing a pretty good job of persuading people into thinking it's lame, backwards, and weird. I testify that it is not lame, backwards, and weird. We all need a Savior, and His way is the only way for us to overcome our weaknesses and the challenges of this world--to "gain peace in this life and eternal salvation in the life to come" (Introduction to the Book of Mormon).

The Cabin = Fun

2008-01-14T19:01:00.000-07:00

Chad and I were able to go to his family's cabin this weekend, and we had a blast! There were a lot of people there (Nate, Michelle, Colby, Carson, Curt, Mike, Karen, Ben, Hannah, Jon, Preston, Caytee, and their friends Rob and Angie), and we all had so much fun. We played games, talked, laughed, ate, went sledding, went snow-shoeing, and went snowmobiling. There was SO much snow up there, some of the street signs were almost completely covered. Their cabin is in the most beautiful location, and going there is like leaving the world for a little bit. We're so grateful for the cabin and that we were able to go there this weekend.

After going to the cabin we had a little get-together with even more family at Curt and Carrie's on Saturday night. Crystal and her kids were there, along with Neal and Carol and Carrie, Brady, and Landon. The only person missing was Dale. It was so fun to be all together. And what is so exciting is that Carrie showed us our wedding video that she made! It is AMAZING. I love it so much. Thank you so much, Carrie, I can't stop thinking about it and how much I love it and how good of a job you did! We are so grateful for it!

New Job

2008-01-10T19:15:00.000-07:00

To those of you who haven't already heard, I quit my job at the school for children with autism that I was working at. I quit for a number of reasons--didn't like the therapy they were using there, didn't like the social climate of the place, didn't like the position I was in, etc. I decided it just wasn't where I wanted to be--and it wasn't going to take me where I wanted to go, either.

So now I'm working part-time one-on-one with three kids with autism in their homes, doing a therapy I love (called Floortime). And I just started a job yesterday working part-time as a preschool teacher in a KinderCare close to my home. I'm in a class with about fifteen three-year-olds. I'm so grateful there's a co-teacher, or I think I might go a little crazy. I think I'm really going to like working there, and am going to learn a lot. It is challenging work, but also fun. I love reading stories, singing songs, teaching them about the most basic stuff that is so new to them. And it's funny, because I think all these kids are just brilliant. After working with kids with autism, they just seem so smart! It's so fun to have them look up at me and pay attention to me and understand me and respond to me! Wow. Little kids really are amazing.

I have a lot more independence in both these jobs than I did at my previous job, which I love. I really like having the liberty to make my own decisions and plan things out myself, rather than always just doing what someone tells me to do (even when I disagree with their ideologies). The people in these jobs treat me like I'm a capable person who has a brain, which is so refreshing! :) I'm very happy, and although I know these jobs will come with their challenges and problems as well, I feel so happy to be where I'm at now.

Update

2008-01-07T20:40:00.000-07:00

I just found out that Brian passed away today. I looked out my window and saw Nicolle's visiting teacher heart-attacking her door and so I ran out to ask her what the latest news was. She told me that Brian passed away and Nicolle was home, so I went over to give her a hug. Her mom opened the door for me and let me in, and when I walked in I saw the stake president and his wife was there, and they left so I could talk with her. I was crying when I walked in and gave Nicolle a hug, but she wasn't crying at all. Other than seeming really tired, she was amazingly composed. She asked me if I knew that Brian had passed away, because she never knows what people have heard. We talked about a few things, and she was pretty rational about everything. She said that he had only passed away a few hours ago, and that she had only been home for a little over an hour. She said that everyone wants to help, but she doesn't know what to ask for because all she wants they can't give her. She says she feels like she's in a bad dream and just wants to wake up from it. Everyone, please pray for Nicolle. She is such a beautiful person and I love her so much.

Cherish the Moments

2008-01-06T20:01:00.000-07:00

While reading the talks from last General Conference, I noticed there were three talks with similar messages. Here are their titles (and links if you want to read them):

"Do It Now"
"Today Is the Time"
"Don't Leave for Tomorrow What You Can Do Today"
(This last talk is especially relevent to this post)

When I read these talks a while ago, I thought, "Hmmm, it seems like there is a recurring theme going on here!" I was impressed by how we need to make the most of each day, and not put off the most important things in life. Each day is a gift from God.

Well, since hearing the news about Brian and Nicolle and their family, I have remembered this message and felt it more than ever. Now that I look back on them, every moment I witnessed of them together--every glance, every good-bye kiss, every laugh, every time they sat next to each other at church, etc., etc.--just seems like the most beautiful moment in the whole world. It is so true that you don't realize the value of things until they are taken away from you. At the time, all these moments I witnessed seemed so ordinary, but now looking back on them I see them as the most extraordinarly happy things one could ever have. It makes me want to cherish every moment I have with Chad. It makes me want to appreciate all the little things so much more.

This year in 2008 I want to appreciate every moment. So many people wrote in our wedding cards to "Cherish each other." I think that is so true. We need to cherish each other, and every moment we have with each other, because we don't know when that might be taken away from us. I hope I can live my life so that I can look back and say I didn't miss a chance to love, to thank, to serve, to uplift, to encourage--so that if my opportunity to do those things for a certain person were taken away, I would know I gave all the love I could in the time I had.

P.S. No new updates on Brian, but things are definitely not looking good.

Heartbreaking News

2008-01-05T18:13:00.000-07:00

Last night I found out that my visiting teaching companion's husband got in a bad car accident on Wednesday night. He was in a car with his two daughters driving to drop them off to their mom (his ex-wife), and they hit a patch of ice and swerved into the other lane and head-on into an SUV. One of his daughters, who is 18 and who has been living with them, died in the accident. His other daughter is doing pretty well in the hospital, but he is still in really bad condition in the ICU of another hospital. He has all sorts of complications--broken bones, crushed face, internal bleeding, nerves not responding to anything, etc. It's so bad that they might withdraw support from him today. I've been praying for them all day.

Nicolle and Brian are our neighbors and some of the best people you'll meet. They've only been married a couple years and they seem so happy together. Brian is a jokster and would try to scare me when I came to their door. When Nicolle would drive to our visiting teaching appointments, he'd make a noise to pretend like she ran over his toe or hit the garbage truck or something, just to tease her. He is so fun and you could tell they are so in love.

He also is really hard-working, and always busy doing things to help our neighboorhood committee. He has a lot of knowledge and connections when it comes to the issues we have as a neighborhood, and he was always so willing to help out in what we needed to get done. We had a committe meeting this morning, but it was cancelled, because without Brian, there's hardly anything to report. Just a couple days before the accident he had shoveled all the sidewalks from the neighboorhood entrance to where the homes start (probably about a one hour job), and that was definitely not the first time I saw him do this.

Brian and Nicolle are also the ward activities committee chairpersons, and they plan the best activities! They put so much time and effort into them so they will be fun for everyone. Chad and I have felt so indebted to them for how these activities have helped us meet people and feel apart of the ward. On so many occasions Chad would say, "You know who I really like? Brian and Nicolle. They are just the best couple." Needless to say, they are always serving and we love and appreciate them so much.

I feel so bad, because Kristin (Brian's 18-year-old daughter) has been my neighboor for about six months now, and I never got to know her. She seemed so sweet and I regret not reaching out to get to know her more.

Please pray for them. Everyone in our ward is fasting for them tomorrow, but if you could please keep them in your prayers, I would really appreciate it. I'll keep you updated on how things go.

Curly Hair

2008-01-02T19:40:00.000-07:00

Look how curly my hair went in Hawaii. It just dried like that! I didn't even have to do anything. I wish that's what my hair did in Utah.

A Unique and Unexpectedly Happy New Year's Eve

2008-01-01T13:26:00.001-07:00

I have been really depressed since leaving my family last week, and I had an especially hard day yesterday. It was New Year's Eve and everyone was celebrating with their families and I was going to be all alone. Chad was working in the ED at night and when I asked him about coming to celebrate with him in the ED, he said I could come, but he wasn't sure how much he'd be able to see me or if he'd need to go see a patient at midnight. So I bagged that idea and decided I'd ask to babysit my visiting teachees kids instead.

But when Chad got to work, he called me and said the other resident he was on with, Tara, told him that her husband, Brian, was going to come and celebrate with her at the hospital, and if I wanted to come too, he could give me a ride. The couple I was babysitting for were going to come home before midnight anyway, and so I decided to call Brian and ask to join him in driving to the hospital so we could kiss our spouses at midnight.

And then another happy thing happened--while I was babysitting Adam called and told me that he and his roommate, Loren, were at a party in my area, and wondered if I wanted to join them or if they could stop by my home and say hello. I ended up only babysitting until 8:30, and then Adam and Loren came over to my home at about 9:30 and stayed until about 10:15. We drank hot chocolate and chatted and looked at the wedding album Audra gave me. It made me so happy. So I got to celebrate New Year's Eve with family after all!

Brian picked me up about an hour after Adam and Loren left, and we had a nice chat on the way to the hospital. He is from Louisiana and we talked about the South, which of course made me happy considering that's where most my family is. Brian is really nice and it was good to be able to get to know him better. We both brought sparkling cider to celebrate with, and it was funny because he said he had never even drank sparkling cider before--I guess he just bought it because he knew Tara wouldn't be able to drink alcohol. When we got to the hospital we said hello to Tara and Chad, and then we waited in the cafeteria for them until 11:55, when their attending let them leave for a five minute break.

The four of us celebrated New Year's Eve together in the third floor stairwell where we could see all of the Salt Lake Valley and all the fireworks being put off. We counted down together and drank sparkling cider and laughed at how unusual of a New Year's Eve it was. I was so happy to be able to be with Chad, and it actually was a great view to bring in the New Year's with. We were all in really good spirits, and it was definitely a New Year's Eve I will remember for a long time.

Happy 2008 Everyone!

Christmas 2007 Highlights

2007-12-29T21:09:00.000-07:00

Chad and I got back from Atlanta today and I am so sad it's over! We had a blast! To see pictures of the trip, go to my sister Audra's blog. Here are some of my favorite parts of the trip, in no particular order:

Running with Jessi--it was so nice to spend one on one time with Jessi and see the pretty countryside by where she lives.

Holding Audra's little Joshy! I am head over heals in love with that sweetie pie and I am so sad I can't hold him anymore. He is just the cutest, sweetest thing and I miss him so much already. It was also really special to be there for his baby blessing on the 23rd.

Singing Christmas carols with Jessi's girls in their van on the way to Audra's house.

Playing around in a gymnastics gym for Lydia's birthday party--there were so many fun thing to do there! A rope to swing on, balance beam, huge inflated slide, trampolines, mats to do flips on, etc. We also played keep-away frisbee on the gymanstics "floor" for quite some time, and that was so fun!

Watching "Bride and Prejudice" with Audra! I LOVED it! It was so funny and fun--I would totally reccommend it to those who love dancing and light-hearted movies (not to mention the Pride and Prejudice storyline).

Playing "Loaded Questions," "Catch Phrase," and "Cranium" with the fam. We always laugh so much when we're together! Audra gave me "Loaded Questions" for Christmas, which is one of my favorite games, and I look forward to playing it more. Thanks, Audge!

Playing tennis with Chad, Dave, and Audra. When I don't play tennis for a while I forget how much fun it is and how much I really love it. It was such a treat to be able to play outside in nice weather, since it's too snowy and cold to play outside here. After we played, Chad gave a mini lesson to Lydia and Jordan and it was fun to see Chad coach and Lydia and Jordan learn.

Going running on Christmas day with Jessi and Dave, Audra and Mike, and Chad. It was so much fun to support Jessi in the last few miles of her Fitness Challenge, and it was fun to see the responses of people walking by, driving by, and from their yards and homes. We made quite the unusual sight of six people going running together in the rain on Christmas day. :)

Looking through the wedding album Audra made for me. She took all sorts of pictures during the wedding celebrations that totally capture the emotions and feeling of the day, and she put them together in a really nice album for me for Christmas. I love it so much!

Visiting Chad's friends Ezra and Crystal. They had us over for a really nice meal and then we played Settlers of Catan (my first time playing that game). It was fun to hear Ezra and Chad reminisce about their mission. They have a lot of shared memories, since they lived together for three quarters of their missions and were companions for 5 months of their missions. We had so much fun talking and playing the game together. We look forward to visiting them again the next time we're in the area!

Hiking Stone Mountain with the whole fam. Tanner held Chad's and my hand for about half the way up and it was fun to chat with him. He is such a fun kid! He LOVES garbage trucks, garbage cans, and the like, and so for a good chunk of the hike we talked about the wonders of garbage trucks. :) It was fun to see everyone, even the little kids, hike to the top.

And of course, the usual, but still as exciting as ever, Christmas celebrations:
Playing with and tickling the kids.
Watching football. (Way to go to BYU for winning their bowl game!!)
Eating delicious food every meal for eight days. (Thank you Audra and Jessi for buying all the food and preparing all the meals!!)
Giving and receiving presents.
Reading the Christmas story and seeing the kids dressed up for the nativity scene.

I love my family so much!! I just get giddy when I'm around them. The last week was pure bliss to be able to spend time with them and not have to worry about anything else. Again, thank you to Audra and Jessi for hosting us and making the vacation one that we'll be thinking about for months to come!

Christmas Fun

2007-12-16T09:15:00.000-07:00

Chad and I have gone out three nights in a row this weekend! On Thursday we went standby to the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas concert. We didn't end up getting in, but I really didn't mind because we got to walk around Temple Square instead. And we even got to listen to some of the concert in the Tabernacle (where it was being broadcast from the Conference Center). But my favorite part was walking around Temple Square with Chad! It was all wintry and snowy and there were beautiful lights everywhere--I loved it! I don't think we've ever gone to Temple Square together before, and with the lights it was just so beautiful. He even got down on his knee and proposed in one corner of the temple grounds! :)

Another really happy part of Thursday night was running into one of my best friends from London who I haven't seen since then (she went on her mission right when we got home from London and I haven't seen her since she's got back in June). It was so good to chat with her--hear about her mission, reminisce about London, and have her and Chad get to know each other better.

On Friday night we went to the work party for Chad's clinic that he goes to once a week. It was fun to meet some of the people he works with there, and there were a few really witty people that made it fun. Plus, there was yummy food, which always makes me happy. :) I think Christmas parties are so fun.

And then yesterday we got to go to the M* family Christmas party in P*. THANK YOU CARRIE for planning and doing all the work for that party! It was a huge success. Even more delicious food than the food we had the night before, and by far better company. :) I love Chad's family so much--it feels so good to be in their big circle of love. The party started with basketball (which Adam and Jessie joined us for, we were so glad!) and then we had a dinner and watched some slideshows Curt and Carrie made. It was fun to watch clips from old family video footage, when all the now-parents were the little kids and the now-grandparents were the busy parents of little ones. Family is the most joyous part of life, and I can't wait to join my immediate family next Thursday!
P.S. Adam and Jessie, everyone was so disappointed that you had to leave--everyone kept asking why you didn't stay for dinner. You'll have to schedule your calendars to join the M* Christmas party next year. :)

Wow

2007-12-04T19:24:00.000-07:00

Chad and I teach the Sunbeams in our ward, and I had the best Sunday last week with them. They were so good, and I felt like I taught a really good lesson, and everything went so well. I wanted to tell you something profound one of my Sunbeams said during sharing time:

The lesson was on Samuel the Lamanite and how he stood on a wall and told people that Jesus would be born in five years. The Primary Presidency member told the kids that they could tell others about Jesus just like Samuel the Lamanite did. She put a step ladder in front of a table at the front of the room and had each child get up and stand on the step ladder and tell everyone something they knew about Jesus. She had the CTR 7's go first, and they said things like, "He helps people, He died for us, He loves us, etc." Most of the rest of the kids said similar things, the most common being, "He loves us." It never got old to hear that phrase from those sweet children. It is so important to know that Jesus loves you and everyone else around you.

So when it came time for the Sunbeams to take their turns, I was a little interested to hear what they were going to say. The first Sunbeam to stand on the step ladder was little Isaac, a big-eyed sweetheart with really long eyelashes. He stood there with a somewhat frightened look on his face, and then said in a quiet, timid voice, "He holds my hand, and...walks with me." !!!! Yes, those were his exact words (including the pause). Can you believe that?! Everyone, including the Primary Presidency member standing behind him ready to help him if he needed it, just sat there in silence for a second, so taken aback we were by his testimony. It was a really special moment. I don't know where he got that from, but I sure am glad he shared it with us.

Since then I've thought about that a lot, how Jesus really can hold our hands and walk with us through our daily lives. He can walk with us through our struggles, triumphs, frustrations, joys, and those times when we are so confused as to what to do next. He can sometimes lead us and guide us, and sometimes He just lets us decide where to go and supports us along the way. But either way, life is always better when we walk with Him. I hope that I can be like Isaac and take the Savior's hand and walk with Him.

After that, our bright-eyed and attention-loving Cami stood up and said happily and loudly, "He gives me all my presents!" Haha! Oh, how I love Cami. And she is right--all the good things in our lives come from the Savior! I hope I can remember that like Cami has. :)

And the other Sunbeams said "He loves us." So sweet!

And one more funny story before I let you go:

One week there were three kids in class--Isaac, Nefi, and Mayci. During the middle of the lesson, Isaac has something to tell me--"I am spiderman." I indulged the interruption and said, "And who are you, Nefi?" He said, "Superman." And I said, "And who are you, Mayci?" Her response, without skipping a beat, in a high-pitched, sweet voice: "An angel." :)

I love my Sunbeams and am so grateful for my calling!

'Tis the Season to be Jolly!

2007-12-01T18:58:00.000-07:00

We woke up to lots of snow on the ground this morning, and it kept snowing until about 2 in the afternoon! As you can see by this picture, we got about a foot of snow.

I love the snow because it makes everything so pretty, but it was sad today because the snow made the roads really bad and so we weren't able to make it to Preston's baptism! After making a valiant effort to drive to L* where Preston was being baptized, we (Nate, Michelle, Curt, Carrie, their boys, Jon, Grandma C*, and me) turned around and spent the morning and early afternoon at Grandma C*'s. It was another fun Saturday with the fam. But we missed Chad because he had to work. Once I got home and it stopped snowing, I decided I probably should shovel the driveway, sidewalks, and walkway in front of our house. I was so proud of myself, because that was a lot of snow to shovel. It took me about an hour to do it all. Here is the final product:

Another very happy thing I wanted to share with you is that Chad and I have decorated our home for the Christmas season! Chad had the day off yesterday and we spent part of it at Target buying Christmas gifts and some stuff we needed. Well, I wanted to buy some Christmas cards and so I asked Chad to come with me to the Christmas section and help me pick some out. And while we were in that section, Chad suggested we buy a Christmas tree. My initial reaction was that we couldn't because we'd have to spend a lot of money on the tree, lights, and ornaments, but he convinced me that we could spend the money.

I am so glad he did, because I had so much fun picking out ornaments for our tree and then decorating the tree with him. He also bought some lights for the outside of the house and a wreath to go on the door. He did such a good job, don't you think?

(This picture absolutely cracks me up, because it looks like there is a full moon in the background, but there totally wasn't! It's like a little tender mercy from God, because He knows how much I love the moon. :) But really, I do think it's pretty strange that that random light showed up looking like a moon in the picture.)

And here is our tree:

It's funny, because our tree only has a few ornaments on it, but it feels like the prettiest tree I've ever seen. I just love to sit and look at it. Our first Christmas tree together!

We also got to put up the nativity scene Carol gave me for my bridal shower. I love nativity scenes and would like to collect them like my sister Jessi does. And I really like my first one! Thank you so much, Carol!

I am so grateful for this Christmas season. It is a time of such joy for me. I love the gift-giving, the Christmas music, the tromping through the snow, the family get-togethers, the opportunities to participate in charities, and the abundant reminders of Christ's love, miracles, humility, and salvation. And I feel especially happy this Christmas season, as it's my first with my wonderful husband. Merry Christmas everyone!

It's Been a Happy Last Week

2007-11-27T20:07:00.000-07:00

I've had a wonderful last week. Here are some of the highlights:

Making pies with my mom on Wednesday.

Going out to eat at the Mandarin with my parents on Wednesday.

Thanksgiving feast with the wonderful C* family in one of my favorite places in the world!

Driving to Cedar and Manti with Nate, Michelle, Colby, Carson, and Grandma C*.

Decorating for Caytee's wedding reception with Michelle.

Caytee and Preston's reception--it was so much fun to chat and laugh with the fam, in the most beautiful setting, happy environment, and with the most delicious food! Bravo, Caytee and Carol for putting on such a wonderful party!

Caytee and Preston's wedding--there's not much that can beat the experience of witnessing the sealing of two amazing people in the house of the Lord. And it was wonderful to be back at the Manti temple where Chad and I got married. We are so thrilled for you Caytee and Preston! And you looked absolutely gorgeous, Caytee! Happy Wedding!

Watching BYU beat Utah in the last few minutes of the game. Woohoo! Go BYU! (I'm not sure if you read this Sue, but if you do, THANK YOU for letting us use your home to wath the game!)

Caytee and Preston's wedding luncheon--again, more laughs and family happiness.

Having the day off Monday to finally get things done that I have been putting off.

It snowed today for the first time and I think it is so pretty outside! While I drove home from work it was snowy and white and I listened to songs on the radio like, "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas," "Winter Wonderland," and "The Christmas Song." Perfect! I am so excited for it to be the Christmas season!

The only bad thing about it all is that I didn't take a single picture! I need to learn my lesson and start taking more pictures.

My Thanksgiving ABCs

2007-11-19T20:03:00.000-07:00

This year I am thankful for:

A:
Adam
Audra
Airplanes to fly to visit family
All the places I’ve lived

B:
Brady
Bananas
Blogging
Book Club
the Bountiful temple

C:
Carol
Carson
Carrie
Caytee
Chad
Colby
Crystal
Curt
Cell phones and my Fave-5 Unlimited Calling

D:
Dad
Dale
David
Days off work

E:
Emily
Endless supply of love from Jesus

F:
Fall leaves
Fasting
college Football
Forgiveness

G:
Grandma C*
Grandma H*
Grandpa H*
Grandma M*
a Garage to keep the snow and ice off my car at night
Gordon B. Hinckley

H:
Harry Potter books
Holidays
my Honda Civic with good gas mileage
Hugs

I:
the Innocence of so many kids I work with
the Insight (and advice) I receive from the other women in my life

J:
Jessi
Jon
Jordan
Josh
Julia
the Joy of the Christmas season
Jokes people make at work that make us laugh and relieve some stress

K:
Kyle
a nice Kitchen to cook in

L:
Landon
Logan
Lydia
Laughter

M:
McKenna
Michelle
Mike
Mom
Mail from my Missionary friends

N:
Natalie
Nate
Neal
NPR

O:
Online shopping
Oxy Face Wash

P:
Preston H*
Preston W*
Prayer

Q:
the Quilt my mom made for me

R:
Running with Maegan

S:
Summer
Sundays
Seasons
our Sunbeams

T:
Tanner
Traveling I’ve done and look forward to doing

U:
Utah’s beautiful national parks, forests, and mountains

V:
Visiting teaching

W:
all the Wonderful Wedding gifts we received!
how Warm it has been this fall

X:
Xylophones (just kidding—I couldn’t think of any other X words)

Y:
You!

Z:
butter-Zinger ice cream (it’s the Kroger brand with Butterfinger chunks--yum!)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!

Book Club (aka Girls' Night Out)

2007-11-18T10:27:00.000-07:00

I am learning by first-hand experience how small of a part books play in Book Club. But I'm okay with it, because we have so much fun talking and laughing about everything else! :) It's basically our time to have a girls' night out and talk about anything on our minds. My Book Club has lasted three hours the last two months, because we can't pull ourselves away from chatting and laughing with each other. It's hard to believe that it's lasted the same amount of time that church lasts--it has gone by so much faster! :) I am so grateful for Book Club, it has really helped me make friends in my new neighborhood and ward.

This month's book was Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians, which took me a while to get into, but by the end I was liking it for its amazing creativity, imagination, and humor. If you read it, I would recommend having a really open mind, lack of seriousness, and tolerance for sarcasm.

P.S. Since so many people commented on the flossing thing in my last post, I wanted to tell everyone how it began: When I got my braces on, my orthodontist showed me all these pictures of people's rotting, brown teeth and told me that if I didn't floss, my teeth would become like the teeth in the pictures. He said that a lot of people stop flossing when they get braces, because it's so hard to do with braces on, but I must not be one of them if I didn't want my teeth to rot. He totally freaked me out by those pictures, and I flossed every day for the two years I had braces. Once I got my braces off, flossing seemed like a piece of cake and the habit was set. :) Also, the more I thought about it, I realized I probably miss flossing more than two nights a year, because I don't floss when I camp and I camp more than two nights a year.

Tag by Jessi

2007-11-16T11:28:00.000-07:00

Seven things you didn't know you wanted to know about me:

1. I love the moon. Some nights I get really excited about it and can't understand others' apathy towards it. It's even made me cry once, it was just so beautiful (kind of like a pretty piece of music can make you cry).

2. I have a major aversion to spending money. Unless it's a necessity or a gift, I have a hard time feeling like I can justify spending the money. That's one of the reasons I don't like going clothes shopping and avoid it as much as I can.

3. One of the things I do not have such an aversion to spending money on is food, and I would love to someday be a really good cook and be able to spend money on really nice food to make really nice meals.

4. I am an extremely unpicky eater. I like pretty much everything, and am very willing (even excited) to try new foods. But I do have a food allergy to shrimp.

5. I probably miss about two days a year of flossing. I always floss!

6. Ever since I was little I have felt like I was about six years older than I really am. One time when I was 15, I went with my sisters and their husbands to get some Krispie Kream donuts right before they closed. Because they closed, we decided to just eat the donuts in the parking lot by our car. While chatting in the parking lot, I said , "I feel like a teenager hanging out in this parking lot!" To which my brother-in-law David said to me, "Uh, Abbi...you are a teenager." My honest response was, "Oh, yeah." What a rude awakening. :)

7. I love Michael Buble's voice and songs, and I would love to go to one of his concerts.

Warning!!

2007-11-12T19:11:00.000-07:00

Warning! If you have not read the Seventh Harry Potter book, do not continue reading this post! I had people spoil it for me and I don't want to do the same for you, so I beg of you, stop reading this, even if you don't think you'll ever read Harry Potter. Okay, on to the post...

Last Tuesday I was a poll worker for my Water District on Election Day. Well, it just so happens that the boundaries for Water Districts and Voting Districts are not the same, and only a fraction of the voters in my Voting District also live in the Water District I was working for. So what that means is that of the 220 voters that came in that day, only 20 of them voted for the Water District. Which meant that I got to sit and read all day, because there was rarely anything for me to do. And when I say all day, I mean ALL day (6:30 am to 8:30 pm). And guess what I read? H.P.!! I finished the Seventh Harry Potter minutes before we needed to wrap up (i.e., sign a hundred documents saying essentially the same thing). If it hadn't of been for H.P., I think I might have gone crazy that day, but with H.P., it was quite an enjoyable day.

Well, sort of.

And I'll tell you why it was just sort of. #1: I was in anxiety all day about what was going to happen in the book, and #2: I had to keep it all inside, because I was in a public place! There were numerous times I wanted to laugh, cry, scream, groan, sigh, exclaim warnings or retributions, etc., and I couldn't! That was hard.

Okay, so if any of you non-Harry-Potter readers disregarded my first warning and are still reading this, I'm telling you, it's your last chance to bail before you will seriously regret it.

The main reason I was in such anxiety all day is that before I started reading the Seventh H.P., I had it from more than one source that the book did not finish well and that Ron died (and I believed them!). Now, I like Harry and all, but I LOVE Ron and Hermione. I just love them! And so when I heard that Ron died in the seventh book, I was so mad at J.K. Rowling and upset that I wasn't going to like how it all ended. So during the whole book, I was so worried that Ron was going to die in the next chapter! Not to mention all the other things J.K. Rowling gives you to worry about throughout the whole book. To tell you the truth, most of the book really stressed me out, and the fact that I couldn't express my stress, worry, and frustration as I sat there in a public voting place made it all the more stressful.

But it was worth it! Because when it ended, I was absolutely ELATED! And the high lasted a good two days. I kept thinking about Harry, Ron, Hermione, the magical world, and my heart just wanted to burst with joy for how happy I was for them. I experienced all this nostalgia from all the previous books, and I just loved them more than ever. I was so HAPPY that Ron didn't die! And the ending couldn't have been better, showing how they all made wonderful families and continued to love, laugh, and grow together.

Usually after I finish a Harry Potter book, I get depressed for how it's over, but it was the exact opposite this time. I was so relieved that Ron didn't die, all the unhappiness of it being over was swallowed up in the joy that their lives continued together. And the happiness still continues. So thank you, ill-wishers, you made my last Harry Potter experience all the better.

P.S. In case you couldn't tell, I really get into the books I read. :)

P.P.S. One good thing about reading H.P. in a voting precinct is that it was a much less scary place to read it than your home at night when you're the only one home (the way I had read the first few chapters.) During those times, I was always so happy when Chad came home, and would tell him, "Chad, save me from Voldemort!" :)

Happy Birthday Audra!

2007-11-07T18:01:00.000-07:00

Today is my other wonderful sister Audra's birthday! The other day I found a sticky note in my scripture journal from a Sunday School lesson I had a while back. I was given the sticky note to list the characteristics of one of the people I want to be like. I chose Audra, and here is what was on the list:

Devoted

Supportive

Thoughtful

Creative

Serving

Compassionate

Diligent

Understanding

Humble

Beautiful

Diligent

Clear communicator

Great teacher

Great discipliner

And I know I could add a lot more words to that list! Audra, thanks for being so fabulous, and I hope you've had a lovely day! I love you!

Halloween Report

2007-11-04T09:58:00.001-07:00

I had a great Halloween day last week. It was my first Halloween in years to spend with little children, and it is so much more fun that way! The kids at the school were so cute in their costumes, and we had a really fun parade and party at the end of the day. At the school party and parade I dressed up as a green M & M in a costume Elaine made and let me borrow. I also wore it when I gave out candy to trick-or-treaters. Thanks, Elaine, for letting me borrow it, and thanks, Morris, for delivering to me! It made Halloween all the more exciting to have a costume to wear.

Happy Birthday Jessi!

2007-11-02T09:55:00.000-06:00

Today is my wonderful sister Jessi's birthday. I sincerely hope that I can become as good of a

wife

sister

and mother

that she is. She is so patient, loving, hard-working, cheerful, understanding, fun, and kind. I love you Jessi! Hope your birthday is wonderful!

Thank You, UEA

2007-10-30T18:16:00.001-06:00

I've had Monday and Tuesday off because of UEA, and it has been SO nice!! I have absolutely loved it. I have cleaned, organized, read, watched the neighbors' kids, gone to the temple, gone running, worked with Q* (the little boy with autism I do floortime with), talked to friends on the phone, and been visit taught. I love having all this time to do whatever I want! And it's nice to have energy throughout the day--usually by 3 or 4 I am just exhausted on a work day. Thank you, UEA, it's been a wonderful treat!

Best Bro

2007-10-28T19:33:00.003-06:00

I love how Adam can make me laugh like this. He's pretty much the best brother in the whole world. I love you Adam!!

Best Weekend

2007-10-22T17:51:00.000-06:00

Last weekend was so wonderful!!! And why? Because Mom and Dad came to visit! I have the best parents ever. They are so fun, kind, understanding, giving, and funny. Here are all the great things we did together:

Thursday night they arrived and we chatted and had a nice dinner at our house (which my mom cooked for us) and then played games and watched the Red Sox/Indians game.

Friday morning my mom gave me a haircut.

Friday night we hung out with the P* crew in Springville. It was so fun to be with them! They are just the funniest people and I love them so much! We had a delicious potluck dinner and my parents hired an amazing balloon-making/magician guy to come and entertain the kids for part of the night. I think I was just as entertained as the kids were! It was a really fun night.

After the P* get-together we (Mom, Dad, Adam, Jessie, Chad, and me) went to Adam's apartment and played Catch Phrase. So fun! That game is always a bunch of laughs.

Saturday morning my parents, Adam, Chad, and I went to the Provo temple together. It was a really special time because: a) the temple is just an amazing place, b) it was the temple my parents went to a lot in their first years of marriage, and c) it has been my temple for the last few years (I did baptisms for the dead there almost every week while at BYU) and I finally was able to do an endowment session in it! All those years of waiting to be endowed were definitely worth it.

After the temple we went to see the new BYU alumni building, ate at the BYU Creamery together, and then we went to the BYU football game!! It was so fun because we were all bundled up to stay warm, because it was really cold and rainy. And then in the fourth quarter it started SNOWING really a lot, and so we left a little early. They beat Eastern Washington 42-7. Go Cougs! It was my first BYU football game in three years, and it was definitely as fun as ever!

After the game we had a H* family get-together at Alan and Koleen's. We ate, talked, and watched football games on their really nice television. Alan and Koleen have such a nice home and it was so good to be together. I love my family so much!!! I cannot say enough good things about them.

I am so glad I was able to have such a wonderful weekend. I love my family and am so grateful for them! Thanks, Mom and Dad, for everything!!

P.S. Thanks, Chad, for dropping out of your tennis tournament so you could be there for all the family functions! And thanks, Jon, for filling in for Chad so he could join us!

This Month's Book Club Book is...

2007-10-19T16:21:00.001-06:00

Book of a Thousand Days, by Shannon Hale. I really liked it! It's a fantasy book about a princess's maid. It's just delightful. At first I thought it was just a fun story, but as I got into it and after finishing it, I realized the story and characters have so many wonderful deeper meanings. I finished it two weeks ago, and I am still thinking about it! Shannon Hale also wrote The Goose Girl, which I think some of you may have heard of or read. One of my book club friends said the plot lines of those two books are very similar. But I would really recommend it, even if you have read The Goose Girl!

The Seasons of my Memories

2007-10-17T18:33:00.000-06:00

People have asked me a few times if I've missed BYU since graduating. And to be completely honest, I haven't really thought about BYU much. But I can tell you two things I do miss and have thought about a lot: ballroom dancing and Romania. I miss these two things so much!

Recently, I have been thinking about Romania a lot! I'd say I think about Romania at least once a day. I think the reason I think about Romania and not BYU is because of what season it is. It's funny, because some time in August or September, I remember thinking, "I think about Romania a lot, but I only think about the first month or so of Romania, when it was hot. I have to remind myself that it was really cold for a lot of the time that I was there! I wonder why I'm forgetting how cold it was in Romania!" But in the last few weeks as it's cooled down a bit here in Utah, all the memories I think of from Romania are ones where it is cool or cold outside! I remember the leaves falling as we walked to the orphanage, layering up before going to bed so I wouldn't freeze in our unheated apartment, being at the hospital when it was dark outside because it got dark so early, running in the cold in the early morning before going to the orphanage...

I think of the kids I visited at this time of year--Vasile, Ramona, Octavian (the fat Octavian, after his mom visited him for a week or so--not the skinny Octavian we knew the first month of the semester). I think of being with the kids inside the orphanage or being with them for just a few minutes outside as they were totally bundled up in their coats and hats. Oh, how I ache to be able to see those kids again! Paula, Ana, Paul, Niculina, Adina... I pray that the Lord will keep them safe from harm, and help them to feel happiness in their hearts of gold.

And a couple weeks ago while we were on our National Parks trip, I kept thinking, "This trip is like Budapest! It's such a relief to be away from everything for a while! It's so rejuvenating." Oh how I loved Budapest! Every time it rains I think of Budapest, because it rained a lot while we were there. I want to go back to Budapest and Iasi so badly.

Our National Parks trip also made me think about London. All the driving we did reminded me of traveling around in our coaches around England. I love to travel!

So, I apologize for the ramblings, but the point of this post is to remark on how big of an impact the weather has on what I think about and what memories come to my mind. I bet by next spring I won't be thinking of Romania as much, but will think about BYU and how much I loved the campus and Y Mount and such.

Beat Voldemort!

2007-10-12T10:27:00.000-06:00

I have to tell you something that I think is so funny. Like I mentioned in my last post, Chad and I read Harry Potter #6 during our roadtrip last week, and then Chad ran the St. George Marathon on Saturday. Well, Friday night I dreamt all night about needing to get to Voldemort and beat him and overcome him. And when Chad woke me up super early on Saturday morning to tell me good-bye before he went off to the marathon, I wanted to say something inspiring, and all I could think of to say was, "Chad, beat Voldemort." And then I went back to sleep. At the time I thought it was a very encouraging and inspiring thing to say, but after I woke up later that morning, I remembered what I had said and laughed at how ridiculous it must have sounded to Chad. And then this morning when Chad woke me up to say good-bye to me before going to work, he said, "Abbi, I'm leaving to go slay Voldemort." Haha. I thought that was so funny.

P.S. We bought the Seventh Harry Potter book and I can't wait to read it! I'll let you know when I finish it.

National Parks Trip

2007-10-07T19:02:00.000-06:00

Chad and I just got back from our third honeymoon (first--Hawaii, second--Ruth Lake). We had such a good time! It was just the happiest trip. Over the last week we visited:

Dead Horse Point State Park
Canyonlands National Park (Island in the Sky and Needles sections)
Arches National Park
Comb Ridge
Natural Bridges National Monument
Hovenweep National Monument
Mesa Verde National Park
The North Rim of the Grand Canyon
and Zion National Park.

We saw the most beautiful things at all these places. We camped two nights, stayed in a motel three nights, and stayed at family's houses three nights. I read Harry Potter #6 while Chad drove (we finished it right before we got home!). We hit mile 111,111 on the Civic. We went on some really fun hikes, and I was able to improve my hiking and scrambling skills. I also had a chance to "exercise my fear of heights," as our guide for the Balcony House hike at Mesa Verde so rightly said. Everywhere we drove seemed to be so beautiful, either with brilliant yellow fall leaves, majestic rock formations, evergreen trees, red rock cliffs, etc. On Friday we went sight-seeing in St. George, and yesterday Chad ran the St. George Marathon. He ran it with Jon, Caytee, Carrie, and Carrie's brother-in-law Lance. They all did such a good job and I am so proud of all of them. And then last night and today we enjoyed with Chad's family in Parowan--watching great football games and wonderful General Conference.

Oh, it was just too good to be true, and I will treasure the memories from this trip for a long time. I don't have time to post pictures now, but I will later. I love to travel, and it was so great to travel to some pretty spectacular places so close to where we live. I am so grateful that I was able to experience this most heavenly time with my favorite person. Thanks Chad, for all the work you did in preparing for this trip!

In the mail

2007-09-27T17:26:00.000-06:00

I received two things in the mail this week that made me very happy:

1. My graduation diploma, and 2. My new passport with my new name.

Hip-hip-hooray!

Sunday Thoghts

2007-09-23T16:19:00.001-06:00

1. I just have to say how much I enjoyed visiting with my Aunt Kjirsten and Dane last week when he was in the hospital. It was such a treat for me to be able to go and chat with Kjirsten after work. I'll admit that work can be extremely stressful for me some days, and it was so good to go straight from work to Kjirsten, who made me laugh, made me feel loved, and where I was able to see my life from a different angle--from within a hospital room with a mother and her son. Kjirsten is such a delightful person and I love her so much. It was especially nice because this was during a time that I wasn't able to see Chad a whole lot because of work. It wasn't under the ideal circumstances for Dane and Kjirsten, but I just wanted to let them know how nice that was for me and how much I love them and loved to see them!! And it was so good to see how much better Dane looked every day! I'm so glad he's home and better now.

2. I also wanted to say how much I loved having Carol, Joe, Rachael, and Jordan over last weekend! I know these thoughts are overdue, but I guess they're better late than never. I just love my family so much and it was so good to spend time with them! Thanks for coming over and chilling with us for a while.

3. I am reading the best book right now. I would really recommend it to all of you! It's Let Me Hear Your Voice by Catherine Maurice. I started it on Friday night and I'm already on page 150! I just want to read it all the time. And since I haven't been feeling well this weekend, I have been able to justify just laying around and reading a lot this weekend. The book is nonfiction--it's a mother's story of her child being diagnosed with autism and how she and her family deals with it. There's 300 pages in the book, so I'm only halfway done, but I have loved it so far, and it's gone by really fast. The author deals with so much more than just autism in the book (e.g., motherhood, prayer, interpersonal interaction, emotionally coping through trauma, etc.), so that's why I think you all may like it. Plus, she discusses in some detail the kind of therapy I do with the kids at work, so you would get a better understanding of what I do all day (and with what kind of kids I work with). This book was written about fifteen years ago, so there have been some changes made to the therapy since then, but the basic principles are the same. I bought it, so if you want to borrow it I can lend it to you after I'm done reading it.

4. I am so happy because I have a new baby nephew! He is the sweetest, cutest little thing and he was born last Monday. His name is Joshua Reed and he is one handsome newborn! Congratulations Audra and Mike!!

5. Three months ago today Chad and I got married! I know I say this in practically every blog I post, but I am so grateful and happy to be married to Chad. He is an absolutely amazing husband and person. I am more impressed by how great he is everyday. He finished his emergency department rotation this morning, and I am so proud of him! He is such a hard-worker and so good at what he does. I think I must be in love, because he always looks so good to me when he comes home in the morning after his night shifts, regardless of how tired and sleep-deprived he is.

6. And speaking of the wedding, I am pleased to say that today I finished the last four thank-you cards I needed to write for the wedding! Chad finished his a while ago, and it feels good to have mine done. I have just felt absolutely overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support we received, and it feels good to finally have thanked everyone for their thoughtfulness and generosity. I am so grateful for all the support we received. It's helped a lot!

7. And last but not least, Happy Fall Everyone!!!

Overcoming Differences and Becoming Friends

2007-09-22T19:23:00.000-06:00

I am so grateful for my study abroad semesters, because they provided a perfect environment for people from very different backgrounds, with different personalities and interests, to find common ground and become great friends. You're in a foreign country and have to do hard things, and so you just cling to each other and support each other and learn to LOVE each other so much. You learn so much from them and realize how amazing they are and you just love them so much!

I love the people I went on study abroads with so much, but if I hadn't experienced the study abroad experience with them, I don't think I would have ever even gotten to know most of them, because our differences would have kept us apart. It's great how certain experiences can override differences and bring people together. Working towards a common goal, working through common resistance and pain, can really bring people together. People you really don't understand or have a great desire to become friends with become the most wonderful, amazing, beautiful, and important people in your life.

I love that idea, that possibility, so much--of overriding differences and learning to love deeply. Because deep down inside, we are all God's children, and we all have so very much in common, so very much to give each other, and to learn from each other.

That's what makes these movies so great to me: Cool Runnings, Remember the Titans, Babe, A League of their Own, The Spitfire Grill, Saints and Soldiers, North and South.

Can you think of any other movies that have this theme that you have enjoyed watching?

Me and some of my wonderful London friends across from Parliament the night before we left London.

Me and some of my wonderful Romanian friends in front of the Children's Hospital we worked in.

Fun Facts about Abbi

2007-09-16T19:37:00.001-06:00

I really enjoyed Audra's and Michelle's answers to this survey, so I decided to fill it out, too.

My roommate and I once: got chased by a drunk/crazy man in Caen, France while we were on a morning run together. Probably the scariest thing that’s ever happened to me. But Mom—don’t worry, everything was okay and European traveling is perfectly safe! :)

Never in my live have I: gone snowboarding.

High School was: definitely a learning experience!! I think I was a much more confident, socially skilled, and spiritually in tune person when I graduated than when I started ninth grade.

When I am nervous: I think I might bite my lip or lick my lips, because by the end of the day at work my lips are always sore and I need to put chapstick on!

My hair: has been longer than I have usually had it, because Chad likes it long.

When I was 5: I absolutely loved life! When I think of my childhood, I think of carefree blissful days.

When I turn my head to the left: I see my cute neighborhood, beautiful aspen trees (or are they birches?) behind the houses, and a pretty, light-bluish and pinkish-yellow sunset starting.

I should be: writing thank-you cards for wedding presents.

By this time next year: I will be 23 and Chad will be 32. We’ll form a palindrome!

I have a hard time understanding: why people enjoy viewing violence. I HATE violence.

My ideal breakfast: is spent with family (like I had this morning!), not alone like most mornings.

If you visit my hometown: you will be amazed by how green and beautiful it is.

If you spend the night at my house: you’ll get to sleep on the nice mattress we bought last week for a guest bed! So come visit!

I shouldn't have been: so stressed about grades in high school and college. But the funny thing is, I will probably stress about grades if I go to grad school! It’s hard for me not to.

Last night I: had my Romanian friends, Joe, Rachael, and Carol over. It was lots of fun, despite the fact that BYU didn’t win their football game.

A better name for me would be: I have no idea. Any ideas?

I have been told I look like: Uma Thurman and Anne Frank.

Last But Not Least...

2007-09-15T16:16:00.000-06:00

Caytee!

I've also known Caytee for quite some time now, thanks to Crystal for bringing her to the H* family reunions! And I am so excited for her, because she's getting married in two months! Preston is one lucky man. Caytee is super fun, cheerful, gregarious, easy-going, understanding, intelligent, motivated, and outgoing. She has just so much life, light, happiness, and spunk in her, it's so much fun to be around her. She is a great leader and a great friend. She is nice to everyone, and inspires people to be more Christ-like by her example. She is always involved in multiple things so that she can do good in her community. I'm amazed by how much she can do and how gracefully she does it all. I love her so much and am so glad she's my sister and my friend!

Although I don't know Preston as well, I can tell he is such a great guy. It makes me so happy to see how happy Caytee is around him! He seems really trustworthy, dependable, kind, and humble. And I hear from Chad that he is pretty awesome on the basketball court. They are such a beautiful couple and I am so excited he will be a part of our family! I'm sure he will love being a part of this family as I do.

Jonner

2007-09-14T07:54:00.000-06:00

Jon is such a classy guy. He is really smart and accomplished but doesn't flaunt it or act arrogantly about it. I always like to talk with Jon because I feel like I have a lot to learn from him. Plus it's easy to talk with him because he doesn't talk down to people. He's really good at tennis, and he beats me mercilessly every time we've played, but he doesn't seem to have a big head about it at all. He is such a good brother to Chad. Jon is an extremely loyal person to his friends and family, and that means the world to Chad. Chad loves to spend time with Jon and has so many great memories of traveling, running marathons and triathlons, hiking, and just hanging out with him. Jon is super funny and always makes us laugh. We're always so happy when we he visits us or we get to see him in Payson or at the cabin.

Nate and Michelle and Fam

2007-09-12T20:53:00.000-06:00

Nate:
Nate is such a good brother-in-law, brother, husband, father, and son. He is really good with people--at being a friend, listening, playing with kids, and making people laugh. He is funny, nice, and adventurous. He is so nice to take me and Chad out on his snowmobiles and four-wheelers, and be willing to spend lots of time on the easy trails for me. We've also had a lot of fun on his kayak! I think he even used to own a sailboat and rapelling gear--he's a real outdoorsman and is always good to plan fun outings. He is really ambitious and works hard to achieve his goals. I think one of the things that makes Nate so great is that he isn't judgmental at all, so you feel like he is a real friend to you. Thanks, Nate, for being such a great brother to Chad and me!

Michelle:
Michelle is such a beautiful person. One of the talents Michelle has is being really happy for other people's happiness. I love how excited Michelle will get for me or others when we have good news to share. You can tell she really cares about you and wants you to be happy. This also shows how confident and comfortable she is with herself, which is a trait I really admire in her. She has a quiet confidence about herself, which isn't showy or arrogant, but inviting and uplifting. Another thing I admire in Michelle is how she has been the Primary President for the last nine months! That is so much work (especially for how big her Primary is), and she hadn't even worked in the Primary before she was called to that, and she also has two little ones to look after. I am just amazed by that. But it doesn't surprise me, because Michelle is so talented and wonderful. I hope I can someday be as good of a homemaker and mother as she and the other C* mothers are!

Colby:
Everybody loves Colby. He is really social and loves to be around other people. He has an amazing ability to love other people, and he also has an incredible knack for remembering names. He gets so excited to see you and will always give you a hug and kiss and wave good-bye when you have to leave. He makes you feel really special. So many things are endearing about Colby--the way he runs, his love for chocolate cake, the way he laughs when everyone else is laughing, his love for spelling out names, etc. We're so lucky to have Colby in our family!

Carson:

I ADORE Carson. I just love him to pieces! He is so cute and sweet! I always get so excited to be able to see him when we visit Nate and Michelle. Chad always teases me for how much I like Carson and how excited I get over seeing him. Carson lets me cuddle him and that just makes me so happy. Just look at this face, isn't it so sweet and innocent? But he's grown up a lot since this picture was taken at our wedding and looks older now. He also seems to have a stronger will now than he used to (he has been the most easy-going baby!), which I think is great. I'm excited to see him and all the other C* nieces and nephews grow up!

Curt and Carrie and Fam

2007-09-12T20:14:00.000-06:00

Curtis:
One of my favorite things about Curtis is that he refuses to run a marathon like me, so I’m not the only one not participating in the marathon this October! J/K. But really, I love how easy-going and funny Curtis is. He is so good at seeing the humor things and not taking things too seriously. It has always made me so happy that he and Nate will poke fun at me a little from time to time, because it puts me at ease around them. Both he and Carrie are refreshingly real, and I love that. It really makes you feel like you can be yourself around them. Also, Curtis is so patient with his kids and good at playing with them. And he has been such a good big brother to Chad. I can tell Chad really trusts Curtis and feels that he is a resource and strength to him during rough times, which means a lot to him and me.

Carrie:
Carrie (and Curtis) has been the most gracious host to Chad and I on countless occasions. We have shown up to their house on short notice so many times, and she has always made us feel like we weren’t a burden, when I’m sure we made more work for her! We really appreciate her graciousness and selflessness. Carrie is someone that is so easy to talk to. She is a great conversationalist and is very good at asking you questions about your life. She can always get Chad talking about his work—sometimes I think I learn the most about Chad’s work during conversations with Carrie! Carrie is an extremely hard-working, motivated, and intelligent person. Get this—she’s training for a marathon, working part-time, and raising two energetic boys all at the same time. Not to mention all the canning and reading she’s done, either. I admire Carrie so much for her tireless giving of herself to others.

Brady:
I love this kid! He is so much fun. He has the best belly laugh—I can never help but smile when I hear it. I feel like this laugh captures the essence of sheer, undefiled delight. I absolutely love it. Brady seems to experience life really intensely, and so it’s fun to experience his intense enjoyment over the things he loves. But he actually seems to have mellowed out a little over the last six months or so, and it’s been fun to see him become more of a big kid and less of a toddler. It makes me feel so good about myself when he talks about me and gives me hugs!

Landon:
This little guy is a talker! He will just talk and talk, and most of it Chad and I can’t understand. Chad calls it Landon’s “chirping.” It is so cute to see how much he is growing up. He seems to just soak everything in. He used to be our sweet little mellow baby, and now he has turned into a super active almost-two-year-old. It is really fun to see his wide-eyed and fast-paced excitement over life. I wish I had as much energy as he has!

The Wonderful H* Family

2007-09-10T20:02:00.001-06:00

Dale and Crystal and Fam

Dale:

I've known Dale for a lot longer than I've known most of the C* family. I've always thought of him as one of the most compassionate, patient, and considerate people I know. As I've gotten older I've come to appreciate more how good of a listener and friend he is. He asks you questions and listens to your answers as though your life was really important to him and should be to everyone else. Dale is good at putting people to ease and making them feel comfortable about themselves, including their weaknesses and faults. I appreciate that he is honest and doesn't try to put on any pretenses to impress anybody. I love you, Dale!

Crystal:

Crystal is the genius behind Chad and my meeting, so we owe her big time! She was SO good to be really supportive of our relationship without pressuring us into marriage. I have always really admired how out-going and proactive Crystal is. She is always up and doing, "anxiously engaged" in good causes. She is really productive and seems to have a lot of energy to do a lot of fun things! I have also been so impressed with how she teaches her children and disciplines them in love and wisdom. She is so smart and thinks carefully about things. One more thing--I love how Crystal is confident in sharing her talents to benefit others. This Mother's Day we went to her ward with her, and she sang in sacrament meeting with her children. I think that's so great she would be willing to share her talent of singing with others! A lot of people would be too shy to do that, and I love that Crystal isn't. Crystal, you are awesome!

Natalie:
Natalie is a pure joy. She is so affectionate and social and loves to be around people. I've noticed that during play with big groups of kids, she is very inviting and kind and patient with children who are younger than her. She is also such a jokster! She loves to share jokes with others and play practical jokes on them. One time while Chad and I were dating and were visiting Nate and Michelle, she was there and suggested that Chad and I stay the night and sleep in the guest bed together--knowing full well that was not allowed. She loves to tease us, and I think that's so great. We love Natalie!

Preston:
Preston is so much fun to talk with! He is witty, intelligent, genuine, and frank. I always look forward to chatting with Preston, because he is just such a delight. (You can really tell how smart Dale and Crystal are by talking with their kids--they are all so smart!) He loves to read and play the wii. In fact, when they were visiting us once, he showed what a champion wii bowler he is. I think he even beat Chad, who isn't bad at wii bowling!

Logan:
Logan is so full of life! He is definitely a character! He is enthusiastic, astute, perceptive, emotional, active, imaginative, stubborn, and totally sweet!! He loves attention and it is so fun to see his huge smile when you give it to him. He loves tickles and has the best laugh when you tickle him. Logan is one of those kids that you can have so much fun with, but can also wear you out. Props to you, Crystal, for having enough energy to keep up with this one! But his energy makes him all the more lovable.

Julia: Julia is so CUTE!! She is such a doll and has a mind of her own. She is such a sweetie. I absolutely loved it when she fell asleep in my arms the same night that Preston beat us all in wii bowling. We are so happy she is in our family!

We love you, H* family!

P.S. Sorry, Dale and Preston, that I don't have a close-up picture of you guys!

The Wonderful C* Fam

2007-09-09T15:43:00.000-06:00

This summer Chad and I have been so blessed to be able to spend great quality time with the C* family. They are so great, and we have had so much fun with them. I keep thinking how lucky I am to be a part of such an awesome family, and how I should highlight them in my blog. So I'm finally getting around to it!

Neal and Carol

Neal:
Before I ever met Neal, Chad told me how much he admired his father and wanted to be like him. I was impressed with how much Chad seemed to revere his father, and I looked forward to meeting him. Neal was so kind to me from the very beginning. He'd always give me a hug and made me feel so welcome in their family get-togethers. He has a quiet way of going about and making people feel important. One of the first things I discovered about Neal at the M* family reunion was that he admires his ancestors and wants to keep their legacy alive, which I think is so admirable. Since that time, I have also learned how hard-working Neal is. He is always about doing things to help others. He has even driven hours and hours to help us fix our a.c. He is a great handy-man and uses those skills to serve others. I am so grateful that I have such a kind, personable father-in-law!

Carol:
Carol is one of the most tender-hearted, loving people I have ever met. She has a great capacity to love freely, even people she doesn't know all that well. She is so good at talking to people she hasn't met before and expressing her love for them in casual, everyday terms. She is also so devoted to the gospel and to doing what is right! I really admire and appreciate how she taught and continues to teach her children from the scriptures, and has instilled in them a desire to do good. She also was very good at teaching her children how to work. All her children are such hard workers, and that is something I really appreciate! :) I also really love how Carol has a great sense of humor, and a great sense of humor about herself as well. She is always laughing and helping others around her laugh. I am so lucky to have such a loving, good-natured, and exemplary mother-in-law!

For mothers

2007-09-09T15:40:00.000-06:00

This poem goes out to all you mothers who sacrifice so much for your children. I think it speaks volumes of a mother's love and the worth of a child.

You are the trip I did not take;
You are the pearls I cannot buy;
You are my blue Italian lake;
You are my piece of foreign sky.
(“To My Child,” quoted in Charles L. Wallis, ed., The Treasure Chest [1965], 54)

Thank you, moms, for all you do! And thank you, Mom, for all you do for me! You do so much for me and I hope you know how much I love and admire and appreciate you!!!

Help!

2007-09-03T10:03:00.000-06:00

I am trying to find a poem in which a mother is speaking to her child about how even though she wasn't able to travel, she was able to travel through her child--she was able to see the world through the life of her child. If I remember right, it sounds something like, "You are my Spanish sky, you are my..." etc. Does this sound familiar to any of you? And if it does, do you know the title of it, the author, or where I could find it? It's driving me crazy that I can't find it. Thanks! (Once I find it, I will post it all for you, because it's a great poem.)