Leo the Lion

Yesterday Real Salt Lake had an open house at there stadium, and it was so much fun. You got to go all over the place, including the locker room and tunnel to the field. But my favorite part was the mascot Leo the Lion was dressed as Santa and I got to take a few pictures with him.

Real is by far my favorite soccer team, so I was excited to get a behind the scenes look at the stadium and all things Real. It was a great day...and completely free. Thanks Real Salt Lake for being such an amazing club.

Fireworks

With yesterday being the 4th of July, I got to go see some fireworks.  I love the 4th of July, it is one of my favorite holidays...at least it is when you get to cook out, spend time with friends and family, and enjoy some amazing fireworks.  I love everything the day represents...freedom, independence, rights, honor, pride, etc.  I got to go watch the West Jordan fireworks with two friends and I was impressed with the quality of fireworks they had.  I got to see some really cool fireworks I have never seen before, like a smiley face and hearts.  And honestly I was just happy that they had fireworks with all the wildfires going on out here.

We had a really good view of the fireworks and as I was laying there watching them, I couldn't help but think about the universe.  Looking up at these huge amazing displays in the sky and I kept thinking about really how small I am.  My spot in this world is very small, but it also made me think about how could anyone think that this world was not made by a Heavenly Father.  I really do not understand how you can sit there and look and amazing sites and think this world just randomly came to be.  What is so interesting to me is, I have always loved fireworks and yet this is the first time the have effected me in such a profound way.  I can't wait for the 24th of July and see if I have the same experience or if I go back to just loving fireworks, like everyone else.

Spring Break

This last week was my spring break. It came at the perfect time, I was worn out. My first day of my break I jumped on a plane and ran away to sunny Phoenix. When I landed it was like 90 degrees and awesome!!! I went to Phoenix to visit one of my best friends that moved in July. I have really missed hanging out with her, it was awesome to just chill with her again. We did some fun stuff, which included riding on a camel. Hopefully pictures will come soon, if Andrea posts pictures anytime soon. Haha, she is super busy so it might be awhile. Hopefully more details will come soon. If I ever have time to sit still for more than a minute

Plan Ahead...Never

I filled out my time card on Friday for the extra class I teach and I worked an extra 38 hours this month, and that is just in the classroom teach. That doesn't include prep time before school, at home, or the two hours of tennis practice each day. I think I have gotten a little to used to working crazy hours because on the weekends I don't know what to do with myself. If something doesn't HAVE to be done, then it simply doesn't get done. I have gotten to a point where I only worry about today, and maybe the next day, but that is it. I've usually been a person that plans for the future, at least some what, but now, nope. For example, I have a "black-tie optional" event to go to tomorrow, I have known about this for a few months now, did I go shopping for a dress for it??? Nope, not until today. I don't know if my dress is "dressy" enough, but it will have to do. It was hard to shop for actually. I'm going to a wedding that is at the top of a mountain...which means cold and snow, but the reception is inside. I had no idea what to get, but I bought a really cute dress and it will just have to do. Well wish me luck

Charity Week: Day 2

It is so hard to get students to donate money to a charity, that is why I give them "reasons" to donate. Every day I add something or switch things around that gives the a reason to donate money. Today I went to Walmart early this morning a bought a big bag of candy, then I let the students "buy" a piece of candy for $0.25. So today they could buy coloring pages or they could buy candy, I'm thinking tomorrow I might add in a game they could play or something. Most teachers in the school do not do much to help student government raise money and they are really missing out. I'm proud of every penny I've raised, my classes have donated $83.34 in two days. How amazing is that?

Charity Week: Day 1

One of the amazing things I love about the school I work for is the tradition of Charity Week. Every year student government picks a charity and they work super hard to raise a ton of money in one week. Last year they raised $12,000 for "Invisible Children," it was pretty cool. This year they decided to raise money for Breast Cancer research, since we have recently had two faculty members get breast cancer. The goal this year is $18,000!!!! I'm not sure if they are going to be able to make it, but I love the ambition. I'm kind of involved in student

government, I'm more of the person they ask if they can't find the real person in charge. I was in student government when I was in high school and I think it is just awesome, so I help out whenever I can. Last year I was able to get my classes to donate over $300...Today was day one and I already raised $43. Which I am proud about since done of my students knew what was going to happen today and they are sophomores so they don't have much money to begin with. Every day I have little things they can "buy" for incentives, today they could buy coloring pages to color at the end of class. That's right, I'm the coolest teacher ever.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this dance

I love this dance...I think we all suffer from image issues but this just might helps remember how great we all are.

Mano a Mano in el Bano

Old Spice is genius!!!!

Vacations, Vacations, and more Vacations

June has been one crazy month, I think I only was home for less than two weeks. The last day of school was June 3 and on June 4 I was on a plane to San Francisco. I met up with my sister and we spent five days in the San Francisco/Oakland area. My favorite thing we did was a bike tour of the city. San Francisco is a city full of massive hills so we got bikes that were electric. It was awesome to see the Golden Gate Bridge up close and personal.

The vacation was topped of with going to the U2 concert

I got home and the next day I left on a road trip with two of my friends. I was expecting to go, but I'm glad I did. One of my friends is moving and this was the real last big thing we could do together. It was more money than I wanted to spend, but it was worth it to spend time with great friends.

This is AWESOME!!!!

Stalker???

Last Sunday at church we had a bunch of people that came to my singles ward and I was trying to be nice to them and talking to one of them I find he is from Rock Hill, South Carolina. Since I'm from South Carolina and we are both living on the other side of the country we were talking about what brought us out here. He asked my name and then said he remembers dancing with me at a YSA dance once. That isn't the creepy part, the creepy thing is I haven't been to a YSA dance in like six years. Do you remember who you danced with six years ago, because I sure don't. Needless to say I was a little creeped out by that one.

Want to Smell like a Monster?

I needed a good laugh today

My Kind of Pet

For some unknown reason I really wanted to get a pet. I actually thought about getting a dog. Living alone is great, but sometimes it would be nice to have someone excited when I come home. I almost got a dog, but realized that I'm not home enough to be a responsible dog owner. I finally came to my senses and I settled on getting some fish. I started off with two platy red wags, but sadly one died.

The first month or so of a new tank it is actually very dangerous for fish while the tank stabilize. My platy that survived is named Molly. After having Molly for about a week a friend convinced me to get a Betta with her.

So I got a Crowntail Betta, which looks a lot like this one and is named King Tut. He has his own tank, because I don't want him starting any fights with my other fish. After a month of my main tank stabilizing I got the water tested and they said it would be alright to add another fish to my tank, so I picked out a Dalmatian Lyretail Molly to join the Platy in the tank.

I'm having a hard time figuring out if I have a boy or a girl, so I'm not sure what to name it yet. So if any of you guys have any get ideas of unisex names for this fish it would be great. One of these days I will get good pictures of my actual fish instead of finding pictures of similar looking fish online.

Validation

I just love this, I know it is kind of long....but enjoy!!!

New Car

I reached that special time when the repairs of my car were going to cost more than the car was worth, so I knew it was time to get a new car. I normally freak out about making big decisions, like buying a car, but it was actually pretty good. I went to Carmax to see how much they would give me in a trade in, and the actually gave me more than the care was worth. I ended up buying a 2007 Nissan Sentra...

Why BYU grads would make good soldiers

General Petraeus recently spoke at BYU and gave a rather clever top ten list, I laughed pretty good at this one....

General Petraeus' Top 10 reasons BYU grads make good soldiers:

10 — They have already been on many a mission.

9 — Army chow is no problem for folks accustomed to eating green Jell-o and shredded carrots.

8 — It's not a problem if they don't know what rank someone is, they just refer to them as Brother or Sister so-and-so.

7 — They never go AWOL. They just call it being less active.

6 — They will seize any objective swiftly if you tell them refreshments will be served.

5 — They know how to make things happen. In fact if you ever need a base built quickly in a barren wasteland, stride out to where you want them to start, plant your walking stick down and say in a loud voice, "This is the place."

4 — They have innovative ideas for handling insurgents — like assigning them home teachers.

3 — They always have a years' supply of provisions on hand.

2 — They are the world's most reliable designated drivers.

1 — They understand how far Iraq has come over the last seven years, and they think that Iraq's old spot in the "Axis of Evil" can now be filled by the University of Utah.

It's Too Late....

This is one the the funniest things I have seen in a long time, enjoy.

That Time of Year Again

It is Rivalry Week again in Utah, aka Holy War Week. Living in Salt Lake I take a bunch of choice words for being a BYU fan and not a Utah fan, but that is what makes it so much fun. Their are two of us "BYU fans" in my hall way and we decided to strike first this year and we decorated our doors early before any of the Utah doors could go up. This year it wasn't as much fun because they play the Saturday after Thanksgiving so we could trash talk all the way up to Friday, but it was still pretty fun. This year I decided to go old school with my door and I put up a more traditional logo. I'm sorry to brag, but I think it looks pretty amazing even if I have to say so myself. Actually I had all kinds of people say my door liked nice, even Utah fans. The teacher next to me was not happy that my door looked so nice, because he felt like his had to compete with mine. His turned out pretty nice as well, he went with the white door to match mine. In the past two years that we have done this I have discovered some main differences between BYU and Utah fans. The main one is that Utah fans are often mean....maybe it is because I'm Utah country, but they are constantly making fun of not only BYU, but also BYU fans. Another difference is that Utah fans are always trying to "prove" they are better. I never push BYU on anyone, if someone is wearing a Utah shirt I don't feel the need to walk by and say "Utah Sucks," but you have no idea how many times that happens to me. I have gotten it daily for the last two weeks, but I expected that because of my door. This happens though any time of the year, if someone sees me wearing something BYU they feel like it is there right to insult me for being a fan. This is one of many reasons why I like to go down to visit my sister in Utah County, so I can not be insulted for being a BYU fan. I know sometimes I bring it on myself, and I understand that I'm living right next the University of Utah, but grow up people. I have had several other BYU fans tell me the same thing so I'm not the only person. Some other teachers instead of decorating there door put signs up all over the school, so I go a TA to design me a really cool sign. I then got the only SBO to put it in the main hallway behind glass, in a place that he only has access to. Oh well I got to have some fun at work right?

I Love Lunch

This is my new favorite thing online is "Improv Everywhere." This is a group that plans out public scenes. This is their newest "mission" where they sing a song about how great lunch is.

The Princess is Sleeping

I think this is one of the best commercials the church has made in awhile. It actually won some awards recently. I remember being little and having a very active imagination, anything was possible.