Summer Fun!

This has been the laziest summer I have had in a LOOONG time! In the 2 weeks I have been off (seems like a long time...doesn't sound like it though!), I really have been doing hardly anything! I didn't go back to coaching swimming or doing swim lessons...which is weird because that is how I made a living through college...(I miss those kids!) but it feels really good not to have to worry about planning for anything! To say the least...I am enjoying my short summer before the madness returns again in August! Wahoo!

I haven't been entirely unproductive though! On Monday, I finished my quilt I started last summer, so it is all done, except for the quilting! Yay! I got the kit for it two Christmases ago from Santa. I saw it at a quilt shop in Cottonwood Heights and immediately fell in love with it! Needless to say, the Princess gets what she wants! :) Here are a few pictures of it:

The pattern is called "Bento Box".

Cutting away! Gotta love my machine!

Today, my mom and I went and got some VERY fresh raspberries and blackberries. I bet you can guess what we did with those...Yep, we made JAM! It was my first time actually making it, and I must say, it turned out great! It really was a lot easier than I thought...so to all of you out there who have never made jam before, TRY IT! Here are some tempting pictures for you so that you will want to do it too!

Ya, one minor detail...if you are going to make jam, have LOTS of sugar on hand! :)

The finished product! This is the raspberry jam. Isn't it just gorgeous?

1 Year Down...29 More to Go! :)

Yep, you read it! My first year of teaching is officially over and I SURVIVED! I had a hard time picturing this day, but now that I look back on the year, it seems like it FLEW by! I get six weeks of summer and then I am back at it again. I actually had a great time with my class the last 3 weeks. It was nice to just let them be "kids" and not worry about cramming things down their throats! They had a blast on the field trip to This is the Place, then we had our program with the whole Fourth Grade the next week. It consisted of them singing songs about Utah's history, as well as playing some recorder songs and saying parts. I got put in charge of leading half of the songs, so that was kind of scary because I didn't know them as well as the other teachers! So, needless to say, I REALLY had to practice on my own because I didn't want to lead them in at the wrong places or get them mixed up with the words! I was nervous, but it turned out so great in the end. They did a marvelous job and I didn't lead them astray! :)

My mom was very kind to come and watch the program. She took these pictures:

This is me before the program started. I was VERY nervous!

This is some of my students saying their parts at the beginning.
This is me leading!

This whole last week was really just one big party! We had a "ticket day" on Monday, where they spent their tickets, Tuesday was Field Day....I pretty much didn't see them the WHOLE day. That was nice so that I could get a lot done! Wednesday was the 4th grade talent show. A lot of my kids participated. They are really talented with the piano, dance, singing, etc...So cute to see them do all of that! I also showed them some slide shows I did of all of the pictures I took during the year of them. They LOVED it! I will definitely do it again next year! Thursday was the softball game between the faculty and 6th grade. Yes, I participated AND I hit the ball TWICE, but I didn't hit it far enough to make it to first base...RATS! It's the thought that counts, right? We then cleaned and played games and handed out silly awards that I did and then the principal made a movie of everyone to watch, so we had an assembly to watch it. It was really cool. I know my kids like me because they screamed so loud when my picture came up...it was nice to feel appreciated! :) Anyway, after that I gave them their report cards and that was pretty much the end! I sent them on their way and then my wonderful mother and friend came and helped me move all my stuff into the portable I will be in next year. I feel like I did the best I could this year with teaching, so hopefully next year it will go a little more smoother because I know more about what I teach and how I want to teach it. Hopefully I can plan my time more wisely! But for now, I am going to ENJOY my summer and relax! I am planning on reading and quilting a lot! I am also going with my parents and brother and sister-in-law to Disneyland the end of July. That will certainly be an adventure!