Summer Happenings...

Okay, so an update on summer so far...EUROPE is booked for October 27th through November 10th!!! AHHHH!!! I am SO excited! It is going to be tour style and we will hit Rome, Florence, Venice, Lucerne (Switzerland), Paris, and London! We are even going to stay a few days extra in London to see all there is to see! :) As you can see, I cannot wait!

For the first time, I am tutoring a little girl in math two days a week for an hour each time. She just finished second grade and struggles with math. My dad works with her grandpa and that's how I got the job. She is a DARLING little girl and just "chatters" away and is so excited to do whatever I have her do! It is really refreshing to have a kid be excited about stuff I am doing with them! Of course it helps that a week and a half ago, I got a new iPad for work and have been going to trainings on it. There are a lot of fun apps that I can download for free that have good math games she can play to get better at some of her math skills. I am excited to incorporate some of those awesome apps into my classroom as well!

As you can tell, I am (sadly) already thinking about next year's class and the things I am going to change for the better, but I am a LITTLE freaked out, because as of last night, I have 31 students in my class!!! AHHH! That is FOUR MORE bodies than what I am used to from the last couple of years! AND it ends up that I have to rotate rooms once again...yes, that's right, I gave up my beloved portable that I THOUGHT I was staying in to another 4th grade teacher that needed it more than me...tear. :( Needless to say it will be QUITE the adventure next year moving to a new classroom every nine weeks and trying to fit 31 little bodies in the tiny rooms I will be in!! Wish me luck and I will try to keep you updated.

Last Saturday I went on a hike with my family to Timpanogos Cave. It was my first time hiking that hike and seeing the caves! It was very fun, although I will admit, I was a tad bit sore in the hips from going DOWN the trail. Ironically, I would much rather go up than down because going down means you have to use a lot of muscles to keep yourself from going too fast! Oh well, I survived and had a blast doing it! Here are some fun pictures of that day:

Last week I also CUT MY HAIR REALLY SHORT!!! This is the shortest I have ever had it (besides when I was a tiny babe...)! It also got dyed ALL blonde! Here is a close-up:

It is really fun and easy to do! :)

Anyway, Girl's Weekend in Park City is coming up this Thursday through Sunday! I am sure I will have an update on that! Until then, happy summer!

I Love Summer!

Summer vacation is in full swing here! After a very BUSY couple of months finishing up my last semester of school for my master's program (YES!!!) and saying good-bye to my cute class last Friday (I am not going to lie and say I didn't have a few tears in my eyes, because I did), I am so excited to get some MUCH needed rest and relaxation...and boy am I doing just that with a trip to the pool to lay out, sleeping in, reading books I actually WANT to read, celebrating the 4th with my family and friends, and planning a tour in Europe for October! I am also excited to go to Park City with my mom and Kim for a girl's weekend in a couple of weeks AND the Olympics the end of July! Oh so exciting! I LOVE SUMMER!! :)

Bring on the Summer!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that it is getting warmer! This is my FAVORITE time of year! I can't wait for my six weeks off of work too! I have 20 more days with this cute class of mine! It is bittersweet, because I am so ready for summer, but at the same time, I want to just keep this class forever because I have loved teaching them!

Next school year is going to bring some definite changes though. A few months back, my school's boundaries changed because another school south of us was getting too big, so our school has received about 200 more kids from them for next year. The fourth grade team alone, is adding 2 more teachers to accommodate, not to mention other grades getting more teachers too. Therefore, we are going to be busting the seams of our school and have to rotate rooms again. BLAH! We have been really lucky these last 3 years with our numbers down and not having to move rooms. Well, all good things come to an end! Luckily for me, it looks like I will be staying in my portable and won't have to rotate, but my teammates inside the building are, so I will be helping them move every time there is a track change. :0

The 2 new teachers that got added to my team are from the school that my new principal came from. We have met them, and I think that I am going to like them. One of them actually retired last July to secure her retirement money and now is coming back to work, but has never taught fourth grade. The other one just finished her student teaching in fourth grade and this will be her first year teaching. I am now no longer the youngest and least experienced teacher on my team!! YEA!! :) By the way, our new principal is GREAT!! I have really enjoyed him so far. He is more relaxed about things and is very fair to everyone, so all is good in that department!

Anyway, other news....I PASSED MY COMPREHENSIVE EXAMS!!! I found out the end of April and boy was I so happy and relieved! This letter is now on my fridge:

I also walked at graduation on Friday, May 4th. It was a blast! It was slightly anticlimactic though to have to go back to my last semester of school the next week! :( Oh well, I now only have 2 more weeks of that semester and then I will officially be DONE with my Master's Degree! Yahoo!!! Here are some pictures of graduation day:

Sally and Candyce came to my graduation ceremony!

Me getting ready to walk into the ceremony!

Some of the ladies in my cohort that have been with me from the beginning of the program!

My cute parents and me after the ceremony!

Showing off my fancy (but weird) hood I had to wear that symbolized that I am a MASTER!! :)

Posing with the cool "U" prop they had on the campus!

Graduation dinner at The Cheesecake Factory with the whole family and Sally...who we consider family anyway! I LOVE my family!!!


What a fun day!! Can't wait until I am officially a MASTER!!! Woot, Woot!!