A Tribute to Heroes...

I just got back from a night-time welcome home parade for a soldier here in Heber. He's younger than me and just got back from Iraq today. Can I just say, that is one of the coolest things I have ever done, and one of the coolest parts of living here in Heber. Where else would families drop everything at 9 on a Saturday night to line the streets to wave flags and cheer? Where else would a firetruck and police escort come through the city, sirens blaring for a brother returning from war? It was amazing.

I was touched to the point of tears - grateful to this courageous young man who has put himself in harm's way to protect my city, my country, my freedom.

Ladies and gentlemen, you may not agree with President Bush leading us to war. You may not even agree with President Obama's pull-out plans. But you cannot fault these young men and women who voluntarily put themselves in harm's way to protect our country, our freedom, and our way of life, in fact, our very freedom to proclaim whether we support this war or not. Support the policy of war or not, but we are ungrateful if we do not honor these young men and women when they come home, and hold in remembrance those who are not so fortunate.

"Thank you" just doesn't seem adequate. We are forever indebted to you. We love you. We honor you.

Welcome home, Michael Kirkland. Welcome home.

We salute you.

I love the mountains, I love the rolling hills...

Happy Autumnal Equinox!!!

Today being the official beginning of my very favorite season of the year, I felt it deserved a post.

In spite of a few minor setbacks, which I've learned to giggle about (a flooded apartment, brand new tires thought to be flat but only low on air, an abnormally large number of behavior issues at school, roommate and friend drama), life is going spectacularly for me. I've found myself giggling and humming to myself, skipping, and just generally happy lately, and I'm virtually positive it's at least partially due to the season change.

Here are a few of my favorite things about the upcoming season and life where I'm currently living (the beautiful Heber Valley), in no particular order:

* the people I've met here who are so caring and fun
* Wasatch Mountain State Park
* Halloween and the costume and candy excitement coupled with the traditional pumpkin shaped cake and potato soup
* pumpkin dishes - pie, cookies, bread, cheesecake, etc.
* sweater weather (and long sleeves)
* Fall leaves!
* apple picking at Huber Grove
* the return of Orion, Jupiter high in the sky and other stargazing wonders (including the Orionid meteor shower)
* bike rides and evening walks
* hot chocolate
* Christmas is ever closer!
* Thanksgiving
* My birthday
* pumpkin pie
* more time inside for reading, movies, games, and bookbinding
* the beginning of piano lessons
*General Conference


*** Also, Happy Elephant Appreciation Day!!! ***

***** all recent beautiful images courtesy of my phenomenal photographer friend Alice! *****

I barfed...

Yep, I just posted about 5 different posts, so, you'll want to read back a bit to get caught up on my life, if that's why you're here. :)

:::LIGHT BULB:::

So, my roommate is moving out the beginning of October, and since she told me she's leaving, I've been looking for a roommate. If you know anyone, let me know (I'm nice, and it's not a bad price for an AWESOME apartment in Heber). As an alternative, since I'm not willing to move because I know I'm where I'm supposed to be, I've been thinking about alternative means of paying for this apartment by myself that I would enjoy. My thoughts turned to my friend who teaches piano lessons, and her sister who makes and sells cute knitted hats.

Thanks to encouragement from several friends, I will begin taking piano students the beginning of October, AND selling, on order, homemade books that I've learned to make. I'll be setting up a blog soon with pictures of my books, but, they're pretty cute. :)

Anyway, that's what's going on in my life. I'm actually extremely excited about these new opportunities in my life - they are both things I love to do, and as an added bonus I can get paid for them! :) Oh, and teaching third grade is going splendidly! I'm sure there will be plenty more updates about that in the future.

Geocaching Adventures - Round 2

About two weeks ago, some cachers I know put what is called a travel bug in my unlocked car... Well, this particular travel but was not the typical Happy Meal toy with key chain attached... No, no... This was a full-sized TRAFFIC CONE - that I managed not to notice until the morning after it was placed in the backseat of my car. :D

Anyway, after hoarding it for about a week, we decided to have a little bit of fun with it.
After finally getting the rambunctious children settled and buckled we were on our way.
We made a pit stop at Trade Federation and Cone spotted the cache!

At Walkers, Cone took a while to choose his treat, but left satisfied with a Rewards card and PB Twix.

Then we were on our way for some caching fun. We stopped at Cone Head for Cone's first date...

At another cache, Cone was a little on the curious side, but, we helped him break the cycle.
Don't mind us.... We're just looking for a geocache!

At our last cache, Theed Palace, we had to be extra careful crossing the road, and pretty stealthy ( like in Toy Story), but it was still GREAT fun!


By the end of the night, we decided that it was time for Cone to have a new home with others who could appreciate his personal charm and magnetism.

Tyler's Trip to the MTC

I was so glad I was in town and was able to get off from work so I could go with Lewis, Brenda, and Tyler to the MTC.

The night before he left was, obviously, an emotional one for me - we had a family devotional, and I couldn't hold the tears. I am SO proud of this kid. He is AWESOME! And his service will not only bless the lives of the people he meets on his mission, but also the lives of those of us at home - and I can't adequately explain how much we desperately need those blessings these days.

We were able to get Tyler a Utah license and have lunch before we dropped him off around 1 pm. The days of the families going in and watching the video thing, are over. And quite frankly, I think the new way is better. We didn't have a lot of time to take pictures (which if we had understood it a little better, we could have), but, we dropped him off and there was a line of over 100 missionaries assigned to greet the new missionaries and their families, and then escort the new missionaries to their rooms. These Elders were so enthusiastic and happy, and the drop-off itself was so fast, that you couldn't help but be happy for your missionary, and there wasn't time for tears... Until I was driving home by myself afterward.

BEST. Concert. EVER!!!!!

So, a week and a half ago, I went with some friends to the Jon Schmidt concert at Thanksgiving Point. I have been waiting for years to be able to go to this particular concert, and to say the least, it did NOT disappoint. In fact, it was AWESOME!

I have plenty of pictures and videos (yay!) of Jon and his awesome cellist, Steven Sharp, but seeing as my camera is currently in another city, uh, that part will have to wait.


My favorite moment - when they played Love Story Meets Viva la Vida - PHENOMENAL!!!! It was incredible! And the spontaneous standing ovation afterward was proclaimed to be their favorite concert moment ever! It was so cool!

Oh, yeah, and then this guy proposed to his girlfriend there, on stage... And then Jon played Love Story Meets Love Story to celebrate, since she said yes. Pretty cool! :)

So, if you're in the Salt Lake area around Christmas, I highly recommend attending his Christmas concert. I will be there with my friends, for sure! Merry Christmas to us! :D

The President Talks with School Children

I was informed last Friday, near the end of school, about President Obama's broadcast to students this coming Tuesday. I did not vote for our current president, but, I will say, as an educator, that his education policies were of particular interest to me. But, when I heard about his broadcast coming on Tuesday, I was immediately uneasy. Why at school, and why on such short notice? Why can't anyone preview his remarks? What is he saying to students, that parents shouldn't also hear? As an educator, I wanted the opportunity to prepare to respond to my students following the broadcast. Many of my friends have posted concerns and comments on facebook, which, in several cases, have started quite the political discussion. This is my response to one of them, and I think it accurately crystallizes my feelings on the subject.

As an educator, having the moral obligation to field questions from 29 8-year-olds Tuesday morning, my gut reaction, with no influence from ANYONE, was, "Hmm... why the late notice? and why during school instead of at home with the students' parents?" My personal, gut reaction, was, it's a little strange that this is late notice (at least from my ... Read Moreschool district both here, and in VA where I'm from), and I felt uneasy. The second reaction (why not at home with their parents?) is due to my experience as an educator - I have SO many students who WANT to do well, and TRY very hard to do well, but when those students' parents yank them out of school for nothing, and don't support them in practicing reading at home, those students struggle - A LOT. If President Obama's speech is simply about the importance of education and setting and achieving goals in that area, it is not a speech that only needs to be heard by the students, but also their parents, who, for my students, most of which will be at work. THOSE parents need to hear that too. As for healthy foods - fine, but, fund it, and be the one to make the students eat it. You can't control who's bringing lunches from home, or if those lunches are healthy, and quite frankly, if students don't like it, they won't eat it, and it's ILLEGAL for me to shove it down their throats. ... Read MorePersonally, I'd rather have a child who has eaten something, even if it's not a salad, than a child who is hungry, and therefore CAN'T pay attention and learn.
Thirdly, I agree with Brian - I feel it's important to vote, and I wear my sticker proudly on voting day, and have discussions about the responsibilities of being a citizen of the United States regularly with my students (which includes supporting the president, no matter if you voted for him or not). But, while, as an educator, I have my own strong opinions about NCLB (which is good in theory, but, poorly implemented and funded), I cannot share them with my students. It would be ethically wrong for me to do so. If that is part of President Obama's message on Tuesday, it is neither the time nor the place - those decisions and agendas, are concerns for adults, not children, and they should not be burdened with them.
Although I do not have children of my own, as a responsible educator, I plan to preview the speech on Monday, and ... Read Moreprepare myself to field questions and lead a class discussion following the broadcast on Tuesday.
I have been present for several family discussions, and heard of several others of parents explaining to their children how to handle the broadcast on Tuesday - encouraging them to support the present, but also to decide for themselves if what he is saying is right and good, and not to follow blindly. That is the same counsel we are given about following the prophet, and should apply to every leader we ever have - both spiritual and otherwise.
All in all, the broadcast will happen, and thankfully, living in the US, we all have the right to react as we will, without fear of recourse. But, really, as parents, teachers, and adults in this country, we hold the moral obligation to discuss this with our children, and quite frankly, the home, rather than the school, seems to be the better venue for this entire event.

In case you were unaware, here are the two videos, announcing the broadcast, and a link to the information available with it.

The commercial:


The interview:


The website with educational resources:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/mediaresources/

The live feed (for Tuesday's broadcast:



Needless to say, I HIGHLY encourage ALL who possibly can to view the broadcast and discuss it with the children, and adults in our lives. Living in a democracy is a blessing, but also bears great responsibility - not following blindly is part of that responsibility. Listen and decide for yourself.

Get Thee Into the Mountain

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to go camping with some friends, and their extended family up in the mountains. Our purpose for going was to gather wood for the family, which was hard work! However, the weekend, at least for me, ended up being so much more than that. It was a perfect final vacation before school starts - a break from the drama, frustration, and stress of beginning school.
At one point, we went up to find a geocache on the top of a nearby mountain with 22 of the kids that were there. The view was absolutely breathtaking - a full 360 degrees of beautiful mountain peaks. From there we could see both Timpanogas and Nebo, two of the highest peaks on the Wasatch front and countless other peaks.
I was amazed at how calm and happy I was throughout the entire weekend - the stress and responsibilities of school were the furthest things from my mind.
As I attended church last week, the reason for the peace I felt in the mountains came sharply into focus as we discussed temples. The Lord commanded Nephi, Moses and countless other prophets to "get thee into the mountain." WHy the mountain? Because there, as with the temple, we are removed from the noise and tumult of the world, and even our own shouting thoughts of anger, worry, and fear. There we learn to clearly hear His whose voice is there to protect, comfort, cheer, and guide.
I also realized quite profoundly this weekend that the Lord knows exactly how to reach us, in whatever circumstance we may be in - whether it be physically in the temple, in a Church meeting, or even in the mountains. He can reach us, and touch our hearts if we are listening.