A Quote To Share

So today I gave the shortest talk of my life in Church....it was about two-three minutes long.  In the LDS Church, we don't have a pastor that gives a sermon every week. Ordinary members of the congregation are asked to speak at different weeks on different topics.  Usually they are a lot longer than two-three minutes, I prepared up to fifteen minutes though I expect to only really give five of it.  So today was really really fast!

I shared this quote as part of my talk....and thought I would share it today

President Ezra Taft Benson once said, “Give me a young woman who loves home and family, who reads and ponders the scriptures daily, who has a burning testimony of the Book of Mormon. Give me a young woman who faithfully attends her church meetings, who is a seminary graduate, who has earned her Young Womanhood Recognition Award and wears it with pride! Give me a young woman who is virtuous and who has maintained her personal purity, who will not settle for less than a temple marriage, and I will give you a young woman who will perform miracles for the Lord now and throughout eternity.”

As a young woman, I heard this quote and thought that promise was amazing.  I wanted to serve my Savior and return to live with Him and my Heavenly Father.  President Benson told me exactly how to do it.  The biggest thing for me to accomplish in that list was to earn my Young Womanhood Recognition Award.  At first this was just a program like Faith in God in Primary where I did the stuff, checked it off, and got the cool necklace at the end.  However, as I went through the program I realized that I was setting a pattern for life.  And this is what I want to talk to you about today. Personal Progress sets a pattern that acts as a foundation for our lives as women. I say women because this program while it is focused on in the young women program is for all women. It helps us to build habits of spirituality, build a personal testimony, build a relationship with Christ, build a way to the temple, and build a better person. I really feel like this program is so important for all women. To learn more visit here and here.

From sugardoodle.net--great resource if you don't know about it already!

Is It All About the Hype?

So, today I found out about this book blogger hop. I love following other bloggers and then finding out about all these cool things because they participate.  I will have to look into this blog hop more often!




This hop is hosted by http://www.coffeeaddictedwriter.com/ I will have to explore his site some more--he sounds like an interesting blogger. The point of the hop is to answer the question with a post. This week's question is: So would you read a book just because of the hype?

I have been known to become interested in a book because of the hype.  It will then end up on the list of books to read because of the hype.  I usually don't end up getting around to actually reading it until later after the hype has worn off.  But I did read all of the Harry Potter books--because of the hype..same with Twilight, and the Hunger Games.  I currently have The Help and The Perks of Being a Wallflower on the list of things to eventually read.  Sometimes I will read a book because a movie has come out on it--however I have this really big thing that I will read the book and then watch the movie. For example, because I haven't read The Help yet, I haven't seen the movie.  Might seem kind of strange....but movies ruin books for me--I have to do it in the right order :)

Five Favorite Front-Page Features

This has been an interesting news week....

1. Proposition 8 was sent back to the lower court....effectively put gay marriage back in California

2. Defense of Marriage Act...the Supreme Court found denying federal benefits from gay marriage unconstitutional

Whether you agree with gay marriage or not...this was an historic week for the Supreme Court--equality has been redefined in this country.  It is now precedent.

3. George Zimmerman trial began....this has been an interesting trial to say the least...from witnesses being cross-examined in a way that you would see on TV shows...to knock-knock jokes....to really graphic photos...and an all-female jury...it will be very interesting to see how this plays out

4. Supreme Court found the section of the Voting Rights Act that establishes the states/areas that have federal oversight unconstitutional if not updated

5. Immigration Reform passed the Senate....people said there would be a vote...now it's in the House's court

They sure had a lot of power this week
(picture from Wikipedia)

Teaching Pet Peeves

So, as a teacher, I have gathered quite the list of things that seem to happen all the time and shouldn't.  I have found all of these on Pinterest.....so thanks for the inspiration!

This one is seriously soo true....at our school they are usually gone in a week!

http://so-relatable.tumblr.com/post/30249351326

No matter how many times I go over this....they still don't remember!

http://media-cache-ak1.pinimg.com/originals/86/98/9f/86989fcb9fc61d814021023ca53c3b86.jpg

Then there are things that I wish people would remember like.....

Money is nice....and yes I wish I made more.....but that's not why I teach

http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/p/teachers-not-in-it-for-the-income-in-it-for-the-outcome/

And that we aren't just teachers.....what we do affects them!

No link....Pinterest link broken :(

And this is why I need books in my school all the time despite what people might say!!

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/1043990_206009959522705_1490850759_n.jpg

Article Review: "Sending My Child Away"

I saw this article yesterday on Facebook.  The rest of the title is, "It was hard, but best for our family."  This blogger mom went through a hard divorce that sounds like really put her kid in the middle.  It sounds like her son didn't really know how to deal with that divorce.  These kind of students are the stories that I hear about at my job. Cedar Ridge Academy receives a wide variety of students, and visit our website to learn if you/someone you know would be a good fit.  But this is why I work at this job as hard as it is.  Families are important and we help them put their lives back together.  And if for whatever reason they maybe can't go home again, I like to be able to set them up for their future.

This is a debate that I have with my fellow teachers too...we are not decreasing the expectations even though students want us too.  We need to hold the line with them, because we need to prepare them for life beyond high school. I always love teaching where I do because we focus on the learning--the body, mind, spirit idea.  We have a great school because we can deal with all of the parts of the student.

I hope that my readers never "need" our great school, but if you do find yourself in need, know that there are options out there.

My Love Hate Relationship with Twitter Part 2

It's funny, but I wrote that title...and then I read it back.  I was like....hmm that sounds familiar.  I did a quick search on my blog and found this post that I did back on January.  I guess that was bound to happen at some point this year....I repeat myself and I don't even know it.

But today's topic is actually a little bit different.....my love-hate relationship this time is that I have gotten so out of Twitter.  I started my account, and I was retweeting like crazy, doing chats, and just keeping up with what was going on with everyone.  Now, all I do is tweet out these posts basically.  Part of my problem is the whole time thing---I have become distracted with other things.  But the other part of my problem was the fact that I was getting information overload! I love Twitter for the articles/ideas/etc. that I can get from it...that's the only reason that I see to use it--just sharing.  While sometimes the little "status updates" are great, they are not why I get on.

I have done a couple of different things to keep track of articles/ideas/etc....I pin a lot of stuff to Pinterest and I "favorite" stuff on Twitter with the hopes that I can see it again---though I have actually never gone looking.  But sometimes they don't have anything Pinterest will use to pin, and I have lost the actual Tweet somewhere, and then it stays open on my computer until I have to shut it down.  And that is so annoying...

So I am putting this out into the world....how do you deal with the Twitter information overload??


P.S. There is a great literary giveway by Judith @ http://leeswammes.wordpress.com/ and I get extra points by linking you here: http://www.bookloverbookreviews.com/2013/06/literary-giveaway-blog-hop-6-titles-to-choose-from.html they are giving away some great books!

Running Away!

Have you ever read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? That was my day!

I was thinking a lot about this book today.  One of my favorite parts is at the beginning which happens to be on the Amazon preview for this book.

I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there's gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

At breakfast Anthony found a Corvette Sting Ray car kit in his breakfast cereal box and Nick found a Junior Undercover Agent code ring in his breakfast cereal box but in my breakfast cereal box all I found was breakfast cereal.

 I think I'll move to Australia.

Yep... I think I will move to Australia!!

Thank you Amazon for the pic!

Blessings

Today at church, I taught about the blessings of the priesthood in our lives in my young women class.  As Latter-day Saints, we believe that the priesthood is God's power on earth.  He is our Father, and as such is not able to be on the earth to give us the support and comfort that we need.  This priesthood, when used correctly, can help us achieve our potential. I wanted to share with you guys two resources that I used in my lesson today.  This video really describes what the priesthood does for us and how it blesses our lives.

And this quote from Sheri Dew really stuck out to me.  As a woman in the Church, I am often asked if I am frustrated about not personally having the priesthood--I don't need it if I have the ability to receive the blessings from it.

“Sisters, some will try to persuade you that because you are not ordained to the priesthood, you have been shortchanged. They are simply wrong, and they do not understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. The blessings of the priesthood are available to every righteous man and woman. We may all receive the Holy Ghost, obtain personal revelation, and be endowed in the temple, from which we emerge ‘armed’ with power. The power of the priesthood heals, protects, and inoculates all of the righteous against the powers of darkness. Most significantly, the fulness of the priesthood contained in the highest ordinances of the house of the Lord can be received only by a man and woman together”

 By the way...if you're doing this one next week because they are shockingly five Sundays in June and five questions to cover this website has a great handout with this quote.  They have great handouts in general for all lessons.

To learn more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and any of our beliefs, visit mormon.org

Quotes That Bring a Smile

So today I have been looking at quotes that bring a smile to my face at least.  Thanks to Pinterest for these.  To get more here is the link to my board.

http://cleaneatingchelsey.com/2012/11/06/managing-a-busy-week/

http://www.ofanselm.com/2012/08/things-id-like-my-daughters-to-know.html

Really inappropriate link name

Its nice to smile just with little things like this because.....

http://sayingimages.com/a-good-laugh-and-a-long-sleep-are-the-best-cures-for-anything/

Five Favorite Front-Page Features

So...today isn't going to be exactly five different news stories....just five (maybe more) different things all about the same thing. Today in my US History/Government class, we talked about the Edward Snowden/hacking thing.  Time Magazine did a great article this week about him and past hackers, and it really seems to be becoming an historical and political issue--great for my class.  So I started off with these video clips to give them the background.

These first two are in the same broadcast, back to back,and occurred that first day the media starts talking about the phone monitoring and the Internet monitoring.
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/52126041

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/52126065

This next clip is probably the day after the other two because we are learning that this wasn't on purpose and the government is having to acknowledge that there was a leak.

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/hunting-nsa-leaker-19351792?tab=9482930&section=1206853&playlist=19352311

Then I showed this clip that reveals Snowden and who he is.  

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/edward-snowden-claims-nsa-leaker-19362889

Finally, I showed this clip to give them a bit of an idea of what PRISM is and to transition into the Time Magazine article.

http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,2472288673001_2145377,00.html 

This article is on: http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,2145506,00.html 

I loved this class because we had a great discussion and didn't even get through the whole article. They are really curious, and offer opinions which is the whole reason why I talk about current events in the first place.  We are going to finish it up next week, and I think it will be great.

The cover of this week's Time

Reflection on Resolutions

So today I have an interesting train of thought as I have been looking at different things on the Internet. I have become very aware of how quickly life has gone this year.  At the beginning of the year, I had a lot of great plans for the year.  The only plan that I have stuck with is this one, which shocks me.  Honestly, some of them are a little bit more important (like renewing my license which I totally am procrastinating!!). Some of them are probably a bit more productive....like I had lots of readings planned for myself--both academically, enjoyment wise, and spiritually.  I haven't even come close to doing what I had planned with that. This became apparent when I signed up for RoofBeam Reader's Austen in August.  UGH! It is almost August. I had planned to read all of the completed Austen novels this year (well at least the seven in my complete works book) and I have only read one!

But on the positive side...August will bring a great trip home to see my baby brother come home! I am so excited.  Hopefully by then I will feel like I have accomplished something...if nothing else I will be reading a little bit of Jane Austen! I hope to finish Pride and Prejudice (for the umpeth time) and Mansfield Park. Feel free to sign up too here.

Are Grades Important?

I read an article on Education Week today that seemed to discuss this very same idea.  Now I just got done reading the comments from everyone on the article, and wow.  People have a lot of different opinions.  I really don't like confrontation on the Internet. And these people sound belligerent so I am not commenting in the box.  But it got me thinking about how we doing grading at our school.  We still do grading, as I'm sure everyone here is aware.  And it is still very subjective with moments of objectivity just as every other teacher.  However, we do focus on competency and mastery. 

How do we do this?  We make sure the student knows the material.  Cs and Ds don't fly anymore....they just get As and Bs.  Most of our students have just "done what they had to" and tried to just barely pass before.  By actively creating these guidelines, the students reach for a higher standard. I saw comments on this article about schools that just let students retake as many times as they want so kids don't even try the first time.  WE also have things against that in the fact that they can only really take the tests twice until they need to go back and prove mastery to the material that they are being tested on.

But the cool thing to me is that the power of the letter grade gives these students confidence to go on to their next school with more confidence whether that be in college or another high school. I know that they are actually having to learn something to go through what I make them do :) unlike other schools where they could just skate by.  So it is definitely something that is worth considering in the constant debate of education reform.

Picture courtesy of: http://www.legaljuice.com/2011/07/post_245.html

Family History

Okay so my day has been BUSY!! Came home from work and had dinner and visited with Brian for about two hours.  Then I went visiting teaching. Visiting teaching is a great opportunity for the women in the ward to get together, check on each other and make sure everything is okay, and then leave a spiritual message.  I just barely got home...threeish hours later.  I visit with some great women and they sure like to talk a lot! But the message I gave tonight was about family history and I thought for a quick blog post I would share a great quote.

As members of Christ’s restored Church, we have the covenant responsibility to search for our ancestors and provide for them the saving ordinances of the gospel. They without us cannot “be made perfect” (Hebrews 11:40), and “neither can we without our dead be made perfect” (D&C 128:15).

Family history work prepares us for the blessings of eternal life and helps us increase our faith and personal righteousness. Family history is a vital part of the mission of the Church and enables the work of salvation and exaltation for all.

President Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said: “When we research our own lines we become interested in more than just names. … Our interest turns our hearts to our fathers—we seek to find them and to know them and to serve them.”²

It is great to be able to learn about those who came before.  Shout out to my aunt and grandmother who do such great work and always tell me about their "dead people" :P They are my inspiration today!

http://www.lds.org/images/Magazines/NewEra/Archive/neweralp.nfo:o:d59.jpg

Movie Review: Premium Rush

So this isn't one that has just come out, but an older one.  Premium Rush came out in 2012 and stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt.  He plays a bike messenger who is assigned a tricky delivery.  He doesn't know that the package he is carrying is worth a lot to many different people.  So everyone wants to have it.  And then there is the drama that life just creates all around him.

So what did I love?

• They did a really nice job with the graphics 
• I have a greater respect for people who live in New York City...seriously, I don't think I could live there!
• Cute love story
• Okay so lets be honest ladies, he is attractive...so that doesn't hurt.

So what did I hate?

• It really had NO plot line! There is enough of a plot line to call it a movie, but seriously this was not a very complex plot at all.
• It is flashback, flashforward...and they give you the time that the scene is starting with and you have to pay attention!!

Bottom line...do NOT pay for this movie.  Get it for free..we watched it off a cable movie channel..that we have for free for a couple of days.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/24/movies/premium-rush-starring-joseph-gordon-levitt.html?_r=0

Lesson Plan: A Short Story Idea

So I was realizing that I haven't shared a lesson plan idea in a while, so this is one I did in English class this past week.  It is great to be able to find resources that you can use online in your classroom.  I had wanted to do a unit on short stories to help the students with their own reading comprehension and grappling with a difficult text. One trick is that a lot of the short stories I would go to they do in their regular curriculum and I didn't want to use one some kids had read and others had not, so I got the idea of some story ideas from this teacher.  One of which was "A Ghost Story" by Mark Twain.  As I was searching I also found some great lists of things to know about short stories.

So I decided to go over the five essential parts of a short story with them: plot, character, conflict, theme, and setting.  There is a great rap from Flocabulary that talks about this that my students still remember a week later and can quote!  Even though it was a bit lame, I haven't had one student roll their eyes too much at it and they even seem to imply with their body language that they actually learned something! (P.S. All of these ideas are also pinned to my Pinterest board if you'd like to see other similar ideas).

So we started off with the rap, and then I wanted to read the story with them.  I had never read this story prior to my lesson preparation, so in my research I learned that knowing about the Cardiff Giant is useful so I found this website  with a video podcast of the Giant.  Just a warning with the video, fast forward the first minute because he goes on this rant about Obama and the birth certificate thing.  We watched that video, and then read the story which has a great print-off on this same website.

After reading the story and discussing what made sense and what didn't, I had the students identify the five essential parts of a short story.  This was great because there are easier parts like the setting and plot and even characters.  But we talked about conflict and theme, which sets us up to dive deeper into those harder topics with future short stories.

The students seemed to enjoy the story.  I was a little worried they wouldn't because it is not one of those "SCARY" stories, but it held their attention, it wasn't too long, and when asked had the decency to say it wasn't completely lame. Go Mark Twain, continuing to hold the minds of teenagers for a couple of pages.

Yep that's our guy

Women in Television

So today I watched the end of the season of Elementary.  Have you ever seen it?  I don't want to spoil it if you haven't seen it yet so SPOILER ALERT!  If you haven't seen it and had no desire then feel free to keep reading.  It is a Sherlock Holmes drama.  Sherlock Holmes moves to New York after getting out of rehab, and is assigned a live-in sober companion--Joan Watson.  It finally makes sense to me why Watson hangs out around Sherlock.  But the cool things is that it is a female Watson! The show goes through as Holmes consultants with the NYPD.  He eventually comes across his arch-nemesis...Moriarty.  This show then turns around a reveals that Moriarty is a female character too!! In the books and movies, Moriarty has always been a male character.  I am way excited that this show decided to write and create strong female character roles.

We have so much in the media in which women are the stupid, emotional, irrational people.  We can't make decisions without a man's help in a lot of situations.  There are shows that do not follow this, and I love how Elementary doesn't!

Yay Lucy Liu as Joan Watson!

Five Favorite Front-Page Features

This week I will feature stories from ABCNews.com

5. This was an interesting article today....Alleged Nazi SS Commander Found Living in Minnesota.  He is 94 years old and is just now being discovered.  I think about what that does to your life? http://abcnews.go.com/US/alleged-nazi-ss-commander-found-living-minnesota/story?id=19404716

4. This is a cool video...a 10 year old boy in San Antonio sang the national anthem at the beginning of the finals game and then was criticized for doing so because he is Mexican.  The kid stood up for himself, and told the world that he was American born and raised, and that the color of his skin didn't matter if he was American.  The finals then invited him back to sing again.  How cool is that!!
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/instant-index-10-year-sebastian-de-la-cruzs-19407344

US News | Weird News | More ABC News Videos

3. Immigration Law Proposal Clears Hurdle...it would be nice to maybe see this resolved in a way that people are relatively okay with http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/immigration-law-proposal-clears-hurdle-19377735?tab=9482930&section=1206853&playlist=19378524

US News | Weird News 

2. NSA Leak...this guy I have spent most of the week trying to figure out who he is....this video is somewhat helpful. http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/reported-nsa-leaker-edward-snowden-19369193?tab=9482930&section=1206853&playlist=19369746

US News | Weird News | More ABC News Videos

1. This was honestly my FAVORITE story in a long time.  This story is about a husband and wife team of doctors...she says that she can't sleep because he snores.  They get a sleep study together and apart...and she sleeps fine either way.  I love the husband's look...it is totally "I was ACTUALLY right!" http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/solutions-couples-sleep-19369498?tab=9482930&section=1206853&playlist=19369746

US News | Weird News

Places You Will Go!

So I am plum out of ideas about what to write about today....so I looked to Paula's Place for inspiration.  Her prompt today is: "Someplace you'd like to move or visit".   I have lots of places that I would like to go visit.

1. Washington D.C.
2. Boston
3. Philadelphia
4. Palmyra, NY
5. Kirtland, OH
6. Mount Rushmore
7. Italy
8. France
9. England
10. Germany
11. Switzerland
12. Spain
13. Vatican City
14. Hawaii
15. Nova Scotia
16. Prince Edward Island
17. Australia
18. New Zealand
19. South Africa
20. Visit all the LDS temples in the lower 48

I could probably keeping going but I like the evenness of 20...it will be funny if I actually ever go to all of these places.  It sure sounds expensive for a girl who doesn't have a passport or a lot of time off and not a lot of money to spend on extra stuff like that. But I want to dot the world!

www.mapsofworld.com

P.S. I am blogger famous!  I got a shout out on Trish's blog, go check it out! 

Shakespeare Plus Autism

So my only actor friend (well at least that I know of...there might be some high school friend that acts but I clearly don't talk to them that often) shared this article on Facebook [yes you Katie :)] The article is called "The connection between Shakespeare and autism" And we taught Shakespeare together once for a MAGNIFICENT summer at Cedar Ridge Academy.  So of course I clicked on it because I want to know what is out there. This is actually quite the interesting article.

Our school does not teach highly autistic students, but we do see students on the other end of the autism spectrum (like NLD and Asprerger's).  As this article points out, with these students you are not going to immediately think of Shakespeare. But I have seen students that would have NEVER tackled Shakespeare on their own, take it and run with it.  They immerse themselves in the language and let them try it out and guess what they are getting at--and suddenly they are not scared and they can handle it.  

So go check out the article...what Shakespeare play would you try with students that aren't great with language?  Hmm....what about with ESL?

Thank you to shakespeare.mit.edu for the picture which is also where I get my copies of plays when I do it in class.  Printing them for a small class like mine is cheaper than buying books.

Life, it is full of...

Life, it is full of....

drama

stress

heartaches

drama

pressure

headaches

Yes, life is complicated, hard, and confusing sometimes.

Today was a hard day....but I've done hard days.

And today was so hard that I really don't even know how to process it.

But life is also full of...

happiness

perspective

growth

and learning

So though I have learned a lot on this roller coaster

I don't like that I can't seem to get off the roller coaster

I have survived before, I am going to survive this time.

P.S. Thanks guys for letting me be vague and vent even if it was through some pretty lame poetry.  I hope you see that I'm fine and just needed to get it all out!

Thanks to this link http://www.boolumaster.com/mixes-dj-blog/positive-quotes-11-9-11-enjoy-your-life/ for their great thoughts

Movie Review: Inside North Korea

http://www.amazon.com/Inside-North-Korea/dp/B004HFKPOK

So I was thinking about something to review today and I wanted to share what we have been doing in class recently.  So not only is this a great movie review but it is also a great lesson plan idea for when you want an easy day.  This movie is done by National Geographic.  This follows Lisa Ling into North Korea as she films a documentary about a Nepal eye surgeon. He is going to heal 1,000 people of cataracts.  While they are there, they can film the culture around them.

So why do I like showing it in class? It is a great visual for the students of what North Korea is like.  They have trouble understanding the US tension with them and concern we have about the nuclear threats until they see this video.  They also have trouble understanding the truce between North and South and the DMZ.  If you don't show anything else from this movie except the clip of them at the DMZ then that would be worth it.  You can really understand what it is like there.

http://torrentbutler.eu/51376-national-geographic-inside-north-korea

Concerns to have as a teacher: So as always, every good teacher should preview the movie/clip they are showing in their class because you know your students best! But the biggest concern that I have had every time I show this video is creating a prejudice against the people of North Korea.  I emphasize with the students that we don't know how much choice the people of North Korea have so they might not really "hate" us.  I also emphasize difference of culture and though we view them as "strange"/"odd", they might find us strange and odd too. So we talk about accepting diversity when we watch this movie.

Another thing to keep in mind too is that this movie is now dated.  It was created before the death of Kim Jong Il, and his son is now the third dictator of the country--Kim Jong Un.  (Not to be confused with Kim Il Sung the original dictator) Getting this straight in your head and student's is also really helpful for when watching.

While Watching: I usually have a set of nine questions that I wrote for my students to answer.  They get a lot out of just watching and asking questions so sometimes I have them just respond to the film at different points too with questions and statements.  It is about an hour long so great for a classroom but usually we end up watching in about an hour and a half because I pause and clarify things, answer questions, and ask questions.

Oh p.s. I first just showed this to my US History classes because of the Korean War in US History class.  However, I recently showed it in all of classes with the World History spin with communism, Government spin of foreign policy, and World Geography spin of the theme place/region.  Overall,  it is a great way to connect current events with history too.

Special Day

This weekend Brian and I had the opportunity to go up to Provo and visit his family for a very special occasion.   Yesterday was my niece's first birthday.  We had a great opportunity to spend time with her and eat cake.  The first birthday cake is always the best to watch.  She loved the stuffed animals we got her and we loved watching her play with them.

She and her brother also received their baby blessing that day.  This is a great opportunity for LDS children to be blessed at the beginning of their lives.  Their name is announced and an official Church record is started.  To give context, from what I understand it is similar to a christening in other Christian faiths.  The blessing is typically performed by the baby's father and early on in their lives.  This was a unique blessing, because Brian (as the uncle) actually blessed our nephew who is almost four. With no children of our own, this was a great experience for Brian being his first time.  And as I mentioned in previous posts, we have a special relationship with him too.

It was a great spiritual feeling as everyone gathered at the Church for the blessings and they were performed.   It was sweet to see Brian with Evan and the love that just flowed through the room.  And our little niece Avi is a bit young to really understand what was going on, but old enough to squirm and cause problems. She was calm, peaceful, and really genuinely seemed to understand what happened.  She even made a sound that sounded like, "Thanks" at the end when she can't completely talk yet.

On top of it all, we had all of Brian's sisters in town so it was a great family reunion and experience that I don't think anyone will forget anytime soon.

From https://www.lds.org/manual/behold-your-little-ones-nursery-manual/lesson-28-heavenly-father-blesses-me-through-the-priesthood?lang=eng

Proud Moment

Okay so today is one of those days in which I have zero idea what to write about...surprise surprise.  So I glanced at the June Blogging Challenge question that some of my blogger friends are answering today and it is a moment in which you were proud of yourself.  That would be college graduation for me because I graduated with honors.

At BYU graduating with honors is not just a GPA thing but it is a well-rounded education and participating in activities that you might not usually along with a thesis.  This thesis is not just a paper from another class but an original work that you researched, came up with etc.  Mine became quite the endeavor.  I ended up writing a 150 page thing.  It was insane!! My entire last semester that was all I really did along with student teaching.  Ended up pulling two all-nighters for this thing too.  I was very determined to get that medal around my neck for graduation and I was very proud when they put it around my neck!

You can kind of see it in this picture...but this is the nearest picture to me right now.

Five Favorite Front-Page Features

This week I have decided to bring back my usual Friday ritual of discussing current events.  This week I have decided to feature New York Times this week and just do the top five from the week in no real order. I even have one for each day.

Friday: Seven Dead in Santa Monica Shooting This is just sad....more shootings.

Thursday: IRS Targeting of Conservatives Wrong, Most Say in Poll The IRS is in a lot of trouble, and it is possible that this isn't going away any time soon.

Wednesday: US is Secretly Collecting Records of Verizon Calls Yeah this was nice to hear, I have Verizon but then later on in the week we found out it doesn't really matter which cell carrier you have.

Tuesday: US-China Meeting's Aim What was surprising to me about this was how much people are worried about the fact that Mrs. Obama will not be there

Monday: Don't Trust the Pentagon to End Rape The interesting thing about this it is an op-ed.  This story fascinates me because of all of the men involved in what is usually a women's issue.

Ode to Pinterest!

So today I have been trying to think of what to write about today.  I have been surfing around the Internet for ideas--including Pinterest.  This was why I am writing a little post on Pinterest.  They have been making some great changes recently.  Unlike Facebook, I haven't heard anything bad and I personally love all of them!

Great change #1....Being able to search all of my pins!! If I can figure out what they were called I can find them in a second.  I love it!!  I use to do a find search on the browsers, but that it doesn't work when it hasn't all loaded completely.

Great change #2...It tells you when you have already pinned it to the board!! I have found so many duplicates even right next to each other on my boards and I have been so frustrated! This is SO great!

My newest favorite quote from Pinterest!

Classics Club June Meme

As member of the Classics Club, I am more of a quiet member.  But each month they ask a question to prompt a blog post--sounds perfect right? Sometimes I don't have an answer for the question but this month I do.  The question is:

What is your favorite opening sentence from a classic novel (and why)? 

So I want to share two lines that I want to share with you today.  The first is from a well-known favorite of mine: A Tale of Two Cities.  I can't talk about first line without doing this one.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way- in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

This is ALL one sentence! That is one of the reasons why I love this opening line.  I love the repetition of the lines.  I also love how it really describes life...especially the hard times. The hard times are the best for us and the worst for us.  They are times for us to be stupid, but also learn a lot.  Any faith that you have is tested, and any things that you think aren't there might change.  We are led by light through this hard time but also feel like we are at the darkest time in our lives. We try to go through the experience with hope but inside we have a lot of despair.  I could keep going, but I think you get the idea.  I love being able to relate to a story right away like that.

My second favorite line is a lot shorter and about a book I haven't talked about yet--Rebecca.  That line:

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again"

It sets up the WHOLE book which has so many twists and turns.  You never know what is going to happen the first time you read it.  But as you look back over the book that line is loaded with SO much foreshadow. You don't know what they really mean until the end.

What is it about a first line of a book for you?

Learn more about Classics Club  http://theclassicsclubblog.wordpress.com/

Book Review: Angels and Demons

Title: Angels and Demons
Author: Dan Brown

Genre: Suspense/Drama

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Why Did I Read? I recently got an MP3 copy of this book.  I have read it before, but I loved being able to listen to this on my drives around town and to and from the city.

Summary: This is the first book about Robert Langdon (despite what people might think). Robert is asked to come help investigate the murder of a brilliant scientist, who discovered antimatter.  This dove tails into a discovery that the Vatican is in trouble. He has to race against the clock to avoid the Vatican exploding from the anti-matter and try to save the four cardinals who could have become pope.  Yeah, there's a conclave going on at the same time!

  

What Did I Love: I love the suspense that Dan Brown creates for his readers.  He moves the story quickly and moves around the story line at a great pace! I also love the research he appears to do.  I don't know for sure, but he at least makes it sound credible.

What Did I Hate: I don't hate anything about the book to be honest....the 4.5 rating comes because it is not a 5 book--I haven't found one yet. My MP3 recording is by Simon and Schuster it is the abridged version which I didn't realize until I finished it and they told me! I hope they didn't cut out a lot, if they did I didn't notice. I don't remember who talked though but they did a really nice job so I recommend that recording if you don't mind abridgments.

I am currently reading The DaVinci Code and then will be reading The Lost Symbol again leading up to my first reading of Inferno.

Have you read Angels and Demons? Or any other Dan Brown books?  What are your thoughts?

Another Doctor's Appointment

So, today was my next doctor's appointment.  If you are new to reading/want to get caught up go back here and here  but after all that my internalist sent me to a gynecologist in Provo.  It took me a few weeks to get in, so today was the day.  It was the worst doctors appointment ever!  If you live in Utah or ever do, never ever go to the Utah Valley Women's Clinic.  I was suppose to see one doctor, who looked great with her resume.  However, she was apparently "busy" and a different doctor came in instead. This doctor apparently is a surgeon or assists with surgeries because she told me that she needed to hurry off to a surgery the minute she sat down.

This is where it gets interesting....I told my story which is a bit long considering it has been a month and a half.  But the most annoying thing was is that I felt like I was an inconvenience to her as I told her my story. She had really poor body language to some of the things that I said...like what is wrong with you to even think that?! She didn't even seem to be listening at some points.  After the most painful exam ever, in which she didn't tell me what she was looking for, she decided that I had some sort of infection. Never told me the name of it, and sent prescriptions to my pharmacy.  Never told me the medications, and never asked if I had any questions.  The only reason I know anything about these medications is because I have a great pharmacist.

Looking back on the day...I really wish I had fought for the doctor I came for. And I had fought her to pay attention to me...so take it from me--you REALLY need to stand up for yourself at the doctor even if you feel like you are in trouble for doing something wrong.

Ha Ha, yeah right! members.theunsignedguide.com