I Want to Live Here

Lexington, Virginia

Why? I don't know. Before today I hadn't even heard of it but as I was doing some Internet

browsing today MSN had a little slide show about the coolest small towns and this was one of them.

What is so special about that? Well, I LOVE small towns, you know the ones where everyone knows everyone, kids can ride their bikes and play outside all summer, where you can have a garden and a bigger yard and their just super cute. It is my dream to live in a cute little town like that.

I often wonder if it would drive me crazy because I love the convenience of living in a decent sized city with so much shopping close at hand but I would definitely be willing to give it up and try the small town life. I've only been to Virginia once and it was on the opposite side for only for about 5 days but very quickly I fell in love with Virginia. It's green and lush and beautiful and even though I love Utah and can't imagine a need to move across the country I want to just to live in Virginia. I even looked up the school districts and found a church building, just to make sure :) The good news is that the school have good reviews and have really cute names and their is a church right there in Lexington so it all set :) I

figure as soon as I graduate I can apply to any school anywhere so a girl can dream can't she!

Anyway, it's completely random but it just got me thinking and wishing and hoping....

Oh, my second choice was Rockland, Maine but I'm not sure the coast is my thing and it might get a little too cold for me so I'll stick with dreaming about Virginia.

Ode to My Childhood aka Video Downloads

WHAT?

This week we learned how to download videos from the internet to use in our classes. Our assignment this week was to post two different videos. I chose these videos because I thought it was cool to talk a walk down memory lane to some of my favorite shows I watched when I was little. The Miley Cyrus video was just a quick one I chose while in class but couldn't get it to delete.

SO WHAT?

The reason why it's important to know this is because many times you will find a video on YouTube or some other site like that, that will work perfectly for something you are teaching but if your not prepared they may just take the video down before you are able to use it and therefore your lesson plan is ruined. The internet is an unpredictable place so it is good to have things in a secure place in order to use them in the future not only once but for many years.

NOW WHAT?

I really enjoy using YouTube and now TeacherTube, not only does it give some diversity in the ways you teach but it just fun to have a little video to introduce a theme or a subject. It's a great tool to know how to save it on your computer and have the resource for years to come. Will I use this in my classroom? Absolutely.

VIDEO

The video this week called "Millennial Generation", it is a video asking high school kids questions about technology. It was kind of interesting to watch because it is similar to what I feel everyday listening to the kids in my school. Gone are the days of dolls and toy cars everything on kids wish lists now are electronics. In one way it is kind of exciting but on the other hand it can be a bit scary because we have the knowledge to do just about anything, it is just a matter of when. This video shows that it's important to embrace technology rather than shy away from it in fear. This is the only thing that kids know and will ever know in the future so us as teacher, parents or just other people in the world need to know what is out there and how it works to not only protect ourselves and our children but to use it for good and get the most out of it.

Starting a New Great Adventure

I really do enjoy writing things down but this blogging thing is proving to be quite the challenge. I guess I'm just kind of afraid of revealing myself to much but since not many people even know this blog exists I guess it's a pretty safe place to vent frustrations, reveal fears and share the fun things that happen in life.
School (and by that I mean work) starts in two days and I can hardly wait. I like normalcy and a set schedule. I like having something I can count on and look forward to. I'm probably the only person the doesn't like Saturdays and summer breaks for the sole purpose that I hate having time to do nothing.
This year though I am starting a new project. I have worked at Sharon Elementary for about 5 years. Three years before the mission and now going in to my second since I've been home. I started working through the America Reads Program as a regular aide. This last year I worked as a Special Ed aide and really enjoyed it. It was a lot of work and a bit exausting but it was very rewarding not to mention the fact that I got out of the dreaded playground duty :) I was planning on going back to that this year but got a call from our principal with a new opportunity. I didn't really understand what I would be doing and still don't know exactly but I accepted on blind faith thinking that she was offering me something better. I will now be working for the Americorps Literacy Initiative.
This means that I will be recuiting volunteers, training them, collecting data, participating in many service projects and attending meetings and study groups. The scariest part is that I don't even now how do do all of that but instead of looking at the big picture I'll just take it day by day and hopefully it will all be okay.
To add to the stress of not knowing how that is all going to work I am also going to school full time. I had planned on finishing up my associates degree this fall and start the education program in spring but now. . . I guess I'll just finish up this semester, take some easy classes next semester to keep my financial aide and help raise my gpa. I'll give my all on the job this last year and pray that I will get accepted to the program for next fall.
Why am I willing to put off school for another year to work? This is going to look pretty good on my resume and will give me a $2,300 tuition credit next year. It's a huge blessing if I can keep my cool and do a good job. That would be why I'm totally freaked out, I have a history of not handling stress very well and in return always screwing things up.
Everything is always scarier and bigger in my imagination though so all I can do is do everything that is required of me and hope for the best. And remember to breath :)

Not so much...

So it turns out that since I'm not married and/or living at home there just isn't too much excitement to write about but in an endeavor to focus on the positive of this great summer vacation, here's what I've been up to;

#1 Mission Homecomings
In my group that started the mission and traveled to Ecuador together I was the only Hermana but it was far from lonely cause I was accompanied by twelve elders with whom I was able to become friends with as we served together for 18 months. I was pretty excited for them all to come home the end of May and tried to make it to as many homecomings as I could but only made it to two, Elders Hess and Marriott. It was so fun to see some of my old amigos again.

#2 Family Spontaneity
My family is not known for it's ability to just drop everything and do things on a whim but this summer they have shocked me with various last minute activities. Several Saturdays ago my sister got the idea that she wanted to go fishing up Hobble Creek Canyon with my dad and convinced the rest of us that we needed to come along, so on a whim I ran to Target and bought a bike, mom packed up a cooler for lunch and found a good book, Kylee got her bike cleaned up and ready to go, Bandito got his leash, Kimberly got a licence, Dad got some worms and off we went. I hadn't realized but that was my first time up the canyon since I'd been home and had forgotten just how wonderful the sounds and smells of the canyon are. I didn't end up riding my bike but following Dad and Kimberly up and down the river holding the fish (trying no to feel bad about it!) and passing worms when needed. Gotta love nature!!!

#3 Personal Spontaneity
Realizing that I am more than ready to form a life of my own away from my parents home (aka become an adult) and knowing my own weakness to over analyze things to the point of freaking myself out, I signed up for an apartment at the Glenwood in Provo. It seemed like the perfect location for the schedule I plan on having in the fall, so come August 25Th I will be a resident in zoobiville.

So this isn't my entire summer in a nutshell but it does it just a little bit of what I've been doing(cause I know your were just dying to know) and the start of my quest to have not only a more exciting blog but an exciting final month and a half of summer vacations. Life is just full of unexpected surprises and I love surprises!!

Breaking the Ice

I don't know just how out of touch I really am but I barely remember the word blog from before the mission, but since I've been home it seems that everyone has a blog or two. After reading other people's blogs I decided it was my turn, I wanted one. Now keep in mind, that I don't have an overly exciting life, I wish I did, but the truth is that I just don't.
I do enjoy writing though and was even told by my mission president that I have a "gift for the written word" so here I am developing my gifts and talents ;)