Day 5

A picture of your favorite memory.

I love so many things about this picture. It was our freshman year in college. We were so happy and free. We had no responsibilities (only back then my weightlifting class seemed like such a burden). We stayed up watching Friends, eating delicious food, and having random flour fights. It was the best time of my life! :)

Day 4

A picture of your night.

I spent this week:

-testing each of my students on 150 sight words (such a long, dreadful task)
-finishing report cards
-celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday with a party and green eggs and ham
-making goo to learn about the /oo/ sound
-reading "If You Give a Pig a Pancake" and following a recipe to make blueberry pancakes

-observing my student teacher

I am exhausted. So, that being said, my night consisted of:

Cleaning up my week long mess

Watching Jack Bauer save the world... again.

And a long awaited, good night's rest.

Day 3

A picture of the cast from your favorite show.

Friends.

By far, my all time favorite show. I own every season and can watch it over and over and over.

And these are a few of my current favorite shows.

Modern Family

Grey's Anatomy

The Office

Glee

Day 2

A picture of you and the person you have been close with for the longest.

I first thought of choosing a family member, but that's coming up in a few days.

Then I thought of my good friend, Mary, but couldn't find the picture of us. I KNOW I saw it recently, but after tearing my room apart, I still can't find it. I'm sure after I post this I will.

Then I started going through my old college pictures and couldn't pick just one close friend. So, here's all of my closest friends, from oldest to newest. And they all live far away from me. So sad.

Mary


I totally stole this picture from her facebook. Can't believe we don't have any pictures together. We should change that next time I'm up in Canada. We've been friends since high school. We don't see each other very often, but she is probably the only person I make an effort to see when I go to Canada. And every time we get together, it's like old times. My favorite memories of Mary include Timbits, creamies, and Roscoe's wings. So delicious!

Jessica


We've been friends since freshman year of college. We have had YEARS of amazing memories. We basically spent every waking moment together when we both lived in Rexburg. Jessica drove all the way to see me the week Tyler died. I'll forever be grateful for that!

Whitney


Whitney is my Utah weekend getaway friend! I love visiting her and sweet little Luke for a weekend of relaxing, delicious food, crafting, and watching new shows Travis is obsessed with. :) I just wish that I wouldn't be sick every time I visit. Ha. Rotten luck.

Allyson


A beautiful island called Vashon brought us together. Oh there are too many memories there to name... I miss walking around the track with her listening to life drama. Ha. One day I called her and I walked around the track while talking to her. It was wonderful! I think we need another walk soon...

Georgia


We used to teach together, but she went and had herself an adorable baby she feels needs a stay at home mom. Whatever. Ha. she is definitely my gossip friend. I shouldn't admit it, but man, do we love to gossip! And the one perk of her not teaching this year, is she gets to come and help in my class for fun events. She came and spent two days helping my kids make the hand print calendars this year. So nice!

Michelle


Michelle is the most recent friend to abandon me. But don't worry, we will have our wonderful summer full of walks and talks soon! Our parents live in the same ward and are really good friends. Like mother, like daughter! :) We also need to get a new picture together, since the child she is carrying in the picture is now over a year old!

Wendy


She still lives in the same city as me, but thanks to her boyfriend, she's basically living on the moon. She is my very best single friend. Until Brad came along, we were inseparable!

I am so lucky to have so many GREAT friends! I just wish they all lived a little bit closer...

31 Days - Day 1

One of my friends did this on facebook, and I thought it would be a great way for me to get back on the blogging train. Each day for 31 days I will post a picture to go along with a specific caption. Enjoy!

A picture of yourself with 15 facts.

1. Thanks to Netflix, I am now finishing the last two seasons of 24 that I missed while going to grad school. When I’m going through a 24 marathon (like right now), I find it hard to go out in public because I keep asking myself, “Do these people know what’s going on?!” (nuclear bombs, nerve gas, terrorists, etc.)

2. I vacuum at least every other day. Not because it needs it, but because I love to see the vacuum lines. It looks and feels so nice.

3. I can never just bite into an apple. I always cut it into slices… just in case there are worms.

4. I am adopted. My birth mother was 15, so I was adopted as a little baby. I’m very grateful she gave me up. I have the most wonderful family!

5. From the time I was five years old, I wanted to be a teacher and would play school on a big chalkboard in my basement. Before then, I would tell my mom all kinds of stories and she would “publish” them for me. I love teaching, but being a children’s author is my dream job.

6. I started choir when I was four and continued until I graduated high school. At times I wanted to quit, but my mom wouldn’t let me. I am glad she didn’t, and I really miss it.

7. I am very OCD when it comes to my classroom. Everything has to be perfect and in its perfect place. I really like things the way I like them, even if it means I spend an hour hanging up pictures to make sure they are perfectly straight and centered.

8. I am an adult who loves macaroni and cheese with cut up hot dogs.

9. I don’t like to eat the “ends” of things. For example: bananas, bread, cucumbers.

10. I have the worst nerves. If someone just walks around the corner, I gasp and jump.

11. I always drink out of a straw.

12. I am a people pleaser, and I find it hard to say no to people.

13. I hate going to the gym SO much, but I feel so good once I finally get there. If only I could remember that it would be a lot easier to go every night.

14. I love Glee, Modern Family, The Office, Grey’s Anatomy, and the time I have to watch awesome shows whenever I want.

15. I finished my Master’s in Education with a Literacy Emphasis in November. I still am in awe that I did it. I remember after my first semester of college my parents told me they were seriously expecting me to call and tell them to pick me up and bring me home. I don’t think anybody ever thought I would graduate college, let alone get a master’s. In your face world!

Random Update

I’ve been thinking of what to write for a long time now. I like to be creative and entertaining, but there’s just too much to catch up on, so this is going to be a long, random update. Enjoy!

Post Graduate School life has been great. I love all the time I have to do whatever I want. I’ve watched so many movies, got caught up on my TV shows, kept a clean apartment, became a better teacher, etc. However, now that I am not busy with school all the time, I am finding it harder to be social. This might not make sense, but I had graduate school as a cover-up for so long. It was a great excuse to keep me busy. I have such a hard time getting out of my comfort zone and meeting new people. But now that my closest friends have moved away or started spending all their time with their boyfriends, I am now forced to branch out. Today was good though, I met two new girls in my ward that seem normal. :) I am trying to make conversation with people and get to know more of the new people in my ward. Luckily, I got the calling of compassionate service leader. With this calling, we go on visits every other week to meet sisters in our ward. Like it or not, I am now forced to go out and talk to people. Ha, you might not have known it, but I am incredibly shy. This is a good experience for me... I guess.

Christmas was wonderful. It started with a best friend gift exchange.



Then, I went up to see my family for two weeks and had the best time. This time I spent a few days with each brother before coming back to my parents. It was great. I was able to spend time with everyone in a smaller, more personal setting and loved it. I took 10,386 pictures, but am only putting a few on here. The rest are all on facebook. I started out the holiday by helping put on a baby shower for my sister-in-law Nicole.


Then I headed to Olds to see Warren, Ave, Ally, and Grace. Averley convinced me to buy some skates. Ha. She didn’t really, but in my defense to my dad for spending so much money, it was her fault. :) I revisited my love for skating. I forgot how much I love it. I’ve been meaning to go since coming back to Idaho but just haven’t made the effort. That being said, I WILL go skating somewhere this week. Mark my words.



Next I went back to Ryan and Nicole’s. The highlight was definitely honing in my artistic abilities and helping paint the mural for Scooter’s nursery. We are so talented. Nicole finished it after Christmas, and I think it looks AMAZING! And of course, more skating happened. :)



The final stop was my parent’s house. Jordan, Cyd, and Gus met up with us there. Warren, Ave, and family came down, too. All in all, it was a wonderful vacation, and one that I was finally able to enjoy without worrying about school. The best gift of all...

January started off pretty depressing. I was not happy at all to be back in Idaho. I realized during Christmas that I really want to move back there and live closer to my family, despite the frigid cold weather. My BFF moved back to Canada, my roommate was staying with her family all the time, and my other besty starting dating her boyfriend seriously. That left me pretty alone. I had to resort to traveling to socialize. I went to Blackfoot, Pocatello, and Utah to visit friends of mine. It was awesome, and worth the trip, but I need to start making some more local friends. I realized I was having a hard time getting back into the swing of things. I decided to start seeing a therapist. She has been great at helping me sort out my feelings about Tyler and building back my self-confidence. I think it will be great to help me get back to my old self again. I’ve missed that girl. :)

I have my first student teacher this semester. She is AWESOME! I love everything about her. She is great with the kids, and takes direction really well. It is hard for me to step back. I want to tell her exactly how to do every little thing, but that’s not my job anymore. Now I am supposed to be out of the classroom, letting her be completely independent. It is so hard to not know exactly what is going on in MY classroom. But apparently it isn’t my classroom anymore, it’s our classroom. I am really glad I got her as a student teacher, though, and not the other one at our school. I think we mesh better together. She’s here until April 1st, and then I’ll only have about 6 weeks left of the school year. I can’t believe how quickly the end is coming. I can’t wait to finish and then leave Idaho for good, hopefully.

My parents bought a house in Mesa, Arizona, so I decided that I am going to apply for jobs there, and in Canada. I know Canada is my number one choice, but Arizona would be much better than Idaho. While my student teacher is here, I’m using that time to take a Canadian History class, in order to make sure I am completely certified to teach in Alberta. I hope that will help me get a job this year. We’ll see...

I saved the best news for last: Ryan and Nicole had their baby! She was over a week late, and after 53 hours of labor, Nicole delivered a sweet, baby girl - Sophie Andree Anne Van Orman. I am so excited to meet her! I am heading up next month for a visit, and can NOT wait!

There you have it – the lengthy, long awaited update. I plan on staying more on top of things now, so keep checking back. :)

giveaway

I'm doing a giveaway on my first grade blog. Check it out.



ps I promise I'll blog again soon. :)