MOAB

This weekend, our neighbors, Wade and Justin, organized such a great trip to Moab. It was filled with tons of "firsts."
It was my first trip with these ladies.
It was the first time I rented a bike.
It was the first time I slept in a 4 man tent with 7 girls. (Just for the record, Jenny and I had a great idea. We took Annie's blow-up mattress and put it in the back of Wades truck so we could sleep on it and have room to move. Well, as you know, the beds of trucks have the little seats that cover the wheels. So we let out the air so we could squish it down around it. This caused us to roll in toward the center and we were ultra close--but it was SOOOO much better! So here it is, the first time I slept under the stars.
First time I climbed a steep rock wall (ok...that's a lie. Didn't climb this.)
First time riding/falling off of a bike in the wilderness.
First time I rode a bike with 20 other ward members up a mountain.
First time getting sunburned this year...
First time falling off a cliff...
First time pulling someone else off a cliff...
First time meeting an adorable little French couple (were they a couple? Who knows?) on a cliff.
First time seeing (sort of) Delicate Arch...
First time hiking it with 30 others in pitch darkness...
First time watching the stars under the arch...
First time sleeping in a mummy bag (thanks Annie) on a blow up mattress (thanks Annie) in the back of a truck (thanks Wade) near obnoxious neighbors (thanks drunk people).

What a great trip!

Quotable Quotes

Student sings "Bad boys, bad boys, whattcha gon' do, whattcha gon' do when they come for you..."

The following is this students little "stream of consciousness":

--Man, I used to love watching that show. I'd sit with my mom and watch it and think that I was just going to be the best cop in the world. sings Bad boys, bad boys, whattcha gon' do...
--Wait! Oh my gosh! I used to sit talking about how I'd be a cop chasin' people, then I turned into the one bein' chased?! How'd that happen? I'd be the one seeing the cops 2-3 times a week. How'd that happen?
--Man! I should've run. I always just went up to them with my hands together for the hand cuffs. That was dumb.
--sings. Bad boys, bad boys, whattcha gon' do?...

This would've been a great time for me to teach an inspirational lesson...but we were all laughing too hard.

Then, this kid came into my next period. He was trying to send an email to the penpal I gave him in Germany but he said it wouldn't work, he just got a red box that said he couldn't send it. I figured he just typed something in the "CC" box. I assigned this girl to go help him (my student can't read or write past a kindergarten level). So he comes back into the room and I asked how it went. He said, "(Insert female name here), just told me to write the letters H-E-Y in the box." Trying not to smile I said, "oh perfect! I'm glad she was able to help you with that." We exchanged smiles (and eventually laughs) when we realized he couldn't send it because nothing was in the subject box and even more so that the letters "H-E-Y" spelled "Hey" and he didn't realize that.

I love my job.

In the Life of a 9th Grade Teacher

This is pretty much how my 4th period went today:

Starter question:
Create a mnemonic device for the European countries that border Russia (Estonia, Latvia,Belarus, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey).

They came up with the mnemonic "I'll-stone-ya Later by-the-roof (in the) Cranium If-you-remain Bulgarizing Turkey's." (Estonia, Latvia,Belarus, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey)

I made them say the contries names over and over as I pointed to them. Then one of my students said, "I'm going on strike!" jokingly. I slipped back, "I'll strike you!" Whoops. It was hilarious.

Then, I pointed to Moldova and pulled the whole SNL teacher skit. "What country is this? Mmmmmmoooo...." They yelled, Macedonia, Montenegro, Montague!" I replied, "Montague?! This is not Romeo and Juliet..."

Haha ok. Moving on.

I asked, "Raise your hand if enjoy learning about the Holocaust." Well I raised my hand to model that I wanted them to raise their hands, but apparently it was a little firm because the girl in the front row said, "Do you enjoy learning about the Holocaust, Miss Anderson?" I looked at them confused. Then about 7 of them "mirrored" my out stretched arm. So basically, I suddenly saw all these "Heil Hitler" responses coming from my students and then recognized that I myself had been doing the Nazi salute. Another student said, "She does have blonde hair and blue eyes." I replied, "Actually, they are green, but you have blonde hair and blue eyes. Hmmmm..." haha. Whoops.

Only 10 more wake-ups. Can't believe it.

Red Dirt

When I was young, I wanted a tree house. It seemed like all the trees in our 3 acre yard were ridiculously tall, old trees, or very young, weak trees. My tree house dream seemed as if it would never become a reality. Well, I decided to do what any driven, imaginative child would do. I had a master plan. I would dig a hole in the ground. That's it. Dig a hole, large enough to be an "underground tree house" (well, minus the tree of course. And minus the house, too...). I set out to work. I employed everyone I knew to help me. My two best friends, R and S helped me daily. I'm sure I forced my brother to help as well.

We dug for months. Eventually, I kid you not, we had a huge rectangular hole. It was about 5 feet long by 4 feet wide and probably 4 feet deep. I kid you not. We dug, day after day in the solid Georgia clay as mosquitos and gnats flew about, birds chirped, and the pine needles fell. Season after season, we continued. My brilliant plan was to stack a foot or so of left over bricks from the house (cemented with mud--and yes, for some reason I thought mud would be a forever lasting mortar) and then easily lay a piece of plywood over the top, with a door cut into it, of course.

Why am I thinking of this at 1:17 AM on a school night? I have no clue. I guess I can learn many lessons from this childhood project.

#1--I would give almost anything to move back to those times. I loved that little city--the culture, the community, the weather. I love the South.

#2--I guess this is a reminder of how there are always more options. When a tree isn't available, the thick Georgia clay worked. I feel like I am making 42 decisions in my life right now. I'm not sure which one is right--but odds are, they will all work out perfectly.

#3--Some things are ok to leave unfinished. I never put the final piece of wood on the top of my "tree house." We sold the house (all the while, I'm certain that my mom thought it would be a sore spot and made me cover up the "grave" with pine straw) and left. I didn't see the finished product, but I learned a lot in the journey (not to mention I probably ruined TONS of T-shirts with the clay and burned tons of daylight). I wonder what things in my life I can just leave "unfinished" and move on to bigger and better things.

#4--I need to go to bed, so that is all. :) How's that for an abrupt finish of spewing my thoughts...?

Weekend Events

A few weeks ago, we bought season passes to some SLC attractions. I haven't used my pass until this weekend. We went to the Utah Blaze game. It was great! (Ok--well I was seriously STARVING the whole time so it took forever... but it was a fun experience).

Wade kicking field goals. Yep--you heard it, my friend was on the field kicking field goals. Pretty sweet. And, yes, we were this far away. Haha...
This is the group. Shad, Marge, Justin, Jenny, Ryan, Wade, and Jeff.
Afterwards, we ate at an adorable little waffle shop downtown. Yum :) We got waffles and fries and the guys got something called "the machine gun." You're creative. You can probably figure out why...
Our table :)
Don't forget Petunia the pig. Apparently it's a piggie bank for some museum. I put in a whole dime (thank you Jeff for the dime).
Then Jeff took us to the most random place I've seen in all my life. It's called Gilgal Gardens. Some artist displays his beliefs through religious art. I don't really get it but it was kind of cool (and moderately creepy at night...). Look closely. Yes--you see it. That is Joseph Smith's head on the Sphinx. I don't get it either...
This is a fuzzy picture, but it looks like Voldemort. There are all these scriptures around the place...
Today, after church, Ryan (and others) cooked us a gourmet meal! I love Sundays.
Marge, Tavin, Me, and Jenny

That's all for the eventful weekend. We're currently watching The Other Side of Heaven. Two and a half weeks of school left! I can hardly believe it! Summer--here I come!

FNL

The recent obsession of our apartment has been what we prefer to call, "FNL." Kristen introduced us to the show "Friday Night Lights" and there has been no turning back. We have loved it. We laugh, we cry (a lot), we gasp, we just love it.

Mainly, it's over dramatized high school. It includes the South, God, football, high school. How can you go wrong? There is no way.

Mostly, I have loved watching the relationship between Coach Taylor and Tammy, his wife. They are the perfect example of marriage. Sure they have problems, but they are so good to each other and just adorable. I love watching their relationship. Just goes to show, that everything turns out ok when based on a solid marriage. Oh, and there are definitely a ton of problems--murder, pregnancy, drugs, religion, custody issues, drunkards, siblings, relationships. Good stuff. I just love Coach and Tammy :) You will too.

Love it...

Quotable Quotes

I just told a class about the ship that had 600 people aboard that just sunk in Libya. One of my students just said, in all seriousness.

"Do you know what Africa should do? They should just get a big saw and saw off Libya. Then everyone will just stand on the other borders and push it into the ocean. Think that could happen?"

PS--these people can start driving soon.