The Stressful Life of a First-Year Teacher

Well, I officially start all my training meetings tomorrow, which means today was my last full day in my classroom to get things ready before I start school. Everything isn't completely done, but I'm definitely getting close. I have put so much time and work into my classroom and I hope it was all worth it. The teacher who was in the room before me decided she never wanted to teach again so she left everything she had, including all the files and papers and everything. Every filing cabinet and cupboard was pretty much full, so I've spent lots of hours sorting through all the stuff she left and weeding lots of it out--so the past few days haven't been as thrilling as when I first started putting things up on the walls. I hope you all like it--let me know what you think of my classroom or if you have any kind suggestions for me!

Here is my book-nook, recently named "Treasure Cove"
Here is the "Birthday Boat" which is still in progress.

Here is the Word Wall. Notice the sweet parrots I spent forever on. Sadly, there are no words on it yet.

Check out all the book shelves that are built into the room! Isn't that awesome?!

Here I am in front of the kids' cubbies, holding the coveted, real life treasure chest for good behavior! (Trust me, there's some good stuff in there!)

This is the bulletin board in the hallway which is still a work in progress. I'm still working on the words to go above the map and a big "X" marks the spot.

Hope you all like the pictures!

Aidan Dallin Sharp

I've had a request to publish a post about Justin and Jill (JD's sister and brother-in-law) and their recent experience going through the adoption process. The birth mother they have been working with had her baby on July 19th. Jill has been up there ever since. Justin has been back and forth for work, but spends his weekends up there at the hospital. Sharon (My mother-in-law) went up there to support Jill as Justin can't be there all the time. The birth mother has signed the Birth Certificate naming the little baby Aidan Dallin Sharp. He was 4 pounds and 6 ounces. Aidan has been in the NICU for the past week, but was released just in the past day. Now he doesn't have any more tubes in him, he is eating on his own just fine, and is just a healthy little baby! The doctors have said he will probably be released tomorrow (the 28th) but can't guarantee it just in case. Weight is the only thing keeping little Aidan in the hospital. As soon as they can weigh him in ounces instead of grams he will be released. The birth mother will be keeping him at her house for 24 hours I believe then all of them will head up to Salt Lake to sign the adoption papers. We are all praying and fasting for the birth mother, Jill and Justin, and also Aidan and hoping for the best. They appreciate all the prayers on their behalf, and we hope you can join us in praying for them. We hope to be able to see Aidan in person in Wednesday or Thursday, but that is best-case scenario. Things have been hard this past week for everyone involved and we are all so excited for this to all come to a close and have Aidan down here at home. Here are some pictures Justin and Jill have sent so I hope all of you enjoy them. Remember to keep all of them in their prayers during this emotionally challenging time! We love you Justin, Jill, and Aidan!

Here is Aidan when he was still in the NICU.
Here is Justin's hand compared to little Aidan!
Look how tiny!

Here is one of the only close-ups of AidanHere is the new mother-to-be Jill and the baby!

Beat the Heat!

What an adventure life is! We are back down in St. George again this week watching the kids. I have a bunch of pictures I promised to post, so bear with me. First of all, before we left Highland, I threw JD a surprise birthday party. We sure had fun! Thanks for all of you who came to support JD on his 24th birthday!

Check out the frosting balloons on this cake!!!
Isaiah and Aaron-Two of JD's best friends
Frog races with the kids. Kaden didn't quite understand apparently.
Frog races with the guys. Mark didn't understand apparently. (Just kidding!)
For JD's birthday, he got a new haircut and a basketball! :) He got some other things, but those were two of his favorites!

We had the chance to go up to the cabin with Dani and Jeremy and some of their friends. JD got to play the Wii all day and the girls went shopping in Park City.

Here is Kaden and his entertainment for the day. I thought I'd note also that I taught Kaden a "Hippopotamus" song which is so funny. He's really good at singing it, especially the "Hippopotamus" part.

We've been down here in St. George watching the kids while their mom is up north with Jill and Justin. It's been interesting being the make-shift parental units to 2 1/2 teenagers. They've been great though and we've been having fun down here in the heat.

For my Dad

I am frequently teased (especially by my Dad) for repeating the things I say quietly to myself again. I know it is a strange habit and I have no idea where it came from. I don't realize I do it until somebody calls me on it. So in honor of my dad and all the teasing, here is a poem I found that seems to fit just right. Hope you enjoy it, especially if you have noticed me doing this to myself.

"I Often Repeat Repeat Myself"
I often repeat repeat myself,
I often repeat repeat.
I don't I don't know why know why,
I simply know that I I I
am am inclined to say to say
a lot a lot this way this way--
I often repeat repeat myself,
I often repeat repeat.

I often repeat repeat myself,
I often repeat repeat.
My mom my mom gets mad gets mad,
it irritates my dad my dad,
it drives them up a tree tree tree,
that's why they tell they tell me me--
I often repeat repeat myself,
I often repeat repeat.

I often repeat repeat myself,
I often repeat repeat.
It gets me in a jam a jam,
but that's the way I am I am,
in fact I think it's neat it's neat
to to to to repeat repeat--
I often repeat repeat myself,
I often repeat repeat.

Author Unknown

1st Grade Here I Come!

Well, after a busy summer up in Highland, we are finally home. Well, sort-of. We came down to Cedar on Thursday for a short few minutes to unload some of the baggage (both trunk and backseat were packed to the brim!) Then we continued on our way to St. George where I met the other ladies I will teach with at my school. We quickly unloaded my school boxes from the trunk then I headed off to Vegas for a planning over-nighter. Although I talked my colleagues out of a hasty decision take me and go see Donny and Marie Osmond, we did have fun. I spent a whole lot of money and had a bunch of fun at Benihana's where we went for dinner, and our hotel was fabuloso. The next morning we got to go shopping at the "Education" stores in Vegas. I felt like I was on a shopping spree, and really had fun despite the vast amount of decisions I was required to make there on my own. We got to know each other on this trip and I think I will be lots more confident this year teaching because of it.

Well, after I returned home after the Vegas trip, my mom came down. I was so thankful that she could come help me because I would by lost without her. We got almost my whole classroom put together and she really helped me figure a lot of things out. My classroom is really on it's way! I love you Mom! Thank you so so much!

Well, we found out after we got down here that my Sister-in-law and her husband were up North because of adoption issues. Things were pretty rocky so my Mother-in-law went up North to support and help them. Well, that means we are the baby-sitters for a week. So we packed back up after not even one night by ourselves at our apartment and headed to St. George.

Now, here we sit with the wonderful Reimschiissel kids having an eventful week. Today Kaylee (my sister-in-law) got in the car to go to the dentist...and the car wouldn't start. We gave it a jump and it quickly died again. After another try...same thing. We missed the appointment and had to reschedule. We were so frustrated considering our battery got a "great condition" rating only three days ago from the dealership. **RIGHT!** Anyway, we got the car started finally and thankfully got it to AutoZone before it gave up. Turns out our battery was completely shot and so we spent another chunk of change on it after just getting a tune-up, check, and new brakes only three days ago. Yes! I love passing out money to auto-shops! Anyway, the day ended up being better after that. We eventually got to the dentist, and even got over to my school and worked some more. Kaylee and I got quite a bit done and had fun talking all day. We are down here for the rest of the week and I'm sure we'll run into some more adventures. Hopefully I'll figure out how to get some pictures on here soon while I'm in St. George to document our excursions!

Shhhh... It's a Surprise!

Hey Everyone, It's birthday time again! Well, JD is turning 24 on July 26th, but I wanted to have a fun birthday get-together for him before we head back down to Cedar City this weekend. We are having a surprise party for him on Tuesday the 15th at 7:00. We would love everyone to come--family, friends, cousins, all of you. It will be at my parent's house where we are staying at 5251 W. Castle Pine Way in Highland, UT. If you come up Alpine Highway, turn into the Country Club subdivision, and it is an immediate left, at the end of the street. I want to make this a great turnout for JD so please come if you can. JD will be arriving between 7:15 and 7:30 so please be on-time so we can all surprise him. We will have refreshments and cake--all the birthday goodies. Remember, this is a surprise, so don't say anything to him and I'll hope that he doesn't read his own blog! :) Hope to see you all there!

We Thank Thee, O God for a Prophet

Well, Today was a wonderful day. JD and my Mom and I all wanted to go to Music and the Spoken Word while we were up for the summer. We were on-time, until we had some parking and location dilemmas so we ended up getting there a little later than expected. The back was pretty full so we tried walking down to the front for seats. We were able to walk clear down almost to the front-on the 6th row. The program started then during the first song, President Monson and his wife walked in. I was surprised at how emotional I suddenly became, even just being close enough to the prophet to see his face and smile. I felt so happy and grateful just to be a part of this church, and to have a testimony of the living prophet, Christ, and the gospel. It is such a blessing to have them in my life, especially being able to go to the temple with JD and seal our family together forever. To our surprise, President Monson and his wife came and sat on the front row-only 5 rows away from us! I was almost in shock. I've never been that close to a prophet before, and was just overwhelmed to have that opportunity. We just watched him for the first few songs. It was so neat! After the program finished, we walked up to the front of the conference center. They didn't let people go past the front row, but we stood just a few feet from him and watched as he talked with his family. We saw him perform his famous "ear wiggle" and high five a little kid, too. What a blessing to have a living prophet lead us in the church and to be able to live in an area where we get the opportunity to see him on a regular basis. I want everyone to know of the strong testimony I have of this church-I love it and am grateful to be a part of it.

Summer Fun!

We've been up here in Highland for awhile now, and we've been busy. Baseball games, birthdays, fireworks, work, classes, holidays, and family have been keeping us going day after day. Here is a random splatter of pictures from our summer of fun in Highland.

JD and I had some fun with shaving cream before we left Cedar City last weekend. He started it.

This is the night we went to the 3-D fireworks in West-Valley City. How do they make already 3-dimensional fireworks "3-D"? Good question. But the glasses were pretty sweet, and and the fireworks were quite a bit more intense. We're hangin' on to those puppies.

One night I came outside of the cabin and found JD and Rhett both lounging on hard benches in front of the fire. I thought it was rather humorous.
What an eventful Fathers Day! JD was pooped after a long day not feeling so well. We went up to my grandma and grandpa's house to celebrate, and when I came inside the house, I found two of the "fathers" for whom we were celebrating asleep on the couch! Oh boy.
Fun at the Bee's Game in Salt Lake with Evelyn. Blurry picture, but (trust me) the best one out of the other crazies that we took.
This is a rather common occurrence when JD usually studies for at least 8 hours a day. It makes for a good night's rest--even in the middle of the day!

Camping with the Reimschissels

This past 4th of July weekend we headed down to Cedar City to go camping. We went up the canyon near Cedar Breaks. While there, we camped, couldn't find the tent poles, built a fort, witnessed a romance, played horseshoes, went on a .2 mile hike to see a 4500 year old tree, watched fireworks at Brianhead, and went to the hospital for a tetanus shot (okay that was Mark). Here are the pictures to document our stories.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Oh boy-how lame am I? Oh Well, I am officially 22 now. Hoorah! For my birthday, I went to my class, then went to lunch with my mom, Danielle, my Grandma, and my aunts and cousins. How fun! I even got a cute little chocolate shake for my birthday. I later came home to some lovely balloons. Does anyone else love balloons? I sure do--they just brighten my day. JD and I drove up the canyon and went to Cascade Springs. It was so nice to get away for a bit and walk around. It was so pretty up there! We saw some puny fish and took a few self-portraits. What a great little mini-vacation. I had a fantastic birthday--I'll post a few pictures of our fun.

Elder Reiber

Well, Spencer is on a mission right now in Maryland, and loving it. Every week he tells us how much he is loving sharing the gospel, and how much fun he is having, too. We are so grateful that he went on a mission, setting such a great example for Rhett and other young men he knows. We think about and pray for Spence all the time, and this is just one example. Awhile ago we were up in Park City getting lunch, and I saw this restaurant. I just had to take a picture and show him. So if you are reading this Spence, I hope you enjoy this. This especially reminded me of him becauase he has been sending pictures home of him cooking ribs with a local member. We love you Spencer, and hope you're doing well and working hard!