last days of summer fun

as you may have gathered, i have had a pretty uneventful yet stressful summer.

okay, i actually have been able to do some fun things.

like surprise erin for her graduation

run a marathon

camp at zion's and hike the subway

spend time with family and friends at katie's river house

and now...home again for a family staycation.

dad took the week off. katie and i drove home monday night.

i had my first soda since my junior year of high school. can you believe that?

i got a mt dew to keep me awake. not having one for 5 years caused that carbonation to burn down my throat. and then my tummy wasn't too happy. and i haven't had caffeine in, well, just as long [okay, minus the natural caffeine in apples or chocolate, which i rarely have as well].

so basically i was awake. and katie red bull-ed it up and we were good to go.

yesterday we had family beach day.

i can't even remember the last time our whole family went to the beach. maybe when i was in elementary school?

we parked down by erin's apartment {1/10 of a mile from the beach. nice.}

and we stayed for about 3 hours.

then we got frozen yogurt after. yum! [actually, yo yum yum--that's where we went.]

and i start 2nd grade in 2 weeks from yesterday!!!

the sunday late night post, 36th ed.

james danger had a play date with max (claire's turtle) tonight.

it was absolutely hilarious!

they were hiding in their shells.

i'll put a video on next time i hook up the camera.

katie's sister sent us these shirts a little bit ago.

"i'm not short i'm fun size!"

it's the truth!

sooooo good.

SLAB pizza.

big slices on thin crust pizza.

i just reallllly wish they will put a whole wheat crust on the menu. they are adding a gluten-free one in the fall.

check it.

go.

it is so so good.

a friend took me there thursday and then i took katie friday.

and i walked in and said, "i'm back!!"

the owners work it and they are so friendly!

hope your sabbath was as fabulous as mine!!

Meet James Danger

meet my new friend

JAMES DANGER

the story?

i wanted a class pet.

first i thought a fish: easy.

then i thought a hermit crab.

then my friend suggested a turtle.

DONE.

so i searched on ksl and found a turtle + tank + filter + heater lamp all for $40.

not too shabby.

so katie and i drove to west valley (which is right before downtown salt lake city) and picked him up today.

oh wait, the guy didn't give very clear directions. so we drove around for 50 minutes trying to find it. thanks for the empty tank of gas.

oh, the turtle came with 2 goldfish.

fin-tastic!

we loaded everything up and were on our way.

katie had her hand on the goldfish and the other hand holding the bucket (with holes in the bottom) with mr. turtle.

he wasn't too happy and after about 15 minutes on the freeway (mind you, this was a 45 minute drive) he decided to leak on katie. sorry, girl. i felt so bad. but if anyone can handle it, it's katie. love her.

we stopped at kiwanis park in the neighborhood next to our apartment for a quick play and photo shoot.

turtle, not a frog.

{darn!}

can't you picture me, Miss Kendrick, saying, "Class, meet James Danger." yeah, i look like i'm about 17 in that picture!

i tried, but no prince charming.

hot glue gun + heavy duty stapler + duck tape + magnets + velcro = my classroom

Dear world,

I am sorry you are sick today.

Love, Heidi

okay, so i wrote something to that affect in my diary when i was like 6. cute, i know. it was raining, and i thought the world was sick. well, it is raining today. and there's some pretty gnarley lightning going on out there with occasional crashes of thunder.

so my day today.

woke up. ran. decided to switch my route half way through and took an unexpected detour. i only knew where i was going because i could see the Angel Moroni on the Provo Temple. the temple will always lead you to the right place.

continuing. i left around 9.30am. went to the district office, laminated some things, ran to Walmart for some supplies, and got to my school about 11am.

and i worked, and worked, and worked, and worked.

then katie came to put up my reading corner that she so graciously volunteered to make. love her. and love it.

then i went to walmart again for more hot glue and magnets and got a wendy's berry summer salad and plain baked potato. i was gone a total of 37 minutes--i'm fast (no, i did not get a ticket. probably should have.). then i turned on the tv since i had been listening to music for the past 7 hours while working. and the Lord loves me--seinfeld just so happened to be on the channel the tv turned onto. so i watched it for 15 minutes while i ate.

then back to work.

then i left at 8.55pm before the alarm reset for the night. last one out--won't be making a habit of that.

then i got gas.

then i got home.

and now i need to make my job chart so i can put it up before 9.30am.

AND I AM TIRED!

here are some pictures of my classroom!

comprehension and fluency.

and a crab.

the blank spot to the left will have my job chart

"a sea of helpers".

and i'm not quite sure will go to the left of that.

long vowel sounds.

6 traits of writing.

forgot to make a sign that says "6 traits of writing".

will be done in 5 minutes.

a whale of a tale!!

writer's workshop station.

stages of writing and underneath is a bunch of writing helper things. like green light, red light: underline your capital letter at the beginning of the sentence in green and circle the period at the end in red. yeah, i love 2nd grade.

oh and there are all of the parts of speech! well, the ones we will be learning.

and my schedule is on the left of the chalkboard. and my voice light.

calendar! you saw that already.

and 100's chart! that flips over from the back so i can write on the easel, too.

genius, heidi. genius.

annnnnd our carpet area.

"make a splash with math"

and the cute reading corner katie made!!!

catch the reading wave.

LOVE it.

and i looooooooove love love maps.

so i put one up, even though we won't be using until march-ish.

and it's right next to the sink at their level so they can go and stare at it, like me. and they'll start learning about the world!

and a little video of the stuff i didn't take pictures of. enjoy!!

angels & tender mercies

two things to share. some good news, then some really good news.

first, the good news.

i worked so hard in my classroom yesterday.

don't worry, the swamp cooler in my room was turned off because it was absolutely unbearable and humid. and the humidity caused some mold to develop on the floor and the desks to leave little rust marks on the carpet. why don't schools get more money!? (ahem, and teachers too.)

here are two of the things i accomplished yesterday:

calendar!

includes: weather, birthdays, straw count (for the days of school), and the days of the week.

will also incorporate patterns and time and money as we learn about them.

check-in!

the back of that fishbowl has magnets on it. then i made a bunch of little goldfish that will have each students name on it. and there are magnets on the back. and when they get to school, they find their fish and slap it in the fishbowl. awww, so cute.

my classroom will be COMPLETELY done tomorrow. thank goodness. right now it looks like a tornado hit it.

and now, for the really good news.

i got b's on my first 2 stats exams. and i was totally fine with that. given my stats history/situation, i just want to pass it and be done with it. i was pretty sure i was going to get a c on exam 3. and that worried me because i will probably do the same on the final (which i am taking monday at 1 and then jetting home! thank you nice professors that let us take things early so we can go to the beach). and then i just had this horrible feeling that i wouldn't get a c. and i don't want a c anyway. by "i just want to pass and be done with it" i mean, "i want to pass but i want to pass with a b (since i'm obviously not working for the a)." alright, enough of this. I GOT 100%! whaaaat!? yeah. i saw that screen and called gabe immediately. he has been tutoring me. and last night he studied with me for a little bit but i had been going since 7 am and my brain was not on. and i thought i'd get a c. and i didn't really feel like i knew the material. okay please ignore my long-windedness.

two things come to mind:

1. The Tender Mercies of the Lord, Elder Bednar (here)

2. The Ministry of Angels, Elder Holland (here)

3. O Remember, Remember, President Erying (here)

The Lord has truly blessed me. Lately I have been stressed, tired, overwhelmed, and feel like nothing is getting done. I have been the recipient of much service and haven't been able to give any (which is also stressing me out). But the Lord has blessed me tremendously. He has put all of these angels, my friends, in my path that have been helping me and tutoring me and talking with me and praying for me and more. He has blessed me with many tender mercies--those little miracles--day after day. I am reminded of President Erying's talk (O Remember, Remember)--it's a favorite of mine. He urges us to remember and recognize God's question. Ask yourself the question: How have I seen the hand of God blessing me today? As he promises, doing this and writing the thoughts and feelings and impressions, my testimony has grown--of the Savior and His Atonement. And I too have become "more certain that our Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers." He certainly has been answering mine.

"I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."

D&C 84:88

the sunday morning post, 35th ed: ADDENDUM

i forgot to give these two additional highlights:

1. i had my first ever mcflurry last night.

i know. mcdonalds. it was good. probably won't have another for like 3 years.

2. i've gone country.

i never hated country music.

i just didn't have any and like other stuff better so that's what i listened to.

katie loves it. but we never listened to it on road trips because we listen to things we can sing to, which we do pretty much the whole way unless we are deep in conversation which is also quite often, and since i didn't know any i couldn't sing to any and so we never listened to it.

and then i moved in with corrie, lyndi, and alissa.

also country lovers.

and it was growing on me.

and i thought: i need to get me some country from them.

and then i moved.

in with katie.

and we listen to it.

and then my friend put a ton of music on my ipod for our road trip to the river.

and a lot of it was country.

and we listened to it a lot.

and now i know a lot.

and can sing along.

and i've been listening to country all week long.

well, i mix it up still, but a majority of my music selection this week was country.

so please, share your favorites so i can add them.

yeee-haw!

the sunday morning post, 35th ed

play by play of my fabulous week.

well, not so much a play by play.

more like highlights

tuesday i made an impromptu stop at temple square and was able to sit and think and pray and reflect and talk to my sister missionary friend erin and i met at general conference. it was much needed.

i had new teacher induction this week. i got so many ideas! and i feel like this will all be possible! and i got soooo pumped!! can you believe i will be teaching 2nd grade in less than a month!?!?

katie painted our apartment! i didn't even help since i was gone from 8am-8pm tuesday and thursday and wednesday we went to the temple. it's lighter than we thought and now we need to paint our brick red wall in the kitchen a chocolate brown. the color we picked out matched everything, was a little darker, and very classy. alas, our landlady did this picking and it's lighter and doesn't match the red. don't worry, it only took her a month and a half to pick that color. breathe: in, out. it's not we wanted, but it looks really good, and we like it. and we'll love it when that wall is chocolate brown. pictures soon.

the provo temple is open again! it was closed for a month and unfortunately i only made it to the mt. timpanogos temple once during that time. back to weekly visits. i am so blessed to have a temple 2 minutes away that i can go to as early as 5.30 am and as late as 10pm.

so katie and i went wednesday night. much needed. much enjoyed. always so good.

golden spoon is now open in orem, utah. hallelujah!!

i announced to the store that it was the best day of my life. that may be a little dramatic, but i was so happy

and here's proof:

please just ignore my crazy bangs, i'm-trying-so-hard-not-to-laugh-and-people-are-looking-at-me-like-i'm-crazy-taking-a-picture-of-me-eating-ice-cream face, and my huge thing of gs--it's been a year since i've had it!

and i worked so hard on classroom things on saturday. ran some classroom errands. and decided to make pizza for katie and i. YUM! [except, no one has whole wheat pizza dough here. boooo. so i had to use the white. buuut. when i go home in 8 days, i am going to purchase a bunch of trader joes whole wheat pizza crusts. or i'll probably just make my own next time with my mom's home ground whole wheat flour. you go momma.]

and now it is sunday. the sabbath. my favorite day of the week!!

i love sundays.