Back to School!

So I have been back in Flagstaff for 3 weeks now and it has been great! I am enjoying the cool weather and being back in the trees! I am loving living in my new apartment! I have amazing roommates! We are always laughing and having a good time!

This past week was my first week of school. It is going to be a busy and crazy semester. I am taking 19 credits this semester! In my program this semester we are focusing on special education. All my classes are on special education. My placement for the first nine weeks is in a high school English resource room. I am looking forward to my placement but at the same time I am not. Because of how the class is run. It will be interesting and I know I will learn from the experience.

Some of things I have been up to in the past weeks are... I went to Lake Powell with friends for an Institute day activity which was amazing and it was super windy so we all ate a lot of sand. Arianna and I made a weekend trip up to Flag for a little vaca before school. All kinds of adventures in Flagstaff. And this weekend I made a mini trip to the valley to go to Calli and Richard Gurr's wedding reception. It was very pretty! Calli looked gorgeous! And it was awesome to see that Forrest is home too! Trying to refinish a dresser. So I have been busy and loving life!

The last few weeks have been a blast for me! I have had so much fun with good friends!

I went to Eagar for 3 days for my best friend Levi's farewell. Kristine and I drove up on Saturday and came back on Monday. Driving with her was so much fun and we were laughing so hard the entire weekend! On Saturday night Kristine, Levi, and I (we are the best trio ever) climbed Eagar's water tower and it was such a pretty sight. Loved it! Then Sunday we went to church and Levi gave such an amazing talk, the spirit was so strong. Then we saw everyone else and hung out with Levi's family the rest of the day. It was such a fun weekend! I am going to miss him so much! But he is going to be an awesome missionary in Ogden speaking Spanish!

Everyone who went. Kristine, Me, Alex, Kelsey, Levi, Liesel, Rhonda, Marquerita, and Tiffany.

Then two weekends ago Arianna and I went to the Keith Urban concert! Her dad gave her tickets for her 2oth birthday, so we went out and celebrated the occasion!

We had awesome seats!

I know we are pretty dang cute!

With our Keith shirts on!

During two parts of the show Keith came out into the audience. The first time he was right in front of our section! It was pretty sweet!

Love him!

Awesome light up guitar!

Just hanging with our man!

Our cute boots!

It was so much fun going to the concert and celebrating Arianna's birthday! I love hanging out with that girl! We have had some great times lately!

Summer Update!

So it is summer time and I both love and hate it! I love having more free time and being able to sleep in. I have gotten to see several of my friends who are still in the valley. And that has been a blast!! But I HATE the heat!

My family went on our family vacation a few weeks ago to a cabin in Greer, AZ. It was so much fun to be back in the trees and cool weather. We went for a whole week. We had tons of fun in the mountains relaxing! Also, I loved the thunderstorms we had!

Also, on Monday I had a double endoscopy procedure preformed. Which is when they stick a tube down your throat to look at your stomach and then a colonoscopy which looks at your large intestine. I was pretty scared to get that done but I got a sweet note and bear from one of my best friends, Arianna wishing me luck. The process was not fun at all! I was the youngest person there by like 40 years which was weird! But I did it. They took some biopsies to test and the results came back with nothing. So I still don't know what is making me sick. I have been doing pretty well but I still have days where I am sick.

So not much is going on in my life but still loving it! Just hanging out with my besties, going to the movies, and going swimming so I am not so white and thats about it! I am starting to get ready to go back to Flag to start the fall semester, which is exciting cause I miss the mountains and trees!

Craziness!! Beware: Super Long!

So life was keeping me super busy for awhile! I felt like I didn't even have time to breathe. I have been learning a lot from school and have gained so much! I got a new placement after spring break, and I just got done with it. I was in a first grade SEI (Structured English Immersion) class. There were 14 students, 8 boys and 6 girls. These kids kept me super busy but I will miss them tons. They were such cuties!

So starting in the front: Laying down is Fidel (genius). Then Bryan (comedian), Emily, Samantha, Jesus (sweetheart, said the funniest things, one of my favorites), Osbaldo (wanna be gangster but sweetie), and Alex (cutie). Next row is Vanessa (fashion girl), Marissa, Ms. Uthe, Kevin, Victor, Jenifer (super quiet), Evelyn (loved to test me but then was a sweetie), Me, and Eric (comic and sweetheart). The personalities they have in 1st grade are hilarious!

Silly Pic!

School definitely had a lot of ups and downs for me this semester. I wanted to give up so bad at times but I am glad that I am still going to be in the PRAXIS program. 19 credits was a lot. But I feel more prepared to have my own class someday soon! I learned about dealing with angry parents. 3 weeks before spring break I got pulled from my placement in 3rd grade without any warning. I had a really horrible and bad day the day before and then I walked in that Tuesday morning and told I had a new placement. I never saw it coming and all I was told was that a certain parent had a problem with me. It was really hard and later found out that the parent thought I was too authoritative as a teacher. She said either I would be moved or she would pull her daughter from the school the next day. The 3rd grade teacher and my director told me that she was just one of the parents and that I was doing great. It was still very hard but then I was put into a special ed room that did reading for grades K-3. The teacher was amazing and it was a good opportunity. I know now that it was supposed to happen even if it was difficult at the time. I learned how to handle differences and situations with professors and being professional. I am looking forward to next semester and being in a special education class placement.

To make a long story short in the last few weeks of school, I also had a sharp pain on my left side (Appendix is on right). So that made things harder. I went to several doctors, had tests done and they thought that several things were wrong but none of the things were it. They gave me pain medicine that knocked me out, which made doing homework hard. So yeah my side still is bothering me...I have to make some appointments to see if we can figure out why my side is hurting. But I am doing okay not to worry!

I moved into a new apartment as well. I am excited for the girls I am going to live with but sad to move out of my old apartment. If everything keeps on track I only have a year left at NAU until I student teach. Which I am very excited about!

Since it has been forever since I posted here are some pictures from the semester! I love these people in the pictures, they make my life so much fun!

Dance party on snowbowl! Alex, Me, Kristine

Megan & Denver Finch Wedding in Eager

Making wishes, with Pennies in Eager! Me, Alex, Liesel, & Levi

Easter Pageant!

Melissa and I ice skating! Melissa is going to be my neighbor and is my ward & is my bestie in my ed program!

Ward outing to Grand Falls!

Chilling in the sun after hiking to and from the falls!

It was cold at our dance party!

Shooting! Lets just say I showed up some of the boys! Haha!

Thats just a sampling of some of the things that went on!

Oh and Derek graduated from high school!

When it Rains it Pours...

So it has been a couple weeks since I have posted so I thought that I should let you know what I have been up to. I am love being in my 3rd grade class. They all are super cute! They have such fun personalities and humor! They say some of the funniest and outrageous things ever! I love it so much! School is definitely keeping me super busy and on my toes!

Well last Friday I had to go to the er for a couple hours. We got there around 10:30 pm and were there till 1:30 am. What happened was I was trying get something open and out of a box with a pocket knife. I was doing good until the last zip tie thing when the pocket knife slipped and found my fingers. I hit my middle finger, ring finger, and pinky (but only a scratch on that one). My middle finger had a cut and it split my nail some of the way down. But a band aid could fix that one. Then my ring finger had a deep cut across the pad of my finger so I got five stitches. Yeah so that was fun! But it is looking pretty good now and almost completely healed now! I can get the stitches out Tuesday!

On top of cutting my finger I am sick! Luckily its nothing horrible but it still sucks! I have a sore throat and cough! But everything is going great! I am loving life!

Oh What a Week!

Oh what a week it has been! I started school on Monday, which was really exciting cause I am finally in the college of ed for real! So I started the Praxis partnership which is a program the university has. We have to take 19 credits this semester! I know its a lot! To explain what Praxis is, it is basically a program where NAU students are in an elementary school classroom several days a week. We even have are college classes on the elementary school campus! It's purpose is to get us ready for student teaching early and gives us TONS of practice!

Everything we do has a point and is teaching us something. I mean EVERYTHING said and done is an example of what we should and shouldn't do in our future classrooms. Its a little tedious but it is so worth it. The thing I am struggling with most right now is addressing groups or the class as boys and girls or students instead of "guys". My teachers are pretty hard core about not saying hey guys to everyone. It is something that is hard to change but I am starting to change the habit. Also my school week has been exhausting! First off I am not a morning person at all! So having to get up at 6 am is awful and then we get out by 3:30 and then have I have to homework and everything else. I have had a hard time getting to bed early but managed to one night. A couple of nights after waking up it felt like I never had fallen asleep! Which really stunk! But I did get to take a nap today and it was heavenly!

The most important and exciting day was Wednesday because that was when we got our grade level assignments. We have a partner with us in our class. and my partner and I got assigned to a class of third graders! I am so thrilled! We got there and the teacher didn't come that day so the principal started teaching than we had another teacher come in who worked part time in one of the kindergarten classrooms teach the rest of the time. So things were a little chaotic. It was awesome helping the students with their work and talking to them about different things. And the best part was that I got two hugs when I left and they were going to recess. I love it so much! I can't wait till Tuesday when I get to go back!

The Dreaded New Year Resolutions!

All I have heard about the past two weeks is new years resolutions! So I came to the conclusion that I should probably make some goals for myself. It has taken me several days to decide on what I wanted to work on most this year. Some of my goals come from goals I made during the last semester that I want to continue to working on! Some things aren't that goaly! (Made it up! Sorry couldn't think of another word)

Here we go in no real order!

• Read my scriptures each day
• Be early to meetings, classes, and etc. I am going to try to be at least 10 minutes early to everything!
• Do at least two acts of service each day
• Be more grateful
• Be kind and a friend to everyone!
• Remember each day that I am a daughter of God
• Be a member missionary! To share the joy the gospel brings into my life with others!

So yeah those are the things that i want to work on throughout the year! Nothing fancy but things that I think will make me a better person!

Home for Christmas!

I am now home from NAU for just under a month! I am so excited and thankful! I left Friday morning at 8 (which is pretty early for me!) so I could make my hair appointment here in the valley! And I am so glad because it has been snowing ever since! There is so much snow right now! I am so glad that I am not driving in it! Also, I am done with finals! And I got into a program in the college of ed that I didn't think I was going to get into! WooHoo!! It is going to keep me really busy though! 19 credits! Its going to be a lot of work.

I am way excited that it is Christmas! It is my favorite time of the year! I have yet to make it to the Mesa temple to see the Christmas lights though. I am planning on going sometime this week! Merry Christmas!

So there's a combo of pics! We got matching pj pants from Santa (Tim & Me but the others didn't know that at first till the next day! Haha!) So we put them on and took roomie pictures! We were crazy about them! You can see that our REAL christmas tree is in the back. We decorated it ourselves! I was stoked to decorate our apartment for Christmas! We have a wreath, garland, a tree, and lights up. It looks amazing.

Also we did a secret santa gift exchange! It was a blast! And I got another airsoft gun and target to shoot! I was so excited when I opened it!

It has been so cold lately and it snowed on Monday night but only a little! The peaks look so pretty with the snow on top! And I am now done with finals, so the fun can begin!!

Give Thanks!

So as neighbors we had thanksgiving dinner on the Sunday before Thanksgiving! It was so yummy!

Lets just say we had SOO MUCH food! It was so good!

Almost everyone!

Kristine and me!

Formal!

So a few weeks ago, we had the IWA formal which is like a sorority at the Institue! It was a blast! Here are a few pictures from that night!

The Wizard of Oz!

Roomate Love!

The whole wizard of oz gang! The tin woman, the lion, dorthy, the scare crow, and the lolliop guild!

Rhonda and Me!

A few of us with Charlie's Angels!

So a few weeks ago my friends Arianna, Calli, and Anna came to visit me in Flag! It was such a blast! Here are some fun pics from our weekend!

So Timothie, Kristine, and I went up to Salt Lake for General Conference a few weeks ago. It was such an awesome experience, I loved it! I want to go again!

Timothie and Me!

The Salt Lake Temple! One of my favorites!

So we went to the Sunday morning. There was so many people!

WE found snow! And yes I was wearing flip flops! It was cold! But we found this snowman! And it was Oct. 5

Me, Timothie, and Kristine with the snowman!