Elementary School Memories

As many of you know, I am getting my degree in Elementary Education. In just a few short weeks, I will start one of the biggest adventures of my life - student teaching. When I get into the classroom, I want to be a really, really good teacher. But in order to do that, I'm going to need a little bit of help. This is where you come in.

I was wondering if you'd take a minute to tell me some of your favorite things about elementary school, or school in general. 

(Pretty, pretty please with sugar on top?)

In case you need a few ideas, you could tell me:

• Who was your favorite teacher, and why?
• What were some of the most fun assignments, activities, and projects that you did?
• Did you go on any awesome field trips?
• What things about elementary school were the most memorable?
• What systems did your teachers use to manage classroom behavior? Did they work?
• Were there any things about school or your teachers that you didn't like?
• If you have kids in school, what do you think makes a good teacher for your kids?
• Any other advice? I'd love to hear it :) See if your spouse, friends, or kids have any ideas, too!

I'd love it if you could write down some of your thoughts and send them my way. You can e-mail me at mandyj17@gmail.com, or just leave a comment below. I'm so excited to hear your thoughts! Thank you so much for your help.

Much love,

M

Light the night.

 

 We took full advantage of the newly-lenient firework laws here in Utah on the 24th - especially my brothers and Daniel. I think we all smelled like sulfur and smoke for the rest of the evening. Although those aerial fireworks are breathtaking, I think I still prefer sparklers, flowers, and snaps.

What are your favorite fireworks?

Utah's Hogle Zoo

It's so cool that we Utahns have such an awesome zoo right in our own backyard! I don't think I appreciate it as much as I should. So this past Saturday, D and I decided to channel our inner child and spend the day at The Hogle Zoo together.

We saw some super cool animals...

And we even saw a real-live armadillo! 

You might remember our fascination with armadillos from this post.

(And by the way, these guys are a lot smaller than I thought. They're only about the size of a house cat!)

We were also pretty happy that "Zoorassic Park" was still going on while we were there. In case you didn't know, I'm kind of a fan of all things dinosaur.

Me and my new friend T-Rex.

 This dino spit water all over the children.

We also measured up with some gorillas... 

ate at the Beastro...

and learned what to do in case we get attacked by a cougar.

We were definitely the only adults there that didn't have any children. 

But you know what?

I felt just fine about it.

What are your favorite animals to see at the zoo?

Happy 24th!

Collage of photos we took at the Sugarhouse fireworks on the 4th of July.

Happy 24th of July!

I love this holiday. It's such a fun tradition in Utah. I love that we get to celebrate our pioneer ancestors who settled here in the Salt Lake Valley and paved the way for us to be where we are today. I'm grateful for their faith, their bravery, and their perseverance.

I hope you all have a wonderful Pioneer Day!

Much love,

M

A/C Envy.

So I was listening to some talk-radio morning show today, and the topic was air conditioning. They had this guy on the show who's air conditioner had been broken for an entire month, and the repairman still hadn't come out to fix it. When they heard his story, all three of the radio hosts pretty much had panic attacks:

"How could you live like that?"

"I would be threatening to kill someone!"

"It's 95 degrees outside!" 

"I would never be able to sleep at night!"

"An entire month?!"

"I'd kidnap the repairman's children and hold them hostage!"

I'm not kidding. The radio hosts were beside themselves. But believe it or not, I was freaking out even more than they were. Only it was for a much different reason.

Our apartment does not have air conditioning at all. 

It's true. No central air, no swamp cooler, not even a window unit. There is absolutely no air conditioning whatsoever in our apartment. We have lived with it for almost two summers. And believe me, it's horrible. Sometimes it even gets up to 80 degrees (!) in our little place. Sleeping with covers on is a thing of the past, and there are times when I think I may actually perish. But what made me the most upset was that not having air conditioning for a measly month earned some guy a spot on a morning show, but our landlords think it's totally cool to just let us all melt over here! And don't those morning show people know that some of us don't have air conditioning at all?!

I almost called them to tell them that, but I refrained. I refrained partly because I was late for class and had to get out of the car, but mostly because our apartments are finally under new management. Our new manager decided that we all need window A/C units or else we might all die of heatstroke. When I heard the news that we would be getting one next week, angels came down from heaven and sang a hallelujah chorus. Our new manager became my new best friend. 

Although, I have to say, I'm pretty proud of D and I for lasting as long as we have in this little apartment-turned-oven. I only had about one (or three) meltdowns the whole time! No pun intended.

But really, can you believe we've lived without air conditioning for two summers?

It's amazing what you can accomplish when you set your mind to it.

red butte garden and wedding memories.

Did you know my aunt is an artist? 

I know, I know...I'm one lucky gal. Aunt Julie has done some very beautiful paintings, but this one is my favorite. She painted it as a wedding present for Daniel and I. What makes it even more special is that it was inspired by the beautiful flowers at Red Butte Garden where we had our wedding reception. We are absolutely in love with it. It reminds me of that warm, perfect evening that I stood in those gardens next to my brand-new husband in my prettiest white dress. If you look closely in the painting, you can see that she painted the gardens at sunset, which is exactly how I remember them.

Aunt Julie, we can't thank you enough for this beautiful reminder of our wedding day. We are so grateful for your talent and that you've shared it with us. This painting will always be a treasure of ours. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Love,

M

Oh, and P.S. My aunt also has a blog called Laughing Horse Art. She posts photos of her paintings, if you'd like to see them. She also posted some progress photos of the one she did for us! It was so cool to see step-by-step how it came to be. If you want to see those photos, visit here, here, here, and here.

lately.

Just a few things we've been up to lately.

1. Wandering around the Salt Lake Arts Festival.

2. Sipping Jamba Juices.

3. Learning to cook artichokes.

4. Playing guitar (or if you are M, getting serenaded by the guitar).

5. Going on little dates to the Bountiful Temple.

6. And perhaps my favorite, attending beautiful weddings!

Thanks to Mel Nash Baucom for letting us be a part of your special day!

What have you been up to lately?