a story for your thursday.

Embarrassingly enough, that would be my desk at School. UEA weekend couldn't have come at a better time, right? I'm super behind with grading planning organizing cleaning laundry dishes general life, and I woke up with a bit of a cold today (sad face). Take this story that Daniel told me yesterday as further evidence that I seriously needed a break from school:

The other night, I went to bed a little before Daniel did. These days I tend to fall fast asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow, so I was already fast asleep by the time Daniel came in to get ready for bed. I remember none of this, but according to him, I said his name a few times so he came over to the bed. Then I launched into a mini-monologue about how I had explained a story problem to him, and he just needed to do it. I had already told him how, so why hadn't he done it yet? Daniel was trying really hard not to laugh at me, but apparently I was talking with my hands and basically giving him a lecture as if he were one of my students. Finally, he gave up trying to reason with me and told me that I was still sleeping. I guess I was in a compliant mood, because I simply sighed and said "Okay," rolled over, and fell asleep again.

We both got a pretty good laugh out of it, especially because talking in my sleep isn't one of my normal characteristics. Conclusion? We think teaching school is slowly making me crazy. Either way, I'm planning on relaxing this weekend. I see a lot of movies on the couch with blankets and  hot apple cider, long walks outside, and a possible trip to the pumpkin patch. 

Happy weekend!

Life & teaching & stuff.

Photo from our two-year anniversary (!) which we celebrated this past August.

Just wanted to post a quick update on our lives over here. It's been pretty quiet on the blog lately, but our lives have been quite the opposite! Between teaching full time for me, and the work/school mix for Daniel, we don't have a lot of free time. However, can I just say how amazing it has been for me not to be a student for once? I can't say that I miss it.

When people ask me how teaching is going, the short answer is that it's going great, but it's a lot of work. The long answer is: I absolutely love my students, and I have a blast at work (almost) every single day! Being a teacher is the single most rewarding thing I've ever done. But grading papers, long days at the school, e-mails to parents, working with struggling students, and planning double the lessons for my split class has been absolutely exhausting. I constantly feel behind no matter what I do to try and catch up. There are even times I have a nagging feeling that I'm not doing this whole thing right and my students aren't going to learn anything. I've had to take a step back and remind myself that it's my first year, I have a split class, and I'm doing the very best I can.

I was talking to Daniel last night, and I realized that teaching is probably the most stressful job ever for my borderline control-freak/perfectionist personality. My goal is for all of my students to learn and be successful, but there is only so much I can do before it is up to them to listen, and put in the work themselves. Teaching has really forced me to take a "chill pill" when it comes to every little thing being perfect. I have learned that in some situations, that is just never going to happen. I am just grateful that I am not drowning this year. In fact, I'm far from it!

As far as our lives go, if you were to ask Instagram, this is what we have been up to lately:

 Cheering on our Utes!

 Getting our culture on and visiting the new Museum of Natural History. 

Which we highly recommend, by the way.

 Crazy hair day (that I wore out to dinner and a movie afterward), 

and the shirt that my students have named "The Owl Shirt."

Turning garden tomatoes into homemade salsa with my mom, as is our yearly tradition.

 My owl bulletin board, and the sentence that made us laugh out loud for hours.

(Those things make grading papers infinitely more entertaining.)

Our trip to the State Fair, and the creatures that are living in my classroom this Halloween.

(From left to right, a bat, a crawfish, and an octopus preserved in formaldehyde.)

Thanks for reading!

Fall To-Do List

Now that it's September, I feel like it's officially fall outside. I'm getting excited to do some of my favorite autumn activities this year! So without further ado, here's my official Fall 2012 To-Do List:

1. Go on a drive to see the changing leaves

2. Visit the Pumpkin Patch

3. Carve Pumpkins

4. Watch a scary movie

5. Dress up for Halloween

6. Go to a haunted house

7. Have a sleepover at the cabin

8. Read a good book

9. Eat breakfast at Ruth's Diner

10. Get a great fall candle

11. Eat a slice of pumpkin pie
12. Visit to the Utah State Fair

13. Purchase a new pair of boots (like these, or these, or these, or even these)

What's on your fall to-do list? I'd love to hear. I've already checked #4 off my list (I watched The Woman In Black by myself the other day...even though the cover expressly says "do not watch it alone.") Hope your fall is off to a great start!

P.S. A bit of trivia: Fall doesn't officially begin until the autumnal equinox on September 22. (The things you learn when you teach 6th grade). Also, I will give 100 extra credit points to anyone who can explain (without Google!) what actually causes the seasons. 

...

Halloween

D and I had a fabulous Halloween this year. As you can see, we went to our parties dressed as SWAT and CSI! Yay for homemade costumes! In case you haven't gotten your costume fix yet, here are some of our fabulous friends from the ward party we went to:

From top to bottom: An army man, Captain Hook and Tinkerbell, an 80's girl and a mullet man, Puff the Magic Dragon and Batman, and some ninja children, belonging to Puff and Batman. Regrettably not pictured are a pair of awesome Waldos and a fantastic Lady Gaga. We had such a fun time! The ward party was also very nicely documented on Sydney's cute blog, in case you'd like to see more pictures!

We also carved some sweet pumpkins, of course.

Can you guess who's is who's?

How was your Halloween? What did you dress up as?

our trip to the pumpkin patch.

I'm not sure what it is about Halloween, but it's one of my very favorite holidays. Maybe it's the weather, the decorations, the colors, the candy, the parties, the dressing up, the scary movies, the haunted houses, or the pumpkins. Or maybe it's the fact that my birthday is 4 days before Halloween. Either way, this is one of my favorite times of the year!

One of our favorite Halloween traditions is visiting the pumpkin patch at Rosewood Gardens every year. It's such a fun place! Every year it's filled to the brim with Halloween decorations, hay bales, gourds, and pumpkins of all shapes and sizes. There's even a cat that wanders up and down the paths!

We had a fantastic time picking out our pumpkins together at the pumpkin patch. We found some great ones and we're excited to carve them with friends tonight!

What are your favorite Halloween traditions? Do you carve pumpkins? Where do you get them?