Nick's Favorite Present So Far

My dad and his wife Kirsten came out to visit for my graduation and we decided to have an early christmas.  We talked, started a puzzle, played games, and, of course, opened presents.

   

Nick has been trying to talk me into an XBOX 360 for a few months now.  I have been strong, but he got one, and let me just show you, he was happy:

:

 

But this was actually from my wonderful and thoughtful dad.  Nick's reaction was so priceless, and Dad's reaction to Nick's reaction was even better.

Thanks, Dad.  We've been having a lot of fun, and I'm getting really good at Lego Indiana Jones.  Oh, and Nick is still in shock:)

I'm Done!!!!!

Just the other day my sister asked me, "Jamie, what are you going to take next semester?" But caught herself mid-sentence because, . . . I-HIME-DUH-HUN (pronounce phonetically)! I graduated Summa Cum Laude (I just found out that I finished with a 4.0 which jumped my GPA up high enough to get this great honor) with a BME (Bachelor of Music Education) with a choral emphasis. In other words, I can now teach choir in a public, private, or charter school. I do have to say, however, that I may have been the one to get the grades, but there were so many dear, dear people who really helped me achieve this honor. Thanks to Mom for convincing me to stay in the program every time I decided to quit. Thanks Dad for helping me pay for voice lessons and always being so supportive in everything I do. Thanks Nick for marrying me so we could look poor to the government in order to receive grant money, which then allowed me to keep going to school (of course that's not the only reason we got married, but it was a big perk). Oh yeah, and thanks Nick for being wonderful, funny, a big supporter, and someone fun to take a break from school with, I love you. I'm going to miss school and all my good friends I met there, but now it's time to move on to bigger and better things:)

10 ways to stay afloat when student teaching

So, I just finished student teaching, and I couldn't be more excited!  The tough part is over and all I have to do now is create a professional portfolio and I'm done!  Halleluia.  I'll tell you, It's been a long road getting here.  Five-and-a-half years of school behind me and a whole life full of many possibilities ahead of me.  

I found student teaching to be a whole lot harder than I thought.  I walked into a situation where the students loved their teacher and therefore hated me because I was not their teacher.  It took so much work and a lot of tears just to get them to accept me.  Don't get me wrong, I didn't cry to them - you can't let them see that they are getting to you.  There was even one point where I thought that I had wasted these last five years of school because I wasn't meant to be a teacher.  But, hearts soon softened and I finally found a place among my students and the classes.  Through that experience, I have developed a list of 10 tools to use when student teaching:

1.  There is such a thing and too nice and too mean, and both are stupid.  Find your own happy medium.

2.  There is no shame in bribery in the form of food.

3.  Have fun! 

4.  Students need adults, and in this case their teacher, to celebrate with them when they do well.  And the stupider you look when you are celebrating, the more the students love you, i.e. dancing, fist pumping, strange noises, etc.

5.  Procedures, Procedures, Procedures!  If you don't teach the students how to act, how will they know how to act?  Take time teach the students what to do in different situations.

6.  Don't be afraid to scold or discipline the students.  Poor behavior needs to be corrected or it will never stop.  

7.  It's also okay to show disappointment in the students.  If the adult that is normally celebrating with a student shows disappointment for unacceptable behavior or performance in anything, that student makes an extra effort to be better so that their supporter again has something to celebrate.

8.  As said earlier, don't let them see that they are getting to you.

9.  Did I say have fun?  Why would the student even try if there's nothing interesting going on in your class?

10.Kids LOVE stories, no matter what age they are.  They especially love stories about you, the teacher. 

I Love My Kids!

I may not be a parent yet, but I sure do feel that parent-like pride when I see "my kids" - (my students in the musical) - performing.  Here are some pictures from our latest show, Beauty and the Beast.  

Here's Gaston, Monsieur Darque, and Lefou

 

 The enchanted objects singing, "Human Again"

Yes, the castle was huge, but oh so cool!

We were so proud of our library.  

What production of Beauty and the Beast 

has ever had a library that looked like this? 

Mrs. Potts, Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Chip

Fall! Literally!

So yesterday, while I was in the house cleaning up, Nick was outside raking leaves in the back yard.  After a while Nick came inside and told me he had made a great leaf-jumping pile.  We took pictures.  I think Nick is especially graceful in his swan-dive approach.  How he didn't get hurt, I don't know.  I would recommend making the picture bigger and taking a look at Nick's face.  Utter concentration.  

Night out on the town!

A few months ago Veronica was in town visiting family here in Utah, so Laurie and I jumped at the chance to hang out with her.  After getting ice cream, we hit the arcade and took our chances on the Deal or No Deal game where we won 270-ish tickets.  I don't remember the actual number.  We swiftly took our tickets to the counter where we bought candy, a whoopee cushion, matching rings, and these awesome teeth you see pictured here.  I had so much fun with my sisters!  Thanks, Roni for hanging out with your sisters.

My Student's Recital

I recently had a voice recital for all of my voice students.  Unfortunately, I held the recital on memorial weekend so not all of my students were able to be there:(  This is a picture of all of my students who did participate, minus one student who had to step out right after the recital ended.  Good lookin' group of kids though, huh!  FYI, all of these students but one (he's going to Layton high school and has been cast in their musical with a speaking part!) have been cast in Northridge's upcoming performance of Beauty and the Beast.  The girl on my right will be playing the part of Belle, the girl to my left, the part of Babette, and the tall young man in black right behind me will be playing the part of Monsieur Darque (pronounced Dark).  While the rest will be ensemble members.  Yeah, I'm just a little bit proud.  I will be the music director for this production and we will be doing this show in November for anyone who wants to come and bring their little princesses along.

Seattle Trip!!!

Guess what?  I'm posting again and it's only a day later!  (so this is a long one, but only because of pictures, sorry) Here are some of my favorite pics of our recent Seattle trip.  We went with the Weber State Chamber Choir, hence some other crazy people in our pictures.  Oh, man.  It's hard to come back to real life after a great trip like this one!

On the top of the Space Needle.  The ride to the top really freaked me out!  I apparently have a fear of height which explains my near panic attack on the way to the top in an all window elevator.

Remember Sleepless in Seattle?  Who doesn't!  Well, this is the house from the movie and I got to ride right past it in a boat!  We were told that it just sold for 2.5 Million dollars.  With mortgage payments, gas, utilities, and rent of the water space, you can own this baby for $15,000 a month!  Pocket change!

With our friends, the Gochberg's, while waiting for the fairy to Tilicum Village, a government protected island that holds a Native American restaurant that serves fresh caught salmon while the servers put on an elaborate show containing the history and dances of their Gods.  It was really cool, but I still don't like salmon.

This is a totem donated to the city by Chief Seattle himself.  (If you didn't notice, the city was named after him)  We decided to make our own contribution to the city.  On N-'s shoulders is our friend Caleb.  By the way off to the left, outside of the camera shot, there were at least 5 homeless men just sitting there.  This town is full of them!  

"A bird (diver) may love a fish (eel) but where would they live?"  I guess N- and I just prove that it can work.  If you can tell me what movie I am referencing, I'll give you brownie points and send you good thoughts!  This was at the Seattle Aquarium.  We loved it here.

We happened to run into one of our favorite people ever, Dwight from The Office, so we just had to stop him and get a picture with him.  He was way cool about it though, just quieter than we expected.  This was just right down the street from the Aquarium.

N- and I are pretty stoked at the Mariner's Game.  Yes, we went to a major league baseball game!  It's too bad the Mariner's weren't as stoked as we were because they lost, 3-11:(

I love this pic of N-!  So powerful.  This is at Buchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.  We by far took the most pictures here.  It was so gorgeous.  If you're interested in seeing any beautiful garden pictures, just email me and I can send them to you!  tubachick3@aol.com

  

Direct From Broadway

Dut da da.  I am posting!!!!  I thought that I would let everyone know that Nick and I just made it into a show called..."How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying."  Yes, it is a comedy.  Nick and I got the leading roles!  So we both have a few solos and dance numbers and a couple of duets.  The show opens June 13 and goes until July 25.  If you are close by, or will be close by, please come and see us at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse in Washington Terrace.

"The Vitamin Dream"

So, the other night I had a terrible dream! As you can see, my little sis, K, has given us a wonderful visual description of the dream, so let me 'splain. In the dream- my friend and I were investigating a mass murder in a warehouse where bodies had been ground by a meat grinder and made into vitamins. As we were fingerprinting and gathering evidence, someone jumped out of the shadows holding knives and threatening us. It was N, my husband! He went for my friend, Angie, right as she took out her knives (why no policeman had guns, no one knows). Angie was able to stab N several times as I was screaming for him to just stop so that he didn't get killed. I even logically thought in my head in the dream that if he did get killed, he would deserve it. Well, I woke up right before it looked as if he was about to die in a panicked sweat. Normally when I have bad dreams, I wake N up and tell him I had a bad dream so that he will hold me and make me feel better. Not this time. I was so scared of N that I tried really hard not to even wake him up. I later told this story to everyone, including K. She was so impressed by this story that she drew this awesome picture for me, and she even wrote a short story at school based on this dream.
This picture is the rated PG version of the dream as interpreted by K. N is holding knives, as stated before, but the knives are being used to magically turn people into vitamins. Look at that, he even gets the women and children!

I'm going to the Valentine's Dance

So, I just asked this really cute guy to the Institute Valentine's Dance.  Here's how... So, he was going to be in class for about two hours on monday night, and that was when I was going to target his car (yes, I asked him very high-schooly), but he called me just half an hour after his class had started and told me that the class was over.  He hadn't eaten any dinner yet, so, with some quick thinking on my part, I told him to go eat at his parent's house then come to my parent's house, which was where I happened to be, after he was done eating.  Mom, little sis K, and I scrambled into the van and raced down to Balaich the senior's household where we stuffed this cute guy's car full of balloons and candy.  The steering wheel included a cute saying of who, what, why, where, and how - as so many of these cheesy ways of asking do - and then we sped off, being unseen by the victim.  I haven't yet received an answer, but I'm pretty sure he'll say yes, I mean, we've been together almost two years now.  In fact, this dance was our first date nearly two years ago.  I know, that's soooo cute. 

Our Beloved Prophet

I received a the call from N.  The news was surprising and hard to take.  I choked back tears as I relayed the message to my family.  President Hinckley is dead.  Unlike others, who saw this coming because of his age, I just thought that President Hinckley was going to live forever.  He just seemed immortal to me.  Peace is here though.  I love President Hinckley, and I will miss him, but I am not afraid of what will happen.  Heavenly Father's church will continue to move forward with those who are just as righteous and able as our late prophet.  I know that he was called of God to be a seer and revelator for this time.  But I also know that with his passing, President Monson will step in with all of the same rights and powers to do just as much good.  I know this is true by the power of the Holy Spirit and in the name of Jesus Christ.  

The official pronunciation guide

This is us!  Now, let's talk about how to pronounce our name.  It's not "ballock," "blaylock," or "bulkavich" (we have gotten that one before).  It is pronounced like so:  bal- as in ball; bouncy ball, basketball, etc. you get the idea, and -aich as in ICHEEWAWA!  So we all should know exactly how to say Balaich, right?