How to Talk to Girls...

For Christmas Carla gave me a book called "How to Talk to Girls." I highly recommend it to everyone! It is written by Alec Greven who is 9!! Kids say the darnest things right well this book is surprising funny and TRUE! The book is full of facts from his own observations and experiences in his elementary school. This boy is going to be a heart breaker one day! Here are some little gems of wisdom from the book...

~About 73 percent of regular girls ditch boys; 98 percent of pretty girls ditch boys.

~Sometimes, you get a girl to like you, then she ditches you. Life is hard, move on!

~A crush is like a love disease. It can drive you mad.

~If you are in elementary school, try to get a girl to like you, not to love you. Wait until middle school to try and get her to love you. Otherwise, you have to hold on to her for a long time and that would be very hard.

~Many boys go for the pretty girls. it is easy to spot pretty girls because they have the big earrings, fancy dresses, and all the jewelry. Use caution! When you see a pretty girl, don't let her tractor beam pull you in. Pretty girls are like cars that need a lot of oil. And if you fail with a pretty girl, it mostly drives you crazy.

~If she says "hi" back, you are off to a good start.

~And I wouldn't do flowers and gifts until you are older, like in middle school, because it seems weird in elementary school. Unless you go to a school dance.

~Your mom like you to always be clean, and she is a girl.

~Go for a talkative girl if you are shy. Then you only have to say one sentence and she will do the rest of the talking.

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST...BOYS PAY ATTENTION....

~You also have to be aware that girls win most of the arguments and have most of the power. If you know that now, things might be easier.

My Favorite Time of Year

Here are a list of reasons I LOVE THIS SEASON!!!

1. I get to go home and hang out with my family!!

2. All the Christmas Parties...I mean seriously what is better than good friends, lots of yummy food, and presents!!!

3. Christmas Lights!!

4. Christmas music! I love rockin around the christmas tree while jingling bells and daydreaming of a white christmas! :o)

5. Good Commercials...just about ever one is funny and entertaining.

6. When my class is getting too wild all I have to do is remind them that Christmas is coming and that Santa is a personal friend of mine. ;o)

7. HOT COCO!! yummy!

8. Wrapping Presents...I know you might this it is weird but I LOVE IT! I love putting on a good christmas movie and wrapping!

A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words

It was a long day at school day. By long I mean that by the end of the either me or one of my students was going to be dead. It was either him or me soo he is very very lucky that the bell rang and the school day ended. I guess it gives new meaning to the word saved by the bell. Now please don't read in this this and think that I am a murderous teacher but he seriously was being a punk! Ok enough venting I am too tired to write about my Thanksgiving Break other than to say it was PERFECT!!! Here are some pictures to up sum it up!

Here is most of the fam!


Jake with Baby Josh! Aren't they just sooo cute especially since they have about the same amount hair! haha He said it not me!!













Here are the ladies! Sorry I can't smile for pictures! What can I say I have issues!







The strong Wells men! Better watch out guys Brendan is catching up with you!!




Cutest little family ever!!!!


















I don't wanna brag or anything but Baby Josh is the cutest baby alive! He is also the coolest! He watched football for most of the day!!


The 23 pound turkey!! It was beautiful and yummy!!










Playing Settlers before all the eating! And just for the record I won!






This is me about to fall out of my chair because I ate soo much!! It was the best Thanksgiving!

Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death!

As part of the 5th Utah Social Studies Curriculum I get to teach my students all about US History...I LOVE IT!!! Currently we are studying the American Revolution. Well last week in order to help my students understand how the colonists would have felt being taxed by Britain I became Queen Wells (fitting I know!) I broke my class into 3 sections the Southern, Middle, and New England Colonies. Then I created a governor for each colony and my own very loyal Parliament. I explained to my students that as Queen I only talk to my parliament, so if they have a question or concern they need to talk to their governors who will relay the message to the Parliament who will then tell me. I will then answer the Parliament who will answer the governor who will then answer you.

Then, you guessed it, I started taxing my students. First, it started out with a paper and pencil tax (you know since public schools are poor and the economy sucks). No worries they pay with fake money they earn for things like turning in their homework, getting 100% on something, or following directions and they can spend in our classroom store. Even though is basically Monopoly money they were still very upset when I took it. So my governors collect the taxes and then I pay Parliament from the tax money and they pass a little on down to the governors for doing all the hard work. After all I want my Parliament to be happy and continue serving me.


The next day I had Parliament create a tax and since they get a cut of the profit it took no time at all for them create a few. We added on the chair tax (you don't pay it you have to stand), the recess tax, and the bathroom tax. Well as you can imagine the rest of the class was not soo happy about this. In fact there were a few kids who refused to pay the taxes until I threaten to send them to in-school detention. At recess the governors came in complaining that they were being chased my girls who were complaining about taxes. I simply said talk to Parliament and sent them back outside. Haha their faces were priceless!


Tax Day #3 I walked into class about 5 minutes after the bell wearing a tiara and demanded that whenever a student address me they must first say "All Hail Queen Wells!" if they didn't then they would be fined. At first everyone just laughed but soon kids were being fined and it wasn't so funny. I even had one girl in my class tell me that I was getting greedy and that if I stayed that way soon I wouldn't have any friends. It was also on Day 3 that I found my first petition. Someone had left it out on their desk so when my students got back from lunch I read off the names of the people who had signed it and fined them $50 for treason!! That is when the uproar started! So to settle my class down I made them all copy the definition of treason out of the dictionary for every treasonous word they spoke. Let's put it this way there was no more complaining! :O) (I love being a mean teacher!) Well the rest of my class was doing then my Parliament was getting paid and dancing around the room singing "I'm rich!!! I'm rich!!! I have your money!!! And it is soo funny cause I'm rich!!!! I love taxes!!! We need more taxes!!!!" Needless to say my class was a little divided at recess that afternoon. Some colonists were even payed off by Parliament to spy and make sure no more petitions were sent out. Oh, and Parliament even made me a pillow of paper to store my tiara on and a paper bracelet. Its actually really pretty!


Tax Day #4 Some of my students snuck into the classroom before the first bell rang (I was making copies for the day) and covered my room in Protest Posters. When Parliament saw this they created a new tax. $1 for every treasonous word!! Some of my kids owed like $80! If you couldn't pay your taxes or you refused to pay your taxes you went to jail. Jail was standing at the back of the room copying out of the dictionary, losing recess, no talking, and not being able to participate in class at all (which meant some of them got zeros). Harsh I guess but hey they could have paid their taxes and everything would have been hunky dory. It was also on this day that my class learned about metaphors and wrote metaphor poems. They got to choose their topics. Here are some of the best ones. It was soooo hard to keep a straight stern looking face while they shared with the class!


TAXES (This girl is sooo quiet and never does anything wrong. She was sooo scared to read it in front of the class. She even came up and said sorry afterwards!)

Taxes are a venus fly trap snatching up money like flies.
Taxes are a lion eating up all our Auction Buck every day like meat.
Taxes are a trombone loud so people will know that its time to pay taxes.
Taxes are scissors cutting up any money we get.
Taxes are a governor, greedy for more.

TAXES

Taxes are a venus fly trap killing all my money.
Taxes are a venemous snake ready to strike with poison at any second.
Taxes are drums letting everyone know they are here.
Taxes are a hammer nailing themselves into my side.
Taxes are my big brother learning to play the trumpet, loud and annoying!

Here is my personal favorite!!

QUEEN WELLS

Queen Wells is rose, thorny and mean!
Queen Wells is lion devouring all my money.
Queen Wells is nails on a chalkboard.
Queen Wells is an out of tune guitar, saying more taxes more taxes!
Queen Wells is stinky person who takes money from people who need it!
I HATE QUEEN WELLS!


Yes, after the poems I knew I was getting my point across but I really wanted my students to rebel and stand up for themselves. It didn't take long. Parliament created more taxes and got more money from me. Yes, they were singing my praises. During recess that day the rest of my class signed a Declaration of Independence (pictured below). Declaring themselves free from me! I found it and then talked to my class. I told them if the didn't cross their name off the list I would take away the rest of their money. Their reply was "Go ahead you'd take it in taxes anyhow!" I threaten with sending them to the principal and lots of homework but still no one would fall so finally we talked about taxes and how they felt about them and they got all their Auction Bucks plus some back. Parliament was sad it ended but the rest of the class (once they had their money back) thought it was soo cool and that it was the best way to learn about the colonies. haha Anyway I thought you might enjoy our classroom rebellion!

Communication

DISCLAIMER: This post is part rant/part sarcasm/part venting. It was quite therapeutic for me to write so take it with a grain of salt. Oh and enjoy the very effective means of communication demonstrated by the oh so genius Office!!!


People say that 90% of the communication between people happens without words. It is done through actions, looks, body stance, and telepathic messages. I guess that last one includes the phrase "if looks could kill" since behind those evil eyes a message is being sent from one brain to another..."retreat or be killed!!!"

Well, today I had an interesting experience with communication or the lack thereof. Technology has provided us with some very wonderful things, TV on the Internet (which can I just add is like the greatest thing since sliced bread!!), the ipod, the microwave, digital cameras, movies (with sound and color), and of coarse for all the sports fans out there...instant replay! But while all these things are wonderful technology has also confused and mangled communication. When everything is sent digitally now through Facebook, text messaging, instant messaging, and yes, even blogging, it is hard to truly understand what someone is saying. The same phrases said in different tones and inflections of the voice can mean completely different things. We are only getting 10% of what the person is really trying to say! Something that is meant to be sarcastic is suddenly rude and insensitive. Something meant to be a joke is harsh and taken seriously.



As a teacher I watch my students write and insert text language (2 for the word to, n for in, lol, btw for by the way). That cannot be healthy. I have always had very little patience and so snail mail as it is now called is not exactly my favorite thing, however, nothing beats getting a letter that you can physically hold in the mailbox! Nothing beats ripping open the top of that letter and seeing actual handwritten words! It is soo personal and wonderful! It just makes you feel special. I personally think that IRS would get a lot less slack if they would start handwriting their letters and envelopes when auditing people.

We as a society are loosing the art of letter writing and of patience. Everything we do now a days is to satisfy our need for instant gratification! All of our problems need to be solved in one 60 min time slot just like they are on TV. Everything is instant and or prepared in just minutes! Whatever happened to going with the flow and looking at the roses. No instead we are too busy stomping over them while we text the person next to us.



Ok I'm off my soap box and back to the original point of this post. Today I received an email in response to an email that I had sent where something I had said was taken completely out of context and basically just turned into this whole big mess. Now normally I could just call or text the person and clear it all up but in this unique case the person I need to talk to is in Iraq making communication a little harder because it is spread out over 6,000 miles. Oh the joys of my single life! haha Nothing can be simple it all has to be confusing and difficult! Sooooo freaking frustrating.

Ok enough ranting. I'm going to do something I should have done and hour and a half ago...go to bed. I hope you got some food for thought and that the next time you send a text or get offended by someone over technological communication you will stop, breath, and calming talk to them about it.

"YOUR VOICE WAS THE SOUNDTRACK OF MY SUMMER"

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?
So, here's how it works:
1. Open your music library.
2. Put it on shuffle.
3. Press play.
4. For every question, type the song that's playing.
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button.
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool...


C's MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK

Opening Credits: "Leaving On Your Mind" LeAnn Rimes (Wow that is disappointing!)

Waking Up: "I'm a Believer" -Smashmouth

First Day of School: "Again I go Unnoticed" -Dashboard Confessional

Falling in Love: "Kiss Me" -Sixpence None the Richer (well that worked out nicely!)

Fight Song: "Numb/Encore" -Jay-Z and Linkin Park

Breaking Up: "St. Patrick's Day" -John Mayer

Life: "Hard to Love You"- The Wreckers

Mental Breakdown: "I Cross My Heart" -George Strait (HAHAHA yeah I'm not sure how this song works but maybe with some great editing....who knows!)

Driving: "My Town" -Montgomery Gentry

Flashbacks: "Another Hole In the Head" -Nickelback

Getting Back Together: "I Don't Want To" -Ashley Monroe with Ronnie Dunn (apparently I don't want to get back together)

Wedding: "I Don't Wanna Spend One More Christmas Without You" -Nsync (maybe I am doomed to do distance relationships for the rest of my life!)

Birth of a Child: "Defying Gravity"- Kristen Chenoweth,Idina Menzel WICKED Soundtrack (maybe i'll give birth on an airplane!)

Final Battle: "Jammin"- Bob Marley (OK THIS TOTALLY DOESN'T FIT!)

Death Scene: "Leaving Town Alive"- Bethany Joy Galeotti (but i don't leave town alive??)

Funeral Song: "To the Beat of Our Noisy Hearts" -Matt Nathanson

End Credits: "Strong Anything" -Katrina Elam

Well all I can say is that there better be some amazing editing with this movie cause half of these songs totally don't fit!

Politics

So I teach 5th grade. Over the last 2 months we have been learning all about the 3 branches of government and monitoring the election. I know this is a little late being posted (what can i say life happens and when it does i don't have time to blog) but I thought I would share with you some of the insights these 10 year olds had on our beautiful political system.

After watching the 2nd Presidential Debate

Student: Teacher, I have decided that politics turns men into 3 year olds. Me and my brother don't fight as much as McCain and Obama fight...and that's alot!!

Student: So I think that my mom should have run that debate. That way they couldn't be mean to each other. She would have grounded them and sent them to their rooms.

Student: I don't think either of them should be our next president. They aren't very nice!

Student: Why did McCain keep calling everyone his friends? I don't know him. I'm not his friend.


After Obama had won:

Student: TEACHER! TEACHER! Obama is going to paint the White House black!! Its all over the news! Its historic! The White House is going to be black!!!!
Teacher: No sweetheart. Obama IS black. He IS African American. He IS NOT going to paint the White House black. He is black. Its historic because he is our first black president!
Student: OOHHH. (sigh of relief) I didn't want a Black House.

Student: Why would you want to be president anyway? Its seems like a lot of work and someone always doesn't like you! I wouldn't want my dad to be president.




My thoughts on this historic election.

First, I would like to say good luck to President-Elect Obama! You definitely have your work cut out for you! It is not a job I would want. I am honored that less than 60 years after Rosa Park sat at the front of a bus we as a nation can celebrate the first African American President. I remember during high school having to interview people who were older than me about national events that had defined their lives (JFK Assassination, Pearl Harbor, Vietnam etc.) and can't help but feel like someday someone will ask me about what it was like to watch TV and see the first black president announced! How exciting it is to watch history happen. Whether or not change is coming during the next 4 years, I think we can all agree, change has happened!

Our country has worked through difficult times full of hate, fear, and misunderstanding. We, as a nation, have entered into a new ear where the immortal words "All Men are Created Equal" truly mean that any man, women (Palin as VP Candidate), or child, no matter their station, culture, or skin tone, really can be whatever they want to be. This election brought hope to me. So many people got involved and watched the debates, researched the issues, and celebrated the democratic system. There was the highest voter turn out in 40 years! As my generation enters the work force and begins to climb the ladder of success and leadership I hope we will take this lesson to heart. "Change" and "hope" both beautiful messages I want my 26 bright students to believe in, can unite people in a way that no iron fist can. They are the message of a bright future no matter how dark the forest around is now. They are a TRULY AMERICAN MESSAGE! Decide who you are and what you want to be, then chase your dreams! No one can stop you!


P.S. This political cartoon I just thought was funny! SNL did a great job this election! Now that the election is over what are they going to make fun of??

Risky Business!

All I have to say is ROCK ON Michael Phelps, Kobe Bryant, A-Rod, and Tony Hawk!

Road Trip to California and Warm Weather!!

It is officially fall/winter here in Utah. We don't separate the seasons because they mesh together soo well, you wake up in the morning to tons of ice and below freezing temperatures and by lunch time you are sweating in your thick sweater only to have to wear your winter jacket by dinner time. My friend Carla and I decided to boycott this ridiculous weather and head south if not for the winter at least for the weekend. It was 5 days of glorious sunshine, flip flops, shorts, and ice cream.




Our first stop was to the Pantages Theater to see WICKED (which is now my favorite musical ever!!) I highly suggest you see it. It has the perfect mix of humor/sarcasm, beautiful melodies accompanied by witty lyrics, crazy costumes, and a killer plot (literally!) In case you have never heard of Wicked (for this to happen you must have been living under a rock for the last 5 years) it tells the story of the Wicked Witch of the West and explains why and how she turns "wicked." It gives the usual Dorothy plot but from a totally different perspective.



After this amazing kick off of our trip we headed to Universal Studios which was totally decked out for Halloween. We got to tour the Back Lot of sets and even saw them filming "Desperate Housewives." We saw this super cute show called Animal Actors, got soaked on the Jurassic Park ride, and even took pictures with the mummy and Dracula (I wish Edward was there!)



The next day we headed even farther south to San Diego and Sea World!! We got to see Shamu!! He is sooo big! Once again we got soaked on the few rides there and then dried off at the shows. Besides Shamu, I loved the Sea Lion Show. They counted down their top 10 Halloween Moments. It was really cute. Number 1 was the song Thriller. I'm going to try and upload the video where the animals are dancing to it but if not email me and I'll send it to you its soo cute!!


We were tempted to drive South of the Border live our lives on the beach somewhere in Mexico but our consciouses got the best of us and we headed back north and back to real life. Haha It was an awesome vacation!

The ABC's of Me (as written of by my roommates)

So the other day my roommates and I were very bored and so we started playing this game where you associate each letter of the alphabet to a characteristic of the person. Here are mine...

Assets!

Bangs=HOT!

Chocolate lover

Direct (Yeah Yeah! BUT...)

East Coast

Fifth Grade

Great Friend

Happy

I DO to Michael Phelps!

Jetta

Kelly's favorite Sassy!

Loves Summer

Master's Program

Nice Butt

Obsessive Email Checker

Pink!

Queen of Decorations

Really Sarcastic

Service Oriented

Too Hot to Handle

U got Style!

VIRGINIA!

Witty

Yes- Just yes, we all love her

ZZZZ  -"I'm going to bed."

Hahaha these just made me laugh! If you have any to add please do!

Reincarnation??

Sorry its not bigger!

Gone Fishin...

There is a story of a man who in the 14th century saved a town from a growing population of rats. He is called the Pied Piper. Now yes rats are gross but they aren't all that bad I mean lets not forget Splinter, leader of the Ninja Turtles or The Rats of NIHM (great book you should read it!!!) Then there is the Reepicheep from the Chronicles of Narnia. Personally, he was my favorite character, a 2 foot tall rat that had a huge heart and an even quicker sword fighting hand, not to mention a great sense of humor. ANYWAY I DIGRESS.... 

My brother is the Pied Piper of fish. Seriously he drops his hook in the water and fish are fighting over who gets to bite it. This weekend he let me in on his secret to a laid back, stress-free life...fly fishing!!!

After putting on tons of waterproof gear we ventured out onto the Snake River. I got a quick 15 minute tutorial and then thrown into the deep end (literally!! for part of the day we were wading through thigh deep water!) Jake is a great teacher cause within 10 minutes I had my first bite and my first fish to get away! No worries though I caught 4 fish that day!! I caught what is called the Grand Slam (meaning I caught at least 1 of each of the four types of fish that are native to that river).  I caught a Rocky Mountain White fish, a brown trout, Cut-Throat Fish, and the most beautiful fish of all the Rainbow Trout (check out the picture below!!).

I have found a new love! Fly fishing is a lot harder than it looks so when you do catch a fish it is soooo rewarding!! I love that there were times on Saturday that the only noise you heard was the sound of the river flowing past. It was as if life had stood still, which after spending the week in a classroom with 26 noisy 5th graders was nice! How I appreciate silence!

 Haha I guess the best way to close this blog is with a quote from "A River Runs Through It" which is about fly fishing. Besides beautiful scenery, and a great plot, the movie stars the always good looking Brad Pitt!!! So here it is...

 "Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cute by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of those rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rock are the words, and some of the words are theirs."

Ode to Roxanne

ROOOOXXXXXXANNE....

"Dynamite comes in small packages" is something she always used to say when we would pick on her for being soo tiny. However, time has come and gone and my little sister is now taller than me. No worries though I can still beat her up! ;o)  This past weekend I got to go stay with her! And all I have to say is that somethings never change. For example, she still can't cook. I, luckily, did not discover this firsthand. Her roommates confessed that earlier in the week she had burned her dinner to which my charming brother replied with that mischievous Jake the Snake smile "How long did you have to soak the pan?" In Roxanne's defense I will say that while it might be burnt she made it with love.

Observation number 2 she still lives off mac and cheese! To her it is the 6th food group and her one true staple in life. As the economy gets worse and we are all struggling to buy food we and rest assured that Roxanne has enough mac and cheese to make it through the next Ice Age. Civilization will go on!! 

Roxanne is also just as loving as ever. She kindly got up and brought me ice cream (chocolate chip cookie dough...she really does love me!) without me even asking! I have trained her well. She also kindly got up early to drive me to Jake's house so we could go fishing and then she kindly let me do her hair in an outlandish way and take funny pictures. And on top of all of that I know she will still love me when I post those same pictures on this blog! 

Thanks for the great weekend and I love you sis!!

my future husband??

 Here is a teaching story for you! But first some background knowledge. I teach 5th grade (10-11 year olds) and they are awesome! They are also OBSESSED with finding me a husband. In their eyes they just don't understand why I am single. In fact, one told me once "I thought you had to have a husband to teach!" This obsession means that any single male in a 20 miles radius of our school is a potential match for me. Their top choices for my future husband include...

1) Michael Phelps (I DO!!) 2) Any of the Jonas Brothers as long as I get them to give a concert at our school. 3) Zac Efron 4) Tony Romo (unfortunately I have a lot of cowboy fans in my class...DONT WORRY IM WORKING ON BRING THEM TO LIGHT!) No worries Mom about me being an Old Maid...I won't even make it through the school year single if my students have anything to say about it!   ;o)

So here is the story. ENJOY!

Every Tuesday we have DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education). The DARE officer assigned to our school is a very good looking 29 year old Officer Adams. One of things he does is answer questions from the classroom DARE box ( a box where students can ask whatever questions they might have about drugs, alcohol, or being a police officer without having to sign their name.) Today 7 of the 8 questions he answered were "ARE YOU MARRIED?"  He answered NO which was then followed my half of my class turning to me and smiling and cute Jess saying "Well you can marry Miss Wells. She is cool and so are you!" HAHA Yeah...I just starting laughing. I mean what else do you say? Officer Adams handled  it very well  he simply laughed said MOVING TO THE NEXT QUESTION! haha You have to have a sense of humor to be a teacher or you just won't make it through the day. Anyway just thought I would share that with you!

I Am Full of Random Knowledge

You know that saying "You learn something new everyday." Well, being a teacher I hope this is true for each of my students, although, haha, for some of them its probably not. ANYWAY, here are some of the things I learned this week.

1. Iraq is 9 hours ahead of us.

2. I check my email a ridiculous amount of times each day!

3. Little Miss Sunshine is one of the funniest movies I have seen in a long time. Thanks Jack for paying way too much money for Edited DVDs. In case you haven't heard of it its about the classic American dysfunctional family and yet with all their crazy antics (vows of silence, gay uncles, bad fashion sense, broken horns, dead bodies in trucks, and AWESOME dance moves) there is a real unlying message of love your crazy family for exactly who they are!

4. February cannot come soon enough!!  :o(

5. Statically boys have a better sense of direction although I'm not sure I believe this fact.

6. M&Ms DO MELT ON YOUR HAND!

7. My pirate accent always and without fail slowly turns into a southern redneck accent so my poor students have to listen to me read "The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle" (a GREAT BOOK!!) and learn about redneck pirates.

8. I am the most easily amused and distracted person! I should be working on a paper for my master's program.

9. Oregon beat USC in one of the most amazing football games! Long live the little guy!!

Play by Play

One of the great things about fall is FOOTBALL. It's the American sport! One of the bad things about fall is that it means winter is coming, which here in the Rockies mean 8 MONTHS of snow, ice, and bitter cold! Hopefully the winter wonderland will hold off a little longer than it did last year (we had our first snow fall the last week of September!) 

This year I decided to join the ward intermural flag football team and tonight's game was awesome!! We won in the last play of the game! Now this wasn't any old play it is a play that will go down in the the history books. It is a play that should be ESPN's top play of the day. It is a play that by all means should not have worked and yet it did!! So enough build up.... here is the play by play. 

We are tied 7 to 7 with 3 seconds left on the game clock. We have the ball. It's 20 yards to the end zone so we decide to HAIL MARY! Down! Set! Hike! The line tries to hold everyone and the receivers high tail it out as far as they can. The QB just throws the ball right as her flag is pulled and it just goes sailing. Katie reaches out her hands and has her fingertips on the ball just as come ogre of a girl tackles her to the ground! Remember this is FLAG football so tackling is a big NO NO especially in a BYU league! Flags go flying everywhere and we get to try again this time 10 yards closer.

This time the QB rolls out of the pocket and launches one as hard as she can. Katie once again reaches for the football this time making contact! The ball bounces from hand to hand but she is able to pull it in just before she hit the ground for a TOUCHDOWN!!! WE WIN!!!!

It was an amazing ending!! I play defense but my stats for the game include catching an interception and blocking 3 passes.  Our next game is Thursday the 25th. Check back for another play by play!!

MY MASTER'S DEGREE

Ok I have an announcement!! I am heading back to school well sort of anyway. I am going back to get my Master's Degree in Educational Leadership. Ok well I have a hot date sooo more details to come (on both the date and the degree!!)

BREAKING DAWN RANT

****WARNING THIS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS READ ON AT YOUR OWN RISK****

Ok this is pure venting but I am sick and tired of hearing how wonderful Breaking Dawn the most anticipated and final book in the Twilight Series is. So I am here to set the record straight. Agree with me or don't...I don't really care but at least respect my opinion to not like this book. I mean I do have my constitutional right of free speech and all! Not only was Breaking Dawn a HUGE letdown but it is some of the worst writing I have ever read and AS A PROUD BOOK WORM I can say that I have read A LOT!! 

The plot was weak and and a solely uphill climb. At first I was just bored reading. I could put the book down and walk away no problem (something that didn't happen in the other books). Then when it finally looked like we were getting somewhere, it just kept building and building and building and then NOTHING HAPPENED! Nothing at all. Everyone just walked away with a smile on their face as if their entire existence had not been threatened! Not to mention the numerous cop outs that Stephanie Meyer wrote. I mean come on! I like a happy ending as much as the next "single and looking for Mr. Perfect" girl does but this was over the top. She was afraid to get her hands dirty and actually write a good story line. Forget that in the first 3 books we learn vampires can abstain from human blood BUT ONLY at great personal sacrifice and with incredible self control learned over hundreds of years. And that as a new born vampire you are ruled by instincts and cravings. While these can be controlled it is very hard to do so even by the most composed vampire ever, Edward. Need I remind you that in Twilight Edward could barely stand to be around Bella because her blood sang to him. So do you really think Charlie could walk right in and hang out with Bella for a whole day...the day after she becomes a vampire? Yeah, I think not but no Bella acts like its nothing! 

Now lets talk about Nessie...despite how seriously disturbing that pregnancy was...it is even more disturbing that Jacob imprints on her! I mean one minute he was ready to kill her and picturing her mother naked as his wife and the next he is drooling like a love struck puppy. Its just weird. Which brings me to  another point Edward and Bella are parents but only when convenient, which basically means once Bella's sex drive has temporally subsided. Way to set the example guys!  

Yes, I get that Bella has found her place in the world and became the vampire that she apparently was meant to be but it all seemed like a little too much. Too convenient. I really don't feel like self-control was one of her talents. I mean she didn't have very much of it as a human...do the numerous times she punched Jacob, or tried to seduce Edward  scream self-control to you? So why would that be amplied and suddenly fool proof. Then there is the shield effect. That is the one thing that actually made sense. It was the perfect power for Bella. You know what else was perfect? The fact that Bella could learn to control it and project it to protect a good 40 people against massive powerful vampire bombardment in about 2 weeks!!  I mean seriously! That was just bad. I honestly don't believe it and that is saying something in a book written about vampires and werewolves!

All in all, Stephanie you let me down. You wrote the story you wanted to right, "the picture perfect, birds chirping in the background, sunny skies in Forks" book instead of the story you should have written. And for a New York Times Best Selling Author that is just a sad, sad statement. You could have at least made Nessie clumsy like Bella or even better... had a fight scene...you know that thing you were foreshadowing for like 200 pages. Oh well, better luck next time!

Just Cruisin!

In July I went on a cruise with one of my best friends from high school, Alicia. She is awesome and we had a blast! We left from Tampa and traveled to Grand Cayman, Cozamel (I know I probably didn't spell that right but I'm too lazy right now to look it up soo just deal it), Honduras, and Belize. Here are some highlights from our many adventures!

We went snorkeling at just about all the stops! But our stupid waterproof camera turned out to be not so waterproof so most of those pictures got ruined. Anyway... my favorite place to snorkel was in Honduras. We went all the way out to the "drop off" point. It was crazy! There was amazing coral, reefs, and bright colored fish everywhere you looked then suddenly the ocean floor dropped dramatically and the water went to a dark dark blue. It was one of the most amazing things I've seen in my life. 

HAHA To add to the already beautiful scenery Alicia had a dream the night before that while snorkeling I got attacked my a shark and only got away alive because she stuck her flipper in his mouth. Needless to say while actually snorkeling over and around the drop off point Alicia would not let go of my arm. NO worries though that was one dream that did not come true... THANKFULLY!! 

In Mexico we went LOCO while ROCKCLIMBING,

ZIPLINEING,

went TRAMPING through the JUNGLE

   

and ATE THE MOST AMAZING FOOD EVER!!! 

CONGRATS TO HANNAH AND JOSEPH!!

Ok before I can start telling everyone about my adventures I need to say CONGRATS to Hannah and Joseph on GETTING MARRIED TODAY in the Washington DC Temple. Wish I could there guys!! Aren't they the cutest couple!?

I'M BACK!!

Ok I apologize that I have not BLOGGED in well a really long time! I've had a super busy crazy summer and loved every minute of it. I was too busy actually doing everything to actually write about it. SOOOO now I get to play catch up and update yall on the events of the last few months. Hope your strapped in cause this is gonna be one crazy ride!! 

PS I just updated my playlist to include some of my favorite songs this summer. ROCK ON!!

San Francisco

Right before coming home I took a road trip with some former roomates to San Francisco and Reno. First things first the drive from SLC to Reno is SOOOO BORING!! Its all desert! Its ugly and boring but the drive Reno to San Fran is gorgeous!! Beautiful northern California. The green trees, fresh air, and pine scent are heaven compared to the dusty never-ending flat desert.

      

San Francisco was amazing! I loved every second! We saw the Golden Gate Bridge, drove down Lombard Street, ate some crab and sourdough, went to Chinatown, ate Ghirardelli ice cream at Ghirardelli Square(it was amazing!), saw the Sea Lions play king of the dock at the pier, we even got scared by the bush man!! If you don't know who the bush man is he is this man who sits behind a fake bush on a street corner near pier 39 and jumps out to scare people. It is so funny to watch cause you aren't expecting it at all! 

We also took at day to hit the beach! Now I grew up going to the beach during the summers. I love laying on the sand, reading a book, and listening to the waves, but the Atlantic Ocean is bath water compared to the numbing Pacific Ocean. haha Carla stuck her big toe in and that was it! She was then perfectly content to just lay on the sand the rest of the day...she is a Carolina girl who doesn't like a cold ocean. I was a little braver and went into the surf up to my knees. It actually wasn't that cold after a few minutes. Oh course you lose all sense of feeling during those minutes. Sophie was the brave one. She went all the way in!! I don't know how she did it!! Carla and I told her she would have to come back east and go in the Atlantic and find out what a real beach is like haha I guess we are both spoiled eastern girls!

After San Fran we hit the road and headed back to Reno for a few days. Of course on the way back we took a scenic detour around Lake Tahoe. In fact it was so beautiful that we didn't even realize we had taken a detour until we were about an hour and a half into the tour. HAHA I don't know how we managed to get off I-80 and not know it but we did. 

While in Reno we hit up the RENO RODEO!!! Yehaw! There is nothing I like more than a  bunch of cowboys walking around looking hot in their boots, buckles, and hats! I was in heaven!  Half the people I went with to the rodeo had never been to a rodeo before so it was really fun to watch their reactions and explain what was going on. The bull riding was fun to watch but the highlight of the night was the Muffin Bustin!! If you don't know what that is... its where they stick 4-7 year olds on the backs of sheep and have the kids hold on for dear life! Its soooo cute!! Basically this whole trip ROCKED!!