Gobble, Gobble

I hope everyone had a yummy Thanksgiving! Mine was fabulous! This year I was head chef and what an adventure that turned out to be. The grossest part was definitely pulling the neck and giblets out of the cavity. I got the neck halfway out before I noticed it curved and then screamed as a mental image of a turkey head on the other end popped into my overly imaginative brain. After a quick phone call to Mom and being reassured that there was no head on the other end I counted to 3 and pulled. Next came the wax bag with all the good stuff inside, that was easy I just didn't look at it. After rinsing Mr. Turkey I went to dry the inside of the cavity and felt something that wasn't suppose to be there....the heart.

For the record, organic turkeys leave the heart in and make you cut it out. Somehow this is suppose to be more humane than them doing it but either way Tom the Turkey is dead so why don't they save me the stress and cut out the heart, besides I'm sure there are machines that can do that for them.



After all that drama I finally got to the good part I stuffed Tom with apples, onions, an sage seasoning. I even separated the skin from the breast and stuffed there. Then into the oven it went and off to the couch I went for a quick break then onto the the side dishes (mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, caramelized carrots, jello, rolls, and stuffing made by H.



The heavenly aroma of turkey filled the entire house! J and Ro went off to conquer brown/rainbow trout in the Provo River (with the promise they would do the dishes after dinner) while the sisters and I enjoyed the Macy's Day Parade and watching holiday movies. That's right we watched ZERO football this year....blasphemy you say? quite possibly. By the time we did get around to watching some football the only game on was Texas vs. Texas A&M and since Ro gets enough Texas pride at graduate school he vetoed and we watched Home Alone instead.



The dinner was amazing. The meat was so moist it literally was falling right off the bones. We all gained about 5 pounds and then retreated to the couches. After regaining consciousness we gained another couple pounds during dessert (Roxy made us an apple pie and Aunt J got us the pumpkin pie.)



I dedicate this post to Tom the Turkey the heart and soul of our meal. May he know that he brought us many great memories and lots of yummy leftovers! Here's to you in turkey heaven!

Random Pieces of My Life

A lot has happened over the last few weeks so here are some random, yet interesting, updates about my life.

1. I was pretty sick for a couple days. Don't worry no piggy tail or snout nose for me I'm pretty sure it was just a bad head cold with a lingering stuffy nose. Haha I blend in with all my sniffling students.

2. It doesn't get any better than free candy and dressing up like something completely random. This year I was able to perfect a 20s mob accent and discovered a new and deep desire to dye my hair bright red! As soon as the wig came on I became a totally different person, sneaking around my house and yelling ubsurd things at my ever patient roomies. Haha it was great! Our apartment decided to theme our costumes and chose "Villainous Women."

Awesome Roomie #1 Posion Ivy- interesting observation every boy at the party knew who she was instantly while all the girls guessed Eve, Mother Nature, or Demeter.



Awesome Roomie #2 designed have a theme song that went with her costume. Seriously all night I was singing "Cruella DeVile, Cruella DeVille. If she doesn't scare you then nobody will. Cruella. Cruella. DeVile." Don't worry all you animal rights activists she never found the puppies.



She is at our house enough that she should just move in Roomie #3 could walk like an Egyptian better than I've ever seen. She never did find her Mark Anthony though. Sad.



Here are some more pictures. As you can tell I was having WAY too much fun getting into character.






3. The week before All Hallows Eve I was able to spend the weekend with my amazing siblings in an unseasonably warm Idaho. We ate Chinese food, laughed, watched stupid youtube videos, drifted down the river and danced around a bonfire.
I even graduated to streamer fly fishing where you try and mimic a small fish in order to catch the big bubba fishes. I caught a few smaller fishes and had a couple fishes the size of legends get away. I literally pulled the fly right out of one of their mouths because I wasn't really paying attention. Don't worry I learned my lesson and it has only made me more determined to go again and catch them. I might not be able to catch myself a man but I will catch myself a fish!!







Ok the dark spot in this next picture is actually a female and male moose. They were just chilling on a little island in the middle of the river. "J" had a good laugh as I scrambled to pull my camera out and take a picture while still holding all of my fishing gear. This shot was the best I could do. They were beautiful!




It was so fun! I have the best family in the world! The best part is...I GET TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN THIS WEEKEND!

4. I've dyed my hair jet black and I LOVE IT!! Pictures to follow whenever I take some until then just picture beautiful me with long black hair or think Snow White. :o)

And The Oscar Goes To

Lights, Camera, Action! Prepare to be amazed by the best acting and cinematography you've ever seen. Here is our skit from the Ward Talent Show. I guess you could say our talent is not being shy. Haha it was a blast to make I hope you enjoy watching it. I think we could totally win the Best Short Film category at the Oscars, or at least Sundance.

And by the way my roommates are going to KILL me for posting this on the web, so Mom and Dad I love you! Thanks for giving me life! I leave my DVD collection to Roxy, all my BYU attire to Rory, and want to be buried with my shoes. Everyone should wear bright pink to my funeral.

24 things to do....

In keeping with a newly formed roommate tradition here is my list of 24 things to do while I am 24. They are in no particular order.

1. Go to Europe (anyone wanna go with me...I'm looking for a travel buddy!)
2. Start writing my book and actually make it past the first couple paragraphs.
3. Take piano lessons.
4. Hike Angel's Landing in Zion's National Park.
5. Try skiing (yes I know I'm going to the dark side.)
6. Go sky diving.
7. Read the BOM from start to finish between NOV. 1st and Christmas.
8. Take a community class in something.
9. Learn to bake apple pie from scratch.
10.Visit Coney Island.
11.Watch a meteor shower.
12.Keep a journal regularly (does blogging count?)
13.Figure out what I am doing with my life (wish me luck!)
14.Get a normal, LOCAL , emotionally stable, romantic, HOT boyfriend.
15. Paint with water colors.
16.Exercise by swimming laps and doing Whit's buns and thighs workout.
17. Take my own snow day and go sledding, build a snowman, drink hot chocolate, and make snow angels.
18.Read the books from my "I want to read but never have the time to" stack in the corner of my room.
19. Go fly fishing ALOT and catch the big one that got away last time.
20. See a play on Broadway.
21. Cook a turkey all by myself...(haha I actually get to do this for Thanksgiving so for my family's sake i hope it turns out)
22. Learn to French Braid my own hair.
23. Have a food fight.
24. Road trip across the country.

The Perfect Voicemail

This school answering machine message is everything I've ever wanted to say to parents. Whether its fake or not...ENJOY!

My Best Friend's Wedding

Wedding Season is officially over! My 2 best friends each married their high school sweethearts this past summer. Sorry the pictures are a little late coming but here are the ones from "A" and "M"'s Wedding Celebration. If you click on the pictures they will pop up larger.







"M" and "A" are such a cute couple! They were adorable to watch all day. Their kids are going to have superhuman genes. They are both good looking, incredibly athletic, smart, hard working people.







We had so much fun all day hanging out. Most of the bridesmaids and groomsmen I knew back in high school or had met when I visited "A" at the University of Tenn.




I also got to spend some quality time with my other best friend "K". We just smiled and laughed the whole time! I love that girl!










I caught the bouquet and DJ, my 11th grade Homecoming date, caught the garter! Haha Right before he went to put it on me he whispered," Wait, is your Dad still here? Cause if he is I'm just putting it on your ankle." My parents had already left much to his relief. :o) All of our friends have decided we will be getting married next. So DJ had better start working out in order to meet Papa W's requirement of bench pressing his own weight.

A Day In My Life

Someone asked me earlier this week what I do all day since teaching just means I hang out with kids all day. I thought I would enlighten the world with what a teacher really does. So here is a day in my life...


6:30 I awake to my cell phone buzzing...aka welcoming a new day.
I'm out the door by 7:30.
7:45 I greet the janitor at my school with a smile and most days ask for some sort of favor: more chairs for my classroom, the key to the supply closet, to fix something that broke... you get the idea.
For the next 7 1/2 hours I do not rest. I am not exaggerating! I am photocopying papers for lessons, grading papers, passing things out, emailing/calling parents, teaching, talking to students, stopping arguments, investigating something that happened, monitoring student progress, dealing with parents and oh sooo much more.
At 9 the 1st bell rings and the madness begins. We do morning work, class meeting, spelling sorts, reading groups, fluency, word work, writing lessons, journal writing, grammar review, and read aloud all before 11:25.
At exactly 11:25 we head to lunch. Where before I can eat I make sure every student had gotten their lunch and is ok. Then I rush off the the teacher's lounge (which isn't really a lounge as much as a few chairs and tables where I scarf down food.)
The conversation at lunch typically consists of discussing what we are teaching, funny things kids say, BYU Football, the one student or parent who is driving you crazy, and whatever reality TV is going on (at the moment its The Biggest Loser.)
After about 20 mins. I exit to once again run around like a chicken with my head cut off preparing for the afternoon (photocopying, getting out math manipulatives, checking my email, replying to parents, etc.)
At exactly noon the hallway fills with the sound of pounding hooves, war cries, groans, and "Teacher, Teacher..." as 30 fifth graders pour through the classroom door. They grab their math book, spiral, journal, and pencil and we do math until 12:50 at which time they grab their 1 minute timed test along with an daily out of 100 paper. Both of which have to be completed before the go to recess at 1.
My recess is not really a recess. Every other week I supervise outside. On my off weeks I spend the time helping students find that paper their desk ate so they don't get a zero, or watching students in recess detention.
1:15 after a quick drink/bathroom break we do one of two things either "mix it up" with the 5th grade classes and reteach/enrich on a topic or do social studies.
1:45 My entire class rotates to a different 5th grade teacher who teaches a specific subject. Mine is US Government. On Mondays my class learns the recorder. Tuesday they do DARE with Officer Adams followed by government with me. Wednesdays they do reading lessons. Thursday are Health class, while Friday is Singing Time with the entire 5th grade.
From 2:15 to 2:30 we do announcements, read a poem, practice state capitals, and go over homework.
At 2:30 my students go to specialty classes so I have prep time. Mondays are art, Tuesday Library, Wednesday is early out day for teacher collaboration, Thursday is computers, and Friday is PE.
3:10 We pack up and clean up the room.
As one of my students put so poetically during writing last week (our writer's tool was personification) "The school up chucks students at exactly 3:15."
I then hang around til around 4:30 or 5 grading papers, cleaning the room, going to meetings, and preparing for the next day.
I then go home exhausted but my day is not done. NO NO I try to be social, go for a quick jog, play on my flag football team, read about 200 pages a night in reading group books for the next day, plan/research a trip I want to take, do my church calling, and continue to grade papers. If I'm lucky I also get to watch a little TV before falling into a blissful slumber around midnight that is too short and rudely interrupted the next morning to do it all over again.