Thanksgiving in December!

Going back...way back to Thanksgiving. I have pictures from Thanksgiving and so I should probably get them on here, huh? It was a ton of fun. Tad's family had a family reunion in Brianhead, Utah. I had been there once before after our wedding on the way back to Rexburg. I remember it being a long drive up the mountain, but it was beautiful. It is still the same, except this time we had snow. Tad's sister-in-law's family owns a condo (or two) up there and that's where we all stayed. It was so amazingly beautiful, with all the wood, the fireplace, all the family, and snow outside. I felt like I was on some Hallmark Hall of Fame movie. We stayed there for about 5 days. We all played games, sat around and talked and there was a lot of snowboarding/skiing. I went snowboarding for the first time and almost was responsible for the unfortunate deaths of my brother-in-law and three other strangers. Some think that snowboarding is the hard part, little do they know. That part was hard to get a hold of, but it didn't take very long. The hard part is the lift. The lift? Yes, the lift. I had a hard time not falling and my second try up was almost deathly. I prepare myself to get off the lift. I am in the middle between Tad and Russell. Well, unfortunately Russ is goofy footed and was unaware of my stumbling, so I crashed into him. Before I could get up and regain my pride the three guys behind us, pro's by the look of them, crashed right into me and Russell. One guy apparently toppled over me, according to Tad. (He stood by watching the whole thing.) Poor guy hurt his wrist but I was okay, physically. My third run up, the lift operators learned to watch for me. She signaled me a thumbs up and said, "I gotcha!" Thankfully, everyone knew to watch out for me after that. It was quite the experience, but I loved it. It was fun to have Tad there teaching me and encouraging me. He was so good to me and good to watch! ;) What a Thanksgiving!Afton loving the peas!

This was the crazy hat contest!

This is Afton's favorite cousin, or Micah's favorite is Afton, either way!

Graduation! Woop Yeah!!

Well, here we are! Finally, posting something new now that I have all the time in the world. You'd think I would have gotten it done sooner, but no.

So here's the skinny.

First thing of graduation day was to go sign my student teaching papers. That is a story in and of itself that if you want to know details you can ask me personally, otherwise you get the short story. My cooperating teachers ganged up and wrote pretty much the same evaluations. So my university supervisor wrote up her own letter of recommendation basically counteracting what they said. She said, "I wrote 'Ph.D' by my name hoping it would give me a little more authority." I was so grateful to her and her advice to me throughout the semester. It definately would not have been something I would have wanted to stick with if it hadn't have been for Sister Hawkes. However, it's done and hopefully when I want to go back into the teaching profession, I'll get a job!

Also, I graduated and Tad walked. (He has one more class to take in the winter.) We had family come in Thursday before graduation. Then Friday, the big day, we all ate pizza over at Tad's aunt's house. It was quite the crowd, because Tad and I were graduating, Dallin and Katie (Tad's cousins), and Joe (another cousin). Their families came too, so you can imagine. But it was so much fun to have our families together like that. Anyway, after eating we all headed to get ready and line up. Tad and I sang in the graduation choir and it was amazing. The spirit was so strong with the songs we sang and I loved it. I'm not much of a singer but who can pass up an opportunity for special seating?! As the graduates all walked into the Hart building the faculty and staff were lined up against the side of the walls, clapping. At the end of the faculty line, President Uchtdorf was there complimenting everyone. He told Meagan and I that we looked magnificent! One word, Wow! So he and President Clark both gave amazing talks and helped inspire us to be better and share the Spirit of Ricks with everyone we come in contact with. Hopefully their talks will be posted soon. After commencement, we headed to the Kirkham building where we all would be walking. We all sat together and after a long song and some talks we did it! We walked, recieved our diploma covers and sat. It actually went by pretty fast after that, and we ended up taking pictures and talking for a while after. Everyone then came to our apartment, excluding Katie and Dallin and his family, and we all sat and laughed. What fun! I can't believe it actually happened. It was such a crazy day, but we did it. We graduated!!

Oh, and here's pictures!

Just a few more crazy doodles!

My all time favorite picture of me and Tad.

Tad, if he were black. 'Nuff said.

Now, what can I say about this one but, wow  !

 I just like this one because it looks like a great comic picture!

Crazy Dicky Doodles!

So Tad and I have had this new computer for a little while and just discovered this application called photo booth. It's the funniest thing EVER! It has all of these different effects that change up the picture, so we've been playing around with it and here are just a few! Hope they make you all laugh! 

Fall!

The other day I was riding the bike home and I noticed one of the trees in our complex shed all its leaves and they were everywhere. The colors were so pretty and I thought I'd take some pictures of Afton in the leaves. So enjoy!

Halloween and other things

Well, it's been so flippin' long since I got to blogging, so hopefully this will meet everyone's expectations. First of all, Tad and I have had another child. Okay, not literally, but his brother Russell is living with us for a little bit. We all got dressed up for Halloween and went to our ward Halloween party/Trunk-or-Treat. Afton was a ladybug, I was a butterfly, Tad was a cocoon and Russell was a seventies man. We were quite a bit late, due to some costume malfuntions, but we made it and had fun. Afton had no idea what was going on and why she had to wear weird things, hence the no smiling pictures. So later, I took some video of her in her cute lil' outfit for everyone to see.

Other than that, life is great. I am still student teaching and slowly making it into the good graces of my cooperating teachers. The hardest thing for me to learn is to show every student that I care about them (even when I don't feel the strongest feelings of love) so that they can feel like I want them to succeed. It's not like college, where the professors don't have to sit with you about every missing assignment. It's time consuming and by the end of the day, I'm warn out trying to give my all to each student. It's definately worth it, though. I had an experience where one of my students was upset because he got moved to the front of the class instead of the back. I asked him why he wanted to be in the back so much and he said nobody sees him back there. I pointed out that I had. He said, "Nobody sees me but you." I felt so glad that I had taken that prompting to say "hi" to him one day and work with him on some of his assignments. There have been many times where I just had the thought, I should say something to this or that student. I did, and it's lead to great experiences.Anyway, enough about me, Tad is doing great too! He is really working hard to do well in his classes which are sometimes just too overwhelming. He's had to focus mainly on a couple and put the rest down on a level where he just does what he can and hope it's enough. Poor guy! Also, at work, his friend (who got his the job) just got fired. That was sad and then his friend (who takes half of the shift and he takes the other) put in his two week notice. So Tad felt pretty frustrated. He did get a job offer after school with the same company, but in Boise, with their finance department. I guess it's good to know that we have something coming out of school, but I don't really want to stay in Idaho! It's way too far from family, but if it's what we need to do, we'll do it.So, one last thing. Tad's brother, Russell, went to the academic advising office to try to get help on knowing what major to pick. They gave him a website to go to, that had those tests that tell you you're aptitude. Well, he took it and it basically said he should be an Accountant or something to that effect. Tad then took it, just for fun. It said that same thing that Russ' said. I took it. Can anyone guess what mine said? Dad you might laugh, but I guess this goes back to my mechanical mind. It said I should be an Aerospace Engineer. Of all the things! What in the world is it saying that for! I'm a teacher! Doesn't it know that! Apparently not, but at that moment my life flashed before my eyes. (Not really) Anyway, I thought that was interesting (and wrong).

Kissing Baby

We've been trying to teach Afton how to give kisses and this is what she started doing!

Crazy Quilt Give Away

I'm not sure who exactly this person is, but saw I saw this on my cousin's website and thought, "Hey, who wouldn't want a free quilt." Not that I usually win things, but it's still fun to try. Check it out, it's cute! The website is http://pigtailsandsnails.blogspot.com/ or you can just click on the picture on my sidebar.

Waving!

Lil' Froggy

Apple eatin'

Lazy week!

This past week has been interesting. I haven't had to student teach because the students are taking a break for the potato harvesting, so I've had a lot of time to just spend with Afton. It's been so much fun and I love being with her all day. However, I have noticed that I'm not as motivated to do much more than that. Isn't it interesting that when we have a lot to do we get a lot done, but when we don't have much to do, we don't get much done? Well, at least that's they way it is with me. I've been trying to plan this Romeo and Juliet unit for my 9th grade class, and it's just slow moving. I'll get it done though, hopefully! Tad has still been pretty busy with classes and work. We are both excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas which will be spent with family! I love families! We are both very lucky to come from good families. I'm actually glad that I was able to have this particular week off, because it turns out that Afton has thrush, a cold, and is constipated again. Lucky the babysitters didn't have to deal with that. (Sorry if that's too much information.) Plus, conference was amazing and I was glad I could relax and listen/watch conference without being stressed out about school.

These are some pictures from today and others from the past few days. Today after lunch, her little belly was just so full I couldn't help but laugh and want to take pictures.

The long update

Well, it's been a little while since I've blogged. It's been lonely! Tad and Afton went down to California last Thursday and got back late Monday night. It was so quiet and I realized I'm kind of afraid of the dark! Hehehe! I just don't like being by myself at night. Tad's brother, Russell, just got home from his mission in Guatemala. He will be coming to live with us in a few weeks for the rest of the semester. He wanted to get up here and he could only come for the last block of this semester. (Which is 6 weeks) Anyway, so they had a lot of fun visiting with family. And mommy had to stay home :) I spent a lot of time with Meagan, my old roomate. Of course, we had to dye our hair, so now my hair is reddish-brown. It looks better than what I thought it would look like, but Tad said he likes the blond better. I'll get pictures to ya of that sometime!
I had midterm evaluations and one of my cooperating teachers decided that I only deserved all 1's! (The lowest scoring you can get.) However, each time my supervisor came to evaluate me she gave me mostly 3's. (The highest scoring you can get.) It would have been a little less humiliating if it had been things she had talked to me about previously, saying that I needed to improve. There was only two things she had talked to me about before: classroom management and printed lesson plans. The lesson plans were easy to fix, but the classroom management is a little hard when she is still in the room and starts off the class every day. I was almost in tears after the meeting with her and my supervisor. Then my supervisor came up to me and said, "Cara, don't worry. You are doing great and this will be easy to improve upon." My other cooperating teacher was nicer, but I still got some scores that I was disappointed with. It's taught me that I can't be perfect and won't be perfect, even after eleven years of teaching. I am learning a lot and will continue to learn a lot. Thankfully, the district has harvest break for potato harvesting. Which means I get the next week and a half off! I have three different novels to teach after harvest break and I already have two of those unit plans finished. (Planned while Tad and Afton were in California!)
Well, that's about it right now. The end is nearing and I can't wait! We will soon be in Georgia with my family! I love it! As always, here are some pictures.

More Random Baby

Bow Baby

Just an update!

Today is my birthday, and it is also a Saturday, which means I have time to blog. Well sort of, I should be grading papers but I'm taking a break. Yesterday I went to pick up Tad from work and one of his co-worker's sister-in-law makes hair clips and is trying to sell them. So, we got a couple for Afton and tried 'em out.
This week has been crazy! I have taken over my cooperating teachers classes, completely, so that means I plan lessons everyday, make up worksheets, quizzes, projects, etc. and grade papers. It's the whole works. I was evaluated on Thursday by my university supervisor. There are six sections we are graded on and the scoring is from 0 to 3. I got three three's and three two's. I was pretty satisfied. She said I was definitely an English teacher so I'll take that as a compliment. It's been hard, but a good experience so far. Afton is doing well, except for the fact that her bowels are a little backed up, she's got a cold, and her two bottom teeth are finally coming in! Since she's been constipated though I didn't even know she was teething until two days ago when I felt some little teeth poking out. Tad is going to school and is feeling pretty excited about his classes this fall. He is also working in the HR department at a potato processing plant in Sugar City about 15 min. away. He got that job approved to be his internship so we are almost done!! It's exciting that life is moving on for us and we are excited to see where we end up!

Random Baby

Cute pictures and regular life!

Well, my mom just recently sent me some clothes and stuff for Afton, so of course I had to get some pictures. (Thanks for all the clothes, Mom! And the dress fits perfectly!) So I thought I'd tell you all how life is as a student teacher. It's crazy. I have 3 8th grade classes and 1 9th grade class. The cooperating teachers that I have are really good, so that makes it a lot easier. I am slowly going to take over their classes, so I will be teaching novels to all of them. I will teach The Giver, Romeo and Juliet, and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. I'm teaching the first one to Ms. Hodge's 8th grade, the next to her 9th grade and the other to Mrs. Clark's 8th grade classes. It's been hard and busy. Afton is being watched by some sisters in our ward, who have volunteered to babysit. It's been so nice and Afton is pretty good so I don't have to worry too much. School will start for Tad on the 8th of September. Then I will be done teaching on the 21st of November and will be observing other teachers until the first week of December. Then we will graduate! The end is near! Oh and I have a huge zuccini, so here's a picture.