I love my job!

Today in my art class we made thank you cards for our BYU and UVU volunteers a la Henri Matisse. I told the children to make sure to address these to the volunteers, but one of my 2nd grade art students brought this to me at the end of class. It made my day. I have worked a couple jobs in my life that I felt were boring, pointless, and not helping me live up to my potential.

My job at the elementary school is certainly not one of them. I feel of value every day I'm there. I know I am making a difference--albeit a small one-- in the lives of my students. What more could I want out of a job than that?

Just a brief update mostly in pictures

We went to Color Me Mine, painted some pottery, and had a good old time. We got our completed projects back yesterday, and we managed to crack Tony's before we even got it out of the car. Then I proceeded to get a shard of ceramic from the crack jabbed into my finger . . . ouch.

My results from homemade quinoa and corn chowder. So good and so quick. Check out the recipe here.

This picture may seem a little strange, but these two items combined caused the biggest conundrum I have faced in quite some time. It all started over a week ago when I pulled my computer out of my backback and clunk. Something was rattling around in my computer. I turned my computer on it's side to confirm and yet again there was a rattle and a clunk as some unknown heavy object hit the side of my computer. Tony took the bottom off of my computer, but there was nothing there except a whole lot of dust. So for the next few days I was content with the mysterious rattling. But then in class the other day I pulled it our and clunk . . . I heard it hit next to the mysterious slot on the side of my computer. Please tell me if you know what it's for because I still haven't figured it out. See picture below for a visual:

So I pushed the slot open with my finger, tipped my computer on it's side and out fell the nickel on my desk. Who needs to take their computer to the Mac store?

What to buy your wife on your 7 month anniversary . . .

when she has a cold.

Flowers: Always a must for any special occasion of course!

Cadbury Minieggs: My personal favorite seasonal candy (with Ghirardelli peppermint bark coming in a close second). They are high class M&Ms--what more could a girl want?

BDPI: A terribly cheesy movie that ensures a good 2 hours of awkward, uncomfortable hilarity.

Vicks vapor rub: Could there be a more considerate gift than one that grants your wife the ability to breathe so she can finally get a good night of sleep? I personally couldn't ask for a better gift than a good night's sleep when I felt completely awful.

March 6th was a pretty terrible day owing to the fact that it was jam packed full of meetings and responsibility and all I really wanted to do was crawl into bed and cry a little and then sleep for the rest of the day.

I did make it through the day consisting of:

• (8:00am) Two group meetings
• One hour of work
• A journey across campus and back in the cold to print a report (I was sick so this was a daunting task)
• A trip to Lehi (we got lost)
• A presentation in Lehi
• A lunch
• Work at the elementary school (one hour of math and one hour of kickball outside)
• Another group meeting
• A law test* (finished at 7:40)

*A note about the law test: I was told by everyone in my class that it would take the full 3 hours allotted. I was out in one and I still made the median test score. I am rather proud of my mediocrity in this circumstance. As a matter of fact, it was more than I had hoped for considering my lack fo adequate preparation and actual amount of time I spent on the test.

Life is good! After one long night of sleep and two skipped classes this morning I feel 150% better. Thanks for asking!

Spectacular Skies

I did this project in class with my kids at school on Friday! I am super excited to show the results after the papers dry and the children glue on their silhouettes. It is a super easy and really fun project that is easy even for little kids (of course the adult should handle the chalk and water). The kids can choose the colors and dip their papers in the water.

I am also excited by my inspiration from this project to do it at home with some silhouettes of some of my favorite landmarks from around the world. All I need is some black construction paper, chalk and an exacto knife . . . so excited! Pictures of the class results coming soon!