The Countdown is On...

I have four weeks left in vegas. FOUR. that is exactly 20 school days left and I am done. why does that feel like i have an eternity left? because it does. i feel like 4 weeks is FOREVER. and that its going to draaaaaag. because it already is.

today was one of those days that i was SOOOOO over being here in vegas. and teaching. i feel like student teaching as a whole has gone by pretty quickly. but at the same time i feel like i still have SO much left to do. which sounds silly because really i only have three more weeks where i'm the actual teacher. and this week is kinda a whacky one because they have state standardized testing so i can't really complain. but i just.want.to.be.done.

these past couple of weeks haven't been all bad though and i feel like my students have started to come around and actually like me as a teacher. don't get me wrong, i still have to lay into them somtimes, but as a whole, i think my students like me. and some of them even want me to stay and be there teacher for longer. which makes me smile, and then laugh because there is NO WAY that thats gonna happen. i'm peacing on this place as soon as possible.

My countdown is not only for school to be done, although that is at the top of the list. Here are some things i am currently counting down for
1. student teaching to be completely 100% done. that means i'm a real life college graduate. FINALLY.
2. my best friend britt coming out to vegas to help me move and drive home.
3. my best friend britt coming out to vegas to go to a JOHN MAYER concert. soooo excited. love me some john. seriously, i swoon.
4. getting my hair done. its depressing how bad my roots are and how my hair has absolutely NO shape at all right now. short hair and highlights here i come and i can.not.wait.
5. a very big, exciting, long awaited TRIP to see a special person. it might involve pretty sunsets and palm trees. just maybe. i wish this was coming sooner than later. but i hear patience pays off. i'm hoping.
6. finally being home with my family and those cute little babies we have there. can.not.wait. for this one either. love being home with the family.

March, i know you are a lucky month and everyone really likes you because you bring the luck of the irish and march madness, but this year do you mind going by reallllllly fast for me? thanks. i sincerely appreciate it :]

is it the weekend yet?

but seriously...is it? After this week, i only have FIVE.WEEKS.LEFT. of student teaching. YES!! i'm almost there. these are pictures from my trip to southern california last weekend. It was heaven. seriously heaven. the weather was perfect and disneyland obviously lived up to its name of the happiest place on earth. i could go to disneyland on a weekly basis and not get tired of it. i love it that much. So here are some pictures, they are out of order but you get the gist. All the beach pictures are from sunday on valentines day and the disneyland pictures are from saturday. roommates at the beach during sunset. it was AAAAMAZING! our good friend JC in the pictures below let us crash at his condo in Carlsbad. His dad was my first counselor in the bishopric of my ward at school. his family is freaking awesome, and it was so nice to have an awesome, nice place to crash for the weekend.

yes. this is for real. straight off my digital cannon camera. i mean. its not fair people get to live this life EVERY SINGLE DAY! ahhhh so jealous! i was born to live in a beach town. i was.

valentines day at the beach. perrrrfect. we ate at this really awesome, cute little beach front fish and chips restaurant. it was so good and it was literally right next to the beach. loved it.

beca and i on the beach

love love love sun glare in pictures.

ok this was saturday at california adventure. how awesome is this picture? the sun was setting and i could not pass up this picture. sunset. the pier. rollercoasters. life.is.good.

the toy story ride in california adventure. soooo awesome. i had never been on it before and its so fun. its a 3D ride and its sweet.

toontown. the famous jail picture

remember how indiana jones breaks down all the time? luckily we were at the front of the line. but seriously i have not been to disneyland when this ride has not broken down at least two times.

first ride of the day. space mountain.

valentines day at the beach.

tomorrow is a teacher work day so that means NO students. soooo nice. my week has been pretty good (we only had three days of actual class because monday was a holiday as well). my teacher has been way way sick and has been out most of the week. i normally only teach periods 1-4 but this week i have pretty much taken over 1-6 with no prep in the mix at all. today she wrote me a text and said that i was doing an awesome job. it seriously made my WHOLE week to know that she thinks i'm doing good. such a relief because most days i feel like i suck! only five weeks....

also. i hate that i don't have cable to watch the olympics. thats all. ok this is a long post. my apologies!! hope the pictures made it worth it.

2 dozen ROSES?!?!?!

So i'm getting ready to head out to southern california in a little while but earlier this week i was told that if i wanted to receive my valentines package that i couldn't leave before six. Well, in the middle of packing i get a knock at the door and open it to a very big package (from said cute boy in previous post).

I open the package to find TWO DOZEN LONG STEMMED ROSES!! TWO DOZEN people. they are BEAUTIFUL and i am in LOVE with them (and maybe him). and of coure i can't stop smiling.

best.valentines.ever.

thank you cute boy.

it hurts so good

so on tuesday of this past week i started this new workout program that is kind of like p90x but it is purely cardio (no pull up bar or free weights like you do in p90x). Its called Sean T. Beachbody Insanity. HOLY! since i've started i think all of the muscles that i never knew existed have decided to show themselves and seriuosly ACHE! i feel like an 80 year old woman. it hurts to do anything. bend down. put pants on. tie my shoes. EVERYTHING. i just have to keep telling myself "it hurts so good" and "this is worth it" because i have two more months of this business. Besides the pain that quickly follows each workout i am LOVING it. seriously its awesome.

Its a bunch of super high intensity muscle confusion workouts that are not really that difficult when you break them down. Its putting them together for different sets that makes it so insane and by insane i mean that i'm breaking a sweat during the warm up...yeah thats before we even stretch. awesome. Today while i was at school i had pretty much convinced myself that there was no way that i was going to be able to work out because i was THAT sore. but i did, and i'm SO glad i did. but it really does hurt so...good.

also, i'm leaving for southern california tomorrow and i'm SO excited. it will be so fun to get out of town for a weekend (sidenote: not stoked on the amount of money that i DON'T have that is going to be spent...oh well). This week dragged and i'm so thankful its friday. and maybe, just maybe i have a very important valentine package coming from a very cute boy that will remain completely anonymous :] Friday is gonna be GOOOOOOD!

Brain Dump & Disneyland

So...my friend Shauna does these things called brain dumps and its basically where you say what is on your mind. it seems like good, free therapy SO i think i'm going to start this little tradition for myself.

so here it goes....my first brain dump (also...sorry if a lot of it has to do with student teaching...its kinda consuming my life these days):

-my students were AWFUL on friday. like horrible and maybe i got teary eyed in the middle of class because i really just wanted to drive all the way home to california and quit student teaching even though i'm so close to being halfway done.

-glee is a really good show. my mom sent it to me in a package for valentines day that OBVIOUSLY i opened a week early. i've been watching it with my roommate beca. i'm in love with this show. the music is SOOOO good. love it.

-our apartment complex has turned off the water in our ENTIRE complex for the second time in a week and its really annoying. it was supposed to be turned on at six tonight but apparently they found the leak they were looking for, which is great, but now the water won't be turned on until later. and they didn't give us a time. so it could be off until tomorrow morning. awesome. NOT! stupid.

-i am going to disneyland this weekend and i could not be more thrilled. this week just became a little more bareable knowing that i will be in the happiest place on earth on saturday. also we reserved hopper passes through this website....bestticketshere.com and we got half off park hopper tickets. such a sweet deal. yeah...i'll be hanging out with the guy all weekend and can not wait!

-tonight is our ward valentines activity. we are having a nice dinner put on by the bishopric. i would be lying if i said i was going to socialize. obviously my roommates decided the free steak dinner was worth it. don't let me down singles ward.

-i.do.not.want.to.write.my.lesson.for.tomorrow.at.all!!! we are starting a poetry unit and it shouldn't be hard and mostly i decided to do it because i can set the kids loose to write poetry and make valentines out of construction paper, but teaching the same kids for two hours is exhausting. especially when they are punk 7th graders. hope it goes well.

-did i mention i LOVE glee and can't wait until disneyland? oh, i did. ok thats all then

Viva La Vegas?

ooook....i'm starting to think that i'm not supposed to start a blog. this is like the third time that i've gone to post something in the past 2 months and everytime i go to post, something goes wrong and i am unable to do so and by something going wrong i mean the internet completely freaks out or freezes...its ANNOYING! so here it goes. my final first attempt to make a blog.

(beca and i on the strip)

I'm finally living in Vegas. the climax of my educational career is finally here and in full swing...student teaching. I'm a month in and lets be honest, i dont love it yet and somedays think to myself "why did i choose this career again?". No but seriously, student teaching isn't all that bad. it just doesn't seem like a reality to me. i mean lets think about it for a minute. i come in to a classroom thats not my own, doesn't have my rules, is not set up how i would necessarily run a class, with students that know that i'm not really their teacher. i'm pretty much like a permanent substitute with the real teacher there ALL the time and i pretty much get treated accordingly on a consistent basis. awesome (said in heavy sarcasm).

(roommates on the first weekend in town. my very first trip to the strip)

I am starting to get in the swing of things though. and really, i like vegas a lot. I live in an awesome location in the nicer part of town (at least i think). we are about 10 minutes from the strip and a few blocks from the mecca of all main streets. seriously. this street has evvvverything you could need, and by everything i obviously mean that it has all the best places to eat that rexburg deprived me of for four years. san chipotle, thats the other direction a few blocks. but still manageable. I live with four other girls that are student teachers and so far we have had a lot of fun. the daily routine here pretty much consists of getting home from school, grabbing laptops, plopping on the couch with laptops, then writing copious amounts of lesson plans, while averaging about 2 movies a night. and in bed by about 10. its awesome. and then we wake up the next day to do it all again. seriously. the life of a [student] teacher. blah.

(beca and i in circus circus. it might be ghetto but its loaded with arcade games. i mean HELLO!)

after this week i have 7 (seven, seis, insert any other language form of 7 here) weeks LEFT. could.not.come.fast.enough. for real.

(roomates, back: beca and gene pronounced jenny; front: michelle and me)

So thats pretty much the update with me. I'm here, i'm alive, i'm fairly convinced that some of my students hate me, others think i'm a total b, and others think i have NO idea what i'm doing...which is probably true :] oooooh well.

(inside the venetian...reallllly want to go on a ride in one of those boats)

pictures are kinda annoying to upload. so this will have to do for now. enjoy. happy bloggin.