Lindsey Lou

I LOVE my cricut!

2012-01-29T08:44:00.000-08:00

So I realized that I'm averaging about one blog post a month and so this month it's going to be on how much I love our cricut. A few teachers at my school went together to buy a cricut and it's so awesome. I used it to decorate my classroom at the beginning of the year and to make these two bulletin boards for the front entrance of my school. The one for Halloween was advertising for our Halloween Carnival. My 3rd and 4th grade social studies classes are putting on a County Fair this Friday, so I made a display showing which county each student had been studying. Sometimes when I look at the one for county fair I think all my kids look like criminals and those are their mug shots, haha. But that's mostly just on bad days lol. So bottom line is BUY A CRICUT! You won't regret it!

Pneumonia anyone??

2011-11-12T16:13:00.000-08:00

So I have pneumonia. Three weeks ago I went to Idaho for fall break and got the flu. I had body aches and a fever on an off for the following week, but couldn't stay home because we had parent teacher conferences and our school Halloween carnival. From lack of rest, I began to feel worse and developed a cough that wouldn't go away. I was having chest pains when I coughed and couldn't catch my breath and had a fever of 102, so I went into the emergency room on Tuesday, November 1 and after three hours and a bunch of tests I found out it was pneumonia!!! I went home with an antibiotic, a doctor's note saying I couldn't work for 4 days, and orders to drink lots of liquid and get lots of rest. It might sound nice to be ordered to rest and sleep, but it's almost impossible with pneumonia because I've been coughing non stop. My stomach muscles were so sore and if I ever did get a chance to sleep I had to be sitting up, which was miserable for me because I hate sleeping on my back anyway. I went back to school on Monday the 7th, and it's been nice to be doing something again, but I come home from school exhausted!!! I'm slowly feeling a little better, but being outside makes me cough and I'm still struggling to sleep. Word on the street is that it takes around a full month to finally feel completely better. So maybe until then I'll continue to keep up on all my TV shows and maybe even blog more :) Wish me luck!

Fall....

2011-10-16T13:04:00.000-07:00

Well, it's officially fall and I LOVE it! It's my favorite season because I love fall colors, the smells, the slightly colder weather, getting to wear jackets, boots and scarves, and the upcoming holidays-halloween, bday, thanksgiving and christmas :) Trynda and I have had a fun time decorating out apartment for fall/halloween, and while it isn't much, here's what we've come up with without spending a ton of money....

Here we go again....Round 2 :)

2011-09-02T13:57:00.000-07:00

I have began teaching my second year at Reid School. School started on August 23. I LOVE IT!!!! I am amazed at how much smoother and stress free my second year has already been compared to my first year. Here's why: I am teaching 4th grade again, I only have 9 students in my homeroom class, and I teach 3rd and 4th grade social studies, which means I don't have to teach science. Whoo hoo!!!! The third grade teacher and I have swapped so she teaches 3rd and 4th grade science. Which couldn't have worked out better for me since I would rather teach social studies over science any day. So in short things are going great. My classroom is set up and I've added a few things and here's a peek at where I spend my day....

Before.....

After....

My welcome sign outside my classroom.

Shantae and I made this sign for my classroom. I love it!

Summer? Yes please....

2011-06-10T21:40:00.000-07:00

It's officially summer now because it was finally warm enough to swim in my pool! These cute girls came to join me for the day and we had a fun time. I'm sure we'll be doing a lot more of this throughout the summer as well! I LOVE SUMMER!

School's Out For The Summer....

2011-06-02T15:19:00.000-07:00

My last day to teach school was on May 19th. BEST DAY EVER :) I'm loving having all this free time! My favorite thing about being on summer break is having my mornings back. I love to take my time waking up, go to the gym, make breakfast, and then clean. If I can have that small routine every day then I'm set. Even if I lay around the rest of the day and do nothing, I feel like I've accomplished something. But, just so you don't think I'm going to sit around all summer, here's a few things I plan on accomplishing this summer:

being a dedicated blogger :)

scrapbooking my first year of teaching

reading a TON. my students were required to read 800 pages a month. I plan on doing the same.

de-junking my room.

decorating my apartment.

running in a 5K with Shantae

getting a tan

planning my CORE lesson plans for next year

going on trips! Jenni & Trish-I plan on visiting you both!

TV-lets be real, I've got a lot of things recorded that I need to catch up on. Those will include-Community, Friday Night Lights, and How I Met Your Mother.

Even though I have 3 months off I will still be working a little bit. I will go to one month of training-PAID training that is. Then I will be teaching a summer clinic for 3 weeks. Just a few things to keep me busy, but it's completely okay. And it's looking like it's going to be a great summer!

The Bahamas

2011-05-29T19:23:00.000-07:00

For spring break me and three other teachers went on a cruise to the Bahamas. We were so looking forward to this and we needed it soooooo bad! We booked this way back in October, so it felt like it was never going to get here, but it did and it was the BEST week ever! It was my first cruise and I loved everything about it. I'm hooked on cruising and can't wait to go on another one. Our cruise was 5 days 4 nights, we woke up at a different island every morning and we cruised at night. We ate, slept, laid out on the beach, ate, danced and ate some more! And there's tons of pictures but I wanted to share them all......

Monday-Day 1

Waiting on the deck of our ship, the Norwegian Sky, to depart out of Port of Miami.

And here's our teeeeeeny stateroom. And I'm serious about teeny. I think my closet was bigger than our room! I got the top bunk :) we didn't spend much time there so it was okay.

After dinner we walked around the promenade deck while we were cruising. It was beautiful and we got some great pictures of the sunset.

Tuesday-Day 2

We woke up in Freeport Harbor, in the Grand Bahamas Island. The best part of this cruise was the food. We got to eat breakfast on the deck, in the sunshine. It was perfect and one of my favorite parts of the cruise. This is also our first day, before we got any sun so don't judge the whiteness.... The four of us in front of our cute ship after getting off in Freeport.
We rode a shuttle to a beach called Paradise Cove and went snorkeling. This was where we rented our snorkel gear. Snorkeling was amazing and we saw 4 stingrays!!!!!
Right when we got off our ship there were tons of really cute shops and we had a fun time walking around them.

Wednesday-Day 3

We woke up at the island of Nassau. So there's a huge resort on the island called Atlantis. We went to the Aquarium there and saw tons of cool fish and sharks.
Gene, me and Hailey. Atlantis is in the background.
After we went to the Aquarium we went to Cabbage beach. We rode on a banana boat and then just laid out. The weather was perfect the entire time and we got so sunburned!

Gene, me, Hailey and Steph. The banana boats that we rode are in the background.

On the way back to our ship they had this fun sign. There were about 4 other cruise ships that also stopped in Nassau, you can see one of them behind us.

Thursday-Day 4 Our last day we woke up in Stirrup Cay. This beach was beautiful!!!! Stirrup Cay is a private beach, owned by Norwegian Cruise Line. There were three Norwegian cruise ships that anchored there, but we were all at different parts of the island. The water was so clear and the sand on the beach was so white and clean. There were tons of lounge chairs set up for us so we just relaxed, read, soaked up sun all day and cooled off in the perfect water.

They also set up a buffet for us on the beach. Sooooo perfect!

I'm in heaven!!!!
Our last night we had our formal dinner. We got all dressed up and at at the Palace Restaurant, which was our favorite place to eat for dinner.
Our stateroom-0115
This is Frank, he was our steward. He made our beds each morning, turned them down for us at night, folded animals out of our towels, and always had a smile on his face.
We ordered room service almost every night and it was great! Getting cookies and ice cream delivered to your room at 2 in the morning was the best! Now I understand why they say you gain a pound a day on a cuise!

Our last night at karaoke. They loved us!!!

Friday-Day 5

Eating our last breakfast on the ship, back in Miami. So sad to leave :(

Good news, I'm still alive....

2011-04-13T20:21:00.000-07:00

yep, I'm alive and still kicking! Here's my excuse for not posting anything for like 5 months....I'm a first year teacher and I'm tired! Seriously, somedays I come home and the only thing I can think about it getting into my bed and sleeping! But...the good thing is that it's almost over and then I'll be free for 3 months! Best part of being a teacher right there haha. Well, things are good. It's finally getting to be a teeny bit warmer, I have 21 school days left till the end of the year, and I'm going on a cruise next week to the Bahamas! Yep, spring break is going to rock this year. Well here's a few updates of what I've been up to since my last post....

Shelby and I have finished Prison Break, and it was sooooo good! Michael Schofield and Lincoln Burrows totally rock!!!!

Spent Christmas in Island Park Go Ducks! Go Cougars! Skiing in Pommerell Conference weekend, we went to the Saturday morning session.

I'll try to be a better blogger! Wish me luck!

I am thankful for...

2010-11-25T22:21:00.000-08:00

My family
my friends
the gospel
education
my job
cadbury mini eggs
glee's new christmas album
Paul Mitchell hair straighteners
living in Idaho
music
laughter
cell phones
my health
living in a free country
technology
lavender mint shampoo & conditioner
Eden and Hannah-my cute nieces
Shantae feeding me dinner :)
having a washer and dryer in my apt
contacts that allow me to see :)
mineral powder foundation
I Love Lucy
delicious food
Black Friday shopping that I will take part in tomorrow....
CHRISTMAS

The list could go on and on....but these are a few things that came to my mind today. I hope we can continue to have an attitude of gratitude beyond this day of thanksgiving, especially with the holidays. With that said.......it's time for CHRISTMAS! and I'm so excited!

Am I really a teacher??

2010-11-17T20:18:00.001-08:00

So this week has been kind of rough at school. I don't know what's gotten into the students but it's been hard to keep them on task and get anything done. I have to admit I haven't been as patient with them as I should be, but I was seriously at the end of my rope! Today during my prep hour I walked into my classroom and it just kind of hit me-I am a TEACHER. And it's not like this is my first week, this is like my 3rd month! How the heck have I been teaching school for 3-almost 4 months already? I can't believe the time has gone by so fast. I think back to a year ago when I had just found out my student teaching placement would be in a 6th grade class and I cried because I thought there was no was I could ever do that. But I did! And it was a great experience. And now I'm 4 months into my first year of teaching. I've made it this far, I'll be able to make it through the rest of the year right????? Or at least until Christmas I hope? Really the only thought that's getting me through this week is, "3 more days of teaching till Thanksgiving." or "one week from now I'll be in relaxing in Idaho with my family, sleeping in, stuffing myself with food, shopping, not grading papers, not teaching how to write using alliteration or whatever...." Anyway, that's my venting session for the week. I can assure you that not every week is like this one, but somehow the bad weeks stick out in my mind more than the good. Thank goodness we're on the home stretch for this week!

The big 24!!!!!!

2010-11-17T19:19:00.001-08:00

I think the only bad thing about birthday's is that they only come once every 365 days. You have this great day and then you have to wait a whole year for it to come again. Let me tell you I had an AMAZING birthday on the 13th. And ps...I'm 24???? When did that happen?? Well, the number sounds old but I don't feel old. I'm the exact same...just older haha. My amazing day was all because of my friends and family that I was able to celebrate with. My mom, dad and Kyran came down from Idaho for the weekend. First we celebrated with a few rockin presents at Shantae's house.....

Seeing these cuties just makes my day :)

New straighteners! We should have a moment of silence because I seriously love this thing! Thanks mom and dad!

Then we celebrated by having lunch at Benihana's. MMMMmmm...

A tiny asain lady sang 'happy birthday' to me while beating a drum and shaking a tamborine-I don't think I understand a word she said, but it was cute :) I love this picture because of Eden's face-she wanted to blow out the candle so bad!
We went back to Shantae's for some delicious ice cream cake. Once again, Eden is entranced by the candles.
Then I got to spend the evening with my most favorite people! We started by eating super greasy pizza at The Pie-by Jenni's request ;) hehehe
Next we went bowling. While we were waiting for our lane we played some arcade games-I felt like I was back in 5th grade but hey, who cares? Me and Jenn rocked this game!

The thing about these games is even though you know they're rigged, I think we all have this secret desire to be that one person who actually outsmarts the machine and wins a great prize. As much as we were rooting for Jarom to win this one....it just didn't happen :( Maybe next time though :)

I cannot begin to explain how much I love these girls! They made me feel so special and we had so much fun! Thanks girls! You rock!

So just to prove how amazing my friends are, they gave me awesome presents every place we went. At the bowling alley I got these super cute socks. At dinner it was cute jewelry and back at my apartment it was Reeses and the most comfortable pj's ever! Seriously I wear them all the time. And not to mention the best movie-Newsies!
Jenni made this delish (non chocolate :)) cake which was great!
And finally a whole group shot. Most amazing friends a girl could ever ask for. Thank you everyone for making me feel special on my birthday-love you guys!

I love my nieces!

2010-11-04T19:58:00.001-07:00

So I don't know if any of you have noticed by I happen to have two of the cutest nieces ever. Yep, I don't want to hear any argueing!! After Eden came back from trick or treating we kind of had a mini photo shoot on Shantae's computer and we were laughing like crazy! Isn't she adorable?

I absolutely love this picture! The funniest part is that Eden just got in from trick or treating, and it was freezing, so you can see her snotty nose! Haha...

She's a little hyped up on candy, she wouldn't let go of those suckers!

Now I do realize I have another super adorable niece that you don't see in these pictures. But, Hannah fell asleep so she missed out on this photo shoot. But I promise there will be more to come and she'll definitely be part of them!

Halloween at Reid School...

2010-11-02T18:50:00.000-07:00

Halloween at Reid School was so much fun. I'm not big into Halloween and haven't dressed up in years, but being a teacher has now provided me with lots of opportunities to dress up. And it was fun. First of all, our school has been decked out for Halloween since the last week of September. And when I say decked out, I mean verrry decked out. Like there's a whole committee that decorates the whole school. We had a Halloween carnival last and it was the best one I've been to. The parents were so amazing and it really was a success. Then we had a costume parade and class parties. My class was also in charge of decorating one of the glass cases in the entrance so we made two halloween crafts to display and they were a hit!

Shantae, Eden and Hannah came to my carnival. Isn't she the cutest ballerina?

And look at that cute flower!

I was in charge of "Cookie Concoctions". Eden had a fun time decorating and eating her cookie.

All the teachers after the carnival. We are so tired!

Call me Miss Palmer!

2010-10-01T22:21:00.000-07:00

I'm alive and have survived my first month! It's been crazy but also fun. However, I feel like I spend more of my day being Miss Palmer than I do being just Lindsey :) It's okay though. I absolutely love my 4th grade class; the kids are the best! I have 13 kids total-11 boys and 2 girls! Crazy! And I just got a new student in my class from Saudi Arabia. We've been doing a lot of fun things and I enjoy teaching...but I'm so tired!!!! There's so much more planning than I ever anticipated and I'm being completely serious when I say teachers definitely work more than what we get paid for. There's one other first year teacher at my school and we're always the first ones there and last ones to leave. At least for the first few weeks. Here's a few pics of where I now spend the majority of my time:

So these bulletin boards take forevvvver to decorate!!!!!

This is my fancy brand new computer!

Good luck flowers from my parents on my first day.

Officially Miss Palmer, the name tag says it all!

The parents of one of my students invited some of the teachers to a fundraiser at The La Caille. We got all dressed up and went to a fancy dinner and had a really fun night. The food was delicious and it was a really beautiful place!!

God Bless the USA

2010-07-05T18:17:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July! A few weeks ago my friend lent me this book called Left To Tell. It tells the story of a woman who survived the genocide in Rwanda. Some of the events shocked me and after finishing it, it made me realize how fortunate and blessed we are to live in America. We have so many more opportunities living here and it's a beautiful place!

I spent the weekend in Idaho and celebrated the 4th with my family. We has barbeque's with both sides of the family and watched a great fireworks show put on by my Uncle Russell, and then watched the fireworks in Idaho Falls-which I love! Seriously the best show!

Watching the fireworks in Idaho Falls.

Summer!

2010-07-05T16:50:00.000-07:00

I am so excited that it's summer! I love the warm weather and being in the sunshine. Sunshine makes me happy :)
I also love Idaho! I've been home the past two weekends and it's been so nice! I love my small hometown of Aberdeen and especially love being there in the summer. I love going home for Aberdeen Days, too. This is a picture of my Grandpa Duffin and his tractor that he drove in the Aberdeen Days parade this year. What a great looking bunch :)

This is a cute picture of Eden I took last week when we were swimming in her kiddie pool. Isn't she a doll?

Reid Ranch

2010-07-05T16:25:00.001-07:00

So, for my teaching job in the fall I had to go to a two week training to learn the reading program. It was so intense! We went to a beautiful place in the mountains called Reid Ranch. This place had the prettiest lodges to stay in and tons of fun activities; horseback riding, swimming, canoeing, paddle boats, volleyball, archery, hiking, miniature golf and tons of other stuff. BUT I didn't get to do any of it :( My schedule for the 2 weeks was breakfast at 7:30, teach the reading camp from 8:30-11:30, Lunch, then training from 1:00-5:15, Dinner, then study, study, study! Each night we had to memorize lessons and pass them off and that stressed me out so bad! Also, we didn't have cell phone service, which was killer! With all that said, I survived and I learned sooooooo much! I'm going to be teaching at Reid School, which was started and still run by Dr. Ethna Reid. Let me tell you that woman is amazing! She is the most knowledgeable person I've ever met. She created the reading program that we will be teaching and she has traveled all over the world doing seminars and teaching others how to implement her program into their schools. She said she's probably taught about one million students and about 16,000 teachers. She's traveling to Oxford this month to do a seminar with her daughter. And she's my boss. No pressure right? But even though the training was stressfull, I feel so lucky to be trained one on one by Dr. Reid. And excited to be teaching at her school. Here's a few pictures of Reid Ranch.

My friend Genevieve is also going to be teaching at Reid School. We both graduated from BYU-Idaho together so it's exciting that we get to work at the same place. We were at the training together. This cute girl was at the first week of camp and is going to be in my 4th grade class in the fall.

We did get to go on a cool hike. These are 2 of the girls that were there the first week.

The view was incredible. This place was so beautiful!

This is the view of Reid Ranch from the hike.

The last night we were there we had a campfire and the kids did skits. These girls were so great!
This was the group for the first week of reading camp.

Graduation

2010-04-20T22:04:00.000-07:00

I did it! On April 10, 2010 I graduated from BYU-Idaho with a BA in Elementary Education. I went back to Rexburg for this, which was a neat experience for me since I'd been away for the past three months while student teaching. I missed Rexburg! Here's a few pictures....

At the Graduation Banquet-Trynda, Dad, me, and Mom

Some friends in the Education Program. My roommate Alaina and I before walking into the Commencement Ceremony.

My roommate Eryn-we lived together during Student Teaching and our friend Genni-all Education Majors.
My family! Love them!

My sweet grandparents-Grandma and Grandpa Duffin. They have always supported me. I love them!

Brigham Young University Idaho

2010-04-20T20:52:00.000-07:00

For the past four years I have been going to school at BYU-Idaho-with the exception of two semesters I spent at BYU-Hawaii. My whole experience has been great. Sure there were some rough patches but that's to be expected. I took wonderful classes, met wonderful people, and had a wonderful time. I made life long friends. I gained knowledge that I will use again. The education program is amazing. There were some semesters when I would be taking classes that would frustrate me and I remember thinking there is no way I will ever need to know this stuff! But I can honestly say that every class I took has prepared me to be a better teacher. During student teaching I found myself referring back to what I learned in my college courses. I am eternally grateful for the education I received from this university. Here's my favorite things about my college experience:

Prayer at the beginning of each class

Stadium Singing

Student Ambassadors

Cake Decorating!!!!!

Piano lessons

Taco Bus Tuesdays :)

Snow Cones in the summer

Living in Camden #4

Motivation Management with Sister McManus

Prep for Eternal Marriage with Brother Ladle

Late night runs to Mill Hollow haha ;)

Going to the gym

Devotionals every Tuesday at 2:00

the Rexburg Temple being built

Guitars Unplugged

Mother's Weekend

Going to Rigby Lake

Working at Jamba Juice

Teaching Gospel Doctrine-crazy huh?

Dodgeball

Sugared almonds at the Nordic

1:30 church

Sleepovers in the living room on conference weekend

Dancing to High School Musical!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Delicately folded toilet paper-you know who you are haha

late night talks with my roommates

Sunday dinners
Personal Achievement with Bishop Davis
chocolate chip panacakes
Visits from General Authorities

And the list could go on forever! In short I'm thankful for BYU-Idaho and for the spirit there. The campus is beautiful and the people are great. I had a great experience there.

I went to a graduation banquet on Friday before graduation and President Clark spoke to us. He asked us to take a moment and think about how many prayers had gotten us to this point. I couldn't even begin to count them! He also read the scripture D&C 97:3. It says: "Behold, I say unto you, concerning the school in Zion, I, the Lord, am well pleased that there should be a school in Zion..." He went on to say that for many of us the school in Zion has been, is now, and will be BYU-Idaho. I believe it.

Almost done!

2010-03-27T13:36:00.000-07:00

I'm almost done with Student Teaching! I have to go back Monday and Tuesday, but then I'll be free! Last week I turned the class back over to my teacher, so I've had a pretty laid back week. And also very boring! I thought I would really like not having to teach but I miss it! It makes the day go by so slow and I'm not used to being in charge of my kids lol. I spent the week observing other teachers, making copies, and grading papers and such. Oh and putting together my Teacher Work Sample-which is a huge project! I had my exit interview on Thursday, which is where I presented my work sample to my University Supervisor and another lady from BYU-Idaho. It went really well and I felt so stress free walking out of there. And also excited and very sad! Yes, sad. I will miss my sixth graders! I never thought I would hear those words come out of my mouth but it is true. I have become so attatched to them and feel like I was just getting the hang of things and then had to leave. That's how it always is, right? The last few months have been the most stressful and exhausting months of my life! But I feel so much more prepared to be a teacher and so much more confident in myself. I know without a shadow of a doubt that I want to be a teacher and can't wait to get started. I'm working on getting applications in everywhere and had my first interview a few weeks ago. It was with a charter school called Providence Hall. I really liked the school and the principal and would be happy to work there. We'll see how it goes. I know for all my millions of blog viewers out there that you're all dying to see something new on here, so here's a few pics of what I've been doing for the past three months.

I taught a unit on the Renaissance and had my kids make a map of the world out of play dough. They had to label the oceans, continents, and major mountain ranges. They loved it and I was so impressed with how well their maps turned out.

The sixth graders met their reading goal for the month so all the sixth grade teachers had to do something for the kids. We dressed up like hippies all day and at lunch time did a lip sync to 'California Deamin' by the Mommas and the Poppas. The kids loved it and the funniest thing was they ALL took out their cell phones and videod the whole thing!

This is me going to my first interview, I was so nervous!

Is it any surprise that I see Eden practically every day since I've moved here? We're best friends :) She always gets into my purse and plays with my tampons. So here she is...

Me and Shantae made a cake for Adam for his birthday. It was on Super Bowl Sunday and his teams was the Colts, so it worked out perfectly. Well would have if the Colts had won ha ha.

My family went to Island Park for President's Day so here's a few pictures of the great weekend.

And of course I love being so close to my girls! And Michael ha ha.

Surviving the first month....

2010-01-30T08:47:00.000-08:00

Well, it's official-I'm done with the first month of student teaching! Woot woot! Only two more to go. I'm enjoying my sixth grade class a lot more than I thought I would. Here's why;

1: They are a lot more independent
2: The girls are the sweetest thing ever!
3: The sixth grade staff is amazing
4: I'm actually decent at sixth grade math
5: I love my cooperating teacher
6: The kids make me laugh everyday, seriously, if you think your life has drama, just ask a 6th grader-they have wwaaayyy bigger 'issues' than you :) They also know everything, so I'm probably learning more from them than they are me :)

There are definitely better days than others, and if anyone knows how to deal with sixth grade boys, I would love the advice! They can be quite the little stinkers sometimes. I'm just hoping that I can make it through the next two months without getting sick again-I've been sick twice since we started!!! Those kids are out to get me!!! ha ha But I am learning a lot everyday from my wonderful cooperating teacher and can't wait to have the class to myself. I LOVE teaching!

Last Day in Southfork

2009-12-13T16:55:00.001-08:00

For my Senior Practicum class this semester I've been teaching 2nd grade at Southfork Elementary in Rigby, Idaho. I love these kids! My last day there was last week and I was so sad to leave them! They say the funniest things and make me smile every time I'm there. They made me a bag and they all sighned it-some even put their phone number on there so I could call them! Then they all wrote me the sweetest cards and I laughed when I read them. One little boy told me I was smarter than the ginger bread man! How cute! Another little girl told me she wished I was her sister! Tender! I'm planning on going back to visit them one more time before I move home, but I've loved teaching them and will miss seeing them every week.

These are some pictures of the bag they made me. How cute!!!

Student Teaching Placement

2009-12-13T16:50:00.000-08:00

Last week I got my student teaching placement for next semester and I will be teaching 6th grade at West Valley Elementary in West Valley, Utah. I'm glad that we finally found out where we're going, but I am not happy about 6th grade. I've been teaching 2nd grade this whole semester and have fallen in love with them! 6th graders scare me!!!!!!!! I'll admit the idea is growing on me, but I still wish I was in a lower grade. But for now I'll just look for the positive and try to get ready to start on January 4th, 2010. Wish me luck!!!

Birthday Festivities!

2009-11-16T17:16:00.000-08:00

My 23rd birthday was on Friday, November 13, and let me just say it was a blast! First of all, uh what??? I'm 23??? Suhweet! :) This whole past weekend has just been so so great and I'm so thankful to be surrounded by such great people! I am so lucky! So here's a few pictures of the birthday festivities.....My roommate Nadya's birthday was also in November so we went out to Red Robin for a joint birthday dinner.

This was the BEST surprise!!!! These girls-and their husbands!-drove all the way from Provo to surprise me at my party on Friday night!!!!! I couldn't have asked for a better present!

Seriously, love them!!!!

Blowing out the candles.....almost a fire hazard ha ha.

Mmmm...delicious cake.

Aww, how tender are we?

Everyone that came for the rockin party!

Trynda was sweet enough to throw me this party-Thanks Trynda!

Me and my roommate Alaina. My flowers are from my parents for my birthday and her flowers are from her boyfriend for their one year aniversary, and have seen better days, ha ha.

Saying goodbye at Jenn's old stompin grounds :(

My Vera Bradley wallet! I love it! So cute!

So my parents got me a GPS for my birthday. Apparently they're tired of me calling and getting directions from them all the time, ha ha.

Birthday cake with my family.

Once again, I'm so thankful to everyone who make this weekend so special! I love you all!!!!!

3 Days.....

2009-11-16T17:13:00.000-08:00

Enough said.

Student Teaching!!!

2009-09-20T18:31:00.000-07:00

So, I'm student teaching in January, and I just found out that I'm going to be teaching in Utah at Granite School District. I don't really know anything about that district, but I'm excited to know where I'm going, and to know that it's really happening! I can't believe that I'm actually going to be student teaching! I always knew it would come someday, but it feels like I just barely started college. Anyway, I'm excited and will hopefully find out more soon!

Student Ambassadors

2009-09-20T18:16:00.000-07:00

So, it's the beginning of my last semester at BYU-Idaho. Sad :( I've always wanted to be involved in an organization on campus, so this semester I joined an organization called Student Ambassadors. The main thing we do is give tours of campus to prospective BYU-Idaho students and we also have visit days on Fridays, which is when we actually take the prospective students to our classes with us and give them a personal tour of Rexburg and BYU-Idaho. Yesterday we had a retreat all day, and it was actually really fun. We went to the Ropes Course on campus and did a lot of teambuilding activities. Then we went out by Beaver Dick and had some training and a barbeque. I met a lot of fun people and am excited to work with them throughout the semester.

This is a picture of the golf carts I'll be driving around campus to give my tours. Ours actually isn't this nice, but it's pretty close.

St. George

2009-08-18T20:00:00.001-07:00

My family recently took a trip to St. George for a few days. Despite the long drive it was really fun. The weather was great and it was so warm every day! We spent a day in Zions National Park, which was really cool. We went on a few hikes there that were really beautiful. We also went to see the musical Footloose at the Tuacan Theater, which was outside and it was so so good! Here's a few pictures!

The family at Zions National Park.

I know I only seem to get pictures of Eden when she's crying, but I promise she wasn't like this the whole time.

Kyran and I waiting to see Footloose.

Eden and I at the St. George Temple.

Eden and I were riding buddies all the way down and back to St. George. I was pretty proud of myself for entertaining her most of the time.

All done!

2009-07-23T14:02:00.001-07:00

First of all I am completely 100% done with classes for this semester! Woo hoo! Now I just have to pack and clean-yay :( But I'm excited to relax for a few weeks before getting back into school. I finished my final cake project for cake decorating and let me tell you, I am so so so happy this thing is done! After working on it for 6 hours straight some days it's a good feeling.

Although I'm happy to be done with school, it's a bitter sweet ending for me. This was my last semester living with my BEST girlfriends and I'm going to be so sad when I return to an apartment without them! They've really been the best roommates and friends anyone could ask for and even though I'm going to miss them so much I know that they're doing great things in their lives. Here's just a few pictures of us throughout our time living together. Love these girls!

Aberdeen Daze

2009-07-09T21:22:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite childhood memories is Aberdeen Daze in the summer. This summer I brought all my roommates and some friends-a total of 11 people!- home to Aberdeen to celebrate Aberdeen Daze. We had so much fun! We ate breakfast in the park, then went boating all day long and it was great! The weather was perfect and we all got some pretty good sun. We also watched the parade and ate at the fish fry. It was such a great weekend and I loved being able to spend it with my favorite people and get to show them my small hometown. Also, a big shout out to my family for putting up with us and my mom for making sure we never went hungry!

Waiting in line for breakfast.

The funnest slumber party ever!

I love these girls so much and am so lucky to get to live with such amazing people!

The whole group-all 11 of us!

My niece Eden and I-she was tired. The boys, Kyran loved them!

This was the funnest tube ever!

Enjoying a boat ride Friday night.

The extended Palmer Family :)

Cake Decorating

2009-07-06T17:06:00.000-07:00

My roommate Anessa and I are taking a cake decorating class this semester. It is so much fun, but so much more work than I ever thought it would be! I'm learning a lot and my eyes have been opened to a whole new world of culinary arts that I never knew existed. Here are some of the cakes we've made in our class:

This was the first buttercream cake I made.

This is my roommate Anessa and I with out fondant projects. They took soooo long!

This is the cake we made for my roommate Jenni's bridal shower. We also made sugar cookies for the guests. This was tons of fun and she loved it :)

This is my Royal Icing project.

This is Eden and I with her cake :)

And then just one of the two of us for fun!

I'm a Blogger!!!

2009-07-06T16:38:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's true-I'm officially sucked into the blogging world-thanks to Shante, Jenni and Anessa :) I'm still trying to figure everything so be patient with me, I'm trying my best but this stuff is tough! Wish me luck!