A story that needs to be told...

There's a story that I've been meaning to write for a while.

I've put down many of my thoughts about it over the last couple years and I haven't actually started the draft yet. But I'm hoping this weekend, I can start the story of my experience of working in Disney World.

It's a story that needs to be told.

Wait for it.... wait for it...

AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
http://pirates-of-the-caribbean-4-trailer.blogspot.com/2010/07/pirates-of-caribbean-4-sneak-preview.html


(I'm a little excited for Pirates 4, can you tell? :D)

I'm Almost There!!! I can do this!!!

Couldn't have said it better myself, Tiana!

Tis the Season to be Thankful!

Remember how I said I was going to go study? Yeah.... I'll do that in a minute or two. I just wanted to say what I was grateful for since it is the month of Thanksgiving right now and we need to be reminded of everything our wonderful Heavenly Father has blessed us with. I wrote a post a few months ago about people and things I'm grateful for, but I don't care. There's no such thing as being too grateful for what you have!

There's a lot of things for me to write, so I suppose I'll categorize them to make it easier for me.

Schools:
-Being in Joyschool as a kid and meeting some of my best friends

-Preschool with Ms. Horner

-J.R. Smith Elementary

-Midway Elementary (I had two pen pals there when I was in 3rd grade and my class got to visit that school to meet our pen pals :D)

-Wasatch Middle School

-Rocky Mountain Junior High

-Wasatch High School

-UVSC aka UVU

-BYU-Idaho

... and every other school in the entire world that allows students to have an education.

People:
-Every single one of my roommates that I've ever had in my life (at school or in Walt Disney World).

-The lessons I've learned while having those roommates.

-The good times I had with my closest roommates

-The not-so-good times I had with any of my roommates

-My immediate family. I appreciate them now more than ever because they have always been there for me.

-My Mom's side of the family

-My Dad's side of the family

-My Day's Market coworkers. They often see sides of me that many people, including my family and friends outside of work, don't see on a regular basis and I thank them for being there to appreciate the feelings I often feel when dealing with certain customers that come through my line. :)

-My supervisors at the ROC (my default college job)

-The other interviewers at the ROC

-My coworkers at any of the jobs I had before going to Day's Market

-Every single school teacher I had from Preschool all the way to 12th grade

-Mrs. Patterson for inspiring me to go into teaching

-Mrs. Isaksen for teaching me how to write cursive

-My chorus/choir teachers

-Ms. Thurnell for teaching me about the basics of theatre

-My Timpanogos Valley Theatre Family

-My UVSC and BYU-Idaho Professors

-All of the bishops I've had, both at home and at school, and the bishopric members adn their wives

-My friends that I met while working in Walt Disney World

-All the Presidents of the United States we've had from 1776 to the present day

-Johnny Depp and Sandra Bullock: my favorite actor and actress

There are SOOOO many more people I could list, but I need to move on to a different area that I'm grateful for.

I'm grateful for many places, but for the sake of keeping my whereabouts private, I'll just say I'm grateful for every place I've lived or visited.

I suppose I'll just have to write another gratitude post another day because I'm out of time at the moment.

See ya real soon!

Dates, Tests, and Thanksgiving in a week!

Happy Monday everyone!

I hope everyone who reads my blog (and everyone who doesn't, which is probably a much larger number than who does) is having a wonderful day! I had a very busy week/weekend and it's only going to get busier! I'm particularly happy about a few recent developments in my life.

#1 I'm going to the Preparedness Fair here on campus tonight for FHE. Yes, I am a nerd, but when you are a poor starving college student, 72 hour kits are your best friends. :)

#2 Devotional tomorrow. Yay!!! I love going to devotional every week and seeing President and Sister Clark.

#3 For the second week in a row, I get to help with an after school art program at one of the local elementary schools here in South-eastern ID. Watching and listening to kindergarten and first graders make art projects is SO fun!

#4 I am going on a date with a guy I enjoy being with. :)

#5 I am auditioning for "Magic Moments," which is one of the talent performances here on campus. It's a Disney-themed show in which people can sing, dance, or perform skits that are Disney themed. (I'm positive this show was created with me in mind :D) If I don't get in, there's a very good chance that I will cry because like I said- this show was MADE for me!!

#6 I am going home next week for the Thanksgiving break!!! Happy happy day!!


This past weekend, I took the Praxis again and I felt a lot better about how I did on it as opposed to the first time I took the PLT. That same day, I also retook one of my Math 101 chapter tests. I've said it many times and I'll say it again- I don't care if I get any higher than a C or a C- in either of my math classes. I JUST WANT TO PASS THEM!!

I've also been on a couple dates with a guy I met a couple weeks ago. He's a great guy and I love spending time with him. He actually beat me at Disney Scene It, so that tells you how well we get along when it comes to Disney stuff. :) (I'm totally fine with him beating me- I got a cheap question at the end)

He and I are going to watch another movie this week and I'm really excited because I haven't seen the movie and I've heard nothing but good things about it. Maybe some of you have seen or heard of it. We're watching "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs."

There's actually quite a few movies that John has seen that I haven't that he wants me to see, so we'll see how many we can cram in before the end of the semester when I leave BYU-I to go student-teach in Utah.

Time to go study! Bye!

Me understanding math= me understanding people speak Spanish

While I was sitting in my Math 101 class today, I decided that me trying to understand math is very similar to me understanding and speaking Spanish. When I hear people speak Spanish, I can pick out bits and pieces of what they are saying and sort of make sense out of it. However, when it comes down to me writing or speaking (or writing) a sentence that makes sense, it takes a long time and is sometimes very difficult for me to create a statement that can be understood.

When I am sitting in my math classes, I feel like I'm listening to my professor and the rest of the students speaking Spanish. I can pick out terms that I understand, but when they are having a conversation about a problem, I feel like I'm listening to two fluent Spanish speakers where I don't completely understand what they are saying and then I get very lost in trying to understand how to complete a problem.

My relationship with Math

I've been thinking a lot lately about the relationship I have with math. And this is what I have decided it to be.

Math hates me. It mocks me. It pretends to like me when people are tutoring me and trying to help me understand, but when the tutor leaves me alone with my math problems or I go to take a test, the math seems to be saying to me "You can't handle our problems! Your little brain can't comprehend our complexities!"

Math has hated me my entire life. There have been very few times when we have gotten along. I think a good way to describe how well Math and I go together is like trying to mix oil and water. It just doesn't work. No matter how hard I've tried to get these concepts to click in my head, they seem to be missing that one small piece that results in the clicking together like a seatbelt and its buckle. Once that piece is established, its hard to forget the information because all the pieces fit together.

Well, I am here to tell you that I am going to find a way for math to at least tolerate me this semester. We may not always see eye to eye, but if we can find some kind of compromise where I use my own techniques of making math concepts work, then I think that math and I can find a way to get along for the remainder of the semester. Now the only question left is this: what connections or techniques can I find that will allow me to fully understand my math classes and not compromise the integrity of the subject of math itself?

I guess that's a question that I will have to solve myself. There is no one that can help me solve that puzzle in a way that will make sense to me better than myself.

I'm Back in School!

Wow, it's been two months since I made that last post- I need to step up my game a bit! :) Well, in case any of you who know me and haven't read my blog in a while or have talked to me recently, here's an update on what's happened regarding my schooling and such:

I walked for graduation at BYU-I back in April, expecting to do my student teaching in SLC this Fall (aka NOW). Well, it turns out that not only did I not get a passing grade (C- or above) in my Math 206 class, but I also did not pass the third diagnostic math exam that all the Elementary Education majors at BYU-I have to take if they haven't taken/passed Math 108 (which I have not done). So instead of doing my student teaching this Fall, I am back at BYU-Idaho.... again.

Fortunately I am only taking two classes this semester. UNfortunately, they are both MATH. Yeah, you guessed it- I am having to take 206 yet again. And since I didn't pass the third exam (I passed the 1st and 2nd tests; the 2nd test took me a year to finally pass), I am enrolled in Math 101, which is Intermediate Algebra. So taking Intermediate Algebra will give me the equivalent of taking the 3rd exam. I'm positive I can pass it, I'm just going to have to really knuckle down this semester with my homework. And since these are literally the only two classes I am taking, that won't be too hard. I'm a teacher's assistant for Beginning Clog, but that doesn't count because all I have to do is show up and help Annmarie teach beginning clog (I have NO homework for that class because I'm not one of the students).

Anyway, so yeah, the semester started about a week ago and I am in the full swing of things. Fortunately, I have spruced up my school supplies to make taking notes more fun. I have Disney princess folders for both classes, as well as a Mickey notebook to take notes in for 206. I also have a Tinkerbell pencil pouch to hold writing utensils and other things in. I have decided that if I have to take two classes in the one subject I despise the most (Math... just in case anyone was wondering), I am going to make doing homework and taking notes for those classes as fun as I can.

Interestingly enough, that plan has worked! :) I LOVE taking notes for 206 because Mickey is on every page, which makes me want to make sure I strategically place my notes so it looks like Mickey is helping me. :)

I have to admit, even though it's nice to be back at school... (kinda, I'm still deciding whether I'm glad to be back or not), I am really missing being home. Usually at this time of year, I'm in TVT rehearsals, preparing for the Fall production that TVT always does. I'm also usually hard at work at Day's Market. During the last few months when I've been at home, I have become really close with some of the people I work with at Day's and it's been really hard for me to not be there all the time to spend time with them. So for all of you who I normally see every day at Day's or my Timpanogos Valley Theatre family:



I'm just trying to find opportunities to socialize with people while I'm up here. I've tried to get my homework done by the weekend so that I have many opportunities to play, but apparently I haven't done a very good job of finding a lot people around my age because it seems like there are a lot of younger people (I'm referring to the fresh-out-of-high-school kids) than there are of people my age. And the people that are my age are busy with other things, so I've found myself just filling my time by getting ahead on my math assignments (I know- how lame am I?)

Anyway, that's what I've been up to lately! I hope you all have a wonderful and happy day!

I'm ready!!!!

If you had asked me if I was excited to be going back to school this Fall about a month ago, I would have said "Absolutely not! I don't want to go back!" But now, I am more than ready to go back. I want to go back. I have some of my best friends that will be there next semester and I'm only taking two classes this Fall. I'm really looking forward to being at BYU-I in the Fall again.

I'll be able to have the social life I never really had during the Winter semester of this year and I'll get to work a lot. I also have a couple motivating factors that are going to make my semester a whole lot more enjoyable. :) For instance, this lovable mouse...


I have found my motivation for this coming Fall semester and I am ready to face it head on!

My latest adventures

The last few weeks of my life can be explained in one word: busy! Here are a few things that I've done lately.

#1 My most recent adventure: seeing Toy Story 3 in 3D!


Now obviously that isn't in 3D right there, but I absolutely LOVED TS3!!!! I would put up pictures of my dressing up as Barbie for when I went to see it, but my computer is having issues, so I don't have any recent pictures uploaded on my computer as of late. However, if you are my facebook friend, you can take a looksee on there instead! :)

#2 I took a little trip to Northern Utah/Southeastern Idaho to take my 3rd diagnostic exam. I spent two and a half days in Logan at my older brother's house preparing for the test and then I got to spend time with both of my brothers, my sister-in-law, my niece, and my younger brother's fiance. The last day and a half of my trip was spent at my friend Jessica's place and I played with some of my Hobbit Hole roomies. :) Good times, good times!

#3 I'm taking an online Teachings of the Living Prophets class right now. Even though it is a lot of work because it's a 2 or 3 credit class crammed into a block class, I still love it. I spent basically two whole days reading talks from General Authorities and it was FABULOUS! I got to choose some of the talks I had to read to do a journal entry on and those talks were JUST what I needed to hear (read?) at the time. I love being a spiritual highs!

#4 This coming weekend, I get to go see the Manti pageant with my singles ward!! I haven't seen it since I was in Young Womens, so I am so excited to go see it again, and with some really fun people in my ward no less! Yippee!

#5 Fathers Day!! I love my daddy. He is amazing and wonderful and has taught me soooo much. He has always been a great leader for me in my life. I have learned some great things from him on how to be a good teacher. There are so many more things I could and need to say about him, but I am working an opening shift at the store tomorrow and I need to get some shut-eye.

Until next time!

Things I love

I love my family more than anything.

I love my friends and depend on them more than they may realize.

I love to smile and laugh/giggle.

This may come as a shock, but I love Disney.

I love Mickey Mouse.

I love Beauty and the Beast, Princess and the Frog, The Little Mermaid, and all three of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

I love to perform, whether it is singing, dancing, or acting (or doing all three at the same time).

Sandra Bullock is my favorite actress.

Johnny Depp is my favorite actor.

Besides my home and being in the temple, Disney World is my favorite place in the ENTIRE world.

I love visiting characters in the Disney Parks and I am willing to wait in line for an hour to visit my favorites if there is no other time that I can do it.

I love to read. Before this spring, I hadn't been able to read for pleasure because of how busy I was with school. I now have some downtime and I love filling it with reading many, many books.

I love to read childrens literature.

I love learning about people and their pasts.

I love to dance.

I love experiencing and learning cultures from all over the world.

I love to help people.

I love to write stories or just express myself through the written word.

I love children. Sometimes I prefer to be around them rather than adults because I feel I identify with them better on some levels.

I love dogs and puppies. I like cats too, but I prefer canines to felines.

I love chocolate.

I love popcorn. Especially either movie theater popcorn or the stuff you get in the Disney parks.

I love Zebra Domes, which are a specialty dessert made exclusively at the Animal Kingdom Lodge in Disney World.

I love to take pictures and then arrange those pictures to tell stories.

I love beauty pageants.

I love to learn.

I love to bake.

I love to swim and be in water.

I love to watch "Popples," which was a show that was available to watch on video in the early 90's.

I love to daydream.

I love overcoming obstacles.

I love my savior, Jesus Christ.

I love to dress up for holidays (Valentines Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Independence Day, Patriot Day, Christmas, Halloween)

I love to dress up as a character from a movie when I see a movie I have been looking forward to seeing on opening night.

I love attending midnight showings of movies.

I love to be girly and dress up and pretend I'm a princess.

I love to sleep.

I love improving my singing voice.

I love watching a child experience an 'aha!' moment after teaching them something.

I love bright colors, particularly pink.

I love making crafty things.

I love experimenting with my looks (hair, clothes, accessories).

I love traveling by plane and having a window seat.

I love star-gazing.

I love to watch movies and quote them.

I love candy.

I love crossing things off "To Do" lists.

I love babies.

I love to decorate and make things look festive or pretty.

I love to organize.

Happy 24th birthday to me!

Today is my 24th birthday! I don't really have very many plans today, to be completely honest. I'm substituting for my dad's TV classes all this week, so I got to start my day around 6:30am today. :P When I was a kid, I got up that early voluntarily because I was so excited about my birthday and the festivities of the day. But now, I'm boring and I am not too crazy about getting up any time before 9am on my birthday. Oh well. I get to celebrate the beginning of my 24th year and get paid for supervising my dad's classes. I can do that. :)

So I know I used this picture in my previous post about going to Disney World, but I decided that while I was in Disney World, I would celebrate my birthday while I was there.

I played in the parks on Friday, Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday and I got my birthday pin on Saturday. So I didn't get to wear it during the entire Disney visit, but I wore it three out of the four days, so I got some good use out of it.

I watched the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! street party on Friday, Saturday, and Tuesday and I got the best reaction from Mickey on Saturday. On Friday, Courtney and I didn't know which side Mickey would be on during the parade, so we ended up being on the opposite side of where he was. I decided that I loved the parade (and Mickey) enough that I was going to sacrifice going to the Block Party Bash on Saturday (since Mickey wasn't even in that parade in Hollywood Studios) and go to the Street party again instead.

Courtney and I staked out our spot well before the party started so that by the time it did start and everyone realized what was happening, no one could take our PERFECT spot. I was wearing my birthday button and so a lot of the parade performers noticed and wished me a happy birthday. :) Once all the floats got to their spots in the Hub circle, the announcer did a "celebrate roll call" for everyone to say what they were celebrating. Courtney and I already knew what the procedure was from experiencing it the day before, so I was ready to give my shout out. I made sure I was visible to Mickey so he would see my button. Before they even did the roll call, Mickey pointed at my button to show that he saw it and then he clapped for me. :) So once they did do the roll call, he zeroed right in on me and 'cheered'. It made me really happy.

After a few minutes, they invited everyone to come out into the street and jam with the performers. Mickey stayed on his float, but Donald came down and was the center of a dance circle. A lot of the other characters got off their floats to come into the street too, but we were between the main float with Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Minnie and Genie's float with some other characters. A PhotoPass person managed to get some pictures of Courtney and I dancing and then he gave us a card with the pictures on them, so you can get an idea of what the dance party looked like.


It was SO hot, but SO much fun!! I even got a video of Mickey 'accepting' a kiss I blew to him by touching his heart when he saw me do it. I loved the party so much that I went one more time on Tuesday before I left Wednesday to go home. It was fun, but Saturday was more fun because Mickey was more responsive to me. That and we got to do a Conga line on Friday and Saturday, but for some reason they cut it out on Tuesday. Oh well. Go figure.

We'll see what birthday surprises are in store for me today. It's supposed to be kind of rainy and gloomy, so I am going to try to make up for that by watching some kind of Disney movie. Maybe Beauty and the Beast or Princess and the Frog. Or Pirates of the Caribbean! I don't know, there's just so many choices to choose from!

Trip to Disney World

MAN I love Disney World! I will write about more of the specifics later, but for now I'll just do the basics.

Thursday:
- Arrived in Florida after 4 hours of flying and nearly 3 hours waiting to have our plane de-iced before taking off.
- Downtown Disney with Megan and Courtney
- Kitchen Sink with Courtney, Bryce, and a few friends

Friday:
Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios with Courtney

Saturday:
Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, Magic Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios with Courtney



Sunday:
Church at new building with Buena Vista YSA ward
Dinner with Uncle Brad, Aunt Debi, David, Whitney, and Melanie

Monday:
Epcot with Uncle Brad, Aunt Debi, David, Whitney, and Melanie
Animal Kingdom by myself

Tuesday:
Hollywood Studios and Downtown Disney with Uncle Brad, Aunt Debi, David, Whitney, and Melanie
Magic Kingdom by myself



Wednesday:
Breakfast at Denny's with Celeste
Drove to airport with Uncle Brad, Aunt Debi, David, Whitney, and Melanie

Next week.....

I get to go to Disney World!!!!!!!!

My parents are giving me a trip to go to WDW as a graduation present, so we have been figuring out a schedule for me to go down there for almost a week. For the first half of my trip, I'm staying with one of my favorite friends, Courtney,

who is probably the only person I know that truly understands my obsession with characters. We're going to meet a whole bunch of characters and play in the parks while I stay with her.

Then for the second half of the trip, I'm going to spend my time with some of my Uncle Brad's family because my cousin Whitney is following in mine and our cousin Dayna's footsteps and she is working in WDW on her own college program. I am so jealous that she gets to be working down there right now. But I am really excited to get to spend some time with some of my cousins and my aunt and uncle because I haven't gotten to do very much with them in the past.

Yay for going to one of my favorite places on earth!!!

Now that I have a little downtime...

I haven't been able to have any real downtime for the last three months, so I am going to take this opportunity to do some needed writing without feeling guilty that I'm not doing homework (cause I have none! :D).

We'll start with the most recent.


One week ago today, I walked for graduation at BYU-Idaho. I still have some things to do (like student teaching) before I technically 'graduate,' but as for classes and college life at BYU-Idaho, I am done. I may visit my friends once or twice in the next month, but as for being an actual student on the BYU-I campus I am DONE!

I have really enjoyed my time at BYU-I. I have made many, many wonderful friends who I will probably keep for life. I have lived in quite a few places all over campus and I have participated in a lot of activities. One of my previous roommates, Deanna graduated this semester too(see below)

and she just did a statistics report of her time at BYU-I on her blog, so I suppose I will do the same (only I'll put my own spin on it).

1st semester LIVING at BYU-I: Fall 2005
1st semester of school at BYU-I: Winter 2006
Last semester of school at BYU-I: Winter 2010

Places I lived at BYU-I: Nauvoo House, Riviera, Crestwood Cottage, Hillcrest

Roommate total: 33 (36 if you count my off-track in Disney World)

Activities/events: Broadway Revue, Battle of the Dance (twice), Collegiate Dancers Showcase (twice)

Groups: Education Society, Collegiate World dance team

Wards: 54th, 1st, 85th, 5th, 38th (I think that's all of them)

I loved attending school at BYU-I. I actually had the honor of being there when the dean of our school, President Kim B. Clark was inaugurated by President Hinckley. It was really cool. I wasn't in the Hart, but I watched it being broadcasted in one of the overflow buildings and that was very cool. President and Sister Clark felt like the father and mother of our university. They were always so loving when they spoke to us at devotionals and you could tell from listening to them talk how much they loved each one of us.

I would do a stat report of all the guys that I had crushes on, but that's a little too personal and I don't want to get that detailed (partially cause I don't want to admit to the number of guys I liked).

Okey dokey, now that I've got my school stats reported, I'll start thinking about the things that I've wanted to write about but didn't have time to write about.

I'm in a weird state of being right now. I'm not quite to student teaching, so I'm still technically a student. But I'm done with the majority of my college career. I suppose part of the reason why I feel like I am in a weird state of being is because I am removed from BYU-I-DO (which is a nickname that many of us that have attended there have come up with because of how many marriages/proposals happen there). During my last semester of school, I felt like a good chunk of good mature guys at school that I could end up with were gone already. I do admit that there was one guy who I became very good friends with who I think would be a good match for me, but he's not going to be done with school for another 2 years..... so yeah. I really would like to do more stuff with this guy, but he and I are in different states (literally) now and I don't know how I can do very much with him. I do have to make one more trip up to Rexburg within the next month, so maybe I can find a way to do something fun with him while I am there.

While I'm at it, I'll go back down memory lane and talk about some of my favorite things from my past.

"Those your skiis? Both of em?" Man, this movie has so many great quotes from it. My brothers and I watched this movie all the time when we were kids. "Big gulps huh? Well, see ya later!" Here's a random fact about that movie- the 2nd Honeymoon hotel in Dumb and Dumber is a hotel from my town, but its not called "The 2nd Honeymoon Hotel." It's changed names a few times since we moved here, but it has never been "The 2nd Honeymoon Hotel" since we've been here. Yes sir, this movie has some of the best movie quotes. These are some of my favorites:
"Now don't you go dying on me!"....."I just got robbed from a little old lady! And I never even saw it comin!"
"No way!.... We landed on the moon!!"
"You sold our dead bird to a blind kid?"
"Harry you're alive! And you're a terrible shot!"
"What if he shot you in the face?" "What if he shot me in the face?" "That was a risk we were willing to take."
"You'll have to excuse my friend, he's a little slow. The town is back that way!!" HAHAHA! Those are just some of the great lines from Dumb and Dumber. If you haven't seen it, I highly recmmend it.

Here is a cartoon that I frequently watched as a teenager.

My friend Natalie occasionally called me Spitz because the name of the main girl in this show was Sharon Spitz and she had braces and long blonde hair just like me. I really liked watching this show. I could identify a lot with Sharon because we were both teenagers with braces. Granted, my braces didn't spaz out and get radio signals from surrounding areas, but I still identified with Sharon.

I also LOVED watching this show as a teenager.

Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen are very close to my age, so I loved watching Two of a Kind because I could REALLY identify with them. There were several episodes that were very close to what I was dealing with in my life at the moment, so I watched that show every day as a young teenager. I watched every episode from the beginning to the end. Soon after they ended Two of a Kind, MK and Ashley starred on a new show called "So Little Time." It was funny, but it lacked a lot of depth and it was kind of pointless, so it got cancelled after the first season, I think.

Ok, I think that's all I've got for now.

After a year of working on this stupid test....

I FINALLY passed it and I couldn't be happier!!!! There was so much studying required to get this test passed, not to mention my AMAZING older brother who tutored me with a lot of the stuff. I honestly believe that if Mike hadn't helped me, I would not have passed it. Anyway, I just wanted to report that I did pass the test and now I get to have my normal happy personality again. :)

Go, Go, Go Heather...er... Joseph!

I was planning on coming down to Heber this weekend to see my TVT family perform Joseph, but homework and studying for tests forced me to stay in Rexburg. Fortunately, I was able to talk to quite a few of my friends from the cast tonight right before the show and it was SOOO good to talk to them. It made me really miss my theatre family back home (especially as I could hear them start 'Bananas' before the director hung up), but I am feeling better now after talking to my dad. He reminded me that a lot of the people in the cast are older than me and so they deserve to have a chance to be there, regardless of the fact that I'm feeling sorry for myself because I can't be there.

My dad reminded me that my time will come and he's right. Some of the cast members aren't (in my eyes) very much older than me, but they have earned the right to be part of such a momentous occasion, which is performing "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" in Timpanogos Valley Theatre's first permanent home. I have been feeling sorry for myself, but now that I'm thinking about the fact that I AM so young, I am ok with not being in the show. Because, just like it says in the song (with the substitution of my name instead of Joseph's):

"Go, go, go Heather you know what they say! Come on now Heather, you'll make it someday! Sha la la la Heather, you're still in your prime! You and your dreamcoat (or teaching) ahead of your time!"

There will be plenty of opportunities to be in other shows once I am done with college and I have started my teaching. So as of now, I am ok with where I am. Now I'll go tackle my pile of homework.

Student Teaching Placement!

I don't have all the details quite yet, but I was informed today that I will be doing my student-teaching in an elementary school somewhere in the Granite School District in Salt Lake this Fall. I cannot believe this is actually happening! I wasn't expecting to find out anything until at least April and here I am, halfway to finding out where I'll be put. It's got me really excited and also a little nervous.

I wonder what school I will be placed in? I wonder which grade I'll be teaching? My Early Field was in 2nd grade and I am in a 3rd grade class for my practicum right now. Maybe I will actually get to teach 1st grade? Hmmm. One can only hope.

I think Disney is finally making its comeback!!!

I am very happy to report that since Disney is finishing up with Hannah Montana, there is a new show coming that's called "Good Luck Charlie." Check it out! It looks like it might actually have some substance to it, unlike 1/2 of the shows on Disney right now.

YAY!!!

SO....CLOSE!!!!!

This is how I'm feeling right now. I'm so dang close to passing this stupid math test!!! I spent about an hour on it in the testing center and then when I decided that I was going to face the music and see what I got, I find out that I was 2 POINTS away from passing it. TWO DANG POINTS!!!!! UGH!!!! I only have one more try and then if I don't pass it, I have to take Math 108 or whatever class it is associated with. I better pass this test or I am going to cry.

I'm all alone

Although many people try to help, no one seems to have a real understanding of what I'm dealing with this semester. And that's when the feeling of loneliness takes over.

My feelings about Math:

Plain and simple. It doesn't matter how many times I try working on a problem. Just when I think I get it, I see the possible answers to a problem and my answer isn't even close to any of the choices. UGH. WHY is this so hard for me?!?!?!?

Ok, so maybe the word "hate" is a bit strong. I'm just getting really frustrated because when I've been reviewing some of the stuff on the EDMATH page on ilearn, some of the answers don't match the regular rules that I follow, and it confuses me a lot. In math, I thought there was only one rule to follow for each problem and that there weren't exceptions, but I apparently was wrong.

Well, I'm just going to have to keep working at it until the stuff sticks in my head and I pass those tests!

I sure do love the Chipmunks!

After I got done with work this morning, I went to the matinee of The Squeakuel at the cheap theater here in town. I LOVED it! I've been wanting to see it since it came out in theaters in December but I was too cheap to go to any of the nice theaters. It wasn't until I went to my Practicum and got to know my third graders that I realized that I needed to see this movie. I wanted to have an 'in' with my students so I could connect with them better. That was the extra push that got me to go see it this weekend, but honestly, I really did just want to see it for my own desires. :)

I have loved the Chipmunks and the Chipettes ever since their cartoon came out in the 80's. I have never grown out of my love for any of those chipmunks. My family used to have The Chipmunk Adventure on VHS, but it disappeared somewhere. :( Fortunately, a couple years ago, I was walking by one of the guys' apartments in my ward and from outside their window, I saw one movie frame on the TV and I instantly knew what movie they were watching. The door was open a smidge, so I went inside and blurted out "Is this The Chipmunk Adventure?!" I know its kind of sad how easily I can identify that movie, but I watched it ALL the time as a kid. And actually, I wouldn't mind watching it often even now as an adult.

This clip is by far my favorite part of the entire movie (and I'm sure many other people enjoy this part too)


Anyway, I gotta get back to doing the homework thing. I'm going on two weeks without Facebook right now! Hopefully I will get back on it within the month after passing those dang diagnostic exams.

I am taking drastic measures to be successful this semester

As I have said before, this is my last semester before I student teach and so I have to make sure I do well in ALL my classes and ALL of my tests. Well, my classes are actually not my biggest stresses right now (that's a first).

My biggest stresses right now are passing these dang prerequisite tests that are required for all Elementary Education majors at BYU-I to pass. I have passed the first one, but this second one is killing me and I've barely touched the third one because it scares the bejeebies out of me! I keep psyching myself whenever I try working on the problems on the practice test because I get test anxiety really badly and I think "I can't do this! I'm not going to pass these tests, so I'm not going to graduate!" And then I calm myself down and tell myself that I can do it. But when I try again, the same thing happens and its just a vicious cycle that's gotta stop.

I talked to my dad yesterday about it and he flat out told me that I have to stop doing that because its doing more damage than good. He told me that my primary focus this semester besides my classes is to pass those tests. Besides passing my actual classes, eating, and church, that was to be my focus this semester (I guess the whole sleeping thing is important too). So I have been cutting back on things I love. I am not taking ANY dance classes this semester, which is really hard for me since I love dance so much but I've wanted to be a teacher for too long to let dance stop me from graduating. I have also cut back on my social life a bit. It's mostly been limited to church, FHE, and maybe doing something on a Saturday with friends. After talking to my dad last night, I knew something that I had to do that would seriously make an impact on how much time I have to study this semester.


I have banned myself from my facebook account (temporarily).

I have found myself wasting way way WAY too much time on that thing and I decided that I was going to have prevent myself from getting tempted to go on there. So I told my dad what my password was and I told him to change it so I wouldn't be able to get on even if I tried really hard.

My first trial of that came today in my practicum when my cooperating teacher asked me if I had a facebook. She told me she has one and she said that's a faster way of getting in contact with her if I needed to ask her something. Immediately when she asked me that, I thought "Heather, don't give in. Emailing will suffice. You don't need to regain access to your facebook to keep in touch with her."

Well, now that I've spent a good 15 minutes on my blog writing this, perhaps I should get on to studying so I don't have to ban myself from blogging too.

Reflecting on the past- Part 2

I was thinking about what I said in the last post and in the beginning, I said "my interests as a teenager". I should have said "my interests as a kid" so it would encompass my child-years to my teen years.

Ok, so the next round is of all the shows I was into. I loved a lot of cartoons, but I'll just stick in Rugrats for now to cover the Nickelodeon shows.



And of course, ya gotta have the movies!

SPACE JAM! (the title isn't really supposed to be in caps, I just love the movie)


While I was Disney World, I was trying to figure out why I like Sorcerer Mickey so much. I think this is the reason why.

I'm pretty sure it's at the beginning of more than just 101 Dalmations and The Great Mouse Detective, but I could be wrong.

I suppose I could find more videos to take up more of your time, but I'll just say this instead:
I LOVED watching cartoons and movies as a kid and I still continue to love them today!

Reflecting on the past

So I was cruising around youtube today and I came upon David Archuleta's latest video blog (yeah.... I'm kinda subscribed to his channel... and David Cook's). But anyway, I usually look at the comments on his videos, but I've watched his videos enough that I know what is usually said:

"David ur so sweet! I love you!"
"You have such a good heart and you are an angel, luv you!"
"He is so cute! looooovvvvveeee hiiim!!!"
"David you are so talented! Can't wait to see u perform here!! I'm ur biggest fan!"

Yeah, I know. It's kind of sad how well I know the comments on his videos. Every time I read comments like that, I think "oh my gosh, these girls are so immature." But then I think 'wait a minute, I used to be their age. That's what I usually said about the Backstreet Boys, N*Sync, 98 degrees, Hanson, Jonathon Taylor Thomas... I'm pretty sure I could go on, but that's just a few of my teen obsessions.

After thinking about that, I started getting really nostalgic and started remembering what I did as a teenager and what I was interested in.

So here we go, a trip down memory lane..... *goes through fog of the past*

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(ok, so it wasn't that much fog, but I'm lazy and I need to go to bed eventually)

In the 90's, I was between the ages of 4 and 14, so I can literally say I was a kid of the 90's. Of course, kids play with toys and so I got all sorts of the popular toys. Remember the whole Elmo and Furby crazes? Yeah, I wasn't into Elmo, but I thought Furby was awesome! Unfortunately, I gave my poor parents a run for their money because the year Furby was popular, I got a "Millenium Furby" (ok, so apparently they came out in the late 90's, but they were still in the 90's!) instead of the baby Furby. My parents had bought me a baby Furby first and then I saw a commercial for the big Furby's and I said I wanted one of those instead.



Another very popular toy that both my brothers and I got for Christmas one year.

Nano and Giga Pets! I know there was also Tamagotchi, but we had the other two.
I had a Nano kitty and a Nano dog and I think my brothers had a Giga Monkey and a Giga Dinosaur

(I found this picture on a another website- its not mine)

I think my brothers enjoyed this next toy of mine as much as I did:

The Easy Bake Oven!!!


Mike and Tyler were always asking me whenever I got out my Easy Bake Oven if they could have some of cookies or whatever I would make. I got some really good baked goods out that thing! That was so fascinating how I would dump the packet of cake mix or cookies or brownies into the mixing bowl, add water, pour it in the small pan, put it in the oven, and in just a few minutes I could pull out (with the nifty hook-ish spatula that came with the oven) a very nice looking treat. Oh man, those were good times.

As you can probably tell, I did a lot of things with my brothers as a kid, so of course, I played a lot of video games as a kid.

My brothers and I played so many games on that thing! Let's see, what all did we play?

Sonic the Hedgehog was definitely one of my favorites

I think we also played a few Disney games on there like Toy Story and Aladdin (I still remember running as Rex in Andy's room to beat the timer and also flying on the magic carpet in Aladdin)

I watched TV a lot too, so I switched between Nickelodeon and the Disney channel (that's a shocker, huh?)


*sigh*

Oh, the good old days of the GOOD Disney channel.

Well, that will be the first chapter in our little flashback to the 90's.

Until next time!

So far so good!

Well after a few days of stressing about going into the schools for my practicum class, I finally had my first day there. I'm in a 3rd grade class and I have a really easy-going teacher. I love it. I was slightly terrified when we were going in, but after the first half hour or so, I managed to calm down and really observe the students and how the teacher managed the classroom. I teach my first lesson tomorrow, so that will be interesting. I'm kind of excited for it because it's a grammar lesson. :) We'll see how it goes!

I'm ready- let's do this!!

Well the main reason why I was stressing for the semester is over with, which was finding out where my placement would be for my practicum. I can just tell you that I am ready for this. I will be in a 3rd Grade classroom and I am really excited because my Early Field placement was in a 2nd grade classroom. This is going to be a great semester!! Yes it will be difficult, but I can do it!

New and LAST semester.... yipes!

Ok I am officially starting to freak out. My last semester starts tomorrow and I already have an assignment due. I'm going to get to it in just a second, but I have to let out my anxiety. I'm a little scared right now, ok strike that- I am A LOT scared now. I have my practicum two days a week where I am in an elementary school all day and then I have three other classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'm auditing my religion class on Mondays and Wednesdays because I've taken all my required religion classes and I just thought this one would be interesting (World Religion). Anyway, I'm going to be doing lesson plans up the wazoo because of my practicum and my Math Methods class. *inhales and exhales* I've gotta just take it one day at a time. If I let myself think too far ahead in the week with everything I've gotta do, it won't get done.

One day at a time, Heather, one day at a time. Now I'm off to do that first lesson plan due tomorrow. *sigh*

My goals

This is slightly cliche, but I am going to write down my goals for this year. The difference between my goals for this year and the past years is that this is in the public eye. People may read this and may ask me about my goals, so it forces me to actually do them. Ok, so here goes:

#1 Pass all my math tests

#2 Get at least a B in all of my classes

#3 Earn enough money to pay for my books and both of my Praxis exams

#4 Pass both of my Praxis Exams

#5 Have a positive experience in my Practicum

#6 Finish my Letter of Introduction before the end of January

#7 Go on at least 3 dates with guys that ask me out instead of me asking them

#8 Earn enough money to pay for my semester of Student Teaching in the Fall

#9 Be more social while still getting good grades

#10 Spend more time with my siblings

I'm sure I've got more, but that's all I can think of right now.