My First Tag

This is the first time I have ever done one of these, but Rheanna tagged me specifically, so I guess I'll do it. Here it goes!

Ten Years Ago:
Let's see. I was 16 almost 17. I was just finishing my sophomore year in high school. I was working for my friend's parents at a custom framing gallery as well as cleaning their house a little. I just realized that exactly 10 years ago I was in Brazil with my dad and some of my sisters picking up my brother from his mission.

Five Years Ago:
I was living in Geneva, Switzerland (well, a suburb very close to Geneva, anyway) as an LDS missionary. This was one of my most favorite cities. By this time I was finally able to speak French fluently, though most of the time we were teaching in Spanish and Portuguese (with translators). Some of my favorite places to "faire du contacting" was right around Geneva Lake (especially at sundown when they turn on the lights around the lake) and in the parks (there were so many lovely parks, I can't name them all). Ah, I want to go back so bad!

Five Months Ago:
Chris had secretly made a quick trip up to Washington to check out the possibility of buying a bakery. It wasn't till later that we told our families that he went once the possibility became more of a reality. Chris somehow survived another crazy Christmas season while working a full-time job at the clinic, a part-time job at the bakery, and finishing up a semester of full-time classes. I was enjoying my Winter Break from teaching (we have to be so PC that you can't even say Christmas Break anymore!).

Five Things on my To-Do List:
1. Correct school work
2. Take the car to get the windshield fixed
3. Get the car safety inspected and registered
4. Organize my stuff for next week's move
5. Take a nap (yes, Rheanna, it really is on my list, and I think I'll do it after I'm done writing this!)

Five Snacks I Enjoy:
1. Slices of cheese
2. Skittles
3. Mini marshmallows
4. Ice cream
5. Anything else within sight: I snack on whatever even when I'm usually not hungry.

Five Bad Habits:
1. Not sitting down for meals--I just snack and munch on stuff and rarely have a real sit-down meal.
2. Keeping used tissues in my pockets or laying around the house.
3. Not liking showers. I take them, I just feel bothered and annoyed when I have to.
4. Doing random things on the internet when I should be doing other stuff (like right now. I should be grading papers!).
5. Eating too many skittles.


Five Places I've Lived:
1. Utah
2. Virginia
3. France
4. Switzerland
5. Luxembourg

Five Jobs I've Had:
1. Framing Gallery
2. Student Union manager
3. Grocery store cashier
4. French teacher
5. Bakery co-owner

Five Things People Don't Know About Me (except for maybe my family):
1. I've traveled to 44 states, 8 countries (unless you count changing planes in England and accidentally crossing the border into Germany), and 3 continents.
2. I am a shy person, but I have always hated it when people have described me as shy. I don't know why it bugs me when it's true.
3. I have gone skydiving.
4. I really want to learn Spanish.
5. I love public speaking.

Five People I Tag:
1. Melodie
2. Sarah
3. Andrea
4. Mary
5. Anna
(I chose #4 and 5 because I know they love talking about themselves! :)

Goals

I had an interesting conversation with one of my advisory students today. At the beginning of the year she was in my French class and was excited to learn because their family was planning a trip to Paris for the spring. Her 7th grade year she was always on the honor roll and kept up in all her classes, but 8th grade brought on some new challenges. She started hanging out with the wrong crowd (a group of druggie punk kids), started getting involved with boys, and neglected her schoolwork completely. She dropped my French class because it was too difficult, and her grades for all her classes went down the tube. She went from having a 3.5 GPA all last year to struggling to keep above a 1.0 GPA. Her mom is not happy, my student is often grounded, and the Paris trip was canceled.

Today we were talking about her grades. We came up with some goals for her to work towards for next year. She wants her grades to be back up to a 3.5 GPA, especially since 9th grade actually counts. She wants to be able to get into a good college. She wants to become a teacher one day so that she can help kids who are struggling like she is right now. One of her biggest reasons she wants to be a teacher is to show kids that learning can be fun. She says that none of her teachers act like they even like their jobs or their students. It really is true--the attitude the teacher has often rubs off on the students. I try to show my students how passionate I am about French. I smile, and laugh, and I try to have fun with them to teach them that learning is fun. I told this to my student I was talking with, and she said that she wished more teachers were like that.

As we were talking, the bell rang, she thanked me for talking with her. She told me that she really has appreciated me being her FROG teacher this year (that's what we call our advisory class: Fully Realizing Our Greatness). I believe that she can reach her goals for next year. I sincerely hope she does. I'll probably never know if she'll make it to college, but at least I have tried to point her in the right direction.

Transfers

When I got to school today, all the teachers were standing in a huddle talking in somber voices. At first I thought someone had died. Yesterday afternoon our principal was notified that she is getting transferred to another middle school within the district. For that alone we are all sad. She has been here for 18 years between teaching math and being an administrator. From the minute I met her at my first interview, I knew that she was someone who knew how to run a school. Her vision of teacher collaboration and alignment is brilliant, and her care and concern for the kids is so apparent. She is one tough cookie, but on a few occasions I have seen her breakdown and cry. She loves this school, and it's a hard thing for all of us to see her go.

The second reason everyone is so sad is because of her replacement. I don't know anything about her, but apparently her reputation is awful. I know so many teachers who are looking to transfer to a new school to avoid working under her. Though on the other hand, it must be hard for anyone coming in to replace our current principal just because she has been so great. I guess for me it doesn't really matter since I won't be teaching here next year; however, it's just like my hope for the new French teacher: I just want the absolute best for my kids.

Sam as a Baby Model

Most parents I know think their kids are the cutest thing to hit this planet and think they'd be great doing commercials, magazines, and whatnot. Although I agree that Sam is incredibly cute, he would make a terrible baby model. Over the weekend, I tried several times to get a cute picture of Sam holding a thank you sign that I was going to use for a card to thank all our wonderful GHB employees for taking good care of Chris while we were apart the last two months. Here are a few of our tries: Notice how he never smiles (he really is a very happy kid and laughs all the time--just not when the camera is out). And getting him to hold still and look at the camera was near impossible! Here we're getting a little closer to what I wanted for the card. And here is the one I ended up using. Anyway, I hope Chris doesn't read this before the card comes in the mail!

Thanks CFO Now!

Thanks to CFO Now, I was able to buy grocery items worth $24.48 for only $1.48 at Walmart and Target. Check it out for some savvy shopping tips!

Skeeter the Narcoleptic Poodle

Thanks to my cousin-in-law, I found this terribly funny and sad story about a poodle named Skeeter. Check it out.

The Last Days of School

Three weeks from tomorrow is the last day of school. Last spring I did my student-teaching over a 12-week period, and it felt like an eternity. I started teaching last August, and this year has passed like a dream! I can hardly believe it's almost over. I have fallen in love with my kids (most of them, anyway), and I'm actually pretty sad that I won't get to teach them next year. One of my classes found out that I won't be their teacher for French 2; they asked me straight up if I'd be back, and I'm an awful liar, so I just told them. They were all sad.

I got a nice note from one of my students written last Friday. It made my day! Here it is just as he wrote it, grammar mistakes and all.

May 9 08
Mrs. Taylor,

Hi! I'm writing you to let you know how cool you are. Your really good at french and always on top of grades. You can be serious and have fun. You may notice the heading is on the wrong side. but thats just so its different, like france. Well I think your awesome so I wrote you! Thank you for your help

There are days when I come home loving my job, and days when I come home thinking what did I get myself into?! These kids are crazy! When I get really frustrated with certain kids, I try to imagine what they were like when they were babies and toddlers, or how much their parents must love them. That helps. Sunday I was dreading coming back to school for another full week; Monday I came home feeling sad that I will most likely never see these cute kids ever again.

My school has already hired a new French teacher for next year. From what I've heard, she's an older woman who hasn't taught in a really long time. I've been told that she's nervous coming back, and will be a lot higher-maintenance for her mentor-teacher, the Spanish teacher, who will be there to help her throughout the year. I've also been told she won't be nearly as good as I've been (My cute mentor the Spanish teacher has told me several times throughout the year how amazed she is by my teaching. She says I have a natural confidence in the classroom, and that I perform way above and beyond what a typical first-year teacher can), but of all the people who applied for the job, she was the very best. I just hope that she takes good care of my kids so that they will want to continue studying French through high school. Even more than that, I hope she plays some role in helping these kids turn into good and productive adults.

Happy Graduation!

Last Friday I went to my sister-in-law's graduation from WSU, and next week my cousin-in-law will be graduating from UNT. It got me thinking back to my college graduation exactly one year ago to the day. So in honor of that, I wanted to share an excerpt from my journal written the evening after graduation as we began our roadtrip to Nauvoo.

"Happy graduation day! I am now officially a college graduate. This morning we went to my commencement ceremony which started 9am at the Hunstman Center. Chris, Sam, Mom, Dad, and Valerie came to support me (though Valerie had to leave early because of work). President Monson was the commencement speaker which was pretty cool. As we did the procession in, I walked right passed him. Walking into the Huntsman Center with all my fellow graduates, and then looking up at all the family and friends come to support us, I got a little emotional and had to fight back the tears a little. Chris has been amazing in supporting me in reaching my goal to graduate from college. I remember an evening I spent with Chris just a week or two before we were married. We had driven up to the Bountiful Temple, and we just sat in the car talking about our future together. He knew that I had promised my mission president that I would graduate from college, and he told me that he would support me in reaching that goal and that promise. At that time I had no idea how much he was willing to sacrifice for me. He put his schooling on hold for me for two years so that I could go to school full-time and he would work full-time. It definitely hasn't been easy for either of us. I took crazy amounts of classes even while I was pregnant, and Chris has begun to feel the monotony of going to work everyday--to a job that obviously wasn't a career where he felt like he was headed nowhere. On top of that, he has felt a little lost as he realized that becoming a doctor--his dream since 5th grade--was not the profession he really wanted. Yet through all of this, Chris has been my cheerleader and supporter. Every time I had an emotional breakdown when I felt my load was too great, he has always reminded me of my goal and helped me to gain a better perspective--I was doing this for myself and our little family. I want to be a good example for our kids. I want them to think, 'Wow, I've got a cool mom. She is a returned missionary and a college graduate! I want to be like her!' I also wanted to be prepared to help our family if ever my skills and qualifications were needed to support our family financially. After so much hard work, I did it! I am a college graduate. This morning Mom and Dad gave me a graduation present: The Little Engine that Could. They left a little note that made me cry. I have so many wonderful people in my life!"

Wanted: Cute Black Dress

I am looking for a black dress that would look good if I added some sort of sash around the waist. This is for a bride's maid dress that I need before August 15th. If anyone in your shopping endeavors comes across something that might work, let me know.

It Does Exist!

On my way to work this morning I saw for the first time in my a life a license plate from North Dakota. Now if my sister can verify that it's true, then I maybe I'll truly believe.

First Day of FrontRunner

How much is too much?

On the flight home after our little weekend trip, I sat next to a man and a woman. Sam was asleep on my lap for the entire flight, so I couldn't do much of anything except listen (or easedrop) to the people next to me. The guy was probably in his early to mid thirties, and the girl--a very skinny blond--must have been around the same age (however I initially thought she was 20 or younger--maybe this guy's little sister? Boy, was I wrong!). They were both LDS. It sounded like they had just met for the first time going through airport security. He sat was on the aisle seat, I was on the window seat, and the girl had already found a seat in the back of the plane. He asked if the middle seat was taken, and I had to say no since Sam didn't technically have a plane ticket, though it would have been nice to have not been so cramped. So he called back to the girl to sit by him.

Here's where it gets weird. They start talking, then pulls out his i-phone and shows off all his fancy toys, cars, and house. I hate guys who feel like they have to show off their money! For much of the flight, he goes through his 800+ pictures he has taken including his entire extended family and all the girls he has dated. He basically tells his whole life story: why he is still a bachelor, his life's goals, and overcoming his addiction with pornography.

Then the girl gets started. I found out that she couldn't have been 20 or younger because she is the mother of five children. Her husband hasn't been showing much interest in the church which has caused a lot of marital problems. She is debating whether or not to divorce him. She has even made a pro/con list of both options. This guy seemed very interested in her situation. It sounded like he wanted her to leave her husband. He got her number, took her picture in his i-phone, and asked if it would be too weird if he invited her to a singles dinner party at his house. Umm, can I say weird and inappropriate?! They didn't even know each other, and they were discussing some very intimate and personal things! She's still a married woman! I don't know, I think it's all a bit strange. At least it kept my mind away from missing Chris already.

Happy birthday to me!

Okay, I know my birthday isn't until June, but I did receive the best early birthday present from Mom and Dad. Saying goodbye to Chris when he flew up to Washington 10 weeks before Sam and I was such a sad thing! I was complete a mess! Honestly, how do people in the military do it? A few days later, Mom and Dad offered to fly Sam and I up to see Chris for a weekend thanks to a good deal Southwest had going. Merci mille fois!

So we left last Friday evening. Sam was a great little traveler--even better than his last plan ride earlier this year to Texas. It was great to see Chris again. Even though it had only been a few weeks, it had felt like a lot longer. I loved meeting most of our employees, and they all seem really great. While up there, I worked a little on the cash register and had fun chatting with some of our regular customers. I tried to work a little on the company's books, but Sam had other plans in mind and wanted to explore the store.

Since taking over the bakery, we have changed the store hours a little, and now we are closed on Sunday. So we tried to go to our ward at 9:30am, but when we got there, the parking lot was empty. Luckily we had been warned that stake conference was coming up, so we drove over to the stake center and found everyone. We sat next to several people from our ward--some people that Chris had met his first Sunday there, and people he had met while helping some other ward members move. There are lots of young families our age with one or two kids who are close to Sam's age. The moms invited me to their playgroups once we're up there permanently. They try to go to the local children's museum once a week in addition to other times during the week getting together. I'm glad Sam will have friends to play with up there. Everyone was so friendly.

Sunday afternoon we drove about an hour south to eat dinner with another new owner. Chris met them in Montana during his weeks of training, and they started their bakery one week after us. They are an LDS family with six kids. It was fun to share our war stories with each other. In talking with them, I became even more grateful for the apartment complex we found within walking distance of our bakery; their bakery is over an hour away! They had originally bought an area to have a bakery in the same city they live in, but then a second existing bakery (the one an hour away) became available to buy, so they bought that too. Being new to the Great Harvest Franchise, I hope getting two bakeries going isn't too stressful! In any case, it's nice to know that we have them as neighbors.

While we were up there, Washington was having record weather; it snowed five inches! It was crazy! During the few breaks of storminess, we wandered around the neighborhood and tried to explore the paths around our place, but we didn't get too far because it started to hail and we didn't have coats on. Regardless, we did go for some drives exploring the area around Puget Sound. It really is such a pretty part of the country. I'm so excited to live up there permanently! Just a little over a month and we'll get to live with Chris for good!

Declining Enrollment

Do any of you remember last fall during the school voucher debates? One of the pro-vouchers points was that with students leaving public schools for private schools, the class size would decrease. Well, this is proof that that is not so. Unfortunately there is a formula that all public school must use which determines how many teachers are allowed to teach in proportion to how many students attend the school.

We had a faculty meeting this morning. Our school's enrollment has been declining over the past bunch of years simply because of the area's changing demographics, and in result of that, some teachers have to leave our school. This is called being RIS-ed (Reduction In Staff)--basically being forced to leave your school while being assured another position within the district. We found out last week that our school would be losing two teachers and two classes. They way the administration decides is simply by what department needs to be RIS-ed and then by seniority. We found out today who will not be coming back next year. Unfortunately, the whole process of choosing by seniority and not by who is a better teacher is flawed. In one case, our school is losing a very good teacher just because the other teacher in her department, who isn't as good of a teacher, has been there longer. I do believe that kids can get a quality education in public schools; however, I do believe that many policies and procedures do need to change in order to help these kids have the best chance at learning.

In other news, while other electives at my school are at risk, the Foreign Language Department is staying strong. Regardless of the fact that enrollment is going down, I was able to keep enrollment in French class exactly how it is this year: two French 1 classes and one French 2 class. That's a pretty good accomplishment for how small our school is becoming! It's just too bad I won't be the one teaching all these kids next year. I will miss them (most of them, anyway).

My piggy bank after filling my car up yesterday!

I got this forward from a coworker the other day and that's exactly how I feel. After driving two cars and a U-Haul up to Washington with the gas prices they are these days, I think my piggy bank may starve to death!

Home Sweet Home

I had many requests for me to post pictures of our new apartment in Washington, and I am just now getting around to it. Unfortunately, they are not very good pictures. We hadn't finished unpacking and our batteries were dying, so we only got pictures of two of the rooms.

This is our living room. The blow-up mattress, sleeping bags, and boxes are now gone. We're looking for a cheap couch, but until then, we just have a LoveSac. And that bookshelf on the right was a nice gift from Chris' parents, but it was a beast to move up three flights of stairs! Our balcony is through those blinds. On a clear day you can see the Cascade Mountains; we also have a great view of the sunrise coming over the mountains.

This is our dining area. Again, imagine it with less clutter and fewer boxes. Because we have a corner apartment, we have an extra window on the left which is nice. On the right is the kitchen.

This is our skinny little kitchen. Not huge, but it'll do. Looking past Dad is our bathroom. It's a pretty good-sized bathroom with a washer and dryer area included.

We didn't get any pictures of our bedroom or Sam's bedroom. That will have to wait until I go up in three weeks (thanks Mom and Dad!) with our camera. Chris left here last Friday night and will be there until June when he comes to pick me and Sam up. The bakery officially becomes ours April 1st.

Bath Time Mystery

One of Sam's towels has the following question:

"What do tiny turtles have for lunch?"

It sounds like it's supposed to be a joke, but I can't find or figure out the punchline, and it's really driving me nuts! Anyone have any insights?

Oh, the joys of junior high

I know that junior high kids are still going through all the changes that go with puberty. I can handle the crazy hormones and the daily drama, but what I'm having a hard time dealing with is the smell. I have a boy in one of my classes who stinks--not like BO or anything like that--he smells like poo. There is a three feet area around him that smells bad, and after he leaves the room, his stench remains in the classroom. I don't know if he doesn't shower often enough, if he doesn't change his clothes, or if he doesn't wipe. It's a mystery to me, and I wish I could help him, but I really don't feel comfortable talking to him about his personal hygiene--maybe his male gym teacher could do that.

Besides his smell, he really is a great kid. He's very smart (though he's failing the class because he doesn't turn in anything). He gave me a valentine and has me read his poetry all the time. I have high expectations for his future--I just hope personal hygiene is part of it.

Our Trip to Washington

I have had several requests to blog about our trip to Washington that we recently took, so here I go. We flew up there Friday evening, rented a car in Seattle, and drove up to Everett. As a side note, they gave us a PT Cruiser, and we decided that we will never buy one of those. It can't decide if it wants to be a small car or more of a SUV, and it doesn't handle U-turns very well (of which we did often as we tried to orient ourselves in this new city without getting too lost). The first night there, we met the current owners of the store there at the bakery. They are such a nice and generous couple and it was fun to see our future bakery.

Saturday we spent much of the day apartment hunting. We looked at so many that everything started to look the same and meld together. In the end, we think that we've found the best place for us. In fact, it's within walking distance from the bakery--just right around the corner. We haven't made it official yet. We'd like to wait until we hear back from the landlord to know if the lease can be transfered to our name. Anyway, I think these are pictures of the apartment we finally chose. It'll be a 2 bedroom, 1 bath apartment (we'll be paying more for this than what we currently pay for our entire house! We seriously will need to downsize when it comes to furniture and stuff!).

Sunday we went to church. If we move into the apartment complex we've chosen, we will actually belong to a different ward. But what I hear from Eliza's friend Allison who used to live in Everett, all the wards are amazing. And speaking of Allison, she and her husband Ben invited us over for Sunday dinner (they now live about 30 minutes north of Everett). It's nice to know that there will be at least one person I know living near by.

Anyway, so that was basically our trip. The weather was beautiful and sunny, and I was surprised to see so much green during the winter! We're about 95% sure this is going to happen. It's kind of crazy and exciting and scary all at once!

The Lord Knows Me Best: The Reason I served in France and Switzerland, and not South America

This is a list made by Chris' cousin Debra serving a mission in Argentina. A few of them are fine, but the ones about the bugs and food made me really queasy!

TOP 20 THINGS I WOULDN´T HAVE DONE BEFORE THE MISSION (most of which have to do with food and bugs. In no special order...)

1. The "ant dance" - We have an ant problem in this apt. Raid is really expensive and so instead of poisoning them I sweep them all into a pile and dance on them . IT´s much cheaper and not as damaging to the body.

2. Squish a spider with the back of my spoon rinse it off and then eat off it (at least I rinsed it off)

3. Buy 2 tomates and an onion, cut them up into slices pour oil and salt over it and eat it - on purpose (it´s a very argentine salad... I love it!)

4.Wash all my clothes by hand - including dirty socks and underwear (TMI I
know)

5. Find a 50 billion ants in my bread, shake them off into the sink, and eat...and continue picking them off the bread as I eat it (not all of them shook off)

6. Find lots and lots of spiders in my bed and not die and continue to sleep without problems

7.Wear the same dress 3 days in a row without washing it

8.Eat cow heart

9. Eat boiled chicken with many, many feathers still attached

10. Clean under the stove, find over 500 teeny little spiders that began to climb all over me, and not even get up to shake them off.

11. Buy bread twice a week from a guy that sells it from the trunk of his car.

12. Walk between 10 and 15 kilometers everyday without problem

13. Brush my teeth with a toothbrush that is crawling with ants (Like I said, this apt has an ant problem...really)

14. Pick up a spider´s egg out of curiosity to examine it

15. Exercise every morning

16. Kiss everyone, all the time, 50 times a day, when I enter and leave a room even if it´s 44 degrees C outside and everyone is sweating and nasty

17. Boil noodles to make macaroni and find the pot full of little green grasshopper like bugs...strain the noodles and keep going.

18. Put sunscreen in my hair

19. Eat in a member´s house...pull one hair out of the food... continue eating...pull another out...continue eating...pull another out....etc

20. Sing in front of anyone anywhere without problems whether it be in church or on the street corner.