Teaching Experiences

I've survived two of the most gruesome weeks as a teacher... parent conferences and the week of Halloween! I hear the week before Christmas is the worst so I'm not looking forward to it at all. The conferences went surprisingly well. I just decided to not be nervous and it worked! I had one weird experience, not with parents but with my body...it was early in the second night of conferences and I was talking with a parent when I started getting dizzy, shaky and sweaty. Luckily, I had a little break after that conference and my next one so I went searching for something to munch on because when I stood it all got worse and then my tummy felt empty. I ate an apple and some bread. It seemed to help enough to get me through the night. I'm pretty sure I was experiencing low-blood sugar and it was a first. I was so confused because it has never happened to me before. This job has done some funny things to my body, for example, I seem to always be hungry- I usually take about a ten minute lunch break where I actually sit down and eat a little something but other than that it's always go, go, go and so I eat a couple pretzels here, an apple there, so I probably am not eating properly but I don't have the time to notice or track it. I do feel blessed that I've had the energy to do all that is required of this job and that I have not had more issues with sickness than I already have. I've been sick for the last month but usually it takes a lot to stop me from missing work. I don't think I have really ever missed work due to illness, I usually just push through it.

Halloween week was crazy!!! The kids are so riled up and excited for Halloween that they forget how to function in school and how to behave all together! Even some of my best behaved students shocked me this week. Along with Halloween coming up, we had 3 birthdays in our class this week! It was a chaotic celebration all week. I was surprised at the end of the week when all my students did their best on the spelling test. We celebrated Halloween Friday and the students dressed up. There is a nursing home right next to the school so the school parades through there. I had parent helpers bring in games and activities for the kids at the end of the day. And again my students shocked me, they were ten times better on Friday, in their costumes and all, than they had been all week! Those little guys surprise me when I least expect it. I love them all, I really do and I am so happy I get to teach them and have this job!

Fall Break-aka a Great Time for St. George

Yes, we went to St. George and yes, the weather was beautiful and we had such a great time as always! My aunt's family joined in on our fun too. They stayed just down the road from us so we were able to do lots of fun things together like hiking, biking, swimming and going to the temple and dinner. Saturday Bridget race in the Tour de St. George 100 miler. She did really well for how many climbs she had and how hot it was. Sunday we decided we didn't want to deal with the Provo Traffic so we took a trip to Zions and saw a few more things we hadn't seen yet and showed Michael some cool places that we'd found before since it was his first time to Zions. We ended up getting on the road at 7 p.m. which meant we wouldn't get home til midnight but it gave us another whole day of vacation in beautiful weather! It did feel extra nice to get away now that I do work full time.

On top of the Dixie Bolders looking over St. GeorgeThe one picture I took of the boys playing their game turned out to be the best action shot I've probably ever taken! Dave caught it, too! The beautiful St. George TempleMy hottie!Cheering Bridget on in her century race. She took 5th even with going through the finish line the wrong way:)
Bridget was a little angry with the race but she did great!

Zions National Park

Dave in his element

24 on 10/10/10

My birthday this year was exciting being on 10/10/10 and all. It was hard for Dave to decide what to do with me because it was on a Sunday but I think he did a pretty good job. We had 2 parties. One on Saturday with Dave's family and the other on Sunday with my fam and some of everyone else. We had a giant skookie with ice cream on Saturday and s'mores in our back yard on Sunday. They are two of my favorite treats! My family called me at 10:10 a.m. on 10/10/10 to sing happy birthday and then again after they left at 10:10 p.m. I thought it was super cute and witty. It feels so weird that I'm already to 24...I'm scared for the next big number! Time is flying past me and I can't seem to stop it so I just try to embrace it. It's working out pretty well. I found myself a lot more happy and chipper! There are a lot of pics but I wanted to document the fun this year since I don't have much from last.

This is from one of my 1st graders....At the beginning of the year we played a game where you have to name something you like that begins with the same letter as your name so I said, "My name is Mrs. Price and I like marshmallows." If you have seen my cupboard and on any night, you know how much I love marshmallows! I thought it was so thoughtful of my student to remember! A GIANT Skookie... for one cake



I got a lot of school stuff...Airborne being one of them.

Balloon games

And a white cake with frosting...

10 10 10!

Natalia and I!

Give me s'mores!!!!

Yahtzee!! Almost all of us got a Yahzee but my mom and dad...Kaitlin won

Life as a Teacher

All I can say is I'm pooped! When I say pooped, I mean I've worked hard and given it my all so it feels good but I am exhausted from all of it! I caught a bug a couple weeks ago and I've been trying to fight that off while working long hours and trying to mold 22 six year old minds. It's been a crazy month and a half. I've been swamped with things to do for my class, things to do since I am a first year teacher-there is a lot required of you outside of teaching youngsters, and not one person knows how hard it is until you do it, I can attest to that. It's a good hard though. There have been times I have wanted to break down and cry but haven't had the time but there has been just as many, if not more, of those amazing moments that you always hear of why a teacher becomes a teacher. I never imagined myself liking 1st grade but I couldn't ask for more because I can make mistakes or get impatient with the "TEACHER! TEACHER!" and the constant yelling out, but they just give me a hug at the end of the day with love in their eyes.

Dave has worries that I am becoming a workaholic and in a way I kind of agree...if you love what you do, it's hard to stop. I spend my day at school constantly going and then I get home and continue with projects and planning. Sometimes I have to remind myself to step back and just breathe, and take a break because there is always things to do, it's never ending and my thoughts are running 24/7. It does feel so good to do what I've wanted to do for so long! I am loving it and can see myself doing it for a good while. We'll see...

Chilly Ride

Friday night we took our moto up Weber Canyon and headed towards Kamas to meet my family for some family time. Luckily Dave made me bring my winter coat and packed my gloves for me because the ride back wasn't as pleasant as the ride there. It was almost as cold as my start in Lotoja two weeks before. We were chilled to the bone, literally. It took us sweats, layers of blankets, snuggling, and hours of our space heater blasting on me to warm up finally.

We stopped at Devil's Slide to rest our bottoms This is me when we arrived home. My muscles weren't working properly.

Amazing Support

I forgot to put these up on our last post! The night before we headed up to Logan, we had some door bell ditchers and this is what they left...

Thanks Cora, Jonas, Brit and Cris!!! It made our night of hecticness!!!

LOTOJA 2010

Well it has finally come and gone and I couldn't have been happier with the outcome. Each year I have been apart of Lotoja in some way I have never been disappointed and this year wasn't any different.

We arrived at the check in early Friday evening and didn't have to wait long to sport our Lotoja stamp-tats. We purchased some sweet merchandise and new socks. Sean Bradley, the b-ball star, was even there and was sporting the Lotoja gear (yes, he rode the race...we're not quite sure if he finished it in time though, being 7'6" has got to be rough on a bike). The Lotoja atmosphere is always one we enjoy.

Saturday came quick with waking up at 4:50 a.m. I felt loved because the whole gang got up with me to go cheer me on even though they didn't need to really be up for another little while. It was quite a chilly morning and didn't really feel the real cold until I turned the corner after the starting line...I about died of the cold! My fingers pretty much froze. I learned too lessons there-1. train in the cold and 2. cough up the money for warm gear even though that stuff gets pricey. Luckily that first leg to Preston flew by and I could pass the paton onto Bridget. My last 81 mile leg came way too quick in the afternoon. When Bridget got to me all I was thinking was- she's done and I'm not even halfway! It's funny how quick those rides go by though. There were some parts that dragged a little but the scenery was beautiful and Bridge and my parents would pass, then stop; pass, then stop so I saw them a lot. Bridge hopped on for the last 15 or so miles with me to cross the finish line as well as pull me to the finish line...I was pooped and my body ached! She was a life saver. We finished in 11 hours 36 minutes. We think we might have won our division...still pending. I also averaged 19.3 mph without the stops...my best average! Pretty sweet!

The boys came in 45 minutes after us. They beat there goal of 11 hours by 10 minutes. It was fun to see them finish cause we couldn't see them the rest of the way.

It was a success because we've got just about everyone in our family and extended family with the Lotoja bug now. So it continues...

5:40 a.m. Right before I took off...Go Cranker Sores!

Getting in line to start

And I'm off...my legs were shaking so bad!

Bridge rocked the mountain climbs!

At the top of the last hill climb...I was pooped!

We did it!

Dave after he finished

Go Cranker Sores!