College Grad

 

 

(sorry, I accidentally gave Devin my camera without checking some of my settings that don't get fixed by AUTO.  He did his best :)

 THANK YOU FAMILY!  I was so happy my mom was able to come out for the weekend to celebrate, as well as Laura and Greg :)  They were so kind to help us clean and move on out of our little apartment that very same day!  On our way to Declo for the night we had a celebratory dinner at Maddox and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves :)   Devin and I feel extremely lucky to have parents so willing to support our education.  Through them and scholarships, we've managed to come out without student loans and we couldn't be more grateful!!

 

I started my major when we got married, so Devin has been through it all - finishing my generals while we were dating/engaged, watching me stress over applying to my major, seeing me enjoy being able to take classes all about what I came to college for, then hating them sometimes, then putting it all into practice during practicum and student teaching which required early mornings, long drives, etc.  So many times he's told me "I hate your major" - haha!  Mostly because of all the books it requires, the books I "think I'll need someday".   But, he hardly ever complained about things that weren't getting done around the house or for him because of my busy-ness and always stepped in to cook meals, wash dishes, keep me from STRESSING out to the max, etc. 

My favorite memory:  We had just gotten engaged, so it was the end of my last semester of taking G.E. classes and I was stressing out trying to study for my Music Civilization final.  We worked together and I was staying in the office late to study, so he stayed with me but we started getting hungry.  He went all the way home and heated up some clam chowder and brought it back up to campus to me with some rolls just in time for me to eat and go take my final.  OH and he helped me clean my apartment for my end of the semester cleaning check/cleaned for me while I was taking a final or who knows what. 

Basically, he's awesome and I'm so proud of him for getting into something he finally likes and wants to try so hard to succeed in.  Now it's my turn to get him back :) Pin It

FINISHED!

WOO HOO!  I finished my last class at BYU on Thursday and had my last day of student teaching on Friday.  I am officially FINISHED with my undergrad - no finals, no nothin!  Until graduation of course...

Anyway, my class and I celebrated in style :)

They all wrote me letters that my teacher made into a book and the majority of them said that their favorite lesson I did was compound words.  We spent a whole week on compound words a couple weeks ago and had a blast!  The culminating activity that I planned was a compound word Easter egg hunt!  I had all the eggs pulled apart and scattered across the back of the room - they had to find halves that matched together to make a compound word, give it to me, and then go write their word on this huge egg cut out I made.  By the end we had a whole poster filled with compound words to hang on our door :)  Obviously it would've been crazy having the whole class do this at once, so I had half the class doing the egg hunt in the back while the other half was reading books from their book bags and writing compound words they found on sticky notes, then adding the sticky note to our "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs" cloud.  They were so well behaved and were so enthusiastic about finding compound words in BOTH activities - I was so impressed :)

 

My last day was also their last day before Spring Break, so they were all a little antsy about the upcoming Easter weekend - my teacher had them write a story about a bunny/Easter/Spring- whatever they wanted, really, but they all ended up being some type of CLEVER story about some Easter Bunny. Either she couldn't find a basket, the town lost their Easter Bunny and had to find a new one, the bunny had to keep her babies safe from hunters, and another story about what the Easter bunny does "but the real reason for Easter is because Jesus Christ was resurrected".  His parents would be proud. :)

And of course, an ice cream party :)  1st graders make the grossest ice cream sundaes, let me tell you.  But they'll eat anything!

My teacher was fantastic and really taught me to have fun with the kids - basically I just feel really lucky to have had the experiences I've had and wouldn't trade them for anything!   

Now I'm just busy getting last minute errands done, packing/organizing/cleaning, and getting all set for graduation and moving!  It's crazy to think of all the changes coming our way: moving to Boise, new(bigger, nicer, above ground) apartment, Devin's new job, starting a family, hooray! Pin It

I'll miss you, kiddos!

 Thursday was my last day of preschool, which also happened to be CRAZY HAIR DAY - how perfect :)

Oh how I'll miss this...

Oh how I will not miss you, 50 page Teacher Work Sample that I spent 20 hours working on this weekend.

 

Whoever wrote that doesn't have a life.

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Toot That Horn

Sorry, this is not a Christmas-related post, other than the fact that this was a huge present to me!
 STANDARDIZED TESTS > ME......almost always.
I never blogged about taking the PRAXIS test back in November because it was just not an experience I wanted to reminisce, I hate standardized tests.  It honestly wasn't that bad but I was worried sick because if I didn't pass I wouldn't have time to take it again before I graduated, which meant...no graduation. yikes. 

My friend Casi and I could not sit still waiting for that dang thing to start...constantly counting our pencils, fixing our pencils, turning our calculators on and off to make sure they worked - I could never do med school for this reason: The tests would make me go bonkers.

Anyway, I got this in the mail today and I know it looks like something they send to everyone but after some investigation I found out that this isn't some pity award they give you for taking the test.  Here's what it's for:
"Your exceptional performance earned a score that ranks within the top 15% of all test takers who took this assessment in previous years...This honor will be indicated on all your score reports.  It formally acknowledges your personal effort and commitment to learning and to teaching."  Of course they don't tell me what my score actually was and that last part was pretty corny but hey, wouldyalookatthat?! Top 15%? I'll take it.

 

I'll come down from my pedestal now - the test was on Elementary Content Knowledge, so how hard is that right?  Right.  It wasn't too bad except I am SURE that every single question I got wrong had to have come from the Social Studies section - that was a beast. 

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Iceburg, Here We Come!

In April, Devin will be teaming up with his best friend from high school to learn and excel in the path of SEO (search engine optimization), a great business opportunity for both Devin and Mitchell.  In order to do so, we'll be moving to Rexburg, ID right after graduation in April!  (We call it iceburg because it gets so stinkin cold there in the winter, but luckily we'll be arriving at the perfect time!)

From now until then, Devin will be practicing some site-building and other various things to help him with html, css, and whatever else is included in learning the ropes of SEO.  To start, he made a blog to advise people of the best guns for carrying concealed. Here's the link: Guns For Concealed Carry.

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