The Rantings of a Teacher

Do you ever just get frustrated with people when they are in your face all the time, and they won't just leave you alone to do what it is that you are trained to do?

If you have ever felt this way, you are not alone. I as an educator have never felt so mistrusted in all of my 4 years of teaching.

No one trusts us. Everything is our fault. The way we have been trained to teach is all wrong. Must I go on? It hurts as an educator to have others attack and blame you for doing things wrong when you have worked so hard to create the classroom that you have always dreamed of.

Creating something to help students to learn and to grow, in a place to feel safe and loved.. and then having others just rip it to shreds.

That is how I feel right now as an educator.

The only thing that keeps me going is my love. My love for teaching, my love for my precious students, and my love for knowing that I can try and make these kids love life and learning that much more.

I am not writing this for any kind of sympathy. If anything, I just want everyone to be aware of the educators in their lives. If you have kids, thank their teachers for their hard work and for putting up with the politics they never signed up to deal with in this profession.

I also understand that education is not the only profession that is dealing with this kind of criticism and micromanagement. And to others that are feeling the same way, we can make it! Remember why it is that you chose the path you are on, and don't forget that simple reason.

“Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man's growth without destroying his roots.” Frank A. Clark.


Love you all. Thanks for letting me rant.

George Strait and my Day of Birth.

2013 started off right! Other than always writing 2012 on everything, and the worst pollution in Utah ever, it hasn't been too shabby.

In January, Dugan and I went to the George Strait concert. The tickets were apart of Dugan's Christmas present, so it was fun to finally go. If any of you know Dugan, you know that he is obsessed with the King of Country. He was like a little boy when George first walked out on stage. Seeing his face like that made my night (Since I fell asleep during a couple of the songs myself).

Dugan and I always have arguments or "discussions" on the King of Pop (M.J. of course) vs. the King of Country. You all can let me know whose side you are on..

February brought on two great celebrations: February 4th, the year anniversary of Dugan and I getting engaged, and my birthday on the 5th. 

Dugan bought me flowers on the 4th and gave me the sweetest note handwritten on a piece of white paper, that of course made me cry. He always knows that he doesn't have to go all out to make that happen. I still can't believe this was a year ago...

We had many different birthday celebrations! On Saturday the 2nd, we went out to the traditional dinner with Cassidy, since she shares the same birthday as me. All of my couple friends were there, and even though we missed a few of you, it was still a great time at India House. 

On my birthday, I spent the day with my wonderful students. They are so sweet, and some of them even brought me a present for my birthday. Cassidy and I shared a cake at lunch and celebrated with our many coworkers. Dugan gave me many great gifts including USU sweatpants and Tangled on Blu Ray! We went to dinner that night with Braden and a bunch of other friends, mostly for Braden. It was great to be with the single side of the world again. Cheesecake Factory was great, and we had an enjoyable time celebrating our birthday together like we always have.

On the day after our birthday, we went to Spaghetti Factory with the family. Love them! They are so much fun to be around and to have everyone together. 

Cassidy, Braden and Morgan. Birthday peeps.

India House

Cheesecake Factory

The group at Cheesecake from the other side of the table

This is my wonderful husband

Dinner at Spag Fac with Braden, and Camille on my lap

Birthday Spumoni

Happy Amaia

Dugie!!!

Thank you to everyone else who sent me a text, left me a message, gave me a gift, or simply sent a message on Facebook. You are all amazing, and it made me think back on all of the great memories and relationships I have with you all. Thank you for being a part of my life! 26 is going to be a good one! (Maybe not as good as 25.. but still good). Love you all! 

The Year 2012

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had as great of a year as we did! 2012 was one to go in the books, and will definitely be hard to top!
Crystal gave me the idea to list the many great things that happened in 2012, so here it goes:

1. Disneyland trip to bring in 2012!
2. February 4th: Dugan proposed. My early birthday present :)
3. Dugan graduated from the U with his bachelor's degree.
4. Another year of the Goldilock's bike ride. I made it 60 miles this year!
5. June 14th: Marriage! And Honeymoon.
6. Began my 4th year of teaching.
7. Celebrated many friend's weddings: Tate and Keegan, Crystal and Adam, Bronwyn and Jordan. We were also able to spend time with Steph when she came home from D.C. for both Crystal's wedding and mine.
8. Finished up 3 more semesters towards my master's degree. Dugan finished up 2 semesters.
9. We welcomed 2 new babies into the family: Baby Jaxson, and Baby Camille.
10. Little sister, Kayla got her mission call: Antofagasta, Chile! She leaves March 27th.

We also were able to celebrate many firsts as a married couple, including our first Christmas. Dugan's twin sister, Megan was able to come home with her family for Christmas, since she lives in Tennessee. We had an enjoyable time with both sides of the family, including going for Chinese on Christmas day. We are excited for many more holidays!

We look forward to the many events to come this year, including finishing grad school! We are both patiently waiting to walk across that stage in our caps and gowns!

Happy New Year to all of our family and friends who have been there to help us out in any way. Whether it be from helping us settle into our newlywed life, or just hanging out with us and being our friends. We are so lucky to have so many wonderful people in our lives!  We love you!

The twins! Braden and Morgan, Dugan and Megan on Christmas. With Megan's 3 kids, Bella, Lukas, and Jaxson

Santa did well this year!

Such a good boy this year

Christmas Day

New Year's Eve with MANY rounds of Blokus. Dugan was determined to beat me.

Happy New Year!

We've survived 6 months!

Today Dugan and I celebrated being married for 6 months. I won't say if it has been a long one or a short one, but it sure has been a good one.

To celebrate, we decided to take the wonderful gift our friend Stephy gave us for our wedding, and go to The Roof for dinner. We also got to see the lights downtown, which Dugan HATES since he worked on Temple Square for 6 years. Give him time, and I am sure he will come around to loving it again.

Dugan rocks. He puts up with me like a real man should! That is why he works so well for me. Love him!

Let it Snow!

Last week when the big snow storm hit, I was SO excited to have snow again! The storm that came gave us more snow than we got all last winter combined! It was good to know that Utah was normal again.

Dugan and I went out on a little adventure in the snow (even though I made him against his will). Our adventure took us around the corner to the 7 eleven for not hot chocolate, but slurpees! It was an eventful Friday night for this newlywed couple.

Keep the snow coming!

Love this!

This was right after I got him good with the snowballs

Mitten in mitten

Yay for Slurpees in the freezing cold!

P.S. Halloween was another success this year. At school, the faculty dressed up as contestants in the Miss America Pageant. I was the District of Columbia, just because I am cool enough to be in the pageant when I am not even a state (Plus I like to be the controversial one). We did not do much to celebrate other than that on the day of. Earlier that week we did have the Youngs, the Harris family, and Ashley Ball over for a fun Halloween celebration. My fabulous Halloween decorations have now been put in a box until next year... 

5 Months Later...

Well..
I guess it is about time that I update the blog!

It has now been over 4 months since Dugan and I were married, and I cannot believe how the time has flown by! We are busy as usual with our crazy work and school schedules that it leaves little time for me to even think of updating the blog.. let alone write Thank You notes for our wedding! (Goal: to have them all done and sent in the mail by next week)

We had the most amazing wedding day, and it could not have been more perfect. Everything went according to plan (as it should have, since I had an itinerary typed up for everyone) and I could not have asked for better people in my life who were there to support us that day. We love you all and we are so glad to have you a part of our lives!

After our honeymoon in Scottsdale, AZ, we came home to start our lives in our apartment in West Jordan. We sure do have some fun neighbors who create a lot of excitement in the area. From catching their apartment on fire, to smoking up a storm outside of the building for all to enjoy that wonderful smell. We even have a dog park that was just put in right in front of our building! We couldn't have asked for a more ghetto exciting place to live. (Did I mention the cockroaches that were in our apartment when we first moved in?)

We had an enjoyable summer after the wedding craziness.  Going boating with the family, St. George, Dugan starting his master's program, me wrapping up the summer semester, moving classrooms twice (yes twice), and just relaxing. Dugan also had surgery on his benign tumor that was in his neck. The surgery went well.. until recovery from the anesthesia came. What a nightmare for Dugan! We started back up again with the fall semester, and teaching in August.

We celebrated Dugan's 27th birthday on August 29th, with a surprise birthday dinner with his friends, and a dinner with his family earlier that week. All he wanted for his birthday was an expensive pair of jeans (a specific kind from The Buckle, of course). So he got them, plus some other great things from his family and friends.

USU vs Utah football game. The Aggies won!

Dugan's internship for his master's degree is at the Pingrie School of Autism up at the U, where he works with the students mainly in preschool. He is also taking some classes along with his internship. Let's just say, Dugan will be happy when he is done with school... His internship goes through next spring until graduation.

I started teaching for my FOURTH year in 3rd grade. I cannot believe it has been that long! Last year was a rough year for me, a tough class, starting my master's degree, planning a wedding etc. etc. I was definitely put through some tests during that time. I told myself this summer, that I would never let something like that happen again, where if I was overwhelmed like that, I would try my best to be prepared for it. So, all summer I planned and prepared my classroom for this school year, hoping that I could stay on top of things at work. So far so good! I have a wonderful class this year, who are the sweetest kids ever! Last year was a great test for me, and I am so grateful for that class that I had, as they helped me learn a lot about what I still needed to improve on as a teacher.


On October 13th, we celebrated Crystal and Adam's wedding day! It was such a great day to see one of my best friends be sealed in the temple. I was so happy to be apart of that day. Love them both! I am happy to say that I have seen their relationship since it first started. It was also great to see Stephy! She came out from D.C. again like she did for my wedding this year. It was good to have the three back together again!

This week, Dugan and I both turned in our applications for graduation...AWW YEAH! The end is in sight! Next spring, Dugan and I will both graduate from the U with our master's and we cannot be more excited about starting to pay off our student loans the day we walk with our caps and gowns... Heh. (thank goodness for the government!)

Halloween and fall are as always, my favorite time of year. The family went to see Thriller! by Odyssey Dance Theater, which is a tradition for us. It has been fun decorating our apartment with my own Halloween creations, and to start reminiscing about when we started dating over a year ago. How the time has flown!

Now it is off to the rest of the holiday season, as we try to survive school and make it through the snowy weather(bring on the snow this year!).

Maybe, if you are lucky, I will start posting more often! Laters.