1/4 of a century!!!

Well it's official...I'm old!

To ring in another year wiser, I went to Disneyland with the wonderful woman that brought me into this world. It's just a nice thing to live so close :) We spend most of our time at CA Adventures since we didn't have any little ones with us.

Even without the little ones, we still couldn't resist Toy Story...I finally beat someone!

After a supercalifragilistic day at Disneyland I hurried back to class. Gotta love this this program! After Peppers I came home to celebrate a little more with the girls and some Root Bear Floats. They boys are in Wyoming getting it ready for when I'm done with the program to go and play! Here I am caught with my hand in the ice cream...that was my scoop ;)

My mom insisted on finally not being in a picture so she grabbed one of Kari, myself, Ashleigh and Rachelle. We enjoyed some floats while watching the Bachelorette and yelling at Jillian. I now hope she picks Wes just to stick it to her. Oh and Jessie, call me!

Thanks to all the text messages, facebook messages, phone calls, and skype chats! Duddy you always rock my socks off with your phone calls. Thanks guys! Here's to another year older with still nothing to show for it!

Last Day at Del

Exactly one week ago today, I had my last day of student teaching...EVER!!!

The year flew by so fast! I can't believe I served my time in kindergarten already! I was seriously in culture shock for the first month but then quickly grew to love it!

I'm not sure I could turn around and teach kinders but that doesn't mean I didn't learn heaps from 2 amazing teachers! Here I am with Stephanie and Claudia (my master teach)

The last day in kinder rocks!!!! We had a carnival :)

There was the necklace making, face painting, cookie walks relays (pictured below)

The limbo was my favorite! I could sit here the entire time and be more than thoroughly entertained! These kids are so creative :)

We just finished a unit about sea life and so it was perfect when one of the parents said he could bring in some sea animals for the kids to touch! The absolutely LOVED this station. We thought they'd get bored after 3 min but I think most of them could have spent about an hour here!

We finished our day off with a dance of some sorts that Claudia found at some wedding...yes it was one of those. The kids had a blast listening to the directions and following along. Of course the last and final time we have to do the dance is outside with all the parents, other teachers having their last day activities and principal watching us...I sure know how to go out with a bang

I can't believe I'm this much closer to earning my teaching credential! It's crazy to think I could have my own classroom in just a couple short months! All the politics aside, teaching is truly about the students and no matter what is going on you can't help but fall in love with them each year :) Fingers crossed that the CA budge gives education so more money so I can score a job!

Weekend in the Sun

June gloom has been running on overdrive recently. It was in the 90's for the majority of January but now that it's June it has been a consistent 63. Needless to say I haven't been to fond of the weather so with the symposium being checked off I took Friday off of teaching and headed straight to Arizona to visit Lyndsgrove, check out her new pad and meet the new babe they wrap in swaddling.

I had a blast visiting! We just hung out and relaxed, got our nails done, did some shopping, ate a Cafe Rio (so appreciate you guys letting me pick that night!), tried a variety of work out videos, realized I can only do 1/8 of a pull-up, sang Twinkle Twinkle while laying on the grass, went to church, and played some Rock Band with an added bonus of conversing with Bags, Ben and Debs. It was the perfect weekend after an overly stressful week/year of school.

Here is cute Charlie! We took our time getting ready Saturday morning which meant the girls were spending a lot of time in the bathroom so Charlie decided he needed to wear a head band while we finished getting ready...takes a true man to pull this look off!

Last time I went to visit I don't think either of us took any pictures so we got a little carried away this time  but how can you resist when your subjects are priceless?!?!?

I took this picture on a whim and I think it's fantastic! The original is on Lyndsgrove's blog but I had fun playing around with my iPhoto

Thanks for all your hospitality Cotters! You made for a more than fabulous weekend, can't wait to come back :)

So long Symposium

School has been quite stressful as you all know and the symposium was on the those events that was causing my blood pressure to rise. We had to present a research project to families, friends, directors and the dean of Pepperdine.

I was pretty nervous but now that's it is over and done with, I'm super stoked at how well it went! Some people presented papers aka gave a 10 min speech and then others presented their research on a board....most of the elementary teachers chose the artsy project :)

Here is my board. I researched the benefits behind incorporating picture books into the high school level curriculum. 

My mom came to support me :) My pops was in Utah working on the summerizing the boat but he was there in spirit. I couldn't rationalize asking anyone else to sit through a couple boring research presentation but I was glad to have my mom there. Everyone loved Mama Armstrong!

This is me and my buddy Rachelle. She has been my rock through the program and I couldn't have done it without her! We are sucking up to Dr. Condon (the director of everyone at every campus!) I'm always intimidated by her except for today. It was weird, but in a good way

Alice, Katie and I very stoked the symposium is over! We're showing off Alice's research board about block scheduling at the high school level. She is a fantastic History teacher!

The group + a could masters only students

Very stoked at how well this evening went, not even the dean can intimidate me!