DIY Jenga Guestbook

Hey all! So as most of you know I'm getting married in less than a month from today (August 10!WOO HOO) And for the guestbook Aaron and I decided we wanted to have a Jenga set for people to sign but we didn't want the sides of the blocks to say Jenga on them so, we made our own. (When I say we, I mean Aaron showed me and I helped) It was really easy!

Step 1: Get 5/8"x 36' Dowels from Home Depot (probably about 5 at $2.44 each)

Step 2: Mark a line with a pencil every 2 1/2 inches along each Dowel (or just one if you have a power saw that can cut through five at a time)

Step 3: Saw each dowel along the line

Step 4: Sand any rough edges or splinters away

Step 5: Stack and play!

Afterwards I went to D.I. and found a wood box that'd fit the Jenga pieces (it fits 72 inside, and it only cost a dollar).

That We Might "Not...Shrink"

Happy Sabbath Day All:)

This afternoon I had the opportunity to listen to a CES Fireside given this past Sunday, by Elder David A. Bednar entitled, "That We Might Not...Shrink". In the talk Elder Bednar discusses the experience of a young newlywed couple, who found out, just 3 weeks after they'd been sealed in the temple, that John (the husband) had bone cancer. Being that I recently got engaged this caught my attention and I listened closer to the story. While going through treatments the husband requested that Elder Bednar give him a blessing. Elder Bednar consented but asked them if they would first answer a question, he asked if they had the faith to accept the will of the Lord and not be healed. He asked this young couple, if they had the faith to trust in the Lord and accept His will no matter what. Even if that meant that he called John to the Spirit World, through death, at his young age. After quite a bit of thought, John replied that while he did not want to die he would accept the Lords will concerning his condition, even if that meant that he would have to die and leave behind Heather (his wife).

This was a new thought and experience for both of them, to learn to have the faith to NOT be healed. To accept the Lords will without doubt or question. The cancer, mercifully, went into remission and the couple began to live their lives. John finished school and got a job, and then the cancer returned. John immediately turned to the Lord, asking Him to help him understand what it was that the Lord wanted him to learn. He found his answer while reading the New Testament, through the story of when the disciples of Christ were caught in a storm and the Lord slept. They asked him, "Carest thou not?". How often have we all felt like this, "Carest thou not that I'm alone? Carest thou not that my family member is sick? Carest thou not that I am in pain?" and the Lords answer to them was, "Oh ye of little faith". Oh ye of little faith...

Elder Bednar continued to explain that what John had needed to learn was not that the Lord would heal his cancer but that he could. He shared with us all that our faith does not exist to bring about what we want to happen, but what He wants to happen. It is our job to believe that the Lord can do anything, if it is his will. That is the purpose of our faith. That is the purpose of my faith. To accomplish the Lords will and do what he would have me do. This was a humbling realization for me, and it is one that I will continue to ponder.

I'd like to bear my testimony in the Lord Jesus Christ. I know that He lives and loves me, I know that he is aware of me and my daily activities and needs. I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and that everything that happens in this life happens for a reason. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints holds the truth of the restored gospel.  I say these things, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Snow Day:)

In the middle of the week this week we had a "snow day". For those of you who haven't been to the east coast, in Washington DC the weathers never quite what you expect. People in DC aren't used to the snow so whenever some MIGHT come everyone freaks out. They had snowplows ready to go in the streets, warnings sent out across government organizations, cancelled everything the night before, people were stocking up on food like it was the end of the world. It was supposed to be a huge snow storm, but what it was, was inches and inches of melted slush. Watched the snow come down all down, none of it stuck. I'm not complaining though!

I spent the day with my roommates! Baked cookies, made soup(tortellini, sausage, and vegetable), cupcakes (funfetti), we roasted smore's on the stove (amazing!) and watched a couple movies. To top it all off, we played Skip Bo. Where I ALMOST won, had that game in the bag...don't worry. I'll win next time. Best fake-snow-Wednesday ever!

DR SEUSS WEEK!!!!

Well Ladies and Gents,

I went through my past posts and realized it's been a long time since I posted about my classroom. This past week was Read Across America week AND simultaneously Dr. Seuss's birthday. Unfortunately my stupid camera's broken so I have no pictures for you BUT it was pretty much the best week ever.

We read Dr. Seuss everyday, the kids wrote their own alliterations and rhyming goofy poems. They made truffula trees, Cat in the Hat Hats, a Cat in the Hat portrait, watched the Lorax and to top it off everyone got to try green eggs and ham on Friday! It was a lot of fun.

This week was also the week I had two students throw up, and one student had an accident. One threw up because she was sick, the other...well here's the story.

It was lunchtime and my students were being served egg salad sandwiches! Delicious! Right? Not right. They added pickle and relish to it, the sandwiches were yucky and my kids were refusing to eat it. As a result I made them a deal, eat five bites of the sandwich and all their fruit and they could go out to recess (usually they have to finish it before they can go out). One student tried very hard to do so, but as he was eating he heard a crunch which immediately made him think of cucumbers. He doesn't like cucumbers. He gagged and began to run to the bathroom, and threw it all up. There were no cucumbers in the sandwich.

Just another day in the life of the classroom:)

I'm ENGAGED!

Well hello there ladies and gents, just another Heather Dawn update for you. As most of you already know, over Christmas break this past year Aaron and I got ENGAGED! Here's the story:

It was the last night before I left for Utah, Aaron had taken the day off work so we could have a date in Salt Lake together (January 5, 2013). We went into the city, parked near the City Creek Mall and walked around temple square. We took a tour of the Conference Center (Why?? Because that's the only way to get to the roof silly!) and found out the roof was closed. After the tour Aaron and I walked around the outside of the Conference Center, took one look at the closed sign leading up to the roof and decided to sneak up there anyways.

We stepped in previous footsteps that were left in the snow so as not to leave a trace and took a look at the view of the city. The Salt Lake Temple on our left and the view of the city at night on our right, Aaron holding me. It was perfect, then suddenly he let go. Wondering why I turned around and there he was on one knee. I was so shocked I almost fell over backwards, luckily he was holding my hand at that moment and steadied me. He said, "Heather I love you. Will you marry me?". I couldn't even speak so my elegant response was, "Uh Huh". He than asked me again and I replied, "Yes of course I will!". I was crying so much I couldn't even see the ring.

We spent the evening calling friends and family, and seeing his brother/sister-in-law Adam and Adrienne who were the first to hear the news in person. It was perfect:)

In these pictures the exact spot where he proposed is the corner of the building to the left of Aarons head:) He loves me:)

Aaron and I in DC

So, as many of you know, my boyfriend Aaron came out to visit me for Thanksgiving (did I mention I have the best boyfriend on the planet?). We had an amazing time. An AMAZING time!

We spent our Thanksgiving together cooking ALL DAY, watching BBC documentaries, funny holiday movies and making each other laugh. My favorite thing we made that day, a double decker pumpkin cheesecake. Yes it was as amazing as it sounds.

The next day we went sight seeing. We hit up Arlington Cemetery and watched the changing of the guard and the wreathe ceremony. Aaron and I also discovered the grave of Abraham Lincolns son, Robert Todd Lincoln, as well as one of my relatives headstones. From there we decided to walk across the Potomac River to get to the monuments (yes I said walk, we walked from Arlington Cemetery to the National Mall). It was really beautiful, than we went and saw all the monuments (Washington, Lincoln, World War II, Vietnam, Korean War, White House, National Christmas Tree). We calculated it later on, we walked about 10 miles that day! When we got home I was exhausted, we took a quick nap and than made home made pizza for dinner and watched Emperors New groove.

The next day was our day of museums:) We hit up the Library of Congress, toured the Capitol Building, went through the Air and Space Museum, saw the Natural History Museum, and than dropped by the American History Museum. My favorite part of this day was watching Aaron in the Air and Space Museum. I had no idea how fascinated he was with flight as a kid, and even now. He knew what everything was in that museum without reading the tags. He seriously had a permagrin the entire time, I used a bunch of the stuff he taught me about it all in a lesson the following week with my kids. When we finally arrived home at the end of the day, changed and got ready to out into the city. We went out to Serendipity (it's a famous restaurant in Washington DC, if you've seen the movie you know what I'm talking about), hit up a bookstore and walked around the city streets.

Sunday and Monday were pretty relaxed, I introduced Aaron to quite a few people at church, we cooked pumpkin rolls, played scrabble and a little bit of Nintendo. The weekend was perfect:) I'm so glad he came and I can't wait to see him in 3 weeks!!!

Thanksgiving: My Kids CAN READ!

Well ladies and gents the life of a teacher moves on. The month of November was fun, filled with lots of transportation (that's the theme for our 2nd unit), turkeys, and gratitude. We had a huge thanksgiving feast for the parents and kids to share in, they made Native American hats and traced their hands to make turkeys. We learned what it was to be thankful and each of the kids shared. The items they were grateful for ranged from siblings and food to (my favorite quote) "I'm thankful my mom takes me to target":)

The week after Thanksgiving, I found out something- my kids can READ!! That's right my 5 year old baby kindergartners are little baby geniuses and I'm so proud of them. They've grown SO MUCH! One of my sweet girls who speaks very little English (and rarely says anything) read- "You can go on a boat". She pointed to each word and READ IT! (except she said in instead of on) She's AMAZING! I'm so proud of the progress they're making, everything's clicking and because of these results I revamped my reading groups (my highest group is going to try reading at a C level this next week! That's where they're supposed to be by the end of the year!). My two shy kids have finally started talking in sentences,  my three kids who say random things (For example, ask what does the word b-b-b-boat start with? One of these kids would say, "My mom went to the store and we saw a boat and I wanted to go on it but...") have clued in and started answering my questions. The classroom is coming together guys, it only took till the end of November but everything's clicking and things are moving.

Amusing Anecdote:

So, you know my crazy kid? The one who has beat me up and used to have fits in the classroom, notice I said USED to. His fits have decreased significantly, and this past week he had ZERO! None. Nada. Zip. His fits usually occur in writing, because his fine motor skills are behind a lot of the other kids and he feels like he's not good at it, but this week he wrote a sentence almost EVERY SINGLE DAY! The day we did underwater transportation I showed the students a clip of the Great Reef in Australia, and than we all pretended we were traveling in a submarine. They each got their own submarine and were supposed to write a sentence about something they saw. This crazy kid of mine wrote "I sow a sc!" (I saw a shark). He wrote I SAW A SHARK! The kids a genius. I literally picked him up and spun him in a circle because I was so proud.