Happy Birthday to me! I'm now 33!

"3 is a magic number, yes it is, it's a magic number." And this year I have double 3's in my birthday year, so it's going to be a magical year, right? It has been such a wonderful day. So many people have called, texted, or left messages on my facebook page to wish me a happy birthday. I truly feel like the queen of the day. It started out with some sleeping in (of course) and then we had blueberry pancakes with peanut butter on them. I love the blueberries so I was looking for the pancakes that had the most in them. Ryan got two that had a lot, so he brought them to me instead. What a great, wonderful man I married. I got an awesome Happy Birthday song from the Watts and Quincy tried to send me kisses through the phone by sucking on it. :)

I did start the day off by going to my friend Susan's brothers funeral. Her brother, Brian Scott Kelley, was in a major motorcycle accident which at first had them knowing he would be paralyzed, but they didn't know how much brain damage there would be. As time went on, they found out that there was no blood going to the brain and he was brain dead as of Monday, July 16. It was a very nice funeral and a lot of us from school went to support her.
After that, we relaxed a bit before we got to go to Chili's with my sisters, Jonelle and Maren, and my brother Eric. We met them at 4:30 for dinner. They already had the bottomless chips and salsa with queso ready for us when we got there. I got something I had never had before, Grilled Shrimp Tacos which were really good. She warned me that they were spicy, but I didn't think they were at all. They were very tasty. Maren got a sandwich which was not her favorite, Jonelle got the Monterey Chicken (one of my favorites- I was debating on whether or not to get that too), Ryan got the full baby back ribs, and Eric got this massive burger with onion rings and bacon on it. He couldn't remember the name of it, but it was huge.
My parents gave me as a gift "The Serpent's Shadow", another in the Kane Chronicle Series. Maren gave me some mini-eggs she had left over from Easter which I was so excited for because we didn't get any this year. Eric made sure to tell the waitress it was my birthday and we got this amazing caramel brownie with ice cream. Soooo good!

At Chili's. Gift from my parents.

I tried to flip it, but it wouldn't do it. This is the 3rd book in the Kane Chronicles Series.

Then we went to go see "The Amazing Spider-Man". I wasn't sure if I was going to like it, but it definitely surpassed the Tobey Maguire ones. I really did like it, even though it took me awhile to get into it. My favorite part (the one part where Eric laughed out loud) was when Stan Lee did his cameo. (Stan Lee is the creator of Spider-Man and all the Marvel Super Heroes). Just listening to his music on headphones while Spidey and the villian are fighting in the background. Awesome.
Then we went over to Jonelle's for some cake and ice cream. Jonelle had made the funfetti cake which I love and Eric had picked up from the BYU creamery a fudge brownie nut ice cream, yum.

The "awesome" funfetti cake Jonelle made.

Eric is very concentrated on lighting the candles.

Jonelle & Eric are now doing it.

As you can see Maren's candle has burned the most.

Look at ALL of those candles lit up.

The birthday song

I blew all the candles out in one breath!

Then we watched some Quincy videos before we left. It was a lot of fun and I will post the pictures tomorrow, but I at least wanted to get this up tonight. Thank you to all for making my birthday so wonderful!

Jonelle getting the Roku ready. Ryan excited to see Quincy. He hasn't seen her since she was born.

Maren & Eric chilling on the other couch.

We ended up having to video tape this on my ipad so we could all be in it. This was my first attempt to take pictures from a video. I tried to add special elements to it, but for some reason it didn't save it.

My goofy husband.

Now my goofy brother.

Love my family!

Eric was definitely hamming it up.

We have fun together.

I think Eric is really the only one who changed among all of these pictures.

Organization battles Entropy

I recently went to a Stake Relief Society Workshop and learned that organization is not a talent, but is a skill that can be learned. Well, I have been trying to work on that skill during my summer vacation and I have found the nasty law of physics, entropy, lurking around every corner. Entropy's definition states - a doctrine of inevitable social decline and degeneration/lack of pattern or organization; disorder. There is a Law of DISORDER! Therefore, for every thing that you put in order, entropy is there trying to take something else apart. (I hope it's not like the 3rd Law of Motion: For every action there is an EQUAL and OPPOSITE reaction. Uggghhh!) That has been my struggle for the past few weeks. For example, I just re-organized my kitchen exactly the way I wanted it. I had just made everything clean and orderly. The space on top of my fridge is now a space saving item, but I didn't realize I had left so little room for each item. As I was readjusting a basket, a bottle of Noni Juice fell on the carpet, hitting precisely at the bottle's neck causing the bottom to shoot off. Immediately, the sticky, nasty, tart smelling liquid, permeated into the brown carpet, splattered all over my kitchen chairs, table and wall. Entropy was out to destroy me! I had spent a good day and a half re-organizing my kitchen and it lashed back. It took me a good 3 hours to clean everything up, including the carpet (2x - thank goodness for OxiClean!)

I don't think you can see it very well, but this is the picture I took to 
show Ryan while he was still at work. It took me 3 hours total 
(not all at once) to clean!

Here is the cleaned result! No stains, just shadows from the table.

Even Ryan has felt the effects. He has been trying to get so much done with work, his new calling as 2nd counselor in a Singles Ward, and studying for the Enrolled Agent Exam. He has been doing all of this stuff to prepare and get organized and entropy comes along and he gets sick for 2 weeks straight! I felt so bad for him. He kept on trying to work and push through it, but every day he still had a fever of 102 degrees. It was horrible and there was no rest for him. In the end he had to succumb to entropy's power and call in sick. He took off Thursday and Friday and just slept. It was good for him to just sleep it all away (and go to an actual Internal Medicine doctor rather than InstaCare - not that they aren't good, just another opinion was needed). Thank goodness we got some good antibiotics and he is on the mend.

Poor Ryan. He just needed lots and lots of sleep.

I know that if you don't think about something, it takes it's power away, so can I do that with entropy? Can I conquer it and just not think about it? There must be a way to go against this Law. Maybe I'm thinking too much about this since I just finished "Matched". I need to not think too much about what I read. I just picked up "The Lost Hero" so I might be a little into Roman mythology for awhile. :-) Maybe Roman mythology and fighting bad guys is exactly what I need to fight entropy right now. I will just focus on the awesome power I feel of being organized and imagine entropy's power fading away. And if it doesn't, I guess it's another way for me to learn patience. :-)

Learning through Repetition

The best way to learn something is through repetition, right? Well, I guess the Lord wants me to be a professional at getting students accommodated with starting school in the middle of the year. I have had 10 students move out of my class from the beginning of the year. (It might be 11, I've lost track). With those students who have moved out (it seems at a constant rate), I have been selected by the school secretaries to receive the bulk of the new students. (Not by some malicious reasoning - at least I hope- it is just because my numbers keep going down and the other teachers' numbers have stayed the same).

The school secretary sent me an e-mail on Friday entitled "You are going to KILL me" and contained the name of the newest member of my class. (This will make 11 new students). My class seems to have a revolving door on it this year because as they leave, more come in. Luckily, I will be in the classroom on Monday when he comes, because it is also a joke that I am either at a training or something when the new student arrives.

I guess I just need to laugh and learn to perfect the art of helping students to start in a new classroom part way through the year. I'm glad that my fellow co-workers understand my frustration and laugh with me. The student before this one's name was Roxanne and my co-worker lovingly made me a CD that played "Roxanne" by the Police over and over again. I think I listened to it at least 15 times while preparing for my new student.

I must admit it is hard to see my other students go and new ones come in, but it keeps me on my toes and reminds me that the Lord is teaching me to learn by repetition. I must not have gotten it right yet. :)

The Family Proclamation meets Percy Jackson?

One of the things that I love about teaching 6th grade, is that I get to learn about all of the ancient civilizations. We talk about Rome, Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The best part about it has been learning how the gospel correlates with each of these different civilizations. I have seen how Mesopotamia flourished and fell because of their dealings with Jerusalem. I have also gotten a deeper understanding of why it was so important to find a Roman citizen (Paul) to help spread the gospel after the death of Jesus Christ. I have also seen how Egypt went from being a polytheistic nation (believing in many gods and goddesses) to believing in one true God during one Pharaoh's rule (Joseph's influence?). My newest insight came to me today as I was visiting teaching both of the sisters I teach today.

The title of the Visiting Teaching Message this month is "Guardian of the Hearth." (My thoughts: I have never used the word "hearth" except for when teaching about Greek Mythology, so it piqued my interest.) In 1995, when President Gordon B. Hinckley introduced "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" in the general Relief Society meeting, he said the following to the women of the church, "You are the guardians of the hearth, You are the bearers of the children. You are they who nurture them and establish within them the habits of their lives. No other work reaches so close to divinity as does the nurturing of the sons and daughters of God."

First of all, how cool is that to be called a guardian? I really did imagine a warrior princess defending her homeland and her home. Someone that is at the front of the gate, keeping evil out. It was so cool to think that we as women have that role of keeping out evil from our homes and protecting our family. Of course, the first warrior princess I looked up to was, She-Ra. :) Then maybe a Xena type warrior.

Now as I had said, the only time I had really used the word hearth, was in Greek mythology, but I know it has to do with the fireplace as well. When I think of a fireplace, I think of good things, I imagine warmth, good memories, family gathered around telling stories. The hearth is to be the symbol of what home is supposed to be like. It is supposed to remind us of good times and warm feelings of love towards one another.

Now, how does Greek mythology play a role into my thinking? One of my favorite juvenile book series is: Percy Jackson and the Olympians. It is written by Rick Riordan and is so great for my students because it teaches about Greek mythology in a fun action-packed book. In the last book, "The Last Olympian", Percy and his friends are trying to save Mt. Olympus from falling to the Titans and their leader Kronos. As all of the Olympians are out trying to fight the Titans, Percy travels to Mt. Olympus, the home of the gods, and finds that one goddess is left behind. It is Hestia, goddess of the hearth and home. She explains that she does not have any great powers and is the least of all of the gods. (Isn't that how the world would like us to think, taking care of the home is the least important of all the jobs?)

She then goes on to tell Percy that it is harder and harder to keep the flames of the fire going because of the weakening of the gods as they are away from their home. Long story short, Percy knows that in the prophecy about him, he will make a decision that will either bring the destruction or victory of the gods. It isn't until Prometheus gives him Pandora's box (if you know the history of Pandora, she was told to never open the box because of what would happen, but curiosity got the best of her, she opened it and all of the bad things such as death, hunger, sickness, fear, etc. came out into the world. The only thing left in the box is hope which means that there is still hope in the world. If she is ever let out of the box by mankind, then that means they have given up hope as well.) and tells him if he changes his mind on fighting the Titans to let hope escape to show they surrender.

Now, back to Hestia and why she is so important. :) As things are getting worse, Percy travels back to Mt. Olympus and finds Hestia still tending the fire, trying to get it to be bigger. As Percy comes closer to the fire he begins to learn Hestia's true role in the world. He sees in the hearth his mother, Paul (step-dad) and him at Thanksgiving dinner, his friends and him around the campfire at Camp Half-Blood, singing songs and roasting marshmallows, Rachel and him driving along the beach in Paul's Prius; all warm, loving, tender memories. Hestia then asks Percy if he is ready to make his decision. He looks at Pandora's box and realizes that hope is pretty useless to him with so many of his friends dead, Olympus is on the verge of falling and he had seen so many cruel things happen by the hands of the gods. In his mind Prometheus whispers Surrender, Otherwise your home will be destroyed. Your precious camp will burn. He looks at Hestia and remembers the images he'd seen in the hearth - friends, family, everyone he cared about. Then he remembered a fellow camper (friend/demi-god) saying: There's no point in defending camp if you guys die. All our friends are here. And then another demi-god, Nico, standing up to his father Hades saying: If Olympus falls, your own palace's safety doesn't matter. He then realizes that if the home is invaded and overtaken, then everything is lost. He gives Pandora's Jar to Hestia as an offering.

She is confused at first and says, "I am the least of the gods. Why would you trust me with this?"

"You're the last Olympian. [Percy] said. "And the most important."

"And why is that, Percy Jackson?"

"Because Hope survives best at the hearth," [Percy] said. "Guard it for me, and I won't be tempted to give up again."

The goddess smiled. She took the jar in her hands and it began to glow. The hearth fire burned a little brighter.

"Well done, Percy Jackson," she said. "May the gods bless you."

I hope this makes sense, but Percy realized that home was the most important because that is where you learn to trust and love others. He knew it needed to be kept the strongest in order to win the war. He realized that it was the protection of the home (Mt. Olympus) that would help to keep the evil out. The other gods had "abandoned the home" and left it vulnerable to attack, but because he gave hope to Hestia and called her the most important of the gods, their strength was renewed and hope burned brighter.

Now I know Rick Riordan is not a latter-day saint, but it is so cool to see that even in Children's literature, we can find simple truths of the gospel. The home is what is important and the most crucial to protect from the buffetings of Satan. We are the guardians of the home. We are the ones in control of what is allowed into our homes. We are daughters of our Heavenly Father and he trusts us to bring up the next generation with love, hope, and strivings to do what is right and trust in the Lord. I have a new soft spot for Hestia, the least of the Greek gods, because she is in charge of the most important spot of all: The Home.

(P.S. The picture I chose of Hestia was on purpose. It reminds me of the 10 virgins -one of the 5 wise- with their lamps. It is also a symbol of keeping enough oil in our lamp so that we can have a fire like hearth near us always - to remind us of Home.)