Wonderful Year

I was just looking at my last blog post (which was last July) and just knew I couldn't go a year without writing something. It has been a wonderful year. I finished my 3rd year of teaching 6th grade and it was so much fun. After finally getting everything settled, it seemed that I wasn't so stressed and I could actually relax and enjoy having fun with my students while teaching them. I really do enjoy teaching the subjects in 6th grade. I feel really lucky since I love Ancient Civilizations, Astronomy, Microbiology, Math and the fun books to read for this age. I FINALLY finished the Lightning Thief series and am hoping they won't stop with the first movie, but will finish them all. I loved it and it is fun for my students to read as well since it is what I teach about.

It has been a wonderful year being married to my wonderful husband Ryan. He is everything I could've hoped for and more. He is so wonderful to me and my family. I really appreciated how good he was to go out to California for my cousin Melanie's wedding to her now husband Dan. We also spent some good time with my grandma Pauline and grandpa Walker for their 60th wedding anniversary. He was so sweet to them. I am so glad that he is in my life and will be for ever and ever.

I again, hope to be better at writing and will write more about the past year later.

Moving out of Deerhaven

Deerhaven was the name of the area I lived in before I got married. I had some wonderful memories there. I originally moved in with Cammie and Erin (2 of my friends), but they both moved out, I stayed and 2 other girls moved in that I did not know before. I was in the ___________ Ward and was leaving as the Family Home Evening Coordinator. My friend Michele had been the coordinator just before me and had told me (at first I thought it was a joke) that the only way to get out of that calling was to either move or get married. She had gotten out of it by marrying Alan. I didn't know what would happen, but I met Ryan rather quickly after I got the calling, so I guess it was true. :)

Here are some pictures of my room from Deerhaven. I loved my room and the way it was set up. I really loved what I had set up, but now I'm excited to redecorate with new things from the wedding. Here is what my room and bathroom looked like just before tying the knot with Ryan.

Bathroom pictures. I had my own bathroom and it was great!

I loved my shelf with all my lotions and body sprays.

Blue and white was my color scheme. The towels never were great, just for show. They always shed. The shower curtain was on loan from Erin. She made them. She's such a great friend. My new color scheme is green and white.

 Bedroom, black, white, and red. I really like this and thought it was very classy. My mom helped me make the heart pillows and the black and white board.

I loved the curtains (got them from IKEA) and that I put them up with a curtain rod. My red fuzzy has been with me for years (thanks mom!) so it helped with the decision of the color scheme.

The coats and my jewelry were hung on towel racks my mom used to have in her bathroom. I just painted them black. Yes, my wedding dress is in the closet. I LOVE my wedding dress!!

I thought the mirror was kind of fun. My landlord didn't when it didn't come off. Thank you to Jennica who moved in after me! She found a way to take it off for me. She was a friend in the ward.

This was the extra bedroom, which Erin and I decided I could use, but the closet was for anyone to use. The reason we decided I could use it was because she had the massive master bedroom. :)

The pictures I had hanging on the wall. I don't think Ryan will love the unicorn tapestry I got from New York.

The drapes and desk area. The flowers of course are from Ryan. I tried to dry them. (Didn't work in the end).

My bulletin board with my to do list. This ended up going to school for a Message Board.

A better picture of the flowers. Good thing I got some pictures before they were destroyed in the move.

I enjoyed my time at Deerhaven. We had lots of parties there, friends coming over, family home evenings, sleep overs, dinner groups, etc. There was a lot more to it, such as the kitchen, living room, and basement. It was two stories (three with the basement) and we had lots of fun there. I will miss it, but not too much. I am excited to be moving on to a new chapter in my life. Once we get everything out, I will leave all of my stuff at Ryan's parents house. Then I will stay there for a night before we leave for California to get married. We need to get out there early so that we can get everything else done before the wedding! I am so excited that the big day is finally here!

Happy, Happy Birthday!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010
This is a big year! First of all, I've never had a boyfriend on my birthday. How lucky I am that not only do I have a boyfriend, but he is my fiancé! How wonderful is that! We weren't going to celebrate today on my actual birthday because Ryan is still in the middle of school and had a paper to work on, so we celebrated on July 23rd instead. We really just took it easy because we had been so busy with wedding plans, but we still went out to dinner. We went to Chili's and I had a wonderful 6 oz. steak with pico de gallo on it. Yum! He got me a CTR ring as a present, but it was the wrong size, so he had to take it back. He got a ring with little cubic zirconium's embedded in the sides (like my ring - except there were 4 on each side). I loved it!

Then we went to a movie after dinner.

Happy Birthday to me. I just love those bright blue eyes.

The family at Chili's

Jakers

Another picture, trying to get everyone in the shot. :)

I love my fiancé! He is so romantic.

The next day, Saturday July 24th, was the day I did my bridals up at the Utah State Capitol. (I will do a separate post on that). We went to dinner with Ryan's family for my birthday at Chili's that night. (2 nights in a row? Not complaining at ALL!) It was fun to be with the family and Ryan's parents got me some more things from my registry. Don & Mel gave me a baseball book called "Kiss it Good-bye". They have some fun family traditions and I am looking forward to being the newest member of the Peck family in 12 days!

Great News!

I should just face it that I am not a great blogger, but I need to post in order to let everyone know how excited I am to be marrying the man of my dreams in 29 days. This joy and happiness that I feel is so incredible and hard to describe, but it was worth the wait. I am marrying Ryan Gammon Peck on August 6th, 2010 in the Oakland, CA Temple. We went on our first date on January 23 which was a set up by my cousin Jason. They are in the MBA program at the UofU. It has been wonderful ever since. I definitely fought it a little bit at first. Those that are close to me will remember that the big deterrent for me at first was his height. (He is 6'1" and I am 5'2" :)


However, height definitely did not matter in the end. It was just so natural our relationship. There are a lot of things that played into why this worked out so well, but on my part I remember thinking that I was going to go into this relationship not hiding anything. I was going to be completely myself and if he liked me, then he liked me, but I was not going to worry about it if he did not. I was ready to find the love of my life and it didn't take too long. I am so grateful for who he is and his dedication to the gospel, his schooling, family, friends, and our relationship. We have set up another blog that I will be better at :) Tracy, my girl, helped me make it the best it could be. Thanks again Tracy. Click on the picture to follow the new blog, so please check it out. I will talk more about how we met and fun things like that on there. This is definitely another transformation in my life and I am loving it. Thank you to all for your love and support.

Blessed

I am truly blessed to have a great family and wonderful friends. In the past few days I have had some wonderful talks with wonderful people in my life. I am so grateful for the support that they show me and how much they care for me. It is the last part of spring break and I am sad because I need to go back to work, but school is coming to a close and we need to persevere to the end. I have some great examples in my life of those that have continued to press forward, or kampa pa (shempa po - can't write it in swedish lettering) which means "struggle on".
There are some hard workers out there and I have seen how they have been blessed because of their choices. I hope to be like them someday. Thanks to all of those who have supported me throughout the years. I am truly blessed.

What happened to February?

Okay, so my last post was on the last day of January and I was welcoming February into my life. Where did it go? It is gone. I know it's late and Ryan if you read this, sorry, I had to post before midnight :) but on something I wanted to.

This blog started out to be about my running. As most of you know, I was in a roll over accident in October and have not been running for 5 months. I thought I would just say, I am starting over, slow with the running, but I have a plan to get back into it. I was so sad when I found out I couldn't run the REX LEE RUN this year because I have to take the PRAXIS at 7:30 that morning. There is no way I will be done with the test and be able to run at 9. So sad.

However, that aside, I am beginning slow. Yesterday, I ran for 20 minutes, but it was a 1 minute run, then 3 minute walk, alternating. It was fine since I was just getting back into things. Today, I did pilates, abs, and walked fast for twenty minutes (which ended up being up and down my stairs).

Am I excited? Do I feel great about getting back into running? YES!! An emphatic Yes. Now, I just need to be consistent and listen to my body as I pursue my goals to be back where I was previous to my accident. I also want to finally get my mountain bike and start biking around. Spring is coming and Summer will be here around the corner. I am so excited.

February, I'm sorry I missed you in the blogging world, but it was a good month, lots of good things happened. :)

Musings of the month of January

I'm not sure what to say about January. It was the first month of the new year. It flew by and I feel like I got a lot accomplished, but then I don't. Do you ever have those feelings? Am I doing significant things that are helping me to move forward? I was talking to a friend tonight and we came to the conclusion that if we recognize what we've done and are thankful for what HAS been accomplished, we can feel more satisfied.

First, I survived another term of school and another round of parent-teacher conferences. Those can always be stressful, but it is over with, for the most part. I still need to round up 3 more students for the meetings, but those should be done before the end of the week.

Second, Benchmarks (reading levels) are done for the 2nd time. A lot of my students were able to move up a few levels. One girl moved up significantly. She moved up 3 levels. I was so proud of her. Her comprehension is amazing. I found out she watches the Discovery Channel a lot. I love that channel. :)

Third, I just finished the training for the Arts program we have been going to this year. The last one was on Friday. That makes me so happy that I am done and get a credit towards my teacher professionalism. That is one more step in the right direction.

Fourth, our FHE program has been significantly heightened by a little more unity among the groups, and some healthy competition. For January, we did ice cream sculptures. A lot of the groups had some great ideas and creations. My group came up with a scene from UP! When I get the pictures, I'll post some. My co-chair and I gave talks, as well as another FHE leader and just an attendee. They were great and I learned a lot about why we have FHE in the first place.

Fifth, I have been working on my ARL. I did not do as well in a class that I was taking online, so I need to do it again, but now I understand how to do an online class. Much harder than I though. I'm sure there are others that would have no problem, but I struggled. Now, I am set up to take the PRAXIS for content knowledge in March, and the PRAXIS PLT in April. Overkill, maybe, but I need it in order to keep up. I am still working on my ESL endorsement as well. So much to do, so little time to do it. :)

Sixth, I have joined a dinner group, which I love. I enjoy spending time with friends over meals and getting a chance to eat someone else's cooking. I cook only once every three weeks (we eat 2 nights out of the week). I think it is fabulous and I love the people I eat with because they are such great conversationalists. I was lucky and took over a friend of mine's position, and now we are losing another friend Kathryn, but should be gaining another one soon.

Now that I look back, I realize that a lot has been accomplished and I feel a sense of satisfaction, but there are still some loose ends that I need to tie up. This is not a problem, since I recognize the need, but I need to understand the path of how I should attack the problems I face. I have a hard time getting the big, ugly projects out of the way. I remember seeing a motivational video about eating your frog. They tell you to eat it right away in the beginning of the day. Then, the rest of the day will be a snap since it gives you the confidence to accomplish hard things. It's about procrastination, since we will usually procrastinate a difficult task and then it drains our energy since it goes on for awhile as uncompleted.

I need to learn to prioritze and EAT MY FROG!!! I have been trying to be much more organized. I just created a six week workout routine for myself in order to get in shape for the REX LEE RUN. (I may not be able to run because of the PRAXIS now, darnit all). However, I'll still follow the plan. Then I have plans for what I'm going to eat and cleaning schedules. I need to delegate. So many people have offered to help me in my classroom. I need to take them up on it.

So, here is to a new month. February, it's going to be awesome. Groundhog's Day, Valentine's Day, Chinese New Year. Maybe I'll make up some new resolutions for Chinese New Year. :) Good-bye January, hello February.