Tyler & Megan

Locks, Cookies, & A Get-Away

2011-12-24T11:47:00.000-08:00

We have had a really great December so far! School was great in December, and now I am happily but rather lonely celebrating for two whole weeks away from school! It has been a blast. But again this year, my students were so gracious with their gifts! I love my students. They are amazing. I hope they are all having a great Christmas Break! We had a really fun last day of school by having pajama day, a read-a-thon in the morning. We watched the movie The Best Christmas Pageant Ever after reading the book. So funny. We took a spelling test. We had a way fun gift exchange and ate treats, and then our entire school met in the auditorium to have a Christmas Sing. Each grade got a turn singing two Christmas songs that they have been practicing for the past couple of weeks. We sang Pine Cones and Holly Berries, and Nuttin' for Christmas. We even heard through the grapevine that our choreography and singing was the best out of the whole school. 5th grade rocks!

We decided that we needed to put a lock on our door downstairs, and Tyler thought that the best time to do that would be at midnight. We had to do some sawing and drilling and it was a little bit bigger of a project than I think we anticipated. But we finally finished and by the time we were done, I think I looked like a zombie.

We made delicious cookies to take to work parties and such. We made homemade oreos, peanut butter yummy cookies with hershey's kisses, and sugar cookies with candy cane kisses. They were all delicious. Tyler just gets too excited about the size of the cookies so we are working on making the cookies a little bit smaller now :) He is so cute.

For a quick get-away, we left for Ogden on the 19th to stay in Tyler's parent's condo. We only took comfy clothes, because we were planning on a few days of pure laziness and relaxation. We did bring our new sleds because we were hoping that it would snow and we could have some fun outside, but we were sad to only experience the snow on our way out the door to head back to Orem. We did buy delicious food to cook while we were there though. We made tacos, biscuits and gravy, but our favorite was spaghetti with italian sausage and yummy salad. We bought tons of snacks and just enjoyed our time together. We even got to go hot-tubbing! It was definitely a great get-away that hopefully we can do again soon!!

We know how to have a good time with our family. Tyler is always tackling everybody and tickling them. It's one of the things that I love most about him. He has the best sense of humor. Everybody else loves the tackling and tickling too (said sarcastically).

And last night, we did not want to cook, so we just made one of my Grandma Slaughter's specialties; Cereal, toast, and hot chocolate. She used to make that for my every time I would go over to her house or whenever I stayed the night. It is one of my all time favorites!!

And finally, in just a few short hours, we are heading to Green River to spend Christmas with my Dad's side of the family!! I can hardly wait! We are going to have such a fun time! I just hope that the roads are good and that we can finally use our sleds! Christmas is such a fun time of the year, and I can't wait to spend my first Christmas being married with Tyler!! He was so excited about the things that he got me for Christmas that he might have already showed me everything he got me. He thought that since he showed me my presents, that I should show him his, but I definitely have not, and he is just going to have to wait till tomorrow, or at least until tonight! He keeps telling me that I don't love him, but it's because I love him so much that I haven't shown him! Yay for surprises, family, love, and Christmas!

One more thing. We have become addicted to the show Prison Break. It is so intense and so good!! We love it and have even gotten coworkers addicted to it as well. It is on Netflix, so if you have netflix, you should watch it too! It is just so sad that we are on the 4th season and don't know what we are going to do after it is over!!! Who knew you could become so close to and supportive of convicts trying to break out of prison :)

Cel-e-brate good times, Come On!!!

2011-11-19T20:40:00.001-08:00

There have been so many wonderful things happening lately. I can't wait to share! First of all, we celebrated my wonderful husband getting a new job at Goldenwest Credit Union by going shopping all day one Saturday for new clothes for him, and my my my is he the most handsome teller there now or what!!! Just a few of my favorite outfits that he got :)

Today we had the amazing opportunity to share Chelsea and Greg Sloat's special day with them. My wonderful cousin Chelsea got married today to Greg Sloat, and we had the opportunity to go to the temple and attend their sealing. They are now blessed to be with eachother as husband and wife for time and all eternity! Congrats Chels and Greg! I can't wait to hang out with you guys once you get back and all settled in! Here are a few of the pictures that Tyler and I took throughout the day!

Tyler made me yummy french toast this morning!!

Watching football...hmm...should be going to get a haircut :)

Out to eat at California Pizza Kitchen!

The remnants after our delicious crispy mac' n' cheese!

Tyler made the #3 :)

The only picture that I got of the Salt Lake Temple.

My awesome cousin Erika!

Our amazing friends Ruth and Steve!

My beautiful cousin Chelsea and her new husband Greg!

Now we are safe and sound at home, doing what you may ask....watching the BYU game of course! But at least we got some treats to enjoy while we watch! I love my sweet husband!

October Fun

2011-10-24T20:56:00.000-07:00

We have had some really fun days in October so far, and I just thought I would share. Tyler and I slaved over the hot stove making delicious chicken tacos for dinner last week, and all Melissa and David had to do was bring over two very inexpensive pumpkins that we could carve for our date night. It was really fun though. They carved a very "Lady Gaga" looking pumpkin, while we stuck with the traditional scary face pumpkin look. You will have to vote which one you think is the best Halloween pumpkin. Let Melissa and David down easily though :)

Of course we watched the BYU versus Idaho State game on Saturday! What a win BYU had! Not that that's any surprise or anything :) BYU Rocks! And it just so happened that some of my favorite people were at the game. Of course the love of my life Tyler, but then Melissa Hart, Melissa French, and Kammie Morris! I just love those girls. It was fun to be able to spend some time with them during the tailgate before the game. We just visited and laughed and enjoyed the beautiful weather. At half time, Kammie met up with me and Mel and we gawked as the BYU basketball team forged their way through the crowd. We managed to get a sneaky picture with Brandon Davies! Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!

And of course me and my silly husband had to get some pictures! We just look so good together, it's almost unreal :)

What a geek burger :)

I wonder where he gets it from? Hmm :)

They won!!!

A Date...Finally

2011-10-15T14:21:00.000-07:00

The past three weeks have not been fun. It started with fevers, headaches, and body aches for Tyler. We tried to figure out what was wrong by going to the doctor, and they knew it was mono before they did any blood tests. But when the first two blood tests came back negative for mono, we didn't really know what to think. They told him that it was just a virus that was just going to take time to get rid of. So miserable. But then one night, we really couldn't stand it any longer. Tyler was so sick, and feeling so awful, that we decided to go to the ER and see if they could find something that the doctor couldn't find.

In the waiting room at the ER.

They took more of Tyler's blood, if he had any left (he swears that they took 14 gallons of his blood), and again the blood tests came back negative for mono even though they were "positive" that it was mono. So we started to think of other things that he might have. Lymphoma, cancer of the immune system, was one of Tyler's first thoughts, which literally gave me a heart attack. His mom also suggested diabetes because of some of his symptoms. The doctor called and wanted to try taking his blood one last time. And FINALLY the blood test came back positive for mono. Hooray! They were able to give him some medicine for his symptoms, which really helped. And at last, 23 days later, it is looking like he is almost back to normal. Something kind of hilarious that I thought that I would mention was something that happened while we were in the ER. The doctor said that Tyler really should rest and not do anything very active to preserve the small amount of energy that he does have. I asked if that meant that he shouldn't go to the BYU game against San Jose on Saturday night, knowing full well that we were going to go anyways. The doctor was a big BYU fan as well, and said that was something that I would have to discuss with Tyler. We totally ended up going. My choice of course. :)

It was so cold! I was wearing 15 layers of clothing.

This brings me to the title of this blog. A Date...Finally. Tyler was so miserable during the mono infestation because he really is such an active person, always wanting to go outside to play catch, or go to Provo Beach Resort, or just get out for a while. He just didn't have enough energy to go out and do anything. So last night, after feeling tons better, he asked me if I wanted to go out. And so, we definitely took advantage of that. We went to Firehouse Subs, a delicious sandwich place that Tyler discovered on his mission in Georgia. YUM! We went to the mall, just to walk around. We went to one of our very favorite places, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory to get a caramel apple to share. A good caramel apple just gets me into a happy mood no matter when I eat one. To top it all off, we went to Provo Beach Resort! Tyler won at croquet and then I made him buy me ice cream so I could stop crying after such a sad loss. Delicious. I love spending time with my sweetheart. He is so funny and fun, especially when he is not sick :)

You will never guess what we are doing at this exact moment. If you guessed spending time with one another you are correct. But if you guessed watching another BYU game, you are even more correct. My favorite.

So Sick :(

2011-09-30T08:48:00.000-07:00

My poor husband has been so sick the past week. It started last Thursday, and is still going strong. We decided on Sunday that enough was enough. We wanted to know what was going on. We never expected the doctor to say what he said though. They took some blood tests, and after a strep test being negative, the doctor told us that Tyler has mono. What the heck? How in the world did he get mono? I don't have mono, and we have heard that it is called "the kissing disease" for a reason. So who has my husband been kissing? Just kidding. I asked how you can contract this evil mono, and the doctor said besides kissing, you can get it from any kind of saliva from anywhere. Everybody is always sneezing and coughing and spitting all the time, (what a lovely picture I have in my head now) so it is kind of understandable. But boy has Tyler been sick. Cold sweats, fevers, headaches, backaches, fatigue, weight loss (maybe a good side affect?), and spleen enlargements, are just a few wonderful side affects of this awful sickness. Please pray you never get it. IT'S AWFUL! And after they took his blood, my poor husband needed a juice box and and band-aid and a kiss on the forehead to make him feel better. He didn't even have to go to work or school this week. Lucky. But I am the best wife ever, and I have taken good care of my boy. I hope he is feeling better today...cause we are going to the game no matter what :) By the way, BYU won last week 24-17 against Central Florida! Woo Hoo! I knew I would have good news after that game! Go cougars!

Isn't he so adorable? I think so :)

Rise Up

2011-09-21T07:41:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday was supposed to be magical. It was my very first BYU game. Ever. We were all pumped and ready to cheer for the Courageous Cougars. We did our tailgating, we ate delicious food, we played really fun games, and we got to spend time with our family and friends. Tyler and I had pretty good seats in the stadium too. How much better could it get. Well besides getting to see Jimmer and President Dieter F. Uchtdorf... We watched the band, we saw the gigantic flag brought out by the military men and women, and then we screamed and cheered when the team ran out on the field. It was altogether so exciting, I almost couldn't control my excitement. Tyler can attest to that. But then the game started. By half-time, we were really thinking that BYU had a really good chance of winning, but by the 3rd quarter, we just wanted to hide under the bleachers. All you could really do with that game is feel so embarrassed for BYU. Secretly I wanted to start cheering for Utah. How terrible is that... But we feel strongly that BYU will make a serious comeback with their game on Friday. Hopefully I will have better news to share than a terrible loss of 10-54 this weekend! Good luck Cougars!

Our matching Rise Up shirts. So cute.

Holding our prized season tickets!

Our awesome seats on the South end!

Jimmer!!!

The football field sized flag!!!

Tyler's excited face!

Here they come!

They won. Boo.

President and Sister Uchtdorf!

On another note...We had a really fun block party on Thursday. There was a bounce house. Need I say more?

So exciting!!

The queen!!

I thought he was going to bounce right off of that thing!

But he is my superman :)

Red Rock Relay Rookies

2011-09-14T08:46:00.001-07:00

I have never, and I mean never, been a runner in my entire life. I don't like it. I want to like it. So I run sparatically here and there. When I started dating Tyler in March, his family was talking about this race that they were going to do in September called the Red Rock Relay. I had never heard of it before. It is a 187 mile run starting at Brian Head ski resort in Cedar City, and it ends in St. George. They give your 12 man team 36 hours to complete it. Sounds fun right? Not really. I mean, it was, but it doesn't really sound fun. :) Well, when plans were being discussed on how this was all going to turn out, I was going to be a driver with Tyler's mom, which was totally fine with me. But then in August, Tyler's sister in law Katie, who was going to be running, broke her toe. So I took her place. What was I thinking? I ran a little the last few months of school, but then I took the ENTIRE summer off. I was a little preoccupied with other things. :) So without training, we left on Thursday afternoon for Cedar City. My first leg was Friday morning. 5.4 miles later, I was already pooped. How was I going to complete the other two legs? Especially when we started our second leg during the nighttime. With some encouragement from my amazing teammates, I started my second leg of 2.8 miles at 11:50 at night. It was quite the experience. I started to get a little spooked with all the night sounds. I even got a little discouraged after being passed by like 15 people. But I was able to finish. We were able to get a little sleep after our second leg. 3 hours of sleep is really not very much though, so we were super tired when it came to the last leg. My 5 miles was my last leg. The first mile was straight up a hill, then it went down a little, and then back up another hill. I thought I was going to die. But again, with the support of my teammates and an awesome girl who decided to run next to me, I was able to complete my last leg without perishing. Thank goodness. I love not being able to walk still from that adventure, and I am pretty sure I won't be running again for quite a while. But I can say that I completed the Red Rock Relay, which I am sure not very many people do in their life.

Tyler was tired after his first leg.

Wearing my "women's size medium" shirt.

He earned that first stripe.

The view from Melissa's first run.

Me before my first 5.4 miles.

Me after my first 5.4 miles.

We earned all 3 of our stripes!

Happy we are still alive, and feeling accomplished.

What to do on a Saturday?

2011-07-23T11:58:00.000-07:00

I am just sitting on the couch next to my husband. Yep, that's right. My husband. Because guess what?! We got married. July 2nd, 2011. Quite possibly the happiest and most enjoyable day of my whole life. With the help of so many people, I looked and felt incredibly beautiful. I am so glad that we changed our date so many times, because I couldn't really wait another day to marry Tyler Keil. He is the most wonderful, hilarious, sweet, caring, loving, helpful, and handsome man on the planet!!! The perfect man for me. He completes me :)

We moved into our cute little apartment in Springville, hopeful of what the future holds for us. Living, if that's what you want to call it, in our little apartment has been quite comical. We don't really have anything to fill our cupboards, no silver wear, not even a spatula to cook with. We had to go buy a knife the other day so that we could cut the watermelon that we bought. So it has been funny seeing what we can and can't do with the things that we brought with us. Tyler really wanted to make some chicken salad last night, and without a can opener, he opened the can of chicken with a hammer, nail, and crow bar. How hysterical! Needless to say, we are super excited for our receptions this upcoming week, so that hopefully we can get some gifts that will help us out. At this point, it seems like it will take forever to acquire all that our parents or grandparents have, but we will get there some day. Right now we are living on love. Truly. Neither of us even have jobs yet.

So in our infinite time, we sleep in, watch TV, go to Seven Peaks, and stare longingly into one another's eyes :) I have always wanted to be able to do that with my significant other. And now I have unlimited time to do so.

Backing up a bit...we had a fabulous honeymoon that lasted 2 weeks. The day after our wedding, we left for St. George. We stayed there one night, and left July 4th for Las Vegas. What a fun few days being in Sin City can be :) We walked the strip, ate dinner at a yummy place called the Rainforest Cafe, rode the New York New York rollercoaster 5 times with our all day passes, and just had fun being together. On Thursday, Tyler's family met us in Las Vegas to set off on our family vacation to California! So in our cramped little car, Katie, Josh, Coleman, Tyler, and I rode together towards our Oceanside destination. What a fun week that was. We swam in the ocean not ever getting used to the salt water in our eyes and mouth. We went to Sea World loving the Sea Lions the most because we got to feed them...they were so noisy...kind of funny. We went to the San Diego temple, which is a beautiful temple. We had a really great time as a family, and hope to have more experiences that bring us together as that one did.

Now we are just looking forward to the future. We love eachother, we love our families, and are so grateful for their support with our new marriage. I LOVE BEING MARRIED! If you are not married, you should be. It's the best.

Wedding Plans

2011-05-25T10:16:00.000-07:00

Planning a wedding is interesting. It is something I have never done before, so I really don't know what the heck I am doing. I know that I wear a pretty white dress, and my man wears something nice that goes with my pretty white dress. I know that my family comes to support us as we take that leap into the next chapter of our lives and they are all so happy for us on our special day. I know there is cake :) Hopefully lots of cake. Chocolate cake. And there are flowers. Who knows what kind of flowers though...not me. That's for sure. But what about the other things. Do we dance at our reception? Do my bridesmaids need to match our colors exactly? What men should wear which tie? Do we have music? What about a movie? How do I choose his ring? How should I do my hair? How should I do my makeup? Do I get to eat any of the yummy food that has been provided at the reception? Why did we choose July 30th? It is going to be so hot. So much to think about. I wish we had a wedding planner. That would be wonderful. Many little girls already have a plan of how they picture their wedding going. Not me. I haven't the slightest clue how this is going to turn out. I just want it to come. Fast!

Where there's hope, there's America

2011-05-05T08:03:00.000-07:00

Last night we had the opportunity to go celebrate America with 4,000 fifth grade students from all over Utah in the Hope of America celebration! It was incredible to hear and feel the amazing testimony that we truly belong to such a great country. We may all come from different parts of America, but we are still united together. It's nice to be reminded. Let's not let those things be taken away, and always support the people serving our great country!

On Tuesday night, we surprised Kellie, my awesome former roommate who is getting married on Saturday (whoa!!!), with a fun bridal shower!!! We met at one of the local frozen yogurt places and had delicious fruit pizza (The best I have ever tasted!!! Thanks to Chelsea!) and just talked for a few hours! It was to get away and do some girl stuff. Congratulations Kel, and I am so excited to go to Las Vegas to help you celebrate your's and Brian's exciting day!!!

Happily Ever After :)

2011-04-28T13:56:00.000-07:00

What an unexpected turn of events! Wow! I don't even know where to begin, so I guess I will start from the beginning of a very exciting successful love story...woo woo, I can hardly wait!

I moved to Utah at the end of August only hoping to find a job, and hopefully if I got lucky, my prince charming. I actually started dating a lot more. A lot more than I ever did in college, and I liked it. Then I met Joe. Of course you know how that turned out. A positive experience, however, not the one for me. We ended that in January on a good note. Then Marshall came into the picture. I knew he like me, and I thought he was super nice. We started hanging out in a pretty regular group that would get together and play games. We had a lot of fun together. Marshall just never really did it for me. I am attracted to someone who is super affectionate, and that was not how Marshall was.

That is where Tyler Keil comes into the picture. The very first time we were formally introduced is kind of a hilarious but sad. I went over to his house to take his family dinner. I took my mother's famous chicken enchiladas that are super delicious. They were super grateful, and while I was over there for the brief time, Tyler was standing against the wall keeping to himself. You have to realize that he had just gotten home from his mission in Georgia, so he was super awkward, and not very outgoing. His dad, my bishop, said, "Megan, have you met our son Tyler?" I said, "Yep," and then brushed that aside, because I wasn't really there to see Tyler, I was there to bring them dinner. I feel really bad for not getting into a heartfelt conversation with him now, but I didn't know that they had wanted Tyler and I to date from the very beginning. So he tells me now that he was like, "Wow, she must really not be interested in me." That changed pretty quickly.

The next interaction Tyler and I had was a few months later, I am assuming. We, meaning me and Rochelle, were invited to come over and play Mario at Tyler's house, and we flirted quite a bit while I was over there, but nothing really happened from that experience. Tyler showed up here and there, over at Heather's when we played a game called Buzz, which he was sooo good at. Then he came to one of our basketball games. Where it really started to click that I think I liked him was when we played Curses one time. He made me laugh so hard, and I am super attracted to people who can make me laugh. He has earned tons of points making me laugh. Another sad story goes something like this. We were all invited to Heather's to watch a movie, and this is when I kind of was more into Marshall. Marshall got there, and then Tyler showed up. I was leaning against the couch, Marshall was sitting on the love sac. Tyler came a sat behind me on the couch. I quickly asked Marshall if he was saving a spot for me on the love sac, and moved over next him, leaving Tyler in the dust. I am evil. I feel so bad for that one too.

However, I realized that things weren't really going anywhere with Marshall, and so I turned to Tyler, because I thought he was kind of still interested in me. So I really played it up at a dinner that we had at church. Marshall had to leave early, and so I took that opportunity to show Tyler that I was more interested in him now. Jenna, Maryvonne, and I were invited over to play Mario again. Tyler and I were kind of inseparable from that point on. That was at the beginning of March.

We started dating after he got home from a crazy weekend in Las Vegas, the weekend that we decided that we really wanted to date each other. We are always together, and that's the way we like it. Because of that, we have exciting news! As of Saturday at about 10:00 on a mountain, we are engaged to be married on July 30th! Crazy! I am super excited and couldn't think of anybody I would rather spend my whole entire life with than Tyler Keil. He is handsome, caring, honest, thoughtful, affectionate, hilarious, smart, and loves me!!!! I found a job and my prince charming!! I AM SO LUCKY!!!!

Panic Day!

2011-03-09T07:15:00.001-08:00

Just so we are clear, the title of this blog is one of the many celebrations or holidays that we often overlook during the month of March. Going along with the new group names that my students came up with this month, rather than looking at the more obvious holidays like St Patrick's Day, we decided to look up the unique holidays that people never remember. I found a really cool website that lists a holiday per day for the month of March. For example, on the 1st of March it was National Pig Day. How many of you celebrated that? The 5th was Multiple Personality Day. Anybody celebrate that one?? Probably several of the people I know celebrated that one without even knowing it. :) And tomorrow we have Middle Name Pride Day! So tomorrow, enjoy your middle name and maybe think about how you got your middle name. Just something fun to look forward to...

This past weekend was a blur, as are most of my weekends! I wish this one would have been longer however, because my bestie Melissa Nicole French came to visit!!!! Finally! She saw my classroom, my apartment, and the beautiful city of Orem! We hugged, we laughed, we shopped, we ate, and most importantly...we pedicured!!! What a fun weekend with such a wonderful, outstanding, beautiful, talented friend! I can't wait to see her again!

The weekend before that, I was actually going to write a blog about. I was going to title it: From Purple to White. The reasoning behind this title was that I went cross-country skiing with my good friend and co-worker Kristin. I was wearing a purple shirt to begin with and by the time we finished our journey, my shirt was completely covered in snow from falling so often! How hilarious. What a fun sport though!!! I couldn't believe how beautiful of a morning it was that we chose to go! It had just snowed a whopping like 3 or 4 feet where we went, and the day couldn't have been more great! It is just fun sometimes to get out and enjoy the beautiful winter weather....emphasis on the sometimes. :)

My Dad finally came to see me not last week, but the week before that. He came to school with me even! It was so much fun, and my students loved having him here! Everyone thought we looked exactly alike...it's kind of interesting the thought of being my dad's twin...eek. He played spelling games, and the students got to ask him questions. Here were some of my favorites.

Grant: What is your favorite planet?
Dad: (laughing) Earth. But I think you might be from Pluto.
Jake: Do you like BYU basketball?
Dad: Isn't that the team who has Timmer on it?

Hilarious if you ask me!

Other exciting things that are upcoming...My little sister's 14th birthday is on Saturday! What an oldie! My Mom is coming to Utah for her Spring Break on the 22-24! I can hardly wait!! I wish our Spring Break's were the same so that we could go do something exciting! We will surely have fun though while she is here! The end of the 3RD TERM is on the 25th of this month, which I can't even hardly believe! The school year is almost over....but on a positive note, that means WARM WEATHER IS COMING!!! Hooray!

One more shout out for Justin Bieber...His movie rocked. I loved every second of it. My friend Tresa and I went to see it in 3D and let me just tell you that seeing JB that up close and personal and learning everything about his 16 years of living was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I can't wait to have some of his songs on my Ipod! "I was like Baby Baby Baby Oh!!!"

February

2011-02-08T15:46:00.000-08:00

Sorry the title of my blogs are probably getting increasingly more boring, but "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit" or so my 3rd graders usually say. However, things are going most excellently as of late. Yet again, I have come up with a new strategy to help encourage my students to be good. There are 8 groups with 3 students in each group. They have all come up with a name for their group, and boy let me tell you, they are hilarious. They had to match their group name with something that goes along with the month of February. So it could be anything from Groundhogs Day, to President's Day, to Valentines Day. For 3rd grade we have the Valenteenies, the Chocolate Hearts, the Cupcake Bakers, the Love Bugs, the Red Tigers, the Shadows, the Thunder hearts, and the Lightening Hearts. For 5th grade we have the Heart Slayers, The BowanArrows, the Broken Hearts, Cupid's Arrow, the Pink Bears, Washington 22, the Cupid Hearts, and the Valentines. So perfect. For every time a group is doing what they are supposed to be doing, they get a point. The group that has the most points by the end of the week gets to choose a game that we play for the last 10 minutes or so. Then, I add up all of the points that each group has earned for class points, and if we can get to 500 points, then we will have a class party. Sounds fun to me. Hopefully it works. They really liked coming up with names for their groups, and coloring the signs to go along with their names.

I went on a really fun group date on Friday! We went bowling, and I had the highest score out of everyone...even my date...again..oops. 117. Awesome. That's the best way to keep someone's interest. Oh well. And speaking of dates, my hilarious father wants to set me up on a date with this great guy. However, my father does not know the name of this guy, or his phone number, or where he lives, so that should be entertaining. I love dating though, and it's fun to get to know new people.

I really feel like that is all for now, because I really need to go to the store. Until next time...

Back up...

2011-01-16T18:17:00.000-08:00

I decided that I better give a better update than my post on Friday. It doesn't really explain anything that has been going on in my life since my last post, and boy let me tell you...a lot can happen in a month. Weird.

The rest of the 2010 school year was great! We finished our Holiday countdown, which the students looked forward to doing everyday. I think we all were really looking forward to that Holiday break. And on the last day of school, my students were so generous in the gifts that they brought me. There was chocolate galore, fruit, candy, homemade cards, gift cards, and so much more...I couldn't believe how generous some of the families were. I even received some amazing gifts to help me organize and enhance my classroom a little bit! I just really appreciate all that the students do, and especially their parents to help me in my first year of teaching. Love it!!!

For my Holiday break, I flew to Colorado to visit my momma!! I love love love that woman! She is incredible. Always busy, but still has an endless supply of time for her family! What a good example she is. She is such a hard worker, and I know that this year of school for her has been a little bit tricky, so I appreciate all she does to help me out, even if she is having a tricky year herself. But wow, what a fun break all of us had. We watched movies, played games, knitted scarves, went shopping, ate tons, cooked tons, baked tons, and laughed a whole bunch! It was so much fun. We took new family pictures, which turned out incredible if I do say so myself. I absolutely love my family, and I can't get enough of them. My nephew especially is hilarious. And there isn't a person out there who he wouldn't love immediately and there isn't a person out there that wouldn't fall absolutely head over heels for him. He does some of the most adorable things...for example...when looking for someone, instead of saying yoo-hoo, he will say "Hoo hoo," and it is the cutest darn thing you have ever heard. Also, I loved playing a really fun trick on him every time I saw him sitting in his highchair. I would sneak up behind him, and tickle his back, or blow in his ear, and then he would look back at me and I would say, "Wasn't me." He automatically started saying, "Was it Maa? (my little sister Emiliana)," or "Was it Maama? (what he calls my mom), or he even started asking if it was himself...haha! So hysterical. I love him with my whole entire heart!! What a bundle of energy though! Love it! And my poor mother cried when they dropped me off at the airport. I had to hold myself together so that I could actually leave, otherwise I would have just cancelled my flight and stayed there forever! It is a shame that I had to start school the next day though, or I might have just done that!

Good ol' Joe was there at the airport to collect me and my things as he promised he would do. It was really good to see him. We had some good times, and I am sad to say that it didn't end up working out after all. I mean really sad. But I am grateful for the experiences that I have, and I know that it wasn't pointless that I dated Joe. He is such a good person, I hope he finds what he is looking for, and I hope that he is happy. And while I wait for my prince charming to show up, I will continue being the always happy, optimistic, and amazing person that I always have been! (Come on, I can try to boost my self-esteem can't I?) :) Love it!

And as always, my roommates are incredible. Chelsea is so caring and is genuinely just an amazing friend and cousin. She never ceases to amaze me. Kellie is so hardworking, and with all she has to do, she still has time at the end of the day to ask me how my day was. What a sweetie pie. Sarah is full of energy, and brings a smile to all of our faces with the stories she has. And she is always willing to offer sound advice, because honestly, I think she has pretty much done everything. Rochelle has just become such a huge part of my life, I think I would die if she moved away. So she better not. I live with some pretty amazing girls, and I think I would even go as far to say that they have become my sisters. I love them so so much and hope they know that.

I can't forget to mention the other amazing friends that I have. Melissa is working hard on her student teaching in Idaho Falls, and is actually thinking about moving to Utah to live with us after Kellie moves out and gets hitched. That would be a miracle if I do say so myself. I love her with all my heart, and it would literally be a dream to be her roommate again. Melissa #2 is hard at work on her mission in Minnesota, and still has time to write me letters, sealed delicately in beautiful purple envelopes! She loves me and I can't wait for August to come! And my oldest friend, and yes I mean age-wise, Kimberly, had time to call me the other day to tell me that she and Mike (her awesome hubby) were in Utah for his mission reunion, but they failed to mention that little detail in advance. I feel privileged to have gotten a phone call, however, and it is always nice to talk to that girl. Love her to pieces.

One more thing. I got a personal trainer at Gold's Gym. I am soon going to be as fit as a fiddle. How fit is a fiddle you may ask? Well, I do believe that fiddles have buns of steel. So there you go. Watch out Jillian Michaels, because Megan Slaughterhouse is coming your way. Very slowly, because I can hardly move any of my muscles at this stage in the training. :) It's awesome though. Everyone should have the opportunity to have a personal trainer, just for some new knowledge to pack into their brains.

I think that is all for now. Just finished term 2 at school. 2 down, 2 to go. We shall see what the future brings. Good things I am sure. I have goals, that I will meet this year. With positivity, hilariosity, and commitiosity, I will be sure to meet those goals. And tomorrow, no school, thanks to Martin Luther King Jr. day. Until the next post....

For Now....

2011-01-14T10:16:00.000-08:00

"Growth, character, and enjoyment of life come from our mistakes. A child that is not permitted to fall will never learn to walk, for walking is a succession of falls." -Dr. Frank Crane

I make a lot of mistakes, and this quote gives me hope. I really appreciate the fact that it will be alright if I mess up. Because it happens quite often. Find joy in the journey. Come what may and love it. If life throws you lemons, make lemonade. It will all work out. AND I WILL BE HAPPY!!

2010-12-06T07:48:00.001-08:00

Well, the reason that I am posting this morning (and without any pictures) is because I was supposed to meet one of my students at school at 8:15 so that we could go over some math she wanted to understand better, but of course I was 5 minutes late, and she probably stopped waiting for me because I am a terrible teacher and am always late when I am supposed to be on time. So I thought now would be a good time for an update. This month has been wonderful already, and we are only into the second week! My new roommate Rochelle moved in with us, and I don't know how we have lived without her. She brings such a great everything into our apartment and I love her to pieces! So yes, we have five girls living in a two bedroom, one bathroom apartment now. How do we survive you might ask? Well, we are all amazing, so that's how. :)

School is going great! We have 12 more days until our Holiday Break (miracle!). We are doing a math countdown, and each day I turn over a card on a bulletin board that I have written a math problem on the back of. The first student who can get the answer to me in my hand gets a treat. So far it has been fun, and they are learning, while I am quietly celebrating the fact that I have a two week break just around the river bend! I love it! My students are great, and I couldn't ask for better kids. Well, maybe a few of them could change a little bit...:)

My ward is still wonderful. We had a Christmas party this past Friday, and I will have to post a picture from that. Rochelle, Sarah, and I dressed up in our fanciest getup and wow did we look stunning :) We ate a delicious meal, Chelsea thought the meat was especially delicious and decided that she would save a massive piece of lettuce from the salad in her teeth while pronouncing to our whole table how wonderful the meat was. We died laughing because of course she had no idea that she was saving that lettuce, and then she couldn't get it unstuck which made it even better. haha. (Chelsea...if you read this don't be mad at me for telling that story.) We cleaned the church on Saturday morning, which is something that I would like to participate in more often because I am trying to become more service oriented. I love serving and need to look for more opportunities to do so. And some of us went over to our Bishop's home to watch the First Presidency Christmas devotional last night, which was wonderful by the way. I love listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing. They are incredible. If the group that I am singing in for our ward Christmas program next week can sound an eighth of how amazing the mo-tab choir sounds, I will be happy. haha However, while practicing our song last night, we sounded...interesting. I asked Joe on a scale from 1-10 how we sounded while practicing. He very hesitantly gave us a 6.5. We have a lot of work to do.

Speaking of Joe...he had a choir concert this past Wednesday, and Chelsea, Rochelle, and I thought that it would be a great idea to attend. It was wonderful!!! An orchestra played while they sang, and it was just beautiful! They even played a song from Harry Potter!! How much better can it get! Then Joe also invited me to his work Christmas party, which was so much fun. We went over to his coworkers house, and we started off by watching Mickey's Christmas Carol. Then we played a gift exchange game, and Joe ended up getting Bacon Popcorn and I got a fleece blanket, haha. Then we had a delicious Lasagna dinner and watched Elf. What a fun night. The only downside was that the party ended around 8:30, and Joe was still not feeling well, so he was going to just drop me off at my house and go home and go to sleep, but I forgot my key to my apartment and none of my roommates were home. So I went over to his house, watched two movies while he slept, and went home at midnight when Sarah got home. Whoops.

Things are great. I love my life. I am happy. I hope you are too. I have to go now. :)

We are not normal...

2010-11-14T15:51:00.000-08:00

I love my roommates. They are so silly. And so pretty.

Chelsea did my hair for my really fun date! I love her.

Candice came to visit me! Oh, and so did Moroni. I love love them.

Remember Veterans Today!!!

2010-11-11T16:10:00.000-08:00

I am so so so grateful for all Veteran's today! Especially for my Papa Dee, because he served in the Navy during World War II. I love him so much, and I am grateful for the service that he provided for this country during that war. He was interviewed for the newspaper this year, because he is 89 and still kickin' with an incredible memory of everything that he experienced. What an amazing man!

At Cascade tonight, we are having a Veteran's Day presentation honoring the many men and women who have served in the military, and I can't wait to see what amazing things these students and teachers have come up with for this program. I got to hear the song that the 5th graders are singing during the program and it almost made me cry because it is just kind of difficult to even imagine what loss and heartache some families have to go through, especially if they lose their loved ones. I am so so grateful, and I hope we can all remember them in our thoughts today!

Update!!

2010-11-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

Wow! This year is just flying by! It's crazy to think that I am in my first year of teaching and miracle, I only have 3 more terms until summer break!!! haha! Not that I am counting down or anything, because of course I love teaching, and I still love changing my classroom around, and of course I love love my kidos! They are so great and they make me laugh all the time! I had to go do an observation today at a different school, and as I was walking around the classroom seeing what the students were doing, one of the boys in the class came up to me and told me that he really liked the way I styled my hair!! I said thank you of course, but I still can't stop laughing! I just love the things that kids say. I wish I was a funny as they are sometimes :)

Speaking of my students. I actually had them vote on what they wanted me to be for Halloween. My fifth graders chose things like a Clown, Guitar, Egyptian, Cruella DeVille, M&M, Witch, Statue of Liberty, Murderer, Gypsy, or my personal favorite...a dead cow!! My third graders chose things like witch, princess, Elizabeth Swan, ghost, zombie, super girl, or my other two personal favorites...a yellow glob or a Mexican!! haha Seriously...how much more hilarious could it get! I actually ended up being Dr. Slaughter, which is quite comical if you ask me. It's such an advantage being able to use your last name for so many awesome things. Especially Halloween!

We had a really fun Halloween parade at school, and then our ward party for church was Friday night and some creepy, crazy, cool things went down at that party. We had an awesome chili cook off, with delicious corn bread, and apple juice. There was a costume contest where we had to line up in two lines facing one another and dance down the middle of the two rows one by one in front of the judges. Of course Sarah (my roommate) and I made it look easy strutting our stuff as Dr's Slaughter and Thrasher :) Great last names, what can we say... And then Joe (aka Ron Burgundy) taught a large group the Michael Jackson "Thriller" dance, which was really amazing if I do say so myself. What a great teacher... Here are some of the awesome costumes from that night.

Then on Saturday, I had a few school related things to take care of, some relaxing to be done, and then we got our costumes ready for a way good time at Michael and Ashley Sanderson's Halloween Bash! We were supposed to go with a date and dress up as a couple from the past...(Romeo and Juliet, Scooby Doo and Shaggy...you get the idea.. haha) and so my date and I decided to go as Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox so that he could call me "Babe" haha! So clever I know! We had a ton of fun, we ate chili, again, treats, and played fun games! Finally we were informed that we were going to a haunted house, but unfortunately my date does not get along well with scary things, so I ended up taking him home at 9:00 and I read Harry Potter for the rest of the night! It was fun, but I hear the haunted house was way way way scary!

Babe and Paul Bunyan

Superman and Lois Lane

Celebrity and Paparazzi

80's man and Lady Gaga

Oh! And did I mention they had Caramel Apples at this party!!!!!!! (The way to my heart!)

Rewinding back a week, I had the chance to go visit some of my good friends in REXBURG!!! I haven't been to Rexburg for a way long time, and it really felt good to go visit, especially in the beautiful fall weather! I stayed with my beautiful bestie Melissa and we had a blast. We went to Guitar's Unplugged on Friday night, followed by a fun bon fire. On Saturday we went for a really great walk to our favorite breakfast tradition GREAT HARVEST!! We ate yummy cinnamon rolls and pumpkin muffins and Hot chocolate! What could be better! Then we got some work done for school, and then went and had a fun night playing games with Sydney, Thomas, and Matt!

Chelsea, Wade, Kellie, and I had a blast decorating even more cake balls for Halloween! Chelsea is always coming up with more creative, fun ways to decorate those delectable balls of cake and it's so fun helping her!

And for the most fun of fun I have had for a really long time...JOE AND I WENT TO THE LADY ANTEBELLUM CONCERT IN SALT LAKE!!!! IT WAS SO SO SO FUN!!! Great music, excellent company...What more could you ask for?? And I don't know if any of you have heard of David Nail, but he opened for Lady A, and he was INCREDIBLE!!! We had such a blast!!!

Emiliana Esperanza (aka my baby sister!)

2010-10-16T20:27:00.000-07:00

This beautiful girl that I have posted a few of my very favorite photos from this year of...is none other than my favorite little pumpkin noodle head sister in the whole entire world who I love with my whole heart and I couldn't live without!!! Whenever I need someone to talk to, she is always willing to talk. She has the biggest heart and the most hilarious humor!! And guess where she gets it!!?? From me of course!! I just want to tell her how much I love her though. She is such a huge part of my life and it hurts my heart that I do not live closer to her! I am so proud of all she does, and I hope she knows how big of an influence she has on my life! And how beautiful she is!!!!! What a sweet heart!!! I can't wait to see her!!!

Cakeballs, Friends, and Mr. Harley P. Fluffernutters :)

2010-10-16T14:29:00.000-07:00

Isn't life just wonderful...I am still enjoying my job, although sometimes I find it hard not to just to throw out the homework and play games all day with my students. Chelsea is eating some beautiful, fresh looking cucumbers with tasty, delicious seasoning on them right now and my mouth is watering, so I might need to go take a food break really quickly. Oh wait, she is so sweet. She is graciously giving me one as we speak. What a sweetie! Well, anyways, we have been super busy lately, mostly perfecting the delicate art of cake ball designing, as well as working hard to find men to marry by the end of the year. Our first goal is coming along much more swiftly than our second goal unfortunately. We are working hard on both, nevertheless. :) The following are a few pictures from the past few cake ball experiments! Let us know what you think!!!

As far as the friends part of my blog post goes...just know that I do have a few, and even though I don't have very many pictures of them, hopefully I will in the near future. (Especially with my most exciting adventure in October coming up this next weekend....more about that later!) But we did have a really fun chocolate fondue party, where we just wanted to have a little get-together and share some yummy food with one another! (Notice, I am not in any of these pictures)

And this lovely long-bodied friend of ours is Kyle. What a great guy. I know he may look like a weirdo because he is so tall and lurky. LURKY (ler-kee) adj. 1. Funky. But he spends most of his precious time over at our amazing apartment now, because he doesn't really have much of a life of his own. As a matter of fact, he is coming over tonight to watch the movie The First Daughter with us. Another great thing about Kyle is that he set up our bunk beds...what a sweetie :)

And now the announcement of all announcements...all of you are wondering, "Now who is Mr. Harley P. Fluffernutters?" Well, let me tell you. He is our new....BUNNY!!! And he is so sweet. We fell madly in love with him the first moment Kellie brought him in the door. He loves to cuddle and his newest adventure has been exploring underneath Chelsea's bed. We even took him over to visit Chelsea's brother Trevor and her cousin David. Mr. Fluffernutters (for short) loves to ride in the car. He is the cutest little dwarf flop bunny in the whole wide world and we love him to pieces! And most importantly, he loves us!!!

Miss Slaughter :)

2010-09-18T13:07:00.000-07:00

From the second I stepped foot into Cascade Elementary School, I knew I loved it. I loved the outside of the school, I loved that their were little children that hopefully I would be teaching walking around outside with their little backpacks on, I loved that the secretary was so so so nice when I went in a introduced myself, I loved seeing rules and kids work hanging on the walls in the halls of the school...everything was awesome. And now I love having a key to my very own classroom. It's like my own little world in there! I can set it up however I want to, rearrange the desks so that the kids come in frantically trying to find the right seat everyday while being timed to see how fast they can move...it's just the most wonderful thing ever. The kids come everyday now knowing that the teacher who they once thought locked kids in closets and murdered people because of her last name and now gives them tootsie rolls and is the most wonderful teacher the world has ever seen (ok, maybe that was an over exaggeration). It's truly a beautiful thing, and I love love love every second of it. Hopefully pictures of my classroom soon to come :)

Where I Belong....Apparently :)

2010-09-05T17:53:00.000-07:00

Where to even begin...I don't know really, but I have picture this time to prove that I actually have been quite busy the past couple of weeks! I guess it all started when I came to visit Chelsea in Provo to check out my options and see if I really felt good about moving to Utah...and can you guess what finally made my ultimate decision?? ;) Chelsea is an amazing cook, and she made me the most delicious food when I came to visit her, and I don't have a picture of it, but the sandwiches that we had were divine! I couldn't say no to moving in with this wonderful girl!

We went to check out our options of choosing which apartment we wanted to move in to, and the following pictures are the result of our final move! I love love love our apartment! It did not come furnished, but through acquiring a few things, stealing...I mean borrowing...a few things, and just adjusting until we can find better furniture...I would say we are doing pretty good. The apartment came with a refrigerator, dishwasher, washer and dryer, we couldn't really say no! What a great location as well!

And we love to make yummy treats in our awesome kitchen!! Sour cream sugar cookies, with purple frosting!

And what will make this blog post what it is today...is the wonderful news that I am about to share with you. I GOT A JOB!!!! After a lot of hard work and dedication on my part...just kidding...I really just got this job because of the following people in this story. So I moved to Orem really thinking that I would probably be able to find a job, not quickly and not a teaching job, but that I would find one that would pay my bills and I would be able to live here. So I started applying for everything...from Olive Garden to Famous Footwear to this really interesting teaching position teaching Koreans English over the internet at really crazy times in the morning...still checking up on actual teaching positions in the Alpine School District. Well, there was actually a 3rd grade position that I had applied to and was quickly sent an automatic email saying that the position had been filled. Later on in the week, however, the 3rd grade position was open again, so of course I applied. I ended up talking to my grandma on Wednesday I think, and she told me that I needed to go introduce myself to the principal at that school. So I went to Cascade Elementary on Thursday to introduce myself. Mapquest is my best friend...and told me that this particular school was 4.96 miles (9 minutes) from my apartment approximately, which is a pretty awesome little detail in this story. I got to the school and introduced myself to the secretary...Hi, my name is Megan Slaughter. I just moved to the Orem area and I applied for the third grade teaching position at this school and just wanted to come introduce myself. I saw that the principals door was open and I heard him ask the secretary...Does she have a resume? Secretary: Do you have a resume? Me: I actually have one in my car (I know...I am awesome). So I turned in my resume....a few hours later...I received a phone call from the principal thanking me for dropping by to introduce myself and if I would be interested in coming in for an interview the following day, Friday, at 4 15 for an interview. I said of course and that was that. Chelsea's mom just happens to be a teacher and so we decided to call her for some interview tips and find out some of the possible questions that they might ask me so that I would be prepared for the interview. She helped A TON!!! So all day Friday I applied for more jobs just waiting for my interview...actually dreading it....but excited as well. I got ready for my interview....wore by far the cutest outfit I probably own right now....said a very sincere prayer that I would not massacre the interview and that everything would work out how it is supposed to....and set off to conquer that interview! I walked in actually feeling very confident...which is unusual for me. The interview went really well, and I left feeling really great. I wowed those interviewers like it was the easiest thing I had ever done....haha...just kidding. But I did feel surprisingly great about how the interview had gone. The principal had also said that the interview should only last about 15-20 minutes and I was there for 30, so I think that is a positive thing. Chelsea and I then left to go to Green River for Afton's baptism, and as 7:00 p.m. rolled around and while we were driving through Heber, I received a phone call where I did not recognize the number...and by the way, I don't really remember everything he said because I was trying to keep my composure rather than scream into the phone, so this conversation is being paraphrased...."Is this Megan" yes "This is Doug Finch (the principal)" Oh hi. "I was just calling to thank you again for being proactive and bringing your resume in and introducing yourself" Oh it was no problem. "Well I was just calling to let you know that we were very impressed with you in the interview today, and to see once again how interested you are in the teaching position." I am still very interested. I feel that it is a very great program that you are implementing. "Well then I just wanted to let you know I can't offer you the position until I have spoken with the human resources department and had you application approved, but read between the lines, I want you to be there on Tuesday morning. The other teacher who was in the interview also wanted me to tell you that she would come in anytime on Monday to help you organize your classroom and your lesson plans for the week." I couldn't even believe what I was hearing, and Chelsea could hear what he was saying and she was practically screaming as well while texting everyone that we knew to tell them that I had gotten the job. I think I spoke with him for at least 20 minutes...but it seemed like an eternity before we finally ended the conversation and Chelsea and I screamed for what also seemed like an eternity!!! What an exciting day though!!! I still am in shock, but I am excited, but still terrified. It is going to be a great experience, and I can hardly wait to get started. I will have lots to share after this week, and I just can't wait!

When we got to Green River, our good friend Ruth came over and we stayed up until 4:30 in the morning just catching up! What a great person that Ruth is. Then we got up and I prepared my talk for Afton's baptism, and then we ate delicious spaghetti that my Aunt Nancy made. Afton's baptism was really great, and my talk actually went well....after I stopped crying. All I have to do is look at my sister Kristy and I start crying. My good friend Kimberly Wilding sang a really beautiful song...even though she said she was so parched. Lynzi gave a really good talk too, and it was just a special experience for Afton I think. Then we had to get ready to head back to Orem, but first we had to take silly pictures :)

Chelsea couldn't wait to get out of there!

Cute little parents

And that is where I am at as of this moment...wish me luck...even though I know that no one makes any comments on any of my posts, so I really don't even think that anyone reads them. But this is mostly for me anyways, because I love writing...so there you go.

Newest Adventure = Utah!!!

2010-08-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

Well, for those of you who aren't aware of what is going on currently in my life, I spontaneously decided to move to Orem, Utah to live with my cousin Chelsea. We have the most beautiful apartment and I am so so so excited to be here...with the exception of the fact that I have no job to support myself....boo. And I have been looking and applying, but I keep on getting turned down, well not necessarily turned down, because if these people who are looking or just rejecting applications by the dozen met me and saw my amazingly awesome sweet helpful organized outgoing personality, they would hire me on the spot without even needing to look at an application, resume, transcript, student teaching evaluations, institutional recommendation, social security number, grandfathers first baby picture, location and photo of first ancestors grave site, and complete description of what I ate on the fourth of July in 1997. Ok, maybe that was an over-exaggeration, but it really does seem like potential employers need an arm and a leg before you can even be considered for a position at their incredibly amazing place of employment. And everything is online!!! Did I forget to mention that?? Every place I go in order to show them that I am willing to meet them in person before filling out an application tells me to go online to apply!! And the tricky thing about that is we currently do not have the internet at our apartment, so that makes filling out online applications more difficult when I can't even access the internet. :) Well, that is enough of that. I am excited to be here, I love my new ward, I love helping Chelsea prepare food for a picnic that is supposedly accommodating 90 humans and their hungry tummys. She did such an amazing job, but I would like to take some of the credit. I love my car. I love my grandparents. I love driving in Utah...not. I am so grateful for people who look for jobs for me...wink wink....and I will keep you updated! Pictures to come once we have the internet at our apartment!

August Already???

2010-08-12T22:10:00.002-07:00

Well, I just actually skipped posting a blog in July all together because so many things have been happening in my life!! I have had some sort of activity going every single weekend for the past month or longer and it never seems to end...ever! I sometimes wish that I could stay home all the time and never have to worry about going anywhere or seeing anyone because wouldn't that just make life so much easier?? But that is just way too boring I suppose, which is why I cannot control the urge to constantly be going going going...and I guess I love that too. Here are a few of the things that I have been up to since I posted last.

Dad, Mom, Peighton and I went fourwheeling over the fourth of July weekend and had a picnic and had just a really really fun day. We drove up to Spirit Lake and the weather was just perfect! I even found where I am planning on living for the rest of my life and the vehicle that I am going to drive :) We also went shooting and I am just a sharp shooter...it's no wonder why I live in Wyoming!

Then for the actual 4th..Independence Day..Brett and Shantel and their kids came over and we had sparklers and just had a good time with family. I am so so grateful for the freedoms that I enjoy...especially being able to spend time with family, and eat :)

Then the weekend of the 16th, my family took a trip to Utah for my cousin Chad's wedding. They looked great, but really I wasn't there for very long, because we had more important activities to attend to, such as go to Seven Peaks!! And my cousin Chelsea met us there and we just had a blast! The following day we went to Thanksgiving Point which is one of the most beautiful places I have ever ever seen!!

Lagoon with some really really awesome friends comes next, followed by the best Family Reunion at Bear Lake ever! We rode so so so many rides at Lagoon and I got to eat 2, count them, 2 caramel apples!!! Those beautiful succulent delicious juicy caramel apples are really what I go to Lagoon for. I look forward to the caramel smudging all over my face and the apple juice dripping down my chin. What can I say...I am a lover of the caramel apple. :) And my family reunion was a blast! It was fun filled with so much laughter, knee boarding, wake boarding, and the first annual tube wars between the cousins was just epic. The weather was perfect and it was one of the funnest vacations I have probably been on this summer! (And I got to miss two days of work too! Major bonus!)We built sandcastles, I ate 5, count them, 5 raspberry shakes, swam, and hiked. One of the best parts was when we went to Minnetonka cave, and our tour guide, Mikel sang us a song in one of the rooms in the cave. It was lovely, but I could not stop laughing because he was basically singing opera and I couldn't understand anything he was saying. Makes me laugh just thinking about it. What a great weekend.

And finally, just this past weekend, I went to the Flaming Gorge on Thursday night with some really great friends. We went cliff jumping and tubing and jet skiing. So much fun! The only bad part was that on my way home, I turned to sharply in the parking lot on my way home and side swiped my passenger side door, leaving a dent and some serious scratches. It is fixed now, but with a 250 dollar deductible, that doesn't leave a lot of money for any more stupid accidents.

On a happier note, I also went to the Young Single Adult Conference in Utah for the second summer in a row, and it was a blast! Again I went with some amazing friends and it was just a really enjoyable, uplifting weekend. We went on Friday, had a luau, listened to some great music, enjoyed some tasty pizza, and then stayed up playing night games...something I haven't done for quite a while. Saturday morning, Gloria, Dani, and I woke up at 7 to go run the 5k. That was quite the run. I did much better last year because I had Melissa Hart as a personal trainer, and with her gone, I have not been motivated to run nearly as often. Sad. But it was still fun nevertheless. The workshops were great during the day. We rode the Trax to the Gateway mall and ate at Costa Vida...deliciously amazing, and then we spent the rest of the evening at the carnival. So fun! Topping the weekend off by singing at the Fireside given by Elder Bruce C. Hafen and his wife was just awesome. What a great opportunity to sing incredible music in the tabernacle. That doesn't happen often, and what an experience it is!

Now I am home again, finished with work for the week, having Keith and Courtney finished with work for the rest of the summer, boo, leaving tomorrow for Provo to see what trouble Chelsea and I can get into. Actually I am planning on moving in with her because I have not found a job yet here in Wyoming, and what better place to live and have some fun than in Provo, Utah. I can't think of a better place. So that is my plan for now. Move down there this month and try to find a job. Wish me luck and hopefully my next post contains some really exciting news like..I am getting married to a very handsome, very rich, very amazing man and I never have to work another day in my life... :) Hey, it could happen. Until then...

June

2010-06-25T09:10:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful month June is! I just love how the weather is finally getting so awesome, and how pretty everything looks outside. I have had the opportunity to help my dad work on our back yard that is coming together so nicely, it's practically finished actually. We put new sod in last Saturday on what we call the wishbone on the hill going up to the top level of our yard, and it looks awesome. I do have to admit that I am one of the best sod layers that the world has ever seen. I have done it an abundance of times and I really don't know if my skills can go much further than they are at at the present moment...perfection :) Just kidding. I also dug two amazing trenches this week so that my dad could put in a watering system, and let me just tell you, I have been super sore ever since. But it definitely gets me into pretty decent shape working outside, and I love that part.

Before I got home last weekend, I spent a week long vacation in Mesquite, Nevada with my Mom, little sister, Grandparents, Uncle, and cousin. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!! I loved being where there was awesome weather, especially knowing that it was raining, windy, and cold in Green River... haha! I spent most of my time by the pool tanning and reading, but we did do a few other really fun things. One evening we went to St. George and went to the outdoor amphitheater, Tuachan, and saw Tarzan. It was so neat. Another day it was pretty windy outside, so we decided to go to St. George and do a little bit of shopping and then we ate at the yummiest place called Five Guys, and if you haven't been, I definitely recommend it. Hamburgers are my favorite food though, and so that may be another reason why I loved it so much! One of the days there was a huge group of guys on vacation at the same resort that we were at, and they invited us to come play sand volleyball. Let me just tell you, it was so so fun. Anybody who wants to play sand volleyball with me though better watch out. I am a powerhouse. So much fun though! I really appreciate my grandparents and my Mom for inviting me to come on that way fun vacation though, because it really does take a lot of preparation to go on a week long vacation like that. They really put a lot of effort into making sure that we had a fun time, and that's exactly what we did.

The weekend before Mesquite, my Mom, little sister, brother and his little boy came to Green River for my Grandma's surprise birthday party out at the golf course. It was so good to see my brother my little nephew! I just love them. My nephew is growing up so much, and he reminds me so much of myself when I was his age because he is so hefty! What a sweetheart though. And he calls me Meh, which I love!

I just love my neices and nephews! Brett and Shantel asked me if I would babysit Nathan and Shadie for them last night and of course I said yes. We danced and sang and ran around. What I thought was especially funny was that "Grandma Marriella" bought them a Bible for kids book that she wanted me to read to them last night, and we were reading a part about the Garden of Eden, and Nathan looked up at me really serious and said, "Megan, in the Garden of Eden, do people get eden (eaten)." I laughed so hard in my head, because it was a serious question from a 5 year old. I calmly told him, "No, Nathan, people do not get eaten in the Garden of Eden." So funny.

And finally, this weekend is Flaming Gorge Days, woo hoo, which means that I will be getting some serious overtime. I am working the parade on Saturday morning, the flea market during the day, and then the concert on Saturday night. Awesome. So hopefully this next paycheck will not be too sad considering I missed an entire week (while I was in Mesquite). Just constantly busy I guess, which isn't a bad thing, but I am definitely looking forward to some more fun and surprising things this summer hopefully ;) For now, I shall enjoy my day off :)

Lovin' Life :)

2010-05-31T20:00:00.000-07:00

Well, the last time I blogged, it was the day before my 22nd birthday, and so I suppose I will just start there. My birthday was really great. I love birthdays, however, I always wish that mine never comes because I don't want to have to wait another year before my next one. I look forward to them now, but I be that will change in the future as I start getting older, getting wrinkly, and growing a beard. :) Just kidding, I have already started to grow a mustache, or so the lady told me when I went to get my eyebrows waxed the last time. Stinkin' lady. Just kidding. No, my birthday was great. I actually celebrated a week early by having a wonderful dinner with my mother's side of the family, and then the day of my birthday, I had an awesome barbecue with my father's side of the family, plus Darrin. I think he just came for the free food. It was a beautiful day though, and I got a brand new purse which is what I asked for. I knew that I was getting it though, because like everything I get for my birthday, all of the women already have whatever I am getting, and they all already had this particular purse, and so I put two and two together and surprise...I have the purse now as well.

Some other new things that are happening in my wonderful and exciting life...hmm...I started working for the city again on the 3rd of May...5th summer in a row baby! Awesome huh?! I have been there longer than some of the full timers, so I really think that I should be making more money than they are especially for how hard of a worker I am. Let me just tell you this ridiculous story about my ridiculous "boss" Walt. He is like the head guy of this whole operation they like to call the Parks and Recreation Department, and he really likes to make a really great impression by checking up on everyone all the time to make sure they are doing there jobs. So he drove up to me the other day while I was at the rec center picking up garbage. Here is how our conversation went. "Slaughter, how are ya Slaughter?" "Fine Walt, how are you?" "Just great Slaughter. How many years have you been working here, 3 or 4?" "Actually this will be my 5th summer Walt." "Well what a blessing it is to have you back again Slaughter." "Thanks Walt." "Keep up the good work Slaughter." Then he drove away. Then I saw Erek drive by, one of the other supervisors, and he waved at me. Then I get a call from my direct boss, Dave. "I just want to let you know that Walt is driving around checking on everyone to make sure they are working so stay busy." "Actually he just pulled up next to me and talked to me." "What did he say?" So I told Dave everything that Walt said, and then told him that Walt told me to keep up the good work. "Well Walt just stabbed you in the back. He called Erek and told Erek to call me and tell me to tell you that you are moving slow and to move faster." I didn't even know what to say after that. I actually wanted to cry really. What a great guy Walt is. First of all, I was still working by myself, it was windy, my main job is to just stay ahead of the mow crew so that they don't run over all the garbage, and I try to pace myself so that I don't finish all of the parks at 8 in the morning. I was doing an awesome job. So I just told Dave that I was going to move slower, and drive around all day instead of actually doing a really good job like I was trying to do. :) But now I am working with Keith, and he is awesome, and we are a great team. I don't think it will be too bad of a summer, but I sure wish the weather would get nicer. Seriously. But my niece Afton and I did have some really great weather on Thursday and we decided to take some silly pictures outside. I just love that girl!

Next awesome story in my life, I went to Utah last weekend to spend some time with one of my amazing best and most beautiful friends Melissa! We talked and talked and laughed and laughed and shopped and shopped and we just always have so much fun together! I love her to pieces!! And I can't wait to bring my husband Lee DeWyze up to Idaho with me to visit her and go boating with her! :) (I knew you would love that one Melissa...haha) I also got to go visit my student teaching school and my teachers! It was so good to be back in that school! I loved my student teaching and all of the support that my teachers showed me!! They are awesome! I wish I could have gotten a job at that school! Then I got to go visit my Aunt and Uncle and cousins who I stayed with while I did my student teaching! They are so fun! I even got to go visit my old singles ward and they actually remembered me! I got to see my good friend Bekah and hang out with her on Sunday!! So much fun!

This past weekend I went to Vernal first to celebrate with my cousin Lance who just graduated from high school! I got to see some family members who I don't get to see very often and we had an awesome dinner! Then on Saturday I left for Laramie to spend the rest of Memorial Day weekend with my mother's side of the family and celebrate my Grandma Baker's 70th birthday! What an oldie! haha Just kidding! It was so fun though! We ate delicious food that my mother prepared and spent time at my Aunt and Uncle's amazing cabin! What beautiful weather we had too! I just love going there! I really hope I get to go during the Fourth of July weekend to visit my family members who are coming from England to visit and celebrate my Aunt Jani's 50th Birthday! It would be so good to see them.

Well, I think that is about it. Just waiting to hear from some jobs that I applied for, not having any luck of course, but I will keep my fingers crossed and if anybody wants to pray for me, that would be great also! I need to give a shout out to Kimberly and Mike who came and visited me for a few minutes before they had to head home tonight! Thanks for coming to see me even though you almost forgot! Love you and I can't wait to see you soon! But for now, I suppose I will say goodnight. 6:30 comes a lot earlier than I want it to, and I need to be chipper tomorrow so that Keith and I can have a blast of a day working for the awesome city of Green River after such a great weekend for garbage! Woo Hoo! Until next time....

(I think I chose the best one...)

April 23, 2010

2010-04-23T19:18:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is the night before my 22nd birthday. And what I am doing you may ask? Sitting on my bed, playing the guitar, watching tv, reading, and wishing I had some chocolate. Sounds pathetic doesn't it? Well, I agree. But a lot of really cool things happened today actually, especially when I went and got the mail. I got a letter from Mel, a present and an awesome card from Melissa, and my substitute license!! Woo! I feel so official now. Well, I suppose maybe I will go to bed now, at 8:30, because hopefully I am doing something fun tomorrow for my birthday....hopefully...

My last day of being 21

Home Again :)

2010-04-21T16:05:00.000-07:00

I have kind of been bummed out about being home, because no friends are here, I don't have a full time job and it doesn't look promising that I will get one for the fall, and I am just not feelin' it. But I finally started substitute teaching, and being able to get out and actually do something productive has been so nice. I also decided that I am going to get into shape, and so I have gone running everyday this week! Woo! I am so proud of myself, even though I am in a lot of pain, but the pain feels so good! Love it!

Another reason why I am being optimistic while being home is because I get to spend time with family. I just love my family. My grandparents had a birthday celebration for me on Sunday, and they cooked me a really delicious steak dinner and all of my other favorite things. Yumm! I also have been kind of helping my dad outside in our backyard, getting ready to put another deck on the top level of our yard, fixing up the pond, and helping the grass turn green! I love green grass! And finally, my nieces and nephews are just awesome! I babysat my brothers kids last week and they are just so fun to play with. I went over to my sisters house this past weekend and jumped on the trampoline with her kids all night...so much fun! And my niece Afton saw me running as she was getting off the bus yesterday and ran over to me yelling my name just to give me a huge hug and tell me about her field trip today. Love it! I am just so grateful for my family, and I really hope they know how much I love them.

And finally, my birthday is on Saturday! Woo Hoo! I love birthdays, but I almost don't want it to come because then I will have to wait a whole year for it to come again. I am celebrating it by going fishing in the morning, and then having a bbq in the afternoon, and then partying the night away. My birthday usually ends up lasting a week anyways, so I am sure there will be plenty of fun things going on. I actually already got a few gifts. When my Mom came to visit me in Utah, she bought me a whole bunch of cute clothes for the summer! And I got a sewing machine from my parents for graduation!! I am going to start my next sewing project soon hopefully, and it is going to be so so so cute!

I actually am looking forward to this summer and I need to stop stressing about stupid things like getting a job, having friends, and what I am going to do for the rest of my life. Haha. It will all work out, and I am going to be happy while I figure things out. Because what is the point in having a bad attitude. Attitude is everything, and I plan on making this summer great (even if I end up working for the city again...:)

What now?

2010-03-26T21:25:00.000-07:00

Today marks the 84th day that I have lived in Utah. It is so hard to believe that just a few months ago, I was getting lost every turn that I made, calling home crying every single day, and threatening to quit college and become a plumber. I feel like I have accomplished so much, with the help of so many people of course. What a wonderful experience Student Teaching has been though. I can honestly say, there have only been two or four days that I have really dreaded going to school this whole semester, which in my book is pretty amazing.

I was lucky enough to have two incredibly talented cooperating teachers this semester. We had my final evaluation on Wednesday morning. To sit down and have them talk about all of my strengths and how much growth and progress that they have seen in me in the past couple of months was kind of overwhelming. Having them tell me that I would fit in anywhere on any team because I have an incredible personality that meshes well with everyone around me was something that made me just want to burst. I am pretty sure I was smiling from ear to ear all day on Wednesday. What a beautiful day.

Then yesterday, I had my work sample review, where I presented my work sample from my math unit to a committee. I got to show them all the lessons that I had taught and the growth that my students made over the course of my unit. I just love teaching. It is one of the most rewarding jobs in the whole world. My students did incredible on their tests, and it was all because of me. Haha. Just kidding. They worked really hard actually. And they are just smart. And adorable. Now if only I can get a job...

Speaking of adorable...My sixth graders are hilarious. They threw me a surprise birthday party this afternoon. (It wasn't actually a surprise, however, because I knew about it). Apparently they have been planning it for weeks. They wanted to do this for me, probably to get out of doing regular work, but also because I am not going to be here for my birthday (which is also my 5th grade teacher's birthday as well..what a coincidence). They had written a note for me on the whiteboard when I walked into my classroom, instructing me that the sixth grade needed me for something. I saw one of my sixth graders hiding behind the corner as I walked out of my classroom. As I was walking toward their classroom, I noticed that the lights were off. Hmm. Suspicious. I walked in and they bombarded me with balloons and singing and candy and treats. It was a-ma-zing! They wrote me a rap to the tune of "We will, we will, rock you" and break-danced for me. Love it! And bless Mrs. Brecht's soul...what a lady. They finished my party by giving me two gigantic homemade cards that everyone in the class signed, homemade paper flowers, and chocolate. What better birthday could I have asked for. Love it!

84 days down...3 to go. I can't actually believe it. What a miracle of an experience. I don't actually want to be finished. I would like to stay there forever actually. There is just a joy that I get from seeing those students learn that I don't get anywhere else. It's magical really. And I don't really feel like it is my teaching. It is just their eagerness to learn. It's so awesome. But for now, I shall go home. I shall celebrate Easter with mi familia. I shall love it. It will all work out. I will go where I am supposed to go, I will do what I am supposed to do, and I will hopefully not get too stressed out in the process.

And by the way...I love all of my parents. Yes, all four of them. My mommy and my little sister came to see me this past weekend and we had so much fun together. We went shopping and swimming. My mother is also one person that I laugh with the most. She is hilarious and I love her more than life itself. And to top it all off, my dad and my step-mom came to Utah for some basketball games, and in between, took me out for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (Yum) and bought me some books that I have been really wanting to read. Those wonderful parents of mine. They really do love me. And really, if you think about it, who couldn't? :)

My Little Sister is a teenager...

2010-03-13T18:43:00.000-08:00

Scary. My little baby sister Emiliana is now officially 13. If I am overwhelmed with this fact, I can't imagine how my mother must be feeling. Old probably...:) Just kidding Mom. And another thing that I find unusually disturbing is that my mother allowed my little sister to have a slumber party where she invited 8 other little girls over to spend the night. I tried to do the very same thing when I was that age and my mother threw a fit. She kept having to come downstairs every five minutes and tell us to be more quiet, and she definitely did not support this event. However, now apparently it is okay for 8 little girls to spend the night, where my mother will probably just let the little girls do whatever they want and not even bother them at all. Hmm. I don't actually understand. But whatever. It's probably because she is spoiled. Don't get me wrong, I love her to pieces, but she gets to do a lot more than I got to do when I was her age.

And on another note, I have exactly 13 days until I am finished with my student teaching, and 20 days, probably, until I go home. However, I have been feeling a little bit wishy-washy about going back to Wyoming for the summer. I don't really want to. Not that I don't love my family there, but I am really enjoying living in Utah. I really like my singles ward and the friends that I have made already. When I go home, I will have absolutely no friends, except for Keith who is amazing by the way, but I just really want to stay here. At least for the summer. So, if wishes do come true, my wish is to stay here in Utah for the summer and have something magical happen. I do believe in fairies, I do, I do. :)

Speaking of fairies...I went to Disney On Ice on Thursday night! It was so much fun! Also, I went to a career fair and saw some friends! We ended up getting some delicious ice cream from the BYU eating place..haha...whatever they call it. It was yummy though. Here are a few pictures.

Tinkerbell and the other fairies!

Yummy Ice Cream!

Just an Update

2010-03-05T18:47:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted anything for a while, so I just decided that I would really quick while I have a minute. I am still enjoying student teaching so much. I love love love it. It is probably one of the most amazing things that I have ever done. Ok, maybe that is a little bit of an exaggeration, but I do really like it. Definitely a great experience. I just started a new math unit with my students on graphing, data analysis, and probability. It should be really fun, but I was kind of nervous to start it. Let me tell you why. I have to do this thing called a work sample for student teaching, where I put together a portfolio of a pre-test, lessons I taught, student samples, and a post-test, showing that I taught the students something. I looked at the pre-test before I gave it today, and it looked super easy. That is why I was nervous: I thought the students would already know everything on the test, and I wouldn't have anything to teach them. But don't worry, most of them bombed the test! Hooray for bombing tests! Yay! (Hilarious that I am excited about them failing something, but it was quite a relief) So, in other words, I am excited to be able to teach them something that they don't know, and see their progress and growth at the end of the unit.

And exciting of all exciting news!! I am going skiing tomorrow!!! Earlier this week, my cooperating teaching told me that her husband was going to be out of town this weekend, and she invited me to go shopping with her. As you know, I am addicted to shopping, but I don't really have the money for that right now. I think she could kind of tell that I wasn't super excited about that, and so she said that she had another idea. She said that she remembered that I loved to ski, and she said that I hadn't said anything about going skiing yet this season. So she thought that maybe it would be fun if we went. I practically jumped for joy. I am so excited. We are going to the Solitude ski resort at 8:30 tomorrow morning. Love it! And if you are wondering, yes, my cooperating teacher and I are on this level. She is super nice, we get along really well and I can't wait for tomorrow! Partly because it snowed a lot today, the weather is supposed to be really good tomorrow, and this will probably be one of the only times that I get to go skiing this year! Woo Woo!

Whoopsee...shhh....

2010-02-24T19:22:00.000-08:00

So today was wonderful by the way. My teacher had a meeting this afternoon and so I had free reign of the whole classroom from lunch until the end of the day. I do believe I did a few things poorly though and I will probably end up paying for it in the end. Let me explain...So I had everything planned, my students came in from lunch, and there was just a sense of power that fell upon me. It was magical really.

I had them switch for science as they always do, and my lesson with the other class went really well. I feel like I am getting more control over them everyday, which is a wonderful feeling. Then my students came back in, and everything almost kind of went down the drain. I informed them that Mrs. Williams was gone for the rest of the afternoon and that I was going to be their substitute...and they cheered...what a great feeling it is to be worshiped. Ha. Just kidding.

They just completed their District Writing Assessment for Persuasive Writing and what a wonderful feeling it is for them to have that out of the way after working non-stop on persuasive writing for the past couple of months. However, I thought it would be hilarious (go figure) to inform them that Mrs. Williams wanted them to do one more persuasive writing today, as a joke. You should have heard and seen their reactions. It was perfect. Exactly how I wanted it to be. Groaning, moaning, slamming heads on their desks...perfect.

Eventually I told them I was kidding, and from that point on, I could not stop laughing. Whenever I would try to give them a serious instruction, I kept laughing. I think I lost all of the respect that they had for me, because I just couldn't stop laughing. I told them I was trying to be serious, and so they started laughing, and we really just had a fun time. I suppose it was good for them to see that I can be relaxed and that I do laugh every once in a while. But I taught them. The whole afternoon. All by myself. So...awesome....I tell you what. And I told them to not tell Mrs. Williams that I could not be serious, that it would be our little secret.

And to make myself feel even better, one of the writings that we did today has an extension activity tomorrow. I told them that Mrs. Williams will be doing that extension activity with them tomorrow because I have a meeting to go to tomorrow afternoon, so I am not going to be there, and they sounded so disappointed. Again, it feels so good to be liked. Such a good feeling. Fun.

My addiction...

2010-02-22T21:56:00.000-08:00

I have a problem...and I am willing to admit it, because I am pretty sure everyone knows about it anyways. (Anyone who has seen my closet anyways). If you have not figured out what my problem is by my statement in parentheses..I don't actually know how to spell that word...it is shopping. I probably have more clothes than any normal human should acquire. However, I do believe I am getting better. I went shopping with Allison and I did buy several shirts, and a pair of pants. The majority of those shirts, however, were priced under ten dollars, which I do believe for me is quite a steal.

Let me tell you a little bit about my shopping history. In my early years, I am sure that my mother bought me really cute little girl clothing, because as everyone knows, girls clothing is much cuter than boys clothing. Duh. But I would never allow my mother to dress me. I had to do it myself, which is why I received the nickname "The Bag Lady". I think that carried on throughout my youth, because growing up, I hated, hated, hated, hated shopping. You never thought that could ever be possible? Well, it was. Why you ask? Well, because I had an evil mother and grandmother who loved to throw in shopping for certain "unmentionables" whenever we would go shopping. Yes, you know what I am talking about. Awkward. And, I had the weirdest body type (and still do) and nothing ever fit, and everyone was always cuter than me. I hated trying clothes on because they never fit right. Needless to say I had a very limited choice in what I could wear.

I decided probably in my final year in high school and my early years in college, now that I was making my own money and could buy my own clothing, that I was going to be cute. I got really into shopping, and to this day, I am an avid shopper. It doesn't help my habit much that my 14 year old niece Peighton claims that I have to be the cutest teacher, because of course that is the most important thing in being a teacher. You have to look good for your students. Otherwise you look old and your students won't listen to you. Apparently it's a proven fact. I don't know. I suppose I will listen to Peighton though, because I want my students to listen to me. And if they aren't listening to me now even when I have cute clothes, I can't imagine what my classroom would be like if I was wearing out-of-date or "unfashionable" clothes. Heaven forbid. :)

There you have it. I won't justify my horrible habit. I know it's bad. Although, if anyone wants to go shopping with me, there is some excellent shopping in Utah. I do believe that is one of the only things to do here. Also, if you have any advice to help with my addiction, feel free to share.

Several weeks have passed...

2010-02-16T20:42:00.000-08:00

I am going to begin this post by just saying that teaching is not the easiest thing in the entire world, in case anyone was wondering. As I get more and more into my student teaching, I am slowly realizing that I really have to work hard to control my nerves and I have to really work to make things fun for my students...and it's kind of a tiring process. Needless to say, I almost cried today because my teacher is slowly letting me take over more of the classroom, and it was hard today. Let me explain...My teacher just did a science unit covering the topic of matter, you know solids, liquids, gas, things of that nature, for the past three weeks, and finished it up last week. Now we have different students, and my teacher is having me teach the exact same unit that she just taught. You would think that it would be easy to teach something that you just barely saw someone teach...but it is NOT. The beginning of the lesson went really well, but they got a little bit out of hand at the end and they were asking me all of these questions all at once, and it was just a bit overwhelming. So I turned to my teacher, and she whispered, "It's all you." Those are not the words that I wanted to hear at a time like that. Scary. Oh well. Today is over and I can move on to tomorrow with a positive attitude and more severe consequences like beatings if the little hoodlums get out of control. Well, that is how the beginning of this week has begun...but on a lighter note...

This past weekend and the previous weekends before this past one have been so amazing. Spending time with friends is just what I need to break up my life a little bit. I laugh so hard when I am with my very best friends, and I even lost my voice this weekend and it hasn't quite come back yet. I guess those are some consequences that I am willing to accept if it means getting to spend time with amazing, hilarious, talented, beautiful/handsome, incredible people. Here are just a few of the people that I have seen in the past couple of weeks (with me of course)

Mel, Matt, Me, Melissa, Shiloh, Nate

Allison and Me

Me and Camille

Me and Tiffanie

Me and Kimberly

Will, Shiloh, Me, Melissa, Matt, Sydney, Thomas, Mel

Like I said before, amazing people. You know who you are and I really appreciate that. Thanks for pushing me to be who I am also. It really helps to have people that you can count on to always be there no matter what. So..thanks again! Love you!

Also, on another lighter note, I finally went to the singles ward here and I met some more really cool people. I was just thinking, if I am ever going to meet anyone and have any friends while I am in Utah, I just have to put myself out there. That was all there was to it, and no one could change my mind. So there you go. I went last Sunday, Fast Sunday, and I decided to be brave and bear my testimony. When I went up to the pulpit, I introduced myself and here is what I said...I thought it was quite clever (and I know that I am not supposed to tell stories, but I think introducing yourself is a different story...correct me if I am wrong)..."Hi, my name is Megan Slaughter and I just moved to Utah 5 weeks ago. I am in my last semester at BYU-Idaho and I am doing my student teaching here. I don't know anyone, so needless to say, Facebook has been one of my very best friends. I would really like to meet some new people. I don't exactly know why I am here in Utah yet, but I know that Heavenly Father knows my situation and knows that I need to be here at this time. So there you go." I said a few other things, but I just thought you all would be so proud of me for putting myself out there.

Just in closing, I do believe what I said about Heavenly Father knowing what I need is so true. He never ever lets me down, even if I don't know what He wants from me at the time. I feel much better about being here now, even if I still don't know what lies in store for me. I have a purpose in life and even though it's hard sometimes, I am lovin' it. I suppose I will "keep on keepin' on" and I will continue to be happy. It's the only way to be.

Don & Linda..

2010-02-05T21:52:00.001-08:00

The "Mother and Father" of mine for the next month and a half are probably two of the most hilarious human beings on the planet. They probably make me laugh at least three or seven times a day...and what makes it even better is that they talk about the most random nonsense. For example, also the reason for my post tonight, is about how long I have had my cold.

I came home from school today with my continuing cold, and Don was not home yet. So I visited with Laurel and Linda...so fun. Don came home eventually and did his rounds of asking everyone how their day was, and when he got to me he casually said, "Still got the snot nose I hear.." Now how exactly am I suppose to respond to such a remarkable compliment? I calmly said, "Yep," as I most often do when Don asks me such an intellectually stimulating question like the one that I just mentioned. He continues on to tell me of a Polynesian group who solve the stuffy/runny nose by sticking carrots up their nostrils. This is where it kind of got hilarious to me.

Linda: "Where did you hear something like that?"
Don: "Oh let me try to remember in my graphic computer-like mind, because I remember where I hear everything that I tell you."
Linda: "Well that is gross, and why would anyone stick carrots up their nostrils to clear up a runny nose? That would just clog it even more. And the Polynesians don't farm things like carrots. They mostly farm things like pineapples."
Me: "I am most definitely not sticking pineapples up my nose."
Don: "Oh and you of all knowledge know exactly what the Polynesians farm?"

Then they got into talking about how he probably found it on the internet and how the internet is the "most reliable" source. I was laughing so hard. They are such a sarcastic pair. That's why I probably think they are so funny. You probably had to be there. But, when that conversation was over, Don starting talking in his accents again, and so I excused myself for bed. Maybe the reason why I thought this conversation was so funny was that I am a little bit loopy right now. I need to get better sleep. I just thought Mel would enjoy another unexpected post. Well, Goodnight!

Yipee Skipee!

2010-02-04T20:36:00.000-08:00

So here's the thing...Mel wanted me to write a new post so that she doesn't have to be bored when she gets home and doesn't want to do anything except for become entranced in my life, only to come to find out that I have not posted anything new on this blessed Blog of mine. So on behalf of Melissa, I am writing this post, requested by Queen Hart herself, only because I love love love her. And because she puts up with me. :) Love ya Sista!

So here it goes... This week has been absolutely exceptional, minus the fact that I have a rotten cold. However, I am overcoming this evil nose congesting, throat soring, headache causing, stuffy cold with the help of my really good friend, acetaminophen dextromethorphan phenylephrine...aka Tylenol cold daytime and nighttime..:) Love it! Of course I am not one to take a lot of medicine to help me get over annoying obnoxious things like colds and such, ok, actually I am, so forget my next thought. I am a wimp, and so I will take whatever medication that I need to in order to deaden whatever is causing my distress. Just call me Baby. Oh wait, Shiloh already does that. So, needless to say, I am slowly but surely getting over this blasted thing. Beautiful miracle.

Next on my list of things to write about is my P.E. lesson from yesterday. IT WAS SO GOOD! Now you are thinking, why did Megan teach physical education? Well, here is the answer boys and girls. Because I wanted to. See, they don't have p.e., music, or art specialists at my school, so the teachers teach those subjects. And my teacher asked me if I wanted to teach p.e., and I said yes. So I did. And it was so much fun. I love every second of it. I think one of the reasons why it went so well is because my students love p.e., and so they did not want to waste one second of their precious p.e. time by blabbering to their friends and listened ever so carefully to each important detail of what I wanted them to do. It was wonderful. I had them warm up by separating them into 10 different stations, where each station had something different to do; such as station 1 did push-ups, station 2 did sit-ups, station 3 did jumping jacks, and so on. They did each station for 30 seconds, and I told them that if they didn't work their hardest at each station, they would have to do them for longer. So needless to say, they cooperated extremely well, not just because they love me, ok, yep, that's actually the reason. Then they rotated stations until they had gone to each station. Then I had them stretch out their poor little tired worn out muscles, with me as their fearless stretching leader. They worship me really. Just kidding. Then I taught them a really fun game that they absolutely had a blast doing. And I won't go into very much detail, but I will just tell you that they had a ton of fun, and it was so fun to watch them...especially when I would change it up on them and their little minds would get so boggled. It was rather hilarious.

Tomorrow, I am teaching a way fun reading/writing aka language arts lesson on adding the element of voice to writing. I am reading a Patricia Polacco book called Chicken Soup to them, one because most of the books that she writes are based upon experiences that she had growing up, so of course her voice is definitely in all of her books, so the students will really be able to understand where I am coming from when I say "voice in writing", and two because I just really like the book. Then I am going to have them write about an experience that they have had, applying what they have learned about voice. I have decided that if you can hear yourself telling the story out loud when you read the story to yourself, you have mastered the art of voice in writing. I should be able to know how you are feeling at each moment in your story, and it should just be as if you are telling me the story to my face. I think it will be good. I sure hope so anyway. Because if this lesson fails, I am completely giving up on my major and I am dropping out of college. I will be a plumber for the rest of my life.

Finally, I just want to say thank you to all of my wonderful friends who I got to see this past weekend. You are all so wonderful, hilarious, happy, supportive, and talented and I am so blessed to have such amazing friends. See you next weekend! Hopefully sooner than later next weekend, because I think I may get to leave a little bit early on Friday because my teacher is going to be gone! So until then...love ya! We can make it through the next week! I believe in us! GO US! GO TEAM AWESOME!

P.S. Mel, I hope you loved reading all of this, because I stayed up way past my bedtime to write this for you.

P. P. S. You are definitely not getting me to do this every day blessed girl. Maybe every other day, but my making you un-bored is making me sleepy.

P. P. P. S. Love you.

P. P. P. P. S. See you in two weeks and one day.

Student Teaching: 6th/5th Grade!!

2010-01-28T18:52:00.000-08:00

I have been meaning to write a new post about student teaching for the past little while, but I have not had the chance..because I am just too stinkin' busy (which I love by the way)! But I just transitioned this week to the 5th grade classroom that I was supposed to originally be in, which has been great by the way..more about that later though.

Well my first week was wonderful (besides getting the flu the 3rd day..yuck). Yes, January 4th was a beautiful day, and meeting my cooperating teaching, Mrs. Brecht, was miraculous. I knew right away that I was going to learn so much from her, and that there was a purpose for me being in her class. And folks, there definitely was a reason.

Let me just tell you a little story about myself. I am a perfectionist, and figured out that I am especially a perfectionist when it comes to teaching. Good thing? Not really. Last semester, I realized that with every lesson I taught, I tried to make it just so, and I would try to follow my lesson plans so perfectly, that I would not enjoy myself, and I really was not having much fun. I literally don't think I smiled very often, and I think my little 3rd graders began to really take my last name seriously. haha. Just kidding. But yes, that was a goal of mine to work on relaxing a little and bringing my contagious sweet little hilarious self into my teaching...and SMILE. You wouldn't think that smiling in the classroom would be my downfall, but you would be thinking wrong. So, to make a long story a little bit shorter, my cooperating teacher for 6th grade showed me that humor is so crucial in the classroom, and I completely loosened up with those kids, and I really had a great time. It was a blast working with Mrs. Brecht and her students. They really helped me, and therefore, I was able to teach some really fun lessons!

5th grade has been marvelous so far! I wasn't sure about being in this classroom though, because my new cooperating teacher, Mrs. Williams, seemed completely different....like way organized, and way structured, and I was thinking.."How am I going to meet up to her standards?" It made me a little nervous. But I went in on Monday, and we started planning the week, and she was so easy to talk to, and she even took me out for lunch. She is so great and a really amazing teacher. She is so respectful of anything that I want to do for my lessons, and she is just really supportive, which I love. What a great experience this has been so far! Completely different than I thought it was going to be. The students in her class are great too. I also was a little skeptical about how they were going to be compared to Mrs. Brecht's class. I connected so well with the 6th grade, and so it made me feel like I wasn't going to connect with a different class. I was wrong. They challenged me to get all of their names down by the end of the day, and learn one thing about them, and then they would quiz me about them the next day. The little rascals didn't have faith in me, but I dominated those names like there was no tomorrow!

So far so good, and only 8 more weeks left of this blessed experience! Hoorah!! I am one-fourth of the way there kids, so hold on to your britches, and thanks for all of the support!! Yay, and I am going to Rexburg tomorrow as a little side-note...which will be exceptionally fun! I will get to see my little angel friends, and finally I will be able to laugh once more! Bring your funny girls and boys!!! Love it!!!!!!

One thing I do know....

2010-01-08T20:57:00.000-08:00

One thing that I do know...is that I love being home. "Home is where the heart is" or so I have heard. I think I have heard correctly. Not only do I love being home..sometimes not realizing it at the time...but I love being home where I can sleep in my own, amazingly comfortable bed, clean my own bedroom until it is so clean that I literally could eat off of the floor and be ok with it, know where everything in the kitchen is so that I don't just have to have a glass of milk for breakfast and an orange for lunch because that is all I could find (haha), hear my neices and nephews come over and run up the stairs to my bedroom and barge in without even knocking just because they love me, go into my grandpa's room even for a minute and have him tell me a story, have my dad ask me to help him move the furniture for the hundredth time because I have huge muscles, be able to fit all of my clothes in my closet plus some, listen to my dogs bark until it seems like they couldn't possibly bark any more but they still do, see pictures of my own family members hanging on the walls, have friends come over and take ridiculous pictures of ourselves and talk and talk until all hours of the night, relax and make memories, but most of all...BECAUSE IT'S HOME!! Someday, I will have my own home and family that I can share those experiences with....and they will someday be as appreciative of their home as I am of mine now...because home is where the heart is. I know that for sure.

Graduation!

2009-12-22T21:29:00.000-08:00

My graduation was on Friday, December 18, 2009, and what a blessing it was to have pretty much my whole family there as well as my best friends. They were willing to travel in the blistering cold winter weather of Rexburg to see me! And who wouldn't be willing to do that really? I mean, I am pretty spectacular...:) I decided to walk at graduation before my student teaching, so that I don't have to come back to Rexburg, just to walk to get my diploma cover when they are sending my diploma to me in the mail anyways. Brilliant? I think so. I just want to thank everyone who supported me through my entire college career and made it possible for me to attend such an amazing school. I grew so much and I learned a ton. My brain is packed with new knowledge now! Woo! I can't wait to start student teaching in Utah, and I actually just found out today that my cooperating teacher for student teaching is not going to be there for the first 3 weeks, so I will be in a sixth grade classroom with another teacher for the first 3 weeks. So that will be interesting. I will never ever forget Rexburg, or the people there, so don't worry friends who are still blossoming, growing, and packing your brains with new knowledge there! I will come visit often..hopefully often, and you better come visit me too so that we can continue building friendships and memories! I love you!

Me & My Gee-Tar....

2009-12-16T21:24:00.000-08:00

Over the summer, Mel and I started learning how to play the guitar! It probably will be one of my favorite hobbies once I can actually play something! No, actually I have learned a couple songs, and I even co-wrote one with my friend Jenna called "What Happened?" It's rather hilarious really. And to top it all off, Melissa and I played in our ward's talent show a few weeks ago! It was so much fun and Melissa is really amazing. I have learned a lot from her, and I plan on learning so much more. Also, I must give a huge thanks to my mother for buying me the most beautiful guitar I have ever seen for my birthday in April. She is so great and is always supporting me in anything I want to pursue...Thanks Mom! I love you!

The 3 Amigas :)

2009-12-16T14:06:00.000-08:00

Yes, if you were wondering, I was talking about Melissa, Mel, and I being the 3 Amigas! Over the past three years, these two girls have become my best friends. We do everything together, we go through ups and downs together, we laugh together, we cry together, we support one another, we predict who one another will marry, and most importantly, we love one another. I just wanted to let them know that I appreciate them so much, and I want to wish them the best of luck! Specifically, I want to wish Melissa the best of luck next semester as she finishes her Junior year of college, and I want to wish Mel the best of luck as she goes home to prepare herself for Minnesota! You go girls!! I hate it that they are both leaving me...:) But it will be great. We always need to be growing, learning, and improving ourselves, and that is exactly what each of us are doing. Thanks for everything! You guys are the best!

Fondue!

2009-12-13T13:29:00.000-08:00

I don't know how many of you have ever had fondue, but you should definitely do it if you have not. We had so much fun at Melissa's grandparents end of the semester celebration bash! I think someone said that they had been preparing for 3 days already! What amazing grandparents! They even played CatchPhrase with us, and let me just tell you what, it was absolutely the most hilarious thing ever. I think it would be very beneficial for any person over the age of 65 to play this game often..I bet it would help keep you on your toes and help your brain work a little faster. Just a suggestion. We laughed so hard though. So much fun! Thanks to the Hart family for always making me feel so welcome in your family. I really appreciate it, and I love you so much! Also, I would like to give a shout out to my bestie, Mel, I love you, congratulations, and I can't wait to start writing you everyday on your mission! Much love...Meg

Dishes...

2009-12-12T09:47:00.000-08:00

Do you ever wake up in the morning feeling like you are going to conquer the world, you get to the kitchen to eat your delicious but healthy breakfast of one egg (whites only) and a yogurt parfait :)...and there is a monster load of dirty, nasty, filthy, caked on with food dishes in the sink piled so high it seems never ending?? Well, that happened to me this morning, of all mornings. So guess what I did? If you guessed that I just left them there for the next person to clean, you are correct. Just kidding. Of course I cleaned that devil of a kitchen. So for the people that don't do their dishes out there, DO THEM!!! It is annoying doing other peoples' dishes. That is all I have to say about that. Have a great day!! I know I will!

Miracle!!!

2009-12-11T19:17:00.000-08:00

My first blog!!! It's amazing! Thanks Melissa so much for helping me! First of all, let me just tell you a little bit about myself... I am a beautiful 5'9" blonde bombshell. If that gives you a good picture. No, Just kidding. I am going to school at Brigham Young University Idaho right now, and I am graduating next Friday, the 18th of December! (I have even tried on my cap and gown already) I can't believe it. I have been going to school my whole entire life, and it is going to be so strange having an actual job that I get paid real money to do...:) I kind of can't wait. I have so many people to thank. My amazing family, supportive parents, hilarious friends, how much better could it get. Well, I think that is all for now, because Melissa is going to help me make this blog so much better! So until then...