Biztown

Teaching fifth grade has its advantages, specifically one of the best field trips ever! I wish this had been available when I was in fifth grade. For two months, we teach our students the basics of economics, including the process of getting and keeping a job, writing checks and using debit cards. Then, the students interview for jobs and we go downtown to the fourth floor of Discovery Gateway where there is a student-sized city set up, complete with a restaurant, two banks, and many other businesses for the students to run for the day. They receive paychecks and can use their earnings to buy real stuff to take home with them. They spend the day earning money to pay off their business loan to the bank by advertising and selling their products. It is fantastic. The kids are all exhausted by the end of the day, and leave with an interesting idea of what adults really do at work.

This video shows our entrance into JA City. I had to share the magic (it's DISNEY-ESQUE)

Jeff's Birthday!

For Jeff's birthday, Matt and I invited my family to come into Salt Lake for pizza and bowling at Fat Cats! Alex, Cassie, my mom and Jeff, and Matt and I bowled for two hours, ate yummy Pizza Factory pizza and breadsticks and had a ton of fun. Happy birthday Jeff!

New Year's Eve Tea 2010

One of the only times each year I see my old girlfriends from high school is on New Year's Eve, when we get together for afternoon tea at the Grand America (yes this post has been long time coming). I love getting together and catching up on everyone's lives, and hearing plans for the next year. This year Jenn, Kasi, Amy P., Sarah and I were all able to go, and hopefully it will grow every year.

Reality

I recently have been exposed to one of the nastier sides of being an adult...

PROFESSIONAL MANIPULATION AND HOOP JUMPING

I know that every job has its own challenges, I guess I never realized how every business is political. Especially education. I never expected to have to "play games" in order to "problem solve."

Basically, it sucks.

On the bright side, I have been exposed to one of the happier moments of adulthood...

WHEN YOUR HUSBAND TAKES CHARGE OF HIS EDUCATION!

Yay for Matt, I am so proud of how hard he is working. He is taking 24 credits at SLCC and I never see him anymore. Well that's not entirely true, I see him as he is getting into bed at night and as I am kissing him goodbye in the morning. It is so fun to see him actually enjoy being at school. He comes home telling me all the stuff he did at school (I learned how to hang a door, put baseboard on rounded corners, trim a windowsill, build a closet.... etc, etc, etc). It is so cute.

You Need To Read These

Ok so my mom introduced me to a new series that I am loving. But mostly, I love the whole story about the author and how he started writing these books, so I'll give you the short version to get you intrigued...
The author's name is Ben Behunin and his books are "Remembering Isaac," "Discovering Isaac," and "Becoming Isaac." Never heard of them? Probably not, because they are not for sale anywhere except for his house. Yeah. I know. So this guy is a potter, like making pots on a wheel, potter. He said he never had any interest in writing books until these stories were told to him, in his head. He said the voices telling him these stories kept coming until he finally gave in and started writing. He had a dream about what the books are supposed to look like, inside and out, and had to publish them his own way, he didn't want a publisher to ruin his vision of these books, since they were in fact not his books, but Isaac's, who "told" Ben the stories. These books are about a young potter trying to decide if he should settle in this little small town as the village potter, and about the lessons that the old potter, who has passed away, has taught all the people of the town. It's inspiring. I've been reminded of the little things we can do to remain Christ-like. It's not a self-help book, or in any way centered on a certain religion or preachy, but more about how this old potter taught people life lessons by relating everything to the life of Christ. Holy cow. Love it.
So my mom and I go to his house to get these books. His house. And you walk into his studio and it's a pottery studio, sooooo cool. He sells his pottery there too and most of it is beautiful. I have a little obsession with these tiles with quotes on them, he calls them "mudpies." You can check them out at his website below. I bought Matt one... I bet anyone can figure out which one... hahaha.

So seriously just take a look. Help out the local artists. I am seriously inspired by this guy. I asked him to come talk to my class about writing and he was totally up for it. Way cool.

Check out Ben's blog: http://rememberingisaac.blogspot.com/
Take a look at Ben's pottery site: http://www.potterboy.com/

YAY! YAY! YAY!

MAY 3, 2011!!!
(You can read the first chapter online... www.rickriordan.blogspot.com)

I'm THIS CLOSE to punching someone in the face...