Kinda freaking out

So school starts tomorrow and yes, I'm kind of freaking out. I feel so unprepared even thought it's my 2nd year teaching (but it is at a different school) and even after spending 11 hours at the school yesterday and 12 hours today (and many others before that). There's something about having my foot busted and on moving my classroom on a scooter (yes... I did finally get my "scooter"- I will post pictures later, maybe when I actually have a life again- if that ever happens) that seriously seems to take twice as long. I have had so much help from my mom, my paras, and other teachers when they have a little time to spare which has seriously helped SOOOO much but there is still so much that seems to need to get done. I just can't think about it any more or else I don't think I'll end up going to sleep. But I will say this... I'm really only freaking out about the planning/time consuming crap that really is all the "fluff" in teaching. I am beyond exciting to start teaching my cute kiddos. I've already met about 1/2 of my students and I know I'm going to love this year. There were 2 boys that came in to meet me today and seriously, I'm already in love. They already have my heart and I know it's going to be a great year. I seriously have the best job ever (minus all the lame special ed. paper work) and could not think of anything else I would rather do everyday then spend my time with these precious children. I feel so lucky to get to do what I do. I think I needed that little reminder. It really is all about the kids. I know tomorrow will be fine. I have amazing paras and co-workers. Just one day at a time.

p.s. I just realized how many parenthesis ( ) I have in this post... just goes to show how all over the place my brain is right now cause I have so many different thoughts going on a the same time.

one of my favorite places on earth

Provo Canyon. That's right. I mean, look at this place- it's gorgeous. I've always thought it was super pretty but within the last 8 months or so (since my parents bought their place up in Midway) I've driven that canyon thousands of time (okay, maybe not thousands, but you get the idea) and I've grown to love it even more. There's something about about those huge rocky mountains, waterfalls, trees, and actually the windy road that make it seriously one of my favorite places on earth. It makes me so happy. And it is one of the best places to just "go on a drive." Please go and enjoy it sometime. Best times to see it are either during fall while the leaves are changing or right after spring has hit and everything is super green. Oh, and winter I guess is nice too. What can I say? I just love it.

Confession: Guilty Pleasure...

*NSYNC and Backstreet Boys. That's right. There's something about these boy bands that will forever have my heart. Backstreet Boys was the first concert I ever attended and Millennium was the first CD I bought with my own money (my first CD ever was Hanson... but that's another story). My love for *NSYNC came a short while later (and I also attended that concert) but don't worry, the love was just as strong if not even a little stronger.

So why this random blast from the past? Yesterday I was driving when "The Two Of Us" from this wonderful album

came on while I was listening to my iPod on shuffle. This spurred something in me that made me want to listen to the entire album . . . so that's what I did of course. It made me so happy. And the best part... even after years of not listening to this album I remembered every word, mmmmhuh, oooooh yeah, 2 Step!, and so, so much more. And even as I'm writing this

Brooke and I are listening to more NSYNC songs and once again not missing a single word or beat and laughing all the while. We were discussing how funny it is that we can even remember every little word and phrase in the background as if we were back in jr. high again. She pointed out though, that if we wanted to, we probably wouldn't be able to just start singing the song out of nowhere on our own but once the music starts going... there's no stopping it. We jam out and sing every ever word.

The first time I ever experienced this great phenomenon was about our first week in Romania

where we went on a little day trip to see some monasteries traveling in group of 3 taxis driven by some of our facilitator's family friends. Mario (our Romanian facilitator), Candice, Whitney and I got to ride with our driver in this great thing. While about all of our group of 12 had iPods at this time, Whitney still was carrying around her wonderful Walkman. And if you have a Walkman, what do you need? CDs of course! So while all of us took our iPods on this little day excursion Whitney drug around a little bag with her all her CDs and her Walkman. We were all kind of making fun of her at first until she asked our driver on the way home if we could listen to some of her CDs. We popped this gem into the player and started singing at the top of our lungs.

The 2 Romanian's in the car with us thought we were kind of crazy but ended up loving it and if the song was too slow and not up-beat enough, the driver would say in his Romanian accent "next!" (pretty sure the only English word he knew- cause we taught him) and skip to the next song. It was here on this trip that we renewed our love for our boy bands and didn't miss singing a word even after years of not listening to Backstreet Boys. "Backstreet's back ALL RIGHT!" We laughed the entire way home and it set the standard for the rest of our time in Romania, where we listened to even more Backstreet Boys and NSYNC.

For all you other boyband lovers... go watch some YouTube videos of their songs. I guarantee it will make you very happy and brighten your entire day. Go do it, I dare you.

What's your Love Language?

So the last month or so some friends and I have really been talking about the difference of personalities and how people react differently to different situations and how sometimes this has to do with our "Love Language." According to this test here are 5 different ways people show and like to receive their "love" to and from others. These 5 Love Languages are:

Words of Affirmation

Quality Time

Receiving Gifts

Acts of Service

Physical Touch

I've kind of always know that that my #1 is Quality Time and this past year or so has made that even more apparent in my life (notice that a 12 is the highest possible score you can get and that's what I got for Quality Time). I love spending time with others and love when others want to spend time with me, it's how I feel loved and appreciated. It's been kind of hard being up in Midway, away from everyone since I've had my surgery and know that it's kind of out of the way for people to come visit.

So, although this is a little overdue and happened about 2 weeks ago I'd like to give a little shout-out to these awesome people . . .

. . . for making the trip up to Midway to spend time with me just a few days after my surgery where we got to witness this-

I just wanted to thank you guys again and let you know how much it meant to me to have you guys come up for the night and go see fireworks together. So David, Sarah, Kiera, Michael, and Kubo thank you so much for coming up and spending the evening with me. I don't think I can express how much it really meant to me, especially at the time. You guys are awesome. And I know there were a couple of you, and you know who you are, that would have been there if you could but had family stuff going on. I love you guys and will miss seeing you guys as often once I officially move from Provo.

On a little bit of a lighter note... here are some other people I've been spending some more "quality time" with lately and can feel my "love" for them growing stronger. Yes, I did finish the 1st season of Friday Night Lights in about 3 days.

I love Tim Riggins and Matt Saracen. Need I say more.

In the words of Casey Corry (and I'm going to have to agree)

"Tim Riggins can do no wrong"

And you can't help but love that little crooked smile

p.s. I may or may not have recently taken a percocet for my foot pain and it's also late so if any of this doesn't quite make sense or seems a little goofy (though I sincerely mean the thanks to David, Sarah, Kiera, Michael and Kubo), I'm blaming it on the meds.