Why I Love My Major

Can I just say, I love my major!! I'm going into elementary education and I don't regret that decision one bit. Recently, I got a job through America Reads Tutoring. What I do is for so many hours a week, go to a classroom and help kids with literacy. However, it's gotten to the point where I'm more of an aid then a tutor. I do my tutor stuff, but help out so much in the classroom doing other things. Anyway, so I got assigned to kindergarten. I was unsure at first because I've always wanted to teach 4th grade....but I am so glad I got put in a kindergarten class. I honestly think I want to do kindergarten now. So, M-F I'm with the morning class. T-TH I'm with the afternoon class and I love it. I really wish I could work more hours. Those kids are so darling. They've taken to calling me "Mrs. C" or "Miss Courtney". I've been doing this job for about a month now and I've never been more happier in a job then I am now. Granted I still work Burger King, but just going to my kindergarten classes makes everything so much better. I love my students.

For example, we do a thing called power half hour. What we do is in small groups we go over a few letters. How to write them and say them. Then we play some game that helps with phonics. Anyway, it was during my pm class, everyone was doing great, but this one girl was just struggling especially with her letter "S". (I later talked to the teacher about her and apparently she has a really hard time with writing.) So, after we got through everything I sent the rest of the kids to the rug and had her stay so I could work with her better. Poor girl was getting so frustrated, she was on the verge of tears. So, I let her go not wanting to push her into it. Well school ends (early because its SEOP week) and this girl comes in a few minutes later with her mom and little brother. Her mom needed to talk to the teacher so this little girl came over to me, and I was taping books that had been used so much the binding was torn, and she began talking to me. She showed me her cute planner thing she got from book fair and was just telling me the most random stuff. This went  on for about 10 minutes and we just had a cute little conversation. During this conversation we talked about her writing and I challenged her to work on her "S"s. Well she was showing me how she has a special spot in her planner for numbers and she asked for mine. I knew she'd probably never call me, it was more for show purposes plus it's a good way to have her work on her numbers. So, I have it to her, had to teach her how to write 4's and what not, but she eventually got it. By then her mom was done talking so she runs up to her mom and is all like "look mom!! I got Mrs. C's number!!" and she was just so excited. 2 days later, I walk into class and we get in our groups and the first thing she says is, "I can do my letter "S" now!!" and I was like, "ya? Show me". So she did and she had greatly improved. Then she's all like, "I practiced just like you said!" and gave me this huge hug. I was so proud of her. I told her that too and she just had the biggest smile on her face. That was a really proud moment for me. It's funny how I spent 10 minutes with her one on one and just that small amount of attention changed our relationship from me just being an aid to being her best friend. I had never came home so happy as I did today.

She's not the only one who has made me proud. We also do sight words and fluency folders with the students. Some students don't get practice at home so naturally they're behind those that do. But even just working with them, doing sight word flash cards has helped greatly. After about 2 weeks I got about half my students from list 1 to list 2. Even doing fluency folders (page of letters and they are timed for 1 minute to see how far they can get), when they beat they're previous mark, I just get so ecstatic. With every student I  make sure I praise them and/or encourage them to do better and I really think it helps that they have that support and someone who believes in them.

A lot of their improvement goes to the teacher as well. She is AMAZING! I've learned so much from her. Not only that but, you can tell she genuinely cares about each of her students. Everything we learn in school about classroom management, teaching skills, being a role model...she has got down perfect. I can honestly say I look up to her. I love talking to her and getting new insight and ideas. I've gotten to be a tutor in several different classes in the past couple of years and so far she has been by far the best.

Overall, I have learned so much in the past month and to think, I get to dot his for a whole school year! It's not about the pay so much as the hands on experience I'm getting. Every time I step foot in that class, there is always one reason or another that makes me love my choice in major. It makes me so excited to get to be at the point in a few years. These kids are so special and so sweet I love knowing that I can make an impact in their lives.

Summer in the Sun

Good things come to those who wait.

 As summer was approaching all I could think about was all the activities I planned on doing. Swimming, going places, having adventures, all that stuff, and now it's half way through summer and none of that has been accomplished. Granted, I have gone home a few times to see my family and Aaron's and ya those were fun times..but I imagined going swimming almost every day or something. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I don't have any friends. Sad right? All my friends left me for the summer or are too busy with their lives, so I spend my days off in bed watching Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. I do have friends at work, but we all know how it is, you make friends with people at work and you're great friends at work, but outside, not so much. Anyway enough complaining, because my summer is about to get awesome.

I have a lot planned for the next 2 months (ok not a lot, but big things). For example, Aaron's friends are coming to visit this weekend and aside from catching up and playing games, we're going to go cliff jumping! I am super excited because I haven't gone in for so long. Plus, I get to wear my new cute green polka dot bikini! (I would've gone with yellow...but you can imagine all the references I'd get to that). After an epic weekend with the boys, a few weeks later my family is going to Lava Hot Springs. Over the past couple of years this has become a tradition for our family. Nothing is better then bonding time while going down the rapid Portneuf river. Hopefully my mom got the dates right this time though. (last time she told us the wrong dates and we had to miss out on Island Park because we got the wrong days off). In any case, I'm way excited. For those who haven't been, Lava is the bomb! The pool park is pretty cool too, but if you go, go for the river! So many memories on that river. After all this happens, the following month is my birthday. And not just any birthday..my 20th birthday! Obviously, not as big of a deal as a 21st birthday, but still I finally can officially be out of the teenage years and my family can no longer use that against me when I have to sit at the kids table because I'm an independent adult.

As for adventures, well there's always one around the corner. Like last night, our toilet spazzed out. The hose in the top part or whatever came unhooked so water was leaking everywhere! Our bathroom literally flooded. Luckily, Aaron fixed it...for now and all is good. That is until it happened again this morning! Nothing is better then being in the process of waking up and after flushing the toilet having water spray you everywhere! Anyway, overall I gotta say, although my summer has had a slow start, it's beginning to redeem itself. One thing I have learned, if you're a pessimist you're going to have a really bad time. So make the most out of you're given because everywhere you go there is something waiting for you.

New Years Resolution!!!

Ah, the new year. Everyone knows that that is the perfect time to start anew. 

We all know that almost every woman makes the New Years resolution to lose weight. This has been my resolution for like the past 5 years and like most everyone else..after the first week ends up failing. Miserably. Which is why this year I have changed my resolution. My main resolution will be, are you ready for this, to be financially smart.

As you can tell from my past posts, I have been having financial issues and doing everything I can to save money.  Well, that has not been going as well as I made it out to be. Yes, I've been trying, but not hard enough. I am a ridiculously compulsive spender. I'll spend money on stuff without even a second thought. Ugh I should find a rehab for that. Anyway, the reason to my failure is I try to justify what I buy. Example: One day I had about $3 so, I decided to go to Wendy's and grab a hamburger and some fries thinking it's no big deal. It's just $3. False. that would've been $3 extra towards my utility payments or rent. $3 doesn't seem like a lot, but when you realize you were only $3 short of utilities...it makes a huge deal!  Then you just want to kick yourself in the butt for being so stupid.

So, starting this year, I am going to be more wiser with my money. For real this time. I have created a file on Excel that will allow me to keep track of the money I earn and spend monthly. That way I can keep track of what money I have. Aside from that, my amazing boyfriend Aaron and I have set aside some ground rules about spending. Rule #1: set aside about $80 a month for groceries. Doesn't sound  like a lot, but for only 2 people it should be the perfect amount...there are the few exceptions like today I bought $150 worth of groceries. But, in my defense Smiths was having a case lot sale...so I have non-perishable items that will last us at least a year. The only reason that was an exception was because it was a killer sale that will help us save money so next time we go grocery shopping we can spend that $80 on perishable items like milk, bread, fruits, etc. Rule #2: One date night a month. As in going out out date night. Dinner and bowling or a movie or something. This way, we are still conservative with our money, but take one night to go out and have fun. Doesn't seem like much, but thankfully we have other ways to do dates. Not all dates have to be going out on the town. 

So, there you have it. Of course I have other small resolutions like improving my attitude, actually going to classes, you know that type of stuff. But becoming financially smart is my main focus and hopefully, by the end of the year, I will be able to tell a difference with how much I spent/saved last year compared to this year.

Here's to a brand new year!

Christmas Traditions

Ah Christmas time. The scent of Christmas trees, cinnamon, drinking hot chocolate, dipping chocolates, and of course eating candy! These are only a few Christmas traditions society shares. My family has a lot of Christmas traditions that I am proud to say have never been broken. Although, a lot of other families do what my family does as well..it's still special to me. To those who read this and don't share any of these traditions maybe it's something you could start.


*The first tradition are the Christmas movies; which are special because you can only watch them around that certain time of the year. You could watch them before..but that's just kind of weird and non-sensible. These movies are about getting you into the holiday spirit. It's hard to be pumped for Christmas when it's a good 8 months away. Anyway, I have made a list of movies my family always watches this time of the year. Most of them are classics.

1. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.  
2. A Christmas Story
3. A Charlie Brown Christmas
4. How the Grinch Stole Christmas
5. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
6. Santa Claus is Comin' to Town


*Another tradition my family does is chocolate dipping/fudge! More so, this is my mom, sister, and my thing, but still I look forward to it every year! My mom will go out and by a big chunk of chocolate which we melt and dip all sorts of things in! We do dipped pretzels, cinnamon bears (for my dad), peanut butter balls, caramels, peanuts, and whatever else we feel like dipping...a lot of the time it's our fingers. ;)
Another thing we make, well my mom, is fudge. (Only my mom makes it because no matter how hard I try, I can never get it to taste like hers). She'll do regular fudge, mint fudge, and peanut butter fudge. Yes, I gain about 10 pounds, but it's totally worth it.

*Every year on Christmas Eve, we get to open 1 present of our choice (usually one from our parents). Most of the time it's pajamas or a blanket, but it definitely hypes us up for Christmas morning.


*Cinnamon rolls. Since my sister gets the most hyped about Christmas, we're usually up between 6 and 7..pretty darn early. When we're first awake, we don't want breakfast right away, so my mom will cook us up some cinnamon rolls which that we snack on until my dad makes us a big huge breakfast.

These are only a few of the traditions I can think of at the moment. I know these are common traditions, but as I stated before, they're special to me and I always look forward to this time of year. Christmas is my most favorite holiday. It's a time for service, gifts, and most importantly, remembering the true meaning and reason of Christmas.

broke

So, I know earlier I wrote about how I was going to learn to be frugal....epic fail. As of November 1st I will have no money to my name. Where all that money went I honestly don't know. I just know I stated getting my account back up then BAM! Bills.

 Looking at my bank statements it all makes sense. It's really expensive being on your own. Aside from rent and utilities I have loan payments, insurance, gas for my car, and groceries. Luckily, my parents and my boyfriend have been very helpful in loaning me money. Sadly, it all just goes down the drain to bills. I'm not going to lie, it's very frustrating and stressful. It's gotten to a point where I get physically sick because I stress so much. It's so hard especially when all my friends want to go out and do stuff, but I have to say no because I can't afford it. I feel terrible asking my parents for money because I know they're struggling financially too and so I try not to ask them for money or let them know when I'm in need because they can't afford it. I can't cause them anymore financial stress. (I love you mom and I hope you understand. I know you want to help, but its so hard to ask you when I know you're not doing much better).

I don't know what happened! I was doing so well. Only using my money for needs not wants. Every once in awhile yes I splurged on myself a little bit, but I always had a limit set and usually nothing above $20. It's just amazing how you can lose money so fast.

Not only have I lost money, I've also had my hours cut at work. I use to work about 20-24 hours a week..now I'm only getting no more then 14 hours a week. They are 7 hour shifts, but I usually get sent home an hour to two hours early because it's slow. So times that by $7.50...not that great of a check. The annoying thing is, I don't know what I did to get less hours. Yes, I just took 4 days off to go see my family for once, but compared to other people who get days off thats nothing! Plus, I have been the ideal worker. I've always arrived on time, I'm always willing to work for other people even if I'd rather go do something else that night, and I am good at what I do. Customers always make good comments about me. If anything I should be getting more hours, but no for some out of the random reason I don't get that anymore. I've talked to my manager, but all he says is he needs to accommodate everyone else. Which I understand, but when they get 4-6 days a week and I only get 2, that's not fair. It's so stupid. I was so happy to have a job, now I'm just so unhappy because I feel like I'm being punished for something I didn't do. I will admit I have freaked out at work, but I think I had a good reason. When I go into work I don't want to be harassed by my co-workers. They have no respect for themselves or other people. I know no matter where I work there will always be people like that, but it seems so much worse in a fast food place. I have never came home in tears from a job until I started working at Burger King.

I sound like such a complainer, which I guess I kind of am, I just needed to vent and get everything out. Luckily, for every problem there is a solution. And I am currently on a quest to finding those solutions. Starting out, I have been looking for another job. Hopefully something that will work me a little more then Burger King. I recently joined care.com which is a website that people can get on to look for babysitters or a nanny. I have a pretty good background in child caring that I figured it's worth a shot. I also plan on applying at Walmart and even Convergys. I have gotten that desperate that I will take anything at this point. I also have been trying to sell my prom dresses which I'm not going to lie is hard because they're so pretty and they looked so good on me, but I know I'll probably never wear them again and I might as well make some money. Finally, I have done what I've been trying to avoid, but couldn't anymore. I took out a loan. .Right now it's being finalized or whatever. Hopefully, it'll approve. It'll be enough to help me pay for school and books and not have so much financial stress. So, hopefully within the next few months I can have a huge amount of stress relieved.

Like any other trial I know that right now this is in God's hands. I know that eventually he will provide a way for me. I just need to be more patient, keep praying/reading my scriptures, keep going to church, and most importantly never giving up hope or faith in God. I know that I will be out of this financial problem in time and everything will be better. I just have to endure it and I know that because I have such an awesome support system I can do it!

Oh How I Love My Family :)

“Family: A social unit where the father is concerned with parking space, the children with outer space, and the mother with closet space.”
- Evan Esar

I love my family so so much. My amazing dad Brian, my caring mom Deidra, my stud of a brother Augmon, and my precious sister Hydee. They all mean so much to me. 


I didn't always love my family as much as I do now though. Like every teenager I went through the phase where I thought I had the most embarrassing dysfunctional family alive. I hated being in public with them! Everyone who's been through that will know what I mean. Thankfully, I don't feel that way anymore. Now, I just feel so blessed that I have such a wonderful family. 


Let me start off with a little description of my family. All around, we're a really laid back family who like to have fun. My parents are usually pretty cool (might have to do with the fact that they got to be teenagers in the 80's) about most stuff and they're always letting us have parties and friends over and all that jazz. First off we have my dad (whom I dedicated a post too earlier this year for father's day). He is obvious the head of the household. My dad is a pretty funny guy and a great cook when it comes to bbq, dutch oven, and breakfasts. My mom is great. I think she acts more like a teenager then I do. But she's everything anyone could want in a mom. Always making us after school snacks and making time to cook delicious meals even though she has one hectic schedule. My brother is a stud. That's all I can say. My sister is so cute and probably going to be the rebellious one of the family, but she's so sweet.

My family and I share so many memories. Everything from camping trips, to game nights, to just sitting around and watching tv together. One time, on a camping trip, my dad made us the best homemade toilet. We were in an area with no toilets and we (the girls) sure weren't going to squat every time we had to pee, so my dad took 3 branches and formed them into a triangular shape, found/built a little area out of rocks with a hole in the middle where he placed the triangle and that was our toilet for the weekend. 


Another memory was just recently when we were taking family pictures. My mom thought it'd be cute to take one sitting on a fence, only thing was we weren't sitting on the thin edge but the side that showed the most wood so it was kind of like a bench only 2 feet off the ground. Both my brother and I knew it would break and despite our objections, we did it anyway and wouldn't you believe it, the board broke. My brother caught my sister and was lucky enough to land on his feet, my mom and dad both fell (with my dad resulting in a scratch from a nail) and I kinda just stumbled down. My pants got caught on a nail and not only ripped my pants, but gave me a scratch..on my butt. We were all laughing so hard after it happened I was pretty sure someone was going to pee their pants.


One year for Christmas, my dad got the Lord of the Rings Extended dvd's so we spent all of Christmas day and night having a LOTR marathon. It was so much fun! We paused only for dinner. My dad made us homemade popcorn and we ate all our candy. We snuggled up in the blankets and pillows my mom had made us. Life was good.


Finally, my most favorite and reoccurring memory is when we are all home, sitting in front of our big screen watching a show or movie. (When I lived at home, we usually all watched Vampire Diaries, The Big Bang, Legend of the Seeker, or whatever movies we had recorded on our dvr). I know it sounds lazy, but it's something that we all do together that we all enjoy and have fun. 

Being a good 300 miles away from my family makes me realize how much I actually love them and miss them. I love going home, but hate when I have to leave because I don't get to see them for another couple of months, maybe even longer depending on my college student budget at that time. But I am so grateful for my family even if we're crazy and dysfunctional. None of that even matters. All that does matter is that we are a strong unit, which we are. I'm very lucky to have the relationship I do with my family because there are a ton of people who aren't as lucky with their families. I have it made when it comes to my family. I love them so much! 

if not here, then there

It's amazing how a person can be there one minute then the next, be gone. Earlier this evening, a very dear friend of mine, who I've known since primary, was in a terrible car accident where he was taken back to our Heavenly Father. He was such a sweet guy and had such an amazing spirit and one of the strongest testimonies a person a could have. He was a great example not only to those around him, but to me. He was such a funny guy and an awesome friend, he always accepted everyone, no matter what mistakes they had made or where they came from. He was selfless and always willing to help those in need. He came from an amazing family who raised him so strongly in the gospel, that he just radiated with his love and knowledge of the church. In all honesty, he was THE ideal lds boy.
One thing that I really liked about him was his desire to serve a mission. That was his biggest dream, to go out and do the Lord's work. He use to be so jealous when other friends got to go, or when those that had the opportunity chose not to. Being 19, he was so close to getting that chance, but then disaster struck and he was gone. However, an interesting, valid point was brought up to me by several people. Maybe his mission wasn't meant to be here on earth, but rather in heaven, where he could teach to those in spirit prison who hadn't gotten the opportunity to learn about the church. Maybe God knew that he would be an amazing missionary, so amazing that his purpose would have been better served in heaven. Or maybe, because he was so perfect that God didn't think he deserved to be here with all the evil in the world so he took him back where he could serve a better purpose in heaven. Either way I know without a doubt, he's there now sharing his testimony with those willing to listen.

Thank you for everything Logan Fulgham. You have always been such a great influence and all around a great guy. You will be missed by so many people who love and cherish you, but I know you're happy where you are and I know it's everything you've imagined and more. I know that you'll be up there watching over us and waiting until we all return. Rest in peace Logan...you will never be forgotten and you will always be my heart. xoxo