summer favorites

We have less than a week left in the city before we head out on our 2+ month adventure. I am excited for our adventure but I am sad to leave the city. I love this place. We have tried to get the most out of the city before we leave. Here are a few of our favorite things....

American Idol Concert in Central Park

I couldn't think of anyone better to go to this concert with than Ashley. She is an American Idol guru. I have spent several Tuesday nights at her apartment watching American Idol for girls night. It was fun to see the AI crew up close. There is nothing fake about their voices.

Pia... aka... Robert's BFF! The story is told that she came into Columbia's hospital to do a benefit concert. Robert passed her in the hallway and she winked at him. Back off girl... he's mine!

Tenement Museum

This has been on my list of things to do for a long time. I was excited that Robert planned it into one of our dates. They take you through old apartments from the late 1800's and talk about the history of NYC.

Summer Stage at Lincoln Center
Live music and lots of dancing!



Shakespeare in the Park
Every summer they put on FREE Shakespeare plays in Central Park. The theater is pretty amazing. It overlooks the pound and castle. It is pretty hard to get tickets but if you are persistent enough it is possible.

Food Truck Festival
On Saturday a group of our friends got together and went to South Sea Port. All the gourmet food carts from around the city invaded the streets. It was delicious!
*** pictures from Maddie's blog and yahoo


Our good friends, the Hansen's, are headed off to Boston.. sniff, sniff.. Jonathon is like Robert's brother.. seriously. They have gone through the ups and downs of medical school together. Ashley and I have conquered the city together! We will miss them dearly!

In between Robert's rotation at Columbia and Hospital for Special Surgery he wanted to get out of the city. We decided to take a trip to Gettysburg and knock it off our bucket list. We made a pit stop in the Amish Country and Hershey. We had a really good time.

Amish Country

Hands down.. the best pretzel..... I have ever had... Robert and I still talk about it!

buggies rides

Gettysburg

These guys are die hard civil war fans. We sat and talked to them for over an hour about the Civil War!

Beautiful, wide open spaces

Robert listening to the history of physicians during the Civil War

adorable little restaurant

Hershey, the sweetest place on earth!

The second you get off the Hershey exit you can smell chocolate in the air.. no joke!

Chocolate tasting

Chocolates from around the world.

July's Trip to Utah
I spent 2 great weeks in Utah. ( I'll be back there in a 2 weeks :) Robert spent 1 great week in Utah.
We spent our time....
with the nieces and nephews....

in the mountains....


in the car....(this is a BIG deal when you don't drive 11 months of the year!)

at the pool...

cheering Julia on at her dance recital...(she did amazing, I'd like so say she takes after me but she is so much better than I ever was)

at the STAPLES' FAMILY REUNION 2011 IN ST. GEORGE...
hiking in Zions.....

water basketball (wouldn't be a complete staples reunion without a little competition).....

saying goodbye to my brother (in law) Matt (heading to the Philippines for 2 years)....

SMITH trip to Lake Powell (I am a obsessed with this place).....

getting rescued by the Coast Gaurd during a storm...
Stadium of Fire (Julia and I made the shirts, impressed?) ......

See you soon Utah!

i am going to get better at blogging... promise :)

Back in June....
7 best friends (since middle school) met up in Upstate NY. We had such a great time. Once again I am blown away with how blessed I am to have such an amazing group of friends. Beautiful, talented and inspiring girls... that I get to call my BFF.
We are all in different stages of life (well at least I am :) , we live all over the country (Ohio, Utah, Rochester, NYC) but we still manage to get together for our girls trips (last girls trip was in NYC). When we get together its as if we have never been a part. Love you girls!!!!!

We:
- stayed a Ericka's place
- ate Ericka's delicious cooking
- laughed until we cried (thanks to Ericka's neighbor)
- visited church history sites ( Hill camora, Joseph Smith's home, Sacred Grove, Printing Press)
- went to Niagara Falls (Canada side:)
- stayed up until ridiculous hours talking...
- danced in the street lights... we still got moves:)

*** Pictures were taken by everyone but me :)

8 years ago I came to NYC with my mom. We took a red bus tour bus through Harlem. My mom asked me if I could ever teacher here. I don't remember my answer but I do remember looking through the old school windows and seeing a teacher talking to her class. Something ignited in me. I can't believe how blessed I have been. I have had opportunities working in the top schools, with top teachers. I still get giddy with I look through my old school windows and realize I am living my dream.

So here is a tribute to another year of teaching... the BEST year of teaching! It really was a magical year. Starting off the year.. nobody ever would have thought. We went through a lot together! They are beautiful, amazing kids. If you look in their eyes you can see how special they are. Take their life and put it next to yours, you will never take anything for granted again.

Things I have learned while teaching:

- RAISE THE BAR. Sometimes my administration would have high expectations that seemed so outrageous that I didn't even think it was possible... but my students continuously blew my mind away. There was NEVER a challenge that they didn't eventually meet. I think all kids (down deep) are a little thirsty for challenge. Not that I need test scores to prove how great these kids were but they were one of the top preforming classes in the state!

- Sometimes it is alright to tell your students how YOU feel. Even if you are the adult and they are the kids. I really think my heart to hearts with my kids is what made this year so amazing. It taught them to identify their emotions and express them.

- Do as you say! Easier said than done but it is a MUST. I was around people who talked down to these kids. It was almost comical. They would scream in a kids face "DON'T YELL AT YOUR SISTER". I can't blame them because sometimes it is REALLY, REALLY hard to let your emotions get the best of you. If you practice what you preach the kids will see it and mimic your actions. My assistant teacher and I would always laugh at how impressionable my students were. If I was grumpy... they were grumpy. If I was silly.. they were silly.

- It's ok to be crazy. The longer I teach the more I loose all inhibition. I worked at a very high stress and intense school. I had to forget about it sometimes and just let loose. If you came into my classroom you might see me jumping on furniture, talking in a(horrible) British accent, singing the read aloud opera style or anything else to switch things up. The kids ate it up...it kept them on their toes... they thought I was pretty funny.. Jokes on them!

- Be consistent. Kids catch on really fast if you don't follow through on your word. That goes for rewards and consequences. If you say they are going to give them 5 extra minutes of recess you better do it. If you say you are going to call their parents... you better do it. Especially with my kids, you could lose their trust really fast so had to do your best to not give them a reason to not trust you.

- Keep Clam and Carry On.... It wasn't out of the ordinary if in the middle of a lesson a little mouse would run across the classroom or in the middle of a test a cockroach walk across your paper. The first time I experienced this I FREAKED OUT.... and so did my kids. I quickly learned that if I didn't compose myself my classroom would turn into a hot mess. I got to the point I was so composed about it my students started to believe these rodents were our classroom pet :)


I am still far from the teacher I would like to be but I have come a long way. If I could I would like to find each student from my first year of teaching and personally apologize to each of them I would :)

Cheers to 5 great years of teaching and many more to come!!!

What better reason to break your blogging hiatus..... than your sister's birthday!!!!
I am so lucky to have Taren as my sister. It was just the two of us most of our growing up. We are 16 months apart..... our sisterhood bond is special. We can pretty much read each others thoughts, we laugh at the same things (even if nobody else is laughing), and we have shared great memories together! Taren is a special person. She would do anything for anybody. When you are around her you always feel loved and good about life. She is an amazing mom and I couldn't ask for a better sister! Happy Birthday TT!

A much needed update

I am about to upload a large amount of photos from my phone. Please excuse my randomness!

Broadway
We have been spending a lot of our time seeing Broadways. I have had to work some weekends so Robert (being the great guy that he is) has waited out for rush tickets while studying!!!! He is the world's greatest! Here are a few of the latest. They were all amazing. "How to Succeed" was our favorite. We are officially Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) fans! We have already seen it twice.








We are no longer serving in the deaf branch :( it was an amazing experience and we grew a lot. I bet you will never guess what our new calling is ?!?!?!


Visitors!!!!

My grandma surprised my mom and four sisters with a trip to NYC. We were lucky enough to have them stay with us. This is a far away picture of Robert rowing the ladies around central park. (I promised not to put any close up pictures)

Elias and Brittany!!! - over memorial weekend our two favorite people came to visit from San Francisco. Elias is Robert's bff from college and I couldn't love Brittany more. We talked and talked the entire weekend!!!


Politics in Harlem- Harlem success is in the middle of some intense movements. It is fun to be part of it. Recently we rallied in the middle of Harlem at the NAACP's headquarters.

If you look close you can see a big kiss on my cheek! My parents often greet me with big wet ones!

UvU class of 2024 - The other day my mom said "you talk about them like they are your children". She is right! I love these kids like my are mine. It has been such an amazing year and I am sad to see it end.

Pj day

Slamming the state exam

Relaxing in central park

Posing for a class picture because their teacher said so :)

Signing off for now!

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