Surprise Visit

So, Stephen flew home to Indiana on Sunday the 19th. I thought I wasn't going to see him again until I fly out there to take engagement pictures, but he actually made a surprise visit to my classroom today while I was at lunch! The sly dog.

"I came well you wear at lunch love Stphen"

Translation: "I came while you were at lunch. Love, Stephen." I'm not sure why he spelled his name wrong....he must have just been in a hurry?

Again, not the correct spelling of his name....he must have been really concentrating on the border for this one.

Translation: "Dear Heather, you are so good to people. Love, Stephen." I just love how he values and admires my personality!

I'm not 100% sure what this one says, in the bottom left corner, but I won something! And Stehven Conner wanted to let me know.

Translation: "You are the best teacher ever you are as nice as a baby kitten ooooh a simile in there Love Stephen"

Translation: "You are as cute as a kitten (a simile) You are a good girlfriend. Love, Steven. I love you"

I guess Chloe also left a note. But don't worry, all the rest are almost certainly from Stephen.

This one was my personal favorite: "Thank you for saying yes for are mereg Love, Stphen"
AKA: "Thank you for saying yes for our marriage. Love, Stephen"

Just so there was no doubt as to who did such a kind and thoughtful surprise, it was Stphven.

I only wish he could have stayed long enough for me to thank him in person. But oh well, I guess that's why we have Google Hangouts :)

Goooooaaaaallllll!

We talked about goals at school today. I had my kids write down their top 3 goals and put them into a kind of soccer-themed craftivity.

Here was my favorite:

Kids these days.

And for anyone who has been wondering, the Sexy Uncle did not drop off the face of the Earth. I met him on Saturday, as a matter of fact. 

Teacher's Pet

A blonde walks into Walmart and straight back to the pet section. She examines the bettas, plucks a little red one off the shelf, and takes it up to the cashier.

"How much for this betta?" she asks, and then swipes her card without listening to the price, since the school will be reimbursing her for the fish anyway. The blonde leaves the store, fish in hand, and gets back in her car.


Does this sound like the start of a dumb blonde joke? It's not. It's the start of a very serious life-and-death drama, and it is a true story.


Here's a shocking confession: I am the blonde in this story. The red betta is my class pet, the honorable Brad Rudolph. The cashier will remain anonymous.

Wednesday: I took Brad Rudolph - BR, for short - from Walmart. I placed him securely in Cassidy Jane Carbaby. I brought him to my apartment.

Thursday morning: I brought him to school and slid him into his new home: a beautiful glass fishbowl perched on the windowsill, where he could watch all the kids play at recess. When my kids came in and noticed him, they loved him immediately.

Thursday afternoon: We named him. Aka, they named him.

Friday morning: We wrote letters to Brad Rudolph.

Friday afternoon: I thought to myself: won't BR need to eat over the weekend? I put Brad Rudolph in the little container I had bought him in and got him settled back in Cassidy Jane Carbaby. We got back to my apartment. I poured him into a bigger tupperware container, so he could have some wiggle room.


Saturday: uneventful.


Sunday: uneventful.


Monday morning: Disaster struck. I couldn't find BR's traveling case. I poked holes in a water bottle lid and pretended like that would be okay. I went over to the sink and tried pouring BR into the water bottle. Before I knew it, I had lost 96% of the water down the drain, and BR was still swimming frantically around in the inch of water left in the tupperware container.

I panicked. I tried to facilitate a gentle transfer by setting the water bottle in the container so BR could just swim right in, but that just made all these weird air bubbles rush out of the water bottle and into the water in the tupperware container, and that just made BR thrash around like a sad little piece of red seaweed.


Which was just as terrifying as it sounds! I'm not sure what happened next, but somehow I ended up trying to pick up BR with my bare hands from off of a dirty plate in the sink, and there was no water in the tupperware container, and there was barely a centimeter of water in the water bottle, and when I eventually managed to grab him and drop him in the water bottle, I remembered that he needed water, so I turned on the faucet for about half a second before I remembered that betta fish need special water that has water conditioner drops in it, and tap water will kill them....


So then I snapped off the tap water, appalled at myself, ran over to the shelves where Shannon has her betta fishes, and brought one of them over to the sink. That fish kindly shared some of his water with BR's water bottle. Then the other fish shared some of his water with BR, too.


I felt so bad the entire ride to school. I just kept checking my water bottle to see how poor little BR was holding up.

He seemed a little shaken, but he wasn't dead.  Just to be extra-careful, though, I didn't even turn on the radio the whole way there. I don't want my fish to be deaf any more than I want him to be dead!



At last we got to school and I was able to pour him back into his bowl.

Home, sweet home.

I tell my kids a lot; some might even say that I tell them too much. But you better believe that this is one story I did not share with them.

Meeting the Parents

There was this one time when Ashton Kutcher went to meet his fiancee's parents, and it went horribly. He was a really nice boy, but Bernie Mac just did not think he was suitable marriage material for his daughter, and he took every opportunity to make that abundantly clear.

While this concept made for a movie that I found very funny, it is a concept that hits all too close to home for some people. Namely, 90% of the male population. Boys get nervous about meeting girls' parents, just as a general rule. Dads are overprotective, moms are picky and fastidious, and the fear is that, no matter what you do, they are not going to like you.

It's easier to be a girl and meet a boy's parents, at least in my experience. Dads are generally easy to please - if you are not a troll, they feel all proud of their son and they like you. Moms like you as long as you are not a hooker. Bonus points are always awarded if you are good with kids or can hold a conversation.

So keeping all of this in mind, and remembering that I am a girl, it should not be too surprising that meeting parents is not something that has ever really bothered me.

.......Until now. Tomorrow and Wednesday, hordes of parents will be descending upon my school for Parent-Teacher Conferences. They all want to meet me and ask me how their child is doing. And I am not particularly looking forward to it. In fact, if I'm being honest, I'm dreading it.

I just really don't want any of them to go all Ashley's sister on me. I have an entire year to convince my kids that I'm nice and they should like me. I only have 15 minutes with their parents.

Wish me luck??

I'm a Happy Girl

Today, I was walking along, just heading back home in the rain after taking my finals. A boy I have never seen before was walking towards me. When we got close to each other, he said:

"You look really happy right now."

I didn't really know what to say, so I just said: "Thanks!"

Why did I look so happy? I don't actually know, but here are some possibilities.

I was wearing these. My mom gave me these boots. And I am FEARLESS when I see puddles and I am wearing these boots!

This week is finals week. I actually love finals week.....no one believes me when I tell them this, but believe you me: I love finals week. And this page is really funny and accurate.

In 2 days, these cute people will be coming to see me.

In 6 days, I will be waking up here.

In 7 days, I will be on this show.

In 8 days, I will be here.

In 9 days, I may run into this guy.....

.....this girl......

....him.....

......or her. Since I'll be walking all up on their streets.

In 10 days, I will be here.

Okay, I guess I know why I looked so happy.

Aimees

One day, I was sitting in my apartment at Raintree, just hanging out, doing homework maybe. The door opened. Chelsea bounced in, and behind her, a person with poofy hair followed.

"Hi!" the poofy-headed person said. She flashed a huge smile at me. "I'm Aimee!"

"Heather!" Chelsea said, also smiling hugely. "This is Aimee! She's my friend!"

"Hi!" I said. Their smiles were contagious. "I'm Heather -"

"I'm so happy to meet you!" Aimee said. (I believed her. She was practically giddy about it.)

For a few weeks, I just knew Aimee as Chelsea's friend. But then, she moved into our apartment, and she became my roommate, and then my friend too, and then one of my very best friends. And now, she is one of my very best friends.....who is one year older!

Aimee is one of the funniest people I know. She is constantly making me laugh, and something else that is great about her is that she also laughs a lot. So sometimes I feel like I'm really funny when we are hanging out.

When we were roommates in Raintree, we had a lot of fun together. One time, we had a girls night with Chelsea, and we all went to see Dear John at the dolla theater. The movie sucked. The company did not. So we tried again, another time, with New Moon. This time, we all wore our respective boyfriend's clothes. Both times, it was worth the dollar, because we at least had fun hanging out with each other :)

Aimee is always supportive of my ideas. I don't know why, because a lot of the time, they are not that great. Like this one time when I really wanted to check the mail, but it was raining, so I couldn't go by myself! Aimee pulled on mismatching boots and a jacket and off we went. She is so accommodating.

Another time, I wanted to do the Bikini Body workout for our Girls Night. Aimee did it with me. I loved it. She hated it. She only just complained a little bit, but she did it with me!

We also took super-fierce pictures together. She loves America's Next Top Model, and I like it, so usually when she is around, I get hooked on it again. The results are, obviously, worth the time spent on it.

Yep.

Aimee is super-sharing. She is so domestic - she can make anything, tortillas or chicken dumplings or parmesan broccoli or syrup or lemon raspberry cupcakes or cake cookies. And she doesn't just make delicious food. She shares it, too! She always took care of me when we were roommates. She still takes care of me when we are not roommates, by giving me rides to work or bringing me yummy foods she made or sending me encouraging txts (or having her husband txt me funny things) or putting candy all over my bed after I fall asleep on a particularly bad night.

Aimee is a life guard sometimes and also a swim teacher. Therefore, she gets suuuuper-tan and super-blonde in the summertime. And I spend lots of time being jealous of her. I've never seen her teach swimming, but I know she is great at it. Aimee has awesome management skills and I'm so happy that she switched her major to Elementary Education. She is going to be such an amazing elementary school teacher! We are going to share lessons with each other all the time.

Aimee is always happy for me when something good happens to me. She is also such a good listener. She's just good at talking to people and getting them to talk about themselves (and especially their farts). Sometimes, I go into our conversations thinking, "Okay. This time, we're going to talk about Aimee." And then the conversation goes something like this:

me: Tell me about bla! How did it go?

her: It was fun! How did this go?

me: It was great!

her: Did this happen?

me: Yeah! (elaborate)

her: Oh awesome! What about this?

me: Oh! (elaborate more). How was this for you?

her: It was okay. Hey, did this ever happen?

me: No...(elaborate).

Do you see what I mean? I don't know how, but somehow she always turns the conversation back to me. She is selfless and encouraging and kind. She is smart and hardworking and hilarious. She got the hottest bridals taken I have ever seen. I love her! And I think she deserves everything good in the world :)

Dreams Come True

It's hard to pinpoint when exactly I decided I wanted to be a teacher. I can remember being excited to start school, after hearing about all of Kelly's adventures. I can remember coming home on the last day of school with worksheets that my teacher had left over from the year, determined to save those worksheets for the day that I had a class of my own. I can remember coming up with elaborate lessons for FHE. I can remember telling my teachers that I wanted to be a teacher when I was older.

So it started early - sometimes, I even think it started before I was born. It's the one career I've ever wanted to do. It's been a dream of mine ever since I can remember.

When I was accepted to come here, to BYU, I took a few minutes and browsed casually through the catalog of classes required for an Elementary Education major. The classes all sounded amazing! Teaching math? Teaching science? Instruction and Assessment? These were skills I had always known I would have to develop. I was thrilled to get started.

And then, all of a sudden, I was in a classroom. First-graders were calling me Miss Connor. I wasn't just majoring in Elementary Education anymore; I was teaching.

My classmates talked about doing an internship, where they would have their own classroom, for a whole year. They would get half-salary. They would teach all day, every day. I thought about doing an internship, then thought about not doing an internship. I reasoned that I wasn't ready for that much responsibility. I needed more time to learn how to teach.

I made my decision. I was going to do student-teaching, not an internship.

Sherri, my facilitator, had different plans. She urged me to reconsider. She said she would strongly recommend me for an internship. She gave me the forms.

So I thought about it, thought about my dream, and wondered if maybe I was ready. I had wanted this my whole life. Shouldn't I at least try?

I filled out the forms. I called Joy. I went to an interest meeting. I signed up for an interview. I picked out an outfit. Two days after I made my decision, I found myself sitting in a room in the District Office with Charlotte, Raylee, and Jessica sitting on my left. Eighteen principals and facilitators shuffled through papers and sipped water as they mulled over a decision that would change my life. A bald man with great teeth and bright blue eyes directed the interviews.

I had spent the morning fretting and putting on lotion and lip gloss and going over practice questions again and again. Now, sitting in that room, I noticed that my foot, which hadn't stopped jiggling since the internship meeting, dipped casually up and down as if I was sitting in a hammock.

Our interviews ended and we went back to school. The secretaries asked us how it went. We smiled and acted confident, and went to lunch. The day progressed just like a normal day.

I left the elementary school and went to the Writing Center. I left the Writing Center. I started walking home. I got to my door and reached for my key. My phone started buzzing; Joy was calling.

I took a breath and answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Heather? This is Joy, how are you doing?"

She's asking how I'm doing, I thought. That has to be good, right? She would just cut to the chase if I didn't get an internship.

"I'm good, how are you?" I asked.

"Fine, thank you," she said.

I waited.

"Heather, I'm calling you with some good news."

My knees felt weak.

Do you remember how you felt, the morning after your first kiss? Do you remember that feeling when you woke up, and all your memories came flooding back, and you wondered if you were lying to yourself, but you weren't, because it really was real, and that wonderful thing really actually did happen....

That's how I felt the next day. I woke up smiling. I spent the whole day smiling. I wanted to tell random strangers that I was a teacher. I wanted to scream.

Because Jordan School District picked me, and Sherri and Kathy want me to come back and teach at their school, as a second-grade teacher, next year.

"I'm calling to tell you," Joy had said, "that Jordan Ridge - " my school! " - has offered you an internship for next year teaching 2nd grade."

I couldn't even go inside my apartment when Joy was talking to me. I pressed the phone up super-close to my face, so my ear could slurp up every word she said. I thanked her over and over. I pulled out my key, went inside, and collapsed on my bed. My roommate thought I was crying. (I wasn't. Just hyperventilating a little bit.) I called my mom. I fell on the couch. I fell on the floor.

I guess that's just what I do when my dreams are coming true :)

You are the Beast, Ms. Conner

Once upon an April 4th, I woke up, got dressed, and went to school, just like on any other day. Only it was not any other day. In fact, April 4th was the last day of my practicum in 4th grade.

Here's how my day went:

7:45 Raylee, Jessica and I arrive at the school. We deliver muffins and thank you cards to the office staff and our wonderful facilitator, Sherri.

8:25 Hi 4th graders!

9:00 I teach a math lesson on circles. We learn about the angles in a circle. We draw imaginary circles around ourselves and point to the important angles in the circle. We play a superhero game.

10:00 Science

11:00 Lunch

11:45 Read-Aloud

12:00 Paper-mitt puppet performances. I taught a unit on fractured fairytales this semester, and it has been such a success! The kids have loved it, I have loved it, and it has been super-simple for me to plan and teach. After weeks of hard work, they all had completed paper mitt puppets that they could be proud of.

12:35 Balloon game! Each student tied a balloon on each ankle. We all went outside and the balloon-popping commenced! The goal was to be the last one left with balloons. Thinking back, it was kind of like the Hunger Games. Except much less brutal. And far fewer tears were shed.

1:20 Time to go! I gave each student a lollipop, a handwritten note, and a hug. They gave me a book that everyone had written notes in. I also got an Easter egg, two lotions, a pack of teacher pens, a sign celebrating my awesomeness, and a cookie. These students are so sweet and I'm not going to say I cried as I said goodbye to them, but let's just look at my track record.

Last day of teaching piano: Cried.

Last day at Club Libby Lu: Cried.

Last day of high school orchestra: Cried.

Last day of Kindergarten internship: Cried.

Last day of church in my freshman ward: Cried.

Last day of nannying: Cried.

Last day of church in my ward before Disney: Cried.

Last day at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique: Cri-i-ied!

Last day of 4th grade: What went down is anyone's guess.

Anyway, here were some of my favorite notes:

"Miss Conner I give you good luck for next year. I hope you like these notes. We loved your teaching. You made this last year the best year. You have a good time. I'm going to end by saying. Good Bye."

"Dear miss Conner, thank you for givving us all the things you have done if you Do get a job in this school or any school Pleas write Bake sincerely, Emilee"

"Dear Miss Conner, I love student teachers and you are one of my favorites. Good luck"

"Dear Miss Connor, I loved learning about circles and I also liked it when you were my adult supervisor at the field trip, flower power forever"

"Dear Miss Connor, I'm glad your teaching in this school for 2nd graders I will stop by every day after school :)"

"Dear Miss Connor, You are awsome. You taught us alot of stuf like: facherd ferry tales and cirkles THANK YOU MISS CONNOR!!!"

"Dear Miss Conor, It has been AWSOWME haveing you this year I hope you do good teaching 2ND grade! I will REALLY miss you good luck hope you have a good time on spring break! -LOVE Noah"

"Dear Miss Conner, Thx for giving me the note and helping me and here is a Joke: a old lady fell off a ship and a whail came over and said we are family even though your fatter than me from Aleigha"

"You are the Beast Ms Conner."

"Dear Ms. Conor I hope you go and teach 5th grade becaus I would want to be in your class because you are really really nice Peace out!!!"

They are SO CUTE and I'm so glad I will get to see some of them next year!

Poker Face

Dear Teacher,

You aren't fooling me. The semester is over in a week. You don't have time to grade every outrageously time-consuming assignment you've inflicted on us with a fine-toothed comb. I'm calling your bluff, and I'm making my margins 1.2 inches on all sides. And I'm not single-spacing my paper, I'm 1.3-spacing it. And I'm putting 3 spaces after each comma and period, and I'm printing it off without re-reading it.

And I'm betting I'll still get an A, because you won't have time to read through the whole thing. And besides that, you have been grading everyone really harshly the semester, and we both know you don't want to fail everyone.

Love,
One of your more supportive students

Why I Do what I Do

I started my second practicum last week, and I am absolutely LOVING it. I could talk for like three days straight about everything I've been doing in the schools and how much fun it is, but instead I'll just give a brief synopsis. Since I am in 4th grade, here are my

Top 4 Reasons: Why I do what I do.

4. Teacher camaraderie. The teachers at this school are super-nice to me. We all sit together during lunch and talk about everything from church to cooking blogs to the kids in our classes to lesson ideas to whatever else. My mentor teacher is old enough to be my sister. Charlotte's is old enough to be my mother. The other one is old enough to be my grandma. Someone brings treats almost every day. (Today it was me. Yeah! Contributing!) They are so sweet and ask me how I'm doing and if I need any help and are always happy to offer advice. I will miss them when this is over!

3. Read-Aloud. Right now, I am in charge of doing the read-aloud every day after lunch. We are reading "Running out of Time" by Margaret Peterson Haddix. The kids in my class are so cute about it and every day when they come in from lunch, they act like it's a new thing that we are having read-aloud. They pump their fists and rush over to the rug and sit in front of my chair and throw their hands in the air to review what we read the day before. When read-aloud time is up, they sigh like it's the end of the world. They hold up one finger and mouth "Just one more page?" all pleadingly. They are dang cute.

2. Recess. Do you remember how much you loved recess in elementary school? Let me let you in on a secret: it's even BETTER when you are the grown-up. Today my teacher had recess duty so I went with her. Parker ran over to us immediately.

"No way!" he said. "Miss Connor, you finally get to come to recess!"

"I know!" I said, just as excited. "What do you do at recess time?"

He bounced ahead, happy to show me around. At this school, there is a huge blacktop. A couple portables are parked on it, but that just means the kids can play fun games where they run and hide and sneak around the portables. The playground is new, and slides, monkey bars, swing sets, and zip-lines sprawl over a huge field of fresh mulch.

Jaden R., Jaden T., Emilee, Emma, Harley, and some of the other kids came and joined us at the monkey bars. They all wanted to show me their awesome tricks, which all had awesome names. I saw them "caterpillar," "double-face ninja," and "slip-n-flip." They flung themselves fearlessly at the bars, reaching and tucking at just the right second.

I asked how they knew how to do so many cool tricks. "It kind of just comes naturally for us, I think," Harley said.

Then they all wanted me to try, so I asked them to teach me. They told me they'd start me with an easy one and just to grab on, pull myself up, and hook my feet on the bars. They laughed when I tried and couldn't hook my feet. I laughed too, because when kids laugh at you, they're not being mean.

"I can't believe you just did that!" Jaden R. said.

"Yeah, I've never seen a teacher on the monkey bars before!" said Parker. "I've just seen a teacher play basketball and sometimes jump rope." I wondered a little bit if I was not supposed to be on the monkey bars. Then I decided it didn't matter. I'm not a real teacher here. Not yet, anyway :)

1. And This is the #1 reason why I do what I do:

How cute is that??

Boom, clap

Next week, the fourth grade is going to be putting on a presentation for their parents. It is all about Utah. I am pumped out of my head.

Here are some hints in case you are wondering why I am so pumped for the program:

Hint #1: It involves recorders. Imagine 100 of them being played at once. Ahhhh, serenity :)

Hint #2:

Hint #3: The entire script is supposed to be read with a cowboy accent. If you have never seen a little 4th-grade boy saying something in a cowboy accent, you can't possibly know how cute it is. I'm glad they're teaching this in the schools now.

Hint #4: Watch this video clip. Consider: these are big people. Imagine that they are little people.

And, finally, Hint #5:

Oh yes. It's going to be amazing.

All in a Wednesday

Wednesdays are, the worst. You probably don't care....but here's what I did today:

8:05 - Rush into reading class, 5 minutes late.

8:16 - My teacher rushes in, 16 minutes late.

8:16 - Listen, laugh, learn.

9:10 - Leave.

9:30 - Kind of listen to the science lecture and take notes, but mostly just stare at my science teacher's feet. She doesn't wear shoes and it's all I can look at. Except today I also noticed her textured bra making a cute little design on her shirt. She's charming.

10:00 - Alternatively stare at the feet and the bra. Work on some homework for another class.

10:40 - Work on a group project, one of about 18 this week.

10:50 - Heat up oatmeal in the microwave by the vending machines in a bowl I found outside of my science classroom. Eat it with a spork I found on top of the microwave.

10:55 - Get to math class in time to get a laptop. Score! Continue eating oatmeal.

11:00 - Math class begins. We all kind of hum along with this song no one knows about teaching. It's today's Unknown Song of the Day that is apparently in our Hymnal, but is one of the ones that no one has ever sung, ever, and probably not even the angels in heaven know it.

11:05 - Zone out. Start chatting with my mom on google.

11:20 - Wonder how much longer Eula is going to spend talking about grammar.

11:50 - We get to the point of our lesson. We spend 15 minutes crafting a simple addition word problem.

12:10 - Find out the assignment we should be working on for next time. It is a group project. Get to work on it with the 3 people closest to me.

12:20 - My group agrees that even though we are supposed to meet together and work on the project at the same time, using one computer, this is ridiculous. Our schedules don't match up and the assignment is due on Friday. We decide to make a Google Doc and then split up the work.

12:25 - Go to work on another group project. While I am in the computer lab, one of the girls in my group is stricken with a guilty conscience. She frantically txts us, asking when we could possibly meet together. She pastes the part of the syllabus emphasizing that our teacher wants us to meet together on the GoogleDoc. I grit my teeth.

12:50 - Heat up yummy chicken and rice in the microwave by the vending machines. Eat it with a fork I get from the secretary in the advisement center.

1:00 - Go to CPSE. Watch a movie. Appreciate my teacher so much I want to give him a hug.

1:20 - Find out that when my science teacher missed class for a "family emergency" last week, it was because she was getting. . . .married?? Decide emphatically that when I get married I will not tell my class that I am having an emergency and please excuse my absence for one day. No.

1:30 - Remember that my CPSE teacher assigned us another group project last class period. No longer feel like hugging him.

2:20 - Go with Christine to sign a contract at a new apartment. The office is closed.

2:40 - Go home and work on homeworks.

4:00 - Work at the Writing Center.

5:30 - Go to Drama class. Seeing that my teacher is sick with pneumonia, I feel elated thinking we will get out of class early! I txt a friend about getting dinner later.

6:00 - Present a storytelling project. Feel good about it. Feel excited to leave class in maybe an hour, max.

7:00 - My teacher announces that she is feeling strong enough to continue. I panic.

7:15 - I am still in class, but our activity is winding down. Maybe I'll be done by 7:30?

7:30 - Nope. We're playing a name game.

7:45 - Oh, still here. Reviewing the reading.

8:00 - Pick at split ends.

8:10 - Wonder how rude it would be to just get up and leave?

8:20 - Finally I get out of class.

This. Is a long freaking day. I am so excited for the Practicum to start so I don't have to have these Wednesdays anymore!

So Long Sweet Summer

My mom said that when she put Kelly on the bus for her first day of kindergarten, they both cried. As soon as Kelly was on the bus, the busdriver snapped the doors shut and my mom got in her car to follow the bus all the way to Forest Ridge Elementary School, a whole five minutes down the road.

I don't remember much about my first day of kindergarten, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't that traumatic. Once she got off the bus and met Mrs. Robinson, Kelly had a lovely experience in kindergarten, so I don't think I was as nervous as she had been. I've always liked being the second child.

But no matter where you are in the lineup of kids in your family, I think everyone experiences a little bit of nervousness before their first day of school, and I don't think that it ever really goes away.

Today I had my sixteenth first day of school. Here's how it felt to be me this morning:

I love BYU, love being on campus, and (so far) love my classes, but I was still a little less than thrilled when my alarm went off at 7:29 this morning. (Caitlin was probably even less thrilled than me, since she woke up to it and I didn't hear it until 7:52. Sorryy...) I've just loved summer so much and I don't think I was quite ready for it to end. Ohhhh well!

Here were the main things that were making me nervous about my first day:

1. Getting lost. I've always been kind of directionally challenged. I realize this is my third year at BYU and I should know where all the buildings are. Does that mean I do? Not necessarily. Luckily, I was able to get to all of my classes on time today.

2. Sleeping in. I slept through church three times this summer. This is especially embarrassing when you consider that my ward met from 10:00-1:00 and I slept through all three meetings every time. So I was a little nervous that I would sleep in and be late to my first class of the semester. Thankfully, that didn't happen!

3. Ummm yeah that's it.

I had three classes today: Mission prep at 9, Basic Concepts of Math at 10, and Rhythm and Dance at 2. Apparently I am not used to being in school at all because by the time ten minutes of my first class had gone by, I felt a little more like this:

I was ready for my day to be over. Looking over syllabus after syllabus is just so draining.

This is going to be my most challenging semester yet. I am signed up for 14 credits and will be working two jobs, giving ten hours a week each to the Writing Center and Coldstone. I am also going to be the M.O.H. at Kelly and Dahl's wedding in November so I'm kind of going to be planning a wedding while pursuing my education and working two jobs. I'm also going to be forced to have a social life because I'm living with Caitlin and she will probably hate me and move out if I never take time to play. Can you say stressful??

The good news is that I am an elementary ed major. This is good news because it's kind of like repeating elementary school at super-speed, only you're older and recess is a little different and each lesson has a side lesson that teaches you how to teach the lesson later. Also, almost all of the teachers in the department have been elementary school teachers, and old habits die hard. They are all very bubbly and welcoming and patient. We get treats and candy in our classes probably more than any other major.

Today, in my math class, we talked about the difference between addition and subtraction. My homework was a worksheet with about ten math problems.

In my rhythm and dance class, we learned an easy dance to Row, Row, Row Your Boat. We also marched around holding hands in a circle, then split off and made a snake. We just marched to the beat of "Save the Last Dance" by Michael Buble. It was wonderful!

There is entirely too many people who decided to come back to BYU campus. I want to send half of them home. I miss summertime!