Kyla Grace Anderson

My sister just sent me some pictures she took over Thanksgiving. I absolutely love being home because I get to see my niece. It's hard being far away when she's changing so much. I am around kids all the time, and have lots of nieces and nephews on Drew's side who I love so much, but there is something about when it's my own sibling's child. Sometimes I can't believe that my sister has a daughter. She looks just like her. She is the cutest little girl, and melts my heart when I am around her. She is a girl who is loved. Everyone is fighting for her attention every moment. That could have something to do with being the only grand child. Anyway, it's just so fun.

Look how happy she is with us:) Ok maybe she sees her 

mom taking the picture.

                                                             The proud grandparents

CHAMPIONS!

Well everyone, the time has come. We are now officially intramural champions, no need to say which division. None the less we are champions. Let me just tell you how it all went down; last night we played in freezing weather at 8pm, and let's just say it was a very sad sight. I wasn't feelin it in anyway, I mean literally I couldn't feel my feet. Anyway, we played a freshman team and they brought everyone they ever met to be their fans. Ok well maybe not that many, but their whole ward. They were pumped up and we were a little out of it. We lost and I must say anger was flowing through me. All last night I wasn't in a good mood. 

So I decided that today was going to be the day. I wanted to get there early and warm up (which usually we show up 1 minute before the game). That is showing you how badly we wanted it tonight... meaning we showed up at least 5 minutes before. I even told my students all about it, maybe so they could pump me up. They promised they would think of me. 

It didn't seem as cold tonight, and we kept shedding layers. The game started and we were playing tough. My lungs were burning like no other. We scored 4 points before they scored once. We were on a roll. Basically what I am trying to say is that we worked them. There was some anger flying back and forth, but there is no denying that we wooped em. Our team played the best game of the season. 

I remember a time when I was talking to Liz and I was telling her how smart her kids were, and she said how competitive our kids will be. I think that she is probably right. Drew and I are very intense, even if it's division three ultimate frisbee (sorry Ty I can't just call it Ultimate). I have been telling myself that I won't be one of those parents who yells at the refs or players. Tonight there were parents there who lost it. I am pledging right now to harness the intensity I feel inside. 

Here are some pics to show off our new shirts. Unfortunately we forgot to bring a camera to take a picture of the whole team. We decided to wear our shirts to church on Sunday and take one there. Ok... well maybe not with our shirts on.

Halloween Craziness

We just had some Halloween craziness. All day we were doing fun things. Yes, I am a piece of pizza, and yes it was falling down. It's not easy to lay down when you are a pizza. This is my beautiful class minus a few. They were all so cute. When the day was over I could barely function, but the kids loved it. A lot of kids were trying to eat me, but don't worry I didn't let them.

Oh yes, here is a little taste of home. He wore the pads all day. Poor guy.

Here is the fairy and the princesses. Let's just say it was the perfect costume for them:)

These are my very cute witches.

These are my scary ones. Most of them don't look so scary with their smiles:)

Here is Madison, she is totally disgusted with the floor after the party. We made popcorn and it got EVERYWHERE. Oh and yes the custodian called in sick, so we picked it up by hand. (well, tried to).

My Fascinating Life

All right…. here it is….. what you’ve all been waiting for. Dana has tagged me so I am up.

Four jobs I’ve had:
1. My all time favorite job to talk about was the Plastic Factory. When I look back I can’t believe I did it, but I made some good money over Christmas Break. I actually worked in a factory that produced plastic, and I was one of about 2 people who spoke English. I sat or stood by a machine for 8 hours a day. Some days I got a radio, but I usually had to listen to the Spanish station due to other preferences around me. I brought my Spanish dictionary with me to read at lunch just in case I needed to communicate something.
2. I have worked at a few day cares. Nothing really to share there, but all I know is I could never send my kids to daycare.
3. I catered for about a year up in Greeley. It was a really good experience, although I probably cost my boss a lot of money with all of the things I broke. Those swinging doors are tricky okay. I waitressed for lunch, which sometimes got really crazy. I once had 7 tables at one time, with at least 6 at every table. I’ll never forget that day. There were a lot of angry costumers.
4. And of course my job that I have now. Teaching third grade is by far the best job I have ever had, and it’s actually a real job!

Places I’ve Lived:
1. L-town (Littleton) for those of you who were confused. I have lived there my whole life, and am so happy I grew up there.
2.G-town (Greeley). Oh how I miss the smell.
3. P-town (Provo). I am currently livin it up in P-town, but only for another year.

Movies I love:
1. Count of Monte Cristo
2. Napoleon Dynamite
3. The Fugitive
4. Mission Impossible 3
5. Night at the Museum

Favorite Foods:
1. I am with Dana, ANYTHING Mexican…. Well at least I think I like anything.
2. Ty’s cornflake chicken
3. Cookies and Cream icecream. (I really think I have a problem)
4. My dad’s egg muffins.

Four weird things about me:
1. I pick my toenails excessively.
2. I get in very strange moods. Drew calls it the mad woman. Adam has witnessed it a little bit.
3. I can’t just get out of bed at any time. I have to round to the nearest five. Or in other words if it were 6:03 I would have to wait until 6:05. Even if I have to get up and don’t want to be in bed I will wait it out.
4. According to Drew I make really weird noises at night. Like a clicking noise.

Favorite Shows:
1.The Office
2. Seinfeld
3. The News
4. Planet Earth

Places I’d rather be:
1.Whenever I am not with Drew I am wishing that I was
2. With my family
3. Eating Cookies and Cream ice cream (anywhere)
4. Playing Sports (preferably before the cookies and cream)

People I am tagging:
Megan
Margaret
Drew
Mickey

Teaching: A Great Career

Well everyone, I have survived three weeks of teaching and am on my fourth week. So far it has been great! I feel very fulfilled already. I like the feeling that I am actually contributing to society. I love teaching a lesson and watch the light go on. Some days are better than others, but for the most part it is a blast.
I have to admit I have never had so many headaches, or been as sick as I was, or as tired as I’ve been. I work at least 10 hours a day and I always feel like there is another 5 hours of work to be done each day. It’s wonderful when the kids are there, it’s when they leave and I am tired and have to plan everything that gets me so run down. And it’s not as though I can just plan a lesson and be done, because everyone is at a different level. Some kids are at a kindergarten level while others are at a six-grade level with the rest in between somewhere. And yet I absolutely love it, and I feel it is so worth it. I actually like going to work. It’s the perfect job for me, because I can be really weird and everyone thinks I am really funny. Third grade is the perfect age because they don’t have too much attitude yet, they get jokes, they still say hilarious things and are just so cute.
I love each of them so much; I know the end of the year is already going to be hard.
I am a little worried about being sick all year, but I am going to fight it (don’t worry Mickey I will use airborne)…. maybe.
All I can say is it’s not an easy job, my mind goes a million miles a minute, but that it’s definitely worth every minute.

Summer Adventures

Well this summer has been a blast, we got back yesterday and I began all my meetings today. This is a picture collection of our 3 1/2 week vacation. We had so much fun, and ninja (the civic) did very well. It was fun spending time with friends and family, and being very adventurous as well. My favorite part was probably back-packing. It was tough but very rewarding. Let me just say that there were a few dark hours. The second day was by far the most difficult, we weren't exactly sure we were on the right path and we climbed some serious mountains with a lot of weight on our backs! It's not a good feeling doing switchbacks for three hours and thinking the mountain goes on for eternity. BUT.. we made and it felt good to reach the top. There wasn't a whole lot of talking for those hours, to me it's just best to not say anything at all. We went about 24 miles in three days. It feels so good to accomplish something like that. Anyway, we had a great time! Enjoy all the pics!

Here is Drew after we climbed some sand dunes

Here we are looking at the dunes from afar

We found a waterfall nearby but we had to walk through the river to get to it. It was freezing.

A nice sunset

The waterfall was in a cave



The beginning of our backpacking trip, I didn't even know what was ahead of me.

This is our first night, and a lovely dish that we cooked up. It's funny how anything tastes great!

A little lunch break

This was how we got water, it was very slow and there were lots of bugs, notice that Drew is doing it, that happened a lot:)

Drew was real excited about this one, yes... it's very scary.

We crossed a lot of rivers

This is where our campsite was the second night. It was awesome.

Ok, it's a little out of order, but this is where we went when we got back. A few hours after we started we discussed where we would go right when we got back. We agreed on Pizza Hut. We were happy campers:)

The first day we saw a ghost town a little ways off the trail.

Inside the house.

Look at how good I am at making a fire!

What a man!

This is the second day after the long hike up, look how happy I am going down hill.

Very nice

Goose Creek!

Best friend Emily gets engaged!


We stayed at a nice bed and breakfast in Cody, and had fruit for dinner.

We had such a great time with the Worland Foster's. Joy is so good at styling hair.

This is Yellowstone. It smelled a little.

This is the Grand Canyon (in Yellowstone). This is the lower falls.

She's gonna blow! (Not me, the geyser)

These Buffalo where everywhere, they just walk across the street. We also saw a mule deer, with some sweet antlers.

This is at Jena's wedding. It was so fun to see some of the my girls. They are awesome people.

It was a country wedding in Montana. The car was a nice touch.

Calm Before The Storm

Last April I was offered a job as a third grade teacher at Spring Creek Elementary. I have been so excited ever since, but I have to admit it hasn't seemed real that I am actually going to be a teacher with my own class. My greatest nightmare is the kids realizing that they out number me, and take over (I actually had this dream a few weeks ago).
Even though I am a little nervous about having the right classroom management, or the fact that I don't really know what I am doing, or that I am working with all women (let's be honest that's a lot of hormones), I still feel at home in the classroom and I know that I will fall in love with my students right away, even the tough ones.
One thing that I have learned is that there needs to be mutual respect. If I don't respect them they won't respect me. I don't believe in talking down to students or raising my voice. I told that to a teacher and she laughed at me, but I know that it can be done with a little patience and a little love. Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment. I am doing a camping theme, maybe you never had a theme in your classroom, but I thought it would be fun and the kids really get into it. A lot of things will have to do with camping. There is still more decorating to come, but this is all I can do before I leave for a while.

This is my school!

This is outside my classroom, I am going to take pictures of all the kids and put them up.

This is mean Mrs. Foster

This is the tent I have in the room

for the kids to read in or play in

when they earn enough "camper cash."


Where's Waldo? (Drew)

I have a campng chair for when I do

read-alouds, I will call it, "sittin around

the campfire."

Here is one of my patriotic students

This is my dest and behind it is a fake tree Drew constructed.