That Time I Drove 6 Hours...

March 27-30, 2015

Another trip I took during my track break was driving to Utah to see Michael and Jenny. And I drove... let me repeat... I DROVE. If you don't know me I do NOT drive. I think the farthest I've driven is around the block to go to the store. Even though I have always hated driving I have actually enjoyed it lately and decided that I could drive 6 hours to see Michael and Jenny.
I drove during the day and got there around dinner time. Michael and Jenny had chicken curry ready for me for dinner. We watched Scandal while we ate our dinner. Which was so amazing to actually watch it with them. They got me into the show, but I had never really watched it with them. So it was fun to sit with them and actually talk instead of text them to chat about the show. Since they had work they next day we went to bed shortly after the show.
The next day they went to work and got off earlier so we still had our Friday night to hang out. Since it was such a beautiful evening we decided to go to play mini golf. We got free tokens and we played some arcade games too.

All I can do is laugh with these two!

Playing some Skee ball at the arcade.

That Friday night we made pizza and these two introduced me to Gilmore Girls... and yes, I now have another show I love. 

The next day was Saturday, where all the Saturday errands happened. Running around town I keep seeing the beautiful pink blossoms. Every tree I saw I had to stop and take a picture. We don't have blossoms in Vegas so I had to soak them up while I had the chance. 

Within our errands we did stop at the wood store to make some crafts. While watching the Women's Conference we made some Easter crafts. 

With being Sunday the next day, we decided to go to Music and The Spoken Word. Michael and I had never been. It was beautiful to hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing. And I was very touched by the message given teaching us not to be afraid of failure, but to just try and keep practicing. It was exactly what I needed to hear that Sunday morning.

Inside the Tabernacle {If you look closely you can see the hot man from Sweden ;) }

After the performance was over we walked around Temple Square and took pictures of the beautiful flowers. I can say I've been to Temple Square in every season and Spring is by far my favorite to see. 

This was pretty much the highlights of my trip. It was short and sweet and way worth driving 6 hours to see Michael and Jenny! I miss them already!!

MOMtana

March 12-22, 2015

For the past month I have been on track break for school. During this month I got to travel, relax, and organize my classroom. I'm liking this whole all year around schooling since I get a break to reenergize.
My first trip I took was to MOMtana. Since my mom just moved to Montana, I wanted to see what all the excitement was all about. So I got a ticket out for about ten days to see the beautiful state or Montana. Ok....Wow.... If you haven't been to Montana, I definitely suggest it to be on your bucket list of places to see. It is beautiful!
I got there late Thursday night, so I didn't really get to see the scenery because it was dark. But, I did get to see a pretty sunset from the airplane.

After landing we went out to dinner and then headed to my mom's cute little house. I got a tour of the house and then it was off to bed.
The next morning mom had to go to work so I got to sleep in for a little bit before I went to the hospital to see mom's new work. I met a few people she worked with and then she had to go to a meeting. I snatched the car for the rest of the day which was fun to explore the small town of Kalispell. Well it really isn't that small. I could live there... they do have a TJ maxx!
After exploring I picked up mom from work and we had dinner and waited up for Kev, Bailey and Nora to come into town. They arrived late so once they got there it pretty much was bed time.
Waking up the next morning was fun because we had Nora to snuggle with. For about an hour my mom, Nora and I all snuggled in the bed with reading her new books I got her, Frozen books. Nora is at such a fun age. She is at the exploration age where everything is fun! She is giving me kisses in this picture :)

After all waking up and getting ready we headed to Glacier National Park. We couldn't go far in the park because it was snowed in, but it didn't matter. The views that we did see were amazing!

Part of Lake McDonald

A dock looking out on Lake McDonald

Taking pictures of all the scenery Nora wanted to join in 

With driving all day in the park and exploring we were very hungry so we went to dinner and headed back home.

The next day was a lazy sunday. We had another cuddle session with Nora, asking her where her eyes, nose and belly button is. 

That Sunday was hard to say my goodbyes because I won't see then now till summer. Living away from family is so hard. Thank goodness for facetime! 

I got to stay there for another week. I will admit there was a lot of sleeping and catching up on my shows during the day time, but every night after mom was home from work we would always try to do something. We went to the movie Cinderella (such an adorable movie), a Relief Society birthday dinner, a rodeo, up to the Canadian border and "shopping" (remember it is Montana people). We also found a new pizza restaurant  in Kalispell and Cafe in Whitefish that are both very yummy.

Oh yeah.... and it was St. Patrick's day when I was there so we had to do our St. Patty's day tradition... getting shamrock shakes!

Twins....I know. I get my good looks from her!

Montana is such a beautiful place and I'm so happy for my mom and moving there. I'm happy to call this place "home"... Home is where mom is. So MOMtana is home.  

Reading Week

A few weeks ago at school it was reading week. There was a theme everyday. It was like homecoming week, but in elementary school. It was fun to see the kids excited for the day, all dressed up and ready to learn. They got to dress up each day in a different theme. There was a  crazy socks day, dress up as your favorite book character day, a twin day and superheroes day. 
Throughout reading week I thought about my own struggle in my life with reading. Many don't know my story and it's taking me a few weeks debating if I even want to write it to all of you. But I thought I would share it because it is a huge reason why I became a teacher. So here it is... 
As children we learn our letters and sounds in kindergarten. The alphabet is the first step to learning. These symbols put together make sounds and then words. My brain saw these symbols and memorized them to pass the "test" to get into the ABC club, meaning I got my picture on the wall with all the other students that knew their letters and sounds. They were put in my brain for a short time and forgotten very quickly, which shouldn't happen. Learning the alphabet didn't really stick and moving onto the next grade was very difficult because we were now using the alphabet to sound out words and reading. If I didn't know my sounds, how could I possibly start sounding out words? This was a challenge for me. 
In second grade my teacher noticed that I wasn’t processing the concepts taught, but memorizing the facts to get me through the tests. Instead of passing me on to the next grade, my teacher took the time to figure out what was occurring. She, along with my parents, were committed to correct the problem before it was too late. With many tests and assessments we concluded that I had a disability called Audio Processing Disorder (APD). APD is where students can't process the information they hear in the same way as others because their ears and brain don't fully coordinate the information. It took me more time to process all the information we were learning. For example, lets think of running. Someone super fast can run a mile in five minutes. And then there are the normal running people that will run a mile in ten minutes. The fast runner will run two miles in the time the normal person will run one mile. The fast runner gets more miles done in the same time. This is like me and learning. My wonderful brain takes twice as long to fully understand and process what I am learning. 
Many people know I hate reading aloud. This is because if I get to a word I don't know it takes my brain twice as long to look at each letter and then think, "ok what sound is this?" And then have to continue this for each letter. By the time I do that someone has already told me the word, with others chuckling around me. I know now people probably don't chuckle, but I guess I'm scarred from middle and high school. Teenagers can be mean! 
This disability will live with me for the rest of my life, but it doesn’t define who I am. I just have to work twice as hard to finish that mile. I can't say this weakness is a strength just yet. I'm still running that mile. But I guess that is a good thing because that means I am still learning nice things everyday. With this whole process I have realized I want to help those children that need extra help. I want to be that teacher that makes a difference in my students’ lives, like my teachers did for me. During reading week, I think I heard at least three times a day, "Ms. Dill, I love school!" Every child should want to learn and should love school. I want every student that enters my classroom to feel safe and comfortable with learning. Kindergarten is a time for exploration and finding new things. 
Pondering on my story was eye opening on how important reading is for children. Reading is in everything. You start learning letters that turn into words that then make sentences. This is all reading. Someone that has struggle their whole life with reading, I know how important it is to learn at a young age your letters and sounds. Not knowing this basic concepts you can not move to the level. It's like building blocks. You first learn the basics and build upon them, line upon line, percept upon percept.
As a teacher I see some students that don't get the extra help they need at home. A lot of people think that teachers can teach children all they need to know. Realize we are only given a small amount of the day to be with your child and on top of it we have 20 more students that are all on different learning levels. There just isn't enough time to teach your child everything. There is 1 of us and 20 of them. As future parents or parents now realize how important you can be to your child. Simply reading to your child at a young age will allow that child to start recognizing the alphabet. A standard in kindergarten is for a child to know that print is read from left to right. This standard may seem super simple and it is! By reading to your child and pointing to each word from left to right can teach this standard to your child. Reading to your child can start as young as the child is born. I have seen my little niece, only 20 months old, become familiar with books. Being a teacher, this makes me so happy. A child that isn't even two yet can open a book and know human do something with this book. Learning doesn't have to start in kindergarten. Start with you children as soon as possible. Letters are all around us. Next time drive to the store, look around and see how many letters you see. They are everywhere! Practicing letters with your child will only help their future educational journey. 

 We had a special guest come for Dr. Seuss's birthday, Cat In The Hat. 

I dressed up as Pinkalicious for favorite book character day.