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. 

Easiest Enchiladas Ever!

I love being in the kitchen. From cooking to baking and then eating... I just love food! Being single it makes it hard to cook everyday because recipes usually make way too much and there is always leftovers... and I am not a fan of leftovers. So I don't cook as much as I would like to. Anyways... On Monday I was driving home from work and thought, I have a taste for my delicious enchiladas. I thought I would post the recipe for you all. 

 Ingredients:
2  cans of chicken
8 oz cream cheese
*cumin
*oregano
1/2 onion chopped
10-12 tortillas
1 bag of cheese
1 can of enchilada sauce (green or red)

*sprinkle in for taste

Directions:
In a frying pan put cream cheese to melt. Add in onion and chicken. I shred the chicken with a fork before sticking in the pan. Mix the cream cheese, onion, and chicken together. Sprinkle the oregano and cumin. I just guess how much I sprinkle. Add more cumin than oregano. Taste and add if more is needed.

Once the chicken mix is done remove from heat. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Move to an area where you have space to spread and roll the enchiladas.

Spread a thin layer of enchilada sauce on the bottom of a pan. This helps the enchiladas not to stick on the pan when cooking.

Next your ready to spread and roll. Spread some of the chicken mix on a tortilla. Then add some cheese and a small spoonful of sauce. Roll tortilla and place in pan. Continue till chicken mix in gone. The more chicken you add in a tortilla, the less enchiladas you will make. It makes between 10-12 enchiladas. 

Once enchiladas are rolled, pour the remaining sauce on top of the tortillas. Sprinkle bag of cheese evenly over enchiladas. Put in oven for about 20 minutes or till cheese is melted. Dish up and eat!

And there you have it Easiest Enchiladas Ever! Serve with spanish rice and beans.  

Choose a Job You Love

Last Friday I had a really cool experience in my classroom. I was showing my students my library and how to treat my books. My library is organized into bins with different topics. Each book has a number on it telling what bin it belongs in. As I was going through the bins and sharing all the topics, I came across the book, "Carl and His Box", a book I wrote in college for an assignment. I thought I would read my students this story as they would think it was cool how I am the author and illustrator. As I read the title and who the author was their eyes widened.
"Ms. Dill, you wrote this book? And you wrote the pictures?" They were so cute. "Yes", I told them. They were so amazed and so excited to hear the story. They sat there crisscross applesauce with their hands in their laps. They were ready to hear the story.
As I opened the book showing them how to turn the pages and how to treat my books with care, I turn to the dedication page. I forgot I had wrote a dedication page. As I opened to the page it read, "To My Future Students". I looked up at my group of students, I was touched. This was my first future students! They didn't even realize how much this little moment meant to me. I had written this book over a year ago and forgotten about it.
The Lord works in mysterious ways. It's the little moments that matter the most. I have only been teaching for three weeks now and there are days I feel overwhelmed with it all. But us teachers teach for those small moments. These small moment are reminders of why we become teachers. Everyday we must find the good and find a little moment that matters. When we do this life won't be so hard, but easy and enjoyable. "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." Well said Confucius, well said.

Pretty Dam Good Weekend

I'm trying to play catch up with my posts. When life is good so much is happening and I just don't have time to write.
So I'm going back about a week ago... The weekend of January 23, 2015 my dad came into town. It was a filled weekend that ended way too fast. My dad flew into Las vegas Friday night. Jan, Bryan and I went to the airport to pick him up. We decided to park and meet my dad as he was coming off the escalator. As we were waiting we noticed all the chauffeurs dressed in black all holding I-pads with the client's names...so much classier than a piece of paper. Jan and I laughed because it was like a scene from Nemo. They were all like the birds, saying "mine, mine, mine". There were like twenty of them going from escalator to escalator, waiting for their clients. It was so funny! So, of course, I thought it would be fun to make my own sign for my dad, I wouldn't want him to feel left out. As I made my small sign, Jan captured the moment with taking a few pictures. And I even made a friend with one of the chauffeurs. My dad laughed as he came off the escalator and even tried to pretend he was a client for one of the other chauffeurs. You definitely have to live in the moment with my dad. It's always a fun time.

After leaving the airport we went to Jan's for some games. But all we ended up doing was talking and ended up on the couch looking up ridiculously priced houses in the Las Vegas area. I don't know if we were all so tired, but we had a ton of laughs that night.
The next day was Saturday and my dad and I had a lot to do. First and most important was getting my car registered and my state license. We woke up early and got my car ready for the DMV. After checking in the DMV, and knowing we would have to wait hours before getting in, I got to take my dad to my classroom. As we came to my classroom, my dad looked around and then walked up to me and gave me the biggest hug ever and said how much he was proud of me. Man, that meant the world to me. For me all I want is to make my parents proud. I know I couldn't have done it without them. After putting my dad to work in the classroom, we left and my dad took me shopping at Lakeshore.
If you don't know what Lakeshore is, it's like a kid in a candy shop. Lakeshore is a place to buy resources for the classroom. I have to stay away from Lakeshore or my paycheck would disappear every month. Anyways, my dad spoiled me with things for my classroom. Like puzzles, flashcards, games, etc. Literally the best thing ever. I have already used everything I got. Kindergarten is so much hands on that games and puzzles are a must! My cart definitely was full. And I believe my dad even enjoyed himself :)

After filling the cart, it was time to go to the DMV. Sad news everyone... I am official a Nevada resident. BOOOOO! California will always be in my heart! Saturday was full and it wasn't hard to fall asleep that night.
The next morning we woke up to head of the Hoover Dam and that area. Wow, the Hoover Dam was pretty DAM great! The dam jokes were being spit out left and right. It was just too easy. Headed up the mountain, we first went to a longhorn sheep park and saw two sheep. Then we went to see the overlook of Lake Mead. Continuing up the mountain we finally got the bridge that overlooks the Hoover dam. It was huge! It's incredible how they could make something so grand in the 1930s. I was amazed.

After being amazed we went to a nearby trail where old railroad tracks ran through the mountain. It was about an hour hike walking through huge tunnels in the mountains. We even tried to hold our breath through the tunnels. It is a lot harder when you are walking instead of driving through a tunnel.
Another full day was over and it was time to say my goodbyes to my dad. Looking back we can say it was a pretty dam good weekend! Can't wait for his next visit!

In Three Days

It's been two weeks now of having my own classroom and so I thought it was time to write about my experience putting it together and seeing my childhood dream come true. A week before I started, I got a phone call saying that my contract was ready and that I could come in to start getting my room ready. On January 13, 2015, I got to go in to see my room for the first time, Room 79. As I walked in, my stomach dropped and my eyes widened because I was going to have a lot of work ahead of me. My room was a disaster. They had ordered new furniture for my classroom as well as another Kindergarten teacher and it all was sitting in my room in boxes. I left that day afraid of how I would complete this task. I went to four years of college and graduated, but I was never prepared for this; setting up a classroom. How the heck would I get this all done? And I was alone.
Putting a classroom together is almost like moving into a new house. You spend about half of your time in the classroom. It is your second home. I had no clue how I would do this alone. The night before I went into see the classroom, I prayed that the Lord would some how send me someone to help me. Well, of course my prayers were answered. That day I went in to see my room, I met the person sent from the Lord. Her name is Tori and she is the other Kindergarten teacher that got hired at the school. Right away she asked if I had help. I said not really and without hesitation she was willing to help. In three days we unpacked the boxes, assembled the furniture, and put my decorations up to make it look like a real classroom.

This was the view when I first walked in. What did I get myself into?

After Day one we had boxes unpacked and a few decorations set up. It started to look more like a classroom.

Day two was mostly moving all the furniture around to make use of the space. It was like a puzzle to get all the furniture to fit. After moving the tables, chairs, bookshelves, and cabinets we started the center piece of the room... the tree! 

Day three came quickly, but all we had to do was finish the final touches. We completed the tree, put books out, and sharpened the pencils for class on Tuesday. It's incredible how fast we put my classroom together. And it turned out better than I imagined. 

Carpet time: Where our daily news and learning happens.

My growing library.

Word Wall.

Outside bulletin board with a mini apple tree. 

As we all grow up we all have dreams and wishes. I can remember always wanting to became a teacher.  Putting this classroom together meant so much to me knowing that I had accomplished one of my biggest dreams. I know this was a lifetime of preparing but....

In three days, my fear became my confidence;
My childhood dream became my reality.
And I can now say I am a teacher.