Summer of Greatness

Since this is our last summer in Provo, we decided to finally do all the lists on our Provo "bucket list" before we leave. Out of the five years that I have lived here, I have never visited any of the National Parks. So we kicked the summer off with a trip to Arches with our friends, Sam and Heather Shannon. We are gone camping with them over Memorial Day Weekend that last three years now and have enjoyed every trip.

We camped on top of a butte which made the whole experience. We didn't see or hear many vehicles and our view of the area was grand (well, for being red rock at least).

Mike and Sam scaled up Balanced Rock, almost making it to the part where the giant rock is jointed. We saw other people up that high previous, but when we came back to the car, a park ranger chastised us for damaging National property and would have ticketed us if we had gone just a bit higher. We wanted to replied, "Well, put up a sign that says 'No Climbing'", but instead we sheepishly apologized.
I don't know why I posted this picture when I look so gross without my hat on.

Right after this picture was taken, my hat flew off. Thank goodness this guy our age caught it. As I was yelling back thanks, he chucked the hat off the ledge. . .well that is what it looked like. It was one of Mark's roommates who saw us, but I didn't recognize him from a distance. It was really fun at meet up with Mark and his roommates for the last hike of the day. I'm was just so grateful he didn't turn out to be a punk.

I feel sort of like a snob saying this, but I honestly thought that Delicate Arch would be larger than it was. I mean the Utah license plate makes it look so massive that I was slightly disappointed. Though it was still pretty amazing to see it.

Our summer continues with our vacation to Hawaii and a family reunion in St. George. But I will get to those tomorrow.

Anatomy Unit

Since State testing is over and we have covered all the State's curriculum, I let my students vote on the next science unit. I really wanted to teach anatomy, so I have been planting that seed in their mind all year all. Good thing it won, because the second place was the ocean and I don't know a lot about it (I probably would just fly Karl out to teach it). We started learning all the muscles and then how the heart and lungs work. We video taped our process drama production of an oxygen molcule's travel through the heart. To end the unit, I went to the slaughter house and bought sheep heart and lungs for the kids to dissect. Mike came in to help with the dissection and talk about career options if you like anatomy. Here are the pictures of the dissection.

I consider it a success when no one vomits, though by the end half the class was in the hall from queesiness. We had to quickly disinfect the whole room afterwards because we were having a pizza party from the janitor (yes, on the same desk that we dissected a bloody heart).

Graduation

I finally took pictures of something in our life, so Mike gave me the thumbs up that we should blog. I remember when we first got married and Josh insisted that we get a blog. I felt so uncomfortable about the idea because I didn't have a baby to show off (good thing because then we wouldn't have been married in the temple). Now, it feels natural to blog. Thanks everyone for putting up with our nonsense and not making me feel too much a fool for it.

Here is our graduation pictures. Both our families came for the event, which made it so special. We walked with the McKay School of Education, which I loved because I got to see all my friends.

Our on way to commencement. Although it was cold outside, I am so glad it didn't rain.

Beautiful picture of Mike on the cattle run (aka the bridge from the ASB to the Marriot)

We meet our good friend Sarah on our way to the Marriott so we walked with her since her husband had to leave with the other master students.

I always feel like a six year old wanting to take my picture with Cosmos, but sometimes you just have to suck up your pride for the things you want.

Traditional Price family pose. I remember both Joey and Josh taking their pictures here because it is right next to Wymount.

This is one of my really good friends from the El Ed program. We were organized by last name, so we were sat by each other during the program. We talked the whole time, figures-that what we did all during class.

**The rest of the photos, like the one with family, is on our parents blog. Hopefully they will post them shortly.

Ode to E

Life as a fifth grade teacher have their up and downs. However bad the day can be, these students also keep me laughing. This post is devoted to one of my more "unique" students. She was one of the two students that I actually meeting back in May during "Meet Your Teacher" Day. It seems that when anyone walks into my classroom, E is the only one they happen to remember. She is the only one that can make concert choir into an interpretive dance festival and make an ordinary birthday song into a dramatic performance. Her good writing skills mixed with an imagination that makes my mom seem normal sure makes a heck of a story to read (usually involving night-fighting ninjas and booger-engulfing balls in the same paragraph).

Today, E came up to me during the middle of our writing lessons. Usually if a student comes ups to me in the middle of something, it is because they are bleeding, barfing, or broken. Knowing her, I am expecting the worse. I embrace myself to grab the trash bin to catch whatever bodily fluid may be coming up. So in her high-pitch most sincere voice, "Mrs. Matthews, I am in a play and I need to get a giant, green monster costume together. You know, like a huge head and long finger nails. Do you have anything that would work?" This type of situation occurs fifty times a day. I had two choices, neither get upset and have her pull her card for not being responsible, or laugh it off and send her back to her desk. Trust me, I have chosen the first plenty of time and it doesn't seem to change E. So I choose the second and keep my day going well.

So thank you E for keeping me laughing, along with the whole staff after today's choir performance.

Chocolate Milk

We just ran out of all the free Valentine's Day chocolate from my students earlier this week. We have had a constant stash of chocolate since Christmas, so this weekend Mike and I were going through withdrawal. This Saturday when we went to the store, we kept seeing all these yummy chocolate treats (bad idea to go to the store hungry) so we decided we could pick one item that wasn't on our list to get. We planned to get chocolate milk, our favorite. When we were about to grab the cartoon, we realized that we picked out this HUGE jar of pickles that were such a good deal. We went the practical route and got the pickles instead. That evening, we were still craving chocolate milk. I remember watching this episode on "Good Eats" about how to make your own chocolate milk syrup. Although I couldn't find that particular recipe, I came across this beauty. It made a quart size jar of chocolate syrup. It's not exactly like the ones at the store (it is more chocolatey and less sweet) but it sure filled the craving. In the course of 5 minutes, we drank half of gallon. Since it uses ingredients that we always have on hand, all I can say is we're addicts.

Here's the recipe
Homemade Chocolate Milk

First you make chocolate syrup:

In a saucepan, combine 1 cup cocoa, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1/2 tsp salt and 1 1/2 cups water. (I added a small splash of vanilla as well.) Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

To make chocolate milk, add 1 or 2 tbsp to a glass of cold milk. Or, however much you want. A large glass of milk will definitely need 3-4 tbsp. Stir and serve. Enjoy!

Aging

Since I finally figured out how to change the background such that you can actually see the designed that I picked out, it would probably show that we updated our blog when in fact we haven't. So I decided to actually write something. Mike hates it when I blog without a picture and we rarely take pictures, I found one from a couple of weeks ago that I thought was worthy of blogging.

It was a Saturday night, and I was getting ready for a date night. As I was brushing through my hair, I noticed something unusual. Before I share, let me give you some background information. this last spring, I permed my hair to prep for teaching in the fall. Over the course of the summer though, the chemical that permed my hair caused my hair to be lightened by the sun. I have had 20 people ask me if I have dyed my hair. Since then, I have been very aware of my hair color and occasionally check for "the line". Back to the date night. As I was brushing through my hair, I found a gray hair. Yes, that's right. . . A GRAY HAIR. Now, I have never thought I would be the one to battle age, but when it came knocking on my door, I freaked out. The first thought that came in my head was "blasted fifth graders. Turning my hair gray". I had Mike come in and do a head check for more. Gratefully that was the only culprit.

If this is how I react with a single strand of gray hair, what am I going to do when I get saggy boobs or flabby arms.

Surprise Trip to Oregon

This last weekend, my siblings and I surprised my parents by flying out to Oregon. My dad just got called as bishop and we thought that we would support him on the big day that he was called. Joey and I flew together from Salt Lake. When we were going through security, the guard asked me for my age. I had to think about for a bit then replied that I was 23. He was shocked and thought I was Joey's daughter of something. I don't know who was more insulted: me for looking so young or Joey for looking so old. It must had been the skinny jeans. Joey didn't realize that when he picked out our seats, they were actually across the isle from each other. We waited to see if anyone would take the seats around them. No one did. I thought about moving over to sit next to him, but to have the whole row to yourself is a rarity. So I stayed put. I felt a little bad for not wanting to sit next to my brother, but then again, he didn't come and join me, so I take it we both needed time to get work done and enjoy our books.
We arrived two hours before Josh, so we went out to eat with Dusty and Annie. In the car ride home, we were scheming didn't ways to sneak up. Annie and Joey were lame and walked straight up to the door to knock. You feel pretty lame trying some funny trick, so I sheepishly stood next to them. I thought for sure that my mom would do her high-pitch squeal, but instead she was quiet and humbled.
The weekend was so fun. We weren't there for long, it was nice to visit a lot. After all, that is what my family does best, talk. I saw Rita for the first time. If I was guaranteed to have a replica of her, I would baby today. She was so calm and adorable. I also so Annie's new house. I was thoroughly jealous of her. Overall, the trip made me miss living in Oregon a lot. I don't know where our lives will take us, but I hope the road will end in Oregon. (By the way, Mike didn't read this post until after I posted it, otherwise I don't know if that last sentence would have made it on.) At least I have my trip in June to look forward to.