Off to the Moon....!!!!

So you all probably own something characteristic of yourself that really shows your peronality to the outside world. For me, it's my Moon Boots....couldn't live without 'em that's for sure! I like to be goofy sometimes, ok a lot! So I bought my moon boots 5 years ago and they're still going strong. This was after the whole Napolean Dynamite fab and I saw them in a sports store for 10 bucks....I couldn't resist! They have been my best friend ever since! I've worn them all over the place and then some. This winter, though, they have been especially practical and useful. I'm not used to all this snow.

Last Sunday, for example, was a nightmare outside with snow/rain and a huge wet mess. So I was going to wear my boots just to/from the car, but there was no way I was going to take them off or my feet would get soaked. So I wore them to church! They totally did NOT match and looked pretty ridiculous - most girls wear those pretty leather boots with heels that are super cute you know. Then here I am. I was standing out in the hall waiting for Relief Society to begin when this dude walks by me and says "I like your boots." Now this guy knows what's going on!! He can fully appreciate them along with me...... it was a joyous moment to say the least.

What do you own that shows your personality?

THE BEST JOB IN THE WORLD

I applied! I applied!! It's been all over the news and I thought, what the heck? What have I got to lose? It sounds amazing & ideal for sure. Here is a job description from the website itself:

"The Caretaker of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef is a newly created position. There are a few minor tasks that need to be taken care of, but the most important duty is to report back to Tourism Queensland (and the world) and let us know what’s taking place on the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef."

Caretaker of the islands in Australia? I'm totally there!

Now here's what YOU need to do.......
PLEASE click on the link below to view my video. The more it's seen by others and the highter my rating, the better chance I have. Let others know as well. Thank you so much!

MY VIDEO

One comment: I.....am a dork!

Native American Winterim

Well, technically it was called First Nation Winterim....... Does anyone know the difference between Native American & First Nation? Good, cause I'm going to tell you! Native Americans in the term in the United States of America while First Nation is the term in Canada. Otherwise, there really is no difference. You learn something new everyday, eh?

So what exactly is Winterim? First off, I think only charter schools participate in it. So for 3 weeks after the Christmas break, all curriculum is set aside.....math, science, english, language, etc. Then each teacher picks a topic of his choosing to teach a segment on for those 3 weeks. It must be approved of course through the Board, but it's a really great opportunity to branch out and be creative. So another teacher and I teamed up to teach about Native Americans. We thought it'd be fun. This is picture of all the students in my class with some guest speakers.

Other Winterims included the following:

Law & Order

Interactive Media

Astronomy

Aviation

Mythbusters

Anatomy

Improv & Creative Writing

Humanitarian Aid in Mexico

Coastal Ecology in California

History of Film

So for our Winterim I had SO MUCH FUN!!! I learned lots along with my students and we did a lot of hands on things.....lots of crafts. We made sage bundles, medicine pouches, earrings & keychains, chokers & bracelets, dream catchers, rock paintings, and weaved baskets. We also had lots of visitors come in and talk about/show their stuff. Some of the topics we covered in addition to the crafts included smudging ceremonies, the medicine wheel, medicine man, pow wows, native american legends (each student then wrote their own.....which were very creative I must say), regalia, leather & furs, tipi, dance, navajo language, and particular tribes. It was very educational, but more in a cultural respect.

I never really paid much attention to the Native Americans before (oh man, I used to just say Indians.....I've been saying Native Americans too much. haha). I grew up in Thatcher, Arizona where many of you know is only about 20 minutes from the Reservation. I guess just in the modern day, you only see some of the things from the surface like trash & alcohol. But the true way of life in the past that a lot of it has been carried on is truly amazing. It is a culture that I have come to respect through the last couple of weeks. I have really enjoyed it. Plus there's TONS of Indain ruins all over the place to be explored and you guys know how much I love ruins and exploring. It's one of my favorite things to do. I plan on visiting many of them in the near future, especially now since I understand more of their culture.

So back to Winterim. One day we were able to take the kids to the BYU Museum of Peoples and Cultures, which I actually didn't even know existed. It had a lot of really cool artifacts - pottery, baskets, arrowheads, jewelry, kachina dolls, etc. We even got to make our own pottery after the tour.

Last Friday night we had our class at night - a little party if you will. All the students gathered inside the giant tipi we made with a fake fire inside and we turned off all the lights while each student read their hand-written Native American legend by the light of a flashlight. It was so much fun! I wanted to go inside so bad (it was the little kid coming out in me), but there just wasn't enough room unfortunately. Then we ate Navajo Tacos and watched the movie Smoke Signals, which is pretty evident of life today on the Reservation. It was a fun night.

One of the days we had some Native American dancers to come and perform for the whole school. I think the videos pretty much say it all.........

After they danced, they then taught my class some of the moves as well as all dancing together. I didn't get a whole lot of filming during this session since I was also dancing. They just couldn't hold me back! Hehe

Some random pictures over the last 3 weeks........

By the way, I still haven't figured this out...........Does anyone know the true way to spell it...... tipi or tepee?

Winterfest

Last night was the big Winterfest to celebrate the end of Winterim. Each class put a project(s) on display and/or a performance. Well, we did both of course! We had our tipi set up with a fake fireplace inside and pictures projected up on the side so you could go inside and enjoy it. Then we had our students' projects spread out and displayed along several tables as well as a book of the Indian Legends they wrote.


Then we also performed the song Go My Son with all of the actions. The other teacher and I were in front to make sure the students did the right actions. It was a blast. I got to dress up like an Indian too. I'm so mad though cause Lisi recorded the whole performance so I went to watch it later and the next thing I knew it was gone! I had accidentally deleted it! Bummer.... I'm in the process of trying to find someone else who recorded it.......

Here's us on stage getting ready for the performance as I explain a bit about our Winterim

Me in an Indian ribbon shirt in front of the tipi
Our students' projects

It was fun to see what all the other Winterims did and had to show as well......great fun!

Mis Hermanos

Last Sunday my family all got together for dinner and games. We have SO MUCH FUN when we all get together. Let's just say we all had a little too much energy. We should do it more often eh, Dexter, Duran, Lisi, Artisto, and Snowb?

We played Cranium and a few card games.....definitely lost track of the time! If you haven't played Cranium, you should. It's super fun and has lots of variation. Anyway, here's some pictures from the evening.

Our question was How many teeth are in the human mouth, including wisdom teeth? This was our way to ensure we got the right answer....counting! (You can see my splint on my broken right hand....)

Dexter's amazing sculpture creation - a platform shoe....haha!

Artisto's amazing picture....drawn with his eyes closed folks!

Evidence of too much sugar.....

Winning Streak

My girls basketball team is doing soooooo good! They have improved TONS! In fact, they are currently on a winning streak. We've played 7 games - they lost the first 3 and they've won the last 4. They haven't just won.....they've killed the opponent! I couldn't be a prouder coach! Hopefully they keep it up and continue to play well and have good teamwork. The next game will tell. We play Paradigm, which we've already lost to twice, so we'll just see how good these girls are....they better beat 'em! That's all I've got to say!

So I LOVE coaching! It's fun and rewarding, not to mention a good way to unwind and de-stress after teaching all day. The girls are amazing and so fun to be around. We have games once a week - every Friday - which pretty much blows my Friday nights, but there's no where I'd rather be! It's fun to watch the boys play as well. We usually play one right after the other.

Some of my girls think it's their mission to set me up with one of the refs at every game. It's kinda funny. Last game they were taking pictures of me on their cell phones any time the ref even got close to me (I was keeping score for the boys' game). Haha. You know how those high school kids can be..........!!!

I Get All The Luck......

I found out this week that I have a broken hand....a broken RIGHT hand. There is spiral fracture along the front of my pinky finger, which is also angulated. You might be asking yourself, What the heck does that mean?! Well, it means that my pinky is at a slight angle. So when I got my finger splinted (yes, that's right, a lame splint) it hurt in a whole new way it was set straight again. At least it got set straight. My family has a history of crooked pinky fingers - haha! Snowb and Dexter especially.

So I have a splinted right hand. It looks pretty pathetic, hence no picture. I think I'd rather have something exciting & snazzy like a bright pink cast! With a pathetic splint on a broken finger no one believes you when you tell them it's broken. Ha! "Miss Anderson, what's wrong with your hand?" That's what I get about 10 times a day from my students. Instead of repeating the same thing over and over and over, I like to make it interesting. I got into a fight and punched someone in the face so hard it snapped my finger. Someone shut my finger in the car door. A really fat person sat on it. I went golfing and swung the club too hard. You know, I could really get creative with this..........Any other ideas?

The REAL story is I went sledding when I was home for Christmas. I was going down backwards and nearing a brick wall. So my instinct was to put my hand behind my back to protect it. Well, as I slammed into the wall at full force, I crushed my hand pretty good. I couldn't even move it for a whole day. Well for the last 2 weeks I just thought it was sprained pretty badly. I played croquet, basketball, and who knows what else....all with a fractured hand.

Then just a week or so before that, I'm pretty sure I broke my nose - it was tender and sore for the following 3 weeks or so. That happened playing basketball. As I went up for the rebound, this dude arms came crashing down onto my nose, giving me a pretty bloody nose as well. You see, I like to play basketball with the guys to show 'em up :) Guess I didn't that night.......

So you see, I get all the luck........

Glimpses of Spain

This is the title of my new book. And when I say "book" I use that term loosely. It's not like I found a publisher to do it....even though I wish that were the case! In fact anybody, for example you, can make a book just like me. All you have to do is go to the Blurb website and begin any type of book you want.

I'm an up-and-coming amateur photographer (well I like to think that I am) and so I put all my best photos of Spain together into a book to show others the landscapes, buildings, and culture of Spain. Many of you know that I have lived in Spain a couple of different times. The first was in 2005 for just 4 months on a Study Abroad through BYU. I lived in Alcala de Henares (right outside of Madrid) with a Spanish family. We traveled extensively and my love for Spain was thus born.

My love for Spain then flourished when I moved back for a second time to work....to teach English more precisely....last year (2007-2008). This time I lived in Almeria, on the Southern coast in an apartment with 2 other Spanish girls. I was here for about 9 months and absolutely loved it. I did a little more traveling, but mostly all over Europe since I'd already seen much of Spain before. I used my time instead to really experience the culture.

Anyway, I wanted a way to show others just how beautiful a country Spain is and instill in the reader a desire to someday see it for themselves. I guarantee you'll love this book!! There are over 100 photographs!

Happy New Year 2009!!!

It's about time for an update. The last two weeks I spent my Christmas vacation home in Arizona with my family, minus my brother and sister-in-law who couldn't make it home. Anyway, it was just what I needed! A nice long break in the warm weather. Although, it actually did snow the day after Christmas here in Thatcher!! It was the highlight for everyone around here, let me tell you!

Drving down from Provo, there was snow almost the whole way, almost all the way to Phoenix, which is very unusual......snow in the desert!

So I was super excited this year for Christmas and New Years since I didn't really get to celebrate last year being in Spain. I LOVED it!! The anticipation was so much fun! So for Christmas, I gave everyone in my family a book that I had put together - pictures from all over Spain (You can see a preview and even buy one by clicking on the button on the right). Anyway, they all had to open them together so I didn't want them to all be the same shape and size....too obvious! So being the tricky person I am, I took some board games from the closet and emptied them of their contents, placing the books inside. So on Christmas morning (it was so awesome) everyone opens their "board games" and are like, "cool. thanks!" Then they realized there is something inside. They were shocked. I tricked 'em good :) Here's some pics from Christmas morning.

Notice the "fireplace" behind us...it's not Christmas without it!

My mom in her stylin' leather jacket-

Even the poochie got some presents-

I don't even remember what I did the whole break, but we did some fun things. My family played lots of games. Our favorites are Speed Scrabble and Yahtzee among others. I also went mountain biking, drove up to Fry Mesa to hike around, got to see an old Indian Cliff Dwelling, and went sledding - which I unfortunately crashed into a brick wall...ouch! I sprained my hand pretty good (I'm having a little trouble typing this as we speak, or rather read...haha) and tore up my back pretty good. It was worth it though!

So I wanted to check out the Indian Cliff Dwelling for my Winterim, which I will be teaching after coming back from Christmas break. Three weeks are set aside to teach whatever, so I'll be doing a segment on Native Americans during that time. It long was a long off-road drive through mud pits and rivers - one of the funnest roads I've been on in fact. Anyway, this is one of the best preserved Indian dwellings....




Here's some pics from Fry Mesa





Now I have a long journey driving back to UT tomorrow to the land of snow.....
Sure wish I could stay here in AZ....