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.....