Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Life's Many Hallelujah's

Hello again. It's that time again.
I think that the things you hear growing up about working are lies. "Find a job you love and you'll never work a day of your life." "What you do when you're procrastinating is what you should do for your job." "There is always a way for the things you love to be your job." 
I think those things give people unrealistic expectations for working. I absolutely love my job and so does Dallin, but there are certainly days when it's really hard. And it's not what I do when I procrastinate. And there are very few cake-tasting-while-watching-netflix jobs out there. That is something to keep in mind for any college students reading this. It's easy to idealize what life will be like after you graduate, but no matter what you pick, it will not be fun 100% of the time. 
That leads us to my reason for picking today's title. I chose, "Life's Many Hallelujah's" because I have noticed that the last few weeks have been very emotional. I experienced the aforementioned low points of my job, only to be saved by several "Hallelujah's" so-to-speak.

That's just the way it is.

The first Hallelujah to note is elementary half-days. There are no "specials" (art, technology, music, or PE) on half-days, meaning that it's basically a day off for me! All I had to do was go to a department meeting with all the other PE teachers in the district in the morning, and then I was free the rest of the day! It was awesome. Especially because while I was hearing about the other campuses  I was counting my blessings that I don't have all the issues that they do. 

The monday immediately following that, I didn't work either because we had Labor Day off! It was awesome! I love how many breaks you get if you work at a school. 
So, I'm still figuring out the younger grades, but I'm mostly trying to figure out my Wednesday younger grades. That day is the hardest day of the week for me, and slowly (by trial and error) I'm figuring it out. The mind of a kindergartener or 1st grader is a hard thing to understand. And there happen to be a lot of students on Wednesdays who like to push the boundaries. Anyway, I ended up in tears last Wednesday and vented to Elizabeth for like 30 minutes. But after talking to her and a few other teachers, I've gathered some more ideas and I will be ready to try it again next week. I think it makes it an easier pill to swallow once you've identified that it is only certain classes or students and that you're not a total failure. I just have to know that on Wednesday's I have to arrive with my game face on and then the rest of the year will get easier and easier. (Especially because I have such great staff support around me to help when I have questions.)
This was a Hallelujah in some classes and not in others. But the lesson last week was about the Olympics. The class was divided up into countries and competed in different made-up events. It was soooooo fun in some classes, and not as fun in the younger grades. But seeing them get excited and try their hardest was really rewarding. It's one of those lessons that reminds you why PE is the best subject to teach :) . Not that I'm biased or anything.
This week we had to do the Pacer test. It tracks how long you can stay running for. The recording counts, and there is awful background music, so it wasn't the greatest to listen to 25 times. But I was SO impressed with some of them! They don't dread it like the middle schoolers did, they LOVE the challenge! And they were really close to the record that I had last year with an 8th grader! I couldn't believe that a 5th grader got to 155! The ALA Gilbert Patriots ain't messin' around!
We had an assembly Friday to remember 9/11. It was very emotional. We had a police officer from New York who was there that day come and speak, and the Principal spoke, and it was all very inspiring. We watched this video, the students made thank you cards, and the art teacher decorated the walls with them. Then the students all sang a song that was so touching. I cried a little bit. Elizabeth did a really good job teaching them because they performed spectacularly.
This is just the first verse. The chorus was really cool but I didn't get it unfortunately. This is one of the Hallelujah's. There is just nothing sweeter than the innocence and beauty of children singing. They understood the seriousness of the situation as much as they could and even though they weren't even born yet when it happened, they still care so deeply about it. I think that working with children helps you to remember to stop and feel things once in a while. Adults just go through the every day grind and forget the meaning of it all sometimes.

The art teacher made this and I thought it was so cool. She puts a lot of work into decorating the gym.
This is all of the Thank you cards hanging on the wall.

Goodbye to my Lovely Dress

With the passing of our 2nd anniversary, I decided it was finally time to have my wedding dress preserved. I found a really good cleaners in town that still had the best deal. It was nice because the owner talked to me himself to assure me that everything would go well. After they cleaned it, they had me come approve it before they boxed it up. He said, "Woah you're different than most brides. It's usually a little emotional for people." And I didn't understand why until he told me that you're not really supposed to take it out of it's box. So then I was like, "Okay well at least let me say good bye to it." lol And then he knew it was back to normal because I had to take a picture too. It's so pretty. I wish we could do our wedding all over again every year. That was a great day.

The Graffs Take Phoenix

Dallin's parents and Selena came over Labor day weekend! It was so nice to have visitors! It was an action-packed weekend. We went to a really cool restaurant area in Phoenix.
And it had a waterfall! It was so pretty.

And it was the best food EVER! I don't think everybody else enjoyed it as much as I did, but for some reason I was in hog heaven!
After that, we went to the BYU versus U of A football game in the Cardinals stadium! It was so good to get inside because it was hot walking in, but they wouldn't let Sara bring in her purse. She ended up making the sacrifice to throw it away and they gave her this brand new purse instead! lol since they hate hashtags I told her I would hashtag this picture. #highfashion
This was us in the amazing stadium. The roof is so cool and it's huge!
Panorama! Our seats were awesome! Thank you Dave!
I found out when we came back to school that one of my students saw me at the game!
The marching band was pretty good. This is the country, and they outlined AZ at the bottom and the cheerleaders are holding the flag.
We all got kindof antsy for some reason during the game. But it ended up being a really good game! BYU came out with the win. Dallin used instagram for the 2nd time ever to try and get our picture on the big screen. Of course, it didn't get up there :(

They brought Lily with them so the dogs had a friend over too!
We also went to the dog park. It's such a nice park and so close to our house. And the weather is cooling down so it was nice to be outside- not hot at all. It was fun for everyone, but I think Lily loved it the most! She's a runner! I couldn't even get a picture of her! Anyway if that evening is any indication of what the rest of  the year is going to be like, sign me up! The weather felt perfect. Maybe I'm just getting used to the heat though. To me, it felt like it was 75, but when we got back in the car we saw that it was still 90's. lol


The highlight of the trip was that they brought their boat down! It is so awesome living 10 minutes away from Saguaro lake! It was the perfect way to cool down, and it's impossible to feel any stress when you're on a body of water. It's really pretty, and we got to tube and knee board. 

This is Dave, Sara, and Selena tubing while Dallin drove. Dave taught me how to drive and I did for a little bit, but it kinda freaked me out.
Jon joined up with us after lunch. He's a boating veteran! This was us watching Dallin knee board.
He was a champion knee boarder! I didn't know that he had done it as a kid, but he almost had the 360 down! I even tried knee boarding, and we got a video, but I will just save it and put it in a video I'm making of all our AZ adventures.
Us swimming.
A terrible picture that I tried to make better with editing.
This was us swimming again. Sara jumped off the cliff right here! What a dare devil! It was pretty funny because she climbed up even though everyone was telling her not to, and then did a belly flop. lol
Dallin and his dad

I must be pondering life in this one.

BIG thank you to the Graff's for all the memories and everything we did in our fun-filled weekend. We don't get to see them a lot, so it is definitely a treasure to have these memories together.
It would be nice to have a boat one day. When you're out on the lake, it's pure quality time with each other, because you can't really have any technology.
After they drove home, we went to Red Lobster in Mesa. It's not a surprise to anyone, but Dallin had me laughing pretty much the whole time. We were talking about whether the windows had sun screens on them or not, and I bet him 400$ that they did. He responded with "Dang that escalated quickly! I can't take that risk..." lol and then we both realized that it's the same regardless of who wins. Anyway, for the record, I won. :)

Swimming

I find this incredibly accurate lately. 
I have been trying to learn how to swim. Like swimming laps, not just keep my head above water. lol I keep making an absolute fool out of myself because apparently swimming is hereditary and neither of my parents can swim well either. It was hard not to crack up laughing hysterically this day. My swim suit kept threatening to fall off, I was thrashing, spitting up water, choking, and still trying to keep going as fast as I could. I definitely got some stares. I was wearing my ugly pink swim cap and goggles when I went into the locker room and saw one of those "I-don't-sweat-I-glisten" kindof girls who looked like she could be in a victoria secret catalog. It was terrible to take off my swim cap to find out that they don't actually keep your hair try, and my mascara was all over my face. I put my shirt on quickly to get out of there and saw when I got home that I put it on backwards. So this, ladies and gentlemen, is the face of a pro swimmer. #nailedit


I'm sure it was very entertaining to watch.
Anyway, speaking of swimming...

Dallin's Celebrity Spotting!

When Dallin was at lunch with Brian and Jordan in Scottsdale during work, Michael Phelps came in and ate lunch a few tables away from them with his wife and baby! I couldn't believe that he didn't even get a picture! It's pretty cool that he lives here in Paradise Valley!

If we were Harry Potter characters...

I don't typically enjoy being labeled with personality types. But when I found this online I thought it was cool, mostly just because it has to do with Harry Potter. lol
According to Dallin's personality type, he would be Fred and George Weasley in the books/movie. I was all excited about it because I think it's so fitting and I love them, but Dallin was less than enthused. When I asked him why he said, "I don't want to be 2 red-heads."
When I asked him who he would want to play him if they made a movie of his life, he said either Ryan Reynolds or Justin Timberlake. When I asked him who would play me in this movie, he said, "I think you're similar to Katherine Heigl." No clue what that means.
 
And I got Professor Lupin! I loved it because he's a really good teacher and he's one of my favorite characters!

We finally did it!

We've been wanting to go on a vacation for like 2 years, and we finally booked one. We are really excited to go to the Eastern Caribbean! 

Work Perks

Dallin has been working so hard that Jordan wanted us to go out to a nice place this weekend to celebrate. It was so fun going to the Melting Pot again because we went once when we were dating, and haven't been back since. It's certainly an amazing experience because we were in a little cave-like room and it was a 4 course meal!

 Probably because we're "really, really good-looking" (zoolander reference) the restaurant asked to take a picture of us and put it online.
While we were there we did our draft for fantasy football. Dallin is is 2 leagues and I'm only in one, and I didn't put much effort into it, but I ended up with a pretty good team still! (If there was ever a decision I went with the better looking of the two.)

Funny Dallin

He injured his wrist and has to wear a brace now. I told him people are going to think he's a professional bowler, and then yesterday at work someone asked him if he's going bowling. Lol I must be a bad wife since I laugh at his pain. It's just funny when you know his history with bowling. 
 Well I guess that's it for now. Have a great week!

-Sydney :)