Maybe we chose the wrong Dentist..........

So Maura and I went to the dentist today for our checkups and cleanings. I have grown to tolerate these checkups over the years. No one really enjoys to listen to your dentist chastise you for not flossing everyday or reteach you how to brush (that one bugs me the most.) In any case, I knew that these checkups need to be done, so we did it. Well, I am regretting that decision now.........

Let me explain the scene for you. So..... I drive up to this apartment complex in provo that has a sign for a dental office on the bottom floor. Fair enough, they are a modest joint. I walk in to find that I could see the entire dentist office from the front door....even the patrens having their teeth worked on. That definetly bugged me a little, but I am not one to back down, and I had already made the appointments, so I stepped two feet from the front door to the front desk. Immediately I had an urge to use the restroom. I asked where the restroom was and the receptionist pointed behind me and said "down the hall on the left." Well, I turned around and almost ran into the bathroom door! Yah....down the hall....What hall? After using the bathroom/closet space...I proceed to the chair, in an open room, to have my teeth cleaned. I was met by an overzelous recent graduate of the BYU dental program. She talked like she knew what she was doing so I was ok with being worked on only 6 ft from the receptionist desk. (I'm not kidding!)

Over the next 45 min., I continually cursed in my head for ever even calling this place! At the very beginning, she stuck something in my mouth that I had never seen before. It was a super scraper that squirted out a solution that was basically salt water. I tried my best not to gag or cry as she gouged my gums till blood was running out the sides of my mouth! Only five minutes had gone by at this point..... I then got talked to like I was five years old...she proceed to chastise me for not using a "soft tooth" brush and that my medium tooth brush was "ruining" my gums! I then was re-taught how to brush my teeth! lame......I was then told that I probably had a high fever when I was kid, because my bottom teeth were grown in all weird. Thanks, I said.

Anyways, she finally stopped scraping me with this nasty salt shooting thing... I can still taste the salt in my mouth. During this time, she asked me every five seconds if I was Ok. You'd think that the twitches and horrified looks gave it away that I was NOT even close to being ok. After this brutal attack on my teeth, she then used that standard scraper thing. Somehow, she made sure that the scraper thing was a painful experience as well. By this time, my nerves were shot and I wished that Maura was there to take me away. The dental hygenist said that the visit was almost over and that all she had to do was floss my teeth and polish them before the doctor took a look at my teeth. What a relief I thought........WRONG! Wrong ! WRONG!

I have never been more humiliated and violated in my life.

She proceed to shove this floss down to the roots of my teeth till blood filled my mouth. Oh yah, she made me hold up a mirror up so I can see her torture my gums. It was sick! I could see blood squirting out of gums. She kept saying, "don't worry, after a week of flossing like this, your gums will build resilience and won't bleed." DUH! That cause by then I will have bled to death!
Man, after that flossing, my teeth hurt so bad. Thankfully the doctor came in soon after. He was like an angel in the day light. The "evil" dental hygienist stepped away, and the gentle doctor took a look inside my mouth. He was so gentle and nice the entire time. After that, my turn was up and Maura was ready to take the hot seat. I couldn't bear to watch....to make a long story short, she came home and could barely move her mouth. We tried to eat some string cheese, but it was too painful to chew....String cheese....after ONLY a cleaning! COME ON! They asked us when we wanted to set up return appointments......I began to hear the cursing again in my head. No Thanks, I said. Now it is late tonight and Maura and I are now enjoying solid food again.....

Oh, one more thing.... Poor Maura had a Typhoid shot as well in her arm almost immediately following the dentist. She has been incapacitated this whole evening. Poor thing!

Graduation, Trips, and MORE...

Wow! I really need to update this thing! So, I'm finished with my student teaching! My first block of student teaching was in a 1st grade classroom and my second block was in a music classroom for K-6 music classes. I loved EVERY MINUTE of it!! Then April came and I had NO finals! YAY! My parents came down from WA and my Grandparents came up from St. George to see me walk across the stage in a blue cap and gown and pink tassel dangling off of my cap.
It took me five years to get my Bachelor of Music with a dual certification. I can now teach an elementary school classroom or an elementary music classroom!
Ben has been very supportive through it all. We still have another 2 years until Ben gets to wear the awesome cap and gown...so another while in Provo!

Graduation was awesome! Commencement was in the Marriot Center. President Uchtdorf received an honorary degree and addressed us! Elder Nelson also spoke. Both gave very uplifting and inspiring speeches. This is why I LOVE BYU!! I got to learn at the feet of the Prophets and Apostles of the Lord all the time! For convocation for the school of music, we were priviledged to learn from Elder Oaks! I was sitting directly behind him on stage (with one person in between). I could have leaned over and touched him if I wanted! It was a very cool experience.
So, After graduation, and even before, I was feeling somewhat "lost" as to what to do with my life. The only logical thing to do was to apply for teaching jobs and teach! But I didn't really know whether I wanted to jump right into teaching...I wanted to explore my options. Well, after exploring, an opportunity basically just fell into my lap...so I am going to....TEACH! I got offered a job at Amelia Earhart Elementary School in Provo as the music specialist! I had an interview with 4 principals at once and less than two hours later, I had a job offer. One interview= job! Hooray! So I start sometime in August. Until then, I'm just relaxing and taking it easy this summer!

After graduation Ben and I drove up to WA to visit our families and help them out with some house work. It was nice to see so much family within 2 weeks! Ben and I celebrated our 1year anniversary in the car on May 3rd driving back to UT from WA. But we were able to make a visit to "our" spot back home on the waterfront!We are gearing up for our trip to the Carribean in about 2 weeks! AHH! We are so excited! The day we get back is the first day of InterMuse...a summer workshop program I am attending to get more music teaching credits/certification. It lasts two weeks and is intensive 8am to 6pm classes everyday! I will be SO EXHAUSTED after the trip and this conference...but then I can just CHILLAX the rest of the summer until I start working!

All in all...Ben and I are LOVIN' life and soaking it all up!

Only in Utah

Ben and I were blessed with the opportunity to attend the Draper Temple dedication yesterday via satellite broadcast to our stake center along with other members of the church in Utah.  After attending the Provo temple for a session on Saturday, we realized we still needed to obtain white handkerchiefs for the Draper Temple dedication the next day. Knowing the church distribution center was closed, our next option was Wal-Mart. At 10pm on Saturday night, the place was over-crowded. People and carts everywhere!  I don't know if I've ever seen a Walmart so crowded. 

As we dashed around the store looking for anything that resembled a white handkerchief, we discovered groups of people following in our foot steps...first the kitchen linens aisle. ALL of the white dinner napkins were out of stock. The next best thing was an ivory napkin...but ivory would not do.  On this same aisle we discovered a few white wash cloths left, but we didn't think a washcloth would be appropriate. We wandered around the aisles, looking

for any white fabric...to no avail. Everything that resembled a white handkerchief was out of stock, surely bought out by the people who did not wait until last minute to buy their handkerchief. Finally, we came up with a genius idea! The FABRIC department! 

By this time, our handkerchief seeker friends had wandered off to other corners of the superstore. As we approached the fabric department, we beheld the counter where they cut your fabric for you covered in an array of various white fabrics with a line of people.  Ben and I could not help but chuckle to ourselves.  Our genius idea was not such a novelty after all. We waited in line and watched the workers feverishly cutting white squares.  When we got in line there were only a couple of people, by the time we had gotten our goods and were leaving, the line was wrapping around to the next aisle over....at about 10:30pm.  

We learned a few things from this experience....

1. Do not wait until last minute

2. Lots of people in Utah wait until the last minute

3. You will only find a long line of people in the fabric department of Walmart late on Saturday night in UTAH! 

Only in Utah....haha

experiences of the heart

So, I have started student teaching in a music classroom. The rigors of a music teacher are demanding. Changing mind-sets every forty minutes is necessary...One does not want to make a fool of themselves or belittle the high and mighty fifth and sixth graders (who rule the school) by talking to these rulers as one would talk to say, a third or second grader...and one has to be especially careful not to offend by singing 'baby' songs or 'boring' songs by old dead guys with the little kings and queens of the elementary domain. But even though they need to have the 'tough' facade, I can see right through them. Fifth and sixth graders are still third-graders at heart, just in bigger bodies. It will be a fun challenge to try to connect with their 'inner-child' and help them experience music so that they will learn to love beautiful things in the world.

Sometimes people's attitudes can get in the way of deep experiences and deep learning. I have found this to be true as I teach little ones, and if little ones in this generation have begun to develop attitudes that do not allow for personal growth and learning, then I am almost positive that we as adults do the exact same thing (who do you think they learn it from?)! Of course we sometimes unknowingly feed this behavior, but I'm wondering if we could overcome this blockage of growth.

I've been thinking lately. (I know...its amazing!). I've been thinking about the condition of the heart. Our stake theme is "Charity" and all of the ins-and-outs encompassed in charity. With this complex, yet simple principle in mind, I have been looking at the condition of my own heart. sometimes I equalize charity to 'good deeds' or acts of service to others. These are all fine and dandy and probably lead to a more charitable heart, but I'm realizing charity is a process of becoming charity...becoming more like our Savior...having our hearts become a heart like His. At the recommendation of our amazing bishop, Ben and I have been reading "A Heart Like His" by Virginia Pearce. This book presents an interesting experiment we've been trying out lately. It requires no extra 'deeds' or 'acts', but should take place naturally in everyday living. The experiment goes like this:

In every day experiences, be more aware of the condition of your heart. By so doing, maybe we can crack open our hardened hearts a little and let a little softness in. For example...in every interaction with a person, think to yourself "How can I open my heart up to this person a little more?" some examples from the book include people letting a friendly neighbor or visiting teacher in the door after having a delicious treat delivered. Instead of merely exchanging greetings and thank-you's and dismissing each other on to each others oh so busy lives...why not open your heart a little and invite this friend into your home and into your life? Ben and I have also been discussing the principle of seeking to understand before seeking to be understood. Having a mind-set to understand others certainly would help us become more aware of the condition of our hearts.

As I've experimented only a few days, magic is stirring in my heart! I'm not reading my scriptures more than usual, praying more than usual, baking cookies for all of my neighbors and all of my acquaintances- the only "extra" thing that Ben and I are 'doing' is thinking about our hearts...becoming more conscious, more aware of how our hearts are interacting with others and with God. I can already tell that this simple experiment is helping me change into what I need and want to become. I feel closer to my Savior and as a result feel closer to everyone I interact with on a daily basis. I'm sure I will have more specifics to tell as this experiment continues and I'm looking forward to experimenting and nurturing this 'seed' more (see Alma 32).

I think this may be a first step to our "attitude" problem that gets in the way of our personal learning and growth. Just being aware can help us recognize areas in which our hearts are cold and shriveled and blocking our opportunities for real experiences.

More experiences to come...feel free to share yours with us!

Its about....time!

Well, we have not been doing too well on keeping this blog updated, but we've decided its about...time. Time is an interesting phenomenon. This man-made mode of keeping track of our comings, goings, activities, etc. Sometimes it seems as if time stands still. Other times it seems there is not enough time in a day to do all that is needful.


The latter is how I have been feeling lately. Wake up, rush off to teach Heavenly Father's sweet little children, come home, make lesson plans, teach piano, if I'm lucky try to make dinner before Ben gets home, if I'm not lucky just grab a snack and rush off to the library to make more lesson plans, come home and then finally crash on the bed (or if I can't make it all the way to the bed, I'll be on the couch). That is how I've been spending my time lately. But my first block of student teaching in a first grade classroom has come to an end. This very moment I am taking a break from writing up my final undergrad paper/project...the dreaded TEACHER WORK SAMPLE (which in my opinion does not show one's ability to teach, but just one's ability to interpret graphs).


Tomorrow everything changes.


I will begin my student teaching in a music classroom at a different elementary school. I'm almost positive this will not be nearly as demanding on my time. I am looking forward to having evenings open and free to other activities besides trying to find the perfect way to teach contractions or subtracton methods. Don't get me wrong...I LOVE teaching ALL subjects to children, but I am just MORE passionate about teaching music to children. I will not have to be observed nearly as much and I will not have to worry about the TWS any longer!


Come April 23-24, I will be finished with my undergrad degree...after 5 whole years! I loved every minute of it! I feel ready to move upward and onward with my life! I have NO IDEA what I'll be doing after graduation. I could teach a classroom, I could teach a music class, I could have kids and teach from my home. I just don't know! Ben still has another 2 years before he finishes his undergrad so I guess we'll be in Provo for a while. Our time here has been fabulous.

Now I just feel like I'm rambling on...but oh well...I'd rather be spending my time keeping up on capturing life in words than analyzing assessment graphs and writing about how I accommodated a unit test for my class.


Ben and I might be going to Trinidad and Guyana this summer! Ben served his mission there and opportunity arose for us to go down and visit/be involved in a humanitarian aid project. We'll be delivering rice packaging machines and teaching the people how to use them. The packaging is water proof and air-tight. This will be helpful in the areas because they have problems with flooding. This packaging will help them store and preserve rice and other food staples. The church will be shipping the machines down for us and we will serve a deliverers and trainers to the people. Everything has been falling into place so nicely. We feel blessed for this opportunity. Check out this video link about it : (FYI the news guy messed up...Guyana is on the northern tip of South America NOT South Africa! )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRIBtef_hvw

Time to say goodbye and be more productive with my time. May all who reads this find happiness and joy this moment in time.

Our First Christmas

We came home to Vancouver, Wa for our First Married Christmas together! Christmas is SO MUCH BETTER when you're married (because you can buy cheaper presents for each other...haha.) We had quite the adventure trying to get here. We ended up flying from SLC to Boise, spending the night in the airport, being interviewed by news people, flying to Seattle, and having Ben's brothers drive 3 hours to come pick us up in Seattle. Portland airport was closed because of a HUGE SNOW STORM that lasted well over a week...very unusual for the area. Vancouver had its first White Christmas since we've been alive! Getting around town was rough because there are only 3 snowplows in the entire county! the city was definitely not prepared for such a "disaster". It was dubbed the "Arctic Blast of 2008". It has been nice to be with both families. We have one more week of break we will be spending in Provo before winter semester starts up. Maura will be starting her final semester of student teaching and Ben will be working and going to school doing some pre-req classes for the Public Relations major at BYU.

We wish you all a Happy New Year!