Children's Lit

It's official....

Our house has been taken over by books. Picture books, comic books, young adult novels, and the ever present (and dreaded) textbooks.

Jorden has been a great sport at putting up with the stacks of books that can be found on the dining room table, coffee table and other available surfaces. My collection is quickly growing beyond the limits of our bookshelves. We're both looking forward to moving in July and having a bit more space.

I've always loved reading. As a kid, I would occasionally get grounded from books because I'd read them all day (and night). Sadly, college life hasn't left a ton of time for fun reading. This semester is remarkably different. One of my courses is Children's Literature which not only has weekly book reports, but several major book projects.

The first one of these is the Picture Book project which required the reading of 25 Caldecott Award Winners.

After reading all of these books, I did a paper on which one I thought was the best picture book and why. I chose Flotsam, a wordless picture book which tells the story of an underwater camera that washes up on different shores around the world. It has beautiful illustrations which allow emergent readers or ELLs (English Language Learners) create their own story without being restricted by text on the page. Here's my accompanying poster (art is not my strong suit, so I kept it simple).

Btw, if you haven't read Flotsam, I highly recommend it! David Weisner writes some fun books!!

I recently finished reading Cinder, a sci-fi take on the Cinderella fairy tale. It is the first in the Lunar Chronicles book series. These focus on unconventional spins on fairytales staring strong heroines. I loved Cinder and got very into the story line. Because of that, I don't know how much I'll like the sequel Scarlet which brings in the storyline of Little Red Riding Hood.

Now I'm working on my Multicultural Book Project, which requires the reading of any 6 books from the more recent Notable Books For a Global Society list. After that I get to adapts a children's novel into a Reader's Theatre script. Between all of these projects I am becoming quite familiar with the Juvinile section at both BYU's library and the Provo City Library.

The obvious benefit of this class: reading books when I normally wouldn't, is also the down side. Between all of these book projects and weekly book reports, I feel like I always have my nose in a book. This week's book is Making Lemonade. The author, Virginia Euwer Wolff will be attending class on Thursday. It came today via Amazon, so I better get cracking.

If you have a favorite book, particularly elementary or middle grade, let me know!!! I am working on compiling an awesome book list!

We're Back!

Hi Y'all!!!

It's been a while since we've had our blog up and running. Take note of the new domain for our blog, it's a bit different than before. I hope to have updates on here as to the exciting happenings of our lives. I'm working on a website for my technology in the classroom course, which makes me miss our personal blog all the more.

The new year has brought about some exciting new developments. Jorden has been able to work on a variety of exciting productions, including the Sundance Film Festival and Olympic Pre-Trials in Park City, some ESPN games, and a bunch of other random projects.

I have a new opportunity to finish off my degree with an internship instead of student teaching. This would mean that I would attend classes throughout the summer to finish off my coursework at BYU. Then, come August 17th, I would have my own classroom full-time for the full school year. I'm incredibly excited! The only thing I'm truly apprehensive about is that I don't get to choose my own grade level. The principal will place me wherever he or she thinks I will be the best fit. Depending on the grade level, I have some fun classroom themes in mind. All of this means that Jorden has a huge job keeping me sane, at which he does great.

In the meantime, we've been enjoying winter in Provo. Jorden laughs at how I seem to turn into an excited 5 year old every time it starts snowing. Somehow the novelty still hasn't worn off. Provo is conveniently located near several of our siblings; it has been wonderful getting to visit with them as often as we do. Game nights are still among our favorite things to do and Jorden gladly takes advantage of any opportunity to play Nerts.

Spring is near!!!

Well, hopefully.

Here in Utah, we had several days of beautiful weather. Walking across campus I was tempted to join my fellow students and study out in the sun. Yet, it decided to snow last week, and again yesterday.

Regardless of the dreary weather, I wanted to invite warm weather to return by making a spring time wreath. I've never made a wreath before, but armed with some craft supplies and a glue gun, I was ready to go.

Here's the end result:

I'm looking forward to bright and sunny days ahead! 

Go Green!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We started off the festivities last monday when Jorden and I went to the dollar store with the goal to see how many green things we could find to send in a "Greenie" care package. Our friend, Char, just left on her mission to the Farmington New Mexico mission. It was fun to see what we came up with. Jorden's been really busy lately with work as I have been with homework, so being able to spend an evening together was so much fun. We were able to get a green mani-pedi kit, green mirror, a green jar (filled with some of our favorite scriptures), and a cake mix thrown fun all thrown in a green bag. 

Later, while mindlessly browsing Pintrest, I found an amazing recipe for No Bake Thin Mint Truffles. I have a weakness for anything mint, and since they were green I though - Why not make them for St. Patrick's Day!

The truffles were pretty easy to make; all you need is:

1 Package Keebler GRASSHOPPER Mint Chocolate Cookies

1/2 Brick of Cream Cheese

1 Package Almond Bark (seperated)

Mint Green Food Coloring (I used Wilton coloring gel from Michael's Craft store)

The recipe tells you crumb the cookies in a food processor. 

I crushed them in ziplock bags first because my food processor is puny.

After crumbing the cookies you're supposed to add in the cream cheese in the food processor and pulse until the mixture is moist throughout. However, again with the food processor that did not go as planned. So I employed the never fail, hand mix method. Problem solved! I shaped them into tsp. sized balls and melted Almond bark. After dying the melted Almond bark green, I used skewers to dip in the cookie balls. 

After the green bark hardened, I drizzled white bark over the top. They came out pretty decent for my first time using a double boiler. 

The finished product

We took these over to my brother and sister in law's for her birthday, and they were a HIT! Just a couple of these truffles will satisfy any sweet tooth. 

Drama Queen

Last year as I was working on a project for my multicultural education class, I was faced with coming up with a label for myself. Not sure what to put (I'm always a tad indecisive), I took to Facebook to see what friends and family would have to say. My sister Karlyn quickly responded with "Drama Queen." I like to think that there are several reasons for that.

This is from 2011 when I went to the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City. All the world's a stage!

Yes, I have always been a very passionate person (read "slightly melodramatic"). The reason I tend to go with is that I love theatre. Pure and simple. Theatre has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. When my older siblings did shows at the Junior Theatre in Balboa Park, San Diego, I was elated at being able to walk backstage, hang out in the greenroom, or catch a glimpse of the massive costume shop. Since then I've relished in the opportunities I've had to participate in many theatrical productions on my own. I have been in a few musicals, numerous theatre classes, and costumed several shows for which I've received a few nominations and awards. At times I've been obsessed with Broadway and specific shows, well one specific show: RENT. This lead me majoring in Theatre at both the University of North Texas and Palomar Community College. 

All of this takes me to this semester. For my Elementary Education degree I need to take 2 arts classes (Drama, Dance, Visual Arts or Music). Choosing Drama was a no brainer for me. I've missed taking theatre classes and was elated at being able to incorporate it back into my schedule. 

The official title of the class is slightly ironic: Drama in the Elementary Classroom. It's a brilliant class! So far this semester we've done way more reading than I ever expected, taken personality tests, and discussed the importance of incorporating dramatic learning into our classroom. We've covered units on Story reaching, choral reading, storytelling, process drama, and puppetry. And what a theatre class be without a class play?!

In preparation for our class play, the teacher asked for volunteers for the class drama queen(s). Silence. The question is posed again. I raise my hand. I have nothing to lose by putting myself out there, and at least I get out of the partner projects, right? No one else volunteered, so I became our class' lone drama queen. By doing so, I've become the class facilitator for the devising of our play. I've gotten to work closely with Teresa, my professor Dr. Teresa Love, who has guided and supported me as I've run class the last 4 sessions. I've learned so much not only about devising a play, but also in how to foster class discussions that allows students to take charge of their own learning and construct their own ideas. It's been a blast. Together as a class, we've picked themes for our shows, developed characters, conflict, and a script.

It's neat seeing everything come together so well. My homework for the weekend is to cast the show, email it to my classmates with this weekend's assignments, and prep to teach class again on Monday. This is my first time directing anything more that a scene/vignette, so there will be many learning curves. Already I've found casting to be way more difficult that I thought. There are so many amazing possibilities!! 

I'm very excited to see how the show comes out. It's a silly and fun 20 minute play put together by 11 El Ed majors. We perform on Monday, March 25th if anyone is in the neighborhood and wants to see it. Look for pictures to come as we go into our dress rehearsal and performance. This has been such a busy, wonderful semester with every class making me more excited to become a teacher. 

Video Projects

For Christmas, I decided to splurge and get Jorden a GoPro. Not knowing anything about video cameras, I did my best to make sure I was getting something that would be useful with his projects. Judging by his reaction on Christmas morning, I succeeded.

Recently, Jorden went on a shoot with his friends and got some amazing footage of BMX riders doing tricks on a series of ramps. He shot on his Sony FS-100 per usual and took advantage of his new GoPro by strapping in onto some of the bikes. Needless to say the end results are pretty spectacular.

The video was even shared online on a Biking website called The Union.  I'm continually impressed by the amazing things that he is able to capture and create.

Recapping 2012

Although I'm a very open person and love talking with people, I have relatively little experience blogging. I have two sisters with amazing blogs, Lindsey's To a T and Amy's Oh So Savvy Mom, so I feel like I have big footsteps to follow. I'm looking forward to sharing all of the new adventures that Jorden and I have in our future. Here's a brief (or as brief as I can be) recap up till now.

2012 was an amazing year to say the least... June and August were particular highlights. 

It started off with New Years spent in Arizona with the Nashes. I headed back home for the beginning of the semester and Jorden followed the week after. School got off to a good start as I was formally accepted into BYU's Elementary Education program. I am set to graduate in April 2015 and I can't wait!

February was our first Valentine's together. Jorden surprised me with a line of hershey kisses leading from my bedroom to the kitchen table and a bouquet of flowers. We went out to dinner where he gave me tickets to the musical 9 to 5. The show wasn't until August so this became his "Insurance Policy," which actually worked. I couldn't believe my luck, I had found a wonderful handsome man who loved me, could make me laugh, AND willingly took me to musicals.

On March 1st, Jorden took me out for our 6 month anniversary. On the way back to our apartment complex, he unexpectedly made a left turn one block too early. He made a sharp turn into Wilson Jewelers, I tried to hold all the excited, squealing girlieness inside. We looked at different rings and found what we liked and didn't. We started talking with our families and 3 weeks later, Jorden put together an amazingly elaborate proposal and I said yes. 

In April, the UVU Cinematography club hosted their first film fest, put together and organized by Jorden. All the hard work and dedication he put into it really paid off.

Then came his Graduation!

The next few months were full of holidays, family and wedding planning. June came around and the wedding was finally there! Everything was wonderful. We were able to be surrounded by family and friends as we were sealed together for time and eternity in the San Diego Temple. The timing was a tender mercy as Jorden got to meet and spend time with Mom before she passed away in July. We went back to California for the funeral and to be with my family. I've been grateful in a way that the true importance of things was put into perspective right away. There weren't any little fights as we settled into life as newlyweds. Jorden was my rock in those months and still is when I have my bad days. Jorden went off to SkyCam training and I headed off to Michigan, which I quickly fell in love with. I had such a wonderful time meeting my new Nash and Hylen family. Our Grand Rapids wedding reception was such a blast. 

We came home from our Michigan trip and I had to jump straight into school. Apparently, we hadn't met our quota of travel for the year, as Thanksgiving brought us out to Texas to visit my family. I even got to show Jorden around to my mission areas and have dinner with several families in Garland. Jorden had a blast meeting everyone and trying to follow the Spanish conversations. We celebrated Christmas with our family here and in San Diego. My younger brother, Jordan, married my former roommate, Dallas, in the San Diego temple. It was so nice to get to be back there with Jorden reflecting on the last 6 months of our marriage.

Since then I've left my job at JCP portraits and got a new one as a Teacher's Assistant for Foundations of Multicultural Education, so I'm doing grading for 3 classes. It's an experience I'm really enjoying. I've also started going into schools to do observations and work with students; every experience makes me more excited to be able to teach full time. Jorden is busy working on as many film projects as he can handle. It's amazing watching him work and seeing how vast his talents and skills are. You can watch his 2012 demo reel here.

Jorden and I are looking forward the adventures that 2013 will bring, so far I've been a bridesmaid again, he's worked on 20+ projects, and we learned how to ski yesterday! Hopefully this year will be more documents, especially now that we just got a new camera, a Cannon T3i. I am so excited to have a SLR again; I haven't had one since my high school photography course. Once school calms down a bit, I'm going to have so much fun playing around with it. Life is great here in Provo for us right now. We're loving being close to so many in our family, visiting randomly and helping with home improvement projects.