Ho Hum, What to do next?

I did not realize how much I miss someone being in a show until this week. Usually there are multiple people in multiple shows around here, but right now it is pretty calm, and sort of boring. No shows, no choir, no band, nothing but school, work, and seminary.

Chris is going to start rehearsals for a Christmas show soon, but has been under the weather with a cold. He has been creating sets and costumes, but once Midsummer Night's Dream closed, things really settled down. He had great roles in that and a great write up in the newspaper, so that was fun. He really does act well in Shakespeare plays.

David was enjoying choir, show choir, and Man of La Mancha, but MOLM closed, and now with vocal nodules, he is not allowed to sing or talk for 6 weeks. Yeah... right. He is, however, my own personal chauffeur, and I am enjoying that. He is doing a great job driving.

Jacob is so busy at UNT. At least, I guess he is busy. He came home a couple of weekends ago and he and I had such a good time. We went to see UP, and had some long talks. I enjoyed it so much and I appreciated hearing how much he appreciates the stability of our family and growing up in the same house all his life. He even asked about the "kids", and we all know he doesn't even like kids!

Carrie is so busy trying to finish her last semester. She loved her student teaching in 2nd grade and loved the teacher she worked with. I think she is sad to leave and worried about how she is going to get all of her assignments for her Capstone class done. She's down to 7 weeks...I know she can do it! And best of all, Caden laughs when I am on the phone with him! Yeah!

Of course we are totally and completely excited about Christopher's engagement to Jamie. We love her and little Macie and are so excited to have them as a part of our family. I THINK the wedding will be over Spring Break, but can not confirm that just yet. Still planning...

Cathy seems so busy I can hardly find a time to talk to her! Out of town, in town but with out-of-town friends visiting, Relief Society, 2 institute classes, being interviewed on the tv news... just hard to keep up with that girl!

And Liz is loving her clinicals, and especially the Emergency Room, where I think she'll end up someday. (as an x-ray tech, not a patient). She 's so busy with the kids and school, I don't know how she does it all, but I remember those days myself, and I know these are the good years.

Guess I'll run. There is still a little more to do before the evening is over. Love all of you!

Surprise at Seminary!

I was so proud of myself the other day. I was using the infocus projector in seminary to show some video clips from conference. I had it all set up with my laptop and I had practiced hooking everything up the night before so that I could be sure I could get everything plugged in correctly etc., etc. I was just finishing up my little intro into the video clip when my computer went to the slide show because it had been on the same screen for awhile. I noticed David saying "Mom, mom" and pointing with his head to the white board. I turned around just in time to see a nice large picture of Michaelangelo's David displayed in all his glory for my seminary students.

Needless to say, I have not used the infocus projector since!

Graduation Day

The IB hood. We got to go to a special luncheon for the "hooding."

My baby.

A picture I can't figure out how to delete.

The whole gang--all 30 of us!

The proud family.

Walking off the stage

The sibs

This weekend has been so great. It was so fun to have so much family here. Poor David's 16th birthday was a little lost in the commotion, but he did get a cake on Saturday. We enjoyed having the family here and I just felt so lucky to have so much love and support from everyone. It was a little bittersweet, though, to know that one more of my children has accomplished this feat and is ready to move one to the next phase of life. I am just so proud of him and his completion of the International Baccalaureate program. As an IB candidate he had to complete 150 hours of community service over the past two years. We are anxiously awaiting the results of the two week testing all of the candidates just completed.

Conversations with the men in my house.

1. Conversation with Jacob--"Mom, I got a four year scholarship to Colorado State. " Me--"Really, that's great! " Jacob--"I think I'll go to UNT."

2. Conversation with David-- "Mom, do you need the guest list for my surprise birthday party? Remember, I want to go to that rock climbing place, but be sure you don't do the party on May 16, that's auditions for West Side Story. And work around all the banquets at the end of school, too. Maybe you should just have my surprise 16th birthday party in the summer."

3. Conversation with Chris--"Can you get the vin number for my truck off the insurance stuff?" Me--"Yes, but why?" Chris--"My truck has been stolen from the parking lot at work."

Conclusion of my Sunday School Lesson

On one occasion Joseph said to a group of priesthood holders:

“Brethren, I have been very much edified and instructed in your testimonies here tonight, but I want to say to you before the Lord, that you know no more concerning the destinies of this church and kingdom than a babe upon its mother’s lap. You don’t comprehend it.” “It is only a handful of priesthood you see here tonight, but this church will fill North and South America it will fill the world.”

“It will fill the Rocky Mountains. There will be tens of thousands of Latter-day Saints who will be gathered to the Rocky Mountains, and there they will open the door for the establishing of the gospel among the Lamanites, who will receive the gospel and their endowments and the blessings of God. This people will go into the Rocky Mountains; they will there build temples to the Most High. They will raise up a posterity there, and the Latter-day Saints who dwell in these mountains will stand in the flesh until the coming of the Son of Man. The Son of Man will come to them while in the Rocky Mountains.” (Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, pp. 38,39)

"I contemplated several things as I was there, one of the most amazing to me being that from that hillside temple site at the southeast end of the Salt Lake Valley you can see three temples, Draper, Jordan River, and Oquirrh Hills. If there weren't so many tall buildings surrounding it you could see Salt Lake too. What a blessing to this place!" (Laurie's Blog on Feb. 27, 2009 )

Thanks, Laurie, for a great ending to my Sunday School lesson. Sometimes I forget we are seeing prophecieis fulfilled all around us.

Twin Peaks

Cathy's story about IHOP reminded me that I, too, went to a restaurant this week. My friend and I went to lunch and decided to try out this new restaurant--Twin Peaks--which advertised food, drinks, and scenic views. So I was thinking of some kind of mountain decor or something. We walk in and low and behold--we are the only women in there, except for the ones showing their "twin peaks."

Think Hooters and you'll get the picture--lots of skin, little clothing, lots and lots of men. We went to On the Border.

Can You Believe It?

I am sorry to report that cheating is alive and growing. In the last two weeks I have "caught" students cheating 3 times, and I am sad to say that I have probably not caught even more.

The first time, two students came in during morning tutorials to get help with their homework. I was standing right beside them when I noticed one copying homework for another class. I asked what he/she was doing, and he/she replied that they had lost their homework, so had gone to the teacher to get another page. So I pursued it and asked if the other teacher knew he/she was copying someone else's homework. The other student jumped in and said, yes, they saw the teacher together and she said it was ok. So I said, "Then, when I email the other teacher to confirm that she gave you permission to copy homework, she will tell me that it is okay?" "Oh," the second student said. "Well, no, not exactly, but she knew we were together and that student #1 had done the homework but had lost it." So I took up both homework pages and emailed the teacher about the copying. A few days later one of the students gave me a note apologizing (that was nice) and explaining that since he/she had actually done the homework the night before, he/she felt it was okay to copy someone else's. I did not know that if you first do your homework, then it is acceptable to copy someone else's if you lose yours.


A few days later a teacher emailed me about two students in one of my classes. During her class she had taken up the homework that was being copied. So I talked to the two students, gave them zeroes, and told them I wanted a note from their parents explaining they knew why the students were receiving a zero on the assignment. One student brought the note with a request that the student not be given a zero since the homework was actually done, but perhaps could have a different punishment because said student is very naive and did not actually realize it was wrong. Second student (who I forgot to mention, talked during a quiz the same day and admitted that he/she had asked for an answer) said the note was in a binder which was, unfortunately, left at home. So , time for phone call. Parent knew nothing about either incident nor the note, but assured me it would be taken care of at home, and sure enough the note arrived the next day. Now the student hates me.

Finally, we were correcting homework, and I was giving out the answer. Towards the end, one student raised her hand and said, "What is the answer you gave to 4th period?" (This was 5th period.) I asked why. Student said, "I don't know, I was just wondering what you told the other class." Now isn't that interesting. Why would he/she even wonder if the answer was different in a previous class. Hmmm. And just before that, a student who is a regular goof off and frequently does not do homework at all, gave a completely correct, very detailed answer to one of the questions. At the time it struck me as very strange because that student does not usually do homework, much less give that kind of correct detail. At the time I wondered how that had happened. But what I can't figure out is, there is only 5 minutes between classes. How on earth did they get all the answers so fast?

Here's the irony--in all of those classes I am teaching about ethics. I was using the example in the news about the lady who gave birth to the octuplets, and how the medical world was saying it was unethical to deliberately place the mother's health and the babies' health in danger. Maybe next week we'll get a little more personal in our discussion of ethics: we'll talk about cheating.