New Years Resolutions!!!

Ok so they always say if you write down your resolutions then you'll be more likely to keep them. So here are my resolutions for 2008!

1. Keep my room clean
2. Keep my plan book up to date
3. Pay my car off by the end of this summer
4. Read scriptures every day
5. Walk 10,000 steps a day
6. Be more assertive and flirt more (I know you're laughing but I really do suck at this)

Highlights of 2007!!!

Ok life has been crazy and I apologize for dropping the ball on the blogging! And I promise to catch you up! But for now here are my highlights of 2007...it has been a truly amazing year. I have had a lot of miracles this year and have some amazing people in my life.


1. Getting offered my dream job to teach 2nd grade in August before I graduated!

2. Graduating in December with my bs in elementary ed.

3. The end of the Harry Potter saga....it couldn't have ended better.

4. The super bowl...my Colt's won! Eat that Aaron one of my teams actually won and won big!

5. Summer ... This summer was the best summer ever! So much fun with both friends and family! From desert nights to motorcycle trips up the canyon. We took my niece to the zoo! We made several trips to Bear Lake...and one long boring car ride to Battlemountain, Nevada, or as I call it the middle of nowhere! Then there was the night my friends decided to attempt kidnapping me at like 2 in the morning to go up the canyon...sorry Aaron but you're not the greatest kidnapper...better luck next time! Then there was the good old NFC games...those are always fun even though we never win! This summer was in one word awesome...I miss these days!

6. Lasik...I have 20/15 vision now and it's so awesome cause I was seriously at like 20/50

Graduation

So I'm way excited! Less than 3 weeks and I graduate! Holy crap it will be nice to be done! I already have the job...now I just want the stupid degree without all this runaround. Well yay for graduation...I finally made it...it's hard to believe I will actually be done.



Myspace Countdown Clocks at WishAFriend.com

Thanksgiving...day 7

I am so thankful that I have the gospel in my life. I am often reminded how much direction and guidance I get from the gospel. I also get a lot of comfort and support from the gospel. I am truly blessed to have been born into the gospel and to live in an area where it is is abundant. I honestly don't think I would as far in life as I am now without the gospel.

Thanksgiving...day 6

So I'm gonna have to do double time to make it to 12 so here goes. The 6th thing I'm thankful for is my students. The only people who can truly understand how attached you become to your students is other teachers. I never thought I would be this attached to them...but you have to realize I spend 7 hours a day with these little people 5 days a week. I see them way more than anybody else in my life.

Anyways they bring me so much happiness and remind me of what's really important in life. I realized just how much they meant to me the other night when I cried for over an hour, after I found out how much one of my little boys was dealing with and how much he is hurting because of it. I don't want my little Thomas to have to deal with all of that. And yes I called him mine...I consider all 24 of my students to be mine. They mean the world to me and I always look forward to their hugs and their stories and sweet little personalities.

They made my day today just by being them...one brought me cookies he had made...one invited me to her baptism...and they all told me how much they are going to miss me tomorrow when we have a sub for half a day while I go to a school thing. I love them dearly and can't remember how I survived without my little rays of sunshine in my life.

The newest addition to my wonderful world of pink!

So my laptop has been having issues and I was planning on getting a new laptop anyways so I went ahead and bought one this last week. Of course for those of you who know me well...everything I own is pink. So I bought a pink laptop...but of course they don't carry pink ones at most of the stores so it's on order and I am suppose to have it this Friday although I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it makes it before Thanksgiving so I can spend my days off of school playing with my new toy! Anyways I'm excited and thought I'd share my excitement and addition to Kenzie's pink collection with you.

Thanksgiving...day 5

Ok so I've totally sucked at keeping up with this lately...life got a little insane. But this brings me to the next thing I'm thankful for...modern technology. I have to say I'm a little spoiled. My laptop died on me this last week and I hate using our home computer it's a lot slower and less convenient to use. This is one reason I haven't been keeping up with this along with having parent teacher conferences all week last week til 8 every night. But anways I'm grateful to live when I do...I'm grateful that I'm spoiled with my laptop, cell phone, ipod, digital camera, tv, dvd players, and all the other cool stuff we have these days!

Thanksgiving...Day 4

I am so grateful for the rest of my family! I have wonderful Grandparents that I was blessed to grow up next door to. They are so much fun to be around and do so much for me...besides they are amazing examples to me of charity...they are so willing still in their old age to do everything they can to help those around them and even those they don't know. They are always giving of their time and talents which they have many of. I don't know what I'll do when one day I don't have them in my life anymore. I am also very grateful for my brother Brandon and his wife Kristen who has become the sister I never had. They are great fun and also very supportive of me and always willing to help me out. Then there's my little niece who has a huge part of my heart. She is such a blessing in my life...and as many of you know I call her the love of my life and she is. She always cheers me up and brings a smile to my face. I can't get enough of her and I'm always talking or bragging about her.

Just a little addition to my 1st day of Thanksgiving

Well after today I am more grateful then ever for the life I have. Especially for my parents and for the background I come from. I teach at a title 1 school...so the majority of my kids come from pretty poor households or have spanish speaking parents or only one parent. I have one little boy who can't read in 2nd grade and has recently started having behavior issues. As I met with his parents today...they both started crying and told me that they are going through a divorce and that their son is taking it really hard. It broke my heart...I didn't realize how much I love my students until I started crying tonight because I feel so bad for this little boy and I just want to give him a big hug and tell him that things will be ok, but you know truthfully they probably won't because his dad is moving out and his mom knows almost no English. I wanted to slap the parents and tell them that he was already struggling because they don't know English and now they're only making his life harder so pull it together and make it work for the kids.

It's not fair...I don't understand why some kids have to deal with that much when they're young! He really doesn't have a lot of chance of succeeding in life and it's all because of who he got for parents. I understand that they're doing the best they can and I really don't blame them (well at least not too much) but it breaks my heart and I hope that somehow I can make this little boys life a little better.

Anyways back to the point of this blog...I am so grateful for the background that I grew up in and for parents who did everything they could to make my life easier...and thank you God for blessing me and trusting me with a better situation than a lot of kids get born into.

Thanksgiving: Day 3

Ok the 3rd thing I am thankful for is my friends. I have wonderful friends who are always there for me. I am especially thankful for my boys...Kevin, Aaron, Kurt, and Wyatt, love them dearly and would do just about anything for them. I'm also so thankful for my girls Carrie and Kayci...I have so much fun with them no matter what we are doing. I'm greatful for all my friends...they're always there for me and listen to me when I need to vent. My boys also love to tease me which is always fun too.

Thanksgiving: Day 2

The 2nd thing that I am grateful for in my life is my job! Everything worked out so well and I basically got handed my dream job the one I've been working towards for like 6 years now! I love being able to spend everyday doing what I love! I am so grateful for the wonderful students that I have and for how sweet they are. True I come home once in a while frustrated and annoyed at them...but I still wouldn't trade them for anything...well most of them that is. They always can make me smile or laugh at all the cute little things they say and how much they care about me. Anyways they bring a lot of happiness into my life...and I couldn't be more grateful to my father in heaven for working things out so I could start teaching a year early.

Thanksgiving...day 1

Well Kristen challenged me so here goes...the 12 days of Thanksgiving! I guess at least this way you'll get more blongs from me then my 1 every 6 weeks that it's been lately!
Anyways the first thing I'm thankful for is my parents. They are so supportive of me and are willing to do anything to help me...they sacrifice a lot for me...so thanks I love you both so much and wouldn't be anywhere near the person I am without you!

School Days...those crazy school days!

Wow...it's been almost a month since my last blog. Sorry the life a new teacher is pretty crazy! I know people say all the time that teachers have it nice working 9 months of the year and being off by 3:30. Well I'm here to tell you that I'm still waiting for a day that I get off work at 3:30. Heck I'm waiting for a day I get off at 5:00. Anyways life is good, teaching is great! Love my kids...serioulsy the cutest class of 2nd graders ever (so I may be just a little biased but oh well).
Anyways nothing is new but I do have a cute story...you're probably sick of them by now oh well get used to them. My students every once in a while ask if we can talk about me and then
I let them ask me like 3 questions. Well on Monday they asked and so I gave them 2 questions. My 1st question was "teacher do you want a boyfriend?" I responded "yeah that would be nice I wouldn't mind having one." Then my adorable little Anakela said..."well then let's go to the store and get you one!" I laughed and said "um honey you can't buy a boyfriend." She replied "No but if we all go over to the store then we can wander around until we find a guy and then we'll tell him that he needs to date our pretty teacher." That's when I had an ahhhhh! moment. I thought that was precious...they are seriously such sweet little kids...I adore them and look forward to seeing them evey day. In fact when I had to get a sub I totally missed my kids and sat and thought about what they were doing with the sub the whole time.
One more cute story and then I'll end I promise. So last week my principal came in to watch me teach for a half hour. Well whenever he walks through the door I get super nervous. So not sure if it was my being nervous or that it was pretty hot in our classroom for some reason or probably more likely a combination of both. Anyways my face felt like it was on fire. So my principal gets up and leaves and one of my little girls says..."Miss Wintle your face is red you look like a Strawberry!" I said "oh great... a strawberry huh?" And then one of my other students said...."It's ok you look like a very pretty strawberry!" It made me laugh!
Well that's it for now...I'm going to try to get some pictures of some of our fun stuff at school up this week though...so keep watching!

Playing Tag!

1. What was I doing 10 years ago: Hmm.. September 1997--Well I was 12 and just barely starting Jr. High. Yikes that was a long time ago. I was so shy back then to I didn't talk much to anybody except my small group of friends. My locker partner was Jessie...I miss that girl!

2. What was I doing 5 years ago: September 2002-- Well I was just starting my senior year in high school. I was really excited because I was just starting a tutor class that I got to the elementary every other day for a couple of hours and work with a 2nd grade class. I was also taking two day care classes and loving them. But then of course there was also my ap stats class and my ap english class...they were hard and took a lot of time. I was probably going to football games every weekend with my friends too. Good times!

3. What was I doing 1 year ago: September 2006--I was in college up at Weber! I was taking some general ed classes again and taking a break from the eduation program so I could get the rest of those out of the way. I had just started hanging out with the group of guys that I now consider by best friends. I dyed my hair last september too...dark brown for the first time.

4. What was I doing yesterday: September 21, 2007-- Well I was teaching my 2nd graders. We took our spelling test and we had a math test yesterday. But then we played a spelling review game that they love and beg to play every day. Then we had to go to music and it was early out day. So I graded papers and got stuff ready for monday til like 6. Then I went to the drive in with some friends and saw Ratitioule and Stardust.

5. Snacks I enjoy: Ice Cream, chocolate covered cinnamon bears, cookies, brownies, crackers and cheese, chips and salsa

6. Things I would do if I suddenly had a million dollars: Buy a house, go shopping, travel

7. Locations I would runaway to: Anywhere with a beach!

8. Bad habits I have: not being able to say no, biting my nails, swearing at bad drivers

9. Things I like doing: Hanging out with my family and friends, shopping, snowmobiling, jet skiing, hiking

10. Things I don't like doing: Doing homework, cleaning the house, watching football on tv

11. TV shows I like: Lost, Heroes, Prison Break, Reba, Hope and Faith, Jericho

12. Biggest joys of the moment: Teaching 2nd grade and my little 2nd graders and the cute things they say, playing with my niece, when I actually have time to go hang out with my friends and have fun, and of course the obvious...shopping!

13. Who am I going to tag: Well whoever wants to...cause the only person whose blog I read is Kristen's and she already did it!

School Days!

So I haven't blogged it up in a while. I don't have much free time these days. My life is pretty much teacher mode 24/7 these days. So this will be short and sweet.

I love my class...I have the cutest darn kids in the whole world. They are so sweet and fun and keep me laughing and smiling most of the time. We have lots of fun together and on the weekends I really honestly miss them...well most of them. ; )

Today we were discussing the food pyramid and I was trying to draw macaroni on the board for them to guess what it was. Of course I suck at art so I said.."sorry this is the best I can do, your teacher isn't an artist" To which one of my little girls replied "Don't worry teacher it's ok cause you're pretty!" I started laughing. They're so cute..I'm already way attached and don't know what I ever did without them.

Labor Days...Literally!!!

School started last Wednesday so life has been a little crazy! But I love it, I'm having a blast teaching. I can honestly say it's probably the hardest thing I've ever done (I'm exhausted when I get home at night) but it is worth it. My classroom isn't quite put together all the way yet but when it gets done I'll have to post some pictures of it. I have 21 of the cutest kids ever! They always manage to make me smile and laugh at the funny things they say. I only have 2 students in my class that I could live without, but I'm up for the challenge. Anyways they're adorable and I love teaching. I'll have to keep you posted with all the cute things they say. Last week one of my little boys whispered to another one "Our teacher is the prettiest 2nd grade teacher!" That one made me smile, except then I realized the other 2nd grade teachers are all in their 60's, so maybe not such a compliment, oh well, I'll take what I can get!


Anyways this weekend was a blast and a nice break from being a 24/7 teacher with no life durring the week! Sunday after church my family all headed up to our cabin for the rest of the labor day weekend! Sunday night we went fourwheeling and saw a couple of big bull moose fighting with their antlers hooked, which was pretty dang cool! Then we went back and had just started playing a card game when the power went out. We lit all the candles we could find, then started lighting all the old oil lamps we have up there and found a lantern and lit it too. So we all sat around it and finished our game. It was lots of fun!
The next morning Kristen, Brandon, and I all went down to the outlet stores in Park City, which are only about 30 minutes from our cabin, and went shopping. Now you all know how much I love shopping, so of course I had fun and got lots of cute new clothes and some cute jewlery, plus I got some awesome deals. When we got back we went four wheeling some more. Brandon made me lead and you all know how animals have a thing about running out in front of me... well my Grandma said as I left don't run over any moose. Yeah thanks Grandma...I had two moose and one deer run out in front of me...apparently somebody alerted the animals that I was driving...but no I didn't manage to hit any! We saw a big moose laying in a pond and my brother decided to go wading in the pond with the moose, the moose didn't mind much he just laid at the other end, which really wasn't that far away, while we played around. Anyways it was a great weekend, full of shopping, four wheeling, and wildlife. Oh and we also learned that the plural of moose is moose, score another point for the girls, we won another one!

Miss Wintle ... 2nd Grade Teacher

So the last couple days have been really exciting! I didn't have to work Monday so I was planning on sleeping in and then just having a really laid back day to get a lot of stuff done! Well at 9:00 (which is only sorta sleeping in to me) I got a phone call from the principal at the school I was suppose to be doing my student teaching at ... he told me one of the 2nd grade teachers had just quit and that he was having a hard time finding somebody to replace her ... and then he offered me the job. So I spent all day gathering up all the stuff I needed to turn into the District to go about getting hired.

Anyways then today I went and met with the principal and had an interview. After the interview he asked me if I wanted the job...I said yes of course and he said ok you're hired I'll take care of the district and we'll get you all figured out. So then I got to spend all day unpacking boxes and setting up and decorating my classroom. It's so exciting to have my own classroom.

This is something I have been waiting for and working towards for about 5 years. So I am so incredibly happy right now, I don't even know how to describe how I'm feeling! It's amazing to see my name on the teacher directory as one of the 2nd grade teachers and to be introduced as Miss Wintle the new 2nd grade teacher. It still throws me off when somebody says 'your classroom' to me.

Anyways it will be basically like an internship cause I won't have my degree til December and I'll get paid 80% of what a normal salary for a starting teacher is until I get my degree in December and then I will get a raise. It's gonna be a lot of work for a couple weeks but it's still so exciting. The students start back next Wednesday so I have to get everything ready by then...which seems like a while but it's not cause there's a ton to do.

So I'll be teaching 2nd grade at Holt Elementary in Clearfield. Oh and for those who don't know me very well 2nd grade is the grade I've always wanted to teach. So basically my dream job was just handed to me out of nowhere!

Lots of riding and a little gambling!

So this last week I spent a lot of time riding in the back of a car! My aunt Grace died Monday after a long battle with Colin cancer! So on Thursday afternoon we left for Battlemountain, Nevada! Seriously the most boring town I think I may have ever been to! It was about a 5 or 6 hour trip with a few stops in there (including Wendover where I gambled for the first time and decided it was dumb because I lost). It was fun to do a road trip with my brother and his family though cause it was our first! We headed home the next day after the funeral.

Then Saturday morning we left for Bear Lake for a weekend of playing on the beach and chillin' with the other side of the family! It was my Grandpa's 75th birthday and the first time the whole family has been together in a couple years! It was fun to spend time with my cousins Creed and Landon who have been on missions and just recently got home!

Blog!

Well I've decided to try the blog thing! I'm not sure how often you'll get a blog from me but I'll do my best!

But I'll start with explaining the name of my blog... my moto in life is this....


So when I'm having a hard time I just try to remember to keep smiling and enjoy life cause life is always gonna have it's hard times.