Back to School... Back to School...

I know that school has been in session now for about a month, but I am just now finding time to update the blog.


Daniel has started into his second year at USU-CEU, and to say the least is rather busy. He is taking Physics for Scientists and Engineers (I don't even want to think about all the hard stuff they are learning!) Calculus, Chemistry, and Intro to Film, with two different labs added on to that! He is still doing his best to keep working - I worry because there are some nights where he goes without any sleep, or only 3 or 4 hours at most. I've started dreaming of the day that we can function somewhat normally - meaning having schedules that allow us to see each other at night, cook/eat dinner together, and wake up at a normal time together. However, as it has been for the last 2.5 years (only seeing each other on weekends if we are lucky), it seems it is going to continue for many more at the rate we are going...


For me school has started - and I am loving teaching. There are a lot of stressors and things to remember for a first year teacher. It is a challenge to keep up with it all, but on the days when I get to have fun with my students, see them succeed, or even enjoy a sepcific lesson that was hard to grasp or teach - makes it worth all the work! I started out with 25 students, had one transfer to Cleveland Elem. and one move to St. George on Friday - so I am now down to 23, which is a good number. My kids are good listeners and work hard when asked. They are awesome. My emphasis is in Lang. Arts, but I have found that my love is more centered with the Arts. I knew that already, but I am intergrating them into all the other subjects that I teach. Just today, because the kids couldn't remember how to count by 3's, we learned a song that helps us count up to 33. I have also been teaching the kids music in the afternoon, we rotate with the other two 4th grade teachers, so I have been teaching ALL of the 4th graders music. We are currently learning about beat and rhythm - and have been doing different activities with those. Last week we played "Who Wants To Be A Musician?" and today we found the beat in music and illustrated it by using body percussion. What excites me most is that my kids are learning and remembering things :)

Below are a few pics I've had for a while, that I am just putting up. Enjoy! Hope all is going well with everyone else and the busy world that we live in. I have found that I can't get too busy to not notice and appreciate the little things such as: hugs from a student, giving encouragement to a student who needs it, Daniel straightening up the house when he has a few minutes between classes, my mom and dad inviting me over for dinner when I don't have time to cook during the week, all these little things make life easier, more enjoyable, and remind us of the blessings we have and the things that need to be important in our lives.


My Reading Corner, Classroom Library with books sorted by genre. Love the containers that I found at Dollar Tree.


My awesome hall passes that Daniel cut for me, I sanded, and he offered to wood burn for me. The kids love them, and so do I! If you can't tell I sort of went with an "outdoor" theme - Daniel also built me a stool out of wood. :)


This is the "Welcome" bulliten board I made and put up - It is a Twister board game, turned out cute, each circle had one of my students names on it.



A saying that I have heard about teachers is very true, everyone knows that teachers are not paid enough for the job that they do. Money is not everything - it is the students and their achievements, or the unconditional love that I have for them, and they for me, that makes it worth it!

Busy Summertime..

My lack of time spent working on the blog is showing since it has been well over a month or two.. or three almost that I have not updated - but it has been a busy time.

In May we had a wedding, Daniel's sister Maegan got married so there were bridal showers, setting up for the wedding in and of itself, and then the actual wedding and reception. They are all married off now and getting their house put together - its surprising how slowly that comes together, I am still finding things I need in my house almost 2.5 years later!

In June my little brother Jared went through the Temple because he would be leaving about a month later on his mission. We also had another wedding, Daniel's brother Conlee got married, so that again was a busy weekend, and long. We traveled to Manti, then to Richfield, and then home again...

Daniel with his counsin Travis' little girl Morgan, she is a doll and a sweetheart - Daniel and I fight over her :)

July brings us to doing many things with our families, the 4th was spent in Richfield playing with the "cousins" Maren, Maddie, Brigham, Jake, Colton, Cassidy, Morgan.. and so on - Daniel found out that he quite enjoys playing poker.. with no actual money involved. While in Richfield he stayed up until 3 a.m. bidding against his uncles. Just this past weekend was Jared's "farewell" and he entered the MTC on Wednesday - he's going to be an awesome missionary, but I know that both Daniel and I are going to miss him!

Jared with our niece Reagan three nights before he entered the MTC - she was able to put a smile on his face!

The rest of the summer will be spent trying to figure out all that I need to get ready before school starts, I have done a lot already, but there is so much to do.. and a lot that you don't really know what to do until you've taught for a year and know what to expect - yay for the little (in this case, huge) learning experiences! Daniel has been working on building furniture (for others, and for my classroom - he's my handyman), and working many hours out to the Ridge Road Shop. We are planning a gettaway for this coming weekend because we haven't been able to go camping yet, pictures to come!

Hope everyone is enjoying their hot summer! Its starting to come to a close too soon!

Change is a good thing...

There has been a lot of change going on in our lives lately, most of it is good :)

Since the last post Daniel and I have both finished with school, Daniel made it successfully through his first year back at college and I am proud of him for it! He worked VERY hard this last semester with all of his homework and still working 40 hours a week, but he made it.

I finished up my student teaching in my 2nd grade class, and was sad to leave me kids - but it led me to bigger things. I graduated from USU with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Elementary Education. I also applied for a job in the Carbon County School District and secured a position teaching 4th grade at Castle Heights Elementary. I am very excited to start preparing things for August, but have been putting the lesson plans off because I want a bit of a break before I dive in again. My classroom needs to be put together and is currently known as "The Boneyard" because it has been empty for 1+ years, so it has been a storage space for things not wanted by teachers. I am excited to get the stuff out of our little apartment and into my classroom so that it will stop taking up room at home! IF ANYONE IS GETTING RID OF BOOKS TALK TO ME FIRST! I need to build up my classroom library, so I welcome any books! :)

I wish I had more pictures from graduation, I do have some with my family that I still need to get. They are still on my parents camera. This is a cute one of my niece Reagan wearing my cap :)

Next bit of change is the fact that I chopped off my hair. I donated it again to Locks of Love, cut off about 15 inches, and donated about 12 inches. I needed a change, while I do like my hair long and curly, I wanted to try something new and different with this new phase begining in my life!

Daniel and I are doing well, just keeping busy, through the summer he is still working full time, and looking for other work to do as well. In his spare time he is going to tackle some long awaited log furniture that he has had designed to build for ages, if you are interested in some pieces give us a call, they are beautiful! Me, for now I will be getting my classroom ready and trying to get a job for 2 months... :) Take care and enjoy this cooler weather before the hot summer really hits!

Time Flies!

We are still alive and kicking we promise! We have just been busy to the max with our school lives that the blog and other things got pushed to the side. We are now sitting on 2 weeks left in the semester. I graduate on April 28th and finish my student teaching on the 30th. Daniel's finals week are over on the 30th. We are relieved to see that the end is in sight for both of us, this has been a grueling semester, I don't know how we survived! Daniel has been able to work 40 hours a week all semester and kept up with the requirements of school. I have survived one block of student teaching and hope that this second one will not kill me off! :)

We have been able to have a little bit of fun here and there on the weekends, which is the time that we have been able to see each other. During the week we see each other through closed eye lids because I am awake when Daniel is sleeping and I am sleeping when Daniel is awake and not home. Below is a picture from a trip we were able to go on for my birthday, we both came away with a set of elk horns, as did Daniel's sister Mindi. I have to brag a little bit, I spotted mine clear across the canyon where 1 horn turned into a total of 4. Needless to say my house is being taken over by shed horns once again! Its a good thing we don't have small children! :) Daniel would have a hard time parting with the horns, but at least I have helped contribute this year!

Spring Fever!

Daniel and I have both had spring fever and have wanted a break from our hectic schedules, but until the last few weekends we haven't caught a break. Daniel is still plugging away at his classes and working fulltime, trying to stay on top of math with a professor who doesn't care how fast he goes. I have recently started my second block of student teaching, where I am not in 2nd grade. It has taken some getting used to because I really miss my third graders more than I have missed any other students before, but it gets better as the weeks keep coming. We are both just ready to be done! I actually walk for graduation on April 28th and am so excited that the end is really in sight! I've started the process of applying for jobs here in the Carbon School District where they have 9 openings, and we will see where that takes us, but cross your fingers I get hired :)

The pictures below are of a few shed hunting trips that we have been able to go on together.

These are the horns that Daniel and I were able to find not too far away from home, the two small ones in the middle are my first ever set that I have found, its just a little three point, but it is still a set! The horn on the left is one side of the 5 point Daniel, Jared, and I have been watching and waiting for him to drop, we still need to find the other side.

This is a really neat set that Daniel picked up, he picked up one side one week, then went back the next week with me and found the other side about 20 feet away from my little 3 point set.

Jared's first shed horn! Woohoo! We hope he catches the fever and enjoys going shed hunting. We want to take him more before he leaves on his mission for MEXICO MEXICO CITY!!!! :D

Daniel picking up the second side to his big set close to home. He's happy!

Shed hunting trip to the Henry Mountains we were able to go on last weekend. This is Cody and his big 5 by 4 set that Daniel helped him find the other side too.

Me and my two ginormous horns, the left horn is the other side to a set that my father-in-law found a year ago and kindly gave to me :) and the right horn is a gigantic horn that is bladed and massive, scoring 84 for the single horn.. if we find the other side it will score close to 190, and awesome buck, wish we could find him brown too.

Mine and Daniel's finds for the day down on the Henrys, not too bad (Me = 1 brown and 2 white Daniel = 4 browns not counting his help for Cody :) )

The whole groups shed horns.. all in all I think we picked up between 25 and 30 horns that day. Good day tater' as Daniel would say :)

Happy Anniversary Sweetheart!

Because I don't have much time for personal time on the internet I am writing this post three days early.

Happy Two Year Anniversary Daniel!! We've made it two years! I cannot believe how quickly the time goes by, and I know that everyone says that, but it's true. We've done so much together, but then it also seems like we have never been able to spend enough time with each other!

Daniel is a sweetheart and I love him so much, I appreciate his willingness to work himself almost to death to support us while I am in my last semester of school and cannot work while Student Teaching. I wish that we both had more time for each other, and that he could take a week and go shed hunting in the mountains so he can get a little bit of a break. However, all of this hardwork, dedication, and mainly seeing each other behind closed eye-lids of sleep will pay off in us both having degrees, Daniel being able to support his family, and if need be I will have a degree to fall back on if I decide to not teach while we raise a family.

Highlights of the past two years:

- GETTING MARRIED!

- Daniel coming home from working in Greenriver!

- Paying off the Truck!

- Sunday naps that somehow go from 1 hour to 2 hours

- Shed hunting!

- Camping in the beautiful mountains with just the two of us!

- Shooting the biggest buck Daniel has ever seen in real life!

- Me shooting my first deer with Daniel by my side and having a blast.

- Calling in a Rag horn bull elk to 5 feet from me while Daniel is laughing behind me in the trees.

- Fourwheeler rides

-Getting my cat Bella, even though Daniel hates cats... another reason I love himfor putting up with her!

- Almost monthly Temple Trips

- Adventure to Arizona

- Attending the Hunting Expo for our First Anniversary....

- Trips to Coldstone for dinner when we are both craving it.

- The two or three times Daniel has washed dishes in the last two years :S

- Daniel coming to support me in Ballets, Dance Recitals, or Wind Symphony Concerts even though he would much rather be elsewhere.

- Taking up shooting a bow together, practicing in the driveway by our house and me trying not to shoot into the lot behind the target.

- Teaching the sunbeams together at church.

- Making Daniel wait for me because I am always late to church and a few other functions :P

Thanks sweetheart for the last two years, and the many more of eternity to come!

3rd Grade Thoughts..

I have to first say that the classroom I am student teaching in presents many new challenges almost daily with management. The students have a hard time getting along with each other, and there is something about the chemistry of the students that seems to cause an explosion like unto one in a chemistry lab when the wrong chemicals are mixed... KABOOM! Students off-task, talking, boys play fighting, and it all happens at once, and not only because I am acting as their teacher, it was happening before.

While I hate being the teacher that makes the kids practice, practice, practice the procedures that is what we have ended up doing at least once a week if not more. Good procedures reduce the transtion time from one activity/lesson to the next which leaves less room for students to be off task.

I just keep reminding myself that I am learning valuable information from these students, and while sometimes I seem to be at my whits end there are the little bonuses that come from teaching that always keep you going.

Highlights from this week, good and bad :) -

"Mrs. Luke, can we do a net this afternoon, I really like it the other day when we did that in math" - YAY! Goes to show that what you teach the kids rubs off and they remember, especially the things that they enjoy.

"Mrs. Luke, so-and-so and so-and-so told me that they don't like you as their teacher." Me -"Well *Courtney, as your teacher I can't care if people like me or not, if I were here only to get you and the other girls to like me I would never get anything done. I am here to teach you, not to try and be everyone's friend." *Courtney - "Well Mrs. Luke, I don't care what they think, I like you! I think you're the best student teacher I have ever had." Of which I will probably be the only student teacher she will ever have :)

****Names were changed for the sake of my students, but I had to share this story. I have come to find that in the profession that I am going into I really cannot care what the people think about me, and for someone who used to be very timid and shy and cared too much sometimes what other people thought, can now be placed in a stressful situation with supervisors or supporting teachers, or principals, and not care what they think because I have my own "job" to do. :)

3 Dimensional Figures from the mouth's of innocent babes?

I have survived week three in the terrors of terrors. On the upside, I am learning many things in methods and ways of Classroom Management. I am learning to use my "loud teacher voice" and see the looks of astonishment on the students faces on the occasion that I have to yell a little bit to get their attention. I am sure that with my voice it doesn't seem like yelling, but if they push my buttons enough it makes it easier to have the "umph" to get my vocal chords to work hard.

I have been taking the class solo this week because my Cooperating Teacher's daughter had a baby, and while I am not supposed to be the substitute, that is exactly what I was. Due to the fact that Utah State will not let their Student Teachers be paid while in their last semester of school I will not get compensated in any form other than the joys of being a teacher.

Highlights of my week:

Teaching the students how to play SPARKLE and seeing the light in their eyes and the desire and determination to earn playing the game.

After reading Purple, Green, and Yellow by Robert Munsch to the kids and asking the students to finish the story. In this story Brigid gets coloring markers, three different kinds, in which she gets bored with them. The last kind of coloring markers her mother buys for her is "Super-indelable-never-come-off-til-your-dead-or-maybe-even-later-coloring markers" and then the students finished the story. I had all sorts of endings. One of which Brigid received 3-D coloring markers. These kids amaze me with their creativity.

Today during our math lesson on 3-D shapes we were talking about width, and for some reason got on the subject of the width of me as their teacher. I had one student actually tell me that "I was as plump as a pig" of which I like to think that I am no where near that, and then the reassurance of all the other students "No teacher! You're as skinny as a stick!" :) Oh from the mouths of babes...

And I still have to add, I have not resolved the issue of the students sticking their papers in my face, they are so excited to hand them in and let me look at them, there is no patience from them at all. Therefore, numerous times a day I proclaim to the children, "Calm down, do not stick your paper in my face, I will not take it!"

Have a good weekend! May yours bring you rest and relaxation!

Teacher! Teacher!!

So the days begin of my student teaching and the joys that come from it. With 3rd graders it isn't as bad, but there is still the occasional "Teacher!" or the more often than not papers shoved under your nose as you are trying to answer a question from students who are too impatient to wait nicely.

I am so glad that I have reached this point in my education, but I can say that I am ready to actually be a teacher, and not have to report back to so many people, when I am a teacher my main person to report to will be the Principal, not my cooperating teacher, principal, supervisor, and the University.

The classroom I am in right now is going to teach me a lot about classroom management, which is actually a blessing in disguise. To have a class that I have to work to control will teach me how I need to manage one of the hardest classrooms, my supervisor tells us that "Classroom Management can make or break a teacher." This is proving to be true, he also told me that he can tell what teachers have control as early as the second week of school. You can be an amazing teacher, but if you can't get your students to be quiet long enough to learn then you are not going to get anywhere.

Highlights of my two weeks student teaching so far:

"Teacher, I didn't recognize you with your hair down, I have to get used to you looking this way, and then when you wear your hair up again I won't recognize you then either!"

"Mrs. Luke, when I grow up I want to work at Disneyland as an Imaginier (spelling?), they are the people who invent all the fun rides from the movies."

"Mrs. Luke, so and so won't stop touching me!"

"Mrs. Luke, I drew this picture for you."

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and the semester in which we will never see each other!

Christmas was an enjoyable holiday for both of us. Daniel and I had our second Christmas together. Daniel wanted to open presents on Christmas Eve so we could sleep in the next morning, I wouldn't let him! We went to my parents house after we did our own thing, had a breakfast of delicious sour dough pancakes and buttermilk syrup, and then exchanged presents. Daniel then went on to play Jared's new game for the Wii for the next two hours, Cabela's Big Game Hunter. I finally had to pry Daniel's fingers away from the controller to get him to the car to get to Orangville and Ferron to visit with his family. We had visited my Grandma Wilson and Uncle David in Huntington the night before Christmas Eve, so went straight to Orangville to visit Grandma and Grandpa Luke. From there we went to the Luke's and had Christmas there, and watched Daniel play nintendo with Conlee for a few hours (Which is why we do not have a Nintendo of any kind.. nothing would ever get done, and Daniel would have bad grades) We had dinner that night, yummy roast and cheesy funeral potatoes, and frog-eye salad.

For New Year's we traveled down the Richfield to visit Grandma and Grandpa Hansen, Uncle Brian, Aunt Debbie, and the kids. We had a blast down there, even though Maddie still won't give Daniel a hug even if I am there to help her. :) We went sledding with the kids, Brigham was a stud going down any hill, and Daniel would carry him back to the top because his legs got tired. Maddie loved eating the snow, Maren missed out because she was still taking her nap back at the house. I made cookies for the kids to decorate, Jake, Maddie, and Maren were my helpers and boy did Maren love the sprinkles! We didn't stay up to welcome the New Year, we're old now and like our sleep. The next day we built a snowman with the kids and played in the snow.

We came home Saturday and did some deep cleaning, I finally have that big pile of shed horns out of the front room! Well, most of them. Daniel did haul a lot away, but still arranged some around the lamp, but I can now vaccum my carpet!

This week is bringing a lot of new beginnings, Daniel is starting school for spring semester, taking on 19 credit hours, and telling me he is going to try and work 40 hours for as long as he physically can. I get to go to Logan for two days next week for a mandatory student teaching orientation, and then start my first student teaching block the next day on the 13th. It's going to be a busy 16 weeks for both of us, and maybe we will get to say hi to each other once in a while, but I keep telling myself that it will all be worth it. I graduate in May and will be done! I am very happy for that to look forward to, just a few more hoops to jump through. Daniel is liking his classes so far, so we will see how things go.

Also, our friends the O'Neil's had their little baby girl. She is the New Year's baby here in Price, born January 1st, 1:43 am. 7 lbs, 5 oz. 20 inches long. She's a cutie! Congratulations to them!