Merry Christmas from The Blairs

The Blairs in 2013

This year has been full of excitement for us!  Here is a little update on each member of the family.

*John: After working for Thermo Fisher Scientific for 3 years, John decided to take a leap of faith and change his career path. He teamed up with his dad to run a cloud services company called AirDesk Solutions. He is very motivated and loves his job (especially since he can work in his pj's).  John has also taken up a new hobby: beard growing.  He is quite talented at it, and now feels like he fits in very well with the Israelsen side of Olivia's family.

*Olivia: This year has brought new career opportunities for Olivia as well. She was hired to teach 2nd grade at Woodruff Elementary and is loving it!  She has an awesome class of 20 students that keep her exhausted 5 days a week!  She hopes that someday she will be able to adopt a hobby other than napping, but in the meantime, she will enjoy any bit of shut-eye she can get!

*Izzy: Our little Izzy still has us wrapped around her little paws. This year she had a scary experience, having 5 abscessed teeth extracted at the vet. She was very brave. She has also become more sociable and has been able to accompany her family on numerous trips to strange places such as Grandma and Grandpa Blair's house. We are so proud of her and the wonderful example she is to her little sister, Luna. We can always count on her to grab some Kleenex out of the trashcan and bring it to the door to greet us when we get home!

*Luna: Luna celebrated her 2nd birthday this year and is becoming quite the little dictator. She loves her sister and constantly tries to give her kisses. However, she also has to be the center of attention and will go to great lengths to have all eyes on her. She is continually astonishing us with her amazing athletic abilities, especially her vertical jumping skills. She had her first haircut this year and seemed to like being pampered. She was also thrilled to make a new BFF in her new cousin Milo. Some of her favorite things to do include licking his face, sitting on his tummy and sitting on his face.

We are so blessed to have a warm home, plenty of food and Comcast. Happy Holidays!!

Love, John, Olivia, Isabel and Luna May


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Halloween

Halloween is a little more fun and a LOT more tiring when you are a teacher. Especially when it lands on a Thursday and you have to come back on Friday and teach 20 little sugar induced comatose children. 

Anyway, it was a fun day. I wanted the morning to be a normal day, since we have so much material to cover this year and little time to waste. Surprisingly we got through the morning with few distractions. My room mom put together a super adorable party for after lunch. My mom, brother and a few other parents came to help. The kids got to put on their costumes after lunch and wear them for the party. We did a rotation of two games and a craft. They also got to decorate cookies and listen to a "real witch" read stories. So fun!  After the party we had the school costume parade. I got a kick out of seeing everyone's costumes.  My cute mom and brother were good sports and dressed up to fit my Dr Seuss theme :)

I've never had a hangover, but I imagine it felt similar to the way I felt the next day.  After this year I think Halloween should always land on a Friday so teachers don't have to come back to school the next day!

I love my job!

I received this cute letter from one of my students the other day and it reminded me how lucky I am to be a teacher. 

First day, hooray!

Today was my first day teaching my very own class!  I am exhausted but thought I'd better blog about it while it is still fresh on my mind.

Last night was Back to School Night. I had most of my students and their parents attend. When they arrived I gave each student a Classroom Scavenger hunt worksheet to help familiarize them with the classroom before the first day. I also gave out information about the year to parents and had them fill out information for me about their child. Here are some pictures of my room from last night. Some of the walls are still pretty blank because I don't have a lot of posters and things to put up yet

Today was crazy!  I got to school at 6:55 and set things up. My first student arrived at 7:30. They aren't supposed to come in the building until 7:55, but he was so excited I let him stay. The day went pretty well. We started by making First Day books where students drew pictures of things like how they felt and what they'd like to learn. Then I showed them a power point about myself and let them ask me questions. Then we went over some class rules and procedures before we went out for s morning recess. On the way outside we took a tour of the school. After recess they worked on filling out an information page about themselves. We then used it for a game where I would read the info and they would guess who had written it. After the game it was time for lunch.

After lunch they came back and I had them start working on a math test that they were given at the end of last year so I could assess what they already know. It was pretty stressful for some of them. One little girl even cried because she didn't know an answer. I reassured them that the test was only for me to look at and they didn't need to worry about missing questions.  After math they went to prep. I was supposed to pick them up 40 min later but I forgot. The computer teacher brought them back to me and I was embarrassed. Then I was supposed to take them out for recess... But I forgot that too. When I remembered it was pretty late but we went out anyway. When we came back I explained homework and read aloud from Spencer's Adventures. At 2:30 they went home and I crashed!  I am so exhausted! I took a 3 hour nap after school and I'm all ready for bed now.

Overall, it was a good day. I feel like tomorrow will be better. Hopefully I feel rested when I wake up!

Hired!

I finally got a job! Since I graduated in December, the middle of the school year, I didn't apply for any job until spring. In February I turned an application in to Logan City Schools but didn't hear anything til the middle of April. At that point I got a call askin me to come and interview for all six of the LCSD principals. I was thrilled.

The interview went well but I felt very rushed. They started by having me write down a lesson plan that I had recently taught. I thought quickly and chose a writing lesson I had taught during my student teaching. Then they had me present the lesson. After that each principal asked me one question and I was done. I felt really confident after the interview but as time went by I felt worse and worse and doubts came into my mind.

It took over a month for my offer to come so I had all but given up hope. Needless to say I was thrilled to be offered a job teaching second grade at Woodruff Elementary. I met with the principal and my team last week and signed my contract on Tuesday

I am very excited and very nervous to start! It will be an adventure!

Yard Makeover

Spring Break is here! Since John works every day this week I have been doing a little bit of yard work.

When we first bought our house the previous owner said she loved the yard because you could just "let it grow" and it didn't need any maintenance. Needless to say, it is a complete disaster. Anything planted is either overgrown and dead. So, before I can plant anything, I have to pull everything else out.

Yesterday I cleaned out three small flower beds and pulled vines off of the side of the house. Today I cut down a bush/tree thing that was covered with thorns. I'm not sure what it was exactly since it was basically dead when ER moved in. It made out house look like a haunted house. :). I also sawed down a big pine tree that was half dead on the side of our house. It is amazing what getting rid of dead shrubbery and trees can do for your house!

Since I have a few empty beds now I am excited to start planting! Ester and I wet flower shopping tonight and I got daffodils, hollyhocks and gladiolus. I am also hoping to start a little vegetable garden and I got peas, onions and lettuce!

Here are a few pics of the yard. I wish I'd taken a picture of the trees I cut down but unfortunately I didn't think of it til I'd already finished. So, the last picture shows one of the trees lying in pieces on the lawn

A time for change

I have been thinking a lot about the way I treat myself lately. In my life I have always struggled with getting people to take me seriously. I always thought that maybe when I graduated high school I would be taken seriously, or when I got married, or when I graduated from college. Now I've done all of that and still feel like a kid. Ive tried dressing older, carrying a bigger purse and wearing more makeup but I am constantly treated like or mistaken for a 16 year old. This becomes more and more scary for me as I am looking to start my career. A career where I constantly on display and judged be people older and, sometimes, wiser than myself. I guess I need I figure out how to make others see me as an adult an a serious teacher. Time for change.

Hawaii Bliss

Our Christmas Hawaiian adventure was so amazing! John and I flew out on December 20th and arrived that day. My dad picked us up from the airport and we went straight to the PCC for dinner and a Christmas canoe ride.

We had a lot of fun hanging out at the beach with my brother Chris and his cute family for the next four days. We tended their kids one night while they went to the temple which was super fun. John and Chris wanted Romy's shrimp for Christmas Eve lunch so Jen and I went and got smoothies and watched them eat

Another highlight was performing with my dad at a Christmas concert held in the temple visitor center. We were excited that a couple hundred people showed up to hear us!

Christmas eve was different, but fun. We ate ham (can you believe my mom cooked ham?!) out on my parents' patio. My dad read the Christmas story from the bible and we just enjoyed each other's company since we decided not to give sibling gifts this year. Chris left the next morning and we were sad to see them go!

Christmas day was great! We loved how relaxed it was and having my parents and Ben there with us! We had a leisurely morning opening a few gifts and stockings. We stopped at McDonalds for lunch before seeing Les Miserables that evening. So amazing. We had an amazing dinner at a fun outdoor restaurant on our way home!

The next few days were super relaxed and fun. We went to the Buddhist temple we found on our honeymoon and my parents really enjoyed that. We also went to some pretty lookouts and enjoyed the great weather! One of our favorite adventures was the Kahuku Farms. We went on a little wagon ride around the farm and learned about how the fruits are grown and harvested. So interesting! We had done the Dole Plantation wagon ride before but this was so much better!,

Vanessa and her family came on the 28th. We had fun with them on our last few days on the island. We went swimming, had a poolside BBQ and walked on the beach.

Our final day was very busy and fun. We spent the day at the PCC and got to see what Ben does there every day. We had fun at the luau for dinner before heading to the airport. My family sang us a sweet version of aloha oi to bid us farewell

The trip was so amazing and we are sad it is over. It was hard to leave my parents but it was amazing to get to see what they are up to!

2012

I have been so bad at updating this year. So much has happened and life is so different now than it was one year ago. Here are a few 2012 highlights!

New Year's Eve: John and I rang in the new year with his parents for a change. I was still recovering from my laparoscopic surgery so we had a quiet sushi dinner at their home. John was the only one who stayed awake to ring in the new year!

Level 2: I began the hardest semester of my college career in January. This included the most intense coursework I have ever had, as well as practicum in a first grade classroom at Woodruff Elementary. Though I was stressed beyond belief and acquired canker sores on every inch of my mouth as a result, I also learned a great deal and fell in love with my students!

Spring Break: In March John and I were blessed with the opportunity to go on a cruise to Cabo San Lucas with my family. We drove to CA, stopping for two nights in Vegas to visit my brother who was there on vacation our cruise was five days and pure heaven! John even got me to go parasailing! We were sad when it ended but had fun stopping for one day at Disneyland before heading back to reality.

Home Owners: My Dad's childhood home went up for sale this year and we were able to purchase it after a long battle with the previous owner. We were so thrilled to have our own place and not have to deal with a landlord anymore! We have learned a lot from being homeowners including how to kill grass, how expensive taxes are, and how to repair broken toilets.

UFOMT: I returned to UFOMT for my 14th season. It was an excellent season and I was sad to see it end. I especially enjoyed performing with both my father and sister this year in My Fair Lady.

Fire: One of the most frightening experiences I've had in my life happened on July 29th. I arrived home from a performance late that night to firetrucks and police cars surrounding my house. John hadn't been answering my calls all night so I immediately imagined the worse. I quickly found out that our neighbor had been lighting off fireworks and had accidentally shot one into the huge Juniper bush in front of our house. Luckily no one was hurt and the damage minimal. The bush had to be removed, our front window replaced, the siding and attack vent replaced and painted, the railing by the steps refinished and the awnings replaced. We are so blessed that the fire was extinguished before it entered the inside of the home! We are still waiting for all the repairs to be completed.

Student Teaching: I was placed in a 3rd grade classroom at Edith Bowen to do my student teaching. It was the perfect fit for me because my cooperating teacher and I have very similar teaching and management styles and she gave me full reign of the class from day one. I loved my students and cried on my last day. Though I was excited to finish my schooling, I was so sad to leave that class! I ended up getting the highest score my advisor had ever given which made me feel amazing about my teaching abilities!

Subbing: The day after I graduated I was given my first paid elementary teaching job! My cooperating teacher had some medical issues to take care of so I subbed for her for four days. It was so nice to be back in my class and be able to feel like a real, paid teacher!

Hawaii: For Christmas this year John's parents and my parents teamed up to give us a trip to Hawaii. It was so amazing to be able to spend time with my parents and Ben again. John especially enjoyed not having to I to work since he hadn't had a day off in months! We were so sad to leave both the beautiful weather and my parents!

New Year's Eve: This year we rang in the new year on a red eye flight home from Hawaii. Though we were heart broken to leave we were also thankful for all of the memories we had made there!

Here's to another exciting year!!