Education

I love what the teachers did at this school to teach kids the importance of earning a college degree. I think this should be required in every elementary school, every year.

ksl.com - Teachers helping kindergarteners get ready for college

SANDY -- Some Kindergarten teachers took a step back in time Friday and donned attire from their college graduation day.

But this wasn't just a day to dress up; It's an important first step to get their very young and impressionable students excited about college.

They may be more than a decade away from picking a school, but these kids are learning young that the choice will be an important one in their lives.

"It's such an interesting and novel idea when they first realize that it's not Halloween, that we are really proud of our education," said Debbie Shumard, principal of Crescent Elementary School in Sandy. "They go home and they talk to their parents, talk to people around them."

That talk led to everyone in the future class of 2024 at Crescent Elementary school making a pledge to be college-ready.

They'll have plenty of help to get there.

We want them to think about what they are going to be when they graduate," Shumard said. "We are initially putting that in their mind that the picture of them, themselves, is what they want to be and picture themselves in that role later."

But the ultimate goal requires baby steps -- starting in kindergarten.

After finding little progress in test scores from the beginning to the end of the year, the Canyons School District launched an intensive teacher training program to bring those scores up.

The nearly 2,000 hours of coaching paid off: 86 percent of Canyons kindergartners knew what they needed to know before moving on to first grade -- a significant jump from the 65 percent who met the benchmark the year before.

Educators hope the year-to-year progress can carry kids through to college, and eventually their careers.

"Most kids don't realize that learning math, learning writing skills and reading skills really affect the quality of their life when they graduate," Shumard said. "We want them to know that they've got choices out there."

Keeping Summer Alive

Despite the fact that Mitch has started school and that it's nearly the end of August, we are hanging on to summer as long as possible. Last weekend we went boating at Jordanelle with my fam and our some of our "Cali fam." I was so glad Mitch could come this time and see Layla having the time of her life throwing "roooocks" and playing in the water. She sure loves the lake! That's my girl!!!

I didn't take enough pictures that day, but it's a good thing I snapped a pic of one of the sweetest things I've ever seen: Layla napping with Uncle Dudin.

The best part of the day? I learned to wakeboard! Boo ya! Pretty sure I won't be water skiing anymore; wakeboarding is just too much fun. I finally figured out that it's easier if I turn the boot on my forward foot at more of an angle, which made my second round much more fun. I'm still not as good at wakeboarding as I am at water skiing, which isn't saying much, but I'm sure I'll get better with more practice. Check out my face in this pic, there must be a huge wave up ahead. What a dork.

We also celebrated my mom's birthday. My grandpa gave her a new bike and it's a hybrid, a cross between a mountain and road bike. It's awesome and I'm jealous. I'm sure she'll love it! Most of all, I hope my mom had a happy birthday and knows how much we love her!

Since fall is approaching faster than I'd like to think, I have been buying some winter clothes for Layla. My mom gave me my old coat from when I was three, and I've been saving it for Layla to wear. We decided to try it on her the other day. It's a little big, but she loved it. She would wear it around the house until she was practically sweating and then ask me to take it "off," only to bring it back to me a few minutes later so I could help her put it back on.

Now, I was three in the 1980s, which explains why this coat is so awesome-looking, don't you think?

Ha, ha, I love that cheesy grin!

Swimming

A couple of weeks ago, Mitch and I took Layla to this water park near our house. It was a total rip off, but we had a blast! Layla LOVED this huge water slide and laughed the whole way down.

Oh, and good thing for swim diapers, because Layla made a nice present for us while we were there. Picture this: we decide it's time to go home and head for the family bathrooms, at which point Layla starts screaming her head off because she doesn't want to leave the pool. We rinse off in the showers and all three of us go in one of the family bathroom stalls. I pulled off the swim diaper cover and said, "That's weird, there's a booger on it," and proceed to wash it out, when Mitch tells me that Layla had pooped in her swim diaper. Explains the booger. We decide to hold her over the toilet to pull the diaper off so that the poo will go in the crapper. Layla is still screaming, mind you, she wants back in the swimming pool! Well, the poo was pretty much just veggies from the night before, sorry if that disgusts you, so little veggies came flying out and went all.over.the.bathroom. Mitch was super stressed, Layla was still screaming, and all I could do was laugh my head off. It was hilarious, really. Long story short, we eventually made it out of there, Layla finally stopped crying when we told her she could take a bath when we got home (the kid LOVES water), and I'm sure the pool boy had fun cleaning up our mess.

Speaking of baths, Layla loves them so much that if we even mention it at all, she immediately yells, "Baaaaath!" and runs to the bathroom. The other night I was putting her to bed and we were reading a story about a dog that got dirty playing in the mud. I decided to add my own lines to the story and nonchalantly said that the dog needed to take a bath. Oops. Layla caught it and said "Baaaath!" and started crying because I wouldn't put her down or take her to the bathroom. Bed time took longer than normal that night.

One more thing about Layla: she loves letters. We have alphabet flashcards and bath letters that we practice with. She knows the letters A, I, O, and Y. I guess she likes vowels. Even if she doesn't know a letter, she acts like she does and makes some random noise when you ask her which letter it is. Pretty funny.

Okay, one more thing. She is so particular! If something is out of place, she says, "uh oh!" and puts it in the right spot, or if it's garbage, she throws it away. The doors have to be shut all the way. Things go in a certain order and a certain place. It surprises me, but then she does have two very particular people for parents.

Bucket List

When Mitch and I were engaged, we wrote a bucket list of things we want to do in the near future. Surprisingly, we've been able to do the more expensive/difficult things first, like go to Europe and Cambodia and remodel our kitchen. Some things we still need to do are swim with dolphins, go on a cruise, and go to Hawaii (all of which could be accomplished in one trip).

Last weekend we crossed one more thing off our list: hiking the Narrows in Zion Canyon. This one has been on my personal bucket list since high school, and it did not disappoint. In fact, it was awesome!

We were able to spend the weekend in St. George with my grandpa and he joined us on our grand adventure. (We dumped Layla off with my in-laws. She had a fun weekend too.) Hiking the Narrows was not nearly as difficult as we though it would be. If you've never ever hiked before, I don't recommend it, but if you are a fairly decent hiker, then it is doable. And it is SO much fun!

There is a path you follow for one mile before the canyon narrows. At this point you spend much of the time hiking through the river bed and the water was usually up to my knees or the middle of my thighs. At one point though, the water was up past my chest and let me tell you what, it was FREEZING cold!!! You could hear everyone gasping while crossing that section of the river; it was actually pretty funny. Besides that one deep spot, the water temperature actually felt nice and refreshing.

Here is Mitch in one of the many little coves.

This picture gives you an idea of how little it makes you feel to be in such a grand place. That's me, forging the river. The pictures don't do it justice though. It's breathtaking.

So before we left I was really worried about my grandpa hiking with us. He's 72 years old and had bypass surgery only seven months ago. Now, the man was always an excellent hiker, but I was expecting him to be slow or to even sit and wait for us. Wrong. I had to actually try my best to keep up with him! At one point, Mitch and I decided to go further and told him we'd come back and find him. He said, "Okay, I'm just going to take this short cut." We thought, "Short cut? Ya, whatever," and went on our merry way. About 30 minutes later, Mitch looks up and says, "Is that your grandpa?" Sure enough, the crazy mountain-goat-of-a-man had beat us! Not only does he know the shortcuts, but he's fast too. I was so impressed with him and glad that he is in AMAZING shape considering his surgery and his age. He might just outlive me. Ha, ha.

You can't tell in this picture, but my grandpa had actually climbed up onto this huge rock that people were diving off of. I had a feeling when we came around the bend that I would find him up there. Sure enough, I was right. At least he didn't dive off, though he did pretend like he was going to, just to scare me.

Here he is with his new kayak. We didn't have time to see him paddle around on a lake, so I asked if I could take a picture of him in his kayak in his living room. He said, "Sure! And I should wear my life jacket and hold the oar too!" So this is what we ended up with. He cracks me up.

We saw some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever laid eyes on. We both love the looks and feel of Southern Utah. In fact, every time we go to St. George, we spend most of the car ride home talking about where Mitch could work so we can move there. Obviously, there aren't any options in his field, or we'd be there by now! Perhaps we will retire there.

It was really crowded, which was kind of a disappointment, but it was neat to hear foreign languages from people all over the world. I told Mitch it was kind of sad that it took us so long to see the Narrows, when so many people travel half way around the world to experience the canyon. It really is worth seeing, especially when we live so close. I would love to go again!

Time Wasted

The American poet T.S. Eliot is quoted as saying, "time you enjoyed wasting is not time wasted." Hopefully he's right because I find I waste too much time on the internet (Pinterest!) or watching TV. Sometimes both at the same time! Ha, ha.

So a few months ago I realized I was bored and wasting too much time while Layla napped. I mentioned that I wanted to do something useful and had applied for several jobs ... one of which I finally got! Yay! I am so excited for my first "grown up job." It makes me so happy that I earned my college degree.

The work is very interesting and challenging, and I feel it is a great opportunity for me to improve my editing and writing skills. The job is all online and is a minimum of 20 hours per week (or more if I want). I plan to work while Layla naps and after she goes to bed, which works perfectly since Mitch will be busy studying for school (he starts next week! Ahhh!). So here's to wasting time on the web ... and getting paid for it!

Speaking of wasting time, it's been a lot harder to do around our house since our TV broke. Luckily the bulb just burned out and we ordered a new one. But it has already been over a week and it's still not here. It has made us more productive, but we've also found random ways to entertain ourselves: board games, playing catch in the living room with Layla's ball (I even tried to do some fancy soccer moves, which I suck at), and watching Brian Regan videos on YouTube. Have you seen this one? Mitch and I were both crying from laughing so hard. I love Brian Regan.

Speaking of funny things, I am now co-teaching the Sunbeam class (4 year olds) at church. It's hilarious; kids are so funny at that age. I love it and enjoy the the Spirit that accompanies innocent youth.

Summer

Summer is my favorite season. For many reasons, but here are a few:

We have spent lots of time at the park.

Layla LOVES to go down the slide.

My grandpa came to visit. We went to the park, had lunch and yogurt, and played. On Sunday he came over for dinner and we all took a drive out to Antelope Island. Surprisingly, there were no bugs while we were there!

Sometimes Layla will randomly insist on wearing her sunhat around the house.

Even when it doesn't match.

Sometimes she also walks around with her arms folded.

She's practicing being reverent.

We had our friends Shelly and Parker over to hang out in the wade pool. My camera died so this is the only picture I took.

We went to a splash pad with our neighbors. Layla was laughing and squealing and she was soaking wet by the time we left. I wished I had worn my swim suit. She is a brave little girl: sticking her whole head under the fountain and everything!

We have to give her lots of baths from all the swimming, parks, and sunscreen. I like to give her funny hairdos in the bath. Mitch thought it was hilarious when he walked in and found this little monster in the bathtub.

We got to babysit our friend, Oakley. She is so nice to Layla, even though Layla totally plays the "annoying little sister" role when Oakley comes over. Seriously, Layla followed her everywhere, tried to sit on her, and repeated everything she said and did. Poor Oakley, I bet that got old. But after I put Layla down for a nap, Oakley kept saying, "Baby Leela need to wake UP!" Too cute! I love how she calls her "baby Leela." These two are pretty funny together.

Lastly, I'll leave you with this: I got contacts. Finally. I love them. "How could instantly improved vision not be at the top of my to-do list? Nah, I'll see tomorrow." Brian Regan anyone? If you don't know what I'm talking about, please watch this. It perfectly describes how I feel about eye exams.

End of July

I can't believe it's already August! The summer is going by way too fast. At least we got to go boating and we're going again in a few weeks. Mitch was at scout camp and unable to join us, but Katie came and we had fun with her. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for taking us; we had a blast!

I was so surprised at how much Layla LOVES the water. She waded almost up to her waist in the lake. She also loved the rocks, especially licking the rocks, throwing the rocks, and learning how to say "rock."

My parents bought a "Relaxation Station" which has a net in the bottom. It took Layla a few minutes to warm up to the idea, but then she thought it was the most fun thing ever. She would jump like it was a trampoline and loved throwing rocks in the net.

They also rigged this water mattress so we could ride it from the boat to the shore and not have to get in the water. It made me feel like a spoiled princess. Thanks Dad and Jordan for pushing us back and forth!

I was able to water ski a few times, which was fun. I love water skiing. We also rode the two-man tube, but it had a leak. Hopefully my dad can fix it before our next boat trip.

My parents brought some fruit for lunch and I couldn't get Layla to stop eating it. I think her belly would have popped if we hadn't made her stop. Here she is with fruit all over her face.

Layla still isn't a huge fan of the boat. She didn't mind when we went slow, but if we sped up she cried, probably because it was loud. Plus, I can't imagine that her life jacket is very comfortable. So we just kept her on the beach and she was a happy camper. This boating trip was definitely better than last year's and we're excited to go again- with Mitch/Daddy!!!

And just because it's cute, here is Layla wearing my hairband. Only it looks like a sweatband on her. She's hilarious; always wearing necklaces, bracelets, or something in her hair.