Birthday Zoo Trip

I know, we need to update the blog more. Here is our adventure yesterday at the Zoo on Lexi's Bday. And I'll throw in some other stuff that's we've missed:

He does this new thing where he smiles with his mouth wide open, pretty cute:

On the train at the zoo:

Here's the Birthday girl, Gavin and the elephants:

The 2 Monkeys:

(Pretend this is another post:)

Now that the G-Man is mobile, he's a little more curious (mischievous?):

Helping load the dishwasher:

Turning the TV off and changing the channels:

Reading books under the table:

Opening cupboards and organizing the zip-loc bags:

Gotta keep our eyes on him (as hard as that could be, can't really help it anyway)

Birthdays and Teeth!

Todd's birthday was celebrated over several days, that's the way to do it! We went down to Kanab, Ut to celebrate Todd's nephew Lex's first birthday and Todd's also. Then me and Todd celebrated at home then my family had a gathering to celebrate all those who have birthdays in that month. 

Todd really wanted this harmonica and he is really good at it!

With a special request his mom made his favorite yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

Todd grew up with this Pampered Chef juice mixer which he has missed dearly, so i here it is.

3 ties for under $20! Guess where two of them came from...

Todd and his manly drill!

Well Gavin is growing right before our eyes! He is army crawling with a few "real" crawls to start off. He now has 4 teeth and 2 more coming in! He got his first 2 teeth then 8 days later the top two teeth came in! He's a doll with 0,2,4, or six teeth!

Fat Lip

A few weeks ago we gave Gavin some pineapple. I'm not sure why, it must've been the only fruit we had. Well, I guess citrus isn't the best thing to give to a baby. A few hours later his top lip looked like this:A little scary and pretty sad. We watched to make sure nothing else was affected. I made a midnight Wal-Mart/Walgreens/Rite Aide/Macey's run to try to find what the doctor recommended. By the time I got home it had gone down and almost all of it was gone by morning.

Update of the Decade

I've noticed that some of you made blog posts on 2010 in review. Well here's our DECADE in review (for lack of digital pictures the first few years will be very general)

2000-2003

I lived in Costa Rica:

Lexi danced in high school:

2005-2007:

I went on a mission to Spain:

Lexi attended BYU-Idaho:

2008:

Lexi and I went on our first date:

2009:

Lexi graduated from BYU-I in Early Childhood/Special Ed:

(couldn't find pic, but she looks pretty darn good in that graduation outfit)

We got married May 16th in the Draper Temple:

2010:

I graduated from UVU in Spanish Education:

Gavin Ryan was born on our 1 year anniversary:

Not a bad decade!

Youtube

A few days after I got home from my mission, Cara and Jonny wanted me to listen to a song that had just come out. Cara suggested that Jonny "Youtube" it. "Oh, the band is 'U2'?" I thought, since I had never heard of "Youtube" before!

Sometimes when we're at Kim's house, we just sit around and just watch YouTube videos.

Every once in a while I need to spend a few minutes looking up videos, just to relax sometimes.

Here are some of my favorites (sorry part of the video is cut off, not really sure how to fix that. Just click on the video to go to the actual page to better enjoy.)

The Happiest DJ in the World:

Apple Meets Mr. Bean:

First Semester of Spanish Love Song:

Then there are the classics like Hide You' Kids, The Evolution of Dance, After the Dentist, The Sneezing Panda, Numa Numa, etc.

I also have to take time to see some reporter bloopers:

Reporters laugh at model falling, twice:

Here are some other reporter classics: Reporter gets hit by tube, Bird poops on reporter, Soccer ball hits reporter,

Then there are the classic Music Videos. Anything by Michael Jackson, especially Thriller. "Okay Go" has some pretty good music videos, such as the Tread Mill MV, and both versions of their This too shall pass. Then there's the backward MV. Oh, don't forget the literal music videos.

Sports are fun to watch, especially soccer Bloopers.

Destroyed in Seconds is cool.

Slow mo is pretty fun.

Deer gets hit by fast car is good.

Speaking of cars:

Here are some of Lexi's Favs:

Well I think this list is quite extensive and should keep you busy for a few days. Thanks YouTube for endless hours of video watching fun!

What are some of your favorite YouTube videos? Please share.

Little Hollywood, BOO & Grin

For UEA break we got to get away to "Little Hollywood" Kanab, Utah. I'll be honest I loved it. It is always fun to somewhere you've never been before. We went down with Todd's family. The family did some walks, hikes, swimming, caving, went to some narrows, and ate some yummy food!

 This cave is called the Moqui Cave and is owned by my sister-in-law's family, the Chamberlain's. It is an awesome little cave. I've always enjoyed museums and other educational places, which I give credit to my father who loves history. He was constantly telling me fascinating things about the world around me especially on family trips. 

Happy Halloween!We went to our ward Halloween party and had a blast! I farm handsome bananas and the cutest red chiles you've ever seen! 

My close are legit. All but the shirt are from my father's wardrobe, but my shirt was a wranglers, probably my mothers! Dad grew up on a farm and loves the cowboy boots, hats, galoshes, overalls, jumpsuits, handkerchief...all the essentials and I get to benefit from them! Warning! Warning! Overalls may make you appear larger than you are!

Okay this is officially Halloween. We had a great dinner at Todd's parent's house then hung out at my patent's house. Gavin was a sweet little skeleton. My brother Kameron and his wife Abby were a creative chicken and the egg! 

 I learned how to make these greats glitter pumpkins at Kim's house and loved them!! They were so easy to make and beautiful! She made these amazing....

Carmel Apples....yum one of my favorites of the season. We then.....

wrapped in brown paper sacks to make them look like old fashioned brooms. I loved this idea too!

Cute Gav and his little grin. He is already 6 months!!

Awkward Jr High Notes - Edition #1

Why would anyone ever go back to Jr High? I don't know about you, but those years were my most awkward, looked down upon years of my life. So I ask again, why would anyone ever want to go back to Jr. High? To observe all the awkwardness, of course!
In my few months of working there, I've confiscated (collected) a few notes students have passed around in my class. I take them home and enjoy them with Lexi. Let me share a few with you (please note that these are in no way embellished. All grammar, spelling and punctuation have not been altered in anyway):

Note #1:
Student 1: OMG! Yesterday, I was making a top 10 list, and Kevin was on it, and Steven saw, and he told Kevin!
Student 2: Wait, Kevin knows you like him? What did he do when he found out?!
Student 1: Well, I don't like him a TON, he's just on my top ten, and I don't know, I didn't hear.
Student 2: Crap that sucks! Hey, now I want to know your top 10! Tell me, pleeeeeeese?

Note #2:
Jessica, So I couldn't find a pen or pencil, so...I am writing in colored pencils! LOL! [student writes in blue colored pencil] So what's up girl?! I fricken love your guts! Who do you think is cute? I think ALOT of guys are cute! What class are you in?
TTYL
Write back
Susan

Note #3:
Student 1:Dear Brittany, So what are we going to do about Joe? I mean something that is reallistic! (Not war or killing him!) OK so you have to write back this time ok! See you later! Have a good day!
Student 2: I don't know, we can't get him to go out with Ryan 'cuase when they break up - I don't think it will end well. We might just have to wait it out and hope for the best.
Student 1: Hey we can not tell them to go out they have to wait till they are sixteen! Just kidding! I think that they will ne [at this point I saw the note and took it away before Student 1 could finish her word]

Note #4: This note was folded in its regular manner, with the words "Read & Write back"
Student 1: Do you like me at all? Yes or no (Circle one!)
Student 2: [circles "yes"]
Student 1: More than a friend?
Student 2: kinda
Student 1: Why did you dump me?
Student 2: I don't really know, you and me never get to hangout
Student 1: Sad
Student 2: Sad but true
Student 1: ?
Student 2: ok
[At this point it looks like the friend of student 1 intercepted the note on its way to the desired recipient and added a note of their own]
Student 3: I love you soooooo much - from Melanie AKA - Barbara

Note #5: This note was labeled "To mah lovely chika.!" [Yes, that is a period with an exclamation point, you'll see more to come]
Yo chika ((I don't know how to spell your name))
Buh; school is school...LOL =]
What about you.? How is school.?
Nah girl, we gottah go to Orem now.! Kuhz thats where mah babe is.. =]
LOL..
We do need to hang out.! Buh yes.! Who you lyking these days.?
Dude, i hecka want to meet valerias cuhzos...! [not sure what that is, cousins?]
Of course i'll introduce you.!
Love;
((Jane)) =]


LOL, good times. Hope you've enjoyed this, the first, edition of awkward notes of Jr High Students. OMG, I can't wait until I get my next fricken note to share with you! Buh anyway, gotta go see mah girl. Im gonna ask her to go out with me. She's so hot, we might even hold hands! Oh sorry, TMI!

Red Ribbon Week Dress-Ups

I'm on a roll with these blog posts!

This past week at school was Red Ribbon week. We had 3 dress-up days. Clash day:

I'm wearing a "party" shirt I found in an apartment in Spain. I thought it was cool and that I'd wear it a lot. The shirt is white with pink stripes. My tie is yellow, has stains on it, is thin and pretty ugly. Why do I even own it? You might ask. It was given to me by a member in Spain, who was the only worthy priesthood holder in that area at the time. He has since passed away actually. So it has sentimental value. There were contests each day for best boy and girl student dress-up and best man and woman teacher dress up. I won the clash day! I think I was the only man teacher to dress up. So not a lot of competition.

Day 2 was decades day. So I raided Jonny's closet and found an 80's shirt (which he wore regularly and was cool for him), which he got from raiding my grandpas closet.

Day 3 was Nerd Day:

I grabbed my nerdiest shirt, which happened to be a diamond fork shirt, borrowed Jonny's suspenders again, tucked my pants into my socks, put a bunch of pens in my shirt, parted my hair (which Lexi actually liked when I wore normal clothes) and put a post-it on that said "According to my calculations..." Oh, and I had a fly-swatter in my back pocket.No, the pimple is real, I didn't add it with a red marker, as one of my students asked. It's a legit zit!

As I mentioned in the last post, my classroom is in the CTE Technology building, set aside from the main school building. So us teachers in this building are tight. So here we are:

Oh, I also won the best nerd dress-up for male teachers on this day! Ha, I don't think many of the male teachers participated this day either.

THS vs DFJHS

As many of you may know I (Todd) am a Spanish teacher. Last year I was an intern at Timpanogos High School. An internship in education replaces student teaching. We've all had that annoying student teacher in high school. Ya know, the one who all the students took advantage of and learned nothing? As opposed to a student teacher, an intern takes complete control of the class on day one, all year long. I didn't have a cooperating teacher who held my hand week by week until I felt comfortable enough to stand in front of the class and teach for the whole time. I walked in the first day of school with 30 students staring at me thinking "All right Senor, you got some Spanish teaching for me?" And this happened day after day for the whole year. Obviously this was a little more demanding and stressful than student teaching, and so I got paid a whopping 1st year teacher's HALF salary. "Honey, we're having steak tonight!" Full benefits was actually included which paid for 99.9% of Lexi's pregnancy and Gavin's birth.

Being an intern, I was a part of the teacher team at THS. I got my own school shirt, my own mailbox in the faculty room, everything a teacher dreams of. I really did love it there I am so glad I was inspired to intern, because not only did I have an enjoyable, memorable and learning experience, but it prepared me for my future career of teaching. Unfortunately they couldn't offer me a job and hire me on for the 2010-11 school year, so I had to go job searching, which led me to...

Diamond Fork Jr. High. DFJHS is located in Spanish Fork, so it's about a 20 minute commute, not bad. Now I am a regular teacher, so I get a FULL first year teachers salary. PLUS, I teach extended day (I teach all 7 periods without a prep period), so I get paid even more for that. Quite a raise! The class periods are 45 minutes. So at 8:00 am, about 30 students come in, I do my thing, they leave and 5 minutes later 30 more come in, and I repeat all day for 7 total periods. It gets pretty crazy keeping track of everything. The best way to express the difference between the 2 schools is by creating another Pros chart:

THS Pros:

• Close to home (I road my bike most of the year)
• Living in school boundaries (I see my students at the mall, grocery stores, etc which I think is fun)
• Creativity (high school students are generally more creative and fun than jr high students)
• More fun and outgoing assemblies.
• A paid copy lady to do all my copies, 3-whole punching, stapling, etc...
• Classroom close to front office, copy room, etc.
• High schoolers are more mature (usually)
• High schoolers learn concepts quicker (usually)
• Longer class periods to teach and get things done in class
• Amazing benefits.
• Attending football/basketball plays and other events, watching my own students perform.
• Easier acronym to write out
• Timberwolf is a way cooler mascot than a Diamond Back snake. (My sister says a boy must've come up with the diamond back as a mascot for Diamond Fork. So I guess if a girl came up with the mascot it would be the Diamond Fork Rubies?)

DFJHS Pros:

• Huge classroom (it used to be a computer lab)
• Big desk with lots of drawer and closet space.
• Classroom right next to drinking fountain
• Classroom in technology building, which is set aside from main building. So thing aren't as crazy in the hallways between classes, during lunch, before/after school.
• 2 windows in classroom
• YouTube isn't blocked ("I didn't work for 5 days when I discovered that!")
• Shorter class periods, easier to plan and prepare for.

I do love teaching Spanish at DFJHS and am so glad I went in this profession. I would someday like to come back and work closer to home, and in a high school. But I'm grateful that I have a job which is definitely a blessing during these times. I went 5 or 6 months not knowing where I would be. I was getting close to applying at Wal-Mart since there weren't many schools that were hiring.

P.S. Does anyone else out there read these posts besides mine and Lexi's sisters, and my blog stalking mom??? :)

REAL Salt Lake Game

My turn again! Last Saturday Lexi and I went to a Real Salt Lake Soccer game. Just a little background for Real Salt Lake, they have only been a team for a few years, and they won their first MLS (Major League Soccer, the NBA or NFL of Soccer) championship last year.


I have collected a few soccer jerseys throughout my life. One from Costa Rica, a few from Spain (Real Madrid, Barcelona, Spain's 2006 world cup jersey, etc). I've always wanted to go with Lexi and have us both wear a jersey. So she was a good sport and wore the smallest one I have, and she looked good in it. I also bought a kids Spain jersey for 1 Euro from a flea market on my mission, with the idea of having my nephews first wear it around, then have my own child wear it. Here are some pics from the event:


We couldn't figure out these guys in the next picture. About 10 minutes before the game started, we heard drums beating and cheering coming from behind us, then out on the side and to these special seats on the South side of the stadium. This group was way more fanatic about the game than anyone else. The US does not get into soccer half as much as the rest of the world, so this small portion of the stadium was probably like an entire stadium in a Latin country. Soccer is the only sport where throwing stuff on the field is ok. The players don't complain, the ref doesn't penalize the home team for it either. So this crowd didn't hesitate to throw confetti or toilet paper on the field, which would get tangled up in the players feet. Their drums didn't cease to beat the entire time, playing the same rhythm over and over again. They constantly cheered, whether something exciting was happening or not. And when Real Salt Lake scored, they rolled out a huge banner that covered the view of everyone sitting in that section temporarily. Lexi and I were confused because the tickets said we couldn't bring any noise makers, big banners or throw stuff on the field. But they weren't kicked out or asked to stop. My theory is that they are part of a special club that gets discounted tickets for that certain section, and their job is to help with the overall atmosphere and moral of the game to pump up the players and the rest of the crowd. So they were interesting to watch.


Now, as you may see in the following pics, I was a little more excited to go to this game than the BYU football game blogged about a few posts ago. Some of you may think I'm crazy, but let me explain with a simple Pros chart (keep in mind, this is my opinion and does not completely reflect my wife's feelings)...

REAL Salt Lake game Pros:

• No traffic on the way there and on the way back (big Pro).
• No problem parking.
• Didn't have to wait 20 minutes just to get out of the stadium after the game.
• My own seat, not just a long bench to share.
• My knees aren't in anyones back.
• No ones knees are in my back.
• Didn't have to stand up every 2 minutes because the row in front of me stood up.
• No "That's another Cougar...First Down"
• No Darth Vader Theme music or Hey Baby playing every 5 minutes from the "interesting" band members.
• No Cheer leaders.
• No stopping the game every 15 seconds to plan the next play.
• Watching a sport I can relate to.
• Watching a Championship team play.
• Being part of history while RSL broke the record for the longest undefeated home game streak (23)
• Relatively cheap tickets ($15 each) for great seats.
• Being the shade 90% of the game.
• I can go on and on.....

BYU Football game Pros:

• More of an upbeat, go-out-and-win atmosphere and attitude throughout the stadium.
• Cosmo
• No beer
• No swearing from fans around you.
• That's honestly all I can think of.

I'd now like to take a moment and bare my feelings on what you should do concerning what you've read here. I'd like to encourage you to open your mind to new things and try out a RSL soccer game. I know that it's not as high scoring of a game as football or basketball, but if you just take the time and effort to go, you won't be disappointed. I know that as you strive to make soccer a part of your life, you will better appreciate it and at the same time help it to grow not only in Utah, but in the US.