School Starting Update

I have an average of 35 kids in my classes (which last year I started with 45 in each class). So, instead of needing desks, I have extra desks. I am so excited! Also I don't have 2 students from last year that I didn't really want this year. I was doing cartwheel's down the hallway because of excitment!!

So this year I am going to read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I am really excited about this. I was a little worried about the parents reaction to it at Back to School night last night. They were really excited about that and Taming of the Shrew. I did Taming of the Shrew last year and the kids liked it. I think this is going to be a successful year.

School has started

This week I started back at school. School this year is going to be interesting. We have about 1975 students enrolled. Lots of things have changed: we hired 18 new teachers (enough to staff an elementary school), got 2 new administrator, and I became the department head. Because we have so many students and about 8 or so traveling teachers, I have to give up my room during my prep. It won't be too bad because I did that my first year teaching. Only this time, I don't think I will be able to stay in sometimes.

Tomorrow I will get my rolls (list of who my students are). I will know the damage--how many kids per class. For some reason I am feeling really anxious this year. I am starting my third year, so I shouldn't be anxious. Maybe it is because of so many changes this year. I wasn't like this my first year, so I don't know why I am this year. Or maybe it is because I have a a leadership role. I like being a leader in a non-leadership role. There isn't as much pressure and people don't rely on you like they do with someone in the leadership role.

I think this year could be good or really bad. I want to challenge my students more and stretch them more. I will have updates on how its going.

Aggie Football Ladies Clinic

So, you may be wondering why we went to the Utah State ladies football thing and not BYU's. Well two reasons: #1--This one was FREE! BYU was charging like $30 to do their clinic. #2--Mark's cousin, Peter Caldwell, is the kicker up at Utah State. Well, wednesday was the Ladies Football Clinic at Utah State. I went up with Katie, Baylie, and the Caldwells. It was a lot of fun. There were about 70 girls there! When we got there, we had to check in and sign an injury form and they gave us a cool t-shirt! We were split into groups and sent to different stations. The people were nice enough to keep all of us in the same group.

Our first station was to go the weight room and listen to the strength and conditioning coach talk about what the players do when they workout. A few of the players were there to show us some of the exercises. Wow, they were ripped! The coach had one player take off his shirt and do an pull up and show us his back muscles.

Our next station was to watch film. It was interesting, but kind of boring. I was lost about 60% of the time. Coach Guy went over four different plays and showed us what the players do when they watch film. He told us an interesting bit of information: the rule change starting this season. Starting this season they are going to run the clock just like the NFL clock. When a player runs out of bounds or they have to reset the chains from a first down, the clock will stop. However the change is once the official sets the ball on the line of scrimmage, the clock will start and 40 seconds will be put on the play clock. The only time 25 seconds will be on the play clock is when there was a timeout, penalty, etc. They are trying to speed up the game.

Our last two stations were learning some offense and defense. On defense we did warm ups that the team does. We had to go through these log type things and around some cones. The three defense coaches taught us how to sack the quarterback, tackle, and practice what the safeties and corners do. On offense we practiced blocking, snapping the ball, and how to throw the ball.

After the sessions we all sat down and there was a raffle. I didn't think I was going to get anything, but I did. All of us (Katie, Baylie, Anne, and Ali) won something. I got some shampoo, conditioner, and leave-in conditioner. After the clinic we went out for pizza a Papa Kelsey's. The pizza there is okay, but it's not the best.

The Maritime Museum

This was one of the coolest places I went on the vacation.  It was a bunch of boats that have been renovated into a museum.  There was a ferry, and old yacht, HMS Suprise, and The Star of India.  The stories we heard were really interesting.

While we were on the ferry, one of the workers, Bob, talked to us about the engine of the ferry.  It was really cool because he turned the engine on and showed us the pistons moving.  Even though they were only going at 6 rpm, it was still pretty fast.  Bob said at normal speeds it went at 120 rpm's.  We walked around the ship that was used for Master and Commander.  I read an interesting fact about that ship.  In the movie when someone was steering the ship on deck, there was a professional below deck actually steering and sailing the ship.  The Star of India had an interesting story.  At first it was a cargo ship and then after a while it became an immigrant  boat.  It would carry people from England to New Zealand.  The trip usually took between 4-5 months.  Single women had a 5'9" x 18 inches space for living and men had just over 6'0" x 20" on the 2nd level.  Only 1st class people could go up on deck and eat meat.  We also went into a Russian Cold War sub.  It was really small inside.  They would put a bed wherever there was room.  We were only on the 1st level and there wer 2 other levels below.  I don't think I could ever be on a sub.

Since there was a pool at the house, we did a lot of swimming.  We had a lot of fun doing shamu moves and jumping in trying to catch a football, trying to catch two fish at the same time, or trying to get on the skateboard before we fell in the water.

The Zoo

While the boys went deep sea fishing, the girls went up to Oceanside and went shopping.  It was really fun.  I got some cute shoes, pants, and a watch. 

While the others went kayaking and snorkeling in the La Jolla caves, I volunteered to stay behind with Mark's mom and watch my three nieces.  We went to the San Diego Zoo.  It was really fun.  Tess loved the goats at the petting zoo.  She didn't want to leave.  Abbie and Chloe loved the fish  in the hippo tank.  Chloe also love the crocodile.  We decided not to see the entire zoo because it is so big, and we saw most of the other animals there at the Wild Animal Park.

Needless to say, I am glad that I don't have three kids under the age of 3.  It was a handful, even with someone else.  But it was fun and gave me something to look forward to!

Wild Animal Park and the Beach

Wow! What a day. First we all caravaned to the Wild Animal Park. That was really fun. I have never been to there, so it was a new experience for me. It was really cool seeing all of the animals up close. We went on the African Safari. We got on a tram thing that took us around to see the African animals. We saw lots of cool animals. I think my favorite animals we saw were the lions. Those are big cats!!

Afterwards, we hopped back into the car and went to Oceanside beach. It was so pretty. We got there just as the tide was changing. The waves were really big. We went down by the water and built a sand castle. It was huge. Lots of people who were walking by were stopping to look at it and take pictures. I played in the water with my 3 year old niece, Tess. We would run out into the waves just as they were coming in. We also went a little bit on shore and made sand castles that would get ruined by the waves coming in. It was nice to be able to sit on the beach and relax!

All in all it was a really fun day!

Two goofy Monkeys


Lions keeping cool in the shade


Chilling at the Wild Animal Park


Pumba ears


Ashley and the elephants


Playing in the sand


The coolest sand castle ever!


Mark boogy boarding

Sea World

Sea World was awesome! We got there as the park was opening. We first went to the Shamu show. That was really fun. They were really big. Mark sat down in the "Soak Zone" with Katie, Amy, and Ryan. I sat with the others at the bottom of the dry zone. The little kids love the "Shamu call."

After that we split up. Mark went with his "Soak Zone" buddies and I stayed with the little kids. Mark went on the two water rides. I didn't want to get wet. I wanted to see the animals. With the little kids, I fed and petted the dolphins, petted the sting rays, saw the sea otters, watched the "Clyde and Seamore" show, and went to the dolphin show. It was a blast. The dolphin felt like a hot dog. He was dry and kind of rubbery. It was really neat feeding the dolphin. You might think that is wierd for me since I do not like fish, but the little fishy was frozen and not slimy, so that helped a lot.

About half way through the day, we went back to the house so the little kids could take naps. Later that night we headed back to Sea World (The house we are staying in is right across Mission Bay from Sea World. We can go out in the back yard, look down across the bay and see the nightly fireworks. Its awesome!)

The Soak Zone

Shamu! Shamu!

Feeding the dolpins

Jump!

Um, Mark...the star fish breath under water.

At the end of the week, we went back to Sea World. 

With the horse

Penguins are my favorite animal!

Just 2 inches too tall!

The biggest shark jaw!

Sesame Street 4D movie--Use your imagination

San Diego California

Saturday we drove down to San Diego. What a long day! We got up and left at 4:30 in the morning. Once we got to the house we rented for the week, the girls got in the pool and hot tub to relax while the boys went shopping for the food. It was really nice.

So after church we all got into our swim suits and went swimming all day. Needless to say a lot of us forgot to put sunscreen on and now we are burnt (especially me!).

Here are a few pictures from the day:

Ping Pong...The game of choice!

Just relaxing

Cowabunga!!

Roasting some marshmallows for Smore's!

Browsing Photos

So lately I have been browsing around at homes for sale in Orem and other areas. I drive past a billboard for utahhomes.com everyday and thought I would take a look. Can I tell you how awful some of the pictures are of these homes? For example: I see a picture of the living room with hardwood floors. The next picture is of the floor. Why would I want to see a picture of the floor? Or (and I am serious about this) there was a picture of some type of decoration at the end of the hall. What in the world are you trying to highlight? That cool candle/plant holders look good at the end of the hall? I don't get it. You would think that a real estate agent would be taking pictures to highlight the nice and good features of the home, but no. They are taking weird pictures. Is it to get a potential buyer to come see the home? Like I said, I don't get it.

Then the people who are selling their home have such a gross, dirty, and cluttered house in these pictures it's no wonder there house isn't selling. Come on people: clean up your house and make it desireable. Don't you watch Sell This House? If the house is cluttered with all your crap, potential buyers will have a hard time visualizing their stuff in the home. You need to clean up your home and declutter it. I don't care if you have a million cute photos that you are proud of. You are moving and need to start the process of packing your stuff up.

4th of July Celebrations

4th of July celebrations in the Welling household are two days.

Day 1:

The day started with a trip to Kaysville to Grandpa and Grandma Welling's house. There was a delicious breakfast of waffles, bacon, fruit, juice, and milk. The bacon was cooked perfectly! When time came we went to the Kaysville parade. This was the coolest parade. We got lots of candy, a comb, sample of Big Sexy Hair gel, a toothbrush, a stuffed Build-a-Bear, pens, water bottles, hacky-sacks, t-shirt, and other cool stuff. When the parade is finished the water parade starts. Certain floats will go through "The Wet Zone" and the people in the parade and spectators will have a big water fight. Last year we were in the wet zone. It was really wet. This year we did not sit in the wet zone. When we got back from the parade, Grandpa Welling was trying to get a blow snake out of the garage. At first they wanted Mark to catch it with his bare hands! But thankfully he didn't have to!

After the parade we went back to the house and had lunch: Pizza, salad, fruit, and veggies. Once lunch was done we played a variety of games. The first game was called Iced T. Each team had to thaw a frozen t-shirt and put it on. The next game was creating sculptures out of chewed gum. This was gross and sticky. Once the gum went into your mouth, you could only touch it with a toothpick. My team made an ocean with a toothpick fish. The next game on the agenda was a GPS treasure hunt. It went well, except the coordinates that were on our clues were wrong. They were leading teams all over Kaysville and Fruit Heights. A member of my team got some insider information and knew where the clues were hidden. The next game was a rythmn clapping game called "Sevens." You hit your legs to keep the beat. Each person will say a number and if the number is a multiple of 7 or has a 7 in it, you are supposed to clap and not say the number; the direction then reverses. If you say the number or get out of rythmn, you are out. Our final game was homerun derby. We had a pitching machine and went to a local park and had a homerun derby. I was pretty good. For the girls, we just had to get the ball into the grass (3 points), and if it 1 hopped into the grass it was 1 point. If it was caught, you were out. I hit 4 one hoppers, but 3 of them were caught.

Later that night Mark and I drove down to Orem and watched the Stadium of Fire fireworks. We know of a spot above Timpview High where you can see all of the fireworks in the valley. It is really cool!

Day 2:

Mark and I went to see Hancock in the afternoon. The movie was really bad. I would tell people to wait until it is in the dollar theater or at a Redbox. It is not worth $8.00 to see. There are some funny parts, but as a whole it was a very big disappointment (and i even had low expectations going into it).

Later that night, Mark and I went to Cul-de-Sac of Fire. A bunch of Mark's parents' neighbors get together and celebrate the 4th of July (this is why it's a 2 day celebration). the people in the neighborhood go to one of the cul-de-sac's and we have a party. There is a big bbq. Everyone brings a dish and the burgers and hot dogs are provided. This year there was a Guitar Hero competition. They had a big blow up screen and projected Guitar Hero on it. There were a lot of really good people. I saw some do it on expert. I can only do it on easy.

In the middle of the cul-de-sac is a rope circle: The Ring of Fire. This is where you can light fireworks. It was really impressive. There were 2 hours of straight fireworks. towards the end of the night, there is high quality entertainment. Through the entire night there was a dj playing fun upbeat music. 2 years ago Neil Diamond made an appearance climbing over the roof and last year John "Cougar" Mellencamp showed up in a limo. This year, however, Elvis came and did The Evolution of Dance (it is this week's Youtube Video of the Week). To end the party, there was a great firework show!

This is not really one of my favorite holidays, but this was one of the funnest 4th of July's I can remember.