Seek Learning

I recently read a talk by sister Mary N. Cook called Seek Learning from the young womens' session of general conference.  Since I'm an educator, I am extremely passionate about this subject.  We need to learn all we can and keep learning even after we are done with formal schooling.  We should be learning every day.

Sister Cook says in her talk to make a list of things you would like to learn. So here is my list of things I would like to learn this summer or eventually learn sometime in my life:

• Decorate cakes
• Play hymns on the piano better so I can play in church
• How to sew
• Take and edit better photos
• Geography and capitols
• Some kind of formal dancing
• Exercise with hand weights
• A new recipe every week
• Play the harmonica
• Drive a manual car

This list was longer than I thought it would be.. I guess I've got a lot of learning to do! Any other suggestions?

To read Sister Cook's talk online go here!

First Year Teacher

My first year of teaching high school is officially over.  I can't believe how fast the year has flown by. Over the course of this year, I've learned a few things about teaching and about myself. Here's a list of things that I've learned and maybe you'll get a kick out of them or learn something yourself.

1.  Teacher make mistakes.  And lots of them! I had no idea that my teachers were real people in high school.  I pretty much thought they were robots that dumped all of their information on us.  Nope... They probably made more mistakes than I realized.  I especially made mistakes on Fridays and I joked with them every time a made a mistake that it was my first one ever, and only a couple students actually really noticed most of them.

2. I am hilarious.  I think I told a total of about 5 jokes to each of my math classes.  But somehow, all of my end of year notes said something like, "Mrs. Abel, I will always remember you for your silly math jokes. Thanks for making math funny."  I had no idea I was so funny until now.. maybe I should have been a comedian.

3. Cheating is ridiculous.  I know this may sound obvious, but the extent to which my students would go to cheat was extremely ridiculous.  If the spent as much time studying as they did writing their entire months notes on a note card and taking a picture with their phone (only to get caught), they would have done so  much better than a 0! I'm sure they many students got away with cheating that I didn't catch, but really?

4. End of term sucks.  My students don't ever care about their grades before it's the LAST day of the term.  They'll be grounded, they'll lose their scholarship, they will DIE! (Yes, I've even heard that one).  Well, you should have thought about that when you got a F on your test and didn't retake it. Next year I think I'll use all my sick days on the last week of each term.

5. No one likes math teachers.  Of course I had a few lovely students who adored me, but in general people hate math teachers.  We give homework every day, there aren't that many math videos out there, and I'm just not as cool as the hip photo teacher who gives fun assignments! (that they still probably don't do) Worst of all is parent teacher conference.  I sit at the very front (Abel) and hear the parents say, "Well, I only really want to talk to your math teacher."  So, the math teachers get the long lines and the angry parents.

6. I love my job.  I know I complain, but I have the best job in the world! It makes it all worth it when a students comes and asks you for non-math advice, or tells you how much they understand math now, or when your whole class does super well on a hard test.  It's so rewarding, and I teach much more than just mathematics concepts.  Even though some students disliked me, the fact that some of them were really influenced by me makes my heart smile.  Teaching is SO hard, but it's worth it!


There you have it. I can't wait for next year! Well, maybe I can... I am excited to rest for a couple months.  I think it will take me all summer to recover. And Matt and I are now in Boise, ID ready for an adventure.

Two Years!

Matt and I have now been married for two whole years! I don't think we've changed too much..

Wedding day!

First Anniversary!

Second Anniversary!

Can't wait to see what awaits us in year #3!

I'm a Cheap Date

Last Thursday Matt and I had a super fun date for super cheap, so I thought I'd brag about it.

We went to dinner at Jaxies in Spanish Fork and have some DELICIOUS sandwiches!  This was only $6 because I has a gift certificate from work. Thank you PTA!

Then we went out for frozen yogurt: My favorite thing ever!  This was only 8 cent because we had a free 3 oz. yogurt on our BYU starving student cards. The 8 cents was because Matt went a little over the 3 oz. limit.

And finally we saw the Spanish Fork High School production of Sherlock Holmes.  It was a fun show and several of my students were in it! And the perks of being a teacher include free school activities.

Thus, our date this week only cost us a little over $6 and was much better than just renting a redbox! If you have any other fun, cheap date ideas.. send them our way!

Stop It!

This weekend was general conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Our church leaders speak and give us council on how to improve ourselves and serve others.

My favorite talk was by Dieter F. Uchtdorf on judging others.  He simple told us to "stop it."  We do not know what others are going through and why they act, dress, (or even drive) the way they do.  In church a few weeks ago, I heard a quote that said "You can't help but love someone once you know their story."  So shouldn't we love them anyways? We don't need to know their story to know that God loves them.

The best line from this talk was a bumper sticker that Elder Uchtdorf saw that read, "Don't judge me because I sin differently that you."  What an awesome statement! I am definitely not perfect, so what gives me the right to expect everyone else to be, or to judge them if they're not.

Here is the video if you'd like to watch the entire talk. It's a great one!

What was your favorite talk from general conference?

Indexing is good for the Soul

I'm not very good at family history work, but I love indexing!  If you don't know what indexing is, you are basically given old written documents like a census and typing the information into the internet database so that it's searchable.  This way people who are looking for their ancestors can search for them all in one place.  It's so fun!

Today I was indexing some death records from Houston, TX.  I got to look at all the records of people who died in Houston on November 13, 14, and 15 in 1922.  It was so interesting to see the reasons for death.  Some of them make my heart sink.

Little Alberta Williams died at the age of 5 from burns.  It also said that her father owned a bakery, and it makes me wonder if that's where her burns came from.

Another women whose occupation read "housewife" died at age 23 due to heart problems.  I have a feeling she didn't get to be a housewife for very long, and that makes me sad.

So.. if you're feeling like starting a useful hobby, I would really recommend indexing! And I'd love to do it with you or help you too! Plus, they are releasing the 1940 Census to index in a month which will have living people on it and you can pick which cities to do so you can see the names of people you know (cool!!)

Boise, ID

Boise: ( /ˈbɔɪsiː/)
1) the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho.
2) the largest city between Salt Lake City, Utah and Portland, Oregon.
3) the place where Matt and I will be spending our summer!

Yes, that's right.  My amazing husband landed an internship at Micron in the great state of Idaho! I'm quite excited to live somewhere new for a little while.  I've done some research and have found that Boise has warm summers, good shopping, lots of hiking, and a minor league baseball team.  I think this means Boise and I will get along just fine :)