So helpless..

So I teach Human Geography to freshman and I'm still learning a lot as the year progresses...last semester if they asked the capital of this or that country or needed clarification on where something is my response was always, "look it up" (works like a charm:)). Now I actually DO know where most of the things are and can help them as needs be, but my focus in learning has shifted to other areas.

I love reading and I think the students will benefit from a book report. So I started investigating good Geography books at their reading level and made a little list for them to choose from. I've read most of the books on their list (things like 3 Cups of Tea, Kite Runner, 1,000 Splendid Sons, Poisonwood Bible, etc.) but there were a few that came with high recommendations that I've never read...hence my current quest. I read all of Left Behind, a book about a woman who survives the Rwandan genocide in a bathroom, on Friday night and I'm about to finish A Long Way Gone, about a boy soldier and his experiences in Sierra Leone. I've also started to put a dent in three other similar books, while reading And Still We Rise, a book about kids from inner-cities that still pursue higher education.

These books are phenomenally captivating and interesting but yet I read them feeling so...helpless. I feel like I fit the description of the Americans that are described in Hotel Rwanda as seeing footage of the genocide, saying "that's horrible" and go on eating their dinner. What can I do?? We watch current events in my class about the destruction in Japan and that awful state of the people in Haiti still, yet I don't offer any solutions to the problems and we go on with whatever it is we're doing.

I feel like I have 200 students at my disposal and could have them help in some way, but I don't know how. I HATE fundraising, with a passion, and don't want to collect money from people in any way. Is there any other way to assist people in need? Sometimes I wish I were a doctor or somebody with a very obvious "skill" so I could easily offer aid to those who need it. I also don't think that the best way to help struggling nations is to go visit them and patch things up for them. Again, I have no idea how to help the less fortunate in a way that seems appropriate. Does anyone have any good suggestions? There are like a million bijillion NGOs out there that all seem to be doing good in some minor way but again, I can't decide if I agree with the way they do things and instead do nothing.

I'm experiencing some pretty major cognitive dissonance because of this.....hmmm...

A post?

So, I figured it out. I don't blog because I don't take pictures! I can't even find my camera right now. What good is a post without a picture? No good. My thoughts exactly. I'll try to figure something out.

Life in the King home has been great. We had a fun little surprise party for Justin last night. Everyone met up at Sammy's, then we went to Comedy Sportz, and then we played games at our apartment! Justin thought I was taking him on a fun date, just the two of us, since we've started a new tradition where one of us is in charge of the date planning each week (last week he did a great job taking me to Costco (woot woot!) and then to a movie and yummy dessert). So, I was in charge on Saturday night and he was not suspicious at all. We walked towards Sammy's and he started to guess what we might be doing that evening. He guessed that we were going to Comedy Sportz, and I finally conceded that to him, trying not to be overly secretive. Well, when we walked up to Sammy's, we saw Robby and Heather and Alex in the distance, and Justin said, "I think that's Robby." I said, "No way!" and as we got closer, Justin excitedly proclaimed, "What a coincidence! Are you guys just leaving?" They smiled and Justin turned to me. "Are they here for me?" Yes, yes they were. Then Nick and Adam and Brett and Ashley and Pete and Carly and Anna and Allison all came too, and we had a lovely little dinner (sorry for the cramped conditions in Sammy's). Then we went to Comedy Sportz, which did not disappoint.

As if that weren't fun enough...then Holly and Andrew and Carolyn and Brian joined us all for games. (Thank you Holly for the delicious Costco cake, which I ate for breakfast this morning! And thanks to Allison, for getting us this very fun game for Christmas!).

All in all, Justin was surprised and super-happy. Nothing beats seeing your husband super-happy! Happy Birthday, best friend!

*I think I'll use pictures like these every time. Did that not make the reading experience more enjoyable?

See??? I told you I was a bad blogger! At least I have been staying busy doing other things, like making a ridiculous amount of these Menu boards (I considered not posting them since some of you will be receiving these for Christmas, but what the heck). I spent about a million hours making these yesterday, mostly because the stickers I used were impossible to work with. It was fun though and I'm happy with the result.

There are plenty more of these, but blogger wouldn't let me upload them all (another reason I dislike blogging:)).

Thanksgiving was awesome; I have so much to be grateful for, but more than anything, I'm grateful for this fantastic vacation time and that I get to spend every moment with my husband.

Happy Halloween!! We had a fun-filled Halloween weekend, beginning with a mystery Clue party (thanks Emily!), and followed by Miranda's visit, a bridal shower, a ward party, a friends party, and of course, lots of candy. We don't have pictures of our Clue costumes quite yet, but we do have some from Halloween day #2 (ironically, we only celebrated Halloween on the 29th and 30th since the 31st was Sunday)

Justin was a big hit with his cute puffy pants (our bishop even said that Justin was the best dressed. Unfortunately we didn't stay at our ward party long enough to find out if he won the costume contest). From the back, however, he was a little scandalous:

We had a fantastic Halloween with great friends. Miranda was in town for some pre-wedding celebrations, so we capitalized on her company and had an action packed day. Here we are making Haunted Halloween houses. I was super impressed with Justin's noose-making skills.

We had a ton of fun at Brett and Ashley's house with Seth, Janica, Miranda, Jennifer, and Bubba. The winning costumes were definitely worn by Mir, Jen, and Bub. You'll see why:

They are quite the happy polygamists!

All-in-all, we had a great weekend and it was so much fun to be with my long-lost lover, best friend, and confidant, Miranda Buell (soon to be Clements).

Love her!

BYUtv - BYU Weekly: Week of 10/3/2010

BYUtv - BYU Weekly: Week of 10/3/2010

Flag football

I love flag football. I love the fast-paced nature of the game, and the quick decision making it necessitates. I never really had an appreciation for football until I started playing flag football in Highschool, and since then I've been fascinated by the intensity of the game. I especially love playing quarterback (even though I'm a stress case sometimes) but I love the pressure of having to pass the ball quickly and accurately and trying to outsmart our opponents. I'm lucky that I still have a team to play for and I get to keep it up after all these years. People say tennis is a sport you can always play, but I'm starting to think that flag football is my forever game.

Having sad that, I might be outgrowing some of the ridiculous competitiveness that I used to love so much. I had a flag football game tonight and almost got in a fight. I'm not even kidding. I think we won like 40 to 0 and the other team started to get frustrated so they started attacking me, blitzing every play, then clawing my legs and kicking my ankles after I had thrown the ball. When I moved to receiver, a girl jumped on me and was called for pass interference. I gave her a little back pat and her teammate said, "Don't touch her!" and got up in my face. I kept my cool (I promise I did...I know some of you aren't believing me). Later I caught the ball and went to run with it and these girls converged on me and beat me up before pulling my flag. Grr..

Anyway, I love it. The Cowgirls are pretty awesome. Here's a video where you can see our stardom: http://www.byutv.org/watch/173-518

Uncle Justin

Here goes....

This is my 4th-ever blog-posting and my 4th-ever blog created, so we'll see how I do this time around. I just realized that I blog stalk so many other people when I'm bored that I might as well make my own blog and work on my own creativity and writing skills instead of staring blankly at the computer screen. Today is the last "real" day (tomorrow is Sunday) of my Fall Break, and it's been an interesting little pause from the school-life. I think I miss my classroom, which is strange. The highlight of my break was seeing Erica, my sister-in-law (and dear friend!) and her three kids, including the two twins whom I had never before met. They are the happiest little buggers and always return a smile.

It was hilarious to see Justin interact with Annika last night. They must have gotten off on the wrong foot when Justin mentioned that he was jealous that Annika was watching Dora on the I-pad (she can open all the necessary programs, which is impressive for a 2-year old) and he threatened to take it from her. We didn't notice that anything was awry until we were eating cupcakes after dinner. Deb asked Annika to bring Justin a cupcake, so she walked over to Jordan and handed it to him. We said, "that's not Justin." She looked over at Justin on the other side of the room and then turned back to Jordan and said, "Take that to Justin." She refused to get anywhere close to Justin and cried when Deb picked her up and they sat by Justin on the couch. She explained that "Justin makes me nervous." Later, when Annika was watching Cinderella on t.v., she sat about 6 inches away from the t.v. screen. Justin carefully inched forward until he was sitting right next to her. She looked a little annoyed and said, "you can sit on the couch." She eventually inched away but it did strike up a conversation between the two of them. Justin held all of her paper princess dolls and asked which one was the smartest. Annika's reply: "me." They had a nice little chat about princesses and Annika seemed to finish the evening with a favorable attitude towards her uncle, although she wouldn't even high-five him goodnight.