Always a New Adventure

      Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved scrapbooking. I was introduced at a young age as I watched my mother make scrapbooks for our family. I was interested and so my mom helped me order photos from my camera, and I started my first scrapbook. I'm pretty sure my first scrapbook looked something like this:      My mom has a scrapbook at our house that I always go back to. It's a special scrapbook with all her and my father's engagements, wedding/reception pictures/cards, and their honeymoon. I have always thought that was so neat. As a young girl I would look through that book over and over because I loved learning more about my mom and dad and how they met.     Of course, this is what led to my desire to create a wedding scrapbook for Jamal and I. Over the past 7 months that we have been married, I have been slowly accumulating pieces to make the scrapbook. I got a binder and some pages first, then some stickers and journaling pens. Something that has real

      Today I talked with my students about bullying. The topic is definitely not a new one, and it's one that often times I hear sighs or see rolled eyes over. I sometimes feel like I can just hear them saying, "We've done this. We know this. Again?" However, it's such an important topic and it's one that is close to my heart so I just keep on teaching it, hoping that some day it will get through to them that being unkind to others hurts and is not okay.      I started out by asking them to raise their hand if they have ever moved and had to go to a new school. Most of the class raised their hand. I asked them to think of their first day and the feelings they had before and the feelings they had after the day was done. Then I showed this video. It's from a program called stop bullying now from www.stopbullying.gov .              I asked the students what KB's first day was like and how she felt afterwards.  I then shared an experience of my

     Yesterday, Jamal and I went to do one of our favorite things: feeding the ducks. Okay, maybe it's one of MY favorite things and Jamal is happy to watch. We started this tradition when we were dating. There is a duck pond at Nielson's Grove in Orem. The first time Jamal took me, it was winter and we had gotten hot chocolate to drink and then decided to walk around the park. Stupidly, I was wearing really thin flats with no socks. We decided to go to the duck pond because we had some bread. We thought it would only take us a second to walk through the park to the duck pond, but we were wrong. We trudged through the snow, me in my flats, and Jamal in sneakers, until we found the pond. By that time, my feet were numb, but I didn't want to say anything. We fed the ducks and then trudged back to the car. Jamal realized how cold my feet must be and turned the heat so it was directed on my feet all the way home. After that experience, I learned to always wear sneakers when we