These, Our Lives...

Celeste and I wake up every morning between 5:15-5:45. I'm usually up by about 5:15 to give me ample time to read. Right now I'm in the middle of "Founding Brothers" by Joseph Ellis (which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2001, FYI). I eat a few bowls of cold cereal, do a few pull-ups, then get showered and ready for the day. Celeste usually packs our lunches, which are almost exclusively assembled from leftovers from the night before. Grilled chicken and rice is always on the menu.

We're at school before 7:00. The drive from Oxford to Henderson is short - about 10 minutes - and is usually complimented by a stunning sunrise over the kudzu and pine tree alleys. We usually listen to NPR (or National Communist Radio, as my father-in-law would call it) and get our fill of the current events. Absent from this year's daily drives is the overwhelming panic in our hearts that used to nearly cripple us as we'd approach each new day. It's been replaced by some strange sensation that we're still getting used to. I think they call it peace of mind.


When the kids arrive, Celeste and I become experts in the fields of American History and Earth Science. I tell my kids that Columbus isn't necessarily the hero their previous teachers made him out to be, and Celeste fills their head with crazy ideas like the earth is billions of years old. Pshhh...where's that in the Bible? This week I get to teach about the Boston Massacre and the American Revolution. Celeste is moving on to plate tectonics. You can even check out her class website at http://nvhsearthscienceolsen.wikispaces.com. Celeste's students use that website everyday because they've each been issued laptops by the school as part of a 1-to-1 initiative. Pretty cool stuff.

When the bell rings at the end of the day, I put on my coaching hat and hardcore sunglasses to make me look tough next to the other coaches. All of them played college football. All are 250 lbs. or more. All are black. All have arms thicker than my waist. What I lack in size, I make up for with confidence, football know-how, and that big golden championship ring I got in high school for being the 3rd string quarterback when my team took state. Good times.


While I'm out on the field yelling my throat soar, Celeste is usually in her classroom, helping kids keep up or catch up in her academically rigorous course. She's a tough one, that Celeste, but she follows her stern disposition and high expectations with empathy and compassion, and is more willing than most teachers to go the extra mile to help a student in need.

When practice is over, Celeste picks me up (we still carpool everyday, and still only have the one car) and together we head back to Oxford. Where we once came home to several more hours of work and lesson planning for the next day, this year we've been able to enjoy our evenings together, doing any number of activities: cooking elaborate meals, hanging out with friends, or going to sleep before the sun sets. We still have the occasional evening where the demands of our jobs require our attention, but it's a far cry better than what it was last year. We also have church duties that require a lot of our time and attention, but the thought of giving God more time and service doesn't bother us. I go to meetings, do service projects, play the piano a lot, and Celeste gets to teach cute little primary kids.



We close each night with a prayer of thanks, grateful to God for such wonderful lives. We make a living out of making living better for others. We get paid to improve the lives of others, in a very real, tangible way. That's feels good. Really good. It's a feeling I've got to chase.

Proud to be an Aggie!!!

Utah State hey Aggies all the way!!! Go Aggies, go Aggies, hey, hey, hey!!!

Okay, now some of you might think that I'm just hot on the Aggies because they played GREAT football against #7 Oklahoma last night, AT Oklahoma. Under the bright lights and in front of 90,000 screaming Sooner fans, the Boys of Blue really shined. We took it to Oklahoma, surprising them and the nation. Sure, we didn't win, but we kept it close until the very end, and sent Oklahoma fans home wiping the sweat from their arrogant brows. The truth is, I was going to blog about the Aggies this week anyway. This weekend's football game just got me more jazzed up than I had planned to be.

As a second year teacher, I've discovered that I have more time in my schedule and more free space in my brain to try new and fun things, now that much of the stress in my life has been removed like a cancerous tumor. I have the ability now to try to implement some outside-of-the-box thinking into my classroom. So, in that vein, this year I decided to nickname each of my classes by a different college (I assigned class nicknames by the alma mater's of each classes homebases classes - for example, their science teacher went to ECU, so they're the Pirates, etc...). The idea here is to open up a dialogue about higher education and remove some of the negative stigma that these kids have for college. My homebase happens to be very lucky. They are the Utah State Aggies, even though they live in North Carolina and wouldn't know Utah from the Strait of Gibraltar.

In addition to the nicknames, I have a corner of my room plastered with college paraphanelia (College Corner). I've also instituted an optional dress code in my classroom. It's pretty simple, really. The only real proviso is that every Friday is college day, and kids (and teacher) wear college garb if they have it. This was only the first week, but we did have a few participants, and I was pretty happy with the turnout.

To really spoil my homebase, I got in touch with my friends Jen and Whitney Putnam at the USU Admissions office, and they sent me a USU banner, pennant, and a mess of USU pens and stickers, which I distributed to my homebase. They thought it was awesome.

I've always loved Utah State. And though I left it behind for a new chapter of life, and will likely never return except to visit, my heart will forever yearn for its song and Spectrum, and the silhouette of Old Main against a setting sun.

GO AGGIES!!!

Night and Day

Night and day. That how we would describe the difference between last year's first week of teaching, and this year's first week of teaching. Let me elaborate:

Last year, we were: stressed, anxious, nervous, sweaty, unsure, overworked, high-strung.

This year, we were: confident, stern, in control, proactive, funny (all our jokes landed), and generally happy.

Last year, we used to hear the 2nd year teachers go on about how much easier teaching is the second time around. As they would say these words, we would watch on with wanton faces and wishful hearts like Martin Short and Steve Martin in The Three Amigos, when Chevy Chase empties his canteen onto the desert floor. We so desperately wanted to feel the sweet relief so many 2nd years spoke of.

This week, we did. We attribute our early success to the fact that we've had a year to build up reputations as taskmasters, and also the fact that we're simply more confident. When you're not confident, your students leverage that against you. This year, students kept their mouths shut when we spoke, and didn't dare to test our mettle. Darn tootin'.

Now, we're not under any grand illusions that the entire year will be this way. The bashful nature of our students will begin to wear thin, and before long, they'll put us to the test. But there's no question that our days will be easier, that we're stronger teachers than we were a year ago, and that life is generally a little better.

Year 2: commence.

New England Welcomes You!

Jackson and I have just spent the past week experiencing New England. When we moved to North Carolina we decided that we needed to take advantage of our proximity to the East and see all that we could. With a few weeks before school starts, we took off on our last adventure for the summer.

I woke up on my birthday to a wonderful breakfast and a nice spread of gifts from my adoring husband. Afterwards we picked up our suitcases and headed out the door off to Boston, a fun, historical town close (enough) to family and the beautiful New England coastline.

In Boston we walked around Boston Common, went to the JFK library and went to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park. It's always nice to visit a new city and to learn the history and culture of it that makes the town come alive.

In front of the Massachusetts Capital Building

Jackson at the JFK Library

The Red Sox lost 1-9 to the Cleveland Indians... Ouch!

We then drove to Highland NY to visit my wonderful Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Dan and their family. It had been a while since we've been able to be with the Coopers, and it was so great to see them!

Jackson and I with the Coopers - Dan, Jeanne and Nate over the Hudson River

While in Highland I thought that I was going to die. Seriously. Dan showed me how to drive an old Ford tractor. I had the gears and stearing down fine... but he forgot to show me where the brakes were (an easy thing to do because they are obviously placed right under the right leg, but I guess I needed him to point them out to me). I went down the driveway (and a hill) and got a little out of control. I was going way too fast and the driveway was curving. I was overcorrecting at every turn and was not slowing down. I started yelling for help (maybe it was more like screaming) and Jackson and Dan came running after me. Luckily I got the tractor under control and brought it to a standstill. Needless to say I was a little shaken, for a few seconds there I thought that I would for sure be trapped between a tractor and a tree!

Dan teaching me how to run the tractor

Leaving NY was hard (I always have a tough time saying goodbye to family), but we were back on the road to spend our anniversary in Maine. We spent the night in Portland and spent the next day exploring the port town and traveling down the coast to New Hampshire. It was so beautiful!

The Portland Head Light

Jackson enjoying some fresh Haddock

Yesterday we arrived back home. Now it's really time to get back to business. Teacher work days begin in just a few short days and the students won't be far behind.

Bragg and the Burbanks

Several months ago, my parents came to visit us in North Carolina. I had the pleasure of picking them up from the airport and bringing them back to our cozy 2-bedroom apartment in Oxford. As we casually chit-chatted our way home, my mother mentioned to me that Jarom Burbank, a family friend who had graduated around the same time as a couple of my older siblings, and his wife and kids were now living in North Carolina. Jarom had joined the Army, and was serving as a military dentist on Fort Bragg. I was pleased to hear of a few fellow Aggies being so nearby, and made a mental note to contact Jarom in the near future.

Fast forward 1 week.

While at a church function on the night before my parents left for Utah, we just happened to run into the very same Jarom Burbank in Raleigh, NC, about an hour from both of our houses! What are the odds?!

Jarom wasted no time in inviting Celeste and I down to Fort Bragg to visit, and Celeste and I wasted no time in taking him up on his offer. As soon as we got back from our travels in Europe and Utah, we were Bragg-bound.


It was a great little getaway, and it gave us a chance to make some new friends, see a stunning military facility, and to participate in one of my favorite pastimes: bashing BYU (Jarom and Desi, his wife, were both Ambassadors for Utah State, and both bleed Aggie Blue). It had been at least 10 year since I last saw Jarom, and had not at that point met his wife and kids: Anna, 3, a tornado, and Nia, 1, a tornado aggravater/playmate.


Fort Bragg was pretty incredible. There are 50,000 soldiers there, not including wives and families, which more than double that figure. It’s the home of the Airborne division of the Army, and is where many of the paratroopers of D-Day came to be trained, including the group in the HBO series Band of Brothers. It’s a very historic military base, and we were grateful to see it with the help of some very knowledgeable tour guides.

The trip was short, but sweet. And it had to be short, because in just another two days Celeste and I are heading to Boston, New York, and Maine to celebrate our anniversary and as a final hoorah before school starts back up. Now no one can say we didn't make the most out of this summer.

Home at Last

Sweet Moses it feels good to be back.

Don't get me wrong, Europe was incredible and Utah was amazing, but anyone who has lived out of their suitcase for a month straight knows that it's a taxing affair. And oh the joy it was to come home and sleep in our bed. We actually napped for 5 hours on the day we got home, then slept in till noon the next day. I think we were "traveled out", if there is such a thing.

After awaking from our temporary sleep coma, I got a phone call from the stake presidency instructing me to be early for church today. You know where this is going, right? So anyway, you're talking to the new Elder's Quorum President/High Priest Group Leader (they just combine the priesthood bodies here on account of it being a branch. I'm sure that won't be time-consuming or challenging at all, right? Especially when school starts.

All is well here in North Carolina, where Celeste and I will enjoy a relatively carefree lifestyle for the next couple of weeks before we head to Boston/Maine for our anniversary. But when we return, it'll be all nose to the grindstone from there. Another school year lurks beyond the horizon. I can feel it in the water...

Europe vs. Utah - Who Wins?

Canoeing on the Provo River

Europe and Utah...

These two geographic locations are rarely compared, probably on account of them being so radically different and distant from each other. We probably never would have done it either, but seeing as we just spent 2 weeks in Europe and are almost done with a 2-week trip to Utah, we figured why not?

EUROPE PROS: beaches (REAL beaches), castles, architecture, diversity, history (REAL history), crepes, Diagon Alley, chocolate, user-friendly public transportation, foot-traffic only streets filled with shops, restaurants, and street performers.

EUROPE CONS: public urination (mostly Paris), general absence of familiar faces, occasional language barriers, sketchy hotels

VS.

UTAH PROS: family, friends, childhood memories, wakeboarding, homemade rootbeer, Costa Vida, mountains, sunsets, mountain sunsets, shaved ice shacks, cheap matinees, 4th of July celebrations, driving on the right side of the road.

UTAH CONS: lopsided political system, Andrei Kirilenko, inversion, BYU


Well, we're a month into our summer vacation, and we've only spent 1 night at our apartment in North Carolina. We'll get back this week, but we still have a vacation to Boston/New England in a few weeks. Some of you might think that all this traveling is a little overboard, but ask yourself: what would you do if you had 2 months paid vacation? Doubtful any of you would just sit around. We figure we many never have the chance to travel like this ever again, so we might as well cash in while we can.