Bear Lake 4th of July

Can you see it? Need a close up?

FUDGE!

Ice Blocking and Family Fun...Not forced.

One time...in High School...I went ice blocking....and crashed...on this same hill.

Considering that I only went halfway down the hill and had either my legs or my arms in the grass for most of the time....I only got one major injury:

I went down with Kayleb. We made it about 2 feet before my butt fell off and scraped along the grass and twigs. If this picture offends you, pretend it's an arm? It looks similar. OW!

Leslie and Ledger

Kayleb

Dad

Train

Mom :)

Me and Leslie with Creeper Kayleb and Bored Gary in the background. ha ha.

Tough Guy

Goodbye Ice Blocks

After an afternoon of milkshakes and swimming...we gathered at Mom and Dad's for a BBQ and game night.

This is me, trying to decide if I can win this game. Nope. Ha ha. Can you see my sunburn? And Dad's and Leslie's? Yeah...toasty.

Stacey's Birthday

First we got pedicures that weren't as good as the other place or as good as the place I go to here in Utah, but it was nice.

Then we went to the Olive Garden and sat in the "Grown Up" section. ha ha.

We went to the movie Midnight at Paris which was okay, but a little long....

After playing with the hand dryers in the bathroom, I took Stacey to the store to get some necessities...and then home to her kiddies.

What a FUN BIRTHDAY!
WOO!
Love you Stacey!


ART SHOT SOMEWHERE IN THE MALL:

Fishing at the Family Reunion

Here I am in my fishing vest. Snazzy, right?

Worm

Ok, so you know how you catch branches, and limbs in the water and out? Well, we did that...

But.....

Have any of you ever caught a ROCK?!

Yeah! A ROCK! Here's the proof. At least it didn't take the worm. We thought about throwing it back because it was so small...but decided to keep it because it was such a rare catch. :)

Fishy Number 1

Real Size:

Fishy Number 2:

Real Size:

Cool Ford Model T something or other a guy drove by. I sure gave a lot of people a view trying to get into this thing without doors...Oh well. Good times. :)

Education Law Paper #1

Ok. So here is my confession. I have been disappointed by several of the classes in my Master's program. I am currently in my last class to receive my degree: Education Law.

In the beginning week of class...I was worried that it would be just as disappointing as the rest. But then something strange happened. I was assigned a paper. Not just a paper, but a choice paper. There are five topics and I have to write papers on three, of my choice.

I looked through the options and chose the one I thought would take the least amount of time.

By the end of the paper though, I noticed that I was excited about it. I was interested in the content. I was spending time on my research because I wanted to learn more.

The paper was about religion in schools, due process, and the process for dismissal in my profession.

I am SO happy that there is finally a class that DIRECTLY correlates with my profession. It is FINALLY reminding me about some of the things that I used to have a passion for learning about. AT LAST!

It feels a little bitter sweet. My last class. I wish that they all were like this one. It's just SO RELEVANT! I love it!

Here are some snip-bits of my 1st paper:

Religion

The discussion of the rights of employees in expressing their own beliefs is fairly straightforward. To put

it plainly, it is agreed that employees should not preach for or endorse religion in the classroom setting.

However, it is understood that this is harder said than done.

Religion should be studied from an academic perspective. There are several examples of where you

should draw the line between what can and cannot happen in the classroom concerning religion education.

For example, academic vs. devotional, awareness vs. acceptance, study vs. practice, expose vs. impose,

educate vs. denigrate, inform vs. conform are several illustrations of what is acceptable and not acceptable

religious education.

Due Process

Due process, or notice and the opportunity to defend yourself, is contingent on the circumstances of each specific incident. The 14^th Amendment states the government shall not “deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law.” Basically, this means that everyone has an opportunity for fairness.

Employees in public education are most in need of protection for things like accumulated leave, the right to continue employment during a contract time frame and the right to file a grievance. These things are gained through contract or state/federal law. Once the educators have them, they may not be taken awake without due process of law.

Dismissal Process: Concluding paragraphs (it's long)

If an employee is to be terminated within contract time, a letter will be given to the teacher. The letter may be mailed or given personally to the teacher 30 days prior to the date of termination. The letter will give details for reasons of termination. The teacher can request a hearing within 15 days of the letter. If a hearing is not requested, the teacher will be fired without a hearing. The teacher may be suspended from work pending a hearing with or without pay, depending on the decision of a district representative.

I do not believe that there should be more steps included in this process. The teachers are given notice, help to fix problems, and the right to a hearing to defend themselves. This is plenty. It is already incredibly hard to fire insufficient teachers.

Girl's Lunch!

(Stole this from Jeanna) ha ha ha

IT'S HERE!!!!

Ms. Rose's Class Birthday Party!

I HATE doing a million birthdays a year for all of my kids. I don't like the kids asking, "When do we get to sing happy birthday to so and so...." over and over and over again. On my first year of teaching I decided on a solution...

One HUGE party at the end of the year! :)
All of my kids know that they can bring in a treat to pass out to the class during the last time period of school or right before lunch on their birthday, but there are no individual parties and the Happy Birthday song is only sang once (in my classroom...a lot of them sing it in the cafeteria...ha ha).


My kids brought most of the fun food and activities for the party including this AWESOME cake! We had cake, ice cream sundaes...plus tons of topping, chips and 7-layer dip, muffins, cookies, cheetos, and very sugary drinks! I also taught them how to play some fun interactive games like murder in the dark (the hand holding one...Ooooo!) We had tons of fun and are excited that we are one year older...and wiser too! ;)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

PS I'm dressed like that because we had a faculty vs the 6th grade volleyball game...and I brought my game face (we won by the way...).