Me an M&M?

We had a little fun this morning putting these together.
If you would like to become an M&M just visit www.mms.com

Flight of The Conchords

Couper, thanks for always find little amusing tidbits that make me giggle.



Warning: If you choose to get on You Tube and watch more of Flight of The Conchords, be prepared to laugh at some semi-inappropriate humor.

It's Just 5 Minutes

This is what I tell myself everyday I go to the gym. Running is like one great big count down for me. We always run for 45 minutes. Well, for at least 5 of those minutes I like to run my guts out so I can really get my heart pumping. So I have to tell myself, "It's only 5 minutes, it's not that long, you can do it! Five minutes, that's less time then you'll spend writing your blog post tonight. I can do this!" So I start to pick up my pace, I double that, then flat out run, and thoughts like, "Oh my legs hurt, maybe I should stop now." go through my head. Then I have to yell at myself, in my head of course. Why is this so hard for me? I totally have to pump myself up for just 5 minutes. Do other people have to use self motivating talk in their heads to make their bodies move? I'm so ashamed. But oh, it does feel so good when those 5 minutes end and I get to slow down.

Kids Are Great!

I wasn't super excited to go back to school, but as my day got going I realized I think kids are great. Duh? Why else would I be doing this? Anyways, here are a few tidbits from my day.

Whenever the kids haven't seen me for a while they must have one on one attention and acknowledgment, if I don't give it to them they track me down until I listen to them for a good 30 seconds. Well this spring break was all about pets.

• "Mrs. Gelter I got a baby bunny for Easter. I named her Bella, and if you tickle her check her ears come up. It's like a wind-up toy."
  
• Allen:"Mrs. Gelter I had a rat!" Me: "That so nice, I actually like rats." Allen:"No Mrs. Gelter my rat died this weekend." Me:"Oh..." Allen: "He got cancer, because he had this sore on his belly and it was red, and it was pussy..." Me: "That's terrible Allen why don't you go to computers" (Shivers, kid's don't know when to stop)
  
• Rachael: "Mrs. Gelter I went to my cousin's this weekend and was playing with their hamster, and I accidentally threw it across the room. Their Mom caught it though." As she skips out to recess.
  
• Then my favorite took place while I was watching students on the playground. A first grader came up and just started talking, and talking, she's super cute. Come to find out her puppy died over spring break so I asked how it died. To which she responded, "Cow Shit" Maybe I didn't hear her right. Me: "What?" First Grader: "Cow shit, you know she fell into a pile of shit, and that's where my Dad found her." I couldn't even scold her, it was like a matter of fact thing for her. I think I've found a kindred spirit.
  

Other Funny Things:

• Collin took this poster on the front of Time for Kids and managed to turn this cute girl into Ringo Star. I wish I would have snapped a shot.
  
• Sophie on this weekend, " My sister was mean, my other sister kicked me I bumped my head on a rock...It was not a good Easter." Oh...Poor Sophie...
• I was watching the kids play kick ball, and one of my students has a little brother in kindergarten that was playing with his big brother. Well the little brother gets up to kick. The ball is half his size, and it's coming right towards him. I can tell that he's a little unsure as he pulls his leg back to kick, but he loses his confidence, and decides that the best thing to do is to tackle the ball! He's little body barley wrapped around it. Funnest thing I've seen all day!

Kids Are Great!

I love this kind of stuff

Sorry to overwhelm you with lots of post tonight, but I just found this post, and I think it's fabulous. I've really gotten into the daily photo blogs, and have started checking out the links of these artistic people, well I found this. I hope you like.


Eternal Love

Another "LOVE IT" Movie

Tonight we watched August Rush. I've wanted to see this movie since the first preview came out, and have hoped it was as good as I've heard. It is!

This movie is about a young orphan boy who hears music and believes that if he can get that music out of him, and have people hear it that he will find his parents. This movie is shot beautifully as it expresses the connection between the world and the music this child hears. I almost started crying in the first five minutes of it. The story just connected with me for some reason. I love and actually believe that music can and does communicate some of life's strongest and truest emotions. I agree with the concept in this film that music harmonically connects all human beings to each other. If you're in the mood for a touching and musically moving film experience go rent this one! Now I just need the sound track, that would be perfect!

Easter Testimony

Today I wrote some thoughts down about this day, and thought to myself, "My blog is locked I only share with those I love the most... I could turn this into a post and they might appreciate it." I don't get up in front of the church congregation like I should, but this is a smaller way for me to share.

If I look back on my life there have been so many moments when the Atonement has worked within me and changed me. I am grateful to know of Christ's Atonement. This glorious gift has helped me through times of great heartache and sorrow. Times of guilt and sin, and times of chastisement for a change of heart. I know that my Savior Loves me and knows who I am. He knows my heart, my weaknesses, and He understands my pain, when others cannot. I know that Christ can guide me, teach me, forgive me, and heal me.

I have felt His love wrap me in a warm and tender comfort when life has left me wounded and betrayed. I have felt the sadness of not being worthy and in need of my Heavenly Father's forgiveness. In those times I have felt the hope of the Savior as I have traveled the path of repentance. I also know that Christ can and will remove my sins from me. I have felt the joy as it's been communicated to my soul that my sins have been forgiven. I have felt the ability of Christ to make me stronger than I really am. He has helped me endure when I felt dead inside and actually could not even visualize life continuing. In those moments I have always been encouraged and lifted by something spiritual within. Even though I am constantly falling, and making human mistakes. I am ever aware of my Lord's never failing faith in me.

To put it simply I know that Jesus Christ Lives, he is my Brother, Savior, and Friend. He died that I might live again, and so will those that I have loved in this life that have already departed. He suffered in Gethsemane that my sins might be forgiven. He can take away my pains, He can make me whole, He understands. Christ in my life makes me a better person. He shows me my faults and then gives me hope and strength to change. I am so grateful to know of the Atonement and Resurrection. My life without this knowledge I cannot imagine. I love my Savior and feel great joy in His gospel! Amen

Small Town Fun

I grew up in a small town. I consider myself a country girl. Growing up I tried to escape that fact, tried to deny it, I even pretended I was above all that small town jabber. But as I've gotten older I've realized it's totally a part of who I am. "You can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl." So I've embraced it. I started to realize my country side when the philosophy of Nothin' says it like a curse word started to be a rough challenge for me. I can curse and people believe I mean it, it's just natural, it doesn't sound half hearted, or like it took a lot of effort for that four letter word to come off my tongue. Not exactly living up to the goody two shoes reputation I had my freshman year. I've learned to bite my tongue, but I still let one fly every once in a while to make Aaron smile, or to get my point across.

Anyways, wow that was a huge side track. I now teach in a small town, which is interesting and entertaining. No one ever said that small town folk don't know how to have a good time, and that's true all the way down to their Elementary schools. This Wednesday (the last day before our spring break) we had an egg drop competition...with a twist of course, I've never seen anything like this. The kids built their Egg Chambers and brought them to school. Then some men came and got them to take to the airport. We teachers walked our students over to the park, and waited. Two small crop dusters started circling the park, and throwing the egg chambers out of the planes. It was so much fun!!! The planes were cool! The chambers bounced, dropped, crashed, and even exploded. Then I got to be a judge, so I cut open the chambers (which wasn't easy) and I got to determine if their egg had survived or not. Then I had to crack it to make sure it wasn't boiled. A little country, but tons of fun!

If you look close in this picture you can see the Egg Chambers behind the plane. Gravity Baby!

Heartache

Lakers 106, Jazz 95

Bummer. I really don't like Kobe. He makes me angry.

WE GOT IT!!!

We are very pleased to announce that tomorrow Aaron and I will be signing our names on that dotted line to start the closing process on this lovely home!!! I started crying when Aaron told me the news! I don't really know if we're worthy of such a blessing, but I'm so grateful that the Lord has guided us through this whole process. We have felt such a peace in our hearts about this home. We're very excited. It has to be closed in three weeks for the bank, but our realtor is thinking he might be able to get it done in two. This is what we're hoping for because we need as much time as we can get to make the improvements we would like too. I guess all there is left to say is bring on the color swatches! What colors should I use? You got my back, right Jesi? Don't let me do anything ugly. ;)

Shout-Out

I owe some people a shout-out. I'm not even sure if you all read this, but if you do you will know of my appreciation for YOU!


Tim- Thanks so much for mentioning, "The Big Bang Theory" to Aaron...I just love it, and it's so amusing to me. Ever since we finished the office, there has been this hole, and you fixed it!




BreAnn- Your Texas Sheet cake is to die for. Thanks so much for inviting us down for a quick bite on Sunday. That and "Sweet Home Alabama" totally made my night.




Rachael and Tyler- You guys are such great company! Thanks for being our friends! You make me so happy, you're so cute together!






Then my last shout-out goes to Mother Nature. Thanks for finally sending Spring Time. Today I walked out of my school to sun shine and a cool breeze, it made every thing seem happier.

Sports Time

March through June have to be some of the best months for a sports fan. College basketball tournament time, NBA playoffs, the French Open (tennis), and Wimbledon (tennis). How can it get any better than that?

To show you how awesome my wife is, a couple of days ago Meghann actually suggested that we get cable TV with HD channels and the sports package! This definitely won't help my motivation for the last 6 weeks of school, but hello sports heaven!
On Friday night, Couper (Meg's bro) came over and the three of us watched the Jazz-Celtics game, the BYU-SDSU game, the end of a Spurs-Pistons game, and part of the Utah-UNLV game. Fun stuff! The games we get on the HD channels are especially fun; it feels like you're right there at the game.

It will be interesting to see how the Jazz do down the stretch. It would be great to see them get home court advantage for at least the first round of the playoffs. They need to start beating the mediocre teams if they're going to do that, though.

Thanks honey, you're the best!

A Few Extra Minutes

I got up early this morning so I wouldn't be rushed trying to get down to Salt Lake to go house shopping. I have a few minutes before it's time to leave so I thought I would update ya'all on our house buying adventures.

We put an offer on a house around three weeks ago. We knew that the process might take some extra time because we found a short-sell property (a foreclosure, great deal!) that we liked. Things started out well, we put in the highest offer on the property, and got the previous owners to sign it, and then we found out that the bank had approved our offer. Wonderful! Bum, Bum, Bum...Then we found out that there is a second mortgage on this property which means another banks approval, and a bank that has to write off a lot of bad debt because they took such a risk on these people. Well we finally heard back from them Thursday night, they counter-offered for another $5,000. It was a little hard to give them the little extra because there are quite a few improvements that need to be made, but we did it because it's still just an awesome deal, and that extra will probably get us the house under contract by Wednesday. Wish us luck! We'll keep you updated.

I've Been Replaced!!!

Today my principal hired my replacement! Some Dude! Weirdest feeling that someone is going to come in and take over my classroom. What I'm really struggling with is the thought of saying goodbye to my kids! I just love them so much! There are some of them that I just would love to see 8-10 years down the road. Here's to ripping my heart out for some amazing moments. We won the school fund-raiser today and our prize is a pizza party. I can't wait to tell you all about it come Monday.

Let me break this down for you...

A few weeks ago I signed an intent to leave form because my employer was offering a $500 dollar bonus to anyone who informed them in advance that they would be leaving. Well I already know that my plan is to leave after this school year, so why not cash in on that? But now the leak is out and spreading and my co-workers are slowly finding out one by one. Of course everyone wants a dang good reason for you to be departing from the most rewarding and noble job there is. I end up explaining my reasons and since I've done this every day this week, here it is in writing:

1. As a freshman in college I took several human development courses and learned that when planning to have children it's a good thing if the mother starts preparing a year in advance. As Aaron and I have finally reached a place in our lives where the time is almost right, I want to start preparing.
   
2. I've started studying textbooks on preparing for pregnancy. (I'm a little embarrassed to admit that) Anyways, I read a chapter about stress and how it can affect your fertility and future fetus. Teaching is very stressful and a lot of responsibility. I've been entrusted with the education of 32 children, and the state will be coming into my classroom soon to test that knowledge. I'm only sorta' freaking out! Working 60 hours a week isn't really recommended either.
3. As I pondered this I thought about how my husband will make an income where it will be possible for me to stay home if I want. The plan has always been for me to teach a second year while being pregnant. After talking, reading, and praying together it just made sense that I be in a job that I can terminate at any given time without traumatizing small children.
   
4. Not only that but a job that when I leave I'm really done. A job where I don't come home and still have 3 more hours of work to do. A job where I don't lay in bed worrying about how I'm ever going to get Timmy to read, how I'm going to handle Alex's next anxiety attack, or if my kids are being abused tonight.
   
5. Then there is the selfish reason: the time will be nice. With a new home and life style it's time to transition into the next phase.
   
6. Not to mention I can make about an extra $5,000 a year working in an office! How stupid is that!

Teaching has been so rewarding and I LOVE it! It's just not the right choice for our upcoming lives. I've gotten so many different reactions to this, and most people just want to talk about their lives and how they made it through teaching while pregnant and their kids turned out mostly normal. But today a literacy aid I work with looked me in the eyes and said, "I chose to take care of my family, and I have never regretted it a day of my life." THANK YOU LINDA!!!

P.S. no, I'm not pregnant :) that's always the next question.

Watch OUT!!! She Can Drive!

A while back my little sister made a comment on this blog about how I've never mentioned her. Well today she inspired me! My little (almost 18 year old) sister got her drivers license today, and not only that she got a 100% on her driving test. This girl is making a habit out of getting a 100% on things, just the other day she got a perfect score in one of her high school classes.

Whenever I think of my sister, the "Sisters, Sisters" tune of the classic White Christmas movie pops into my head and I can't get those lyrics to stop playing through my head. "Sisters, Sisters. There were never such devoted sisters, never had to have a chaperone, no sir, I'm here to keep my eye on her!" la, la, la. I just adore my sister. She is an example to me of living right. We are very different and our personalities at times clash, but she goes about life in a way that impresses me.

One of my new favorite past times is listening to her high school boy drama. There is a new guy every two weeks trying to win her heart, and honestly can you blame them for trying. She Gorgeous! The girl has high standards though, she knows who she is, and lets be honest.. to teenage boys that's intimidating, and it tends to baffle them. She has put many a young man in a dither. It's great to watch how she has grown, learned, and change over the years.

Baylee in the closing of my tribute to you all I'm going to say is, "You were cute in High School!" Just kidding , how about, "You and me, we couldn't stand being normal. That's why we, make a good you and me!" I love you, lil sis!

Sigh...

We are big list people. Life goals list, things to get done list, if we get that house (we'll know by the end of the week) we will make these improvements list, we are always making lists. Annelie our good friend has been kind enough to make these documents outlining all of our decisions for each destination that we will be exploring this summer in Europe. She did this for all 18-20 destinations; she must really love us.

Tonight we got to check the last city off of our Europe big decisions list. Rome is officially done! When we opened the document I was a little sad that it was the last one we would get to look through. I can't imagine the feeling we will have when it's actually our last night in Europe. It so doesn't even seem real, just some nice fantasy that I get to think about.

Wii Play

So perhaps you don't find this amusing, but we sure did have a good time! My little bro brought over his Wii last night and the whole family got into it. We also watched The Office and Brain Regan clips. Once again I find myself with laughter pains. Not to mention my elbow and shoulder are sore from playing Wii...Good Times, Good Times!

It's SO True!

I just have to say this with tears in my eyes after an evening filled with much laughter: you need to be looking forward to an upcoming post. You will giggle at us! It's going to be fun...stay tuned!

Posting from my couch

I am sitting at my couch and surfing the net through my TV with my cool Archos 605 WIFI. Man I love technology! I'm such a geek.

Something Inspirational

I love this prayer so I thought I would share.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr

Back to The Real World

Tomorrow I will return to my third graders! The flu has officially left me, but it certainly took its toll. I've been feeling better all day, but I keep having to sit down to catch my breath or even take a little nap because I get really tired out of nowhere. It's so strange to me, I hope this doesn't last long.

So I know this is silly, but I'm a little scared to go back to my classroom tomorrow. I feel like I've been gone forever, and I'm nervous! I'm sure it will leave as soon as it's time to teach, it always does. As soon as the kids walk in they become the priority and everything else fades away for the next seven hours, it's kind of weird actually. Anyways, wish me luck, and if you really love me say a little prayer for me! thanks

I've Been Schmoozed

Today I got a delivery that I wasn't expecting. I opened the door and the lady was holding a box I recognized as a FTD flower box. I thought that maybe my Mommy sent me get better flowers, she does stuff like that. But, when I opened the box I found this note inside:

Meghann, we just wanted to tell you how
excited we are to have you, your husband, and
your little ones as a part of the SDIG
Family...welcome!

SDIG is Aaron's Team at Harman Music Group. What a nice gesture! The whole time Aaron was negotiating with Harman there was this joke going on that Rick the VP would buy me my Valentine's Flowers if Aaron would sign, because they ended up having the final negotiation on Valentine's Day. So I'm curious if the joke had anything to do with the gift. I think they just won me over. Aren't they pretty!

Day 2 of Rest - Mein Mann

After going to the doctor yesterday I found out that I have influenza b. Fun huh? I went back with the nurse and she took my temperature and said, "Well no wonder you don't feel good! You have a fever of 102!" She was sorta' scolding me...I didn't know, we don't even own a thermometer. The doctor said I couldn't go back to work until my fever broke and I had a 24 hour period of no fever. He said no sooner than Thursday, and more likely Monday, of next week! I miss my kids!

I'm stuck in bed, and luckily for me my doctor prescribes really good medications, but I'm getting a little jealous of all the healthy people. I keep thinking I'm better so I'll get up to do some laundry or something, and as soon as I'm on my feet it becomes obvious that I'm not okay. My grade level team went on professional observations today without me, and my friend kept texting me to try and help me feel involved. But, all he was doing was making me feel left out and angry that I wasn't there. I'm so grateful for the rest, but I'm scared of what is waiting for me at the end of this illness. I'm predicting lots and lots of work.

Aaron has been such a support. He comes and checks on me constantly, and he makes sure that I'm drinking my Gatorade. He has been making me meals and not even complaining when I take two bites and have him take it away because it's making me nauseous. He even talked with my mom who gave him pointers on how to better take care of me. She taught him how to make Jello Water, liquid Jello, something I can actually stomach. He is always doing so much for me but being home all day has made all of those things a little more apparent. He takes out the trash, did the laundry for me, did the dishes, tucks me in, goes to school, gets up and works, and he's there whenever I need him. I'm so grateful my husband is worthy of the priesthood and is ready to give me a blessing when I need one. He does so many little things that make me happy. Like each morning I wake up to him saying, "Come Get Your Mornin' Hug!" He stands just far enough away that I can't reach him unless I get out of bed, and it's the only thing that actually gets me up because I can't turn down one of his hugs. It's his way of loving me awake, I just love him so much! Ich liebe dich, mein Mann!

Happy Dr. Seuss Day

Today is the day we Celebrate the literature of Dr. Seuss...his birthday in fact. Today is a great day to be a teacher, but where am I...HOME SICK!!! I feel like a total loser, I wish I were with my students! :( so I'll celebrate in my own little way, a post to you all on Dr. Seuss Day.

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”

“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”

"I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful, one hundred per cent!"

"A person's a person, no matter how small."

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened. "

"From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere."