ok ok ok

I know... I've totally slacked off the last couple days! So here's the catch up. Last weekend I went to Calgary to catch up with some old friends and see some relatives. I drove down Friday after institute and went straight to my cousins, the Engens, house. They were having a Halloween party and I had some homework to do, so I buried myself in the guest room and did some homework while Lorena and Aaron partied the night away :) Lorena came into the guest room after everyone had left and we ended up chatting till about 2 a.m. It was great to catch up with her and chat about life. I gained some great insight and a lot of fun learning more about my auntie :) On Saturday, I went to the U of C vs U of A football game and got to meet up with my friend Brandon Strauss who is playing with U of C, but is out with a mcl injury so he got to sit in the stands with me and it was so great to see him and catch up with him. He just got back from his mission about 3 months ago and he is doing fantastic! After the football game, I chilled a bit and then went to Kenzie's game against U of C for basketball. My friend, Julie Bogle, came to meet and catch up and it definitely was one of the highlights of my weekend! We've always been the kind of friends that can go a year without talking, meet up at a restaurant and pick up the conversation from where we last left off. I learned that she was accepted into law and is really enjoying her first semester with that. We had a lot of fun catching up on life and chatting about old memories. Kenzie's team won the game and I ended up going to dinner with Kenz, Braeden, and Braeden's cousin and his wife and kid. We had fun chatting and eating some dinner. Then I went back over to Brandon's and did some more gabbing with him. On Sunday, I went to church with Brandon and was able to catch up with some other friends I hadn't seen in a while: Alida Young, Luke Sinclair, Cody Pollock, and a few other randoms. After church I went to Luke and Cody's and watched some football and then headed back to Etown. It was a fun weekend and nice to get away for a bit!! I may be doing it a couple more times before the year is over.

Today I had a big presentation and our seminar group did great. We met at the school early to make sure we had everything situated properly and it was a success. After class, I had a meeting with my mentor. He is a retired teacher who meets with a group of us each month to do reflections and help us through our student teaching. After the meeting a grabbed a quick subway sandwich and headed straight to the school I will be teaching at this year, Queen Alexandra. I observed my grade 2/3 class today and it was quite fun. I even got to help teach a math lesson. Because there are 2 grades that are mixed, sometimes that class has to separate into two separate lessons and it is much easier to do with 2 teachers rather than just one, so I think my mentor teacher was real happy to have me around. After teaching and reflecting with my partner teaching, I came home and started prepping for fhe. We did a bachelor/bachelorette lil shindig and it was a lot of fun! I was the mc with Spencer Bennett and we had fun together doing that. The whole night was a great success and everyone had a blast. We ended with some ice cream and treats. After fhe, I dropped Kait off at home so she could do some studying and I went to U of A to watch Cars play basketball with some other buddies. He, of course, killed it as he normally does. What a gifted athlete!!!

Ok so I charged and took my camera this weekend to take TONS of pics... I didn't take one... I'm getting really bad at that... but I promise I'm going to try my darndest to get better... Kaitland and I have big plans to get some fun pics very soon!!!

Now I know why I was putting off blogging.. I just check what my next topic is... :)

Dear Last Person I Kissed :),

I'm sure my family is all wanting to hear a name... but you just aren't going to get it, so just accept that now :) Whoever you may be... you studly man... you are a lucky, lucky man. I don't give them out like candy you know... well not anymore... just kidding daddy.. I don't kiss boys... not until I'm at the temple with my sweetheart ;) Ok on a more serious note... kissing.. hmmm.. well I guess you could say I have kissed a few in my days. I'll tell you this... since I went to Korea... a kiss means a whole lot more. I think that in our society, a kiss has become the new 'holding hands'... it's not considered a big deal if you kiss someone.. well depending on who you are. I'm totally ok with saving my kisses for someone special... someone that it will actually mean something with. Kisses should mean something... kisses should be special... holding hands should be special... it's the little things that count and if we abuse them to a point where we become numb to the butterflies and excitement to a first kiss, it's time to take a step back and re-evaluate where all those kisses are going to and why. So like I said... I'll wait till I'm at the alter... you all know I could do it if I really wanted to... well... I probably could... ok maybe not.. but they will be special... now more wasted kisses for this chickee :)

QUOTES:

"Two boys had polio. One ended up a derelict on the streets, the other was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. What made the difference?"

"All businesses grow to maturity, level off, and die-- unless they constantly feed in new ideas! The same is true with people!"

"Today's circumstances are the result of yesterday's choices. Tomorrow's circumstances will be the result of today's choices. Choose wisely!"