Bet They've Been Sitting on Pins and Needles

Well it's day #3 of my 30 day challenge and as you may have noticed the topic is 'your parents'. I betcha they've been just itching for me to get my blog up for the day although I know my dad hasn't checked my last blog yet because he always has an intelligent fun comment that he leaves on each one... (yes dad I've checked 3 times today to see your reaction to my last blog haha). Thank goodness Lynz and my mom are on top of their game :)

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm pumpkin pie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So first I'm going to do my gratitude thought. I spent most of my day working on an essay that I have due tomorrow morning (no dad I did not leave it ALL for the night before haha). I've been working on bits and pieces for the past week, but it took me till today to actually sit down and stay in my seat till I was done. Today I am thankful for the opportunity I have to go home tomorrow and eat some delicious turkey dinner with my fam. We will miss the Tolman clan dearly, but the positive is that there will be more turkey buns to bring back to Edmonton after the weekend :) sorry Tolman clan :) I LOVE LOVE LOVE eating my mama's home cooked meals! I hope one day my kids and hubby will look forward to my cooking just like my whole family looks forward to the mouth watering smells and tastes that come from mama's kitchen! Now, unlike most people, I also LOVE LOVE LOVE my papa's cooking. It may not occur as often but my papa can make a mean meal of steak and sauteed mushrooms... oh and french onion soup... and tinfoil dinner.... and best of all homemade chimichangas!!! My mouth is watering right now! This will lead perfectly into my day #3 insight....

Dear Parents,

It's hard to put into words the feelings and emotions I have for my parents! They are my best friends and supported me whole-heartedly throughout my life! I loved knowing that my parents would be there to support me in every ball game through high school and even in most of my post-secondary playing. We have shared many wonderful times whether it's a family outing to Waterton, laying on the couch while daddy sits on his computer listening and singing to papa's tunes while trying to work on our harmonizing skills, dancing and singing crazy with mom and her stellar superstar dance skills, or just settling down to watch some sports or good movie! I'm so thankful for the love, support, compassions, guidance and friendship they have both shown throughout my life and I just want them to know I love them ELEVENTY-FOUR!!

Gonna Be a Productive Day Ya'll

I'm changing a bit of my hiney kicking... I've decided along with my 30 day challenge, I am also going to do my daily gratitude thought in here too! So let's start with today...

I have 8:00 a.m. class, so I had to get up at 6:30... early morning... Carson and I pulled up to park at the same time, so I had a buddy to walk to the school with (1st blessing). In our first class, we were put into groups and had to put a list of 23 things that are important for children to know to be successful in our society in order from most important to least... I had a great group and got to use scented felts to make our list (blessing #2.. i love the smell of those markers). Our second class was cancelled today, so I went to the library and got a great start on references for my essay. I have a 3 hour class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which I thought was really going to be horrible, BUT I thoroughly enjoy this class every week. I would say it's probably my favorite class so far! Today our teacher did a bit of a skit. She pulled me aside before the class started and asked if I would disappear for a while and come in late to the class. She explained that she was going to point out a very important part of teaching and that she was going to make sharp comments to me and I was to only say "I'm sorry and it will never happen again". I was pretty pumped to be part of this little insider skit. So I wandered around for a good 8 minutes and then creeped into class. The class had started writing a "pop quiz" (really she doesn't believe in pop quizzes) and she ripped a strip off me. The class peered up wide eyed and taken back by the reaction of our dear Mavis. I apologized and sat nicely in my chair. She continued to make a couple more comments about how I had disturbed the class and shown no professionalism as a future teacher. We continued to work on our pop quizzes and near the end, she made one more comment to me and then asked us all to turn our papers over and express in writing how our learning style had changed because of the circumstances that had occurred.

She then asked a few students to read what they had wrote. Although I knew it was all a skit, I was nervous to hear what my peers were going to say about me and the situation. Some expressed frustration, nervousness, agitation and so on. After hearing from a few students and having a couple almost in tears, she asked me why I was REALLY late... and I said "because you told me to come in late" :) The sighs, gasps and smiles my way overcame the class. Mavis was making the point that teachers can have a huge influence on a classrooms environments and on children's learning styles by the way he/she reacts to certain situations. It was a great lesson and an eye opener to the responsibility and power we have as future teachers. I started reflecting back on my childhood and on certain situations where the same had happened, not so much to me, but to my classmates and friends.

So the 3rd thing I'm thankful for is the GREAT teachers we have at Concordia in the Ed program! I feel every day the deep passion that each and every teacher has for our success as future teachers and it is quite empowering! It makes me more excited about my future as a teacher! Mavis and our other teachers are so creative in how they teach us and let us be more involved in the learning process! School is very busy right now, but I am really happy where I am and am looking forward to continuing to learn and grow as a educator:)

Day 2

Dear Crush,

Right now you are somewhat non-existent. You have come and gone over the last few months, but I've decided that right now you're just not ready to handle the stellarness of me. So I hope you can be patient because I have some things that I need to focus on for ME! I'm sure someday you will be lucky enough to get a sliver of my attention and on that day, you had better impress or you may be waiting a while longer :) Good luck to you!

A Few Kicks in the Hiney!!

Ok so on September 6th, I decided to start up my blog again... it has been unsuccessful so far, so... I've decided to do something that will get me in the habit of documenting little bits of my life daily and I'm hoping this will help me get more consistent with blogging. I've decided my life needs a few kicks in the hiney in different areas of my life. When I got home from Korea, I was a confident, happy, spiritually boosted woman and although I still am a stellar individual :), I feel like I've let myself slip into slacker mode and have lost a bit of my spunkiness. I have gained a few unwanted pounds back, which will be gone asap.. not acceptable, I've found myself being bitter and sad about my dreary love-life (boys are ridiculous), and just have all around not been an spontaneous or happy as I usually am. So here's what I'm going to do... I have started my PJ diet again today, not as strict as I was in Korea where I pretty much was a rabbit and only ate greens, but I am going to be aware of the calories going in and out of my body daily. I'm going to start writing in my thankful journal daily again and making some goals for this semester that I can focus on achieving, and I will pray daily to be more happy and positive with myself and those around me. As for the boys.... meh... it's time to focus on me... they can wait till I'm ready to give them another chance :)

So one way I'm going to kick my blogging hiney is... I came across this challenge on one of my friend's blog and decided it would be a fun lil challenge to hold up for the next 30 days... we'll see how it goes...

Thirty Day Challenge

day 1 - a stranger

day 2 - your crush

day 3 - your parents

day 4 - your sibling (or closest relative)

day 5 - your dreams

day 6 - your best friend

day 7 - your ex-boyfriend/girlfriend/crush

day 8 - your favorite internet friend

day 9 - someone you wish you would meet

day 10 - someone you don't talk to as much as you'd like to

day 11 - a deceased person you wish you could talk to

day 12 - the person who caused you a lot of pain

day 13 - someone you could stay up all night with talking

day 14 - someone you've drifted away from

day 15 - the person you miss the most

day 16 - someone that's not in your state/country

day 17 - someone from your childhood

day 18 - the person that you wish you could be

day 19 - someone that pesters your mind - good or bad

day 20 - the one that broke your heart the hardest

day 21 - someone you judged by their first impression

day 22 - someone you want to give a second chance to

day 23 - the last person you kissed

day 24 - the person that gave you one of your favorite memory

day 25 - the person you know that is going through the worst of times

day 26 - the last person you made a pinky promise to

day 27 - the friendliest person you knew for only one day

day 28 - someone that changed your life

day 29 - the person that you want to tell everything too

day 30 - your reflection in the mirror

Dear Stranger,

When I pulled up to school today, you looked at me like I was crazy. Was it because I was jamming out to my sweet tunes and it just so happens that my car has amazing base and it scared you? Was it the volume?... we can blame that on my dear father... I grew up jamming at a high volume when there are good tunes on. Was it because my hair was drenched from the rain and I looked like a drowned rat? Whatever it was, I hope my lil smile made you feel a little more comfortable and less edgy for the day!! :)

Take 2

So.... it's been a while I know. I got home from Korea and my life was... well... a bit boring. Ok so maybe it wasn't boring, but I just didn't feel like my life had blog potential. NOW... it does.. and I'll tell you why in just a few short sentences. This past summer, I spent 6 days a week going door to door selling alarm systems for APX. I wasn't really sure how I would like it, but at the end of the summer I came to the conclusion that it really isn't that bad of a job and if I had worked hard for the WHOLE summer, I could've made some really good $$$... I still did very good and am happy with how the summer ended up. Kaitland moved out to Winnipeg with me at the end of June and we ended up having quite a good time. This summer was a bit of a trial of what to expect for living together in the fall, which leads me into whyI feel my life is now blog worthy.

So this is the first blog of many hopefully. Kaitland, Carson and I have all made the move up to Edmonton for school this fall. My mom was the trooper who helped us move into two different houses and almost 3 (bet you're wondering why the 3rd). Well Kait and mom showed up at our house first... I came a few hours later... I walked into the house and down to our basement where Kaitland and I were to share a room. As I started walking down, I first noticed the spider webs/laundry lint plastered all over the roof. Our carpet was just placed down on the floor with wrinkles and extra carpet laying around. Kaitland mentioned that when she first walked into out 'new' basement she wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. In short, we spent the next day looking at a few different houses and trying to decide whether we were going to get out gloves on and get your room up to our expectations or... find another place.

We woke up early Saturday morning and decided to get cleaning. I took a vacuum to the ceiling while Kait and mom did some sweeping and organizing... gong show!! BUT the place has sure come together... it's starting to look a lil more like.. well a place that Kait and I would maybe live in :) I have a feeling we will have a few more crazy/fun experiences for the year and i think I would like to stay updated on here... I know my family has missed my crazy blogs.. so get ready.... :)

Life is starting to wrap up here in Korea and I'm having a lot of fun and staying really busy!! It definitely is helping the time go by super fast!! This past Sunday, David, Liz and I made dinner for the Rogers family. We had a ton of fun and the food...was stellar if I say so myself!!! We made poppyseed chicken (well poppy-less-seed chicken... I forgot to put the poppyseed on top haha), potatoes, broccoli salad and pasta... with some smoochy woochy in a pan (my new name for it). Everything went really well and Liz and David were super helpful!!

This is after dinner.. we were a lil full... what better thing to do then jump on the love sac for a lil rest.
We couldn't get Lia to look at the cam....
my helper chefs
Liz and I were a lil hungry, so we snuck somem broccoli salad before dinner officially started..

We also had graduation at school a couple weekends ago... it was a lot of fun!! My kiddies did so good and I was soooo proud of them!! I'm definately gonna miss the lil rascals when I leave next week... That's right... I leave next week to come home!! woot woot!!!
My girl, Liz, and I taking a break from the craziness of grad...

Costumes were... intense... some of hte things they put the kids in were so scandalous... apparently the more flashy and skanky, the more the parents liked it... unless their kids were bigger.. it really was kinda sad... but they still looked cute and did a great job... here's my Brown Bears getting ready to do their play.
Annika..... again.. adorable
me, Linda and Liz
My cute lil Pooh Bears... my sailor moon style
on our way to grad
I went over to the Sawatka's to make some cookies... here's Amanda, Xander and I
My lil man, Xander...

I'm getting very excited about going home... I can't wait to see my family and friends again!!! I will definately miss everyone here in Korea, but I'm ready to be with my fam again!!! I have got a lot to do before I leave though... packing being the biggest thing to tackle... mixing that with school and church stuff.. it's going to be a super fun busy time before returning home!!!! Hopefully I'll get one more blog up before I come home... we'll see :)

Daddy

Happy happy birthday Daddy dear... Happy days will come to you all year (especially in March)... if I had a wish that it could be... a happy happy birthday to you from me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know I already wished you a happy birthday on Korea's 25th of February, but I also needed something for you to wake up to on your birthday back home... :) You know me.. always on top of things!!! :)

I am so excited to be come home in a few short weeks and be with my family again!! Maybe I will finally get that foot massage you've been promising me for doing so well on my essays in college.... :) I know it's sometimes hard to remember these things, but no worries, I am here to help remind of the truth!!

Mostly I just wanted to tell you that I love you eleventy four and I so glad that you are my daddy!! I have so many great memories with you and I can't wait to continue making great ones with you and the fam!!!!
Thank you for always being so great!! You make me want to be better in so many ways. Although, I may deny it at times to your face... I do know that you are brilliant and have a lot of knowledge that I can learn from... if I listen and maybe not be quite as stubborn :)

Have a wonderful day and hope your marathon training is still going stellar!!

oh Valentines Day

I've never been real fan of Valentines Day. Perhaps that's because I've never had a studly boyfriend to share it with and I figured this one would be like most the rest... just another day... BUT I was wrong :)
On Friday night, I kept things pretty chillax. I thought a bit about starting to pack.. I know a lil early :) On Saturday, I headed into Seoul pretty early to help decorate for a mysterious ysa activity that had been planned. I met Gina, Maureen Cahoon, and Britney Hansen to start decorating and when they pulled out the heart balloons, I have to admit, I was a lil discouraged to stay for the whole event. We had a blast setting up though and as people mingled in, I could tell I would be in for a treat!!

Our first activity was being put into groups to do a photo scavenger hunt. Each group is given a list of things they have to get a picture of... the trick is that two of the members of the group have to be in the picture also.. some things that were on the list include:
-a picture of one of your members holding a 'free hugs' sign in a busy part of town (bonus points if the member is hugging a stranger in the picture),
-heart attack someone's house (you cut out hearts and decorate them and tape them all over someone's front door) (we did the Rogers!!!)
-get a picture of one of your members on a scooter (bonus points of the owner of the scooter is also in the picture
and so on... Now you may thing this is simple... BUT remember, I am in Korea where the communication is a bit slow. Try telling someone you don't know and who doesn't understand a thing you are saying that you want a picture of you sitting on his scooter and you also want him in it too... I had the liberty of doing this task... I'm pretty sure the scooter guy though we were all insane too :)
It was freezing cold outside, but we had a lot of fun travelling around and getting pics!! We headed back to the church and had some pizza. After dinner, we had 3 ysa members teach us different dances... the salsa, swing dancing, and a traditional dance from somewhere!! It was a lot of fun and the cool thing is.. that one of my goals this year was to learn how to salsa dance!!! We didn't do a whole lesson, but I got the first steps down pretty good!
The night ended with us dancing the night away with DJ's... aka Gina and Bob.. with I thought would be a total disaster... BUT we had a ton of fun dancing and singing our hearts out!!! The ysa here are truly amazing and I am really gonna miss them!! Here are some pics of our great time!!
I totally look like a natural salsa dancer eh!?!?! :)
This Anahita... she got baptized just before coming over here and she is stellar!! She is about to go through the temple and has a fiance back home waiting for her!! She is also Canadian.. east coast though!
This is Elder and Sister Knudsen!! They are soooo cool. We always do our ysa break the fast dinners at their apartment and they have had a huge influence on me while I hvae been over here!! They leave in April to go back home and I will definitely be keeping in touch with them!!
Sean from Australia! He has become one of my closer guy friends here... he surprised me with a fun card and a rose... so sweet!!!
Ha ha... here is Tim and Amber pulling the best couple dance moves of the night... most awkward dancing position.. but totally church dance worthy! There could definitely be a few scriptures put in between them!!!

I had a great weekend and was super glad I stayed for the whole activity!!! Just a few short weeks left with my friends in Korea and I am dead set on making them stellar and memorable!!! I'm still loving life and feel so happy!!!! Life is great!!!!!!!!