Day One...

So...today was my first day of school as a student teacher. I felt like one of those Kindergarteners on their first day of school. You know...the ones that are crying and clinging to their mother's arm, hand, or leg--whatever they can grab onto for dear life...only I had to drive myself and I definitely had no hand to hold through the door...(Jonathan would have been there to do it, but by the time I got to school he had already been at work for two hours...)

**Paul please note our room number**

...and yes I decorated the door ;)

Anyway...I was sooo nervous! I spent the past week helping my host teacher, Mrs. Marchant, with last minute preparation and it was super hectic because almost our entire class roster changed. I had been told back in May that I would be student teaching in a fifth/sixth split class, but due to the high numbers enrolled in fifth and sixth grade this year, the District decided on August 15th that they would no longer have the split. They switched us to just sixth grade and they hired on a new fifth grade teacher (I am so glad I'm not her! She was hired on Thursday and had basically three days to set EVERYTHING up!) I was amazed at how much we had to do to accommodate this change!

In our class we have 29 students, and I have to admit that they are pretty cute. I worried that I was going to regret requesting not to be put in the lower grades, but after today I'm pretty content. Most of the girls remind me of Stephanie :), and the boys--while stinky--are quite a good group of guys. I assumed a lot of them would be taller than me but much to my surprise only one towers over me and several of the girls make me feel tall! (I didn't know that was possible ;P)

Overall, the day went fairly smoothly with no disasters ;) and I think they like me (so far). Now I just have to survive the rest of the year! I'll be at the Elementary School all of this week and then I jump down to just Monday's and Tuesdays until January when I take over all day every day. The program kind of eases you into it so I should be grateful for that!

Jonathan is itchy...

After coming home from our fabulous trip, Jonathan started itching. We soon realized that he had somehow come in contact with poison ivy! (At first we thought that he may have gotten it from the Sacred Grove...or maybe from Niagara Falls when we hid behind that building during the rainstorm...who knows...?) Anyway...apparently he's crazy allergic to it and within a day or two of us returning it had spread all over his body. The other night Jonathan was about to put on another layer of calamine lotion...when I noticed that his leg was oozing...yes oozing!


We finally got him to the doctor and they gave him a nifty old shot and most of the outbreaks seemed to be drying out and going away...but of course this morning more decided to appear on other parts of his legs. He's so itchy...and all that I can really do is bring him his calamine and benadryl...

I feel extremely helpless...

NY Trip with the Peterson Clan :)

(I apologize to those of you who read Jennie's blog because you'll get much of the same stories and pictures minus the elegant wording and details... :P)

So...I finished another time consuming semester just in time to take a wonderful family trip to New York! (Of course I had to stay up until 3:30am the day we left in order to finish everything...but I finished!!!!) We got to the airport a little early and had time to make all sorts of fun faces...

Our second flight was delayed a bit and we didn't arrive in New York until almost midnight. Even though we got there so late, we still managed to beat mom, dad, Steven, Stephanie, and Baba to the hotel by a good 4 and a half hours! Paul and Jennie arrived the next morning just in time to spend a fun-filled-crazy-hot-and-humid-day in New York City. We walked the streets dressed in our Angel gear and listened to all sorts of comments from the locals.
We walked around town...had NY pizza...found our way to the Central Park Zoo via taxi...and then made our way to the Yankee Stadium to see the Angels kick the Yankees butt! :) Go Angels! Thanks Uncle Jeff for the awesome tickets!

Side note: While we were at the Central Park Zoo there was this crazy polar bear who seemed to enjoy spending his ENTIRE day doing nothing but swimming back and forth in a single line. (Uncle Jeff said he's been doing this for years...) He'd push off the wall (which was a glass window for tourists to see him) and swim straight across to a big rock where he would come above water stick his nose straight in the air and then fall on his back. He'd push off like he was about to swim a length of back stroke and then would simply run straight into that glass window and repeat the process...over and over and over again. The sad thing is that I was one of those pathetic tourists who seemed extremely amused by this. I probably watched him go back and forth a good 20 times before I moved on. :)
The next day we began our long drive to up state New York. After 5 lovely hours in the car, we arrived at Cooperstown to see the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
I immediately called dibs on carrying my super cute nephew James. Of course it wasn't long before Grandma Peterson stole him from me...
We walked around for several hours and saw all sorts of amazing things. The whole time I was looking for the famous Barry Bonds ball. And I couldn't find it anywhere. After I gave up, Jennie was smart enough to actually ask someone...and they found it...Barry Bonds' 756th career home run ball. I guess the man who bought the ball decided to take a poll online as to what should be done with the ball. The three options were: 1. Brand it with an asterisk 2. Leave it alone or 3. Shoot it into outer space. Obviously the majority of the votes went with number 1. And with that asterisk, it rests in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
We continued on up to Rochester that night and slept a few short hours before heading to Palmyra the next morning. We participated in a wonderful session at the Palmyra Temple and were planning on going to all the historic church sites...but we were so exhausted (and the camera was out of film), so we decided to postpone the church sites for another day...
After a few hours of rest we decide to spend the evening at Niagara Falls. Jonathan enjoyed spending time with his favorite nephew James.
...but soon after we arrived we could see a storm coming our way...
We decided to stick around and minutes later we were in a downpour. We made it across the bridge and hid behind a small building of some sort in order to have some form of shelter. It didn't help a whole lot because we were already all drenched! After the storm passed we decided to take the Maid of the Mist tour down by the falls. I didn't think we could get anymore wet than we already were...but I was wrong...
We spent Sunday in Buffalo. We went to one of my mom's old wards from her mission and met some of my dad's converts. In between all of that we managed to stop at Letchworth State Park. It is said to be the Grand Canyon of the East Coast...and I so wish we could have have spent several days there instead of just an hour.
Monday was our designated Church Site day. We attempted to fit everything into a few hours in the morning before we had to take Paul, Jennie, and James to the airport. The first stop was the Sacred Grove...

We took a lovely tour of the Smith Farm and the framed house and after taking a stroll through the Sacred Grove, we sat as a family and we had a nice little program consisting of testimonies, a hymn, and family prayer. It was quite a neat experience to say the least. On our way back to the car we managed to lose Steven and Stephanie in the Sacred Grove...but we found them ;) soon after.

We made our way to the Grandin Publishing House where the Book of Mormon was published. We tried rushing through the tour, but our time was running short and we left in the middle of it to get a glimpse of the Hill Cumorah before taking Paul, Jennie, and James to the airport. We almost didn't get them there in time! Their plane was supposed to take off in 35 minutes when we arrived at the airport and we had to say a very quick goodbye to the Beaverton Peterson's.
After leaving the airport, the rest of us tried to make it to the Peter Whitmer Farm. Unfortunately we arrived at 6:59pm and they closed at 7pm. We didn't get a tour inside of any of the buildings...but did get to walk around the outside.

That night we set out on another long drive back to New York City. (Actually to Spring Valley...but close enough.) The next day Uncle Jeff joined us, and we attempted to do all the touristy stuff one should do in New York City...like go to the Empire State Building and Ground Zero...but lack of parking and excessive New York City traffic led us to taking a boat tour around the island instead. (Of course that decision was made after a treacherous 2 and a half hour drive through the city.) On the boat we were able to see just about everything including the Statue of Liberty...
The tour was actually rather interesting and I wish I could have understood more of what the tour guide was saying...

We spent the last night pretty much relaxing in the hotel. (Jonathan and Dad went somewhere with Uncle Jeff to watch the Angels game of course...but I relaxed in the hotel.) We got up the next morning around 3:15am and managed to leave by 3:45am to venture and find the rental car place and the airport. We managed to find everything and are now back in good old Utah...back to work...and preparing to go back to school. (YIKES!)