Blogging is a dying breed

I've noticed that blogging seems to be a thing of the past. Very few of my friends post on a regular basis. Even the national blogs I follow don't update as frequently in my Google Reader. I know it's lost its charm in my life. I have turned to instant feedback in the form of facebook status updates. I can use one status update to fulfill my creative need. I can be clever in just a few words. And thanks to texting, I've learned to sum up my life in 160 characters or less.

I no longer have the desire to take 10-15 minutes to tap out a story or two on the ol' blog. I feel like Doogie Howser. I use short and insightful status updates to record my life.

Friends forever

You light up my life

It was just after midnight. I was sitting on my couch using my laptop to prepare some things for school. All of the sudden, there was a bright light outside my window. The light resembled that of fire, but there was no way a fire that large could flare up that fast. Within moments, it was gone. A few minutes later, I heard a low rumbling sound much like the roar of an engine and my floor vibrated slowly. Admittedly, I was scared. I didn't know what caused the light or the noise. Of course, I turned to facebook for comfort. I posted, "There is something strange happening in my backyard. I don't know if I dare look outside."

Moments later, my sister, Casey, posted that she had just seen the most amazing meteor in her entire life on her drive home. She said, "It looked like Superman shot across the sky. It was so bright; I was blinking the image for several minutes."

I was a little jealous of Casey, having spent almost an hour the night before in the bitter cold watching for meteors as brilliant as the one Casey just reported seeing. I commented on her post, "I hope you made the ultimate wish."

I, never knowing what caused the strange light in my backyard, went to sleep.

The next morning, I checked facebook as part of my morning routine. A friend of mine, Brian, who works as a reporter for The Spectrum, commented on my post saying, "You aren't the only one to report such an incident." He left the link for the newscast on KSL.

I watched the newscast and got really excited. That bright light I saw was in fact the light from the meteor Casey had seen while driving in Salt Lake. I was thrilled. I couldn't wait to get to school to talk to others about it.

I hadn't missed out (entirely) on the greatest astronomical event of my life.

Three months in review

I can't even remember the last time I clicked on my Blogger bookmark. My last post was in mid-August. I miss blogging. I miss writing in my journal. So many things have happened, but I haven't taken the time to stop to record them. I'll have to refer back to my facebook status updates to try and remember the noteworthy things that have happened in my life recently to begin recording them. Until then, I'll generate a list of some important points. I can't promise that they'll be chronological, nor will I promise that they will make sense to everyone.

I stayed home sick today from work. I have a cold, although part of me wishes it was swine flu. I still don't believe that disease exists (despite the number of confirmed cases in Tooele County).
Speaking of Tooele County, I'm officially a resident.

I didn't vote this year which makes me very sad. It's the first election I've ever missed in all my voting years. I never took the time to familiarize myself with the candidates and proposals for this county. I didn't want to go to the polls uneducated and pick the name that sounded the best. I was ashamed that I neglected my patriotic duty to be informed and to share my voice.

I really like Tooele. Or at least I did until it started to snow.

My car broke. The transmission gave out. That wasn't the only thing wrong with it. It would've cost more to fix than it's worth. It was a blessing in disguise. Well, actually it wasn't even disguised all that well. I was certain to die in the car I used to drive if I were to have driven it in the snow.

That means I bought a new (to me) car. It's number one selling point for me was traction control. I told myself if I ever lived in the snow again then I wanted a car with traction control. I was sold on that feature years ago when I lived in Provo and dated a boy who drove a car with traction control. I was never scared when I drove his car, but I was always scared when I drove my car.

So far, I love my car.

Second only to traction control is my other favorite feature. It has a tape deck. That's right. I can listen to cassette tapes any time I want in my car. The only problem is, I don't have any cassette tapes. So I'm adding that to my Christmas List. As a matter of fact, it's the only thing on my Christmas List (since the last item was satisfied a little over a month ago). I want a mix tape from each and every one of you. PLEASE. And make this wish come true faster than my wish for a Snuggie.

Speaking of Snuggies, I got one! YAY! My life is complete now. My younger sister, Casey, got one for me. I'm using it right now. To show my appreciation for her wonderful gift, I created this photo album of me enjoying my Snuggie. View the album here. You'll be ever so grateful you did. (Of course, I have to thank Casey again for taking the pictures for this gratitude photo album.)

I'm the in the Relief Society Presidency of my ward. I was a little, make that a lot, intimidated by the calling. I've never felt like I was the woman that I imagined all members of Relief Society Presidencies to be. As always, the Lord has helped me to grow into my calling. This calling has been the source of great happiness and countless blessings these past couple months. I look forward with great anticipation to the tremendous blessings that will continue to occur in my life as I serve diligently.

I really like my ward. It's smaller than I would like, but there are new people and visitors every week. We'll be busting at the seams before you know it.

I've made some really great friends in my ward as well. I have something to do every night of the week. We go on amazing adventures. Click here, here, here, here, and here for some photos of the great things we do.

I like teaching. Teaching is fun. The rest of my job isn't as fun. Well, I take the back. The social part of my job is fun. I have made some really good friends in my colleagues. One of the other fifth grade teachers has become one of my favorite friends. We went to St. George together during UEA and hiked in Zion and caught a couple shows. We went to The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) at the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City and to Aida at Tuacahn.
Gosh, I miss St. George. I almost drove there last night. I just didn't want to drive back today. Oh, well. Thanksgiving will be here in a week-ish. I can hardly wait.

My students are amazing. They are adorable. They are smart. They work really hard. They make me giggle all the time. I had a student say to me the other day, "You laugh more than anyone I know." I took that as the highest compliment. I like them, and they like me. They like me so much, that they want me to have the finer things in life...including a dreamy boyfriend. They invented a boyfriend for me a couple weeks ago named Chad Hotpants. He has been the source of many a conversation since then. I even had a student bring in a picture from a magazine of Chad Hotpants. He clipped out the cartoon of a man climbing a ladder with the seat of his pants on fire. Hahahaha! They had a heyday the one time I ever let them write on the white board. Enjoy these photos of their graffiti.

Well, this post is entirely too long. I'll have to save some other random information for another day, but I wanted to get these posts under way so that I could post a few days worth of "I'm thankful for..." posts. I really enjoyed that last year.