Sunday On Saturday night we passed by a chapel on our drive back to the hotel. Conveniently that building just happened to house the nearest singles ward so Sunday morning we got ready for church and headed back to the chapel we discovered the night before for the 9:00 meeting. After sitting down Tommy, from our ward in Provo, showed up. His father was in the bishopric and Tommy was visiting home for the weekend so we had to get a picture.
I realized after the picture how short I really am... ;)
After church we went back to the hotel to make a lunch and plan the rest of the day. We decided that we would go to the Jelly Belly Factory (because tours stopped at 4:00) and then to the Oakland Temple. While doing some research of the area near the Temple Jessica found a park area that looked like fun so we decided to go there after the temple. At the Jelly Belly Factory we were able to go on a tour of the factory (there were videos because the factory wasn't running at the time). We were able to learn a lot about the creation of Jelly Beans and even 'test' Jelly Beans from different parts of the process. I saved mine to get a picture. The Yellow one is the inside Jelly part. The orange one has the shell but has not been polished and the red one has been polished and has the stamp on it.
I love the flying Jelly Bean in the background
There were cute welcome signs near the entrance
After the Jelly Belly Factory we headed to the Oakland Temple. It was beautiful. We were told in Church that morning that you are able to walk around the Temple terrace and that it was a beautiful view of the city. Unfortunately the temple was under construction so we weren't able to go on the terrace but we still saw quite the view from the hill of the temple. We also walked into the visitors center and talked to one of the Senior Missionaries about our trip. She helped us come up with some ideas for what to do with the rest of our trip.
The temple grounds were gorgeous.
One view of the city from the Temple.
I love the area of light!
Inside the visitors center they had a lovely Family Proclamation area
As soon as we finished exploring the Temple grounds we headed for the park area. We were really excited about was a fairytale park. Apparently they take different stories and create images from them. Sadly it was closed but we found some fun things outside and around to take a pictures of. The other area we went to explore was a Japanese Garden. It was taken care of by volunteers but would have been much lovelier with constant care but it was a fun find and a nice little stop for our Sunday afternoon.
So last Friday Jessica and I left Provo for California and it was so much fun! We got a late start Friday and decided to stay in Winnemucca to break up our drive. Saturday morning we got ready and left. We decided to take the scenic route and visit Lake Tahoe on our way to San Francisco. It was lovely, so lovely in fact that we stopped for lunch and ended up getting in the water but sadly not too far in, we still had a drive ahead of us.
After arriving at our hotel in Concord we decided to head to Pier 39 to walk around. After hitting traffic and a bit of a freakout about in the city driving we had a great time although the sea lions weren't out...
I took this picture on the drive... I love the light!
I struggle with this keeping up the blog thing but I figure anything is better than nothing and a lot has happened since February...
-I worked my last big catering event with this lovely lady...
-I went on a trip to Vegas and LA with Meagan. While in Vegas my car was injured in an accident but nobody got hurt so it was all right!
My poor car!
In California I got to go to the beach, the temple, the Griffith
At the volleyball game
observatory, the Cupcake ATM, the BYU volleyball game, and adventuring with Alicia and Zach!
The lovely LA temple
The Perfect pineapple tree, or
palm tree for you traditional folks.
We were super excited to start our adventuring
I won a prize at the Midway at
Circus Circus
Jumping for joy at the beach
The delicious Cupcake ATM
-I went to my first concert... Andy Grammer and it was great!
Not bad for a five dollar concert!
-I went with Melissa to take pictures for graduation announcements and apparently I have a natural smile for pictures. :)
-I walked across the stage to get an empty diploma! ;) A woman from my parent's ward made me some lei's to wear and Grandma and Grandpa came up to celebrate. After convocation we went to the Tulip Festival.
This lovely lady was graduating too!
I rather love this picture...
-I went to a wedding. :)
-I got a job (I will be at the same school next year)! I am so excited!!! -I celebrated national donut day with old roommates!
-I officially finished my first year of teaching!!!!
Taken on my way out
of the school on the last day!
-I've been playing more Ukulele... -I've been adventuring (Details forthcoming, I promise)
So life as an intern is ridiculously busy and on Friday I just about had a breakdown. I had just had a meeting with my Facilitator (Mentor teacher) and found that I had 3-4 observations next week between Tuesday and Thursday. One by a BYU person and two from my principal. Then I went and had a meeting with my team and they filled me in on an assembly, kids marketplace, PLC times were being changed because of Parent teacher conferences coming up. On top of that I am in the middle of my teacher work sample, my TELL practicum (Certification for teaching English Learners), Math Benchmarks due on the 7th and a new end of year testing program starting on March 10th. I had to grade the tests from the week but I also had to plan some amazing lessons for these observations and make sure that I am meeting the needs of my students. In other words everything was coming at once and I was feeling extremely stressed. On the ride home I heard this song and I think it was playing just for me on that moment! ;)
Fast forward a few weeks...
Today I had what I hope is my last BYU evaluation as an intern... If not, I will survive. Then I got home and got an email about ordering a cap and gown for graduation. I got so giddy looking at everything for graduation. I was looking at announcements, and rings (I never got a class ring from high school), and caps and gown information (but there isn't much variety there). Then I got onto my BYU account and looked at my standing for graduation. It is so exciting to see all the "Completes" and only two "In Progress" notifications (My TELL Practicum and Internship) and I just want to point out I AM GRADUATING COLLEGE!!!!! I know that lots of people do it but I have always been so proud of myself for getting there and finishing. I have never been a decisive person but I knew when I signed up for college that I would finish it and yes it has been hard and there have been plenty of times that I have been sick of everything, but I can happily say that in April I will be Graduating from Brigham Young University with a B.S. in Elementary Education, a minor in TESOL, and a minor in Music!!!!!! ... and now I feel like this is the video for me! ;)
Also, my kiddo's are doing their wax museum tomorrow. Being the person that I am I told them to make their presentations interesting so I don't eat chips during their presentation... I showed the video first so they got the reference
Lastly... Just because I heard this today and fell in love here is an amazing cover of Say Something (Which has been stuck in my head for days... the song, not the cover). If you haven't seen it yet, you are welcome!
