Dane meets Austin

This post is mainly for Uncle Austin.

Dane has been loving all the attention from the family since he's gotten here, but there's just one person he hasn't been able to meet yet... we fixed that today.

In case you can't see, Dane's smiling! He likes his uncle! He stared at the picture for a couple of minutes, smiling and talking to him. We'll make sure to do this every once in a while to make sure that he knows his uncle.

Grant comes home!

Today, we got to go to a missionary homecoming. It was so exciting to see Grant, and see how he has not changed all that much. Only for the better. He spoke well, and didn't seem to have a hard time putting his thoughts in English.
Afterwards, we had a big lunch at the house, where Dane was a superstar. Everyone wanted to hold him and love him and make him laugh. But, there will be a picture overloaded post about that.
Before we left, we finally took some pictures together...
Here's the nice picture:

And here's the "Grant" pose picture:

Welcome home Grant! We can't wait to tear it up in Provo visiting you.

Christmas Break 2012- Oakley

Now that Brandon's parents live in the Bay Area, we get to see them more often! I'm sad we didn't get to spend more time in New Hampshire and Boston with them, but this is better (in my opinion). Here's a quick synopsis of what we did with them while we were there:
Warriors Game, where Megan Taylor and I got onto the Dance Fan Cam.

 (Our seats... no big deal.)

I'm sure the Santa Hat helped.
Day Trip to San Francisco, where we went to a viewpoint of the Golden Gate Bridge:

We found the "Stinking Rose", a garlic themed restaurant in Little Italy that came highly recommended, but after seeing the prices thought it might be better to go with everyone. Instead, we got a Philly Cheesesteak from across the street and it was soooo good.
Gingerbread House contest:

(Savory House, with pepperoni and who knows what else on it)

Winning house! I was so excited.

And Brandon's house, which had a snow hippo in the pond.
The Giullians have a tradition of making and eating a smorgasbord on Christmas Eve, and it definitely did not disappoint.

Brandon in his manly apron, with the 7 layer dip he and Grandma Putnam made.

Look at that! So good.
The last night we were there, we went to dinner at Johnny Carino's, which was not bad at all.

Not pictured are the many many games we played, the Christmas movies (and other movies) we watched, the restaurants we ate at, Christmas morning (because I was so focused on talking to Austin that I spaced on that), and the other instances of fun that we had. It was so great, and the best way to spend 10 days
 in December.

Christmas Day 2012

This was my first Christmas away from home. I was worried about being mopey throughout the day, but it was very nice. I'm grateful that I have wonderful in-laws who tried their very best to make sure that I had a great Christmas. Here are a couple of highlights:
-Brandon wanted to make sure we got up super early to open presents. He even set TWO alarms to make sure... It was quite the way to wake up.
-We got some wonderful gifts from people (pictures later). One of my favorites was a quilt that Grandma Putnam made for us... so beautiful!
-At 9 AM, we got the present we had been waiting 7 months for- a call from Austin! We all got on a conference call and talked to him. We could feel the Spirit, and it was nice to see that he had not lost his sense of humor. Some highlights were when Cole asked him to say something in French. None of us speak French at all, so it was to hear. We asked for a door approach, and he said "Well, usually I say, 'Bonjour-' and then they slam the door in my face". hahaha I guess it's rough there. He also said he needs to work on not talking to people on the Metro after they've yelled at him. We were all shocked, obviously. And at the last minute, Dane woke up and cried into the phone for Austin.
-Finally, we got to go see "Les Miserables" last night. I know that story like the back of my hand, and had high standards for the movie. It did NOT disappoint! Hugh Jackman was Jean Valjean, and he did such a great job. One of the unique things about this movie was that instead of singing to a soundtrack, the singing we heard was them singing real-time. I was so impressed. I think it was great, and it was more appropriate than the play that we saw a year ago. And, of course, I cried for the last 20 minutes of the movie. I apologized to Taylor for being such a baby. But the end of the story just gets me every time. It was pretty bad, I mean I know how it ends but I'm still inconsolable by the end. One of the best things about this movie is the religious aspects that it has. Jean Valjean decides that he needs to change his life, and the story is his life and the people he touches. By the end of the movie, he's touched so many lives that he can rest assured that he'll go to heaven. Phew, it's such an emotional roller coaster. So everyone, GO SEE IT!!!!!!

(If we have a child with a very French name, you'll know what it's from.)
It was a successful day in my books. I'm grateful that my parents taught me that a marriage is a partnership, and that we should both sacrifice. It wouldn't be fair if I made Brandon go to my house every year for Christmas. If we did, then I wouldn't have had all the adventures this break that we've had so far. And, it's not even a "sacrifice" to go spend time with such great people!

Meeting Cohen

So, we got to spend time with Gabrielle yesterday, and meet her little guy Cohen. It was good to see that she's happy and is being a good mom to this little guy.

He's so cute and squishy. Yes, those two go hand in hand. I gave him his Mike Wizowski hat, and she got a couple of pictures of it... Is it bad that I'm super proud of this? Oh well, it's cute!

This one shows off the hat more.. it's too big but I intended it to be that way.

He's such a sweet baby. Next time I see them will be in March, and he'll be so big!
I'm grateful that Karen let us borrow her car and drive it up there. It was our first day in California, but that was when worked best for Gabrielle and you don't mess with a baby's schedule.
More updates later.

Not a good day.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/15/nyregion/shooting-reported-at-connecticut-elementary-school.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0
http://now.msn.com/china-school-knife-attack-injures-22-children?ocid=ansnow11 

As a future elementary school teacher, I just can't stop crying. My eyes have not stopped tearing up and overflowing for over an hour.

I have a very tender heart when it comes to children, and my heart happens to be connected to my tear ducts. This is the absolute worst thing I could ever imagine would happen at an elementary school.

I just spent an entire semester in a kindergarten class, and the thought of anything so horrific happening to my class just makes me break down again.

Even worse, Cole's in an elementary school! Any shooting is horrific, but I think that no matter a child's home life elementary school should be a safe place.

After I read these articles, I made Brandon lay near me and we watched Disney on Netflix. I just can't process what happened. "The Rescuers Down Under" helped a little, but I can't pretend like this didn't happen.

When I think of this, I am so grateful for the Atonement. While these families will probably never be healed in this life, I know they will see their little angels again. Because, these children really are angels now. They needed to be taken back at this time, it's just unfortunate that it had to happen in such a senseless and awful way. But that is why Christ died. He atoned for us so that we can be with him again. These children are saved, and they are in His arms now.
It's amazing that earlier I was worried about getting the apartment clean before Taylor comes over, while some families were dealing with much worse.
I'm grateful for my family, and that we will all be able to see each other over the Christmas break. During this time, we should remember to be grateful. While I don't have my own children to hug tonight, I'll get to meet two sweet babies this break, and nothing can take that away from me.

What would YOU do?

I am a huge advocate for people with disabilities, if you didn't know.

Few things make me think less of you like hearing you say the "r-word". It's appalling, and I think that few words are worse to say.  Sometimes I will say it, but if someone doesn't listen to my opinions and continues to speak in such a hateful way then I can't help it.

I feel for those wonderful families who have to handle this different situations, because I have not had a sibling or child like this. I am grateful for the training I have received, because if my friends or family need help with additional services with their children I can help them through the system. I will also be that super annoying parent who tells them that they're doing it wrong. But only if they actually are, because I'll actually know for once.

My major is the exact right thing for this, because ideally I want to become a professional advocate for these children, and defend them in court.

I watched this video, and yep, you guessed it-cried. Few things get me emotional the way that watching someone with a disability succeed, or someone defending them.

So now my question is, what would YOU do? I know what I would do. I would get in that guy's face and tell him to mind his own business. He can't even imagine how those parents feel, especially when he said "You should discipline your child". Ugh, it makes me so mad!

http://abcnews.go.com/WhatWouldYouDo/video/autistic-child-defended-cafe-family-at-dinner-man-criticizes-wwyd-16136829

My first completed hat.

Finals what?

This is Mike Wizowski! I can't wait to take a picture of it with a squishy little face underneath it.

On my break.

I've been dreaming of this break for a long time. I'll get to do the things I want to now! And we'll have 2 1/2 weeks of spending time with family to do that.

I've given myself a couple of projects to do in the meantime:
I can't post pictures of the hats, because then I'd have to give the copyrights to them. But here are the models.

-For baby Cohen (Zaugg):

Gabrielle wanted a Mike Wizowski hat for her baby. I've been trying to do it all semester, but now I'll actually have a chance. I'll take a picture of him with it when it's actually done, but this is an approximation right now.

-For Dane:

I found a super cute pattern for a Cookie Monster hat. It has two little cookies on the end of the braids down the side.
And for Brittney Bodine's baby girl:

She wants a pouf for her baby girl. It's pretty big, and is super fun to do.

PS 3 more days of college. Can you tell I don't want to do my final projects?

I PASSED!

I am so happy.

 I passed Portfolio!

I feel like I should be holding a little golden man, instead of my 3 inch binder that is filled with the last 4 years of my life.
Here's a synopsis of my last week:
- Last Friday, I had to stay home while Brandon went to Utah for his friend's wedding. I had to spend 13 hours working on homework and writing my speech. In addition, I had nightmares that a man was standing over me in my sleep. Not a good night's sleep.
 -There have been MANY tears shed, whether in hormonal distress or just stress.
-Monday, I got to watch my friends go through the Portfolio Review process, and they came out so happy and relieved. They said it was a wonderful time. I could not WAIT to get it done!
-Brandon gave me a blessing today just before I went in. He told me I had prepared for this, and I would get the help I needed.


I realized I never clarified- what IS in Portfolio?
The Portfolio review process is divided into 3 parts- the speech, the questions, and the binder.
I wrote a 15 minute speech on concepts that I have learned in my time in this major. It was so surreal to think back. There is a committee that each person presents to, made up of an ECSE faculty member, someone that each candidate invited, and a community member. I invited a parent that I had been able to work with, and she is just wonderful. There was another parent that the other girl presenting with me had invited, and a developmental therapist.
While presenting my speech, I only got choked up twice. Once when talking about the girl I fell in love with in the Nicaraguan preschool, and once when talking about a very powerful experience that happened in a class last semester. I had practiced this speech so many times that when I forgot my notes at home, I didn't even worry. I just rewrote them. When I finished my speech, Brother Allen (the faculty member) said he usually wrote down questions while talking but he was so engaged in what I said that he didn't have time to write any down. YES!
After that was the question section. I was worried about this part, because I didn't know what was going to be asked. However, I was only asked 3 questions. The first question was about collaborating with a difficult parent, which was hard for me to answer, because I have had a wonderful time collaborating with parents. The second question was about how I would handle difficult behavioral issues. I said that I would set expectations from the very beginning, because no matter how much a child can do in school, they can always know the difference between right and wrong. The third question spun off that one, and talked about how I would handle a bullying situation. I froze. I have not dealt with this, but I told them that I would spend time with the victim. As I have had experience being picked on by other girls in elementary/middle/high school, I would want to help the children know that they are safe here. After that, I would discipline the bullies, but not bring a lot of attention to it. I would just focus on the victim and make sure that they were safe and happy.

After that, I went out while they deliberated. On my way out, Brother Allen said "You did great". That gave me the confidence I needed.

When they called me back in, they said they approved me WITHOUT RESERVATION to graduate and student teach. Instantly, I felt warm from my head to my toes. They gave me feedback on what they thought. They said I will be a great teacher, and that I have natural leadership abilities. I am willing to learn from my mistakes (like collaboration in Preschool... hahaha). Brother Allen was last, and said that someone with my abilities and talents should go far in my career. I will provide many children with the help that they need. I write that down so I remember it, not to brag.

I'm so grateful to be done! We went to Applebee's for dinner, as that's still the only semi nice restaurant here.
And now I just have to take care of one more project, and I'm done with college FOREVER!!! Except student teaching, but I'm choosing to look at that as an internship. Because that's what it is. Almost doneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.


I feel like I need to thank people at this point.
-My mom, who has talked me off a couple of educational ledges over these last 4 years. And my dad, for being the mellow head in between my mom and I. Both of my parents have been SO SO SO supportive, but my mom usually hears it firsthand. So, thanks mom!
-Brandon. He's been with me for 6 1/2 semesters now, and has never been anything less than supportive of my getting a degree. Now that it's close, I can't wait to support him in PA school someday.
-My counselor, Sister Anderson. She's been there with me from Day 1, and believes so much in me. I love hearing her votes of confidence in me.
-My other teachers and friends who have listened to me complain over the last 10 semesters.


I get a little emotional thinking about how far I've come in my college career, but I'll save that for a graduation day post. I PASSED PORTFOLIO!