dripping with passion

a few months ago, josephine and i started a tradition of making homemade pizza together once a week. it’s theeeee best. we swap teacher stories while we chop, slice and grate, and then we enjoy our concoctions together immensely. i really believe that i love pizza more than probably 95% of the world population. and i especially like creative topping pizza. here’s our line up of creations so far… 1. butternut squash and sage 2. blackberry, lemon and prosciutto 3. fig, prosciutto and ricotta 4. rotisserie chicken and pesto 5. sweet potato and rosemary 6. rotated tomato and sausage with spring herb gremolata 7. florentine (spinach and egg) 8. thai chicken with peanut sauce and cabbage slaw 9. pear, gorgonzola and bacon with honey poppyseed sauce 10. greek with garlic yogurt sauce 11. charred corn, poblano pepper and avocado 12. peach, goat cheese, basil and balsamic   what a fantastic mid-week treat – one of my favourite people in the world and my belly’s favourite thing. mmmmmmb...

last weekend i went down to southern california to meet my new niece, miracle baby shelby. there’s nothing, nothing, nothing like a newborn sleeping on your shoulder…and this girl is the sweetest. i’m so glad she got to get acquainted a little with her favourite aunt! :)     of course it was also the best to hang out with shelby’s mom, dad, sister and brother. i slept in the guest room bed with lyla, and before she got tucked in on friday night i told her to be wake me up when she woke up. at about 7am i felt her little hand gently on top of mine, and then a little shake. and then, speaking of favourite aunt, she showed me what she drew for me: and! bonus! my oldest sister saren and her family happened to be in southern california for a wedding that same weekend! so we had quite the crew. on saturday saren and jared went to the wedding, noah had school, and it was time for kristi to take a nap and get things done without the kids around – so i ended up with nine kids for the ...

i am e-x-h-a-u-s-t-e-d. there's a lot of wild in both my personal and professional life right now, and i'm just flat overwhelmed in lots of ways. but. my students make me laugh and melt. palo altan spring is about the loveliest thing ever. weekly homemade pizza keeps me going. there has consistently been fresh flowers in my kitchen.  i spent saturday half at the temple half in the city. coldplay's music exists. my sunday walk at the stanford dish was outrageously pretty. i have great friends, who are forgiving when i am such an absent friend. scriptures in the morning make my heart light. i'm learning an insane amount. my parents really love me and care about me a lot. teaching animal farm  is really fun. my body and mind are healthy and strong. there is light in all of my students' eyes. tomorrow afternoon i'm on my way to meet my new niece, miracle baby shelby grace.  beauty and brightness are everywhere.

last week was teacher appreciation week. and honestly, i deserved some appreciation. i have really been working my butt off – basically 6am to 11pm every day. what i’m doing is pretty insane actually: thirty eight challenging adolescents with wildly different capabilities, teaching all 8th subjects with no grade-level team or provided curriculum to plan from, extended school days and two rounds of state testing, and all that with zero training to run off of. i think it’s been the most challenging thing i’ve ever done in my life (rivaled only by the mission). the tidbits of sweetness during teacher appreciation week sure were a bit of balm to my worn down spirit. one student, knowing that i don’t eat treats (except on holidays), brought me this luscious bucket full of colorful fruit to enjoy while the other teachers had donuts – so thoughtful!   i also got some pretty fantastic notes from a few of my students. those kids can be so incredibly funny and clever and sweet, and i real...

  happy mother’s day! what a significant day to celebrate. motherhood has touched each and every human being on this earth in indelible, potent and boundless ways. i believe that god crafted the physiological, emotional, mental, spiritual characteristics of motherhood to teach us about the most beautiful and eternal and good truths and principles. motherhood is the anchor of society, the ultimate professor of sacrifice, the absolute manifestation of real love in all the stretches of humanity. today i am unspeakably grateful for my mother and the gigantic influence for good that she is in my life. i can’t even approach the task of fathoming all that she has done for me. and i am also incredibly grateful for her mother, and her mother, and her mother. and for my sisters’ motherhood, and for the mothers of my dearest friends and the mothers of my coworkers and my teachers and my role models and the mother of the checker at the grocery store who was really kind to me yesterday. an...

on sunday afternoon, my wonderful friends melinda and laura hosted a picnic in their backyard. look how lovely! we had quite the fantastic spread of food, company, blankets and weather. it was the most perfect sunday dinner. sunday is the only time i can take a legit break. my looooong work days bleed into saturday, and i've never been more grateful for a deeply-instilled observance of a day of rest. and! it feels like summer! even though i still have seven weeks of school left... i'll be so so happy when i've made it to june 20!

i loved teaching today. i really loved it. and after all the insane wild craziness that has been the past six weeks of my life as an 8th grade teacher, i can't even explain how good that felt to love it today. coming back from spring break was pretty rough ... i didn't get nearly as much work done as i'd hoped, and i had nearly forgotten how busy my teaching life is back here in california. i was feeling pretty stressed and overwhelmed as i stood behind my students in our "monday morning congress." during every monday morning congress, teachers acknowledge students that have earned "feathers." receiving a feather is just getting a little nod that your teacher has really noticed that you've been exemplifying one of our school's core values (ambition, leadership, perspective, hard work and attitude). this monday, after i told the entire student body about two students in my class that deserved feathers, i noticed three of my eighth grade...