You know you're in Utah when...

My school is listening to Obama's speech this week so I decided that it would be good to have a lesson on the President and what he does and who he is.  The morning journal was "Who is in charge of our country?"  I asked the kids and they looked confused until one said, "Jesus!"  So right, but not at school.  Anyway, the same kid looked at me and said, "Barack Obama."  Amazing that he knew that--he's only 6!  Another kid is still convinced his mom is in charge.  Later in the day after communication group where we learned about the president, I had each kid tell me something they learned about the President and what he does.  One kid couldn't come up with anything so I said, "Did you learn his name?"  He said, "President Monson!"  His brother gave the Jesus answer before.  Cute kids. 

Also, I got a text from Zach today and he got to hear President Monson during devotional!  I wish I could have been there.  I didn't always make it to devotionals because of work and my volunteer hours in the schools, but I never missed when the prophet was there.  Good thing conference is in 2 1/2 weeks!

Oh so domestic.

We went to Vegas for Labor Day weekend and I had the crew pick me up from my school so we could head out ASAP.  It was a great trip with family and friends even though the parasail ripped before most of us could try it.  Next time...Anyway, the point of the first sentence was to illustrate that when we came home Monday afternoon I hadn't been home since Friday morning at 7:00.  I came in and noticed the laundry detergent by the microwave so I moved it to the washer.  I would say to the laundry room, but notice our pictures below and see the 5 foot wide 15 foot long kitchen includes the laundry room and water heater closet.  We had lots of wash so I got started with our first load of whites.  I went about other things then came and switched them to the dryer and got another load in the washer.  As I was pouring the detergent into the lid, I noticed there were some dark specks in it.  I suddenly freaked out and asked Zach what was in our detergent.  He then walked in with a look of realization and told me that it was the oil from the fried chicken he made last week.  He decided to use that to store it in since the detergent was basically empty...the only problem was he forgot to tell me!  I felt like an idiot for not noticing sooner, but Zach helped me see the humor and helped me fix the problem.  3 extra washes later and our whites still smell funky.  We laugh about it everyday. 

Random funny story from my class: Today we were stretching our words to hear each sound (beginning, middle, and end).  I decided to have them pretend to be pulling the word out of their mouth to get them to have something a little more concrete (random I know).  We were on bat and I asked one of my first graders what the beginning sound was and he said frantically, "I've got a bat in my throat!"  They are hilarious.  Love my job.

The Smith's!

Cut us some slack…we’ve been busy, but we are settled in now. We celebrated our one month anniversary last week. It was a school day so I came home around 5:30 and Zach rushed us to the store to buy some last minute items and I came home to a homemade dinner of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and some sweet green beans. Zach is so sweet and he is an amazing cook. 1 month doesn’t seem like much, but it’s been one crazy month. We came home from the wedding, made house, set up my classroom, I started teaching, and then we both started school. I’m not sure how we managed it, but I know I couldn’t have done it without Zach. It is weird to not be at BYU with Zach, but he is doing well and I hope he enjoys his classes this semester. He has hard ones, but I know he will study hard. He is almost done with CNA certification and he is looking into a job about a mile from my school! I have class once a week, but I teach M-F. My kids are amazing. They crack me up everyday. I have 12 boys and 1 girl. Quite a mix of kids—age and ability—but I love them all! Funny story…quite a few of my kids are Mormon, but we never talk about it. One of my students tends to sing at random times and I remind him it isn’t music time, but this time I recognized the tune he was singing, but the words were different. Rather than “onward, ever onward” it was “awkward, ever awkward”. We’ll try to keep you updated! Love you all.

We also wanted to thank everyone--family and friends--for making our wedding so memorable and making the effort to be there.  We love each of you and feel so blessed to have you in our lives. 
Pictures: Wedding, Our house, First day of school

He made me breakfast and lunch for my first day!