Laura Watts: friend, photographer, roommate (and giraffe trainer)

This is Laura. 

This is also Laura.  

Laura is my roommate.  She is good at many things, including (but not limited to): 

• sleeping while my lamp is on
• being a fellow hippee
• designing stuff
• having awesome short hair that I wish I could have
• enjoying $1 twist cones
• telling stories about childhood ambitions
• and, taking incredible pictures

Seriously.  Just look at these:   

I like her.

several thrills

OCTOBER was a beautiful month...when the birches in the hollow turned as golden as sunshine and the maples behind the orchard were royal crimson and the wild cherry-trees along the lane put on the loveliest shades of dark red and bronzy green, while the fields sunned themselves in aftermaths.  

Anne revelled in the world of color about her...

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.  It would be terrible if we just skipped from September to November, wouldn't it?  Look at these maple branches.  Don't they give you a thrill--several thrills?"  from LM Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables

October is upon us again, and is proving to be a beautiful month full of: 

changing leaves

apples

pumpkins

also: 

Kaite's birthday

Halloween

apple beer

sweaters

General Conference

muffins

I think I take after my mother in my deep-rooted love for October.

quite possibly the nicest thing

The students are lining up for afternoon recess, and I am doing some monitoring.  For no apparent reason, Tyler, with his big glasses and kind disposition, comes and gives me a heartfelt hug around the waist.  "Thanks, Tyler," I say.  Taking a step back, Tyler blinks, smiles, and then looks at me and says sincerely, 

"You know what?  I think you'll be a great teacher."  

And now my confidence is restored.

September Love List

• making pie, then having friends over to eat it
• BYU-Idaho. seriously.  
• crisp autumn weather
• when people I don't even know say hello as we cross paths
• phone calls
• books
• elementary schools
• sharing "highs and lows" nightly
• flexible work hours
• clocks
• comfortable shoes
• doing homework at the library
• running into people I know while doing homework at the library
• sweaters
• plums
• worthwhile conversations
• feeling helpful, or like I have made a difference
• new words or phrases that periodically enter my vocabulary
• the weepies (hear everything, but especially: can't go back now)
• getting organized
• playing guitars
• eating dinner
• journaling
• Idaho sunsets
• chapstick
• brown cow yogurt

four score...

Well, Hilary likes to play online tag and I'm it. 

four jobs I have had:

1. Lifetree Pain Clinic

2. AdvancedMD Software

3. PM Medical Billing

4. BYU-Idaho Reading Center

four movies I have seen more than once: 

1. IQ

2. Batman Begins

3. It's a Wonderful Life

4. Disney's Robin Hood

four places I have lived: 

1. Holladay, Utah

2. Cedar City, Utah

3. London, England

4. Rexburg, Idaho

four TV shows I watch: 

1. the Olympics

2. the News

3. whatever Bailey is watching

4. Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?

four places I have been: 

1. Salzburg, Austria

2. New England

3. Seattle

4. New York City

four people who text me regularly: 

1. Bailey

2. Roommates

3. Jes May

4. Hil and Kaite

four of my favorite foods: 

1. homemade ice cream

2. grilled chicken

3. jonathan apples

4. pie

four places I would like to visit: 

1. Africa 

2. Switzerland

3. South America 

4. Ireland

four things I am looking forward to in the coming year: 

1. graduating from college, becoming a real teacher

2. watching my niece grow up

3. seeing old friends

4. maybe going somewhere amazing (like Ghana?)

four people I am tagging: 

1. Bailey

2. Bryttin

3. Laura

4. Coryn 

I'm all about this:

It's the answer to most everything.  Really, my top 2 rules in life.

Also, a very sweet poster.  Found it here.

it's the most wonderful time of the year

Time for shiny apples and sack lunches and sharp pencils and new shoes.  I love school!  The smell of brand new notebooks and unmarked textbooks.  The butcher paper bulletin boards.  The cream of wheat breakfast on the first day.  

In just one short semester, I will be a teacher.  I've been collecting things for my classroom.  My mom keeps buying me wonderful books.  I've been filing away lesson plans and unit strategies.  I bought some black slacks so that I can look professional.  Bailey promises to find me a "teacher sweater" when I graduate.  (You know, those hideous ones that are interactive and themed?)

And even though the prospect of being responsible for the education of numerous young students overwhelms me completely, I recently came upon this excerpt which captures beautifully one aspect of what I have heard called "a noble profession": 

The main reason I became a teacher is that I like being the first one to introduce kids to words and music and books and people and numbers and concepts and ideas that they have never heard about or thought about before.  I like being the first one to tell them about Long John Silver and negative numbers and Beethoven and alliteration and "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" and similes and right angles and Ebenezer Scrooge.... Just think about what you know today.  You read.  You write.  You work with numbers.  You solve problems.  We take all of these things for granted.  But of course you haven't always read.  You haven't always known how to write.  You weren't born knowing how to subtract 199 from 600.  Someone showed you.  There was a moment when you moved from not knowing to knowing, from not understanding to understanding.  That's why I became a teacher.  --Phillip Done