march...ing right along

is it really almost april? i feel like march just got here! maybe the fact that it is officially spring and thick snowflakes are still falling from the sky has something to do with my disillusionment...

when i haven't been actively participating in school or homework, i have been thinking about how i should be and what a slacker i am for procrastinating. however, it is a struggle between mind and body as i fight to do all-nighters and my body screams "not gonna happen!" as my eyelids flutter close and my brain has no choice but to comply.
...this is what i will look like at the end of the semester:

yes, that is how school is going - mentally exhausting.

but it's good! don't get me wrong! i really do enjoy this journey of becoming a teacher. i can't wait for the day when i actually graduate with my bachelor degree {after seven whole years in college} and say, look at that! i'm done. now what do i do? :)

so... here are some of the fantabulous things from my march:

mom has been working hard, hard, hard on uvu's forum of engaged reading -- it's been a dream of hers and she finally saw it come to fruition. i wish i had taken more pictures, but i was enjoying the whole thing! mom made me pay for myself, you know... :)

 mom's little sister {my aunt annie} was one of the breakout presenters. from all the comments i heard from participants, she was one of the best parts of the whole forum! {and i swear that's not just me being bias!}

i think my personal favorite part of the whole forum was listening to and meeting this woman:

patricia reilly giff ~ she is a marvelous author, enchanting speaker, and all-around fabulous person. i think she was mom's favorite part about the forum, too... if she was allowed to have a favorite {but that's like picking a favorite child,.... even though i suspect most mothers have one :) ...} since patricia reilly giff is one of mom's favorite author's. **pictures of hollis woods makes mom get all tender-eyed.
i could listen to patricia reilly giff talk all day. she's so personable and eloquent. and i adored her personal stories and family history stories, also the way she told us how she incorporated those histories into her books. i just love historical fiction! it was so neat to learn one author's process. it made me want to learn more about my family history.

it also made me want to read all her historical fiction novels! so i dragged mom over to the book store and she promptly bought me all the patricia reilly giff books they had for sale {i was surprised how little i had to say/beg/convince in order to get them!}.


then spring break for uvu came - a much needed break for all in our house, for it was the week after the forum. so mom and dad {with paul} headed off to vegas for a whole week of r&r while i had to stay behind to go to class on that tuesday before the break. i didn't mind too terribly bad because who wants to be away from home on st. patrick's day?? not this irish girl!

{yes, those are flashing clover earrings! awesome, huh? my wonderful friend found them and knew they just had to be mine!}

i made irish soda bread, but i forgot to take pictures! but i took pictures of the jello pastel cookies i made, even though this first batch didn't turn out exactly like they were supposed to :) they still look great and they tasted good, too!

i spent forever wrapping these up and making them look all pretty to give to a girl i visit teach... i put it out of the way - in the dining room - to wait until the next night when i would give it away.

the next night when i got home from school i saw a pink ribbon that looked suspiciously familiar cut and laying on the counter. after further investigation i found green sprinkles when i knew i had cleaned up my mess from the night before!

the conversation went a little like this:

"happy. what is this ribbon?"

"oh. um. i ate some cookies."

"so you opened up a package and ate all the cookies." {not really a question}

"yeah... i thought you gave all the cookies away last night."

"no, happy. this was for the girl i visit teach."

"oh. i feel really bad." .... etc.

happy later asked me to write something on her facebook page about her visit to utah, so here is what i wrote:

 Hap, it was nice having you here. Your presence LIFTS us whenever you're around ......... but next time, hands off the cookies.If they're wrapped in a package, tied with a ribbon, and don't have your name on them - rest assured, they're not your cookies.

she told me she got a huge kick out of it. and her response was:
‎:) I have no excuse. But they were really really good.

that's family for you... and that's pretty much been march for me :)