A Year of Learning...

Wow, where has the last year gone? I feel like this past year has been a complete and total learning experience. Within the last year, I graduated college, got my first real job, moved to Utah, moved into my first 'grown-up' apartment and finished my first year of teaching. This first year of teaching has been a complete eye-opening experience. Don't get me wrong, I loved each and every one of my sweet kiddos but it was a rough year. I taught in West Jordan, Utah at a low income school in a rough area. I had lots of hispanic students, migrants, split families and low-income families. With this, I dealt with lots of very difficult situations. There were many days when I wanted so desperately to take some of my sweeties home with me because I knew how awful it was for them to go home every day after school. Of course, lots of those sweeties were also the ones I had a very difficult time loving in the beginning. They were hard, not well behaved and not well mannered. However, after I took the time to understand them and where they come from, I couldn't help but love them. I regret that it took me so long to do this. I remember one little girl specifically. We teachers went and did a home visit due to the fact that she hadn't been coming to school. As I stood in the doorway of her home, my heart couldn't help but break for this little girl. The things I saw and heard during that short visit only reminded me of what she must endure and go through each and every day. After this experience, every day she came to school was a blessing for me. Throughout this school year, I head tragic stories from 5 year olds about parents who fought and beat them, parents who were divorced, drug-addicts or even in prison. I couldn't help but develop some angry feelings for a lot of these adults who would stand by and let their children grow up that way. I have never been more grateful for the wonderful upbringing I had. I never understood how wonderful, stable and loving my household was; all because I had loving parents. I also realized that the Gospel played a huge role in allowing me to have that childhood. Had my parents not been such faithful members, who loved the Church, I would have had a completely different up-bringing. Each and every day, I am so thankful for each of my students and although, it has been hard somedays, I love them so much. I pray for them every day and know that they are being watched over by a loving Heavenly Father. I feel like this past year, my testimony has grown immensely. Especially when it comes to a testimony of families. I have never felt closer to my family. Sisters who constantly fought and bickered, have become my best friends and shoulders to lean on. I love each of my sisters for different reasons. I don't know what I would do without them. They have been such great influences on me and such amazing examples. Aside from my own mother, I have never seen more self-less love than I see in them when it comes to their own children and families. I only hope that one day, when I am privileged to have my own children, that I can be half the mothers they are. I was able to go through the temple this year with my lovely parents. All I can say about that experience is...there is nothing better than being able to stand in the temple of the Lord with a loving earthly mother and father standing beside you. I am so grateful for the choices they made in their life that allowed them to be there with me. Obviously, I don't do well with changes and being alone and this year has been full of them. However, by going through these experiences, I have learned so much about myself and grown so much. I am learning to enjoy the now and not worry so much about the future. Heavenly Father has a plan for me and if I am doing what I should be doing, things will happen when they are supposed to happen. So, for now, I am focusing on making myself a better person and making the best of the here and now. I am so grateful for the life I have been blessed with. As I watch my student's lives, I only wish I could give them some of the blessings I have. I know without a doubt that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true and restored church on the Earth. I often sit in 'awe' as I think about how my Father in Heaven trusted me and had faith in me to put me on the Earth during these last days. I know that there is a living prophet on the earth to help me and I love him dearly. I know that I have been blessed with righteous, loving parents and sisters and I know without a doubt, that our family is eternal. I know without a doubt that Jesus Christ is the Christ and that he died for me so that one day I may return to my Heavenly Father. ...Like I said...I learned a lot this year... :)

Graduation and such...

Wow! Where do I begin? So much has happened in the past 2 months that I don't even know where to start! Okay, so I started out with graduation the beginning of April! I can't believe my college days are over! My parents flew out for my graduation and a lot of my other relatives that live close by were able to come and celebrate with us. So, the graduation festivities began on Friday with everyone meeting at my favorite place, Red Robin for a celebratory lunch. My parents, Grandma Davies, Aunt Suzy, Grandma White, Aunt Melany and Uncle Dewane, cousins Jody, Shawn and Destiny all came and we had a blast! Then, Friday night was graduation which was so much fun and surprisingly, I wasn't too sad about leaving. Saturday, my parents and I headed down to Utah where we stayed with my Grandma and spent Easter at my Aunt Laura's. Then Monday we headed down to Cedar Hills to get me all moved in for student teaching. I am about half way done with my student teaching and I have loved every minute of it! I absolutely love teaching first grade! It is so much fun and I seriously wake up every morning excited for what the day is going to bring. I am working at an amazing school and the first grade team is just fabulous! I am sad that I am almost finished! I am currently looking for jobs down in the Jordan area. I had an interview this week with the Jordan School District and had a nice surprise interview with the new principal at the school where I am doing my student teaching...which has two first grade openings, so I am crossing my fingers! It would be my dream to work at this school, in first grade! Other than being busy with student teaching, I haven't been up to much. I have started going to yoga classes with Beth and Caity three times a week and I really enjoy it. I tried out the single's ward down here but wasn't really a fan, and part of that was because I knew I was only going to be here for 12 weeks and didn't really see the point. Hopefully once I get a job and get settled somewhere, I will find a single's ward with lots of people. I have also been able to spend a lot of time with extended family since I have been down here, so that has been a plus! In other news, I became an aunt once again this month. Beautiful Madison Kate Renshaw was born May 14 and I am so bummed that I am not around to meet her. Hopefully this summer, I will be able to go to NC for a bit and meet her and spend time with the other kiddos. Here is a little picture recap of the past couple of months--mostly graduation pictures!

Dad and I on graduation...I can't find where I saved the one of my mom and I...but I will find it and upload it!

So happy to be done with school!!!

Grandma White and I!

Shandee, me and Patrice on one of our last weekends together. Patrice is now serving her mission in Nauvoo and Shandee is still at school. It has been rough not having these two around!

My sweet new niece Madison!

The Final Days!

I know, I know! I am a horrible blogger! Okay, so a quick little recap from the last time...I finished up the semester beautifully and headed home for Christmas Break. Christmas with the fam was amazing and I loved spending time with my little smunchkins! However, I was most definitely ready to get back to school after about a week at home. So, the first week of January rolled around and back to Rexburg I went to start my last semester of college. HOLY COW! This last semester has been incredibly insane! I have been so busy, but loving every minute of it! I am in my senior practicum (which is like a mini-student teaching) and am in a 4th grade classroom. I love my students! This semester has been the first time I ever questioned whether or not I could or even wanted to be a teacher. I know...my final semester and I am just now asking myself that serious question :/ Anywho...even though it has been the semester I have doubted my abilities the most, it has also been the semester I have realized without a doubt that the classroom is where I am supposed to be.
Now, in four short weeks, I will be graduating college and heading down to Utah to do my student teaching. While I am very excited for this next adventure in life, all of the things and people I am going to miss in Rexburg is starting to hit me. There are honestly some very dear people here who I don't know what I am going to do without them. While I am done sitting in classrooms, I honestly feel like college is where I was forced to grow up and really found myself. However, now that I am leaving college, I have no idea what to do next. I was hanging out with a very good friend the other day who is also graduating, and we were talking about how when you graduate high school, you know that the next step is to go to college; that's just what you do. But, when you graduate college, you don't always know what the next step is going to be or where to go. While this is completely terrifying to go into the next phase of my life totally blind, I can't help but feel excited and feel like something amazing is going to come out of it.
On top of all this graduation talk, I haven't been able to shake the memory that in 11 days, it will be exactly one year since I got that dreaded phone call telling me that one of the most amazing men in my life was gone. Some days, I feel like I am still grieving for him, and I don't think that feeling is one that is ever going to go away. However, I am forever grateful for the time I got to spend with him. Not many people know that if it weren't for this incredible man, I would not have made it through a very rough time in my life. I owe my graduation day from BYU-Idaho to my grandfather and he will be on my mind the entire day and I know he will be there in spirit.
But, here are some pictures from this semester to fill in for my absence of posts :)

No Title is worthy of this post..

So, to put it into one word, this week has been..AMAZING! I was in desperate need of a break and was so glad Thanksgiving was here! I have been so stressed with 'life' and everything in it that I honestly could not sleep. It would take me hours to settle down my mind and get to sleep, then I would be waking up about every hour. I was running on about 4-5 hours of sleep every night and barely making it through. Unfortunately, we still had classes on Monday and Tuesday but I decided to skip out Monday evening and start my much needed vacation. Since I wasn't able to go home for Thanksgiving, I headed down to North Ogden to spend it with Grandma Davies and the Fullers. However, on Tuesday, I got the opportunity to spend the day with my Grandma White down in Bountiful. When we were younger, my Grandma would take each grandkid and show them around Salt Lake City where both she and my Grandpa were raised. We moved to Iowa when I was really young and so I never got the opportunity to go on this little adventure, so a few months ago, after Grandpa passed away, I asked Grandma if we could go sometime and we scheduled to go during thanksgiving! The weather could not have been more perfect!! I had such a great day and we had so much fun! I am really grateful that I was able to go at the age I am because my siblings and other cousins went at a young age (under 10) and I don't think I would have gotten as much out of it then as I did now. When I asked my sisters about it, all they remembered was seeing where a bunch of dead people lived. ha! So I am glad I got to wait and go when I could appreciate it more.
So, now to the part I actually wanted to blog about...part of the process of this trip down memory lane with Grandma is that she takes a picture of you at all the sites and then makes a scrapbook of them. Well, as we were driving and going to all of these places, she was telling me all kinds of stories about her growing up and especially about her and Grandpa's lives together. One that I absolutely loved was when she took me to Memory Grove where Grandpa proposed to her over 60 years ago!! So, I asked her to write down that story and put it in my scrapbook so that I could always have it.
So, here is the story in Grandma's words: We were driving along 9th Avenue and Grandpa said to me, "Open the glove box." I did and there was a brown paper sack. Grandpa said, "Open the sack." He was still driving the car. I opened the sack and there was a black velvet ring box which I opened and I was very excited to be getting me a ring. Grandpa still driving said, "Put it on." I said, "No Mel, you will go park somewhere, and you ask me to marry you and you put the ring on." He then turned around and went West toward Memory Grove overlooking Salt Lake. Grandpa did as I asked and put my ring on and we kissed.
This story makes me tear up every time I read it because it is SO Grandpa! As Grandma was telling me all this, I could picture Grandpa the whole time. Being able to hear about Grandma and Grandpa's life together was amazing! Although much of this experience made me really remember how much I missed Grandpa, it also made me open my eyes a little more to certain things in life. One thing that I love about both my Grandma and Grandpa White is how much they love life. Some of the best advice they have given me is to just take one day at a time and not worry about the things about the future that scare you. You have to live your life and everything will work out how it is supposed to.
After that wonderful day spent with my Grandmother, I drove back up to Ogden and that night, I slept the best I have in a really long time. While all those things that have been worrying me the last little while still creep up, I was able to put them aside and learn to just live in the moment and not worry about what's going to happen as much. As my Grandpa always said, "This too shall pass..."

This is Memory Grove in Salt Lake. The spot where my Grandparents decided to spend the rest of eternity with one another.

Weekend at Snow College

Awhile back, my Dad received a phone call telling him that he was going to be awarded the distinguished alumni award at Snow College, where he first began his education. As a part of this award, there was going to be a breakfast in his honor and he would get to be in the Snow College Homecoming Parade and be recognized at the Homecoming game. My parents were lucky enough to have the opportunity to come out for the weekend for the festivities and I was able to drive down. The weekend began with us all driving down to Ephraim. My dad's mom and dad both drove down, as well as sister and her husband came down and my mom's mom and Aunt Sharlene came down. It was so much fun to be with everyone for the weekend! The festivities started bright and early Saturday morning with a breakfast where they awarded my dad with his award. The breakfast was really nice and they had a nice tribute to my dad. They talked about all of his accomplishments and all the amazing things he has done in his life, which is a lot!! Then, he was lucky enough to have one of his favorite teachers that he had at Snow College there to award him with his award. After the breakfast, my dad got to be in the Homecoming Parade downtown where he worked that princess wave of his. Then, we headed to the Homecoming Football Game and during half time, mom and dad got to go down and be recognized on the football game. After that, we headed back up to Grandma White's where we dropped mom and dad off because they flew out bright and early this morning and Grandma Davies and I headed back to her place for some girl relaxing time.
It was so much fun being able to go to Snow College! Let me tell you, it is tiiiiny! Makes Rexburg look huuuuge!! When we got there on Friday afternoon, we went walking around the campus and Dad showed us were everything happened! He was like a little kid in a candy store!! You could tell that his days at Snow College were ones that he cherishes and had such a great time while there. On Saturday, I went around with Aunt Laura and she showed me her old dorm and we talked about the memories she had at Snow College.
All in all, it was a great weekend! I loved getting to spend time with my family. It would have been great if the sisters could have been there, but at least dad's favorite was there to support him and share this time with him ;) It was sad leaving today and coming back to school. I am so ready to be done with this school and studying thing!! On the bright side, I register for my LAST and FINAL semester of college EVER this week!! I can't believe it!!!! College has gone by so fast and I can not believe I am so close to being done! I have one more semester of classes, then I student teach and then GRADUATE!! Don't ask me what is in store after that, because I have absolutely NO idea! haha I suppose that is something I need to figure out here soon... :/ okay, maybe staying in college and not having to make those 'grown-up' decisions wouldn't be so bad ;)
Well, here are some pictures from this weekend....

And another semester begins...

Alright you faithful blog followers (aka my parents and sisters), I am here to post a recap of the last little bit, so her is my excerpt to the monthly family newsletter which pretty much sums it all up..but you get pictures! :)
I started out the beginning of the month living with my Aunt Melany and Uncle Dewane in Blackfoot and working at the Idaho State Fair. While I worked loooooong days (15 hours), I had a lot of fun and loved the people I got to work with and see every day. The fair ended on a Saturday, and so Sunday morning, I headed up bright and early to Rexburg to move in to my new apartment because classes were starting on Monday. It was a stressful first few days trying to get settled and start classes, but everything worked itself out. I think this is one of the busiest semesters I have had so far and it has been very stressful. I am only taking 15 credits, but I am working two jobs (tutoring and a campus tour) and then on top of that, trying to have a social life! I have finally gotten into having all teaching classes and not boring generals! I am in all my methods classes and learning so much! I am also in a 2nd grade classroom 2 mornings a week and I love it! I was in a Kindergarten class a few semesters ago, and while I loved it, I have decided that I like the older grades more...not so much babysitting. My sister, Angie, was lucky enough to be able to come out for her friend, Christina's wedding a couple weekends ago and so it was fun being able to see her and hang out with her and her friends for a couple days. Other than that, some of the fun activities my friends and I have been up to in between attempting to study is...bonfires, going to the ice caves in Rexburg and 'exploring,' going out to eat, swimming, watching movies and just hanging out. I hope everyone's month has been great and I am looking forward to Mom and Dad coming to Utah in a couple weeks for the Sister's Retreat and being able to head down for the weekend to see everyone. OH! And did I forget to mention that mom and dad finally let me bring the car out to school!? Of course it is a pain because now, I have to drive everyone who does not have a car around, but it has also been SO nice!

My cute roommate Patrice! We were neighbors awhile ago and she is from Carly's stake back in Washington


My two favorite boys and two of my best friends, Jesse and Jacob and I at the bonfire

My roommate Patrice and I with an old friend Cameron and his roommate Alex at a bonfire last weekend.

I love my family!!!

While I have been home, it has been awesome having Rachel and the kids here from NC too!! This past Sunday, we had the chance to meet with out awesome photographer dad for a photo shoot of the original Palmer clan. Here are a few snapshots!

The Original Palmer gals