Memorial Day Weekend

For Memorial Day weekend i went to St. George with 3 of my cousins. I went with Brett, Allie, and Jacqui. We drove down that friday and had a blast the whole ride. It was Jacqui's birthday that day so we gave her gifts every hour of the trip to keep her awake.


Once there we checked into the hotel and then decided to go and get some dinner. We went to the Pizza factory and ate way to much yummy pizza. Then we got birthday ice cream after.


After that we went to the park and played then went back and watched a movie to end the night.

Saturday we went and got pedicures and then went to lunch at In-N-Out. When in St. George it is a must to eat there. We then spent the rest of the afternoon shopping! Which is always a blast when you get to shop the sidewalk sales and the outlets. After shopping we went and saw 17 Again because Jacqui had not seen it yet. It was just as much fun the second time as it was the first. Then we went to dinner at Taco Bell. We decided that Taco Bell always sounds good late at night. And of course we had to go to Iceberg afterwards. We then went back to the hotel and played Last Word, which was so funny i was laughing so hard i could hardly breath. (If you have not played this i highly recamend it).






On Sunday we went to Church and then we went to the Temple. It is always so much and so peaceful to go and walk around the Temple ground's. After that we went back to the hotel and hung out by the pool for a couple of hours. After the pool we slowly got ready and then went to the Entrada Resort. We had to go here to get our traditional 'New York hair cut' photos with Zac Efron. It is a must! Then we went to dinner at the Olive Garden and had to get dessert. The Cheesecake was amazingly good. When we got back to the hotel we went for a walk since it was still light. Once it got dark though we decided we should head back to the hotel. Then, since we were board, we had the grand idea to jump on the bed. It was actually really fun and entertained us for a good hour or so. Then we ended the night with a movie once again.










On Monday we got up and packed and then went to Spoon Me for yogurt before we left. The sign said "No spooning on Sunday's". it made us laugh. They do have very good yogurt though. Then we just headed home. We did have some entertainment though when we decided to follow this yellow jeep full of really cute boys. That entertained us for a good hour and a half as we tried to not loose them. I am sure that they thought we were stocking them...which we were, so they had a right o be afraid. it was fun though. All in all it was a great weekend and so fun much to just get away.

Race for the Cure

Last Saturday, on May 9, 2009, I participated in the Race for the Cure. This is a 5k race that they hold every year to help raise money for breast cancer. For those of you who do not know a 5k is a little over 3 miles long. They hold the race down by the Gateway Mail. I goes from the north end of the mail up 3rd west to the gas station and then back down 4th west to the mail.

I had not heard of this race until my cousin Brett told me that she was walking in it with her family and asked me to join. They were walking in it because her boss's wife had breast cancer and she was also in her ward. So there Young Woman's group was walking in it as well. It was sort of last minute, but i signed up right before the deadline anyway. And i am glad i did.

On race day i rode the train and trax down to the mail. I figured that this would be the best option considering how many people go and how many people would have to park downtown which is a mess anyway. It was really fun to tide the train and trax because all of the other people on them were also going to the race. Once down there i meet up with Brett and her family for the race. They got there right as it was starting so we just went up and started walking. It was amazing to see how many people were there. We could look in front of us and see people going on for ever and we could look behind us and see the same thing. It was amazing to think that all of these people were gathered together to support one cause. In a world that is full of hate and wars and so many people fighting against others it was nice to see people working together for a change.

Throughout the race we kept talking and laughing just like we always do. The original plan was just to do half of the 5k because we were not sure how far the Young Woman would want to go or how far Amy would want to go because she is pregnant. As we were going though we got seperated from the group. When we came to the point were you could cut through we were having so much fun that we decided to just keep going and do the whole thing. By the end of the race we were all really glad that we did the whole thing. By the time we got back to the Gateway it had taken us over an hour to walk it all.

When you get to the end you walk through the mail and they have booths set up were they hand out all of this stuff. We got our free banana, orange, and water. There were also booths from all of the supporter's. Our favorite one was the Great Harvest one that was giving out free slices of bread. One other thing that we all really enjoyed throughout the race was people's team name's. For the race you could sign up as a team and make your own name and t-shirts. Some of our favorite team names were The 3 B's support double "D's, Lab Rat's Forever, and Let's do the Race for Second Base.

All in all it was a great day and we all had a great time. It was a lot of fun to walk in it and to see that many people together for the same reason. We were all there to support the same cause and to help out another in the process. It felt great to be a part of something so big that was doing something for hope and for the good. We learned later that there was a total of 18,000 people that walked that day. 18,000 people that were joined together for one cause. 18,000 people who came out to help another. We all had such a good time that we have all already decided that we are going to join in again next year.

Living for Eden

A few weeks ago, on Monday April 6, I went to the benefit concert for Paul Cardaul. This concert was entitled "Living for Edan". Edan is Paul's daughter. As some of you may know, Paul was born with a heart condition. Throughout his life he has undergone may heart surgeries and treatments. He has had to take medication every day of his life to regulate these changes. Through it all though he has managed to work and write wonderful inspiring music for us all. He has also happened to get get married and have a wonderful daughter named Eden.

Paul is now in need of another heart transplant. To help raise money for this surgery his friends decided to throw him a benefit concert. All proceeds would be given to Paul and his family to help them in this time of need. This concert was held on April 6. All of the time and effort that was put into this by the musicians, stage crew, lighting, and publicity was all donated for free. For this night 1,500 people came together to support another.

The musicians at this concert where Kurt Bestor, Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band, Colors, David Tolk, and Peter Brian Holt. Through these musicians and the stage crews talent this was an amazing concert. The stage crew was good and the music was great, but that is not what made this night so amazing. What did make it truly amazing is the love that was shown by everyone that participated.

With each musician came a sense of awe and wonder for Paul and his family. They each preformed songs that had made them think of Paul or songs that they had written for him and his family. With each performance came the support and admiration that they had for a man they all cared about. A man that they all wanted to help. A man that they all love. A man that performed at the end of the concert to show that he cared as well.

This concert was such an amazing concert because of everything that it combined and everything that it brought together. It not only combined great talent with amazing music, but it also brought together a wonderful group of friends and family. This concert brought together people, which in this world today is one of the greatest things that you can accomplish. Being able to unite that many people for one cause is one of the greatest things you can do. So many people came together to support another. To show another that they cared and that they were here. To help another in the only way that they knew how. It did not matter that most of us were strangers. It did not matter that you did not know the person you were sitting next to or the people in front of you. What mattered is that they were all there. They were all there to help one person and his family in their time of need. And that one thing is what united them all. It was having that one purpose in mind that made them all friends for the evening.

It is things like this that give me hope. That give me hope that one day the world may be united. united in one purpose. In one mind. In one heart. All it takes is a person who cares. A person who cares enough to find the common ground. A person who cares enough to unite.

The Science Fair

This last Tuesday was my classes science fair. It was actually really cool and fun to see it all and to see what everyone had chosen to do for their project. Some of my favorite projects that other did were How music effects plant growth, What keeps sliced apples the freshest?, Does smell affect taste?, Which type of toilet paper holds the most liquid?, Which cereal contains the most fortified iron?, How does static electricity work?, and many others. Everyone did a really good job and presented their information well.

For my project i ended up doing Which Stain Remover Removes the Most? For this I bought 8 white wash clothes. I then spread BBQ sauce, yellow Mustard, and Raspberry drink mix on each one. I then treated each one with a different type of stain remover. The removers that I used were Oxi Magic, Shout, Vinegar, Coke a Cola, Clorox Bleach (regular), Tide-to-Go pen, and regular detergent. For this my hypothesis was that the Clorox Bleach would work the best.

What i found out was kind of interesting. First i found that my hypothesis was correct. The clorox Bleach did remove the most out of all of the products. But these were white clothes, and if you had colored you would want to use something else. Second, I found that the Tide-to-Go pen does not really work. It does get part of the stain out, and it probably works better on smaller sections, but overall it did not remove very much of the stains. What surprised me the most though was the Coke. The Coke-a-Cola removed the most of the stains after the bleach. This was surprising to learn because I thought if anything that it would just stain the clothe itself. But it actually worked really well. All I did was dump some Coke over the stain and then rub it together. Then I rinsed it out under hot water and then let it dry. And surprise surprise...it worked. Who knew? All of the other products did an ok job. Most of them got out the drink mix and at least some of the BBQ sauce. The hardest stain to remove was the mustard one. The yellow just did not want to come out.

Overall I really did like doing this project. It was fun to play and to learn what actually worked. I have learned that i really like to discover things and find things out. I like to figure out how things work and what works the best. It is fun to discover and to see new things in the world. This is something that i have always liked and been intriged by, but had never really applied it to science. Which i s really weird when you think about it because discovering is what science is all about. I guess i just never made that connection until this year. Science had always just been about memorizing facts in a book for me. It was never about learning and finding out answers to questions. It was never about discovering something new.

Through this class i have learned that science can be fun. And it should be fun. Science should be driven by curiosity not by facts in a book. As a teacher i want to be able to create an enviroment for my students that is exciting and engaging, I want them to be able to discover on their own and to learn in a way that is meaningful to them. I want them to enjoy learning and to do i have to be able to teach it in an engaging way.

Science Fair Projects

Remember those elementary school days when you had to do science fair projects? If not let me remind you how it works. Your teacher tells you that you have to do a science project for the science fair. They try to make it sound all exciting and wonderful and loads of fun. Then they hand you a packet of things you have to include and tell you that it is due in four weeks. So what do you do next?....you run home and hand the packet over to your parents. It then becomes their problem where you just have to do what they say to. So they think about it and some of them even pull out these wonderful books full of science project ideas. Then they pick one that they don't think is to hard and that can be done really quickly.. because the odds are that you did not give them the packet right away and then that they did not pick a project right away either...so that means that you now have about a week to do everything that you need to..if you are lucky you have two.

From here you do some project and take some pictures. then you make a pretty board and write some bogus paper about how you thought this project was great and you learned so many things. Then guess what you get to do....You get to present about a thousand times int he science fair at your school. You get to tell your classmates about it, your teacher about it, and then you get to tell judges about it. If you are lucky it ends here. if you are not so lucky, they all think you did a really great job and send you onto the district science fair. Where you then get to present your project another thousand times to a bunch of people you do not know. what fun!! and hopefully your journey ends here. if not, you need to pick projects that aren't so cool.

As you can tell doing science projects was never my favorite thing. I did have some cool projects and I did even go to district one year. the next year we choose a project that was not as cool so i did not have to go again.

When i left elementary school i thought I was done with these. Because in Jr High and High School, science projects were optional. And was I going to choose to do them.... no I was not.

Now imagine my feelings then when i walked into my Science Methods class on the first day and find out that we are going to have a science fair. and guess who gets to do the science fair projects..... each of us; the students of the class, which just happens to include me. So what do I do next? I run and tell my daddy that I have to do a science project! and what do you think he said.... nothing. he just laughed at me and said "good luck with that". I think he is sick of these as well. so what do i do next....i go home and forget about it.

At the time i am thinking that it is not due for a couple of months and that i have plenty of time to do what ever I choose to do. So i leave it alone and don't think about it anymore. that is i don't think about anymore until i get to class two weeks ago and my teacher tells us that our projects are due in three weeks time. He then wants us to come with our science project ideas ready and planned out for, and maybe even started, for the next week. This is when i realize that i need to do something. so i start asking around for ideas and start thinking about them myself. and what responses do you think i get back..... These are them: a Volcano that you back in on a flat bed truck, a Cup of Dirt, a Solar System where the yellow one is the sun.

Needless to say, these didn't help me much. They all made me laugh and made me think that the people I am friends with and myself all watch Brian Regan way to much. Therefore i went to class the next week with no idea of what i was going to do. I listened to everyone else's thoughts and realized that some people get way into this and had some really great projects. and i...well i still had nothing. because what i wanted to do i could not figure out how to do. so that was thrown out.

Now my project is due on Tuesday. Yep, the Tuesday that is coming up...the 7th of April. We have to have a board with pictures and all of that other stuff and be ready to present it to the class. We will also be getting judged by the graduate science students at the University of Utah. Now some of you may know this and others may not, but i work for the Molecular Biology and Biological Chemistry Program for science students at the U. This means that my students are going to be judging my project. Won't that be fun. not really.

So...I have now finally come up with my project. Now i just need to do it before Tuesday. Wish me luck!