Mrs. Rees' First Week of School (uncut)

Ok, despite the hokey title, I actually had a really good first week. I LOVE the first week of school. No really, I do. The kids are so scared and so easily impressed. Like the first day, in 2nd period which is my first period with 7th graders, I cracked a few jokes and then looked busily at the roll and said, "let's see who the crap is here..." And the kids snickered. And then one kid actually said, "This teacher is so cool! She said crap!" Yes folks, it's that easy. Of course, the next thing they do, once their realize how cool and funny their teacher is, is to see how far they can go. Within a few minutes the class was quite loud and bouyant for newbies so early in the morning. During which time, of course, I pulled the classic "mood swing" technique. This is where my voice gets razor thin and I say something like, "Ok that's enough guys. I can be lots of fun but DON'T make me mad." And then amazingly, they actually get it and shut up. And it pretty much works the rest of the quarter. Sometimes I have to remind them with more mood swings, but they're pretty good. This technique does not work on 9th graders, however, which is why I prefer easy-to-please 7th graders who are just happy to be "grown up."


Of course, the biggest problem at our school this year is overcrowding. Every year we exclaim how much bigger our 7th grade class is than it was last year. Last year our 7th grade class was HUGE. We had to add a section of CTE Intro, the 7th grade class I teach most of the day. (formerly TLC) Well, this year the class is MASSIVE. We have over 500 7th graders alone. Maybe more. All I know is, our school has more the 1500 kids and it was built for 1250 or 1300 I think. Kids are sharing lockers, they have to go outside to get to their next class because the halls are seething. I have 39 kids in my 2nd period and only 34 computers. One teacher has a health class with 47 7th graders! 47 kids in a regular class room? Are you KIDDING me? Why are we so overcrowed? Why don't you ask the stupid east side who wants their stupid Draper Middle built before Daybreak Middle. Daybreak is litterly BREAKING us.


Thursday night was back to school night. It's pretty much the same routine for me every time. Parents come in and ask, "What is CTE Intro?" and I launch into the excited speech about what a great class it is (which isn't hard because I really DO love it) and then i charm them with my antics and my confectious laugh, and they walk away thinking how glad they are that their 7th grader has such a great teacher. Ah, little do they know what a raunch I'll be tomorrow when their kid tells me they "didn't get a paper" about twenty minutes after I passed them out, asked if anyone didn't get one, and began a presentation which required a lot of writing. Or myabe I'll just discover half-way thorugh that they haven't written anything down and when asked why they say, "I didn't have a pencil." And I'm like, "OH! Yeah, because in THIS class, you don't have to do the work when you are unprepared." Ah, 12-year olds. Sometimes i swear my whole job is teach them where the basket is (the kids who asks, "Where do we turn this in?" after ten weeks of turning every assignment into the same basket that has never been moved and is clearly labeled.) Well, that's my week in a nutshell. I'm in for a fabulous year! Oh! And it was also really fun to see my ballroom club fill up in two days! I now have 30 girls and actually 35 guys (because even when it's full, if a boy comes to you and says he wants to dance, who am I to say no? He's a BOY wanting to do BALLROOM!)

Trevor is Hunting! Damnit...

So I thought I'd whine. Can I whine? Are you entitled to more whining when your pregnant, or have I exceeded my daily allotment? You know, in my head I know that it's wonderful that Trevor goes hunting. He LOVES it. It's a good break for him. He rarely is away from me and it's good for him to go out and be on his own. He loves spending time with his dad in the woods, with nature. He said the other day that for him, hunting isn't about "getting." It's about just being out there. This man who can't stand to get up early every morning will rise at 4:30 with a practical spring in his step (for him) at the prospect of sitting for hours, still as a mouse, waiting for an unsuspecting animal to stride by so he can shoot it with an arrow. So hooray for Trevor! Have fun! But OH it sucks to be me. I think I wouldn't be so bad if the hunt didn't come right after the summer, where I've spent loads of time alone all day, and the excitement of "alone-time" and reading a good book or playing a game uninterupted on the comptuer has totally worn off. I have NO IDEA what to do with myself when he's gone. And it's only the first weekend! So friends, if you are reading this blog and laughing at me, have a heart. CALL ME. And give me something to friggin' DO! (Babysitting your kids not included in offer. Offer expires August 25th and will commence on August 30th. All rules and restrictions apply. Batteries sold separately.)

Our Awesome Loa Weekend!

Ever heard of Loa? It's a big part of Trevor's family. His father grew up there, and now owns this really ancient house that belonged to Trevor's great grandmother. We go down there as a family a few times a year. I probably talked about it on Memorial Day weekend--that's the last time we went. So this time it was the Rees family reunion, which is pretty informal and is held on fair weekend. It's a great time to go down there because let's face it--there's not a TON to do in Loa, and on fair weekend there's a parade, a fair, a rodeo, and a demolition derby which is my FAVORITE.
It was a really fun relaxing weekend. It was nice to see everyone and get to know them better. The kids loved the parade. I loved the derby, though we didn't stay for the whole thing because I was all pregnant-sick and Trevor had a headache. But BOY was there a cool wipeout! Check it out! The car on the bottom had a woman driver (no wise-cracks please...) but she was ok. They got her out and she waved to the crowd and everyone cheered. Then they continued the derby once they got the car cleared. Let's see...at the reunion we all did skits and Trevor got to be Goldilocks. Ain't he cute?

Introducing...Elijah/Afton!

Ok, so today I went to my first doctor's appointment, and was thrilled when he decided to do an ultrasound. He said it was a little early, but we'd do it anyway. I was so happy! Especially because Trevor had taken off work to be there. We thought we were going to just hear the heartbeat, but it turns out it's still too faint to hear and instead we get to see our baby for the first time! I found myself so relieved to see that there actually WAS a baby in there and I wasn't making this stuff up. I could hardly believe it when I saw our little baby there on the screen. Trevor and I both had tears in our eyes. He/She looks remarkably like the little widget I have on this blog! I was just so happy to see our baby is alive, moving it's arms and legs, and a tiny little heartbeat. You hear so many horror stories when you are pregnant, and so many people feel the need to make sure you understand that you might lose your baby. As if the thought never crosses your mind! Or, you jsut know people who have a tragedy and are so afraid it's going to happen to you too. I'm just so relieved that my baby is healthy so far, and pray that things will continue to go smoothly.

So if you didn't already know, Trevor and I have had our names picked out for a long time. If it's a boy, it will be Elijah Thomas Rees, and if it's a girl, it will be Afton Darla Rees. Thomas is Trevor's middle name, after his great grandfather. Of course Darla comes from my own mother, whose name hasn't been used for any of the grandkids. It doesn't "go" with a lot of names for a middle name, but I think it sounds cute with Afton. I LOVE the name Afton! It's also very unusual--on the social security babyname website it is only listed twice in the top 1000 names--in the 800's in the early 80's. Unforunately Elijah is like #29, and I have a HUGE fear of naming my kids something that every other kid in their class has. But Trevor loves this name, as do I, so oh well. Anyway, I will most certainly keep putting updates on this blog as we get them. We won't know the gender until October, but I'm just so excited I don't care what gender it is, I just hope my baby is healthy!

Trevor the Follower

That's it. Trevor is my only true fan. I was SO hoping to see you all copying the mosaic I did earlier this month, as I copied it from Jodster. And NONE of you complied. I felt ever so lonley in my coolness. But then out of the blue today Trevor sent me all the pictures he'd looked up for his own mosaic. Trouble is--he has no blog. As this is the second entry IN A ROW where I am posting stuff for him, I say it's high time he got his own. But he insists he doesn't need one. Well, I guess not when he's got me to do it for him. It's the same reason he doesn't do the dishes or laundry. So without further ado, here is Trevor's mosaic.

1. Name: Trevor
2. Favorite Food: Steak
3. High School: Jordan High
4. Favorite Color: Blue
5. Celebrity Crush: Cate Blanchett (not really he says, but yeah. She IS Galadriel after all, so I suppose I can approve of this one...)
6. Favorite Drink: Cherry Coke
7. Dream Vacation: New Zealand
8. Favorite Dessert: Fried Icecream
9. What do you want to be when you grow up: Apparently it's batman...
10. What is important to you: Graffiti. No, it's Wife and Kids (kid)
11. One word to describe you: Stubborn. (OH YES. I agree with this one!)
12. Favorite animal: Tiger

Trevor's Request

So Trevor found a video on YouTube that he feels needs to be on my blog so all can see and enjoy it. Now, if you know my husband, you will know that this youtube video is, of course, about Lord of the Rings. The scene depicted in this video comes from Return of the King, and it's in the extended version. So if you are one of those LOSERS who thought that seeing the theatrical version was enough, now you will KNOW that you are missing A LOT. Yes folks, it is the Mouth of Sauron, singing Manamanah from the Muppets...

Rant of the day

So I had a freak-out moment at church today. I actually cried about it. I am pleading pregnant on this one. I mean, this is something that has always bugged me, but suddenly it REALLY bugged me today, so bad I cried about it. It is this:


When you don't own a house, you are a second-class citizen at church.


They handed out visiting teaching assignments today. I've heard no real mention of VT since I joined this ward five months ago. I always wondered if they just didn't do it, or if they only talked about it on the weeks that I missed church. Five months, and neither Trevor nor I have a calling, we haven't been assigned as VT or HT, and have had no visits, other than from the bishopric. So when they handed out the assignments I thought, "Finally." And then? My name wasn't on it. But the new family in the ward--a girl my age who just moved in a month ago and has three ADORABLE children and owns a house--she got an assignment. I feel like one of those offended members that annoyed me so much on my mission. Now before you say--"Hey! I wish I had that problem!" know that it isn't really an overwhelming desire to go Visiting teaching that I crave. I just want some acknowledgment that I have something to offer. I want some feeling that I've been noticed, that the RS president has some tiny idea of who I am.


Don't worry. I'm not leaving the church over it. But I was pretty annoyed. It's our third ward since we've been married, and its the same story wherever we go. No matter how many times we sing in church, give talks, make comments, go to activities and otherwise make it clear that we're solid members with RM backgrounds, the story is the same. They're nice, but we aren't worth the time to really get to know or entrust anything with. I'm sure that once I have three small children trailing behind me and I have no time at all, THEN they will have a million things for me to do. But now, while I'm young, full of energy and ideas and lots of time, my service is not wanted. So it's kind of annoying. I just wanted to get that out there, my vent for the day. And to those of you who read this who ARE home owners, please remember us transients and throw us a few scraps every now and then!