Photoshop. . .

So I'll be honest, I think photoshop is a pretty sweet little program. And I'll admit that I use it quite a bit because I just like fiddling with all the cool gadgets on there. Well this afternoon I came across this video (there is a link you can click on the word "video") and it actually made me a little sick. If you don't want to take the time to watch it, here's the reader's digest version. . . Nothing you see in a magazine or on a billboard is real. I'd heard of it all before, how pictures of models are all airbrushed and how they can take off extra pounds and whatnot, but I'd never seen it in action before until today. It seriously makes me so sad how people (especially women) compare themselves to something fake and will literally kill themselves to try and look like the things (I can't even call them models because they are so fake) in the magazines and in movies. . .

Well being the photoshopper that I am, I decided to see what I could do some pictures

Before

By the way, my nephew

is the cutest kid ever!!

After

Hmm. . . lost about 10 pounds

Got a nice nose job

Cheek implants as well

and I have smooth skin

Before

After

About the same as above

Before

After

It's amazing how loosing

some pounds makes you look

a whole lot taller as well

Haha, poor Jared thought I was having self esteem problems when he saw what I was doing on photoshop, and I'd be lying if I said the "Before" shot Stacie looks better then the "After" shot Stacie, but I could honestly care less about trying to be something I'm not. Yeah I'm just like every other girl who wishes they could change something about themselves (I happen to be cursed with a German nose from my mom's side of the family!) but it's not worth it to me to constantly compare myself to other people. If I am on a downer, I like to remind myself about the things I like about my appearance. . . green eyes, long dark eyelashes (which means I get away without mascara whoot!), somewhat straight teeth, dark hair, a proportional body etc.

I don't know what this post is really about, but I just hope people can be confident in their own skin, and not feel like they aren't good enough, pretty enough, skinny enough, buff enough and the list goes on and on. Everyone has something special to offer and the more we try to mold ourselves into perfection, the quicker we will loose sight of that special part of us.

Star Wars

Haha, I still can't get over how hilarious my students are! Yesterday Mr. Olsen was getting ready to teach the kids a new concept, but one that built on what they had done the day before and he wanted to encourage the kids that they could take on these more challenging problems. Now Mr. Olsen is kind of a funny guy and his favorite thing to do is make stories apply to his lessons in any way he can. Well he decided to use a Star Wars theme yesterday. . . . little did he know that he had one very big Star Wars Junkie in class! So he proceeds to remind everyone how Luke crashed his ship into the pond when he was going to find Yoda. . . and as part of his training, Yoda makes Luke raise it out of the water. Well I knew we were in for some real entertainment when our Star Wars Junkie says:

"The ship was called the X-Wing"

Mr. Olsen goes on to mention how Luke wasn't able to raise it out of the water at first because it was too big for him and then asks the class:

"Does anybody remember what Yoda told Luke?"

Star Wars Junkie replies in a very Yoda like impression:

"Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size do you?"

LOL I was sitting in the back of the room and I straight up started busting up laughing, I couldn't help it. . . it was just too priceless! I wish I had a voice recording, it was so hilarious! Throughout the rest of the lesson everybody kept answering in Yoda fashion like "25 the answer it is" and such haha. To top the period off, Star Wars Junkie leaves class with a "May the force be with you Mr. Olsen!" bahaha, I love middle school!

Second Lesson

Well two lessons down and only thousands more to go in my teaching career! Today's lesson went pretty well I guess. . . probably not as good as my last lesson, but today I was teaching my "tough" class so it's understandable. The kids in this class aren't quite as motivated as the last class I taught, really, it's like night and day! But it all turned out alright and I'm happy with how it went. We played a game and it's amazing how a little bit of competition can kick kids in the butt and get them participating.

This past weekend we went down to STG to visit my family, and so I could go to a baby shower for one of my best friends. It was really cool to be able to see some of my friends from high school and to catch up with what they are doing. Alot of them are starting to have babies which makes me sort of want to start having babies too which is really weird because I've always been the one to say that we aren't going to have kids for like 5 years! But I know in reality we aren't ready to have kids yet. . . I'd like to enjoy just being married for a little longer before we strap ourselves down to being responsible for another human being, I'm not mature enough for that! :)

My Hubby

I'm usually not a huge blogger. . . yeah I keep up every couple of weeks, but never twice in a day, but Jared is busy working on some designs, and I've been thinking the past couple of days about how luck I am to be married to such a great guy. So here are some reasons why I love him, definitely not all of them, but just some

1) He is super quirky when we are alone. . . He likes to make funny growling sounds!

2) How he sits at the computer hour after hour working on his designs, he squints when he is really concentrating and its so cute! I don't even care if he's busy on the computer, as long as I can sit on he couch near him, that's all I need.

3) He still sings random songs all the time. . . and it doesn't matter if he doesn't know the words, he'll sing anyway

4) He makes me lunches sometimes, and leaves me cute love notes

5) Speaking of the word "cute" he refuses to tell me that I'm cute. He claims he can't use it because he is a man, instead he tells me I'm "funny" instead.

6) He always prays at night, and initiates our couple prayer since he knows I'm a slacker

7) How his hair sticks up in the morning, so adorable

8) He let's me use pet names on him like "babe, baby, sweetie, love, lover, jare-bear, jrod etc."

9) He tells me that I'm beautiful even when I'm in my pj's with no make up on and my hair is in a nasty ponytail (I really must have him brainwashed because I can be downright haggard sometimes!)

10) He does the laundry, washes the dishes, vacuums the apartment, and makes the bed every single day without me asking him to do any of it

11) He lets me cuddle with him whenever I want

12) Whenever I call him, he answers with an affectionate "Hey You"

13) He has a really bad biker tan line on his arm and he's proud of it!

14) He let's me buzz off the hair on the back of his neck (I'm a dang weirdo and can't stand neck hair!!)

15) He scratches my back before we fall asleep at night

16) His voice gets all high when he gets excited or worked up about something!

17) He gives really good hugs

18) He makes me feel beautiful

19) He uses funny phrases like "dang it all to betsy!" and "Well craaap"

20) He is constantly complaining about "Utah Drivers" which just cracks me up

21) He watches HGTV with me, and likes it

22) He has really big muscles (You wish babe! ha!)

23) I think he's extremely good looking, but that's just me!

24) He is super affectionate and tells me he loves me all the time. . . usually this is how it goes Jared: "I love you" Me: "I love you more" Jared: "I love you most" Me: "Dang it!" or vice versa, we are funky and have "I love you" battles back and forth with each other

25) He doesn't care if I pick my nose in front of him! (we all do it so don't try to pretend you've never done that!)

26) He is really great with kids

27) He has the more patience then anyone I've ever met!

28) He likes to watch movie trailers online for fun

29) He has confidence in me

30) More then anything I love him because he loves me and we work together to make our marriage a good one!

He picks his nose too!

The biker tan line

He's my mountain man

So good looking!

Love you babe. . . you're all I need, you're everything

First Lesson

Well today I finally got to teach my first lesson as a math teacher. . . gotta love Algebra! I taught first period this morning and it actually went really really well. The class I taught was the 7th grade Algebra class, so basically they are the smartest kids in school. Lol, I would ask questions like, "How do you think we can figure this problem out?" and not a 1/2 second later there would be about 12 hands up in the air, attached to kiddos that were just about jumping out of their seats with their eagerness to answer. . . A teacher's dream class!!! I was being observed by my BYU Supervisor guy, and he had alot of good things to say about my lesson, so that is a good thing. Evidently, I have good "teacher presense" which means if you were to walk into the room, you would have no problem realizing I am the teacher (which is probably a good thing considering I'm like a foot taller then all the kids!). I think the coolest thing is realizing I'm in the right field, and that one day I'm gonna be a really good teacher. For so long during college I kept questioning why the heck I was putting myself through the torture of all those math classes, but now it's paying off. I'm glad I stuck it out because being around those kids and helping them learn is all worth it. But here are a couple of funny things that have happened. . .

Some kids in class had a debate about whether or not Michael Jackson or the Beatles were more "classic"

One guy in Algebra started singing "Families Can Be Together Forever" and claimed that he just wanted to feel the Gospel throughout the whole day!

My 7th grade Algebra class cheered when they found out they would be taking a test the next day. . . these kids are really in a world of their own. . . I hope they survive high school!

My mentor teacher loves to make random and somewhat lame jokes, like when the answer to number 10 is C. . . it reminds him of "Tennessee" ha

Well that's enough for now, there will probably be more to come in the future!

School Has Begun

Well school is officially back in session for Jared and I. This semester should be really great for both of us though, and I know we're already liking it so far. Jared is in his first semester of the Graphic Design program, and he really likes his classes. He is going to be SUPER busy though! He was telling me about all the projects he has to do and it sounded pretty intense. But he really loves designing so I'm not too worried about him. I am doing my student teaching this semester, and I've already spent most of last week out at the school I will be in. My cooperating teacher, Mr. Olsen, is the coolest old guy ever! He's seriously so funny and all of the kids really like him. I've had a fun time getting to know him and the kids at the junior high. Most of them are in eigth and ninth grade, but I have one class of seventh graders (who are already in Algebra which makes them some of the smartest kids in the school!), and they are seriously the cutest funniest kids in the world! Here is just one quote from this last week that made me laugh so hard.

Mr. Olsen: "Well guys, we have a long weekend coming up, I figured I would need to assign more homework since you are going to have more time to finish it. . . We usually do 20 problems or so, but why don't we have you do all of the problems this weekend instead."

He said this in all seriousness, but of course he wasn't considering there are like 97 problems from that lesson, but anyway, this is the response from one of the more nerdy kids in class. . .

Student: "YES! I'm totally going to do all of them!!!"

LOL, I almost started busting up outloud during class, but luckily I was able to hold it in until class was over! Oh man, it was just so funny how excited this kid got. I dunno, middle school kids are just hilarious, and really cheap entertainment! A few class periods later one of our ninth graders came into class humming the theme to Zelda which made me laugh. Anyway, I decided I was going to keep a log of the more funny quotes from these kids throughout this semester, so there will be more to come!

This weekend, Jared and I came down to STG to hang out with my family. We have spent this weekend at a cabin in Brian Head and it's been really fun! We've pretty much just chilled and not done anything, but I love those kinds of weekends with the family, it's just cool to be together. My sister's little baby boy is so dang cute and precious. We hadn't seen him in like two months, and it is crazy to see how much he has grown! I'm sure my sister will be posting some pictures of this weekend sometime soon. Well I gotta cut this short cause we're leaving, sorry no pics, maybe next time!