The Blue Gel Pen

This is a really old story, but I feel like it needs to be recorded somewhere. As we were reading in a textbook in my 6th grade class today, the authors brought up gel pens... and oh man... do I have a story about gel pens.

Gel pens in the 90's were all the rage. I would know. I was in elementary school at the time, and gel pens were pretty much a status symbol. Like cell phones in elementary school today. If you have a cell phone now, you are cool. Back then we didn't have cell phones. We had gel pens. And if you had gel pens, you were cool. Especially the sweet gel pens that were sparkly or the ones that changed colors right before your eyes. Believe me, they were ALL the rage.

That being said, let's rewind to 3rd grade.

Do you see me? With the weird pink things in my hair? Yah. I don't know what I was thinking. I also want you to notice the girl in the front row with the pretty white dress with purple flowers on it. That is Meagan West. (Now Meagan Williamson). In 3rd grade, I absolutely coveted one of Meagan's blue gel pens. It was one of the pretty sparkly ones. One day, I found myself inside the classroom during recess, when I spotted Meagan's blue gel pen sitting on her desk. Out in the open. Taunting me. I literally could hear it speaking to me, saying, "I know you want me! Nobody else is in the room. You can just take me!" So I did. Yes. You have it. I Beki Nye, innocent 3rd grader who had never done so much as to harm a fly just stole Meagan West's gel pen. However, I was finally going to live the dream... I now had a beautiful blue gel pen that sparkled in the light. Cloud 9, here I come. 

When Meagan got in from recess, she was wondering where her gel pen went. She asked everyone in class... including me. When she asked me if I had seen it, I hesitantly said, "Nope." Can you believe it? I stole it, and then I lied about it. 

Anyway. Years went by, and this memory HAUNTED me. Whenever I thought about bad things I had done in my life, this was on the top of my list. I thought about it often.... but it was far past the time to make it right. I hadn't seen Meagan West in years... since elementary school, at least. But when I say it haunted me, I really mean it. I had such a guilty conscience. I thought about it, I dreamed about it..... it was bad. 

Fast forward to college. One day my FHE brother, Jared, told me he was headed back to Boise for the weekend. When I asked him what for, he told me it was for a baptism. Since I was from Boise, too, I asked him if it was anyone I would know.... you will never believe what he said. "It is the baptism of my good friend, Meagan West." My heart sank. I could barely speak. I immediately went to Walmart, bought a blue gel pen, wrote her a sorry note, and sent it with my FHE brother to give to her. I am sure Meagan hadn't thought twice about it since that day, but this was my chance to finally make it right. After years of lost sleep.... I finally was able to return a sparkly blue gel pen to old friend Meagan. 

So... moral of this story... don't steal. Or lie.... your conscience won't let it go. EVER. 

That's the story. The end. Flash forward to April 2013 once again. Where gel pens are a thing of the past.  

Etch-A-Sketch Color

My AMAZING hubby just designed his very first little game. He created the software and hardware and everything! He made an etch-a-sketch but one with an LCD screen and one that you can change the color. He is so proud of his work. And I am proud of him! It took him about 3 days to complete this project.

Here is a picture of him holding his PCB (Printed Circuit Board) right after he designed it and got it printed. He was so excited! 

Here he is playing with it after he got all the components put on the board.

Here is an example of something he etch-a-sketched! Pretty cool, huh? 

Las Hermanas.

Today I just had a silly flashback to one moment in my life that I very vividly remember. I started playing the piano when I was 7. (Or maybe 6? Can't remember.) One day, Kim came home (from college, I think) and said she had been learning how to play the piano too.... and she sat down and played "Choose the Right" straight from the hymn book. What? I had played the piano for at least 2 years by then, and she was already way better than me!

That almost meaningless memory reminded me of a flood of accomplishments in my life that have already been achieved by one of my two sisters. There is not much I have done in my life that one of the two of them haven't already done. For instance:

I married my best friend from high school... so did Mandi. I started out college in the health field, then switched to elementary education and am now a teacher.... so did Mandi. I was so excited for my first 4.0 semester of college.... that was a usual occurrence for Kimberly.  I played soccer ever since I was a little girl, and it was my first love in life.... same with Mandi. I taught English in a foreign country... so did Mandi. I love to work out and be fit and and try hard things like running half marathons... Kim has done two of those. One of my passions in life is team building and ropes course activities.... Mandi was the one to introduce me to that, as she worked at an indoor ropes course in Provo. I was the Key Club president in high school... hmm. So was Kim.

You get the picture. The list could go on and on. After thinking about all these things... I realized how much I totally look up to my sisters. No wonder I do everything that they have done. I want to be just like them! Maybe it is just me, but I think the age difference makes it difficult for them to see me as anything but their baby sister... But, I almost think that me taking after them and doing things that they already have done has helped me get to know them on a pretty deep level... much deeper than if I would have completely done my own thing all my life. Like seriously... I totally know that feeling that Mandi had on the soccer field playing in a state championship game... and losing... because I have felt it too. I absolutely understand the stress and determination and effort and value that Kim put into education... because I have been there now. If I hadn't done all those things, I think the decade gap would have made it difficult for me to really get to know them. So, I feel honored to be walking in their shadows. If I never do a single thing in my life that they haven't already done, that will be fine by me because they are who I look up to and want to be like. I love them and their examples to me so much.

I am proud to let you know, however, that I am closing the age gap! One day they will be in their 40s and I will be in my 30s. One day they will be in their 70s and I will be in my 60s. One day we are going to pretty much be the same age... and the fact that I was 10 when they were 20 won't really matter. It's going to be awesome!

Spring Is Here!

After a long, cold, Rexburg winter, it seems only natural to worship the first rays of warm sun to grace our presence each spring. When the sun is out and the snow begins to melt, 43 degrees has never felt so warm and beautiful. Today, however, it got to a scorching 63 degrees! We had to take advantage of this beautiful Easter weather. Becca and Stu came over for Easter dinner, and then we threw a frisbee around at the nature park and we fed the ducks. It was so fun and so refreshing!

I LOVE SPRINGTIME! 

We also carved our initials into a tree... is that bad? We had never done that before. It was fun! Here are some photos. We are wearing jackets because the sun was going down and getting a little chilly, but the weather really was very nice.

Confessions of a Teacher in a Lockdown

The terrible tragedy that happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School occurred on the very same day that I graduated with my degree in Elementary Education. That event was probably the saddest thing I have ever heard about since.... like... 9/11/01. It really affected me. I shed many, many tears for those children and their families and the teachers at that school. I cannot fathom what that must have been like. Ever since that day, I have wondered what it would have been like to be in that position. As a teacher. At that school. Seeing those little faces and knowing that all of them were looking to me to be their hero.

If you weren't already aware, schools now practice lockdowns. This is when the principal gets on the intercom, says lockdown, and all the students gather silently in the corner of the classroom. The teachers are in charge of getting the lights turned off, locking the doors, and keeping the children quiet and calm. The good news is that teachers are informed before a lockdown drill takes place so that they do not panic. I have been informed about all the lockdowns I have had during the time I have been teaching, but since I am not a full time teacher, I get that news from the actual classroom teachers. Unfortunately, today I was not informed that we were going to have a lockdown drill. The other teachers knew, but I did not.

As soon as I heard "Lockdown! Lockdown! Lockdown!" over the intercom, I immediately realized I did not have a key to the classroom I am in. I used to teach on the stage, and I have a key to that, but I just recently started teaching in the classroom. So yes. No key. In a lockdown. I think it is real... not good. So I turn off the lights, tell the kids to go sit down in the corner, and I sit next to the door, hanging onto the door handle. A couple seconds later, I realized this was a dumb idea. I am sure I will not be able to hold back a crazed gunman. So I have the students sneak through the cubby area to the next classroom over. We are safe. Behind locked doors, at least. It didn't take me long after we were all seated to realize that it was a drill. They always go around and bang on the windows and jiggle the door handles when it is a drill, and I assumed a gunman wouldn't have chosen those same tactics. I was definitely relieved.

Being in that situation, however, really gave me a chance to think about how I would react in an actual lockdown situation. When I was hanging onto that door handle, I knew exactly what I would do if someone tried to enter. I would tackle him. (or her). I would run straight at him, full speed, wrap my arms around him, and tackle him to the ground. I would probably bite, kick, and punch. I would die, yes, but I know that would have been my reaction. I already had my mind made before I realized I would need to make a decision like that.

Anyway. It was definitely a scary, interesting experience. But, today was a great day, because I didn't have to tackle any gunmen at school!

Valentines for My Kids

I just realized that I forgot to share with my blog friends the Valentine's I gave to my cute 4th and 6th grade students. I just printed out a bunch of hearts on red and white paper, put a couple hole punches in them, and then inserted a glow stick! Personally, I think they are so cute, and a great, cheap alternative to candy :)... Plus. they LOVED them! 

PS: I got the glow sticks in packs of 10 from the dollar store :) 

Computer Programming

In case you didn't know, my husband is going to school to be a computer scientist. He is SUPER good with computers. Bryce always has been such a natural. He is absolutely amazing. He spends hours of his day every day programming..... but honestly I never really understood what he was doing. Whenever I look at the screen and at what he is doing, it just looks like a mess of numbers and symbols. It looks like a completely different language (which it pretty much is).
Here is an example: (You will probably have to click on the picture and make it bigger to really see.)

Here is my cute husband working on his latest project. He is creating and programming a game boy, pretty much. One step of his project is to create an alphabet library.... meaning he has to create every letter using code so that it shows up on the little LCD screen near the bottom of the photo. 

I have always thought it was cool that he programs computers and stuff... but honestly, like I said, I had no idea what that even entails. So, Bryce decided to give me a mini lesson! I got to help create some of the letters in his program.... It was actually a lot of fun! I created the "K", "L", "M", and "N". After I created those letters, Bryce said, "Good Job, Honey! You are now a computer programmer!" Haha. Yah. Right. But it was still super fun!
And now I kind of understand what it means to write code! 

*****Kind Of*****

Bryce is almost finished creating all his letters (right now he working on "x"). But here is a sample of what shows up on his LCD screen when we write a message using the font he created.

 (Bryce says "the font WE created").