Ambassador Retreats

So far this year the ambassadors have had not one, but TWO retreats. The first was our annual “get back from Christmas break and reunite at the cabin” retreat. As always, it was A LOT of fun. We did some leadership training where you split up into teams, blindfold everyone but the leader, and the leader was told to guide his or her team members to a certain location in the cabin WITHOUT using the words, left, right, forward, or backwards.

I know that it sounds pretty difficult and the truth is….it was.

There were people running all over the place, and for some reason I wasn’t too excited about the whole me being blindfolded while other people run into me and grab my legs thing. Nate was my leader, and he did a really great job!

We played the couch game, but this time it ended with a 2 am trip to the hospital and a fractured nose! Poor Whitney….I think that might be the end of the couch game for a while.

You can’t forget about Rock Band! Pat, Chelsea, and Cami really rocked it out.

We had our second DSC retreat last weekend and it was a BLAST! We had sooo many kids there and I really think that everyone had a great time. Here’s my favorite pic of the weekend:

This would be Wolverine (aka Jordan) and I after the scavenger hunt in the rain. I know that most people think that a scavenger hunt in the rain would be freezing cold and not very much fun, especially in January, but this is ST GEORGE people! It was awesome.

There were sooooo many cool things that went on during the night, and this is one of them.
Yes, that it a giant game of twister (compliments of Lyndsey Christensen), but look closer at the agony on Nate’s face. Hehe I love it.

We also went to a dance where I learned how to REALLY "pop lock and drop it," had some great food, (probably way too much of it but whatev) played basketball and bunch of other games, watched a movie, and gave away prizes which included clothes, and ipod, a playstation, and other Dixie merchandise.

All in all, I heart the ambassadors, and I heart Dixie State!

Our next retreat is on Febuary 20-21, so for anyone who's interested in coming to Dixie and wants to sign up, get on our website and do it!

My Semester from HEAVEN

I got my associates last semester, so I don’t have very many classes to take until next fall when I start my program. Thus, the SEMESTER FROM HEAVEN came to be.

WELCOME…

I’m taking Yoga, Tennis, Latin Ballroom, Educational Psychology, Math 2020, and Technology for Educators. Educational Psychology is WAY interesting, and the technology class is pretty cool. Get ready for my next statement….

My Math Class is AWESOME.

I know you are all probably asking yourselves, “Huh? Did that seriously just come out of Ali’s mouth?” and the answer is yes, yes it did.

It’s math for elementary teachers and it’s great. Some of my favorite math projects so far have been making paper frogs and having jumping competitions in class (we used mathematical terminology while folding the paper and found the mean, median and mode of our jumps), the math SUCKers project, (we measured the circumference of our suckers after sucking them for 60 seconds, ten times, then graphed it), and when we graphed a picture of bugs bunny! I had no idea math could be fun. I’m seriously loving this stuff. Professor Cunningham is a genius I tell you!

I’ve always wanted to be a tennis player, so I figured, why not give it a shot? I’ve heard great things about our tennis instructors here at Dixie, and now I can finally experience their expertise first hand! Tennis is SO much fun and as for my instructor…A+!

Yoga is great! I’m not going to lie, when I went to my first class and the lady started chanting weird things in a foreign language, I was a little freaked out, but I’ve really grown to love it. It’s a nice class to take if you need a de-stressor during the week.

Last but DEFINITELY not least, Latin Ballroom. This is BY FAR my favorite class. Right now we’re learning the Cha Cha and it is awesome. I’ve danced most of my life, but surprisingly have never done ballroom before. Looks like I'm a natural though. Look what I can do! You can't really see my face but uh....you get the idea. ;)

OK ok thats totally not me. I know, I had ya fooled. Maybe someday though....in something more than beads. :)

Where I Come From

A little girl comes running in from recess. “Teacher, Teacher!” She exclaims, “I got a hurt! It doesn’t look like a hurt cuz it’s not red or blue or green but it’s hurt I promise! ...It HURTS” She says in an exasperated tone.

The teacher then tells the little girl to go to the bathroom, put a wet paper towel on her “hurt” and it will feel better.

As soon as the little girl runs off to the bathroom, I over hear a boy in the class say to his buddy,

“I don’t know what she’s talkin bout, but where I come from, we call that an owie.”

I love my job. :)

The Somewhat Delayed Christmas Break Update

My Christmas break was great! It was really nice hanging out with the fam and having some down time for a change. The highlight of my break was probably Christmas eve. My family does a progressive dinner every year and in my opinion it is ten times better than Thanksgiving, not kidding. Here are a couple pictures of my family and I during the night. I love the one of me and my brother. This is him sending out the message to the world that says, “This is my little sister, mess with her and I’ll mess with your face!” What can I say…he loves me. :)

Here’s a picture of me and Carl in front of my house on Christmas day. Check out all the snow we got! Carl the snowman was conceived a few days before Christmas. Did you know that most Americans gain around 15 lbs during the holiday? Well I guess snowmen are not exempt from that little statistic because he gained some definite poundage of snow overnight!

I just wanted to show everyone mine and Lex’s breathtaking cookie decorating skills. We’re so good we even made an Obama cookie! I put on an apron and everything!

My little sister Savy (She's the one on the left) got another knee surgery over the break. All I have to say is that she is one tough chick! I feel bad that she had to get surgery, but I am glad for the opportunity to keep her company so we could get this SWEET picture!

Hahaha Good times. :) Now I’m back in St. George having the semester from HEAVEN. More about that later. PEACE!

Finals Week Survival Skills

For anyone attending college or about to attend college, here is some advice that will help you out with your finals. I know I know, you are very welcome. :)

I wouldn’t have been able to get through my finals week if it hadn’t been for the pre, mid, and post finals fun. With all the studying, testing, deadlines, and more studying involved in finals week, it is extremely important that you do things to take your mind COMPLETELY off school in order to maintain sanity. I think I definitely did that this semester…maybe a little TOO much. Hehe

PRE FINALS HELPER
I did a few things to prepare myself for finals before the hardcore studying came in. The first was ice skating.

With me almost falling on my face numerous times, it was hard to think about anything BUT my balance and coordination, which made it absolutely impossible to stress over the six finals I would be taking the following week. Genius, I know.
We also had an ambassador Christmas party which was a lot of fun. The white elephant gifts this year were AWESOME. We had slippers made out of…well….you can see, some of life's essentials,

(black panties and hand cuffs) and even a pet tarantula named Punjab!

My MID FINALS HELPER was a service project!

A bunch of my friends and I got the names of a couple families who needed a little help with Christmas, and we provided that help. These kids had an awesome Christmas complete with new clothes and TONS of new toys.

POST FINALS HELPER
I wouldn’t have been able to get through my last final if I hadn’t known I would be making gingerbread houses that night. It was the thought of those little gingerbread men and their desperate need for a home that got me through that torturous two hour final.

Now I bet you are all wondering, “Did Ali’s de-stressing final mechanisms work?” The answer is:
Four A’s and two B’s…you decide!

Aaah, to be Five Again

For those of you who don’t know, I am a reading tutor in the Kindergarten at East Elementary school. My job is AWESOME. I just love love LOVE the kids. They say and do some of the cutest things. Here are my two favorite conversations this semester in Kindergarten:

Every single day after recess, Vivian goes to the bathroom. The bathroom is in the back of the classroom so every day around 1:30 we all get a personal concert by Vivian starring the Disney Channel. She sings at the top of her lungs for a good five minutes or so, until someone goes to get her. It was my turn, so I went to the bathroom and knocked.

“Vivian?” I ask.
“Yeah?” she says in return.
“It’s time to come sit on the rug, are you almost done?”
“Yeah,” but within the next ten seconds, the singing begins once again.
“Vivian?” I say as I knock on the door again.
“WHAT?!”
“You need to come out and get your projects done, bathroom time is over.”
“Okaaaaaaay, I’ll COME in a MINUTE. I’m POOPING!”
Hahahaha It took all I had for me to contain my laughter.

I love when I get the chance to sit and listen to the kids’ conversations. I get to hear things like “Booya Sista!” and “My dad is stronger than your dad because…” but this was one of my favorites:
“Guess what?” said James,
“What?” said Sammy.
“I went out in the woods and got my own Christmas tree.”
(Sammy didn’t look impressed, so James went on.)
“All by myself…” said James.
(Sammy STILL wasn’t impressed.)
“And I chopped it down with a real SWORD!”
“AWESOME!” Sammy said.
I’m guessing he finally got Sammy’s approval, although I wonder what James would have said next if Sammy hadn’t been impressed!

Thanksgiving Break

I spent the majority of my Thanksgiving break in one of my favorite places on earth…Pine Valley! It was my Pratt Family reunion so there were around 56 of us who stayed at the Dixie College cabin, my Grandpa’s cabin, and my Aunt Mace’s cabin. I hadn’t seen some of my family members for almost ten years so it was great to catch up and become reacquainted. Due to the stresses of finals, I don’t have a whole lot of time to explain in detail about how much fun we had, but just know that my family is hands down, the best family anyone could ever ask for!

Beware, here come A LOT of pictures! Here is Matt cutting one of the FIVE Turkeys we made.

Cousins Laura and Collin, SO CUTE!

The fam. Poor little Gavin, welcome to a world of mostly women! hehe



My sister Nicole entertaining the kiddoes.

Sarah, Jessica and I cutting the potatoes...don't mess. ;)

The Potato Peelers

Gavin and I! (The newest addition the family)


Just a FEW on the many kids there

This is my all time FAVORITE picture. My dad and I after the feast. We ate entirely TOO MUCH.

Now it's back to school for me. Finals are next week and I'm just really excited for them to be over. I have SIX finals which sounds like a lot, but I feel confident about most of them. I can't believe the semester is almost over! Where does all the time go?!