the beauty of everyday moments

Today for my fifth grade class we started learning weather. We learned sun, snow, clouds, rain, and wind. We reviewed the words and looked at pictures and then we had a “snowball fight”. This is how it worked. I had them all draw a picture of snow or the sun or clouds, etc. Then I had them crumple it up into a ball (which at first they were a little hesitant to do because their pictures were beautiful) then we threw them at each other! Then you had to pick one up as fast as you could and look at the picture and run to the word that it was a picture of. Haha They loved it so much! We did it a few times and it was hilarious. I was laughing SO hard the entire time. We would all stand in a circle then count to three, then on the count of three we threw them and all of the girls screamed until they picked one up and got to the word. The boys just acted like ninjas the entire time. Haha It was the best to see their faces when we were counting before the throwing. It was an extremely loud game but so fun. J

My first graders are learning how to say I love you! So today after class I got a lot of group hugs and I love you’s. haha We made little cards that say I love you Dad or I love you Mom. I think the girl who translates my class said they could put I love you teacher too cause I got a lot of them. haha They are so adorable.

On Saturday night we went and stayed at an apartment of some of the girls with the BYU study abroad. They are so cute! We took the last bus on Saturday and Sara and I almost missed it. We lost track of time and left our apartment at the time the bus was leaving from the first stop. We were seriously racing it to our stop and still had to buy tickets and everything. Somehow we made it. It was the fastest 10 minutes of my life and I am still so surprised we made it. I am really thankful we did. There was hardly anyone on the bus so Mekena and I went to the very back and stretched out on the seats and slept. It was nice. When we got to Nanjing we went to the girls apartment. There were lots of us in that small apartment so Mekena and I slept on the floor with a blanket, which didn’t feel too much different than our beds! J

Sunday morning we woke up and went to the Relief Society Broadcast which was so wonderful. I cried basically the whole time because I am a baby and it was just so so wonderful. I loved every second of it. It was all so inspired. President Uchtdorfs talk was just so special to me. I love the gospel and I love Relief Society so much! It is so nice to be able to feel so united with all of the sisters around the world even in a little branch in China with only 30 or so sisters. And it was so fun to be watching it at the same time as all of you, even if it was 8:00 in the morning here and 6:00 at night there. J It was such a good day. I love Sunday.

Oh and… HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAY!!!!! I am so sorry I am not there to help celebrate but I took some pictures for you! It was seriously the hardest thing ever to make my first graders stand up in a line, but we tried! Haha Sorry both of your names got cut off too. I miss you both and love you. I think about you all the time. I love you.

“The happiest people I know discover and cherish the beauty of everyday moments.”  ~President Uchtdorf



 Here is my class attempting to hold up the happy bday mom sign. haha the y got lost somewhere. I couldn't pick just one picture to send because they are all just so cute. So here ya go, Happy Birthday Mommy!!!

Found the y :)

We are all yelling, "I love you!" in these pictures. :)

Happy Birthday Jay!!!