Holiday Happenings: Flash Mob

Yes, it's legit. I was in a Flash Mob a couple weeks ago with my whole crew of Mormon YSA's at the Pentagon City Mall. It was fan-flippin-tastic.

Nah, in all seriousness, it wasn't as smooth as we had hoped, but nonethelss it was a good time had by all. I am in the "six geese of laying group." Kind of hard to see me, but I am there.

Enjoy!

The Susie Family Christmas Letter

The Top Ten Happenings of 2010 in the Susie "Family"

#10 Snowpacalypse. Do you recall these days? You bet I got a week off of work due to this mess.


#9 Trips to NYC (3 times, you betcha)

To see nephew, Thomas...

To embrace the sites during summer vay-cay

To express gratitude with the Newman family. Love it.

#8 Family togetherness...for a month! Great times in Utah with my wonderful family.

#7 Concerts. I got to go to 3...an all time high for me.

Including...

Stevie Wonder,
Backstreet,and Ingrid.#6 Trips to Cali-for-ni-a and Boston

To see Ashleigh get hitched
To renew my love of American history.

#5 Excursions and happy times with dear friends (This is why DC truly rocks)

#4 Spring break rendezvous in PUERTO RICO!!

#3 Running a freakin' HALF MARATHON

#2 Buying a car. Holy, I am an adult.

#1 Finishing my first full year of teaching in inner-city DC. Yes, I have survived. And honestly, I love my job and my students.

Yes, one of my students
Field tripin' it.Looking back at this past year, I am truly grateful for all of my many blessings. I recognize all of the amazing experiences and opportunities that I have been provided with at this point in my life. I am grateful for the chances I've had to grow, progress, learn, and become. I want to express my gratitude to my Savior, Jesus Christ and His atonement. Without Him I am nothing.

I appreciate all of your friendships and examples. Without, you, dear blog readers and friends out of the blogosphere, life would truly be meaningless.

I wish you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

All my love,

Susie

I see it. You don't...yet. Trust me.

Before I begin, "it" = the big picture

Dear Students,

I see it. You don't. But you will. Trust me. You may think this assignment is lame. You may think this skill is worthless. You may not like how this test challenges you. You may hate that you have to study. You may think that history has no relevance. It does though. We must learn from it. You may hate my high expectations. But trust me, you will be grateful for all that you've learned this year. I am preparing you to enter the tenth grade and to ultimately enter college. I see the big picture. I know what is expected of you in the future and what you are capable of. I wouldn't be a good teacher if I didn't teach you these skills and push you to be better. Trust me, all this work is aiding you on your road to success. I care for you that much.

Best,

Ms. Baer

Now, here is what the Lord is saying to me. Are you ready for this?

Dear Susie,

I see it. You don't. But you will. Trust me. You may think this time in life is frustrating and as you would say, "lame." You may not like how I test you and try you in many aspects. You may hate that you have to work hard and exercise faith in me and my plan. You may hate that I know your capabilities and potential perfectly. But trust me, you will be grateful for all that you're learning now in the present and in the future. You see, I am preparing you for exaltation. I see the big picture of your life. I know what you can become as you rely on me and on your elder brother, Jesus Christ. I wouldn't be a good Father if I didn't teach you these skills and push you to be better. Trust me, all this work is aiding you on your road to be with me again. I love you that much.

Love, Heavenly Father

Oh the things that teaching teaches me!

@#$@#$! Ms. Baer

One of the great things about teaching is that literally every day is full of surprises. Honestly when I go in every morning I have no idea if it will be a normal, bad, or really good day. I love how teaching is always exciting. Literally, there is never a dull moment. However, with that excitement comes moments that are truly hard and other times really funny.

Exhibit A. I go to use the restroom and as I enter the stall I notice that there is graffiti on the walls of it. I start reading it and seeing what the girls are saying. There's a list of cute boys, a few cuss words, and some drawings. I'm not completely shocked by this because, lets face it, nothing really shocks me any more at my school. Then I keep going and I notice something like this:

@#$@#$! Ms. Baer

Obviously the symbols represent a swear word that I will not divulge on my blog. At first I was hurt. What? Me? I am so nice and caring. How dare they those little...@#$@#$! And I want to throw it back at them.

However, as I thought about it, I started laughing. Graffiti on walls about me, my class, etc...will not really end during my career of teaching, sadly enough. Yet, I felt a manifestation that kids do not like me...why??

• Because I have high expectations.
• I am mean
• I call their parents
• I give them detention on a Friday afternoon.
• I "write them up" which basically means that I speak with an administrator about their behavior.
• I don't let them sleep in class.
• I give them a 0 if they copy or cheat
• I don't allow cuss words
• I withhold participation points if they are fooling around
• I assign them homework

And the list goes on.

So if @#$@#$! means that I am a teacher who demands respect and holds my students to high expectations, then bring it.

Ms. Baer is pretty @#$@ great!

I am super attractive right now. Yep.

Who can deny my attractiveness? Being sick for 6 weeks now, it's not too hard to believe the beauty that has become me lately.

Check me out. Hubba-hubba.


Who doesn't love...

• A raspy cough
• Swollen eyes
• A rash above my lips (from blowing my nose so much)
• Mucous being randomly spat out (sorry to be explicit)
• Dry boogers in my nose (I know, explicit again)
• Chapped lips
• A broken out face
• Plugged nose and ears which makes me hard of hearing.
• A sore throat to keep me mute
• Hair that hasn't been blow dried and styled for ages
• Eyebrows that need revisiting (yes I should pluck them)
• Kleenex still stuck to my face. Oops, forgot to peel it off.

What is the evidence of my blooming beauty?

• Students telling me I look like Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer
• Co-workers who say that I look just plain horrible
• Friends that say that death may be looming soon
  
• Men that tell me that they have seen better and hotter Susies.
  

Well, there you have it. I am attractive. See above.

Now, who wants me for eternity?

Srsly So Blessed

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I definitely feel the need to share with everyone the many blessings that I have in my life. Even if Thanksgiving wasn't happening on Thursday, I think I would still share my thoughts; for I have been thinking about how I need to be more grateful for all that I have been blessed with. Seriously, I have been so blessed. Ha.

So here it goes: If you read this whole thing, gold star for you.

• My students who teach me A LOT about what it means to be a teacher and a future parent someday.
• The atonement of Jesus Christ for allowing me to change, repent, be better, and be happy
• Cheesy Hallmark and BBC movies. What would we do without your morals?
  
• Heavenly Father and His mighty wisdom and plan for me that I still have no clue about.
• Institute and my calling to serve on the council.
  
• My dad and his disability that taught him a lot, which is in turn teaching me a lot.
• My mother for being willing to listen to my same ramblings over and over again. Her service, faith, and dedication to the Gospel. Also, for still giving me Christmas presents when I am indeed 26 years old. :)
• My siblings: Kathryn, Julie, Chrissie, John, and Stephen.YOU ALL ROCK MY WORLD. They are my best friends and so good to me in every way. Thank you for listening to me and caring about my life. Oh, and thanks for all of the laughs and inside jokes..."Martha."
  
• My in-laws: Mark, Sam, Scott, Karla, and Jenny. Thanks for being great parents and for making my siblings happy. Oh and thanks for caring about me, too.
  
• My mission. It's been a while since I went, but I am still grateful for the lessons I learned and the person I became while serving in Canada.
• The conference issue of the Ensign
• The fact that I ran a half marathon. I am grateful that I have a body that actually did that. Whoa.
• DC fall. Wow, beautiful. Mild weather. Beautiful leaves. No snow.
  
• Christmas music. It makes me happy.
  
• My roommates. They are Uh-mazing.
• Personal revelation.
  
• MJ playing the Ukulele to "Baby" by Justin Bieber
• Sarah laughing at the lamest Youtube videos ever.
• A roof over my head and a warm bed. Oh and I'm grateful that my bathroom is inside my room so that I don't have to go too far....
• Shoes and scarves.
• The scriptures that allow me so much perspective, insight, and revelation.
• The peace of the temple.
  
• Dance parties. And people who are willing to dance with me at those parties.
• Hometeachers who really care.
• My visiting teacher, Miranda, for being so freakin' awesome and consistent
• Clint and KA for caring about my life even though they are engaged and could forget about the rest of us singletons.
• Melissa for asking me deep questions and for listening to the deep answers
• My nieces and nephews. I just love you...all 26 of you: Nicole, Adam, Olivia, Ben, Spencer, Bethany, John, Anna, Megan, Thomas, Michael, Emma, Joseph, Isaac, Josh, Caroline, Matthew, Sam, Thomas, Lizzy, Evan, Charlotte, Amy, David, Kassie, and Hannah.
• The Relief Society.
  
• My job and the opportunity to work in DC. It's hard but I am learning a ton. I am grateful that I like it and that it challenges me.
  
• GAP jeans. You make me look good.
• Blogging. It relaxes me.
• Old friends that keep tabs on me.
• The UK. I love London and cannot wait to go back someday.
• The opportunity I have to travel places and experience new things.
• Men who are gentlemen.
  
• A prophet on the earth today. Thanks Thomas Spencer.
  
• My ward and the incredible people that go to it.
  
• DC. The memorials. The people. The history. I love you.
• Chapstick.
• Good food.
• Chocolate and peanut butter. I love the combination.
• BYU. Thanks for a great education and foundation.
  
• You for reading this whole list.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING. I hope you remember your blessings this year.

CHOMPED on then SPEWED out.

Here's a random thought for a Friday night:

Have you ever felt like you've been chomped on then spewed out?

Or in other words, have you ever felt needed, loved, wanted, desired, attractive, useful, admired, and worth it for a period of time and then suddenly...

Bam.

You're spewed out.

Not needed, not wanted, not loved, not desired, not attractive, not useful, not admired, and not worth it anymore.

Yah. It's a bad feeling. I don't like it. At all.

On a positive note, I am grateful that Heavenly Father never makes me feel that way. Thanks to my God and to my Savior, I know I will always be savored.

Hope you enjoyed that vivid analogy. Done.

Having a Ball in Boston

Yep, so I went to Boston. Just because. My friend, Ashley and I ventured out to Beantown, visited my ole' buddy Andrea, and basically had a ball.

First Stop: Dunkin' Donuts. I have never seen so many in my life within one square mile of eachother. Dunkin' Donuts in Boston is as the LDS chapel in Utah County.

We first headed to Salem. As a history teacher, a historical site is a MUST. However, the Pioneer village was closed. Lame sauce.

I took some pics from the outside...

And we saw this creepy bird. It fit into the scene so well.

Beautiful Fall.

Fashion show.



Old friends from London. Andrea is basically the bomb.com

We found this slide/sled thing...not sure what it was. Getting this picture was miraculous.

Park fun.

Salem happenings. A lot of witch stuff going on, of course.


A creepo manikin

The best picture I got in Boston by far. Show off your stuff, Ash.

I took a tour of this place and got my 30 minute history lesson. So fascinating.

We saw a reenactment of the Salem Witch Trials and visited the Dungeons.

New England clam chowder. AMAZING.

We then headed to Harvard and walked around. Pictures didn't come out too well.

The Charles River (?)...

Post-church...
...with strange expressions.

Freedom Trail happenings.

Speaks for itself.




Narrowest house in Boston.


Hi-five Paul Revere.

And one more time...


Boston Massacre site.

And yes, we bought Harvard t-shirts. Now I can tell people that I bought a really expensive shirt at Harvard. It's a lot cheaper than tuition.


Fun times in Boston, yet, I will admit it: DC is the best.