President Hinckley 1910-2008

President Gordon B. Hinckley was ordained as the new Prophet of the LDS Church about three weeks before my 17th birthday. It’s crazy to think that President Hinckley has been the prophet for almost half of my life! So I will share with you the most special memory I have of this beloved prophet.

In March 1997, my good friend, Mark Amakasu (who was baptized a member of the LDS Church in April 1997), and I waited outside of the church building, down the street from my parents’ house, so we could get a front row seat to hear President Hinckley speak at a young single adult fireside(and we were also saving a spot for our friends who met us later that day). We waited for six hours…and we got our front row seat! My brother, Tyler, and I were sitting just to the right of the podium in the front row right across from President Hinckley and his wife. It was AMAZING! The spirit there was so strong (much like the spirit felt in the School of the Prophets in Kirtland or in the Sacred Grove in Palmyra) President Hinckley's main message to us young adults was to "Be not faithless but be believing." Something I was introduced to at that meeting was President Hinckley’s sense of humor as he walked to the podium and said, “I’m so glad to be here with you young people, young people with problems! You are all so worried about getting married, who to marry, when to get married and if you’ll ever get married!” He is a great man, prophet and such a great example of forgetting oneself in the service of our God and fellowman. He is also an exceptional model of following in the pattern of the Savior's life and teachings. This experience I had solidified my testimony that there is a living prophet on the earth today who is the Lord's mouthpiece. Thank goodness for modern day revelation to guide us through these latter days.

Though we mourn here of the death of a truly incredible prophet, my family and I agree that he is now at peace with his wife, and what a glorious reunion it was for them. I am so grateful for the fulness of the gospel here on this earth that answers our questions that can not be answered in any other way; and that death, though saddens those left behind, is not the end, but a beginning and a happy time for those who move on to the other side. I have a testimony that families are eternal, if sealed by the proper priesthood authority and through continually keeping sacred covenants made in the Lord's temple. Though our loved ones who have passed on are busy doing Heavenly Father's work on the other side, I know that from time to time they "check in" on us to see how we are doing. We are not forgotten nor are they.

P.S. I'm adding this on Monday. An email/text went around last night among many of the youth to wear Sunday clothes today in honor of President Hinckley. Over half of our student body dressed in their Sunday clothes....it totally gave me goosebumps!

Holy Snow!!!

We got about 10 inches of snow between 3am-11am Monday morning, then more dumped on us that afternoon!


I've never stood in snow this deep!!!....and yes, I know it is a very strange pose...very spur of the moment and I almost fell on my butt!



My landlord after he finished snowblowing our walkways and his deck


Our walkway after my landlord finished snowblowing it!


This is definitely more comfortable at a beach!

The moments that don't take your breath away...but are pretty darn funny.

Have you ever had one of those embarrassing moments that people never let you forget? Let me tell you about the one I’ve been reminded of about three times this semester (which only started last week)! Last year, I was invited to help supervise the senior class on Senior Day at Lagoon (the amusement park north of Salt Lake). There were about two chaperones per bus and I was assigned to bus three with Pam Beckstrand—a “veteran” teacher (she taught one of our assistant principals!). On the way to Lagoon, we had to get a list of the kids we had on our bus so we wouldn’t leave anyone when we came home. We sent the clipboard around so the kids could sign their names. Well, on our list, a couple boys wrote down their girlfriend’s names so their girlfriends could sneak on with them on the way home, and then some smarty pants wrote, “ben dover.” Ha ha ha…so funny, right?

Yeah, so anyway, at the end of the day, Pam and I are checking kids in as they got on the bus and we were waiting for two kids, a girl (whose name I forgot), and a boy whose name was listed as Phil McCracken. Half of you are probably already laughing at me…yes, I did not get it and made a complete fool of myself. There are two students here with the last name of McCracken, so I think I am pretty legit in not getting it right away! The girl finally got on the bus and so by this point, the only kid we were waiting for was “Phil McCracken.” I was getting tired of waiting for this kid, so I got on the bus and yelled out, “does anyone have Phil McCracken’s cell phone number?!” ALL the kids managed to keep completely straight faces, and one kid asked, “Nelson, whose number do you need?” And I said, “Phil McCracken, doesn’t anyone know Phil McCracken?!” The whole bus just started laughing and I said, “what’s so funny?” Someone told me to say the name to myself slowly, and when I figured it out, I must’ve made a face that said, "how stupid could I be to fall for that one" because the entire bus full of kids started laughing and clapping. I looked at them with my “look of death” (as the kids like to call it) so they all went quiet because they thought I was mad, and I said in the most unemotional tone of voice I could muster without breaking into a laugh, “you’re all a bunch of little terds!” Then I smiled and added, “that's a good one” and I applauded them, which made them start laughing again. I went out and told Pam that there was no Phil McCracken and explained the name to her about three times before she realized that these guys played a joke on us and they got us good! We laughed the entire way home.

This semester, Pam has one of the two students with the last name of McCracken, so every time I pass her in the halls, she does not let me forget what happened on that wonderful day in the Lagoon parking lot, and she says she can't say that student's name without chuckling a little!

Something's Hit the "Gig"

Gig Harbor, Washington had no idea what hit it this weekend. On Friday night, I flew up to join my mom (Pat), Aunt Lynn and Uncle Richard, their kids and families, and Aunt Joyce and Uncle Steve for “Aunt Pat’s Phun and Phunky Pajama Pizza Party” at Aunt Lynn and Uncle Richard’s “phat pad." Weldon won the prize for the BEST pajamas….I have to say, they were pretty darn cute. :P We danced, ate lots of food, and just had an awesome time!





















On Saturday, my cousin, Carl, and I went to breakfast at Starbucks…did you know that they have breakfast sandwiches? They are so good! Then we went for a walk on a trail in the McCormick Forest Park….or something like that. Carl walks and runs this trail quite often to stay in shape.




That afternoon, my mom, Aunt Lynn, my cousin’s daughter Hadley, and I went to lunch at the Victorian Tea Room in Port Orchard. My mom use to take Nana there when she would fly up to visit. We enjoyed our light lunch and then a trip to Walmart to buy Hadley her own tea set!
Saturday night was way fun. My cousins Sheena, Carl, Jared, and Jared's friend, Danny, took me Go Kart Racing!!!! We got to wear these cool helmets, make up our own racing nickname and race around the track in our little go-karts….my racing nickname was Turtle….I lived up to it well! Jared (aka Fuzz) kicked all our trashes with his fastest lap-time of 37 seconds…my fastest laptime was 45! Sheena (aka Frisky) came in 2nd with a lap time of 38 seconds, followed by Danny (aka..um..I can’t remember! ), Carl (aka Almighty Carl) and Turtle (me!). Then we went to Wendy’s and back to Sheena’s place to watch a video. Sunday after church, we had lunch at Aunt Lynn’s (let’s hear it for Chili and Cornbread!), then I flew back to Utah only to wake up to about a foot of snow!!!! Now, I know a foot of snow is not that big of deal…the amount of snow we’ve had in the last three weeks is the most I’ve ever seen in my life! Anyway, the weekend was awesome….thanks to the McCowns and Mom for a “phat and phabulous” time!

A Little "Get to Know You" Fun!

I got this idea from my friend's blog. I'm interested to see if there's anything new you learn about me! It would be fun to read about you guys...I'll be checking your blogs!

Full Name
Marla Lynn Nelson

Birthday
March 29

Favorite Saying
Don't let fear stand in the way of your dreams.

Friend I've had the longest:
Chris....3rd grade

Favorite Color
BLUE!

Something I like to do in my spare time:
What spare time? Kidding...I really like this blogging thing (and the fact that I can keep up to date with people I love who I don't get to see and talk to very often), reading, indexing (geneology stuff), playing soccer, playing the piano

If I Could be Doing Anything Right Now I Would Be
Talking or spending time with my dad--I have missed him lately

Things That Very Few People Know About Me Are
1. I was on the cover of the Ensign magazine (in the background)
2. I played in a soccer game that was broadcast to the middle east
3. I have only been camping "for real" once in my life
4. I have one of those weird phobias that there's no name for (for ex: the people who have to look behind the shower curtain to make sure no one is hiding there--that's not mine but just to give you an idea). Mine is absolutely ridiculous...so I won't go any further.

Four of My Biggest Fears
1. Not being prepared for the unexpected disaster, tragedy, etc
2. Getting skin cancer again
3. Surgery--I am not a fan of being under the knife!
4. Not doing enough (in my job, for others, etc)

Four People Outside of My Family Who I Look Up To:
This is too hard....there are too many!
1. Bob Ammann (my goalkeeper coach from college)
2. Debbie Wahlin (my co-teacher)
3. Bishop Walkenhorst and Bishop Johnson (current and former bishops)
4. Quentin and Kathleen Goodman (my second set of parents!)

Four Jobs I've Had in My Life
1. Usher at Glendale Center Theater
2. Parking lot person at Dodger Stadium
3. Hot Dog on a Stick (this is no joke, I did wear the funny hat)
4. EFY Counselor (Alright! Alright! Alright, Alright, Alright, HEY!)

Four Places You Have Lived
1. Glendale, CA
2. Orange County, CA (all over--my favorite was Newport Beach!)
3. Utar..oh, I meant Utah...AF, Provo and Alpine
4. Lone Peak High School....ha ha! That's suppose to be a joke, but I'm not sure I can say if it really is!

Four People Who Email Me or IM Me Regularly
1. Mommy :P
2. Karen (my cousin)
3. C.C.
4. Heather

Four of My Favorite Foods
1. You can never go wrong with a good steak and mashed potatos
2. Pizookies!
3. Anything my mom makes....she's the best!
4. Anything my landlady makes for Sunday dinner--she comes in a close second to my mom!

Most Embarrassing Moment
Um...two years ago, at the beginning of the school year, I decided to try a "tardy lockout." Basically, I lock the door so kids who are late can't come in and take the quiz--idea from another teacher which has worked well for her. When I poked my head out my door to tell the tardy kids to stay put, I stretched my neck and body to see who was sitting around the corner, my foot (that was holding the door) lost its grasp on the door, the door shut and I was locked out of my classroom with all my students who were tardy. Let's just say, I never did a tardy lockout again, and that experience actually broke the ice with my students real quick. We had a good laugh.

People Most Likely to Comment on this Post
The whole three people who read my blog! Ha ha!!

That's it for now! Hopefully you learned something new or found it somewhat interesting!

What's Happening in My Classroom!

It's the end of the first semester (my grades are done before the due date!) YIPPEE! My B1 class (English 10) talked me into making them pancakes if they scored a class average of 85% on their final test...well, they did it! So today, my co-teacher and I made pancakes. I have about six sophomore football players in there and they brought a chocomotion machine (makes hot chocolate), two griddles and I brought the pancake mix and syrup!



Third term begins Monday and here's what we will be doing:

English 10: This term probably isn't the most exciting....we work on writing persuasive essays in preparation for the state test in February. We will also be reading The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. While reading this, my students obtain a little bit of cultural awareness...in case you didn't know, LPHS is 97% caucasian and 97% LDS...yes, we are in a bubble. We are also writing research papers (which is not very fun for them, but they need to know how to do it!)

English 11: This is my favorite term with these guys. We start out by writing children's books--they learn about the writing process and elements of the literature (then they have to apply those things to their writing). In April, the four best book groups (voted by the kids) take a field trip down to Saratoga Shores Elementary School and read their stories to the 2nd and 3rd graders (and we stay for lunch and recess!) After the children's book we start my favorite unit. It's basically a unit that helps my kids to appreciate this country we live in (more than most of them do now), so yes, it is what we call a "thematic" unit. We look at the visions and principles the founding fathers were hoping to instill in the American people, we look at whether or not those principles are still in place today or if they have been lost, and how we can live by these principles in our daily lives. To do this, we look at literature (speeches, poems, excerpts from novels, short stories, essays, etc) that covers different topics such as the American Dream (which encompasses several topics within itself--immigrations, civil rights, etc) and defending freedom . The kids do several learning activities (their favorite is the student-led discussion where a group of kids facilitate the discussion and I just make sure things stay under control) and we have a couple of guest speakers come in so there is some real life connections to the things we are reading about. We do all the Englishy stuff, but it's all incorporated into the activities. This year, I'll probably have to extend this unit into 4th term because there won't be enough time to do it all after the children's book. The second year I did this unit, one of my classes were enjoying this unit so much, we made a class video!

Friday Night Showdown!

So my friend C.C. came over Friday. Her boyfriend is in the middle of basic training and she is going through withdrawls, so I had her over so we could chat about teaching (she's a teacher too), life....you know, all the things girls chat about! However, when C.C. arrived, my roommate and I introduced her to the traveler iq game! C.C. was hooked....in fact, she kicks butt at this game! We played off and on throughout the night, inbetween conversations, dinner, and a trip down to the high school to grab some materials for lesson planning. Well, when it got late, we decided to go one more round before she left and below is the video filmed by my roommate (who had just returned from a date)...this is what happens when you reach the final round of a game you have played several times throughout the night...and we earned a travel iq of 129! We were playing the game where you are shown photos from around the world and you have to guess where it is on the map. In the game, you earn points based on how close you pinpoint the location and how fast you do it! The video is really kind of funny. Listen for C.C.'s explanation for how she knew the photo was from Easter Island...it makes absolutely no sense! Oh and by the way, I do know that the Berlin Wall was in East Germany not West--but it did border West Germany, so I was sorta right?! We were very proud of our accomplishment! :P And we were both overly giddy about it too! Enjoy! (P.S. I think you have to have Quicktime to view the video!)

Not Happy???

Not happy with your marriage? Watch WifeSwap...you should LOVE your spouse after you see some of the unique people on that show. Not happy with the way your young children are behaving? Watch SuperNanny! You'll think your children are angels and it will boost your confidence that you are an AMAZING parent (or you will decide that you do not want to have children)! Not happy because you aren't married? Talk to Ms. Lopez of Florida (on the news), she's been married to 10 men at the same time and she's 26, but she got caught and is now facing 9 counts of bigamy...by the way, if you are not happy, Sonic has happy hour!! (also advertised on TV) See how much you can learn from watching reality tv and the news? I don't recommend making a habit of it, but it was quite an eye opener.
P.S. All of these shows and advertisements can be viewed on your local channel 4 network!

Goodbye 2007

Goodbye 2007--honestly, I'm so sad it's over! So many wonderful, unexpected, lifechanging events this past year. I have no idea what 2008 will bring...it is a year of no expectations (that's not a bad thing). At this time last year, I was looking forward to the China trip and the Church History trip (and later, Israel). This year...um...well, my traveling days are over for awhile.

I am applying to graduate school...yep...taking another stab at it. FYI--I will NOT be reapplying to BYU, even though I would be admitted automatically because I deferred my admission to this summer. If anyone disagrees with this, you better persuade me fast, apps are due in a month! But if you want to persuade me to reapply there...make sure you know the story behind it all first! I did think about keeping the door wide open, then after reviewing the events that led to my deferred admission, I chose to go a different direction.

I found out about a summer only program at San Diego State University. I'd get my masters in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Literacy in three summers. That's right...7 weeks for three summers...and I'll HAVE to live at the condo in Oceanside...please, pull my leg a little harder! I promised my mom (since technically it is HER condo), no wild parties (yeah, because I know SO MANY people in San Diego), and I'd keep the condo in impeccable condition.

I have ONE New Years Resolution...that's right...keepin' it simple this year.
**Be completely out of credit card debt by July (it is possible with some discipline!)**

Happy New Year to everyone! I hope it's everything you hope, dream, expect, etc!