First Things First

As a new principal I have class lists to make for next year, hold interviews for a new 5th grade teacher, and figure out the teachers' planning time schedule for starters. But there is just something that must be done before all of this... decorating the office! Fortunately I have a budget for such things and let me tell you how much fun it is to purchase things to make your place look nice when it's not your own money you are spending. So I have been working on making my office look just right since I figure I will be spending lots and lots of time in it. I have also made a few improvements in the main office as well. Some of the comments I have heard are that you can tell a female principal is now at Barnett Elementary. I will take that as a compliment I think!
So this is what I have been doing since I have been on the job as principal:

A view of my office wall and a little conference table that is part of my desk.

A close up of my shelf, I think it looks pretty good.

My desk and comfy chair and the window that looks out into the main office. I also have a window that looks outside too, good times!

A view of my office looking in from the main office.

These are some of the main office cupboards I redecorated. I went with the feel good about yourself theme.

These plates will be rehung a lot better by my custodian, I was just putting them up to get the effect and now you can see kind of what this area of the office will look like too!

This is the main office wall I also decked up a bit. I am going to put a quote underneath in vinyl lettering to put the finishing touches on the wall.

I guess if this whole principal thing doesn't work out I can look into a career in decorating!

A Farewell to Miss Day at Westside

Knowing this day would come since I was given the principal job in March, I tried my hardest to pretend I didn't have to say good bye to Westside Elementary. But the last week of school was here and I knew my replacement wouldn't want to share the office with me, so I started to pack. I tried to keep busy that whole week and not think about the fact that I would no longer see all my Westside friends everyday. It did help that a few of my good friends weren't returning either, but still the last day of school was going to be a sad day.

At noon the kids ran screaming through the halls out to the buses waiting to take them away for the summer. Then it was time for the closing faculty luncheon where we say good bye to all those not returning. We had a yummy lunch then started to give those funeral like presentations where someone says really nice things about you and then talks about how much they will miss you and everyone is crying.
We had 10 such presentations for teachers and other faculty members not returning. Each one was given a book where the staff had written their well wishes inside. Then it was my turn, the best for last. :) My friend and office next-door-neighbor, Teresa, read a poem she had written herself called, "It's About Time," that talked about time for different things in our lives and had given me a gorgeous clock to go with it. Then my dear friend and principal Sara talked about all the great things I did for her and for the school and gave me a present that would help me make critical decisions as a principal... a Magic 8 ball. The grand finale present was something they thought I would be able to use a lot in my new job. I unwrapped the gift to find a megaphone but then they wanted me to open the box to find that my new megaphone had been bedazzled and decorated Barnett Bulldog style! It was fabulous. Then I had to give my little farewell speech and of course tried to be funny so as not to shed too many tears. I just thanked them all for being supportive and for making it such a joy to come to work each and every day at Westside. I feel ready to be a principal because of my experiences at Westside and will never forget that!

So my office is all packed up, I had a yard sale and sold ALL my teacher stuff... guess the next thing I need to do is move into Barnett and figure out what the heck I do as a principal!

My good friend and awesome school psychologist, Effie and I with our good-bye books.

Super amazing teacher, Vicki and me! Vicki is going to stay home to be a mom so her good bye book is very appropriate for her. Mine is pretty cool too, Imagine A Day! Haha, get it?

Here is the creator of my bedazzled megaphone, Teresa! I know you are all jealous and want to use my super cool megaphone. She may go into business spicing up boring megaphones, watch for it!

Dear teacher friends who I will miss! You can't read it, but the sticker on my shirt says, "My principal thinks I'm great!" I'm cool like that.

More of my dear teacher friends. Aren't they just so cute?!

Sara and I with our National Geographic Bee Champion Medals. We are so awesome we won without even competing!

A final picture of the dream team, Principal Sara, Instructional Coach Eric, and Staff Developer Angela. We are showing off my cute shoes because shoes often don't make it in pictures. Don't we just look like fun?

Touring Moab Red Rock Style

Once upon a time there was a girl named Angela Day who thought it would be fun to train for a half marathon. She trained hard and the day of the race had terrible weather, terrible knee problems, and finished the race with a terrible time. Angela thought she may never run in a race again. Then there was the Red Rock Relay. The Red Rock Relay is a team race where a group of 6 people run two different times, varying lengths, to run all over Moab and surrounding areas for a total of 70 miles. Some friends had asked me a couple times to run with them and with visions of my half-marathon downfall still fresh in my head I tried to say no. Then when I was informed it was a race of fun and they didn't care if I walked the whole thing I decided to say, "Yes!" and I started to train for RRR. Our team, the Running Queens, was made up of 5 cute, seasoned race runners, and me... just cute. :) We tye-died our race shirts, decorated the van all up, and were headed to Moab to show the other teams that the Running Queens would be the Royalty of this race!

I was the first runner and was given the easier legs of the race, or so we thought. It was supposed to be around 85 degrees the day of the race so I was glad my first race was in the morning when it was actually a bit chilly. After my first run I had 5 kills! A kill is when you pass someone while running. I was feeling pretty good about my kills until Kelli and Heather ran next and got 13 kills each. Oh well, I was having a great time cheering our runner on from the van, laughing at other Team Names like Running Rockettes (we decided they were our arch enemies), Swoobs and Swass, and Aching Arches to name a few. As the afternoon crept up on us so did some clouds, which were glad about to keep the heat down. While the clouds rolled in, the hills got steeper. Cami and Alicia were the end of our first round of running and they started the climb towards the highest part of the race. Then it was time for my second run. By this time the clouds were thick and while it looked like it would rain it just dribbled a bit, but the wind was moving. My second leg was straight uphill for 2.75 miles. I tried to run it but it was just too steep so I hiked as fast as my legs would go. With the head wind pushing me back I put my head down and just kept going. I also found that with very little air at such a high elevation not being able to breathe also made this leg a little tricky. Luckily the other racers around me were having the same issues as we all ascended up this mountain walking rather than trying to attempt a run. On my final hill of the leg I did manage to run to the exchange point and collected one more kill for a total of 5 on this one too. Kills still count even if you pass people walking! Eventually the storm clouds moved on leaving the dreaded heat for our last three runners. But a little over 10 hours later we all ran to the finish line as a team in our matching tye-died Running Queens shirts! And we got the medals to prove it! Finally I had competed in a race with a medal at the end, just what I always wanted! We added the last few of our kills to the tally on our van for a total of 64 kills, got cleaned up a bit, and headed home after a long day of running, cheering, driving, and laughing all over Moab and the La Sal Mountains. It feels great to say I accomplished my goal very happily this time around and even better to say I did it with friends. A lesson well learned, goals are always easier to accomplish with friends to help you and cheer you on along the way.
Go Running Queens!

For now go to http://flo-foto.com/photos.php?RaceId=16&BibNumber=66 to see some pictures of the Running Queens. Once I get more pics I will post them on here!

That's Principal Day to You!

It's true, I am now a full fledged principal! The first week of March the Nebo School Board approved my appointment as Principal of Barnett Elementary in Payson. I am so excited! I taught in Payson at a different school a few years ago so it is kind of like coming home. It was a whirlwind week once the announcement was made. I met the faculty the next day, headed up to Salt Lake for a conference, had to meet with the Elementary Director, and still find time to complete my current projects at Westside. Not to mention my face hurt from smiling and thanking everyone who was congratulating me. The school is a fabulous school and I have enjoyed getting to know some of the teachers already. Yes, it is going to be hard, yes, I probably won't have much of a life the rest of the year, but yes, I am so ready to be in charge of my own school and have many amazing, great experiences!

Here is a link to the write-up my district did on my appointment:
http://www.nebo.edu/frontpage/201103?page=1

And here are some pictures of lovely flowers my roommate Cami got for me to congratulate me and a lovely bouquet my family had sent to my school!


This is my school!

I Got Jimmered

This year basketball season at BYU was quite entertaining. Jimmer Fredette was the star player on the team and was pretty dang good. Usually after every game I would see at least 20 status posts on Facebook saying something about this Jimmer kid. It is a shame for me to admit I didn't have as much time to watch the games as in years past so I knew of Jimmer and his amazing skills, but didn't really pay too much attention to him. Until that one day... it was a Saturday afternoon and I didn't really have much to do so I decided to sit down, relax, and watch my Cougars play a good game of bball. And then I caught it, the Jimmer Lovebug. The kid could move through a crowd of players, make the shot, and get fouled in the process, then make the free throw. But when he made a three pointer from like 20 feet behind the 3-point line, that is when I fell in love with him. And to top it all off, the kid is cute! So I joined the thousands of other Jimmer fans and posted on Facebook that Jimmer was my new crush. After that I watched all the games I could and was fortunate enough to watch the Sweet 16 game the Cougars were in inside the BYU Men's Basketball Classroom in the Marriott Center. There I sat in the same room Jimmer had sweat in. His name was on the board and I felt at home. This kid is good...

Look how far back he is! Seriously insane how great his shot is!

And he is so cute!


Here I am with some good friends enjoying the game in the Men's Basketball Classroom. They lost this game, but it was still fun to watch my boy!
Jimmer has won multiple Player of the Year awards, songs have been made about him, phrases have such as "Jimmer Range" and "You Got Jimmered!" are now in everyday conversation. But I think the coolest thing is he is just a good guy! He works hard, loves the game, and was a great leader for his team. Sadly he has a cute girlfriend, but I am pretty sure if he didn't and if he didn't mind that I am like 10 years older than him, we would totally date. :)

Angela Finds a Talent

So once upon a time a girl named Angela decided she needed a new talent. She searched high and low for something that would appeal to her and possibly help her win over others (i.e get a husband). She considered cake decorating, but didn't want to worry about having to eat all the cakes once they were decorated. She looked into flower arranging, but you have to spend thousands of dollars to become a certified florist. She tried her hand at training for a marathon, but injured her knees. What was this sweet girl who only wanted to make the world a better place to do?

Then it came to her, she would learn how to sew! Then she could make cute baby gifts for her friends, make fun purses and skirts for herself, and she was sure knowing how to sew would make her look like the perfect wife. So Angela's super cool mom bought her a sewing machine for Christmas and off she went to the land of Continuing Education to learn how to sew...

She learned how to make a drawstring backpack. This one she gave to her little friend, Jacob.


She learned how to make pajama pants but sadly they were way too big for her.


So she gave them to her friend, Mrs. Elephant, they fit her much better and pink was her color.


She also learned how to make an apron. So now that she knows how to sew and has an apron that makes her look like she knows how to cook, this girl should be married in no time and live happily ever after!

P.S. Please note my attempt at humor in adding the "get a husband" element to the story. It was simply for comedic effect, I do not believe my new skills as a seamstress will land me a husband. But it would be nice. ;)

Happy Valentine's Day to Me!

Ah Valentine's Day, the day everyone gets to tell their significant other how much they adore them. I of course have never had the opportunity. Granted this year I was close, I had a guy give me roses the week before but then changed his mind by the time February 14th rolled around. Too much pressure I suppose. I feel like even if I want to hate this day, I can't really despise the day my parents decided to get married. Who gets married on the cheesiest day of the year? Evidently my parents do and I have to be grateful they did or I would not be in existence today.

Well this year was even more symbolic of how lame a day it is for those of us who have no one to share our love with. Not only was I a bit disappointed in the "Roses the Week Before Guy" running away, but I had the stomach flu on Valentine's Day, how's that for saying I love you! The plus side was I couldn't go to school that day and see all the flowers come for the teachers and all the kids passing out valentines and going crazy with all the candy they eat all day. The down side, well I am sure you can imagine what the down side is with the stomach flu.

Now don't get too teary eyed over my disappointing holiday just yet, there were bursts of love that managed to break through the drab day. Below are the pictures of what did make my Valentine's Day just super!

My friend, Heidi, invited me over for a delicious Valentine feast the night before. I think she sold some of her table decoration designs to Martha Stewart. Super fancy right!

My favorite candy, Valentine Sours, are super cheap and super addictive. I was able to build up my Valentine Candy supply and enjoy this yummy treat the whole month of February. Yes I worked out a lot in February too!

My most exciting Valentine burst of love was a video message from my cute little cousins Megan and Kettner. They may be the cutest kids I know. Have a listen for yourself!