Lil' Dean Fam

For four months I lived in the Dominican Republic while on a study program with BYU.  Toward the end of our stay (four days before, to be exact) I had a near-death experience.  Seriously, I almost died.  Anyway, I got to thinking about that location a few days ago and I thought I'd try googling it to see what came up.  There were some good links to YouTube so I thought I'd share my story, and that video.  This is definitely a flashback because I was there nearly 12 years ago! Okay, so here's the story. My friends and I had heard of a really cool place to go visit in the Northern part of the country to a place called 28 charcos which, translated, means puddles or waterfalls.  It was a great hike through the waterfalls and bepebbled river bottoms.  We wore tennis shoes without socks and bathing suits.  Parts of the hike were dry and at other parts were deep water that you had to swim through.  The idea was that you'd hike all the way to the...

Don't kids say the darnedest things? My children certainly do.  Sometimes I remember to write them down.  Here are a few from the past few months.  I will do a link on the side bar of my blog.  Check back every so-often, I will update it with more recent and funny little things they say.  Both boys will be on the same post this year, it's just easier that way!   "Sometimes I get distracted by girl stuff" -Ryan about Valentines "There was a tadpole and a giant squid." -Evan about his poop "Cuz baby tonight, DJ dance comin in now again" -Ryan trying to sing the lyrics.  He often comes up with interesting lyrics.   Bahtwords- Evan's cross of the words "toward" & "between" Sillarious- Ryan's cross of the words "silly" and "hilarious" Evan asked Ryan, "How many do you need?...2,3,4,6?" "Giant robot"-Evan always says this randomly.  "Praskis"= practice -Evan "...

I believe there are three things which, if organized, can help students have greater success in homework completion.  They are; supplies, space, and time .  I think it's really important to have a specific supplies designated for homework .  I remember hunting down scissors and markers each time I needed them to do a project or assignment.  I often had students tell me they didn't have any paper or pencils at home.  I also think that students who have a defined space for doing their homework, they're more likely to complete it.  If students will complete their homework at the same time each day after school, they are much more likely to DO it, and complete it.  As a teacher, I quickly realized that a large percentage of my students were coming back to school without their homework completed.  I think this is largely due to the lack of a proper homework system at home.  I know that I had several routines in place at school which should have...

My kids have been in school for about 6 weeks now and I've discovered how quickly their wonderful school work can pile up. My boys, especially Ryan (6), loves to keep all of his fabulous work and NEVER throw it away.  Well, this is simply not possible.  So, I've come up with a way of forever treasuring his amazing school work, and that of his preschool aged brother, that all of us can live with.  At the end of each day, yes, each day, I put their work into a little tote.  At the end of the month we go through and throw away what the boys decide isn't necessary to keep.  What's left is the work the boys decide they'd like to keep forever.  I hang it up on the door, put them in front of it, and take their picture!  This way, we'll not only remember what their work looked like, but what THEY looked like when the work was completed.  Ryan insisted that I take close-ups of ALL of his work and I DID edit some of those pictures out.  I'll let the wo...

I've never attended a session of the Relief Society's session of LDS General Conference.  It's held the Saturday before the rest of the conference which is this weekend.  My bestest friend Becky invited me to tag along with her family to the Women's session.  We went to dinner at Paradise Bakery and had a great time.  We got to the church a little late so we had to sit on the second row and crane our necks up to see the projection screen, good thing Stacy wasn't with us or she'd have made us sit on the front row!  All three members of the Relief Society general presidency spoke and they gave wonderful talks.  The music was amazing.  The women in my stake sounded really great, another benefit of sitting up front!  The last speaker was President Dieter F. Uchtdorf and he's always a favorite (especially of the women).  His talk was amazing!  It was so poignant for LDS women today.  I feel like he really "nailed" us without belittl...

A friend of mine had free tickets for the zoo.  So I invited my mom to join the boys and I on a very hot day at the zoo.  We had a lot of fun seeing all of the animals.  I think it was nice to have an extra adult with me.  We took our time and were able to see the whole zoo in just a few hours.  The boys enjoyed their day at the zoo. We rode the carousel and the train as well.   The lady who was manning the Elephant exhibit that day had a piece of elephant hide she was showing the kids.  She mentioned to them that it had some hair on it and that because of this, it meant that elephants were mammals.  She challenged the kids to find all of the mammals in the zoo.  Ryan took her challenge seriously and counted every single mammal he could find.  By the end of the zoo, we had found about 30 different species of mammals. Here's Ryan examining his Dinosaur map.  This summer they had several fake dinosaurs around the zoo which...

Evan started preschool on the same day that Ryan started first grade.  He was SO EXCITED to go to school.  He really HATES it when anyone tells him he's small, little, or not as big as Ryan.  He has wanted to go to school so badly and he was thrilled that the day had finally come.  He even agreed to wear a shirt with sleeves when it was time to pick out his clothes.  Choosing a preschool for Evan proved to be quite a difficult affair.  I'm so grateful for the power of prayer.  I know that everything happens for a reason and I think that Evan is going to have a really great year, thanks to the help that Heavenly Father gave me in finding his preschool teacher.  I'm also grateful for wonderful and inspired friends who helped me make this decision. Ryan and Evan on their first day of school.  Evan being silly.  Evan's Cars backpack.  Evan being cheesy.  He looks so big and grown up to me in this pict...