April, May and June

I know . . . I know . . . before the rainbow comes the rain . . .
Yes the truth is that I am a loser blogger and have to look at my journal to see what has happened the last three months to write anything here. I will try to do a quick catch up since life has come at me fast. Not that it is an excuse for not blogging.

FEBRUARY

At the end of February my cousin JJ and his wife Jazmin were sealed in the SLC Temple with JJ's children Angel (9) and Alex(8). It was an amazing experience to share with them this kind and special moment. One unexpected thing that was a real treat was seeing President Boyd K. Packer walk by the sealing room in the temple. It was like is it really him . . . YES it really is him! The entire experience was well waiting for. We had all held it together until the kids walked in the room all dressed in white. Then it was like on cue everyone started just crying so much. We were honestly all overwhelmed at how beautiful they looked. Suddenly I realized

that we were crying so much that we had scared them so I tried to compose myself because Angel was looking right at me. I winked at him and then we were ok.

MARCH

The first week of March we had incredible opportunity to help Mamá Felicitas give the José M. Rubio Lifetime Achievement Award to Elia O. Ware of Provo, Utah. I was so happy to be a small part of this. She is an amazing woman that has taught in the public school system for many years here in Utah county. She is an inspirational teacher that deserves many more recognitions. One really neat thing about her is that she was the first citizen to carry the 2002 Olympic torch in Provo. Did you know that? A Mexican grandma that is as

sweet as can be held that torch high and proudly as she received it on Center Street in Provo. That was as amazing sight to see. Sharing this evening with the Ware's was really special.

In March I also applied to the Educational Leadership Program at BYU in other words I will be studying to be a school Administrator. Why Administration? Well there are several reasons. First of all I feel like our schools really need some representation. It is horrible to know that the school administrative system is similar to the old boys club. I feel that it is time to infuse that club with some color and flavor. . . and where ever I go my latin music will go with me! I also believe that as a bicultutural and bilingual product of the same system it is time for me to give back. As an administrator my influence for good will be able to reach more. At least that is the plan for now. Like I said I applied in March and had an interview at the end of April and I didn't know anything until almost May. It was craziness figure out for a while if I was or wasn't going back to school. I had a 2.5 hour interview process where we were in an interaction with other people and then had to interview with a BYU Professor and a local Administrator. It was a long process but when I left I felt confident that I had done well. My hope is to learn how to be a better leader, that my strengths will become stronger and that the weaknesses I have or don't recognize I have will become strengths.

APRIL

The best thing about April was Spring break. . . I'm not gonna lie. Truth be told usually the longest month for a school teacher is March. No breaks, no holidays, Nothing to make it

through. So when April 13 comes along we are all ready for a little break. I didn't do anything too eventful but I did start my garden. In April I just prepared the bed and I planted the first week of May. However, the cold freeze of May killed many plants and I had to start over. The picture is what my garden looks like right now. The soil is really sandy in the garden. However, I have conditioned it and I think that is why the veggies are doing so well. Basically what happens is that it rains or is watered and it sucks all the water to the roots. All you have to do is dig about half an inch and it is moist soil. As they say looks can be deceiving.

MAY

On May 8, 2009 I received the Outstanding Educator Award 2009 for Provo City School District. It was a real honor to receive the Award and to be recognized for 9 years (5 as an aide and 4 as a teacher) of fun. Honestly the hardest thing about being an administrator is not being in the classroom. I hope I can find a way to be there with and for the kids because I love my interaction with my students. That is why it was so hard for me to leave my job at DMS at the end of the school year. I have had an incredible opportunity that although I felt like I had no choice but to leave, I was able to start a new job at Mt. View High School the Monday after I ended at Dixon. It was an emotional goodbye as you can imagine. I am not one to do anything for too long and my job at DMS was the most stability I had found since . . . hmm. . . high school? So moving on was a big kick in the butt to try something different and at the end to grow and become a better teacher since, I will be teaching the opposite spectrum. At Dixon for the last few years I have taught Spanish 1. Now I will be teaching AP Spanish and Honors. Crazy I know but good. I already love my new students and my new school. I'm not gonna lie the room is a little bit smaller and NO WINDOWS . . . but the upside is that I have a door to the computer language lab in my classroom so no fighting!

JUNE

So as you can expect June has brought many new changes with a move in job, starting Grad school and life in general. So far the best thing that has happened in June was the birth of

Carmen Leticia Ayala who was born on June 7, 2009. She is my brother and sister-in-laws third baby girl. She is so beautiful and it is fun to have a new baby in the family.

Ok so I will try to be better and do better as the summer continues . . . there is still camping at Ghoblin Valley, Grad School, and my birthday plus lots of other fun family activities. Like the picture below shows the camera is always in the purse because you never know when a Kodak moment such as this may occur. (My mom with Rachel's kids and the kids with JJ's kids after lunch June 09).