la tormenta

So, I am certainly not the person that created this game, but I am a big fan. I think it was originally called 'fruit basket'. However, here are the rules of the game. You put enough desks in a circle for all of your students but one. There will be one student who is in the middle of the circle. You number each student one thru three. Ones are viento, twos are lluvia and threes are sol. So, the person in the middle then has to give a sentence in Spanish, describing the weather. For example, Hace sol. Then, they call out one of the groups of people described above. They can call lluvia, sol or viento. Then all those people have to get up and move around to find a different desk. Much like musical chairs. If they really want to shake things up, they call out, la tormenta, and all of the students in the class have to move around and find different seats. The purpose is to practice weather vocabulary. You can make it harder by changing the weather to future or to the past. So, ayer, hacia calor. Or manana va a hacer frio. They kids love it and they have lots of fun playing. But today, Miss Platt ( myself) got body slammed! I try really hard to have fun with them and such, but in 1st period, the purpose was to get me in the middle. What they don't remember is that I already speak spanish, so it isn't hard for me to be in the middle. So, we are all running around, trying to find a desk, and this kid, football player, I might add, rammed right into me and bumped me out of the way. I was amazed! And sore! From there on, I made the rule that you could NOT body slam the teacher. I can now act like a lady and play the game at the same time. It's great fun...you should try it sometime!

Halloween

Last year we had our annual pumpkin carving 'contest' so to speak. We don't really have a strict contest or specific rules we have to follow. But we all want to win! We put the kids to bed, and then we gather around and talk and laugh while we all carve our own pumkins. The funny thing about this is, that we have more than a month to go before halloween, and yet most of us have begun planning what we are going to do. Noelle wanted to buy a carving set the other day at the store, Becca wanted to get online ( I think it was Becca) to download some images she could carve, and I dreamed that they all forgot to invite me and I missed the whole thing. I think this year could be a lot of fun and I am looking forward to having the best pumkin ever. The picture above is of our family, gathered around the pumpkins that we carved last year. I have a better picture of the pumpkins all lit up...hopefully I can find it!

Good luck family!

Look - I found it... Enjoy!

The Farm

What you are looking at here is grandpa's barn (my dad). We have had some property up above kamas for the last 20 years, and just in the last five years or so dad has started to build this barn. He wanted a place where he could store is equipment and tools, so that he could begin working on a decent road, and eventually build a cabin. This was his pride and joy! He loved coming up here and working on this building. He built the forms and footings himself; he put up the walls himself, he even put in the trusses himself. This was his baby. And we all loved coming up here and spending time as a family.

About a month ago, we decided it was time for a new family tradition. We were planning the first Platt family campout at "The Farm". We were all really excited about it, especially dad. He began planning the weekend for all of us. Especially for the grandkids. They were going to participate in a little mini-olymics. He prepared games and activities for all of them. He even had Heather make some medals for each of the kids. It was going to be a blast. So, Friday afternoon, we all left for the farm and once there began the setup of the camp. We put up our tents, and started a fire, so we could cook our dinner. We were just so excited. That evening, we cooked our tinfoil dinners and sat around the fire just talking and laughing and enjoying mother nature. Jared and Rachel gave us the best news ever, and most of us were moved to tears of joy for them and their family. We were having the best time! We talked about everything and teased each other. The kids had to go to bed, and since us adults are more tired than they are, we weren't far behind. But we were already planning the next year.

The next day, dad had big plans for all of the grandkids. They participated in a race, and tumbling, and throwing and lifting and even a little archery. They had so much fun and laughed and we (the adults) laughed at them. They loved being at grandpa's farm and seeing his tractor and running down the new road that had just been created. In the end, even though Allie won most of the events, each of the kids were given a gold medal for their efforts and for participating in grandpa's olympics.

Well, all good things have to come to an end. So we packed up and came home. We were home about 4:00 that Saturday afternoon. Around midnight, dad recieved a call from a neighbor in Kamas saying that his barn was on fire. The fire chief called an hour or so later and said that they were not able to save anything. We were all shocked! None of us knew how to react. Especially dad. Sunday afternoon we went back up to the farm to meet with the fire chief. Someone had broken into the barn and used all of dad's fuel he had up there for his tractor and such to burn the building down. We couldn't understand why...what had we done? I couldn't stop crying as I saw what the destruction was. This was dad's happy place, and we were worried about how he was going to handle it.

It has now been a month, and we are just moving forward like most people have to when something tragic happens. Every saturday since then, I have gone up to the farm with dad to help clean up the mess of all that happened. It has been really hard on me, to know that someone did this on purpose and that we still have to come away covered in ash, knowing that the ash was once a beautiful haven for our family. We were surpised one saturday; when we got there, dads neighbors, Niels and Dorothy, were there helping. They had called the bishop and asked for help, and so he, and a group of people from the ward were there helping in the cleanup. It was healing to know that there are still really good people who live in the kamas area. I had almost given up on the town, when nothing was said or appeared to have been done to help. But I am grateful for those that were willing to give of their time to come and get dirty with us. It has been a difficult trial for our family, especially for dad. But is has brought us even closer and we will be always grateful for each other, and that none of us were hurt in the fire. I guess the hard times in life really do make a person stronger. I guess that is what life is all about. I am also really glad to know that I can always be clean after a long Saturday of working in the ash. I look like a coal miner in this picture, but it will always be a good reminder of what we are experiencing and learning.

So, today I went in for surgery. Once again it was for some skin cancer that I discoverd on my nose. I have done this before, the first time being much larger. But today, the nurse that was helping the doctor started talking about her marriage. She was married for three years, and is going through the process of a divorce. My heart hurt for her becuase of the hard times that she has ahead. She talked about the reasons for her divorce and why for her it was just the right thing to do. Her husband had become controlling; he started to tell her when to talk and when not to; when to leave the house and when not to; when to hang out with her friends and when not to, etc. It made me think a lot about the decision to marry, and made me realize how important it is to really know the one that you are to give your whole life to. I am engaged to be married to Murphy, and I am more determined to make sure that we will treat each other well, and that we are making the right decision. It is such a large decision and I hope that I will be able to do the Lord's will in all things. That is my prayer today...to just do the right thing.

the beginning -

So, here we go. I am new at this whole blogging thing, but I think it could be a lot of fun. I am really supposed to be teaching, but they are working so well on their project, that I thought I would do this instead. I have really good classes this year and I am excited to see what they are capable of. I am teaching three Spanish I classes and three Spanish II classes, with an ESL class in there somehow. It is a crazy schedule, but I think that I will make it. As long as I have days where they have a project and I can do something like this to forget the whole thing. So, I was telling my students that I have a small surgery tomorrow and I won't be here. One very kind kid said, don't worry, only 80% of all people actually loose their eyes over this. Such a punk! But, they are good kids. Anyhoo...I have to be a teacher now...