Miss Karina :)

Last week I started teaching in the BYU Preschool!!! :) I was so nervous that first day, but I had nothing to worry about. The kids are fantastic, the other teachers are all learning right along with me, and it's such a great environment to work in. I can't even tell you how much I love it there!!

The first day in the Preschool I sat down with a little girl to read this book she picked out, and I fell in love with it!! It's called "I Like Myself" by Karen Beaumont. The illustrations were adorable, and the message was so sweet!! I'm so glad that I am involved in a major that builds self-confidence in children because simply liking themselves will help them so much in life. so this is how the book goes...

I like myself!
I’m glad I’m me.
There’s no-one else I’d rather be.
I like my eyes, my ears, my nose.
I like my fingers and my toes.
I like me wild.
I like me tame.
I like me different
and the same.
I like me fast.
I like me slow.
I like me everywhere I go.
I like me on the inside too,
for all I think and say and do.
Inside, outside, upside down,
from head to toe and all around.
I like it all! It all is me!
And me is all I want to be.
And I don’t care in any way
what someone else may think or say.
I may be called a silly nut
or crazy cuckoo bird – so what?
I’m having too much fun you see,
for anything to bother me!
Even when I look a mess,
I still don’t like me any less,
’cause nothing in this world, you know,
can change what’s deep inside, and so…
No matter if they stop and stare,
no person
ever
anywhere
can make me feel that what they see
is all there really is to me.
I’d still like me with fleas or warts,
or with a silly snout that snorts,
or knobbly knees or hippo hips
or purple polka dotted lips,
or beaver breath or stinky toes
or horns protruding from my nose,
or -yikes- with spikes all down my spine,
or hair that’s like a porcupine.
I still would be the same you see…
I like myself because I’m ME!

Isn't that great!! :) I just love the positive environment- it's a perfect place to inspire learning in these children. Already we have participated in some very fun and creative learning activities with the children. I love this picture of me and one of the students doing some crayon rubbings on the plug on the wall.

I'm learning so much everyday I am in the preschool, I'm so blessed!! Lately we teachers have been working on our teacher faces. This involves a straight mouth and raised eyebrows when the children are misbehaving and need to listen to our instructions. I'm glad that we are working on this because I know that's one thing I struggle with in dealing with kids, I definitely don't want to be a pushover!

So yes, I love this place and I'm so excited for the experiences I will have here. I will keep you updated!!

love always, Miss Karina :)

a lot to celebrate...

Last week was absolutely insane!! So much to do for school and work, but finally at the end of the week, my roommate Holly and I had a lot to celebrate. We each took a final for History 202 so we are completely done with that class!!! Also on Friday each of us recieved letters from the Education Department at BYU letting us know that we got into our programs!! Holly got into Elementary Education and me in Early Childhood Education. :) And we found housing for next year!! it's so nice not to feel homeless anymore!!

So holly and i went out on Saturday night to celebrate everything :) it was nice to go out and have fun after such a long week and working so hard in school. We just needed a little break to just relax and be proud of ourselves for all that we've done. :)

this little girl...

• loves swinging on swings
  
• can spend all day putting together puzzles
  
• wants her own dog
  
• loves to draw and wants to be an artist
• is scared of the dark
• loves school and is a bit of a teacher's pet
• is a picky eater
  
• wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up
• makes up games to play with her sisters
• wants to get married in the "Hesperia Temple"
• is always happy and laughing

Yep that's me! Tonight I was driving from my house in Kaysville back to my apartment in Provo and I was thinking about growing up. I'm in my second year of college, I'm working to pay for school, I have goals and plans for my future, and I'm loving the whole experience of growing up! I know I'm still really young and I have more growing up to do, but it was cool for me to think back to being young. Sometimes when I think back on myself as a little girl I wonder if she would be proud of me and what I'm doing in my life. I sure hope so.

Somethings about myself have changed over the years, but for the most part I am still this little girl. I'm still scared of the dark, I still love school, and I am always laughing and happy. I'm glad that I can find a lot of myself in her.

Well this little girl has a busy week ahead of her and should really get to bed... goodnight!!

Disneyland!!

Over President's Day weekend I was lucky enough to take a trip down to Southern California with my family to spend a few days at Disneyland and in Hesperia. Normally with my work and school schedule a trip like this would be crazy to even think about, but everything fell into place this weekend. My teachers cancelled class, moved due dates for assignments, and it was not hard for me to find people to cover my shifts at work! I was so lucky! :) So my family picked me up Wednesday after school and we headed to California!!

Kelsey and I on the long car ride. Thank goodness for music and m&ms to keep us awake!

Disneyland Day #1

On the tram ride heading to Disneyland! We were so excited to spend the day together at the happiest place on earth! When I was down last April for my birthday, Kellie and I spent two awesome days at Disneyland, so it was fun to do it again! She's the perfect ride buddy and we love looking at all the shops in Disneyland together!

Kellie and I about to get on the Toy Story ride! Kellie also kicks butt at this game! I don't stand a chance!

We found a random telephone booth at California Adventure and of course we had to take pictures! :)

Tarzan's Treehouse! I love that Kellie and I don't have to act grown up when we are at Disneyland together. We've already pinky promised each other that we will take our own families here one day for an awesome trip together!

For some reason I was really loving the water rides this trip. I usually avoid them because I hate being wet while I'm in normal clothes, but I guess I was just taking advantage of the gorgeous weather!

My little cousins and my little brother were my water ride buddies :) I can't tell you how many times we went on Splash Mountain!

Love my family! We all know when they take pictures on the rides and we always try to make our pictures crazy!! :)

Disneyland Day#2

Bright and early to hit a couple rides before it gets crazy!!

Travis, Me, and Kelsey in line for Peter Pan!

My cousins and I waiting to get on the Carousel! We have way too much fun taking pictures while we wait in lines :)

Suckers from Toon Town! Again, in line for Roger Rabbit :)

Haha and again, waiting for the Muppets 3-D show to start :)

I love this picture of me and my sisters as the sun's going down in California Adventure!!

Kelsey and I sharing ice cream at the end of the day :)

This trip was much needed and I'm so glad I could spend so much time with all my family!! I was pretty tired after Disneyland, but I still had fun on Saturday and Sunday in Hesperia! I was able to meet up with a couple of friends that I haven't seen in a long time, so we enjoyed catching up and talking about fun memories. Life moves so fast and gets so crazy sometimes but I'm glad we can stop every now and then to enjoy time with our family and friends.

love always, karina

happy love day!

Valentines day has always been a day of fun memories with my family. When I was younger, my little sister Brynn and I would always make a homemade pinata and fill it with all of our Valentines candy that we would get from school. Then we'd let our two youngest siblings take turns bursting it open.

I know, random memory haha.

anyways... I love love!! and family traditions!!

Happy Valentines Day!

it's February already??

I can't believe January is already gone... time goes by so fast!! But January was a good month, lots of changes and epic times. I started a new job down here at school working as a secretary in the math lab and I really love it! My older sister Alyssa and I work there together so I get to see her a lot more often than I use to :) New classes have been crazy busy and some midterms just finished for me, so hopefully things will be slowing down! I'm feeling like I've got a good routine worked out for my schedule finally! well, I don't have much time to write, so I will just post a few pictures of things that have happened in January:

Finished off Christmas break with my family and cousins up in Kaysville. Kelsey and I were making dinner in this picture.

Went out for a birthday dinner for our friend Jessica. Gotta love macaroni grille!

We hosted a breakfast at our apartment on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Yay for three day weekends! and waffles!!

Holly and I on our epic car ride in Midway to a ward activity. What a crazy night! If you want to read more about it, take a look at my roommate Holly's blog. Shes a very good story-teller :)

Sledding at Soldier Hallow!

Amazing ice castles we stopped to look at :)


Hope everyone else had a fantastic January!!

advice from my dad

I don't know if my dad remembers when he gave this advice to me, but I think of it often and it always gives me hope:


"Somethings you want are near and possible sometimes."


I tend to find myself disappointed more often then I'd like to. Life doesn't always go according to our plan no matter how much we want it to or how hard we try to make everything work out. Not everything can happen at the time or in the way we want it to. But sometimes, the things we want are near and possible. Sometimes, we will find that the things we've been wanting will happen. That's why we continue to have hope, for those times when things work out. I try to remind myself that when I'm disappointed.


i love you dad.