Wicked the Musical

This weekend I had the opportunity to go see "Wicked the Musical" with some of my family members. It was GREAT!!! I was lucky to get through the phone lines on the day that the tickets went on sale to the general public and I bought the maximum amount of tickets allowed (eight). I just knew that I was going to get tickets and told my mom that I'd get through the lines. No one believed me. It was a wonderful suprise.

The performance was excellent and we all had a great time. Kristen, Nathan, my mom and I all saw Wicked in Chicago several years ago and I've been addicted to the music ever since then. This performance was as good as it was in Chicago. Kristen didn't want to give the ending away to her kids (Sammie & Joe) and it was really fun to see their expressions when it was over. Megan gave us a concert version of the music the whole way there. It was nice to be able to go together and I would love to see it again (especially since I had the worlds tallest man in front of me and I could only see the performances when they were on the sides of the stage - anything center stage was in the view of this man's head).









It was a nice way to end the weekend since the first part of it was spend putting on a funeral for my mother's brother (uncle Richard). The weather was excellent for a funeral. He was in the military so they had a 21 gun salute by the military at the funeral. It was nice to see his friends and all of the family members that came and shared memories of "Muff".

I'm ALIVE!!!

Just for Fun!

Here are the rules: Bold the things you've done and post on your blog!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars in the backyard
3. Played in a band (Does Jr. High band count. If not, I played the bass drum in the wool city band in Fountain Green).
4. Visited Hawaii - I'm going to someday though.
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo -in my car all the time.
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (no but I have seen her in person)
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies - I helped Kristen one year.
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason - I've bought them for myself though.
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma - But I fainted afterwards.
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book - It was a class assignment for Unified Studies
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Belinda the Butterfly

I'm taking a technology class right now at school. We just finished making a digital story for one of our group assignments. It was a big project that took a ton of time. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I learned how to use this program so that I can make movies in the future. The story that my group made was Belinda the Butterfly. The purpose is to help teach Kindergarteners about the lifecycle of a butterfly. We've posted it on YouTube and I've linked it to this blog if you want to watch it. Be warned that this was made for children so it may not be your cup of tea, but it is quite entertaining and my nephew Jacob just loves it. He keeps saying "more please" as soon as it's over. If he gets his way, Kristen will get very sick of hearing my voice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4NbqbMMiFQ

Kristen mentioned that I'm going to post pictures from Bald Eagle Day in her blog. I'm getting to this assignment from her - but it has to wait till my school assignments are a little more under control and I need to get the camera back from Nathan who is out of town. Look for those coming in a few more days.

I also had to make a class website for one of my assignments in my technology class. The whole time I was doing this assignment, all I could think about is how excellent it would be to have a camp website. It took all my will power to finish my school assignment before working on my camp website. I have been working frantically to get my camp website going before my first camp meeting that took place this week. I found a church building in my stake where I could connect to a neighbors internet (with permission) and moved our meeting to that building so that I could introduce my website to all the ward camp leaders.

It was so nice to have this website because I did't have to print any forms for the leaders. I just linked all my documents to the website and gave all the information to the leaders so that they could print their own forms. I'm hoping that with this website I'll have less questions and more organized camp directors. They were all excited about it and so am I.

My camp website is stake specific but has some fun camp ideas on it if you are interested in looking at it.

http://sites.google.com/site/sharonparkstakeywcamp/

So that's what's been going on in my life: school, school, more school and ton's of camp. Not much time for anything else. It's been good though and I'm enjoying life.

Have a great day!

My Crazy Brother!

So any of you who know my brother Nathan won't be too surprised by his new creation in our front yard. He has managed to build this life size igloo. He was so disappointed that it was so warm over the weekend because he really wants this thing to last and turn to straight ice. I keep reminding him that it won't last, but he keeps nursing it like he expects it to. He's so funny! The first picture is one that I took at 11:30 p.m. one night. He wouldn't come in till he shoveled all the snow on our lawn onto this igloo. He's glad that it snowed today so that he can finish it with fresh wet snow and start the process of icing it up.

He also just finished working for Coke and started working for the school district. He's really enjoyed working for Coke and had a lot of fun driving a Coke van. Especially since his lifelong love has been Coke. But the School District will be better hours and a promotion from his last job. We are glad to have him back on weekends to help with projects in Fountain Green. We've missed him being able to come with us since he's been at Coke. He's a good project guy - but usually only if it's his idea first! The trick is to convince him that the project that needs to be done was his idea and you've got a project manager.

It's a Whole New World!

So I've now finished my first week of classes in the Education Department at UVU. I'm amazed at what a different experience it is this time through. The last time I attended college at UVCC, computers didn't really play a huge portion of my education. This time through, I discovered very quickly that technology is a MAJOR portion of my educational experience.

It's a good thing that my friends pressured me to start a blog and sign up on facebook a while ago. It's also a good thing that I've been able to use the computer, e-mail and photoshop in my church calling over the last few years. My first week of school I discovered that most all of my classes give their assignments on class web-sites and my assignments are due through a blog I set-up for that class. Several of my assingments have been to search different web-sites and research materials on the web. I purchased a new computer before I started school and have been able to take it to class and follow along with the instructor. I use it to take notes, turn in assignments and stay organized.

I've also done more reading in the last week than I did the entire year last year. I know that I have a ton more reading coming my way. It's a little bit overwhelming when I'm not use to any kind of schooling and being able to do what I wanted after work. Those days are gone. Now I'm the homework queen.

It's a whole new way of living. I hope that I'll be able to accomplish my church responsibilities and still have a social life while being a student. I'm excited for this new opportunity and look forward to all the exciting things I'll learn along my journey.

What a difference a day makes!

What a crazy month this has been since I've been layed off. I've been trying to decide what I want to be when I grow up and haven't had any luck or feelings one way or the other. However, I knew I didn't want to do construction or something as unstable as that again.

One day, I decided to stop by UVU to see how many credits I had and what it would take for me to go back to school to become an elementary school teacher. The next day I was enrolled into the Elementary Education program and will be starting in January.

Through a series of miracles I found out that I only had 2 classes (5 credits) left before I would be able to enter the program. UVU waived one of those classes and the other one I will need to take in the Summer. There is also a Praxis test in January that I will be able to take at a later date (March).

I'm so grateful for the wonderful academic advisor who helped pull all of these strings for me to make this possible. Without her help, the soonest I would have been able to get into the program would have been in the fall. But because of her assistance, I'll be able to start and graduate 9 months sooner and be able to complete my education in 2 years and graduate in December 2010.

This is the direction I was originally headed before I left on my mission a million years ago. I had received my Associates Degree before I left and should have been able to come home from my mission and start into the program. Because they didn't have their own program at the time, it would have taken a miracle the first time around for me to be accepted as one of the 30 students a year that made it into the program. It would have also taken me an additional 3-4 years after my mission to complete because they changed so many of the requirements. That's why I changed directions and went to hair school instead. UVU has their own program now and it's an excellent one. I'm excited to be able to go back and finish what I started all those years earlier.

I'm nervous to go back and start up with students that are much younger and smarter than I am. I'm hoping that some of my life skills will help pull me through. However, I will need to study harder and work harder in order to keep up I'm sure.

I am also grateful for the opportunity I've had to do hair and work at Hansen's for the last 15 years. I'm sure I'll use many of those skills in my next adventures.

I know it's going to be hard and I don't know how I'll be able to work and go to school at the same time (because of my class schedule and required field work), but I'm sure that it was meant to be by how easy the process has been so far. Everything will work out one way or the other (I hope).

I'm especially excited to be done in 2 years and be able to have summers off so that I can go camping and spend more time with my family and friends. Since Kristen is also a teacher, it will be nice to be on the same schedule as her. Teaching is a more secure career with great benefits. I also think that the benefits of working with children will be well worth it. I'm excited.

Wish me luck!
Miss Johnson