Havre - Hill County

Paint the sky and make it yours...

I pretty much had THE most amazing weekend of my life. I finally, finally got to meet meet Logan's parents. I had met them, but we had never officially sat down and talked. On Friday morning, we embarked on our 4 hour trip up to Havre. When we arrived I got the grand ol' tour. We went all around and I saw all the places from when he was a child and all of his relatives' houses. So much fun. Do you realize how weird it is to see where someone grew up and their history. Then we ventured back to the house where his dad was there. It was time to sit down and chat it up. His dad is SO cute and I basically want to steal him away. Which I may steal, watch out Mama Grant. Ok. So. Saturday...when we finally woke up, we went out to Log's Grandpa's land and hopped on a 4wheeler and took off. We went all over and found some COWS! :) I saw Logan's most favorite point in Havre, where you can see everything. This all happened...while I got to hold on to his beefy self....amazing. Oh wait, and I drove too! Ok...then back to the house where his mother was awaiting us with a delicious spaghetti meal...it was fun to talk to his parents. We went out to his Aunt and Uncle's house the night before and I saw lots of dead African animals. No elephants for my friend Larissa though. :( She was probably happy about that. Sunday. We did church, ate, and drove back. 

All in all, an amazing weekend. Great to 'meet' the family and grow closer to them. As our relationship progresses in many different ways I get more and more excited about life. Here are some pictures from this weekend!!!

He is a MT boy. Fixed this here fence.

SHUT UP. I have never seen cows in the road, and I am FROM MT!

He's cute.

I am THE best photographer.

Cow Balls.

We are silly.

Gas it up.

It's not a bear, nor a moose, it is only a cat.

Tour Guide.

Taking a break, no I did not wear my hair up. Do not judge.

Jail-bate.

Windy.

All by myself, well...for this picture.

Beautiful!

 

If you ever loved somebody put your hands up...

This is mysterious man. Recent Picture. Eating dinner at CJ's.

This is me. Thinking I am smiling for my roomie, when really she and Log were scheming for him to come see me this weekend, can you guess I was ready to party when he arrived? <3

February 6^th, 2010. One amazing night.

This is how it all happened. My roommate, Julia and I were sitting in bed. We were watching Grey’s and being extremely lazy…we had long weeks…and this was our time to relax and bond. At about 6 our other roommate Chloe rolls in and tells us that there are lots of people up at Big Sky and that we should shower up and we should go party the night/morning away. Julia and I were really not digging this idea. We laid in bed and procrastinated. Finally, for some odd reason…we dragged our butts out of my most comfortable bed, showered, and decided we might head up. Chloe tells us she will drive…so we knew she really wanted to go. Here comes an intense night of partying. We start our hour long trek probably around 8 or so…first we had to stop at the gas station. For what you ask? Not gas…booze. Red beer…tall boys. Big ones…and a nice big cold pack of Bud Light. Here we come Big Sky. Along the way…we rocked to some amazing music. I remember ‘The Script – The Man Who Can’t Be Moved’ and many other great songs. I counted crosses up one of the most dangerous roads in all of MT. I counted over 54. Scariest time ever. Now, for some odd reason…my roommates are incapable of talking on the phone. I have no idea who we are meeting…so…I am extremely down to chatting with whomever to get directions to where we were going. I didn’t want to sit in the car all night long. Finally, after 2454525.3 million phone calls. 34345.3 U-Turns, and some dare devil moves and miles we rolled into one of the MOST expensive ski resorts in MT. Holy beautiful, I will tell you about that when you hear about my morning. <3

So, there we are. In front of an incredibly beautiful condo. Ready to walk inside and meet whoever it is we are to meet. Now, Chloe knows many of these people, Julia…knew a few, and I, well I had been introduced to maybe 2 before. I was lost. I was ready to party to survive this night. (Oh…Kels and Amber came up to meet us.) We immediately approached the table and began to play king’s cup. All us girls on one side, and some of the boys on the other.

This is where it happened. There was a boy. 6’1”ish...in a red/yellow hat. Delish as ever standing there. He started playing along with me trying to get my roommate to go over and stand by this boy she loved. I thought they were best friends, false, turns out…we have similar…personalities and were down to hook some of our friends up.

Now, let me tell you a little about this mysterious man. He doesn’t talk. He doesn’t approach, but he is probably the best ‘eye tag’ player in the ENTIRE world. Our game of ‘eye tag’ continued for a good hour or so…when finally they decided…we should go to the bar. Now. At this point…Julia and I were thinking lammmmest night ever, so we jumped right on the bar scene. We were off. We sprinted to the car followed by the mysterious boy…while the rest of the party walked to said destination.

This is where it gets confusing. We ordered drinks…for cheapycheap because the bartender loved us. Even though drinks in Big Sky are legitly 426436.3 dollars each. Vodka lems. Are you surprised? You shouldn’t be. We sat down at a table and my crazy roommate, Chloe and I decided it would be a brilliant decision to put LOTS of sugar in our 7/8 full vodka 1/8 lems. What a drink. You can’t waste alcohol. Well my friends deserted me and there I sat at this table…with this guy. We finally ‘introduced’ ourselves to each other. His name is Logan. We started talking about school and where we are from and our birthdays. We shared the same birthday, but he is a year older. <3 How cute! Anyway. The night went on and we ran around like drunks. Which was probably true…but I was more lovestruck. Logan asked for my number and I looked at his phone and said…’I don’t understand these.’ I am retarded. Woops. Also, at this said time Logan and Josh had this lady going that they were famous people’s children/nephews and that they had knocked up strippers at the local bar in Bozeman. Oh I went right along with that wonderful story, as well as my wonderful roomies. You can always count us. SHE is a healthy 7 months pregnant. It’s ok. J

Ok. So…after almost fighting this stupid girl with Chloe, comforting Julia, and closing down the bar…we were on our way back to the condo. Still with drinks in our hands. Logan took my cold little hand (it was snowing) and grasped it with his. So…freaking precious. What an amazing moment. We trekked back to the condo and decided to steal everyone’s food. We made fake eggs and a pizza. Logan and I texted. I told him to stop taking downsy pictures of me and that will forever be my fav text to him. He let me and my girlfriends sleep on the couch. FOUR of us. In this FREEZING ass cold condo with no blankets. He slept on the floor. At like 5 in the morning we hear him yelling jackpot…he found blankets…the girls and I peaced out early because we were nervous that they would kill us for eating the food or just crashing there. We walked back to the car on the most beautiful freezing morning you could ever imagine. I was in heels. Dying of coldness, and hungover as ever. Weirdly enough…I felt as happy as could be.

Now…it was SuperBowl Sunday. I wasn’t going to text Logan…because I thought he was drunk and we just talked for fun. He didn’t text me ALL day. I was so incredibly pissed. At about 4 o’clock he FINALLY texted me. I was the happiest girl alive and ready to go party for the SuperBowl. At this point I didn’t care about football, or beer, or food. I wanted to get to know him.

This is how the first 4/5 months of our relationship had to be. Barely saw him in person, and lots and lots of texting/phone conversations. I wouldn’t go back in time and change this. I believe this is why we are where we are today. It was a way to get to know each other without the seeing each other in person all the time. Plus it was a treat when we got to see each other. I was already coming back to Student Teach, so it fell into place…like a puzzle.

Poems.

Next week I start my poetry unit! I pretty much have a sweet 3 day lesson planned for it. We don't have school Thursday and Friday, so I needed a sweet filler. Anyway, one of the days they are writing poems about Halloween...and I wanted to share my example poem with you. I whipped this sucker out in like 10 minutes. More exciting poems by me to come. Note to self. These are for third graders. Watch your judging!

Halloween

Halloween is a scary day, 

It's when all the kids come out to play.

They dress up as animals, witches, ghosts, and goblins,

and sometimes the outfits make my knees go a wobblin'

They knock on doors and yell, 'Trick or Treat!'

All night long they walk on their feet. 

They carry big sacks to collect their candy,

all while feeling mighty fine and dandy.

At the end of the night,

off goes the light.

After treats have been eaten 

and feet have been beaten.

Waiting and wishing for another year,

to yell and scream and show some cheer.

Blog.

I need to figure out a wonderful blog title/name. I have reasons for each of these...all of which deal with my passion, my love, and my life. Here is my brainstorming.

• Change the World.
• Make a Change.
• To Be the Change.
• Teach the World.
• Compassion and Love.
• Compassion Meets Love.
• ???

Cake/Larissa

This is the cutest ever cake that my boyfriend's sister made. I can't figure out how to sent it to facebook to my friend, Larissa P. So. Here it is.  Ok, I could on your wall, but I can't be creepy and show her that I am stalking her? Probably the most adorable thing ever. I want I want to have fun with this. Praise the Lord for free time in 2 months!

A Great Day.

Today was good. I had my third observed lesson, which went AMAZING! I have 2 left after this...the next is scheduled for November 2nd. SOON! :-) It will be on my unit for the 13 Colonies. Which I am excited and nervous as EVER about. I also had my midterm eval today...and let me tell you it went amazing I got all 4's, which is as high as you can go, and my supervisor basically said...he loves observing me, because he likes to see me with the kids and is loving how I have become more comfortable with the class and my knowledge of everything. SWEET. Wait till he comes and has to see me teach the 13 colonies...holy NUTS.

I just had to tell you about my amazing successful day. Now it's time to go attempt some 13 Colonies work. Who knows.

Here is the lesson I did. VERBS. Introducing them. They are the funniest kids ever. They were cheating off of my Word a Day board, and apparently didn't know what really a VERB was. This was my pre-assessment activity!

Also, Please observe this music vid I found while working towards a great unit plan.
Oh how hilarious are middle school girls.
13 Colonies. Oh Wow.

<3

A Long and Wonderful Weekend.

What a wonderful weekend. It all started with a 2 hour trek towards Bozeman, MT. We arrived and quickly ate and got on our way to start the evening. I ventured over to my old roommates house...where I got to see some pretty amazing girls. Here are some of my favorite events.

• Buying cups for games. Hilarious. We went to Albertson's and I was literally throwing ones at the cashier. He was pretty fed up. They told us to have fun, and I said...we're planning on it. Plus...they said would you like a receipt? I said...yes after I finish this beer I am planning on returning it. Ahaha. I am rude. 
• The game was just crazy in general. <3 my Bobcats. WIN!
• Walking to the game. Paul finding his hair-tie and being the MOST excited.
• Getting 325235 piggy back rides all around.
• Bar-Hopping. Ok. Literally...can't keep track of me. Good thing I have a boyfriend/friends who run around as much as I do. It's great. Plus dancing? Oh yea...
• Eating egg drop soup. That was delish! So funny the cravings I get.
• Logan and I taking a power nap after drinking in the car...then he peed on the building and NO lie...he peed like 2 minutes. HORSE.
• The little kid that I almost kidnapped. He was so cute and my kid better look like him.
• Watching all of Logan's friends drop hundreds on booze and take 23532535 shots. What crazy kids.
• Julia fell off the bar stool, though I was MIA.
• My foot was bleeding uncontrollably.
• PIG HEAD.
• This guy at the crystal told me, 'Are you from back East? You look like you belong back there.'
• No big deal. I was dressed in this CUTE sweater dress and leggings and these black heels and a polka-dotted scarf with this adorable purple and black wallet. <3

All in all it was an amazing weekend.  I spent it away with my wonderful friends, my boyfriend, and his friends. Sometimes you need those weekends, even though I am now stressing uncontrollably about getting everything done.

Thank you friends for being so AMAZING.

The Pig Head. It was heated for 12 hours at 400 degrees. It had some nast teeth.

How gross? Log and I got a wonderful picture. Excuse my nastiness. I was up early drinking and was incredibly hungover.

Current Problem.

Food - is any substance or materials eaten or drunk to provide nutritional support for the body or for pleasure.

This may be my current dilemma. I have never woken up at 6 o'clock in the morning and been so hungry in my entire life as I am now. I wake up in the morning and I am literally instantly craving food. Any food that I can shove down my throat. I would probably eat flower petals need be. Kidding. Though, I think this is a good sign, in the morning I crave granola bars, coffee, tea, yogurt, fruit, and then the not so healthy things like wheat thins, brownies, etc. I pack my lunch EVERY DAY for school. I do not eat school lunches. They probably have so many preservatives in them, and they are, well, NOT ORGANIC. I love organic. Let me tell you. So, this causes another problem how in the world do I find enough food to pack number one in like 5 minutes. Number 2...what do I do if my lunchbox is full? Then...the question is...when I work at OG at night...what do I eat before work. Do I starve and faint like that one time in the middle of the bar? Or, do I take the extra time and space and pack myself a snack. Who knew that food could be so much trouble. Now. I go change at Log's house, but if I keep food at his house his roommates will eat it. So, fail fail situation. I am going to have to think of something creative to get  me through these last 7 weeks of student teaching. 

Secondly, let me tell you how productive I was tonight. I got home, I ate dinner (breakfast) with my family while watching my Yankees win, I proceeded to drink a delish vanilla rice milk latte while I wrote journals and complete my midterm evaluation on myself. I now need to work on my Teacher Work Sample or perhaps plan for the 13 Colonies, but WHO cares about the 13 Colonies right now. OVER-RATED. Even though my lesson plans and unit is due well in like 15 days basically. Oh well. I work best under pressure. 

Well, I must go work on this wonderful chart for my TWS...I also need to catch up on last week of Grey's and Private...who knows when I will do that! Leaving this weekend. <3

Hello life. I am an adult now.

<3  

Months of Sleep.

I am going to sleep for 45235 months straight when my student teaching is over.

Every morning at 5:45/6:00/6:15 my alarm SCREAMS at me to 'WAKE UP, YOU HAVE TO GO TEACH THE WORLD.' I reluctantly roll out of bed into the shower and am still half asleep when I am driving through the wild height's traffic to school. I am usually eating fruit, granola bars, drinking coffee...tea...you know. Waking up.

Then, something amazing happens. The bell rings, which signals that school is about to start and I get a complete and total RUSH. I am excited to teach. I am excited to start the day. I am excited to hear the hilarious stories that they come up with. Or just about their lives in general. <3

Today was a pretty awesome day. I got to video tape myself and have yet to watch it, but I think the lesson went great!

Work tonight was HORRID.  H-O-DOUBLE R-I-D. It was one extremely rough evening. I wasn't phased for-freaking-ever. I had no tables. I served, my not so fav people. Plus, I was literally drained. I am drained now at 11:30...I was going to do HW, but I don't have it in me. I don't have it in me to work on my Teacher Work Sample or plan my unit on the 13 Colonies and I am depressed, because I NEED to be doing that, because I am teaching that unit soon. Tomorrow is a new day, and I am going to go sleep, so I can work on things tomorrow. Pray for energy.

<3

First Real Solo Day.

The new and improved. Today, during all my spare time, which I did not have. I re-did this entire pumpkin, because I hated my one from before. Oh to be a perfectionist.

I was all alone today.
It went AMAZING.
The third graders were perfect for me. They got their work done, they were really funny, and I didn't have to give them the silent treatment until the end of the day!
I have officially decided there is not enough time in the day. I wish days could be 43645.3 hours. I could then get EVERYTHING done that I needed, I could take a few naps, eat a few extra meals, and probably get more done then I need! How great would that be? I corrected papers and checked spelling for them on their sweet stories. They turned out amazing. I will take a picture of the bulletin board when I get that all up and running. Excited.
I need to go and attempt to do a beefy amount of homework. I have online classes, papers to grade, lessons to plan, and much much more. Oh the life. 8 hour days? Heck no.

Looking forward to a break in Bozeman this weekend. <3

Week 7

I am entering into my 7th week of Student Teaching. Holy COW. It seriously has flown by. That means, that at the end of this week, I am half done. In 7 more weeks I am able to get a teaching job. A real job. Something that I want to spend the rest of my life doing. Today, Logan and I spent a good 1.5 hours sponge painting paper plates for tomorrow. The students have already written stories, but just need to transfer them to paper plates...also, I tried to make one...and I used like a marker marker...and I think they need to use sharpies, because marker was impossible and it bled all over. So...don't judge my picture, but look how cute. I also had to clue 40 pumpkin seeds in the middle of all these plates. They were suppose to write about a seed that is magic and turns into something. My story was about the seed...which was found and when planted it turned into a dog which was named Diesel. Minus I accidentally spelled it Diesl on the plate. Woops. If I ever had a dog, that is what I would name it. Incorporating real life into my stories. Wooohooo. Also, we are going to put green ribbon on and make a sweet bulletin board, so the green ribbon will be vines and we'll connect the pumpkins like they are in a patch!

 Excuse my horrible handwriting...my marker bled. Also, my pitiful quality photo. This is my Blackberry.

Third graders better enjoy. The stories they wrote are HILARIOUS.

Student teaching is fun, but I am excited to have my OWN classroom. Where the kids are mine, and I can teach them how I want, and we can do projects that I invent. 

Club Can't Even Handle Me Right Now...

 

This is me and my AMAZING friends up at Big Sky. You can't see Julia. She's hiding.

 We sure know how to party. Especially Gowster. Look @ her grabbing that special region.

 What a night. These are my fav people, and our shadows, can you see our beer? <3

The Club Can't Even Handle Me Right Now...even when eating full cloves of garlic and drinking pickle juice. <3

I was looking through pictures, and I picked out these to share with you. The first two are from probably the most amazing night of my life. Which I will tell you about in a later post. <3 The third is my crazy girl friends in the wonderful town of Bozeman, and the final...is a wonderful night spent with my favorite people. Thankful for REAL TRUE FRIENDS.

Anyway, today was pretty amazing. I woke up all by myself. Which is shocking. I was early to school, which really started off my day great. The kids were amazing and hilarious as ever. Tomorrow I am 'subbing', aka, I am all by myself. Let me tell you. It will be a great day. I got home...ate an amazing dinner of this delish flank steak w/ a parsley sauce...potatoes, veggie salad, and a wonderful glass of red wine. I now...am going to start some lesson planning and paper writing. 

<3Erin<3 

The Bestest of Friends.

I have this wonderful friend. Her name is Julia Noel. First, I want to tell you a little about how we met. It was a dreary day, and here I waltz my butt into the most annoying class ever, 'GEOGRAPHY'. (I say 'dreary day' because I believe it was probably snowing.) Ok, now back to class...not just annoying, but incredibly boring. The professor was a jackass or foreign or something and I had no idea the first thing about 'GEOGRAPHY'. I sit down and all of a sudden this girl and I start talking next to me. I was in her seat. Ahahaha. We are both Elementary Education majors. I am a year ahead, but still...click click boom. There it happened. We started hanging out, doing homework together, venting about life, and we became...the bestest of friends. The year went on and we ended up becoming roommates. We had some of the most incredible times together. We'd go out, we'd have fun, we'd laugh, we'd cry, we'd eat, we'd run, we'd hike, we'd watch movies, and our most favorite thing to do was reminisce about the old times. Here are a few of my favvvvorite stories.

1.) The picture above. That was her 21st birthday. We started drinking before I had to go back to class, I went back to class slightly intoxicated, and then we continued it after. We went to dinner...all I can say is...she took probably over 30 shots through the day. She is a champ. I threw up. Surprise. We had the bartender cut out the plastic on our wallets, and I was found lying under barstools at one of the busiest bars in town, not that night! I left her the bestest voicemail ever. <3 I still listen to it to this day.

2.) Walking home at 3AM. Worst decision ever. We didn't want to sleep on a couch. Even though we knew the guys. So. We walked. 5.1 FREAKING miles all the way to our house. We got home when the sun came up. Can you say ridiculous? RIDICULOUS. Most fun I have EVER had on a walk. I peed anywhere and everywhere and froze my little butt off, while she had a sweatshirt on.

3.) Hiking with our neighbor/friends dog while drinking wine. IN THE SNOW.

4.) Old Chicago night. All I am going to say.

5.) Football games.<3 <3 <3 See you soon lover!

These stories can't go on...because this blog post would become 346346436.3 miles long. I will just tell you that you are missing out on one amazing girl.

Julia is the type of person who isn't going to talk shit behind your back. Ok, well maybe she will say it to your face, but never behind your back. :) If she is mad...you'll know. She is someone who is always willing to talk and always has a hilarious story to put a smile on your face. I look back on when I lived in Bozeman and I regret moving back here. I so wish I was there sharing moments with her and all of my other friends...they were friends who actually cared, friends who if you needed them most were there. They weren't the two faced people, who I feel like I deal with on a consistent basis now. 

I miss her and love her and I AM SO excited to see her in 2 weeks.

Regrets.

REGRET: To feel sorry, disappointed, or distressed about.

I have so many regrets in life. They deal with relationships, friendships, school, and just plain ol' life in general. I love the fact that I got out of town for college. I hate the fact that I came back for just one year. Worst decision of my life. Currently, I am having this breakdown of being here yet again. I love the friends and people that I have here. It is awesome to be here for my brother's last year of school, to be with my friends (even though I don't get to see them all that often), my family, and my boyfriend. On the other hand, let me tell you...Bozeman, MT was THE BEST PLACE FOR ME. If I could change everything, I would move back in a heartbeat, and maybe take the people I love with me. I would stay there and learn patience with roommates. I would stay there and live the college life. Everyone says, don't come back to where you grew up, you'll regret it.

I am looking at this as a chapter. The chapter in my life, where I have to come back to get where I need to be. I have to finish my student teaching, and then I am free to do what I want. If I need to move back to Bozeman, I can. If I want to stay here, I can.

The people who I had in Bozeman are still there. They will remember me as that fun, bouncy, crazy girl...who was always ready to party, and yet was able to be completely and totally engulfed in school...ready to start that 'to change the world' career.

I am in week 5 of student teaching. 9 left. :)

Student Teaching.

Student teaching has been absolutely wild, and most def the most exciting experience of my life thus far. Today was my first observed lesson. I had a little mishap. We were working on written form of large numbers. One little girl tells me how to start 614,323...so here I go along writing what she says six hundred thousand...on the board, with my adviser in the room...that is wrong, it took me a second to catch it and then I was like, 'Hold on...3rd Graders, what is wrong here?' Ok. I know my face went red, I was mortified that I messed up my entire lesson. He told me you can't always trust what the kids say and I bounced back amazing. Pretty excited! :-) I would love my own classroom NOW.

Tonight, I was looking at pictures from when I was younger and my next current goal is to go through all of the albums in my house and look at all of the pictures. Some are hilarious and it will be good to remember all those great times as a child.

Early morning, yet again.

Gooooodnight.

Accept.

I have come to the complete and total realization that I need to be more accepting. I am incredibly peeved by certain people and I just can't stand them. I am suppose to do this: "Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God." Romans 15: 7. Sometimes, it is so hard for me. People get on my nerves and I just want to yell and freak out. Now. I also have this issue with someone in my life. I am sure they have been through a lot and have a 'story', though I can't stand two faced people. I just KNOW that to my face...they are lovey...dovey...and so kind, the minute they turn around, a total different person. Also, they are super controlling and think they are the best at everything...in turn...let me just tell you, without being totally full of myself...I have a lot more going in my life.

Enough...for now!

Sickness.

Firstly, Let me tell you a little about this year. I have had an unexplainable amount of illnesses and problems. Currently, my goal is to get better quick before the wedding. I thought I was suppose to have NO problems after I got my tonsils out? False. Praying for a quick recovery. I called in sick today, so I am going to try and get better quick snap! Hello orange juice and hopefully chicken noodle soup later. Oh, and don't forget the abundant amount of vitamins!

Secondly, Larissa and Evan's wedding is this Saturday, it makes me incredibly happy. It is amazing to see two of my closest friends, so happy...together. They are ready to start their lives together as one, which is so precious. This is anyone's dream, and the fact that they found each other and are ready to start everything, is awesome.

I now must go work on Logan's gift for when I leave. After I finish the Bachelorette. I have lots to do...good thing I called into work!