Destin Towse

One of my former students, Destin, was in a serious car accident tonight. At this point all I know is that there is swelling around the brain, his lungs are bruised and he is on an oxygen machine for his breathing. He has not woken up at this point. I would appreciate it if any of you would be willing to say a prayer for him and his family. His mom is currently in Kansas City because her father is dying. I am sure this family would appreciate any prayers. Destin is a great kid. He also ran track for me. Thanks.

I got an update at 11:30pm. Destin is in a drug induced coma at this point. They said the next 48 hrs. is crucial.

Topless Women

I had a student ask me the following on Wednesday. "Ms. Leonard, how come in if a man has his shirt off in a movie the movie can still be rated PG. If a woman has her shirt off the movie is rated R." The following conversation than took place.

Me: "Well, probably because in our culture it is not proper for women to have their shirts off. Do you ever see men with their shirts off in the summer?"

Student: "If it is hot"

Me: "It is okay in our culture for men to do that. In other cultures it is okay for women to have their shirts off."

Student: "What about nude beaches? I think women should be able to go around with their shirts off"

Me: "There are some of those in America. So, what you are saying is that you would like me to go around without a shirt on?"

Student: silence

Me: "Or your mom?"

Student: silence

Me: "I ruined this for you, huh?"

At this point his friends started laughing at him and the conversation was over. This is not the first time he has asked me some weird questions. Last year he asked me what date-rape was and what a hysterectomy was. Oh, the adolescent male mind!

A Kansas Thanksgiving

This year I spent Thanksgiving with my sister, Heidi, and her family in Garden City. I had a great time playing with my nephews. One night, Adam put both his feet in one of his Dad's shoes and then tried hopping around. It was pretty funny.

We also had to be aware of the 3 year old Ninja Turtle that was ready to attack at any moment! By the way he is also wearing his Dad's shoes.

Well, I have never gotten up at 4 am to go shopping on Black Friday but this year I decided to go with Heidi. We woke up at 4 to about 1 inch of snow. After a cup of hot chocolate we headed to Walmart. I also became a Black Friday criminal. Heidi wanted to get some hoodies for the boys and we were not allowed to take them from the crate till 5 am. I took them at 4:50 and snuck away. I know, I know... I am becoming a harden criminal. So, what did I end up buying this early in the morning...a travel tube of toothpaste. The clerk was surprised I would get up that early for toothpaste but I know my dad would be proud. We also went to Sears and Penny's. I ended up with a new pair of flannel Christmas sheets, a sweater, and a mock turtle neck. Not much, but I had a good time with Heidi.

Later on that day, the boys and I went outside to play. I built a snowman and then after the picture the boys destroyed it. We had fun jumping on the snow covered trampoline and having a snowball fight.

I was jumping with Matt on Wednesday and I thought his hair looked so funny that I took a picture.

This is my hat for jogging. Matt took it off my head and put it on. I kind of think he looks like a punk band member. Watch out Linkin Park.

The Ninja teacher strikes again

I have one student that calls me "Ninja". Why you may ask. Well, I have the ability to be invisible and sneak up on the most unsuspecting student right as they are about to use profanity, hurt another student, or do something they will probably regret later. The usual response when they realize I am right there is "I didn't see you. You blend in." Which of course is exactly what a ninja is suppose to do. Well, tonight my cloak and dagger abilities helped me to accomplish yet another mission.

Every day after school one of my track kids and I lift weights and then go run. While were on the track I noticed a young man and a young lady together. As they neared the young man's car, the young man sat down in the drivers seat. The young lady then sat on his lap. When Sean and I were heading back to the school, this young couple in love decided it would be more comfortable to cuddle in the back seat of his car. And seriously, that is all they were doing. Well, being the responsible teacher that I am, I thought it would be extremely funny to sneak up and scare them. So, in my ninja like fashion, I snuck up and banged on the window. To my delight I scared the crap out of both. Mission accomplished.

Actually, this is the second time I have done this to a couple enjoying each others company in a car. But the first time it was one of my roommates and they were doing more than cuddling. Good thing the chastity police, aka me and another roommate, showed up.

A boring life

Yes, my life is pretty mundane and boring and that is why I am posting once again my bench press max: 105 lbs today.

PI Trip

On November 6, I flew down to Arizona to go on a field trip with my old school, Oakwood. Since we weren't leaving for the trip till 10:30 pm, I flew in early and spent the day with my friend, Marge Hunter. Marge asked me to go with her car shopping. That is the second time I have been shopping for a car and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Marge is in her seventies and her kids are helping her buy the new car. The salesman offered her the lowest price so far but she would have to put a down payment right then without talking to her kids. I asked him if someone was spending his money on something wouldn't he want them to discuss it with him first. He said he could give her this deal now because they were not busy but next time she comes in they might be busy. I have yet to see the logic in the comment. Anyway, she did not put buy the car, but she did find that they were willing to give her the car for $2000 less than others. Now she can take her son in and get an even better price. It was interesting to see how desperate they were to sell her a car.

Marge and I also went to have dinner with our friend, Jane Placencia. All three of us worked together at Oakwood. I had a great time visiting with them and seeing some other former co-workers. I also got to see a handful of former students. I love to here what they are doing and were they are headed.

Now, you maybe asking why I would be going on a field trip with my old school. Well, my friend, Linda Cooper, runs the gifted program at Oakwood. I had been on four previous field trips with her and she asked if I would like to go again. Hmm, free trip to California and I get to miss two days of school. Count me in.

So, at 10:30 pm we loaded up 43 7th/8th graders and 8 adults and drove all night to California. Our first stop was Santa Cruz Island, one of the eight Channel Islands. Santa Cruz is off the coast of Ventura, CA. We took a one hour boat ride and during our trip to the island we saw a BLUE WHALE. It was amazing. We first saw its spray and then we could see part of its body come out of the water. The Blue Whale is the largest mammal on the earth. It was not a full size one, but is was large. If you look closely to the picture you can see the mist from the spray.

Blue Whale: Look for the mist

Santa Cruz Island

My friend, Linda Cooper and me

Once we got to Santa Cruz we went on a three mile hike. Parts of Santa Cruz are owned by the Park Services. It is so beautiful and peaceful out there. You can actually camp there and kayak. After hiking, we headed back to Cali on the boat. One our return drip we saw dolphins. They would swim with the boat. This is probably my best picture of them. My camera is just not quick enough to get a good picture. The kids loved it though.

The next day we went to Cabrillo Aquarium and Long Beach Aquarium. I am not sure why but that last two groups of kids I have had at Long Beach Aquarium have participated in a parade meant for little kids. The funny thing this time was that the parade had eneded and the girls were oblivious to it; they just kept marching.


After Long Beach we headed home to Arizona and I flew home on Sunday. I had a great time being with my old school, I always feel at home when I am there. My principal told me that they "retired my classroom" since it is empty this year. I feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to work at Oakwood.

100 lbs.

Not to toot my own horn, but I benched 100 lbs. today! That is my max.

Highland's Soccer Club

On Oct. 26 we took 13 of our soccer club kids to a Colorado Rapids game. The Rapids were playing the SLC Real for a spot in the playoffs. I felt like I was driving the Bad News Bears in our school short bus. The kids had a really good time.

Beaver Meadow

Last weekend Owen and I went mountain biking. We tried a new place called Beaver Meadow that has a whole bunch of trails. As were going up one trail I asked Owen, between breaths, if he would considered the trail difficult. He said yes and we kept climbing upward. Within in 5 minutes of my question we saw a sign colored in BLACK that said DIFFICULT. So, despite the intense workout we had a good time. Once we got back to the car we went looking for jumps. Here are a few pictures we took at our attempts to get some air.

Catching a little air....

And catching A LOT of dirt

My best jump

Air Owen

Visit with Aunt Holly

Last weekend my sister, Heidi, and her family came to visit me and go to the Denver Temple. One of the first things my nephew, Adam, said when he walked into my apartment was, "It's cold in here." It's the Leonard in me. My dad used to tell us to do push-ups when we complained how cold the house was. Now, I too keep my apartment cold to save money!

The boys found my fleece jackets to be quite cozy

Dog Pile

A man after my own heart!

We had a great time. While Heidi and Robert went to the Temple I took the boys to McDonald's. The only problem was the play place was outside and the boys got cold quickly. So, we went over to Brunswick Zones. It is a bowling alley, laser tag, and arcade place. The boys and I won 288 tickets play the Price is Right Wheel. Of course the tickets went towards toys that broke the minute you played with them and candy.

After picking up Heidi and Bob we headed back to Greeley and had dinner with our parents. I had a lot of fun with the boys and Heidi and Robert were okay too.

Spotlight

Each month in our Relief Society's news letter there is a spotlight. This month it was my turn. Since we get to write them ourselves...I embellished a little with the help of Derek.

Click on the newsletter to my spotlight.

5k for Amanda

There is a teenager, Amanda, at one of the local high schools that has an inoperable brain tumor. Last spring her family had a bowling fundraiser. At the time the doctors gave her two weeks to live. On September 27, I ran in a 5k fundraiser for her. Amanda was there to cheer us on. She currently is in physical therapy to learn to walk again. It is a miracle that she is still alive since she had two weeks to live in the spring. There were three others from my school that ran in the race. We took these shots for the yearbook. The other teacher is Mel, who I use to coach volleyball with.

Yoga and Two Dancing Boys

Some teachers at my school started a Yoga Club. I decide that I would go because I have flexibility issues. I cannot touch my toes whether I am standing or sitting. And it is not because of a beer belly; it is the Leonard Curse. None of us are flexible. Anyway, I usually spend an hour after school in the weight room and on the track with two of my track runners. I told the boys that I was going to go to the Yoga class and I thought they should join me to help with their own flexibility. When I got to the designated Yoga classroom Sean says, "You didn't tell us we would be the only guys." I told them they were lucky because it was just them and twelve cheerleaders!

Can I just say that I hate Yoga? I don't know how to ease up on my groin, relax my kidneys, or reach up through my toes to my spine to the top of my head. I actually felt like I was at a Lunge Fest, since we lunge and then did some Dog move and lunged again. Anyway, after enduring thirty minutes, I gathered up my silly boys that spend most of the time laughing and tickling a cheerleader's feet and headed for the weight room.

While in the weight room, I saw something I never thought I would see. One of the songs we listened to was "You make me want to shout, raise my hands up and shout. Heeeeey, Heeeey..." Hopefully you figured out which song it is. During the chorus of the song I turned around and there are Zach and Sean dancing and singing the different parts. It was pretty funny.

And then as a bonus I got to prepare a Power Point on the Male Reproductive System that I get to teach to sophomores...lucky me! Could life get any better?

Highland High School's First Soccer Club

Our school does not have a boys' or girls' soccer team. My friend, Bob, and I thought it would be cool to start a soccer club. So, every Friday after school, we are holding pick-up games for any students that want to play. Today was our very first day. We had about about eighteen students and three teachers come out. We had planned on just playing for an hour but we ended up playing from 3:45 to 6:00. It was awesome. It was cool to see kids that don't normally get involved come out and play. Everyone had good sportsmanship and we just had a great time. One kid told me this was the first time he had ever played soccer. This is the side of teaching that I love.

Highland Homecoming...GO HUSKIES

This week was homecoming at Highland High School! Since I am one of the Junior Class sponsors I kept plenty busy this week. At my school each class competes throughout the week for the Spirit Stick! Normally, the seniors win, but I felt the winds of change this year (perhaps in the White House too).

So, on Monday there was the Window Painting and Hall Decorating. I was in charge of window painting. Each class is given a window to decorate in downtown Ault. The theme for Homecoming was "Disney Daze". If you're thinking lame so was I. Juniors were given Aladdin as their theme. So, here is our window. The football team we played was Battle Mountain DAWGS which is very close to Highland HUSKIES, but we made the most of it. We got second place on the window and first on the Hallway.

In case you can't tell, the Genie and a Huskie have a DAWG chained to the magic carpet.

Tuesday, we had Hot Stuff volleyball. This is where each grade level has a boys' volleyball team and the school Volleyball players coach them. This year we had a teacher team and .... we WON. We beat the seniors, but of course they accused us of cheating. After Hot Stuff there were a C-team, JV, and Varsity Volleyball games. So, it was a late night.

Wednesday every one took a breather!

Thursday was the most exhausting day. Now, I am not a big fan of floats. I actually have bad memories of floats from high school. My therapist and I are still getting to the root of the problem. I will let you know when I am cured. I was not assigned to float building duty, but the teacher that was in charge had a death in the family so I took over.

At Highland, we are let out of school at 11:30 and each class has till 4 pm to get their float done. So, they are not very fancy. It is amazing: it took us 4 hours to built it and 5 minutes to take it down! We had Aladdin and Jasmine riding the magic carpet through town. We used desks from my classroom as booths in the market. We had fresh fruit, spices, cloth, jewels, and fortune teller booths.

Owen, do you recognize her turban, it is the one I bought in Israel. Her head was too big for the band so we duct taped it to her head.

One of the girls drew this palace and we all pitched in and painted it. I think she did a great job.

For spices we got sand and sprayed it with Halloween hair dye. This was my idea and I thought it was a good one.

At 4:30 we rode in the 25 minute parade and then dismantled our floats. It was a lot of work, but it paid off because we got second place. After the parade there was Powder Puff football. It was the Seniors and Sophomores vs. Juniors and Freshmen. Since I am a Junior Class sponsor and predominately a Freshmen teacher, I cheered for the second team and they won 14-8.

After powder puff there was a bonfire, but by that time I had had enough and decided to go home. I knew if I stayed I would be doing crowd control and I didn't want to.

Friday night was the football game which we won 17-13. This was a big deal because we are 1A and we beat a 3A team. I missed the game though because I had to work in the concession stand, but I had a good time doing that.

And the big news of the night....JUNIORS WON THE SPIRIT STICK! JUNIORS WON THE SPIRIT STICK. DOWN WITH THE SENIORS!

Can you turn on the lights so I can count my mosquito bites?

This year has started off to a pretty good starts. I am enjoying just teaching sophomores and freshmen. They keep me laughing by the things they say. For example, the other day I had the lights off in the classroom because I was using a Power Point. During the presentation I had the kids work on something, but I kept the lights off since the light switch is in the hallway and you have to use a special key to turn it on and off. One young man came up to me and asked if I could turn the lights on so that he could count his mosquito bites. Pretty random, but that's freshmen for you.

My New Apartment

I recently moved into an apartment in Greeley, CO. I am now about 15 miles south of my school and an hour south of Cheyenne. The commute is definitely a lot better, but I miss Susan's cooking.

My very first walk in closet.

Here is my desk and computer. My family all chipped in to by the parts for this computer and then Owen assembled it for me. Owen also got me the printer.

I actually have been pretty good at making my bed. I think this week I am 6 for 7!

My living room. My friend, Stacie, gave me her old couch and chair. I bought a coffee table, two end tables, and an entertainment center. It is cozy. I have enjoyed unpacking and displaying all my souvenirs from other countries. I call my living room the Museum. Although most of my artifacts are from Germany. I still have a few more things to hang before I open the museum to the public.

I know this shot didn't turn out well, but this gives you the perspective of my living room from the front door. The door in the far right hand corner goes out to a balcony. I have a little storage room off the balcony.

Here is my kitchen, well part of it. I have a little pantry next to the fridge.

Well, if you are ever in Greeley, CO you always have a place to stay.

Snowbird

The foolish man built his house in the ground...

On the way home from work yesterday it was raining so hard that I had to pull off the road a 1.5 miles from home; I just could not see. For those who don't know, I live in my parents basement! Anyway, I came home from work and went down to my room and noticed that water was pouring in from the window well! I called to my butler, a.k.a my dad, and we discovered that rain was coming in the TV room from another window well too. Well, so much for a nice dinner, panic erupted. My dad and I went outside and covered the window wells with plastic, while my grandma and Susan tried to use plastic to divert the water into a bucket instead of the carpet. Finally, the rain stopped and left us with the mess of soaking up the water from the carpet. Thankfully, my dad was able to borrow a wet vac from someone in our ward. Before we got the wet vac we were using towels, which is a very slow process. So, we moved furniture and went over the carpet with the wet vac for about 3 hours and set up fans to try and dry the carpet. We were not the only ones that were affected by the storm. There were several families in the ward that had flooding basements. I must say I am very impressed with how quickly families were called and help was provided by other ward members. At one point I was dumping water off the front patio, when all of a sudden a speeding minivan came to a screeching halt in front of our house. Out jumped a ward member to make sure we were doing okay. I thought my siblings would want to see the pictures since they know what the basement looked like before "the rains came a tumbling down."

My bed use to be underneath the window!

We moved the dresser into the hallway

The Wet Vac "Manna from Heaven"

The TV room

Throughout today, I was constantly reminded of all the blessings that we received during this crisis. For example, I usually kept my books on the window sill, but I had put them in a box a few days before. They would of been ruined. Or, we could of discovered the water much later and had more damage. I am thankful for the Lord's tender mercies.

I told the parents if they were thinking of rearranging furniture, now would be the time :)

Professional Boogie Boarder

Here is a picture of me boogie boarding. It is soooo much fun. It is a neat feeling to have a wave carry you. There are few things that I could do all the time, but boogie boarding is one of them. Well, if the Pacific were warmer!

Huntington Beach

I recently went to Huntington Beach with three of my friends. While we were there, we got to watch (for free) the U.S. Open for Surfing. I had fun taking pictures with my tiny camera right next to professional cameramen with their lens that were almost longer than me! My friends and I had a good time boogie boarding, walking on the beach, eating fried zucchini at Ruby's and watching "Batman: Dark Knight".

L to R: Me, Bre, Nikki, and Sandra

The waves were really big and close to shore. This picture is of me heading back into the dangerous water. I actually did get caught up by a wave and slammed down on my head.

Me and my board

Unfortunately my zoom is not very good, but you can kind of see the surfer if you look really hard. Ruby's is in the background. Great Restaurant.

This is a really cool picture, you just have to click on it to see it!