Since I've been gone...

I got back from San Diego and jumped right into tennis tryouts (I'm the tennis coach at Westlake High), and haven't had a lot of extra time since then. That's my lame attempt at an excuse for my absence from the blogosphere. Here is a rundown of the happenings of the last few weeks.

*I turned 26. I had a fantastic birthday. I pooled the money that I got as gifts and added some of my own to buy a new camera. I'm loving it. Also, my tennis girls made me a cake! It was so cute.

*Our tennis team is rocking this year. Last year not one girl on varsity won a match the whole year. This year our top two are both 3-1, and we actually won a match as a team! We beat Provo 3-2 (three singles victories, two doubles losses). We were so excited that we got some frozen yogurt after the match. Also, our tennis girls won the dance-off between all of the fall sports teams in the pep assembly on Friday. They're so awesome. I'm LOVING coaching. I'm not sure if it's kosher for me to post photos of the girls on my blog, so here is a picture of me doing what I like best, volleying. Go ahead and critique my form.

*Last weekend, I drove down with Mark, Tasha and their girls to St. George/Las Vegas for Kristi Robertson's wedding. That deserves its own blog post because there are so many fantastic photos.

*School started and I'm so excited for my new classes. I'm teaching Government and Citizenship, Geography and Honors Geography. That's almost my dream schedule (my REAL dream schedule would include teaching economics). I like my students already.

Life is good.

Coast to Coast: San Diego

A few days after my arrival from New York, I took off for a vacation to San Diego with the Robertson Clan. Everyone was there but Matt and Jessica (who we missed very much). It was a blast. Here are the highlights of my West Coast adventure:

*Being with my family. It was a weekend filled with great conversation and a lot of laughter. For those of you who don't know my parents and siblings, you are missing out. They are some of the best people in the world.

*Laughing at the funny things my nieces and nephews say. I don't think it's just my familial bias when I say that these kids are some of the cutest around.

*Going boogie boarding. We spent a lot of time in the ocean since we were in a house right next to the beach. I either hadn't gone boogie boarding before, or it has been a lot of years, because I never knew how much I loved it. There is something so thrilling about the feeling of being pushed to the shore by a great wave.

*Sea World and the San Diego Zoo. It was my first time at Sea World, and it was pretty awesome. They had some great shows (albeit a little cheesy at times). The zoo was also fun, and HUGE. Just taking a bus ride around the whole zoo tired us out.

We had so much fun being together. I now have siblings that live in Texas, Arizona, California, Utah and Argentina (well, in a few weeks), so it's fun to have everyone together. I can't wait for the next Robertson reunion!

Coast to Coast: New York

I have been doing a little traveling lately, thus my absence from the blogosphere. I just returned from a weeklong trip to San Diego, and the weekend before that I was in New York City. I have been enjoying myself a little too much, I think. Here are the highlights of my New York trip:

*Seeing my brother and sister-in-law, who are there for her internship with L'Oreal. Those two are some of my favorites and I loved spending so much time with them. Here they are modeling on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

*Going to a Yankees game. I really don't like baseball, and if I did, I wouldn't cheer for the Yankees. However, I do enjoy going to Major League Baseball games for the atmosphere. Since it was the first game after George Steinbrenner's death, it was a special game for the Yankees, so I couldn't help but cheer for them. And as boring as I think baseball can be, the game was actually quite exciting, being decided in the bottom of the 9th. Plus, I ate a hot dog loaded with goodness.

*Listening to Spaniards speak Spanish. I am in love with the Spanish accent. I don't get to hear it very much around Utah, but there were a ton of Spanish people (mostly tourists) in New York. I talked to one kid who was actually from one of the cities that I lived in. It made me happy.

*Eating fantastic food. It was Restaurant Week in New York, which meant that we could eat at fancy restaurants for low prices. We ate filet mignon here. We also ate at Max Brenner, a restaurant dedicated to the love of chocolate. It was pure happiness. There was also some great New York pizza and street vendor hot dogs.

*Having lunch with Miss Jill. Just read her blog and you'll know why I enjoyed my conversation with her. It was delightful.

*Visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I think I could have spent the whole weekend there. By the end of the few hours that we were there, our feet were about to fall off (and we only saw a part of the museum). I'm learning to be an art lover (this book has helped me), so it was fun to see some of the works of art I'm learning about, plus others I wouldn't have ever known.

Matt and Jess were fabulous hosts, and I very much loved my trip to New York.

El Mundial

I will totally admit to being a bandwagon soccer fan. I don't really follow Real Salt Lake, Real Madrid, or any other team. I thought soccer was boring. I couldn't possibly get into a sport that had the possibility of ending in a tie (or worse, a 0-0 tie). I started watching the group play, especially when one of my teams was playing. The first game I watched in its entirety was the U.S.-England match. I was a little befuddled because I was supposed to be excited about a 1-1 tie (you know, since the U.S. was the underdog). Then I watched Spain (seemingly) dominate Switzerland and lose 0-1. I couldn't figure out how people could get into a sport where a team could possess the ball about 75% of the time and take so many more shots on goal and still lose. But then, things changed, especially thanks to this fellow:

Meet David Villa, a native of Asturias, an area of Spain with which I am completely enamored. He has scored all but a couple of Spain's goals in the tournament. As Spain has advanced, I have watched every game with interest and delight. I don't know much about soccer, but I am completely amazed at Spain's ball control, passing and patience. I'm not one for flashiness (I grew up watching John Stockton and Karl Malone play for the Jazz, for heaven's sake), which is why I'm loving Spain's brand of futbol. You can bet I'll be watching the final with great excitement.

¡Viva España!

P.S. Here's a history lesson: Did you know that Spain once owned the Netherlands? Well, it's going to happen again this Sunday. Boo yeah.

God Bless America

O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
--Francis Scott Key, "The Star Spangled Banner"


We sang that in church today. I love the Fourth of July because it reminds me of how grateful I am for the blessing of liberty.

Cool

If you treat an individual as he is, he will stay as he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he could be and ought to be, he will become what he ought to be.  

-Goethe

 I wrote this quote in the margin of my Book of Mormon (next to 1 Nephi 16:23, if you want to see the connection) when I was on my mission. It really changed my perspective on the people that I met and interacted with as a missionary, and has remained an important principle to apply in my life.

I had a fantastic conversation this evening with my brother, sister-in-law and dad. We talked about how everybody has gifts and talents (or as Jenny put it, "we're all cool"). It is so important for us to help other people recognize their own talents so that they can magnify them. I really want to be someone who helps people fulfill their potential. Our conversation ended with Jenny making us raise our fists in the air and repeat, "We are cool." I like Jenny. She's so cool.

There are so many people in my life that have helped me live up to my potential. When I thought that I was a bad writer because I struggled to meet page requirements, my AP English teacher told me that I had a gift for being concise (maybe not so much anymore). When I felt inadequate as a missionary, my dear mission president, knowing full well of the my weaknesses, put his arm around me and told me that he thought I was a great missionary. My parents have shown their confidence in me by giving me space to make my own decisions. I am blessed to have so many people in my life who have given me confidence.

Who are the people in your lives that help you see your potential? How do they do it?

Florida, so far

I am currently visiting my dear friends Jessica and Rich in the Sunshine State. Ironically, there hasn't been too much sunshine yet, so we haven't made it to the beach. I have, however, experienced some great thunderstorms.

Jess got everything ready for me to come stay at their house, including mints on a pillow, a sign on my door (that included photos of Lincoln and Reagan), and this lovely thing:

I laughed so hard when I saw it. When I came down to Florida for Spring Break, Jess and I stayed at a hotel in Orlando one night. I mentioned to her how I thought that it was funny how hotels claim to care so much about the environment by telling you not to have them wash your towels. I think that it's a just a way to cut costs without appearing cheap. What a funny girl. I'm so lucky to have such fantastic friends.

Book ADD

I have had more than one student accuse me of having ADD. I probably do and it's probably genetic. (I won't mention which parent of mine was once supposed to pick me up at the junior high, but ended up at the library before s/he realized what s/he was doing.) One of the ways this ADD is manifest is in my book reading. I will be totally consumed with a book, get distracted for a few days, and forget about it. They are usually books that I enjoy, sometimes a great deal, I just get distracted with different books, and the cycle begins anew.

Today I made a list of books that I have started, and have yet to finish. My summer goal is to finish all of these (and more):

Team of Rivals- Doris Kearns Goodwin

No Apology- Mitt Romney

The Choice: A Parable of Free Trade and Protectionism- Russ Roberts

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea- Barbara Demick (I absolutely LOVE this book so far; it will get its own post when I finish it.)

Anna Karenina- Leo Tolstoy

Gross National Happiness- Arthur C. Brooks

Mansfield Park- Jane Austen

John Adams- David McCullough (I listened to this one on tape a long time ago, and restarted it last summer)

This is actually a pretty good glimpse into the kinds of books I read. It makes me sound boring (and politically right-leaning – I won't deny that part).

I did finish a book today though: I read Eats, Shoots and Leaves and it was fantastic. If any of you are grammar nazis like I am (now you're probably going to read through my post for errors), you'll love this book.

Anyone else have BADD (that's what I'm going to call it)? What books are you working on finishing?

School's Out for Summer!

The title of this post is so unoriginal. I know. Plus it's by Alice Cooper. But I've had a that song running through my head ever since last Friday (the BYU Marching Band version, of course). Last week I was feeling two things: exhaustion and satisfaction (plus cold/flu-like symptoms- so I guess that makes three things). Here are a few highlights:

*Final projects for my World History classes: I had them interview people about more recent (Cold War Era) events. I was a little nervous about how it would turn out, but the students who actually did it had some fascinating interviews. Among these were a student who knew someone who went to Vietnam to film footage, and a foreign-exchange student from China whose dad is a professor and had students marching in Tiananmen Square.

*Yearbook signing: I wonder a lot if I am making any sort of impact on students' lives, so it was nice to have so many students come back and ask me to sign their yearbooks, and to have them write such nice things in mine.

*Westlake's first graduation: I counted, and it was something like the 15th graduation ceremony that I have attended in the Marriott Center (I have a lot of siblings and in-laws that graduated from BYU, not to mention all of their high school graduations also held in the Marriott Center). It was a great ceremony, and I was very proud of my students that graduated. I got to wear a gold robe and a hood that matched my degree and my university (I thought you had to have at least a master's degree). It made me feel special.

And for your enjoyment, here are pictures of my empty classroom:

A Tribute to my Mom

Thursday I was sitting by the tennis courts at Timpanogos High School, hungry and cold. I was planning on grabbing something to eat on my way to coach the divisional tennis tournament, but I left the school later than I had hoped to, so I wasn't able to stop on my way down. I was so hungry, and my mom was so close, that I decided to call her to see if she might have a chance to drop something off for me. I felt a little sheepish calling her (I am 25 years old), but I decided to do it anyway.

As I got on the phone with my mom, she told me that she had to take Matt (23-year-old, married) to work, and then to pick her mom up to go to a dinner, but if she had time, she would drop something by. A little while later, I saw my mom walking up with a cup of tomato basil soup and a delicious roll. It was perfect.

I chuckled a little because it was like my brother and I were back in high school. But then I was so grateful that she was willing to go out of her way to help me. As an adult, your relationship with your mom changes (as it should), but your mom is still your mom no matter how old you get. It was a great Mother's Day moment this week that reminded me why my mom is so wonderful.

I love you, Mom. You're the best. Happy Mother's Day!