I am finally doing a new post

So, I know I haven't posted for a long time, but I am finally posting!!!

First an update:

Things are going really well for me. I am having a great year with my 3rd graders. They are so cute, and such good kids! I have some fabulous parent volunteers, and a wonderful aid!! I am taking 23 credits right now because I am doing an ESL endorsement and taking a BYU Arts integration class. Because of these classes, I am more motivated to be the best teacher I can be!!! I am starting an ARTS committee at my school, that will involve teachers, staff, and parents. I'm excited for the help with the arts, since I am doing another Christmas choir this year and a school wide play in the Spring.

I am also planning on accomplishing 25 goals the year I am 25. I have already accomplished some in the short time that I have been 25. The goals I have accomplished are sewing something I've never sewn before- (I sewed my duvet cover), Make some kind of food I have never made- (I made Salmon Crepes!! yummy), and I have started on decorating my bedroom and bathroom.

To decorate my bedroom, I painted an accent wall purple. At first I was a little nervous, but it looks great!! I also painted the floorboards in my bathroom the same color, but that doesn't look as good as the wall. The duvet cover on my bed is the one that I sewed with the material my mom got me for my birthday!I had the opportunity to go to Orchestra on Temple Square last night with a good friend of mine. We first went to the Salt Lake Temple, and ended up doing sealings instead of a session. We had some time before we went to the Temple, so we took a few pictures around Temple square. It was a great fall evening.

Europe Vacation!!!

If you haven't heard I went on a fabulous European vacation with three other girls, Natasha, Shawn, and Melissa (my old roommate). It was a lot of fun! The pictures are from each place we went. They are in opposite order of which ones we went to first. That is why I am so tan in my first picture compared to my last because it was our last stop before heading back to Venice.

This picture in in Croatia. It was a very touristy place, not to mention VERY hot! It was the only beach we went to the whole cruise. We had to be careful where we aimed the camera because it was a European beach, if you know what I mean. Note my fantastic tan because it is already going away:-(, but I have proof that it was great!! You can tell better in some of my other pictures, but I didn't post them on the blog. Check out my facebook if you want to see more pictures!This picture was in Istanbul, Turkey. The picture of me is not great, but I put this one on because you can see two continents. We actually went to Asia while we were there, so this picture is me standing on Asia, with Europe in the background! It is cool to say I've been on Asia now, too!! We also went to some neat Mosques, saw some palaces, and did most of our shopping in Turkey, The Dollar was stronger than the Turkish Lera.
This was the other place in Turkey we went to. It was Izmir, and it was not our favorite place, however we went to the Agora, which is a really old marketplace. There was some really cool ancient ruins! Our (note how Taxi is spelled in the picture) taxi driver couldn't speak very good English, so it was an adventure.
This was my second favorite place, next to London. It was Olympia, Greece. We rented a car so we could go see the ancient ruins. In fact, we even saw the very first Olympic track, ever. I even ran on it:-). We also went to a museum that had ancient status and one of the famous ones, but I can't remember which one!!
If you can't guess from the picture, this is Italy. It looked just like I imagined Italy to look. This little town-Bari- had a big cathedral that we saw and a castle. We walked around the whole town in two hours. It was neat to see the people out on the road just outside their door.
This last picture was taken at Windsor Castle, in London. This is where the queen lives right now. It was one of my favorite places we went because we saw a real working castle. We even walked in the room where people are knighted or whatever they call it these days. It was a castle just like the movies. I didn't think they really existed. We saw so many old, neat buildings in London. I loved it. We also went to a West End show, which was Sister Act! It was neat!

The whole trip was great! I have tons of pictures, so if you have facebook, you should check them out!

Finally pictures of my condo

Well, I finally closed on my condo in the middle of June. I love it, even though I have only been here half the time! I have been working on decorating it, but of course with decorating means more money. Well, I won't jabber a ton because I know people mostly like to look at the pictures, so here they are!!

My sis!

Right now I am at the hospital waiting for my dear sister, Tina, to have her second baby! I'm privledged that she asked me to come help be her labor coach. The baby hasn't come yet, but he should come tonight!

Little Up-date on Life

First of all, I know everyone likes pictures, so I am posting this picture of me in my classroom. The picture is not the greatest, but it shows that my hair is getting longer. It needs highlighted again, but it is getting longer, which makes me happy!!! Also, my classroom, is in the process of being cleaned up and packed up. I don't know where I will be next year (classroom wise), since I am moving to third grade.

All the other pictures I have as of late are of my students and I don't have special permission to post their pictures on the internet! I do have a lot of picture of them because I am making a movie for them for the end of the year.

SCHOOL: We only have 9 more days left until Summer vacation. I'm pretty excited, although I do love my students and I finally got to the point where I can control their behavior. At the beginning of the year they walked all over me, but I think that is something every teacher has to learn by themselves. I will be teaching summer school for two-and a half weeks. I am teaching the first graders going into second grade, so it will be an adventure. I'm excited.

CONDO: My condo is coming along. I still want to put pictures up, but keep forgetting to bring my camera every time I got see the condo. I am suppose to close next week, so I am moving in in less than two weeks:-) There was a little delay because the floor was wrong, but they fixed it. It has been so fun going to yard sales, looking at furniture stores, buying small things (decorations). I can't wait to get it all decorated. Don't be surprised if you see a whole facebook album dedicated to my new condo. The picture shows some of the decorations I have bought for my house. The pink thing on the left is a toilet bowl cleaner. It was only a buck and I got it from Ikea.

MISSIONARY BROTHER: Benji is doing great on his mission, however, his knee is bothering him again. Prayers in his behalf would be helpful. He is a great missionary and sure loves the gospel.

SUMMER: I have so much planned for the summer, between the condo, summer school, and everything else. I will be going to Oregon with my family, Vegas for a school conference, and EUROPE on a cruise with some of my girl friends! I'm pretty excited for it all. I'm sure as these things takes place, I will be posting more about them.

Buying a condo

So, if you haven't heard yet, I am buying a condo! It's brand new, so I'm pretty excited. I am actually getting money from the purchase in the short run because the builder is paying my closing costs, and I'm getting $6000 from the state to pay for my down payment. I will be getting another $8000 from the government, and that will help with any other money I've already put down, plus, give me some for furniture and what not. I never thought I would be buying a place by myself. I always thought that was something I would do with my husband... Well, I don't exactly have a husband right now, and I am not going to sit idle waiting for him to come around. Plus, the opportunity presented itself. I found a condo that I think will be great. It's closer to my work, and I will have roommates to help out with the mortgage. My dad took some pictures, so once I get them from him, I will post them. I had a fun time picking out the colors. I decided to go with wood for the kitchen and entry way, and some other up grades here and there. It's kinda a scary thing buying something like this, but it's a fun step to take, and I'm taking it! I still don't know if I will be able to call it home with-out my family. I think Idaho will always be my home.

Wicked!!!

I went to Wicked, the Broadway musical, at the Capitol Theater in Salt Lake. I absolutely LOVED it. The story behind the Wicked Witch of the West is not what you would ever think from just watching the movie, "Wizard of Oz." Elphaba, the supposed Wicked Witch, is my favorite character, and her voice was amazing. The whole play was so entertaining with a great story line. There was not one time during the entire performance that I had any desire to look away or let my eyes rest! If you get the chance to see it, then do it!

Some may be wondering how I got the tickets in Salt Lake. They were all sold out just about as fast as they came on sale. Of course the morning the tickets went on sale, I tried and tried to get tickets. My luck failed me, until about a month later, when I heard there was cancellations. I tried getting tickets once more, and to much of my surprise I was able to get tickets for a Thursday performance. That particular performance just happen to be my Spring Break. The tickets were about $100, but well worth it! If I ever get the change again, I would see the show again, in a heart beat!

Family Fun Movie



Make a Smilebox slideshow

Draper Temple Dedication

I had the opportunity to go to the Draper Temple dedication both today at my Stake house and yesterday at the Temple. Both sessions were amazing. I especially want to comment on the Spirit that was felt there. No unclean thing could enter, and it truly was an amazing experience. When I was in the Temple yesterday I was in the sealing room, and it was such a tender moment for me when the sealing power was discussed in multiple talks during the session. Some day I will have that blessing and opportunity to be sealed in a sealing room much like that one. I am already sealed to my parents and it is because of the Temple that that is possible. I'm so grateful for parents who were married and sealed in the Temple.

Random Spree

This week was a busy one with parent-teacher conferences. We had Friday off because of parent teacher conferences. Thursday night I was driving home after being at school all day, and did not want to think about school. I would have much rather gone on a vacation or something, or a mini-mini road trip. It just so happened that I did just that along with my room mate, Melissa, and my friends, Desirae. We decided and left the same night. This was Thursday night. We ended up leaving about 9pm, not knowing where we were going. We knew warm sounded like a good idea, since we had snow Thursday morning. We started heading south, but only made it to Cedar City because we were tired. We rented the cheapest hotel room we could find, which still turned out to be more than we wanted, but that's okay!

We got up Friday morning and we were planning on going to Bryce Canyon. Then we decided it was not warm enough there, so we headed to Zion's National Park. It was fun. The weather was perfect! We went on two hikes. One was super short, but cool. It was called Wheeping Rock. The other was next to Wheeping Rock. It was called Hidden Canyon. It was not too hard, but still a good workout!

After Zion's we went to dinner in Cedar City. Then on the way home we listened to this book, but didn't get to finish it. I can't remember what it's called. Overall, the trip was worth it, and eve though it was short. It was needed!

CES Fireside

I had the opportunity to be apart of the choir that sang in the World Wide broadcast. It was a CES fireside where Elder Hales spoke. This is the second CES fireside I have had the blessing to sing in. It is a humbling experience when helping to bring and keep the Spirit in a meeting, where a great apostle of the Lord is present.

I have had several messages indicating that friends from Idaho saw me on TV. It's kinda cool, however, I know that being "famous," for lack of a better word, is not the most important part of singing in this fireside. It was fun, and I'm glad friends could see me. The most important part was to add to Elder Hales' talk with our Testimonys through song. The following link is a link of the broadcast. Both the choir and Elder Hale's talk is shown.

CES Fireside: March 1, 2009

I also have the opportunity to sing in General Conference. The same choir, with less people, will be singing the Saturday afternoon session of conference. I am very excited, and know it will be an amazing experience.

Update~on My life:-)

Well, there really isn't much of an update on my life. The last couple of weeks have flown by. I can't believe February is almost over. School is going great. My students are an adventure, but I have grown to love them. We have parent-teacher conferences next week. I'm excited to start a new term. I am hoping to be more organized this time. I have decided to teach Summer school for the month of June, and then I am off traveling and volunteering in an orphanage for the month of July. This summer should be a lot of fun. If you have any good ideas on what to do for Summer school fun activities, let me know!!

I did find out who my secret admirer was. He was one of my good friends. Imagine that! He was all too kind in the things he did for me, and unfortunetly, I didn't feel the same way for him as he did for me. It was all an adventure in and of itself.

Other aspects of my life are going well. I had the opportunity again to serve as an usher in the Draper Temple open house. I loved it. I am also enjoying my calling. My ward is great, and I still meet new people every week.!

It's a secret!!!

So, I have been getting different gifts over the past week from someone. I don't know who that person is, but some of the gifts are for me and some are for me to share with others. The gifts give me an extra boost of encouragement to give service. The person who has been giving me these gifts is showing a lot of service because he and she (he has and accopliss) had put a lot of effort in to doing this.

Other than the secret admirer, or whatever you want to call him, I haven't done much this week. My students behaved pretty bad this week, so that wore me out. I went home every day exhausted, and didn't want to be very social. I guess it's all apart of being a teacher. After I am finished with this blog, I am going to make my students valentine baggies. I do love my students, and I love teaching!

This week has been a good, but interesting, once again. I had some friends on face book ask me what I was up to and how I have been. I told them, I was good... Just keeping busy with work, church, and the Drama I create for myself! I had some definite drama this week, but I guess its all a part of Mellissa Lynn's world.

Last night I had a lot of fun with a couple of my roommates and some girls in my ward. I shouldn't say too much for some eyes might see this, but the bottom line is, we were sneaky and got a tree that was ours (well, not mine, but I was an accompliss) from a friends apartment. Then we came back to my house, decorated the tree with hearts, and took it over to a different group of guys house. We made a sign: "The Love Shack" and hung it on their door. We left the tree in their living room. It was pretty fun and somewhat adventureous!

The funny Single Life

So, this week has been an interesting week, but a good one! First of all, I'm 24 years old, single, and go to bed at 9pm. Okay, sometimes I am up until 10, but for the most part, I don't have much of a night life. It works out just fine for me because I wake up around 5 am, and head off to work/school at 6, so I need to go to bed early so I can teach those little kidos!! Weekends are interesting because I try to stay up past 10 and either get really weird, or fall asleep during the movie!

Anyway, back to my week. I started a healthy life competition with other staff members at my school. This was the first week of our second competition, and I am determined to win this time. I have worked out for at least one hour everyday (except yesterday) this week, and I have eaten really healthy, as well. I found this brillaint website that counts your calories for the day. (I get points for keeping a food log). I know I don't need to loose weight, but it feels great to be healthy and in shape! I will keep you posted on if I win the competition, or not!
As for the dating life... I am not going to add much because I don't know who might be reading this post, so for sake of not embarrassing myself if you really want to know, you can e-mail me:-).

Yesterday my fantastic family came down from Idaho to go to the Draper Temple open house. There were a lot of people there, and I my cute little nephew cried a lot of the time, but it was really good to see the Temple and to be with my family. After which, we came back to my house and before we went to dinner I showed them some cool things that my computer could do. One things was photo booth, so posted are some funny pictures that we took last night with my computer.







Then we went to dinner at McGrath's and our waiter happened to be single, so being with my fun family, I left my phone number for him. I did hear from him today, and once again, we will see if I have gained a new friend, or if I just made things ackward!

Overall, the week was great! I was on-top of lesson plans and grading, and that really helped. Plus, I think the positive attitude always helps!

My You Tube Video

Well, I can't take all the credit for this fantastic video. I just gave the idea of the song, and the rest of was history. We had so much fun making this video, so I thought I better post it on my blog!

Here's the link on Youtube if you can't view it on my blog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-pTQztnrro