"WheN You'rE SmilinG"

I have SO many reasons to smile and figured that this bloggy blog could use a little slice of happiness!

Here are some of the reasons my frown is upside down:

1. I graduated from college!
2. I DID NOT trip or do anything clumsy at either of my graduation ceremonies! Okay, I take that back. I did trip a tiny bit when I was walking to meet up with my friend outside of the Marriot Center, but I didn't do it in front of the multitudes of people that were gathered at each ceremony!
3. Chris gave me the MOST AMAZING graduation present in the world, which I will forever be grateful to him for!
4. I have been so fortunate in my substitute teaching! All but two of the jobs I have done since I began in February have been at my FAVORITE school, Sunset View. I am currently filling in long-term for the music teacher at the school and have been doing so for three or four weeks now. I get to see every student at Sunset View, which I LOVE!
5. Many students come to visit my room at the end of the school day and nothing causes a smile to spread across my face faster than seeing my awesome students! I think of my Patriarchal blessing a lot while I am teaching, as it talks a lot about my impact on children and theirs on me.
6. Josh and Ani are going to have Jonathan Scott Merris in JUNE! I truly cannot believe how fast time has gone by! I still remember when they told us they were having a baby!
7. I GOT A JOB! This is not in elementary education- I will continue to look for jobs in that field and hopefully interview for some soon. This job will keep me occupied during the summer and I can even keep it during the remainder of the year regardless of if I get a job teaching elementary students or not. I really feel like Heavenly Father is watching out for me. This job was literally handed to me. My brother works at the place I will be working at in the future and months ago, he suggested that I apply for jobs there. I had heard so many awesome stories about the facility (it houses troubled youth) and felt like getting to work there would be amazing. I applied for a tutoring position in the end of January and after interviewing, found out that they were no longer in need of tutors. To make a LONG story short, I e-mailed the woman I interviewed with recently to simply ask if any teaching or tutoring positions would be open in the future. She e-mailed me back so fast and I interviewed with her on Monday. I got the job and found out I will be teaching English and History to girls who range from 14-18 years old. I am nervous, excited, and everything in between!
8. I will start my new job on June 13th so I am going to go home to PA for a couple weeks after I finish subbing for the music teacher on May 12th. I will have a couple weeks to be at home and enjoy PA, which will be nice! And I'll get to see Zachie boy graduate, which I am SO excited for!
9. The ward boundaries in my area changed drastically and talk about an ANSWER TO PRAYER! The wards around here have been combined into a ward that could potentially have over 430 members! THAT IS NUTS! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE big wards and I love meeting new people! Summer is going to be SO awesome!
10. I saved one of the bests for last! I have the MOST INCREDIBLE friends! Jenni just went back to PA for the summer, which is a bummer. I totally just rhymed! I have gone home to PA every summer prior to this one and it really is a strange feeling to not be there now. Yet, when I think of going back there last summer for surgery and the nervousness I felt leading up to that, I count my blessings a thousand times over for being where I am today. It is truly amazing how much has changed in a year! Enough about change though! I'm getting to my point, I promise! Shaun and Jesse- I don't know if you ever read my blog, but I LOVE you guys and I can't wait to hang out with you all summer long! You can fill the void while Jenni is gone and we can all make up plenty of inside jokes to tease her with when she comes back in August! We are the ninja turtles baby!!!! Jenni and Jesse will fight to the death to see which one of them gets to be Donatello. Whoever lives will be deemed as such. As for me, I'm Michaelangelo because he's always been my favorite! And Shaun, you are totally Splinter whether you like it or not! Even after Jesse or Jenni duke it out and kill the other; even when there is an open spot to be a ninja turtle, you will still be Splinter!

That's a wrap folks! Since music is one of the things that never ceases to bring a smile to my face, I am ending this post with the song, "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong. Louis, I named my blog after your brilliance!

This song is what life is all about and if it doesn't make you smile, then I don't know what will!