Master Madi

Today I officially graduated with my Master's in Education, emphasizing in Learning & Technology!

These past few months I've been doing extensive research and conducted a study on the impact of a "process over product" approach in the art classroom. I started in May and was able to use my students for the study this fall.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity I've had to further my education, and for the University that made it possible. WGU has you pay per semester, and you can fit in as many classes as you can complete in that 6 month block. With the summer off and the extra time 2020 has given us to stay at home, I was able to pack the normally 18 month program into 6 months!

Learning is so fun to me, especially when it is about something I'm passionate about. This program was both enjoyable and rewarding. I gathered lots of data and now have hard proof that my teaching methods and philosophy increases both creative thinking and overall confidence in my students! I care so much about teaching my students to be confident. I want them to know that they can learn to do anything they set their minds to. As only a second year teacher, I have a lot to learn myself and tons of room for improvement, but I feel like I'm headed in the right direction!

Being a student has been part of my identity for most of my life and I'm not exactly sure what my next step will be. A PhD? A Master's in Art History? Maybe neither? I've been working my way to this point for a long time, not really thinking about what comes next. Whatever it is though, I'm definitely going to take the next little while off of writing papers!

Welcome Home, Pepper!

Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted a dog.  I became the luckiest girl in the world when we brought home Shakee.  I was a second grader and completely smitten!  Shakee was the sweetest most loving dog there ever was, and losing him a few years ago was absolutely heart-wrenching.

Well ever since Bailey was a little boy, he wanted a dog.  He had a real pony that would play with him in the sand box, and a small pig that would run around the house and snuggle with him.  Those both definitely sound fake but I have pictures to prove both!

Nevertheless, Bailey's yearning for a small furry friend was never satisfied, and many times throughout our years of marriage he has brought up the prospect of adopting a dog.  I got by by agreeing to a hamster (who yes, I ended up loving), and not saying no to $250 worth of fish and aquarium supplies (I also didn't really say yes to that but that is a long story).  But these were tactics I learned from my parents who tried to convince me that a fly in a jar is a real pet, just like my balloon cat.  Only buys one time.

Of course, we never had quite the right living situation for a dog up until this year, but I also enjoyed my freedom to hop out of the country whenever I wanted, you know?  But the biggest thing for me was, how can I do that to my Shakee?  And how can I let another sweet pup into my life just knowing the pain I will feel in 15 or so years??  It all sounds silly but I believe these are real concerns of many pet owners, and I wasn't just about to jump into the commitment without really feeling ready.

I've turned this into quite the saga but my friends, it was!  Because all of a sudden, my brother in law Wace's dog was about to have puppies.  Dappled dachshunds, no less!  The very dogs of Bailey's dreams!

NOT the dog of my dreams, I tell you.  My dream dog was fluffier, and, well, Shakee.  I'm a fan of all dogs of course, but while sausage dogs fit the important criteria of "small", I didn't necessarily find them the cutest.  I also knew that they were difficult to potty train and also shed.  Heck no!

But then I saw the puppies.  Even worse, I saw Bailey with the puppies and I knew it was all over.

I knew he was all in.  He asked me over and over, but I stood strong!  But then I started thinking.  What better time to adopt a puppy than in a pandemic?  I mean, we are both working from home and could spend time with him and potty train him.  I knew we were bound to get a dog eventually, so maybe why not now?

I didn't let Bailey know this of course!  Though he kept asking, I figured I should take advantage of the fact that his birthday was coming up and surprise him!

Now, to be clear, I do not believe that anyone should spontaneously gift any living creature!  I know this is an issue because people don't always know the commitment that they are getting into.  But Bailey and I had talked about it (though hypothetically) and I certainly knew exactly what we were getting into.  So the surprise was not the dog, necessarily, but my agreement to making this leap.

So, a few days before Bailey's birthday (to maximize use of the element of surprise) Bailey Jo and Wace helped me out and doorbell ditched this magnificent box on the porch!

Bailey saw Bailey Jo out the window when they rang the bell so I thought he'd figure it out immediately, but Bailey could not have been more surprised to open the box and see tiny "Streak"!

Streak is what Bailey Jo and Wace lovingly referred to this pup as once he was born.  He had a little white streak on his head, and they found him to be the sweetest and cuddliest.  I alone was faced with the decision on what pup to choose and I knew he was the one!

So Bailey Jo and Wace stayed for lunch while Bailey at his food one handed and held his new little guy in the other hand.  Of course, the pup was too tiny to stay away from his mom for too long at that point, so we took him on a tour of his new house and sent him back on his way.

The past few weeks we have been able to visit our boy all we want!

Today our pup was finally ready to come home!  We made sure that he had plenty of time with his mom before taking him away, but I was comforted by the fact that he will be able to see her regularly throughout his lifetime.

We are already obsessed with our tiny little guy who Bailey named "Pepper".  He's not completely sure about our house and being away from his mom yet, but I'm sure he will own this place in no time.  I am so excited for this new chapter in our lives and for the adventures our little family of three will have!

March

Well March has certainly been the most unexpected month of my life!  But other than the craziness, here are some normal, nice things that have happened.

I am DETERMINED to find a way to teach my students how to throw on the wheel, but I have some major challenges in the way (4 week terms, 45 minute classes, is it even possible??). Also I don't actually know how to teach someone to throw on the wheel so I am grateful for friends who will be my guinea pigs as I learn to teach!

Not pictured: Spencer

It's funny how people think teachers must know everything about their content, because I most certainly don't.  I'm always learning from others (especially from my students!) and my colleagues.  I'm grateful for my amazing friend and advocate Brennan who helps me in my classroom every day!  He taught me the ways of henna so that we could teach my drawing class.

The first part of the month was especially busy as we got all of our finances in order and talked to a million people over the phone to get everything straightened out for our new place.  We visited our house so many times and stress ate lots of food!

Of course it was also a very exciting time.  While places were open we were able to go and buy fun things for our house like PLANTS!

I love being able to invite visitors over to our very own place!!  Warden liked our house before it was even ours, so he was one of our first visitors.  He also wore various hats of ours the whole time.

Another one of my favorite things about having a house is having my very own kitchen!!  I have had an absolute blast cooking new recipes!

I've also been trying to regularly do yoga because I have a whole room for it.  But when I don't, it is because I am working out with the ladies!  Kylie and Mara made us a fun routine, which features highly valuable canned goods as the weights.

So despite all the craziness, it has been a pretty good month!

Welcome Home, Us!

My friends, a big day has come!

A couple of months ago we decided that 2020 is the year that we need to seriously start thinking about buying a house. We've looked at a couple houses over the years, mostly because we have driven by cute old houses and were curious about the insides. Luckily we know a couple of realtors, but by the time we had gotten in to see most of them, they were already under contract. We weren't really seriously looking anyway, and figured it would eventually work out when it was meant to.

We also didn't know exactly what we wanted. My dream was an old red brick house to fix up, but the closer we got to really wanting a house, the less work we realized we wanted to actually do haha. We love shows where they flip houses and eventually think that would be a fun project. But at this busy stage in our lives, we don't really have time for something like that.

We decided to open up the option of new houses. This was a big decision for us, because the new houses in the city where we grew up were way out of our budget. We decided to just look at a few in Eagle Mountain (which really isn't far from home, we are just dramatic). And of course, once I saw the closets and bathtubs it was all over!

Our good friend/brother-in-law Jason helped us through the fun process of looking at different houses and eventually putting an offer in! If you need a realtor, Jason Hawkes is your guy!! We didn't have high hopes of getting the first house we put an offer on, but things tend to work out the way they should, and here we are now!

We moved in just a couple of days ago and it's already started to feel like home. Ever since we got serious about buying a house, we started buying furniture and other household things and making them fit in my mom and dad's basement where we lived. We thought we were being silly, but now that everything is shut down from the pandemic, we are so grateful to actually have some things for our house! Except for food haha. We weren't prepared for the no groceries in stores thing.

Up until this point in our marriage, we have lived with my brother, then with Bailey's brother, then in my parents basement. And of course, our little apartment in China! We have been so blessed by the kindness of our families to let us stay with them for so cheap while we saved up for school, travels, and a house! We are so excited to have our own place though!

I thought that buying a new house would mean that there would be less house projects, but now I see this place as a blank canvas for for all sorts of customization! Here are just a few pictures as it is now. It's definitely not complete yet, so stay tuned for all the fun things we have planned! 

There's also a "powder room" off of the kitchen - so nice!

This is the "kids bathroom" upstairs.  There's also two bedrooms other than ours that will serve as work from home offices for the next few months!

Our bedroom!

Master bathroom.  Not pictured: amazing walk in closet!

January & February

As you know, a nice portion of January was spent in Italy.  A great idea, I would say!  Because January and February are the worst months!

I say that every year, but of course, I always end up having lots of fun memories happen those months anyway.  Here are some fun things we've been up to!

My coworkers/fellow CTE teachers and I attended a conference, and each of us were separately and randomly drawn to win $100.  Super crazy and fun!  Pro tip: sit by us.  I love working with these ladies!

My family did a small Chinese New Year celebration by making homemade dumplings.  There's nothing better!  Except for a cute toddler trying to eat said dumplings with chopsticks.  He was pretty good at it!

Bailey and I have started to look at houses.  We like to show Kylie the ones we are interested in because she's got good taste.  We've got our eyes on this particular house, and I think Warden approves!

Book Group Retreat!  Always a great time!  This month we discussed Sweet Bean Paste, ate a homemade Japanese meal to fit with the theme, and did some serious crafting.

We even met up with my niece Chelsie for a quick hike!

My friend Kellie (who teaches art at the other Polaris) and I were able to attend the UAEA (Utah Art Educator's Association) conference in Southern Utah.  It was so much fun!  We signed up for different professional development classes, and I signed up for a Shibori dyeing class.  I've always used Rit dye for Shibori, but in this class I learned how to do stitch resist techniques and use actual indigo.  Mine is the scarf in the middle.  So much fun!

Florence: A Finale

Last night we hopped off a train in Florence. To start our time in Florence right, we ate a big meal of Florentine steak. SO GOOD! They actually cooked it rare like we like and gave us a bunch of rock salt. Bailey was in heaven! We haven't eaten lots of meat since we got here, so it was the perfect way to shake things up but to still enjoy Italian cuisine.

And then today was an art history nerd's dream! And if you know me, you may know that I am definitely an art history fan. We got up first thing this morning to fulfill a lifelong wish of mine, to see Michelangelo's David.

We were the second couple in the gallery, which was such a neat experience because we had the place practically to ourselves! But also good because we had someone to take our picture haha.

I will say, David is way larger than I anticipated. We spent some time just staring at the masterpiece. So beautiful!

The rest of Galleria dell'Accademia was small but tasteful. A nice way to start off the day!

Something great about Florence is that everything is in walking distance. So convenient! We hopped on over to the central market to find some breakfast. If you go upstairs there's like a food court and it's super cute and clean with lots of options! We grabbed some breakfast and left with plans to come back for lunch.

Then it was time to fulfill some of Bailey's Italy dreams. Shopping! I'm ok with shopping but Bailey is a definite fan. We were sad that there's no Primark close by, but Shey told us to check out OVS which ended up being a similar sort of deal. Kind of like a cheaper H&M. We went there as well as some other fun shops. There were so many, I think that a lot of tourists who come here must like to shop. Then we went back to the market for lunch! This may be terrible but I'm over Italian food, so I went to a Chinese stand and I do not regret it. They had hand pulled noodles in beef broth and it tasted exactly like the kind we would eat in Changzhou! I was in heaven!

We had a 12:00 reservation to climb to the top of the Duomo which I have been looking forward to ever since learning that climbing it was a thing. So maybe for like two weeks haha. From the outside the basilica is unlike anything I've ever seen!

The inside of the basilica is fairly simple which I found surprising. Of course, the inside of the dome is filled with a massive and beautiful last judgement scene. Most of the climb up was in the walls, but they did take us around the inside of the dome to see the paintings close up. So amazing!! And a little scary looking over the edge into the Basilica, knowing that you're standing on a really old, narrow balcony.

When we reached the very top we were able to walk around outside on the tippy top of the dome. Such a gorgeous view of Florence! I love the orange roofs and being able to spot other various churches and domes. I think climbing the dome might have been a highlight of our Italy trip!

Unfortunately the dome museum is closed today, which was a surprise to me. Bummer! But we were able to see the replicas of The Gates of Paradise on the baptistery doors which were beautiful, and inside the baptistery was also quite the sight, I loved all the gold!

After a little bit more shopping we stopped by Piazza Della Signoria to see the outdoor statue gallery which was impressive. There were some beautiful sculptures there! It's also a quick walk from Ponte Vecchio. Ponte Vecchio by itself was a little underwhelming. But the view of it from the side was pretty cute!

The Uffizi Gallery was also high on my list, so we made that the last visit of our Italian adventure. They have such an amazing collection! My favorite was Botticelli's Birth of Venus, but I also love a good Caravaggio as you know. It was nice and relaxing moseying through the gallery, which was actually pretty huge.

The evening ended with our last Italian meal! I ordered my last caprese salad, my favorite food of the trip and something I'll try to continue eating at home.

We have had such and amazing time in Italy. I feel so blessed to have been able to see the works of masters that many can only dream of seeing for themselves. What a time to be alive, and to have these opportunities!

We fly out in the morning to head back to our normal lives. I hope to come back soon though, there is so much more in Italy that I still want to see!