Nuestro Hogar, Our Home

Nuestro Hogar, Our Home

Everyday is like Christmas morning
As I open my eyes,
And realize mis suenos are mi realidad.
My wall is brown, because I want it to be,
The picture is hanging, because I put it there.
I can sing, puedo bailar, I can laugh, puedo gritar,
All I want, whenever I want,
Because it's nuestro hogar, our home.

Everyday I open the red front door
As I scan my surroundings,
And it's almost too much to take in.
My house is decorated, because I want it to be.
There are chairs on the porch, because I put them there.
I feel warm, I feel peace, I feel love, I feel at home,
All the time, todo el dia,
Because it's nuestro hogar, our home.

Everyday I go to bed smiling
As I feel grateful,
And realize the sun will shine through my windows in the morning.
My car is in the garage, because I want it to be.
There are flowers out front because I put them there.
I am thankful, estoy orgullosa, I am happy, estoy comoda,
Every morning, every night,
Because it's nuestro hogar, our home.


So I've finally got around to posting pictures of our new home. We absolutely love it and enjoy spending our time making it ours and working on repairs. We already find being home owners very rewarding. We have just put away the Halloween decorations and I don't know how much longer I can resist the urge to put up my Christmas decorations. I've been listening to Christmas music for weeks. I LOVE holidays! Life can become so mundane, and having something to look forward to and to celebrate tends to change the ordinary into extraordinary. I'll be posting some new pics of Christmas decorations in the future.


Mike is still working hard in school and we're slowly adjusting to getting fewer than five hours of sleep every night. His semester has been rigorous and required a lot out of him. We are very thankful that we were prompted to have him drop one of his classes, because I don't know if he honestly could have handled one more.

I'm still working hard being a pioneer in the Dual Immersion world. I haven't had any real district support, and I'm the only dual immersion teacher so far in my district. But that has given me a lot of freedom to utilize my expertise and do what I think is best with my students. We are almost done with all 55 parent teacher conferences, and they have gone really well! My students are already producing Spanish and are feeling so comfortable in my classroom. I love every day! (Well, nearly every day :) )



I had an amazing opportunity last week to attend the UFLA conference (Utah Foreign Language Association). It was a pretty big deal! All foreign language teachers and professionals were invited to attend, including professors from colleges. I met lots of important, intelligent, and influential people in the educational world at this conference. This conference was a monumental moment in my life. This was the first day that I felt like I had officially reached "professional" status in my life. I had never intended on becoming a teacher; it was a path I was led down, and I have felt like a student the entire time I have been teaching. I didn't receive traditional professional training, and have always felt more like a student even as a professional teacher. While at this conference, people were coming to me for advice, and inviting me to help develop curriculum. People were asking if they could come observe me in my classroom. People were asking what my professional opinion and experience was. I felt completely comfortable and excited in my environment. I know I have found what I was born to do. I am good at it; I love it; and I'm confident in it. As a part of this experience of attending this conference, I was nominated and voted in as the president of the state's Dual Immersion Association. I will be scheduling meetings for all dual immersion teachers, giving them guidance, starting and updating a website, and providing opportunities for us all to get together. I will be collecting resources and distributing them to different teachers teaching all foreign languages to elementary students. I will also have monthly meetings with the UFLA board, and I believe this automatically puts me on the UFLA board myself and I will help plan the UFLA conference next year. What an honor! And I am so excited to be an active part of such a great association and movement!