Twinkies and $200

I've been teaching a unit on Probability in my Algebra 2 class and yesterday we talked about the probabilities of spinning wheels and drawing cards out of a deck. I had a fun experience with these probabilities that I am excited to share with my students:

I stopped at the grocery store on my way home to pick up some milk. I rarely ever visit this particular store because it is kind of out of the way. They were having a Grand Opening Ribbon Cutting Ceremony and asked if I wanted to spin the prize wheel. Yes, the nerdy math teacher thought about probability when she spun the colorful prize wheel and won a small bag of Twinkies. :)

I also filled out an entry form to win a car and put it in the box. As part of their Grand Opening, they were giving away a $200 gift card that day as well. So I waited around to see who won. I thought about how there weren't a whole lot of entry forms in the box and what the probability was of winning. When the store manager started pulling multiple names out of the box because the winners weren't there to claim their prize, I realized that the probability of winning was only about 1 in 40 (there were only about 40 people standing around waiting to see who won). Lucky for me, I was the next name they pulled out of the box!

So not only do I have a fun story about probability to share with my students, I took home a couple of Twinkies and a $200 gift card to the grocery store! And I'm still in the drawing for the car. Do you think I might get lucky again? :)

Baby Shower

My mom and my two sisters threw me a baby shower yesterday. It was amazing. I'm sad that we didn't think to take any pictures. Mom made a delicious French Toast that came from the Lion House. Coincidentally, this is the same dish served at our Wedding Breakfast. She also bought some decadent cupcakes that were almost too beautiful to eat (the operative word being "almost").

I felt so loved because so many people came. I was blessed to have my mom and my sisters there as well as my mother-in-law and all of my sisters-in-law that live in Utah. And a lot of friends. Oh how I love having friends! :)

Ben and I got to spend the rest of the day hanging out with his family to celebrate birthdays (me and Kevin) and graduations (Ben and Chris). I made two cakes and everyone brought stuff to have a delicious barbecue. The weather was perfect for playing outside in the sun.

I want to thank everyone for the shower gifts and I want to thank my mom for the hours of work she put in for my shower. And I want to thank my sisters for their hard work. It has been so fun being pregnant together and I know it was especially tough for Heidi to get there. She brought this little angel into the world this morning:

Zoe Marie Smith

April 25, 2010

Congrats to Heidi and Mike! She is adorable and I am so glad we got to visit in the hospital today :)checking out her tiny feet

Graduation

Benjamin Charles Henry

Bachelor of Science Degree
in
Information Systems
Brigham Young University
April 23, 2010

Ben did it. He officially graduated from BYU today. It also happened to be my birthday. So my parents took the whole family out for lunch. We had to take a picture of the three pregnant sisters together.

The convocation was in the Marriott Center and J. W. Marriott Jr. was the speaker. He said that anyone who wants to be successful can be by "setting high goals, having perseverance, and working with unyielding determination." The Marriott Center was recently renovated and the portion of the floor that bears the Marriott name was bequeathed to the Marriott School of Management. All of the graduates got to sign it and it now hangs in the Tanner building on campus. We are so excited that in the years to come as we take our children on tours of the campus and indoctrinate them with everything BYU, we can take them to see the sign that bears Daddy's signature: just above the two R's.

Ben's parents were able to come down from Idaho and my family came to support. It was cold and rainy outside, but the day was so exciting. I am so proud of my sweet husband and all of the hard work that he put in to earn this degree.

Percy Jackson

I finished reading the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series yesterday. Here is my report:
While the books are somewhat juvenile and you can tell that they are written for a younger audience, the storyline was still fascinating. The first few books were pretty predictable (especially if you have a knowledge of Greek mythology), but by books 3, 4, and 5 I was anxious to find out what would happen.

The characters are lovable and endearing. You do care about what happens to most of them and you can relate to their feelings.

My only beef with the series is that it sometimes felt like a Harry Potter rip-off. The recommendations I got were, "If you like Harry Potter, you'll like these." It is true. I LOVE Harry Potter and I liked these. But it was frustrating to sometimes feel like I was reading a bad imitation of a beloved scene from Harry Potter (similar characters, scenarios, and dialogue).

In the end, I would recommend it to anyone in the 8-15 age range and any older readers who want a fun, light, sometimes comical series to enjoy.

Duck Pond

We had a fun afternoon watching Ben's nieces and nephews today. It was so warm and sunny that we decided to walk over to the duck pond and feed the ducks. The kids were so excited to see the ducks and the turtles.

All the turtles wanted to do was bask in the sun.

My Philosophy on Mathematics Education

I'm sitting in a Technology class right now, learning how to incorporate technology into my classroom instruction. My instructor showed me this cool site for making presentations (way cooler than boring old Power Point!) called Prezi. Anyway, there is a video on here that illustrates exactly how I feel about Math Education and Math in general. If you have about five minutes to watch this presentation, you'll understand just how excited I am about teaching Math.

As I approach the end of the school year and moving on to my dream job--being a stay-at-home mom-- I am so excited to finally be done teaching. But when I attend enrichment classes like this that get me excited about teaching, I feel a little sad about leaving behind a profession that I really do love. It's days like this that I am driven to learn as much as I can so that I can eventually apply it to teaching my own children or even starting a tutoring program from my home.

Math is amazing. Sigh...

Answers to Prayers

I've been thinking a lot today about how loving and caring our Father in Heaven is.

I just read a friend's blog post about how her husband was hit by a car while riding his bike to school yesterday. The Lord was definitely protecting him because he was able to return home to his wife and daughter yesterday with nothing more than a few bruises and some soreness. I have heard similar stories in the last couple of weeks of friends being saved from potentially fatal accidents. How grateful I am to a loving Father who cares for us and watches over us.

Our move to Texas looms ever closer and I grow more and more nervous as the weeks go by. For the last few weeks, I have focused my efforts on finding an apartment. We are trying to coordinate with some friends so that we can live in the same complex. Our search has been frustrating and difficult. We finally found a complex that we liked, but there are currently no units available.

So my thoughts and prayers have been full of, "Help this complex that we like to have units become available for both of us." But last night, Ben worded it differently in our family prayer: "Help us to find the complex that will be in the area and ward that Thou would have us be in." I was humbled by his wording and changed my own personal prayers to match.

Unexpected answer to our prayers:
My friend was told by another friend (a lot of BYU people are going to work for USAA) about a complex that they are moving into. It almost seems too good to be true. It has everything we want and after making a few phone calls today, we found out that they have units available and we can send in an application and deposit right away.

Like I said, it seems too good to be true. I feel nervous rushing to fill out the application and send in the deposit. I keep thinking that something is going to go wrong and it won't work out.

But it occurred to me that maybe this is the Lord's way of answering our prayer. Maybe He helped us stumble on this new complex that seems so perfect because this is where we are supposed to go.

So until the complex confirms that they have my application and deposit and that they have a unit on hold for me, I will be holding my breath and continuing to pray for assurance from my Father in Heaven that this is the right place for us.