for your half-time entertainment!

As promised...here are some pictures from our alumni dance performance, enjoy and hopefully I can add the video as well.

warming up in the gym

Oh how I heart this girl! My twin for the night:D

I was a little bit excited!

Jessie definetely has the moves down!

loving every minute of this!

You would NOT believe the cheers we got for a little booty shaking!

What can I say except...we STILL know how to put on a great show! Thanks so much to our photographer for the evening Lee Rivers!!

I Just Wanna Dance!

         For all you Milwaukie High School dance team alumni out there, and I know there are A LOT of you, this post is for you :D
         As most of you know, dance was pretty much my life from about 5th grade through college. I danced at a studio for five years, was a MHS pony prancer-yes I know the name is not the coolest, for three years and a Western Oregon University Wolf dancer for four years. It has been sad to not have dance in my life as much anymore now that I don't belong to a team, but I still try to squeeze in any dancing I can. I even tried out for the Blazer Dancers this year, clearly I did not really have a chance, but I held my own and had a great time:)
         When I first heard back in January that the assistant coach of the MHS pony prancers wanted to put together an alumni dance routine my first response was, "um, no, not happening." As in I'm soooo NOT interested in doing that. I'm not quite sure why I wasn't up for it initially, let's face it, dance has always equaled fun for me. Long story short, I was peer pressured and ended up having a super fun time!
         Now it is fall and a great time of year...FOOTBALL SEASON! I did not even think twice about saying yes to performing at a Friday night football game on the field and everything! I have such fun memories of football games and even better I am a teacher in the district now so there are so many kiddos that I know and are excited to see another side of Miss Fetrow :) So tomorrow night is the the night and I am for lack of a better word STOKED!
         If you are interested in seeing a bunch of alumni dance-teamers tear it up on the field at half-time...come on down to good ol' MHS and check us out! Pictures and perhaps a video to come later! :D

One of many Starlite Parades at MHS!

Now I Know

Over the past few weeks I have been working and researching fairly diligently, for me, on my thesis paper. I managed to get through chapters one and two, successfully emailing them to my professor expecting the worse. It is pretty tricky putting things in my own words so to be safe I used a lot of citations...hey, I'm no plagiarizer. Response from my professor was not too harsh, I'm on the right track! YAY ME! She included some helpful critique, one being that I should not quote a source but once every one to two pages. I was under the impression that I should be quoting a lot, but apparently a stronger paper is more paraphrasing of other's ideas and less direct quoting. So what is the lesson I have learned? It now makes COMPLETE sense why a thesis can end up being over thirty pages long...referencing at least thirty sources in the paper and only one reference every one to three pages...you do the math.

You Make Me Smile

my niece Olivia's b-e-a-utiful smile!

Today, I heard this song and it reminded me of a few of my all time favorites. I admit, I'm a romantic at heart and what makes a great love song are sweet and passionate lyrics. How can you not feel the love when you hear songs like My Girl, Stand By Me, or I Wanna Hold Your Hand? Enjoy the lyrics to Uncle Kracker's Smile...I hope it brightens your day too :)

You're better than the best
I'm lucky just to linger in your light
Cooler than the flip side of my pillow that's right
Completely unaware
Nothing can compare to where you send me
Lets me know that it's ok yeah it's ok
And the moments where my good times start to fade

You make me smile like the sun
Fall out of bed sing like a bird
Dizzy in my head spin like a record
Crazy on a Sunday night
You make me dance like a fool
Forget how to breathe
Shine like gold buzz like a bee
Just the thought of you can drive me wild
Ohh you make me smile

Even when you're gone
Somehow you come along
Just like a flower poking through the sidewalk crack and just like that
You steal away the rain and just like that

You make me smile like the sun
Fall out of bed sing like a bird
Dizzy in my head spin like a record
Crazy on a Sunday night
You make me dance like a fool
Forget how to breathe
Shine like gold buzz like a bee
Just the thought of you can drive me wild
Ohh you make me smile

Don't know how I lived without you
Cuz everytime that I get around you
I see the best of me inside your eyes
You make me smile
You make me dance like a fool
Forget how to breathe
Shine like gold buzz like a bee
Just the thought of you can drive me wild

You make me smile like the sun
Fall out of bed sing like a bird
Dizzy in my head spin like a record
Crazy on a Sunday night
You make me dance like a fool
Forget how to breathe
Shine like gold buzz like a bee
Just the thought of you can drive me wild
Ohh you make me smile
Ohh you make me smile
Ohh you make me smile

Time for this squirrel to fly!

         Guess what, guess what, guess what!! After waiting and rescheduling and waiting oh so much more, last Thursday was finally the day! When I say it was THE day, I mean of course that Stephanie and I actually got to sky dive!
         It wasn't all smooth sailing as our 5th day of rescheduling did NOT start out looking promising. The sky was full of clouds, it actually looked down right bleak outside. With an appointment set for 2:00 p.m. and high hopes that those darn clouds would burn off around noon, I even turned down a job subbing-something I do not do often. I left the house around 1:15 informing my folks that I would call if, as my magic eight ball used to say-"outlook good." I was really hoping I would not get another "ask again later."
         The drive out was not improving my positive outlook until I hit Molalla...holy crow!! It was like the skies had cleared for Molalla alone! Molalla happens to be where Sky Dive Oregon is located f.y.i. I pulled up, jumped out of my car and greeted Steph, both of us with ridiculously big grins on our faces. We got the thumbs up from the owners-who by now felt a little like that part of the family you try to avoid because they are so unpleasant, and started calling people to see who would actually be willing to support us on our 5th attempt haha. We waited about 2 hours to jump and even managed to coax Stephanie's sister, her 2 girls and husband as well as both her parents and my mom to make the trip out to see us finally take the plunge.
         It was like music to our ears when we heard our names over the intercom to suit up, rarely have I ever been so excited or anticipated anything so much! Both Stephanie and I met the instructors we would be jumping with as well as our videographers-all awesome and quite funny fellas! Harnessed up, we headed outside for pics with the fam and of course a fun intro to our videos!
         The walk to the plane felt epic, as cheesy as that sounds. I was first to board and when inside I was instructed to sit in front of my instructor straddling this little row seat. Strangely enough I remember commenting on how I had never flown in a plane this small before. Yep, this is what I was focused on lol. The takeoff and climb to 13,000 feet was filled with silly antics for the video, A LOT of gazing out of the window and of course for anyone who knows me-random dancing :)
         When after the loooongest 15 minutes of my life we finally reached altitude my dive instructor had strapped himself to me-or vice versa I suppose, instructed me to put on my wicked cool goggles with my already ROCKIN' cone-head cap, he turned to me and said the words I'd been practicing my answer to for a month, "Are you ready to sky dive?" Without hesitation I responded with "YES!" we scooted together towards the door. Now many of you have asked what was the scariest part of the whole venture and to that I would answer "the scoot to the door," or as I like to say the point you realize yeah, this is happening. I was first to go and at the door I looked up at my camera man and waved goodbye then out, out, out we dove into the bright, cloudless sky. The free fall is undescribable. Not at all scared, I was mostly in awe and simply trying to take it all in. There was much woohooing of course, but in a "this is the coolest thing I have ever done!" kind of way.
         When after what felt like 20 minutes he pulled the chute we got the chance to chat. He was the perfect tour guide, pointing out all the mountains and various other cool places one can only see from way up high. I even got to steer my parachute! We went left, left, left, left in circles until I felt like I might vomit, then right, right, right in circles to counter the affects of course. Even the landing was smooth with one simple direction, "show me your toes," and before I knew it I was back on solid ground. Almost instantly I missed the "flying squirrel" feeling, but I know that I will have it again some day.
         Overall, for all the time it took to actually get to sky dive I have to say it was worth every minute. I do believe I will remember that moment for the rest of my life, the feeling of complete freedom and weightlessness as well as the sense of awe. After accomplishing this I know one thing for certain...I may have to rethink my super power preference :)

First one all geared up and ready to roll!

I was pretty much laughing and celebrating the whole way down!

Coming in HOT! Just kidding, it was a very easy landing.

One of my favorite pictures of the day :)

My Thesis Pains

         Ok, so for one of my masters courses this semester I will be starting, you guessed it, the dreaded thesis that I have been hearing about since high school, but figured that since I had made it this far perhaps I had escaped all together. Insert long, melodramatic sigh here...nope, lucky me. On the first day of class our instructor basically layed it on the line like so, "make sure you pick a topic you are seriously passionate about, seeing as you will be working on this for the duration of your program." Huh? Pardone' moi? An education topic I'm passionate about?

         Now before you start wondering how someone in the education field could be having trouble coming up with a passionate topic let me remind you that I am a substitute teacher presently. I technically belong no where. I do not have a school to call my own or a classroom for that matter, but rather travel school to school, room to room playing what ever role may be required for the day. It is quite difficult to become part of all the drama and "passionate" topics surrounding any given school when you are in and out on an irregular basis. I am sure that if I was in the same place, day in and day out I WOULD in fact be able to come up with a list of about ten things that I feel very passionate about including the over testing of our students, the effectiveness of pulling children out of class for extra help and various other topics. But, I am simply not around enough to really get involved.

         After some thought, I had sort of an epiphany. I am a huge fan of teaching children from a young age to speak a foreign language. I spent a year teaching Thai children-ages two to four- how to speak English and was astounded at how quickly they were able to pick up the language many deem the most difficult language to learn. We spend so much time teaching speakers of other languages to use only English, but what about reversing this and teaching our little native English speakers some Spanish, Korean, or any other language used around the world? FINALLY! A topic I can stand behind and hopefully find a lot of pre-existing research to support the benefits of dual language education in schools. Remember, a thesis is NOT my opinion :) It is in fact a collection of a bunch of other individual's previous work put together in a new way by yours truly...what a ridiculous assignment. Anyways, back to the task at hand, how could the benefits NOT be greater for these students that start learning a foreign language in kindergarten verses the norm of public school starting foreign language learning around fourth, fifth or even sixth grade? Well folks I am setting out to prove just that! I have absolutely no idea where this will take me or even if it will be good, but darn it atleast I'm passionate about it!

Fourth time NOT the charm

         According to some, four failed attempts at skydiving-three out of four on account of weather, would be considered a sign that it is just not in the cards. I, however, choose to NOT be one of these individuals. Maybe I should start at the beginning, about a month ago to be precise. We rounded up seven of our bravest, financially able and of course available-on-weekends friends to sign up to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. The first attempt, we were all a jumbled bunch of crazy nerves, a few of us actually needing reassurance NOT to ask for our money back as well as practice in printing our names! After the longest, most nerve-racking, beautiful day of waiting and watching we are told that it is no longer light enough to take such a large group up. Total let down to say the least. Every single one of us had called out numerous family and friends to witness the event and sadly, no dice. After huffing and puffing a bit at the people in charge of throwing us out of an airplane-yes looking back I realize how making enemies with anyone in charge of your life for any given time could potentially be an awful mistake, we rescheduled for the next weekend at a MUCH earlier time.
         We do not even get the chance to drive out to Molalla to begin round two on account of another typical cloudy and rainy Sunday in Oregon. I know...shocking right! Yet again our flight is cancelled.
         Round three starts off looking very promising! We actually get everyone out there bright and early at ten a.m. and the only group before us gets to go up! Everyone is stoked, today is the day!! Faces to the sky we watch, feeling almost three weeks of built up anticipation! Suddenly, that terrible feeling sets in as the clouds roll in and we start to feel the pitter patter of rain drops. You have GOT to be kidding me!! Although it looks bad, we are still trying to be optimistic and hoping for the weather to clear.
         Almost three hours later, not enough has changed so once more we pack up our large and might I add AWESOMELY supportive families and reschedule one more time. Unfortuneately, two from our party have had enough and argue for their money back. Smaller groups seem to be the way to go.
         Last Sunday, two from our group FINALLY got to skydive!! Hooray for them! Today was my turn as well as my friend Stephanie's, or as we like to call it take four, and the only day in a week long forcast that called for rain. Guess who was correct for once? The weather men. Boo, cancelled again with not even a chance to jump today. Oh well, I guess we will reschedule and hope to jump another day!
         For those of you thinking, "hmmm...this could be a sign Rachael," I say to you in return that I refuse to let patchy Oregon weather keep me on the ground forever!