Ode to Ortega Halloweens

Halloween is my favorite holiday, and this Halloween is bittersweet for me. I love putting my whole family in matching costumes! And it is super easy to do when your kids are young and don't have a strong opinion on what you put them in. Benjamin goes to kindergarten next year, and so I figured this would be our last matching year. I was wrong, last year was. This year Benjamin insisted on choosing his costume. I decided that it would only be fair to let Luna pick as well. This makes me happy and sad. I love that Benjamin wants to be involved in his Halloween costume, but I'm also going to miss all of us matching. So I decided to write this post that goes back to look at the past four Halloweens of our family matching.

2013 - Monster's Inc.

This was Benjamin's first Halloween. He was 7 months old. We came across his costume at the Disney Store, and picked our characters and costumes around him. Benjamin was Mike, I was Boo, and Gerson was Sully.

2014 - Sesame Street

That year Benjamin's favorite parts of each Sesame Street episode was the letter of the day with Elmo and the number of the day with The Count. Benjamin was Elmo, Gerson was the Count Von Count, and I was the Count's girlfriend (who appears in a few episodes), the Countess.

2015 - Classic Halloween

This was Luna's first Halloween. She was almost two months old! We decided to recycle old costumes since we had just spent a lot of money to bring Luna into our family. I wore the same dress from the previous year and put a witch's hat on. Gerson wore his witch hunter's costume from 2011. We put Benjamin in his church clothes and added a vampire cape. And we put Luna in a black onsie and pants that she already had and added cat ears. We actually look pretty great and it's one of my favorite costume sets! My mom also tries to match with us when it works out, and she was a zombie.

2016 - Pokemon

With the release of Pokemon Go, we thought it would be fun to have a Pokemon Halloween. Gerson and I were Pokemon Masters, Benjamin was Charizard, and Luna was Pikachu. My mom and brother matched with us that year as well. Michael was Ninetails and my mom was some fairy pokemon from generation 6 that I can't spell or pronounce.

2017 - You'll have to wait until tomorrow!

This year Gerson and I are wearing old costumes again. Since I'm pregnant, I didn't see the point in spending money on a new costume - especially because I really do not like any of the store bought maternity costumes. I do have a sewing machine and the capabilities to make my own, but I just didn't have time with being sick earlier in the pregnancy, and then preparing for a Disneyland trip! I did take the time to make Benjamin and Luna's costumes, and I'm super proud of myself! Watching them get excited about their costumes as I've measured and tried them on throughout the sewing process has been pretty priceless. They are so excited for tomorrow, I'll post pictures then. :)

My faith inspires my values

Family Search's question for October 14th was: What personal values do you hold most dear?

My faith - my religion - that I have had my whole life has inspired my values. I believe in following the example, teachings, and values of Jesus Christ. I believe in being compassionate, forgiving, and non-judgmental. I believe in keeping my baptism and temple covenants, and raising my children in those covenants and the gospel and doctrine of Christ. I believe in service. I believe in families. I believe in preaching the gospel to all. I'm not perfect in any of these things, but it's something I work on every day.

What kind of teacher I want to be

Family Search's question for October 7th was: What valuable lessons have you learned from school that have helped you in your life?

Well the first valuable lesson I learned was to work hard, but I basically talked about that in my previous post about earning my straight A's. Another lesson I didn't recognize until years later was what kind of teacher I want to be when I am back in the classroom.

I want to be encouraging

A couple of posts ago I talked about my high school chemistry teacher and how she encouraged me to stay in her class and give chemistry a try. I want to be like that and positively encourage my students to give school a chance and work hard. I want them to know that I believe in them, and that not only do I want to help them, but I have the capabilities to help them.

I want to be a safe person

The majority of the seminary teachers at my high school were very focused on befriending the cool and popular kids. I think it was to keep them from ditching that class. There's nothing wrong with that, all students need their teachers to care about them; but sometimes it felt like other students were ignored at the expense of this focus on one particular group. Seminary especially should have been the safest place in the entire school, and unfortunately there were times where it wasn't. One semester there was a boy in my class who constantly verbally harassed me both under his breath and loud enough for the teacher to hear. The teacher never did anything about it. One day I had had enough and met with my teacher after school; he gave a bunch of excuses for the boy's behavior and wanted me to sympathize with him for his own difficulties in school. I did feel bad that boy was having a hard time, but that didn't mean he should get away with saying the things he was saying, and I was extremely disappointed and hurt that a seminary teacher would allow such language and behavior to be exhibited towards another student.

I want to be a safe person. I want my classroom to be as safe as possible. I want students to feel safe coming to me about anything. I also want to be able to stop such instances as mentioned above if they happen in  my classroom before the hurt student needs to meet with me after school. I understand that sometimes teachers miss things, they have 20-30+ students in their classroom. When I was doing my student teaching somethings I caught and took care of something right away. Some things I waited until class ended and pulled the involved students aside privately. Unfortunately, some things I did not catch, but it's something I plan to constantly work and improve on. Being a safe person, and working towards a safe classroom is very important to me.

I want my class to be survivable 

A couple of posts ago I talked about how the math department was set up so that students who weren't that great at math could still pass. I want my classroom to be similar. Not in the way homework and tests go; but the way I teach the content, and how class assignments/homework go. I want students who don't like history to walk away saying, "I don't like history, but Mrs. Ortega made it so that I could survive her class."

Obviously there are other aspects to teaching like the presentation of the content, the type of activities and lessons, etc. But outside of the actual subject matter, being encouraging, being safe, and being able to survive have always been important to me.

Sports, Music, and Dance

Family Search's question for September 30th was: What extracurricular activities did you get involved in?

Growing up my parents encouraged us to choose one extracurricular activity each season/year. Dance eventually became my main focus, but looking back I actually did a lot: gymnastics, swimming, piano, flute, soccer, just to name a few.

In elementary school I took swimming lessons every year. I zoomed through the lower levels, but had to retake the upper levels twice before moving on. I thought it would be fun to do the swim team in middle school and high school, but my level seven teacher said that I didn't have enough endurance. I did gymnastics in 1st and 2nd grade. It wasn't at a real gym. It was through the Parks and Rec department, but it was good enough for me as a beginner. I did three seasons of gymnastics before switching to soccer in 3rd and 4th grade. I also did soccer through the Parks and Rec department. The teams were determined by which elementary school we went to. The organizers didn't keep score, but the players and parents sure did!

I was in my elementary school choir 4th-6th grade. It was a sign up choir, no try outs. We sang a lot of fun songs, and got to sing at the airport to arriving athletes for the 2002 Winter Olympics! I took piano lessons from 6th-9th grade. I know that's pretty late compared to most people, but we didn't own a piano until then; and it's not a true, full scale piano, it's a keyboard. In 7th grade I played the flute and French horn in intermediate band. My middle school had beginning band, intermediate band, and advanced band. Intermediate band was for those who took at least one semester of beginning band or took summer school band the summer before. I took summer school band and got to do intermediate band for both semesters of 7th grade.  I didn't continue music after 7th grade because I chose to focus on dance from 8th grade onward. I also made it into the school play in 8th grade. We did Alice in Wonderland. I was cast as the White Queen. It was my one and only play and it was really fun.

I took various styles of dance classes throughout my life. In 1st grade I took jazz and ballet. In 4th grade I took tap and jazz. In 5th grade I started my ballroom training. I took classes 5th-7th grade, made my school's performance team in 8th grade, JV I'm 9th grade, and Varsity 10th-12th grade. In high school I also took private lessons for competition. I also took hip hop in 7th and 8th grade, and modern dance in 12th grade. Basically from 5th grade on dance defined my extra curricular activities.

Because I was given the opportunity to try so many different things, I want to give that same opportunity to Benjamin and Luna. I want to let them choose, and I don't want to pressure them to stick with one thing too early.

October 2017 General Conference Highlights

In the past couple years I have really grown to love and appreciate general conference. I take notes in my journal, and I wanted to share my favorite talks and messages.

General Women's Session

Sister Sharon L. Eubank, the 1st Counselor in the Relief Society presidency reissued a challenge from Spencer W. Kimball:

1. Be righteous
2. Be articulate
3. Be different
4. Be distinct
5. Do 1-4 in happy ways

Sister Neill F. Marriot, the 2nd Counselor in the Young Women presidency quoted a poem or proverb, "Somethings matter, some don't. A few things last, most don't." She said that we need to focus on the things that matter and are lasting: learn of God, grow in obedience, serve, and forgive. She said to use Heavenly Father's help in doing those things, and to do them His way.

Sister Joy D. Jones, the general Primary President, explained the difference between worth and worthiness. She said that worth is our value; that we value ourselves how Heavenly Father values us. Worthiness is achieved through obedience. She said, "If we sin we are less worthy, but we are never worthless."

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, 2nd Counselor in the First Presidency shared a parable about three sisters; one was always sad, one mad, and the other glad. He spoke on characteristics of each one, and advised us on how we can be glad; which was to study and apply Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life. His talk was for me. I felt like he was talking to me and no one else was there. I wrote about his talk for Mormon Women Stand.

Saturday Morning Session

Three talks stood out to me during this session.

Sister Bonnie L. Oscarson, the general Young Women President, talked about service. She said that we don't have to feel discouraged or stressed if we can't save the world. She said to focus locally first: family, ward, neighborhood, community, and expand from there. Her message reminded me of an experience I had last year. My neighbor's child was having brain surgery, and I had signed up to bring them dinner the day of the surgery. That day happened to also be the same day as the terrorist attack at the Brussels airport. I became discouraged as I witnessed people I knew condemning others for not doing enough. I took it personally. What was I supposed to do? I have two young kids to care for. It's not like I could drop everything and jump on a plane to go help. The Holy Ghost calmed my frustrations and I felt him say, "You are doing a good thing. You are serving a family in need. This is what you need to do today."

Elder Dallin H. Oaks, of the Quorum of the Twelve talked about The Family - A Proclamation to the World. He said that salvation is an individual matter, while exaltation is a family matter. So if we want exaltation for our family, the decisions we make for our family should be done the Lord's way. He then talked about his personal experience and witness of the writing of the Family Proclamation. He said that is is not "just policy," it reaffirms God's doctrine. It was really special listening to him talk about the writing and revising of that special document.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, of the Quorum of the Twelve talked about perfection. I imagine his talk was almost everyone's favorite talk. It was so touching, comforting, and encouraging. My favorite line was, "While in mortality, let's strive for steady improvement without obsessing over what behavioral scientists call "toxic perfectionism."

Saturday Afternoon and the Priesthood Session

Unfortunately I let a lot of things distract during the afternoon session, so I don't have as detailed notes as I do for the morning session. I really enjoyed Elder Gary E. Stevenson's talk about spiritual eclipses,and how we should use the lens of the gospel when facing challenges and trials. I was also moved by President Russell M. Nelson's powerful testimony of  the Book of Mormon. I missed the priesthood session, but I look forward to reading those talks in the Ensign.

Sunday Morning and Afternoon Sessions

I was preparing and baking a pretty complicated coffee cake during the morning session, so I have zero notes for it. But I really loved Elder Donald L. Hallstrom's talk on miracles. I'm most likely going to write about it for Mormon Women Stand. I also appreciated President Henry B. Eyring repeating President Monson's admonition to read from the Book of Mormon daily. He also shared some wonderful stories about volunteers helping in the aftermath of the recent hurricanes.  

The afternoon session seemed to focus on Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Four talks stood out to me.

Elder M. Russell Ballard spoke first during the afternoon session. He  talked about family history and the trek back to our Heavenly Father; calling it "the most important trek of our lives." He suggested that when feeling lost we ask ourselves, "What is my final destination? Where are my footsteps taking me?" Right away I know that my final destination should be to live with Heavenly Father, so I should make sure that my footsteps are leading me there.

Brother Tad R. Callister, the general Sunday School President  spoke about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. He spent the majority of his talk "debunking" common contradictions that critics like to use to claim the Book of Mormon is made up. I really liked when he said that it was revelation, not brilliance, that produced the Book of Mormon. While he was talking I thought about a sister in my ward who bore her testimony of the Book of Mormon a couple months ago, and she said something to the affect of, "To me it doesn't matter if today's Native Americans match the DNA of the Nephites and Lamanites or not; I know that the Book of Mormon is true and the people in it existed." I really love that, because the Spirit should always be the most credible witness to us.

Elder Adilson de Paula Parrella, of the Seventy, spoke about the First Vision. He talked about three truths that we have because of the First Vision:

1. God calls prophets, seers, and revelaters to instruct, guide, and warn us.

2. We know the true nature of God.

3. We have the knowledge of the reality and sacred nature of Jesus Christ.

Elder Neil L. Anderson ended conference. He talked about the preparation and revelation that goes into preparing the messages that we hear at conference. He advised us to trust the words of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the twelve, that doing so is vital to our spiritual growth and endurance. I thought it was a great way to end conference weekend to remind us that the messages we heard really were inspired by God, and they are meant for us to study and apply. I look forward to doing so.