The Thought Behind the Gifts

Family Search's question for December 23rd was: What are the most memorable and treasured gifts you have received in your life?

I have received many amazing gifts throughout my life, but there are three that stick out: my cat Tiger, a bookcase, and clothes for Luna her first Christmas.

My parents gave me a kitten for my 8th birthday/baptism. This was a really big deal because neither my mom nor dad grew up with pets and neither really liked cats. I had been begging them for a cat since I could talk, but we couldn't have any pets while living in apartments. They gave me Tiger a year after we moved into our house. Giving me a cat was a big way they showed me how much they loved me. Tiger touched all of our hearts during his 18 years of life - even my dad no matter what he says. 😉

Gerson gave me a bookcase our third Christmas. For the first two and a half years of marriage, we just stacked our school books on the floor. Our collection was growing, and I was adding books for pleasure reading as well. When Gerson asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I tentatively said a bookcase. He found a good deal and we assembled it together. I'm a huge bookworm, so a bookcase is a pretty great gift!

We blessed Luna the December after she was born, so Gerson's family came to Utah for Christmas. Most Christmases Gerson's parents have us buy the gifts that are from them and they pay us back. That year they bought and wrapped the presents themselves since they were going to actually see us. Since Luna was only 3 months old I opened her gifts for her. Gerson's family got her a bunch of clothes, and the colors and styles they got showed how much they pay attention to me and what I like. As I gushed over each outfit they said, "These gifts are more for Chelsey than Luna!" I really felt loved by them. 

I hope that I have been as thoughtful in the gifts that I have given my loved ones, and I hope I can continue to be thoughtful in the future. Gift giving has really changed since becoming a mother. I love picking out Benjamin's and Luna's gifts, and I love watching them open their gifts!

Our Proposal Anniversary

Family Search's question for October 16th was: What different occasions do you celebrate each year?

We celebrate all of the major holidays: Christmas, Halloween, Easter, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, and Independence Day. I've written about a few here (okay, I've written about Halloween and Christmas, my two favorites):

Trick-or-Treating Lessons
Christmas Traditions
Ode to Ortega Halloweens
An Ortega Christmas Story

We also celebrate graduations, birthdays, and baby blessings:

Benjamin's 3rd Birthday
Princess Luna Turns 1!
Benjamin's 4th Birthday
Dinner and Ice Cream Celebrations

One unique thing that Gerson and I celebrate is the anniversary of the day he asked me to marry him. So we have our wedding anniversary, and then our proposal anniversary. Gerson proposed to me on February 7, 2010 (The story can be read here). It was a Sunday, and on the next day we went to Brick Oven on a date and shared a heart shaped pizza. Now every year on February 7th we go out to Brick Oven and share a heart shaped pizza to celebrate the day we got engaged! It generally ends up being our Valentine's date as well, but it's really special to us to have our own day to celebrate our love for each other.

FHE, Prayer, and Scripture Study

Family Search's question for October 21st was: What were the faith and religious traditions of your ancestors?

For this post I decided not to go very far back, and I'm going to share the traditions that I grew up with and how they inspired my own. I'm going to talk about Family Home Evening, Family prayer, and Family scripture study.

Family Home Evening

Growing up we either had FHE on Sundays or Mondays depending on how life was going that year. We had a FHE wheel that had our names on it: Mom, Dad, Chelsey, Michael. Outside of the wheel were the following "jobs": Prayer, Song, Lesson, Treats. We turned the wheel one position each week to rotate jobs. The person on prayer chose to say either the opening or closing prayer and called on someone else for the other one. The person on song chose the song and led the music. The person on lesson gave the lesson. And the person on treats chose the treat, but my mom usually ended up making them regardless of who is on treats.

When Gerson and I first started doing FHE in our home we used a FHE jar that I had made in Relief Society. It was easy to pull a topic out that already had scriptures, song, and activity ideas. We took turns each week. When we ran out, we had to start thinking of stuff ourselves. Around that time I felt inspired that the kids should get involved with FHE as well. As if by inspiration my aunt gave us a gift that happened to be a FHE board! It's a black board, so we write in chalk. When it's Benjamin's turn to give the lesson, I help him pick something and practice it. When it's Luna's turn to give the lesson Gerson picks something and has her answer questions about the topic. Family Home Evenings have become a lot more spiritual as we have gotten the kids involved.

Family Prayer

Growing up we said prayer at dinner time and right before bed. My dad called one of us to say prayer each time.

When Gerson and I were getting ready to get married, my stake president recommended that Gerson say prayer on the odd numbered days, and I say prayer on the even numbered days; that way there is no confusion on whose turn it is to say prayer. We stuck to that until about two months ago. At that time I felt inspired that we needed to include Benjamin and Luna in family prayer, they have been learning how to pray in primary and both had asked to say it. So now Gerson calls on someone for prayer at dinner time and bed time. I also felt inspired to start having family morning prayers. Benjamin and Luna serve as our alarm clock, and I say it.

Family Scriptures

Growing up we read different versions of the scriptures depending on my and Michael's age. We started with what I call the "comic book scriptures." They have little box pictures with a few sentences under each to describe what is going on. My brother and I learned how to read with those. Next we read another illustrated version, but there was only one picture per page and more detailed text. Then we moved on to the regular scriptures. Once Michael and I could read, whatever version of the scriptures we were one we divided up the reading equally among my dad, mom, Michael, and I.

Gerson and I didn't start reading scriptures as a family until after Benjamin was born. We got the "comic book scriptures" when Benjamin was around a year old and are still reading those. Since my kids can't read yet, Gerson and I divide the reading up between the two of us. We have each set in English and Spanish. We read the chapter in English one night, and then the same chapter in Spanish the next night. Benjamin and Luna sit next to us and look at the pictures as we read, and we let them make comments and ask questions.

As my kids get older, and more join our family I'm sure we will change up little details. The recent changes we have made have been so good for our family and our spiritual growth.

An Ortega Christmas Story

Family Search's question for December 9th was: Which of your childhood holiday traditions have you continued into adulthood?

Referring back to my previous post about traditions from my childhood, I'll share what my family does now.

First Christmas Teddy Bear - Both my brother and I have winter themed teddy bears that have our birth year on them. I have done the same for Benjamin and Luna. Benjamin has a 2013 teddy bear and Luna has a 2015 teddy bear. And it just hit me that I need to figure out if I get a 2017 teddy bear ahead of time for this new baby or wait until 2018. She'll be born this year, but most likely after Christmas, so her first Christmas won't be until next year. Hmmmm.... I have some thinking to do.

Count Down Calendar - Up until last year, my mom would wrap up candy for my family and put numbered stickers, 1-24, on the miniature presents; and that's how we would count down to Christmas. Last year my mom made a giant fabric candle just like hers to go in my home! So last year and this year I wrapped up the candy for my family and tied each present to the loops in the candle. We wait until after dinner, and I cut down the present, and on the odd numbered days Benjamin opens up the present and passes out the candy, and on the even numbered days it's Luna's turn. Next year, we'll do every three days to include baby girl, but 24 is divisible by 3 so it will still be even for all involved.

Christmas Trees - Last year I started letting Benjamin help decorate the tree, and this year Luna also got to help. I hung the really nice and breakable ornaments on the top, while the kids got to do the rest. They have no concept of evenly spacing, so the majority of the ornaments are hanging in one section, some branches of the tree having 2-3 ornaments on one branch. I didn't correct them, nor did I change it after they went to bed. My tree will only be uneven for a few years, and I want my kids to not ever feel discouraged from helping. In fact, since we put up the tree, the ornaments have moved around quite a bit because the kids like to play with them and hang them back up when they are done.

Santa - We are kind of playing the whole Santa thing by ear. We do Santa gifts, but I haven't told my kids that Santa visits on Christmas Eve while they are sleeping. Two of their favorite movies - The Nightmare Before Christmas and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - have Santa in them, so they know who he is. But I think they just view him as a character associated with Christmas because Benjamin asked me if Santa is at Disneyland. He also asked if Santa was going to come to our house and I told him no, and he asked, "Is it because he lives too far away?" I said yes. As for the kind of gifts that are from Santa, they are small and inexpensive. This year our entire family is getting one Santa gift as opposed to individual gifts, but we each get our own stockings which my mom fills with candy, nuts, and fruit (we spend Christmas at my parents' house). Next year when Benjamin goes to kindergarten we'll have to figure out something more solid to tell him since he'll have classmates with a wide range of beliefs.

Presents - Gerson grew up with his dad and mom giving gifts individually. So Gerson got two gifts from them: one from dad and one from mom. I grew up with my parents giving together as "from mom and dad." Last year we got enough gifts that we did what his parents do, and Benjamin and Luna got a gift from each of us. This year, however, we bought the kids one gift each from both of us - ok, technically two if you count the Santa gift. I'm pretty involved with what extended family members give my kids. Mainly because Gerson's parents send us money to buy the gifts and wrap them since they live out of state. My mom and I work together on everyone's presents. My dad's side of the family does a gift exchange: aunts give to aunts, uncles to uncles, cousins to cousins. My dad is in charge of the assignments every year. When a cousin gets married, they "graduate" from the family gift exchange. Because of that, Benjamin and Luna don't have a gift to open at the Christmas party. So I decided that is when they would open their gifts from each other. Last year I just picked them out for them. But this year Gerson took Benjamin to pick out Luna's and I took Luna to pick out Benjamin's! We are still included in my mom's side of the family because they do it a bit differently. They do it by family. So this year my mom and her sister Deanna are exchanging, so one gift to each member of Deanna's family from all of us, and vice versa. Except since getting married and having kids I have always told my mom to tell her siblings to just do a family gift for the Ortegas instead of individual gifts. We still do individual gifts for Gerson's family; but with his sisters starting to get married and more grandkids are being born, I think it's time in the next year or so to suggest a gift exchange.

The Nativity - The Nativity is my favorite Christmas decoration. So far we have seven sets, one for

each year of marriage. My mom knows this, and she or my grandma are usually the ones to give me my latest set. Gerson says we are going to run out of room soon, but I say that we have plenty of room! Lol. Benjamin helped me set up each set this year and now he knows the names of all of those involved in the nativity. In fact, the story of the nativity was what Benjamin chose to do for his FHE lesson last week. I told the story while Benjamin held up the figures and placed them where they go.

Benjamin and Luna have really loved this Christmas season, and I'm looking forward to future Christmases with them.

My Mom and Public School Associations

Family Search's question for November 25th was: Is there someone in your life who has inspired you to care more about community and global issues?

My mom works for an elementary school as the facilitator over the Low Reinforcement Room. It's kind of like detention, but during school hours. Students who need to leave their general ed classroom for a period of time due to behavior or being too far behind in school work are sent to my mom's room.

My mom is an hourly employee. She belongs to what is called the Employee Association, which is different than a teacher's union because it focuses on the hourly employees because they have different needs than the salary employees. Unions generally have a bad reputation, but this group isn't running around on strike asking for higher wages. They have a good relationship with the school district and school board (I believe). They talk about and advocate for a lot of things like paid time off details, clocking in and out policies, and extra training so they can better do their jobs, to name a few.

As I have heard my mom share stories and experiences, and as I've experienced my own during student teaching, I have become very passionate about what goes on in public schools and how it affects both students and employees. I think that caring about both students and employees (instead of of just students, which is what many parents focus on - understandably) is super important.

I haven't done much as my kids are so young, but I plan on being very involved in my children's school as they enter kindergarten and up.

Sharing My Testimony Through Blogging

Family Search's question for November 18th was: How has your life been enriched by your commitment to causes?

I think they mean civil/social/political causes, but I haven't really been involved in any of those. I mean, sure I have my opinion, but I've never been involved in spreading the message of one particular cause. But I have been involved in the most important cause: sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ by sharing my testimony on social media.

LDS Church leaders have encouraged us to use our social media accounts for good; specifically in sharing the gospel by sharing our testimonies:

"As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we have been given the mandate to share God’s light and truth with those around us. Social Media platforms give us a unique opportunity to flood the earth with positive thoughts, imagery, and messages. Elder David A. Bednar has invited us all to share the good we have in our lives. Find more information about this invitation and how to #sharegoodness on social.lds.org.

Some suggested social media guidelines: 

1) Use your own genuine voice and pictures. 

2) Be positive as you share the goodness from your own life. 

3) Respect Intellectual Property. 

4) Remember that social media posts are forever."

I originally started this blog to follow this advice. For the first year and a half of blogging I only wrote about religious stuff; but because I left out a lot, it wasn't very personal. So two years ago I started to blog more about my life, which includes religion.

Last year I received the wonderful opportunity to join Mormon Women Stand and write for them! That has been a huge way for me to share my testimony online.

I also have a facebook in which I will share a quote or scripture along with my personal thoughts when inspired. I also do a smaller version on my Twitter account.

Sharing my testimony in so open a platform has really helped me improve my gospel study because I want to word things correctly and make sure I understand them. So my knowledge and testimony has greatly increased as I have become more vocal in my religious beliefs. I have also learned a lot of new and interesting things as I have engaged in conversation with others online. That is how my life has been enriched by my commitment to the sharing of the gospel.

Service: Start Local.

Family Search's question for November 11th was: In what ways do you sacrifice your time to volunteer in your community?

If this question had been asked before October conference, I would have responded, "I don't. I have never done anything good for the community." However, Sister Bonnie L. Oscarson taught me that is not true. In her most recent conference address she said:

"What good does it do to save the world if we neglect the needs of those closest to us and those whom we love the most? How much value is there in fixing the world if the people around us are falling apart and we don’t notice? Heavenly Father may have placed those who need us closest to us, knowing that we are best suited to meet their needs."

She then goes on to talk about how we start with service towards family members, then we branch out to ward and neighborhood, then the community, and on and on. As I listened to her talk, a memory came to me from two years ago. My neighbor's son was having brain surgery the same day that the terrorist attack happened in the Brussels Airport in Belgium. I had signed up to make them dinner that night. It seemed that all of social media was focused on the event, and everyone thought they knew the best way the rest of us should respond. And it felt like a SAHM in Utah "doing nothing" was not appropriate. As I became overwhelmed with feelings of guilt I felt the Spirit whisper to me, "You are making dinner for a family in need. You are doing what you need to do right now."

Making dinner for that family was a huge turning point in giving me the courage to be willing to reach out to help others. I'm not good at doing service, it's out of my comfort zone. I had never made dinner for anyone outside of family before. A couple of years prior, a sister I visit taught had just had a baby, and the RS President told me that I had to make her dinner. I nearly had a panic attack trying to figure out what to do because at that point in my life I was only making my family hamburger helper type meals. I reluctantly reached out to her and asked when/if she would like dinner. She told me that her family lived close by and that they were taking care of her. I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

After feeling reassurance from the Spirit that I was doing good, I felt more comfortable volunteering to make dinner for families in my ward when they needed it. But I don't know if I consider it a sacrifice, because all I did was double the recipe of whatever I was making my own family.

When I think of volunteering in the community, I think of city and school programs. Since my kids are so young, I'm not really in a position to do any of those things, but when Benjamin starts school next year I will absolutely sign up to help with class parties, reading volunteers, and other parent volunteer activities that the school asks for. 

Breast Milk or Formula? And Other Thoughts During My 3rd Trimester

I'm 33 weeks now. My last pregnancy post was the 20 week gender reveal. We have a name picked out for Princess #2, but we won't be sharing until she is born. 😃

Benjamin really understands that I am growing a baby, and that she will be born soon. About a week ago he said, "Mommy, I want to go to the hospital and see the baby come out of your tummy." I laughed and told him that he has to wait until after Christmas, and grandma and papa will bring him to visit. Benjamin loves rubbing my belly, hugging it, and giving the baby a kiss. He also seems to understand that baby girl moves and kicks and that it sometimes hurts me. When I suddenly gasp or cry out in pain Benjamin will ask, "Is (her name) kicking you?"

I'm still not sure if Luna understands. When I was pregnant with her, I know that Benjamin didn't understand, but Luna has developed faster than Benjamin, so she might. She doesn't talk about the baby as much as Benjamin does, but she does like to look at and tickle my bare belly. Every once in a while she does hug my belly and say, "baby" so she might know what's going on.

Baby girl started moving and kicking for Gerson a couple of weeks ago. Benjamin moved for Gerson super early, and Gerson simply putting his hand on my belly would cause Benjamin to start kicking and dancing. But both Luna and this baby have been a bit more shy and Gerson can only feel them if they are already moving and I get his hand on my belly in time.

Despite my attempts at exercising, I am the biggest this pregnancy than my other two. I've been told that you get bigger with each one, but I'm not going to pretend that it doesn't bother me. I just was so spoiled with Luna. I wasn't sick,  I was able to exercise, and I gained the least amount of weight. Right now I weigh as much as I did with Benjamin at 39 weeks! Gerson said that only my tummy is bigger than the other two times. He doesn't think my face, arms, legs, or back look bigger than my previous pregnancies. I'm glad  he sees it that way, whether it's true or not, it makes me feel better.

I get cramps and heartburn, and sleeping comfortably is a nightmare, so I'm physically ready for her to come even though I still have 7 more weeks! (give or take) But our apartment isn't ready. I still need to go through all of Luna's clothes and bring them in from the storage unit, and bring the bassinet in and the swing, and it doesn't feel like we have room for any of it. (Related side note: we just finished watching How I Met Your Mother and when Marshall and Lily are pregnant with their third Marshall says, "Marvin and Daisy are good sharing a room, and we'll put the baby's crib in... the shower." That's EXACTLY how we feel right now! But in reality, baby girl can fit in my and Gerson's room for now.) So since I have so much organizing to do, I'm glad I still have 7ish more weeks. (knock on wood)

As we get closer to my due date, I've thought about how I'm going to feed this baby. I didn't do anything to prepare for Benjamin, because I thought that breast feeding would come natural and it would all be good. It wasn't. After two weeks I switched to pumping. After a couple weeks of pumping, I wasn't pumping enough, so I did formula and pumping. And when Benjamin was 3 months old I switched to just formula. The whole process was really emotional and depressing. And when my milk dried up, I felt a huge weight lift off of my shoulders. (I know all of the opinions about "trying harder" and how much milk production really is enough. Just please accept that you were not there during those sleepless emotional nights, and so any "you could have/should haves" nipple nazi mantras mean nothing to me and my individual situation.) It was really embarrassing to feed Benjamin formula in public. One lady at church asked me if I nursed him at home and the bottle was just for public. I was so embarrassed that I lied and said yes. So when I got pregnant with Luna, I was determined to do things differently.

During my pregnancy with Luna I prayed every day that I would be able to nurse her. I asked my mom to pray for me, and I asked one of my cousins to pray for me. As I got closer to  my due date I read every article I could find about breast feeding, and explained my hopes with my OB and asked for advice on what pre-labor prep I could do to insure my milk came in. When Luna was born she latched right away and nursed for an hour! I had zero problems with her. No latching fights. No bleeding nipples - they weren't even sore, ever. When I did pump, zero problems with producing enough. I truly believe that my prayers were answered. And I also wonder if part of it is simply Luna's personality. She eats anything and everything we put in front of her, she even steals from our plates. Getting Benjamin to eat is still an exhausting battle. So maybe from the start, both of  their eating personalities affected how nursing went.

With this baby I haven't felt stressed, worried, or determined when it comes to feeding them. I haven't felt the need to ask God for it to turn out a certain way. I trust that things will turn out the way they are meant to. Of course plan A is to breast feed, but I'm hoping that if that doesn't work out, I won't be as emotionally devastated and embarrassed this time around.

I can't believe we are almost there! I'm so excited to meet her!

Be the First to Give Respect

Family Search's question for November 4th was: What motto or creed do you live by?

The first thought that came to my mind was, "You give me all of you and I'll give you all of me." That was my dating motto. But I don't really think that's what Family Search had in mind, and I don't really want to rehash old break up stories because I gave that ultimatum, and the only guy willing to accept it and follow through was Gerson.

The second thought that came to my mind was two memes about respect that I saw on facebook that I heavily disagreed with. Both, in summary, sent the message of: "I won't respect you until you respect me." Although I understand, and to an extent agree with the mentality that respect must be earned; I feel like if everyone is waiting for others to show respect first, no one will ever give respect.

So I have recently started working on making sure that I treat everyone around me with respect regardless of how they are treating me, on and offline. Being respectful is a variety of attitudes and characteristics. It's holding my temper when someone makes me angry. It's showing genuine love and care for someone when serving them. It's using kind language when disagreeing with someone. It's accepting someone's different opinion and valuing them as a human being.

In the most recent women's session of conference President Uchtdorf said:

"When someone opposes or disagrees with us, it's tempting to assume that there must be something wrong with them. And from there it's a small step to attach the worst of motives to their words and actions.

Of course, we must always stand for what is right, and there are times when we must raise our voices for that cause. However, when we do so with anger or hate in our hearts - when we lash out at others to hurt, shame, or silence them - chances are we are not doing so in righteousness."

He later goes on to say:

"We are responsible for our own discipleship, and it has little - if anything - to do with the way others treat us. We obviously hope that they will be understanding and charitable in return, but our love for them is dependent of their feelings toward us."

I'm not perfect at being respectful 100% of the time, but I'm working on it and doing much better. I think it would be beneficial for everyone to work on being respectful without the condition of others respecting us first.

Values for My Children

Family Search's question for October 28th was: What values do you feel are most important to pass down to posterity?

I decided to go back through my old posts and see what I had wrote about what I wanted to teach Benjamin and Luna. This is what I found:

• I want to give them the opportunity to make their own choices when it comes to school, extra curricular activities, work and other interests.
• I want to teach them to work hard in school, and that will lead to working hard in life.
• I want to teach them to eat healthy.
• I want to teach them to make the right kind of sacrifices. Sacrifices that help them follow God's plan for them.
• I want to teach them to value a temple marriage.
• I want to teach them to value families.
• I want to teach them to value education. (That one might be mentioned several times because it's that important to Gerson and I.)
• I want to teach them about money the way my dad taught me: a little bit of responsibility at a time.
• I want to teach them how to build their own testimonies.
• I want to teach them to value friendship and to be kind and inclusive.
• I want to teach them to find joy in service.

And the most important:

I want to teach them to build a relationship with Jesus Christ and to follow His example.

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.

I earned my straight A's

Family Search's question for September 23rd was: What subjects did you excel at in school? Which were hardest for you?

When I was in college I took a class in which the professor was incredibly lenient. I worked very hard in his class, and gave it my all on every assignment and exam. It turned out that pretty much turning in the final research paper was enough for him. I expressed frustration to a classmate that I had become friends with; I felt like my hard work wasn't being respected if lazier students were getting the same credit as I was. (I know, that's a pretty selfish viewpoint.) My friend said, "Well, you can take comfort in the fact that you actually earned your A."

That pretty much sums up my entire education experience. I always got good grades, but I worked hard for them. I didn't coast through school, though I'm sure it looked that way on the surface. I worked hard, I studied, my parents supported and helped me, school was important. But not every subject was created equal for me. I did have a natural ability for English and History, and I struggled with math and science - especially in the higher grades.

I started to flourish in English in 8th grade when I took my first Honor's English class. (The one and only Mr. Ricci was my teacher!) We read a lot more books, and discussed and analyzed them. My high school English classes were very similar. Because I'm such a bookworm, this kind of learning was exactly my style. We still worked on spelling, vocab, and grammar; but they were usually centered around the book we were reading. I read so many books I would have never considered without my English classes.

History classes aren't much until High School. Well, they can be in middle school with the right teacher. My love of history didn't stem from school. It was the historical fiction books I grew up reading: American Girl books (Felicity, Addy, Molly, etc.), Dear America, Royal Diaries, Carolyn Meyer's Tudor series, and Philippa Gregory's Tudor series. My high school required a full year of U.S. History and a semester long elective of either Ancient History or Modern History (which I heard should have been called Modern Wars). I picked Ancient History for my elective credit. I loved that class, and my teacher loved me. I remember one time when she was passing back a graded assignment, as she put mine down on my desk she said in a low voice, "One of the few to do this correctly." This class showed me that actual history is just as exciting as historical fiction. After that class History was my thing, and I took AP US, AP World, and then went on to major in History Teaching.

Science became hard for me in 5th grade, and math became hard for me in 7th when I took Algebra 1. My final grades would never lead one to believe that I struggled with these subjects, but I did. I used up the maximum allowable test retakes, and my dad helped me with my math homework almost every night. In high school math itself didn't become easier, but keeping good grades did. I think that the math department at my high school wanted to make it so that those who were not talented in math could still pass and get on with their lives. In every math class I took we got full credit on assignments as long as we answered every question, and at the beginning of class we would go over every problem before turning in our assignment and could change the answer to the correct one. And actually studying the study guide before a test guaranteed a passing grade. You still had to be willing to work to pass, but they did make it easier than other math classes I had taken. Science was better in high school as well. I think it's because each subject had it's own class: biology, chemistry, physics. Before it was just a little bit of each in one class. That was too hard for me, but spending an entire year on one science subject made it easier to understand and do well.

I'm glad that school wasn't 100% easy for me. I'm glad that I had to work and study hard. I don't know how my children will do in school, but thanks to my own experiences, I do know how to teach them to work hard; and that will hopefully give them a positive education experience like mine was.

Um... I actually liked school lunch

Family Search's question for September 16th was: What are your memories of school lunch?

I know that it's popular to complain about school lunch, but I enjoyed the majority of mine. The food my school district served was pretty good. We got a monthly lunch calendar, and my mom and I would go over it and circle which days I would eat school lunch. She would pay for those days and I would bring a home lunch on the other days.

One funny memory I have is there was a lunch lady who wouldn't let students say no to vegetables, and there was a lunchroom monitor who wouldn't let students leave unless their trays were empty. So I would hide the food I didn't like in my empty milk carton before asking to be excused.

At my elementary school 4th-6th grade got to rotate being lunch workers. I loved being a lunch worker and being a server was the coveted position (being a dishwasher or a table wiper were not as much fun). There were food perks to being a lunch worker, like we got left over desserts. And it was fun to leave class early for lunch, and come back late.

In middle school and high school we had a lot more food choices, so I rarely took a home lunch and ate school lunch almost every day. In middle school there was a main lunch line, an alternative line (something like a corndog or chicken sandwich), a pizza line, and a snack cart. The snack cart we had to use cash on, the other lines we used our lunch accounts. In high school we had even more options. There was the main lunch line, the burger/chicken sandwich/corndog/nuggets line (in two different areas of the school), a subway sandwich cart, a pizza cart, and the "Dawg House" (which sold pizza, hot dogs, nachos, and other concessions snacks). The carts and Dawg House we had to pay with cash, the school lunch lines we used our lunch accounts. My high school was surrounded by restaurants, so sometimes I did that.

In elementary, middle, and high school, the main lunch line was the closest to being the healthiest. In middle school I didn't do so well with that, I got pizza most days. High school was about half and half. I'm going to try to teach my kids better food choices, and hopefully they'll follow my advice.

Utah South Regional Conference 2017

This past Sunday the Utah South area had regional conference. I took my journal with me to the meeting to take notes, and I thought that I would share what stood out to me.

Elder Carl B. Cook (I think - I had kids to tend to as well) of the Seventy spoke first. He reminded us of President Monson's most recent conference address in which he admonished us to read the Book of Mormon daily. As he spoke about this I though of how I keep the Book of Mormon apart of my scripture study when I am in other books. I am currently in the Old Testament, and as I read I use the footnotes to take me to Book of Mormon passages and I connect them to what I am reading.

Elder Cook also shared with us some notes his seven year old grandson wrote about what he has learned from the Book of Mormon:

• There are many bad things, but there are more good things.
• Jesus will protect you, if you will protect him.
• The Spirit will help you grow.

He ended with his own verse of "Follow the Prophet" about President Monson. Unfortunately I missed the majority of  it, but I got these two lines written down:

"If we apply his teachings, things will turn out swell."

Elder Cook's main message throughout his talk was to follow the prophet.

Sister Christina B. Franco, 2nd Counselor in the General Primary Presidency spoke next. I missed the majority of her talk because my son had to go to the bathroom, but I did write down her quoting Elder Clayton, "The Spirit of the Gospel is optimistic." A friend of mine summarized her talk for me and said that she told the story of a remote mission area being reopened, and the new missionaries found 125 people studying each Sunday from the scriptures that they had. No one had the priesthood to bless the sacrament or hold any callings, but they still met and studied in faith. That sounds like a wonderful story, and I can only imagine that happiness those members felt when the missionaries found them and helped them form official branches and meetings.

Elder Juan A. Uceda, of the Seventy, talked about how mighty prayer can  overcome apathy. He called apathy and "enemy to righteousness." But what is apathy? Apathy is having a lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern. Can you imagine how having a lack of interest or concern can affect righteous decision making? Elder Uceda said that when we "offer a mighty prayer, we spend a moment in the heavens," and that a mighty prayer can overcome apathy. He pulled out his phone and talked about how he has no idea how his phone works, but he knows that he can call people, they can call him, etc. He compared that to prayer and basically said, if a phone works, prayer works.

Elder Gary E. Stevenson, of the Twelve, was our final speaker. He started by giving a very interesting history of the creation of the wards and stakes in the Utah South area. He told us that the St. George temple was the first temple dedicated in our area. That we have seven languages in which the conference was being translated into: Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Samoan, and Tongan. And the Utah South area has three missions: Provo, Orem, and St. George; there used to be no missions in Utah!

The remainder of his talk was about three specific Christlike attributes: humility, obedience, and virtue. He said that humility is the willingness to submit to the will of the Lord. It is gratitude. It is the opposite of pride. He said that obedience is the first law of heaven, it is an act of faith.  Obedience will increase our strength and wisdom, and provide us with protection and safety. He said that we have virtue when we are clean and pure spiritually. We resist temptation and repent quickly. He suggested that we study these attributes in Preach My Gospel. (My upcoming RS lesson is on virtue, so I'm going to do just that!)

He ended by calling these three Christlike attributes the "HOV lane." He said that when we have the Holy Ghost as our companion and use humility, are obedient, and are virtuous, we will have a smoother ride home to our Heavenly Father.

This is the first time that I paid attention during regional conference, and I'm so glad I did!

I Can't Just Pick One Beloved Teacher!

Family Search's question for September 9th was: Who was your most beloved teacher? Why?

Well, because education has been such an important part of my life, I can't pick one, so I'm going to talk about three.

I'll start with  my third grade teacher Kathy Hansen. Mrs. Hansen had been teaching for a long time by the time I came to her classroom. She had teenage children when I was her student. She was just so kind and loving, and had the perfect personality to teach 9 year olds. She had these classroom dollars that we could earn on our assignments and classroom jobs. At different times throughout the year she would hold an auction where our classroom dollars could be used. If I remember correctly, the auctions usually were around the holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. She also had a classroom game of hangman up on the board. When we behaved well as a class, or the majority of us did well on a test or assignment, we could guess a letter. If we got too out of hand she would erase a letter. The word(s) usually spelled out some type of treat, activity, or party that we would get once we figured out the word or phrase. I've kept in contact with her over the years. She doesn't teach 3rd grade anymore. She was the Assistant Principal at one point, and now I believe she works at the district, or has retired.

My sixth grade teacher, Lorri Bunce is next. Mrs. Bunce taught a

5th/6th grades combination class. There were 20 5th graders and 10 6th graders when I was in her class. It was really interesting being in that kind of class. Some lessons was everyone, while others we were split into our grade level and either got Mrs. Bunce teaching us or we had to work by ourselves - that required a lot of self-control and ability to work on our own and teach ourselves, so only students who could handle that kind of environment could be in this class. One thing Mrs. Bunce

is known for is having her students write and "publish" a book. We write a story, type it up, illustrate it, sew these giant pages together and then use cardboard, fabric, and glue to make a hardcover that holds the book together. The 5th graders made an alien in their art class and wrote their story about their alien, and the 6th graders' stories took place in Ancient Egypt. If we wanted, we could make two copies and leave one with Mrs. Bunce to show future students. I chose to make two, and years later found out that my book was one of the ones she chooses to show her new students every year when introducing the project! I'm glad she liked it, because I recently reread it, and I'm super embarrassed by it. Mrs. Bunce retired a few years ago and served a couples mission in South Korea with her husband. She now is a weight loss coach. I am also still in touch with her.

My high school English teacher, Albert Ricci, and my high school ballroom coach, Angela Williams I have already written about in previous posts, so I'll just give them an honorable mention here.

The third teacher that I want to talk about is Christie Nozawa. Mrs. Nozawa was my high school Chemistry teacher. I came into her class a week late because I had first attempted physics (which I had only taken so that I could be in the same class as the guy I was trying start to date at the time - bad idea, neither worked out). On the first day of her class she has her students take a math test, if you get below an 80% she recommends that you do not take chemistry because it will be too hard. I got exactly an 80% and didn't think I could take chemistry. I told my counselor that I should just take earth science (a freshman class that upper class-men could only take if there was no way they could pass the other science classes). Mrs. Nozawa told me to  give her class a try, she was sure that I would do just fine. I loved her class. Was I perfect at it? No. But I found most of the subject matter interesting, and I loved the lab experiments. She collaborated with the chemistry department at BYU, and BYU students came on certain days after school to tutor the high school chemistry students. I stayed after every time they did that. After each test had been graded, Mrs. Nozawa would write the scores up on the board - no names -  and drew a line to separate the 90s and above, the 80s-89s, and the rest. Those who got above a 90 could get a big candy bar, 80, a little one, 70 or below, motivation to work harder. My goal was to always be on the 90s line, it didn't always happen, but it helped me work hard. At the end of the school year Mrs. Nozawa called me into her office and said, "Weren't you so worried at the beginning of the year that you wouldn't do well? Take a look." She points to all four terms: A's for each term. Yeah, I totally freaked myself out for no reason. But those weren't easy A's! I worked my butt off for my straight A's. I didn't stay in contact with Mrs. Nozawa. I've run into her twice since graduating. But I will never forget what she taught me about hard work and self confidence.