Tomorrow I go to my first day of Teach For America Induction here in Indianapolis. Induction is a few days long, then I'll fly back to Phoenix for five weeks of more intensive training at Institute before coming back to Indy to start the school year in August. I have no idea what Induction even is or what it entails, but the word Induction sounds like something that would include hazing, which is a bit frightening. Hopefully I'll come out without any burns or embarrassing stories.

To be honest, I'm terrified. I always get nervous before new things, but I am seriously worried. I've been doing some required pre-work, which I think is supposed to help prepare you for these next several weeks, but to be honest it's done little but scare the goodness out of me. I'm worried I won't be able to overcome my personal expectations or stereotypes or faults in order to give the superior education to every child that I'm supposed to.

If I'm being completely honest with myself, I'm not worried that I won't be able to do it. I know I can. I really think I can do pretty much whatever I want to. I'm worried that I won't want to. I know it requires a lot of time and effort and I'm a little bit afraid that I will be too lazy to put in the work required to make a difference. I like my free time and from what I can tell, I won't have a lot of it if I'm doing my job right. What if I'm not cut out for the life of a teacher who is also, essentially, a civil rights leader? What if I'm not passionate enough? What if I let them down because I'm just not willing to give up enough of myself in order to make their lives better?

On top of all of that, I don't know anyone going into this, and in new situations I do so much better if I know someone. I met one girl one time, but I had a couple-minute conversation with her, which does not mean I know her. So not only am I scared out of my mind, I'll also be withdrawn and quiet.

Lazy and introverted. I bet these leaders will be glad they picked me for this job.

Some of you have asked me to re-post my Utah Bucket List along with the progress I've made on it. As you wish. (No, that was not a Princess Bride reference. I would never.)

1. Sundance Film Festival: Check.

2. Antelope Island. Not yet. I do have some good friends that live up there so maybe sometime when I come back to visit. It was just hard to find friends to go with me when it's not super close to my house, nor does it offer any super exciting activities, since camping and fishing (is that what you do there?) are not fun to me.

3. Salt Flats. Not yet. For the same reasons as Antelope Island. It's kinda far away and I don't even know what you do there except take pictures. Someday.

4. The Roof Restaurant. Not yet. Maybe never. This was actually planned then I changed my mind because it's so expensive and I heard it's not even that good of food.

5. Hike Mt. Timpanogos and go to Timpanogos Caves. Not yet. The snow hasn't completed melted on Mt. Timp yet, and I'm not about to bust out an ice pick to go hiking. I didn't realize you could go the Caves any time of year, and I realized that too late.

6. Hot Springs. Check.

7. Alpine coaster and slide at Park City. Not yet. I didn't know this was a seasonal thing and it doesn't open until the day that I leave Utah. Maybe if I ever come back in the summer, I'll hit that up.

8. Snowshoeing. Check.

Three out of eight? Meh. Not so great. But if I hadn't made this list, I probably wouldn't have gone snowshoeing or to the hot springs or to Sundance, so it did make me do a little more than I would normally! And I did enjoy all three of those activities and made some good friends while doing them. I guess this just means I'll have to come back.

As previously mentioned, I'm moving quite soon and I'm starting to feel nervous about not having done everything there ever was to do in Utah. It's a problem. I'm working on resolving it, though and my Utah Bucket List has helped. Unfortunately, (I'm ashamed to admit this) I'm not going to be able to complete my whole list. I know. It's embarrassing and I feel like a failure. Apparently, when putting together my list, I did not take into account that some things can only be done in the summer and I will, in fact, not be here in the summer. Shoot. I also did not take into account that getting people to do things with me would be hard. I thought everyone would be excited to accompany me to everywhere I wanted to go. I was wrong. So some things I will not have done because I didn't have anyone to go with me and I ran out of time. If you live in the Provo area and did not accompany me to any cool places, feel free to feel guilty for letting me down.

That being said, this past Saturday I accomplished #6: Hot Springs.

My friend Allie and her friend Shalene (who is also now my friend) and I went to Fifth Waters Hot Springs in Spanish Fork Canyon. We had to hike in, which I was expecting, but what I wasn't expecting was how beautiful the hike was. 

We had to hike in bathing suits, since the springs were at the end of the hike. I don't usually hike in such skimpy attire, don't worry.

Right? Impressively green for Utah.

I forgot to take pictures of us actually in the springs. Oops. But they were here at this waterfall. It really was the strangest thing because the water in the stream was freezing cold, typical of mountain water. But the water in the pools surrounding it was scalding hot. So we'd be sitting in a somewhat comfortable, warm spot and all of a sudden it would get super hot then super cold. It was a temperature adventure.

My move-away-from-Utah date is fast approaching and I'm starting to feel a bit of a panic. I feel like I need to to go to all the restaurants that are unique to Utah and see and do all kinds of things I can only do here. Last year I bought a Pass of All Passes, which gets you into an insanely large number of parks and events for only about 20 bucks. I've barely used mine. So I decided I needed to use it at least a few more times before I go to have made it worth it.

Last week I went to a Salt Lake Bees game with my roommate Whitney, my friend Allie, and Allie's friend (now my friend, obviously) Courtney. 

To be honest, I really like to play baseball (well, softball, but it's pretty close), but watching it isn't too exciting. I like the atmosphere of the park, though, so I enjoy a game every once in a while. If I'm being really honest, I'd like a collaged video of all the best moments of the game set to music to make it more exciting, a la A League of Their Own. Now that's good baseball.

This game was especially slow, since the Bees were trailing already by the time we arrived and the deficit kept growing. They got down by as much as 9-2 towards the end of the game, though they knocked it down to 9-5 by the ninth inning.

Then, out of nowhere, it really did get exciting. It was the bottom of the ninth, they were down by four runs, and in a last ditch effort, they won! Thanks to a home run with two RBIs and then a double which hit a runner home, they scored five runs in the last inning, winning 10-9.

That was by far the most exciting twenty minutes of the game. We entertained ourselves during the rest, though, by talking about the adorable little boy next to us and planning ways to kidnap him from his parents. We didn't, though. Don't worry.

If you happen to take notes on all of the things I write on this blog, as I'm sure you all do, you will remember that one of my New Year's resolutions was to run a half marathon. My purpose in this resolution was not to actually compete in the race (let's be serious, I'm no runner) but to give myself a goal to keep me exercising. So this goal was less of a race goal as it was an exercise goal. Well, it worked: I ran very faithfully this spring out of complete fear and dread. I knew if I didn't train, I'd likely hate myself the day I was called upon to run 13.1 miles. After four months of running, I was pretty happy with my progress. So happy, in fact, that the week of my race, I signed up for another half marathon in September to keep me running through the summer. Good thing I signed up before running the actual race. Yikes.

Having already been on runs almost as long as the race itself, I wasn't really dreading the running going into the race. What I was dreading more was the waking up at 4:30 am in order to get to the finish line by 5:00 in order to be bussed up to the start line for a 7:00 am start. Yuck.

As a pleasant surprise on my very early morning, I woke up to these encouraging notes on my mirror from Whitney. It says "Good luck Kaley. Love ya!" Isn't that nice? 

It was pretty cold that early in the morning and there was a lot of standing around up at the start line. Fortunately, they had some fires we could stand around for warmth. The race started up at South Fork park in Provo Canyon, came down through the canyon on the Provo River Parkway, and ended in downtown Provo. The beginning was all downhill, so I was feeling pretty good about things. Here I am on the course, looking super athletic. I brought my Colts along with me for support. They were great.

I actually did better than I thought I would. I told myself I couldn't walk until I got halfway through the 13.1 miles, but I actually made it through mile 8 before taking a break. After that, I think I probably walked half the time. My legs were so  tired. So overall, I probably walked about 2-3 miles of it, which I feel pretty good about! My final time was 2:37:37.

The last few miles were obviously the hardest. My friend DeeAura ran the 5k (which was the last 5k of the half marathon course), and she was at the finish line to cheer me on to the end. It was nice to see an encouraging face! I've only ever done one half before and it was in Louisville, KY. One thing I remember about that race was how many spectators there were along the whole course. A lot of it was in residential areas, so people would just sit outside their houses cheering the runners on. I remember how helpful that was, since the running becomes so monotonous. This Provo race was beautiful scenically (is that even a word?), but there really wasn't anyone along the way cheering except for those who were working the water stations.

I didn't bring my camera, since I didn't want to run with it. I had to take a picture when I got home with my bib and medal. I was so stiff by this point. I didn't really feel soreness in my muscles, just pain and stiffness in my hips and knees. The soreness came the next day and was pretty intense, but it went away pretty quickly.

Overall, I'm really glad I did it and I'm excited for the one I have coming up in September! This one is in Indianapolis, so I'm excited to run all around the city.

Resolution #1: completed. I'm doing pretty well on my other resolutions, too. So far I've talked to each member of my family every month, which I've found has increased my excitement for moving home. I'm so excited to see them all instead of only talking on the phone! I'm also on track with my temple attendance, and I'm working on my Utah Bucket List. I already read my five classic novels. I've been substitute teaching the past few months, which in middle school and high school translates to giving them instructions then sitting around. I've been capitalizing on this free time and I've read probably about twenty books so far this year. Some have been classics, others I've just read for fun (including The Hunger Games trilogy twice through...). 

When I lived at the Omni, I made some great friends and we've stuck together for a few years. Things have been changing recently, though, and people are getting married and moving away. A couple of weeks ago my good friends Jason and Aubrey Gillespie moved to Arizona, so our former Bishop held a Going Away Barbecue in their honor. I'm so glad they're going to Arizona, because I'll be there next month for five weeks. I'm excited to have some friends there!

Alaina, Aubrey, Dee, and me

Todd and Jason. This is pretty typical Jase. Pretty tame, actually.

Even with the obstacle of darkness, we had some pretty intense badminton players on our hands.

Some had left by this point, and we were missing a few who couldn't be there that night. I love these people!

The guests of honor. They will definitely be missed! Our weirdness factor has gone down significantly since they left. Weird in a good way... :)



4.2.12 - 4.3.12

My last full day there was the day before Nalon's sixth birthday, so we had a party for him at Chuck E. Cheese's. The kids had a great time playing the games and winning tickets. Towards the end, one of the workers came around testing the machines and leaving the tickets dangling for anyone to grab. Jonah, Emerson, and Nalon started their hunt for tickets left on machines and on the ground. They ended up with quite a few tickets, which they used to buy useless junk.

The pizza doesn't look very impressive, but it was really good. And hard to resist.

Originally, an angel food cake was made for the birthday party but we decided children wouldn't adequately appreciate it, so we did cupcakes instead and ate the angel food later. Jonah and Emerson helped Jared decorate the cupcakes. Don't they look nice?

Nalon's birthday wish: a million Grandmas. If that doesn't tell you how wonderful his grandma is, I don't know what could.  

Nalon was definitely feeling the Chuck E. love.

 

That night we played games, then the next day my mom and I took Jared and VoNique to the airport, then had lunch and did a little shopping, visited Tessa and the twins, then I went back to the airport where my plane was delayed almost two hours. It would've been nice to have known that before I was stuck in the airport.

After such a fun week I was sad to go, but I was cheered by the knowledge that I would be returning in less than two months. And now that's less than two weeks away! I can't wait to see them all again.

4.1.12

I loved this day. Aside from the hours of standing around for pictures, everything was fun and beautiful and wonderful. I loved everything about it, but most of all, I loved being with my family on a day when everyone was happy and united. I love my family and I love celebrating with them.

Flower Girl and Ring Bearer

What a handsome brother I have.

Holden did so well. We were a bit concerned because during the whole rehearsal he was a fidgety mess. But he was perfect during the ceremony. And also darling.

My brothers are just studly.

GOODness, my siblings are attractive. All of them. This girl - watch out. She's going to have a line of boys when she turns sixteen.

I've never seen him this happy and calm in my whole life. Never ever. She's brought out the best side of him.

They make one gorgeous family. I can't wait for them to add more!

Since we stood on his side during the ceremony, we were his groomsmaids.

Dominika had her brothers on her side (her bridesmen), plus her friend Adrienne, who was the one bridesmaid.

I just love, love, love seeing him so happy. I just love him.

The ceremony and reception were held at the Factory 12 Loft in Columbus, Indiana. It's one big room, so they set up chairs with a backdrop on one side of the room for the ceremony, then the other side of some divider curtains was set up for the reception.

I love this family. So much. I'm thrilled that Dominika is now part of it.

Lately, I just really, really like my family and I can't wait to see them all the time! BTW, I'm wearing four-inch heels and I'm still the shortest.

There's my other studmuffin brother.

How cute are these boys? I love that Nalon is giving himself bunny ears. That kid cracks me up.

My dad was able to perform the ceremony, which was really wonderful and personal.

Jacob and Thomas were ushers so they ushered in Tessa (the best man) and Adrienne (the maid of honor), then Micah and I came in with Dominika's brothers LaTroi and Kyler.

They had three memory candles for loved ones who had passed away, then their moms lit their separate candles, and together Isaac and Dominika lit their unity candle.

My aunt VoNique was right in the front row so she was able to get a few parts of the ceremony on video.

Mr. and Mrs. Isaac and Dominika Shoaf!

They went on a road trip through Nevada and California for their honeymoon so they had a table set up showing where they were headed and a gas can for donations to their gas fund.

Tessa's toast.

Did I mention that I love him? And her? Well, I do. A lot.

 Four generations of Shoafs.

At the reception, Dominika sang "One and Only," by Adele to Isaac.

I'm pretty sure he liked it.



After most people had left, our little family was still out there on the dance floor breaking it down. It was so fun to be out there with my siblings, in a moment when everyone liked each other. It was a beautiful day for a beautiful couple.