Family Pictures 2013

It was time for us to finally get some family pictures done. Sienna is already over a year old and we had no pictures of us as a family. We just went to a little studio in Lehi. They did a great job.

Happy Birthday SiSi

Our sweet girl is one! My friend took some beautiful pictures of Sienna to celebrate the occasion. Sorry for the picture overload, but there were too many cute ones.

 

 

CAKE

 

Happy Memorial Day

Memorial weekend was great. We spent Saturday afternoon with our friends the Rowlands. We got to meet their sweet new baby. This year, they were nice enough to start us some heirloom plants in their greenhouse. We finally got to take home out little seedlings and plant them in our tiny backyard garden. We are looking forward to some yummy veggies!

On Monday, we went to a lunch BBQ/housewarming at our friends the Blackhams. That night we had another BBQ with all our neighborhood  friends. It was a fun and relaxing weekend!

wedding

My cousin, Justin, got married this past weekend. It was a beautiful ceremony up at Louland Falls. We never even know that spot existed, but it was a great wedding location up in Parley's Canyon between Salt Lake and Park City.

Trying to walk

She is trying to walk, ALREADY! This cute thing won't stop growing.

Winner

Do you remember Brooke White from American Idol a few seasons back? I like her because she lived in Provo and is LDS. I follow her on instagram and read her blogs. I hardly enter giveaways, but I entered The Girls with Glasses  Anniversary Giveaway...and I won! Can you believe it?

You can read all about it here.

Teacher of the Year

I was honored to receive the 2013 Significant Disabilities Teacher of The Year award from the Utah State Office of Education and Utah Personnel Development Center. I was recognized at a state conference held at the Provo Marriott.

 

This is the nomination letter my supervisor submitted:

 

If you had told me, five years ago, that students with significant cognitive disabilities would be able to attend and participate in a virtual school; I would have told you that it was impossible. That was before I met Tabitha Pacheco. Tabitha has found a way to make our school accessible to all students, even students who may not have the means to communicate in a typical way or who may come to us unable to access any grade level curriculum.

If a student cannot access grade level curriculum in an online classroom, Tabitha reads a grade level book to them while they create a visual story board based on what they are hearing. If a student cannot communicate in a typical manner, Tabitha takes a trip to UAAACT with the family to explore options. Tabitha currently has a student with severe Autism and a cognitive disability who is learning to communicate using Proloquo2go and an iPod touch. This year, Tabitha had also had a student with a cognitive disability recognized for her academics by the Utah Council of Exceptional Children.

There is no better advocate for our students than Tabitha Pacheco. If a student wants to take a high school elective class, she makes it happen. If a student needs to learn how to cook a microwave dinner, she gets out the web cam and meets with parent and student to make it happen. When we realized we had a gap for our high school life skills programs, she researched online curriculum and found the Conover software, which she now uses to teach an independent living/life skills class at the high school. She works with paraprofessionals, parents, and counselors to make sure that each one of her students has the tools they need to succeed. We are all lucky to know and work with Tabitha Pacheco, and I know that she has influenced the lives of many families and students enrolled in our program for the better!

Submitted by

Shelly Strahan

Utah Virtual Academy

Kids can Swim

My summer plan is to go to the pool everyday! I am nervous about having to watch two kids in the water, so for a little peace of mind I signed Sawyer up for swim lessons. Best decision ever. He is taking lessons from Pam Young in Orem. She teaches survival skills such as floating on your back, and swimming to the wall. They are intense 1-1 lessons. The lessons are 4 days a week for 3 weeks. The first few days there were tears and resistance, by day 4 he was calm, and by day 5 he LOVED them. Seriously, he wakes up in the morning and wants to get dressed in his swimsuit. He begs all day for me to take him to lessons. On day 5 when I was driving him to lessons he said "I'm not going to cry today mom, I'm a brave boy." I asked him how he got so brave. He said "I said a prayer and said dear Heavenly Father help me not be scared, and now I'm a brave boy." He melts my heart. His confidence has sky rocketed. He tells me everyday that he is so proud and brave. He floats on his back by himself now and can swim to the edge when he jumps in. His favorite thing to do is to dive for the rings. He says he wants to go to swim lessons forever, so I may have to sign him up for round 2 after his 3 weeks are up.

Easter

Our Easter was low key this year. Sawyer got a small basket and we hid a few eggs in the house. Easter happened to fall on my birthday this year...the big 29! We celebrated by having a delicious dinner at our friends the Eatons. They always spoil me on my birthday! I think I have celebrated it with them the last 4 years. They got me my favorite cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory, and a gift-card to Nike since they know I have been really into running lately. I don't have a ton of pictures, but I'll post the few I have.

5k

I have been really into running lately. I have been running at least 3 miles a day (sometimes twice a day) and I run 5 miles on Saturdays. I want to run a half-marathon this year. I was on the BYU website and saw the Rex Lee Run, so very last minute some neighbors and I decided to run the 5k. When we woke up the morning of the race it was snowing, our husbands thought we would chicken out, but we did it! It was awesome and fun and I hope to run lots more races! Here is a before and after picture.