Conferencing for Five Days

So I mentioned my root canal on Tuesday afternoon. And then I taught all day on Wednesday. And then I had parent teacher conferences on Wednesday afternoon/evening from 4:00 p.m.-7:30 p.m., but mine went over--due to late arrivals. And then I taught all day on Thursday. And then I had parent teacher conferences on Thursday afternoon/evening from 4:00 p.m.-7:30 p.m. My very last appointment did not show. I left school at 7:40 p.m. after the principal announced over the intercom that we were done. I could have tried staying a little longer, but I had another conference to get to!

I was lucky enough to attend the UCTE annual conference in Salt Lake City on Friday! UCTE stands for Utah Council of Teachers of English (at least that's pretty close if not exactly right). The conference began at 8:00 a.m. that morning, so my darling husband suggested we stay in the big city on Thursday night to make things easier Friday morning, especially since I had been through conferences, a lot of pain, and a root canal all in the same week. He is a gem, I tell ya!

K went to Golden Spike to visit all his ranger friends and to do some hiking. I went to the conference and just LOVED hearing from some amazing authors: Francisco Stork, Teri Lesesne, Shannon Hale, and Taylor Mali. They were all so fabulous! I also got to attend a workshop on Argument Writing which seems like something useful for my fifth graders. I also got to sit next to a sixth grade teacher at my school for part of the day and that was a lot of fun too! It was a GREAT day! And then it got better. I walked to the nearest TRAX station and took the train back to Little America. K showed up approximately five minutes later and we walked on over to The Melting Pot! It was our first experience.

They start you off with a cheese fondue. We chose the traditional Swiss. It was good, but we couldn't finish all the bread, apples, and vegetables.

We went ahead and ordered the most expensive thing on the menu which is called "The Big Night Out." I'll say. They gave us bits of every type of meat known to man. It was good. We cooked it ourselves, as K keeps mentioning, in a vegetable broth which we also used to cook vegetables: red potatoes, broccoli, and mushrooms.

Oh, I forgot. Between the cheese course and the meat course, they brought salad to us. It was good. My favorite part about the meat course was the assortment of sauces. My favorite three were: teriyaki, ginger plum, and yogurt curry.

And then came dessert! It really was the best part. In fact, if you're thinking of dropping some money at The Melting Pot, I would just go for dessert. It's pretty food and all, but I don't think we'll ever go for "The Big Night Out" again. Our chocolate pot had crunchy peanut butter mixed in along with blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries. In addition to all of those flavors melting in the fondue pot, you can see the yummy tasters we got to dip into it.

We went back to Little America and watched the game. This morning, we watched General Conference, my fourth day of conferences in a row! We had planned to go for their breakfast, but K wasn't feeling well, so he suggested I order Room Service. I have never before today ordered Room Service in my entire life (redundant on purpose to emphasize my parsimonious nature, especially because two nights in Little America doesn't sound all that parsimonious), because, you know, it's expensive. However, we determined it would be less expensive for one of us to order Room Service than for both of us to get breakfast at their restaurant, so I picked up the phone and requested the Canadian. It was delish! It was going on 10:00 a.m. and I was starving.

General Conference was wonderful, as usual. I got tears in my eyes when President Monson announced the change in ages for missionaries. I am so very grateful I was able to serve as a full-time missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Japan Fukuoka Mission. I was talking to my fourteen year old nephew in Iowa today who is a freshman in high school and taking a class called Japanese I. He was asking for help and speaking the language a bit with me. And then I talked to my seventeen year old nephew and mentioned the decisions he'll be making in the near future. It's all so exciting! I am so looking forward to tomorrow, my fifth day of "conference" in a row! I'm so glad my husband looks at my situation from his perspective and figures out ways for us to use our opportunities to spend time together and keep me rejuvenated. On the way home, we picked tomatoes and cucumbers from our garden and two orange pumpkins. Life is sweet!