The Rat has a name!!! :)

So, I realized that I never told anyone what my friend and I named our rat. It's name is Splinter. However, Splinter (from the Ninja Turtles) is an ugly sewer rat and ours is not so much that. I wish I could introduce him to you with a picture, but I keep forgetting to take one with me!


This picture is actually pretty close to what he looks like, only the part that is black in this picture is a little more grey on him. Then where most the others have a stripe down their backs ours has three dots.


He's starting to actually be fun to work with, so I'm excited to see what he'll do!

Conference Weekend!!!

I went down to Provo for conference weekend to spend time with friends. I had a homework assignment to observe a young child at meal time, so Bruce and Elisa let me and three friends come for dinner and then we stayed for a girls night while Bruce went to the Priesthood session! It was fun to be there! My phone stopped working that night and so I didn't get the various messages from Elisa saying that I had forgotten my backpack.

Sunday after the first session I went down to retrieve my backpack and while I was there the girls all dressed up in their Haloween costumes while I went outside to get my camera! :)

It was so fun to see them all!!! What a great and relaxing weekend amid my crazy semester!






























This one just makes me laugh, but mostly smile! :)

For the Milk Lover in ALL of us...

I'm still learning super interesting things, but haven't had the time to blog. But, I thought I'd take a moment to discuss Milk! :)










You know the "don't put your baby to bed with a bottle, or sippy, of milk" line that has been passed down through the ages? Well, it's true!

You know how milk is very important for bone growth? Well, if left in your mouth it can also destroy bone growth! These are examples of nursing bottle syndrome:







I don't think this would apply to only infants either... this is why we learn to brush our teeth before bed and throughout the day!


Also, I learned today that calcium and iron fight for the same spot in cells. So, if you (your child) drink too much milk the calcium will win and you could become iron deficient!

"A deficiency of iron limits oxygen delivery to cells, resulting in fatigue, poor work performance, and decreased immunity. On the other hand, excess amounts of iron can result in toxicity and even death" (http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/iron.asp).

...how anyone could think that the WORD OF WISDOM was not inspired is beyond me! We've seen many instances since Joseph Smith received that revelation where science finally came around to explaining why such a 'diet' is good. :)

For example:

Doctrine and Covenants 89
10 And again, verily I say unto you, all wholesome herbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man—
11 Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with aprudence and thanksgiving.
12 Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly;


Science has found that calcium is found in milk products, green leafy veggies, almonds, fish (with bones), legumes... And the found that Iron is in red meats, fish, poultry, eggs, legumes, dried fruits, grains...

AWESOME!!!

The Name competition part 2...

Well, I was sad to find out that a few more of the chicks had died last weekend, so the teacher decided we were done with them. We only had them for one week and I never came up with a name... sad day!

In a week or so we will be getting our rats... I will not have full control of the rat I teach, because we have to share the rats, so me and one other person will be taking care if the rat. We will, however, have the rat for the rest of the semester!

So, you may start trying to name the rat. I will try to actually take a picture as soon as I can.

Towards the end of the semester we will have our Rat Olympics! Hopefully I will be able to somehow record for you the trick(s) we are able to teach our rat. :)

Wish us luck!


P.S. If I were to use content analysis of my time spent with the chick to determine his name (the word I used most while working with him)... his name would have probably been "Come On", followed by a close second of, "Sweet, You Rock!" :)