Pillow Heaven

So on Monday (10/29) I had a prenatal checkup. I asked my doctor if there was anything I could do to sleep better and he recommended two things: contoured pillow (made of dense memory foam) and a body pillow. So that night after water aerobics (at the Gold's Gym by Costco), I stopped by Costco to see what they had. They only had one contoured pillow and no body pillows. I wasn't sure if that pillow was the one I wanted, but I figured it was Costco--the land of eternal returns. You can pretty much return anything besides electronics even if it's been years since you bought it. 

So I decided to give it a try (it was actually a two-pack. This is Costco, afterall). So I have been using the pillow since and I had NO idea what a difference this pillow would make. I have to say, i wasn't even sure it would be comfortable, but between the velour cover and the memory foam, it is amazing! First, I feel complete support on my neck, which allows me to sleep on my back or my side (before I could only sleep on my back. If I tried to sleep on my side, I would have a kink in my neck). Second, before if I tried sleep on my side, not only my neck, but many times my ear would hurt really bad, and I'd only be able to stay on my side about a half hour. I was worried about this because I've heard that it's hard to sleep on your back when you get further along in your pregnancy. I was hoping I'd be an exception, but I now I don't have to worry so much. 

So basically, I went from sleeping a few hours at a time and then waking up because I was uncomfortable (and sometimes taking awhile to fall back asleep) to sleeping 6-7 hours in a row before waking and then being able to fall back asleep rather easily. I was also having issues with my back hurting (which is due partly to how I sit at work) which would add to my not sleeping well, but I haven't had any backpain since getting this pillow either. So yeah, I'm pretty happy with my purchase. I still have that extra pillow, but I figure I can keep it for either guests and/or when the first one stops giving me support. My husband tried it for about 5 minutes and didn't like it, so I guess it's not for everyone.

Baby Update

I felt the baby move for the very first time. I know he's been moving, but I never felt it before. It is definitely a weird sensation. Even though it's very cool, I'm not looking forward to when he's keeping me up at night. But still, I felt him move!!! 

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween. Mine was mostly uneventful. I wore my costume to work--got quite a few compliments. The kids of employees were allowed to come by from 3 to 5 p.m. to Trick-or-Treat, which was fun. Then tonight, my husband and I watched a movie in between getting up for Trick-or-Treaters. We didn't get a ton--around 20 or so. I was pretty beat by the end of the night, but it was a fun day.  I think Janci will be proud. After just one sewing lesson over two years ago, I sewed this cape. Granted, it was an "easy sew" pattern, but I added an extra liner, and think it turned out pretty good. Lot of work, though!

Baby Update

So, yesterday I had my 20-week ultrasound. For those in the know, that means that we found out the sex of our baby and we're having . . . a BOY! And he appears to be perfectly healthy. Here's a cute little picture of him:

Vouchers vs. No Vouchers in Utah

Okay, so I'm really, really sick of hearing about people who don't want vouchers for schools here in Utah. I believe that it comes down to parents who listen to teachers and the public school system rather than learning about it for themselves. I had a class at BYU where we discussed the voucher system and how it would change the school system, and so I feel I have better grasp on what would change if Utah adopted this system, and seeing as I will have a child who will be starting school in Utah beginning Fall 2013, I feel I should get to have an opinion about this.  

 

1. The US has just about the best University system out of the world. Why? Because the system is competitive. Schools know that to get the student's money, they have to have the best teachers, the best programs, and the best system for educating the students. It makes the students work harder so that they can get into the best schools in the country as well. So basically it makes the schools and the students better.
   
   On the other hand, the US has one of the poorest public school systems compared to other countries of equal status. Why? Because there is no competition. Let me ask you, Who gets into Harvard, Yale, and other Ivy League schools? Are the majority of accepted students poor? Did they go to public schools or private schools?
   
   Our public schools aren't preparing students to go to Ivy League universities, unless maybe they live in a rich area where a lot of tax money roes to schools. I, on the other hand, went to a poor high school. We had one AP class offered, no real high tech classes, and the community was so apathetic to the school that every year the levy had to be voted on twice to get it to pass. If it hadn't, we would have had to pay $200+ just to play a sport or participate in activities, which, in my opinion, would have probably led to there not being sports because not enough students would have been able to pay for it.  Not only that, but the whole attitude of the school and the majority of the teachers was, "We don't expect you to go to college, so we'll try to teach you something you can use when you graduate." In that vein, we were offered auto mechanic classes, forestry classes, and classes at a local vocational school. Additionally, 90 out of 290 students of my graduating class did not graduate. This is what you get when you live in a poor community with not much money from taxes.
   
   On the other hand, if we had vouchers, elementary and secondary schools would have the same competitiveness as our universities. Since the voucher system is based on income, it wouldn't prejudice those with less money, but would actually give them a leg up. These vouchers would be between $500 and $3000. This school year, taxpayers will pay over $7500 per student (information from (http://www.votefor1.org/whyvotefor1.asp). Assuming the average voucher would be for $2000, that would mean an average of $5500 less money would be spent per student who used a voucher, and at least $4500 less.
   
   The result would be less crowding in schools, less students per teacher, and, according to Utah State University, $1 billion more for public schools over the next 13 years. For a good article about this from a BYU professor, see http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/64522.
2. Parents would have more control over where they send their kids. What if your child was interested in the arts. There could be a private school devoted to art education in addition to general education. They would get teachers that were more specialized in teaching art and they would complete the school knowing more about their interest. What if your child was interested in dancing, sports, math, bilingual education, etc.? There could be schools that cater to these specialties. Just as you go to colleges and universities whose programs are the best in the country in your specific field, these schools could specialize in these various specialties as well. Of course, all would teach the basics of math, social studies, English, science, and so on, but they would have these other special interests that would be geared towards their students' interests.
   
   Not only that, but if you didn't like how they ran the school, or how your teacher treated your child, you could threaten to take your child out and the tax money with him/her. If they still didn't want to help, you could enroll your child in a different school. Can you do that now? Most parents feel powerless if their child is not getting the education they deserve. Now there is hope.
3. What public school systems are the best in the country? The majority of them are in areas with rich residents. In these areas, a larger amount of tax money is apportioned for schools. With the more money, the schools have better programs, facilities, teachers, activities, etc. Basically, the rich are getting better educated because of their money. With vouchers, students who would not have the opportunity to go to a better school, or who not have a choice of schools to go to, would now have the ability to go to a school that they would like better.
4. Teachers would have to sharpen their skills and become better teachers to stay teaching. Have you ever had teachers that were just horrid? My sister's third grade teacher dumped her notebook in front of her class for the purpose of humiliation. And you know what? She was there 4 years later to do the exact same thing to my brother his third grade year. How did she stay employed after teaching like that? Because that is how theschool system works. Teachers aren't fired, they're "transferred" to another school where they can continue to be horrid teachers.
   
   If schools had to be competitive, schools couldn't afford to have a teacher that no students want. They would have to get rid of that teacher. I'm not saying all the teachers would be wonderful, and I had my share of bad teachers even while in college, but it would raise the level of teachers overall. Plus, the teachers would get paid more, so they would have more incentive to get better as teachers, and more good teachers would stay in Utah rather than moving to other areas where they get more pay.
5. Look at the results of private schools. Why would a parent pay for a child to go to a private school when they're already paying for public schools through taxes if they didn't think that the education received there was better? The results of private schools speak for themselves.
6. If you can't afford a private school even with the voucher, you still have the choice of sending your child to public school at no cost (although a lot of schools' tuition falls under the amount of the voucher in Utah, depending on the amount you receive).

But don't just trust my opinion, there is evidence out there including this study done at Harvard, which can be found at http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/hoxby/papers/hoxby_2.pdf. 

Other links can be found here: http://www.votefor1.org/research.asp. 

Another place to go for a balanced opinion pro and con can be found here: http://www.balancedpolitics.org/school_vouchers.htm 

Go to http://www.kcpw.org/article/4339 to listen to a debate about the issue between Richard Eyre, pro, and Carol Spackman Moss, con.

Those opposed to this are the public school system and teachers because it threatens their monopoly. To this point they had complete control over the education of children and how it all works, and they don't want to lose that control. But at what expense?

Whether you agree with me or not, please take the time to get educated on the issue and vote on November 6, 2007 on whether Utah should adopt a school voucher system or not.

Also, if you do agree with my viewpoints here, please spread the word. Either write your own blog or link to this one so that more people in Utah can get educated about the issue. I'm not sure how many people even know it's up for vote, let alone understand the issue. So use the power of the Internet to get the word out.

If you need to register to vote, you can mail in a registration form found at http://elections.utah.gov/VoterRegistrationForm.pdf up to 30 days befor election day or present it at the County Clerk's office up to 15 days before election. 

And don't forget to vote!!

Oh, Happy Day

 

                                            

Day at Lagoon!

So on Saturday, my company had a summer party at Lagoon amusement park. It's my first time going, mostly because it's an hour away and it costs something like $36 to get in. But with my company paying and providing a free lunch, I figured I'd take advantage and see if the park is worth going to on another occasion. I came up with this conclusion: it would be pretty fun if you went on an off day, like a Monday or Wednesday or something. I could be wrong and it'd still pretty crowded on those days, but I bet it's only half as full. I also realized a Utah phenomenon: if you're not LDS, you can take great advantage by going on Sunday. I met someone in one of the lines that said the last time she came was on Sunday and there were hardly any lines. You wouldn't find that anywhere else. Elsewhere Sunday would be just as crowded, although I wonder with having two days rather than one if it would be more spread out, so not as crowded on Saturday. 

Anyway, Aaron and I got there around 11:30 a.m. We tried to find a ride to go on before lunch and decided to ride the Bat. Let me tell you, it was not worth standing in line for a half hour for this. It was quite lame. After lunch we went to the Pioneer Village and walked around. It was pretty cool—basically a museum of pioneer with real pioneer structures and such. They had toys, carriages, furniture, guns, coins, and so on from the pioneers who settled Utah originally.

We were hoping the lines would go down, too. But even around 5 p.m., it didn't seem to be any shorter. We went on a couple of the smaller rides, including the swings, which I liked as a kid and mom was always worried I'd fall out of every time I rode it. This ride was nice because with almost 50 people being able to go on it at once, you never had to wait long in line. By then we were really hot and tired and disappointed because we hadn't gone on any real rides, especially a good rollercoaster because of the long lines.

We were almost going to go home, but then decided we'd deal with the long line to go on the new rollercoaster, Wicked. Boy are we glad we did. Although the line was really long, it went really fast--only about 40 minutes. And boy was it worth it! This ride is awesome. You start out inside a tunnel; you go around a corner and it shoots you forward at 55 miles an hour. Then you go straight up perpendicular to the ground and then up and over and straight down. I couldn't even open my eyes at this point—I was too scared. Then you're twisting and turning doing some more ups and downs extremely fast. And then it's over. It was a true rollercoaster and thoroughly enjoyable. One thing I liked was that it wasn't jerky like other ones I've been on. Some when you go around a corner, you jerk from side to side and it's uncomfortable; but this one is very smooth. The designers did a great job.

After that we headed home, only stopping along the hour-long ride to get dinner. We stopped at Wal-mart near our house to get a couple things and we could barely walk. I was completely exhausted by the time I fell into bed and slept for like 10 hours—still feeling like I needed more. Of course, I also woke up Sunday sick, so that could've been partly why I slept so much. I had to get someone to sub for me in Primary—I didn't want to get my kids sick, too. I think my husband was grateful for that because he was so sore, he could barely walk. I expected to be sore too, but so far I haven't been. Guess I'm in better shape than I thought! Today I'm feeling much better; luckily it was just a small cold: sneezing and running nose (though I did go through like 50 kleenexes yesterday). 

So overall it was fun and worth going. But definitely if I ever go again, it will be during the week (and maybe in September. My kids would have to miss one day of school, but it'd be worth it to go when it's less crowded). I also found out they have a little waterslide park within Lagoon, which I didn't realize, so next time I'll bring a swim suit and towel so we can do that as well as the rides.