Top Moments of 2010

2010 has been a big year for me in a lot of ways.  As Jeff Fowles put it, "You've crammed about 5 years of life into the last couple of months."  Since its hard to put them in an order I will just go ahead and do it chronolocially.

1 January 2010 - Not so wonderful was the finding of new grey hairs on my birthday and being deathly ill (I wouldn't get sick again until I moved to Pinon) but what made January wonderful was that I was starting my student teaching.  I was able to teach US History A and B and Spanish B.  Some classes were better than others but they were all good kids, a lot of them were incredibly bright.  It was a great experience but honestly did little to prepare me for teaching on the rez.  I also took an American History class from one of my favorite professors that would end up writng the best letter of recommendation that I have ever read for me.

Here were just a few of the timeline assignments I had my US History classes do.

2 April - Something that was very difficult was when Student Teaching came to an end.  In several ways I was happy, I could focus more on getting a job now and I could go out more now that I didn't have lessons to plan and papers to grade.  Still, I loved those kids and having it just be over like that was hard for me.

3 May - Graduation from Utah State University.  I had worked so long toward this goal, taking sometimes up to 18 credits a semester while working full time.  I graduated cum laude having made the Dean's List three times in my college career.  I looked forward to using my new status as a graduate to find a job and have my teaching credencial.  Which actually turned out to be pretty difficult.  The University wasn't going to post my degree for six weeks when it was going to mail it out to me.  I went up the the university and said I wanted my degree posted now.  They told me that even if it posted I wouldn't get the degree until everyone else did.
At which point I informed them that I didn't care about the piece of paper, I needed to find a job and I could do that without the paper, what I needed was for the college to formally recognize that I had graduated.  That shocked the lady quite a bit and within an hour my degree was posted.
When I finally did get my degree I was surprised at what it said inside of it.

On the nomination of the Faculty and as authorized by law,

Utah State University has conferred on

Brent Kay Maynard

the degree of

Bachelor of the Arts

in history

together with all the honors, rights, privileges, and responsibilities pertaining thereto.

Given at Logan in the state of Utah the eigth day of May in the year of our Lord

two thousand-ten and the University's one hundred twenty second year.

Here I am with the Meet the Challenge Aggie statue.

4 June - I got the job for Pinon High School in Pinon Unified School District #4!  Why is it a number 4, especially considering there is only one school district?  It's called District 4 because it is the 4th district within the Navajo Nation. 

I heard about the job in an email on Friday, called the former principal Mr. Lescher and was told to have all my stuff ready by Monday so that he could interview me.  I worked over the weekend to prepare for the interview and sent in my stuff to him Monday evening.  Since it was the evening he was worried that I had lost interest or that I wouldn't make his deadline.  I then interviewed with him after he had a chance to look over my resume.  I was offered the job on the spot.  It still had to be approved by the governing board though.

I went to the temple to pray about Pinon and I felt good about going.  That to me was the most important thing, if I hadn't have had a good feeling I wouldn't have taken the job.

5 July - In my last nights at Logan River Academy I was brutally attacked by a kid with a pipe.  I stood up, called for help, grabbed the boy by the wrists, sat him down, and held him there.  From what I hear the kid has grown up a lot and is doing well which makes me glad.

6 July - With the help of my family I was able to move out to Pinon.  Dad came with me, we moved during monsoon season and so we unpacked the trailer in the rain, when we finished unpacking it the rain of course stopped.

I was also able to take Bo out with me.  That dog was the only real source of companionship that I had out here for the first weeks.

Some pictures around my classroom.

7 August - First day of work, I thought I was only making a new friend when I went up to a certain Ms. Miller, little did I know.

It was also in this month that Pam and I adopted our puppies, Angel and Clara.  We chose Pam Fowles to be the puppy sitters while we worked at the High School.  Going over there every day before and after school meant that Pam and I grew closer together and closer to our good friends the Fowles.  It also meant that Pam started to come closer to the gospel.

I began hating the days that I missed Pam there, and staying longer when I got there before Pam.  She also started staying longer to hang out with the Fowles and to see me.

8 September - Getting stuck on my way back from Flagstaff was quite an adventure.  Pam and the Fowles spent several hours searching for me.  It was then that I started to realize just how wonderful Pam was.  After she and I had started dating Jeff made the comment, "Getting stuck was probably the most important thing you've ever done."

9 October - The month of October was full of romance.  Pam and I watched General Conference with the Fowles which was the first time she cuddled up with me.  Pam and I started dating officially soon after and became engaged on October 30th.  And everyone out here was saying how slow we were and how we just didn't get it, but I'm not sure how we could have been much faster.

10 November - My first months in Pinon were full of illnesses and mishaps.  My laundry room flooded while I had the flu.  Meaning that just about everything got moved outside with the puppies who happily destroyed most of it.

Around this time was when Pam first heard me throw up.  She came to visit me and I answered the door and after talking for a couple of seconds, "Excuse me for a moment babe."  How do you know a woman loves you?  She doesn't bolt.

11 November - After Pam's grandfather died just before Thanksgiving we had the monumental task of going to the funeral in Ohio and being in Utah for Thanksgiving.  Going to Ohio was extemely important, I got to meet Pam's family face to face and Pam and I visited the Columbus Temple which is where we decided together as a couple that we wanted to be sealed for eternity.

12 November - Pam's baptism was quite possibly the happiest day of my life.  After roadblocks galore and problem after problem I was able to baptize my sweetie in Smithfield, Utah.

13 December - Christmas with family and Pam's Mom, who came out from Columbus was very special.  I got to spend the time with my sister Chantel's family since I stayed at their house.  Brooklyn was so adorable.  She came running toward Pam and I to give a hug, I bent down to catch her in my arms when she ran past me and hugged Pam.  She hugged me afterwards after Pam told her to.

Seeing my brothers again was pretty great, even if they did give me a pink, "I love Twilight," tee shirt, which Pam has now claimed as her own.

14 New Year's Eve - Pam and I celebrated New Year's Eve at the Fowles house.  We played Munchkin with them.  We also kissed for New Year's in New York, Chicago, here, LA, and Alaska, we went to bed before Hawaii though, but 49 out of 50 states ain't bad.