June Trip 1: Arkansas

On June 8th Suzi and I departed from Layton Utah and began our trip to the MIDWEST.   We drove all day and then the thought came to me, check the oil, so I did.  Sure enough we needed oil and I added a quart.  Before we left I also checked the tires, they were worn out and ready to go, wire tread showing and as bald as an ice sculpture.  (I'm funny eh?)  I knew we needed new tires, so Crystal (my loving older sister) did some online checking and we had to get 50 miles down the road in an hour to get the the last open place.  It was already 7pm central time.  About half an hour down the road the tire went flat.  I got out and changed the tire --it's recorded on camera so there is proof!  We very slowly drove to the tire and lube.  The men stayed ten minutes after their shift to help us, by the time they were done changing the tires, it was an hour past their closing time!  What great men at the Walmart in Grand Island Nebraska!!  We were so grateful and ready to get back on the road and to Arkansas.  Angie and Dustin (my cousins' whose kids we were going to be watching for 10 days) were really anxious to see us get there in time!  About half an hour down the road I was talking to my mom on the phone and Suzi was driving, next word out of my mouth was deer deer deer deer deer!!  Suzi switched lanes to avoid the deer and it jumped in front of us!  We pulled over as soon as possible, I got off the phone with my mom, and checked out the damage.  We saw headlights hanging out and a dented front passenger fender.... ouch!  So after calming Suzi down, we got back in the car, I took the wheel, and turned the a/c off.  I drove to the next possible town, 1/2 hr down the road.  By the time we finally found a hotel, apx. 10:30 at night, the temperature hit RED hot.  We turned the car off and settled down for the night.  To make a long story short now, the next morning we got a tow and went the the shop and rented a car to get us to Arkansas.  We drove all day and got to Angie's house by 7ish that night.  It was great to finally be at a destination, one that we wanted to be at!

We watched the kids and played for over a week.  It was ten days, by the end I was glad I don't have any kids of my own right now!  So much work with 5 kids to take care of, oh and a Suzi. haha, don't tell.   We did have some exciting days, Precious Moments Chapel and Civil War Battle sites.  It was quite an adventure with the boys in tow!  We hiked up to this waterfall, this is the lower shot, there was more waterfalls up higher on the hike.  It was Suzi, Carley, and I with 11 kids!  

 We also went down to Fayetteville and met up with one of my old friends, Michael.  It was a ton of fun, we toured the Razorback campus and went mini golfing and go-karting!  We found the road that had my name on it, my favorite thing in Fayetteville!  We finally bought Suzi a new car because her other car was totaled by the deer. :(  ...but the new Civic is awesome!  Then on to Milwaukee and Chicago and Michigan! I'll show that later.  Bon Voyage!

Day 31: Wind Caves and Snow snow snow

First I want to share some photos of the past. :)

One of my best students, Alyssa Hawkes.  Her mom wanted photos of us together, she was my best volleyball player and track star, won the puppy of the year award (best student and athlete), a hard worker, and my first student council president! She's so much fun.  Also, her mom is destined to set me up with their cousin who is an engineer so I can be part of the family.  Good stuff!!

First is Katelyn, whom I car pooled with this past year. It was really good because we became good friends and saved money at the same time! Carpooling wasn't that bad with her!  Then Alyssa and Beca Rivas.  Now Beca is a stubborn hard girl, but she's so great and helpful.  She has so much to give and just wants to help everyone. She has been a life saver for me many-a-time!!

This group of 8th graders saw Katelyn and I drive by and came to find us!  We drove down the road a little bit so I could change my clothes, lucky for me I had just barely (by seconds) finished when they pulled around the corner!  It goes as follows, Delaney, Alexa, Hannah, Colten, Abby, and Hannah.  It is such a fun spirited class, imagine 30 kids with big spirits and a lot of fun and chattiness in one room.... wow how did I do 2 years?

Hannah Brown, Katelyn Quintin, and I after graduation.  I tried to come as spirited as I could for the kids! So I have all purple, yellow, and black on.  Hannah is my worlds fastest runner.  She is ranked at number one in middle schools in the state according to the Idaho Sports website.  She is hard to get working but once she does, she's a fireball!  Katey is my reader, her and I are always giving tips on what books to read next and usually I'll read it after her but a couple of times I get to suggest to her what to read, that's always fun!

We got a small group to go hiking today.  We went to Driggs up Darby Canyon and tried to hike to the Wind Caves.  This is Bryan, Bre, and I on our way up the mountain.  It was all snowy up the trail and we got wet, but it was so much fun!  We really enjoyed ourselves.  Suzi had a walking stick and still fell a couple of times and soaked her pants, but it was still fun!  Afterwards we went to mexican in Driggs and did Jonnie a favor by cleaning his cabin. We played Yatzee for a while and relaxed.  It was a neat Memorial Day weekend!

Me, Suzi, and Alycia playing on the mountain.

Suzi and Eric Stevens at the end of the hike.

Yay Mexican!

I am seriously going to take up hiking this summer as a weekly activity.  I'm really excited for this challenge!!

Day 28, 29, 30: Friday off of school

Today was the first day off from school.  It was so nice! I just did errands around the house and attended the temple, which was nice but seriously took 3 hours!  I also had the repair guy come and put in a new garbage disposal.  My advice to everyone buying a home, DO NOT buy the extended warranty on appliances!  It is not worth your money!  I had to pay 65 dollars for the guy to come out and do the garbarator, and his total bill was only 120.  Which, I paid almost 350 for my appliance warranty.  I could have saved so much money.  Also, the main reason why i hate this idea of buying the warranty....  The customer service people were so rude, they were not helpful and I spent over 40 minutes on hold with them in order to put my repair man on the line so they could approve the fix (they wouldn't find the repair man, I had to do that myself!).  The first time, my repair man ran to get a part, and they were like, oh you've been on hold for 20 minutes but we can't wait 5 for him to come back and talk to him.  You'll have to call back.  So after letting that lady know that I wanted to talk to someone to tell them how they could better run a company, I finally got a different rep to the the job approved by chatting with my repair man for 1 minute! count it, one!!  That was my productive Friday! :)  I also went to Robin Hood that night.  I seriously loved it, probably my favorite Robin Hood yet!

Saturday: ICE CAVES!!

Today I went to the Ice Caves with my friend Brandon.  We had a blast!  After driving down a holey, muddy, rocky road, we came to the caves.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures!  We put our snow clothes on, hiked in the cave, scooted on our rears across the ice, fell down a few times, climbed up an ice wall and slid down... good stuff!  It hailed on us as we climbed out, but it was great fun.  Then Saturday night I went to the Ridge and watched the Lakers game with Juan and my old friend Natalia.  It was so much fun I loved it, it was great to see old friends and just have a good time. 

Sunday: Relaxing....

Church was really fun today, I chatted a lot with friends, Suzi made me laugh a lot during the sacrament talks.  It was probably bad but o so funny.  I will do better. Afterwards, we went on a drive to  Monkey Rock (shown above).  Then we came home and made food, got home taught, and made cookies.  Some friends came over to play; we played Super Mario Brother Wii, because my friend Tyrel go my wii to work again! YAY!!  It was a good night.  Tomorrow we will hike wind caves! :)  Here are some pictures I wanted to share!

My Plants!  the green hang basket, is a topsy turvey, it froze last week and I didn't get home in time to bring the plants in. It froze the tomatoes.

Day 27: Last Day of School! SUMMERTIME

Today was the last day of school, did I say that clear enough?  TODAY    WAS   THE   LAST   DAY  OF  SCHOOOL!  Teachers definatly are not as excited as the kids for summer...  It is well deserved and I'm so excited to finally be able to relax!  I'm ready for sunny days and no night activities and no take home grading and no stressing about kids!  Just a little, but much less! :) 

I'm ready for the sun.
I'm ready for a quiet alarm.
I'm ready for no alarm.
I'm ready for home made lunches.
I'm ready for vacations.
I'm ready to wear jeans whenever I want!
I'm ready for fun with friends.
I'm ready for no curfew.
I'm ready for SUMMER.

We had a great ALL OUT NEON dance at the end of school.  It was in a teachers classroom, it was really awesome!  Smelled bad, but what do you expect wiht a bunch of middle school students.... eugh!   I checked out of school at apx. 2 o clock.  Headed home, took a nap, go up and dressed, ready for 8th grade Promotion.  It was so fun! I took a bunch of pictures and then after graduation saw my kids take a bunch of pictures.  One of my students, Fernando, asked if he could take a picture with me and his Chilian friends.  I said sure! are you an international star?  or are they?  He's like, "They are just foreign exchange students that I know."  So I am going to be internationally famous bc the Chilians took a picture with just me too. Haha! 

Best part of the night... wait the WORST part of the night.  I LOST MY Camera!  I took a bunch of pictures and now I can't find my camera.  But I will look tomorrow and see if I can find it and show you all my students.  I am bitter sweet about this 8th grade class.  Yes they will move on to bigger and better, but they really have grown on me and I kinda like them now!  I'm excited for a new year in August though.  New Beginnings!