Summertime!

Some happenings!
1. SUMMER IS HERE!  Brennen and I are finally out of school! The seven-week break is awesome! Especially when you get to spend it with family! Matthew and Nicki are here from Chicago, moving to Las Vegas, and that means that we might be going to Vegas next month! So excited!  There are so many things I want to do this summer.  Number one: sit down with a good book and read all day!  I can't wait to finally have some time to read things I want to read! This summer is the Hunger Games series.  Number Two: Swimming, swimming, swimming! I WILL have a good tan by the time the snow falls!  Number Three: Have fun!  No matter what..
2. New Job!  So i'm still working at good ol' Jamba Juice, but I just got a job at Pizza Pie Cafe too! It's way fun and the people are way cool.  So eventually I'll be able to quit Jamba...really what I'm trying to do is get hired on at the plasma center where i get paid GOOD money and benefits after 30 days.
3. We must be the only ones in our ward in town for the next 7 weeks!  I've been asked to teach Relief Society, Sunday School and speak in sacrament meeting!  Sheesh!  This will be the last time I'm here for the 7 week break for sure!

Pictures from forever ago.

Ok, so we don't have internet at our place, so i never have pictures to post...SO! here are the pictures from the last like 3 months!!!

MAY:

We went to the civil defense caves with Dexter and Rustelle to play hide and seek with glowsticks!

 Dexter and Rustelle

We took Rustelle's Jeep which was clean before we left! there were lots of mud puddles!

JUNE:

So Brennen and I had Wyatt over for a night so that Brennen could take him to his class.  So i made sticky buns for breakfast.

 Tip: DON'T use the "texas" rolls.  at least not all of them.

 Tip: Don't put them in the oven and then go back to sleep.

 One day Brennen and i decided to hike "R" Mountain.  This was the beautiful sunset that met us there.

 And we found this pretty flower.  It was really windy too.

JULY:

Brennen and i went camping and four-wheeling with the Teitjens!

 You can't really see it, but i'm holding a can of biscuits.  I actually cooked them over the fire and they were really good!

 On our way back, we stopped at Kelly Canyon to see the big canyon in the parking lot carved out by the snow runoff.

I call it "Kelly Canyon, Jr."

A kind of funny story about this camping trip: We were pulling 2 big four-wheelers on a trailer behind Brennen's little truck.  It was probably too heavy for him to pull, and I kept having panic attacks when we'd drive along a ledge or something.  At one point i actually had to get out of the truck because i was so anxious!

Tests

I should be studying for this test i have to take in 30 mins...state written...state mandated...but i don't wanna.  All i want to do is go play in this beautiful sunshine!! Plus i feel like i know everything there is to know about teaching kids how to read...HA! And then after this test i can eat dinner and then guess what i get to do?????? FINISH MY 6 PAGE RESEARCH PAPER!!! YAYAYAYAYYYY!!!! I will be so glad when this semester is over.

A ray of sunshine in an otherwise dark world

So, the weather has been unusually great here.  Like I mean, perfect.  It’s been in the seventies and eighties for the last 2 weeks.  And you know what that means? Time for some water fun!  I went up to Heise with Melissa B. and her roommate and had a great time.  It was super sunny with a slight breeze.  And I got one of the worst sunburns I’ve ever had.  Yep.  It’s summer.  Can’t wait for the Fourth of July.  That’s in 4 days.  Reasons I’m excited: 1) No school, 2) No work, 3) Family.  If this could just be the rhythm of my life, I would be happy. 

So, I have to take these classes called Idaho Literacy Comprehension (parts I, II, III).  And basically they want you to know how to teach kids how to read.  And then at the end of the semester, they give you this state test and you have to pass with a 70% or higher.  Well, I got a 92% on Standard 1, and now I have to take the second and third in two weeks.  But let me tell you a little about this class I’m in this semester.  At midterms, we had a guy from Mesa, AZ take out over the class.  We’re thinking “What’s so great about this guy?”  His name is Mike Oliver, and he is the principal at Zaharis Elementary in Mesa.  But that’s not all he is.  He’s basically the coolest person alive.  And let me tell you why.  He has this philosophy that we can take the books from all around us, and LEARN FROM THEM.  Weird, huh?  He’s like pioneering this whole new idea.  Well, not really.  At least, he shouldn’t have to.  In my opinion there are two types of books: those with substance and those with fluff.  I think that pretty much says it all.  There are books (not text books, mind you) that you can actually learn valuable life lessons from.  Who’d a thunk it??  How do we find these books you ask?  You look past J.K. Rowling and Suzanne Collins to find Pam Muñoz Ryan and Kate DiCamillo.  You READ them, not with the intention of being entertained, but with the intention of learning something.  Look online, ask a reader, do something to find these pearls among swine (ok, maybe not that dramatic.  I do enjoy me some Harry Potter and want to read the Hunger Games series this summer).

Ok, getting off my soapbox now.  But I really believe what Brother Oliver is trying to do here.  It is all so clear in my mind.  Yes, it does require a little more effort from his employees (AKA your child’s teacher) but don’t you want that for your kids?  I do.  And I want to be able to give that to kids that might not get it at home.

There’s one thing about being a teacher.  You don’t do it because it pays well, or has good hours, or it’s easy (and it always makes me sad to see someone skipping out on their classes where attendance is not required.  Hello, I don’t want you teaching my children!). Teaching is hard work.  It’s emotionally demanding.  Physically tiring.  Mentally stretching.  It takes a special person to be a teacher.  The Savior Himself was the Master Teacher.  Teachers do it because they love filling young minds with new knowledge and watching it grow.

Are you there?

I have the hardest time thinking of post titles.  So I don’t know if this happens to the rest of you, but are you ever totally incoherent when you first wake up?  Well, I am.  Brennen went off to play some Xbox with his guy friends last night and left me alone to veg on the couch watching some MENTALIST and NEWS and JAY LENO.  Then around 11:15 I decide I should go to bed because I gotta get up early the next morning.  So I crawl into bed, and discover a text from Brennen that says “what’s crackin?”  By this point I’m still wide awake and I answer, “Just crawled into bed..you?”  I don’t really expect to hear anything back because he’ll only check his phone in between rounds of zombies which can sometimes take hours.  So about 45 minutes or so later I get a reply that says, “I just told Nathan he was an idiot for not getting a trap.”  Wha??? Here I am, only semi-conscious, and what the heck does that mean?  I reply, “I don’t know what you’re talking about?”  Then I lay there thinking, I bet I just dreamed all of that.  Then comes “Long story” from Brennen, and I’m a little relieved because I was able to put together a coherent thought.  I tell him “Okay, I was just thinking that I maybe need to wait until I’m awake to send text messages”

Untitled

So.. i had all this stuff a few days ago that i wanted to blog about, but of course i can't remember any of it.  So some good news is that our laundry doesn't smell like fish anymore! Well, except for one pair of basketball shorts that i just cannot seem to get the smell out of. 

I have been spending some quality time with the sewing machine lately.  I made a nice pair of pajama pants that I've been needing to do for a while and two throw pillows for the couch.  Pictures to come..when i can find the camera.

and remember that softball team Brennen and I are on? Well the last game we played, Brennen hit 2 home runs!! And I...pulled my groin muscle.

Goosebumps

"Don't You Wanna Stay?" By Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson is my NEW FAVORITE SONG! It gives me the goosebumps! Watch it here.

Some good covers too! HERE and HERE.

:)