Finally Official!

I have been waiting and dreaming and waiting some more to finally be able to write this post. I have accepted a teaching job at Cascade Elementary in Orem, UT. I will be teaching 4th grade and couldn't be more excited. I have known for several weeks now, but was waiting until I finally signed my contract to post about it. (I signed it yesterday!)

I feel extremely blessed to have this opportunity. After I accepted the job, I learned some details about what went on behind the scenes in the hiring process. First of all, when I interviewed at the school, I recognized one of the teachers in the interview (Cherie). I had met her as a substitute teacher a while back at a different school. We had an instant connection because her sister was my professor at BYU-Idaho. What a small world. Cherie transferred to Cascade Elementary and this will be her first year there as well. She will be on the 4th grade team with me. The principal also recognized me when I walked into the interview because I had met him while subbing at his school a few weeks prior.

After meeting me as a substitute, Cherie couldn't remember my name. She wanted to recommend me to be interviewed, but couldn't. She even asked her sister (my former professor) who I was, but my professor couldn't remember either. I learned that there were over 550 applicants for my position which is unbelievable. Apparently my application stood out thanks to my overhead projector story. I saved my money when I was a child to buy an overhead projector for my pretend classroom. I finally got it, but used it so much within the first month that I burned the light-bulb out. I was nick-named "projector-girl" at Cascade Elementary for this reason.

When I went to the interview, Cherie recognized me as the girl she had previously met, and I ended up being projector girl which she didn't know. I was surprised when I got the phone call offering me the job. When I interviewed I was VERY ill. My nose was so runny and I felt horrible. I didn't want to cancel, so I went anyway with plenty of medicine running through me. I didn't feel like I interviewed super well because my mind was so fuzzy.

I have met with the 4th grade team to plan the year out and have spent lots of time, probably too much time in my classroom. It's looking good, but I still have quite a ways to go. I recently got my class list and am anticipating having 24 students which is a pretty small class size. I'm hoping my students love the movie theater theme I'm working so hard to create. Pictures to come.

Puerto Rico

I'm still recovering from the 14+ hour day in the airport yesterday, but want to write this while the memories are fresh.

On Thursday, July 2 we headed to Puerto Rico with my family. Everyone came (including Simon) and it was a blast. It exceeded my expectations. After delays on both flights, we arrived in Puerto Rico after 2:00am. We stayed in condos on the beach and it felt like we had our own private beach. I have never seen a beach so open and people free. The water was SO warm and none of us could stay out of the ocean. We spent most of the first day (Friday) hanging around the beach/swimming pool and catching up on sleep. In the evening, we went to a local Mexican restaurant that was delicious. One thing we learned quickly is that the service in Puerto Rico is slow. (at the airport, at sit-down restaurants, at fast-food restaurants, etc.) Unfortunately, I got one of the worst sunburns I have ever had on the first day. I didn't notice it until after I woke up from a 3 hour nap. The rest of the trip, I had to wear a water-proof shirt over all of my swimsuits which was a bummer, but oh well. I got teased for wearing my swim shirt under my cover-up which looked super weird. Luckily I didn't let anyone take a pic.

This was the view from our patio. Waking up to this everyday was paradise.

Rainbow

On Saturday we decided to go snorkeling. We had to wake up and leave pretty early to catch a ferry to the small island of Culebra. The ferry ride ended up taking longer than estimated and the ride was very bumpy. After about 75 minutes, we finally made it. Many of us got sick, but luckily only 1 threw up. It was a pretty miserable ride. At one point on the ride, a security guard on the ferry tapped my mom and asked, "Ma'am, are you okay?" She was in alien mode to prevent sickness. We all ahd a good laugh about it. After getting off the boat, I wasn't expecting much and was kind of upset we decided to come after such a choppy ride. We soon learned it was well worth it. We spent some time at Flamenco beach which was breathtaking. I have never seen a prettier beach. Some claim it's the best in the world and I would have to agree (although I haven't traveled a ton). The water was crystal clear. The sand was white and the waves were perfect. The pictures don't do it justice.

I had never really been snorkeling, so that was fun to experience for the first time. We saw so many sea turtles. I was surprised by how close they swam to us. It was so cool to see all the living things under the water. (I didn't have an under-water camera, so no pictures.) The ferry ride back was much better. Most of us slept the whole time and the water was much smoother thank heavens.

Sunday morning, we drove 45 minutes to church. We walked in and were surprised by how few people were there. I thought it was for-sure a branch, but apparently it was a ward. Dad counted how many people were there, and he counted 35 (which seemed high). It was fast Sunday, and there were plenty of long silences and opportunities to share testimonies. I had the chance to share my testimony which I don't do often. I shared a quote I heard at BYU women's conference in April: "God may not always be on-time, but he is never late." (Pres. Worthlin)

We went to the English ward

After church, we headed to Old San Juan to do some exploring. We went to some old ruins at Castillo San Cristibal. We had some great views from the ruins because they were so high up.

It was windy up there

We walked around Old San Juan for a bit. The city kind of reminded me of San Francisco. Some of my family has been to Belgium and they saw some similarities. It was extremely hot and humid, so we didn't last long before heading home.

We spent the afternoon relaxing at he beach and pool. We had boogie boards and spent lots of time fighting the waves. They sure can be brutal. I have 4 big bruises from my board, but riding in the waves was so much fun. Throughout the trip, we spent lots of time watching Wimbledon (we all filled out brackets), the U.S. Women's soccer team, and playing nerts.

Monday was our last day in Puerto Rico. Some of us went zip lining through a rain-forest in the morning. Our instructions were to wear closed-toed shoes and a pony-tail which makes for really cute pictures. It was beautiful and not even that scary. My heart was racing when I had to walk up four flights of stairs that were pretty high-up, but I was fine. Lots of little kids were doing it. A couple of times, the zip-lines were next to each other, so Andrew and I got to race.

The trip went by way too quickly, but we made so many fun memories that we will cherish forever. I'm grateful to have a family that enjoys being together and that we could go on this trip together. Until next time Puerto Rico.

You're never too old for hand-stand contests

Where We Belong

Looking for apartments was a discouraging process. I just wanted to find the perfect place and be done with the search. I'm glad I didn't rush the process because otherwise we wouldn't have ended up where we are now.

Let me back up... when I first toured our basement apartment it felt right. I think my mom was surprised when I asked how much the deposit was at the end of the tour and wrote a check. The place felt like home from the beginning. A lot of that has to do with our landlords. While on the tour, in all seriousness, our landlord asked if we wanted him to go walk around upstairs, so we could see how loud it would be for us in the basement. I thought he was joking. Since then, I have come to realize that our landlords are some of the most genuine people that I have ever met.

One morning, I walked outside to head to work. I passed my broken bike like normal, but did a double take. My bike was no longer broken... It was fixed. My landlord bought and installed a new tire. When I confronted him about this he brushed it off and said it was no big deal. I tried to pay him for the new tire, but he wouldn't let me. He also told me that he noticed that the brakes needed some adjusting, and not to worry because he would get to fixing them soon.

One Saturday night, dinner-time was approaching and we needed to go grocery shopping. We didn't really have any ingredients for dinner and we were getting hungry. Just before we left, we heard a knock at the door. It was our landlord inviting us to come over for dinner. When I asked if we could bring anything, I was turned down.

One night I was making dessert (this happens often) and realized that we didn't have any cocoa. We had just gone to the store and I didn't want to go back so soon. When asked if we could borrow some cocoa, our landlords just gave us their entire container and told us to keep it.

After hearing that I was a teacher, my landlord gave my resume to the director at the charter school she works at. She followed up with the principal several times in hopes of getting me an interview.

By now, you get the point. I could go on for another several pages with all the nice things our landlords have done for us. The other day I was writing them a thank-you card, and I didn't even know where to begin. It was hard to fit everything in one card. I closed the card with something like, "thank you for treating us like we are your own kids." That's how they have made us feel.

On top of our landlords, here are some of our favorite things about our place:

     -A washer and dryer in our apartment! (This is something we did NOT have in our last place and it makes a huge difference.)

     -A dishwasher. I love going into the kitchen and not seeing dishes piled up all over the place or drying. 

     -A garbage disposal. Do you know how stinky your hands get after putting them down the sink cleaning out all the gunk?

     -An island with stools. We got rid of our table when we moved and now have so much living space.

     -A place to park both of our cars off the street. 

We are loving where we live and I know it wasn't just a coincidence that things are working out so well. We are living here for a reason.