Cramming in the Fun

This summer has flown by. I'm sad to see summer end, so we have been cherishing every moment the past few weeks. 

Andrew and I enjoy playing tennis together. We are very evenly matched and so it's always interesting to see who ends up pulling out the victory. This most recent time, I won which meant Andrew had to make me ice cream. It was delicious by the way. I ended up taking to heart something Andrew told me last time I lost to him. He said that he wins because he is willing to move around and get the ball no matter what. This time, I did just that and it paid off. 

Last weekend we went and saw the play, "Mary Poppins" in Provo. Andrew and I made a bet about something that would happen in a T.V. show and decided that the winner would be treated to a date of their choice. Based on the date, I'm sure you gathered that I won. I chose that we go to dinner and "Mary Poppins" with Luke and Wendy Wilson. We went to JCW's for dinner on the way and tried to stop by the Provo bakery before the show started, but were disappointed to find that it was closed. Their sugar cookies are out of this world. We were disappointed with "Mary Poppins" and decided to leave at intermission. I'm glad we did because half of the show lasted an hour and a half. We weren't sad to go back to our place and play some games with our friends.

(This is how Andrew would pose in every picture if I let him.)

On Monday for family home evening, we went with some friends from our ward on a hike. Andrew and I have had plans to hike Stewart Falls multiple times this summer, but each time something came up. (Work) I was so excited that we were finally able to do this hike. It wasn't very challenging which made talking to our friends easy. When we got to the falls, we celebrated by eating some sour patch kids.

(Too bad we didn't get a pic with Brighton and Ryan!)

This past Wednesday, August 19, school started. What!? I'm a teacher? I can't believe it. The first three days were busy and exhausting, but I am loving every minute of it. When the bell rings to dismiss the students, I'm always surprised and sad because the days fly by. I have the cutest students and I am so excited for this year. Every school day so far, my body has automatically woken me up at 5:00 am because I'm so excited. I'm hoping that will change this week because the extra sleep would be nice. I won't claim that teaching is easy, because it isn't. But going into teaching, I knew it would be challenging, and I'm up for the challenge.

Yesterday my best friend Mary got married in the Manti Temple. It was a beautiful day and we were glad to be a part of it. It ended up being quite a long day because Manti is about an hour and a half away. We had to leave at 8:00am and we got back home at 9:30pm. We left the luncheon right after I gave my "maid of honor speech" (which I was so thrilled to give) so we could race to my nephew's birthday party which was 2 hours away. I then had to eat quickly and dash to the reception for pictures. I got to play the keyboard at the reception for about 45 minutes which was fun and challenging. I saw lots of friends there and had a hard time playing the piano beautifully and talking at the same time. I finally ended up asking for the next pianist to take over. :)

Throughout the day, I took multiple pictures with Mary anytime she had a spare second. It took many tries to get one that wasn't too dark. Here is our best.

Still sporting the beard.

I had to post this picture. Andrew told me he wanted a good picture of the temple, and I saw him take one. Later I asked him how it turned out and he told me it was great. I asked to see the picture and pulled this up. Apparently he didn't notice the pole. haha. 

I can't believe it's time for another busy week to start, but bring it on. Oh, and wish me luck at back to school night this week as I get to present to the parents.

Lake Cavanaugh

We spent the weekend at Lake Cavanaugh about 2 hours outside of Seattle. Andrew's family goes to this lake-house annually and I can see why. It's breathtaking. (This was my second time going. We didn't go last year.) It is near Mt. Vernon and there is no cell service/internet there. It was nice to take a breather from social media for a few days.

We purchased the cheapest flights possible which made our travel times less than ideal. We left on Thursday, July 30 at 6:00 AM. (Meaning we had to leave for the airport by 4:30 AM) We returned from Seattle last night at 12:00 AM and we pulled in to our place around 1:15 AM.  Yikes.

We rented a car to travel from the airport to the lake-house and found a really good deal. I think we ended up paying $11 a day for our rental car which is so reasonable. We got the cheapest, crummiest rental car possible. When we got to the rental car place, it turned out that every rental car would be rented that day, so we were allowed to pick any car. According to an employee there, we got a quadruple upgrade which was nice. Driving in Seattle traffic is no fun, but my phone lead us around the traffic areas and we got to drive through various parts of Seattle on our way.

The lake-house was quite crowded this year because every one of Andrew's siblings came. There were 43 of us total in a 4 bedroom place. Andrew and I slept in the loft with a couple of our nephews. One couple slept in a tent, another in the back of their car. Meals were massive and I found myself in line for seconds or even thirds far too often. I won't be stepping foot on a scale anytime soon.

The weather was perfect and I was very cautious not to recreate my Puerto Rico burn experience, so I lathered the sun screen on. Now I'm a little sad I was so careful because it doesn't really look like I went to a lake at all. Oh well, there is always next summer.

There were plenty of kids (28) to hold and play with all weekend. My body adjusted to going to bed around 1:00 AM every night and waking up when all the babies did at about 7:00 AM. Nights were always exciting because all the kids were in bed and the adults could focus on things other than their children. One night each couple told the story of how they met. Another night we all traded first kiss stories. Ocean's 13 was projected one evening.We also planned an adult family vacation for 2017 which can't come soon enough.

Lots of nerts, hand and foot, and spike ball were played and I miss it already. (Although my partner and I were out of the spike ball tournament in the first round.) I have a few battle wounds from our time there. I got at least 6 huge bug bites on my legs. I am also still limping from the 3 mile run I took around the hilly lake. (That run was the deciding factor in why I chose not to run the 7.8 mile run around the lake race the following day.)

I went tubing twice and realized quickly that I'm getting old. I was sore the following day from gripping the tube so tightly. My back was also yelling at me. I learned that going with boys tubing is a completely different activity. They purposely try to kick and knock each other off. Who knew.

It was an eventful weekend with 3 birthday celebrations and one trip to the E.R. Some stitches were necessary after a skiing incident on the boat. (Poor Vaughn) I am glad to be home though because I finally got to shower! 

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.