9 Years and Counting

Tuesday was our wedding anniversary. We spent the whole day together in bed...with a violent stomach flu. Rena came and took BooBear for the afternoon, fed him lunch and dinner, since we didn't have enough energy to look after him and having him fend for himself all day did not seem like a good idea. It is so sad to have so many goodies around from the holidays - and you can't eat any of it. We will probably be throwing most of it away since we still aren't up to eating normal food yet. We keep hoping that BooBear won't get this bug, because it is nasty, but he is starting to show precursor signs today.

It's A Girl!

So, I had my ultrasound today at 19 weeks along. Everything looks normal and healthy. We are going to have a girl!!! My first reaction is pure excitement. My second reaction - what do you do with a girl? I told my students already, so there are a few kids that told me they will be at my classroom before school starts to find out if it's a girl or boy because they are so excited for me. Some of my 8th grade girls are hatching a plan to throw me a baby shower during lunch sometime (I have them in class right after lunch.) Isn't that cute?

Werty's Quest: Painting

Werty has been working so hard to get our living room painted before my family comes for the holidays. He comes home from work, we eat dinner, and then he paints. It took three rounds of mudding and sanding to smooth out the texture on the walls. (That was the only step I could help with). Two coats of primer were necessary to cover the mud and dust - two different colors of primer, since we are using one light and one dark color in the room. Last night Werty finished the second and final coat of the lighter color, and I still like the color, so that's good. He will need to paint two coats of the red color. He put one layer of paint on the ceiling already, but he is planning on another coat of white and some touch-ups around the light fixture. I am not sure if the ceiling necessarily needs to be done before Christmas. But once we have the walls done, we can put up our Christmas tree.

BooBear loves the lights of the season, on Sunday he wanted to just drive around and look at them, and kept saying, "Yes, lights," which sounded more like, "ets, ites" but I understood him. So, I know he will be excited to put up our tree. This will be the first year he will really understand that something special is going on.

I still need to go shopping for his Christmas presents - what a horrible parent I am! I have a good idea of what I want to get him, but no time to get to the store. I hope they don't sell out before I get there. One toy set is from IKEA, so that has to be a weekend shopping trip. We have school all the way through the 21st, so my life will stay hectic for a while still. Last night I made the first inroads on getting the basement ready for guests, so that's progress, at least. My parents might have boxes piled up in one corner of the guest room when they get here. My intention was to sort through the boxes of stuff left over from the move, but I don't think there will be enough time. We decided it would be better to have a living room, than to have everything else perfect for the holidays.

Distateful

I can hear some of my former students chuckling...there are certain crude words and phrases which, though perhaps not swear words, are not appropriate in the classroom. One of my classes chose to replace one of the taboo phrases with, "It's distateful." And now I will always think of them whenever I say that something is 'distasteful.'

So, Werty was invited to be part of an octet in the program for the ward Christmas party. One particular song the choir leader chose for them is that I would call distasteful. It's supposed to be humorous, but it's so dated, and it draws it's humor from ethnic stereotypes.

Another member of the group objected when the jist of the song was explained to him. Werty was relieved, because he had the same feeling about it. But the choir director chewed the first guy out and convinced him to look at the music and give it a shot. So, the music was dropped off at our door this week. Werty and I each looked at it. Yup, it's as horrible as he feared. Each verse is sung in a different accent, the worst verse labeled "the mysterious east" instead of an actual country, and the verse consists of menu items from a chinese restaurant instead of actual words or phrases.

Last night, Werty had the chance to voice his concern to the other member who had originally objected. I was proud of him as I heard him explain that we are members of a worldwide church, and "as a worldwide church, I don't think a song like this is appropriate." (Yeah, there's a reason I married him.) Together the two of them are going to talk to the others in the group and get rid of the song. It's a touchy thing, with the choir director having picked it, and we have been in the ward less than a year and don't know very many people.

Everyone seems to know my husband and his voice - they gave him a solo in the primary program this year, they put him down for a solo on Christmas - he just wishes they would ask him instead of putting him down and telling him later...because it's hard to get music and accompaniment together that quickly when you don't know very many people in the ward. No, no one has asked me to do any singing. Let's face it, Werty is the superior singer with more experience, and tenors are more in demand that altos. Have you ever seen a ward that says, we have plenty of men in the choir, but we need more ladies...didn't think so.

Recovering from the Holiday

It was great to see everyone at Thanksgiving. We had a record turnout of 44 people at Bear Lake. It was nice that all the couples with small children were together so we could have quiet nap time everyday. Unfortunately, the room we were in had no actual door, so there was no way to put BooBear to bed, especially with people up cooking with the lights on - lights that shone right into our room. He's old enough to think that if people are awake, he is missing out on the fun. So, BooBear was up running around well into the wee hours both nights we were there. The second night he refused to be in our room, but insisted on being in the living room all night, sometimes snoozing on the couch. We had planned on staying a 3rd night, but after two nights of little or no sleep, we came home. BooBear seemed happy to be home and see his toys again. He even liked having mommy around, instead of just wanting Daddy (ever since Werty started working, BooBear only wants mommy when Daddy's not home, because he misses Daddy so much). Thankfully, by Monday, we were back on schedule for his naps/bedtime.

Saturday we spent the day raking up leaves - eight 39 gallon bags - and that was just the front yard.

Last night, Werty started attacking the living room again. YAY! He wants to get it painted and ready for the Christmas tree by Saturday. Won't that by great? Then we can pick out a new couch and loveseat set. My parents could have someplace to actually sit when they come and stay. BooBear will miss having the empty space to run around in, but he'll adjust.

Food Drive Madness!

Last Friday we had one of the craziest, most successful events I have ever seen at work. Food drives aren't usually "crazy," but this one culminated in teachers hula hooping, break dancing, lip-synching, celebrity impersonations, eating sardines, sumo wrestling in sumo suits, wading in rotten food (poor Dee, she has a thick mane of naturally curly hair, and they poured rotten nastiness on her head for about 3 mins straight), male teachers and administrators dancing in tutus, male coaches cross-dressing as belly dancers in imitation of one of our female asst principals to the tune "Dude looks like a lady," and the final event of one popular math teacher having his beard shaved by the student body president. During the shaving, students poured out of the bleachers to see up close - especially the 7th and 8th graders. I couldn't believe my little GT kids were instigating mayhem! Once the students were back in their seats, they finished the shaving. The assembly ran so long that 6th period was cancelled. The goal was 10,000 cans. Our school collected 14,000 cans - 6 tons of food for the local food bank. Here's a picture on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Provo-High-School-100K-for-100-Years/199825953402878

I heard one story of a student whose family is on church assistance, so didn't have any cans at home she could donate. She went canvassing around her neighborhood instead. The winning teacher had about 2k cans. I told my kids this year I was tired of being the only teacher with zero cans, and this year I turned in 74, half of which were from my ESL kids. Maybe we are a financially disadvantaged school. But our kids proved they could do great things.

Lucky We Didn't Blow Up...

That's what the mechanic told Werty this morning when we picked up our van. The gas line had a major crack in it, possibly caused when the dealership was replacing the fuel pump, since it was brittle with age. So, yes we are very happy the car didn't catch fire and explode on us. Paying tithing really is fire insurance sometimes. :P

Van Folks

We have become one of 'those people.' The van owning kind of people. Already we have moved beyond the 'ooh, look how much space there is in our new van' stage to 'time to take it to the shop to be repaired' stage. I understand this is a common experience when you are one of 'those people.' It worked for, let's see, 4 days, before the inside of the van started smelling like gasoline and one of the tires went flat. When we bought the car they said they had replaced the fuel pump and fuel filter. We didn't think to ask them if they installed it correctly...anyway, we got it pretty cheap, so it's no surprise we will have to put more money in it to make it happy. We are hoping to get the van fixed up, including new tires, to take on the road for Turkey day. But, it was an exciting morning today, what with my forgetfulness, and having to run back home in the middle of 1st period, leaving my class with my Aide, so I could 1. give Werty the only key to the van which was on my keychain 2. grab my parking pass from the van 3. take Boo to the babysitters, all so Werty could 4. drop the van off at the shop. Meanwhile, it's my first day back from having a sub for 2 days, so it's the usual 'where did my stuff get put?' scramble. Tonight Werty and I will relive our first date by watching the same musical we saw 9 years ago, except this time it will be at my school with three of my students performing. How fun!

Why I Feel Like I am Starving...

Went to the Dr. this week. My thyroid numbers were bad last May, well bad for me, but still 'normal.' This time, they were much worse. My TSH is now below normal, meaning the opposite - my thyroid is on overdrive. No wonder I have been feeling so hungry along with feeling sick. I lost 6 pounds in the last month, and I promise I am not dieting. I have to eat every time I get hungry, or my hands start shaking and I worry about fainting -- like this last week when I was passing out papers to my IB class at the beginning of the second period of the day and my hands were shaking so much I starting having trouble with the papers. So, I ate some yogurt, and felt much better. I am packing lots of snacks now to work, trying to eat things that have protein without tree nuts (which can be difficult when most 'protein' bars use oils from nuts as their source of protein) because I am NOT a nice teacher when I am hungry, Ddonn and Werty can vouch for me on that. The only good news is that the actual amount of thyroid in my blood is not at a dangerous level yet, so my Dr. does not recommend taking any medications - blockers - at this time. I will get my numbers checked again next month. Looks like Dec 14th will be a busy day for medical tests. :P

Pic Updates

Boo on his new trike, just after I finished putting it together.


How does someone sleep with their head off the mattress? I don't know, but that's how I found him one morning.

Our family went to look at the last of the Fall leaves yesterday.


Trying on his Halloween costume today.

Updates

Coming soon...pics of BooBear on his new trike - the day before our first Winter storm. We knew he really wanted one. He would start pointing every time he saw a bike of any kind after trying out his cousin's trike in August. It has one of those handles on the back, so he pedals sometimes, and we push him sometimes. By next Summer, he should be ready for us to remove the handle.

Werty had an interview last week. Then the question of what would it mean to our family if he got the job? I have to finish the school year, but I'm becoming more and more okay with the idea of taking a break from teaching, especially full time teaching. No counting the hens before they're hatched, of course.

September is finally over (Hallelujah), and the end of term is looming. 10 more days left of instruction. I'm not counting or anything. It's nice to think that we are almost a quarter of the way through the school year.

Laundry

The whole family was helping with the laundry last night. Why is that worth mentioning? Because we were doing it AT HOME in our new LAUNDRY ROOM. Werty installed the machines a week ago. BooBear is full of two-year-old independence, so he wants to move the clothes from one machine to the other. He wants to put the dry clothes back in to the hamper. And when I want to put clothes away, he starts defending the clothes with "No, no, no." Silly mommy, the clothes stay in the hamper, not in the closet. That's where they are before they get put in the machines, after all.

8th Grade GT Theories

What do you think really happened to the lost colony of Roanoke?

"In original history, the colonists were brutally slaughtered. But Dr. Who fixed that."

"The settlers were really good and God desided to translate the whole colonie. He lifted them and the houses but not the fence. Then he sent a tornado to stop others from finding out. CRO was another word for god." [sic]

"I think that the lost colony is still being tested on by aliens to this day. Their houses and the odd belongings are vital for testing."

Phooey!

I can't bemoan the fact that other people aren't updating their blogs (*cough* Lisa), when I haven't written anything in September, and it's halfway through the month. Beginning of the school year is always crazy busy. Next week will be the worst - BUT - thanks to Jimmer, yes Jimmer, for having an NBA event at BYU next week, NHS inductions got moved a week. Yay! Orginally, it was scheduled the day after PT conferences, which is a really long 12 hour day - it's exhausting physically and emotionally to interact with that many people at once. I still remember one year when parents were complaining because the line to talk to me was 30 minutes long. Yikes. It hasn't been that bad since I took over ESL, because I have fewer students than before. However, teaching the GT 8th graders means a lot more parent questions and concerns, and they want things like a list of all the due dates for the whole year. Aack! I am still refining the curriculum of that course! It's not like we have a textbook or anything for them. One parent was really upset about the lack of a textbook on Back to School Night. I even had one 8th grade parent questioning my credentials to teach History if I teach ESL. Hello! History was my MAJOR! Did you know I teach the IB History class - the awesomest IB class in the school?!? Okay, I didn't really say that to them. I said something more professional and patient-like.

Meanwhile I was recommended to attend the CITES conference training this year - which is a big honor, and if I turned it down, I would probably never be invited again. Some teachers wait their whole careers without getting to go to these conferences. That does mean that I will miss 10 days of class this year for these conferences. I hate having substitutes, and I hate the state my room is in when I get back. BUT, I do get stay in a hotel in Park City...and I have reading homework for the conferences, 7 books in all. Oh, and this Saturday is an IB conference in SLC. Next month is a 4 day IB conference...somewhere, they haven't decided where yet. Poor Werty, while I am off having work related trips, he is stuck at home. And when I am home, I am often working or sleeping. I am supposed to be taking classes starting in November for the GT endorsement cohort, which means more time away from home and more homework to do. I don't know if I can really swing all of that. The GT classes might have to give way. Phooey.

Trip to the Zoo

Random pic when BooBear wanted to play with the camera.


The last day of summer for me, that is, the day before my contract began, BooBear went to the zoo with his cousins. He liked the elephants, the small primates, the birds and the small animal house. He didn't care much for the life size dinosaurs - they roared, but didn't move as much as that exhibit in Seattle from when I was a kid. He was also scared of things that squirted water, like the dilophosaurus and the elephant statue in the picture above. "Hey that's the kind of dinosaur that spits in Jurassic Park," I said seconds before it got me straight in the face.

BooBear watching the elephant show.

Then we went to check out mom and baby elephant. We made up a song in our house called 'Baby Elephant' that we sing whenever we go up the stairs, so he thought the baby elephant was cooler this year than last year.


The little guy staring intently at the monkey next to BooBear is his youngest cousin.

Look mommy, a bird!

School Start

With two days of regular school under my belt, I have met all of my students. My largest class is the 8th graders at 36 students. Somehow, my US Govt class (usually at least 40 students) had a conflict with something. So for now, my class is just under 20. It's so weird. We get through material faster. We will probably have time to do the mock congress activity, something I haven't had time for since my first year teaching the class. One of the Gov't students would have liked MY Amer Gov't teacher, she's really into conspiracies and is willing to share them often. I have my largest group of IB students, but not as many as the admin would like, but they seem to be a bright group.

Summer Checklist

As my summer break comes to an end, I have been in a frenzy to get things done on my checklist, from construction to baking. The laundry room is mudded, sanded and ready for texture...for a week now. Werty bought a hopper/texture gun, borrowed an air compressor, and is researching technique. Now he is talking about needing another tool for the ceiling and more mix before starting. Argh!

Meanwhile this week, we mudded the first layer to fill in the texture in the living room. Yes, I realize that we are trying to put texture up in one room while smoothing out the texture in another room. Yesterday I sanded down the room all by myself. Today, my hand keeps going numb. But it looks good. One more layer and sanding should do it for that room, and then we are ready to paint. I am really hoping to have both rooms painted before school actually starts in a week. The next step I have planned out will be getting the art framed and on the walls - but that might be next summer's project, because we will probably need furniture in that room first.

I used my favorite baking cookbook to make two new recipes this year - the pumpkin spice roll is something I have wanted to try for a while. I liked the cream cheese filling, much less sugar than your normal frosting. The clafouti (I have no idea how to pronounce it) was good with the apricots. Both were a hit when we shared them with Werty's family.

This week we moved BooBear into a big bed. He was so excited, he didn't want to fall asleep that night! We have a rail up, since he tended to roll all over the room instead of staying on his toddler mattress before.

I also typed out the topics and activities for each day of my IB class for the last three years out of my lesson plan books. I am hoping this will aid in my planning and make the course more succinct and creative this year. I have also been perusing the 3 new IB textbooks put out by C@mbridge Press in preparation since they arrived last month hot off the press.

Some things still left on my list:
- We still need to take BooBear to the zoo. We are hoping to go with Rena and her family.
- I didn't get all the unpacking done I wanted to, still have most of the same boxes since the beginning of summer because my file cabinet is still locked with no key since the move.
- The tv and media appliances are still not plugged in, since Werty hasn't had time to put in a new outlet yet. Thank goodness for hulu.
- Still haven't bought a sewing machine or put up curtains, since we haven't painted yet.

Here are some pics from our summer:



BooBear watering the trees.

Flopping around on his new big bed. He can get himself in and out of the bed.


BooBear loves to help us mud and sand. He was really excited when we started working on the living room because he had full access to being involved.

BooBear picked out these tiny bananas at the store. The tomato is for size reference.

Sunset view from our house.

Sue's family came over for FHE and s'mores. Her kids had fun picking raspberries, catching grasshoppers and watching humming birds.

Congrats to Rena!

Rena will be starting her Master's program this Fall. She originally abandoned the idea when she was wait listed, but with two weeks until the semester starts, they want her in their program. I know she will be awesome!

Meanwhile, after 2 days I have undone what summer school did to my classroom, and even managed to throw out a bunch of junk. Most importantly, I found the file that has all the names and numbers for this year's NHS council, so I can send out invites for our BBQ retreat next Thursday.

Afraid of melting?

BooBear tends to wake up and immediately point outside because he wants to play at the park across the street. Sometimes he brings us our shoes while we are still in bed or in pajamas. We are having a wetter summer than normal this year. So, I find it entertaining when it's nice and overcast how PACKED the park will be until it starts to precipitate. A little sprinkle and the park clears out. That's what happened today. Lots of kids running around, and then 'poof' we're alone in the drizzling rain. I also discovered a new gauge of how much I love my son. Love is being willing to go down a wet slide after the rain, thereby drying the slide for my child to enjoy. At one point a family joined us in the park, but I think the father took a look at my son with his wet bum from sliding in the rain and a slightly runny nose, and thought I was some kind of neglectful parent, because it wasn't long before he hurriedly ushered his wife and kids out of the big toy area away from us. Or maybe it was the big wet spot on MY bum from drying the slides, not really sure. I vacillate being concerned about BooBear getting enough socialization with other kids and being relieved when we have the big toy to ourselves because BooBear can play on whatever he wants without being run over by big kids or having rude children snatch things away from him when he can't speak enough to defend himself.

Ddonn if you do make it to Utah, try to schedule enough time for the girls to enjoy the park - including the water park and water slides.

Y@htzee!

Werty and I first started playing Y@htzee together when we were newlyweds - it was the only board game we could find that you could play with 2 players. Tonight we introduced the game to BooBear.

He rattled dice around in a cup and dumped them out - felt almost as good as throwing something. He loved it. But he got annoyed when we wanted to re-roll a few of the dice on our own. He started dumping them out with his other hand poised to grab them before we could read the numbers on them. "Ooh, ooh," or "Wait, wait" he said as he snatched them up. But we were still trying to take some of them away and re-roll them. So he took the cup, dice and box lid away to the other side of the room to play without us! We weren't playing by his rules. Eventually, he got bored and let us have them back. I won. :P

Level 2!

It took me, hmmm, 7 years of working in public school to finally get my level 2 license, but I got it. No more having to renew every 3 years, now I have 5 years to build up enough credits for renewal. Who knows if I will be working full time in 5 years...or if I will be working on a masters degree and have plenty of credits. But the important thing right now is that I have time to decide. Another important fact is that I am still qualified to keep my job, in case none of these jobs Werty is applying to work out. We can still have a roof over our heads, and that's a good thing.

I was a little late getting the process started on upgrading my license. Disclaimer: the following you are about to read is a whole bunch of excuses. See, there are fees involved. Fees for the background check, fees for the upgrade, they pretty much ding you at each step. And when you are buying a house, and trying to not spend ANYTHING or put ANYTHING on a credit card because you want the nice bank to give you a happy mortgage loan, paying a bunch of fees gets put on the back burner. Then you move, but the printer isn't connected yet, and then the printer seems to be damaged from the move and makes a horrible sound instead of doing what it's supposed to, and Werty and his OCD self doesn't want you to use your computer and printer at work to pay the fees because that connection is tracked by the district office, and therefore not really secure. (See, you can't just pay the fees, you have to print out a receipt and take it to the fingerprinting place - which is our district - and there are lots of warnings that you can only print it when you pay, and you will have to pay again if you mess up or wait too long to get fingerprinted. Blah, blah, blah, excuses to get frustrated and procrastinate.) Then it's the end of the year, there's the testing, the seniors, the NHS stuff, my co-workers are leaving so we have to clean out classrooms and closets, and crud, I still haven't done it.

Here's how it went down: Attempt #1 The district office only does fingerprinting during certain days and hours, but when I arrived, they weren't open during those hours the last week of school. Attempt #2 I got fingerprinted, and the deadline was still a month away, so the two weeks it takes for the background check is close, but okay. Attempt #3 The deadline was now two weeks away, and I was getting nervous. I got an email telling me there was a problem with my background check - some of the fingerprinting data was missing or corrupted, so I need to be fingerprinted again. Within the hour, I was back at the district getting fingerprinted a second time. 3 days before the deadline, I get notification that I have cleared my background check, but the state still says there is a problem and I can't proceed. I called up the state office and asked. Oh, there is a form that has to be filled out by your district. Would this be the form and recommendation that I specifically asked my supervising administrator about over a month ago when I was having my final observation and interview and was told no, there was no such form? I drive down to the district to find out...yes, there is such a form, and yes, I need it signed by both the district and my principal... (Too bad, we just got a new principal that I haven't met yet...) and the secretary who knows where the forms are had just left on an errand. And then suddenly, the heavens parted and my prayers were answered. The district person in charge of professional development is a wonderful, kind-hearted man. He said, 'Let me see if I have a copy of the file on my computer' and then he printed the form for me. Since he knew that my upgrade has be posted by end of business day the next day, he said he would sign my form for me so that I didn't have to try to track down my old principal. (Once the secretary came back and put my information from the form into the state server, I was good to go. I waited a few hours, and hallelujah, the system let me in. I completed the paperwork, paid another fee and I was done! I felt like I was in a Christine Lavin song - and the guy with the bow tie had just paid for my groceries. Five years from now, I hope I will not procrastinate again.

Updates are better with pictures!

First of all, Werty had a job interview this morning. (Yay!) They said they had a short list of candidates being interviewed, so that's good to hear. He thought it went well, but we aren't getting our hopes up too much yet. He thinks it's a 50/50 chance.

This week Werty repaired the evaporator cooler. He had to reconnect the floater to the water line and tweak it because it leaks. The ceiling around the internal vent will need to be repaired later. As it is, he rotated the vent fins (really heavy - it's steel, not plastic) 90 degrees so that he could anchor it and keep it from falling down. The negative to that is less air blows into the bedrooms now. Ah! But the plus side is now more cool air hits the kitchen! And that makes cooking more pleasant. You can see from this pic how big the vent is, the side is almost as wide as a standard door.

We go to the hardware store almost every day - it's become a family event. We buy 2-3 different versions of what is needed, see which fits best, and take the rest of it back. I'm told this is normal.

Werty finished the major plumbing yesterday - so we shouldn't need to turn off the water for 6 hours at a time anymore. Hooray! Here's what it looks like now:


Here are some close up shots of new things that Werty has added (isn't he wonderful?):

He had to move the gas line, and install new hot and cold water lines for the washer.

Here's the ice maker shut off valve and the electrical box for the new outlets, one for the washer, one for the dryer.


The new drain. It took some creativity to get it to fit in with the existing drain (white pipes) while still being hidden in the wall. This used to be a second kitchen with a cabinet along the wall built on to the exterior wall with all the pipes exposed. We have it framed for insulation and dry wall. That meant Werty also had to extend out the connectors to the old sink, this time with their own shut off valves (the old sink was only partially attached and easily overflowed). The photo below is a piece of the sink pipe up above in the ceiling that Werty replaced because there was evidence that it used to leak, although rust had plugged the leak. Turns out it leaked because the threads on the pipe were stripped on one end, making it impossible to seal. Good catch, honey!



There was a window here a few days ago - with a wooden sill that the inspector told us to remove as it could attract termites. Werty had to pry out the wood in sections, as it was wedged into the concrete of the carport, and then fill the hole with concrete. The window is being cannibalized for the installation of a dryer vent.


And, if you were patient enough to read all that boring stuff above, here's your reward: pics of BooBear!


This one's for Ddonn and her girls who once asked if he had fallen asleep during dinner yet.



This last one shows his new haircut. One week after cutting his hair for the Idaho family reunion, I buzzed it because it was too hot outside. I almost cried. Oh, and if one of his aunts thinks the ball looks familiar, yup, it's yours. He found it at Grandma and Grandpa's. It's so big that sometimes it knocks him over.

Progress on the Remodel

Werty has framed the laundry room and finished most of the plumbing. Yesterday, we (I helped this time) installed the hose for the ice maker. Yay, ice whenever we want...which is something we just aren't used to having, so we will have to remember to use it. Next is the electrical and the dryer vent installation.

As for me, I am still trying to get my license renewed. I already had to be fingerprinted twice because of technological errors. I was planning on working on organizing my classrooms and files over the summer, but they are using my room for summer school, and the assistant principal cleared all my piles of files I had pulled out along with the leftover junk from the school year that needed to be sorted all together in to a big mess. So, I haven't been working at school after all. We did however, find someone to hire for the part time Aide position for next year who I think will be great. Not Gloria, but nobody is Gloria except for Gloria. Closest we could find.

Sunbeam Humor

Werty and I teach the Sunbeams class in Primary, that is, the Sunday School class for 3 and 4 year olds. Today during sharing time, the Primary President held something cupped in her hands and asked the children to guess what it was. After several guesses, she gave them the clues that it was something that starts out small and grows really big and really likes water. "A water balloon," "a hot air balloon," followed by "a camel" (someone must have recently learned that camels carry water in their humps...but I'm not sure how a camel was supposed to fit inside her hands). It was a seed in her hand, of course, because she was giving a lesson on how faith is like a seed. The teacher used Joseph Smith and the First Vision as an example of exercising faith, because they have been studying it all year. "Do you know what happened when Joseph Smith went in to the woods?" "He died" said one kid. "Yeah, he died," piped up another (not exactly the answer the teacher was looking for).

How do I say Goodbye?

There was a song we used to sing in high school at the final choir concert of the year. The words have been in my head since I said goodbye to my dear friend Gloria last Friday.

How do I say goodbye
to what we had?
The good times that made us laugh,
outweighed the bad.
And if it gets me to tomorrow,
I hope it's worth all the pain.
Because it's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.

Here's the whole gang: me, my former boss SS, Gloria, MG, and Mr. B. We went out for one last ESL get together, a tradition we started when school reshuffling separated some of us a couple of years ago. Gloria and I have been teaching together for 7 years. I can't imagine the school without her. The worst part is the possibility that I will never see Gloria face to face again. She is a true friend. I love her, and I will miss her. I wish her happiness in this new phase of her life, as she goes back to her Chilean homeland.

My IB seniors: the few, the tired, the proud. They brought me p@nd@ again for lunch on their last day. This pic is missing one student because we actually had two girls in the class. I think she didn't mind missing the photo op, however. Behind them is the bulletin board I reserve for IB, and each year they add something to it. Someday I hope it will become like Mr. Martin's wall, a collection of student contributions and memories.

Two of my TAs and former students that have been hanging around since they were 10th graders. (On the right is "THE TA" - having earned his title through being my TA the longest and doing the most work of any of my TAs this year.) They have graduated and I will miss them. I wish them the best.

My beginning ESL class was full of personality this year, as you can tell from these two pics.


My co-advisor for NHS is being transferred. Thankfully, our new house is in her neighborhood. We aren't in this same ward, but we'll be seeing each other.

Yesterday, after seeing Valinda and ElCid and company off (our first house guests), we headed up to SLC for a family get together with my grandparents, my mom and her siblings. The park was huge, we walked around for half an hour trying to find them. Here is BooBear with his second cousin. She is the daughter of one of my favorite cousins and is one month older than BooBear. They are moving to Texas next month.

A Month of Photos

What's that he's holding? My old pound puppy! He loves it!

This is the view of the front of our house before yesterday's storm destroyed the tulips. BooBear liked to touch each tulip as he walked by them.

The ornamental pear in our front yard is in full blossom.


Our view of Mt Timp from our back yard.


BooBear spending some quality time with his cousin ET - here he is tickling ET's toes, of course! ET and Zinx's son were both blessed last weekend, so we saw a lot of family. I intended to cut BooBear's hair before then, but had no time. After everyone commenting on how long his hair was, I cut it Monday night - notice the shorter hair. ET and his parents will soon be leaving us to spend the summer in NM. ET will be SOO big by the time they get back!

Helping Daddy make no-bake cookies while I was at work. He has started pretending a lot.


The best part of helping out in the kitchen is licking the spoon!