Blue jean baby, L.A lady...

The title has nothing to do with this post, but it is the song currently stuck in my head. (There is a great scene in the movie Almost Famous with this song.)

So it's been a little while and my last real post was about a trip I'd been on. Same ol same ol I guess. I just recently got back from a trip to North Carolina where I'd been for a little over a week. It went down something like this. My brother Aaron, a N.C. resident, gave me a call. Can I fly there to help his wife Melissa with the kids while he goes to San Diego on business? I say sure. We set the dates and the ticket was purchased. I'd been to North Carolina just one other time before and I had really enjoyed it. So naturally I wanted Nathan to go with me too. Turns out that a pretty big client of his is based in N.C. so not only is he able to join me for part of the trip, but he's able to schedule a visit to said client and fly out on his company's dollar!

In short, I had a great time! It was so much fun to get to know my niece and nephews better. Tyler is super busy so I didn't see as much of him. Grace is a precocious little bundle of energy and HUMOR. There was one night before she had to go to bed where she was sitting next to me on the couch making the funniest faces and then laughing like crazy after she did so. This in turn made me laugh. A real laugh too where it hurt my stomach.

Noah is the fastest one year old child I've ever known. He can climb anything in about 2 seconds. His favorite word is "off" but it can also mean on. He has a lot to say but sadly, he doesn't have real words down just yet (other than off like I said). He's a cutie!

Writing about the whole trip could take up quite a while so I'll share some
- Pretend birthday parties with Grace. Good times!
-Playing Rockband!!
-Listening to Grace sing "Roxanne" and "Wanted Dead or Alive" because she'd heard it so much on the afore mentioned Rockband.
- Having the car battery die on us on 2 occasions in parking lots. I took it all in stride since I used to have a car that gave me problems all the time. Anyone out there remember "One eyed Jack"? He was a good car while he lasted.
-Kernal Kustard... vanilla with raspberries.AMAZING.
-Seeing how far I could go without getting car sick while Aaron was driving :)
-Melissa's birthday party: There are a few notables here. Margaret(Melissa's mom) made a wonderful Sunday lunch for us. Delicious. Also, Grace took a nasty tumble down the stairs. There were 2 groups. Those who actually saw it and nearly had a heart attack. And those of us who did not see it, but nearly had a heart attack based on the reaction of those who actually did see it. Luckily Grace escaped with only a bruise. It could have been much worse.
-Trips to Boone and Tweetsie. The trip to Boone was nice because Nathan was there for that part and it was nice to be in a cute little town like that.
Tweetsie was a trip that my parents were there for. It is a small, western themed amusement park. We got to ride on a real steam train,take the kids on rides and
look for "gold"!

There were a lot of other great parts. Needless to say I had a great time. Thanks Aaron and Melissa for making it work! If you want to see the full collection of my pictures click on these links:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2501059&l=d9909&id=7904112

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2501001&l=e9fde&id=7904112

Love Story

Minnesota

Well, I guess I did say that I would write more about our trip to Minnesota. I'll keep it brief though.

We arrived on a Saturday. After getting a car we were headed off to a graduation party for one of Nathan's cousins. They live in this little town. We figured out how to get to the town but we weren't sure how to get to the house specifically. Nathan called his mom to find out. She literally said that there would be signs leading us there. We were baffled. "Oh really. There'll be signs saying this way to the party throughout the town?" She said yes. We were shocked to find that she wasn't pulling our leg. I bet if we ever had to send a letter to those members in the family we could just put their name and the name of the town and the letter would still get to the right place. Crazy.

Anyway it was freezing that first day. I had not envisioned that I would be shivering during my summer vacation but that's what happened. After the party was over we headed up to Grandma Joanne's cabin by the lake. We didn't get there until 9 p.m but it was still light outside... weird. I forgot that little detail about living up north.

The rest of the week went by like a blur. Luckily the weather warmed up nicely so we spent most of our days outside. We went on boat rides, swam, skiied, played volleyball,bar-b-qued,rode on 4 wheelers and relaxed in the hot tub. All in all we had a GREAT time with the family. Each night we sat by the fire on our camping chairs (or a swing if we got there in time) and enjoyed smores and the surroundings we were in.

Three cheers for Minnesota!

A vacation from my vacation

Life is finally back to normal! Nathan and I just spent about 10 days in Minnesota for a family reunion on Nathan's side of the family. We spent practically every day in the lake, whether it was swimming or going out on the boat. Nathan water skiied and tried his hand and wake boarding too. The videos below are short but pretty much sum up his wake boarding experiences.



Anyway here is a link to look at some of the pictures from the trip. I'll write more later when I've got time.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2483522&l=efdfd&id=7904112

We're just that cool

As mentioned in a previous post, I decided to go rock climbing again. It was a pleasant surprise that there weren't too many people there, as Saturdays usually yield quite a few rock climbers at the green belt.

Nathan had arranged for us to meet up with a co-worker,Brian, and his fiance,Carissa. Carissa had never rock climbed before and said that she doesn't really like trying new things when other people are watching. I guess she felt pretty comfortable with us because just after Brian and I had gone up she decided to also. As she was up a handful of men with cameras emerged onto the scene. Turns out they are in a photography club and had come to the greenbelt for some shots. They asked if they could take a few pictures of us while we climbed. Of course we obliged.

I really love having pictures of Nathan and I but it is hard to remember to pull the camera out or to have it on me at all! Not long after the photographers arrived some of our friends from church joined us along with 2 of their friends. So what started out as a minimal group of people cheering Carissa on turned into what seemed like a walk on the red carpet. She did great though and got all the way to the top.

Nathan helped out all of us beginners by being the belayer (I don't know how to spell it but it's the person who is controlling the rope from the ground) and coach. He was very patient and helpful. I felt bad that he didn't get to climb much himself but he said that his back was acting up anyway.

So here are a few picutures that our "paparrazi" emailed to us.

Nathan and I

Carissa

Brian

Me again. Well..it IS my blog.

The power of a Compliment

I just recently read a post of a friend's blog wherein he talked about some really nice compliments he'd received lately. It got me thinking about the power of a compliment and why exactly does it have any power at all?

Some compliments make you happy but maybe you don't put a lot of stock into. For example when my first graders tell me that I'm the best teacher in the world. It's very nice but 1) they're in first grade, how many teachers have they really had? 2) At their age memories don't last too long. Unfortunately by the end of this summer some may not even remember my name.

I think other comliments gain power the more you hear them. I've never really thought anything special about my laugh but over the years as I've met new people on a more regular basis I've been complimented on my laugh. The first time I thought, "that was a nice thing for them to say" but now that I have heard it more often from people I feel I have a duty to share my laughter with the world.... just kidding. :) No nothing that dramatic. But at least I feel way less self conscious about laughing. I love to do it so much. It is nice to have a bit more confidence in doing so. I mean, if I would have been compared to a hyena on as many occassions my joy in laughter would have been squelched and I in turn would become an empty shell of a woman.

Some of the best compliments of all are those you receive in regards to something you are unsure of yourself in. I frequently worry about my cooking, as I don't think I'm a good cook. Therefore when my cooking is given a compliment it carries extra power because it makes me think, "wow, there really is hope for me!" Just this Saturday I went rock climbing with Nathan. I can count the number of times I've done that on one hand. It's not something I'm great at. So when he told me how awesome I'd done and how quickly I'd gotten up to the top... I didn't believe him. But he persisted and so now- I think I'll go rock climbing again.

I think we should make a concerted effort to give at least one compliment to someone everyday. It will get easier with time and it will work wonders on you and the person getting the compliment!

I quit!

As the title of my post suggests I recently quit something... my job. And I'm not just talking about the summer break. I will not be returning to the school in August. Do I have another job lined up? No. Is it scary? Not yet anyway.

I guess it was just too bad for me that I started my teaching career probably at the best school in the country. In my humble opinion. It was academically challenging for the students, obviously a challenge for me as a teacher but that would be the case anywhere simply by virtue of the job. The staff was supportive, the parents were involved and made the teachers feel awesome and I felt like my work as a professional was valued and important.

After moving back to Austin from SLC the quest for a new school began. I knew that I'd been spoiled but surely I could find a place somewhat comparable. I'll spare you the gory details of my 2007/2008 school year. In summary, the first week or so left me utterly drained and dreading the next day. At the beginning of the year, an email from a former student at the "fantastic school" stating that it wasn't the same without me, in a better situation would have made me smile with sweet memories. However it made me cry over what I had left behind and it was the first time that I EVER missed living in Utah.

As the year progressed my class and I made huge strides and were able to have fun together on occassion. But it just wasn't the same. In short the end of the school year concluded "not with a bang, but a whimper." The kids were picked up by their parents and went on their way. I had decided a while back that I wasn't going to be returning but I went ahead and gave the official word to my boss on that day. She said I had until the end of June to be sure about it so not to make any hasty decisions. I thought that was a nice offer and part of me thought, "Gosh, is this the right decision?"

The answer to that question came as I drove away from the school for the last time. I heard Dr. King's words in my mind "Free at last, free at last thank God Almighty [I'm] free at last!"

It's true that the students I taught this year were more of a challenge than the previous year. I guess where most of the hardship came was, not from the students, but the lack of support I felt from the school I was at. There wasn't really a system to look to or to lean on. So yes, I do have a place in my heart for the students from this class...just maybe not for the school.