Well, it's been six months since my last blog. I've been a huge blog slacker. It's also been a crazy six months for me. I've been trying to make time to blog but haven't been able to download and organize my pictures because the pictures on my computer are already so unorganized and saved in all the wrong places. I haven't had a spare minute to organize my pictures and I haven't wanted to multiply the problem by downloading new pictures. Therefore, I just end up taking pictures and never download them. SLACKER!!!
So I'll give you the cliff notes version of the last six months of my life and you'll just have to visualize the pictures in your head. One day I might post some photo's, but until I have more time to organize and download them, it might not happen for a while.
April - In April, I finished my first semester back to school. My classes were very intense and kept me busy all of the time. I was able to earn all "A's", but I worked my butt off for everyone of them.
May - I was looking forward to taking the month of May off but was almost as busy in May as I was during school. I spent the month getting all the final touches ready for girl's camp and volunteering in Kristen's kindergarten classroom. I also did a lot of work around the house and yard. It seems as though we are NEVER without a major project to be working on.
June - The day that school got out, Kristen's family, Nathan, my mom and I all headed out to the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and Zion's Canyon. We had a really great time. The campgrounds were wonderful and the views and hikes were amazing!!! The weather was great as well; a little on the cool side, but much better than too hot. It was a lot of fun and I'm so glad that we got to go.
As soon as we returned, I babysat Jacob for a few days while Kristen took some summer classes. During this time, I also finished up camp plans and studied for the Praxis exam (a pre-entrance teacher's exam) that I was taking the following Saturday. I only had one week between our trip and girls camp so it was a lot to cram into this busy week. I love spending time with Jacob so that's never a sacrifice for me.
Camp was so much fun and we had a great time. All of the planning really paid off. The weather was horrible. It rained everyday and we had to learn to fly by the seat of our pants. We wore our winter coats most all of the time. Despite the weather, it all turned out great and I'm grateful for the experience.
The following Wednesday after camp, I started my summer semester for seven weeks of intense math. I was at school everyday from around 7:30 a.m. until 6 or 7 at night. I took a ceramics class for fun and it was a welcomed break in the middle of the day. The rest of the day was spent with study groups, in my math class or in the math lab. I became a permanent feature at the math lab and really relied on the tutors there. It's been about fifteen years since I took the first part of this class and so I was starting out the class with a huge disadvantage to the rest of the students. I didn't have much of a life for those seven weeks and I'm so grateful to my family for picking up the slack where I left off. In the end, I earned an "A" out of my math class. What a relief!!! I was glad that I had all of the extra help and time available to LIVE at school and help me earn that grade.
July - I was still living at school during the month of July. I didn't have much of a life beyond school. The highlight of the month was getting the results to my Praxis Exam and finding out that I passed. I'm positive that the only reason I passed this exam was because I was serving as the stake camp director at the time and was giving service. What a blessing it was to be given that extra help on my exam.
Lamb Day was in July and we had a great time visiting with all of the family and friends. I love Lamb Day and spending time in Fountain Green. This summer we have been busy painting the soffit and porch and window sills on the outside. Almost every weekend we had a new project in Fountain Green that we were working on (as always).
August - School ended on the 14th of August. I then only had one week off before starting my fall semester. This week was spent trying to put away girl's camp and organize my life to prepare me for another intense semester.
We were able to get away a few different weekends during the summer for small local camping trips. I didn't get near enough times out in my trailer, but hopefully that won't become the norm in the future. I look forward to becoming a teacher and having summers off so that I can take more camping trips. I love camping (especially when I'm not in charge of the whole thing and can just go with the flow - unlike girl's camp when we have to schedule time to wash our hair - which I didn't even have time for this year at camp). We live in such a beautiful place and have so many opportunites around us that we need to take advantage of.
September - I kept hoping that the fall semester would be easier, but once again it is very busy and keeps me highly involved. It's a good thing I suppose. It keeps me focused on doing all of my assignments and learning all of the skills that I'll need to have as a teacher. I don't love that part of school when you don't even have time for a personal life. But I don't have that exciting of a life anyway so I might as well spend that time on school.
I was blessed in September to receive a scholarship that will pay the full amount of my tuition until I graduate from school. What a relief that was. Living on unemployment doesn't provide enough to pay for school as well. It's a good thing that I live at home with my mother or I wouldn't be able to have the wonderful opportunites that I have in my life.
On September 18th, Nathan bought the house across the street from my mother's house. We love having him as our neighbor and getting to see him on a daily basis. I've been super busy helping him paint his entire upstairs and installing new windows. I'm so excited for him and his new opportunities with this house. He is good at everything and has been able to redo all of the electrical, lighting and small repairs that we've been working on.
October - In the month of October, we installed new windows at Nathan's house. I just hired one of my previous workers and Nathan and I did all of the prep and finish work. The rest of the family has also been a big help to Nathan and we appreciate all the work that they have given to help him make his house beautiful. His windows look so great and have made a huge improvement on his house. I'm glad that I had the contacts and skills to help him out with that.
David met the love of his life and became engaged. They will be getting married on November 21st. We've been busy helping him as well. We are excited to welcome Lee and her three year old daughter Kinlee into our family.
I finally made time to have a party with family and friends for Halloween. It was a lot of fun getting together with everyone. We fit 37 people (19 of which were excited kids in costumes) into our house for a haunting evening. I need to make more time in my life for these special moments.
We went to Fountain Green for Halloween. What a blast that was. They have some fun Halloween traditions that we had never experienced before. On Saturday, the school had a carnival with all the blow-up slides and climbing wall. Following the carnival was Trunk-or-Treating at the city park. Immediately following the trunk-or-treating all the kids in town came to Main Street. We had a ton of trick-or-treaters and decorated the house with Nathan's fog machine, bones and scary music. Later that night, all the teenagers come and "steal" everyone's Halloween decorations and pumpkins and put them on the top of the post office. We all rushed down to the post-office the following morning to see it all decked out. They really did a good job and it was fun partaking in these fun traditions. It might just become our new tradition for us if Hallween is on a weekend.
November - We look forward to David and Lee's wedding later this month and have been busy trying to figure out the menu. They will be getting married in Fountain Green at the dance hall. I'm sure that it will be beautiful.
Today I started a field experience in a kindergarten classroom for the next three weeks. I'll have a ton of lessons and assignments that need to be completed during my field experience, but I look forward to a break from my regular school classes and the daily pressure I feel from trying to complete all of my assignments, papers and reading. It will also be good to work with the kids and really get to experience being in the classroom.
Well - that's the long version of the last six months of my life. Hopefully, I'll have time during my field experience to organize my pictures and will be able to post some pictures to accompany this lengthy blog.
I have a great life and LIFE IS GOOD!!! I just wish that I had more time to spend with those I love.
