Normally I'm not one to make a big deal about birthdays (my own mainly). I usually keep it low key, don't let anyone know it's my birthday, and if they say happy birthday, that's great, if they don't, they don't. Alysha was NOT going to let that be the case this year. She wanted to have a party for me, go out and eat with a group of friends and then have dessert back at the apartment, nothing super fancy, but something more than nothing. I told her not to worry about it because I prefer small groups and if we only invited a couple of people and then they couldn't make it, it would end up just being the three of us (Alysha, Jess, and me). Again, she was not okay with that answer, so she moved the dinner to Saturday so that more people would show up. I'll get to Saturday in a moment, but for now I'll talk about my actual birthday.
Wednesday I woke up, opened my door, and realized that Alysha had put cut-outs all over it. That was a happy, and welcome surprise. Then, as is my ritual for the mornings, I immediately went to the bathroom. In the bathroom, there was a vase of pink roses from Jess. Awwww, precious. Another very welcome surprise. I set up my flowers in the kitchen so that they could be enjoyed by all, then I got ready in a cute new outfit, did my hair, and went off in a great mood to school. At calendar time we looked up at the 26th and saw that there was a "birthday" card under it. I asked whose birthday it was, and no one answered. I asked the class if they were ready to find out whose birthday it was. They were so excited, but when I raised my hand, they were so confused. I told them it was my birthday and they sang to me, and it was great. Simple, sweet, and over, just how I like it :o)
At lunch, Jamie (another 2nd grade teacher) asked if it was my birthday. I told her yes, and she told me happy birthday while Stacey said, "oh, that's why you look so cute today." My team (the 2nd grade teachers) was a little upset (play upset) that I hadn't told them it was my birthday. Jamie asked if we could get lunch tomorrow since they didn't have advanced notice today. I said that sounded fine to me. Other people in the lunchroom overheard our conversation and told me happy birthday. I'm not going to lie, I did like that people noticed. I had to run to the office during prep time to ask the Secretaries a couple of things and one of the Secretaries asked if it was my birthday and wished me a happy one. Then I checked my box and there was a juice and package of trailmix from the PTA.
After school, I decided that since I had everything planned and prepped for the next day, I was going to go home at the contracted time (not two hours later) even though there is always stuff to be doing in my classroom. So at 4:15, I walked out the door. It felt so great to be leaving when the parking lot was still full. I walked in the front door of my apartment to find Alysha blowing up balloons and writing me a card. She got mad at me for coming home early, and I told her I came home when I'm supposed to, it just isn't what she's used to. It felt so good to just relax when I got home. I read some of my book, watched some Arrested Development, and talked to Alysha. When Jess came home they gave me my present. A massage!!! Yes. They know me all too well :o)
After dinner, I didn't know what else to do with myself so I started to do some lesson planning, but Alysha came in and told me to stop. She said we had to do something fun for my birthday. I said, that sounds great, but I don't know what to do. We looked up what movies were playing, but unfortunately all the movie started at 7:30, and then not again until 9:30. And seeing as it was 7:45 when we were looking the movies up, it wasn't going to happen. But as luck would have it, one of the movies was playing at 8:00 at one theater. I grabbed my shoes and my bag and we were out the door. We made it right before 8:00, but the previews went so long that the actual movie didn't start until 8:20. So even if we hadn't have made it on time, we still would have made the movie, but it was quite the adventure getting there on time :o) The movie was cute, we saw "Post Grad" and by time the movie was over, it was time for bed, and I hadn't done a single schoolish thing since coming home. It was great!!! A very pleasant day of turning 22.
I had it all planned that Thursday and Friday I would get lots of work done so that I could really enjoy my Saturday. I would wake up, go for a run, take a nice long shower, get a massage, and then go to dinner with friends. Almost none of that worked out. First of all, Friday was a super stressful day at school, so I came home and refused to do school stuff. I spent that night in Salt Lake with a friend, and so didn't get my early morning run in. It was still an option to go running when I got home, but then I realized all the things I had to get done, after checking the mailbox and seeing that I had to set up online bill pay and go green with my bank, plus go grocery shopping, etc. So after my shower, I went down to get my massage, but the wait was a three hour wait, which means I wouldn't get my massage until 5pm, but dinner was at 6pm, so if they were at all late, I would be late too. So I have to choose another day to get my rub down :o( I did go grocery shopping and some errands before it was time for dinner.
Dinner was fun. It was just a small group of us, but that's definitely how I preferred it. Amanda came down from Sandy and her present made me squeal in the restaurant. She bought me the movie Oklahoma staring Hugh Jackman. Oh, she truly knows me. Her card said, "You still have to come visit me, okay?" And she thought that I would get it right away, but I didn't. I looked at the bag and thought about what could be in it, and it wasn't clicking, wasn't clicking, and then all of a sudden I said, "No, it's not..." And I ripped into it, saw the dvd and squealed. I got some definate funny looks from the other table, but whatev. The dinner conversation was good, lots of sharing, catching up, story telling, and tons of laughter. Ooh, and one of the guy waiters was super attractive. He was a very nice dresser, which is an immediate attention getter, and he had some gorgeous blue eyes. Mmmmm. I had to double check with Amanda that he wasn't a teenager and it was appropriate for me to be appreciating how nice he looked. She guessed he was 23, so it was totally okay that I approved every time he walked by. The only bad thing about dinner was Nick and my dinner. We both got the "maui wawee wrap" and it was not tasty. We both made it through half our wrap before we couldn't eat it any more. So we put the halfs together on one plate and Jess walked up to the front to see if they would give us a different one because it was nasty. Jess said that the boy was about to do it, but a girl walked up and told her that it wasn't allowed. So, the guy (yeah, the hot one) came up at the end of the meal and gave us some $2 off coupons to use the next time we come in. Alright, that works. I checked with everyone else, and they all liked their food. Plus, I've been there before and liked what I had, so I'm not worried about that one bad order ruining Guru's for me, but I'm worried Nick won't ever give it a chance again. After dinner we came back to the new apartment to talk and play games or whatever we wanted to. Oh, Jessica and Alysha made a stop after dinner to pick up a cake. We ate cake and then just ended up talking for a couple hours. Again, it was so great. Because it was such a small group, everyone talked and no one felt left out. That's what I love. It's so hard for everyone to participate in a huge group, and usually I'm the one getting left out, and that's why I'm such a huge fan of having just a few close friends, none of this mob mentality when it comes to friends. What does it help if you have tons of acquaintances but no real friends? Eventually Jess and Nick had to head off to a bon fire, Janeen had another birthday shin-dig she had to make an appearance at, and so Amanda and I got to talk for a while until I started yawning like crazy and had to kick her out. It was such a great party. I was pleased with how it went, appreciated the hugs, the birthday wishes, and the presents weren't half bad either. Oh, I forgot to mention. Nick bought my dinner as his gift, and Janeen picked out an adorable shirt. It was hilarious because when I opened it she said, you need to try it on, because I wasn't sure what size to get you. I mean, you're pretty small, but your boobs are big. She said it as she was walking down the hall, and was surprised when everyone in the living room started laughing because she didn't realize she had said it that loud. Amanda reassured her that Nick hadn't heard, so it was okay, but Alysha comes sprinting down the hall to tell me, "It's just like Hawaii." Yeah, so apparently it's not just Asians that are okay talking about my body. Goodness!!!
Yeah, good times, good times. Wednesday was low key kind of fun, and Saturday was quality time with quality friends good. Good good.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
New Ward
I was planning on this blog being just a summer thing, but summer is dying out, and I'm still posting. I'm thinking that possibly I'll start another one about my class and my "grown up" life, but we'll see if that actually happens.
Anywho... Last Sunday was the Oquar Mountain dedication, which means we didn't have church. So today was the first day in my new ward. First things first.... I looked way good :o) You would think that with confidence enough to announce it online, I would have been more confident introducing myself to more people. But that just wasn't the case. I talked to a few new people, and learned a few new names (hopefully not to be forgotten too shortly), but no serious interactions as of yet. I do still have ward prayer to go to tonight, but that actually might get passed up for a birthday celebration for Janeen, we'll see.
When moving into the new place, one of the things I was super excited about was a new ward. Within the apartment complex, there are a few different wards. There's the family ward, the student ward, and the singles ward. I was excited to go to the single ward so that I could be one of the youngest ones there and not have to compete with the annoying 18 year olds. Not that 18 year olds are inherently annoying, but the fact that all guys, no matter what age, chase after those girls the most, that's the annoying part. So in the new ward, I was planning on being immediately interesting because I was new, fresh meat, and I was hoping to be one of the youngest, seeing as how I just graduated. Not quite how it played out today. I wasn't immediately interesting because there are LOTS of new people. And, I might be one of the youngest, but we have some super awesome girls in the ward. See, this is why I don't usually hold high expectations in social situations.
So the ward isn't what I had pictured in my head, but it is an awesome ward. First of all, we meet in an actual chapel, so that's nice. Plus, it's like real church because we have sacrament first, followed by Sunday school, rounded out by relief society/priesthood- just as it should be. On our way over to church we ran into Cherie, who we met because she works in the office at Millano Village (our apartment complex). She's quite entertaining, and was helpful with introducing us to some of her friends once we got there. Even before church started, it was good. Then sacrament started and the speakers gave really amazing talks (which make me extra want to never be called on to give a talk because I'd have to be compared to people like that). We had a short "new people" meeting after sacrament meeting and got our pictures taken (eww, that's never my favorite part). Then it was off to Sunday school. Gospel principles is taught in a room upstairs and luckily they were off to a slow start so we hadn't missed any part of the lesson, just socializing. We also missed the explanation of why we got treats, but we did not miss the bag of treats when it came by. Alysha leaned over to me later to say "that's what I'm talking about, treats in church." I think she's hooked on going now :o) Relief society and Priesthood were combined today so that the Bishopric could talk to us. They are highly entertaining/ humorous/ whatever, and yet were still able to share good messages. The sad thing is that they are getting released next week.
Alysha was thinking that she would check out both wards and see which one she wanted to go to (since she's still a student, it wouldn't be weird for her to go to the student ward), but I think after seeing how good this ward was, she'll stay in this one. It really was a great Sunday. The ward is friendly, welcoming, entertaining, but not irreverent. I came home with a couple goals to work on and learned a lot from the lessons and what others shared in those lessons. I'm way excited.
Anywho... Last Sunday was the Oquar Mountain dedication, which means we didn't have church. So today was the first day in my new ward. First things first.... I looked way good :o) You would think that with confidence enough to announce it online, I would have been more confident introducing myself to more people. But that just wasn't the case. I talked to a few new people, and learned a few new names (hopefully not to be forgotten too shortly), but no serious interactions as of yet. I do still have ward prayer to go to tonight, but that actually might get passed up for a birthday celebration for Janeen, we'll see.
When moving into the new place, one of the things I was super excited about was a new ward. Within the apartment complex, there are a few different wards. There's the family ward, the student ward, and the singles ward. I was excited to go to the single ward so that I could be one of the youngest ones there and not have to compete with the annoying 18 year olds. Not that 18 year olds are inherently annoying, but the fact that all guys, no matter what age, chase after those girls the most, that's the annoying part. So in the new ward, I was planning on being immediately interesting because I was new, fresh meat, and I was hoping to be one of the youngest, seeing as how I just graduated. Not quite how it played out today. I wasn't immediately interesting because there are LOTS of new people. And, I might be one of the youngest, but we have some super awesome girls in the ward. See, this is why I don't usually hold high expectations in social situations.
So the ward isn't what I had pictured in my head, but it is an awesome ward. First of all, we meet in an actual chapel, so that's nice. Plus, it's like real church because we have sacrament first, followed by Sunday school, rounded out by relief society/priesthood- just as it should be. On our way over to church we ran into Cherie, who we met because she works in the office at Millano Village (our apartment complex). She's quite entertaining, and was helpful with introducing us to some of her friends once we got there. Even before church started, it was good. Then sacrament started and the speakers gave really amazing talks (which make me extra want to never be called on to give a talk because I'd have to be compared to people like that). We had a short "new people" meeting after sacrament meeting and got our pictures taken (eww, that's never my favorite part). Then it was off to Sunday school. Gospel principles is taught in a room upstairs and luckily they were off to a slow start so we hadn't missed any part of the lesson, just socializing. We also missed the explanation of why we got treats, but we did not miss the bag of treats when it came by. Alysha leaned over to me later to say "that's what I'm talking about, treats in church." I think she's hooked on going now :o) Relief society and Priesthood were combined today so that the Bishopric could talk to us. They are highly entertaining/ humorous/ whatever, and yet were still able to share good messages. The sad thing is that they are getting released next week.
Alysha was thinking that she would check out both wards and see which one she wanted to go to (since she's still a student, it wouldn't be weird for her to go to the student ward), but I think after seeing how good this ward was, she'll stay in this one. It really was a great Sunday. The ward is friendly, welcoming, entertaining, but not irreverent. I came home with a couple goals to work on and learned a lot from the lessons and what others shared in those lessons. I'm way excited.
Friday, August 21, 2009
School Daze- Sorry, pictures hopefully coming soon
Ever since getting back from Hawaii, I’ve been non-stop teacher meetings and in my classroom (except that Friday and Saturday I took out to move and clean). I had team meetings, district meetings, new teacher meetings, and school meetings. It’s been so, so very crazy. In the meetings, I would always think about how much I wasn’t ready to start school, it was creeping up on my WAY too fast. I don’t regret the meetings, I learned some good things in them, but they made me anxious because I felt like I could have been using that time to organize myself better in the classroom.
Finally Tuesday, August 18th rolled around. That’s the day that our rooms NEEDED to be ready to go because it was open house aka MEET THE PARENTS NIGHT. Dang shoot. I did have everything together in my room, all the decorations were finally up, the kids’ desks had name tags and supplies, the homework and spelling and writing folders were all made, and the few things that weren’t quite organized yet could fit into the closet which I then locked up so that parents couldn’t see that “not quite ready” part.
Okay, meeting the parents wasn’t really all that scary. In fact, I didn’t meet many of the parents. I might have focused a little too much on the kids. Oops. But I figure that open house is more to get the kids excited about school, so if I build a good report with them, than that’s good, right? Plus, sometimes the kids would walk in with people that I didn’t think were really their parents and I didn’t want to say the wrong thing, so I just kept quiet. Like, for example, I’m pretty sure one girl came in with her older sister, but just incase she was a really young mother, I didn’t want to comment. Or when students would come in with two women, I didn’t want to assume that the older one was the grandma just in case it was the aunt. Get it? I know, I know, I should have talked to the parents more, it’s true, but I was nervous.
I had the majority of the students show up that night. I had 17 students on my list, and 12 of them came. That’s pretty good numbers considering the area that I’m teaching in. And like I said before, it really wasn’t that bad. The kids came in, I helped them find their desk, asked them something fun they did this summer, handed the parent notes to the parents, maybe chatted with the parents for a while, and then they were out. Oh, and I got a room mom right away. I think it was the second family that came in. The mom right away asked if I had a room mom yet and if I wanted one. Of course I do!!!! Okay, to be quite honest, I’m not exactly sure what I’ll have her do for me, but I hear room moms are great and I’m excited.
Well, once parents’ day was done, I got one more day to prep everything and then today was the first day of school. Holy freaking gracious. I can’t believe I’ve actually had my first day as a real teacher. It’s crazy, and I know it’ll sink in for sure later, but it’s still just crazy right now. And speaking of crazy, that could be a good way of describing the day. I’m kind of just kidding. For the most part, it was a really good day. The kids like me, I like the kids, no one was injured, lost, or left, and I actually did get a lot accomplished. But, being self critical as we all are, I can definitely point out what went wrong. One, I did not get two (I feel like it’s more, but thinking it through, it might just be two) things done that I had planned. Two, I have some challenging kids that I am not quite sure how to approach just yet. And three is that I just feel like everyone else’s first day went better than mine. Shoot, writing it down, it makes it sound like I had a really good first day though because only two things went wrong and the first one I wrote isn’t even that big of a deal. Well then, I sure am glad I’m writing it then because I’m not going to lie, I had a little bit of a freak out after getting home.
So I had my day. The morning flew by. That’s where the majority of my activities got skipped/moved around to different times. All of a sudden it was 9:15 and time for the later gators to show up. Then all of a sudden it was 10:15 and time for recess. Then it was 11:45 and time for lunch. After lunch, however, the day slowed down for real. Normally, kids would go to specialties after lunch, but those won’t start until Monday, so I had the kids a half hour longer than I usually will and the kids were much harder to keep focused after lunch (plus it didn’t help that that was the time the tech lady finally showed up with my computer and of course needed to talk to me about it). We did make it through to 2:15 when the early birds go home. I teach basically the same lesson to the later gators that I did the early birds, but I was moving faster by that time of the day, so the later gators got more accomplished than the early birds. They did a pretty great job staying focused and moving through their work that last hour. All except the girl that tried to go under her desk and sleep. That wasn’t too cool. I kept teaching and got the rest of the class working on a project and then took her out into the hallway and explained that I understand that it’s been a long day and that she’s used to summer time and not being in school, but that she has to get used to being in school again and she cannot sleep in class. For real, we only had maybe 20 minutes left of class when we went back in. I’m happy to be able to report that she managed to stay awake for those 20 minutes, although she was not highly productive :o)
Oh man, those kids. I honestly do have a great class. They are all so willing to help each other out and I’ve got a lot of really bright kids that are eager and able to answer and help and whatever they need to. Of course I also have those extra bundles of joy that are going to cause me some premature gray and a few more worry wrinkles, but what would teaching be without those little angels?
Oh, so should I tell you about the freak out? The students leave at 3:30, I’m contracted to stay until 4:00, and I left at 5:30. I still had things to do, but decided that I needed to leave before I ended up spending all night there (which would be easy to do, there’s plenty of work for me there). I took time to myself at first, read my book (I’m at really good part in Mansfield Park- a girl got proposed to and she blew him off thinking that he didn’t mean it, but he does mean it and won’t stop pursuing her), ate dinner, and took a bath. After getting out of my bath, I started thinking about how I really don’t know what to do about one of my precious wrinkle causing angels and didn’t know what I wanted my classroom rules to be (which we’re going over tomorrow by the way). I had a mini little panic attack over that until I just decided to pray to calm down. I love the calm down prayer, because every time I say it (and that’s plenty, believe me), I don’t even have to say the whole thing and I’m already way less stressed and way more relaxed. So after the prayer I sat down at my computer, typed up the rules and consequences without much trouble, realized that the books I have won’t help me with this particular angel and that I’ll have to take it one day at a time. I stopped freaking out, and instead went back to not thinking about school by blogging (oh wait, I’m blogging about school, suck).
I’ve already planned that tomorrow after school I’ll be there for a while, but I’ve also told myself to not stress out about today because it’s over, I’m ready for tomorrow and I need this down time, to have Brooke time, and get away from all the Miss Kerby time I’ve been having. I hope I can balance both this year. I KNOW it’s going to be hard, but I don’t want to fail either one of me (and for sure don’t want to fail the kids). So wish me luck, and apparently I didn’t get off to as rough of a start as I had initially reflected on, so that’s a super bonus :o)
Finally Tuesday, August 18th rolled around. That’s the day that our rooms NEEDED to be ready to go because it was open house aka MEET THE PARENTS NIGHT. Dang shoot. I did have everything together in my room, all the decorations were finally up, the kids’ desks had name tags and supplies, the homework and spelling and writing folders were all made, and the few things that weren’t quite organized yet could fit into the closet which I then locked up so that parents couldn’t see that “not quite ready” part.
Okay, meeting the parents wasn’t really all that scary. In fact, I didn’t meet many of the parents. I might have focused a little too much on the kids. Oops. But I figure that open house is more to get the kids excited about school, so if I build a good report with them, than that’s good, right? Plus, sometimes the kids would walk in with people that I didn’t think were really their parents and I didn’t want to say the wrong thing, so I just kept quiet. Like, for example, I’m pretty sure one girl came in with her older sister, but just incase she was a really young mother, I didn’t want to comment. Or when students would come in with two women, I didn’t want to assume that the older one was the grandma just in case it was the aunt. Get it? I know, I know, I should have talked to the parents more, it’s true, but I was nervous.
I had the majority of the students show up that night. I had 17 students on my list, and 12 of them came. That’s pretty good numbers considering the area that I’m teaching in. And like I said before, it really wasn’t that bad. The kids came in, I helped them find their desk, asked them something fun they did this summer, handed the parent notes to the parents, maybe chatted with the parents for a while, and then they were out. Oh, and I got a room mom right away. I think it was the second family that came in. The mom right away asked if I had a room mom yet and if I wanted one. Of course I do!!!! Okay, to be quite honest, I’m not exactly sure what I’ll have her do for me, but I hear room moms are great and I’m excited.
Well, once parents’ day was done, I got one more day to prep everything and then today was the first day of school. Holy freaking gracious. I can’t believe I’ve actually had my first day as a real teacher. It’s crazy, and I know it’ll sink in for sure later, but it’s still just crazy right now. And speaking of crazy, that could be a good way of describing the day. I’m kind of just kidding. For the most part, it was a really good day. The kids like me, I like the kids, no one was injured, lost, or left, and I actually did get a lot accomplished. But, being self critical as we all are, I can definitely point out what went wrong. One, I did not get two (I feel like it’s more, but thinking it through, it might just be two) things done that I had planned. Two, I have some challenging kids that I am not quite sure how to approach just yet. And three is that I just feel like everyone else’s first day went better than mine. Shoot, writing it down, it makes it sound like I had a really good first day though because only two things went wrong and the first one I wrote isn’t even that big of a deal. Well then, I sure am glad I’m writing it then because I’m not going to lie, I had a little bit of a freak out after getting home.
So I had my day. The morning flew by. That’s where the majority of my activities got skipped/moved around to different times. All of a sudden it was 9:15 and time for the later gators to show up. Then all of a sudden it was 10:15 and time for recess. Then it was 11:45 and time for lunch. After lunch, however, the day slowed down for real. Normally, kids would go to specialties after lunch, but those won’t start until Monday, so I had the kids a half hour longer than I usually will and the kids were much harder to keep focused after lunch (plus it didn’t help that that was the time the tech lady finally showed up with my computer and of course needed to talk to me about it). We did make it through to 2:15 when the early birds go home. I teach basically the same lesson to the later gators that I did the early birds, but I was moving faster by that time of the day, so the later gators got more accomplished than the early birds. They did a pretty great job staying focused and moving through their work that last hour. All except the girl that tried to go under her desk and sleep. That wasn’t too cool. I kept teaching and got the rest of the class working on a project and then took her out into the hallway and explained that I understand that it’s been a long day and that she’s used to summer time and not being in school, but that she has to get used to being in school again and she cannot sleep in class. For real, we only had maybe 20 minutes left of class when we went back in. I’m happy to be able to report that she managed to stay awake for those 20 minutes, although she was not highly productive :o)
Oh man, those kids. I honestly do have a great class. They are all so willing to help each other out and I’ve got a lot of really bright kids that are eager and able to answer and help and whatever they need to. Of course I also have those extra bundles of joy that are going to cause me some premature gray and a few more worry wrinkles, but what would teaching be without those little angels?
Oh, so should I tell you about the freak out? The students leave at 3:30, I’m contracted to stay until 4:00, and I left at 5:30. I still had things to do, but decided that I needed to leave before I ended up spending all night there (which would be easy to do, there’s plenty of work for me there). I took time to myself at first, read my book (I’m at really good part in Mansfield Park- a girl got proposed to and she blew him off thinking that he didn’t mean it, but he does mean it and won’t stop pursuing her), ate dinner, and took a bath. After getting out of my bath, I started thinking about how I really don’t know what to do about one of my precious wrinkle causing angels and didn’t know what I wanted my classroom rules to be (which we’re going over tomorrow by the way). I had a mini little panic attack over that until I just decided to pray to calm down. I love the calm down prayer, because every time I say it (and that’s plenty, believe me), I don’t even have to say the whole thing and I’m already way less stressed and way more relaxed. So after the prayer I sat down at my computer, typed up the rules and consequences without much trouble, realized that the books I have won’t help me with this particular angel and that I’ll have to take it one day at a time. I stopped freaking out, and instead went back to not thinking about school by blogging (oh wait, I’m blogging about school, suck).
I’ve already planned that tomorrow after school I’ll be there for a while, but I’ve also told myself to not stress out about today because it’s over, I’m ready for tomorrow and I need this down time, to have Brooke time, and get away from all the Miss Kerby time I’ve been having. I hope I can balance both this year. I KNOW it’s going to be hard, but I don’t want to fail either one of me (and for sure don’t want to fail the kids). So wish me luck, and apparently I didn’t get off to as rough of a start as I had initially reflected on, so that’s a super bonus :o)
The New Place
Oh gracious, things are so busy in my life right now that I have so much to catch 
up on on this thing, and can’t remember how much I’ve left off. Plus, it doesn’t help that I don’t have internet access at my apartment right now, so it’s not like I can even check on what was the last thing I wrote.
I know I haven’t written about my new apartment yet though, so I’m safe to write about that. We got the keys Friday, August, 14th and that’s the day that I moved the majority of my stuff in. Can I just say that I’m such a good little mover? I mean for real. I have packed up a bunch of stuff Thursday night, and when I moved it into the living room, it looked like a lot of stuff. But, thanks to helping my Dad pack the car all the time for trips and moves and the like, I got most everything that I had loaded into the living room into my car. Oh, not only am I good at packing the car, but I’m a lot stronger than I look. I was jogging in and out of the apartment, lugging big ol’ boxes, and making this move super quick. I drove Alysha up with me to pick up the keys and she helpe
d me move my stuff in. Then we headed back so that I could pack up the rest of my stuff.
The rest of my stuff plus some of Alysha’s bags filled up another car load (oh, by the way, I used my old car to move my th
ings, in case you were wondering how helpful the Miata would be in a move). I think we went back one more time and filled my car with Alysha’s things one more time before staying and organizing for a little bit. By Friday night, I had a good portion of my belongings out of Carriage Cove and organized in Millano Village.
Saturday morning I went to the new place again to organize a little bit more, but mostly to wait for my bed to be delivered. It’s pretty lame when they tell you, “It will be delivered som
etime between 10am and 2pm” (although later this week I was given an even worse time frame but without the stipulation that I had to be there). The delivery guys called me around noon and told me they were 20 minutes away but then didn’t show up for another hour and 20 minutes. Lame! I meant to be more productive on Saturday by cleaning the old apartment and getting ready for cleaning checks, but I was stuck in the new place all morning, then left just in time to make it to the ward closing social, and then had to look for Alysha’s missing debit card before going on a 
date. The date was scheduled early enough to give me time to get cleaning done that night, but then Janeen stopped by to say hi, and since we hardly see her anymore, it was more worth it to visit with her. So my whole Saturday was full, which meant that my Saturday late night was spent cleaning my room and a little bit of the bathroom.
I wasn’t able to clean everything Saturday night, which meant that unfortunately I had to spent quite a bit of time on Sunday cleaning. I was so irritated. At myself, of course, for not scheduling better and not prioritizing well enough, but definitely at Carriage Cove for having such absurd standards of cleaning where they charge you an arm and a leg if you fail, and then don’t actually come in and clean it themselves. The worst part of cleaning checks was cleaning the tub. I cleaned it 5 different times with 5 different chemicals (poor Alysha was suffocating in her room because it’s attached to the bathroom) and I was still worried that it wouldn’t pass. Those darned hard water stains that have been on the tub for 30 years, are REALLY hard to get off.
Finally I gave in and walked away knowing I had done all I could with that tub. I packed up the last loose
ends of my things and had Alysha drive my old car up while I drove my new car up to the new place. Sunday night was amazing because I had the whole apartment to myself. At one point in time Jess and I had a talk about how we could never live alone because it would be too sad. I now rescind any comments I made in that conversation. I LOVED having the place to myself. And I know that eventually it probably would get pretty lonely, but Sunday and Monday nights 
were fan-flippin-tastic.
About the new place: it’s way more sophisticated than student housing. It’s not just white walls, they’re painted tan/beige/whatever and there’s crown molding on the ceiling. The carpet is new and fluffy and is something you feel comfortable walking on, not like in the student housing where you feel like you always have to wear shoes and/or socks in order to not have you feet turn black. The kitchen has granite (?) counter tops and knotted wood cabinets. There is more than enough cabinet room to hold all of our cookware, and it is super nice to have
a side-by-side fridge and freezer so that everyone can claim a shelf in the freezer instead of always stacking food up and throwing it in a big nasty pile in the ice box. There is a wash room with a washer and dryer (that’s nice! Although I’m worried Jess is going to run up the water bill by doing too much laundry now that it’s right there.) Alysha and I share a bathroom that has a nice deep tub. My room has a great view of Utah lake and faces the west so that I get to watch the sunset but don’t have to worry about sunrise waking me up when I don’t want to get up that early. My closet isn’t too shabby, it has four different sections with three clothes rods and then one top shelf. A definite upgrade from the closet I was using before. I don’t have a desk yet, so there are still a few boxes with office supplies in it that I don’t know where they should go, but other than that, my belongings seem to be fitting in the room quite well.
Yep, I’m pretty excited about this place, and I also very much appreciate the fact that it’s 6 minutes from work. Unfortunately (and I’m not exaggerating) 3 of those minutes ar
e me sitting at the light at the end of our street. And I’m sure I’ve forgotten details about my apartment, but hopefully the pictures can speak for themselves a little bit.
up on on this thing, and can’t remember how much I’ve left off. Plus, it doesn’t help that I don’t have internet access at my apartment right now, so it’s not like I can even check on what was the last thing I wrote.I know I haven’t written about my new apartment yet though, so I’m safe to write about that. We got the keys Friday, August, 14th and that’s the day that I moved the majority of my stuff in. Can I just say that I’m such a good little mover? I mean for real. I have packed up a bunch of stuff Thursday night, and when I moved it into the living room, it looked like a lot of stuff. But, thanks to helping my Dad pack the car all the time for trips and moves and the like, I got most everything that I had loaded into the living room into my car. Oh, not only am I good at packing the car, but I’m a lot stronger than I look. I was jogging in and out of the apartment, lugging big ol’ boxes, and making this move super quick. I drove Alysha up with me to pick up the keys and she helpe
d me move my stuff in. Then we headed back so that I could pack up the rest of my stuff.The rest of my stuff plus some of Alysha’s bags filled up another car load (oh, by the way, I used my old car to move my th
ings, in case you were wondering how helpful the Miata would be in a move). I think we went back one more time and filled my car with Alysha’s things one more time before staying and organizing for a little bit. By Friday night, I had a good portion of my belongings out of Carriage Cove and organized in Millano Village.Saturday morning I went to the new place again to organize a little bit more, but mostly to wait for my bed to be delivered. It’s pretty lame when they tell you, “It will be delivered som
etime between 10am and 2pm” (although later this week I was given an even worse time frame but without the stipulation that I had to be there). The delivery guys called me around noon and told me they were 20 minutes away but then didn’t show up for another hour and 20 minutes. Lame! I meant to be more productive on Saturday by cleaning the old apartment and getting ready for cleaning checks, but I was stuck in the new place all morning, then left just in time to make it to the ward closing social, and then had to look for Alysha’s missing debit card before going on a 
date. The date was scheduled early enough to give me time to get cleaning done that night, but then Janeen stopped by to say hi, and since we hardly see her anymore, it was more worth it to visit with her. So my whole Saturday was full, which meant that my Saturday late night was spent cleaning my room and a little bit of the bathroom.
I wasn’t able to clean everything Saturday night, which meant that unfortunately I had to spent quite a bit of time on Sunday cleaning. I was so irritated. At myself, of course, for not scheduling better and not prioritizing well enough, but definitely at Carriage Cove for having such absurd standards of cleaning where they charge you an arm and a leg if you fail, and then don’t actually come in and clean it themselves. The worst part of cleaning checks was cleaning the tub. I cleaned it 5 different times with 5 different chemicals (poor Alysha was suffocating in her room because it’s attached to the bathroom) and I was still worried that it wouldn’t pass. Those darned hard water stains that have been on the tub for 30 years, are REALLY hard to get off.
Finally I gave in and walked away knowing I had done all I could with that tub. I packed up the last loose
ends of my things and had Alysha drive my old car up while I drove my new car up to the new place. Sunday night was amazing because I had the whole apartment to myself. At one point in time Jess and I had a talk about how we could never live alone because it would be too sad. I now rescind any comments I made in that conversation. I LOVED having the place to myself. And I know that eventually it probably would get pretty lonely, but Sunday and Monday nights 
were fan-flippin-tastic.About the new place: it’s way more sophisticated than student housing. It’s not just white walls, they’re painted tan/beige/whatever and there’s crown molding on the ceiling. The carpet is new and fluffy and is something you feel comfortable walking on, not like in the student housing where you feel like you always have to wear shoes and/or socks in order to not have you feet turn black. The kitchen has granite (?) counter tops and knotted wood cabinets. There is more than enough cabinet room to hold all of our cookware, and it is super nice to have
a side-by-side fridge and freezer so that everyone can claim a shelf in the freezer instead of always stacking food up and throwing it in a big nasty pile in the ice box. There is a wash room with a washer and dryer (that’s nice! Although I’m worried Jess is going to run up the water bill by doing too much laundry now that it’s right there.) Alysha and I share a bathroom that has a nice deep tub. My room has a great view of Utah lake and faces the west so that I get to watch the sunset but don’t have to worry about sunrise waking me up when I don’t want to get up that early. My closet isn’t too shabby, it has four different sections with three clothes rods and then one top shelf. A definite upgrade from the closet I was using before. I don’t have a desk yet, so there are still a few boxes with office supplies in it that I don’t know where they should go, but other than that, my belongings seem to be fitting in the room quite well.Yep, I’m pretty excited about this place, and I also very much appreciate the fact that it’s 6 minutes from work. Unfortunately (and I’m not exaggerating) 3 of those minutes ar
e me sitting at the light at the end of our street. And I’m sure I’ve forgotten details about my apartment, but hopefully the pictures can speak for themselves a little bit. Friday, August 7, 2009
Big Spender!
Yeah, so I've got a new car!!! It kind of freaks me out too, so don't worry if you're a little shocke
d. But I've been smart about all of this. At the beginning of the summer Dad told me that now is the perfect time to get a new car because dealers are trying to get rid of the cars on their lot. And, I bought my car old, and I've had it for three years, so it's time to move on, it's seen some good times. So, since May or so I've been researching cars. I wanted one that was reliable that would hold up so that I could drive it for years. For reliability and price sake, I was looking at the Honda Civic, the Toyota Corolla, and luckily the cute, sporty Mazda 3s are turning out to be pretty reliable too.
I did more research and joked about the idea of getting a Mazda Miata. Ha. In the search, I ruled out the Toyota because they're not as well built as the Honda or the Mazda 3 and is about the same price, so scratch off the not so cute car as long as it got one bad review :o) Then I started looking more into the Miata. I even test drove one when I was down in Escondido. I decided that if I could find a 2008, with less than 30,000 miles on it, for $17,000 I would get it. I figured I was safe, because I was sure that I wouldn't find one.
Li
ke I said, all summer I've been researching. Well, on and off, of course I've also been traveling a lot and been in my classroom a lot too. I finally went car shopping in Utah on Wednesday. There are only 3 Mazda dealerships in Utah. One's in Murray, one's in Bountiful, and the other's in Ogden. I had called the Murray and Bountiful shops that morning and neither of them had new Mazdas, but they had used ones and they both said they could find me one if I came in. I drove up to Murray (about 40 minutes away) and was there around 10:30am (remember that time). The only Miata they had was a 2007 with 33,000 miles with a price tag of $17,700. Already, that's three strikes against it (not a three strikes you're out though, because they were all close- it was kind of like three balls, sticking with the baseball analogy). I test drove it, and it felt nice, but it was white with a brown top and brown leather interior. I tried to get over it, but I couldn't help but think of it as an old man's car instead of a cute 22 year old's car. So, the color was actually ball 4 which is an out. It took forever to get to that decision. Before test driving it, they had run a search of new Miatas and there were none in all of Utah and if I wanted on, it would have been the same color, but more expensive. So we looked at used ones in Bountiful. They had two. One was a stick (no go) and the other one was an automatic, but they sold it the day before. I asked them to check the Ogden one. I mean, I could always just visit Grandma and Grandpa, especially seeing as I haven't yet all summer (oops). Nope, they had one, but it was a stick.
W
hat to do now? Utah has no Miatas. I asked them several times how that could be possible. Freaking gracious. From there we moved to looking at Mazda 3s. I test drove 4 of them. The two different engines in a 2009, and the two different engines in the 2010 models. All of them drove fine, so then it was about price. Well, the dumb dealers (I don't mean it, they were really nice) don't order Mazdas stripped down, they order them fully loaded. It turns out that the one I wanted was going to be over $20,000. Well that's not in my budget, that wasn't even in my Miata budget, let alone my Mazda 3 budget. So we looked online at the other dealer ships and they didn't have any because they had all just been sold. And the 2010s that were stripped were still going to be $18,000. I told the dealers (two were helping me out) that I would have to go home and think about it. Yeah, they weren't too happy about that, but I wasn't going to buy a Mazda 3 for $20,000, especially since it was loaded with crap I couldn't or wouldn't use. For example, it has homelinks so I can open my garage door and turn on the house lights from my car. Oh, not too helpful when you live in an apartment complex and don't have a garage and can never park close enough to your house to turn on the lights from your car. And I don't talk on the phone and won't be in my car enough for the blue-tooth to matter to me. So, by 
the time I decided that I couldn't buy a car that day and it was time to leave, it was 3:00pm. Count that up, I spent 4 1/2 hours at the Mazda dealership, just to walk away disappointed and frustrated.
I went home and Dad told me just to find some other cheap car. Not what I wanted to hear. Instead, I looked up CarMax and found that they had one Miata. It was white, but it had a black top and black interior. It was a 2007 and had 42,000 miles, but it's price was only $15,599. But, just in case, I also called places around Escondido to get the year, color, mileage, and price of their used Miatas. Of course California had tons of Miatas (new and used). I was willing to fly to California, buy a car, and drive it back to Utah in one weekend. Of course Mom was all for it. I think that's just because she didn't realize how short of a trip it would have been for me. It would have been strictly business- with a few dinners thrown in.
It turns o
ut that I didn't have to go to those extremes though. I went to CarMax on Thursday. I was bound and determined not to waste my or the dealer's time. I walked in and asked them to show me the Miata. The guy said they didn't have one and I informed him that they did (nicer than that of course). It had apparently just come in and he had been off for a couple days. We went out, I test drove it right away (I got to look around at the inside as I waited for him to clear me for driving). He asked if I was interested in it, I said yes, and then we started all the paper work. A $15,599 car went to an $18,852.16 car really fast. Between all the taxes, fees, and extended warrantee (alright, that affected it the most), the price changed more than I had anticipated and more than I wanted. But I got it. As I drove home, I couldn't believe that I had actually bought a car. I kept shaking my head and giggling to myself.
I left my Sable at CarMax and so as soon as I got back I ate dinner and drove Alysha up to South Jordan so she could drive my car back for me. She wasn't as excited about my new car as I had expected, but I was excited enough for the both of us. And, although I'm officially impractical (the whole 2 seater, tiny trunk thing), I'm trying to still be responsible. I've already talked to my insurance agent and I've canceled the coverage on the Sable and have coverage for the Miata. And although I financed with CarMax, their 11.45% interest rate is steep and so they gave me 3 days to find a lower one. I've found a bank that estimated they could give me a 5.6% interest rate and I'll have to call back tomorrow to make sure that that's valid.
When I drove my new car to my meeting this morning, I got much better reactions about it from my team then I got when Alysha saw it. They think it's so cute and that I'm the "cool teacher" now. But it's still so weird, but exciting to me :o) Yay!!!
d. But I've been smart about all of this. At the beginning of the summer Dad told me that now is the perfect time to get a new car because dealers are trying to get rid of the cars on their lot. And, I bought my car old, and I've had it for three years, so it's time to move on, it's seen some good times. So, since May or so I've been researching cars. I wanted one that was reliable that would hold up so that I could drive it for years. For reliability and price sake, I was looking at the Honda Civic, the Toyota Corolla, and luckily the cute, sporty Mazda 3s are turning out to be pretty reliable too.I did more research and joked about the idea of getting a Mazda Miata. Ha. In the search, I ruled out the Toyota because they're not as well built as the Honda or the Mazda 3 and is about the same price, so scratch off the not so cute car as long as it got one bad review :o) Then I started looking more into the Miata. I even test drove one when I was down in Escondido. I decided that if I could find a 2008, with less than 30,000 miles on it, for $17,000 I would get it. I figured I was safe, because I was sure that I wouldn't find one.
Li
ke I said, all summer I've been researching. Well, on and off, of course I've also been traveling a lot and been in my classroom a lot too. I finally went car shopping in Utah on Wednesday. There are only 3 Mazda dealerships in Utah. One's in Murray, one's in Bountiful, and the other's in Ogden. I had called the Murray and Bountiful shops that morning and neither of them had new Mazdas, but they had used ones and they both said they could find me one if I came in. I drove up to Murray (about 40 minutes away) and was there around 10:30am (remember that time). The only Miata they had was a 2007 with 33,000 miles with a price tag of $17,700. Already, that's three strikes against it (not a three strikes you're out though, because they were all close- it was kind of like three balls, sticking with the baseball analogy). I test drove it, and it felt nice, but it was white with a brown top and brown leather interior. I tried to get over it, but I couldn't help but think of it as an old man's car instead of a cute 22 year old's car. So, the color was actually ball 4 which is an out. It took forever to get to that decision. Before test driving it, they had run a search of new Miatas and there were none in all of Utah and if I wanted on, it would have been the same color, but more expensive. So we looked at used ones in Bountiful. They had two. One was a stick (no go) and the other one was an automatic, but they sold it the day before. I asked them to check the Ogden one. I mean, I could always just visit Grandma and Grandpa, especially seeing as I haven't yet all summer (oops). Nope, they had one, but it was a stick.W
hat to do now? Utah has no Miatas. I asked them several times how that could be possible. Freaking gracious. From there we moved to looking at Mazda 3s. I test drove 4 of them. The two different engines in a 2009, and the two different engines in the 2010 models. All of them drove fine, so then it was about price. Well, the dumb dealers (I don't mean it, they were really nice) don't order Mazdas stripped down, they order them fully loaded. It turns out that the one I wanted was going to be over $20,000. Well that's not in my budget, that wasn't even in my Miata budget, let alone my Mazda 3 budget. So we looked online at the other dealer ships and they didn't have any because they had all just been sold. And the 2010s that were stripped were still going to be $18,000. I told the dealers (two were helping me out) that I would have to go home and think about it. Yeah, they weren't too happy about that, but I wasn't going to buy a Mazda 3 for $20,000, especially since it was loaded with crap I couldn't or wouldn't use. For example, it has homelinks so I can open my garage door and turn on the house lights from my car. Oh, not too helpful when you live in an apartment complex and don't have a garage and can never park close enough to your house to turn on the lights from your car. And I don't talk on the phone and won't be in my car enough for the blue-tooth to matter to me. So, by 
the time I decided that I couldn't buy a car that day and it was time to leave, it was 3:00pm. Count that up, I spent 4 1/2 hours at the Mazda dealership, just to walk away disappointed and frustrated.I went home and Dad told me just to find some other cheap car. Not what I wanted to hear. Instead, I looked up CarMax and found that they had one Miata. It was white, but it had a black top and black interior. It was a 2007 and had 42,000 miles, but it's price was only $15,599. But, just in case, I also called places around Escondido to get the year, color, mileage, and price of their used Miatas. Of course California had tons of Miatas (new and used). I was willing to fly to California, buy a car, and drive it back to Utah in one weekend. Of course Mom was all for it. I think that's just because she didn't realize how short of a trip it would have been for me. It would have been strictly business- with a few dinners thrown in.
It turns o
ut that I didn't have to go to those extremes though. I went to CarMax on Thursday. I was bound and determined not to waste my or the dealer's time. I walked in and asked them to show me the Miata. The guy said they didn't have one and I informed him that they did (nicer than that of course). It had apparently just come in and he had been off for a couple days. We went out, I test drove it right away (I got to look around at the inside as I waited for him to clear me for driving). He asked if I was interested in it, I said yes, and then we started all the paper work. A $15,599 car went to an $18,852.16 car really fast. Between all the taxes, fees, and extended warrantee (alright, that affected it the most), the price changed more than I had anticipated and more than I wanted. But I got it. As I drove home, I couldn't believe that I had actually bought a car. I kept shaking my head and giggling to myself.
I left my Sable at CarMax and so as soon as I got back I ate dinner and drove Alysha up to South Jordan so she could drive my car back for me. She wasn't as excited about my new car as I had expected, but I was excited enough for the both of us. And, although I'm officially impractical (the whole 2 seater, tiny trunk thing), I'm trying to still be responsible. I've already talked to my insurance agent and I've canceled the coverage on the Sable and have coverage for the Miata. And although I financed with CarMax, their 11.45% interest rate is steep and so they gave me 3 days to find a lower one. I've found a bank that estimated they could give me a 5.6% interest rate and I'll have to call back tomorrow to make sure that that's valid.When I drove my new car to my meeting this morning, I got much better reactions about it from my team then I got when Alysha saw it. They think it's so cute and that I'm the "cool teacher" now. But it's still so weird, but exciting to me :o) Yay!!!
Monday, August 3, 2009
Last Day Home
The Hawaii trip was well planned, but me getting down to California and me coming back was not. I don't think I actually decided for sure what day I would leave for California until the week before I did it. My planning for coming back to Utah went like this... okay, we get back the 31st, I'll recoup the 1st, drive back the 2nd and 3rd. Well, that was before Kim pointed out that the 2nd was a Sunday, so no, I couldn't do that. Then, Dad said we actually get back on the 30th, so I would have the 31st to recoup, and drive home the 1st and 2nd. Yeah, that did end up happening, but I didn't leave Saturday morning, I left Saturday night, which is not how I usually travel.
Saturday I woke up, had pancakes for breakfast with Roman, Isaac, Aaron, Mom, Dad, Kim, and some little boy named Corbin that Kim was watching. Then Kim left with Corbin and Aaron. Everyone else got ready and headed down to the Wild Animal Park. The boys were so excited to go to Dino Mountain, so that's what we went to first (and third). After seeing Dino Mountain, the boys were ready to go :o( Wait a second, I don't get to come to the WAP every week like these kids do, I wasn't quite ready to go. We walked around for a little while and saw some other animals, but Roman was "so tired" that we left pretty quickly. Man, when we were kids, we would stay ALL day, not any more I guess.
After the Wild Animal Park we came home to have lunch and put the boys down for a nap. I mean, they were so tired at the park that it should have been easy for them to go to bed right? Not a chance. They wanted to stay up and play and all of a sudden had plenty of energy. Little boogers :o) While the boys napped I was up packing, getting ready to head out. After packing I loaded up the car and headed to Poway. We had a family dinner at Grandma Kerby's and I was going to take off from there. Apparently the word hadn't gotten out that I was staying for the dinner because Grandma and Granddad were super surprised when I walked in, and at first Uncle Keith just over looked that I was there and then suddenly did a double take when it sank in that I wasn't supposed to be there.
Dinner was supposed to start at 4, and so I planned on leaving at 5. Well, dinner never starts on time, so by time I was done eating and looked at the clock, it was 5:15. I said my good-byes and was out the door and on my way around 5:40pm. Even though I left later and drove a lot of my trip in the dark, it still wasn't all that cool, temperaturely. It really wasn't until the last hour of the trip that I didn't have to keep rolling my windows down. I mean, I didn't have to drive with them down the whole time, but once I started getting hot, I would have to roll them down for a while from time to time. All in all, though, the drive wasn't really that bad. I was a little nervous to be driving in the dark, but I did just fine. The only little mishap I had was when I stopped off in Baker to get gas. For one thing, the price was OOBER expensive, so I just put in enough to make sure I would get to Vegas, no problem. But the big thing was that when I got back on the road, it automatically took me to I-15 SOUTH bound. There was one sign that warned me that's where I was headed, but it was right before I got on and there was no where to turn around. That was not happy, but luckily I didn't have to drive back as far south as I thought I was going to. I hadn't seen an exit in a really long time (that's why I stopped for gas, just to be safe). But, you know that exit that's always great when you're at the end of the alphabet game? Zzyzzx Road? Yeah, that one saved me. It was only a few miles back and I was able to turn around and start heading the right direction.
I made it to Cedar City around 1:20am or so. I was wide awake until I entered the door. As soon as I didn't have to be awake, I was sleepy! Grandma was still awake, but I felt bad because I wasn't in a visiting mood and I just headed straight down stairs.
I woke up in the morning, showered, went to a random sacrament meeting (I picked a building and hoped they had a 9am session), came home, visited with Grandma a little bit and then headed out. The drive wasn't too bad. It was warm, and there were slow cars in the left lane, but I survived and made it back in 2 1/2 hours, so that's really not a bad drive. So I'm back in Provo and although today was a pretty mellow day, it's not going to stay that way long. I got an e-mail from my principal and there are lots of meetings and important dates all coming up one right after the other. Dang shoot, I'm nervous. And after being in vacation mode, I've got to kick it into gear and get back into working mode.
Saturday I woke up, had pancakes for breakfast with Roman, Isaac, Aaron, Mom, Dad, Kim, and some little boy named Corbin that Kim was watching. Then Kim left with Corbin and Aaron. Everyone else got ready and headed down to the Wild Animal Park. The boys were so excited to go to Dino Mountain, so that's what we went to first (and third). After seeing Dino Mountain, the boys were ready to go :o( Wait a second, I don't get to come to the WAP every week like these kids do, I wasn't quite ready to go. We walked around for a little while and saw some other animals, but Roman was "so tired" that we left pretty quickly. Man, when we were kids, we would stay ALL day, not any more I guess.
After the Wild Animal Park we came home to have lunch and put the boys down for a nap. I mean, they were so tired at the park that it should have been easy for them to go to bed right? Not a chance. They wanted to stay up and play and all of a sudden had plenty of energy. Little boogers :o) While the boys napped I was up packing, getting ready to head out. After packing I loaded up the car and headed to Poway. We had a family dinner at Grandma Kerby's and I was going to take off from there. Apparently the word hadn't gotten out that I was staying for the dinner because Grandma and Granddad were super surprised when I walked in, and at first Uncle Keith just over looked that I was there and then suddenly did a double take when it sank in that I wasn't supposed to be there.
Dinner was supposed to start at 4, and so I planned on leaving at 5. Well, dinner never starts on time, so by time I was done eating and looked at the clock, it was 5:15. I said my good-byes and was out the door and on my way around 5:40pm. Even though I left later and drove a lot of my trip in the dark, it still wasn't all that cool, temperaturely. It really wasn't until the last hour of the trip that I didn't have to keep rolling my windows down. I mean, I didn't have to drive with them down the whole time, but once I started getting hot, I would have to roll them down for a while from time to time. All in all, though, the drive wasn't really that bad. I was a little nervous to be driving in the dark, but I did just fine. The only little mishap I had was when I stopped off in Baker to get gas. For one thing, the price was OOBER expensive, so I just put in enough to make sure I would get to Vegas, no problem. But the big thing was that when I got back on the road, it automatically took me to I-15 SOUTH bound. There was one sign that warned me that's where I was headed, but it was right before I got on and there was no where to turn around. That was not happy, but luckily I didn't have to drive back as far south as I thought I was going to. I hadn't seen an exit in a really long time (that's why I stopped for gas, just to be safe). But, you know that exit that's always great when you're at the end of the alphabet game? Zzyzzx Road? Yeah, that one saved me. It was only a few miles back and I was able to turn around and start heading the right direction.
I made it to Cedar City around 1:20am or so. I was wide awake until I entered the door. As soon as I didn't have to be awake, I was sleepy! Grandma was still awake, but I felt bad because I wasn't in a visiting mood and I just headed straight down stairs.
I woke up in the morning, showered, went to a random sacrament meeting (I picked a building and hoped they had a 9am session), came home, visited with Grandma a little bit and then headed out. The drive wasn't too bad. It was warm, and there were slow cars in the left lane, but I survived and made it back in 2 1/2 hours, so that's really not a bad drive. So I'm back in Provo and although today was a pretty mellow day, it's not going to stay that way long. I got an e-mail from my principal and there are lots of meetings and important dates all coming up one right after the other. Dang shoot, I'm nervous. And after being in vacation mode, I've got to kick it into gear and get back into working mode.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
